His Master's Voice

by Zokolov

When a resurrected Team Rocket invades a research facility near the Sevii Islands, one of the test subjects, a Sandshrew, takes it upon himself to escape, only to run into things far worse than Rockets. Meanwhile, a group of human trainers sent to clean up the mess get reinforcements in the form of a selfish bounty hunter from Orre.

6. Distortion World

Chapter Six: Distortion World

Professor Krane stood in shock, having just had the weirdest experience of his life: he had just finished a conversation with a group of Pokémon, hearing them squeak, squawk, grunt and whatever in their own language – while also hearing a synthesized voice translate every word into his ear. He stared at the Sandshrew, Cyndaquil and Bagon he had just spoken to, still attempting to comprehend the situation.

The three Pokémon were equally shocked - not least because their experiences with humanity were usually limited to brutal experiments. Shrew was the first to recover, though.

"Ugh, why are humans always so insistent on over-thinking everything?" Shrew grunted. "Always up with the 'what am I' and 'this changes everything'. Time's wasting!"

"S-sorry," Krane stuttered. "This is just... a lot to take in right now..."

"Same for us," Shrew said, "but it doesn't change anything – can you do it or not? In case you didn't notice, we're in the middle of a battle against some creepy hell army here! If we have any chance of getting out, we need Quill to get better!"

"Shrew!" Quill gasped.

"The hell ? !" Bagon protested. "Just a couple of hours ago, you said we were supposed to find the other Pokémon and amass a strong enough force to break through!"

"We will!" Shrew told the dragon-type, eyes locked with Krane. "But this needs to be done first – I'm kinda making this up as I go along, okay?"

"That much was obvious," Bagon muttered.

"I think I can do it," Krane said quietly. "I don't know, I think. Do you-"

"Yes, of course we understand, we're all fully grown Pokémon, not infants!" Shrew snapped. "Doesn't a Pokémon researcher know better?"

Krane almost smiled. "Just wanted you to know that there's no guarantee this'll work. I told the administrator that I'd like to find a way to reverse the effects of this 'degeneration' the Pokémon have experienced, but he claimed it would be a waste of time and resources. But-" he said quickly when Shrew extended his claws, "- I happened to do some research on it whenever I had the time. If you can get me to one of the labs on this floor, I can try to complete one."

"Shrew..." Quill muttered. "You didn't tell me anything about this? H-how bad is it?"

Shrew sighed and glanced at Krane briefly before answering: "I'm not sure. But either way, you won't be feeling sick after this anymore, I promise."

"One question, prof," Bagon said. "How come I was able to attack your tram back at the tunnel even though I couldn't even spit out a puny Ember before I met these two?"

"I don't know the details of all the projects," Krane pondered. "There are several theories. Maybe you got a power boost from something, maybe the condition is temporary and you can use your attacks either randomly from time to time or during emotional outbursts... or maybe you were in a control group, I'm not sure."

"How do you feel now?" Quill asked Bagon.

"Certainly less weak than back at the room where you found me from," Bagon said. "But I don't think I could use that attack again – I didn't even do it on purpose back there."

The argument was dropped when Shrew noticed Pachirisu slipping into the room.

"Where did you go?" Shrew asked. "Do electric-types have smaller bladders?"

"Just checking the coast was clear," Pachirisu mumbled. "Shrew, I want to ask you something."

"Uh, can it wait?" Shrew asked. "We should get going to one of those labs? Is the coast clear?"

"For now," Pachirisu said. "But I really need to ask you this, okay?"

"Yeah, fine, ask!"

"...why did you toss the Griseous Orb away like that?"

Shrew stared at Pachirisu. "I thought it was obvious – we needed to distract the humans."

"Now we lost our leverage," Pachirisu pointed out flatly. "And you said that thing is powerful and dangerous."

"Who cares?" Bagon laughed. "We now have a better one – a human shield," she nodded at the professor, who shuddered in his chair but didn't protest.

"As if they care about him," Pachirisu argued. "The people who could have done all this don't care in the slightest about the loss of one more life. And you were involved in some experiment related to it, Shrew! We could have asked the professor about it some more."

"I don't know anything!" Krane squealed. "I mean, about the orb, I know a lot of other stuff, though. Did you know that there's a Pokémon that evolves only if you hold it upside-down?"

The Pokémon ignored him – Shrew stared at Pachirisu, narrowing his eyes.

"I don't remember telling you about any experiment with it," Shrew muttered.

Pachirisu and Shrew stared at each other in complete silence for a few seconds, Quill and Bagon glancing at each other warily, then observing the two from the sidelines. Even Krane had frozen still and was looking at the two rodent Pokémon. Finally, Pachirisu smiled.

"Well," he said, "now we know."

Pachirisu lunged at Shrew using Quick Attack, moving faster than any other Pokémon in the room could. Shrew was hit in the stomach, and as he tried to retaliate with Slash, Pachirisu jumped away and landed next to Bagon. Using his big, fluffy tail, Pachirisu grabbed Bagon in a stranglehold.

"Stay still, both of you," Pachirisu yelled. "I still have enough juice left in me to stop her heart if I want to."

Bagon wheezed hoarsely as Pachirisu squeezed her throat even more. Shrew raised his paws in surrender.

"Okay, calm down!" he snapped. "What do you want?"

"We had it on our grasp," Pachirisu whispered manically as Bagon struggled futilely against him. "The Griseous Orb, Shrew! You don't even have the slightest of clues about what it does!"

"All I know is that everyone here seems to want it," Shrew said, "so I guess you're right there. But how does that help you get it back?"

"...don't you want to know why I want it?" Pachirisu wondered.

"Yeah, but I have more important matters to think about, too," Shrew said evenly. "Like the safety of me and Quill. And Bagon's windpipe, which you're about to crush – strong tail you got there. Loosen up a little and maybe we can cut a deal."

"Shrew... Shrew... can you hear me?

Shrew tensed up, gasping but hiding his shock mostly. Pachirisu was ranting and monologuing something about fools and their weak understanding, which Shrew just nodded to, but focused mostly on the voice that suddenly appeared in his head. It was human, definitely, not Pokémon, but it felt warm and sincere, not like the whispers he had heard from the Griseous Orb – the only other voice he could compare it to.

"Nod two times and signal with your ears if you do."

Shrew did as ordered, trying not to look around him, as he didn't want Pachirisu to see anything odd. Focused on his ranting, Pachirisu had fortunately loosened his grip a bit.

"Good. Shrew, I know you're in a situation where you'd have every reason to mistrust me, but I promise you, I'm on your side. Whatever you do, you must not let Pachirisu draw a symbol on the ground using blood drawn from both a human and a Pokémon – he will no doubt try to do it soon. Do you understand?"

Shrew nodded again.

"So you agree!" Pachirisu kept ranting, Shrew catching only every other word. "Then you should see why I am doing this! After all the injustices I have suffered-"

"He will try to draw blood from Bagon. I know it will pain you to do this, but let him – he won't kill her, but will most likely try to go for Krane's blood next. Stop him before that."

"-but soon there will be nothing left of you all!" Pachirisu ended boisterously. "I'll take the human with me to unlock the key to the Griseous Orb and make way for my master's glorious return!"

"Suck my tail!" Shrew just said, earning a death glare from Pachirisu. "I'm focused on just one thing: getting me and the other Pokémon out. You're standing in my way, we have a problem!"

"I suppose so," Pachirisu whispered.

