"The post-mission debrief is usually reserved for full squads, but given the… nature of today's events, the boss thought it's important I speak with you three directly."
Rein immediately stiffened, his anger banked by a wave of apprehension. Anne sat up straighter, her curiosity piqued. Elias merely turned his head to look at her.
"Rein, your failure was one of discipline, not strength. You acted on your own and didn't wait for your squad. A man who cannot control his impulses is a liability. So, the boss thought that it would be wise to appoint you to a new squad."
Rein paled, but he swallowed hard and gave a stiff nod.
"Yes, commander."
"Anne." Sarah's gaze shifted. "Your analysis in the field and here is correct. You observe and learn. This is valuable. Your next assignment will be with the Intelligence Team in Talroc City."
A spark of genuine interest lit Anne's eyes. She smiled, a small, sharp thing.
"Understood."
Finally, Sarah turned to Elias. She studied him for a long, silent moment, her eyes taking in his blank expression.
"Elias. You lost a battle. But you gained an insight. The boss was… intrigued by your assessment. 'A shared dream,' you called it."
She walked closer, stopping at the head of the table.
"Understanding that bond is one thing. Countering it, or replicating it, is another. Your path to understanding, as you put it, will require more than observation."
She placed a single, sealed card on the table in front of him.
"Your mission is different. You will be registered to participate in the upcoming Metrolink City Pokemon Tournament—a minor league event for novice trainers."
For the first time, a flicker of something—surprise?—crossed Elias's face. But It was gone in an instant.
"The boss believes that if you wish to understand the dreams of trainers, you must walk among them. You will compete. I will provide you with different clothing. You will be just another aspiring trainer." She leaned forward slightly, her voice dropping. "But you will not forget your purpose."
Sarah leaned back. She head towards the door, gesturing for Rein and Anne to follow her out.
The door hissed shut, leaving Elias alone in the silence of the Meeting Room. Rein and Anne's presence were gone, leaving only the weight of the sealed card on the table.
He stared at it. It was a simple, black envelope, unmarked. He reached out and picked it up. He slid a thumb under the flap and opened it.
Inside was a Trainer Card. It was the standard design for the region: a blue and silver border, a place for a photo, and fields for name, ID number, and hometown. All the fields were filled.
NAME: Elias
ID No.: 734820-MTR
HOMETOWN: Metrolink City
The photo showed his own face, his white hair stark against the plain background, his expression as blank as ever. It looked recent. How did Xycle get a hold of this? This wasn't a forgery, it was a perfect, registered League ID. Did they have an agent in the League's administration?
He shook his head. The 'how' was not his mission. The 'why' and the 'what next' were.
He set the card down and unclipped Sandile's pokeball from his belt. He held it up before his eyes, the red and white surface reflecting the room's light.
"I do not understand it yet..." Elias said softly, his voice the only sound in the room. "But I will."
The bond between the pokemon and its trainer... a strange concept but a powerful one.
***
The vastness of the Training Room felt like a physical pressure. It was a huge space of dark gray room. Elias stood in the exact center, looking up at the high ceiling.
He had changed out of the black coat. The new clothes Sarah provided were unremarkable: dark cargo pants, a black leather jacket, sturdy boots. His transformation was so much different than his earlier look. His white hair was cut short just above his ear, styled in a slicked back.
The door hissed open, the sound stark in the quiet.
Elias didn't turn. He recognized the frustrated footsteps.
Rein stopped a few paces away. The usual heat of his anger was absent. In its place was a bewildered tension that seemed to vibrate off him. He stared at Elias's back, his brows raised.
"What did he see in you?"
The question hung in the air. Elias slowly lowered his gaze from the ceiling and turned to face him.
Rein's jaw was tight, his hands clenched at his sides. The confusion in his eyes was a storm.
"What did the boss see in you..." Rein repeated, his voice low and strained. "that he can't see in his own blood?"
