Chapter 3: Chapter 003

Paula woke to a gentle prodding against her face. She felt her cheek push up and towards her eye a few times. She groaned and swatted at the offending whatever-it-was. One more poke drove her to open her eyes, she blinked, her vision clearing as an up-close view of Gregory’s face came into view. She gasped, grabbing her pillow and swatting him in the face before doubling back almost a whole foot. “W-what the hell man?”

He laughed, removing the pillow from his head and handing it back to her, “You weren’t waking up! Your alarm started to go off but you didn’t move an inch. Heavy sleeper?”

She winced and looked down at her rotom phone that had slipped out of her coat to sit next to her. The little device's eyes were big and mournful as if trying to apologize for not waking her up. She groaned and held her face in one hand, rubbing her eyes and shaking off the drowsiness. “How long was I out?” She asked, gesturing for him to back up while she slipped off the bed and straightened herself out. She called her rotom phone over and pulled up the outfit screen, selecting her cold-weather outfit and hitting accept. Gregory was wise enough to turn on his heel and look away while the light flashed around her.

He scratched his nose and looked at the ceiling, “Your alarm went off about two hours ago, I’d say we have about thirty-three hours left or something.”

“Did I miss anything?” She asked.

“About five more disqualifications, sounds like most of them tried to marathon it rather than making camp and getting some rest,” He said.

She blinked, a little surprised, “Seriously? How many of us are left?”

“No idea,” He said with a shrug. She cleared her throat and he turned around, rolling his arm and checking his own cold-weather clothing. While her outfit was more of a puffy coat and heavy slacks, he’d gone for a long coat that went down to his ankles. She drew the hood of her coat up while he talked, “So where do you want to go? You said you hadn’t been to the Mountain Zone yet, right?”

“Unless something amazing pops up here in the winter zone it's time to move on, I think,” She glanced around the campsite, “Not like I can move this thing though, we’re going to have to come back eventually.”

He raised an eyebrow, “It’s a ranger shelter, of course, you can. They do no trace all the time,” He walked over to a dial that was mounted next to the door leading out to the snowy wilderness, “You turn this dial and pull on it, that sets a timer so you can get out. Then the shelter returns to the tin. You pick it up and go,” He held up a finger, “Downside though, the deployer has to recharge and that takes a while.”

She crossed her arms, “You know a lot about this stuff.”

“I wanted to be a ranger a few years back, was studying for it,” He said, “But I changed my mind.”

“You don’t strike me as the type to like a lot of rules, let alone enforce them,” She said, making her way toward the door.

He scratched his nose, “Funny, that’s what my mom said.”

Paula cleared her throat and put her hand on the doorknob, “Anyway! There’s no guarantee that a good spot will reveal itself while we’re wandering around in the dark so we’ll leave this here. I’ll have my rotom phone set up with a waypoint.”

He slapped his fist against his palm, “Oh right! That’s a good idea, damn why didn’t I think of that? There was this spot I wanted to show you if we met up,” He scratched his head, “No idea how to get back there though.”

She sighed and pushed the door open, “Well maybe we’ll get lucky.”

They stepped out into the bitter cold, the wind passing over them thanks to the rock formation. She turned around and peered up at the roof of the shelter, sneasel was still up there, lounging away. She opened up her rotom storage and plucked out one of the snack bars, “Hey sneasel!” She called out, “Catch!”

The creature jerked out of what was probably a nice doze towards sleep and eagerly caught the trail bar that hurtled through the air in its direction. It sniffed it once and looked down at her approvingly before returning to its lazy enjoyment of the dark. Paula stretched her legs and glanced over at Gregory who was giving her an inquisitive look. “What?”

He chuckled and looked away, “Nothin,” He rested his hands on the back of his head, “Good idea on resting up before nightfall, should find some good stuff while everyone else is dog tired.”

She stood up straight, “I tend to have those. Let’s go.”

He shrugged and followed her as she made her way east toward the mountain zone. She wanted to swing by the water zone at some point too, there was hopefully something good out there but she wasn’t going to make a special trip out of it. The snow crunched beneath their feet as they crossed over several steep dunes of packed snow, they were halfway down one particular slope when she spotted something large floating just off to the right. She squinted at the silhouette just as Gregory noticed it too, “Hey Paula…” He murmured.

“I know, that’s a big one,” She murmured, “Glalie are pretty nasty on a good day.”

“So? Let’s just walk past, I don’t see a shiny tag,” He said.

She grabbed his arm, “Weren’t you paying attention to the briefing?” She hissed, “The Professor said that the glass dome above this place is what makes the light that calms the local pokemon down. Three guesses why there are artificial shelters everywhere.”

Gregory stared at her, then looked up, “No sunlight.”

