"It's a new year!"

"It's nearly February, Dad," Aveline responded.

So began another briefing.

"Similarly to the summer, the new year brings out all sorts of changes in people," Augustine said. "For good… and for worse. Anomalies are bound to spike in number, and we all have to be prepared for that!"

"So, Tuesday," Blanche simplified.

"Not just that. Using census data, FLARE has been able to determine what kinds of people are moving into Lumiose-3," Augustine said. "Thanks to all of your efforts, more and more people are realizing that the risk of living here is minor compared to what they have to gain."

"That's… basic human geography, isn't it?" Gin asked, scratching his head. "I mean, I barely passed that class, but..."

"You can make geography out of humans?" Salem asked. "Can I try that?"

"No," Blanche said automatically.

"However, Lumiose-3 also happens to offer some… less than legal opportunities on account of its size," Augustine said.

"That happened in Orre, too. It's mostly just people having nothing else to do, though," Michael said.

"All in all, you'll likely be dealing with more human Anomalies than usual," Augustine summed it up. "Any questions? Ulex, Rhododendron, Agapanthus?"

"How did you say that all without flubbing the names?" Blanche asked.

The Professor shushed him while Salem raised her hand.

"When you say human Anomalies," one of her ear-like tufts twitched, "Does that mean I can use my powers to-"

"Making the enemy forget they saw you is dishonorable," Ash said, shielding his eyes with a strange gesture.

"Just knock 'em out," Gin added.

"Aw…"

Blanche sighed, mentally getting back in the saddle.

"Oh, Blanche," Clemont called as everyone broke up into more specific discussions. "New Gears have been authorized for field use. As long as your Infinity Battery is functioning properly, you should be able to teleport them normally."

"Sick. What do they look like?" Blanche walked over as the three Espers in the room started discussing how to properly raid a warehouse of criminals.

Clemont was looking over some blueprints, but he quickly switched them out for a tablet plugged into LADY's systems.

"Well, they're nothing special, but you get some use out of them." Clemont swiped once, and a picture of a shield appeared. "The STRIKE is a shield that propels itself with Infinity Energy to counter its weight, while also using its mass to protect you. Your mobility shouldn't suffer in open air, but I don't advise getting into small spaces with it."

"How heavy is it?"

"I… can't actually lift it myself. It has a series of tiny thrusters that push back against the acceleration of gravity and it has a small computer that connects to LADY's interface to change the vectors and such. It won't crush you, but I wouldn't recommend using it as a blanket."

Clemont swiped again. A schematic of a glove and a bright spear appeared.

"The STAB is a generalized spear, but it can be thrown as well as used as a sweeping weapon. LADY handles the computing, but it creates a small, temporary AIAM field that binds a rod of Infinity Energy together long enough to be thrown. I watched a Sinnoh League conference match once, and I saw an Infernape create a lance out of fire with a similar impression. The glove is the Gear itself, and it will give the impression of weight though the spear has little. The AIAM field only lasts for a few seconds after losing contact with the glove, so short to mid-range is ideal."

"Maybe I should have signed up for track and field in Trainer School," Blanche remarked.

Clemont tapped his screen as a new picture appeared.

Blanche's eyes widened, before a smile slowly but surely broke onto his face.

"And this here is the SLASH. I had a feeling you might like it."


Early February.

In the dead of night, two figures were nearly invisible under the waning moon, sticking to the shadows of a towering palace. Their breathing was muffled, but inside of their helmets it sounded deafening.

"Remind me why we're here again?" Blanche hissed, his heart soon to explode out of his chest.

It was just one of many assignments that had popped up. To get the new Espers acclimated as well as put them to good use, Augustine put him and Ash on this specific mission. It wasn't to fight and Anomaly, but rather, to do some reconnaissance.

"I believe there was an item of great importance that we must recover," Ash replied, his voice so low it could be mistaken for rustling grass.

"For the good of all mankind," Augustine added. The Pokémon Lab was dim behind him, with only one person using it. "This mission required absolute stealth!" he whispered. "You must not be caught! You must not summon your Gear under any circumstances! If you are… we are doomed!"

"I know, I know," Blanche said, shaking his head minutely. The satellite images weren't updated in real time, but he could keep track of where they were using landmarks in the architecture.

A huff split the silence like a jackhammer. Him and Ash immediately hugged a wall as the sound of sniffing echoed towards them. A Pyroar, telling by the silhouette, passed by, standing tall and looking regal as it paced around the inner perimeter. It eventually passed, the sound of its breathing fading away.

Blanche nearly collapsed, one hand on his chest and the other still pressed to the wall. "I'm really not built for this stuff," he wheezed as quietly as possible.

Ash looked at him, moonlight reflecting off of navy blue- nearly black- spandex. His breathing was entirely silent, not even a whisper coming through his communications line.

"May we continue?" he asked.

"Yeah, let's. The sooner we're out of here, the better for my nerves."

They hugged the palace wall for a hundred or so paces, not disturbed by any more guards.

Beneath a high window, in the edges of perfectly maintained grass hidden by a bush, there was a wide patch of dirt. It looked as if it had been swept away or kicked up a while ago, though the grass had not begun to grow back.

