Pokémon: Wings of Beginnings
Chapter 21: What is Love?
August 13th, 2020
9:45 a.m.
WINGS HQ: Arubo's Room
"The burns didn't harm any pigments." Pentaster assured. "Still, how was he able to possess such weapons? The ability to mimic ancient weapons from the past was impossible to do."
"...Don't know." Arubo mumbles, his other half of his mouth fur blowing against his breath.
"...Not many injuries sustained like he wasn't trying to kill you but..." he looked at the hilt of what was left of the Frostforge. "...weaken something that would have helped. It will be a few weeks before it could repair itself."
"..." A quiet nod from Arubo and they heard knocks from his door.
The two turned to see Iggy... and Sunai entered the room. "Arubo, are you alright now?" Iggy asks.
"..." A nod.
"Mega Stone that is merged with the heart that now functions as the heart..." Sunai thought. "A Mega Stone stores power inside that acts as a boost to get the phenomena that allows a temporary boost in power and appearance. It is unlike the Dynacrystal which only stores power from the Power Spots."
"...fe."
"Both affects the mind when used..." Pentaster told them. "If the Mega Stone fused with the heart then...Its energy also goes to the brain..."
Arubo looked at Sunai. "Knife." He says louder.
"Knife?" Sunai wondered while he looked at his tail.
"Knife." Arubo repeats.
Sunai pointed his tail over to show the knife hidden at the tip. He let it out a bit for Arubo to take it.
Arubo did so, holding the handle and looking at it. Iggy wondered. "Arubo? Why do you need a knife for anywa-"
Everyone was stunned as he cut off the remaining half of his mouth fur. Arubo looked at the burnt ends and threw them to the garbage bin. He didn't utter anything as Pentaster understood why.
"You did that for you had forgiven him and you bore no hatred for what he did." Pentaster guessed.
"..." A nod.
"I see...Let bygones be bygones as they say," Pentaster nodded. "I am glad, there must be a reason why he did this. But, how about you?" He turned to the two. "Will you forgive Duonter for his betrayal?"
"...I... I..." Iggy looked down. "He... I think he has to do this for a reason... I just..."
"...I'll decide if he is willing to tell us." Sunai told him professionally. "I'll listen to what he has to say. If he won't, then there are some factors for during that time he destroyed the clinic, he calculated the parts where no one was killed or injured. Only make a way to escape unnoticed. There isn't much evidence to not forgive him."
"Hmm..." Arubo heard Sunai's answer.
"Sunai?" Iggy turned to the Inteleon.
"I see that you read the reports." Pentaster nodded. "It is nice when some people decide to read reports now and then."
"I still haven't read the last few mission reports and haven't gotten to the damage report at all..." Iggy admits.
Both of them sighed at the same time. "Don't go doing too much monkey business next time Iggy/Emberkin." Both of them scolded.
"H-hey..." he bent back. Arubo snorted. Always a workaholic, he can barely keep up with the reports these days.
"I'll let you on your own," Pentaster told him. "If there's anything, you'll know why he betrayed us and that's when you'll forgive him or not."
"...Okay." Iggy nods.
"Right." Arubo speaks. The difference with and without his mouth fur is as clear as day.
"..." Sunai just nodded professionally.
August 13th, 2020
10:23 a.m.
WINGS HQ: Corridor
"Oh... They really did it like that... Mhm..." Brandt walked around the corridor beside unexpectedly, one of the last Mons anyone would expect him to talk to.
"Sounds weird for him to do this when he is among the most dedicated members of WINGS." Pretzel nodded.
"Yeah..." Brandt agrees. He scratches the back of his head. "I still can't believe it. We've known him for many years since we were kids."
"Kids..." Pretzel wondered.
Brandt wondered about how he was with Pretzel while analysing what she wore now. An attire that was used when members were on cleaning duty. "So you're cleaning today?" He asks.
"Yes, and the next room I should be cleaning next is..." she looked at the list. "...Yours."
He immediately sputters. "M-Mine!?" He held the sides of his head. 'Holycrapholycrapholycrap... I didn't clean up my room today!'
"We must be getting near." Pretzel looked while she prepared the cleaning supplies. "May we enter it?"