“No sunlight, right,” Paula said, “We have no idea how long the effects last so let's try to avoid anything that might get dangerous.”

He swallowed, “R-right.”

She sniffed and started walking north a little to give the spherical terror a wide berth, “What, you scared now, mister Champion Glory?”

He hustled to catch up with her, “Aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah, of course,” She said, rubbing her arms, “Just not going to let it stop me. Camping back at the shelter would be the easy way out, just wait until it's all over. We’ve already caught pokemon.”

“But now’s our chance to catch something crazy good, I get it,” Gregory said, “Did you know that it was going to be this dangerous at night before we left?”

“Of course I did,” Paula said evenly, picking her way over another rise and slowing as she spotted more movement in the distance, “Hold up,” She murmured and dropped to a knee, squinting through the snow at the small forms that were moving about on the ground. It took her a second to recognize the spherical shapes, “Spheal?”

“Looks like it,” Gregory said, “Bunch of ‘em too. No sign of momma.”

“See any tags?” Paula asked, calling up a pokeball.

“They’re all tagged,” Gregory said, “On their tails.”

“Snag a pair and run?” Paula suggested.

“Read my mind,” He laughed and the two of them broke into a slow jog that turned into a mad dash as soon as they were in range of the spherical mammal pokemon. The creatures all turned as one when the trainers’ approach was impossible to ignore. A few of them jumped and started to roll away. Paula and Gregory both tossed their pokeballs in time to see a larger shape pull its way out of the snow. Two flashed of red light illuminated the darkened area as the fully evolved walrein reared its head and brandished a pair of lethal-looking tusks.

“Run!” Paula gasped as their pokeballs went still and vanished.

“Way ahead of you!” Gregory shouted, charging up the next bank of snow. The walrein behind them let out a roar of anger and began to waddle its way in their direction. 

A flash of light burst behind Paula and ice rapidly formed to her left. She glanced back as she hit the peak of the slope and saw the huge creature rear its head back and open its mouth, preparing to release another ice beam. She gasped and turned, darting towards Gregory’s back and shoving him to the ground. The beam passed over both of them while they rolled down the next slope. Gregory scrambled to his feet first with Paula close behind and the two ran. Seemingly endless white and darkness rushed past them until the sounds of angry roars couldn’t be heard anymore.

Paula slumped to her knees, her chest burning and her face aching. She coughed a few times and grasped at her scarf, wrapping it around her face and nose more tightly.

“You good?” Gregory gasped.

“Yeah.”

“Thanks for the save, ice beam would have got me,” He said, slipping down to sit in the snow for a moment.

“What, and go to Roelle without a rival? That sounds boring,” Paula grunted, catching her breath.

The two of them burst into laughter, when they quieted down Paula let out a sigh and flopped backward into the snow. “You probably figured already but I’m not exactly a fan of people or crowds.”

“Or heights,” Gregory added.

She rolled her eyes, “My point is, you’re alright Gregory.”

He got to his feet and brushed himself off before reaching out to help her up, “Quit it with the nice girl stuff, it doesn’t suit you.”

She scowled at him but took his hand anyway, pulling herself to her feet and brushing herself off. She peered past him, squinting through the snow, and spotted a line of discoloration ahead of them. That was probably where the snowy zone and the mountain zone started and ended. With a quick breath, she darted past Gregory, hustling down the slope before sliding to a stop at the fluid-like shield that separated the freezing cold from what looked like a dry, craggy mountaintop.

“This place is crazy,” She breathed.

“No kidding,” Gregory said, coming to a stop next to her and barked out a laugh, “I have an idea,” he said, looking at her, “Let's do a speed run.” She raised an eyebrow and he continued, “Let's see if we can do a full loop of the reserve at night, catch something in each area and make it back to the shelter.”

She rounded on him, “How is any of that not reckless? Are you out of your mind?”

He held up his hands, “Wait, wait! Reason it out really quick. You and I both know that most of the other trainers are asleep right now, right? Only the ones that did the same as us will be out and about. Of them, how many are going to play it safe tonight?”

She crossed her arms, “Continue.”

“You said it yourself, nocturnal pokemon. This might be our one chance to run into something amazing,” He said, “We gotta do the whole thing, it only makes sense to do it!”

She tilted her head and gave him a disgusted look, “That wasn’t really an argument.”

He put his hands on his hips, “Yeah well when the starter I get to pick is-”

She held up a hand and shook her head; “Oh I get the logic, that's why I came out here. But the whole thing is a bit nuts.”

“Being a pokemon trainer is nuts, when you think about it,” He shot back.

She pursed her lips, “Okay, fine, I’m in,” She said, “Let’s check out the mountain zone and get out as quick as we can.”

He threw his arms up to cheer but stopped and cleared his throat at an irate look from her. He scratched his nose and looked away, “Haha, sorry, excited.”

