#I’m only using purple pokémon because narrowing down the pokémon I can use helps with the open games I feel like also I think the pokedex
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ALRIGHT. First selfship piece is going UP. I got some big inspiration from @amethystsoda and @dongiovannaswife so like... love you guys 💖💖 no stinky vampire man... yet. Hoping to get the next part up within the next week.
Dust in the Wind—Part 1
It had been a while since Jotaro had been to the Dallas Speedwagon Foundation Headquarters, and it had since moved locations to outside downtown… somewhere.
It was a damn pain if you asked him.
Dallas was a mess to move around in; you were better off on foot, since there were so many one-way streets. His grandfather had explained, the first time that he had brought his grandson to the Foundation in Dallas, that it was probably because car size in America outgrew the more narrow streets that Dallas began with. Jotaro himself didn't really understand it until he saw for himself: Texans loved big cars. There was an astonishing amount of pick up trucks here, compared to other places he'd been.
He wasn't very familiar with Texas, he had to admit. He'd visited Galveston and Corpus Christi more often for marine work, though he had to admit to himself that they weren't his favorite places in terms of the ocean; this side of the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico tended to have a lot of sediment in its water. When he stayed at a house in a place called Crystal Beach for a while, he remembered how searching for hermit crabs with a colleague was rather annoying due to the brown murkiness of the water.
The houses on stilts were quite novel, though.
...That was enough reminiscing.
Jotaro huffed, figuring he could just go to the old location to ask for assistance—it was still being used by the Foundation despite it not being the main building anymore—when a bright voice floated through the air.
"Hey, mom. Y'got everything?"
"Yes, but it's a lot, you know, they turned in projects… can you open the trunk?"
"'Course, no problem. Gimme a sec…"
Jotaro looked up from his map, seeing a young woman helping her mother begin to load several large rolled up cardboard tubes into the back seat of a small blue hatchback.
The woman was dressed comfortably, a boon in the blossoming Texas heat, with a black wide-brimmed hat and minty-colored sunglasses and a lazy smile on her face. She couldn't have been more than an inch over five feet, and her wavy purple hair fluttered in the wind. What didn't look conducive to staying cool were the dark, full-length leggings under her jean shorts or the knee-length, full sleeve knit cardigan, but he knew what it felt like to have a comfort jacket. Her mother, several inches taller than her, was well (albeit colorfully) dressed with a lanyard and ID swinging around her neck, and a mobile folding cart filled with books, folders, and cardboard tubes. The mother's hair, a light silvery-blonde that fell around her shoulders, made Jotaro wonder if they were actually related, but he admitted to himself that stranger things do happen, and hair dye did exist.
Jotaro hummed to himself and looked back at the map as a gust of wind between the tall buildings sent papers scattering, the mother crying out in dismay.
"Sunnie–!!"
"Don't worry mom, I got it."
Jotaro watched the paper of his map flutter suddenly and unexpectedly, swooping in the opposite direction that it had been previously. It was such a sudden change that Jotaro looked back up from the map, only to see all the papers floating through the air to finally gather into the young woman's outstretched hand.
"I'll never ever understand how you can do that," the mother said, her voice equal parts thankfulness and bafflement, "And I don't think I ever will."
"You keep saying that, y'know," her daughter laughed, easily hefting the heavy folding cart into the trunk of her car.
"I know!! But it's true, it's like magic! But real!!"
Jotaro focused his gaze on the young woman.
Stand users are drawn to each other.
When the two women were nearly finished loading all of the mother's things into the car, he approached them, trying to relax his intense demeanor as much as possible. The woman's mother reminded him a lot of his own, and he didn't want to frighten her.
"Excuse me," he asked, fishing around in a pocket inside his coat to pull out his notebook. The two women turned to look at him, the mother's eyebrows raising as she made an 'oooh' noise. Her daughter's expression, however, was completely unreadable behind her large sunglasses, but Jotaro felt her gaze. Her carefree attitude had suddenly disappeared, and he knew that she was likely sizing him up. He wondered if she, too, felt the same weird restlessness in her own chest. "I was wondering if you could tell me how to get here," he continued. Her mother leaned in to see the address written on the notebook's page, then lit up like a kid on Christmas morning.
"Sunnie! He's asking about the Speedwagon Foundation!"
Immediately, the daughter seemed to relax, looking at the page as well. "Oh, no shit?" After another second, her eyebrows rose above her sunglasses. "Oh! No shit!!"
"You know of it?" Jotaro asked, putting the notebook back into the chest pocket.
"Know of it? I'm heading there, after I drop mom back off at the house," the younger woman laughed, extending her arm for a handshake. "I'm Sunnie Green, recently employed by the Foundation. Good to meet you, Mr…?"
"Jotaro Kujo," he replied, accepting the shake and subsequently drowning her small hand in his own. Her shake was strong and firm and confident in a pleasantly unexpected way.
The second he said his name, though, a wry grin broke out on her face.
"No fuckin' way," Sunnie said, surprised, "I have heard some stories. Good to meet you in the flesh. Foundation's been expecting you."
Jotaro grunted. He knew that after his 'trip' to Egypt all those years ago, people at the Foundation liked to gossip about him, and he had hoped that those tales and rumors had died down, but it seemed that they'd persisted. He wondered if they'd only gotten more wild with time. "Well. That aside, if you could point me in the right direction, it would be much appreciated."
"Well, uh, it's not quite in Dallas anymore? It's a bit away from here, so uh…" Sunnie trailed off, her face scrunching up in thought.
"Sunnie," her mom stage-whispered, "Sunnie, you should drive him there."
"Huh-whaa?" Sunnie looked at her mom, eyes wide, then nodded like a lightbulb went off over her head, crossing her arms and grinning, "Yeah!! Yeah, that just makes sense. That makes so much sense!!"
"That won't be necessary–" Jotaro began, but Sunnie shot him a confident grin.
"Don't be silly! This is the perfect solution. It's late in the day, getting a taxi or rideshare there will cost you money you don't need to spend, I mean come on. I'm right here, dude. I gotcha." The smaller woman laughed and put the final bag of papers in the trunk of her car, shutting the door. "I'm not taking no for an answer. And mom?" she looked at her mom expectantly, who smiled widely.
"I'll sit in the back!" She beamed before looking back up at Jotaro, "That way you don't have to sit with all the projects."
Without giving him the chance to offer otherwise, Mrs. Green made her way to the back seat, opening the door and getting in. Jotaro breathed a quiet sigh, gathering himself before he walked to the front passenger's door and opened it. He did not miss Sunnie's triumphant smirk before he ducked inside. To his surprise, it was actually roomy inside the small car. At least, roomy enough to be comfortable for him. There was some music softly playing over the speakers and a water bottle in one of the cupholders, and dangling off of the rearview mirror were some small pom poms and repurposed cell phone charms, several of them Pokémon. In a little storage area under the main console, he saw a lanyard with an ID decorated with the Speedwagon Foundation logo on it.
Sunnie got in the car as well, buckling up and shifting out of park, turning smoothly into the street when it was safe.
"I'm excited for you to go to the new Foundation Headquarters, Mr. Kujo," Mrs. Green chirped, hands patting her bright red jeans excitedly, "Some of my former students helped decorate the interior! I'm very proud of their work."
"Mom's an interior design professor," Sunnie laughed, "Used to get hired for private homes and hospitals and stuff. There was that one home on White Rock with the spiral staircase? Fucking dope."
"I still talk to them," her mom said airily, "Sometimes I stop by for cookies."
Jotaro didn't quite know how to respond. The two women were very open and friendly and it was making him feel… strange. Was it just a Texan thing in general? Joseph had once mentioned 'Southern Hospitality'. Then again, who could say? The old man liked to talk for the sake of talking sometimes.
He caught a minute glance from Sunnie, who then leaned her head back, a lazy grin on her face.
"So mom, what're all those projects in the back?" She asked, "No balsa wood models this time? That was a nightmare to transport."
"But those were group projects and they were light weight! These plans are deceptively heavy and there are so many–"
As Carol rambled on about the projects sitting around her, Jotaro found himself happy that Sunnie seemingly sensed his discomfort and acted on his behalf to divert her mother's attention. He zoned out, his mind stuck on the impending meeting—one that he had never imagined he would have to have, and one that was admittedly making him feel a little sick in his stomach.
The red brick house they arrived at was in a quiet little subdivision about 40 minutes in traffic away from Downtown Dallas, lined with large trees and with a nice pond. The houses were all two stories, most driveways accessible from the street, and the summer warmth and ample sunshine had the lawns dotted with flowers of many colors. Sunnie parked the car in front of the pebbled sidewalk to the house, and the large dark blue front door opened. A salt-and-pepper haired man with a moustache walked out, wearing an old shirt and jeans and carrying a duffle bag. Sunnie and Mrs. Green got out of the car, and Jotaro decided to get out as well.
The man, presumably Mr. Green, seemed surprised. "I doubt one of your students turned him in," he laughed nonetheless. Mrs. Green giggled.
"No, no! He's with the Foundation!" Mrs. Green explained, and her husband rolled his eyes.
"I was kidding, Carol," he said, voice deadpan. Sunnie snickered.
"We found him looking for the new campus downtown, so I offered to take him there. Speaking of, we gotta get this stuff outta the Spaceship so we can head out," Sunnie turned to Jotaro, "This won't take too long–"
"I'll help," he told her, "Least I can do."
Sunnie paused, pursed her lips, and nodded.
With four sets of hands, unloading took no time at all, but Jotaro once again noted that Sunnie seemed stronger than her smaller size let on. At the end of it, her dad handed her the duffle bag, which she tossed in the back seat.
"See you in a few days," she said, hugging her parents, "Don't get too wild without me around."
"Darn. We'll have to cancel that crazy party," her dad grinned, and she smacked him on the arm.
Jotaro got back into the car with Sunnie, and she drove them out of the subdivision.
"…Do you live with your parents?" Jotaro asked, a sudden burst of curiosity getting the better of him. Sunnie looked at him out of the corner of her eye for a brief second, then turned her gaze back to the road as she flipped on her turn signal.
"I left my husband recently," she said, smoothly turning onto the service road, and Jotaro suddenly felt incredibly awkward, "Got out of the apartment as fast as I could. Grabbed a few things, said goodbye to the dog, and fucking split. It was really sudden, and since I don't have that much money to my name and my husband currently is in control of my finances, living with my parents is easier. I'm actually in my childhood room right now, when I stay at the house." She laughed dryly, merging onto the turnpike.
"Mm," Jotaro simply responded, and Sunnie laughed.
"It's not weird, dude, come on. Chill," she said, passing a particularly large eighteen wheeler and switching two lanes to the left, "I mean, it's kinda weird. But it's fine. I don't mind. I've heard a lot about you from some of the other employees already, I think it's fair that you know about me, if just a little." She looked at him briefly, eyes twinkling. "You're kind of a hot topic at the Foundation, you know."
Jotaro shifted in his seat and looked out his window.
"Which brings me to an important point," she continued, "I know why you're here."
Immediately, he looked back at her, eyes narrowing. That was supposed to be need-to-know information.
"I'm a Liaison for the Speedwagon Foundation. That's my official title, but I have a very specific job, and he is why you're here."
"You mean you–"
"Yes, and I'm aware of your history with him. Well, with the one from here." Her finger tapped the steering wheel pointedly. "I know you don't like him, that you have reason to not like him, and I know you won't like this one. But I'm imploring you not to start shit with him when you see him, okay? I've told him not to start shit with you so, you know, if you would be so kind."
Jotaro audibly gritted his teeth. This was just his fucking luck, running into that bastard's babysitter. "What makes you think he'd listen to you?" He growled.
"I don't know? He's been cool with me so far." She snorted. "I mean, he's an absolute piece of work, but it's been alright. No worse than teaching a class full of preschoolers can get on a bad day, but I did have to… establish that I can take care of myself against him."
"And how did you do that?"
"I stole his air," she said simply, "Made it impossible for him to breathe."
"Have you ever done that before? To someone else."
Her mouth fidgeted, eyes unreadable. They passed under the tollway in silence, broken by soft, ghastly wind chimes as a shimmering turquoise hand with a swirling wing shape on the wrist partially manifested on her shoulder, squeezing lightly before vanishing.
"You'll have to buy me a few drinks before I talk about that." Her voice was short, clipped. "I'm sure you have similar unlockable content you don't talk about otherwise."
It was a weird way to put it, but she was right. He did.
So he dropped the subject, looking back out the window.
"By the way, Catherine—Mrs. Gupta, rather—is here today, too," she said, tone easily switching from icy and guarded to light and airy, "She's the Regional COO, though I'm sure you know that. I'm told that she's the one who contacted you, after all."
Jotaro did not feel like answering. He didn't know what to say.
Sunnie merely glanced at him again, grinned to herself, and kept driving.
After Sunnie showed her credentials and pulled through the gated entrance of the new Dallas Speedwagon Foundation HQ, Jotaro let his eyebrows raise in surprise.
The previous location, having been built when Robert E. O. Speedwagon himself had struck black gold in Texas, was (while large) old, and it showed in its architecture and the relative closeness of the buildings. This, however, was a sprawling, modern campus with green spaces and fountains galore.
"We've got seven buildings here, but we'll be heading to the main one. Explore later if you'd like," Sunnie explained easily, searching for a parking spot. "I may be a… honestly kind of critical Subject Liaison, but I still don't have a dedicated parking space. That's fine, however," She lifted her finger and grinned, the sound of windchimes clinking in the air as her Stand fully manifested: lithe, vaguely robotic, feminine, and lined with light turquoise and shimmery silver. The face was mostly featureless and smooth like a plain mask, save for two large and sleek wing-like shapes on the sides, and two calculating but blank amber eyes. "We'll have her take care of this for us."
The Stand wiggled its fingers excitedly, then zoomed out of the roof of the car, unimpeded by the physical barrier. Jotaro watched, blank faced, then asked what could have been considered a very personal question.
"What's it's range?"
"Dust in the Wind's most powerful up to about six to nine feet from me, but she can and will travel quite far." That's… two to three meters, Jotaro translated in his head. "The further she gets, the less effective she is, but she's curious. She likes looking for things."
Jotaro huffed out the barest hint of a chuckle, remembering his time in jail before his trip to Egypt—how Star Platinum had brought him toys, beer, and reading materials in an attempt to placate him.
"I thought up this little tactic in college, since parking was shit there. It was cut-throat, honestly, so Windy helped scope out all the good spots." The Stand swooped down in front of the car and began nodding and pointing, motioning for them to follow. "Oh fuck yeah, it's a good one," Sunnie said happily before following as her Stand danced through the air in front of them, gracefully carving through the air. "She's playful. That's how I, uh, originally met… you know."
Jotaro looked at her, slightly confused. "Your Stand found him?"
She nodded, rounding a row of cars. "You know that weird feeling we got when we saw each other? How Stand users just kind of… know when other Stand users are around? I felt that when I first came here. She immediately jumped out and disappeared to find the source and found, well, him. Then he demanded to see the user, and bam," She shrugged, keeping one hand on the steering wheel, "We met."
Jotaro found himself grimacing at the mention of that man demanding anything and getting it. That piece of shit didn't deserve fuck all, in his opinion.
"Ah! There," Sunnie mumbled, pulling into a spot a row away from the front sidewalk. "She was right, it is good."
As she turned off the car and they both stepped out, Windy flew back to her user, nuzzling her face and disappearing. Sunnie grabbed her backpack and duffle bag from the backseat and they headed down the large sidewalk, lined with magnolias and sparkling water features.
"The old Speedwagon Foundation buildings are actually currently used for housing… supernatural objects. Like Stands tethered to items, fragments of pillars… there's this weird broken sword there that apparently possesses people, but when it does it just begs to be fixed," Sunnie rambled, shoving a hand in her long cardigan's pocket. Jotaro had to catch a breath, recalling that fight where Polnareff had indeed been possessed. That thing was here now? "This facility does a lot of R&D, field agent training, the like. Dallas has a lot of big companies around so they have some good deals, like with TI and stuff."
"You know a lot for someone who hasn't even been here for four months," Jotaro mumbled, glaring at the small woman. She glanced at him with a lazy smirk, the frog bell on her decorated backpack jingling softly as she walked next to him.
"I actually used to be in politics. Handled VAN data in my last campaign, but my strong suit was research. Following the money, making connections, y'know, all that mess," she said, tone light, "I know my way around things. Donor lists, requesting things under the FOIA, the like. I wanted to get a good picture of the Foundation before I thought about working here. And the rumors about their involvement in… supernatural matters interested me."
They walked through the large sliding glass doors into a cooled, busy lobby, shiny and sleek and new. Reflective surfaces, swooping centerpieces, statement greenery… it was impressive. What Jotaro did not appreciate was the eyes he felt on him the second he had walked in and the whispers that he knew were dancing around.
"Oh, Miss Green?" a receptionist pipped up upon seeing her, "And Dr. Kujo, oh!" The young man quickly patted down his curly chestnut hair, "I wasn't expecting you to–a-arrive together, huh. Well, Mrs. Gupta is waiting for you."
"Thanks, Mikel," Sunnie smiled, waltzing past the desk and towards a central elevator. Jotaro nodded his head slightly to the nervous young man as he continued to follow the smaller woman, stepping into the elevator. Sunnie leaned down (she didn't have to go too far) for a retina and thumb print scan, and the doors closed, the elevator smoothly starting up. They rode in silence, until the doors opened to a series of sterile white hallways.
"We're well underground, so you know," Sunnie mentioned as they began walking again. "It's easier to keep him down here with no threat of sunlight. The trick is that these lights outside his suite have a bit of UV in them. Sort of like how they keep the Pillar Man in D.C.," she informed him as they took a left, walking towards a large white double door. "Remember," she said pointedly, "No fights."
She leaned in for another eye and hand scan, and they passed through a short hall and through another sliding double door.
The first thing Jotaro saw in this more lavishly designed room was a tall, lithe, dark skinned woman with close-shaven hair wearing a golden pencil skirt and a deep forest green satin blouse, and stilettos that easily brought her close to his own height. Her expensive-looking gold jewelry and hoop earrings seemed to glitter as she turned her head towards the door, and her glossy dark red lips split into a dazzling grin.
"Sunnie! I see you've brought our guest," she said in a low voice like honey, lightly accented and melodic.
"Yep! I'm surprised he fit in my car," the smaller woman chirped as she walked into the room, "You didn't mention how tall he is."
The woman held out a well manicured hand, which Jotaro shook. "My name is Catherine Gupta. I became the regional COO of the Dallas branch of the Speedwagon Foundation a few months ago. It's good to meet you, Dr. Kujo."
"Call me Jotaro," he said, glowering at the door beyond them, "I'm assuming that's where he is?"
Mrs. Gupta nodded. "These newer facilities have several suites, some aboveground, some underground, for various purposes, if needed," she said, "When he came to us, it just made sense to stick him down here, where he is both protected and contained."
"Throwing him in a blender would be preferable," Jotaro grumbled, and Mrs. Gupta laughed lightly.
"Yes, yes, I'm aware of the Joestars' history with him," she said, shaking her head a bit, "The Foundation has extensive files on what happened in Britain all those years ago, as well as what you and your group went through. I've reviewed all of these multiple times to understand the situation fully."
"Well if that's the case, why the hell was I only recently informed of… this??" He gestured to the door beyond them, far past trying to hide the venomous rumble in his voice.
She pursed her full lips, "I wanted to tell you sooner, and believe me, I did everything in my power to convince my then-higher ups to let you know, but they were determined to keep it a secret from you and any other members of the Joestar bloodline. I felt that keeping it from you, however, was a moral failing. So I simply took the power I needed to make this happen."
He had to admit, he was impressed. She had said it so matter-of-factly that one might mistake it for an easy task, but he was aware that it almost definitely wasn't. The roiling rage he felt building inside his chest simply from being in proximity to that piece of shit subsided somewhat. "You have my thanks, then," he said quietly, "Does the Don know?"
Having been quiet up until that point, Sunnie shifted and the little frog shaped bell charm jingled, her head cocking to the side curiously. Jotaro took this to mean that she was unaware of his family tree.
"I'm still working on clearing that. I'm sure you're aware that there are a few more hoops to jump through when it comes to navigating our relationship with Passione," Mrs. Gupta chuckled. Hearing the name of the infamous Italian mafia, Sunnie's eyes blew wide and she covered her mouth slightly to whisper, 'yooooooo, what the shit, my dude', before Mrs. Gupta shot her a knowing smirk. "You would have found out soon enough, Sunnie. Just keep it secret for now, especially from him," she looked in the door's direction, and the shorter woman nodded enthusiastically.
"You got it, boss," she said, grinning widely, "Is… is the Don of Passione is a Joestar?"
"Indeed he is," Mrs. Gupta nodded, and Sunnie nearly flailed, whisper-shouting 'yo what the SHIT' again, causing the taller woman to laugh, "Though, I'll let you in on that later."
"Dope," Sunnie giggled, before noticing a tupperware box on one of the tables. "Oh～? And this is?"
"Murgh makhani from Janpreet. He made extra," Mrs. Gupta said warmly, before shooting Jotaro a glance. "My husband," she explained as an afterthought.
"FUCK yeah, tell him I say thanks," Sunnie giggled.
"Will do."
Jotaro had mostly tuned the two women out, however; he was staring at the door, glowering. Mrs. Gupta and Sunnie shared a glance.
"Welllll, I know you don't like him, but here we go. Time to face the music, I guess?" Sunnie said as she turned, her long cardigan following behind her as she nodded her head towards the door.
Mrs. Gupta raised an eyebrow at Jotaro, gesturing for him to go before her. He took a breath and turned to the door, steeling his soul and narrowing his eyes.
It was time to face Dio.
ゴゴゴゴゴ...
(Part 2)
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Pokémon: the Dark Circuit (aka Vanguard Descends season 2)
Chapter 6 Limit Break
Aichi’s current team
Level 81 Wingal (Lycanroc (dusk)) rock
Moves:
Stealth rock
Crunch
Stone edge
Play rough
Level 79 Llew (Golisopod) water/bug
Moves:
Sucker punch
Blizzard
Liquidation
First impression
Level 80 Gancelot (Lucario) fighting/steel
Moves:
Focus blast
Stone edge
Meteor mash
Dragon pulse
Level 86 Soul Saver (Haxorus) dragon
Moves:
Outrage
Iron tail
Dragon dance
Scale shot
Level 100 Alfred (Aegislash) ghost/steel
Moves:
Sacred sword
King’s shield
Iron head
Shadow Claw
Aichi felt a wave of nostalgia seeing Oliver. It hurt seeing him on the opposing side. He cared for him and didn’t want to hurt him. He hoped it could have been under better circumstances. 003v who he was pretty sure he was hallucinating had a smug grin on his face. Aichi was confused by this then he realized just how drained he was. 003v chuckled as he struggled.
“Y-you!”, Aichi thought, suddenly realizing the real reason 003v did that attack.
“Oh, you are far too naive Aichi. You thought I was just throwing some sort of tantrum. You should have known there was a method to my madness. Now, I will soon return completely.”, 003v said in his mind and Aichi paled.
Aichi swayed a bit in the air again, but this time because he felt sapped. Sweat dripped from his brow as he struggled to stay afloat. Oliver hastily flew over and caught him.
“Don’t worry I’ve got you.”, Oliver assured as he held Aichi in his arms.
Aichi’s fingers weakly twitched and his limbs felt like a massive weight had been placed on them.
“Looks like your not putting up much of a fight.”, Neve commented.
“I believe it’s because his energy got sucked away in this blast. He’s completely tapped now.”, the girl replied.
“Your right Rati.”, Raul replied.
Oliver tightened his arms securely, but not too tight around Aichi to make sure he wouldn’t fall.
“C-crap...not again...why am I so weak?”, Aichi thought, before he fainted the last thing he heard was 003v’s mocking laughter.
With the others…
“Haxorus! Haxorus! Haxorus! Haxorus! (Mommy’s in trouble I can feel it!)”, Soul Saver said worriedly.
Aichi’s Pokémon had just made it to the edge on Melemele island as they saw Yami, Kamui, and Anzu. They saw a strange figure they couldn’t make out from a far rising from where Groudon had fallen.
“Me and Gancelot will go get Aichi. You guys help out them if they need help.”, Alfred commanded.
“Lycanroc? Lycanroc? Lycanroc? Lycanroc? (Who does he think, he is our vice trainer?)”, Wingal questioned.
They ran up next to where the others were. Yami had out a Grimmsnarl, Hatterene, Excaviler, Drampa, and Cofagrigus. Kamui had out Buster, Mr.Invincible, Shout, Hatred Chaos alongside Tough Boy. This Grimmsnarl and Hatterene looked different perhaps a regional forms. His Grimmsnarl’s hair was less wild and it had something that looked like a pointed hat on it’s head. It’s hair was aligned in a way that looked almost like robes. It also had a tail that had on the end what looked like a scepter. The arm on his Hatterene’s hat looked like some sort of scepter as well and it’s hair was aligned differently making it look like robes. It also had a different hairstyle. The mysterious figure was revealed to be the boy but he looked different. He looked much taller and bulker like he was injected with steroids. His ponytails had broken and his hair was now messy like a long mane. He was covered in fur with a pattern resembling a leopard. He had goat-like horns on his head and a tail like a bovine. His hands and legs were like a bear’s. His hair had turned white and the patterns on his fur were green.
“D-did that kid just evolve?”, Kamui questioned incredulously, feeling like he was about to faint from all the insanity.
“Not exactly. I would compare it more to mega evolution or a gigantamax. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this. The last time we battled him he did this too.”, Yami explained.
“Yeah, and it’s bad news.”, Anzu added.
“Then I’ll just hit him with everything I’ve got.”, Kamui declared as he activated his mega bracelet, not only mega evolving Buster, but Hatred Chaos too.
“Prepare to die, Caterpies. Dying to the ultimate life form 004a is an honor for lower beings like yourselves especially using my limit break.”, the boy said menacingly in a deeper tone.
“00-Wait...he’s like Aichi then? Can Aichi do this too?”, Kamui questioned.
“I don’t know it’s possible.”, Anzu replied.
“Whoever shot that blast must have been strong. Do you think it was Aichi?”, Yugi asked now translucent like Yami before and people couldn’t see or hear him.
“It’s likely. Unless there’s another powerful legendary Pokémon around here.”, Yami replied.
Yami stared down 004a and tension gradually filled the air.
“I won’t fall for your little parlor tricks this time you petty magician.”, 004a said.
“I’m no magician. But I am a pharaoh.”, Yami replied, as he was illuminated by a golden light coming from his necklace.
004a grunted as he was hit by a powerful dark and fairy blast from his Grimmsnarl and Hatterene who were in perfect sync. The attack created a dust cloud. Anzu hastily grabbed Kamui’s hand pulling him back with his Pokémon following.
“Hey what’s going on?”, Kamui questioned, before gasping in shock as gigantamaxed and dynamaxed Pokémon towered above them.
“Haxorus! Haxorus! (More big Pokémon!)”, Soul Saver pointed out.
“Aren’t those Aichi’s Pokémon?!”, Kamui questioned as him and Anzu made their way over to them.
“Golisopod! (Yeah, that’s us!)”, Llew confirmed, forgetting they couldn’t understand him.
“Where’s Aichi then? Why doesn’t he have his Pokémon with him?”, Anzu asked.
004a jumped around as powerful max moves were shot at him. He ended up mid air. Kai, Misaki, and Jonouchi flew down towards where 004a was.
“Hey, Kai there’s one important thing I remembered about this mook when we fought him last. He’s weak to fire types.”, Jonouchi informed.
“Charizard! (Perfect!)”, Overlord replied.
“Then let’s bring down some flames then. Feel the power of Overlord’s eternal flame! Overlord use overheat!”, Kai ordered.
“That guy is so dramatic.”, Honda commented.
“Yeah, he’s almost as extra as Kaiba. Anyway, don’t let him outdo you Red Eyes use blast burn!”, Jonouchi said.
“Bridgette use fire blast!”, Kourin ordered.
“Dauntless use heat wave!”, Miwa ordered.
“Guardian use psychic.”, Misaki ordered.
The attacks collided against 004a midair who blocked as the attacks bombarded him. He growled in frustration as he roared causing the area around them to shake even the massive Pokémon stumbleda bit. Guardian caught Overlord, Red Eyes, Bridgette, and Dauntless before they hit the sea below with its psychic energy.
“Nice save.”, Jonouchi complimented.
“It’s nothing.”, Misaki replied.
“I am the latest in the line of Psyqualia users! Am the-“, 004a was cut off as Buster kicked him,
It didn’t do much, but it pissed him off.
“Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! I’ve heard that trash already. Can you say something that doesn’t make you sound like a generic villain?”, Kamui questioned.
“Why you!”, 004a growled as his eyes narrowed into slits and he charged at Kamui.
Soul Saver shot scales, Wingal shot sharp rocks, Llew shot storm of ice, Hatred Chaos shot a shadow ball, Tough Boy shot a horn, Mr. Invincible, Shout, and Buster charged at him swinging.
With Aichi…
“It’s time to return 003v home at last.”, Oliver said.
“Look out!”, Neve warned.
Oliver’s Garchomp hastily moved to swipe its fin. It’s fin clashed against Alfred being wielded by Gancelot. He had purple ghostly energy around him allowing him to float. Gancelot bashed Alfred’s shield into the Garchomp’s face. Oliver stumbled as Gancelot grabbed the unconscious Aichi putting him under his arm.
“Woah, how is that Lucario floating?!”, Rati questioned.
“I believe the Aegislash accompanying it is the culprit.”, Raul replied.
Neve’s Corvinknight caught Oliver as Gancelot and Alfred took this opportunity to run away with Aichi. Rati’s Mismagius caught Garchomp. They flew after him and were surprised at his speed in flight. Both Gancelot’s aura powers and Alfred’s ghostly powers were working in perfect sync to enhance each other.
