Chapter 111 (Patreon)

Make sure you didn't miss Sunday's chapter!
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I technically had two bank accounts under my name. However, I didn't consider one of them mine since it only contained the money earned from selling duplicate Mawilites. That currency was to be spent at Mawile's discretion, and with Kirlia trying to open up a bit more, she decided now was the time to spend more of it.

Despite being a resort, this part of Lake Verity was more of a town than anything else. Sure, there were sections that were all owned by the same company, but there were other streets filled with chain restaurants and specialty shops. Mawile merrily walked down the sidewalk with Kirlia at her side, who was looking around rather nervously. They passed by shops displaying clothing, jewelry, candy, health foods, and even a few selling collectibles. Their current purpose was to find Kirlia a held item, since practically the rest of my team already had one.

If Kirlia had to choose, he would have kept the Iron Ball. His skill with telekinesis was reaching absurd levels, to the point that he barely needed to exert any effort to lift the heavy sphere. His preferred method of battling would have been to bash it against his foes, but he wasn’t allowed to do that per the League’s rules. Doing so would mean the ball counted as a weapon.

Held Items were meant to be skill or special ability enhancers, with the rare exception based on species. Farfetch'd had its Leek, Chansey had its Lucky Punch, and Marowak had its Thick Club. However, not just any item could be used as a held item, and as such, there was a list of approved items and their uses.

Pokémon couldn’t be given something like a sword, and they certainly couldn’t be given a gun. However, Fling was still fine due to the move counting as the item being used as a “projectile” rather than a “weapon” (despite my thoughts that those were the same thing), and using an Iron Ball to bash someone with wasn’t allowed.

It was fine to do so outside of League sanctioned battles, and Kirlia was firmly aware he was allowed to do what he wished in emergency situations—say, if Hunter J ever showed up again—just not in any official format.

The rules on held item use were confusing and nebulous at best, so Kirlia needed an alternate option.

This resort was marketed towards wealthy people, but a significant trainer population was present here as well. As a result, there were shops here specifically dedicated to held items, so Mawile and Kirlia explored them while I hung out in the back.

The pair basically had a little fashion show together as I watched. With the Wallace Cup imminent, most of the items on display were scarves and other accessories that were said to enhance a Pokémon's attributes. A green scarf was supposed to make a Pokémon seem a bit more clever, a blue scarf made a Pokémon more beautiful, a red scarf enhanced coolness, and so on and so forth.

They honestly looked nice on him, but Kirlia wanted to get an item that was actually useful. Most items here were being sold at a markup, but that was partially offset by the sheer number of choices available. I recognized a freezer containing chunks of Never-Melt Ice, a jewelry rack with a few Mystic Water, as well as a few display cases that contained rare items like Life Orbs and Choice Scarves.

Personally, I thought Kirlia would go for a Twisted Spoon, which helped Psychic Types better focus their power, but he went for something completely unexpected;  Mawile bought him a Utility Umbrella.

I'd never heard of that item before, but apparently, it was an approved item by the League that could be wielded in battles. As far as I could tell, a Utility Umbrella was just a sturdy, gray umbrella, which could negate the effects of both harsh sunlight and heavy rain on the wielder.

That meant Fire and Water Type moves wouldn't be boosted or weakened in those weather conditions, and the wielder wouldn't suffer extra damage from opponents using moves of those types as well.

There were other benefits and detriments to having it, but honestly, I think Kirlia just wanted it to have a better connection to the team. While we didn't rely on weather too often quite yet, my team was distinctly aware that I wanted to involve weather shenanigans past just Ninetales's Snow in the future. A Utility Umbrella would let Kirlia better slot in with the team's strategy.

I just wasn't sure how to use it.

Kirlia looked happy holding the dark gray item, lifting it up and spinning it while he was spinning in place aligned with it. His current species focused better while moving in that manner, so I supposed an umbrella did fit him after all. Again, I was just still trying to wrap my mind around how exactly we would make it work.

Maybe if Kirlia learns Trick, he could hand it off to an opponent that would otherwise benefit from the weather? Maybe to act as a counter against opposing weather teams?

It was something to consider for down the line.

Mawile handed a card I gave her to the cashier of this shop (which required her to stand on the tip of her toes to reach up that high), and handed off the umbrella to Kirlia. I went after her to buy a chunk of Light Clay for Carbink and a Green Scarf for Ponyta, since they were the only members of my team that wouldn’t have an item after this.

A Light Clay would help Carbink make their screens last longer when they used them, which would make Carbink that much more difficult to defeat. In Ponyta’s case, he hadn’t been interested in much for sale, but tying the Green Scarf around his neck at least made him seem a bit more clever.

