Hit Count for "The Path of the Aura: Intertwining Crossroads": 8,186.

Hit Count for "The Path of the Aura II: Brothers in Arms": 1,168.

Total Hit Count: 9,354

Before I get this chapter underway, I have some bad news, some good news, some better news, and some great news all in that order.

The bad news is that my laptop computer (an old, yet reliable HP g61-4229wm) has officially crapped out on me. Well, to put it simply, the video chip on it burned out, and no longer works for me. I can´t write on that laptop anymore.

On the upside (this is the good news) is that I almost immediately ordered a brand new laptop to retire my old one. The model that I went with is a Dell i15rvt-6143blk, complete with a touchscreen and running Windows 8. And the best part is that I bought it at a 35% discount on eBay! While it normally retails for about $550, I only paid $373 for it, free shipping as well. I should be getting it sometime next week. So in the mean time, I´m at least still able to write and (more importantly) still be able to upload this chapter by borrowing a laptop from my aunt.

The better news revolves around me and my family. During the 16th to 18th of June, my family and I are heading over to Disneyland in Los Angeles, and then to the neighboring Universal Studios in Hollywood. In short, that should be a blast, once the painful six-hour drive from the California Bay Area (that´s the general área of where I live) is overcome.

And what do I have as the best news? I can describe it in one word.

Graduation.

That´s right! As of June 6th, 2014, I just graduated from college and I´m completing the final steps in becoming a Registered Veterinary Technician. I´m already beginning the job hunt for a proper position in my designated career as I type this out. I´ve already gotten a couple of interviews during this month, so it shouldn´t be long before I´m tending to sick animals.

...And giving them my share of affection. Because, come on. You have to have no soul if you don´t adore kittens and puppies. :3

And don´t worry about any possibilities of me suddenly deciding that this chapter will be my last. I wouldn´t dare do such a thing until the day comes that I can close this story. But the way that I see it, I don´t see that happening for a long time.

So, as a college graduate and greenhorn RVT, I give you the 31st (when it´s actually the 39th) chapter to my ¨The Path of the Aura¨series.

And this one should be quite the surprise.

Chapter XXXI (31): The Plate of Combat

Location: Hall of Origin

Date: ?

Time: ?

"Hmm… Without Tiny to converse with, or any of the Pokémon that I've already sent into My Game, I find Myself growing a bit lonely as I remain here within My Hall of Origin. Nevertheless, I know that I must remain here. I'm not even at one percent the strength that I once was, when I harnessed the power of the eighteen Pokémon Attributes at My disposal, through My own Normal-Type attribute and through the seventeen elemental plates that granted Me and exclusively Me My absolute power.

"…Well, My loneliness here is only temporary and somewhat distracting Me from My present tasks. There's still the matter of viewing the progress that Xeno's Coadjutors are making in My assignment. And standing here within My realm, moping about My current lack of company is only going to hinder Me.

"Now, let's see what My Earth derivative has to show Me about their present progress…

"…

"…

"…Now, this is unsurprising to Me. The Coadjutors of the Pokémon of Prophecy are progressing rapidly and steadily with their mission. They've presently acquired five of My sixteen elemental plates, and are working on acquiring the remaining eleven. They're proving their worth already to Me.

"It's exactly as I expected out of them. And if they proceed comfortably at this rate, I'll have My full power once again, and prove Myself to be of greater use against the Void of the Dark One.

"…Not that I'm weak or useless or anything of sorts. I'm already responsible for most of what has been done up until now. And yet, unless I play a stronger role in what's to come, it may not be enough in the long run.

"The only obstacle and my only concern on the success of those twelve Coadjutors reside in the form of Team Rocket. They're just as determined to gather My elemental plates as Xeno's comrades. And if they have such events go their way, then they're inadvertently turning fate over towards the Dark One.

"…I pray that the Coadjutors can suppress Team Rocket from taking what belongs to Me.

"…Wait, hold on. I'm the God of All Pokémon. If I pray, I'm essentially speaking to Myself. And if I'm already speaking to Myself, then what good does a prayer do for me?

"…

"(*Sigh*) I'm so lonely…"

39.1: "Arceus, We Have a Situation."

Location: Route 215

Time: Afternoon

EAST OF SPEAR PILLAR

NESTLED BETWEEN THREE CITIES

AND NORTH OF VALOR

For this particular riddle that Wanderer Lucario deciphered back at Spear Pillar, from the respective pillar that it was inscribed on, the core concept of this haiku was entirely geographical when realized.

And as it came naturally from their overall experience back during their Team Liberator days, the geography of Sinnoh has become second nature to them.

"East of Spear Pillar". Automatically, that limits the location to whatever resides in that referenced direction. "Nestled between three cities." This simply specified that whatever the location of this particular elemental plate is, it resides in somewhat close proximity to a few human cities. "And north of Valor". This obviously highlighted Lake Valor, even without the use of the word lake in the riddle, likely because it would've been mildly redundant and have broken the rhythm of this syllabic poem.

So, with that in mind, the location that best fits the description of this riddle is none other than Route 215. It lies east of Spear Pillar, north of Lake Valor, and even resides between and in close proximity to three other cities: Celestic Town (to its northwest), Solaceon Town (to its south), and Veilstone City (to its east).

With no other location in the Sinnoh Region even remotely coming close to best fitting the riddle's description, Wanderer Lucario committed Route 215 as the location of the elemental plate that rested dormant there: the Fist Plate.

To go retrieve this particular plate, Wanderer Lucario sent Dusknoir to go collect it.

With its destination and target now committed into memory, Dusknoir hovered down Mt. Coronet, heading directly eastward towards Route 215.

Along the way, Dusknoir made the most of the ethereal properties of its Ghost-Type attribute, and used them whenever they were needed as it traveled. When it came across a wall of solid rock as it descended from Mt. Coronet, it turned intangible and trekked right through it. When it came across a Pokémon Trainer willing to fight for custody of the Gripper Pokémon, Dusknoir turned invisible and evaded them immediately.

Of course, it wasn't like any Pokémon Trainer could defeat it, let alone capture it. The rigorous training that Dusknoir gained throughout its Team Liberator days gave it enough experience and physical stamina to combat the Pokémon parties of 10 ordinary Pokémon Trainers. And even if said humans succeeded in defeating it in battle, their victory is hollow. They would throw a Poké Ball at Dusknoir only to realize that it had no effect, that Dusknoir had already been captured and registered into a Poké Ball, into one of many that belonged to it and its allies, all of which Xeno Lucario fortunately took with him when he left this Earth and entered another one.

Inevitably, despite the pathetic obstacles that came its way, Dusknoir successfully made its way over to the westernmost point of Route 215.

Unfortunately, upon reaching this particular point, the idea that locating the Fist Plate within Route 215 would be a cakewalk was almost instantaneously abolished.

Dusknoir quickly shrouded itself behind a towering tree and observed this situation from a distance.

"(Arceus, we have a situation.)" Dusknoir pondered at what it was seeing take place here.

Before its single red eye resided a rather precarious sight between sides of both good and evil by humanity's definition of both subjects, in the form of a barricade blocking off any direct access into Route 215.

On the outer side of this barricade, a squad of law enforcement personnel attempted to chip away at the opposing side that was keeping them from proceeding any further in. And on the inner side of this barricade, of all possible people, was a squad of highly-trained Team Rocket agents, impeding the progress of the police and keeping them all back.

Both sides, from Dusknoir's distant perspective on this event, appeared to be dead even with each other. Neither side let up for a moment with whatever it was that they were presently doing, whether it was giving orders to their particular Pokémon or the use of their own handheld weaponry to immobilize or permanently disable the enemy. Both sides merely held firm in their own positions, their tactics and the power of their Pokémon doing very little to nothing in giving either side a decisive or supplementary edge.

And unfortunately for the cops, this is exactly what the Team Rocket personnel that were keeping the local authorities back wanted to do. They didn't want any intrusion from anyone outside of Team Rocket to meddle in their antagonistic affairs.

As to why Team Rocket was doing this, Dusknoir could only begin to speculate from its discreet position.

"(Team Rocket is here in Route 215.)" Dusknoir began to hypothesize. "(That fact alone tells me that whatever their reason is for being here isn't a beneficial one. They're most likely here for reasons that I once had the displeasure of following, back when I was a Pokémon that served under their malicious hands.)"

In the process of thinking what Team Rocket's ulterior motives were for being here, Dusknoir couldn't help but digress ever so slightly.

"(I'm fortunate then that I was bestowed upon the hands of Mewtwo and then passed down to Xeno Lucario, instead of some arrogant human trash that falls into the detritus of human nature.)"

Dusknoir stopped right there and focused on what it was seeing from its stationary place.

"(A squad of human law enforcement is here to try to break this scene, but to no avail. So naturally, they're against whatever it is Team Rocket is attempting to do here. And if Team Rocket is blocking off the western way to Route 215, then they're most likely blocking off the eastern entrance as well.)"

Dusknoir's eye then narrowed at what this meant for the nefarious crime syndicate.

"(And I know all too well what it is that Team Rocket is after, if they're here and I'm here, noticing their presence.)"

Dusknoir stepped away from the tree that it was residing behind and turned invisible once more, its mind adjusting to the severity of the situation and causing its body to snap itself into a battle ready state.

"(They're here before me and using their resources in locating the Fist Plate! I have no time to waste then if I want to obtain it before them! I won't fail in doing so either, because everything hinges on my success or failure, alongside all of my comrades!)"

Now that it was imperceptible from the eyes of the humans and their Pokémon, Dusknoir hovered higher into the air and flew well over the barricade that stood between it and the Fist Plate. And in the process of passing over this barricade, not one sound was made in the Gripper Pokémon's part, not one thing that would give away its presence and make Team Rocket suspect that an intruder had breached their defenses.

Nevertheless, because Dusknoir was indiscernible to the eyes of these humans and Pokémon, that didn't mean it was entirely nonexistent to them.

At one point, one of Team Rocket's canine-like Pokémon, a Houndoom, paused from its combat when it detected Dusknoir's scent invade its sensitive snout. But before it could make sense of it, it was beaten down to a pulp by an Arcanine belonging to one of the police officers.

