The Battle Subway
It was the day following Ash's victory over Elesa and as Ash had promised Cilan, the two would be on their way to the Battle Subway to beat the leaders of the facility. Brock had decided to stay behind at the Pokemon Center to look over his newly hatched Joltik while Hilda and Iris decided to stay behind as well in order to use the opportunity to train. Zach silently watched on as his sister's Pidove fought against Iris' Axew, his thoughts were elsewhere however as it was the first time in years that he hadn't seen the Black Knight! This would be a case of celebration to some but he couldn't help but have a bad feeling.
Suddenly Axew jerked his head back towards his trainer and in that moment of distraction Pidove came swooping on in and knocked Axew off his feet and onto his back! Axew's eyes turned to swirls as Hilda let out a shout.
"Alright Pidove, that was amazing work out there!"
"Pidove!" The pigeon Pokemon chirped out before her body became surrounded in a burst of blue light, her body began going through changes are she underwent the transformation into a Tranquil. Though she was a different gender than the Tranquil that they'd previously encountered there were no visible sign of difference during this stage. Tranquil let out a happy chirp as Hilda let out a pleased squeal before she threw her arms around the bird and pulled her in for a hug!
"You finally evolved!"
Iris meanwhile gazed at Axew with a look of concern. "What was that about, Axew? Usually your mind is so focused on the battle."
"Axew, Axew ew!" Axew began frantically pointing at Iris' egg, it was hard to notice the crack as it had formed on the black colored portion of the egg but the egg had begun to shake causing Iris to let out an excited squeal as she quickly rushed forward and dropped to her knees.
"It's hatching, it's finally hatching!"
The top of the egg cracked apart as a blue dinosaur-shaped head came bursting out, it's mouth and nostril area were visible but the rest of his head was covered by a thick patch of black fur that went down his neck before coming to a halt at the upper half of his body. The baby Dragon type let out a cute cry that resulted in Iris letting out another squeal as she threw her arms around the baby Pokemon while Axew quickly crossed his arms as a jealous expression crossed his face.
"Axew..."
"A Deino! Talk about lucky, aren't they supposed to be incredibly rare?" Hilda asked, the mention of the name caused Zach to tense up as he snapped out of his thoughts and slowly began to turn to face Deino.
"Yeah they're quite hard to raise too!" Iris stated with a light smirk. "Raising a Hydreigon will definitely prove that I'm Dragon Master material!"
"H-Hydreigon..." Zach's eye twitched as his body began heavily shaking.
Hilda noticed out of the corner of her eye and quickly raced towards him. "Zach, you okay?!"
"H-Hydreigon... G-Ghetsis owns a Hydreigon. I-I raised it!"
"You raised two Dragons?!" Iris exclaimed with a jealous look which quickly faded as Hilda shot her a harsh glare.
"So on top of Kyurem he also owns a Hydreigon... that's not good news." Hilda muttered as she clenched her fists before looking up with a slightly hopeful gaze. "You think you could convince Ghetsis' Pokemon to go against him? You are the one that raised them, they should listen to you."
"N-No... they're not like Haxorus, they were taken away at the end of each training session so they never had time to bond with me or grow attached."
"You won the Unova League with only five Pokemon didn't you? If you were training those Pokemon for years then they'd likely be able to beat the Elite Four!" Iris hypothesized. Her words caused Zach to look at the ground with guilt in his eyes before he pressed his hands against his face.
"This is all my fault, if the Elite Four can't stop him then who can?!"
Hilda glared at Iris again before placing her hand on her brother's shoulder as she rested her head against his own. "No it's not, you weren't in control of your actions. Ghetsis and Colress are the ones to blame here, whatever happens isn't your fault!" Hilda gave him a light smile which he didn't return as he stared off with uncertainty. "Have faith bro, we'll find Zekrom and beat Kyurem I promise you that!"
Meanwhile Ash and Cilan had descended the steps into the facility with Ash taking a brief pause as he looked around and admired how large the facility truly was, it was possibly even larger than Brandon's Battle Pyramid facility! Granted this was all possible on account of it being located underground unlike the rest which were built upon land or built for both land and air travel in Brandon's case.
