Dominance Ball

My offspring are being stolen from their rightful owners.

It is difficult to bear.

I believe there is a way I can lend my assisstance to those who fight back.

I will be able to remain here, while those of my choosing can use my power.

I know what I can do.

Kyle, Carol, Adrien, Jordan, and Noah all walked up to a small house on a quiet street not a long walk from the park they had left a few minutes ago. Their Pokemon had all been returned to their balls, save for Shine, who was still inside the Dominance ball. Adrien led the group to the front door; they had decided that he should be the one to do the talking, much to his dislike. However, it made the most sense. Adrien was the only one who knew Jordan's ex-friend and was not on bad terms with him at the same time.

Was ex-friend the right word? It had seemed to Kyle that he hadn't been Jordan's friend at all, just someone who followed him around like a lackey.

The group gathered on the front porch and Adrien knocked on the door. It soon opened, revealing the sagged face of a middle-aged man. Kyle assumed he was the father. Kyle could tell he was not at all pleased with the number of people on his welcome mat, as his face had scrunched when he saw them.

"What do you kids want?" The man grumbled.

Nobody said a word for a moment. Kyle bumped his arm against Adrien's, who jumped before realizing he was supposed to be speaking.

"Oh. H-hello," Adrien paused to clear his throat. "Hey. We're looking for Marcus. Is he home right now?"

Marcus, Kyle noted to himself. Jordan had told Kyle the guy's name earlier, but he had already forgotten it. He really needed to work on remembering names the first time he heard them.

Marcus's father's face scrunched up even more. "Marcus? Who are you people? Friends of his?"

"Yeah," Adrien said. "We need to talk to him."

"Eh," the man said. "Why don't you guys just text him or something?"

Adrien began rubbing his wrists. Kyle was beginning to realize that maybe he didn't do that because he was cold. Maybe Carol had been right, after all. Either way, he had to help out in some way so they could get into the house. This was not how they had envisioned the conversation going.

"We did text him," Kyle lied. "We let him know we were coming over. We need him to do something for us, and he can only do it here."

Marcus's father looked at Kyle like he was just now noticing his existence. "Is that right?" He asked. "Well I'm sorry to say, but I can't just let you invade my house. There are way too many of-"

"Eric?" A woman's voice called from inside the house. "Who's at the door? It's taking a long time to get them to go away."

Kyle heard Carol sigh.

Marcus's father-Kyle assumed he was the 'Eric' the woman had called-turned his head around but kept his body mostly facing Kyle's group. "They say they're friends of Marcus's!" He said.

There was a brief silence before Kyle heard someone running towards the door. Eric was practically shoved out of the way, making room in the doorway for a woman that looked like she would be Eric's wife and Marcus's mother. Her face was lit with joy. It made Kyle very uncomfortable, and he could tell it had the same effect on Adrien by the way he began to shrink back.

"Friends of Marcus!" She exclaimed. "Come in! Please! Come in! I'm so happy that you all came to see him!" She moved out of the doorway to make room for all of them.

Adrien turned around to look at the others. Kyle shrugged and Carol ushered Adrien inside. Jordan didn't look happy entering the house; it looked almost as if he had wished they'd be turned down.

Eric scowled as the five kids walked through the door. "Liz, we can't just-"

"Hold your tongue, Eric!" The woman snapped. "This is one of the few times Marcus's friends have come over. I never get to see what that boy's up to!"

Eric groaned, but it seemed like the battle was over. That was a relief.

"Goodness, I never would've expected there to be so many people he hangs out with!" Liz remarked. "He doesn't talk too much about you, see. He doesn't talk to us much at all, in fact." She looked over all of them, then frowned suddenly. "I didn't know he was spending his time with someone so young, though."

Kyle followed the woman's gaze and found Noah, still clutching the Dominance ball in his hand. He was shrinking down a little. Carol had said he didn't like these kinds of environments, but Noah had been determined to stay with them until he had Shine back.

"He's a lot older than he looks," Carol said quickly.

"Oh, really?" Liz asked, not suspiciously but with curiosity and surprise. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen," Noah said immediately.

Kyle tried to prevent himself from displaying any reaction at Noah's word. Really? He thought. You couldn't have possibly picked a younger age? Not even any of the rest of us are that old!

Luck must have been greatly allied with them, as Liz didn't make any further comment beside an "oh, I'm sorry I misjudged your age." Kyle couldn't believe it.

"Anyway," Adrien said. "We need to go talk to Marcus. Do you know where he is?"

