Boulder and Wintarn stood side by side, staring at possibly the strangest human they had ever seen (then again, they lived below Pyrite). Behind them, the majority of their surviving army—down to a measly fifty pokemon—watched with them as another horde of sinister pokemon flooded the main street. Gale floated beside Wintarn, and the Kirlia waited next to Boulder.
The man moved down the street on all fours, his hands curled into fists. As if to compliment this gorilla-like appearance, his legs were much shorter than his muscular torso. He wore red armour and a matching dome-shaped helmet covered his head. A pair of goggles covered his eyes, whilst another pair hung from his neck. A large wrench was tucked into a belt at his side and a rifle hung from his back.
Around him stood six surprisingly normal pokemon; a Slowking, an Ursaring, a Walrein, a Glalie, an Electivire and an Aggron. Boulder's eyes narrowed at the Aggron. The monkey-man spoke; "You have one chance. Surrender to Gorigan and your lives will be spared. Of course, you will become shadow pokemon." He grinned.
Boulder glanced back. No-one made a move. The sinister pokemon stood restlessly in front of Gorigan. "Answer them, Godwin," the Aggron said to the Kirlia.
Godwin disappeared, teleporting away. He reappeared on the other side of the horde of sinister pokemon and, before anyone could react, struck the Slowking in the chest with both his swords. However, the swords struck an invisible wall.
Gorigan laughed. "Nice reflect, Slowking. Now kill it." Slowking's eyes glowed blue as it attempted to penetrate Godwin's mind. Godwin reacted by teleporting back to Boulder's side. Growling, Gorigan turned to his army of sinister pokemon. "XD pokemon, attack!" So the third wave advanced.
Realgam tower stood ominously above the desert sands. At other times, Realgam would have been crowded with spectators and fighters wanting to get into the arena far above as well as gamblers, drinking as they passed into the large casino, half buried in the sand. The majority of the Realgam complex was a network of metal tunnels in the sand with glass roofs.
On that day, however, only one group of people were outside Realgam. Gonzap was amazed that he had managed to scrounge up thirty Snagem members. Not twenty-four hours ago, his group dwindled to just over ten members, himself included.
They stood behind the central spire of the tower, so as to not be seen by anyone using the lift inside. They gazed intently at a rather strange meteorite that had been planted in the sand, right beside the spire. "I'm telling you, this will not work," Skarmory told Gonzap, once again.
"You worried too much," Gonzap replied casually. He turned to Agrev, his electronics expert. He wore blue sunglasses and had a large black device that stretched around his head, covering both ears. Agrev said it was a portable radio, but Gonzap was suspicious. "Is it set up?"
"Indeed it is, Gonzap," Agrev replied in a stereotypical Orre accent (akin to typical a wild western accent). He tossed Gonzap a small black gadget. "Just press the big red button when you're ready."
Gonzap frowned at the remote. "That's the only button." Agrev shrugged in reply. "This has been tested, right?"
"It's a bomb. Of course it hasn't been tested."
"Ah. Yes. Of course."
Agrev pointed to a huge brown rock several hundred feet away. "I recommend we go hide over there."
Once team Snagem were safe behind the rock—thirty heads poking around the sides—Gonzap pressed the button. Skarmory stared as nothing happened. "I told you."
Gonzap gave Agrev a look. "Give it a few seconds, boss."
A few minutes, and several hundred presses of the red button later, they concluded that the bomb would, most definitely, not work. Gonzap walked over to the tower with Skarmory, Wakin, Agrev and another grunt called Biden who was their scout (armed with binoculars), and checked the meteorite. Instead of an explosion, the meteorite had a rectangular hole in it. Gonzap stuck his hand in it. He pulled out a piece of paper reading; 'I knew you would not bother to check the interior. You've been trolled. Yours faithfully, your favourite woman, Venus.'
Scrunching up the piece of paper, Gonzap scowled. "Aggravating us from beyond the grave."
