"Wh-who are you?!" Dan's father sputtered. "And how do you know my name?"
Masque's brows lowered over his lustrous mask. "Your name? No, no, I was addressing…" He gestured vaguely towards Dan. "However…if you answer to 'Mr. Fawcett', you must be his parent." His mouth tightened into a bullying smile. "I never thought I would arrive directly in your hometown! My my, this shortens things considerably."
Mr. Fawcett drew himself up gruffly, but Dan cut in before his father could launch a tirade. "Dad, run. Everyone else, too. I've met him before. He's dangerous, a murderer." He reached for his poke balls.
"Stop, if you would, Mr. Faw--ah, sorry. Stop, if you would, Dan." Dan tensed, his hand freezing mere inches from Armor's poke ball. Masque gazed at him, that same small, disturbing smile plastered on his face. "I'd like to wait a bit before things get ugly…try to move against me, and you'll see how quickly my Scyther can sever flesh from bone." He gave a significant glance at the others. "You can't hope to protect them all."
Dan slowly moved his hand away from the poke ball. Masque's smile tightened. "Marvelous," he said grandiosely, "simply marvelous! The rest of you should know that any attempt to leave before your time will also provoke my, ah, retribution." He turned to Luke and his family. Missy had by now instinctively run over to them, bristling in front of her brother, ready if necessary to protect them from the Scyther.
"And you," the outlandishly dressed man murmured malevolently, "must be Luke. The hair alone guarantees it. And that makes you her parents. Lovely."
Missy's heart began racing faster in spite of the situation. Masque knew her identity. There was still a chance for everyone to find out who she really was!
"Wait, 'her'?" Luke said slowly, his mind working. "You don't mean…"
"Missy," Masque finished simply. He had a neutral look on his face, but his eyes sparkled with malignance. "The fact that I even know her name at all should be proof enough that I'm telling the truth. Tell me…what do you know of your long-lost sister?"
The clouds above were roiling, churning. Gray was morphing into a thunderous black. A terrible storm was about to be born.
"That she was--is--lost in the pokemon world."
Luke… Missy thought. I'm more lost than you know…
"How do you know her? How could you possibly have met her?!" Dan screamed, pointing an accusing finger at the former Team Rocket member. Masque did not respond; he simply rocked back and forth on the heels of his feet, the maddening smile growing ever wider. Though the Scyther had both eyes on Dan, in case the teen decided to loose one of his pokemon despite Masque's threats, he bared his teeth; Missy knew the gesture was meant for her.
"That's all I know, honest," Luke said with a pained look on his ragged face. He drew his arms in, shivering, as a fierce wind--herald of the soon-to-be storm--gusted through the park clearing. "If you can reunite me with her, please! Do it!"
"Do you want me to tell you about your sister?" Masque asked, and his concerned tone contrasted horribly with his wicked smile. His eyes were staring pointedly at Missy's brother. "Do you want me to tell you everything?"
"Yeah," Dan said angrily, taking a step forward despite the Scyther's warning hiss. "You'd better tell us--"
"That statement was not directed at you, Dan," Masque interrupted without taking his eyes from Luke's face. "Only Luke can tempt that information out of me. After all, he's the entire reason that I left my home dimension and came here. He is everything I have been working towards since I first met young Missy."
Wait, what? Missy thought. Luke is what Masque is after? What's he mean?
"You've been working towards…me?" Luke said with disbelief. "Why?"
"Why indeed?" Masque echoed back with false mirth.
"Dan said that you're a murderer. Is that true?"
"Most certainly."
Luke's face hardened. He visibly braced himself. "I don't care who you are. I'm not going to help you in your schemes!"
"You are being obstinate," Masque said. "I'll have to talk you out of that. But, now is not the time or place. Scyther!"
It all happened so quickly. The moment his master said his name, the Scyther lunged forwards, straight at Luke. Missy ran forwards to meet him, but he casually swatted her out of the way, catching her on the flat of his chipped blade. The Bug-type dealt Luke a devastating kick to his face, and the teen dropped unconscious immediately. Before he could hit the ground, the Scyther caught him, delicately cradling him against his body with the broad side of one of his blades while pointing the other at Missy, daring her to come nearer.
All that took perhaps three seconds. In those three seconds, Dan screamed "That's it!" and reached for his poke balls like lightning. There was a flash as he loosed all five of his fighters. However, Dan's flash was met by others; Masque had not come with only the Scyther to back him up, and four of his pokemon now stood leering at Dan's team.
"Attack," Masque said, pointing at Missy. One of his pokemon, a Dragonair, launched a bolt of lightning at Missy, who raced away to avoid the blast. Masque was off running the moment she was no longer near her brother. He darted through the smoke from the explosion, his coat streaming almost horizontally behind him, and helped his Scyther bear Luke. They, carrying Missy's brother between them, raced off, out of the park. "These people are of no use to me," Masque called back to his assembled pokemon. "Break them however you'd like." And with that he, his Scyther, and Luke were vanished, gone like ghosts into the trees.
