It was not a familiar sight to see Titanio City under any kind of lockdown. Thanks to it's new direct overlord, the people of the Entertainment Capital of Arcana were either forced to remain in their homes or be placed under arrest and held within the confines of the Pokémon Gym out in Titanio Bay. The streets of the city were filled with nothing but the sounds of boots pounding relentlessly on the ground as the last soldiers of the self-proclaimed King of Destiny patrolled and braced themselves for the war to end all wars.
The normally bustling streets of the Entertainment District were as barren as a graveyard. The loud and bombastic Titanio Park was now only filled with this alleged King's goons who walked the area to ensure their power generators were online. ArcNet News, which was still acting as the lone voice of opposition to the new tyrannical regime, had fled Titanio City when the invaders first came and now hid in Kingston Castle and occasionally visiting the frontlines of the war between the invaders and the Kingstons. All of the various shops, homes and complexes were silent and closed, their tenants and owners either in hiding or serving as guests of their new overlord inside what had once been the Pokemon Gym of Renee Kingston.
High above it all, from the stately penthouse that had once belonged to the Queen of Arcana, Piper Pines, Claude Jacques stood over his fledgling empire and surveyed the streets of his kingdom. The streets were empty, cleared of all who would dare to openly defy his order. He straightened out his monocle and observed keenly as his men marched into positions to the outside of the walls his men had erected around the limits to the grandest city in the entire region.
Claude now felt all of the years of his life bearing down on him. Nearly eighty years as an aristocratic gentleman, pursuing degrees in laws and political science and accumulating wealth and power even his old friend James Kingston couldn't have imagined. All of it was now weighing him down like an anvil. Or more appropriately, an executioner's axe. He had played the role of the fierce friend to the Champion, the refined politician, the self-made billionaire (though a large portion of his wealth had been inherited from his position as head of the Jacques Family), a champion of both political and social justice and a man who longed for the glory days of his youth less and less. He was content to allow those days to pass, so long as he would be able to watch the Kingston Family tear itself apart.
He was now the eldest and last of what some in Arcana referred to as The Big Four, left in Arcana. Himself, Bonnie Novren, James Kingston and Balthazar Aced, all of whom had grown up, played and learned together since the time of their youth almost seventy years ago. They had been the face of their generation for decades, proudly facing all kinds of adversity and troubles head on. Each brought their own strengths into their problem solving situations. Claude brought his ruthlessness, James brought his courage and relentless bravery, Balthazar brought his intuition and Bonnie brought her passion. The quartet had remained a united group that was tightly knit and expected to claim dominion to all of the Arcana and lead it into a glorious new age.
Until Claude departed for Law School in Kalos. Then it all went wrong. Balthazar went from being an outgoing and accomplished man into being an introverted emotional mess of a scientist who seemed to forget that women existed. Bonnie seemed to move on very quickly from her allegedly fierce devotion to him for another man. And James, his closest friend in the whole world and the one Claude was sure would never change, seemed to fall into the trap all Kingstons inevitably fall into and became a self-important Champion devoted to promoting his family's own power over their united friendship. He swept Bonnie off her feet mere months after Claude had departed to make a better man of himself and only days after the death of Roddy Kingston. Bonnie swooned and Balthazar simply dutifully welcomed it as if it were normal. Nothing was normal about what James had done to him.
To Claude, it was far worse than if James had simply spat in his face. James had shown himself to be just as foolish as his father and as dangerous as his ancestral Kings who once ruled Arcana with an iron fist. He had broken their brotherhood.
Claude vowed to make James pay for his actions. Alas, he had not been the one to avenge his loss of the woman of his dreams to James. The two would be married for almost forty years, have six children and be considered the power couple of their time. But the one thing Claude had on his side was longevity. While he remained the pliable and loyal lawyer of both Balthazar and James, he was secretly preparing himself for when he would turn on the both of them. A day he would betray those who had betrayed him. He siphoned money, favors and garnered influence all over Arcana. Though it would take much of his life to reach these goals, including remaining a single bachelor unfazed by the ideas of family loyalty, he was steadfast in the two things that would see him through to the end: his revenge and his destiny.
