Unbroken Disguise

Mimikyu was not a fan of Stunky. N was fairly certain that even those who couldn’t understand the Pokemon’s constant grumbling were aware of that fact.

N had made friends with several Trubbish and Garbodor over the course of his life, so he wasn’t quite as sensitive to the smell, but something about the stench that Stunky had covered them with clung to their skin and clothing. The Officer Jenny involved in the incident informed them that despite what they may have heard, Tamato berries did not get rid of the stench, and that if they simply visited a Pokemon Center, the local Nurse Joy would have the necessary cleaning materials on hand.

While that was helpful information, it didn’t help the fact that Mimikyu’s disguise was draped directly over his face at all times. It would be pressed up against his nose… did Mimikyu have a nose? He must if he had been complaining about the smell…

Regardless, that’s how the group found themselves in the Eterna City Pokemon Center, freshly showered and with spare clothes on while their outfits went through an industrial grade washing machine.

Or at least, most of them had spare clothes.

“If I ever ‘ave ta deal with one of ‘em again I’m gonna lose it.” Mimikyu complained from beneath a pillowcase that Nurse Joy had given them. Given his predicament, N and Mimikyu had chosen to stay behind at the Pokemon Center until everything was clean while the others explored the city proper for a bit.

“I understand that it’s unpleasant, Mimikyu. I’m not particularly thrilled about getting sprayed either, but staying upset about it won’t change anything.” N reminded him as he sorted through a small book’s worth of papers.

He had almost forgotten about it with all of the distractions, but luckily the local Nurse Joy had recognized them. Or, she recognized Mimikyu anyway.

The Nurse Joy near the Valley Windworks had pulled through. N had been handed page after page of information on Mimikyu as a species. In Unovan as well! He really was glad that Alola was slowly adopting his own language instead of the madness that was the League Language, because he really didn’t want to go through something this thick and technical in a script he was still learning.

There was data regarding average height and weight, how difficult it was to catch them, which egg group they belonged to, Disguised and Busted forms, how long it took their eggs to hatch, which moves they learned through growing stronger and which they should have upon hatching…

To Mimikyu’s credit, there were several egg moves listed that his friend should theoretically be capable of. It seemed that Shadow Sneak, the one move that his friend was able to use, was regarded as the first move that his species should learn through experience… according to the researchers in some place called Paldea? Galar seemed to agree, but strangely enough, what should be Mimikyu’s home region of Alola claimed that Double Team and Baby-Doll Eyes should come first.

Mimikyu had claimed to be from Alola, hadn’t he? He felt fairly certain that it had come up in one of their first conversations, but perhaps his memory was off…

But as interesting as that all was, it wasn’t what they had been after.

N kept flipping through pages, settling upon the Pokedex entries. Sure, Brock and Nurse Joy had attested to the fact that these entries weren’t exactly hard data, nor even accurate in some cases, but it was something at least.

“Its actual appearance is unknown. A scholar who saw what was under its rag was overwhelmed by terror and died from the shock,” N read off the first entry he saw.

“I don’ think yer gonna get anythin’ new outta those Pokedex entries, N,” Mimikyu continued to grumble.

N frowned as he read another. “Although it’s a quiet, lonely Pokemon, if you try to look at what’s under its rag, it will become agitated and resist violently.”

He looked down at the tiny ghost covered in a pillowcase. That one didn’t seem accurate at all. Or maybe his friend’s temperament was unusual for his species?

“Next,” Mimikyu urged him.

N scanned through them. Mysterious disease… Pikachu costume to look less scary… lives in dark places… the more he read, the more apparent it became that he wasn’t going to get anything useful.

Though the very last entry worried him.

“Mimikyu was only recently identified as a Pokemon. Previously, people thought it was just a ghost wearing a cloth.”

“Is that s’posed ta be their excuse for not ‘avin’ any useful information?” Mimikyu asked.

“Well, they have some information. Plus there are still a few more pages to go through,” N tried to hold onto hope.

But it vanished in an instant when he saw the next page.