They passed through the barrier between snow and mountain together before changing into something less difficult to move in. It wasn’t exactly hot but it wasn’t cold either. The faint smell of rainwater clung to the entire place like glue. She glanced to the left from where she was standing, squinting through the gloom towards the central edge of the zone. Gregory insisted that there was a water zone there but she still couldn’t see it. Shrugging she took a quick look around and got her bearings.

The mountain zone was exactly as advertised, a rocky, hilly zone filled with broken stone and sparse patches of grass. The further back the zone went towards the outer wall of the reserve, the higher the mountains got. In the distance, she spotted a particularly flat portion of ground where a shelter had been set up by another trainer. She ignored it and continued to look for something of interest. “Did you check out the caves?” She asked absently, stretching her arms and scanning another portion of the terrain.

“Zubat, lots of zubat,” He griped.

“Noted,” She mumbled and started walking, picking her way around rocks.

“Keep an eye out for ekans too, saw like five of them around here,” Gregory said, joining her.

She paused and looked down at where she was about to plant her foot, as if summoned by his chatter a purple shape lay coiled and tagless on the ground right where she was about to set down. She glanced over her shoulder at him and gave him a dirty look before pivoting and moving in a different direction. When he passed the same spot he chortled out a small laugh. 

“Idiot,” she grumbled, stepping around a particularly tall set of rocks before stopping and sniffing the air, “Is that fire?”

Gregory sniffed, “Yeah smells like smoke, it's close too,” he said. She stepped away from him and made her way to the corner of the rock formation, peering around the side. She froze and pulled away, taking in what she saw and not believing it. There had to be five, no, six charmander all sleeping in a small circle around a pit of sticks and leaves. The tiny orange reptiles all were whipping their tails in their sleep, one of them having caught a few leaves alight.

She looked back at him, “You aren’t going to believe this,” she hissed.

He went wide-eyed and poked his head around the side too. There was a pause and to her surprise he pulled back from the corner and leaned against the wall, “Feel free, I’m not interested,” He said, waving his hand.

She blinked and looked at him, his eyes were closed and his mouth was set in an even frown. She looked back at the charmander, “Are you serious?”

He opened one eye and gave her a steely look, “No thanks.”

A little taken aback, she decided not to press the issue and shrugged, “Suit yourself,” She called up a pokeball and shifted a little bit further along the side of the rock, careful not to put herself into the line of sight of the charmander in case they woke up. She took a few moments to peer around and make sure that there weren’t any bigger problems hanging around. The last thing she needed was to get chased by a charizard. Satisfied that she wasn’t about to make a similar mistake to the spheals she reared back and threw one of the balls. It hurtled through the air and struck, bursting into red light before sealing itself.

“Nice throw,” Gregory said, “We should probably go.”

Paula glanced at him and then back at her pokeball which was vanishing. A moment later the charmander that had been resting alongside the one she caught all sat up and looked around, startled and angry. “Yep, let’s go.”

Paula and Gregory slipped away, making headway into the deeper part of the zone while keeping to the compass their phones provided. Along the way the two of them managed to snag a pair of sleeping rhyhorn before they arrived at the edge of the zone. While there had been some small amount of ambient light in the mountain zone, the forest zone that lay beyond it was entirely doused in darkness. The trees she could see through the barrier were so tightly packed together that the canopy had formed a full ceiling over the ground.

“Inviting,” She muttered.

A tone rang out and startled both of them, “Participant Linda has been disqualified. Thirty-one hours remain,” came what sounded more like a pre-recorded voice this time than Jubilee’s more pleasant tone.

Paula swallowed, “Well damn.”

Gregory scratched his head, “Just how much were they planning on thinning the herd?”

She glanced at him, “You think they wanted this?”

He shrugged, “Definitely, you saw Professor Maple, guy’s a hardass,” he said, pulling out his phone and tapping something in. A moment later a flashlight appeared in his hand. “It’ll probably startle some pokemon but we aren’t getting through there without light.”

She couldn’t argue with his point so she silently did the same, drumming up a flashlight from her rotom storage and taking a deep breath. The two stepped through together and without even a moment to get their bearings a loud clattering hiss warned them that they had stepped through in the wrong place. They whipped their heads around until they spotted the Ariados up on a particularly thick branch, its orb-like eyes looking down at them. Its legs twitched angrily and it opened its mouth to reveal a set of vicious-looking fangs. Paula sidestepped and stepped back, making sure that Gregory followed her movements. “Keep your eyes on it, do not look away until we get some distance.”

“You dealt with one of these?” Gregory muttered quietly, following her lead.

She kept her voice low, “My dad has one.”

“But it’s trained, isn’t it?” He hissed, “Your dad’s?”

