*drum roll* Chapter 11, everyone!
Chapter Eleven
From the air, Lake Valor was spectacular, a circle of blue with a single dot in the middle. It had been drained completely during the events of Galactic, but Azelf hadn't exactly waited long to completely refill it. The water covered most of the traces, and what wasn't covered by the water was covered by the grass.
Yveltal dropped from the sky in a single smooth dive. Somewhat surprisingly, there weren't any people in the lake, or even the immediate surrounding area – although the Valor Lakefront was still populated. Lake Valor was an incredibly popular area for water sports, and water trainers too (the proximity to Pastoria must have helped), but everyone knew Valor was where Azelf lived, and the lake was subject to Azelf's whims.
Of course, the Willpower Pokémon never usually minded humans wandering around his domain, battling and swimming and windsurfing – but today was clearly an exception. Yveltal would wonder why if he hadn't already guessed the reason. Azelf had closed his lake because he had known Yveltal would be dropping by.
Future Sight was a blessing, but outwitting or surprising someone with it was downright impossible.
He landed on the island, shifting into his human form for the simple reason that flying into the cave that was Azelf's home was going to be a downright humiliating (and painful) affair. The low ceiling was torture for fliers but not levitators – perfect, in other words, for Azelf and nobody else except maybe his siblings. Possibly Cresselia, too.
And it also solved the important problem of how to keep Mew out. The feline Pokémon was far too hyperactive to avoid crashing into the ceiling, a painful enough experience that would undoubtedly deter her from visiting again without thorough precaution.
Water dripped down the sides of the cave, a Geodude rolling out of Yveltal's way as he continued inwards. Azelf floated in the very centre of the cave, his golden eyes flickering up as he saw Yveltal.
"I was expecting you." Azelf began the conversation with what might as well be the worst conversation starter of all time.
"Future Sight. I know." An equally awkward reply, but Yveltal gave what he got. If he got a hopeless conversation starter, he would respond with a useless reply.
"You don't have any objections to Uxie following you around, do you?"
"No, I don't think I'd be able to voice them anyway."
There was silence after that, broken only by the soft drip-drip of water. Azelf regarded him thoughtfully, still floating in midair. The red gem on his forehead flickered.
"I could tell you what you're looking for, but I think that's Uxie's to truly explain. If it helps, it may not be an accident but it is not malicious." He paused. "Uxie said that path would lead him to be better prepared for the other dimension, and what Uxie says is usually true."
"I think I know Uxie has Future Sight already. Can you tell me, or can you not?" Sometimes, the lake pixies could be incredibly annoying with their double-talk, riddles and secrets. Azelf blinked.
"I could tell you. But I would rather Uxie does that. It isn't really mine to tell. Although," the pixie tilted his head, "how do you feel about a Soak?"
"A soak," Yveltal repeated. "Is there any significant benefit to being soaked through?"
"Soak, not soak," Azelf corrected. "There are plenty of Golduck who won't mind doing it… I think. You might scare some off."
"Why, exactly, should I become a temporary Water?"
"You're Dark," Azelf said flatly. "Future Sight won't affect you. I don't think it is right for me to tell you, but showing you should be alright. But like I said, you're a Dark type. Future Sight will just bounce off, so unless you're Water I can't show you. That's why you'd need Soak."
That was a very good reason, although Yveltal really wished Azelf had just said so earlier. "So if I get Soaked, you'll show me."
Azelf's tails swished. "Yes."
"Done."
In response, Azelf floated past him out of the chamber. "Stay here," he called as he disappeared outside.
Yveltal decided he would like Psychics a lot better if they didn't have so much double-speak, riddles and plain weirdness. (Although, he already kind of knew that. Azelf was just reconfirming this decision.)
Without warning, a massive downpour Soaked him completely. Yveltal grimaced as the water sank into every fibre of his being, slowly changing him into a pure Water-type. Having type changes was a rather painful affair for Pokémon who didn't normally change types – far worse than suppressing Abilities – and Gastro Acid was literally being drenched in stomach acid, for Arceus' sake!
