Chapter 14: The Holon Phantom

The Phantom peered out at the town from the once astounding laboratory, the remains of the Holon Tower. It was amazing that he had managed to make it back here in only two days, but he did not leave those forty-eight hours unchanged. When he finally did return to the rubble of Holon Tower, he found a black cloak and some lab gloves made black from ash. The Phantom decided to wear both of these items and pulled the long hood of the cloak over his head so that not one physical feature of the Phantom could be perceived. For the next few days, the Phantom had been lurking around the streets of Holon, searching for the ones who changed him; yet he made no progress. All the Phantom was able to find were rip-off criminals hoping to gain a much greater scare factor.

During the next few days, however, the citizens of Holon managed to create numerous rumors about the Phantom and his origins. Many people claimed to see him hovering slightly over the ground. This lead people to believing that the Phantom had some sort of 'anti-gravity shoes' and that he was one of the few professors able to escape the Colorons' grasp. Others, however, said that this amazing feat could only be contributed to telekinetic power (a trait more rare in humans than the odd color of Sigfried in Scizors). Some went one step farther to say that the Phantom was an apprentice of Wil (the well known Psychic Kanto and Jhoto Elite Four member), Sabrina (the slightly known Psychic Gym Leader of Kanto), or even of Tate and Liza (the almost completely unknown Gym Leaders of Hoenn). Another group went just maybe one step to far by suggesting that the Phantom was either Wil or Sabrina in disguise (for surely neither Tate or Liza could fill the costume that the Phantom wore). In some ways, these people were right; in others, they were hideously wrong.

As the Holon Phantom continued his scan, he spotted no crime, at least any that would interest him. Had he really eradicated this town of all of the possible people that he could be pursuing? Were there no Colorons left to be absolutely sure that all of the professors were wrangled up? He had to conclude that this was true and prepared to leave with what little clues he had. But then something caught his eye in a wide-open patch of grass to his left. As if by magic the Phantom leaped over many metal buildings to make his way to the park. Quietly and quickly he hid behind the largest, leafiest tree that he could find. The Holon Phantom saw a boy, tall for his age, wearing a sleek black leather jacket, a white undershirt, faded blue jeans, a shining gold (could that really be gold?) necklace, and a black bandana. He was standing next to a girl wearing a pink tee with paws all over it and deep, dark black jeans. They were deep in battle against a girl in a light blue windbreaker, a tight black top, and khaki shorts. What most likely had captured the eyes of the Holon Phantom the giant wave ridden by the large amphibious aquamarine colored Pokemon with fins on its feet, head, and cheeks (which were orange), a Marshtomp.

A beautifully green and focused ballerina Pokemon that Eric was in charge of during this battle was able to dodge the attack by swiftly and gracefully jumping on the other side of the tree that the Phantom was hidden behind. Luckily he went on unnoticed. The tub of human-shaped lard with a strange lightning-shaped mark on its chest, black and yellow fur, fierce eyes, and a pair of antennae was not able to evade the attack. At least he did not take a decent amount of damage due to resistance.

Eric had been keeping an eye on this Marshtomp all throughout this battle. Around the Pokemon, Eric saw a crackling sliver with hints of violet. He saw this as an excellent opportunity to take full advantage of his own Pokemon's modified type and the one special surprise attack that it knew. "Antoinette, give that Marshtomp hat just hit you a good Crunch!" said Eric gleefully. Just as gracefully as it had hidden behind the tree, the Kirlia lunged itself at the Marshtomp, which was running quickly back to its place by its trainer. She landed on the Pokemon's back and sank her teeth into its slimy skin. As the Marshtomp howled out in pain, Kirlia pulled its jaws out of the Pokemon and glided back to Eric.

She did not return promptly, however, for a second Marshtomp was commanded to attack. "Marshall, give 'em a good shake up with Earthquake!" screamed out the girl in the windbreaker, just as gleefully as Eric had. The other Marshtomp, as far as Eric and Roxie knew, was in no way different from the average Marshtomp. It hopped up high into the air, then landed back down, causing a massive rumble and ground breaking apart under its partner, Antoinette, and Buzz. Each of the Pokemon fell and took massive damage for it, but the Delta Marshtomp most probably took the most due to its weakness. None of the trainers fell because they were far away enough from the attack and the Phantom was hovering slightly over the ground.