‘Mimikyu are rather interesting Pokemon. As far as we are aware, they are the only Pokemon who have ██ ████ ████████ ████ and are ████████ ████████ of ██████. █████ ████ ██████ ██████ █ █████ ████ ████, to be precise. Of course, there is a theory that they █████ ████ ██ ██████ with ████ █████████ ███████, but these claims are wild speculation. The terror that they produce is correlation at best.’

The rest of the document was like that. Every single bit of useful information was blacked out.

But why? What was the point? The Joy family had gone out of their way to compile this information for them, and for that he was immensely grateful, but the last few pages were all but useless like this. If they were going to censor it all, what was the point of including it in the first place?

He found the answer to that question at the very end.

‘THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN CENSORED BY ALOLAN AUTHORITIES. FURTHER ATTEMPTS TO COMMUNICATE RESTRICTED INFORMATION WILL RESULT IN NOTIFICATION OF LEAGUE PERSONNEL.’

N stared at the document.

The first thing he felt was anger. They had finally gotten an opportunity to get answers from someone who actually knew what they were talking about, and it had been ripped out from under them. These Alolan bastards were really going to do not only that, but threaten to report them to the League if they tried again?

But the anger faded as his mind raced with questions. Who were these supposed Alolan authorities? His understanding of the region led him to believe that things were much more decentralized there, with different leaders for every island. Was this a decision made by all of them? Or had one in particular gotten it in their head that this was acceptable?

Then there was the question of how they had done this. Presumably the message had gone from one Pokemon Center to another, and with the speed at which it had arrived he assumed it was done electronically. Did these people peer at every message sent or received in the region? Was it only interregional messaging? Was it a Pokemon interfering, or were they in control of the actual electronics?

This venture had landed them with more questions than answers, and when he showed Mimikyu the pages, his friend’s annoyance only worsened.

“Is this some sorta joke?” Mimikyu ranted. “It’s not like this is a letter bein’ sent home durin’ war time! We’re not tryin’ ta get locations and troop numbers b’fore a big battle! Who do these Alolan authorities,” he said with a sneer in his voice, “think they are! I don’t care if they’re the Kahunas, the Tapus, or even those Aether fucks! When I get my hands on them, I’m gonna-”

He was cut off by a knock on the door to their room.

N gave Mimikyu a moment to calm down before he opened the door to find Nurse Joy.

“Hello! Sorry to interrupt,” her nervous smile made it obvious that Mimikyu’s angry shouts had been audible from the other side of the door, “but your clothes are clean, and Stunky free!”

“Thank you, Nurse Joy.”

Now that Mimikyu could wear his disguise once more, maybe some fresh air would clear their minds.

He’d informed Nurse Joy of the censorship before he and Mimikyu left, and she had not been happy about it, but she’d been as confused as them. She told him that she’d look into it, and with the look on her face he believed her, but at this point he figured that source of information was probably going to be a bust as well.

“Maybe we should just give up on it.” Mimikyu said morosely. “Seems like ev’ry time we get even an inklin’ of information it slips through our grasp. The one Joy did say I could prob’bly get somewhere with TMs, didn’ she?”

“Just because we’ve hit yet another snag in our path doesn’t mean that you should throw in the towel, Mimikyu. Goals that are worth attaining are often achieved after a long journey of strife.” It wasn’t like he was going to be able to get Unova under his control with just a few conversations, after all. “And while TMs are an option, I do not have the funds necessary.”

“Well… who says we ‘ave ta buy ‘em?”

N frowned. “Mimikyu, are you suggesting that we steal them?” He might have his problems with the law, but he still had morals.

“No, not stealin’ ‘em, but what if we jus’ find ‘em lyin’ around?”

“Mimikyu, TMs are extremely expensive. They’re not the sort of thing someone would discard like trash.”

“Hmmm. I haven’ seen Lucas in a while…”

N wasn’t sure what the boy had to do with their conversation, and he didn’t get a chance to ask, as that’s when they ran into the rest of their group.

“Oh, hey! Everything has been cleaned?” Dawn asked upon seeing Mimikyu.

