Chapter 21: Bloodmoon Havoc

[General POV]

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{5 Hours Later}

Chaos – chaos was the only word that could describe what was happening in the frozen tundra. Blood, heads, and organs scattered everywhere. In the center of it all stood four Pokémon: a humanoid psychic, a huge steel avian, a small ursine, a ghostly crocodilian, and finally, a human covered in blood from the countless foes they had slaughtered. As more opponents arrived, they grew tired. They had encountered so many groups in the past hours they had forgotten which number this was. Gallade swiftly decapitated an Ursaring, while Kubfu broke the neck of a rabid Sneasel. They were running out of steam, and they needed to act fast. 

Eli surveyed the battlefield and noticed the wild Pokémon's numbers had considerably dwindled. Only a handful remained, and even they were too busy fighting each other. Taking a breather, Eli and his team found a safe spot far away from the hellish war zone. The battlefield had completely shredded Eli's clothes, and he bore scars from the relentless battle. Covered in blood and sweat, he returned all his tired Pokémon, excluding Gallade, as they attempted to make their way back to the caves. Key word being "tried." As they turned their backs on the battlefield, they heard an ominous pattern of thuds.

THUD

THUD

THUD

T H U D

Eli didn't want to look back and just run, but his curiosity got the better of him. As he turned around, he saw a ginormous Ursine standing at a massive twelve feet tall, bulkier and lighter in color than any regular Ursaluna he had seen. Its appearance was largely similar, except for the full moon-like circular mark on its forehead, larger and bright red, resembling a blood moon. Its left eye, which allowed it to see in the dark, was black with a green pupil smaller than the right eye's pupil and had a scar near it. Its hands, legs, chest, back, and the left half of its face were covered in grey mud as hard as iron. Unlike regular Ursaluna, this Ursaluna walked on its hind legs, and battle scars covered its body, a testament to its old age. If there was any apex predator in these lands, it would be this monster. Another Ursaluna foolishly attacked, only to be swatted away like a fly in comparison to this beast.

Pokémon: Bloodmoon Ursaluna 

Lvl: 51

Type: Ground Normal

Ability: Mind's Eye

Gender: Male

Potential: Deep Gold

Moves: Headlong Rush [E], Scratch, Leer, Lick, Moonlight [M], Fury Swipes, Payback, Harden, Slash, Scary Face, Rest [E], Snore, Earth Power [E]

(Innate Talent) Blood Moon [M] (Innate Talent) Moon Blast [M]

'Sh*t,' Eli cursed for the millionth time since he arrived in this hellscape. Not only was the Bloodmoon Ursaluna Mid Elite, bordering on high elite, but it also had three moves on master rank. Eli knew for a fact that Ursaluna, Bloodmoon or not, didn't get this big or have this much physical power. However, this monster swatted another Ursaluna like yesterday's trash, leaving him unsure of how to defeat it. According to Eli's speculations, it was boosted by the two blood moons ominously hanging in the sky. 'If God exists, he is dead to me,' Eli sulked, understanding he had to make a final stand; otherwise, the bear would find him and slaughter him.

Taking one last sigh, he initiated the losing battle, sending out all his Pokémon as the titan watched. He ordered them all to buff up as much as they could, and the Ursaluna observed. Eli felt unnerved as he saw the Ursine lying deathly still, seemingly allowing him to buff up his Pokémon, confident in its impending victory. "Don't falter, everyone! We can do this. Corviknight, you will be the cornerstone of this fight. You resist or are immune to all its stronger attacks. I believe in you, buddy." He tried to instill confidence in his tired Pokémon. Despite their exhaustion, they nodded. But deep down, all of them knew that this was a losing battle.

"Skeledirge, power up as much as you can by throwing Torch Songs. Don't stop, and if your substitute gets broken, drop everything and immediately create a new one. Gallade, look for openings before you go in with Teleport and Sacred Sword. Be careful. Kubfu, it is strong on both the physical and special sides of the spectrum attack-wise. Try to dodge all its attacks; remember, if it hits you, you may just perish. And finally, Corviknight, try to tank as many attacks as you can, especially when it uses its Blood Moon attack. Only you can take that attack." Eli had tried to make their tactic as impenetrable as possible, but he knew it was of no use. The Bloodmoon Beast could probably brute force its way to victory due to the level disparity.