His revenge came sooner than he thought it would. Balthazar's own blissful stupidity combined with his secret heathen desires had nearly allowed a powerful genetically enhanced Pokémon to try and use the power of the Crimson Fury to wipe out mankind. Balthazar gave his life to protect Arcana, leaving behind a devastated James and a hate-filled son behind. All it took from Claude was some delicate and subtle words sent towards an unstable Elezar Aced to make him the perfect fall guy in case his own plans failed. But Elezar and that twisted friend of his in Cassius Sinclair more than succeeded in their endeavors. Their trap to remove James Kingston from the equation succeeded and without their fierce leader, Claude knew it was only a matter of time before the rest of his legacy crumbled. His children were more Bonnie than James, which meant they would be out for themselves and focused on their own glory over the family. All he needed to do was to break the legacy of the Kingston Family by making one of them out to be a criminal or worse. Elezar and Cassius had the same idea as him and used the perfect pawn to tarnish James' legacy for all time in his favored grandson Michael. They took the boy and tormented him in ways Claude could only imagine and forever changed him through artificially evil means. With Michael's reputation tarnished and the Kingstons in-fighting, it allowed Claude to greatly enrich himself while the fools still thought of him as an ally. And it allowed him to focus on his true calling: his destiny.
He had long believed his role in life was meant to be more than just the leader of one of the Thirteen Families. He was meant for far greater. Which is why he went for a law degree when his friends strove to be Contest Queens, Pokémon League Champions and Scientists. But the law degree wasn't enough. He knew it wouldn't be the moment he heard that James and Bonnie were to be married. He needed more. Wealth, political prestige and influence. All of it would never be enough until he had power that was equal to or greater than James. He was buying up politicians, influencing the courts and siphoning wealth and power away from the other Thirteen Families.
Some folded rather quickly. The Novrens, the Setenns, the Seissuons and the Duons no longer had any real fortune or lands in Arcana and had been forced to relocate following his "financial advice". The Fiverouxs, the Tentons, the Eigherns and the Fouritz families were not surviving well themselves thanks to losing their homes and their financial windfalls, not to mention a few of their family members being otherwise incapacitated thanks to the will of The Grand Master. The Aceds were long bankrupt and vilified thanks to Elezar's foolish desires to lay claim to a land that was already someone else's. The only real families left to truly stand against Claude were the Kingstons, the Queensburys and the Tress Families, all strongly linked as a united opposition to him. But he hoped they would soon capitulate to him. And soon. After all, what hope did the Kingstons have of opposing their destined overlord?
Arcana had once been a monarchy. Over 600 years ago, each of the Thirteen Families served as overlords of certain portions of Arcana, while the Kingston Family held sway over all of the region as the Royal Family. The Aceds served as their chief advisors, the Queensburys served as their stewards and the Jacques led their armies into battle. But one day, a King had been convinced by a council of their peers to set aside his crown to avoid civil war. He did so, the fool. Claude knew he would put his boot down on the throat of whoever had dared to oppose him. Which is why he knew deep down, the Kingstons were never meant to hold any real power. Arcana needed someone strong and fierce. Someone cunning and refined. Someone who knew how to put the peasants in line and keep the filth from entering their bloodlines. Someone like him. And he had just the resources at his disposal to become a monarch. All he needed was for the Kingstons to bend the knee and the months of war would be at an end.
But they never did. Now, Claude was struggling to hold his fledgling kingdom together, with enemies advancing on all sides at him. A part of him realized as soon as Courtney had failed to ensure that the Kingstons top leaders did not make it off of Mirage Island, his dreams were now all but impossible. But the speed with which Michael Kingston had defied him was alarming. His forces were utterly smashed by Jonathan Kingston and his enemy's father at the Battle of Terra Town. His top lieutenant had ordered a full retreat, until he received a direct order to hold his ground. But as soon as they had halted one advance, another smashed into Magic Junction, led this time by William Kingston and the Sinnoh League Champion Cynthia. And as soon as he fortified both Taghwan City and Trickton from facing the same dangers, a third force utterly wiped away his armies holding Charizark Town, this one led by the dynamic trio of Robert Kingston and his sons, the former accomplice Matthew and the Champion of Arcana's League in Ryan. Michael himself had yet to make an appearance, but he knew it was only a matter of time before his arch-nemesis did reemerge from hiding to take credit for the victory. Claude knew his time was coming, but he would push it off as long as possible. He had too much riding on this to allow the family that had constantly spat at him to regain dominion over Arcana.
While he oversaw the streets of what was once the crown jewel of Arcana's Entertainment District, Claude saw out of the back of his eye his chief lieutenants arriving. Both had served with Claude underneath Elezar Aced as part of his Syndicate, but now served directly under their overlord's thumb. Victor, a burly and vicious looking predator, always seemed eager to pour gasoline on their situations by unleashing fruitless and aimless counterattacks on the Kingstons. Perhaps the fool thought he could best one of them in a battle? Not that it mattered, so long as Victor was there to take the fall in the end. The other, Archer, was once one of Team Rocket's most powerful administrators before it's leader disappeared from the Kanto Region and now served as his own advisor and councilor. But Claude knew he would have needed someone more refined to be his leading ally. He had hoped for this to be Matthew Kingston, but the boy proved too malleable for him to control and had thus flung himself back into the ranks of a family he had once loathed. Archer was rapidly losing his hair over their situation, knowing all too well that he would not last in another battle of the scale of Terra Town and had shriveled up to becoming a weaselly old man.
