Sometimes damage can be done in unexpected ways. The nexz chapters will be nasty.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or its characters.
Chapter 52 Forced Power
Wraith and Seth appeared near their target location, a base of the international police in Saffron City. They couldn't get there directly because of a pure black shield blocking access to it. The shield was maintained by a few inner guardians by using one of their newest weapon, which was said to grant them the power to control darkness. Most of the other inner guardians were using its counterpart, the glove of light and those were responsible for the attack. However, the international police was much better prepared than anticipated, resulting in a lot of casualties and now Divine told them not to advance until Wraith and Seth were there as backup since he couldn't go there personally. Once they were there, they could take command and make a plan to break the defense, something the inner guardians were unable to do on their own.
The two chosen waited for a short moment, in which the shield was removed briefly. It was just long enough to allow them to teleport inside. The international police on the other hand didn't expect it and were unable to do it as well so they could just keep attacking the barrier. Inside, Wraith and Seth learned that the shield would last at least one more hour, even if heavy weaponry was used against it. They needed the time as although most of the automated defenses were down, the remaining guards were holding out in front of the storage room. Because they were heavily armed and desperate, a direct attack would result in heavy losses, something Divine didn't want to accept so he needed the others to make a more refined plan.
The solution proved rather simple. Instead of trying to get through the only door to the room with the guards, they would blast the walls, allowing more of them to attack at the same time. The first one would try to blind the defenders with a burst of light, basically sacrificing himself for the others but at last this would greatly reduce further losses or at least they hoped so. Once the materials were in their hands, escaping would be easy. Without a doubt, the international police would try to prevent them from teleporting in the area by creating dark fields, maybe with a teleport blocker. However, the abilities provided by the gloves of light were the natural counter to those and thus could easily neutralize any of those measures. The inner guardians had enough psychic-types to transport a huge amount of materials so that wasn't a problem either. The only matter that could give them trouble was the attack.
The first problem concerning their plan was the thickness of the walls. Although there was no doubt that they would get through in time, it would take too long and not even Wraith's excadrill was able to build a proper tunnel. That only left a direct attack, which was extremely dangerous as all the attackers had to go through the door one by one, making them vulnerable to enemy fire during the process.
In the end, they decided to send two of them first. The first one used his glove of darkness to shoot some kind of black orb at the other side of the room before getting gunned down. Upon making contact with the wall, it turned into a vortex, which pulled the defenders towards it and even disarmed several of them by sucking their weapons into its core, where they got twisted and crushed by massive forces until they were little more than a tiny, compressed ball. It was enough of a distraction to allow the next one to release a burst of light, which blinded the guards. He was killed as well but now there was only chaos among the defenders, who lost orientation and were just shooting around wildly. Nevertheless, there were still many of them and it didn't make the weapons any less deadly. The inner guardians were slaughtered in large numbers but killed even more with crushing dark bolts and burning light beams. It was a massacre, to say the least, with no clear victor.
Finally, the last defenders surrendered, only to get locked up in a small room with a single guardian watching them. The others had enough time to pick up the gloves of every fallen guardian, a task that was of uttermost importance as Divine didn't want his enemies to analyze his most treasured weapons. The next step was to shrink the shield surrounding the base to make it consume less energy. Ten guardians were enough to make it last about thirty more minutes while Wraith and Seth were coordinating the psychic-types.
As soon as everything was prepared, the shield was dropped and one of them used the gloves of light to allow teleportation. Within a second, the base was empty with only the fallen ones remaining as signs of the battle that had occurred.
Divine wasn't done just yet, though. The fleeing Okcha had left machines that he used to speak to the whole city as they amplified his voice. Another one in his base twisted his voice by all known means to make restoring and thus recognizing his voice impossible. Talking to the population like that made him feel like a god and he didn't bother hiding it.
"Hear me, citizens, and despair. You have just witnessed a fraction of my power. The creatures under my command are almost endless and those killed today will be replaced quickly so there's no hope of defeating me, even the most stubborn fool will realize this soon. I must admit that the international police surprised me today. Mr. Wright, it seems like you care more about the materials hidden in your base than the lives of the people living nearby. Your men fought valiantly and it's a shame they had to die. If only they had shown more willingness to protect the civilians, who knows how many more would have survived. As you can see, I can strike anywhere, at any time, with forces you can't handle. And those pitiful soldiers I sent today are just the beginning. Which region will be next? Johto? Sinnoh? Unova? All of them? You will know when your agents send you the damage reports." He let out a laugh that sounded unnatural and demonic due to the twisted voice. "Why don't you just resign from your position? Then you can at least claim that it's not your fault while your cities are being turned to dust and your people slaughtered. As for all of you nice people out there. I'm not accepting new recruits right now but if I want your assistance, I will contact you. You better pray it'll happen soon."