Shrew cringed, Quill gasped, Krane yelled and Bagon screamed as Pachirisu sank his teeth into Bagon's shoulder, making a deep wound that instantly started dripping blood on the floor. Just as the voice had predicted, Pachirisu let go of Bagon and let her drop on the floor before lunging at Krane.

Shrew saw Pachirisu charging energy with his cheeks, about to shock Krane, but Shrew jumped on him and absorbed the attack as if it was air.

"A ground-type, huh?" Pachirisu just said as the two struggled on the floor. "I guess I'll just do this the old-fashioned way, then!"

Shrew squealed in pain as Pachirisu managed to whack him in the eye with his tail, then bite him in the stomach, though the wound was not nearly as bad as Bagon's. Pachirisu jumped off Shrew and towards Krane. Quill dragged Bagon to safety, leaving a long blood trail behind.

Much as he tried, Shrew did not recover fast enough to prevent what happened – Pachirisu bit Krane in the leg. Krane screamed and tried to kick him away, but Pachirisu jumped out of the way and instead jumped up and whacked Krane with his tail, knocking him off the chair. Blood dripped from Krane's wound and on the floor, dangerously close to the puddles of Shrew's and Bagon's blood.

Shrew attempted to charge at Pachirisu one more time, but was too slow and was only whacked with a tail to the back of the room. His vision blurred from the impact, Shrew watched helplessly as Pachirisu combined the blood spills and started drawing something with the blood, ignoring Krane, who was crawling away from Pachirisu and towards Shrew.

"It's okay," the voice said again. "But you have to get out now. Take Quill, Bagon and Krane with you and run – the coast is clear, but it won't be for long!"

Pachirisu finished drawing whatever symbol he was trying to create, causing sparkling in the air above the symbol. And just like that, a sudden vortex appeared in the air, like a smaller version of the one he had seen in the lower floor, surrounded by the creepy letter Pokémon. The vortex grew bigger as Pachirisu cackled maniacally and watched it.

Shrew gestured at Quill, Bagon and Krane, who got the hint and started running after him, Bagon holding her shoulder and grimacing as she ran, but otherwise seeming okay. The group ran out of the room, Shrew leading the way and the others blindly following him as Shrew took several turns and ran past many doors and corridors before finally finding the one he was looking for. All four of them ran into the room and Krane locked the door behind him.

The room turned out to be a laboratory, everything in pristine shape and untouched.

"Hhh..." Krane panted. "How did you... know where... to find this lab?"

"A voice in my head told me," Shrew said bluntly as he walked over to Bagon. "Are you okay?"

"It'll heal," Bagon grunted. "Couldn't believe Pachirisu did that to me! We'd known each other for, like, almost a day. That traitorous bastard – what was he talking about anyway? I didn't get even half of that!"

"Can't say I did either," Shrew muttered. "Krane!" he said suddenly, and Krane flinched. "Fix Bagon's shoulder up, will you? And then tell us what just happened over there?"

Shrew realized something. He looked around the room, shaking is head wildly in every direction, but there was no one besides them around.

"Or maybe you could tell us, mystery voice? !" Shrew said as loudly as he dared, not wanting to alert Pachirisu. "Are you watching us?"

"Yes."

Shrew flinched and shuddered – he could never get used to that.

"Well?"

"There's fairly little time, and I don't know if you'd believe me anyway. I believe Pachirisu is working with the same being who sent all these monsters here, and it opened a portal to the place where they came from: the Distortion World."

"Distortion World?" Shrew repeated, looking at the others in the room.

Quill and Bagon seemed as clueless as Shrew was. Krane's interest was piqued and he lifted his head up after successfully bandaging Bagon's wound. However, before Shrew could ask him anything, he remembered something.

"Those audio logs!" he told Quill. "Do you remember anything about them? The ones made about the Griseous Orb!"

"Uh... yes," Quill said. "Well, something. They mentioned a 'Giratina', and I've heard that name before, I'm sure of it! It's just that... I haven't heard anything good about it. The administrator mentioned legends about it many times. But I didn't think that much of it."

"Arceus forgive us," Krane muttered, brushing his fingers across his lips and staring into emptiness. "Did they... they actually did it."

"Did what?" Shrew asked.

"The teleportation experiments here," Krane said feverishly, pacing around the room and talking to himself more than the others. "I heard rumors, but I never thought – those idiots! They actually opened a dimensional rift! That's where all those monsters came from! And any minute now, this floor will be filled with glitch Pokémon!"

"I think we saw those things," Bagon mumbled, fumbling around with her bandage. "You sure you put this thing right?" she asked Krane. "I don't want to see those things again, especially not while wounded!"

"And the Griseous Orb!" Krane rambled on. "They actually thought... why did we even accept that? Those asinine, callous, unforgivable... f**ks!"

"Thought what?" Shrew, Quill and Bagon asked simultaneously, but Krane just rambled incoherently, occasionally kicking a chair.

"I'll explain," the voice said. "But first you have to close that portal before it gets bigger and consumes this entire facility."

"How? !" Shrew squealed, Quill and Bagon watching him curiously as Krane paced around the room and rambled on.

"That's the most difficult part – but you're the only one who can! We'll wait for a while for Pachirisu and whatever he brings through the portal to go away, then I'll guide you safely to it. Shrew... you have to go through it."

"NO!" Shrew protested. "I don't care what they said in those logs or what those scientists did to me – I will not do their bidding!"

"You will not do it to them, but for all of us, all Pokémon worldwide, especially Quill... and yourself. You will not be alone – I'll guide you through the process the entire time."

"Like you're doing now?" Shrew asked glibly. "You can't actually be there in person with me? Just exactly who are you anyway?"

"A human. And your friend. And I'm sorry, but my presence is required elsewhere."

"If you're human, how can you do that thing you're doing now?" Shrew wondered.

"Is that the most important thing now?"

Shrew clenched his teeth. The voice had a point, but still... why did it have to be this way?

"Shrew?" Quill asked.

Shrew sighed.

"Krane, get working on Quill," Shrew ordered. "Bagon, I need you to keep watch here in case something happens. I know it' s a lot to ask, but-"

"No, I got it," Bagon said. "If those things get here and do something to the human, none of us will be cured. And I guess I kind of owe Quill for pulling me out of there, too."

Shrew patted the dragon-type on the shoulder. He then turned to look at Quill. Arceus, he wanted to survive this. To come back to find that Quill was fine and that there was a way to escape. Someone like her didn't deserve a fate like this.

"...I have to go out for a while," Shrew said, his mouth feeling dry and the words barely getting out of his throat. "But I'll be back – if it'll last more than... hey, voice! How long will I take?"

"I do not know, but don't expect to be here in a matter of minutes. We're talking at least several hours here."

Shrew sighed again. "If I'm not here in two hours, start looking for the remaining Pokémon in this floor – if we're lucky, Pachirisu and whatever else came out of that portal went searching for the Griseous Orb, so it should be clear again. If I take more than three hours, take all the Pokémon with a pulse and get them and yourselves out of here! Understood?"

Quill stared at Shrew. "Where are you going, then?"

"Just heading out for a spin," Shrew hemmed. "Don't worry about me – I have a pl... well, the voice in my head has a plan."

"Are you sure you're all right?" Quill asked. "This whole voice business just doesn't make sense to me – didn't the Griseous Orb do this to you before?"

"This is different," Shrew insisted. "I'm just going to make sure no more monsters get through any portals or whatnot. I... I don't even know what's going on. Krane, if you know better, explain the situation to her. I'm off."