39.2: "I Don't Need Armor to Defeat Traitorous Trash."

Location: Route 215 (Center)

Unsurprising to those that have acknowledged the nefarious nature of Team Rocket, the collection of operatives from this crime syndicate had positioned themselves within the center of Route 215. Within here, they were literally remodeling the landscape with their feverish digging, all in search of the Fist Plate that resided somewhere along here. In their attempts to locate the Fighting-Type elemental plate that Arceus once drew Its power from, Team Rocket used any and every possible tool in their arsenal to locate the priceless stone tablet.

A good portion of the Grunts here operated digging equipment both large and small. Some of these operatives operated bulldozers or mechanized drill on mobile vehicles, while the more physically fit individuals resorted to shovels for hopeful progress. Alongside them, Grunts with a better understanding of sophisticated technology operated high-powered sonar equipment and walked across every square foot of Route 215 at a Slakoth's pace, never overlapping a particular patch of ground more than once as they detected what was below their feet.

Lastly—and quite obviously—, most of the Grunts employed the use of their Pokémon to locate the Fist Plate. The vast majority of these Pokémon were Ground-Type or Rock-Type by their natures, and they used their mastery over the earth to shove it aside as per their respective masters' stern commands.

In the middle of all of this activity, Giovanni himself was amongst them, guiding his personnel masterfully so that they cover the most amount of ground in the shortest timeframe possible. And simultaneously, he was answering to the updates that he was receiving from the individual Team Rocket agents that were manning the barricades on the eastern and western sides of Route 215. For the most part, those updates were exclusively informative, just there to let Giovanni know that their work here would continue to go unimpeded.

"Excellent…yes…make sure it stays that way." Giovanni said his final words to these reports before hanging up on his communications device.

With everything going well so far, Giovanni took a pause from his role here and surveyed what was going on around him.

In short, what Giovanni was seeing around him was enough to make him smile. The progress that his squad was making here, with their machinery, Pokémon, and technology, was welcoming. However, what was more welcoming to the Boss of Team Rocket were the levels of calculated destruction that they were bringing to this respective area. All of the persistent digging that his men made, through both their machines and their Pokémon, gradually made Route 215 look as though it was the site of an amalgam of natural disasters, or of a great clash between two opposing forces, whichever idea people comprehended and most likely favored to make sense of the drastic change in the environment.

Nevertheless, despite this, Giovanni was a man who has proven to both himself and to his minions, time and time again, that he maintained a disciplined level of focus on the greater goals that he had in mind, that he committed himself to accomplishing.

And for today, it was the Fist Plate, one of sixteen elemental plates that gave the Almighty Alpha Pokémon Its incalculable power. Locating that elusive item was his top priority, with the manmade and Pokémon-made demolishment of Route 215 settling in as a close second in his list of objectives.

"Boss! Boss!" One of his operatives shouted out to him as he was running over towards him.

Giovanni turned around to face him, his serious aura remaining apparent due to the importance of this setting to his motives. "Yes, what is it?"

"We've found the plate, boss!" He continued, his level of excitement obvious in his present tone of voice. "There's no mistaking it! We found the Fist Plate!"

Giovanni's sinister smile returned onto his face after hearing this grand news. "Excellent. Now, take me to it."

With this particular agent leading his way, Giovanni proceeded over to the precise location where his Grunts located the elusive tablet. The trek there was short, only a few hundred feet away from where Giovanni was standing earlier. And surrounding the presumed location of the Fist Plate was the vast majority of the personnel on this excavation mission, all of them either dismounted from their specialized excavation machinery or having returned their assigned Pokémon back into their Poké Balls. And in mere moments, all of them stared down at the irregular hole in the earth that they helped create.

And when Giovanni entered this scene and joined his fellow Grunts by looking down into this hole, the Boss of Team Rocket ogled the item that stood out amongst the tens of tons of dirt surrounding it.

Within the center of this dirt hole, the pale salmon color of the Fist Plate was made viewable to its audience.

To Giovanni, there was no mistaking the identity of this item.

"Excellent work, everybody." Giovanni praised, rarely giving such a thing in general unless events genuinely work out in his favor without any room for error. "Now, someone go down there and recover the Fist Plate."

Almost as if on cue when he said that, the Fist Plate itself began to stir from its spot in the earth. Before the ogling Grunts could make sense of the matter, the Fist Plate began to rise from its manmade crater, hovering slowly upward into the sky, defying the principles of gravity, logic, and physics in the process.

All of the observant Grunts that saw the Fist Plate rise higher and higher—from the crater to the base of their feet, to their waistline, to their eye level, and overhead onward—couldn't look away from the item. Their eyes were glued onto the stone tablet as though the very item was enchanted, attracting the attention of these individuals, and getting virtually nothing else.

Giovanni however, strongly suspected that something was amiss here. His gaze from the Fist Plate drops and he looks about to notice the relatively blank expressions of his gofers, only to shake his head at their complete lack of common sense.

"(*Sigh*) (I'm surrounded by idiots…)" Giovanni contemplated in monotone before raising his right hand up to his eye level, and then pressing the tip of his middle finger and his thumb together, ready to snap them in doing so. "(What would they do without me…?)"

Snap!

And snap his fingers he did, smirked slightly after hearing a short sound only he knows best.

Even though the Grunts looking on at the hovering Fist Plate assumed that it was the power of the plate itself that was causing it to defy gravity, it simply wasn't the case. Instead, Dusknoir was the Pokémon responsible for the rising elemental plate. The Gripper Pokémon was merely invisible to the naked eye and retrieved the item from the ground, doing very little in both disturbing the ground and alerting others of its presence here. And as it was rising and gave off the illusion that the Fist Plate that it was holding was rising as well, Dusknoir turned its body around to face Mt. Coronet, with the full intent of returning back.

Nevertheless, because Giovanni suspected something, Dusknoir's invisibility will eventually prove to be pointless. Because, almost immediately after the Boss of Team Rocket snapped his fingers, one of his Pokémon acted out in heartbeat's notice.

Just as Dusknoir was about to flee the scene with the Fist Plate in hand, Dusknoir was suddenly caught off guard by a SHADOW BALL attack, fired directly at the center of its backside, from an earthbound Gengar.

The force of impact proved great enough to firstly envelop its body in the smoke residue that formed from the explosion of the attack—which in turn caused the smoke itself to wrap around its unseen body—, and then snap its concentration on its invisibility like a twig in a hurricane. The result of this SHADOW BALL attack made Dusknoir plainly visible to all that are already ogling it, blowing its cover absolutely.

This proved beneficial to an incoming Bisharp as it followed suit from the Gengar's projectile attack. It leapt high into the air and outstretched its razor sharp arm towards the Gripper Pokémon, using NIGHT SLASH on Dusknoir's backside when it was within reach.

What was earlier a scorch mark lingering from Gengar's SHADOW BALL was now a reasonable laceration that oozed an ethereal blood-like ectoplasm, unlike that of humans or most Pokémon. The attack itself carried enough force to rattle Dusknoir's being, causing it to unfortunately fumble the Fist Plate from its grasp. The item slipped out of its large fingers and fell down below, regrettably right into the hands of Giovanni.

Dusknoir forced itself to land farther out from this place and attempted to tend to the new pair of wounds on its backside. But unfortunately for the Gripper Pokémon, it was never given the opportunity to do so. Because when it landed, it found itself immediately surrounded by Giovanni's distinct party of six Pokémon.

Dusknoir already knew of the Bisharp and Gengar after sustaining their particular attacks physically, and both of those Pokémon took their place in surrounding the classified enemy. And alongside them, four more Pokémon took their places around the Gripper Pokémon. Before Dusknoir's single red eye, it ogled the venomous appearance of a Drapion, the muscular build of a Golurk, the sharp claws and serrated teeth of a Krookodile, and even the leering glare of a Zorua.

All six of these Pokémon strategically plated themselves around Dusknoir, placed in such a way as though they were on the even numbered digits of an analog clock. They expected Dusknoir to try to escape from this location, and they weren't willing to let Dusknoir do so.

Unfortunately for them however, Dusknoir had absolutely no intention of escaping here, not without the Fist Plate at least. And since Giovanni had it right now, Dusknoir was committed to fight for custody of it.

So, to the Bisharp at Dusknoir's two o'clock position, it was caught somewhat off guard when Dusknoir suddenly bolted over to it, and dexterously gripped Bisharp's entire midsection with its massive hands, pinning Bisharp's hands uncomfortably to its sides and even pressing them on the blades lining Bisharp's torso.

And then, before any of the five Pokémon made sense of this and acted out on their opponent, Dusknoir employed a bizarre technique on Bisharp, though a mysterious power that quickly exuded outward from Dusknoir's body, in the form of a wraithlike aura which surged and migrated over towards a baffled Sword Blade Pokémon. And then, with Dusknoir's PAIN SPLIT technique connected and primed, Dusknoir concentrated on the physical being of its opponent and did just as the technique's name employed.

What was once a scorch mark and a hemorrhaging laceration on Dusknoir's back was now only a small fraction of the initial injury, barely an inflamed area that was hardly seeping blood-like ectoplasm. And that was because the vast majority of this injury, through Dusknoir's power, actually migrated over towards Bisharp. Dusknoir could feel the Sword Blade Pokémon squirm from the sharp pain of having its backside gain most of the injury that it originally inflicted on the Gripper Pokémon, bleeding considerably to the point where it seeped through Dusknoir's fingers.

And unfortunately for the Bisharp, because it was nowhere near the level of overall expertise that Dusknoir is at, it quickly lost its energy and became limp in Dusknoir's oversized grip. In this particular moment, Dusknoir merely removed its grip on Bisharp and smacked the Sword Blade Pokémon square on the right side of its head with one single BRICK BREAK attack, causing the Pokémon to sharply dart over to its side and limply land on its side, unconscious and absolutely no match for Dusknoir's superior experience and resilience in battle.

Unfortunately for Dusknoir, it still had five more Pokémon to face, and two of them ferociously attacked the Gripper Pokémon—out of a partial sense of retribution but mostly a bloodlust for battle—shortly after it knocked out Bisharp.

