"All aboard!"

After Jake and Tess collectively explained Anthian City again, we all boarded the airship to Anthian City. Tess said it'll take at least half a day so they'll land in the middle of the night. In the meantime, there is a training center under the deck, so we decided to make use of it in preparation for the next gym.

In that time, Amaura had learned how to use Hail and Shiny Eevee perfected Swift. Also in that time, Zinx's Metang evolved into Metagross. 

Soon, it was turning nighttime and Tess called down that there are just about 4 or 5 hours left before they reach the city. Jake then called down as well, signaling that dinner was ready. 

Everyone was happily devouring their food when an explosion resounded downstairs. We went down to check it out, and apparently, the engine had exploded...intentionally. Nobody knew who did it, but an Alakazam was there, automatically making it a suspect. After all, it was the only one there. Question is, how did an Alakazam get in here, and how did it explode the engine?

I decided to battle it, and at that time, Shiny Eevee evolved into Umbreon. Because he is a Shiny, his rings are blue instead of yellow. He defeated the Alakazam with a new move he learned upon evolution: Snarl. We then decided to drop Alakazam off somewhere later.

The pilot said it will take a while to repair the engine so he set down on an emergency stop and disappeared to the bottom of the deck. Tess calculated how long this would delay us, and she found it will put an extra hour on it. 

When the pilot returned, he revealed that the engine is doing fine now, but Alakazam disappeared. Not really sure how it disappeared, but it wasn't important now, because the airship's up and running again.

"You know what I think?" Jake started as we finished up our dinner. "I think that Alakazam was sent by Team Eclipse. Maybe to stop us in our tracks."

"But that raises another question." Tess set down her bowl of soup. "It doesn't explain how we didn't see a Team Eclipse grunt or admin anywhere. If Alakazam somehow appeared on deck, then that means the enemy's one of us."

The suggestion lingered in the air like tension in the atmosphere. Jake looked at everyone.

"I can't think of anyone here who could be in Team Eclipse," Jake finally countered. "Nadia's had confrontations with the organization, and I helped her. Zinx is a trainer and collecting gym badges. You, Tess...I can't think of any reason why you'd help Team Eclipse, and you said yourself that you specialize in Dragon-types. Alakazam is a Psychic-type. There's even more reason as to why you're not, and I and Nadia were witnesses to it."

Tess looked impressed at Jake's deductions. "You're quite perceptive. You tore down my hypothesis in an instant."

Jake blushed and chuckled. "Heh, I try."

I rolled my eyes and Zinx kept drinking his soup. 

About four hours later or something, we landed at Anthian City. Jake marveled at the large floating city with huge skyscrapers and bustling streets. 

"Whoa...Anthian City...it's huge!" Jake exclaimed. "Where should we go first?"

"We should go to visit my grandfather's friend. His name's Gerald, and he owns a shop in the Shopping District." Tess pointed forward. "It's just about that way."

We followed Tess through the Housing District, with Tess explaining how Anthian City works. There were four districts: Housing, Shopping, Battle, and Park. The Housing District is where the locals live. Tess said they're currently unavailable, but soon they would be able to rent some of those apartments for themselves. That perked me up.

Anyway, when we got to the Shopping District, we immediately headed to a red-and-white colored shop with a large Pokeball on top of it. The shop was called The Pokeball Emporium.

Inside, there were two people: a woman was manning the cash register and the man was just standing at the back. Tess walked up to him and confirmed it was Gerald. They had a little reunion and Gerald revealed that he and Tess' father used to explore Roria...every nook and cranny of it.

"I'm sorry about your parents' disappearance," Gerald continued, "I was with the first search party to go look for them. I checked every place I and your father went to, but to no avail. I'm very sorry that they were not able to see how far you've grown..."

"It's alright, Gerald, what matters is you did your best. But I'm not here to talk about my parents." Tess explained. "We're actually here to talk about Nadia's parents."

Gerald nodded, signaling her to continue. 

"So, a quick introduction. This is Nadia," Tess gestured to me, "Jake," then to Jake, "and Zinx." She pointed at Zinx last. "They're my friends. Anyway, a group known as Team Eclipse kidnapped Nadia's parents not too long ago. Nadia and Jake were tracking them down when I met them at Rosecove.  Team Eclipse attacked us, but Nadia and Jake were able to stop them. However, we got no information about Nadia's parents, so we set out to look for them together. I thought maybe you would know where to look first." 