Roxie noticed that the Delta Marshtomp was near its damage limit so she politely asked Buzz 'Would you mind shocking the weaker one with a Thunderbolt?" Buzz smiled in reply; then gathered electrical energy from its antennae in his palms. After a few moments, there was so much power held in those hands that it looked as if the Electabuzz's hands were glowing. As the smile on his face changed to a smirk, Buzz released the energy from his control. Since Delta Marshtomp was the closest conductor, it took full force from the attack. With a crispy sizzle it fell to the ground, one of its eyes in a swirl and the other in the shape of an x. With a whisper of thanks for a job well done, the girl in the windbreaker returned her Marshtomp in a hazy beam of red light.

Eric and Roixe looked at each other and nodded, they knew exactly what to do in a situation like this. Eric looked out to the Kirila and said, "Can you put on a little sun dance for us, Sunny Day?" Antoinette vivaciously hopped into the middle of the battleground and made a dramatic dance that none but a theater buff (and there were none around) could interpret. Although it was rather subtle, the light in the patch of grass seemed harsher and the temperature was much higher.

The opposing trainer had no idea what was happening, so she figured that she might as well use what had worked before. Once again she ordered her Marshtomp to use Earthquake, and once again the obedient Pokemon executed her wishes. This time when the Pokemon toppled over, Buzz fell right onto Antoinette, causing her to lose coniousness. Unfortunately, Eric had no more usable Pokemon to send into battle, so he just returned the Kirlia and sat back on a large rock to the rest unfold. He would not be there for long.

Knowing that the battle was near its end, Roxie screeched, "Okay, Buzz, just like we planned for this one!" giddily. Because of the intensified solar energy, Buzz was ready and set to fire milliseconds after the command was made. A bright green burst of energy flew out of Buzz's antennae and crashed into Marshtomp, sending it flying toward the tree that the Phantom had chosen to conceal himself behind. Once again, no one noticed the black mark against the luscious green grass; perhaps they thought he was just a shadow… Whatever prevented the group from acknowledging the Phantom, the windbreaker girl returned her Pokemon and walked up to the other trainers with a smile.

"Thanks you guys. I think you've been the best training these guys have had in a couple of months. You were even harder than those Hexagon Team Peons were; I'm sure I could have beaten 'em if there weren't so many…"muttered the girl to Roxie and Eric, who was no up off the rock and standing next to his partner. Roxie returned her Pokemon and started the group walking off to the nearest Pokemon center where she often volunteered.

"Don't worry, Cynthia, we know how hard they are to mess with," said Eric looking somewhat confident. His head was getting pretty big from being congratulated so often on his newfound battling skills. Not to mention he still seemed to be able to sketch many Pokemon from memory, and the sketches did not suffer for it. Little did he know that the Phantom who he was trying to meet was trailing right behind him, lurking the shadows.

"I was still surprised when I saw the Shadow Pokemon even though you told me before hand why. It's just so wrong, but it makes sense. Some of the professors were part of Cipher before they came here, but they were rehabilitated; they must be forced by the Hexagons to do all of this," said Cynthia with remorse. Her father was one of the former Ciphers that had been taken by the Rainbow Team, but she did not want to say anything to her new friends.

"It surprised us too," piped in Roxie. "We thought the Shadow operation was finally over, but with the professors and some old info that some of the Colorons got from an old Cipher base, they're all back into it. I don't see why they're making Delta Pokemon and Shadow Pokemon though… they're both as confusing to figure out in battle." And so the group went on, discussing recent events, and briefly Eric asked Cynthia is she had ever seen the Holon Phantom, and to that she answered no.

After Roxie and a Nurse Joy healed all of the Pokemon, the friends said their good-byes. Roxie had to leave to her parents' house, and as she said before, could not invite boys overnight. Cynthia was not a traveling trainer; her parents also had a home in town, so she headed home too. Eric's sleeping arrangement was to sleep in one of the bunks in the back of the Center. Knowing that he would be bored just staying in his bunk the entire night, Eric met with some of the trainers and let Blaze out to converse with some of the Pokemon. When the day was finally done, Blaze was asleep in the top bunk, and Eric was just about the slip into the bed, the Phantom entered through the wide-open window.