Dusknoir felt a conjunction of Drapion's CROSS POISON attack graze an "X" on its backside, shoving it forward enough to Golurk, whom punched Dusknoir's ghostly face in with FIRE PUNCH almost immediately after.

Both attacks toppled Dusknoir's onto its backside into the dirt, but only briefly. Dusknoir shrugged off the harmful attacks almost as though they were nothing, and forced itself to hover off of the ground to rise and angle itself back upright. It glared at the five Pokémon that it had left to fight, acknowledging them all as formidable opponents just from having endured a few of their successful attacks, and strongly believed that they wouldn't be pushovers as they fought.

"If we continue to fight, there's no guarantee that I will value your lives enough to allow you five to live." Dusknoir explained to them with a tone of telepathic voice that suggested it was warning them over threatening them.

All five Pokémon just stared on at their enemy fervently, four of them snarling at it in the process. The fifth of this group however, the Zorua runt of this pack, just kept its eyes firmly on the Gripper Pokémon, already taking into account just how formidable this Pokémon is and how it managed to take down a Pokémon with a superior Type attribute, and still be able to continue without having its vigor even remotely dampened.

But just before Dusknoir's opponents could rush it once again…

Snap!

That same sound echoing from Giovanni's released fingers echoed briefly to the ears of these Pokémon, having them all suddenly turn passive and await their master's orders.

The next sound that those Pokémon and Dusknoir heard was that of the fainted Bisharp being returned to its respective Poké Ball. And then, to all of their eyes, they could see Giovanni calmly walking forward, inserting himself into this picture, pressing the button on his Poké Ball and stuffing away the shrunken capsule into one of the pockets of his bold, carroty suit. He still held onto the Fist Plate in his other hand, confident that Dusknoir wouldn't try to take it from him by force.

And his confidence was fortified by Dusknoir's forced, reluctant, stationary posture.

Firstly, despite having every opportunity right now to seize the Fist Plate from him and flee with it, there were quite a few dilemmas that would project themselves before Dusknoir if it so much as moved a finger towards Giovanni. Dusknoir would have this entire squad of Team Rocket agents come after it, perhaps even the entirety of Team Rocket. Like Combee to an Ursaring with a sweet tooth, Team Rocket would swarm in and pursue it, especially if it travelled back to Spear Pillar with the Fist Plate in hand.

Giovanni in particular would lividly enjoy returning there after the harsh fiasco that it endured from Palkia's tail bitch slap.

Secondly, and much more likely, Dusknoir would be too slow to evade or outrun them in general. Its particular species were never known for their speed. Their entire lack of speed was what all Dusknoir possessed, and it is no distinguishable exception. Sure, Dusknoir possessed exceptionally more power than those of its own race, and certainly much more experience, but its speed will always be an encumbrance, even with beneficial yet temporary aids or techniques—such as SHADOW SNEAK or TRICK ROOM—that could amplify its already mediocre alacrity.

To change its speed permanently would be just as impossible as changing its very Ghost-Type nature. It can be done briefly, but then it sheds away almost immediately, like broken teeth from a Sharpedo, once it has served its purpose.

So, because of that, Dusknoir just remained idle and waited patiently to hear Giovanni's reasons for being here. Its eye consistently shifted back and forth from Giovanni's face, the Fist Plate that he held between his arm and his side, the particular party of Dark-Type and Ghost-Type Pokémon that the Boss brought with him, and back again, never for over a second each time.

A Formidable Enemy Appears/Pocket Monsters Sound Anime Collection/Pikachu Records

(Song Begins)

"I suspected as much when my team and I arrived here to Route 215 to locate this plate," Giovanni began, highlighting his held item. "I expected some sort of resistance or interference from one of Xeno Lucario's mutinous acquaintances."

"…" Dusknoir remained silent, glaring at the Boss during the time that its red eye hovered its way.

"And my assumptions were right on the money," Giovanni said with a serious countenance aimed at the Gripper Pokémon. "One of those despicable Pokémon is here before me, trying to foil my plans."

"…I can see that you still remember me fondly, after so many years." Dusknoir commented.

Upon hearing that remark, Giovanni smiled malevolently at the truth of it, clenching his teeth ever so slightly as his anger seeped out for only a second. "Of course I remember you. I remember all of Xeno's infernal allies as though it were only yesterday. I remember your leader shouting at his smaller, whiter counterpart, telling it that the time that it was providing its friends was a blessing, and that it was being wasted by bawling."

"…" Dusknoir recalls that particularly emotional dialogue between Wanderer and Xeno Lucario quite well actually. Back then, even though the Gripper Pokémon was piloting the cargo helicopter that carried all of Xeno's friends away from Team Rocket Main Headquarters, their conversation still echoed all throughout the broad expansion of a room that held all of Team Rocket's flying machines and earthbound vehicles. And even though Giovanni will never know what resulted of that bitter conversation—not like it would ever tell the Boss of Team Rocket something so personal—, Dusknoir knew what became of it and how everything worked out for the better between both Aura Pokémon. Wanderer understood that Xeno did it out of their overall wellbeing, and was forced to snap like that for time's sake and for relinquishing the weight of its lethal encumbrance.

"Then, after you piloted my stolen cargo helicopter out of my Main HQ building," Giovanni continued, hiding in his anger as he spoke. "I was left with your leader of 'Team Liberator' to take my wrath out against, through my prototype battle suit that I was forced to utilize in order to hold my own against a Pokémon of such monstrous power."

"And we both know how well that turned out, don't we." Dusknoir remarked, making sure that "little" detail wasn't left out.

For a slight moment, Dusknoir's eyes glared at Giovanni long enough for it to see Giovanni's fists clench in frustration of having that fact made clear and reminded to him.

"It told you what became of that battle, didn't it? That dark blue piece of shit…" Giovanni's anger seeped out of his clenched teeth when he cursed Xeno's name. "When it left me after freezing me solid, I thawed to discover that it had mutilated my Main HQ of its most important resource and transportation means. After that day, I was forced to contact my other HQ buildings scattered globally and pool in their resources to help even out the damages and setbacks that your azure-furred abomination left me in. In the end, Xeno and its allies cost me hundreds of millions of dollars in overall setbacks, setting us back a few years as a result of his 'heroics'."

The information that Dusknoir heard from Giovanni was informative, pleasing, welcoming, yet redundant.

"What do I care of you and your Team Rocket crime consortium after my friends and I escaped from that prison?" Dusknoir bluntly stated. "All that mattered after Xeno liberated us all was the lingering satisfaction that we all held when Xeno told us what it did to you. I distinctly remember Xeno clarifying to me and my comrades what it did to you throughout your battle. Xeno told me how you could never hope to defeat it, how a Pokémon of its unbelievable magnitude could no longer be shackled by your law, your rules, your 'customs' and 'traditions'. Xeno told me how you, with all your blood money, your squalidly earned resources, your stained red machinery—and in the case of that particular battle, your cheap tricks—, failed to prevent its escape."

(Song Ends)

On any other day, Giovanni would've been blind with rage after being reminded of that particular day, in so much detail to the point where Giovanni remembers the lingering pain and shame of that moment, having been rendered so low in his life and having his very pride frozen over alongside his body and battle armor.

But in this day, even though Giovanni was definitely furious at what Dusknoir reminded him of, he returned to a calm, outward composure. And most importantly, he retained his rationality and his snide grin, the most dangerous aspect that Dusknoir is facing at the moment.

"You forget that, back then, my battle armor was still in its prototype stages. Had that not been the case, then you and Xeno and all of your petty, worthless friends would've been under my outright cruelty. You would all glare at me in fear, beg for my mercy, and kneel before me over the last moments of your lives before I would tear you all in two with my bare hands."

Once again, Giovanni raised his free right hand and pressed the tips of his middle finger and thumb together. Giovanni's remaining party of five Pokémon noticed this gesture and became ready for what they knew would follow.

"But regardless of the status of that particular weapon that I've designed and forged, yet made too dull and too soft for me to properly handle against the tempered steel might of Xeno Lucario, I don't need armor to defeat traitorous trash, not when I have Pokémon that have been born and molded to obey my every command."

Snap!

Sinister Shadows/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete - CD5 - Kingdom Hearts II OST/Yoko Shimomura

(Song Begins)

A snap of his fingers was all that he gave the Gripper Pokémon before he about-faces and walks away from the scene, with the remainder of his squad and their specialized equipment for this particular mission coming along with him, to exit Route 215 altogether with the Fist Plate in their possession. And unfortunately for Dusknoir, it couldn't follow after them in pursuit to reclaim the elemental plate, because it was instantly swarmed by Giovanni's remaining party of five Pokémon.

All five of Dusknoir's remaining opponents surrounded it, forming the dots of a pentagon around the Gripper Pokémon with their disciplined formation. Dusknoir glared evenly at each and every single one of them, knowing well enough that being surrounded raised its chances of being backstabbed.

Though at the same time, Dusknoir knew well enough of its powers in battle and still felt as though these Pokémon were making a mistake. So it addressed to them that statement one more time.

"I'm warning you five for the last time!" Dusknoir reinforced. "You all risk losing your lives in deciding to engage me!"

From Dusknoir's perspective, only Zorua takes into account this warning. The other four Pokémon snarl once again at their levitating target, while Zorua merely looks on, clearly acknowledging the gravity of the battle that's to come.

The decision between these five Pokémon to risk throwing away their lives against the Gripper Pokémon was unanimous. Dusknoir felt no need to state this fact again only because it would fall under the deaf ears of arrogant, single-minded imbeciles.

"Well then, since you're all so confident in your capabilities of defeating me," Dusknoir formed a battle stance and remained stationary. "Come at me whenever you're ready."

The stark bravado that Dusknoir emanated resonated sufficiently within its opponents, enough so that they found themselves thinking defensively instead of recklessly clashing Dusknoir in unison. Giovanni's party of antagonistic Pokémon sensed Dusknoir's confidence in this battle and, much to their better training, actually ogled each other, deciding amongst each other with their individual glares who should engage the Gripper Pokémon first.

