A/N: Hola once again everyone. It's your friendly neighborhood DrPhill bringing you another chapter of Evolution. Now given the cliffhanger reveal of the last chapter, I'm sure you're all dying to get back into action right away here with part 2 of this particular moment of the story. However, I do have a brief announcement to make regarding the future content of this story. Don't worry though, I'm not axing the Nomel Berries, those are the most fun I and a large group of you have with this story anyway ;)
What I'm referring to is the official timeline of Evolution's universe in comparison with the official Pokemon timeline of events. If you recall, I've placed this story 7 years after the events of the 4th (and 2nd) gen games Diamond/Pearl, and 5 years after the events of Gale of Darkness. Some of you more sharp-minded readers may know then that that roughly translates to Evolution taking place in the same year of events as Sun/Moon do. Why am I bringing this up now? Because from this point forward, the story of Evolution branches away from the strict lineage of the Pokémon Timeline that we had been following up until now. Now, of course, we already made a divergence last chapter with the reveal at the end. But we're making a few more divergences away from the timeline of events later in this chapter as well that have implications for certain characters and Pokémon that appear in Sun/Moon. What those are, of course, you'll have to read and find out.
TL;DR - Certain events of Sun/Moon are being re-tooled to drive the narrative of Evolution going forward in this story starting with this chapter. Capiche? Good, now go read part two of this chapter :)
"You guys! They're using Shadow Pokémon!" Everyone turned to Tyler with a uniform expression, shock. The way the eyes of his friends wavered nervously as they looked at him, the way their breaths seized in their chests. Tyler could see his fears reflected through them as they tried to process what he'd said. Even the two men in black behind their streamlined armor and helmets, Tyler could see it in the way they recoiled from his stabbing accusation that they too were in shock at what he'd said. This only added to Tyler's nerves, because the only reason they'd react in the way they did was if they knew what a Shadow Pokémon was as well.
"Wha – huh? Shadow what?" Madison's confusion finally broke the silence. "I don't understand, what is a Shadow Pokémon?"
"A Pokémon nothing short of a monster." Tyler shivered as he could feel the two Shadow Pokémon, Darmanitan and Weavile staring a hole through his chest. "If these two are actually Shadow Pokémon like I think they are, we're in major trouble."
"How in the hell did you figure that out?!" Nova raged, pointing an accusatory finger at the redhead. "Nobody in the entire region should know what a Shadow Pokémon is. And you just happen to pull this revelation straight out of your ass like some crappy B-movie!"
"Perhaps he is from the Orre region." Aster pointed out rather calmly, sounding only slightly bothered by the change in circumstance in stark contrast to his partner's now heightened annoyance.
"Even if that's the case, he shouldn't have been able to put two and two together without seeing their auras. Those guys who briefed us all on the tech told us that the ability to see the Shadow Aura is incredibly rare. So rare in fact, that I'd be willing to bet half of what we're being paid that-… the Lucario! Of course!" Nova facepalmed the front of his helmet, his outrage at this illogical coincidence beginning to boil over.
"Go fucking figure! We find the ONE PERSON, in ALL OF SINNOH, that just so happens to be from the Orre region and knows what a Shadow Pokémon is. And he JUST SO HAPPENS to be here in Solaceon Town on the night of our raid. AND he has a Lucario to boot. This is some Ex-Machina level bullshit right here. Un-FUCKING-believable!"
"So that does mean you're using them." Tyler shivered again as he realized that his accusation was correct. "Oh God, this is not good. This is bad, really, really, really bad."
"You still haven't explained what a Shadow Pokémon is Tyler," Jason stated to his tournament partner. "Madison and I need to know what we're up against. You need to tell us!"
"Do I need to jump in and help?" Will stepped forward, raising his arm with an enlarged Poké ball in his hand.
"No – You can't!" Tyler quickly grabbed Will's hand and pulled it back down to his waist. "You can't just jump head first into a battle with Shadow Pokémon if you've never heard of them before! They're too dangerous!"
"Well then what the hell are they Tyler?!" Jason snapped angrily, still waiting for an answer along with the rest of the group.