She shook her head, “It likes him,” she said stiffly, finally moving into a position that she could start backing up while going further into the forest. Gregory grunted his response and kept backing up until finally the Ariados relaxed and lowered its guard. Paula didn’t stop staring at it until it turned its head away, though. “It was waiting for us to turn,” she explained when she finally turned away and started to fast step down the path created by the sea of trees on either side. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her rotom phone. “Okay little guy, can you watch our backs for us?”

Gregory blinked and looked at her as the phone chirped its ascent and leaped from her hand, floating behind them with a look of stern vigilance on its tiny face. “Since when can they do that?”

Paula glanced at him, “There’s still a pokemon in there,” She pointed out.

Gregory kept that same mind-blown expression on his face for a while, though it quickly turned to boredom as they drifted further and further into the forest. To their disappointment, not a single creature revealed itself to them before they arrived on the other side and the barrier between the forest zone and what looked like a stretch of open plains. Paula frowned and looked back over her shoulder, putting her hands on her hips. “Well that was less than successful.”

“No kidding,” He sighed, “I didn’t even see that cool spot I mentioned earlier.”

She glanced his way, “What pokemon did you find there?”

He tilted his head, “Huh? Pokemon? It was just a really cool clearing with some rocks and stuff.”

She groaned and turned away, marching through the barrier and waving for her rotom phone to return to her pocket. What was with this guy? Half the time he came across as at the very least moderately competent and sensible. The other half he was a moron. Couldn’t he make up his damn mind? 

She rubbed her temples and pressed forward only for him to shout after her, “Paula! Watch your step!”

She froze and looked down into the face of the shining-tag-bearing mankey that was laying on its back, eyes closed and casually scratching at its belly. She swallowed, pulling back a full step and going very still when the creature rustled a little. Her stomach went cold and she took another step back, then another. Memory bubbling up beneath the surface. Images of a small girl, angry screeches, blood, pain. She brought her hands to her face and tried to breathe. Hyperventilation came next. Her brain registered muffled speech. Someone was talking to her? A flash of red. Then a hand on her shoulder.

She jumped and looked up from where she’d fallen on the ground. Gregory was leaning over her, “Hey, I caught it, it’s gone, you good?”

She pushed his hand away and took a deep breath, “I’m fine, just give me a second.”

Gregory stepped back and scratched the back of his head, “You stared down that ariados but-”

You are reading story Pokemon: Roelle at novel35.com

“Mankey maul people on a daily basis in Paldea,” She said evenly, wiping the wetness off her face, “It can happen to anybody. They’re pests.”

He went quiet for a moment, “So you?”

“Leave it,” she grunted, pushing herself to her feet. “I said give me a second, didn’t I?” She snapped, stepping past him and hastening her way across the grass, her eyes fixed on the ground. She walked for who knew how long before finally calming down enough to straighten herself up. Figuring she was alone she let out a long sigh and ran her fingers through her hair. She needed to get a grip. She’d signed up for this challenge, she’d decided to go out at night, this was on her. 

She snorted, she hadn’t been expecting this kind of challenge though. Messing up once meant failure and getting kicked out. She knew she could handle the real thing. She’d been preparing for it. People make mistakes though! She would give the professor a piece of her mind after she was done with this. First thing was first, though, she needed to try to catch something in the grassland area to make the trip worth it. She let out a long suffering breath and looked around.

“Huh?”

The grass was gone. Only dirt and moss lay beneath her feet. A roiling mist clung to her ankles and billowed up towards her knees. She turned around, trying to get her bearings. Where was she? She spotted the faint glow of the barrier between zones behind her. Her eyes went wide, how long had she been walking? A figure was moving in her direction, waving their arms. Gregory? His voice carried over the distance.

“Paula! Paula! Move! Now!” He shouted.

She blinked and spun around and looked up into a pair of red pupiled eyes with black sclera. The creature was looking down at her from its perch atop a large pile of rocks. The big white x across its face gleaming a little in the gloom. The metagross took a step, its powerful leg rising and falling as it moved almost like a spider in her direction. It was huge! Her mind caught up with her body, the moment shaking off the last of the cobwebs the mankey encounter had caused. This thing was way more dangerous than a mankey. She wracked her brain for something, anything she could use.

Food! She could distract it with a meal. Metagross liked minerals and metals, the more precious the better. She reached for her rotom phone to access her storage just as Gregory showed up. He grabbed her by the wrist, “No time for smart plans! Run!” He barked.

“W-wait!” She gasped, the sudden movement nearly jostling the phone out of her hand. The Metagross roared and leaped from where it had been a moment before, its eyes glowing with psychic power. Paula felt her feet leave the ground and saw Gregory’s do the same. She wrenched her arm from his grip, “Damn it, damn it, damn it! Not here!” 