I had no clue how that worked.

We started to leave the shop once the purchases were made, but I froze when a certain item entered my line of sight.

Honestly, I hadn’t been paying much attention to exactly what the shop was offering. Sure there were rare items, but I had been mostly satisfied with what my team already had, and hadn’t been looking. That was a mistake, since one of the rare, individual items on display threw me for a loop.

For seven digits, a bright pink, ceramic-like rectangle made out of an unknown material was on display on the shelf. My eyes seemed to linger on it, making it hard to drag them away to face the cashier.

"What is that?" I asked slowly while pointing to the object in question.

The cashier looked up from where she was smiling at Kirlia spinning his new umbrella to stare at the plate on display on the wall. She just shrugged.

"Dunno. Came in last week. Boss said to put it out. Why? You looking to buy it?"

I turned back to the item, my eyes practically drilling a hole into it. I cautiously stepped forward and let my fingers drag over it.

I reverently picked it up.

"Hey, hey, hey! You can't touch that!” the clerk shouted while moving out from around the counter. “If you break it, you buy it, and it's the most expensive thing we have!"

I ignored her while my two Pokémon in the room gave me strange looks. I flipped the object around to read the engraving on its back.

"The Original One is in all things. The Original One is nowhere at all."

I stared at it nervously. It would take practically my entire savings to afford, taking every bit of cash I'd earned from dealing with criminal organizations, winning Contests and Gyms, and even the extra funds I'd put away to spare from the weekly payments I received from both Sycamore and Marty.

I'd practically be back at square one if I purchased it.

However...

I groaned.

"Fine,” I said. “I'll buy it.”

The cashier looked up at me, absolutely gobsmacked.

"You sure? I know this is supposed to be a rich town, but this is the most expensive item I’ve seen here. Period. Are you really going to drop that much right now?”

I frowned but maintained my stare towards the item in my hands.

"Aren't you supposed to try to encourage me to spend money?"

She just shrugged again and returned back to her post to help me with the purchase.

"I make minimum wage. I couldn't care less if this place makes a profit. So, your card?"

Unhappily, I handed over my trainer ID and she rang me up for the absurd sum. I was forced to answer a sudden call to confirm that yes, it was me spending so much money.

But, the transaction went through, and with all the new purchases, I left the shop to immediately go find Steven.

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"This is the Pixie Plate," I stated.

Steven stared at the relatively unimpressive pink rectangle on the bedroom table in front of us. He shifted in the hotel's provided armchair and tilted his head to the side in an attempt to try to make something out of the item I was presenting. Unlike me, he didn't seem to have any trouble looking away from it.

"Okay," he said slowly. "I'm not sure of the importance of it."

I felt like I wanted to scream.

"I don't know either," I confessed. "Somehow, things have lined up so that I never watched the Arceus movie, and I never got around to playing the Arceus game before I woke up in this world. Honestly, this just happens to be the one, perfect situation where I'm clueless, so I need to ask for help."

I took a deep breath before continuing.

"Can you please call Cynthia? I honestly want to say the presence of one of Arceus’s plates might constitute an emergency. Her expertise in history is practically a necessity."

He paled at my words and immediately moved to take out his PokéNav. One hurried conversation later, and Cynthia burst into the room after only a minute's wait. In one hand she held a Pokéball, and in the other, a cracked stone whose shadow flickered ominously.

She almost calmed down when she saw Steven and I just casually sitting in the room, but she tensed once more when her eyes drifted towards the plate on the table.

"Is that..."

"The Pixie Plate, an item tied extremely closely to Arceus? Yes. Please close the door," I said.

Cynthia didn't move, but her shadow stretched out and slammed the door shut. She quickly put the odd stone she was carrying back into one of her coat's pockets.

I cleared my throat to get a handle on the conversation before it properly began.

"I think I need to reintroduce myself," I said. "Hi, Cynthia. I'm Alex, Steven's mysterious source of knowledge. I'm from another world."

The Champion of Sinnoh looked like she couldn't decide between acting extremely shocked or excited. Eventually, she settled on acting serious with a focused expression on her face.

"Okay," she said, nodding. "So you know what this plate is?"

I wobbled my head back and forth, unsure.

"The Pixie Plate is the Fairy Type-attuned plate closely tied to Arceus. I want to say there's only one of it, but I'm honestly not so sure. All I know is that it's extremely rare and important, and I'm on the verge of breaking down. Also, I genuinely have trouble looking away from it and there's something about it that's making my heart pound."

Even now, there was a constant drum beat in my chest. My eyes were practically glued to the legendary plate despite finding its base appearance practically wholly uninteresting.