“Yes, your clothes are in our room.” N reassured her.

“Great!” Brock smiled. “That means you guys can come watch Ash’s Gym battle in the morning.”

“Yeah, you guys can watch me kick ass!” Pikachu exclaimed from Ash’s shoulder. “I bet they think they’ll make quick work of me with their stupid resistance to Electric type attacks, but I’m gonna turn those Grass types into kindling!”

Ash didn’t seem quite as excited though. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to, I know you guys like to do your own thing sometimes…”

Brock looked at the boy like he had grown a second head.

But that was… very considerate of him. Their talk after Ash’s last Gym battle must have made the boy realize just how uncomfortable N was with them.

But N hadn’t come out into the world to hide away from the parts of it that revolted him. He needed to understand the relationship between people and Pokemon. Seeing how the Eterna City Gym Leader commanded her team would be an important part of that, even if he might hate every second of it.

“No, Ash. I’ll be there.” He wouldn’t cheer for Pokemon being brutally attacked. He wouldn’t congratulate the boy on winning a badge for it. But he’d be present.

He needed a comprehensive understanding of the enemy, and their home turf was the ideal place to get that.

The next morning, N found himself walking into a rather strange building. One of the few areas within the city proper to be surrounded by greenery, the Eterna City Gym was large. Bigger than the Oreburgh Gym for sure.

Though if Pikachu hadn’t reminded him that it was a Grass type Gym, he would have been worried. The Gym had a pink roof and silver side panels that looked modern, but the entire thing was covered in overgrown vines, somehow blending the looks of a building that had just been put together and one that had long been abandoned and left for nature to take over.

When they walked into the lobby, they found a strangely dressed woman. A black crop top with long sleeves, baggy orange pants that were ripped at the knees into shorts, boots that looked fit for hiking, and a green shawl wrapped around her shoulders. Her hair threw him off a bit as well. How did she manage to get only the outer layer orange while the rest of it was black? There’s no way that was natural.

“Hey there!” She called out to them with an upbeat attitude. “I’m Gardenia, the Eterna City Gym Leader! Which one of you is here for a battle?”

“My name is Ash,” the boy stepped forward, “and I’m here to win!”

“You look like a chump!” Pikachu added on, cheeks sparking.

“I like your attitude! Come on then, we can get started right away!” She turned away from them, walking out a door opposite the entrance.

As they walked out into the arena proper, N was surprised to see that the pink he had seen from the outside could hardly be called a roof at all. The sun was shining down on them, with nothing obstructing the bright blue sky. Given that the field before him consisted of a small open field and a patchwork of trees, he supposed it would be necessary to keep the plants alive, but it was still odd to walk into a building just to be outside once more.

“The stairs to the audience seating can be found in the corners,” Gardenia pointed out to them. “Come with me Ash, and we can get started!”

N followed behind Brock and Dawn, taking a seat as a referee joined the trainers in the arena.

“It’ll be interesting to see how Ash tackles this one,” Brock started as Ash and Gardenia got into position. “Staravia has a type advantage, but a Gym Leader like Gardenia probably has counters ready for any weaknesses.”

N grimaced as the referee explained the rules of the challenge and Mimikyu settled into his lap.

He really hoped that this one would be less intense than the last.

“Alright Cherubi, let’s go!” Gardenia released her Pokemon, an adorable thing that looked about the same size as Piplup. It almost looked like a berry had turned into a Pokemon! Its round, pink body was pretty plain, with just a face and two little nubs for feet. A pair of leaves and stems were sprouting out of its head, and a smaller version of it was hanging from the second stem… was this actually just two Pokemon stuck together?

“Turtwig, I choose you!” Ash shouted out as the starter Pokemon came out of its ball.

“Grass type against Grass type, huh? It'll be tough to predict how this will go since they both resist each other.” Brock commentated.

Did he think that she didn’t know this stuff? She had studied her type chart! Sure, she didn’t recognize Gardenia’s Pokemon, but it wasn’t hard to figure out that it was a Grass type in the Grass type Gym…

“Turtwig, use Tackle!” Dawn watched as Ash’s Pokemon ran towards his opponent, but before he could get anywhere near Cherubi the pink Pokemon had already moved out of the way and gotten behind it.