Quill protested weakly, but couldn't do much as Krane prepared to run tests on her, taking her to another area of the lab. Though Shrew watched this in concern, he shook the feeling of dread off and headed for the door. Bagon opened it for him, and as Shrew looked back, waved her tiny paw at him one last time before closing the door and locking it again.

The voice gave Shrew guidance as he ran at breathtaking speed across the halls, occasionally taking a shortcut through large holes in the walls. Whatever creature had caused them, Shrew wanted nothing to do with it. He dashed through labs, offices and storage rooms through more holes and conveniently opened doors, finally making his way back to the office they had been in before.

The portal was now a glowing, dark purple spinning vortex placed hovering vertically in the air. The office had been torn apart by whatever had come through it, everything wooden now just a pile of splinters while most papers had been shredded and large pieces of the walls and ceiling had been either blown apart or at least singed.

Very close to the portal, Shrew noticed something on the floor that wasn't there before – a hi-tech breathing apparatus built exactly for a Pokémon his size. Shrew remembered that they had been mentioned on the logs, so without having to be told, Shrew put the rebreather on and faced the portal.

"Go now. You can do it, Shrew! It'll be all right – we'll meet on the other side! Go!"

Chanting the words he had heard from the audio logs to himself and projecting the image of Quill to his head, Shrew took a deep breath and jumped into the vortex.

~o~O~o~

Wes, Rosa, Nate, Jasmine, Bianca, Cal, Matthews and the frightened scientist had locked themselves up in a computer room.

Seated in one of the chairs, Wes was slowly recovering from his shock treatment, though Bianca's constant questions about his health and Jasmine attempting to cheer him up with stories about how she got her Steelix probably hindered it more than helped. About half and hour had passed since the crew rescued Nate, and while Team Rocket's sounds were heard from the vicinity, they hadn't even tried to break into the room, but had apparently fled for unknown reasons.

"...so I found myself bored with rock-types," Jasmine finished a long speech, inhaled and continued on: "Taking a year off from my gym leader duties was the only thing I could do – I was such a wreck at that point. One day, I managed to make Onix evolve after finding this weird item on the ground. I wanted to tests its strength and increase my own, so I signed up into this unit. Hearing that I was a gym leader and very good with tech, they took me in immediately, though if they had known how socially incompetent I was, they would have probably kicked me out way before basic training even started. Anyway..."

Wes was lucid enough to realize that he had never heard Jasmine talk that much during the... sheesh, it had only been a few hours since they arrived, hadn't it? How much was it anyway, six? Seven? But it already felt like he had been at Navel Rock for a week.

"Wow," Wes groaned. "Quite a life you'd had, Jas. Don't worry about the social part, though," he added with a grin. "People suck anyway, so the only one you have to prove anything to is yourself."

"Um... thanks," Jasmine said. "But I honestly wish I could be more like you."

"If you'd known me before, you wouldn't," Wes said. "The confidence will come, Jas – your accomplishments speak for themselves. Maybe it won't happen soon, or maybe it will – but you have to make that happen, or else what's the point?"

"Isn't that inspirational of you," Bianca remarked after she finished listening on Wes' heart. "Well, your heart rate seems to have returned to normal and I treated the worst burns. Normally I'd say you'd have to stay in bed for about a day... but considering we have no beds here and everything's constantly trying to kill us, I guess I have to let you go."

Wes rolled his eyes at Bianca and slowly pulled himself off the chair and on his feet. Though it still hurt in the places Domino had shocked him and he hadn't quite regained his balance yet, Wes felt about as one could, considering his situation. Looking over at Nate, who Bianca had treated first and whom Rosa was now tending to, Wes believed it could be a lot worse. Apparently Domino hadn't had tortured him for long and didn't even use her electricity, but had applied pretty much every other type of pain there was.

"...the orb," Nate muttered after Rosa had forced him to down the contents of her water bottle. "...the Griseous Orb! Do you have it? Did you find it?"

Cal, who had picked up the Griseous Orb, showed it to Nate. Though it wasn't glowing at the moment, it was still a sight to behold as the light coming from the ceiling lamps reflected from its golden surface. Nate's jaw dropped when he saw it.

"Then... our mission is complete," he grunted. "We can... get back home. How's everyone else?"

"Two from our team are down," Matthews said, speaking out loud properly for the first time, having stood up without anyone noticing. "And I heard one from this team was KIA and another turned traitor."

"Hey, they still haven't confirmed that!" Bianca argued. "Amarillo, I mean, Yellow, I guess, can still... I mean, maybe it was a misunderstanding..."

"Well, Yellow hasn't leaked our movements to Team Rocket, that's for sure," Wes pondered, only now having time to actually think about the issue. "So... is there some third party that's also in on this?"

"You!" Nate grunted suddenly, moving to face Wes. Nate couldn't see out of his other eye and his face had been quite bloodied and battered, but he could still muster up a smile. "You're the one I have to thank for saving me... with that idiotic plan."

"We tried to tell him that," Rosa said, though she smiled as well. "He could have gotten killed – but damn, it paid off in the end."

"Yeah," Nate said, "Th-"

"Nate, save your strength, I'll do the talking!" Rosa hushed. "Wes, thank you. For both of us. I mean, when you first came on board the sub, I thought you were-"

"You were probably right," Wes said and waved the compliment away. "It's okay. At least now we can report to Hilda."

Wes turned on his Xtransceiver and contacted Hilda. Soon enough, she responded, sounding okay, but extremely tired:

"Hilda here. What's your..." she stopped to yawn. "...status."

"I think we can forget the formalities," Wes said cheekily. "We're all right down here, but what about you?"

"Just tired. And bored. You guys get to have all the fun."

"Kind of subjective, that," Wes said with a cringe. "Anyway, not only do we have the Griseous Orb now, but guess who we found in the, uh, vicinity. It's Nate and, um... Matthews! I wouldn't say they're okay, but they're alive and in one piece."

Wes heard Hilda exhale deep. "Fantastic. Sorry, I wish I could be more excited now, but we have to move this along. Only about three hours left until this place is bombed to bits."

"I remember," Wes snapped – in truth, it came and went. Every time he tried to focus on something, he was forced to remember that their deadline was at 5 AM.

And for Kami's sake, it's only been about four hours? It felt like an eternity.

"I was hoping you'd contact Marshal, or Lance directly," Wes said quickly. "Buy more time."

"I already did that," Hilda said in anguished voice. "They said they had to talk it over during an emergency meeting."

"That never means anything good," Wes muttered. "Right, there's still some Team Rocket between us, including this one basketcase. She looks all short and harmless, but for the sake of all that is good and beautiful, do not let her get close to you. Someone called Domino. Oh, and a frickin' skeleton monster who can probably destroy you just by being close by."

"...are you making that up, Wes?"

"I wish," Wes grumbled. "Not only that, but there's three badly wounded people here and I almost got electrocuted, so I think we're gonna need backup."

"Backup? There's only two of us!"

"Yeah, I know," Wes said. "I wouldn't be asking otherwise, but we can't get to the rendezvous point in that time limit... scratch that, I don't know if we'll make it at all."

"Alright then, Wes," Hilda said flatly, her breathing audible even to the other end. "I guess it'll have to be me, then. Hilbert can stay with Kaminko."

"Wha... can't you both come?" Wes wondered. "I know you're good, but I don't want you to go through all that alone. Just leave that guy waiting!"

"If he dies, the mission fails. And besides, I'm not sure how much help Hilbert can be right now."