"Hm?" Liz said, finally remembering why they had said they were there in the first place. "Oh! Yes, yes, go ahead. He's in his room. It's down that hall, second door on the right. I'll make some food for you." With that, she headed off to the kitchen.

The group walked down the hall and approached the indicated door. It was closed, and a sign that said KEEP OUT was posted on it.

"You know," Kyle commented, "This is probably the most stereotypical household with a teenager that I've ever been in."

"I mean, you're right," Jordan said. "But here's the thing. You also don't seem like the kind of guy who goes into a lot of houses other than his own."

Kyle paused. "Okay, sure. But it's still pretty stereotypical."

"Can we just get Shine fixed, please?" Noah asked politely but also insistently.

"Right, right," Kyle said. He turned to the others. "Should we knock?"

"Nah," Jordan said. "He'll just tell you to go away."

Kyle gestured for Adrien to proceed, and he sighed. He had probably been hoping that his assigned role had been forgotten by everyone else. Adrien grabbed the doorknob, twisted it, and pushed the door open in one smooth motion.

They filed into the messy room of Jordan's former friend. 'Messy,' was the word Kyle would have liked to use, but it was a bit of an understatement. Dirty clothes were strewn across the floor and the room could really have used some air freshener. The bed wasn't made and potato chip bags and other items relating to food helped the clothes cover the floor. There was a desk in the room was next to the bed, against the wall. This is where Marcus was sitting in a leather swivel chair. There were three different monitors displaying three different video games and a PC on the desktop.

Marcus was currently focused on playing a game on one of the monitors. He wore a pair of large headphones and was leaned forward, face very close to the screen. Adrien went forward and tapped on Marcus's shoulder to get his attention, making him jump. He ripped off the headset he wore and widened his eyes when he saw the number of people in his now very occupied room. Kyle hadn't been sure when he had looked more surprised: when he had seen Jordan in his room, or when he had seen Carol, a girl, in his room.

"What the-" Marcus said, face turning red. "What the hell?! What are you doing here? Wha-" He traced his finger from Kyle to Jordan, mouth open in disbelief.

"Hey," Adrien said. "Sorry for coming without telling you. We didn't think you'd want us here right now."

"Yeah, no shit!" Marcus said. "It's a Saturday! Today's meant for nothing but playing video games all day in my room!"

"Well, if you help us out, you can get right back to it," Kyle said.

"Help?" Marcus asked. "You guys need help with something?"

"Yeah," Adrien said.

"Don't tell me that's why you brought him," Marcus said, pointing at Jordan. "I'm not going to do anything if it's for him."

"No, it's not for him," Adrien said. "It's for him." He pointed behind him where an uncomfortable Noah stood with the Dominance ball in his hand.

Marcus tilted his head, confused. "Okay? What does he need?"

Carol urged Noah forward. Kyle and Adrien stepped aside so he could approach Marcus. Noah walked up to the boy with uncertainty. He stopped when he was a foot from Marcus's seat, and Marcus raised his eyebrows expectantly. After a moment, Noah reluctantly handed over the Dominance ball.

"What's this?" Marcus asked. "A Poke ball? I've never seen one like this before."

"Apparently," Adrien said, "It's called a Dominance ball."

"Is that it?" Marcus asked.

Adrien was about to continue before Carol cut in. "No," she said. We don't know how, but it can capture another trainer's Pokemon."

Marcus raised his eyebrows. "Wait. You mean you can steal Pokemon with this?" Marcus asked. He glared at Jordan. "Now I get it. That guy tried to steal your Pokemon, I take it? He never was satisfied with what he got."

Kyle felt Jordan tense next to him. Kyle sighed. "No," he said. "He didn't. Some other kid a few years older than us did. If it weren't for Jordan, the piece of trash actually would've gotten away with it."

Marcus didn't exactly look convinced, but he dropped it anyway. "So," he said, "What exactly do you want me to do?"

"You're good with engineering and programming, right?" Adrien asked. "I saw you do some cool stuff while we were hanging out."

"I mean, yeah," Marcus said. Then realization dawned on his face. "I see. You want me to try and deactivate the ball so you can free the Pokemon that was stolen."

"Exactly," Adrien said. "Can you do it?"

Marcus opened his mouth slightly, preparing to say something else. Kyle was ready. He put his hand in his pocket where his wallet was. They had all predicted that this service wouldn't be for free; they were sure that Marcus would demand a price.

However, Marcus looked at all of their faces, especially Carol's and Noah's hopeful ones, then sighed and closed his mouth. He turned his chair around and pulled something from a drawer in his desk. It looked to Kyle like some kind of weird device with one long wire and a suction cup attached to what looked like a hard drive with a USB port.