"Entry point located," Blanche said. He looked up at the high window as the two of them crouched between the rowed windows on the ground floor. "...Are you sure you meant the third floor? Seems sort of small from down here."

"Trust in me, my A-team. It is a rendezvous and stash for… certain items. I have been informed that spring cleaning will soon occur in the palace, and as such, is at risk of discovery."

"Right, right…" Blanche assured himself, choosing to believe that it was an attic that stored a doomsday artifact or something similar.

Maybe a magic lamp?

Whatever the case, he stared at the high roof for a good few moments in thought. "How are we supposed to get up there?"

Ash raised his hand in a rigid manner. "I believe I may be of some assistance. I have training for these sorts of situations."

"Shoot."

Ash's hand went to a belt that had been incorporated into his morph suit upon his request. A small purple pellet, a bit larger than an egg, dropped to the ground before it silently exploded and Blanche's vision was filled with white smoke.

Him and Ash were then on a high ledge, precariously balanced on the six-inch outcropping just outside the window. Ash pulled the two of them into a crouch.

Blanche eyed the ground warily. "How did you do that?" he whispered.

"I can manipulate poisonous substances. By cloaking us in a very mild allergen which few are actually allergic to, I was able to lift us through the resultant fog," Ash explained, perfectly still, before his visor turned towards the closed window. "I have not encountered a frame of this design before." He palmed a small hook-ended implement and slid it between the panes. "Allow me a minute to open this. If you see any movement, freeze and alert me. The watch will notice movement in these light conditions, but they may not be looking too closely."

Blanche was about to nod, but instead said, "Alright."

The mentor becomes the mentee, indeed.

"Agapanthus, you wouldn't happen to have used your skills in Lumiose-3 before, would you?" Augustine asked warily.

"Ask no questions and I shall tell no lies." A bit of metal unhitched near silently. "Traveling the world does leave one low on supplies. Amaranth, the window is open. Shall we proceed?"

Knowing Gin as well, he couldn't care less about criminal history. Ash was on the side of good now, and that was what mattered. "Let's go. In and out. I have a warm bed with my name on it back home."

"Indubitably."

The window swung inward, just enough to let them silently step fully inside the room while not totally exposing it to the wind. The room was tall, not nearly as much so as the lower floors, but enough that Blanche didn't feel cramped.

There was a four-post bed with curtains, dozens of pillows, the whole shebang.

Naturally, there was also a person inside of it.

Obviously, speaking externally would be a very bad idea, but internally, Blanche was screaming profanities and swearing that he was going to commit elder abuse next time he saw the Professor.

Blanche gesticulated wildly to Ash, hoping that his emotion was carrying through even with his entire face covered by a black visor.

"Now," Augustine said, face incredibly close to the camera receiver. "Third dresser, the one between the mirror and the wardrobe. The fourth drawer, below the middle."

Over the course of a minute, Blanche and Ash slowly padded over to the dresser. Over another minute, Blanche slid it open and prayed to God that his body wasn't shaking too badly. Inside the dresser, as you would expect, there were clothes.

Men's clothes.

"Professor, I'm actually going to kill you," Blanche muttered so far under his breath that it could be on the ground floor.

"Secret between men! Now, get those out of there! Any evidence left behind can and will be used against me."

This is an abuse of power, I'm one-hundred percent certain, Blanche thought. Breaking and entering, theft, aiding and abetting…

Oh, definitely not that last one. Terrible image to have in his brain.

Blanche wrapped all of the clothes up in a single lab coat, bunching it together without a care for the wrinkles he was creating. Ash was looking at him with a blank look, though that was the natural state of their visors, he could feel it radiating from the ninja.

There was more shuffling in the room. In his rush, he must have created too much noise.

"GO! GO!" Augustine screamed in his ear.

Blanche took a running jump and threw himself out the window and into the garden, sure that Ash wasn't far behind. A pellet struck his upper back, and his vision of a rapidly approaching statue was replaced by fog.

His vision cleared as he softly landed behind another bush, further into the courtyard next to Ash. His ears, however, were filled by a cry coming from the upper window.

The world seemed to come alive around them with Pyroar roaring and flashlight beams blazing into the air around them.

They had no other choice than to run for dear life.


Blanche threw a bundle of clothes at the Professor in the wee hours of the morning, the FLARE Pokémon Lab still dimmed as he and Ash reentered, with Blanche's morph suit being covered in twigs and internally filled with sweat, though somehow still in one piece.

"Ah, gentlemen, how fantastic it is to see you," the Professor said, sipping a cup of coffee and looking entirely nonchalant as the bundle landed at his feet.

"I hate you. So. So much," Blanche spat, before pausing and adding, "Sir." He paused again. "Actually, you know what? No. Augustine, you can take these clothes, and shove them wuh-haaaaaaaaaaaay up your-"


Later that month, it turned out that there were slow days in Kalos. No, really. There are days when not much of anything happens, and even weeks full of such days.

Unfortunately, as Blanche was suddenly informed, if they wanted their full salary they needed to fulfill a quota.

That was how Blanche ended up raking sand on a beach in Ambrette Town with Salem, her Meowstic, Chespin, as well as two old enemies, Plusle and Minun.

Allegedly, people only care about volunteer work when there are cute mascots there to sensationalize, as Michael put it. It was probably the cynical Orrean in him speaking.