As a type-changing move, Soak was by no means pleasant. Then again, having the entirety of one's being changed wasn't ever going to feel nice. Since a typing was part of a Pokémon's (and the rare human's) DNA, Soak worked by (temporarily) altering DNA itself. And that was never, ever, ever going to be even vaguely pleasant.
He could feel it when he turned into a complete Water. The Dark Aura that was part of him suddenly felt alien and unfamiliar instead of the usual warmth it held. Yveltal scowled, repressing the entire Dark Aura entirely. Unsurprisingly, it was harder than usual.
Being turned into pure Water definitely had very few advantages.
"Azelf, any day would be great," Yveltal mumbled.
In response, he felt a rush of power swell in the cave. A Future Sight shot down from the ceiling of the cave, bouncing off the floor and walls until Yveltal was surrounded with brilliant multicoloured light.
Future Sight worked two ways – the first, as an attack, the second, a way to see into the future itself. Or a possible-future, at any rate. Yveltal took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
The strength of Future Sight was strongly reliant on the strength of the Psychic. The stronger the Psychic, the further into possible-futures the Future Sight would see. The lake pixies' Future Sight – especially Uxie's – could span years into the future; Celebi's powers allowed her to see decades and even centuries. Of course, Dialga could see forever into the future, but that was neither here nor there. The point was that Yveltal should probably expect to be stuck inside the cave for a long, long time.
Assuming, of course, he didn't faint on contact from the strength of the Future Sight itself. After all, it was an attack. For Psychics using their own Future Sight, they only felt the second way. In battle, it was only the first way. But for a non-Psychic trying to see the future through Future Sight, it was both ways. An attack and a glimpse. And with Azelf's power, there was no way the attack part of it was going to be weak. Yveltal braced himself.
The Future Sight hit.
~OoOoOoO~
Harry had eventually decided to avoid Muraille and Ambrette entirely, instead heading north along the Menhir Trail to Geosenge and the next Gym, Shalour. Since he hadn't seen any particular point in going along the coast and visiting Ambrette, he chose to just skip it completely. It would save time, and Harry doubted he would miss anything interesting.
After all, the most interesting thing to have happened to Ambrette in recent years was a Fossil Pokémon heist, and that had been so thoroughly thwarted that it was more of an example of 'failed criminals' than 'interesting news'. And that was more than a decade ago. An entire decade.
In any case, Route 10, Menhir Trail was already proving to be much more fascinating. It was early morning when Harry had set off from Cyllage, wanting an early start to a long journey (even the most positive tour brochures had insisted Menhir was a three-day journey), and despite it being summer fog still curled lightly around the trees that loomed over the trail.
Harry let Nincada out to sit on his shoulder, not exactly having a better idea to understand the Bug. With any luck, there weren't any stray Pidgeotto around fancying breakfast.
As it turned out, there weren't any Pidgeotto, but there was a Psychic trainer – or at least, his uniform proclaimed him to be a Psychic. That trainer class was one of the more dubious ones; even Olympia found it a little difficult to conclusively prove someone was Psychic. They could just have more empathy than usual or have a Flying alignment or something. So the only requirements for that trainer class really was to have a Psychic Pokémon.
"Solosis, become one with the universe!"
That was a new one. And Harry had thought he'd heard it all when a Rising Star had told her Pokémon to "blaze like a supernova". Apparently not.
"Nincada, do you want to try?" he asked the Bug sitting on his shoulder. There was a pause before Nincada hopped down, landing in front of the Solosis.
The Solosis threw Harry a rather odd look before fixing its attention on Nincada.
"Solosis, start us off with Double Team!"
"Nincada, String Shot a web like you did in the Zubat Cave!" A dozen copies of Solosis found themselves inside an elaborate web of string, trapped inside with Nincada.
Well, not really trapped inside (the string couldn't do more than hinder Pokémon for a few seconds – Nincada wasn't strong enough for anything better), but it gave the illusion of an enclosed space, and with Psychic Pokémon illusions could be stronger than reality.
"Hidden Power, Solosis!"
Harry cursed inside his head as the Hidden Power took on the form of fireballs. Of course the Hidden Power had to be a type Nincada was weak to. Then again, Bug had an incredible number of weaknesses, so he wasn't sure why he was so surprised.
