Chapter 1 - Coronation Ceremony

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Pokemon and Mystery Dungeon are owned by Game Freak, Nintendo, Chunsoft and the Pokémon Company. I can only claim responsibility for my OC's.

Lucien's POV

-APPEX Covert Operation (Crown Splitter)

-Assigned Agent (Lucien Gray)

-Codename (Patriot)

-Remote Island far South of Castelia City

-Status (Active)

The nefarious activities of previous criminal associations collectively identified as 'Teams' have led to the general mistrust of newly formed groups who follow similar trends. To that end, the newest addition to the roster of (potentially) failed criminal organizations is known as 'Team Majesty.'

The ideals of Team Majesty aren't entirely known as they have created mixed opinions do to their expansive propaganda campaign. What we do know is that they believe that Humans and Pokémon are meant to be locked in a fragile hierarchy that should not be tampered with.

As such, the Agency of Pokémon Protection from Extinction and Exploitation has seen fit to keep the new Team under strict observation, and that espionage has paid off in to form of intel that reveals a hidden facility of unknown purpose in a subterranean lair under an island far to the south of Castelia City. (Coordinates attached)

A covert operation has been green lit to ascertain the true motives of this upstart Team and, if necessary, cripple their operation before it can do harm to ecosystem. Agent Lucien Gray was assigned this op due to his intimate knowledge from growing up in the region and high marks in infiltration and information gathering. A handler, Hannah Maize, was also provided for logistics.

The equipment provided will be as follows… Eh, I already lost interest.

I dug through one of the pouches on my pack to search for my lighter. Upon finding it, I lit the fire and brought it to the corner the folder I was just skimming through. Central gets pretty ticked if you don't eradicate the mission statements before starting. I learned that early on…

Releasing my grip on the dossier, I watched it drop onto the rocks that my assigned boat was moored to and lit the corner of the folder and watched it burn for a moment. After a while I equipped myself with the rest of my gear, with the last part being the ear piece so I could communicate with my 'handler.' I bit back a scoff.

I was still considered new to APPEX. When I was eleven, my parents had taken me to the Professor's house in Nuvema Town, dropped me off, and drove away as quick as they came. Juniper didn't have a Starter for me, and when I walked back home, I found the place deserted, even the furniture. Assuming the worst, I went ahead and labeled myself as an orphan.

Modern Media and the classical film industry tended to paint orphanages in a negative light, so I avoided all that drama. I still had all the camping supplies that were intended for my journey so I decided to take my chances living on the street. For two years.

It wasn't all bad. As a street urchin, you get looked over by the general masses, but there were some good people that did offer handouts. Weirdest part was this one guy with green hair. Walked right up to me and started asking me odd questions about 'the Truth' and conflicting Ideals. Naturally, I didn't have much insight to offer him. I was a pre-teen hobo and he was asking for a philosophical debate. Still, he took what little I said into consideration and left without another word.

His Purloin came back a few minutes later with a mouth full of cash and dropped it at my feet before running off again. That was a thing.

Life went on about the same until a couple months after my second year living as a bum. Some guy wearing a fancy suit approached me and asked if I was willing to do a bit of snooping for some money.

That was my primary source of income, so I agreed.

It wasn't difficult by any stretch of the imagination. He wanted dirt on an underground Pokémon Fighting ring, and I had it. He got his info, I got paid. A lot of my dealings in the city happened that way.

Then he came back.

Another job, just as lucrative. It became a thing. I had a regular. The jobs would get progressively more difficult, but I became more compensated each time. Four months later, and I got a far more 'formal' job offer.

APPEX

That guy was one of their investigators and he apparently took a shining to me. The offer was simple; do jobs for him, and I'll have government aid for the rest of my life. I was an orphan on the street who didn't know any better. I jumped on the offer, and never looked back.

The Agency caught me up on my education, as well as teaching me how to fend more myself like a proper adult. Then the physical, mental, and psychiatric training that comes with working for a Government Agency devoted to Pokémon protection.

This operation on Majesty wasn't my first gig, but compared to the small-time drug rings I busted it might as well have been.

I tucked the earpiece around behind my auricle and turned it on, only for the sound of feedback to shatter my eardrum! I waited for the audio to adjust after I yanked the damned thing off.

"Hello? Can you hear me know?" She must be new.

"Define 'hear.'" I mumbled before I slipped the receiver on again. "This is Lu- Patriot. You my handler?" This is the first time they issued a codename for me.

