Hit Count for "The Path of the Aura: Intertwining Crossroads": 15,791.
Hit Count for "The Path of the Aura II: Brothers in Arms": 7,623.
Hit Count for "The Path of the Aura III: Bonds of Blood": 2,279
Hit Count for "Diverging from The Path of the Aura": 578
Hit Count for "The First Immortal: Or how I Learned to Create the Pokémon Universe": 1,152
Total Hit Count: 27,423.
I finally got myself the laptop that I've been saving up for. A Microsoft Surface Book with Performance Base. It'll serve me greatly for drawing and be an overall upgrade to what I used to work with.
Chapter LXXVI (76): Coadjutor Crossing
"When somebody wants to rule the world, (...), eventually everyone is his enemy." —Orson Scott Card (26) ("Shadow of the Hegemon")
87.1: Fallen Champions
Location: Pokémon League (Various)
Date: April 6th, 2019
Time: 8:34 AM
In this budding war against Team Prism, it started off with a spark. The spark unleashed an explosion that devastated each and every Pokémon League across the world in terrifying unison. Five total, from the historic stadium that Kanto and Johto share at the Indigo Plateau, the towering monument of Ever Grande City's Pokémon League, the church-like shrine in Sinnoh, the colossal ruins in Unova, and the magnificent building in Kalos.
Within each of those Pokémon Leagues, a tournament of rising star Pokémon Trainers was supposed to begin. The title of Pokémon Master was to be claimed by those that would rise up to the occasion. The opportunity to fight the Elite Four and Champion eagerly awaited many a participant who hoped they climbed high enough on the proverbial ladder. The possibility of having successors for the most powerful of Pokémon Trainers was a very real possibility, one that each of the five high-ranking members of each of the five respective Pokémon Leagues were eager to see and acknowledge.
But all of that changed when Team Prism attacked.
Into The Dusk/ACE COMBAT 5 THE UNSUNG WAR Original Soundtrack (Disc 2)
(Song Begins)
No one saw their attack coming. Therefore, no one was prepared for it. Many casualties were made from the explosion, both people and Pokémon alike, and dozens more were lost as they continued to fight Team Prism. The rest would've followed suit against the enemy, were it not for the Elite Four and Champion of each Pokémon League coming in and turning the tides back in their favor.
But as they themselves soon realized when the Team Prism Grunts warned malevolently at the reinforcements, the Elite Four and Champion revealed their hand too soon, only to discover that it was a losing hand.
Just as reinforcements came for the remaining Pokémon Trainers, and just as morale was reignited for them to take down the invading Team Prism Grunts, Team Prism smothered that fire with their trump card.
From the horizon and closing in as quickly as long-range missiles, mech suits marked with the Team Prism insignia approached by flying in at nearly the speed of sound. When they inevitably landed, much too quickly for the liking of the side of the Pokémon League, their size and structure became as immediately noticeable to them as their respective firepower.
Each and every one of these mech suits, standing ten feet tall and possibly weighing no more than a ton, displayed the "Triple Threat" weaponry strapped onto each of their shoulders and exercised them with great malice. Flamethrowers streaked across the air and forced humans and Pokémon alike to scatter like Bug-Type Pokémon. Gatling guns peppered those that made even the slightest mistakes, such as tripping over rubble, and riddled them with holes that left them with more bloody red circles than intact flesh. And missile launchers fired with a rapidity and level of explosive destruction that is normally seen on fighter jets multiple times their size.
The surviving Pokémon Trainers, alongside the Elite Four and Champion, assumed too much too quickly given the stress that they had inserted themselves in, be it willingly or unwillingly. They believed, from first impressions and with a lack of outside information or a means of acquiring more data outside of sight and sound, that these mech suits were effectively bulky, mobile weapons that likely housed one person inside of them that was manning the controls, and most likely unable to contain their excitement within them. Nothing more than suits of armor that made them different than the machine gun turrets that were littered about the area before these mechs entered the battlefield.
That was their first mistake.
The mandatory diversity of the Pokémon that each of these Pokémon Trainers possesses was exercised against Team Prism's mech suits. Various attacks from various Pokémon littered the battlefield that these robots were standing over. Towering pillars of fire, water and wind appeared to consume them within their spiraling uprisings. Flying-Type and Psychic-Type Pokémon lifted some of these mech suits into the air, allowing Ghost-Type Pokémon the opportunity to intrude within them to pluck their pilots out of them.
But as everyone soon realized, there was far more to these mechs than meets the eye.
The initial white tint that these mech suits possessed changed colors to correspond to a Pokémon Type Attribute that was superior to the Type they were presently succumbed to and exercised it, much to the surprise of everyone. The mechs that were surrounded by hellfire quickly doused it with a torrent of rising water. The mechs that were surrounded by a torrent of water expelled it with a column of solar energy that comes from the process of photosynthesis. The mechs that were within the eye of the storm held their ground by drastically amplifying their density through the properties of rock and steel. And the mechs that were suspended in the air turned as dark as the night to become completely immune to the telekinetic tug of Psychic-Type Pokémon and resist the influence of Ghost-Type Pokémon.