“Razor Leaf!” Ash ordered before dozens of sharp leaves sliced through the air towards Cherubi. Like before, though, Cherubi dodged out of the way easily, putting itself behind Turtwig again.

“Are Cherubi normally that fast?” N asked from beside her.

“Mimikyu-kyu,” the ghost in his lap answered.

“I suppose that explains the reason for this Gym design.”

Dawn must have made her curiosity obvious, because N turned towards her to explain. “Mimikyu says Cherubi have the ability Chlorophyll, which makes them faster on sunny days.”

She looked up to the sky and saw only a handful of clouds. “Does that mean it would slow down if the sun was blocked out?”

“It does,” Brock joined in, “but Turtwig doesn’t know any weather changing moves, so it’s up to chance whether that will happen or not.”

A weather changing move? She’d seen one or two of those while watching contests. Maybe Piplup could learn Rain Dance at some point, they could probably come up with a routine that used it…

Her attention was brought back to the battle when Gardenia cried out “Solar Beam!”

Suddenly a bright light blinded her, and by the time she could see again Turtwig was in a different spot and there was a bunch of dirt and dust in the air where he had been before. He didn’t look hurt at all, so he must have dodged it.

Turtwig went to attack with a Razor Leaf again, and this time Cherubi didn’t dodge. Instead, Dawn was blinded again, but when she could see the field again, Turtwig didn’t look too good. There were no serious injuries like when he had fought against Roark’s Cranidos, but his skin was looking raw and he had tumbled back until he was just in front of Ash.

“Keep it up with Magical Leaf!” Gardenia ordered, and this time Dawn chose to stop watching. She didn’t want to see it land.

But there was no cry of pain. She heard N let out a breath, and when she dared peek through her fingers, Ash had a Pokeball in his hand. Had he returned Turtwig?

That was a close one…

Her stomach churned as she tried to mentally prepare herself for the next matchup.

“Staravia, let’s go!” Ash released the one Pokemon he had with a type advantage.

“Solar Beam!”

N closed his eyes, but even through his eyelids the harsh light still stung.

“Does she really need ta keep spammin’ that? How is she not blind if she ‘as ‘er Pokemon usin’ such a bright move all the time?”

N was curious about that himself, but the battle was moving too quickly for him to keep up with it and consider the possibilities at the same time. Staravia’s wings began to glow as the Flying type swooped in for a Wing Attack, but Cherubi effortlessly dodged yet again. But then the arena got darker.

For a moment, N wondered if Ash had somehow set up a counter to the sunlight while distracting them all with a bit of misdirection, but a quick glance to the sky revealed that it was just a cloud passing overhead.

That was all the boy needed though. Without Chlorophyll boosting its speed and instantly charging Solar Beam, Cherubi was just a sitting Ducklett. A single Wing Attack landed, sending Cherubi tumbling and slicing open the smaller body hanging from it. Though curiously Cherubi didn’t seem all too bothered by it bleeding… or actually… was it bleeding? N focused, leaning in a bit closer, not that it did him much good. It almost looked like it was leaking some sort of sap or fruit juice rather than bleeding. The shade of red and the viscosity didn’t seem correct for blood at all.

But that was something to think about later. Staravia wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip away, and followed up the Wing Attack immediately with an Aerial Ace, this time slicing open the Cherubi’s main body and sending it tumbling back until it stopped with a groan. It was definitely blood that leaked from that wound before Gardenia recalled it.

“I get that it’s weak ta Flyin’ type moves, but two hits doesn’ seem like much. Is ‘er Cherubi really that relian’ on strong sunlight ta perform well?”

“It would seem so.” Perhaps it was intentional? Based on the official League messaging, and the way that Ash had explained things in the past, these were meant to be a test of skill. A brutal, barbaric test of skill, but a test nonetheless.

