Chương 102: Chapter 100

Iron Island wasn't just one small section to the west and a single cave system like it was in the games. It was much closer to how it was in the anime: a mountainous island that poked out of the sea with a small town on its westernmost shore. Most of the natural foliage had been removed in the years past as the result of an extensive mining operation, and the few plants that remained tended only to be moss or hardy shrubs. As for the coastal town itself, I could only describe it as a ghost town.

It used to be a thriving port where most of the region's iron was derived, but now, hardly anyone lived there. The buildings were repurposed as individual suites for visiting trainers, available for a low price due to the extreme lack of demand. It also still had a Pokémon Center in it as a remnant of the decaying settlement, which served as the basis of operation for everyone who either trained on or patrolled the island. Ninetales and I disembarked the ship alongside a handful of other trainers.

Many people liked training against the wild Steel Types here to prepare for their challenge against Byron, but very few would linger as long as I. We had roughly two months to prepare for our rematch, which meant we had less than that to actually earn access to the final area. Since it was currently early July—the second month of the season—I had until the beginning of September to train. My second show battle was set for the third week of September so I needed to make sure I gave myself enough time to travel.

Altaria would be a big help once that rolled around. (Ralts could help too, but Teleport could only bring the user to places they had been. Plus, I doubted he could become strong enough to teleport such a long distance in such a short amount of time.) To start our time on the island, Ninetales and I headed to the aforementioned Pokémon Center, located right on the edge of town. There, I exchanged what Pokémon would be with us for the first week of training then retired for the night.

The next morning, we headed out to pass through the area open to the public and reached the edge of the first restricted zone: the "weakest" one that acted as a buffer between the open area and the rest of the island. When we arrived, a small, decaying wooden fence marked the limits of where the public were allowed. The area ahead consisted of a few slopes above the western side and the rocky cliffs around the coast of the rest of the island.

Past it, the second area consisted of the upper reaches of the mountain, and the third area was the interior underground section of the island itself. I had no clue where the supposed fourth area was located, and honestly, the fact that the most restricted area was also the most unknown one made me uncertain that we could even improve enough to reach it. Tossing a series of Pokéballs forward, Florges, Altaria, Mawile, Ralts, and Ponyta appeared out in front of me.

Whimsicott and Carbink were still working together at the ranch, and Azumarill was there to make sure they wouldn't slack off. Dedenne was left behind too, since I wanted him to work on expanding his reserves as much as possible before coming with us, since the sheer difference in size between him and some of the wild Pokémon here meant it would be more dangerous for him than for other members of my team. I pointed towards everyone to have them group up before explaining my plans.

"Florges, I want you to work with Ralts and Ponyta to get their healing moves in shape," I said.

"You three will be our dedicated healers for our training period, which means that's number one priority for now. Ralts, I know you want to get stronger, but making sure we can last here is imperative. You'll have time to practice your Psychic Type moves once at least either you or Ponyta have your healing move down.

"Altaria, you and Ninetales will be working together. Altaria, work on your evasiveness and close ranged attacks, and Ninetales, I want you to work on surviving hits and practicing Aurora Veil.

"As for the last one of us, Mawile, you're with me. We're going to do general practice for both your and my development." I got a series of noises in acknowledgement in response, with Ralts not objecting to the lack of telekinesis practice at all. Nervously, I turned towards the restricted zone we were about to enter, and took a deep breath.

"We're about to enter an area with significantly less Ranger patrols and Gym Trainers present, containing wild Pokémon that are significantly more likely to attack us than in areas off route. I grouped you up on purpose: I don't want anyone to be separated. You have partners to stick with at all times, so in case of being caught off guard, you have someone to fall back on. The wild Pokémon are trying to get stronger just like you are, so be aware that battles will likely be unavoidable.

I can't overstate that we have to be careful, so..." I took a deep breath to steel my nerves.