The Metagross landed feet away from them, its cruel eyes looking them over as they floated now feet off the ground. Paula resisted the urge to kick and squirm. She needed to focus. She opened her storage and whipped to her emergency folder as the creature moved closer. Gregory let out a shout, struggling to break free of the psychic grip. She glanced up at the Metagross and made eye contact, the creature glancing down at her hand. No. Please don’t. She looked back at her phone and moved faster, tapping, selecting, and feeling her arm get pulled away from it.

“Damn it! Rotom phone, drop what I selected on the ground!” She shouted.

The little device let out a frightened chirp and in a faint flash, something yellow and heavy hit the ground with a thump. Paula’s heart pounded, she looked up at the creature as it stared at the precious item on the ground. It looked back up at her. She gave it a weak smile, “All yours buddy, just uh… let us down?”

It leveled her with a look that said ‘I could eat you anyway’ and she swallowed. Just take it, she begged silently, it’s all I’ve got for savings! It stared at her for several more seconds before, gingerly, it reached forward and snatched up the nugget in its powerful claws. It popped the nugget into its mouth and chewed slowly. The next instant they were on the ground, the air forced out of them by the force of the landing. She scrambled to her feet and watched as the enormous pokemon turned away and disappeared over the rocks it had been resting on.

She spun and rushed to Gregory. He was laying on his side, clutching at his arm. She dropped to her knees next to him, looking it over. It was already changing color. Broken. Something moved to her right and she spotted an abra staring at Gregory. She scowled at it, “Oh no you don’t! I’ve got a medical kit, he’ll be fine! You can buzz off, thanks!” She shouted, shooing the floating little creep away with her hands. She looked back at Gregory, opening her rotom phone and selecting the medical kit. She pulled out a splint pack. “You’ll be fine. I’m so sorry. I just wandered off-”

He winced when she placed her hand on his wrist and looked up at her, “Are you alright though?” He asked, sweat beading on his brow. He was trying not to make any noise.

She stared at him and lowered her head, “You are such a dumbass. Worry about yourself. You almost got disqualified.”

He grinned, “But I didn’t, cuz miss expert is going to fix me up, right?”

She set his arm against the splint and began to wrap it, shaking her head, “You need to get your head examined too, after this,” She laughed, “You’re crazy.”

She finished tightening the bandage and he fell onto his back while she dug through the pack for the spray to reduce swelling and alleviate pain. He turned to look at her while she was applying the medicine, “Was that a nugget? Like a gold nugget?” She kept her mouth shut as she looked over the work she’d done. It was good enough. Thank goodness they had trainer students take medical preparedness courses at the academy. He shifted toward her, “Was that your savings?”

She looked up at him finally, “As grateful as I am that you threw yourself into danger for me, don’t forget that your broken arm is within whacking distance.”

He went pale and rolled back on his back, “R-right, sorry.”

She sighed, “We’re going to have to make our way back to camp, no choice. Once we get back we’ll stick it out till the end, like we should have done.”

He frowned at the sky, “No way.”

“Uh, yes way,” She said, getting to her feet, “You can save your bravado. We almost got eaten by a metagross!”

He glanced at her, “Next time we’ll have our own pokemon. Besides, I’m not satisfied. I want to catch more.”

She rubbed the bridge of her nose, “You do know we only get to pick one of them, right?”

He shrugged and got to his feet, with the last of her kit she set his arm up in a sling. He checked the mobility of his injured arm then flexed his one good arm, “Yeah, and? I want the biggest selection I can get! One broken arm isn’t going to stop me!”

She looked back at the barrier between this new misty zone and the grasslands. She rubbed her arms only for him to punch her once in the shoulder. She gasped and took a step back. He turned his fist into a thumbs-up and winked, “I’m fine. You’re fine. Look, everybody’s got their hang-ups and things that trouble ‘em, right?” He scratched his nose, “I’m not gonna blame you for what happened. So don’t go feelin bad either. We’re rivals, right?”

She stared at him for a few heartbeats, was this guy for real? She sighed and took a deep centering breath, rubbing her thumb on her palm and focusing. She let out one last breath and squared up her shoulders, “Right, let’s go on a catching spree. If there's a metagross here, there’s gotta be some crazy pokemon with tags somewhere.”

He pumped his arm, “Yeah! That’s the spirit! Let’s rock!”

With a bit more spirit in them, they opted to go a bit deeper into the mists zone rather than simply crossing it. Judging by the size of the area and the way their path looked on the rotom map there was only one other zone that she hadn’t been to further south. After that it would be the urban zone and then back into the snowy zone. The first few clusters of pokemon didn’t really show any promise, a smattering of shuppets dancing around an eerie-looking fire, a pair of very sleepy looking indeedee, and a snorlax that had just fallen on top of what looked like it had once been a tree before falling asleep.

