Chapter 38
Where the hell did that come from? Mark thought. He hadn't stopped to think about what he was doing until the Charmander-girl was sobbing into his shirt. He had acted downright…what was the word? Fatherly? No one was more stunned by this than Mark himself.
"Where the hell did that come from?" Kim asked from somewhere behind him.
Mark looked over his shoulder to the group crowded by the entrance into the Charmander-girl's cell. Kim snickered between the shoulders of Silver, Aroma and Maple. Silver was still frantic to get moving and he was making a vague hand-motion to hurry things along. Aroma wore a look that was a cross between happiness and hurt, as if she didn't know which to feel.
Maple was beaming at him with admiration and pride. Mark felt much less confused when he looked at her. He felt stronger.
Turning back to the girl crying in his arms, he put his hands on her shoulders. He eased her back and looked in her eyes.
"It's okay, you're safe," Mark assured her, "but we need to get going. We don't have much time," he paused before finishing, "do you know another way out?"
The girl shook her head, "there's only one way in and out. If you came in that way, that's how we need to leave."
"I see…" Mark shrugged, "alright, that's what we'll do, then."
"Finally!" Silver cried in exasperation, "Can we please get the hell out of here?" Mark felt like telling him off, but he decided it was better to hold back. They couldn't waste any more time, no matter how much he was worried about the Charmander-girl.
"You are going to come with us, right?" Mark asked for confirmation. The wet-spot on his shirt argued that he already knew the answer, but he still wanted to make sure.
"Yes," the girl nodded, "I'll come with you."
"What if we see Vince?" Mark asked.
It was a long time before she responded and Silver's agitation started to come back. "I don't know," she answered and hung her head, again.
Now Mark started to debate how he would feel if she went back to him. Of course, he wanted this girl to come with them. She had been hurt and abandoned by the person she had evolved for. But if he wanted her back, what difference did it make what Mark thought?
"Okay, never mind," Mark stood up and dismissed the matter, "we'll worry about that if we see him." Still a little bewildered, the Charmander-girl stood up with him.
"Alright, let's go," Mark turned and nodded to Silver.
Silver was off like a rocket. No longer worried about stealth, his strategy abruptly shifted to speed as he darted ahead. The others raced after him just as quickly. Only Maple and Aroma lingered behind with Mark and the Charmander-girl.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you, Miss Aroma," the girl apologized.
"It's okay," Aroma sighed, "I just want you to be happy. No matter where that is."
Maple just kept wordlessly beaming at Mark. She moved closer to him and stayed within just a few inches of him.
"Come on," Mark directed the human Pokémon girls, "we'll get left behind at this rate." He started to run after the others. He made it to the door before the small Charmander-girl called out from behind him.
"Wait!" astonished that she nearly forgot, Charmander rushed forward and began rummaging through the desk drawer that contained all of the Pokéballs. At last, she managed to locate her own and she held it out to Mark.
"What's this?" he asked. The Pokéball looked perfectly normal. There were no special markings on it anywhere.
"It's my Pokéball," the girl explained, "they kept it nearby so I wouldn't need to be transferred to a new one."
"Are you sure it's yours?" Mark asked. The drawer had been filled with Pokéballs and they all looked identical. How could she tell?
But she answered his question by leaning forward and sniffing the Pokéball a few times. She nodded with total confidence and that was enough for Mark.
However, his belt was already filled with Pokéballs. Six had always been the limit for the number of active Pokéballs a trainer could carry. Mark didn't know the specifics, but the energy that went into containing a Pokémon interfered with others of its kind. Something about electro-magnetic repulsion made carrying more than six dangerous. At any rate, Mark knew the limit and he also knew that it would become dangerous if they were held close to each other.
Carefully holding Charmander's Pokéball away from the others, he swapped out the Pokéball containing his Heracross. He attached the new Pokéball in its place. As he drew the other back towards his belt, it began to shake in reaction to the presence of the others. A moment later, the repellence from the other Pokéballs became too much for it and it vanished. Hercules the Heracross was on his way back to Hayley's ranch.
That made it official. Mark was the proud owner of two human Pokémon.
Suddenly, an anguished cry that sounded like Tsunami echoed down the hallway.
Mark glanced at the others only briefly before running ahead. The other three were right on his heels as he ran.
Silver was too weak to fight and he felt helpless as Volt, Tsunami and Shinobi squared off against the Team Deus scientist that stood in their way.
The man had taken notice of Kim's group running past his laboratory and had decided to block their escape while reinforcements were summoned. He used only two human Pokémon that had been warped in the same way as Lionel's Seviper and Lanturn.
They faced a Vespiquen in a yellow and black bumble-bee striped dress that reached to the floor. Four semi-transparent insect wings fluttered out of her back making a distinct buzzing sound as she hovered off of the ground. Next to her, a young, male Zangoose in a white and red jacket waved its tail in fury. His pointed ears lied flat against his head as he snarled at his opponents.
With a quick order from Kim, Volt dropped the Vespiquen with a single, powerful Thunderbolt that made the thing screech in agony before collapsing to the ground.
