Thanks to Milotic's explanation, I now knew why the alliance team had been attacked. I also received the assurance that the two Bosslotic would not join Whiscash and the Gyarados in their attack once I passed the Tentacruel home zone, so I began to change the topic to the other home zone I would have to pass after the Gyarados one.
I found out that the home zone was a bit distinctive because it had 3 bosses. Apparently, a Cloyster, a Starmie, and a Gorebyss of all things shared the leadership of said home zone. Moreover, Milotic mentioned that aside from the Staryu, Shellder, and Clamperl lines, Luvdisc also lived there. That naturally caught my attention since I still needed a second Luvdisc as a gift. Even disregarding that, the fact that the three trigger evolutions had taken command was interesting in itself, especially the Gorebyss.
Clamperl needed either a Deepsea Tooth to evolve into Huntail or a Deepsea Scale to evolve into Gorebyss. Given Milotic's words, which I accepted as the truth, Gorebyss' appearance indicated that Clamperl had found a Deepsea Scale or an alternative. This naturally made me think of the scale the Lustrious Starmie mentioned, which combined with everything else, made me heavily assume that the source of the scales and other mystery materials capable of triggering evolution and acting as a form of tonic was whatever Pokémon the unknown Uberboss waiting ahead of us was.
Well, it was also possible that it was occupying the source of the miraculous objects, and that only the scales belonged to the Uberboss; That seemed more logical actually. Still, regardless of which one it was, a faint bit of worry was starting to crop up in me. How strong would that Uberboss need to be for its shed scales and other stuff to be as miraculous as they seemed to be?
There were cases where certain body parts/scales could serve as evolution triggers but those usually came from important areas/spots such as the heart/chest area, the crown, or the reverse spot. Furthermore, they usually served as triggers for a certain group or even just a single species. This Uberboss's scales seemed more like a universal trigger, which was very unusual. Besides, unless this Uberboss was periodically shedding, the number of miraculous objects appearing was too high for the objects to be from those precious areas.
My initial estimation of Palladium (Stage 7) did not seem to be enough for all that. The possibility that we might come across an unknown Rhodium Stage (8) Pokémon was worrying since it would make my plan to utilize the ghost crew in an extreme emergency seem insufficient. I even briefly wondered if it could be at the Osmium Stage (9), before I discarded that thought since I felt that it was too Farfetch'd for a Pokémon of that level to stick around a place like this.
Even if my previous idea that it was occupying the miracle source was true, I had a hard time believing that a source point at the edge of the continent could be precious enough to be of interest to a Stage 9 Titan. We were theoretically at the lower energy region of the continent after all, and even if things were not exaggerated as in those eastern novels, the idea that an endgame boss-like Pokémon was hanging out in what equaled if not the starting village then the starting chapters/areas of the "game" felt a bit absurd.
Yet, Farfetch'd or not, the fact that its shed scales and potentially other parts could seemingly serve as universal water type triggers made it hard to believe that it was simply at the Palladium stage since none of the reports I had read in my time at Oak Labs or before or after that indicated that any of the Stage 7 Pokemon allied with humanity were that special. Sure, it was no secret that parts of strong Pokémon, or any decent Pokémon really, could serve as supplements, and I have always been using them, but that was nowhere near as exaggerated as the stuff I had heard about during my channel exploration.
The stuff floating down the channel seemed to match or to some extent even surpass the carefully prepared evolution and training supplements I prepared for my Pokémon, which was hard to swallow since I knew just how many different things went into their creation. That was exactly what caused my anticipation towards the mystery Uberboss to rise drastically, surpassing and suppressing the faint worry it caused in me.
I would simply have to be more careful, and with Shino/Yanmega keeping an eye on things, we would be able to avoid getting caught off guard. While the usefulness of the platinum ghost crew was in the air right now, I could still use their help to stall. Combining all that with Utopia's proven life-saving ability, I was willing to take a bit of a risk to see what exactly was up with the mystery Uberboss and if it was the source of the miraculous materials.
Ultimately, no matter how confident I was that they were at least partly true, all of this was just conjecture on my part. Hence, taking precautions while not getting overly intimidated or scared off was probably the best approach, at least in my case. Others, who did not have access to the things I had, might have been better off erring on the side of caution. Better be safe than sorry as they say, especially with the "regular" Overlords that had to be dealt with first.
Honestly, that alone would usually prevent anyone from being able to get close to the Uberboss in the first place, so anyone who could get past that hurdle would have to be experienced and one of the strongest trainers/people on the human side. Such people were experienced and/or smart enough to weigh the risks themselves. They would also have their own thoughts and would likely believe their own onsite judgments rather than any theories in the reports they read.