"Now what do we do?" Wakin asked. "We can't blow the tower up. How do we destroy Cipher now?"
"Well, I guess we just have to-" Gonzap began before he was interrupted.
"Sir!" Biden said, looking through his binoculars. "You may want to have a look at this." He handed him the binoculars.
Looking through the binoculars, Gonzap gasped (Skarmory did as well, since he had 'keen eye' for his ability). He could see three specs on the horizon—one flying above the other two—but there was no mistaking it. "It looks like he got my message after all."
Two bikes sped across the desert. Rui sat directly behind Wes on his bike (if they had not been a couple for a good five years or so, it may well have been awkward). The Shade and Fungin rode in the bike's side-car, both feeling a bit uncomfortable using human technology. On Marcia's bike, Growlithe rode as he had previously and Richmond held onto him incredibly tightly. Michael and his Dragonite flew somewhere far above.
Wes grinned. "It feels good to back on this beauty," he exclaimed. Rui frowned, but said nothing. "How about we see what's on the radio?" He reached for the controls.
"I don't think that's a good-" Rui began as he pressed the 'on/off' button.
"DISHWASHERS!" An announcer exclaimed at an incredibly high volume. That was all he got to say before Wes changed the channel.
"-and so, Fluffy the Glameow was found just this morning under the pile of scrap metal," a much quieter (not that that was difficult) voice said. "Much to our amazement, she was dead. You'd think that a Glameow could survive five days with no way to get food or water, but oh well."
Wes rolled his eyes at the typical drivel of Radio Orre and was about to switch the radio off when the voice started sounding more serious; "Breaking news! Team Cipher have attacked Olivine City; a major port in Johto for those of you with no knowledge of geography."
"Wait. What?!" Wes exclaimed. "How the hell is Cipher able to send a large force to the Under and still have enough troops to attack Olivine?"
"They are stronger than we assumed," Rui replied. "They must have ties in Johto."
"The people of Olivine are failing," a different voice continued on the radio. "Without their gym leader, they are disorganised and do not look like they'll hold out much longer. I say we surrender to our new lords and masters."
"Ha ha ha," the first voice laughed. "Thanks Kelly. Now time for the weather. It will be sunny all day, with a chance of sandstorms. This is Orre, what did you expect?"
Rui looked over Wes' shoulder and pointed out. "Look, we're here." Outstretched in front of them was a mass of glass tubes sunken into the sand and further away, Realgam tower. Whilst Wes gazed at it, Rui reached out and switched off the radio.
The group arrived at the main entrance. A Sudowoodo statue stood tall either side of the gaping doorway. Despite Realgam being closed, the door slid open without the need of a key. The floor was made out of marble and inside was a plush red carpet.
Michael landed, returned his Dragonite and glanced around. "Shouldn't there be more guards? Or some guards to begin with?"
"Cipher wouldn't want to draw attention to themselves," Rui said.
Wes looked at the vast, empty desert. "Whose attention are they going to draw exactly?"
"Regardless," Marcia said, climbing off of her bike, "Cipher probably know we're here already."
"In which case, we need to be careful," Fungin said. So they crossed the threshold into one of the glass tunnels.
Finding their way to the tower entrance was easy. When Evice had originally designed the tower, he had needed to account for incredibly dumb peons. The entrance itself had similar flooring to the rest of the complex. The ceiling was a glass dome. Around the edge of the room was a moat of still water whilst in the centre stood a stone fountain with a statue of Raikou, Entei and Suicune on it. And in front of the fountain stood a line of peons with guns pointed.
"You won't be going any further," the leader, a peon in blue said.
"All right then," Wes replied, "in that case, we'll just leave." He pointed to the corridor behind them with his thumb.
A bullet breezed past his head. "Take one step in any direction and you die."
"Aren't you going to kill us anyway?" Marcia commented.
"Shut up!" the peon yelled.
