Genesis

by Chesterization

What would happen if the Pokemon in the Mystery Dungeon universe take the same social evolutionary steps as us human? And what would happen, if they go a little further than us? The result would be a chaotic place where you can find a gun toting Kirlia; a sword wielding Snivy; a cyborg Alakazam; an Emboar duel-wielding flaming machine guns; and lots of horrendous creatures.

9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. They belong to Game Freak and Nintendo. The songs I reference here belong to their respective artists as well. With that out of the way, please enjoy this piece of fanfiction.

---

Lucious was in his office. The computer screen once again served as his only light source. And like always, Anna and her reports kept him company in this dark and empty work space.

'We managed to recover a replica of the Psychic elemental power core at the site. It served as a mental barrier amplifier for the body double. Our scientist are currently working on how it was made.'

'So what else did we recover? Beside that and the Fighting elemental core.'

'We did obtained the scepter of his double. It has a crystal orb used by psychic types. The orb helped the user focus brain waves and achieve higher performances. Nothing's too special about it.'

'Is that all?'

'No, sir. But there are two rather disturbing details.'

'Other than a Pokémon somehow telepathically control a body double to do his dirty work? I'm listening.'

'Most of the double's body was destroyed by agent 364. However, we found the double's arm at the scene.'

'Have you conducted a DNA test on it?'

'I have, sir. And the result tells that it is just an Alakazam's arm. It contains the DNA of an Alakazam with O blood type and nothing more. No genetic defect or defining features and patterns.'

'You mean like the insurance bodies?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Didn't we discontinued that line of product two years ago?'

'It has been confirmed by the archive.'

'Good, that is not disturbing at all, to me that is. There must be an inside job in our company and now I know which department to focus on. And what is the second "disturbing" detail?'

'In addition to the arm, we also recovered an intact mega stone from the site as well.'

'Since these bandits somehow got their hand on an elemental cores, salvaging a mega stone should be no surprise.'

'We performed radiocarbon dating on the stone. And it revealed that the age of the object is three months old.'

'That's impossible. Have you double check it?'

'I did it three times with three different labs. The results are consistent.'

Lucious sighed. 'How many years did my father spend on the mega stones recreation research?'

'From the archive, more than 15 years sir.'

'And he failed. Yet this bandit, this criminal, somehow, created one 3 months ago.' He slammed his metal fist on the table. 'That's it. I had it with these bandits. We need to stop and destroy this faction and their leader as quickly as possible. Tell everyone to stop all "New Genesis" related operations. From now, focus all our efforts in stopping the Bandit Kingdom. As well as claiming all the plates before they do.'

'Yes, sir.'

'There's must be a quicker way to get information regarding their operations. Have you try sending a few agents to infiltrate their ranks?'

'This Bandits King, like all bandits, uses Pokémon like tools, expandable and easy to replace. It is not ideal and safe for our agents. The result may not be, desirable.'

'In that case, just observe them with any way you can. Look into their every move. We need an upper hand against these savages. They might somehow know the locations of the hidden plates. But we have enough power to take it from them.'

'Understood, sir.'

Lucious then walked out of his chair. 'Is there anything else?'

'That is all, sir.'

'Good. Keep me posted. Now I got a few meetings to attend to.'

'I will and good luck with your meetings, sir.'

'Goodbye.' Lucious turned off the screen and exited the room.

(The song "Do the evolution" by Pearl Jam begins to play)

Chesterization proudly presents.

A Pokémon fanfiction

Genesis

(Song ends)

Chapter 9. Infestation.

Doc, Rick, Axel and Catherine were inside their Killian plane. All were almost ready for a mission. Doc was sitting beside the airlock. His bionic eye locked on the data displayed on the hologram screen projected from his arm. Beside his seat laid his usual submachine gun. Axel was checking the iron sight on his crossbow, making sure everything is perfectly in line. Rick was at his usual spot, the crushed rows of seats. He spent the last 10 minutes sorting out his ammunitions. From shotgun shells to grenade and magazine in all sizes, all were in his reach. Catherine was standing in front of him. She held on to the rail above and hummed a melody. The Infinity submachine gun was in her other hand. Anima and Lady Death were on her back. And the Cerberus shotgun latched on her lower back.

Doc turned off the screen and said.

