Episode 39: The Ultimate Dragonite. (The madness of men and demons part 2)

[On the very top of Twist Mountain...]

The large black jet de-cloaked and landed slowly as three cloaked figures waited for its descent as the wind blew on their long robed clothes.

As the plane landed, the back doors opened up revealing a team of bounty hunters led by the most fearsome, the most infamous bounty hunter the Pokémon World ever saw.

"Hunter J, a pleasure doing business with you." The tallest cloaked figure bowed politely.

The silver haired bounty hunter looked back. "I have your package."

Out of the ship, came two floating objects: one was a frozen gold Dodrio and the other was a girl.

"Yellow of Viridian City and her Dodrio. She's all yours." Hunter J motioned her crew and then the released the frozen gold Pokémon and Human.

Instantly, the smallest cloaked figure raised their hand and made Yellow and the Dodrio freeze in air. Hunter J's men started murmuring about how their clients this time were people who can use psychic powers. The middle man pointed his hand as well, levitating an empty Poké Ball and recalling the Dodrio before making more Poké Balls float off the girl for him to hold.

"G-Give them…" Yellow weakly called out before the smallest cloaked figure slammed her into the ground.

"She's still conscious? I guess that's a hero for you, despite being suspended animation for a few days, they can still function to an extent." It sounded like a young girl was speaking from the smallest cloaked person.

The Tallest man picked up a suit case and opened it up towards Hunter J, revealing a new scouter. "A gift for a job well done."

"I know this…" Hunter J removed her visor for a second before placing the scouter near her ear.

"It's a Battle Augmented Realizer or Battle AR for short. Along with a Synergy Stone, it allows a power boost to any of your Pokémon in battle known as Synergy Burst. Synergy burst allows even unevolved Pokémon to take on Mega level Pokémon," The man closed the case and motioned the middle man to open another case with them to Hunter J. "Then add a Key Stone and Salmanceite into the mix…"

Hunter J smiled as she received the gifts. "How generous."

"Consider these gifts for a job well done." The cloaked figure spoke as the three left with a now unconscious Yellow in tow.

Hunter J removed the Battle AR and went back into her ship. She had a call to make soon.

[...]

There was something wrong.

"Gah!" Umbreon cried as the towering dragon type slammed him away with his tail.

Even though it was a seven on one…

Delta Wartortle jumped in the sky and launched a flurry of Dark Pulses that zoomed towards the Dragonite.

It happened again: the wrongness of it all—the bizarreness of it all.

The Dragonite was in one area, and without even blinking, he had suddenly closed a hundred meter gap without anyone noticing! Not only were they caught off guard, but the Dragonite used this moment to Thunder Punch Delta Wartortle through a tree and into the forest nearby.

They were staring right at the Pokémon, how could he dodge the attack, but get in such close range without anyone noticing!?

"Benga, you've got powers! Can't you sense anything or something!?" Wes screamed.

"You're mistaking me for an Aura user, Wes! Last time I checked, no one here has Aura or a Lucario nearby!"

Sied spoke out to them after hearing their conversation. "I've met Aura Users, trust me, they're all a bunch of showoffs. They spoil most things, but when you really need them, they're never around."

"I assumed Aura Users were rare." The Orreian thief calmly played despite starting to sweat. His stupid uniform he was wearing was not helping with how stuff it was.

"They're uncommon, but not rare. Though I can't say the same about you two after this." Sied brought up his hands and snapped his fingers. His green Dragonite started… spinning?

"Wes! That's Dragon Dance!" Benga shouted out.

The two reacted quickly, having Rei and Espeon fire long range attacks right for the dragon type. However, it was too late as the stage two evolved dragon flew faster into the sky and then descended down like a bullet, slamming Elektross into the ground and knocking him out cold.

If now wasn't a time to use the big guns, then they were screwed.

Espeon fired Psycho Star, his old Fusion move of Psybeam and Swift. Psychic stars rapidly shot towards the Dragon type and exploded on impact.

"Umbreon, Protect!" The brother of the psychic type quickly launched a protect surrounding him and his brother—just in time to block a punch from hitting the Espeon.