Barring the ear-splitting introduction, these things had good sound quality. I heard a very clear, and enthusiastic, "The one and only!" from the speaker. "Name's Hannah, but I'm assuming you already knew that. I'm assuming you read the briefing?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah." As I boarded the boat, I noted that it already had my both my destination and current location already inputted into the GPS. If you think that satellite tracking seems redundant for navigating open waters, you've never worked with APPEX. Or me… as I forgot to look over the global positioning of my objective before I burned that damned folder.

My eyes were drawn to the ashen remains of the mission briefing nestled on the rocks I was previously anchored to. Thank Arceus she can only hear me…

I started the boats motor and began my brief journey to a remote island in the middle of nowhere. Hannah was going over a checklist of the gear I was issued. My tranq: check. Syringes of a variety of strengths: check. The damn skin-tight wet suit that was tucking into places they shouldn't be: check. So on and so forth. It was all by the books. She was definitely new.

If I am ever needed in another region overseas, I'm gonna have to insist that they fly my ass there. My vision was swimming… Heh. It turns out that I hadn't developed my 'sea legs' as of yet as I began seeing double from the rough waves of the tide kept crashing against my inflatable boat.

After about an hour of torturous seafaring with only one break to deposit my supper into the ocean, I saw an unlit lighthouse coming up on the horizon. There they are.

I felt my pace quicken. This is my first real mission as an APPEX agent. My first couple of missions were simple in and out busts on performance enhancers for competing Pokémon to prove my worth.

This was my first taste of true action.

I steeled myself as I donned my rebreather and abandoned my RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) to submerge myself under the waves. There were about six hours until daybreak. If I didn't make that deadline, anyone with half decent eyesight could see the black military-grade boat in the middle of the ocean and they'd lock the place down, making my job even more difficult.

But I'll be long gone by 3.

As I closed the distance, I noticed there were no wild, aquatic Pokémon anywhere nearby. This far out into the ocean I should be up to my neck in Tentacruel or Mantine, but as far as I could tell, I was the only sentient creature in a mile of the area.

That's not a good sign…

I soon broke the water next to a dilapidated pier and removed my flippers and rebreather. I decided to stash my unneeded gear under said pier and quietly made my way to the door to the lighthouse.

To see if there would be anyone near the entrance, I put my ear to the door and tuned out the ambient sounds of the ocean winds and waves breaking against rocks.

*Nothing*

A subtle creaking became an oppressing ambiance as I poked my head threw the door to see an empty barren room. There was nothing here!

I whisper-yelled into my com. "Hannah, there's absolutely nothing here! The Hell?!"

"Well I doubt they would have an unguarded door with a neon sight over it saying 'Terrorist Lab, right here.' Look for hidden entrance, a keypad, anything. They gotta be there."

"Really, Han? Sarcasm? How mature…" I thought.

Still, I took her advice. Unfortunately, the only things in the main building were the front and back doors, the landing to the spiral staircase that went up to the beacon, and loads of dust. No footprints.

I decided to investigate the beacon and, to my surprise, there was no beacon. There were also no parts to power, suspend, and rotate the light. Just a metal plate in the middle of the room.

It certainly seemed suspicious, so I threw caution to the wind and stepped into the center of the lantern room. At first nothing happened, but then I started hearing a humming sound that was gradually increasing in pitch. As it was about to reach its crescendo, I was engulfed in a brilliant white light!

When I got my vision back, I was standing in another empty room. This room, however, was entirely metallic. I looked at my feet and saw that I was standing on a raised platform with a dimming light on the surface.

It was a teleporter. A one-way teleporter.

That would certainly explain the lack of tracks in the lighthouse; they likely had another means of leaving. Great…

The room I was in also had some other important-looking tech that was attached to the teleporter, but it was otherwise empty. I walked over to the door to leave and jumped when the doors opened as I approached. Fortunately I was the only one in the adjacent hall.

I began the arduous process of silently weaving through the metallic corridors in search of rooms containing incriminating or exonerating evidence. Eventually, I nearly stumbled into the main reason I need to remain stealthy; guards.

The previous local terrorist organization originating in the Unova region was Team Plasma. For those who were unfamiliar, the grunts of Plasma were identifiable by the chainmail armor they all wore.

