Disclaimer: Pokémon is still owned by The Pokémon Company, which in turn is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and probably others I forgot. The following fanfiction is me playing around in their sandbox, using characters they envisioned and created, except for the odd character that wasn't. I own nothing of this.
Content Warning: Just as last chapter: significant physical trauma mentions or implications.
Chapter 56: No Longer Alone
"Again," Max ordered, wiping sweat off his brow and facing clefairy, with meowstic in his back.
A small Magical Leaf attack formed, the Fairy-type staggering the individual leaves as she sent them at Max. He easily stepped to the side of the first few, then dropped and rolled away from a fast follow-up, getting to his feet as fast as possible and twisting himself sideways to avoid meowstic sending some of them in return – one leaf tagged him still. Then he ran forwards towards his goal, jumping over and immediately going right on landing to avoid the obvious attack, only to feel three more leaves strike the small of his back – meowstic had guessed correctly.
Then he put his foot wrong, and the world went sideways for a moment before he slammed into the ground, his breath forced out hard.
Clefairy was on him immediately, but she didn't scold him. She wanted to, Max knew, but he'd told her that this was something he had to do and he wasn't going to stop with this training. The only thing he had done was swap out Bullet Seed for Magical Leaf after sceptile had accidentally struck him too hard, leaving welts on his side and tears in his shirt.
It was six days after that, a week since he'd last seen Serena, and the welts had finally healed, allowing him to push for eleven runs instead of the eight from earlier that week already.
It wasn't enough. It was never enough. But it was a start to protecting himself.
He sat up, feeling his legs burn now that he'd stopped. His sides weren't much better, and his left arm hurt from being stuck between ground and body just now. He tested the movement, finding it mostly unhindered. Nothing broken, then. Good. Still could use a cold compress, and he sent piloswine out for that, with sceptile bringing up the cloth before going to collect the ropes Max had tied around two tree trunks to serve as a goal to run to.
The fifth and sixth members of his team were a couple hundred feet away, utilising baltoy's natural insulation to electricity to work on blocking and diverting it. Baltoy could take control of ranged attacks: that was part of what Psychic-types did after all. However, it was far less confident with electricity and Fairy-type attacks compared to regular fire or water. Normally, half of that wouldn't be a problem, what with manectric, but her Ability had limits on its range. The more protection there was, the better.
Max looked at the attacks from afar, judging and thinking. It didn't seem like baltoy had it completely under control yet, but it was only the third day of practice. Max had made sure meowstic got it down first, even if he was going to swap her out the next time he was in town.
He wouldn't know when his Pokémon got injured, or who he'd have on him when an attack took place. All he knew was that he had to keep six fight-capable Pokémon on him. Now, after he'd left Serena behind, more than ever.
Ralts and deerling would have to stay in Pallet. They weren't strong enough. Deerling might with training, but that took time; time he wasn't sure he had. He'd asked xatu to teach the Grass-type while they were in Kanto, and he had no doubt gardevoir would help out as well, but there was only so much they could do without impeding gardevoir's recovery.
Nurse Joy's letter had said two weeks of no heavy exertion. Max had added another week for that, because he knew full well that gardevoir would push himself too hard too soon if given a fingertip. He'd gone with five Pokémon for a day, having xatu drop off ralts's pokéball and assuming Serena and May would return the young Pokémon to Pallet Town. Then, he'd headed to where he was right now: close to the coast, north-west of Fortree, in an area that was rarely travelled by anyone.
He'd seen exactly two other people in the past six days, and that suited him fine.
That would have to change in the morning, though, he noted as he opened up some dried food to eat. There wasn't much left because he'd been going through the food faster than normal. Came with the exercise. Dodging was one thing, and he also had done some running, and some days he'd also moved down the coast a bit in Fortree's direction.
Come to think of it… He didn't know how far it was to the nearest Pokémon Center. With xatu taking some well-earned rest, he was without easy access to one. He had a cheap map somewhere, though…
Somewhere, of course, was at the bottom of his pack, underneath all his clothes. "So… I'm here," he muttered as a crackle announced another attack by manectric. "And there's Centers… Here, here, and… Here."
One directly south, but it was closest to Route 119. It might even be one he'd stayed in before, the first time in Hoenn with Ash. The closest one was west to north-west, but that was the direction he'd come from… It'd have to be the third, and the furthest away. Probably. It wasn't like he knew exactly where he was.
He'd have to leave today if he wanted to make it tomorrow at a reasonable time, though. Best he could tell, it was over fifteen miles away and going in a straight line was slow-going or not possible around here.
Five minutes later, he was walking again. His muscles protested a bit against the pack on his back so soon after the training, and he'd definitely hurt his arm more slinging it on. Max was also certain canine Pokémon could smell him coming, but it was what it was. There was only one canine whose opinion he cared about.
And she was trotting right beside him for a bit.
~~§~~§~~
It was time. No more waiting, no more delays, and though he wished there was a shuppet around, those weren't common inside a Pokémon Centre these days. "Long time no see. Recovered fully?"
"Indeed. On both accounts," gardevoir returned, just the sound of the familiar mental voice calming Max, even though he knew that the Pokémon wasn't doing anything with it. "I would apologise, but I expect we both know how that ends."
Max laughed softly. "Yeah. We do." In a stalemate, with him not accepting the need for an apology and gardevoir insisting on one anyway for losing control. "We do need to talk. Can we do that here, or…"
"Outside. If only to practice."
Blocking rain was old hand for the gardevoir, but again, it was one of those things both of them knew but neither wished to talk about. Theme of their reunion so far, it seemed. "Ready when you are."