Brandt jumped. "Uh-uh-uh-!!!" He panicked much more as he saw from the other end, his crush there, not noticing the two's presence from where she walked looking at the side.
"Oh, good morning, Claire." Pretzel called.
"...Holy crap!" Brandt quickly opens his room's door, grabs Pretzel, and pulls her into the place.
"...So weird..." Claire comments as she witnessed the two going into the room.
Pretzel flipped in the air and landed on the floor to smell such a horrid stench. When was the last time Brandt cleaned his room?
"Ohcrapohcrapohcrap, she's here...!" Brandt paced about in a small spot.
"Huh?" Pretzel sighed over how overdramatic he was while she scanned the room so that she could clean. Among the tornado rampage that was called Brandt's room, she spotted something particular that caused her to remember what Guy told her beforehand when she cleaned his spotless room some time ago.
"Brandt...Also has a porn stash?" She gasped.
"Yeaaah~" sang the ditzy polar bear. "He reads it in his free time~ I cleared out mine a few days ago~ So I can be a pure and delicate bear boy~!"
"Hmm..." Pretzel wondered about it and nodded that she needed to investigate it. That Nidoqueen he was worried about, was it because he didn't want to embarrass her? "Mr. Brainy, help me here."
Brandt looked at Pretzel putting down a Dulled doll on the table she cleaned. That Dulled was called a Mind Game, which was a small parasitic larva of a kind. It was known to be able to manipulate one's subconscious more than even the most skilled Psychic Type Pokémon could ever accomplish.
Pretzel's spear was materialized.
"Wait, what!?" Brandt yelps.
"I need to be prepared if Guy is telling the truth." Pretzel announced. "If it is true, then they must be purified."
"Wh-wh-what do you mean!?" Brandt asks.
"It is, isn't it?" Pretzel deduced. "I need to know." She went near his bed. While he wondered about it, he spotted that his bed's bedrock was slightly parted to reveal some barcodes of a series of magazines. That magazine was the limited edition Alyummie Girls: Charizard-Class Edition.
"Hey!" He shouts with a jump.
The jump caused Pretzel to lose her balance and she was forced to dismiss her spear to prevent damaging Brandt's room. She turned but Brandt already sprinted toward his bed and took the magazine. He looked at the cover... It depicts a Tsareena with one leg raised in a standing position, as if to assert her dominance.
"Brandt, what are you doing?" He should hide it before she could find it.
"Where... where...!" His breathing increased as he looked around to find that suitable place.
"Brandt." Getting closer... "Ah ahh ahhhh!" He shot to his room window and opened it with an arm pointed forward. There was a thump as he launched something away.
"That sounded like Blitz." Pretzel thought about the Shiny Metang who just screamed. "Anyways, what is this...Oh." Empty bed. "...Guess Guy was joking about a porn stash."
Guy...! That polar bear... Why does he...!
"I need to continue..." Pretzel turned to sweep the floors when Brandt realized something. Did he only have one porn?
He gawked in horror when he recalled... he didn't.
"Huh?" Pretzel looked at some on his shelf but because of her height, she couldn't reach and read them. "I see some documents." Pretzel called to him. "Can you help me get them?"
"Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh..." Brandt stutters, the panic in his body reignited. He rushed in and took them in one strike. "Thank you, ca-" Before she could finish, he shoved them into a box and then threw that out of the window as well.
"...Huh..." Scorch stares along with Weiss at how Blitz was knocked out. "What happened to him?"
"..." Weiss looked at the... material on Blitz.
"What is that?" Scorch asked.
Before Weiss could answer, he heard something coming toward him. He looked up and was slapped on the face by a magazine. "Gwah!"
"Weiss!?" Scorch exclaimed before a box hit her by the rib. "Gyah!"
"That was Weiss and Scorch." Pretzel guessed. "What happened to them?"
"They're alright!" Brandt claims in that same terror-stricken voice.
"Hm..." Pretzel jumped onto Brandt and cleaned the shelf. "You're really weird."
"Uh... what weird, can I ask?"
"About throwing some junk out the window." Pretzel answered. "If it was the old times, you'll be fined."
