Chapter 28:
"Sir, we've spotted several trainers located off the starboard of the frigate approaching on water type Pokemon."
"Zoom in on the image of the trainers." The Plasma member immediately complied and enlarged the image on the overhead monitor. Thick swirling tendrils of fog encompassed the three Pokemon and riders distorting and concealing their figures to make it nearly impossible to identify them. The Plasma member began reconfiguring the software so the image could become more distinct and clearer.
"Should I send out a Plasma patrol to have them eliminated?"
"No, I recognize them. Well, most of them. I don't know who the man with the cape is, but I recognize the other four. Black Greystorm and Bianca Taylor are the ones riding the Samurott. Black has a high rank in the League since he's a strong trainer and his Pokemon are all around their level 80s. The other one on the Carracosta is Cheren Amari who's also a strong trainer working with the League. I don't recognize the man on the Lapras, but the girl's Ivory Greystorm, a Whisperer. They're too strong to attack head on with our normal patrol."
"What should we do then? Alex and Jenna have already left with Sage Giallo and the device to the Pokemon League while Peter and Jackson are with Sage Zinzolin in Opelucid City."
"Hmm… well they certainly came at an inconvenient time, but you're forgetting that we still have an advantage. Whisperers need to see Pokemon to stop them, and in this fog, that's nearly impossible. If we hit hard and fast, they shouldn't pose much of a threat especially since they'll be on water type Pokemon and we can come in with an aerial attack. In the meantime, continue the preparations for departure as Lord Ghetsis instructed."
"Yes sir," the Plasma member said as he returned to his desk, but before he sat down, he turned and asked, "Do you think you and your team will be able to handle them, admin Rosa?"
She smiled, and said, "Oh don't worry. They shouldn't be much of a challenge."
Swirling gray mist curled off the choppy waves and enveloped us like a thick blanket. The fog seemed to become thicker and more oppressive the closer we got to the frigate while the temperature seemed to be steadily dropping. It didn't help that the humid atmosphere made it feel like the cold had gotten under my skin and was flowing like ice through my veins. I shivered slightly and held Nightstar's warm body close to me in an attempt to stave off the freezing cold.
A sick, nauseous feeling twisted in my stomach as I stared at the tall black, hulking ship in front of us. I noticed that not only was it getting colder and foggier, it felt as if everything was gradually becoming quieter despite the waves lapping against the jagged rocks sticking out of the water. "Something's wrong," I whispered to Riley.
"I know," he said softly. I looked back and saw that he was already standing on top of Anahita's hard shell gripping his fighting stick and looking fixatedly at the dark frigate. "N's aura has suddenly shifted and the entire aura surrounding the frigate has been… how to put it… darker?... no, I think hostile is the better way to describe it."
"What should we do?" I asked anxiously while Nightstar jumped out of my jacket and onto Anahita's head in preparation for battle. "Are we going to fight all of neo Team Plasma?"
"I'd hoped Eichi would be back by now, but teleporting across the Region takes time," Riley said. "When Yellow and Eichi come back, we'll be able to show them one Distortion World of a fight. We may have to start the fight without them though… which might be difficult if they have their device with them."
Before either of us could say anything else, a sudden blast of white energy shot towards us from out of the murky fog and would've probably killed us if it weren't for a luminous blue shield that surrounded us. I glanced back and saw that Riley's hands were glowing the same shade of blue as the shield. A dark, blurred something shot through the fog and rounded on us before firing once more only to be blocked again by the same blue shield. "I guess that's their way of saying hello," Black grumbled as he was about to release one of his Pokemon.
"Wait! Do we know if we can use our Pokemon?" Cheren asked worriedly, "They might have their device activated!"
"If they did, Blade and Clove would have killed us by now instead of them sending out some random dudes to attack us," Black said as he threw out his Altaria, Serenity, while Cheren released his Unfezant, Jett. "Serenity use dragon pulse!"
The Altaria shot into the air and sent out a burst of energy that shot through the fog but didn't appear to hit anything. Unfortunately, the same shadowy creature again darted through the swirling mist and accurately blasted Altaria with a burst of magenta energy before trying to again hit us which Riley proceeded to block. "We're sitting Duckletts here," Cheren hollered. "We can't see where the attacks are coming from in this fog and we're in easy position on the ocean."