The Zangoose proved to be the stronger of the two and it Slashed across Tsunami's chest. Tsunami growled in vicious anger at it as he prepared an attack of his own. Shinobi struck the human Zangoose in his side with an X-Scissor. Angered, it swiped at him blindly, but Shinobi was far too quick for it and he dodged with ease. Tsunami finished it with Scald, spraying a jet of steaming water from his mouth directly into the face of the human Zangoose. Throwing his hands up to cover his face, he screamed with a cry that clearly wasn't human.
The two opponents disappeared and the scientist that stood in their way had no choice but to let them pass.
It wasn't until the battle was already over that Silver looked back and saw Mark and the others run up to join them. He realized with a sharp pang of shame that he had left Aroma behind, the very reason he had come down here to begin with.
"Glad you're still with us," he said sincerely. In his urgency to leave, he had forgotten what was important. So much for being such a great leader.
"Sorry we weren't quicker," Mark apologized. Whether he had done the right thing or not, they couldn't afford to delay any longer. Frankly, he was surprised that there weren't any more guards. That scientist or even Lionel must have sounded an alarm by now. Where was everyone? But he didn't necessarily want to know what the answer was.
With the scientist dealt with and the whole group reunited, Silver resumed the dash to the entrance. They raced past the other laboratories and made their way forward without meeting any opposition. Silver expected some sort of flashing lights and blaring alarms to start going off at any second, but they never came. What did that mean?
As they rounded the last corner, where the initial path split had been, Silver skidded to a halt causing the others to bunch up behind him. On the opposite side of the hallway, a man in a lavender suit stood behind a human Mightyena crouched low the ground. He held two more Pokéballs in each hand and grinned widely at him. But Silver probably wouldn't have stopped running if it weren't for the five other Team Deus members standing behind him.
They each wore matching uniforms consisting of a silver shirt, black pants and a gold jacket. The silver and gold shirt and jacket shone and glittered like space-age suits in some bad science-fiction movie. If he hadn't been so terrified, Silver probably would've laughed out loud at them.
As a matter of fact, Kim and Volt did exactly that.
But Silver was far more concerned about the human Mightyena that was snarling at them. Short triangular ears and a dog-like tail extended from his head and tailbone. But it was the grey and black of his clothing as well as the triangular mark underneath his left eye that let the humans of the group identify exactly what kind of human Pokémon they were looking at.
Silver eyed the open hallway, branching to the right. It was the last turn and it was exactly the same distance away from the opposing side. Could they all make it in time?
"There you are," the man in the lavender suit greeted them, "I was wondering where you had run off to. Looks like you managed to find your friends," he looked at Aroma and Fernelia and his grin broadened, "that's fine. We don't really need them anyway." Then his gaze caught the small Charmander-girl clutching at Mark's shirt.
"Oh," he began, with no real surprise, "and you too? What would your trainer say?" he paused to watch it take effect, "what was his name? Ah, yes, it was Vince! I almost forgot and he's the master's son, no less!"
Mark looked down at her for confirmation. She looked back at him with an expression of deep regret. She hadn't meant to hide it from him. But Mark had no reason to think worse of her for doing so.
"That's right!" the lavender man tittered, "she wouldn't have gotten such special treatment if she wasn't such an important patient. And now you're going to throw all of our kindness away?"
The girl cringed and clung to Mark's shirt more tightly.
"Kindness?" Mark raised an eyebrow at the absurd statement, "she's coming with us because she wants to. You people abused and abandoned her. You can't treat somebody like that."
"Strong words, boy," the man taunted, "but can you back them up?"
"What do you people want?" Silver spat the question.
"Oh, it's simple, really," the man laughed, "we're Team Deus. And soon we will be gods."
"So? It's not like we haven't heard that before," Volt scoffed as he moved forward to stand next to Silver.
"I wouldn't expect you to understand just by telling you," the lavender man shook his head, "it's much easier to show you." He held up his hands and released two more warped human Pokémon in front of him.
The first was a skinny, female Dusknoir. She sported a loose-fitting grey hoodie with a jagged mouth-shaped yellow blotch and eye circles across the chest. Half of her face was obscured by the hood and the one visible red eye stared without feeling or expression at her opponents.
The second was a male Crobat. He wore an oddly colored light-purple trench coat as well as a dress-shirt and tie. Thin, bat wings extended from his shoulder blades and kept him hovering just a few inches above the ground. His eyes were yellow and he grinned at them with a row of crooked teeth at them.
"Before I destroy you," their trainer said calmly, "perhaps I should explain what makes these Pokémon so special," he paused to make sure they were listening carefully, "you see, so far you've only fought opponents whose transition has been delayed. However, it's very annoying to have to use Pokémon like that. After all, they are constantly growing weaker and will eventually complete their transformation. Once that happens, they're useless. But these three you see here are special."
Farin was incredibly pleased to see the look of anger and disgust on every single one of the human Pokémon in front of him. They knew by instinct what they were. Such insight always fascinated him. He wanted it for his own.
"These three will never finish their transformation," he finished his explanation for the humans, "these three will always be in perfect condition to tear you apart." Delight filled his eyes as he watched the fear grow.