The international police stormed their own base in order to drive off any intruder, but they quickly discovered that everyone was gone already. To their surprise, they found the prisoner all in one room, tied up and gagged, yet completely unguarded. For some reason, they seemed highly nervous and tried to tell their rescuers something, but they didn't know until it was too late. Between the prisoners, blocked from view, a glove of darkness with a damaged power gem was lying. Sparks were already coming from the crack, which meant that it had become too unstable to contain the energy. This usually resulted in a massive explosion specific to the gem and this case was no different. At first, everyone in the room was pushed away only to get pulled into a newly formed vortex of darkness. Everyone who couldn't resist it, got smashed by the forces in the center and there only few who were far away enough to accomplish this.
When it was finally over, only a small red ball remained, which consisted of the belongings, flesh, bones, and blood of the victims. The others immediately tried to leave the room, both out of disgust and fear. To them, this ball looked unstable and a burst would make this even more disgusting by turning the whole room and everyone inside into a huge mess. It sparked a burning hatred for those responsible for this horrible deed but there was nothing they could do about it. Right now, they could only pity those who would have to clean the room.
Ash, Dawn, and Marcus were still following Boris, whose noivern was flying westwards, towards Mt. Silver. Dawn's flying-type was definitely the weak link of the group, given her mediocre speed. She tried to compensate it by trying harder than anyone else and it seemed to work as Boris didn't gain more distance. Unbeknownst to them, escaping never was Boris's goal, he only wanted to lure his enemies into the base. They wouldn't see the trap until it was too late, he was sure of it.
When he entered a cave, they didn't hesitate to follow him. Although navigating inside wasn't easy, it was still doable as it was rather big and there was no wind or rain. When they finally had him trapped in a dead end, he simply flew through the wall, which was merely an illusion hiding the entrance to an old base. Without hesitation, they followed him and found themselves inside a long and wide corridor with walls of steel and quadratic pressure plates all over the ground. Behind them, the gate promptly closed, trapping them inside. However, they didn't want to leave just yet as Eileen and maybe even Catelyn were here. In front of them, Boris, who was still holding Eileen, waved at them before the ground below him glowed briefly and he disappeared, having obviously been teleported somewhere else.
"Be careful or you might be teleported as well," Dawn warned.
"Thanks, Captain Obvious. I would've never guessed," Marcus replied. "Well, might as well take the shortcut."
Before Ash and Dawn could react, he took a step forward with his staraptor and immediately got teleported to an unknown location.
"Let's go together!" Ash said to her and they took the step forward with their pokémon, but nothing happened. "Damn it, now he's gone."
"We have to stay together or we'll get separated as well," Dawn made clear. Since the pressure plates were pretty small, they had to recall the larger pokémon so that only Lucario, Piplup, and Espeon were outside their pokéballs. It was time to check on Pikachu, who was called out from the regeneration ball almost fully healed. Apparently, his ball was quite powerful.
They slowly advanced until they reached the end of the corridor, where they had to choose between two path. Whether it was out of curiosity or stupidity, Piplup tried to scout ahead a bit, only to get teleported the very moment he stepped on the next square. He always tried to impress his friends but in cases like these, he gravely overestimated his abilities.
"Piplup, no!" Dawn screamed.
Her first reaction was to follow him but Ash held her back. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough to hold back Pikachu, who tried to help his best friend and got teleported as well, albeit to a different location.
"Damn it! I hope they'll be alright," Ash muttered.
Despite the loss, they kept a clear head and refused to help their enemies even more by acting with unnecessary haste. The events so far were highly amusing to Boris as they could hear him speaking to them.
"How delightful. You made it so much easier than expected," he told them, breaking out in mad laughter. "I mean, seriously? How stupid can you get? Your two pokémon will be the first to feel our power."
He let out a laugh that gave the trainers chills. He was currently in the central room, which was mostly empty, except for two hug glass tubes in the center. The machinery belonging to them was below the ground or above the ceiling so they looked slightly out of place. Those things were used to create special Okcha soldiers, whose bodies were too big for the normal tubes although it was already outdated with other, more modern machines having replaced them. One of the tubes was for the pokémon, whose body was supposed to be copied and the other one was to contain the copy. Walls of glass were separating the room from a small chamber, which contained the Okcha production controls, teleport controls and everything else concerning the safety of the base.
