Chapter Eight: The Champion
Location: Castelia Sewers, near Castelia City, Unova
Cheren was running in the shallow water of the Castelia Sewers. Once, this fairly feces-free area of the sewers that connected Castelia City to southwest Unova was a place where he and his friends had come to explore. Now, Cheren was running for his life, his faithful Stoutland running by his side, purely to deter anyone chasing him.
Cheren couldn't quite see who it was, but whoever was chasing him, they knew their way around the sewers. He had noticed someone had been following him in Virbank City and had tried to give them the slip after disembarking from the ship after arriving at Castelia, believing that not many people knew about the particular entrance. But now, Cheren's unseen pursuer was closing in, based on the footsteps he kept hearing, the splashing of the water echoing around the empty tunnels.
After several minutes of running, Cheren came across a ladder leading to the surface. If Holon Security was truly after him, they would have even better luck there, but at least he could try to blend in the crowd, maybe catch a bus somewhere, hopefully to the countryside. Grabbing the ladder, Cheren turned to Stoutland.
"Hold them off!" he told the canine Pokémon. "I'll be back for you."
It hurt to say, as Cheren knew this would likely be the last time he would see this Pokémon for a while. But sacrifices had to be made. It was either him and all of his Pokémon or just one of them. Stoutland just barked affirmatively and turned around, not losing faith in its trainer for a second.
But before Stoutland could even get ready for attack, a massive orange Pokémon dashed from around the corner and pinned it to the ground. As Cheren was already climbing up the ladder, he turned around in shock when he recognized the Pokémon.
"An Emboar?!" he exclaimed. "But that's-"
His next word was cut off by a crossbow bolt hitting the side of his leg. Yelping in pain, Cheren lost his grip on the ladder and fell into the shallow water, his clothes soaked. Pathetically writhing on all fours, trying to pull himself up, Cheren looked up at the person who had been chasing him as they made their way to him calmly, crossbow at the ready.
"Hey, buddy," Hilda said, aiming the crossbow right at Cheren's head.
~o~O~o~
Location: Pallet Town, Kanto
A small entourage hopped out of Blaine's van in the small rural town of Pallet in southwest Kanto. Blaine himself immediately turned his nose up jumping out of the driver's seat, believing it was a waste of his time coming there. Leaf followed suit, coming out from the other side, but looked at the house they had pulled over next to with a strange, melancholy look on her face. Iris and Wes came out of the back as well, looking around them.
The house was the home of the mythical Pokémon trainer Red. The late near-mythical Pokémon trainer Red, unfortunately. And only a small handful of people knew of his passing. Leaf had taken the responsibility of informing Red's mother about this, being close friends with him around the time he had become the Indigo League Champion.
"Let me handle this," Leaf told the others quietly. "I don't think she would want a huge group rushing in at this time."
"Totally feeling you," Blaine grunted, clearly not interested himself. "We'll just wander around here, I guess. I have a bad feeling about this town."
"You say that about everything," Wes said, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, remember when we were staying here while trying to find the plates of origin?" Iris said.
Blaine exhaled dramatically. "Arceus, that feels like years ago… but it hasn't even been a year since then. Time has stopped being a concept for me these past few months. But I don't like that professor Oak, he's too close to the Pokémon League, and even if we're not wanted, people still want us dead, remember that!"
"So what should we do then?" Iris asked, dejected to hear that sight-seeing was out of the question.
"Keep a low profile and just… I dunno, use your imagination!" Blaine snapped. "I'm getting the car prepped, I need to do a thorough check on the engine if we're going to make it out of this place and to our next hideout."
"More hidin', huh?" Wes muttered to Iris. "Didn't have enough of that yet."
But, once again, it was pointless to argue with Blaine, so Iris and Wes started walking around the nearby park. Pallet Town was a very serene place, mainly surrounded by farmland, with most of the people there being either farmers or people working for Professor Oak. The professor had a large laboratory with a sprawling natural reserve for Pokémon on its grounds, which encompassed hundreds of acres of the town. Though Iris and Wes didn't want to go too close to the lab, afraid someone would recognize them, they headed to a nearby hill in hopes of seeing it from there, chatting as they walked.
"I would love to see your home in better shape," Wes told Iris as they climbed up the hill. "Maybe it will be one day?"