"Wow get a look at this, Pikachu!" Ash breathed out as several subway trains shot past them like speeding bullets, creating a large gust of wind that would have blown Ash's hat right off his head had Pikachu not reached out to grab it in time!
"Pika pi!"
"So which train belongs to the Subway Twins?" Ash turned to look at Cilan but the older boy was staring off with stars in his eyes as he stared off at the speeding trains.
"Oh my gosh, we've just got to ride on one of those!" He clenched his fists as he leaped in place with visible excitement. Ash couldn't help but sweat as he wondered if he looked that way to others whenever he got excited about food or Pokemon battles! He'd then feel something shaking in his bag causing him to reach back and slowly remove it, the bag continued to shake while he could hear the crinkle of food wrappers along with some rather hungry sounding chomps!
"Hey, something's in there with my egg!"
"Pika pi!"
"Wait you think it is my egg?" Ash paused for a brief moment before realizing that Pikachu had a point. His egg was as old as Brock's which had recently hatched so it was likely the others were about to hatch too! He unzipped his bag and was greeted by the sight of some rather familiar looking ears before he pulled down the flap of the bag to reveal the newly hatched Eevee! Eevee tilted her head at the sight of Ash before letting out a cute cry, her lips covered in chocolate as Ash sweated. "You ate my snacks..." He let out a sigh before giving his newly hatched Pokemon a smile.
"Hello Eevee, the name's Ash and I'm honored to meet you-"
"Ahhh!" Cilan let out a rather girlish scream as he fell onto his back, purple eggshells laid on the ground beneath him while a purple feline Pokemon stood on top of him and let out a rather pleased purr upon seeing her trainer! "I-It's a Purrloin!"
"What's so bad about that?" Ash blinked. It was just as confusing as Iris' fear of Ice types, he didn't understand why his friends always seemed afraid of the most ridiculous things like Bug and Ice types, and now a cute kitten?
"Don't let it's cuteness fool you Ash, these things are the devil in disguise!" Cilan shook with fear.
"Oh come on Cilan, I'm sure it's not that bad." Ash stated before offering the feline a smile as he dropped to one knee. "Hey there Purrloin, the name's Ash and I-"
"Meow!" Purrloin hissed before leaping up and latching herself to Ash's face as she started viciously clawing at his cheeks!
"Ahh, Pikachu get it off of me!"
"Pikachuuu!" Pikachu's cheeks sparked before giving both Ash and Purrloin a shock causing the two to separate. Purrloin landed onto her feet and let out an annoyed hiss as she glared at Pikachu. "Pi!"
"W-Well might be feisty but it's still your baby, you need to catch it Cilan." Ash felt at his face to ensure he wasn't bleeding while Cilan gave Purrloin a cautious look as he shivered from fright.
"I-I guess..."
"So you're the Ketchum kid that my king's put a bounty on?" The two quickly turned and were greeted by the sight of a Team Plasma grunt with a heavily scarred face, the same man that Chase and Brooke were chatting to before leaving to hunt Victini! "Oh this will be a piece of cake if a puny kitten pushed you around, Ferrothorn let's crush him!"
"Ferro!" Ash was briefly stunned by the appearance of a Pokemon that he'd never seen before. He had no idea what it was but it sure looked powerful, possibly Steel by the looks of things.
"Pignite use Flame Charge!"
"Gyro Ball!" Ferrothorn began spinning in place before shooting right past Pignite as the muscular pig went charging at him, instead he was aiming right for Purrloin and Eevee!
"No!" Despite his fears of the kitten Cilan quickly dove and pushed Purrloin safely out of the way. Ash attempted to do the same but found himself just a few seconds too slow, Eevee let out a cry as Ferrothorn sent her flying through the air and right through an open subway door! Eevee stood up and shook herself causing Ash to let out a gasp of relief before fear quickly came over him as the doors shut and the train went blasting away to who knows what city!
"Eevee!" Ash shouted before turning to face the scarred Plasma grunt with a look full of anger and rage. "You'll pay for that, Pignite use Flame Charge!"
"Pignite!" The pig let out a snort as he slammed his fist into the ground, pillars of fire burst from the ground and began speeding towards Ferrothorn, the pillars soon surrounded him in a ring of fire and began closing on in! Ferrothorn then let out a loud cry of pain as he was hit by the powerful blast before falling down with a loud thud as swirls filled his eyes.