The storm finally broke. Lightning spiraled across the sky, accompanied by tremendous thunder. The wind swept through the clearing like a juggernaut, blasting leaves off of the trees and roaring in everyone's ears like a vengeful banshee. The heavy, humid scent accompanying the wind announced that rain would not be far behind.
"Stop!" cried Missy. "Bring my brother back!" Before she took more than three steps, she felt the fur tingle with the approach of oncoming electricity. An explosion right where she had been knocked her off her feet. As she scrabbled up out of the wind-driven grass, a blue streak shot from behind her. Before Missy knew what was happening, she was grappling with the Dragonair.
Stupid, stupid, stupid! she chided herself. How could I forget something that had just shot electricity at me? Of course it would do it again! She tried fighting back against the snake-like pokemon, but for all its massive size it had a speed to rival Missy's own, and soon her paws were pinned to her sides as it caught her in a writhing embrace. As she felt the breath being squeezed out of her, Missy tried in vain to twist her head into a position where she could bite her attacker. The Dragonair leered down at her with eerie jet-black eyes, and electricity began gathering once again in the horn on its head.
As it prepared to discharge its payload, a sudden jet of fire streaked into its side. The electricity dissipated as the Dragonair lost concentration, and its coils loosened for a moment. That was all the opportunity Missy needed. She brought her head down, biting fiercely into her opponent's side. The Dragonair gave a wail and began thrashing, allowing Missy to worm her way free. Just as Missy escaped Masque's pokemon, a sudden flash of white and fiery orange shot past, ramming into the dragon's side. The dragonair flew backwards; when it landed, it coiled dangerously, silently surveying its new foe.
"You all right?" said Ruby. The bright flames of her mane stood a sharp contrast to the iron sky up above; they illuminated the messy scars on her back.
"Fine," breathed Missy, trying to recover the air the Dragonair had squeezed from her. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the other pokemon fighting in the clearing. Nemo, Nightshade, and Armor were grappling against two of Masque's pokemon. One looked a bit like her own form as an Eevee, but larger, and with blue scales instead of fur. Most curiously, it had a mermaid's tail. The other pokemon was a massive, purple moth; Missy recalled fighting one during their weeks tracking down renegade Rockets. She thought it was called a "Venomoth".
Artemis was staring down a pinkish blob with a disturbing smile on its face. Missy noticed with amazement as it suddenly began reshaping itself, growing limbs and sprouting yellow fur out of nowhere.
Lightning flashed across the sky--still rainless, though the scent was only growing stronger--and the ensuing thunder was a starting pistol. As it rang through the clearing, she and the Dragonair both launched themselves forward. A blast of fire shot past Missy, aimed right at the Dragonair, but the serpent fell flat and slithered under the wave on its belly. Missy raised her paw to scratch at her opponent's face, but it dodged with its unnatural speed and stabbed at her with the horn on its head. Before it could connect, Ruby raced frontwards once more and caught the Dragonair with a devastating strike from her hooves. The Dragonair withdrew once more, aware it was outclassed in a two-to one fight.
Missy once again noticed the other pokemon fighting in her peripheral vision. Armor was flinging blobs of sludge at the Venomoth, but the Bug-type rode the storm's wind on its wings and casually dodged each one, raining deadly powder with each wingbeat. The blue Eevee lookalike shooting a jet of water at Nemo, who was countering with one of his own, but roots suddenly burst from the ground and lanced its side; it fell back, with a pained cry of "Vaporeon!" Missy did not know where Nightshade was--using the plants in the clearing as camouflage, most likely--but doubtless it was he who had attacked the blue creature. Strangely enough, the blob pokemon seemed to have disappeared; in its place a second Artemis had sprouted, and the two were engaged in an electrical duel.
The Dragonair lunged again, and both Missy and Ruby raced forward to meet it, but it twisted in midair, avoiding them both; Missy saw the glow of electricity bathe its horn once again, and as she and Ruby made an about-face, a bolt shot from the Dragon-type and slammed into Ruby, who fell back. Immediately the blue snake was grappling with Missy once again. She tried to avoid being roped in its coils like before, but this was difficult to accomplish, as it was also trying to gouge its horn into her. As Missy caught its eye, the creature let out a shriek laced with hatred. Missy knew then that this was no ordinary pokemon battle, with rules and unspoken codes. This was like her fight against the Scyther back in Saffron, a bout to the death where anything was allowed, with trainers all but ignored. This was a fight between animals, a primal struggle for survival.
