The sun rose from behind the mountains once again, illuminating the cities of one side of the world. Some humans were out and about, starting their daily tasks while others kept sleeping in their nice comfortable beds.

  A Shaymin groggily woke up by the sunlight that was raining down upon her face, opening her eyes slowly as she uncurled her body slightly from her bed. She looked around momentarily as awareness returned to her body, blinking the sleepiness away.

  Her room was- …

  This was not her room.

  Amy Rose awoke fully, her eyes widened, and she looked around in pure confusion. She was in a different room than she was used to, her body was in her sky form, and she absolutely did not remember sleeping with Taro so close to her that he hugged her back. When the heck did that even happen??

  It was then that yesterday’s memories resurfaced in the gratitude’s Pokémon mind. The train trip to Xander Cage City, the encounter with John and Claire, the truth about Alice and Asuri, and, of course, their pilgrimage to the human world and onto a human home… but she definitely didn’t remember sleeping so close to Taro, though.

  Amy shuffled away from the Togedemaru, slowly and cautiously getting his paws and legs off her so she didn’t wake him up. Once she got out of his grasp, she smoothed her fur a bit before inspecting her sky form more thoroughly. ‘If it wasn’t for the Gracidea Flower gifted by my parents… we would’ve been in a way worse situation in that fight.’

  The Shaymin sighed before walking off the mattress that had no bedsheets or blankets, only the pillows they slept on. She started walking in the air before she remembered something she read about her sky form when she was researching more about her species. Apparently, the reason why they could walk on air was because their paws had a special property graced by their cores, which allowed them to manipulate the air particles to become semi-solid for them to step on. I guess a good comparison would be like stepping on an invisible and tiny cloud.

  “Interesting…” Amy muttered to herself before moving one of her forepaws up, still having compressed air pressing on her paw beans. “Hm… maybe this could be useful later.”

  The flying canine looked at Taro for a moment before deciding to peek out the square window in the rear part of the room. The window was already open, so she perched on it and looked out.

  Houses of varying shapes stretched out along the urbanized hill of homes, streets, lamp posts, and other varying constructions. The human presence wasn’t completely out of her vision, because the sight of houses, bigger buildings, and even giant ones, were all that the Shaymin could see outside the home. She had never seen a sight like this, even when she went to a metropolis, Flame City, to spend a vacation there with her family. She had never seen a place so… full of construction and artificial places. She could barely spot a tree here and there along with some wild plants in some backyards, and that was it. Sure, in the mountains far away she could see some green if she squinted her eyes, but… that was it, there was no other greenery than that.

  She could also spot some humans on the streets and those… strange cars. Some kids were playing on the street beside their house, and some vehicles were a bit distant from the house, but she could still see them far ahead roaming around the two-lane street. One of her ears flickered when she heard distant barks coming from… somewhere. It was hard to tell with all the noise and clutter in the city.

  Speaking of which, she never got the name of this place… ah, well, she could ask someone from Elise’s family later. She needed to go to the bathroom.

  While going to the door, Amy’s eyes wandered to the side of the bed, remembering that they had gotten an extra mattress for the Tandemaus twins and Elsa to sleep in. She found them both sleeping on the mattress, Elsa having removed her uniform from their school. However, she got slightly unnerved when she saw both Popo and Nana’s beady black eyes open, just staring at her as their chests rose and fell. Quickly, she then realized that they were still sleeping, but… their eyes were just open… for some strange and creepy reason. ‘Well… that’s another quirk about them to remember later…’

  After that, she quickly opened the door with her telekinesis and moved into the hall, closing the door behind her. She stared at both sides of the hall, trying to remember where the bathroom was that Elise pointed at. Once she remembered which door was with, she walked in the air to the closed bathroom door as she remembered something important… ‘Aw crap, I forgot, we didn’t bring our toothbrushes with us. Welp… hopefully they have mouthwash… or we could use Elsa’s money for our essentials… if she even lets us.’

  The shaymin sighed and shook her head a bit. So many things to think about when living as a refugee…

  Amy was about to open the door but quickly remembered she was a guest in a stranger’s home. So instead, she knocked on it with a paw. “Someone there?”

  She heard a groan on the other side of the door, noticing that the voice didn’t belong to any of the humans she had met. This one sounded female but a bit scratchy. “Elise, you know that when this door is closed, someone is always inside. Also, what’s up with that soft voice, anyway?”

  Amy tilted her head in confusion, not expecting the sudden new voice and the reaction to her voice. ‘Well… now that she said that, my voice does sound similar to Elise's, but mine is softer… also, who is this?’ It was then that memory from yesterday resurfaced in her mind as she put the pieces together. “Oh, you must be Erika, right? Elise mentioned you before.”

  There was a bit of silence that followed before the voice, supposedly Erika, spoke again. “Who the hell are you? One of Elise’s friends? This is the first time she ever brings one other than a boyfriend ready to dump her at any moment.”

  “W-what?” Amy stuttered a bit, confused.

  “Whatever, don’t worry, I’m already coming out.” The human on the other side of the door said before the Shaymin could hear the sound of water running in the background.