Eric was astonished when he heard the man speak; it was as if the voice came from everywhere at the same time, so he could not pinpoint his location in the dancing shadows. "I hear that you were looking for me," said the Phantom in a smooth yet somehow indifferent voice. "Meet me tomorrow at 10 in what is left of the Tower," said the Phantom in, eerily, in the exact same tone and volume that he had used before. With a gust of wind, the Phantom left… Or did he? The pattern of the shadows was no different than it was before. So Eric was left once again, so busy pondering that he tuckered himself out and did not even notice it when he closed his eyes and skidded right into dream land.

The next day, Eric awoke to a giggling Roxie at his bedside. His Suit had gone into sleep mode, in other words, when he fell into a deep enough sleep, the Suit would change into pajamas. Since it was the warmest season of the year and Orre was a warm place no matter what the season, the Suit had changed into just pajama bottoms. With the blanket slipping halfway down his chest, part of Eric's chest was bare. Eric blushed as he sat up in the bed and pulled the blanket around him. "How did you get in here?" asked Eric, completely bemused.

As Blaze walked back into the room, chowing down on an apple, Roxie simply replied, "Oh, I just asked Nurse Joy which room you were in. I made sure to get here early because I knew you wouldn't get up when we agreed." In the nine or so days that Roxie had known Eric, she had already learned that he was not much of a morning person. Unless of course there was something very important that he was anticipating… and he did not look so tired this morning; was he looking forward to something today?

Eric's suit was silently dragged out of sleep mode, and Eric could feel the clothes slowly building up around him. When it was finally done, Eric dropped the blanket and Florina, who was quietly sitting on Roxie's shoulder hopped over to Eric's lap and accepted a gentle petting from him. Blaze sat down next to Eric on the bed so he could lisiten in on the rest of the conversation. "Wait, what time is it?" asked Eric with a look of shock on her face.

Roxie tugged the PDA out of Eric's backpack lying by his bedside. On the lower right corner of the screen the time was displayed and Roxie repeated it. "This say its about 9:30; why do you need to know?" Roxie was disappointed that Eric was so anxious to go something that she had no idea about. Was he going to hang out with another trainer that he met in the Pokecenter lobby yesterday, a female trainer?

Eric let out a deep sigh of relief before saying, "I saw that Holon Phantom last night." The look on Roxie's face made Eric smirk, she looked completely lost. "He slipped into my room last night… I didn't exactly hear him, but I heard him. He told me to come with you to the Tower Ruins at 10 today." Blaze looked just as confused as Roxie, he hadn't heard the Phantom last night yet he was in the same room.

After a few more moments of looking dopey, Roxie chortled and said, "Man Eric, you sure do have some weird dreams." For what else could this be than some fantasy of Eric's? There was no way that this mission would be done that easily, now way that the Phantom would just let them come to him like that. And if someone really did talk to Eric last night, who was to say that it was the real Holon Phantom?

"It wasn't a dream!" insisted Eric while getting up out of the bed. "I know the difference between dreams and reality," he continued, his face flaring up. Blaze shook his head and yanked the PDA away from Roxie. In no time he handed the device back to Eric, who read his message allowed and blushed once more, yet this time for stupidity than embarrassment. "Blaze says that I shouldn't be so angry, yet that we should check this out anyways, that thus far it's our only lead."

"Oh, okay, but we're going to miss him if we say here any longer," mumbled Roxie as she picked up Florina from Eric's lap and cradled her in her arms. So the group walked out and to the Tower. It did not take long, even if the tower had been toppled, the ruins laid higher than any building in the entirety of Holon. Upon the remains, however, neither Roxie, Eric, Blaze, or Florina could find a trace of the Phantom, and it was already 10:05.

