--
Every morning, Daniel Gardner woke up in an apartment paid for by the Pokémon Rangers of Fiore to an otherwise spotlessly clean room and a Mareep hell-bent on figuring out how to shock people through his cell phone.
Of course, Ohm never did so Daniel decided to not say anything about it after he snatched his phone back and put it back in its proper place (in his pocket). Except for that one time he wondered out loud if Ohm never slept and Ohm looked like he wanted to slap him. After that, Daniel had went out and bought rubber-soled boots and gloves designed specifically for people who dealt with angered electric Pokémon. They wouldn't ward off a full, aimed-to-kill attack, but it was still better than nothing. Though why that comment had annoyed Ohm, he couldn't figure out. After all, he was a Ranger, not a psychologist for spastically violent Mareeps.
Moving on.
His next routine involved checking to see if Ohm had destroyed anything else, going to get breakfast, and then cleaning the apartment if it was a Sunday. For breakfast, it was usually cereal for Daniel. In Ohm's case, he simply went wandering around looking for edible plants. Or he made a beeline straight to Raye's house, if he was feeling lazy. Daniel usually headed there anyway, as he had nothing to do.
That was what he did today. Ohm was waiting at the door, looking bored. Apparently he had at least tried to destroy something and Raye had kicked him out. Or Arashi, if the Raichu was especially angry at him.
"What d'you do this time?" Daniel asked Ohm. The Mareep huffed and ignored him. Daniel shrugged and rang the doorbell. Then the doorknob turned slowly, and a thump sounded out as a Raichu landed back on the floor, having jumped on the doorknob to open it. "Hi Arashi," Daniel greeted her.
"Rai," the Raichu responded disinterested. "Rai rai churai? Rai." She turned around and walked off, Daniel and Ohm following after Daniel relocked the door. Ohm didn't go quietly, muttering angrily under his breath in a series of "reeeeps" which probably weren't anything good about Arashi.
Finally they arrived at the battle arena, which was in the way back of the house. It was actually more of a tent in the backyard, except this tent was reinforced with many precautions an ordinary tent would never have. It wasn't a camping tent either – it was one of those giant, floppy things, a giant mass of insanely clean white and gold fabric. Arashi and Ohm squeezed in under the edge of the "walls," but Daniel had to actually use the door.
Inside, Raye was having target practice with Hikari and Raiden. The Lanturn and Jolteon, respectively, were taking turns aiming their Thunders and laughing at the other if they missed. Arashi mumbled something under her breath, which was probably along the lines of "stupid Volt Absorbers."
Raye noticed him just as a Thunder smashed into Hikari, who laughed and clapped like a Seel. Of course, the Thunder was loud so she had to wait before she could say anything. "Hey, Daniel. When'd you get here?"
"Not very long," Daniel shrugged. "What'd Ohm do?"
Raye grinned. "Tried to pull off a Thunder on Arashi. She didn't take it very well."
Daniel glanced back at a smug-looking Arashi and a very annoyed Ohm. "No kidding. Why aren't you sparring by now?"
"Well, the last challenger yesterday wiped us out," Raye sighed. Arashi grimaced, Hikari's Thunder went very wide, and Raiden ignored them. "Had a wicked Flareon, and the Misdreavus was killer."
"Anyone we know?"
"Nah, I don't think so. Said her name was…Elle Subaru. Yeah, that was it." Raye shrugged. "Wanna join in?"
"I think Ohm does," Daniel sighed. Arashi and Ohm were glaring, pushed face-against-face, trying to intimidate the other into backing down. It was actually an interesting picture, given the difference in the two's heights. Ohm was trying to minimize that difference by standing on his hind paws like Arashi did, but he wasn't having much success at it.
--
"I'm bored!" Ladynight stomped through the halls of the Tanoby Ruin hideout, her aura of rage practically palpable in the air. "Why is there nothing to do around here?! Ugh!"
"Whining again?" a cool voice asked. Ladynight stopped in her tracks to glare at the Kabutops leaning in one of the stone entranceways. He was taller – about six feet – than most Kabutops, but otherwise his build was normal. His armor was dented and scratched from many battles, all of which he had survived. Some of it was also decorated with luminous blue-green material, though much of it had been scraped off over time.