So the story went, once the two Electric-types had calmed down, they became good enough friends with Clemont's Dedenne to fully switch to the less chaotic side of things, and were allowed to help with the beach clean-up.

Of course, it had been months since the old team had actually cleaned it. It wasn't notable, but it had been hard and embarrassing work to repair the boardwalk they'd inadvertently shredded on their school trip.

Alas, any PR is good PR, so they were sent back.

Gin and Ash had fulfilled their quotas, and according to the greaser they'd gone on their own little adventure in Lumiose's underside and now they were best friends.

So, it was him and Salem on deck. He also felt like doing a little physical training with Chespin couldn't hurt.

Blanche was the only one of the two to not be wearing his helmet, as his identity was commonly known and he could smell the sea breeze better that way.

Upon later reflection that he had made the choice to take it off in mid-winter, he quickly remembered that he was an idiot as he downed more cold medicine.

But at that moment, he was raking sand for trash. A lot of the work was saved by pointing out trash to Salem, whose morph suit was a copperish orange highlighted with red, and she would levitate it into a trash bag.

He was fairly certain that when he wasn't looking, she was levitating fish Pokémon out of the surf then throwing them back out to sea, but he only caught glimpses and heard the splashes.

"Stop that," he said, snapping and pointing at her without looking.

"Stop what?" she asked innocently, her voice digitizing slightly as it traveled through her helmet.

"That."

"What?"

Blanche sighed. For a "leader," he sure didn't feel in charge. Salem didn't work exactly like Rosa even if they were both a little crazy. Rosa's case was understandable because when your Esper ability is a hammer, every problem is a nail.

He pulled a bit of rope out from the sand, along with a chunk of a life preserver and tossed it to Chespin.

They'd been working with Vine Whip on the backburner, starting with just trying to catch things with the vines to hone control and tautness.

The plasticky preserver chunk bounced off Chespin's forehead and back onto the sand.

"Ah…"

"Ches…"

Blanche held out a thumbs-up, his armor glinting in the sunlight that reached through the cloud cover. "Hey, that's fine. We'll try again."

Salem levitated the hunk of junk out of the sand and into a massive ball of garbage that she and her Meowstic were levitating. The bipedal cat (well, that metric could describe both of them) was a little less than twice Chespin's height as it stood next to Salem. The two would move at the exact same time and often make the same motion, working at the same rhythm. If they were a duo of Trainer and partner Pokémon, they'd probably be great in the Gym Challenge.

Well, they'd been doing a pretty good job cleaning. As Gin and LaRusso had put it, there's no better place to train than on the beach.

"Hey, Rhododendron, you want to have a battle?"

One of Meowstic's ears perked up before Salem turned towards him. Her helmet had twitched upwards just the slightest bit.

"Really? Can we?" she asked, a pink glow surrounding a nearby tarp and pulling it under the floating ball of junk. It crashed down with a scattered clang, but the air seemed to solidify around the edges and kept anything from spilling back onto the sand.

"As long as we don't destroy anything, it should be fine. And, well… I haven't actually had a proper Pokémon battle before," he admitted, laughing awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head.

"No way!" she exclaimed.

"Way," he said.

"Wow, this is going to be awesome! I've never had anyone ask to battle my Meowstic before." Her helmet twitched a second time. "Well, no one that's heard of me. Still dunno why. So! You know the rules?"

"I've seen a battle, my amnesia isn't short-term," he snarked. "It's not turn-based, it's just done that way in big matches for the audience's benefit. Most Trainers can figure out what's happening before it does. That's the Art of War, know thy enemy, what they're most likely to do, y'know…"

"Really? I always thought they were taking the time to think."

"Oh." Well, shit, he used his brain a little too much there. "That too."

"What size field?" she asked, her Meowstic's eyes turning a solid pink.

"Nothing crazy. Half a tennis court should be good," he guessed.

Small plumes of sand were cut out around them in the shape of a rectangle, an invisible force digging wavy lines in a vague pattern that sectioned off an area of the beach.

Blanche walked backwards out of the arena and Salem did the same. Chespin remained where he'd been standing, near the center. Salem's Meowstic took up a stance near the three-quarter mark opposite Blanche.

Almost immediately, plans began falling into place. The gears on his train of thought clicked and churned. They hadn't worked out Vine Whip yet, it was very imprecise. He hadn't needed to teach Tackle or Growl because those were just things that Chespin could do. He couldn't teach instincts like that, they were very basic commands.

Growl would lower the physical attack power of another Pokémon, so it went in his brain. Psychic is generally a special attack, so that was out. Getting in close could work.

"Are you ready, Leader?" Salem asked, pointing at him across the sandy gap.

"Yes. Tackle!"

Chespin started running after a moment, but its footwork was sloppy on the loose earth. It kicked up sand as it moved forward, approaching the Meowstic with its two stubby legs.

"Meowstic, use Mean Look!"

The cat-like Pokémon stared down Chespin and sneered so powerfully, Blanche had flashbacks to getting shoved into a locker while preps watched. Just like high school.

Wait a damn minute, he thought, that wasn't a flashback! That was the memories of a stupid movie LaRusso made him, Gin, and Lenore watch the last time they were there. It wasn't even a psychic attack.

