Wooo, two reviews. Turns out reviews only appears after exciting chapters. Oh well. Here you have it, Chapter 9.
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Jupiter screamed wildly as the flames engulfed her. Being on the ground had been her advantage, not having to worry about recoil. It became a disadvantage however, as the force of the explosion could not throw her to safety.
As she felt her flesh beginning to burn, a familiar and welcoming sound reached her ears, despite the flames. The sound of an Alakazam teleporting. Jupiter felt the fire leaving her, or rather, her leaving the fire, as the Alakazam carried her off into a teleportation tunnel.
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Zarl regained consciousness, to see a large lump of concrete floating in front of him. Apparently, it acted as a shield, throwing the other pieces of concrete to the sides. Telekinesis. Zarl looked down, to the sight of Maria staring back, smiling gently.
At that moment, Maria looked almost angelic, her features untainted, compared to the desolation around. Of course, the reason to why Maria's face glows is because of the psychic energy she was using, and not because she had acquired certain spiritual status.
"You're beautiful." Zarl whispered unconsciously.
"Eh?" Maria replied in surprised. The concrete behind Zarl suddenly trembled, then fling out of the hole in the building with a sudden burst of telekinesis.
Zarl blushed, suddenly realizing what he had just said.
"I... er... nothing. Thank you, Maria." Zarl said, hurriedly moving away from Maria.
Maria grabbed the pieces of cloths around her, holding them over her bare skin. Using telekinesis, Maria held the cloth together, such that she looked like she was wearing a body hugging dress.
"Are you alright?" Zarl wondered, remembering suddenly how weak she was moments ago. The spray was genuine after all.
"Yes." Maria said, then begin to levitate again.
"Oh, right." Zarl whispered, suddenly remembering Dawn. Turning quickly, Zarl saw Dawn lying on the ground, unconscious but seemingly unharmed.
"Dawn." Maria said. Something in her made her freeze. In some ways, Dawn stir feelings in Maria, like how she does for Zarl. Of course, different kind of feelings. Maria had begun to panic as she realized hatred for Dawn. While she had assured herself that it was because Dawn had caused grief to Zarl, she wasn't so sure now. It was a different feeling, something she had never experienced before.
Something beeped on Zarl's pocket. Zarl pulled his phone out, half surprised to see Cedar smiling at him, his face black with dirt.
"Zarl, you're alright!" Cedar laughed.
"Almost. Maria saved us." Zarl replied.
"Us?"
"She was here."Zarl said.
"Who?" Cedar wondered.
"Dawn." Zarl said, after hesitating a moment.
"Meet at Celestic Pokémon centre. The GEA escaped." Cedar said, then promptly cut the link.
Zarl stared at his phone for a moment, then sighed.
"Maria, could you..." Zarl said slowly, considering his words.
"Yes." Maria replied simply, using her Telekinesis to lift the unconscious Dawn and her Scyther-sword.
Zarl sighed again, as they began to walk out.
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"What? You all were driven back by two people?" Cyren said incredulously.
"Two people and six Form changing dragon Pokémon" Jupiter corrected tiredly, her skin still crawling with pain.
"Sorry." Saturn said, then cringed as the surgeon carefully sliced what remains of the Tyranitar that had been fused with him.
"Cedar without his morals is dangerous." Cyren said slowly.
"Cyren... We can easily beat them down if they attack. We recovered N1-Dhog and Artem-15." Mars said, placing her hand on Cyren's to calm her down. Cyren had been exceptionally volatile since her encounter with Zarl, who exhibited powers a human should not have.
Jupiter marvelled at how Mars always seemed to be able to calm Cyren down. There was a time when she had believed that Mars was a scheming woman trying to seduce Cyren. She had grown to learn that Mars was truly who she was, gullible and utterly lovable. She seemed so weak that she would not have been a commander if not for her command over Pokémon. Mars have an uncanny ability to calm and befriend any Pokémon, very useful if a science project tend to create demented Pokémon bent on massacring humans.
"Very well. Jupiter and Saturn stay here. We don't have time to launch another attack on a pair moving too quickly to track. We lure him to the lion's den with his father." Cyren smiled, reading her phone.
"Leyard found Marie. Commencing recovery." The message reads.
"Lock up Leyard." The reply went.
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A loud knocking sound rang throughout the suddenly bright Pokémon centre.
"Professor Cedar, you can't do this!" A female voice exclaimed. The knocking sound continued.
Zarl blinked, wondering what Cedar was doing for Nurse Joy, who had not abandoned this Pokémon centre after all, to exclaim out.
