It feels like I haven't worked on this story in like forever! (Even thought it's only been a month, really) Hope you've been doing well out there too! And yes, here is the action-focused raid chapter...
Chapter twenty-seven: The Black Market
It was only the late afternoon when businesses should have started closing for the day. That is, if it was only a normal business with no connections to the criminal underworld and so on. But one particularly business, registered as an export-import exchange, was being covertly surrounded by the International Police as the Unova counter-terrorist team was preparing a raid.
Agents Eclipse and Essentia moved behind the counter-terrorist team. Each officer on the team was wearing a helmet and body armour, all in black, and equipped with ballistic shields. The shields were similar to those used by the Hoenn counter-terrorist team except they were lighter and a bit smaller, designed to be offensive and easy to handle. It also allowed them to carry other equipment at the same time.
For instance, Nuvema was carrying the ram in addition to carrying his shield. With the ram, he went to the door and started bashing it (making noises that sounded like 'BAM'). The door was giving some resistance, implying it was locked. As Eclipse watched Nuvema, she also took the chance to send out Kangaskhan, and Essentia did the same for Malamar. Neither were expected to fight yet, but just in case if they had to, they were on standby. Plus, there was a group of IP officers ready to jump on anyone who dared to escape through the back.
In addition to their shields and radios, Icirrus, Striaton, and Mistralton also carried a variety of secondary weapons: stun grenades, flares, and hand grenades, namely. Their primary weapons, on the other hand, consisted of a selection of assault rifles simulating those of Pokémon moves. Only Mistralton carried the Zap Cannon rifle, designed to paralyse and stun, and Icirrus and Striaton carried Flash Cannon rifles. They weren't designed to kill, but they would hurt.
It led Eclipse and Essentia to wonder what sort of weapons the police had been investing in.
The ram continued smashing against the door but it looked like Nuvema was close to breaking it down. It took a few more tries to eventually break the locks and once that happened, Nuvema forced the door open with his hand. Mistralton immediately readied a stun grenade and threw it inside.
KABOOM
Just like how a Pokémon would use Metal Sound to lower an opponent's defense, the stun grenade – a flashbang – released an explosive sound to disorient whoever heard it, allowing the counter-terrorist team to move in swiftly. Striaton moved in first, using his shield for cover, with Icirrus and Mistralton moving in from behind, and Nuvema providing a fourth shield and the ram if needed.
It was well-lit inside, which made it easier for the team to move in. Just steps behind, Eclipse, Essentia, Kangaskhan, and Malamar also moved in but moved to search a different area of the building. The black market could literally have things moved within minutes, so there was no time to waste. The counter-terrorist team took no chances and literally knocked down anyone in their way with their shields. As for Eclipse and Essentia, they reached a space where the hallway split in two ways.
"Just keep searching, and knock out whoever you find," Essentia said.
"That shouldn't be hard," Eclipse replied, glancing at Kangaskhan. "Break down the doors too."
Looking at the nearest one, Kangaskhan simply pushed one door down to break it open, allowing Eclipse to rush in and quickly search for the reactors. When she saw nothing that was big enough, she stepped out and went to the next door. Essentia did the same with Malamar, going from door to door and quickly searching the rooms for whatever trace of the reactors she might find. With her abilities using the Expansion Suit, she could easily break down doors or simply hack the security lock with her gloves. Malamar opted for the direct approach and used Night Slash where needed, forcing himself into the doors and splitting them apart.
Not far away, Iccirus, Striaton, and Mistralton were shooting their rifles at will, knocking down operators of the black market with Flash Cannon and Zap Cannon. Nuvema was taking the front charge with his ballistic shield for a moment but then decided to support the main objective in bashing down doors with his ram. Iccirus and the others would take care of the rest.
Despite the combined efforts of Nuvema, Eclipse, Essentia, and the Pokémon, they still couldn't find what they wanted. They found other goods too, like a mass of Master Balls, star pieces, Pokémon-poaching tools, and poisons of different sorts. If there was time, the police could seize them, but certainly not now.
For Essentia, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. This building was huge and despite the firepower she had at disposal, including the counter-terrorist team's support, Essentia knew it would take time to search the building. She was thankful she had the abilities of the Expansion Suit to give her an edge.
