Before we begin, I want to say a few things: This is a crossover between Rayduran's fic and mine, so I have his permission to upload this fic, just as he has my permission to upload his (we both have the same fic, but his will be in Spanish and mine will be in English.)
If you're a new reader that has stumbled across this fic, know that this is the second part of the series, and unless you want to be heavily spoiled, you should go read the first part first before heading any further. And whilst we are on that subject, every so often whilst reading you will see bald words between brackets. Those are titles of songs which I suggest you paste on youtube and listen whilst reading. It is optional, but I believe it adds a nice touch to the story.
Anyways, without any further ado… Let's begin!
Prologue
The Travelers
(The Gates of Hell - Bayonetta)
The moment he came in through that door... I knew he was looking for me. I mean... what else would a cloaked guy be doing in this shithole? The Hole of the Damned was known far and wide for it's bad reputation... Criminals of all ages, simply robbers or mass killers all came together in this forgotten corner of the world. Whether you came along or brought some "friends", there was always a place for you in this place if you had a bounty on your head.
The worse of the worse: Mercenaries, Psychopaths, Killers... all types of pokemon with the which I blended in perfectly. One could say I felt in my element, because we all had one thing in common: The fact that our lives had gone to shit. We weren't there for pleasure. We were there because we didn't have anywhere else to go. The location of this place was passed from soulless criminal to another soulless criminal, and you could say I had gotten the name of this place by mere chance... But after that night I'd believe otherwise. He didn't fit in with us. He wore a cloak black as night as he came in through that door, ignoring the look of hatred he was getting from the bouncer at the entrance. He stood still and kept walking, looking majestic, staring down at everyone in that cafe... If I hadn't known that there was something off about him I'd probably been the first one to get up and break his face... But he had this... feeling... I've yet to put a finger on it.
I couldn't see anything under that cloak either. And even now I don't think it was because of the dim light in that Arceus forsaken café... I just kept my head down and returned to my drink, drowning myself in alcohol to keep myself sane. I couldn't get my eye off of him however... even if I wasn't looking at him directly I kept him in my view range... Never letting him out. He walked over to the bar and looked at the bartender. A real piece of shit Muk, and I'm saying this literally... What are those things made of anyways? Trash? Garbage? Shit? Couldn't care less, because he asked the fucker something, and I saw a slimy appendage, which I guess could be misinterpreted by a hand or whatever raise up and point in my direction. Fucking great.
Just as he approached me, the waitress passed by. A Lopunny with all sorts of strange metal artifacts pierced through her ears, swaying her hips back and forth… "Here's your drink, sir." She said in such a sensual way that I had to resist the urge to snap up and tear her apart. Disgusting, that's what she was. Her act was forced, probably by the abusive bartender of that hell hole, but.. to be honest I couldn't care less. I took my drink and she left as she came, moving her hips back and forth… Just in front of my table, a Machamp reached out for her and slapped her rear, making the Lopunny "squeal in delight" like a good whore would, and the two began their exchange of dirty innuendos and chuckling. Sometimes, I wished that the world was cleared of these creatures. Simply and utterly disgusting. I expected he would just take her right then and there in the middle of that decaying shack in the middle of nowhere whilst everyone watched, or hell, maybe someone would join into the "fun" after a while…
I took my head away from those thoughts, resisting the urge to get up immediately and leave forever after that shameful display of "love". And it was too late anyways, since the newcomer was now right next to my table. He sat down on the couch at the other side, not even asking. Great. "What do you want?" I asked, the guy glaring at me from under his hood with those weird as all hell eyes.
"I will have you know that my current physical appearance isn't the reason why I hide under a cloak… it is more so hide my identity." The bastard in front of me said. I rose an eyebrow and rolled my eyes, looking at my drink. It was some kind of black ooze that made your mind go numb, and your throat started to burn. It wasn't completely unpleasant, and it kept me from thinking about anything else, so it served it's purpose well. It could be made out of that Muk's body for all I cared. I would still drink it if it were to be the case. "Coincidentally, that drink isn't produced by the Muk. It's a mixture of alcohol, water and waste from the Muk's body. The later is what gives it that black tar like texture as well as it's burning effect." The guy in front of me said.
I glanced at him, then took a long sip, drinking half of it in one go. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I slammed it on the table, fighting it's effects and keeping my eyes on the thing in front of me. I called it a thing because I didn't know if it was a pokemon or what the hell it was, there was no way to tell because of that cloak. The guy had the guts to stare back, and we both kept our eyes on one another for a while, before I finally asked him the question. "What the hell do you want?" I asked, impatient. I wanted him to leave. Right then and there.
"I have come here in search for you. It has been months since I set out to find you, and I only managed to do so by leading you here." He said. Great, so this guy knew who I was and he had taken me there. Fantastic. "As you have probably guessed, I need something from you." He said.
I chuckled. "Don't we all? We can't solve our own problems, so we just call the sucker next door to solve them, eh?" I slammed a hand on the table. "Look, I don't have time to waste with you, so you either leave on your own… or stuffed in a box. Your call." I threatened him, but I knew very well that my threats meant nothing to him. After all, he had come all of that way to find me, why would he back away after such a mundane phrase?
He looked around, and all of a sudden his head twitched, and I knew, even if he didn't show it, that he was smiling. The nerve. "To me… it seems like you're basically wasting your time inside of this hole. I mean… have you looked at our surroundings? Honestly, I think that you have more than enough time to spare to have a chat." The tone of his voice changed altogether, but I didn't let that disturb me in the slightest.
"I have more than enough time to spare… but I don't have time to waste on you. Get lost, will you?" I asked him as politely as I could. Moans filled the air. Great, those two had ended up getting it on right behind that guy's back. If it wasn't for him, I would be getting a first row seat to the action. Not that I wanted, of course.
He noticed the look of annoyance on my face. "Are they bothering you?" He suddenly asked. I was about to nod, when all of a sudden two transparent purple blades appeared and shot behind him. Screams were heard, and two bodies fell to the floor, dead. The Machamp and the Lopunny, their throats sliced. The blades disappeared the same way they came, and the bastard sat back into his spot again. Everyone turned to face this cloaked guy, alarm and hatred in their eyes. I even slightly leaned to the side, ready to start fighting…. But he just sat there. "Fixed… Now, where were we? Ah yes… Eric and Elly."
He just said their names right then and there. He just dropped them as if we were in a normal conversation. But no, it wasn't a normal conversation. Those names were forbidden in that place, yet there he was, saying them out loud. Everything stopped. The "commotion" for the dead bodies stopped as quickly as it came, everyone looking at thing in front of me, which was dragging attention to myself too… And I just couldn't help it.
I laughed.
I started laughing as hard as I could. This guy… How could my day get any better?
(Stop the music)
Somewhere in Sinnoh…
"Time to wake up, sleepyhead!" A voice shook the Riolu out of his sleep. He opened his eyes with crimson red irises and blinked a few times, groaning as he didn't find anyone standing there. As he turned to face away, he found himself looking straight into a pair of sky blue eyes. But he wasn't surprised at all, since he knew she would be there with him. He turned to face down, crossing his arms on the hay bed and resting his head there, closing his eyes.
"Just five more minutes Elly…" He muttered with a smile on his face, waiting for her reaction.
"Whaaaaaat?" She asked. "You of all pokemon wants to sleep for five more minutes? You, who forces everyone to impromptu training and running every single morning to keep us fit?" She questioned in an extremely ironic tone of voice.
