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The time of rest for Freth wasn’t exactly…restful. In the days following the incident with the titanic sized Bombirdier, Freth was hard at work on two fronts. On the one hand was trying to see if there was anything else to parse in the Violet Book. She only had a small bit of time just before going to the Bombirdier to actually skim through it initially, and she was hoping for some sort of other clues to see if this whole ordeal was actually worth going out of their way for. The Herba Mystica was said to do all manner of things, but science wasn’t exactly developed like it is in this day of age, and Heath was after the fact touted as a raving lunatic after publishing the Scarlet and Violet books. The unknown kind of Pokémon that were sketched out and diagramed were also a point of contention, namely for Eris. Whenever she wasn’t yelling at Freth that she needed to hone her psychic abilities, she kept insisting that with authority’s say so or not to investigate the crater. There is no telling what Heath turned up in his expedition and the fact that he saw such Pokémon down there was perhaps of a concern. And taking in consideration that the current day professors haven’t came back yet, something has to be going on in this region and the people here are taking it too apathetically. Freth couldn’t fully disagree, but at the same time, she couldn’t put Snagem in any more hot water than what they were already in. The incident with the Bombirdier was already dicey as is, and that wasn’t even their fault…mostly.

In the time she wasn’t studying the Violet book, she was in fact try to work on her psychic abilities. Actually…in some cases, she actually was, even if it was so much as holding the book with her psychic prowess, turning every individual page, while floating in the air herself, and trying to maintain it as long as possible. When she was actually the most focused on her psychic power, she was trying to push her limits on it, harkening back to her time at the village in the northern reaches of the Snowpoint area near the lake. She found herself reaching deep levels of meditation once again, trying to find more, deeper power that she found herself desperately needing as of late. One personal training session had her out at the inner courtyard, the recreation fields. She moved several large weights out of a nearby store room that was meant to be used by the Pokémon that cared about them. She also had out a few of her Pokémon, one such being Mamoswine, since the size of a thing was an issue to her just as much as the weight of it and to her admission, she barely managed to get her loyal beast off the ground sometime before having to put those skills to a boulder thrice his size. In the midst of the training regimen, she ended up having to stop for a moment, bracing herself against the wall, feeling all manner of exhausted. Mentally, rather.

“Ugh…I wish that I could get this down sooner than later…” Freth said. “I’m not sure how much more I can actually push myself like this…”

“No one ever said this was going to be easy.” Freth would look towards a window, noticing her faint reflection, or rather, the image of the Hunter staring at her, arms crossed. “You’re taking crash course after crash course doing this sort of thing where I had years, and that was before I became a hybrid. Unfortunately, you don’t have the luxury of time.”

“Tell me something I don’t know…” Freth whispered to herself. “Ugh, I feel like if I can actually get a hybrid attack down, I’d be better off than I was two days ago.”

“I guess we can experiment real quick.” Eris suggested. “You could go for the Galarian Articuno’s namesake.”

“Namesake?”

“Freezing Glare.” Eris stated.

“The thing you used on Chaksu?”

“Yea. For the sake of it, try it on a weight. Get one of your Pokémon to toss it up or something.”

“Wait, I don’t even know how to do it yet. What am I supposed to do?”

“You focus your psychic power through your eyes. In that power, focus on removing all momentum from the thing that’s falling. You’re effectively removing physics from the equation without actually removing the physics and have it without any further influence from you, only temporarily though.”

“Is this sort of thing the reason why your eyes ended up glowing blue?”

“No, that’s just a natural thing once you get more of a handle of your power and get it a lot more potent and focused. Mine didn’t start off glowing either.” Eris stated. “Its just the natural progression for Galarian Articuno.”

“Go figure…alright. Hey, Alakazam.” Freth called out to her Pokémon. The Alakazam was having his own meditation session but was out of it upon Freth’s beckoning. “Can you lift this weight up for me. I need to try to do something. I want you to drop it when I say to do so. Alright?” Alakazam did what he was commanded and lifted the weight with a lot of ease, almost provoking Freth’s envy, but she wasn’t going to berate her own Pokémon by any means. Alakazam held up the weight high up into the air, waiting on the command. “Alright, just…disable physics on this thing. Great. Not hard at all.” Freth said with great sarcasm.

“Relatively speaking. Its not actually disabling physics…its suspending it, its…ugh, you know…just try it. See what happens.” Freth couldn’t help but to roll her eyes.