“Sin use hurricane!”, Neve ordered.
“Fianna use thunderbolt!”, Rati ordered.
“Zodiac use fire blast!”, Raul ordered.
“Be careful so you don’t accidentally hit 003v.”, Oliver said.
Gancelot swiftly dodged the attacks, but there were a few close calls especially the fire blast. When the fire blast came Gancelot’s arm moved back on its own guided by Alfred to block.
“King’s shield!”, Alfred called out.
The attack was completely nullified upon impact and Zodiac seemed a bit weaker afterwards.
“Prominence Glare use dragon rush!”, Oliver ordered.
Prominence Glare shot itself at Gancelot with blinding speed. If it wasn’t for Alfred’s aid even with his resistance he’d be toast. Thankfully Alfred hastily pulled Gancelot out of the way. They struggled in the air catching the attention of the others flying. Prominence Glare was about to hit Gancelot before it was suddenly stopped by psychic energy then blasted by blue dragonic energy. The Quatre Knights looked to see Kai, Misaki, Kourin, and Miwa who had rushed to Aichi’s aid while Jonouchi helped the others.
“Who are these guys?”, Rati questioned.
“You don’t need to know.”, Kai said in a menacing tone as he gigantamaxed Overlord.
Gancelot jumped onto Overlord’s back with Kai.
“Gigantamax huh? So, you wanna play that game?”, Neve questioned, before gigantamaxing his own Pokémon.
“Oh boy this is gonna be tough.”, Miwa said, with a nervous chuckle.
The other Quatre Knights followed as Misaki and Kourin tried to help Gancelot get Aichi away.
“
With Yami and the others…
Streams of dark energy slammed into 004a. 004a sent storms of leaves and swiped at the smaller Pokémon. The non massive Pokémon were on the brink of fainting and the massive Pokémon’s energy was running out. 004a growled as Yami narrowly avoided getting hit by the rampaging boy being saved by his Grimmsnarl’s who got in front of him just becoming dynamaxed. In a moment of distraction his Hatterene came behind 004a and smacked him over the head with her scepter. Using the last amount of energy left in the necklace he could Yami shoot a shadow ball at 004a which nailed him in the chest while stunned. 004a fell over struggling to get back up.
While this was going on Aichi was set down and Kourin brought out Ashlei.
“Ashlei use heal pulse.”, Kourin ordered.
Ashlei sent healing waves at the unconscious Aichi.
In Aichi’s subconscious…
He found himself face to face with 003v again. Aichi tightened his fists while 003v just grinned confidently.
“There’s nothing you can do now you fake. No matter how much you growl at me that won’t change.”, 003v taunted.
“You! I won’t let you win! I won’t let you go around terrorizing the world as you like!”, Aichi replied resolutely.
“Terrorizing is such a strong word. I am simply leading the world into the correct direction.”, 003v replied, while gesturing with his hand.
“I refuse to believe that the direction Team Asteroid wants to lead the world into is right! No one who commits such heinous atrocities carelessly should be in charge of the world!”, Aichi replied, getting heated.
“As I said you don’t understand.”, 003v replied.
“What don’t I understand? Mom told me everything.”, Aichi questioned.
“She didn’t know everything. Things aren’t quite as they seem. As we continue to become one again that will become clear to you.”, 003v replied, he looked a bit different when he said that a bit more serious and without the intense malice he usually carried.
Aichi looked confused at this at 003v’s change in tone and vague message. Aichi froze something that seemed different about 003v. Wasn’t he just a complete lunatic just a few minutes ago? Though, he did reveal that to be a facade. He sounded more human and a bit more sane. Was that because of the merging or was it something else?
“I knew you’d be confused. With the information you’ve been given you have been lead to the conclusion Arceus wanted you to have.”, 003v continued.
Aichi raised his eyebrow as his confusion increased.
“What are you saying?”, Aichi asked.
“You're being manipulated. Like a sleeping slave by the will of a fickle god. It’s a bit more subtle so you would never realize you're being manipulated.”, 003v explained.
Aichi’s eyes widened in shock before shaking his head in denial.
“I’m not as evil as you believe. And Arceus isn’t as good as you believe.”, 003v continued.
Before he could say more Aichi woke up in reality. He looked up to see Misaki, Kamui, Anzu, and Soul Saver over him. The rest of his Pokémon along with the others faced the Quatre Knights. 004a was still struggling up. Aichi staggering up going by Yami, Kai, and Jonouchi.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t come with you. Leave now and we won’t have to battle.”, Aichi warned.
“You have to snap out of it 003v! Can’t you see your under Arceus’s spell?”, Oliver replied.
“I’m not doing any of this for Arceus. I’m doing this to protect my friends and loved ones. If Team Asteroid threatens them I’ll fight them!”, Aichi said, meeting Oliver’s gaze at the middle part.
Oliver said nothing, but had a concerned expression.
“I had a feeling it would come to this…”, Raul said as a Rotom flew to his side, but it didn’t attack.
The Rotom was shaped like a tv. The screen on it flared on revealing none other than Gin Gaillard. Aichi and the rest of our heroes gasped in shock to see the big boss. Aichi froze seeing his father. This was the first time he had seen him in a long time. He instantly recognized him and felt a strange wave of nostalgia rushing over him. He felt a strange spectrum of emotions seeing him love, fear, anger, sadness, pity, and much more swirling into his head making it spin.
“Father…”, he whispered unconsciously.
He felt part of him wanting to reach out to him. Yelling at him to stand by his side. He wanted to understand why his father went to such extremes and how he could justify it for his goal. He couldn’t help, but wonder about his connection to Arceus as the messiah. Was there something to what 003v said or was he simply playing mind games with him? He wasn’t quite sure. But, part of him felt like it wasn’t just a mind game.
“Hello son. It’s been a terribly long time since I’ve last seen you.”, Gin greeted in tender, something about his tone of voice put him at ease a bit.
#cardfight vanguard#Pokémon#Yugioh duel monsters#ygo dm#aichi sendou#Yami Yugi#Yugi muto#atem#toshiki kai#Misaki Tokura#Kamui katsuragi#kourin tatsunagi#miwa taishi#Jonouchi Katsuya#Joey wheeler#Honda Hiroto#tristan taylor#anzu mazaki#tea gardner#oliver gaillard#Neve philipe#Raul serra#Rati curi#Quatre Knights#christopher lo#lycanroc dusk form#golisopod#lucario#haxorus#my crappy writing
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Lost in Halloweenia! Ch5
Crosspost from ffnet and AO3.
Summary: It’s Halloween! Ash and the gang are living it up trick or treating when they stumble upon a strange house with some strange artifacts. What mysteries do they hold and…wait, who are those three lurking behind them?
Word Count: 2,297/27,343
Previous chapter here
Next chapter here
Chapter 5: When Black Cats Prowl and Pumpkins Gleam
With Togepi stolen by a ghostly duo working for the king of Halloweenia Ash and the gang don’t seem to stand a ghost of a chance of getting home in the less than two hours before midnight! And how shall we find out more about Team Rocket’s secret atta—
“Aaaaaah!”
…Why do I even bother?
“Please don’t hurt me!”
“Just avoid the face! And the hair! And the clothes!”
“Do whatevah you want to them; just don’t hurt Meowth!”
Jessie, James, and Meowth were crouched, cowering in fear as sharp leaves from the browning bushes fell down upon them. They had hid their bag of treasures behind them, but that was all the cover they’d managed to provide. However, their red-eyed assailant never touched them, leaving them to peer through their fingers as they took stock of the situation.
There before them was an Umbreon, tail swishing casually as she looked down on them with disdain.
“Are you through?” she asked.
“Um, I think so,” James offered.
“Wobbuffett!”
Suddenly, Wobbuffett emerged from Jessie’s PokéBall, saluting the sky dutifully. Jessie shook her head scornfully at it she returned it to her PokéBall. “Now we are.”
The hedges Team Rocket had chosen to hide in made a crude circle, closing them off from the castle and town, save for a small break in the branches that they had slipped through in the first place. They were close enough to the people of Halloweenia that they could hear every bit of the festival, but there was some semblance of privacy.
Save for the presence of their new intruder, of course.
The Umbreon began slinking around them in a circle, following the perimeter of the autumnal bushes. Her eyes never leaving their faces, as if daring them to try to get past her and out of their leafy cage. “My name’s Kitsume. What are yours?”
“Um, I’m James, this is Jessie, and this is Me—Ow!”
James fell back from Jessie’s attack, his head landing in the bushes. “You dimwit! Why in the world would you tell her our real names?”
“James, Jessie, and,” Kitsume turned her attention strictly to Meowth, beginning to sniff around him, “Meowth, I assume. Interesting costume ya got there. Except for the socks.”
Socks? Meowth looked down at his feet and saw that somehow without him noticing, his feet had turned a pale gray, almost white.
“Meowth, your tail too!” James exclaimed when he sat himself up from out of the bushes, rubbing at the red spot on his face.
Meowth turned around a few times, chasing his tail to get a good look at it before Jessie snatched it and put it right in front of his eyes so they crossed. “See?”
“Me-yowza!” Meowth exclaimed, terrified. “What’s goin’ on?”
Everyone turned to Kitsume, who just slinked over to Meowth. “Like I said; a nice costume.” She licked Meowth’s cheek—causing him to gain quite the hearty blush—and fluffed her tail against his fur. “Too nice.”
“Are you not gonna explain what’s going on with Meowth’s fur?” Jessie growled.
“Let’s just say I know illusions pretty well.” Her eyes snapped dramatically to Jessie and James. “And that’s a dead giveaway that this isn’t one.”
Jessie narrowed her eyes at Kitsume. “What do you mean?”
“You may have fooled everyone else so far, but I know this is no costume,” Kitsume stated. “So if this really is a light-Meowth, then that means that you guys are human.”
Jessie huffed, turning her nose up. “Of course we are.”
Kitsume looked at Jessie in surprise. “Wow, you really don’t know how much danger that puts you in. You do know that being human in this world can land you in jail, right?”
“J-Jail?!” James exclaimed.
Kitsume nodded gravely. “Yes. It’s a good thing I found you. I should probably disguise Meowth here so that no one suspects you.”
“Wait, so you’re telling us that no one is human in this world?” Jessie summarized.
“Have you seen any humans?”
Jessie, James, and Meowth thought back to the party. Maybe all those costumes hadn’t really been costumes at all…And maybe that gray-blue Meowth was what Meowth were really supposed to look like here…
Jessie and James turned to each other abruptly. “Meowth is turning into one of them!” they exclaimed.
Meowth, however, was in his own little world.
“I’d be a happy kitty if all Meowth looked like that…” Meowth said dazedly.
“Well, they do,” Kitsume responded, ignoring how Meowth was now drooling. “And you’re going to have to as well.”
“So you’ll help us out?” James asked, looking grateful. Jessie tried to take another swipe at him, but this time he managed to duck in time. “What was that for?”
But Jessie ignored him. Instead, she arched her brows at Kitsume. “What’s your price?”
Kitsume grinned at Jessie. “Smart girl. What other Pokémon do you have?”
“Why do you ask?”
Jessie could have sworn that she spotted Kitsume’s straight grin turn to a shifty smirk as she said, “You’ll see.”
Brock and Misty were following the peak of the King’s castle like it was the North Star. Except, unlike the North Star, it was pitch black and foreboding against the dark blue sky, rather than light and full of hope.
“D-Do you think that we should be trying to prepare for whatever lies ahead in that tower?” Brock asked, shivers of the cold October night getting to him.
“I don’t think we can prepare for anything in this wacky world,” Misty stated.
As she power-walked through town, she wasn’t cold, despite the far lesser amount of clothing she was wearing in comparison to Brock. Her anger was fueling her just fine.
“That is true. We don’t even know what people suspect we’re human or think we’re just wearing really good costumes.”
They hadn’t been out of town long, but it still was surprising to see that the party was raging on as much as ever. All of the residents of Halloweenia seemed to be having a grand old time without any need to sleep. Especially in comparison to Misty as she stomped through town, and Brock as he struggled to catch up.
Brock’s pace was slower, because he was taking the time to get a closer look at the inhabitants of Halloweenia. He was trying to see if he could spot any elements of their culture. Anything that could help them out, even if there was no surefire plan as to how to figure out how things worked in this world.
What Brock was most surprised to take note of was how the Halloweenia inhabitants interacted with each other. They seemed to move from group to group, getting along gregariously instead of sticking with friends like humans tended to do. Additionally, inter-species mingling seemed perfectly natural. The Halloween-people and Halloween-Pokémon seemed equally fond of each other. It was almost…admirable.
“Brock, you’re getting distracted!” Misty called gruffly behind her. “Catch up!”
“Coming!”
As Brock caught up, Misty continued at the same volume, ranting her anger away. “All I know is that as soon as we get into that castle, we’re gonna take out all of our Pokémon and challenge those Pokémon and even the king to the battle of their lives if we have to to get Togepi back!”
Or maybe rather than ranting her anger away, she was just fueling her own hate-fire.
“Uh, Misty, I’d lower my voice if I were you…”
Brock saw Misty falter for a second. “Is somebody watching us?”
“Well, no, not that I can tell…”
“Then I’ll talk as loudly as I want!”
“Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear—”
Both Brock and Misty screamed—Misty only slightly higher in pitch than Brock—scanning the area for whoever had sneaked up on them. There were Pokémon and strange creatures all around, but everyone was laughing it up, very much in their own world and not paying any attention to Brock or Misty. They were too busy having a good time.
“You said no one was watching us!” Misty whisper-screamed. “Who was that?”
“Down here!”
Then, right by their feet, they noticed a large jack-o’-lantern, flickering with a live flame. Little did they know exactly how live said flame was until it jumped right out of the hole in the top of the pumpkin. Out popped a dripping candle with a purple—nearly blue—flame.
“Litty’s the name! Litty the Litwick!” Litty gave a little bow. “At your service.”
“Aw, cute!” Misty said, crouching down to get a better look.
“Whoops, don’t get too close to the flame there, miss. It’s powerful.”
Misty smiled. “Thanks for the warning. I’m sorry, but we’re really in a rush, so if we could—”
“Oh, I know that. And just so you know, it won’t be easy getting into that castle.”
Brock and Misty exchanged a nervous glance. “Oh, we aren’t trying to get into the castle,” Brock said as confidently as he could muster.
“Right, right. Let me lead you there.”
Litty stepped back into his jack-o’-lantern and then the whole pumpkin began to hop forward. “This is my costume. Not conveniently portable but it’s a crowd favorite. Love your guys’s costumes, by the way.”
“Oh…thanks,” they both said.
“So, you’re gonna just help us get into the castle?” Brock asked skeptically as he and Misty began to follow Litty. “Why?”
“You two seem to be having a wild time tonight instead of just the same old party scene. And you know this is the train Litty wants to jump on!”
“But how are you going to help us, Litty?” Misty asked.
Litty turned back and the jack-o’-lantern itself winked.
“I have connections.”
Ash, too, was making his way back into town, with Pikachu on his shoulder. He may not have known the city at all, but on Halloween, it seemed easy to tell; all he had to do was follow the lights and the sounds and soon he’d be in the thick of it. Back with the ghosts, goblins, and ghouls.
“Since the guards already found us, there can’t be any harm in asking around about the portal now, right Pikachu?”
“Pi kachu.”
“But can we ask about the crown?”
“Pika…”
It was obvious to Ash at this point that it was somewhat dangerous to ask about portals. But he didn’t know about the crown. Mantar had left them with the impression that there might be something dangerous about asking for that too. At the very least, he made it seem like there was no chance that a Halloweenia resident could have it. Only a human.
Suddenly the image of spooky creatures of Halloweenia pointing to him, crying that he was human and that he’d stolen the crown rushed into his mind, causing him to gulp.
“Maybe we should start with the crown.”
Pikachu nodded earnestly, almost desperately.
“Now, who to ask…”
Ash’s eyes roved over the partygoers, but he didn’t even know where to start. The strange people that existed in this world all seemed friendly enough, and he wasn’t used to speaking to Pokémon, but they seemed nice too…
“Ugh, I don’t know where to start!” Ash exclaimed, putting his hands to his head.
“Pika.” Pikachu looked at his trainer with sorrowful eyes, patting his arm comfortingly. But he didn’t have any better idea of who to ask than Ash did.
“Okay, okay, think! There’s a Noctowl over there. I have a Noctowl. That seems like a good place to start, right, Pikachu?”
“Pi pikachu!”
Ash approached a Noctowl who was dressed in judge’s robes from head to toe and drinking out of a mug shaped like a gavel.
“Hello!” Ash began, trying his best to look friendly.
“Oh, no, not another one,” the Noctowl moaned. “I did put effort into my costume, I promise I did! It took me weeks to carve this mug! See? No opposable thumbs! I had to carve it all with my beak! And I’m no woodpecker.”
“No, no!” Ash said, waving his hands in front of him. “I think your costume is, uh, awesome. I just wanted to ask if you knew anything about portals.”
“Portals? Why are you asking me?” The Noctowl got really close to Ash’s face, one eye narrowed and the other shut, as if trying to see directly into Ash’s brain. “Who have you spoken to?”
Ash tried to take a step back, but he ended up running into a very small person, nearly falling over them. Pikachu had to hold onto his jacket with his hands just to keep from swinging right off and being lost to the party.
“Hey! You think just because I’m a troll you can walk all over me?” the little person snapped, pointing an accusatory finger at Ash.
“Not at all! I was just asking if anyone had any information about portals!”
“Portals, you ask?”
It was a new voice, echoic, with a slight lisp. Ash turned around to see the huge face of a Gastly looming before him, his mouth twisted into a sinister smile. “I’ll answer your question if you answer mine: is that a real Pikachu or just a costume?”
Ash grabbed Pikachu from off his shoulder and held him close to his chest. “What’s it to you?”
The Gastly lolled his head around in his cloud of purple mist, seeming to shrug. “Oh, no reason. But if you don’t answer, then I’m not going to tell you about portals.”
Ash and Pikachu exchanged a look. “Fine, he’s real. Now tell me what you know about portals.”
The Gastly’s eyes widened, as did those of the Noctowl and the troll. “A Pikachu?” they all asked in unison, hungry smiles on their faces.
“Can you use an itty bitty Thundershock Attack?” the Noctowl asked with oozing sweetness, tickling Pikachu’s black cheek with its robe.
“I don’t even mind if you hit me,” the Gastly added, looming closer.
“No, aim it this-a-way!” the troll countered.
Pikachu looked at the three questioningly, cheeks sparking as he prepared the Attack. The three were practically drooling at the sight of the electricity.
“No, Pikachu, don’t!”
Instantly, Pikachu’s cheeks winked out, causing everyone to look at Ash angrily.
“Hey, what’s the big idea?” the troll asked.
The Gastly looked menacingly at Ash. “If you don’t let that Pikachu use an Electric Attack, I’m not gonna tell you what I know about portals.”
“I already fell for that once! You’re not getting anything from Pikachu!”
“It’s a fair trade, kid!”
“No!”
Ash shoved Pikachu as best he could into his coat and then ran past the three of them as fast as he could, pushing and shoving through the crowd of strange Pokémon and people. There were so many people everywhere that it was hard to move, but that also meant that it didn’t take long for Ash to think that he had lost them to the masses.
“Maybe you should hide in my backpack, buddy,” Ash suggested as he continued to shroud Pikachu in his jacket.
Pikachu whined in response, shaking his head as much as he could in the confined space.
“I think it’s for the best.”
Ash unslung his backpack from one shoulder and rested it on his stomach before lifting Pikachu and placing him inside. He was just about to replace the top flap when something in the distance caught his eye.
Over the tops of the heads of the partygoers, Ash spotted a large stream of red hair and some bright blue hair. He stood on his tip-toes to see better, but all he could see was hair. When he crouched down to look through everyone’s legs, he spotted a strange Meowth, dark like the ones he’d been seeing. Leading the three of them was an ordinary Umbreon.
It struck him as odd. Whoever these three were, they seemed almost familiar. Achingly familiar. It was bothering him like a word being right on the tip of your tongue that you can’t figure out. He just couldn’t place them.
But that was crazy, right? How could anyone look familiar in this unknown world?
“I’m not crazy, am I, Pikachu? Have we seen those guys before?”
Pikachu scratched his head and shrugged. “Pika.”
“Maybe it’s a sign,” Ash decided. “They’ll be able to help us. We should follow them.”
“Cha!”
Pikachu nodded enthusiastically, all ready to climb out of the bag. Ash, however, stopped him in his tracks.
“Uh-uh. You’re staying in here until we get to the bottom of this.”
Pikachu frowned, grumbling to Ash before the flap was replaced and the lights went out.
The plot thickens with new friends—or foes—joining the group. An Umbreon and a Litwick; can we trust them? Moreover, who did Ash spot? Will they be the ones to finally inform him about the portal that he now so desperately needs? Only one way to find out! Tune in next time!
#pokemon#pokemon fanfiction#pokemon fanfic#pokemon fic#ash ketchum#pokeani#anipoke#ash ketchum fanfic#ash ketchum fic#ash ketchum fanfiction#pikachu#togepi#team rocket#meowth
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Chapter 7
“Come on guys!” Bonnie called as she ran head of the group as the party walked toward the Contest Hall. They had all been woken early and had met a mass of people who were going to the contest either to compete or watch, so after a breakfast they were now walking towards the contest hall. Lilith was smiling as she walked with them, she had released her Skorupi with orders to go to the boys shower and cocoon any black hair it could find and wait for her to get back in the vents. With some luck she would have a possible second hand DNA source to send home.
“So have you decided on what Pokémon to use yet?” Clemont asked as they walked.
“I’ve narrowed it down to two of them. I think I’ll decide when I see what the competition…” Lilith trailed off as she saw the grounds in front of the Hall. An assortment of both male and female trainers were milling about, some of them with their Pokémon out and from what she was able to see the type that was most eminent were Fairy and Bug. Seeing what she was up against she mentally made her choices and a sinister smirk grew on her face as she before she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning to look at Serena who had a frown on her face.
“Are you okay Lilly? You’re looking weird.” Serena said as Ash and Clemont turned and looked at her. She quickly brought her face back under control and sent a small smile at her friends.
“I’m fine, I just made my choice on who to use in what round and I think I might have a good chance to win this thing.” Lilith said as she gave a small laugh. Ash looked like he was going to say something but a sound to their left caught their attention.
“Watch Out!” A voice called before someone crashed into Clemont. Clemont opened her eyes and meet aqua green eyes under green colored hair on a heart shaped girl’s face close to his own. Clemont started to blush when he felt their legs were interwoven together and noticed the girl’s long hair was on his face.
“Are you okay? Here let me help you up.” Ash said as he reached down and helped the girl to her feet. Now that Clemont could see her better the girl was around their age and was wearing a blue shirt and black tights with a helmet on her head. She had on rollerblades and giving the hill behind her the cause of their crash was obvious. She had a bit of blue lip gloss and looked like someone who would be at home in the wilds, but Lilith saw a hint of class in the way she held herself. A backpack and a small purse on the ground completed her outfit and a yarn showed she had rushed to get ready and leave where she had bunked.
“Sorry about that, you guys walked through my landing spot and I was in midair before I saw you. The name’s Nimue Mistborn, and you can call me Nim.” She said as she leaned against a railing alongside the hill and looked at the people before her, looking right at Clemont, not noticing the look Lilith sent her. Lilith threw her hand out and shot a smile at her when she turned and looked at her.
“Hi I’m Lilly! Are you competing or watching the Contest?” Lilith asked as she sent a forced smile at Nimue.
“Competing, so I guess I might be fighting you in the finals. And the rest of you are?” Nimue said as she shook Lilith’s hand and saw Bonnie run to stand next to her brother.
“I’m Clemont, this is my sister Bonnie and our friends Ash and Serena.” Clemont said as Serena bowed to her and Ash gave a wave. While the other started to make small talk with Nimue Lilith looked at the teen before her, something about her had her on edge, some feeling she last had back Home when... Lilith’s eye’s widened when she remembered when she had felt this last, was it possible, was she? Something about her stare got through to Nimue and she rolled past them toward the doors.
“Well it was nice talking with you all; see you on the floor and good luck with the others!” She called as she rolled towards the doors.
“She seems, nice I guess. Think her performance will be mobile?” Ash asked as he looked at where Nimue had been.
“No she a bit of class about her, I’m thinking the opposite of what we expect. She’s probably going to be trouble if I make it through the appeal round.” Lilith said as she went over what her team could do. A descision made she turned to Serena and Bonnie and smiled at them.
“So you two want to help me get ready?” Lilith asked as she smiled as she looked at them. Bonnie perked up and Serena returned her smile.
“So while the two of us help Lilly what will you two do?” Serena asked as she looked at Ash and Clemont.
“Me and Clemont will get some seats near the top or front, I’ll leave my bag and go get you two after you’re done helping her. Good luck Lilly.” Ash answered as he and Clemont walked toward the entrance for the audience.
“Be good Bonnie.” Clemont told Bonnie as he and Ash left the girls. Unseen by all a figure had heard the crash and had gave a start when he recognized Ash among the group, slipping into shadows cast by the buildings so he wouldn’t notice him.
The figure walked into the light, revealing a man with purple hair in green cloths with a green hat looked at Ash and his group as they walked into the building. He had seen Ash and Clemont walk into the building and Bonnie and Serena walk after and a smile grew on his face.
“Well, well, well. Ash Ketchum’s in Kalos! And either May May isn’t with him or she’s inside already. One thing’s for sure, it will be quite a championship this year.” He said as he strolled towards registration with a spring in his steps. Whatever he did on the circuit, he’ll probably stay around for the championship.
Lilith smiled as she walked toward the check in station, she was traveling with the prince…no with Ash and some new friends and she was back on the Contest Circuit, this was one of her better missions ever. Now all she needed to register and she was golden. Bonnie and Serena walked behind her each with smile on their faces.
“Hello, here to register for the contests?” A woman with long black hair in a green tube top and skirt asked as she smiled with green lips.
“Yes, I’m Lil lly. Lilly.” Lilth said as she handed over her Pokédex. She had changed her name and deleted the data about her home, putting down her home as a small island that Chimera destroyed a few months after she had ‘left on her journey’ three years ago. Those from the island had been relocated to the homeland so it and other locations like it were used for cover on assignments out of their lands, so it would stand up if people looked into it.
“Well you’re registered. Here’s a Ribbon Case you’ll need, one side is for the Regular Ribbons, the other is for the Grand Ribbons. Your Pokédex will open the door to changing room 56, you have half an hour until the contest begins, and you need to select which of your Pokémon to use for each round, as of the rules for this Contests you can’t use the same Pokémon in both rounds.” The green woman said as she handed over a Ribbons case and Lilith’s Pokédex. Lilith smiled as Bonnie grabbed her free hand and walked into the hall, this was going to be fun.
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Brock smiled as sipped a cup of coffee as he walked through Viridian City, he had a good talk with SandyLady last night, the weather was sunny for the next few days and today his favorite coffee shop had had a sale as part of their tenth anniversary celebration, today was looking to be a good one.
“Morning Doc, need a ride to the Center?” A voice caused him to turn and see Officer Jenny on her motorcycle giving him a small smile.
“Morning Officer Jenny, no, I think a walk is just what I need today, what about you having a good morning so far.” Brock said as gave her a wave with his free hand.
“Top ten on the radio, a good breakfast and the weather channel said a tornado is due to hit the region in the next few days, so same old same old. I’m heading over to the airport to talk to them about when they’ll have to shut down.” Officer Jenny said as she shrugged.
“Expecting any trouble with that?” Brock questioned as he had a troubled look on his face.
“No more than usual when this happens. The egg heads at the league said they have a project to migrate the force of the wind, but you know how they are with their last project in Pewter City a few months back.” Jenny said with a sight, drawing a wince from Brock.
“You mean when they tried to build a dam and caused a landslide that almost covered the city and caused the Pokémon in the mountains to attack the city because their food sources had been destroyed?” Brock questioned with dread. Sometime the League’s projects worked and sometimes they ended badly for everyone around the site.
“Yeah so I better get to the Airport and check in on the Pallet office about a report I got about a Rattata horde that attacked two trainers, talk to you latter Doctor.” Jenny said before she drove off. Brock gave a small sighed and walked off with a smile on his face. Talking with Jenny was one of the good things about living in this city, that and the Poker games she, his teacher and Nurse Joy got up to every weekend.
As he walked toward the Pokémon Center he stopped when he saw an ambulance speed past him around the corner leading to the Pokémon Center that filled him with a sense of dread. He broke into a run, dashing around the corner, seeing the Center’s parking lot already half full of cars and people running toward the building holding their Pokémon, Brock stared at the scene before him to drop his cup and run into the Center.
Brock entered the building at a run and saw a scene of pure chaos! Doctors and nurses ran all over, with humans looking worried of all ages around the front chamber, his fellow students mixed around checking on the Pokémon. Brock hadn’t seen such a scene of pure chaos in all his life. The only think this resembled were plague outbreaks he had studied in the past. Was this a new plague, a viral outbreak or was it a reaction to a fungal spread?
“Brock, thank Arceus you finally made it! I need you to handle any patients without a doctor or nurse looking over them! Once you’ve got a handle on what’s wrong with the patient send them to a room with an empty bed and move on to the next.” His teacher’s voice called as Brock brought himself back to the present. I can think about this later, I have to help the Pokémon first. Brock thought to himself as he ran toward a Nidorina and her trainer. The Nidorina was lying down on a cart and her trainer was stoking her and whispering to her, she looked at Brock with relief that almost caused him to wince.
“When did she start to show symptoms, does she have a regular apatite when she woke up this morning?” Brock question as he started to examine the Nidorina before him.