Team Majesty makes them look unassuming. Plate armor. Fucking glossy purple plate armor with gold joint guards. That's what they were all wearing. They clinked like a kitchen and were easy to spot in the gray metal and concrete backdrop. On top of that, their signature Pokémon were Bisharp and Pawniard. They looked like animated sets of armor with blades protruding from their torsos, forearms, and heads. They were loyal, unquestioning Pokémon that followed order's unerringly, but their perceptive abilities were little better that a human's, if at all.

All that said, now that I knew what I was dealing with I accelerated my pace. I could easily hear them coming. Hitting them with tranquilizer darts would be impossible because of the plate, but avoiding them was child's play.

Ten minutes of searching later, and I came upon the mother lode of information. I found a large open room filled with desks and whiteboards covered in blueprints and research notes. A door closing on the far side of the room and put me on high alert. I clambered behind and under a desk and waited for the person to move on.

The sound of work boots confidently striding in my direction got me to tuck myself under my hiding spot and silently load my dart gun with a human-strength tranq and keep it at the ready.

Whoever was approaching rounded a corner and, curse my luck, stopped right in front of the desk I was currently occupying. I heard an exasperated sigh escape my potential exposer.

"If I have to pull another all-nighter this week, my brain's gonna fry." She sounded feminine.

A white lab coat was draped over a nearby chair, revealing relatively slender, hairless legs in the aforementioned work boots. She looked feminine.

"I'm going for a smoke in the breakroom." She fumed under her breath. "I don't care if it's against regulations. Theia can shove it!" While she vented, I chanced a glance at her coat and noticed that she kept an ID card with a QR code pinned to the front. I didn't catch the name, as I was too preoccupied with the title that came before it. Director of Research, I could use that.

The sound of a very nearby drawer being opened snapped my attention back to the researcher as she was bent over and rummaging through the contents of said drawer. Thankful, she kept her head above the edge of the desk, thus preventing her from spotting me. Unfortunately, the position that she was in, as well as the low cut of her shirt, revealed… a great deal of cleavage to my wandering eyes.

My training for APPEX didn't leave me with much spare time to devote to the pursuit of any members of the fairer sex, so this was literally the most I've ever seen of the female form. And my eyes were glued. The incredibly pale skin certainly wasn't a deterrent as well as I drank in her figure.

I stared at the canyon between her mounds shamelessly the entire time she was presumably searching for her lighter and cigarettes in the desk. By the time she found them, I had zoned back in on reality and felt the heat on my face and my pace quickened from the 'view.'

With a huff, the woman I was ogling turned on her heels and all but jogged out of the room. I let out the breath I had been holding in for the longest time. For the second time in the night, I was glad that Hannah couldn't see what I was seeing. But…

She looked very feminine.

I crawled out of the desk and noticed that the well-endowed scientist had left her coat and, by extension, her ID. I hastily yanked it off the coat and made my way to the door at the end of the room as fast as I could while still keeping the noise to a minimum.

It wasn't locked. The room was absolutely cluttered with notes, but the terminal was still accessible. The computer was locked, but it was easily undone by scanning the ID I 'borrowed.' It was filled to the brim with unintelligible blather that I wasn't even gonna try to explain, but I did bring out my 'phone' and hooked it into an input to begin copying and forwarding the stolen info to HQ.

I put my finger to my earpiece. "Hannah, I found the terminal of the research lead. See if you can sort through it and figure out what's going on." I didn't wait for a reply as I signed off of the computer and casually tossed the ID back onto the desk. She was tired, frustrated, and anxious for a break. She would just assume she left it there.

I left the room and looked for a good spot to lie low while I waited for my handler to come back with a verdict.

By the time that I next heard Hannah's voice, I was wandering around in an empty storage room. "Patriot, you still with us?"

I talked at a casual volume. There was no one else in the room with me, and it was a large enough room that I wouldn't be heard outside the door. "Yup! So do you have everything we need or do I gotta keep looking?"

Her tone suddenly became more urgent. "No! You hit the jackpot, but what you found was far worse than even Central's worst-case scenario. Listen to this.

"Team Majesty's purpose here is to bring all Pokémon under their control. To that end, the researchers here have been developing something they call 'Project Tyrant.' It's a supercomputer designed to rein in all Pokémon, wild or caught, and bend them to their leader's will. It does this via autonomous nanomachines that worked together to rework the neural pathways of the hosts they 'infect'."

I was stunned. The worst I've heard of manipulating Pokémon prior to this were the Shadow Pokémon incidents in Orre. "Damn. That sounds… bad."