His team got into action as a fire bird launched from Skeledirge's maw hit the ursine head-on. Yet, it remained unfazed; not even its fur was harmed. It finally began to move, becoming faster with each step until it was in front of Kubfu, ready to squash him. Corviknight came to the rescue, slamming the ursine with an Iron Head. Although it barely pushed the ursine back, it was enough for Kubfu to dodge and retaliate with a low sweep to its feet. Gallade, seeing his chance, teleported and threw a vertical Sacred Sword at Ursaluna's head, stunning it momentarily as it took another Torch Song to the head courtesy of Skeledirge. Ursaluna showed emotion for the first time, giving out an earth-shaking roar as the blood moon's light seemed to focus on it, healing the injuries it sustained. This was the power of a master-rank move.

"Don't stop! Press on!" Eli shouted as he felt a pit of dread form in his stomach, seeing how quickly it healed. Kubfu did his best from Low Sweeps to Brick Breaks, but as Ursaluna bathed in the blood moon's light, it shrugged off everything. After it was done, it looked Eli's team straight in the eye as the blood moon symbol on its head started to glow, "Protect, all of you! Corviknight in the front!" Eli shouted, realizing what it was doing. As a blood moon appeared in front of its head, it shot out a red beam that shook the ground as it fired thanks to its power. The quadruple Protect held on for a few seconds, but a master-rank move coming off of a 135 special attack was bound to destroy it. As it did, Corviknight took the remaining brunt of the attack. As the beam fizzled out, Corviknight looked a bit beaten up but not out of the fight yet as he started using Roost to heal his injuries.

"Gallade, set up the screens. Skeledirge, Will-O-Wisp, then keep using Torch Songs. Kubfu, Substitute into Ice Punch." As Corviknight healed, Eli ordered Gallade to set up screens while using Swords Dance to the limit. Knowing Kubfu couldn't take a hit, he had him make a substitute to absorb damage as he dealt super effective damage to Ursaluna. The Ursaluna was now successfully crippled on physical power and could hopefully no longer crush his team like ants. Kubfu made the Substitute as he neared the Bloodmoon beast, slamming it in the head with a mean right hook Ice Punch straight into its eye. The beast seemed to have felt it a bit as it twitched before swatting Kubfu away, thankfully the Substitute absorbed all the damage as Kubfu skidded away harmlessly.

The now burnt Ursaluna looked at Eli and his team in mild annoyance as it glowed red, the moon's essence attracted to it before a miniature blood moon formed on top of its forehead. It launched the moon at Eli's team. Corviknight got into action, taking the Moon Blast head-on, not quite shrugging it off but tanking it nonetheless. As the slow struggle continued for minutes, Eli saw a Glalie slowly approach from the path where the Ursaluna had arrived on the battlefield. Its condition was horrendous, one eye missing, jaw broken. It was a miracle it was even alive. As it inched towards Ursaluna, Eli could see the sheer hatred it had for the bear, currently locked in vicious fighting with Eli's two fighting types. Its eyes shone with a malicious glow as, with its remaining strength, it jumped atop the huge Ursaluna, trying to bite it with its broken jaw as it glowed an eerie white. "Teleport out NOW!" Eli shouted, realizing what was happening. In a split second, Gallade used Teleport to get Kubfu and him out of the blast radius as a huge explosion shook the tundra, with corpses and snow flying everywhere. As the smoke cleared, Eli looked deep into the crater, hoping that the monster was killed. But good things could never happen to him it seems, as the monster stood there, heavily injured but still proud, as if it would be a disgrace to fall down to the ground like mortals. 