They reappeared in the dark of Winona's arena, and immediately, the winds howling at this altitude stopped existing, as did the rain. Max could feel and barely see gardevoir at work, but anyone else would be hard-pressed in the darkness of the night, and with Winona out of town for the weekend, it was as safe a place to talk as Max could have envisioned.
Blocking the wind was a new trick as well. "Show-off," Max shot at the Pokémon, not even needing to grin to take the sting out of it. "Good use of that bubble shield trick, I think?"
"Guess or sense?"
"Guess. It's not developed that much further, regardless of what xatu or whoever told you. And the trick was to deal with electricity and fire. Wind isn't that much stranger to keep out. Or are you redirecting it?"
"Keep out, mostly. And it was ralts who told me you could sense just about everything about her."
Max held back a snort. "She's an open book. Carefree and joyful and…"
"Everything you ever hoped it could be with my brother."
"She isn't him," Max said softly, hopefully matter-of-factly. "But yeah, it was almost peaceful and normal. If you ignore being on the run and constantly in danger from the government." He shook his head. "Having Serena there helped as well, and then..."
"Then you chose to contact May."
"Yeah, it was stupid. But, I dunno, felt like I had to. One last try. Don't think it'll get better than this, though. Too much has happened."
The wind picked up, and Max saw the shield flare for a moment before it dimmed back into the barely visible range; just a bit more powerful now. He thought. Gauging strength was way easier for Ghost and Dark-type moves.
"Family at odds is…"
"Yeah, I know," Max interjected. "And it was going okay for a bit. Better than before, but then I lost it." He shrugged. "It is what it is. Got bigger fish to fry."
"Like that…" The shield flickered for a moment, and a small gust of wind crept through as gardevoir nearly lost control; a spike of pure hatred escaping. "He has to be stopped."
"Not until we figure out a way to stop the disruptors from affecting us. You know the Mega Evolution problem," Max said, but even to his ears, it sounded off. Three weeks without any training with gardevoir, and attempted Mega Evolution with manectric hadn't been high on the priority list either. "And I think we still disagree on that."
"I would do anything. You don't. Disappointing, and perplexing. You were willing in Cross Hollow."
"And I've changed my mind, told you that before."
"And then they attacked us again. As situations change, so should minds. Why hasn't yours?"
Max got up, and the shield around them expanded a bit to allow for a bit of pacing. Max did so as he gathered his thoughts, complex and messy and weird. "Can you do… A surface read? Bit more than passive empathy, but not full mind reading?" he asked, and the answer was non-verbal and only very slightly uncomfortable, like not having drunk enough water and having the very beginnings of a headache, maybe even before you realised you hadn't done it.
"I… I know what you want. Felt it. Lived it. Was it. For your brother and your mother. And I… Part of me wants to as well. A big part. You know that, maybe even better than I do, empathy 'n stuff." He paused, taking a set of deep breaths to avoid rambling. "And looking back… I don't feel most of what we did was wrong. A little, at most. Needs must, and they're the enemy. The law doesn't matter."
"So why don't you?"
"Because others don't want me to." Danny, Serena, clefairy, poliwhirl, meowstic, deerling, ralts flashed through his mind. And… Maybe manectric. "I… They don't like it. I can't ignore that."
"Why?"
"Because…" He paused, imagining the responses he'd get when he told Danny exactly what he and gardevoir had decided to do in Cross Hollow. What he'd imagined on Paulson in his dreams.
The mental probe dug a bit deeper, detecting the shame, the reticence, the doubt, the fear. "He won't turn on you. Phoebe told you that."
"That was… Different. Not something we did. He… I don't know how much he'll accept, and I can't lose him."
Blushing at the outburst, Max sat back down, trying to calm his racing heart, but it was hard, and knowing gardevoir could feel everything and then some made it somehow worse. It was wrong, he wasn't supposed to… See… red…
Then the soothing red vanished. "I could… Use this. Maybe?"
A gust of fresh air woke him up fully, and realisation struck easily, especially with gardevoir looking away, but with eyes glowing red from the side. Looking away because… "Would… Would you?"
There was a stretch of silence; awkward, painful, suffocating. That was almost an answer of itself, Max realised. Worse: he realised why, and could empathise with it too. Gardevoir in general would do anything for family. Anything. And he'd seen that.
"I… I could. But if… If you think it's wrong…" the Psychic-type said, sounding uncertain like he'd never before. Not in Max's recollection, anyway. "Then… I promise. I promise not to." Surprise shot through the teen. "Are you…"
"Even if… Even if it meant not seeing…"
Another stretch of silence, more painful than the last as the shield fell in full. Wind and drizzle swept at him, but he dared not move, waiting for the answer that tore at the Psychic-type. It was an unfair question, but one that had to be asked. "If… It'd tear me apart, Max. But… If that's how things work out…"
"Jirachi, I hope they don't…"
"I suspect it goes for all of us…" the Embrace Pokémon said, before suddenly making that part of his description true.
And every restraint was gone.
Time passed in a slow blur. Five seconds, five minutes, five hours… Max didn't know which one it was when they separated. But they understood. Warm, as they had been, cold, as he was now; together, as they were, alone, if he had to be.
The necklace around his neck felt heavy, and almost eager to be used. It wasn't: it was just an object, but that didn't matter. They'd gotten past the anger; past the poison, and replaced it with something else. Temporary, they knew, but with time… They could move past. Onwards. One way or another, even if the unthinkable happened.
Wordlessly, Max sent manectric out, sitting down on the wet arena floor as gardevoir explained what had happened. The canine whined a bit, before snuggling up to him, copper collar on bare wrist. Then, they concentrated.
The pink light was different; the bond even more so. But underneath it all: it was static and familiar and what was needed.
And with it came clarity. East, though even in the best weather, it'd be challenging to see that far from Winona's arena.
