Chapter 44: Invading Anonymous HQ
Although it would have greatly benefitted both Gengar and Emolga if they had some sort of means of directly communicating with each other, they instead had to manage using either a series of dramatic gestures, obvious body language, or various stages of squealing their own name to get their points across. For instance, shortly after the two pokemon had fled the Mulctuary Pokemon Center and booked it straight upwards, toward the sky, it seemed that while Gengar intended on flying northwest, Emolga was under the impression that their goal was northeast, which were two completely different directions that could set them off far away from their true goal if they chose wrong.
Gengar, who considered himself fairly well-traveled around the region of Ilragorn with a solid memory, seemed confident that his directions were the right one, and he continued to grab Emolga by her shoulders, steer her toward the northwest, and vehemently point straight ahead through the clouds, implying that he was sure this was the right direction to No Man's Land. But Emolga fought him on it and kept rearranging her aim toward the northeast, blatantly ignoring Gengar's suggestion. It must have been very early in the morning though, since the red dawn of sunlight was just beginning to rise, but it was rising in the direction Emolga wanted to go. Gengar had learned from Adam in a story one time about the weather that the sun rose in the east and set in the west, but Gengar didn't have the capability to reasonably explain his logic to Emolga, which he could tell had the potential to be a problem during their rescue mission.
Gengar recalled that above the Isle of Naporia, there was a gulf of ice cold water separating the Isle of Naporia from Ilragorn's mainland, with a huge castle carved of ice in the middle where Gengar had nearly lost his life to Nihilego, and a dying business known as the Shorebridge Docks storing the Fairies Ferry and a host of other attractions along Ilragorn's sourthern shoreline. And north of that, after a short walk along a barren trail, Gengar knew the hut-filled slums known as Goldenleaf City lay nestled surrounded by desert and rocky mountains. And slightly above Goldenleaf, there lay the oddly devoid of life patch of abandoned soil known as No Man's Land that lay between Goldenleaf and the rough trails of Rocky Road and Scalding Springs. Gengar still had a strong memory for the place considering that was where he had evolved from a frolicking, playful Hunter into the quick-thinking, powerful Gengar he was today after taking down Marvin Bloom's Jynx, but neither pokemon could speak English and neither had any psychic powers to speak telepathically.
While the two pokemon hovered high in the sky, silently arguing over which direction Adam was, directly over the wrecked, burning Naporia City, the two pokemon appeared to be granted a lifeline as they heard rather than saw a member in clear Anonymous garb (all black clothing) come crashing out of one of the penthouse windows of a tall skyscraper half a mile away from them, riding atop the rare, prehistoric rock/flying type pokemon Archeops.
The Anoymous member seemed to have torn off his mask in either agitation or worry, because both Gengar and Emolga could spot the clear distress on his face, the sweat beading all along his forehead - this man was on the run. Shortly after he crashed out of the penthouse window, a second Anonymous member came barreling right out atop their own flying type in a Togekiss, which made Emolga's heart flutter for a moment with guilt at the sight, pursuing after the member riding Archeops.
"Hold up, Justin! Are you even sure the shield's down, dude!?" the member in the back, holding onto his Togekiss' wings for dear life, shouted loud enough for both Gengar and Emolga to catch. "I don't want to fly right into a shield that's hard as rock, man!"
"I've been watching the news for the past hour, Bobby!" replied Justin as he hovered in place on his Archeops in mid-air, looking impatiently back at his partner. "Sir challenged Ava herself at the fucking Colosseum and he went and got himself blown up against her, the whole Colosseum went down in smokes! Sir's dead, Bobby! And some justice vigilante do-gooder bitch took down Sir's pokemon at the church that he had keeping up the psychic barrier blocking all the citizens in the city and keeping the Ilragorn cops from getting into Naporia! The shield's down, dude! Any minute now, this city's going to be swarming with every cop from Ilragorn's mainland flying over here to take down whoever the Naporia cops couldn't! We got to get back to HQ, Bobby, regroup with whoever else makes it back to the base! Wait for instructions from - well, who's in charge now? Lieutenant Riley?"
"Nah, I think Evan Hunter's next in line!" responded Bobby as he finally caught up to his fleeing partner.
