Chapter Twenty: Ultra Space, Part 2
Kris and the group returned to the EXO encampment and soon had to explain why they were four people short. Another group had gone in to retrieve Lorelei, and as Agatha was nowhere to be seen, a relieved Kris was spared from having to explain what had happened. It hurt too much to say what had happened, so she focused her attention on who she could still save.
Whatever world Lyra, Elm and Barry were taken in, Kris would go in to save them. How she would even get in was secondary to rescuing them. Fortunately, Blaine's thinking was already on the same level. Together, Kris and Blaine had gathered around a table containing all the weapons they had managed to obtain from EXO. Crossbows, energy blasters and swords lay on top of a desk, Kris and Blaine inspecting them.
"Is this all?" she asked quietly, unable to get the image of Pryce taking Lyra into another dimension out of her mind.
Blaine grunted affirmatively, checking his cane, though Kris still didn't know how it would be used.
Iris, Wes and Lunick hung back, unsure of what to do. Iris was the first to approach Kris hesitantly, clearly carefully considering her words.
"Um…" she started. "What is it that you're planning on doing?"
"I'm not planning," Kris simply said. "I'm just gonna ask someone how to open a portal and get in there."
"We're going to get in there," Blaine said firmly.
Kris nodded, quietly appreciating Blaine's commitment but unable to stop thinking about what Pryce was doing to the captives. Lyra and Barry's Pokémon had been returned to their Poké Balls, which also lay on the same desk. Kris glanced at the one she knew to contain Lyra's Typhlosion.
She'll come back to you, Scorch.
"We haven't even had time to rest!" Lunick protested. "And neither have our Pokémon."
"Who are you gonna ask anyway?" Wes wondered.
"Professor Elm would probably know," Kris said sadly. "Dr. Kaminko and professor Juniper are still here, one of them would know," she said, more confidently. "I only need to get in, worry about getting out once we've saved our friends."
Kris grabbed a crossbow, remembering the last time she had used one against Pryce, back when people still knew him as the Masked Man. It had been mostly useless, but after Croc and her other Pokémon had softened him enough, a crossbow bolt was the thing that pierced through the mask. And if a bolt through the neck was the thing that could finish Domino off, Kris didn't particularly care. She kicked herself over believing Domino had been knocked out.
The bitch is an expert liar, after all.
"So if any of you are going to help," Kris told Iris, Wes and Lunick, "now is the time to either grab a weapon and a Pokémon or step out of the way."
Iris sighed and walked to Kris, smiling sadly. "Like I have a choice," she said. "I've come with you this far, I'm not gonna back down now. I was much more scared back in Hoenn, or at the Spear Pillar. This is… this is easy right?"
Iris' voice cracked when she said that, but Kris appreciated it anyway as Iris grabbed a crossbow as well. It looked huge when held by the short girl, so Kris took note of telling Iris to focus on just using her Pokémon against Pryce, Domino and whatever horrible things awaited them.
Wes walked to the desk too, picking up an energy blaster which he handled with surprising familiarity. It was not that different from the ones the Cipher peons in Orre were using.
"Right behind ya, Krissy," he simply said, slinging the blaster over his shoulder using the leather strap attached to it.
Now only Lunick stood further away from the group, clearly not sure of what to do.
"Well?" Kris asked him.
Lunick took a deep breath and said his piece, not making eye contact with Kris: "I… is this really the smart thing to do?"
"No," Kris just said. "Your point?"
Lunick looked uncomfortable. "It's just that…" he sighed. "The total number of people who died fighting Hoopa at sea and in Fuchsia City could rise up to the dozens once this is all over. That madman Pryce will also kill more and more people before he gets what he wants. Based on what Kaminko said… why don't we just bomb the whole area? Just focus on getting as many Pokémon out as possible. A bomb strike would wipe out Pryce and that woman for sure!"
Kris shook her head. "Unbelievable," she said, exhaling. "We need to save everyone we can."
"That's what I'm trying to do!" Lunick insisted. "What happens if we go in there? What if they trick us and get out while we're busy wandering around whatever hellhole we step into? And then they continue their path of slaughter, unopposed by us? Taking out any chance of them escaping now will end this whole thing!"
"Lunick," Kris said, no emotion in her voice. "I don't care what you have to say. Lyra and professor Elm are some of the most important people in my life. They've been there for me longer than I've known any of the rest of you! And Lyra's saved my life once. I'm getting them out!"
"Uh, how 'bout Barry?" Wes asked quietly.
Kris glanced at him. "Oh… yeah, him too!" she said firmly. "We pressured him to come with us, no matter what anyone says. We didn't encourage him enough to fit smart. And we weren't there for him when Pryce took out his best friend. They only get wrapped up in all this because of me!"
"Because of Pryce, not you," Iris said softly.
Kris just nodded. "So yeah, I'm trying to save everyone I can," she told Lunick, putting the crossbow over her shoulder like Wes had done with the blaster. "You do whatever you think is best."