"Y-Yes..." Brandt looked down.
Pretzel jumped down and looked at the room as Brandt looked around while he counted how many he had. There were still more, Pretzel looked at the drawers with some new clothes sticking out. She made her way there and Brandt spotted some magazines there.
"You read a lot of those things." Pretzel commented. "Training manuals, I presume?"
"Aaaaaah!" He rushed in, took the magazines, one of which included a very sexy Lapras, using his arms and then firing those out akin to the first.
Meanwhile, at the training areas, Swamp wondered about this training regimen of Takan. He may be a Water-type, but having his bare back get rammed by a waterfall was an experience that gave him backaches. To concentrate while this happened made him shiver, how could he concentrate at this time? No worries, one is about to come your way! He sensed something go toward him, he reached out a hand and grabbed it.
"...Huh?" Swamp looked at what he held. "!?!?!?" A sexy Lapras lying down and looking back at the reader. She was blushing while those breasts pressed against the floor and a shot of her backside.
His face burned deep purple, eyes fixated onto the figure before jets of blood burst out from his brain, unable to compute the sheer hotness of the Lapras. Takan continued while there was a loud splash nearby and the water turned red when mixed with various forms of plasma. The insectoid opened an eye to look before he closed it back and resumed his meditation.
"What was that about?" Pretzel wondered while she stayed away from the underwear and folded his clothes.
"Haaah... Just... more... stuff..." Brandt wheezes from where he was on all fours on the floor.
"...You don't need." Pretzel confirmed. "I see...Now the refrigerator must have some food inside."
"The refrige...rator..." He thought about it... did he put one in it?
"Let's see..." Pretzel opened it. "We've got the basic beverages and ice cream here. Oh, some box of chocolates." Box!? Wait, she mistaken the magazine as one. "I need the sweets." Oh Arceus!
"Aaaah!" Just as she was about to take it, he rushed and took the magazine, meeting the same as the other magazines, flying out of the window. 'I can't believe I had one in the refrigerator!' He thought.
Meanwhile, Gray was looking over the cheesy bacon and egg sandwich he held. The juicy bacon along with the luscious egg waiting for him to savour. All for himself. "Time ta dig in!" He opened his mouth, ready to eat when... a magazine entered his mouth before the sandwich can. "GMMPH!?" As for the sandwich...It was thrown out of his paws, its contents spreading out then realizes that Lusiane was there.
"MMMPH!!"
Too late, Lusiane didn't realize the sandwich was there and she was hit in the face and the entire contents spread around her body with some dirtying the book she was reading.
"..." The magazine left Gray's mouth as he stared in horror at this accident.
"..." Lusiane wiped her face and glared at Gray as chakrams materialized on her hands. "I hope you had a nice breakfast, for it shall be your last!"
"AaAaaaah!" Gray shrieked.
"Huh?" Pretzel wondered about why the entire HQ shook.
"..." Brandt said nothing. He tried to get his bearings back.
"Last but not the least, the bathroom." Brandt looked at the door. Crap, the last ones were there and Pretzel was about to open it.
He gasped. "Aaaah!" He headed over to the door and held it first. "L-Lemee check first!" He took a look through the door. "Maybe I left someth-" It was almost 20 of them inside there and piling up around the bathroom. "...aaahhh..." he mumbles under his breath.
"What seems to be the matter?" Pretzel approached him.
"H-HOLD ON A MINUTE!" He headed inside first. How will he do this? He stared at the small window inside. Was it enough to put them out? He couldn't put them in the toilet. No! No time to think! He took the magazines, opened the small window, and threw them one-by-one.
There were knocks on the door. "In a minute!" He screamed.
"Hm?" Pretzel wondered about throwing garbage outside and wondered if there was anyone outside to catch them. Maybe she should give it a try? She turned to the pile of garbage she packed in garbage plastic bags and at the balcony of Brandt's room. She thought of doing it with a nod and proceeded to throw them out.
"Just a few more..." Brandt mutters under his breath inside the bathroom.
"Gaaahhh!!" Came Iron's scream. "My glass eye, where's my glass eye!?"
"I was working on that!" Lenna cried.
"Swirl, don't do that next time." Pentaster called.