Suddenly, some of the panes of glass in the dome shattered and a number of red and white spheres fell onto the group of peons. The blue peon picked up one next to him and examined it. "Hmm, what a strange pokeball." Two eyes opened on the ball and stared at him. He shrieked and Wes laughed at him.
The peons started to freak out and attempted to chuck the balls away. However, they just rolled back to them. "Voltorbs!" they shouted. One peon, who had been knocked over by the object that hit him, groaned. "Why did I have to get the Electrode?" The Electrode sat on his stomach grinned maliciously. Then, they all exploded.
Not only were the peons killed and burnt, but a crater had formed in the middle of the floor. The ball pokemon had fallen unconscious and were scattered around the crater. Oddly enough, the statue had taken no damage, despite it's close proximity.
Ropes dropped down from the ceiling and a large group of bald men in brown uniforms descended (most took the ropes, but a few chose to jump down instead. The result was not pretty). "Oh Arceus," Wes said as a particularly muscular man with a strange mustache and a Skarmory flying beside him, landed, "please bring those peons back from the dead to kill me now."
"Wes!" Gonzap exclaimed, running towards him and giving him a bear hug. "Looks like we were just in time."
Wes let out a strange noise. "You can let go now, Dad," he managed to say.
"That's his father?!" Growlithe exclaimed. "They don't look alike at all."
"My father and I look nothing alike either," Marcia said.
Rui watched the two through closed eyes, pleased to see that Gonzap's aura was much less evil than last she saw him. "That's because Wes merely considers Gonzap to be his father. He never knew his father and Gonzap brought him up. Not particularly well, mind you."
"So, how was Unova, Wes?" Gonzap asked, finally releasing his adopted son.
"Fine until your call. Sadly, you weren't joking."
Gonzap turned to Rui. "Good to see you've been turning him good."
"I wouldn't even dream of doing anything else," Rui replied.
His eyes fell on Michael. "It's been a while, Michael. How goes your work?"
"Fine thank you," Michael said slightly irritated. "I suppose you're still a petty thug."
"We call it business." Gonzap faced Marcia. "Still causing chaos for Cipher, I see. And you appear to have gathered a few new companions. Including a cool Kecleon with a knife."
"I think crime fighting just might be more interesting than journalism."
"I should kill them for even considering it," the Shade said to Fungin, noticing a number of Snagem grunts were eyeing her up.
"Like it or not," Fungin said, "I think these are our allies. Save the killing for the enemy. They're unlikely to catch you anyway."
"I guess so, but it's the principle."
"Listen, as nice as this reunion is," Michael said sarcastically, "Cipher are going to inflict their curse upon the entire world if we don't hurry."
"How are we going to get up to the colosseum?" Wes said. "The lift is barely big enough for two."
"Obviously we'll fly," Gonzap said. He turned to his grunts. "I presume you all have flying pokemon like I said." A few groaned. "That aren't Doduo or Dodrio." A couple more groaned.
"De ja vu," Skarmory commented.
"I don't have a flying-type big enough," Wes said, "and neither does Rui."
"Don't worry. You can ride on Skarmory with me."
Wes examined Skarmory. "He doesn't look big enough for three. Where will Rui go?"
"Don't worry about me, Wes," Rui replied, "I'll take Tropius since there's enough space. Plus you need some father/son time."
Wes sighed. "Fine, I'll take Skarmory with you, Dad." Growlithe, Richmond, Rui and Marcia managed to fit onto Tropius, whilst Fungin and the Shade clambered aboard Dragonite with Michael. Team Snagem climbed onto their pokemon (or someone else's if they did not have one). Gonzap and Wes flew at the head of the flock, aiming for the huge colosseum at the top of Realgam tower.
"Bugger!" Growlithe said, pulling himself off of the ground. The colosseum was already a war-zone. The red and blue tiles that once made up the colosseum floor flew up into the air as explosions hit the ground. Above the colosseum was tiered seating and further up, a number of towers that made up the Realgam battle frontier.