She scoffed. "Tell me about it. Just imagine if those nanomachines were released into the ecosystem. Potentially every Pokémon, from the humble wild Pidove to a Champion-trained Garchomp, all under the control of one man using a computer for a leash."

"And every human under his thumb as a result." I concluded as an ominous shiver ran down my spine. I took a deep breath with my eyes closed while I composed myself. "All right… what happens now?"

Hannah had snapped out of a similar stupor as her tone took on the authority of a seasoned professional. "The parameters of your mission have changed. Search and Destroy, except the files you provided gave us the location of the Tyrant, as well as the layout of the facility. And here's the best part: they had enough foresight to put in a failsafe, or purge, in case the thing ever went rampant."

I took out my 'phone' to see that I was sent a functional map that highlighted a path from a nearby room through some other rooms and into the docks. "The purge has a ten minute timer to provide enough time for the staff to escape the blast. We're scrambling an entire fleet to your location to round up anyone who flees. The map I sent you was the safest and quickest route to the emergency exits that avoided the main hallways. Do whatever you have to do to access and activate the purge. Tyrant cannot be allowed to see the light of day. Good luck, Patriot."

She went silent. I had devoted the map to memory to the best of my ability and swiftly exited the room.

'Good luck.' Yeah right…

The deeper I made it into the facility, the denser the security became. Fortunately the walking tambourines made them easy to bypass. When I finally reached the room housing the Purge detonator, I finally had my first face to face conversation of the night.

"Sooooo, the little Patrat finally shows his face…" The voice belonged to a beast of a woman with a thick accent I couldn't identify. I wasn't exactly a strapping individual. My training honed me into having a lither frame to make me more unassuming and stealthy. I had seen the more bulky of my fellow APPEX Operatives, but this woman put even the biggest of them to shame.

She was huge! I was able to assess this due to her surprising lack of full-body plate armor covering her straining dark purple t-shirt and baggy khakis. The worst part of her ensemble, however, was the belt she was sporting. With six occupied magnetic holster each containing an Ultra Ball. Six Pokémon, to my zero.

While I was sizing her up, she took the opportunity to do the same, and likely came up with the same conclusion as me: I was fucked. I wasn't packing much, and my skin-tight wetsuit didn't leave me with a lot of room to have many aces up my sleeve.

A sneer curled at her lips. She crossed her arms over her rippling chest and leaned against the desk that supported the single computer monitor that only had a single prompt. 'Activate? y/n'

"Just surrender, little man. I know why you're here and you're not getting past me. The only way to activate the Purge is by using my biometrics to confirm the order-"She didn't get out anything else as a tranq dart was shot into her neck. The muscly woman collapsed before she could even bring a hand to one of the Balls secured to her hip and she was out.

The gun would have been next to useless if she was sporting the same armor as her supposed subordinates. Thankfully, bulging muscles don't do as much to stop syringes. I may be rash and impulsive, but I'm a damn good shot.

Before addressing the computer situation, I stepped over my would-be assailant and holstered my gun on my hip before I removed the belt from her waist and secured it over my shoulder. I hit the 'y' button on the keyboard next to the computer.

'Admin clearance level 4 required. Please verify.' A hidden compartment in the wall opened and revealed the optical scanner for biometrics. I dragged the ripped 'Admin' over to the panel and set her down against the desk for support.

Damn she was heavy!

I put my finger to the mic of my transceiver to radio Hannah. "Alright, I'm here and ready to set this thing off. Everything good on your end?"

"Yup, we're green. Remember Patriot; ten minutes-"

I cut her off, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "Yes mom, I'll be back for dinner…"

She scoffed. "Smartass… Keep in contact in case you need technical support. We're waiting for your signal. Let's finish this thing before it even has a chance to begin!"

"Right!" I nodded in agreement. While I brought Miss Admin's face up to the scanner, I realized that I wouldn't have enough time to get her to safety. Her sheer muscle mass was well beyond my weight limit. Even if I could carry her all the way to the docks, we wouldn't make it out of the blast radius.

She would need to be left behind.

Guilt festered in my heart. I was killing her. Not directly, but she was going to be a casualty of my actions. I shook my head to clear my mind. In the end, we were both just following orders. Still…

It didn't make the feeling any better.

I propped her eye open with my fingers while holding her up to an even height to the scanner. A light blue light shone in her drifting eye before the monitor flashed green. A new window appeared.

