Foreword: First off, I'm in a good mood, so beware of fluff. ^_^
Second... *sighs* Once again, I find myself straying from my original intention. If anyone wants to see more Quantum Leap-y... ness... (or, simply, more science fiction), simply tell me.
Third off, I'm aware that the last episode was a bit... weird. It's not that I'm running out of ideas; it's that my nighttime typing is getting a bit quirky... (See Everybody's Free to Use FTP.) =/ Sorry about that. ^_^;
Fourth off, I'm aware that I had promised that I wouldn't deliver this late. Truth is, I wound up breaking that promise unintentionally. Apparently, it had slipped my mind that my family would be visiting this week, and so therefore, it would be difficult to find time to write another episode. Next week (and very possibly the week after that), there will be another delayed episode thanks to finals. In all cases, I apologize. ^_^; (By the way, things should clear up after the twelfth because that's when I finally get out of school. =D)
Anywho, episode nineteen! ^_^
---
Episode 19--
Anticlimax
Zero remained by her lake, going over the past events once more as she stared at the crystal surface of her lake. A shadow grew over her until it covered her.
"Salutations, Reno," Zero greeted.
She turned around to see a young man with long, straight, auburn hair and amthyst eyes. His skin was hidden by a long, green coat, a black shirt, khakis, and a pair of black military boots. His only accessories had been the simple, black, pseudo-leather belt around his waist and the pair of oval-rimmed sunglasses pushed up on his head so that it sat on his hair just above the forehead.*1* He appeared calm, maintaining an inner energy, though he was fresh from a shift in a certain Golduck.*2*
She looked away.
"M'lady, I came to know if you aren't angered about our interference," Reno said. "We only did what we thought would be best, as you had taught us."
Zero pressed her lips together. "I understand that."
"Then, will you let Apollo, Ash, and myself off without punishment?"
Zero paused for awhile.
"Of course," she replied before closing her eyes. "Punishment shouldn't be necessary."
"Thank you, m'lady," Reno said with a bow. "You always were just." He looked at her face. "But may I ask a question?"
She opened her eyes and stared into his. "Of course."
"How long until the beginning of the end?"
There was another long pause.
"I see..." Zero closed her eyes and lifted her chin a bit. "I see... The downfall of Antiwarp. A new betrayal. A short period of minor darkness. And then..." Zero opened her eyes and stared into the sky. "And then, Keios will reveal himself."
"And then...?"
"And then, it will be up to the Three."
"I see."
"Reno, after Antiwarp's downfall, you will have to lead the Three through a new problem," Zero stated. "Are you prepared?"
"Always, Lady Aigori," he replied.
"Good. Then you may leave."
Reno turned to leave, then paused.
"M'lady, may I ask another question?" Reno inquired.
She turned a little to look at him. "Go ahead."
"You told Artemis and myself where you sent the Prime," Reno began. "Then you told us not to go to him. Why would you give us his location in the first place?"
"There are two answers to this question," Zero replied with a smile. "First, even I become annoyed when a certain question is asked to me one too many times, so answering the question about the Prime's location would put an end to the inquisition."
"And?"
"And secondly, I knew that if I told you not to go to a certain place, you would go."
"Why did you want us to go to the Prime if you told us not to?"
Zero's smile softened a bit more. "I foresee many things daily."
Reno thought about this for a moment, then he understood. "You wanted us to help Bill all along! You wanted us to save him from the Pokémon! Then... why didn't you tell us to in the first place?"
"It was not the right time," she answered before continuing about something else. "When it became the right time, it then turned into a test of loyalty. If you can truly be a team, you would disregard even my orders to help a teammate out. If not, you would have listened to me. And trust me, Reno... Soon, it will be that sense of teamwork that will be vital to all of you."
"In the beginning of the end?"
"Yes. And in another time as well."
"Another time...?"
Zero turned away. "That is all I can tell you right now. Please go."
Reno paused, nodded, and walked into the forest.
~~~
Every agent who was still of some use (unlike the lackeys who couldn't even keep their shifting powers) gathered in the largest room of the laboratory, ready to hear their instructions. Each waited patiently, talking quietly amongst themselves about what Crocus could possibly want them to do this time.
Suddenly, the room fell silent as the head scientist walked into the room. Her every step could be heard through the still anxiety. Finally, she reached a point in front of the group and turned to face them, like a general turned to face her troops.
"As you know, we have tried many times to take over the world with our newfound powers," Crocus began. "And you all know that each time, there were successes, but also failures. Each major failure had been caused by our enemy, Project Warp, whose own leader alone had already cost us somewhere near fifty shifters. If we continue our operations, Project Warp will only be there to resist us and to eat away at more and more of our army.
"Now, you may be wondering, 'What should we do about this?'" Crocus began pacing. "It has come to my attention that, though the group IS powerful, there is only one real shifter*3* in Project Warp. Compare that to our numbers, all present right now. If everyone shifts and attacks Project Warp's headquarters and especially leader, then we can easily outnumber, defeat, and dismantle Project Warp in the same half an hour, even if Dr. McKenzie takes the form of a legendary Pokémon.
"My strategy may seem insanely simple, but it's flawless and will most definitely work. Your part of it will be simple. All shifters are to shift into any Pokémon they can get and rendevous with your fellow shifters outside of McKenzie's lighthouse. Oracle will keep watch, and, when she is positive all agents have assembled, she will give you the signal to attack the lighthouse all at once.
"Though there is no possible way of doing so, DO NOT FAIL. Our employer is growing impatient due to our other attempts and expects a victory for once. If any of you cause the plan to backfire, you might as well not return. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Boss Crocus," the agents replied in unison.
"Is the mission clear?" Crocus asked.
"Yes, Boss Crocus."
Crocus grinned. "Very well. Now, go!"
Literally half the agents present shifted out. The other half, those who decided not to gain the shifting ability, took their own Pokémon and headed to the lighthouse to carry out their mission the old fashioned way.
After the last soul left the room, Crocus turned away and smiled. She drew a strange PokéBall from her pocket and stared at it. Its dark, venomous purple top seemed to gleam together like a jewel embedded in the silver that was its bottom hemisphere. Crimson paint on the top formed a letter D in such a way that it looked like it was drawn in blood, possibly due to too much paint and too little time to dry it in.
"This will be the one thing I need to take control," Crocus muttered. "After Keios creates my kingdom, my first act as queen will be to put this into use. My Demon Ball..."
Crocus smiled broadly as she pocketed it and walked out of the room.
~~~
Ash and Jude glared at each other. Artemis and Apollo watched on, both with interested glances.
"You're not getting away that easily, pal," Jude hissed.
"We'll see about that," Ash replied with a smirk on his face. "I'm going to be the number one master!"
"Like it matters right now," Jude retorted.
Bill walked by the doorway, then backtracked and glanced in with a curious look on his face. He walked into the room, looked at Ash, and then glanced at Jude.
"I think I've got this all wrapped up," Jude announced.
"Then make your move," Ash said.
"Alright..." Jude looked down at the table and took two cards from in front of her. "I'll use my Wall of Illusion and La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp as tributes so I can summon the Dark Magician in attack mode--" She put both cards in a pile to the side and slapped a new one down from her hand. "--who, with the bonus he gets from my Yami card, can already destroy your Gaia the Fierce Knight and send you into an embarrassing defeat, but FIRST, I'll equip Dark Magician with Sword of Dark Destruction, and THEN attack. I end my turn there, and I believe, with thirty-one hundred attack points to twenty-three hundred, I've inflicted eight hundred damage, zapping away the pathetic two hundred life points you were hanging onto."*4* She stood up, smiled, and crossed her arms. "I win; you lose; you don't get that battle, and now YOU have to be like Joey and become my pet dog for a week."
"Wah!" Ash fell backwards. "Hey! You had to have cheated somehow!"
"Face it, dog boy, you don't know how to play the game!" Jude gloated.
"Um... Can anyone tell me what exactly just took place here?" Bill inquired as he cocked his head.
"Ash was bored, so he tried to challenge Jude to a Pokémon battle," Apollo explained. "She was in the middle of coming up with new strategies with those playing cards, so she said she wouldn't bother unless Ash could beat her at a game of Yu-gi-oh!. Ash agreed to play but got a bit overconfident, especially at seeing that Jude gave him powerful cards like the Blue Eyes White Dragon, so Jude got annoyed and told him that if she won, he'd have to 'be like Joey in the cartoon series' and do whatever she wanted him to do in a dog costume, probably improvised from one of your researching costumes. Needless to say, Ash is a horrible player, and Jude just won the game."
There was a pause.
"We like watching your sister and Ash fight," Artemis said.
Apollo added, "It's highly entertaining."
