Out of the guy’s Poké Ball comes a dark-violet ball of chitin, painted with streaks of red across its body—a Whirlipede, and I have to admit, it’s a cool-looking one at that.

  “Oh, please,” Riva groans, unimpressed. She picks one of her own Pokémon and throws it into the fray. “If you’re gonna be dumb, at least try to be tough.”

  What emerges from her ball is a Durant. I know next to nothing about that one, other than the fact that it exists. I can only assume I never saw one fight during my past life, which makes me think it must be pretty weak.

  “Durant, let’s make this quick! Metal Cw!”

  The hit nds before Whirlipede has a chance to react. It isn’t a brutal impact, but Durant’s speed is worlds ahead, and with both Pokémon being bulky, the speed difference alone gives Riva the upper hand.

  The man growls, not willing to back down. “Heh! Young people always think they can just do whatever they want! Whirlipede, show them what life’s really about. Use Rollout!”

  Whirlipede barrels forward, gaining momentum with each spin. The battle becomes a back-and-forth as the two Pokémon csh, sparks flying with every impact. It’s obvious neither side is pulling any punches.

  This is my chance.

  While Riva’s occupied with the battle, I move towards the back of the game table. The prizes I won earlier came from inside the machine, just like the game’s balls, so there’s got to be a hatch or something back here...

  There.

  A metal pte is fixed to the back of the table. The screws look flimsy, but I don’t have anything on me to work them loose—not quickly, at least. This is going to take time.

  I gnce back at the fight. Riva’s in control, and both sides are so busy trading blows that I’m pretty sure the battle won’t be over anytime soon. Perfect.

  I grab the Poké Ball I won earlier and pop it open. Using the metallic rim, I wedge it between the pte and the frame, twisting with as much force as I can. The screws give a little. Progress.

  As I work, a feeling of déjà vu fills me with an odd comfort. All eyes are on the fshy attacks up front, and I’m here, hidden in the dark, kneeling beside the machine. A warmth spreads through my chest, like a quiet satisfaction. I lose myself in the task, hands working faster.

  I catch the metal pte just before it hits the ground, quietly setting it aside. Shoving my arm into the dark space, I reach as far as I can. My fingers brush against something. Gripping it tightly, I pull.

  Three Poké Balls.

  I gnce back at the fight—it’s still going strong—so I try again, reaching deeper into the machine.

  By the end of it, I’ve earned myself fifteen Poké Balls, two Great Balls, and a fragile-looking bag. I shove the bag into my inventory, just in case, and casually stand up, moving away from the machine.

  “Fine, fine, you win!” the man concedes, recalling his… Swadloon? Did I miss something? Either way, Riva has won, making back what we lost and then some.

  Right on time, the crowd on the other side starts to go crazy, giving us the perfect excuse to leave and not look back.

  “Walk with me. Walk with me,” I mutter, linking my arm with hers and guiding us out. She barely has time to recall her Pokémon and wave to her public.

  “H-Hey! What’s the rush?” she protests.

  Before I can answer, a deafening announcement cuts through the air:

  “And now… directly from Virbank City! The star of tonight! Give it up for Roooooooooooxie!”

  “Oh my god!” Riva’s tough-girl persona cracks instantly as she breaks into a fan-girl frenzy, rushing towards the stage.

  I stay close, making sure we blend into the crowd, step by step. Once we’re hidden away in a quiet corner on the other side of the concert, I start pulling the stash out of my pockets.

  “Hey, Riva. Check this out.”

  For a moment, her eyes widen, as if she’s forgotten how to breathe. “How many… how much did you take?!”

  “Fifteen, I think? Maybe more?”

  “That’s way too much! I thought you were going to grab an Ultra Ball or something, not clean out the whole machine! People know me around here!”

  “And what’s he going to do? Tell everyone what happened?” I shrug. “I get the vibe he’s stolen more than this around here.”

  I can see her resolve waver as I pce a Great Ball in her hand. She grips it tightly, eyes flickering with greed. "Fine! But I'm not taking the fall if we get caught!"

  "Then just don’t."

  ?

  We stick around the concert for a while. The music is a little tame for my taste, but the atmosphere is cool enough. It’s like any other big show I’ve been to—except, without the fear of being stomped to death if you somehow find yourself at the front of the pit.

  Basically, a Canadian party.

