"...Eevui..."

The next morning, we set off to Route 8, now with both Raboot and normal Eevee out. Eevee was feeling a little unwell so I had let her out to get some fresh air.

On Route 8, Jake was standing just beyond the entrance and spotted me when I emerged from the town. He runs up to me.

"Hey, Nadia. Looks like you caught up to me..." He starts.

"Yeah...how did you get here when I challenged the gym immediately upon returning here?" I asked. Jake ponders a moment, before replying with something completely off-topic.

"You took on Team Eclipse all by yourself, right? That was pretty brave, and strong, too." He hesitates before apologizing. "I know I should've gone there to help, but the reality is I stayed by the gym the entire time because I'm too much a coward to face them just yet..."

I look at the boy in front of me, before replying, "It's okay. It was one time, after all. Besides, I took them on just fine, so-"

"No!" Jake cut me off. "I don't want something like that to happen and I'm not there to help again! How about this, you and I go battle the trainers in double battles, and I learn how you train your Pokemon?"

I just kinda stood there silent because I quite literally just travel through the routes without much training, other than battling occasional wild Pokemon and trainers I couldn't avoid.

Either way, we traversed through the route, battling every trainer out there with Jake healing both our teams right after. Soon enough, we got to the end of the route, and Jake said he'll go ahead and tackle the gym using the knowledge he learned from me.

Shortly after he went ahead, I did too and was met with a beach.

...So, this gym is Water-type.

However, it seemed as though the beach is completely overrun with Team Eclipse members. One was standing guard at the gate, and Jake is distracting him.

"Hey, Nadia," Jake greeted casually, with Vaporeon(his Eevee evolved) also looking at me. "I ran into this Team Eclipse hooligan just now, so-"

"Hey, who you calling hooligan?" The Eclipse grunt cuts him off, glaring daggers. "Team Eclipse is here on official business. I'm not letting you two past this point till we're done."

I narrowed my eyes, and Raboot did the same. Eevee also sent a low growl at him.

"Do you have a warrant? If not, you're technically not authorized to be here on official business, nor are you able to prevent other people from coming in." I replied.

Silence. Then I proceeded to walk past, to which the grunt pulls my arm back.

"No, you don't. You're still not allowed past these grounds."

Jake asks him what they were up to, which the grunt doesn't answer. He suggests that I go out there anyway and he'll keep this guy busy. I follow his suggestion and continued forward.

There was a tunnel on the far right, so I went through there. It led to a lighthouse, where Team Eclipse grunts were surrounding two people. Grunts also lined the tunnel, so I had to get through them. When I finished, I ran straight to the Center, then back.

At the lighthouse, there were two trailing an admin, who wore a large feather hat. He was towering over an old man and a girl with purple hair under a bell-shaped hat.

"I won't say this again, old man-give us the orb!" The guy in the hat threatened, inching closer to the two. They back up.

"Well, you can't have it! It's far too dangerous in the wrong hands!" The old man countered. "Which-in case you don't know-yours are the wrong hands! Do you even realize what this thing could do?!"

The hat guy laughs. "Of course we know. We have a pair of archaeology experts in our hands telling us all the important details, after all. The orb's used to summon a powerful Pokemon, the likes of which nobody has seen before."

"And what makes you think you can tame a Pokemon like that?!"

The hat guy smirks. "We are Team Eclipse. We get to do what we want."

The girl grumbles something, which hat guy ignores.

"We are the most powerful organization on this planet! And the only thing standing in our way is a feeble, old man and his weak granddaughter." He says condescendingly. "Now, hand over the orb." They still resist.

"Well, I'd say if you were having trouble dealing with a man like me, then you most definitely cannot handle a powerful Pokemon like the one this orb can summon." The old man retorts.

The guy's smirk must've been wiped off of his face because he suddenly yells, "THAT'S IT, I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!" The girl recoiled from the sudden noise, but the old man stood firm.

"Tantrum or not, I'm not going to give this orb to you." The old man said. The girl quickly recovered from earlier and turned to her grandfather.

"Grandpa, please let me fight these guys...I can handle them, no problem." She urged, but her grandfather shook his head.

"No can do, Tess. It's not safe, and I don't know why you're out here in the first place! You should be inside, and lock the door behind you."

Tess withers a little. "But grandpa..."