"No, I wasn't wondering about that," Bill assured them.
"Then what?" Artemis asked.
There was another pause.
"I'm just curious," Bill answered slowly. "What on Earth is a 'you key oh'?"*5*
Everyone else stared at him with curious looks.
He blinked, cocked his head, and said, "What? It was a legitimate question..."
They still stared at him.
He sighed, turned around, and walked out. "Never mind then."
"My god, he's out of it," Jude muttered as she shook her head. "It's like he really IS back in Victorian England."
Ash shrugged. "I dunno. He seems pretty cool."
Jude narrowed her eyes at Ash. "Shut up and put on your dog suit."*6*
~~~
A few moments later (when she was good and serious), Jude opened the door to the cellar, peeked inside, and quietly slid past the door, closing it behind her. Quietly, she walked down the steps and found her brother, working on something on his computer... while half-hidden behind stacks of paper.
She slinked up to him, paused, and finally said, "What are you doing?"
Bill jumped in surprise while letting out a sharp yelp. He quickly turned toward Jude and gave her a startled glance.
"Jude! You shouldn't sneak around like that!" he scolded.
"Sorry," she responded with a smirk. "So, what ARE you doing?"
"My job," he replied, slightly dryly and with a smirk. "Right now, I'm working on Pokémon battling statistics*7* -- how to predict them before a Pokémon is born based on its parents' statistics and how its personality affects them."
Jude blinked. "You can figure out something like that?"
"Of course," her brother answered as he continued typing. "Figuring out statistics alone involves simple mathmatic equations and small observations of both wild and tame Pokémon."
"Why would you want to go through all that trouble?"
"Why not? Statistics are important when it comes to battling, and therefore, it would be important to a trainer. I suggest you pay attention to your own Pokémon's stats during battle."
"One last question..."
Bill stopped typing and looked up at her. "Yes?"
Jude raised an eyebrow. "You really like doing this sort of thing, don't you?"
Bill smiled, looked back at the screen, and put his hands on the keyboard, though he didn't continue to type. Instead, he simply replied, "My career is my hobby."
"Bill, have you ever had a life?"
He looked back at her while cocking his head. "What do you mean?"
Jude was about to say something more when a loud bang came from upstairs. Both brother and sister froze for a moment as Ziggy popped up.
"Irony strikes again," she said, partially solemnly. "Bill, I hate to tell you this, but according to security footage from that other camera you set up, a surge of Pokémon have broken down the door and are right now stampeding into the lighthouse. It'll only be a matter of time before they reach us down here, so I suggest you shift, shift now, and shift into a good Pokémon."
Bill nodded as he went to a locked cabinet set in a hole in the wall. "Thanks, Ziggy."
He opened this cabinet, revealing six PokéBalls inside it. He selected one and handed the others, one by one, to Jude, who put them in her pockets.
"If this host faints, let out another Pokémon," Bill instructed. "If you run out, get out of the lighthouse and head toward Cerulean City. Find any trainer there who can defeat the Pokémon upstairs. Do you understand?"
Jude nodded. "Right."
Bill took a deep breath and summoned the Pokémon whose PokéBall he held. Kadabra. He looked up for a moment at the ceiling, through which he could hear the commotion of what was no doubt hundreds of Pokémon. Finally, he closed his eyes and shifted out.
~~~
Ash (in Pikachu again), Apollo (inside a Poliwrath) and even Artemis were doing their best to drive away the Pokémon, all of whom turned out to be shifters from Antiwarp.*8* One by one, the trio knocked down host after host, driving each shifter out and sealing away their powers thanks to Artemis. But where one shifter fell, two more popped up, ready to fight again. And three Pokémon weren't enough to take down a large number of opponents coming at them at one time.
Suddenly, Ash spotted Pokémon flying into the air due to a Psychic attack at the edge of the crowd.
{Hey! I think Bill's joining us!} Ash called out to his allies.
{That's great, but don't let your guard down just because we've got one more ally fighting!} Apollo yelled back. {Keep giving it all you've got!}
Ash nodded and gave a Thunder to a Blastoise in front of him. The giant turtle fell, releasing a pink spark as a Tangla took its place.
~~~
The four fought for hours, knocking down as many agents as they could, and switching hosts whenever their current ones fell (save for Artemis, of course, who eventually fell at the hands of the agents, unfortunately, but was dragged to safety by Apollo).
Unfortunately, by the hours' end, the army was only two-thirds defeated, and each shifter was down to their last host. Noctowl for Ash, Raichu for Apollo*9*, and Vulpix for Bill. Though each host was strong, it was obvious the three, who went through several battles in their current hosts alone, would lose against the last fifteen fresh Pokémon.
Finally, Ash fell from the sky as a Geodude hit him with Rock Throw. He trembled, but wasn't able to pick himself up again.
{Ash! Get up!} Apollo demanded before taking down a Pidgeotto.
Ash only groaned.
Bill gasped as a Cloyster hit him with a Water Gun. He was able to remain standing, but it was obvious that he was very close to ending up like Ash. He fired an Ember attack (excuse the pun) at a Grovyle beside Cloyster and made a direct hit. He watched as his target fell before he dodged a second attack from Cloyster.
{Bill! Retreat!} Apollo commanded. {You're too weak to fight!}
{And you're any stronger?} Bill countered, not meaning anything sharp by it. {Besides, then what will I do? This is the last Pokémon I can use as protection, and I'm not abandoning my home to the destruction of my enemies again!}*10*
He stopped to use Flamethrower on a Magnemite.
{Alright, so you're going to let them take you down,} Apollo stated as he used Swift on a Dugtrio.
{I didn't say that!} Bill replied before using Confuse Ray on the Cloyster.
Apollo struck the confused Cloyster with a Thunderbolt. {Right.}
At that moment, a Golbat swooped in and sucked the last of Bill's energy with Leech Life. The bat flew up, allowing the shifter to slump over, defeated.
Apollo attempted to use Thunderbolt on the Golbat but then realized one minor detail. He was out of electricity. His cheeks sparked as he helplessly backed away from the last of the Pokémon, knowing full well that, with no allies and little power, all he could do now would be to brace himself for an attack from the full group.
All of a sudden, a large ball of light struck four Pokémon in front of Apollo. The four fell, and the other Antiwarp agents looked back to see what struck their comrades. There, not far behind the group, was a Dragonite, recharging from a Hyper Beam.
{By the order of Lady Aigori, I have come to protect the three heroes of the prophecy,} Dragonite announced. {You will leave here without further attempts at harming them.}
{Lady Aigori? Who's she?} a shifter inside a Sudowoodo asked.
{Who cares who she is?} a Raticate countered. {She can kiss our Pokémon behinds! We don't have to follow orders from some chick we don't know, especially if we have our powers!}
Dragonite heard this and became enraged. {HOW DARE YOU INSULT LADY AIGORI!}
With that, Dragonite unleashed a Dragon Rage which struck the Raticate. The rat screeched and was thrown a few feet away, landing on the floor with a loud thud. A purple spark ascended from the body of the fallen rat.
Dragonite remained in a battling stance. The other Pokémon stared at him for awhile, then shook and ran out of the lighthouse.
Dragonite turned to Apollo. {Your current fight is far from over. Antiwarp will return with a different sort of soldier. Shift back and rest with your allies. I will return later.}
~~~
"Hey, Apollo! Be careful! We're supposed to be getting him to come to, not knock him out again!"
"I know that!"
Bill regained consciousness but didn't open his eyes right away, just like he always does. For a moment, he remained in darkness, slowly noticing that... someone was... carrying... him?
His eyes shot open, and stared up into Apollo's face, who was helping to carry him up the stairs by lifting up his back. With a sharp gasp, Bill twisted out of Apollo's hands (and Jude's as well, seeing as she was holding up her brother's legs) and landed face down on the stairs.
"Next time you want to do that, do you mind warning us first, Bill?" Jude asked as she stood with her arms akimbo.
He placed his hands beside him, palms down, and pushed himself up into a kneeling position. "I'd like to ask of you the same thing."
"Sorry," Apollo apologized. "We were trying to get you up to your room."
"Yeah. That way, nothing shorts out when we decide to throw water on you," Jude explained.
Bill raised an eyebrow and looked back at Jude. He knew that the whole thing had been her idea, seeing as that was typical early teenaged logic.
She cocked her head. "What?"
"Nothing." He stood up. "Apollo, what happened after I was knocked out?"
"A Dragonite came to finish off the other agents," Apollo replied. "He said that our fight against Antiwarp isn't over yet. More agents will come, and with them, he'll be back too."
"Interesting... A Dragonite," he muttered.
"Um, and what about the other thing he just said?" Jude asked.