"Let's go." The first Pokémon to attack us wasn't a species I expected. Since we wouldn't be underground just yet, I had thought a Geodude or Graveler might have tried to go after us, or even the rare Onix would have burst out from underneath. Rather, it was a stray Pelipper who seemed awfully annoyed by our presence. The pelican Pokémon dived down at our small, temporary camp we set up as we moved through the area.

Our brief respite in the flat area overlooking the ocean was interrupted by a loud squawk, and once we looked over, a spiraling stream of water from a Hydro Pump attack. Altaria flew forward to intercept the incoming move, the water causing some of his fluff to be pressed down but not by enough to actually affect his flying. He approached it close enough to get right in its face, at which point he unleashed an Ice Beam right between its eyes.

The unexpected, forceful chill made the Pelipper drop a few feet in the air, and in retaliation, it tried to send a Gust Altaria's way. While the whipping winds did catch Altaria, he easily withstood them and flew around to the other side of the bird so its stray attacks wouldn't hit our camp.

"Scream at it, Altaria!" I yelled. Altaria took a deep breath, and I realized that his current position now meant that his attacks would be aimed at our camp. Thankfully, he realized this too and dashed in the air to get right above Pelipper before screaming straight downwards underneath him. The Hyper Voice attack caused the Pelipper's feathers to stand up on end as the bulky Flying Type suffered from the sharp screams coming from Altaria's mouth.

Frustrated and realizing it was fighting a battle it couldn't win, the wild Pokémon cut its losses and began to fly away. Altaria began to give chase, but I called out to stop him.

"No, stay here! Most wild Pokémon don't fight to faint unless they're extremely determined, and we need you to save your energy in case something else comes. That goes for everyone else, too. If they're leaving, don't chase after them. It's important to stay as a group." Altaria flew back down to return to his position alongside Ninetales, and we resumed training together in the camp. It hadn't even been an hour yet, and we were only so far into the area, yet already, we had been in a battle.

That was either a very good sign, or an extremely bad one. Florges, Ralts, and Ponyta managed to get far more practice with their healing moves than I expected. Within only a few hours, five more Pokémon attacked. At first, it was only a few Geodude that wandered in to challenge us. I had Ponyta take care of the first to get a sense of their strength, and Ralts handled the rest since he needed to practice the most.

His use of Teleport meant they could rarely catch up, but their Rock Throw attacks would still hit him in the chest quite often. Ralts was a relatively fragile Pokémon, but Ponyta helped reduce the damage with his developing Heal Pulse, and Florges was able to heal him completely with Wish. As time went on, the challengers became tougher. Ninetales fought off a Graveler, and Mawile easily beat off a rather persistent Lairon that was interested in her metal-like jaws.

Thankfully, it wasn't able to get a solid bite off thanks to the difference in experience. Overhead, a few Wingulls circled us as we rotated between camping and moving deeper in. Altaria's presence meant that none had the confidence to approach, but I could see that they were definitely eyeing us. That night, after a long day of battling, I did my best to cook a hearty meal with the stockpile of ingredients I prepared for our time here, and we set up a schedule for watches.

Sleeping was difficult since sometimes I was woken up by the sounds of a few attacks being exchanged. Ninetales's Ice Beam created the sound of shattering glass (or ice) when it hit, and Altaria, while he didn't use any Hyper Voices or Uproars, still had to flap his wings and make roaring sounds when he used moves like Flamethrower and Dragon Pulse. I had one round of watch alongside Ponyta, who just barely missed a wild Sableye sneaking into our camp.

Thankfully, I had seen the glint of its gemstone eyes in the light of the electric lantern I had bought, so it was unable to steal any of our supplies before we scared it off. In the future, we would need to be more aware that Ponyta's mental detection didn't work on Dark Types, and certain Ghost Types could sneak in underneath as well. It was a blind spot that we couldn't ignore. Also, the presence of Sableye was a bit worrying since I planned to bring Carbink here next.

Sableye were predators of Carbink since the species like to eat the Rock Type's gemstones, so Carbink would be far more vulnerable than I thought. Thankfully, staying in pairs would help to stop that. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. By the time the next morning rolled around, most of my Pokémon woke up tired and hungry.