"They're… they're actually a bit hard to explain." Tyler shook his head, unsure of where to begin with explaining what a Shadow Pokémon was. But he knew that wishy-washy answer wouldn't satisfy anyone, least of all the two fighting them, so he tried to continue.
"It's like… They're like machines. Shadow Pokémon become almost mindless fighters with significantly enhanced offensive abilities. Even their most basic attacks can have devastating results for any non-Shadow Pokémon that gets hit by them."
"Well I guess that explains how these two have been able to keep up with our mega evolved Pokémon." Jason spat bitterly.
"I am still confused…" Madison spoke up, a deeply puzzled look in her eyes. "Even if zey are like machines as you say, zey are still Pokémon, no? So why can Pulse not see into zeir aura?"
"That's the other thing about Shadow Pokémon." Tyler's somber explanation continued. "In exchange for this power boost, a Shadow Pokémon is forced to suppress their ability to feel any emotion beyond anger and hate. I don't know how they do it exactly. All I know is that they use some sort of machine to bathe a regular Pokémon in this shadowy energy. And it turns an otherwise normal Pokémon into a wild beast."
"I think I remember reading something about that back when I was in Orre," Wendy added onto Tyler's thoughts. "Yeah, it's kinda coming back to me. The person who wrote the article described it like 'closing the door to the Pokémon's heart.'"
"That would explain why I cannot see or read their auras." Pulse joined in as well, projecting his thoughts. "All that I can see when I look at them is this… storm cloud of dark-colored hatred."
"And there's the third hallmark of Shadow Pokémon. The Shadow Aura." Tyler continued yet again. "Any Pokémon that becomes a Shadow Pokémon has traces of the dark energy that was used to transform them still lingering around their bodies. It's kind of like Pulse's ability to manifest his aura, only it's almost impossible to detect by the naked eye. Some people, like Wes' partner Rui back in the first uprising, have a natural ability to see the aura. But otherwise, you'd have to rely on special devices to even sense its presence, let alone see it."
"So he is from Orre then…" Nova huffed with clear annoyance. "There's no goddamn way a native Sinnohan would know that much about Shadow Pokémon."
"Right, so how do we beat them Tyler?" Jason turned his attention back to the Darmanitan and Weavile across from him.
"I… I don't know." Tyler shook his head uncertainly. "I might know what a Shadow Pokémon is, but I've never seen one in person before, let alone fought one as strong as those two are." Tyler frowned, wanting to be of more help. His safety, but also the safety of his Pokémon and his friends and their Pokémon were dependent on him sharing as much information as he had at this moment. But he'd already shared all he knew about them, anything more he could add would only be speculation. And in this dire situation, he didn't want to give out any bad advice that could do more harm than good.
"Damn… Okay Madison, here's what we'll do," Jason said, thinking aloud. "We'll fight them from a distance. It looks like we have a speed advantage over both of them, and they seem to prefer up close fights anyway. So, if we keep our distance, we can take them down."
"Zat sounds like a good plan. But what if zey land another big attack on us." Madison sounded unsure. "'Oundie cannot take another big punch like 'e did before."
"Plus, Pulse won't be able to heal you as well this next time." Wendy's voice wavered anxiously. "Heal Pulse isn't a move we've mastered using yet. And even if we had, Pulse has already spent a lot of his energy tonight."
"Then we go for a numbers advantage and overwhelm them with our combined power." Will briskly pulled away from Tyler's attempt to stop him and raised the Poké ball in his hand, throwing it forward.
"Absol!" Bursting out of Will's Poké Ball was the silver furred quadruped Tyler had seen earlier in the night. Her blackened horn glinted at the tip in the dim moonlight as she surveyed the situation in front of her with her sentry-like eyes.
"Will, you can't fight them!" Tyler protested. "I know Nyxx is strong, but we're talking about Shadow Pokémon here. One mistake and Nyxx could get really badly hurt, or worse!"
"That's why I chose her Tyler; Nyxx doesn't make mistakes." Both Will and his Absol looked back at Tyler and he could see a confident smirk on opposite sides of their faces, like they were completing two halves of the same smile. Similarly, Tyler saw a pair of glinting blue sparkles as he looked at them as well, one at the base of Nyxx's horn, and another one on Will's wrist as he now threw his jacket to the ground.