"Shut up, Lantis," Ladynight snapped at him. "Don't tell me you aren't bored just sleeping and waiting all day. Oh, wait. That's what you've been doing for the last hundreds of years!"
Lantis shifted into a battle crouch, scythes gleaming. "Do not forget your place, Ladynight. Simply because you have power as a general now, do not forget that you are still one of the newest to join."
"Yeah, and that's pathetic," Ladynight jeered. "It just proves how much you all need help!"
"Would you like to test me?" his voice was cold, tightly controlled, and very, very angry.
"Meet you on the training ground," she grinned, and with an irritating wave, Teleported off, presumably to get her sword and shield before heading off to the training ground.
Lantis hissed in annoyance, then stalked off towards the training ground. He passed an open doorway on the way. A psychic presence asked him, Arguing again?
"She is annoying," he growled, stopping. "How do you deal with her?"
Easily, Lusion-X's voice answered. But in your case, it might be best to avoid her.
That did it. "I am not avoiding some annoying upstart who thinks she can do anything!" he snarled, and was gone almost before the last sound faded.
Lusion-X sighed mentally. It was unfortunate that the other two generals simply could not get along.
--
"Ready?" Ladynight asked Lantis, smiling. Her sword and shield were in her hands, the sword in her right and the shield her left.
"Of course," he slid into a battle stance, blades raised.
"Go!" They charged, Ladynight sidestepping as Lantis's blade swung directly at her. Unfortunately for him, it was a vertical strike she dodged easily. He lashed out with one clawed foot before slicing again.
Ladynight's shield met Lantis's scythe with a jarring thud and a ringing clang as it bounced off. She rammed it forward, catching him off-guard. The Kabutops somersaulted backwards, landing easily on his feet. Neither looked even winded.
Ladynight smiled. "Now this is fun," she grinned, charging again. Lantis blocked all her swipes easily, and she his counterattacks. Ladynight, starting to get bored, suddenly changed her attack pattern and dipped under his guard and smashed the flat of her sword into his right shoulder. He grunted and sliced with his left arm, which hit her shield and glanced off. The second scythe stopped a millimeter from her neck, exactly when she had brought her sword up to one of the chinks in his armor, right in his neck. They froze for a moment, blades ready to kill, before each lowered their weapon slowly.
Ladynight sighed, disappointed. "Tie."
Another monster sitting on the sidelines spoke up. "It's all very well that you've been battling and all that, but Lusion-X says that if you keep going at it and try to kill each other, I have to intervene," she sighed unhappily.
Both fighters glanced at the newcomer. She was shorter than both of them, maybe five feet tall, and dressed in a long, deep purple robe with frayed sleeves and hem that covered her entire body. She was not exactly sitting on the sidelines, but hovering over them with at least a good six inches between the end of her dress and the floor. Three oval stones were arrayed as a belt around her waist, glittering coldly scarlet. She also wore a giant purple hat that covered her dark blue hair, and threw her face into shadow.
"Charm, be a dear and tell Lusion we're not killing each other yet," Ladynight informed her. "We'll get around to it afterwards, maybe."
"That's good, because Lusion-X has an idea he needs at least one of you to help with," Charm Hexon, Lusion-X's second-in-command, said. "He says, 'When the two of them are done hitting each other with sharp edges, send one of them to me.'"
Lantis and Ladynight exchanged glances. Ladynight shrugged. "I'll go. The Rangers could do with thinking there are less of us than there actually is to lower their guard."
"…Right." Charm turned, evidently deciding following Ladynight's run-on sentence was not worth her time. Ladynight slid her sword back in its sheath before picking both up and following Charm out.
--
"Huh…If I didn't know better, Lusion, I wouldn't have thought you could have done this on your own," Ladynight smirked at Lusion-X.
The third general was a Xatu, figure warped to humanoid as well. He was not as tall as Lantis or Ladynight, but still exuded an equally menacing aura. However, the bright, tropical plumage of a normal Xatu was gone, replaced by dark blue, violet, and black. In addition, his wing-arms were tipped with sharp copper and steel points. He sighed mentally. Will you or will you not do it?
"Oh, sure, it sounds like fun. But you do realize you'll need to supply me with that spirit. You're the summoner, not me."