I made them another meal, and rather than training, we used this period where everyone was up at once as a brief break from wild Pokémon attacks since few wanted to attack a fully awake group this early in the morning. The amount of battling was tiring, but this place was good training, at least. By the end of the week, everyone on my team was looking forward to staying in the Pokémon Center.

I had planned our time here in weeks, where we would have six days on the island, and the seventh day would be a day of rest. The town, while mostly empty, still had a few amenities that would make our lives easier, and plus, I knew everyone would want a break from constant battling. We were making big strides in our time here. Already, Ponyta had figured out how to use Heal Pulse, and Ralts's Life Dew was coming out faster and more quickly.

Altaria got better at fighting up close against Pokémon in melee range, and Ninetales was much better at using Aurora Veil to her advantage. Mawile had been forced to learn how to better deal with larger enemies (Stone Edge could be used to trip), and, during my breaks, I had managed to think of some TMs I wished to purchase to better fill out some of my Pokémon's movesets.

Considering the next show battle was in Veilstone, I wanted to make the most out of the offerings of the department store there just like I had back in Mossdeep. As for me, I also improved. A week wasn't much time to make a body healthier, but it at least meant most of the aches and pains of working out had started to become less significant. I wasn't an unhealthy person by any means, considering how much hiking and running around I did, but in terms of muscle mass, I only had so much.

While Laura had nagged me about getting in better shape in the past, I only really did light stretching in the mornings. However, after everything that had gone on with previous team organizations, and after that horrible afternoon with Hunter J, I didn't want to be so personally helpless any more. It wasn't that I was trying to be a muscled trainer like Laura or Brawly, nor was I trying to be someone who actively fought Pokémon with my bare hands, like Laura or Brawly.

Instead, I wanted to be in better shape to run away in emergencies. It might have been thought of as cowardice, but, considering Pokémon could become many times stronger than humans, I wasn't going to delude myself into thinking I could fight back. In our training, Mawile helped me increase my stamina, improve my upper body, and even just practice climbing on a few of the small cliffs and boulders.

Jumping was an important skill I worked on, and honestly it was a bit embarrassing to see a Pokémon so much smaller than me outperform me in every category. Mawile was still human-like in her body shape, which meant she could at least help with the basics in what I was doing. Just like I trained my Pokémon, my Pokémon were now training me. We needed to determine who was getting sent back while we were in town, though. Between the members of my team, everyone was exhausted.

The day-long break was helpful to them but some of them needed more rest than others. First off, Altaria was sent back since he needed rest. He and Whimsicott were the only two Pokémon on the team that could genuinely fly, as both Florges and Carbink could only float so high over the ground. Altaria was our primary defense against Pokémon from above; to keep that defense, Whimsicott replaced him. Alongside Whimsicott came both Carbink and Dedenne, but that meant there were eight Pokémon on the team.

I needed to send one more back, and, considering I had bought an absurd amount of potions and healing items for this trip, and considering Ralts and Ponyta had developed their healing moves for emergencies, Florges gratefully accepted the break. Ralts and Ponyta combined didn't quite match Florges's healing capabilities with her Wish and Aromatherapy, but Ponyta was quickly catching up and Ralts's Life Dew was filling in the gaps.

Ralts was also able to learn Heal Pulse, but, for now, he wanted to focus on moves that directly benefited him. Life Dew at least gave him a way to heal himself, whereas Heal Pulse was solely used on other creatures. With my team set and the first week done, the next week's operations would be a bit different. The first area was good training, but many of the Pokémon were still too easily defeated, and if we wanted to get stronger, we needed to face a tougher challenge.

So, I decided to follow the instructions Byron gave me to find the trainer that would grant us passage to move on. Whimsicott floated down to me with an excited look on his face. It was only the second day of the second week, and with how much more nomadic our trip into the restricted area had been, it wasn't much of a surprise that we had already found the trainer.