Bill frowned slightly. "The only thing we CAN do is rest up. Tell Ziggy to keep monitoring the perimeter and to notify all of us if she picks up on something. By the way, where exactly is Ash?"
"Asleep," Jude replied. "And I'd just like to warn you, Bill -- I don't think Ash would wake up thanks to an atomic bomb, let alone Ziggy."
"And you're any worse, Miss Just-give-me-five-more-minutes?" Bill inquired as he raised an eyebrow for a moment. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to retire to my room to rest before I have to shift again. Apollo, you should do the same."
Apollo nodded and followed Bill up the stairs before retreating to a guest room, leaving the researcher to slip into the master bedroom and the red-headed girl to stay on the stairs for a moment.
"I'm not as deep a sleeper as Ash," Jude muttered.
~~~
The day wore into night before anything happened. As soon as darkness covered the land and Selene took up her kingdom, Jude turned on the beacon and stood for a moment in the silence of the base of the lighthouse tower. Somewhere outside, she heard... helicopters...
Jude dashed out of the control room and nearly ran into Bill. He held her by the shoulders for a brief moment before pushing her aside lightly and dashing towards the door.
"Bill! What's going on?" Jude asked.
He held up his left index finger to his mouth, signaling that he wanted Jude to remain silent for a moment. Carefully, he opened the door a crack and peeked outside before closing it again, swiftly darting to Jude, grabbing her by the wrist, and pulling her to the cellar. The two stood just inside the slightly-closed door, a few steps down.
Both remained silent until Bill finally spoke.
"Ziggy picked up on something," he explained in a whisper. "Quite a lot of somethings. The other Antiwarp agents no doubt, all in helicopters."
"How much time do we have?" Jude asked in an equally low voice.
He shook his head. "Not enough. Have all the Pokémon been healed?"
"Yeah, but I don't think they'll be able to stand up to ALL those trainers at once," Jude told him. "That's probably double the Pokémon out there! They'll destroy you AND the others, smear the walls with our blood, and then level the place."
"Well, you're rather optomistic," Bill hissed with sarcasm. He continued in a normal tone. "We don't know if there's an equal amount of shifters and non-shifters in Antiwarp, nor do we know how many Pokémon each trainer has. Besides, if they're all ex-Team Rocket members, we shouldn't have a problem. Rockets STEAL strong Pokémon, not raise them."
"And you're rather sure of yourself," Jude responded.
"Get the Pokémon ready," Bill instructed. "Ash and Apollo will be down to retrieve theirs theirs soon."
Jude nodded and started down the stairs before stopping briefly and turning at the bottom.
"Hey, Bill?" she addressed.
He looked at her with a curious glance.
"I just wanted to say..."
She paused. She couldn't bring herself to say those three words she was thinking of, even if it was meant in a familial way. She felt she was too tough and too old to be saying that sort of thing. Besides, it may have a morbid feel to it, as if the person she wanted to say it to wouldn't live to hear it later.
"What?" Bill finally asked.
"I just wanted to say..." Jude took a deep breath, lowered her head, and said something else instead. "Good luck, Bill."
She looked up at his warm smile. She hated when he looked at her like that.
"Thank you, Jude," he replied with a nod. "Now, go get those Pokémon ready."
She nodded and ran to the cupboard as he turned toward the door. He heard people come into the lighthouse -- their whoops, their hollers, their sounds of destruction, and of course, one particular phrase...
"Down with Warp! Death to McKenzie!"
Bill remained somewhat calm on the outside, remembering what Jude had said to him last.
'Good luck,' he thought nervously as he closed his eyes and leaned against the wall. 'I'll need it now more than ever...'
~~~
Ash, Apollo, and the recently-healed Artemis peeked out the hidden door leading to the corridor to the living quarters.
"Here we go again," Artemis muttered.
"Don't shifters catch a break?" Ash inquired.
"Of course not," Apollo replied. "Wherever there's wrong in the world to be righted, we'll be there!"
"I always dreamed of being a superhero," Ash said, "but I never thought it would be like THIS."
On the edge of the advancing band, a surge of electricity blasted across a section amid the people, catching them by surprise before they could release their Pokémon.
"That's got to be either a rogue Antiwarp Pokémon or Bill in Jolteon," Apollo figured. "Let's hope it's the latter and shift now."
"Shift? Into what?" Ash asked frantically.
"Oh yeah... You can't control where you shift yet," Apollo recalled. "Alright, I'll shift, and you wait here until I bring up a Pokémon."
"Pikachu?"
"Whichever." Apollo turned to Artemis. "Artemis, go out there and start fighting."
"Got it!" Artemis responded as he darted out into the crowd, issuing Slashes and Blizzards wherever he could.
After this, Apollo shifted out.
~~~
Jude had released all of the Pokémon in the cellar. It was a tight fit, but it made things a hell of a lot easier. She watched as a blue spark descended into a Poliwrath, signaling that Apollo had just arrived.
"How bad is it, Apollo?" Jude asked as she fixed her watcher equipment on herself to understand him.
{They have yet to release their Pokémon,} Apollo told her. {However, though the trainers are less in numbers than the shifters we had encountered earlier, the group is large enough to make this a long and violent battle.}
"Good luck then."
{Thank you.} He turned to Pikachu, who approached him from the side. {Pikachu, Ash had requested you.}
{I figured,} the electric rat replied before following Apollo up the stairs.
Jude stared at the door for awhile before bringing four PokéBalls from her pocket.
"Flareon! Charmeleon! Houndour!"
Jude threw three of the PokéBalls on the ground. All three of the named Pokémon appeared before her, waiting for their commands.
Jude bent down and spoke with the three. "There's a fight going on upstairs. A big one. Go up there and fight off all the people upstairs. Okay?"
The three nodded and turned, heading up the steps and out of the cellar. As they were doing so, the other Pokémon looked at each other, knowing that their masters were in trouble and that the last thing they should do was to be standing around a floor below the struggle. They nodded to each other and marched up the steps.
"Hey! Where are you all going!? Stay here!"
Not one of them listened to the human girl. After the last Pokémon disappeared through the cellar door, the girl looked at the PokéBall she held in her hand and threw it.
"Cyndaquil! Go!"
The fire mouse appeared before her. She bent down and scooped up the Pokémon, holding it in her arms like it was a teddy bear.
"This is gonna be one hell of a conflict," she muttered.
~~~
As soon as the other Pokémon jumped in, the odds of Warp actually winning without Dragonite's help seemed to increase, which is part of the reason why none of the shifters said anything. (The other being that they were too busy to say anything anyways.)
However, upon realizing that the opponent grew, Antiwarp summoned more Pokémon to both attack and defend themselves.
The battle, once again, lasted for hours, with Pokémon fainting left and right on both sides and Antiwarp members being "blasted off" here and there.
It took awhile, but the small regiment of Warp Pokémon had been reduced to only the original three: a beaten Jolteon, an exhausted Pikachu, and a determined Poliwrath. The three stood their ground, despite the fact that the others (who had fallen because Antiwarp continuously ganged up on each of them) had left them with seven Pokémon and trainers still to defeat, outnumbering them by four.
The Pokémon received orders to attack the strongest of the three, the Poliwrath, to take him down instead of him taking them down if they went after the electric types. The seven Pokémon nodded before gathering and swiftly striking the Poliwrath with seven different attacks. Each one hit Apollo directly, causing him to scream in pain before collapsing. He tried to stand up, but this only led to him falling back down again. Before long, a blue spark rose from Poliwrath.
One down, two to go.
The Pikachu and the Jolteon stood there, growling at the seven before the Jolteon struck with a Thunderbolt. The attack electricuted two of the Pokémon and sent them flying into their trainers, who then retreated after being electricuted themselves, leaving their comrades alone to fight.
Two down, five to go.
At that point, the Pokémon on Antiwarp's side received orders to attack the Jolteon to avenge their friends. And so, they did, launching an attack on the electric Pokémon. It did its damage, and Bill fell, just like Apollo had, but he was well enough to stay inside Jolteon (though not well enough to force the Pokémon back up).
One down, one to go.
Ash backed up. He was out of energy and out of strategies, and now, he was being surrounded by five Pokémon.
Suddenly, a Dragon Rage smacked into the three Pokémon and trainers in front of Ash. It lifted them off the ground and flung them into the air, causing them to blast off, leaving their two allies behind.
Three down, two to go.
It seemed that everyone looked up to see the seven-foot dragon that stood just feet away. It was what Bill was waiting to see.
{Dragonite...} He muttered with a relieved tone before shifting back.
{Dragonite!} Ash cried out with joy.
