(A/N: Bonus Chapter! Enjoy!)
[Marshadow (Fighting/Ghost) (Mythical Pokemon)]
[Level: 88]
[Ability: Technician (Moves with 60 base power or less get a 50% damage boost. Only affects the move's base power, items, abilities, and other modifiers aren't factored in.)]
[IVs: HP (31), Attack (31), Special Attack (29), Defense (31), Special Defense (31), Speed (31)]
[Moves: Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, Shadow Punch, Drain Punch, Shadow Sneak, Phantom Force, Shadow Ball, Close Combat, Spectral Thief...]
[Held Items: None]
"Level 88 with near-perfect IVs? Not bad at all!" John scrolled through his newly caught Marshadow's stat page on his Gameboy, nodding with satisfaction.
The stats were solid, and that Ghost/Fighting typing was pretty unique, gave it some serious advantages against certain team compositions. He'd definitely train it up eventually, though that project would have to wait until after both the Eight Masters tournament and the World Championship wrapped up.
He tossed out Marshadow's Pokeball, releasing it into the room.
The little shadow Pokemon had already been through the healing process via the Pokemon Center system. Fully recovered now, but after getting absolutely stomped in that one-sided beatdown earlier, it was being remarkably well-behaved. Almost suspiciously so.
Marshadow stood there on the floor, letting John look it over without protest. The meek attitude was honestly kind of pathetic to watch, like a kid who'd just gotten sent to the principal's office.
"So, Marshadow," John said, cutting straight to the chase. "How do I actually find Ho-Oh?" He could work on building trust and rapport later. Right now, he wanted answers about the legendary bird.
"You just follow where the Rainbow Wing leads," Marshadow replied, surprisingly forthcoming. Whether it was genuinely cooperating or secretly hoping its old boss Ho-Oh would show up and teach John a lesson remained to be seen.
"If you can pass the trials set by the guardians, you'll eventually reach Ho-Oh's sanctuary."
"Okay, but how does the wing 'lead' exactly?" John held up the iridescent feather, turning it over in his hands. He didn't see any GPS coordinates written on it or anything.
"Emmm... it's pretty straightforward, actually. The closer you get to Ho-Oh, the brighter the Rainbow Wing glows. Right now yours is barely putting out any light, which means you're probably pretty far away..." Marshadow explained, sounding almost apologetic about delivering bad news.
"Yeah, that tracks," John muttered, already formulating a plan. After he checked in at Battle Island tomorrow, he'd have Lugia take him on a worldwide scouting trip. With that kind of aerial coverage, tracking down Ho-Oh's location should be easy enough.
As for Ho-Oh's so-called guardians, Entei, Raikou, and Suicune, John wasn't exactly losing sleep over them. If those three decided to get in his way, they'd just end up in Pokeballs too. Simple as that.
"Alright, here's the deal," John said, recalling Marshadow into its ball with a quick flash of red light. He gestured for his own Marshadow to come over. "Take our new friend here and get it set up with training alongside Zoroark. Time to get stronger."
His Marshadow gave an enthusiastic nod and grabbed the Pokeball, while John turned and headed back upstairs.
He wasn't quite ready to crash yet anyway. Might as well squeeze in a bit more shiny hunting before bed.
"Gen-Gar!" John's purple ball of shadow energy released its MEGA evolution, gave its body a little shake, and tore open a rift leading to the Distortion World.
It grabbed the Pokeball containing Marshadow and stepped through the gateway.
"Gengar! (Dude, just wait till you see this place!)"
The moment the Marshadow materialized inside the Distortion World, it was immediately hit with an overwhelming wave of Ghost-type energy. The concentration was insane, way beyond anything it had ever experienced.
And then it looked up and saw them.
Two Ghost-type Pokemon that absolutely dwarfed it in terms of raw power.
First was Zoroark, whose entire body seemed to flicker with ethereal white flames that resembled fur. And then there was the big one, an entity radiating such an oppressive, terrifying presence that Marshadow's instincts were screaming at it to run. The sheer authority of Ghost-type power emanating from it was suffocating.
"That's... that's Giratina?!"
"What the hell is it doing here?!"
John's Gengar looked completely unbothered by the chaos. "Gengar~" (Oh yeah, same thing that happened to you, basically. Master beat the crap out of it, and now it's part of the team!)"
Any lingering fantasies that Marshadow had about Ho-Oh swooping in for a dramatic rescue immediately evaporated.
Giratina was the literal god of Ghost-types. The apex predator. And it was here, serving this human trainer.
Right now, Marshadow just wanted to drop to its knees.
Though another thought was slowly forming in the back of its mind as it processed everything.
'Maybe... maybe Master actually could catch Ho-Oh too...'
After polishing off his late-night snack, John headed back upstairs to his room, took a quick shower, and felt that pleasant warmth spreading through his body and settling in his stomach.
He flopped onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling. It was already past 1 AM, and he'd been drinking earlier with the others, so logically he should've been exhausted. But instead? Wide awake. The back-to-back excitement of finding Rayquaza and then catching Marshadow had completely overridden any trace of sleepiness.
'A Shiny Rayquaza...'
Just the thought of it made his pulse quicken.
After half an hour of watching the ceiling fan spin in circles, John finally gave up and sat upright.
Clearly sleep wasn't happening anytime soon, so he might as well be productive. With his current physical conditioning, pulling an all-nighter or two wouldn't even faze him.
"Gardevoir, mind making me some tea?" he called out, sliding open the glass door and stepping onto the second-floor balcony.
The moon hung bright and clear overhead, scattering silver light across the dark ocean. Waves lapped gently against the shore below, and every so often a cool sea breeze would drift up and ruffle his hair. John settled into one of the comfortable chairs, pulled out his Gameboy, and got back to work.
On the screen, his character was still standing at the base of Sky Pillar where he'd left off.
He navigated forward and triggered the interaction prompt. The familiar text box popped up almost immediately.
[Enter dungeon "Sky Pillar"?]
[Dungeon Recommended Entry Level: 100]
"Yeah, let's do this," he muttered, hitting the confirm button.
The scene transitioned instantly, from the moonlit beach to the sun-drenched peak of the ancient tower.
John's avatar reappeared at the top of Sky Pillar once again.
Not far away, sprawled across the shattered stone floor beneath that impossibly blue sky, was a massive serpentine dragon partially obscured by a thin veil of mist. The creature radiated this profound, intimidating presence, like some ancient beast of legend hibernating in the depths of the world, just waiting to finish its rest before ascending to the heavens.
Hmm, this particular Rayquaza looked pretty huge. Probably meant it was especially strong too.
John started running through his usual evaluation routine, preparing to exit the dungeon and try again for a better roll.
Then he paused.
Wait a second. What color was that thing?
He turned his character back around, squinting at the screen.
That massive Rayquaza lying peacefully on the ground... its entire body was displaying this deep, majestic black color instead of the usual green...
A Shiny... this was a Shiny Rayquaza?!
"Holy! Did Togepi and Jirachi's luck actually work?!"