They were almost an hour into exploring the mists zone before they finally spotted some shining tags. The glowing rectangles easy enough to see in the gloom. When they got closer, though, they both ground to a complete stop. They were looking at what appeared to be a faux stone circle, like the ones found around the galar region. There were a few drowsee there, which on their own were enough to be a deterrent, but along with them were a wide assortment of ghosts and psychic types. Most notably, their old friend Metagross. The big guy had set himself up in the dead center of the stone circle, legs folded beneath him and his eyes shut.

“We cannot possibly be this unlucky,” She grunted.

Gregory chuckled, “I think it's fate trying to tell us something.”

“Get munched, right?”

He pulled out a pokeball, “There’s something there waiting for us,” He said, pointing at the glowing tags. “Got some ghastly, duskull, and-” He was cut off by the faint sound of crunching behind them. Paula turned first and froze as she came face to face with a venipede. The little creature stared at them impassively before turning to amble away, its shining tag flopping left and right. She pulled out her pokeball only for Gregory to strike first, his good arm whipping out and sending a pokeball colliding with the back of the bug. It vanished into a flash of red.

She scowled at him and he grinned, “Gotta move faster,” He chuckled as a shining tag fluttered up just over his shoulder. She didn’t so much as wait to see what it was, she just threw her ball, catching her target in a flash of red light. He blinked and looked back at the pokeball as it wobbled. He looked back at her, wide-eyed, while she pulled away from their hiding spot.

“C’mon, let’s not bother the metagross,” She said.

He rubbed the side of his head, “Y-yeah.”

A half-hour passed far more successfully than the last two. Each of them managed to snag a ghastly as well as Gregory stumbling upon a Rowlet sleeping in a desiccated tree. Paula managed a Flabebe and Impidimp before they arrived at the barrier between the mists and what looked like a desert. In far better spirits and more conscious of the dangers ahead of them, they passed into the sandy terrain with their heads held high and their eyes firmly on the ground.

An hour later they trudged out of the sand and into the urban zone, thoroughly disappointed. Gregory was laughing while she shook her shoe out on the concrete. She scowled at him, “How was I supposed to know the trapinch would do that?” He laughed even harder and she rolled her eyes, “Laugh it up mister, ‘I’m gonna chase a larvitar into its mother's nest’.”

He coughed and rubbed the back of his head, “That was one angry Tyranitar.”

“Yeah well, at least we were well away before it started rampaging,” She said with a sigh, glancing around. “And now I’m back here,” she said, shoving her shoe back on and getting to her feet. “Let’s just head back to the snowy zone.”

“I wouldn’t mind a look around,” Gregory said, “You’ve been here already?”

“Yeah, caught some timburr beating up on a pokemon I’ve never seen before,” She said, shoving her hands into her pockets. “A medical team had to come in and everything.”

He whistled, “Pokemon got a name?”

“Didn’t ask,” She said with a shrug, “The thing could only make simple sounds.”

She tried to explain what it looked like but all Gregory inevitably could picture was an off-color sableye. They argued about it for a while, going back and forth until they arrived at an intersection. “I’m telling you, it wasn’t a sableye, it didn’t have gems for eyes.”

“They’re pranksters, coulda been messing with your head,” Gregory pointed out.

“I suppose but-” He held up a hand to cut her off and pointed.

She followed his finger and her eyes lit up, “Is that an abra, with a tag?”

“What’s it sitting with?” He asked quietly.

She squinted, it took her a second to recognize the Gothita hiding in the shadow of the larger abra. She pulled out a pokeball and froze, watching the two creatures nuzzle against one another. She lowered the ball and cleared her throat, “Let’s move on.”

“B-but they’re right there!” He exclaimed.

She gave him a stern look, “We’re not interrupting.”

“Interrupting what?” He blurted. She grabbed him by the head and wrenched him towards the scene. It took him a few seconds but he slumped a little in her grip, “Ah, okay, yeah.”

That was the last encounter with any chance of success they had before they trudged their way through the snow on the other side of the urban zone. While it had been a good plan, they hadn’t considered that most of the pokemon of the reserve had adapted to the day-night cycle as it concerned the times they were fed by the reserve's staff. The pair was inevitably greeted by sneasel who laughed at their bedraggled appearance the whole way back into their shelter. 

Despite having caught a good few pokemon, Paula couldn’t help but feel a little defeated by the whole ordeal. It seemed like Gregory was the same. In the end, they both ate quietly before throwing themselves into their beds and closing their eyes. There was a whole other day ahead of them before it was all over.

Or so they thought.