"I don't know," Iris sighed. "Before we left, I made big promises again. As a Gym Leader, I should be able to appeal to the Pokémon League and stop what's happening to the village, but…"
"But what?" Wes asked curiously.
Stopping, Iris looked at Wes, a serious look on her face. "Do I even want to be a Gym Leader anymore?" she asked Wes. "Think about how corrupt the Pokémon League is. How the Pokémon Association is spending so much money to chase us for something we didn't do! Or how much time and effort they spent on besmirching Red. And what did he get for all his efforts?"
"Iris…" Wes said, holding the girl's hand when she was getting so worked up there were tears in her eyes.
"I… I thought I'm getting towards the goal I wanted," she said, "but what if I'm just playing in their favor? What if I'm helping this - this system - thrive even more by participating in it?"
"So what are you gonna do then?" Wes asked with a shrug. "You're changing things from within!"
"Maybe," Iris said. "Or maybe… I'm just telling myself that."
The two had arrived at the top of the hill while walking. Almost the whole town was visible on this clear fall day, with many trees having already dropped their leaves. The reserve on the grounds of Oak's lab was full of hundreds of Pokémon, with many more probably behind the hills.
"Huh," Wes said after the two had observed the view in silence for a bit. "Y'know, this town ain't half bad."
Iris smiled. "The war going on hasn't reached here yet," she said. "And if it's up to me, it never will."
Wes glanced at Iris briefly. He still remembered his first meeting with this excitable, constantly cheerful student. It was hard to imagine her being the same person as the serious-faced young woman standing next to him right now.
~o~O~o~
After getting his work done on the car, Blaine had also walked to the nearby park and sat on a park bench. If anyone would start something with him, perhaps recognizing him from being one of those infamous outlaws on the news, he had his trusty cane-gun and his fire-type Pokémon, more than enough for these country bumpkins. But no one even walked past him, and most people in this sleepy town probably had better things on their mind.
Blaine let his neck rest on the back of the bench as he stared at the clear sky. Minutes passed slowly in silence, with only the singing of the Pidgey heard faintly in the background. Blaine took solace in this moment, as it was one of the few he would probably have in a long time.
"This seat taken?" the sound of an older man came from next to him.
Blaine grunted in affirmation. He was mildly annoyed that someone would just sit next to him in a nearly empty park, but was too relaxed to mind.
"A nice handshake would be in order," chuckled the man who had sat next to him, "given what we just went through together back in Unova."
Blaine frowned and turned to look at the man - it was Alder, the large Unova Champion with long, blazing red hair, wearing his casual clothes and poncho again. Laughing at Blaine's surprised expression, Alder slapped him on the shoulder.
"I was hoping you'd still be here!" he guffawed loudly, but quickly went serious as he inched closer to Blaine on the bench. "I have something to tell you."
"Please tell me you found that harpy Lusamine and she's locked up," Blaine said, having had enough bad news for a while.
"She's in the wind, I'm afraid!" Alder sighed. "She's not at the Aether Paradise, I organized a team to raid it but it looks like they anticipated it, the place was almost empty. Not too surprising, they got like three new buildings in different parts of the world just in the past month."
"Worth a shot, at least," Blaine said. "Anything else?"
Alder chuckled joylessly. "Yeah, I almost lost my head coming here!" he said. "While that team was hitting Alola, I went to get my things at the Unova Pokémon League and tried to talk to the Elite Four. Place was totally empty, and when I tried to leave, guess who tried to assassinate me!"
"The man at the grassy knoll?"
Alder showed Blaine a picture on his PokéGear - a roughly 30-year old man in a suit with glasses and slick hair combed all the way back. Guy looked more like a hotel receptionist than an assassin.
"Doesn't ring a bell," Blaine said.
Slightly annoyed by Blaine's breezy attitude, Alder showed Blaine another picture. "That's Darach, the personal butler of Lady Caitlin from the Unova Elite Four - look!"
The other picture was of a young woman with very long blonde hair wearing pink clothes, yawning and looking like she just woke up.