From there, he and Victoria could connect any two squares in the labyrinth at the beginning. That way, they could make it seem much bigger than it actually was and confuse intruders. In fact, unless they had anti-teleportation measures, they could be prevented from reaching the end indefinitely. Of course, the base also had a teleport blocker, which had to be turned off every time for just a moment. It was a weakness that could b exploited but only by those whose pokémon knew the location.
"They're separated from their little darlings. It's for you to play your game," Boris said, pushing Victoria away from the controls as he wanted to be the only messing with them. "Leave this to me. You don't have enough imagination for this kind of work anyway."
"Fine." She didn't want to argue with him with nobody else around as potential backup. "Just remember the orders. They aren't to be killed."
"Yeah, I know." He pointed at Eileen and Catelyn, who were gagged and chained to a nearby wall. "He didn't say anything about those, though."
Not eager to find out about his plans, Vicoria and Gardevoir stepped on the only teleport square in the central room and gave him a signal that she was ready and he sent them near her first victim.
Pikachu found himself alone in a dead end and a long corridor in front of himself. Since there was no other route to take, he followed it but soon realized that he wasn't making any progress. Whenever he stepped on one of the squares, he was teleported back to the beginning. Not even jumping over that square helped as then the next one would teleport him instead and since he couldn't fly, he was basically trapped.
Nevertheless, he just kept trying until he heard steps in the distance. Someone was approaching and he got ready for battle. Fortunately, it turned out to be Ash and Lucario so Pikachu quickly tried to reunite with them and for some reason, he wasn't teleported this time. This, along with the fact that Ash wasn't with Dawn, made him slightly suspicious. After all, one of their enemies was an illusionist so he had to b careful.
"Pikapi!" he exclaimed.
"Pikachu! So good to see you." Pikachu expected him to spread his arms so that the electric-type could jump there but he just took a small stone out of a pocket. "We're in big trouble and need all the strength we can muster. Here, use this."
Pikachu realized Ash was holding a thunder stone and immediately backed off. He couldn't understand how Ash could ask something like that of him since he knew that his partner didn't intend to evolve anytime soon. What was even weirder was the fact that Lucario wasn't reacting at all. The aura pokémon was a good friend and also knew about the whole matter of evolution.
"Come, we can't survive without the extra power. Or do you want all of us to die horribly? It's our only chance." Ash had always believed in him in this form, even in the most dangerous situations. It didn't make any sense that he asked him to evolve now, yet he was offering the thunder stone to Pikachu right now. "Do it!"
Now Pikachu was sure that this wasn't the real Ash. His appearance was too mysterious, his request too outrageous , his tone too demanding. Therefore, he struck the hand holding the stone with his tail, making it all to the ground and the imposter hold his hand with a pained expression.
"Damn you, little creature," he screamed. "You shall pay for this!"
Any remaining doubts were erased by those words and Pikachu proceeded with a thunderbolt that shocked Ash and Lucario until the aura-pokémon used a psychic move to push him away. Since Ash's Lucario didn't know psychic-type moves, it was a dead giveaway although it wasn't even necessary anymore.
"He ... the voice modifier is damaged," Ash said with his voice changing all the time. He touched his chin and a clicking sound could be heard, then Pikachu could hear the voice, the voice of a female. It was Victoria's to be exact and she didn't even bother keeping up the illusion now. "Fine, no more need for that." She canceled the Illusion and removed the mask, whose lower part was emitting sparks. The lucario was actually Gardevoir, now back to its normal form. "You'll pay for this, little rat."
She didn't have the time to turn her threat into a reality as someone, or rather a group was coming from behind. Her eyes widened when she realized that they were Ash, Dawn, and their pokémon, except for Piplup. Obviously, they had been drawn here by the battle sounds, she was more surprised about the fact that Boris hadn't stopped them but then again, that guy was unpredictable so maybe this was one of his jokes.
"So you're finally here," she said, putting her hands on her hips in an attempt to look confident. "This is our territory and you'll soon realize that you stand no chance here. We can appear anywhere at any time and retreat whenever we find ourselves outnumbered." She gave them a smile, which froze when nothing happened. "I said, we can retreat whenever we find ourselves outnumbered. Hello?"
Boris's laughter could be heard again before she finally disappeared.
"I see you've found your pikachu. But what about your prinplup? Oops, I mean piplup. Silly me." The way he said wasn't too encouraging, especially when they noticed the thunder stone just lying on the ground. "Maybe you should hurry. Otherwise, you might not recognize it."
Ash immediately opened his arms to let Pikachu jump into them before kicking the stone away.
"They tried to make you evolve? Why? It doesn't make any sense," he muttered, hugging his pokémon a bit tighter.