"Thank you. Please, lead the way," I said. Whimsicott nodded and floated back the way he came, moving slower and closer to the ground so I could follow. My team was all spread out around me still in pairs, with Ponyta and Dedenne staying with me. I had to climb up a cliff and over a bit of uneven terrain, which was hell on my aching arms, but, soon, we managed to make our way to where our target was—and I had to immediately duck as pieces of rock flew over my head.

"Hey! Hello!? I'm right here!" I yelled, panicked. I heard a quick gasp and the sound of two pairs of feet running closer. One was obviously wearing shoes, and the other was far more padded. Tilting my head up from where I had ducked down, I held back a breath as I realized who Byron had sent me to. He was wearing a rather stylish blue blazer with a pair of black dress pants and shoes. Around his neck was a simple golden necklace, and on his head was a brimmed hat that pointed forward and stuck out in the back.

In front of him was a blue, bipedal jackal Pokémon, a Lucario, that was standing with its hands back defensively, glaring at me cautiously. The man softly moved past his Pokémon and held out a hand to help me up.

"Sorry about that. Lucario and I were caught up in the middle of our practice, and we didn't sense you coming. My name's Riley. You must be Alex." Knowing what I knew about Riley from the games and anime, I glanced down to his hand and saw it was ever so slightly glowing. He saw my eyes drift towards it and chuckled.

"Don't worry. It's just Aura. I wanted to reinvigorate you a bit as an apology."

"You're an Aura Guardian," I said, almost accusingly.

"Almost. I'm in training." Riley said that with surprise in his voice, most likely not expecting me to know who he was. In the games, he had escorted the player character through Iron Island, and in the anime, he helped Ash fight off Team Galactic going after some ruins here. He only revealed he was an Aura Guardian in the anime, but there had been a few soft comments implying that in the game. I knew very little about aura. I couldn't help but to be a bit suspicious of him, even though I knew he was a good person.

Despite everything, sometimes I still couldn't get past my paranoia. Deciding to try to force myself past that, since that was training in its own right, I clasped his hand and began to pull myself up. I couldn't miss how Riley stiffened when I grabbed him, and his Lucario began to growl.

"What just happened?" I said when I returned to my feet. At this point, my team had all collected themselves behind me, and I could see Riley's Lucario stare at them as if they were threats. Riley backed off from where he was next to me.

"You... what's wrong with your Aura?" he asked. I had no clue what he was talking about.

"I have no clue what you're talking about," I replied. Riley bit his lip then rubbed his arms as if he were cold. His Lucario did not relax in its hyper-aware stance. I felt my heart pound in worry.

"You know what Aura is, right?" he asked. I nodded.

"It's some kind of life force that all beings have," I said.

"Something like that," he replied.

"Like you said, all beings, Pokémon and humans alike, have access to Aura. Even more, plants do as well. Lucario, the species, can innately access it, and some Fighting Types can learn to use it as well. For humans, however, only individuals with an excess of it can train to use it, and I'm lucky enough to count myself among that small group.

"You... your aura is wrong. You have it, but it's in such a small amount that you shouldn't be moving, and it feels torn and uneven as if it's not supposed to be there. Honestly, after thinking about it, I would say it's like a child's aura has been stretched to fit inside of an adult. It's unnatural and feels wrong." At the mention of it being like a child's, a sudden thought came to mind.

"When you say child, how old would you say the child is?"

"You have to understand that's a very strange question to ask," he said.

"Please, humor me," I responded. Riley seemed to relax a bit since neither I nor my Pokémon were acting aggressive in the slightest, even after his explanation, but his Lucario was still acting quite protective of him. Rubbing his chin, Riley hummed in thought and closed his eyes to focus. Eventually, he snapped his eyes back open and pointed at me.

"Two years old," he said. I was right. I arrived in this world just under two years ago. Aura must not have existed in my old world, and, somehow, I started developing one here.

"I have a question, then," I said after taking a moment to think.

"Does aura grow as people age?" Riley nodded.

"It does. It can be trained to be stronger, but only if it's already large enough to be accessed in the first place. Yours, unfortunately, is stunted. You'll never be able to train it unless helped by a master."