  Besides, I'm probably the only one here just pretending to enjoy the band. Meanwhile, everyone else, Riva especially, is losing their minds. She’s jumping, shouting, gasping for breath, and drenched in sweat, and living like this is her st night on earth, no longer caring enough to put up a fa?ade.

  I like this side of her.

  Onstage, the band matches the crowd’s energy, roaring through their set without missing a beat. All five members pouring their hearts into each note like they’re performing for a sold-out stadium.

  And for a moment, even I start to feel it—I’ve never been in a concert without the smell of weed or the fear of stepping on a used condom, but I could get used to it pretty quickly.

  And then, just like that, it all stops.

  The soft glow of overhead beacons is repced by blinding red nterns as a loud arm bsts through the entire space. Riva, caught off guard, crashes into me as the lights flicker and panic quickly ignites through the crowd. I barely manage to catch her, steadying us both.

  "ATTENTION ALL PASSENGERS. ATTENTION ALL PASSENGERS." The voice is too loud, forcing me to grit my teeth. "AN UNIDENTIFIED CREATURE HAS ATTACKED ONE OF OUR CARTS. PLEASE EVACUATE AT THE NEXT STATION. ALL SUBWAY ACTIVITY WILL BE CANCELED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE."

  Luckily, we’re close to the exit, so we make it out as soon as the stampede starts. Once outside, we pull to the side and take a moment to breathe while the chaos continues, people rushing towards the stairs like their lives depend on it.

  "Know any other exit?" I ask, trying not to sound winded. "I don’t think those stairs will still be there after these lunatics get through."

  "Exit?" She turns to me with a wide smile. "Didn’t you hear what they said?"

  I raise an eyebrow. "Look, I’m all for a bit of fun, but if something’s strong enough to attack a train, that’s way above my pay grade."

  "If it’s strong enough to attack a train, it has to be a Pokémon!" she shouts, already charging forward. "C’mon, dude! If there’s a powerful Pokémon out there, don’t you just want to rush in and catch it before anyone else? That’s what being a trainer’s all about!"

  I sigh. "You’re going to do this no matter what I say, aren’t you?"

  "Hell, yeah."

  "Fine. Let’s just… take a look around, see if we can find anything."

  With everyone else rushing in the opposite direction, there’s no need to wait for the right moment. Knowing that all activities have been canceled for the night, we hop down onto the tracks and disappear into the darkness.

  It isn’t until we’ve put some good distance between us and everyone else that Riva pulls a fshlight from her pack. “See? I’ll keep ya safe and cozy.”

  I can only roll my eyes, smile, and shake my head. As much as she’s trying to act confident, I can tell she’s just as nervous as I am, or maybe more.

  Still, I take advantage of the quiet as we walk beside the rails, letting the steady rhythm of our steps become as natural as my own heartbeat. I close my eyes for a moment, focusing. Sensing aura is still difficult for me, especially from a distance or blindly, but knowing the subway’s empty now… even a drop of water makes a lot of noise in an empty room.

  The tunnel stretches out endlessly, and I extend my senses further, trying to catch even the faintest flicker of life among these cold walls.

  Then, suddenly, a faint presence flickers ahead. But it isn’t what I had imagined.

  This is not a solitary drop, a faint note against the emptiness of the byrinth.

  No, if anything… it feels like a storm, raging, buried just beyond view.

  “To the right, here,” I murmur.

  Riva looks at me, confused. “Did you… hear something?”

  “The air is different.”

  I guide us towards the source, and as we advance, the entire wing starts to feel more and more desote. It’s like no train’s been through here ever. The rails are rusty, some even incomplete, while wooden crates of varying sizes sit broken down by mold, abandoned.

  It’s like we’ve stepped into the end of the world.

  “What happened here?” I finally ask. “It looks like nobody’s been down here in years.”

  “You may be right,” she says casually, but there’s a tension in her voice. “I heard that most of this part of the system got abandoned after one of the subway operators disappeared.”

  “Disappeared?” I repeat.

  “Yeah, one day, just gone. No clues, no body, nothing. Like he vanished into thin air. Scary stuff.”

  The mention of this feels oddly familiar, like a name you hear but can’t quite pce. "Weren’t there two guys in charge of the subway?"

  “Yeah, brothers.” She nods. “But after one vanished, they say the other one went nuts. Eventually, he packed his things and left. Now, it’s more of an urban legend. Some passengers even swear they’ve seen him walking down these tunnels, like a ghost, still searching for his brother.”