Mt. Pyre awaited.
~~§~~§~~
The mightyena slumped as sceptile delivered three quick punches to the jaw, belly, and privates. Around them, others were fighting too: breloom and swanna; seviper and watchog, with shelgon and ninjask… Somewhere. Max had lost track of his Dragon-type when there'd been a huge smokescreen and an uprooted tree by the Dark-types looking to wreak havoc on the village, and ninjask was looking for the one responsible for sending everything into a frenzy.
The three had been the only ones with Pokémon able to fight back in the town square, though there were a few more people with just one Pokémon protecting a birthday party somewhere nearby. He vaguely remembered seeing people split off there, but then there had been some Dark-types trying to take a swing at him and he'd focused on not getting his leg sliced up.
"You're one good Trainer, kid," one of the others, a slender Unovan man, balding despite being in his 20s, said as his Water-type landed gracefully, about ten feet away from Max. "Real good. Wish we'd had one of ya couple of years ago."
"I think he already did enough, Clyde," the third one replied as she returned her seviper. "Unless you're someone else with a sceptile and a shelgon."
The tone suggested that any lies wouldn't be believed, as did the expression that was very reminiscent of a strict teacher, raised eyebrow and all. "Seen copycats before. Met a doppelgänger of mine a few years ago." Shelgon ambled into sight, looking satisfied, but also slightly queasy. "Don't suppose you have general purpose Antidote with that breloom and seviper?"
"Only fit for humans, not for something as sturdy as shelgon," the black-haired woman said, before extending a hand. "I'm Noa. You've dealt with this before."
They shook, as did Max and Clyde. "Yeah. Bunch of times. It's not natural. There's something nearby causing this." He returned his Dragon-type, and took a moment to think if manectric, gardevoir, or poliwhirl were smart to send out, but decided against it. "Some kind of machine. Probably hidden somewhere. Ninjask is looking."
"Thought ya only had those guys looking to summon groudon and kyogre. Like two years ago?"
"That's when a few of them broke free," Max corrected. "This is a different group. They… They've been around for a bit, but rarely get caught." And one of the last times some of them had been caught, Max had left the lone human there not in a state to talk to anyone. Possibly permanently.
"You know more than you're saying," Noa said. "Please tell me you're not the only one who knows…"
Max was stopped from answering by ninjask dropping down in front of him. The Bug-type was pretty excited, vibrating more than normal in staying still. "Lorry?" he asked. "Okay. Noa, Clyde, ninjask's found it. Want to see for yourself?"
"Won't they be…" Noa started, only for gardevoir to silence her by appearing. "Of course. Half my class was talking about him the day after."
"All good, I hope," Max quipped as he grabbed hold of gardevoir's arm, while the adults first returned their other Pokémon before following suit. "Just be ready to send them out again."
They didn't reappear too far away. A warehouse rose in front of them: Max had seen it from the other side of the stream when he'd come into the town earlier that morning, and it had only been like ten minutes of walking to the town square from there. It was out of the way of things, though, and the red lorry in front barely stood out, some hundred yards away from them, visible through the fence surrounding the lot. "That's… What's in there again?"
"Been empty for a bit," Noa said in response to Clyde's question. "Are they inside?"
"No. It's the lorry," Max said, before noticing something. A Dark-type, behind them, and a cry from ninjask told Max that the Bug-type had already engaged. "Poliwhirl, help ninjask, okay?"
The Water-type did that, and after making sure they wouldn't need to watch out for being hit in the back – it was a mightyena, and a young one at that – they advanced on the lorry, sitting there idly, like nothing was wrong.
The swanna and seviper reappeared. "How'd ya know it's the truck?"
"It—"
An explosion interrupted him, and instantly, a shield sprung up in front of the three of them. Through it, they could see the lorry go up in flames, debris going everywhere as the blast wave impacted the barrier. Once it cleared up, they could see the that chain link fence around the terrain had been damaged as well, though it was mostly standing. "Fuck… Quick thinking."
"Yeah… Thanks gardevoir," Max said, voice sounding weird. He shook his head, but the slight ringing in his ears didn't stop. "You guys okay?"
"Li-pol!" Max's Water-type cried from behind them, stopping the others from answering. "Li-li!"
Turning around revealed a confused and very wet-looking mightyena, and it only looked more puzzled as it saw the humans there, barking a few times. "He doesn't know why he acted like he did. Or why he's here."
"Same old, then," Max muttered. "I hate these guys." He turned to the adults with him. "Probably best if we're not here. Gardevoir'll take you back. Tell nobody I was here."
"But ya saved…"
"Nobody." He was most of a foot shorter, but somehow, Clyde took a step back. "Can't give you details. I… It's really complex."
"Leave him, Clyde," Noa said, putting a hand on the man's arm. "It's no use arguing with someone that determined." She turned to Max, eyes meeting his, reading him. "You stay safe."
~~§~~§~~
It was chilly, fog rolling in from the inlet, and Max figured he was the only human in a five mile radius, if not more. Perfect conditions to climb Mt. Pyre to do one last thing.
The inside of the mountain was as abandoned as it had ever been, manectric and sceptile silently walking behind him, path lit only by the torch that his Electric-type had set alight with a careful burst of flame, and they soon met a ruin.
The result of Danny and Reginald fighting, undoubtedly. There was enough damage around to suggest aggron or swampert could've cut loose, and Reginald had a haxorus too, Max remembered. Scorch marks on the walls said nothing: half of all Dragon-types learned Fire-type moves.
It was a ruin, but it was also traversable with only a little bit of work. Under the watchful and invisible eyes of about half a dozen Ghost-types, sceptile and Max – mostly sceptile – cleared enough of a path that didn't look like it'd collapse underneath his feet.