“Okay Alakazam. One…two…three!” Alakazam released his psychic hold. Quickly Freth tried to do as command, her eyes lit up, as did her feathers and the black feathers around her eyes. As the weight came down to nearly eye level, Freth managed to unleash a harsh violet beam from her eyes upon the weight, practically surprising herself. The weight was suspended in midair. “Okay…that is freaky.” Freth had to reach up just to see if it was in fact stuck in midair, but before she had any opportunity to, GRAY started shouting out of her SNAG, nearly making her jump. That moment of distraction got her to not pay attention to the weight, or the potential danger it still held. The weight only stayed in the air for about a second and a half before gravity continued the weight at its original pace as if it had never stopped at all, the weight smashing her foot. “AAA! MOTHERFU-“

“You didn’t get it right.” Eris spoke up, cutting Freth off. “If you did, that weight would have stayed in the air a lot longer than it did.”

“You don’t say!” Freth shouted at Eris in the reflection on the window.

“Though at least you got some idea as to how to do it. You still need more training.”

“I think I need to see Doc! Son of a-…THE HELL IS IT, GRAY!?” Listening to GRAY, Freth couldn’t help but to sigh. Apparently the reserve team is now on a rescue team to get Raifort out of trouble. “Ugh, that blasted woman is going to be the death of me…” Freth growled out. She would then recall her Pokémon. She’d have to leave the weights where they were at. She was probably going to get yelled at later for not putting them back where she got them, but she wasn’t going to have the time. Not with Claydol now spiriting her away to the mission destination.

Arriving at the destination, Freth saw Odd already leading the charge, needing to make every second count considering the peril Raifort was in the midst in. She would quickly run off the cliff and started to glide instead of outright flying, trying to put at least some semblance of training in use. Galarian Articuno glided for horizontal distance, psychic power for ascension unless she was in a hurry…which technically she was. She needed to try to reach the island as fast as she could. But even aided with what little skill she had, it was easier said than done trying to reach where Raifort was at. Once arriving there, she quickly tossed out her Pokeball. “Alakazam! Go!” Freth shouted. Tossing the Pokeball out, she released the Alakazam out for battle. “Alakazam! Psychic!”

The Alakazam would greatly focus then unleash a harsh psychic blast, hopefully to redirect where this gigantic bass was going.

"They were," Sol remarked. "They weren't very common, but seeing one usually meant whatever you knew about the Pokemon was turned on its head, and without a good way of understanding any of it at the time, avoiding them was often the better choice. But Paldea likes to expand its horizons when it can and I can't fault the reasoning of using what wasn't understood before now that it apparently is." The whole thing still left a lot of questions, ones he wasn't sure Arven could answer. At least not on the field like this; maybe he could pick his brain more later, or see if there was something he could peruse back at the Academy. Seeing the results of the endeavors, though, gave him a pang of disappointment as he mourned the past. How much had the rest of the region actually changed?

He'd keep on pace with the rest as he kept looking around, though he'd note that at one point it felt like the sun was beating down more than usual. He felt something different too, a noticable change from the static from the Voltorb or generally earthier feeling of the occasional Orthworm. "That's... fire? Something else in the area?" He remarked to himself. "If you'll give me a moment, let me make sure it's nothing that'll get in our way." He'd quickly divert from the others to seek out the apparent source, careful to mind the terrain as it was. He'd eventually find a Torkoal lazing around, the sunlight growing more intense as he got close. The cursory glance alone told him there was no threat to be concerned with, just a Torkoal minding its own business. But the sunlight... Drought, probably? If anything, this encounter bordered on a boon that could be useful for the fight that was surely ahead. A Heal Ball would be taken out for a moment, looking at it before nodding to himself and pocketing it.

"Hope you'll forgive the intrusión," he said quietly, before taking Calida's ball and tossing it to send out the Quilava. "Obscure their vision with Smokescreen, see if we can catch it off-guard."

Calida would be quick to make smoke billow out, the wind carrying it towards the Torkoal to suddenly alert it to some sort of danger. But, one they couldn't see. Their momentary panic aside, they'd suddenly fling themselves from the smoke with Rapid Spin, slamming into Calida and catching her and Sol off guard instead. "More ready than expected, I see," he commented, seeing the smoke dissipate and realizing he might be a big longer than he was trying to be. "Straight to the offensive then. Calida, Swift attack! Focus on that where you can!"

