Chapter 12: Tracking
Gabe looked at the expensive little watch that the Morph Suit had formed around his hand. He had a more advanced version of the suit than Eric had, allowing him to have quite a few accessories and hats in addition to jackets, shoes, pants, shirts, and socks. Along with the design, though, he had uploaded the newer version of the suit software into Eric's suit, and the next time Eric used his PDA to change his outfit, Eric would notice the new program there too. On the watch, Gabe saw ever-changing coordinates for the tracker that his macho Pokemon had tossed onto the back of the van that took Roxie away. They seemed to be nowhere close to stopping, so he turned to Eric and said, "We won't be able to teleport for a while; why don't I help you figure out a strategy with your Pokemon?"
Eric was about to say no, remembering that he and Roxie had sorted all of this out just a few days ago. It dawned on him, however, that he had four new Pokemon to battle with, two of which he had never seen in battle before. So, he nodded again and said, "So what do you need to know?"
With a shrug, Gabe replied, "To start, just toss out all of the guys you have with you, then tell me which ones you would start with, and which ones you would be ideally paired together in battle." This would show how organized Eric was and show if had actually learned anything in his two battles thus far.
Out of his own backpack Eric dug out Blaze's Pokeball and the two Electabuzzs' Great Balls and dropped them out in front of him. They all appeared in a thin, hazy red light, and all of the Pokeballs returned to his hand. While he was trying to drop the capture units back in the bag, Eric noticed that lenses of the glasses that he was wearing, which were now black-tinted instead of blue, were letting him see a purple aura fizzling all around S: 001's body. It wasn't part of the suit before… and neither was the beanie hat that turned into the top hat that he was not wearing. Odd, the suit must have made them part of itself anyway…
"Is that it? What about Rox's?" Gabe asked as Eric dropped the Pokeballs back into his backpack. He had to admit, this didn't look like a good team, there was way too much weakness to ground type. Unless some of them were those weird Delta Pokemon that Wes had told him about.
"I know, I was just distracted," said Eric as he looked down at the magenta rucksack at his feet. He tossed out S: 007 and S: 008s' Pokeballs, which came out of that bag, out in front of him just as he had done with the other three. Florina scurried up to the rest of the group. He saw the same flickering violet aura crackling around the Ditto and the Jigglypuff also.
"Okay… which ones to send out first?" Eric muttered to himself as he looked at the rag-tag band of Pokemon. It was a little overwhelming, having just 2 Pokemon was so much easier, it would mean that he wouldn't have to choose. For a split second, Eric considered putting Florina and Blaze together to start, but as Gabe had said only a few seconds ago, there was too much ground weakness. Eric finally surrendered and said, "I just can't choose."
"That's okay, 'Ric. Here, lemme take a look," said Gabe as he pried Eric's PDA out of his palm. After a brief glance at the 'Party' Menu and the Pokemon's statistics, attacks, and abilities Gabe handed the device back to Eric. "Well, we really need to get those Shadow Pokemon back to normal, so I think you should start of with the Dit'. Start up with the ferret too, if you see any problems with any of your opponents fighting against it, Shadow 'form 'em with Dit'. Hopefully you should open up Dit's heart enough so that it can relearn Transform and be better later in battle."
Eric wondered how he failed to see this combination, it made perfect sense… Oh well, I just need some more experience at this type of stuff, Eric thought to himself, any of these Pokemon could have been useful with Ditto actually. "Thanks, that sounds like a good plan… but who do I-" and that was when an odd ringing came out of Gabe's watch.
"Looks like they finally stopped," said Gabe as he looked down at his watch and returned his Machamp in the red haze from which it came out. Eric took that as his cue to return his Pokemon too, but Blaze and Florina cunningly avoided their beams. "I think these guys are one of the few that don't like being cramped up in those things," Gabe said with a chuckle.
Eric rolled his eyes, but smiled while he said, "Fine, fine, you guys can stay out." Florina expressed her thankfulness by hopping up onto Eric's shoulder and giving him a little nuzzle while Blaze tapped his foot; presumably he wanted to get going as soon as possible. With his photographic memory, Eric tried to capture this moment, for he knew that it would make a nice sketch. "I guess were all ready then," Eric said with an excited nod. He was looking foreword to battling and getting Roxie back… and getting his parents back after at least a week of searching.
Gabe didn't say another word before he let out the large, brown-furred, humanoid Pokemon. It looked so fragile that it could hardly stand up, yet it was, and its face looked incredibly fierce. Although this Pokemon may not have looked spectacular physically, it could rip a human to shreds with an afterthought. With the twist of its spoon, the Alakazam spun Eric, Gabe, Florina, Blaze, and itself out of reality, then back into it at a different place.