"Is he hurt?"

"He's sleeping. Hil, get up! Go check up the upper entrance again, try to see if there's anyone around. Wes, I'm coming. You try to come and meet me halfway though... say at the tram station on this side?"

"Okay, but watch yourself!" Wes said and closed his Xtransceiver.

Before Wes could explain his plan to the others, he heard a startled scream. Bianca had finished checking up on Matthews again before wandering about the room in search of something. Wes walked over to her, cringing as he saw what Bianca had been startled by: the bodies five scientists had been hidden behind some crates. Getting over her shock, Bianca leaned close to them and investigated.

"This is... odd," she said, oddly un-cheerfully. "They... they've also been shot by the stunning weapons... the ones we use."

"Well, Team Rocket took your Pokémon, right?" Rosa asked Nate. "Did they take your weapons as well and then used them against civilians?"

Nate didn't answer – instead, he exhaled and looked away from a confused Rosa. Matthews, who had observed the scene from a corner, burst into laughter while the wounded scientists who had been quiet so far started rambling in fear.

"Oh no," he sputtered. "It was... it was true! You aren't here to rescue us! You were told to silence us all! To eliminate all witnesses!"

"Of course we weren't!" Rosa argued and turned to look at Nate. "Tell him that we weren't!"

Nate closed his good eye while Matthews laughed even louder, finally stepping away from the corner.

"They really don't know?" he asked Nate. "I thought you said the Alpha team already knew about all this!"

"All what?" Rosa asked Nate, ignoring Matthews.

Nate sighed and opened his eye again – only it was damp and red this time.

"We... we got..." Nate gulped and closed his eyes again, cringing as he spoke. "We got orders from high command. As soon as we had managed to get in, Lance c-contacted me," he said in trembling voice. "He said we shouldn't leave any witnesses behind. I argued against it... but he told me that if word got out what happened here, there would be riots in the streets... panic... he told me that y-you guys already knew and had me tell that to the others as well..."

Bianca covered her mouth with her hands, Jasmine clenched her fists and Rosa stared at Nate in absolute disbelief. Cal didn't seem too surprised – and neither was Wes. He had anticipated this ever since he got the mysterious call. Even sooner – this wouldn't the first time the Committee would do something like this. But he had no idea others knew already.

"Well we didn't know!" Rosa yelled as she shook Nate roughly. "Nobody told us anything! And we would have refused anyway! T-tell me you refused... please!"

"That pile of bodies says different," Cal said evenly as he lit a yet another cigarette – Wes must have seen him smoke ten of those already.

"Oh, don't worry, Rosa, he did," Matthews smirked. "Fortunately the rest of us talked some sense into him. We didn't have to like it – not that it stopped some – but all of us, including him, agreed in the end: a couple of dozens worth of people versus potentially hundreds of thousand lost in ensuing riots, maybe even millions if there's a civil war."

"Over this?" Wes huffed. "People are apathetic enough as it is – sure, I'm not saying there wouldn't be riots, but sheesh, you'll go pretty far to justify your actions, huh?"

Matthews ignored Wes, instead preferring to continue ranting:

"Even if some of you don't know this," he said, "one of you has to. Don't tell me Lance never contacted you at any point during all this?"

"Rosa," Jasmine said, her voice trembling a little, "didn't Hilda talk with Lance back in the lobby?"

"Well, yeah, but," Rosa muttered. "I mean... even then, she wouldn't do anything like that, and she certainly would have told us."

"It doesn't really matter," Matthews muttered. "You know now, and that's the gist of it... we just have to deal with this as we go!"

Suddenly, without warning, Matthews pulled something sharp off his belt and threw it towards the frightened scientist. The throwing knife floored the scientist immediately, and there was no reason to check for any vitals.

Wes was the first to react as he grabbed Matthews by his collar and slammed him against a cupboard. Matthews didn't shout or even act surprised at this – he just glared at Wes almost insanely.

"Figured you'd be next?" Matthews asked. "We can't have outsiders knowing about this – I don't care what did for Nate or any of us. The orders say you die, and we will obey!"

Cal had his energy weapon raised, but hesitated to pull the trigger when Wes was so close. Matthews managed to pull another throwing knife and brought it close to Wes, but Wes managed to grab his arm and twist his arm back towards him. The extended knife hit Matthews square in the throat, and soon he collapsed on the floor just like the scientist had.

There was a ghostly silence as Wes, Rosa, Nate, Cal, Jasmine and Bianca stared at Matthews' body, Wes shaking all over.

"Nate," he asked quietly, "do you agree with him?"

"...no," Nate mumbled. "I... I didn't want to do it in the first place..."

"You were in command!" Rosa yelled and didn't hesitate to slap Nate across the face, ignoring his injuries. "How were you forced to do anything? !"

"The others never respected me," Nate mumbled, tears running down from his good eye. "I couldn't control them! I had no choice in the matter, so I went along with it. We thought Cal and Bianca had been lost already, so we were desperate – and Team Rocket was right on our coattails, along with something even worse."

"Idiot!" Rosa seethed and was about to slap Nate again, but Bianca brought her arm down.

"Enough!" she cried out. "We can deal with this later – now we have less than three hours to get out of here! We have to go meet Hilda!"

"Bianca's right," Wes said as he averted his gaze from Matthews. "We might take a while, so we should go as soon as possible. And on top of Team Rocket and those 'glitches', we have to deal with this 'Yellow'... though just suddenly running into her isn't very like-"

In a snap, Yellow teleported in the middle of the computer room, prompting more surprised screams from Bianca and especially Wes, who almost blacked out again. Yellow looked around her, spotted Wes and didn't waste time walking towards him.

"We have to hurry," Yellow said. "I know it's still a few hours until the deadline, but we might not make it before that. This building might collapse in less than an hour!"

"Hold it!" Rosa shouted. "Hilda told us that you've spied on us. Did you just... use those 'psychic powers' Hilda mentioned?"

"She's not a spy," Cal said.

Everyone turned to look at him, then back at Yellow, who just stood in the middle of everyone calmly. Even though everyone in the room towered over her, no one dared to even try to attack her.

"Uh... Cal?" Wes asked. "Come again?"

"Yeah, sorry, I lied before," Cal said quickly. "I couldn't speak freely until it was necessary. I can vouch for her, and you all can vouch for me, I'm sure."

"We infiltrated your unit because we had to," Yellow explained. "We can't let anyone, Team Rocket or you superiors, get their hands on the Griseous Orb. I'm sorry for the deception, but by now, I'm sure you all know that your superiors haven't been entirely honest with you, either."

Wes looked at Yellow apprehensively.

"How do we know you're not lying?" Wes asked. "This is a trap, isn't it?"

Yellow sighed, and before Wes could stop it, she marched up to him, closed her eyes and placed her hand on his head. Rosa raised her blaster, but Cal motioned her to stand down.

A second later, Yellow pulled her hand away while Wes collapsed on his knees, hands on the floor, shaking and panting.

"Wes?" Jasmine asked. "Is everything-?"

"Yes," Wes panted, eyes wide and face covered in sweat. "Yes, I'm fine, and... she's telling the truth. For now, anyway."

Rosa, Bianca and Jasmine glanced at each other warily while Nate, too weak to resist, just stared at Yellow.

"Good," Yellow said and crossed her arms as she spoke confidently and quickly. "Those 'glitch' monsters are coming here through portals. There's one in the lowest floor of this building, and it's rapidly growing, weakening this place's structural integrity. Worse yet, another portal was just opened not too long ago at the other end of the complex. That's why this place is falling apart, which is also why the Rockets left."

