“Nooo! Woopie!!!” Megumi cried.

“What’s wrong, Megu?!” The girl’s father rushed over, just in time to see a Quagsire jump into the freezing waters with a Pokedoll clutched in its hands.

It was the second day, and Nina and her friends were back near Blue Moon Falls to play with the local Pokemon while they awaited nightfall.

The man sighed in helplessness. “It can’t be helped, I’ll buy you a new one later at the Ranger outpost.”

“Noooo! I want Woopie!” The girl cried, unyielding in her demand.

“What happened?” Nina asked, as she approached. And after learning of the situation, she looked down at the two Pokemon surrounding the young girl in admonishment. “Poppy… Lynxie… Didn’t I tell you two to look after Megumi?”

Then with a sigh, she bent down to pull the girl into a hug. “Cheer up, Megumi. How about this? Wanna go on a treasure hunt?”

Megumi sniffled and looked at the older girl in confusion. “Treasure… hunt?”

In lieu of a reply, Nina turned to address her Popplio. “Hey Poppy, remember what that Quagsire looked like? Do you think you can go track it down for us, buddy.”

“Po-po!” Poppy did a little back flip in acknowledgement and then splashed into the water to do precisely that.

“But Nina, that water is freezing!” Kerry chimed in protest, only to receive a reassuring smile from the girl as she blew into her whistle, to summon a mighty Dragonite from the sky.

“Megumi can ride on Nitey’s back while Espy shields her. In the meantime, I’m gonna go change into my wetsuit. Wanna come with?” 

Kerry gave her friend a vehement shake of the head, eliciting an amused chuckle from the girl.

Nina was someone who spent years in the Cerulean Gym, often in its chilly pool waters and freezing Pokemon exhibits. So such temperatures, while unpleasant, weren't particularly daunting to her. Thus, Nina and Megumi dove into the lake water while the little girl’s father and Kerry stayed on land, to call for help if it came down to it.

“Don’t worry, sir. I’ll take good care of your daughter for you,” said the confident Gym Trainer as she submerged into the water.

***

Megumi held on tight to the fuzzy pink Espeon as the big strong Dragonite dove into the water.

At first she was scared that she might drown, so she closed her eyes tight in anticipation. But after a loud splash and a strained cry from the Espeon, the girl steadily opened her eyes, realizing that the air around her remained unchanged.

“Wow…” The little girl awed. Beneath the waters, a magical new world opened up before her.

Like glistening jewels in the lake, a squadron of Woopers swam up, curiously circling the pink bubble she was in. Megumi tried to reach out and touch them, only to be yoinked back by the grumpy Espeon who told her to stay put.

Megumi made a pouty little face, but soon got distracted again by a bunch of Quagsires playing in the water, throwing a Shellder back and forth like it was a frisbee. And underneath, there was another group of Woopers who were using a sad looking Magikarp as a ball, bouncing it around with their tails. Until the pretty big sis who dove in with her swam over and scolded the Woopers, lovingly caressing the Magikarp before letting it go.

The big sis then swam up to Megumi’s bubble and gave it a little knock and a wink, looking super cool in her colorful wetsuit and her mouth breather thingy. “I wanna be cool like her one day…” The girl pined.

Then with a series of gestures, the older girl told her Dragonite to lead the way as they searched around for her cute little Popplio. Though strangely, it seemed to be the fuzzy Espeon who was steering them as she bossed the big Dragon around.

Megumi giggled. “Silly Espy, you can’t even swim. How are you supposed to know where Poppy is?” The little girl mused, eliciting an annoyed look from the Pokemon in return.

It didn’t take long to find the funny little Popplio, because he was waiting for them near a cave that was behind some really swirly and foamy water. The Popplio was spinning around and doing little tricks to call for his trainer’s attention. 

“We’re directly beneath the waterfall right now.” A familiar voice echoed in her head, causing Megumi to jolt in surprise, only to calm down again when a warm and reassuring feeling washed over her head. Almost like the smell of the wicker basket she liked to hide in when her mother was out taking in the laundry — like sunshine and warm hugs.

However, Megumi almost cried out in distress again when she saw the big sis get swept up in the swirly waters, only to relax and gasp in awe once she saw how effortlessly Nina was swishing and dancing around, playfully doing tricks with Poppy by her side. It was almost like the girl was a Water Pokemon herself.

“So cool…” The girl murmured. Her awe then turned to exuberant laughter as the girl’s Dragonite joined in on the dance as well, with Megumi on his back, zooming up and down and twisting all around like a roller coaster ride. Their little display even attracted the attention of the nearby Pokemon as Quagsires and Woopers alike joined in on the dance in the swirly waters.

After some time, when the cool big sis finally had enough fun, she giggled with bubbles spewing out of her mouthpiece and gestured for them to enter the cave.

***

The underwater cave hidden behind the turbulent waters of the base of Blue Moon Falls led to a fairly expansive cavern, one large enough to easily accommodate the massive bulk of Nitey with some space to spare.

Inside was a damp space lined with plenty of moss on the walls and mud on the ground — exactly the sort of environment favored by the Wooper line.

“Niite~” Nitey surfaced behind Nina, with a curious Megumi on his back. The sparkle in the little girl’s eyes intensified at the sight of all the shiny treasures hidden within the cavern; colorful Pokeballs intermixed with glass baubles, jewels, crystals and Berries. Each haphazardly placed in individual piles, presumably to demarcate the different collections of each Quagsire living here.

Nina whistled, feeling impressed by the hoard before her. “Gosh, these Quagsires are quite something huh?” She then turned towards the cute little Popplio by her side, eyes sparkling at all the shinies. The Quagsire hoard must have triggered the innate instincts of Poppy’s species.

