The Type Specialist

In truth, my injury wasn't extreme enough to let me fall into complete unconsciousness. It was a comparatively minor injury next to what Ninetales was suffering from, and the only reason I was even having trouble staying awake was due to the exhaustion from both running and Mega Evolving Mawile. I was either only half-conscious, or I was trying to deal with the pain in the side of my chest.

As a result, Hope and Ramos had to support Diancie all on their own.

Ramos had fought the three Gyarados far longer than Hope and I had been fighting overall. They hadn’t been Mega Evolved initially, but Lysandre waited for Ramos to think he was about to win before Mega Evolving them just to taunt him. As a result, Ramos was physically exhausted like me, but his mind was as sharp as ever.

I caught some snippets of a conversation between Hope and Xerosic while Ramos was setting up his Grass Types to defend the entrance of the cavern. Apparently, Xerosic was the head scientist under Lysandre for the entirety of Team Flare, but he was still willing to turn over all of his research, discoveries, and everything he knew about Team Flare in exchange for a lighter sentence. Hope got annoyed with how hard he was pushing that since neither she nor Ramos had the power to make that decision. However, she did convince him to help in exchange for putting in a good word for him with the authorities.

Diancie had been drained due to her battle with the red Mega Gyarados alongside Mawile, but had enough left to start the process of recharging the “Heart Diamond” that hung in the center of the room we were in. Out of everyone here, she was the only one I could still understand thanks to her use of telepathy to communicate. The Heart Diamond was key to maintaining the structural stability of the caverns, as it was connected to almost every crystal and what allowed them to give off their glows.

Needless to say, if Lysandre had succeeded in completely draining the energy, in a few days the entire cavern system would have collapsed.

Unfortunately, while Xerosic and Hope were still talking, a group of Team Flare members managed to enter the room. They saw Xerosic talking to the enemy, saw Lysandre unconscious and tied up with vines on the ground, and saw that Hope and Ramos were almost entirely unharmed, then (correctly) assumed that Xerosic had betrayed their organization.

The end result was a fight to defend Diancie that culminated into a chase back to the central camp currently occupied by the rest of the Carbink. It was made even more difficult when Diancie fainted after she finished charging the main crystal with infinity energy. Unfortunately, Hope and Xerosic were the only people still capable of running, which meant they had to drag my immobile self, Ramos’s weakened body, the fainted Diancie, and the unconscious Lysandre all the way through the tunnels.

A few of the Carbink “commandos” met back up with us, but most had either escaped back to the base camp, or were still in battle.

Once we returned, Ramos had the Carbink seal off the entrances with terrakinesis, and then we were forced to wait for backup. Most communication devices didn’t work due to how deep underground we were, but Xerosic had one that could reach the surface. Hope confiscated it and made the call while Xerosic said to consider it a gift from the “magnanimity of his heart.” There were only so many available Ace Trainers on the local route, but with Ramos chipping in, we were told they would be here soon.

Since we were no longer attacking or moving around, I was finally able to get some rest. Dedenne helped me take out a sleeping bag from my backpack and find a comfortable spot, and, completely still, I finally fell into unconsciousness.

I was unsure how long we waited, but the next time I awoke, a pair of Ace Trainers were looking me over while others worked to heal the remaining injured Carbink. When they saw I woke up, I was immediately put back to sleep with a Sleep Powder.

That night, I woke up in a treatment room in the Pokémon Center within Shalour City, which was located extremely close to the eastern exit of Reflection Cave.

No nurses were free since they were busy dealing with all the injured Pokémon, both the wild Carbink and Team Flare’s team members, but eventually one came in to give me a rundown of what happened as an excuse to take a break.

Unlike the previous two times I got injured, Shalour City didn’t have a magical cure for my injuries like I expected. In Mauville, I was quickly healed from Wattson’s berserk Mega Manectric because the city had several experts on treating Electric Type injuries on hand. In Mossdeep, I was given a treatment to let my bones “regrow” since part of them had been partially pulverized.

Here, the nurses were experts on treating injuries involving Fighting Types due to the Gym located within the city, and those injuries tended to include bruises and cracked ribs like I had. However, they considered my case to be relatively minor and thus I didn’t get any expensive medicines that would massively speed up my recovery time. Instead, I received a few steroid injections around the wound, then I was told to not do anything more strenuous than walking over the next few weeks.