Benga pointed. "Now Ferland!"

The earth cracked up in one split second, and out shot up Ferland with a blazing Dragon Claw along his fin as he slashed it upward—

… And actually land on the Dragonite which caused the green dragon to stagger back!

"H-Hey! We hit him!" Benga cried out as they saw the Dragonite wince from the super effective attack.

"Keep your guard up!" Wes told Benga, but in the back of his mind, his mind was racing on how they were able to inflict damage at that time—wait… that attack made contact almost instantly after he did that strange teleport thing.

The boy from Orre quickly went to Benga and whispered into his ear. "I think I figured it out; whatever strange instant teleporting move that Dragonite can do, it actually has a window of time where it can't do that for a few seconds after usage."

"Is that why our attack went through? We hit it before it recharged?" Benga repeated back softly as the two stared down Sied.

"It's the best I've got right now. Man, Anto was the one who trained in last second strikes… this is so not my style of battling…"

"You two boys are far smarter than all of Team Plasma put together if you're already plotting something and managed to scratch Dragonite. While commendable, I'm done playing around." Sied took a strange scouter like object from his coat and placed on his ear.

Benga noticed a stone glowing around Seid's brooch. "Wes, I think he has a Mega Stone!"

"What!?"

"No, there is no Mega Stone currently found for Dragonite," Seid showed them the diamond shaped object he was wearing. "However, the Ferrum Region has something with equal power to that of Mega Evolution: it's called Synergy Burst. Like Mega Evolution, but for Ferrum, you need a Battle Augmented Realizer," He pointed to the scouter like object. "As a substitute for a key stone—"

Sied quickly turned, pressing something in the cuffs of his suit, and summoned a Protect barrier—revealing that he also had those machines that could reproduce Pokémon Moves, and stopping a Dark Pulse attack from hitting him from the back.

Delta Wartortle looked surprised.

"How did he know that!?" Benga screamed as he didn't even see the Delta Pokémon sneak back into the fight.

"Attacking my while I monologue and give exposition? Kid, I like you already," Sied laughed as his barrier went down and looked back towards Wes and Benga. "Alright then, long story short: Synergy Burst is a power boost just like Mega Evolution but the best part is that it can apply to every single Pokémon available to their trainer."

"Uh can you go back into monologuing again?" Benga weakly pointed his finger up.

They all looked towards Dragonite—who had just finished using Roost! Sied was distracting them so his Dragonite could set up again!

A rainbow aura gathered around the dragon and flying type before exploding into a literal burst of energy that forced everyone but Seid to shield themselves from the awakening force.

In a burst of amazing speed, Dragonite swiped his tail, swatting away Ferland, Espeon, and Umbreon away.

"Man, I thought the movies were kidding with how the bad guys always get the upper hand." Benga muttered under his breath.

"Yeah and by now we get saved by some improbable and coincidental means… any time now…"

"Not to worry, friends!" "We're still here!" The Zwelious heads called out.

Benga and Wes looked at each other with defeat.

Sied fixed his uniform like he was finished with business. "Dragonite, take care of them." He spoke then Dragonite spread out his cartoon-like, small wings and flew towards the twin headed dragon. The CEO turned his back on them and took out his phone.

In a flash, the Dragonite slammed into the Zwelious, making the dragon hit into both boys, and knocking them both a few good feet into the air before tumbling to the ground like rag dolls in a violent manner.

"… Where is that Delta Pokemon?" Sied looked around, seeing his business done with the two trainers. "Nite, keep an eye out, I'll call for security—"

"Sir!"

Sied looked over to the voice calling out to him and widened in surprise.

"Pokémon Rangers? You sure act quick." The muscular and large man spoke to the two young Pokémon Rangers with a small Pichu with a guitar on the ground.

"We were in the area and received word that you were under attack by Team Plasma, so we decided to help. Your security team led us here when we arrived." The boy with brown spike hair spoke out.

"I see. Well my Dragontite and I handled against them," The CEO eyed Wes and Benga for a second. "You can find two of their members over there on beneath that Zwelious and around those unconscious Pokémon."