While Kris fiddled with her crossbow, the others couldn't hide staring at Lunick. Finally, Lunick marched over to the desk and took out the large, sheathed sword, inspecting it from multiple angles. Finished pretending to check her equipment, Kris smiled as she looked up at Lunick.
"Thanks," she simply said.
Lunick smiled, sheathing the sword and placing it on his belt.
While the others prepped their gear and selected their Pokémon, Hilda came over to them. Kris wondered where she had been after leaving the tournament arena after Deoxys' destruction.
"Dr. Kaminko is ready for you," Hilda told the group, crossing her arms but otherwise not having her usual air of superiority and snark. "He's prepared an expert who can help you follow Pryce."
Hilda guided Kris and the group quietly across the camp's halls to a secluded corner where Dr. Kaminko was indeed waiting, standing silently next to a much shorter person, shorter than even Iris. This person had long blonde hair and bright green eyes and wore strange, old-fashioned clothes, the most remarkable of which was a large, round straw hat.
"Yellow!" Kris exclaimed, running over to them. "What are you-"
"Not too close!" Hilda snapped, grabbing Kris by her collar. "Yellow here is currently in our captivity, held for questioning."
"Hilda, please," Kaminko sighed. "I suppose introductions are not in order?" he asked Yellow.
"No need," Yellow said softly, smiling at Kris. Yellow looked healthier than back in Orre. Still looked like they needed to eat a bit more but overall, it looks like taking a rest was beneficial.
"Do we have you to thank for Hall turning himself in?" Kris asked Yellow.
"I managed to track him down and have a chat with him," Yellow said, "but to be honest, I think it's you who left an impression on him."
"So what have you been doing?"
"I came to investigate as much as I can about the Sinjoh Prophecy," Yellow said. "Sorry I didn't contact you sooner, but I believed it wouldn't have been good for you, especially with the Pokémon League after me. But with so many serious things going on, I decided to answer a few questions before I leave."
"They'll let you walk away?" Wes asked, eyeing Hilda suspiciously.
"They don't have a say in the matter," Yellow said, their tone even, but Kris could have sworn she saw Yellow winking at her.
"No one is being held captive here!" Kaminko said firmly. "Now, the Pokémon League expects us to cooperate with them to our fullest extent, but we're still a private organization with our own rules. The decision will be made later. Regardless…"
Kaminko nodded at Hilda, who typed something with her Pokétch before another holographic display appeared from it. Everyone huddled around the projection, Kaminko pointing at it authoritatively. It was some kind of scientific graph Kris had no idea how to decipher.
"Hoopa is contained, but its actions have created a disturbance in the dimensional balance in this local area," Kaminko lectured, Kris not understanding even half of it. Neither did anyone else, except for Yellow and Blaine, who scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Pryce was able to take advantage of that by creating a temporary destabilization effect, and now we can do the same."
"Obviously," Wes deadpanned as if it all made sense to him.
"Now I've seen that," Kaminko glanced at Yellow before continuing, "your friend has some extraordinary abilities. I'll let Yellow here explain."
"I'll open a portal for you here, and an exit portal should then appear back at the clearing you were at," Yellow said softly. "Unfortunately, I cannot come with you, but I will hold the portal open on this side."
"Are we," Wes gulped, "going into the Distortion World?"
"Impossible," Blaine grunted. "And the same goes for Pryce and Domino. I heard about this back at the EXO headquarters. Now I'm not an expert, but I think we're going into some kind of border world between our world and others. I believe this is what president Lusamine calls 'Ultra Space'."
Huh, so my theory was correct, Kris thought. Not in those worlds, but still.
"Yes, and based on our preliminary probes, an organic signature has been detected in exactly the same area that Yellow personally went in during the Navel Rock incident," Kaminko said. "We have dubbed that area the Lightning Well. That's the area that teleportation experiments at the Navel Rock Research Facility led, and that caused creatures from that dimension to flood in."
"Are we going to face these, uh, creatures?" Iris asked.
"It's possible, but the odds are on our side," Yellow assured. "The distance you need to travel on foot to where Pryce, Domino and your friends are is not long. Unfortunately, we cannot take you straight there. Portals use a lot of energy, and we need to save what's on the clearing for your exit portal. I'm assuming you'll want to evacuate as soon as possible once you find and save your friends."
"So they are alive?!" Kris asked Kaminko.
Kaminko nodded. "The rift between our world and Ultra Space has weakened during these events, allowing us to do preliminary scans there. There are five active human heat signatures there."
"Well let's stop wasting time and get going," Kris said as firmly as she could muster.
The group got into a queue, all watching Yellow stand back and work their magic. As Yellow thrusted out their hands and began focusing intensely, it didn't take long for purple electricity to crackle into existence, with a small purple vortex appearing in the middle. Soon, the vortex grew to a size of a doorframe, big enough for a human to walk through.