"Hmmmmhmmm… You heard me honey, now please, go wake up Serge or Nox, they probably need your help more than I do." He told her, shifting around to get comfortable once more.
Elly scoffed in fake indignation. "Oh, unbelievable! You're such a bad example to the rest of your team mates! I'll have to fix this… somehow…" Her voice disappeared as silence befell the bedroom. The Riolu sighed and opened his eyes, twisting around again and laying on his back with his arms crossed behind his back, looking up at the ceiling of the still dark room, all thanks to the new blinds they had gotten which blocked most of the sunlight, since they were made out of wood… And all of sudden they popped open by themselves, light shining directly into Eric's eyes.
"Gah!" He shielded his eyes from the intrusive beam of light whilst a laugh echoed behind him. "Damn it Elly, I really wanted to sleep for five more minutes!" He exclaimed, blinking a few times and turning around on the bed to look at the door. There he was an Eevee smiling at him and chuckling.
"Now you know how it feels to be woken up by you!" She laughed in victory as she jumped away, closing the door behind her. Eric was about to say something in response, but instead groaning, rolled his eyes and laid back down, facing away from the sun. He kept still for a few moments…
"Nope, not falling asleep... " He sighed. "Damn it Elly…" He muttered as he sat on the bed and then got up with his paws. He looked at the window, seeing that the sun had just risen and was shining directly into the room. He stretched his arms over his head and lead out a loud yawn, blinking afterwards. He took another look outside, smiling. "Yep… today's gonna be a great day…"
With that, he turned around and headed for the door with wobbly feet, almost tripping with a bedsheet on the way there. He groaned and crouched, picking it up from the ground and folding it, then walked over to the chest and opened it with his free paw, placing the sheet inside and closing the chest. He did this with his right paw, and as he did this he fixed his eyes upon the white markings on his fur. It consisted of a series of lines and drawings that descended from his elbow, covering his whole arm and travelled down up to his wrist, where he could see two lines that went the whole way around it. And on the back of his right paw he could see a much more complicated drawing in the place of the usual white protrusion that most Riolu had. He had a drawing of a white five pointed star, surrounded by ten smaller circles, inside of the which were different drawings. From the very stop, and to the right, he could see a strange vortex, which seemed to be purple colored, a red flame, a sing blue drop of water, a colorless spike, a green tornado, and from there the rest of the circles and drawings, a snowflake, a lightning bolt, a leaf, half of which was dead, a four pointed star and a strange shape that Jake had told him was reminiscent of an hourglass, and finally it returned to the first emblem.
He didn't know why he was looking at it so intently, and as soon as he snapped out of his thoughts he remembered what he was supposed to be doing and walked over to the door, pushing it slightly open and looking back at the room. All the books were in the bookshelf, the window's blinds were wide open and the bed was where it had been the previous night, and there was nothing laying on the floor. Everything was in order, asides from the desktop, which was a complete mess of books, pages and ink. He smiled, content and looked out the window. "A great day… here we go!" He told himself as he walked out the door and shut it behind him. As he walked down the hallway of the house, at the sides of which were four doors, two on each side, he saw the one furthest away from him at the right side open, and out of it walked a shiny Zorua, shaking his head to dry his face of all the water on it.
"Morning Zed! Is anyone else inside?" He asked as he walked over to his best friend, the dark type returning the greeting and putting up a paw. The Riolu smiled and returned the "high paw" as they called it.
"Morning man, and no, there's no one inside. I thought I was the last one to get up…" He chuckled. "Guess I was wrong!" He said, pretty happy that he had gotten up before Eric.
"Hardy har har. You were all lucky I went to bed late yesterday, otherwise we would've had an intense training session this morning!" He exclaimed, raising a paw as he walked inside of the bathroom, Zed laughing behind him.
"Whatever you say man!" He answered with a smile as Eric closed the door. "Good morning everyone!" Eric heard Zed exclaim through the door, his greeting being returned by several other voices outside.
"Damn, he was right about me being last…" Eric bit his lip and walked over to the bucket of clear water to the left of the room, right in front of a mirror. He picked up some water with both of his paws and splashed it on his face, rubbing it and looking at the mirror. He looked like a normal Riolu, although his fur was slightly furrier than average. Funny, since Elly's was the same. He dried his face with a towel nearby and left the bathroom, walking to the right from the bathroom door and entering the main room of the house. It was small, but it was better than nothing. Sitting around the table he found the rest of his companions.
"Good morning! I see everyone's up and awake before me…" He said, waiting for a response from anyone in the group.
"Well, you can thank Elly for that! She was really enthusiastic about waking us up before you did." Lucy said, sitting with her back facing towards the Riolu, turning around to look at him. She looked like a normal Shinx, only that her tail didn't end in a four pointed star, but rather three pointed, and her eyes were emerald green colored.
"Lucy! I told you to keep that a secret!" A voice said from the kitchen, an Eevee walking out, two plates filled with berries floating above her. She looked at Eric, her sky blue eyes glowing, giving him a sheepish smile. "I wanted to get everyone up before you did so that you knew how it felt to wake up last, since you almost always wake up first." She said, explaining her answers. She looked like a normal Eevee, but her fur was a tad longer than a normal one's, with the cream colored fur collar around her neck being extremely fluffy, that the Riolu could say from experience. However, what set her apart from the rest were her beautiful light blue eyes, reminiscent of the color of the sky… and the fact that she had psychic powers she had inherited from her mother. And, although it couldn't be seen underneath her fur, on the back of her front right paw she had the same markings Eric had, only instead of white, they were black.
He smiled at her. "Well, I can assure that you succeeded in doing so. Now… What do we have for breakfast?" He asked, walking over to the table and sitting on one of the two empty chairs, Elly sitting right besides him and giving him a kiss on the cheek. In front of him, a Sneasel, which was focused on reading a newspaper rose his eyes from the page he was reading.
"Our breakfast today consists of a mix of berries, milk and homemade cookies, courtesy of both me and Elly." He said, Elly blushing as he said so. "They are delicious and thoroughly enjoyable, though I recommend you eat them hastily before either Serge or Nox eat them all." Jake said as he returned to reading. He was a normal Sneasel, except for the gems on both his forehead and chest, which were light blue, whilst his fur was dark blue, instead of the normal blue tone that most Sneasels had.
"Oi! These cookies are delicious! You can't blame me, blame yourself and Elly for making them!" A Pidgeot to the ice type's right complained whilst munching on one of the aforementioned cookies. He turned to look at Eric. "Also, good morning man, you've been snoring away the whole morning. Were you doing something yesterday night?" He asked, smiling. Serge was a big Pidgeot, but asides from this fact and his orange eyes, he looked rather normal physically. He had a strange blue pearl tied around his right leg, but he had yet to tell his friends what it actually was and why he had it. He was really secretive about that kind of stuff, so nobody asked him much.
"Yeah, what Serge said. I mean… have you seen this cookie?!" Nox, a Houndour with dark blue eyes exclaimed, pushing forward a strangely shaped cookie. "It looks just like my face! Look!" He pointed at the cookie and Eric took a closer look. Sure enough, the cookie looked strangely similar to the Houndour's face… although it had a rather dumb looking expression.