The girl, she looked familiar to the purple haired gentleman, went over towards the two. The boy spoke out.

"Thank you sir! We can handle it from here. You can get to safety."

"Right, I need to check on my employees and see if they are safe." Sied walked away with a phone in his hand.

The boy turned around to the girl. "Hey, you heard him, let's tie up these guys and—huh?"

The female Pokémon Ranger was near one of them with a shocked look in her face as she was looking at one of the Team Plasma Grunts.

One of them started to wake up.

"Uhh… oh gosh I'm gonna be feeling this for the next week…" Benga complained as he pushed Zwelious, who was on top of him, to the side and groggily got back up.

… Then had handcuffs were placed on him.

"Wha?" Benga looked up to the male Ranger.

"You're under arrest for threatening the peace and endangering civilians! You have the right to remain silent anything you say can be used against you in the state of—"

"Whoa! Hey! I am not getting arrested!" Benga spoke out as he jumped up and tried to pry off the handcuffs.

"Right, because you are under arrest!"

"Oh for the love of Arceus!" Wes spoke out with his eyes closed as he put a hand on his head to somehow stop the ringing in his head. "What the heck is with you police officers being so horrible at your freaking jobs?"

"Maybe if idiots like you weren't doing stupid and reckless things in the first place, our jobs would be a whole lot easier."

The boy from Orre recognized that annoying voice. His orange and yellowish eyes looked into familiar and rather disappointed, chocolate colored eyes.

"… Hey Nerd."

"Wes." Summer continued to leer at how casual Wes was being.

Meanwhile, the other two stared. "Summer, you know this guy?" The male ranger finally spoke out.

"Ben, meet Wes, Wes meet Ben."

"Sup goggle head number 2."

"Wait, he's the guy that I've been hearing about?!" Ben, the brown haired male ranger pointed dramatically to the tall teen/young adult.

"Oh you're Ben? Jeeze, Nerd, I thought you had better tastes." Wes' comment was 'ignored' as she quickly placed cuffs on him.

"Oh right, I forgot. You're still under house arrest now that I'm back—idiot." Summer smiled sweetly despite the amazing amount of venom behind her voice.

Wes looked at the cuffs in his hands. Meh, he's escaped worse... "Why am I the idiot?" He played along while secretly trying to pick the lock.

"Have you seen what you're wearing!?" Summer pointed to the obvious Team Plasma uniform he was currently wearing.

"In my defense, I thought it would be a good idea at the time."

"How the heck is dressing up as terrorists and attacking civilians considered a freaking good idea!?"

Wes pointed his one of his hands up and opened his mouth. … Nothing came out before he closed again and thought about it for a second.

"Long story made short: it's an Anto thing."

Summer rolled her eyes. Was it really too much to ask for things to change within a short amount of time? "Where is Anto anyway?"

Before the conversation could go on, they all looked back up towards the tower because of a loud, deafening explosion.

[?]

"Finally, you're back!" Hoopa greeted as he handed a bag of popcorn to Anto sitting in the same theater beside him.

The mute looked at himself and quickly reached for his head. "W-What? But the last thing I remember was—"

"Hey Human," Hoopa interrupted Anto again. "You might wanna look at the stage again."

When Anto did, he was not expecting to see two cosmic like birds perched on the sides of the stage: a giant Braviary and a Swanna… but they looked strange, or at least as strange as all the other Guardians. They all looked like Pokemon, except they looked less colorful, more bland, but much more ferocious and less animated for some reason...

"There are two guardians here, yet they aren't attacking me anymore."

Despite that comment, the theater around them started to darken, and as the curtains parted, there was a large door standing right in the middle of an empty stage.

The two avian guardians looked at the door then watched their gazes on Anto, waiting for his decision.

"This is it," Hoopa floated up from his seat. "Behind that door is the master of this dimension. Then I can finally destroy this place!"

"I'm sorry, what?" Anto asked but Hoopa ignored him again and motioned him to hurry it up.

Still, the brown haired boy clearly recalled what happened before all of this.

He was shot in the head. He should be dead, but here he was… Dreaming?