Cynthia began to speak slowly.

“There’s a debate around whether the plates are unique or if they’re complete sets tied to groups of regions. Generally speaking, there’ll be a handful between Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh, as well as Kalos, Galar, and Paldea and other regions. They’ll show up randomly and drift around for a while before mysteriously disappearing under unknown circumstances. The debate sparked up because it’s nearly impossible to bring them outside of the region they’re found, but no two Types of plate have even been owned at the same time. They’re an infamously mystical object that’s somehow both extremely dull and extremely important. I only know them due to my interest in Sinnoh’s history, so any information you can share would help with my understanding as well,” Cynthia said.

"Depending on what plates it holds, Arceus can change its Type thanks to its ability, Multitype," I said.

Cynthia looked stunned. Steven failed to hide a wince.

"I'm sorry, did you just state Arceus's ability? Like as if it was a Pokémon?"

Ah, shit.

"I did state I was Steven's source, right?” I said. “You know, the person who warned the League about all those criminal organizations and the ultimate weapon? Also, I helped fight Lysandre and even helped take down Courtney back in Hoenn. Do I need to say anything more for you to believe me?"

The more I shared about my history here, the more intently Cynthia stared at me. Somehow, I managed to just barely tear my eyes away from the plate to see something flicker next to Cynthia's ear.

"Spritomb says you're alive, but there's something hidden about you," she commented.

"Mysterious mental protection," I replied while knocking my knuckles against the side of  my head. "Not sure how or why it's there, but I'm completely invisible to Psychic Types. Guess Spiritomb is detecting that."

Cynthia nodded slowly, then turned back to face the tablet. Steven spoke up at this point. Despite being an ex-Champion, he honestly looked a bit out of his league.

"So what should we do about it?" he asked.

"Bring it to my grandmother," Cynthia immediately replied. "She has a better understanding of Sinnoh's ancient lore than I do, and her proximity to Mt. Coronet means she's a bit more in tune to the mystical than I. I'm unsure why the plates are here, but Alex, you should know that these plates haven't been seen in Sinnoh for quite some time, until recently."

"I don’t like the sound of that,” I mumbled.

Cynthia pursed her lips.

"Neither do I. Usually, maybe one appears once in a decade, but recently, we found three inside Team Galactic's headquarters when we shut them down. Those plates disappeared when we tried to transport them, and there’s an open investigation pertaining to their whereabouts. This plate isn’t the Draco, Splash, or Iron Plate, so there’s no need to worry about that, but it is concerning. I desperately hope seeing it here is a coincidence and not the sign of worse to come."

I sent a glance Steven's way. He nodded to encourage me to explain.

"There may be encounters with both Giratina and Arceus in the coming months," I mumbled quickly.

She snapped her head towards me.

"What? Explain."

"Well, for starters, if this world were to have a... protagonist, it'd be Ash Ketchum," I started. "He already encountered both Dialga and Palkia, as you already know, but events involving other Legendaries will occur around him soon as well. I don't know when or where, but they’re guaranteed to happen before the start of the League Conference."

"Then we need to stop him. Spiritomb, go to—"

"No!" Steven and I both shouted in unison.

Cynthia froze. I hesitantly lowered myself back into my chair.

"You're not listening to me. I don't know where or when these events will happen. I only know about them because Ash is going to experience them, so if you stop his journey, they might happen without anyone being around to stop them. You should read up on his history. You'll find he's plenty experienced when it comes to Legendary encounters."

Cynthia sighed and walked over to the tablet.

"Steven, I assume that your strange path through the region has been the result of you following that boy?"

He nodded.

"Yes, but recently I've managed to take more frequent breaks due to Alex here, helping me. Watching his growth over the journey has been entertaining, at least."

Cynthia glanced between the two of us.

"I'm going to assign a pair of Ace Trainers to you, Steven, and I want your assistance training them to follow Ash as you have been without disturbing his journey. They should be able to free up your time to let you actually enjoy your vacation, and better let you recover if something major does end up occurring. I’ll leave them an item that will help you Teleport to them if necessary.

"And, Alex,” Cynthia continued, “do you mind if I take the Pixie Plate? I want my grandmother to look at it, like I said."

Something about that thought felt wrong, but I wasn't going to force her to wait based on a greedy whim.

"Go ahead," I offered.

Cynthia stepped forward and picked it up. For some reason, I felt slightly insulted.

"Then I'll be off. Alex..."

She turned away briefly, and her serious expression momentarily faded. She already had a ridiculous amount of questions for me just as a knowledgeable user of Mega Evolution, but now that she knew I was from another world?