Elly smiled. "Glad you finally noticed! I shaped some of the cookies to look like us with my powers, and I think they look pretty good!" She said. Eric smiled and looked at the cookie pile, spotting one with the shape of his head and grabbing it, eager to see what Elly had done to his face… It certainly did look like him.
"It's like looking into a cookie mirror!" The Riolu exclaimed as he bit off one of his ears… well, his cookie self's ears, that was. "Wait… Is it cannibalism if I eat my cookie self?" He asked with fake concern.
Serge smirked. "Cannibalism? Nah… More like "cookiecide"." He said, waiting for at least a giggle. He did receive some weak chuckles, which were enough for the bird, who leaned back on the chair with his wings behind his head. "Yep… still got it." He muttered to himself with a content smile on his face. The rest of the breakfast was filled with jokes of similar caliber, the group having a fun time before the day truly began. Once breakfast time was over, they picked up everything and got ready to leave. Eric tied his trusty blue scarf around his neck, which was so long that it reached down to his knees, Zed asked for help to tie his new gray kerchief around his neck and everyone in the team grabbed their crystal.
All the members in the team had a Resonance Crystal, a necklace from the which a strange long crystal was hanging. However, they all had different coloured crystals: Eric's was white, Elly's was black, Zed's was a dark purple, Lucy's was yellow, Serge's was light green, Jake's was light blue and Nox's, who had gotten his necklace just recently thanks to a surprise visit from Slew, was red. From what they had been told, the necklaces showed the color of the aura of the one to whom the crystal belonged to.
With that, everyone was ready to head out. "Oh boy here we go… So who's taking town missions today?" Nox asked. Lucy jumped up and rose a paw.
"US!" She shouted as she stuck right besides Zed, who looked at her, blushing.
"Ehh… Yeah! We'll uh… we'll take Town Missions today!" He said, stuttering at the sudden proximity of the electric type.
"Oh we'll see about that, sister!" Elly exclaimed, giving the Shinx a challenging smile as the whole group headed for the door, Eric leading them all.
"Are you challenging me?" Lucy simply asked, a confident smile on her face. Before the Eevee could answer however, Eric opened the main door… and a Vaporeon rushed in.
"OH THANK ARCEUS I'VE FOUND YOU!" He suddenly shouted, surprising everyone and making them back up inside again.
"Woah woah woah! Hold on, who the hell are you?" Serge asked, looking at the Vaporeon, who was really close to him. "And… have you ever heard of personal space, pal?" He asked. The water type backed away, Serge giving him a really weird look. "Thank you." He followed, not really sure of how to respond to the awkward situation… because even after backing away, the Vaporeon was REALLY close to him.
"Ummmm… Alright then that was… weird, I guess? Who are you exactly?" Lucy asked, taking the words straight out of everyone's minds.
The Vaporeon realized he hadn't introduced himself. "Oh forgive my rudeness then! My name is Jonathan, and me and my family have moved to Treasure Town recently." He said.
"Someone moving in? That's odd. Usually it's people moving out and leaving. Why did you come to live in Treasure Town?" Eric asked, pretty curious as to why this Vaporeon was breaking the trend.
"Because of how much one can invest here! After all the destruction caused because of the war, there are several infrastructures which are missing in this town, and I am willing to invest money to rebuild them! And besides, this town is in the shore, meaning that if it had several docks it would be able to trade with merchants and…" Jonathan began explaining the economical, as well as personal reasons that had brought him to Treasure Town, which Eric was actually interested in. Whilst the two blue pokemon exchanged these ideas, the rest of their members began whispering.
"Wait… what did he mean by pokemon moving out?" Nox asked.
"Pokemon are leaving Treasure Town to live in other cities or continents altogether. I've heard that a lot of them are moving to the capital in search for spiritual guidance." Serge explained.
"Spiritual guidance? You mean as in praying to Arceus and all of that? Why?" Lucy questioned.
"The two things are related, are they not? Think about it: A year ago, the equivalent of the devil appeared, and with the help of it's followers succeeded in resurrecting and would have destroyed the world, had he not been stopped by our team. The response to this would be pokemon panicking. Who is to say Giratina will not come back in the future? Or Blake, for that matter? That is the reason pokemon are moving out of Treasure Town, since this was the city where not only the most brutal battles and killings took place, but also where our base is located. If Blake does ever come back, where do you think he will strike first?" Jake explained, Zed and Serge nodding as they were previously aware of the situation.
"And at the same time, if the devil exists, then that means the only who can stop him is god. The capital is filled with Temples of Arceus, which to anyone who is religious would mean is the safest place in the planet. And they would be right, since the capital is not only extremely large and well guarded, but also the religious, political and cultural centre of our current society." The dark type finished, Lucy and Nox finally being caught up to the whole situation.
"Well… I guess that makes sense, somehow… Still, I think that's stupid. You guys were the ones who saved the world, yet they're idrolatizing Arceus and running away from where you are? That makes zero sense!" Nox exclaimed.
"Well, you should hear about the impostors then. There have been pokemon running around impersonating as us and scamming innocent pokemon that needed help desperately. We have tried to stop them, but it's gotten to a point where almost nobody knows who the real Team Star is anymore. Like, what we look like and stuff." Lucy said, Nox's eyes going wide open.
"Wow… That is just… dumb, on so many levels." He muttered to himself. "Then again… I ran into some fakers on the way to finding you guys, and some said that the real Team Star was here, others said in Voltaire… Yeah, I can see where the problem is now. It's still so dumb though…" Nox complained.
"Agreed. Not only that, but… we have received visits of many pokemon who at first did not believe we were the "real deal" as they said. It was only after we successfully completed their request that they believed we were the true Team Star. It is extremely worrying. Who knows, maybe in a year's time nobody will know what the real Team Star is or what they look like… We haven't really been running around and announcing ourselves that much." Jake said.
"Awww what?! Why not?" The fire type asked, now legitimately confused because of this decision.
"Because we don't want to, Nox." This time, it was Elly who responded. "Nine months of the past year we spent… well, hiding, somewhat, and the previous months have been the only time where we've been doing missions and appearing in the public eye. And not only that, but… we just don't want that much attention. Neither me or Eric want pokemon following us or moving to Treasure Town, or hell, camping just outside of our house just so they get a look at us. No. We want to be modest and help pokemon like we always dreamed of." She said, then coughed. "Well… like I always dreamed of, but… You can understand that, right Nox?" Elly finished her explanation.
Nox didn't understand her at all. He would love to be half as famous as the pokemon he lived with, yet here they were, telling him that the fame wasn't really worth it. Still, he sighed. "Alright yeah… I guess I can get behind that." He responded. Elly smiled, happy that he understood their decision.
Eric meanwhile was trying to end the conversation with Jonathan. "Well… Yeah I guess you've got a point there, but it would destroy some of our local culture to have strangers moving around all the time, right?" Eric asked, Jonathan unable to find an answer for that question. "But anyways! We really got sidetracked. Look, Jonathan, this was a really nice conversation, but we have to leave and…" Before he could finish his sentence, the eeveelution interrupted him, yet again.
"OH! I FORGOT! Team Star I need your help!" He shouted, everyone giving him weird looks and sighing. "My daughter has been kidnapped!" He exclaimed, and everyone looked at him, shocked.
"WHAT?! Why didn't ya tell us before?!" Serge asked, annoyed that they had lost so much time talking about such a mundane matter.