Their entire situation was utterly hopeless, but Claude would not allow them to say it in his presence. Not while he knew the Kingstons would keep him alive for any information he had on Mewtwo, how fruitless it was be damned.
"What is it?" Claude asked coldly, his monocle drawing in light from the dimly shining sun as it fell behind a cloud in the distance. "Are the patrols still in order?"
"Taghwan City has fallen, sir" Victor remarked bitterly. "Those Kingstons are relentless."
"If Courtney had done her job, we might be in a better situation" Archer cursed. "But that damned little shrew couldn't keep things together on Mirage Island! And now, Michael Kingston is here to deliver the death blow to our-"
"Our situation is not dire" Claude responded bluntly. "We've been playing things too defensively."
"Our forces are better suited at fighting weaker opponents."
"Like defenseless women and children?"
Archer looked away. "We got this far doing that, right?"
"And now we're facing the toughest opposition the Kingstons can throw at us and are folding like a napkin!" Claude turned to face the two for the first time since he had seen them arrive. "I will not have the regime meant to define Arcana for generations be overthrown by a pack of ill-bred beasts and their Kingston tamers! We are going to prepare for one last march on Magic Junction. Reclaim it and the Kingstons will have to rethink their military strategy."
"We don't have the men to make that kind of move and defend the city at the same time!" Victor countered. "The Kingstons will pin us in here before long. If we're going to march on the town, it has to be immediately."
Claude paused. This indeed had some merit to it. The Kingstons were on the march and if they didn't act soon, his kingdom would crumble onto the pages of history. But there was no additional soldiers for them to use. Their constant barrage of defeats had shortened Claude's mercenary army to the point of scraping and skimping for whatever he could get. If Victor could make a successful counterattack, it likely would not win him this war or even an armistice. But it could buy him some time to prepare his escape from Titanio City and to one of his many private estates. "Gather any willing men you can and make the move to Magic Junction. Victor."
Victor saluted him. "Consider it done." But Claude knew he would need to be a bit more subtle with Archer when he noticed his second in command was not nearly as gung ho about this plan than Victor was.
"I feel like this attack on Magic Junction is just too random" Archer explained. "Not organized in any way. It might spell doom for the rest of our operation."
The elder statesman weighed his options, before deciding that Archer had been loyal enough to warrant a straight answer. "It is meant for nothing more than an escape for the higher ups."
Archer's eyes flared in anger. "Namely you?"
"Courtney's stupidity has cost us our opportunity in Arcana for now" Claude explained, hoping this one truth would placate Archer enough so he bought the lies coming as well. "There is no chance for us to defeat Michael Kingston without aid coming from Mirage Island. And The Grand Master has already warned me that he will not be intervening on my behalf. So, we are in effect on our own. I do not care if the rest of these mercenaries fall. Hang them all for all I care. But I will not have our higher ups fall prey to the Kingstons."
"But don't we have the Courts on our side?"
"Not enough for us to be able to avoid a prison sentence" the aristocrat fabricated. "We need to retreat. Safely and swiftly." He reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope, pressing it into Archer's hand. "Take this. Three hundred and forty thousand Poké Dollars and the flash drive containing all of the world's Pokémon. It also has coordinates for a hidden location for you to boat towards. One of my private estates on an island."
"What's this for?"
"In case I should fall" Claude lied, "I will name you my successor. Take this and flee towards the coordinates I've mapped out. Not even your old friend Mark Lionel will find you where I've sent you. Now go!"
Archer looked at the envelope in his hands and back out towards the streets of Titanio City. "Very well. I'll do this. But my name doesn't have the clout yours does."
"I'm certain you will not disappoint me. Now go and make haste. I cannot have anyone knowing of your flight from this city." Archer saluted him and marched out the door. Claude looked back at the door and smirked. "A flight that will make you the brains of all of this. Someone I can pin this entire operation on. And all of the Kingstons will be on the manhunt for him while I enjoy a life of splendid captivity or exile. Assuming that lunkheaded Michael isn't the one in charge of my sentencing." Why would he be though? After all, Archer's observations about the Courts were correct. He had them on his side and in his back pocket. Pin this on some deluded nitwit from Team Rocket and he would be able to get off without much of a sentence. Perhaps a fine or two. And the cycle would begin all over again, with the Kingstons beginning to doubt the justice system and trying to force it to adhere to their desires, losing the faith of the people. Eventually, the Kingstons would prove themselves as everything Claude had accused them of.