"Maybe they know that he doesn't wish to evolve and want to hurt him this way?" Dawn guessed. "It doesn't matter why, we have to stop them. If that Boris was telling the truth, Piplup will be next."
There was panic in her voice, something Ash could understand all too well. After all, they didn't need to convince Piplup to use a stone, they just had to remove the everstone somehow. Moves that removed items were sometimes used in contests but Dawn was always nearby and could give him another one, which was allowed for this particular item. Her presence was necessary as since he didn't know bide anymore, they doubted that he would be able to resist it for very long. Because of that, she was already fearing the worst.
Piplup had been running around aimlessly without meeting anyone but at least there hadn't been any enemies or traps either. He was already exhausted when he reached a point where had several choices. Although neither of them looked too welcoming, he believed firmly that he had to keep moving to have a chance of meeting the others. Suddenly, several gengar or creatures posing as gengar emerged from the ground, one in each corridor, thus trapping Piplup.
Using his standard combination, the aqua drill, he tried to fight his way through one of them but then the gengar used psychic simultaneously. Despite his training, he couldn't resist so many psychic moves at the same time and stopped in midair. Then one of them snuck up from behind and used the thief move to remove the everstone.
Instantly, the water-type felt energy surging through his body, a feeling he knew all too well. The evolution was long overdue for his body and it tried to force it with all its power. By now, he couldn't even look around or cry for help and only let this feeling he loathed so much overcome him. It changed his body at an agonizingly slow pace, making it bigger, stronger but he didn't care about that. The important part that he had chosen his existence and someone else choosing it for him was an unbearable thought. He thought of Mamoswine, who had become disobedient after his evolutions. It was one of the reasons he had refused to it as well, he didn't want to become like that, he wanted to stay loyal to her, her most loyal companion. He also wondered what his best friend might think. Pikachu had also chosen not to evolve so it was questionable whether he would still respect Piplup.
These fears and thoughts made the procedure somewhat bearable and it was over before he even realized it. Looking down at his new body, it finally dawned on him and he almost fainted from the shock but then he regained his senses and rage overcame him. No matter why those creatures had done this, he wanted them to pay. Without further hesitation, he got ready to battle, only to find that they were gone with only the everstone still remaining.
With tears escaping his eyes, he clutched it and held it close to his chest. The item that had been protecting him for such a long time, it was useless now. His sadness turned into fury once more and he basically went berserk. Although his brick break move didn't look as impressive as before because the size difference wasn't as big, it was still stronger. With his new power he struck the walls around him again and again, leaving marks although they were made of steel. In his rage, he even struck the ground, which seemed to have an unintended effect as he could see sparks coming from a crack. It was possible that this square lost its teleporting effect but he didn't really care. No, he just kept striking everything within range, which happened to be just the walls and the ground. What made him even madder was the laughter he could hear.
Finally, he was too exhausted to continue and leaned against the nearest wall. Raising his head, he started crying. He was hoping that someone would find him, comfort him, assure him that everything was alright and on the other hand, he was hoping that he would be left alone forever. He couldn't stand the shame of Dawn, Ash, and Pikachu seeing him in this new, monstrous form.
The maze, however, was so small that the trainers were bound to find him eventually, drawn to him by the weeping. This time, they didn't get teleported at all since Boris wanted them to find Prinplup. Eventually, they found him leaning against a wall near a spot where four corridors met. His condition was horrible, he was in tears, trying to cover his body with his wings as if he was ashamed. His eyes were closed so he couldn't see them approaching. In his current state, he was unlikely to hear them.
"Prinplup, prinplup, prinplup,..." he kept saying over and over in a dull ton.
Dawn froze, making Ash almost go forward on his own and thus risking getting separated by teleportation. He hugged her as he felt that she needed it, but they both knew that Prinplup was the one who really needed it.
"Prinplup," Dawn muttered, clutching her mouth.
She wondering whether she should talk to him already but there was no need to as he heard her and slightly lifted his head. For just a moment, she saw his eyes, which were full of tears, before he turned away. It was so short that he mistook her worry and sympathy for disappointment, the only reaction he truly expected. It made so many different questions run through mind like whether she would still love him like this or whether his friends would still respect him. Then he remembered all the different things he'd done as a piplup, like the battles against the ariados, the adventures, and the Wallace Cup. They had been successful without the need for an evolution. She always respected his decision and he repaid her with unwavering trust and loyalty. Now it seemed so far away. No, in fact, it only hurt him more right now. If anything, he wanted to be alone for days, weeks, or maybe even months.
"Prinplup?" Dawn asked with a calm voice, careful not to startle him. "Are you alright?"