"Hunter? Agh, fuck, I can't stand that kid. He's just so cocky. Nothing like Sir was. Anyway, let's go, time's-a-wasting." Justin said right before the two of them started flying northeast, over the ocean water and headed away at a rapid speed while Emolga and Gengar watched on.
Gengar waved over at Emolga, then pointed excitedly at the two Anonymous members flying in the direction Gengar had suggested. They had even gotten lucky with the opportunity to follow these two wise guys directly to their base if they played it smart enough. But Emolga needed to learn to trust Gengar's input, and she needed to learn it fast. Now convinced, Emolga at last followed after Gengar as the two pokemon chased after the Anonymous agents, making sure to remain high up in the clouds to avoid detection if they looked behind themselves.
"Wake up, lil' bro," a cold voice disturbed me out out of my sleep, and I woke up for a second forgetting just who and where I was, and I was momentarily in a state of panic as I awoke to find myself in a small room the size of a jail cell but less comfortable. There was no bed, no furniture, no toilet, no sink. Just the bricks and mortar all around the room that was barely bigger than a closet.
"Where am I?" I couldn't help asking, my heart pounding in fear as I realized I had 0 control of the situation with my pokemon belt no longer being wrapped around my waist. I was completely alone. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and looked for the source of the voice.
"You're home," replied the familiar, no-bullshit voice of my older brother, Evan. He wasn't in the room with me, but his voice was playing through a loudspeaker installed directly above the door that was locking me in from the outside.
"Evan...what did you do with my mons? Are they okay?" Was the first thing I thought about, my main concern. I felt slightly stupid speaking out loud in an empty room, but whatever camera or microphone he had installed in this old-school looking cell was sophisticated enough to pick up what I had said immediately.
"I had the option to either kill them, infect them with Rage Berries and set them loose in the wild, or let them recharge in the Rejuvenation Unit while we talked. I chose number three, but if you'd prefer I go with one of my original intentions, I'd be happy to-"
"What's going on? Let me out of here, and we can talk all you want, Evan!" I shouted in frustration, moving to stand but realizing for the first time just how fucking sore and aching my entire body was from the eventful night with so little sleep to show for it. My nose still felt broken from running into Gothitelle's psychic barrier, and I still felt the dried, caked blood attached to my upper lip. I remained laying on the cold brick floor, my feet and calves and thighs too sore to stand.
"Adam, Adam, Adam," Evan started in an almost singsong voice that was very unlike him. "I want to know exactly what it is you think of me. As your brother."
"Huh?" What the fuck was he talking about? "Uh, you're a great older brother. You've had your moments that you could have handled a little better, but for the most part - you were great." I lied as convincingly as I could, hoping this was the answer he was fishing for.
"That's not what you were saying the last time we bumped into each other," Evan replied, clearly not buying it. "I seem to recall you bragging about how you won your fourth badge and shitting on me for struggling to get the Dark badge for so long, about how me stopping to talk to you was due to jealousy about not wanting you to enter the League more than anything else. Like I'd ever be jealous of you. And how'd that work out for you by the way, bro, did you end up registering for the league?" Even just his voice had that sicky, taunting edge to it without needing his actual presence to exacerbate things. Just hearing his holier-than-thou voice raised my blood pressure and made me mad.
"Evan, what the fuck are you trying to do here? Cut all the bullshit out, seriously, please explain to me just what it is you hope to accomplish with all this. You know you're going to be wanted by every police force on the island after last night, right?"
"Actually, only Anonymous members know of my involvement with Anonymous. I made sure I wasn't seen by a single soul my entire time in Naporia so - as far as the police know - Team Anonymous is without leadership since Sir got himself killed by Ava last night."
"Ava killed Sir? The Champion killed somebody?" I wanted to confirm I heard him right.
"It was moreso a massive explosion that took 'em both out, but the news outlets are naturally claiming that it was Ava who did it. Want to give her that hero's ending and all that shit."
"So what does that mean for you?" I asked, though I already knew the answer, recalling those Anonymous members on Mulctuary Street confusing me for Evan and showing fear at the thought of tussling with him as everything added up.
"I'm in charge of Team Anonymous, of course," my brother replied, and I could hear the smile behind his voice, hear how full of pride he was at saying that. It fucking disgusted me.