Many Grass types were able to learn Sunny Day. It would be trivial for Gardenia to keep up her ideal weather condition indefinitely, so long as her opponent wasn’t trying to manipulate the weather as well. And yet she had accepted the natural conditions, using it to her advantage, but not pushing it. A Pokemon would only be successful against her Cherubi if they were able to withstand the initial onslaught and capitalize on a momentary weakness. It was a… practical way to hammer some tactics into trainers’ heads, even if he didn’t approve of it.

“Turtwig, you’re next!”

Well that was odd. He hadn’t heard of a Gym Leader using the region’s starter Pokemon before.

Ash didn’t give the opposing Turtwig any time to think before he was sending Staravia into action. “Wing Attack!”

Where Cherubi’s battle style had focused on being so fast that opponents couldn’t keep up, Gardenia’s Turtwig stood still, looking like he was just going to tank the hit. But just before the attack connected, Gardenia shouted “Reflect!” and a barrier sprung to life between them. It was as if a plane of glass were floating in the air, shimmering with the faint purple light that signified Psychic type moves.

N hadn’t seen it used in battle more than once or twice, and he certainly hadn’t expected to see it in a Grass type Gym. Ash and Staravia seemed to be just as surprised, because the Normal type didn’t have a chance to pull out of the way, instead smacking beak first into the barrier with a painful thud that rang out through the arena. Feathers flew into the air, and as the Reflect dissipated, Staravia fell to the ground, dazed.

Just as Ash and Staravia had gone in for a finishing blow when Cherubi showed a moment of weakness, Gardenia’s Turtwig jumped at the opportunity. Tilting its head forward, N was too far away to make out what it was doing, but the leafy vines that grew over Staravia made it obvious. Staravia’s wings were bound, made useless for flight as the Leech Seed began to drain its energy. It struggled and flapped its wings, trying to tear the plant off, but it was futile. Turtwig jumped at it in a Tackle, and with a loud snap of what N could only assume was a hollow bone, Ash’s Pokemon stopped struggling.

Brock winced in sympathy. “Who could have expected Reflect from Gardenia’s Turtwig? That’s tough luck right there.”

“Wait, that was Reflect?” Mimikyu questioned. “But it completely blocked the attack. I thought it was jus’ a Protect that looked sorta funny. Ain’ Reflect jus’ s’posed ta reduce the damage from physical attacks?”

With how little he had seen the move, N wasn’t entirely sure of the details himself. They did have someone with a bit of expertise with them…

“Brock,” N begrudgingly began, “How does Reflect differ from Protect?”

“Well, beyond the fact that Reflect requires some Psychic manipulation, I suppose you could say that the difference is the… solidity of it? Protect is a move that will block incoming attacks with a barrier no matter how strong they are or what the opponent is trying to do to you. Reflect is more… I guess you could say it’s softer? A lot of it goes over my head because I haven’t researched Psychic types in depth, but from what I’ve gathered, the move allows a Pokemon to completely negate physical damage in small amounts, can dampen average physical damage by stretching and warping to slow down the impact, but will do little to hold up against strong physical attacks. Brick Break, for example, will instantly shatter it. I’m sure there’s a lot more to it, but it’s not a very common technique so my knowledge is pretty limited. I couldn’t tell you anything about why there are two separate moves for physical and special attacks, you’d have to ask someone who has researched it more.”

Not a complete answer, but it was better than nothing. His attention was drawn back to the field when Ash released his own Turtwig.

“Turtwig against Turtwig, but Ash’s has already taken damage…” Dawn worriedly pointed out.

Her fears about an unequal start were eased when Ash started out with a command of “Synthesis!”

“Not a bad call,” Mimikyu muttered, “ ‘n’ if the sun is ‘nough ta trigger Chlorophyll, then Synthesis should be boosted ‘nough ta fully heal ‘im…”

Sure enough, they watched as Turtwig’s wounds went away. A green glow overtook his body, and they could see the splotches where his green skin went from raw and worn from Cherubi’s Solar Beam to a healthy green once more.

Gardenia wasn’t going to just sit around and let it happen though.