"Hey, her I know," Blaine said thoughtfully. "She's also a member of the-"
"The Legendary Pokémon Society," Alder grunted. "They've been trying to recruit me for years, but I had enough on my plate already. That, and I always found them way too secretive. Well, Caitlin herself made the latest invitation not too long ago, and she was really trying to push the issue. She implied it had something to do with what happened to Leon of Galar, or Diantha of Kalos."
Blaine sat up straight, eyes fixed on Alder.
"So that's what they're doing!" he exclaimed. "Every Champion in the world will have two choices. Join them, or…"
"Or get Darach'd in the back," Alder agreed, showing Blaine a sharp dagger. "He tried to stab me with this. I only survived because I was lucky, but he got away before I could get any information from him. We have to get a warning to Kris and Lyra! They went to Johto to talk to the Society, right?"
Blaine grunted in annoyance. "Easier said than done," he growled. "I can't even get a hold of professor Elm. The lines of communication between Kanto and Johto are dead!"
"Is this seat taken?" another voice, this time that of a woman's, asked.
"Yes!" Blaine and Alder said in unison, not even turning to look, fixated on their conversation.
"I don't know how they are connected with Lusamine and the Aether Foundation," Alder said, "but I'm going to find out!"
"You need to hide!" Blaine protested. "You're even more of a target than we are! They want us captured, but they want you dead!"
"I can't care about that!" Alder argued. "I have a plan! Now that I have Marshal at my side again, the two of us can get everyone from our old unit together, maybe with some new recruits as well. We can hit the Aether Foundation, Holon Security and everyone else with everything we've got and force someone to reveal what's going on!"
"The two of you," the woman on the bench interrupted harshly from behind Alder, "are very perceptive for a couple of old washouts."
Blaine and Alder turned to look and immediately hopped off the bench when they saw the woman - she had glasses, lavender hair and an immaculate business suit, someone Blaine in particular had a very bad experience with.
"You," Blaine hissed.
"Chairperson Sird!" Alder gasped. "What-"
"Darach has been punished for his failure, I assure you," Sird said calmly as she sat on the bench with her legs crossed, looking dignified. "But if anything, you surviving was a stroke of luck for us. You led us right here, to the company of our dear runaways."
Blaine was reaching for his cane while Alder was about to grab a Poké Ball from his necklace, but Sird only lifted a finger in the air.
"Now, now," she said. "Let's not be too hasty. With the snap of my finger, I can reduce the lovely population of this town to ashes."
As if on cue, loud rumbling could be heard overhead as two automatically controlled drones flew overhead. Blaine suspected they were also carrying something that could make Sird's threat a reality.
"You're willing to do that while you're still here?!" Alder shouted.
"I would survive it," Sird said. "But it would be a rather painful, drawn-out experience for everyone. I'm willing to use a little bit of finesse when it comes to this…"
Sird pulled something from her pocket - a Poké Ball, slightly larger than normal, dark blue instead of red and covered in yellow markings. Blaine instantly recognized it, and without even hesitating, drew out his cane, revealing the shotgun barrel at the bottom. Blaine fired, but despite the impressive muzzle flash and loud boom, the actual shot seemed to bounce off an invisible force field around Sird.
"Did you really think I was bluffing?" she said with a smile, completely unharmed, then turned to look at the Poké Ball. "Come out," she said softly.
Blaine pulled Alder with him and retreated as something materialized from the Beast Ball. Something truly monstrous, a humongous, black Pokémon with a spherical body. Most of the center of its body seemed to be a gigantic mouth with rows of sharp yellow teeth and a blue, spiky tongue. As the monster opened its mouth even more, two tentacle-like appendages with mouths at the end emerged.
"You know what this is, don't you, doctor?" asked Sird, though Blaine and Alder couldn't even see her from behind the monstrous Pokémon. "UB-05, also known as Guzzlord! Get a good look at that massive mouth, gentlemen - that will be your final resting place!"
~o~O~o~
While waiting for Blaine, Wes and Iris had been sitting on the grass, leaning on a nearby tree while chatting. Wes suddenly woke up, realizing they both had dozed off. He turned to look, seeing Iris leaning on him, snoring softly, which made him smile.
The smile was quickly wiped off his face as he heard a loud crash from nearby, followed by people screaming. The noise woke up Iris too, both of them quickly standing up. They only had to glance at each other and nod, agreeing silently to rush back to where they had come from.