"Nincada, try shoot those Hidden Powers down with Mud Slap!"
Somewhat surprisingly, Nincada managed to shoot down every single fireball with mud. Solosis floated backwards to avoid being hit in the face. "Now, Nincada, get in close and use Leech Life!"
"Solosis, Reflect!" Nincada bounced off the solid screen of light the Cell Pokémon summoned in the nick of time.
"Sand Attack at Solosis, then while it's distracted, Leech Life again!"
This time, the attack was more successful, Solosis being too distracted by the clouds of sand to sense where Nincada actually was. The Leech Life hit with near-perfect accuracy, being only slightly off centre. Solosis recoiled as Nincada bit down.
"Rollout, Solosis!" The Cell Pokémon shook Nincada off before gathering the dark-brown aura of Rock and charging (or more accurately rolling) towards Nincada.
"Nincada, tie it up with String Shot and hit it with Leech Life, one more time!" White threads wrapped themselves around Solosis, just enough to stop the Rollout in its tracks. Nincada leapt forwards and bit down again, Leeching energy away from the Solosis. The Solosis thrashed weakly before passing out.
The Psychic blinked and recalled the Cell Pokémon. "Well, good job," he finally said, before walking off in the direction of the trees – heading off the path, Harry realised. Maybe he had a tent set up there or something.
Nincada scurried back up to his place on Harry's shoulder. victory the shining star i can feel it running the energy is completing the chain restarts this is not yet winter i am not yet perfect this is not yet my kingdom to come but soon soon it should be, hopes say so and so do i.
Harry wasn't even going to pretend he understood that. "Good job, Nincada," he said instead.
Nincada chirped.
~OoOoOoO~
According to the Holo Caster's map function, he was one-quarter of the way to Geosenge. That was pretty good progress for a day's walk, Harry decided. Considering the path was a three-day journey at the very least – if he could keep up his pace, Harry would make it in four. That didn't sound so bad.
He was halfway to setting up camp (literally, he was just about to plant the last tent pole into the ground) when he spotted glowing red eyes staring at him from the bushes. Glancing around, Harry immediately noticed that there were a lot more than just one pair of eyes – so, an entire horde. Since it was the Menhir Trail, the most obvious choice for multiple Pokémon at once was a pack of Houndour.
Usually, that wasn't a good thing.
Ralts had frozen when he had stopped moving, becoming aware of the multiple Dark/Fire Pokémon as well. Or rather, becoming aware of the gaps in her field of awareness – Dark-types couldn't be sensed by Psychics, but a massive metaphorical hole of blackness was going to be pretty obvious to a Pokémon used to having a full field of awareness.
Harry quietly recalled Nincada, the one Pokémon that was going to have a serious disadvantage if it came to conflict. Honedge might be weak to Dark and Fire, but he was also more than capable of taking care of himself. Nincada, maybe not so much.
As soon as he recalled Nincada, the pack of Houndour reacted.
A massive Inferno blazed in the woods, Pokémon scattering from the trees as fire lit up the sky. Harry tried to keep his shock under control. For a Houndour, Inferno was not a common move. Houndoom, maybe. But not Houndour. Houndour weren't usually developed enough to be able to summon the flames of an Inferno.
The Inferno (probably from the pack leader) was the signal to attack. Houndour leaped from the bushes. If it wasn't for the fact that most of them were using Fire Fang or Flame Charge (a dead giveaway in the night) Harry probably wouldn't have spotted them at all.
"Ralts, Dazzling Gleam!"
The flare of pink light was more to light up the immediate area than to actually hurt the Houndour, but it clearly had some effect. More than one Houndour stumbled as light assaulted their eyes. The sudden light was disorienting for Harry, who was expecting it – for the Houndour, it was going to be a lot worse.
The Houndour regrouped quickly enough. One opened its mouth and released a Fire Spin.
"Fletchling, Tailwind!" Harry shouted. "Ralts, Dazzling Gleam. Honedge, Metal Sound!"
The gust of wind was shockingly strong, blowing the Fire Spin backwards until it hit the Houndour. Rather than flinching, however, the Houndour glowed with red light.