"Worry not." Anto looked towards the Swanna guardian. "We are still here, you are still here. As promised, we shall always watch over you."

"Promise? What promise?" The boy wondered. He made a promise with these guys? He thought he was a normal kid, how did he come across these guys?

"Hey are you coming or what!? I can't open this door without you!"

Anto looked back at the dual cosmic entities after looking back at Hoopa. They weren't even talking any more.

Cautiously, Anto came up and opened the door. A bright light shined as the door opened, blinding the boy for a second.

As his sight slowly returned… he realized he was back at the beached island from the very beginning. Specifically, he was back at the center of that small beached island.

"W-What?" Anto asked as he looked around. "We're back at the beginning?"

"No this is different…" Hoopa mused as he floated on ahead.

The amnesiac followed the ghost and psychic type back out into the beach that was where… he…

… He…

Saw…

…

There was a person standing out and looking out towards the sea as the waves swallowed and spit out his feet.

This person turned back his familiar looking head and gave a similar smile.

"Antony Baker, a pleasure to meet you at last."

The one staring right back at Anto was...

Himself?

There was someone who looked exactly like him in appearance and face standing right in front of him without a mirror.

"W-Who are you?"

"Hey you! You've got a lot of nerve doing what you're doing! Do you have any idea how long it took me to get here!?"

Suddenly, Hoopa froze mid air.

"Excuse me for a bit, but this is meant to be private. You don't mind do you?" The other Anto spoke to the now frozen and seemingly unresponsive Hoopa. "Now then… Anto right? Once more, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've been watching you and may I say you are one of the more unfortunate humans I've seen so far—though in hindsight, this has been an interesting period where I've even grown so close to such mundane creatures, so perhaps there are simply others I do not know about." The look alike mused with strange eloquence.

"Who are you?" Finally came out of the Real Anto's stunned mouth.

"A fair question," He gave a slight pause in his talk before smirking. "But does it deserve an Answer?" The strange master of this dimension countered with a question of his own.

"I would like an explanation to all this weird stuff, yes!" The boy screamed.

"Well the bare basics are that you are the aftermath of a very ancient battle." The fake Anto looked away from the boy before starting to walk down the shore with his shoes in his hands. "What were you expecting me to give you details?"

The boy paused as so many more questions popped up his head. "You aren't going to, are you?"

"Well, you're going to wake up soon aren't you? I don't unfortunately have the time to explain even if I wanted to."

Those words surprised the young boy. "Wake up? I got shot in the head!" Wait but, he was feeling confused wasn't he? Isn't confusion something... for the living? Was he really not dead? If so, what is this place really?

Fake Anthony turned back quickly before he laughed calmly at the original.

His quick laugh ended with a soft sigh as he gave a smirk towards the confused boy. "Dores nul paradaku meil dramietre. Nul beiah meritak blaso doret-nalagx. Jeromajuixsadad, borkea nop-luedentureera. (Ah you poor child, if only you could understand how deep this rabbit hole went down. As you are right now, death will forever be an stranger to you.)"

With a wink from the stranger, the boy vanished, and the Fake boy looked towards the Hoopa with interested smirk.

"Hmm, the ability to go to anywhere in you want?"

[…]

They had all paused as they saw the boy fall into the ancient, dusty floors of the ancient tower.

N stared in shock at the fact that a Human, a being he loathed to the very core for hurting Pokémon, had just saved his life without a single hesitation.

It didn't make sense! He didn't make sense! He was a trainer like the rest of them! He enslaved Pokémon and refused to listen to their 'voice'! … Right? Anto… this boy had always confused him to no end—he never could understand just what this stranger could fit into to his grand equation, but here he was: dead instead of him for taking a bullet meant for him.

N slowly reached a hand out towards the boy.

Zekrom roared angrily.

"Stay away from that abomination!"

N looked back at the legendary dragon, surprised to see utter rage and anger coming from the Dragon's form with blue electricity cackling around it.

"Step aside as I erase that filth from the face of the earth!" Zekrom declared as he set his claw ablaze.

N didn't truly like humans, but there was something more to this than he understood. That tone Zekrom was showing… it wasn't just anger… was that… was that fear? From a Pokémon with the power to destroy the world?