And I'm an amnesiac, for Christ's sake, he complained mentally.

Chespin lost its footing entirely just from the mental impact and collapsed, face down in the sand. Meowstic's eyes flashed pink and its ears unfurled. The sand sculpted itself into the shape of a bowl and a vague humanoid shape. The latter put its foot-like appendage on the back of Chespin's head and mimed pushing it in.

"It's a trick! Snap out of it! You've never faced the Unovan education system!"

That seemed to do the trick, and the quills from its head looped outwards and cut through the sand. Chespin got back on its feet warily, somewhat closer to Meowstic.

"Can you continue?" Blanche asked.

The Grass-type nodded silently, pulling its short arms close to its face in a pseudo-boxing stance.

"Right. Vine Whip the sand!" he called, hoping that the screen would blind Meowstic and lower its accuracy.

Chespin was still for a moment before striking immediately below it, kicking up sand mostly upwards and not outwards. It provided a smokescreen of sorts, but it wasn't what he was looking for.

"Confusion, Meowstic!" Salem called.

The short-lived sandstorm was cut even shorter by a beam of pink and purple waves swirling through and throwing Chespin back into the sand.

"Ches…" it groaned, before trying to get back up.

Blanche was at a loss for words. He didn't have another plan. If he was Chespin, he would have kept trying, but he wasn't and he didn't want to force his partner to keep going if he knew they wouldn't win.

"I think that's enough," Blanche called to Salem before walking onto the field. The cool breeze swept over him as he crouched down next to Chespin. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Ches-ches," it replied woozily, shifting its weight from one foot to another.

He was holding up one, not two.

Blanche sighed and stood up as Salem approached with Meowstic padding alongside her.

"You're not in tune. Chespin doesn't know what you're thinking." She turned to Chespin, and her Meowstic's eyes glowed again.

The tiny Grass-type snapped out of its confusion and nodded.

"I don't have aura or anything, so I don't know what you're thinking either," Blanche said helpfully.

"Psions aren't related to aura," Salem said. "But you're a really funny guy, you know that, Blanca?"

"Blanche."

"No, Blanca! Like a blank slate. Like I could just sculpt your face into something else entirely with a marker." Salem stuck her fingers into his cheeks, pushing them in tiny circles. "Blanca."

"Right," he said slowly.

Right. Everyone in this world is insane. Including me, I suppose.


The different sections of Lumiose-3 actually have a bit of history to them, stretching from the city's founding thousands of years ago to the March of 2013. The south side is filled to the brim with people who used to live in Santalune or Aquacorde but were forced to evacuate when the Heavens Shattered. The west side is where the commerce happens, as the road that connects Coumarine City runs through it. The east side has a similar story, as the high rises have an excellent view in that direction. The north side, though? It's desolate most days. Depressing, almost. Most people consider it to be less than suburban, because to them, nothing happens there.

How wrong they are, Blanche thought, trying to keep the fire escape from creaking as he climbed it with Gin, both of them fully morphed with Gin's suit being a dark purple that seeped into the night air and highlighted with black.

"Let's try this way," Gin said, jerking his head to the side and towards a row of windows. The metal grating was thinner and separated from the fire escape, presumably scaffolding that had never been torn down.

Blanche nodded, having thought something similar. They crouched low as they snuck around the windows, careful to avoid being seen by anyone inside.

They stopped and crouched down outside one of the windows and waited with anticipation. A few minutes passed and Gin checked his watch.

"Should be any second now," he muttered. "My info guy's usually not wrong about this sort of thing."

Metal slammed on another end of the warehouse, and inside it the lights flickered on. Suited men and women strolled in, some wearing sunglasses even so late at night, with one, a middle aged man carrying a thick metal briefcase. The suits walked around him in formation, putting him at the center before they came to a stop near the midpoint of the interior. They were almost directly in front of them, separated only by glass and a dozen or so feet. The waning moon behind them wouldn't highlight them, as the surrounding rooftops blocked out moonlight.

Another few minutes passed, reaching almost exactly eleven minutes past eleven. There was another clang of metal as the doors opened again. More suits, though wearing much less uniform clothing. Pinstripe whites and blues and fedoras straight out of a mafia movie.

"Dolls, bozos, wild cards," one of them greeted, tipping an aged hat over their salt and pepper hair. If the first leader was squatted, this one was doing the limbo. He couldn't have been more than four foot six, not even three-quarters of Blanche's height. "Let's discuss business, shall we?"

"This is the part me and Russ usually bust in," Gin said, before cutting himself off to see if any of the nearby windows had cracks. "Beat up a few grunts, call the cops, see if the Aura Sacks are any good, y'know."

"Aural Sap," Blanche corrected, though no one was nearby to look at him funny. "Is that how you got your powers?"

"It's a long story, man," Gin said, shaking his head. "I'll tell you later, now, let's get in there and-"

"No," Blanche said, holding out a hand. "If they don't actually have any, then it's not worth the risk."

"Ah, whatever you say, boss-man."

"I'm not your-" Blanche was about to protest, but noticed the discussion inside moving forward and turned his attention back.

The pinstripe leader clapped his gnarled hands. "Now that we're out of the way with pleasantries, let's see the goods. The Cubone Family," he said, pronouncing it as cuh-bone, "Is well-known back home for our honor in business."

