"They took Plusle?!" Wes repeated in tones of outrage.
"They took papa's Plusle prisoner," Marcia confirmed, trying not to cry. "I… I'm so worried they might be mean to it…"
"It's so humiliating," Duking sighed. "But yes- that's why I can't stop them. I can't make a move to stop them as long as they have Plusle."
"I can't believe he'd use such a dirty tactic," Rui growled. "That rotten Miror B., he's not getting away with this! Right, Wes?"
"You bet," Wes nodded. "I remember that Plusle. Espeon and Umbreon used to play with her when I was younger."
Rui giggled. "I knew I could count on you, Wes," she smiled.
"Duking, you get everyone out of here- it's not safe in this building," Wes advised the muscle-bound man. "Me and Rui will handle this."
"Thank you," Duking said, his voice thick with gratitude. "Thank you so much. And be careful, always! Miror B. might look way out there, but his battling is all business. I tried taking him on myself… but I didn't stand a chance. He defeated my Larvitar, my Shuckle, even my Meditite, in no time flat… And Plusle's never battled, so I didn't want to send her out. And that's when he…" Duking trailed off there, but Wes got the picture.
After that, Duking departed the building, with his daughters in tow. It was then that Rui noticed the binder on the desk. "Hey, Wes," she said, walking over to it. "What's this?"
"Hm?" Wes murmured, turning to see what Rui was talking about.
Rui picked up the binder. "Ein File H?" she read off of the cover. She opened it up, and started to read aloud. "It seems to be about Hyper Mode. 'Shadow Pokémon, perhaps because of their own overwhelming power, may behave abnormally at times. They may engage in such behavior as ignoring orders, even turning on their own Trainers in battle. This, I have named Hyper Mode.'"
"Who named it?" Wes wondered out loud.
Rui continued to read. "'On the plus side, Hyper Mode raises the critical hit ratio of Shadow Rush. However, Hyper Mode also prevents the use of items on the Pokémon. Hyper Mode is easily dispelled- simply call the Pokémon by name.'"
"So that's why Croconaw was able to snap out of it back in the colosseum!" Wes stated. "I was wondering about that."
"Ooh, it's getting interesting," Rui responded. "Wes, listen to this- 'Hyper Mode is easily dispelled- simply call the Pokémon by name. However, this method has a major drawback. Calling the Shadow Pokémon's name causes the closed door of its heart to loosen and even open. Further research is urgently needed. Shadow Pokémon Lab, Chief Ein.'"
"So this could be at least part of the key to opening their hearts," Wes remarked. "That's interesting. Rui, I'll need you to alert me when Makuhita, Croconaw, and Furret go into Hyper Mode so I can snap them out of it as quickly as possible, OK?"
"You got it, Wes," smiled Rui. "So, you're gonna use Furret, then? I noticed you were using it in the colosseum challenge, but I figured you didn't think to change anything about your team with the PC."
"Well, it was from Cail," Wes replied fairly. "And despite what he says about it being a ripoff, I think it's got potential. Its Shadow Rush is pretty powerful, and it seems to have learned Strength now, too. Not to mention, Helping Hand- very useful move in Orre, considering Double Battles are the standard in these parts. And- hey, check it out, a healing machine and a PC," he added, noticing the devices behind the desk.
"Can we not do that?" asked Rui as Wes started to climb over the desk. "I'm… not exactly dressed to climb over stuff, y'know?" she said, glancing down at her miniskirt.
Wes sighed. "Point taken. Alright, we'll go around. What's the worst that could happen?"
As Wes learned a few moments later, however, the worst that could happen was stumbling upon, and subsequently battling, two of Miror B.'s cohorts. Wes shot Rui a glare as he healed his Pokémon. "Next time I'm getting Makuhita to Cross Chop the desk into kindling," he said.
"Sorry, Wes," Rui sighed as Wes moved over to the PC, depositing Yanma in the storage system.
Wes shook his head as he logged off the PC. "Nah, you didn't know there'd be those guys. I didn't know either, for that matter. C'mon, I saw a flight of steps past that last guy. Let's see where we can go in this place."
As they ascended, to Wes's consternation, the two goons they fought on the ground floor were far from the only ones in the building. As they made their way through the winding corridors, Trainer after Trainer challenged Wes, who was forced to make use of all five Pokémon he had on hand. Multiple times he found himself calling out to Makuhita, Croconaw, and Furret to snap them out of Hyper Mode. Along the way, however, he found the silver lining to this constant battling- in one particularly tough battle against a very fast Doduo, Umbreon demonstrated yet another new move, and managed to disorient the Doduo with his brand new Confuse Ray. And along the way, while Wes was battling, he got the feeling that while Espeon and Umbreon were steadily getting stronger… he wasn't getting the same feeling in regards to his Shadow Pokémon.