Paula woke not to the sound of her rotom phone's alarm, but to a noisy tone ringing out throughout the entire reserve. She rolled out of bed with a grunt, drowsiness blurring her senses a little. Above her, Gregory was groaning out a series of surprisingly articulate curses. She rubbed her eyes and peered around, trying to figure out what the emergency was. 

“Attention participants, there are no remaining trainers who have not captured a pokemon or failed to find appropriate shelter. All participants have been detected as currently staying within shelter at the present time,” Jubilee’s voice rang out over the reserve. “Given the status of this examination, Professor Maple has indicated that the trial is now over. Congratulations to the remaining twenty-six trainers.”

Paula blinked and looked back up at Gregory who was staring at her wide-eyed, he cracked a wide smile and fell back onto his bunk. She slumped on the floor and fell onto her back, “Man, I wanted to go to the water zone,” She grumbled.

The tone rang out again and this time, Professor Maple's deep voice rumbled out over the reserve, “Attention Trainers, please break down your shelters and prepare to be teleported back to the meeting hall. We have a medical team prepared to treat minor injuries if necessary.”

Seemed like having some breakfast would have to wait, Paula and Gregory pulled themselves together and switched into their winter clothes. A few minutes later they were standing a good distance away from the ranger shelter as the timer they’d set on the breakdown dial ticked to zero. She peered up at the black rocks that had protected her from the cold winds and met sneasel’s gaze. The icy dark-type stared at her from afar while a flash of light consumed the shelter, reverting it to the cookie tin it had been stored inside. She smiled at the creature, “Thanks.”

It rolled its eyes and waved a clawed hand as if to say; “Yeah, yeah, go on and get already.”

She put her hands on her hips, “Cramping your style are we?”

Gregory, who had been walking back from picking up the tin, handed it over to her and watched the exchange curiously. “You make a friend?”

“Dunno, something like that,” She said, scratching the back of her head.

He spun and waved at the sneasel, “Thanks for watching our backs, sneasel! You’re alright in my book!” He shouted. The creature facepalmed and turned its back. He lowered his hands, “Aww, it likes us.”

“We only gave it food,” Paula pointed out, flipping through her phone. Next to her, an abra faded into view. It turned its creepy little face towards her and hissed out a laugh. She sighed and scratched the back of her head, “Looks like it’s time to go.”

“See you in a sec,” Gregory said and with a rush, they vanished from sight.

Above the empty spot where the two had been standing, the sneasel looked down at the ground and let out a sigh of her own. It hopped down and walked over to the spot, scratching at her belly. She stopped just where the depressions left by their boots left an eerie reminder in the snow and crouched down, snatching up the wrapped piece of food left behind. It sniffed the snack bar and grunted, biting into it before sullenly making its way back up to its perch.

Paula stumbled a little as the abra once again dropped her a good inch off the ground. She caught herself this time, taking a few staggering steps forward before straightening up and looking around. She was standing in the conference hall again but there were far, far, less people in it than last time. A scattered gathering of trainers in various states of disarray stood in the room, looking up at the riser where Professor Maple stood, his huge frame looming over them all like some sort of statue.

Paula glanced around and spotted Gregory rubbing his head and glaring at an abra before the creature spirited off to wherever it came from while a pair of medical technicians fretted over him.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the Professor boomed, drawing her attention back to him. “Congratulations on completing this challenge. It was shorter than I anticipated but that goes to show exactly the kind of young people I am dealing with. I underestimated you, for that, I apologize.”

There was a round of cheers among the trainers, Paula kept quiet though, the Professor obviously wasn’t done. He nodded a few times, “Yes yes, on to business. I don’t want to keep you here any longer than I must. Roelle awaits!” He cleared his throat, “Your rotom phones will be receiving a remote update right about now with temporary access to the box that your captures during this trial were stored in. Please take the time to make your choices now. Once you have done so, Captain Jubilee,” he pointed toward the short-haired woman standing in the back of the room, “Will direct you to the craft that will take you to Oracay island. You will also be fitted with a new type of experimental support gear as you leave.”

Paula glanced down at her phone but didn’t see an update ping. She looked over at Gregory who was already tapping through his phone and grinning wildly. She looked up at the Professor who made eye contact with her, “Miss Paula, a word, if you do not mind?” He barked over the crowd, gesturing to the doors leading out of the meeting hall.

She swallowed, sweat beading on her neck. Had she done something wrong? Did he review the footage and see a mistake? Where did she screw up? Panic rose even as her legs moved on their own. She passed a confused Gregory and felt her heart sink. This was it. She’d made a mistake somewhere. But where? She couldn’t think of anything that would have caused it. Was it the encounter with Metagross? She’d managed to ward the abra off from disqualifying Gregory but did her getting him into that situation count as a breach?