Well, I ended up getting off track again. With my curiosity surging, I swiftly but politely tied up the conversation with the Milotic, before leaving their home zone to head deeper into the channel. About half an hour, and roughly half a kilometer, later we reached the periphery of the Gyarados home zone. As before, our vigilance levels went up by multiple notches the moment we saw the formation from afar, and I confirmed that Shino was focused on the portal as well.
We obviously did this to prevent any surprise attacks from the Gyarados we knew stayed there. A grievance had formed between us after all, so unlike any imagined danger, the risk of being attacked while we were around this area was very real. Honestly, considering that I knew that the Gyarados Overlords would be teaming up with Overlord Whiscash to attack me soon, unless I stopped my plan to head deeper into the channel, I considered executing a preemptive strike.
There was a chance that not all of the Gyarados were gathered at the home zone, so instead of waiting for the Gyarados to gather and team up with Whiscash, I could attack them now. If I were lucky enough there would only be a single Gyarados overlord or maybe two since I could feel more than one stare from ahead of us. However, given the possible harvest this could yield, I seriously considered the idea. Mothra/Butterfree and the others questioned why I had stopped in place.
I shared that I was playing with the idea of attacking first with them even while considering the feasibility of a preemptive attack. The main question was whether we could take down the Gyarados (singular or multiple) staying here before their reinforcements arrived. Another point we had to consider was whether we could do so without causing substantial damage to the home zone and channel since there was a chance that doing so would force the abstaining Milotic to act against me as well.
After (mentally) simulating battles between our current lineup and a single Gyarados Overlord, I concluded that we only had a high chance at subduing the (low) platinum stage Gyarados within a short enough time to prevent the others from helping it. If we added the platinum ghost crew to the equation that high chance became a sure thing, but even their addition was not enough to ensure our success if both (high) platinum Overlords were present.
I was confident that we could subdue them if it came down to it, but not without causing a lot of collateral damage and probably not before their reinforcement arrived. Hundreds of simulated scenarios ran through my mind one after the other. I went through the results and concluded that an attack here would likely lead to an early confrontation with the 4 Overlords I would have to face later.
Moreover, there was a decent chance that the damage caused by our fight would force the Milotic to interfere to uphold the sanctity of the home zones. Ultimately, much to the disappointment of Abyss/Gyarados and co, I decided that it would be better to play things out as they should since that way I would at least not have to deal with the Milotic.
As we were closing in, one of the Gyarados came to the front of the home zone and flexed its (high) platinum might at us while staring, though it stopped at that, at least physically. Gyarados did throw a few disparaging remarks at us, before adding that Abyss was not included in his insult. Some of us had to snicker when we heard Ignis ask why not him as well over the telepathic link.
Gyarados then threw a few compliments at Abyss, obviously trying to flirt with her, which made me reconsider whether we should not attack them after all. Abyss's snarky retort/refusal had many of us snort or laugh, myself included, stopping my petty plans. Instead, I was forced to open a small portal in front of me to draw a fresh breath to replace the air I lost laughing.
The Gyarados obviously did not like the refusal and our laughter at all, but even though I could feel the anger and indignation he felt, Gyarados refrained from attacking us. From the way his eyes wandered calculatingly, I could see that his restraint was most likely more because he was not sure if he could deal with us rather than some rules he had to follow.
Anyway, Gyarados gave Abyss a deep look and declared that she would become his either way soon enough, implying that he would keep her after the Overlord battle if it came to it, before releasing a snort and staring/glaring at me in silence. I held that gaze for a moment, glaring back at the fool trying to take my Abyss, before I led everyone away. We naturally kept our vigilance up and I could feel Gyarados staring at us the whole time we were in sight.
Once we were far enough away, Ignis teased Abyss, saying that she had a psychotic admirer who wanted to kill us and take her as his. Some snickered at that, but I felt more pissed at the idea than anything, and I could see/feel that Abyss felt the same way. She grumbled that she would show that seaworm his place before slapping Ignis with her tail when he tried to follow up with another tease. He jokingly raised the white flag after that, before seriously saying that a fight with them later on seemed unavoidable.
If I had not been able to feel his anticipation and eagerness, I might have thought that he was worried at the prospect, but I could, so I didn't. In fact, it was not just him. I could feel the same anticipation in Mothra and the others, though the feeling coming from Abyss had slightly darker undertones, showing that Gyarados's comments had really ticked her off.
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