"My name is Farin, fourth in command of Team Deus. Come, fight me," he invited, "I'll show you just how hopeless it is."
The weakened Silver was forced to step back. Instead, Shinobi and Tsunami came up beside Volt to face the enemy. Lily, Eric and Kim also stepped up to add their strength to their allies. The hallway was too small to accommodate any more of them. A three-on-three battle was all they had room for.
"Go," Farin commanded. His forces began moving without any orders and rushed to start the fight. The other three trainers shouted their orders and the human Pokémon moved to intercept the opponent.
Shinobi darted forward, flying low to the ground and aiming directly for the Mightyena. It would be an easy victory and make the rest of the battle much easier. But as fast as Shinobi moved, the enemy Crobat was quicker. It spat a revolting globule of thick, purple goo at the human Ninjask. The Sludge Bomb hit him squarely in the chest, exploding and sending the disgusting liquid splattering everywhere. Shinobi didn't make a sound, but he came crashing down at the feet of his opponent. Lily cried out in concern, but Shinobi did not get back up. Their strongest had been brought down with a single highly damaging attack.
The unscathed Mightyena launched forward and punched Volt full in the face with a devastating Suckerpunch. A streak of blood hit the wall and Volt struggled to stay standing after the blow. Barely able to stay on his feet, he managed to finish charging his Thunderbolt and the yellow lightning streaked from his body straight for the powerful Crobat. The blow should have brought him down, but after a few seconds, the human Crobat regained its balance in mid-air and grinned at them with its crooked smile again. It had clearly suffered a lot of damage, but it wasn't ready to go down just yet.
That task fell to Tsunami who fired a streak of super-cooled water at the Crobat. This time, he screeched an ear-splitting cry of pain as he tried to dodge too late and the Ice Beam caught his right wing. The wing turned solid as the water froze around it and the human Crobat crashed to the ground before falling unconscious from the intense pain.
The Dusknoir was the last to move and she retaliated against Tsunami. Only the human Pokémon were able to recognize Payback as she came up in front of Tsunami and connected into his mid-section with a devastating punching attack. Then Tsunami coughed up a mouthful of blood and reeled back, trying to recover from the unbelievable amount of damage done.
"Impressive," Farin taunted his opponents by complimenting them, "you actually managed to survive the first attack. Not bad at all."
"Holy Arceus…" Silver gaped at the display. Their side had been utterly devastated while the remaining two enemies were undamaged. Shinobi had gone down without a fight and it had taken two hits from attacks with a type advantage to finish the enemy Crobat. Volt and Tsunami were barely standing and it wouldn't take much to finish them…
Before he could think further, the Dusknoir and Mightyena were already coming back for more.
"Shit," Volt cursed under his breath. The Dusknoir melted into the floor and glided forward. She materialized right in front of him and punched him in the side of his head, knocking him into the wall. He groaned in agony and coughed up another mouthful of blood before passing out.
The Mightyena darted forward, on all fours, after Tsunami. But Maple filled the gap left by Shinobi and slashed at it with Leaf Blade. The blow caught him in his side and sent him rolling backwards, but no wound appeared.
Shaking his head, the human Mightyena snarled at her and out of his anger he switched his target to the Leafeon-girl. His mouth gaped open and Maple's eyes grew wide at the rows of sharp canine teeth as he prepared to use Crunch. Maple just managed to pull her arm up in time, but she cried out in pain as he bit into her. She managed to shake him off, but the worst of the damage was already done. Blood dripped from the small wounds on her arm and began to trickle down onto the floor.
"COTTON!" Kim screamed in desperation.
The tiny Jumpluff-girl appeared between the two enemy human Pokémon and her own allies. The ghost and dark-type human Pokémon dropped back before turning to deal with this new annoyance and snarled at her with inhuman malice. Cotton began to cower in front of them and she couldn't move.
"Cotton!" Kim called out, "you have to use Sleep Powder, now! It's the only way we're getting out of here!"
For a few terrifying moments, Cotton did nothing. Her eyes only got wider as she stood alone against enemies that were too powerful even for the best in their group. How could she possibly hope to defeat enemies like that?
"DAMMIT, COTTON!" Kim screeched, "DO IT!"
At last, Cotton understood. She rubbed the two cotton ball like flowers on her wrists together and blew air through her hands. A light violet pollen floated through the air towards the enemy Dusknoir and Mightyena. Slowly, their snarling stopped and their eyes began to close.
Silver didn't wait to see if they really were going to fall asleep. Screaming for the others to follow him, he dashed for the final corner and made a break for the exit. Kim and Eric each recalled Cotton and the injured Tsunami before they raced to catch up with them.
It wasn't until they were in the service elevator and rising towards the surface that Mark paused to catch his breath. He was stunned not to see any pursuit. Not a single member of Team Deus had chased after them. He sighed with only mild relief. He knew that this wasn't over.
Farin had let them go.
AN: i wonder if Pokeballs cause cancer...i suppose that that's a comment for flamers. which i haven't had in a long time, actually...
(my usual policy is to try to make fun of myself before other people get the chance)
And with that, thanks for reading!