Slate knelt next to the battle worn Cryote as it panted and shivered from the effects of its poisoning. He didn’t know what to do. There was no Pokémon Center on Almony Island, and as far as he knew, they were still trapped there due to the Slugish outbreak. Since he hadn’t caught the Cryote, he couldn’t even keep it in stasis inside a Poké Ball. All he could do was watch the poor pup suffer.

Slate petted the Pokémon’s head, but it flinched at his touch. On noticing this, April said, “You stay here, I’m going to see if Bella’s okay.”

He nodded in reply, and April dashed away towards the distant door. Slate couldn’t help lamenting over the battle. They had won—barely—but had he made the right moves? Could the result have been different if somebody else had been fighting? He’d allowed a Pokémon he hadn’t even caught to fight on his behalf, without any training and with zero knowledge of its species’ capabilities.

As he stared down at the obviously pained expression of the Cryote who had fought so hard for them and the purple blotches scattered across its snow-white fur, Slate couldn’t help but feel sick. This was his fault. Perhaps he wasn’t worthy of the responsibility that came with being a Trainer?

“Thank you, April,” a feminine voice spoke, interrupting Slate’s train of thought. “And this must be Slate.”

Slate turned to see April approaching, accompanied by a strikingly beautiful woman with vivid green eyes, crimson lips, and waist-length dark hair, which flowed behind her in rhythm with the flapping of her white lab coat. Beneath, she wore a purple miniskirt, revealing a set of long legs that walked toward him on fuchsia-colored high-heels.

This was Bella? Had it not been for her lab coat, Slate would never have imagined her to be the former Pokémon Doctor. A model perhaps. But a doctor, and a Gym Leader at that?

“Oh dear, the poor thing,” she said, observing the suffering Cryote sympathetically. “Come, bring it through to the pharmacy.”

Slate exchanged a look with April before scooping up the Cryote and following her lead.

“Place it on the examination table,” Bella instructed as Slate entered the store front, then advised, “Don’t worry. Your Cryote will be fine.”

“Really? Do you have healing equipment in here somewhere?” Slate replied as April appeared at his side.

“Oh, that won’t be necessary,” Bella stated enigmatically.

“Then how can you treat the poison?”

“Because it’s one of mine,” she explained with a sweet smile.

“Huh?” Slate responded.

“Or, one of my Pokémon’s, I suppose I should say. I know the make-up of the various toxins of my Pokémon like the back of my hand. Your Cryote was poisoned by my Colosslug’s Poison Gas, and here,” she paused, reaching for something under the counter, “is the antidote I developed for it!”

April’s eyebrows rose at this. “You developed specific antidotes for different types of poisoning?” she asked with intrigue.

“Oh, yes. I find them much more effective than standard curatives. What’s more, I only use natural ingredients in my products. You’d be surprised at what goes into standard remedies and potions, especially the ones sold by Slyph Co. It’s one of the reasons I left the hospital to become a pharmacologist,” Bella elaborated before walking over to the shivering Cryote and administering her antidote.

“So, this is what my mom meant by ‘natural medicine.’ I suppose you use the herbalist across the road for ingredients?” April enquired.

“Sometimes,” Bella answered, “Primarily, though, my work focuses on reverse engineering toxins taken from Poison-Type Pokémon.”

“Wow,” April praised. “Isn’t that dangerous, though?”

“Poison-Type Pokémon are highly misunderstood creatures. People tend to fear them, but I believe they hold the key to significant breakthroughs in medicine. That’s why I moved to Almony. The Island’s Slugish population are fascinating research subjects and they’ve allowed me to collect important samples. Of course, that was while I had Colosslug to help keep them at bay.”

Slate looked up from the Cryote at this point. Bella had adopted a sad expression that ruined her good looks. “I’m so sorry we couldn’t stop those thugs from taking off with your Pokémon,” he said earnestly. “I thought we had them, but I messed up.”

“Don’t be silly,” she chastised, her smile returning. “I heard the whole battle from my office, and you fought admirably. Naturally, I’m upset that Giladon and Colosslug were taken, but if it weren’t for you two and your Pokémon, I might have been tied up in there for days and unable to do anything about it. Now that I’m free, I can alert the Pokémon League right away about the theft and about this ‘Team Shade’ as they referred to themselves.”

“They definitely were from Team Shade, then?” Slate asked.

“Well, we knew that much,” April commented a little haughtily before adjusting her tone, “but I guess it does help to know for sure. It ties with what my mom said about them ‘getting ready to act…’”

“Who is your mother, April?” Bella enquired.

“Professor Larch,” April answered, apparently deciding Bella was trustworthy

Bella smiled knowingly. “Of course. I was shocked to hear about the takeover of Hazell Town Laboratory. Perhaps Team Shade was involved somehow?” she suggested, then after observing a brief exchange between April and Slate, she added, “No need to answer. I suppose she is taking steps. In that case, I should do the same. If you’ll excuse me, I must make a call.”

“What about Cryote?” Slate asked.

“See for yourself,” Bella replied with a wink, then headed up a flight of stairs behind them.

Slate looked down at the examination table and noticed that the purple marks covering the Cryote’s body had disappeared, and it was stirring. Then, it opened its eyes and sprung to its feet, scanning the room until it spotted Slate, and leaped off the table into his chest.

Slate caught the pup in his arms and beamed as his little friend happily licked at his face. “You’re okay!” he exclaimed.

“Thank goodness!” April sighed. “I’ll have to get Bella take a look at Rodenki when she returns.”