  “Uh… I dunno if your sister warned you before but I’m… not really a human, but a Pokémon.” Amy spoke a bit sheepishly, not sure how Erika would take the information.

  The sound of running water stopped before a fit of laughter could be heard, the door muffling and lowering its volume a little. Amy yelped a little from the sudden laughter and flinched. It was then that Erika spoke again. “Before going to bed, Damian was talking about Pokémon being real and all that jazz, even saying they’re in our home.” She heard the voice approaching closer and the door started opening. “If you seriously believe that the combined efforts of my brother and yours are enough to troll me, then you’re fucking wrong-”

  When the door fully opened, Amy was now face-to-face with a dark-skinned human teenager with purple-tinted dreadlocks that went down to the middle of her back. She wore a black shirt with a thunderbolt in the middle and the letters “ACDC” between the thunderbolt, a long blue skirt, round glasses, and a spiky bracelet on her left wrist. Both human and Pokémon stared blankly at each other for a good moment before Amy sheepishly waved her paw in the air. “Uh… hi there.”

  “GAH!” The girl fell backwards on her butt and then looked again at the floating Shaymin once again. She looked a bit mesmerized and also terrified of what she was seeing for a moment. Eventually, she spoke again. “H-holy shit, n-no way… the hoaxes and rumors were real…”

  Amy landed on the ground and sat on her haunches, trying to show that she meant no harm to the human. “It-it’s okay! I’m not gonna hurt you, I promise!”

  Erika blinked and stared at the Shaymin in front of her for a long moment. “Oh my goodness… Damian was right… there are literal Pokémon in our home and you…” She took a small moment to gather her thoughts, putting a hand over her mouth while looking away. She then lowered her hand. “Then all those videos, photos, and accounts that kept popping up all over social media…”

  Amy shook her head. “Nope, they were very much real. Our virtual spaces fused together and now both our worlds can interact with each other. That was a thing for a few weeks, how haven’t you figured that out?”

  The human looked back at the Shaymin and frowned. “Listen, our world’s internet is littered with high-quality video edits, and with artificial intelligence getting popular by generating realistic images, it gets hard to trust things on the web nowadays…” Her eyes then widened slightly as she seemed to realize something. “Holy shit, I’m talking to a Pokémon… a talking Pokémon even that comes from another world!?” She put her hands on the sides of her head. “This is unbelievable, insane even! Am I insane?”

  The shaymin walked up to Erika and shook her head. “No, you’re not insane. This is very much real and we’re not a product of human imagination like the other humans thought we were. We just live in parallel worlds.”

  Erika adjusted her glasses for a moment and then hesitantly approached the shaymin. She decided to switch the topic for now. “So… is it only Elise and Damian that know? Are there any other Pokémon here?”

  “Your mother knows as well, and yeah, there are four more of us here,” Amy explained while motioning with a paw. “We sought refuge in your home after Elise offered that we could stay here. We promised her and Veronica that we would behave well and also help out with any issues you guys might have.”

  The human couldn’t help but blink at that statement, and asked, a bit surprised. “So… you’re going to be living here for some time…?”

  “Yeah… basically. We still need to find our missing friends to go back and they’re somewhere in the human world.” That… was the gist of it. But she couldn’t tell the humans WHY they were seeking refuge in their home and why they were separated since they would think it’d cause some panic for them. “So, uh… I hope you won’t mind-”

  Erika inched her head closer to Amy with a grin, making her yelp a bit. “Are you crazy? This is awesome! Not only are Pokémon real but they’re also in my house. That’s freakin’ amazing! This is like the dream of most kids and teenagers out there, hell even some adults!” The flying canine then got surprised once the human put her hand on the top of her head and began stroking there. “And I didn’t know a Shaymin would be this cute in real life too.”

  The Shaymin practically melted under the touch of the human’s hand that stroked her head a bit. She didn’t know what was happening, but it felt like she was getting a piece of what Arceus’ paradise would be like under this warm embrace. Her small and bushy tail couldn’t help but just wag from the moment that she was getting here.

  Suddenly, Erika stopped, snapping Amy from her blissful trance. “Shit, I was so caught up in the moment that I forgot about prepping for school.” She got up and looked at Amy again. “We’ll begin to talk again later, I just have to endure torture for a few hours. See ya later Shay-... actually, wait, do you have a name?”

  The Shaymin nodded and smiled. “It’s Amy, nice to meet you. Hope you’re able to see the others soon.”

  “Hopefully, if Mom doesn’t change her mind about you guys,” Erika said with a slight smile on her face. After she sighed, she walked out of the bathroom. After leaving, the Shaymin’s ear twitched as she heard Erika muttering something along the lines of… cure and depression?

  Amy tilted her head a bit in confusion before sighing. She didn’t know what was all about but at least she handled the situation as best as she could. At least the human didn’t freak out as much as she expected, so that was good for her. ‘The first day on a new world is off to a great start at least.’ She mused in her head before going to the toilet and looking at it for a moment.