The old man didn't waver. "Go now, I can't let anything happen to you."

Tess hesitates, then reluctantly runs inside, shutting the door firmly behind her. Hat guy cackles.

"It was a good idea, sending your granddaughter inside. She would have been crushed by our Pokemon."

The old man narrows his eyes. "Leave her out of this. This fight is between you and me."

"Yes, and it ends now." Hat guy motions for one of his grunts. "You, take the orb from him."

As one of them made a move for the man, my Eevee decided to jump in. Raboot did too, and they both kicked the grunt on the back of his head. The grunt let out a cry in pain and crumpled to the ground.

Hat guy finally noticed me as he turned around to see what was going on. And then he looked at me condescendingly.

"Well, well, well. What have we got here? A meddler?"

"Just what do you think you were going to do with that orb? You realize what happened the first time, right?" I retorted.

"Ah, yes." The guy pondered. "We were on a mission back at the volcano...but that failed because of my idiot brother and some kid. Well, no matter, because during our little interaction, my other grunt has taken the orb. We'll be on our way now." He motions over to the grunt proudly holding the Blue Orb as the old man was kneeling over in pain.

"You thought kicking an old man was okay?!"

"We're Team Eclipse. We do what we want." The guy responds, catching the orb the grunt has thrown over to him with little emotion.

"That's just plain heartless, dude. Besides, I'm not letting you off that easily. And it seems like my Pokemon don't want to, either." I look at all my Pokemon, who had forced themselves out of their Pokeballs and collectively beat up the second grunt and are now towering over the admin. Everyone except Amaura. I can almost see faint Japanese characters floating around them as a form of threatening.

Hat guy sighs. "Of course, if you gotta do something, you have to do it yourself...well, you're going down, kid. I'm stronger than my brother."

He starts by sending out a Sneasel. I call Raboot over.

"Use Agility, and then Metal Claw!"

Sneasel placed a sheet of metal and ran around it, claws ripping across the metal while also raising his speed. I had to cover my ears and Raboot covered hers.

Once we recovered, I commanded Raboot to Quick Attack and Double Kick to disrupt Sneasel. It worked, and the Pokemon was knocked off of the metal sheet. The metal burned under Raboot's feet.

"Use Ember!" I commanded, and Raboot puffed out many flames until it cloaked her and she charged at Sneasel, crashing into the opposing Pokemon head-on.

"Sneasel, use Beat Up!" Hat guy ordered, failing to see Sneasel was damaged severely by the now Flame Charge. Sneasel struggled to get up, but eventually, he grabbed Raboot and punched her three times.

"Double Kick!"

Raboot immediately jumped up and kicked Sneasel twice, inflicting massive damage due to Sneasel's quadruple weakness to Fighting-type moves. Sneasel gets knocked out and the admin sends out Arbok.

"Arbok, use Stockpile!" He yells, and Arbok bides, stockpiling one by one.

"Stockpile can be used for Swallow, which can heal the user, so let's take it down before Arbok stockpiles 2 more times. Use Flame Charge again!"

With each Flame Charge, Raboot grew quicker and quicker. Soon she's speeding towards Arbok in less than a second.

"Use Stockpile one last time, then Spit Up!"

Arbok Stockpiles before Raboot hits its body. However, Spit Up was in effect, costing Raboot a lot of health.

"Raboot, return!" Raboot ran to my side, and I called forth Pikachu.

"Use Electro Ball!"

Pikachu chucked a ball of electricity at Arbok, who takes the hit and loses some health.

"Use Acid!"

Arbok shoots corrosive liquid at Pikachu, who takes the attack but it doesn't do much. Pikachu retaliates with another Electro Ball.

Arbok decides to stockpile three again and heal itself, which takes away most of the work that Raboot and Pikachu have done.

However, Arbok soon ran out of stockpiles, rendering most of its moves useless.

"Big oof right there," I exclaim, then command Pikachu to use Quick Attack.

A few Quick Attacks and Electro Balls with some damage from Acids later, both Pikachu and Arbok go down.

Hat guy sends out Solrock, the opposite of Lunatone. I send out Raboot again and used a Super Potion to heal her up.

"Solrock, use Embargo, then Cosmic Power!"