“She was a bit sluggish this morning and she just passed out while she was eating breakfast, so she’s been like this for about an hour, I came over as soon as I could recall her to her ball.” The trainer told him as Brock shined a light into the Poison Pin Pokémon’s eye. Not responsive to stimulation, sleepy and the moaning shows she’s feeling some pain. No broken bones and no blood from the mouth, so maybe no internal bleeding. Brock thought as he felt along the Pokémon’s limbs, whatever was wrong with the Pokémon, he would try to fix it.
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Nicolas walked out of the mountain with his Teddiursa at his side. The hunt was due to depart soon and his lord, no Good Sylvestre. This hunt was to let him see the person Sylvestre was and decide if he want to follow him, which had already gotten him major points for his honor and beliefs. Still the hunt would be a good chance to learn and make some allies, and talk away from the mountain. Some of the new members, he needed to talk with someone who had been here longer as a Knight, maybe they would know anything about where they came from.
“You must be the kid the boss said was coming with us.” A gruff voice said to his right. The person walking towards him was taller than him, black hair in a topknot wearing a green cloak over a green shirt and pants.
“The names Dante, the tracker for this little jaunt.” He said and offered his right hand. Nicolas reached for before a giant purple hand grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously.
“And this little prankster is my partner, Haunter.” He continued as the Ghost type revealed itself as it laughed with a smile on its face.
“Pleased to meet you both. This is my partner, Teddiursa.” Nicolas said as he recovered and his Teddiursa stared into the Ghost Type’s eyes, the Haunter just smirked at the Teddiursa before the Normal Type held up a paw and let dark energy flow over its claws.
“Play nice you two, now come on, the rest of the party should be ready. And you need this.” Dante said as he passed Nicolas a glove with a blue gem on the back. Nicolas just took the glove and put it on his left hand.
“So we will be using golems on the hunt?” Nicolas asked as they moved down the mountain toward the forest.
“We’ll be riding on Lupine Chargers, there the best thing to ride on to hunt in the forest. And there they are.” Dante said as he pointed forward, causing Nicolas to follow his hand.
At the base of the mountain was Good Sylvestre standing with thirteen Squires readying four Lupine Chargers, wooden wolf like golems with jade gems for eyes and claws and teeth made out of emerald colored crystals. It had a wooden saddle on its back with a blue gemstone just before the saddle near the neck of the neck of the golem. Also by the forest were 12 Carrier Lizards, golems made in the shape of lizards with wooden open boxes on their back.
“So we’ll be using the Chargers to move and the Carriers to transport our bounty?” Nicolas said as the four of them moved toward the golems.
“Indeed, the Carriers and Squires will hand what we kill and defend it. With the three Chargers we will run down our prey and kill them.” Sylvestre answered as he walked over and clasped Dante’s hand.
“Thank you for coming along old friend, it will be better with someone like you along. And Knight Nicolas, I thank you for coming along on my punishment.” Sylvestre continued as he led them the golems and directed them to one each.
“But there are four Chargers?” Nicolas asked as he put the glove on the blue gem of one of the Chargers.
“The last one is for one of the Squires, so he has something to get us if they need us fast. Now come, our hunt shall be in the forests along Victory road itself, let us find our prey my friends!” Sylvestre cried out as he raised his rapier high to calls of agreement from the others as they all mounted a golem, with the squires ridding the Charger leading the other squires with the Knights in front the party set out for the hunting ground.
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Lilith smiled as she sat in the dressing room as Serena applied some lipstick to her face. Bonnie and Serena had help her get into her dress Serena had directed Bonnie in applying blush and mascara before she had gone to the bathroom.
“Thanks for this Serena; you and Bonnie really helped me out a lot. I have to say you have an eye for fashion and makeup.” Lilith said as she gave herself a once over as her Pokémon’s floated next to her. She had decided on one dress but Serena had helped her choose a necklace and earrings, and Bonnie had helped with her hair.
“Thanks, I told you about mom’s career and well mom kind of trained me in the sport since I turned ten, and well, fashion magazines and books became an escape for me. And sometimes when mom had parties to go to some of her friends helped her put a mask on as she would say and they taught me a little bit about it.” Serena said as emotions flew behind her eyes. Lilith looked at Serena with a blank face but inside she was frowning, Lady Carmila had taught her a lot about people minds and how to feel them, Serena felt had a few issues with how her mother raised her, what she was pushed towards but for all Lilith want to help her she knew that Serena had to work through it herself.
“Still you have a gift, you should think about it when you decide on your future.” Lilith said as she gently squeezed Serena’s shoulder who answered it with a smile. If what Lilith thought she felt when she meet her, her future would be in the Homeland no matter what happened, and she knew a few people who could do with an apprentice.
“Anyhow I think Clemont is going to like the way you look Lilly.” Serena teased Lilith and was rewarded with Lilith blushing.
“And how would Ash react if you dressed up a bit Serena?” Lilith countered and laughed as Serena blushed this time. Serena grabbed a small pillow and hit Lilith on the head with it.
“Watch the face; I don’t want to put this stuff on again so soon!” Lilith laughed as she grabbed for the pillow.
Bonnie ran through the hallway, dodging people in costumes and Pokémon as she moved back towards the dressing room. This was incredible, the costumes were so colorful and the atmosphere was amazing, she had thought that the Showcase was the only way to perform with Pokémon but this showed that there was so much more out there. Her attention was so caught up with what was around her that she never noticed the figure who stepped in front of her until she bumped into him.
“You should watch where you’re going kid.” A voice said as a hand reached down and Bonnie grabbed it. The person who helped her up was a purple haired man in green cloths.
“Sorry Mr. I want to get back to my friends and all these people in their costumes just took my attention.” Bonnie said as she rubbed the back of her head.
“Just be more careful in the future kid, say weren’t you walking with Ash Ketchum outside?” The man asked as he looked at her closely. Bonnie felt something about his look, something that felt bad, that reminded her of the feeling she got before those boys attacked her.
“Yeah, do you know Ash?” Bonnie asked as she slowly reached for her satchel and Dedenne, ready to release him and have him shock Harley.
“You could say that the two of us are acquainted. Say, what’s your name?” The man asked as he looked at her. Bonnie looked into his eyes and she felt a twitch of fear, his stare was, there just was something wrong about it.
“My name’s Bonnie, hello.” Bonnie said as she put her hand on her bag over Dedenne, feeling him wake up from his nap, feeling Bonnie’s fingers on him Bonnie could feel him start to tense, ready to protect her if needed.
“It’s charming to meet you Bonnie. When you see him tell him Harley said hi would ya sweetie? Well it was nice talking with you but I have to get ready for my performance.” Harley said as he walked off and waved goodbye while he whistled a tune.
Bonnie just looked after him and walked back toward Serena and Lilith, that person seemed to be a very strange and dangerous man. Ash had talked at supper about some characters he had met while on his journeys around the regions, but he never mentioned Harely.
“There you are Bonnie, are you okay?” Serena’s voice caused her notice the hallway was almost empty and the people in the hallway were heading toward the far end while a few well-wishers were heading the other way.
“Yeah, I just ran into someone who knows Ash.” Bonnie said as she grabbed Serena’s hand and walked toward the stage area.
“Someone who knows Ash, what were they like?” Serena asked Bonnie as they walked out of the backstage area.
“He said his name was Harley and I guess he was strange. He had a look in his eyes when he looked at me, when he said he saw us walking with Ash earlier. I didn’t like it, I felt scared for a few seconds.” Bonnie said as Dedenne stuck his head out of her bag and looked at Bonnie in concern. Serena eyes gained a hint of worry as she heard what Bonnie had to say and looked around nervously, seeing no one looking at them she pulled Bonnie faster toward where they would meet Ash and Clemont.
“Enjoy the show you two.” Nimue voice caused the two to turn and look toward the voice to see Nimue in her costume peering out of her dressing room.
“You look beautiful Nimue!” Serena said as she and Bonnie looked at her.
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Brock staggered toward the beak room, he had finally finished with all the patients and he needed something to drink. Entering the room he saw his teacher, Dr. Ryouta Panacelon, a man with black hair in a black smock and pants over a white doctor’s coat staring at a map of the city on the wall, next to him stood his wife Sayeko Panacelon a nurse who specialized in viral infections. Since he had come for his residency here in Viridian those two had helped him and taught him a lot about Pokémon medicine and he hoped that the hospital would be able to handle this outbreak.
“Your tracking where they live to find a common denominator, it started near the mountains?” Brock said as he got a glass of water and leaned against the sink. This was basic procedural for an outbreak, and hopeful it wouldn’t spread to the rest of the region.
“Yeah, I think so, but I’ve consulted with trainers and only a few of them were even near the mountains within the last seventy-two hours, and not enough for all the cases we’ve seen. I sent Joy to do some blood work when the first ten cases came in, so we should have the result in a few minutes. What are the basic symptoms you’ve seen Doctor?” Dr. Ryouta asked as looked at his student. Brock gave a small smile as his teacher’s wife sighed and shook her head, him and his teaching moments.
“Well, all Pokémon I’ve examined generally seem to be feeling pain and all have other symptoms; all Pokémon with fangs that I’ve examined, their mouths are red and puffy, Koffings and Weezings are having trouble regulating their gases content and are stuck close to the ground. Most Nidorino or Nidorina that I’ve examined are lethargic at best, unconscious at worst. Most Flying types are losing their feathers, Fire Types are cold and a Beedrill-” Brock began to report when a woman with pink hair in loops wearing a nurse’s outfit ran in holding a piece of paper with a shocked look on her face.
“Ah, Joy! Did the blood work show any common-“Ryouta started to say when Nurse Joy interrupted him.
“It’s a spore! What’s affecting the Pokémon is a kind of spore!” Joy cut in and slammed the paper she was holding on the table.
“A spore?! What kind of spore could cause these symptoms in all these Pokémon?! And what does that do to the origin point?” Sayeko exclaimed as she looked over the data on Joy’s paper. Brock looked over the data and started to look over the genetic data. Brock looked at it and something about it looked familiar.
“I don’t know. I had the computers to look for any other changes in their biochemistry, thankfully a Seviper who had coming in for her yearly checkup was the source for one of the blood samples, so we should know any other changes soon.” Joy said as she wrung her hands.
“For now the best we can do is make them as comfortable as possible. Put them on generic anti-fungal medicines as their size requires and Brock; what’s wrong?” Ryouta said as the other people in the room turned to look at him with looks of worry on their faces.
“This spore, I think I’ve seen something like it before but I can’t remember where or when. It’s on the tip of my tongue but I can’t remember where.” Brock said as he shook his head. Ryouta shared a look with his wife and sighed.
“Until you can remember keep yourself busy with the other patients, I’ll go and get a timeline of the last 48 hours from the trainers who are still here after I call the local stations, I’ll use my authority to have them put out a warning to tell people keep watch over their Pokémon for symptoms. Sayeko, I need you to start giving out basic pain medicine and Joy, start trying to identify what kind of spore it is, check everything for even a partial match.” Ryouta said as he walked toward the desk and phone.
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A young teenage boy with dark skin and spikey white hair in a black cloak over black pants and a red long shirt a scabbard on his back ran between white brick houses with a smile on his face, dodging people in similar cloaks and their Pokémon as he ran toward a house by a river that ran alongside the village. An old man with a white beard, a bald head wearing a white robs sat outside a house with a staff as he watched the boats on the river.
“Elder, Elder!” The teen called out as he ran toward the old man who turned and smiled when he saw who was coming towards him.
“Ahh, Bahadur, I was wondering when I would see you today. I am sorry it took so long for your Pokémon to arrive.” He said with a smile as he led Bahadur into the house behind him. In the front room, on a red pillow was a Pokéballl which the Elder walked toward and picked up. He walked back toward Bahadur and smiled at him.
“You have passed the Trials of the Blade, mastering your Aura and walking with the Fire within yourself. You have done well, and you have earned the right to be a train Pokémon. May this little one grow under your care, and may this Pokédex help you both on your journey.” He said as he handed the ball to Bahadur.
“Go Pokéball!” Bahadur said as he threw the ball away from him, it opened and released his chosen starter, a Magby who looked unsure of its new trainer.
“Hello, we’re partners from now on little flame, my name is Bahadur.” Bahadur said as he crouched down and stuck out his right hand. The Magby looked hesitant before it smiled and grabbed its trainer’s hand with a smile.
“I was surprised that you decided on this one to start with boy’o, I was sure you would choose the Water or the Ground, few choose the Fire in this land.” The Elder said as he watched the two begin to bond.
“No, young Aagha’s father said that he would arrange for his son’s first Pokémon and said that his son had a specific one in mind for his starter, but I can tell you it was of the Ground. Now be off with you, watch yourself and enjoy the rest of your day my boy. And here’s your new Pokédex, its scanner can tell you all you need about your Pokémon’s move, and don’t forget to link it with your Quest Scanner.” The Elder said as he pushed the two of them out the door.
“Come on partner, I’ll show you around your new home. This is Sola’s Rest, a small town named for its founder. Chief export is food for our section of the Desert Domain, that’s where we live the Desert Domain of the continent. A land of sand and scattered towns, the river and oasis’s are our lifeblood, find a source of water in the badlands and you can sell it to the government or be set for years by making it a homestead or town. And maybe I should see what moves you have.” Bahadur said as opened his Pokédex as he led his Pokémon through the town. He didn’t notice a rodent looking teen with black beady eyes in a black hooded cloak looking at them from the shadows of a nearby alley.
“Aagha gonna like this, the chance to put that one in his place again and maybe scare his Pokémon’s mind. Patrat, let’s make some money.” The teen cackled as he threw a Pokéball, releasing a Patrat wearing a collar with a blinking light on its back. Pointing at the teen and the Fire type he gave his orders.
“Go follow those two, when they head toward the training field send me a signal.” With his orders given the teen scuttled into the shadows of the alleys, running toward what he hoped would be a good payday for him, not noticing someone had been watching him from atop the building. The figure was wearing a black cloak and with a nod to a Meditite hovering next to the figure they started to move toward a set of docks by the river.
The rodent reached a walled complex, moving toward the back he climbed up a fake tree and slipped into the compound. He ran towards a two story building near the wall and knocked on a door toward the back. A female figure with glossy skin and vibrant green hair in a maid’s uniform with black blue eyes opened the door.
“Do you need to see the master?” The mechanical voice from the figure coupled with the skin and eyes revealed her to a Homunculus.
“No words for you, I wanna talk to your master Dolly.” The teen said as he pushed past it into the building, he walked until he reached a large chamber with many teens in red cloaks over red knee-length tunics and were leaning against the walls while three teenage boys were sitting around a table with food on it, but all were watching four female homunculus with dark crimson hair wearing purple tube tops and pants dance while other homunculus in the same clothing move about the room carrying plates of drink and food to the other teens in the chamber. The teen sitting in the middle was a red head with red eyes and wearing a golden version of the tunics the others were warring. The two on his sides both had dark hair and wore black knee-length tunics.
“Are you having fun playing with your dolls, great master?” The teen’s voice rang out causing the others in the chamber barring the dancers and servants to turn to look at him
“Rat, so do you want to offer me now?” The voice came from the teen in the golden tunic as the others let their boss speak.
“How about the location of your unworthy foe master Aagha; what would the location of that one and his first Pokémon be worth in coin?” the named Rat asked as he was meet with a smirk from Aagha and grins from those around the chamber.
“The chance to beat him is worth some coin.” Aagha answered with a wicked smirk as the others started to laugh evilly.
“Serena, I’m over here!” Ash called to Serena and Bonnie when he saw them through the crowd. The smile on his face slipped when he saw the frown on Serena’s face and the way she was holding Bonnie’s hand. He looked at Pikachu who nodded at him and moved its tail toward the door. Ash forced himself to smile at Bonnie and pointed toward the open doorway to the stands.
“Clemont and I got some seats in the top row in the Center, why don’t you go ahead of us and Serena and I’ll go get some snacks? Pikachu, go show her where the seats are.” Ash said, promting Pikachu to jump in font of Bonnie and walk off with her following him. Ash turned to Serena who was looking back the way she and Bonnie had come from, when she turned back to Ash and when she saw the look on his face she sighed.
“It’s nothing, Bonnie just went to the bathroom and she ran into someone you know on the way back. She said he felt wrong to her so I just hurried over to you and Clemont.” Serena said as Ash looked confused for a few seconds before he gained a resigned look.
“Someone I know? Someone who felt, it was here and near the changing rooms so they have to be a Coordinator, and it’s a he….Did she say his name was either Drew or Harley?” Ash said as he looked worried.
“She said his name was Harley. Do you have a history with him?” Serena asked when she saw a scowl grow on Ash’s face. Ash gritted his teeth as his mind boiled. It has to be that purple haired schemer! I just hope he doesn’t plan to mess with Lilly because she knows me. He looked at Serena and saw the worried look on her face and adopted a small smile to put Serena’s mind at ease.
“A Coordinator I traveled with had a rivalry with him that was all one-sided on his part, he went out of his way to attack, embarrass and sabotage her, and he might have even worked with Team Rocket once, I wasn’t sure at the end. I just hope he doesn’t decide to attack Lilly.” Ash said as he looked around and notice the condensation stand.
“So I was thinking a small Popcorn for Bonnie, Clemont wanted a pretzel and you?” Ash said as he grabbed Serena’s hand and walked toward it, not noticing the blush this generated as they walked.
When Ash and Serena returned to where he had left Clemont, Ash saw that Bonnie had looked calm and mouthed ‘latter’ in reaction to the look Clemont shot Ash. Clemont looked he would have said something when the lights started to darken as a spotlight shinned down on the green girl from the registration desk holding a mike in her hands.
“Welcome one and all the first ever general Pokémon Contest! Here in Kalos we have the Showcase, and while that well and good, it’s for girls only! So to try something new in general, for the next year Contests will be held until the League Tournament where everyone in Kalos will vote to decide if this will keep going! For the Contests around this area I’ll be your commenter, Leafra’s the name so don’t you forget it! The judges for this Contest will be Santalune City;s own Nurse Joy, the vice president Pokémon Fan Club Mr. Glomong and yours truly! And now may the Contest begin!” She said as the speakers around the stage boomed out her words.
After a few while Ash turned and looked at Bonnie’s face, seeing the awe and wonder the performances so far had been breath taking to the girl, to Ash who had been to two Grand Festivals it was okay. But he looked up from his dex when he saw the lights dim, wondering who was up next.
“Well let’s give a big hand for that performance! Up next we have Harely!” Leafra voice cried out as a spotlight shined on the entrance. Harely walked out waving a folding fan imperilessly at the crowd, dressed like a Pokélantis Senator in a green toga with a crown of golden leaves, his Cacturne at his side as they walked to the center of the stage and began
“First Spikes!” Harley commanded before his Cacturne started to spin, sending six green spikes form its body that formed a circle around the two of them.
“Grass Knot and Growth!” The command had the Cacturne eyes grow green as plants started to grow around the spikes before it shot the plants with a white beam that caused them to grow six feet tall around the spikes.
“Now Cotton Spore, like we practiced!” Harley cried out as he thrust with his fan closed as his Cacturne spun and shot white puffy balls that floated above the vine towers.
“Now finish it up with Pin Missiles!” With this command small white pins shot from its spikes and hit the puffy balls, bursting them apart, falling around the towers, creating a scene of an ancient senator standing in a green ruin while it snowed. The audience stared before they began cheering and applauding his performance.
Ash had to admit that he had improved, but sadly skills and personality didn’t go hand in hand. Looking at the judges he saw.
“Impressive, quite a show. What do you think Nurse Joy?” Mr. Glomong said as he smiled.
“A truly beautiful combination of moves!” Nurse Joy answered with a smile. Harley gave an imperious bow as he walked off the stage with his Pokémon following him.
“Let’s give it up for Harley everyone! And up next is Miss Nimue Mistborn!” Leafra said with a smile on her face.
“So what do you guys think, I’m guessing she has a biker costume giving how she bumped into Clemont.” Ash said as he leaned forward with a smirk on his face. Clemont just blushed at the teasing as Serena and Bonnie laughed lightly.
“I have a feeling we’ll be surprised.” Serena said as she shared a look with Bonnie and both of them smiled.
Nimue walked onto the stage. She was dressed in a blue ballroom gown that showed the top of her breasts and shoulders, blue opera gloves and a dark pearl necklace falling toward her breasts. Her face had a light coating of aqua green lipstick on her lips and dark blue eye-shadow on her eye lids completed the look, her hair was an aqua green and trailed down her back in a braid. By her side walked a Golduck, while she stopped at the end of the end of the stage the Golduck walked to the center of the stage.
“Start off with a Rain Dance around you.” Nimue voice range out like a melody as she stood at the stage’s end. Golduck’s eyes glowed and clouds formed with Golduck at the center with the clouds ending a few feet from Nimue. As the rain started to fall Nimue brought the fan to her face.
“Follow with an Aqua Jet to gather.” She sang out. Her Golduck jumped up wards as water from the rain gathered around it. When it reached the apex of its jump Numue gave her next command.
“Now Psychic on water!” Golducks eye glowed blue and the water trailing behind it broke away and started to makes shapes as the Golduck started to fall.
“Now finish it with an Ice Beam!” The water took on its final shape before a blue beam freezing it into an ice Water symbol that the Golduck landed on with its arms folded against its chest.
The crowed was silent for a few seconds before they exploded with applauses! Joy had a particularly large smile on her face as she gave a standing ovation to the performance.
“I would have to say that was a wonderful set! A wonderful example of what training and practice can accomplish if you try! Mr. Glomong what do you think?” Nurse Joy asked her fellow judge as she sat down.
“I would have to say that was amazing! The Golduck is a wonderful specimen who has been trained to master its powers fully; I have to give full points on this!” He said as he smiled.
“Let’s give a big hand to one of the best so far folks! And the last performance of the Appeal’s round, give a warm welcome to Miss Lilly Nightbloom!” Leafra said as people quitted down for next
Lilith walked out. She was dressed in a ruby figure-hugging, ankle length dress that showed off her figure and had on pure white opera gloves. Her face had black obsidian lipstick and red eye shadow that gave her eyes the appearance of blue gems on red velvet. Floating next to her was her Misdreavus that slowly moved in a circle around her head. As she walked out toward the stage people were awestruck with the air of sophistication she gave off.
Clemont stared at Lilith with his mouth hanging open, a blush on his face as he looked at her.
“Doesn’t she look amazing big brother?” Bonnie’s voice snapped him out of his daze and saw that his sister had been watching Lilly closely since she walked onto the stage and hadn’t seen his reaction, a small miracle.
“Yes she does look nice Bonnie, you and Serena helped her with it?” Clemont asked as his eyes drank in the figure Lilith made as she walked with her Pokemon.
“Only the makeup, Serena really knows how to apply it nicely.” Bonnie answered, causing Ash to look at Serena with a question in his eyes; she sent him a look that they would talk about it later. I wonder what happened to tomboy Rena over the years? Ash mused as his thoughts went back to their youth.
When Lilith reached the middle of the stage she raised her right hand up and called out her first command.
“Will-O-Wisp, far.” She called out in a silky voice. Her Misdreavus eyes glowed blue and nine blue glowing spheres of fire formed around it and started to orbit it.
“Charge Beam, spin.” Lilith said before her Misdreavus spun counter to the orbiting spheres as yellow sparks started to form around it before a blast of electricity shot at the spheres, the fire gaining electricity and started to hover in place.
Lilith closed her eyes and nodded her head. She opened them when the spheres started to fall.
“Psychic.” As soon as the word left her mouth the spheres gained a blue glow as her Misdreavus eyes gained the same color. The spheres flew to the top of the room and started to move about as the Misdreavus went a location at the center of the spheres.
“Finish, Dazzling Gleam.” Lilith said as she opened her eyes and smiled. Misdreavus whole body started to glow and a rainbow blast shot out of its body and hit the sphere, destroying them and causing a rainbow of sparks to rain down around Lilith as her Misdreavus came to float behind and above her head.
People stared in awe, so enraptured in it they couldn’t even move for a few seconds before they gave a standing ovation to the performance.
“MARVOULOUS! Simply breathe taking! A Perfect showing! What say you Nurse Joy?” Mr. Glomong commented as he stood and applauded.
“One of the best in the whole Contest, I will definitely be keeping an eye on her performances in the future!” Nurse Joy said as she joined those applauding Lilith as she gave a small curtsy and walked off the stage, her ghost type following after her.
Clemont was in awe of what he had seen, Lilly was amazing, there were just no other words for it. Bonnie smiled and clapped as Serena looked at the stage in wonder with a thoughtful look in her eyes. Ash smiled as he looked at the performance, Lilly was a powerful Coordinator, there was no doubt about that at least.
“Well that’s the Appeal’s round Folks, after a two hour break for lunch and we’ll announce the scoring in an hour. After the break we’ll have the top 10 fight it out in the Battle round, so for all the people who competed I personally salute you all.” Leafra said as she gave a bow to the crowd. As the audience got up Ash motioned to the others to wait for the rest of the crowd to pass before they went to Lilith’s dressing room.
Lilith smiled as she washed the makeup off her face in the sink in her room before she put her street cloths back on. She thought she had giving a good showing, and hoped she would make it into the top ten. I wonder what Clemont thought about how I looked? She thought with a blush as she finished putting her shirt back on when her door opened and Bonnie dashed in and hugged her legs.
“That was amazing Lilly! You were great out there.” Bonnie said as she looked up at the older girl who reached down and rubbed her head.
“Thanks kid, but next time you should knock before you enter, I was changing, wouldn’t want to catch me in my underwear would you.” Lilith said as she looked at the smiling faces of her friends. Her words caused Clemont to blush which caused Lilith to grow a small smirk on her face at his reaction. Serena saw the byplay and gave Lilith a small playful smile.
“So how about I go grab some food and we’ll eat here, it’s a good habit to protect you stuff when he’s around.” Ash said as he and Pikachu walked off.
“He? He who?” Lilith asked as she looked at Serena as Clemont looked at Bonnie in worry before his eyes hardened and he turned to Serena with a bit of anger in his eyes.
“Is this connected to why Pikachu brought Bonnie to the seats?” Clemont demanded as Lilith looked at Bonnie.
“Bonnie ran into someone Ash knew, a Coordinator that Ash says doesn’t mind pulling dirty tricks to get ahead. And Bonnie…” Serena trailed off as Bonnie put her head down, prompting Lilith to stoop down and pull her into a hug.
“I didn’t like his eyes; there was something wrong about them and his voice, it was, I can’t describe it. I just didn’t like the feeling he gave off.” Bonnie confided in the others as Clemont clenched his hands as he looked out the door, the anger on his face showing that he wanted to introduce this person to his axes.
Ash moved through the hallways carrying a few cardboard boxes with food a small smile on his face as he walked with Pikachu next to him, he had gotten a bit of everything and he hoped that the others would like something, now if he could just… he stopped when a voice called out to him
“Well, well. Ash Ketchum, never thought I’d see you again.” The words caused him to turn and see Harley still in his costume a self-satisfied smirk on his face.
“Harley, and here I was wondering what the stench I smelled when I got to the contest hall was.” Ash said dryly causing Harley to jolt and stare open mouthed for a few seconds before a grin stretched across his face.
“Well, little Ash is growing up, what a wonderful burn; do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Harley shot back as Pikachu’s checks started to spark. Ash merely used his foot to nudge Pikachu down the hall away from Harley.
“And how did you find yourself here, fall off a garbage tuck?” Ash commented with a deadpanned look on his face as he walked away leaving Harley to fume and stare after him.
Harley looked after Ash and snarled as he pounded back toward his dressing room. That little Kanto brat really has changed. I can’t wait to smash that girls little Pokémon in the Battle Round. He thought as he looked at Ash over his shoulder.
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Magnus looked troubled as he walked through the hallway; he was troubled by the report he had received along with a scan of his sister yesterday and it was nothing but trouble. He had made some progress on his nephew’s sealing and he had discovered that he was a least three sets, the first he had was sure of, the next halfway and the last was the hardest to identify. He had identified the first as an abomination that held back his emotional maturity but it had started to break apart and it was almost fully gone, something had happened that had broken it. He hoped that Camilla had found something; she had said that she was looking into his journey in more detail, maybe she would know. Delia’s was even worse, one that took her memoires and another that was unknown to him, and that raised all sorts of alarms in his head.
Looking up he saw Camilla walk out of a room with a dazed look on her face, maybe she would know something.
“Ah, Camilla, found out anything about my nephew?” Camilla just walked on not reacting to his voice. Growing concerned he ran up to her and put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to turn and face him.
“Oh, Magnus, how’s the work examining the young Princes seals?” She said when her eyes focused onto his face.
“Rather well, I’ve identified three arrays, one that seemed to be breaking down because of something that happened a few years ago if I’m analyzing it right.” Magnus said, his words causing her to wince.
“Camilla, what did you find? If it’s about what happened to him…” Magnus began before Camilla interrupted him flatly.
“He has zero self-preservation when lives are on the line.” Camilla said as she started to walk down the hall.
“What did he do?” Magnus asked as a headache started to form.
“In the Rota Township he released the Lucario in the Lost Guardian’s staff, led a party to invade the Tree of Beginning, discovered why the Guardian left and almost gave all up his Aura to revitalized the Tree.” Camilla said as Magnus stopped and went white. He slammed his hand against his face and rubbed his forehead before he walked after her.
“I thought that his Aura wasn’t ‘awake’?” Magnus asked in confusion causing Camilla to turn and look at him with a haunted look.
“It isn’t.” She deadpanned as she walked on, stopping Magnus for a moment in shock before he moved to catch up with her.
“Why did the apple have to fall so close to the tree? I swear he’s probably just like his father and mother combined.” He moaned as they walked through the halls.