Slate continued to stroke the Cryote’s ears as he contemplated aloud, “I’ve been thinking about Team Shade. I don’t think their main objective was to steal Bella’s Pokémon. From what we heard earlier, I think they targeted her specifically for her Colosslug.”

“Why her Colosslug?”

“Well, it seems like Colosslug can control its pre-evolved forms—the Slugish! I think Team shade are responsible for the Slugish wall. It wasn’t an accident that it appeared there after their mates left the island on the ferry with my mom.”

April appeared to be struggling with this logic. “It can’t just be about your mom, though, can it?”

“I don’t think it is. My mom told me that the island has a large human population who commute to the mainland.”

“That’s true, it’s about lowering our environmental impact on the region,” April offered.

“Well, by sealing off the ferry, they trapped a huge amount of people here. If they’re stuck here, it means they’re not on the mainland, where I’m guessing they could get in the way of whatever Team Shade must be planning. It wasn’t about stopping me. I’m no threat to them.”

“But why were the two we fought left behind?”

“They were being greedy!” Slate proposed with confidence. “They wanted Bella’s third Pokémon, but it wouldn’t obey them, remember?”

“That’s right, it sounded like it had attacked them! But as long as they had the Colosslug…”

“They would be able to leave whenever they wanted!”

April considered this for a moment with a hand on her chin. “I think you may be right, Slate. That means they may already be gone. Meanwhile, the rest of us are still stuck here due to the Slugish.”

“Slugish?” Bella repeated as she descended the stairs with a serving tray. “I’ve been wondering what those people wanted to make my Colosslug do. What’s happened?”

Slate and April relayed what they knew to Bella over a cup of tea. She looked pensive for a while before piping up, “If my Pokémon were involved, it’s my responsibility as Almony’s Gym Leader to solve the problem.”

***

After administering a cure for Rodenki and giving it and the Cryote restoratives, Bella locked up her store and marched toward the coastline as if stomping down a fashion runway. Slate, April and the Cryote following in her wake, marveling at how the mass of dissatisfied citizens parted like the red sea for the strutting beauty. Soon, they reached the front of the crowd.

Standing in front of the translucent Slugish barrier, Bella took two vials from her lab coat and explained, “Colosslug control Slugish by adjusting the toxicity in their bodies. These are antidotes made using my Colosslug’s enzymes. If introduced to the communing Slugish, they should be distributed to the whole swarm, causing them to return to their original state.”

Bella un-stoppered the vials and emptied their contents on the Slugish wall. The effect was almost immediate. Where the liquid had splashed, the purple ooze began to solidify, separate, and turn into individual Slugish that much more closely resembled the one Slate and April had battled at the Gym. The reaction spread until the wall became a teetering mountain of the slug Pokémon and toppled over.

“This way, please,” Bella called out, pointing an arm in the direction of the leafier side of the island, and the swarm very slowly but surely departed together. The crowd cheered and clapped, and the relieved dock workers rushed over to thank Bella.

***

“Well, I suppose the two of you need to be going,” Bella said as the final call for passengers sounded. “Thank you again for saving me from that embarrassing situation. I still can’t believe I allowed those thieves to catch me off-guard.”

“I’m glad we could help,” Slate replied. “Besides, you’re the one who may have put a wrench in Team Shade’s plans by taking down the Slugish wall. I just wish we knew for sure what they were up to.”

“We Gym Leaders will be keeping an eye out for any trouble, but if you figure anything else out, please get in touch with me or one of my colleagues. Be sure to contact your mother too. I’m sure she’s worried about you.”

“We will,” April confirmed. “What will you do about your stolen Pokémon?”

“I have my partner Pokémon, Dokunai, to use in the rest of my booked Gym challenges. After that, I’ll be joining the search for Team Shade. Whoever they are, they’re going to regret messing with Almony Island’s ‘Deadly Doctor!’” Bella gave them a devilish grin and a wink. “Oh, I almost forgot,” she said, opening her palm to reveal a shiny silver and purple metallic item in the shape of something Slate though he recognized as a warning symbol.

“A Gym Badge!” April exclaimed.

“The Chemical Badge,” Bella clarified as she presented the small commemorative pin to Slate. “I award this to successful challengers at Almony’s Gym. Collect eight badges from Nutera Gym Leaders and you’ll qualify for the annual Pokémon League Conference on Braze Isle.”

Slate didn’t know what to say. Thoughts of his mother and investigating Team Shade’s activities in Nutera had superseded any traditional ideas he had of being a Trainer, such as challenging the region’s Gyms for a chance to enter the big tournament. “B-but w-what about April?” he stammered.

“I’m grateful to both of you, of course, but while you may not have been fighting me earlier, you and your Cryote defeated two of my Gym Leader-level Pokémon with a well-thought-out battle strategy. I think you deserve this.”

“It’s okay, I understand,” April asserted, looking genuinely pleased for Slate. “I’ve got a long way to go when it comes to battling. I’m not even sure it’s the right path for me.”

Seeing that April didn’t begrudge him the badge, Slate happily accepted it and secured it to the inside of his jacket. He flashed the pinned badge at the Cryote and it barked in approval.

“Now, off you go, quick or the ferry will leave without you!” Bella instructed.

Slate, April and the Cryote ran across the gangway and on to the ferry, while calling out their last goodbyes. From the passenger area, they turned back and waved to Bella, who saw them off as the ferry departed for Hazell Town and the official start to their lives as Pokémon Trainers.