Once again, that force returned, and Solrock used the power from the cosmos to raise its stats. I told Raboot to use Quick Attack and Double Kick, but the hat guy tells Solrock to use Psychic to stop her.

Hat guy tells Solrock to use Psychic again, and Solrock effortlessly pummels Raboot to the ground. I order Raboot to use Flame Charge, but Solrock uses Psychic again.

I needed some way to surpass the Psychic, but I couldn't find any. Solrock opted for Rock Slide this time, giving Raboot a chance to use the rocks as leverage and gain the upper hand.

Double Kick did a fair amount of damage, but not enough because of Solrock's Psychic coverage. Solrock opted for Psychic again, and Raboot nearly gets knocked out.

"Raboot, you okay?" I asked, and Raboot jumped right back up. "I'll take that as a yes, but let me return you for a sec." I sent out one of my Eevee. "Eevee, keep em distracted while I figure out if I can heal Raboot...and yes, I can. Eevee, use Swift!"

Eevee jumped and threw shooting stars at Solrock, which doesn't to a lot of damage. However, it did bring its health closer to red.

In the meantime, I healed Raboot with another Super Potion and switched Eevee out. Solrock then used Rock Slide again so I told Raboot to use the same strategy as before.

Soon enough, Solrock was knocked out, and the hat guy was seething.

"Seriously?! Team Eclipse cannot keep going like this!"

Then one of the grunts groaned as he stirred awake and when his vision focused, his eyes widened.

"Wait, I think I recognize her."

Admin looks at him in bewilderment, so he continues. "She's the kid who stopped us in the volcano!"

Admin looked back at me. "So you are. You think you can make it your business to stop our plans wherever we go, huh? You should watch yourself, we do not respond kindly to repeat offenders."

"Give back the orb."

Dude had the audacity to smirk, grab the orb from his pocket, and hold it up.

"Since you didn't ask kindly, then you can't have it either!" He exclaimed, then chucked the blue orb into the ocean. The old man looked at him in abject horror.

"You absolute fool! Do you realize what you did?!" He yelled. Admin looked at him in bewilderment as clouds began to form overhead.

Across the city, people were bewildered, as if rain wasn't supposed to be on the weather forecast today. Accompanying the suddenly pouring rain was lightning and a minor earthquake as a roar tore through the thunder.

Suddenly, beyond a rock formation, a large blue Pokemon sailed across the ocean. It splashed into the beach, splashing everyone nearby. The Pokemon then raised its head to reveal Kyogre.

"Well, it looks like our efforts weren't wasted after all," Hat guy smirks as he fishes out a regular Pokeball. "We have another chance to secure Kyogre."

"No you can't! Kyogre has been absent from the presence of humans for far too long. There is no telling what it may do!" The old man warns the admin, but he dismisses him with a wave of his hand.

"Nonsense. Kyogre has clearly shown itself to us because we have proved our worth, and deemed us worthy of its service. It's now loyal to us and will bid our every command."

"Or, you know, it could be deciding what to do with you and your stupidity," I grumble. Admin sends a glare in my direction.

"Our archaeological experts swore Kyogre shows loyalty to whoever summons it. We must capture it quickly and return to the boss."

He looks at Kyogre and practically yells, "Kyogre! Accept me as your trainer and let us create a new world together!" He then throws the Pokeball at Kyogre, who effortlessly deflects it into the ocean. "Was...that supposed to happen?" Admin asks, bewildered.

Kyogre lets out another roar, and admin suddenly becomes irritated. "What's wrong, you overgrown stinking fish?!"

Everyone grows silent. Someone mumbles something along the lines of "Rules of legendary Pokemon: Don't insult the Pokemon or you will face retribution..."

Kyogre starts charging up a move while the Team Eclipse members look at it in confusion. Then it fires its signature move, Origin Pulse.

The force was enough to knock all three members off into the horizon, with their voices trailing off in the distance.

"Wow, I thought only Team Rocket 'blasts off' like that..." The old man commented.

Kyogre bellowed again before disappearing. A split second later, it came back up, surprising us both. It threw up the Blue Orb and disappeared again. Then the skies returned to normalcy and everyone went about their day.

The old man broke the silence. "I warned those guys." He said. "Pokemon of legend don't take kindly to those with ill intentions."

"Those guys wanted to control Kyogre to create a new world," I remembered. "I wonder if they wanted the same with Groudon since it is the creator of land."

