The portable toilet platform (a series of words in which Ralph never thought he would put together in his life) finally reaches the bottom of its little ride, the four are presented with a door, which Sahara wastes no time in opening.

It’s a small, comfy little reception area. The walls and floors are made out of a dark marble tile divided into squares, each square different shades of blue with its own unique pattern, yet somehow, they all still seem to flow seamlessly into one another. The room itself was only lit by one light built into the ceiling as well as a small desk lamp sitting on the reception desk, a proper, well dressed Inteleon standing on the other side, wearing a vest similar to Sahara’s, but black and buttoned up, accompanied by a matching tie.

What seems to stick out most prominently, though, is a small badge pinned just above the upper left breast pocket on the vest, characters engraved that none of them recognize. ‘未来の血統’ it reads.

The Inteleon’s eyes narrow upon landing his gaze on Sahara, but they arch again in curiosity as he stares at Team Synthesis. Ralph can see Mick waving his paw in greeting beside him, a cheeky little smirk curled up on his lips. The Inteleon tilts his head, humming quietly before he finally directs his gaze back at the Audino. “Ya know ya’ve got lots of explainin’ to do, friend.”

“I know, Quincy, I know.” Sahara says a-matter-of-factly, giving an awkward smile. “Not exactly my fault I wound up getting captured by pirates… Well, okay, maybe it was but I didn’t exactly account for her crew being as dangerous as they were. One against two dozen doesn’t exactly provide the best odds, you know? And when all of your gear is confiscated and you’re stuck in a stasis bubble and-“

The Inteleon, Quincy, intterupts. “Yeah, yeah, I get the idea.” He scoffs slightly with a rolls of his eyes. “Ya got stuck and we couldn’t find ya, bit of a bugger, innit? Least ya came back to us. Sure everyone else’ll be happy to see ya safe and sound.” His eyes then glance back at the rest of the group. “But these are the lil’ runts you were talkin’ bout, ehh? Right interesting lot you got here.”

“Heeeeeeyyy, who are you calling runts?” Lavender pouts with a playfully annoyed huff, turning her head away. She doesn’t keep that going for more than a few seconds before giggling quietly. “But, yeah, that would be us!”

“Yup!” Mick steps forward towards the desk, extending a paw to Quincy. “We’re Team Synthesis! The name’s Mick, my pals behind me are Lavender and Ralph. Ralph and I helped deliver the beatdown on the pirate crew while Lavender tore the whole ship apart. Literally.” Cue the Shaymin happily nodding her head in confirmation of that last part.

Ralph watches as Quincy stares down at Mick’s paw, his eyes sneering upwards just the slightest bit as he makes eye contact with the Shinx, who just seems to grow a little more nervous as he keeps his paw extended outwards for a little longer than he reasonably should. _{“Uhh… You gonna leave me hangin’? Oorrrr…”}

Quincy muffles a chuckle as he smirks, his long fingers wrapping around Mick’s paw, giving a single, firm shake. “I gotta say, I’ve seen my share of oddballs come and go, but you’re certainly up there. A cat, a duck and a plant dog. Sounds like the start of a pub joke.” Mick’s expression grows a bit more uneasy, and even a touch angry as his eyebrows furrow and his muzzle scrunches up, which Quincy catches onto. “‘Tis a compliment. Always nice to have a lil’ more variety in the Future Bloodline.”

“Oh- Okay, good, heh.” Mick laughs nervously as he finishes shaking Quincy’s hand. “I thought you were lowballing us for a sec there.”

“No offense intended, lads.” Quincy flashes them a smile. “But if ya lot wanna be taken seriously ’round here, you’ll hafta prove yourselves in whatever trial the good ol’ boss gives ya. Speakin’ of which.” He raises his arm up, tapping his finger against some kind of small device strapped to his wrist. The door clicks, signifying its unlocked. “Ya best not keep him waitin’ long. He’s at the building on the far end of the boardwalk, can’t miss him.”

Those words catch Ralph’s attention, the Quaxly arching a curious brow. “Wait… Building?”

---

Walking through that door might have been one of the most wondrous things him and Ralph have ever done in their lives. This isn’t just some sort of base of operations, it’s a whole, thriving community. All three of them can’t help but stare in awe at what lay before them. No hallways, everything was open, expansive. Everything is connected by a giant, open boardwalk that branches out into different parts of the base, dozens upon dozens of members walking along, all wearing similar vests and badges, some more personalized than others.

So many different kinds of Pokemon walking around. A Haxorus, a robot Eevee and some kind of more feral, scraggly Eevee walking together, a Raichu and a Rimbombee, just to name a few. The boardwalk lingers just a few inches above a large body of water down below. It doesn’t look deep at all, not deep enough to drown in unless someone were to do it on purpose. Certainly not deep enough for a Shinx to do a sunk.

It’s lit up by lamps even spread out across the boardwalk’s railing, giving everything a warm, cozy vibe. But looking up? Now there’s a real treat. The ceiling was a giant screen, an underwater view of the lake in the middle of Argyle Park from the bottom of the lake itself.

“Holy shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit…” Mick mutters under his breath, Lavender, meanwhile, too speechless to bring herself to say anything. From the looks of things, she’s having the time of her life, big dumb smile plastered on her face. “Yo, Sahara.” Mick turns himself away from the screen, facing back to the Audino. “Is this whole place really beneath the lake?”

“You bet.” Sahara happily nods his head in response as he explains. “We can’t have a giant window to the surface up above in the case that someone decides to take a little dive in the lake. So instead, we have a micro-camera placed at the veeeeery bottom of the lake, embedded into the dirt. While we might not be looking up at it directly through the ceiling, it certainly feels like we are!”

Mick just takes a moment to gaze up at the ceiling, starting to chuckle softly to himself, watching the waves of water faintly ripple above them, the evening sky above them casting a warm glow onto the boardwalk. “…Fuck, Ralph. I can’t believe this. Like- Look at us! We’re really doing this!”

“I’m more surprised you’ve been taking a backseat on making any sort of witty remarks.” Ralph muffles a laugh to himself, crossing his wings over his chest. “Something change?”

“Look, man, I don’t wanna fuck this up for any of us. I’m tryna keep my mouth shut. Rule number one of a job interview, you gotta make a good first impression!” He flashes a cheeky little smirk. “We don’t want ’em thinking we’re anything less, do we?”

“Heh, can’t argue with that.” Ralph rolls his eyes. “You want my tie? I can let you borrow it if you really wanna impress them.” He says as he playfully nudges Mick’s shoulder.

The Shinx scoffs in response. “Nah, man, you can keep it. I wouldn’t be caught dead wearin’ one of those.”

“Aaaaaaaand, here we are!” Sahara suddenly exclaims, the group having been brought just in front of a bridge closing the gap between the boardwalk and a small, three storied building embedded into the wall, resembling a building from human culture of days long gone. Humans called it something in the, past what was it called… Edo, it looks like a building from the Edo period.

Lamps hang from all the floors of the building, each over hand adorned with two lamps burning brightly, making it a sort of landmark in the underground boardwalk. It screams “someone important lives here.” For the first time since they entered the boardwalk, Ralph hears Lavender speak up. “You gonna come in with us, Sahara?”

“Unfortunately, no, I have a lot of things I need to attend to, data I need to archive and account for.” He rubs at the back of his head awkwardly. “I’m pretty sure Dunnigan is tired of covering for me in the archives anyway. I better let him know he can finally take the break he deserves. I’ll be rooting for you all, though!” He starts backing, waving goodbye one last time. “I’ll see you around! Take care, and thanks again!”

“Don’t mention it! Try not to strand yourself out on the sea again!” Mick shouts back as the three all wave Sahara off. Now then, for the big one. Time to get going.

The three all cross over the bridge, minding their steps as they walk up to the building, Mick reaching for the door, trying to pull at it, little to no success. He keeps trying this, longer than any sane person probably should. Ralph briefly glances back just to make sure nobody is staring. Nope, only Lavender is staring at Mick. “Do you, uh, need help?” She asks, a slight expression of concern etching across her face.

“N-No, I’m good, I think I got-” He ends up pulling the door to the side as it slides open, hitting the edge with a loud thud before it slides back just into place, leaving the door open just perfectly enough for all four of them to walk inside. “Oh.” He turns back to Ralph and Lavender, smiling sheepishly. _{“Remember, neither of you saw that.”}

Smooth as ever. Ralph just rolls his eyes as the three stroll on up to the building. The interior is very different from the exterior. Much closer to resembling something like the reception they were at earlier, though with a little more decor and tech thrown in. Surprisingly furnished, the place looks clearly lived in. Big for what’s presumably just one person.