"So why am I here?" I asked, scared of the answer. Did he bring me here to kill me in front of all his agents and make an example out of me? Show his underlings that he's not afraid to get his hands dirty even against his own brother, who he of course has always had it out for?
Let's face it Adam, he's hated your guts for years. Now he finally has an excuse to act on it.
"Are you that dense? Obviously I've done a lot of growing up, Adam, and I've made a lot of mistakes in the past. I'm man enough to admit that - I'm not perfect, and I wasn't the best older brother to you. Okay, scratch that, I was a shitty older brother, as bad as it gets, alright? But, honestly, I think a lot of what has pushed you into this great trainer you've become-"
Great trainer…
"-I know this sounds egotistic, but I honestly believe half of the reason you're as good as you are is because of me-"
Of course he would think that…
"I think you pushed yourself as hard as anybody can in order to get out from under the shadow Mom and Dad put you under. And I admit I may have pushed some of those thoughts into their minds in the first place (with some help from Mr. Mime) when I probably had no right to decide your future for you the way I did."
"Decide my future?"
"Who do you think gave Mom and Dad the idea to give you a shitty starter egg of a Togepi? I gave them that as a joke, knowing it'd be a weak pokemon. Who do you think pushed them so hard to push you so hard out of Lunaris? I'm the reason you've made it as far as you have, Adam, even if you don't want to see or admit it."
"I believe you." And I did.
"Well, now that a year's gone by and I've seen how much you've grown...how strong you've gotten some of your pokemon...how close you were to entering into the League...how much more backbone you've gotten...well, I have to say I'm fucking proud of you, Adam. And because I'm so proud, I'm offering you the chance to work directly under me as Lieutenant of Team Anonymous."
Gengar and Emolga had gone unnoticed for over an hour now, still trailing in the clouds far behind the speeding Archeops and Togekiss headed towards the safety of their headquarters. Both pokemon were focused on never losing sight of their prey, which was beginning to get easier as the sun rose ever higher and shone a light on the island as a new day began and the darkness of that long, loss-filled night finally came to an end.
They had passed over the gulf of water and over Shorebridge Docks, over Goldenleaf City which still looked as beat up and poor of a city as one could get, over the barren desert devoid of pokemon or human alike north of Goldenleaf, until at last they found themselves in the dead area of No Man's Land, with nothing but dunes and rocky hills rolling through the lifeless terrain. Gengar even recognized the Snorlax-shaped boulder near the southernmost region of No Man's Land where Adam and Eliza had once camped overnight where Lapras and Drapion had taken down Marvin's prized Haxorus.
As the Anonymous members slowed, Gengar held a hand out and stopped in mid-flight slightly ahead of Emolga, making it so that her chest ended up bumping into Gengar's open arm, and she was stopped abruptly, She was mildly annoyed with all of Gengar's decision making which Emolga looked at as micro-managing and a mistrust in her to get the job done properly, but she stopped moving forward and remained floating in place, hiding in the wetness of a small cloud as they watched the Anonymous members begin to descend down to the hard soil.
The members known as Justin and Bobby had landed of all places - right beside the Snorlax-shaped boulder that had so much meaning to the Gengar, although Emolga had no such relationship and was more interested in just holding back on her itchy trigger finger preventing her from showering Thunders on these flying types that were sitting ducks, but Gengar's outstretched arm stopping her from progressing forward said volumes, and she was beginning to trust his judgement after he had been right about the direction.
"Archeops, Stone Edge the boulder!" Justin commanded.
"Togekiss, Aura Sphere, help him out!" Bobby ordered.
Both pokemon unleashed some of their strongest moves, Archeops summoning jagged, sharp sets of rocks shaped like crystals and hurled them at the round, fat boulder while Togekiss fired a sphere of pure fighting energy at the boulder made of rock at the same spot Archeops was firing his move. The combined effect of both moves pummeling the Snorlax-boulder didn't end up shattering the rock like most normal rock; instead, the boulder began to slide, slowly, mechanically, unnaturally out of the way, until it came to a stop after shifting several meters, revealing a wide hole leading into the ground that the Snorlax boulder had been covering up.