Though Torkoal would use their newfound speed to launch themself for a Body Slam, they'd be pelted by the rays being fired at them while the Quilava kept her distance. They wouldn't be enough to throw them off, landing a decently strong hit and throwing her back. She'd still manage to right herself as she hit the ground, getting another small shot off to try and whittle down Torkoal however she could. "Actually, with the sunlight... different idea! Attack with Lava Plume and see if we can get some more smoke around here." The command alone made Calida give a confused look. Torkoal looked like it was probably a Fire-type, and he was asking her to literally fight fire with fire? Was her trainer's brain that cooked?

"Trust me on this one. I think we can overwhelm their defenses," he added, hoping to reassure her. "Resistance or not, if too much power's thrown at once, something will surely give. And the smoke will keep them busy one way or another."

Still not confident in the idea, she'd let flames flare from her back and go along with it, rushing next to Torkoal as she went around it and let an explosion go off. It'd still make Torkoal back off a little despite being unbothered by the attack, the smoke following giving way to a little bit more panic. Enough that they'd go for another Body Slam, only to miss thanks to Calida weaving away afterward. But they'd be quick on their feet and Rapid Spin in place, forcing the smoke away again and staying tucked into their shell to send a Flamethrower back.

"Stay low, brace yourself!"

Calida kept herself to the ground as the flames hit her. The sun meant it'd hit with more force than she was expecting, though she could still otherwise manage. "...now! While there's an opening. Back to Swift!"

Another series of rays would go off from her distance, going into the opening of Torkoal's shell to aim for a weak point, forcing them back out from the impact. Though they were ready to try and strike back, starting to spin again, Sol would get the Heal Ball back out. "Allow me to follow this one up, Calida. Come with us!" He shouted before tossing the ball and intercepting Torkoal's path. The ball would spin after ensnaring and closing around them, hitting the ground and still spinning around as they tried to fight their way out. He'd keep ready and watched as it steadily slowed, lurching forward in a violent wobble and bouncing. Another spin followed, but it'd stop sooner than the last as Torkoal's ability to fight out waned. Eventually, once the ball fully stopped and clicked, he'd walk over to grab it.

"You're going to be a bigger help than you know," he commented, quickly moving to return to the rest of the group... and realizing his feathers were standing on end too after hearing Arven.

"Apologies. Anyways, Orthworm being what they are, they'd probably carry some of the static electricity around..." He chimed in. "But with workers and equipment abound, we've probably been picking up a lot just being here."

Staring down the Grass type across the field from him, Beau would be pursing his lips as the ornery Pokemon once again proved itself unwilling to listen. "Pistachio! You just....need to watch. If you can get this down, maybe we'll have an option besides suicide bombing and spite, okay?" Beau pleaded with the Seedot, switching his gaze over to the Arboliva that was passively watching this desperate attempt to make his other Pokemon learn. "Alright, Hestia. Lets try this again." Replacing a small hockey mask over his face and stepping out a bit so he could brace for what he anticipated to happen next, he would point towards a target that he had set up. "Now then, Seed Bomb. Take out your target there." Giving a quick point to a spot he had set up a few cans and some other small targets for the explosion to take out, he watched.

And as had happened the last three times, Hestia would grab one of her olives and immediately fastball it squarely into Beau's stomach before it exploded in a ball of Grass energy. Knocked off of his feet once, the Vivllon hybrid gave himself a moment to look towards the sky as he contemplated his life choices before raising himself into a sitting position to look towards Pistachio. "Alright. Now you try. Throw a Seed Bomb towards the target." The frustrated expression on the armless Pokemon would finally break into it giving a bellow towards the sky as it once again saw no way it could do what Beau was asking. Throw a bomb? He didn't have any arms! What was he supposed to do!? Punt something with enough energy to do the trick!?

Taking a pause as the thought went through the more rational thought process, Pistachio would spit out a bundle of seeds towards his foot before swinging a kick towards the thing. And as the foot connected, the seed bundle would burst alight with a flare of green energy before it was sent flying straight into the same target that Hestia had been hitting. And while normally being blown up yet again would leave Beau even more concerned with his Pokemon, the fact Pistachio had actually accomplished the move was at least offsetting that reaction.

Celebrations had to be cut short as GRAY's message and the arriving Claydol cut off anything Beau could say. Returning Hestia to her Pokeball, he would let Pistachio hop onto his shoulder as he readied another Pokeball for when they arrived.