Before she knew it, the door had shut behind her and she was walking a few steps behind the Professor. She stared at his back, it wasn’t fair, she’d done the right thing in the situation. She was sure that the professor saw that, right? He seemed like a good guy. She remembered his harsh rebuke of the boy who had suggested trying to capture some of the off-limits pokemon and reassessed herself. Maybe he was more strict than she imagined.

“You’re not being disqualified, girl, chin up,” The professor grunted.

Her head jerked up and she met his eye as he glanced over his shoulder, “W-what?”

“Frankly,” He rumbled, “You had the best performance out of most of those who passed. Not only did you capture pokemon and survive, but you adapted and formed a relationship with a wild pokemon to assist in your survival. That’s ranger work. Good ranger work.”

He led her to a warp panel and through it to a medical wing. They passed a few doors in silence before he stopped at one in particular. She’d noticed that most of the doors had green symbols projected over them, probably indicating easy entry. The one he stopped at had a bright red symbol. Locked maybe? He turned to face her and put his hands on his hips, “You did a good thing during your trial. Do you remember?”

She blinked at him, “I vouched for Gregory, I guess?”

He stared at her and laughed, “You forgot already? Did it without a second thought, my goodness,” He shook his head and waved his badge at the door. The symbol turned green and the door opened revealing a long room with at least six men and women in lab coats all studying various screens. They weren’t what interested her, though. What caught her eye was the pair of tiny creatures holding hands atop a cushion at the far end of the room. She froze, and then looked at the Professor.

He grinned, “This is Malasigo, a new species of pokemon we have never seen before,” He said, putting his hand on her back and urging her into the room. The dark twin looked up and its spooky eyes went wide with delight despite its strange perpetual frown. It jerked on the hand of its other half and pointed at her urgently. The light twin looked up and fixed her with a stare, before returning to staring at its tiny feet. The dark twin didn’t settle for that, it jumped off and pulled its sibling off the cushion and darted in Paula’s direction before sliding to a stop.

“Mala! Mala!” It chirped before jerking its sibling's hand again. The other half let out a resigned sound, “Sigo…”

She crouched down and smiled at it, “You two look like you’re feeling better!” She laughed, “You’re kinda cute actually,” She reached out and put a hand on the dark half’s head, patting it. It squawked delightedly before grabbing her hand and moving it to the light half. She watched it flinch and hesitated, “What happened to them?”

“It,” The Professor corrected, “Malasigo is a pokemon similar to dugtrio, exeggcute, and magneton.” He scratched his nose, “Falinks is another good example. The dark half could not make a cry or act beyond simple movements while its other half was unconscious which clued us into its unique biology. In fact, when we tried to get medical readings on the dark half it read as if it had fainted.”

She looked down at the pair in disbelief, “That’s… wow.” The twins clung closer together as the professor spoke, eyeing him carefully.

“We have learned a few things though, this room is designed to treat rare and unknown pokemon so we have a lot of equipment here for analyzing them,” He cleared his throat, “They’re capable of evolution, the genetic excitement is there. They also appear to be of the dark and fairy typing. We couldn’t figure out the mask that the dark half was carrying, besides its age, it’s over there in the nest they made. As for what happened, that’s anyone’s guess. Their behavior indicates some kind of abuse though.”

“How old is it?” She asked, sitting down on the ground now and holding out a hand, palm up, to the light half. It stared at her hand before, begrudgingly, putting its own tiny palm in hers. She gave it a gentle squeeze with her thumb and it seemed to relax a little.

“Our readings day only a week or so, which is strange because the masks carbon dating put it at thousands of years old,” He cleared his throat.

“Why are you telling me all this?” She asked, looking the fragile, traumatized pair over.

“Take them with you, as your starter pokemon,” He said.

She whipped her head in his direction, “What? Shouldn’t they be rehabilitated? Put back out in the wild? Isn’t that what you do here?”

He shook his head, “That would require knowing anything about the species, for all we know it could be one of a kind, Paula. It clearly came from Roelle, we’ve been stationed here longer than it has been alive. That means Roelle is its natural habitat. Wouldn’t it be better to raise it and observe it in that sort of setting? Besides, while it tolerates our prodding here in the lab it clearly showed just now its sole interest is you.”

She swallowed and looked at the pair standing in front of her and couldn’t help but see a little of herself in those eyes. She sighed and squeezed the light twin’s hand again. “Are you okay with that? It would mean hanging out in a pokeball.”

The dark one bounced up and down with excitement but the light one gave her a sidelong look. It stared for a while before letting out a dramatic sigh and nodding. The professor reached into his pocket to her left and pulled out a standard pokeball, holding it out to her. She took it and activated it, the tiny sphere growing in size. She held it out in the palm of her hand and looked between the two. “Just push the button.”

The light one pulled its hand from hers and gave her one last steady look before jabbing its tiny finger onto the button. There was a flash of red light, and they were gone.

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