"I… uh…I kinda forgot?" He tried to excuse himself, giving them a sheepish smile. This response however, made Elly extremely angry.
"You FORGOT?! You're her father, and you forgot to tell us your daughter is missing and could be in danger?!" She screamed at him, everyone in the house turning to look at her, surprised. Eric called her name once, trying to calm her down. "The one thing you should love the most in the world and now that you're missing you're more interested in finding ways to earn money and line up your pockets?!" She screamed, Eric calling her a second time, this time even louder. "What kind of father does that?!" She finally asked the question everyone had on their minds.
"ELLY!" Eric shouted.
"WHAT?!" She screamed back at her mate, who backed away. "You know I'm right! You can't possibly forget that your daughter is missing! You're a horrible father if you do so!" She answered.
"Yes, but that does not mean that you can shout at him and make him feel worse about the whole situation, Elly!" The Riolu shouted back. The duo then began bickering about the matter of Jonathan being a bad father.
"Wow… she's really touchy with fatherly issues." Nox pointed out, Zed, Lucy, Serge and Jake visibly cringing. "What?" He asked.
"Ya don't wanna know kid, ya don't wanna know…" Serge simply responded, leaving a puzzled Nox, but he didn't press the issue further, because he knew it would get him nowhere.
The discussion ended with an angry Eric and an angry Elly, who then turned their attention to Jonathan, who was visibly shaken by all of this. "Uh… Well… As I was saying… My daughter has gone missing, and I need help in finding her. I have reasons to believe that she has been… kidnapped." He said. Elly opened her mouth to say something again, but a stern look from Eric kept her mouth shut, biting down on her tongue and turning around, growling and muttering in a low voice.
"What makes you think that it's a kidnapping?" Eric asked. Jonathan sighed and opened a small bag he was carrying at his side. From it he pulled out a letter, and holding it in his maw, handed it over to Eric, who inspected the envelope first, then opened the letter as he gave the envelope to Jake. "Look at it. See if you find something odd." Jake nodded, already noticing that something about this was really fishy, and that Eric had noticed long ago. Eric unfolded the letter and looked at it. There weren't written letters on it, but rather letters that had been cut out of other places, such as newspapers, and had been plastered onto the paper, making the following sentences.
"If you wish to find your daughter alive, bring this letter to Team Star.
Come to Mount Bristle. Bring 10000 poke. You have two days."
"I received the letter yesterday night. Please… save her." Jonathan said, pulling out another bag, which was much heavier, placing it on the ground and pushing it towards the team. "Here is the money… please. Save her, I beg of you." He repeated, bowing down on the ground, now crying. Eric looked at the Vaporeon.
"We will do it. Now Jonathan, return to your home. We will return with your daughter…" Eric trailed off, since they didn't know what her name was.
"Emily. Her name is Emily." The Vaporeon finished.
"We will return with Emily tomorrow morning. Now go home and be with your mate. Tell her that everything will be fine." Eric reassured him, and Jonathan left the house, a worried look on his face. Once he was far away enough, Eric closed the door. "I don't trust this one bit." Eric said.
"What? Why do you say that? He's a father that's worried for his daughter." Zed said. The Riolu shook his head in response.
"It's not him who I don't trust. Although he's kind of forgetful, and probably a horrible father…" Elly was about to open her maw to say something. "Yes, I agree with you on that, Elly! But the problem wasn't that you thought that, the problem was that you said it to his face!" The fighting type shouted, trying to avoid that same discussion to rise once more. Elly huffed and looked away again. "Anyways… It's not him who I don't trust. It's that letter. The details on it are fairly scarce for it to be a threat letter." Eric pointed out.
"And not only that, but… This ramson is rather small, if we take into consideration that this Jonathan character is an affluent pokemon. For this reason, I believe that the kidnapper isn't interested in the money, but rather our presence at Mount Bristle. The probability of this mission being a trap is rather high." Jake concluded, Eric nodding and agreeing with his deductions.
"So then… we're not going?" Lucy asked, rather confused.
"We are going, Lucy. This pokemon has been kidnapped. Whether or not it's a trap is irrelevant. We have to save her, it's our job. What I am suggesting however, is for all of us to go together and have our eyes open at all times. If someone is willing to kidnap a pokemon just so they can attack us… They're either incredibly dumb or powerful enough to make them think they can take us on." Eric stated, everyone listening to his words and evaluating what he was saying. "What do you guys think? I'm not making the call unless everyone here agrees." He said.
One by one, the rest of the members agreed to this idea, although Elly simply nodded in agreement, Eric rolling his eyes and sighing. "Alright, then let's move out. You guys go first." Eric said, Jake leading the way out of the house as Eric and Elly stayed inside. The Riolu turned to look at the Eevee. "What else do you want me to do Elly? I already apologized for talking to you like that, yet you're still angry with me. Why?" He inquired, Elly glaring at him.
"I don't want you to talk to me like that when we're in front of complete strangers! Did you see the looks that guy was giving us?! You were embarrassing me, Eric!" Elly exclaimed.
"You were literally screaming at his face how much of a bad father he was! Maybe he was the worst father ever, but even then there's no reason for you to scream it at his face! What do you think the poor guy is thinking now? Sure, maybe it's his fault that his daughter went missing, but you screaming at him isn't going to help. Don't you think he's had enough with blaming himself AND his mate blaming him too, only to come to us seeking for help and turns out he is also being shouted at by the pokemon that are his only hope of finding his daughter?!" He shouted at all of this at Eevee, who took in all of his words and realized that screaming at Jonathan for losing his daughter hadn't been the best idea.
"Now that you say it… Yeah, you're right Eric." She said.
Eric sighed. "Look Elly… I get it. You're angry with him, livid even. And I understand that. Considering what happened with Blake, seeing a father being so careless with a daughter must've either brought back some unwanted memories and you must've vented out on the poor guy. Am I right?" Eric asked. Elly closed her eyes and slowly nodded.
"I just don't understand how some pokemon just… don't care about their families. I thought my father to be a monster, but then it turns out there's more pokemon like him, albeit so far all of them have been… better, so to say." Elly looked up at Eric. "I shouldn't have screamed at him like that, I know that, but at the time I really just couldn't restrain myself!" The normal type tried to excuse her actions, and the Riolu just rolled his eyes and smiled.
"Alright… I'll let it slide Elly, since we have to go right now. But we're going to continue this conversation later, because… you need to let it go already Elly. Sometime in the future we're going to bump into an Umbreon or Espeon, and I don't want you to freak out again, alright?" He asked her. She nodded, giving him teary eyes. He couldn't say no to those teary eyes. "C'mere, you silly ball of fur." He opened his arms and Elly walked up to him and hugged him, the couple hugging eachother for some time, enjoying the moment…
"Ahem!" The sound of someone coughing interrupted them, and they turned to look at the door to see an amused Pidgeot standing there, holding the door open for all to see. "Are we really going to have a repeat of what happened the other time?" He asked, Eric and Elly breaking the hug, blushing whilst walking over to the entrance. "I really didn't know if I should come in or not. Last thing I want in my mind before we begin today is the image of you two making cubs!" He shouted, everyone laughing at the expense of Eric and Elly, who were blushing madly. They didn't utter a word as they locked the door and began walking, heading to Mount Bristle.
Little did they know they would be away from home for a looong time…
"My turn! I spy, with my little eye… Something gray!" Nox exclaimed. Everyone began looking around.