"In the Sinnoh Region we have to deal with fog like this all the time," Riley said as he unleashed a Staraptor from his master ball in a brilliant purple light. "We should also stick to the air since Cheren's right that we'll be easy targets from where we are." As he said this, another vicious lash of energy shot at us which Riley again blocked with his aura abilities, but he flinched slightly in exhaustion as the attack hit the shield.
Riley leapt onto the Staraptor's back and Luke quickly followed suit. "You should get on Cheren's Unfezant, Ivory." I nodded numbly and clambered onto Jett which was kind of hard since his feathers were slick and he was beating his wings over the water. Luckily Cheren had already managed to get on and he helped haul me up. I glanced over at Black and Bianca to see that they were already on Serenity's cloudlike body. Blade, Anahita and Clove were all returned to their pokeballs just as we were hit again, but this time it was from a low flying Swanna with its wings glowing bright silvery light as it lashed against Jett.
Jett had quickly spun around to face the hit head on so that Cheren and I could avoid getting attacked altogether, but the impact nearly sent both of us flying. If I hadn't been tightly clutching Cheren's waist and Cheren wrapping his arms around Jett's neck, we would've both fallen into the icy water and jagged rocks below.
"Serenity take us above the fog so that we can see what's happening," Black yelled which caused the Altaria to dart through the thick fog and out of sight. Only bursts of energy from the attacking Plasma members were there to indicate where they had flown off to.
The Staraptor also powerfully flew into the sky, but this time, the Staraptor sent huge gusts of wind which ripped through the air and across the ocean making the waves even more choppy. The thick fog which had surrounded the area dispersed revealing a dozen or so members of Team Plasma all swooping around us on flying type Pokemon. Cheren then asked, "Are you alright after that hit Jett?" When the Unfezant had nodded, he said, "Good, now take us up so that we can go battle with the others."
The Unfezant powerfully beat his wings and rocketed into the night sky where neo Team Plasma was already beginning to try and hit us with blasts of energy. Jett expertly dodged each of the attacks, dipping his wings and rolling to the left and right to avoid getting hit. It made me want to throw up whenever we spun around or banked sharply making us completely vertical and turning the world an odd image of half sea and half sky. It was worse when Jett would collide with one of neo Team Plasma's Pokemon in a surge of energy. Jett's body would get really hot and he'd suddenly be moving at high speed with streaks of light and power encompassing his body in a move that Cheren called brave bird. The collision itself was the worst since I was knocked forward into Cheren's back and both Jett and the enemy would cry in pain afterwards.
'Ivory, this is your forte,' I felt Nightstar tell me from where he was squished in my jacket. 'You're a Whisperer and you can see the Pokemon!' I nodded and focused my energy on a pair of neo Team Plasma Pokemon ahead of us. They were currently blasting rays of energy towards Black, Bianca, and Serenity. I calmly redirected the energy they were sending to the Altaria and concentrated on making them turn and hit their fellow Plasma Pokemon. The Pokemon hadn't been expecting that and so they all cried out before falling to the ocean; some regaining their strength and floating across the water while others crashed into the murky depths.
"Nice work," Cheren called back to me.
Nightstar's head popped up from my jacket, and I felt him say, 'My turn! Ivory, throw me over!'
"What!?" I hollered. I looked down and saw that there were several members of neo Team Plasma below coming towards us with their Pokemon.
'Trust me,' he said as he wriggled out of my jacket and jumped off of Jett and fell towards the neo Team Plasma members. When he got close to them, he sent out a burst of electricity causing dozens of the members and Pokemon to stiffen before they began falling to the ocean floor below. I thought Nightstar was going to fall as well, but Riley and the Staraptor swooped over to where he was. Riley held out his fighting rod which Nightstar landed on. Riley powerfully flung Nightstar upwards to where Jett was hovering, and I caught him.
"Arceus Nightstar! I thought you were going to die!" I said. "But I'll admit that was pretty awesome. How did you know Riley would catch you?"
'Ivory, have you not been seeing what Riley's been doing. This guy could probably take down all of neo Team Plasma if he wanted.' I looked over to see what Nightstar was talking about.