  It… was definitely different than Pokémon toilets, that was for sure. She wondered how she would use this, being a quadruped and all. “... Yep, this is going to be awkward.”

  After a small while, Team Net had woken up and gone downstairs for breakfast. It took a small while for them to wake up, and Erika and Damian had already gone to school when everyone woke up, the last one being Elsa. But while Damian was in the house, since he went to school a bit after Erika (since his classes are a bit later than hers), he decided to hang out with the Pokémon that were awake, but mostly Popo and Nana, despite their… interesting and creepy way of speech.

  Elise woke up alongside Taro and they started talking for a bit while Elise brushed her teeth and then went downstairs to talk a bit to the Togedemaru. The last two to wake up were Veronica and Elsa (who awoke way later for some reason), Damian having already left for school, which was only some blocks away from their house, so he could walk there.

  At that current moment, Elise had gone outside to buy some groceries, Team Net and Veronica were sitting on the couch as the middle-aged woman watched the TV along with Amy and Taro while Elsa was busy with her phone doing something, and the Tandemaus twins were just idling around, sitting beside the couch and watching the door with their creepy and silent stare. Fortunately for the ice fox, apparently her phone (that was fabricated in the Pokémon world) could use the wifi from the human world and that was pretty handy for her. But it also put into perspective for the rest of Team Net that Alice definitely wanted the computers and phones to be identical to their human counterparts just for the internet to link the two worlds together.

  Veronica looked away from the TV, focusing on Taro, who was sitting on her lap. “I still can’t believe creatures like you really exist. How is this even possible…?”

  Taro looked up at her and began motioning with his small paws. “Well, you have your world, and then sprinkle a parallel world into the mix. Then we have us coexisting with your world by… sharing our internet.”

  “Again, how’s that possible?” The human asked while still very confused.

  It was then that Team Net fell into a bit of silence. They knew the answer as to how, but they decided to keep quiet for now to avoid freaking out the human. Amy wanted to say at least something; however, Popo and Nana spoke before she had the chance. “We do not know the cause.” “We do not know the consequences.” “However, one thing is for certain: it’ll alter the future events of both worlds forever.”

  Elsa rolled her eyes as she kept typing away on her phone, her tails fanning left and right. “Whatever, there is nothing we can do about it for now. Let’s just forget about this for now and plan stuff for later, we gotta find my sister and that bug creep too.”

  “How do we even find them?” Taro asked with a frown as he looked at Elsa.

  “I think it’s best if we keep a look at news outlets and internet posts about their sightings. I have a feeling they’ll get spotted eventually.” Amy suggested.

  “Wait, there are more of you in our world?” Veronica asked, a bit shocked.

  Taro glanced at the human again and spoke. “Yeah, there are. No worries though, it’s just our friends that came to this world with us as well. There won’t be any other Pokémon that’ll appear here!”

  “Breaking News.”

  Team Net and Veronica looked back at the TV, seeing the anchorperson, a man with a completely shaved head who also wore a suit and tie, speaking behind the table with a big screen behind him.

  “There have been sightings of strange animals and creatures roaming around various counties of the states of Oregon, California, Nevada, and Idaho. Video and photo evidence started surfacing around social media, showing some encounters with said creatures that people began to theorize were the infamous species of fictional creatures known as Pokémon.”

  An image of a Pikachu appeared on the screen behind the man for a second before the screen cut to one of the videos. In the video, the person behind the recording was approaching from behind what was seemingly a Heracross that was eating some tomatoes on a farm somewhere. However, before he could get any closer, the big beetle opened its wings and flew away, the person behind the recording getting a bit scared and taking a step back. After the video, pictures of a Magmar shooting fire at an animal, a flaaffy looking at the camera angrily while electricity coursing through its wool, and even a photo of a Tyrantrum and an aurorus running away were shown.

  “This, coupled with the fact that the internet has been full of pictures and videos of these creatures for a few weeks now, has been making people worldwide concerned about these events. Where are they coming from? Why are these creatures appearing now out of nowhere? People worldwide are asking these questions. Neither Nintendo nor The Official Pokémon Company, the creators of the Pokémon brand, have released a statement on the recent matters.”

  The camera returned to the bald man, who motioned his hand to the photo of a man with black shoulder-length hair and a few clothes.

  “There has been one confirmed death in regards to these creatures. This man, by the name of Paul Tristan, has been found dead on the Marshal Trail next to the Oregon-Idaho border.”

  The camera switched again to a phone recording of a guy walking down in a forest before he encountered a luxray scratching a tree. The footage cut short when the Luxray turned to him, growled, and charged at him while covered in electricity.

  “The footage recovered seemed to be his last moments alive. As you can see, he encountered this electrical lion that resembled the Pokémon Luxray before it attacked Paul. His body and phone were found by the trail guide, Thomas Harrison.”

  Veronica, Amy, and Elsa slowly turned their heads to look at Taro for a moment before the rodent’s fur bristled and he spoke. “Why are y’all looking at me for!?”

  “Because you fucking jinxed it, rat!” Elsa spat with a small growl escaping from her throat.

