.

While Aster stayed behind in Sinnoh for a little while longer, Eclorian took a head start to Galar.
Upon closing in on the poke center, he saw a familiar face. "Asahi?"

Asahi turned around and walked up to Eclorian. "Oh, hi there. How are your missions going?"

Eclorian smiled. "Not bad. As you know, we got the Moltres feathers and we returned the Alolan Ninetales.
I'm meeting Aster here later on to get us two extra Pokemon for the next challenge. I read we have to use five."

Asahi seemed to ponder. "Well, actually, if Aster and yourself are doing the challenge together, one of you could use three Pokemon and the other person could use two Pokemon. The description of the mission didn't really consider people teaming up, we should add those details in the next missions."

Eclorian frowned. "Hmm.. So in fact, I don't really need to let Professor Sycamore transfer me any Pokemon after all. Oh well, I might still do so, I bet a lot of my Pokemon are missing me."

Asahi smiled and nodded.

After sending a text to Aster about the conversation with Asahi, Eclorian went inside the poke center and made a video call to Professor Sycamore. He asked which of his Pokemon seemed to miss him the most. "That would be Greninja. He's trying not to show it but he's desperate for some adventure."

Eclorian nodded firmly. "Alright, send him to me."

Sycamore cleared his throat. "Actually, Eclorian, could you send me Purugly and Golisopod in return for Greninja? I would like to do some research on them if you don't mind."

Eclorian frowned a little but agreed.

After the call, he looked at the poke balls of Metagross and Greninja.
"How did I go from getting more Pokemon to having even less on my team?"

As aster settled down in the Corvinight cab with his new Pokémon, he took out his rotom phone, remembering Eclorian telling him that he could download the Pokédex as an app. A tap and a ping later, and Aster had successfully downloaded the app. He released the small brown Pokémon onto the seat across from him, the Pokémon napping, and began to scan it.

Swinub, the Pig Pokémon. If it smells something enticing, it dashes off headlong to find the source of the aroma.

“Aw how adorable.” He said as he watched the Pokémon sleep. “A hungry little guy, I’ll name you .. Chomps!” The Pokémon snorted in its sleep, almost like it was responding. “Glad to see you like it little guy.” He said, scratching the Pokémon’s belly.

---

After landing in Wyndon, Aster B lined it to the Pokémon center to meet up with Eclorian, Chomps in his arms as he walked down the street.

Entering the center, he spies Eclorian at a terminal. “Ah, Eclorian! I want to introduce you to Chomps!” He said holding up the brown fluff ball, the Pokémon still sleeping from eating Asters lunch. “Did you get any info on the next challenge?” He asked

Watching Aster walk in with a Swinub in his arms, Eclorian chuckled.

"Hey there, Chomps."

He turned to Aster as he asked about the challenge.

"Well, turns out we don't need five Pokemon each, but in total. So if you are up for it, you can use 3 of yours and I will use 2 of mine. I did a little reorganizing and sent Purugly and Golisopod to my Professor in Kalos. In return, my Greninja joined my team again. So basically, I only got Metagross and Greninja on me anyway."

Eclorian continued by saying he doesn't know exactly what the mission was yet but that he wants to grab something to eat first.

Aster looked looked down at Chomps in thought. Only 3 pokemon? B-but he just got a fourth, and now he had to side line one of them? "Chomps needs the experience." He mumbled. "I think I'll bring Echo and Saber, Sunny isn't really a fan of fighting so she should be fine not participating." He said as he returned Chomps to his pokeball.

"I wonder, do you think We'll be seeing another legendary pokemon or do you think we'll be working on a retrieval again?" He asked, starting to feel excited at the prospect of either.

"Not really sure." he mumbled under his breath. "It's unusual to let us start off with a legendary as a very first mission and then sent us to retrieve a non-legendary, so who knows what is up next."

Eclorian pointed at a restaurant. "Are you hungry? That place has great food, both for humans as for Pokemon."

After their meal, it was time to check the mission log.

“Let me read it out loud.” Eclorian said.

“For your next mission, five of your Pokemon will have to do prove that they know how to work together without the commands of their trainer. That’s right, they will be doing this mission without you.”

Eclorian looked Aster straight in the eye as to express his surprise. He had not seen that one coming. He continued to read the mission text out loud.

“Your Pokemon have to reach the opposite side of an arena before the five opposing Pokemon reach their side. Along the way they can battle each other but in order to succes they need to be the fastest or smartest.”

Eclorian stared at his two poke balls on hand. Greninja was for sure a good team player but he wasn’t completely sure about Metagross.

“It says that the opponents will be Snorlax, Machamp, Cinderace, Mr Mime, and Absol.”

Metagross would have to stay away from Cinderace’s and Machamp’s line of fire for sure. Luckily Greninja would be able to counter the Cinderace at least. Perhaps Aster’s Noivern could deal with the Machamp.

