But yeah… the vibe was definitely awkward.
He glanced at Cynthia—her hand already withdrawn, her face calm and unreadable again, as if nothing had happened.
Then at Nemona—no longer poking him, arms folded, eyes flicking back and forth between him and Cynthia with a measuring look.
Finally at Liko—still looking down, but he could see the pale shell of her ear quietly flushing pink.
"Ahem."
Jason felt he had to do something to break the silence.
He cleared his throat and said to the group, "Let's get out of here first and find somewhere to rest properly. Valiant and Haunter both took heavy hits."
That did it—their focus slid off the awkward air and back onto what mattered.
"Right!" Nemona jumped in. "We need to treat Valiant's wounds, now! I've got potions in my pack!"
"I have some too!" Liko blurted, lifting her head.
Cynthia nodded and rose. "Mm. We shouldn't linger here."
They began tidying the battlefield, getting ready to leave the scarred ground behind. Cynthia and Nemona handled Iron Valiant's worst damage. Liko gently gathered the spent Haunter into her arms. And Jason—
—was promptly scooped up by Iono.
"Jason, you're VIP fragile goods now. No walking on your own."
She spoke as she gave his bouncy body an appreciative squeeze, a very satisfied smile on her face.
Jason: "Thanks so much for that."
Getting kneaded by this many girls every day was exhausting and blissful.
He had a feeling by day's end he'd be massaged bald.
After a short patch-up, and at Cynthia's suggestion, they prepared to move on. The mood was looser than before—less tense, less charged.
They took their first steps—
—and a low, hostile growl shattered the brief peace.
"ROAR!"
Garchomp, on point, froze. It dipped low, bared its teeth, and rumbled a warning at a stretch of empty air ahead. The dorsal fin stood like a blade; every muscle went taut—a coiled spring ready to strike.
Every heart in the group climbed into their throats.
"Looks like we're not going anywhere," Cynthia said.
At some point she'd taken her place by Garchomp's side, palm steadying her restless partner. The warmth was gone from her expression; in its place, gravity. She stared into the direction of that unseen threat; the calm gray of her eyes narrowed, a keen light razor-thin.
The other three girls blinked.
"Why not?" Iono asked without thinking, eyes darting around. Apart from the hiss of wind through crystal, she saw nothing amiss.
"I get it!" Nemona piped up fastest—no fear in her voice, only little flames of excitement. "Something strong's coming! Garchomp wouldn't sound off like that for anything less!"
It wasn't so much a guess as a certainty. Her hunger for a worthy opponent practically spilled over.
Liko said nothing. She only hugged Haunter closer, unconsciously edging toward the center—toward Cynthia and Jason. Anxiety and unease wrote themselves plain on her face.
And then—Liko felt it.
The pendant at her throat gave the faintest tremor.
So slight, so brief she almost thought she imagined it.
"Did I… imagine that?" she murmured, fingertips drifting to the cool gem. It lay there, smooth and still. No sign of change. The quiver seemed like a dream.
Maybe she was just too nervous.
She shook her head and pushed the thought away, fixing her attention where everyone else was watching.
Jolted out of the cozy warmth of being carried, Jason focused, casting his senses wide for the telltale ripple of energy.
He caught it—odd, thinly veiled, heavy as a millstone on the heart.
Then he noticed Valiant's frame trembling. At first he blamed the fresh wounds—then saw it wasn't that. This wasn't pain or weakness; it was that involuntary shiver when a living thing recognizes a power it cannot oppose.
Jason's heart sank.
He peered from Iono's hands at Valiant and lowered his voice. "Any idea what's coming? Feels… different. Worse than Roaring Moon."
Valiant was silent, mask unreadable, but those red optics were locked on the depths ahead, more grave than ever. It shook its head.
After a few seconds, its voice came, slow and low. "I have not seen them. But…"
It hesitated, picking its words.
"But the chaos in Area Zero of late should be their work. They recruit. They seek to bend all strong Paradox Pokémon here under them. I refused to be a puppet, so I ran. I wanted out."
Jason blinked, blindsided by the revelation. He'd assumed Valiant simply hated the place. A new respect rose for the taciturn partner.
Then another thought struck. "If you won't be a puppet… why agree to be caught by me?"