“Leaf Storm!” Hundreds of glowing leaves appeared out of thin air, and with a flick of Turtwig’s head, they were propelled towards Ash’s end of the arena in a focused cone of effect by strong winds. While that was probably intended to focus more damage on the target, it also allowed Ash’s Turtwig to slip out of the way more easily, dodging the attack and closing in on his foe.

Gardenia’s Turtwig looked to be breathing heavily after unleashing such a powerful move, and it wasn’t fast enough to move out of the way as Ash’s launched a Razor Leaf at it, the blade-like leaves bouncing harmlessly off its shell, but slicing deep into its skin and leaving a myriad of cuts behind.

Her Turtwig fought through the pain though, charging at Ash’s in a Tackle. Seeing this, Ash ordered the same, and the two Pokemon clashed together head first, a loud thunk ringing out as they staggered away from each other.

The grass around them erupted into a field of what he thought might be Grass Knots, but that move required a moving target to do any damage and they were both just staring at each other, stilted and dazed. Gardenia’s Turtwig must have hit its head pretty hard for it to be trying something like that, concussed perhaps, or maybe it was due to the blood loss as it started to stain the grass red.

Ash’s Turtwig was marginally more alert, attacking with another Razor Leaf instead. With the two Pokemon so close together, aiming wasn’t difficult. The leaves cut away at his opponent’s legs and face, leaving open wounds, trails of blood that overtook the green with red, and-

Oh. Maybe it wasn’t all blood. Turtwig’s entire form was overcome with red as it was drawn back into Gardenia’s Pokeball, done with the battle.

Gardenia was grimacing, her eyes locked on the red grass left behind by her Pokemon. “Not bad, but don’t think that this is over yet!” She challenged Ash in an upbeat tone.

The next Pokemon she released was familiar to him as well.

“Roserade, use Weather Ball!” As soon as Roserade had fully materialized, a ball of flames was forming between its bouquets, singeing the red and blue petals. It launched the attack at Turtwig with astonishing speed, and N closed his eyes, not wanting to see a repeat of Turtwig’s condition after fighting Roark’s Cranidos. He’d had enough of Grass types being burned away.

“Return, Turtwig!”

N hesitantly looked at the field once more. The Weather Ball had formed a ring of scorched grass where Turtwig had stood, but the Pokemon was no longer there.

Instead, Pikachu jumped off of Ash’s shoulder, cheeks sparking. “Finally my turn! Listen up you overgrown weed! You might have thought you were getting off easy by cooking my friend, but you’re gonna end up as fertilizer for all these plants when I’m done with you!”

Roserade didn’t respond to the taunt, her eyes narrowing into slits.

“Nothing to say, huh? What’s the matter? You scared or something? Well you should be!” Pikachu started the fight off with a Quick Attack, appearing in front of Roserade’s face in an instant. Before the Grass type could even jump back in surprise, she was taking an Iron Tail to the face that had her flying back, crashing into one of the trees in the battlefield. She seemed to come to her senses after a moment, the field erupting in Grass Knots and her bouquets launching a hail of Poison Stings at the same time, but Pikachu’s Thunderbolt fried the needles in mid-air, striking Roserade and the tree. The tree cracked, Roserade seized, and by the time N’s vision had cleared from the flash of light, she lay slumped at the base of the trunk.

“Challenger Ash Ketchum is the victor!” The referee called out as Gardenia recalled her Pokemon.

Brock yelled and cheered, Dawn clapped politely, but N just stared down at the field. At the damaged tree, the blood stained grass, the scorch marks and the Trainer and partner, smiling at each other.

Would he smile like that when he achieved his goals?

With the Forest badge in Ash’s possession, the group didn’t have any reason to hang around Eterna City any longer. A good night’s rest at the Pokemon Center had left them refreshed, the only lasting injury on Ash’s team being a fractured wing for Staravia that the Flying type would have to avoid using for a few days, and now they were travelling down the Cycling Road on some rented bikes.