Only a few minutes of running later, the two saw what happened. The Ultra Beast Guzzlord, having only seen it in pictures and as a brief glimpse in Lavender Town during the Ultra Beasts' arrival. Now, the monster was only a few dozen meters away. Blaine's Magmortar and Alder's Volcarona were using their fire attacks to keep Guzzlord away, but it only slowed down the massive Ultra Beast a little bit, doing next to nothing to hurt it.
"Guzzlord!" Wes shouted as he and Iris stopped to assess the situation.
"Okay, we got an Ultra Beast situation," Iris said quickly, trying to stay calm. "You learned about these things, right? What's this one's weakness? How do we stop it?"
"Aww, man," Wes said, scratching his head impatiently. "All those lectures are a blur to me right now… let's just kick it's ass!"
"Doubt that thing has one," Iris muttered.
Wes sent out his Zebstrika and quickly hopped on its back, grabbing Iris with him. To close the distance quickly, the two rode over to help Blaine and Alder.
"About time!" Blaine snapped angrily when he saw Iris and Wes. "While you were out having fun, Iris, your region's so-called Champion drew all this heat to us!"
But Alder didn't have time to rise up to Blaine's anger as one of Guzzlord's pincers grabbed his Volcarona and pulled the Pokémon towards its mouth, as if it was really going to eat the large bug-type whole. Shouting in fear and rage, Alder tried withdrawing Volcarona, but Guzzlord's pincers somehow blocked the Poké Ball's beam.
"Zebstrika, Thunderbolt on the right pincer!" Wes commanded. "Uh, my right, not its!"
Zebstrika's powerful electric blast loosened Guzzlord's grip, but also hit Volcarona, knocking the Pokémon out.
"Wes!" Iris scolded.
"No, he did the right thing!" Alder shouted as he managed to recall Volcarona and return it to the Poké Ball. "Thank you!" he told Wes. "How did we take this thing out?"
"It's got the qualities of a dark-type, I believe," Blaine said. "There was very little time to study it so all I got to work on were notes from the Aether Foundation. Its skin is both highly durable and incredibly elastic, so brute-force attacks are not gonna cut it. We need to take out those pincers!"
"No chance!" said a voice behind the group. "You're gonna be that thing's takeout first!"
Iris and Wes turned to look, and Wes' face went pale. Three people had arrived - Nascour, the tall, thin man with long, wiry gray hair and red eyes; Miror B, the even taller man with a large Poké Ball -shaped afro and Venus, a brown-haired woman in a pink dress whose face was partially covered by a pink veil.
"Now I believe Guzzlord ate me and I'm hallucinating," Wes grumbled, "because no way I'm this unlucky."
"It is indeed an unfortunate day for you, Wesley!" proclaimed Nascour while Venus and Miror B grinned behind him. "I was ready to let bygones be bygones, but Madam Sird wants you, well - bye, gone!"
Wes shook his head. "Leave the quips to me," he said in contempt. "So, when Cipher fell, you guys went to work for the Pokémon Association? Once a hired thug, always a hired thug."
"We've been working for them for years, Wes, I told you we'd get our highly paid gigs soon~" crooned Miror B. "And the offices are on the way, baby!"
"Sure, or Sird will decide you cost too much and eventually you'll be in that thing's belly!" Wes scoffed before turning to Iris. "Let me deal with these losers! You guys take care of the Ultra Beast!"
"All three of them?" Iris asked.
"Wouldn't be the first time," Wes chuckled. "I go way back with these guys."
"And you have not beaten us a single time, Wesley boy," Venus taunted. "Let's dance!"
Venus sent out her Wigglytuff while Miror B pulled two Poké Balls out of his afro, sending out two Ludicolo who instantly broke into a synchronized dance routine. Nascour didn't send out a Pokémon just yet, however.
"Guzzlord!" he yelled at the Ultra Beast instead. "When we come back, I want to hear the rest of these fools gurgling in your stomach! This is an order from Madam Sird!"
Wes hopped on Zebstrika's back and guided it to jump over Nascour and his goons, running away further to Pallet Town and towards what Wes knew would be some seaside cliffs. It seemed to work, as Nascour, Venus, Miror B and their Pokémon ran after him.
