Chapter 3: night in the woods and a goal in mind
It was the day that max was leaving and he managed to buy a good amount of supplies and of course he stock it all in a back pack.
Of course he wasn't planning to carry it instead he allowed moline to eat it and store it in her second stomach.
Moline is a snake spirit that can shift into a humanoid form when she doesn't need to fight.
But she carries all his weapons in her second stomach which is a pocket dimension that is a complete white void mainly his sword and his small blade but he only uses other weapons in case his spiritual power isn't working.
Of course he only order custom weapons he didn't steal it some small daggers other swords in a back up situation in case his main sword is broken and a gun you' would be surprised how much a spiritual energy enhanced bullet hurt and it stings like a bitch.
Anyway he got the backpack full with supplies inside moline stomach so now he doesn't have to worry about his back hurting or loosing it.
And of course moline introduced herself to meloetta who at first thought that she was a pokemon but of course max debunked that.
They both hit it off well and max said goodbye to the people of the Pokemon center they wanted to give him a Pokédex at first he didn't want it but when they told him that this has data on other pokemon he guessed that he would need it.
Who knows what kind of Pokemon he will ran into.
He then left virbank city with meloetta following him and made his way towards mistralton city.
He jumped from tree to tree with ease meloetta wasn't used to flying so fast and she has no idea how max has so much stamina.
Through the parkour section of max made a few stops because he saw some Pokemon living there life in peace and the sight just reminded him of animals that he meet in the park when he decide to just sit and feed the ducks.
It was relaxing to see and he continued his way sometimes he walked on the ground and sometimes he let Meloatta catch up.
But he was still not close to mistralton and it was getting late.
Luckily they managed to find a cave and it was empty max started a small camp and fire and cooked a meal.
It was night time but max wasn't tired parkouring the woods wasn't anything but he feels rusty.
So to deal with it he ordered moline to get out his sword so he can practice to make sure he doesn't looses his edge.
Meloatta watched him practice with his sword and she was in trance by his motions and strikes.
It was smooth and intense and seeing a human doing these actions felt out of place.
She couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.
Meloatta: max is this how you train?
Max stopped for a moment and continued his training.
Max: yeah exorcist need to train to prevent getting rusty and get stronger you don't know when a strong lost soul or cult will appear.
Meloatta: so moline doesn't like fight for you?
Max: of course not unlike humans in this world exorcist train ourselves and all techniques are of our own making if you don't know how to defend yourself you might as well be a liability.
Meloatta: is being an exorcist bad?
Max: no it's more like a job and they give you breaks when you either are sick or need time to recover. Us juniors and seniors are staying in dormitories and it's divided in 4 guys and 4 girls.
Meloatta: so what do you do beside dealing with lost souls?
Max: well we I sometimes work with the investigation department of the corporation to see if there any cultists or a strong lost soul in hiding. Usually things that hide behind the scenes is the most dangerous and unpredictable.
Meloatta was quite for a while and she remembered the black and green energy he used and she realized that she never asked what that was.
Meloatta: max I saw you using some sort of black energy what was that?
Max: well that is spiritual energy is what we use to fight against lost souls since the only thing that can hurt a spirit is damaging the soul directly.
Meloatta took a moment to process that and she was a little disturbed by that.
Meloatta: you attack the soul?
Max: yeah since damaging them through normal means is useless since they can't feel pain by attacking the soul of a spirit then they will feel pain and spiritual energy comes from our very being and since spirits are souls taken form they naturally are more advanced in spiritual energy control.
Meloatta: wow.
Max decided that he had enough of training he put the sword in the bag and sat down next to meloetta who was looking at the fire in thought.
Max: oh right I never explain to you what's with the black wings.
Meloatta snapped out of her thoughts at hearing that and yeah she completely forgot about that.
Max stuck out his hand and black matter surrounded his arm making it look like a claw and Meloatta's eyes were wide open at seeing this.
Max: this is my ability I call it black arms and I know it's a simple name and honestly I like it that way but anyway these things can be shaped into anything I want from this.
He focused on his black arm and it shifted making it into a blade which meloetta could only watch in awe.
Max: or this. I can also use it to create wings extra armor small spike projectiles and a big black blade fused with my sword.
Meloatta looked at the bagged up sword and the black arm blade.
Meloatta: if you can turn it into what ever you want then why do you even have a sword?
Max vanished the black matter from his arm and he unpacked his sword seen the blade's beauty.