Justin and Bobby climbed down into the hole, with Archeops and Togekiss following shortly after, followed by the Snorlax boulder then slowly shifting back into its original place on top of the hidden underground tunnel leading to what Gengar and Emolga was positive was Team Anonymous Headquarters. Whatever material that boulder was made of, it may be disguised as simple rock, but in reality it was a much sturdier material that required being struck by a powerful move that would act as a kind of key to get in. Gengar considered this a tactic to ensure only pokemon up to a certain power level could get inside, as he doubted the Snorlax boulder would move upon getting struck by a simple Headbutt or Thunderbolt.
Inspired by seeing the powerful Stone Edge and Aura Sphere thrown out and eager to test her own strength to see if she was capable of moving the boulder, Emolga took initiative and pounced downward, keeping her wings wide so that gravity would push them down, skating past Gengar's still-outstretched arm who was remaining heavily cautious in the enemy's territory.
"Gengar!" Gengar proclaimed nervously, flying after Emolga as her body surged with electrical charges and the sky above was beginning to fill up with more and more clouds, thicker and darker, the rumble of thunder approaching from afar. Gengar had to admit, he was impressed by the amount of control Emolga seemed to have over her electrical powers.
Emolga hovered in front of the boulder, challenging it, kicking and punching at the immobile, unthreatening rock that was the size of 100 Emolgas while the clouds above filled with thunderous energy for a few moments. Just as she was about to unleash a series of devastating Thunders on the boulder to force it to reveal the underground tunnel once more, Gengar materialized in front of the flying squirrell, between her and the boulder, making it so that if she dropped a Thunder on the rock, Gengar would surely be caught in the blast and likely knocked out if not heavily damaged.
"Gengar!" Gengar repeated for emphasis, his eyes wild with worry as they stared deep into Emolga's, his arms both fully outstretched as he made a cross shape with his body, blocking her attack. Emolga was very confused by Gengar seemingly defending the boulder that she needed to attack for them to get inside and save Adam.
"Emolga!" Emolga threatened in her much higher, cuter voice than the ghost type. She made a dismissive motion with one hand, attempting to shoo Gengar out of the way - MOVE OR I'LL SHOCK YOU.
Gengar moved one of his hands over his mouth, formed a fist, then raised a pointer finger over his lips, making a shhh face at Emolga. She didn't understand what he was trying to say and simply got more agitated, electrical sparks flying off her cheeks in clear frustration.
Gengar was beginning to have the feeling that they were both likely to end up getting killed if he didn't perform some kind of miracle to get her to understand him someway with the constant disruptions and attempts to accidentally, unsuspectingly sabotage their rescue attempt. Gengar tried thinking, going through the list of all the moves in his repertoire, thinking of all the abilities and tasks he could perform as a ghost/poison type with as much experience as he had. Then, like a Stantler jumping in front of a car at 2AM if its headlights are on, an idea from nowhere occurred to Gengar. He realized he might completely sabotage this rescue mission himself if Emolga didn't understand what he was trying to do, but if his reflexes and aim were as good as everyone claimed, he was confident that he could pull this off, though he had never done anything like he was about to do before.
Gengar fired off a Hypnosis from the palm in front of his face at his electric partner since he was only a foot in front of Emolga, making it an easy and successful move, and Emolga ended up passing out out on her back on the rocky pebbles along No Man's Land's floor beside the boulder, snoring peacefully. Gengar then raised both his open-palmed hands, focused on Emolga's sleeping mind and nothing else, and then Gengar performed a move he had never done before, but Adam had explained its use to him once or twice - Dream Eater.
Gengar managed to open up Emolga's mind using psychic energy and peek inside - while most pokemon who managed to successfully perform a Dream Eater on another mon would use the time to just suck energy out of the pokemon, Gengar went a different route and instead used Emolga's own mind to do what he could not do in the real world.