It was less stable than it looked, with rubble shifting as he took measured steps, but he got through and his Pokémon just jumped through the gap, sceptile passing the torch back to Max afterwards before continuing on and reaching the room they'd slept in.
Torches lit up the moment they stepped inside. A court of vulpix and a singular ninetales, and a bunch of Ghost-types as well: some visible, some not. "Again we meet. And… Ah."
The exclamation was right, as gardevoir appeared, emotions tightly controlled and still harsh enough to remind Max of Rustboro. Steeling himself, he put a hand on the Pokémon's arm. "We'll be gone in a moment. There is just one thing to do."
The white-gold fox rose up, elegantly as few Pokémon could, tails waving in unseen wind, but Max didn't detect any kind of Ghost-type energies on them. "You are brave to to come here so brazenly. We could obliterate you where you stand; leave your mind a shattered husk or your body a broken mess."
"All true," Max conceded. "But I promise I'm here only to do one thing." With his left, he opened a pokéball he hadn't opened in well over a month and a half. "Vulpix. We had good times, and I liked you a lot, but… I release you."
Ghostly energy flared as Max exerted enough force to snap the pokéball's hinge. He didn't need to: the release could be done more normally, but he didn't care. Sending a message. "You dare?!"
"After having my dreams messed with? Yep, I do. But it's nicer if I drop her off here, where it all started, don't you think?" Gardevoir sent some emotion back, but Max took his hand off the Psychic-type's arm and stared straight into the eyes of the ninetales, even as he returned sceptile and felt manectric's fur right next to him. "Next time, try asking politely."
A moment of heavy silence, like the moment before a thunderstorm broke out, and then…
Laughter. Inside and outside his head.
"Foolish child."
And then they were on the coast north of Mt. Pyre, gardevoir having Teleported them in an instant. "Did you have to taunt them, Max?"
"You had my back." He looked east. "Let's get to Lilycove tomorrow. Stock up, then decide where to go. And yeah, I'll keep you in stasis. As you requested."
"Thank you. It's—"
Embraces shut Embrace Pokémon up plenty fine, Max had figured out recently.
~~§~~§~~
Lilycove was as Max remembered. Some of the details had changed, but same old seaside air, busy roads around the Department Store, and plenty of advertising for an exhibition match in the stadium. It wasn't for another month, after the next Conference. Max only made a mental note to see if he could catch it on TV.
He dropped his pack off in a hostel not far from the Department Store, deciding he didn't need potential recognition with the Conference so close. There probably were a few in town: it was nine days until the first round started. Some of them would be staying in the hostels as well, because the Centers in Lilycove were always busy, but less chance was less chance.
Across town, the harbour district was certainly busy enough with Trainers, and Pokémon were everywhere. He didn't feel like sending one out himself at first, but there were so many Pokémon out there that he felt he could. Clefairy came out and immediately led him to a convenience store for some food.
Max knew better than to protest. Food was not always on his mind, and clefairy was one of the Pokémon who kept him from suddenly realising he hadn't eaten anything in the last nine hours. As it was, he had had a bit of dried fruit before he had dipped into the Pokémon Center to retrieve piloswine, but some warmed up noodles were always tasty.
The sauce was a bit too sweet for his liking, but it was what it was. He tossed the trash into the bin and prepared to head for the seaside market to see if he could find some stuff he needed without having to go into the busiest place in Hoenn on a Saturday for any longer than he needed to.
He made it one street before something felt wrong. Terribly, horrendously wrong.
Dozens of Dark-types appeared, just in view alone on the busy street, the nearest about ten feet away. A pokéball lay at the sneasel's feet, and that was all Max noticed before claws went out and he barely got out of the way of a Night Slash.
The street lit up with pokéballs and pain and attacks and shouting. Oppressive energy was everywhere, frenzied Pokémon were attacking everywhere, people reacted fast and slow everywhere. Clefairy, Max saw, forced the sneasel back with a small and targeted Magical Leaf, and when he got up, he saw that three others on his team had also come out, taking up position behind him, with manectric padding over the moment she saw him up, and shoving her neck and collar into Max's arm.
"Not yet." Powder Snow, and sceptile had vanished to jirachi knew whe—just down the street, throwing a crawdaunt into a bench. "Protect the younger trainers."
The Electric-type rubbed against Max's arm before hurrying off, static electricity already building. He ignored her: she'd be f—
Several attacks collided near him, sending him back onto the ground from the explosion. Piloswine reared up and started a Take Down, but immediately paid for it by being tackled, ending up in a scruff with some other Pokémon piling on. A powerful blast of Powder Snow got most of them off, but they were on him immediately again, and Max quickly returned the Ice-type before sending him out nearby, with clefairy throwing a Disarming Voice in the way before sceptile came in from the side, Leaf Blades glowing.
Getting up once again and scanning the area did reveal good news. A bunch of the Dark-types had already been knocked out, and he didn't see anyone on the ground and unprotected from any Pokém— fuck.
A Dark-type attempted to jump him, but clefairy was right next to him. The Gravity was strong enough to make the cacturne stumble, and something else dropped behind him: a liepard, which then got zapped by manectric. The control was impeccable as always, with not even a slight static sensation bleeding through into Max's shoes.
Turning back around, he saw – and felt – piloswine blast an Icy Wind at the Grass-type in front of him, and it was followed by clefairy dropping her Gravity field and throwing a Disarming Voice that kept it busy long enough for another Pokémon to slam into it: someone's ursaring. "Thanks!" Max said, beating a hasty retreat as clefairy jumped onto his shoulder, weight far less than normal. "Nice Gravity hole. I-"
A girl, fallen. A pair of nuzleaf, winding up an attack.
"Gardevoir!"