The words landed in the silent space. A new piece of information. Rein. Son of the Boss. The anger, the sense of entitlement, the fury at Elias's special treatment—He finally knew why Rein was so frustrated with him. And he understand it.
"I don't know what he sees in me." Elias answered, his tone flat. "If my presence in this organization hurts you so much... I could leave."
Rein's eyes widened, his breath catching in his throat. The anger, the confusion, the resentment—all of it seemed to freeze for a moment.
"You… you could what?" Rein choked out, taking an involuntary step back. "You think he'd just let you walk away? Even if I want you to leave, he won't let you. Hell, he'll even kick me out for you."
He grabbed his pokeball from his belt bag behind him, his knuckles were white around it.
"if I can't push you out, then battle me. Right here. Show me what makes you worth more than his own blood."
Elias looked at Rein's face, at the pain and pride twisted together. He understood this, too. It was a plea for validation, for a fight that could somehow translate into an answer. It was simpler than Shan's shared dream, but just as potent.
He unclipped Sandile's ball from his belt, held it up, and took several long strides back.
Rein didn't wait for a signal.
"Go, Magby!"
The little pokemon emerged with a sputter of flame, its usual mischievous expression hardened into focus.
"Sandile."
Sandile materialized, landing in a low crouch, its red eyes immediately locking onto its opponent. It let out a low, warning growl, the sound echoing in the vast room.
"Start with Smog!" Rein commanded, a tactical opener to limit mobility and chip away.
Magby inhaled deeply, its belly glowing, and spewed a thick, purple cloud of toxic smoke that billowed across the space towards Sandile.
"Dig, Sandile."
Rein's lips curled into a sharp smile.
"Predictable!" He shouted. "You're starting with the same trick! Magby, now! Jump and use Fire Spin!"
As Sandile's claws tore into the training mat to burrow, Magby didn't try to intercept it. Instead, it took a powerful leap, soaring over the billowing wave of purple Smog. Mid-air, it opened its mouth and unleashed a spiraling vortex of intense, concentrated flame.
It lanced directly into the heart of the advancing Smog cloud.
The flammable toxins in the Smog ignited.
BOOM!
A an explosion of fire erupted, engulfing the center of the battlefield. The blast wave rippled outwards, hot and forceful. Thick, smoky darkness billowed out in every direction, a shroud that swallowed the light from the ceiling panels and filled the vast room in seconds.
Elias's eyes widened a fraction, the only sign of his surprise. Visibility dropped to zero. The sound of Sandile's digging was swallowed by the roaring aftermath of the blast. He could no longer see his pokemon, or Rein, or Magby.
From within the smoke, Rein's voice came, laced with a new, cold confidence.
"You see? I can learn too! Maybe my father don't realize it yet, but I'm a better trainer than you!"
Better trainer? Has this turned into a competition on who's the better trainer? Elias is confused by Rein's always changing mood. He couldn't read him. Rein's objective had shifted from seeking validation to a direct declaration of superiority.
Elias closed his eyes again, filtering out Rein's boast. From below the ground, he could feel Sandile moving. He could tell that its telling him its alright and ready to move. Even if he can't see through the smoke, he have to believe to his partner.
Elias finally opened his eyes.
"Sandile, use Sandstorm!" He said, louder than he intended to.
The command cut through the lingering crackle of the explosion. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, from deep within the earth, a low, gathering roar began to build.
The floor trembled. At the epicenter of the smoky darkness, the ground erupted. But Sandile didn't emerge. Instead, a violent geyser of sand blasted upwards, ripping through the smoke like a tornado.
The vortex of sand didn't just blow the smoke away—it consumed it, merging with it, creating a new, far more brutal environmental hazard.
In an instant, the thick, black smoke was shredded and replaced by a blinding, stinging, ochre-brown maelstrom. The few remaining ceiling lights became dim, swirling orbs. The air became a physical force, biting at exposed skin and clogging the lungs.