“…meet you there, okay?” A voice can be heard coming from further into the building, just faint enough that they can barely make out what it’s saying. “…know you’d like to meet them first, but where’s the fun in that?” A light chuckle can be heard just around the corner, footsteps able to be heard walking down a flight of stairs. “Well, I think it’d be a little inefficient to waste time with formalities rather than getting straight into the thick of things and-“

A Gallade turns the corner, but not a typical Gallade. Rather than green, his body is colored a deep red, the his headcreast a lighter shade of said dark. the tips of his arm blades much sharper than usual. He was wearing a special type of vest, a dark blue one with light stripes, though this one seemed a bit more tattered towards the back, which was longer and made it resemble a cape that had been cut in half, a gold version of the badges they’d seen just above his upper chest.

He stops in his tracks as his eyes land on the group, the four awkwardly staring at each other in silence, aside from the unintelligible chattering that can be heard from the earpiece the Gallade was wearing. A knowing smile slowly curls up on his lips as he presses his fingers to the side of the earpiece. “Actually, they just walked in. Get to your places, we’ll be seeing you very soon.”

A quiet beep is emitted as he presses down on a button, walking up towards the group as he kneels down to the ground to make better eye contact with them. He has a very valiant energy to him, an incredibly confident, yet comforting aura. “So, you’re all Team Synthesis, hmm?”

“Wuh- Uh, yeah! That’d be us.” Mick stammers, shakily nodding his head. “I’m Mick, and these are-“

“Ralph and Lavender, I’m aware.” His smile widens a bit as he nods. “Quincy already told me you were coming, no need to reintroduce yourselves.” He gives a light bow, his head lowering as a sign of respect. “My name is Rapier, it’s a pleasure to meet all of you.” He turns his gaze back up to face them. “Now, from what Sahara has said, it seems as though you’ve been through quite an ordeal today, but I get the feeling you’re itching for just a little bit more, aren’t you?”

Mick blinks a few times, chuckling before he seems to regain his usual self-assurance, smirking up at the Gallade with a firm nod of his head. “Heh, how could you tell?”

“I can see the burning sparks behind your eyes. You may be a little weary from how eventful your day may have been, but you’re all more determined than ever to ace whatever trials you have ahead of you. Isn’t that right?”

“Yeah!” Lavender exclaims with a very eager nod. “We’re ready! I’m more than ready, I’m pumped! I haven’t been this excited in my entire life!”

Ralph nods as well, readjusting his tie slightly, before slicking his feathers across his hair. “We’ve got some fight left in us. Whatever you intend to throw at us, we’re pretty confident we can manage.”

Rapier lets out a chuckle as he smirks a bit, clapping his hands together as he stands right back up. “In that case, let’s go ahead and cut to the chase. You’ll be going up against two of our elite members in the arena to see if you’re as capable in combat as Sahara claims you are. So.” He walks past, gesturing them to follow. “Shall we?”

“Bro, you had me at ‘arena.'” Mick says. What a dork.

---

A giant, metallic door slowly rises up as the group all make their way into the arena. It’s a fairly big coliseum, perfectly round, empty seats all lining the outside. Seems like not only is this place a training ground, but also a place for entertainment, perhaps? Education? Hmmm.

Two other Pokemon stand at the opposite end of the arena, both of whom are definitely much different from any of the other Pokemon they’d seen since arriving. “Now then.” Rapier smiles, gesturing to said Pokemon, bowing to Team Synthesis as he steps back. “These’ll be your opponents for the evening. Defeat them in battle and you’ll officially become a part of the Future Bloodline.”

One of whom was a robot Zeraora, a heavily modified one to have much more armoring on its body, some metal platings hanging from its waist, giving it almost regal, royal appearance, like a long cloak. Its blue markings on its chest, head and whiskers were all spots that seemed to glow with the neurachem flowing through its body. Its normally curved-back hair spike seems to split off into two, curving upwards like spikes on a helmet.

The other is a Ponyta who- Oh JEEZ-! The robot Zeraora runs right up to check them out, from there to here in just a brief second, the whole group backing up upon being startled from the sheer speed the robo-Zeraora seems to possess. “Ahhh, so this is the bunch we’re goin’ up against here? Scrawny lookin’ fellas, aren’t they?”

Mick’s muzzle scrunches up upon hearing this, glaring right up at the Zeraora defensively, tail standing on end. “Who the hell’re you callin’ scrawny?! You’d think we’d have been considered if we weren’t scrawny?”

