Each of us is carving a stone, erecting a column, or cutting a piece of stained glass in the construction of something much bigger than ourselves."
*Adrienne Clarkson
*"unrelated to our king and savior Jeremy Clarkson"
The day had been set for the upcoming tournament as shining jewel of Kalos became cluttered with trainers from lands far and wide. Between Ash Ketchum and the rest of his friends however, everything had pointed to their success, Ash couldn't help but smile proudly at their accomplishments together, his head slighted towards the rear, where his closest Kalosian friends plus the Courier, out and about outside of his power armor oddly enough, stood.
"This is it guys. I've got a good feeling about this one." Six was perplexed, both by the size of the various crowds of people and by Ash's statement.
"This one? You mean this isn't your first tournament?"
Ash gave out a laugh as his best friend, Pikachu, jumped atop his shoulder. "Nope! We've been travelling across the world non-stop for almost...three years I think."
"Jesus kid, three years without a break?"
"Well…I have stopped several times to visit Mom, speaking of which. I wonder how she's doing?"
"So what region are you from then if you aren't a native?"
"I'm Kanto! Born and raised."
"Kanto? I've heard that word somewhere before…but where?" Six shook off the assumption, something strange was going on, but the power-armored warrior had no time to dwell on it, the tournament was in several hours and he needed to get into position.
With a quick whistle and finger signals, the Courier and several of the Enclavers moved towards an alley close to the stadium, a ladder allowing them to get into position. Kreger spoke up first. His attire consisting of the standard uniform of an Enclave Officer minus the hat.
"You aren't wearing the suit, the ladder would support the thing wouldn't it?" Six shook his head, soon speaking in a quiet, yet gruff tone.
"Too many people around, if they saw me in that thing, then they'd know something was going on. I left it with the Vertibird, that way, if anything does go down, then I'd get suited up and ready to fight."
"Meh, it's your gear. I'm not telling you how to prep up."
Somewhere in the premises of Big Mountain; Mobius and his team of eccentric scientists were hard at work to combat the threat manifested by Team Flare. In a darkened room inside Mobius' Dome, we see the good doctor discussing the eventuality of going on the offensive.
"It's quite probable that this Team Flare might have more than we bargained for." Mobius pulled up a slide viewed from an overhanging computer monitor. "If anything more comes to light, then we may have to take up arms ourselves!" It was here that Dala interjected, fearful of the outcome.
"Mobius. I fear we may have a problem there, we're trained scientists, not footsoldiers."
"Ah, very observant Dala. That's why I've come up with an indirect way of assisting the courier." Mobius pulled up another slide, showing several Team Flare satellites in orbit. "Team Flare uses these satellites as communications relays, if we can destroy them with our ICBM reserves, then the forces based in 'Lumiose City' would be isolated from their primary reinforcements." Dr. Zero chimed in, chipper as always.
"I've got the Courier tracked by our own hijacked satellite, if he's ever in a jam, then we can use our space gun to fire some robo-scorpions to his location." Everyone seemed in high hopes, that was, until Dr. Klein had to burst the bubble.
"Wait….we don't have a space gun though." Mobius hadn't thought of that. "In fact, we haven't had one since Zero smashed my Lego mock-up several centuries ago."
"Well maybe if you didn't leave the spare pieces lying about for people to step on, then it wouldn't have gotten destroyed."
"They didn't match with the rest of the colors, they were expendable…not like my Lego Space Gun mock-up"
"Oh booooy, this story again, they're Mega Blocks, we didn't have the budget for Lego's." Mobius popped in, sounding rather beaten down.
"It appears we also don't have any more of our missiles either...I can bet that those confounded fools at Military Command ordered their transition to the East Coast at the last minute." Zero let out a sigh...at least a fictitious sigh,
"Guess we'll need to figure out a different...wait a minute, waitaminute wait a minute! We still have the hexagonal spires!"
