Pokemon: The Final Frontier! Journey to the Fenik Region!

Horvath removes his helmet, taking in the air around him. The air was so crisp, so clean, so sweet and unpolluted...a smile broke out on his face. The conditions in this world seemed perfect for ideal medicinal herbs and mushrooms to grow! Unknown Pokemon aside, that forest around them was probably a treasure trove! He removes his PDA and radio, looking at the radio silently as he remembered what his grandmother told him beofre leaving.

~one week earlier, Lake of Rage, Bard Shop~

Standing in front of Horvath, Goliath, and Cruise was a short old woman with dull, almost pink colored thick hair and a long, red shawl over a grey summer yukata robe. Her eyes were closed and she had a warm, kind smile on her face as she bid her grandson fairwell on his journey.

"Follow your nose and your gut, Horvath. You've a talent for finding the right thing at the right time, and you're a natural at soothing distressed Pokemon. Its your Grandfather in you, honestly...keep a cool head, trust your teammates, and remember, if you're in a bind..."

She slides the purple apricorn pokeball into his hand.

"Use this...he's an old friend from my League days. Crusher will serve you well. You have a knack for ground types, after all.~

Horvath looks nervously at the ball. "But granny...Crusher is the most violent membee of your team, and he's so strong! I don't have a single gym badge either! How can i control that?!"

Aurora cutely hops up and chops Horvath in the head. "No buts! You can do this! And move that hair out of your face, you're such a handsome boy!~"


~present~

Horvath sighs, feeling Cruise waddle up to place a reassuring paw on his back. Horvath smiles and removes the rest of his suit, stowing it away before pulling out Goliath's Fast Ball and letting the massive Torterra out. "Come on out, Goliath!"

The Torterra roars, then promptly transitions into a yawn as he sets himself down in the flowers, promply looking around with a tired, half-asleep gaze. The face he gives the puppy-like Tyrantrum screams "You are TOO peppy", but besides that, the Torterra simply grumbles and closes his eyes.

Horvath scraches the back of his head. "Sorry, big fella...I know you hate being in a Pokeball and it makes you grumpy." He climbs up onto Goliath's back and rubs a spot behind the massive Torterra's left spike on his head. The Turtle Pokemon's eyes shoot open before relaxing as a blissful look of euphoria washes over Goliath's face. Horvath smirks, satisfied with the response. "Good boy! Wanna meet the others?"

Goliath yawns again, grumbling but rising up and lumbering over to join the group, Horvath and Cruise in tow on his back as Cruise comically struggles to pull off his helmet, finally yanking it off with an almost cartoon-like stretching sound followed by a loud pop as his head is finally freed. "QUAAAAAAG!~"

The brunette trainer and her Pokemon finished ridding themselves of their suits and properly removed the radios and PDA.  She fixed her hair and before she could put the devices into her bag, she saw both of her Pokeballs.  Thankfully, they were perfectly fine, even after all that mayhem!  Thank goodness~

She looked over at the other trainers.  They were eagerly releasing their Pokemon and letting them see the new sights.  Rocky did want to meet them and have her other partners meet them too, but she wasn't sure now was the right time.  Instead, she carefully and calmly walked over to them.

"Are these all your partners?" Rocky asked the group with curiosity, smiling at all the unique creatures she got to see.  Some didn't look very friendly, others looked too friendly!

The massive fossil Pokemon Toxarine sent out made Rocky jump when it was released, as she knew of its existence, but she wasn't used to seeing it so close!  What an incredibly large Pokemon!  It was pretty sweet the way it liked to play around in the flowers, though!  His Clawitzer was pretty cool looking too, and its claws looked to be in pretty good shape!

Maxwell's beautiful Vaporeon was too busy hiding for Rocky to see its face, and the creepy not-quite-Pikachu-looking Pokemon made Rocky not want to look in its direction.  These two new beings were surprising to see, but nonetheless fascinating to observe.  She'd have to ask about them more in detail, later!

Horvath still hadn't yet released his third partner, but the Torterra returned to view!  It looked so strong and sturdy, and quite at peace among the nature that surrounded the group.  Of course, that silly Quagsire of his was still pretty entertaining to watch!