I could practically see the gears whirring in her mind as she considered what she wanted to ask me.

"We'll be in touch," she said.

Cynthia marched out of the room, and a sheen I hadn't even noticed on the walls before faded away. Once the door behind her closed, the sheen returned and Steven and I both let out a sigh of relief.

"I have to say, I feel a bit silly not asking Cynthia for help about Ash earlier," he said.

"Yeah, you probably could have had a lot more time to spend in The Underground, too,” I replied.

He chuckled at the thought and took up a far more relaxed posture, allowing himself to properly lean back where he was sitting and enjoy his chair’s cushioned back.

"I don't regret how I’ve spent my time, even with the stressful situations I was flung into. Hmm.” He paused. “Was this relief how you felt after talking to me initially?"

I laughed.

"Basically. I—"

My heart started to beat faster with uncontrolled excitement and my gaze was firmly locked on the bed behind us.

"Steven," I said slowly. "It's here."

"What?"

"The Pixie Plate. It's here."

He turned around to face the bed only to freeze once he laid his eyes on it. Indeed, despite Cynthia leaving with it, the Pixie Plate had somehow returned to this room.

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Cynthia returned relatively quickly after that, and once an embarrassingly juvenile freakout session involving the three of us ended, we eventually came to some conclusions.

First off, the Pixie Plate wouldn't leave my presence. Specifically, it seemed that situations would engineer themselves so that whoever was carrying it away would stop looking at it, and then the Plate would be gone.

Steven tripped, Cynthia sneezed, and our Pokémon would blink or turn their head just the wrong way to lose track of it. It didn't take much to cause the Plate to disappear, but I was able to take it anywhere without issue.

Secondly, we decided there was no need to rush.

Sure, Giratina and Arceus had appearances due in the near future, but the problems involving both of them would solve themselves with Ash's presence and Steven’s assistance. I doubted the Pixie Plate itself would be crucial to either of them simply because the Fairy Type wasn't even commonly known until recently, so it would probably be fine. Cynthia's grandmother refused to discuss anything over call or even to leave to meet with me, and it was her who said there was no need to rush to get to her.

I would simply need to bring the plate to her myself, on my own time. What that would achieve, none of us were sure.

Once things calmed down, Cynthia left with an uncomfortably happy look on her face, undoubtedly thinking of questions to ask me in the future. Steven split off as well to train Scyther, leaving me alone to do as I willed.

So, putting the plate out of my mind and firmly into my backpack, I switched my focus to the upcoming Wallace Cup. I couldn't let my Pokémon slack off beforehand—we had performances to perfect, as well.

The Wallace Cup was a bit different from normal Contests in a few ways. The biggest point was that it would have significantly more people competing, Coordinators entering it from across the world. The full number of people involved with it would be enough that the cup would be split up into multiple days.

The first day would be the performance round, consisting of hours and hours of Coordinators trying to stand out from everyone else.

The second day would have the first set of the battle round, where instead of the normal sixteen, thirty two trainers would move on. Those trainers would battle it out until there were only eight trainers left, where the day would end, and the third day would see those numbers cut down to the final two to end it.

For the Wallace Cup in particular, Coordinators were allowed to switch out their Pokémon between battles, too. Not only were the performing and battling rounds allowed to have different team members, but individual battles could as well.

With my team, Ninetales, Florges, Mawile, Ponyta, Whimsicott, and Dedenne were all interested in competing. Altaria was only a maybe, so for the sake of managing training times between everyone, he would sit this one out.

Our biggest goal was getting a decent performance to move past the performance round, so when we trained, I had everyone focus on an attractive style of battling while Florges practiced a performance.

Florges received extra attention from me and everyone else on the team. With this being such a major Contest, she would have to compete near perfectly. To properly practice, rather than using a major field, my team and I went off to the woods outside of the resort, where there would be plenty of quiet, isolated areas to train. Kirlia tagged along as well, with Azumarill having been sent back to the ranch the night prior to rest after her complete sweep of Chance’s team.

One of the reasons I went to the forest was to both practice alone as well as to maintain Robin’s anonymity. I didn’t think that company would show up.

"I didn't expect to find you out here, Alex."

The familiar voice caught me off guard, but considering Ponyta was here, he probably had detected her approaching and didn't elect to tell me. His eyes glimmered with amusement, and both Dedenne and Whimsicott sent proud noises his way.

"Are you trying to practice for the Wallace Cup, too?" Dawn asked.