I had to rub my eyes several times to make sure what I was seeing was real. It reminded me more of a superhero movie than real life. Riley was currently crouching on the Staraptor's back and flying quickly to where a neo Team Plasma member was on a Flygon. When he got close, he jumped off the Staraptor, grabbed one of the Flygon's wings and used his momentum to twist the wing around to flip the Flygon upside down and send its trainer falling to the ocean. Riley then released the Flygon and twisted in the air so that he could properly land on the Staraptor who had flown around to catch him. He then shot bursts of bright blue beams of energy to any enemy he saw, and when he flew alongside one of the neo Team Plasma member, he smashed his fighting stick into their side to throw them off balance and fall into the water. Luke was also doing a great job of fighting, but he was relying on flying more on neo Team Plasma's Pokemon and sending blasts of aura spheres at them.
Black came up grinning from ear to ear, "Do you SEE Riley! He's demolishing them. Do you think if I learned some parkour and learned how to use aura that I'll be able to do that?"
"Um… if you mean by 'that' falling to your death the first time you jump off your Pokemon, then yes," Cheren said dryly. "Besides, you're not an Aura Guardian or a Celesta. I think that ships sailed for you."
"Archeops use rock slide," I heard a horribly familiar voice call out. I looked up and saw that several large boulders had been generated directly over our heads and were fast falling towards us.
Jett squawked in alarm before trying to move out of the way, but as we flew through the large boulders, Jett's right wing was smashed. We were sent careening through the air while Jett tried to flap his useless wing and regain balance. Cheren and I screamed as we began spinning making everything a blur of colors. "Jett get to the frigate! Get to the frigate!" Cheren roared as he held onto the hurt Unfezant for dear life.
The Unfezant sloppily dipped toward the top of the frigate getting lower and lower. "We're not going to make it!" I screamed. There was a sudden push from beneath us and I saw that Serenity had floated below us and was trying to push us up to keep us afloat. I looked back and saw the Archeops and two familiar strands of brown hair flying through the wind like a banner coming straight for us. Before I could focus on the Archeops, it sent out a blast of hot energy which hit us and again made the Pokemon struggle to fly.
We had gotten close enough to the frigate that we crashed into the top ridge of the ship leading onto the top deck. Cheren and I were sent flying and rolling across the metal ground while Bianca, Black and Serenity had managed to land on top of the deck. Jett was flailing with his one broken wing on the inside while the other one beat furiously down to gain height and get himself fully on the frigate. Cheren pulled out his pokeball to return Jett, but another blast of energy hit the Unfezant and he fell completely off the side of the frigate.
"Jett!" Cheren screamed and we both ran over to the railing to where Jett had fallen only to see white foam tainted red surrounded by countless jagged rocks. "No," Cheren aimed his pokeball down and sobbed, "Return. Arceus damnit Jett I said return!" But nothing happened aside from the ding from Cheren's pokeball announcing it was now free to be used on other Pokemon.
"Watch out!" Bianca yelled as Black tackled both of us to the ground. Another hot blast of energy shot across the deck and in the exact spot where we had been.
"My, my you kids really don't know when to give up do you?" I heard a sweet bubbly voice say from above us. I looked up and saw Rosa drop down from the Archeops. She still had her hair done up in buns with two long strands of hair falling down, but this time she was wearing the standard Plasma uniform without the hat or the half mask. "And to think I thought I taught you two a lesson about what happens when you try to stop Team Plasma."
Bianca had started to cry at this point, "Rosa! How could you work for people like Team Plasma!? I thought we were friends!"
Rosa rolled her eyes, "Oh Arceus Bianca grow up. It looks like you're still a nineteen-year-old with the maturity of twelve-year-old. I'm surprised you're even here since half the time you're blubbering about how scared you are."
"Shut up!" I yelled and stood defensively in front of Bianca while Nightstar growled fiercely at Rosa.
"Why if it isn't my friend Ivory," Rosa jeered. She then took on a young, infantile voice and turned all her 'r's into 'w's. "Are you still wooking fow youw wittle Enny-Wenny?" She snickered when she saw me glower at her and clench my fists before she continued in a normal voice, "Don't worry, I'll tell him you were here and that I helped scrub your blood off the deck of the frigate."