Flash Fire. Not good. But the wind also had the side effect of redirecting all the fire in the clearing away from them, which was (probably) enough of a boost to negate the Flash Fire Fletchling had inadvertently activated.
At the same time as the wind sprung up, Ralts released the Dazzling Gleam. Honedge followed with the Metal Sound. Light and sound assaulted the senses of the Houndour; combined with the force of the Tailwind Fletchling was whipping up, it made enough of a deterrent for them to start running away. There were easier prey elsewhere.
Harry wasn't about to let it go, though. There was a reason he kept a spare Great Ball in his pocket at all times, shrunk so that it was easily unnoticeable. Now he flung it in the direction of one of the fleeing Houndour. It absorbed the Houndour in a flash of red light, and from the way the ball didn't reopen, the capture was successful.
If the Houndour noticed their newly-captured pack member, they showed no sign of it. Instead, they continued racing away, Fletchling continuing the strong wind that buffeted them away while Honedge screeched loudly enough to be a Banette.
When Fletchling and Honedge finally stopped, Harry began taking in the damage. Amazingly enough his belongings hadn't been touched by the stray embers, except for one of his shirts (he stamped out the ember, the burn hole wasn't obvious enough to warrant his throwing it away.) The clearing he had been about to make camp in, though, was a different matter. Small fires burned everywhere, and embers dotted what was left of the grass. There was no way he would be sleeping here tonight.
He walked over to pick up the Great Ball in the grass, weighing it in his hand. Something nudged against him, and he blinked to see his Poké Dex bumping him gently. The tell-tale green light of Telekinesis surrounded it. Harry smiled. "Thank you, Ralts."
He took the Poké Dex, the Telekinesis fading away as he opened it to point at the Great Ball. This Poké Ball contains a Houndour. Houndour, the Dark Pokémon. Houndour hunt as a coordinated pack. They communicate with each other using a variety of cries to corner their prey. This Pokémon's remarkable teamwork is unparalleled. This Houndour is male and has the ability Flash Fire. He knows Leer, Ember, Howl, Smog, Roar, Bite, Fire Fang, Odor Sleuth, Beat Up, Thunder Fang and Inferno.
Harry sucked in his breath. From what he had seen in the pack, there had only been one Houndour with Inferno – otherwise, the clearing would have been ashes by now. That meant that the Great Ball – thrown with no real accuracy or care – had managed to catch the leader of the pack.
Fletchling chirped softly as she landed on a nearby tree. Well, this is a right mess, she commented. Apart from the fact that you now need a new place for the night, what are we going to do with the hell-pup?
He was the alpha. It'll be more than a bit hard to get him to obey, Honedge added. But we'll be happy to beat him into submission if you need us to.
Harry cracked a smile. "Thanks, guys," he said. "Alright. Houndour!"
The Great Ball opened to reveal the Dark Pokémon, crouched low and eyes narrowed. His eyes darted from Harry to Ralts to Fletchling to the Great Ball in Harry's hand, growling as he did so.
Harry knelt down. "Hey, Houndour. I know you were the alpha in your pack, and you seem to be a pretty powerful Pokémon in your own right, but I threw the Poké Ball and now here we are. We didn't exactly have the best of starts – by Giratina, there probably isn't a worse way to start anything – but now that we're here, at a point none of us would have imagined a day ago, would you like to start again in our introductions? Preferably without that Inferno, though. I'm Harry Void, trainer. Would you like to join my team?"
The Houndour snarled softly, eyes fixed on Harry. A two-legs. With the mark of the herald of death. I was a pack leader, but that was then. Being caught would have removed all my authority. Regardless. A human, bearing the signature of destruction. Why would he give you such a distinction? He bared his teeth. I doubt I have the choice. But you are interesting enough, and my position now tenuous enough, for me to agree to go with you. Very well, Harry Void, chosen of the herald. I will join you.
"Thank you, Houndour. I'm sure we can do some pretty great things together. But, uh–"
Before that, hell-pup, you should know that he understood every word you spoke, Fletchling chirped with far too much cheer. And if you step out of line… well, I've been meaning to make my Aerial Ace stronger. I do need a target for that, though.