After seeing so many of these trainer's Pokemon, Rocky felt a little more comfortable about digging into her bag and letting hers come out.  "Okie dokie!  My little brother and sister, let's come out and say hi!"

Allowing the Pokeballs to bounce off the grassy ground before hopping back into Rocky's open palms, the capsules released a Heliolisk and a Talonflame.  The Generator Pokemon and the Scorching Pokemon yawned and stretched their legs and arms/wings.  They spun around to greet their partner and Rocky crouched down before them to give them a big hug.

"We made it after all, you guys!  We're finally at our destination!  Isn't that great?!" she exclaimed to her dearest companions.  They happily cooed and cried out with happiness in their trainer's arms!

Heliolisk playfully hogged all the attention as he pushed the bird Pokemon away, to which she swiped at him with her massive talons.  The two of them began to bicker, but Greninja stepped in between them.  Heliolisk backed off of Talonflame, but then redirected his attitude to the Water/Dark type.  He snarked something in Pokemon language at the frog, causing Greninja to become frustrated.  As the two argued back and forth, Rocky brought her 'sisterly' Pokemon over to meet the others.

"Please excuse my other two, the boys have their moments... Anyway, this is my Talonflame!  She's like a sister to me, and takes great care of me when I'm in trouble.  Heliolisk over there is like a little brother, but he's the joy in my life!" Rocky explained to the other three. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd really like to get to know all your guys' Pokemon, too!"

Toxarine watches all of the others releasing their Pokémon, all of them just as impressive as his own. “I’m glad to hear that everyone takes such good care of all of their Pokémon! I’ve seen way too many trainers who either don’t take good care of them or care very little about them at all. That crap really makes me mad too.” As if in agreement with their trainer, Blue lets out a growl and his blue rings flash. Tyrantrum however, sits up as it suddenly looks deadly serious, letting out another ear-shattering roar as it stomps the ground in irritation. Cannonball the Clawitzer however seems to only nod in agreement, lying down into the grass and closing its eyes. By comparison it seemed the laziest out of all of his Pokémon.

As if to greet the seemingly eager Rocky, Tyrantrum stomps over and leans down, its massive face easily the same size as her body as it begins sniffing her. Then without warning it smiles happily and gives her a sloppy lick, growling its greeting to the trainer.

Blue, not terribly interested in the antics of the other Pokémon, bounds over to Toxarine and climbs up to his trainer’s backpack, opening it and rummaging around in it with his head. “Ah Hey! Blue! It isn’t snack-!” He stops as he sees Blue pull out its favorite snack; a big, juicy Sitrus Berry. It hops off of Toxarine’s back as the surprised trainer watches it walk calmly over to Max. “Time....” He finishes his sentence, watching in disbelief as it sits in front of Max and looks up at her. It was then that Toxarine realizes what it was trying to do. He walks over to Max and her partners, smiling at them. “I think Blue is trying to say thank you for earlier. I hope that his present is all right. I grow those Sitrus Berry’s just for him so those are definitely things he doesn’t like to share!” He spots the shy Vaporeon and Mimikyu, kneeling down to their eye levels as he waves at them calmly; from a safe distance of course! “Well hello there little ones! I bet I have something tasty for you two too!” He reaches into his backpack and withdraws two juicy looking, patterned Poke Beans, holding them out to them. “All kinds of Pokémon in the Alola Region love these things. I’m told that they’re yummy treats! You two want one?” He asks them, watching the Mimikyu carefully. He knew the reputation of the lonely ghost-type very well from his adventures on his island challenge.

Horvath smiles as he looks out at all the different Pokemon gathered together. Honestly, he was nervous he would end up being awkward the whole trip, but this...it felt right. He then takes out his radio and tunes in, hoping to contact Aether back home. "Horvath to Aether. Horvath to Aether. We've touched down safely. Everyone is present and accounted for. There was some small trouble in Ultra Space, but everyone made it out safely."

Goliath looks down at the Clawitzer, the two blinking at each other a few times before Goliath sets down next to the Claw Pokemon and grumbles, showing that he is cool with the small Water pokemon.