Tropius landed beside him. "Sorry, it's not easy to avoid that many hyper beams." Rui and Marcia dismounted and sent out their pokemon. "Haven't broken anything, have you?"
"No, it was a short fall," Growlithe said, "but it was still painful."
"Quit whining," Shelgon said as she appeared, "we have a battle to win."
"We don't have a battle to win. That's Snagem's job. We have to find Evice and quickly."
Dragonite and Skarmory landed and their passengers dismounted, releasing their pokemon. Tropius shook herself and a sick-looking Richmond slid off her back and onto the ground. "Flying is now going to be added to the list of things I will never do again," he groaned as Growlithe helped him up.
"Okay then," Marcia said, "where exactly are we going?"
The Shade gazed upwards whilst everyone else glanced around the battlefield. She was looking at a large blue tower with many windows in it's walls. At the top, a number of armed peons watched, ready to fire their rifles at a moments notice. Several airships hovered next to rooms including Ein's personal one. "You'd think they would hide their guards so they wouldn't attract attention," she commented.
All the pokemon heard this and turned towards the tower. This attracted the attention of the trainers. Their jaws dropped. "Well, we're not flying up there," Michael said.
"So we're going to climb it instead?" Marcia asked. "That's probably even more dangerous."
"We don't have much of a choice. In the air, we are sitting Psyducks. In the tower, there may be obstacles to duck behind." Michael turned to the rest of the group. "We should find an entrance to that tower."
"Guys," Wes said, "Rui and I are going to help Gonzap and team Snagem in the colosseum."
"You actually want to help those crooks!" Michael said incredulously. "They'll probably double cross us."
"What would they get from double crossing us? Plus, he brought me up. I'm basically his son."
"Besides," Rui added, "thirty grunts are not enough to deal with this amount of peons and I don't have many useful aura abilities. All I can tell you is that the tower is definitely where the machine is." Growlithe closed his eyes and faced the top of the tower. He nodded in agreement. "I wish you all the best of luck. Or it may mean the end of us all."
"How about the heroes of Orre fight together in battle," Wes said. "What do you say, Michael?"
"As long as that guy," Michael pointed at Gonzap, "is here, I would rather climb that tower."
"Yeesh," Gonzap said, "I said I was sorry for taking your snag machine. It's not like I kept it." Michael ignored him.
"Hey, I've just noticed something," Richmond said. "Why haven't we been attacked by any peons yet?"
"Hey look," a peon exclaimed, "people who aren't from Cipher! Get them!" A number of peons rushed in with their pokemon.
"I can't believe we didn't see them," another peon commented.
The Shade punched Richmond's arm. "You just had to open your mouth, didn't you?"
After some intense battling, Growlithe, Richmond, the Shade, Fungin, Marcia, Michael and all of their pokemon managed to reach the entrance to the tower. The entrance was inside the colosseum building. Two glass doors set in between panels of glass behind a reception desk underneath a sign reading; 'Battle tower', were their only obstacles...other than a sight that Growlithe, Richmond, Marcia and Michael were not pleased to see.
"Well well well, what a surprise." Lovrina's voice echoed around the lobby. "How did you survive the explosions. I'm so disappointed with my workers for not making good bombs. I'll just have to kill you all here instead."
Michael stepped forward. "You and me, Lovrina. A six on six battle."
"Oh Michael." She frowned. "I'm so disappointed. Aren't you a member of my fan-club?"
Marcia stared at Michael with disbelief. Then she burst out laughing. "The Lovrina fan-club? Seriously?"
"Hey, shut up!" Michael snapped, blushing. "She invited me. And she said she wouldn't be evil any more." He then murmured, "Plus she's kinda cute."
Marcia could not control her laughter. "She's, like, twenty years older than you!"
"Actually, it's more like ten," Lovrina put in, although she was not heard. "And on the lower side of...Oh whatever."
"Humans are weird, aren't they," Fungin commented.
"Yeah," the Shade said, "if they want to mate, why don't they just force themselves on each other. Like I do."