Houndour stilled completely. Harry winced inside. "Er, yeah, the first part of what she said is true," he said quickly. "But I'll try stop her from using Aerial Ace on you."
You can understand me.
"Yes, I can."
Houndour stared. And stared. And stared some more. Huh. Maybe the loss of my position will be worth this, he decided. You are certainly an interesting individual. Not like other trainers who have come by this path and lit fires here. I will follow you.
"Thank you, Houndour," Harry said. "I'm grateful for your allegiance."
For now.
For now and evermore. Remember, I'm always happy for a target for Aerial Ace. It's so boring otherwise, flying at a non-existent target. Fletchling managed to pull of being threatening and being nonchalant at the same time with alarming success.
Understood.
"So, Houndour," Harry finally said when the silence began to stretch, "you live here, right? Do you know of any other clearings? This one's a little… burnt." Honedge tossed him a duh look, while Ralts eyed the embers pointedly.
Houndour blinked. A place to sleep in. There are plenty. Follow me. He slipped into the darkness, a Thunder Fang illuminating the way with small cracks of lightning. Fletchling eyed the disappearing form of Houndour warily before following, using Flame Charge to light the way. Harry exchanged a look with Honedge.
Well, the wind-daughter does seem like she'll be able to keep him in check, Honedge noted. Shall we follow?
Harry lifted his Bag. "We don't really have many other options, do we?"
I like the way you think, Ralts declared.
~OoOoOoO~
Two days later, Harry tripped over a menhir stone. It wasn't his proudest moment. Thankfully, Fletchling had been scouting ahead. He would have never lived it down if she had been there.
In his defence, the stone had been eroded until it was barely more than a smooth lump in a field of larger lumps, he had been distracted, and the stone was the perfect size for tripping over without breaking a leg.
And there was also the factor of the Tourist who had just suddenly popped out of honest-to-Arceus nowhere, wearing the most terrible clothing Harry had ever seen, who was now looking down on him with a mixture of alarm and bafflement.
"Are you quite all right, dear?" she asked. Harry found himself staring helplessly at the Tentacruel hat she was wearing. Who even knew people made hats shaped like Tentacruel? The question took too long to actually filter through his brain, and by the time it had, the Tourist was taking out a device that Harry vaguely recognised as another region's version of the Holo Caster. "Should I call for help?"
"Ah, no, I'm fine," Harry managed to say, tearing his eyes away from the Tentacruel hat. "There's really no need."
The Tourist blinked. "Are you sure?" The tentacles of the Tentacruel bounced as she swung her head from side to side repeatedly. Harry swallowed a burst of nausea.
Menaces of the sea, and she has it as a hat. A HAT. An actual, honest-to-Arceus HAT.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he repeated, forcing himself to his feet. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."
The Tourist shrugged. "Okay." She nodded at something behind him.
Harry only had a second to feel alarm before something heavy slammed into the back of his head. Then – following in the time-honoured tradition held by those who had something slammed into the back of their head – he passed out.
~OoOoOoO~
He woke up tied to a menhir stone. Well. That was something he couldn't claim to have prepared for.
Judging by the position of the sun in the sky, quite a few hours had passed since his conversation with Tourist Tentacruel. The size of the rock he was tied to probably meant that it was the same rock he'd tripped over. Great. The universe was laughing at him.
More worrying was the fact that he couldn't feel his Poké Balls on his belt, and a quick glance confirmed his fears – they were gone. That placed the Tourist and her accomplice into one of exactly two positions. The less likely one was Team Plasma grunt. And if she was a Team Plasma grunt, Kalos had reason to be extremely worried.
The far more likely one was poacher. Any Pokémon had value to those who couldn't be bothered to catch them, or didn't particularly enjoy the risks of catching them – the rarer or more powerful the better. Harry doubted Tourist Tentacruel thought his Pokémon were valuable, but all Pokémon had value and it was likely she didn't want him to mess up whatever she and her mysterious partner were doing on this route.
Menhir Trail, Route 10, Cyllage-Geosenge – the Eevee. That must have been what she was after. Eevee were prized, and Rangers were more stressed in the off-season when there were less trainers to keep an eye out for them on the routes and the poachers came out to hunt.