Rui was keeping a sharp eye out the entire time, but this seemed to be mostly futile outside of alerting Wes to his Pokémon entering Hyper Mode. Nore seemed to be the only person in the building who sicced a Shadow Pokémon on Wes.
At long last, Wes led the way up yet another flight of stairs, and found himself and Rui being blinded by the bright sunlight- they had reached the roof. Once Wes's eyes adjusted to the light, he looked around- there was a small, dingy-looking room nearby. Also nearby, there seemed to be a cave dug into the large rock the building was built up against. A lone man stood in the cave entrance, arms folded, looking as though he was standing guard. Wes opened his mouth to speak to this man, when he heard a commotion coming from the room. "Come on!" he said to Rui, running over to the door and pushing it open.
There lay Silva on the floor, with two women standing by him. "Darling, aren't you one of Duking's people?" smirked one of them. "What made you think that you could simply waltz in here? Such a silly boy."
"Grr…" Silva growled, attempting to sound intimidating despite how he looked. "Wh-where's Miror B.? I'm taking him down!" he declared, in a brave stab at defiance.
The women laughed at this. "Take him down?" the other woman sneered. "After the beating you just took? Oh, that's too funny."
"Just you wait," Silva persisted. "I'm gonna drive all of you out of this town!"
The women laughed again. "Ooh, such a feisty boy," chuckled the first woman. "Don't tell me we have to take your Pokémon hostage to make you settle down, too."
"What do you mean, 'too'?" demanded Silva.
"Darling, didn't you know?" smirked the second woman. "Your precious Duking won't lift a finger to stop us because if he does, we get to hurt his Plusle."
"You WHAT?!" Silva exclaimed, a look of purest shock and outrage on his face. "You… you monsters! That tears it- I'm running you all out of town! All of you! Do you hear me?"
The women laughed again. "Too funny," smirked the first one. "Oh, too funny, darling. You're gonna run us out of town? You and what army?"
Wes decided that this was the moment to make his presence known, and stepped further into the room. "How's this for an army?" he said, throwing a pair of Poké Balls, from which Espeon and Umbreon materialized.
Everyone present turned to look at Wes and Rui. "Oh?" smirked one of the women, the one with red hair. "We seem to be getting a lot of unexpected company today, but that's no excuse for being a bad host. Let's see if you're any better than this poor slob," she said, with a glance at Silva. "Ferma, you don't mind if I take this one?" she asked the purple-haired woman.
"Go right ahead, Reath," smirked Ferma.
"Then feast your eyes on these!" Reath exclaimed, throwing two Poké Balls. "Spinarak! Remoraid!"
Wes eyed the pair of Pokémon that had appeared before him. Spinarak hardly seemed like a threat, and even if Remoraid did have any sort of type advantage, which it didn't, it didn't look particularly strong in any case, least of all out of water. Wes smirked as the fish struggled to take aim at Espeon and Umbreon with only small fins to work with, but Rui's reaction was quite different.
"Be careful, Wes," she warned him. "Remoraid's a Shadow Pokémon!"
"How'd she know that?!" demanded Reath. "Remoraid, Shadow Rush! Spinarak, use Poison Sting!"
"Espeon, Confusion on Spinarak!" commanded Wes. Instead of giving Umbreon a command, however, instead Wes activated the Snag Machine, causing a Great Ball to appear in his left hand. "And let's see if we can luck out with this one," he added, eyeing Remoraid, who was attempting to flop in Umbreon's general direction. "Snag Ball! Get it!" he said, launching the modified Great Ball.
"No! NO!" Reath exclaimed. She held out Remoraid's Poké Ball to try and withdraw it, but the energy hand the ball was using to grab Remoraid blocked the return beam, and before Reath knew it, Wes had caught her Remoraid. "Gah… How the… You little…"
"Yeah, and look at Spinarak," smirked Wes.
Reath looked- Spinarak had succumbed to Confusion, and was knocked out in just one hit. "OH COME ON!" she whined as she withdrew Spinarak. "Gah, that's it! Let's go!" she exclaimed, throwing a third Poké Ball, from which emerged… a Luvdisc.
"…What," Wes said flatly. The heart-shaped Water-type was flopping around on the floor, just like Remoraid had been. "OK," he sighed. "Helping Hand and Secret Power."
About two seconds later, Reath was withdrawing her unconscious Luvdisc and glaring furiously at Wes. "How did that happen?" she demanded. "Unbelievable! My Pokémon couldn't do a thing- you're no ordinary Trainer!"