For even the Champion to be surprised by these mech suits fighting like Pokémon, it was becoming more and more clear that they were outmatched from the start and that they must leave with as many living souls as possible.
Unfortunately for them, Team Prism wasn't keen on taking prisoners. Not even if they were the Champion or members of the Elite Four.
The dominating offense and defense that these mech suits possessed, a technological marvel that combined machine and Pokémon, turned into a nightmare for those staring down the barrels of its shoulder cannons, were practically impossible for any of the Pokémon Trainers' Pokémon to combat against, especially if they were doing so one-on-one. Those that found themselves doing so, which was to protect the lives of their masters, were quickly gunned down or overpowered by the Multitype emulating properties of each individual mech suit. As a result, the numbers of the protagonists were quickly being mowed down by the antagonists donning robotic suits that made Pokémon as much a part of machine as it did humanity.
The choice to escape isn't a popular option, and isn't one that the Champions made. But it's a choice put onto them by the Elite Four, one that felt practically forced by how quickly they committed them to abandon ship.
Naturally, the Champions care greatly for all of the Pokémon Trainers that are here, literally giving their lives to prevent a cause that has already ruined them. The Champions also care deeply for the members of the Elite Four that are willing and likely will perform the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that their respective kings and queens escape the battlefield to regroup, strategize, and find a way to defeat these mechanized abominations. Because as it stands, most of these metallic monstrosities still stand, and not even a significant dent has been made that would give these protagonists hope that they would win this siege.
Each and every one of the five Champions present and accounted for in each of these five Pokémon Leagues across the world are given the golden opportunity to escape by the Elite Four. And the Elite Four, having basically sacrificed their lives for the last hope that they hope will turn the tables, stay behind to prevent Team Prism from going after them. Alongside the experienced and highly skilled Pokémon Trainers that assisted them, they manage to allow the Champions the successful attempt of escaping.
But Team Prism still attempted to strike the Champions down.
Many lives were lost just to allow Lance and his Dragonite, Steven Stone and his Skarmory, Cynthia and her Garchomp, Alder and his Volcanion, and Diantha and her Hawlucha to escape by air before disappearing over the horizon. The mechanized pseudo-Pokémon attempted to fly after them in order to shoot them out of the sky, or fire homing missiles straight towards them, but it was all successfully albeit narrowly prevented by the final conjoined effort of the Pokémon Trainers and the Elite Four that felt accomplished in seeing them disappear in the sky without a trace.
Without the mercy that others would so, and without the need to take in prisoners or trophies out of their opposition, Team Prism shot down each and every single remaining Pokémon and personnel fighting against them. There was some defense and annoyance in their part to further waste their time and make the Champions' escape all the more successful and worthwhile, because it was all that they could do before they were rent asunder.
With the last of the opposition against Team Prism falling down onto the floor in one bloody piece or in multiple pieces, Team Prism decided to make a point to the world, and to the Champions that escaped and will likely review this information from overhead satellites and surrounding surveillance.
All of the bodies, and all of what remains of the Pokémon League stadiums, are burned to the ground. In the case of the Pokémon League that Kanto and Johto share, a massive bonfire that is caused by the remaining fuel of the flamethrowers equipped to these mech suits, then followed up by the Fire-Type attacks that is bestowed upon each of these machines by the shards they have fueling their synthetic Multitype ability with a long-lasting energy source. And for every other Pokémon League, because of their imposing structures, have resulting conflagrations that practically burn across the very skies above alongside the earth at ground zero.
For the Champions that have escaped, and are able to see the billowing smoke reach up into the stratosphere, their survival is only a reminder of the thousands of lives that have sacrificed themselves to protect them. A bitter reminder that the fate of the world will be at the hands of Team Prism if they're powerless to do anything about it.
Their only lingering comfort/worry is what the World Champion is up to, after making the decision to practically enter Team Prism's HQ entirely unarmed.
(Song Ends)
87.2: Friends Rejoined
Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor B3 - Prison Room)
Date: April 6th, 2019
Time: 8:40 AM
The Four Executives of Team Rocket were by no means the last line of defense within Team Rocket Main Headquarters. But they were the strongest of defenses here, the likes of which the six Coadjutors of the Pokémon of Prophecy handily defeated and killed off as a team.
And as a team, they powered their way through any unfortunate Grunts that felt as though they could pose as a challenge and/or an obstacle to six determined Pokémon that want nothing less than the safety and liberation of their friends. Of the Pokémon that made their lives matter by taking them in.
From the 20th floor down to the basement floors, the journey felt like a mild gauntlet of challenges, a myriad of dark hallways that housed few surprises with none of them being definite threats to these six Pokémon. They ran, scurried, and flew across these passageways as Pokémon, because Zoroark no longer needed to erect an illusion because their cover was blown.