"Oh for the love of – how many more of you are there?" Nova's body shook with animated anger as Will crossed his arms at waist height, and a glowing blue energy surrounded his left wrist. He ignored the man's remark, throwing his arms out parallel to his body before bringing them back before him, clutching his glowing left wrist in front of his face with his right.
"Goddess of night, unfurl your wings and encompass the world with your shadow!" Just like with Madison and Jason before him, Will's glowing wrist now shot out four bands of jagged energy that connected with Nyxx's own quartet of blue, combining together into a vibrant white light.
"Mega Evolution!" As Will thrust his fist skyward, the same prismatic reds and yellows overcame his Absol's body as her body also began to change. The scythe-like horn atop her head grew thicker, while also sprouting a second shorter point on the opposite side. The fur on her back lengthened as well, forming into what looked like a pair of angel wings, now sharing a similar appearance with the tufts of fur growing from the back of her legs. While she may not have gotten any larger as the hues scattered and molded back into the prismatic helix above her head, Tyler could see a streamlined and more elegant appearance to the Absol's body as she now joined the Manectric and Houndoom in achieving her mega-powered form.
"Do I have a fourth?!" Nova shook his head sounding annoyed. "Anyone else? Fourth Mega Pokémon to join the fight?" He let out a deeply agitated sigh, "Seriously, what God did I piss off that I have to deal with this utter nonsense?!"
"Perhaps we should retreat if you are feeling this agitated Nova." Aster turned to his partner as the three Mega Pokémon and their trainers stared down their now outnumbered foes. "The grunts already have more than enough new test subjects as is. We don't need anymore."
"As if I'd let you run. Get behind them Manectric!" In a flash of yellow, Jason's Manectric quickly darted behind the two black-clad men, snarling at both of them as lightning danced around his maw.
"Don't think you'll be going anywhere soon." Will spoke darkly as wisps of dark energy began swirling around Nyxx's horn.
"We will make you answer for the pain and suffering you've dealt us tonight." Madison added on as her Houndoom exhaled a few strands of the same dark energy.
"Dark Pulse!" Both Will and Madison shouted together and their Pokémon each shot off a blast of swirling black energy towards the two Shadow Pokémon.
"Use Shadow Breaker on the ground!" Nova's hulking Pokémon slammed its massive fists into the ground, creating a jagged crack in the Earth and launching dirt and rocks up into the Houndoom's attack to deflect the oncoming attack.
"Jump and use Shadow Saber!" Aster's Weavile meanwhile simply jumped above Nyxx's attack, channeling a malevolent aura into his claws. They grew larger in size before he spun around and threw a tri-slash projectile down towards the Absol.
"Sucker Punch!" Will and Madison both issued the same command and their Pokémon each disappeared in a puff of black smoke. The Houndoom appeared beside the Darmanitan and lunged for his smaller legs, knocking him off balance and falling on his face. The Absol meanwhile appeared beside the Weavile in midair and slammed her horn into the side of his face, knocking him downward.
"Now Megahorn!"
"Counter with Shadow Saber!" The horns atop Nyxx's head grew in size and glowed with a jade colored energy before she tucked her body into a wheel shape and fell towards the Weavile. Her opponent landed on his feet and again channeled the same malevolence into his claws, slashing them upward as Nyxx slammed her horn into them. The two attacks canceled each other out in a powerful explosion, knocking both Pokémon away from each other in a trail of dust.
"Now Manectric Discharge!" The Discharge Pokémon channeled blue lightning around his body before firing off a pair of lightning bolts into both Pokémon simultaneously.
"Grrr, get up Darmanitan!" With his trainer's cry, Darmanitan smacked the ground again with his fist and began pushing himself up. Then with a pulse of blackness surrounding his body, he threw his arms outwards and dispelled the electric current around him by force.
"Now use Shadow Breaker on the Manectric!" With a gravelly roar, Darmanitan pivoted around and started charging Jason's Manectric with his entire arm bathed in the burning black and blue flames.
"Use Quick Attack and dodge him!" Jason's partner showed off its ridiculous speed yet again, racing towards the Pokémon as the trail of white energy lagging behind him looked like a physical lightning bolt. He dove past the creature's legs, and in an instant cut back around and made a second and third pass, once again tripping up the Pokémon.