Dragonite nodded to the Pikachu before turning to the last remaining Antiwarp agents, both of whom stood behind their Pokémon, a Magneton and a Pinsir.
{You and your masters have caused enough trouble for the Three,} Dragonite said to the Antiwarp Pokémon. {If you obey Lady Aigori, you will stop fighting and leave with your trainers.}
{Lady Aigori!} Pinsir spat. {She is not my master. I don't carry out her orders. My master is only the trainer behind me, who in turn is the subject of Keios. He's done a lot more for me than that weak little pixie Keios taunts so much. You can keep your little star faerie!}
{Very well,} Dragonite growled. {And you, Magneton?}
{I would love to honor Lady Aigori's word,} the magnet replied. {Before I was a servant of the trainer behind me, I was loyal to only my clan and her. But now, I can only carry out orders from another human voice. Destroy me, Dragonite. It's all you can do for me.}
Dragonite nodded. {Very well.}
The agents didn't know what to do. With no tricks up their sleeves and weakened Pokémon, they couldn't see how they could withstand the power of the mythical dragon before them, let alone launch an attack that could defeat Dragonite in the only move they had.
And so, they stood and watched as Dragonite launched a Flamethrower at both Pokémon. Pinsir fell as he laughed, and Magneton fell as it regretted not being able to fight for the peace Lady Aigori promised to bring someday.
The two agents gasped and ran out of the building with their Pokémon safely in their respective PokéBalls, praying that Dragonite would allow them to leave, unharmed.
And the merciful beast allowed them to.
All of a sudden, there was a clamor. The cellar door burst open, and out ran Bill, eager to study Dragonite... even after forcing himself up and regardless of the fact that he SHOULD be exhausted from the shift.
"Bill, don't you think you're running around a bit too early?" Jude asked as she grabbed him by the sleeve with one hand and held Cyndaquil with the other. "Don't you think you should rest a bit more?"
"Nonsense!" he exclaimed cheerfully. "Dragonites are extremely rare, meaning this could be a once-in-a- lifetime encounter! If I pass up a chance to study one, I'll never forgive myself!"*11*
Jude sighed as her brother pulled his arm out of her hand and ran over to begin taking notes about the dragon on a notepad he carried up with him.
"Some things never change," Jude said as she put a hand on her head.
At that point, Ash shifted out, joining Apollo and coming back downstairs to see the Dragonite again.
"I wonder if I could catch it..." Ash muttered as he pulled out a PokéBall.
{I wouldn't suggest it,} the Dragonite replied. {Not until I shift out.}
"Woah! So you're a shifter too?" Ash inquried.
The Dragonite nodded. {My name is Reno, and my loyalty lies with Lady Aigori. Some of you already know me.}
Apollo and Artemis nodded to the dragon.
"I was wondering when you'd join us," Artemis commented.
"Oh, blast!"
Everyone turned to look at Bill.
He sighed. "There goes my observations of a typical Dragonite's behavior..."
At this point, Ash, Jude, and Artemis fell over.
"Talk about changing the subject!" Ash cried out.
Just then, Ziggy appeared. She blinked at the scene, then looked away, staring at a spot somewhere not far away.
Jude pulled herself up on her knees and cocked her head. "Hey, Ziggy! What's up?"
"I'd hate to alarm you, but you've been watched since the shifter struggle earlier today," Ziggy told the group.
"Really?" Artemis stood up. "By who?"
Ziggy stared hard into the darkness before growling, "Oracle."
The white-haired hologram appeared, floating in midair only a foot or two above the ground in a lotus position. She rested her cheek on a hand which was propped up by one of her legs as the other hand was on her hip.
"Well, well! Tough little rodents, aren't we?" Oracle commented.
"You bet!" Ziggy snapped aggressively. "Warp can take whatever you dish out! We've got the support of Lady Aigori and her followers on our side! Just ask Reno!"
"I don't care to talk to weaklings," Oracle replied smoothly. "Besides, your shifters will be begging for mercy under Master Keios before he can even get warmed up. If you think the toughest battles were today, just wait until you go up against my employer!"
Oracle let out a quick laugh before stopping and blowing a kiss to Ziggy. The blue-headed hologram nearly spewed virtual vomit at this but still kept enough dignity to growl menacingly at Oracle as the evil girl gave her a short wave.
"Au revoir, Creampuff!" Oracle called before vanishing.
"Creampuff. Nice nickname," Artemis commented.
"Shut up," Ziggy growled.
"If she was trying to intimidate us, it didn't work on me," Apollo said.
"Me neither!" Ash added as he jumped up into a standing position.
"What about you, Bill?" Jude asked.
He looked up from his notes. "Hmm? What? I'm dreadfully sorry. I was busy taking notes, so I didn't pay attention to anything any of you had just said."
There was a collective groan in the room.
"Bill, would you stop thinking about the Dragonite for a few minutes and keep up with us for a moment!?" Jude demanded.
He cocked his head. "Why? What did you just say?"
"Didn't you hear what Oracle said!?"
"Oracle was here? Strange... I didn't notice."
Jude slapped her forehead. "Dear god, you're oblivious..."
Bill shrugged and turned back to the Dragonite... which had disappeared.
"Oh, BLAST!!" he cried out in dismay.
"Bill!" Jude snapped.
"What?"
"What about Oracle?"
"What about her?"
Jude let out a frustrated growl. "Never mind!"
~~~
Keios stared into another mirror, one close to the broken one. In this mirror, he saw the defeat of the agents, playing it over and over again like someone would play a part of a tape in a VCR over and over again.
He growled. "So, Crocus' agents have all been defeated. I knew I shouldn't have trusted her to fufill a simple assignment such as this."
Keios turned his back on the mirror and began to pace.
"The Three continue to gain allies," Keios muttered. "And with each ally, their power increases. Soon, the Three will be able to fufill the untouched part of the prophecy, and that is a day I dread. But what to do to stop it...?"
He stopped, then looked into another mirror, at a different gathering of people. A council meeting in a room of light. At this, Keios grinned.
"Of course... Find new puppets to do my bidding... But then..." Keios frowned, turning to another mirror which showed Crocus pacing in her office. "What should I do with Crocus and her unfufilled wish...?"
He thought for a moment before a smile spread across his face. With that, Keios laughed and vanished in a swirl of darkness before the images in the mirrors disappeared, allowing the mirrors to reflect only the darkness of the room.
***
End episode 19*12*
---
Footnotes:
*1*: The clothing description actually came from one of the example pictures of an antihero in the instruction book Manga Mania: How to Draw Japanese Comics by Christopher Hart. (Yep. I suggest picking it up sometime. It's a good guide... and the pictures are for the most part good enough to drool over... ^.^) And no, this doesn't really tell you much about Reno's character. Just like how you can't tell that Vash the Stampede is a doughnut nut (excuse the pun) just by the way he looks (unless he's holding a box of doughnuts or anything doughnut related).
*2*: Yep. That was him in the last episode.
*3*: Crocus doesn't know that Ash, Apollo, and Reno are all shifters. Here, she supposes that the only two people that make up Warp are still only Bill and Ziggy.
*4*: Just for the record, Jude is supposed to be not only an avid skater but also a gamer girl extrodinaire (and yes, a fairly decent cook). And furthermore, yes, that IS one of my strategies. ^_^
*5*: The poor guy misheard Apollo. ^_^; Well, he's not supposed to be... well, with it. ^_^;;;;
*6*: The only point to this whole scene is comic relief. Kami knows we need it right about now. =/
*7*: The attack, defense, special attack, special defense, speed, and evasiveness of each Pokémon.
*8*: The Pokémon from the non-shifters hadn't arrived yet.
*9*: Ash and Apollo would go back to their own bodies, where they would summon a new Pokémon from their Pokémon team to be their next host. This should be obvious, but there's some people out there who would be a bit confused.
*10*: He's referring to how he was forced to run from Team Rocket in Past, Present, and Future Sight.
*11*: I think this is the closest to in-character I've had Bill be since... well, the beginning of Warp Series. O_o; And by the way, there's a few more notes on the Dragonite subject. Number one, the first person who brings up the "he didn't know what a Dragonite was" argument spawned from "Mystery at the Lighthouse" gets a whack. -_- Secondly, if anyone asks why he just doesn't raise a Dratini into a Dragonair and then a Dragonite, it's because... Well, dang it! They're so friggin' hard to raise to the point of evolution! Or catch for that matter! _o
*12*: And so ends the second-to-last episode of the Antiwarp Saga. I'll still have one more episode involving what happens with Crocus and this "council meeting". Then, I'll do the usual extras before starting the next season for summer break. (Yay!) And once again, I apologize for both the lateness and the rushed feeling at the end. Blame school, a family visit... and a sudden addiction to Golden Sun. ^_^;
Second... *sighs* Once again, I find myself straying from my original intention. If anyone wants to see more Quantum Leap-y... ness... (or, simply, more science fiction), simply tell me.