“What about Delia’s seals? Have you identified anything about them?” Camilla question as they walked. Magnus noticed that they were walked toward the throne room, and after a few minutes of thought he decided to wait.
“I identified that she has two, one I’m sure of and the other I’ll tell you and the boss when we meet up for the general briefing tonight. I only want to go over it once.” Magnus said with a sigh as he walked.
“No spoilers old friend?” Camilla asked with a pout on thrown over her shoulder as they walked.
“None for you.” He answered; sparking a laugh from Camilla as he walked in front of her to hide his smirk, glad that she was back to normal.
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The party that had sent out from Team Gaia’s Base had been moving quickly and secretly through the wild and had move a good distance, the mountain the Base was in had disappeared over the horizon a few hours back. The time had passed with small talk and trail songs, a few times a few Flying types had flown low and gotten capture arrows shot at them, a few were brought down and one had escaped. The squires had added them to the cargo, and already one of the Carriers was full, a good start to the hunt.
Nicholas had mixed feelings about the traveling, it had let him learn about both Sylvestre and Dante, but the convoy’s travel had given him anytime to talk to anyone alone, but once they set up camp it might give him a chance to talk to either Sylvestre or Dante privately, and he needed to. Going over his memories of interactions with the ‘newcomers’ he was sure something was up with them, but if his seniors were involved with it he then he might be in trouble if he brought it up. He looked down and saw his Teddiursa looking up at him and smiled at his Pokémon, at least he would have his partner with him if he needed to run, if Sylverstre was involved in whatever it was.
After a while of riding they reached a clearing in a forest near a mountain between them and Viridian City, and after a few minutes the camp had been set up and the Carriers had been ‘parked’ and Sylvestre started to lead Dante and Nicholas into the woods.
“Now if we find Beedrills, try to cut off their limb stingers at least, my brother said something about a ritual he needed it for. Dante take the kid toward the right and I’ll go to the left, we’ll do a circle and make sure the camp is secure before we go farther out.” Sylvestre said as he melted into the trees, disappearing from sight in seconds. Nicholas looked at where he had disappeared and shook his head, Dante smirking at his reaction.
“Yeah, the bossman is good at that shadow stuff, now come on kid, let us see if there are any dens near our basecamp.” Dante said with a smirk as they moved through the woods. With a small smile on his face Nicholas moved after him, a sense of wonder at the skill his would be lord displayed, and he hoped he would be able to talk to him about his concerns soon. He decided to take a chance, they were far enough away that if he needed to he could fight his way to freedom.
“Say, Sir Dante, have you been around the newcomers much?” Nicholas started as he walked slowly behind Dante.
“Not much, I’m on guard duty more often than not at the lookout on top of the base, Haunter can slip through the base and worn people if anything happens, why?” Dante asked as they moved through the shadows of the trees. Nicholas slowly moved his hand to his partner’s ball and continued solidly.
“I don’t want to make trouble where there is none, but I’ve felt something off about them. And the way some of them talk, I just wondering about how they’re found and brought in, that’s all.” Nicholas said as he moved behind his senior.
“Off how? Wait a minute, what’s this?” Dante said as they were suddenly engulfed in fog. Dante held up a hand and slowly moved forward until they exited the fog, entering a clearing with a large tree 50 feet high with a hollow three quarters up in the center of the clearing, all around were webs that went from the branches of the tree in the center to the trees along the edges and on the ground all around.
“What fresh hell is this?” Dante muttered as he drew his weapon, a two sided broad axe before he released his Haunter.
“Up, around the clearing and immaterial buddy, let us know if you find anything.” Dante ordered as Nicholas drew his long sword and released his own partner.
“I don’t like this; we should have seen this from the campsite.” Nicholas said as they slowly observed the clearing.
“We wouldn’t, look at the trees by the edge, you can see carvings on them under the webs; I think their Aura Seals.” Dante said grimly as his Haunter went near the outer trees before starting to check the clearing for anything hidden.
“Who would make something like this, and why?” Nicholas asked as his Teddiursa moved slowly to stand infront of its trainer.
“The bossman’s brother said once that Aura Seals are the most instinctive of all Disciplines, a Pokémon or a creature might of made this to protect its lair.” Dante said grimly as he held his arm out to keep Nicholas and his partner from moving past him, his eyes on the ground before them, paying special attention to clumps of webbing.
“A creature? A Chimera. We’re in a Chimera’s lair, one that’s able to use Aura Seals?” Nicholas whispered in shock as he paled before he started to look around the clearing in worry.
“Maybe, it might just be an old temple protected by Seals that something took over as a den by something, maybe Pokémon. But let’s wait until my partner finishes his sweep, well leave after that but keep your eyes open in the meantime and stay away from the webs; I’ve got a bad feeling about it.” Dante said grimly as he watched his Haunter move slowly around the clearing, keeping away from the webs as it moved about, finally it just shock it head-body and moved back towards its trainer, keeping overwatch over the others, following them as they silently left the area.
“Haunter’s done, but that hollow is giving me a bad feeling, so let’s get out of here, now and tell the bossman what’s here.” Dante said as he and Haunter slowly backed out of the clearing. A few minutes after they had left the clearing a human hand reached out of the hollow in the tree and grabbed the edge of the hole and a musical laugh echoed around the clearing.
“Come my daughters, there is new prey for us to hunt tonight; I wonder which of you will join your dear mother?” The voice rang out as all around the clearing large clumps of webs started to move.
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Brock walked through the halls with a tired smile on his face, it had been a long few hours but the patients were getting better. Blood tests had shown that the amount of the spore was decreasing in the blood of the Pokémon as time went by, a few more tests to find out what it did, and if the majority continued healing they would be able to send the majority of them home tomorrow. He still hadn’t remembered where he had seen it but he was sure he would be able to eventually. I just hope that what I remember doesn’t make this worse. Brock thought to himself as he walked toward the break room, hoping to touch base with his teacher. When he entered the break room he saw his teacher angrily staring at the map, his wife next to him with a sorrowful look on her face as she stood with him.
“I’m guessing that you found out something with the timeline?” Brock said as he came to the map and stood with them, his voice causing them to jolt and turn to look at him.
“Yes unfortunately. Whenever that spore infected them it had to have been between midnight last night to before eight this morning, when I don’t know and given how fast it’s going through them the League won’t classify this as an epidemic, just as an outbreak.” Ryouta said bitterly as his wife tried to comfort her.
“I don’t agree with them dear but I can see where their coming from. So far all we know right now is that the spore causes pain and even then it doesn’t last longer than a few hours. For a wind borne epidemic it’s not as bad as it could be.” Sayeko words caused Brock to frown as something started to echo in his mind.
“Wait a minute, wind borne? What did Jenny say this morning?” Brock stopped looking at the map before his face started to loose color. He dashed toward a computer in the room and started to navigate to a weather report.
“Brock, what’s wrong?” Sayeko said as she and her husband moved toward him and started to grow worried.
“Oh by Arceus I was right.” He said as he held his head as he stared at the screen. A hurricane was due to glance the region in a few days, going right alongside Cycle road going right at Mt.Moon. When he and his wife saw what was on the monitor they both started to pale.
“A hurricane? I knew we should have watched the new this morning, I just knew it.” Sayeko breathed in horror as she stared at the monitor as she started to feel faint.
“If there’s another outbreak of this just before this hits the area, even if it doesn’t migrate to humans the potential loss of life is massive. I need to contact Officer Jenny; she needs to be warned about this.” Ryouta said as he massaged his head.
“If it migrates the deliberating pain and the winds, the potential loss of life I can’t even imagine the scale.” Sayeko whispered as she stared into space.
“Maybe the winds will cause the spore to die or be destroyed. That’s possible right?” Brock asked as he turned and looked at the other two people, meeting their grim looks and looked downwards and released a sigh.
“We have no idea the shape or makeup of the spore before it infects a host, so maybe but with the symptoms I really doubt it. I don’t know how this can get any worse than it is.” Ryouta said as they looked at the computer, turning when the door opened and Joy came into the room, looking worried, her eyes meeting theirs and frowning when she saw their looks.
“I’m guessing that what I discovered won’t be the worst about this thing.” Joy said as she gave a small weak smile.
“What is it Joy, what did you find?” Sayeko asked with worry as they took looked at her.
“I’m still waiting on some results for the hormones and any affects the spore is doing to the body but I was able to identify hybrid planet-animal protean as a key part of the spore, I think that this was from a Pokémon. To be honest it reminds me of a Stun Spore I once looked at back during my school days, it was from a Paras…” She trailed of as Brock slipped from his chair as his eyes glazed over.
“BROCK! Are you okay?” Sayeko demanded as she went to her knees as her husband steadied Brock as she looked into his eyes. His eyes had that look in them when people were remember something that terrified them.
“That’s where I saw it before; it was an incident that happened a few years ago in Hoenn, a Chimera that used spores to hunt had attacked a Nuzleaf.” Brock whispered as the others exchanged concerned looks.
“A Chimera?” Joy breathed as the other three started to process Brock’s revelation. Each starting to remember the horrors they had encountered accredited to those abominations
“Spores released from a source able to move; that would explain everything about how our patients were infected.” Ryouta said grimly as he shook his head as he frowned.
“It uses the spore to disable its prey, the time limit is so they could infect an area and find food.” Sayeko said in horrified realization as she held her arms, remember the last Chimera Siege.
“Think the League would reclassify this now?” Brock asked as he grimaced, remember some politicians he had met when he became a Gym Leader.
“Maybe if we bring back proof, but if this outbreak was, deliberate then I don’t know if I could even go into the mountains while preparing for the Hurricane.” Ryouta said as he shook his head.
“I’ll visit the local Gym on my way home maybe they’ll be able to spare a few trainers to join me on an expedition into the mountains to find the source.” Brock promised his teacher who sighed.
“Thank you Brock, but we have a lot of work to do and few hours to do it in. Love, I need you to contact our suppliers, they should already be readying disaster supplies with the Hurricane coming in so arrange delivery for as soon as they can, Joy contact your sister in Pewter, we need her to send all the help she can spare, Brock I want you to keep during your rounds, check on every patient here and once your done head over to the Gym, that expedition has to happen, I’ll head over to the lab and try to find a counter poison for this thing.” Ryouta said as he led his team out of the room to do what they had to help their patients.
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Ash and Clemont had returned to their seats after eating and Lilith had gone off with Serena and Bonnie to put her makeup and outfit back on. Bonnie and Serena had returned to the seats later, having finished helping Lilith and returned to watch the Battle Round. After a few battles it was time for the final three battles.
“What a competition it has been so far! And without further ado, let’s begin the quarter finals! First up is Mr. Harley VS Miss Nimue!” Mr. Glomong cried out as both trainers walked on stage in their costumes.
“Go Samurott!” Nimue said as she threw out a Pokeball, from which her Pokémon appeared.
“Appear, Wigglytuff!” Harley cried out as he did the same, releasing his Wigglytuff. Behind the judges a scoreboard appeared with both trainers pictures appeared. He smirked, he had this in the bag besides being a pretty fact this girl had reacted like she had never even battled in official tournaments before, and her Pokémon were probably trained by a relative who died or something like that. An easy win and then I’ll crush ashy new friend. He thought as he chuckled to himself.
“Samurott, start with a Slash!” Nimue cried out. Her Samurott shot forward as its claws glowed.
“Dodge and Pound!” Harley command before his Wigglytuff dodged to the right and tried to deliver a devastating Pound attack on its horn. But Samurott dodge by moving its head back and sliced down with its horn, dropping his score by five points.
“Disengage up and Water Gun!” Nimue commanded. Samurott jumped backwards and shot a spiral of water that hit and cost Harley another five points. Harley gritted his teeth as his thoughts flew around his head. How is she this good, she was acting like she never had any official……. Could her skills come from unofficial matches, where how?!
“Move in with Megahorn!” Harley gritted his teeth as he tried to think of a counter.
“Dodge it and hit it with a Double Slap!” Harley commanded. Wigglytuff tried to dodge backwards but Samurott jumped and landed a glancing hit with its horn before it turned its head to throw Wigglytuff away from itself. Then Harely’s score dropped a solid tenth as he gritted his teeth, the battle was not going the way he thought it would.
“A powerful hit.” Mr. Glomong said as he and the judges watched the battle.
“So far that Samurott has shown to be trained to a wonderful slandered, I think if they move on we will have a wonderful final match.” Leafra said as she leaned against the table with a grin on her face.
“Ice Beam! Hit it!” Harley cried out before his a light blue ball formed in front of Wigglytuff mouth before a white beam shot at Samurott.
“Samurott, counter with Razor Shell!” Nimue called out. Her Samurott drew both its seamitars and as they gained a blue glow before it used them to cut the beam in two, dropping Harley’s score in half while her own dropped by a fourth. THAT’S IT! NO more Mr. NiceGuy, I am breaking this bitch so bad she quits!
“THUNDER!” Harley cried out in anger, causing Ash to harden his eyes as he watched from the stands, having heard that tone of voice many times before. In response yellow sparks danced around its body before a massive beam of electricity shot at its opponent. Nimue gave no reaction as she commonly intoned a command
“Protect.” Nimue called before a light green glowing sphere formed around Samurott, blocking the attack, causing Harely’s score to drop by twenty points. Harley turned to look at the board for a second and that was all Nimue needed.
“Megahorn, then finish it Scald.” Nimue commanded.
“Dodge it then fire a Hyper beam!” Harley cried as he started to look unhinged.
Samurott ran towards its opponent as its horn gained a white glow and grew bigger, but the attack missed the Fairy type by inches, Samurott was able to stop right in front of the judge’s table. Wigglytuff spun around and opened its mouth as a yellow-orange ball formed. Nimue’s eyes had widened at Harley’s command and made a choice, one that might cost her the match but she meet her Pokemon’s eyes from where it was standing and saw it nod at her.
“Tank the shot and hire a Scald!” Nimue cried out. The Judges who had been frozen when they saw Wiggltyuff generate the glowing sphere pointed in their direction were shocked back to their sense when they heard what Nimue called out, looking at her before they wiped their heads to the battle.
“FULL POWER WIGGLYTUFF!” Harley screamed out as the yellow-orange ball grew in size before it shot a yellow-orange beam at Samurott, Mr. Glomong reacted to the attack by grabbing Nurse Joy and pulling her down and covered her body with his own as Leafra scrambled away, running for the opposite side of the stage from Samurott.
The Hyper beam hit and exploded, causing a cloud of dust to form that covered the entire back wall of the stage. Harley gave a smirk right before a stream of white water blasted a hole through the dust and hit Fairy type, knocking it out before Harley could cry out a command.
The dust dissipated and his score was revealed Samurott to be panting with one eye closed, barely standing. Behind it the Mr. Glomong helped Nurse Joy back to her feet and both of them turned to look right at Harley with looks of disgust and anger. Mr. Glomong turned back to Nurse Joy and exchanged a few words before he gestured at Samurott and Joy nodded with a grimace and picked up a microphone.
“We will be having a short recues to discuss the rules, please everyone stay where you are.” Nurse Joy said frostily as Harley looked around and saw here and there were people looking at him with disgust over the risk he had taken with that last attack. Nurse Joy put down the microphone and walked towards Nimue who had run to her Samurott and was bent down and talking to it softly as she rubbed its chin. When Nurse Joy reached them she joined Nimue in a crouch and started to look over the Water Type.
“I don’t get it what is Nurse Joy talking about, why are people so angry?” Bonnie asked as she saw that Ash had a look of anger on his face. Bonnie looked around and saw a few others who had looks of anger and shock on their faces but most people just looked confused. She turned toward Serena and saw the same look Ash had and turned to her brother for answers
“There are times when you shouldn’t use an attack and times you should. Because Samurott was right in front of the Judges table if Samurott dodged then the Judges might have gotten hurt. What Harley just did was show the Judges he would do anything to win, even hurt someone. And that’s the thing about Contests, you can lose points depending on what you do, not just what happens to your Pokémon.” Ash said as he glared at Harley. Nurse Joy had finished talking with Nimue and nodded to Mr. Glomong who sighed and shook his head and turned to Leafra and after a few words Leafra nodded and walked to the center of the stage and held up a Microphone to give the ruling.
“After a long debate the judges have come to this ruling. While no single rule was broken, it has been decided that the attack ordered by Harley while not illegal it was not well thought out but by the contests rules he lost the battle before the last attack hit, but for his actions he has been disqualified from this competition, I hope he shows better judgment in the future. Because of the attack’s range Miss Nimue has forfeited her next match out of concern for her Pokémon and has been awarded second place overall, therefore the final match is between the last two trainers in the Contest to decide who will win and who will be award third place, thank you for the wait.” Leafra said before she bowed to the audience.
“So Lilly or her opponent will win this thing, hu? And with Harley disqualified he won’t even get a single penny out of this and people will know how he acts, not to bad really.” Ash said as he felt his Pokedex vibrate. He touched one of its buttons and promised himself he would check the alert latter and looked at Harley being led away from the stage, an air of anger about him.
“And it’s Lilly against that Beedrill’s trainer right, the guy who used a Dustox right, what was his name again?” Serena asked as Ash looked at her for a minute
“Xion, his name was Xion Tristo, and did you notice Joy’s face when Leafra said his last name?” Ash asked Serena who shook her head and looked at the Judge’s table, she looked back toward Ash and he could see that she hadn’t.
“And here it is folks, the final match! This battle is for first and third place between Lilly and Xion! Good luck to both trainers!” Leafra said as pictures of both trainers appeared on the score board. Lilith walked out of one side of the stage and her opponent walked out of the other. The figure who walked out to battle was a male teen around Ash and the others age; he had brown hair and brown eyes, his costume of choice was a medieval archer’s costume in green. Ash looked around and noticed some on the people faces were looks of anger
“Appear, Liepard!” Lilith cried as she released her Liepard.
“Fly, Beedrill! Xion commanded as a strong looking Beedrill appeared and started to hover five feet off the ground.
“Twinneendle, full strike.” Xion cried out. His Beedrill shot forward, both stingers ready to strike. Neither Lilith nor her Pokemon reacted as the Bug type flew straight at its target. Suddenly right before it could hit Lilith gave her command.
“Jump and Thunder Wave!” At the command Liepard started to run at the charging Beedrill, jumped onto its head and spun in midair before it released a shockwave of electricity that drove the Beedrill to the floor where it spasmed as electricity danced over its form. Liepard landed and ran back toward the paralyzed Bug. The scoreboard behind the judge’s table showed that Xion had dropped ten points while Lilith’s stayed at one hundred.
“Beedrill! Get back in the air!” Xion cried in worry.
“Grass Knot, capture it!” Lilith said as she looked straight at her opponent. Liepard’s eyes glowed green before ten green vines and erupted from the ground three each grabbed the stingers, one each for its legs and two around it abdomen stinger. As it continued to spasm its trainer’s score dropped in half.
“Shadow Ball Barrage, mobile!” Lilith commanded. Her Liepard started to run around the trapped Bug and fired black balls of energy that drove down its trainer’s score five points with each hit. Finally when it only had twenty points left the Beedrill stop its spasms and was able to break free and take flight, dodging the last sphere.
“Agility, get some range!” Xion cried, the command causing Beedrill to start to fly around the stage, always keeping its body and face pointed toward its opponent.
“Double Team, try to confuse it.” Lilith called out as she tried to keep her eyes on the flying Bug. Liepard body started to glow white as it ran and soon a pack of Liepards was running around the stage trying to catch the flying Beedrill as he weaved one in front of the other until which one was the original was.
“Pin Missile, rapid fire! Try to hit it!” Xion called out as he tried to figure out a new plan.
Beedrill’s stinger glowed white and shot multiple small white needles which destroyed a Liepard when they hit until it final hit the real one, knocking it down and dropping Lilith’s score by ten.
“Giga Impact!” Lilith called out. Liepard glowed white as it raced toward the Beedrill and light yellow streaks surrounded its body.
“Try to dodge it!” Xoin cried out but before his Pokémon could move before its opponent jumped and hit the Beedrill in its chest, knocking it to the floor and winning the match.
Xoin walked off stage and walked to his changing room quietly with a look of anger on his face.
“Boss!” he looked up and saw a teen with his black hair in a mohawk wearing green sunglass in white clothing with a light green jacket running toward him.
“That little bitch had to have cheated boss, ain’t no way you would have lost in a fair fight.” Mohawk said as he fell into step behind him. Xion let his minion prattle on as he went over what he knew about the girl he battled.
“Wasn’t that girl with the newest challenger to the gym?” Xion said as a smirk grew on his face.
“Yeah, she was boss, what ya planning.” Mohawk asked as they entered the dressing room assigned to him. Xion smirked evilly as he turned to Mohawk.
“Just that maybe big sis would like to try the newest challenger, and maybe I could teach that little bitch some respect for her betters.” Xion snarled as he went toward his cloths.
“If you’re after Ashy, I think I could help you out.” A voice from the doorway caused the two of them to turn and see Harley leaning against the doorway, a savage grin on his face.
“What’s your angle?” Xion demanded as he looked at the purple haired Coordinator.
“Let’s just say I always get even, each and every time.” Harley said as he chuckled darkly.
“Lilly Nightbloom, Nimue Mistborn, I am proud to award the both of you a General Contest Ribbon. When you each win your next General Contest Ribbon you will be told the riddle to find out where the contest in the general area is being held, and please keep in mind that a new riddle will be handed out if you don’t find out the answer to it before the Grand Contest. I hope I will see you both compete again at the Grand Festival.” Mr. Glomong said to applause as he handed over a ribbon each to the teens still in their costume.
Nimue and Lilith both bowed to the crowds with their Pokemon and walked off the stage.
“I’m a bit sorry we weren’t able to have a match, I might have learned a lot from you.” Nimue said to Lilly as they walked. Lilith looked around before noticing that they in front of her dressing room and decided to take a chance. If I’m wrong I’ll just daze her like I did to Alexa.
“Say would you come in for a moment Nimue, I need a bit of help getting out of this.” Lilith asked as she gestured to the room, Nimue entered before Lilith followed her in and closed and locked the door.
“Sure, if you don’t mind helping me when…” Nimue stopped talking when a black glowing hand was put on her shoulder and she started to glow blue her eyes widening as she registered the Aura use.
“I KNEW IT! WHO are you working for!?” Lilith snarled as she spun Nimue around and grabbed her arms.
“Working for, your awake and not from the Sisterhood?! How, all other Aura users died out because of the King’s weapon besides us!” Nimue stammered as she met Lilith eyes in shock. The shock caused Lilith to let her go.
“Sisterhood? I think the both of us need to talk, tonight? Near the gym?” Lilith said as Nimue gave a shaky nod.
“Lilly are you in there, Bonnie and I are here to help you.” Serena’s muffled voice called from the door. Lilith shot Nimue a look and was met with a nod.
“Thanks Serena, I didn’t think you two would come so I asked Nimue for help.” Lilith said as she walked toward the door. When she opened the door and let them in.
“I was able to talk Clemont into it since we saw Harley leave earlier.” Serena said as she and Bonnie entered the room
“You were great in the Appeals Nimue, and you both battled great!” Bonnie cheered as she looked at the both of them.
“Say I have an idea, giving the time how about we all go eat at the center, Ash has a spice topping that you have to try Nimue.” Lilith said as she shot her a look that Bonnie and Serena didn’t see.
“It would give us a chance to talk more, so I guess that’s okay.” Nimue said with a small smile as her thoughts were trying to deal with the reality that was Lilly Nightbloom. There are still Aura users besides us out there. I knew we should have gone out into the world more. If sis sends hunters after me it might be something if Lilly is on my side, but how she confronted me means she’s fought other Aura users, I need to know the truth. She thought as she looked at Lilith out of the corner of her eyes.
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Bahadur smiled down at his starter as he led him over a bridge ten feet wide and thirty feet long with the sun starting to set. He had spent the last few hours get to know his Pokémon and show him his new home. He thought a few times something might have been following the two of them but he was probably seeing things or had seen something scrounging for food.
“And that’s our town in a nutshell. The last place I want to show you is right across the river, . It’s just within the field Casters setup to keep out Chimera and Pokémon swarms out, not that it works all the time so a few years ago local militia set up some lookout posts along the river on the opposite shore. It’s a field where local trainers gather to compete with each other and where the town has its annual adulthood ceremony.” Bahadur said as he led his Pokémon towards the field.
“The only problem I have with the town is the Bloody Maulers, a gang of hooligans led by the son of the town’s biggest merchant. The merchant is an okay person, his son was raised by his ex-wife before she died last year, and since he came to town I’ve been butting heads with him at least once a weak. Since he’s become a trainer I’m sure he’ll be around for a battle sooner or later.” Bahadur said with a grimace before two figures his height in red cloaks with pulled hoods over their head appeared before him at the end of the bridge, a male Nidoran and a Stunky by their trainer’s sides respectively.
“And these are the Bloody Maulers little buddy.” Bahadur said as his right hand slowly went to the sword on his back.
“Now normally I would fight you on my own, but with my partner here how about we put a rain check and have a battle tomorrow?” Bahadur said as Magby started to growl, only for his words to cause smirks to erupt from on the faces of the people before him.
“How about we have a battle right now? Go Sandile!” A voice from behind caused Bahadur turn his head and saw Aagha throw a Pokéball that released a Sandile wearing a collar with a grey stone on it. By his side were the twins, one had released a Phanpy and the other had a Roggenrola out. Behind them were four other wearing red cloaks each one seemed to leer at the Bahadur and his starter.
“Aagha, didn’t the beating I give you with our weapons earlier this week give you anything to think about?” Bahadur asked as the cloaked figures started to snicker as Aagha’s face grew red.
“YOU SHUT IT; I WAS GOING TO BEAT YOU ON MY OWN BUT NOW! Khadim, Charandas, send your Pokémon to help mine beat that Fire beast black and blue! Once it’s down we’ll give Hero boy here a few scars!” Aagha bellowed as the named trainers looked at their Pokemon and nodded at them. Bahadur’s Magby shot it’s trainer a troubled look and was met with a weary grin.
“This is going to be trouble partner.” Bahadur gritted his teeth as he looked at the two trainers behind him and started to inch toward the river, hoping to jump onto a passing boat to get away or to at least gain some range.
“Not if you got some help bro! Poliwag; use Water Gun aimed at the Roggenrola!” A male voice cried out as a spiral of water from the river hit the Roggenrola, stunning it and damaging it greatly.
“We’re helping too! Night Slash on the Phanpy, Pidove!” A musical voice called before a gray, pigeon-like Pokémon with a black glowing wing hit the blue ground type with its wing, sending it flying at the rock type, sending the Roggenrola flying out over the river.
“Meditite, grab that Roggenrola with Confusion and use it as a frail on the Pokemon behind Bahadur!” A female voice called out before the Roggenrola glowed blue and was thrown into the Nidoran and the Stunky.
“YOU THREE!?” Aagha snarled as he spun and looked at three figures walking out of the alleys. The male figure was wearing a black cloak, had blue hair in a ponytail, blue eyes and had a smirk on his face. He wore a black cloak over a blue shirt and black pants and sneakers, on his back were two short swords.
The first female had a voluptuous figure and dark crimson hair in waves that went down her back, jade eyes while the only makeup on her face was navy blue lipstick. Her black cloak was over a brown tube top and brown pants and shoes, on her hands were clawed gloves with navy blue stones on the tops of them.
The second female had a slender body with blue hair in rings on the side of her head and blue eyes with a fierce glint in them. She wore a black cloak over a grey shirt and grey pants and boots, on her legs were black greaves. Next to her floated a Meditite who eyes were glowing blue.
“Good thing sissy was practicing her parkour and saw our least favorite rodent spy on you bro.” The male said as he crossed his arms as a Poliwag jumped onto the bridge and go into formation with Magby as the girl’s Pidove landed on Magby’s other side.
“What’s the play Bahadur!” The voluptuous girl cried as winds started to gather around her hands. Bahadur looked around, noting that the Roggenrola was knocked out and the Nidoran and Stunky looked to be near the point to take them down, while the Phanpy was standing next to Sandile while the four behind them started to release their Pokémon; two Cubone, a Gligar and a Machop. He shot a look at his Magby and saw it nod at him with a smirk on its face.
“Ruchika and Pidove, you two back up Etana and Meditite to take the Pokémon behind Aagha! Farbod, you and Poliwag use range combat on the two behind me. Me and Magby will take out the two in front of us!” Bahadur called out as he made a plan to get out of this conscience.
“Pidove, aim a Combined Gust at the Cubones!” Ruchika said as she thrust her hands forward, a blast of wind flying towards the cloaked trainers and their Pokémon.
Pidove had shoot off the bridge and throw a small blast of wind at the Pokémon, the winds combined and formed a small hurricane which threw all four of the Maulers’s Pokémon a few feet off the ground. The trainers drew cudgels and ran at the three trainers. Etana released a small laugh and smirked at their actions.
“Catch one of the Cubones and us it as a frail!” Etana said as she shot forward and spun around, kicking out with her right leg and hit one of the Maulers’s in the head, knocking him out. While this happened one of the Cubone’s gained a blue outlined and floated upward before it was thrown at the Gligar and Machop, knocking out the thrown Cubone and the Gilgar. Farbod drew his two short swords and ran towards his sister, blocking a blow of the Maulers’s sent at the back of her head, after which he was dealt a devastating kick to the side of his head, leaving only two more for the brother and sister to deal with.
“Poliwag, stay back and Water Gun anything that moves toward the boss!” Farbod said as he slashed at the gang member he was fighting. Poliwag in response to the order shot a spiral of water at the other end of the bridge, forcing back the Pokémon there.
“Let’s do this partner! Flare Blitz!” Bahadur said as he watched the battles around him.
“Mag by Magb!” Magby cried out with courage as flames started to form around him.