"Fire Pledge!" Cilan gasped out while Ash was briefly stunned from Pignite's new move as it was completely new to him as well!
"What the- I lost to a mere brat?!" The scarred face grunt let out an irritated growl as he returned Ferrothorn to his Pokeball. He cast Ash a glare before shooting a grappling hook at a train as it went speeding past the station, whisking the grunt away as Ash growled after him.
"Team Plasma... those guys are far more irritating than Team Rocket ever was!"
Cilan placed his hand on Ash's shoulder. "Come on we have to find out where that train went!"
"What do you mean you can't track the train?! My Eevee just hatched and is on it!"
"I'm sorry sir but if you were irresponsible and left her on that train then perhaps it's a blessing in disguise." Ash's eye twitched at the clerk's words causing his face to shoot bright red before he leaned over the counter and let out a loud shout.
"It's not my fault that Team Plasma attacked me! My Eevee hatched mere seconds before this crazy scar faced guy came out of nowhere and attacked!"
"And where is he now?"
"I don't know, he hopped onto a subway train and left! He could be across the region by now, Eevee is far more important as she's just hatched! She doesn't know how things work in this world and she's my responsibility, I have to protect her!"
"Sorry sir but I can't track a train, it's against policy-"
"Now now what's the fuss?" Cilan let out a fanboy scream as two nearly identical individuals appeared. Both of them had light skin tones along with a pair of gray eyes, their short white hair was covered by a train conductor hat save for two single strands that symmetrically stood on both sides of their faces. Their uniforms were similar in design but were different colors and pretty much the only way that you could tell one apart from the other. One of them had a white and brown striped jacket atop what appeared to be a white suit and dress pants while he wore white boots to match. His train conductor hat was white while his brother's was black. His brother's uniform was quite similar but black coloring was present instead of white, both brothers were wearing blue ties beneath their jackets however along with a pair of white gloves!
"Y-You're Emmet," Cilan pointed at the brother dressed in white. "And you're Ingo, the Subway twins!"
"You're a fan, eh? Pleasure to meet you." Ingo smiled before Emmet gave his brother a nudge.
"This is serious, that kid sounds distressed!"
"That's cause I am, my Eevee is trapped aboard a speeding train and I have no idea where she went off to!"
"That is rather serious," Emmet turned to the clerk before snapping his fingers. "Well you heard the kid, track down that train so he can get his Eevee back!"
"It's at Anville Town." The clerk responded.
"Anville Town?" Ash questioned.
"It's to the northwest of here," Cilan stated as he now held Purrloin in his grasp, the purple feline nuzzled against his neck with a light purr causing him to lightly shudder a bit before continuing. "It's where the trains stop at the end of their daily run."
"Luckily for you it appears the train went straight there so Eevee is likely still aboard." Ingo spoke up.
"We can take you there on our private train, nobody else should be on board as we haven't started our daily battle sessions yet so we can be there and back within the hour!"
Ash gave the two brothers an appreciative smile. "Thank you both I really appreciate this!"
Cilan let out an excited squeal as a large trainyard came into view, several trains could be seen parked within the trainyard while approximately half a mile off laid several houses which no doubt housed workers as there didn't appear to be any civilians present within the town. The train soon came to a halt at the end of the tracks and the doors opened up, Ingo and Emmet stepped on out before beckoning Ash and Cilan with their hands as they guided the way to the train that Eevee had gotten herself stuck in. Emmet pulled a remote from his pocket upon reaching the door and the doors opened up as he touched a button, revealing a sleeping Eevee behind the doors as the baby had likely tired herself out. A light smile crossed Ash's face as he got down to one knee before gently tapping her body with an empty Pokeball, the ball shook within his grasp before quickly chiming out to announce the capture complete!
"I can't wait to properly meet you later!"
Smiles crossed the faces of Emmet and Ingo as everything had thankfully worked out just fine however their attention quickly turned to Cilan as he nervously spoke up.
