Melia walks up the stairs to find Ava surrounded by Butterflies of Fate. The Arceus statue's gold shines, the cloudy white marble reflecting the golden sun sitting just above it. The smell of autumn and fresh water is accompanied by the sound of flowing water and rustling leaves. The wind blows softly, picking up scattered leaves and spreading them even further.
"Wow…" Melia whispers under her breath.
"You ready!?" Ava tosses a Net Ball in her hand.
"You know, Ava, I had a great time today, but this is different." Melia starts walking towards Ava. "Even though I do love researching things, battling is another passion of mine." Ava smiles as she turns to Melia. "You were able to beat Venam, but I've beaten her too. Let's use this battle to determine which one of us is the strongest. So don't hold back, okay?"
The pair confidently chuckle. "Let's go!" they say in unison as they throw out their Pokémon.
Ava looks at her Aevian Sewaddle. "Swaws! Use Infestation!"
Swaws starts chirping, but Melia's Buneary cuts their focus with an affirmative clap. "Now hit her, double time!"
"Let's try it again! Give that lil' shit aggressive lice!" Buneary starts rocking side to side in a boxing pose, her purple arms glowing with a white hue. Oh my god, SHE'S GONNA FUCKIN PENDULUM SWING. Swaws takes the combo to the face and, while obviously dazed, starts chirping again.
"You got this! Let's go again!" Melia cheers from behind her Buneary as it stops itching. Sewaddle comes at her again. "You got this!" Buneary goes in for the punch but misses, scratching her side instead.
"Bug Bite!" Swaws' fangs glow white as they grow an inch or two. Once she gets in close again, Buneary throws another punch but gets her arm bitten in the process.
"You did well as always," Melia whispers, recalling the fainted Buneary and bringing out another Pokéball. "Come on out, Stufful!"
Is that the cotton candy teddy bear? Ava recalls Swaws and brings out a Luxury Ball. "Deluxe! Time to wreck house." Deluxe howls, but Stufful seems unfazed. "Light that little shit up!"
Ava's Braixen takes a huge inhale. "Roar!" Stufful takes an equally deep inhale, but before he can get it out, Deluxe's flames torch him, resulting in a faint.
"Wow… and you only just started…" Melia whispers with a soft smile. "Wooloo!"
"VeeVee!" Char cheers from behind Melia as they snack on something.
"You traitor! Deluxe, after you make mutton, turn Char into dog food!" Deluxe looks at her senpai and shakes her head disappointedly, then spews a wall of flames.
"Get out of there!" Melia cries. The wall of flames dies down seconds later, revealing a slightly charred Wooloo. Melia steps back. "W-wait… I-I don't think this is how it was supposed to go," she states a bit frantically as she sends out Hapi.
"Lamb and scrambled eggs. My favorite! Flame Charge!" Deluxe creates another wall of fire and runs through it, tackling the young Togepi. Hapi yawns after getting hit, forcing a yawn out of Braixen. Oh fu— "Grill'em!" Deluxe jolts from the holler and spits fire as a response. "That works too," Ava adds as the Togepi faints.
"I see, so that's how it goes…" Melia picks up Hapi and uses a revive on him. "Looks Like I've got a long way to go." Ava pats her on the shoulder
"It's too early to be doubting yourself. Plus nobody has beaten me yet, so…"
Melia sighs. "I didn't say it wasn't ok but thanks. It's not like people can be the best all the time." Char rubs against her ankle. "I'll take this battle as a lesson."
"That a girl." Ava goes over to the spot where Char was. "You mother fu-!.. You ate the rest of the macaroons. You betray me and then you take my reward." She sighs
"Eev.." Char shakes out a macaroon from his mane fluff
Melia takes a napkin filled with some from her pocket. When Ava reaches out to them Melia grasps Ava's hand in her own "Thank you, Ava. For the battle and for today."
"No issues" Ava replies, staring at the cookies "Now let's start cleaning up." Ava taps Melia's shoulder
"I already did, but I'll need help with the blanket." An explosion is heard right as Melia ends her sentence. "W-what in the world was that?!"
"That sounded like it came from the forest!"
"Ava, let's forget the blanket. We have to go back to Goldenwood Forest immediately." Ava finds out that Melia wasn't asking but telling her as Melia grabs her by the hand and bolts for the cave.