The secondary protagonist of the Diamond and Pearl anime was giving me a curious look, and, at her feet, Piplup was staring at my team and looking around. He almost looked like he was searching for someone. He didn't find what he was looking for, however, so he just returned to standing at his trainer's side while trying to appear brave and confident in front of such powerful Pokémon.

For the sake of keeping Robin a secret, I decided to pretend I didn't know what Dawn was talking about.

"The Wallace Cup? Well, I primarily focus on Gym Battles, so I was actually—"

"Alex, I know that you're Robin," Dawn interrupted.

I sighed.

"Can't a trainer at least try?"

Dawn shook her head, amused, and leaned back, staring at the clear sky above.

"You know, for a bit, I was wondering if I even wanted to be a Coordinator," she suddenly said.

I stared at Dawn curiously. It was a little weird that she just randomly started to talk about such a deep topic, but I was more interested in her words than anything else. I could have sworn she had known what she wanted to do from the start of her journey, since her famous Coordinator mother was such a role model for her. Dawn having doubts was new information for me.

"It wasn't that I was unhappy with what I was doing, but after seeing both you and Zoey in Jubilife, I was wondering if I'd ever be able to catch up. But you know what?"

She tilted her head back down to stare me in the eye.

"I'm not going to just catch up. I'm going to put the effort in and surpass both of you! Just you wait, the Wallace Cup is going to be mine!"

Her declaration was punctuated by Piplup cheering. However, she immediately deflated after that brief boast.

"Or, at least, I thought I wanted to surpass you. Kenny called me recently, and he told me he talked to you."

Kenny. Dawn's friend that Whimsicott beat in Sage Town.

"Why don't you plan on competing in the Grand Festival?" Dawn asked.

A silence fell over the clearing. Dawn stared at me while my team did the same. I didn't have a proper answer to this, so I gave the same excuse as I usually did.

"I just don't think it's in the cards. I’m a battler at heart, after all. To compete in the Grand Festival, I'd need to earn three more ribbons, and if I ever mess up a Contest, that just means another location I'd need to travel to and compete in. I'd have to go out of my way to earn five ribbons, and with how my journey has been going, I'm not sure if that'd work."

"Why not?" Dawn interjected. "You can compete in any major city, and with Altaria helping you, I'm sure you can fit detours into smaller cities in your schedule! I just don't know why you aren't trying harder to reach the same goal everyone you're competing against is striving towards."

I again didn't have an answer. Dawn once more turned to stare at the sky.

"The Grand Festival is the ultimate goal for every Coordinator. Knowing you aren't trying to reach for the same place is just, I don't know." She shook her head. "I guess it feels disappointing?"

She stretched her arms out then glanced back to the bushes behind her.

"Sorry, no need to worry! I hadn't even realized you would be here before I came. Piplup and I are going to find elsewhere to practice, I didn't mean to bring you down! Guess I just wanted to vent a bit to someone who cares."

Dawn gave me a big smile and waved before disappearing back into the foliage.

"Good luck tomorrow, Alex. I can't wait to see what performance Robin will do!"

"Same to you," I said quietly.

Dawn left the area, leaving my team and I motionless and alone. Ponyta walked over to lean his head against my leg, and I ran my hand through his mane.

I looked up to stare at the empty sky just like Dawn had.

That's another time someone told me I should put more effort into Contests. I know I decided I'd reconsider it when I met with Kenny, but did I actually?

Getting to the Grand Festival would be a whole different challenge in itself, but maybe it was a challenge my Pokémon needed to take. I wasn't in a rush since no Gym Badge really needed heavy training beforehand, only more traveling and exploration. In all honesty, I could probably easily fit earning more ribbons in my schedule, I just hadn't, for some reason.

I looked to my team only to see practically all of them were staring at me hopefully. Ninetales and Florges seemed to be the most excited, with the rest just interested in the idea of more competition.

Honestly, it was their looks that helped me decide.

"Change of plans, then," I announced. "We're still focusing on Gym Battles, but I think it's time to shift gears. After all our training on Iron Island, we're all much stronger, but perhaps it's time to get our appearance and attitudes in proper order."

I put on a big grin.

"We have a new goal: We’re going to win the Grand Festival."

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Author Note:

Two chapters left until the break.

List of TMs Alex recently bought, with taught TMs being listed in italics.
TMs (reusable):
-Dark Pulse: Ninetales, Mawile
-Shadow Ball: Kirlia, Mawile, Whimsicott
-Psychic: Florges, Whimsicott, Carbink
TRs (single-use):
-Pollen Puff: Florges
-High Horsepower: Ponyta
-Wild Charge: Ponyta

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Arceus
Chansey
Farfetch’d
Giratina
Marowak
Piplup
Spiritomb

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