But a safe exit was also a possibility. With this in mind, he made for the panic button he kept on him at all times. "In case the Kingstons decide not to take any prisoners, I'll need to prepare for a quick escape. Fortunately, my helicopter will be here within the hour. And I'll be set to escape." He looked out towards the halls of the Titanio Hotel and saw men moving into position to defend him. He let out a low chuckle and polished his monocle. "The endgame is approaching."
{}
Titanio Airport's runway was usually completely inaccessible, thanks to being constantly guarded and manned by security guards and air traffic controllers preparing for the arrivals and departures of hundreds of planes. But since the conquering of Titanio City by Claude Jacques, it was a barren wasteland that only saw occasional use for drills for defensive or counter attacking operations. Fortunately for the moment, the runways and all of it's access points were empty enough for a small resistance force to sneak ever closer to the boundaries of Titanio City. Ten recruits were brought on board for what might prove to be the final operation of the Great Arcanan Crisis. Though these ten would be more or less considered children in the eyes of their peers, they knew they could ill afford to be left on the sidelines with so many of their friends hurt or otherwise incapacitated.
The group consisted of four girls and six boys, all of whom were friends or at the very least acquaintances in some way, shape or form. But they were far from the kids they would ordinarily have been expected to be. Some were a little worse for wear. All of them were missing something or someone that was important to them. And they were all being forced to grow up sooner than they probably would have preferred.
The war had changed fourteen year old Ryan Kingston. He was told he smiled less. He was a little less approachable. In fact, one could say he was hardened by all that had transpired for him since the night his friend and confidant Amanda Fouritz disappeared in a freak weather storm conjured by the enemy. He was slightly taller than before, filling out his growing physique better than he had been projected to by taking on a bit of muscle, but he was certainly no longer the carefree and always loving boy he had been before this. Whether that boy would ever return remained to be seen. After all, that boy had probably never returned from Mirage Island to begin with. And without the Pokémon and friends that made him a part of who he was, it was unclear if he even wanted to go back to those days.
Once the sworn enemy of Ryan, his twin brother Matthew Kingston had been forced into the role of a good guy when he found himself unable to bear the dangers placed on the shoulders of his friends and family. All his life, Matthew wanted to be the best trainer who had ever lived. He had sought to rival his brother in more ways than one, but had lost to him in virtually all of the contests. But rather than pursue their rivalry, they had put it aside for the time being to fight as one. Their mother was Claude's hostage and their mutual friend Jocelyn Aced was the prisoner of Mewtwo on Mirage Island. So long as both of them were in need of rescuing, both boys decided to (at least externally) bury the hatchet and focus on the lead issues. Matthew was slightly shorter than his brother, but more physically built. Though he was no longer in exile, Matthew retained his jet-black hair to try and maintain some kind of aura of the loner he longed to be.
The fair Addison Tenton had only grown more beautiful as she aged, though she too was becoming weary and less joyful. She had lost her father, who was now a fossilized stone statue in the constructions zones of their old home in Parlor Town. She had nearly lost her beloved boyfriend Ryan, both to Mewtwo and to the girl that had interfered in their relationship in Avery Frost. She, like all the others, had lost most of her Pokémon and now could only rely on the stoicism and good nature of her Gardevoir named Galatea. She was letting her crisp chestnut-colored hair grow out longer as time passed, no longer caring about her Pokémon Contest looks. Though her eyes, the hauntingly vivacious violet-colored gates to her soul, remained without a doubt the most distinguished quality she had. Though she and Ryan had patched things up, it was clear a divide was keeping them from regaining their loving relationship from before the affairs on Mirage Island. "Until the war was over" was a refrain she kept telling herself to prevent her from overthinking her position with Ryan, but with that looming on the horizon, she knew it would only be a matter of time before she was forced to take it.
The Queensbury siblings, who had been friends of Ryan, Matthew and Addison since their youngest years, also joined them on this operation. Holly was also growing more lovely by the day, though she shared Ryan's issue of being far less welcoming and sweet as she had been before. Her long, flowing golden locks of hair were now often covered and carefully braided to ensure it didn't get in her way of combat, something she was quickly needing to become used to. The loss of her boyfriend Jeremy stung her deeply, as he was a prisoner of Mewtwo on Mirage Island, but she has since rekindled a strong friendship with Ryan, the two feeling like outcasts despite how welcomed and loved they were. Her brother Thomas was growing up quickly as well, his unkempt and shaggy hair having grown out like the tip of a mushroom and hanging over his eyes to the point where you could rarely see what the boy was thinking, though his loud and bombastically chattery nature remained a part of him, thus robbing him of being the same kind of enigma his sister and the region's emotionally shaken Champion were.