Nightstar roared at this point and charged her while Black sent out his Samurott. I tried to focus on having her Archeops attack her, but it had that same dead quality about it that Ghetsis' Pokemon had. Rosa released the rest of her Pokemon which included a Sawk, a Krookodile, a Sigilyph, a Bisharp, and a Greninja of all Pokemon. All of them had the same eerie lifeless quality and all looked like they were ready to kill us.
Black sent out the rest of the Pokemon as did Cheren and Bianca. "Four against one," Black sneered, "I'd say you're screwed, Herdier."
"We'll see about that," Rosa hissed, and with that her Pokemon raced out to fight us while Nightstar and the other Pokemon charged at hers.
The first thing N noticed when his mind slowly surfaced to consciousness was the aching, nearly agonizing pain he felt ripping through his chest. He felt sickened by the newfound energy and power surging through his veins, and with that power came a horrible sense of guilt. The guilt was so intense that his stomach churned uneasily as he imagined sticky blood coating his arms and his hands as would be found on a murderer. The second thing he noticed was that he was lying on something cold and hard.
N groggily opened his eyes and blearily looked up only to see the bright fluorescent lights of Dr. Colress' lab. He looked around to find that the room was now filled with machinery and that he had wires running all along his arms and head that were connected to a machine. He tried to move, but his wrists and ankles were securely fastened to the operating table he was lying on.
Dr. Colress was facing away from him and carefully attaching long wires to what appeared to be something lying on an operating table parallel to his. N struggled to crane his neck to get a better look at the object and saw that it appeared to be some sort of cane with a long, obsidian staff and a silver circle on top of it. Silver rods of metal crisscrossed the center of it forming an x and the metal prongs sticking out were what Dr. Colress was connecting the wires to. In the center of the circle was the electric blue Plasma insignia. N saw that the wires the cane was attached to were connected to the same machine he was.
"What's happening," N asked in confusion. "What are you doing to me?"
Dr. Colress merely hummed happily as he turned to inspect the wires along N's body particularly around his brain and frontal lobe. Finally, the scientist said, "What am I doing you ask. My dear Specimen 14, today's finally the day when all those experiments we did together will finally pay off. I suppose Lord Ghetsis would say that this is when Team Plasma will make its move against the Unova League, but that doesn't seem as important to me."
"What are you going to do," N asked worriedly as Dr. Colress began fiddling with the machinery and setting the correct frequencies.
Colress smiled his yellow eyes burning brightly with excitement behind his glasses as he said, "This is a procedure. I think of this as my magnum opus or my greatest accomplishment. You see Specimen 14; you are a powerhouse with such untapped energy that you yourself have barely even realized. Your ability to control even the Legendaries and draw out their power is astonishing. Lord Ghetsis wants that power for himself and not have to rely on catering to an undisciplined youth to get it. What I'm doing is essentially diverting your power to this cane that you see next to you. Similar to how Concordia and Anthea were able to draw in your power. However, I've perfected the system so that it draws out all your power, and it's genetically locked to Ghetsis' signature so only he will ever be able to use it."
"So, you're going to drain me of my powers and put it in an inanimate object for… for… Oh Arceus," N whispered as the horror and realization at what he'd just done began to sink in. "You needed me to break my bond to do this, didn't you?"
"Yes, I was worried Lord Ghetsis wouldn't be able to convince you to do something like that, but I should have learned by now never to underestimate the man's power of manipulation."
"Can't you see that what you're doing is wrong," N said desperately as he struggled against his restraints and tried to pull against the wires, but this only got him a strong electric shock form Colress.
"Stop moving," Colress instructed sternly. He then continued in a softer, lighter tone, "I suppose one could see what I'm doing as immoral, but morals are only based on the social standards of the governing culture and government. Historically, it was considered moral to do things that seem odd to us now, like stoning people committing adultery, marrying a cousin, or even killing an enemy. Morals are whatever we decide we want them to be. My morals and principles all revolve around science. I'll do whatever it takes to expand my knowledge even if it means working for a terrorist organization like Team Plasma. As long as I can do my research, I don't complain."