Third off, I'm aware that the last episode was a bit... weird. It's not that I'm running out of ideas; it's that my nighttime typing is getting a bit quirky... (See Everybody's Free to Use FTP.) =/ Sorry about that. ^_^;
Fourth off, I'm aware that I had promised that I wouldn't deliver this late. Truth is, I wound up breaking that promise unintentionally. Apparently, it had slipped my mind that my family would be visiting this week, and so therefore, it would be difficult to find time to write another episode. Next week (and very possibly the week after that), there will be another delayed episode thanks to finals. In all cases, I apologize. ^_^; (By the way, things should clear up after the twelfth because that's when I finally get out of school. =D)
Anywho, episode nineteen! ^_^
---
Episode 19--
Anticlimax
Zero remained by her lake, going over the past events once more as she stared at the crystal surface of her lake. A shadow grew over her until it covered her.
"Salutations, Reno," Zero greeted.
She turned around to see a young man with long, straight, auburn hair and amthyst eyes. His skin was hidden by a long, green coat, a black shirt, khakis, and a pair of black military boots. His only accessories had been the simple, black, pseudo-leather belt around his waist and the pair of oval-rimmed sunglasses pushed up on his head so that it sat on his hair just above the forehead.*1* He appeared calm, maintaining an inner energy, though he was fresh from a shift in a certain Golduck.*2*
She looked away.
"M'lady, I came to know if you aren't angered about our interference," Reno said. "We only did what we thought would be best, as you had taught us."
Zero pressed her lips together. "I understand that."
"Then, will you let Apollo, Ash, and myself off without punishment?"
Zero paused for awhile.
"Of course," she replied before closing her eyes. "Punishment shouldn't be necessary."
"Thank you, m'lady," Reno said with a bow. "You always were just." He looked at her face. "But may I ask a question?"
She opened her eyes and stared into his. "Of course."
"How long until the beginning of the end?"
There was another long pause.
"I see..." Zero closed her eyes and lifted her chin a bit. "I see... The downfall of Antiwarp. A new betrayal. A short period of minor darkness. And then..." Zero opened her eyes and stared into the sky. "And then, Keios will reveal himself."
"And then...?"
"And then, it will be up to the Three."
"I see."
"Reno, after Antiwarp's downfall, you will have to lead the Three through a new problem," Zero stated. "Are you prepared?"
"Always, Lady Aigori," he replied.
"Good. Then you may leave."
Reno turned to leave, then paused.
"M'lady, may I ask another question?" Reno inquired.
She turned a little to look at him. "Go ahead."
"You told Artemis and myself where you sent the Prime," Reno began. "Then you told us not to go to him. Why would you give us his location in the first place?"
"There are two answers to this question," Zero replied with a smile. "First, even I become annoyed when a certain question is asked to me one too many times, so answering the question about the Prime's location would put an end to the inquisition."
"And?"
"And secondly, I knew that if I told you not to go to a certain place, you would go."
"Why did you want us to go to the Prime if you told us not to?"
Zero's smile softened a bit more. "I foresee many things daily."
Reno thought about this for a moment, then he understood. "You wanted us to help Bill all along! You wanted us to save him from the Pokémon! Then... why didn't you tell us to in the first place?"
"It was not the right time," she answered before continuing about something else. "When it became the right time, it then turned into a test of loyalty. If you can truly be a team, you would disregard even my orders to help a teammate out. If not, you would have listened to me. And trust me, Reno... Soon, it will be that sense of teamwork that will be vital to all of you."
"In the beginning of the end?"
"Yes. And in another time as well."
"Another time...?"
Zero turned away. "That is all I can tell you right now. Please go."
Reno paused, nodded, and walked into the forest.
~~~
Every agent who was still of some use (unlike the lackeys who couldn't even keep their shifting powers) gathered in the largest room of the laboratory, ready to hear their instructions. Each waited patiently, talking quietly amongst themselves about what Crocus could possibly want them to do this time.
Suddenly, the room fell silent as the head scientist walked into the room. Her every step could be heard through the still anxiety. Finally, she reached a point in front of the group and turned to face them, like a general turned to face her troops.
"As you know, we have tried many times to take over the world with our newfound powers," Crocus began. "And you all know that each time, there were successes, but also failures. Each major failure had been caused by our enemy, Project Warp, whose own leader alone had already cost us somewhere near fifty shifters. If we continue our operations, Project Warp will only be there to resist us and to eat away at more and more of our army.
"Now, you may be wondering, 'What should we do about this?'" Crocus began pacing. "It has come to my attention that, though the group IS powerful, there is only one real shifter*3* in Project Warp. Compare that to our numbers, all present right now. If everyone shifts and attacks Project Warp's headquarters and especially leader, then we can easily outnumber, defeat, and dismantle Project Warp in the same half an hour, even if Dr. McKenzie takes the form of a legendary Pokémon.
"My strategy may seem insanely simple, but it's flawless and will most definitely work. Your part of it will be simple. All shifters are to shift into any Pokémon they can get and rendevous with your fellow shifters outside of McKenzie's lighthouse. Oracle will keep watch, and, when she is positive all agents have assembled, she will give you the signal to attack the lighthouse all at once.
"Though there is no possible way of doing so, DO NOT FAIL. Our employer is growing impatient due to our other attempts and expects a victory for once. If any of you cause the plan to backfire, you might as well not return. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Boss Crocus," the agents replied in unison.
"Is the mission clear?" Crocus asked.
"Yes, Boss Crocus."
Crocus grinned. "Very well. Now, go!"
Literally half the agents present shifted out. The other half, those who decided not to gain the shifting ability, took their own Pokémon and headed to the lighthouse to carry out their mission the old fashioned way.
After the last soul left the room, Crocus turned away and smiled. She drew a strange PokéBall from her pocket and stared at it. Its dark, venomous purple top seemed to gleam together like a jewel embedded in the silver that was its bottom hemisphere. Crimson paint on the top formed a letter D in such a way that it looked like it was drawn in blood, possibly due to too much paint and too little time to dry it in.
"This will be the one thing I need to take control," Crocus muttered. "After Keios creates my kingdom, my first act as queen will be to put this into use. My Demon Ball..."
Crocus smiled broadly as she pocketed it and walked out of the room.
~~~
Ash and Jude glared at each other. Artemis and Apollo watched on, both with interested glances.
"You're not getting away that easily, pal," Jude hissed.
"We'll see about that," Ash replied with a smirk on his face. "I'm going to be the number one master!"
"Like it matters right now," Jude retorted.
Bill walked by the doorway, then backtracked and glanced in with a curious look on his face. He walked into the room, looked at Ash, and then glanced at Jude.
"I think I've got this all wrapped up," Jude announced.
"Then make your move," Ash said.
"Alright..." Jude looked down at the table and took two cards from in front of her. "I'll use my Wall of Illusion and La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp as tributes so I can summon the Dark Magician in attack mode--" She put both cards in a pile to the side and slapped a new one down from her hand. "--who, with the bonus he gets from my Yami card, can already destroy your Gaia the Fierce Knight and send you into an embarrassing defeat, but FIRST, I'll equip Dark Magician with Sword of Dark Destruction, and THEN attack. I end my turn there, and I believe, with thirty-one hundred attack points to twenty-three hundred, I've inflicted eight hundred damage, zapping away the pathetic two hundred life points you were hanging onto."*4* She stood up, smiled, and crossed her arms. "I win; you lose; you don't get that battle, and now YOU have to be like Joey and become my pet dog for a week."
"Wah!" Ash fell backwards. "Hey! You had to have cheated somehow!"
"Face it, dog boy, you don't know how to play the game!" Jude gloated.
"Um... Can anyone tell me what exactly just took place here?" Bill inquired as he cocked his head.
"Ash was bored, so he tried to challenge Jude to a Pokémon battle," Apollo explained. "She was in the middle of coming up with new strategies with those playing cards, so she said she wouldn't bother unless Ash could beat her at a game of Yu-gi-oh!. Ash agreed to play but got a bit overconfident, especially at seeing that Jude gave him powerful cards like the Blue Eyes White Dragon, so Jude got annoyed and told him that if she won, he'd have to 'be like Joey in the cartoon series' and do whatever she wanted him to do in a dog costume, probably improvised from one of your researching costumes. Needless to say, Ash is a horrible player, and Jude just won the game."
There was a pause.
"We like watching your sister and Ash fight," Artemis said.
Apollo added, "It's highly entertaining."