Cruise, on the other hand, was staring off at Joker as she sat behind Max. The Quagsire begins blushing bright red, his eyes turning into little pink hearts. "Siiiire~"

Goliath looks up at Cruise and rolls his eyes. Oh great...the mud-fish was in love. The Quagsire hops off Goliath's back and scuttles about, picking a bouquet of flowers from the field around them as he nervously approached Joker, presenting the flowers with closed eyes and a comcially bashful squirm. "Quag-quag! Sire!~"

Horvath blinks, clearly taken back by the sight. "Oh this can end one of two ways...pleeeease don't let it be the one I see happening..." He pictures Cruise getting blasted by water and flung away painfully, his expression growing slightly concerned.

The bickering lizard and frog Pokemon suddenly stopped when Rocky was glomped and playfully licked by the giant prehistoric monster.  Talonflame seemed surprised by this too, her eyes wide and her feathers ruffled, but she remained close by in case she got hurt.  Rocky was in no harm, though!

"Eeee!!!  Wow, you're super friendly!!  Heehee!!  I'm so glad to meet you too!  Hahaha!" Rocky laughed, gently giving Tyrantrum's face a hug.  Its skin was so rough compared to her other Pokemon, but it made her happy to be in close contact with it.  She could easily feel positive energy radiating from its body, hearing how excited it was just by listening to it grumble out a purr.

Heliolisk flared up its skin hood and marched over to his 'big sister'  He tugged on her skirt, signaling her to stop with all the hugging.  He hissed out his complaints when he got her attention and Rocky shook her head at him.

"Heliolisk, this is clearly someone else's partner!" she scolded him, putting her hands on her hips.  "I'm not even remotely thinking what you're thinking!  Stop acting so embarassing!"

"HEEEEEeeeee!!  Lisk lisk!!" he shouted back, crossing his arms over his chest and lowering his solar disk.  He squinted at her before walking off, sticking his nose in the air.  It was almost like he was making sure she wasn't doing something foolish.  The Talonflame sighed; this lizard always bothered Rocky like that.

Coming closer to the group, Greninja approached Eris slowly.  He gestured to the Lucario's arms, wondering if they were okay from that stunt they pulled to save Blue from falling.

If Joker could hide her face any more, she would be an ostrich. She trembled more as Tox's hand reached out. Noir patted Toxarines hand and acted like he was shaking a finger with one tendril, and pointed to Joker with the other. He then took the beans and saluted in thanks. Noir scuttled over to the Vaporeon and placed the bean in front of her, pointing over to Tox. The water type hesitantly looks up, revealing to everyone her marred face. She chirps a quiet thanks before turning away to eat the bean.

Max knelt down to the Umbreon, gently taking the berry. She gave him a smile and a nod in thanks. "It wasnt a problem, Blue. I hope eventually you and I can work together as a team."

Eris tapped Max on the shoulder and motioned to the Quagsire and Joker. Even Noir was watching. Joker looked up at Cruiser her eyes wide as she attempted to hide her face behind her destroyed tail fin, but it couldn't hide the furious fuschia that coated her face. She nervously accepted the flowers, taking them carefully in her teeth. The Vaporeon looked around and hastily slid a rock over, not finding a gift suitable enough in return. 

Eris rolled his eyes as well, as he made his way over ti the two colossal legends that brought them here. He placed a paw to his chest and bowed deeply to both of them. 

"Thank you for giving us passage here. We are grateful for your assistance."

The lucario turned to Greninja and nodded, holding out his arms. The spikes were scuffed up, but any cracks or damages seems to be old wounds. "I am fine. Thank you for your inquiries."

Toxarine smiles at the Mimikyu as it takes the beans, standing up to face Max as Blue climbs up onto Toxarine’s back and sets his paws on top of his head, watching the goings on from his favorite observation point. “I hope you put that berry to good use. By the way....Is your Vaporeon okay? It seemed really anxious around me. Was it my breath?” He breathes on his hand and smells it, blinking once before shrugging. “That’s definitely not it....do I stink?” He looks at Blue who lets out a small cry, licking his cheek to reassure him. “Seriously? I’m all good?” The Umbreon nods and gestures with its head to the Mimikyu. “Huh? The Mimikyu?” He looks over at it, tilting his head before looking at Max. “Are all of your Pokémon closely knit relationship wise?”

The huge fossil Pokémon growls cutely, reaching down and picking up Rocky by the back of her shirt (much to her Pokémon’s surprise!). He reaches behind him and sets her on his back, giving the trainer a smile and a growl as it starts to walk around. Seemed it wanted to give the excitable trainer a ride!