It took a few moments for Eric a few moments for his vision to clear, but when it did, he was sure that this was the right place. In many yards front of him was a building that almost looked boring and unnoticeable because of its predictable shape, a tin rectangle, but it was painted in an odd, mangled rainbow, one color for each type of Pokemon. Right in front of this building was the van that he saw drag Roxie off, and it was obviously already empty. This was obvious not because Eric could see though the windows of the van, but because he could see Roxie and a group of latex-covered imbeciles walking up to the building.
Eric was tempted to run after the group, and almost did, until Gabe pulled him back. "Don't worry, we'll just teleport in," he said in a whisper while moving behind a van that looked similar to the one that the group had just filed out of. Eric, however, was to anxious to hear a word that he had said. In a second, Eric squirmed out of Gabe's grip. It was then that he saw one of his latex-clad enemies press a button on the face of the building, causing the entire face to pull up and make an opening. Quickly Eric darted behind objects so as not to be seen and eventually made it to the opening. By the time he finally slipped through, all of the others were already inside and the 'door' was almost half closed. Luckily the idiots running this place had not thought to install security cameras, and Eric and his black clothes could blend in with the shadows of this place.
So he was covered, but there had to be something he was forgetting… Oh, yes, the giant chicken now standing at his side and the vanilla-colored ferret now perched upon his shoulder. If anyone came by, they were sure to see one of those two. Oh well, he thought, perhaps he should ask Gabe for help. So he flipped out his PDA and saw that he already had mail from Gabe. It was a little crude, no heading or ending, it got right to he point; it said:
I was about to kill you back there, but I guess your instincts were good. This place is teleport proof, I have no way to get in. My battery is almost dead too, so unless you can open that door up again, you're going solo. Better send this before the battery really does die, good luck.
After thoroughly smacking his head against a wall, Eric looked over to Blaze and asked, "Mind lighting the way for us?"
"Com com bus com," replied the Cobusken in what may have been interpreted in a friendly manner. Slowly Blaze blew fire into his palm, and it steadily took the shape of a sphere. By the light that the overgrown rooster had created, Eric saw that the inside of this place had the same color scheme as the outside… and that a man dressed in completely black latex was moving steadily toward them. The Coloron had already noticed them, it was too late to extinguish the fireball which Blaze had created.
"Well, I thought I heard some rats sneaking around down here," said the man in a silky, seducing, dark voice. It almost, almost distracted Eric from the fact that the guy was slyly pulling a walkie-talkie out of his pocket. Eric motioned Blaze to it – but Florina was already on the job. She flung herself off of Eric with a Body Slam and right into the walkie-talkie, causing it to spin out of Bleon's hand and into a wall. After a loud crash, bits and pieces of plastic could be seen scattered around on the floor near the wall. "You'll pay for that you little rat," Bleon said with a slimy smile, though Eric could not see it trough the mask covering the lower half of the man's face.
Bleon tossed the ferret Pokemon back into Eric's arms, and along with it 2 Pokeballs with gray bottoms and the signature Team Rainbow design at the top. Out of the first appeared the Pokemon that, normally, would have no weakness, Sableye. Eric, though, could see a silver haze fluttering around behind the Pokemon; he could tell that it was Dark and Steel type. A piece of cake for a fighting attack… The next Pokemon, however, could have posed a greater threat. This was one Pokemon that didn't need a metal coat for an Elemental Aura operation. It was the ballerina Pokemon, Kirlia, and from the thin black mark that almost looked like a 6 surrounding it, Eric could tell that this was a Psychic and Dark Pokemon. In response, Eric motioned for Blaze to join the battle and tossed out the Pokeball containing S: 008. He could see that the purple aura around the Ditto because just the slightest bit dimmer.
"S:008, start lets start off with a Shadow Morph on the Kirlia. Blaze, give that Sableye a nice Sky Upper Cut," said Eric while the Coloron commanded "D: 004, Psychic on that overgrown fowl! D:003, same for you, NOW!"
First to strike was Blaze. He made a berserk run up to Sableye and gave it a good smack right in the face. The Pokemon went flying into the ceiling, but unfortunately, Blaze did too, because Sableye scooped up Blaze's body and flung it up before it made contact with the ceiling. When both Pokemon finally came back on the ground, they were writhing in pain. Meanwhile, Ditto threw a gooey, purple, shadowy blob of itself onto the opposing Pokemon, causing it to become a purple pile of goo itself. S:008 had received its instructions, but it no longer knew the attack that it was expected to perform, so it just sat there, staring.
When Bleon said, "What the –many censored words- did you –more censored words- to my -more censored words-!" this time, his voice was not at all silky or alluring. Blaze took a pocket dictionary from Eric's bag to be sure that the particular string of curses that he used made no sense, and of course they did not. It sounded a bit like he was complaining about the now mutated Kirlia though… "D: 004, Transform into that giant… chicken-thing," he said uncertainly, "and D: 003, launch off another Psychic!"