"One question," Iris said, hand in the air again. "How are we supposed to find our way when we get there? Is there a map?"
"I think one of your Pokémon has that under control," Yellow said after putting their arms down. Kris noticed Yellow's face was sweaty and pale after opening the portal. "Kris, let out your Sandshrew, please."
"Shrew?" Kris said, surprised. "Why?"
"Oh yeah!" Wes said and snapped his fingers. "Kris, there was an experiment done on Shrew back at Navel Rock. They attached a sample taken from the other dimension into him, which allows him to find his way there. It sounds crazy but it worked! And he was there with me and Yellow that time!"
"You didn't tell me about any of this!" Kris told Wes, but it was too late to argue at this point, so she opened Shrew's Poké Ball. It and Croc were the only Pokémon Kris would be bringing along, Froslass and Chandelure too tired from the battles and Snorlax too unreliable.
When Shrew popped out of its ball, it squealed happily and started stretching, oblivious to the commotion around it. However, when it spotted Yellow, it happily jumped into Yellow's arms, nuzzling against Yellow.
"Happy to see you, too!" Yellow said. "I think your trainer wants to ask you something."
Shrew jumped on the floor, looking eagerly at Kris, its big, black, shining eyes focused on her. She really appreciated her little Sandshrew, no matter how much she preferred to leave the actual battling to her other Pokémon. Without Shrew, Kris wouldn't have won her very first gym battle and would have given up her journey there.
Kris knelt next to Sandshrew, looking at the Pokémon directly. "Shrew," she said in a low voice. "I'm sorry about the life you've had to live so far. Sorry for what had happened to you at Navel Rock. And I don't want to force you to relive any trauma you had to endure… but this is important. I want to save Lyra and Elm."
"Don't forget Barry!" Wes piped in.
"Shut up!" Kris, Blaine and Lunick snapped, Lunick grinning as he said. Kris turned back to Shrew.
"Will you do this one more thing for me?" Kris asked gently. "Will you guide us through that world, to the place you fought in that day? And after that…"
Kris smiled. "Maybe you can retire from battling," she said. "You can still be with me, eat whatever you want, go everywhere I go, but… you'll have a relaxed life. Deal?"
Shrew didn't even need to consider it. It jumped up and whipped the ground with its tail, in an excited manner Kris interpreted as affirmative. Once that was done, Kris nodded at Kaminko and Hilda.
"If you guys make it through this," Hilda said seriously, "there will be no question about it. You guys will become EXO operatives for sure."
"I don't care," Kris simply said.
"Good luck to you all," Kaminko said.
"Please get your friends back safely!" Yellow said.
Kris nodded at Shrew, who ran up to the vortex. At first, it hesitated and turned back, but the encouraging smiles from Kris and Wes convinced it, and it jumped into the portal, disappearing in a flash. Kris, however, still wasn't sure, so she turned to look at Wes.
"Does it hurt?" she asked him quietly.
"It's kind of like bein' on a rollercoaster," Wes said with a shrug. "Doesn't hurt but you might lose your lunch afterward. Or enjoy it if you're a masochist."
Kris felt a brief smile tugging at her lips, so she turned around, took a deep breath and struck her leg through the portal. Immediately, she felt an invisible force tug her in, and her world became nothing but a bright cacophony of lights.
~o~O~o~
Location: jksdfsh #sjkdh aka "Lightning Well"
Before Kris could even realize what was happening, she dropped on her hands and knees on solid ground. The ground felt strange, it was solid to walk on but the landing hadn't hurt and the rust-colored surface felt like dirt.
There was little time to get adjusted as more and more people poured in through the portal. Wes landed on his behind despite his earlier experience while Lunick felt woozy and almost collapsed upon arrival, but was caught by Wes. Blaine also staggered and swore loudly upon landing, but regained his balance by himself. Iris was the last to arrive, landing gracefully like she jumped through portals all the time. After her, the entry portal closed, which didn't exactly comfort Kris.
"Whoa!" Lunick exclaimed, holding his stomach. "What is this place?"
Kris looked around her at the strange world she arrived in, suppressing the urge to gasp. The rust-colored landmass they had landed on was actually an island of sorts, floating in the middle of a dark blue and purple void. Similar islands were seen all over the place, floating in the air in incomprehensible ways. Gravity didn't work as it usually did, as some islands seemed to be upside down and others placed on their side. No light sources could be seen but the islands themselves gave off a glow that made them stand out in the void.
"Guys," Iris said quietly as she looked over the edge of their island. "If you don't wanna freak out, don't look down."
Deciding that she was already freaked out, Kris did exactly so. At the bottom of the void, or at least what she believed to be a bottom, was a giant whirlpool composed of purple clouds. Squinting, Kris could make out lightning coming out of the clouds.
Lightning Well indeed.
"Didn't see lightning there before," Wes remarked as he also glanced over the edge.