"I only threw this bag, I thought it was normal for Brandt to do this."
He gulped...Pentaster!? Why!? He heard Pentaster call his name out loud. "Professor!?"
"Office!"
August 13th, 2020
12:16 p.m.
WINGS HQ: Pentaster's Office
Pretzel sat on one of the chairs outside Pentaster's office after she finished cleaning Brandt. She looked at the time Brandt was inside. It's nearly two hours... That was long...Then again, it was like a parent scolding a child. "Parent..." She remembered the time her Dulled father scolded her when she tried to play with the other Dulled that weren't benevolent like them.
"...Remember your friends." Pentaster finished. "Your haste got them hurt. You love them as a family, correct? You can learn love from them."
"..." A nod from Brandt.
"You are dismissed but you need to make up with Polarize's glass eye."
"O...Okay, Professor..."
Pretzel heard the door open and watched the Rhyperior leave the room. "Oh, you were pretty rushed about a while ago," Pretzel told him. "Seems junk is annoying at times."
"U-uh... Junk... right..." Brandt mumbles.
"So, he is like your father." Pretzel noted while she got out of the seat.
"...Yeah... You can say that." Brandt nods. He looked at his right knee.
"Huh?" Pretzel took notice.
"...Wish I actually could know who my parents were." Brandt tells her.
"Hm, the Dynacrystal effects erased them." Pretzel nodded. "Just like Weiss, I only knew the foster family that raised me."
"Foster... family...?"
"Dulled foster family." She showed two kinds of Dulled plushies. "Mommy and daddy Dulled."
The first brought was called a Macabre Scythe and the second, a Fission Sprite. Those two...The Macabre Scythe was a humanoid-like creature. It was usually dark as night and its arms can morph into the scythes it is known to be called from. Also able to have quick regeneration to restore limbs that it can launch to attack targets. And the Fission Sprite was a convergence of pure, raw energy, able to act on its own, tormenting foes with its lightspeed movements and searing them.
He knew how she got the way her weapon took inspiration from. "Macabre Scythe... Fission Sprite..." he mumbles.
"Yes?"
"...Um... It's... not really anything..." He shakes his head.
"Oh..." Pretzel dryly scoffed. "I thought you thought they looked cool."
"W-Well, I mean they are pretty something..." Brandt tries to correct himself. "Dangerously... badass..." His throat dried up as he tried to think of more.
Pretzel stared at him silently. "Oh...You seem discontent with having a foster parent."
"...I don't have a good feeling..." He touched his head. "All I remember is... pain, pain. And more pain..."
His eyes looked around. "Like... I think someone took me in after my parents died... but I can't remember anything else other than crying, getting struck by something, being hungry mostly..." He let his arm down. "I didn't feel anything there other than pain... Did they... even care for me...? Did they... even give me any... parental love?"
Based on his recovered background, it appeared to Pretzel that he was a child slave after losing his parents and suffered physical abuse about every day. Maybe those foggy memories made him unable to discern the feeling properly...
"Love is first shown by parents." Pretzel told him. "So, that must be why you act all so weird around Claire."
"U-u-uh..." Brandt's face heats up when he thinks about her.
"Knew it, it will be long but you'll find that you need to deserve love even if you don't know what it means." Pretzel went forward. "Maybe you can meet my parents the next time we have a day off."
"...Oh..." Brandt looked down. "...If we do get one day free..."
"Also, about those magazines..." Pretzel added, it caused Brandt to scream inside. "Maybe I should find the ones Guy threw to help you. What's with that look?"
"U-uh-uh...!" He looked around. "N-No! It's okay! I can- I can find them myself!"
"You know where they went?"
"Uhhhh..."
"Brandt-andt~ I found your stuff all around the place~ When did magazines fly~?" A cheery, laidback voice calls out.
"...Your...stuff...?" Pretzel leered at him. Guy was holding a pile of those... magazines on his hands, apparently looking oblivious of what he brought upon the rhino.
"Uhhhhh..." Brandt gulped loudly.
"So...Those manuals...Are actually porn magazines that have you cheating on Claire then."
"H-huh!?"