"Emmet... Ingo... w-would you be willing to have a Pokemon battle with me and Ash? I know we already wasted plenty of your time but we'd greatly appreciate it, you see it's been a life dream of mine to challenge the Battle Subway and win! While Ash simply likes challenging every strong opponent he comes across, I promise that we'll give you a worthwhile fight but if you turn us down then we'd understand."
Emmet and Ingo gave each other a look before they laughed out.
"Of course we'll battle ya!" Ingo stated as he punched the air before them.
"Yeah, we're just glad that Eevee's okay! We're not mad or anything!" Emmet laughed.
"Awesome, I've been looking forward to this since I first heard about it yesterday!" Ash exclaimed before tilting his head. "So this is a double battle but what are the rules? Are we using one Pokemon each or two Pokemon on each side?"
"I think one Pokemon a piece sounds fair," Emmet glanced towards his brother who swiftly nodded in response.
"Sounds good to me, what do you think?" Ash turned to Cilan.
"That's perfect, let's do this!" Stars filled Cilan's eyes as the two brothers gave each other a smirk before leading them back to their subway train which as the name 'Battle Subway' implied was big enough to house a Pokemon battle within! Well so long as the opponent didn't use a incredibly massive Pokemon such as Onix or Wailord!
Ingo was the first to make a move, shouting out as he threw a Pokeball forward. "Chandelure let's go!"
"You too, Klinklang!" Emmet shouted.
A ghostly chandelier Pokemon burst out alongside a Pokemon that appeared to be a sentient group of interlocked gears!
"I've never seen these Pokemon before!" Ash excitedly exclaimed as he reached for his Pokedex.
"Chandelure the Luring Pokemon, this Pokemon haunts dilapidated mansions. It sways its arms to hypnotize opponents with the ominous dancing of its flames!"
"Klinklang the Gear Pokemon, from its spikes it launches powerful blasts of electricity. Its red core contains an enormous amount of energy!"
"A Steel type, well I guess this one's up to me!" Ash smirked as he knew Cilan didn't have anything effective against Steel types.
"And I'll handle Chandelure," Cilan exclaimed as he gripped a Pokeball. "Dwebble let's show them what we've got!"
"Dwebble!" The crab Pokemon cried out as he appeared in front of them!
"Pignite I choose you!"
"Pignite!" Pignite flexed his arms as he burst out onto the field, small flames fired from his nostril as he let out a snort.
"My my those two Pokemon sure look strong but will that be enough to give them the win dear brother?" Ingo smirked.
"Now now don't get cocky brother, I'm sure the field's pretty even!" Emmet grinned while throwing out his arm. "Klinklang use Gear Grind!"
"Gear Grind?" Ash questioned before receiving his answer as Klinklang fired off a set of gears from his body and launched them off in the direction of Dwebble! "Pignite block off the attack with Flame Charge!"
Flames covered up Pignite's body as he raced forward in order to block off the attack, Klinklang let out a pained grunt as the gears were struck by Pignite's fiery body before retreating back into the Steel type's own body!
"Dwebble use Rock Slide!" Cilan shouted out. Dwebble raised up his pinchers and uttered out a light cry as a series of rocks began falling from the sky and piling down upon both of their opponents!
"Chandelure use Confuse Ray on Dwebble!" Ingo shouted. Chandelure's eyes flashed a bright yellow color as the Ghost type locked eyes with Dwebble, Dwebble's eyes glowed bright yellow for a second before a confused expression began crossing his face.
"Dweb...?"
"Alright Pignite use Fire Pled-"
"Wait!" Cilan threw his arm in front of Ash. "Chandelure has the Flash Fire ability, if you use Fire Pledge there's a risk that you'll hit him and power up his Fire attacks!"
Ash clenched his fists as he knew Cilan was right, quickly changing his attack. "Alright Pignite fire off another Flame Charge on Klinklang!"
"Dodge with Swift Gear!" Emmet shouted as Klinklang began rotating it's gears at a faster rate resulting in him quickly maneuvering out of Pignite's path and leaving Chandelure in striking distance as Pignite slammed his fiery body against the ghostly chandelier! Chandelure's ghostly flames started burning brighter while the interior of the train began growing noticeably hot!