N had been happy to see that the bikes had baskets attached to the front of them, which allowed each of them to have their partner ride along without weighing more heavily on one shoulder. Mimikyu seemed hesitant to trust his bike riding skills, carefully holding onto the basket with his shadowy appendages, but if Brock trusted the basket to hold an egg, then he was fairly certain Mimikyu would be perfectly fine.

“Would you relax already? This is supposed to be fun! Don’t you like feeling the wind rushing past you?” Pikachu teased from Ash’s basket.

“These bikes are goin’ pretty dang fast!” Mimikyu shouted back. “Tease me all ya like, ya won’t be laughin’ when Brock’s egg ends up an omelette on the road!”

“This isn’t even as fast as you move when you use Shadow Sneak!” Piplup yelled to be heard over the wind. “I realize you’re not as amazing as I am, but you’re making me look bad by association!”

Meanwhile, the humans were having their own conversation.

“Now that you’ve got your new badge, it’s time for Dawn’s contest!” Brock informed Ash.

“Yeah!” The boy agreed. “I can’t wait until we get to Hearthome! A Gym and a contest hall, both in one place! Let’s ride straight there!”

“Uh, Ash?” Dawn spoke up from the opposite end of the group as N. “The Cycling Road stops a bit north of Oreburgh! Besides, there’s a different contest that I have to do before Hearthome, remember?”

“Did you figure out how to get there?” N asked the girl. “It will be hard to find our way since it’s not on the map.”

“No need to worry! While we were exploring Eterna City I found a different map of Route 206 and the area around it! Once we get to the end of the Cycling Road we just need to follow a short path that goes alongside the river!”

N wanted to ask for more details, but Brock suddenly gasped. “Woah, the egg is starting to glow! It’s going to hatch soon!”

Sure enough, when N looked into Brock’s basket, the egg was occasionally pulsating with light.

“Well, we can’t just let it hatch in the middle of Cycling Road! How much longer until we hit the end?” Ash looked off into the distance, trying to find the gate at the southern end.

“It should only be a few more minutes! If we move a little faster we should reach the end in no time at all!” Dawn informed them.

The group started to pedal harder, trying to reach the gate as quickly as possible.

I can’t tell if I’m feeling excited or if I’m going to be sick.

After reaching the end of Cycling Road, Mimikyu had slipped away from the group while they worked themselves up over the imminent hatching of the egg under the pretense of “searching for something important.”

Happiny will need a rock when it hatches. When she hatches? I think they’re 100% female…

But Mimikyu wasn’t focused on the rocks.

Alamos Town is just downstream. This will be my chance.

Control over space and time has to be what I’m looking for, right? I just need to convince them…

I mean, there will be other opportunities, like the Spear Pillar and maybe a few other spots, but…

How long have I been here already? It’s been what… weeks? A couple months? I really should have tried keeping track of time better, but when every day is either magical or disturbing I guess the date sort of falls to the wayside as the days blend together… N would probably know if I asked him, but do I want to know? Do I want that certainty?

It’s not like it will matter anyway. I just need to convince them…

The next opportunity won’t be for a long while…

I should prepare for the worst though. Expect things to go poorly. I need to go into this acting like it won’t be the end, because if I do and it isn’t…

Yeah… yeah, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll just plan for this to go horribly. Gotta start thinking about the Spear Pillar, and Arceus, and… what other possibilities are there… Hoopa maybe? The Aether Foundation? I really don’t want to get wrapped up in more than I have to, but…

“Mimikyu?”

The Pokemon jolted, looking towards the voice.

Oh. It’s just N. “Yeah?”

“You were right. It’s a Happiny. Apparently they need a rock to look after, so I thought I’d come search for one. What are you up to?”

“Same thing,” Mimikyu replied as he started to look through the rocks more seriously.

“You were really that confident that you went searching for one before it even hatched? I don’t think many people can tell eggs apart that easily.” N replied as he started inspecting the ground.

“Eh, call it a gut feelin’.”

I don’t know what else to call it after all.

For just a moment, Mimikyu’s gaze fell on N fondly.

You might be a pain in the ass… but if this works out…

I’m gonna miss you.