The five who had long ago set off from Parlor Town as aspiring Pokémon Trainers were also joined by another five who had since become their close friends, loyal acquaintances and some of the most reliable companions any of them could ask for (at least if you didn't ask Matthew). Dylan, Amber and Corey had first met Ryan and his friends in Titanio City while they protested the crooked ArcTV Studios and had since been entangled in their exploits and adventures ever since. The ambitious and reckless members of ArcNet had certainly gotten into their own fair share of adventures since then, including the obliteration of the Syndicate's hidden Compound underneath ArcTV Studios and the shutdown of Cassius Sinclair's lab on Mt. Heatmor. But despite their adventures and heroism, their pursuit of justice and fair and equal reporting remained stronger than ever. Dylan, ArcNet's lead anchor, was still sending out stories at a surprising rate online, but was not permitted to share military plans until after they had taken part, including this one. Amber, his co-anchor and his "kinda-sorta" girlfriend, remained the sole voice of reason whenever Dylan got in way over his head or Corey's experimentation went too far. Corey was the brains of the group, his ESD Devices having served as critical weapons for and against the Syndicate, but was committed to ensuring his inventions and tools never got into the hands of evil again.
The last two in their little gang were Ryan's newest and fastest growing friends in Dawn and Lucas from the Sinnoh Region. Though both had few realistic factors in this race as both were not raised in Arcana, the two were fiercely loyal to their new friends thanks to the bonds they had grown since meeting several months earlier. Dawn had become something of a sister to both Ryan and Matthew, keeping the two's spirits up while also providing serious power to the Kingston war effort with the two Pokemon that had remained loyal to her: a Staraptor and a Luxray. Lucas remained the voice of reason and the conservative in the group, always urging caution and less dangerous actions, though his growing feelings for his childhood friend from Sinnoh has also made him a bit more outgoing. Both knew they would be needed in Arcana until such a time that Mewtwo was no longer a danger to them or to their friends and were determined to keep it that way. Even now, as they neared the end of this entire operation, the two were not at all worried about returning home and abandoning their new friends in this moment of crisis.
Once the group had realized the runway was clear of any thugs or soldiers, they raced as quickly as possible for an abandoned stock tram filled with the belongings of travelers who were no doubt being kept within the walls of Titanio City as "honored guests" of Claude. As Tommy Queensbury passed the unmoving tram, a small piece of luggage fell onto the ground beside him, causing him to jump and nearly cry out in shock, but his older sister quickly put her hand over his mouth to keep him quiet.
"Don't!" she urged. "We can't get spotted." Once her brother acknowledged her, she released him.
"By what?" Dylan asked, looking around the runway. "It's not like their keeping this lane too heavily guarded. That old codger is keeping himself locked up tightly within the city."
"As far as we know" Amber cautioned him. "He hasn't made a public appearance since the Battle of Terra Town."
"He has to be there" Matthew assured the others. "There's no way someone like him could let something like this go. Mike's said he's got an ego the size of a Snorlax."
Addison flashed a look to the other side of the tram they hid behind. "There doesn't appear to be anything out of sorts. But it's hard to see from here. If only we had some air support."
"That air support isn't here yet" Dawn pointed out. "They need us to do our job."
"What is the plan, then?" Tommy asked the group.
Ryan looked towards Corey and Lucas by his side. "I think we've got something figured out. If it works, is another matter."
Lucas gulped as Ryan concluded his assessment. "Me too."
Corey let out a cough to draw in the attention of the others. He took out his Poké Gear and let out a holographic map of the area surrounding Titanio City. "Okay. Here's the situation. Titanio City is walled off to us on multiple fronts. Titanio Bay is blocked off by a small fleet of gunboats Claude bought from Team Aqua. The Tram Systems are completely offline and the land entrances are walled off by Claude's men." He pointed towards the towering walls surrounding the borders of the last hostile area that their enemy held. "Those turrets aren't jokes. They're high-powered cannons that can blow up an entire house."
"Those are the same guns we faced in Charizark Town" Matthew recalled. "My Marowak took down the tower with one Bonemerang."
"There are too many for one Pokémon to take out" Ryan countered. "Mike's counting on us to shut all of them down."
"The only way to do that is to shut down the power to Titanio City" Corey continued, "or at the very least to the turrets themselves. We think it can be done, but it will take identifying the location of the source of all power in the city. I'd think it's going to be in the city too, so we're going to have to find a way in and the generator without being caught." He looked to Lucas. "Any ideas?"