I have already prepared it. He held up one taloned hand, and a copper-colored ball of light materialized in his palm. Ladynight accepted it, sliding it into a pouch marked with a pentagram seal. She stood up, and grinned.
"If that's everything, I better get going. Bye, Lusion-X." She walked out the door, grinning. This would be fun.
--
In Daniel's opinion, the lunch break was the best part of the day.
The morning had consisted mainly of Arashi and Ohm insistently firing off Thunders to see who had the better aim and which one fainted first. Arashi won in both aspects, as her Thunders were more accurate and she had better stamina than Ohm. It was actually rather predictable, given that she was a well-trained battler and Ohm was a Mareep that enjoyed shocking people, then running to save his skin – er, fluffy wool.
Still, even Arashi had to admit that Ohm had plenty of determination. He kept struggling to his little stubby paws and either kept Thundering the by-now-bored Hikari…or he tried to attack Arashi. In which case she Mega Punched him into the other side of the tent.
He only tried that once, and that was when Daniel and Raye decided to take a break for lunch and take him to Two Island's Nurse Joy. She'd healed him up pretty quickly, and then Raye had decided to drag them off to a random fast food place and pay for lunch as a pretty bad apology for Arashi's "killer Mega Punch." Ohm had wandered off, not happy with Arashi at all, who promptly decided to steal all the fries.
Daniel was midway into his third cheeseburger when there was chaos.
Maybe it wasn't exactly the best part of the day.
--
Ohm had wandered off into the Two Island marketplace, mumbling under his breath in Mareep. He stomped along the streets, not particularly caring where he was going as long as it wasn't into a wall or off a cliff.
That was a mistake.
He didn't see the Gardevoir before it was too late. Ladynight had used an illusion, to make her appear normal, but her height was unaltered. She squatted down before Ohm ran straight into her and shoved her hand into his face, startling him into stopping. "Hello, little furball of a Mareep," she said cheerfully. Despite her disguise, she still spoke in plain English.
"Reeeep, mareep," Ohm snarled as fiercely as a Mareep could (which wasn't very).
"Oh, come now," Ladynight sighed. "We both know you couldn't kill me in another hundred years, at the least. Shut up and help me."
"Mareep reep."
"Hey! I'll have you know I am not that much of a pompous psychic b-wait, that's not the point. If you won't help me of your own free will…" she lashed out with crimson psychic energy before he had time to run, helplessly levitating the Mareep up to her eye level, which was pretty high off the ground for the sheep. "Then I'll just do it the hard way."
She produced the pentagram-seal pouch out of seemingly nowhere, though she'd probably had it under the illusion. Undoing the tie, Ladynight snatched the copper-colored ball of light before it could float away on the wind. "Anything you want to add?" she asked Ohm.
"Reep."
"Now, that's not very nice, though I do like your spirit." She shoved the copper ball straight into his forehead, where it melted away into nothingness. Ladynight teleported away and Ohm fell to the ground, where he was enveloped in a flash of light.
When the light was gone, he was no longer Ohm.
--
They heard a dull explosion – well, Arashi heard it first, having gigantic Raichu ears – and raced to the window. There was a moment of silence while they tried to figure out what they were seeing.
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Raye began. "But that looks and is acting suspiciously like a certain Mareep. Only majorly deformed." She pointed at a giant ball of yellow wool, blue skin, and a glowing gold glass orb. "Is it Ohm?"
"I have no idea…" Daniel admitted. "Though if it is, I really can't see how this is different from the chaos Ohm normally makes," Daniel commented, staring out the window at the far-off explosions.
"You mean besides the fact he's gigantic, is flying around like some Jumpluff, and is causing much more damage than he usually does?" Raye asked rhetorically.
"Uh, yeah, besides that…"
"Churai," Arashi muttered disdainfully.
The Pokétch on Daniel's wrists started getting really annoying, vibrating insistently. He quickly brought the watch face up to see if anything was wrong with it. It said simply, "Call incoming," which was very strange because Daniel was pretty sure normal Pokétches weren't phones.
Then again, it wasn't exactly normal.
"Uh, Raye," he began, not being able to find a button to answer the call.
Raye rolled her eyes and tapped the watch face twice. "I swear, you'd think that Pokémon Rangers hadn't seen any technology at all," she muttered.