Eli really wished he could have used Taunt on it to stop it from healing with Moonlight, but Corviknight's Taunt was on an expert rank, meanwhile, the Ursaluna had Moonlight on a Master rank; it would not work at all. "Don't let it use Moonlight. I don't know how long this blood moon will last, but it is bound to end. When it does, it will be at its weakest. Pull every stop, every trick in the book. DON'T LET HIM HEAL!" Eli shouted as his team was invigorated despite the exhaustion. The Ursaluna showed signs of being bathed in moonlight, but it was interrupted by a Torch Song from Skeledirge, which did serious damage thanks to how much he had used it since the start of the fight. "Change to Fire Blasts. You are strong enough now. Go for pure damage." His crocodilian nodded as he began spitting out huge fireballs shaped like the fire kanji. As the Fire Blast hit the Ursaluna, it flinched in pain as the damage was finally getting to him. He constantly tried to use Moonlight, but his plans were thwarted by a Sacred Sword, Ice Punch, or Iron Head at close range. He dodged the Fire Blasts as, even under the protection of two blood moons, he was starting to take considerable damage.

In such a helpless situation, he let out a massive roar as the earth around him seemed to crack. The cracks even reached Eli, who was standing above the crater. He ran back, not wanting to get killed by an Earth Power. Using it as a distraction, the Bloodmoon Ursaluna, who stood tall and proud always on two legs, dropped down to four legs and began a mad dash out of the crater. "Stop it!" Eli shouted as Gallade took the opportunity to use Sacred Sword, which surprisingly left a deep cut in the Ursaluna's body as it roared in pain. 'What?' Eli looked shocked, as the very same Sacred Sword had done little to no damage before. As he looked up, he saw the red moons slowly fading as daylight fast approached. "Almost there! Keep it up!" He shouted to his team who also saw the sunrise and began to claw their way to an impossible victory. The Ursaluna, panicking, began running toward Eli as it charged up another Blood Moon, prepared to take Eli down with it. 'Sh*t.' Eli cursed as he tried to get his body to move, but it just wouldn't due to exhaustion. His legs felt like lead, a pit forming in his stomach as he saw an ominous blood moon hanging in front of the bloodmoon beast, which it threw in the form of a laser.

Eli's team tried to stop it. Kubfu hit its neck with an Ice Punch along with Gallade's Sacred Sword trying to cut it clean off, but it was of no use. Corviknight tried to push it with its bulk and Iron Head, but it remained unmoving like a mountain. Skeledirge threw multiple Fire Blasts to its head, but they only served as fuel for the bloodmoon beast's malice as it shot out the beam. Time seemed to slow down as Eli saw the beam slowly approach him. He quickly got out an Ultra Ball to interrupt the Ursaluna by putting it in the Poké Ball. He threw it with pinpoint accuracy as it landed on the Ursaluna, sucking it into the ball with a red light. But the beam, even though interrupted, still hit Eli. He felt an unimaginable pain in his right side. After what felt like hours, the beam finally stopped. Eli looked to see where his right arm and right chest would be, and he saw a massive hole had replaced it.

Pain, pain was the only thing in Eli's mind as his vision became foggy. He heard a distant ding and his Pokémon frantically rushing to him, followed by a huge noise and more footsteps. The last thing he heard was, "This is recon squad captain Daan. There seems to be an outlier in wormhole, code name Blood Moon. He is in critical condition. Further interrogation will be enacted after his recovery."

{Some time later}

Eli's eyelids fluttered open, surprised that he wasn't dead, but in what seemed to be a hospital room, only much more futuristic. "Glad to see you have woken up," he heard a voice as he looked to his left to see who it was. He saw a man in a white coat, an eye patch covering his left eye. "I am Daan, part-time doctor, part-time Ultra Recon squad captain pleased to make acquaintance." As Daan offered his arm for a handshake, Eli took it instinctively. "Eli," he replied, not realizing he had used his right hand, which had been disintegrated by the Ursaluna. Eli looked at his right hand in shock as Daan chuckled, "I'm guessing this sort of technology isn't a staple in your world." Eli shook his head as he surveyed his new arm, which seemed to be exactly the same as his old one. "Ditto cells have been a staple in our civilization's health industry for a long time, even before I was born." As he looked at Daan, he seemed to be in his early thirties.