Of course, with the damage they did to this building's security and the intel they already managed to acquire, not to mention the opposition they've broken, all while Zoroark maintained their illusion as six sextuplet Team Prism Grunts, using an illusion now would've just been a waste of power.
When they reached the base floor and found the door leading to the floors below, all six Coadjutors practically felt a subtle shift in the atmosphere, the kind that comes from descending underground, the kind that makes it mandatory to swallow a few more times than usual to pop one's ears.
It didn't help that the lighting of these basement floors appeared far more grim than they needed to be.
"- -.- / -. .- .-.. ...- .- -. - ..- .-.. .- / ... . -. ... . ... / .- .-. . / - .. -. -. .-.. .. -. -. .-.-.-" [My Galvantula senses are tingling.] The EleSpider Pokémon said with narrowed eyes, looking at these long and reddened hallways as though something monstrous could charge right at them at any moment. ".. - / ..-. . . .-.. ... / .-.. .. -.- . / .- . .-. .-. . / -.. . ... -.-. . -. -.. .. -. -. / ..-. ..- .-. - ... . .-. / -.. - .- -. / - ... . / -. .. -. . / -.-. .. .-. -.-. .-.. . ... / - ..-. / ... . .-.. .-.. / .- .. - ... / . .- -.-. ... / ... - . .-. .-.-.-" [It feels like we're descending further down the nine circles of Hell with each step.]
"Being down here just makes one's hair and scales stand on end, doesn't it?" Serperior commented shortly after Galvantula, unable to understand the EleSpider Pokémon, but able to sense his feelings via body language nevertheless.
"(Bitch please. The biggest monstrosity down here at the moment is me. Me and Tyranitar anyway.)" Hydreigon scoffed and narrowed all six of her eyes down the hallway, as though she were tempting fate, before her bravado gave way for her feelings to the Armor Pokémon. "(Arceus, I miss him…)"
"(I'm sure that when our friends are freed from the shackles that Team Prism has put on them, nothing but hugs and kisses will be passed about like candy.)" Zoroark thought merry thoughts, even in a situation where there's anything but because of how quick Team Prism are to stamp it out. "(I hope I receive just as much candy as I plan on giving out.)"
"Do you sense them yet, Doublade?" Samurott inquired the pair of swords sheathed and strapped behind his back, knowing that their only form of extrasensory perception came from the Sword Pokémon.
"They're in a room a few more doors down the hallway." Doublade sensed the untouched presence of all twelve shackled Coadjutors, fortunate that they were all alive and well. "They've waited long enough for outside help. Let's rush over towards them."
All six of the new Coadjutors did just that and treated the hallway like a race track for a 100-meter dash before stopping short of the metal door separating them from reuniting with their friends. Friends that none of them they have seen for what feels like years because of their time-warped training with the Legendary Deities of Sinnoh at Giratina's Distortion World dimension. Friends that will be amazed to see their growth and look at them like entirely different Pokémon compared to the pups they were when they first met.
Fully expecting this door to be locked and to be a pain to open because of how heavily reinforced it was to keep even the largest of Pokémon inside, they were genuinely surprised to find that the door was unlocked. They pushed the door open just enough for Hydreigon to get a head arm through. And with that head arm's eyes, Hydreigon does a series of small jabs, to make sure that if there's anything hostile inside of there, guarding the twelve Coadjutors in bondage, she doesn't end up losing one of her three heads.
Luckily for her, Hydreigon's little safety precaution is redundant as there are no signs of hostile life or security measures implemented that are keeping them at bay. And with a hand gesture that looked like she was bobbing one of her head arms towards something, she signaled that the area is safe for them to proceed into.
None of them wasted a moment to enter in order to finally able to see their friends again, even though all twelve of them are presently fast asleep. Therefore, the feeling isn't mutual, but it will undoubtedly be so when they wake up and are freed.
"- ... / .- - .- -..- / - ... .- - / .-.. - - -.- ... / .-. .- .. -. ..-. ..- .-.. / - - / -... . / ... - .-. .- .-. .-. . -.. / - -. - - .-.-.-" [Oh wow, that looks painful to be strapped onto.] Galvantula commented, seeing how stretched each and every one of these twelve Pokémon appeared to be restrained. ".. - .-. ... / .- .-.. - - ... - / .- ... / .. ..-. / - . .- - / .-. .-. .. ... - / .. ... / .- - - . - .-. - .. -. -. / - - / - .- -.- . / - ... . - / -... .. -. -. . .-. / - .-. / - .- .-.. .-.. . .-. / -... -.- / ..-. - .-. -.-. .. -... .-.. -.- / ... - .-. . - -.-. ... .. -. -. / - ... . - / .- / -.-. - ..- .-. .-.. . / - ..-. / .. -. -.-. ... . ... .-.-.-" [It's almost as if Team Prism is attempting to make them bigger or taller by forcibly stretching them a couple of inches.]