"Of course. Thirty million up front," the black-suited leader said. "Enough to make an Esper to rival FLARE's."

Blanche felt faint at the number. He knew it was powerful, rare, and kept under lock and key, but… actually, it was very reasonable, he hadn't expected it.

"Seventy million when it works," the pinstripe leader said, chuckling. "One hundred million in total, plus a good bottle of wine. You'll have it soon enough." He snapped his fingers. "Alphonse, present the money."

A young boy with black and bluish hair, not even a teenager, rushed to the front to present a tight brown briefcase, emblazoned with the letter C. It snapped open, presenting stacks upon stacks of bills, and at the same time the metal suitcase did the same.

Blanche, despite the last time he had seen it being the January before, would have recognized the iridescent rainbow-colored liquid anywhere.

"Gin, let's go hit some problems very, very hard," he said in a low tone, almost as if he were saying the words to himself, before thrusting his hand out to the empty air beside him. A gun would be a bit much. Humans had much less aura than most Pokémon, and Aural Shells were still paintballs at the end of the day. They wouldn't be knocking anyone out directly. Melee was his best option, but no blades. Never a blade.

"Clemontic Gear Access: STRIKE!"

In one moment, there was a flash of light. In the very next, there was the shattering of glass. In the third, there was Gin falling towards the gangsters, flaring up with dark fog and leading with his feet, and Blanche smashing through the rest of the window behind him, waving around a massive shield like it was nothing.

"Float," he grunted before jumping in after Gin.

That was one of the shield's properties. It used the Infinity Battery to change the forces acting on it via mechanisms Blanche still didn't fully understand. The edges burned white with expelled energy and slowed his fall, though it was his muscles that pulled him close enough to it to maintain its purpose.

Gin was already among the gangsters, punching and kicking like a demon even before they all registered that they were under attack. Both briefcases snapped shut via their respective owners.

Blanche landed between them, touching down heavily and slamming the metal edge into the concrete floor. He tilted his head towards both gang leaders before pulling the STRIKE out of the cracked foundation.

"Gentlemen."

The pinstripe reached into his jacket and pulled out…

"A tommy gun!" the man said, about to pull the trigger before he realized he was pointing it at a metal shield. "...I see my personal favorite won't be of much use here. Alphonse, prepare our escape."

Blanche whipped behind him and knocked the black-suited leader off his feet as he had reared up with a tire iron. The STRIKE whirred as it accelerated, then slowed back down as soon as it had lost contact. "You shouldn't discuss escape plans in front of cops, y'know."

"The alternative is that we don't and you catch me. Alas, I must monologue," the pinstriped leader said with a chuckle. "Forgive an old man his tendencies."

"If you surrender, I don't have to beat the hell out of you," Blanche offered, shrugging with his shield.

Behind and around him, Gin was still absolutely decimating the gangsters on both sides like a mad hound, coincidentally keeping them away from the center. The grunts were afraid to hit one of the bosses and were already occupied anyway.

"No dice, unfortunately. Now, Alphonse, the getaway?"

Blanche wound back with the shield, but an odd Pokémon appeared before him in a blast of light. The inverted Psychic-type squid, Malamar.

Its eyes flashed reddish-pink, and his shield bounced off of solid and glassy air, making him nearly drop it from the backlash in his joints.

Shit, he thought. "LADY, what's the maximum distance for the STRIKE's connection?"

"Thirty meters," the computer replied helpfully. "With a twenty-five meter margin of error."

Blanche inhaled and threw his shield to the side. As the edges of the metal began glowing and it careened towards the wall. the gang leader began to speak.

"Now, Malamar, use-"

The command was cut short as the Malamar lost focus on account of the metal discus that slammed into it and pushed it into the wall parallel. The shield righted itself, bouncing off of its squishy body as it made full impact, and traveled towards Blanche at an odd angle. One side burned brighter than the other, and the saucer spun around him before slowing and floating next to his arm.

Gin then broke away from the grunt he was fighting, kicked off another Pokémon's face, then delivered a mid-air roundhouse kick to the Malamar as it had just started to recover.

The distraction gone but the method of retreat removed, the grunts had no other choice but to refocus on Blanche. He hefted his shield as six of them surrounded him in a semicircle and the pinstripe leader looked at his watch. Many Golbat flew into the air around him, and a group of five Pawniard kneeled beside a Bisharp.

"Activate comms back to base," Blanche whispered, forcing himself to stand tall and feign bravado.

"Stealth mode deactivated. Opening channel," LADY said as two Golbat swept towards him from opposite directions.

He ducked their wings as they took on a metal sheen, shoving the shield entirely upwards to catch both of them rather than blocking one hit and taking the other.

"What are my odds?" he grunted as he took a step back to avoid a swipe from a dashing Pawniard at his calves. He swung the STRIKE to the side, the thrusters burning as they accelerated and the shield threw it into a grunt, knocking them over.

A cut lanced over his arm from a Pawniard that had jumped at him. It didn't break through the spandex as it was a glancing blow, but he felt the texture scrape across the armor.

He didn't have the time to glance at the user interface, but he could hear Michael say, "He's support, not the brawler," in the background.

"Asshole," he breathed.