  Meanwhile, Amy looked back at the TV, seeing the anchorperson go into other news while she commented. “How… how is this possible? I thought we and our friends were the only ones who made it to this world! How’s this…” Amy trailed off, a certain thought passing through her head as she kept a bit quiet.

  Veronica was clearly the most distressed at all, clearly not expecting a Pokémon to outright kill a man. She then turned to Amy and asked. “What is the meaning of this? I thought all of you guys were reasonable and intelligent...”

  The Shaymin looked at the woman and responded. “We are! There’s just… well… some Pokémon that are different. We call them feral Pokémon and they usually… uh… how do I explain it…” She glanced away, thinking of an explanation on how to define a Mystery Dungeon. Her eyes darted back to the human as she responded. “Okay, so… these feral Pokémon usually reside in pocket dimensions in our world called Mystery Dungeons. They’re pure instincts, just like the animals in your world.” She looked away with a grimace. “They must’ve escaped the dungeons and somehow wound up here…”

  “Ugh, more problems after problems! Can’t we have a single moment of peace!?” Elsa asked annoyedly while shifting her position on the couch, lying on her back, and resting her head on a cushion. “Yesterday had already been suffering and a half and now this?”

  “Are… are we even safe from these feral Pokémon things?” Veronica asked with a concerned look on her face. “Are my children even safe out there with those wild creatures?”

  The Tandemaus twins suddenly jumped from their position and landed on the floor in front of Veronica. They turned to her and bowed with a hand over their chest. “It is in the Great One that we promise that unlawed heretics shall not harm your heritage.” “We shall exterminate whoever crosses your son and daughters’ path.” “They shall learn the true meaning of perdition, serving as a sacrifice for the great beyond!”

  The human looked at the Popo and Nana a bit in horror at what she heard. However, Taro quickly clarified for her a bit nervously. “Uhh… what they mean is… that they’d like to accompany your children whenever they go out… if that makes you feel safer?”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Now that Amy thought about it… what the twins proposed could probably work. After all, it seemed that these sightings of Pokémon were getting frequent. She didn’t know if they were in one of those areas, but judging from the way Veronica reacted, it seemed like they were. But well, that was for the woman of the house to decide if they should get out with her children or not.

  The human had a thinking face for a moment. Before she could respond, the front door opened, revealing Elise walking inside with a plastic bag full of miscellaneous stuff. Veronica took this opportunity to ask her daughter while looking at her. “Elise! Question. You think it’s best I let the Pokémon go with you and your siblings outside given the shit happenin’ out there and all?”

  The curly-haired woman looked at her mother in confusion before asking. “Uh… why? What kinda stuff’s happening outside?”

  Amy jumped onto the back of the sofa and looked at Elise. “Have you seen the news on your phone or a TV somewhere? About how Pokémon were appearing all over the place?”

  An expression of realization passed by Elise’s face. “Oh yeah, I saw that when I checked my phone this morning.” She put her hands on her side and frowned. “Is it really that bad?”

  Elsa peeked her head out of the couch and spoke. “I dunno. Would you consider a human getting mauled by this big electric kitty something that bad, eh?”

  Elise’s eyes widened as a shocked look escaped her face. “Oh… okay, I did not see that in any news articles. When did that happen?”

  “Seems like this was a recent event but I’m not so sure…” Amy said while frowning and putting a paw on her chin. “Still, we know that these are feral Pokémon that did this and they are more likely to come… so we need to get ready for something…”

  The young woman crossed her arms and thought for a moment before sighing. Her eyes darted to her mother as she nodded. “That’d be ideal, to be honest. If what we saw in the news was only the beginning… who knows what the future is in store for us… along with the rising crime rate too… yeah, I think it’d be good to have one of you guys tag along whenever we go out.”

  Amy nodded determinedly, putting a paw on her chest. “We will do our best to protect you guys! It’s the least we can do after you provided shelter to us.”

  “Have fun with that, peasants,” Elsa said before snapping a selfie of her winking a poking a tongue out of her mouth. She then began typing on her phone. “I’ll just stay right here being a source of income for this house. I’m sure the profits of my stream will be most valuable to this house.” She then looked at the middle-aged woman. “Right, Veronica?”

  The older human was caught a bit by surprise by the sudden attention directed to her, so she stuttered. “I-I… guess so… I’m not, like, demanding you to go, just that it’d be… appreciated.”

  “Oh, I’m pretty sure these three will be more than enough when needed.” She adjusted her position on the sofa, leaning her back against the armrest. “Would you guys even risk yourselves like John did and go to their schools as well?”

  Popo and Nana looked at Elsa and spoke. “Friend has pioneered the idea of going to the learning institute undercover, based on what Fiery Soul told us.” “Unlike Friend, however, we shall not be bested by human senses.”

  Elise got caught a bit in surprise by that and asked, a bit dumbfoundedly. “You… you guys are really planning on… going to my siblings’ school by remaining hidden?”

  Taro spoke from Veronica’s lap. “Hey, it wasn’t our suggestion, it was Elsa’s, and Popo and Nana literally took it to heart!”

