April's Team: Mars; Burn (Charizard); Happy (Ludicolo); Thunder (Electabuzz); Sam (Riolu/Latios)
James' Team: Gardevoir; Nidoqueen; Ninetails; Grovyle; Corey (Mewvee)
Luna's Team: Ace (Blaziken); Shade (Lucario); Bravo (Gallade); Thalia (Ninetails); Bumble (Pichu); Moltres
Lucien's Team: Soul (Lucario); Vesuvius (Typhlosion); Tia (Latias); Shogun (Samurott); Draco (Shiny Dragonite)
This pretty much marks the beginning of the Lucien and Gardevoir saga. You'll learn more about Lucien's past and such, while Gardevoir starts her test. So, unfortunately, there will be less of Mars in these next few chapters.
POV: Arceus
Nameless stood in front of me, giggling uncontrollably as he created various different creatures out of a box he called 'spare parts.' Most of them were incoherent messes that would not survive a second of being alive, but sometimes he'd accidentally create a human or Pokémon. He sighed and disassembled his latest creation, a human with wings and no throat or heart, before looking up at me, pouting.
"Wait….what was the question?" He asked. I sighed and shook my head, turning my gaze to Suicune, who was bowed before me.
"Yes." I said, my voice booming around the Hall. "I did give Mars the ability to Mega Evolve without the use of a mega stone." Suicune looked up at me, and Nameless began to grumble.
"Well, technically I did, but whatever." He said. "Being invisible to the universe means I don't get credit for things. Right, Arceus?"
"May I ask how he is able to accomplish this? And why?" Suicune asked. Nameless snorted and I nodded.
"Yes. Simply put, I merely unlocked his ability to mega evolve without a mega stone. It is a process that all Pokémon will be able to achieve, given time. I simply unlocked his potential one thousand years in advance. Of course, Mars is not the only one I gave this ability to. Now, as for why," I chuckled and shook my head. "Because of his potential. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have another matter to attend to." Suicune bowed his head again.
"Thank you." He said, and raced out of the Hall. I watched him go, and shook my head, turning my eyes to watch Lucien.
"Hmm…what should I build next?" Nameless muttered, growing a tree in the palm of his hand. I ignored him and closed my eyes, listening to the events that were happening. It was a time of convergence, everything was coming together in order to prepare for change. And the man to spark the fire was Lucien.
POV CHANGE: Lucien
"I don't think this is a good idea." Soul said, frowning at me. I laughed and shook my head, patting him on the shoulder.
"Look, I know what I'm doing. We got the new data, and I'm done playing around with these fools." I said. It'd been two days since we'd put the tracker on the truck, which had led us to their base within the hour. Twelve hours after that, we'd received new data from InterPol, which stated that fusion Pokémon were beginning to pop up in the black market, and that it was believed Team Rocket was behind this. Another day of casing the place, we'd received direct orders to break into the base and figure out what, exactly, was going on.
"Yeah, but-" Soul started. A glare from me silenced him, and he sighed. "Look, I'm just worried. You've been pretty agitated lately, and it's getting troublesome. I can't always keep your aura from going haywire." Soul said. I nodded and checked my equipment. On my waist sat two pistols, one that fired sleep darts, and one that fired real bullets. Extra magazines ran along my waist, interrupted only by the six pokeballs on my belt. In the pockets of my black cargo pants were various explosives, from flash bangs, to explosive wire, to thermite, and even a few grenades. I wore a black 'commando' vest, which was filled with various tech that could be used to confuse, hack, or break any security system I might come across.
"Yeah, I know. I'm just going to get this done, and then take a nice, long vacation. Maybe I'll visit Hoenn. Dewford was a pleasant town." I said, grabbing my rifle from the hotel room bed. It was specially made for me, with a collapsible stock, and interchangeable ammunition. It could either shoot bullets or darts from it. A built-in suppressor sat on the end, and I slung the strap over my shoulder, stuffing my vest with ammo for the rifle.
"You ready, Lucien?" Looker asked, entering the room. I nodded and adjusted the knife strapped to my right bicep and glanced around the room one more time. I had all the equipment I needed. I recalled Soul and nodded at Looker.
"Yeah. Let's do this."
POV CHANGE: Gardevoir
I stood next to James, who was sitting in a chair and watching as a contest went on in front of us. The past two days had been mostly uneventful, besides the odd battle with a trainer here and there. We were still on One Island, where the contest that April and Luna had entered was going on. April was the next contestant, with Luna going shortly after her.