"The mountain?" Zed asked, pointing at Mount Bristle, which was quickly approaching.
"Really?! Come on, how'd you guess it so fast?!" Nox asked, clearly annoyed.
"Well it's the first thing we can see, you jackass. It's where we are headed!" Lucy responded, to Nox's annoyance.
"I thought it was so obvious nobody would even consider it… It worked out for Jake!" Nox exclaimed, pointing at the ice type in front of him, who merely turned his head to glance at him from the corner of his eye.
"That's because Jake's smart and you're not!" Lucy exclaimed, Nox opening his mouth to complain, but Serge cut them all off as he swooped back down.
"Hey, we're almost there." He said, landing on the ground and standing still for a few moments, placing a wing on his head.
"Hey, you alright?" Zed asked the bird, a little worried.
"Yeah, I'm ok. I've just a bit of a headache… can we go faster, I really want to get away from this area. Seems like the air here is a little… thinner, for some reason." As Serge said this, the Sneasel in front of them turned around to look at the bird, confused.
"Thinner? The air does not feel any different from before." He said.
"Look, I really don't feel ok, alright? So let's just get the hell out of here and to the mountain, alright?" Serge snapped at Jake all of a sudden, surprising everyone in the group.
"Alright then… I challenge you guys to a race! Last one to the mountain is a Slowpoke!" Lucy exclaimed as she dashed forwards, leaving a trail of dust behind her. Zed sighed and took off running behind her, whilst Nox called for her name and also started running. Eric and Elly looked at Serge, then looked in front of them, both of the pokemon tensing up.
"Serge isn't feeling well? Weird… Especially when we consider where we are right now." Elly said into Eric's mind. The Riolu nodding. If his memory was right, one of those rock formations in front of them was the door to "The Sanctuary of Rebirth", but this time around they didn't have any fragments with them, so the door would most likely not appear. However, they too felt extremely weird, and not just physically, but also… just felt in a weird spot, though it was normal, considering that the last time they had gone to Mount Bristle had been about two years ago.
"Time flies, doesn't it?" The Riolu asked his mate.
"Hmmmhmmm… They aren't exactly happy memories, but I think they're worth remembering. After all, it was our first successful mission which made us somehow skyrocket in popularity." She answered, Eric nodding. However, there was something else eating away at him, and it had to do with their current mission. Of all places to take a hostage… this mountain? Again?
Fifteen minutes later the four pokemon got to the foot of the mountain, where the rest of their companions were waiting. Zed and Nox were panting heavily, whilst Lucy was just standing on a rock with a wide grin on her face. "Let me guess… You won, didn't you?" Serge asked the Shinx, the bird feeling much better than before.
"What do you think?" She asked, feeling really proud of herself. Nox glared at her and spit out a small ember, which burnt her paw slightly, making her jolt up from her stop and stare at the Houndour with hatred. "Oh I'll get you some time…" She muttered under her breath, getting down from the rock and looking at the approaching pokémon.
The leader of the team looked at the mountain. "Alright… let's get to climbing. Remember: Eyes and ears wide open, we could be jumped at any moment." He reminded them. Everyone nodded, the group beginning their ascension up the mountain. What none of them knew, however, was that someone watched from higher up, it's eyes fixated on the group's shapes as they moved closer towards the mountain. Eric suddenly got the feeling they were being watched, and immediately looked up.
There was nothing there.
The Riolu kept his eyes on that spot. "Open your eyes. Someone's watching us." He told everyone else, readying his aura. This last decision made everyone tense up and worry, also preparing for battle as they began moving up. Minutes passed, and they soon became hours as the group slowly made their way up the mountain by following trails and either jumping or flying up whenever the terrain was too steep.
Everyone was reacting differently to the ascension. Eric and Elly weren't struggling a whole lot, since it wasn't the first time they had climbed that mountain, but that didn't mean they weren't tired like Lucy, who was as active as ever. Zed was getting along just fine, though was panting, Nox was a mess of sweat and heavy panting and neither Jake or Serge showed signs of being tired. "Are we… there… yet?" Nox asked, resting his head on the rocks as he climbed up. Eric crouched down and extended a paw, the Houndour shaking his head and getting up himself. He didn't want Eric's help… he wanted to overcome him! He wanted to climb to the top before he did!
"We are much closer than before, but we've got a solid… I'd say thirty minutes?" Eric asked, not really sure himself. Nox shook his head.
"I don't care… I'm still gonna beat you to the top!" He shouted, his strength returning as he began dashing ahead and climbing rocks quite quickly, to Eric's surprise and horror.
"Nox! Wait!" The Riolu shouted, the fire type showing no signs of stopping. Everyone else began running as well, the entire team climbing up the rest of the mountain until Nox dropped to the ground, exhausted, turning around to look at Eric with a smile on his face.
"How… do you… like that?" He asked the Riolu, who had the expected look of anger on his face, but it wasn't anger because Nox had "won".
"Nox you hotheaded imbecile! What did I tell you about running ahead?! We are in the middle of mission and there's a high chance that a strong foe is lurking up ahead! You did the only thing I told you to not do, and that is to go on ahead and separate yourself from the group! You could've easily been attacked and we wouldn't have been able to do anything!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, grabbing the Houndour and shaking him back and forth.
"Hey woah woah! Calm down Eric! It was all under control, I swear!" He kept shouting as the Riolu shook him continuously. Eventually Jake and Elly intervened to separate the two.
"Eric, calm down!" Elly shouted at him, the Riolu trying to struggle against her grip, but he eventually gave up, glaring at Nox.
"You bombastic moron… You're not the strongest pokemon in the world! You may be able to take me on and hold your ground, but just because I was there when we saved the world doesn't mean there is no one stronger than I am!" Eric exclaimed.
"I know that, dude! You need to chill Eric! Besides, what is the worst that could happen?! We have found no signs of life so far, and we've been climbing this mountain for Arceus knows how long!" Nox shouted, now getting angry as well.
"And even then, those are NO EXCUSES for disobeying the ONLY rule I enforced upon you guys right before we left home, and yet there you go, running ahead waiting to be jumped on or worse!" The Riolu shouted once more.
"Dude come on, what's the worse that…" Before Nox could finish that sentence however, something soared the air… and directly towards them. Before anyone could say anything to warn the Riolu, he noticed the sudden silence that befell them and in that instant rolled to the side. The projectile flew straight above Nox's head and stuck itself into rocks behind them. They all glanced at it, and saw that it was some sort of blue transparent sword. Elly recognized it immediately as a psychic sword, and then everyone looked at the direction where it had come from.
They froze on the spot.
They all found themselves looking at a figure standing at the very tip of a pointy rock. The creature's true identity, however, was hidden underneath the cloak that covered it from head to feet and that waved in the air because of the wind. It was staring down at them, and Nox found himself locking eyes with the creature. He felt as if pressure was building up on his head, as if it was being crushed by some invisible force, his senses going numb… but it was interrupted as he heard a shout and Elly stepped in between them.
The Eevee stared back at the creature, which couldn't keep it's eyes away from her's. The two were now locked into a psychic fight, where victory would mean the other's destruction. To her surprise, the creature was incredibly powerful, managing to withstand her assault, but also struggling against her. Before it could do anything else however, Eric howled out and hurled an aura sphere. With incredible accuracy, the sphere hit the creature head on, the smoke that rose between them, as well as the knockback from the explosion breaking the psychic struggle.
