An Altered Journey Chapter 5: Unwilling to Serve
"Where the hell were you! And who the heck is this!" Barry pretty much screeched at Colin, Eclipse and Lucas. He was very mad, presumably so Dawn didn't have to be.
"Sorry. Geez. We had our gym battle and were confronted by Galactic" Colin explained. He was almost smirking, but prevented himself from cracking up so Barry didn't go ballistic.
"Still doesn't answer my second question. Who's this?" He reinstated with a sharp stare.
"Oh. His name's Eclipse. He asked if he could hang out with us, so we said yes, for your information, Barry" Lucas replied, trying to answer Barry's questioning with a small bit of sass.
"Nice to meet you, Barry" Eclipse said, reaching out to shake his hand. Barry left it, whilst Eclipse tried to play it off.
"Come inside. They're handing her the ribbon" Barry gestured them inside the contest hall stands.
They all took a seat, watching Dawn in her pink dress, along with the other competitors, wait for the winner to receive their ribbon.
"They have a contest hall here?" Eclipse questioned, unbeknownst to him that it had existed in the town he had been living in for months.
"It's supposed to be reasonably new" Lucas said, reading a brochure he had picked up from the ground.
"The winner of the first Eterna contest and the recipient of the Bloom Ribbon is… Dawn Hikari!" The announcer boomed through the microphone.
Dawn sighed a huge sigh, before walking over to collect her first ribbon of the season. She suddenly spotted Colin and Lucas in the crowd. She then beamed a huge smile as she collected her reward.
"Will any friends of Dawn's please come forward, whilst the rest of the audience leave the hall?" The announcer called over the microphone. The audience left, leaving the three boys to come forward.
"I'll wait outside. But I want to talk to you afterwards. Got it?" Eclipse said, respecting that Colin should congratulate his other friend.
"Sure. And thanks" Colin replied, shaking Eclipse's hand.
"Guys! I wasn't sure you were gonna turn up!" Dawn said, in a excited and glad tone.
"We couldn't miss it. It would be wrong" Lucas said, giving her a long hug.
"So, who helped you win?" Colin asked, interested in the specifics,
"That was Leafeon. We tried a combination of Flash and Sunny Day. He also perfectly performed Grass Whistle, which helped our opponent lose points, as they ended up falling asleep" Dawn replied, whilst scratching her Pokemon's underside, giving it a tummy rub.
"Didn't you boy?" The tan Pokemon gave a little whine, before closing its eyes.
"Well, we've got things to do! Let's get going!" Barry yelled, rather excited to be getting back on the road.
"Guys, when we get moving again, I… Sorta have something to show you" Colin said, referring to his aura, unbeknownst to Barry and Dawn.
"Sure. Just let me get ready!" Dawn replied, running off stage.
When Dawn was ready, they went outside. As they did, Eclipse was waiting for them beside the large hall door.
"Dawn, this is Eclipse. Eclipse, meet Dawn" Lucas said, introducing one another.
"Nice to meet you" Dawn said, unsure of what his response would be.
"Likewise" he responded, keeping it short and simple. They had a discussion about how they were going to get around, whether via the tunnels or just on the route. As they were about to leave, they spotted a large spiked building, with Galactic grunts walking in and out. As soon as the grunts noticed they were spotted, a female grunt with brown hair (not as strict dress code as in the games and anime, and they don't look identical) instructed a Carnivine to use ingrain. This then caused small trees to sprout and block the entrance to the vicinity with seconds. The grunt then dashed inside, as Barry and Colin decided to investigate and walked towards the building.
"Should we call out our Pokemon?" Barry asked, expecting a yes.
"No, I've got this" Colin responded as his eyes turned a cold, crystal blue. He then, using his aura to amplify his strength, he pushed the tree out of the ground and to topple over with pure force. His eye shade turned back to its normal Dark Hazel.
"That's what I wanted to show you" Colin added, as Barry thought of about at least fifty questions.
"H-H-How?" Barry stammered, more than slightly confused.
"Apparently, this is what Lucario tells me, is that I have Auran abilities" Colin said, trying to at least partially clarify.
"Ok, I'll just roll with it until later" Barry replied, becoming more confident again.
"Sir, the boy you wanted, he's here!" The brown-haired grunt informed, speaking to the leader of Team Galactic himself, Cyrus.
"Well, that saves time. If we capture him, considered yourself promoted to an admin, especially as this would further your perfect mission success record. The man replied.
"We can use his friend as an… insurance policy, if it fails" He added.
"On it sir!" The girl replied, running to get reinforcements.
Back in the Entrance, Barry and Colin had broken in successfully. A large group of grunts approached them, pokeballs at the ready.