'Authorization Accepted! Hello, Ms. Theia. Activate Purge? y/n'

I gently set 'Theia' down on the floor and placed one of her hands in the other over her torso. I also retrieved the tranq I injected from her neck and threw it across the room, as well as rearrange her slacken features, such as closing her gaping mouth and shutting her eyelid. It felt weird to already be mourning over someone who still had a pulse, but that's just the way this had to be.

I hit the 'y' button yet again and the screen went dark.

The floor started trembling as the lights went out, only to be replaced by the flashing red emergency lights. The intercoms also came to life as a loud, automated (and strangely chipper sounding) feminine voice reverberated through the halls.

"Alarm! The Tyrant Purge Implosion Device has been activated! This is NOT a drill! Repeat, This is NOT a drill! This facility will be completely destroyed in a controlled micro-singularity in T-minus 10 minutes! Please form a calm and orderly line as you evacuate the premises!"

The sudden shift in atmosphere had already brought my pulse to near-critical levels, but the announcement really sent me over the edge as the words were processed in my frantic mind. 'Did she say 'singularity!''

I took off out of the room without another thought as I sprinted down the path that Hannah had forwarded to me. While I ran, I started yelling to Hannah about the situation. The panic I was in wasn't doing my non-existent subtlety any favors.

I wasn't the only one though. I could hear the grunts of Team Majesty shouting and trampling over one another in the main pathways to escape.

"Hannah! It's not a bomb; (huff) it's a fucking black hole! (huff) The Hell!?"

I could make out that she was in a frenzy on her end from the heightened pitch in her voice. "W-well I didn't know! The thing just mentioned a purge and a highlighted area; I just assumed it was a blast radius, not an event horizon!"

If I wasn't about to be crushed into an infinitesimal point of space-time, I would be shaking my head in mild disappointment right about now. Suffice to say, I settled on rolling my eyes. "(Huff) Whatever! Just keep me in the loop!" I really didn't need any more surprises.

I was speeding through the smaller hallways and adjoining rooms as fast as my legs could carry me. The fatigue of the night's excitement have left me feeling like I was approaching the end of my rope, but I was in the home stretch. Just a little further…

My escape route eventually took me to a large room that was only a hop, a skip, and a jump away from the docks. The contents of this room brought my hasty exodus to an abrupt halt.

A massive pen, filled with Pokémon. They weren't captures, if they were, they would have been kept in their balls or with their owners. So that left only one other plausibility; test subjects!

My blood boiled! Not just at Majesty for subjecting wild Pokémon to such disgusting treatment, not just for their leaving them here to their fate while they fled to safety, but a little bit made it back to Hannah for not telling me.

I yelled into the mic, bringing the attention of all the captive Pokémon in the holding cell to me. "Hannah! There are Pokémon in here being used as test subjects and you didn't say a damn thing! Why?!"

She became flustered by my admittedly hasty accusations. "I-I-I didn't know! I only have the files from the one computer you breached. Maybe the head researcher didn't even know… That doesn't matter right now! Can you get them out?"

I snarled as I looked at the locking mechanism of the holding cell. Fortunately, it was just a single, massive kennel instead of several and it was only secured with a tumbler lock. Judging by the presence of a Flareon, Machop, and a Spheal, the metal bars likely consisted of a sturdy, temperature resistant material. There were no structural weaknesses to exploit, and no key to unlock the damn thing.

…

Good thing I always pack a paperclip for these types of locks. It wasn't standard issue for APPEX. My instructor was a total weirdo, but he was a good teacher.

Ravenous hunger was a better one. Keeping one of these on me kept me fed through my pre-pubescent life.

I knelt down in front of the padlock when the alarm announcement piped up again, still as cheerful as the start. "Alarm! Purge Implosion will detonate in T-minus 5 minutes!" After manipulating the paperclip so I could use it as a pick, I got to work on jimmying the lock.

The Pokémon in the cage seemed to realize that I was bailing them out and started crowding around the door with pleading expressions on their face. 'Great… Just what I need; more pressure.' I thought. Their desperate whimpering wasn't helping my already shaky nerves while I focused on the sound of my pounding heart in my ears.

It took a whole thirty seconds, but I got the blasted door open. The prisoners began filing out of the cage, but didn't have a clue on how to escape so they all defaulted to me for direction.

I hastily looked at my 'phone' for confirmation on my escape route and relayed to them that we could all escape through the docks at the end of the hall. They were hesitant to comply, but another violent quake quickly silenced any lingering doubts.

