A/N: In the editing of A New World, I decided to place one major detail that is mentioned around in this chapter: Manny as a human and Manny as a Pikachu are actually two separate beings. They just fused together because it was the only body Harmony could find nearby Cord that wasn't hostile. The Mew actually foreshadowed this to him, he's been getting memories of the Pikachu and Abby as an Eevee—they were actual teammates for the guild. He didn't know that then, and he doesn't know that now. When I actually finish editing "A New World," I'll erase this, but for now NEW DETAILS FOR EXPOSITION!

P.S. They weren't following the actual Explorers of Sky story, Abby's backstory of "meeting" Manny is coming another day.

7/4/20

9:43 pm

Treasure Town Guild BF2 (Team Cool's Bedroom)

"I'm just saying," I remarked while sitting down on one of the three straw beds, "I probably think it was a bad idea to let Chris leave like that."

My best friend was sitting down on his tail, sighing exasperatedly. "Manny, we're not his parents; we couldn't force him to stay if he didn't want to." He started looking around the room to notice everyone was looking at him. Even some of the inanimate objects, like Abby's hanged beanie, an extra bag filled with our tournament stuff for tomorrow, and the wooden window showing moonlight was all spotlighting Cord. The Raichu's arms crossed one another while the Glaceon approached me.

"Look, I know you wanted to see him again. I do too." Abby placed a paw on what I think was my shoulder. "But I rather let him find him in Unova, back with his normal life, then as a Pokémon. That was the reason why he left that day."

...My entire body felt guilty right there. I was arguing about that the entire afternoon, just so I could see that tiny shiny Eevee. It was me being selfish. Maybe I wanted to see how much he's grown, battle-wise. "Fine," I eventually sighed. "I'll stop talking about that."

"...You guys still haven't told me about Chris, you know?"

Crap, I keep on forgetting about Phoenix being here. I could see her fumbling with her Poké... Sorry, Hú Orb. The only thing that made them different was their color, which I barely noticed. "'Nix, I don't think you should play with that," I remarked while looking down at my own Hú Orb.

Speaking of which, I kept the question as to why Harmony decided to bring these orbs to myself. Why did she bring it to Universe Three then? It didn't make sense; me and Cord only used it in the Dream World for when both of us wanted to be Pokémon or both of us wanted to be humans. If she ever comes by, I really need to ask her about that.

Anyway, the Houndour started playing with the orb once again, waiting for an explanation of Chris. "When I was an Eevee," Abby began while approaching her, "Harmony sent me to Unova to look at a potential target sending to Universe Three—this universe." The Glaceon sat right next to me on the same straw bed, and placed her muzzle nearby my foot...

No one could notice the blushing I gave off since my sockets covered it for me. She continued with a statement that made me and 'Nix snicker.

"I met Chris by biting him in the arm."

Snickers turned to chuckles. Chuckles to laughter. You can guess what happened next; the two of us bursted into laughter. "Oh come on! I didn't even know what a human was until I met him." She huffed while Cord was closing the wooden window.

After a while, we finally stopped after realizing that my partner was going to freeze us to death if we continued. I wiped my tears away and continued onward. "Basically, Abby finally calmed down and decided to stay with Chris for a few days. Harmony decided to transform him into a shiny Eevee on Christmas Eve..." Huh, I just realized "Christmas Eevee" is an adorable title. I need to write that down.

"Okay..." The Alolan Raichu broke the ice while placing his paws together. "Let's get some shuteye, everyone. We have a long day tomorrow." An assortment of groans came around as our candles dimmed to darkness. After a quick grumble came out of me, I finally decided to get some sleep...

"Manny are you still awake?"

My eyes decided to open again, wondering what Phoenix was asking now. "Yeah?" I asked, turning my head. She really hasn't asked anything too important, but I had a feeling that was going to change.

The Houndour turned her and gave me the most serious face I've seen her give since her father's funeral. "Manny, are you sure I can do this tomorrow? I don't even know my full moveset."

Okay, before I respond to that, let me clear something out. I suck at at giving advice, and she knows that. Phoenix could have chosen Cord or Abby—both having more experience than I do as a Pokémon. But she chose me. I don't know why, but let's roll with it. "Moves aren't everything, you know. Strategy is just as important." My head rested on my paws as the moonlight shined all of us. The Glaceon could be heard softly snoring, making me stifle a laugh.