Eric figured that the Shadow Ditto had done enough, so wit ha quick compliment, it was returned. As a replacement, he threw out S: 001's Great Ball. Quickly he snapped both Pokeballs back onto his belt and said, "Blaze, serve Sableye up a Dynamic Punch!" with a little more pep than he had before. He was pretty confident that he would win now.
Blaze, still holding the sphere of flame in his left hand the lit the battle, ran up to the Delta Sableye again. This time, instead if hitting the Pokemon's stomach and following through with an upward movement, Blaze hit the Pokemon on the side and followed through with a strait foreword movement, making the Pokemon spin. D: 003 was seeing in such a blur when it attempted to attack that it picked itself up and slammed itself into its trainer. The 'Kirlia' slowly grew and stretched until it became less and less of a blob, then more of a replica of Blaze.
Not wanting to waste any more time on this battle, Eric revved up the Snag Machine in his right sleeve by plucking a Great Ball out of his bag and waiting for the wires to connect. While the machine was still getting ready, he said to the Shadow Electabuzz, "Try a Shadow Bolt on the Kir-…Dit-… whatever that thing that looks like Blaze is," he said with a chuckle.
After a little tussle, trying to throw the confused Pokemon off of him, Bleon stood up and stared with intent, angry eyes on Eric. " S: 004, use Dynamic Punch on that tub of lard with the antennae! S: 003," and a smile curled over his face before he said this, " Doom Desire on the same one!"
Eric was amazed that a Pokemon as common as Sableye would know such a move, but… a Delta Technical Machine, that must have been it. He was almost ecstatic, because that same Pokemon would soon be in he Great Ball that he would throw. It worked so easily, the wires reprogramming the Pokeball slipped back into their places, Eric threw the ball, it hit the Pokemon, and it flew strait back into his hand without even the smallest wiggle or squirm. Then he was surprised; the ball was supposed to disappear because he already had a full party. Duh, this place is teleport proof! Eric shouted at himself in his mind.
As Eric tossed the Great Ball containing the Sableye back into his bag (for there was no more room on his belt), S: 001 built up electrical and dark energy in its antennae. Within a few moments, he unleashed the blast full force into the Blaze copy. The Delta Kirlia turned Ditto took some heavy damage but fought though it and right up to Electabuzz in a perfect imitation of Blaze. Shadow Electabuzz, however, was too quick and made the copy trip and smashed its fist right into a wall.
Bleon sputtered some more curse words as Eric said," 001, Thunder Wave! Blaze, send your copy flying with Sky Uppercut!" S: 001 sent out a weak jolt of electricity at the Combusken copy with its fist stuck in the wall, making it even harder to move for the Pokemon. Bleon said something to his Pokemon, but it had no chance at all of being able to attack. Blaze ran up to the Kirlia and smashed it out of the wall and through the building's ceiling. Eric loaded up another Great Ball in his Morph Suit and as the Combusken Clone fell back into the building, Eric tossed the Great ball at it; another easy capture.
Now Bleon was screaming curses at the top of his lungs, but he was quickly knocked out by a punch to the jaw from Blaze. Eric took an Escape Rope out of his backpack, tied the Coloron up in it, and stuffed him in a supply closet father down the hall. It was then that he noticed that the hall split at least 7 different ways. There was almost no way to tell which one lead to more information, or which one lead to Roxie. Then, he had one of his best ideas of the day. He looked to the little ferret Pokemon at his side and smiled a cunning little smile. "Florina, you know Roxie's sent by now, right?"
"Fur… furret fur," said Florina as she nodded her head. It seemed an odd question to ash her. But within a few seconds she understood what Eric wanted her to do. Happily and gracefully she hopped off of Eric's shoulder and onto the floor, far away from Blaze (so that the smell of fire burning would not interfere. Quickly she picked up the sent of her most familiar friend and tracked it down the middle hallway. Eric shrugged and quietly creeped on behind her. Blaze followed behind Eric, dimming his light a little so another accident like the last battle wouldn't happen again.
Side Notes:
-I hope this isn't completely horrible after my break from this. -
-D: 003 (Delta Sableye)
-Type: Dark/Steel
-Doom Desire
-Psychic
-D: 004 (Delta Kirlia)
-Type: Dark/Psychic
-Psychic
-S: 001 (Shadow Electabuzz)
-New Move, regained from 1 level of purification, Thunder Wave
-I'm now going to keep a list of the peons that Eric/Roxie fight against so they don't have any repeat battles.
-Greon (Grass)
-Yellon (Thunder)
-Whiteon (Normal)
-Bleon (Dark)