...Huh. She didn't know there was somebody living here. But that's definitely a building. She can only see it because she's high above the ground, riding Rachis, but yes, in the dense forest around Lake Acuity is a lone structure, definitely artificial.
She steers Rachis, and the Pidgeot obeys.
They land neatly outside the tower, and she turns the handle on the front door curiously.
"You guys are pointy!" he protests, reaching out to gather them into his arms. "I love you, but I would rather love you one at a time."
"Poryporypory," they chorus, and he gives up with a laugh and hugs them some more. He hasn't noticed Bella yet.
Bella's approximately the sort of person you expect to invite herself into your house: obviously a trainer (five full, one empty Pokéballs on her belt; practical outfit decorated with designs of same; backpack; half a dozen gym badges pinned to one strap and her Ace Trainer guild pin attached to the other) but a cut above the usual hiker or backpacker who'd be likely to come through this area in a typical day. Her Pidgeot, sometime denizen of the empty Pokéball, is standing outside the door, looking very regal.
"...Ohhh, and I bet they're safe feral because as long as you're designing from scratch might as well put that in," nods Bella. She returns her Pidgeot to her Pokéball in a casual over-the-shoulder move. "Makes sense. How come you're all the way out here? I wasn't expecting habitation for miles around."
"Poryporypory!"
Tony sighs. "Guys."
The Porygon reluctantly unpile from him. Two of them scoot over to investigate Bella, bumping their angular noses lightly against her shins. The rest disperse as Tony gets to his feet and dusts himself off.
"Geographical pitfalls, what I should expect from the weather, any neat little hiding spots I might find Pokémon lurking in that would be easy to miss." Pause. "Also, if you are particularly unbusy and you've got anything that knows Dive, I'd like to peek at the bottom of the lake if my check of the surroundings doesn't turn up what I'm looking for, but that could easily be a bit much to ask and I can just poll the guild about a double-up if the answer's no."
He sits down at the de-Porygon'd desk and does something that calls up a three-dimensional holographic map of the lake area. It fills most of the large empty space in the middle of the room.
Some random kiddy trainers will battle her (truncated team list) just to see how an ace handles her Pokémon, but she can usually only pull out the stops against one of the Gym Leaders - there's two she hasn't gotten to yet - or other guild members. Sooner or later she'll sweep the Elite Four, but only when she's come up empty on all the leads in Sinnoh and wants internationally-recognized cred. (You beat anybody's Champ, you are good to go, here there anywhere.)
Presently he does stop.
"Hey!" Bella says. "I'm Bella Swanna. I'm gonna be around exploring the lake for a few days, introduced myself to your twin and the feral Porygon flock, he doesn't wanna match but he thinks you might?"
"I like Ace standard all-out one-place full-team, with advance switch-trucing so people aren't showing off their encyclopedic knowledge of types all day wearing out the hinges on their Pokéballs. If you've got four full-team'd hardly be fair. So if you don't care, the only question is what've you got and how do we avoid swapping in an eternal cycle against each other's type weaknesses?"
"Noooooone?" Zag says, sniffing the air and inspecting Sherlock.
"You're gonna knock his Dragonair around, Zag," says Bella. (She can't really understand what Zag says, but she can make good guesses.)
"Linlin."
As they cross the ground floor, Tony is still working at that same desk, although he's shut down the map display. The Porygon are nosing into various corners of the room; several of them zoom up to Sherlock as soon as they spot him, and he gives each one a pat on the head before continuing.
But she isn't smug for long; while Zag gets in the first hit, the Dragonair's first attack is one that does no direct damage but leaves him bewildered. He bites his own forefoot and scratches his own side - taking attacks all the while - before he gets another Ice Beam in. Said attack leaves the Dragonair hanging on to consciousness by a thread - and she does lose consciousness - by -
"Oh, that is irritating," sighs Bella as she naps and her various signs of damage disappear -
"I hate it when people do that," she exclaims, half-laughing, when the opposing Pokémon sleep-eats a berry and opens her eyes again.
Zag's in poor shape, due to his early misfortunes.
"Well," Bella says, "you can only do that once without wasting time -" and she pulls out a potion bottle, spritzes Zag, and says, "Snap out of it."
(Potions fix damage, but not mental scrambling, and saying "snap out of it" doesn't actually help - confusion is Bella's least favorite status problem and she has rigorously tested unorthodox methods of handling it with a cavefull of Goddam Zubats - but it makes her feel better. It is a complete coincidence that Zag does choose this moment to snap out of it.)
Two Ice Beams later, these consecutive and funneled through Zag's Metronome to give the second an added boost, the Dragonair is done for.
