Castelia City

Wren's ears perked up at the comment, causing him to turn around from the path he was walking. What was this war the stranger was talking about?

Ahem, excuse me. What did you just say?

he inquired, lifting his hand to his chin in puzzled repose.

As Asuka flew towards the Steelix, James would see the NRE pull out rapidly and he ordered Asuka to halt as he watched their movements.

"A retreat? I have a bad feeling about this... Well if they're retreating... Allen! Asuka, back to the fountain! Posthaste!"

With a sharp cry, Asuka changed directions and sped towards the fountain where Allen was last seen. That fool was bound to charge in after that girl and get himself in a world of shit. Again.

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"HEY! YOU GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD! I'M NOT THROUGH BEATING SENSE INTO YOU!"

Seeing his opponent suddenly turn tail and run away, Allen angrily called out and chased her. But soon a new obstacle would appear in his path, one he knew quite well. Asuka landed in front of Allen, barring his path. Hopping down from her was the ever present Gardevoir and James.

"The hell? What gives, man? I need to teach that kid a lesson!"

"Don't bother. You charge after her, Allen, and you'll end up alone against all of them. That's a portal, if you haven't noticed. And since all of them are pouring into i-"

"Cram it! I can take them!"

"Down one Pokemon and against possibly two people like the one you fought along with what others remain or await on the other side? Even you know that's absurd."

While James' words were infuriating to hear, he was right. Allen hadn't considered the possibility of both those girls fighting him. Just one he could take with his hands behind his back and asleep. In response, Allen clenched his hands into fists and spit on the ground.

"So now what, oh great and mighty James? You gonna fill in for her? I'll beat you down right now!"

Despite his trainer's boasts, Flo, the Typhlosion, wasn't looking very confident. Having been on the recieving end of Shirona's attacks before, he would snort softly, something that caught Allen's attention.

"What? You actually think this Trubbish-hugger can actually beat us?"

"Calm yourself, Allen. Anyway, we should regroup with Emiko. She's on her way so we should go meet her. And no, I'm not ordering you. You're free to run home any time."

"WHAT? You can kiss it if you think I'm running! Take me to this Emiko chick. If this lets me get back at that rock-head and that wimpy puppet-master, I'll do it."

"Alright then. Shirona, know of where Emiko is at the moment? You were watching the skies more than me while I honed in on Allen."

"Yes, I saw her around the bridge, she seems to be on her way back."

"And you're sure it's her?"

"I do not think that anyone else has a ponytail of that size and...fluff."

James chuckles and returns Asuka to her ball and starts running to meet up with the Champion. Allen followed, grumbling about being shown up.

Touko skidded to a stop on the bridge as some random citizen asked her about some sort of war going on.

"Wherever you've been, you'd better get back there. Some Diancie went all power trippy and established her own freaking Diamond Domain right over in the harbor there, and recently declared war on us. If you're a strong Trainer that can take out the Shadow Obelisks that have popped up and are juicing her up to where not even I'm a match for her, that's great, but for now I have holdouts to mop up and capture. I'm trying to rendezvous with a couple of my friends so we can strike at the enemy territory, so with all respect..."

And then she just gave Wren a hip check out of her way before continuing to the Castelia pier to meet up with James and Allen.

"Ah, James, it's been a while. Good to see you've been well. Who's your friend and why does he look like he wants to battle me? We do not have time for this, we can't just let the NRE retreat to lick their wounds and prepare for the next attack. I managed to catch them by surprise this time by having the troops use guns in addition to their Pokémon, but they won't fall for that again."

Wren Harrington stood in surprise, stunned by the sudden interposition. Not quite an experienced trainer just yet, he stepped back a bit as the commotion unfolded.

Yes! Well, thank you ma'am!

he stammered, unsure of which direction to go. Looking eastward, he turned on his heel and shouted over his shoulder,

Thanks for the tip! I'll be back soon!

came his echoing response before he disappeared off into the wilderness.

Wren Harrington has left the area, heading east into Unova Wilderness.

Allen put his hands in his pockets and leaned back with a cocky smirk at Emiko's assumption of him.

"Battle you? Psh. I'm just lookin' at you to figure out what James sees in a wimpy-looking girl like you."

"E-Excuse me?"

"Look, you said we were meeting the champion, not your girlfriend. She don't even look that strong. I'd thought you'd go after that Dawn chick you're usually with."

"Ugh... First, leave Dawn out of this. Second, this 'Wimpy-looking" girl is Emiko, the current Unova champion. And third, not my girlfriend."

Shirona found this funny and held back her laughter, even though her face clearly showed she was enjoying the exchange. James just looked at her with a cynical look and she stopped, but kept her smile.