"'Oundie, use Dark Pulse again!" Another blast of spiraling black energy slammed into the Darmanitan's body, further upending him and causing him to collapse once more on the ground.
"Okay, now go help Will Manectric, Fire Fang!" Manectric changed his focus to the weasel Pokémon, racing towards him with a burning orange energy in his mouth.
"Block him with Shadow Saber!" As the Manectric lunged for the Weavile, he thrust his left claw forward and the Manectric bit onto it. Though his right was still free, and now glowing with wicked intentions.
"Nyxx use Flamethrower!" Now a stream of fire burst forth from the Absol's mouth and shot towards the Weavile. He threw a quick but weak jab into the Manectric's jaw, freeing his other claw before leaping back as the pillar of flames separated the two from each other.
"You okay Manectric?" Jason asked, only for his partner to growl as he brushed the underside of his jaw with his paw. "Good, that's what I want to see."
"Stay on your damn feet Darmanitan!" Nova yelled as his Pokémon had to pick itself back up yet again.
"Let me handle the two of them Nova." His partner announced as the two of them shared a glance with each other. "Unless you feel like continuing to literally dig your own grave every time you fall over."
"Oh so now you can tell jokes!" Tyler could feel Nova's glare through his helmet, even if it wasn't aimed at him. "Fine, Darmanitan use Shadow Breaker on Absol!" With one enraged leap, the Darmanitan raised both its fists over its head, cloaking both of them in the burning black and blue energy as he fell towards the Mega Absol.
"Nyxx, Double Team!" But before the attack could land, Nyxx created a small group of clones, leaving one behind to absorb the earth-shattering blow.
"Cute trick, but how long will you keep up with our attacks?!" Again, the Darmanitan charged one of the Absols, crushing the clone into a cloud of smoke while the other three Nyxx began to run in a circle around him.
"That depends on how long you can fight off ours. Nyxx, use Rock Tomb!" The three Absol's horns each glowed with a silvery sparkle as rings formed and fractured around their horns into the size of small boulders.
"Hmph, we won't lose in a test of strength. Show him Darmanitan!" The burning shadow aura encompassed both of the Blazing Pokémon's arms as he threw punch after punch into the oncoming attacks. Each boulder either shattered or was knocked away completely as the attacks continued to fall.
"Weavile, Shadow Saber!" Meanwhile, Aster's Shadow Pokémon charges at the two canines with both his claws glowing inside of a shadowy aura. He throws his left towards the Manectric in a projectile before focusing on the Houndoom with the right, aiming a slash towards his legs.
"Manectric, Thunderbolt!"
"Flamethrower 'Oundie!" Both Jason's and Madison's Pokémon aim their trademark attacks with the Electric type firing off another roaring thunderbolt towards the oncoming projectile. Houndoom meanwhile fires off a scorching blast of flames towards the Weavile. But with his agility, the Weavile leaps up and over the attack, landing behind the Houndoom and landing a slash on the Pokémon's side and making him cry in pain.
"Zap the Weavile this time!" Manectric quickly pivoted around and fired off another bolt of electricity, striking the Weavile before he could launch a follow-up attack. "Now crank up the voltage!" With another bark, the Manectric's output increased in size and power, pinning the Weavile to the ground.
"I will get you back twice as 'ard for zat." Madison's eyes flashed with malevolence towards Aster and his Pokémon. "Nasty Plot!" Madison's Houndoom shared the same dark expression as she did, staring a hole through the downed Weavile as a burning black and orange aura encompassed the Pokémon's body.
"Shadow Saber!" In spite of the electricity surrounding his body, Weavile tried to mold another claw with his dark energy.
"Wild Charge Manectric!" Though before the attack could find its target, Jason's Manectric intercepted the blow with one of its own. The attack launched the Weavile skyward, flailing about like a ragdoll before landing in a heap before his trainer.
"This isn't good Nova." Aster growled as his Weavile groaned in agony, struggling to even lift his claw off the ground.