The Psychic-type appeared as fast as Max could disengage the stasis, which was just too late, and Razor Leaves pelted the young girl, causing her to shriek in agony even as clefairy's Disarming Voice blocked the latter half of the attacks from connecting.
The pair of nuzleaf were pasted into an office building via Moonblast, and then two other attacks connected from other Pokémon. Three Trainers, Max included, ran over: a girl his age and a man in his thirties. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," the man said as he made to scoop the girl up, but decided against it at the last second. Blood oozed from cuts on her arms and a few on her torso. "Arcanine, sunflora, push them back!"
"Ariados, bandage that," the girl ordered as an ursaring roared and punted some small Dark-type into the next street. "Don't know if it's enough, but…"
"It stems the bleeding. Good thinking. And good Moonblast."
"Could've been faster," Max admitted as he looked around for his Pokémon. Sceptile and manectric were near a group of smaller kids and two parents, piloswine had hobbled over to the middle of the street and was daring anyone to come near, and clefairy… Clefairy!
It was no decision. He didn't even need to order it: a look was enough. The Fairy-type used Healing Wish.
It wasn't perfect. Several of the largest cuts didn't close fully, and the blood didn't stop flowing entirely, but the whimpering child of maybe seven became a lot calmer, wails turning into softer cries.
Aradios web being spun around a cut made Max look up again. He returned clefairy without looking, knowing she'd given it her all, and got up, staring at the tall office building entrance nearby. The glass entrance was broken, and the wall next to it was cracked, with two nuzleaf having hit the stone hard. They were knocked out. As were nearly all other Dark-types in view.
He whistled on his fingers, and three Pokémon turned around down the street and came over. Piloswine looked like he'd been in a bit of a scuff, but if manectric or sceptile had taken a hit, it wasn't visible. "Of course I don't have ninjask on me," he muttered as piloswine and sceptile went back into their pokéballs.
"What was that?" the ariados's Trainer, who'd moved next to him, asked.
Max didn't look at her, even as he heard her send out another Pokémon. "There's a machine somewhere nearby, causing this." Though where was anyone's guess. "It's been like that for all attac-"
"Freeze! Return that gardevoir, now!"
A pair of growlithe barked, and Max turned around to spot a Jenny pointing straight at them. She was the only one of the police force in sight, and paying no attention to the fainted Dark-types all around her. "Pardon?"
"You heard me! Return the Pokémon or I'll have to use force!"
"That gardevoir against two growlithe? Bet it's over in five seconds," was whispered in his left ear, to which Max could only suppress a chuckle. "I know her. She's a pain."
"You're local?" Max asked as he returned gardevoir. Not like there was much to do at the moment for him anyway.
"Born 'n raised. Been back here for a bit after Kanto. After watching someone in the Silver Conference, too."
Before Max could respond to his identity being found out again – not that it mattered too much anyway, he felt – the Officer spoke up again. "Good kid. Now hand it over."
Manectric barked a warning, and it sounded like one to both him and the growlithe at the same time, Max thought. "Dark-types attacking and you're… Trying to take my gardevoir?"
"It's a proscribed Pokémon. Hand it over, or I'll be-"
"Forced to use force, yeah yeah, you said that," the girl said as she walked in front of manectric, her ariados and ursaring alongside her. "He didn't do anything. Unlike all the Dark-types. Nice work, you going to take candy from this girl next?"
"Watch your mouth, you. The law is the..."
A tap on Max's shoulder distracted him. "Maybe get out of here. Don't think she'll let you go," the man who'd been looking after the injured girl told him. "The injuries will heal. Tell your clefairy good work."
One look at the two facing off and Max agreed. The ursaring was also making noises that sounded pretty aggressive. He brought up the pokéball to his lips. "Hostel room," he told gardevoir, and five seconds later, he felt the air conditioning on his skin and a lot of pressure vanish from his head.
Thankfully, it seemed like he didn't have someone else in the double room yet, or if there was, they weren't there. That would've been awkward. Now, he could just go over to the window immediately, seeing no Dark-types whatsoe...one Dark-type. A knocked-out mightyena in a hedge, and…
A staryu and pikachu trained on him as he reappeared three storeys down from where he had been. That alerted their Trainers, one of whom returned a Pokémon even as they did so. A swellow, from the ground, probably knocked out.
Her companion reacted first. "Max?!" Keith said, voice deeper, and slightly scratchy, than the last time they'd spoken. That had been months ago, and it felt longer. He'd gone back to violently red hair after letting the dye fade a bit in Sinnoh. "Where'd you come from?"
Max looked up and to his left. "My room. And the harbour district. Attack reached to here as well?"
Keith paid his question no heed, instead coming in for a one-armed hug: one that Jane followed after only a moment's hesitation. "It's… Groudon, I'm so glad to see you again. After August…"
"Keith!" Jane hissed even as a leafeon walked up, satisfied as all hell and getting a scratch for his trouble. "He doesn't need reminding of that."
Max shook his head, but even the reminder of that time did nothing to stop his grin. His face felt like it was splitting in two from happiness and just the rightness of two of his closer friends being themselves. "It's okay. Maybe later, though. There's still, y'know."
"Yeah. You'll tell us what we need to know later, let's go and see if people need help," Jane told him as she started moving. Keith and Max both returned a Pokémon – staryu and gardevoir – before joining her, and Max noticed Jane's pikachu hitching a ride on manectric. "Why'd you come here?"
"Was mostly safe and some Jenny was offended at gardevoir existing."
"Tell me about it," Keith said. "Some idiot lectured us a ton on the boat back about how we shouldn't use certain Types and blah." He made a retching sound. "Can't use sableye now though, but he's in stasis while we're in town anyway."