"Let's get moving," Blaine said roughly, holding his cane like a rifle, his prosthetic arm merely holding it up while his good arm was for holding whatever the trigger was.
"Go on, Shrew!" Kris encouraged the Sandshrew, who was anxiously waiting for the others, standing on its hind legs. "Let's move!"
Nodding, Shrew got back on four legs and started to run towards a narrow strip of land connecting this island to another in the distance. Hoping she wouldn't fall, Kris followed Shrew and began walking, though to her relief, it turned out the strip of land she was walking on seemed to have gravity on every side, so as long as her legs touched any point of it, she was fine. Still, she and the others walked carefully and in silence.
After a while, the group arrived on another island, relieved to see a wider piece of land. This piece of land had a river flowing in the middle of it, connecting to a completely silent waterfall that seemed to be coming from another island slightly above them… or did the waterfall actually flow up? The current of the water seemed to imply so. It made Kris' head spin even more.
However, it was a dead end except for the island above, which made Kris look at Shrew again.
"Um, buddy?" she asked the Sandshrew carefully. "You sure this is the right way?"
Shrew nodded and squeaked affirmatively, pointing at the waterfall. Everyone seemed to come to a realization one by one, though this didn't make them happy.
"Hope you don't mind getting wet," Wes muttered.
"Wait!" Blaine said all of a sudden, looking around him wildly. His expression was hard to read behind the sunglasses but it seemed like his eyes were darting around a lot.
"Um, Dr. Blaine?" Iris said meekly. "What is it?"
"Crackling… static electricity…" Blaine mumbled, holding his healthy hand up. Indeed, some of the hairs on the back of his wrist were standing up. "Another portal here?"
"Based on what Yellow said, I don't think so," Kris said. "Which means-"
What it means, the others would never hear, as something suddenly erupted from the ground below them, forcing everyone to scatter. Iris, Wes and Blaine sent out their Pokémon, Haxorus, Zebstrika and Arcanine, respectively, while Lunick quickly dragged Kris to safety in the other direction.
The something that had come from the ground was vaguely like a Pokémon, except far too strange to be one. It had a vaguely human shape, but it was twice as tall as the tallest humans there, Blaine and Lunick. Its body and limbs were composed entirely of thick, black cables. And it had a tail or a third leg as well, ending in what looked unmistakably like an electrical plug, with three orange spikes protruding from it. Electricity crackled from the tail and all four of its long, twisted limbs, and in place of a head, the creature had a white sphere with large spikes pointing out of it in every direction.
For a while, the five humans and four Pokémon stared at the creature in silence. The creature didn't seem to do anything, allowing Blaine to scan it with his own wrist-mounted computer.
"Incredible," he breathed out. "This is UB-03 Lightning. It's called 'Xurkitree' in the Aether Foundation archives. It's an Ultra Beast!"
"So this is one of them," Wes mumbled. "Ugly piece of work, ain't it?"
"Wes, don't say that!" Iris hissed.
"Like it can understand!"
Whether it understood or not, Xurkitree suddenly reached one of its arm 'cords' and tried to grab Wes, whose Zebstrika quickly reacted and stomped on the cord. The Xurkitree let out a strange sound, like when a computer got frozen while playing audio. Wes ordered Zebstrika to use Thunderbolt, but the attack had no effect.
"It's an electric-type!" Blaine admonished. "We have to find some other way to deal with it!"
"Well gee, I don't have any other Pokémon that can fight right now," Wes groaned. "Didn't expect to run into a cable monster!"
"I'll take care of this!" Blaine growled. "Arcanine, Flamethrower!"
Arcanine blasted Xurkitree with fire, but the Ultra Beast created an electric bubble around it, its white head flashing yellow as it did so, like a light bulb. The flamethrower attack simply bounced off the shield before dissipating.
Lunick sent out his Sceptile and tried to order a Pin Missile attack, but the result was the same, all the needles shot out ricocheting off the shield. However, this attack caused Xurkitree to focus its attention on Kris and Lunick. The Xurkitree's lamp head glowed again as it fired a stream of electricity at them. However, Kris, Lunick and Sceptile were saved as something ran in front of them, the electricity hitting them instead.
It was Shrew, who curled into a ball but left its tail pointing up, acting like a lightning rod. The electricity attacks left it with no worse for wear, and Kris was silently grateful about type matchups.
"Nice!" Blaine praised. "But be careful, this thing has enough juice to even hurt your Sandshrew if it really tries."
Xurkitree's tail suddenly split into multiple cords, all of them coming after Iris, Wes, Blaine and their Pokémon. But Blaine was ready, aiming his question mark cane at the Pokémon. Only now did Kris notice there was a hole at the bottom, looking like the barrel of a gun.
And then Kris remembered the shotgun Blaine used to use when he could still use both of his arms. Indeed, a blast from the gun in Blaine's cane tore off one of Xurkitree's thinner cables, the Ultra Beast once again making its strange wail of protest.