Pretzel was holding a magazine that had an Alcremie on it. "..." She materialized her spear.
"I-It's in the privacy of where I live! Can't I-"
It revved, ready to tear them into pieces. "P-Pretzel!" Brandt shrieked.
"I'll save the Nidoqueen ones." She charges in but Brandt blocked her spear with his hammer. Brandt gulped, he was facing an agile and faster opponent.
"Can't we talk this out!?" He pleads.
"Need to make you loyal."
"Huuuuh!?"
Guy moved to the side and watched as the two "bond". He took out some popcorn from seemingly out of nowhere.
"*crunch munch* A sweet fight~"
August 13th, 2020
1:30 p.m.
Wings HQ: Courtyard
Brandt was lying on his front on the ground. Around him are slashes and mixtures of shredded paper. The battle had brought them to this very place where it finally ended in a struggle to save one's own leisure time.
"My rib..." Scorch complained as she passed Brandt, some bandages were seen beneath her clothing.
"My head..." Weiss passed by with bandages around his forehead.
Gray was seen at a distance with several pits around and under him, sprawled on the ground and still letting out smoke around the place, as if he had been sent into war. Blitz was wobbling about as he passes by Brandt. Swamp looked dizzy as he walked, the thoughts of such a divine Lapras still stuck in his head. Guy looked at his bag of popcorn, seeing the remainder of the food in there. Lenna held a plastic bag with a destroyed model of a pirate ship inside. Her eyes looked like she was crying for a good while. Iron looked around before bolting out with one arm on the eye where his Dynacrystal was and the other held a damaged glass eye.
Pretzel was nowhere to be found, off to do another cleaning duty. Guy walked over and picked up a stack of magazines and placed it beside Brandt. "Here are the mags Pretski saved for you~" All of them...All were related to Nidoqueen. She destroyed 3% of what he had but still.
It felt... like a massive rupture to his inner being... He turned to Guy...If he hadn't return those to him, then those 3%... They would be... be...!!!
He took his hammer and Guy evaded the swing. "Why, bear!?" He cries out. He roared and swung sideways, Guy swerved downward.
"Oops~" Guy laughed half-heartedly. He continued to chase him. Meanwhile, Swamp held the Lapras magazine. He was staring, fingers violently shaking as he braced himself to take a further look from the cover. This beautiful Lapras...He found some urge about himself that was delayed because of his love for adventure. He looked at himself, he was a man so a man must... must... have the feel of a woman Pokémon onto his hands...
His fingers finally held the corner and Swamp turned the cover over.
...
Blood went out of his nose again. So... so... very... ecstatic...
"Give me back those mags that were lost!"
"Ahahaha~"
August 13th, 2020
3:35 p.m
International Police HQ
A pause in typing over on a desktop as an officer pinches between their eyes. "...So, to speak again... One member of WINGS has defected and his heart also has a Mega Stone implanted into it." Sunai looked over this topic, seeing that it was an old experiment done by Team Rocket with no success. It was abandoned yet still remembered as the test that took countless lives of Pokémon. Pokémon being used as livestocks... Livestocks that won't benefit themselves and anyone for their deaths...
"...This is long... a threat that we have little data to discern the danger to all..."
Mega Stones... Sunai looked around the library for more details about them. Just like Dynamax energy, the power Mega Stones had was unknown. Only thing that was known was that they came down like meteors and gave specific species a boost in power at the cost of the physical and mental strain it gave to the Pokémon and its trainer.
But nothing states about... this. Just like how they are trying to record how Dynacrystals still work even to this day.
"Ya lookin' for somethin', mate?" An officer asked.
"Hm?" Sunai turned to meet the officer. "Oh, indeed. Perhaps any information concerning more about this issue at hand." He turned to the first officer giving a summary of his explanation to the other. He eyed the other officer closely and at the nameplate on his left breast. This officer...Wasn't he supposed to be older? "And... it's nice to meet you, Mister... Finnegan."
"Yas, sir!" Finnegan replied. Does Finnegan have that kind of accent seen in some parts of Hoenn? "Hmm... a Hoenn native?"
He nodded. "I see." Sunai nods. He turns back to the shelves. "So, as to remind you... I am looking deep into how Mega Stones affect beings."