"Don't ask me how I got this," Marcus said, "Cause it sure as hell wasn't through legal means."

Kyle frowned slightly. He's not asking for money. Kyle then remembered how Marcus had been the one who had tried to put out the fires Jordan had started in the woods. Maybe he did have an honorable personality, though Kyle never would've seen it coming.

"What is that?" Carol asked.

"I don't have an actual name for it," Marcus said. "I found schematics for it one time when I was-" he paused for a moment. "When I was doing some digging into CPP files."

"You mean you hacked in?" Kyle asked.

"I mean," Marcus thought for a second. "Yeah. That's exactly what I did."

"That's illegal, isn't it?" Noah asked.

"Yes, it is," Marcus said before anyone else could say anything. "But right now, it's going to save you and your Pokemon's asses."

Carol did not look pleased with the amount of cursing Marcus was doing in front of Noah. She couldn't afford to complain about it, though. He was, after all, helping them, and without a cost at that.

"Anyway," Marcus said, attaching the suction cup of the device to the button on the Dominance ball, "It can be used to deregister Pokemon from their Poke balls. The device is sort of half of what the CPP is planning on making. They're trying to design a device that allows Pokemon to be traded among trainers."

"Really?" Kyle said. "I didn't think a lot of people wanted to trade their Pokemon. It kind of takes away from the experience of raising your own."

"Well, a lot of people will finally be getting Pokemon when they become more available," Marcus said. "Those new trainers might want to trade once they receive their Pokemon. Just as an example, some people might want a Spinarak rather than a Phantump and vice versa, or something like that."

"So what?" Jordan asked. "This device just makes it so that the Pokemon becomes wild?"

"Right," Marcus said. He seemed a little annoyed that Jordan was speaking.

"Hopefully, it will just default back to Noah's Poke ball," Carol said.

"Maybe," Marcus said plugging the USB into his computer. "Do you know if his Poke ball is still registered to his Pokemon?"

"We don't know," Kyle said.

"Well, once I connect this ball to my computer with the device, we should be able to see how it works," Marcus said. He launched a program on his computer. Everyone watched closely. A loading screen came up for a moment until the progress bar was full. A new page came up on the monitor with different options.

"Okay, here we go," Marcus said. He clicked the 'properties' option. He spent a few moments looking over the coding that had come up when he had clicked the option. Kyle couldn't understand what was on the screen, so he had to wait for Marcus to finish examining it.

"That's crazy," Marcus said after a moment.

"What's crazy?" Noah asked. "I can't understand any of that."

"You were definitely right," Marcus said. "This Poke ball here is designed to capture a registered Pokemon. It has a program inside of it that allows it to cancel all registrations previously assigned to it. In other words, this kid's Pokemon is no longer registered to his Poke ball."

"How is that even possible?" Carol asked. "Can you see?"

Marcus read a bit more of the coding. "You all know how a Poke ball works, right?" He asked.

"Sure," Kyle said. "It detects the very specific essence of a Pokemon when it hits the exterior of the ball with enough force. It then shrinks this essence so that the Pokemon can fit inside the ball, and the registration process begins. The ball has tech inside that adds a certain code to their very DNA once captured. This code belongs to the trainer that captured it, which makes the Pokemon loyal to the trainer. When a different ball is thrown at a registered Pokemon, the ball reads this code and simply bounces off."

"Right," Marcus said. "But with this 'Dominance' ball, as you called it, it's a different case. It completely ignores the code placed on a registered Pokemon and captures it anyway. It then uses tech that harms the Pokemon so that it's too weak to resist. It completely erases any registration codes placed on it and creates its own. The Pokemon will then become loyal to whoever the code is registered to, just like a regular Poke ball."

"That's insane," Adrien said.

"Yeah," Marcus said. "Fortunately, all we need to do is get rid of the code in your Pokemon's system and everything will be fixed." Marcus tapped a few keys and another progress bar came up. This one took a few minutes to finish filling. Noah looked anxious the entire time the bar was moving.

Poor kid, Kyle thought. I'd hate it if this kind off thing ever happened to Eve.

Finally, it was done. Marcus closed the program and detached the device from the Dominance ball. Almost immediately, the ball opened and Shine sprung from its depths in a flash of light. Marcus yelped and retreated. Everyone else moved as close as they could to the walls of the room. They didn't have to move very much.

He said it's not registered to Noah's Poke ball anymore! Kyle thought, pressing his back against the wall. Which means its wild. That's not good for us. It'll probably want to try and escape.