And through their glares—all of which Dusknoir was discreetly noticing when they weren't ogling it—, they decided on having Golurk engage the Gripper Pokémon, mostly because Golurk was the largest and most physically stalwart Pokémon in this small squadron.

So, with that in mind to the Automaton Pokémon, Golurk broke its present stillness and rushed over towards Dusknoir, getting the full attention of its opponent with its monstrously loud gait. And as it ran over towards Dusknoir, appearing like a train plowing down its track to it, Golurk cocked its right arm back, coiled its right hand into a fist, and concentrated on its type attribute to have its arms suddenly become enveloped in a ghostly veil.

Dusknoir noticed Golurk preparing its SHADOW PUNCH attack and followed suit just a second after Golurk. It hovered towards it, just as fast as Golurk—because both Pokémon were relatively slow in general—and retracted its right arm back for a SHADOW PUNCH attack as well.

Upon punching distance, both Pokémon rocketed their fists forward and clashed broad knuckles with each other. The force of SHADOW PUNCH meeting SHADOW PUNCH, between two Pokémon that possessed considerable physical power, proved great enough to release a shockwave that disrupted the loosened ground that they all stood on top of. In a split second, a sound that was the audible equivalent of lightning rang out throughout Route 215, and then they were all blinded by the dirt that exploded into the air, blending well into it in the form of a cloud of dust.

But even though all six Pokémon here were rendered unable to see, that didn't stop Dusknoir and Golurk from striking against each other like a pair of professional boxers. The evidence of that to the four Pokémon surrounding Dusknoir and Golurk was through the sickening sounds of fists meeting ectoplasm-based flesh in conjunction with fists meeting a ceramic-like hide.

Both Dusknoir and Golurk, while blinded by the dust cloud, committed themselves to launch fist after fist against each other. Each of them timed their SHADOW PUNCH techniques closely in conjunction with each other, having to rely on seeing exactly where the fists of their adjacent opponent were coming from in order to launch their own. The result of this left each of them striking each other half of the time.

And throughout those successful punches launched against each other, each of them felt the bitter force of their fists meeting against each other's bodies. Both combatants felt a considerable amount of body shots, gut shots, and head shots. But throughout those stalwart punches that both combatants threw at each other with a rough 50/50 success rate, neither side appeared to give in to each other. Golurk didn't give in because it was fighting against an opponent that possessed a similar fighting style to it and yet was an entirely different Pokémon altogether. And Dusknoir didn't give in because it was committed to recovering the Fist Plate from human forces that it has deemed as enemies to its shared cause.

Which is why, when Dusknoir knew that the dust cloud would clear eventually by being carried off in the wind, it had to turn this pugilistic match in its favor, and do so quickly because it still had four other Pokémon to combat.

So when Dusknoir noticed the slightest signs of Golurk's bizarrely shaped head emerge through the taupe cloud, Dusknoir gave 100% of its punching power in striking Golurk's face.

To Golurk, it was too little too late in responding properly when the dust cloud cleared enough to allow it to see Dusknoir better. Dusknoir launched barrage after barrage of ghostly fisticuffs directly at Golurk's face, giving each punch enough force to not only stun Golurk and rendering it incapable of defending itself and/or fighting back, but have Golurk's face begin to crumble and implode.

To the four surrounding Pokémon, they're still unable to see past the dust cloud enough to see who exactly is on the receiving end of those powerful clouts.

Not until it was too late.

Once half of the dust cloud either settled back down or was blown away, they were able to see that it wasn't Dusknoir that was beaten to a bloody pulp, but it was their ally Golurk instead. With their widened eyes, they grew shocked at how broken Golurk's face became. And even though both Pokémon were bleeding significantly from the bruising of their vehement pugilism, this ethereal blood was much more prominent on Golurk's face, during the time that Dusknoir took advantage of the partial clearing of the dust.

After almost two dozen consecutive punches on Golurk's shattered ceramic-like face, Dusknoir stopped using SHADOW PUNCH on its broken opponent—felling only a slight tingling sensation across its entire hand after launching such attacks in rapid succession—and spend a very brief period of time to analyze Golurk's current status.

"(Whether or not you have a brain within that structure you call a head,)" Dusknoir pondered. "(I'm actually astonished that you're still standing, but only just.)"

"…" The Golurk was too broken to say anything, and was barely able to think or act. Its body swayed slightly in the wind, entirely vulnerable for a final blow.

Dusknoir eyed past the departing dust cloud and noticed that its remaining four opponents were beginning to become visible, and would likely retaliate all the more vindictively at it for defeating Golurk.

"(I'd better make this quick,)" Dusknoir concluded before ogling Golurk's crushed countenance and settling in on how to finish it off in one last attack.

Dusknoir clasped both of its palms together and focused its energy to form a SHADOW BALL attack within its hands, until it held onto a basketball-sized chunk of concentrated wraithlike energy that forced its palms apart and its fingers to wrap themselves around it.

Dusknoir's four observing enemies noticed this charged SHADOW BALL attack and knew what it was about to do with it. They remained stationary long enough and rushed Dusknoir from their general direction. Zorua however, remained firm and continued assessing the Gripper Pokémon's battle acumen and experience from a relatively safe distance.

With the attack primed and a quick glance left and right to see Drapion, Gengar, and Krookodile hastily approaching the Gripper Pokémon, Dusknoir wasted no time in launching its SHADOW BALL attack at Golurk's face and then bracing its remaining opponents' onslaught.

Dusknoir's SHADOW BALL attack flew straight and true at its target, colliding with Golurk's head, exploding upon having its spherical equilibrium disrupted irreversibly, and then obliterating every square inch of Golurk's head in a flash of heat, smoke, and facial fragments. All that remained of Golurk's head was its neck and a trail of smoke that hovered over it, which formed a bit of an arch in the air when Golurk's lifeless body fell with a resounding thud onto its back.

Dusknoir launched its attack quickly enough to make itself ready and whomsoever was coming closest to it. Its looked over at Krookodile and narrowly leaned its head back to evade a CRUNCH attack aimed at the entirety of its head. And acting quickly, Dusknoir gripped Krookodile's shut jaws with both of its massive hands before launching the Intimidation Pokémon over its head, flying dozens of feet away from it, just as Drapion followed after the failed attempt of its partner.

As Dusknoir hovered back to evade Drapion's subsequent use of CROSS POISON and NIGHT SLASH aimed its way via the Ogre Scorp Pokémon's freakishly long, head mounted claws, one thought continued to present itself within Dusknoir's mind.

"(My Arceus, what were You on when You made the Drapion race?)" Dusknoir thought before shifting its left body back to narrowly avoid a downward swipe of Drapion's outstretched right claw, and then, and then tilting its head right to avoid a jab from Drapion's left claw. "(I don't think there's any other Pokémon alive with a more nightmarish appearance than you! You almost make me want to pull my only eye out of its socket!)"

With Krookodile on the ground some distance away and regaining its composure before coming rushing back into this picture, that left Gengar to take advantage of Dusknoir's particular predicament with an aggressive Drapion. It moved its way over until it was directly behind Dusknoir as the enemy was still hovering back to avoid Drapion's attack supplemented by its particularly long reach.

Gengar grinned to the point where the ends of its lips covered the leftmost and rightmost sides of its face as it held its stubby hands outward to its target. The Shadow Pokémon channeled a cluster of dark aura within its small palms for a brief amount of time until it formed a tightly packed sable sphere. And without so much as an apprehensive thought on the matter, Gengar fired what appeared to be energized, blackened chain links to its target, the form that its DARK PULSE technique would adopt.

Dusknoir heard the sound that Gengar's DARK PULSE technique made as it cut through the wind and made a Combee-line towards its back. To an amateur opponent, the technique would potentially prove itself to be successful on its target. To Dusknoir however, because it was highly experienced and knew how to combat multiple opponents simultaneously, its eyes narrowed slightly at what this would eventually mean for the foolish Shadow Pokémon.

"(Imbecile…)" Dusknoir thought before focusing the Ghost-Type energy of its body into the use of one of its favorite attacks.

Just as it appeared that Gengar's DARK PULSE attack would score a direct and serious hit on its intended target, Dusknoir spontaneously warped away from existence, vanishing from sight and from space without warning. Drapion once again missed striking Dusknoir with its CROSS POISON attack, this time because Dusknoir disappeared altogether from their hand-to-claw skirmish. And because Drapion was so single-mindedly focused on its initial target, it never paid attention to where its comrades resided or what they were doing.

So, with Dusknoir no longer there to take Gengar's DARK PULSE attack, Drapion found itself standing directly in the firing line. The technique struck the long, hardened structure that was Drapion's neck, causing a sickening feeling to invade that particular physical structure, one that made Drapion sputter and gag slightly, from temporarily being rendered unable to breathe properly, despite the attack not damaging it sufficiently because of its Dark-Type attribute. And once the technique careened off of Drapion's neck and away from it past its sides, Drapion's basic mental nature caused it to vindictively target the source of the friendly fire.

And for a dismayed Gengar, Drapion's venomous glare was entirely directed onto it.

Enraged at having sustained both partial damage and a sore throat, Drapion cared absolutely not for its ally in battle and charged towards it, its small feet allowing it to move relatively fast for a Pokémon of its size and bulk.

Gengar, rather than warping away to evade Drapion, was frozen in place by the intimidation factor of the oncoming, rampaging Ogre Scorp Pokémon alone, with any mental cognition at this point no longer able to save it from a grizzly fate.

So then, when Drapion impacted Gengar via its PAYBACK attack, Gengar had absolutely no chance of survival. Drapion's outstretched claws easily pierced the Shadow Pokémon's midsection twice, and kept digging in further through, until Drapion's claws were practically grazing against the tips of their two digits.

Gengar itself was killed instantly from the attack, and spared any further wrath from the Ogre Scorp Pokémon.

With a primal roar, Drapion hoisted its lifeless "ally" and sharply jerked its claws apart sideways, effortlessly tearing Gengar in two, evenly, and right down the middle. Drapion then harshly removed both halves of the Gengar cadaver off of each of its claws with the use of both of its claws, and then tossed them aside, close to where Krookodile was when it reentered the scene.