"The cables are a weak point when they're separated!" Blaine shouted at the others. "Every cord cut means less energy for it to use!"
"Now that I can understand!" said Lunick, who pulled out his sword.
"NO!" Blaine shouted at him quickly. "You'll be electrocuted, you idiot! Keep your distance!"
"I got this!" Kris assured Lunick, aiming her crossbow at the tail cables… only to miss entirely, the crossbow bolt flying off the island and into the void.
I forgot I suck at this, Kris thought.
Blaine, on the other hand, had a strategy in mind. "Arcanine, Crunch!"
Arcanine was strong enough to tear another cable from Xurkitree's tail cleanly before getting electrocuted itself. Encouraged by example, Iris ordered her Haxorus to slash the UB with its tusks, managing to slice off another cable. Amidst ordering his Arcanine, Blaine took care of more cables with his shotgun, pumping one shot after another into the Beast until there was nothing left of its tail.
"Now let's do the other limbs!" Blaine shouted.
Kris was confident in letting Blaine take the lead. Lunick tried to have Sceptile use Leaf Blade to hack off the cables from Xurkitree's arms while Haxorus, Zebstrika and Arcanine tried to do the same. However, Xurkitree had learned, and instead of splitting its arms into thinner cables, it was swinging its arms wildly, trying to whack its attackers away. Kris and Iris supported with their crossbows, missing most of the time, while Blaine also tried to get a shot at Xurkitree's head, to no avail.
Finally, Xurkitree landed a hit on Blaine's Arcanine, hitting the fire-type painfully in the side and knocking it out with a single hit. Then, as the other Pokémon were distracted, the Ultra Beast raised its shield again.
"Damn it!" Wes exclaimed, and without thinking, fired his blaster at the Ultra Beast.
The energy blast had little effect as the Ultra Beast simply absorbed it to strengthen its shield. However, this gave Blaine an idea as he tended to his Arcanine.
"I got it!" Blaine said, withdrawing the fire-type. "Wes, Lunick, take out your electric-types. Wes, you use all the power your blaster has and shoot this thing!"
Lunick withdrew Sceptile and sent out his Luxray, ordering it to use Thunderbolt, while Wes did the same to Zebstrika. Both Pokémon fired continuous streams of electricity at the Ultra Beast, which let out a pleased, machine-like noise as it absorbed all of it. Wes also set his blaster to maximum power, firing at the Ultra Beast's shield seemingly uselessly.
However, eventually, the light on Xurkitree's head stopped blinking and began to glow. Then it glowed even brighter… and brighter…
Kris understood Blaine's plan when all of a sudden, the head stopped glowing and the electric shield vanished. With a triumphant battle cry, Blaine rushed Xurkitree, firing his cane-shotgun from the hip. In response, Xurkitree reached for Blaine, managing to grab the scientist by coiling its cables around him.
Everyone cried out for Blaine in fear, but Blaine's expression turned to triumphant as he managed to keep his arms free, pointing the shotgun at Xurkitree's head.
"Gotcha," Blaine simply said as he fired, the force of the shot finally putting off the light in Xurkitree's head.
The Ultra Beast dropped Blaine and started staggering around like it was drunk. Encouraged by this, Iris ordered her Haxorus to get rid of the UB. Haxorus did as told, rushing Xurkitree at full speed, using its arms and tusks to lift the Beast above its head. With one powerful toss, Haxorus threw Xurkitree over the island's edge, far enough to ignore the island's gravity. Instead, Xurkitree plummeted into the depths of the void, disappearing in the purple whirlpool of clouds.
Everyone cheered and went to help Blaine get up, the scientist cursing and muttering under his breath.
"...too old for this crap," he grumbled.
"That was amazing!" Wes shouted as he pat the scientist on the back. "If you hadn't come along-"
"Yeah, well, that wasn't ever going to happen," Blaine said roughly as he dusted himself off and withdrew Arcanine. "Now come on, we have to keep moving."
"Uh, how exactly?" Iris asked, looking at the island above them that was out of reach. "I guess none of us brought any flying Pokémon along?"
"If my theory is correct…" Blaine muttered as he stepped closer to the waterfall. "Well, better hope our clothes dry quickly in here!"
Everyone watched as Blaine, holding his cane under his good arm, stepped into the river. Thigh-deep in the water, he waded into the waterfall and touched it. Yelping loudly, Blaine seemed to fall upwards, landing on the island above them with a large splash. At first, there was no sound to be heard. Then, they could hear Blaine's gravelly-voiced shouting from above them:
"I'm okay! C'mon already!"
Looking at the others, Kris picked up Shrew and held the Pokémon in her arms as she stepped into the water. It felt as similar as any water back home, but the moment Kris stepped into the waterfall, she felt as if the ground had disappeared under her feet, and she was suddenly launched several meters above ground, "falling" upwards on the island above her. It was almost as disorienting as the portal itself.