Zekrom was then blindsided by a Dragon Pulse attack, revealing the Mega Flygon and Inquisitor charging right for the body.

Zekrom quickly flew back despite taking on the blow from the mega and rammed right into him and his rider, sending her flying back and forcing her to land on the ground.

The female quickly looked towards her other Torren Region Megas. "Do not let Zekerom destroy Subject 5! Retrieve him and leave now!"

"Wait what? What's going on!? Zekrom!?" N shouted but his new legendary ignored him and ran straight for Anto's body with a deadly dragon Claw lit up ready to tear his body into ash with one swipe.

Another blast of energy, but this time it being a Moonblast from mega Milotic, stopped the legendary from annihilating the dead boy.

The creepy Mega Cacturne came on top of the body, but N having enough of it, stood between the grass and dark mega and the fallen boy.

"Take no step further monster!" Dear Arceus, he was cursing a Pokémon and protecting a human? What in blazes was going on? Armageddon!?

The Cacturne paid him no mind by raising his spike towards the green haired teen, only to get side smashed in the head by Takezo, the Patrat of the boy when the normal type swung his wooden blade as he was in the air.

"Anto!" Takezo cried out as Jamie, and the rest of the boy's Pokémon came up.

"I-I'm sorry, but he was kill—"

"AAAHHHHHH!"

"AAAHHH!?"

"WWWAAAAHHH!?"

Jamie and N screamed right after they heard more screaming suddenly coming from right behind them.

It was Anto! He was alive!

"W-W-W-W-What!?" N pointed dramatically at him. He had clearly seen a bullet blow out his brain and flew through his skull—there was even the blood on the boy's clothes to prove that it happened!

But how, in all of the cosmos, was Anto now sitting straight up with not even a trace or a scar on his head of where the bullet entered and left!?

"A-Anto!? You're alive!?"

"What!? He regenerated that fast!? Even Subject 1 can't heal that quickly!" Inquisitor yelled madly before pointing the gun back at Anto and firing in quick succession.

Super Nut jumped in and used Protect to deflect the bullets aiming right for the boy again.

"You will not escape me a second time, monster! You die this day!" Zekrom yelled as he used a scary amount of energy towards Anto and his Pokémon.

A quick thought raced through everyone in that group: why was a legendary Pokémon so bent on destroying Anto?

"Don't let them escape!" Inquisitor screamed as all her Pokémon surrounded and closed in on the group nearby the boy, meaning that on one side a rage filled legendary was rushing at them with a destructive amount of energy and on the other end, Six Mega Pokémon were straight out to kill him, but for some reason preserve his body?

"I may not know what's happening, but we should leave, now!" Takezo spoke out before looking towards Sentinel.

"Hold on to something quick!" Sentinel shouted out.

Meanwhile, in the floor below them, Warden and Magus were defeating the last of the Team Plasma Grunts and were zeroing in on one of the Seven Sages.

"No choice then, Shadow Traid! Your masters beckon!" The old man shouted as three black grabbed men appeared.

"These must be Mega Pokémon…" One of the three men spoke.

"It seems…" The one on the left took out an Ultra Ball

"We must bring out the big guns." At the third one's last phrase the three all threw out their Pokémon at the incoming Mega Pokémon of Medicham, Pinsir, Banette, and Gengar.

To the two Agents, they were shocked to see Unova's Trio legends: Tornadus, Landorus, and Thundurus, all staring down at them and their megas like insignificant flies.

"Gotta hand it to technology, even our enemies can make use of that crap." Warden muttered under his mask.

"Why do da bad guys, always get the good stuff?" Majus complained.

"We kinda of did sell them that stuff in the first place." Warden whispered as he threw out more of his Mega Pokémon, so Majus did the same. And then it became a power struggled between 12 Mega Pokémon and three powerful Legendary Pokémon.

However, no one noticed that as they all clashed…

White felt the ground shake beneath her then looked up to see strange blasts and tremors coming from above. "What's going on up there?!"