The Lunala and Solgaleo both let out their cries in unison as they utter their ‘you’re welcome’ statements.

Solgaleo looks down at the Lucario. “Leooo.” My apologies for not being able to keep you all safe. I am grateful that you and your human were able to save both of them.

The Lunala raises a wing and pats the Solgaleo’s back, trying to comfort it. “Lunnaaa~” ’Twas not your fault Solgaleo. The debris fields are treacherous. However....my thoughts are turned to that large Pokémon that appeared above all of our heads before we landed....

Cannonball watches the goings on with what seems like bored eyes, his enormous claw’s feelers raising up as it continues to feel the changes in the air around it. It seemed that although it was apparently lazy, it was still observant.

The radio crackles in Horvath’s hands as Lusamine’s voice appears. “....vath? Horvath? Ah there we go! I am happy to hear that you are all safe and sound! Please do keep in touch as you all explore! One other thing as well; your PDA’s are equipped with camera’s and interdimensional mapping functions. Please do use those to map out and capture photo’s of any new Pokémon that you encounter! Also do let us know of any legendary or unique Pokémon you find! We were hearing strange rumors of a blue dragon clad in armor flying through Ultra Space accompanied by flutes! Such a fantastic find must be documented!”

Horvath immediately responds to the radio. "We actually may have just seen the Pokemon you were just describing. While we were in Ultra Space, it appeared and left behind traces, strange feathers. Each of us was able to acquire one. If anything...its appearance reminded me of the old legends from Johto, about Ho-oh and Lugia. This massive Pokemon...it may very well be a legendary from this region! A first encounter!"

While Horvath fed his report to Lusamine, his Pokemon seemed to be occupied on their own. Goliath was already fast asleep, snoring loudly. Cruise, on the other hand, was full of pep. As Joker slid the rock to him, the Quagsire's eyes become larger hearts as his face bursts red, steam comically shooting out from his nose as he is launched back by the force of the steam escaping. "Siiiiiiire~"

Horvath shakes his head, rubbing his eyes and groaning before continuing his report. He loved Cruise, he really did, but he had to admit that the oblivious Pokemon coule be a handful at times. "Once we have a bearing of where we are and have a good idea of where to go, I'll begin recording our findings. This region seems peaceful...who knows, maybe there are other humans here?"

Rocky was surprised as the Tyrantrum lifted her high into the air and placed it on its back!  She laughed, never before thinking this could happen to someone like her!  She was so high up!  She could see really far away, too!

Talonflame and Heliolisk screamed for their sister to return to them, shocked this stranger’s Pokemon had the gall to be so friendly with her after just meeting her!!
Helios rebelled and puffed out his hood again, sparking and stomping about yet another Pokemon pursuing his trainer’s affections!

Talonflame rose into the air and hovered behind Rocky, grabbing her shirt with her claws and carrying her off of the beast.  Lowering her onto the ground, Rocky thanked her partner, but frowned at Heliolisk.

“Stop!  Heliolisk, its just being feiendly!“ she told him, talking with her hands.  “No one is being replaced.”

She looked over at Greninja, making sure he was within sight.  He was talking to Eris.  That was good.  As long as he’s safe and getting along alright, that’s all that mattered for now.

“Think nothing of it,” the ninja told the Lucario.  “You worked very well with your partner.  Is she doing alright?”

Eris nodded, glancing over to Max who was messing around with her PDA as Toxarine stepped over to her. His eyes fell to her arm and the lucario sighed. 

"She'll be alright. Maxwell is very tough. Perhaps when we settle for the night, I can get her to tell everyone about her adventures." He smirks, crossing his arms. "Her explorations are quite extraordinary."

Meanwhile, Max was putzing about her PDA, as Toxarine spoke. She looked up at him and nodded. 

"She's fine, she just doesn't like male trainers. The three of them are family to myself and each other, helping each other stand if they fall. To me, they're as close as close can get."

Toxarine nods, about to continue the conversation when he hears a rather irritated roar from Tyrantrum. He looks back and both Blue and Toxarine immediately look concerned. “Oh boy....That could be trouble.”