Their expertise in these types of injuries was the main reason I was being treated in a Pokémon Center rather than a human clinic.

After that, the nurse also gave me information on how my team was doing. There were only three members of my team that suffered from injuries that wouldn’t heal overnight.

The first and lightest of the injuries was Altaria. While he wasn’t technically suffering from anything too debilitating, most of his feathers had been seared off in the triple Hyper Beam attack from the Gyarados, which meant he needed time to regrow them. Apparently, he was bright pink under his blue feathers.

Florges was the second Pokémon that needed treatment. She had pushed herself to the point of exhaustion several times over, and expended far more energy than she should have in her moves. As a result, she was now on a nurse-mandated three day resting period where she wasn’t allowed to use moves. However, her efforts did mean no one else outside the trio had been seriously injured.

Then there was Ninetales.

Ninetales was... not good. Three of her ribs were shattered, a number of her organs were injured, and something inside of her had been dislodged, interfering with her breathing. What she experienced far outdid anything she would have received in a Pokémon battle, where Pokémon fight to inflict exhaustion, rather than debilitating injuries. Here, that red Gyarados was going for a kill. Returning her as soon as I did probably saved her life.

Just like she saved mine.

I closed my eyes and leaned back on my bed as the nurse listed off Ninetales injuries. Due to the amount she sustained, she was essentially in a medically-induced coma for the next week to make sure nothing became worse, and after that, she’d need physical therapy to deal with regaining proper mobility after both the injuries and the coma. It would take her a month before she would be allowed to participate in battles, and another month after that until she would be back to full health.

Her injuries would have killed any human, and it was only thanks to the innate durability of Pokémon, as well as the advanced medical technology of this world, that she would end up okay. It wouldn’t make the next two months any more pleasant, however.

The nurse left the room once she saw I was dealing with the shock of everything that happened to Ninetales, and I wiped the tears out of my eye once she was gone. I was racked with guilt. I considered this whole situation my fault due to the escalation I had unintentionally caused. I hated to admit it, but in all honestly, things were technically better off.

In the games, Lysandre activated the Ultimate Weapon and destroyed Geosenge town when it unearthed itself, and in the anime, there was a massive conflict Ash was involved in that somehow involved Zygarde. Now, only Diancie’s home was attacked, and only Ninetales sustained a terrible injury. Unintentionally, I had pulled the lever to the trolly problem, and I couldn’t help but feel guilty with the harm that was caused that could have been avoided. I just had to be happy it could technically have been worse.

Ramos entered my room the next morning. The door creaked open slowly, and when he saw I was awake, he gave me a soft smile.

Ramos looked exhausted. As an old man, he always had this general sense of tiredness to him, but now, he looked like he could pass out standing up. He walked over to a chair to collapse on it, then took a sip from a thermos he had clipped to his waist. He then let out a long sigh.

“How are yeh, sapling?”

“Physically, I’m mostly fine. My side hurts but I’ll be allowed to go in a few hours. Mentally, I’m torn up about everything that happened, as well as about Ninetales’s current condition.”

Ramos nodded. We fell into a brief silence.

“So, yeh want the detailed rundown, or the quick version?” he asked.

“I don’t think I can handle a detailed rundown right now,” I replied.

“I understand.”

He leaned back into his chair to get into a more comfortable position, then licked his lips before speaking.

“To start, Lysandre Labs has been temporarily seized by the Kalosian government. They’re going through all of their research and inventions, as well as finding which employees can still be trusted. Instead of Lysandre as the head, it’s going to be a closely monitored group of directors. Since Team Flare was a subgroup of Lysandre Labs, it of course, has been dissolved.

“The Carbink of the Diamond Domain—the proper name for Diancie’s home—have been treated and are in the process of repairing their caverns. The League is going to put an extreme restriction on visitors, so only trusted allies can enter the area. That includes yeh, Hope, me, as well as a few Rangers that have patrolled the caves before.