"...Ya know about Crystals?" Finnegan asked.
"...Crystals?" Sunai stops with one finger on a book cover.
"An anomalous object, somethin' where Magic come from."
"...In a way. There is some knowledge about it." Sunai replies.
"And it hafta meant an anomalous bein' gottem involved." Finnegan continued. "And somebody attracted 'em to us."
"Hm..." Finnegan looked at the book that describes reports about the Crystal. The reason why magic was back once again when it was lost in the old ages is that now only psychics can have those abilities that were similar to magic. "May I inquire as to why you bear an interest in Crystals?"
"Just mah curiosity, mate," Finnegan told him. "We both want ta 'elp this world, remembah? Gotta dig up tah unknown."
"Hm... I see." Sunai nods slowly.
"And can't look up tah fail tem."
"..." Sunai pulled a book out of the shelf and opened it.
"Ya forget those who died, right?" Finnegan continued. "Do ya feel bad if ya failed to protect tem? Discarding tem as if they're trash when ya don't wanna but forced for ya don't have a choice?"
"...That is correct for the first question." Sunai answers. "The following are mixed opinions." He flipped through a page. "...To remember the deceased, it is a weight in my perspective. Remembering them can cause someone to waver during a mission, which can cost them their life."
"Bein' a coward to accept their deaths and discard the memories," Finnegan muttered. "If ya held on too much, ya'll fail to grow. Seems like I can't follow what I can say. Will ya forget the one ya cared?"
"Then don't." a heartbroken Pentaster told him. "Seems you don't see me as I thought you'd do. You are forgetting why you live not for battle but as a living being. What will you do, when I die?"
Unable to move from the past...This gift helped you from moving on that will stop you from completing a mission. Sunai dismissed this notion but then he looked at the way he did a flip with a pen.
"...Where didja learn that?" Finnegan asked.
Only a silhoutte came to mind. "..." Sunai looked at his motion. "...Someone. I saw from someone."
"Huh...Someone yet ya can't remembah," Finnegan guessed. "Someone close and nevah bothah to remember. I guess ya had some fight with those against ya know. Some short-term satisfaction but in tah long run...Ya tearin' up?"
"...Hm?" He didn't notice it, but Sunai felt the tears leave his eyes for some reason.
"...Help ya in the short run 'n' not on tah lon' run," Finnegan answered. "Look, ya gotta point 'n' I accept tat. I just wanna give mah view to help ya understand what others are gettin' to."
"...I see." Sunai closed his eyes and brought a handkerchief to wipe his face clear of tears.
"Well, I gotta be on mah way," Finnegan told him. "Nice tah meet a membah of WINGS. It sucks that some still believed that stupid propahganda."
"...Hm..."
"Take care out there." Finnigan then left without saying another word.
"..." Sunai looked at his left hand. He held the book with his right hand and used two fingers to remove the glove covering his left hand. There was his Dynacrystal. Infused onto the back of his hand, where he can see it. It usually was out in the open, thus he had the glove to cover it to prevent others from seeing it clearly. He hid it again and looked over the files of Finnegan and why he knew too much.
"..." Finnegan's status, birthday, history of missions, and rank in the International Police. "...Interesting... Mr... 'Finnegan'."
According to them, Finnegan started out a few years ago, though progress through ranks has been slow. A reason for this was that he had been missing for a few days after one mission and turned back fine afterward. It did show that he appeared younger than before when looking at his picture when he first joined. Age: 20. He read again on the Crystal to get more information about something to know about Luigi's problem. Crystal...Where Magic all came from. Where did it originate? Was this theory of multiple worlds real like what happened when the Champion of the Alola region stopped Rainbow Rocket? Crystal...was it omnipotent?
The Dynacrystal and Eternatus Eternamax...The one Victor and Gloria defeated. Were they the same? Or was it... much more powerful than they had thought it was?
Many questions which beg to be answered... many answers wanting to be discovered...
August 13th, 2020
4:05 p.m.