The Tyrantrum, indignant that Rocky’s Pokemon seemed so overly protective of her, flares up his white fluff on the back of his neck and stomps the ground. It growls at the Heliolisk in a challenging manner, seemingly eager to challenge it to a fight.

Thankfully, Cannonball was paying attention to the interaction and noticed the change in the air. It raises its massive claw and opens it, pointing the cannon at him as the inside begins to glow with power. It charges what looks like multi-colored energy in its claw, preparing to fire the energy at Tyrantrum. “Witzerrrrr....Claw....”

Toxarine steps between the two as they both see their trainer and calm themselves. “That’s enough both of you! Sheesh....What’s got you so worked up pal?”

The Tyrantrum growls and points at the Heliolisk, Toxarine face palming as he groans. “That’s what you’re worked up about? You’re welcome to be friendly to everyone but you have to remember that you’re my partner buddy.” He looks at Rocky. “I hope he didn’t hurt you. Tyrantrum loves people and has had a lot of experience with little kids. Your excitement must have made him happy because most trainers who see him withdraw their Pokémon and run off. Specifically those people from Aether and Team Skull. They know better than to mess with him.” He looks up at Tyrantrum who lets out a whine. He gestures for the huge fossil Pokémon to bring its head down and he pets the side of its head before going to its side and climbing aboard its back. The Tyrantrum slowly smiles and starts walking around, happy to have Toxarine on its back.

The messy haired trainer laughs and crawls up to its head, balancing on the big Pokémon’s crown as he looks down at Rocky. “He can be a big baby sometimes but he means well. Sorry if he upset your Pokémon!”

Cannonball closes its cannon-Claw and settles down again, watching the goings on once more.

Upon looking through her PDA, Max easily finds some communication functions that have presets for their own dimension in Aether Paradise as well as a camera function and mapping app. There was also a customized Pokédex application that had a bunch of empty slots; presumably for any new Pokémon that they would encounter.

Lusamine’s surprised voice comes out over the radio again. “You SAW it?! How absolutely wonderful! Please do send us a sample of the feathers that you have found with Solgaleo and Lunala whenever they decide to return here! We would very much appreciate the chance to study such an exquisite item! And do have fun Mr. Bard! I know that you may not know your teammates very well but I can tell you this; Toxarine is a very capable trainer! I asked him specifically to come with all of you despite his busy schedule as the Alolan League Champion because he cares very much about his partners and they are all very well.... *ahem* respected among us here at Aether Paradise. I know firsthand just how strong his bond with his Pokémon is. He and I battled more than once and he beat me on both occasions! Do let us know when you depart in a direction and have a wonderful time! Lusamine out~” Her voice crackles out from the radio and silence soon accompanies Horvath.

The brunette trainer grabbed Heliolisk and lifted him up into her arms.  As he hissed at the Tyrantrum before him, Rocky stepped back, still carrying her little brother.  Talonflame was on standby, her body getting hot.  Greninja even turned his head to look.

“Let’s not fight right now!  Especially if it’s not an officiated match!  How about I promise not to play with it anymore?  Okay?” she told the yellow monster.

Heliolisk stopped thrashing around, but remained squinting at the ground.  Rocky sighed.  She knew why, but she wanted him to know everything would be alright.

“Toxarine, I’m alright, thanks for asking,” she said, looking up at the young man on the fossil monster.  “Heliolisk is just looking out for my interests, that’s why he got upset!  Tyrantrum, please don’t take offense!”

Heliolisk felt a little better about that, and he wriggled out of Rocky’s arms.  Talonflame cooled down, too.

Greninja turned back to Eris and nodded, agreeing the stories would be quite valuable to hear.  “I’d like to know more about your ability to communicate with humans, as well.  That ability is very interesting to me, personally.”

Max grunted at the interruption, but then turned her attention to her Mimikyu, who was tugging on her pant leg. She picked up the ghost type and smiled, hugging it close. 

"Mimikyu, look at you~
I love you more than pikachu~
A cute little bundle of dark you are~
Better than the little rodent by far! ~"

Max's little tune made Noir wave its little tendrils around in happiness, adoring the affection it had over its living counterpart. 


"Ah, the telepathy." Eris nodded. "It is something my lineage has done for many a year. Both my partner and I descend from a Queen's auric guardian, so training to use telepathy and aura has been passed down. Perhaps with enough time and when we all know each other more, Maxwell and I could teach you as well?"