  Amy tapped her paw on the sofa for a moment, humming in thought before answering Elise. “We might have to. After all, there’s a chance that a feral Pokémon might appear in this city…”

  “Come on, this is Bakersfield, a city in California where almost nothing interesting happens. I don’t think you guys need to play bodyguard when my siblings are at school-”

  Elise suddenly got interrupted when the news channel played its catchy theme song, which caught everyone’s attention. The phrase “Breaking News” appeared on the screen. On the TV, a female anchorperson behind a desk from a different studio appeared, unlike the bald man from the last time.

  “Isn’t that the local news…? It doesn’t usually happen at this time.” Veronica commented a bit tense.

  “Urgent news!”

  The camera switched to live helicopter footage with the camera being zoomed in by a lot. The camera showed footage of a few buildings and even one that was under construction. Some people were running away from something… but then it was revealed what it was when the camera panned to the side, revealing a Rhyperior who walked in the middle of the streets, roaring at the people running away and even running after some of them, shooting its drill horn but fortunately missing some of them.

  “One of the creatures that have been appearing all over the West states of America appeared at Piers Street, in the Madola neighborhood, in the city of Bakersfield. This creature, who appears to be another one of those “Pokémon,” appeared out of a giant and mysterious door on a construction site, according to some witnesses. Fortunately, there were no victims on its path of destruction. The police have already been dispatched and they are on their way to deal with the threat.”

  Elise and Veronica gasped in horror before the older woman spoke. “P-Piers Street!? Shit, that’s… that’s close to Damian and Erika’s school!”

  “W-what!?” Amy and Taro blurted out in surprise, Elsa’s eyes widening a little bit in shock as well.

  Taro jumped out of Veronica’s lap and landed on the back of the sofa. “Elise, I don’t think humans would be able to deal with a Rhyperior! It’s too tanky and they don’t seem enough to deal with it alone!”

  “Guide us there, we’ll be able to deal with it!” The Shaymin spoke next, lifting a paw in determination. She was getting used to being a fighter even though she had never been into it so much. But the last times when she needed to fight for her and other lives just proved how much being a fighter was necessary in these situations.

  The young woman stared in awe for a moment. “You guys…” She quickly shook her head and put the plastic bag on the floor before walking torwards the door. “Okay then, no time to waste, let’s go.”

  Amy and Taro nodded before following Elise. Elsa just stared at them before speaking. “I uh… hope you guys succeed. I’ll… be cheering for you, I guess-” Suddenly, she felt her phone fall on the couch as her body started getting lifted in the air. She looked down and saw the mice twins jumping off the sofa while carrying her above them. “HEY! What’s the meaning of this, you filthy peasants!? Let me go this instant!!!”

  “Icy Soul has a tactical advantage over the heretic’s typing.” “You shall be of use in this battle.” “We shall need you.” Popo and Nana explained as they headed out the door.

  The ice Vulpix’s claws lodged themselves into the door’s archway as she struggled to not get carried outside. “N-no! I… I don’t wanna go! You peasants shall pay- YIP!” She lost her grip and got carried outside by the Tandemaus Twins.

  In a random street in Bakersfield, a hungry and angry Rhyperior, riled by all the noise in the city, was stomping around, in search of something to eat, be it meat or berry, it didn’t matter to the feral Pokémon, it just wanted to fill its belly with something. And to think all those meat bags running away from it would be so tricky to catch, it was so hungry it couldn’t even aim its rocky shots correctly.

  It was confused and hungry. It did not recognize its surroundings, but it assumed that the environment was part of its territory and, therefore, part of its hunting grounds.

  The loud ringing sounds it kept hearing only increased and increased until it could see the source of the sound.

  Three police cars strolled up to the Rhyperior and screeched to a stop in front of it, blocking off its path. From the cars, two police officers got out of each car, three of them carrying pistols, while the other three carried revolvers. The frontman pointed his revolver at the rocky lizard monster in front of him and shouted. “At my command, men!”

  The Pokémon just roared at them and pointed its arms at them.

  “FIRE!!!”

  And with that, shots were fired at the feral creature, who was caught by surprise by the speed of the bullets. It immediately changed its firing stance into a protective one as the bullets fired were piercing its rocky scales; however, it was quickly proven ineffective when all the projectiles were just chipping its scales, not even the revolver bullets digging deep enough to draw blood.

  The Rhyperior got tired of the metal tickling in his body and growled. It dropped its defensive position before slamming the ground with its claws, shaking the paved street a bit. Suddenly, the concrete road ruptured, and pillars of stone jutted out of the ground. More started appearing, heading in the direction of the officers and the cars.

  Thankfully, the policemen noticed what was happening. “SCRAM!!!” One of them shouted before all the police officers dove out of the way as the columns of rocks approached them. The Stone Edge finally stopped once they had erected from beneath the police cars, piercing the chassis entirely as metal scraps and glass basically exploded out of the cars. Some of the officers got hit by the debris, drawing blood out of them.