The group released a Mightyena, a Golbat, a Golett and a Gligar. The brown-haired girl followed behind, sending out a Galvantula.
"Go! Lucario!" Colin called, throwing his partner pokemon's pokeball, letting the Aura Pokemon out.
"Vibrava! Assist Lucario!" Barry yelled, worried about his and his friend's safety.
The Pokemon clashed, causing all active Pokemon to faint except for the girl's Galvantula.
The Bug and Electric type then tied up Barry and Colin in an Electroweb. Colin tried to fend it off using his aura, but he ended up draining himself of his energy.
"Sh*t. Well what now?" Barry asked, hoping Colin had a backup plan.
"Nothing. I used up my energy fighting off the f*cking Galvantula, and I'm too tired to use it anymore. My backup was using my aura, which failed" Colin replied, extremely worn out and gasping for air.
"Leader, we have him" The girl said to Cyrus, using her earpiece to communicate.
"I'll bring him and his friend to the detentions cells". She then dropped out of the communication channel and called upon an Emboar that she called out of it's pokeball to carry them there. They stayed in there for what felt like hours, before a group of grunts came to escort them somewhere else.
"You!" Colin scowled, instantly recognising the red hair of one of the Galactic members.
"Hello, come with us now. We have something… special planned for you" Mars said, extremely arrogantly. Colin didn't budge, so she added:
"You didn't have a choice in the first place, so come along". The grunts forced them down the hall, holding them by their handcuffs. When they were near the destination, Colin decided to make fun of Mars by asking mockingly:
"How's your face? It was bleeding pretty severely last time I saw it!"
"Shut up" she snapped, annoyed by his mockery.
"We're here, grunts you are dismissed. Report to your quarters at once!"
"Yes ma'am!" The grunts replied, storming off. Mars then forced the boys into what appeared to be a lab of some sort.
"Cyrus, here they are. The black-haired one's a handful" She remarked, addressing her superior.
He greeted the intruders by saying:
"Thank you. Hello, Colin. I believe we haven't properly met yet. My name is"
"Cyrus…" Colin said, finishing the sentence for him.
"The leader of the crime syndicate Team Galactic"
"You're well informed. Let me explain what I plan to do with you" Cyrus began, starting to drone on.
As Cyrus talked on about his plans, Colin gained enough energy back to do something.
{Barry! I'm talking to you telepathically! Don't freak out, it's an Auran thing. I have enough energy to cut your cuffs, but not both of ours} Colin told Barry.
"You can't" Barry replied by mouthing.
"What'll happen to you?"
{Dude, it's either me or us both. Our pokeballs are on a desk next to the door. Grab them and run} Colin telepathically reassured Barry. Barry let out a long sigh and a single tear before nodding. As Cyrus turned around, Colin amplified his strength again and ripped Barry's restraints. Barry sprinted, grabbing all of their pokeballs, except for one that he left by accident. By the time Cyrus turned around again, Barry was gone.
"Oh well. We didn't need him anyway. Let him go. I know you weren't listening to my explanation, Colin, so I'll give you it in brief detail" The man said, smiling instead of frowning because one of his prisoners had escaped.
"This Spiritomb (he says this whilst gesturing to one) will power a machine made by Charon that uses Mesprit's energy to mentally erase you and create another person in your place. Colin gulped. He was really screwed.
"Saturn, turn on the machine!" Cyrus called. Saturn appeared behind a large contraption that looked like a desk with a mechanical arm. The Galactic admin opened up a panel and flicked several switches, before pressing a red button that read " ENGAGE OPERATION".
The arm whirred to life. It then noticed the Spiritomb, standing there, unable to move. The machine then sent a red beam towards the Forbidden Pokemon. It was seemingly absorbed into the machine, as only the odd keystone remained. The arm then rotated, facing Colin. As another red beam flew towards him, Colin looked Cyrus and screamed at him as he closed his eyes:
"Burn in the Distortion Wo-!" His cry was cut short, by the fact the laser had hit him. He opened his eyes, revealing they had turned red. Cyrus smiled. The one time he needed an untested experiment to work, it did.
"Saturn, I leave you in charge of creating Colin's new persona… Mercury. And make sure he'll be a worthy admin!" Saturn wasn't sure he had heard Cyrus right.
"But sir, he's just a new member, why does he have to be an admin?" Saturn asked.
"Simple. I want him to have full available resources to further our use of his aura" Cyrus replied, being slightly annoyed without showing it that Saturn would dare question him. Luckily, this logic made sense to Saturn.
"On it sir!" Saturn and the person that was once Colin, left the room for Saturn's quarters.