"How do you suppose we're going to get them all down?" Serperior asked Doublade and Samurott, trying not to cringe at the thought of being stretched perfectly straight herself.
"From the looks of things," Doublade assessed quickly. "All twelve of them are kept off of the ground by those spheres locked onto their limbs and extremities, and those same spheres are suspended in mid-air by the metal ring that is surrounding them."
"(Electromagnetism.)" Zoroark summarized within her thoughts.
"So, in order to get them down without any complications, we should use the terminals and try to free them that way." Samurott planned out, noticing the monitors keeping track of everything about these Pokémon, from their vitals to their temperature. "We need to act quickly so that we can all escape from here without any complications. Hopefully, these machines are easy to figure–"
Without warning, Hydreigon utilized DOUBLE TEAM to make herself number twelve instead of one. And with thirty-six heads and a destructive temperament behind each and every single one, not even metal could retain its shape and luster at her power. A series of crude CRUNCH attacks all across the rings suspending them in mid-air caused them all to spark wildly from the disrupted flow of electricity coursing through them. None of them shocked Hydreigon severely, as she resists Electric-Type attacks anyway.
If anything, they shocked everybody in the room, including the twelve Pokémon that were fast asleep, as they suddenly found themselves face-down on the floor, and with the spheres on their extremities opening up with a rush of compressed air splitting them in half and ruining their seamless surfaces.
"…Or that works too." Samurott deadpanned, the fear of complications balancing out his jubilance for the wellbeing of his friends.
Hydreigon, taking a bit of personality off of her best friend Tyranitar, simply hovered over Samurott after her "job well done". Random bolts of electricity coursed across her body as it was being discharged. And all throughout, a goofy grin was evident on her head arms.
"(Good thing I only have one brain instead of three.)" Hydreigon thought while twitching every third second.
The jolt of face-planting was more than enough for all twelve of the original Coadjutors to awaken from their brief slumber. One by one, they groaned lightly and shook their heads, so more than others, to clear away some of the feeling of having their face meet the floor. And after they did so, their eyes immediately locked onto the six Coadjutor Pokémon standing patiently yet excitedly for their eventual regards.
"Thank you for freeing us, but…" Sceptile said, still a bit groggy from his earlier nap and now feeling a bit dazed from falling head first onto the floor. "Have we met before?"
"We have before, Sceptile." Dusknoir didn't appear the least bit incapacitated and recognized all six of them almost immediately. "They're the six Pokémon that we all found on our journeys across Sinnoh for the Elemental Plates."
"My Arceus, look how much they've grown!" Aqua appeared extremely happy with the overall appearance and maturity that these six Pokémon possessed. She paid particularly close attention to Samurott, the Pokémon she first found as an Oshawott that was swimming away from a school of Sharpedo.
"They could give even us a run for our money." Charizard strongly believed, just by looking at them and sensing the confident aura they were each emanating.
"Well, what do you expect when you've been personally trained by Dialga, Giratina, and Palkia?" Blaziken chirped. "Seriously, if this is how Arceus' Sons felt like playing catch-up with them, they succeeded."
"I'll believe it when I see it." Tyranitar huffed before focusing his eyes on Hydreigon, the only Pokémon he cares the most of out of all three (that he's willing to admit), and the one he inwardly smiles the broadest to.
"Highly skilled, fully evolved save for Doublade…" Terra assessed, just from a glance, through a pair of eyes that have been exercised to their maximum potential through two decades of hardships and another decade of family-like teamwork as Team Liberator. "Nothing a Dusk Stone can't tend to though…if only any of us had one."
"That'll come with time." Absol believed, aware that Doublade's current strength is maximized with a partner Pokémon that can brandish him with expert skill, such as Samurott and Sceptile. "Believe me, that's something that I know all too well, given my background."
"How did you guys…reach us…with the personnel…inside this building?" Aggron spoke slowly, sufficiently, and without the need to repeat himself.
"Wanderer Lucario told us that this building had security and formidable enemies galore." Luxray told them information that they most likely already knew.
"I sensed security cameras, dozens of Grunts, and even four people I was able to identify as Team Rocket Executives." Wanderer Lucario described from what he was able to sense in regards to hostile auras. "I even sensed you, Galvantula, as you were scurrying about within the vents to locate our exact position, before clearing out the necessary obstacles in order to reach us."
"And reach us you most certainly did." Metagross smiled, knowing that what Wanderer Lucario mentioned seconds ago was most likely mowed down by six determined Pokémon wanting nothing less than their rescue. "It's a pleasure to have you alongside us once more."
The professionalism formality of their reunion inevitably gave way to the emotions all eighteen Pokémon shared for one another, despite the brevity of time they all spent together before Dialga, Giratina, and Palkia volunteered to take these six Pokémon in as students, in order to bring them parallel to the twelve original Coadjutors.
Doublade immediately jumped ship from Samurott and levitated over towards Sceptile, equipping himself beside Sceptile's scabbard that houses his broken buster sword, which seemed almost insulting to him that it was still retained and not confiscated. And as Luxray walked over towards the two of them, he was the one to break the ice between them.