Zero was correct, for just west of the blue dome stood countless...spires. These weren't standard spires though, they were hexagonal, able to be moved via some form of zero-gravity tech and were about as tall as the Lucky 38 itself.
Extremely classified stuff, even the cut ending from Old World Blues doesn't explain it.
In another perspective, we see Meowth fiddling with what appears to be a camera mounted atop a wheeled carriage. His teammate, James, keeping an eye out for both Team Flare and the powered-armored beast of nightmares.
With Jesse there was another story, trying to gather information about the Courier turned up nothing; any information on his compatriots followed a similar pattern, zilch. Of course Jesse figured Six was a whole other ball league, the Vertibird and illegal amounts of explosive weaponry proved that point right off the bat. Just as soon as Jesse had finished her thoughts, she felt a nudge at her thigh, it was Meowth of all peopl-erm pokemon.
"What is it Meowth? I'm busy..." Jesse huffed, looking at her work at trying to blend in as aprt of a camera crew. "I already managed to get a false pilots license...JAMES! You're taking the cockpit controls." All that was heard was a small voice from some distance away. "Now what is it Meowth?"
"Well Jes, I've been tinking, y'know how dat crazy nutjob and his friends seem to pop up wit da twerp? Well what happens if they're part of the tournament?!"
"I figured that one out...our disguises earlier weren't as effective; now however? We're hard to tell apart from a standard camera crew."
"I hope so...He sure didn't have any qualms about trying to turn us into magikarp-kebabs."
"Just stay calm, if we see him or any of his...compatriots, then we try to act as normal as possible." Meowth held his paw to his chin for a moment, deep in thought.
"How do we act normal?"
"Simple, by hiding our faces behind the cameras and clipboards."
"Dat's your idea of acting normal?! We'd stick out like Machamps at a weightlifting competition!" Jesse groaned at this, she didn't really have any alternatives to disguise herself any more than she already had. Almost immediately, James spoke up in a hushed tone.
"I've got to agree with Meowth, it's quite possible that the Courier might see through our disguise, only this time he might not be as merciful." James immediately shuddered at the outcome, should Courier Six waltz through the door and ground them into dust. The thought only terrified the poor Rocket even more, but James couldn't fathom the thought much longer, for the Conference was about to begin.
An hour had passed, with Six and Kreger on the roof of a nearby building that conveniently had a clear view of the Conference Arena...This also meant it was mildly tall, an immediate turn-off for The Courier.
"Ugh...Couldn't we have gone another way? Like sitting at the bleachers?" Kreger chuckled at this and gave his thoughts without a hitch.
"Hey, it was your idea to watch the battle from outside, besides, when have you been afraid of heights?"
"I never look down from the Lucky 38 for a reason Judah, Christ almighty I think I'm gonna be sick..."
"Well don't throw up near me. I just got this thing ironed for the first time in 30 something years."
"Yeah yeah. I'll be sure not to hurl near your priceless uniform."
Judah held a carbine by the handle, Six spinning the cylinder of his favored police revolver. Both men were bored out of their wits, faintly hearing the cheers as some large orange dragon went into battle with a similar black-hued dragon.
"Hey Judah, what's the process of the conference?"
"Well lesee here." Judah pulled out a pamphlet from a pocket. "Says here that there's a limit of Six on a team, therefore a full team would be strongly recommended before even applying."
"Six eh? Well I guess I'm not getting into that.."
"Speaking of, where's the giant Armadillo looking thing?"
"Giant wha- oh, you mean that...Dragonite? He's back at the tower with the Verti crew. Big guy's taking it easy for now in case we have problems down the road."
"Problems? What could we possibly run int-"
"I noticed Lysandre and an entourage coming here, think he noticed me as well."
(Flashback to several hours prior)
We see the group gathering at the entrance to the Lumiose Arena, with Six pointing to several tall structures in the distance while Johnson munches on a sandwich made in the tower. Six notices a brush of fire red hair in the crowd, along with several sharply dressed men and women, the man in the center glares at Six before a slight smirk emerged on his face.