Just as Missy seemed once again to be wrapped by her opponent, it loosed her and wriggled away, barely avoiding another sheet of flame. That electric blast had not taken Ruby out of the picture for long. Missy clearly saw the others now, directly in her point of view. She saw that the fights against the Venomoth and Vaporeon had become an all-out brawl, with every pokemon fighting blindly. Dan hovered at the edge of the clearing, looking panicked; this was not the sort of battle a trainer was meant to handle, and though the fight was best left to the pokemon themselves, he looked powerless about it.
Behind Dan, his parents and Missy's own were own standing motionless, gaping. They had never seen this sort of thing before, a terrible fight between creatures with formidable powers.
What are they thinking? thought Missy as thunder boomed once again. Dan has a right to stay since his pokemon are involved, but they need to run! This is dangerous!
As if it determined to prove her fears true, the Venomoth broke off from the fighting and flew towards the humans, glittering powder trailing from his wings. Missy's mother and Dan both took a step backwards in shock, but the rest seemed immobile. Missy fearfully noticed that the other pokemon on her team had not noticed that the Bug-type had left their brawl.
"Ruby," she screamed, "the Venomoth is attacking the humans! Do something!"
The Ponyta grunted a response and, with a parting shot of flame aimed at the Dragonair, raced to head off the Venomoth.
Missy's attention was foolishly focused on her friend's departure, and so she noticed too late that the Dragonair was inching forward. It suddenly moved, faster than quicksilver, and before Missy had any time to react its tail slammed into her face, the two globes on the end knocking painfully into her skull. Stars danced across her vision.
As she reeled from the blow, suddenly it was upon her, coils squeezing her like a vise. Missy desperately struggled, and she luckily landed a claw on one of the many burns Ruby had given it. It pulled away, hissing, but when Missy's paws touched the ground again, she wavered, still dizzy from the strike to her skull. Lightning flashed across the sky once again, but close this time, the thunder arriving less than a second later with a sound like a bomb being dropped. The flash and noise disoriented her even further, and the Dragonair used the opportunity to gather its electrical attack once again. The blast slammed into Missy, knocking her backwards painfully into a tree at the edge of the clearing. She collapsed on the ground, electricity coursing through her muscles; she was paralyzed, unable to move.
She saw the Dragonair raising its lithe neck triumphantly beneath the cloudy sky, a smug look on its face as its horn glowed once more. It was preparing the finishing blow. Just as the horn sparked, lightning cascaded from the clouds, even closer than before. The bolt struck the Dragonair, using its horn like a lightning rod, and the serpentine pokemon spasmed as the wrath of a storm poured into its body. If Missy had been disoriented before, the sudden brightness and even more intense boom sent her head whirling once again.
She fought to regain control of her senses, and as her sight and hearing returned to normal she tried not to vomit as the sudden, pungent scent of singed flesh touched her nostrils. She avoided looking at the Dragonair, lying still in a patch of charred grass; she did not need to see its glassy, wide-open eyes to know that the Dragonair had lost their fight. It was dead.
She staggered past the body, muscles still weak from the aftereffects of the electrical attack. She wished the rain would hurry up and start falling, and was away the horrible charred smell. It was too much like the blood scent from Viridian; she fought to keep the image of the dead Giovanni out of her mind.
The other pokemon were still dueling it out. The Venomoth lay unconscious on the grass, mere feet from where Dan and the other humans huddled. The Vaporeon was still fighting on, but Ruby, Armor, Nemo, and Nightshade had teamed up to take it down, and it was clearly on its last ropes. Missy instead turned her attention to the twin Electabuzz, which were grappling on the grass. They cried out as they fought, and Missy noticed that even their voices were identical.
As she neared the two pokemon, however, she noticed that one Electabuzz gave off Artemis' scent, while the other…didn't. Thinking to herself that the mysterious pink blob had somehow made a bizarre doppelganger of Artemis, Missy leapt upon the one who smelled wrong and scratched and bit for all she was worth. The fake Artemis fell away from the real one, trying to drag her off.
"Off, get off," it cried in Artemis' voice, and its long claws raked against her body, but thankfully they went no further than brushing against her fur. It finally grabbed Missy by one of her ears. She squealed despite herself--it was her wounded ear--as it flung her off. However, the real Artemis lunged forwards and dealt the fake a devastating blow to its stomach. The fake staggered back and Artemis struck it again, this time with a powerful backhand blow to its face. It slumped to the earth, unconscious, and Missy watched in shock as its body dissolved, fur bubbling away to be replaced by pink goo.
"Wow-thanks-I-thought-I-was-a-goner," Artemis said, speaking fast even between the pants of her breath.
"Yeah," Missy said, not bothering to say any more due to weariness.