The Ponyta’s voice can be heard chuckling as it trots up, giving them a much better look, it’s mane a golden yellow rather than a fiery orange. Very heavily augmented, its front hooves fully replaced with cybernetic limbs, the tips of its hooves equipped with sharp, scratchy claws. Even more than that, this Ponyta seems to have quite the addition to its arsenal. Wings. Cybernetic wings, to be precise, seems to be made out of the same material as the forelegs. “Hey, Gauss, try not to be too quick to judge. Sometimes the biggest things come in the smallest packages.”

The robot Zeraora, Gauss, scoffs in response with a smirk, placing a hand on his hip as he stares down at the group, who are silently staring back at him, Mick’s stance a bit more on the offensive than Ralph or Lavender. “Hmmm… Good point there, Dusty. Guess I shouldn’t underestimate them, huh?”

Rapier chuckles from the sideline, putting his hands up and shaking his head. “Now now, you two. No need to go so hard on them. If they’re anywhere near as capable as Sahara says they are, they’ll give you a run of your money. Save the gloating for the scenario in which you do actually win, please.”

Lavender arches an eyebrow in confusion, glancing back at Mick and Ralph. “Uhh, is he saying he believes in us, or doubts us?”

“Kinda sounds like both, if you ask me.” Ralph shrugs, glancing back at the Zeraora and the Ponyta. “Two against three. They wouldn’t have pit us with an uneven matchup if they didn’t mean business. They’ve gotta be good, real good.”

Dusty seems to overhear Ralph, letting out an amused whinny and a snort, a small plume of smoke escaping from her nostrils. “”You betcha. We don’t even need a third person on our side, we’ll be able to whoop your asses all on our own.~”

Mick, still being in full aggressor mode, gets up in Dusty’s face. Well, as much as he can, given he’s almost a whole two feet shorter than she is. “Oh yeah? Well, we’ve got enough power to whoop your asses twice over!”

“Eeeeeasy there, scamp.” Gauss chuckles, kneeling down towards Mick. “Your hissing’s looking much more fierce than your bite right about now. You wanna show us you can kick our asses, well come on and kick our asses.” He looks over to Rapier, flashing a thumbs up. “We’re good to go, boss! Make yourself nice and comfy, we’re in for a good one!”

Rapier bows once again with a soft, almost knowing smile, making his way over to the very back of the areana, up a flight of steps into the seats as he sits down upon the grand viewmaster’s throne. Well, that’s what Ralph would call it anyway. It’s a big fancy chair that gave Rapier the best view of the arena.

Gauss and Dusty both make their way back to their ends of the arena, getting into position, Dusty forelegs outstretched, front end lowered and rear end in the air, while Gauss lowers himself down to the ground, getting into a position like he’s a racer about to take off.

Mick, Ralph and Lavender all get beside each other at their end of the arena, Mick arching his back and turning on his light tattoos, sliding his goggles down over his eyes, Lavender getting into her own battle ready position, Ralph readjusting his tie and slicking his hair back.

Alright. Time to-

CRAKK!

Gauss takes off like a bullet train, slamming into Ralph’s body in a matter of seconds.

No time to react.

Feels himself get flown back.

Electricity crackles through his feathers, eyes scrunched, peeks one eye open, sees two thunderbolts emitting from either side of Gauss’ body, zapping both Mick and Lavender.

Cheap shot.

Gonna make him pay for that.

Ralph propels himself away from the wall with his aqua jet, the water sputtering from the electricity still burning and coursing through his veins.

Dusty has taken flight, wings spread, flapping into the sky.

Wants to ram into him.

Not having that.

A quick bubble beam as he’s flying past her. It impacts her. Not enough to make her stagger, but it hit her.

Bold of a fire type to try charging a water type.

Mick and Lavender have recovered, mostly, trying to keep themselves standing.

He sees Mick try to go behind Gauss, latches onto his back, discharge.

This makes Gauss stagger slightly, but just seems to charge up from it.

He smacks Mick back with his elbow, sends him sliding across the ground.

He spots Ralph.

Zooms after him.

Not today.

Ralph points a wing at the ground and quickly raises it up.

Water turbine sprouts from the ground, envelops Gauss, encasing him in a bubble.

He looks surprised, confused, the bubble stretching as he’s suddenly stopped in his tracks. Not even speed can break free of a bubble.

Tosses the bubble aside, Gauss crashes into a wall. No incapacitated, but discoordinated.

Where’s Dusty?

Ah, going after Lavender, of course.

She and Lavender are soaring above the arena, Dusty trying to spray fire onto the Shaymin while Lavender keeps trying to retaliate with bullet seeds.