"No, I wasn't wondering about that," Bill assured them.
"Then what?" Artemis asked.
There was another pause.
"I'm just curious," Bill answered slowly. "What on Earth is a 'you key oh'?"*5*
Everyone else stared at him with curious looks.
He blinked, cocked his head, and said, "What? It was a legitimate question..."
They still stared at him.
He sighed, turned around, and walked out. "Never mind then."
"My god, he's out of it," Jude muttered as she shook her head. "It's like he really IS back in Victorian England."
Ash shrugged. "I dunno. He seems pretty cool."
Jude narrowed her eyes at Ash. "Shut up and put on your dog suit."*6*
~~~
A few moments later (when she was good and serious), Jude opened the door to the cellar, peeked inside, and quietly slid past the door, closing it behind her. Quietly, she walked down the steps and found her brother, working on something on his computer... while half-hidden behind stacks of paper.
She slinked up to him, paused, and finally said, "What are you doing?"
Bill jumped in surprise while letting out a sharp yelp. He quickly turned toward Jude and gave her a startled glance.
"Jude! You shouldn't sneak around like that!" he scolded.
"Sorry," she responded with a smirk. "So, what ARE you doing?"
"My job," he replied, slightly dryly and with a smirk. "Right now, I'm working on Pokémon battling statistics*7* -- how to predict them before a Pokémon is born based on its parents' statistics and how its personality affects them."
Jude blinked. "You can figure out something like that?"
"Of course," her brother answered as he continued typing. "Figuring out statistics alone involves simple mathmatic equations and small observations of both wild and tame Pokémon."
"Why would you want to go through all that trouble?"
"Why not? Statistics are important when it comes to battling, and therefore, it would be important to a trainer. I suggest you pay attention to your own Pokémon's stats during battle."
"One last question..."
Bill stopped typing and looked up at her. "Yes?"
Jude raised an eyebrow. "You really like doing this sort of thing, don't you?"
Bill smiled, looked back at the screen, and put his hands on the keyboard, though he didn't continue to type. Instead, he simply replied, "My career is my hobby."
"Bill, have you ever had a life?"
He looked back at her while cocking his head. "What do you mean?"
Jude was about to say something more when a loud bang came from upstairs. Both brother and sister froze for a moment as Ziggy popped up.
"Irony strikes again," she said, partially solemnly. "Bill, I hate to tell you this, but according to security footage from that other camera you set up, a surge of Pokémon have broken down the door and are right now stampeding into the lighthouse. It'll only be a matter of time before they reach us down here, so I suggest you shift, shift now, and shift into a good Pokémon."
Bill nodded as he went to a locked cabinet set in a hole in the wall. "Thanks, Ziggy."
He opened this cabinet, revealing six PokéBalls inside it. He selected one and handed the others, one by one, to Jude, who put them in her pockets.
"If this host faints, let out another Pokémon," Bill instructed. "If you run out, get out of the lighthouse and head toward Cerulean City. Find any trainer there who can defeat the Pokémon upstairs. Do you understand?"
Jude nodded. "Right."
Bill took a deep breath and summoned the Pokémon whose PokéBall he held. Kadabra. He looked up for a moment at the ceiling, through which he could hear the commotion of what was no doubt hundreds of Pokémon. Finally, he closed his eyes and shifted out.
~~~
Ash (in Pikachu again), Apollo (inside a Poliwrath) and even Artemis were doing their best to drive away the Pokémon, all of whom turned out to be shifters from Antiwarp.*8* One by one, the trio knocked down host after host, driving each shifter out and sealing away their powers thanks to Artemis. But where one shifter fell, two more popped up, ready to fight again. And three Pokémon weren't enough to take down a large number of opponents coming at them at one time.
Suddenly, Ash spotted Pokémon flying into the air due to a Psychic attack at the edge of the crowd.
{Hey! I think Bill's joining us!} Ash called out to his allies.
{That's great, but don't let your guard down just because we've got one more ally fighting!} Apollo yelled back. {Keep giving it all you've got!}
Ash nodded and gave a Thunder to a Blastoise in front of him. The giant turtle fell, releasing a pink spark as a Tangla took its place.
~~~
The four fought for hours, knocking down as many agents as they could, and switching hosts whenever their current ones fell (save for Artemis, of course, who eventually fell at the hands of the agents, unfortunately, but was dragged to safety by Apollo).
Unfortunately, by the hours' end, the army was only two-thirds defeated, and each shifter was down to their last host. Noctowl for Ash, Raichu for Apollo*9*, and Vulpix for Bill. Though each host was strong, it was obvious the three, who went through several battles in their current hosts alone, would lose against the last fifteen fresh Pokémon.
Finally, Ash fell from the sky as a Geodude hit him with Rock Throw. He trembled, but wasn't able to pick himself up again.
{Ash! Get up!} Apollo demanded before taking down a Pidgeotto.
Ash only groaned.
Bill gasped as a Cloyster hit him with a Water Gun. He was able to remain standing, but it was obvious that he was very close to ending up like Ash. He fired an Ember attack (excuse the pun) at a Grovyle beside Cloyster and made a direct hit. He watched as his target fell before he dodged a second attack from Cloyster.
{Bill! Retreat!} Apollo commanded. {You're too weak to fight!}
{And you're any stronger?} Bill countered, not meaning anything sharp by it. {Besides, then what will I do? This is the last Pokémon I can use as protection, and I'm not abandoning my home to the destruction of my enemies again!}*10*
He stopped to use Flamethrower on a Magnemite.
{Alright, so you're going to let them take you down,} Apollo stated as he used Swift on a Dugtrio.
{I didn't say that!} Bill replied before using Confuse Ray on the Cloyster.
Apollo struck the confused Cloyster with a Thunderbolt. {Right.}
At that moment, a Golbat swooped in and sucked the last of Bill's energy with Leech Life. The bat flew up, allowing the shifter to slump over, defeated.
Apollo attempted to use Thunderbolt on the Golbat but then realized one minor detail. He was out of electricity. His cheeks sparked as he helplessly backed away from the last of the Pokémon, knowing full well that, with no allies and little power, all he could do now would be to brace himself for an attack from the full group.
All of a sudden, a large ball of light struck four Pokémon in front of Apollo. The four fell, and the other Antiwarp agents looked back to see what struck their comrades. There, not far behind the group, was a Dragonite, recharging from a Hyper Beam.
{By the order of Lady Aigori, I have come to protect the three heroes of the prophecy,} Dragonite announced. {You will leave here without further attempts at harming them.}
{Lady Aigori? Who's she?} a shifter inside a Sudowoodo asked.
{Who cares who she is?} a Raticate countered. {She can kiss our Pokémon behinds! We don't have to follow orders from some chick we don't know, especially if we have our powers!}
Dragonite heard this and became enraged. {HOW DARE YOU INSULT LADY AIGORI!}
With that, Dragonite unleashed a Dragon Rage which struck the Raticate. The rat screeched and was thrown a few feet away, landing on the floor with a loud thud. A purple spark ascended from the body of the fallen rat.
Dragonite remained in a battling stance. The other Pokémon stared at him for awhile, then shook and ran out of the lighthouse.
Dragonite turned to Apollo. {Your current fight is far from over. Antiwarp will return with a different sort of soldier. Shift back and rest with your allies. I will return later.}
~~~
"Hey, Apollo! Be careful! We're supposed to be getting him to come to, not knock him out again!"
"I know that!"
Bill regained consciousness but didn't open his eyes right away, just like he always does. For a moment, he remained in darkness, slowly noticing that... someone was... carrying... him?
His eyes shot open, and stared up into Apollo's face, who was helping to carry him up the stairs by lifting up his back. With a sharp gasp, Bill twisted out of Apollo's hands (and Jude's as well, seeing as she was holding up her brother's legs) and landed face down on the stairs.
"Next time you want to do that, do you mind warning us first, Bill?" Jude asked as she stood with her arms akimbo.
He placed his hands beside him, palms down, and pushed himself up into a kneeling position. "I'd like to ask of you the same thing."
"Sorry," Apollo apologized. "We were trying to get you up to your room."
"Yeah. That way, nothing shorts out when we decide to throw water on you," Jude explained.
Bill raised an eyebrow and looked back at Jude. He knew that the whole thing had been her idea, seeing as that was typical early teenaged logic.
She cocked her head. "What?"
"Nothing." He stood up. "Apollo, what happened after I was knocked out?"
"A Dragonite came to finish off the other agents," Apollo replied. "He said that our fight against Antiwarp isn't over yet. More agents will come, and with them, he'll be back too."
"Interesting... A Dragonite," he muttered.
"Um, and what about the other thing he just said?" Jude asked.