"To fix all this," Cal said, "someone has to go through a portal and to the other side, the Distortion World, and close the portal, then hurry back before they get stuck there."

Cal was staring at Wes the whole time, as was Yellow. One by one, the others turned to look at him as well, while Wes sputtered in disbelief.

"M-me?" he squeaked. "I... no! Why the hell me?"

"I can't do it on my own," Yellow said. "I'll go with you, but you're the only one here with a team of six Pokémon, enough experience and a condition good enough to get there and out in one piece. And I can only take one with me."

"Why? !" Wes almost shouted.

"Yellow can open a weak, temporary portal," Cal explained, him and Yellow in some bizarre sync. "Only one person can go through, though she's small enough to go with you and you can still count as one person as far as that's concerned. Besides, you can't breathe there, so Yellow has to create a field that can only fit two people anyways."

"Well, that's great, why don't you go then, Cal? !" Wes snapped. "You're friends with this one, aren't you? You two take care of that while I lead the others to safety."

"Someone has to take care of the Griseous Orb," Yellow said. "Not only does he have only one Pokémon, but he isn't exactly qualified for these situations."

"And I am? !" Wes wondered.

"This'll be a first to you," Yellow smiled, "but I was able to read you before. I know you can do it, even if you don't – you're meant to do something great."

Wes sighed. "I only came here to get paid," he lamented. "Not to be 'great'."

"Please," Yellow said. "I can't force you to do it. This has to be voluntary."

"Even if we weren't close to collapsing," Cal said, "there's no way we can get this thing done before the time limit. Once you're done with that, you'll come out from the other end of this facility – which means there'll be time to actually save some hostages – unless Nate here feels differently," he added scathingly.

Nate groaned. "I don't," he muttered.

Wes bit his lip and looked at Yellow. There was no reason to doubt her – or him, possibly. Wes didn't know how, but through some method, Yellow had shared her own thoughts, feelings and memories with him. Wes couldn't get a clear picture of them, but knew enough that she wouldn't back down no matter what.

And how many people can say they've visited another dimension?

Well, darn.

Wes nodded quickly. "Okay, fine. I'm game. What do we do?"

"You don't have to do anything yet except carry something for me," Yellow said and smiled reassuringly. "Leave it to me. First, we'll need some of the explosives."

Cal opened the surprisingly large bag he had hefted around and pulled a smaller bag out of it, giving it to Wes for holding. Cal then looked at Nate, wordlessly managing to make him realize what he was after, and Nate gave a small case that the Rockets hadn't bothered taking from him.

"The detonators are there," Nate mumbled. "Well, half of them... Matthews has the other case."

"Half is all they need," Cal explained. "We might still have to use the other half."

Yellow let out her Pokémon, the Furret. Scratching it behind the ear, she talked to it softly:

"I'm sorry I have to do this. But we need your help."

Furret just nodded and happily gave one of its paws for Yellow to hold. Yellow pulled a small knife from her belt and made a slight cut in Furret's hand, and the Furret helpfully dripped some of its blood on the floor. Wes was about to ask about it, but Yellow then hovered her hands above the cut on Furret's paw. What followed was a mystical glow, and just like that, the cut was completely healed.

"Thank you," Yellow told Furret and returned it, then pocketed the Poké Ball. "After this, I'll take you back to Johto, I promise."

Everyone just stared in complete bewilderment when Yellow used the knife on her own hand next – and without hesitation, made a small cut. Shaking her hand a bit, Yellow let several drops of her blood fall on the floor on top of Furret's blood. When she was done, she didn't heal her hand like Furret did, but instead put a band-aid on the wound and wrapped a bandage around her hand.

"You need to leave now," Yellow told the others in the room. "Cal and Jasmine, I'd like you to lead the way. Bianca can come next, then Rosa and Nate – she probably has to help Nate walk."

"Understood," Cal said, the two talking coldly professionally. "Be careful."

"We will," Yellow said.

The others still hadn't realized what was going on, but when Cal opened the door and checked his surroundings, Rosa was the first to recover, swinging Nate's hand over her shoulder and helping him walk to the door. Bianca and Jasmine followed, both waving at Wes.

"We'll meet again, I promise!" Bianca said.

"...good luck," Jasmine whispered.

Wes could just gulp and nod at both of them before eventually snapping out of it and giving Jasmine the Xtransceiver he got from Hilda, figuring it wouldn't be of much use in an alternate dimension. Soon enough, the unit had walked away and Wes stayed at Yellow's side, watching her use the combined blood to draw a strange symbol on the floor. Then, she closed her eyes and hovered her hands above the symbol for a while. Finally, she pushed the palms of her hands together.

A burst of electricity erupted from Yellow's hands and collided with the symbol, creating a small, crackling purple vortex into the air. It floated vertically above the symbol, ready to suck whatever walked through it into a weird bizarro dimension.

Can I still back down?

Yellow took the explosives bag from Wes and swung them over her shoulder.

"One more thing," she said, "like I said before, we need to go two together, as the portal will only take one person at a time. So, I need you to... kneel."

Wes sighed, but understood. He knelt and allowed Yellow to climb on his back. This bothered him surprisingly little, as she was very light, but something about the situation made Wes deeply uncomfortable.

"Now go!" Yellow shouted. "It'll only stay open for a little while. It's okay – nothing will happen to you as long as you stay close to me!"

Staring at the vortex, Wes' heart raced. Seeing the portal crackle and start slowly shrinking, Wes took a deep breath and ran straight through it just as it closed behind him, suddenly feeling himself pulled into the air and seeing nothing but a bright flash of light.

~o~O~o~

When Wes opened his eyes again, he had to blink several times before he concluded that he wasn't dreaming.

The first thing he deduced that he was standing on a rust-colored island of landmass that seemingly floated in the 'air', or whatever the Distortion World was. The 'sky' above and around them was dark blue, and as Wes looked down, he soon regretted it as he saw the island floating well an enormous whirlpool made of purple clouds.

There were similar islands above and below them, but nothing made sense in the way Wes understood the word. Some islands were, from their perspective, upside down, with oddly shaped trees growing 'down' from them, while others seemed to be flipped vertically. On an island not too far from their location, a waterfall was crashing up, connecting to another island.

Basically, the whole dark world around them looked like one of the paintings Wes had stolen once. What was the name of the guy who made it? D.C. Douglas?

Wes only half-realized that Yellow had let go of him and had dropped down next to him.

"We have to be close to each other at all times," Yellow warned. "I'm projecting a protective field around us, but if you wander away from it, you'll suffocate – they say humans can't breathe here. I'm not about to test that theory."

"Test... you haven't been here before?" Wes gasped, looking at the bizarre things all around him.

"As far as we know, we're the first human beings here," Yellow muttered. "I know it's a lot to take in-"

"YOU THINK? !"

"-but we have to keep moving," Yellow finished calmly. "Time is said to flow differently here, but now that two portals have been opened, that may no longer be the case."

Wes immediately started walking as Yellow did so, walking besides her at all times, their arms almost touching as they walked – Wes soon realized that they were walking on a 'wall' of land, but hadn't noticed any shifts in gravity or even perspective – everything looked just as messed up wherever he looked.

"Yellow..." Wes whispered as he stared around him, trying to make sense of it all while still making sure to stay close to Yellow, who seemed to know where she was going. "...I know we're in the Distortion World, but... where is the Distortion World? What is the Distortion World?"