Meanwhile, left to deal with the Ultra Beast, Iris sent out her Goodra. She commanded it to use Sludge Bomb, but Guzzlord only had to open its gigantic maw even wider and the attack was simply vaccuumed into its stomach without much effect at all.
"All right, then," Iris said, frustrated that she didn't have any idea what kind of enemy she was fighting. "Goodra, Body Slam on the pincer! Keep it down!"
"Good idea!" Blaine said. "Magmortar, attack the other pincer directly! Use Fire Punch!"
If what Blaine said was true, physical attacks directly against Guzzlord's body would do very little, but its pincers didn't have the same elastic cover on them and were thin enough to be structural weak points. With Goodra and Magmortar keeping the pincers at bay, Iris was able to sneak around the Ultra Beast and to its side. She was desperate to get any kind of information, any kind of clue she could use to defeat the beast.
As she made it to the base of one of Guzzlord's short, stubby legs, she closed her eyes and placed her hand lightly against it, hoping such a gentle touch wouldn't be noticed by the Ultra Beast. So far, Guzzlord was busy battling, allowing Iris to try and concentrate.
"Iris, what are you doing?!" Alder yelled in alarm, noticing Iris next to Guzzlord. "Get out of there!"
But Blaine pulled Alder's arm, shaking his head at him. "Trust her," he grunted. "She knows what she's doing. Help in the fight instead, 'Champion'!"
Mildly annoyed by how deliberately unimpressed Blaine was acting with him, Alder sent out his Bouffalant next. Alder ordered the large Pokémon to use Head Charge, and Bouffalant quickly rushed and rammed against the small part of Guzzlord's body between its legs and mouth, but just as Blaine had predicted, Bouffalant just bounced back as if it had tried to hit a giant rubber ball.
Meanwhile, Guzzlord seemed to have noticed Iris and lifted its leg up to try and stomp her into the ground. Blaine and Alder both yelled at her to move, but it was unnecessary, as Iris' reflexes were faster. Having had a lot of experience in getting around the forests around her village, Iris rolled out of harm's way easily.
"I know now!" she yelled. "It's not just a dark-type - Guzzlord is also a dragon-type!"
Blaine frowned as Iris ran back to him. "You sure?" he asked when Iris arrived.
"I know dragons, and even though it may not look like it, the feeling I'm getting is exactly the same," Iris said excitedly. "Trust me, we need to focus on that part-"
But Guzzlord interrupted their talking with a booming, disgusting belching sound, followed by purple liquid shooting from its mouth. It splashed on Magmortar, Goodra and Bouffalant, causing them all to slip and fall while burns appeared all over their body where the liquid had hit.
"Arceus!" Alder screamed. "Bouffalant, get up! Look out for the pincers!"
The oldest and strongest of the three Pokémon, Bouffalant was able to get up first. When Guzzlord used its pincers to try and bite its enemies, Bouffalant quickly jumped and headbutted the pincers away, scraping them with its horns.
"If that's the case," Blaine grunted, "I'm not gonna be much help here."
Iris smiled. "You did a lot already, but as far as battling goes, I think you should help Wes!" she said. "Let me and Alder deal with this!"
Blaine withdrew Magmortar, sending out his much faster Arcanine instead. Before leaving, Blaine tossed Iris a Beast Ball, having explained its functions to her earlier. Blaine then nodded at Iris, and he and his Arcanine began running after the Orrean mercenaries. But while Iris was distracted, Guzzlord used its pincers as whips, slamming Goodra once in the stomach and once in the head, bringing the large, slimy dragon-type down. Iris quickly withdrew it and sent Haxorus out instead. Haxorus was primarily a close-quarters brawler, which would not be beneficial in Guzzlord's case, but Iris had a plan.
"Mr. Alder," Iris told the Champion, who seemed confused about the unnecessary politeness. "Just keep on guiding your Bouffalant. I want it to keep those pincers busy, but don't let it get too close. I have a plan!"
Alder, more used to giving orders than taking them, looked dumbfounded at the face of this assertive little Pokémon trainer, but then smiled and gave Iris an encouraging thumbs up.
"Haxorus!" Iris told her most powerful Pokémon. "See that big ball of bile? We're gonna knock it off its feet!"