"What do you think, Gardevoir? Think we should enter a contest sometime?" James asked, startling me out of my thoughts. Maybe. I'm sure Ninetails would enjoy the chance to show off in front of a crowd. I said telepathically with a smirk. James grinned and shrugged. "That she would." He said.
"And now, please welcome to the stage a native of Pallet Town, April, and her partner Burn!" The announcer boomed. April walked onto the stage in her new dress, earning a few cheers from the crowd. April smiled and waved before letting Burn out of his pokeball with a roar. I watched in surprise as she did this, wasn't she in the beauty contest?
"Personally, I'd have entered the tough contest with a Charizard, but that's just me." James said. I nodded in agreement, and watched as April began to work with Burn.
"Flamethrower in the air!" April called. Burn roared and launched himself into the air, shooting off a flamethrower at the ceiling. "Now spin!" April called. Burn began to spin, creating a vortex of fire that fell around him in a tornado. "Dragon pulse!" Burn stopped his flamethrower and hovered in midair. The vortex of fire beneath him began to thin, and Burn fired, sending the blue flames straight down into the vortex. "Now use fire blast!" April called. Burn roared and flew backwards, shooting the star of fire at the top of the still spinning vortex of blue and red flames. The star of fire stopped at the very top, creating a fiery Christmas tree of blue and red flames. Burn roared and landed next to April amidst the applause of the crowd. April bowed and recalled Burn before walking off of the stage.
"Well that was cool." James said. I nodded in agreement and turned to watch the next contestant, who was using a Glaceon to create an ice sculpture.
"How'd I do?" April asked, walking into the stands behind us. Mars walked at her side, and silently regarded me.
"Pretty good. It was pretty cool." James said. April smiled and nodded before sitting down next to him.
"And now, as a special guest, please welcome the famous coordinator from the far-off Hoenn region, Luna!" The announcer boomed. The crowd roared and cheered as Luna took the stage, walking next to her Blaziken, Ace. I smiled and watched as the two began to work, Ace leaping about while creating a blazing inferno. Slowly, I felt a sudden pressure creep up on me, and Mars looked at me worriedly.
"Garde-" Mars was stopped mid-sentence as the world stopped. Ace was caught midair, fire flowing from his wrists and foot. James had a bite of popcorn halfway to his mouth, while April was stuck halfway into the chair next to James.
"What?" I said, unable to comprehend what was going on. The world slowly became grey, and the pressure in the air increased tenfold. I shuddered, wondering what in the world was going on. Was it…could it be Dialga? A bright light shone in the sky, blue and runic looking. Slowly, ever so slowly, a rift was torn in the sky, and out emerged Dialga in all his glory. He didn't announce his presence with a roar. He didn't show off his power. He simply was, and that was enough to show how out of my league I was. No one would be able to stand up against a behemoth like that.
"Gardevoir." He said, his voice echoing around the world. I took a deep breath, and found that I was shaking. "Do not be afraid. I am not going to hurt you or anyone else. However, I do have a task for you." He said.
"W-w-w-what is it?" I stuttered. Dialga began walking towards me, his feet pushing off of the air in the sky. Slowly, ever so slowly, he bent his head to look me in the eyes.
"Watch and see." He said. Images began to flash in front of my eyes, images of an underground bunker, test tubes, and what appeared to be Team Galactic. Dialga roared in my vision, shattering it. The roar was pained and angry, like a cornered beast. "Mistakes come to even the best of us." Dialga said, pulling away. "Your test is a task from me. Complete it." He simply said, and disappeared in a flash of light. Time resumed, and Mars finished his sentence.
"voir." He said, and frowned at my shaken appearance. "Are you ok?" He asked. I nodded, and rubbed my temples, the images still flashing through my mind.
"Y-yeah." I said unconvincingly. Mars didn't push for more, he just turned away and watched as Ace completed his routine, creating a sparkling, fiery explosion with Ace in the middle. I shook my head, trying to clear my head. Was that really Dialga? James glanced up at me, and noticed my distress.
"Hey, you ok, Gardevoir?" James asked. I nodded slowly and reached for my pokeball, pressing the button to recall myself. Just need time to think. I said, and closed my eyes, meditating in the pitch black of my pokeball.