But the most pressing thing on Harry's mind was his own Pokémon. The poacher could be anywhere by now, and he had no idea where they were. Being tied to a rock was not helping things.
YOU'RE AWAKE! Fletchling shot from the sky in a blur of red. YOU'RE ALIVE!
Harry blinked. Of course… Fletchling had been scouting ahead. He breathed out a sigh of relief. At least he wasn't going to be completely alone. And now he stood a chance of getting out of the stupid ropes.
Fletchling landed on the stone, examining it critically. I could break it, but the stone would shatter too and that'll make the ghosts angry. Very angry. And herald or not, they'd still be very angry. Oh, why is it that when you need the mind-reader, she isn't here… You'd need a Psychic to remove these without breaking the stone itself, and well, it's just disrespectful if you break the stone, you know?
Harry understood the sentiment, even if it was rather counterproductive to him getting out of the ropes right now. He racked his brain for Pokémon on the Menhir Trail. Eevee, of course, but if there were poachers they'd be too busy fending them off. Wild Houndour and Electrike, both of them incapable of freeing him without either destroying the menhir or giving him severe electric shocks. Emolga, rare but unable to help. Golett, unable to help without again blowing up the rock, and somehow Harry doubted a Ghost would be all that willing to destroy a grave marker. And then there were…
"Sigilyph!" he blurted out. "Fletchling, try see if there are any Sigilyph around, they might be able to help. Especially since I'm kind of tied to a sacred rock and I don't think they're going to be all that happy about that."
Hopefully they're angrier at who tied you up than you being tied to the rock, Fletchling said dryly. I'd tell you to not move, but that's an idiotic statement. She spread her wings and took off.
It felt like an eternity – although it probably wasn't much more than five minutes – before Fletchling returned, a Sigilyph in tow. The Avianoid Pokémon made a series of what Harry presumed were outraged noises at the sight of Harry. He really hoped the Sigilyph was angrier at the ropes, and not at him.
The ropes split apart under the Avianoid Pokémon's glare. Harry immediately scooted away when the glare was turned onto him.
Who did this? The Sigilyph demanded. Who dared mock the graves of the dead? The lord stag would be much displeased if he found out. Who dared this?
"Uh, Pokémon poachers," Harry said slowly, rather unnerved by the ferocity of the Sigilyph. Were Sigilyph meant to be this kind of protective? "I think they were after the Eevee, and I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They also stole my Pokémon."
Foul, the Sigilyph hissed. Oh, foul! First the graves, then the shifters. Have they no shame!
You could get back at them by helping us, Fletchling suggested. Then you'd get revenge.
I must patrol my grounds, the Sigilyph replied, before launching into a speech about decency, graves and Eevee. Fletchling shifted uncertainly.
Harry took the opportunity to stand up and look around. Miraculously, his Bag was still there, with everything inside – either they hadn't bothered, decided a rookie Trainer wasn't going to have anything valuable anyway, or thought that it would make them easier to track down. Maybe it was the Holo Caster, or the Pokédex, both easy to track. Whatever the reason, Harry was just glad his Bag was still there. A little stability was welcome when his Pokémon had been stolen and he had no idea where they were.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, panic was attempting to get out; Harry forced it down with several deep breaths as Fletchling and Sigilyph seemed to reach some sort of agreement.
Sigilyph let out a piercing cry as a wave of blue energy shot outwards, racing rapidly through the field of menhirs. The Psywave– because that was exactly what it was, an unfocused and undirected Psywave – had two effects. The first, as some sort of beacon for the Pokémon of Route 10, because within seconds Pokémon had begun appearing in a loose circle around the three of them. The second effect was to make Harry sit down again; his head swam and he swallowed. No Psywaves after recovering from a concussion, then.
Fletchling coordinated the ensuing conversation with remarkable ease. In the span of a few minutes Harry learned the areas the Eevee and their evolutions had claimed for their own, the Pokémon unfamiliar to the trail that had been sighted, the way the poachers had been heading – and, most importantly, that the poachers were still on the route. Which meant that his Pokémon probably weren't somewhere in another region by now.
It wasn't definitive by any means, but it was a start, a wholly welcome one.