"Everybody! Run!" He ordered. Everyone began sprinting up the trail, right behind Eric, Elly and Nox recovering quickly and taking off after the rest too, quickly catching up to the group. A sudden crack noise was heard and Eric turned his head slightly to face that way. He saw the creature standing on that same spot again. Suddenly, however, the figure became a black blur, and then disappeared right in front of Eric's eyes with the same noise it had made. The next instant Elly jumped in front of him with a psychic blade to block another incoming blade from the creature. This time, however, it was right in front of them.
"Go!" Elly mentally screamed as she swatted the blade away, Eric throwing spheres at their pursuer whilst the group took a detour, taking a trail that was much more dangerous, but would most likely get them up to the top quicker. All previous signs of exhaustion were gone now as everyone in the group quite literally ran for their lives. Their foe seemed to be able to either move at blinding speeds or could teleport. They came out to the summit of the mountain, which was surrounded by rocks and walls of stone, near one of which they could see a huge hole. "Over there! We need to get inside!" The Eevee screamed, running as fast as she could, Lucy dashing ahead of everyone and standing near the entrance and looking behind them. The creature was right on their toes, running after them with two psychic blades on each hand.
"Guys watch out!" The Shinx communicated to them as she charged her fur with electricity. She didn't say anything else before she launched a thunderbolt directly at their follower, everyone jumping to the sides or ducking as they knew it was coming. Their foe also seemed to know it was coming, because it also dodged it, jumping up into the air, much higher than a normal jump should allow it. However, once it was in midair, it was easy for Serge to fly up and charge into it head on, the creature being knocked away much further than the Pidgeot thought, as if it was somehow lighter than everyone else.
After this, Serge swooped back down and headed straight for the cave, where everyone was waiting for him. They ran in and found that there were some stone steps leading down. "Down the stairs! Quick!" Eric shouted, fully knowing of where they were going. The entire group ran down the stairs, Serge having some trouble doing so because of how wide he was, but he eventually made it down there along with the rest of his team mates. What they saw downstairs came through as a shock to everyone besides Eric and Elly, who already knew what was down there. Rows and rows of jail cells on the sides of the cave, all of them wide open, the smell of filth and deprivation hanging in the air.
"What… what the hell is this place? A prison?" Nox asked, looking all over the place and taking a look into some cells, quickly backing away as the foul smells became more intense inside of them.
"The Collector's secret hideout… where he held every single one of the pokemon he captured." Eric explained.
"He was an Alakazam who was obsessed with collecting every single pokemon species that existed and keeping them locked up in those cells. He managed to capture hundreds of them… and I almost became one of his victims too, hadn't it been for Eric." Elly said, looking at her now mate, remembering the whole incident. It had probably been around that time when she had begun feeling something for him…
"We managed to find his hideout thanks to one of my visions." Eric lied. That wasn't how it had gone, but even now he was ashamed to admit what he had done. As far as he knew… he was probably dead. "Anyways… we're stuck here until we figure out a way to fight against that bastard… we have to make a strategy." He sentenced, turning to look at Jake. "Jake, have a look around and see what we can use to our advantage. Elly, Lucy and Serge, you come with me to try and see if there's any other exits. Nox and Zed, you follow every word Jake says, ok?" The Riolu ordered, assigning roles to everyone, the six pokemon around him nodding in agreement and splitting up.
Jake looked around and then glanced back at the entrance. The stairway was narrow, so… maybe using something to block it would buy then some time. Then again, he had no idea of how much time they had before their pursuer found them, so he decided to improvise with what he saw. "Nox, Zed, I want you to help me grab anything that is made out of wood or any other flammable materials and toss it at the stairs. Now!" He ordered, the two pokemon following his orders dashing into the jail cells.
Nox flinched again when the smell got to his nostrils, and he could hear Zed gagging in the next cell, but he knew he had to suck it up and do it. That guy was right on their toes, and he felt guilty for having provoked all of that… For now he decided to push those competitive thoughts aside. He would apologize to Eric about that later, even if it hurt his pride. Whilst they arranged this first line of defense, Eric and the rest of his team went deeper into the cave, trying to find anything that resembled another exit.
"Can you guys see anything?" Eric asked, his eyes closed as he used his aura senses.
"Funny, because this whole cave is pitch black, so no, I can't see anything Eric. Though you saying that with that weird… X-Ray vision you have basically means that you can't see anything either." Serge said, the Riolu nodding in response, confirming the Pidgeot's fears.
"I can't see anything either, and I am a walking light source." Lucy pointed out, Elly still looking around.
"There has to be something in here. It just makes no sense that there would be only one entrance to this place, and there wasn't a place where he could just… Escape or hide?" Elly questioned, everyone agreeing with her point. It didn't make sense when she put it that way.
They kept looking for a while, and eventually they stumbled across what seemed to be a wooden door. The Eevee opened it with her powers, everyone hoping to find something like a hallway or stairs behind it… but what they found was a small room with a table, a straw bed and many books and consumed wax candles. "Well… we found the room where he lived in… That bastard slept in here with all of those poor pokemon just outside? What a si-" Serge didn't get to finish that sentence, because all of a sudden, something inside of the room moved. It was small, and it had been hiding in a corner the whole time, and nobody had paid attention to it.
"He.. Hello?" A voice asked. It sounded young, nobody daring to set a foot inside of the room.
Eric swallowed the saliva in his mouth. "Hello? Who are you? Show yourself, we won't… attack you." He said, ready to go back on that promise in the off chance that something big jumped out of there. What came out of the room, however, wasn't exactly big. In fact it was small, brown, and furry, and it reminded him a lot of…
"Whoa, who are you? You don't happen to know the mister that brought me here, would you?" The Eevee in front of them asked, Elly looking at her with wide eyes. In fact, everyone was looking at her wide eyed. This was the last place they would've expected to find an Eevee… But what was it doing there anyways?
"Wait a second…" Lucy then remembered something. "Are you Emily?" She asked. The Eevee turned to face her as the mention of her name.
"Yeah! How do you know my name? Are you friends?! I like friends! Not like that liar in the cloak… Well… he didn't really lie, he told me "Wait here, and friends will come to see you." And I've been waiting here for hours and hours and nobody came and I was getting scared because I was alone and then I heard voices and I hid in the corner and then when you guys appeared his promise came true!" Emily took a long breath after speaking so quickly. "My name is Emily! Emily the Eevee!" She said.
Eric bit his lip. This Eevee couldn't be that old… "Umm… Hi Emily, my… name is Eric. These are… Elly, Lucy and… Serge." He pointed to each of the pokemon as he pronounced their names, the mentioned pokemon waving at the Eevee or saying "hi" with a smile. "Your father told us to come rescue you… Are you hurt?" He asked.
Emily shook her head. "Nope, I'm just fine! The mister in the black coat was pretty nice! Except for… leaving me alone… But I can forgive him, because he brought me tons of friends to play with!" She exclaimed.
"Woah woah woah. The guy in the black coat?!" Serge asked. They all knew who it was, and realized that there was something weird going on. "So… you weren't kidnapped?" The bird asked. She shook her head.
"Nope! He came up to me and told me if I wanted to meet some friends, and I agreed! He then put a… hand? Paw? Claw? I don't know, but he touched my head and when I blinked… there was funny noise and I was here! Then he told me to wait here and I got scared because I was alone and…" She was silenced as Serge put a wing on her mouth.