"Where am I, even?" Eli had a hunch he wanted to confirm. "We are in Ultra Megalopolis, a name which is embarrassing to say, but let us respect our founding forefathers' wishes; this is the central headquarters for Ultra Recon members. We investigate Ultra Wormholes, Ultra Beasts, and patch up any cracks in between dimensions—a symbol of order in the chaotic multiverse, if you will." Daan gave Eli an abbreviated explanation that left Eli with more questions. "I'm sure you have many more questions, but we are running low on time. Please follow me as we need to interrogate you. Your 5 Poké Balls are on the desk, if you will see, along with your cube, which, by the way, I would like to comment is a marvelous invention by your universe." Eli nodded as he took his items before realizing, 'Wait, 5?' Eli looked down as he saw an Ultra Ball hanging beside the rest of his Poké Balls, which meant he had successfully captured the Blood Moon beast. "We did not expect you to catch the emissary of the Blood Moon god itself. Healing it of all the damage you had done was a chore indeed, especially with how aggressive it was. Do you plan on keeping it?" Daan asked as Eli vehemently shook his head. Never in a million years would he have that beast as an ally; that bridge was burnt without even the ashes remaining.

Daan chuckled as they made their way out of the hospital. As they got out, Eli was met with a place both vast in terms of distance and in technology, far surpassing his very own world. There were tall skyscrapers with magenta lights, and in the center of it all stood a huge tower that emitted blinding light. "Let me introduce you to our Megalo Tower, the single most technologically advanced fortress you will ever find. It has everything from an armory to a lab; you name it, it probably has it." Daan explained as they made their way to the gigantic tower. As they got near its entrance, they were met by 2 Ultra Recon squad members wearing the usual ultra recon attire: white suits with blue around their helmet, legs, arms, and hip areas. He noted that these two didn't have the ridiculous mustache or hair sticking out like in the video games. "Welcome Captain Daan, please identify yourself before stepping into Megalo Tower." One of the guards requested as Daan stepped forward to the door, putting his arm to the podium on the side. The door opened soon after scanning the arm. As they got inside, Eli had a question.

"They seem to know you very well. Even so, why did they ask you to verify your identity?" As they entered, they had to go through another check; this time, an Alakazam guarded the entrance. 'Welcome back, Captain Daan.' A voice reverberated in their minds as soon after its eyes began to glow before it died down. 'Please proceed.' As time went on in this confusing place, the more questions he had. "We have multiple checks because anything could happen in ultra wormholes. There could be Pokémon who can take our shape and return back here, who can replace our souls with theirs—the list goes on. We have a third check too; we have multiple ghost types constantly monitor our souls as well as to check for any discrepancies there. If a Pokémon were to get past all this, then our megalopolis was rightfully doomed to fall." Ending it on a morbid note, they finally got into the tower as Eli looked around in wonder.

There was a pillar in the middle of the building which was more white than black, a stark contrast to the cities which were covered in black and magenta. "Welcome to the Megalo Tower." Daan smirked as he lead Eli to the elevator built into the pillar that seemed to touch the sky. "We will go to the interrogation room first, don't worry we won't use psychic memory extraction that's only for the worst criminals we will just have a psychic lie detector." Daan explained as he pressed some buttons on the elevator as they shot upward before slowing down which came as a shock to Eli but he was a bit used to it thanks to constantly having to Teleport with Gallade. "Alright I already know the gist of your story, let's get on with this I just want some confirmation." Daan said as he opened a door which lead to a matte black room with a holographic screen and two chairs with a table.

"Mr. Eli, you were found in Ultra Wormhole: Chaos. We labeled this as a red world with a 3% chance of survival due to it being home to one of the largest Pokémon populations, with their breeding rate and growth rate being multiple times greater than usual. Along with that and the frigid cold, it is also home to the 'Blood Moon Phenomenon,' as we have dubbed it, which makes the Pokémon native to that dimension become bloodthirsty and crazed during that period. Now please tell us your story from the beginning." As he finished his explanation, he sent out a Beast Ball out of which came an alien-like, bipedal Pokémon with tapering legs and a segmented, vertical, blue stripe on the upper portion. The abdomen was black with vertical lines, while the majority of its skin was reddish-orange. The arms were capable of taking different forms, usually a pair of tentacles coiled in a double helix. One tentacle was the primary skin color, while the other was light blue. Finally, it had a blunt protrusion with a single blue stripe on either side of its head and a stubby tail.