The Lucario knew that telepathy wouldn't be something one could learn over night, and that there needed to be a stable bond between the student and the teacher. Perhaps in due time, something like that would surface.

When Lusamine mentions Toxarine's status as a Champion, Horvath seems genuinely surprised. This guy conquered an Elite Four set and became the Champion of an entire League?!

"So, he's just like her..." Horvath puts his radio away, walking over to the other Trainers. He had plenty that he wanted to talk to Toxarine about, but he knew it could wait until later. Right now, they needed to coordinate and figure out what to do. As lovely as this field was, he knew they couldn't stay there forever.

"I just got word from Aether, guys. Apparently, that massive Pokemon we saw is a possible Legendary from this world. Its been sighted before, but never to this degree...Lusamine asked that we send samples back with Solgaleo and Lunala when they head back. So...what do we do now?"

Cruise hops back up, waddling over to Goliath and climbing onto the earthen turtle's back. Goliath rumbles low, shifting to make himself more comfortable. As Cruise looks back at Joker, squirming bashflully while holding his new rock, the Torterra rolls his eyes but smirks, happy his friend was in such high spirits.

Toxarine thinks for a bit and looks over at Blue. “Hey Blue! Mind giving this to Solgaleo for me?” He takes out his feather and Blue takes it into his mouth before hopping down off of Tyrantrum and bounding over to Solgaleo. The Full Metal Pokemon lies down and lets Blue hop aboard his back. Once there, Blue gently secures the feather to one of the harnesses and then hops down, letting out a small cry to let the huge Pokémon know that it was okay to get going now.

The wormhole begins to open as Lunala and Solgaleo start to get themselves up to leave. Lunala turns to Eris and gives him a small nod; his way of giving the Pokémon a respectful bow. “Lunaaa~” It is time for us to go now. Do feel free to let us know whenever you are all ready to leave this place. We will be more than happy to assist you all. Farewell now new friends~

Toxarine waves as the two legendary Pokémon start to depart, looking down and helping Blue back up onto Tyrantrum’s back. “Well....I suppose now we just pick a direction and go....I see a volcano to the east....” He begins swiveling his head around, searching. “Looks like nothing but sea and rivers to the west....There’s a big mountain range to the north and....Looks like a bunch of forests to the south. Which way do you guys want to go? I’m cool with wherever!” Tyrantrum roars out loud, smiling as he voices his agreement with his trainer’s decision.

Max looked about, her gaze falling on the south most forest. Ever since her endeavor in the Eterna Forest when she was little, the Aura Guardian had a sling fear of the dark. While she had a Mimikyu to help her cope, the fear still held residence within her conscious. Her pokemon were well aware of this and in their own way, helped her cope and complete her training.

 Noir used its tendrils to pull itself up onto her back, wrapping around her shoulders and waist like a backpack. Joker gracefully leapt up to Max's shoulders and rested there, purring softly. Her mouth may be torn into a smile to last forever, but the bliss and happiness as Max pet her softly was prominent in the Vaporeon's eyes. Eris placed a paw to Max's arm and nodded, noting his partners shaky thoughts on their next location. 

"Maxwell and I vote for the forest." Eris spoke, before locking thoughts with Max. 

~"That is the last place I expected you to want to go, Maxwell."~ Eris thought. "Especially since-"~

"I know, Eris." Maxwell thought in return, but sighed audibly for everyone to hear. ~"...but its something I need to conquer."~

Eris nodded in understanding, turning to the group. "That is our input. What about the rest of you?"

Rocky blinked a few times after hearing Horvath’s news from the Aether Foundation.  “A legendary Pokemon?  You mean like Lugia or Tornadus?”

Rocky seemed to be surprised by this development!  She quickly went into her bag and dug out a small notebook with a spiral spine.  She withdrew a black pen from the spiral binding and began to write down information about all three legends she’d seen so far: Solgaleo, Lunala, and the mysterious winged creature.  After she was done scribbling things down, she looked up and saw Tox and Blue give the feather to Solgaleo and Lunala.  She too, waved goodbye to them.