  One of the officers looked up, seeing the Rhyperior roar as he asked in a muttering voice. “What in God’s green Earth is that monster…?”

  Meanwhile, in the corner of another street, a gray Toyota Yaris parked next to the sidewalk a bit sloppily, almost even hitting another car, but fortunately, it didn’t. From the car, Elise and the four Pokémon that recently became residents in her home stepped out of the vehicle.

  A certain grumpy fox already complained when she jumped out of the car’s door, being the last one to do so, a bit hesitantly. “Ugh… why am I here…? A princess should stay in her castle as her knights slay the beast for her!”

  Taro, annoyed with Elsa’s bitching, decided to speak up. “Unfortunately for you, princess, we are NOT your knights, and we are in this situation together. Do you understand?”

  Elsa growled as an icy mist emanated from her body. “How dare you-”

  “GUYS!” Amy shouted, calling both of their attention along with a roar in the background. “We’re kinda in a hurry here so leave that banter for later, alright!?” She turned to Elise. “Stay safe, Elise, we’ll try to finish this quickly!”

  “Please, be safe you guys. I don’t want to see you guys hurt by that thing.” Elise pleaded while clasping her hands.

  Taro waved it off with his paw. “Don’t worry, Elise. We faced worse stuff than just a Rhyperior, we’re pretty much pros at this now! Come on, Team Net, roll out!”

  And with that, the Togedemaru ran to the corner of the sidewalk and looked at the street. He saw his target a bit ahead, his eyes widening when he saw the damage the Rhyperior caused as the smoke began to rise. He then clenched his paws in determination, curled his body, and rolled like a ball to their target to get to the area even faster.

  “Hey, rat! Don’t go off by yourself, you’re gonna get yourself killed at this rate!” Elsa shouted before quickly following behind him.

  Amy looked at Popo and Nana. “I’ll start an aerial assault, distract it as much as you guys can!”

  “Understood!”

  With that, Amy started galloping in the air, surprising the human a bit and making her take a step back. “Woah!? She can fly!?” She asked before looking at the Tandemaus; however, when she looked at where they were standing, they were nowhere to be seen. Her eyes widened as she looked around in confusion. “W-what the!? Where did they go!?”

  Meanwhile, Taro and Elsa arrived at the area of destruction behind the destroyed cars and scared police officers. As Taro uncurled from rolling, he looked around and inspected the state of the officers who survived the Stone Edge. Pretty much, the debris cut only some parts of their clothes and caused a few shallow cuts. On the worst case, an officer had their knee impaled by a big rock shard. “Yikes… we gotta help ‘em…”

  Elsa growled and got into a bipedal stance, glaring at Taro. “What are you saying, rodent!?” She then motioned her forepaw to the Rhyperior. “We have to deal with that hunk of rocks NOW!”

  Suddenly, the Tandemaus twins emerged from the pavement street thanks to the ghostly portal of Shadow Force. They stared blankly at the Rhyperior who glared at the three of them, a guttural growl escaping from its throat. Popo and Nana spoke without even looking at them. “Keep it occupied.” “We shall relocate the humans to a safer place.” “We shall return to your aid once we finish.” “Do not perish.”

  As the Tandemaus sank into the ground again, one of the officers who was lying beside the officer with the impaled knee spoke. “Aren’t those Pokémon…? And they’re… speaking?”

  Suddenly, Popo and Nana appeared besides the two officers, scaring the two of them and making them jump. “Do not resist; salvation is the path we shall guide you.” The two mice said before pulling the two men into their dark portal. Two of six removed from the arena.

  Meanwhile, Taro jumped onto one of the destroyed cars and pointed at the Rhyperior. “Okay big guy! Time to kick your rocky ass back where you came from!”

  The rocky rhino roared, swaggered by the Togedemaru’s cocky quips. The drill Pokémon ran to the rodent and charged a slam, coating one of its arms in fighting energy. However, Taro was clever. So he simply turned around and made his spikes expand from his body, gaining a green glow along with a barrier around the spikes. The Rhydon’s hammer arm was stopped completely as his arm got pierced by the Spiky Shield. The feral Pokémon roared in pain and retracted its arm back, taking a few steps back.

  However, it did not get a break as well once Elsa jumped from another car and soared into the air. There were some ice shards in her two forepaws, so she just launched them both, the second one being launched with a small twirl. The two Ice Shards impacted one of the Rhyperior’s legs and gut before Elsa landed back on the floor on her bipedal stance. The drill Pokémon screeched in pain from the piercing and frostbite as Elsa scoffed as she flicked her tail and put a paw on her side. “Wow, such strong-looking muscles and scales… too bad it’s wasted on such a weakling!”

  The rhino Pokémon’s drill started spinning for a moment as it growled. It then stopped gripping its body parts in pain, blood leaking from its rocky scales thanks to the holes of the Spiky Shield earlier and the frostbite eating away at its scales. Taro hopped off the car and grinned. “Sounds like someone can’t handle some small needles and some ice!”