Almost immediately Six wanted to attack when he was most vulnerable, but he couldn't risk losing cover and causing immense distress to the children.
Why the hell am I processing this of all things? Children back home would kill to see a Super Sledge in action against super mutants...no, this isn't The Mojave.
Six took his grasp off the holster immediately. Lysandre would get his due another time in another place.
(Flashback over)
"Lysandre's planning something Kreger, not sure what, but he's got something cooking, and I don't like the smell of it. Who's won so far?
"Well kid, someone named Alain won against a kid named Trevor in a Charizard versus Charizard matchup. It's Ash against some girl named Astrid." Six grabbed a pair of binoculars hanging from Judahs neck, strangling Kreger in the process.
"What is with that weird wolf-looking thi-Shit!" Six let of the binoculars, allowing Judah to breathe much more easily. "Sorry about that Kreger."
"I've gotta get a pair of these that you can holster or put in your pocket, anyway. You've got a point, it looks weird. Then again, you've met a talking cat haven't you?"
"Touche Kreger, touche...wonder how Gannon and Ulysses are handling the crowd?"
Gannon stood amongst the crowd whilst Ulysses claimed a bench seat as his own. Flabebe floating above Gannon's head while Audino conversed with a nearby Lillipup. Gannon was intrigued by the large amount of pokemon, even Ulysses Onix was able to find space on the lower floor, Gannon watched the battle in the arena take place suddenly, with Ash's Howlucha against Astrid's Absol.
Almost immediately Astrid had taken to the offense. being defeated by Howlucha with a move called 'flying press', an attack that proved to be the comeuppance of Astrid, removing her from the conference almost immediatly.
Gannon leaned in towards Ulysses, who was pondering on the results.
"Hey Ulysses, some match huh"
"No. The girl, she took an uncalculated risk, too little of a reward. The boy isn't much better either."
"What do you mean? He won didn't he?"
"Ash won with a sledgehammer where instead he should've won with a scalpel. The bird is too slow, luck was on his side."
"I suppose so...Oh right I got my payment from Sycamore earlier, going to grab a bite, need anything?"
"Nothing for me, save for some water."
"Sure thing, any eyes on our guys from The Remnants?" Ulysses scanned the arena, his eyes pertaining on two certain levels. The Enclaves old-timers sat across the other side of the arena, noticing Ulysses as well.
There were also the Rockets on a higher level, dressed as a bumbling camera crew.
"Found them...And I also just found the fools."
"You can't be serious." Gannon put his hand on his face in an act of annoyance. "They never learn do they?"
"Apparently not, I'll keep watch on em, they aren't here for us I suppose, an Aureus says they want a shot at Flare as well."
"Alright, your word's on it. I'll get that water if you still want it." Ulysses nodded, todays events were going to be an interesting development.
Several hours had passed with Six and Kreger dozing off. Either due to the warm climate or the boredom of surveillance, either way, Roxie and William were getting impatient.
"I'm soooooo bored. When can we go down?" Said William in his whiniest voice. Roxie retorted immediately, grabbing a can of beans from Six's pack with her stinger.
"Soon kiddo." Sounds of can being opened "Very soon. Maybe that stupid deer will lend a hand for once."
Several moments of awkward silence passed before William tried picking at the ice.
"So...you used to be something else?"
"That's right. I was a dog at one point, then Big Mountain decided 'let's make dogadores'...Yeah that worked real well."
"What?"
"Something they didn't tell the courier, lest he kill them with their own eye monitors, was that roughly five of us made it through that process...out of around 50 dogs. They may have changed, but they've still got their lack of morals."
"Experimentation? That sounds awful."
"Awful is too lenient, terrible seems a better word."
"They aren't going to do anything here are they?"