Gerald thought for a minute. "Hm...I'm familiar with the name Eclipse. They've raided Anthian City before. Since then Anthian City has banned those from or suspected to be from the organization.

"I'm curious though." Gerald turned to me. "What did they want with your parents, Nadia?"

"They're archaeologists," I explained, going off of what I know since waking up in this world. "They were investigating something when I checked on them the day they were abducted and went to tell the new professor about it."

That's when Jake jumped in. "Nadia's parents knew a lot about the history of Roria, and we think that attributes to their capture." Gerald's eyes widened.

"Hold on, your parents are the world-famous archaeologists from Mitis Town?" Gerald exclaimed, then furrowed his eyebrows. "I've met them on a few occasions. They're some of the greatest people I've met during my journeys. Their skill alone is sufficient reason enough for Team Eclipse to take them. That's what really worries me."

"True."

"When Team Eclipse was here last, they tried stealing an artifact from the museum. Luckily, they were stopped by the police. The artifact they were after was the Prison Bottle."

So this story revolves around Hoopa. Nice. That could be fun...

"Fun fact, your parents found that bottle in a cavern off of the main shores of Roria. The bottle, though, has a legend tied to it. It's said that it holds the true power of a Pokemon that lies dormant somewhere deep within Roria's cave networks in Crescent Island. Though that legend was never proven true, nor false." Gerald explained. 

"Wait a minute," Jake interruped, "Crescent Island...it's just off the east coast of Roria, right?"

Gerald nodded. "That's correct. On many occasions, Tess's father and I went cave diving on Crescent Island. However, we've never seen anything other than an interesting set of rocks there."

"An interesting set of rocks?" I asked. Zinx, who had wandered off to a part of the store to look at unique Pokeballs, perked up at that statement.

"Yeah...many adventurers went down there in search of treasure and came up empty-handed," Gerald scratched his neck, "except for your parents. I don't know what the Prison Bottle is for, but it should stay out of the wrong hands, especially those from Team Eclipse."

Jake thought for a minute. "So then...they tried to steal an artifact like that. I wonder if it's something Nadia's parents told them about...y'know...since they found it. I really can't think about why else they'd want it."

"Gerald," Tess quipped, "is there anything else you can tell us about Team Eclipse? Anything that can help us find them?"

Gerald shook his head. "I'm sorry, but that's all I know about them. They usually only surface when they're after something. When they were here last, they were yelling about a 'new world' or something. Our police captured one of the members in the raid, and they interrogated him. The guy said that our world would crumble, and a new world would save mankind. To me, that just sounds like a bunch of baloney, to put it simply. I'd rather not go after them if I were you. They're nothing but trouble, and you should leave it to the police to handle." 

"No can do," Tess countered, "I'm afraid I can't stand back and wait for this to blow over. Remember how the first search party for my parents took a month to form? Well, I can't let that happen again. I'm going to do whatever it takes to help Nadia get her family back."

"Yeah, I agree," Jake added, "I want to help Nadia and Tess. If it took that long for just one search party to form, who knows how long this'll take? It's been a couple of days since they disappeared, and nobody's taken up the offer to help. That's why maybe this time the police aren't enough to help."

Gerald looked at the two and chuckled. "Tess, you are just like your father, brave and adventurous. The Exeggute doesn't fall far from the Exeggutor, I see. Alright," he stood a little straighter. "I'll do what I can to research more about Team Eclipse. I know a few people here that might know a bit more than I do. Mariam," apparently gesturing to his wife at the counter, "can you hand over that phone book? I'm going to make a few calls in the morning."

"Yep! I'll get that for ya." She disappeared into a back room.

"In the meantime," Gerald turned to Tess. "have you four eaten a proper meal yet?"

Tess shook her head. "All we had to satiate our hunger on the airship was soup and rations."

"Alright then. I know it's usually crowded there, but I managed to reserve a table at the El Ludicolo Loco since I was gonna eat there later."

"Wait, are you saying..." 

"Yeah, we're going to go eat at El Ludicolo Loco tomorrow. I'll change up the reservations so it can fit another four people." Gerald smiled. "In the meantime, you four should stay at the Anthian Hotel."

"Alright! Thank you, Gerald!" Tess exclaimed. "Nadia, Zinx, you two can challenge the gym here tomorrow. Can't have you two battling on empty stomachs!" 

"That sounds nice," I said, while Zinx ignored her. 

Wow, dude. 

"Well, you guys can have a late meal at the hotel, I'll go make some calls." As Mariam handed Gerald the phonebook, he waved goodbye to us and we exited the shop.