"Clefairy's out. Pair of nuzleaf used Razor Leaf on a little girl, so she used Healing Wish."
"That works on humans?"
"Not great, but it does," Jane answered before Max could. "Must have been a lot of Dark-types there."
"Yeah, but kinda used to it by now," Max said, shrugging as they turned into a slightly larger street, though still a side street. "Not a lot here."
"Don't mind that. Wasn't expecting this on the second day back," Keith replied, sounding resigned. "Can't be he- what's that Pokémon?"
Max looked over to see a red and green Pokémon lying in a heap on the side of the road, snoring in a small pile of Sleep Powder. A nearby gloom kept it under guard; its Trainer nowhere to be found. "Not a clue."
"That's a first." Jane got her Pokédex out first, revealing the Pokémon to be from Galar: a morgrem, part-Fairy, part-Dark. "Wonder how that got here."
"They've been bringing pokéballs in for attacks. Or it's a trained one. Doesn't really matter. It's not their fault."
"It –" Keith started as they turned onto one of the main streets in the area, and they had a clear look at the Lilycove Department Store in the distance. Or would have had, were it not for distant plumes of smoke in the way. "No…"
Bile rose in Max's throat. It was a Saturday morning. It was probably crowded as hell in there, and if there had been pokéballs inside as well… He focused on a spot a street and a half away; a playground with benches, and sent gardevoir back out. "Can you go check?"
The Psychic-type vanished in an instant, as did the almost imperceptible pressure inside Max's head from where his mind had been read. "You think it's a fire?"
"Enough trees there to go up in flames." Keith returned leafeon. "Do we try to help?"
Both boys looked at the doctor's daughter. "Just keep the area clear. If there's Dark-types still attacking, that's a problem." She thought for another moment. "Can maybe offer staryu to firefighters."
"And leafeon does air purifica—" Max pointed out before he felt gardevoir's return, and his anger. "Oh shit."
"There's hostile Trainers. A few fighting back, but not too many."
"And the smoke?"
"A fire. Could smell it. They…"
"They tried that in Rustboro… Only…" Jane sounded ill at the thought of it, and Max agreed. "Is there anything we can do?"
"Flank them, but…"
Max understood the reticence after last time. "We could…"
"Too risky. Need to make sure we don't lose ourselves." Gardevoir drew Max's attention to manectric. "However…"
"Er… Flank them? What?" Keith interjected. "And why the 'but'? And the 'we could'?"
"Get on top of a building and attack from above. Disrupt their defences." Max thought back to the area around the playground, but he couldn't picture anything clearer than it being just regular homes. "Last time was Rustboro. We…"
"Explain later. Need to go now," Jane interjected. "Attack from above? Ideas?"
Manectric took that moment to bark, and the pikachu on her back agreed a moment later. "They do. Don't think I can help with that." Keith returned leafeon. "Let's go. Before it gets worse."
A moment later, they were in the playground, sounds of battle and chaos assaulting them. The fight itself was further up the street, and they could see flashes going back and forth, but it was a stall like it had been in Rustboro with the venusaur in the streets. Only this time, it was where people lived, and some homes already had windows blown out even back here.
Max shoved the deja vu down. This was not going to be the same. "Pikachu, get off for a moment." He noticed Keith sending out Pokémon again. "Keith?"
Jane accepted a pokéball. "Take hitmontop. He knows Helping Hand," the red-haired teenager said. "Staryu and I… We'll go help over there. Make sure we can push on."
That made sense. "Take blaziken then," Jane said in return, sending out the Fire-type starter and handing a pokéball back, before kissing Keith on the cheek. "Let's go."
"Just a moment."
A need. A need to stop the government, their thugs, everyone who was looking to stand in their way. To make them face justice if possible, but to do what had to be done in any case. It was larger than him, larger than them, but he would rise to the occasion.
Max opened his eyes again, finding manectric, and…
There she was. Brilliantly spiky, as ever. The soft hum of the bond, grounding. "Let's go."
Onto the roof of the nearest home. Two more Teleports, then a flat section behind a chimney. They were above the thugs; orders being shouted. Calls for fire and ice, Grass powders and Dragon energy. Some calm, some heated, but nothing frantic. Also no electrical attacks ordered. "Pikachu, check for a Ground or Electric-type."
The female mouse carefully walked onto the roof proper, staying low, as Max and Jane each sent out another Pokémon. Keith's hitmontop and her plusle. "One strike?"
"For you." He took a ball off his belt. "I saw swellow is out, and blaziken's not here. Once plusle and pikachu go, you're down to two."
"Only one, actually," Jane told him, deceptively calm despite everything. "I've got shellder on me, so it's just quilladin left."
Max shook his head. "You sure you want to have plusle in?" The yellow Pokémon answered that before Jane could, with a gentle jolt to his shin. "Alright. Most powerful move you know."
"He means Helping Hand."
Two Helping Hands? On Mega manectric? That was… "Jane. You know how powerful she is."
"Yes. And they won't stop unless they're made to. You exploded something near Trainers at the Pokémon School. That stopped them."
"That wasn't me," Max replied, but he saw her point. Had from the start, just unsure if Jane had herself. "Do what must be done." He turned, to see pikachu walk back. "Anything?"
"Chuu, pika. Pi-pi-chu-ka-pi-ka."
"A rhydon near the front. They're using it to block attacks. Trainers are further back, They've got a jolteon around."
It explained why he didn't hear any calls for Electric-type attacks. The rhydon would just absorb most of them with its Ability. The jolteon sounded like backup. Volt Absorb didn't have the drawing-in capabilities a rhydon's horn had, but in a narrow street, speed could substitute."That's a problem." He looked up and down the stretch of roofs and nearby gardens, seeing nothing he could use. "Manectric's Thunder with Helping Hand should be too big to absorb completely. It'll not do nearly as much, though."