---


Touching down on the ground near the Watchtower, Beau would immediately set to work climbing to the top of the tower to look towards the islands. He could just make out some weird shape circling one of them. Seemed like as good a place as any to start. Opening up his prepared Pokeball, he would look towards Red Baron before transferring Pistachio to his hands. "Alright, Baron. We're gonna do a scouting circle around that island the shape seems to be thinking is super cool. And if need be, we see if Pistachio can do his new move for some support."

Feeling a set of talons clamp down on his shoulders, it would only take a few flaps and some diving to reach the island and be able to see what was going on here. And the charge that this bizarre fish appeared to be lining up for the island that he could now see was occupied by Raifort. "Alright, looks like we gotta do the thing. Pistachio, Seed Bomb! Drop them in front of that...whatever-it-is." Beau shouted, watching as the Seedot began a series of precision kicks to send Seed Bombs in front of the Dondozo like depth charges, aiming to detonate their energy in front of the Water type and at minimum slow down the mosntrous Pokemon through the application of pain and pressure waves.

A series of blows all arriving from the same direction would be dealt against the mid-air fish, first with a Psychic blast, then a steel reinforced tortoise shell ramming into it, followed up by consecutive explosive seeds. All these one right after the other were still barely enough to knock the Titan Pokemon off its projected path as it splash down back in the water just to the side of the small island, so close that a tidal wave of water swept over the entire isle and swept away Ms. Raifort's Pokemon, threatening her as well and Freth. The woman would attempt to reach for her Grumpig but was too concerned with preventing herself from getting swept away as she held onto a boulder on the island. "Grumpig!" She cried out, less concerned for her fish as it no doubt could survive the lake but her fainted pig not so much.

The Titan Pokemon would immediately rise back up out of the lake and give off an angry roar, immediately recognizing who the interlopers and deciding it was going to do something about them. "Dondozooo!" It roared, visible red energy swelling up all around its body, the water of the lake itself beginning to violently ripple in response, small waves center outward from the fish. The roar would become increasingly louder and send shock waves of energy all around it, threatening to even disrupt the airborne Pokemon's flight. The gathered Pokemon and Hybrid would begin to feel their strength being sapped from them as the incredibly loud sound vibrated throughout their bodies. Titan Dondozo used Noble Roar.

Without missing a beat the fish would close its mouth, move something around inside, and then unleash from its gullet a tremendous blast of pressurized water aimed at Red Barron, utilizing a Titan sized Water Gun. The Water Gun however wouldn't immediately end as the fish swept downward towards the island again, not forgetting about its original target along with the new islander.

Brian would follow Aile's suggestion, and just in time, too, it seemed. Not a moment after he vacated his previous position, a gigantic, metal head burst through the ground, crying out its name as they received a shock from the residual static that was apparently stored in its body. Brian didn't even flinch, but his hair was completely standing on end now. He was staring at the massive Steel-type with awe on his face, and in his stupor, almost forgot about Lu, who immediately jumped out of the way and released her held Aura Sphere directly at the Orthworm.

As if that wasn't enough, another presence made itself known via an orb of yellow energy being shot into the sky, in an attempt to cancel out any kind of weather attack from the Orthworm. Firebrand appeared behind the giant metal snake, Lu scrambling to get out of the way as the Magmortar executed a Lava Plume, intending to do as much damage as possible in a short amount of time. Brian stared at the Fire-type in shock; when had he gotten loose? He knew the Magmortar still resented him somewhat for taking him from his original trainer, but he'd begun to come around. Firebrand had discovered that Brian wouldn't ask anything of him that Brian, himself, wasn't willing to do, and he now had a grudging respect for the ebony-haired trainer, enough to try and prevent him being flattened by this overgrown metal serpent.

As the Orthworm's head came down in a Headbutt, Brian's brain finally kicked into high gear, and he quickly grabbed the frozen Arven to drag him to his feet and out of the way of the impending impact. He could only hope they got out of the way completely, and wouldn't wind up flattened by the titan's attack.

Tsuki held on a little tighter onto Furor at the sight and sound of the Dondozo roaring and being completely unaffected by the attack. Right, well, if it was dumb as bricks it’d make sense that any damage there wouldn’t do much of anything. They’d need to figure out another line of attack it seemed. He looked down as both island bound humans and Pokemon were swept away by it’s splashing. He’d have done something but to no surprise, the Jellicent hybrid was able to cut through the water than anybody else here. Thankfully, Baja was only the target of the whale fish’s Noble Roar. “Blaaaast…” he groaned, feeling his strength be sapped. Despite that though, Tsuki knew that his Blastoise would be able to tank any attacks that were thrown his way. Swapping out now didn’t seem like a bright idea yet while Titan could still just lower their attack again and then he’s lose the boost to their defense. And then- a Water Gun? Weird. It wasn’t pointed at them thankfully, but that felt odd to the trainer.