"You both okay, eh?" Missy turned to see Armor and the others walking over to meet them. The Vaporeon was slumped, knocked cold, on the grass behind them. "Sorry 'bout that, Artemis, we couldn't tell who was who, eh, not with that Ditto running amok."
"Yeah-whatever-I-took-care-of it," Artemis said, wearily sitting down on the grass. The other pokemon also fell back, tired. Nemo outright collapsed.
"Guys," said Dan's voice, and soon their trainer was among them, astonishment mingling with relief on his face. "You're all okay. I'm sorry I wasn't able to guide you much, that was just…it was a brawl, like nothing I've ever seen. I'm just glad none of you fainted…or even…" He trailed off, but glanced significantly in the direction of the Dragonair's body. His face tightened.
"Our parents--mine, I mean, and Luke's--I think they might be in shock. I don't think they really expected to see that sort of thing, especially not to have it sprung on them so suddenly."
Thunder boomed above them again, and Dan grimaced. "Come on, we've got to get back. We at least need to run the adults home to where it's safe. We have to figure out what to do about Masque. And you all need to rest."
He pulled out his poke balls and, thanking each pokemon individually before he recalled them. Soon, only Missy was left. He paused. "Storm," Dan said, "are you sure you don't want to get back in your poke ball? Just this once?"
Missy shook her head. She wanted to rest, and she'd never be able to do that in the surreal nightmare that was her poke ball. Dan sighed, and then bent down and picked her up, cradling her in his arms. "I can't make you take even another step," he said, "not in this state." Missy just nodded; she was too tired to feel jittery from being so close to Dan.
As he walked toward the trees, leaving the park, Missy got a clear view of the clearing. She saw the Dragonair's body lying there, and even though it had fought against her, she felt something like pity rise within her. She hoped it would rain soon.
***
Masque took pride in his own abilities, but he did not consider himself arrogant. To be arrogant was to be conceited about something you had no right to be conceited about, and he had every right to be impressed with himself.
How foolishly they had acted back in his home world, as though merely sending him to prison to would be enough to constrain him. He knew that if he wanted to begin his journey between worlds, tailing the girl trapped as an Eevee and her trainer would be a good first step; he had already known from accessing Missy's memories that the Fawcett boy was searching for a way home. However, thanks to Giovanni's foolish grandiosity in Saffron City, the Pokemon League was sure to begin a systematic extermination of Team Rocket.
Though he had forced the Team to disband, Masque knew that as a former high-ranking member, considerable attention would be focused on him. Rather than try to tail Dan and Missy while dodging the League's efforts, he had instead opted for a simple, brilliant solution: allowing himself to be captured.
Masque smiled to himself at the thought of his plan. When he had killed Giovanni, the former crime boss had counted a Hypno among his pokemon. However, when the League arrived, the Hypno was not there. Masque sent it away, to hide, with secret instructions that would facilitate his escape.
After Masque had been imprisoned for a short while, the Hypno arrived at his prison. Using its psychic powers, it managed to stealth its way into the building undetected; it mesmerized the warden into releasing Masque, and then hypnotically wiped the memories of both the prison staff and the prisoners themselves. Masque made sure to take the liberty of wiping all data regarding his incarceration from the prison's computers.
With records of him gone and his presence hypnotically forced away, the prison had gone on like a well-oiled machine, unaware that one of its more notable prisoners had vanished. Masque's disappearance would not be noticed until somebody outside of the facility aware of his imprisonment had visited or sent notice, by which time Masque would be well away from the building, possibly even in another world.
He secretly shadowed Missy and her crush for a good time, pursuing them on their journey to Lavender Town. However, the group had unexpectedly picked up Rico as a companion; to force him away, Masque robbed a nearby town which was devoid of police officers, forcing Rico to go assist them.
Masque did not tail them directly in the Tower. He avoided spending large amounts of time in there as it made him uneasy, an unfortunate side effect of his powers. He had one of his pokemon shadow them, and in its report was the information that the tower's peak contained a stone archway which glowed mystically when touched with fire. Masque raced through the vertical graveyard, and vanished into the portal.
A void. Chaos. Miasmic darkness.
He floated in there, that strange space with points of light, for what seemed an eternity. His plan had not accounted for something such as this; all seemed lost.
The Hypno was his savior. The rift was an odd place; bizarre echoes of Missy and the others, those who had come before, remained there. Masque loosed the Hypno, which trailed the imprint to a green point of light. After recalling his servant, Masque and his eternally faithful Scyther tried forcing themselves into that point of light.
And thus they arrived. How fortuitous, to be sent right to the boy Luke's hometown, let alone to arrive right in front of him.
Masque's target himself was sprawled in a chair, still unconscious. The Scyther had overdone the kick to his face.
