13 Return, Risk, And Benefits

Roy watches his Pokemon train for an hour while performing his own calisthenic workout routine. Glancing at Ralts, he can see her releasing waves of psychic energy. "It shouldn't be long before she learns Hypnosis."

Walking towards a clearing, Roy claps his hands together. "Everyone gather around."

Hearing Roy's voice, everyone stops training and comes over.

Looking at his four pokemon he can't help but smile. "You've been training your moves for an hour now, but I believe control over your own body and energy is more important for now. Next is the joint ball training." Shifting his gaze he looks at Riolu.

"Riolu, I'm sure you felt it today. You still lack stamina and can't keep up with high-intensity moves."

"Rio." Riolu nods, thinking about how he almost collapsed after using Bullet Punch on the Zubats.

"That goes for the rest of you as well." Shifting his gaze from Riolu, he scans Ralts and Ditto before his eyes stop on Zubat for a moment. Roy thinks for a moment after turning his head back towards Riolu.

"During the ball training, I want you to primarily use Agility. At the same time, I want you to barely use Bulk Up, try and maintain it for as long as you can."

"Rio rio!" Riolu bumps his paws together and shows a determined face.

"Ralts, I want you to use Calm Mind while maintaining Misty Terrain, at the same time you still have to throw and catch the balls."

[I'll do my best] Ralts sweet voice sounds in his mind.

"Ditto, Your job is the simplest but also the hardest. I want you to shift into a different form every time you hit the ball and try to use different moves.

"Rio!" Ditto nods his head with a serious look, feeling Roy's expectations for him.

"Zubat, you are new to the team and don't know what the ball game is. In a moment, there will be a lot of balls flying through the air. Your job is to use Tailwind and try to speed up the trajectory of any hit ball."

Looking at Ralts, she understands what Roy means and translates to Zubat.

"Za za" Zubat flutters back and forth, showing that it understands.

"After this, we can rest for the day, so don't slack off." Taking out all the balls, he places them next to Ralts.

Walking a far distance away, he begins shadow boxing training to get in shape. Watching them out of the corner of his eye, he sees them execute his training plan.

Riolu has it difficult, trying to catch up to the balls Ditto hits after Zubat speeds them up. Even so, every time he hits a ball towards Ralts it's accompanied by small streams of wind. An improvement brought by his increased proficiency in Vacuum Wave.

The only difficulty for Ralts is trying to maintain Misty Terrain while using her psychic powers. The mist barely spreads from her feet and looks unstable.

Ditto shifts between Rattata, Zigzagoon, Zubat, Pidgey, Geodude, Ledyba, Nidoran, and Riolu to hit the ball. Constantly shining pink as it transforms.

Zubat flutters around with sharp and precise movements. Zubat's ability infiltrator allows her to perform movements that would seem impossible. The only downside is she lacks the stamina to keep up with her talent.

For the next three hours, everyone trains till exhaustion. Roy stumbles towards his pokemon shirtless, his legs feel like lead but he puts a bowl of energy cubes in front of each pokemon. "Guys, we did it. Today's suffering is tomorrow's progress."

Collapsing onto his back, his eyes turn just enough to see everyone eating. Taking out a piece of bread he begins chewing on it and taking a rest. After twenty minutes, everyone regains some energy and manages to sit up.

"Zubat, you're from this Secret Realm. Do you know anything useful that can help us out?" Turning his eyes towards Zubat he finally asks what's been on his mind.

Ralts translates Roy's words to Zubat as Roy speaks.

"Za za za." Zubat begins rambling on but Roy has no idea what she's saying.

After Zubat finishes he turns his eyes towards Ralts and asks her for a translation in his mind.

[She said this place has been chaotic recently. A powerful Onix drilled from the ground and has driven the small steel guys out of their metal cave after losing a fight. After that, he began eating the metal and waging war on the Queen of the forest, Vespiquen. Apparently, a few days ago when the rift opened in their cave, a strange orb appeared and Vespiquen grabbed it after fighting with Onix. Now the insects of the forest and the rock and ground pokemon are fighting for it.]

Roy bows his head and thinks for a moment. Of all the pokemon types, steel has always been one of his favorites as it provides solid defense.

Hearing there are steel Pokemon in this secret realm he is a little excited, at the same time he knows it is dangerous.

"Zubat, do you know where the steel pokemon are, can you lead me to them?" After thinking about the pros and cons he decides to try.

"Za za." Zubat thinks for a moment and nods her head after hearing Ralt's translation.

Seeing this, a small smile forms on the corners of his lips. "Ok guys, let's clean ourselves and get ready for bed."

"Ditto ditto!" Ditto jumps up and down excitedly, knowing that training is finally over.

The only pokemon not physically tired is Ralts, but her mental exhaustion outweighs everyone.