  To their terror, however, the Rhyperior lifted a foot and then slammed it down on the pavement floor, causing the earth beneath them to shake. Taro fell on his butt once because of all the shaking while Elsa managed to balance herself. They knew what this was, judging from the shaking and cracking of the concrete below their feet. “Shit, it knows Earthquake!” Elsa said as she jumped away from a small rift that appeared close to her.

  However, before the Earthquake could gain more strength, a glowing ball of green energy impacted the rocky-scaled rhino in the chest, a green-colored explosion occurring afterwards and launching the Rhyperior a few meters back, and making it fall on its back, its sheer bulk demolishing a few streetlamps too.

  Taro and Elsa looked at the origin of the Energy Ball and saw Amy galloping in the air, swooping down to get closer to them. The Togedemaru smiled and before he could speak, Amy instructed. “Guys, I’m going to keep attacking it from the air! Try to keep it busy so it doesn’t launch any rock attacks at me!”

  Taro nodded determinedly. “Got it!”

  Elsa sighed and nodded as well. “If it makes your life easier in the air, sure.”

  Amy nodded before wincing at the roar in the background. She looked back to find the Rhyperior starting to stand up and then began to fly again. “Let’s go, guys!”

  Taro nodded and glanced at Elsa, who had prepared two other ice shards in her paws. “Cover me!”

  “No need to say that twice, watch how a princess does it! This is something I’ve been practicing all night after my embarrassment of yesterday’s battle!” Elsa then started doing something that took Taro by surprise. She didn’t just run torwards the Rhyperior, she did something different. Her paw pads suddenly got encased in a small layer of ice, and it was then that Elsa ice-skated towards the rocky rhino.

  The Togedemaru spoke in awe. “Woah! How are you-?” He interrupted himself when he saw the Rhyperior fully get up and slam down its fist on the already cracked pavement as it began using Stone Edge. Elsa started skating in zigzag style, and even jumping and twirling to the side to avoid getting impaled by some of the pillars of sharp stone. Once she avoided it, she jumped and threw her ice darts on her grip towards the feral Pokémon, hitting it in the face a bit above the mouth while the other shard was completely dodged. Its suffering wasn’t over yet because Amy swooped down with a myriad of glowing leaves that left a lot of deep cuts on the rocky rhino’s body.

  The Rhyperior roared in pain as it knelt on the ground, bleeding from a lot of places in its body. However, it did not waste an opportunity when Amy swooped close by him. The feral Pokémon grabbed the Shaymin with an audible grunt and slammed her down onto the ground. “NGH!!!”

  Amy struggled in its hold, and was about to make her pain worse as it lifted its free arm. However, Taro came right for the safe, using Rollout and hitting the feral Pokémon right in the gut. It staggered backwards a bit and let Amy go while Taro landed and uncurled. He ran to Amy and asked concernedly as he inspected the bruised and dirtied body of the Shaymin. “Amy, Are you alright!? Can you still fight?”

  “Y-yeah, I can…” Amy gritted her teeth as she slowly got up again with a grunt. “He just slammed me down, that’s all.”

  Their attention was called to the Rhyperior again when it roared into the air. As it was about to slam its foot into the pavement, Elsa had skated behind it and breathed freezing air into its raised foot and leg before it could slam it down. The Rhyperior lost its balance, grunted in pain, and fell to its knees again. “What’s wrong? I thought that you’d be strong enough to actually not feel a thing!” Elsa taunted before skating back to Taro and Amy.

  The trio looked at the Rhyperior as Taro quickly spoke, “That’s why working as a team is always the best. This is too easy!”

  The drill Pokémon growled before slowly getting up. It looked pissed, much so that it actually shut the Togedemaru’s grinning face for good. For Team Net’s terror, the feral put its arms in the air. From the holes of its arms, rock fragments and shards were flying above the rhino, starting to form something made out of rock by magically and haphazardly gluing together rock fragments.

  Amy paled and took a step back. “No, that’s… Rock Wrecker! If one of us gets hit by that, we’ll be severely injured!”

  “C-can’t we do something about this shit!?” Elsa asked before forming an ice dart on her paw and throwing at the feral’s arm. It didn’t flinch like last time. “What!?”

  “I-I’ll try to protect you guys with my Spiky Shield. Just pray to Arceus that I survive…” Taro said before gulping dry, his paws shaking a bit in fear.

  The opponent’s stitched-up ball of rock fragments was bigger than the Pokémon’s head already. Now it was only a matter of time when the giant ball projectile would be thrown-

  SCHTINK!!!!

  A swift cutting sound echoed around the street, and for a moment, everything remained eerily silent. The Rhyperior remained frozen like a statue for a moment before its arms suddenly sagged. The rock fragments it held floating above its head crumbled down into pieces on top of it. It fell on its knees before collapsing fully on the ground, revealing two fatal cut wounds on its back, resembling an X.

  Amy, Taro, and Elsa blinked in pure confusion before the Shaymin took a step forward in confusion. “W-what…? What just happened?”

  Suddenly, from behind the fallen feral, a familiar pair of white mice jumped on top of the corpse’s head and announced. “In the name of the Great One,” “The heretic beast has been slayed!” “Rejoice, brethren!” “For today, we shall feast on the flesh of our enemy!” “It shall be a day filled with glorious victory!”