"But I don't know any of the strategies you three know about." We could see the moonlight start disappearing, letting darkness fill the entire room. "How am I supposed to learn them in a few hours before this tourney starts?"

My eyes blinked as I laughed a bit louder. "'Nix, everyone here forms strategies on the fly. You do that every time when beating me in Smash Bros." I quickly looked at Cord to notice him sleeping. "You might have better strategies than Cord," I whispered towards her.

I heard that.

'Fuck.'

Phoenix gave a shrug while placing her paw on the bottom of her muzzle. "What about this 'Turbo Boost then?" She asked while tilting her head. "It sounds important."

Oh God, did Harmony tell everything to this girl?! An exasperated sigh came to me as I facepalmed myself. "I'll tell you about that later. Just know that I'm not using it on these qualifier matches."

***

7/5/20

7:15 am

Outside Treasure Town

The very first thing that caught my attention was balloons. My eyes widened to see the members of the guild—minus Team Crusade, since Cord told me they're doing their own thing now—literally scanning Pokémon holding balloons, hoping that there wasn't anything terrible in it. With the exception of one balloon being lifted to the air by accident, it was normal.

"Why didn't we pass by here?" I asked while starting to get in the long line. I already knew 'Nix was ecstatic to see this many Pokémon at once, but I didn't have time to confirm it.

Abby decided to walk ahead of me while trying to secure her red beanie. "Me and Cord wanted to keep it a surprise for all of us. I'm definitely shocked that they made a makeshift stadium this size!" The Glaceon quickly found a spot to save in the viewers line.

"Um..." Phoenix walked up to address our concern. "Abby, aren't you a fighter like Cord and Manny?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but I decided last night that I wasn't going to participate in this qualifier." The Glaceon turned around to notice my mouth opening, clearly stunned. "Oh..." My face stood like this for a few seconds before my cousin shook me awake. I really wanted to see her new moves in action, despite her statement with "having almost no control."

"It's okay, Abby," I responded while closing my mouth finally. "Whenever you feel ready to battle, just tell us. I'll cheer you on!" A hidden smile came to me as I started running towards the competitor's line. It was about a quarter of the size of the viewer's line, but there were still a lot of competitors... I didn't hear these next paragraphs, so welcome to the first time that I'm trying to do semi-third person! Hope you enjoy it.

"What's up with him?" The Houndour turned to stare at me going towards the line. "Has he usually done this before?" Before turning around, she could see the other female jumping in front of her.

Abby could be seen giving off a twinkle of red while looking down at the grassy floor. "If I had to guess, it's because of his crush on me..."

Phoenix turned to my best friend/Pokémon brother, who only gave a nod before hopping off his tail. "It's a bit weird, so hear me out. Did Manny have any type of daydreaming when you stopped by?"

Her head moved towards me, noticing the line for competitors is starting to get smaller and smaller; she started walking towards my direction. "I mean... Whenever I came by, he definitely had a few seconds of dozing off. Some more irregular than others."

"That's Manny coming in contact with his Pikachu self." Cord noticed the confusion 'Nix had before sighing. "Basically, his game of Explorers of Sky somehow knew about me leaving and all the effects that happened after. I guess his imagination and the actual game merged together to create... A better life?" He stopped moving to think. "I don't know if that's the correct phrase."

"What does that have to do with Manny's crush?" The Houndour was near hopping distance from me, but I didn't pay attention since I was in the front of the line, answering questions for the three of us.

"Well..." The Raichu hopped on his tail before finishing the run floating towards me. "His Pikachu self has been living with Abby ever since hatch..." The two stopped suddenly to see me turning towards them.

"Cord!" They could see my feet start walking towards them with three white papers in hand. "Each signup sheet is fifty Poké. You think you can pay it?"

He slowly nodded before looking back at the Houndour. Just don't tell Manny about this. He's been this dumb enough not to realize it... Cord sighed before grabbing the coins in his bag. I might as well let Abby or Harmony tell it when the time is right.

***

7:27 am

Grassland Stadium

If a tournament like this was so big and global, why were there only thirty competitors in this? I'm not joking, thirty different Pokémon sat around a white outlined ring that looked vaguely like a dohyo. Me and Cord were the only Pokémon that were in the same evolution line.