Krookodile took a brief moment to tilt its head closer at this uncanny sight, not caring alongside Drapion that one of its allies died under a retaliatory friendly fire, and just showing a particular curiosity over a deceased "ghost". But just as Krookodile lowered its head and sniffed at the indistinct corpse, Gengar's body merely dissolved into the air within seconds, leaving no trace of itself to further inspect.

Drapion recalled its first opponent and scanned its surroundings to see where exactly Dusknoir went off to after it teleported. Krookodile was still perplexed by what became of Gengar's body, and Zorua withdrew itself, expecting the worst when Dusknoir reappears.

And reappear it did.

In the blink of an eye, Dusknoir reemerged into view via the use of its SHADOW FORCE technique, directly behind Drapion, with a running start and its right elbow pointing outward, aimed with pinpoint precision into the base of Drapion's neck.

Drapion received zero warning at what came next.

Dusknoir struck Drapion with all the physical force that it could muster into the end of its elbow, severing the ogre Scorp Pokémon's spinal cord in two, snapping it like a toothpick.

All Drapion felt was a sharp jab before it found itself completely collapsed onto the ground, never feeling itself fall in the process. It tried to move afterward. It tried to get back up, but it was entirely unable to after having been rendered permanently paralyzed. And once it passed out and eventually ceased to live from a lack of connection between its brain and its heart, it would never get back up again.

(Song Ends)

Both Krookodile and Zorua, after hearing Drapion's face collide with the ground, turned their full attention towards Dusknoir. They saw their enemy hover over Drapion's lifeless body, and tuck away its outstretched right elbow back to its side, before it looked back at them, knowing that Krookodile and Zorua were the only two Pokémon that remained for the Gripper Pokémon to defeat.

"I warned you both earlier." Dusknoir stated. "If you get in my way, I won't hesitate to kill you, especially when it comes with what your 'master' has in his possession."

This serious statement only resonated within Zorua, causing the Tricky Fox Pokémon to step back apprehensively, doubting its ability to fight Dusknoir and hold its own against it for even a minute. But for Krookodile, it just fueled its growing spite over its enemy, at how it was still standing (metaphorically speaking) after having faced four of them and overcoming them.

Dusknoir took into consideration both of their reactions and glared over at Krookodile over Zorua, strongly confident in the fact that Krookodile was the more hostile of the two and needed to be terminated first.

Its response to the Intimidation Pokémon was forming a battle stance once again, one of its hands tightly clenched into a fist and the other signaling Krookodile to come at it.

Krookodile knew better than to fall for Dusknoir's mild mock, especially after what Dusknoir did to three of its four opponents that it defeated in a relatively short period of time. And instead of coming towards it, Krookodile decided to hold its ground from its current, distant placement from the Gripper Pokémon. It hunched its body forward, almost touching the earth with its outstretched front claws in the process. It snarled at Dusknoir with its half-open jaws, making it clear to its opponent that it will use its jaws on Dusknoir if it so much as comes towards it.

And then, almost in an instant, Krookodile leapt towards Dusknoir, jumping high enough into the air so that it would reach its targeted enemy in one bound. In mid-air, it opened its jaws wide, aiming to bite off Dusknoir's head in one snap of its powerful CRUNCH attack. And with its notorious jaw strength, it most likely would.

But in this case, it would have better luck putting those jaws to use on a flailing Magikarp.

Dusknoir was fully braced for Krookodile and acted accordingly against this basic attack from the Intimidation Pokémon. Just as it appeared that Krookodile's jaws were within snapping distance of its head, Dusknoir jerked its body to its right and rotated it to its left side, right arm cocked back and right hand coiled in for a punch.

Krookodile kept on gliding slightly further after Dusknoir banked to its right in order to evade the CRUNCH attack. And in the peripheral of its left eye, Krookodile noticed a frigid blue energy begin to spiral and mold itself around Dusknoir's coiled right hand, before it felt Dusknoir's ICE PUNCH technique punch into its left eye, rupturing it instantaneously. Then it felt the torn remains of it freeze solid, alongside the vast majority of the left half of its face.

Once fist met eye, Dusknoir put in much more power to this critical hit of an ICE PUNCH, and fully extended its right arm. The full force of Dusknoir's technique became borderline cataclysmic in Krookodile's part, causing its head to shift almost unnaturally to the right, while its flesh and almost its very bones warped around Dusknoir four parallel knuckles.

And then, when the force of Dusknoir's impact proved sufficiently great enough to push Krookodile away, the Intimidation Pokémon endured a vicious knockback from the Gripper Pokémon. It tumbled end over end across itself, rolling in the dirt for well over twenty-five feet away of Dusknoir, before skidding face first into a mound of dirt that it dug for itself. It stopped right there inevitably, its body battered, bruised, and prone, especially after having endured a technique that has a distinct advantage over its Ground-Type attribute.

Zorua watched on in amazement at both the power of Dusknoir and, most importantly, the damage that it was capable of unleashing onto an opponent unfortunate enough to face it.

The frigid energy that encased over Dusknoir's right fist was quickly dispelled when it set its right arm aside once again. It stared on at Krookodile with its massive red eye and glared it sharply, attentively, as though it were anticipating something more from it.

And it had every reason to do so once it noticed Krookodile beginning to stir from its position.

Despite the tumbling having rendered its crocodilian hide partially bruised in the majority of its body, Krookodile showed virtually no signs of discomfort or reluctance in its ability to get back upright on its feet. It got back up onto its two stout legs, its backside aimed at Dusknoir the entire time. And as it was upright, it appeared immobile, stagnant, its current countenance an enigma to the Gripper Pokémon, as well as whatever was going on within Krookodile's cerebrum.

It wasn't until Dusknoir noticed that, off in the peripheral of its field of vision, Zorua had hastily scampered off into a nearby bush and hid within it, with only its eyes and tuft of fur on its head peeping out of the shrubbery, that something about Krookodile was uncomfortably off. If the already hesitant Zorua fled this particular scene, then the worst from the Intimidation Pokémon was yet to come.

Because of the critical hit it landed on Krookodile which, as powerful as the ICE PUNCH attack was, failed to knock out the Intimidation Pokémon, Krookodile's Anger Point ability triggered.

From Dusknoir's—and Zorua's—view on the matter, they could see Krookodile's body begin to take on a brighter, redder shade of color, due to its very blood flowing faster and harder across its body from a power surge that its ability triggered. Alongside this, Krookodile's very aura began to exude from its body, displaying a bright shade of crimson red to the Gripper Pokémon. And while the aura itself wasn't something to be intimidated by—mostly because it pales in comparison to what it knew Xeno Lucario was easily capable of—, what followed promptly after Krookodile's Anger Point ability triggered was something that actually did manage to unnerve Dusknoir.

Krookodile turned its head 90 degrees right in order to see Dusknoir, revealing to the Gripper Pokémon a hardened death glare in the process, one that would make even Ghost-Type Pokémon cringe upon the sight of its glower. Its very eyes were bloodshot with spite, something that was only noticeable upon a cemented glance of this Pokémon, and its teeth were bared, a stalwart sign that alerted Dusknoir to brace itself for the worst.

And brace itself Dusknoir exactly did so, just as it noticed Krookodile turn on it and rush at it once more, with much more fire and determination in its hardened heart.

Need To Be Strong/Naruto Original Soundtrack/Toshiro Masuda

(Song Begins)

At the sight of seeing Krookodile rampage blindly towards it once again, Dusknoir cocked its right arm back and held its right hand outstretched, fingers stiffened straight, with the intent of using BRICK BREAK to silence the Intimidation Pokémon once and for all.

Within close proximity of the Gripper Pokémon, Krookodile leapt once again into the air, but this time with the claws of its hands and feet outstretched like concealed knives, and with the primal intent of latching onto the Ghost-Type Pokémon upon landing on it.

Dusknoir wasted no time in delivering one mighty swing of its arm to its opponent, landing a direct hit of its BRICK BREAK technique onto Krookodile's stomach.

But when the attack made pointblank contact with the intimidation Pokémon, it did absolutely nothing in slowing the rampaging Krookodile down. Dusknoir's target obviously sustained damage, but it didn't so much as slow down or even flinch from the force of Dusknoir's mighty right arm. And much to the Gripper Pokémon's displeasure, Krookodile kept on going and landed right on it, latching on with its erect claws on all four of its limbs.

Krookodile's weight on the Gripper Pokémon did nothing in rendering its ability to hover null and void, but Krookodile's weight did cause Dusknoir's normal balance to falter. It staggered back with the Intimidation Pokémon in cargo, its arms flailing slightly in its attempts to stabilize itself.

But that wasn't the worst of it.

On its Ghost-Type Pokémon of a perch, Krookodile opened its jaws wide, wide enough for Dusknoir to be able to see the Intimidation Pokémon's sharp teeth, and even its larynx for a split-second. And then, alongside this disturbing sight of having a predatory Pokémon's jaws fully agape, Dusknoir felt the sickening pain of Krookodile's CRUNCH attack clamp down on its flesh, with surprising speed and consistency. Dusknoir felt CRUNCH after CRUNCH after CRUNCH clamp down on its ethereal body, teeth puncturing their way across its arms, body, and even its head at one point, all of those individual teeth drawing the ghastly ectoplasm that Dusknoir has circulating across its body like blood.

Krookodile's ferocity with its attacks and speeds at which it was delivering them made it initially difficult for Dusknoir to get a proper grip on the Intimidation Pokémon. But when it did, both of Dusknoir's massive hands were firmly grasping the sides of Krookodile's head, Dusknoir's right hand adding insult to injury to the torn remains of Krookodile's left eye, lost from the Gripper Pokémon's earlier ICE PUNCH. Nevertheless, Krookodile had no problem in seeing its enemy with its remaining right eye, and continued to glare daggers at the phantom.

"Enough!" Dusknoir shouted once, before it opened its red eye wide, glaring into its opponent and concentrating a fair amount of its power to its eye in doing so.

From Krookodile's perspective, it suddenly saw its field of vision turn monochrome, before returning to normal about two seconds later. And then afterwards, it felt the effects of Dusknoir's DISABLE skill kick in. Within its brain, the very thought of using CRUNCH again on the Gripper Pokémon was temporarily rendered a mentally impossibility, as though it were stricken with amnesia or mentally shackled in utilizing such a technique.