It was then that the Phantom, out of everyone's sight said, "What are you all looking for?" That was when Eric noticed that the voice coming from everywhere wasn't just an illusion from his fear, it happened in the daytime too. Even if he couldn't pinpoint the voice, Eric looked back, and there was the Phantom, sitting on a pile of ashes in his cloak and gloves. Slowly everyone sat down on an adjacent pile of refuse to that of the Phantom's and he communicated, "I already know what you want of me, what everyone else in this town wants to know. Why I care enough to try to stop the criminals in this town, if I am doing it for myself, others, or something else. I will answer whatever you may have to ask, but first I have to get some clarifications from you." And he looked at them, and even though they could not see his facial expression, they knew that he was asking them in they agreed, and all four of the companions nodded. "Good. First question: what do you intend to do with this information once I give it to you."

Roxie decided to respond this question; she knew more about what would happen to this scoop since she had been in Wes's organization every summer for the last three years. "Well, we're hoping that whatever you can tell us will lead us closer to one of the Hexagon-Rainbow Hideouts. So far we've only managed to find one and the Colorons have definitely moved from it by now."

So it seemed that their paths crossed for good reasons; these children had the same goal as the Phantom yet they were able to locate one of the bases they retreated to after the Holon attack. It wouldn't help him at all to inspect a deserted base though, so he decided to ask a different question than he had planned. "Second question: I hear that you have come into possession of Shadow Pokemon, how did you manage that?"

Eric frowned as he said, "You talk about Pokemon as if they are possessions… but I suppose we still need to find out more about you, so I will answer your question. The Rainbow Team has decided a different attempt on taking over Orre… if that is their goal. They've decided to make Delta Pokemon to confuse people and Shadow Pokemon to strike them down while confused. It's a powerful combination, but its absolutely hideously evil," with a hint of annoyance floating around in his words.

The Phantom was impressed, the boy had answered one of the questions he was going to ask, but he had not yet asked it. He was going to ask how the team felt about the corruption of Pokemon's hearts'. The Phantom would have also asked about their thoughts on Delta Pokemon, but they would think it was harmless since the only Delta Pokemon they had encountered were Special Delta Pokemon. So he carried on with his investigation by starting to say "Quest-", but he was never able to finish for another, much louder voice broke though his.

"Gust!" the man covered in beige latex, a beige scarf, and glimmering metal armor called from his pudgy bird Pokemon with a wide wingspan, sly, defiant, strong eyes, and wondrous ruby and blond hair streaming behind it. The Pokemon, a Pidgeot, swooped down from the clouds that it had been hiding behind and right into the Phantom's face. With the smallest flutter of its wing, the hood flew off of the Phantom. The Pidgeot flew back a yard so that its trainer could get a good glance at what was there. What the devious man saw were ears, almost the sap of a cats, yet rounded at the ends so they looked almost like those of a dragons, a long, human like face that would have seemed fierce had there not been a smile drawn over it, deep purple eyes, a feline-like nose, and pasty gray skin. The slimy felon hopped down from is fearsome fowl and near a pile of discarded and destroyed computers to say, "So I was correct. The Holon Phantom is none other than D: 050, sub category DP, Delta Physical, Mewtwo. You were not authorized to leave the Rainbow Hexagon Colordmin base five days ago, and I am here to ensure recapture."

Roxie, Eric, and Florina watched on in pure horror as the episode unfolded. The three of them were completely lost, usually they had the surprise waiting just under their selves, but now so much confusing information unloading on them that it seemed to much to bear. What was sub division Delta Physical … how could the Phantom be a Pokemon yet still talk to them? Blaze, however was made of much tougher stuff. He got up from his seat next to Eric and walked toward D: 050's side, proudly standing at half the other Pokemon's height. The Phantom, the Mewtwo, D: 050 sub category DP, whatever he may be called looked down at the Comusken with a cheerful smile and said, "Thank you, I may need your help."

The smile turned condescending and violent as the Phantom said to his rival, "You have no right to authorize my release from your wrongful imprisonment, you have no rights over me, none at all. If you can best me in competition you may be able to imprison me, but you do not have that power over me anymore." Then he revealed a long and surprisingly muscular arm from under his cloak with three suction-cup like fingers. Gently and swiftly he moved those fingers and the Pidgeot went down the ground writing in pain. Mewtwo was not able to keep his hold of the Pidgeot's muscles for much longer, though, and the bird Pokemon slight back into the sky with some slight injuries.