"Why are we in a sumo ring?" I asked the Raichu. We could see crowds of Pokémon starting to fill up the seats, and a familiar Glaceon waved at the three of us. "We're not about to see two Snorlax fight, right?"

"Terrible joke, bro." My best friend started shaking his head while looking at center stage. "Just watch, the Opening Ceremony is about to begin." Phoenix was listening in, about to ask about the timing when all of us noticed a bright line shining on the large stage.

"Hello...! Treasure Town!" A Pokémon with a white body and a red and orange sun that looked like a sun zoomed towards the middle of the sumo ring. "Welcome to the second leg of the 109th World Pokémon Tournament Qualifiers!" Booms of applause echoed around the seats, making me clench up against the metal wall.

"This Castform seems offly cheerful," my cousin mumbled to the two of us. The ring glowed red for a few seconds before turning back to white.

The speaker floated towards the line. "I'm sure most of you know these rules, but let me remind you..." He quickly started floating around the circle, a grin plastered on his face. "This ring is your battlefield. In this qualifier, you have ten matches to prove yourself. Win by fainting your opponent or knocking your opponent out of the ring." The Castform finally moved out of the ring to land in what looked like a commentary booth. "Whoever is the top eight after everyone finished ten rounds moves on to the main tournament."

I placed a paw on what was my tiny muzzle bump. "So this is basically a round robin?" I assumed it was going to be a bit more complex than a simple thing like that. Maybe a mini tournament, but this? "Is it because of the lack of Pokémon in grassland areas or something?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Cord nodded to me. "There are four divisions. The Desert division, the Grassland division, the City division, and the Island division. In population terms, it's Grassland, Desert, Island, and then City."

"Wait, wouldn't the desert be nearly abandoned?" Nix asked while noticing another Pokémon giving him a paper.

The Raichu quickly disagreed. "Nope. Pokémon are rather fond of deserts more than humans. It's also why they had a surprising qualifier, with Bisharp and all." He quickly glanced at me giving a straight face. He knew that I really wanted a full match against him. He abandoned the only time I really faced him. "I don't think the previous one hundred eight events had a champion from the Grassland division."

"And now let's do our very first matchup of the day!" The Castform cleared his throat before reading the index card in front of him. "Charlie the Quilava versus Phoenix the Houndour!"

Uh, oh. Phoenix's face went from partially excited to extremely frightened. "I have to go now?" She squeaked out while taking a few steps back. "Do I have to...?"

"Come on, 'Nix," I stood up to place a paw on her back. "Remember, it's just real life Smash Bros. Find a strategy, and finish it."

After a large amount of hesitation, the Houndour finally stood up and started walking towards the ring. "If you say so, cousin." A sigh exited her mouth as the two fighters entered the ring; the Quilava already started firing up his mouth.

"A heated match is coming up. Let's count it down!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!" A horn could be seen blaring in the far distance, signaling the start of the match. 'Nix's opponent shot three flaming balls towards her. The Houndour barely dodged the attack, and started circling around the ring. Charlie did the same.

I know she's trying to come up with a plan. She didn't listen into the Castform's rules just for the heck of it. But it doesn't take this long for her to come up with something. What was she thinking?

Of all things, the host had to break me out of my thoughts. "Seems like Charlie and Phoenix are circling each other, and—oh there he goes!" The Quilava charged towards my cousin with astounding speed. Probably faster than what she was expecting because of the tailwind, but...

A sly smirk came upon her as she fired a single Ember to the floor. Smoke formed in front of the Houndour, making her seem like she disappeared. When her opponent entered the cloud of smoke, I could see one pair of eyes glow pink before a sudden wave of gust bursted out of it. Charlie was sent immediately out of the smoke and landed on the metal wall we were all leaning on.

Quite frankly, I don't think I've seen anyone use that type of move.

"...I won?" Phoenix blinked with her mouth hung open. Everyone just stood silent for a couple of moments before one Pokémon started clapping. Then two.

Four.

Twenty...

Everyone started clapping loudly with sudden cheers. I could hear whistles ringing into my ears, trying to find the exact moment to tell my brain to cover them with my paws. That didn't happen, because what the Castform said next made me shocked my core.

"Wow! Phoenix is your victor in the first match...!" He quickly cleared his throat as the soft applause rang out. "Let's get to our next one, shall we? Can I have Manny the Pikachu and Austin the Marowak come up please?"

*Game File Saved*