Never ever coming back here.
After everyone was settled, the group continued walking across a much larger island, the edges of which weren't even invisible. It was like a desert, with strange tall and thin trees growing sparsely across the landscape. What unsettled Kris even more was suddenly seeing small, black, floating, letter-shaped Pokémon everywhere.
Iris, also looking around her, sounded concerned when she spoke.
"So, I'm still not quite sure if we're in the Distortion World or Ultra Space," she said.
"I told you, it's Ultra Space," Blaine grunted as he walked. "It's a vast world that borders other dimensions. This particular region of Ultra Space must be what's between our world and the Distortion World. I'd say a gateway to the Distortion World is… down there."
"In that freaky spiral down there?" Wes asked quietly.
"Yeah," Blaine just said. "From what Kaminko and Lusamine told me, Ultra Beasts can materialize into our dimension once enough energy is gathered to create an Ultra Wormhole. I think that was Hoopa's plan."
"To… bring those monsters to our world?" Iris asked meekly.
Blaine nodded, and the group resumed walking in silence, until Shrew suddenly stopped. They had arrived. Kris picked up Shrew in her arms as she looked at where they were.
It seemed to the very center of the island, where a large bunch of those strange tall trees were gathered. In the middle of the group of trees, was their exit portal. And tied to one of the trees with thick rope were unmistakably Lyra, professor Elm and Barry.
Unfortunately, Domino was also there, standing there smugly with her arms crossed as she waited for Kris' group. Pryce was nowhere to be seen, but Kris had learned he could pop up from anywhere.
Finally, when there was only a few meters between Kris' group and Domino, the group stopped and Domino walked around so she was directly positioned between Kris' group and the tree where the three captives were, bound and gagged into the tree. But they were all alive and unharmed, struggling wildly when they saw their friends had arrived.
"Where's your boss?" Kris asked Domino, putting as much hatred in her tone as possible. "Where's Pryce?"
"Sorry, he had to split," Domino said, gesturing at the portal. "He's got a wish to make."
"So he left us here to fight us alone?" Wes mocked, glaring Domino with as much hatred as Kris did - Kris remembered Wes had a reaction to her at the Seven Stars Stadium. In Kris' arms, Shrew hissed at Domino, making scratching motions with its paws at her.
"Who says I'm alone?" Domino said in a relaxed way, taking a painfully long time to reach into the pocket of her skirt.
What she pulled out gave Kris goosebumps - the Master Ball. Which contained the Pokémon that took the combined forces of five trainers to put down before.
"You… you wanna settle this with a Pokémon battle?" Kris asked, trying to put confidence in her voice.
"Whatever will amuse me for a while," Domino said calmly, letting the Master Ball wave around casually. "Then maybe Pryce will succeed whatever he is doing in the meantime… or he'll get captured by your people. It's all the same to me at this point."
Kris sighed. Then, she looked to her side at Blaine.
"Go help out the others," she implored him. "I can handle her."
"Kris, you do know what she has in that ball, right?" Blaine whispered back, eyeing Domino suspiciously, his mustache quivering a bit.
"I know," Kris said evenly. "And you know it's not the first time I've fought it."
Blaine had nothing to say to that. Squeezing Kris' shoulder gently, Blaine then hurried over to the tree, keeping his distance from Domino as much as he could. However, Domino didn't make a single move to stop Blaine, allowing the scientist to eventually run to start freeing the hostages.
"The rest of you good to fight?" Kris asked, not taking her eyes off Domino.
"That last battle wasn't easy on Luxray in particular," Lunick muttered, "but I'll do whatever it takes. And I still have the sword."
"You using Pokémon now, Domino?!" Wes taunted, aiming his blaster at her. "Last time I saw ya, you absolutely hated their guts! Surely you're skilled enough to kill us all with your bare hands, right?"
Wes leaned over to Kris. "I'm just bluffing," he muttered. "My blaster has maybe one shot left."
Kris couldn't help but to smile. With a quick movement, Kris sent out Croc, while Lunick sent out Sceptile and Iris her Haxorus. When Wes put his hand on his Poké Ball, Kris stopped him.
"Your Zebstrika used most of its power against Xurkitree," Kris told him sharply. "And you don't have a single decent weapon. Go help Blaine."
"Kris!" Wes protested. "She has a De-"
"We all know that!" Kris snapped. "And if our friends are caught in the crossfire, I'm never forgiving you if you don't help! Go release them, and get into the portal! Somebody needs to stop Pryce!"
Wes shook his head, but when Iris grabbed Wes' wrist and gave him an encouraging smile and nod, he relented, and ran after Blaine. This time, Domino glanced at Wes as he ran past, and Kris could swear she saw Domino lick her upper lip a bit, but once again, Domino didn't make a move to stop him.
