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Project Mew

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.

Project Mew

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."

Project Mew

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."

Project Mew

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."

Project Mew

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?"

Project Mew

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.

Project Mew

"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."

Project Mew

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.

Project Mew

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?"

Project Mew

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