At first, he didn't turn around, he even moved away from her as he felt her approaching. But then he realized that she didn't sound disappointed, that she was just trying to help him, as usual, and he felt something else, shame. One of his reasons not to evolve was he fear of becoming disobedient and distrustful towards his trainer, something he never wanted to become, no matter what. And now that it happened, his fears became true but not because of the evolution itself but because of his own attitude. Finally realizing this, he turned around and opened his arms for her, allowing her to give him a hug that washed away his worries in that regard.
They stayed in that position for what felt like an eternity, during which his breathing got slower and his crying stopped entirely. Now that he knew that Dawn wasn't blaming him at all, it was time to face his second concern, which was mostly about Pikachu's reaction but then he noticed that the electric-type was also hugging him, he was simply more difficult to notice because of the new difference in size. Ash and the others were also were, albeit a bit more subtle. When they let go, he felt like he owed them an explanation.
"Prin prinplup," he started.
While he was telling them about the event, Lucario and Espeon were translating for Ash and Dawn respectively. When it was over, everyone fell silent again, then Dawn hugged him again as if she was trying to soak up all the disappointment and sorrow, a gesture he appreciated deeply.
"I don't care how you look. For me, you'll always be my dear partner and nothing will ever change that," she reassured him.
There was no reason for him to doubt her words but on the other hand he didn't really know how to reply and merely nodded. The whole procedure was over so quickly, he could hardly believe it. It was impossible to forget or even comprehend what had just happened but for the sake of the others, he had to focus on the task at hand as there was time to talk about in detail later. Eventually, he hoped, he would get used to his new body.
"You know, they tried to do the same to Pikachu," Ash mentioned. "Fortunately, it wasn't as easy as in your case and he prevented it."
The wording wasn't the best so Prinplup took it as an insult. When Ash realized it, he waved his wands in front of his face, trying to explain himself.
"No, I didn't imply you're weak. It's simply easier to steal an item than to make someone use an item." Provoking Prinplup in this situation was dangerous and the last thing Ash wanted to do.
If anything, the remark rekindled the hatred he was bearing towards Boris, whom he held responsible for this disaster. Raising one of his wings, he examined it briefly and lowered it again with a smile. With this, he would be able to cut through anything his enemies could throw at him.
Then Dawn noticed that the ground below Prinplup was damaged. In his fury, he had damaged machinery below the steel plate. Her first guess that it had something to do with teleportation but she didn't have more time to think about it as Ash, relieved that Prinplup didn't take his words personally, took a step back. Maybe he was expecting the others to follow him already. However, when the ground below him glowed, he knew what was going to happen.
"Damn it!" he managed to say before he disappeared.
This time, the situation was better than it looked at first glance, though. Ash's aura link with Lucario allowed them to communicate and sense each other's presence. Therefore, they would have been able to find each other quickly if it hadn't been for the random teleports. Besides, Dawn's group had to be careful not to get separated. Due to their position changing constantly, they also had to change their directions all the time, so the progress was slow at best.
Whether their enemies weren't paying attention or whether it was part of their plan, Ash, Dawn, and the pokémon finally found themselves at opposing ends of a corridor. Naturally, they all approached each other and even came quite close but then, for every step they took forward, they got teleported two steps back until they were back at their original positions.
"Any idea? You don't happen to have a pokémon with dark pulse?" he asked, albeit with little hope.
"I would have already used the dark field, don't you think so? We have to find a different solution." Then she remembered that Prinplup had smashed one of the teleport pressure plates. "Wait, we can do it with brute force. Kabutops, we need you!"
Although Prinplup had shown to be perfectly capable of doing it and with the help of the others, it wouldn't even take a long time, Kabutops had a move that could solve this problem even faster. It was his individual move, eruption, which roughened up the terrain with stone spikes, making traps like spikes far more difficult to evade. Being mostly a move for double battles, it wasn't nearly as useful in single battles.
"Use eruption to destroy all the pressure plates between us!" she commanded.
He slammed his sickles onto the ground, which caused stone spikes of Pikachu's size pierce the pressure plates from below. One by one, they were destroyed until the only ones still working were those they were standing on. Realizing this, they quickly took a few steps forward. Finally, they were in the clear although they had to be careful not to get hurt by the spikes. Once they were reunited again, they couldn't resist but react with a passionate, albeit short kiss.
"You had me scared," Dawn muttered after breaking the kiss.
"Well, at least we don't have to worry about those things anymore," Ash said with side glace at the destroyed pressure plates. "Now we only have to find Marcus and the others."
With the eruption, it was only a matter of time, but they were sure that Boris had deadlier tricks up his sleeve.