~o~O~o~
Wes was leading the mercenaries away on his Zebstrika, past the populated areas of the town and towards the seaside cliffs. He was not going to let anyone get hurt because of those three - the shadows of his past he wanted erased. Wes knew he was partially to blame himself, working with those three several years ago. If he hadn't helped them, they wouldn't have risen so high as to be employed by Sird of all people.
Unfortunately, a surprisingly accurate Hydro Pump from one of the Ludicolo hit Zebstrika, already exhausted from the running, knocking it out and knocking Wes off its back. As he hit the dry grass, however, Wes was able to bounce back up and quickly open two Poké Balls: Espeon and Umbreon.
"Espeon, Reflect!" Wes yelled. "Umbreon, Smokescreen!"
Wes hid behind the psychic barrier Espeon created while Umbreon spat out a thick cloud of smoke that forced the chasing Nascour, Venus, Miror B and their Pokémon to stop.
"You're nearing a dead end, Wes!" Nascour taunted and took a Poké Ball from his pocket. "Can you feel it approaching? The realization that your efforts have been for nothing?!"
Wes didn't rise up to the bait, even as he saw Nascour send out his Dusknoir, the evolved form of the Dusclops Wes and Kris had fought months ago. Wes ordered Espeon to use Psybeam at it, but another Hydro Pump from one of Miror B's Ludicolo cut it off before it hit the target. Before Wes could come up with a counterattack, he noticed something pink and fluffy rolling downhill towards him very fast, bouncing up and hitting him in the stomach before he could do anything. As Wes fell, the pink, fluffy ball opened up, revealing it to be Wigglytuff, while Venus was not far away.
"Doubleslap, Wigglytuff!" Venus screeched. "Spank him so hard it reminds him of his daddy!"
"Too bad for you…" Wes muttered as he managed to get up, and as Wigglytuff approached him, fists up like a boxer, Wes instead punched the Wigglytuff in the middle of its squishy, adorable face. It felt like hitting an extremely durable water balloon, with his fist bouncing straight back at him.
"...I never knew my daddy," Wes commented.
"How dare you manhandle my Pokémon!" Venus screamed, her eyes bulging out crazily. "Wigglytuff, use-"
But whatever Venus wanted Wigglytuff to use would be forever a mystery as a stream of fire appeared, almost singing Wes as it knocked Wigglytuff away. Wes looked up to see Blaine and his Arcanine running towards them.
"You didn't think we'd leave you alone, did you?" Blaine laughed.
"We?" Wes wondered.
But his question got a quick answer when he saw Leaf flying overhead on her Pidgeot, which had picked up one of Miror B's Ludicolo with its talons and dropped it back down so hard that it got stuck on the ground. The other Ludicolo was now firing Hydro Pump and Ice Beam attacks in an attempt to shoot the Pidgeot down, but Leaf expertly guided Pidgeot away from the attacks.
"Now take care of that guy!" Blaine shouted. "We got these two!"
To Wes, that was perfect. Dusknoir fired a Shadow Ball at Espeon and Umbreon, but thanks to Wes' quick instructions, they easily dodged it. Next, Wes decided to go for his patented confusion techniques, ordering Umbreon to run from one side and Espeon from another to disorientate Dusknoir, having them run in circles next to wait for the opportunity to strike.
Except that opportunity never came, as Nascour ordered Dusknoir to use Shadow Punch. The ghost Pokémon suddenly disappeared and reappeared right next to Espeon. Before Wes could even react, Dusknoir's large, glowing fist struck the psychic-type and knocked it out. Wes quickly withdrew it and ordered Umbreon to use Flash.
This seemed to do the trick. Both Nascour and Dusknoir were blinded, allowing Wes and Umbreon to get their footing and run away. The downhill gave way for a slight uphill incline at the edge of the cliffs, the sea raging beneath them. As Wes expected, Nascour and his Dusknoir gave chase - but Wes didn't expect Dusknoir disappearing and suddenly reappearing right next to him.
"Feint Attack!" Wes told Umbreon quickly.