“And finally, the Ultimate Weapon has been secured and is in the process of actually being disassembled. There’s a team of researchers looking into how to dismantle it without risking setting it off, and already within a few hours they’ve learned Lysandre’s team has been lying about how complicated it is. They estimate the weapon will be unrepairable within a month.”

I breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Good,” I said.

Ramos smiled.

“It is.”

At that, he stood up and stretched, then began to walk out of the room.

“Since yeh wanted the quick version, that’s all I’ve got to say. Yeh did a good job, sapling. Diancie’s safe thanks to you,” he said.

“Thank you, Ramos. I hope dealing with the aftermath hasn’t been too hard.”

He brought his head back and let loose a barking laugh.

“‘Too hard?’ It’s been the most work I’ve had in decades! But, things are moving fast, and they’re changing for the better. Good luck with yer training, Alex. Make sure yeh stop by before you return to Lumiose.”

Then Ramos walked out, and I was left alone to recover for the next few hours until I would finally be released.

I was a bad person.

I could barely hide my chuckles when I next saw Altaria.

Most of my team had already been treated, and they had refused to enter their Pokéballs until they saw me healthy. Hope had been taking care of them in the meantime, and that meant they were grouped up in the lobby of the Pokémon Center when I was finally allowed to leave.

Each step caused me to wince from the pain, and they looked at me worriedly when I entered the room. I brought my head up to see how they were, then slapped myself on my mouth so I wouldn’t burst into laughter at Altaria’s appearance.

He was pink. That would have been fine if he was pure pink, but instead, his feathers were already starting to grow back. He had bits of blue and white fluff all across his body as well as little dots from the feather shafts starting to stick out. He must have been embarrassed about it since he was hiding under a chair, and I felt horrible that I thought he looked funny in the first place.

Meanwhile, Florges wasn’t standing like normal but instead found a nice, padded seat on the couch to sleep on. Whimsicott was serving as a pillow behind her head, and Azumarill stood in front of her like some kind of bodyguard. I couldn’t miss the glances Azumarill was giving to Mawile, who was running her hands through Ponyta’s mane nearby. I could tell she was itching to battle her.

Even with Mawile’s Mega Evolution, I would say Azumarill still had a chance to win.

Hope, looking similarly exhausted but not quite so, stood up as soon as she saw me.

“Alex! Are you alright?”

I nodded. It looked like my Pokémon wanted to rush me, but they were purposely holding themselves back. The nurses must have told them to be wary about the injury I currently had.

Florges started to drift back to consciousness, and she gave me a soft smile before trying to push herself back up. However, Whimsicott’s cotton had caused her to stick to the couch with Cotton Spore, and she found herself unable to move.

I finally let myself laugh. It was a simple but ridiculous prank that must have taken hours of planning.

I don’t know why, but I laughed hard. Relief finally came to me after hours of worry, and my laughs were deep and joyful. Tears started to drip from my eyes in both levity and happiness that the rest of my team weren’t any more injured. It hurt to move my chest in that way, and I had to sit down from the pain, but eventually I calmed down and just looked at everyone and smiled.

“I’m so happy you all are alright. Thank you, for everything. I’m okay, I just need time to heal. Ninetales, though...”

Their good moods that had appeared when I entered the room faded away.

“She’s hurt,”I said. “Badly. She won’t wake up until the end of the week, and even then she’s going to need help. She’ll be able to fight again eventually, but until then, she needs time to heal—far more than me.”

I rubbed my forehead.

“I never meant for her to ever get that injured,” I mumbled.

“Then you should do something for her,” Hope said.

I looked up to meet her in the eye.

“She got hurt trying to save you, right? Then you should find a way to thank her. Ninetales risked her life so you could live, so you should find a way to make her happy. Something that she really likes.”

Immediately, an idea popped in my head.

“I think I have a plan. I’ll buy what I need once it gets closer to her waking up. Did I miss anything in my night’s stay in the center?”

Hope grimaced.

“Did Ramos tell you?” she asked.

“I mean, he filled me in on general developments, but not anything else.”

“Xerosic’s getting pardoned.”

I sat up in shock.

“What?!”