Magby covered himself in flames and shot at the Phanpy and threw a punch at it, sending it flying at its trainer sending them both back into the trainers behind him when it hit him. Magby had turned toward the Sandile and cried out a challenge.
“Flare Blitz? His beast knows that move!?” One of Aagha’s bookends demanded as the three stared at the Pokémon Battle. Bahadur merely smirked as he looked around at the varies combat happening around him. With some luck we’ll get out of this in one piece.
“We got some more coming at us Bahadur!” Ruchika voice cut in and Bahadur turned toward her to see ten more members of the Maulers’s running toward the fight with their Pokémon out. Bahadur merely gritted his teeth and looked
“Breakout time guys! Magby, attack with me!” Bahadur said as he turned away from the town and ran toward the field. Magby shot in front of him and punched the Stunky, knocking it out and opening a path for them.
“Breakout!?” Aagha snarled before he started to glow blue before his body was slammed to the ground.
“Like this fatty!” Etana said as she jumped over the prone figure as her before she jumped and knocked out one of the Maulers’s at the end of the bridge as her Meditite floated after her, Ruchika meanwhile shot a blast of wind behind her to assist her in jumping over the river while her Pidove flew next to her and Farbod ran over the bridge as his Poliwag fell in behind him.
“Magby, Smog, make it nice and big!” Bahadur said as his friends joined on the other side of the river. Magby released enough smoke from his mouth that
“Pidove Gust, blow it at them!” Ruchika command before her Flying type beet its wings and sent the smoke at Aagha who was being helped up by his minions.
“Come on guys, we’ll make for the front of the village!” Aagha heard Bahadur shout out through the smoke. As the smoke cleared he saw his followers gather at the bridgehead and moved back toward the town.
“You two idiots follow me; we’ll cut them off at the town’s entrance. Five of you go after them, we’ll pincer them between us, some of you help those fools knocked out here back to the house, the rest guard here.” Aagha commanded as he ran through the streets, his Pokémon at his heels. Eight members and their pokemon ran across the bridge, three stopping to help their comrades up and started to help them back toward their base. When all was said and done two gang members were left at the bridge, each with a Cubone standing guard. After a while the one on the left turned to his comrade and asked a question.
“Hey, did you notice the hair on that wind girl? Looks like the boss’s dolls.” One said to another before a blast of wind hit the person who he was talking to as a water spiral hit his friend’s Cubone. Turning, he and his Ground type saw the people the rest were after, before he could do anything Etana shot forward and dropped an axe kick on his head and knocked him out before Poliwag shot another Water Gun at his Pokémon knocking it out.
“He has ‘dolls’ with my hair color?!” Ruchika demanded as they walked back into town with her Pidove on her right shoulder as she fumed. Those bastards had better have been talking about toy dolls and not the other kind. If he has a single Homunculus with my color I’ll strangle him.
“It seems we have something to look into then, if they are those kind of ‘dolls’ where would he even get Homunculus like that anyway, there isn’t anyone with skill in Alchemy to make humanoids in town and gossip would of talked if he brought packages that size from the river barges.” Bahadur said as they moved towards their homes.
“No one who advertises that they have that skill anyway, no one knew that you were a Wind Auralist until you blew those people trying to grab you away, right Ruchika?” Etana said, causing Ruchika to give a silent nod.
“Yeah Windy, we’ll tackle those brats tomorrow, see you two later, we’ll meet at our place, see you around guys.” Farbod said as he and his sister recalled their Pokemon and ran towards their home, leaving Bahadur and Ruchika alone. After a few minutes of silence between the two of them Bahadur decided to break the silence.
“So thanks for the help you and the others gave me.” Bahadur said as he scratched his head as he looked away from her with a blush on his face. Ruchika looked at him before she blushed and turned her head away from him.
“You’re a friend to us all, when Etana and her brother came across me and said that the Rat was up to his usual tricks I knew I had to help. And I realized you would end at the training field since you gave me the same tour when I moved here a few months ago, so we bear feet to the bridge.” Ruchika said as they walked toward the residential district. Eventual they stopped at an intersection and just stood there for a few minutes/
“So I’m over here and you’re over there, I guess we’ll meet at the twins place tomorrow to decide what to do.” Bahadur said as he started to walk toward his home. Ruchika looked conflicted for a second before she decided to do something.
“Wait a second.” Ruchika said as she darted after him and grabbed his arm.
“Yes…” Bahadur trailed off when Ruchika darted forward and gave him a kiss on the check.
“Goodnight Bahadur.” Ruchika said with a blushed before she ran off toward her home.
Bahadur just stood there and rubbed the check she kissed for a few seconds and didn’t move until she was out of sight.
“Yes!” He said quietly with a goofy grin on his face as he threw an arm up and ran toward his family’s house, his Magby by his side as he ran. He didn’t notice a 3 foot tall black bird with no beck and a single ruby in the center of its head had watched the kiss and flew off when he went to his home, not noticing the spy.
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“…And that’s it my Lord. The shoreline patrol has discovered nothing and lookout ships have seen nothing like what the specimens retrieved. Giving where the things were discovered I personally think we should keep up the new actions for at least a few more months at the least. I heard Lady Joy is trying to find out where the corpse were born and if that can be found a team could be inserted to try and track down the maker.” A blond man with green eyes in black full plate armor said as he gestured to a holographic map of their lands.
“What composition of the team would you suggest Mordred?” Dracula said as he sat upon his throne as his inner court stood around the room.
“I would prefer to wait and see what Joy discovers, the location would affect what team and the tactical situation on the ground is first.” Mordred said as he looked at his master.
“Thank you for the report Knight Commander, and finally Magnus, what have you discovered about the problem to return my son and Queen to our shores?” Magnus winced at the hope in his friend’s voice; this was going to be bad.
“On the subject of my Nephew, he has three chains of seals on him.” Magnus started, stopping when he felt Dracula’s Aura spike and pressure start as he saw cracks form on the arms of his throne.
“One has started to be destroyed, the result of an Aura surge during a life threatening event he was involved with, it was to restrict his emotional maturity. Another is holding back his ability to use Aura, and the final one I am unsure of, but I think part is holding back his heritage as your son.” Magnus said as he braced himself as the others around the room did the same.
The eruption of Aura from their master destroyed his throne as he stood up, a piece of it flew by Magnus and cut his right check. Given the reaction he had when they were first taken and the fact that the anniversary is almost here, it was better than he feared.
“And Delia? What has been used on her then?” Dracula asked as his eyes started to glow black as the pressure seemed to increase.
“I have identified two sets on her. One holds back all her memories of the Homeland. And I don’t understand the last one, but her abilities are fighting back against them. If our agents in Pallet could find a way to cut on seal, I think over a year she would destroy them on her own. Then we would just need to spark her memories and she would be as she once was.” Magnus said as Dracula walked to stare at the painting of him and Delia. He just stood there, thinking before he finally came to a decision.
“Camilla, you are to send a courier to join the team, a strong trainer, one who could be inserted into their cover easily. Someone skilled in battle able to hold their own, and could get Delia out of danger in a hurry. Magnus, spare no resource in finding out what the seals are, even check the Forbidden Archives if you must.” Dracula commanded
“I will need a few days to go over who to send my lord, but it will be done.” Camilla said with a curtsey as Magnus bowed.
“By my oath my lord, I will find out what we need to know to get my sister home, I will use anything and anyone I must.” Magnus promised as the briefing ended.
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Albia put her backpack down on the bed in the room Delia had said she could use. When Delia had heard that she had been staying at the Center she had called Joy and cursed her out for a few minutes for not telling her where her new hire was staying. She had been infuriated that Joy had let the girl stay there without letting Delia know about it. Albia just looked around the room and was soon lost in her thoughts. A whole room for myself, I’ve never ever had a place just for me back at the orphanage. Maybe I can make a home for myself here after all.
“Well welcome to Casa de Ketchum, we hope you enjoy your stay.” A voice broke Albia out of her thoughts and she saw Delia watching her with a small smile on her face.
“I can’t thank you enough for letting me stay here Ms. Ketchum, really I can’t.” Albia said as she looked at her boss.
“Don’t worry about it, I can tell you’re a good kid no matter what your running from, and yes I know that you’re running form something.” Delia said as she met Albia’s eyes, only for the younger girl to look away. Delia looked at her and sighed.
“The only thing I need you to tell me is if you think you lost what was after you.” Delia said and was met with a nod from Albia. Delia smiled at that, if Albia trusted her enough to tell her that then there was hop that she would trust Delia enough to tell her story when she was ready.
“Well then I’m making pizza, do you want any toppings on it?” Delia said as she grabbed Albia’s hand and pulled her toward the kitchen.
“No, I prefer plain pizza to tell the truth.” Albia said as they walked toward the kitchen.
“Well the kitchen is over here on the ground floor, the laundry room is in the basement and my room is up there on the second floor with my son’s room.” Delia told her as they walked.
“This place started to feel empty when Ash started to travel, even when Mimmy came it’s still pretty lonely at night and during the bad winters being so far out of town so having others here is kind of nice. And please Albia, call me Delia.” Delia said with smile as she opened the door to the kitchen.
“Still, thanks again for letting us stay with you and Mimmy, Ms. Ket… Delia.” Albia said as she smiled before walking into the kitchen, Delia following behind her.
“Like I said I appreciate the company. Now the dishes for Pokémon in that cabinet there and the Pokémon Pellets are in that cabinet.” Delia said as she moved about the room, Albia following in her wake like when Delia had shown her the kitchen in Pallet House.
Later after Delia and Albia were done eating, Albia had offered to do the dishes and her Pinser was finishing up its own meal. The Mr. Mime that Delia had sent looks at Albia when the humans were looking at the TV or each other in a way that Pinser didn’t like. Flaaffy was standing by its trainer, having picked up that its teammate didn’t trust the Fairy type for some reason and shared a look with the Bug, come nightfall they would be ready if it tried anything.
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A boy with brown grey hair in a blue karate gi block a Lucario with a scar on its left check punch with an open fist and grabbed its arm with his other hand and threw the Steel type down the field, as soon as he let go he shot after it and drew back a fist that started to glow blue. The Lucario rolled when it hit the floor and jumped to the side when it got back to its feet, dodging the boy’s fist which hit the ground and formed a small crater, sending shards flying from the point his fist hit the ground. The Lucario threw a kick at him which he blocked with a gauntlet on his right forarm before he shot forward with his left arm hitting below the Lucario chest spike.
“That’s enough you two! Cameron that was a good use of your Aura to power that punch and on the shoulder throw, and Lucario good recovery, but next time try to dodge backwards, not to the sides.” A voice called out and both human and Pokémon stopped, drew back and bowed to each other.
“You sure master, I think me and my partner here can go a bit longer today.” Cameron said with a smirk on his face as he looked as he looked toward the voice. A figure in a blue gi walked next to a strong looking Lucario wearing a bracelet with a stone in it. As the Lucario that had spared with Cameron bowed to its elder the man reached and patted Cameron on his shoulder.
“I’m proud of you Cameron, since I found you last year you’ve learned how to use your Aura and understood the philosophy of our order faster than I did when I was in training.” He praised his student who blushed and looked away.
“Aahh, Master Riley, don’t say that, you’ll give me a big head.” Cameron said in embarrassment, prompting a laugh from his teacher.
“Come on, the stew should be ready so come on.” Riley said as he walked back towards their home. Riley had found Carmon a few months ago when he had come across the boy and his team battling a particular tough Dark type Chimera. Cameron’s weapon, a hammer had been broken and before Riley could attack with an Aura Art Cameron had struck the Chimera with an unfocused Aura Punch that rocked it back and stunned it long enough for Riley to get behind and cut its head off. Riley and his team had gotten Cameron and his team to safety and he had told him about the Power of Aura, of the Aura Guardians. He had offered Cameron a chance to train as a Guardian and the boy had jumped at it, he had even said he had been looking for a purpose for his life. And the boy had flourished; he had taken to the teachings like he had been born for them.
Riley smiled as they entered the base built in the southeastern section of Mt. Coronet near Oreburgh City. The Aura Guardians had set this place up back when the order was more numerous but when they were attacked fifty years ago; a lot of Guardians and their families had died, his master had been the only survivor, escaping to this place were copies of most of the knowledge they held, training mostly with a bit of the order’s history. He knew the knowledge was missing something important but he had no idea what.
Heading toward the kitchen he passed one of the chambers holding relics, he was so deep in thought that he needed a minute to notice that his student and their Pokémon weren’t following him.
“Master isn’t a blinking light in this room a sign a Seal was broken?” Cameron said hoarsely as he stared into the room, the words caused Riley to pale and dash to the doorway, looking into the room and saw the flashing light illuminate the darkness. Walking into the room he reached a shelf and picked up a small pyramid and feed some of his aura into it, which lite up with the same four symbols on all sides. He frowned as he read the symbols; ‘horde, spore, pain, plague’, these was going to be a problem.
“Well sensei? Does it say where the seal is?” Cameron asked from the doorway.
“The only thing the symbols do is to describe what was sealed; and one of the words used is ‘horde’ which is going to be a problem. Sadly I think the knowledge about where the seal is was lost during the attack.” Riley said to his apprentice with a sigh.
“Damn those scum! What the fuck were they thinking, attacking the Aura Guardians!? We stay out conflicts between regions; we only attack Chimera and criminals who are a danger to humans or Pokémon! What reason could they have had to do it?!” Cameron said with rage as he punched the wall in anger.
“If I knew who was behind the attack I would question them very severely about it.” Riley said as he scowled at the memories of finding the old headquarters in ruins, the corpses and how his teacher had passed on before passing him directions to this place and warning him about “Those who hide in the Light”, he still didn’t know who they were but he had tried.
“Come on student, let’s eat our dinner and I’ll plan what to do after.” Riley said as he led his student and their Pokémon towards the bases dining room/ ketchen.
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Shadow reached the outskirts of Lavender Town as the sun started to set and moved through the slums by jumping from building to building until he reached a building overlooking a ruined staircase going into the earth. Outside stairs was a heavily muscular man next to a Machamp with sunglass and iron knuckles in each of its hands. As Shadow dropped the Machamp looked at him and nudged the man next to it. The man looked at shadow and reached for his pocket slowly as he looked at Shadow as he walked toward the stairs.
“Hey man I don’t want any trouble ya hear me.” The Bouncer said to Shadow as the Machamp started to pose. Shadow didn’t break his stride and when he was right before the stairs he stopped. The Bouncer had a knife half drawn and looked at him with a concern, was this a raid?
“In Shadow and Darkness does the real money Flow.” Shadow said before he walked past the Bouncer who relaxed at the password Shadow had given. He sent a small frown at the Machamp and was met with a confident smirk in return.
“Hey, next time come here on the ground so I can see ya sooner, ya hear me Merc?” The Bouncer called down to Shadow who walked into the Den; Ghost Station. When he reached the bottom he walked to a wall at the end of a small hallway and opened a door, entering a saloon full of rough looking trainers of both genders, a few Team Rocket grunts sat around a table playing poker and a few women dressed in tube tops and short skirts grouped near an open doorway along one of the walls, a TV behind the bar with a man with slick black hair in a bartender’s uniform watching it with a Granbull, both of their backs to the doorway.
The noise dropped when one of the people facing the doorway fell out of his chair causing people to turn and some to go pale and caused everyone there to slowly reach for their Pokéballs or weapons until the man behind the counter slammed his hand against the bar.
“I don’t need to remind anyone here that any violence not in self-defense results in being banned from this Den and its services for a year, do I?” His gruff voice cut through the tension like a knife through butter.
“But it’s Shadow! He’s one of the strongest bounty hunters out there! We have to strike first to even have a chance to keep walking free…” One of the Rocket grunts choked out before Shadow raised both his hands, each empty.
“Not here on a hunt, I’m here for information. I acknowledge and respect the neutrality of the Dens.” Shadow cut in as he walked towards the bar.
“See you idiots; he’s here to use the Den. Granbull watch the bar, you, Shadow? Come with me.” The man said as he got walked toward a door next to the bar and entered an office with a large mainframe, a computer on the desk behind which the man sat.
“Information, so what is it you’re after. Chimera bounties, a new Black Lister came out near Pewter, normal bounty, got a new one near Dark City; the Yaz expelled a student who tried a coup, might get something for him if the League wants to know any Yaz secrets.” The man began before Shadow put his hand on the table.
“Karen of the Elite Four, I need everything you have on her Joey.” Shadow said as his face locked on the man’s who went still.
“Karen of the Elite, what’s brought her to your attention? People who enter the League usually have everything known about them from where they went to school to what they ate the day they left home as a trainer. And to the public she is a friend to all worthwhile charities, someone who helps the helpless and a patron of those who hunt Chimera. But…” Joey trailed off as he started to look sheepish.
“Joey, but what?” Shadow said as he crossed his arms.
“She’s a specter. She came out of nowhere and went through the gyms like a bullet, she moved faster than she could with the help of any Pokémon she’s known to have or with a boat or car and qualified for the league within the last month before the tournament for a new member of the Elites.“ Joey said with a sigh as he leaned back.
“So do the Dens have anything not available to the public?” Shadow questioned as Joey found Shadow’s masked and leaned forward.
“Just a few observations we’ve made. Her team is interesting, at least according to my bro in Viridian. He thinks her team’s compositing is telling, her Murkrow isn’t evolved but her Vileplum is, which is surprising since both need a stone to do so and she’s supposedly a Dark type specialist and then there’s her vocabulary, she uses some phasing that is from Unova so she spent a lot of time in the more populated areas there. She knows people consider her a beauty and knows how to use it, so she grew up around people not related to her, so she wasn’t homeschooled but there no school records with her name on it anywhere in Unova.” Joey said as he scratched his chin.
“Would he have anything you don’t know, in his private files?” Shadow inquired, causing Joey to stare at him. The private files were unique to each Den, and to get at them was as unique as the Dens themselves, sometimes the trouble wasn’t worth the effort.
“Anything you want you’ll have to trade for, and he only accepts info about the target you want on. So if you have anything we don’t know about her, I’m afraid that that is the only way he’d let you into his files.” Joey finished before Shadow nodded at him and turned and walked to the door, stopping before it.
“Let your brother know I’m coming to talk with him, that I have a photo that proves Karen isn’t all her public persona shows her to be.” Shadow said as he opened the door, Joey standing up sending his chair scrapping back.
“You know something about her we don’t!?” Joey cried out in shock, not caring that his voice carried through the room. Shadow merely waved his hand before he left the office. As he walked through the bar to the door the TV was finishing the nightly news.
“…And now an announcement form the Pokémon Center in Viridian City for all towns, homesteads or travelers in the Hurricanes path, keep your Pokémon in their balls tonight or close your windows if your indoors. A wind born epidemic has hit the Viridian area that started either early this morning or late last night, affecting all Pokémon. Be advised that all Pokémon types are affected by this and if your Pokémon seems to be in pain call the or take them to the nearest Pokémon Center. Coming up the play season for the Celadon Theater has been announced, what will they perform on opening day?” Shadow stop at the door when Viridian City was mentioned, leaving the bar once the report was done, not noticing someone had noticed and figured out why he had stopped.
A man with a beard all over his face in a torn shirt and pants sat in the corner finishing up his food and got up after Shadow had been gone for an hour, leaving just before Joey came back to start to close up for the night. He shot the Bouncer a wave as he walked out of the underground, stumbling and leaning against one of the buildings before stumbling off. After a while he left the area where the Bouncer could see him, started to walk normally and a Croagunk wearing a high tech-collar holding a folded dark brown overcoat dropped down and walked next to him, handing over the overcoat.
“Shadow left the city already? And he’s after a woman.” The man muttered as he ripped his beard from his face, revealing a clean shaving face and brown eyes. Seeing his Pokémon nod at his question he sighed as he put his coat on and closed it, covering up the rips and walked toward the main part of town.
“I think we should head to our room and depart in the morning; it’s going to take a while to get to Viridian from here with that hurricane coming in.” He said as he and his partner walked toward the Center.
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“…Theater has been announced, what will they perform on opening day?” Riley turned off the TV and turned to his student with a bitter smile. So he was going to Kanto.
“Well’ it seems I know where to I need to go.” Riley said as he walked toward a phone on a table.
“What’s this ‘I’ Sensei? If you think I’m letting you go alone your so slow a Slowbro will evolve before you think something else.” Cameron said as he came back into the room with an ancient looking tome.
“And like one of our predecessor wrote, don’t fight a Fire Chimera without a Water Type. So let’s find out which seal is busted and what they did to fight it and seal it away.” Cameron said as he put the book onto their table as their Pokemon came into room carrying the soup they would have for dinner. Riley just shook his head and walked over towards the table and started to look over the entries, each one a threat the Aura Guardians had forced behind seals, wondering what was threating Kanto and if they would be able to handle it alone.
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As the full moon rose in the dark of the night illuminating the desert, the five red cloaks of the Bloody Maulers members were obvious as they dashed over the sands. Their boss had ordered them to do a circlet of the area then head back if they didn’t find their targets before they reached the bridge he had walked off muttering about getting a way to communicate better. They passed a pack of Cacnea coming back from the river, and saw a flock of Doduo led by a Dodrio head toward the front of the town. The mission leader merely looked an out over the sands as they ran, their Equipment letting them move as easily over the loose sands as he scowled, their boss vendetta against Bahadur was against all reason. Why the hell did we have to go this way, I mean that brat had to have escaped from us already. I mean if we didn’t find them by now they had to have made it to their homes by now. He thought as he looked at the desert nightscape.
“Leader, we’re almost back to the bridge so maybe they doubled back when they got out of our sight?” One of the grunts said, he ignored them, the grunt was probably right but they had to get to the bridge and then they would be able to go home and sleep. Coming to a decision he signaled his team to slow down and turned and
“Okay gents, the targets are probably in their homes in their beds; so let’s make hast to the nearest bridge back into town and tell anyone who asks that we couldn’t find them and….” The leader began before he was interrupted.
“Is that them over there? Over by that abandoned lookout hut near the hills?” One of the grunts asked as he pointed toward a nearby lookout hut, turning rapidly the leader saw a form in the shade cast by said lookout hut on top of a nearby dune. Signaling his team to follow him, they moved silently toward another dune to get a better view of what was in the shadow. Lying down on the sand they were able to get a better view and saw that the figure was taller than any of their targets.
“It’s just one, and the figure is wrong, it’s not them. Still any tribute we could bring back to the boss might make his night, what say you gents?” His question was met with grins as the others around him started to chuckle.
“One of you stay back and hide in case this one’s too strong and beats us, you two of you hit ‘em from behind after me and this one hits him from the front. And remember, all but the hider release you Pokémon.” He said as he released his Pokémon, a Machop as the rest released their Pokemon; a Cubone, and two Stunky as he led one of them toward the lookout hut. When the two of them and their Pokémon were within ten feet of the shadow he decided to call out to their target.
“Okay bloke here’s how it’s gonna be, you drop your valuables you got and run back to town, move fast and we might not take any of your Pokémon.” He sneered as he and his men moved to attack. The figure in the shadow said nothing as the gangers stated to get angry at the silence from their victim.
“I said drop your valuables NOW! A wiseguy hu, Machop; fire a Focus Blast at the punk!” His Machop cupped its hands and formed a sparking light yellow orb of energy and shot it at their victim. Before the sphere hit its target the figure raised a hand and a brown energy blast destroyed the sphere.
“An Auralist?” He stammered as he and his team drew their weapons, cutlass as they moved apart from each other, their Pokemon taking point before them. The Cubone had taken a step forward before a golden rope flashed out and wrapped around it, and before it could start to struggle a brown glow formed around it and was drained into the rope, drawing a cry of pain that ended with it limp in the rope before the rope uncoiled and dropped the Pokémon to the ground.
“What the hell, what did that thing do to my Cubone?!” One of the Maulers’s cried in shock as he stared, so caught up that he didn’t notice another golden rope shoot out and wrap around him. As soon as it wrapped around him a blue glow formed and drained away, so fast he couldn’t even cry out in pain.
“What the Fuck!” One of the Stunky trainers said as the gangers backed away from the outpost in horror.
“I thought all the Devourers and the lore about their training were destroyed years ago!?” A voice croaked out in terror as the Leader starred in horror at what they had run into, a horror that parents used to scare kids to behave, this just couldn’t be real.
“This can’t be happening man, this can’t be happening!” He spared a glance at one of others who looked like he was having a nervous breakdown. He needed to find a way to either get his people away from here or pull off a win soon.
“Pull yourselves back together! We got to buy some time, poison the fucker!” The Leader ordered as his Machop
“Got it Leader, Stunky use Poison Gas.” The Maulers who had managed to keep calm while being terrified ordered his Poison type which released a green fog from its mouth at the figure which was quickly engulfed in the fog. The trainers grinned; even a Drainer would be affected, unless it had eaten a Poison Pokémon.
“Good work; shoot a Focus Blast at the fog Machop!” The Leader command his Pokemon, who sent a blue sphere which caused an explosion that engulfed the figure and the hut.
“That had to have gotten the bastard leader! Nothing living would have…” The Maulers member trailed off as the fire from the explosion caused the figure to be revealed. The figure that was revealed wasn’t human at all, nor was it a Pokémon. It was a golem 5 feet tall humanoid figure made of a golden stone with blocky limbs, the ropes that had drained the were but two of eight on the arms of the golem that moved back and forth like they were alive. On its chests were 20 clear stones, two were lite up, one brown and the other blue. Its face had two blue gems for eyes and a painted frown.
“What is this thing?” The trainer who had started to lose it started to back away before two of the golden ropes wrapped around him and his Pokémon and drained them of the outline that appeared, the golem’s chest gaining a blue and purple glow from two of the clear gems.
“Machop, fire another Focus Blast! We have to force it back!” The leader cried out as his Machop formed a blue sphere between its hands and thrust its hands at the golem.
“Back’em up Stunky; fire a Toxic at the thing!” The remaining Stunky shot a purple liquid from its mouth from the golem’s other side. The golem raised its hands to catch both attacks and while the Focus Blast was drained away, the Toxic melted the arm to the elbow.
“We have a chance, we…..” The ganger trailed of when the arm flashed brown and its arm was regenerated before their eyes. He just stood there before two of the golden ropes wrapped around both him and his Pokémon, draining them of the glow that formed around them. While that was happening he noticed that the golem’s chest didn’t have a brown glow on its chest. It’s using the drained Aura to heal itself, maybe I have a chance.
“The gems on its chest, that’s where it keeps the Aura it steals, aim for its dammed chest!” The leader called out before a rope wrapped around his Mahop, causing a ruby glow to form before it was drained away. He had a bare second to think about it before a golden rope coiled around him and drained him of a blue glow. The golem scanned the area before it started to walk off into the night away from the town, farther in the direction of the mountains their unexplored slops and peaks.
The lookout had stared in total shock at the battle that erupted before his eyes, total shock that four trainers and four Pokémon had been defeated by a golem so fast. He heard a noise behind him and saw lights over the river in town; people had seen the explosion and were coming to investigate. He moved towards his comrades, he had to get rid of their cloaks; they would be a few friends out for an evening run, not members of the Bloody Maulers. And he could blame it on the Cacnea they had seen, a Leech Seed did the same damage as that golem’s ropes did so he might be able to sell it. He was in such a hurry that he never noticed black bird like shadow against the moon had been watching them since they had confronted Bahadur, a silent observer that had seen the whole battle.
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Mr. Mime walked through the house silently, a frown on its faces as it thought about how it would have to deal with having another person in the house. When that woman’s brat was around it had to act the part of a happy house keeper, with him gone a simple command and she did the house work and treated it like a king when they were alone. Now a new trainer was here he was back to being a servant, he was looking forward to the seeing the tainted bitch in her proper place again. He walked to the phone and dialed his trainer’s number quickly; she had to know about the girl.
“Delia what is it? Why did you call so late?” Ginny’s voice asked worriedly when someone answered the phone.
“Mime mime mime” Mr. Mime answered
“Mime, what the fuck is the matter, what happened……oh no, that bleeding heart took someone in again didn’t she?” Ginny snarled as her voice turned vicious.
“Mime.” Mr. Mime said as he nodded.
“That new girl, right? The wanna be cook. Start to carry a recorder with you and drop it at the exchange point behind the house when you water the berries. Act like a fucking servant, don’t do anything that would let the brat figure out anything about you, got it?! Now let me sleep you stupid Fairy.” Ginny said before she slammed down her phone. Mr. Mime just looked at phone with a scowl and marched back toward where it slept, so much for that.
He was in such a state that he didn’t notice that one of the girl’s Pokemon hiding in the kitchen stand up and look toward the phone, a hard look on its brown face. It looks like that bitch Oak was involved with Delia’s blackouts and was the one who really controlled the Fairy Type. Looking down at a recorder Flaaffy had giving it, it had to play it back for its trainer tomorrow, and let Amanda hear this too.
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P A treon.com/bardofworlds for special rewards for all patrons
Trial of the Blade: Homeland term for the Defense Treaty, a test to prove they have mastered the use of their chosen weapon
Homunculus: Creation made by Alchemy which can be design to any shape, though a basic limit of 10 feet tall, controllable by artifact in shape of anything from a ring to a statue, limit of ten per control artifact
Alchemy: Aura Practice of infusing Aura into chemical mixtures and molds to create potions or Homunculus
Devourer: Forbidden Style of Auralists; drains others of Aura to power their abilities, higher tiers need to kill others to advanced their abilities, and kill Pokémon to gain their element. Has become a horror story for the Homeland
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Goodnight (SFC Submission)
Summary: Patton doesn't cope well with realizing that Thomas has been throwing out some of the old things that used to be stored in the former's room. Terrified that Thomas will force him to disappear as well, Patton decides to beat him to the punch, seeking out a new home.
Warnings: Deceit, Memory Erasure/Repression, Supernatural Elements
WC: 3399
Vote
"Hey Logan, do you know where Thomas put his old show DVDs?"
Logan looked up to see Patton standing in the former's doorway, a little distressed. He furrowed his eyebrows.
"The DVDs for the shows he was in, you mean?"
Patton nodded. "Yeah, those. They're normally in my room, but now I can't find them."
"...Patton, Thomas threw those out weeks ago," Logan said. He shook his head and returned to his book.
Patton's stomach dropped. "What? Why? When? Where? How?"
"The DVDs. Because he hadn't watched them in years and things were getting cluttered. Like I said, several weeks ago. In his apartment. And...I guess by putting them in a trash can?" Logan rattled off without looking up.
Patton put a hand on his head. "No, I mean...how could he?"
Logan sighed and put his book down. "I don't know. But I see no reason for it to bother you so much when it took you this long to notice they were gone."
"But...they were his memories," Patton said softly. He looked outside the room, and saw Roman and Virgil passing by. All of a sudden he felt a glimmer of hope that he'd get someone to understand.
"Roman!" he called out, practically ripping the creative Side's arm off in an attempt to pull him into the room.
"Whoa. Hey, what's up?" Roman asked, as he stumbled a little and straightened his sleeve.
Patton looked at Roman with wounded eyes. "Did you know that Thomas got rid of all his performance DVDs?"
Roman frowned. "Oh, really? I didn't know that. That's unfortunate."
Patton backed up. "Is it, though? It doesn't sound like you care all that much."
Roman sighed tiredly. "I don't know, I mean, do we really need all those awkward and embarrassing moments captured on camera forever? We've gotta make the space to move forward. Especially now that he's gotten so much better as an actor!"
Patton's heart sank. "Well, yeah, of course we need to make that space! But they're still important memories."
"Look," Logan spoke up, "Thomas is already going to be in a new show next month, remember? I'm sure that one will have a recording, and then we can start a new collection."
"Yeah, there ya go!" Roman said with forced cheerfulness. "Hey, Patton, what do you say we watch a movie tonight, yeah?" he asked, putting an arm around the now shell-shocked Patton.
Patton shook him off. "No, I don't want to watch a movie, I want to get Thomas' DVDs back." He turned towards Virgil and gave him a pleading look.
"You've been pretty quiet so far," he said, voice starting to crack. "Do you have anything to say about this?"
Virgil ran his fingers through his hair. "I...I don't know, buddy. I just feel like we've had this conversation before." He paused for a moment, choosing his words carefully before going on. "You can't hold onto every single part of Thomas' past." He tried to reach out to touch Patton's shoulder, but Patton just jumped back.
Logan never understood his attachment to...well, anything. And he'd certainly had disagreements with Roman in the past about when it was time to move forward. But Virgil was his best friend, and often the only one who could empathize with him when it came to not wanting to move on. But now everyone was against him.
He stared back at Virgil with venom in his eyes, and uttered the words he thought he'd read over Logan's shoulder once.
"Et too, Broot."
Virgil gave a confused frown. "...What?"
Just then, Logan's face lit up. "Brute, Patton," he corrected gently, laughter in his voice.
"It doesn't matter!" Patton burst out. "You know what I mean." He turned towards Virgil again and shook his head.
"I hate you so much," he said coolly.
"Hey--" Virgil began as he tried to reach out again. But this time Logan cut him off.
"See, this is exactly why I proposed that we stop telling him about this stuff. He's acting ridiculous."
Patton turned to look at him. "Wait...all this stuff? You mean, this has all happened before?"
"Oh, sure!" Roman said thoughtlessly. "Like the Pokémon cards, and the Furbies, and--"
He clapped his hand over his mouth, and glanced at Logan and Virgil with dread as they all braced themselves for the impending meltdown.
But Patton didn't yell or kick or punch anything. He just doubled over and fell onto the floor, gasping for air. Virgil's eyes widened, and he ran over to lift Patton up. But Patton still recoiled from him.
"Just get away from me," Patton said icily. "Isn't that what you want?"
Virgil looked pained. "No, of course not! That's not what anyone's saying, bud--"
But Patton had already run off.
Patton walked into his room and slammed the door, breathing hard. He scrambled around, looking for the Pokémon cards Roman had mentioned, only to discover that they, too, were gone. He started sweating and untied his shoes, and counted his toes in a desperate, if irrational attempt, to make sure they were all still there. Once he did, he went over to the mirror to check his face and hair.
Everything was still there. He wasn't starting to disappear just yet, and that made him calm down a little. But if the things in his room were starting to, then Patton couldn't help but worry that he wasn't safe from that possibility.
The only solution Patton could think of that wasn't unbearably painful was to beat Thomas to the punch. And just ducking out wasn't going to cut it.
Hands still shaking, Patton sat on his bed and pulled out his phone. He went to his messages and started typing.
'Hey...I think I'm ready to take you up on that offer.'
He pressed Send and put the phone down, wondering what would happen next. Suddenly he heard a voice behind him.
"You rang?"
Patton spun around to see Deceit staring back at him. He got up.
"Oh...yeah, I did."
"So, you want to join the Dark Sides, do you?"
Patton nodded hesitantly. "I think I'm ready to, yeah."
Deceit stared him up and down, and then gave a toothy smile. "Glad to hear you've finally come around! We shall leave immediately."
Patton frowned. "Really? So soon? But I have to pack and everything, don't I?"
"Nonsense!" Deceit shook his head and snapped his fingers. Suddenly all of Patton's clothes and toys and books flew into the air and got shoved into cardboard boxes. The boxes all closed in sync with each other and slid over to the edge of the room, until all that was left was Patton's bare furniture. Patton looked around and his heart sank, but then he heard Roman's words ringing in his head: "We've gotta make more space to move forward."
As barren as the room looked, it definitely lent its way to more space.
Deceit snapped his fingers again, and all of a sudden Patton's room was transformed into a long, narrow walkway. On either side of the walkway there were pink, purple, and blue flames extending towards the sky.
"Whoa, what is this, Talyn's Mind Palace?" Patton chuckled nervously. Deceit gave him a disdainful look, though, and he shut up.
At the end of the walkway sat a woman on a giant throne. She had vibrant blue hair and a pink dress, and her face was scaly in a similar way to Deceit's only her scales were lavender. But what stuck out most were the silver wings that stuck out on either side of her. Suddenly it hit Patton.
Was this...the Dragon Witch?
The woman shrunk down and met Deceit at eye level. "Can I help you?" she asked sharply.
"We've got a new recruit," Deceit said, pulling Patton back under his arm as the latter was looking around, bewildered.
The Dragon Witch eyed him up and down. "Very well then," she said at last. "Show him to his room and get him settled. Tonight we'll get started on the process."
Deceit nodded, and snapped his fingers one more time. Patton found himself standing in front of a new door, in a hallway that was almost identical to the one in the Mind Palace. He opened the door hesitantly, and discovered that all his things had already been unpacked.
"See?" Deceit said as Patton looked around. "Things will be just like they were before. Look, you even have your old DVDs back!" he pointed out, nodding towards the stack that was now on Patton's desk.
Patton ran over to the desk and sorted through the DVDs. He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you, this is perfect! I love it."
He ran over to hug Deceit, but Deceit just held his hand out to keep Patton back. Patton slumped his shoulders, but backed away anyway.
After taking a few more minutes to make sure everything was just the way he wanted it, something occurred to him. He frowned and asked Deceit, "Wait, what did the Dragon Witch mean by 'starting the process'?"
Deceit rolled his eyes as if Patton had just asked what color the sky was. "The process, of memory extraction, duh. What, did you think I'd let you stay here and have all the others wonder where you went?"
Patton's eyes widened. "Wait, do you mean to say they're not going to remember me at all?"
"Of course not. If you want to be a Dark Side, then you have to be repressed from Thomas' mind. That's the whole point of this." Patton stared straight ahead, still in shock. He looked around at first, trying to find a way out. But then Deceit morphed into Roman.
"Look at it this way," this new form said. "There's no better way to help Thomas move forward than to remove the very keeper of his past memories, right?"
Patton looked at Deceitful-Roman, and took a deep breath through his nose. "Yeah, you're right," he said finally. "Let's just get this over with then." He bent his head and tried to walk out the door.
"Whoa there," Deceit said, now back in his original form. "We can't do it now. We have to wait until everyone's asleep; it's not gonna work otherwise." Patton gave him a confused look, and Deceit rolled his eyes again. "It'll make sense later. In the meantime, why don't I show you around? I'm sure your fellow repressed former Sides will be so happy to see you again."
Patton widened his eyes. "My...my what?"
Deceit just smirked. "Exactly."
Patton spent the rest of the afternoon getting a tour of the Dark Mind Palace. Deceit showed him everything from the arcade to the indoor theatre, and Patton couldn't deny that he was entranced. He met Laziness, Temper, and Self-Doubt in the flesh for the first time, but when a Thomas lookalike wearing a green scarf and an overcoat ran over to hug him, he jumped back in surprise.
"Who...who are you?" Patton asked, startled.
The lookalike backed up and bowed his head, then looked back up at the two of them with a guilty expression. "Oh, right...you don't know me," he said sadly.
"Patton, meet Introversion," Deceit said, gesturing grandly towards the now tearful Side.
Patton stared at Introversion, mystified. "Wait, you mean to tell me that this person...used to be a Side?"
Introversion nodded mournfully. "We were really close, too."
Patton's heart was crushed. "And I don't remember you at all?" Introversion shook his head.
Patton looked back up at Deceit. "But I don't understand. I still remembered the other Dark Sides even though Thomas doesn't know about them yet."
"But I wasn't supposed to be a Dark Side," Introversion explained.
"So when you erase everyone's memories tonight--"
"When you erase everyone's memories tonight," Deceit corrected him.
"--those memories won't be taken from me?"
Deceit shook his head. "Nope! They're yours to keep."
"But if Logan or Roman or Virgil decides to join us later, they won't know who I am?"
Deceit paused. "Well, no one can say for sure. You're only the second person to switch over, after all. But probably, yes."
Before Patton could have time to digest all that, Introversion grabbed his shoulder. "Hey, Patton...how are Logan and Roman and Virgil doing, anyway?" He smiled wistfully. "Does Logan still have his flash cards?"
Patton's eyes lit up for a moment and he nodded, but before he could say anything else, the Dragon Witch appeared in a flash. "Come," she said sharply. "Thomas is asleep now."
Patton followed the Dragon Witch down another few hallways, and finally into an enormous elevator. They climbed in, and Patton tried to cower under the Dragon Witch's wings, but when she tensed up, he thought better of it. This wasn't Virgil.
Without even pressing any buttons, they rose up through the Dark Mind Palace and into Thomas' bedroom. In the dim light, Patton could just make out Thomas' silhouette asleep in his bed. He approached it slowly and stared in awe at this human who was somehow both a father and a son figure to him at the same time. Patton walked over to him to stroke his hair, but the Dragon Witch snatched his hand back.
"Don't touch him," she snapped. "It won't work if you touch him."
"Oh. Sorry." Patton said. He was about to take his hand back, but the Dragon Witch continued to hold onto it, and placed it a few inches above Thomas' head.
"There we go. Now, focus. Remember him. Think about every experience and interaction you two have ever had."
Patton took a shaky breath and nodded. He closed his eyes and thought hard, and all of a sudden he heard Thomas' voice playing in his head, just as if he were talking to him right then.
"If I'm ever stressed, or just need a break? I know who to turn to."
Then, he heard his own voice.
"One foot in front of the other, kiddo."
It was working. More memories kept playing back to him like that, and suddenly a soft blue light came rising up from Thomas' head. Patton looked down and gasped, but the Dragon Witch tightened her grip on his wrist, urging him to not break concentration.
He continued to think of more memories, and after a few minutes, all the light had flown into Patton's hand. The Dragon Witch closed his fist, and Patton watched as the light flew up his arm and then over to his heart, where it pulsated a few times before going out. Patton felt a warm, tingly feeling come over him, and he felt peaceful if not melancholy. The Dragon Witch released her grip, and Patton lowered his hand.
He stood above Thomas and looked down at him. "So...that's it? He doesn't know I exist?"
"No, he doesn't," the Dragon Witch said briskly. "No matter though. See? Everything's exactly the same. You're not hurting him in any way by doing this."
Patton looked around. She had a point, he realized. The room was unchanged. If he was going to disappear, it certainly wouldn't be of any loss to Thomas. Patton drew a quivering breath, and looked down at Thomas for the last time.
"Goodnight, Thomas."
After giving everything one last look, he followed the Dragon Witch out of the room, completely oblivious to the fact that the photo album that was under Thomas' bed--the one that he'd encouraged Thomas to put together right after the breakup--had suddenly disappeared.
"Well, I have to get going now," the Dragon Witch said once they were outside, "but I think you understand how this process works now. Just do the same for the rest of the Sides and come straight back down. You've got a long day of training ahead of you tomorrow."
He went to Virgil's room first. He creaked open the door, and, averting his eyes from the spider curtains, tiptoed over to the bed. Virgil was sound asleep.
'Okay, I can do this,' Patton thought to himself. 'I just have to do what I did to Thomas a few minutes ago.'
Patton took a deep breath and shakily hovered his hand above the anxious side's head. He closed his eyes and thought hard for a minute, trying to remember every single interaction they'd ever had.
"You can do this, kiddo. Just breathe."
"You're my best friend. Don't forget that."
"We need you."
"You can get through it. Just give yourself time."
It was working. Suddenly, a vibrant wisp of light came floating up from Virgil's head. This time, there were two strands of light that were intertwined; one was light blue, and the other was purple. After a few moments, all the light had traveled into Patton's hand, and he closed his fist around it. Just like last time, he watched the light move all the way up his arm and over to his heart before pulsating and finally going out.
Patton stumbled back in shock, almost tripping in the process. Somehow, the procedure was a lot more painful the second time. He steadied himself and looked around the room. Just as before, the room was totally unchanged. Virgil would never know the difference.
"Goodnight, kiddo." Patton whispered, standing in the doorway.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Virgil's pillow lowered ever so marginally as the card Patton had made for him over the summer, which always stayed underneath said pillow, disappeared into thin air.
Patton closed Virgil's door and moved on to Roman's room, feeling much more confident this time. Again, he opened the door and tiptoed over to the bed. He put what was now a much more steady hand above Roman's head, and closed his eyes to concentrate.
"There's pretty much no one I'd rather watch Disney movies with."
"I don't think anyone I've ever known has made me feel so supported."
"Your voice is amazing no matter what range you are."
"You've always backed me up."
Once again, two wisps of light--one light blue, the other a bright red this time--flew up from Roman's head and into Patton's fist, arm, and ultimately heart. He stood back and took one last look at his friend.
"Goodnight, sweet prince."
Deep inside Roman's bottom desk drawer, the stack of Disney movies that Roman had been saving for their next marathon faded away from existence.
There was only one thing left to do before he said goodbye forever, and the finality of it made Patton's heart break. But he had no other choice. He walked over to Logan's room, and let the cool, logical aura push him to keep going. For the third time that night, Patton hovered his hand over the other's head and closed his eyes.
"You truly are quite intelligent--much more than you give yourself credit for."
"Thomas is always gonna learn new things--whether he's in school or not."
"I'm flattered by the effort you put into this card--truly."
"You are so important to this group."
At last, two more wisps of light rose up--both of them blue, but one darker than the other. Once it stopped, Patton stared down at his still-outstretched palm. He started to close it, but stopped. His hand started shaking again, but he once again conjured up the image of Roman telling him they needed to make more space, and he forced his wrist closed, allowing the blue light to travel inside him once more.
He looked around Logan's room for the last time, trying to take notice of every last detail. The Scrabble and chess boards they used to play with. The photo albums they would look through together. The language books that Logan had used to teach him Latin.
What he didn't notice on the desk was a single sheet of loose leaf paper, on which Logan had drafted a letter to Patton to apologize for being so insensitive earlier, and to attempt to explain that truly, they were all hurting sometimes--even if they didn't show it. A letter that was supposed to be slid under Patton's door the next morning.
Patton didn't notice this letter. And he also didn't notice it rapidly disintegrating the moment he said:
"Goodnight, my hero."
by @tsfanart
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Chapter 3: What Are You?
Before I could process what happened, Ninetails had pushed me out of the way as Gyarados’ long body toppled over and nearly crushed the both of us. I laid on the ground for a moment, coughing from the dust her fall kicked up. “Gyarados? Are you okay?!” I shouted, trying to see where she fell.
“That bastard . . .” I heard her growl as she began to pull herself upright, “you think you’re funny, don’t you?”
“What happened?” Ampharos asked as she came to my side and helped me off the ground.
As the dust settled, I saw that Gyarados was already up again, studying the completely in-tact cave wall in front of her. “Trainer,” she barked suddenly.
“Y-yes?” I jumped.
“Go try to touch the wall again.”
I looked at her like she had sprouted another head and asked, “What?”
“Go touch it.”
I obliged and slowly approached the cave wall with one hand outstretched. Instead of feeling solid rock under my palm, I gasped in shock and nearly fell inside when my entire hand disappeared into the wall.
“Isssssss it open?” Arbok asked uncertainly, tilting her head to one side.
“I think so?” I murmured, swinging my hand behind the wall. The air felt even colder than it did out here.
Togekiss flew by my head and glided along the wall, the wing closest to it also disappearing. “By the looks of it, Mewtwo opened an entrance when Gyarados was about to swing again,” he concluded, landing by my side.
“I knew it, that jerk!” Gyarados snarled, slapping her tail against the ground in fury.
“Huh?! It’s really open?” Slowpoke asked, dumbfounded.
“It sure seems like it,” I replied, not daring to take my hand out of the wall in case it closed again.
I turned around to look at my team as I said, “Remember, he’s very injured, so we’re going to try to persuade him first. Fighting is our last resort . . .” I looked directly at Gyarados when I asked, “Got it?” My team grunted in agreement. “Okay. Then let’s hurry in!”
One by one they passed through the wall. Gyarados was the last of them to slither through, as soon as she disappeared Slowpoke said, “I sure hope you all come back out in one piece.”
“We have to,” I said confidently, “there’s no other option.” I saw Slowpoke give a tiny nod before I face forward, squared my shoulders, and followed my team into the wall.
When I entered the room on the other side, it was as though I had become completely blind. I stumbled into what felt like Arbok’s scaly skin and held on tightly, terrified by the unnatural darkness surrounding us. “Everybody, stay close,” Gyarados growled nearby.
There was no sound at all aside from my team and I breathing. “A-Ampharos, give us some light please,” I said quietly. I knew she must have heard me, but nothing changed. “Ampharos, use flash!” I said again. This time I heard her cry out loudly in response. The sound of electricity crackling was deafening, yet I could not see any of it. “Why won’t your tail light?” I whispered urgently.
“I’m trying my best,” she said, out of breath, “but this place has lots of protection around it. My tail won’t light up at all!”
“I feel it, too,” I heard Togekiss say warily, “can you not also sense it, Lilly?”
I closed my eyes and breathed deeply for a moment, noticing that Ampharos was right. I could practically feel the air tingle with the psychic energy that surrounded us. “Mewtwo has to be somewhere around here, then,” I affirmed, my words shaking slightly.
“Who goes there?!” a deep, alarmed voice boomed throughout the cave.
I yelped in surprise when I heard the voice and accidentally backed into Ninetails, who began to growl. Arbok hissed loudly. Another person is in here? We must be too late, I thought, my pulse skyrocketing. “Who’s there? Are you a Rocket?” I shouted back as Ampharos steadied me with her paws.
There was no response from the voice. “How many more are here?! Show yourselves!” I pressed.
There was another moment of silence, then a deep laughter sounded, very distant from where we were standing. “No,” the voice replied at last, much quieter than when it first spoke, “I am not a member of Team Rocket.”
“Prove it!” A moment later, two blue lights flashed and disappeared again. They were close enough together that they could have been eyes, but they were certainly larger than those of a human. Gyarados rumbled loudly in warning to whoever was addressing us.
“You must be Lilly Prescott,” he continued, “child prodigy trainer, and friend of Ashton Ketchum.” The response was unnerving, but not because of what he said. Whoever this was, they sounded almost amused at the fear in my voice.
“Just . . . just how do you know who I am?!” I tried to sound intimidating, but my voice cracked. “Reveal yourself at once!” Ninetails suddenly demanded, her voice much more aggressive.
“Ninetails, don’t be hostile,” Togekiss chirruped quietly to her.
“I know who you are, and why you have come to this place,” the voice said. “You have no reason to be troubled . . . at the present.”
Though he sounded sincere, I was not reassured. Togekiss alighted on the ground next to me. I heard him spread one of his wings and felt it rest on my shoulder protectively. Ninetails stealthily crept over to my left side and crouched down, her muscles tensing.
“Then, since you know who I am . . . who are you?” I asked again.
The blue lights reappeared. “I . . . am Mewtwo!” he said finally, his voice somehow echoing more impressively than Gyarados’ growl.
My jaw dropped in shock. “Wait . . . y-you’re Mewtwo?”
“Yes,” he said impatiently, the blue lights vanishing for a millisecond as he blinked. “Are you surprised?”
“I . . . no!” Truthfully, I was not expecting Mewtwo’s voice to sound the way it did at all. He sounded far too human, it was unlike any other Pokémon’s voice I had encountered. Not only that, he sounded much calmer than I anticipated for coming across a human that trespassed into his cave. Then again, I remembered, he’s probably in a lot of pain.
But instead of responding with those words, I said, “You sounded exactly like a human, of course I would have been confused!”
“How ignorant,” he said, clearly trying to insult me, “I can communicate in a language that Pokémon and man alike can comprehend. Do you not know about the Pokémon that can understand and speak human tongue?”
“It wasn’t . . .” I had cut myself off, trying not to snap back at his patronizing tone.
Mewtwo chuckled bitterly to hiimself before he continued, “Of course, I am not a true Pokémon. I am merely—”
“A clone of Mew. Ash told me all about you,” I interrupted eagerly.
“Did he, now?” The eyes narrowed. “He must have failed to mention that I dislike being interrupted.”
“Ah, s-sorry,” I said sheepishly, “but . . . he also told me that you’re a Pokémon in every other way.”
“Ash is too naive to see that I am not a genuine Pokémon,” he replied coldly.
“A-ah . . .” I said, not sure how else to respond to that.
“However,” his tone softened a little, “he has taught me that I am capable of mercy. He is the reason I did not ambush you and your Pokémon earlier.”
I was unsure if I should express gratitude for this or not. But he did not give me a chance to before his voice darkened again as he continued, “But even so, I will not allow you to take me from this place.”
Togekiss was the only one who seemed disappointed with that statement; I could tell that the rest of my team was eager to shut him up just from their energy. I tried to change the subject by asking, “If you don’t mind, can you let Ampharos light up this room even a little bit?”
“For what reason? Do you fear the darkness?” he asked condescendingly.
“No,” I said defensively, “I just want to be able to see what you look like.”
“ . . . Very well. If it will get you to leave faster.”
A few seconds later, the cave was illuminated from the center. Startled, I blinked a few times, then looked up at the light source. There was a large, blue orb of energy attached to the ceiling, like a concave roof. I stared for a moment, as it was quite beautiful to look at.
“Satisfied?”
I lowered my gaze toward Mewtwo’s voice. “Yes, thank—”
My breath caught in my throat when I saw him hovering close to the ground, under the orb. His eyes were slightly narrowed as he stared at me. I could feel the irritation in his gaze, but I could also sense that he was a little curious. He cautiously glided closer to where we were standing, and I could see him more clearly.
As he approached I could see that Mewtwo was shaped similarly to a human, and at least two feet taller than me, but there were a few key differences. He had only six fingers and toes, three on each limb. Behind his neck there was a cord that connected his head and back together; it started just above his neck and ended between his shoulder blades. His legs started out thick, then immediately thinned after his knee. His skin was a pale, delicate lilac color, and curved elegantly behind him was a tail as dark as Arbok’s violet scales. The eyes that were still staring me down were the same color as his tail, perhaps even darker.
I had not noticed the severity of his gashes and bruises until his gaze shifted to my other Pokémon. It was then that I realized Ash was not kidding when he told me Mewtwo might not survive the next twenty-four hours. His nastiest wound was down the left side of his torso. The flesh was ragged and swollen, probably infected. Although he was doing his best not to show it, even from a distance I could see that he grimaced every few seconds and kept as still as possible. Were he not covered in wounds and grime, I might have thought he was the most beautiful shade of purple I’d ever seen.
He’s been pretty badly hurt . . . maybe we won’t have to fight, after all, I thought hopefully to myself.
Mewtwo looked back at me suddenly, his expression shifting from calm to wary. “What . . . are you?” he asked in a cautious tone.
Although it was the second time that day someone had asked me that question, it caught me off guard when it came from him. “Huh?”
“I sensed it from the moment you first walked into the cave. I assumed you had brought a powerful Pokémon with which to defeat me. But . . . it was you all along. I see that after assessing your team,” Mewtwo said cooly, then asked again, “What are you?”
This was not a conversation I expected to have, and I grew a little nervous. “Why should I tell you? You don’t know me,” I said, trying to deflect his question.
It did not work. “Because I wish to know.” He said this like I should have already known it, as if it were obvious.
“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you,” I said, standing my ground, “but I can’t say.”
“And why not?” Do you have something to hide?” he asked, sounding insulted.
“Well . . . maybe I’ll tell you if you come with us! Want to shake on it?” I asked, holding out my hand.
Mewtwo did not even look at my hand when he responded, “That sounds tempting, but, no.” He turned around and waved his own hand toward the entrance we came in. “As you will not divulge me that information, I have no further inquiries to make. Take your Pokémon and leave.”
“Wait, Mewtwo, you don’t—”
“Oh, you would prefer me to send you all out myself?” he asked, “I am afraid the limits of my powers have been reached, you will have to show yourselves out.”
I came very close to snapping back, but I held it together for Ash’s sake. “No,” I shook my head, “Team Rocket is coming, they’ll be here—”
“I am perfectly capable of looking after myself. I do not need you to take me from here.”
“You can’t fight them like this!” I exclaimed finally, “We just want to help you!”
“Sssspeak for yoursssself, he’sssss ssso rude!” Arbok hissed loudly, not caring that Mewtwo heard her.
“You don’t mean that, Arbok,” I turned toward her to say.
“You . . .” I looked toward Mewtwo again. He had turned back around toward us, though his face was still as stoic as ever. “You understood exactly what that Pokémon said?”
“Oh, uh, no,” I said, though I could not hide the stammer, “I . . . it just . . . it sounded like she said something mean.” His eyes narrowed at my lie, but I was determined to not resort to fighting. “Listen, I know I can’t make you want to leave this . . . creepy cave,” I continued carefully, “but I promised Ash that I would get you to safety. I can’t leave without you, he’ll be so upset!”
“My sincerest apologies to Ashton, but I’m staying here. Send my regards for me, will you?” he said with his voice slightly higher in an attempt to imitate me.
My patience was gone when he responded that way. “So, you’re just going to sit here like some Exeggcute and wait for Team Rocket to find you? You can’t risk another attack, your injuries are pretty bad already,” I replied, an edge beginning to find its way into my voice.
“Again, I do not need to be looked after. The Rockets cannot access this cave. You noticed that I had to open it for you, did you not?”
I was at my wits end. “Mewtwo, unless you want to be captured again, have your memory wiped clean, and become the mindless criminal Ash told me you were when you were first created, then please—!”
“Begone from here at once,” he said, not waiting for me to finish my sentence. He turned away again and began moving toward the center of the cave. “My patience wears thin. Do not force me to change my mind about attacking, I will not hold back.”
I practically saw my team preparing for a battle behind me. “Mewtwo, I don’t want to hurt you any more than you already are—”
“Is that . . . a challenge I hear?” he threatened, turning back toward me. The whole of his eyes began shining blue once more.
“I don’t want it to be. But it looks like you’re not going to listen to words, after all,” I said, my heart beginning to flutter in anticipation.
Mewtwo laughed to himself. “Fine,” he said in contempt, “have it your way.”
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Danisnotonfire Siren FanFic. Part 2
Daniel Howell x Reader Warnings: I guess a bit of swearing. Word Count: 2,494 ---------
“Well then, would you like to sit with Phil and I?” Dan asks.
“Sure.” I say smiling, surprised. Dan wasn’t the most outgoing person to put it lightly. Also.. let’s hope I don’t spill and accidently tell him I’m the one who “attacked” him yesterday.
We made out way over to a table after I grabbed more food, since I spilled mine on him. If you can’t tell I’m a huge fan of danisnotonfire Daniel Howell, his YouTube channel.
“So, Y/N…” Dan pauses for a second as if trying to think of a way to start a conversation “did you see my new video?”
“Ya I did actually.” This is going to be interesting. “There’s one thing that bugs me about it though.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, any normal siren would have know there was camera there, and have blurred it out or destroyed it so you wouldn’t be able to see anything in the video.” I say simply.
“How… How did you know that?” Dan asks, him and Phil both looking surprised and confused. Damn it, me and my big mouth.
“Well, aside from watching your channels, I look up random mermaid facts for no reason. I’m ah.. kinda obsessed.” I say awkwardly, embarrassed. This causes Phil to chuckle, and Dan to smirk.
“What! You asked!” I say as if to defend myself, my cheeks turning an even brighter shade of red.
“You know, you’re cute when you blush.” Dan and Phil say at the same time. They look at each-other. “Jinx!” They say again. I laugh, knowing their compliment made my face even brighter. Who knew I’d be having a good time with my idols Dan and Phil on this cruise? And you know.. kissing Dan. *cough cough*
“So Y/N… do you think it was an encounter with a wild mermaid… or one that lives on this ship?” Phil asks in a tone as if talking about pokémon. I smile before responding,
“First, siren, secondly, definitely somebody on this ship.” I say before thinking. Damn it! I should have said wild, that we’ll never see it again because now-
“Really?” Dan says, “Do you think we could find out who?”