WINGS HQ: Research Department
"Here's the research Commander requested to be passed to you." Claus sets a stack of research papers onto a desk where a researcher was analyzing an ore. They resumed their work, taking one paper and setting it in front of their viewing range and Claus headed off to pass the next set of research. Up next... was Glitch Atad. And filled up with that set of research was a certain magazine. He sighs internally. Must that duck be involved?
He stops in front of the door, where Glitch is usually housed in and he opens it with a flipper. Just as described... a large computer and multiple monitors attached to it. But the resident is nowhere to be seen as usual.
Claus headed over to the computer and looked at the keyboard. He was supposed to call for Glitch by sending in a message through the computer into that world of data. He hit a few keys and waited.
"..."
"..."
"..." No response?
He read the memo again and saw that he had to buy a "Special Item" only found in the Dark Web and Black Market. This "Special Item" was so infamous that no one dared to see it. Even Safka will be appalled seeing this. He reached down and pulled the "Special Item" from the stack, setting it on the desk.
He tapped again. This time, he saw something open from the side of the computer, a large, mechanical contraption transported out of the portal. And following after that, Glitch. "Good... afternoon."
"Oho, good afternoon." Glitch giddily greeted while his head jolted. Like what Porygon-Z were...Had some errors gone into their programming which showed over his wacky behaviour and eccentric personality.
Claus held the research material needed to be sent to Glitch. "The Commander has given these for you to look into." He pointed to the "Special Item" on the desk. On the cover, it depicts a Haxorus ontop of a Dragonite laid on his back. The Dragonite had his eyes half-lidded while he focused on the viewer with an embarrassed look on his face, an arm by the side of his head with his other arm seen on his thigh. His body is marked with whipped cream running down his bulky but muscular underbelly. As for the Haxorus, he had a lustful look, he hungered for the Dragonite's meat. Saliva dripped his mouth and hot breath escaped his mouth to taste the delicate breath of the Dragonite. His arms held the arm, to never let his prey go.
Glitch picked the magazine up and took a look inside it while Claus examined the machinery Glitch brought out. It was designed like a cylindrical base with a rounded top. There are tubes set around the top of the machine, some clear and some covered. There is an empty space in the middle of the machine, likely to house someone in. "What is this machine?" Claus asks.
"Trade-Trade Evo Machine!" Glitch showed some kind of dog-like creature with a weird face. "TEM for short."
"TEM?" Claus looked at it. "You made this?"
"No need to give away, evolve!" Glitch sang.
"How does it work?" Claus asks. He remembered some members are already at evolutions which required trade.
"Oho, biological construction not present in evolution and require another means to evolve..." Glitch showed the diagram of Brandt!? "First test subject, Brandt. Lots of def-defense."
"He... used it?" Claus was skeptical that Brandt would take it at face value.
"See this-this," he showed the diagram of Brandt as a Rhydon and a Protector. "Need to merge it not like stones do, for it won't stick bi-biology." Claus noticed a small capsule by the side of the TEM. It could fit something in... was that when they used the item that would help that Pokémon evolve? "There? You placed the Protector inside here?" He guessed.
Glitch nodded rapidly, recalling the day of testing the TEM on biological Pokémon...
March 8th, 2016
2:00 p.m.
WINGS HQ: Entrance to Datascape
"What did you call me in for?" Brandt asks. Back then, he was a Rhydon.
"Oho, TEM testing." Glitch flapped about.
"Uh...TEM?"
"Trade Evolution Machine!"
"Trade Evolution Machine? No way, I don't believe it..." Brandt shook his head. "How do you even evolve those without trading to someone?"
"Oho, merge merge..." Glitch showed the spherical object at the center along with some sort of box that glowed a mystical aura in it. "Using Link Cable."
"What's that?" He asks cautiously. "Are you sure it's safe?"
"Mad Scientist made it safe!" Glitch assured. "No death." Mad Scientist...Oh no, she helped in making it!?
"D-Death!?" He screamed.
"None~" Glitch took out Brandt's Ultra Ball.
"!?" He tried to escape but the light that would reduce his body into energy by using a special device created inside it to keep him inside, hit his leg. His entire body turned into energy and was sent inside the capsule. He placed the capsule on the platform and rapidly typed on the terminal to activate the machine.