Dusknoir was not fast enough to react to Umbreon also suddenly vanishing and launching itself straight into the ghost-type. This was enough to take it out, but before Dusknoir fell, both it and Umbreon glowed briefly - then, both Pokémon collapsed on the ground. Nascour had clearly managed to use Destiny Bond before siccing Dusknoir on him.
And while Wes was busy withdrawing Umbreon, Nascour quickly ran up to him and tackled him. Soon, both of them were hanging precariously by the edge of the cliff, Nascour kneeing Wes' stomach to pin him down.
"You can make your Pokémon stronger," Nascour hissed as he punched Wes in the face, "and you can try to beef up and eat your vitamins," he continued, punching Wes again. "But you will never - ever - be nothing more than small-time trash from the middle of nowhere," Nascour stopped briefly to punch Wes again, knocking off one of Wes' teeth, "in the region that's already full of nothing for nobodies!"
After another blow, Nascour stopped punching Wes to hoist him slightly up by the collar of his jacket, bringing his face closer to his own. Wes could not open one of his eyes while blood dripped out of his mouth.
"You chose the wrong side, Wes," Nascour whispered. "We have all the power now, and when you die here, I'm going to take my time with your friends! Being digested by Guzzlord is too good for them! Especially that Unovan girl you care about so much," Nascour added, pulling out a bloodstained knife. "I'm going to cut every single hair off her scalp one by o-"
Using all the strength his legs could afford, Wes kicked Nascour off him with both feet, sending Nascour tumbling down right on the edge of the cliff. Then, Wes got up, and before Nascour could get out any more quips or angry ramblings, Wes shoved him off the edge, watching as Nascour fell, shouting all the way until he hit the rocks beneath.
Nascour's yelling caused everyone, Leaf and Miror B as well as Blaine and Venus, to turn to look at Wes, who spat the blood off his mouth, wiped his lips and stood up as straight as he could despite the pain in his face and sides.
"You saw what happened to your friend!" Wes shouted at Venus and Miror B. "If you don't want that to happen to you, you'll stop your fighting and get out of here! And don't ever let me see your faces again!"
Miror B and Venus immediately withdrew their Pokémon and fled. As Leaf landed, she gave a concerned look at Wes, looking more afraid of him than concerned for his safety. Blaine, on the other hand, walked over to Wes to slap him on the shoulder.
"Nicely done, boy!" he praised heartily. "It was not a nice thing, but it had to be done."
"Let's not talk about it," Wes said quickly, pushing the doctor away, not wanting to confront what just happened yet. "I thought I told you to stay with Iris!"
Blaine just chuckled. "You're welcome," he said. "Now we can go help her - but I have a feeling she has been more than capable of helping herself!"
~o~O~o~
Meanwhile, Iris was commanding Haxorus to hit Guzzlord from every angle possible, swiping it with its massive tusks and its sharp claws from everywhere it could reach before retreating and finding another vantage point. Alder was doing the same, but both him and his Bouffalant were getting tired.
Before Alder could stop it, his Bouffalant suddenly took a hit in the head as Guzzlord slammed it with its pincers. As the Bouffalant was dazed, it took another hit on the sides and was knocked out. When Guzzlord began approaching the Bouffalant with its massive spiky tongue hanging out, Alder threw caution in the wind and tried to rush to save his Pokémon.
"Damn it, Alder!" Iris shouted.
In his rush to run to treat his Bouffalant, Alder almost missed the pincer-ended tentacle coming his way. Iris had to quickly dash to him and tackle him, knocking the old Champion on the ground before he got chomped by the pincer.
"Get out of here!" Iris told Alder, forgetting the unnecessary politeness. "Haxorus, Dig, get under that thing!"
Alder withdrew his Bouffalant but still did not want to leave by himself until Iris had to shove him away. As Haxorus burrowed underground, both of Guzzlord's appendages were reaching for Iris, but she managed to swiftly avoid them.
"Strike!" Iris shouted.
Guzzlord was unprepared to the six-foot dragon suddenly emerging from beneath it and suddenly launching it a few feet in the air. As Iris had planned, Haxorus then struck Guzzlord hard enough to knock it off-balance and on its massive stomach. As Guzzlord tried to use its tentacle-pincers to pull itself upright, Iris was ready.
"Outrage!"
