Today I found out I couldn't trust everything I read on PokéNet. Most forums on PokéBase considered meditation to be useful only for Psychic and Fairy Pokémon. Nova and Tetsu here begged to differ.
Three days of training resulted in both mastering a few of their moves. Just three days. It was ridiculous. More than half of that time was spent meditating and manipulating Infinity Energy. The rest was, admittedly, a lot of battles against the wild, and sometimes aggressive, wild Pokémon. Even so, the meditation exercises proved fruitful for all three.
Tetsu's Metal Claws formed in a second, and she could sustain two of them for at least thirty minutes. That made sense since traveling using Metal Claw made for excellent endurance and energy training. But she also trained Stealth Rock, Harden, Gravity, and Leech Seed to the same level. Her Gravity manipulation was so spot on, she could manage four separate areas with varying levels of Gravity.
Nova was a fucking monster. Ember? Upgraded to Incinerate. Bite was now Crunch. Disarming Voice? Well, that one didn't directly lead to a new move, but the Team app showed she was starting to learn Snarl and Hyper Voice.
Nautilus mastered Rain Dance and Disable, and his Pluck usage led to Aerial Ace popping up in the Learning section of the app. Honestly, I picked up some monsters.
'I wonder if this is what Calem meant?'
I shook that thought out of my head. It didn't matter. This was our journey. Whatever came our way, we'd face it together. Like this Team Flux grunt that we found following a family of Bunnelby.
His eyes widened when he recognized me, but it was too late. We had him surrounded, and I really wanted to know if Team Flux was behind the current conflict in the forest. He'd initially denied knowing what I asked about, but his tone was too aggressive to believe he didn't know. It made him seem defensive, which didn't make sense if he knew nothing. Maybe Team Flux had sent out an alert about me, and he knew I was willing to kick his ass. But…
"Wait!" he shouted as I grabbed his jacket and lifted him up. "Don't hurt me!"
"You know, that's an interesting idea. Thank you!" I replied, glaring and trying to look as ruthless as possible.
"Fine! Fine! I'll talk!"
"What started the Vespiquen and Ledian war?"
"It was one of the grunts," he rambled. "They had a team go into the forest and cause a disturbance. I think they wanted younger Trainers to see how dangerous it is, but one of the other grunts took it too far. She took a few Vespiquen eggs and hid them in a Ledian colony. But then she smashed the eggs. Admins Ada and Cas were only a little mad, but they said we could still use the situation. And then they sent me looking for another colony to-."
"Wait, you're telling me that your leaders are fine with destroying Pokémon eggs and letting Pokémon kill each other?" I asked through my teeth. I pushed him against a tree as I felt my face heat up.
"Y-y-yeah, they w-were. I think they wa-. Agh! Don't break my arm! They wanted me to do it again, but I don't want to! I swear! I just wanted cheaper TM and Pokémon food prices. I didn't know they wanted to hurt others!" he shouted, squirming in my grip.
I didn't know when I'd twisted his arm and pushed his face into the tree, but I didn't want to let go. In fact, I wanted his arm to snap. Instead, I had Nautilus and Nova watch him as I called the Rangers.
"Hello?" a squeaky voice answered.
"Hi. I've got a Flux member who just told me they are behind the Pokémon conflict in Santalune Forest."
"Where are you?" the person demanded.
"I'm a few hours from Lumiose City. I can send a distress signal for a more accurate location."
"Please do so," they responded. "We'll have a League Agent there in a few minutes. Thank you for this."
As soon as she hung up, I clicked Nautilus' ball four times. Not even ten seconds later, the same League Agent as the other day showed up with an Alakazam. He looked at the Team Flux grunt before walking to me.
"You reported this to the Rangers, correct?"
I nodded. "I bumped into him about thirty minutes ago. After beating him in a battle, I thought it prudent to ask why he was sneaking behind a family of Bunnelby. He confessed Team Flux's role in the Vespiquen and Ledian conflict, as well as his order to create another event similar to it."
"That is a serious accusation. We'll have to conduct our own interview to corroborate your report," the Agent said. He looked over at the grunt again, who was rubbing his arm and staring at us. "I will say, any use of force by a Pokémon against a human is illegal, and your report will be dismissed if you used excessive force to get the information."
"That makes sense. I'm not reporting it for the reward. I just hate assholes who hurt others for their own benefit."
"As most do," he commented neutrally. "Thank you for calling this in. I'll take it from here. If everything checks out in your favor, I imagine you'll be compensated within a week. Take care."
With that, the Agent teleported with the grunt. I stood there, still fuming over what I learned. Nova and Nautilus approached me. Nova looked bored, but the concern on Nautilus' face made me take a deep breath. "Sorry, lost my cool there. Next time we fight Team Flux, I want both of you to hold nothing back. We're gonna kick their asses every single time. Let's get to Lumiose.
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[Augustine Sycamore POV, Prism Tower]
"Lida, please, let us handle this project. We need it to be perfect."
"Jett, there is no need for disrespect," I said, frowning at her.
"Forgive me, Professor Sycamore, but what we need now is strong leadership. If we're going to reopen the Lumiose Gym, we'll need it done right. Lida is a fine Trainer, and I'm sure she'll be a great Gym Leader. But we need experience to lead the project," she answered, not backing down.
"You have a point. But it wouldn't make sense for either of us to head it," I replied. I glanced at Lida, who sat in her chair and listened with a poker face. "I wasn't here because of my research and only came back because Mable disappeared. You were in the city when the Rust Syndicate made their move, but you didn't get involved. Lida here did more to help the city. She's known in the city, so it makes sense for her to be in charge. And, as the new Gym Leader, this falls under her jurisdiction."
I saw her ready a comment, so I cut her off before she could say anything. "Besides, you aren't very popular now. You should be focused on Quasartico and keeping your board seat."
Seeing her grow red almost brought a smile to my face, but I had to keep my composure. I turned to Lida. "We'll have to talk to the mayor about funding, so please have a few compelling reasons ready when we do. I would like you to show up at my tournament at some point, if you could. I want you to scout a few Gym Trainers from there, so you don't have to worry about training them."
Jett narrowed her eyes before standing up and leaving. Once she was gone, Lida let out a breath. "You know, things would have been much easier if we'd allowed Clemont to resume his duties."
"C'est vrai, Lida. But you forget the political landscape," I told her. "The mayoral position has often held negative views of the League, and the companies only tolerate us because we generate a large portion of the region's revenue. After AZ's Floette merged with the Ange, I think many people's trust in the League s'est érodée. We'll have to earn it back."
"You don't sound too confident, Professor," Lida commented. I guess I didn't hide the exhaustion well.
"Well, since you're the new Gym Leader, I think it's appropriate to get you caught up on recent events."
"Involving Team Flux?"
"And Legendary Pokémon. A person of interest has shown up in Santalune recently with a case of psychically induced amnesia. We believe it was a Legendary because of particular spikes in Infinity Energy, which are occurring more often in several regions. Every time this happens, we have a region-wide event, like the Mega Dimension or Team Flare activating the Ultimate Weapon."
Lida's eyes widened. "And now you think something is coming."
"I fear it is no longer just a thought."
The silence grew between us. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I felt a presence not unlike Hoopa and Diancie. It disappeared quickly, but that didn't make me feel better. Lida looked at me, her bewildered expression asking the most obvious question.
"I do not know, but it seems Calem and I are on the right track."
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A/N: I've yet to play Legends ZA, so please don't come for me if I get things wrong. Everything I write surrounding Lumiose City and Legends ZA content/characters stems from a conversation I had last night with my coworker while the bar was slow. Anyway, hope you enjoy!