"A borderworld ruled by Giratina which crosses through the infinite dimensions as far as I understand," Yellow said, keeping her eyes on the path. "I only know of papers written by scholars in Sinnoh, the only known place where a portal has existed."

"Oh..."

That hadn't answered Wes' question. But he had another one in mind which he wasn't sure how to phrase.

"Um, Yellow," he said carefully. "It's kinda funny... when I first saw you, I wasn't sure if you were a boy or a girl. Weird, huh? I mean, I know it's kind o' personal, but, uh, I still don't really know... of course, if you don't want to tell me..."

Yellow glanced at Wes over her shoulder, though she was fortunately smiling.

"I was born a girl," Yellow explained, "but I never really felt like one. I dressed as a boy initially as a disguise, but I found myself doing it just because I liked it. But I never really considered myself a man either. So, I guess I don't really identify as either."

"Oh, that's interesting," Wes remarked. "I never knew people like that – you must have lived quite a life if you had to disguise yourself, though."

"It's a long story," Yellow mused. "But to give you the cliff notes, I'm not just here to help you save the hostages and get the Griseous Orb – I also want to find out what happened to the one who helped me on my path, a trainer unlike any other – the former Champion of Kanto and Johto."

"Red," Wes muttered.

"Yes," Yellow said quietly. "I enjoy talking to you, Wes."

"Oh... well, I-"

"But if you don't mind, please be quiet for a while – I have to guide someone here."

Wes wondered what that meant, but didn't say a word – even with his head full of questions and this person leading him to a dangerous situation, he felt compelled to respect their wishes. Yellow closed their eyes and placed their fingers on their forehead.

~o~O~o~

In a different part of the Distortion World...

As per his latest instruction, Shrew kept running on a narrow piece of land with a seemingly infinite length. Coming to the Distortion World was a shock at first, until Shrew realized he had seen the place before – in dreamlike hallucinations that he barely remembered, but still. He tried not look down at the infinitely spinning whirlpools or even pay attention to his surroundings. The Distortion World seemed to be completely void of life at the moment, Shrew only hearing the sounds of his footsteps as he ran.

Finally, after a long pause, he heard the voice in his head again – as odd as it felt, it started to be almost comforting:

"Sorry for the delay Shrew. You should be meeting me any moment now. Don't be alarmed, though: I brought someone else with me."

Shrew stopped running and stood on its hind legs, sniffing the air and trying to see where these mysterious people were. But even though the 'road' he walked on stretched as far as Shrew could see, the humans were nowhere in sight.

"You should be right next to me now – I can sense you. Are you hiding somewhere?"

Shrew looked around him, but still no one in sight – however, he could hear the faint sound of footsteps close by. It almost sounded like they were coming from beneath his feet...

Shrew finally looked down – there were island below him too, some smaller ones visibly having surfaces on both sides, with trees and large rocks clearly visible. Taking a deep breath, Shrew slowly inched himself over the edge of the strip of land he was on.

Shrew's eyes were wide when he didn't fall off the edge, but instead found himself suddenly on the other side of landmass he was on, now seeing two humans, a small blonde one and a... large one who was either blonde or had light brown hair, Shrew couldn't tell. Apparently the floating 'islands' of land had some sort of gravity... the whole thing made Shrew's head hurt.

"You made it!" the smaller human praised Shrew, who immediately recognized the voice – it was his mysterious benefactor. "I'm proud of you, Shrew. I'm Yellow, and this is Wes – I'll be needing both of your help to close that portal."

"How does that Sandshrew survive here?" the larger human, 'Wes', wondered. "Is a rebreather really all you need?"

"No," 'Yellow' said. "This Sandshrew has had experiments done to it with the exact purpose of sending it to the Distortion World – presumably to deliver the Griseous Orb and strike some kind of 'deal' with the beast of the Distortion World."

Getting a better look of the 'Wes' human, Shrew's eyes narrowed and he extended his claws involuntarily – he had seen this human before: in the tram tunnel. He was fighting Team Rocket, and was the first to charge at the Griseous Orb once Shrew had tossed it.

"Calm down, Shrew," Yellow said, immediately noticing Shrew's distress. "Wes, do you remember this Pokémon?"

Wes looked down at the little ground-type – Shrew felt the urge to sink his claws into his legs. Finally, Wes nodded before turning to Yellow.

"Oh, right," he said, smiling obnoxiously, "he's the one who was carrying the orb. We wouldn't have gotten it without you, little guy – thanks!"

"I bet it's a real comfort for every Pokémon who got killed because of that," Shrew hissed.

But Wes just stared at the little Pokémon – without a translating device, all he heard were hisses, squeaks and squawks. He looked at Yellow in confusion, while Yellow just smiled.

"You can trust him," Yellow assured Shrew. "I know it will take a while, but you're in this together. Unfortunately, he can't understand you."

"Wait – you can? !" Wes yelled, pointing at Yellow. "That's... I mean, I would give my left hand for that kind of ability! Holy crap, what can't you do with your powers?"

"You can really understand me?" Shrew asked – the 'Yellow' human wasn't wearing a translator device either.

"Of course," Yellow smiled at Shrew, then turned to Wes. "There are limitations, just like with everything else. I can't predict what's going to happen, even though some psychics can, and there are limitations to my teleporting ability. That, and I can't keep using my powers infinitely – they use up quite a bit of my energy."

Shrew looked at the human – Yellow was smiling, but fairly pale as well. Was it natural for them, or was using those powers taking a toll? Shrew knew that Pokémon with special powers needed to recharge their energy supplies more often than Pokémon using physical attacks, though the latter made up for it by placing themselves in greater risk when attacking.

Wes seemed to be thinking the same, too.

"You OK?" he asked Yellow. "I wish I had the common sense to bring like a water bottle or even a Ragecandybar in here, but no, this would only take a few hours, they said."

"Yes, I'm fine, thanks," Yellow assured. "But we should keep moving."

Shrew and Wes glanced at each other warily, but followed Yellow's lead anyway.

The rest of the trip passed in almost complete silence, Yellow occasionally giving the two instructions. Wes made sure to walk close to Yellow – to stay in the confines of the energy shield, no doubt.

So if he tries something, all I have to do is give him a little push.

As they came across one of the strange waterfalls that seemed to flow upwards that could also be seen in a distance, Yellow explained how to get past it by merely walking into it. And indeed, they grabbed Shrew under their arm, and together with Wes, walked directly into the waterfall. The group was hurled up on the upper island the waterfall connected to, mostly soaked but more concerned about the physical impossibility of what had just happened.

But there was little time to question it, so as Yellow let Shrew down, the trio kept walking and walking until Yellow finally stopped. And Shrew immediately saw why:

It was a huge ball of light, probably over fifty feet in both height and diameter, with hundreds of those little, letter-shaped Pokémon orbiting it. Every once in a while, they emitted a strange, high-pitched sound as if they were all talking in unison:

"Uuuuuuunoooooown~".

"We found it," Yellow said. "Now we have to break through their defenses. Those Pokémon there are Unown. They're extremely weak individually, but the more of them gather in the same place, the more psychic energy they can use. However, I'm fairly sure they're using it all to keep the portal steady."

"That's a portal? !" Wes exclaimed – Shrew wondered why he kept being surprised by these things. "So... all those things we saw earlier, like that not-Kabutops... they came through this?"