“Yup,” Hope said. “Xerosic, aka the lead Team Flare scientist responsible for hurting so many Pokémon, is getting pardoned by the government. The Pokémon League and Diantha are trying to fight back, but essentially all they’re getting is restrictions being placed on him. He’ll never go unsupervised again, and he’s basically required to go to therapy for, like, forever, but he’s essentially a free man.”

I slumped back down.

“That's... messed up,” I said.

“It’s disgusting,” she nodded.

Not wanting to stay on that topic much longer, our conversation switched to more mellow topics as we tried to unwind after everything that happened yesterday. I talked about my future plans in the region, where I wanted to go next, as well as a few fun ideas I had to train my Pokémon. A lot of the training ideas were inspired by the advice Ramos had given me back when this mess wasn’t anywhere near as awful. It was a pleasant and nice way to relax.

Hope didn’t have anywhere to go so she stayed with us. At the same time, while we talked I couldn’t help but to notice a surprising lack of Dedenne. He had been crucial in both releasing the Carbink and helping Hope and Ramos run back to the base camp, but he was nowhere to be found. I asked Hope about it to see if she knew where she was, and she told me that he ran off into the city once everyone was committed to the Pokémon Center. I hoped he was okay. I wasn’t in a good enough state to go searching for him.

When the conversation winded down, I excused myself to start making calls to my friends from Hoenn and Johto to give them a heads up about what just happened. To be honest, in the past month I’d only rarely called them, and when I did the phone calls were more of general check-ins rather than actual conversations. I had been so paranoid that Lysandre was spying on me and would harm them to get to me, so I had kept everything limited.

I no longer had that fear now that he was in a high-security prison, awaiting trial.

So, sporadically talking to them over the rest of the day and next, I got some updates about how things were going.

First off, I learned that Marty had quit his job at the Pokémart. Wally finally arrived in Johto at the end of March, when I was distracted by Lysandre showing up at Ramos’s Gym (it was currently early April). After watching Wally absolutely decimate Jasmine, Olivine’s Gym Leader, Marty decided it was time to make something of his life so he turned in his resignation, then left to travel with Wally to start his own company.

Marty had enjoyed selling trainer-based merchandise, and he wanted to create a business of sponsoring trainers and selling things based on their teams. That wasn’t an original idea—it was essentially just a basic agency—but he wanted one of his own. Using his connections he had from when he was ordering goods to sell with his sponsorship of me, he dipped into his savings to order a bunch of stuffed toys, posters, and themed bottle caps based around Wally’s team, and planned to travel Johto with him to expand his business.

Marty didn’t have enough money to rent a location to actually sell the goods he bought. Instead, he bought a spatially expanded backpack and a foldable table to try to make it as a traveling merchant. I wished him luck in that endeavor.

There wasn’t much to say about Wally other than the fact he had already earned two Gym Badges in the three weeks he was in Johto. He beat Jasmine, the Steel Type Gym Leader, then swung around to the island city of Cianwood to beat the Fighting Type Gym Leader, Chuck. When I called them, Marty and Wally were back in Olivine, picking up the merchandise that had become ready, and were planning to make their way to Ecruteak soon.

Neither of them were shocked that I had trouble involving criminals again. I wasn’t sure if my side or their lack of surprise hurt more.

Since she was pretty much in the same spot as before, Laura didn’t have much to say except for a few tips about healing from a cracked rib (Dewford Gym Trainers tended to suffer from that injury a lot), and expressed her best wishes about Ninetales’s conditions. Similarly, Thomas gave me advice about working with an extremely injured Pokémon. In the past, his Mightyena had become similarly hurt from a wild Skarmory back when it was a Poochyena. It took the Dark Type three months to get better due to the severe injuries to its legs.

The last person I called, Old Man Harvey, was actually relatively close by, in Galar. I had caught him at a bad time, since he had a meeting scheduled with a local historian very soon. He expressed his sadness at Ninetales’s injuries and talked about a few tips to help her healing process, but I had already memorized everything he said from his journal.

The thing he talked about the most, however, was the person he was meeting with.

They had met several times before in the past to discuss his research into Galar’s local fairy tales. Each time they had a scintillating conversation about the local history and Fairy Types in general. Old Man Harvey was a divorced man who had thought he would never marry again, but he was obviously heads over heels with that woman and was yet to realize it.