"WHAT? You mean THIS is that brown-haired pup I heard going up against Iris?"

Allen would then look over Emiko again with more scrutiny. Obviously, he can't sense power or anything so he just scoffs.

"You don't look too tough. But whatever, soldier boy here wants new marching orders. He said listening can help me burn down a certain few people so I'm here. For now."

"R-Right... Emiko, this is Allen. He's the um... rival, I told you of. Anyway, those people retreated back when they found the force too hard to overcome. However, I think it is only temporary. They are more than likely to try again but come with a stronger force. If memory serves, each champion was visited by a trainer. While the one you faced used Melaine herself, the others did not. So there are trainers under her command that can at least match an Elite in power. I wouldn't be surprised if such a person were to head the next attempt at an invasion. If not, they may try and proceed to use their portals to get into the other cities"

"The hell? Any moron knows if you're protecting a region, you don't pool into a single city. Too easy to get around. Also, what in Arceus' name is going on here? Invasions? You mean that wasn't just some Grimer-pile of a cult?"

"If it were, things would be a lot easier to handle, tell you what. No. That 'Rock-head' is launching full-scale invasions on the various regions to conquer and rule over as a self-appointed Crown Princess."

"Conceited bitch... I wasn't done thrashing the regions, what right she got to this?"

"Sadly, she herself has strength to provide adequate backing for her claims of conquering. She is a rock type at the very least and she took a Water Spout from a untouched Jellicent and showed no signs of harm. She was also able to make short work by herself of the entirety of the Unovian Elite Four, Champion included. But let us set that aside and for-...Fur.. James?"

"For-Mu-Late. Yes, we need to formulate a plan of action and get to it before the next strike.

"So what, she can walk through anything like a Castform in the rain? Pull the other one, blue-skin. Nothing can take a weakness hit that strong and shrug it off. Anyway, let's let bushy here talk. What's the plan for making that Crystal freak cry?"

James sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He also cast a glance to Emiko as if asking for her to go easy on him.

Touko just stood there, crossing her arms impatiently until Allen was done making assumptions about her strength based on appearance. "The plan is, something's juicing her up to the point that she can sweep even the likes of you. They're called Shadow Obelisks. No doubt they'll be well guarded, and they're popping up all over the map, polluting the wilderness nearby and generally just making a mess of things, which is why we need strong Trainers to go in and destroy them to make her vulnerable. I can also confirm that she does also have Champion-level trainers that answer directly to her, so I need to be on standby to coordinate regional defenses and generally put out fires if one of them shows up. Same with the rest of the champions under Iris-sama. This leaves wandering Trainers like you two strapping young lads to go in and take care of those Obelisks. You can even make a contest out of it, if you like."

The brunette allowed herself a small smirk. Allen seemed like the type that would hold his breath for six minutes if you told him that his rival could do it for five, so getting him to do something was easy. She just had to frame it in a way that made it look like a chance to prove himself. "However, I was hoping to harry the retreating forces and maybe gain some information about their home base, and I can't do that without some strong backup. Burgh is busy mopping up stragglers and taking prisoners for interrogation. Whatever your decision, make it quickly before they get away, then act on it without hesitation! Iku yo!"

Shinya has arrived, coming from Unova Wilderness.

"Contest? Bah, we both know I'll win anyway."

"Allen, this isn't the time for petty squabbles. I want you to use your head for once, where do you think they'd be?"

Allen took up a thinking pose and mulled it over with some thought before giving his response, "Honestly, they wouldn't be pooled into a single region. Normally when I play games with that mechanic, they try to shoehorn a plot device to make you travel the world for them all. So if something is pumping energy into this sack of coal, they're not all going to be here. Ones that are, are probably guarded and in stupid to find places that are so out of the way it hurts. So I'd honestly say somewhere in like White Forest with all its gimmicks I've heard of, or that chasm area. Those places would be ideal, I think."

"Gives us a decent starting place. I figured they wouldn't be out in the open and would likely be hidden to the best they could do. Alright. That gives me some leads to look into.

"Hey, slow down asshole. I'm not about to let you go off and inspect the region by yourself! You pick an area to inspect and I'll take another. I'll catch up after I'm done hanging around here. Floofy here mentioned prisoners. And any video gamer worth his consoles knows, prisoners do a lot of talking for hints. I'm sticking to see if any are here and beat 'em if needed."

James paused for a while to think about things he could say but decided against it and let Allen do his thing. Asuka popped out of her ball and and both James and Shirona got on. Without further input, they took off to go survey the areas and look for immediate environmental changes that would denote an Obelisk. This left Allen standing with Emiko.

"So, what now? Where do you think these prisoners'd be kept, miss champ?"