The Pokémon began stampeding out of the room and down the hallway while I followed to shepherd them to safety. This was the home stretched. Only a couple dozen more meters separated us all from safety. I could feel my heart thrashing between my ribs, my lungs were burning, and my legs felt like jelly, but this was it. I kept my mind off of the pressure by focusing on the Pokémon that were hauling ass in front of me. The Spheal was actually in the front while it rolled down the corridor. A Butterfree and Pidgeotto were going as fast as a narrow hallway allowed them, while a Flareon, Machop, Raticate, and even a Shiny Eevee, to my surprise, rushed after them.

That's when things really went FUBAR…

The most extreme tremor thus far staggered all of us in our tracks. It was either so powerful, or the structural integrity of this facility was so weathered that an entire section of the hall began to collapse.

Adrenaline coursed through my veins as time seemed to stand still for a minute. I was safe from the cave-in (relatively speaking). It was in front of me. I could find some alternate route to the docks if I doubled back, and the Pokémon would all be on the other side of it…

All but one.

That silver-furred Eevee pup was still trying to find his footing while the world continued to shake, completely unaware of the tons of earth about to crush him into a pancake. The Flareon, whom I could only assume to be the runt's parent, also looked on in abstract horror at its child's imminent death.

I was already in motion by the time I concluded my assessment. Without even realizing it, I was practically on top of the things while human-sized boulders and slabs of concrete with protruding rebar were just at my back. We weren't going to make it.

…

…

…

… But he could.

I lurched forward and put my hand down on his body, pushing his tail down so I could get a decent grip on his furry butt. Once my body was in a crouched position I launched both of us forward with all the strength in my legs I could muster.

At the end of my leap, I threw the little fox by his rump towards the others. He was cleared. I, however…

*Crash!*

A pain-induced snarl ripped through my throat as immense pain washed over the entirety of my right leg. I refused to look down to access the damage, it was obviously bad. 'Mangled' might be the better word. The red-hot pain that I felt in my leg quickly dissipated, only to be replaced by ominous coldness while my other, unobliterated leg felt a warm liquid pooling under it. I was bleeding. Whether from the metal rebar poles or the open fractures from my likely smashed bones I didn't know.

All of the Pokémon I had rescued began to crowd around me, all of them sporting looks of pity or sorrow. The Eevee, though, wore a look on his face that was a combination of regret, grief and anger.

I likely had those same emotions on my ugly mug for the past half a decade. I knew them well.

The alarm continued to blare without pause while the red lights flashed. Another announcement stated that there were only a few minutes until this entire building was crushed into the size of a speck of dust.

The Eevee rushed at the boulders that kept me pinned to the ground with a fierce glint in his eyes. Tears, maybe? He began shouting in his native dialect to rally the others to help him move the debris off of me. Collectively, they all moved to work on helping me out.

The sentiment was certainly appreciated, even if it was stupid. My leg needed amputation, I couldn't move on my own and whoever tried to help me move would only get caught in the event horizon along with me.

I pushed the Eevee away and began shouting to bring the rest of them to reason. "Hey, that's enough!" I yelled. Once they all backed up a few steps, I took on a softer, if strained, voice. "Listen. This is my stop. *Sigh* You guys can still make it. The docks are just on the other side of that door." I said as I pointed at the exit a few meters away.

I retrieved all of the equipment I could reach on my person and put it in my pack only to then fasten it around the Flareon's luxurious mane and gave the belt containing Theia's Pokémon to the Raticate. "Take these. My friends will be arriving here any minute to put all of the bastards responsible for this behind bars." I was certain Hannah would hear my words and pass the info along to the fleet.

The Eevee was looking at me with tears flowing freely from his eyes as he whimpered, his ears tucked against his head. I was afraid of dying, but I wasn't gonna let him in on it so I put on a brave face. I offered a soft smile while I rubbed the top of his head. When I stopped, I looked him right in his deep gray eyes once again. "Get going." I muttered, softly. "You got a whole life to live!"

All the Pokémon except for the Eeveelutions took that as their que to leave. The Eevee quickly ran up to my face and gave me a quick nuzzle before taking off after the rest. The Flareon watched him leave then looked back to me and gave me a somber nod with an expression of respect and gratitude before following the pack.

I was on my own once again with only the disembodied countdown to listen to. Pinned beneath a ton of rubble and bored while I waited to die, I did the only thing I could do in this situation; get high with government-issue narcotics!