"They might have. Although I wonder what they mean by that." He spots the orb on the ground. "Well, it's good that it returned the orb at least. That must mean it went back to the resting phase."

He picked up the orb and pocketed it. "Kyogre must've realized we were trying to stop them. The Blue Orb has been in my family for generations, and many tales have passed down with it." He explained. "By the way, that guy mentioned archaeologists telling them about that one rumor of Kyogre...however, that is not the case. Kyogre chooses to follow those with pure intentions. It seems that these archaeologists sent those goons on a wild Zangoose chase!" He chuckled.

Damn, you got them good, mom and dad.

"I'm sure they'll never understand why what they had done was wrong."

At that moment, Jake came up from behind, drenched to the core. "Hey!" He caught up, panting a little. "I saw everything from the beach. What was that Pokemon?!"

"Oh, that was Kyogre," I answered nonchalantly.

"Kyogre has the power to create huge monsoons and heavy downpours wherever it goes. That's what happened earlier. Kyogre is rumored to have created the seas, after all." The old man continued.

Jake's jaw dropped.

"Whoa! That's incredible, you're lucky to see it that up close."

"Yeah, I guess."

"You guess?"

"Well, it's a miracle we're even alive. I almost forgot, my granddaughter is still holed up in the house." He knocks on the door. "Tess, everything's fine now, you can come out."

When Tess emerged, she looked a little miffed. "Grandpa, you don't have to treat me like a child anymore, I'm old enough to fend for myself. I said I could handle a couple of Eclipse grunts."

Her grandfather sighed. "Sorry, sweetie. But you tend to be so reckless that I feel concerned about what could've happened."

"Well, if you'd let me go on my own adventures, maybe I wouldn't be so reckless." Tess huffed, crossing her arms.

Her grandfather sighs again. "You know what, you're right."

Tess startles. "Wait, really?" She asked, hopeful.

He nods. "Yes. After all, I've kept you at home for longer than I should. I guess I knew there would be a point where you would want to get out there and explore the world. However, I was worried for your safety, since you're still young."

He turns to me. "However, after seeing this young trainer so courageously take on a Team Eclipse member, I think I can allow you to travel with them instead. They're trustworthy, so I think it's alright to entrust you to them. If you'll allow it, that is."

I nod in agreement. "Yes, of course."

"Oh, I didn't catch your names. I'm sorry..."

"Oh, it's okay. My name's Nadia, nice to meet you." I introduced myself. The old man nods, then turns to Jake.

"And you, young man?" He asked.

No answer came from Jake. I look at him too, to see if he was alright. He looked like he was staring off into space, but when I trailed his line of sight, I noticed he was staring at...Tess.

Oh.

Oh dear god, he's in love.

Tess was confused as well. "Nadia, is your friend okay?" She asked, a bit uncomfortable.

"Oh, I think he's fine. His name's Jake, by the way." I deadpanned, ready to use this moment as blackmail.

"Well, alright...anyway, Nadia, thank you for helping me deal with those men earlier. I can tell you will have success in your future. I wish you the best of luck in your adventures. And please, watch over my granddaughter."

Tess seems to completely light up. "Oh, thank you, Grandpa! I'll return when I finish seeing the world, then we can talk about my adventures! It'll be fun!"

Her grandfather smiles. "Yes, I'd think that'd be nice."

Tess looks at us again. "Well, I'm ready to leave when you are. I'll wait by the Route 9 gate if you need to do anything else."

"Oh yeah!" I suddenly remembered, startling Jake out of his stupor. "I forgot, I was going to collect the gym badge here!"

"I see." Tess nods. "Well, if you're gonna do that, I'll wait by the gate until you grab the badge."

"That's a great idea!" Jake exclaims. "I'll keep you company, how about that?"

There was a bit of silence before Tess commented, "Would you look at that, he does talk after all."

Dang.

Jake grinned sheepishly. "Heh, yeah..."

He looks at me. "You go ahead and get that badge, Nadia. I'm going to keep Tess safe in case there are any more of those Eclipse goons still in town. Come meet us by the gate to Route 9 when you are ready." He and Tess then leave.

After that, the old man gave me a Protector as thanks for earlier. He then went back inside to get some rest, and I decided to heal my Pokemon before going to the Rosecove Gym.