It wasn't snark; he genuinely wanted to know.
Valiant turned and stared at him.
"You are not like them," it said simply. "And you can take me out of Area Zero."
Jason smiled. He understood. For Valiant, it was a bargain— a gamble. It bet that he would be different, that he would carry it out of the cage.
He hadn't let it down.
He moved on to the other point it had dropped. "You said 'they'?" His tone tightened. "More than one?"
Valiant nodded. "Yes. Two. If my read is right, two presences—equally terrifying—are closing in."
Two.
Jason relayed it, and everyone's faces shifted. One Roaring Moon had nearly done for them. Now two presences worse than that?
He turned to Cynthia. "Cynthia! Maybe we should hide—Valiant says there's more than one coming! Valiant and I are spent. We can't fight right now."
Every word was true. The last fight had wrung them dry. He could barely manage another transform; Valiant could hardly stand. A head-on clash was suicide.
But Cynthia didn't flinch. She only looked at him, and something bright lit her eyes.
Then her hand flicked to her belt; five red-and-white balls clicked between her fingers. In a single smooth motion, she cast them aloft.
"Come on out, my partners."
Five flashes, and five titans took their places beside Garchomp: Lucario, iron-willed waveguide. Spiritomb, 108 souls bound in an Omen Stone. Milotic, beauty said to calm all strife. Glaceon, whose fur could freeze into needles. Togekiss, the bearer of blessings.
Cynthia's full main team—plus the Garchomp already out. Six pillars, arrayed in an unbreakable wall around the group.
Only then did she turn back to Jason, still cradled in Iono's hands, stunned by the ease of it all.
She smiled, small and supremely confident, and lifted a brow at him.
"Relax."
Her voice wasn't loud, but it steadied the heart.
"I'm here."
"You just rest."
The flicker of panic in Jason blew out like a candle. Right—this was Cynthia, Champion of Sinnoh, the woman at the very top. With her here, what was there to fear?
His scattered mind came back together; looking at her poised back, he felt safe in a way he never had before.
Nemona squared her shoulders, excitement rekindled. Liko's anxiety eased. Iono dutifully framed Cynthia and her six for chat, giving the audience a front row seat.
Everyone held their breath and waited for the owners of those two presences to appear.
"Here."
Valiant's voice cut low and sharp. At once, the ground began a faint, growing tremor.
Iono's chat peaked again.
"Here we go! I'm so nervous!"
"Area Zero is insane—walk five steps and a monster spawns, each scarier than the last."
"Jason just beat Roaring Moon and he's hurt. This one's all on Champion Cynthia!"
"She's so cool—when she sent that line out, I got goosebumps!"
"What's next? Please be even crazier!"
"Don't jinx it! Jason can't take more 'even crazier'!"
Under a dozen eyes, two huge shapes stepped from the shadows, slowly, inexorably.
Sunlight caught them.
Left—the gait was lithe and regal. Its silhouette echoed Suicune, yet everything was… off. Reptilian forelimbs plated in blue scales. Pterosaur membranes at the cheeks. A big red crystal set in its brow. And that tail—thick, saurian, heavy. Each footfall graceful and crushing.
Right—the outline called Raikou to mind, and then skewed wildly. An impossibly long neck, mane like thunderclouds billowing down to the back. A small, masked head, yellow-plated face unreadable save for twin red points of light. Pillar legs that made the ground hum with each step.
Two Pokémon no one here had ever seen, humming with a Paradox aura kin to Roaring Moon's—and purer, stronger.
They stood and stared, cold and remote.
Jason stared back, Ditto-jelly wobbling. He rubbed at his eyes, looked again, and murmured like a man in a dream:
"No way… we're that unlucky?"
He could hardly believe it. Most people came to Area Zero and called it a day after a couple of Paradoxes. They'd nailed a rabid Roaring Moon—and now two worse things walked out?
He wasn't the only one floored. Even Cynthia's composure cracked; her fine brows knit.
"Suicune and Raikou?" she breathed, baffled. "In Area Zero?"
She'd mistaken them for the Johto legends, same as anyone would at a glance. But the alien aura rolling off them said otherwise.
That collision of recognition and wrongness made even her, so used to the strangest storms, feel the edge of the unknown.
Area Zero… really did have teeth.
~~~
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