That being said, Krookodile was still frustrated beyond belief with its enemy, and made that perfectly clear to Dusknoir, when the Gripper Pokémon tried to throw Krookodile off of it, to prevent any more of Krookodile's attacks from marring its body any further.

Much to Dusknoir's surprise, when it effortlessly hoisted Krookodile over its head and made the physical motion to throw it away, Krookodile did no such thing whatsoever. It merely made an arc around Dusknoir when it rose in the air, entirely because it dug its claws into Dusknoir's arms, anchoring it and keeping it from flying away.

And then, entirely against Dusknoir's actions, Krookodile turned Dusknoir's power against it upon landing on the ground. Through its FOUL PLAY attack, Krookodile took advantage of its claws hooking into Dusknoir's arms, and made the same motion that Dusknoir did with it earlier. Only this time, Krookodile succeeded in tossing the Pokémon up, over, and away from itself, with physical power that would impress even a Machamp.

Dusknoir weakened state from the dozens of puncture marks and lacerations that it had littering the skin of its body prevented it from bracing the landing effectively. It crashed back into the dirt with an echoing thud, lying flat on its back and oozing "blood" from its collection of puncture wounds.

Krookodile expected Dusknoir to be finished, to stay down and admit defeat, despite the couple of warnings that the confident enemy gave beforehand.

But much to its surprise, and even more so to its frustration, Dusknoir just plain wouldn't admit defeat.

Dusknoir elevated itself up and off of the ground again, its body a dripping mess, but its willpower as resolute as ever. Dusknoir reformed its battle stance, and signaled Krookodile to come at it once again, not finished yet and eager to finish Krookodile off before the overgrown reptile could do so, mostly because it still had to retrieve the Fist Plate from Giovanni, with time being of the essence.

Krookodile hissed and snarled at its enemy once again, its aura resonating with its emotions brilliantly, but not exuding more than it already was doing so, mostly because Krookodile's physical strength had already peaked earlier. Despite that however, Krookodile's aura did adopt a different color scheme, transforming from the bright red that it emanated earlier, to a menacing amalgamation of black, brown, and a darker shade of red.

From this distance, Dusknoir could audibly hear a small gale churn up within the vicinity, the cause of it being Krookodile's storming aura field. And yet, thanks in part to its years of experience in combat, Dusknoir remained firm, ready to embrace what it was suspecting from its redoubtable adversary, with the techniques that it has mastered over the years.

"(Multi-colored aura with an unyielding frustration…)" Dusknoir pondered, attentive of Krookodile's present status. "(These are the telltale qualities of an impending OUTRAGE attack.)"

Krookodile hunched forward and dug in its heels into the ground, scraping the dirt back with backwards sweeps of its hind claws, to maximize its traction. And then, even though Dusknoir's trained glare on the Intimidation Pokémon never faltered for so much as a second, Krookodile rampaged forward, running towards Dusknoir like a possessed fiend, its very aura streaking behind its wake and highlighting its path.

Through its preemptive battle stance, Dusknoir quickly brought its arms together close to its core and crossed them into the shape of the letter "X". And with great focus in its defensive abilities, Dusknoir erected a spherical dome to encase itself within, in order to PROTECT itself against Krookodile's OUTRAGE attack.

The shield couldn't have come any sooner before Krookodile began to hammer away at it with every single method that it knew in how to best inflict physical damage, and many more that it didn´t. It bit the shield with its broad, imposing jaws and satirical teeth, three times per second, leaving short-lasting dots of its disheartening chomps. It slashed ferociously at it with broad swings of its elongated arms, dragging its extended claws across the psychically conjured bubble, leaving white streaks of its attacks behind, which disappeared shortly after. It punched at the shield with both arms firing away with the force of a jackhammer, causing Dusknoir's PROTECT technique to ripple like water having succumbed to a tossed stone. It head butted the shield and swatted away at it with its tail, only getting better ripple effects from its deflected attacks.

When all else failed, Krookodile's last OUTRAGE attack came in the form of a chain of powerful kicks through its seemingly corpulent legs. Krookodile employed powerful punting kicks, roundhouse kicks, and jump kicks, some of them with almost karate-like precision.

Its last kick however succeeded in giving it the best results.

Krookodile jumped once more into the air and outstretched both of its feet simultaneously, delivering a double mule kick with all of its might into the center of Dusknoir's PROTECT technique. It collapsed onto its back and got back upright, gracelessly, as though it were knocked over or, much more likely, sustaining severe levels of fatigue.

Unfortunately for the Intimidation Pokémon, all that its OUTRAGE attack succeeded in doing was knocking Dusknoir back hundreds of feet away, all throughout the onslaught of deflected blows after deflected blows. And all that its technique did for itself was drain it of virtually all of its energy, as OUTRAGE commonly does. Krookodile's outwardly articulated aura dissipated alongside its energy, and its posture hunched over, its arms dangling down in favor of gravity, the tips of its claws almost touching the grass of the ground. Its body was overheated and it was panting feverishly in an effort to cool down and oxygenate itself. The entirety of its body was sore all over, hurting enough to the point where even breathing ached.

Dusknoir's PROTECT technique dissipated when its time clocked out as this technique always does. With its protective dome no longer surrounding itself and, more importantly, no longer required, Dusknoir uncrossed its arms and took full notice of Krookodile's present condition, knowing now with mathematical certainty that its opponent was at the end of its rope.

And while Dusknoir was unpleasantly wounded by its battles up until now, it still has enough energy to burn to finish off its target with one decisive attack, before taking a moment to replenish its strength, and then complete its primary objective.

Dusknoir said nothing to Krookodile on the matter, because at this point, it would be redundant and a waste of time, the latter of which is something that Dusknoir has already done enough for now.

Once again, Dusknoir envelops itself in energy through disciplined and honed concentration of its inner being, forming another dome that it has inserted itself within. However, unlike its earlier PROTECT technique, this energy wasn't meant for defense. It was entirely dedicated to pure offensive power, as evident by the fact that this energy swirled around itself with the decibels and force of a jet engine.

To Krookodile, it noticed Dusknoir's outstretched aura spiraling around itself like a runaway barrel, its center point noticeable directly by the massive mouth that Dusknoir possesses on its chest, and appearing to spin like the blades of an airplane's propeller. Dusknoir itself was partially shrouded from view once immersed entirely inside its own shining power, which meant that this energy was extremely dense.

The surge of power that Dusknoir was still able to muster at this point is nothing short of impressive. And even if Krookodile wished to evade this impending GIGA IMPACT technique, it wouldn't be able to on account of its catastrophically drained stamina. In short, its spirit is willing to survive, but its body can't muster up the energy to escape a fatal blow.

So, with whatever scraps of power that it was able to assemble into its right claws, and through its hindered abilities of concentration, they eventually grew outward into foot-long blades of dark purple energy. And with the power that it struggled to gather, Krookodile hoped to at least be able to abate Dusknoir's GIGA IMPACT technique with its SHADOW CLAW technique.

With its energy primed and ready for attack, Dusknoir hovered forward as fast as it was physically able to, the sheer sound of its GIGA IMPACT technique growing louder and louder to the desert crocodilian as it stared down the barrel of this smoking gun of an overpowering adversary.

Krookodile forced its right arm, with all of its might, to come up besides its body and bring it forward in a swing. Through its willpower, it astonishingly succeeded in bringing up a feeble defense, and braced itself to swing upon Dusknoir's inevitable collision.

But just as it appeared that Dusknoir would collide with Krookodile with this technique, Dusknoir spontaneously vanished from the Intimidation Pokémon's view, alongside the blazing power and all of the sound that it was slicing across the wind. Krookodile's claws only weakly whooshed past air as a result, and then disappeared when Krookodile's concentration lapsed via wincing in pain. And then when the pain dulled enough, Krookodile looked about its surroundings, wondering where Dusknoir went this time.

The time Krookodile spent looking for its elusive target was brief. Because Dusknoir's intentional absence was only for about ten seconds, before it reappeared directly behind the Intimidation Pokémon. And as a result, its GIGA IMPACT technique doubled in its power output, alongside adding to its initial orange turbine by mixing in a clear, ethereal gray, thanks in part to the ghostly energy outputted through Dusknoir's SHADOW FORCE technique.

The result of this: a terrifying amalgamation of Dusknoir's GIGA IMPACT and SHADOW FORCE allowed it to perform a joint attack, muck like what its eternal comrade Xeno Lucario has done before on more than one occasion with more than one pair of attacks. And this attack, it has fittingly named SHADOW GIGA IMPACT, a name that is concise, saccharine, and destructive.

Krookodile didn't stand a chance against the gray rocket that collided square into its backside, much less be able to see it. All it felt, for the briefest of moments, was its spine snap in two, like a twig to a footstep, before seeing nothing but a light at the end of a dark tunnel, from an immediate loss of consciousness.

From Dusknoir's perspective and through the impenetrable wall that it had enclosed itself within, it saw Krookodile's spine bend backward until it closely resembled a boomerang. And muck like one, Krookodile flew far, except it never came spiraling back. The felled Intimidation Pokémon landed hundreds of feet farther out, directly into a collection of trees, impacting a few of them with such force that it snapped their trunks in half, crumbling every single bone in its body, hemorrhaging out from dozens of scattered compound fractures across its flesh, staining the grass red as it continued to roll until its carcass eventually stopped tumbling.

If there was any mercy in this attack, it's that Dusknoir managed to paralyze Krookodile first, so that it wouldn't feel anything as it flew, crashed through trees, and rolled until it stopped.

(Song Ends)

39.3: "Do You Despise This Life?"

Even though it was unanimous that Krookodile sustained the worst of this attack, Dusknoir still endured the subsequent fatigue that came with the use of this hybridization of GIGA IMPACT and SHADOW FORCE. Its surrounding energy dispersed almost immediately after Dusknoir heard Krookodile's body meet wood that was two feet thick in diameter, and then it felt its body exhaust itself, to the point where it was in a similar position that Krookodile was in earlier.