Instead, Domino yawned and stretched annoyingly before tossing the Master Ball in the air carelessly. Kris knew what to expect, but still shuddered as the Master Ball opened, revealing the tall, tentacled alien creature with lifeless, sunken eyes - Deoxys.
Seeing that Wes and Blaine were able to help the first prisoner, professor Elm, out of the tree together, convinced Kris to start the battle. The first thing on her mind was Hydro Pump, but if the Deoxys dodged, it would continue traveling and potentially hit her friends.
"Croc," Kris yelled instead. "Get up there and pull out its tentacles!"
"Pull them out, huh," Domino remarked, digging something else from her pocket. "Guess I have to do something about that."
What she pulled from her pocket was, to Kris' befuddlement, just a rock fragment.
"Deoxys!" she yelled at the alien Pokémon. "Touch it!"
Under the thrall of the Master Ball, Deoxys touched the rock on Domino's palm with the tip of its tentacle. As it did so, it began glowing and transforming, gaining a bulkier look as if covered by armor, its thin, coiling tentacles transformed into thicker and longer arms which reached all the way to the ground.
"Let's see you try and rip them now," Domino remarked.
This is a bluff, Kris thought. Has to be.
"Croc, Superpower!" she yelled. "Use all your might to rip off those arms!"
Croc's claws glowed blue and its muscles bulged as it rushed Deoxys and tried to tear Deoxys' arms off, but was unsuccessful. Domino then ordered Deoxys to use Psywave, an attack which knocked Croc off its feet. Haxorus and Sceptile rushed Deoxys next, but neither Haxorus' tusks or Sceptile's sharp tail did any damage towards this Deoxys' bulky exterior.
However, Croc got back on its feet, no worse for wear. Which led Kris to a conclusion.
"Keep attacking!" Kris yelled at Croc. "Use Aqua Tail! Its attacks don't hurt as much in this form!"
Croc did as instructed, and while its attack didn't hurt Deoxys, it sent it backwards a bit. When Haxorus used Dragon Tail and Sceptile used Leaf Blade again, slamming into Deoxys. When it tried to swipe at them with its bulky arms, they easily dodged. So this form was slow, too.
Domino was still unperturbed.
"Deoxys, come back here!" she shouted.
Deoxys returned dutifully and touched the rock again. Now, it transformed into something more similar to the original form, but slimmer, more aerodynamic, with only two, thinner tentacles on its side instead of four.
And this Deoxys was fast. Despite Kris' best attempts to guide Croc, the Feraligatr couldn't quite reach it. Kris glanced at what was going on behind Domino, noticing professor Elm stepping into the portal while Wes and Blaine helped a shaky Barry do the same. Lyra was standing on her own feet, at least, looking just fine. It made Kris feel happy, somehow.
"Hydro Pump!" Kris ordered.
This time, Kris was unafraid of using special attacks, but Deoxys' new form was too fast, dodging the attack.
"We need to attack it from all sides!" Iris shouted at Kris.
Kris nodded, realizing the same. Kris, Iris and Lunick guided their Pokémon to position, avoiding the Psychic blasts Domino as ordering Deoxys to do. Kris smiled - as tough as Domino was, she was no strategist. She may have known the theory, but in practice? She was just a goon. A flunky. Nothing more.
When everyone was in position, they ordered their attacks, coming from all sides - Croc did another Hydro Pump, Haxorus a Dragon Pulse and Sceptile a Leaf Storm. With Deoxys unable to dodge attacks coming from everywhere, they all hit it together, creating a powerful explosion. What followed was Deoxys' torso plummeting into the ground, its limbs and head destroyed. However, as a last recourse, it set up a shield around itself, protecting its core while it regenerated, just as Kris had seen before.
"You two, go on!" Kris told Iris and Lunick. "I'll take it from here!"
"Are you crazy?!" Lunick shouted. "That thing is an abomination!"
"We barely have a chance as it is!" Iris agreed.
"I… I have a plan," Kris said desperately.
"What is that?" Iris asked.
"..."
That was all Kris could say. But the sheer desperation on her face was real, and Iris could sense it. While she had every reason to doubt herself, Iris returned Haxorus to its Poké Ball.
"Come back as soon as you can!" Iris pleaded.
"Always," Kris told her with a smile. "I still haven't seen your home village, after all…"
Iris made a dash towards the portal, but Lunick stayed still, unsure of himself.
"Kris…" he started.
"Go!" Kris yelled. "I'll be right behind you. I'll follow you in just a minute!"
Lunick smiled at Kris. "One minute, no more," he said, withdrew Sceptile and ran after Iris.
Kris looked after him, noticing there was still one more person standing by the portal - Lyra. For a while, she looked unsure. Then, taking a deep breath, Lyra practically screamed her next words:
"Come back alive, Kris, or I'll hate you forever!"
And with that and a final nod, Lyra left, stepping into the portal. Kris knew that on the other side, Yellow was struggling to hold the portal open. And Lyra's words made her all the more eager to return.