I loaded up a serum designed for tiny Pokémon and shot it into my neck. The numbing effect was instant as I could no longer feel that cold pain in my right leg.

Hannah's shaky voice startled me out of my stupor. "I-I heard. So… you're not gonna make it, huh?" She sounded emotionally drained. I could understand why.

A dry chuckle rumbled in my throat. "Heh, yeah."

"Do- Do you have any last words you wanted to put on record?"

I realized that my final moments of life did carry one aspect that many men never got; to have my final thoughts recorded. I could say anything; say something inspiring about self-sacrifice, vow eternal vengeance against my parents, APPEX, or Majesty, or just express a lack of regrets.

After a bit of thought while fighting through the haze of the tranq in my system, I came up with some appropriate last words…

"Hannah…" I said, somberly. "I am about to be ripped to smithereens by a small black hole. While many would say that there are certainly worse ways for a man to die, I still think this one rather SUCKS…"

"…" She was speechless, and I couldn't stop laughing.

It was certainly a comforting experience as the countdown reached 'zero,' and I was embraced by the void…

Author's Notes: I wanted to experiment with the first-person perspective, so that's why it differs from my other story. Don't worry; Chapter 5 of E&I is next on my to-do list. And I have much work to do…

Epilogue

Lucien's POV

When I regained my… consciousness? Awareness? When I came to, I felt as though I was floating along on a river. That was the only thing I felt.

I felt no pain, no relief, no happiness, no grief. Just the seemingly unending sensation of being carried by a current. It wasn't an actual river, metaphorical. I couldn't see any water. I couldn't feel the sensation of being wet. Hell, I couldn't even see my own body! Naturally, there was only one conclusion that my mind could come up with.

I was dead.

And the afterlife was boring as shit! Wherever I was, it wasn't peaceful enough to be the Hall of Origins, and it certainly wasn't chaotic enough to be the Distortion World. Purgatory? I didn't feel like I had unfinished business back on Earth. My parents ditched me at age eleven; I lived alone on the streets for a few years and joined a secretive government agency that expected me to risk my life for the well-being of Pokémon. That was really it.

The only things I could actually see were clouds, fog, and a blinding white light that the clouds were moving away from. Either the light was approaching me, or I it. Seriously, where was I?

"I like to call it 'The In Between'." That… wasn't me.

I would say that I was startled, but I couldn't feel any anxiety. If I still had a head, neck and eyes, I would be searching for the source of the noise.

"I wouldn't bother looking for me." It said. "I'm not actually here." Its voice was high-pitched and squeaky, almost child-like. "I heard that." Even weirder.

"Whatever, listen!" The voice sounded rushed. "Your hunch was right, you died, but I 'appropriated' your soul from Yveltal." What? "It's complicated. Lemme explain. I come from a different world from yours, the same place that I'm taking you. There's been a… complication in my world and no one native to there is capable of dealing with it. That's where you come in."

Do I get any say in this? "'Fraid not. And before you get all uppity about it, I need you specifically. I don't know why, but anyone else from your world won't suffice."

Here's the issue: I'm dead. Like, really dead, 'torn apart in a miniature singularity' kind of dead. The voice was silent for a moment, as if in thought. "… You don't say…"

A sudden flare from the approaching light seemed to excite the voice. "Oh! She finished it already! Okay, our time is about up so let me give you a heads-up. I need you to identify whatever menace is threatening my world and destroy it."

It's not like I have any way to opt out of all of this, so I'll just go with it. "Cut me some slack. You won't be dead anymore, given a fresh start in a new life, and meet all sorts of interesting people. It won't be all bad." Alright, alright, I get it. I already agreed, you don't have to beat me over the head with it!

"… There's just one catch…" Oh boy. "You will be, as they say, 'going in blind.' You'll be on your own at the start. Even I won't be able to help you at the start, and… You won't have any recollection of this conversation, or even any of your past…"It trailed off; I could hear the pity in its voice. Meh.

"What do you mean 'meh'?" Can't say that I had much of a life in my world to miss. "If you say so…" But if I won't remember this little chat, how will I know what you want me to do. "You won't, but I've made arrangements so that you'll do it anyway." … Ominous.

The light was definitely getting nearer. I was almost engulfed in its radiance. "Looks like our time's up. Well, good luck, human. We've done what we can to help you and all of our people. The rest is up to you, Mr…"

Lucien. And 'human'?