Gin had finished pummeling the Malamar into unconsciousness at some point, as he reappeared in Blanche's periphery. He grabbed a Golbat by the wing and swung it in a wide arc into a grunt's face, before punching the grunt in the gut and slamming both down into the concrete.

Blanche turned his attention back to the third Pawniard that was trying to jump him. It had swung straight for his face, scratching the helmet widely and breaking up a swath of his vision. A split second later he redirected it, leaning backwards to throw it over with the top of his shield and into the gang leader. It had merely been skimmed and its trajectory was much lower.

His legs were almost literally cut out from under him a moment later, and he could feel the swipe go deeper than before. A sharp cry of pain came from his calf and he stumbled forwards. A Golbat swept towards him and faster than he could blink, he was seeing the darkness inside of its mouth as it knocked him backwards. Another cut laced around his body in the upper thigh.

Blanche righted himself as forcefully as he could and raised his shield high into the air before slamming it down. Whatever predictive algorithms LADY used, they worked, as the shield broke out of his grasp and cracked the concrete with an ear-splitting pound. He pulled Golbat from his head, yanking it by the whatever wing he could grab. Its teeth left two vertical gouges in his visor, worsening the condition further as he threw it into the concrete.

A sharp arrow struck his heart.

No, that was Bisharp's arm, he realized. It swept outwards, cutting a trail from his ribs to a small segment on his forearm. It hurt and he'd probably need to get patched up, but he wasn't retreating yet. He would just have to avoid another hit like that.

He yanked back his shield, just barely getting it up in time to deflect another slash that would have cracked his visor clean in two. After stepping back, he tripped over another blade, the one remaining Pawniard.

Ah, shit.

Bisharp was coming towards him with an overhead blow, and landing on Pawniard would cut straight through his spine.

The STRIKE's thrusters burned, keeping him on his feet as it pushed itself high enough to protect his face. The blow threw him down, and his Battery warmed as the thrusters threw him to the side.

Gin replaced him moments later, punting the Pawniard into Bisharp's face, knocking it to one knee as it stumbled.

Blanche put a hand on his knee as he stood up as he stood up. Gin seemed to be having a little too much fun with the remaining Pokémon, as the combatants were the only two moving in the warehouse as they traded lightning-fast blows.

Blanche looked left, then he looked right, then he looked at Gin as he slammed a briefcase across the Bisharp's face.

"Ulex, they're gone," he said.

"Huh?" Gin responded, slamming down the metal briefcase for good measure and partially submerging the Bisharp's head in concrete.

"The leader and that kid got away."

"Oh. Well, damn, that's lame," Gin said, standing and rolling his shoulders.

The grunts and Pokémon were all knocked out, with the Malamar and its Trainer's entourage nowhere to be seen.

Gin held up the dented metal briefcase. "Hey, it's not all bad, though. We got the sap back."

Fluorescent liquid began dripping from one of its many new corners.

Blanche took off his helmet and let it disappear back to FLARE. The first reason was because he couldn't see and it needed to be repaired, but the second was so that he could facepalm properly.

"Tuesday," he muttered before wiping a hand across what little of his skin was bare. The white gloves came away tinged with red. He stared at his fingers for a good while. "Because I don't have enough scars," he said, sounding annoyed but truly relieved that it hadn't been worse. "Thank you, Universe, I think you've made your point."


FLARE has MagLev drivers on payroll for emergencies in a similar situation to how Nurse Joy works in the headquarters beneath Lumiose-3. One of these drivers was the fifth person on the train that sped through the countryside.

The hills passed by quickly as Blanche mentally prepared himself, Ash moved through katas, Gin shadowboxed, and Salem stretched in total sync with Meowstic. They'd received a distress call from Kiloude City before the sounds of struggling became clear and they violently lost contact. It was a very remote city as the mountains surrounding it were too treacherous for the average traveler, so there were no on-foot routes. They were too great in number for the Professor's Garchomp to take them, and an evacuation was potentially necessary.

Blanche closed his eyes and tried to sooth his nerves. His fingers rhythmically tapped his belt and each of the three Pokéballs. Ariel was in Kiloude as well, it was her hometown. Was she hurt? What was happening? Were they already too late?

No, he told himself. Don't think in that direction. People didn't die like that in Kalos. They hadn't died like that anywhere, even if that had been the only possible explanation he could give.

His hands were shaking. Why were they betraying him?

The MagLev approached the mountain range to the southeast. The rail had been built along the mile-wide gash in the Earth, to remind everyone that rode it that even as the world was destroyed and Shattered, they would be able to come together and build something stronger.

Blanche looked out across the murky floodplains. Rainwater must have pooled there, he thought as he tried to distance himself from his fear. The trail of destruction was simply too large to coalesce runoff into a single pond or lake.

The conductor called out to them, looking over her shoulder, "We'll be coming up on the tunnel shortly. I'd tell you good luck, but I think you've got enough between the four of you."

In a manner of speaking, yes. It could be called luck to live in the Pokémon world, just as it could be called unlucky since doing so made him forget everything important.

The train car was submerged in darkness as it entered the tunnel. The dim overhead lights casted them in thin shadows. A deep rumbling came from the Earth around them. It was distant, somewhere far above them.

The rumbling grew closer, more rhythmic, as it beat down on their ears like drums.