Noah stayed in the middle and stared Shine down, cautious but unyielding. After a few brief moments, Shine leaped through the air, heading straight for Noah's chest. Kyle thought it was trying to use Headbutt on Noah, but instead, Noah simply caught the Aron in his arms, laughing. Shine looked happy, too.

"Wait, what?" Jordan asked as Noah held Shine joyfully against his chest. "Isn't it supposed to be wild?"

Kyle thought for a moment as everyone began to relax. It seemed Adrien was doing the same. Both realized what had happened at the same time and the two friends exchanged glances.

"It's still wild," Adrien said.

Kyle nodded. "They just had such a strong bond that Shine's still attached to him."

Marcus raised his eyebrows. "Is that so? I guess the Pokemon still retains its memory after having multiple codes placed on it."

"Still," Jordan said as Noah captured Shine in his Poke ball, making it his again. "That kinda worries me. They have such a strong bond, and yet the Dominance ball was able to make the Aron attack its former trainer."

Everyone fell silent. Kyle imagined Eve, with all their experiences, turning on him like that. "You're right," he said. "That is something to worry about."

"Alright, well," Marcus said. "If you'd all excuse me, I have other things to attend to." He turned back to his computer and re-opened his video game.

"That's it?" Carol asked. "You don't want anything for helping us?"

Marcus turned back around and examined Carol's face. He looked at Noah, who was still smiling to himself. Marcus smirked. "Nah, you don't have to give me anything."

Carol raised her eyebrows. "You know, I never expected you to be this nice, based on everything else I've heard and seen."

Jordan chuckled. "It's because you're a girl and Noah's a kid," he said. "But mostly because you're a girl."

"Shut up!" Marcus snapped as everyone laughed a little. "Alright," Marcus said. "I changed my mind. Jordan has to give me a dollar for this."

Jordan snorted. Everyone turned to look at him. Jordan looked around, surprised that everyone was expecting him to actually pay. He turned to Kyle, who just shrugged. Jordan sighed and took out his wallet. He took two bills and handed them to Marcus.

"Hey, you gave me two," Marcus said. "You stupid?"

"The first was for your service," Jordan said. "The second was for sticking around with such a dick."

Marcus grinned. "That won't quite give you your redemption." He went back to his game. "It's a start though," he added. Marcus picked up the Dominance ball on the desk. "Who wants it? I don't want this thing in my room. Too much damned contraband in here already."

"I'll take it," Kyle said. Marcus tossed him the ball. Kyle caught it and put it in his pocket next to Eve's Poke ball.

The group said their goodbyes to Marcus and his parents. They were all able to have a bit of food Marcus's mother had made before departing. It had actually been pretty good. Kyle was munching on a cheese bread as the group walked into the street.

It was still light out, though it had been darker than it had been while they were in the park. Kyle looked up to the gray sky, thinking.

I didn't get any battles in today, he thought. There might still be some people left for me to go up against.

"I'm going to head back to the park," Kyle told his friends. "I want to get in a few fights before the day's over."

"I'm taking Noah home," Carol said. "After all of this, I'm done for the day. We can meet up tomorrow."

Kyle nodded, and Noah didn't look like he wanted to complain.

"I'll go with you," Adrien said. "I only got one battle in. We can go against each other if you want."

There was still someone who hadn't said anything. Jordan was looking at the space in the middle of the group.

"You want to come along, Jordan?" Adrien asked.

Jordan looked up with a surprised expression at being invited. He glanced at Kyle. "I mean, do you guys-" Jordan stopped mid-sentence. Kyle could barely notice it, but he saw that Jordan winced slightly as he cut himself off. He then said, "I think I'll head home, actually," he said. Kyle raised his eyebrows. He had been a little forceful when he said that. It reminded him of his image of Jordan before today.

"I'll see you guys," Jordan said before walking in the direction they had come from.

"Jordan," Kyle said after some distance had been placed between them, "Hold up." Kyle jogged over to his former enemy.

"Yeah?" Jordan asked. "What do you want?"

Kyle grimaced. Did his tone just switch like that all the time? He thought back to what Adrien had said, how Jordan apparently had multiple persona's. Was he talking to the one he was familiar with? The one who tried to take Eve away from him?

"I-" Kyle stopped. Am I really about to do this? He thought. Damn! Why does it have to feel so humiliating? "I just… wanted to say thanks," he said. "For what you did today. You really helped us out. All I did was trip in the snow. You were able to catch that guy, and get him to talk, and get us a way to return Shine to normal."

Jordan stiffened. "Sure, whatever," he said. He continued to walk away, but Kyle thought he saw the edge of a smile on his face as he did so.