I'm sorry I put you to sleep but you were about to jeopardize the entire mission, Gengar thought, and his thoughts echoed throughout Emolga's mind as she picked up his words in her dreams, taking it in. Gengar became ecstatic to see it worked, and hurried to spit out as much as he could before Emolga woke up. Trust me, I'm impressed by your power to throw out electric attacks, your speed, all that, you're a worthy comrade. And I'm sure you're strong enough that you could move the boulder on your own, no one's denying that. But your Thunders are LOUD. We need to be subtle, we need to be stealthy, we need to be quiet, and we need to not draw attention. We got to get in and not get noticed by as many members as we can because there's bound to be a few members in there between us and Adam in the Containment Ward. And we got to find this Rejuvenation Unit where the rest of our teams at. And we really, really have to accomplish both those things before we get noticed by anyone in there. Especially Evan, we do NOT want to bump into Evan unless we got the entire team back together or we don't stand a chance. So no Thunders until after we get Adam and our friends out of there, okay?
In the dark, calm blankness of Emolga's sleeping mind, he felt her nod as a response as she finally understood him clearly. He also felt her appreciation for him and her confidence in herself build up over his compliments, something he could never have gotten through to her through just his game of charades.
Incase Eliza didn't inform you, Adam's team has upgraded since you've last been here. Specifically, you need to keep your eyes out for a female Lapras with an angelic face, an energetic Passimian that's loyal as a Stoutland, the most underrated and underappreciated Tropius in all of Ilragorn, and Drapion who you know's been with Adam from the start. There's no way we can beat Evan unless we're all together, he's probably the toughest trainer in all of Ilragorn at this point with the Champion and all the Elite gone. So we need to be extremely careful, Emolga.
Again, Gengar felt her nod in deep, deep understanding as she slept.
I'm not going to be able to just put you to bed in the middle of the base though, which is why I'm trying to explain everything to you in as short a time as I can, because when you wake up, there's no more time to put you to bed so I can explain my reasonings for things to you. When you wake up, Emolga, I need you to just follow my lead on EVERYTHING, is that clear? We need to be 100% on the same page, and that's hard enough when we can't really talk to each other, so you just have to trust that I know what I'm doing and even if your instincts are telling you to go one way but I'm pointing somewhere else, you need to trust ME. Because this isn't about us, it's about Adam and our team and everyone else out there in Ilragorn that's just going to be another one of Evan's or Anonymous' victims if we don't pull this off. Are you following me?
Emolga nodded, but Gengar felt a yawn coming on as her drowsiness was beginning to wear off and she was starting to come to out of her sleep, releasing his Dream Eater hold on her as both pokemon returned to their normal consciousness, Emolga lifting her head out of the ground and taking in her surroundings briefly, Gengar carefully watching her to see if she would begin to fire off a series of Thunders on the Snorlax-boulder and reveal their presence.
Instead, Emolga simply rose to her two feet, did a long stretch that cracked her back, and then used her wings to fly back up to join Gengar by his side as he levitated near the top of the boulder, examining it as he realized that everything Emolga had heard in her dreams still resonated with her as the calm understanding in her eyes gave it away. She was no longer a threat that could potentially cause a thunderstorm right at the entrance to Team Anonymous' base - she was now his calm, collected, silent, and deadly partner that was completely aware of the very real task on their hands and the very serious consequences if they failed.
Although the two pokemon weren't on speaking terms and Gengar could definitely see problems occurring inside the base in the heat of the moment due to their lack of communication, Gengar felt a lot more confident in his chances now than he did a few minutes ago.
Gengar took a deep breath, shut his eyes in concentration as he allowed his body to become intangible through his ghostly abilities, and Emolga watched with an impressed gaze as Gengar bolted directly into the Snorlax-shaped boulder and phased completely through it, disappearing from sight.
After a minute, the boulder began to shift in the slow, mechanical way a bank vault door might open as Gengar managed to unlock and open the entrance from the inside, making it so that Emolga descended down into the gaping hole in the ground along with her partner, and she found that they were on a metal staircase that led down into the earth, though both pokemon remained levitating in the air, with small lights having been installed on the sides of the underground tunnel to illuminate the way. They couldn't hear the voices of the Anonymous members up ahead, so they assumed that the base itself must have been pretty deep below the surface.
Gengar took a firm grip on Emolga's hand with his own, which the electric squirrel did not fight, and together the two pokemon continued on, heading deeper into the ground and further down the long tunnel that seemed to stretch on for miles underneath the barren wasteland of No Man's Land.