Greninja returned to Rocky, Heliolisk and Talonflame.  The trainer put the notebook back in the bag.  Taking Greninja’s hand in hers, she asked her trio of partners what to do next.

“I saw a lot of amazing places we could go over the horizon!” she told all three of them.  “Where do you think would be a good place to go?”

Talonflame chirped and flipped her wing up toward the mountains in the north.  Heliolisk shrugged.  Rocky already knew his favorite place was the beach, but she’d gone there with him when they first arrived at Alola!  Greninja nodded to Talonflame, then to Rocky.  With everyone agreeing, Rocky smiled and announced her choice to the group.

“I’d like to go to the mountains, but if anyone has a better idea, we can always go there later!” Rocky said aloud, but shyly, not wanting to cause conflict by choosing a different place than the others.

Horvath places a hand on his chin as he thinks. "Since we don't know too much about this place, I think our best course of action would be to find out if there are people here or not. Normally, I'd suggest following the river, since people tend to keep near fresh water, but considering the landscape, the mountains may honestly be our best bet. Plus, we could get a better view of the surrounding region from on top of those mountains." He looks back to Cruise and Goliath, nervously seeing if he did alright.

Cruise smiles wide, holding up a paw as if to give Horvath a thumbs up. Goliath sighs, nodding with closed eyes as he grumbles.

Horvath then scratches the back of his neck nervously. "Plus, we might find some useful items around the mountains. I can't wait to start seeing what I can make from the resources around this region!~"

Toxarine grins at everyone’s decisions. “Annnd that’s strike two for the mountains! With my wild card I say strike three and you’re out! To the mountains it is!” He looks down at Max. “Sorry Max. But we can go to the forest next if you want!”

Cannonball lets out a cry that prompts Toxarine to smile at his friend and withdraw the crab-like Pokémon into its pokeball. He puts the pokeball away and looks to Rocky and Max. “Hey girls! If you want you can climb aboard Tyrantrum here for a ride! It looks like the forest line is thin towards the mountains so he won’t have any trouble busting through them and getting to the bottom of the mountain range!”

As if to agree with him, Tyrantrum lets out a loud roar of confidence as he smiles down at Max and Rocky. His back was huge so taking additional passengers besides his own trainer wouldn’t prove much of a problem at all.

"No no!  No need to be sorry!" She says a bit hastily, but relaxes as she feels Noir snuggle into her back. Max sighs and gives an awkward smile as she reaches back and pats the head of the disguised pokemon. Joker nudged her other hand with her tail and Max pet her as well. 

"Would you like to pet me too,  Maxwell?" Eris smirked. 

"Sure, let me just grow a third arm."

The two chuckled to each other before climbing up onto the back of the massive dinosaur. Max stroked the rocky scales of the beast and smiled. Fossil pokemon were a soft spot for her; she loved them. Each one held its own piece of history, something a book could never capture.

Horvath nods, smiling. "We're in ageeement, then. If you guys wanna ride Tyrantrum, I'll ride Goliath and help carry any larger items we may find." He then walks over to Goliath, climbing onto his back and sitting down cross-legged under the tree sticking up from the Torterra's shell. He thenlooks down at Goliath, petting the Torterra's shell. "Ready to get going, big guy? Once we find a good place to camp, we'll have a good long rest. Okay?~"

Goliath rumbles slighly. "Tooooor!" With that cry, he rises up and lumbers forward, turning around and standing face to face with Tyrantrum. Goliath then looks up to Toxarine, as if to say "Lead the way".

Rocky's smile broadened as she felt proud of her team's choice.  "Alright, I think I'll keep out Talonflame for now!"

She turned to her male partners and hugged them both before returning them to their respective capsules.  Talonflame helped Rocky approach and board Tyrantrum, happy Tox allowed them to ride his friend like this!

"Thank you so much, Tyrantrum!  You're pretty cool, actually!" Rocky cheerfully said to the fossil monster.  Above them, Talonflame soared through the skies, keeping a close eye on her trainer.  She was also quite eager to stretch her wings a little and smell this new region's air!

Toxarine gives a loud hoot and pumps his fist into the air, pointing towards the mountains as he spoke. “Woohoo!! New adventure here we come! Tyrantrum, to the mountains!”

The Tyrantrum lowers its head a little at first before giving a big roar and nearly charging forward, slowing down a little into a light jog as it happily started to stretch its legs.