Aster sweat dropped from the new revelation, not fully sure how to feel. Both Echo and Saber were strong willed and he knew they could fight on their own just fine. The problem was Chomps. He wasn’t sure the little guy could handle facing off against opponents like those, nor was he necessarily faster.

“Echo, Saber, Take care of Chomps during this ok? He’ll be at a big disadvantage.” The bat like pokemon nodded while the steel/ghost type looked to not be paying any mind, instead psyching itself up in its ball.

Aster pondered as he saw the line up. Powerful pokemon all of them, and although the Machamp and Cinderace were clear threats, the Absol was giving Aster a bad feeling.

“Any idea on how we should handle this?” He asked as he let his pokemon out to stretch and prepare.

While Eclorian let out his Metagross and Greninja, he sat down in the grass to think of a plan.

As he looked at Aster's Pokemon, he wondered how they could prepare the team to do this without their guidance during the event. "Let's see." he thought out loud before continuing his trail of thoughts.

"Echo could surprise opponents if they don't think about looking to the sky. Greninja could function as firepower but he'll need some backup from Metagross and Saber. If it comes to a battle, that is, we can't know this for sure. Not really sure how Chomps fits in all this. Does the pokedex give us any hints about his strengths?"

Aster took out his phone and began to pull up Swinubs data, there where several entries, however almost all concluded to the same thing. "It has a very sensitive nose. It can locate mushrooms, berries, and even hot springs buried under ice." He spoke allowed, reading word for word from one of the entries. "I guess Chomps has a good nose, maybe he can be used as a tracker?" Aster then scanned Swinubs pokeball to see what mopves it had.

Mud-slap
Ice Shard
Mist
Endure

"It seems like he has mist and endure, so he can probably use that to escape and use his nose to find his way!!" Aster realized immediately. Amazing, with the pokedex he was already making complex strategies with a new pokemon and becoming a better trainer, how handy!! "Endure will help in case he gets cornered." he added.

As they got to the arena, Eclorian and Aster had to temporarily say goodbye to their Pokemon who had to do this mission without them. Before letting them enter, they gave them some final preparations and explained their plan. But from that moment, it was partly based on luck.

As they entered, the Pokemon saw they could take different roads, most likely all leading to the same place. Metagross used its psychic abilities to communicate with the others through telepathy. "Saber and Greninja, go left. Give us a signal if you need help." he told them. "Echo, you come with me to the right. And new guy, you try not to get noticed and go through the bushes. If you get in trouble, get to either team as fast as you can."

Saber was annoyed as he followed behind greninja. Why did he have to go with another? He was strong. And this other one who was commanding him to do things was annoying! The telepath was only doing it cause he knows he's strong. But I'll become stronger just you watch!!

As Saber mentally seethed Echo nodded at the metagrosses command and followed along. He was curious about what was going on with this challenge but thats as far as his interest went. Then again, this would probably end up being fun just like everthing else Aster makes them do, so he wouldn't complain just yet. Making a clicking sound, Echo looked for anything ahead of them using echolocation.

And Chomps ... Chomps had sat there confused. Friend Sabar was given instructions. Friend Echo too! Even someone named noogie was given instruction! But Chomps wasn't told anything! Maybe the metal one didn't see Chomps, since Chomps is so short? The Metal one smelled funny. The blue one surprisingly didn't smell like anything! I like the treats master gives. They smell like berries. Oh wait that's just the smell of berries.

Soon the Swinub had begun to wonder through the bushes, following the smell of berries.

Saber hadn't been the extroverted type and Greninja could appreciate that. On their path they had to knock out a Lucidolo and a Rotom and to Greninja's pleasing, teaming up with Saber went surprisingly well. All of a sudden they stood eye to eye with the opponent's Mr Mime. Greninja looked at Saber, nodded as to say they should try attacking it, and charged in. Despite throwing blows at Mr Mime, it didn't hurt it at all as Mr Mime blocked it with his psychic shields. How were they going to get past this guy without losing too much precious time?

At the other end Metagross got a little distracted when he couldn't spot Chomps anywhere. Despite handling a wild Bouffalant and Drednaw, he was slightly annoyed at how Echo was more up in the air than in the battle. When Metagross saw a raging Machamp from the enemy team coming at him like crazy, he tried to ask Echo for help telepathically. "Ehm, sky dude, a good time to jump in would be now."

Meanwhile, far from the arena, Eclorian looked a bit worried. Staring at Aster, he commented "I hope everything is going okay."

Saber nodded back at the greninja. He liked him. This frog understood ... that Saber can destroy his opponents no sweat!!! Hehehe, now watch Ninja Frog as I use an attack more powerful and sneaky then you!!