Unlike Krookodile however, Dusknoir knew of the perfect technique to use in a situation like this, especially when the overall threat has passed.

"(One quick REST…and then I'll go claim…what belongs to Arceus…by Its own divine authority.)" Dusknoir pondered, its red eye closed two-thirds of the way and its vision beginning to blur.

Dusknoir's brief REST couldn't have been any more physically beneficial to the Gripper Pokémon. Its eye closed and it focused its mind to enter a deep and recovering sleep, one that radically increased its healing ability, as evident by the fact that its bleeding began to cease when its countless bite marks began to plateau with the remainder of its skin and seal over. The only downside to this technique is, just as the name applies, Dusknoir is fast—though briefly—asleep, and therefore vulnerable to attack.

Which is why, when Dusknoir's being had fully recovered and recharged from this psychically reinforced power nap, it was forced awake by a surprising force, one that rattled its entire body.

The Zorua that hid earlier emerged from its shrub and surprise attacked Dusknoir with a disturbingly powerful use of NIGHT DAZE. It stood temporarily bipedal and had its entire body glow scattered patches of red, its azure eyes simultaneously illuminated to the point where they feigned being lit on blue fire. And then this energy migrated to the tips of its front legs, so that when it stomped down, the energy detonated violently and spread outward in a growing hemisphere of dust-blowing, sable and scarlet force.

Dusknoir sustained the full-force of this technique and was blown off of its hovering stance and onto the ground once again, waking up fully alert and—before Zorua's NIGHT DAZE attack—fully healed. The Gripper Pokémon hovered back upright after being knocked down again, and its red eye quickly looked down at the ground, locking on at the Tricky Fox Pokémon, and noticing Zorua's current behavior.

(National Pokédex entry #570: Zorua the Tricky Fox Pokémon. It is a Dark-Type Pokémon that measures in at 2' 04" and weighs in at approximately 27.6 lbs. It changes into the forms of others to surprise them. Apparently, it often transforms into a small child. To protect themselves from danger, they hide their true identities by transforming into people and Pokémon. It changes so it looks just like its foe, tricks it, and then uses that opportunity to flee. With such an unusual ability at its disposal, mind games are forced upon the recipient of this illusory tactic.)

Unsurprisingly, Zorua was crouched over and snarling at its oversized opponent, but not for the initial reasons that anybody viewing this would suspect. To Dusknoir, Zorua wasn't snarling at it with aggression, or at least not entirely. It was snarling at it with aggression and fear. Dusknoir noted the fear in Zorua from its particular stance.

Sure, Zorua was hunched over, baring its teeth, ears twisted back, and glaring upward at its taller enemy. But at the same time, its tail was tucked down in fear, almost between its stubby legs, and it was even trembling, especially when it saw Dusknoir glare down at it with its piercing red eye.

To Zorua, it saw the Grim Reaper himself stare down at its tiny body, ready to carry its soul to the afterlife, but not after cutting its vessel in two with a scythe, before extracting Zorua's quintessence from both cleanly severed halves.

To Dusknoir however, despite initial appearances, it saw a mirror image of itself through the eyes of the Tricky Fox Pokémon. It saw its past reflected back to it, played before it through Zorua's cyan irises. It saw the earliest moments of its life, when it was born and raised under the hands of Team Rocket, amongst other Pokémon hatchlings. It was painfully molded to work for those evil men, and forced to obey every one of their commands.

And had it not been for Mewtwo's—and subsequently Xeno Lucario's—liberating actions, Dusknoir would've most likely remained another pawn in Team Rocket. A powerful pawn nevertheless, but still a pawn, a slave, an item, a tool, one that would eventually break under the unforgiving, ironfisted hands of Team Rocket, or be traded off for a vast sum before being broken by a different pair of malevolent hands.

And even though Zorua was fragile and Dusknoir could literally clap its hands and crush Zorua within its palms, because it saw its past through this Pokémon, it didn't want to fight this Pokémon, not in the least. It wanted to help Zorua. It wanted to liberate the little infant, to free it from oppressive hands, just as Xeno Lucario did with it years ago, back when he first conceived the name Team Liberator.

But to begin to earn Zorua's trust and turn it over to the side of good, Dusknoir had to be cautious of its own actions, wise of its own behavior, and attentive to Zorua's reactions.

…That shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Firstly, Dusknoir hovered straight down, until its ghostly tail emulated the legs that it had sacrificed with its earlier evolution and touched the grass and the dirt below, making itself appear much less intimidating to the Tricky Fox Pokémon. Its arms were to its side and at the moment, they were out of the picture, because it strongly believed Zorua would negatively react if Dusknoir displayed even the slightest signs of hostile intent, which the Gripper Pokémon attempted to avoid.

Thankfully, all Zorua did in response to this was step back a couple of paces with all four of its little paws. Nothing else about its behavior changed.

Or at least, not yet…

"Do you despise this life?" Dusknoir said firstly, immediately getting to the point because it must do so.

"…" Zorua's snarling stopped and it began to show signs of looking at its enemy quizzically rather instead of continuing to growl at the Gripper Pokémon.

"Do you despise these people?" Dusknoir went on, its telepathic tone of voice set to be as approachable and harmless as possible, while still retaining importance to the Tricky Fox Pokémon. "All of the cruelty, all of the bellowing orders, all of the utter disrespect for your very being… Do you tire of it?"

Whatever hostility Zorua expressed or targeted towards its "enemy" disappeared when the entire truth of Dusknoir's words entered Zorua's perky ears. The Tricky Fox Pokémon sat down once its tail was no longer wedged between its legs, and ogled Dusknoir attentively, curious now as to what it was going to say.

"When I fought against those other five Pokémon, not once did you decide to enter the fray. Not until I was REST-ing was when you struck me. Though that brief moment of hostility died down when I faced you."

Cautiously, Zorua's ears began to tilt back as it began to sense a slight amount of hostile intent from the Gripper Pokémon, even though there wasn't any.

"But when I felt your NIGHT DAZE attack impact me and knock me down, and then when I stared into your eyes, I saw something…peculiar." Dusknoir explained, and Zorua's expression mollified once again. "I saw something about myself, about my past."

"…?" Zorua cutely tilted its head to its right side out of perplexity.

"I may not look like it right now, but just like you, at one point in time, I was a Pokémon under the cruel ownership of Team Rocket."

Zorua's head tilt disappeared and its sapphire eyes widened in astonishment.

"And I emphasize the phrase 'at one point in time'. Because, thanks in part to a certain pair of Pokémon, one of them off in Arceus-knows-where, and another of them off in an alternate planet Earth, I was given freedom from Team Rocket, right when I was about your age. And you're rather young yourself, I can tell from my experience. You don't appear to be a couple of years old yet. You're still a child.

"That's a good thing. You're still young enough and therefore have almost all of your life ahead of you. You shouldn't be amongst these people, as a Pokémon in Team Rocket. It's nothing short of absolute malice what they do to Pokémon like you or me. We're nothing but tools to them, abused inhumanely that, in time, will break and be crudely disposed of. Have you ever contemplated that happening to yourself?"

Unsurprisingly, Zorua whimpered at the thought, of what could happen to it if it ever "broke" when it fought another Pokémon, as it had been doing so for only brief moments in its life.

"You're exceptionally powerful for being able to pull off a successful NIGHT DAZE attack on me, so you're likely more valuable to Team Rocket than the Pokémon norm, probably enough that they'll care enough for you to provide you with basic medical treatment. But even so, Team Rocket is the last group of humans that I would sign my life over, especially if I was born there. And I was born into Team Rocket. Were you as well?"

Zorua nodded at Dusknoir, the tuft of fur of its face rustling ever so slightly from its head gesture.

"Do you recall the Pokémon that I shed blood with, those five that I defeated, four of which with fatal blows?"

Zorua looked about from its position and ogled what remained of the collapsed Drapion and the headless Golurk. It saw nothing of the Gengar and only a few destroyed trees farther out in Route 215 from where the Krookodile landed. Its ears collapsed onto its side from the recent memories that it had of Dusknoir's unleashed power, but then they perked up when it turned back to face Dusknoir, nodding once again at its speaker.

"I've been in Team Rocket long enough to distinguish single-minded pawns that have had their minds permanently warped, that will not listen to reason, that had lost even their most basic common sense, that will only follow cruel orders and act recklessly on them.

"Those four Pokémon that I clashed with were no different. They didn't even pause to think about my warning, to contemplate not fighting me because I was giving them that chance. They just thought that they could beat me with blunt force. And we both know how that turned out."

Zorua still watched on attentively at Dusknoir, taking the Gripper Pokémon's words and very nature into account, getting a feel for its gentlemanly disposition.

"The reason that I'm telling these things to you is because you reminded me of my early years in Team Rocket, which were the worst days of my life made beneficially life changing by a pair of Pokémon that entered Team Rocket. Both of those Pokémon escaped, one out of a downright misdirection of its own destiny, and the other for having one of its friends murdered by them. Both of said Pokémon, I owe my life to. The former took me under its wing and made me powerful so that I would survive under Team Rocket's strict criteria, and the latter formed a rebellious, underlying team of Pokémon—myself included—that successfully managed to escape Team Rocket with all of the Pokémon in their Main HQ. I've been with that heroic Pokémon ever since. I've followed in his shadow, knowing that I can never repay that debt of kindness, but also knowing that I don't have to.

"So, because I understand your position is no different than my own, I'm here to give you a life-changing choice. Would you like to hear it?"

Zorua eagerly nodded and even wagged its tail towards Dusknoir, sensing where this was going before Dusknoir was about to say it.

Perchance to Dream/Legend (CD 2 – Choir)/Two Steps From Hell

(Song Begins)

"Do you want to discard your misplacement in Team Rocket? Do you want to abandon such a noxious bane on this planet, and come with me? Do you want to join a greater cause, one where you're part of a circle of friends, who will love you and treat you like family, who fight for the wellbeing of themselves, of each other, and all that exists, instead of being amongst heartless people that will use you until they break you irreparably?"

Zorua's response was unanimous, yet childish but adorable. Zorua spun around in circles, yelping and leaping in happiness before Dusknoir, entirely excited and willing to be with the Gripper Pokémon.