Seeing the plan to set a Thunderwave on their target, Tsuki ran down the length of the Gyarados and whistled loudly. He jumped off at around the tail and landed atop the racing Blastoise with a thud. “Right, we’ve gotta try and divert that thing’s attention away from the others.” He said to his Pokemon, directing him to instead head behind the Dondozo. Grouping up with Freth and Ms. Raifort on the Wailord would only make them bigger targets. If just a splash threw them for a loop, he didn’t want to think about what a whole Surf could do. “Use Shell Smash to speed up and jump out of the water on my mark!” The trainer held on tight to the shifting shell of his turtle before they really kicked their speed up a notch. His attack and special attacks were boosted as well, but not as much as he’d like due to the earlier Noble Roar.

“Okay, three, two, and-!” Tsuki held his breath once Baja dipped under the water for a moment only to leap out with more grace and precision than someone would expect if they hadn’t seen turtles move in the water before. They needed to be out of the water to avoid the Thunder Wave but close enough to draw the Dondozo’s eye. “Hey ugly!” Tsuki yelled, blowing a raspberry with one free hand at the thing while mid air.

Aile flinched slightly as the static electricity finally discharged from the giant metal worm, the woman's eyes growing a little bit wider once she saw just how large this Titan was. “Holy… This thing must have kept itself deep! That, or it’s really good at stealth. Either way, time to kick this thing’s a**!” She’d narrow her eyes as she nudged Dagobah, who was equally as shocked until the nudge. Subsequently, she’d get her bearings again and roared, standing up on her hind legs. “That’s right, there we go! Dega, go for a Headlong Rush!” At least her suspicion was correct, at least according to Sol. That would prove to be a boon.

The bear roared as she went back to all fours, charging forward as she charged herself with ground type energy, doing a full powered tackle into the worm once the pair dodged out of the way. “Arven! At the very least, find a distant area to hunker down if you’re not going to help fight,” Aile called out to the young student. “I won’t blame you for not wanting to fight, but at least I want you to stay safe!”

Brian didn't want to admit that he was happy Arven was now out of the way of the fighting, but at least he didn't have to worry about keeping the younger man safe. Now he could focus all his attention on the Titan. Speaking of which, he dove to one side as the Orthworm shot a Mud Shot glob at them. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get completely out of the way, and some of the mud splashed onto him. He made a face in disgust, feeling how sticky it was compared to normal mud. What was this stuff? He couldn't focus on that right now; turning his attention back to the titan, he noticed something. Where was Lu? The Lucario had been close to the giant steel snake not a moment ago, but she was nowhere in sight. That worried him; she was normally never very far from him.

He got his answer when he heard a cry of anger from somewhere nearby, and he looked at the Orthworm to see something using its tail as a running board. Lu was running up the Titan's tail, utilizing Extreme Speed to reach the upper half of its body as it swung its tail with Iron Tail. She wasn't going to let some overgrown worm attack her partner, her best friend. Oh, no, this steel snake would learn how badly it had just messed up. Once the titan's tail had stopped swinging, she used Swords Dance and Bulk Up in quick succession, then slammed her paws and feet into the Orthworm's head with a Close Combat. Hopefully, this would keep it distracted for a bit.

Meanwhile, Firebrand was out of the way of the Mud Shot, but unfortunately, he wasn't anywhere near fast enough to dodge the Iron Tail that followed. Not to mention he just had too much mass for the attack to miss. So he had no choice but to let the Iron Tail hit him; even though it likely wouldn't do all that much damage, given the size of the titan's tail, it still hurt. As it hit, he tried to wrap his arm cannons around the metal appendage, then released Fire Blast directly at it, knowing that at this range, he couldn't miss. With Sunny Day in effect, he would try to do as much damage as possible. And hopefully, his Flame Body ability would come in handy here.

Brian didn't have enough time to even try and dodge the Iron Tail sent toward the Snagems, so instead, he let himself fall back into the mud. Not the brightest choice, but given the circumstances, it was his best option of getting at least partially out of the way.. Now, however, his back was covered in sticky mud, and he knew it was going to take forever to get it out of his outfit.