Flash leapt through the air and slammed his hooves onto the ground over and over again, like raw lightning let loose on its surroundings. Though Lark's commands were picking up volume in correspondence with the pokemon's rambunctious movements, many of them had been out of the zebstrika's own volition.

In Lark's hands there was nothing but the darkness of a balled up fist. When it came to reigning in Flash there was no beauty nor predictability involved in the process. This wasn't the time to have a camera out, nor to devote anything less than all his concentration into battle.

The ponyta, though small in stature and undeniably harmless in its pastel-colored appearance, was no pushover. The two horses exchanged blow after blow, weaving in and out of each other's attacks and creating a light show of electric yellow and lavender. When at last Flash had risked it all and compromised his safety for a direct hit, another threat had made his head whip.

"Flash cannon!"

Lark cupped his hands and shouted. "Jink it!"

He dragged his splayed out hooves and tensed his body in a final gambit to escape the attack's trajectory. The beam of metal light shot out and clipped his haunches, Sending him into a tailspin of electrical energy. After what felt like an eternity, Flash shook himself off. He was angry.

Despite the battle going in the right direction, Kjolmar had to drop out in order to get to a poke center. His old mentor decided to accept his request to send one of his water type Pokemon over to Galar but only if he was able to receive it within the next ten minutes. Frustrated with his mentor's stubbornness, Kjolmar apologized to Aro and Lark and rushed off to the nearest poke center.

As soon as he received his loyal Pokemon called Caliban, he ran back to where the battle was, fully aware it could be over by now. He tried not to be too bothered by it, at least he now had Caliban back on his team. Caliban had a power that resembled the one from Neo so that would definitely make up for Tweener's lack of experience.

What Kjolmar didn't know was that he was being followed by 3 Rocket Leaders, informed by the grunt earlier. The woman of the trio was called Sierra and she brought her Houndoom. The buff guy next to her was called Cliff who brought a Tyranitar. Then there was the third one, Arlo, he travelled with his Scizor. It was unclear what the trio wanted with Kjolmar or the others but getting on Team Rocket's radar was never a good thing.

Unaware of his followers, Kjolmar rushed to Aro and Lark. He was exited to introduce them to Caliban but he was even more exited to see if the battle was still going. "Guys! Is it over?"

Layla and her Pokemon were minding their own business, exploring the Galar region, when they were almost run over by some guy. Frustrated by how the boy didn't even seemed to notice it, she tried to decide wether or not she should shout at him for doing this. However, three other persons were following him and they seemed to wear the Team Rocket logo on their outfit. What was Team Rocket doing all the way in Galar? "This means trouble, Rhea." she said to her trusty partner Blissey.

"Forget the rude guy, we need to follow those Rockets." Layla said without hesitation. Rhea nodded and stayed by her side. The duo chased the suspects and found out that they seemed to be following the rude guy from earlier. Layla watched how the Rockets hid themselves close to where the rude boy was catching up what some other trainers, who seemed to have finished some sort of battle. Layla and her partner hid too and observed the situation. "Should we warn them or will that make things worse?" she asked Rhea. Her partner frowned.

.

--- TIME JUMP ---


interacting with @DankDutch@HokumPocus

Isle of Armor

Galar had proven itself to be quite the adventure and it was far from over. After battling their way up to the champion and preventing a new Darkest Day, there was a new challenge awaiting our heroes at the Isle of Armor.

Kjolmar's team was doing well.

Neo the Klinklang had deepened its bond with Luna even further and it slowly started to open up to Shutter too. Every now and then you could catch it expressing emotions, though they were still rare.

Caliban the Golisopod had been very pleased that Kjolmar returned it to his traveling team. Being with the other Pokemon back home wasn't really his thing, he had the need to explore new areas for sure. Plus Kjolmar seemed to understand him like no one else did. Caliban seemed to be forming a connection to Shade and Flash, although with Flash the connection was a bit unstable, as Caliban didn't like it when Flash was being too high energy, due to Caliban being a very calm Pokemon itself. Caliban had taken it upon himself to watch over Shade as if they were brothers or something.

When Kjolmar and his friends arrived on the isle, he wondered out loud: "So, shall we find this dojo we talked about then?" Just as he spoke out, two particular individuals walked up to them: "You must be the new... Hmm.. You know what, it might be best if you return to the mainland." They vanished as quickly as they had arrived, leaving our heroes in confusion. That duo didn't seem to want them to reach the dojo at all. what was up with that?

While Neo was resting in its poke ball, Caliban walked next to Kjolmar to get some fresh air. "I bet you are so pleased to be on another adventure with me, aren't you?" Caliban nodded calmly.

The group encountered some Diglett. Kjolmar took a closer look at them. "Hey, those are Alolan forms. How odd to see them here in Galar."

As they reached the dojo, they were greeted by a man called Mustard, who appeared to be the master of the dojo. His wife Honey bid the group welcome. Kjolmar noticed how the two strange individuals from earlier were among the students. As he asked about them, Honey explained their identity: "Those two? Oh, they are Klara and Avery, two of our older students. They were supposed to guide you to the dojo but they said you never showed up. It must be a misunderstanding." Kjolmar gave them both a stare but decided to keep his mouth shut for now.

Master Mustard then explained the first trial that all students could participate in. They had to chase down three extremely fast Slowpoke and return them to the dojo. Kjolmar looked Aro in the eye and nodded, knowing this would be like a walk in the park for them.