Was that an Absol? Ava thinks as the two enter the ruin passageway.
"H-Help! Help!" an old lady screams as she runs onto the ruin entryway.
"Ma'am, are you ok? What's goin on?" Melia still panting checks on the old lady.
"I heard this awful explosion near the forest and went to go take a look!" Melia steps away from her "Then these awful people in black showed up and blocked off the exit! They took my darlin Furfrou and now they won't let us leave!"
"People in black?"
"Xen…" Ava's tone filled with disgust
"Yes, actually I think that's right! It's Team Xen!"
Ava starts walking past the woman "We'll try to figure something out, you stay here."
"NO! I'm going to go rescue my dear old Foofie!"
Ava knocks out the old lady. (Imagine it as you will) "Nah."
"Ava!"
"What!? She was going to get hurt."
"You have a point, but you can't just hit people without talking to them!"
"Fine… Mom, sorry. Now can we go and check what's going on?"
"Fine. If it's true that Team Xen is here we'll have to fight our way out. We got this, Ava!" Melia runs off leaving Ava in the cave alone.
I'm about to make me an enemy. Ava chases after Melia. "Yo! Wait for me!"
Another explosion goes off as Ava catches up to her friend. "So it's true… Team Xen really is here!"
"Glad you heard of us." A black haired male grunt replies
"Where's the bald guy? And the purple haired one? Especially the purple haired one."
"The hell you worrying about that for? You ain't makin it that far." He scoffs. "Enough talk! We're here for the girl, Any resistance will result in a firm display of-!"
Ava steps in front of Melia and tosses a Netball. "Guess we're fighting."
"There's always one!" The grunt tosses out a normal pokeball, the Meowth that came out emits a purple aura.
"That Meowth… There's something different about it.." Melia looks at it, her voice was hiding a negative emotion
"Madelis wasn't able to hide its appearance, but you're right! This is what's called a shadow Pokémon. A pokémon that has its heart completely closed. A truly Ruthless fighting machin!-"
"It's an emo. They don't know how to fight."
"You little bitch!"
"At me."
"Ava!" Melia interjects
"I'm talking, what more do you want from me? Jeez mom-" Melia tosses a techy glove to Ava as she turns around
"Put it on your dominant arm!" Melia rubs her temples "Ava, this is going to sound awful, but I need you to catch-..."
"GO POKEBALL!" 1..2.3… The pokeball chimes confirming the catch. "As Purple venom would say, "it's just that easy". "
"W-What?! My Meowth!" The grunt falls to his knees.
"Y-You snagged his Meowth? How is that possible?" a blonde woman says beside her fallen comrade
"So, it is a Snag Machine. Why would a Snag Machine be in the briefcase?" Melia turns away from Ava. "Unless…"
"Can we not think about stuff while in an active raid?"
"Y-yeah."
"..Hey.. give me back my Meowth. I raised it from an egg! You can't just take it away from me!"
"No! You used it for experiments, and worst of all you are the direct reason it turned emo. and you yelled at me, but that's beside the point. Evidently it doesn't want to come back home." Ava puts his Meowth in her backpack
"You'll regret this! Both of you!!"
"He says running away. Fuckin Pokestar "villain". "
"Ava, I don't know why all of this is happening, but together we can get out of this." Melias peeps to Ava
She's just saying that to herself at this point.. I guess I can be serious. Ava stretches. "Why wouldn't we? We got a Pre-Gym Leader and the world's best rookie. Now come on we got a forest to leave." Ava says, signaling to Swaws to follow her jogging body.
Melia comes up to her companions' side wearing a combination of shock and terror. "They've destroyed the lake…"
"And summoned a gateway for Giratina.." Ava points over to an black orb of miasma with a tall blonde man kneeling before it with open arms
"What in the world is that???" The blonde female steps back, her voice confused "I don't like the look of it at all."
"Well if it makes you feel any better I don't find it beautiful either.." Ava sighs "All jokes aside. Like it or not we need to take care of it, otherwise we can't leave. Negative Nancy attitude or not."
Melia's eyes grow along with a smile "You're right, Ava. We have to win! We can't lose here!" her smile dims but her determined stare overlooks it. "Our lives.. Our lives depend on it! We can do this!"