"Sunny Day then blast them with Inferno!" Ingo shouted. Chandelure let out a shout as the sun's rays began intensifying upon the train car shortly before Chandelure lowered his head and aimed his flames towards his opponents, a massive stream of purple and black fire soon came blasting out upon both Dwebble and Pignite causing them to cry out from how strong the attack had gotten!
"Discharge!" Klinklang began rapidly spinning his gears and sparking off electricity. Ash narrowed his eyes before quickly throwing out his arm.
"Fire Pledge!" With Klinklang busy firing up an attack he wouldn't be able to dodge it until he had fired it off! Pignite gave his trainer a nod before slamming his fist into the ground as several large pillars of fire burst from beneath the ground and began making their way towards Klinklang!
"Use Bulldoze on Klinklang, let's finish the first course of the battle!" Cilan snapped his fingers as Dwebble slammed his pinchers into the ground, a shockwave formed on the ground and quickly made it's way towards Klinklang before crashing against it right as the fire pillars had the Steel type surrounded! The Steel type's gears came to a halt shortly after the fire pillars met on top of it, swirls formed across it's eyes as it toppled over onto the ground. Chandelure remained but thankfully due to Ash's preparation for Elesa's Gym, Pignite still had at least one move that he could utilize!
"Rollout!" Pignite formed into a ball before quickly rocketing off across the field!
"Smack Down!" Cilan shouted but found a different result as a stone with a glowing red aura around it began forming between Dwebble's pinchers, the rock kept growing and growing until it was the size of a boulder! Dwebble then let out a shout as he fired it off across the field, striking Chandelure head on right before Pignite slammed the ghostly chandelier into the ground! The Ghost/Fire type let out a ghostly wail as he collapsed to the ground, his eyes faded away to reveal swirls as he laid in defeat!
"Alright Pignite and Dwebble, that was awesome!" Ash exclaimed.
"That was quite the remarkable battle course, well done you two!" Cilan praised while giving them a smile.
"Dwebble!"
"Pignite!" Both Pokemon cried out, enjoying the praise shortly before a bright blue light surrounded both of their bodies! Pignite began growing even bigger and bulkier than before while Dwebble's body also grew and began changing to a darker orange color, the rock that sat on Dwebble's back had changed to a massive square boulder that he appeared to carry without issue! Ash recognized Pignite's evolution as Emboar, having first seen it in a recording back when he first met Tepig at Don George's Battle Club. Dwebble's evolution was new however resulting in Ash pulling out his Pokedex for a final time that day.
"Crustle the Stone Home Pokemon, it possesses legs of enormous strength enabling it to carry heavy slabs for many days even when crossing arid land!"
Cilan let out an excited shout, tears of joy fell across his face as he fell to his knees and threw his arms around Crustle's newly evolved body! "This is the happiest day of my life, I beat the Battle Subway with one of my closest friends and one of my closest Pokemon evolved!"
"Crustle!"
"Emboar!" Ash chuckled at the sight before quickly finding himself pulled into Emboar's arms as the muscular pig didn't want to be left out of the celebration!
"Ah! Y-You were great too Emboar!"
"P-Pika...!" The two gasped for breath as Emboar's grasp was even stronger than Nidoking's was!
"Emboar!"
Emmet and Ingo chuckled as they gave each other a look before looking back at their two challengers as they celebrated their victory with their Pokemon.
"Thanks again for helping me find Eevee!" Ash waved at the two brothers as they'd now returned to Nimbasa station, Ash and Cilan were preparing to meet back up with the others but they thought it polite to say goodbye to their new friends first.
"We should thank you, that battle was quite remarkable! I haven't seen a Pokemon that strong come through in years, I'm sure that you'll succeed in your dream!" Ingo exclaimed.
"But all the same we'd like to wish you good luck." Emmet added with a respective bow.
Ash gave the two a grin as he and Cilan waved goodbye. "Thank you and you two be careful, I'm sure there's probably more Team Plasma grunts running around here somewhere."
"Don't worry about us we can handle ourselves!" Ingo smirked as the two brothers waved after them.