The Flying Pokemon oriented Admin was not impressed in the least. With a shrug of indifference, he tossed out a second Pokeball to reveal a Pokemon with a long, brown neck and body, a leafy helmet head with bananas growing under the chink, and four gargantuan leaf-wings growing out of its back, a Tropius. It was then that Eric and Roxie were finally flung out of confusion and into reality; their Shadow Visors had suddenly forced themselves over their faces. Each of them saw a small purple fume slowly rising over the Grass and Flying Pokemon, but Eric saw many more unusual things about this battle.

Eric looked over to the Phantom, who had large flexing muscles where slender little arms should have been. The Flydmin, as Eric chose to think of the Phantom's opponent, had mentioned that D: 050 was a Physical Delta Pokemon, could this mean that the Mewtwo was Psychic and Fighting type? But if he was in fact a Delta Pokemon, wouldn't Eric have seen him for what he was earlier? Then again, the Mewtwo had been cloaked before, Eric could not See though physical objects (he already knew because he could not See Delta Pokemon through buildings), and he could See that Mewtwo was Fighting and Psychic type now. The Pidgeot's true type was obvious, its Normal type had been taken away and replaces with a crackling yellow aura, Electric type. However Eric's questions could be answered, he stood up behind his Pokemon and grimaced at his opponent.

"Blaze, roast that oversized pigeon right out the sky!" shouted Eric with extreme conviction. Blaze took in a deep breath, then let it out. Instead of carbon dioxide being released, there was a steady flow of roaring fire that crashed right into the Delta Pidgeot. The Pokemon became inflicted with the Burn condition for it was not able to put of one of the flames that was still eating away at its feathers.

"Pick off that nuisance of a chicken with Wing Attack," muttered Flydmin to his Pidgeot. The nasty little bird flew at full force into its opponent, forced its wing out, and rammed it into Blaze. Blaze flew back into Eric who, if nothing else, softened the impact of the attack. The Pidgeot sneered at its opponent before flapping back to its place in battle. Annoyed, Blaze stood back up and screamed "Com!" an explicit in Pokemon language. Eric and Blaze had not heard their opponent's command to the Tropius because of interference from Blaze's cursing. It was obvious however, that some sort of purple spores were making their way toward the Phantom. The Phantom evaded and deflected them with a small wisp of his cloak; the spores glided a bit back toward Tropius, then fell short.

Eric was about to make another witty comment signaling an attack for Blaze, but Roxie cut him off. "Eric," she shouted to him " use your head! You can take the Pidgeot out of this battle right now if you capture it!" So Eric once again blushed and scolded himself for stupidity; he had forgotten that this battle was not about beating the living crud out of its opponents, but about rehabilitating corrupted Pokemon. Out of one of the side pockets of his backpack Eric pulled out a Pokeball that he had been saving for just an occasion like this, an Ultra Ball. Within a second it was Snag ready and Eric hurled it at the enormous pidgin. The Delta Pidgeot practically flew right into a ball seeing it as a way to escape its abusive trainer. The ball flew right back into Eric's palms and jiggled a bit, as if the Pokemon was having second thoughts about being transferred to another trainer. It did not manage to force itself out, however, and the ball vanished in a small flash of dim blue light.

"D: 049 is a necessary loss, but I cannot allow D: 050 to escape. S: 029, Shadow Whip," said Flydmin calmly and coolly. Tropius, looking void of all thoughts but those of battle, quickly grew purple vines that clashed onto S: 050's blanched skin. The Mewtwo took the damage with little or no resistance then punched the vines, causing them to hoe in at the attacker at twice the speed of the original attack. The whips smacked their maker right in the face and made it tumble down upon its trainer. Eric threw another ball out and it consumed the Pokemon as if it was the sweetest chocolate upon the good green earth. As the ball came back it gave not even the slightest rumble; the Pokemon was too weak to even give a fight. The Great Ball vanished just as the Ultra Ball before it had.