"Are you a master?"

"No, I'm not. I'm only an Aura Guardian in training, and even then, I have little information to go off of. Instructions are only passed by word of mouth, and as time went on, what we know about Aura has been mostly lost to time." I sighed.

"Then, everything you said makes sense. I don't think I had any aura until two years ago." Riley's eyes went wide and he looked genuinely shocked. Lucario as well seemed to falter for a bit before returning to its defensive pose.

"What— that's not— How is that possible?" he practically shouted.

"Reality shenanigans."

"Reality shenanigans?... I'm not even going to ask." Riley rubbed his head in frustration and Lucario returned to his side. After taking a moment to recover, he walked over to pick up a satchel leaning against a rock, and reached inside to pull out a metal sphere.

"Regardless of whatever happened to you, Byron contacted me about you reaching the second area. I had to think of a test, and I think this will do." Riley casually tossed the ball my way with one hand. I managed to catch it, but the sudden, unexpectedly heavy weight meant I immediately dropped it onto the ground, where it landed with a thud and sank at least an inch into the ground. It didn't bounce at all.

"That's an Iron Ball, a held item that's so heavy it slows a Pokémon and causes them to be unable to fly if they could normally," Riley said.

"The name is a relative misnomer since it's not iron, but a metal alloy chosen to maximize both its durability and density. It's rated for Pokémon battles, which means it's difficult to damage in the slightest.

"To move on, I want your Pokémon to dent or scratch it three times, with each dent or scratch being done by a different member of your team."

"I think we might be able to do that," I responded.

"My team has spent a long time training their power, and they've even done some extremely dumb things to figure out how to better use their Fairy Type moves." Ninetales and a few others looked away from me as I referred to their trick against Xerneas in the past.

"I bet we can do this right now. Who wants to go first?" Since Ninetales was looking away, Mawile approached first. I tried to pick up the ball and found I was only able to barely heave it a foot off the ground, but Mawile was able to lightly take it away from me in her mouth, and by tensing, barely hold it there.

"There," I panted.

"Use your jaws." Mawile bit down as hard as possible. Her eyes suddenly widened, and then she tried to bite down even harder afterwards. There was an awkward silence as Mawile clenched her jaws to the maximum possible degree before there was a snapping sound and Mawile reflexively opened her mouth in pain. The ball fell to the ground. It was completely unblemished. Mawile, meanwhile, had moved her jaws to her front to rub them unhappily. Next to her, a gleaming white shard from one of her teeth laid on the floor.

Her eyes were watering, and it wasn't from Fake Tears.

"I'm sorry, Mawile. Ponyta, can I get your help?" Quickly, Ponyta moved from my side to rest his horn on her mouth as a green glowing Heal Pulse was sent into her mouth to help her pain. At the same time, I grabbed a Potion from my backpack as Mawile opened her mouth and I sprayed it towards the tooth that had been hurt. This would be tougher than I thought.

"Then, I'll be heading out now," Riley's voice echoed out from behind me.

"Honestly, there's nothing stopping you from entering the second area as it stands, but my test still stands. There's not too much of a difference between the first and second restricted zones outside the strength of the Pokémon, and I wouldn't be surprised if your team could handle it as they are now. However, some of the Pokémon there are almost as tough as that Iron Ball, so if you can't handle it now, you might find yourself facing some unwinnable fights." I nodded.

"I understand. If we don't have the power for it, we can at least think outside of the box to find a way to damage it. Whatever we figure out to damage it will be useful for dealing with any Steel Types that might appear later. Thank you, Riley, and thanks for informing me of whatever is going on with my aura from before." He smiled, but it was a little tense when I mentioned the aura issue.

"No problem. Please be safe. Iron Island isn't a place to be underestimated." Riley and I parted ways, or, well, I left Riley to let him return to his training. Mawile held the Iron Ball in her jaws as we moved back down the hillside, and I was left with the conundrum of how to get my team members to damage this held item.