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Looking at the skull he’s standing on, “Not sure I want to meet whatever can toss that away like a chicken bone… a Pidgey bone.”

Blue’s laughter calls us to look at what he’s found. He’s flying back hauling an intact skull with fin-like spikes on either side.

Jane snaps her fingers, “That one is from a Salamence!”

I glance down at her Marowak still dutifully standing beside her, wearing a skull on their head as the species do.

“Do you think anything would come from Marowak trading head gear?”

That random thought gets everyone’s attention. Marowak actually looks offended, a low growl rumbling forth.

“No disrespect, but I mean look over there. That's not a Scyther blade, right?”

“Of course not,” Cosmo mumbles in thought, “It’s from a Garchomp arm…”

I squat down to Marowak’s level, “Look, I understand it’s a cultural thing.” Eyeing the spots of wear and cracks along the edges of the bone helmet, “But think about it for a minute. You can place your mother’s skull somewhere safe, where it won’t take any more damage.”

Her clawed hand reaches up to rub at a chipped section.

“Exactly.” I wave at the collection of bones in the water, “Few things are sturdier than dragons. Whatever killed them still didn’t crush the bones.”

Blue retrieves the Garchomp bone that’s practically a Scimitar blade.

“Look,” I dig around in the bottom of my bag and pull out a small case I haven’t bothered to look at since Alola, “I’ll even up the effort another step. We can mount this somewhere in the new Skull.”

I present the uncut Charizardite X crystal from Alain’s fallen partner. The same jerk that crashed our ride to the islands.

Now the temptation for this experiment can’t be refused. Her eyes follow every movement of the stone for a moment. Then panning across the boneyard and the blade in Blue’s phantom hands.

“Wak.” She softly nods before gently removing the skull from her head.

Naomi gasps but there's nothing too surprising. Marowak’s hide is similar to an armadillo, plated but there’s still fur under each scale. The whitish bone markings continue over her head and around the violet eyes.

Cosmo chimes in somewhat ruining the moment, “I thought it was fused to them?”

Marowak just rolls her eyes and accepts the new bone weapon from Blue. Naomi carefully accepts the skull and places it into her expanded bag.

Within ten minutes Marowak finds a new skull with Blue’s aid. One that looks like it belonged to a Tyrunt well into its evolutionary growth. Tyrannosaur fangs beneath a ridge of spikes resembling a crown, yet still small enough to fit her head.

Cosmo uses some, barely functioning, tool tool to read the rise of type energy as Marowak secures her new bone helmet.

His excitement barely contained, “This is facinat,”

A roar cuts him off from somewhere across the bog! It’s followed by human screams in the distance.

“Well, shit.” We can’t not see if someone needs help. Except there goes the whole sneaking out here plan. “Your call, Princess.”

Naomi looks out across the water as more yowls and screams echo. It sounds like boys… ah, the pair from the center.

“Kurt,” she grimaces, “Can the bat carry all three of us?”

“I don’t think a poisonous bog is the place to find out.”

Cosmo tosses out three pokeballs, two Lunatone and a Solrock appear. “You girls can hop on Lunatone!”

The professor steps onto two of the spires of Solrock like it was a flying scooter while the two crescent moon pokemon scoop up the girls like saddles of an invisible animal.

Well that works, “Why didn't we do that earlier?! That whole trek through a sketchy jungle trail… whatever.”

Blue just shrugs beside me.

“You know, I really should take a look at that type chart thing again.” My overgrown Phantump giggles. “Well, I do know Ghosts don’t love Dark types.”

Every unevolved ghost around me shivers at the mention of Dark Pokemon.

“Well you won’t want to stick around for the next part then.” I return Blue to his ball and toss out Shak’s fancy, vampire themed one.

Black light reveals dark fur that shimmers in what little sunlight filters down into the bog. The Ogrbat swoops around before landing on a nearby stump large enough to support him. His talons sink into the damp wood as if it was bread.

“Time to fly, big guy. You know how it is, I save the day, you try not to eat anyone.”

A rumbling, “Og, at, at.” passes for a chuckle I guess.

Hopping from rocks and logs I reach the stump for the bat to catch my foot with his wing claw and boost me onto his back.

Clipping my leather jacket into the harness he wears and taking out the goggles from the inner pocket, “Let's go!”

A powerful jump makes my stomach lurch a bit. He claws onto a large branch of one of the towering trees. Climbing claw over claw right up the side of the trunk, gaining enough height.

Another leap that would send me right off the back if I wasn’t hooked in, and we’re airborne.

I hold the handles attached to the collar hidden under his mane to steer us in the direction of the girls and the screams. Powerful wing thrusts accelerate us to the point that any playful ghosts that considered flying along are left in the breeze.

Already I spot my teammates while maneuvering amongst the obstacle course of sparse jungle trees. Shak rumbles in amusement again and aims to shoot past the girls. Warm fog trails us like water wake as we go into a silent dive.

A dark blur followed by a shockwave of warm fog scatters the girls and Cosmo shrieks louder than an old timer should. I barely catch Jane shouting, “Piss Off Old Man!”

Only a few more seconds of gliding at speed rivaling a WW1 fighter plane and I spot a commotion a bit off to our right.

Two boys are riding a Scyther and a Staraptor while evading a much faster flying lizard that strafes them with purple energy blasts. The kids are making for the general direction of the village while the Ghost/Dragon, Drakloak fires Shadow Ball after Shadow Ball.