Kryx looked at her scanner that suspiciously looked like a 3DS. "Well for one, a lot—and I mean a lot of destructive energy is pouring out from all over the top of the tower, so it's definitely going to collapse horribly and kill potentially anyone left in this place within the next few minutes. But there's good news!"

The girl with a cap side stepped some falling debris. "How!? This place is too big to find Anto and Jamie, and if they are on the top, we can't reach them in time!"

"The wild energy output is short circuiting all of the psionic disruptors! I can teleport us again!" Kryx spoke out before grabbing White and teleporting in an instant.

After the titanic clash between Mega and Legendary, a group of people suddenly appeared out of thin air and fell into the ground.

"Se-Sentinel! Why are we out!?" Lily cried as they all got back up.

"That weird energy made me drop the attack! Not my fault!" The delta cried out.

"I… I have no idea what's going on!" N screamed out as he removed his hand from Jamie who grabbed his at the heat of the moment.

"Welcome to my world." Jamie commented quickly.

"Lord N!?" Some of the remaining Team Plasma screamed out loud. "What are you doing down here!?"

"Majus, it's Subject 5! Fire quickly!" Warden screamed as all of their megas and guns fired towards the boy.

Kryx and White managed to appear right as the attack flew right towards everyone.

"How about NO!" She yelled and used all of her might to teleport everyone she knew out of the tower.

The attacks kept flying and headed right for Team Plasma. To counter, the last of Team Plasma and the Shadow Triad launched their best attacks once more, and caught Lord N out of the way of the fire.

From outside, the tower exploded from the sides, making it start to fall into the sea and across the opening and now empty fair.

"What the!?" Summer yelled as she and the others looked up at the starting to fail tower.

Suddenly, a large group of Pokémon and people appeared right in front of the four people in (different) uniforms.

Summer pointed to a certain boy who stood out despite the colorful cast of people.

"Anto!? Wh-why are you wearing a dress and skirt? And why is there so much blood on it!?" She yelled worriedly.

"That crossdresser is Anto!?" Ben shouted in shock.

"I really can't catch a break, can I?" Anto sighed before he suddenly felt something heavy right behind him.

Takezo acted swifter than anyone could expect and swiped at Anto's feet, knocking them off and allowing Anto to fall into the ground to avoid getting hit with a Thunderpunch that would have hit his head. Just as quickly, Ohko was the one who kicked the hammering fist, causing a small shockwave at the impact of the attack.

The green Dragonite went back towards a angry looking CEO.

"You are not escaping! Dragonite, Outrage!"

The Mighty Dragon lit himself ablaze and with blinding speed once more, exploded in the dust cloud , creating another powerful shockwave that blew the entire stands and remaining objects into the air.

However, nothing else but the stands and random objects nearby were sent flying, meaning that the group was already gone before the attack was launched.

Sied cursed before looking up at the now collapsing tower. He quickly, called his agents. "Report! Warden, Majus, Inquisitor!?"

"… Sorry sir! He got away. I had him, but Zekrom was awakened and went into a flurry trying to eradicate Subject 5's body."

"Save it, get out of the tower, I see it failing right now… but don't feel too bad. After this, Subject five can no longer return to the tower."

Suddenly, the Green Dragonite glanced over towards an empty space where a tree had fallen over. His sharpened sense could have sworn someone was just there…

Farther away from even the sharpened senses of the Dragonite, a cloaked figure with two strange colored Pokémon consisting of a Gallade and Lucario stood on top of a cliff.

"Milord, the tower was destroyed… all of our preparations…" The red and black Gallade worded.

"Dang! We just needed Reshiram's Essence and we could have pulled it off!" The black and red Lucario spat.

"Hmm, true I was not expecting this outcome. However, this is still salvageable. It would just require… some plumbing…"

[Later…]

"OK… this… this is a lot to take in," Ben spoke out as he stood up. "I mean, I knew something weird was going on before I took this mission with Summer to find Kieth and Jack again, but… man… wow…"

The entire group was now at the Moor of Icirrus. After Kryx teleporting them back to the Pokémon Center, everyone packed up their things and quickly left the red building as news spread of the collapsing tower. They all figured staying there was the first place Dimension enterprise would look and needed a safer place to hide and explain what on earth had just happened.