"I do not want to know about your mating methods," Richmond said, looking bewildered.
"Okay, enough is enough," Michael said finally, "let's battle." He sent out all six of his team; Jolteon, Dragonite, Walrein, Ursaring, Houndoom and Gardevior.
"Fine then," Lovrina replied, sending out her Roserade, Beautifly, Gorebyss, Reuniclus, Absol and Porygon Z. The pokemon started fighting whilst Michael and Lovrina threw insults at each other.
Everyone else just watched. "Do you think we should just head into the tower?" Lombre asked.
"Well that would require someone to get the keys from Miss Lovrina's pockets, eh wot," Skuntank said in his usual stereotypical British accent.
"I could break the glass!" Shelgon and Steelix said in unison. Their eyes narrowed at each other.
"That would be rather messy, though," Skuntank complained.
While they were deciding (or not as the case may have been) what the best course of action was, the insult match continued. "You know, unless you can defeat me in person, no one is getting into the tower, Michael," Lovrina said. "The glass is able to withstand any pokemon attacks, but I have the key." She pulled it out of her pocket to taunt him. "However, I know you would never hit a girl."
Michael ducked under a psybeam that travelled from Reuniclus to Gardevior. He walked straight up to the desk which Lovrina stood behind. He pulled out his gun and pointed it at her face.
"Go on," Lovrina urged, "pull the trigger." Michael's arm began to shake. Then his palm opened up and the gun fell to the floor. "That's a good boy. Your whore of a mother and your retarded sister would be proud of the boy who didn't-"
Apparently that was the wrong thing to say because her face ended up on the receiving end of a punch. She stumbled and the key slipped to the ground. Barely having time to recover, Michael pounced upon her with fury. "DO. NOT. INSULT. MY. FAMILY."
"Hello," Skuntank said, seeing the key, "I smell opportunity." The whole group (other than Michael and his pokemon) ran over. Leaving Michael and Lovrina to their fighting, Marcia grabbed the key and unlocked the door. They charged into the next room and quickly found the stairs (the lifts were out of order).
They soon reached an area in which the stair-case ended. "Seriously?" the Shade said. "Who designed this building?"
"Evice," Lombre replied, remembering something he had overheard from his former master.
"Good point." They passed through a set of double doors and arrived in a large room with white markings on the floor. The walls on the right-hand side had a number of windows set in them, looking down on the desert far below.
In front of them stood a peon with a black helmet that looked incredibly damaged. The rest of his peon outfit was blue. A Girafarig stood beside him. It saw Growlithe and scowled.
"Oh crap," Growlithe muttered.
"Oh crap indeed, matey," Girafarig said with a grin.
"No way," Marcia said, staring at the peon. "Shouldn't you be recovering from serious wounds or something."
An eerie smile formed on the exposed part of the burnt peon's face. "Yes," there was something very wrong about his voice. "I should. I should be dying. Your little mutt should have killed me. Because now I'm a thousand times WORSE!" He shook his head violently.
"Dude, are you okay?" Marcia asked. Growlithe could feel a familiar sensation and closed his eyes.
"Yes. I am fine, dude. Dudedudedude. Never better. Ein said he would heal me and he did. He healed my burns. He brought the shadows safely to me. My helmet may be stuck to my head, but I am perfection. Shadows." An eye appeared in a small crack in the ruined helmet. A flash of blue that made Growlithe shiver.
"They whisper to me sometimes," the peon continued. His eye continued to scan the party. "My shadows. They tell me what I must do. You must burn. Burn. Burn. BURN!" He cackled malevolently.
"He's a shadow, err, human?" Growlithe said.
"Perhaps we can reason with him?" Skuntank said.
Shelgon frowned. "What is it with you and non-violence? Do you really think we can reason with that thing?"
"We can try," Marcia said stepping forward. The peon stopped laughing and his smile faded. "If you let us passed, you can burn as much as you like."