He confirmed that it was a smile when the corner of his mouth crawled up his face even more after Noah called out, "Thanks for helping Shine!"

When Jordan was out of view, the rest of the group continued walking until they had to split. Carol and Noah went one way, and Kyle and Adrien went another. They each waved their goodbyes to each other. Kyle and Adrien kept on to the park in quiet.

Kyle thought about his deal with Carol. Now might actually be a good time to ask what's going on with him, Kyle thought as he glanced at Adrien walking beside him. He opened his mouth to ask.

"I wonder how many other people have Dominance balls," Kyle said. What? Why didn't I ask about how he's doing?

"Yeah, you're right," Adrien said. "I'm guessing a lot, but no more in our area. That guy was probably the only one around here who got it. He said that they were distributed to people everywhere in the country. I'm not sure how many of those things Team Dominion was able to make, but I'm guessing they'll be continuing to make and distribute them over the next few weeks. Maybe even the next few months." He looked at Kyle's jeans pocket. "You might want to get rid of that, by the way," he said.

"I have an idea on how to do that, actually," Kyle said. He realized that he couldn't ask about Adrien. It was too hard for him. "This one CPP professor and I have been in touch ever since I named Eve's special move."

"That's right," Adrien said. "Judgement. Are you going to tell him about the Dominance ball?"

"Yeah," Kyle said. "Hopefully, he'll give me an address I can send it to. Then they can come up with something that helps the future victims of this thing."

"The research thing, though?" Adrien asked. "It's going well?"

Kyle nodded. He had been ecstatic when the CPP had told him that he would be paid if he provided any valuable research information. He had already been given a fair sum of money for discovering Judgement, which his family had been extremely happy about. However, besides being able to use Judgement, Eve had so far proven to be like any other Eevee. Kyle still sent in weekly reports on Eve's development and he would send an extra message if the Eevee showed any new signs of largely deviating from other Pokemon.

"They let me make the description of Judgement, too," Kyle said. "You can find the move in the CPP database, though I'm the only known trainer with a Pokemon that knows it."

"No one else has shown up?" Adrien asked.

Kyle shook his head. "It's making the CPP think I really am the only one, especially since I found Eve where the second Arceus had struck. I can tell they really want to bring Eve in for research, but they understand that it belongs to me. It's fine, though. They seem satisfied that I can study it while training and raising it. It's probably the best way to research it, in my opinion."

Adrien nodded. The two were coming up on the park they had left a few hours ago. There were still a few trainers battling there, which relieved Kyle. He had been hoping the Pokemon wouldn't be too beat up by the time they got there.

"Alright, you want your rematch?" Adrien asked.

"Oh, yeah. I'm totally going to kick your ass this time."

Many hours after the victor of Kyle and Adrien's battle had been decided, a phenomenon was occurring many miles away. It was an isolated location, a forest, one where no human was in sight for miles. It was here that had been decided to be the place where the third Acreus would fall.

There were many birds and bird Pokemon in this area; they were all perched on the trees of the area. A wild Talonflame watched from above the forest, flapping its large red wings. It was the most powerful Pokemon in the area, and the others would fear for their lives when it went on the hunt. The scorching Pokemon caught sight of the prey it was looking for and swooped down to grab it in its talons. It caught a normal bird and headed to a branch to feast on its meal.

A hole appeared in the sky. It appeared to be made entirely of white light. This whiteness spilled down from the hole onto the forest. Many birds and other Pokemon began to fly away, but not Talonflame. It wanted to finish its meal, and it wouldn't let a little light give it pause.

The light washed over it, and suddenly Talonflame felt a sense of duty. It command had popped into its head, and it was more than willing to comply. It let its food drop to the ground below. Talonflame removed itself from its perch to fly towards the power it sensed that had descended from the sky.

I have something for you to do, said a voice in Talonflame's head. I need you to take these to him. A picture suddenly appeared in Talonflame's head, along with a location.

As Talonflame approached the power it felt, it saw an item on the ground. It looked to Talonflame like some kind of package made of leaves. Without hesitation, it grabbed the package with its talons and flew off where the feeling in its head directed.

You must make haste, the voice said as Talonflame was about to fly outside of the light. They need to stop them as soon as possible.

Talonflame used Tailwind to give itself more speed as it burst free of the Arceus. It flapped its wings as hard and fast as it could as it streaked through the air like a shooting star. Based on how far away its destination was, it would be a few days before it arrived.

Kyle turned over in his bed late at night. He thought about Noah's Aron almost being stolen and the CPP facility robberies and raids. He thought about Team Dominion.

I wish I could do more about it, he thought regretfully.