"That's not true, just because you're all techies – "
"Daniel, are you going to listen or not?" Serena's voice interrupted. "Hi Raye."
"Hey, Serena. Did you call because of the giant thing floating in the air going and attacking buildings?" Raye asked.
"Mm-hmm. Mareep-based, though some Jumpluff qualities to help it fly. Very destructive tendencies, even for one. Daniel, you go out and stall for time while the other Rangers get there."
"But that's my Mareep terrorizing the city," Daniel protested. "I can't just kill him like that Sableye-Sneasel thing!"
"Erebus," Serena said. "And yes, I can't ask you to destroy your own Pokémon, but you won't have to. See how he's been mutated? That would be a temporary effect. Erebus was one of the soldiers in the first battle between Abbadon and Eden. His body was a construct. The body was destroyed and the spirit sent back to their world. On the other hand, if you defeat this one, the other spirit that was forced into your Mareep will take the damage and be forced to the same place, but the body will return to the way it was."
"Okay," Daniel said dubiously. "I'll go stop Ohm, then."
Serena cut the call, and Raye decided cleaning up the lunch table could wait and got a seat at the window to watch.
--
The Mareep now looked like a very strange and deformed sheep (large, too). Well, mostly a ball of fluffy yellow wool, but the rubbery blue-skinned face of his was still there, and the stubby legs and (lack of…) paws. His tail, however, had migrated to the middle of his back and the glowing gold orb on the end had expanded to maybe his size, and was acting like a helium-filled balloon to pull him up in the air, along with two stalks of yellow wool that resembled a Jumpluff's. If a human had found a creature like that injured, they would have either been scared out of their wits or ran to someone demanding advice on how to cure mutated Pokémon.
It was just a pity that this particular mutation required a lot more than any Nurse Joy could ever do. Well, except maybe Guinevere Joy, but she didn't count.
Daniel had managed to morph, call his weapons, and now was wondering what to do. He decided to fall back on Ohm's greatest weakness. Hopefully Ohm still kept it when he was being all mutated. Daniel shouted up to the floating Mareep, "Hey, wool for brains! Come down here so I can knock the stuffing out of you!"
It didn't quite get the reaction Arashi's insults always got, but then Daniel had never understood them in the first place. Instead of the Mareep unleashing a wrathful burst of electricity targeted at Daniel, it turned to regard him with a beady black eye. Then the yellow glass ball sparkled with white-blue electricity, which shrieked through the air to slam into Daniel. The suit absorbed most of the lightning, though the force of it still shoved him back a couple of paces. "Ow," he muttered. "Serena?"
"You gonna listen now?" she asked.
"Well duh."
"Anyway. The other Rangers should be there sooner or later. As a matter of fact, Zoey should be there right about – "
A yellow blur practically ran straight into a building, but swerved at the last possible minute and threw up dust and asphalt with an ear-tearing screech.
"Now."
Zoey, already morphed, climbed off what looked like a motorcycle, muttering under her breath (Daniel couldn't hear what, but he guessed they were probably swears). Painted yellow and gold, it was dazzling in the afternoon sun, sleek and aerodynamic. None of which mattered to Zoey, who was leaning against it and gasping. Apparently the ride hadn't agreed with her.
"You need practice," he teased.
"Never again," Zoey managed. "What is that?" she asked, obviously referring to the abnormal mix of Mareep and Jumpluff hovering above their heads.
"My Mareep," Daniel said. "Razor Leaf!" The flurry of knife-sharp leaves sliced into a bolt of lightning, somehow managing to negate the attack.
"Must've been hard to keep fed." She straightened, apparently having recovered from her ride, as the motorcycle disintegrated into yellow dust, hopefully returning to Treasure Beach instead of being destroyed. "Thunder Daggers! Thunder!" A bolt of electricity shrieked out from the otherwise clear sky, aimed straight for the Mareep. However, it was sucked into the golden orb, which only grew brighter. Ohm-Mareep-Jumpluff-monster-whatever didn't seem to notice, or at least not care.