The surroundings of the spacing glows and the Ultra Ball is lifted into the center of the spacing. Glitch fits the Link Cable into the capsule of the TEM and typed in a command. The capsule glows and the Link Cable soon disintegrates through the stream of data. Afterward, Glitch then fits a Protector inside and typed in the commands which the Protector disintegrates just as the Link Cable did before.
The Ultra Ball was greeted by several digital pulses, shaking and turning the sphere all about with bright flashes accompanying each and every pulse. All the while Glitch's arms were blurring around the terminal. The blurs soon come to a halt and he hits a button. The Ultra Ball stops in midair after violent tossing around in space... then it is greeted by relentless pulses of data bombarding it. Smoke clears out of the platform as the sounds soon come to a stop.
Glitch looked back at the empty capsule by the TEM's side and back at the platform where he heard a click. "What the holy!? Were you trying to kill me!?" A voice screams from the platform. "No death, my ass! I almost died there! Who in their right mind woul-"
A hand came out. A brownish-gray hand with three blunt gray fingers and a hole at the palm. "...Huh?"
"Rhy-Rhyperior~ Worked-Worked!" Glitch flapped and twirled around.
A few steps and instead of a Rhydon, a Rhyperior now stood there. "Hooooly... it works?" He felt himself a few times to confirm everything. New orange plates around his body like a bulletproof jacket, on his head, kneecaps and... uh, groin. And a boulder tail...
"I-It worked!"
"That's how, oho-ho!" Glitch seemed proud of it.
"I... I see..." Claus nods slowly. "And mostly since then... the others who wanted to evolve... went here?"
Glitch nodded rapidly and flew around dancing, singing the TEM song. 'He's a mad, crazy duck...' Claus thinks to himself. He already delivered the materials to Glitch, he should just finish up the job with the other members left. Claus turned and headed over to the door to leave.
Glitch flapped around after Claus left the room. He floats to the TEM to do a few fixes to it for maintenance, floats back to his chair, opens the magazine and places it... and gets to work.
His eyes become lines at the displayed pages.
August 13th, 2020
6:10 p.m.
Wings HQ: Commander's Office
Gardious looked at some reports. There wasn't any trace of presence since Luigi's defection from WINGS. Traitors... already experienced it since his youth. But this... felt different.
He looked at the window behind his desk, a bird's eye view of the courtyard, no pun intended. There are still those who lived part of WINGS, all doing their part of their lives. There were already some fixing the damages done on the fight in the afternoon. And he could see down at the courtyard, Aria Symphonia.
She was playing her flute, as he could hear with the slight gap he made from opening the window. Even as a Pokémon known to be a siren from the seas, her voice coming from her musical instrument was divinity. He remembered that day when the Professor brought back a frightened Popplio with the confirmation of a deceased parent while the other's whereabouts were unknown. And the shock received when her blood was analyzed.
She was different from the rest. Her Dynacrystal didn't even affect her blood like the rest but awakened something from within. The blood of a subcategory of a Legendary, a Mythical Pokémon. Her blood was half of the Mythical Pokémon, Meloetta.
A half-blooded Pokémon... It brought many Pokémon around her, likely before and after, an uncomfortable feeling. But in WINGS, she was given the life to not be uncomfortable of her own self and the others treated her like one of their own more quickly than they thought. She then quickly realized that her being half-blooded wasn't a curse like she had thought before but a gift to help them find comfort when they lose memories of the dead. To soothe the long-term pain. Music was such a wonderful thing. He would like to hear it for many days to come after all of these threats come to an end. He hoped to protect her life too.
Gardious heard a call from his desk and he turned. An alert. He headed over to it and pressed a button, hearing a voice from an installed speaker. "...The Battle Subway." He repeats with a nod. "Allow permission to operate the trains and track controls. Yes, a team will be dispatched for this threat."
He hears the call end and looks at the members that would fit the mission. "...We need Kinshot for one..." He analyses. All that was left to support Sunai were at least one more ranged fighter... A Terra Eater... What a dangerous Dulled... The other ranged fighters among them would be Lenna, Lusiane, Aria, Fran, Weiss, and Scorch. They would suffice.
But which of them would join him?
Chapter 21 Concluded