Eli looked a bit surprised as the captain had somehow gotten a Deoxys. "Got it from scouting one of the wormholes back when I was just a squad member. Almost killed all of us, but I caught him in the end." Daan smiled as he patted the Half-Blood's body, who remained still, observing Eli. "Alright, please begin." Daan requested as Eli nodded, "I was training in the Sea Foam Caverns, a place in my world that houses a plethora of strong Ice-type Pokémon. I wanted to train there because my team was really strong against the ice types there. But as we ventured deeper into the caverns, we saw a distinct lack of Pokémon and an ominous sound coming from within it. As we rounded the corner, we saw the Ultra Wormhole, as you put it, and before we had time to react, we were sucked into it before waking up in the icy hellscape." Eli explained as Daan nodded. Eli then reached into his cube, opening it before he was met by a strong force on his right hand. It was Deoxys. "What are you doing?" Daan asked, losing his niceness as he looked at Eli.

Confused, Eli replied, "I had written a diary recounting my time in the Icy tundra, what's all this about?" Daan looked at Deoxys, who nodded before loosening his grip. "Sorry about that; when you opened your cube, Deoxys felt a colossal amount of energy coming out of your cube. We'll check on this later. For now, please give me the records of your time in the Ultra Wormhole." Daan breathed a sigh as he took the notebook and began reading while Deoxys kept a close eye on Eli, who was too deep in thought about what had triggered such a reaction from the half-blood legend. "Alright, we did have surveillance over the whole dimension, but we still wanted to verify it from you. But for the blood moon incident, you will have to narrate it yourself, as we lose all contact with the dimension during blood moons." Daan explained as Eli began narrating what had transpired during those hellish hours before he was rescued by Daan. "Alright, thank you for your cooperation. Before we leave, I will share one tidbit of information about the Ursaluna. As you could have guessed, that was no normal Ursaluna. And I recall telling you that it was the emissary of the Blood Moon god. Let's begin from the start; be prepared to completely change your worldview." Daan took a deep breath before he started.

"As you know, legendaries can be classified into Half-Blood and Full-Blood, with there only being one of each full-blood legendary. But what if I told you it was not? With some obvious exceptions like Arceus, among others, every universe has its own set of full-blood legendaries. By now, you can probably guess who this Blood Moon god is." As he tapped a button on the table, the hologram video screen came to life with a camera shot on the moon. It was as he'd expect it to be, filled with craters, but one odd thing stood out to him, a gaping hole that seemed to lead somewhere into the cave. As the camera went into the cave, he saw red crystals littered in the cave, as well as what looked to be... blood? As the camera angle changed, what Eli saw stopped his breath. A large Pokémon resembling a skeletal, legless bat hung upside down in the cave, seemingly hovering upside down in suspended animation. It had a short snout, pinkish-red eyes with white centers, and a blood-red area on its upper head that showed a constantly changing starscape. A rigid raised hood wrapped around its head in a crescent shape and drapes around its neck as well. The outside of the hood was yellow, while the inner part that curves around the head of the Pokémon was blood red with crimson streaks. Its torso resembled a ribcage with a slightly curved spike on each shoulder and three spikes extending from the bottom toward its tail. Its massive wings resembled a bat's wings with the skeleton exposed, all in all resembling a blood moon.