"You will break the Healing Machine!" Nurse Joy said.
"Trust me. I worked in the dev team for this model of healing machine." Cedar's voice replied. There was a sudden series of beeps, followed by the familiar tone of a Healing Machine starting up.
Zarl heaved a sigh, then walked into the Pokémon centre, followed by Maria and an unconscious Dawn.
"Zarl! You finally arrived. I had the time to retrofit a Healing Machine to actually heal human wounds." Cedar said, throwing a screwdriver backwards.
"What happened to you?" Zarl asked, throwing himself on the crouch. The nurse pushed a bed to Maria, on which Maria promptly dropped Dawn on.
"Nothing much. Had a showdown with two of GEA's commanders, caused an explosion, which sent me into the forest. Damn, took me a while to realize that my head was in a rabbit hole, and I had not fallen into oblivion. Finally woke up when some huge chunk of concrete landed near me. It barely missed me. I could have died!" Cedar said.
Zarl thought back, remembering Maria flinging the piece of concrete out. Then he remembered how much closer he was to death then Cedar.
"A piece of concrete threatened you. Your explosions threatened me with a chunk of a building." Zarl said.
"So it did!" Cedar began to laugh as he shoved the nurse away from Dawn, determined to try out his Healing Machine.
Zarl watched as Maria floated from room to room, looking for something.
"May I know what your Gardevoir was looking for?" Nurse Joy asked.
"Do you have spare Gardevoir gowns, or at least, a sewing kit?" Maria asked.
Nurse Joy stared at Maria for a moment, probably having never heard a psychic Pokémon speak before.
"No. But I have sewing kit." Nurse Joy replied, walking off quickly to get what Maria asked for.
Zarl suddenly remembered what Dawn had said.
"Maria, are you really okay?" Zarl asked, remembering Dawn saying that the spray only removes the symptoms of the pheromone spray Vileplume used.
"Yes." Maria said, blushing slightly. Clearly, she was sensitive to that subject. Zarl decided not to probe further as he watched Maria take the sewing kit from Nurse Joy, telekinetically, of course.
She soon finished sewing up her gown, with barely visible stitches. However, Zarl knew something was definitely wrong. Maria had to thread the needle twice. Her telekinesis was trembling.
"I prepared three rooms for you all. From what I heard from Professor Cedar, tomorrow will be a rough day for you all, so rest early." Nurse Joy said, before leaving the room as quietly as she had entered.
"Rough day, huh?" Zarl commented.
"Yes. A rough day indeed. We are storming GEA headquarters. Trusting our life to a certain old man called Oak." Cedar said, pushing his modified Healing machine away.
"Zarl!" Dawn suddenly exclaimed, opening her eyes. Those eyes sweep through the room, locating Zarl immediately. Dawn suddenly leaped off her bed, entwining her arms around Zarl's neck.
"Woah, woah, woah, lady. Don't go hopping across the room when your wounds just closed." Cedar said, nearly smashing the machine into the wall.
Zarl blinked, surprised by the sudden, yet familiar waft of shampoo. Fidgeting slightly, Zarl tried futilely to break away from the embrace.
Maria stared at Dawn, a strange feeling suddenly taking over. An amplified version of the kind of anger she felt towards Dawn. Vaguely, among the cloud of that feeling, Maria felt something break within her. The rational part of her mind realized her powers were beginning to flow.
"It hurts." Maria whispered, as the rational part of her mind forced her to direct the flowing power, unstoppable like a river in a flood, at the window. A strange distortion rend through the air, vibrating the window panes to such intensity that it implodes. Somewhere a distance away, a deserted house began to vibrate, until the concrete was reduce to dust.
Suddenly, the wild feeling faded, as Maria realized what she had just done.
"Sorry." Maria said, moving out of the room hurriedly.
"What?" Cedar whispered.
"Please." Zarl said, lightly pushing Dawn away. Three years ago, he would have returned the embrace without thought.
Dawn stepped back suddenly.
"Sorry. I remembered a piece of concrete flying towards you, then I lost consciousness." Dawn said, then hurriedly walked out of the Pokémon centre.
"So, what happened?" Cedar asked.
"Nothing." Zarl replied. Nothing means everything.
"Seriously. Young people nowadays. Go after Dawn." Cedar said, walking towards the room Maria went into.
Zarl nodded, walking slowly out of the main door.
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The story is pretty boring now. I'll try to upload the next one by tomorrow. Till then, leave a review or something, tell me where to improve.