"Kid, they may be heartless brains, but they aren't stupid. They don't dare test their limits here. I think I overheard one of them say this world was 'as pristine as pristine could be'. Why would we bother saving it?"
"Right...good point. I wond-oooh look! Ash is getting ready to battle Alain!"
"Who?"
"You know. Alain, he has this mega-stone that lets him mega-evolve his Charizard to be super powerful." William started making fire sounds and swooshing noises. These ended up waking Six, who ended patting the Quilladin on the head.
"Calm'er down kiddo, you keep acting like that and you might just blow our cover." Almost immediately all eyes went to the dome below them, Ash against Alain.
The battle itself was spectacular; what with both groups using a powerful pokemon against one another. Ash, however, had put all his chips on the table. Alain managed a hard fought victory against Ash and his Greninja, much to the dismay of Six and the other companions, each one offering their own opinion on the situation.
"C'mon! There's no way you could win against that, thing's gotta be rigged."
"Five caps says the kid would've won against the black and blue lizard on an even playing field." Six had his own opinion on the sight.
"That just sucks."
It was official, Alain had claimed first place in the Lumiose Conference, all seemed well as Ash and Alain shook hands. What was the worst that could go wrong?
Green lights sparkled across the sky in an instant; causing the Courier and Kreger to stare in surprise.
They'd been tricked. Six called to the Vertibird as the lights diminished. The rest of the group got out of the main plaza as they stared incredulously at the sky, not believing that Lysandre could've tricked them so easily.
Instantly, large red tentacles sprouted out of the ground, encompassing the city in growth. Ulysses spoke first; slightly shocked at the sight around him.
"This is what I saw, this is what could bring the Mojave to its knees." Gannon spoke next, raising his Plasma defender as Johnson fired at the growth.
"I imagined it being less damaging, but yeah, this goes on the list of things the Mojave needs to avoid."
Elsewhere, the Vertibird prepped itself for takeoff, the resident Dragonite flying alongside it as the chopper dodged a tentacle sprouting onto a nearby building. Six was busy as well, attacking a tentacle with his sledgehammer, looking up towards the Prism Tower, Six saw something that made life more complicated.
"The fuck is that thing?"
A large creature emerged aloft a tower edge, massive in size and reminiscent of a large snake, this thing had to have been the cause of the growths.
Six also noticed one other detail.
"That's Lysandre; right next to that...worm...thing!" Kreger took out his binoculars, confirming Six's suspicions.
"You're right, but how do we get to him?"
"We need the Verti, get it over here no-"
*BOOOOM*
The Vertibird fired a missile the creature, hitting it but causing negligible damage. In response, the beast launched a tendril at the bird, damaging the left rotor. Six went silent for a moment, then let his anger be known.
"No...FUCKING HELL! We were this close! Now we've got nothing."
"We can still get up there, we just gotta be careful where we walk." Both men clambered down the ladder, moving towards the wreckage of the Vertibird. It wasn't pretty.
The heli had suffered irreparable damage as a result of the impact. Daisy managed to get out and was staring up towards the monstrosity responsible for destroying her baby. Ash and company arrived in time to see Daisy shouting out expletive phrases at the Zygarde on the tower. Six greeted Ash as soon as he noticed him.
"We've got no bird kid, that means no way of getting up...there." Ash responded as Serena and Pikachu looked on in worry.
"There's always gotta be a plan b, you had one didn't you?"
"Plan b involved the Verti too, without this thing then we're just geese in the pond..."
Lysandre's plan for Lumiose came to fruition, while Zygarde went about his plan on claiming the city, he disected his next plan for all of Kalos.
The world would be his in mere weeks at this rate, and not a single soul would be able to stop him.
A/N- I'm back from the dead. Not really but still. I've been busy as hell lately, got a newborn to take care of now.
That only translates to less time for myself and for all you lovely viewers out there.
On a side note from a reviewer. I went ahead got a Brazilian Gecko, named him Jesús just for that reason. Thank you Sir Pearson for your service.