“Mick.” Ralph calls out with a smirk on his beak. “You know the drill.”

The Shinx smirks in response with a firm nod, rushing over to Ralph, shooting a thunderbolt from his mouth while Ralph shoots a torrent of water at Dusty.

The Ponyta ends up more privy to this than they think.

She catches glimpse of the double attack and changes course, letting herself drop down, causing their attacks to go over her.

She changes direction, swooping towards Mick and Ralph.

Mick jumps out of the way, but Ralph isn’t so fortunate.

Dusty grabs him with those metallic claws, thrusting the Quaxly’s face into the ground.

Hard.

Harder than a Ponyta’s strength should be physically possible of doing.

The floor of the arena cracks from how hard his face is thrust down into it, the Quaxly frantically waving bubbles and jets of water at the Ponyta to throw her away.

There is now a Quaxly shaped indent in the floor.

A strand of his hair droops in front of his face.

She messed up his hair!

Now these two are really gonna get it.

Lavender lands beside them, the three trying to get their bearings.

Voom.

A little spark of electricity flies past their heads.

Gauss is charging back at them.

Hand extended, like he’s firing little bolts from his fingers.

“Hey, Lavender.” Ralph hears Mick speak up, turning back, seeing him smirking at her. “Tripvine.~”

Lavender seems to blink, clearly not knowing what Mick is talking about at first. But she catches on.

She flies back to one wall of the arena, quickly shooting a vine out and latching it onto the opposite end.

Raises it up just enough.

Mick and Ralph bait themselves for Gauss, jump out of the way.

Gauss falls.

Falls right into Dusty, who was still trying to pick herself back up.

The two crash into the wall.

“Now!” Mick shouts.

Everyone knows exactly what to do.

Ralph swipes his wings, blasting a torrent, soaking both the Zeraora and the Ponyta.

Mick fires bolts of lightning from his mouth, electrocuting them both while they’re drenched.

Lavender fires off a series of razor leaves, extending the power wrought forth by their combination attack.

Ralph sees their bodies stiffen up.

Yeah, they’re done for.

Once all is said and done and their attacks finally simmer down, Gauss and Dusty both drop to the floor on their sides. Exhausted. Defeated.

Just like that, it’s over.

Mick, Ralph and Lavender breathe out a collective sigh of relief when Dusty and Gauss finally go down. “Peace out, fuckers.” Mick calls out one last time to Gauss and Dusty, smirking back at them before finally collapsing on his ass. “That wasn’t even that long of a battle, and I feel like I’ve had the wind knocked out of me.”

“You’re telling me.” Lavender chuckles weakly, shaking her head. “I thought I was gonna get seared back there. Thanks for covering me, guys.”

Ralph slicks his hair right back, making sure it’s all neat and tidy. There, much better.

The sound of clapping can be heard from the end of the arena, Rapier standing up from his seat. Still smiling. “Bravo! That had to have been one of the fastest I’ve ever seen in this arena.” He descends down from his little ‘throne’ and makes his way back over to Team Synthesis, hands placed behind his back. “I’m sure you all know what this means, yes?”

He claps his hands together twice, the Rhimbombee that they had seen earlier flying into the room, three vests carried in its hands. Purple, green, black, all adorned with those same pins all the other seem to have. Ralph can see the big, dopey grin slowly curling up on Mick’s lips.

“If you’ll all stand upon, please!” The Rhimbombee requests, to which all three of them comply. Well- Ralph’s already standing up, of course. Benefit of being bipedal. It’s amusing watching Mick and Lavender try to stand on their hind legs. Ralph has to admit, this feels right. The fact that the vest matches the color of his tie, too, really feels like they picked it just for him.

Mick certainly doesn’t look too bad wearing the purple vest, and the green vest fits just right at home on Lavender.

Gauss and Dusty finally pick themselves back up, stretching their bodies, seeming amused despite the fact they just got beat down hard.

“Not often anyone can wipe us out that fast, let alone at the same time.” Dusty chuckles softly.

Gauss nods, crossing his arms over his chest. “I think you’re gonna fit in juuuuuuuust fine.”

“There may not be much time left in the day to do any assignments, but perhaps you’ll at least join us for dinner?” Rapier suggests, tilting his head as he gazes at the three.

Ralph slowly turns to Mick, who’s just staring down at his vest with a big, dumb grin on his face. And he can hear him hyperventilating too. “Sure, if it’ll distract my friend from his geeky meltdown.”