Lucas pointed towards the heavily fortified entrances to Titanio City. "Two of the three main entrances closest to us are way too heavily guarded. The third seems to change shifts on the regular and is limited to only a lesser amount of guards. I think that's our best shot of getting in. But, ten people going through one gate is going to be really dangerous."
"Which is why we're not going to do that" Holly insisted. "Right?"
Addison paused. "I don't like splitting up. But if we don't have another choice-"
"I don't think we do" Amber responded. "So, how are we going to do this?"
Ryan folded his arms. "Some of us are going to have to find a way past those guards, if not to just distract them and buy time for the others, to perhaps take out the defenses of the walls and help Cynthia and Billy pummel Claude's goons like they did in Taghwan. The other half has to go in search of the power source of the city to shut it down." He looked to Corey again. "Corey, I think this needs to be your group. You've got the methods to track and shut down these things."
"I'm not much of a trainer" he admitted.
"That's why we're sending you with the largest group" Lucas told his new friend. "You guys will be sticking together, of course."
Dylan grinned. "Perfect. It's just the task we needed to film our documentary about toppling Claude."
"We don't have time to worry about that" Amber growled. "Dylan, this is serious."
Corey watched as another Dylan/Amber feud was about to start and eyed the others worriedly. "We need someone who can keep these two from killing each other."
"Ah, the fighting phase of the relationship" Holly giggled.
"No one should want to go through that" Ryan said gently, though it was clear there was a deep reason behind his words. "That's why you and Addy are going with them."
Addison eyed her boyfriend curiously. "Are you sure that's the right idea?"
"I trust no one else with the safety of Corey and the rest of ArcNet" Ryan assured her. "You're the best trainer and the person I know will take something like this the most seriously."
"I don't know."
Matthew smirked at Addison's lack of confidence. "I'll look after you, Addy."
"Nice try" Dawn remarked bluntly. "You're coming with us."
"You trust him with us?" Lucas asked. "Did you forget he-"
"The enemy of our enemy is a friend" Ryan interjected. "At least for now."
"Good" Matthew casually replied. "I hate long term arrangements."
"What about me?" Tommy asked. "You can't sideline me again."
Ryan folded his arms as he looked at Tommy, who as he got older was becoming increasingly harder to look down at. "Well, you're right. You deserve the chance to prove yourself here. I'm going to let you decide which group you go with. You can go with us and try to shut down the outer defenses of the city before Cynthia and Billy arrive, or you can go with ArcNet and your sister and protect them while shutting down the generators the thugs are relying upon."
Holly's eyebrow rose at the way Ryan spoke to her brother, but Tommy did not seem to notice. "You can count on me to protect my sister and Addy."
"Looks like the old team is getting back together" Dylan responded. "It'll be just like when we sprung Ryan and Holly out of that Syndicate Compound."
"Don't remind me" Ryan answered sadly.
"Me neither" Holly agreed.
"Let's just avoid rubbing salt in those wounds" Matthew bluntly added
"If this is what the plan is" Addison said, a hint of sorrow in her voice, "then I consent. Just be careful you guys."
"How are we supposed to get into the city without attracting the attention of the guards?" Amber inquired.
Corey flicked the map into a more secure map, this one denoting some of the hidden passageways into Titanio City. "Dylan. Amber. Do you remember when we first found out about Walter O'Hara's toupee?"
"How can we forget?" Dylan laughed. "That's what got us on the map in the first place."
"Even Walter couldn't spin that story" Amber added. "But why bring that up?"
"Do you remember where Walter was meeting his supplier?"
Dylan shrugged. "Wasn't it somewhere by the docks?"
Amber shriveled away. "But that was when we-"
"Yep" Corey concluded. "The sewers."
"Okay, that's disgusting" Holly snapped. "You guys didn't mention there'd be sewers to trek through."
"We don't have a choice" Dawn interjected.
"Speak for yourself. You're not going into the-"
"We don't have time for this" Matthew grumbled. "We can't let Claude get away again!"
Ryan nodded. "We agree, then. Let's end this war. Michael and the rest of our friends and loved ones are counting on us." He looked to the ArcNet team, who wrapped up the conversations quickly before heading out towards the sewer grate they would need to get into. Tommy followed them at a distance, but Addison and Holly remained behind for a moment.
"Let's get this underway" Lucas answered. "We need to make sure we draw their attention." Lucas and Dawn continued down the way they would be going, but both Ryan and Matthew remained behind, as if sensing they all would have one last gasp of conflict with one another.
"I'm not buying it" Holly declared. "You've never let my brother make his own decisions, Ryan. What's going on?"
"I think we deserve the right to know" Addison added, "exactly what you two have planned here."
Matthew laughed. "You think we've patched things up enough for the both of us to be in on each other's plans?"