"Damn straight, he's not," grinned Rui.
"There's also the fact two thirds of your team can't do crap on land," added Wes.
"Yeah, well, I'm next," snapped Ferma, the purple-haired woman stepping forward, a pair of Poké Balls in her hands. "What were you, hired as Duking's bodyguards or something?"
"Just call me an old friend of Duking's," smirked Wes. "Espeon, Umbreon, ready for more?"
"Espe!"
"Umbre!"
Ferma smirked. "Well, you mess with us, you better be prepared to deal with the consequences!" And she threw her Poké Balls. "Aipom! Mantine!"
Ferma's team seemed a bit more impressive than Reath's, but not by much. The little Aipom didn't look like it could do much to Umbreon or even Espeon. Mantine, on the other hand, was somehow managing to stay airborne by flapping its winglike fins.
Wes eyed the Mantine. "Alright, I'll admit the Mantine looks a little tough," he conceded. "But I-"
"It's also a Shadow Pokémon," Rui interrupted. "Wes, be careful."
"How can she tell?!" exclaimed Ferma. "Mantine! Bubble Beam! Aipom! Fury Swipes!"
"Umbreon, use Confuse Ray on Mantine!" Wes ordered. "Espeon, hit Aipom with Confusion!"
And the battle began! Mantine was hit by Confuse Ray before it could begin to attack, and started to slam itself into the walls of the room, disoriented as it was. Aipom, meanwhile, managed to withstand the Confusion, and fought back by raking the claws of its tail hand against Espeon multiple times in quick succession.
"Again! Confusion!" Wes ordered. "Umbreon, hit Mantine with Secret Power!"
"Come back, Aipom!" Ferma called as she withdrew her now-unconscious Normal-type- Espeon's second Confusion had done the trick. Next, she threw another Poké Ball, and as its occupant emerged, Ferma gave the command. "Furret, Quick Attack!"
This time, Wes had Espeon set up a Reflect while getting Umbreon to deal with Furret. Mantine was still confused at the moment, so he didn't need to do much to it. And then, out of nowhere, Mantine snapped out of confusion. "Yes!" cheered Ferma. "Mantine, Supersonic!"
Mantine opened his mouth, unleashing a volley of high-frequency soundwaves at Umbreon, who immediately started to stagger around.
"Umbreon, return now!" Wes called, holding out the Dark-type's Poké Ball. "I'll fight fire with fire- or in this case, Furret with… Furret!" he declared, throwing his next ball, unleashing his own Furret into the fray. "Use Shadow Rush on the other Furret! And Espeon, use Confusion on Mantine!"
The fight continued on from there. Mantine continued to get worn down, and Wes's Furret toppled her non-Shadow counterpart. At one point, after Ferma sent out a Yanma, Wes tried to Snag Mantine, but it broke free of the Poké Ball. However, this didn't slow down the battle any, and as Mantine was getting progressively weaker and weaker, Espeon and Furret brought down Yanma.
With only Mantine remaining, Ferma had a feeling she knew what Wes was about to do. And Wes, in turn, knew what Ferma was going to try. As Ferma reached for Mantine's Poké Ball, Wes loaded another Great Ball into his Snag Machine. Ferma held out the Poké Ball, as Wes wound up…
"Mantine, return!"
"Go, Snag Ball!"
The next few seconds seemed to slow down, nobody knew what was about to happen. The red recall beam shot out of Mantine's Poké Ball… the modified Great Ball flew towards the Water/Flying-type… The Great Ball made contact… the energy hand formed… and the recall beam was harmlessly deflected by it! Wes grinned as the Great Ball wobbled on the floor and fell still. Desperately, Ferma lunged, trying to grab the Great Ball, but the Snag Machine pulled it right back into Wes's hand, leaving Ferma to pounce pitifully on the floor. "What just happened?" whined Ferma. "This isn't just unbelievable. This is Unbelievable 2- the sequel, the movie, the game!"
"Ferma, get a grip on yourself!" Reath exclaimed, pulling her cohort to her feet.
"Right…" nodded Ferma. "Reath, let's make ourselves scarce for the time being," she added.
Reath nodded. "Righto, Ferma. Let's go-"
"Say it," interrupted Ferma.
Reath sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. Ultra-super fire dash. Happy now?"
"Very much so," smiled Ferma as she and Reath hurtled down a nearby staircase.
Wes approached Silva, while Rui investigated a grey binder she saw sitting on a nearby desk. "It's Silva, right?" asked Wes. "You OK?"
"Urgh… Owwww…" Silva groaned. "Yeah, I'm Silva… Thank you, you saved me. Do you people know Duking? You said something about being an old friend?" he said to Wes.