  An awkward silence followed afterwards, the three Pokémon who fought the Rhyperior stared with a few blinks at the mouse Pokémon. Elsa suddenly growled in anger and walked towards the Tandemaus twins, pointing at them with her teeth clenched. “Where the FUCK where you two!? We were fighting for our lives here and then when the final moment came you decided to just stop loafing around!?”

  “Icy Soul, do you not remember?” Popo asked with a tilt of his head. “We were helping poor souls that were lost in the path of pain and agony.” Nana clarified while raising a hand. “We were guiding them to the light of salvation of the Great One!”

  “Not an excuse!!! My fur is now completely ruined after I wasted thirty precious minutes in the morning tidying it up to look the best for a stream today!” Elsa complained, clenching her paw and snarling at the mouse.

  Now that the adrenaline of battle was fading and the sounds were minimal, Taro’s ears twitched as he began to hear the sound of something loud approaching… sirens. The Togedemaru looked behind and saw heavily-armored police cars with blue sirens approaching. He took a step back and grimaced. “G-guys, we may have a problem here…!”

  The Pokémon looked at the oncoming situation that they were about to be in. Amy grimaced. “Dammit, I can’t fly us out of here… what if they hit me with those dangerous pipe things…?”

  Elsa fell back onto four paws and walked in front of the Shaymin as the cars started parking a bit ahead. “Hmph, don’t worry, I’ll talk the humans down with my unresistable charm to let us go- EEK!”

  Elsa was suddenly grabbed by Popo while Amy and Taro were grabbed by Nana. “We would not like to become puppets for mortal amusement.”

  “Not again you little-!”

  Elsa couldn’t finish her sentence before the twins sank into a dark portal with Elsa and the other members of Team Net.

  Meanwhile, with Elise, she had spotted her siblings walking on the street since they had been released from school earlier, thanks to the feral Pokémon attack near the school. Once they had reunited, Elise had ushered them to the car while she stayed outside waiting for the others to arrive.

  The young woman could hear the sounds of battle roaring in the distance—all the roars, cries, and explosions. Heck, she feared the worst when the whole ground started shaking around them. She could also see a few cracks in the pavement, which made her step back in worry. During all of that, Damian cheered when he and Erika were informed about what was happening.

  Eventually, the sounds of battle suddenly stopped and were then replaced with the sounds of another thing… sirens. Elise’s eyes whipped to the direction of the sound and she saw some S.W.A.T. cars approaching the scene. She then realized one big glaring issue that she hadn’t thought about when she was panicking and brought them to the streets. They could be arrested or killed if the authorities think they’re a threat.

  Elise muttered to herself and lightly face-palmed before mumbling to herself. “Goddammit, I’m so stupid…” She rubbed her temples. “What if they don’t make it back-”

  “We apologize for our untimely return, human.”

  Elise turned around and flinched back, almost screaming from the scare she received. Behind her, she found the mouse twins, Amy, Taro, and Elsa, likely recovering from something from the way they were splayed on the floor. “Jesus Christ, you guys, you almost gave me a heart attack over here!”

  Amy shook her head and looked at the human in desperation. “Elise, we need to get out of here before those humans find us!”

  Elise nodded and opened the passenger’s door and the back doors for the Pokémon to enter. “Hop on, guys! Let’s get out of here!”

  Elsa got onto the passenger’s seat while Team Net got on the back, getting surprised to see Damian and Erika there. Damian, who started holding Taro in his lap, asked excitedly while Elise closed both doors. “So, did ya guys kick that bad guy’s ass!?”

  Taro looked at the afro-haired human’s face before grinning and clenching a paw. “For sure we did!” He then looked aside and smiled sheepishly, neglecting to mention the fact they might’ve helped kill a feral Pokémon…

  “Hell yeah! You guys were awesome!” The boy continued before hugging Taro against his chest tightly like a plush.

  Erika, who had Amy lying on her lap, inspected the Shaymin for a moment, even running her hand along the canine’s back. Her hand then felt something a bit wet on the back of Amy’s head. The teenager gasped once she saw a stain of blood in her hand. “A-Amy, you’re hurt! We need to patch you up!”

  As the young woman entered the car and revved up the engine, Amy looked at Erika and smiled sheepishly at her. “Oh, uh… don’t worry about it, okay? Pokémon are made out of tougher stuff than humans thanks to our cores. It’ll heal soon, not to worry.”

  Elsa lay in a curled position on the passenger’s seat, sighing in distress and exhaustion. “I’m not streaming today, focusing all my attention on a hard cold bath.”

  “Alright, let’s go, the sooner we’re out of here, the better.” With that, Elise started driving out of the sights of the street, going to the path back home.

  While she was driving, Taro asked the young woman a question: “Hey, Elise, this is a very unrelated question, but… did you buy our toothbrushes?”

  “Yes, yes I did.” She said while maintaining her eyes on the road.

  Taro said with a smile while clenching his paw. “Yes!”