"You're telling me." Nova frowned himself as his Darmanitan started slowing down and letting a few of the boulders hit him. "Get in there and blast her!" In a desperate attempt, the Darmanitan threw his fist directly at one of the Absols, only to punch a hole through a cloud and miss.
"Night Slash!" Both of the remaining Absols attacked together, crossing their purple-laced claws in an x-shape as they slashed at the Darmanitan's body from below and lifted him off the ground. Before he could hit the ground, the Absols attacked again, this time with a combined x-shape slash from above that knocked the Blazing Pokémon to the ground with a heavy impact.
"Zis fight ends now," Madison announced as the aura around her Houndoom was absorbed into his body. "'Oundie use Fire Blast!"
"Don't let them get up Manectric, Thunder!"
"Show them the true power of shadows Nyxx, Dark Pulse!" Each of the three Mega-Evolved Pokémon stood beside each other and began charging their respective elements around their bodies, looking for an emphatic finishing blow.
"Fuck, I can't believe we have to do this again." Both Nova and Aster reached to their belts and pulled another Poké ball each. "Volcarona!"
"Bisharp!" Like before, a pair of new Pokémon burst forth from their balls and stood in front of the downed Shadow Pokémon in a defensive formation.
"Like hell I'm letting you pull that shit a second time!" Tyler threw caution to the wind as he hurled a ball towards the action. "Caelum! Use Brave Bird on Volcarona!" With a piercing shriek, a burning blue bullet with wings burst out of Tyler's Poké ball and raced towards the giant moth-like creature.
"Pulse use Aura Sphere on the Bisharp!" Wendy also went for broke as her Lucario charged alongside Caelum, donning his enraged reddish-purple aura.
"Wait what?!" Before Nova could react properly, Caelum crashed into the Volcarona's chest with as much force as he could manage, causing an explosion of force that sent the Sun Pokémon flying and landing back beside the two Pokémon it was supposed to be defending. Aster tried to issue a command to his Pokémon, but Pulse thrust both of his Aura Spheres forward into the Bisharp's chest, sending him flying and crashing into all three of the other Pokémon now lying on top of each other.
"Take the shot!" Tyler yelled to the three mega evolution wielders. "Hurry! Before they can get up!"
"FIRE!" All three Mega Pokémon shouted together and their Pokémon each attacked in unison with their attacks molding together. The Houndoom's molten pillar of flames merged with the Absol's pitch-black fury creating an ominous burning vortex with electricity arcing all around its length. With no chance at all to evade, each of the four Pokémon took the combined attack, causing a catastrophic explosion of Fire, Electricity, and Darkness.
The shockwave of the blast punched through Tyler's stomach, making his eyes water, as well as force him to both raise an arm in defense of his vision and fall to his knees to keep from being completely blown away. The ground trembled and quaked beneath him, as chunks of the exploded earth began to rain down from above. Tyler forced himself completely to the ground, trying to take as much shelter from the attack and its equally dangerous aftermath as physically possible. It was nearly a full minute before Tyler felt brave enough to actually poke his head out and survey the battlefield… or what little was left of it.
The lingering cloud of dust and raining dirt still hung over the heavily scarred field, but Tyler could make out the outlines of Pokémon lying scattered throughout it. The humanoid Pokémon, Bisharp, lay face down and buried in a tomb of rocks and dirt. The other Pokémon that was supposed to take this attack, Volcarona, lay on its back, it's body twitching as residual electricity surged through and across its body.
"Raptor!" Tyler looked up and saw his Staraptor landing beside him with a burning trail of blue embers running down the length of his back.
"Thank goodness." Tyler exhaled, relieved that his partner wasn't somewhere inside the blast zone.
"Pulse! Thank God you're okay!" Tyler looked to his right in time to see Wendy tackle her Lucario to the ground with an affectionate hug. Tyler smiled as she lay on top of him for a moment, then chuckled as she quickly hopped off him with an apology before wrapping him up a second time.
With the dust settling even more, Tyler finally could make out the outlines of the three Pokémon responsible for the attack and their trainers. So all that left were their opponents, whom Tyler quietly hoped were completely blown away in that devastating attack. He turned his attention back to the wounded plains again and found the answer he was looking for. Lying beside one another and well beyond their two trainers were the two Shadow Pokémon, Weavile, and Darmanitan. Neither one of them were moving, they both lay prone and motionless, and they both failed to respond to either of their trainer's calls.
