The next morning Lucia left Julia's home. Julia had wanted her to stay longer but she received a text from Victoria asking to meet her at the entrance of the power plant. Begrudgingly, Julia had sent her on the way with a cup of coffee and her number for Lucia to call later when they head to her apartment.

She spotted Victoria leaning against the fence that surrounded the power plant. She was wearing more casual clothes now, jeans and a tight black tank top. Lucia walked towards her. "Hey, Vicky."

Victoria turned around, seeing Lucia and smiling. "Hi Lucy! Did you win your first Gym Badge?"

"I did. Thanks for asking."

"Of course! Congratulations by the way. I was thinking of challenging Julia myself, but I heard something awful."

Lucia raised an eyebrow as she remembered what Florinia had said the previous day. "Oh Arceus... what's happening?"

"Something's happening in Obsidia Ward. Apparently, the plants have gone out of control and are attacking people. I was about to head over there and see if I could do anything to help." She gave a small smile, "I figured you might want to help considering what you did at Mosswater."

"Wait. You know about that?" She felt a pit form in her stomach.

"Of course I do! It's all over the news." She pulled out her phone, showing Lucia headlines of news articles.

Lucia scanned her eyes over a few of the headlines. One of the titles stuck out to her, it read. "New Terrorist Organization, Team Meteor, Appears in Reborn City. Commander Stopped by Mysterious Trainer."

Under the article there was a photo of inside the power plant. It was her facing off against the Team Meteor commander. It showed Arlow growling at the man and the man's Seviper knocked unconscious due to Arlow.

Lucia clenched her jaw. "Shit..." she muttered under her breath, not loud enough for Victoria to hear.

Victoria put her phone back in her pocket. "You're practically famous now. There's a video of your Titaneon knocking out that Seviper in one hit and about your Snivy using that fire. Everyone's raving about it."

"How fun." She ran a hand through her hair. "I need to head to the Grand Hall first to get changed but I'll come with you."

A smile crept onto Victoria's face. "Sounds good to me. Let's go!"

***

The two girls walked to the entrance to Obsidia Ward. Lucia tugged on the black leggings and grey T-shirt she had put on. She wore the same shoes as before, high-top sneakers that are supposed to be white but have multiple dirt stains and are more of an off-white.

Victoria was right about her being famous now. She was stopped by multiple people asking if she was the one who defeated the Team Meteor Commander. A couple people even asked for her autograph.

She had been surprised when people called her by her name but even more surprised to find out that Fern was the one who leaked her name. That bastard. Thanks to him her identity was now on a silver platter for Team Meteor. So much for staying under the radar.

Blocking the entrance to the ward was a police officer. He appeared as if he was going to stop them, but he stopped when he saw Lucia. "Hey, you're Lucia, right?"

Lucia clenched her jaw. "I am. I heard from Florinia that there's a problem going on. Something about plants attacking everyone."

"Yes. The situation is surreal. And dire. Your assistance would be incredibly appreciated. We suspect that this is the cause of Team Meteor."

"Great..." she sighed, "I'll help. As long as my friend can come along as well." She pointed back towards Victoria, "She's also a skilled trainer."

The officer nodded his head. "Go right on ahead. Good luck in there." He stepped aside.

Lucia nodded back at Victoria and the two walked into Obsidia Ward.

The place was completely trashed. There were large cracks in the asphalt road. Vines sprouted out of the ground lashing at people and hitting them. There were people sobbing on the floor, from injuries and from the loss of loved ones. From what she saw people fell into the cracks in the road or were slashed too harshly by the vines. Her stomach dropped as she spotted a mother crying over her daughter's lifeless body.

The two girls began running around, helping people away from the vines. Lucia sent out Arlow and Theros. Arlow helped slash the vines away from people and Theros burned them away with Incinerate. She didn't send out Kaladin, not wanting Team Meteor to see that she also had a Garchomp.

Despite their best efforts more vines continued to appear from the ground. They prevented some people from getting hit or falling into cracks, but more people were getting hurt around them. Everyone else was too afraid to help but Lucia couldn't blame them. It was a natural, human reaction.

After moving an old woman out of the way of one of the slashing vines Lucia saw something that made her heart drop.

A young boy who couldn't be over the age of nine was inside one of the cracks. He held onto the road for dear life. The vines seemed to be sentient as they attacked the boy's hands as he clung to the street.

Without thinking Lucia sprinted towards the boy. He cried out for help as his hands began to slip. She used all the energy in her body to quicken her pace. She wouldn't make it in time.

She saw the boy's hands come loose, a scream coming from his mouth.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed the kid's wrist.

Lucia stopped in her tracks when he was saved. She stared at the person who saved him.

The person was a boy around her age with fluffy ash blonde hair. He wore a simple grey long-sleeve shirt and tan trousers. A red scarf was wrapped around his neck. He stared down at the kid with amber eyes. "I've got you." He attempted to pull the kid out of the crack, but he couldn't.