Bill frowned slightly. "The only thing we CAN do is rest up. Tell Ziggy to keep monitoring the perimeter and to notify all of us if she picks up on something. By the way, where exactly is Ash?"
"Asleep," Jude replied. "And I'd just like to warn you, Bill -- I don't think Ash would wake up thanks to an atomic bomb, let alone Ziggy."
"And you're any worse, Miss Just-give-me-five-more-minutes?" Bill inquired as he raised an eyebrow for a moment. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to retire to my room to rest before I have to shift again. Apollo, you should do the same."
Apollo nodded and followed Bill up the stairs before retreating to a guest room, leaving the researcher to slip into the master bedroom and the red-headed girl to stay on the stairs for a moment.
"I'm not as deep a sleeper as Ash," Jude muttered.
~~~
The day wore into night before anything happened. As soon as darkness covered the land and Selene took up her kingdom, Jude turned on the beacon and stood for a moment in the silence of the base of the lighthouse tower. Somewhere outside, she heard... helicopters...
Jude dashed out of the control room and nearly ran into Bill. He held her by the shoulders for a brief moment before pushing her aside lightly and dashing towards the door.
"Bill! What's going on?" Jude asked.
He held up his left index finger to his mouth, signaling that he wanted Jude to remain silent for a moment. Carefully, he opened the door a crack and peeked outside before closing it again, swiftly darting to Jude, grabbing her by the wrist, and pulling her to the cellar. The two stood just inside the slightly-closed door, a few steps down.
Both remained silent until Bill finally spoke.
"Ziggy picked up on something," he explained in a whisper. "Quite a lot of somethings. The other Antiwarp agents no doubt, all in helicopters."
"How much time do we have?" Jude asked in an equally low voice.
He shook his head. "Not enough. Have all the Pokémon been healed?"
"Yeah, but I don't think they'll be able to stand up to ALL those trainers at once," Jude told him. "That's probably double the Pokémon out there! They'll destroy you AND the others, smear the walls with our blood, and then level the place."
"Well, you're rather optomistic," Bill hissed with sarcasm. He continued in a normal tone. "We don't know if there's an equal amount of shifters and non-shifters in Antiwarp, nor do we know how many Pokémon each trainer has. Besides, if they're all ex-Team Rocket members, we shouldn't have a problem. Rockets STEAL strong Pokémon, not raise them."
"And you're rather sure of yourself," Jude responded.
"Get the Pokémon ready," Bill instructed. "Ash and Apollo will be down to retrieve theirs theirs soon."
Jude nodded and started down the stairs before stopping briefly and turning at the bottom.
"Hey, Bill?" she addressed.
He looked at her with a curious glance.
"I just wanted to say..."
She paused. She couldn't bring herself to say those three words she was thinking of, even if it was meant in a familial way. She felt she was too tough and too old to be saying that sort of thing. Besides, it may have a morbid feel to it, as if the person she wanted to say it to wouldn't live to hear it later.
"What?" Bill finally asked.
"I just wanted to say..." Jude took a deep breath, lowered her head, and said something else instead. "Good luck, Bill."
She looked up at his warm smile. She hated when he looked at her like that.
"Thank you, Jude," he replied with a nod. "Now, go get those Pokémon ready."
She nodded and ran to the cupboard as he turned toward the door. He heard people come into the lighthouse -- their whoops, their hollers, their sounds of destruction, and of course, one particular phrase...
"Down with Warp! Death to McKenzie!"
Bill remained somewhat calm on the outside, remembering what Jude had said to him last.
'Good luck,' he thought nervously as he closed his eyes and leaned against the wall. 'I'll need it now more than ever...'
~~~
Ash, Apollo, and the recently-healed Artemis peeked out the hidden door leading to the corridor to the living quarters.
"Here we go again," Artemis muttered.
"Don't shifters catch a break?" Ash inquired.
"Of course not," Apollo replied. "Wherever there's wrong in the world to be righted, we'll be there!"
"I always dreamed of being a superhero," Ash said, "but I never thought it would be like THIS."
On the edge of the advancing band, a surge of electricity blasted across a section amid the people, catching them by surprise before they could release their Pokémon.
"That's got to be either a rogue Antiwarp Pokémon or Bill in Jolteon," Apollo figured. "Let's hope it's the latter and shift now."
"Shift? Into what?" Ash asked frantically.
"Oh yeah... You can't control where you shift yet," Apollo recalled. "Alright, I'll shift, and you wait here until I bring up a Pokémon."
"Pikachu?"
"Whichever." Apollo turned to Artemis. "Artemis, go out there and start fighting."
"Got it!" Artemis responded as he darted out into the crowd, issuing Slashes and Blizzards wherever he could.
After this, Apollo shifted out.
~~~
Jude had released all of the Pokémon in the cellar. It was a tight fit, but it made things a hell of a lot easier. She watched as a blue spark descended into a Poliwrath, signaling that Apollo had just arrived.
"How bad is it, Apollo?" Jude asked as she fixed her watcher equipment on herself to understand him.
{They have yet to release their Pokémon,} Apollo told her. {However, though the trainers are less in numbers than the shifters we had encountered earlier, the group is large enough to make this a long and violent battle.}
"Good luck then."
{Thank you.} He turned to Pikachu, who approached him from the side. {Pikachu, Ash had requested you.}
{I figured,} the electric rat replied before following Apollo up the stairs.
Jude stared at the door for awhile before bringing four PokéBalls from her pocket.
"Flareon! Charmeleon! Houndour!"
Jude threw three of the PokéBalls on the ground. All three of the named Pokémon appeared before her, waiting for their commands.
Jude bent down and spoke with the three. "There's a fight going on upstairs. A big one. Go up there and fight off all the people upstairs. Okay?"
The three nodded and turned, heading up the steps and out of the cellar. As they were doing so, the other Pokémon looked at each other, knowing that their masters were in trouble and that the last thing they should do was to be standing around a floor below the struggle. They nodded to each other and marched up the steps.
"Hey! Where are you all going!? Stay here!"
Not one of them listened to the human girl. After the last Pokémon disappeared through the cellar door, the girl looked at the PokéBall she held in her hand and threw it.
"Cyndaquil! Go!"
The fire mouse appeared before her. She bent down and scooped up the Pokémon, holding it in her arms like it was a teddy bear.
"This is gonna be one hell of a conflict," she muttered.
~~~
As soon as the other Pokémon jumped in, the odds of Warp actually winning without Dragonite's help seemed to increase, which is part of the reason why none of the shifters said anything. (The other being that they were too busy to say anything anyways.)
However, upon realizing that the opponent grew, Antiwarp summoned more Pokémon to both attack and defend themselves.
The battle, once again, lasted for hours, with Pokémon fainting left and right on both sides and Antiwarp members being "blasted off" here and there.
It took awhile, but the small regiment of Warp Pokémon had been reduced to only the original three: a beaten Jolteon, an exhausted Pikachu, and a determined Poliwrath. The three stood their ground, despite the fact that the others (who had fallen because Antiwarp continuously ganged up on each of them) had left them with seven Pokémon and trainers still to defeat, outnumbering them by four.
The Pokémon received orders to attack the strongest of the three, the Poliwrath, to take him down instead of him taking them down if they went after the electric types. The seven Pokémon nodded before gathering and swiftly striking the Poliwrath with seven different attacks. Each one hit Apollo directly, causing him to scream in pain before collapsing. He tried to stand up, but this only led to him falling back down again. Before long, a blue spark rose from Poliwrath.
One down, two to go.
The Pikachu and the Jolteon stood there, growling at the seven before the Jolteon struck with a Thunderbolt. The attack electricuted two of the Pokémon and sent them flying into their trainers, who then retreated after being electricuted themselves, leaving their comrades alone to fight.
Two down, five to go.
At that point, the Pokémon on Antiwarp's side received orders to attack the Jolteon to avenge their friends. And so, they did, launching an attack on the electric Pokémon. It did its damage, and Bill fell, just like Apollo had, but he was well enough to stay inside Jolteon (though not well enough to force the Pokémon back up).
One down, one to go.
Ash backed up. He was out of energy and out of strategies, and now, he was being surrounded by five Pokémon.
Suddenly, a Dragon Rage smacked into the three Pokémon and trainers in front of Ash. It lifted them off the ground and flung them into the air, causing them to blast off, leaving their two allies behind.
Three down, two to go.
It seemed that everyone looked up to see the seven-foot dragon that stood just feet away. It was what Bill was waiting to see.
{Dragonite...} He muttered with a relieved tone before shifting back.
{Dragonite!} Ash cried out with joy.
Dragonite nodded to the Pikachu before turning to the last remaining Antiwarp agents, both of whom stood behind their Pokémon, a Magneton and a Pinsir.