I was surprised he hadn’t realized his own feelings considering how practically everything he said was a compliment to the woman’s intellect. He paid her so many compliments, he never actually told me her name.

With the day spent relaxing and waiting with my Pokémon, never leaving the Pokémon Center to make sure I was always close to Ninetales, there wasn’t that much pressing for me to do. We weren’t training, only discussing ideas, and it hurt to walk for too long anyway. The important members of the Pokémon League were taking care of everything with Team Flare and didn’t need our help, which meant I only had one more major task to complete.

It was scheduled for late the next night, but it was finally time to meet with Steven and tell him everything.

I met Steven in a private meeting room in the local Ranger headquarters on the western side of Shalour City. Most of them were still out in Reflection Cave, making sure every member of Team Flare had been caught.

The room wasn’t that large since the place was more of an outpost than anything else. The chairs and table were all the foldable variety, and there were several maps on the wall displaying local geography. The sole window had a thick tarp thrown over it to prevent anyone from peeking in.

Claydol was already out in the room, and a barrier overtook the walls the second I entered. Steven had a calm and collected look on his face as he sat on a foldable chair at the head of the table. It looked a little silly when compared to his fancy black-purple suit he was currently wearing.

“Here. This is for you,” Steven said when I approached.

Steven pushed what looked to be a large metal key across the table, sliding it down the short distance to the other end for me to collect.

I sat down on my own foldable chair and looked the item over.

“What is this? A key?” I asked.

“It’s the key to Kalos,” he stated.

I wasn’t eating, but I choked anyway.

“It’s mostly symbolic in nature, but it represents an increased level of trust with you and the local government and Pokémon League representatives,” Steven explained. “Essentially, by being granted this, there are no places in the region that you are barred from. Areas that are off-limits to normal trainers are now accessible, and that permission extends to other regions as well. However, in other regions you will have to submit requests to enter off-limit areas rather than just walking in like you can do here. Diantha wanted to make a scene out of it, but I encouraged her to grant it to you secretly instead. Hope will receive one as well.”

My throat suddenly felt very dry.

“I, uh, didn’t expect this. Does the key actually unlock anything?” I asked.

Steven smirked.

“Yes, the break room in the Kalos Pokémon League headquarters. There are free donuts on Wednesdays.”

I didn’t know how to react to that.

“...Should I start?” I asked.

“Please.”

I cleared my throat.

“I’m going to start with Kanto, going with the order the regions historically joined the league,” I said. “So first off, honestly, there’s not much I can give you about Kanto. Well, do you know Giovanni is the leader of Team Rocket?”

“We do. He’s currently one of the most wanted men in the world. Agatha is handling his Gym while we search for a replacement.”

I smiled.

“That’s good. I might know where he'll be in a year.”

“I— what?”

“Yeah, there’s a decent chance he’ll be in Unova. He’s personally going to go after Meloetta to use her Relic Song for some weird power gain. I don’t really remember the details, but I think it was in the northeast. Cynthia was there when it happened, so it might be around her vacation home. I don’t remember much more than that. Sorry.”

For me telling Steven where Giovanni would be to capture him, he looked surprisingly calm.

“Noted. I must ask, why do you know where Cynthia’s vacation home is?” he asked.

A certain surprise encounter in Undella Town flashed in my mind.

“Uh, no reason. Moving on, there’s not anything pressing I can remember in Johto. Wait, ooh. I’m not sure if I should talk about this.”

Steven frowned.

“Please, Alex. Whatever you can share, we can use to make the world a better place.”

I briefly remembered not explicitly telling him about Lysandre, and the consequences of that action. Even though it might make the subject of what I was about to reveal angry, I decided it was worth the risk.

“Well, Mewtwo lives somewhere in Johto. He’s not going to bother anyone, but you should be aware his species is capable of Mega Evolution. Also, there may or may not be a female Mewtwo somewhere in Unova. She’ll fight a few Genesect in the future.”

“I don’t know who either of those Pokémon are,” Steven murmured.