"How do you two suppose you'll combine your strengths in battle when Sceptile only has one arm?" Luxray couldn't help but wonder, while also knowing that the closest he'll ever come to wielding a sword is with his teeth, and therefore impractical for battle. "And that's not even considering Doublade eventually evolving into Aegislash."
"We'll make due." Doublade said confidently. "Sceptile may be missing his right arm, but I can make up for that by attaching one of my own arms onto his shoulder. He can still dual wield with me."
"Until you trade up one of your swords for a shield." Sceptile foresaw.
"Who knows." Doublade pondered outwardly. "I may evolve sooner than I think. A Dusk Stone may be hiding in wait for me, or is right beside me and I don't even know it."
Absol and Galvantula were immediately reunited in what many would consider to be a relationship that began through suggestive means. After all, when Absol met Galvantula, back when the EleSpider Pokémon was a miniscule Joltik, he didn't realize he was carrying a yellow parasite underneath his tail until Joltik practically cauterized his anus closed. And for the world's smallest Pokémon to be able to cause so much chaos to half of their group before evolving, it speaks a lot to Galvantula's power…or absolute annoyance. Thankfully, Galvantula was "convinced" to join their side thanks to Aqua Lapras' trademark red anger.
".- - ..- .-.. -.. / -.- - ..- / .-.. .. -.- . / .- / - .- ... ... .- -. . -..- / .- -... ... - .-.. ..-.." [Would you like a massage, Absol?] Galvantula offered as soon as he scurried onto Absol's back, appearing large enough to practically wear himself around the Disaster Pokémon like a backpack. ".-.. . .- .-. -. .. -. -. / ... - .- / - - / ..-. .. -. ... - / .- .- ... -. .-. - / - ... . / - -. .-.. -.- / - ... .. -. -. / - ... .- - / -.. .. .- .-.. -. .- -..- / -. .. .-. .- - .. -. .- -..- / .- -. -.. / .-. .- .-.. -.- .. .- / - .- ..- -. ... - / - . .-.-.-" [Learning how to fight wasn't the only thing that Dialga, Giratina, and Palkia taught me.]
Absol assumed that Galvantula was about to demonstrate some form of affection, but had no idea what specifically. "Terra, do you know what Galvantula said?"
Terra, hearing Absol's request alongside Galvantula's Morse Code, immediately proceeded over to his side and translated. "He's offering to give you a massage. Probably a wise idea to keep you limber and loose, and then have Galvantula do the same to everyone else, considering how spread Braviary we were all confined."
"-.- . .-. .-.-.-" [Yep.] Galvantula was pleased to know that at least one Pokémon here could understand him, as coincidentally Deus Ex Machina as it may seem for Terra to know such an outmoded language. ".. / ... .- ...- . / - - .-. . / - ... .- -. / . -. - ..- -. ... / . .-.. . -.-. - .-. .. -.-. .. - -.- / ..-. - .-. / -.- - ..- / .- .-.. .-.. -..- / .- -. -.. / .. / -.- -. - .- / ... - .- / - - / ..- ... . / .. - / ..-. - .-. / .-. . .-.. .- -..- .- - .. - -. / .. -. ... - . .- -.. / - ..-. / -.-. .- ..- ... .. -. -. / - ..- - .-. .. -. ... - / .-. .- .. -. .-.-.-" [I have more than enough electricity for you all, and I know how to use it for relaxation instead of causing outright pain.]
Galvantula stretched out both of his pedipalps before spitting on them. Then, Galvantula rubbed them both together, causing a mild static electricity build up to form, potent albeit brief enough that it'll relax muscles if applied in a style akin to acupuncture. Galvantula began prodding pressure points across Absol's body, which had an immediate effect in relieving the tension across his somewhat sore body, much to his and Terra's astonishment.
".- ... .- - . ...- . .-. / -.- - ..- / -.. - -..- / -.. - -. .-. - / .- ... -.- / - . / ..-. - .-. / ... .- .-. .-. -.- / . -. -.. .. -. -. ... .-.-.-" [Whatever you do, don't ask me for happy endings.] Galvantula warned. ".-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.- ..- -. .-.. . ... ... / -.- - ..- .-. .-. . / .. -. - - / - ... .- - / ... - .-. - / - ..-. / - ... .. -. -. -..- / .- ... .. -.-. ... / .. .-. - / -. - - .-.-.-" […Unless you're into that sort of thing, which I'm not.]
"SIDE BITCH!" Tyranitar exclaimed to Hydreigon with open arms and the use of her "derogatory" nickname, awaiting her imminent embrace.
"(Pimpzilla!)" Hydreigon exclaimed as well, with open arms as she practically thrust herself into Tyranitar's open embrace, something that he has done as many times as bipeds have fingers.