"Yes," Yellow said as she observed the portal. "It was most likely created by accident by the scientists and those glitch Pokémon took advantage of its size and power by pouring through in search of the Griseous Orb. They're not the finest of minions, however, and their only tactic seems to be cleansing the place of all life before going to look for the artifact."

"So... can something even worse come through the portal?" Wes asked, gulping nervously.

"Not through this portal," Yellow said, sounding almost fascinated by it. "It's impressive, but far more energy is needed – according to the theories I've read, the mass of the Pokémon coming through is decisive. Furthermore, portals don't usually last very long, which is why the Unown need to hold it together."

"There's a similar one on the other side, too," Shrew said quietly.

Wes just looked confused, but Yellow nodded. "Yes, I thought so, too. Now that so many of them have gotten through, I'm afraid we'll be seeing more of these in the coming months. Smaller than this, most likely, but still..."

"OK, I get it, portals bad," Wes babbled. "But if the Unown are protecting it, how are we going to break through if we can't get past our own shield?"

"Leave it to me," Yellow said. "I can surround this whole area within a hundred feet of myself in a shield, but I can only hold it steady for five minutes."

Wes looked like he was about to argue, but Yellow determinedly put the explosives bag down on the 'ground' (or whatever it was) and took the bomb out – to Shrew, it only looked like a box with wires and crap coming out of it. For a split second, Shrew thought he saw something else in the bag, but Yellow quickly closed it again and swung it over their shoulder.

"Come over here, Shrew," Yellow said.

Shrew obeyed, not quite sure why, while Wes stood next to Yellow, looking dumbfounded. Yellow then opened a small metal case that contained more strange wire things.

"I know this looks complicated," Yellow said calmly, "but this thing was set before the team left, so the rest is very easy to do – but because we don't have much time anyway..."

Yellow put their hand on Shrew's head, and within a few seconds, Shrew saw himself arming the bomb in his mind's eye. When Yellow took their hand off, they also looked out of breath and even paler than before.

"I got it," Shrew said weakly.

"Why do we have to have the Sandshrew do it?" Wes wondered. "I know that type of bomb, I can arm it without you putting any more weird hoodoo in my head."

"You can't break through the Unown's shield," Yellow explained, "but together with your Pokémon, you can weaken it enough to create a hole large enough for Shrew to get through. Are you okay with this, Shrew?"

Shrew nodded – not because he actually was okay with the thing at all... but else was there to do? Shrew understood the risk, he knew there was a possibility he'd never get back to his own world, back to meet Quill and lead the Pokémon in the victory. But the least he could do was to try and give them the chance.

"If we don't do this, Navel Rock will crumble down and there won't be a job left for the bombers," Yellow said. "Are you both ready?"

Shrew nodded again. He looked at Wes – there was no way he trusted this human to cover for him. He was a Pokémon Trainer – to him, Pokémon mattered as much as the weapon in his holster. But at least he had as much reason to close that portal as Shrew did – that'd have to do.

Finally, after gazing at the portal for the longest time, Wes nodded too.

"Good," Yellow said. "I'm raising the shield – you'll have about five minutes to get through the barrier once I do so. Or at least I hope so, anyway," Yellow added.

Not giving the others any more time, Yellow closed their eyes and raised their hands in the air. Nothing seemed to happen at first – but then, looking closely, Shrew noticed the light from the portal reflecting off something invisible that had surrounded the entire area. Wes and Shrew glanced at each other and nodded.

Wes opened four Poké Balls on his belt, sending out a Zebstrika, Ninetales, Espeon and Umbreon. Shrew prepared to fight alongside them, and Wes was expertly giving orders, telling Umbreon to charge and keeping the others held back, ordering them to use their special attacks instead. Shrew joined Umbreon, and wordlessly, they both started hitting the Unown from different sides of the portal, Shrew having to jump up every time to do so. Every attack seemed to bounce back from an invisible wall, but Shrew persisted anyway, using his claws, his tail and even his head in trying to break through.

Wes' positioned his Pokémon to attack from three different sides, using their electricity, fire and psychic beams of energy in sync. These attacks bounced back too, but the Unown started spinning even faster. Were they forced to ante up and work harder in sustaining the barrier?

Shrew stopped hitting the portal for a while when he spotted something: Yellow, who had started out standing up, was now on their knees, sweating and muttering something to themselves, hands still raised. Shrew quickly ran to them.

"Yellow!" Shrew yelled over the sounds of attacks and Wes running around, shouting orders, somehow managing to keep up with the attacks of all four of his Pokémon. "Yellow, are you all right?"

Yellow stopped whispering for a moment and opened their eyes to look at Shrew – either they were sweating so much that it had dripped on their eyes, or...

"Keep going, Shrew," they whispered so weakly that Shrew was startled. "Don't worry about me, just keep doing what you're doing. Soon you'll be free."

Shrew nodded, grabbed the bomb and the detonators from Yellow's side and dragged them closer to the portal. Curling up into a ball, Shrew attempted to use Rollout against the barrier, and while he felt like he hit something every time, nothing seemed to change – until yet another voice spoke in his head. Three in one day – what are the odds?

"Stop this," the voice said in a high-pitched, whispering tone. "You have intruded into our world."

"And you did that to us," Shrew grumbled and struck the barrier again with his claws, deciding not to buy into any more crap from disembodied voices – though he couldn't help to shake the feeling that the eye of every Unown around the portal was turned at him.

"We're only reclaiming what was once ours. Lord Giratina needs to return. It is for the good of all Pokémon."

Shrew stopped hitting the barrier for a moment. That was enough to attract the attention of someone above him:

"What're you doin', little guy? You okay in there?"

Shrew looked up – Wes had jumped on a Pidgeot and was now circling above the portal, having his Pidgeot attack it from above and even shooting at it six times with his remaining revolver. When it run out of bullets, Wes even threw the gun at the barrier, obviously doing nothing.

"You should understand this, Shrew. You desire a world free of humans just like us. Only we can give it to you – just stop struggling. Soon it doesn't matter whether you're a Pokémon from the Distortion World or any other – all will become one when the worlds collide."

Shrew heard a Pokémon shriek. The Unown had apparently fought back and used a psychic attack against one of the Pokémon, spinning even faster now. Espeon fell down, and Wes immediately told his Pidgeot to land, jumped off the bird Pokémon's back and landed next to it, checking its pulse. Sighing, Wes returned it to its ball.

Then, Wes made some kind of battle roar Shrew never believed a human could emit and charged at the barrier himself, attempting to punch it only to be knocked back on his ass. Shrew was about to run at him, but Wes got up again and charged again, this time kicking it, throwing miscellaneous items at it and even taking his coat off and whacking the barrier with it, only to have another psychic shock rip it to shreds.

For a moment, Wes looked horrified to see his coat being turned into a pile of fabric, but then he just smirked at Shrew.

"Did ya see that, Sandshrew?" he laughed. "Their weakness is coats! Too bad that was my only one – back to work now!"

And indeed, Wes went to punching and kicking at the portal, even throwing himself against it, while occasionally telling his Pokémon to move and attack a different point. Shrew then turned to look at Yellow, shocked to see their head hang and blood dripping out of their nose. Still, Yellow's hands were raised and the field seemed to hold.

~o~O~o~

Meanwhile, back at Navel Rock

A Team Rocket Grunt was on patrol around the tram tunnel in level B2 of the main part of the facility, ordered to report if he saw a tram approaching. What he wasn't warned about was a tall brown-haired girl running towards him and kicking him square in the chest and knocking him on his back. Another punch in the face later, the Rocket Grunt was out.