Toxarine, while unsteady at first, grins and turns to the girls. “And we’re off to the races! Sorry if it’s a bit bumpy. Tyrantrum isn’t used to having so more than two people on his back but he always tries to keep himself as level as possible.” He walks calmly down from Tyrantrum’s head and down his neck, sitting down as he looks over at Horvath and Torterra to make sure they were keeping up. “I hope Tyrantrum isn’t going too fast for you Horvath! He’s been in that ball for a while now!” He calls out to him, waving at his friend.


It takes the group about ten minutes or so to reach the tree line (at Tyrantrum’s pace anyways!) as Toxarine looks over at the girls. “Hang on tight! We’re gonna start busting through that tree line!” He tells them as Tyrantrum starts to carefully make slight adjustments in his jogging direction, weaving between the trees. When they reach the start of the mountains, a vast ravine greets the trainers, a huge boulder blocking everyone’s path. If one cared to look, many rock type Pokémon were wandering around the sides of the ravine ranging from the smaller Geodude and Roggenrola to the bigger Graveler and Boldore. There were even some Heatmor and Durant’s walking around! It seemed that this region’s mountain range had just as diverse a Pokémon culture as many of the mountain ranges on Earth! They were all peacefully wandering about as Tyrantrum slows to a stop and he looks to his trainer as if to ask what to do.

Toxarine crosses his arms to think for a moment as he consults his options. Usually he would have Tyrantrum just bust that big rock with his Rock Head or Dragon Claw abilities. However, he didn’t want to frighten the girls....then he snaps his fingers as he gets an idea.

He turns to Eris. “Hey Eris, you wanna bust up a big rock with my pal Cannonball? I could use his Aura Sphere attack to blast that big rock to pieces but he would benefit greatly from some help.”

Eris looked to Max, who nodded, before hopping down off the Tyrantrum and stepping over to the large rock. He placed a paw to the stone and looked up. 

"Ready when you are." He spoke. 

Max sighed as she looked down at her partner. A thoughtful expression crossed her face as she zoned out for a little.

Toxarine grins and nods, taking out Cannonball’s pokeball and tosses it into the air. A bright flash of light later and Cannonball the Clawitzer appears next to Eris. The big clawed Pokémon gives the Lucario a nod before opening its bigger claw. The cannon arm now pointed at the boulder, the Pokémon awaited its masters directions. “Man you know exactly what we needed to do Cannonball!” He pumps his fist as if he were shadow boxing. “Together now with Eris; use Aura Sphere!”

With a quiet cry, Cannonball slowly begins charging the Aura Sphere attack inside its cannon arm. Seconds later, a huge sphere of Aura appears and it shoves the cannon arm into the boulder, firing it into the obstruction.

At the same time, Eris lets out a growl as a pulse of blue energy erupts from his paws, demolishing the boulders completely. As he climbs back up to Tyrantrum’s back, Toxarine grins and calls Cannonball back to its pokeball. “Thanks buddy! And you too Eris! Onward!”

Tyrantrum lets out a roar and begins stomping past the rubble that was the large boulders. The rock-types in the large rocky valley pass all let out cries of greeting to Tyrantrum as he passed them, the ancient dinosaur Pokémon growling back in his own greeting.

It is a few hours before anything truly interesting happens. There are large bird Pokémon cries around the valley ravine, things that catch Tyrantrum’s attention. He slows his walking, looking around cautiously as the group can manage to spot shadows of large creatures with human shapes darting across the tops of the ravine. However, they had what appeared to be feathers all over their clothes. But one stuck out more than the others; a shining object around their neck.

Suddenly, a loud bird cry sounds above as a Fearow darts from the top of the ravine and its wing catches Toxarine’s arm. Blood spatters the person behind him (that person unfortunately being Max) as the small wound is cut open so violently. “GAH!! What the hell man?!” Tyrantrum growls at it as his head starts to glow a little. But a pat from Toxarine stops him. “You can’t fight bud! If you do you’ll knock us off!” He widens his eyes as he hears more bird cries. Turning around, there appeared to be a large flock of Mandibuzz, Fearow and Pidgeotto’s coming towards them. “Oh crap! Guuuys? Anyone got any bright ideas? Now’s the time!”