"I thought we agreed to-"
"I'm here for my mother. Nothing else."
Holly looked to Ryan. "And Ryan? What about you?"
Ryan was silent. What could he tell them about his own ambitions? His own plans? These were the people he could trust with his life. His best friend in the whole world and the love of his life. His brother and former adversary. And another dear friend he had known since his toddler days. If he couldn't trust these three, who then could he truly trust with what he felt needed to happen?
"Ryan?"
Ryan shook his head. "This needs to end."
"What does?"
Ryan looked into the distance, where Titanio City had once stood as a beacon of commerce and entertainment. The largest and grandest city in all of Arcana, now reduced to a military camp for an enemy of their entire family. "I keep seeing them in my head. Simba, Marahute, Cora, Dozer, Terra, Tusker. Sparks. All of them. And I remember all too well how they walked away from me. It's been six months since that day, but it still feels like it was yesterday." He put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "Like Matt, I've been fighting for one reason. To get them back. To find some way to bring all of our Pokémon back. Claude may be the only chance we have left to find them. And he cannot get away again!"
"Didn't Achilles warn you to keep those negative thoughts away?" Addison urged. "You can't let this become an all-consuming thing, Ryan."
Ryan would have laughed at that if he had less tact. She's been calling me Ryan since the whole Avery thing. As if I wanted to be led astray by someone I thought was my friend. Though he and Addison were patching things up after what unfolded on Mirage Island, the war had continued to make rebuilding their relationship a much taller task. Whenever the two would have some additional time to dedicate to one another, something would keep the two apart.
He kept his back to his friends as he stared intently at Claude's last stronghold. "If we capture Claude, the war ends. We can get the answers we need. This whole nightmare can end."
"Aren't you forgetting the monster hiding in the shadows?" his brother recounted.
"You heard Julia. If Mewtwo had the power or desire to wipe us out, he would have done so already."
"That's not reassuring" Holly pointed out. She looked over towards the remainder of their group and saw Tommy gesturing for them to follow him. She let out a defeated sigh. "Well, I guess this conversation is getting tabled." She looked to Matthew and tried to give a cordial wave, but found herself unable to do so. Instead, she flung her arms around Ryan. "Good luck, Ryan." After that, she hurried along after her brother.
Ryan made to go and hug Addison, but she instead simply kissed him on the cheek before following after Holly. He watched as she vanished out of sight alongside their friend. He was about to remark on it, but Matthew beat him to it by snickering at his failure. Ryan flung his frustration against his brother. "I don't want to hear it."
"I can't say you haven't been trying" Matthew chuckled. "But it seems that you and Addy have got a lot of work to do."
Ryan couldn't help but grin at his brother's assertion. "I could say the same about you."
"Touche."
"Are you two coming or not?" Dawn snapped from a distance.
Matthew glared back at her and made his way after her and Lucas. Ryan followed, though he made one last hopeful glance back towards where the rest of his friends had departed before moving along after his brother.
{}
While the ArcNet Trio and Tommy led the way for the group and Holly seemed to be lost in her own thoughts, Addison trudged along behind the remainder of the group, her mind a cascading torrent of emotion and confusion. She, like Ryan, secretly longed for their relationship to go back to the sense of normalcy they had before the trip to Mirage Island. But normalcy was becoming a scarcer and scarcer thing in her life. Her father was still a stone statue just outside of the Kingston Family residence in Parlor Town. Her mother was becoming a drunken recluse, with Addison only seeing her mother once in a blue moon. The once proud Queen of Arcana had since become a near permanent guest at the Chateau in Alchemiburg. While she longed for normality, she knew it was not coming. But it didn't stop her from dreaming and craving it.
She had since, however, adopted a new family. With her home in ruins following Claude's invasion and Mewtwo's return, she had found a new home in Kingston Castle. With her mother and father currently unable to parent her, Julia and Michael had since become something of stand ins for her, with Addison reading bedtime stories to Arya and James and aiding Michael in his physical therapy recovery from the wounds Courtney had put him through. With her relationship with Ryan struggling to regain it's prominence, Addison has since rekindled her friendships, chiefly with Holly and growing new ones with Lucas and Dawn. She was adapting, but she still hoped she could take a moment to go back to times before this. Nevertheless, she pressed on, only agreeing to Ryan's plans to aid in the assault on Titanio City when she consulted with Galatea about this potentially being the key between her finding her friends and loved ones once more, chiefly the Pokémon that had abandoned her following Mewtwo's return.
