The PokeQuest

Chapter 23- Familiar Faces

"We're trying to fix the Ink Machine and you're one of the required Pokemon to do so. We didn't want to actually harm you, but we knew you wouldn't back down either." Bendy explained with a short chuckle. Azelf laughed as well.

"We'll release you as soon as we fix the machine, but we just need your help." Bendy said. Azelf nodded it head and smiled.

"I take it that you're willing to help us?" Bendy said hopefully. Azelf nodded its head again.

"Thank you, Azelf." Bendy sighed in relief...

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"What time is Mesprit usually active?" Boris asked as he put away the magic map and pulled out a map of the Hoenn region instead.

"Usually in the morning and afternoon." Felix responded while petting Azelf, who happily nudged his hand.

"So, we can head back to Lilycove City for now. We'll take on Mesprit tomorrow morning or Uxie later in the day. Uxie's usually active in the evening, right?" Bendy said as he healed up his Pokemon.

"Yeah, I think we should take on Uxie next so we can get a decent night's sleep." Cuphead stated nonchalantly while petting Jackpot.

"Yeah, I agree with Cups." Mugman laughed.

"Alrighty then, we'll take on Uxie tomorrow." Bendy concluded, returning his Pokemon in the process.

"Boris, you should battle Uxie." Felix stated.

"Huh, but why me? You're smarter." Boris asked.

"For your age, you are very intelligent. Uxie likes that about trainers." Felix smiled as he rubbed Boris's head.

"Thank you, Mr. Felix." Boris laughed.

"Hey, about Mesprit, I think Cuphead should battle it." Bendy suddenly said, which caught everyone off guard.

"Why hell do you want ME to battle it?" Cuphead asked loudly.

"Well, Mesprit is the being of emotion, and you've been struggling with emotions ever since I met you soooo..." Bendy reasoned. Cuphead sighed and crossed his arms.

"Fine. I guess that kind of makes sense." Cuphead mumbled.

"Let's just head back to Lilycove City. I'm pretty sure everybody wants to get some rest. Especially Luna and Azelf." Felix suggested.

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"I'm so happy you're finally talking again, Ozzy!" Mickey said happily.

"I'm still not very used to it yet, but I guess I'll have to if we're competing in a contest." Oswald stated as he patted his Pikachu's head.

"True, true." Mickey laughed.

"Boris, is your team healed up and ready for a battle?" Mickey faintly heard. Mickey's ears slightly twitched when he heard the name 'Boris'. When Mickey looked over his shoulder his eyes lit up. It was Boris! He was with his brother and a few other people, including the cat that the bunny children seemed to like so much.

"Boris!" Mickey yelled as he walked over to the group while waving his hand at them. Boris's face went bright red.

"O-Oh! Hi Mr. Mickey!" Boris greeted excitedly. Oswald waved at Felix, which caused Felix's face to go bright red.

"What are you doing in Lilycove City?" Mickey asked, ignoring the slight scowl on Bendy's face.

"We're just walking around right now. We have something to do later today so we're killing time right now." Boris explained.

"What are you doing tonight?' Mickey asked curiously.

"Uhhh, We're...Training! Yeah, we're training later today." Boris responded way too nervously for Mickey's liking. Mickey didn't push Boris to tell the truth though. Instead, he nodded and accepted Boris's answer. Mickey looked at Bendy and waved at him, happy to see that he was still alive. Bendy just waved back at Mickey.

"Well, we can help you guys train if you'd like! Our Pokemon would probably like to have a battle." Mickey smiled as he gestured to his Floette and then to Oswald.

"Um- No! We have a very specific training regimen!" Boris panicked.

"Oh, um. Alrighty then." Mickey said in a defeated tone.

"Well, would you five like to come eat lunch with us? It's been a while since we've seen you guys." Mickey offered. Surprisingly, Bendy agreed, mostly because Boris wanted to go.

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"So, what have you guys been doing since we last saw you?" Mickey asked, hoping to find the truth about what they were doing.

"Exploring." Bendy responded bluntly, earning a small nudge from Marcy who was currently invisible.

"Oh! That's sounds interesting! Did you find anything that you found interest in?" Mickey grinned, now feeling like he was making progress.

"We met a nice mermaid and caught En-" Mugman started, only for Boris to lightly kick Mugs' legs to make him hush.

"Ennnnnough Magikarp to populate a whole aquarium!" Mugman quickly lied. Suddenly, a soft beeping came from Cuphead's watch.

"Oh, it's time to start training you guys." Cuphead said, keeping up with the lie Boris had told earlier.

"Oh, well see you five later, I guess." Mickey said sadly, waving goodbye to the group as they stood up and walked out with Bendy placing money on the table to pay for their food.

"Mickey, I think that there's something weird going on here. They all seemed nervous and dodged questions like they were hiding something." Oswald muttered.

"I agree. Maybe we should put aside the contest and see if they're ok..?" Mickey suggested.

"Yeah, we can compete in the next contest. Let's go." Oswald stated as he stood up and placed down money to cover their food before walking out the door with Mickey in tow.

"There they are. They're down on the beach. Maybe it's where they train?" Mickey said softly. Then, Mugman released his Gyarados, Felix released his Staraptor and Empoleon, and Boris released his Dratini. The group each got onto one of the Pokemon and Bendy pulled out a map before Staraptor started flying and the water type pokemon started swimming somewhere.

"We should follow them. You take your Swanna, I'll take my Braviary." Oswald said as he released his Braviary and Mickey released his Swanna.

"Follow them, ok?" Mickey stated to his Swanna.

Both of the bird pokemon took off and followed the group. They made sure to be as quiet as possible to evade being noticed.

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"What is this place?" Mickey whispered after he and Oswald landed. They had seen the group enter a cave and stood outside of it in confusion.

"I don't know, but it doesn't show up on the Hoenn region map." Oswald stated. Suddenly, they heard a battle cry from within the cave.

"Did you hear that?" Mickey asked as his eyes seemed to widen to the size of dinner plates.

"Let's go see what that was." Oswald said as he walked into the cave. Mickey followed his brother, but they stopped when they saw a bright light. Both of them were reasonably surprised by the things they could see. They saw a legendary pokemon that they believed was called Uxie, A nervous yet shocked looking Boris, and a glowing, snake like silhouette...

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(Happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈)