RKS and Rosetzel

A boy in a black, torn-up hoodie walked through the swamp with his Pokemon at his side. He hated everything about this stupid swamp. The smell, the squishy feeling between his toes, and especially the fact that he had to keep walking at least another five miles through cruddy marshland to reach his destination.

This boy was Gladion. Now that Gladion was president of the Aether Foundation due to the current condition of his mother, he had been forced to make appearances in regions all over the world where new Aether Foundation headquarters had opened up. All a part of a way to raise public support for the Foundation after the, er… Incident five years ago in Alola. Today's stop: the swampy, muddy, cruddy, cruddy region of Miamia.

"We'd already be there if you would have taken the helicopter like Wicke offered!"

"I'm aware of that." Gladion grumbled angrily. The stupid, white, slim, and glossy machine floating next to him was his brand new Aetherdex: a type of artificially intelligent Pokedex developed by the ex-Alolan branch chief, Faba. In fact, Gladion imagined Faba programmed this particular Aetherdex to torment him so much simply out of petty anger over Gladion defeating him five years ago and stripping him of his branch chief title.

"How stupid do you have to be to pick walking through a swamp over flying in a helicopter?" The Aetherdex said. It wasn't that Gladion was stupid. He just hated looking like a spoiled rich kid. Being a part of the Aether Foundation already gave him enough of an image of that. Plus, he enjoyed spending quality time with his Pokemon partner, Silvally.

"Shut up or I'll have Silvally eat you." Gladion grumbled. The Aetherdex knew Gladion's threats were empty, but it nevertheless shut up.

"Please! No!"

"Shut up and give us the Pokemon!"

Gladion looked over in the direction he heard that noise. It sounded like a child was being threatened. He rushed through the thick Mangrove trees of the swamp into a clearing where a little girl, probably no older than ten, was clutching a little Happiny close to herself in terror as two large men in silver and bronze tank tops loomed over her.

"Please! Please don't take my Pokemon!" She cried.

"I said shut up!" One of the two goons kicked some mud at the little girl. "Grab her Pokemon!" He said to the other goon.

"Hey!" The two goons wheeled around to see Gladion standing behind them. "Leave her alone!" He yelled at them.

The two goons both sneered, their black sunglasses shining evilly in the light. Gladion noticed something: a silver symbol on the front of their tank tops that resembled a hammer with a bronze H in the middle of it.

"And who's gonna make us?" The first goon said.

"I am!" Gladion said. "Either leave the girl alone, or my partner, Silvally, and I are going to make you sorry!"

"Get a load of the kid." The second goon said to the first. They both drew a Pokeball from their belts. "Let's teach him a lesson. Go, Roserade!"

"Floatzel, come on out!"

The two goons threw out their Pokemon: a Roserade and a Floatzel. Gladion wasn't worried though. He slipped off his backpack and took a look at his collection of Memory Drives for Silvally. He decided to load in an Electric type drive, causing Silvally's tail and crest tips to glow a bright, electric yellow. "Silvally, use Crush Claw!"

"Vaaaally!" Silvally's front claw glowed bright white as he leapt up to attack the Roserade.

"Roserade, use Protect!"

"And, Floatzel, use Hydro Pump!"

Silvally's Crush Claw was blocked by a green forcefield, and he was then hit by a powerful blast of water from Floatzel, sending him flying backwards. "Floatzel, Aqua Jet! Go!" The one goon's Floatzel surrounded itself with water and rocketed towards Silvally at a high speed.

"Silvally, use Multi-Attack!" Silvally's RKS System glowed with power, transferring that power into its claws. It brought its claw down hard on Floatzel, blocking its attack and dealing a heaping ton of damage. "Now use X-Scissor on Roserade!"

Silvally's claws both glowed insect green as it leapt up to attack Roserade. "Roserade, use Protect again!" Roserade tried, but couldn't because it had already used that move. It got hit by Silvally bringing its claws down it in an X motion. "Gah! I think it's time we ended this!" The Roserade goon said to the other.

"Definitely." The other goon said, grinning maliciously. He raised his arms. On his wrists, Gladion could see two wristbands that resembled Z-Rings, but there were two of them for some reason. "Pokemon, combine your fighting spirits!" The goon said, slowly moving his arms around in a circle. "Fuse together! Let two become one! Pokemon Fusion!"

He clashed the two wristbands together, connecting them with each other. Gladion could see two gems, one on each wristband, now stuck together. From the gems came waves of bright red energy. Roserade and Floatzel both got up and suddenly turned into purple and blue energy respectively. The two energy forms flew up and circled each other, finally coming together in a bright burst of light.

Where Roserade and Floatzel had once stood, a new Pokemon had been formed. It had the body of Floatzel, green fur, a white rose on top of its head, and two more roses on each of its wrists, one red one blue like Roserade. "Rosetzel!" It roared.

"What is that thing?" Gladion asked.

Aetherdex floated up to scan it. "Scanning… Scanning…" It said. "Rosetzel: the Fusion of Roserade and Floatzel. A Poison/Water type."

"Fusion?" Gladion mused. Is that what they did? Fuse their Pokemon together? But how?

The goons grinned at Gladion's shock and confusion. "Let's show this punk what Rosetzel can do!" The goon with the wristbands said.

Gladion snapped out of his confused state. "Silvally, get ready!" He warned his partner.

"Rosetzel, Fusion Attack! Use Aquatic Acid Blast!"

Rosetzel brought its arms forward. A ball of purple, acidic water formed in front of it. It charged the ball up, brought it back, and shot it forward, creating a blast of acidic water. "Roooooosetzeeeeeelll!" Rosetzel roared.

"Silvally, block it with Multi-Attack!" Gladion commanded. Silvally brought its claw up and brought it down to block the attack. Silvally was still forced backwards quite a bit. When the attack stopped, it was clear Silvally had taken a lot of damage, but he was still standing and that's what counted.

"But… How?!" The one goon exclaimed.

"That's one strong Pokemon." The other goon observed.

Gladion felt his Z-Ring grow warm. He rolled back the sleeve of his hoodie to see the artifical Z-Crystal attached to it, the one Wicke had constructed for Gladion when he was made the Aether Foundation's new president, was glowing. Gladion grinned. "You don't know the half of it." He said. Gladion began the Z-Move dance for Normal type Z-Moves. "The zenith of my mind, of body, and spirit!" He said as he did the dance. "With the power of the great light of Aether, unleash the fury of legends and pass judgment on your opponents! RKS Onslaught!"

Silvally was suddenly surrounded by Z-Power energy. Its RKS System glowed. "Silvallyyyyy!" It roared. Several beams of light came out of its RKS System, flying up into the sky and exploding into hundreds of energy bolts that came raining down on Rosetzel.

"Roooooooose!" Rosetzel roared as it was bombarded by powerful bolts of energy. A dense cloud of dust was kicked up by the impacts of the bolts. When it cleared, Rosetzel was nowhere to be seen, but both of its components laid unconscious in the mud of the swamp.

"What?! No!" One of the goons exclaimed.

Gladion stepped forward with Silvally. "You two had better get out of here if you know what's good for you." Gladion said. Silvally growled too, causing the two goons to jump in fright.

"W-we won't forget this!" One of them said as he returned his Pokemon and raced away.

"Yeah!" The other one said, doing the same. "Nobody messes with Team Hammer and gets away with it!"

As the two goons raced off, Gladion couldn't help but ponder what they said. Team Hammer… He would have to get Wicke to research that term for him. At least the girl was safe now.

The girl!

Gladion had almost forgotten why he was battling those two goons in the first place. He looked over at where the girl and her Happiny were. They still looked a little shook up, but otherwise they were okay. Gladion slowly approached them. "Hi there." He said gently. The little girl clutched her Happiny closer and shivered in fright. "It's okay." Gladion said. "I'm not going to hurt you. Are you okay?"

The little girl looked up at him. "I'm f-fine." She stammered.

"Happiny." Happiny said quietly, still a little scared.

Gladion smiled. "Good." He said. "Where do you live? I can get you there real quick in a helicopter."

"If you had taken the helicopter to begin with, we wouldn't have gotten into this mess in the first place!" Aetherdex said, very irritated.

"If I had taken the helicopter, I couldn't have saved this girl. So, why don't you shut your stupid machine mouth and call the copter already?" Gladion said, quite annoyed to the Aetherdex.

"Hmph!" Aetherdex, though still peeved, called over the helicopter, and in a few moments it had arrived.

"Where do you live?" Gladion asked the little girl.

"I-in Cinarum Town." The girl said.

"Huh." Gladion said, surprised by the coincidence. "That's just where I was heading too."

As the helicopter took off, Gladion wondered who this little girl was. He also wondered more about this "Team Hammer" and how they had fused their Pokemon together like that. He also wondered whether this was fate, him being there to see all this and save this little girl and her Happiny. He supposed he'd find out when they reached Cinarum Town.

Back down in the swamp, two figures, hidden among the Mangrove trees, watched as the chopper took off with Gladion and the little girl inside. One of the figures was young, maybe in his early twenties, had long brown hair with the sides of his head shaved, and wore a bright white tank top with chrome colored pants. The other was a middle-aged woman, probably in her fifties, with short, grey hair, wearing a long, black dress with long sleeves. Each of them had a bright golden G emblazoned on their chests.

"That our guy?" The man said, an insane smile on his face.

The woman took a while to answer. "Yes." She said quietly. "He will lead us to him. We must capture him and his Pokemon at all costs."

"Goodie." The man said, his grin widening. He thoroughly enjoyed the thought of doing anything "at all costs."

The two figures rode out on ATVs that cut through the swamp's muck easily. Whoever they were, they were chasing after Gladion.

But they were chasing someone else too.