Surrounded by a red aura, Haxorus slashed and struck the downed Guzzlord wherever it could with amazing speed and intensity, roaring and snorting with every blow, sounding like a monster itself. Haxorus finished its combo with a thwack of its tail before glowing stopped, the intensity of its attack knocking it backwards. But it worked, and Guzzlord was briefly dazed from all the blows it had just taken. Grabbing the Beast Ball provided by Blaine, Iris ran towards the Ultra Beast as fast as she could.
Ignoring Alder's words of warning, Iris circled around the Ultra Beast and actually - to Alder's great shock - jumped in the air to get more leverage behind her throw as she tossed the ball as hard as she could. While the Beast Ball bounced back from Guzzlord's skin, it als opened and sucked the beast inside it. A few seconds later, ball vanished, the Ultra Beast along with it.
Wes, Blaine and Leaf had just managed to return to witness this spectacle, all running to congratulate Iris. But the first one to do so was Alder, who walked over to Iris to offer his hand.
"Thank you," he said sincerely. "You saved not just my life, but my Pokémon as well. You may have just saved this whole town."
Iris was catching her breath, slightly dumbfounded, not sure what she had just done herself as she slowly grabbed Alder's hand and shook it. She couldn't even quite hear Blaine's raspy words of appreciation or Wes' words of encouragement.
"Uh… thanks," she just said. "I was just doing what I needed to…"
"Young lady, that's the kind of battling you don't see every day," Alder said and turned to admire Iris' Haxorus.
Haxorus was, like its trainer, catching its breath. It was limp on the ground, its tongue hanging out. Smiling at Iris, Leaf went over to give Haxorus some water from her bottle, as Iris was shaking too hard to move.
"And you and your Pokémon displayed extraordinary character," Alder continued. "Based on what I've seen and what I heard about you from Drayden and your village elder - heck, based on my own lousy performance today - I would say you would be a much better candidate to be the Unova League Champion! If only circumstances weren't what they are…"
"What circumstances?!" Wes wondered, stepping closer to Iris. "She's good enough to be Champion if you ask me! If you need a written recommendation, I'll gladly give one! I'll give five! I'm really good at forgin' signatures!"
"The circumstances being that the Legendary Pokémon Society have gone rogue and are working with Sird," Blaine sighed, "and they're getting rid of Champions who stand in their way."
Wes and Leaf turned to look at Blaine while Iris was staring at her hand. After a while, the shaking stopped and her hand was steady.
"I want to do it," she said quietly, everyone turning to look at her. "I want to be the Champion!" she said, louder, looking up at Alder.
Alder sighed. "If it were up to me, we'd have the ceremony now," he said sadly, "but I cannot put you in more risk than you already are. It's clear that their plan requires Pokémon League Champions for something. I can at least draw attention away from you guys if I stay in the position a bit longer."
But Blaine began stroking his mustache and leaning on his cane, a smile slowly appearing on his face. Seeing this gave Wes the shivers.
"Doc, what are you thinkin'?" he asked carefully.
"Alder, if Iris here is okay with it, we will have a ceremony," he said, grinning almost crazily. "And we're gonna make sure that everybody hears about the impending crowning of a new Champion. I have a plan…"
~o~O~o~
On the outskirts of town, Sird was about to enter her waiting helicopter when the information came to her earpiece. She frowned as she heard what had happened - the satellite images confirmed Guzzlord had vanished, and Sird knew exactly how. Even leaving an Ultra Beast and those three mercenaries wasn't enough, so she knew what she had to do next time: she needed the strength of the entire Legendary Pokémon Society.
Before Sird could get in her chopper, Miror B and Venus ran to her. Sird's annoyance grew even more.
"Where's Nascour?!" Sird snapped.
"They…" Miror B stopped to catch his breath, only to make a dramatic 'whooo' sound and fall on his knees.
In annoyance, Sird turned to Venus instead. Terrified in Sird's presence, Venus fell on her knees as well, as if sucking up to the woman would make things better.
"They killed him, Madam Sird!" Venus complained. "What should we do now? What are your orders?
Narrowing her eyes at Venus' statement, Sird instead hopped into the helicopter, sat down and signaled the pilot to go.
"My orders are for you to either bring me the heads of these fools," Sird shouted as the helicopter began to ascend, "or find employment elsewhere!"