Lucia began running again. As she neared where the two were she noticed why the older boy couldn't pull the kid up. A vine was wrapped around his leg, attempting to drag him into the crevice.

The older boy grunted, and his grip slipped on the kid.

By then Lucia had reached the two. She skidded to her knees, leaning over the crack, grabbing and holding both the kid's wrists.

The boy next to her flicked open a pocket-knife. He slashed at the vine holding onto the kid's foot, permitting Lucia to pull him up. She hauled the child up and onto the pavement.

The vines were relentless though. One of them wrapped around her wrist, attempting to pull her into the fissure. The kid left as soon as he could.

She felt arms wrap around her waist as the same pocket-knife from before cut the vine. Those same strong arms pulled her up. She landed on top of the person who had saved her but was quickly rolled to her side, facing away from the crack. The arms left her body but then she felt a hand pressing on her shoulder. She looked up to see the boy who was her age blocking another tall vine from attacking her, getting slashed by it in the process.

Blush formed on her cheeks as she stared at the boy who was protecting her. A large, thick vine sprouted out from above and the boy clicked a Pokéball at his side. "Charizard, Flamethrower!" The large dragon Pokémon came out of the ball, immediately blasting fire at the vine threatening the two.

Charizard roared as the vine burnt and retreated back into the crevice.

The boy looked down at her, sweat dripping down his face. "Are you okay?"

Lucia nodded. "Yeah. Are you?"

"I'm fine. I'm just glad we could save the boy." He stood up and reached out a hand to Lucia which she gratefully accepted. "I'm Taka by the way."

More blush formed on her cheeks as she stood up. "I'm Lucy. Thank you for saving me." Arceus, what was wrong with her? She just met the boy in front of her.

"No problem."

Arlow and Theros ran up to her. They must have been stuck fighting, and they didn't notice she had left. Arlow nuzzled up to her leg and Theros jumped up onto his shoulder and snuggled into her neck.

Taka stared at her wide-eyed for a moment before flashing her a small, nervous smile. "I— I'm glad you're okay. See you around." He waved before running off, his Charizard following.

Lucia stared at Taka as he left. "That's odd..." she muttered. She looked at Theros on her shoulder and then at Arlow. "Thanks for coming guys. Let's find Vicky." She looked around and caught a glimpse of Victoria helping a civilian away from the vines. She hurried towards her, Arlow trailing behind.

Victoria turned to look at Lucia. "Lucy! Look!" She pointed at an overgrowth of vines and trees.

"That must be the heart of this."

They jogged towards it, finding the entrance to it blocked off. "This is Obsidia Park," Victoria chimed in, "There's barely any plants in the park and it wasn't like this when I came through here yesterday morning. I can't believe—" She was cut off by a woman's voice that Lucia recognized as Florinia's.

"Precisely," the woman stated, "Onsidia Park is one of the single largest isolated collections of flora within official city limits. However, it is merely that. A park. Under normal circumstances it is nothing like the malignant tangle displayed. Similar conditions have also been observed in the Beryl and Jasper Wards."

"How did this happen...?"

"Witnesses reported several suspicious individuals hauling a large machine to the center of the area prior to the incident. The current hypothesis is that the aforementioned suspects deliberately perpetrated spontaneous erratic growth of the target area with said device." She pushed her glasses up onto her nose. "An exploratory party will have to traverse the growth and attempt to reach the device at the center."

Lucia grew impatient at the woman's talking instead of taking action. "Let's do something about it then. We have to stop that machine if it's causing the people here harm."

"There is an obstacle. My primary colleague remains absent. In case of Team Meteor additional individuals are required. You and your companion should seek the above-mentioned colleague. This speaker will remain here and monitor the situation in case of and additional, sudden change."

Victoria stepped forward. "So where is this colleague of yours and how can we get to them?"

"Said colleague was last known to be investigating rumors of other suspicious people in this area. This speaker believes she had most recently been searching the area south of the given premises. The colleague's name is Amaria."

"Oh, I've heard of her! She's a Gym Leader too, right? Long teal hair?"

"Correct."

"So, we'll be heading down to Coral Ward. Come on Lucy! It should be just around the corner!" She took off and Lucia followed after her.

When they approached the entrance to the ward Victoria mentioned they found the road to have a gaping crack in it that they couldn't pass over.

Victoria gritted her teeth. "Dammit... looks like we're stuck going through the slums." She began walking in the direction they came from.

Lucia trailed her. "The slums?"

"Yes. That's the only way I can think of to reach the Coral Ward."

She nodded but Lucia knew what slums meant. Oh well. She had been harassed by slimy men before. After all, that's what slums consisted of. Time to walk into the Pyroars den. 

A slimy Pyroars den.