"Please, you have to stop. If you give my power to him, he'll-"
"Take over the Unova Region through sheer force," Colress said with a smile. "Obviously." He finished fiddling with the machinery controls as he said, "Done. Now Specimen 14, I should probably warn you in advance. I'm forcibly changing the flow of your energy so that you become nothing more than a battery to charge Lord Ghetsis' cane. Unfortunately for you, that means you're about to be in more pain than you've ever experienced before."
"Wait, wha-" N started before Colress flipped on the switch for his procedure. N screamed in pain as he felt as if his very molecules were being shredded and like a Weavile was slowly ripping his chest open.
I wish I could describe to you what happened, but I don't think any words could really give it justice. One minute we were all fighting against Rosa, and winning I might add since we were fifteen against six, when suddenly I felt as if the world had gone straight to the Distortion World. I don't know how else to put this, but suddenly all the Pokemon: Blade, Moon, Clove, the others and even Nightstar dropped to the ground and began writhing in agony. I could practically physically hear Nightstar screaming, 'Make it stop! Make it stop!'
I felt the pain as well rippling through me like waves of fire and agony, but it was nowhere as extreme as what the Pokemon were going through right now. I glanced around the frigate and saw dozens of Wingull and Pelipper screeching in such pain that they began dropping from the sky and falling on the deck and around the sides of the frigate. The ones that had fallen to the deck began flopping their wings uselessly. I could even hear the anguished cries from the water type Pokemon in the ocean below.
Unfortunately, whatever the Distortion World was happening didn't seem to effect Rosa's soulless Pokemon. "Kill them!" She screamed which sent her Pokemon throwing a frenzy of attacks directly at us with no Pokemon in the way to stop them since they were all on the floor moaning in pain. Together we ran behind the mast as blasts of hot energy shot past us as well as rock debris. The mast didn't help us for long as the Greninja jumped in front of us and readied a water shuriken to kill us.
As the Greninja lifted its water shuriken to swing at us, a Staraptor came and smashed into it sending it flying across the deck of the frigate. "Riley!" We all yelled simultaneously as the young man dropped down in front of us.
He looked like he was in physical pain, but he managed to say, "Return your Pokemon and go find N. I don't know what they're doing to him, but it isn't natural, and it most certainly is evil since it's causing all the Pokemon so much pain."
Black, Cheren and Bianca returned their Pokemon and Luke had given me Nightstar, and Riley turned and generated a large amount of blue energy which he sent at a black hatch which blasted it open. Riley turned to start fighting the heartless Pokemon, and we quickly climbed the ladder leading into the ship. As I was about to climb in, several things happened all at once. The first being that the engines of the ship started, and I felt almost as if the ship were starting to rise from the ocean. I realized I wasn't wrong as I saw the dark mountain line begin to diminish. The second was that a Sawk had come running up to me with his fist glowing and pulsating with energy to kill me. When the Sawk thrust his fist to hit me, a familiar blue shield surrounded me. I turned around to go down the ladder and saw Riley perched on the railing of the frigate focused on me with his hands glowing a bright blue. It was then that I noticed Rosa sneaking along the side where he was. I didn't even realize that I was screaming "No!" as I watched her viciously lunge at Riley and push him over the side to the water below.
The blue shield disintegrated, but I had already been pulled down the hatch by Black to run for safety in a ship I was certain would lead to our imminent demise.
A/N: This was such a hard chapter to write! Action scenes are so hard! I'll admit that I skip over most of them so actually trying to describe a battle scene was… ugh… it was hard. It's why it took me so long to update.
Finally the reveal of what Team Plasma was doing buying all those weird supplies. Did anyone else think it was weird that Ghetsis' cane emitted a signal that stopped you from catching Pokemon and CONTROLLED Kyurem in the game! In the anime his cane also glows when he's performing the awakening ritual… thus you see the root of my idea for this fanfiction (at least the main plot for its sequel).
Colress and Rosa suck. Rosa's usually awesome, but I don't know why so many people like Colress. I always thought he was a sociopath in the games. Colress has no loyalties to anyone other than science.
Also, the Greninja was Kai :(... When N said he was gone, he meant he no longer had a soul...
SnowCatt: Thanks for the continued support! I appreciate all your reviews! Ghetsis is literally the worst… and so is Team Plasma in general.