If Dusknoir could smile right now, it would, for being able to flawlessly emulate Xeno Lucario's position and convert Pokémon over, liberating them from forces of evil.

So, with Zorua entirely for the idea of leaving Team Rocket, Dusknoir outstretched its arm towards Zorua, and put its hand just inches off of the ground, its palm basking in the sunlight of this present time of day. Zorua didn't react hostilely against Dusknoir this time, mostly because Zorua entirely trusts the Gripper Pokémon now.

"Welcome aboard, Zorua." Dusknoir said sincerely.

Zorua playfully hopped onto Dusknoir's outstretched, welcoming hand, and curled up into it, making itself into a ball of shadow colored fur for the Ghost-Type Pokémon to hold. Dusknoir then raised Zorua up, petted it affectionately, and held it close to its chest, and Zorua simply made itself comfortable as it snuggled up to its new friend.

With Zorua now under its wing (metaphorically speaking), Dusknoir knew that there was just one last thing to take care of, the reason that it is here in Route 215 to begin with.

Dusknoir hovered off of the ground once more and turned around to see a leaving Team Rocket squad about half a mile out from its present placement.

"There is a wealth of information that I should inform you on, my friend." Dusknoir began. "But there's still a certain matter involving your former 'master', the Fist Plate that he has in his possession, as well as the Poké Ball that he likely has that is registered to you."

Zorua looked up and ogled Dusknoir's single red eye once again, almost at the same time that Dusknoir itself did the same action.

"Will you help me retrieve what I initially arrived here to obtain, and what will permanently unlock your shackles to Team Rocket?"

Zorua smugly smirked at Dusknoir and nodded in response, entirely because it knew what to do and how to do so.

(Song Ends)

39.4: "They Think That They've Won, But They Haven't."

With plenty of time to do so because Dusknoir was occupied with fighting Giovanni's disposable party of Pokémon, all of the Team Rocket personnel within Route 215 packed in their equipment and large machinery into the dozen or so cargo helicopters that they used to arrive here in the first place.

The barricades established earlier in both the eastern and western portions of this strip of green land successfully did their part in holding off the police authorities that threatened to compromise their mission. Not only did they hold firm, but in the end, they turned the even matchup into their favor and rendered most of the cops and their Pokémon unconscious, with the rest mourning over their crippling injuries. That being said, some of the Team Rocket Grunts within those cordons did sustain similar injuries to both themselves and their Pokémon paraphernalia. They just pale in comparison to those of the local police.

Those within the barricades were more than free to break from their formation to leave with the other Grunts. They rushed over and assisted with packing in everything into the collection of cargo helicopters, to speed up the finalization of their mission. The high-tech sonar and locating equipment were stored away within padded cases that best resembled armored briefcases, and then stacked accordingly within a couple of flying vessels. The handful of one-man drilling and digging vehicles were rolled into the storage space of the remaining freight airliners. And the Pokémon that thanklessly assisted in digging were returned to the Poké Balls of their respective "masters".

All that remained were the Grunts themselves. They entered their designated cargo helicopters and seated themselves accordingly. Their overall morale was high from the success of this mission, and their present attitudes reinforced that. Some of them high five and cheered amongst each other. Others talked about celebrating with some champagne and recreational activities once they arrive back into HQ. Even the operatives that were injured had smug countenances, mostly because they enjoyed fu—

…Molesting the police.

With the pilots taking their places within the driver's seat of these vehicles, they started the engines and told everyone to strap on their seatbelts, just before the deafening gale of the rotating propellers snuffed out their words.

As for Giovanni…

"Boss! Get to the chopper!" One Grunt shouted over the roar of the spinning blades.

…He stopped ogling the Fist Plate long enough to hop into his respective cargo helicopter and squeeze himself in with the other Grunts, wherever there was still space for him within the limited interior.

Once inside, the side doors closed and more power was put into the engines by the pilot. The blades droned all the more harder until the entirety of the metal vessel was made airborne. And with all twelve of these cargo helicopters airborne and rising, they began to make their way away from the unearthed remains of Route 215, and back to their Main HQ.

Within his seat, Giovanni now took this moment to ogle the Fist Plate that he now possessed, alongside a few other Grunts that weren't particularly busy chatting amongst each other.

"This Fist Plate is just one small step of many!" Giovanni explained to his subordinates, knowing the work that's needed and expected past this point.

But before his eyes, the Fist Plate that he held within his hands spontaneously changed appearance, as quickly as it would take for one to snap their fingers.

What was once the Fist Plate was now a crudely shaped, thin slab of concrete.

"What in the…?!" Giovanni muttered before he was drowned out by the prattle of his surrounding Grunts, all of which were equally surprised by what took the place of the Fist Plate.

It wasn't until one attentive Grunt looked out of the narrow window did he begin to understand the exact cause of this bizarre phenomenon.

"Giovanni, sir… You might want to see this…" The operative hesitantly alerted.

Giovanni carefully got up and off of his seat and stepped over to the window. And once he put his head by it to see the sky outside, his glare quickly trained itself on the cause of this unexpected switcheroo.

…Or "causes" as is the more appropriate term.

Outside of the window and flying away from the cargo helicopter are both Dusknoir and Zorua. Dusknoir held onto Zorua with its left hand and had the Tricky Fox Pokémon securely tucked into its left arm. At the same time, Dusknoir held onto the Fist Plate with its right hand, gripping it like a vice with its finger strength. And if one focused their gaze long enough before these two Pokémon disappeared into the distance, they would be able to notice a red sphere held by Zorua's mouth, which was just an ordinary Poké Ball, but it was the one that Zorua was registered to.

Giovanni noticed those two Pokémon and both of those items long enough, and for a brief moment, he was genuinely unsure how to properly react to this particular situation. He didn't know whether to shout at the top of his lungs and curse their name to Arceus in the Heavens above, or just accept this loss as is.

If anything though, he did contemplate what exactly they did to snatch the Fist Plate and Zorua's Poké Ball from him.

It's quite simple actually, from a Pokémon's perspective. Dusknoir utilized its intangibility to have both itself and Zorua seep into the cargo helicopter, alongside its invisibility to remain hidden. And then, once inside, Zorua used its illusory abilities to feign a false sense of overall reality to all within this metallic vessel. With the false realm in effect, Zorua had free reign and abused it by raiding Giovanni of both of the aforementioned items. And lastly, to add insult to injury, Dusknoir must've replaced the Fist Plate with a slab of concrete, one that it likely pried off of the ground before entering his personal space.

And as an added bonus, Dusknoir seared a message onto the back of the concrete slab, a brief one, one that Giovanni took notice of when he flipped the slab over.

THE BELL TOLLS FOR THEE

On the Precipice of Defeat/Bleach Original Soundtrack 1/Shiro Sagisu

(Song Begins)

"(…Clever dicks…)" Giovanni concluded after making sense of this.

The Grunts within the cargo helicopter alongside Giovanni couldn't help but notice Giovanni's eerie stillness on the matter. Their boss was still looking out the window even though Dusknoir and its held Zorua traitor were long gone from sight, which now made it near impossible to go back after them to get the Fist Plate back. They didn't know of Giovanni's current facial expression either, because he had his back facing them at the moment. They didn't know if they should either brace themselves or pointlessly try to comfort him for his (and their) loss.

Thankfully, amongst the dozen or so Team Rocket operatives within this enclosed space, one of them had enough balls to speak up to his Superior.

But only just enough.

"Uh…sir?" The Grunt muttered. "Are you…feeling…alright?"

Almost on cue to respond accordingly, Giovanni turned around to face his collection of hired personnel, causing all of them to flinch spasmodically as they braced for his frustration. They almost expected Giovanni to take the concrete slab he held and crush the skull of the operative that spoke up, just because he could.

However, that expected frustration never came. Instead, what they got from Giovanni was an intimidating smile on his countenance, a Banette´s grin, stretching wide from one ear to the other. The Boss of Team Rocket even chuckled at this, further unnerving his loyal gofers.

Before they could ask of Giovanni's current mental state, Giovanni did so for them.

"Dusknoir thinks that it won, but it hasn't. That disloyal Zorua thinks that it has escaped from me, but it hasn't." Giovanni spoke through his exposed teeth. "And as for the remainder of the Pokémon that have taken my displeasure in forming Team Liberator, they think that they've won, but they haven't."

"…" No one was willing enough to say anything about Giovanni's current ideas, and remained unsettlingly silent.

"Even though they've acquired the Fist Plate from my hands, it doesn't mean that they have the edge over us. Not even if they successfully gather all sixteen of them instead of us does it matter."

"…What do you mean?" One Grunt responded with a mind willingly unshackled by his greater judgment and back-lashing fear.

"What matters right now is for those elemental plates of the Original One to be unearthed. It matters not the custody that they are under. Not until those sixteen elemental plates are brought together in Spear Pillar will it matter."

Giovanni's malicious grin then flipped upside-down, becoming a hostile scowl that none of his surrounding Grunts took lightly.

"When that day comes, we will be there. We will reap forth the benefits of their hard work, and we will make those traitorous Piloswine pay with their lives for causing Team Rocket so much grief and so much loss, so many years ago."

(Song Ends)

Draco Plate – Absol / Joltik

Meadow Plate – Aggron / Snivy

Splash Plate – "Aqua" Lapras / Oshawott

Spooky Plate – Blaziken

Flame Plate — Charizard

Fist Plate – Dusknoir / Zorua

"If you can't convince them, confuse them." —Harry S. Truman

And there it is. A chapter delivered to you almost as though it were a graduation present.

It´s almost that time of the year anyway. I´m sure that some of you have a week left of school to go, and some of you that are already done with school and ready for the summer (cheers to you, OseanSoldier). I know my family and I are, and are ready to take a few days over at Los Angeles to have fun, and bring home a souvenir or two or three.

So with that, have a nice summer.

And there´s just one thing that I have left to get off of my chest. Something that I have been saving for once I´ve reached those view numbers.

...

...

...

(*Inhales sharply*) IT´S OVER NINE—!

(*GameManiac . exe has stopped working*)