"Lunala." Eli breathed out a whisper, but as he looked closer, he saw what a horrendous state it was in—chunks of its wings torn apart, a crack on its skull, a multitude of scars and deep cuts. "What did this?" Eli asked in shock, as injuring a full-blood to this extent was unheard of. "Necrozma, Ultra Beast code-named UB Black, due to which the blood moon phenomenon has started to occur. The bloodshed caused by it has accelerated Lunala's healing. I don't have time to explain it in full, but UB Black is one of the few Pokémon that is a one-of-a-kind full-blood. His motives remain unknown, but what we do know is he will pay for what he did to our megalopolis. You see, it wasn't always like this; he is the reason why our world is shrouded in darkness. If you are interested in learning more, then please check our archives. But for now, let's get down to business. I want to buy the Blood Moon Ursaluna off of you. Please look into our armory and select items that interest you. This Blood Moon Ursaluna has the blessing of a Full Blood god, a deity I have approval from the council. I will lead you there before we complete the transaction."

"Yes, Mr. Daan, but what about returning to my old world?" Eli asked concerned at the prospect of being stuck here forever, as he did not want to fight an Ultra Necrozma whatsoever. That thing could probably challenge Arceus and have a chance at beating him. "We're working on it, but the wormhole isn't so easily traceable back. Our team will get results in around a week. You can live in the tower till then; it has living accommodations as well. For now, follow me; we're going to the armory." Daan got off his chair, returning his Deoxys as they made their way out of the dark-colored room. Eli zoned out as he followed Daan; he expected his journey to be straightforward, not like this. But how had he even gone here? He couldn't return to his home world until a week. What if Necrozma just wanted to invade Ultra Megalopolis for fun? With a mix of chaotic thoughts, he barely processed what Daan was saying, mindlessly nodding before they made their way to the elevator, quickly arriving on one of the top floors, under heavy surveillance from a multitude of Pokémon. From dragons to psychics and ghosts, along with a Pokémon that resembled an origami human which appeared to be folded out of a sheet of paper, white on one side and orange on the other. Its head was folded slightly inside its body and had a four-sided star in the center, but no discernible facial features. Its head opened and closed similar to a paper fortune teller and seems to function as both an eye and a mouth. On top of its head were two short antennae or horns that are wider at the top. It had long, thin arms that resemble katanas with a yellow, sheath-like structure around the upper area. The sheath connected to a red, slightly raised hexagon on its torso. Extending up and out from the base of each sheath were three yellow projections that are nearly as long as its arms. Its legs appeared creased with areas of red visible along the edges, barely a foot tall, but Eli knew not to underestimate it.

"This is Kartana or UB-04 Slash; it guards the armory and is half the reason why there aren't any people dumb enough to steal from the armory because his kind has quite the infamous reputation among our people." Daan explained as they went through multiple checks under the scrutiny of the origami sword. Eli looked on with bated breath as a paper cut from that thing could probably still kill him. After the psychics and ghosts were done, they were allowed passage through the huge gate that stood between them and the armory. As they passed the gate, Eli widened his eyes at the sight he saw, steel from half-blood Solgaleo's, wings of half-blood Lunala's being the most notable of the huge quantity of items stored in the armory. "Take your time; I'll be in a meeting for a while. You will be under Kartana's supervision. Please be careful." Daan warned before he left, and Eli was left to his devices. Surveying the armory, Eli knew that he had to be smart about this. He would not get an opportunity like this ever again.

For Corviknight, it was a no-brainer, steel from a half-blood champion rank Solgaleo. For Skeledirge, he got him the wings of a half-blood Lunala at the champion rank infused with ghost energy. His remaining two Pokémon were the ones that needed the most consideration, as he couldn't just get any item, especially for Kubfu, who was extremely close to evolution. After considering it for a long time, Eli got Gallade the condensed Psychic energy of a half-blood attack forme Deoxys at the champion rank. Finally, he had found an interesting tidbit of information about the ultra-beast items, namely Buzzwole's blood sacs. Buzzwole had the unique ability to absorb energy and then achieve a chemical reaction between the energy it had absorbed and its body fluids. Because of this, the Buzzwoles' blood sacs had exact details on what blood it had absorbed, and one stood out to him a lot. 'Buzzwole Sacs, Absorbed content: Full Blood Keldeo blood, Half Blood Swords of Justice, Half Blood Marshadow, Pheromosa, Rapid and Single Strike Urshifu....' The list went on and on, and as he scrolled, Eli wondered what kind of monster it took to kill a Pokémon that had absorbed multiple Half-Blood legends' blood, as well as a Full-Blood legend. On top of that, the sheer quantity of Pokémon it had absorbed was just ridiculous. As he selected the four items, Eli left the armory as fast as he could to not attract the Ultra Beasts' ire.