Even for Eclipse, her experience with Team Galactic prepared her for the nonstop work she was doing right now. Well, it was why Looker hired her in the first place. And in the moment of searching the rooms, Eclipse fell back into her cold and calculated mindset, remaining focused on her objectives and stopping at nothing to succeed. The moment she entered a room, she would analyse everything in it.
And anyone in the room, were that the case, would be unconscious in seconds. Eclipse would make sure of that. She was as swift as she was merciless. But on entering one room, she ran into a Pokémon – a Beartic plus a market dealer. Knowing Kangaskhan was busy, Eclipse sent out Purugly.
"Body Slam! Do it!" she ordered.
Purugly didn't need telling twice and she lunged forward to tackle the Beartic immediately. The Beartic, seeing an attack imminent, blasted a flurry of Power Snow to counter Purugly's attack. Purugly momentarily slowed down but got a piece of the Beartic. Eclipse, not far behind, slipped past the Beartic to quickly attack the market dealer. She relied on the e-Scope Lens to analyse the Pokémon before planning her attack in seconds.
Once that market dealer was done with, Eclipse watched Purugly in a standoff with the Beartic still. Eclipse knew Purugly was a fighter but on her own, she couldn't think tactically. And that's why she was trained under Mars. Eclipse watched the Beartic prepare an Icicle Crash attack, with ice particles forming in its mouth, and in that instant when the ice formed…
"Iron Tail!" Eclipse ordered.
Purugly obeyed, launching up to directly strike the Beartic's head. The Beartic was too slow to react given it was readying an attack, and that gave Purugly time to knock it out.
Both Eclipse and Purugly were breathing heavily after this fight. It made them wonder how much more they had to go, and they had no time.
"Eclipse. I might have found something. Get to where I am. They won't notice us with what's going on with the team out there." Well, not that Eclipse was getting anywhere with her current pace. Best to see what Essentia found. Maybe she had a lead.
Eclipse was wearing nothing that would have offered her protection from incoming attacks, unlike the armour the counter-terrorist team were wearing. At most, her Pokémon were the next-best thing. But like the ordeal at the refinery in Hoenn, she was agile. She left the room, ordered Purugly and Kangaskhan to follow her, and then made her way around the hallways.
They found Essentia and Malamar outside a reinforced door. Eclipse couldn't tell what facial expression was on Essentia's face since her helmet obscured her face.
"What is it?" Eclipse asked.
"I tried hacking into this door but it backfired on me, so I think I'll need backup for whatever's inside," Essentia replied. "My guess is something is big in this room."
"I'll check," Eclipse said. It was a good thing that they still made use of Atelier's modified GameFreak DS Lites and playing the Heartbeat Heartbreak game. With the heartbeat detector, it was possible to expect someone in there. And Eclipse could see one, so she nodded to Essentia.
Turning to Malamar, Essentia nodded and then pointed at the door, who charged up a Superpower and slammed into the door.
The door split apart.
It was a brightly lit room full of goods that were larger in size, relative to what they saw before. It seemed that the black market's reputation had preceded itself as supplying anything anyone wanted. As predicted, there was no one in the room which made it easy to secure it. Purugly and Kangaskhan went ahead to check for anyone in there.
But where were the thermal fusion reactors?
"It has to be something that radiates energy…" Eclipse used her e-Scope Lens to scan the room quickly. If it wasn't here, they had to move on. It was a good thing the room was brightly lit to make searching easier. But there were so many metal crates and boxes in here that it seemed impossible to find the right one. "Someone is here too."
If they were sealed, that would add onto misery. It wasn't like the e-Scope Lens nor the Expansion Suit provided x-ray vision. And they had to assume the reactors were here. No, there had to be a faster way.
Kangaskhan thought Eclipse was taking too long to decide and merely took the nearest box and ripped the lid off. She looked right into Eclipse's eyes, as if saying, "You're overthinking it."
And Eclipse and Essentia had to agree. So as a result, they let the Pokémon do the work in searching the boxes while the agents stood guard. Essentia stood near the busted door and Eclipse walked about the area.