A second motorcycle roared into the street. This one was light blue – cyan – and gold, and carried the corresponding Ranger. "Sorry, had to get away from my parents," Rachel apologized, getting off with considerably more ease than Zoey had. Her motorcycle disintegrated into cyan dust as well once she was on the ground. "Winter Halberd! Ice Beam!" She pointed the now-glowing blade at the ball of wool, and an icy blue-white beam shot out, spiraling elegantly towards it. The beam struck head-on, knocking Ohm farther into the sky, before the cold air forced him down. Apparently his orb didn't just absorb electricity, but functioned like a hot air balloon.
"Hey, I have a question," Daniel began. "How did you two get here on motorcycles? Across water?"
"Oh, they turn into jet skis," Rachel grinned (well, she was, but Daniel couldn't see that beneath the helmet). "Really, really fast jet skis!"
"Talk later!" Zoey shouted, rolling out of the way of Ohm's Thunder(shock or bolt, Daniel couldn't tell. Hey, it wasn't his fault that Pokémon Rangers rarely used Pokémon attacks).
"Right," Daniel answered, as he unleashed another barrage of Razor Leaves. At the same time Rachel fired off a Powder Snow. Both attacks were met with a Shock Wave. Rapidly-melting snowflakes, charred shreds of green, and stray, weak sparks flew everywhere.
"Gah! No one said anything about raining lightning!" a familiar voice complained. The blue Ranger rode into the street, leaping off almost before the motorcycle had stopped. Apparently Jun had some experience with motorcycles. Just like Rachel and Zoey's, it turned into blue dust before fading away completely.
"Stop being overdramatic and help, Jun," Zoey ordered. "I can't affect it, Daniel and Rachel aren't doing that great a job, no offense."
"If you say so," Jun said dubiously. "If I drown it or something, can I go out with one of you?" he asked Zoey and Rachel.
"No," Zoey answered curtly. Rachel shrugged.
"Good enough," Jun decided. "Ocean Lance!" With the now-familiar burst of light, the lance materialized. He was about to do something – probably throw it – when the final cycle appeared, roaring down the street like a hellhound bent on burning down the world around its pointy black ears. It nearly crashed into the wall, skidding perilously close to it before falling over. Joy scrambled out from under the wreckage, in full red ranger glory (uh, not). "Ow," she muttered.
Jun stared at Joy, all his concentration lost. "Wow. That's the worst way to get off a motorcycle I've ever seen."
"Pay attention, Jun," Zoey said, deflecting another bolt of electricity with one of her own.
"And shut up about it," Joy snapped, giving the motorcycle a last retaliatory kick as it dissolved into dust.
"You've got a bad temper," Jun observed blithely. With a grunt, he threw the lance at Ohm. The blue weapon soared through the air to pierce Ohm's hovering orb neatly in the center. Daniel half-expected it to pop like a cartoon balloon and for Ohm to get dragged all over the city in strange patterns and sweeping curves and all those things typical for suddenly popped balloons. He didn't, but went crashing down, taking out the side of a building as he went. "Oops," Jun muttered.
"Someone else can pay that," Joy said impatiently. "Come on. Magma Sword!"
"Hold on a minute," Jun said, heading off in the general direction the lance had fallen.
"Don't bother," Serena's voice said over the link. "Just call it. 'Return' should work fine."
"Okay," Jun said dubiously. "Return." The Ocean Lance did indeed reappear in his hands, and he almost dropped it. "Cool!"
"You know what, that's pointless anyway," Serena said. "Right now, anyway."
"Why?" Jun asked. His question was promptly answered by a burst of red fire that disappeared almost as suddenly as it had lit up. Then a burst of white light, a copper flare that spiraled up into the sky so quickly it was gone within a second. "Oh…"
"Oh," Serena agreed. "Aine says the spirit is gone. No giant robot battle this time, so get out of there and back to whatever you were doing."
"Oh, come on," Jun complained. "I liked the giant robots."
"Serena?" that was Daniel.
"Mhm?"
"We need answers, now."
Serena laughed. "Join the club. Aislynn and Aine won't tell me anything worthwhile. They make a Clamperl look talkative. We can discuss this next Sunday. Now demorph before you get swarmed by rabid fangirls and boys."
Mass shudder.
--
Ladynight sighed, getting up from her usual crystal ball/TV that served as her window into the Rangers' battles. "So they've destroyed the irritating cottonpuff too," she muttered to herself. "Good." Just like Lusion-X said they would.
Then she sighed. This was going to take absolutely forever.