An Electrike offered to go with them, if only because – and to quote her – that particular Houndour you captured was really annoying, so I owe you for getting him out of my life. Harry wasn't about to turn down free help, and after thanking the gathered Pokémon, he, Fletchling and the Electrike set off. A quick Odor Sleuth pinpointed the direction of the poachers.
Ten minutes into their trek, Electrike paused. Something strange… smells like a ground insect. Something that may not belong on this route. But not… not a big ground insect. A small ground insect.
As if in response, a hole opened up right in front of the Electrike. She leapt back, immediately frying whatever was in the hole with a Thunderbolt. Harry was just thankful she didn't use Discharge. That would have hurt.
Nincada crawled out, completely unaffected.
For a long second there was silence, the kind that Kricketots would have chirped in in films. Then Fletchling sighed. Of course the ground-bug would have been let go, escaped, whatever. Of course it was him and not anyone useful. Of course. When did the bug learn to dig, by the way?
Nincada spat sticky threads in response before scrambling up Harry's clothes to his shoulder. Harry fought to remain still during the process – it was difficult, with a bug madly scrambling up his clothes. But he didn't need to fight the smile growing on his face. Nincada might be less dangerous than his other Pokémon, but even so – Harry had another Pokémon back.
Electrike eyed Nincada before snorting. Well, we're in the right direction. Now if only bugs actually had coherency.
out out out rock grass shifter up up up, was Nincada's reply.
Lovely. I'll pretend I understood that.
After another eternity – or maybe it was just half an hour, Harry's sense of time was going mad – Electrike stopped. Ah. The scent of more of you lot. But with metal. Yes, metal – lots of it. She pressed her nose to the ground. A few minutes away. Wait. Guards. Sentries. Not big sentries, too obvious. The steel-edged rock-eaters, possibly. No, there's now fire, lots of it – argh, they are disrupting the scent. But I know what this is. Two are fighting, and neither of those I know. They must be who you are looking for.
When you say two are fighting, Fletchling began, do you know which two are fighting?
The steel-edge rock eater, he – no, not he, she. She is fighting against… I cannot smell her opponent. Must be an air-Pokémon. But scent of plants, too. Not plant-flyer, no, but a Pokémon with the cotton fur. An aerial Pokémon, with cotton fur.
Harry joined the dots. "Lairon and Altaria."
Yes. The steel-edge rock eater and the drake of clouds.
"But Dragons usually have a strong sense of justice, unless they're Hydreigon, obviously. Altaria would never go along with Pokémon poaching. They'd be more on the side of the Rangers – oh. The Rangers."
Follow me. And for Arceus' sake, don't get hit by stray attacks.
It was so loud a few moments later that Harry wondered how he hadn't heard it earlier. The raw, angry bellow of a Lairon, the shrieks of Altaria. The earth shook.
Harry grabbed hold of a menhir, clinging on desperately as the Earthquake rocked Menhir Trail. Electrike blurred into a Quick Attack instead, leaping in a zigzag across the ground. Nincada clung on to his shoulder.
Fletchling, of course, remained unaffected – a good thing, as it turned out, because the next words she shrieked was DUCK!
Harry dived behind the menhir just as a rock hurtled past at speeds trains would be jealous of. Instead of hitting him, it smashed into a tree. An Emolga flew out just as the tree crashed to the ground, cheeks sparking in disapproval.
If that wasn't indication that they were in the right place, Harry was a Ditto. Purple light flashed as Altaria soared down, Dragon Claw in position.
The Lairon roared its challenge in reply.
Harry poked his head above the menhir. The rock that had hurtled past him had displaced a massive net of vines, through which the two Pokémon could be seen. Altaria swooped again.
Past them, Electrike declared. Past them is what you seek. Clearly, you cannot go above them. Or dig your way through. An Earthquake would collapse you all. She paused. Through them, perhaps, is the only way.
We can't possibly go through those two. We'd be in the crossfire, Fletchling argued.
Not if they can't see or smell us. Hearing, that could be more difficult to mask. Do you think you can stay calm and quiet walking through those?
"Maybe," Harry said. "Yes."