Zag's not looking so great, though.
"Who's next?" Bella asks.
Electric types are quick, Zebstrika no exception, and Dusk takes a hit after she tells him to Dig but before he's gotten safely underground.
The hit is -
"You're one of those, no straight-up power contests for you," she snorts, when Watson returns to his Pokéball of his own accord after Volt Switch and replaces himself with the Porygon-Z.
Dusk and the Porygon-Z "You" have a prolonged fight; You knows two offensive moves, one of which Sherlock knows better to use against a Dark type, and they're fighting defensively with plenty of uses of Conversion 2 to turn Dusk's attacks ineffective. Fortunately for Bella, no two attacks Dusk knows are the same type; if You turns psychic-type in response to Psychic, then next turn it gets a Faint Attack upside the head, and if it turns steel-type in response to that, she can order a Dig. Inconveniently for Bella, You also knows Recover. She doesn't resort to Dig after all, because You could recover more damage than the attack would do in the added span of time.
And of course it's getting in the occasional Tri-Attack through all this, and Dusk does not know Recover. Dusk faints, after Sherlock judges correctly that You can finish the Umbreon off in one more hit rather than spending the time on another recovery.
"You're good," Bella says as she releases Fireflower in Dusk's place.
"No more switching," says Bella. "Any more tricky bits up this one's sleeve?"
It's close. The Rapidash wins.
"Good match," approves Bella, patting Fireflower's burning mane affectionately and then returning her to her Pokéball. "I almost lost, that hasn't happened in a while without me taking massive handicaps."
"To see if I can replicate it. I have to display a creditable effort towards beating the region Champ to remain a member of the Ace Trainers in good standing, but my endgame looks more professorial than like retiring to a little off-league gym on an island," she laughs. "Beating the Champ would just be for the international passport that sort of accomplishment buys; I'd be able to go anywhere."
The Skarmory isn't as hard-hitting as some 'mon Bella's fought and beaten, but none of Rachis's attacks do more than lightly dent it; damn those Steel defenses and the fact that Fireflower and Zag are out of the game. Fortunately, Rachis - like everyone else on this half of Bella's team, as it happens - knows a healing move. And Spike the Skarmory does not. Bella settles in for the long haul. As an added bonus, using Roost leaves Rachis not-technically-Flying long enough to drastically cut the value of each Rockslide.
Ultimately, patience and roosting wins over solid defense - and Rachis knows one gotcha, of sorts. Bella sends her Pidgeot high into the sky, preparing to divebomb the Skarmory with Fly - the Skarmory predictably follows suit so as not to be there - and the Fly does not hit - but the ensuing Twister does. Dragon-type isn't any more effective against a Skarmory than Flying-type, but it can hit a nigh-invulnerable 'mon - and do double damage when it does.
Spike spirals dizzily to the ground, and faints.
"Nice, Rachis," Bella tells her Pidgeot approvingly.
Out comes Juu the Mienshao. This is not a great type combination on Bella's end. But it's not going to be overwhelmingly to Sherlock's advantage either, because - as Spike so deftly proved moments ago - Flying types don't like rock. And Juu knows from rock. Bella can't afford to have Juu throwing type-ineffectual Drain Punches to heal herself by tiny increments, and half the Stone Edges miss when Candle's preparing to Fly, but Juu's the more experienced 'mon. Juu hangs on by a thread at the end. Candle faints.
Sherlock has no choice but to send out his Ditto, Mycroft, next. It's a Ditto, so Bella knows exactly what it's going to do, but before it changes shape - and type - Juu throws a Drain Punch. Fighting versus Normal, it's almost surprising that it's not a one-hit knockout of Mycroft. Juu looks better at the end of it. Then, Mycroft looks like Juu. And the Ditto can Drain Punch, too. They wind up in a fistfight. Juu loses.
Unfortunately for Bella, Branch the Sawsbuck has a Normal secondary type and Mycroft is now Fighting. Bella has heard that some Ditto can only be something they're looking right at. This one apparently does not have that handicap. At least Juu softened it up, because Mycroft has Drain Punch and Branch has a problem.
But Branch is not offensively handicapped against a Mienshao-transformed Ditto, and he holds a Big Root, that makes his every Horn Leech significantly better at restoring what he loses. The Pokémon end their battle in a healing-attack brawl. Branch's advantage beats Mycroft's.
"I guess that makes sense." Since her best guess is that they stopped coming after the absent parents died, she doesn't pry further. "Well, I really appreciate the place to stay. I camp 'cause I have to, I don't actually like it. When I'm in spitting distance of towns I'll fly an hour from my lead site to stay in a guild hostel or a Pokémon center."