"Three goddamned mega evolved Pokémon, all of them at once no less!" Tyler heard Nova's frustration before he saw him, seeing his figure looking back and forth at the impact zone and his two defeated Pokémon before retreating them. "I swear, this isn't even an ex-Machina anymore. This kind of contrived nonsensical garbage could only be found in some godforsaken fanfiction you'd find on the internet."
"Quit complaining Nova." His partner's figure stood alongside Nova and fired two red pulses of energy at his own defeated Pokémon. "Our mission isn't finished yet."
"Isn't finished?" Nova turned skeptically towards Aster. "In case you haven't noticed slush for brains, we just lost our two Shadow Pokémon while they still have THREE MEGA POKÉMON! And that's not even counting all the others they probably have waiting in the wings like that redhead's Staraptor and the girl's Lucario. Meanwhile, I'm down to our escape ticket and you've got-"
"A backup plan." Aster cut off Nova in an instant, leaving the blaze orange man stunned.
"A what?"
"A backup plan," Aster repeated a second time. "Our first plan may have just backfired in spectacular fashion, but you should know by now I always come prepared with a Plan B." Through the haze of the smoke, Tyler heard the distinct noise of a Poké ball being enlarged.
"Wait a minute… Is that who I think that is?" Nova asked, though sounded surprisingly timid as he did, which was unnerving for Tyler. This Nova guy had been the more obnoxious of the two by far compared to his calmer and more collected partner. But now it seemed as if their roles were reversing. The quiet one started talking, and the loud one was becoming silent? Was he just imagining things, or was his gut feeling that there was something more to come correct?
"Whatever you think your Plan B is, we'll shut that one down too, along with any other half-baked ideas you can come up with," Jason announced as he reached into his vest and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "You're only making things worse on yourselves and your Pokémon by resisting any more than you already have. Face reality and surrender. You've lost."
"Have we now, Mr. Ranger? Because I'm still capable of putting up a fight." Aster announced himself as the dust of the previous explosion finally began to settle, allowing Tyler to clearly see the man with ice blue accents to his suit holding another ball in his hand. It might have been the poor visibility, but Tyler thought this ball looked a bit different than one he'd ever seen before, appearing darker in color and with some sort of hard to make out pattern across it.
"You sure about this?" Nova asked in the same timid and worried sounding tone of voice. "Last time we used him he went on that rampage, remember? Up in the mountains north of here, with the Salamence?"
"I'm well aware of what happened last time we set him loose." Aster looked back at his partner. "As you should be aware that the scientists tweaked the algorithm to prevent that from happening again."
"Salamence in the mountains… Don't tell me you two are the monsters responsible for her death!" Will's body shook in anger, remembering the story his father had told him about the hatchlings and their mother.
"Oh? So you've heard of our prior test run then?" Aster spoke in an almost condescending manner. "I suppose word travels pretty fast through the Rangers of Sinnoh."
"Bastards! Do you have any idea the kind of hell you've put that other Salamence through? Or her hatchlings?!" Jason seethed himself while his Manectric's fur surged with electrical energy to match his master's growing fury.
"Sometimes in order to further your research, you have to shelve the petulant things like ethics and morality to achieve the results you truly desire."
"Zere are not even words left in any language to describe ze two of you besides demons." Madison glared herself, only to receive an amused grin back from the confident blue figure.
"I think you'd find visionary to be a more accurate choice of word my dear." Aster quipped, brushing off Madison's and everyone else's anger at him.
"Man I don't know about this…" Nova continued to sound indecisive, but his partner brushed his remarks off as well.
"This is an invaluable opportunity to test the limits of our technology, along with his real strength. Three against one, with the three even being Mega Evolved Pokémon no less, it's a win-win situation."
"How exactly is this win-win when we're down to one Shadow Pokémon, and the two we just used got manhandled?"
"Down to one? You mean you have another Shadow Pokémon?" Tyler asked the men in black, though his question went unheard by either of them.
"Because Nova, we'll be pushing him to the absolute limit of his ability. If he emerges victorious, not only do we have the strongest Pokémon in Sinnoh at our disposal, but we'll also gain some equally powerful new test subjects in the Pokémon he defeats."