After finishing with the Rocket Grunt, Hilda sent out her Emboar in case of more idiots showed up and turned on her Xtransceiver.

"Hilda here, the coast is clear," she said quickly. "Where are you?"

"In the tram, coming your way," said Jasmine – Hilda was expecting to hear Wes. "Just a few more minutes."

Hilda kept her guard up, but didn't have to deal with more Rockets, and soon enough, the tram finally arrived, though with fewer people than Hilda would have hoped: only Rosa, a badly wounded Nate, Jasmine, Bianca and Cal were on board.

"Where's Wes?" Hilda wondered. "And that Matthews guy?"

"Is this really the right time?" Cal asked, showing Hilda the Griseous Orb, which had been inert for a long time. "We got what we came for. Matthews is dead, Wes is coming back soon, we'll tell you the rest later."

Hilda shrugged. "Fine, but no more sass from you – you're in my team now!"

Cal saluted mockingly, to which Hilda rolled her eyes. Together with her Emboar, Hilda led the way past the double doors and into the hallway filled with holes in the walls towards the elevator, the others following her as fast as they could, Bianca helping Rosa half-carry and half-drag Nate.

"Did you see any walking skeletons on your way here?" Jasmine huffed to Hilda as they jogged towards the elevator, unable to run with their load.

"Hey, you can talk!" Hilda said. "Is this the time for jokes, though?"

"I wasn't kidding."

"Huh... uh, no. Did see some really freaky things almost killing us and then a person who could teleport somehow."

As the group turned into the corridor leading to the elevators, a door near the end slammed open and three Rocket Grunts, along with several Koffing, Weezing, Zubat and Golbat stepped out.

"Clear the way!" Hilda yelled and didn't even stop running. "Emboar, Fire Blast!"

A 大-shaped blast of orange fire soon made its way through the corridor, singing the walls and forcing the Rockets to back into the room they came from, the flame brushing ones sleeve and knocking out a Golbat.

"Just focus on moving ahead!" Hilda yelled. "Emboar and I will protect you – we're almost at the elevators!"

What Hilda didn't expect was another door opening right next to her, two Koffing and a Weezing coming out of it. Emboar noticed them and charged at them while Cal raised his blaster.

"Explosion!" a Rocket yelled.

Emboar just managed to knock one of the Koffing back at the Rockets when all three poison-types exploded.

Hilda recovered a few seconds later, finding herself laying in the weirdest position on top of a pile of rubble. Her vision was blurry and she heard nothing but ringing, a huge chunk of the corridor having just been blown apart.

Emboar had absorbed the brunt of the attack, but Hilda's body still ached as she dragged herself halfway up, managing to move her arms at least. Emboar was unconscious in the doorway right next to the Weezing, so Hilda managed to return it to its Poké Ball. She then tried to look around her. Rosa and Nate were moving on the floor, Rosa having shielded Nate with her own body.

Idiot, Hilda thought. I don't think I ever taught her to do that.

Fortunately, Rosa was mostly fine, just covered in soot and ash all over. Looking through the new hole in the doorway, Hilda saw at least two of the Rockets and the two Koffing, also covered in soot and motionless on the floor, most likely unconscious, but Hilda didn't really care if they were dead at this point.

Bianca was moving too, but Hilda's heart skipped a beat when she saw her crouched over Jasmine, hands bloodied. Slowly, Hilda managed to pull herself up and limp at her. Seeing Hilda coming, Bianca turned to look at her and said something:

"...mine... nded... ake it..."

"What? !" Hilda shouted. "Speak up!"

"Jasmine is wounded!" Bianca yelled almost hysterically, tears flowing down her cheeks. "She'll live, but she needs help walking!"

"Okay!" Hilda shouted and shook her head, trying to get rid of the ringing. "So what's the problem? !"

Hilda was mystified as to why Bianca just sobbed as she went back to fixing Jasmine's leg. But then Hilda looked all over the room again and noticed someone else under a pile of rubble. Walking over to this person, Hilda felt nauseated when she saw the person's face sticking out of the rubble, the look of slight shock frozen on his face, a big wound on his head explaining the situation.

"Cal..." Hilda whispered.

That was the second person that day Hilda had lost – not just someone lost during the operation, but when Hilda was in charge. When she was leading them. Just as she had told them it would be okay. And this person she knew even less about than with Buck. At least she knew that Buck was from Sinnoh and had a brother in the Elite Four and a father who was a priest – whether they were actually close, she had no idea.

But who was Cal? Why had he joined the unit? What did he feel about things? Arceus only knew.

Looking around the room some more, Hilda noticed that the Griseous Orb had rolled into the room with the unconscious Rockets. And suddenly, Hilda spotted a Rocket Grunt crawling towards it – the one whose arm Emboar had burnt.

Hilda didn't hesitate as she walked into the room, kicked the Griseous Orb away from the grunt, as the grunt tried to raise his head, Hilda retorted with a swift and brutal kick to the face. Not bothering to find out how much her kick had damaged the grunt, Hilda walked over to the Griseous Orb and picked it up, finally seeing with her own eyes.

What an ugly piece of crap.

Hilda sighed.

"Everyone!" she yelled. "Let's get to the elevator! Rosa will help Nate and Bianca will help Jasmine. I'll take point! Let's move!"

~o~O~o~

Location: Distortion World

"I got it!" Wes yelled suddenly.

Stopping his futile attacks against the barrier for a second, Wes motioned his Pokémon to stop too and ran to Shrew.

"I can't believe we were so stupid!" he said, kneeling closer to Shrew. "We just need to make a small opening! So we all attack the same point at once – then I'll toss you and the bomb through that. Once you've armed the bomb, we attack again and you leap out! What do you say? Well, I guess nothing since you're a Pokémon, but that's what we're doing! Zebstrika, Ninetales, Umbreon, Pidgeot, come over here!"

The four remaining Pokémon gathered close to Wes, and he explained their plan to them. He looked back at Yellow, who was miraculously still holding the shield up, before returning to face his team.

"Got it?" he asked.

The Pokémon nodded and positioned themselves in a row, Wes standing behind them and Shrew following suit. Though he had no idea what Shrew felt about the plan, he picked the Pokémon up and held it under one arm and picked up the bomb and the detonators with the other.

"Ready!" Wes told his Pokémon. "Attack!"

Zebstrika's Thunderbolt, Ninetales' Flamethrower, Umbreon's Shadow Ball and Pidgeot's Hyper Beam struck at one precise point in the barrier, and just as Wes had hoped, the Unown suddenly stopped rotating around the small hole. Wes ran past his Pokémon and towards the opening, tossing the bomb and detonators through it first and hurling Shrew through it before it closed again.

Wes watched the little Pokémon work, Yellow's mojo doing the trick as Shrew armed the bomb with striking ease and precision in a matter of a few seconds, dropping it right next to the humongous glowing portal. Next, Shrew was waving at Wes, who nodded.

"One more time!" Wes encouraged his Pokémon. "Attack!"

Even being as exhausted as they were, the four Pokémon gathered enough energy to attack one last time, Shrew taking cover as it happened. As another hole appeared in the barrier, Shrew jumped through it, once again a second before it closed up again. Wes quickly recalled his Pokémon, and together with Shrew, ran to Yellow.

"We did it!" Wes yelled as he ran. "It's gonna blow soon!"

But Wes' joy soon turned to terror when he saw Yellow lower their arms, suddenly coughing up blood and collapsing on the ground.

What's worse, Wes realized there was no more protective shield around him.