{You and your masters have caused enough trouble for the Three,} Dragonite said to the Antiwarp Pokémon. {If you obey Lady Aigori, you will stop fighting and leave with your trainers.}
{Lady Aigori!} Pinsir spat. {She is not my master. I don't carry out her orders. My master is only the trainer behind me, who in turn is the subject of Keios. He's done a lot more for me than that weak little pixie Keios taunts so much. You can keep your little star faerie!}
{Very well,} Dragonite growled. {And you, Magneton?}
{I would love to honor Lady Aigori's word,} the magnet replied. {Before I was a servant of the trainer behind me, I was loyal to only my clan and her. But now, I can only carry out orders from another human voice. Destroy me, Dragonite. It's all you can do for me.}
Dragonite nodded. {Very well.}
The agents didn't know what to do. With no tricks up their sleeves and weakened Pokémon, they couldn't see how they could withstand the power of the mythical dragon before them, let alone launch an attack that could defeat Dragonite in the only move they had.
And so, they stood and watched as Dragonite launched a Flamethrower at both Pokémon. Pinsir fell as he laughed, and Magneton fell as it regretted not being able to fight for the peace Lady Aigori promised to bring someday.
The two agents gasped and ran out of the building with their Pokémon safely in their respective PokéBalls, praying that Dragonite would allow them to leave, unharmed.
And the merciful beast allowed them to.
All of a sudden, there was a clamor. The cellar door burst open, and out ran Bill, eager to study Dragonite... even after forcing himself up and regardless of the fact that he SHOULD be exhausted from the shift.
"Bill, don't you think you're running around a bit too early?" Jude asked as she grabbed him by the sleeve with one hand and held Cyndaquil with the other. "Don't you think you should rest a bit more?"
"Nonsense!" he exclaimed cheerfully. "Dragonites are extremely rare, meaning this could be a once-in-a- lifetime encounter! If I pass up a chance to study one, I'll never forgive myself!"*11*
Jude sighed as her brother pulled his arm out of her hand and ran over to begin taking notes about the dragon on a notepad he carried up with him.
"Some things never change," Jude said as she put a hand on her head.
At that point, Ash shifted out, joining Apollo and coming back downstairs to see the Dragonite again.
"I wonder if I could catch it..." Ash muttered as he pulled out a PokéBall.
{I wouldn't suggest it,} the Dragonite replied. {Not until I shift out.}
"Woah! So you're a shifter too?" Ash inquried.
The Dragonite nodded. {My name is Reno, and my loyalty lies with Lady Aigori. Some of you already know me.}
Apollo and Artemis nodded to the dragon.
"I was wondering when you'd join us," Artemis commented.
"Oh, blast!"
Everyone turned to look at Bill.
He sighed. "There goes my observations of a typical Dragonite's behavior..."
At this point, Ash, Jude, and Artemis fell over.
"Talk about changing the subject!" Ash cried out.
Just then, Ziggy appeared. She blinked at the scene, then looked away, staring at a spot somewhere not far away.
Jude pulled herself up on her knees and cocked her head. "Hey, Ziggy! What's up?"
"I'd hate to alarm you, but you've been watched since the shifter struggle earlier today," Ziggy told the group.
"Really?" Artemis stood up. "By who?"
Ziggy stared hard into the darkness before growling, "Oracle."
The white-haired hologram appeared, floating in midair only a foot or two above the ground in a lotus position. She rested her cheek on a hand which was propped up by one of her legs as the other hand was on her hip.
"Well, well! Tough little rodents, aren't we?" Oracle commented.
"You bet!" Ziggy snapped aggressively. "Warp can take whatever you dish out! We've got the support of Lady Aigori and her followers on our side! Just ask Reno!"
"I don't care to talk to weaklings," Oracle replied smoothly. "Besides, your shifters will be begging for mercy under Master Keios before he can even get warmed up. If you think the toughest battles were today, just wait until you go up against my employer!"
Oracle let out a quick laugh before stopping and blowing a kiss to Ziggy. The blue-headed hologram nearly spewed virtual vomit at this but still kept enough dignity to growl menacingly at Oracle as the evil girl gave her a short wave.
"Au revoir, Creampuff!" Oracle called before vanishing.
"Creampuff. Nice nickname," Artemis commented.
"Shut up," Ziggy growled.
"If she was trying to intimidate us, it didn't work on me," Apollo said.
"Me neither!" Ash added as he jumped up into a standing position.
"What about you, Bill?" Jude asked.
He looked up from his notes. "Hmm? What? I'm dreadfully sorry. I was busy taking notes, so I didn't pay attention to anything any of you had just said."
There was a collective groan in the room.
"Bill, would you stop thinking about the Dragonite for a few minutes and keep up with us for a moment!?" Jude demanded.
He cocked his head. "Why? What did you just say?"
"Didn't you hear what Oracle said!?"
"Oracle was here? Strange... I didn't notice."
Jude slapped her forehead. "Dear god, you're oblivious..."
Bill shrugged and turned back to the Dragonite... which had disappeared.
"Oh, BLAST!!" he cried out in dismay.
"Bill!" Jude snapped.
"What?"
"What about Oracle?"
"What about her?"
Jude let out a frustrated growl. "Never mind!"
~~~
Keios stared into another mirror, one close to the broken one. In this mirror, he saw the defeat of the agents, playing it over and over again like someone would play a part of a tape in a VCR over and over again.
He growled. "So, Crocus' agents have all been defeated. I knew I shouldn't have trusted her to fufill a simple assignment such as this."
Keios turned his back on the mirror and began to pace.
"The Three continue to gain allies," Keios muttered. "And with each ally, their power increases. Soon, the Three will be able to fufill the untouched part of the prophecy, and that is a day I dread. But what to do to stop it...?"
He stopped, then looked into another mirror, at a different gathering of people. A council meeting in a room of light. At this, Keios grinned.
"Of course... Find new puppets to do my bidding... But then..." Keios frowned, turning to another mirror which showed Crocus pacing in her office. "What should I do with Crocus and her unfufilled wish...?"
He thought for a moment before a smile spread across his face. With that, Keios laughed and vanished in a swirl of darkness before the images in the mirrors disappeared, allowing the mirrors to reflect only the darkness of the room.
***
End episode 19*12*
---
Footnotes:
*1*: The clothing description actually came from one of the example pictures of an antihero in the instruction book Manga Mania: How to Draw Japanese Comics by Christopher Hart. (Yep. I suggest picking it up sometime. It's a good guide... and the pictures are for the most part good enough to drool over... ^.^) And no, this doesn't really tell you much about Reno's character. Just like how you can't tell that Vash the Stampede is a doughnut nut (excuse the pun) just by the way he looks (unless he's holding a box of doughnuts or anything doughnut related).
*2*: Yep. That was him in the last episode.
*3*: Crocus doesn't know that Ash, Apollo, and Reno are all shifters. Here, she supposes that the only two people that make up Warp are still only Bill and Ziggy.
*4*: Just for the record, Jude is supposed to be not only an avid skater but also a gamer girl extrodinaire (and yes, a fairly decent cook). And furthermore, yes, that IS one of my strategies. ^_^
*5*: The poor guy misheard Apollo. ^_^; Well, he's not supposed to be... well, with it. ^_^;;;;
*6*: The only point to this whole scene is comic relief. Kami knows we need it right about now. =/
*7*: The attack, defense, special attack, special defense, speed, and evasiveness of each Pokémon.
*8*: The Pokémon from the non-shifters hadn't arrived yet.
*9*: Ash and Apollo would go back to their own bodies, where they would summon a new Pokémon from their Pokémon team to be their next host. This should be obvious, but there's some people out there who would be a bit confused.
*10*: He's referring to how he was forced to run from Team Rocket in Past, Present, and Future Sight.
*11*: I think this is the closest to in-character I've had Bill be since... well, the beginning of Warp Series. O_o; And by the way, there's a few more notes on the Dragonite subject. Number one, the first person who brings up the "he didn't know what a Dragonite was" argument spawned from "Mystery at the Lighthouse" gets a whack. -_- Secondly, if anyone asks why he just doesn't raise a Dratini into a Dragonair and then a Dragonite, it's because... Well, dang it! They're so friggin' hard to raise to the point of evolution! Or catch for that matter! _o
*12*: And so ends the second-to-last episode of the Antiwarp Saga. I'll still have one more episode involving what happens with Crocus and this "council meeting". Then, I'll do the usual extras before starting the next season for summer break. (Yay!) And once again, I apologize for both the lateness and the rushed feeling at the end. Blame school, a family visit... and a sudden addiction to Golden Sun. ^_^;