"Ok, I think we got the gist of it… " He said with a nervous smile, looking at Eric. "What do you think?" The bird asked their leader. Before the blue furred pokemon could answer however, Lucy stepped up to the Eevee, who was playfully fighting against Serge's feathers.
"Didn't your parents tell you about stranger danger?" The Shinx asked, clearly worried, because this pokemon had absolutely no idea of the kind of mess they were all in.
"Nope. What's that? Is it some kind of new adult game?" Emily asked. Everyone looked at her, confused, whilst Elly became enraged in her own mind.
"When we go back to town I am personally going to kick his ass!" She screamed into her mate's mind.
"Not if I get to him first." He answered, the Eevee responding with a strange look, raising an eyebrow at his response. He looked at her too, shrugging. "What? I'm angry as well." He just answered.
"Alright look… let's just sort out all of this stuff, and once we're out of this hellhole…" Serge looked around. "Literally... " He coughed. "We'll take you back to your family, alright? How does that sound?" The bird suggested.
Emily rolled her eyes. "Aww man… Do we really have to go back to him? I wanted to spend more time with you guys…" She said,
"Hey, you live in Treasure Town now, right?" Elly asked. Emily nodded, still looking sad. "Well, it just so happens we live there too, so you can come visit us anytime you want and play! How does that sound?" Elly asked. Emily's face lit up.
"Really?!" She asked, Elly looked at Eric, who shrugged, and the bigger Eevee smiled and nodded in response. "Yay!" Emily jumped up and down in her spot. "Finally! New friends!" She started cheering, everyone around her finding her happiness amusing. Not before long however, this short break was interrupted by other shouts. These ones from surprise and alarm. "Guys, get over here quick!" A voice shouted from the other side of the huge cavern.
"Crap, that was Nox! Come on let's go!" Serge said, flapping his wings and running towards the entrance. Eric and Elly also began running, Lucy staying behind with Emily.
"Stay behind me!" She ordered the Eevee as she dashed towards the entrance, the younger pokemon sticking behind her. They got to the entrance quickly, where they saw a burning pile of straw and wood blocking what was probably the only entrance. The problem, however, was that their foe seemed to have overcome this obstacle. Serge roared out as he jumped up, bringing both of his wings down and trying to cut the cloaked creature, but it seemingly vanished before he could hit it. It reappeared behind him and was about to strike once more, but before it could to that Eric summoned his light staff and swung at him, the creature turning around to meet the energy weapon, both of them clashing, sparks of pure energy surging.
Elly came in after that and slammed their attacker with her psychic powers, their enemy incapable of reacting quickly enough and being slammed into the far wall, cracks appearing around the area where he crashed. "Elly! No holding back!" The Riolu announced all of a sudden, his words surprising the Eevee as he dashed forward, dismissing his staff, his right fist enveloped in a strange purple cloud and slamming it into the wall where the cloaked creature was. It missed however, as it teleported to his side, but Eric threw another charged punch at the floor where ti was standing, rocks flying everywhere. It jumped up into the air, and Eric quickly followed up by channeling aura into his paws and creating a dozen of small purple aura spheres, which all shot towards his enemy.
It began teleporting continuously, the spheres tracking it as it teleported around, trying to avoid them. The spheres crashed into the walls, ceiling and floor, rocks flying everywhere as the projectiles missed. The whole team stood together, looking at their opponent, who landed on the ground, rolling back and sliding back. It looked up, Eric trying his hardest to look under the cloak with his aura senses. It was useless however, for some reason.
"Who are you?!" Eric asked, resummoning his light staff. The shape didn't answer, and in response everyone else in the team readied for battle. Apparently, there was no way to avoid this fight. Emily hid behind the Shinx that had escorted her there whilst the electric type's fur charged with electricity.
"Is it a pokemon? I cannot tell... " Jake asked through the crystals.
"Me neither, but… whatever it is, it's out for our heads, so we've got to take it out." Eric concluded. "No holding back. This foe… doesn't seem to be a normal pokemon to begin with…" He ordered, the shape before him bringing back memories… that shape was oddly familiar, but he couldn't put his paw on it. Everyone crouched down, ready to run towards the creature, who simply stood there with two psychic blades in each hand. The battle was about to begin…
All of a sudden however, the mountain began trembling violently. They all looked around, confused as to what exactly was going on. The mountain shook even more, and to their collective surprise a white crack appeared in the middle of the air, and a claw burst through it, then another one, and both claws ripped open a tear through the which a large pokemon came out. It was bipedal, with it's body being mostly white but with many pink and purple stripes all over it's torso and arms, and two huge pink pearls encrusted into it's shoulders.
Jake recognized it immediately. "Palkia?!" He shouted out loud, recognizing the pokemon from the many history books he had read. The legendary pokemon of space looked down at the pokemon before him, who were unsure of whether it was an ally… or a foe.
"THOU ART FOOLS!" It's voice boomed in the enclosed space, almost sending them flying away. "THOU CANNOT HIDE YOUR HEINOUS CRIMES FROM MY GAZE." It sentenced.
"Woah woah woah, slow down will ya?! What are you talking about? Why are you screaming at us?!" Nox asked.
"THOU CANNOT FOOL ME. THOU ARE GUILTY OF TEARING THROUGH THE FABRIC OF SPACE AND TELEPORT WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. THOU HAVE VIOLATED. YOU SHALL BE SEVERELY PUNISHED!" It's voice was really loud, and the fact that it echoed in the cavern didn't help either, the whole mountain shaking violently with every word Palkia spoke.
"Hey buddy, we didn't do anything! Not only that but you're interrupting something pal, so can you leave this for later?!" Nox asked, his words somehow offending Palkia.
"DO NOT SPEAK BACK TO ME, YOU VERMIN! I SHALL RID THE WORLD OF YOU FOOLISH CREATURES!" He roared out all of a sudden, putting both of his claws together. "AS PUNISHMENT… I EXPEL YOU OUT OF THIS WORLD, AND SENTENCE YOU TO FOREVER BE EXILED IN ANOTHER DIMENSION!" He sentenced.
Everyone went wide eyed, Eric stepping forward. "Palkia wait, we're…!" He wasn't able to finish that sentence as some sort of black hole appeared between Palkia's claws. He didn't move move from it's spot, but the rest of the pokemon had nothing to grab onto, and they were slowly lifted up from the ground and towards the hole. "No!" Eric exclaimed as he turned around and launched a water string to the ground, sticking to the rock floor and allowing him to resist the force of the pull. Elly managed to bite on his tail and keep herself from flying into the hole, then Lucy, then Zed, Pidgeot managed to fight the force by flying as fast as he could and Jake was forced to grab onto the Zorua's tail, with Emily biting on his leg in order to keep herself from being teleported and Nox, who bit the last Eevee's tail. The eight pokemon struggled against the force, but it was useless.
"Everybody… hold on!" Eric commanded to his team as the pull became stronger. Unbeknownst to them all, the cloaked figure had jumped into the black hole, mostly willingly. Because it knew that they wouldn't be able to fight against it eternally… thus deciding to wait them wherever they would arrive. Eric felt how his own bones were giving out to the immense force that was pulling them in, making the rip even bigger by widening the space between it's claws, the water string that was attaching them to the ground become longer and thinner…
"We're gonna fucking die! Holy shit, we're going to die!" Nox kept screaming into their minds whilst everyone got into an argument, Jake trying to his hardest to come up with a solution to their predicament.