  “All sun and rainbows, hanging out with you.”

  She chuckles, but there’s a nervous edge to it. “C’mon, it’s just a legend... right? Let’s just... keep it cool.”

  We both try. Hard. But as we continue, the atmosphere shifts, thickening with each step. Soon, the heavy, sluggish sounds of something moving not so far ahead start to echo through the dark. It’s a deep, disgusting noise, like something massive is dragging itself across the floor, its cws screeching into metal, wailing in suffering.

  Every sound seems to grow louder as we near, giving us ample warning that we might be on the wrong path.

  Riva looks at me, eyes wide.

  "Do you still want to be here?" I ask, my voice cold, masking my own concern.

  Her grip tightens on the fshlight, knuckles white as she nods through the cold sweat.

  "Then let’s go."

  I take her hand, and together we push forward, rounding the final corner.

  What we find defies words. There’s a subway cart ahead, passengers still trapped inside. But on top of the cart, clinging to it like a parasite, is something immense—amorphous, toxic, and alive. It moves like a thick, sludgy wave, trying to envelop the entire vehicle.

  My mind can’t even connect this image with any living being. What we’re seeing is… shapeless. So I pull out my Megadex and just… hope.

  "Muk, the Sludge Pokémon, Alon Variant. There are over a hundred types of poison inside its body. The chemical reactions between these poisons are the source of its vitality."

  "Alon... Muk?" Riva murmurs, her ntern tracing the bubbling mass. Colors shift and swirl in its toxic body, every inch of it dripping and pulsating. Now, knowing what we’re looking at, things start to click.

  "I think..." I whisper, dread sinking in. "I think they crashed into this thing. Hard."

  "What?!"

  Her scream alerts the Muk, its massive form reacting to the noise before settling down again.

  This Muk looks like it practically exploded across the front of the train car. It’s alive only because of its unique biology, but it’s clearly not happy about it. Whether it’s trying to regain its shape or protect itself from the train’s impact, it’s hard to tell. But the passengers inside are trapped, caught in a small cage that might be the only thing keeping them alive, as I can’t imagine them surviving a direct encounter with this creature’s acidic sludge.

  It’s a horrifying scene from every single angle.

  "H-How do we help?!" Riva gasps, her voice cracking.

  I take a deep breath. "How many Pokémon do you have?"

  "J-Just two."

  "Send out something and prepare to cover for me. I’m about to do something stupid."

  She hesitates, then nods, reaching for her Poké Balls. I step forward, heart pounding, ready to make a move that might just get us both killed.

  I throw my Great Ball at the Muk, praying for a miracle. The ball bounces off the toxic mass, trapping it inside for a few tense seconds as it wobbles on the ground. But then, with a violent crack, it bursts open, releasing the Muk back into the world in a rainbow wave of mud.

  There’s one small victory, though—the Pokémon seems to have regained some of its shape, no longer a formless blob. But that victory is short-lived as the Muk charges towards us, a tidal wave of acid and poison.

  "Magnemite, Thunder Shock!"

  Riva’s Pokémon goes into action, electricity crackling through the air. It manages to deflect some of the dark tendrils coming our way, but it’s barely slowing the creature down. I gnce ahead and see the passengers fleeing from the cart, our distraction buying them just enough time to step down unnoticed.

  I throw another Poké Ball, a bit desperate, as it buys us only a few seconds of relief before the Muk reappears. Its body, now even more solid, sms forward again.

  "Step back!" I shout. "Make it chase us! Don’t stand still, make every second count!"

  We repeat the process again and again, people fleeing in all directions while we stand there, staggering for however long we can. But of course, my supply of Poké Balls is not exactly unlimited, and there’s no telling how much longer we can keep this up.

  “We can’t keep doing this,” she mutters through gritted teeth. “We need a pn.”

  “We have a pn,” I groan. “Two, to be honest. But I’m no longer betting on the first one.”

  “And the second?!” Riva snaps.

  “Has pretty short legs.”

  It’s fun, this whole aura thing.

  I can’t really differentiate most people from one another yet, so on the surface it seems to be pretty much useless. But here, in the dark, buried away from the noise of Nimbasa? I can feel the vibrations. The footsteps coming closer. Help is on the way, and I’m certain it’s exactly who we need.