"After I say those words, you shall become the person I just told you of, understood?" Saturn said to the to-be Mercury.
"Yes, sir!" The shell of a teenager replied to Saturn.
"Well, here it goes: Allow thou Mercury to align, blocking out the sun!" Mercury blinked, adjusting to his new self.
"Can we get me out of these stupid street clothes? They look like they've been dug out of the trash?" Mercury barked. Saturn smiled. It had worked better than expected. Saturn then got a Team Galactic admin's uniform, and handed it to Mercury.
"Here you go. Now there's a meeting in 2 hours announcing you and another grunt as admins. We'll get you your quarters issued" Saturn said, informing Mercury.
"Got it" He responded.
Meanwhile outside, Dawn had called the police hours ago, but they didn't believe her. A shine of hope appeared as Barry was seen running for his life towards the group. He was heavily panting, trying to get his breath back.
"So? What happened?" Lucas inquired. There was a moment of silence before he fully got it back.
"They have Colin. They used some weird experiment on him. I saw as I was running out the door. But I I did get our pokeballs back" Barry exclaimed, utterly terrified. He reached into his pack, only to realise he had 5 pokeballs.
"Shoot. I must have missed a pokeball!" He moaned. He called the Pokemon out, the following being there: Buizel, Lucario, Monferno, Slurpuff and Vibrava.
"Which of your Pokemon did you leave there?" Eclipse asked, hoping it wouldn't aid the enemy to severely.
"Colin's Larvitar!" The trio realised. Lucas then continued by saying:
"It's not too strong as a Larvitar, but as Tyranitar…" He shuddered. The thought of how powerful it would, be; an unstoppable force.
"Well, we need to contact the league. Galactics kidnapped a Gym Leader's son, after all"
Lucas said, hoping they could get Colin out of Team Galactic's clutches. He pulled out his phone and dialled a number.
"Professor Rowan? Yes, this is Lucas. We've run into… Some trouble, with Team Galactic. It's concerning Colin. Should they have a meeting? OK, I'll get you to organise it. We need as much help on this. Two days? Ok. Sorry to bear bad news. Goodbye" Lucas hung up.
"They'll have a meeting in two days, here. Looks like we'll have to wait here a bit longer" Lucas said, explaining what they were going to do.
"Ok. It's too serious to not help out, even if it's someone I don't know too well" Eclipse said, thereby stating that he wound stay with them.
A couple of hours later at the Galactic base, Cyrus had called a meeting.
"Grunts, these are two new admins being promoted; they are Mercury and Venus!" Saturn called over the speakers. The two admins walked into view, standing next to the other admins. Mercury was now not recognisable as Colin anymore. His hair had been dyed an orange (like the shade of Trevor's from X & Y), and looked like a proper admin. The other admin was the brown-haired girl from before, except her hair had been dyed a vibrant yellow. Claps were heard from the grunts, along with comments like:
"Congrats Ellen!" And "Who's the orange-haired one? Haven't seen him around before", all of which were ignored by the admins.
"Rest up, grunts!" Tomorrow we'll have new assignments for you all" Saturn said.
"The training room will be open 6am sharp and closing at 9pm sharp. Make use of it while you can!"
Lucas didn't rest well that night. He was too anxious about his friend. He was scared for him. Little did he know, Colin no longer existed. He called out Lucario, who Lucas decided to look after whilst Colin was gone.
"Lucario, you can detect someone's aura kilometres/miles away, can't you?" Lucas asked the Aura Pokemon, hoping for the best.
{Yes. Shall I look for Colin?} Lucario replied with another question.
"Yes, that would ease my thoughts" Lucas responded.
{I seem to be unable to find him. However, I am picking up a similar aura from someone else. A galactic admin} Lucario said.
"Great. Now they have an aura-user too" Lucas grumbled, overlooking the fact Lucario couldn't find Colin.
Hi all. Sorry about take the story in a weird direction and if you don't like it. I'll try to make chapters longer, but for now they'll be around this length. Keep the Sun and Moon hype train running, and I apologise for the time gap between chapters three and four. Have a good day. Here's a quick team tally.
Lucas - Caravanah, Houndoom, Lucario (Colin's) and Torterra
Barry - Buizel, Monferno and Vibrava
Dawn - Leafeon, Noctowl, Prinplup and Slurpuff (Colin's)
Eclipse - Basilisk (Serperior), Inception (Alakazam) and Scarecrow (Cacturne)
Mercury - Larvitar (Colin's) and maybe more that I'll reveal later (Tee Hee!)
The Weavilist is out.
[After publishing note! The paragraphs will look too close together. Not my fault! I can't get it to fix. Sorry if it's hard to follow!]