"Shut up, Nox! Eric, we need to distract Palkia so that it stops the rift! Someone has to attack before it's too late!" He told them.
"And how exactly do you want us to do that?! We are all barely hanging on to eachother!" Lucy screamed back. Eric saw the tendril become thinner and longer, getting them a little closer to the vortex.
"Guys! We need to do something!" He reminded everyone. But his team mates were too busy fighting with eachother and trying to come up with absurd plans that the others just wouldn't agree on because they were too risky or downright impossible. Jake was overwhelmed. There was no way for them to get out of this one. Nox was crying, as he was the closest to the vortex and would be the first to "die". Emily was scared as hell too, Zed was focusing on trying to hold onto Lucy's tail for dear life, not only his', but also of the ones behind him. Serge was silent, focused on flying, Lucy was swearing constantly into their minds and Elly was trying to focus enough to grab something or create some kind of diversion to stop Palkia…
Eric saw with his very own eyes as the string just snapped, unable to withstand the strength to the which it was being subjected. There was a slight moment when everything went silent, as everyone felt their breakfast keep still for just a moment. There was, in fact, a single instant of stillness and silence… before they all screamed as they were sucked into the vortex one by one, Serge falling in after them, unable to keep himself flying for that long, everyone struggling to grab onto someone's paw or hand to not lose themselves in the darkness they all went into…
"Live news at 11, with your hosts… Randalf Martinez and Sara Ortiz." A voice announced, the aforementioned man and woman appearing behind a counter.
"Thank you." The woman said, sitting down on a chair and pulling out some papers. She was a blond woman wearing a suit, whilst the man had black hair, also wearing suit and a tie, his hair looking really slick. "Now, onto the news: Yesterday the Pokeball Factory just outside of town was victim to vandalism, as this morning concerned workers contacted the authorities when they found the lock of the smelting aisle had been forced. However, it is unknown who got into the factory itself and what they did, though the police's main focus is now centered on a supervisor who stayed late to watch the smelting process and has apparently gone missing. More on that later." Sara stopped talking and let Randalf speak next.
"It has been two months since the tragedy that took place in the Evergreen Park, where a rigged explosive charge detonated, killing fifteen children, injuring six and twenty pokemon that went missing or died. Today, two months after the attack, a monument in memory of the victims has been finished, with the families and friends of the victims attending and mourning for their loses once more." Just as Randalf said this, the camera was about to cut to the view of the new monument, but all of a sudden, on live TV, the space between the cameras and the counter was ripped in half, some kind of black, purplish hole appearing… and then eight pokemon fell right through it.
"Watch out!" Nox shouted as he crashed down on the floor, hurting his back in the process. Emily cheered as she fell on top of the Houndour, who howled out and pushed her off, quickly rolling away before the next pokemon came through. Jake landed on the ground and rolled immediately, but found himself hitting the counter head on, almost blacking out. Zed cried out as he came through the portal, with Lucy landing on top of him, and on top of her Serge crashed down, and then Eric and finally Elly, who made everyone underneath her groan in pain. The hole closed behind them
"Holy hell… who just fell on us? They need to cut down on whatever the hell they eat…" Serge muttered, Elly looking down at him, tempted to kick the Pidgeot, but she couldn't reach him from up there. "Anyways… where the hell are…" He stopped in the middle of that sentence as he took a look around them, and saw something that made his eyes go wide open, his beak almost falling to the floor. Nox got up, feeling really dizzy.
"Oh god… I feel like crap… I think I'm gonna throw up." He stated as he rushed behind the counter, noises being heard behind it before Nox limped out from behind it. "Well… there goes breakfast… anyways where are…" He also noticed the same thing Serge had, and that everyone else in the group was slowly noticing. They were surrounded by humans. Breathing, living and standing humans. And not only that, but there were also pokemon amongst them…
"What… the fuck?!" Serge asked out loud.
"Are those… humans?! Why are there humans here?! Where are we even?!" Lucy asked, clearly shocked. Zed hid behind the rest of his companions, but stepped forward as he realized they were all preparing for a fight. He was surprised at first, but then realized why they were getting ready to fight, as he saw how the humans around them were inching closer, with their pokemon right behind them, and even some humans in black uniforms approaching steadily.
Eric prepared his light staff, Elly was about to bring out her psychic blades, Zed's claws became longer whilst glowing purple, Lucy's fur being charged with electricity, the edges of Serge's wings giving out a silverish glow, Jake preparing his claws and flames coming of Nox's claws and the corners of his mouth. The only who didn't prepare was Emily, who went to hiding behind Nox, the Eevee trembling in fear behind the fire type. Jake looked around the area, trying to find someplace where they could escape. There was nothing to be heard asides from whispers and coughing, and the humans around them were just as surprised as they were.
All of a sudden… In an instant the area around them was gone, and the space was severely reduced as well. They all suddenly felt as if they were put into a small confined space. Emily was at the bottom, laying on her back, with Nox right on top of her, the two of them getting a good look of the other's… bottom bits. Nox just stared at them as best as he could with her tail getting in the way, whilst she had no problem getting a good look too. "Hey, are we about to play one of those adult games?" She asked. Clearly, she had no idea of what was going on.
On top of Nox was Serge, who was on his side with his wing folded in a really weird way. It wasn't broken, or else he would be screaming in agony, but it wasn't exactly comfortable either. However, it was more than enough space to hit Nox's head as he just made a dumb smile. "Focus man!" He ordered, Nox groaning as he winced at the blow to his head.
Jake was lying upside down on top of Serge, right in front of him and crumpled up Lucy who was complaining about how uncomfortable she was and right on top of her was Zed, all of them located between the wooden wall of their confined space and the Pidgeot. "Well… this is quite a predicament. It appears that we have been teleported yet again, though this time to a much more reduced space." Jake pointed out.
"Tell us something we don't know Jake!" Lucy screamed, angry with the ice type, since he wasn't helping their situation at all.
"Well… I don't know about you guys, but I really don't want to be stuck like this much longer… This feels really weird." Zed said, pretty embarrassed because of his current location. He was right in between her own mate's rear and Elly's, who was on top of his head. he couldn't look up, and even if he could he wouldn't, but right next to Elly was Eric, who was threatening to fall down through the gap in between Zed and Jake. He hadn't moved at all.
"Alright… we need to find a way out of here. Does anyone see anything at all? A door, an exit a window… Anything." He asked.
"Well.. there's a hole here, but… Yeah, I think it's big enough for all of us. What I don't know is how Emily is going to get out from underneath me… Oh by the way, are you ok?" He asked the Eevee underneath him.
"Yes, I'm just fine over here! I've got a pretty good view… Of the hole I mean!" She quickly finished, leaving that sentence hanging in the air for a while, Nox smiling as wide as he could. They had to find out a way of that place and figure out where they were. And they had to do that now. Nox however, realized something and looked at Emily. "Wait… what hole?" He asked.
And here we go! A whole new world of endless possibilities is awaiting! What could be waiting for the team outside of that… strange wooden prison they're now in? Find out next time…
Nah, I'm not fond of those kinds of outros. Anyways, Eric and company will be introduced to a new cast of characters on the next chapter… so expect to see that soon! As always, thank you for reading, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!
