Chapter 040

"You want to try and talk to it...?" repeated Mordred, staring at Leon as if he had lost his mind.

"We still don't know for certain that it's Floor Guardian," contended Leon. "And if we can convince it to join us, it would make a powerful ally."

"And what if it just expels you from its mind and goes on a rampage...?" asked Mordred. "The rain and floodwaters have only recently started to recede. The last thing we need is a second deluge, especially with that ice bastard scheduled to appear soon."

"But the Legendary Pokemon are unique," argued Leon. "There is typically only one per species. If we kill the Zapdos and it isn't the Floor Guardian, it may not respawn. And even if it does, it would probably be a puppet like what the Baphomet has become."

Closing her eyes and exhaling a tired sigh, Mordred gave the impression she 'really' wanted to lay into Leon. Instead, after staring at him with half-lidded eyes and crossed arms for several seconds, she asked, "Do you at least have a plan...?"

Adopting a smile, not that Mordred could see it, Leon replied, "I'll seal off its potential escape routes and cover the chute above its nest using metal and stone blocks. It might be powerful, but if an 8,000kg cube drops on it from sixty meters, it's dead, guaranteed."

"Assuming it doesn't just move out of the way..." supplanted Mordred, her half-lidded expression making it clear she wasn't impressed.

"That's where the Rhyhorns we have in the Sanctuary come in," said Leon. "They're virtually immune to electric attacks, and two of the ten know the move Stealth Rock. I convinced them to assist us in exchange for allowing them to roam the island, specifically with Shouichi's survey team."

Relaxing her expression and posture, Mordred asked, "Is this Stealth Rock effective against Flying-type Pokemon?"

"In the games, it's ridiculously effective," replied Leon. "In real life, it's not just Flying types who are inconvenienced by them. They will also limit our ability to move freely, but that's a moot point since I don't plan to have us fight directly. The idea is to trap the Zapdos within its nest and drag it into a battle of attrition. I took a direct hit from its lightning and came out fine. If it refuses to talk, I'll fill its entire cave with dirt and stone cubes until it's buried alive..."

"I like it...!" exclaimed Mordred, punching her right fist into the palm of her left hand. "I would have preferred fighting it head-on, but after these past two and a half months, I just want to move beyond that damn Floor."

"A sentiment shared by many, myself included," mused Leon. "Fortunately, I completed most of the preparations earlier this morning. All that remains is to actually confront it."

"Then, what the hell are we sitting around here for!?" exclaimed Mordred, lurching forward and wrapping her arms around Leon. His words indicated he intended to confront the Zapdos alone, but even if she ultimately stood off to the side and watched, she would accompany him. Fortunately, Leon had anticipated and accepted this as an inevitability, so instead of making a fuss and trying to talk her down, he readily seeped into Mordred's body, possessing her so they could move to the island together...

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Sensing someone enter its lair, the Zapdos, with a head-to-tail length of approximately three meters and a comparable wing length, raised its head and telepathically cautioned, 'Tread carefully, interloper. You have already angered me by disturbing my slumber. One ill-considered move or remark and I shall erase you from this world...'

Though she might have tread carefully two months prior, Mordred knew from the moment she laid eyes on the Zapdos that she was stronger than it. However, instead of attacking, she said, "My Lord, Leon Ashford, hopes to reach an accord with you, the Great Lord of Thunder and Lightning. Our only desire is to continue our climb up the Tower. If you can tell us where the Floor Guardian resides, we will leave you in peace and with many gifts for the inconvenience we have caused..."

'Then you require my Light Orb...' said the Zapdos, shifting in its nest to produce a roughly Pokeball-sized orb that glowed with a brilliant golden glow.

Demonstrating it was aware of the difference between itself and Mordred, the Zapdos added, 'Your power more than qualifies you to challenge our Master, Lugia. Seek my brother and sister to the West and South. Once you have collected all three of our orbs, you will find the temple devoted to our Master to the North. Overcome his trial, and the path you seek shall open...'

Picking up the orb that rolled toward her, facilitating Leon placing it safely within his Storage, Mordred asked, "My Lord wishes to know why you and your kin devastate this island so."

'Regenesis,' answered the Zapdos. 'Destruction heralds an end to life but also clears the path for new life to take root. The three of us are charged with maintaining the balance of this world. Were we to cease, it would not be long before the variety of our lesser kin dwindled...'

'That explains why we've only managed to uncover around two-thirds of the 150 species that should inhabit this island...' muttered Leon. 'I don't imagine the constant weather changes helped, but they were likely wiped out by more aggressive Pokemon species...'

'That's survival of the fittest,' replied Mordred, outwardly performing a slight bow as she expressed, "My Lord thanks you for your time," before raising her head and asking, "Shall we leave our gifts here?"

'Yes,' replied the Zapdos. 'And on your way out, clear the objects you've used to obstruct the airflow to this chamber. They're interfering with my ability to gather the energy required for my next flight...'