Blanche's hand tightened around his morpher, pulling the strap taut against his waist.

"Turbulence," the conductor assured them. "The local Pokémon have learned to only enter the tunnel when the MagLevs aren't running, but the Rock-types tend to leave waste behind.

Distant cries, almost like metal screeching, passed unnoticed. The tunnel's bend blocked the light from both sides, but in a moment, they seemed to grow even darker.

Blanche got an itch in the back of his head. Not on his scalp, but somewhere deep in his brain. A spike of adrenaline ran through him, though he couldn't understand why. He squeezed his eyes tight in concentration, trying to not be anxious.

Ash's eyes narrowed, though he said nothing, and his stance changed into a slight crouch.

The rumbling began again, much closer this time.

"That's odd…" the conductor noted, leaning to one side, "Usually the light gets deeper inside."

"MORPH!" Blanche screamed, seconds before metal screamed as it met a flood of rocks at the end of the tunnel.

There was a flash of white as he flew through the air, torn from his feet as the train derailed. Time slowed as well, or it seemed to. His vision became slightly more glassy, darker even. The window shattered on impact as the front ran aground and small boulders pounded against the hull. Th conductor jerked forward violently in their seat, head whipping forward though their body was strapped safely in. There was a spray of rubble scratching across Blanche's vision, and then he saw nothing.

There was a whiny ringing in his ears, however long it took him to recover afterwards. He rolled in the tar-like darkness, the only source of light being a car much further along the train. The stale luminescent blue reflected across the metal and the others as they rolled across the ground.

His armor creaked as he shakily pushed himself up. Sparks blew off of him before fizzling out. His left side was killing him, as it was the side he'd shielded himself with.

Wasn't it? It was just so foggy, and… if he hadn't had his armor…

He wouldn't have been in solid enough chunks for the clean-up crew to scrape him off of anything.

"Hey, Ulex. Rhododendron. Agapanthus." He coughed, feeling a sharp pain in his ribs as he forcefully inhaled. His helmet was scratched on its left, though thankfully still in one piece. "You guys alive?"

A silence followed.

"Guys? Guys, seriously," he said again, his voice quivering. They couldn't have died from that, it was ridiculous. He was still alive and he was only on even ground, his artificial aura was probably weaker than theirs anyway, right?

Blanche heard the sound of a glove slapping against metal. He turned more to his left and saw Ash pushing himself to his feet. His suit blended in with the darkness and the artificial light, he almost didn't see him even with the clear movement.

"Breathing," Ash said weakly. "Are you well, Amaranth?"

"Just barely," he replied, trying to maneuver back into the pilot's cabin. Oh, God, the pilot… was in one piece. The train had crushed inwards instead of digging in, preventing most of the rubble from hitting anyone inside. The conductor's head was lulled over her shoulder. Blanche guessed whiplash at best.

"Shit, shit, shit," he swore as he put too much pressure on his foot getting back in. Ash moved to remove the pilot. "No! If he has a neck injury, you must not move him. Are Ulex and Rhododendron awake?"

"Present, Mr. Santa Claus," she murmured dizzily, surrounded by a pink glow as she levitated upwards in a slumped pile with her Meowstic.

The psychic light illuminated more of the car and showed Gin curled around a pole, still holding on for dear life. Chespin was hanging by a vine from an overhead handle, spinning like a ceiling fan. Plusle and Minun poked out from further down the car and shot off a spark of electricity. The train ran on electromagnets, Blanche remembered hazily.

"I wish I could remember the right swears right now." He tried to spit the words out, but the ringing in his ears made it feel like he'd barely mumbled them. He unlatched the conductor's seat belt, careful to not move them before he fumbled around for a first aid kit.

Gin stirred with Ash's help while Blanche inflated a support balloon around the conductor's neck. It wouldn't heal anything, but wrapped properly it would keep them from moving and possibly hurting themselves further.

He looked up as he finished tying it off, ignoring the ache that was beginning to settle in his body. "Do you guys need first aid?" he asked, holding up the small box of emergency supplies.

"I could use some vapor rub," Gin groaned, massaging his chest muscles. "Is this what Anomalies are usually like outside the city?"

"No… no, we usually show up before or after things like this happen," Blanche said slowly. "This can't be a coincidence."

"I have a headache," Salem complained, rubbing her temples in sync with Meowstic. "There's a lot of… distress coming from ahead."

Blanche looked at the rockfall in front of the car, then back down the tunnel which was still immersed in darkness.

"We need to get out of here, but we're closer to the Kiloude end than the countryside end." He looked back at the unconscious conductor, before crouching and detaching the seat from the train's base. "Rhododendron, Teleport the conductor back to base and fill the others in." His interface was filled with declarations of lost connections. The uplink ran on FLARE's satellite, which wouldn't be reaching them while they were buried.

There was a pop and a flash of pink light as she and Meowstic disappeared with the conductor and their seat.

"Ulex, Agapanthus. Do you think we should retreat?" Blanche asked seriously.

"What? Hell no! There could still be people in danger," Gin answered angrily. "Why would you even ask?"

Ash nodded as well. "I don't believe that is an option. The rockfall seems to have occurred on both sides of the tunnel, and I don't believe Rhododendron has enough power to Teleport all of us."