"And if he loses?"
"Then we send the eggheads back to the drawing board to make him even stronger. Even in defeat, the data we gain against these opponents will be worth its weight in gold." Nova let out a brief chuckle at his partner's statement, placing his hands on his hips and cocking them slightly with amusement.
"Heh, and to think that just a few minutes ago, you were the one who suggested that we try to run away. Now you want to stick around?"
"Says the one who wanted to run away just a few seconds ago." Aster spoke with the same sureness as his partner.
"See, you can tell a joke when you want to."
"It's as I said, Nova. We always come prepared with a Plan B."
"And like I told you, you can empty the alphabet from Plan B to Plan Z for all I care. We'll put a stop to every one of them!" Jason told the two of them, though neither one seemed fazed by the Ranger's bravado.
"Then let's see if you can…" Aster grinned as he reared back and tossed the mystery ball in his hand skyward.
"Roar! B-K-Zero-Three!" Even before whatever was inside of the mystery ball burst out of it, Tyler felt his heart seize in his chest. B-K-Zero-Three? You didn't name a Pokémon, or anything for that matter with just letters and numbers unless it was some sort of code or callsign. And with regard to Shadow Pokémon, there had only ever been one in either uprising that utilized a callsign; a Pokémon that even Tyler's idol Michael had difficulty taming. That was the fabled XD-001, the infamous Shadow Lugia. And although the allegedly unpurifiable Shadow Pokémon did eventually become tamed and purified by Michael after over a year's worth of research, XD-001's legacy still remained on the minds of Orre's citizens to this day. Whatever Pokémon was about to be released from this ball may very well become as infamous across the Sinnoh region as the Shadow Lugia was back home.
Amidst a dark pulse of shadowy energy emerged the Pokémon called BK-03, though what kind of Pokémon it was, Tyler had no idea. All he could tell was that the longer he looked, the less he thought it was a Pokémon, and the more horrified of it he became. This… thing, whatever it was, looked to be an amalgamation of different parts of what may have originally been Pokémon, except now all the parts were fused together in one abomination. It was a chimerical beast with green bird-like talons for front legs, the hind legs of a dog and a tail that belonged to a shark. But sitting atop its head, or where it should be if it were a normal creature, was a large wooden mask with four spikes around the neck area and what looked like an axe-head on the back of the creature's mask. And peering out at the world from inside that bulky mask were two of the most wrathful red eyes that Tyler had ever seen in his life.
The creature roared and as it did Tyler could feel its presence towering over him like he was a Joltik looking up at an enraged Aggron. The previous Shadow Pokémon may have been able to stare a hole through Tyler, but at least he never felt fearful for his life like he did on seeing this monster and feeling his presence. Even as he tried to process what he was looking at, he could feel his legs pushing him away from, wanting to flee even though he knew that it wasn't an option.
"What in the literal fuck is that thing?!" Jason's words echoed not just Tyler's thoughts, but also the thoughts of everyone around him as he briefly glanced at everyone's varying expressions of horror. "That can't be a Pokémon! There's no way!"
"I can assure you that BK-03 is, in fact, a Pokémon. And a powerful one at that." Aster projected to the shocked masses. But Tyler couldn't believe him; there was no way this was a Pokémon, or at the very least was no longer a Pokémon. This beast of hell looked like it belonged in a horror movie, or some secret underground laboratory. It didn't belong outside, let alone here in the shadow of Solaceon Town's former daycare.
"Everyone, you must exercise extreme caution with this Pokémon!" Pulse's voice rang through Tyler's head in a warning as everyone looked at the Lucario. "I have never felt an aura as powerful or as violent as this creature's before."
"Is it a Shadow Pokémon Pulse?" Wendy asked and the Lucario simply nodded his head.
"I am afraid that whatever Pokémon this is, it is bathed in the same storm of negative energy that is preventing me from reading anything more of its aura beyond its exceptional malice."
"Tyler, you're our unofficial expert on Shadow Pokémon. Do you have any advice at all on what to do?" Jason turned to Tyler with a look of desperation cracking the Ranger's tough guy façade.