"My Lord expresses that it shall be done..." said Mordred, sweeping her right hand, largely for show, as Leon produced several items out of his Storage, mostly food but also a few precious rocks and stones as he had noticed the Zapdos kept several, similar to a crow.

Thus, despite agonizing over how they would defeat the Zapdos for over two and a half months, the long-awaited confrontation ended after three and a half minutes of civil discussion and a gift exchange...

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Using the location of the Zapdos's nest as a point of reference, Leon had a much easier time locating those belonging to Articuno and Moltres. The former was practically a giant iceberg surrounded by frozen sea, while the latter was an active volcanic island, blackened by soot and with perpetual lava flows. Leon finally discovered a few Charmanders, Charmeleons, and even a Charizard on the volcanic island, but the real catch could be found on the tundra's northernmost shore, populated by a supercolony of Seels, Dugongs, and a handful of Staryus in the deep waters off the coast.

With the Light Orb already in their position, Leon and Mordred were able to collect the Ice and Fire Orbs with relative ease. Moltres demanded a larger offering than its younger siblings, but Articuno, the only female in the group, was comparably reasonable. She even came down to welcome them as she had been circling the skies of her island in preparation for her annual flight, amassing a tremendous amount of ice-elemental Mana in the clouds that would eventually encompass the mainland in a thick layer of cold but insulating snow...

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*tok* *tok* *tok*

Hearing someone knock on his door just after he had finished tucking his Eevee in after a long night of training, Leon approached and opened it to find Miu standing outside, startling her.

"Back up a little," said Leon, prompting Miu to startle a second time and hastily respond, "O-Okay!" as she backed up to the wall, nearly knocking down the painting hanging across the entrance to his room.

Stepping into the hallway and closing his door behind him, Leon turned to Miu and asked, "What's up...?" as if he didn't know why she would drop by in the brief period he had nothing to do.

Pressing the tips of her index fingers together, Miu averted her bashful, half-lidded eyes and explained, "I heard that Bulma has been helping you to train your [Gratification] Skill. If you're not against it...I was hoping that I could also lend you a hand...well, more like my body..."

Surprising Miu and causing her already rapidly beating heart to beat even quicker, Leon casually responded, "Sure. Did you want to do it here, or did you have someplace else in mind...?"

Understanding that Leon probably didn't want to bother his Pokemon, Miu meekly replied, "We could use the nearby servant's quarters. I'll take care of the cleaning..."

"Sounds good," said Leon, placing his hand on Miu's slightly trembling shoulder and guiding her toward the servant's quarters, a small room which, as the name implied, served as a dwelling for servants and a rest area while they were on duty. When he entered it, he noticed tea and cookies had been prepared, probably because Miu was too nervous to think straight, but Leon didn't say anything as he guided her to sit on the less-than-twin-sized mattress.

Without asking Miu if she was certain that she wanted to assist him, Leon sat beside her, half-turned her to face him, and then surprised her with a kiss. Her large blue eyes initially became as round as saucers, but instead of trying to break away, she ultimately closed them and reciprocated with her tongue as he slipped his left hand into the front of her panties, gently caressing her already wet slit.

Eventually guiding Miu to lay on her back, Leon continued kissing her as his fingers probed and ultimately slid into her pussy. She was a lot tighter than he expected, but once the nervous tensions began to drain from her body, replaced by faint, pleasured shivering, he managed to slip both his middle and ring fingers deep inside to stimulate her g-spot. Then, as she had been tempting him a lot over the past few weeks, he spent well over an hour training both his Skill and her body...

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Standing at the base of a much smaller tower, located in the far North of the Second Floor and shaped similarly to the Rook piece of a Chess Set, Leon placed the Light, Ice, and Fire Orbs atop waist-high altars depicting Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres. Once all three were in place, a set of 10m-tall stone doors that came to a point at their center opened, allowing him and the rest of the Frontier Expedition Squad to enter a spacious chamber whose dimensions were far larger than the tower's exterior.

"Welcome, thou who seeketh the summit..." said a profound, masculine voice, echoing from every direction at once as it added, "If thou seeketh my recognition, prove thine character. Bring forth one who has consigned their life to thee. If thou seeketh my life...come and claim it...!"

Appearing out of thin air at the center of the massive, arena-like chamber, a large, predominately white figure with arm-like wings tipped with finger-like feathers unleashed a torrent of frigid, tempestuous wind on Leon and the Frontier Expedition Squad, spattering them with icy rain droplets that stung like needles.

'Lugia...' muttered Leon, within his mind. He recognized the majestic Pokemon at a glance, as it used to be one of his favorites, but there was a tremendous difference between seeing it on a movie screen and seeing it in real life. Its aura was far beyond what the Baphomet exhibited, but it was more serene than menacing, inspiring emotions that one might experience after witnessing the aftermath of a powerful storm...

'I want it...' decided Leon, holding up his right hand to get everyone else to stand down but also spread out before gesturing for Gakuto and, more significantly, his Vaporeon and Jolteon to come forward...

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(A/N: We're up to Chapter 82 on my Patreon. If you'd like the novel to continue, please consider joining to support it.)