The girl pulled the Popplio into a tight hug, to prevent the little seal from doing anything that might get them in trouble. “Do you think you can identify the Quagsire who took Megumi’s doll?” She asked, referring to the number of lazy blue blobs that were lounging around the space.

“Po?”

“Not sure, huh? It’s okay, you did great by leading us here.” Nina then turned towards Espy, who was casually levitating in the air, not wanting to get her paws dirty on the mud. “Espy, mind asking around with Poppy and Megumi to see if you can find the doll? I’ll let you negotiate the return, just try not to antagonize the local Pokemon too much, okay?”

“Es.” Espy replied with a proud huff and a mental pulse of affirmation as Nina handed Poppy over to Megumi. 

Meanwhile the girl and her Dragonite went looking around to satisfy their curiosity, casually picking up random little trinkets that caught their eyes for closer examination. After they got permission from the nearby Quagsire and complimented them on their haul, of course.

“This little guy likes to collect Pokeballs, huh?” Nina could see Ultra Balls, Net balls, Great Balls and so on, mixed in with the veritable mountain of regular Pokeballs, even some models that she’d never seen before.

“Hang on… Is this a…” Nina dug into the Pokeball pile, much to the Quagsire’s displeasure and extracted a peculiar looking Pokeball from the midst; a dark blue orb with pale blue lines etched onto the surface in a net-like pattern. To the side were four protruding yellow fins that formed a cross framing the central button.

“This is… a Beast Ball!”

Beast Balls were the only thing in the world that were capable of containing Ultra Beast. Regular Pokeballs that made use of dimensional tech just weren’t capable of holding the extra-dimensional beings. Any attempts to do so would just result in the Ultra Beast slipping out from the seams of the Pokeball, IF they were even willing to go into it in the first place, since they couldn’t even be forcefully sucked in.

At present, there was no way of obtaining Beast Balls in the open market. By all accounts, they were considered contraband that were highly regulated by the International Police. The justification being; Ultra Beast were dangerous creatures that should not be abused by careless humans.

“If I remember correctly, Uncle Ali told me last time that you couldn’t apply a Psychic signature to an Ultra Beast, nor tame them in a conventional way either. Not even with a Beast Ball.” The mind of an Ultra Beast was simply too much of an enigma to be restrained. Not that it was impossible, maybe in the future with a more advanced model of Beast Balls.

So in that sense, Interpol’s stance was justified. Didn’t stop the League from accusing them of attempting to monopolize the secrets of Ultra Beasts though.

“Say, would you be open to a trade?” Nina asked the Quagsire who, presumably, ‘found’ the Beast Ball. “This might be my only chance to get my hands on one of these…” There was still her Uncle Ali of course. But realistically, the low level inspector had nowhere enough authority to grant her one. Not in the near future anyway.

“Come to think of it, Unown are, by definition, Ultra Beasts aren’t they? So why do regular Pokeballs work on them then?”

Nina would have to run some tests on her own to find out. “Hmm… the Ruins of Alph are located in the vicinity of Violet City. Should I try to look for Celebi first or the Unown first? Decisions, decisions…”

“Quag.” Nina’s reverie was interrupted by a response from the Quagsire as it beckoned for Nina to follow.

The place she was led to was another pile of spherical treasures, with another smug looking Quagsire presiding over it.

“Quag!”

“Quaag!”

The two Quagsires faced off against each other, each posturing in contempt. Though it was clear that the second Quagsire had the edge as it gestured towards its pile, which was largely mundane, save for a gleaming Gold Nugget sitting at the top, like a shining topper above a Christmas tree.

“Quag! Quag!” The initial Quagsire cried in indignation as it looked towards Nina with a frown and gestured wildly at the Gold Nugget.

“Are you telling me you want to trade for a Gold Nugget?”

“Quag!” The Quagsire nodded, causing a pit to form in Nina’s stomach.

The girl sighed. “I mean I still have that extra Nugget that I won from Lilian. But…” Nina flipped open her Pokedex to check on the current market price of gold. “Roundabouts eight grand… its value has only appreciated since I got it.”

Nina was reluctant, but then again, eight thousand Pokedollars for a Beast Ball did seem fair. However, at the same time, she struggled to contain her stinginess. “Dammit, I’m starting to become more and more like Violet!” 

“Big sis! Big sis! I found Woopie!” Nina’s thoughts were once again interrupted. This time by Megumi, who ran up to her with an exuberant smile, prompting the older girl to commend her with genial head pats.

“Espy, do you think you can help me talk some sense into this Quagsire?” Nina pleaded, only to receive a mental wave of indifference in return. It seemed Espy was still a little hung up on her previous haggling session with the Quagsire that stole Megumi’s Pokedoll.

So with a helpless sigh, Nina agreed to the trade and invited the Quagsire to come back with them to complete the transaction. As a result, Nina spent the rest of the day mouth agape like a mindless zombie, still in denial over the lighter load in her backpack. And before she knew it, the full moon passed by in a flash, and it was now time for Nina and Kerry to head off again.

***

Author's note:

Imagine a hidden bazaar ran by Quagsires, mounds of treasures laid out on the ground, Nina and Nitey going around haggling and bartering for goods.

That was the original idea for this chapter. But I didn't want to spend 3 chapters on this little excursion so I cut it short. I'll still reusue the idea somewhere down the line though.

Matter of fact, I tried to remove as many diversions as possible in Part 3. There's a lot of places that needs going and a lot of plotpoints to hit. I didn't want to bog the pacing down too much.