"I-I've been traveling with Anto for a while, but I still can't believe it!" White spoke out before looking to Jamie. "Anto… got back up from being shot in the head?"

"I-It's true! I was there! N was there! I was so confused on how that happened…" She explained.

Everyone then slowly looked to the said boy, who was staring deep into a nearby pond in these wetlands.

"So… I uhh know this kinda breaks the mood… but doesn't this mean Anto is a zombie?" Benga slowly spoke up.

"You actually have a point." They all quickly turned back to Anto as he walked back in his own clothes. "I… I finally thought of something. We now all know that I… or at least I am related to Anthony Baker, a teenage boy who died almost a year ago. … Actually, before I continue, Wes, you did some research, how did I—Anthony die specifically?"

The Orre boy rubbed the back of his head. If he didn't have a head ache now, he would definitely get one as this conversation continued on—he just felt like that would happen. "According to an old news article, Anthony died from falling off the top of the Celestial Tower. Police said that he slipped and lost his balance near the edge."

"What was he doing there in the first place?" White asked.

"According to friends and family, he loved to spend time there and enjoyed the view. I even recall Skyla closing the gym the week he died since she saw him like a little brother." Wes added in.

The black haired mute let that sink in before continuing. "Back to what I was saying then: the fact remains Antony was dead and shortly after… I came to Unova with almost no trace of my past except a now stolen necklace from Dimension Enterprise."

"And we know that your—or umm Anthony's dad worked in Dimension Enterprise. There's no way that isn't just some weird coincidence," White pointed out. "They must have found about Anthony's death and did something with the body."

"But what exactly would an enterprise on mundane things and transportation want with a random dead boy?" Ben offered out. "I mean, there have been rumors of Dimension Enterprise being a part of the black market, but not even the Ragners have found any leads."

"I saw… I saw Anto get…" Jamie struggled with her words. "Anto was shot. Right in the head, but then he came back up! Doesn't that mean…!?"

No one was expecting Anto to pull out a steak knife… then cut his wrist open!?

"Whoa Anto!? What are you doing!?" Summer yelled as she grabbed the knife and quickly tried to get something to stop the bleeding.

Only… the bleeding had quickly stopped by the time she had touched his hand. The blood was fresh, but the wound was closed up as if it was never there.

"Immortality." That was the only word Anto said as he moved his sleeve up to cover his wrist after wiping the blood away.

He looked at all of his friends once more, not noticing that Jamie had her head down lower than necessary. "Dimension Enterprise has always called me Subject 5, as in there were other subjects before me. I think I've finally realized what they're doing…"

"They're working on creating immortals."

{Author notes.}

Bomb shell, after Bomb shell! (Also, I must remind you all to take care and to not post spoilers in the reviews. Amazingly, no one has done so with major plot spoilers yet, but still.)

I bet you all are so confused at all the revelations brought up by this chapter! … If one can call them revelations in the first place…

Well of course, Team Plasma escaped the Tower, but this is one of the instances where Anto's journey has actually caused collateral damage to cities and important locations. How does a destroyed tower now play into this story? More than you realize.

Sied's Dragonite has proven to be a cut above the rest, using a power that somehow defies logic. What could it be? And how will he react towards letting Anto slip through Dimension Enterprise again?

On a more meta level, with Anto being, 'quote' 'unquote' (immortal), you would expect that this means that the story has no sense of danger. With Anto being unable to die (currently) it sort of down plays most of the dangerous situations he is in since he can't die (currently). I've been reflecting on this, but I hope that by revealing that he is immortal puts more emphasis on the mystery side of this story and adds more character development. After all, most of the action in this story comes from Pokémon battles and chase scenes, but not much else. I'm think that making the plot more complex, in exchange for lessening some tension in action, would hopefully work.

Still, I hope that even if Anto cannot die (currently) I can show that the stakes can still go higher.

After all… this has been in the making for 10,000 years. (Story wise, I wasn't born that long ago. Who knew such an innocent and trouble bound adventure went down this deep?)

Thanks for reading folks. Hope you enjoyed.