Tyranitar actually slid back a few feet when Hydreigon full-body tackled/hugged the Armor Pokémon. And as others discreetly looked on at this rare display of affection from a Pokémon that seldom shows affection, they see Tyranitar hugging Hydreigon tightly, while Hydreigon herself was heavily licking and even love-biting Tyranitar's tough hide and face with her three heads.
And all throughout, Tyranitar couldn't help but laugh gruffly and heartily, like a mountain man being showered with affection by his wolf pack.
"Oh, I can't wait to unleash you against the rest of Team Prism!" Tyranitar almost squealed in delight at the thought of the Brutal Pokémon being true to her name against their enemies.
"(As long as they're as delicious as that Crobat I swallowed earlier, I'm completely up for it!)" Hydreigon thought.
"The world will soon know your name!" Tyranitar continued, thinking of his pet as the second-most important living entity alive. "When kids go out onto the streets at night, well past their bed time, all one has to do is shout 'Side Bitch' and they would scurry back inside!"
"(Every kid will have three parents then!)" Hydreigon had fun with this train of thought, before realizing something. "(…Or will every kid have five parents, considering I have three heads? Or will they just have one parent with three heads after I devour their family? Or will the parents have no kids after I swallow them whole? Hmm… I wonder what they taste like?)"
Blaziken was the only Pokémon watching on at this somewhat tough display of love between a Pokémon that speaks enough profanity to fill up a swear jar by the day, and another Pokémon that would sooner swallow her targets than hug them. And be that as it may, looking on at their obvious love for one another, love that somehow stemmed from their first encounter at Iron Island, Blaziken felt pleased seeing Tyranitar break out of his shell every now and then.
"And I thought the relationship between man and Pokémon was an odd one." Blaziken commented, as both the Armor and the Brutal Pokémon remain completely oblivious of his presence.
The reunion between Aqua Lapras and Samurott was a pleasant one that could almost be comparable to a mother/son bond. Samurott stood up on his hind legs to embrace Aqua Lapras around her massive neck and belly, just as she craned her head down by Samurott's shoulder.
"I know that, for you guys, it feels like we've only been gone for a day." Samurott jubilantly spoke, his eyes beginning to tear up as he embraced Aqua, and Aqua in return. "But in the Distortion World, we've been training under the wisdom and strength of the Legendary Deities of Sinnoh for over a year."
"Haven't had much time to relax then, I'm assuming?" Aqua believed, based on how tightly Samurott was wrapped around her.
Samurott merely nodded, Aqua able to feel his neck move and see it off of the corner of her eyes. "Some days were difficult to get through, because all of us were stumped at one point or another by a technique or obstacle that proved particularly difficult to overcome. And then came our graduation exam, where we six clashed with Dialga, Giratina, and Palkia themselves."
Samurott could feel Aqua's body turn rigid and then break and back away from Samurott in complete disbelief. "You guys actually fought them?"
"Yes." Samurott said, not exactly feeling the full gravity of those words.
"You guys actually fought them?" Aqua repeated herself, as if mistaking Samurott speaking about three completely different Pokémon. "Arceus' Sons! The three Pokémon that represent space, time, and antimatter! The three Pokémon that Eduardo and Xeno Lucario fought and defeated!"
Samurott gave Aqua a quizzical countenance at the mention of both of those names, but realized that they were names he's heard before, as the Legendary Deities of Sinnoh had explained about both of them before taking them in to train, and only on a few occasions during their training.
"You know, all throughout our training alongside the Legendary Deities of Sinnoh, they hardly ever spoke of that human and that obscenely gifted Lucario." Samurott considered. "Even when I asked them about Eduardo and Xeno. They always seemed to avoid talking about them."
"They most likely did so to avoid giving their students any shortcuts on how to defeat them." Metagross believed, as soon as it proceeded over to the two of them, quickly incorporating itself as a fully-functional third wheel in this conversation. "When the day came where they felt as though you six were ready to fight them to complete your training, they most likely wanted to make sure that you and the others had as little external aid as possible in knowing of their losses against Eduardo and Xeno Lucario."
"That's certainly a possibility." Samurott believed. "I wouldn't know because we never had a chance to ask when we held them off long enough to convince them that our training was complete."
"They probably think highly of you now, just as they do Eduardo and Xeno after both of them defeated them." Aqua assumed. "They were willing to take you six in, underneath their wings, in order to train you to our level of experience and power."
"I just hope that we don't disappoint them." Samurott sighed at the plausibility of failure. "Training is one thing. But being thrust into action where life and death can be decided at the blink of an eye, that's something else entirely."
"Well, you're all one for one at the moment." Metagross smiled at Samurott's current track record. "A perfect score."
The moment that Aggron and Serperior reunited was somewhat akin to the day where they first met. Serperior found herself positioned directly underneath Aggron's shadow, looking up at the Iron Armor Pokémon and meeting him eye to concealed eye. But as a fully-evolved and experienced Pokémon that can hold her own against Legendary Pokémon, the word "fear" hardly has any hold of her anymore.