The honedge glowed purple briefly before sinking into the shadows of the floor, the shadow moving forward to come up behind the Mr Mime. "Shadow Sneak" Saber cried as it grabbed the ground before using its body to slash at its back, pushing it towards the greninja.

Meanwhile on the other side of the battlefield, Echo looked down, watching and observing the Metagross battle. From up high, he had a clear view of the battle. Hearing the metal pokemons cry for help, Echo nodded. "To defend. To attack. A single action. Air Slash!!!" He yelled firing down waves of air, slicing at the Machamp and pushing the 4 arms pokemon back towards its allies. "Now together. A Single Target. Dragon Pulse!!!" The pokemon said as it blew a breath of energy at the three pokemon, more specifically the Drednaw.

Chomps, oblivious to the battle 15 feet away, continues to track this nice sent. Moving through the bushes completely unaware of the world around.

Outside the arena, Aster swallowed a nervous tick before forcing a smile. "It'll be fine." He said. "Actually, They'll be more then fine. Echo is a reliable guy, he alone can probably solo this project!" He said as a half truth. It was true that Echo was extremely strong. Even when they had met, as a Noibat Echo was already incredibly strong. But although they'd never met something he couldnt handle, doesn't mean he was invincible. There were times when Echo would win, but only by a hair, and it was then that made Aster wary.

Still though, he trusted Echo, and by extension Saber and even Chomps to a degree.

The battle seemed to go pretty much even for both teams as they were both closing in on their opponent's side.

"Attention all participants."

What was that? A voice coming from speakers that were placed all over the arena.

"In the center of the arena we unleashed a Zapdos. Whichever team can defeat it and bring one of its feathers to the starting zone of the opposing team, wins the match."

Greninja locked eyes with a Cinderace that had showed up, who suddenly turned around and ran. It was going for the Zapdos! Greninja motioned for Saber to follow him and started chasing Cinderace.

On the other end, Metagross seemed unsure which way they should go to find this Zapdos. "Echo, cover me while I try to locate it with my psychic powers." Metagross tried to focus really hard and hoped no one would manage to attack him while he was distracted. "There.. I see it.. and.. oh no! The only one close to it is Chomps. I will take all five of us, let's go instantly and dodge the opponent's attacks."

The Noivern nodded to his ally before firing a dragon pulse in a line to divide Metagross from their enemies.

When the Metagross told him of Chomps situation, Echo almost immediately dived before flying straight to where the Metagross had motioned. Echo was strong, the strongest in Asters group, he was sure his trainer would want him to look after the others. "Endangered ally. I will fly fast. Let us hurry."

Saber for his part was immediately annoyed with the Cinderaces escape. He was scared! Scared that Saber had ended his friend so easily. Saber immediately used shadow sneak to appear underneath the escaping pokemons legs. Before grabbing the pokemons legs and tripping it.

Haha!! That is what you get for running from the amazing me!!!

The Honedge raised its cloth and grabbed onto the greninja arm as he ran by the fallen Cinderace, hitching a ride with his teammate as he watched the duos back.

With Chomps, he continued to wander around through the bushes of the arena, ignoring the thunderous booms around him as he'd been used to thunderstorm when he lived on Mt. Cornet. He continued to sniff around as he smelt something cooking (burning) nearby and started to follow the scent out of the bushes hiding place.

The Zapdos flying above screeched, not noticing Chomps as it shot down thunder down onto the earth.

Chomps, his eyes covered and following his nose, doesn't flinch as he passes across the battle field, lighting striking but not affecting it's body. 'Where is this weird smell coming from?' He wondered as he circled the arena trying to find this scent in the air. A zapdos feather flutters around, unknowingly luring Chomps around.

While all of them closed in on the Zapdos and engaged in a battle with it, the one (accidentally?) receiving a feather was Chomps, completely unaware of it. When the battle was approaching an end, Metagross telepathically communicated to both Echo and Saber that they had to find a way to get Chomps to the goal as fast as possible. Greninja hit Zapdos hard and knocked it out. Now was the time to move fast!

Meanwhile Eclorian and Aster were making their way to the gateway where they would be reunited with their Pokemon when the mission would be over. They looked at the door, wondering if they would come out the arena with the feather or not.

Swooping down with incredible speed, Echo swoops in to grab Chomps as he sees the small Pokémon snatch the feather in its mouth. “Small you are. Big you’re impact. Let’s get you out.” The Pokémon said

Saber, for his part stayed back in order to attack anyone who gave chase.

Just outside the gate, Aster stood nervously. As he tried to distract himself he thought about their assignments so far. Recovering a Moltres feather, and now recovering a Zappos feather. I wonder, could the Sinnoh mountains have had an articuno there? “Hey Ecl-“ he was interrupted by a sound from just past the door. The winners had arrived.