Rein cried out, raising an arm to shield his face.
"Magby! Hold on!" His voice was swallowed by the howling wind.
Elias stood his ground, the sand scraping against his leather jacket. He could see nothing. He could only hear the roar of the storm and the faint, frantic cry of Rein's pokemon somewhere to his left.
This was the test. Not of tactics, but of trust. Of the bond he claimed not to understand. Not only to him, but Rein and Magby too.
He couldn't give complex commands. He couldn't direct a precise strike. He had to rely on Sandile's instincts, on the partnership they had built in a short time. He had to believe Sandile could navigate the chaos it had created.
He took a breath, the air gritty on his tongue.
"Magby is disoriented. Find it."
In the heart of the sandstorm, Sandile heard. It wasn't a clear command. But for a pokemon whose entire being was attuned to the desert's wrath, a sandstorm was not an obstacle—it was home.
Its eyes, protected by nictitating membranes, snapped open. It felt the vibrations in the shifting sand under its feet. It heard the panicked, higher-pitched cough of the Magby over the wind's roar. It smelled the distinct, sooty scent of Magby's fear.
Sandile moved with a predatory's stalk, its body low, becoming one with the stinging currents.
Rein stood paralyzed. He couldn't see Magby. He could barely hear his own panicked thoughts over the storm. A cold, sinking realization flooded him, colder than the sand biting his skin.
"I'm not built for this."
The thought was clear and devastating. This wasn't about his father, or Elias, or being a better trainer. In this maelstrom where everything is not visible, where complex strategy was impossible, everything boiled down to the raw, fundamental link between trainer and pokemon. And his link felt like a frayed wire, sparking with frustration and doubt.
He had always seen Magby as an extension of his will, a tool to prove his strength. He shouted commands, expected obedience, and met failure with anger. Now, in the blinding sand, that approach was worthless. Magby needed him to be more than a commander. It needed a partner. And Rein… he didn't know how.
Through the storm's roar, he felt a pull. A desperate tug on the edge of his awareness. It was Magby reaching. Reaching for direction, for anything from its trainer, even as it knew it was outmatched and out of its element. Even as it knew it would likely lose.
The stubborn loyalty of it broke something inside Rein. His anger evaporated, leaving only a hollow ache. He opened his mouth, but no command came. What could he say? "Dodge"? In this? "Use Smog"? It was useless. He had no brilliant tactic. He had nothing to give.
But Magby was still reaching. And in that void of Rein's indecision, in the space where a command should have been, something else flowed down the bond. A picture of overwhelming, eruptive power.
In the heart of the sandstorm, Magby shuddered. Its body began to glow. The light pulsed, fighting against the scouring sand. The temperature in the room spiked dramatically, the sand around Magby beginning to vitrify into glass.
With a guttural, tearing cry that cut through the wind, Magby threw its head back. Fire erupted from its entire being. A catastrophic ring of molten rock and superheated flame exploded outwards in a radial inferno.
Lava Plume.
The move was untamed, fueled by the evolution. The sandstorm around Magby was vaporized in an instant, the sheer heat creating a temporary, blistering vacuum. The wave of fire hit the charging Sandile head-on, blasting it backwards.
But the cost was immense. As the fire cleared, revealing the scorched, glass-strewn floor, Magby was no longer there.
In its place stood a Magmar, taller, fiercer, its body steaming. It took one wobbling step forward, its new form already trembling from exhaustion. It looked at Rein across the clearing haze, its eyes holding a flicker of understanding, accomplishment, a bond forged in the crucible of shared desperation.
Then, its eyes rolled back, and it collapsed, unconscious. The evolution, the monumental effort of the Lava Plume, had drained it completely.
The sandstorm guttered and died. Elias stood still, watching as Sandile shakily got to its feet, injured but conscious. He looked from the evolved, fainted Magmar to Rein, who was staring at his pokemon, his face pale with shock.
The battle was over.
And Elias won.