As a Snivy, her mind hyperbolized Aggron's aesthetics and portrayed him as a towering demon with red eyes and an unquenchable thirst for blood. She trembled at the sight of him that day, until she realized that Aggron was a gentle giant, based on the palpable kindness of his voice and the deliberate caution of his movements. And now as a Serperior, she sensed that same kindness and basked on it as intensely as she would to sunlight. In other words, being beside Aggron was almost necessary for her not to survive, but to live.
Aggron dropped down to one knee and held out a courteous hand for Serperior to latch on to, and she pleasantly did so. She rested her head on his hand at first, and Aggron displayed phenomenal tenderness by being able to caress her face with a hand as hard as rock. Then, with a beady-eyed demeanor and flicking her tongue out in a way that made her seem more adorable than necessary, Serperior slithered up to Aggron's shoulders by coiling around his arm, until she was comfortably perched on top of the Iron Armor Pokémon. She rested her chin on Aggron's crown, directly between his horns, and felt herself at peace as Aggron stood back upright.
"What's your secret?" Serperior asked Aggron. "What sort of sorcery do you manifest to have an almost therapeutic effect on the Pokémon around you?"
"What you call 'secret'…I call 'fact'…" Aggron explained, with a tone of voice that made Serperior's brain tingle. "My mental injury…during my childhood…scarred my brain…and cost me…my emotions…"
"Does it ever get tough for you to accept what you are now instead of what you could've been?" Serperior gave Aggron a question of what if. "What would you be like if you never sustained that brain injury?"
Not only was that a question that Aggron has hardly ever put any thought into, but it was also a question that was almost never asked to him. Every other Coadjutor has long and happily accepted Aggron for who he is, and they first met him after he sustained his permanent head trauma. But Serperior brings up a valid point that Aggron couldn't help but ponder over.
"Obviously…I'd express emotions…" Aggron began. "I would be…one with nature… I would be…sweet and happy…like the taste of honey… I would also…steamroll over those…that deliberately harm…flora and fauna…"
"So basically, you would be much more jubilant." Serperior believed. "Especially when it comes to plants."
"Yes…"
"Jubilance…" Charizard spoke up after stepping into their happy little moment together. "I wish I had that at the start of my life. Then I wouldn't have been such an emotionally scarred Pokémon for all of those years."
"That was tended to recently…thanks to that Heatran…that you fought…" Aggron spoke to Charizard now, looking over towards the Flame Pokémon. Serperior did so as well, mostly because she was still resting over Aggron's head. "Now you're cured…and able to live…your present life…unburdened by mental plights."
"But what about your mental issues?" Serperior asked Aggron. "Charzard's psychological injuries may have mended for the better, but can your mental scarring ever be completely mended?"
"I never really…thought about that before…" Aggron said, attempting to emulate curiosity with his flat words. "Is it even possible…to fix permanent…brain trauma?"
"Nothing is impossible in this world." Charizard spoke psychologically. "If humans can't fix your mind, then there's a Pokémon out there that is bound to be able to."
"Then we'll just have to find them." Serperior committed. "After we take down Team Prism."
Much to Wanderer Lucario's surprise, Zoroark didn't immediately connect to Dusknoir, the Pokémon that rescued her from Giovanni himself, back when the Gripper Pokémon had his sights set on the Fist Plate he wanted to make his own. Instead, the Illusion Fox Pokémon stood relatively still, staring directly at Wanderer Lucario, much to Dusknoir's surprise as he took on the role of a third wheel and quietly observed the two of them.
"Um… hello Zoroark." Wanderer began, feeling mildly uncomfortable at having a taller, lankier lady Pokémon look at him with apparent interest.
"…" Zoroark heard Wanderer's telepathy loud and clear, but didn't appear to respond to it. She just stared at the arctic Aura Pokémon, watching his behavior towards her presence closely. She blinked her sapphire eyes sparingly as a result. And if she had a tail, she'd be waving it slowly to and fro.
"You look great–I mean, you look a lot stronger now than when I last saw you." Wanderer began to feel mildly uncomfortable speaking to her, mostly because of how they first met when she was a Zorua. "You've gotten a lot taller, which is expected for a Pokémon of your age–I mean gender, I mean sex, I mean species, I mean–"
Wanderer found himself silenced when Zoroark broke her cast illusion and was now standing within arm's reach of him. And before Wanderer could recoil at her closer presence, Zoroark quickly wrapped her arms around Wanderer, hoisted him up, turned him around so that his back was facing her, and hugged him tightly and affectionately. She couldn't speak fluent words, but she could still make audible sounds from growls to cries to roars to yelps. But in this instance, she cooed and purred, nuzzling her face across the top of Wanderer's head.
"…" Wanderer couldn't help but blush at her, something that she couldn't notice because she had her eyes closed throughout most of her cuddling.
"I believe she's grown quite enamored by you." Dusknoir stated the apparent obvious, from the way Zoroark is behaving right now to Wanderer. "I don't know if it was because of that incident or not though…"
"…" Wanderer looked at Dusknoir, then at Zoroark again, as she didn't appear to want to let him go anytime soon.