His pupil widened. "No. No. No. You cannot. The shadows forbid it. You must stay. Stay. And burn. Yes. Burn. Burnyburnyburnburn."
"Okay then, perhaps a different kind of reasoning." Marcia drew the knife she had taken from this exact same peon at Mount Battle. "Move. NOW!"
"NO! NO! NO! That is not fire! The shadows want fire to feed them. Meat to taste. Burnt meat. Burn burnt burn bert burnt." He plucked his three pokeballs from his belt. "Bring the fire to the shadows and they will reward. Yes." Instead of releasing the pokemon, he tossed the balls in random directions.
One smashed through a window and disappeared, another hit the ground and turned out to be empty. Girafarig stared at it for a moment. The third hit Lombre in the face and opened up, releasing a Golem on top of him. "Shadows," Growlithe said, his fur standing on end.
Girafarig turned to his master. "Umm, do you want me to-"
"BURN!"
"Fine." Girafarig used agility and charged at Growlithe. Growlithe rolled out of the way just in time and spat a flamethrower back. It reflected off of the light screen and would have hit Marcia had she not ducked. "Damn, if that had worked, I would have believed in karma."
He ran around the room, accurately firing psybeams that frequently hit their targets. Seeing a Breloom stationary, he grinned. "Too easy." He fired and the Breloom faded to nothing. "Whoa, I never knew I had that kind of power."
At that moment he found he had stopped running. "Huh?" He turned to see the same Breloom directly in front of him. "How? Breloom aren't renown for their speed."
"Speed is not a problem for ninjas," Fungin said. She then punched him so hard that his light screen fell and he became dazed. "Now, Growlithe!"
"Son of a bitch," Girafarig said as his senses returned, "or daughter for that matter." He looked around to try and find Fungin. Suddenly, he became engulfed with fire. Screaming, he flailed around the room until the fire finally burnt out and he fell to the floor, blackened with soot.
"No! Don't burn yourselves!" The peon called.
Growlithe only had time to turn from Girafarig before one of the windows shattered and Mandibuzz flew through. This time, she said no words, instead she screeched and grabbed Shelgon in her talons, the claws piercing her tough hide. With her in tow, Mandibuzz flew back out of the window and released her prey.
"NO!" Marcia screamed. Growlithe, Fungin, Skuntank and Tropius ran to the window. This only served to make matters worse because Golem took advantage of the situation and used shadow rush to knock the four of them over.
She turned and prepared to roll through them again, but the Shade appeared in her path, dagger drawn. "Hello, shadow," she said. "Time to die."
Golem curled into a ball and began to roll towards her. However, a huge jet of water blasted her off course and into a wall, where she got stuck. "Ha," Lombre laughed, "a bit of revenge. How did you like my hydro pump?" Golem tried to pull herself out of the wall, but was completely stuck. So, she started to glow red and exploded, leaving a huge hole in the wall, but otherwise not harming anyone.
Growlithe, Fungin, Skuntank and Tropius managed to recover when they saw the Mandibuzz fly back in through the window. She bared her talons and screeched. Suddenly, an awe-inspiring blue beam blasted right through Mandibuzz and took out a patch of the ceiling. She fell to the floor and a shadow appeared at the window.
"Did you miss me?" Shelgon said. Except instead of Shelgon, a blue dragon with red wings stood in the window (which she had to widen to get through).
Marcia gasped. "How did you evolve so quickly?"
"You didn't expect me to stay confined for long, did you?" Salamence turned to the peon. "Now it's your turn."
The peon looked shocked. He began running wildly around the room. "No! They must burn! They must burn!" He then ran straight out of Golem's hole in the wall and plummeted to the desert far below.
"What was that all about?" Richmond asked.
"Cipher's failed test subject?" the Shade suggested.
"Whatever it was, this is only a small part of Cipher's power," Growlithe said. "We must hurry." And so they hurried to the next stair-case.