That made me feel conflicted. On one hand, I was revealing the identity of a powerful Pokémon that really wanted to be left alone. On the other hand, I was giving him a warning in case someone else made a Mewtwo of their own, like the one that appeared in the Genesect movie. It was too late to change my mind, so I continued regardless.

“Well, Genesect is a result of Team Plasma trying to modify an ancient Pokémon to become a powerful weapon, and as for Mewtwo, it’s for his safety that I’m not going into further details. Just warn Lance just in case, and really hammer it home to leave Mewtwo alone.”

“I... I will try. Thank you Alex.”

“Good. So moving on from Johto, well, everything that could go wrong in Hoenn already happened so I can skip that region. That leaves us with Sinnoh. I already warned you about Team Galactic. What happened with them?”

Steven looked grim.

“Indeed, Cyrus was revealed to be the leader of Team Galactic. Cynthia herself investigated his company headquarters in Veilstone, where she discovered the depths of his machinations. His organization had done extensive research into the Legendary Pokémon of the region, and he was planning on using the local Lake Guardians to capture them for himself. His closest allies of the organization were told that he sought to make a new world, but the more low-level members of the organization were either paid surprisingly well, or they just thought they were working to reshape the current world to be a better place. Now that Cyrus is gone, it’s been handled.”

I blinked.

“Wait, Cyrus is gone?”

Steven pinched the brow of his nose.

“What do you know about the four lakes of Sinnoh?”

“So you do know about the fourth Lake with Giratina?” I asked.

“Wha—So that answers that mystery. We knew about the fourth lake, but we did not know it was connected to Giratina. Nor did we know that Giratina was a Pokémon that existed outside of myths and legends. Cyrus disappeared into a cavern located within its shores, and every method we used to locate him ended up in a failure. As far as we know, he’s most likely dead.”

“Or in the Reverse World,” I added.

The room fell into silence momentarily. Steven looked unable to respond.

“Well, even if he got out alive, he wouldn’t be able to escape, which means Team Galactic is finished. If they’re out of the picture, everything else should have already been taken care of this year,” I said, thinking of Ash’s encounters with Darkrai, Dialga, Palkia, and the Pokémon Bounty Hunter, Hunter J. “In Unova, there’s the chance to capture Giovanni, like I said, but also Team Plasma.”

“Yes, the Pokémon rights organization that’s been recently gaining momentum. Wait, didn’t you say they created a Pokémon named Genesect?”

“I did, it’s a Legendary Pokémon,” I replied. “Anyway, Team Plasma is actually a secret order led by the Seven Sages trying to convince everyone to give up their Pokémon so they can take over the world. It’s led by one of the sages, Ghetsis, megalomaniac and a real piece of work. Their king, N, can speak to Pokémon, so Ghetsis manipulated him while he was young by only exposing him to abused Pokémon that hated humans. As a result, N has a twisted view of the world and dislikes Pokémon trainers. Ghetsis wants to use him as a figurehead to control Team Plasma.”

Steven’s mouth was open, but he didn’t speak.

“In addition, N is actually either the Hero of Truth or the Hero of Ideals—one or the other—which means he’ll be able to partner with Reshiram or Zekrom respectively. Also, there may or may not be a genius scientist named ‘Colress’ that’s part of the organization who’s trying to find a way to draw out Pokémon’s true power. I have no clue if he’s redeemable or not, but maybe see if you could convince him to change his ways and betray the organization.

“Oh! And Ghetsis might convince Colress to make a flying boat to contain Kyurem to use it as a weapon that can freeze over entire cities.”

Steven was silent.

“...I will warn Champion Alder.”

I sucked in a breath.

“Maybe... maybe don’t do that? Alder is fine, but he’s going to step down soon so it might be best to get his successor involved too.”

“And who would that be?” Steven asked, rubbing his temples.

“I—” I paused, thinking of how Iris was currently a beginning trainer that had yet to travel with Ash. “I don’t know anymore.”

He sighed.

“Then I will advise the League to work on a different solution. Since Kalos is next, is there anything else you want to mention, or can we move on?”

“The only other thing I have is to make sure no one goes after Zygarde. It’s a green, cell-based Legendary Pokémon that monitors the entire region. Honestly, there’s a decent chance it’s listening to us right now.”