Wes nodded. "We go way back. Used to babysit me when I was little, along with pretty much every other kid in town."
"OK…" sighed Silva. "I'm a fool. I didn't know what was happening at all. I shouted at Duking, I tried to sabotage the colosseum… All this time, they'd been holding Duking's Plusle hostage! How could they do something so downright dirty?"
"That's why we're here," Wes explained, helping Silva up. "I'm Wes, that's Rui. We're here to try and rescue Plusle."
"Y-yeah," Rui nodded, walking back over to them. She was clutching the grey binder, and she looked a little shaken up about something.
"Yeah!" grinned Silva. "I'll come too- agh, owowow…" he added, clutching his torso.
"Not in your condition," Rui said firmly. "You'll have to wait here."
Before anyone else could say anything else, the previously staticky TV screen suddenly showed crystal clear picture- it was Miror B.! "Fuohoho!" he laughed. "We meet again, kiddies!"
"Miror B.!" exclaimed Wes.
"You cowardly cheat!" added Rui.
"Cowardly cheat?" repeated Miror B. "Oh, that is so not true! Taking a hostage is perfectly fine as a bargaining tactic!"
"Bargaining tactic?!" exclaimed Wes and Rui simultaneously and incredulously.
"What kind of scumbag calls that a tactic?" demanded Rui. "Plusle had better be OK!"
"Oh, the darling couldn't be any safer if it tried!" Miror B. replied. "I'm sure it'll come to adore me before too much longer…"
"You gotta be kidding!" exploded Wes. "Where is it? Give it back!"
"Fuohoho," Miror B. chuckled in reply. "No running or hiding for me! Come to the cave- that's where I'll be!" And on that slightly poetic note, the connection was lost, and the screen was overrun by greenish static once more. And as this happened, Rui broke the stunned silence that followed by bursting into tears and throwing her arms around a startled Wes's neck.
"Wah- what-" began Wes. After a moment, the notion that he might try to hug Rui occurred to him, and so he put his arms around her. "It's… it's OK, Rui," he said. He had virtually no experience with calming someone down like this, and hoped he wasn't gonna somehow make it worse- Rui looked distraught as it was. "We'll get Plusle back-"
"No," Rui interrupted. Her sobs subsided somewhat, but she still sounded shaky. "It's, it's not just that. Wes, look," she said, taking her arms from around Wes and indicating the grey binder still in one hand.
Wes let go of Rui and took the binder, which was labeled "Ein File S". The inside bore the heading "Shadow Pokémon". "Alright, let's see… 'A Shadow Pokémon is a Pokémon that has been made into a fighting machine by artificially shutting the door to its heart. What we didn't know is that the Shadow Pokémon exude a dark aura that can't normally be seen by the human eye. Unfortunately, a girl with the ability to see this dark aura has been discovered. This is a major problem. The girl could become a huge obstacle for our Shadow Pokémon Plan. A solution to this threat is urgently needed. Shadow Pokémon Lab, Chief Ein.'"
"I… I'm scared, Wes," Rui admitted in a tiny voice. "I… I only came to Orre to visit my grandparents, and suddenly I'm all wrapped up in this Shadow Pokémon stuff, because I can see those infernal dark auras when nobody else can, and I don't even know why I can see them, and now they see me as a threat and they want me dealt with-"
"Rui," Wes said, cutting across her increasingly hysterical monologue. "Rui, listen to me," Wes said. Rui stopped her panicking for the moment and looked at Wes. "Yeah… yeah, it's a scary situation. But look at me- I'm the one who's stealing back those Shadow Pokémon from them, and thwarting whatever plans they got going. We made it this far in here to try and save Duking's Plusle so he's free to run these crooks out of town. What I'm trying to say here is, we're in the same boat, you and I- if they consider you a threat just because you can identify Shadow Pokémon by sight, what can they think of the guy who's actively stealing them?"
"I… I guess that's true," Rui admitted.
"There's no guarantee nothing's gonna happen to us," Wes continued. "I'm not gonna lie about that. But you've seen my Pokémon in action. Nothing Cipher's thrown our way yet has stopped us, right? And if any of them try and screw with you, they gotta go through us, first."
"Espeon!" Espeon nodded. Furret didn't respond, showing a distinct lack of interest in the conversation.
Rui didn't respond at first, and just looked at Wes. Then, she threw her arms around him once more. "Thanks," she murmured. "Wes… thanks so much. I really needed that." Wes hugged her back, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Silva was giving him a shrewd look. Wes pretended not to notice this look as Rui let go of him. "Alright," smiled Rui, sounding much more confident. "Miror B. said he'd be in the cave? Well, then, come on, Wes- let's go to the cave!"