POV CHANGE: Rose
I sniffed the air, testing to see what was around me. There was nothing more dangerous than a Persian, which wouldn't be much of a problem for me. I furrowed my brows and looked around again, searching for anything that would be a problem. After all, my horn was going nuts. I shook my head, slashing at a tree with my horn. This was so frustrating! It was a tingle unlike anything I'd ever felt, it wasn't intent to kill, that was clear, and it wasn't a natural disaster. That had been a yell that gave me a minor headache. The tingle I was feeling now was more like a shout giving me a migraine.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing to my tree?" A Pidgeotto yelled at me from the tree. I growled back.
"Don't test me." I snapped. The Pidgeotto huffed and flew off, grumbling insults at me as he flew off. I sighed and looked over my shoulder, back to the human settlement on One Island. I didn't want to get too far away, after all, Mars and his trainer were my ride off of this blasted island. Well, I could always sneak onto another boat, but I figured Mars was my best bet off of here. "However…" I said, glancing up at the tall mountain in front of me. Mount Ember seemed to be the source of this tingle, and by Arceus I was going to find out what it was.
POV CHANGE: Rocket Scientist
My footsteps echoed off of the porcelain walls as I walked, my white lab coat flapping at my heels. Two Rocket guards flanked me, both carrying submachine guns. The smell of chemicals that permeated throughout the halls no longer bothered me, and hadn't for years. I looked down at the black tablet computer I carried, which showed a diagram and various graphs. To be honest, I couldn't make sense of it all. This was far above my education level, however, for some reason I was in charge of presenting it to the boss. Probably so I could take the fall if it went south.
I stopped walking when I reached the large metal blast door, capable of withstanding a nuclear explosion. Why we needed such a door was beyond me. It's not like we were going to start a war, were we? I typed in the key code and waited while it opened with a groan. Inside looked like something out of a movie, something you'd expect the President of Kanto's secret underground bunker to look like. A large computer screen sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by multiple smaller screens showing similar data to the large one. Only one man stood in the room with his hands clasped behind his back.
"What do you have for me?" The man asked without turning around.
"I, uh, I've got the latest data." I said. He nodded, waiting for more. I looked down at the tablet and scrolled to the data I was looking for. "Let's see….subjects P345 through P378 survived and are stable, while subjects P379 through P401 have died or been terminated due to instability. Subjects H122 through H125 survived, while every other subject has rejected treatment or perished." I said, nervously looking at him. The man shifted slightly, and I winced, knowing that this was not the results he had been hoping for.
"I see." He said, turning around. The man before me was well dressed in a white pin-striped suit and similar tie. He had combed brown hair and wore glasses that hid his eyes. "That is…vexing. However, it is not all bad. So far, everything has been going according to plan. We have the DNA we need, we have the technology to achieve gene therapy. And soon, our favorite little nuisance will be taken care of." The man said, turning back to the giant screen. I nodded and slipped out of the room, taking that as the end of the conversation and all but running towards the test chambers. I checked the tablet one more time as it loaded more data.
"Stage two is complete." I muttered, reading off of the screen. Since when had there been stages? "Whatever the hell that means."
POV CHANGE: ?
The wind howled, blowing snow across the forbidden mountainside I stood on. My Pokémon, a Delphox, stood next to me, not even blinking at the cold and snow. Silently, I watched as a man clad in a dark brown cowl, same as me, walked up to me, trudging through the chest high snow drifts.
"So you heard." The man said, coming to stand next to me. I nodded, glancing sideways at him. He wasn't even out of breath.
"Yes." I said. The man nodded. "If he snaps then we will be forced to step in." The man nodded again, letting out one of his Pokémon. The Flygon didn't even cast a second glance towards me and Delphox.
"I know." He said. "I'm making sure you do." I glared at him from behind my hood, while his expression remained unreadable. "And you know who one of his companions is, right?" He asked. I nodded again.
"Yes. The one with potential." I said. He nodded and leapt onto the back of his Flygon. "I will take care of it." The man nodded.
"I know you will. Kanto is, after all, your jurisdiction." He said, and disappeared into the sky without another word. I went back to staring at the infinite abyss of snow, and my Delphox placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Well, then. It'd be best if we got going." I said, and let out my Fearow, who nodded to me and turned towards the sky. I got onto his back and recalled Delphox before Fearow leapt into the sky, wheeling and turning towards the Sevii Islands. It's been too long, Lucien. Perhaps I will get to kill you this time, after all.
How was it? I know, it's a lot to take in, but it was necessary for me to move on. I didn't want to post three chapters of just filler with a little of this stuff mixed in.