Masque looked around the abandoned City Hall, his new citadel. This town was tiny, insignificant, in the middle of nowhere. Its lackluster nature was of course beneficial in keeping things with the locals from getting out of hand, but at the same time, there was little that possessed true splendor. Masque held a generally high opinion of himself, an opinion he thought was well-deserved, but he knew there were certain flaws to his character. One such quirk was his love of magnificence. His stylish manner of dress was proof enough of that.
The City Hall, however, was a decent enough place for a backwards hovel such as this. It was a large building, with furniture made of carved dark wood, and a building style that attempted to avoid modern trappings in favor of the elegance of times past. Paintings and faux crystal chandeliers were in abundance. The best part was the roof; or rather, that it had no roof. Massive panels of glass separated the ceiling from the outside world, and allowed view of the sky outside. Masque suspected they were bulletproof, to avoid destruction through hail or storms. The sky above was a churning mass of clouds the color of pitch. Masque suspected it would rain soon.
Of course, with exception to its City Hall, there was no denying that the trivial little town lacked finery or any sort of importance. Then again, Masque had to admit that such a situation suited his plans. There was a definitive need to avoid the rest of the world getting entangled in his web.
After spiriting away Luke, pokemon were sent out to cut off all communications. Masque's first target was the power plant, but as luck would have it, the storm had already done his job for him. The rest was easy: a trio of Magneton to lay a magnetic field over the town, cutting them off from radio waves and satellite communication, and two Porygon to infiltrate cyberspace, preventing any residents from emailing for help or posting any messages on their computers.
With the town cut off from the outside, Masque began his fun. It was easy to clear City Hall of people, as most had not seen a pokemon and were readily terrified of his Scyther. The first two casualties of Masque's visitation were stuffed away in some closet near the back of the building, dripping scarlet blood over mops and cleaning supplies.
One of the bodies belonged to a police officer; Masque had ordered his Scyther to kill the first one he saw, as a show of force. The second was that of a girl, barely out of her late teens. The Scyther had killed her on his own initiative. The fate of the policeman had provoked her to scream and bring attention to herself; in a bloodlust after the first kill, the Scyther had been more than happy to silence the irritating cry.
A sudden sound jerked Masque's mind out of his musings; the boy was waking up. Finally.
"Nngh," Luke said, rubbing his head. "Where…" he said groggily, looking around. His eyes widened when they fell upon Masque, and he gave a cry of outrage.
"Wait," Masque said smoothly. "Calm yourself. We have business to discuss."
"Never!" Luke spat back at him. "I refuse to help a murderer, not for anything!"
"Not even for your sister's well-being?"
That brought silence from the boy. Masque knew then and there that he was already close to victory. Still, he chose his words carefully. "I alone can reunite you with her. I alone know the information that can bring you to her. Do you dare risk blowing me off so casually?"
Luke was silent for a moment. "Is she…alright? Is she alive?"
"Alive, yes. Alright? Well…that depends on what point of view you choose to take."
"You're a murderer, is that right? How do I know I can trust you? How do I know she's not dead?!"
"You don't know. And you never will, until you act on the information I have. It's your choice: assist me and hope that I'm telling the truth--and I assure you I am--or else live the rest of your life not knowing. One of those choices gives you a definite chance of seeing Missy again, and it is not the one where you ignore me."
Luke pondered the words for a great while. Masque sat quietly, the picture of patience. He knew how to play people's emotions to get what he wanted; he had been doing it for years.
"What happened after I fell unconscious? Did you try to hurt my friends and family?" Luke said suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, perhaps trying to catch the other man off guard.
"No, I did not," Masque lied coolly. There were many secrets to being an effective liar, but one of the foremost was being able to lie without feeling anything inside: remorse, anticipation, fear. Even if you did not project those outwardly, allowing such detrimental emotions to rampage within was the sign of a weak psyche, and a weak psyche could not tell good lies. "I left them behind in the park, to find a place for us to talk with one another."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Build me a machine. A machine like the one that sent your sister to my world, but that can send me to any world I choose. That is what I want."
Luke nodded. "I guess…that's not too impossible. I built the first one, even if it was by accident. If it's for my sister, I can build another one that does what you want."
Masque nodded. "I want it fast, boy, so work as best you can."
"I'll try, but these things can't be built on a whim, it'll take time…"
"What a shame…" Masque said with a sigh. "I suppose I'll have to find ways for my pokemon and I to entertain ourselves in the meantime. And our entertainment could prove to be a little…stressful on this poor town of yours."
Luke stood up in a flash. "Is that supposed to be a threat?! Don't play with me, six pokemon alone can't hold an entire town hostage, no matter what they are!"
"Only six? Luke, you underestimate me." Masque opened his blue jacket, showing the inside, and Luke gaped; there were over two dozen poke balls clipped there.