Max: my friends asked me the same thing but like i told them it doesn't hurt to have an arsenal plus I've meet some people that can mess with my flow of spiritual energy so i need other weapons in case if I'm in trouble.
Max looked at his blade with a small smile on his face.
Max: plus this thing is like an extension of myself my mom ordered this for me and not only that this sword is from a special metal that was made by the best blacksmith who some gave this blade a special gimmick.
Max gave the sword to meloetta and when she touched it she could feel a lot of strength from the blade alone and it didn't have any fancy but it was powerful.
Max: this blade everytime is broken it can repair itself and become stronger but if the shards are erased it will still regrow like recovering a tooth but it will be back to the drawing board.
Meloatta: so you just break it and make it stronger?
Max: if you think i just smash it against something and break and do it over again no if i do that way too many times then the blade will start to break more easily i need to give it time to cool off.
Max grabbed the blade and put it back in the bag meloetta was now questioning things of her own world if max's world's humans are strong enough to beat Pokemon then how come humans in her world haven't done the same thing?
She learned from xatu that humans have a thing called aura but when she saw max's spiritual energy it didn't feel like aura it felt more potent and more powerful not that she knew much if about that only lucarios and rookie have the ability to sense aura not her.
She looked at max who was asleep she scooted over and she rested her head on his arm now that she knows more about max she actually felt like she could trust him completely.
Her eyelids became heavy so she accepted her sleep with a small smile.
The next day in the morning max woke and he felt a weight on his arm and he saw meloetta sleeping resting on his arm he gently put her down and used his jacket as a makeshift pillow so that she can sleep comfortably.
He got to work and grabbed some berries moline volunteer to make sure that they weren't poisonous thanks to her being a spirit she can only be affected by spiritual enhanced poisons and for the most part the berries were mostly sweet.
Meloatta woke up and she saw max eating some berries she guessed that he did this to save some supplies for later.
She grabbed and ate one but she noticed how max had a far off look on his face.
Meloatta: max? Is something wrong?
Max:mmm? I'm just thinking about how to find a Pokemon that could break the dimensional barrier so I can go home.
Meloatta: do you not like it here?
Max: no it's not a bad place to live in it's just that I would rather have a way to go back and forth between my world and this one but currently I don't have a way to even go back.
Meloatta: so are you planning to search for a Pokemon that could take you home?
Max bitterly bit down on the berri in his hand.
Max: that's the plan but I don't think the Pokemon in this part will help me one is the god of storms and the other is a fire king that's not gonna help me.
Meloatta: I. I Wish I could help I'm considered a legendary because I created the concept of music thanks to my singing and my abilities.
Max: you sound like you lived for a thousand years.
Meloatta: I don't know how I was born I just remember existing one day I've meet a lot of Pokemon who shared a lot of things some where good some where bad.
Max: I'll assume that even though you are immortal you can still die.
Meloatta went quiet but she remembered a few times where some Pokemon and humans hurt her and some injuries were almost critical she was lucky to have friends that healed her.
Meloatta: yeah I can't age but I can still die that xatu I mentioned was actually the first Pokemon I've seen as a father figure but when he meet his end I decided to not try to have a family and just be around for those I considered friends and where I used to live was peaceful until team rocket.
Her voice was turning somber and max noticed.
Meloatta: one of my friends told me to run and they all fought to protect me I. wanted to help but I couldn't I was too scared I ran away not looking but they still went after me and I don't know why.
(Note: this meloetta isn't the one from the anime this is another version of her and yes I'm aware the meloetta is confirmed genderless but that's bs is a she and no one else can change that)
Max saw how she was starting to cry she didn't like seeing someone like meloetta cry so he grabbed her and put her in shoulder ride which surprised her.
Max: you don't have to finish I get the picture.
He got up and put out the fire and grabbed his bagged sword and continued his way towards mistralton city while meloetta was hanging by his head she felt comfortable because max understood her feelings she was looking forward to what the future holds for them.
But max had two plans for the future find a Pokemon that breaks the dimensional barrier and protect meloetta from team rocket and he will do whatever it takes and he is willing to kill if it means protecting those he cares.
Note: for those who don't know max McKnight if you haven't read the stories max isn't a hero he is indifferent to killing others if they are monsters like mahito sukuna and joker and all other types of villains and I learn one thing thanks to mahito and other villains it's better to put them down than putting them away in prison and shout out to red hood and ghost rider the best anti heroes in all of fiction in my opinion🔥