It didn't take too long before Kangaskhan and Malamar had gone through half the boxes. They found goods of many kinds. There were stocks of weapons like rocket launchers and even unexposed radioactive ore. And then there were experimental weapons like time-warping devices that can slow movement in a given area, or space-warping devices that could mess about a given area's dimensions.
It led Eclipse to wonder, "This black market is really playing with fire here." What sorts of crimes could people pull off with these? Let alone Fiera.
There was a particular crate that was generating heat that seemed to interest Kangaskhan, so she opened the entire crate. It fell apart like walls without support, its sides crashing down to the floor.
A cubic object, with something like bright red energy radiating from its core, was present.
"Th-the thermal fusion reactor!" Eclipse said with a mix of surprise and disbelief.
And the moment she said that, she was nearly struck on the neck by a sudden force from above. But for her calculative mind and senses, Eclipse could have been stabbed. A blade – a dagger – cut the air beside her the moment she jumped back.
Looking at her assailant, Eclipse recognised him immediately. "You," she growled.
It was Combat.
"You are annoying," Combat said. He brought his dagger up, ready to stab her.
Eclipse opted to minimise the use of the e-Scope Lens to stay focused on the fight. Combat swung forward with the dagger. But Eclipse kept an eye on his timing, watching where the arm would target, and jumped forward sideways the moment the dagger came down.
It didn't give Combat enough time to recover from his swing when Eclipse came forward and brought one fist to Combat's shoulder joint while using her free arm to grab his wrist and slam it into a metal crate. She only intended to weaken and distract, not land an effective blow, knowing that Combat was bigger than her and tougher.
Still, if there was a way to rid the dagger, Eclipse would take that, given Combat was a killer too.
She successfully got him to release the dagger and, executing her timing ruthlessly, kicked him back and then kicked the dagger far away.
"Purugly!" Eclipse shouted.
From behind, Purugly leapt and tackled Combat from the back. But despite Purugly's size, she weighed only fifty kilos and that allowed Combat to lift Purugly off himself and throw her aside. Apparently Combat was capable of lifting more than fifty kilos. He got on his feet.
It was at that moment that Essentia heard the commotion and knew an altercation was ongoing. She sprinted forward to ambush Combat using super-speed. With the superhuman abilities provided by the Expansion Suit, she easily knocked down Combat despite his size. Even then, Combat kicked Essentia's ankles to trip her, catching Essentia by surprise.
Knowing Essentia could use some help as she had landed on her back, shocked, Eclipse leapt forward to grab his arm again, pushing Combat's back and pinning him to a crate.
"You two aren't smart." Combat smirked at them. He surprised Eclipse by elbowing her in the chest. It felt just as bad as a baton jabbing right through her lungs. Eclipse wheezed, releasing Combat's arm and that allowed Combat to grip onto Eclipse's neck. As he did that, he also stepped down on Essentia's neck, choking her also.
It was the same moment that the ceiling above them began to open like two sliding doors. There was little sunlight left in the sky as it was transitioning to evening. Something like a parachute shot into the sky, and that was when Eclipse panicked. She was losing consciousness and Essentia was stunned. So that was how the black market had managed to keep things going. At the end of the day, Eclipse and Essentia were simply two teenage girls. Weren't they?
Kangaskhan, realising what was happening, nodded to Malamar. Malamar approached Combat ready to attack.
However, Combat seemed to have planned ahead for what was coming. With his free hand, the one not gripping Eclipse's neck, he tossed a Poké Ball on the ground.
A Lucario emerged.
Kangaskhan knew this was bad news. She was in no position to take on the Lucario head-on but Malamar had the best chance of saving the Trainers' lives. She looked at Malamar who seemed to understand the stakes.
So Kangaskhan attacked Lucario first, exchanging a series of blows with the fighting-type. Kangaskhan was at a considerable disadvantage, clearly, when it came to close combat. She could even feel the Lucario's swift strikes wear her down already. When she tried gripping onto the Lucario's fist, the fist simply broke through to land a direct hit instead.
Malamar went to deal with Combat. Using a psychic-infused tentacle, he gripped onto Combat's arm to forcefully release the grip on Eclipse's neck. Now free and in need of air, Eclipse fell on the coughing. Her head spun and she, like Essentia, collapsed on the floor right after.
"Purugly…" Eclipse whispered to the tiger cat. "Get help."