"But--how! That's not possible, trainers can only have six pokemon at a time! Dan only has six pokemon!"
"Not possible? Please, did you think us physically incapable of lifting seven or more poke balls? The six pokemon rule is just that: a rule, set down by the Pokemon League. Of course, it's a rule with a reason--pokemon are more loyal to their trainers if they respect them, which is why gym badges can inspire even the most titanic of pokemon to serve you. However, get beyond six and pokemon begin losing interest in their trainers, becoming wild and out of control. It is for this reason that even criminals usually carry no more than six.
"I, however," Masque said with a knowing smile, tapping the side of the shining white mask on his face, "possess certain abilities that allow me to instill loyalty in as many pokemon as I like.
"Now then," he said, "I think it's time for my pokemon and I to stretch our legs, don't you think? And remember, Luke, the longer you take to meet my request, the more likely it becomes that someone you know gets hurt in my little fun…Dan, perhaps, or your mother? Now work, work! Missy is waiting for you."
Masque prowled through the halls, feeling as near to inner peace as he ever had in his entire life. He felt marvelous. As he stepped out of the doors of City Hall onto the abandoned pavement, a raindrop pattered down onto his shoulder, and then another. The storm was finally ready to let loose its tears.
Masque released his pokemon--every last one.
"This city is ours, friends," he said sadistically. "Have fun with it. And try to inspire as much fear and sadness as you can, alright? We want to give poor Luke a proper incentive to work as hard as he can."
---
Nightshade tried to ignore the feeling of cold rain against his leaves. It was distracting.
After the battle in the park, they had returned to Missy's home to recuperate. All of the pokemon bunkered down, resting away their injuries as best they could without a pokemon center, while the humans tried to find where Masque had taken Missy's brother. They tried to phone the police, but the storm had knocked the power lines dead, and something was messing up the cell phones as well, strangely enough. Dan's father had driven out to the police station in person.
Mr. Fawcett's return woke up Nightshade and all the others. He burst through the door, raving about legions of monsters roaming the streets and attacking citizens.
"I don't know how Masque got his hands on so many pokemon," Dan told the others, "but it's our job to try and stop this before it gets out of hand."
He split them into three groups. Dan, accompanied by Armor and Missy, would try to find the police and let them know exactly what sort of creatures they were up against. The others were heading to places where large groups of people usually gathered. Ruby and Nemo were tasked with protecting the shopping district, while Nemo and Artemis were on their way to the schools, which Dan said were apparently all built within a few blocks of each other.
"Nightshade-come-on-you've-got-to-hurry-up!" Artemis cried, ahead of him. The Oddish nodded in agreement, between panting breaths. Thankfully none of his group had sustained terrible injuries in their battle against Masque's pokemon, and sleep had helped them heal (thank Arceus that pokemon were far hardier than humans!) but he was still tired, and after running entire blocks nonstop, he was ready to keel over.
But he would not let that stop him. He and Artemis were charged with protecting the schools, protecting children…his mouth tightened. He and Artemis had never told the other pokemon, but their former trainer whom Team Rocket had killed was a first-year trainer, only ten years old. Nightshade had promised himself in his captivity that he would never let another child come to harm, not while he had life in his body.
"Artemis," he panted as he stopped, nearly collapsing, "I'm holding us up, aren't I?"
"Who-you-no-way-never!" Artemis replied, racing up to him in her boundless energy. Concern shone in her eyes.
"Carry me."
She seemed taken aback. "What?!"
"You heard me. I can't keep on like this, but we've got to move." She hesitated for a brief moment, but nodded and lifted him up, clutching his legs as he settled down on her shoulders.
"I shouldn't have to tell you that nobody ever finds out I accepted a piggyback ride from you."
"Haha-well-I-suppose-you-have-an-image-to-maintain-right?"
"Something like that."
With Artemis no longer bound by waiting for her comrade, they sped across streets, though backyards and down sidewalks upon which rain poured. Soon, large buildings which could only be the schools came into view, and Nightshade's heart became like steel as he saw wild shapes around the nearest one. The nearby sign identified it as the elementary school, home of the youngest students.
Artemis skidded to a halt on the grass by the playground, and Nightshade leapt from her shoulders. Three pokemon were prowling around the edge of the building, leering up at the frightened eyes of children peeking out of rain-splattered windows. A fourth, massive, was perched at the top of a pine tree.
Nightshade stepped forward boldly. "Stop."
The pokemon turned to face him. It soared off the tree and flew in a circle about the building, sending children screaming with each beat of its massive wings, before settling on the ground in front of Nightshade. It was like a massive dragon made of stone: an Aerodactyl.
"Well, what have we here? Turn around before you get hurt, Grass-type, I'm not here for you."