Flydmin tried to dash off, but since he had no more Pokemon buffers, the Holon Phantom held him back telekinetically. He then pinned the villain to fallen pillar of the tower by picking up a rope left in the carnage and tying him up, once again telekinetically. Roxie scribbled down a note to the authorities, should they come. She didn't bother to leave evidence, she knew that this idiot wouldn't try to get out of this by claiming innocence. He was one of those people who admitted defeat when they saw it so cut their losses and spare any extra embarrassment and she could just tell by how easily he let them tie him up.

And so the Phantom pulled the hood over his head once again and guided the group to a shady area near the Holon Lake. He told them not say things aloud, but to think them. He said to them that it was telepathy that allowed him to speak, and that he could link all five of them together. Mewtwo continually asked the opinions of the others in the group, but everyone else was digging around for information. In the end, D: 050 shared that he was created in the Holon Tower seventeen years earlier, a clone of a clone, made from DNA of the original Mewtwo. The professors noticed that he was not only a talented Pokemon, but very intelligent and taught him to run much of the machinery in the Tower by the age of seven. From then on, Mewtwo had been the brains of the operation; he was the one that was making all of the advances. He had just started to create the physical Delta Pokemon and was toying with trying to make more Delta Pokemon without metal coats. The Rainbows, however, had mutilated his work, making physical Deltas with out any thought of how much it could hurt when you massively modified body parts. The Phantom was trying to devise a painkiller strong enough ease the change, but the Rainbows hopped right into his research without a second thought. After two days of experimentation and pain, Mewtwo saw the result of the research in himself. He gained so much muscle mass that it was almost unbearable, and he had lost his tail somehow. So he fled, discreetly so that it would take a long while for them to track him back to Holon. He also shared with them the location of the base in which he was stored and experimented on.

"So what are you going to do now, are you going to help us track them down?" asked Roxie, admiring the astounding Pokemon sitting right in front of her. He would be an amazing help in the fight, even if it would be a risk if he were somehow captured. There seemed nothing better for him do now though.

"No," replied the Phantom " even with out combined strength we are still not ready to take on the masses that the Hexagons have assembled. I think it would be best to let more of them come to me, so I can take them down one at a time. Meanwhile you can continue to disassemble their lesser members so you can one day stand a chance of fighting the real leaders. I suppose I can also help the police out with more than what I want to find justice for." The Phantom smiled and Eric could tell even if he hadn't seen the Pokemon's face.

Having nothing left to say to one another, the Phantom and the others went their separate ways with some small good-byes. Eric, Roxie, Blaze, and Florina made their way to an Internet café from which it was quick and easy to send a message to Wes. Blaze, of course, wrote up the mission summary as he had before. A quick reply, however, did not come back. So Roxie took Eric and Blaze on a tour of the town, showing him all of her friends houses, the small house where Delta Research had originally begun, and many other important local landmarks. At nine o'clock, a reply came from Wes on Roxie's PDA. Together the foursome huddled over the small electronic device to see what they would need to do next.

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-Antoinette is the name of some famous ballerina that I found on a Google search. .

-I hope you guys liked the Phantom, I'll try to make him reappear much later in the series. I might make a fic just for him much much later.

-I decided to 2 small battles instead of 1 long one this time. .

-Mashall (Marshtomp)

Trainer: Cynthia

Obtained by?

Moves:

Earthquake

-Delta Marshtomp

Type: Metal/Psychic

Trainer: Cynthia

Otained by?

Moves:

Surf

-Antoinette (Delta Kirlia)

Type: Dark/Psychic

Trainer: Roxie/Eric

Obtained by: Snagged from Bleon

Moves:

Psychic

Crunch(Delta TM)

-D:049 (Delta Pidgeot)

Type: Flying/Thunder

Trainer: Roxie and Eric

Obtained by: Captured from Flydmin

Moves:

Wing Attack

Gust

-S: 029 (Shadow Tropius)

Trainer: Roxie and Eric

Obtained by: Captured from Flydmin

Moves:

Shadow Spore: Unknown Effects

Shadow Whip: Exactly like Vine Whip, but a Shadow Move