"How far away does the rhydon need to be?"
"What are you thinking?"
"Removing it via Teleport."
"You can do that? But why…"
"It takes focus, power, and surprise," Max answered softly as he sent out his second Psychic-type; baltoy not adding any strain to the roof because it floated over it. "Let's do it. See that pond? Five houses over? Is that doable?"
"I'd prefer help subduing it after. I can overpower, but rather not."
"Quilladin and sceptile," Jane said as something exploded in the street below. "Let's get them."
Max had to agree. They'd waited long enough. They had to go. "Baltoy, full sound shield around us. Strong as you can make it. Manectric, pikachu, plusle, hitmontop, gardevoir, when you're ready."
The world deafened as baltoy created a cube of dead air around them. Blood rushed in Max's ears, every breath unnaturally loud, even Jane's audible as they waited, watching the pond where sceptile and quilladin were waiting after being dropped off.
Outside, manectric started gathering electricity. Slowly, more deliberately than usual, to not tip off the Pokémon below. Pikachu and plusle waited, cheeks sparking with static. Hitmontop stood a distance away, near baltoy, just outside the shield.
Rhydon appeared, sceptile and quilladin going to work with absorbing moves as gardevoir doused them all in water. "Close your eyes."
A surge in the bond, once, twice, thrice, larger every time. The moment of release; silence stronger than baltoy's shield.
Then impact. Soundless, yet Max could hear everything. The chaos of being attacked. Electricity crackling, looking for the fastest route to discharge. The agony of those hit. The calls for retaliation from behind. It was predictable, inevitable. He'd seen things like it enough, in dreams and reality, threatening or just Team Rocket being themselves. He didn't need sound or sight to know.
He opened his eyes again, taking a step forward as baltoy dropped its creation. "Discharge, then descend."
Jane returned plusle as the jolteon yowled. Static erupted everywhere, pikachu absorbing some, baltoy diverting some, and manectric's descent onto the street below diminished the rest. Shouts from behind as they recognised the Pokémon. Recognised him, even. "Sceptile and quilladin are done."
Max peeked out over the street as gardevoir Teleported in, looking in the distance first and not seeing anything behind the Trainers. "Quilladin here. Gardevoir, flank with sceptile," he said as manectric swatted an Energy Ball away with electricity, the effort not taxing her any. It hit an ornament in a front yard, showering windows and walls with debris. He looked back and saw the line of other Pokémon move up, a blaziken prominent among them. "Let's go down."
"Ho—Thunderbolt!" Jane said as a golbat appeared over the roof, heading straight for them with its deceptive speed. "How? Gardevoir is—baltoy?"
"Yes." A large surge in the bond, and a blinding bar of Thunder. The jolteon got a bunch of it in its system, but couldn't capitalise; a piece of debris hurled at great speed forcing defence. The golbat was busy with pikachu and hitmontop. "When you're ready."
Baltoy enveloped both of them, and Max jumped down. Just a longer jump than normal. Jane followed after, landing as blaziken, a machoke, and a vibrava all came by. A torterra lumbered just ahead of the Trainers. "Wow…"
Jane's awe was understandable. The street had literally melted at the point of impact, creating a crater large enough to step into with both feet. It was smoking slightly as well. All the nearby Pokémon – victreebel, walrein, salazzle, some black Pokémon that looked a bit like a boldore but wasn't – were knocked out. Fire, ice, powders, and probably something knew Dragon Pulse. With the rhydon and the approach, it was an effective blocking force.
"Groudon below Max… That was something. Still have spots in my eyes," Keith said as manectric blocked an attack by the jolteon. There were other Pokémon around as well; even an attempt at a Sing that hadn't even begun to affect him before it got cut short. None could get past all the Pokémon and the couple of Trainers commanding them. "Where's garde—oh."
A golbat fell to the ground in front of them. It was followed by pikachu and hitmontop landing, and baltoy levitating down from the roof. "Nothing behind them. Something now, I guess." There was a smokescreen behind the five Trainers now. A glalie helped the jolteon from the front, but a Flamethrower forced it back for a moment. "Get the others back."
"What's your plan?" a woman asked, before ordering the vibrava to come back. It did after a Dragon Pulse that forced the jolteon to defend.
He didn't respond. Instead, he took a few steps forward, past the retreating machoke and blaziken. Manectric was the only Pokémon between him and the thugs, and he had a good look at the jolteon, who was looking pretty hale, all things considered. Volt Absorb doing work.
But it was just one small Pokémon. It couldn't be everywhere at once. "Manectric. Thunder at will."
Power flowed through the bond. Electricity flowed through her, and outwards. Jolteon absorbed. Power rose again. Electricity flew again, to the opposite side of the street. Jolteon absorbed again. Power. Electricity. Jolteon. Power. Electricity. Jolteon. Power. Electricity. Jolteon. A comfortable rhythm. For them.
Volt Absorb got most, not all. Glalie expected all, and was shocked by a portion. A Trainer nearly got hit by another portion, three waves later. Then the glalie, again. A weezing, too high up, coming from the other side, hit, knocked out. "Baltoy, fling golbat."
The jolteon didn't catch on until it caught golbat. Mid-absorbing. It collapsed, and manectric howled, victoriously. Then she summoned enough electricity to make Max take a step back, for a moment, instinctively.
The glalie blocked it with what looked like an Explosion. Static electricity, glass and stone debris, hot air and energy whipped up, around. A convex shield diverted it away from Max and manectric. A Protect sprung up behind, protecting other Trainers and Pokémon from what got past baltoy's shield.