--
"AISLYNN! AINE!" Joy stormed into the base, practically steaming. It would have been funny if she didn't look extremely murderous about it too.
"She looks like a Tauros," Jun whispered in awe. Zoey elbowed him. Hard. He hissed in pain and clutched dramatically at his side. Happily, Joy didn't notice and wound him further.
"Serena's hunting them down," Rachel volunteered. "She said we should wait here."
Joy looked around. Bare rock walls. Bare rock floor. Jun and Zoey arguing (again) over to her left, Rachel sitting on the ground, knees tucked up to her chest on the right, and Daniel leafing through what looked like an ordinary book by the entrance to the tunnel-maze-thing. "And do what?"
Rachel shrugged. "Dunno. Serena always was annoying like that."
Joy walked over to sit down as well, since she was starting to feel silly standing in the doorway. "Always?"
"Oh yeah," Rachel confirmed. "Ever since we were kids, Serena did everything her own way. I don't think it ever occurred to her what other people considered normal."
"Really? I heard she was made an Island Leader three years ago. I didn't think a ten-year-old could have qualified, actually."
"Well, she had an advantage over the average ten-year-old," Rachel said. "Serena was the Genius. With a capital G. When she was eight, she applied for a permit to train Pokémon. We lived in Celadon at the time, and she could train without traveling everywhere." Rachel sighed. "So when Mom and Dad heard about the Island Leader opening, Serena decided to apply. And I'm the average one."
"Not anymore," Joy grinned wickedly. "Unless average people go around kicking mutant a – "
"Found them." Serena walked out of the maze with the two twins, her rather smug look mirrored on her Persian – Jin's – face. "Well, Jin did, actually."
"You need to get chairs," Daniel informed them, closing his book. "Stone is not comfortable."
"I trust you did not all gather here to tell us that?" asked one of the Ai.
"Of course not," Zoey shrugged. "But we need to know more than what you're telling us. Why are – Eden and Abbadon, right? – fighting? Who exactly is Ladynight? How did they get the Mareep turned into a monster? And how come he wasn't attacking as violently as Erebus? Oh, and why was there no annoying infestation of Glyphs?"
Aislynn and Aine traded glances. "Eden and Abbadon's fight is one we do not know, nor could we reveal it if we did. Ladynight we have no knowledge on, as she was not among the warriors millennia ago. We do not know why the Glyphs failed to make an appearance. As for the Mareep…"
"Well?" Daniel prompted.
"We are not certain of this, but we believe that one of Abbadon's warriors must have the ability to call forth souls. Erebus was a warrior from the old days, but his body was a construct. His soul was used to move the construct and fight. In that same way, one of Abbadon's warriors has summoned another soul of Abbadon's warriors to infuse your Mareep. There are two different souls that could do so – a knowledge or a mutation. Knowledge souls are more passive, and while they do usually carry some physical changes, most of the time the mind is intact. Mutation spirits – as the Jumpluff in the Mareep was – forcibly change the body and leave the mind controlled. It is a credit to your Mareep's…ah…persistence…"
"Mule-headed stubbornness," Daniel corrected. He felt reasonably secure in saying so because Ohm wasn't around.
Ai ignored him. "It is a credit to his persistence that his movements were so slowed. The original and transplanted souls must have been struggling to overpower the other." In unison, the two regarded all six humans with their cold crimson stare. "Do you have any further questions?"
Serena broke the silence first. "Not yet. It's time for target practice, though. Come on."
--
"Why'd you stop?" Jun asked on the way through the tunnels. It had gotten to the point where they no longer needed a guide through the winding labyrinth. "That's the most I've ever heard Ai say, except that really long one on the first day."
"Ever hear of 'quit while you're ahead?'" Serena inquired. "That's why. The Ai have an annoying habit of being closemouthed, as I've already said. And if they get irritated enough, they launch into a long history lesson, and I mean long. Eyewitness accounts and all. Their own. So far they've gotten to the last millennium."
"They're that old?!" Jun was amazed, and it was obvious to them all.
"Older, probably," Serena said disinterestedly.
"Why, thinking of hitting on them?" Zoey asked.
"Not anymore!"
--
A/N: While I was writing this, I thought of a crack pairing for some strange reason. It's called ViolentElectricDemonShipping. Guess who it involves.
--