“It would be really hard, there’s over a hundred people on this ship. Not to mention they probably know about the video which will make them extra cautious.” Damn right it will.
“So… there’s a chance?” Dan says hopefully. I sigh.
“I guess. Did you edit the footage any?” I say.
“A tiny bit, why?”
“If you can get me the raw footage, I can do some detective work and I can see what I can find out and narrow our options.”
“I can do that. Sure.” Phil says, as it was his camera.
“Perfect well, I have stuff to do. Could I get your guy’s numbers so we can talk again?” I say feeling really awkward for asking for the numbers of the Dan Howell and Phil Lester. Phan girl’s gotta fangirl.
“Sure.” They both reply before writing them down and handing them to me as I write them mine. We exchange numbers and I head back to my room. Great! Now i have to help my idols find me. How do I get out of this?
A few minutes later my phone lets me know I’ve got a text. I check it and see that Phil sent me the file. I open up my laptop and set to work. I transfer the file and open it. I go over it to see what information is actually there.
I find that these things are available from me:
Tail color. (Dark purple/Navy Blue, switches in light.)
Hair color. (Looks black in video even though it’s just dark brown, that’ll help.)
Facial shape. (Won’t be much help to them… unless we go around comparing photos to people’s faces.)
And that was all the information I could gather over a half an hour of working at it. Perfect. The less they have to go by, the better off I am.
I get a text from Dan.
Got any new info? -D
Ya. Wanna come over and we can make a plan? -Y/N
Sure, room number? -D
204B -Y/N
I set my laptop to the side and go to brush my hair again before they get here. A few minutes later a hear a knock from my door. I go and open it.
“Hey guys. Come in.” I say, smiling. Still not used to casually talking with DAN AND PHIL!! Sorry.. Phan girled again.
They came in and each sat in one of the multiple chairs in my room.
“So, what information did you find?”
“Not much, and nothing very helpful. She looked like she had brown hair, though the water could’ve changed it, her tail color, and the general shape of her face.”
“Is there any way that that info could be useful?” Phil asked, curious.
“Well, the hair obviously might help, we know it’s most likely a dark color. The tail, well based on the tail color, it’s a half-mermaid, so that might make us able to get a chance of getting the siren in action, and the face shape in generally useless unless you wanted to compare a blurry-ish photo to everyone’s face.”
“So not really?” Phil said, disappointed.
“Wait, Y/N, you said we might be able to catch her in action?”
Should kept my mouth shut, shit! “Well yeah, generally most half mermaids ‘siren’ when at least every half moon and full moon. So with that we might be able to catch her. The only issue is, assuming she saw the video, she’ll be very careful this time around and most likely disable the camera.”
“Okay, well according to the internet, the next half moon in two weeks. Is there anything we could do until then?”
“Well, we could go around dumping water on people, since usually half mermaids turn into mermaids when they get wet.” I said, jokingly. As I said that, Phil took the water he had and dumped it on me. Shit!!!!
“Phil!!!” I screamed.
“Had to test if you were her!”
“I’m going to dry off, oh and, by the way, if I was her, why would I help you find me?”
I rushed to the bathroom, shutting the door right as my tail appeared. Thankfully, I got here just in time.
“Y/N, are you okay? We heard a thud”
“Yeah, I’m good, I slipped on some water on the floor from my shower earlier.” Lies.
“Okay.”
I quickly dried off myself and cast a spell to make it look like I was still wet before walking out back into the room, grumbling.
Before either Dan or Phil noticed me, I took a glass of water and dumped on Phil’s head.
“What the?!” He exclaimed, jumping up from his chair.
“Revenge!” I shouted, laughing. We spent a good while joking around and stuff in my room, until eventually the boys left, mostly because Phil was complaining about being wet and cold.
After they left, I was a bit confused. Every once in awhile, whilst they were Dan kept staring at me then looking away when I saw.
I shrugged it off, then started to come up with ideas for what I was going to do when it came time for the half moon and Dan and Phil were looking for me.
I was going to need a good plan for this one.
——————————
Hello! Thanks for everyone who showed support for this stories part 1! I’m sorry it took so long to write part 2, but I won’t lie I was just being lazy. Anyways thanks for reading, and I apologize for stupid errors, some of this was written late at night. Thanks again!
xoxo
#daniel howell#danisnotonfire#daniel howell fanfiction#daniel howell fanfic#danisnotonfire fanfic#danisnotonfire fanfiction#danisnotonfire fan fic#danisnotonfire fan fiction#siren fics
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World Collision Chapter 8
Considering that there’s been an issue with links as of late, I won’t be dropping links to my other chapters here. However, you can find them if you go on my blog and search “World Collision” or “cross’ fanfiction” if you want the entirety of my writing.
Training
Jean Grey was a grueling teacher and drill sergeant. She had Myra mediate, try to focus on moving things with her mind, and try to read Jean’s mind. Each attempt ended up with something going sideways, mostly in the fact that every time Myra focus, her body would start to become covered in the same purple flames she’d used against the mind controlled long-ears that Myra and Flare-Up had rescued.
“This isn’t working.” Jean waved away the purple flames that Myra had conjured this time, dissipating the form of the apple she’d been trying to levitate. “Your abilities are psychic in nature, but they aren’t connected with what they are in my universe.”
Myra let out a sigh and fell back onto the mat she had been sitting on. “So no more training?”
“For now.” Jean leaned over Myra and looked at her with a disapproving sort of expression as Myra stiffened. “Don’t think that you’re off the hook just because I can’t figure out how your power works. There are other psychics here besides me.” Jean moved out of Myra’s line of sight. “Go get some rest. You’re going to need it.”
Myra scrambled to her feet and moved away from Jean quickly towards the shack, not wanting to stay there for any longer than she already had. Her head ached from how much she had been focusing, and her back and limbs ached from having had to sit still for so long.
Honestly, a little rest sounded like a really good idea to her. She needed time to think about everything that had happened – and was happening – and whether or not she should stick around.
She was now in some sort of secret base where the Dark Arms and their MindTech couldn’t find her – for now. Unfortunately, she wasn’t being given a chance to breathe and relax and gather her thoughts before moving on.
She was working on rescuing people. With the World Jumper.
If that thought wasn’t startling enough, Myra had powers that she never remembered having. Did she have them before the World Collision? Were they caused by the World Collision?
It gave her even more of a headache to think about it, so she pushed the thought to the back of her mind as quickly as possible.
But, still, there was one question that was nagging her mind.
Why had Flare-Up chosen her to work with?
Seeker would have definitely been a better partner; he and Flare-Up were brother and sister. If what they’d said when they’d sparred was to be believed, anyway. So why didn’t they partner up and leave Myra to just sit and relax for a little while before she moved on?
The sound of clashing metal-on-metal reached her ears, and Myra looked up, blinking in surprise when she found she had wandered over to Nightwing’s Gauntlet.
And that Flare-Up and Zero were fighting against each other hand-to-hand, red, orange, and gray clashing against red and white.
Zero jumped back from a particularly close punch Flare-Up threw. “You know, the strength you have as a Reploid right now carries over to your human form. Even if you don’t seem to have made much use of it.”
Flare-Up slid back a little. “I never had the need to. Now I might be more willing to make use of it in order to gain an upper hand in battle.”
Zero nodded. “Good. You have everything that Light gave you at your disposal; make sure you use everything you have to fight back.”
“Speaking of which, I’ve found something interesting in your programming.”
Myra turned and blinked in surprise when she saw Gear standing next to her, looking down at a tablet. How had she not noticed that he was there?
“I was trying to figure out how it is that you managed to gain an immunity to the MindTech, and it looks like every time someone activated the Protocol, the program changes – and, by extension, you change.” Gear looked up at Flare-Up as she came to the edge of the small arena’s ring. “Dr. Light originally made it as a work around for the MCP, right?”
MCP? Myra frowned and tilted her head to one side worriedly as Flare-Up nodded.
“Well, considering how much data you've picked up, you might be able to activate it yourself now. How that is, I'm not completely sure -- you're going to have to discover that yourself -- but I think it has something to do with how your core might resonate with other people.” Gear tapped the tablet a couple times, closing out the program he had been looking at and slipping the device into a holster on his right leg. “It might be something to look into later.”
“When we are not trying to save the world,” Zero added. “Again.”
Flare-Up nodded grimly, then noticed Myra standing at the edge of the arena. “Did you come to spar?”
Myra jumped at the question, startled out of her thoughts. She shook her head. “I-I was heading back to go sleep, and….” She trailed off, uncertain as to how to continue.
“Go sleep, kid.” Zero made a shooing motion with one hand. “We don’t need it as much as you do.”
Myra nodded and started to move back towards the shacks.
“Myra.”
Myra stopped when she heard Flare-Up speak up.
“Jean Grey didn’t give you any assistance in training, did she.” The question wasn’t said like a question.
Myra looked back, blinking in surprise. “How did—“
“There’s more to having mental powers than being able to read minds and move things without touching them.” Flare-Up paused. “When you are rested, Crystal might be of more help to you than other psychics here.”
Myra blinked, not quite sure where Flare-Up’s words had come from and why she was offering that now. Flare-Up probably knew what she was talking about, though, so she nodded and went back to the shack that she and Crystal were staying in.
She came back to find that Crystal was yelling at the space under the bed.
“Come out here and—“ Crystal looked up in surprise as Myra stepped in. “Oh! You’re back!”
“Uh…yeah.” Myra looked over at the bed; if the Nightmare King was listening in, she didn’t see him. “I, um…I helped Flare-Up with rescuing some people.”
“Really? That’s great!” Crystal smiled brightly, her tail tip wagging back and forth. “We’re one step closer to rescuing everyone! Who’d you find?”
“…I think the one that can turn into a monster is Jak?” Myra frowned a little. “I didn’t really catch his name.”
“Jak turned into a monster?” Crystal frowned, ears swiveling.
“Jak was changed before the Collision, so I have been told,” said the Nightmare King from under the bed. “That little transformation is something he can control. So long as you don’t get in his way, you won’t be hurt.” He chuckled darkly. “I can’t guarantee that you won’t be afraid, however.”
Crystal’s eyebrows came together as her brow furrowed. “Oh…well, at least it wasn’t caused by the Dark Arms.” She blinked, then tilted her head at Myra. “Something else on your mind?”
Myra stiffened a little at the question. “O-oh, um…well, it turns out I’ve got powers, too, but I don’t really know how to use them. Jean tried to help me, but I don’t think what works for her works for me.”
Crystal’s ears went straight up. “You have powers?!” Blue eyes sparked, and Crystal jumped up and down eagerly. “Show me! Show me!”
“Yes, do, before her squealing makes me lose my hearing.”
Myra held out her hands, palms up, and set them ablaze; Crystal’s jumping stopped as soon as the purple flames made their appearance.
“Wow…” Crystal leaned in closer to Myra’s hands. Myra started to pull back a little, but Crystal grabbed her wrists. “I haven’t seen a psychic power like this before. It almost looks like a Delphox mixing Mystical Fire and Psyshock.”
“A what mixing what?” Myra blinked in confusion.
“It’s a Pokémon thing.” Crystal looked sheepish for a moment, then eager. “But that means that I could train you! I know tricks and things for when Psychic power becomes solid like this! I bet the flame-form of your powers will give you an extra edge most Psychic-Types don’t have in my dimension!”
Myra blinked a couple times. “S-so, you’ll teach me?”
“Yes!” Crystal looked at Myra with bright eyes and an equally bright smile. The smile faded after a moment. “Maybe it would be a good idea that you get some rest first, though. Jean probably tried to push you a lot before you got here.”
Myra sighed in relief, her shoulders dropping. “Yeah, she did. I don’t know what she was trying to get my powers to do, but it didn’t feel right to me.”
“Well, I should be able to help you figure things out later.” Crystal clapped Myra on the shoulder. “Go ahead and get some sleep. I’ll wake you later.”
Myra nodded, then climbed up into the top bunk and sank into the mattress.
Time Break
Myra woke up to someone tapping on her shoulder. She yawned and cracked her eyes open slowly, then squinted as they focused on Crystal’s face.
“The arena’s open,” Crystal said. “You up for a little training?”
Myra yawned, then nodded and sat up. As she did, she noticed that Crystal was floating next to the bunk bed, instead of standing on the lower bunk.
Crystal noticed the stare and laughed. “Levitating will come later. We need you to know how to attack first.”
Myra blinked, then nodded dumbly and climbed out of bed as Crystal landed on the floor of the shack. As soon as Myra’s feet hit the ground, the two stepped out and headed over to the arena.
Just like Crystal had said, the area didn’t appear to be in use. There were people standing near it, though – Jak, Daxter, and Samos – and they appeared to be arguing.
“In case you haven’t noticed, you’re vulnerable to whatever it is that those monsters are using out there!” Samos attempted to whack Jak over the head with his staff, but the taller male dodged it with practiced ease, Daxter crouching lowo n his shoulder. “The only reason that you were able to come back is because of Flare-Up’s actions!”
Jak’s eyes narrowed. “In case you haven’t noticed, she’s only one person. There are multiple zones out there and more people than us ten times over who’ve been trapped in that. I am going to help.”
Samos’ green-tinged skin was getting greener. “In case you haven’t noticed, we don’t have access to as much Eco as we used to! Even if you wanted to help, you’d be extremely vulnerable as Dark Jak and unable to find any free supply of the other Ecos, much less the ability to channel them all at once in order to create Light Eco! You’re even more powerless than you were at the start of all this!”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Jak replied shortly. He noticed Myra and Crystal standing nearby. “Hey, you. Short ears.”
“H-huh?” Myra blinked, startled. She shied away from Jak a little, remembering the monster form that he’d been in when she and Flare-Up had first seen him.
Jak rolled his eyes. “Get over here, kid, I’m not gonna bite your head off. You two, cat ears.”
“My name is Crystal, and this is Myra,” Crystal corrected. “I don’t exactly appreciate being referred to by something I’m not.”
Jak snorted and shrugged. “You running around out there, Crystal?”
Crystal shook her head. “I’m too powerful; if the Dark Arms got their hands on me it would be very difficult to get me back.”
“You don’t look strong to me.”
Crystal’s ears flicked. “Well, you don’t look like you could be even remotely nice and stay still for a second, and yet you’re standing here and you’re not pacing like someone straight out of the woods.”
Daxter motioned for Crystal to shut up, but Jak snorted again and smirked.
“You got a good point there, kid.” Jak looked over at Myra. ”I definitely wasn’t expecting short ears to be throwing around fire like that other one.”
“I go by Flare-Up, Jak.” Flare-Up walked over, back in her seemingly normal human clothes. “I’ll answer just as well to World Jumper or Reploid, on account of the fact that my name is being used by the Dark Arms as a tracking mechanism.”
Jak raised an eyebrow. “So, you did come. Up for a match?”
Flare-Up rolled her shoulders, and her clothes gave off a gentle flash before shifting to her armor. She gave a curt nod.
Jak grinned widely. “Good. Let’s see how strong you really are.” He walked onto the arena, Flare-Up following after him with her hands in loose fists.
“Looks like we won’t be able to use the arena to train your powers.” Crystal looked at Myra. “Oh, well. I guess we’ll just have to find some other way to help you out for a while. You’ve figured out how to summon your flames, at least – that’s a good thing. So maybe we could work a little on something else.”
Myra looked over at the arena as Flare-Up and Jak started to circle around each other. She nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good to me.”
#World Collision#cross' fanfiction#OC#Myra#Maria/Flare-Up#Crystal#Pitch Black#Zero#Gear#Jak#Samos#Daxter#Jean Grey#Yeah it's a bit of a shortie but there's not much happening this chapter so I can get away with it#some interesting tidbits concerning Maria's past here too#'MCP' happened the third time she went off-world#this is also posted on FF#as I was there before I got an account here on Tumblr#there's plenty of interesting things that will be happening in the future here too#and I'm looking forward to getting to those bits :)
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No Pokeballs Allowed
Chapter 3: Graveyard Shift
Town pride is a commonplace thing in any world. People and Pokémon alike seem to have a need to protect what they believe is theirs, even though in reality, it is just a big plot of land with a variety of rectangles and triangles built on top of it. Why humans had developed these enamoured attachments and why Pokémon decided it was a good idea to follow, we will never know. Some may argue that the concept of a home is a comforting prospect for people to come home to. But it is not the question of having a home, but simply having an attraction to the land itself, rather than the sense of security it brings. Most people would usually think this does not make sense, developing an emotional or even romantic attachment to a large square-ish chunk of dirt and rocks, but many do it anyways. This is not a good idea, because like many things that people love, there are other people that exist only to take that beloved thing, knock it off its cone into the sand and drive over it with their fancy Diesel-chugging ATV. And all the hours those people had spent figuratively making out with the local bar will be put into perspective as all the things they loved become roadkill.
Nuzlocke was a beautiful town. It was incredibly obvious by looking at the town that it was a labour of love that had lasted decades, perhaps centuries to make. Nuzlocke was thriving. An item shop, jewellery, outdoor mall, a town square, Technical Machine and Relic shop, daycare; the town seemed to have everything. This statement wasn’t entirely true.
“Everyone here seems kind of cold,” Coran noticed. By this, he did not mean that everyone in Nuzlocke was uncomfortable with the temperature; rather, he meant that nobody quite seemed to appreciate his presence that much.
“…Really? I’ve never noticed.” Squirtle (the Eevee) said, looking around.
“That was sarcasm, wasn’t it?” Coran said, crossing his arms. “Honestly, I’m really new here, so I can’t tell. Sarcasm is not a good idea when you’re introducing people to places and such.”
“No, it isn’t sarcasm,” Squirtle reiterated. “I’ve really just kept to myself. My only contact with these Pokémon is through the Bulletin Board. They post problems, I solve them. End of story.” Squirtle shrugged. “But now that you mention it, everyone does seem kind of quiet and reclusive.”
“Yeah, it’s like everyone here is an adolescent teenager who takes pride in being an introvert.”
Squirtle stared at him, confused. “…what?”
“Forget it,” said Coran, mentally reeling from the words that had spilt out of his mouth. What had he even said? He couldn’t remember it exactly. It was foggy, as if the sentence had been said months ago rather than moments.
Squirtle, who, by this point, had begun deliberating on what Coran had pointed out about Nuzlocke’s general attitude, tried to start a conversation with a passing Breloom. “Hi there!” she said, uncharacteristically cheerily.
Breloom gave her a confused look, before narrowing his eyes. He seemed to be trying to discern what it was Squirtle wanted. “Um…Hello.”
“Nice day, isn’t it?” Squirtle asked.
Breloom simply looked up at the sunny blue sky. “No.”
Squirtle wasn’t expecting a negative answer. She drew back in surprise. “What? Why?”
“I am a part mushroom. Mushrooms like dank, dark places. It’s too hot for me.” Breloom said, before walking along his way without another word.
Squirtle frowned deeply. “I…wasn’t expecting that. Maybe he’s just an outlier,” she mumbled, giving Coran a curious look. “Anyways, we didn’t come here to socialise. We came here to shop. Come on, let’s go.”
Squirtle led Coran up to a nearby booth built into the front of what looked like a warehouse. It was currently empty - nobody was there. “Hello?” Squirtle called. “Is anyone there?”
A bored looking Shuppet came to the front of the booth. Her half-lidded eyes took in the pair of Pokémon in front of her. She let out a quiet sigh and took a deep breath. “Hello, and welcome to Banette’s Bazaar, how can I help you today?” The words came out of her mouth so monotonous and easily it seemed as if she had been saying them for the past ten minutes before Coran and Squirtle had come to the booth.
“Yes, I’d like to peruse some of your wares, please,” Squirtle replied.
Shuppet raised an eyebrow at Squirtle’s eloquent vocabulary and gestured behind her. “There’s shelves upon shelves back there. Take a look at our…extensive selection of merchandise and commodities.” Shuppet said, smirking a bit.
Squirtle, a bit put off, nodded her head curtly. “Thank you.”
Coran, while Squirtle and Shuppet had been talking, was checking out the shelves. It wasn’t a very big store, but there still was quite a selection. Many, many berries, a few TMs and HMs, rocks, sticks, thorns, seeds and some very expensive vitamins. Squirtle walked up to him. “What do you see?”
“Just gonna put this out there, but…” Coran’s voice quivered as he looked at the plethora of items with nothing short of overwhelming fear. “I have no idea what any of this stuff does.”
“Y'know, I would explain this to you, but I feel I’ve done enough explaining to last me a lifetime, so I’ll just take some of these,” she said, grabbing some of the blue berries and putting them in her bag. “…and we should probably have some of these,” she finished, putting two reddish seeds into her treasure bag. She took it back to the front of the shop.
Shuppet, without even looking at the bag, told them the total was 900 Poké. Squirtle paid the right amount, then left. “Coran,” she said. “I believe it’s time for you to take your first trouble.”
Coran wasn’t so sure he agreed with her about that, but he realised that he would have entered a losing battle if he tried to challenge that, so he decided not to resist. They headed back to the Bulletin Board and looked at the possible jobs.
“Here. This one looks good for your first time,” Squirtle announced. Coran looked at where Squirtle was pointing. It read:
Get my pendant back!
Rank: E Dungeon: Sorrowing Meadows
My name is Yamask. I was travelling through the Sorrowing Meadows on my way to my friend’s place. I came through without incident, but when I got back to Nuzlocke, I found that my pendant, which had been handed down through my family for a long time, was missing! I would go back to get it, but now I hear rumours of suspicious Pokémon roaming around. Please, get it back!
Reward: 1000 Poké
Coran bit his lip. A shiver ran down his spine at the name. “Sorrowing Meadows?” he said, unable to banish a whine from his voice. “I-is that somewhere between Blood-Death Gulch and Endless Pain Hill?”
“Oh, hush. The Sorrowing Meadows aren’t that bad. And besides, it seems like he was only on the main path, so it’ll be easy to find the pendant.” She let that hang a bit, then continued. “I’m coming with you, of course. This is your first job, and you didn’t really pass the Sanity test, so I’m going to be keeping an eye on you.”
Normally, this would have struck Coran as an attack on his ego. But the thought of tackling such a sinister-sounding place such as the Sorrowing Meadows alone was even more of an attack, and on something a little more vulnerable than his ego. He agreed.
“Here it is! The Sorrowing Meadows,” announced Squirtle, nodding in what she was sure was an official manner.
Coran looked at her in confusion. “How can you be so chipper in a place like this?”
The Sorrowing Meadows looked quite sorrowing indeed. The thickly laid trees were dead skeletons, reaching out to scratch and scrape anyone who passed by, as if they were being controlled by a deranged puppeteer. The pale moon rising up along the scraggly horizon of gnarled branches made tinted everything below its light a sickly purple colour, draining the forest of any sign of life. The worn dirt path had stone bricks scattered about, half buried in the dirt. It was as if someone had tried to civilize the woods, but had died when he had just started the act. Even this path the poor soul had made seemed threatened, as if the purple grass was extending its tendrils to choke it out. If he looked hard enough, Coran could see the outline of a steeple in the background. A holy building in an unholy place was not a good thing for a genre savvy Pokémon like him. Overall, this was not first stage material.
“And why did we have to come here at night? Why can’t it wait till the morning?”
“Because, Coran,” Squirtle answered, “That notice was posted today, and it detailed suspicious Pokémon about-”
“Wouldn’t that mean going at night was a bad thing?!” Coran blurted.
“Let me finish!” Squirtle snapped. “Suspicious Pokémon are dangerous, yes, but they could also steal the pendant. It’s best for us to get the pendant as soon as possible so it isn’t stolen. The client comes first.”
Coran hesitated. “Okay, fine. Let’s do it. But when we get back, I’m going to make a mattress and you’re going to help me.”
“…No I’m not.”
“Come on!”
“Yes, come on, that’s a great idea,” Squirtle said, flicking her tail and taking her first steps into the Sorrowing Meadows.
Things did not get better when they entered the dungeon. Almost immediately the moon at their backs was blotted out by the skeleton-like trees. The path, though worn enough to be seen, became more and more choked by ivy and grass as the two Pokémon ventured further into the forest. It was getting truly hard to see, and Coran was beginning to doubt whether he would even be able to spot a tiny pendant at all in the darkness. He did note that he didn’t see any of those aforementioned ‘hostile Pokémon’, which he was grateful for. But he would much rather be sleeping right now. This was not an enjoyable pastime and his entire body recognized this.
"Well, farther up and further in!” Squirtle chirped in an excessively happy manner, as if trying to mock him.
Coran simply sighed and followed her. That was before he tripped on a tree root.
“Ow.” Coran was not in the best of moods, and this did not help. Therefore, he had to convince himself to get up. He spent one long minute on the ground, trying his very hardest to tell himself that going further into this forsaken land was a better idea than lying here in the dirt. When he did get up, however, he was faced with a rather prominent problem.
Squirtle was gone.
One hour later…
Coran ran frantically through the quickly darkening forest, trying to find any sign of Squirtle. Or any sign of an exit.
Or any sign of hope.
Terrified at every single sound he knew he wasn’t making, he dashed across the path, confident that Squirtle wouldn’t have strayed from it. But the longer he ran alongside the road, the darker things became, and the more hopeless things seemed to be. The ground somehow felt unfamiliar beneath his paws. This was a strange thing to note, Coran realized, considering that he’d never been here before. This entire place was unfamiliar. Then he remembered he was also apparently an amnesiac. So not only was this place unfamiliar, but also literally everything he’d ever experienced since waking up in that field. His throat was getting scratchy from thirst. He didn’t have a bag on him. No berries grew here. There was only sorrow.
This is my first job! I can’t die here! Where is she? Where is anything?!
Coran was getting delirious. Why…why is it even called Sorrowing Meadows…? It’s a forest. Not meadows. If…if anything, Nuzlocke should be called Sorrowing Meadows. Would that mean this place was Nuzlocke? What does Nuzlocke mean, anyways? Is there a secret in Nuzlocke? Is there a thousand year old door locked with a key you can only get by winning a racing tournament with foxy items off destination? Where can I get a nuzkey? Is there a town called Nuzkey, and if there is how do I get it to Nuzlocke so they can kiss and unlock the foxy tourney door….? He chuckled nervously. He had slowed down, and was simply walking across the path absentmindedly. After a while of sauntering along his merry way, he heard a sort of metal scraping along with his footsteps. He looked down, and saw a pendant and chain hooked around his foot. He picked it up, and guessed it must have been the pendant he was here for.
“…I…I win,” he said, teetering on his feet. “H-hey…hey, Sq-Squirtle…H-how many points is…” Before he could finish his sentence, Coran fell flat on his face, unconscious.
“He’s out cold…”
“What do we do now? Can we?”
“It’s fine…he doesn’t need it.”
“It’s so shiny!”
“He won’t mind, right?”
“Right.”
And the pendant was gone.
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Lost in Halloweenia! Ch2
Crosspost from ffnet and AO3.
Summary: It's Halloween! Ash and the gang are living it up trick or treating when they stumble upon a strange house with some strange artifacts. What mysteries do they hold and…wait, who are those three lurking behind them?
Word Count: 2,955/27,343
Previous chapter here
Next chapter here
Chapter 2: Abra Kadabra
Last time, Ash and co. discovered a mysterious house while trick or treating on Halloween night. But they were the ones who ended up getting tricked when they were sucked into a magical egg! The only question is: where are they now?
“Ugh…Are you guys okay?”
“Me and Togepi are okay. Ash?”
“We’re fine!”
“Pika!”
“Now, where are we?”
The gang found themselves in a space very different than the one they’d just been transported from. At least, they could only assume that they’d been transported.
Just like the creepy old house, there were many strange objects, screaming of Halloween. But that’s where the similarities ended. They were in an enormous cave or sorts made entirely of smooth, gray stone and wood, like large pieces of patchwork. It was dark, the only light in the space coming from strangely illuminated plants. But that wasn’t all…
“Guys, is that staircase floating?”
“I don’t know; why is that jack-o-lantern changing size?”
“Is it just me or does gravity not seem to exist?”
“Then why aren’t we floating away?”
“Pi pikachu.”
“Priiii!”
“Okay!” Brock threw his hands up into the air and quieted everyone’s chatter as they continued to look around at the strange world they’d found themselves in. “Obviously we’re not in Johto anymore. Or, if we are, we’re certainly not anywhere I’ve heard of before. Now, strange angles aside, this seems to be a hallway, so I say we just walk and see where we come out.”
Ash nodded. “Good idea, Brock.”
Misty only rolled her eyes. “Sure, because that worked out so well for us before.”
Still, the three of them began walking forward. Or, if not forward, at the very least they were walking in a direction…possibly.
As they walked, the sights they spotted grew stranger and stranger. There were enormous trees with twisted roots above ground, even though it seemed for all the world like they were inside. Worse for Misty, it seemed as though there were all kinds of creepy crawlies living inside the strange plants. And the sounds they’d heard in the house had nothing on the eerie hoots and screeches echoing through the strange chamber.
“Guys, I don’t like this,” Misty said as a cold draft blew, heaving shivers through her. “Do you think we’re getting closer to the exit?”
“Either that or closer to the center,” Brock said, providing Misty with no comfort.
“Come on, Mist, it’s Halloween! You should be up for a little bit of spookiness.”
Misty cast about, holding Togepi a little tighter to her chest. “This is more than a little.”
“Who goes there?”
The gang froze all at once, backing into each other with wide eyes. After a moment’s silence, Brock and Misty prodded at Ash’s back. “Say something!” Misty hissed.
Ash trembled a little, gulping as his throat seemed to try and escape his body via his mouth. “Uh, we do!”