After he left, he was faced with a problem; where to now? Daan was probably in the meeting as he was contemplating where to go. He was approached by a young girl, probably around his age. She had long gray hair, light lilac eyes, and two moles, one up the mouth, and another one at the right side of the mouth. She had very pale skin and had blank eyes, as if they had seen the world. "Are you Mr. Eli? Father asked me to tour you around after dropping the lab, to have the item you have tested." She spoke in a hauntingly soft voice, not waiting for his answer before leading him towards the elevator. Eli followed silently, as he did not know what to make of the enigma of a girl. The journey to the lab was a quiet one, with Eli not wanting to make small talk, as he was preoccupied with thinking about plans for the future and Marina not being quite the talker either. 

As they made their way into the tower's lab, he was greeted by an explosion right as they got near the door. Eli, at this point, numb to the shock, just looked on blankly as Marina, the ever-stone-cold statue, remained motionless as well. As the smoke cleared up, he was greeted by a scientist who looked like he had seen better days with a man who had a striking resemblance to Giovanni, if it weren't for his tattered lab coat and bags under his eyes. "Hi there, Marina, how's your dad doing?" He greeted her, completely ignoring Eli. Marina nodded as she replied, "He's doing fine. He asked me to escort our outlier to your lab to have an item checked." He squinted his eyes as he checked Eli, "Ah, you must be Eli, then. Reukra, head scientist of Ultra Recon, pleasure to meet you." He shook Eli's hand as he entered his lab. 'So her name's Marina huh?' Eli thought as he entered the lab, which was for a lack of a better word, chaos.

Trinkets lay everywhere, and some purple liquid that Eli did not want to know where it came from or what it was spilled all over the floor as Reukra made his way to the table, throwing everything to the floor as he took his seat and urged Eli and Marina to sit down. '....' Eli had no words for the eccentric man who seemed like he could use some sleep. "Alright, what's that item that freaked Daan himself?" Reukra urged Eli as he sighed and took out what could be the only item that freaked him out, the scroll of waters. As he did, the sensors in the lab also seemed to go off as an AI voice was heard, "Massive energy levels detected." Reukra looked intrigued as he grabbed the scroll carefully, "Huh, we have seen a few Urshifu here and there and by proxy the scrolls they evolve thanks to. But none of them have had such potent energy; they were just paper. Let me run a few tests; you'll have an answer in 2 days. Now get out; I got work to do." Reukra said as he shooed them out of the lab.

"Where to now?" The girl who fit the description of a ghost better spoke as Eli shrugged, "I wanted to train my Pokémon a bit if we're stuck here for a week, haven't seen them in a while as well." Eli said as Marina nodded before escorting him to the training area of the tower with seemingly infinite space. "What about you? What will you be doing?" Eli asked as she had been following him since the start of their little journey. Marina looked at Eli with a blank look as she answered, "Father has invited you for dinner and has tasked me with helping you around the tower." Eli looked exasperated as he thought 'Great' as he got inside the training facility he saw a huge white room with some controls in the left corner of the room. "This room can be transformed into any kind of environment you wish for; you can even divide it into sections. It has natural disaster scenarios, holographic enemies, weather condition simulations, among other features." Marina listed them off as Eli began creating a training plan for his team.

Eli sent out his Poké Balls, and his team came out surprised to see their trainer in one piece, given that they had seen half of his right side missing just a day ago. "I'm fine, don't worry; I got saved by a person named Daan." Eli shortly explained what had happened since the icy hellscape as his team breathed a sigh of relief. 'We are thankful to this Daan person but why is it so that we are always helpless, friend trainer? There hasn't been a day we have stopped training, but why is it that we are always weak,' Gallade voiced his thoughts as Eli realized that this had been a major hit to his confidence. "Gallade, we are like straw on the ground, falling when the wind blows. It's even possible to fall on our own even without the wind. We are but helpless pawns in the grand scheme of the world; all we can do is train and survive. It's how it has always been and always will be." Eli didn't want to comfort him with warm words but motivate him with the bitter cold truth. Gallade and the team had a lot to think about now as he was lost in deep thought.