While she sauntered along behind the rest of the group while making for the entrances to the sewers of Titanio, Addison wasn't at all surprised to find one of the two Poké Balls on her belt shaking wildly and letting loose a Pokémon. Her most trusted confidant and closest friend outside of Ryan and Holly: Galatea the Gardevoir. The Pokémon emerged, stretched out her long and limber body and then turned to speak telepathically to her trainer.
I believe you are being too distant to your mate, Addison.
Addison let out a playful sigh. "I thought I was clear when I said we would talk about this when the war was over."
Achilles has sensed troubled thoughts within him, her Pokémon confided. Thoughts of desire and passion. Those are often harbingers for the shadows of one who seeks power above all else.
"I don't want to talk about this, Galatea" Addison firmly answered. "Ryan can take care of himself. And we'll hash things out more properly when Claude is behind bars."
Her Pokémon casually shook her head. This is something that needs to be discussed. You lost one friend who desired the power to make things right. Do you want to risk losing another?
Addison recalled how Matthew had spiraled away from the boy she had been good friends with since her birth into the monster she could never not see him as. If Ryan were to descend down the same path of seeking power to make things right...
"It's not going to happen" she affirmed.
"What's not?" Holly called back.
"Galatea seems to think that Ryan is going to go down the same path that Matthew did" she explained to her friend. "And if I don't fall at his feet whenever he needs me, it will be unavoidable."
That isn't what I said, Galatea frowned.
"How does that whole thing work?" Holly asked as she slumped a bit further behind to continue conversing. "I mean, the whole telepathic thing."
"Only a few people can form bonds strong enough to communicate as we do. Ryan can to a degree, but the two best at this that I'm aware of are me and Michael. You have to have a truly strong connection to a Pokémon." Her smile faded a bit as she recalled how Ariel had run off. "Maybe that's why we've been taking the loss of our Pokémon so hard."
To the surprise of both girls, Tommy rushed over to them, waving at them to keep silent. "Shhhh! We've got trouble!"
"What kind of trouble?" Addison asked.
Tommy looked behind him at the ArcNet Team hiding behind a wall near the primary entrance to the lowest levels of Titanio City. Without waiting for them to inquire further, Tommy grabbed both Holly and Addison by their arms and led them over to the remainder of their group. "We've got a guard."
"The big lunkhead" Corey grumbled.
"No one was supposed to know about this way" Dylan hissed.
Addison peered around the corner and saw a burly and muscle bound man standing guard in front of the entrance. Though he was likely stronger than all six of them combined, he didn't appear to be the smartest man in Arcana. If anything, the blonde-mulleted man seemed to be eager for some kind of altercation. Attacking him was out of the question. Addison looked to Galatea as she caught up and grinned to herself as a plan formulated in her head.
"What kind of shot do we have at overpowering him?" Amber asked.
"Honestly?" Dylan answered. "Slim to none."
"Matthew could probably have taken him out" Tommy pointed out.
"Or maybe we could have used him as a battering ram" Holly giggled.
Addison and Galatea nodded at one another and brushed the rest of their group aside, walking right passed them and towards the lunkhead guarding their way into the sewers. The man eyed Addison almost immediately, but was perplexed as to why some little girl was coming towards him and not one of the Kingston's most powerful trainers.
"Who do you think you are, little lady?" the meathead asked. "This is Zook's territory. No place for little girls. Run along to play with your dolls."
Addison stopped in front of Zook and would have let out a laugh if she thought it would help. Instead, she chose to play this as carefully as possible. She reached for and took her Gardevoir's hand and concentrated her mind tightly on the brain the size of a walnut in Zook's head. "You know, I think it would be a great time for a vacation."
Zook scratched the back of his head. "Huh? You're one strange little girl. You make the great Zook's head hurt."
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "You know, I think it would be a great time for a vacation."
Zook continued to be unaffected until his head and body reared up to standing as stiff as a board. In an almost hypnotic trance, Zook repeated every single thing Addison said to him, but as if he had thought of the idea himself. "You know, I think it would be a great time for a vacation."
"Perhaps to the sunny shores of Alola" Addison answered again, her voice lost deep in her own thoughts.
Zook, like a puppet, responded in kind. "Perhaps the sunny shores of Alola."
"I think I'll go this very moment."
"I think I'll go this very moment." Without another moment wasted, Zook picked himself up and walked away. As if his lips were sealed by a whispered proclamation, Zook did not say another word until he had long since vanished from the sights of Addison and the rest of the ArcResistance Team.
Holly's jaw could not drop further. "That...was terrifying."
"How did you do that?" Amber gasped. "That was amazing."
"I think all of Arcana would like to know that" Dylan implied.
Addison giggled, but shook her head politely. "I'm sure they would. But I think the rest of Arcana would rather know how the war ends over some simple story about a girl who trusts her Pokémon."