"Why is this taking so long?" Evice asked. He was currently strapped to a strange box-shaped machine with a vertical semi-cylindrical shape cut out of it (in which he currently resided). The God Catalyst had been placed on a pedestal sticking out of the top. A number of mechanical arms surrounded him with numerous different attachments, including a syringe filled with murky purple liquid. He grimaced when he looked at it.
Ein sighed, put down another mug of coffee and looked at him with bloodshot eyes. "All good machines of great power take a long time to charge. Plus, I didn't have time to charge it at the lab for obvious reasons."
Across the room, Selena watched a bank of computers. "We've had far too many security alerts," she said. "These intruders beat your experiment, Ein."
"Not a surprise, he wasn't the best shadow human I've created," Ein replied, picking up his coffee and glancing at a Sudoku in the 'Orre Express' newspaper. He sighed again when he realised that there was no possible way to do it since there were two nines in the first box. "When we take over the world, the first thing we should do is put smart people in charge of Orre's media."
"Take over the world!" Evice laughed. "Are you really that gullible, Ein? That's just a pretext. Did you seriously join Cipher to take over the world?"
"No, I joined Cipher because you gave me a scientific offer of a lifetime. My brother did the same thing, but his organisation got destroyed by some kid."
"Why would we want the world?" Selena asked. "Look at us. Do we look like ruling material? We would be more corrupt than the current world leaders."
"And do shadow pokemon look like creatures to sustain a government?" Evice asked. "No, they're destroyers, killers and savages that obey the commands of the master and only the master."
"So you want to destroy the world?" Ein guessed.
"We're not insane, Ein," Evice replied.
"Then what do you want?"
"We want to evolve humanity."
"Evolve humanity?!"
"Yes. It's simple, much like pokemon evolution. By releasing shadow pokemon on the world with the command to 'kill', many will die. However, the survivors will adapt to survive and destroy the pokemon. Cipher of course will be the commanders."
"You're crazy!" Ein exclaimed, spilling his coffee on the newspaper.
"Am I Ein? You joined this organisation for science. Now we are conducting the greatest experiment on earth!" He tried to raise his arms for effect, but they were strapped down.
"Then what is this? Giving you Arceus' power. Why do we need this?"
"Ah, this is another one of my experiments. If I can channel this power, I can-"
"Guys," Selena said in an urgent voice, "hate to break the chat, but Snagem are kicking our peons backsides extremely well. They are overwhelming us."
"What exactly can we do?" Evice asked, naturally helpless.
"Ein, you are going to have to release 'it'."
Ein's eyes widened. "You mean XD200?"
"200?" Evice said. "I didn't know there were that many."
"There aren't. I just needed a cool sounding number and 001 and 100 were taken." He adjusted his glasses. "Very well, I shall go and release it." He walked through a hole in the wall of the battle tower control room and onto his ship's metal gangplank.
Michael's Houndoom spat a flamethrower at Lovrina's Roserade. The attack would have been effective had Gorebyss not floated into the path of the attack with an aqua veil surrounding it. Steam hissed as the water evaporated. Gorebyss twisted it's head and returned fire with a hydro pump.
Bounding out of the way of the oncoming water jet, Houndoom unleashed a dark pulse, sending black energy straight towards Gorebyss. It was a direct hit.
Furious that it had been hit, Gorebyss waved it's body around a bit to summon rain to the battle. Houndoom yelped as droplets began to hit it on the head. Gorebyss took the opportunity to fire another hydro pump whilst it was distracted.
Roserade meanwhile, made her way towards Walrein who would undoubtedly have an advantage in the rain. She used the rain to her own advantage by launching weather balls at the unsuspecting Walrein who was currently dealing with Beautifly.
It whined as the balls collided with it's back, sending an ice beam off course and frosting up some of the glass in the room. It turned to face Roserade with a face full of fury. The rain in the air started to turn to snow and fell at a more intense rate. Roserade shivered and tried to see in front of herself when suddenly, Walrein bounded through the snow towards her.