Pokémon: Corviknight

Lvl: 46

Type: Steel Flying

Ability: Pressure

Gender: Male

Potential: Shallow Diamond

Moves: Peck, Leer, Power Trip, Hone Claws, Taunt [E], Fury Attack,Drill Peck [E], Swagger

(Perfect Talent) Iron Defense [E] (Perfect Talent) Tailwind [E]

(TM) Roost [E], (TM) U-Turn, (TM) Fly, (TM) Protect [E] , (TM) Air Slash [E], (TM) Body Press [E], (TM) Iron Head [E]

Pokémon: Kubfu

Lvl: 45

Type: Fighting

Ability: Inner Focus

Gender: Male

Potential: Deep Gold

Moves: Rock Smash, Leer, Endure, Focus Energy, Aerial Ace, Reversal [E], Iron Head, Dynamic Punch, Counter

(Innate Talent) Brick Break [E] (Innate Talent) Bulk Up [E]

(TM) Protect [E], (TM) U-Turn, (TM) Ice Punch [E], (TM) Fire Punch [E] , (TM) Thunder Punch [E], (TM) Mega Kick [E], (TM) Mega Punch, (TM) Substitute [E], (TM) Low Sweep

Pokémon: Gallade [Shiny]

Lvl: 48

Type: Psychic Fighting

Ability: Sharpness

Gender: Male

Potential: Diamond

Moves: Growl, Double Team, Disarming Voice, Confusion, Hypnosis, Teleport [E], Heal Pulse [E], Drain Kiss, Dazzling Gleam [E], Magical Leaf [E], Aqua Cutter, Leaf Blade, Dream Eater, Life Dew, Night Slash, Fury Cutter, Air Slash, False Swipe, Swords Dance [E]

(Perfect Talent) Sacred Sword [E] (Perfect Talent) Psycho Cut [E]

(TM) Protect, (TM) Light Screen [E] , (TM) Reflect [E], (TM) Confuse Ray, (TM) Psychic [E], (TM) Shadow Ball [E]

Pokémon: Skeledirge {Held Item: Leftovers}

Lvl: 45

Type: Fire Ghost

Ability: Unaware (Hidden Ability)

Gender: Male

Potential: Diamond

Moves: Tackle, Leer, Ember, Round, Bite, Yawn,Snarl, Roar,Flamethrower [E], Shadow Ball [E], Hyper Voice

(Perfect Talent) Torch Song [E] (Perfect Talent) Slack Off [E]

(TM) Protect [E] , (TM) Will-O-Wisp, (TM) Substitute, (TM) Fire Blast

"I will divide this area into 3 sections, Gallade and Kubfu focus on hologram battles, sharpen your fighting styles. Kubfu, you especially are very close to a breakthrough, so focus on that. Skeledirge, practice your aim with Fire Blast. Even against a slow target like Blood Moon Ursaluna, even though it was boosted by the blood moons, your aim was a bit lacking. Train your aim to perfection in this week. Finally, Corviknight, you need to work a bit on speed, as your evolution traded defense for speed." Eli gave off his ideas for their training as he tried figuring out how the controls worked, to no avail.

He heard a sigh behind him as Marina, having heard his plans, fiddled with the controls. The area was then divided into 3 sections: a shooting range-type section, an obstacle course, and a huge fighting area with a multitude of fighting Pokémon holograms. This included Machamp, Medicham, Toxicroak, among other fully evolved Pokémon holograms. He even saw the Swords of Justice, Marshadow, and the Ultra Beasts. 'They are definitely not gonna have a fun time,' Eli thought amused in his mind as he sent his Pokémon to the separate areas. He himself sat down in the area with Kubfu and Gallade to observe and dissect their fighting styles, well, as much as he could with his limited knowledge.