He suddenly found himself looking at a wall of golden light – a Light Screen. Turning around, he saw the Sigilyph patrolling the menhirs near him glowing slightly with the effort of maintaining a Light Screen around others. But the Light Screen – manipulated to the correct degree, like what Sigilyph were capable of doing – it had effectively rendered them all invisible.
Electrike fired a Thunderbolt at the nearest tree, sustaining it just long enough for the branch she aimed at to burst into flame. She was aided – somewhat involuntarily – by the Altaria's sudden Flamethrower, Lairon hissing in agitation as the flames began burning merrily. A quick Tailwind from Fletchling all but ensured that the smoke was going to be thick and dense and absolutely torturous to inhale.
Nincada burrowed into Harry's shirt even as he grabbed a spare shirt from his Bag to hold over his nose as they set off into the thick smoke.
Electrike lit their way with small Sparks, contributing to the forest fire they had just began. Harry crouched low in the smoke as they shuffled along, following Electrike's Sparks.
Around the time Harry's throat began burning from smoke inhalation, they stumbled out of it all – straight into a confrontation between a Ranger and Tourist Tentacruel. Oh, and a guy with Sunkern tattooed on his shoulder.
Lovely.
~OoOoOoO~
For the amount of staring and glaring going on, the end was completely anticlimactic. Harry had been expecting a battle of some sort from the sheer poison being flung back and forth between the Ranger and the poachers. Instead, the Ranger's Zebstrika simply electrocuted the pair into unconsciousness.
Harry supposed that was one way to solve a problem. Electrocute it to unconsciousness.
A Klefki unlocked the Eevee's cages, causing an immediate flood of Eevee – and a not-insignificant number of their evolutions – to pour out. Then the sentient key-ring went on to levitate out a handful of Poké Balls – four of which Harry immediately recognised as his.
"If any are yours, just take them," the Ranger called over her shoulder. "Make sure they're the right ones, though, otherwise you'll cause me an incredible amount of paperwork. The bane of everyone, I swear."
Harry nodded and grabbed the four Poké Balls, tossing three of them into the air. Honedge, Ralts and Houndour materialised.
What just happened? Houndour demanded. Last time I checked, we were walking on a path, not wading through hordes of shifters.
And last time I checked, we hadn't been kidnapped by poachers, Ralts grumbled. Is your head alright?
You hit your head? Honedge promptly seized the least important information of the moment. What does the mind-reader mean, you hit your head?
Also, what in the name of all the Legendaries is she doing here? Houndour added, glowering at the Electrike that had accompanied them. She hissed in response, Sparks dancing over her fur.
Wouldn't you like to know, hell-pup, she shot at him.
Fletchling started snickering. Oh, this explanation is going to be f-u-n.
Harry glanced desperately at the Ranger, who was – unfortunately – just out of hearing range. Meaning that he couldn't even pretend to have to hide the fact that he could talk to Pokémon to get out of this explanation. He took a deep breath.
"Let's just say that it's a long story…"
Because Team Rocket doesn't have a monopoly on poaching.
So I'm guessing that quite a few of you are basically wondering why authority figures are now so much more competent than they ever were in games, where you had to go get your own Pokémon back. Long story short, after the world was saved the nth time by a bunch of beginning Trainers, the League decided that enough was enough and revamped their entire system. That also happens to be why the Pokémon world isn't a grimdark nightmare anymore - because the League finally got competent. Of course, small-scale operations still exist, but the increased competence makes it pretty difficult for the criminal underworld to go back into big-scale stuff. And the Rangers are now always looking out for poachers, instead of doing whatever they do in the games (seriously, Unova anyone? Team Plasma was literally in the forest and you still have to go through a few Rangers before fighting them. Shouldn't the Rangers be more interested in catching Team Plasma?)
On a different note, I need to practice writing short works. What better way to do that than drabbles? If everyone could send me a character/setting/prompt (all three, not just one) in their review, I'll see what my mind can dredge up :) (who said schoolwork and fanfic were unrelated?)
But if you don't want to send a prompt, answer the following question instead: In your opinion, which Team was the worst? (ideology/goals/uniform-wise)
Review and send prompts, everybody!
~dreamingthroughstarlight