"How dare you?" Nightshade said, and his voice was so strained with fury it was almost like a whisper. "How dare you attack defenseless children?"
The Aerodactyl gave a wicked grin, ignoring the danger in his opponent's tone. "My master told us to spread fear and sadness. I told my buddies here, 'what's more frightening and saddening than the deaths of countless children'? Really, those humans were almost asking for it, putting them all in one place. How stupid."
Nightshade stood quivering, staring fearlessly up at the brutish pokemon. He was barely the size of the Aerodactyl's foot. "You won't have the chance," he said plainly. "We'll stop you here."
The Aerodactyl snorted. "I gave you a chance to save yourself. Fine--I'll kill you, your friend, and then everyone in that school there." He smiled ferociously. "So what do you say? Let's begin!"
---
Missy, Armor, and Dan raced down the abandoned streets. Rain pattered on asphalt and pavement, mixing with the sounds in the distance: human yells, pokemon cries. Armor felt confused. How did this happen?
"It's not far, guys," Dan said, "soon we'll be at the center of town: there's City Hall, and the police station's close by, and hopefully they've left the hospital near there alone…"
They turned a corner and Armor's head suddenly registered a distant rumbling. At first he thought it was thunder, but as they moved on he saw a bridge sprawled above a raging river.
Missy told him about it as they ran. "That river runs through town; it's usually peaceful, but too much rain can make it swollen and out of control. Sometimes boulders wash along the riverbed from upstream, massive ones the size of a person. You can hear them grinding against the river bottom. That's why everyone avoids the river in the rainy season; it's dangerous enough when it's just flooding, but getting hit by one of those is a death sentence."
"Alright," Dan was saying to his pokemon, "we've almost there, just a little bit once we cross this river."
As the trio stepped onto the bridge, however, Missy suddenly froze mid-step.
"Storm?" Dan said concernedly. "Storm, what's wrong?"
"Missy, eh, what're you--" Armor stopped. Looking closely, there was almost a faint pinkish aura around her…
Suddenly Armor froze up as well, and he knew what was happening. A Psychic-type. Most pokemon simply couldn't move when bound by a psychic's power; for Armor, being a Poison-type, it was different. It felt like his entire body had been seized with liquid fire.
Thankfully, Armor was only bound a moment before he was released, albeit by being flung half the length of the bridge. As he rose, Missy was flung across the bridge as well, landing even farther than Armor had.
Dan raced over to his pokemon. "Are you both okay? What happened?"
Armor was too busy staring at the figure shrouded in showering water that was coming towards them. Slowly, an Alakazam materialized out of the rain. As Dan turned to see what his pokemon were looking at, it pointed one of its spoons at him.
Like lightning, Missy was between the two, staring down the Psychic-type fiercely. "Don't you dare," she growled. The Alakazam cocked its head to one side, amused.
As Armor took his place alongside Missy, Dan got a fervent look on his face. "Alright, let's take this joker down!" Missy, without taking her eyes from the slowly advancing Psychic-type, shook her head.
"Wait, what? Storm, you don't want me to help?" Dan said in confusion. Armor got the message she was trying to convey; he raised an arm and pointed down the road behind them.
"Oh. You want me to keep going. But, don't you need my help?" Missy shook her head again, more vigorously. "Alright. I understand. We set out this way to do a job, and I've got to complete it while you stall this guy. Just…both of you, make it through this battle." As Dan turned and raced off, thunder rang above them. The rainstorm was not letting up.
"I love you!" Missy called after him. She met Armor's eyes and blinked embarrassedly. "You know, in case we never see him again."
They had no more time to talk. When it realized that Dan was making a run for it, the Alakazam suddenly levitated and sped forward through the air, intending to pursue him.
"No you DON'T, eh!" Armor screamed, throwing a ball of slime at his opponent; it deflected Armor's attack without even slowing down. Armor caught Missy's eye and nodded. He threw another one. While it was warding the ball away with its powers Missy leapt forward and, catching it by surprise, careened into its face, savaging it with her claws. Its levitation faded and both pokemon crashed into the rain-slick bridge.
Armor lunged forward, slamming into the Alakazam. Suddenly, the liquid fire was there again, and Armor could not move. He was slammed into the bridge, and his face slid painfully back and forth on the bridge surface. Below him, he could hear the roar of the waters and, in a moment that brought chills to his heart, a terrible grinding noise that could only be the boulders Missy told him about.
The pain let up, and Armor rose to see Missy and the Alakazam, locked in combat. Missy raced forward and slammed into its torso, then darted away, dodging a blast of energy. She charged again, biting his arm, then backing away to avoid a swung fist. The third time, after tackling the Alakazam, he caught her with a punch. As she fell on the bridge, it gathered energy in one of its spoons for a blast, but Armor rushed and caught it off balance. Missy was back on her feet in an instant, and charged the Psychic-type, and all three pokemon grappled fiercely.