It would have flattened her had a sudden discharge of electricity not collided with Walrein. The snows cleared and Porygon Z floated in front of her. "Thanks, 'zed'," Roserade said, using her nickname for it. Porygon Z ignored her. She looked at the Walrein stretched out on it's stomach in front of her. Now to see if it really is knocked out, she thought, advancing.
Ursaring and Absol exchanged a frenzy of slashes at high speeds. However, it was clear to see from the number of cuts on each of them that the lumbering bear was no match for the disaster pokemon. Dragonite had had a good grasp on Porygon Z until Gorebyss finished with Houndoom, allowing it to fire ice beams at the dragon.
The rains had made it fairly easy for Jolteon to conduct electricity, instantly knocking Beautifly out. However, this elicited a response from Roserade, putting Jolteon against an opponent she was not suited for. Meanwhile, Gardevoir and Reunclus had an on-going mind duel which neither side showed signs of losing.
"Hey, baby," Reuniclus said, "why don't you just lower your barriers and let me enter you?"
Gardevoir scowled and in a deep voice replied, "Enter me? I'm a man. You're a clump of cells. If anyone's entering anyone, it's me entering you."
Reuniclus gaped, deciding not to say anything else and just focus on the battle.
Lovrina knocked Michael to the floor once again. "You are so weak Michael." She punched him several times in the face. "I would have expected better from a hero who traveled all over Orre."
Michael shoved her off him and rose once more, trying to knock her into the desk. "I may be weak, but I'm determined. And determination continues even after physical strength wears off."
"Maybe," Lovrina said, allowing herself to lose ground so she could get nearer to the desk, "but you're not the only determined one here. I want to see the results of what happens at Realgam tower today and no one will prevent me. Not you, not that ginger slut, not even that omnipotent, dumb, fire-breathing mutt."
Once she could feel the desk against the back of her legs, she grabbed Michael and spun, so that he was closer to the desk. Then she knocked him into it. He hit the desk with a thud and then slipped to the floor. Lovrina bent down to hit him again, when she noticed the gun on the ground. She snatched it up and moved back to allow Michael to rise.
He had his back to her once he was up, so Lovrina wasted no time and flicked the safety off. She put the barrel of the gun against his head and said, "This time it's over, kid."
Wes was having the time of his life. Every peon that came close, he blasted with his gun. Every shadow pokemon ended up on the receiving end of the snag machine. Later, it would cause a vast amount of effort, picking up each and every pokeball, but Wes was not concerned about the future.
A shadow Donphan charged towards him, only to be swept to the ground by Espeon and Umbreon. Wes casually dropped a snag ball from his snag machine and the Donphan was sucked in. One, two, three, click. "This is two easy," Wes said, shooting a peon that tried to sneak up behind him. Alongside team Snagem, they had almost destroyed Cipher with surprisingly little casualty.
He was having the time of his life until he heard Rui shout; "Wes!" It was urgent. Wes charged across the battlefield, his pokemon following him the whole way.
Rui was on her knees, almost in tears. Wes ran over, grabbed her hands and ordered their pokemon to defend them. "What's wrong?" Wes said, fearfully. Rui had been through a lot in her life. It was unlike her to ever be like this.
"Something terrible is coming," she whispered. "Something completely against nature."
Wes took her in his arms and saw a nearby peon looking at them. "Girls are weak," he said with a grin. "Nobody touched her and yet she still fell to floor."
Glaring at him, Wes opened his mouth to retort when the peon became engulfed in a purple fire. He looked up at the battle tower where it had come from. The hull of the large ship at the top of the tower had opened up and a giant purple bird was diving down towards the colosseum.
"No way," Wes gasped as the bird landed, sending tremors throughout the tower. It raised it's head and roared deeply. Rui began to shiver. Now she really was crying.
Wes opened his PDA and tried to analyse the creature. Unknown target. Please target a pokemon. However, it was too similar for it not to be. It could not be, yet here it was. Wes was staring at XD200—Shadow Ho oh.