A pair of frog pokemon are swimming alongside the boys, returning fire with Water Gun and Sludge Bombs.

“Alright, don’t waste time, Pursuit.”

Shak’s wings start to trail black mist, our speed picks up another notch as Dark energy works like a sinister magnet, ensuring we just out pace our target.

The blonde boy catches sight of us, “Shit!”

Drakloak checks it’s six and spots us diving right for it. Yellow dragon eyes narrow and the lizard vanishes just as we’d make impact!

“Don’t stop! Slam!”

We crash into a tree trunk, sending splinters everywhere including the invisible silhouette of Drakloak as it clips the bat’s side at breakneck speed with its wing-like head. The dragon front flips to pivot into another pass!

Shak howls out a supersonic right into the lizard's face.

“Now!” I kick his ribs a bit, “Crush Claw!”

Pushing off the tree breaks the remainder of that section of trunk. Thunderous snapping sounds warn the boys below of the danger.

The Ogrbat’s talons snatch Drakloak right out of the air and pin it into the next tree trunk sending even more wood flying. Decades of moisture fail to withstand the impact as a second tree starts to fall, it’s roots ripped from the mire below.

Drakloak roars out a shockwave of purple light at point blank. Shak snarls in pain, his bulk shielding me from the attack.

“Drain Fang and don’t let go. Ride it down!”

Shak’s jaw clamps down on the neck of Drakloak, his wings grip the tree as it falls towards the water. He reflexively lets go when the trunk impacts the surface and Drakloak uses the opportunity to use Phantom Force again.

Pure instinct hits me like a truck, “Behind us, Sonic!”

Already shreeching as he spins, Shak blasts the dragon in the face with ear splitting sound waves at the same time it barrels into us at full speed.

The clips holding me on the harness snap, Shak attempts to catch me but it’s futile while wrestling the opponent in mid air.

“Delphi, Fairy Wind! Lasura, Teleport!” Naomi calls from below.

A gust of wind filled with flower petals nearly stalls my fall while another petit fairy pokemon appears by my side. She grabs my arm shouting, “Devoir!”

Oh! I relax and let myself be blinked from one point in space to another with a burst of more flower petals.

Beside me on a mossy bank are the girls, Cosmo, and the two exhausted boys.

Shak and the Draklaok crash into the water barely a stone’s throw away. Cosmo’s psychic pokemon shield us from the big splash.

The Ogrbat sits up in the water with the ghost lizard still thrashing about in his jaw.

Jane calls out, “Shadow Bone!”

Marowak shimmers into sight right above the struggling pokemon and swings her new bone weapon into a solid hit across the dragon’s head.

Naomi pitches an Ultra Ball that snaps open, sucking in the dazed pokemon with a beam of light.

Shak’s jaw snaps around the ball before it falls into the water. He clenches it as if thinking he’ll make sure the pest gets caught.

However the ball just pings success without a single shake. The final hit to the head was enough to end it.

Gardevoir appears beside him and puts out her hand.

The big lug just turns his head the other way.

“Gard!” Her petal dress flutters as if it was just hit with a gust of wind, “Gardevoir!”

“Kurt.” Naomi huffs.

“Fine,” Chuckling a little, “Hand it over buddy!”

With a roll of eyes and a reluctant growl, Shak passes over the ball.

Gardevoir glares for another moment before disappearing in a swirl of petals. Immediately she’s beside Naomi passing over the Ultra Ball.

Watts in turn hands it off to Professor Cosmo, “Here’s your evidence Professor. Send that to the Evergrand office immediately and…”

She goes quiet.

Shak’s growling clues me into a tingling feeling on the back of my neck.

Looking up, hundreds of Dreepy are swarmed above us, looking murderous.

While our pokemon slowly move into defensive positions around us, I turn to the two miscreants that caused this, “Is there anything I should know, boys?”

The dark haired member of team Ronin doesn’t take his eyes off the swarm.

“Hey!” His blonde teammate Sean, elbows him in the side, “Just let it go already.”

Bruno scowls, taking out a Great Ball and tossing it to me.

I click it open to reveal a larger Dreepy, floating unconscious.

Cosmo perks up, “Ah, Drakloak can get very aggressive without their partner Dreepy.”

“No shit.” I return the pokemon and pass him the ball.

Looking back up at the swarm, I can tell they’re already easing up, “I make sure they’re reunited once they’ve been checked out. Now go on, I’ll take the troublemakers with me.”

The swarm disperses, I catch sight of a gang of Haunter laughing at the whole show.

“Right, evidence found, suspects detained. Let’s get out of here…” Seeing Shak hop out of the water onto a stump and shake off like a dog, “Ya, that’s not happening.”

I return him to his ball, I don’t feel like riding a wet animal back to town. Besides I think we still shouldn’t be seen coming back.

While the girls hop back on the Lunatone, I send out Zilla.

My giant turtle is disappointed the fight is over, she doesn't complain about getting time to swim about while I sit on her back shell.

The boys don’t bother attempting to escape being so outnumbered. When asked about the bog, they only claim to know that the local gym trainers are sent to beat back the ghosts a couple times a week. They’re supposed to report any dominant pokemon that appear. Like a Gengar, Drakloak or, Arceus forbid, a fully evolved Pseudo-legendary, Dragapult.

They have no idea where all the dragon bones come from.

Sean giving the brilliant response of, ”Well, Dragons. Right?”

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