At that realization, we both went silent and tried to disguise the fact we started to look around the room. I was a bit paranoid, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to see any of its invisible cells. It didn’t hurt to at least check, however.

I cleared my throat again once that nonsense was over.

“So in Alola, there’s Ultra Beasts, like you already know, but you should also know that there’s a Pokémon called Necrozma that can combine with both Solgaleo and Lunala to become basically the ultimate Pokémon—well, except for Eternatus. Ultra-Necrozma has some weird light power that's somehow connected to both Z-moves and Ultra Beasts. I’m a little unclear how everything’s connected, but the Aether Foundation may or may not be led by a crazy Lusamine that’s also somehow tied to Ultra Beasts. Basically, keep an eye on everything going on there.”

“We already are from your previous advice. Some of that information was new, and some of that was old. Thank you, Alex.”

Before we moved on to the next region, I suddenly remembered something about it and slammed my hands on the table and stood up. Steven flinched ever so slightly but still managed to maintain his composure.

“About Galar. This is important. Listen to me carefully.”

Steven hid a gulp, then adjusted the collar of his suit to get more air.

I took a deep breath to prepare myself.

“Tell Chairman Rose that he could afford to wait a day,” I ordered.

He blinked.

“W—What?”

“I mean, sure, Galar might have an energy crisis, but not for a thousand years. His plan would work, but summoning the Legendary Pokémon Eternatus? He better be damn sure that he can handle it before he does. He has years to set up proper safety precautions, as well as years to try to recruit Zacian and Zamazenta to his cause.

“And I mean recruit Zacian and Zamazenta. You better make sure Rose doesn’t press those Legendary Pokémon into his service.”

Steven nodded. I could tell he didn’t recognize any of the names of the Pokémon I mentioned, and I made a note to better describe them to him later.

Wait, is sharing this going to make me an enemy of the royal family in Galar? Weren’t they trying to hide the existence of those two Legendary Pokémon?

“Anyway, that Legendary duo would be a big assistance to stop such a powerful Legendary Pokémon from wreaking havoc. After all, they did succeed in stopping Eternatus in the past. Honestly, getting every Champion there too would help as well, and once Eternatus is summoned you can make sure it doesn’t cause too much damage.

“Although, now that I think about it, summoning an incredibly powerful Pokémon just to beat it up and capture it is kind of messed up. Maybe encourage Chairman Rose to look into a different solution?” I asked.

“I might just suggest the League step in instead,” Steven supplied.

“Good.”

I breathed out and collapsed back in my chair. There were still a number of small things I needed to talk about, but the main issues had all been covered.

However, it seemed Steven still wanted more answers.

“And what about Paldea and the others?”

“What? Where’s Paldea?”

He tilted his head to the side ever so slightly.

“You don’t know about Paldea?” he asked. “Well, Paldea is located to the southwest of Kalos. It’s also a member of the Pokémon League, but it’s not tied as closely to it as the other eight regions you mentioned. You might have missed it when researching because despite its size, it’s more of a ‘satellite’ member of the Pokémon League, like the Orange Islands and—”

“I don’t know anything about the other regions,” I interrupted. “Not what Pokémon they have, where they are, their cultures, or even how they’re structured. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them have more terrorist organizations like Team Magma or Team Flare, but I don’t know. I only know about the eight I told you about.”

Steven frowned, but still nodded his head.

“That’s alright, Alex,” he said. “You’ve already given us more than enough, and we’ll make sure to act on the information you’ve provided. Thank you. You may have saved thousands of lives.”

“I hope so,” I sighed.

I began to sit up to start talking about the little things I missed, but Steven asked me a question before I could.

“Oh, before our discussion resumed, I was curious. Where do you plan to go next? I’ve been informed you don’t plan to stay in Kalos, but I can tell you still want to tackle the League. Do you have a region already in mind?”

I smiled as images of my childhood came to mind. I remember quietly sitting in my room each day after school, rapidly tapping on the Nintendo DS. I spent hours on it, exploring the region and trying to obtain all the new evolutions of old Pokémon. It wasn’t my first Pokémon game, but it was the game I had spent the most time on. And the region that game took place in?

“Sinnoh,” I said. “I’m going to Sinnoh.”