Night had fallen upon the city and while most of the group was sleeping one was not, Zach sat wide awake at the edge of his bed while staring off with a guilt ridden expression. Flashbacks of him training Ghetsis' team flashed through his brain, he knew that Hilda was right and it wasn't his fault as he had no control over his actions but there was still a part of him that felt as if he were to blame for everything. Images of the dragon shaped tower flashed before him along with the Black Knight standing across from him atop the tower, his sword unsheathed as he prepared to strike!
"He got out... he had to have..." Zach muttered as he began pacing the room. "It must be a vision... that draconic tower could be anywhere though, damn it Arceus! Give me a sign, I've already lost my closest friends I can't bear the thought of losing Hilda too! Where is the damn tower?!"
"Hehehe..." The giggle caused Zach to shoot up while Lucario's eyes shot open, the jackal let out a growl as the two looked around the room but only they were present as far as Lucario could tell.
"Whose there?!" Zach growled out, his eyes took notice of a small feline looking shadow floating up above him causing him to look up before a book was dropped on his head! "Ow..."
"Car!" Lucario held up the book showcasing a draconic shaped tower that looked precisely like the one from his dream!
"The valley of the dragons... yes... yes... of course." Zach gazed towards the wall connecting his room to Hilda's. He could tell her where he was going but then she'd just follow him and the Black Knight would get her. No this was a path he must walk alone, it was time to end the Black Knight threat once and for all! Zach grabbed at his bag and lifted it over his shoulder before giving Lucario a nod. "Come, we're going..."
"Car..."
The two left the Pokemon Center and began making their way towards the eastern exit, the opposite direction of where Ash and the others would be going. They thought nobody was watching but they were wrong as Hilda was knocking out Team Plasma grunts nearby in her Lucario Man disguise when she sensed her brother's aura, she quickly peered around the corner and noticed the pair leaving causing her to briefly remove her mask as she looked after them with a look of concern.
Meanwhile Attila stood outside the Pokemon Center, his eyes noticed a oddly colorful looking blue strand of blue fur. He picked it up and closely examined it before holding it out to his partner. "Say isn't this what Archer said to look for, just in a different color?"
Hun quietly snatched the fur before placing it in a scanning device. "Indeed, come let's get it back to base! Perhaps we can avenge our boss yet!"
Archer was currently located in the new Unovan base that Team Rocket had secretly constructed under Castelia City with the help of one of Giovanni's alias that never got found out. Far as everyone else was concerned it was just another city block burger joint while down beneath laid the operations of Team Rocket's Unova branch and the center of operations for the current Unova conflict.
He sat in his office while viewing old videos of Ash and Pikachu fighting in various Pokemon Leagues and other competitions, silently stroking the bottom of his chin as he did so. This kid was consistently a thorn in the organization's side, Giovanni had never taken the boy seriously but Archer wasn't going to make that mistake! The boy was here in the Unova region right that second and he knew for a fact that he'd been present during the prior conflict with Team Plasma. If they were going to destroy Team Plasma and take over the region then Pikachu needed to be dealt with and Archer had a feeling he knew preciously how to deal with that as his eyes laid upon a image of a muscular blue humanoid Pokemon whose lower half remained covered by cloud. A light smirk crossed his face before the doors quickly burst down as Attila made his entrance.
"Bos-Archer sir, we've got Mew DNA!"
"You followed the boy like I asked?"
"Yes sir however it's not pink like you thoug-" Attila let out a gasp as Archer lunged out and grabbed him by the neck.
"Listen here, I'm never wrong! This just means that there's more than one Mew out there! Our operation will still go as planned, get it to the lab immediately!" Archer dropped Attila as the muscular blonde gasped out for air before promptly nodding as he proceeded to race off. Archer placed his hands before his back with a smirk.
"Team Plasma won't stand a chance once we've got the power of Mew on our side!"
Hilda was currently asleep in bed before a thought suddenly occurred to her causing her to quickly leap up. "Oh crud I forgot that he can't cook!" Hilda stared out at the window as she hoped that she hadn't just made a mistake, she couldn't bear losing her brother a second time!
Archer is back and plotting out several schemes. You can probably tell that I wanted there to be a visual difference between old and new Mewtwo
And I honestly did have Krokorok set up for this but things changed, I realized that Pignite would actually not be in the next few Gym battles so I put him in here instead. Anyways Driftveil City is up next, it's practically right next door to Nimbasa haha!