"I get what you're doing, and I can understand going crazy from fear," Domino taunted Kris. "Many people do that in my presence. No one wants to be tortured to insanity, after all. But sacrificing yourself here is not going to stop Pryce."
"You said you don't even care about Pryce!" Kris snapped back. "Why are you doing this, then?"
Domino shrugged. "I go where the money is, and I owe Pryce," she said nonchalantly. "I'm happy to serve him for now, but I have little sentiment left for that old has-been, even if he was the one who trained me. He is not who I'd call my master."
"Then who is?!" Kris snapped. "You know what, never mind, I don't care about your kinks!"
"His plan was ingenious, however," Domino continued. "The Grand Master took credit for it, but it was Pryce's idea to send me to Fiore to try and take out Chairperson Erma when she was visiting."
"That was you," Kris groaned, remembering the disguised assassin from both Fiore and Almia.
"You had no idea, didn't you?" Domino laughed. "After that, I went back to my cushy post at the Sevii Islands, spying on Drake. I had no idea it would open up the opportunity to meet you as well."
"Whatever you were trying with me, you failed," Kris said evenly.
"Did we?" Domino shot back.
Kris shook off the thought. There was time to think about it later.
"I'm glad you decided to stay and have this dance with me, though," Domino said, slowly taking her black tulip out and caressing it before raising it to her nose and smelling it. "I've had an urge to tear you up since the moment I laid eyes on you, and the Sevii Cup made that urge even stronger…"
"Was this really all just so Pryce can have his wish?" Kris asked, desperately wanting to buy more time.
"Mostly, yes," Domino admitted, twirling the dangerous flower between her fingers. "But he really also wanted to screw with Greevil, and to cause as much panic as possible. Snagging Deoxys from under Drake's nose was a part of it, too, even if Greevil thought we did it for him so he could have his little alien army."
Something awakened at the back of Kris' mind. Snagging…
"This, my friends, is a Snag Ball. I reluctantly admit the genius of Cipher's head scientist, as his work has created a Poké Ball that can override the Trainer ID recognition system in any other ball."
Could it even work on the Master Ball? But no matter what, Kris needed to try. She quickly started rummaging her bag, hoping to find what she was looking for. Seeing this, Domino aimed her tulip at Kris.
"Ah ah ah," she said. "No tricks, now…"
Yes, Kris thought. She found it, taking out the darker-toned Poké Ball with golden rings on the side. Without hesitation, she tossed it at Deoxys as it stopped regenerating and lowered its shields.
As with any other Poké Ball, Deoxys was sucked inside the Snag Ball, converted into red energy. As the ball dropped, it shook once, Domino letting out an angry scream.
Then a second time.
Then a third time.
Then, the Snag Ball unexpectedly burst into pieces as the speedy Deoxys emerged from it. Domino screamed triumphantly.
"Yes!" she exclaimed. "Now attack her directly! Use Psycho Boost!"
But Deoxys didn't listen to her this time. Instead, it focused its gaze on Croc. The ball had worked mostly well, overwriting Domino's control of the Deoxys. But it was too powerful to contain, and was essentially a wild Pokémon now. The Deoxys charged at Croc, but Croc charged back without being ordered to, clawing at it relentlessly. The two Pokémon began wrestling, Croc snappings and pulling Deoxys' limbs as Deoxys tried to coil the tentacles around the Feraligatr instead.
Domino aimed her tulip at the brawling pair, not particularly caring which one she'd hit, but at that point, Kris had enough. She aimed her crossbow and fired, the bolt actually hitting the tulip out of her hand.
My aim is still bad, Kris thought. I was aiming for her hand.
Meanwhile, Deoxys had managed to grab a hold of Croc. Next, it dashed out of sight, the pair disappearing into the thickets of trees.
"CROC!" Kris called out.
But the Feraligatr was gone. There was a feeling like a bottomless pit in Kris' stomach seeing this, unable to believe that Croc was gone. But if Kris didn't hurry out now, she would be trapped forever.
Shaking the tears away, Kris returned Shrew to its Poké Ball and ran towards the portal as fast as she could. Closing her eyes, Kris leaped into the portal…
...only for something to snatch her leg, preventing her from escaping. Domino was holding onto Kris' leg while using all of her strength to stay on the other side of the portal, her expression twisted into pure fury.
"You're thinking of leaving me here?!" she screeched. "Miss hero herself?! Well think again! I will escape and you'll stay and rot here in this hell!"
Domino grabbed a knife from her pocket with her free hand. Kris cringed as Domino raised the knife… but at that point, something blue and massive came, roaring as it grabbed Domino away and tossed her aside several meters away.
Kris cheered ecstatically as Croc grabbed her in its arms, Deoxys nowhere to be seen. Kris grabbed the knife Domino had dropped as she and Croc disappeared into the closing portal, hearing Domino's screams of fury behind her.
A/N: One more chapter to go! Thanks to everyone for reading!