The Alakazam's psychic aura surrounded Armor again, and he was flung away onto the bridge, skidding along in the rain. However, the hold felt weaker than before; they were tiring it out. Missy was also thrown, but she struggled, and Armor saw her break free of the psychic hold. She raced towards the Alakazam and fell upon him, a hurricane of scratches. The Alakazam, looking furious, caught her in the embrace of its powers again, but instead of throwing her along the bridge as usual, she was thrown high into the air, over the railing. Armor's eyes widened as Missy, with a wail, was caught in the embrace of the river.
The Alakazam watched her vanish in the water with a small smile on its face. Armor quivered with rage, not even noticing the pain of the psychic hold on him.
"You...you…" He said angrily, and he fought against the hold on him, felt it weaken. Suddenly it broke. "YOU'LL PAY, EH!" Armor screamed, racing to meet his foe. The Alakazam turned and tried to bind him again, but Armor broke through its attempts like they were nothing. The Alakazam's eyes widened just before Armor plowed into it, knocking it into the bridge railings.
As the Alakazam struggled beneath Armor's bulk, the Muk poured toxins from his body into that of his opponent. The Alakazam wriggled beneath him, but Armor paid him no heed. The Psychic-type finally wriggled a spoon free and blasted Armor away with psychic energy. Armor got up immediately, shooting as venomous a look at the Alakazam as he had ever given.
Roaring, he flung bursts of sludge at his opponent, one after another. The Alakazam tried desperately to ward them away, but eventually one slipped threw, plastering its face with slime, and as its concentration fell, all the rest of Armor's attacks struck true. Armor ceased his volley and raced to tackle his opponent, but it caught him again and this time threw him over the side, as it had thrown Missy. As he fell, Armor felt the aura fade, and he clung to the bridge's railing.
The Alakazam looked over the side at him and began gathering psychic energy in one of its spoons to blast him into the water.
"So, gonna make me take a little dip, eh? Just like you did my friend?!" Armor said with wildness. "Fine, eh, but I hope you're ready to join me!" He poured the toxic substance that made up his body into the bridge, eating it like acid. As the Alakazam prepared to loose its attack, the portion of the bridge that Armor was clinging to--and that the Alakazam was standing on--gave way, and both pokemon plunged into the frothy waters.
Armor spun through water filthy with washed-away mud and debris. Thunder rolled powerfully above him, and rain fed the river. Already the rushing waters were carrying them far away from the bridge that had been their battlefield. Ahead of him, he saw the Alakazam's head rise from the surface of the river. It was trying to levitate out.
"Oh no you don't, eh!" Armor cried, flinging sludge at his adversary. It struck true, knocking the Alakazam back into the river. As Armor prepared to unleash another attack, something suddenly struck him from behind; a log, caught in the water. Armor was plunged under the froth, barreled and buffeted without restraint by the cruel river; below him he heard the deadly grinding of the great boulders.
He finally burst free into the air, staring at the lightning flashes above; ahead, the Alakazam was struggling to free itself from the water. Armor streamlined his body and cruised to meet his foe. He slammed into the Alakazam, and was struck by a spoon coalesced with energy in return; the two pokemon tore at one another under the water fiercely. The Alakazam pushed Armor away from itself and began preparing another assault, but was thrown into a stone jutting up from the water, and it flinched, dazed.
Armor saw his opportunity. He leapt on top of the Alakazam and raised his fist for a devastating punch. He sent it slamming into the Alakazam's skull, ignoring the river's attempts to knock him off of his foe. "That's for Missy, eh," he said, preparing for another blow. "And this is a warning: You--" Wham. "--will--" Wham. "--not--" Wham. "--hurt--" Wham. "--any--" Wham. "--of--" Wham. "--my--" Wham. "--friends--" Wham. "--again!" He struck one last blow to the Alakazam's face, and watched its eyes close as it fell unconscious. He let the pokemon slide out from under him and be borne away by the water.
As the heat of battle died away, all the weariness and fatigue from his fight caught up with Armor. He struggled to stay afloat. Got to--stay up, eh-- he thought desperately, but to no avail. He fell below the surface, far below than he had been knocked before. In the deep parts, the river was not frothy and loud, but quiet and indomitably powerful. He was swept along with ease. The surface, Armor thought desperately. Got to get to the surface.
Suddenly Armor heard a dull, rumbling roar, a roar which was neither the river nor the thunder above. The sound he heard was pure fear. As he turned in the water, facing upstream, he saw a massive shape rolling along, caught in the water, heading straight towards him. Armor knew he had no chance at avoiding it.
Aw, shucks, eh, he thought, and then the boulder slammed into him.