"Get help." Tyler blurted out without even thinking. They had to fight, but Tyler could feel it in the pit of his stomach, there was no way on Earth that they'd be able to stop him by themselves. "I'm dead serious you guys, I don't even think all of your Mega Pokémon could stand up to him."
"Th – that's a bit much don't you think." Jason still tried to quash his now more apparent nerves. "Surely a trio of Mega-evolved Pokémon could take anything this guy can dish out, right? … Right?" But Tyler could only shake his head uncertainly as thoughts of XD-001's various rampages across Orre muted his ability to speak further.
"Aquila!" In a swift motion, Will turned around and threw one of his balls in the direction opposite of the chimera, summoning his Braviary from a shower of silver sparks. "Go find dad, bring him here. We're going to need his help in order to fight off whatever this Pokémon is." With an affirmative squawk, the Valiant Pokémon took off and soared towards the nearby tree line.
"Don't let him escape, Shadow Beam!" For the first time since being released from its ball, the creature moved, lowering its stance to the ground as it locked its virulent red eyes on the Braviary flying away from it. As it did, a ball of black, orange and purple formed in front of the creature's face with tendrils of black energy feeding into and making it grow in size. With another of its ferocious roars, it fired off an equally ferocious beam of energy towards the Braviary.
"'Oundie use Fire Blast!" Madison's hellhound fired off a sizable blast of flames towards the creature's attack, only just managing to intercept the attack before it could harm Aquila. Still, the shockwave of the resulting explosion forced a defensive stance from Tyler and everyone else as well. Fortunately, as the lingering trails of energy faded away, Tyler could make out that Aquila had gotten away from the blast and continued to fly towards the forest searching for the commander of Sinnoh's Rangers. However, without any more information on the Pokémon responsible for that attack, Tyler wasn't sure if they'd all be able to hold out until he arrived.
Thinking quickly, Tyler reached into his pocket and pulled out his P*DA and activated it. Even if it was a monster, Pulse had confirmed that it was a Shadow Pokémon, and therefore had to be some species of Pokémon. So, Tyler hoped that as he pressed the scanning button in the center of the device, that it would be able to identify what was standing across from them and find some sort of information about it. Base typing, abilities, anything his P*DA could tell him would prove invaluable in an instant. He aimed the device at the chimeric creature and the creature's outline became highlighted and then distorted, only for a red x-mark to appear over the screen.
"Pokémon not recognized. Please scan again."
"What?!" Tyler sounded alarmed in response to the P*DA's monotone voice. He pressed the button a second time and the display's image distorted a second time before the red x-mark flashed again.
"Pokémon not recognized. Please scan again."
"What do you mean not recognized?!" Tyler shouted again at the device.
"Since your little device doesn't seem to be working, allow me to explain," Aster stated confidently. "You are looking at the end result of years' worth of cutting-edge research provided to us by one of our executive admins from the Alola region. Research that we have combined with our modified shadow technology from the remnants of Cipher. Together, with the remaining resources of the former Team Galactic, we have created a true Beast-Killer, capable of ripping apart anything that stands in his way."
"Beast Killer?" Tyler thought aloud as descriptions of the slain Salamence came back to his mind. The talon-like claws on its front legs certainly could have caused the wounds to the Dragon type Pokémon. And they said he'd been designed using the remnants of Cipher's tech. Shadow Lugia was supposed to be the perfect Shadow Pokémon, but even he was never referred to as a killer amongst the Cypher organization. Was it actually possible that this monster had achieved a level of violence beyond XD-001?
"THIS is our announcement to you, the Sinnoh region, and the rest of the world!" Aster continued with his speech, his voice rising in volume and apparent excitement. "THIS, is OUR creation. THIS, is the symbol of our uprising and of our vision to create a new and perfect world in line with his ideals! THIS, is BK-03, Type: Shadow, and we of Team Eclipse are his masters!"
Tyler's team: Magnus (Quilava, Male), Caelum (Staraptor, Male), Yuki (Glaceon, Female), Felix (Gligar, Male)
Wendy's team: Pulse (Lucario, Male), Tess (Ampharos, Female), Yuri (Lilligant, Female), Flynt (Aron, Male)