Purugly understood the stakes and took off.
Combat knew he was in no position to fight off a Pokémon right now, let alone a second occupying his Lucario's attention. It appeared Kangaskhan wouldn't hold off Lucario much longer but neither could Combat hold off Malamar. With Malamar still gripping his arm, Combat yelled for Lucario to aid him.
Then Lucario pushed Kangaskhan back and darted to help Combat. He fired an Aura Sphere, which were known to never miss its target, and it struck Malamar's body. While Malamar was capable of taking hits, it still hurt, which forced him a step back from Combat. Then Combat kicked Malamar back before he could use another psychic attack, with Lucario following up to keep him at bay.
But by then, Kangaskhan was back on her feet. She went to assist Malamar by going straight for Combat again. Given there were two uncontrolled Pokémon to deal with, Combat decided not to press on fighting. Instead, he reached into one of the crates, seeming to know what was in it, and brought out a handful of spherical orbs.
"Lucario, just go all out. I'll deal with the package and then we're going." Then Combat went to where the parachute was deployed, expecting something overhead to pick him up. With Malamar attacking Lucario as well, Combat had to deal with Kangaskhan.
Kangaskhan looked like she knew what she was doing too. She was clearly tall and heavy enough to match Combat's size, including the baby Kangaskhan in her pouch. Combat also knew he could be overpowered, so it was best not to engage combat. Instead, he began hurling smoke bombs to make life more difficult for the Pokémon.
And then Combat followed up by hurling red orbs from the crate he had opened which were really flame orbs, designed to burn once normally held or to inflict searing fire damage. There were also purple orbs too, actually toxic orbs, designed to simulate the Pokémon attack Toxic. Any contact with either orb could be lethal. So the Pokémon resorted to evading the orbs.
Seconds later, the reactor and a second crate began to rise from the floor. It seemed they were connected by the same wire that had connected the parachute and the wire appeared tougher than it looked. With that happening, Combat went to the crate, pulled out an oxygen mask and put it on. Then he recalled Lucario as the crates rose into the sky above, with Combat standing on the reactor.
"Good-bye, you three, and say the same to your precious Trainers," he said, to the shocked faces on the Pokémon. He threw what appeared to be another toxic orb and but this one released a cloud of poison gas instead. Of course, the Pokémon were familiar with this sensation in Pokémon battles but never had their Trainers had to face them.
This situation was different.
There was only one choice. Malamar and Kangaskhan had to help their Trainers out of the room.
Now at the door, the counter-terrorist team had stormed the room with their rifles and shields. They were suddenly aware of the poison gas present and Iccirus looked worried when Kangaskhan and Malamar came back with their fallen Trainers.
"Get this area secured, now!" He ordered Nuvema and Mistralton. The two officers went forward without delay, only in time to see the two crates disappear into the night sky. Even from below, they could see the red light that was coming from the thermal fusion reactor.
Mistralton got down on one knee. "The reactors have been located. They are being brought out by air transport. We cannot reach. Air support must respond. Over."
Nuvema and Striaton helped the Pokémon get Eclipse and Essentia out of the room. It appeared the counter-terrorist team had done its job in securing the black market as police officers and IP agents were storming the building. For now, what was important was getting medical attention for the girls.
Mistralton's message was received instantly at the command post Looker was in. Looker had already arranged for a medic to meet Eclipse and Essentia at the door and was notifying the nearest police heliport to send a helicopter. The reactors were close by. That's what mattered. Within five minutes, the helicopter would be sweeping the skies.
But what the International Police could not know was that the black market had only airlifted the thermal fusion reactors by helicopter initially, and that a hover transport was waiting in mid-air to collect them. In the black of night in mid-air, such an operation lasted five minutes exactly and the reactors would disappear.
And directly below the reactors, Eclipse and Essentia were brought out of the building by their Pokémon, with Iccirus and the team to assist them. The girls were laid on the ground unconscious as a medic went to check them over. As this happened, the raid continued.
But in Looker's bones, the raid was only a partial success. The thermal fusion reactors had slipped through his fingers once more, but at least there was a lead here. Now it was just a matter of finding other clues from this place.
And he hoped Eclipse and Essentia were okay.