Blanche tapped his temple. "I'm glad we agree. Agapanthus, you said you could cut three times with a single swing when you joined FLARE, right?"

"I did. I am still attempting to master the fourth," Ash answered.

"Can you cut through the rocks?" Blanche asked.

"Stand back," was all he said in reply. Ash's equipment and sheaths were excluded by his morpher's programming, and so he was able to draw one of his swords easily.

Blanche eyed the… well, the silvery eye that protruded from the hilt, along with the blue ribbon that hung limply between the grip and the sheath.

"Is that a Honedge?"

"A Doublade, in fact. Spiritually-imbibed heirlooms of my clan," Ash said, as if he hadn't waited until then to let them know. He planted his foot on the edge of the console, crunching down what was left of the shattered glass, and held his sword sideways as a plume of purple gas exploded around him.

There was a low thunk in the gaseous darkness, and then light from the end of the tunnel, just barely peeking through.

"I'm not questioning it. Let's go," Blanche said, clapping Gin on the shoulder before tapping the buttons on his Pokéballs, returning Chespin, Plusle, and Minun. They hadn't seemed too injured, each having their own way of lessening the impact, but a spot of rest for them would be good.

"There were cracks of air between the larger boulders," Ash explained, pulling his sword away from its ending position parallel to the tunnel wall and pointing forward. He sheathed it as the three Rangers walked along the cleared rubble. "After I force the pollen through it, I can make it brittle enough to break easily."

Blanche looked around just to make sure. "This was at least thirty feet of rockfall," he said.

"As I said, it was broken easily," Ash replied.

The tracks finally opened into air, and contact was made again with the satellite. Aveline was very close to the camera receiver, though Salem was closer and smushing her face into the computer screen.

"Oh, you're alright!" Aveline said to all of them, thankfully relieved, before looking to the side. "But your biometrics…"

"They're fine," Blanche said immediately. "Send Rhododendron back, we're out of the tunnel."

He looked across Kiloude Town's remnants, and the smoke curling around the only remaining building at the center. A church.

"We're going to need her."

Pokémon approached them, their bodies crackling with black smog and purplish lightning. Not like Gin, they were dark, but more sinister. Almost like…

"Those are Shadow Pokémon!" Michael yelled, his voice pounding into Blanche's ears as he held out his hand for a gear. "How the hell are they in Kalos?"


AIAM FIELD PATTERN: BLUE

Designation: CGI BOOST

Artificial Teleport Request Inbound

FLARE Designation: Amaranth

AIAM FIELD PATTERN: BLUE

Designation: CGI STAB

Artificial Teleport Request Inbound

FLARE Designation: Amaranth

"The Infinity Battery can't handle two at once," Clemont warned, "It might overclock it."

"Send them through," Michael said, pushing the button closer to Clemont. "He'll be careful, and they'll need whatever they can get."


"I need to find someone," he said, as a spear of light began forming in his suddenly-bulkier gloves and a crank appeared on his helmet. The worse-than-feral Pokémon drew closer. Rabid Growlithe, spiky Geodude, red-eyed Gabite, and dozens of other species. "You guys handle these." He tapped his second and third Pokéballs and watched the duo of Electric-types appear in twin flashes of light. "Plusle, Minun, load these two up with a Helping Hand, alright?"

They looked around and each gave him a thumbs-up; Plusle with his right hand, Minun with her left.

"Dahlia, Geranium, and Rue are on their way!" Aveline said, typing frantically on her computer.

"You can't form a spear and travel at high speeds simultaneously," Clemont warned, adjusting his glasses.

"I'll manage. Thanks." The audio and visual feed cut out as Blanche cranked up the dial on the side of his visor. Instantly, his stomach protested along with his already aching body, but he pushed past the discomfort. He had more important things to worry about.

He leapt over the first wave as the Pokémon crashed onto each other beneath him, vaulting on and off their bodies faster than they could strike at him. The image of a person and her partner Pokémon was clear in his mind, even as the distorted screeching and crying reached him.

Dead. Him soaking the ground with his own tears, lashing out against others like he'd lost himself all over again, because he would.

It was the future he could never allow to come true.

They wouldn't die. They couldn't. He wouldn't let it happen. He couldn't live with himself if it did. He would protect them until his last breath.

"I'm coming."


Colress reclined in his own lab, hidden in an undisclosed location. The tube at its center was empty, as the subject had been released days prior.

"Let's see if the spirit truly is stronger than science," he said to himself, spinning around in a swivel chair. "The heart? The soul? Such a simple minded explanation. Only taming the mind can make us all stronger."

There had been one Genesect created under Team Plasma, but it was too blatant, too obvious. Only a single Pokémon could never be used to conquer the natural order. But a second attempt, one that could instead close the hearts of beasts and tame them to their will? It's name would be Legion; for it could create many.

It was deemed a failure, of course. It couldn't control Pokémon as was desired, but that didn't mean it couldn't serve an alternate purpose. Closing the heart? No, it destroyed it, obliterated it until there was nothing left but hate and the desire to destroy the world that had wronged it.

Perfect for his little scheme of revenge against FLARE.


A stained glass window, showing an ancient spiraling fossil, shattered outward as a shadowy flame billowed.

An Audino's trills stop sounding elegant and become raw and melancholic.