  “Amoonguss, Body Sm!”

  Roxie arrives just in time. Her Pokémon charges into the fray, drawing Muk’s attention with a powerful sm. With her and her crew now taking the lead, we’re no longer the Muk’s primary focus. I grab Riva’s arm, pulling her back to a safe distance. She resists a little, clearly more interested in watching her idol than keeping herself alive.

  Luckily, the struggle doesn’t st. Soon enough, Muk is put to sleep and this little adventure of ours comes to an end.

  ?

  “So... who the hell are you guys?” Roxie asks, ughing as she brushes off the dust. She doesn’t seem too concerned, but there’s curiosity in her voice. “Don’t get me wrong, great job. But you can’t just rely on guts all the time.”

  Now, Roxie is older than the picture of her I’d had in my head. She’s in her early twenties, her bck-and-purple punk outfit screaming rebellious energy. But despite that, she still looks… like a sassy, lost child. I don’t know if it’s her height or her face, but the idea of being scolded by someone who looks twelve, even if she just saved my life, isn’t settling on my mind.

  Riva, meanwhile, stares at the ground, her hands csped in her p, clearly embarrassed.

  “Go easy on them,” a familiar voice joins in, and Elesa walks into view, her entrance as graceful as always. “You know what this is about.”

  Roxie turns, her face bnk for a second before realization dawns. “Ohhh... These are…? Really? So, Hilda really decided to settle down and py daycare, huh? Getting old must be weird.”

  I can see a subtle twitch in one of Elesa’s eyes. “Moving on,” she sighs, turning to us, “back in my day, we could have a date without sparking a city-wide incident.”

  I try—really try—to hold my tongue. But it doesn’t work. “Back in your day, people grabbed a piece of chalk and called cave walls a Pokédex.”

  For a moment, there’s stunned silence. Everyone’s eyes are on me. Then, Roxie bends over, ughing so hard she almost chokes.

  “Oh, God...” she gasps between ughs. “I changed my mind, keep raising kids like these!”

  Elesa, however, doesn’t look amused. “Follow. Home. Now.”

  "Wait!" I risk interrupting again. "What’ll happen to that Muk?"

  Roxie wipes her tears. “The Muk? Oh, right, I was going to ask who threw that many Poké Balls at it. I wasn’t pnning to catch it, but… there wasn’t much else we could do to get it out of the subway. Plus, y’know... it’s kind of my thing.”

  "Yeah, but..." I frown. "What was an Alon Muk doing in Nimbasa’s subway?"

  Roxie’s grin fades slightly as she exchanges a gnce with Elesa. “You haven’t heard?”

  Elesa sighs, rubbing her temples. "He's... a bit of a special case."

  Riva speaks up for the first time, rather shy. “People abandon their Pokémon sometimes, especially poison-types. Maybe someone brought it here as a Grimer, hoping it wouldn’t evolve. Not many homes can handle a Muk, and even if you have the space…”

  “Nobody can handle the smell,” Roxie cuts in. Then, she extends her hand toward me, holding out a Poké Ball. “You want it?”

  I pause, caught off guard, and think about it. I really think about it. A long, hard moment. The truth is, I do want it.

  But finally, I shake my head. “Naaah. I think it pretty much hates me. And... I’m not sure I could get something like that to listen to me. Let’s just... save us all a lot of trouble.”

  Roxie doesn’t bother hiding her relief. “Fine by me!”

  Elesa steps forward, offering me a gentle smile. “C’mon, people are probably looking for you two.”

  We make our way back to the academy, arriving well past midnight—if this world’s moon can be trusted. The building stands before us, quiet and still, with only the faintest hints of light flickering inside. Riva steps in first, vanishing into the cold shadows of the hall.

  I’m about to follow when Elesa pces a hand on my shoulder. “Not you,” she says, her voice a purr. “You’re going somewhere else first.”

  I gnce over at Riva, who looks back at me for a moment. The girl rolls her eyes, fshing me a half-smile. “Talk about being the teacher’s pet,” she jokes, before disappearing into the building.

  “So... what does Hilda want now?” I ask, turning to the gym leader as she begins walking away.

  “Hilda?” she responds with a pyful grin, spinning on her heel. Her face is suddenly too close to mine, full of mischief. “Who said anything about Hilda? Maybe I just want you.”