There was a screech, a powerful flap, and then…
Three pidgeot. In the air. Gone before even manectric could react. And no Trainers to be found. No Pokémon either. All returned under the explosion's smoke.
Gardevoir and sceptile reappeared beside him as Keith and Jane walked up from behind. "Cowards."
"Let's get to the Department Store," Keith said, handing something back to his girlfriend. Blaziken's pokéball. "Foot or Teleport?"
"Foot. If they looked here, they'll have seen gardevoir." Max returned baltoy, silently thanking it for its help. "Going to return him. Just in case."
"Of course."
"Excuse me?" the woman with the vibrava interrupted before gardevoir could be returned.. Max turned, hearing and seeing the Dragon-type fly up above. "You sound like you know more. What's going on? Why's this happening?"
"That's a long story, Mabel." Max shifted to his left, seeing a man behind the torterra. A magnemite hovered off to the side. "Go to the Department Store, Max. Then tonight…" A shift and shuffle. "Could you?"
"Yes."
With that, gardevoir returned himself. Manectric barked, urgency in the bond, and Max followed the call.
What was Uncle Philip talking about?
~~§~~§~~
Camera flashes as he walked into the room, ignored with experience, somewhat dying down as he took up position behind the lectern and unfolded his speech. A speech he had not wished to be making, but it was what it was. "Good afternoon," he started, all hubbub falling silent, except for the sound of buttons being pressed and camera shutters opening and closing. "Today was a bloody day for Hoenn. The bloodiest since Team Aqua and Team Magma unleashed kyogre and groudon several years ago.
"Three places in Hoenn, Slateport, Mauville, and Lilycove, were attacked without mercy by roving Pokémon. Ghost-types wreaked havoc on Slateport. Psychic-types assailed Mauville, and Dark-types fell upon Lilycove. Though the situation is still evolving as hospitals deal with the casualties, it is already known that seventeen people have died: one in Slateport, four here in Mauville, and twelve in Lilycove. Counts of the wounded are incomplete, but they are believed to be running in the hundreds, possibly up to a thousand two hundred by latest estimates."
Santi paused to let the message sink in, schooling his face to be as grave and disgusted as possible. It wasn't hard. "These numbers could have been worse. Significantly so. Brave Trainers stood up, and helped repel the attacks. In particular, several Lilycove citizens helped put out the fire in the Lilycove Department Store, and aided the escape of hundreds of people trapped inside on the upper floors. Once we identify these citizens we will honour them, as is their due."
A smattering of applause. "The attack on Lilycove in particular had traces of the same crime organisation as also attacked Rustboro last month. Though our intelligence is imperfect and evolving constantly as we receive more information, I was informed today that it is likely that this organisation is behind some of the attacks that have taken place over the past two years. However, it does not explain all of the attacks, which have become more and more commonplace as time has gone on, despite our measures.
"We are faced with an unrelenting foe. It is impossible to capture and deport all Pokémon of those feral types. Their numbers are too great, and they will procreate even in captivity. If left unchecked, they will cause more and more death and destruction."
A pause. Short, poignant. He could feel the audience's bated breath. Good. "In order to combat that, I am ordering a state of full national emergency, effective as of midnight, for a duration of two months. During this time, all proscribed Pokémon are mandatory to hand over to designated authority. Police officers have the authority to detain and arrest anyone refusing to comply. Pokémon Centers will have one week to inform all Trainers of this change in policy, after which they, too, will be subject to the order to hand over proscribed Pokémon."
He held up a hand, looking straight into the main camera broadcasting his speech into millions of homes. "Understand, my fellow Hoennites, that this is not a path anyone would desire to take. Your life will be as uninterrupted as humanly possible, and in fact, the vast majority of people will not be affected by this. The most they will see is a heightened security presence in locations we suspect are potential targets from the organisation behind some of the attacks. However, I must impress on you: having one of the proscribed Pokémon is dangerous for you, your family, your co-workers, and everyone around you. Endangerment of others in such a way will mean you are breaking the law, and punishment will be swift and without mercy. I-"
A phone went off. His phone. That was later than expected, but he took the call regardless and listened as the journalists took photographs aplenty.
It was a short message, but an important one. In fact, this would work out extremely well, if he played his cards right. "My apologies," Santi said, taking a moment to look directly into the camera again. "That phone call held some important information. Information that I feel I must share with you." Four heartbeats, then he continued. "Our leading theory, backed up by visuals from Lilycove's Central District, is that former Elite Member Sidney is likely involved with the organisation responsible for the attack there. Additionally, reports are of a Mega Electric-type blowing up houses before being stopped by some of the brave Trainers clearing a path to the Lilycove Department Store. We don't have definitive identification on the Pokémon and its Trainer, but there are only two known Hoennites with Mega Electric-types, and one of them is challenging Flint of Sinnoh in… An hour and twenty minutes if my watch is to be believed." That caused a few titters around the room. "The other one, of course, is Max Norman Maple of Petalburg."
"Are you going to-" a trigger-happy journalist yelled, to glares from the entire rest of the press corps and Santi himself and to a hard interruption from security.
It was perfect. "If the Head Jenny agrees after reviewing the footage, then yes, we will be forced to put out an arrest warrant for him. It is, of course, a tragedy for someone of his obvious skill and known record to be mixed up with this group. However, given his proclivity for certain Pokémon, he should – if the evidence points in that direction, I stress! – be assumed to hostile to the country by default."
Author's Note: About damn time, eh. Yes, me. And Max on getting Mega Evolution back. This chapter was a pain in the posterior to write, that certainly didn't help.
Also, Santi and Paulson's dialogue from last chapter was slightly adjusted - I had them say Paulson was in Mauville, which is obviously not true. That's been fixed. Mentioning it here because it's important for the last scene.