"I can sense the presence of deceased ghosts, but I can't sense aura and the emotions it reveals." Dusknoir began to ask Wanderer a favor. "Tell me Wanderer, what is she presently feeling?"
"…" Wanderer remained silent, but not immobile. He closed his eyes and focused on Zoroark's being, which was practically seamless considering how openly affectionate she was to him. "She's feeling feelings like she's never felt before, to me."
"She has a crush on you?" Dusknoir immediately assumed.
"…I believe so."
Zoroark may not be able to speak English, but she understands it and knows that they're talking about her. And upon hearing Dusknoir say that she may have a crush on Wanderer, she decided to prove that. She stopped hugging Wanderer but didn't let him go. Instead, she held him like a husband would to a bride on opposite day, and kissed him amorously on the lips. Wanderer's blush almost appeared like a burn all across his face as a result of this. And when Zoroark stopped kissing him, mostly because she needed to catch her breath, she continued looking at Wanderer like he was the single-most handsome and/or adorable Pokémon alive.
"…I mean, I know so?" Wanderer corrected himself, with Zoroark bobbing her head at this.
87.3: Extra Prisoners
Time: 9:09 AM
When the merry little get-together that these eighteen Coadjutors shared with each other finally concluded and their professionalism took center stage for their emotions towards one another, they finally paid attention to the holographic screens that were surrounding them.
These screens, which the main twelve Coadjutors of the Pokémon of Prophecy were forced to observe in order to view the destruction happening in the Pokémon League, were now willingly paid attention to, mostly because Terra Garchomp noticed one particular person he recognized.
"…Cynthia?" Terra exclaimed as he looked at the screen during its portrayal of the final moments of the sieges across the world's Pokémon Leagues.
All eighteen Pokémon looked on at these live feeds, of Team Prism utterly desecrating all forms of resistance that they came across. They couldn't help but feel heavyhearted as the Elite Four were no match for them, especially when their machinery that unexplainably launched attacks that Pokémon have learned to master.
"Oh my Arceus…" Wanderer said, unable to make heads or tails of those mechanical abominations' strengths and abilities. Nevertheless, they were familiar to him for all of the wrong reasons. "Those mech suits are of Giovanni's design."
"But they're a far cry from what we've seen him use against us, when we escaped from here." Aqua Lapras noticed.
"That's because they're not." Dusknoir said with crossed arms and a foreboding tone of voice. "They appear to be the final version."
"How are we supposed to stop them?" Samurott wondered with a twinge of fear in his voice. "The day will come where we have to face those machines! And from the looks of things, they each can wield every single Pokémon Type Attribute!"
"They must possess some sort of fantastic power source supplying them with the power to emulate Pokémon attacks as pristinely as our own." Metagross analyzed from the live feed alone, as they all began to see the Elite Four begin to make a last stand in order to allow the Champions to escape. "They must all also possess a sufficient recreation of Arceus' fabled Multitype ability, or an enhanced version of Color Change and Protean, in order to swap between types at whim."
"Everything has a weakness. These oversized slabs of steel are no exception." Absol firmly believed.
"They were manufactured here." Charizard assumed, based on the established facts. "Do you suppose their blueprints are here as well?"
"If there are, then maybe I can benefit from them." Tyranitar spoke out loud with a hand on his chin as he pondered a growth in his strength. "And then I'll let you skim over them once I'm done."
"Then we must find them, before Team Prism returns." Sceptile suggested what was already beginning to become their next phase. "Time is of the essence. We may have a few hours at best before they're on us, and I don't think we're properly equipped with the knowledge yet to fight them."
"I sense a few rooms housing databanks and files where their schematics may be located." Doublade immediately used its psychic power to scan the floors around them, just as Sceptile, Metagross, and Wanderer Lucario did the same. "We should search there. But we must also do something about the extra prisoners here with us on the next floor down."
"Extra prisoners?" Blaziken, alongside everyone else in attendance, heard this for the first time so far. "You mean like that 'World Champion' human?"
"Yes, but I also sense the presence of several Pokémon." Doublade locked onto their mental signatures and began to gather a mental image of the floor below.
Wanderer's Aura Vision allowed him the ability to sense the aura of those that Doublade was talking about. The World Champion's aura didn't appear like much, like that of any other human, so he looked at the aura of the Pokémon that were incarcerated elsewhere below. At a glimpse, there were a total of seven Pokémon, each with a distinction from one another.
The first appeared slender albeit curvaceous and possessed long ears. The second and third were housed together that appeared like the perfect couple for one another. The fourth was amphibious and appeared to be meditating. The fifth was insect-like and enormous for a Bug-Type Pokémon. The sixth was slightly smaller but far more rotund and slimy. And the seventh was the largest of them all, but also appeared to be the eldest.
"It would appear as though Team Liberator is coming out of retirement then." Wanderer said with a determined smile.
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