“Ash!”
“I-I mean, hi! We’re a little lost! Can you help us?”
The silence stretched into forever while no one, save for Togepi, took so much as a breath. Then, all at once, a being appeared before them as if from nothing. “Hello.”
Everyone, save for Togepi, jumped into the air, screaming before making a break for it and heading back in the other direction. Then, before any of them knew what had happened, they froze mid-step, unable to so much as twitch an eyebrow.
“I’m here to help you.”
As if by some supernatural mechanism, all of them were forced to turn around, still frozen in a strange, purple haze. They were faced with an Alakazam, who had his two spoons raised up at them. After a moment, he lowered the spoons and feeling returned to the gang’s bodies. Everyone took a few heaving breaths and Pikachu shook himself like a wet dog, shooting a little bit of static through his fur to wake up his tingling muscles.
Meanwhile, the humans looked at the Alakazam in confusion.
“You’re lucky I’m the one who’s here to find you,” he stated flatly. “The usual gatekeeper is taking Halloween off and isn’t nearly as nice as I am. My name is Mantar.”
“Hi, uh, Mantar. Are you using telepathy to talk to us?” Brock asked
Mantar narrowed his eyes. “No. Don’t you see my mouth moving?”
“He’s the nice one?” Misty whispered to Ash.
“I think we’re really lucky we didn’t meet the mean one,” Ash whispered back. Then, he shook his head in realization and said at a normal volume, “Wait, you can talk?”
Mantar fell over. Then he looked at Ash as though he was the world’s dimmest Psyduck. “Yes, I can talk!” He shook his head as he muttered to himself, “Humans.”
“Um, excuse me?” Misty said brightly, putting on a cheerful smile as she looked at Mantar. “Do you think you can help us get out of here?”
“Get out of here? Yes. Get you back home? No.”
Ash’s eyes widened; Pikachu hopped onto his shoulder to share his sentiment. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that we’re inside a portal right now between your world and my world. They only work one way. And this one happens to go from yours to mine and today I’m the gatekeeper. I can take you to my world, and from there we’ll have to find a portal leading back to yours.”
“Okay, sounds simple enough,” Ash stated. “So let’s go.”
Mantar scoffed as he led the group to continue walking down the cave, reaching a sideways staircase. Everyone let out a gasp when they didn’t seem to fall and their center of gravity just shifted with the landscape. Beyond were more spooky objects doing even spookier things. None were particularly scary, though, save for the plentitude of bugs. Misty kept her hands up to her face like blinders and looked at nothing past Mantar’s back.
“Right. By the way, I should tell you that people won’t take too kindly to your appearances. If you’re found out to be human, you’ll be jailed.”
“Jailed!” Misty exclaimed. “For what? We didn’t do anything!”
“You came here,” Mantar stated. “That’s enough. You’re compromising our safety.”
“Compromising your safety?” Brock asked in disbelief. “We’re only trying to get home.” He brushed away a fake bat that was hanging from a string from the ceiling or roof—it was too shrouded in dark to tell which.
“Your Pokémon are even more misfortunate than you,” Mantar continued, ignoring Brock.
“What do you mean?” Ash asked warily, putting a hand on Pikachu’s back. Misty also held Togepi closer to her chest.
“They’ll likely be stolen.”
Ash laughed. “Oh, we deal with people trying to steal our Pokémon every day.”
Mantar laughed too, but with a much more menacing undertone. “You know not what you deal with.”
“So what do we do?” Misty asked Mantar, worried for her Togepi’s safety.
“Hide them in your capturing devices. You have those, yes?”
Misty and Ash looked at each other worriedly. “I can hide Togepi in my bag,” Misty offered.
Mantar looked at how small Togepi was and nodded. “I suppose that shall do for the Fairy.” He then turned to Ash.
Ash was looking at Pikachu, who was frowning uncertainly. “Whaddya say, buddy? Can you do the PokéBall just this once?”
Pikachu shook his head. “Pi. Kachu.”
“I’m sorry, Mantar,” Ash said, accepting Pikachu’s decision. “I can’t do that.”
Mantar sighed. “Then disguises will be necessary.”
Ash looked around at everyone’s costumes. “But it’s Halloween! We’re already in disguises.” Ash barred his new fangs and flapped his cape, as did Pikachu.
“Well, lucky for you, it’s Halloween for us too. But we need a disguise, not a costume.”
By that point, they’d walked quite some ways, but everything looked just as much like a 3D puzzle as it had before. Nevertheless, Mantar stopped and looked around before nodding to himself.
“This is a good spot.”
Everyone else looked around as well, not seeing whatever it was that Mantar seemed to.
“Good spot for what?” Brock asked.
Mantar didn’t respond, simply lifting his spoons as his body and everyone else’s took on a holy white glow.
“Teleportation!”
And everyone disappeared with a flash and a gasp.
“Oh, please don’t let this be a dream!”
“Or if it is a dream, don’t make me wake up!”
“You two can wake up any time ya want; I’m gonna keep eating dis candy!”
Jessie, James, and Meowth were gobbling up all the candy in sight, barely stopping to breathe, much less chew. They had stumbled upon a stash of candy of mythical proportions in a seemingly abandoned house, that had the front door left wide open. It was as if they had been invited in to finish up all of the candy that the trick or treaters had missed.
Currently, they were on their hands and knees with the bowl in between the three of them, debris from the inedible bits strewn carelessly about.
Suddenly, a howl was heard outside. It was enough to tear a yowl from Meowth, who sprang up and landed on Jessie’s head, tearing his claws through her long red hair.
“Get off of me, you mangy fur-ball! You’re ruining my hair!” Jessie managed to shout—or rather, spit—through a mouthful of half-eaten candy.
Jessie all but threw Meowth to the ground when another howl came from outside, this time with a strong breeze to accompany it, blowing out the nearly-melted candles remaining on the candelabra.
Everyone shrieked, collectively gauging their priorities and grabbing the candy bowl before running further into the house, out of the dark. They paused to catch their breaths, indigestion coming up on them rapidly what with all the candies that were now somewhere between their mouths and their stomachs.
“That,” James heaved, “was unnecessary.”
“I just don’t like tings dat howl,” Meowth defended himself.
Jessie was the first one to collect herself, unfolding her doubled-over body and taking a look around the room they’d found themselves in. “Did either of you notice how strange this place is?”
James and Meowth followed Jessie’s lead and looked as far as they could see in the dim candlelight.
“There’s Halloween stuff everywhere,” James pointed out. “Even here in the house where no one could possibly see it.”
Meowth was at eye-level with the statue of a Houndoom with ruby-like gemstones for eyes. “Well, I don’t like it.”
“I bet some of this stuff is pretty valuable.” Jessie balanced the candy bowl on her hip with one arm as she put a thoughtful finger to her chin. “Out of all of this junk something is bound to be antique, or at least well-designed.”
James eyed a witch who had run into the wall, so only her back side was visible. She was atrociously dressed. “Maybe not.”
“It can’t hurt to look,” Jessie said, walking into the next room as she tossed another piece of candy into her mouth. “The owner can’t mind if one or two pieces go missing.”
The trio eventually found themselves at a creaky, wooden set of stairs with a spiky, wrought iron hand rail.
“Wow, look at all dis junk!”
The upstairs room had no furniture to speak of, or if it did, it was completely covered by the strange novelty objects of downstairs, but now so abundant they seemed to be forming an army.
“I don’t know. This is nice.” Jessie held up a large, feather fan and began fanning herself with it.
“Very glamorous,” James agreed.
“Holy cow, look at dis!” Meowth had hopped over some objects and made it further into the huge room where a dull red glow stood out from the dark. “Dis hasta be valuable!”
“Ooh, I bet it is!” Jessie said, her eyes wide and glittering. “Lemme touch it!”
“No, I’m da one who found it!”
“Come here, little eggy-poo, Uncle James will take good care of you.”
James reached right over Meowth and plucked up the egg, examining it for just a second before his hands began to seep into it.
“W-What’s happening?”
“James?”
“Jimmy?”
Jessie lunged for James as he quickly began to get sucked into the egg, and Meowth hastily grabbed on to Jessie’s hair before she, too, vanished.
“Team Rocket’s being pulled away again!”
“That should do for now.”
Mantar had teleported the gang straight into his own house, where he had begun taking care of their disguises. The house was essentially a small log cabin, and the entire space was about practicality. There was a small kitchen, bathroom, and a bed, and that was just about it. Very barren in comparison to the strange portal they’d just left.
The finishing touch for the disguises was to use Hypnosis on Togepi, which Mantar did before promptly returning it to Misty’s bag, where it could hopefully sleep peacefully for the rest of the evening until they managed to return home.
“Aw, Pikachu’s so cute!” Misty cooed as she reached to pick Pikachu up. Except that Pikachu wasn’t a Pikachu anymore; he was a Pokémon called a Pumpkaboo. Mantar had cast a spell, temporarily giving Pikachu almost the face of a plush bat, stuffed into a hollow jack-o-lantern.
“Pika!” he cheered, enjoying his round new form.
“Yeah, a lot cuter than you look, Misty,” Ash said as he stole Pika-boo back. “You look like Frankenstein.”
Ash didn’t even see the mallet coming. He was on the ground with birds swirling around his head, which was now forming a healthy lump.
“For your information, Ash Ketchum, I am not green, and you don’t look any better!”
“He actually looks a little worse with that lump on his head,” Brock whispered to Mantar, who nodded in response.
Ash had a point, though. Mantar had painted stitches onto Ash, Misty, and Brock’s skin so that they would look like they were wearing human costumes. Small darts sketched on the angles of their body, like their necks and their shoulders, where the seams in a costume would be. Apparently dressing up as a human was a very popular look on Halloween. They had also since returned to their normal clothes, because there was no use wearing a costume over a “costume.”
“So, explain this to me, Mantar,” Brock started. “Why is it okay for Pikachu to be a Pumpkaboo, but not a Pikachu?”
“Obviously there are Pokémon here.” Mantar gestured to himself as he put the paints and makeup back into his small closet. “But only certain Pokémon. We don’t have as abundant a variety as do you. We have a plentitude of Dark, Ghost, Poison, and Bug Types.”
“B-Bug Types?” Misty squeaked.
“Yes. There are some that are rarer, like Psychic or Fairy and other exceptions. But the sight of something like an Electric Type would clue people into the fact that the portal has been breached.”
“Why wouldn’t people just assume that Pikachu is another exception?” Ash asked, after peeling himself from up off the floor.
Mantar sighed. “Because Pokémon from the outside that don’t suit our Typings lose that Element after a while here.”
“What?” Ash grabbed Pika-boo and held him protectively, both of their expressions creased with concern.
“Slowly but surely, your Pikachu will lose his Electric Typing and will likely start to take on the qualities of another Type. Usually Dark. It’s probably already happening,” Mantar informed them regretfully. “His appearance might even change, becoming black to suit the creatures of this land.”
“The creatures of this land? But you still look like any Alakazam I’ve ever seen,” Ash stated.
Mantar shook his head. “Maybe you’ll just have to see for yourselves.”
He pushed the front door open and immediately the loud ruckus from outside came flooding in. The world was dark with nighttime, but there were flashing lights everywhere, mostly white and orange. Music was blaring songs that made you want to dance and the smell of food was pervasive.
In short: the whole world was a party.
Alakazam began leading them straight into the fray and Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pika-boo just looked around in awe. It was a party, alright, but everything absolutely screamed Halloween. None, more so than the people—or creatures, rather—in attendance.
There, behaving just like humans, were Golbat, Murkrow, Gengar, Gothita, Dustox, Sigilyph, and so many more. Just like Mantar, they could converse, and were doing so over snacks and punch, laughing raucously with good humor. Misty let out a shriek at the sight of a Galvantula breaking it down on with his many legs the dance floor, but Ash quickly clamped a hand over her mouth and pushed her gaze away. The other direction, they saw a black Glameow walking along, dressed in a tuxedo.
“Oh, so that’s what you meant,” Ash muttered.
Stranger than the Pokémon, though, were the other attendees, far from anything the gang had ever witnessed in their world.
There were goblins, trolls, witches, zombies, skeletons—things that should have just been costumes, come to life.
Brock’s eyes popped out of his head when he spotted a girl with long, black hair that flowed down to her waist and sleepy brown eyes. “Wow, look at her!”
Mantar murmured, “Just you wait.”
Not a moment later, the girl turned around and the other half of her face was that of a zombie. “Gah!” Brock shouted as he stumbled back.
Mantar smirked.
“Welcome to Halloweenia.”
After having been teleported from their world, Ash and friends find themselves in the strange land of Halloweenia with little clue as to how to get back home! Donning their new disguises, they go out in search of a mysterious portal. Will they find one? Tune in next time for more adventures in Halloweenia!
#pokemon fanfiction#pokemon fanfic#pokemon#pokemon fic#ash ketchum#ash ketchum fanfiction#ash ketchum fanfic#ash ketchum fic#pikachu#team rocket#fanfiction#pokeani#anipoke
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World Collision Chapter 10
Mushroom Zone
The Time Barrier jump this time wasn’t just on one truck this time, but a full caravan. Myra shivered and clutched the purple crystal under her shirt as they burst through on the other side.
Flare-Up, who was sitting on the other side of the truck bed from Myra, didn’t even flinch as they passed through and jolted as the truck hit cobblestone ground.
“They’re getting worse,” Flare-Up muttered.
“The Time Barriers?” Myra turned her gaze away from the twisted trees that were on either side of the road, and the ruined buildings with dome-shaped roofs that were scattered in the distance.
“The worlds.” Flare-Up’s tone was clipped and grim.
“The Dark Arms don’t put much attention into the upkeep of the worlds they’ve brought here,” Seeker explained from the cab of the truck. “They keep more track of the people they control than anything else. I know you can guess why.”
Flare-Up’s eyes narrowed while Myra frowned.
“You mean, it’s because we were able to get close enough in the beginning to win them back, right?” Crystal asked from where she sat next to Myra.
“That, and they just don’t care about the people who were already there.”
Myra felt a chill run down her spine at Seeker’s words. “You mean – we could run into some of them here?”
“We won’t know until we get to what remains of the castle.” Seeker turned to look at the man dressed in green who was sitting next to him in the cab. “I’m not sensing any presences nearby; it seems this part of the Zone’s been abandoned, at least.”
“Not even Boos?” the other responded.
“You remember what happened; Boos have a very distinct aura and I definitely know how to sense those.”
“Have you run into them before?” Myra asked.
Seeker tilted his head slightly as the man in green shuddered. “Once. Before. They were more of an annoyance than anything else.”
Flare-Up snorted.
The truck caravan broke out of the scraggly trees and entered what once was a central plaza. Cobblestones were uprooted left and right, houses had collapsed in on themselves, and there was an eerie quiet over everything that made Myra feel horribly uneasy.
The partially destroyed castle that stood over everything, faded pink walls looking more gray under the dark, clouded-over sky made that feeling double in strength.
“I don’t like the feel of this place,” Myra said.
A dark chuckle came from her shadow, causing her to stiffen. “No one likes to stay long after the Dark Arms have passed through. Keep your eyes and ears open. There may be some stragglers here yet.”
Myra instantly turned her gaze away from the inside of the truck and looked out towards the horizon in the distance, looking over the destroyed trees and the strange, brown, crumbling floating blocks that were hovering in the air in random places. There wasn’t so much as a breath of wind to this place, and it made her uneasy.
Flare-Up shifted in her seat on the other side of the truck bed, eyeing a crumbling brown block that was in the air a short distance from them. It bumped against the smoke stack of the red and blue vehicle that was following behind them, and it crumbled to the ground. The sound echoed. “So time isn’t completely stopped here, then.”
“It can do that?” Myra blinked sharply.
“In some places,” Seeker replied from the truck cab. “Don’t worry about it, Flare; this place follows the game mechanics pretty closely.”
Flare-Up looked away from the place where the brick had been and nodded shortly.
Seeker brought the truck to a stop a short distance from the stairs that led up to the destroyed palace. The other vehicles came to a stop in a tight circle around the central plaza of the destroyed town as Seeker climbed onto the top of his truck cab. The green man who had been in the cab scrambled after him.
“Everyone, this is Luigi.” Seeker looked around as the others looked out from their vehicles – or, in some cases, the vehicles themselves shifted their positions some. “He’s one of the few from the Mushroom Zone who escaped the Dark Arms. He’s offered his help in finding us a temporary base to hide in while we see about winning this area back as much as we possibly can.”
“H-hello.” Luigi waved, a distinct accent in his voice that Myra hadn’t really heard before.
“Will there be enough room for the Cybertronians?” Gear poked his head out the red and blue semi truck. “I mean, Optimus and Megatron are pretty big themselves.”
“S-sure, sure.” Luigi nodded. “Space gets-a bit—“ He made a motion with his hands and made a noise that sounded similar to a ghost moaning. “Just-a be careful where you go.” He motioned for the caravan to follow him, then jumped off the hood of the truck with a “hup!” before he started up towards the deteriorating castle.
Seeker and Flare-Up followed after him instantly on foot, prompting the rest of the small army to do the same.
Myra scrambled to catch up with Flare-Up before looking back when she heard metal slide against metal. Her eyes widened in amazement as the Cybertronians shifted out of their vehicle forms and stood tall above the others.
“I don’t think I’m going to ever get used to seeing that,” Myra said.
Flare-Up snorted. Seeker looked back at his sister with an odd expression before looking back at Myra.
“I used to think that. But then I met with so many of them the novelty of it wore off.” Seeker looked back at the Cybertronians as they reached the top of the stairs. “Still, there is something about them that you can’t help but admire.”
Flare-Up paused at that, looking over at Seeker with a guarded expression. He noticed and gave her a slight shrug in response before moving to catch up with Luigi as he walked through the palace gates.
The courtyard of the palace – as well as a palace itself – had clearly seen better days. Trees had been uprooted, the stone wall looked like it had exploded in some places, and craters littered the ground.
The only thing that stood untouched in the courtyard was a large, green pipe that was sticking up out of the ground. It almost looked cartoonish compared to the rest of the area.
Luigi let out a sigh of relief. “It’s-a still here. Good.” He jumped up on top of the edge and balanced there for a moment. “Okey-dokey.”
The man in green took a deep breath, then jumped down into the pipe.
Myra jumped back at the noise that echoed as soon as Luigi disappeared from sight. It only seemed to echo inside the pipe, however – it didn’t echo in the air around them.
“It’s a good pipe,” Seeker said in surprise. “I’d have thought the Dark Arms would have demolished every single one of them. At least now we can get down there and clear out the sewers.”
Flare-Up nodded, then leapt into the pipe after Luigi.
Myra started to follow after her, but a loud scream from somewhere in the caravan behind them stopped her short.
Seeker turned sharply. “We’re under attack! Move!” He bolted out of the courtyard towards the central plaza; Myra and Crystal quickly ran after him.
Out in the central plaza, a small swarm of humanoid creatures with mushroom caps was starting to attack the Cybertronians, crawling up their legs in silent unison.
“Toadstools!” Seeker’s hands started to glow with blue fire. “They’re locals here! Do what you can to free them – stunning energy projectiles only!”
“Azari! Torrun!” came James’ shout from the caravan. “Get them with a lightning—“
Something sparked to Myra’s right. “Shock Wave!”
Myra jumped away from Crystal when a burst of bright yellow electricity shot out and collided with the five mushroom people on Arcee’s legs. They fell off at once, little streamers of smoke shooting off the backs of their heads. “How did—“
“Any move a Pokémon can use, I can too.” Crystal looked at Myra with a determined spark in her eye. “I’m not just a Psychic-Type.”
“Smart thinking.” Seeker nodded. “Don’t let up and bring them back to their senses!”
crackle crackle BOOM.
Myra jumped as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Her eyes were wide as blue-white and yellow-white branches of lighting shot out from the left side of the truck ring, cascading sparks over Optimus and Ratchet and causing the Toadstools to fall off their limbs.
“Infernal little creatures,” snarled the spike-covered Cybertronian as another Shock Wave from Crystal threw them off him. “If I could get my hands on—“
“If you so much as harm them, Megatron, we will be having words,” Ratchet hissed. He pulled out a wrench that was as big as his torso and shook it at the other mech, who raised his hands in a placating gesture.
Myra shook her head as another round of sparks hit their marks, and she started to focus on her own powers. Purple fire bloomed to life on her hands, but instead of throwing it, Myra held onto it and started to create more.
Seeker’s eyebrows shot up as the fire started to crawl up Myra’s arms, but she ignored him. Her focus was on the dark green, round Cybertronian – Bulkhead, she remembered someone saying – and the little people he was covered in.
Myra’s mind went back to the attack that Seeker and Flare-Up had used on the Cybertronians in Mar’s Haven, and she instinctively pushed her powers out.
The words that came out of her mouth that same moment weren’t the ones she had been expecting herself to shout.
“Mental Shock!”
zzzzap!
The purple blast of fire-lightning zipped across the plaza and rammed into the Toadstools crawling all over Bulkhead. It zipped from one to the next, causing them to fall off him in a cascade of little mushroom-headed figures until the move dissipated into the air after colliding with the last of them.
Myra dropped her hands as another burst from Crystal, Azari, and Torrunn took out the remaining Toadstools. Her arms felt much heavier than they had been a moment ago.
A dark chuckle came from where Pitch was hiding in Myra’s shadow. “Interesting….”
“I wouldn’t recommend doing that again.”
Myra turned as Flare-Up came out of the pipe and started towards them. Luigi popped up after her with a “hup!”
“At least not for a while,” Seeker added.
“Pushing your abilities like that drains you more quickly than basic attacks,” Flare-Up continued, glancing over at Seeker. “You probably aren’t ready to use an attack with that kind of strength yet. Use it as a last resort for now.”
Seeker raised an eyebrow as Myra nodded.
“That makes sense,” Myra said.
“Sewer’s clear,” Luigi chirped from the pipe. He motioned for them to come over.
“What about the Cybertronians?” Crystal asked. “They won’t be able to fit!”
“They will,” Luigi replied. There was a mysterious tone in his voice. “Pipes have a weird-a magic. They’ve-a shrunk me before, they’ll shrink-a the big bots, no problem!” His expression brightened, and he disappeared down the pipe with a “yahoo!”
Myra blinked in confusion. “Magic...?”
“Magic comes from Materia. Some people are able to tap into the Lifestream itself and use the Mako there, but that’s a last resort. Mako can be a poison to people who aren’t used to it.”
“Mako.” Myra frowned, then shook her head.
Flare-Up and Seeker looked at her, then exchanged looks.
“Come on.” Seeker motioned for Myra and Crystal to follow him, then raised his voice. “Follow us into the sewers below the palace! We’ll at least have some cover there.”
Myra quickly followed after Seeker as Flare-Up reached the pipe first and jumped down it. Seeker followed after her a moment later.
“Think we can jump down it together?” Crystal looked at Myra as they started to climb up onto the edge of the pipe.
Myra looked down at the pipe’s opening. “Uh…I think we’d barely be able to fit? It looks like it could be big enough for two people….”
“Well then let’s go!” Crystal grabbed Myra’s hand and jumped, pulling Myra down with her and into the darkness.
The same noise Myra had heard before echoed three times around them, and then everything brightened up again as Myra and Crystal tumbled out of the pipe and fell into a scrambled pile.
“Ha! Well, that’s one way to make an entrance!”
Myra looked up and saw Seeker with his hands on his hips and a grin on his face.
“I guess you two aren’t used to traveling by pipe.” He held out his hands.
Crystal and Myra took one hand each and were pulled to their feet by Seeker, untangling themselves from each other as they did.
“Is that…common, around here?” Myra looked around in order to see where they had ended up.
The large, circular room that the pipe opened up into had a dome roof like their last base had, but this one was clearly smaller. Green pipe openings shot out at regular intervals around the wall, but some of them looked horribly rusted while others had part of the ceiling collapse over the openings.
“Pretty common for plumbers.” Seeker paused, then pulled Myra and Crystal away from the pipe as more figures started to tumble through – Gear first, then Forge, then James and his team, followed closely by Captain America. “We’d better steer clear of the pipes for a while; people are going to be coming in.”
Nightwing came in as Cap and the first group moved out of the way, followed closely by a small number of older teenagers in various costumes.
“Never thought we’d use this place as a base again,” Nightwing said grimly.
Seeker nodded in agreement as the next group of people tumbled in: X, Zero, Serges, and Cain. “I know. But we probably won’t be here for long, considering what’s going on now. With Flare-Up back, things are going to be moving a lot more quickly than I think either one of us was expecting at first.”
“You’re either saying that because my presence means you can get more done or because we’re more at risk of being found.” Flare-Up looked over from where she was standing in the center of the dome, arms folded across her chest. “In any event, you’d be right on both counts. Winning back Zones and those who have been controlled will get the Dark Arms’ attention, which will mean that we have to move quickly. As soon as everyone is settled in, I’m taking Myra and we’re looking for Bowser.”
Something about the name didn’t sound friendly. “Who?”
“He’s-a King Koopa,” Luigi replied, as though that explained everything. He suddenly looked nervous.
“And the only other person in the Zone who owns a castle in this area,” Seeker added as a man in a red and yellow suit of armor tumbled out of the pipe and into the room. He was followed by Jean Grey and a bald, older man in a wheelchair. Somehow, he looked more composed than Jean did. “I don’t know if he’s been taken or not, but it might be a good idea to try to find him. If the Dark Arms took him, we’d have a very difficult time on our hands as a result.”
“Are you-a sure you can-a take-a down Bowser?” Luigi looked up at Flare-Up. “He’s a bit of a brute if you don’t-a know his weak spots.”
“I’ve got the permanent affects of a Fire Flower; if he hits me with a flamethrower, I’ll be fine,” Flare-Up replied without pause. “Myra’s abilities would still have an effect; as a mental attack instead of a physical one, Bowser’s natural defenses wouldn’t do well against it.”
Clang clang clang!
“Waa!” Starscream came flying out of the pipe and skidded across the stone floor before coming to a stop with a groan.
Flare-Up looked down at the now-shrunken Cybertronian with a deadpan expression as Myra stared with wide eyes.
Starscream grumbled something and pushed himself to his feet. As soon as he reached his full height – which was a head and shoulders taller than Flare-Up – he shrieked. “What in Unicron is this?! I’m the size of a Mini-Con!”
Clang clang clang!
The rest of the Cybertronians fell through, now shrunk down to a closer-to-average-human-size.
“Considering that I’ve been compared to that before, I’m nor sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult.” Flare-Up inclined her head and looked at Starscream with lidded eyes.
Starscream spluttered as Ratchet came up behind him, wrench in hand. “I-I-I—“
“I’ll decide later; we have other things to worry about.” Flare-Up looked over at the pipe as Ratchet lowered the wrench and Luthor, Brainiac, and the hooded man they’d rescued at the same time as the Cybertronians came through, followed closely by the small mob of Toadstools that had been rescued moments before. “Myra, Crystal, Luigi – we should get moving, before they find us again. Be ready to head up to the surface to find the locals.”
“Not gonna give yerself a breather?” asked the mostly-white Cybertronian standing next to Optimus.
“If I did, Jazz, they could be all over us before we even have a chance to fight back,” Flare-Up replied. “I don’t plan to give them that chance.”
“The kid’s turning into a Prowl,” a red Cybertronian whispered to his yellow-armored twin.
Arcee slapped him upside the back of his head. “Sideswipe, I don’t think you have a right to say she’s anything.”
“Wait! You want me to go with you?” Crystal looked at Flare-Up with wide eyes.
“Yes.” Flare-Up blinked. “You’re powerful, and you can remove the Mind Tech without permanently damaging the victim.”
“B-but what if I—“
“There’s always that risk no matter where you go.” Something in Flare-Up’s gaze softened for a second, then hardened again. “Constantly moving and assisting will keep you on your toes. It will help.” She looked around as the last few figures stepping into the room – a rather haggard-looking, dark-haired man with dark green clothes and an archer wearing a purple costume with an “H” on his hood. Flare-Up’s eyes narrowed slightly, and she looked at Seeker again. “We have work to do.”
Seeker nodded. “I agree, but we can only send out one team at a time unless we want to leave any refugees alone here.” He nodded to the Toadstools, who were looking around at the group with worried, nervous expressions.
One of the Toadstools looked at Seeker, and his expression brightened. “Matthew! Boy, am I glad to see you!” He waddled over quickly and grabbed Seeker’s legs in a hug. “Now you can save us like you saved those pillow people!”
Seeker looked down at the Toadstool in surprise as Myra and the Toadstools looked between the two of them in confusion.
“Matthew?” Myra repeated.
Seeker looked up, then gave a half-smile and shrugged. “My name isn’t dangerous to say like Flare-Up’s is, but I’ve gone with Seeker for so long it’s sort of stuck.” He knelt down and patted the Toadstool’s mushroom cap. “Yeah, we’re here to help, little guy. You and your friends stay down here while we take care of what’s going on up on the surface, all right? We’ll get your princess back in no time.”
“Yay!”
The Toadstools started to cheer, only to get shushed by Seeker.
“There are pipes open; we don’t want to be heard!” Seeker warned.
The Toadstools quieted down rather quickly.
“Let’s get moving.” Flare-Up looked at Crystal and Myra before looking over at Luigi. “We have a Zone to win back.”
Luigi nodded, a determined expression in his eyes as his mustache quivered. “And-a my brother.”
#World Collision#cross' fanfiction#OC#Maria/Flare-Up#Aura Seeker/Matthew#Myra#Crystal#Luigi#toadstools#there are so many characters involved in this I'm just gonna list the ones that make a big impact on the story#we've got more things coming trust me on that#that and Maria's gonna be making everything pick up speed a bit#gotta make a dent in the Dark Arms' forces and take out the head you know
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