Moving to the water collector, Roy bathes all his pokemon and then himself. Moving to the bed, he lays down with his pokemon surrounding him. Gazing at the dark sky filled with stars he can't help wondering how this Secret Realm works.

"Good night guys." Listening to his pokemon respond weakly, he closes his eyes and falls asleep.

The next morning, Roy is awoken by the familiar poking to the face. Roy opens his eyes to see Ralts standing in front of him.

[Roy, get up] Ralts covers her mouth and hurries to continue waking everyone up.

Crawling out of bed, Roy gets dressed and prepares energy cubes and water for everyone. For Zubat, he puts a straw in the cups and begins cooking for himself.

"Rio rio!" Riolu jumps from the bed and moves towards the table. After greeting Roy, he begins eating like a hungry ghost.

"No one will steal your food Riolu." Shaking his head he watches as Ditto and Ralts come over.

Glancing at Riolu, he notices he is a few inches taller. Shifting his eyes he sees Ditto's blob is also a little bigger. Only Ralts hasn't grown in size, but her physical exercise is only walking.

"The rainbow blocks increase all stats equally, but it seems like exercise will draw out more power." Taking the last bite of his oatmeal, he moves on to water the berry trees and tend to the equipment.

As Roy walks away, Ditto hops after him and glows pink. Suddenly, he transforms into an exact copy of Roy with clothes and all.

Roy's eyes open wide and his mouth drops open. "You can turn into a Human?!"

"Yes! Easy, I can turn into anything!" Ditto walks next to Roy with a big smile on his face.

Roy walks circles around Ditto and pulls at his cheeks and runs his fingers through Ditto's hair.

"Incredible, it feels no different from my own face and hair." Taking a step back he can't stop his eyes from lighting up. "Can you transform into others too?"

"Of course." Ditto nods before transforming into Catherine, Meghan, Charles, and the old man from the gate.

Taking a deep breath, he calms down. "Change into Catherine and help me water the trees and tend to the equipment."

"Ok!" Glowing pink, Ditto changes into Catherine.

Seeing that Ditto transformed into Catherine again, he leads her to the Berry trees. Seeing Zubat hanging on a tree asleep they try not to wake her.

While Roy and Ditto work, Ralts turns on the TV and begins watching a movie with Riolu. After nearly an hour, Zubat finally woke up and Roy completed his work. Putting the last energy cube into the case, he turns his eyes to his pokemon.

"Ok everyone, we need to be extra careful today. The battles yesterday were warmups, today begins our real training." His eyes travel between his pokemon and see that they are ready.

"Riolu stand In front and block anything that comes, Ditto be ready to turn into anything, Zubat you will provide aerial support, Ralts my protection is in your hands." Taking a deep breath he does one final check.

Ditto transforms into Riolu and everyone else nods their heads.

Waving his hand, Roy opens the rift. Stepping through they arrive outside the Zubat cave from yesterday.

Glancing down he can see less Pokemon than yesterday. Furrowing his brows, he turns towards Zubat. "Zubat, Which way?"

"Za!" Flapping her wings, Zubat heads towards the left.

Everyone moves slowly forward. Large boulders sit along the path and provide cover for anyone who wants to ambush them. With Zubat's echolocation, they try to avoid surprises attacks but they haven't seen any Pokemon.

"Za za!"

[Above!]

Looking up, Roy sees a yellow quality Gligar with Early Advance strength swooping down at a fast speed.

"Ralts, Ditto use Confusion! Zubat Supersonic! Riolu Vacuum Wave!" Roy instantly orders.

Ralts eyes glow blue as a mental wave shoots towards Gligar. Ditto transforms into Ralts and uses Confusion as well. Gligar is briefly trapped in the air and Zubat flies in front of it. Releasing Supersonic, they try and confuse Gligar with three moves.

With two confusions and a supersonic, Gligar's head is spinning. At this moment, a wave of air slams into him, knocking it onto the side of the mountain.

Gligar slides down the mountain wall, unable to orient itself and slams into the ground.

"Hit it with another Confusion! Zubat, use Giga Drain! Riolu, don't stop using Vacuum Wave!"

Zubat flutters its wings and shoots a green beam from its mouth. The beam hits Gligar and sticks to its body. Pulses of energy begin transmitting through the beam and up to Zubat, causing her body to glow green.

Riolu pulls back his arm and gathers another wave of energy. Punching forward, he launches attacks one after another.

Constantly bombarded by attacks causes Gligar's mind to sober. Feeling pain all over its body, it turns his head and looks at what he thought was easy prey. Anger boils inside and he lanches forward. Its claws glow with green energy as he chops at Riolu standing closer to him.

Seeing that Gligar can break through both his pokemon trapping it with Confusion, Roy realizes how serious a level gap truly is for the first time.