'A quick recap. Yesterday, the miners reported strange holes started appearing inside the mine. Structures fell down, no casualty. But after that initial report, they just went quiet, disappeared. No report of any kind for a near 24 hours. Our mission: is to investigate and rescue them if possible.' Doc than whispered. 'Suspecting a bandits attack.'

'Argh, not again. I really fucking sick of those assholes.' Catherine said.

'Take it easy, just suspecting. A lot of other things could have happened. We will never know until we investigate and get some solid data.'

'I know that, but just hearing about those fuckers piss me off. Can't we just have something that isn't about those fuckers? Can we go somewhere and do something else.'

'You can join us and Celeste. Helping out with the colony.' Axel said.

'No, I don't want to a third wheel around you guys. It's awkward as fuck. Maybe killing something for the right reason.'

'You can do bounty hunts. Oh wait, I forgot. They tend to ask you NOT to kill the bounty. Sorry.'

'How about killing a few mutated ferals just for the hell of it. I mean just for the colonists. Yeah, colonist.' Rick said.

'Rick. It's hard to believe. But the mutated ferals has sadly been a part of our new ecosystem for more than a decade now. As much as I want to purge and replacing them all with productive robots, I can't. Genesis deems it, immoral and well, insane.'

'Dude, you need to get out of the lab and do some field assignments. Yeah, they are a part of nature now. But some feral species breed like no tomorrow. Ugh, man, that idea creep me the hell out. But yeah, once these thing got a place to live with food and everything, their number will grow through the god damn roof. And soon crap will slip out of hand. Which will sucks for the colonists, who happen to be nearby. And since, you know, these things don't have many natural predators, they will get a much longer lifespan. With those elements, they will mess up the balance of the ecosystem even more.'

'That sound, bad.' Catherine said.

'And who is going to bring balance? Only we could fill in that role. We are the apex predators on this planet, my friend.' Rick made his voice much deeper during the last sentence. 'Yeah, sorry about that last one.'

'That is something not registered in my data base. I'm impressed with you Rick.'

'Nah, it just heard it from Craig. The dude knows a lot about ferals. So Catherine, if you want to blow off steam with some good ol' fashion hunting, I got a few extermination assignments. And what they want you to do? Kill mutated ferals just for the hell of it. I mean for the colonists. You know where this is going.'

'For the hell of it?'

'Well not exactly, but we'll deal about regulations later. But yeah, you could join me sometime, like a weekend thing.'

'Isn't those the kind of assignments have the highest rate of mortality?' Axel said.

'Heh, this me we talking about. To me, assignments like that are just horde mode in videogame. Aim in any direction and you got one. And I'm the king of horde mode, baby. Real and virtually.'

'There is a fine line between those, Rick.' Axel added.

'For your information, most of those deaths are agents who can't fight long battles. Me? Out of bullets, got my fist. Fist get tired, epic flamethrower to the face. And a million more ways to kill things with. And Catherine here. She's the one that kicked the King's ass. That's enough cred for me to take her along.'

'If that is the case then I'll be joining you. Sounds, fun and less expensive than the virtual training.' Catherine said.

'You can count me out of that one. Senseless killing would just distract me from my works. Creating things that save lives or kill things in a more effective way are much more appealing to me. Those and among other things, like hiking. Apology, off topic.'

'I'm not fit for onslaught, either. I think I'll stick with Celeste.' Doc suddenly snickered under his breath.

'Whatever float your boat man. More targets for us.' Rick said.

The engine noise around them changed. A shift in pressure was felt and soon they heard a thump before the engine stopped. 'We're here.' Rave's voice came from the speaker, quick and emotionless. Doc grabbed his gun and stood up. Axel strapped the crossbow on to his back and jumped off his seat. The plane shook a bit when Rick got himself up. Doc waited till the airlock was fully opened to poke his head out. He had a look at the landing field outside and said.

'I have some bad news for you Catherine.' Doc said before he leaped out of the plane.

Catherine quickly ran to the door way. 'God fucking damn it!' Catherine said as she saw two helicopters with rusted armor and spikes at the landing pads. And of course, the all familiar crown symbol graffiti were there.

The Killian plane took off when the last member was one the ground. Catherine asked why the plane didn't remain there for the rest of the mission. To that Doc said: 'It is better that way.' They were now in the middle of a relatively big landing pad with a giant Genesis symbol painted in the center. The pad and the area around it looked deserted. There were metal crates and three flying vehicles. Beside the bandits' helicopters, there are one Killian plane with a much bigger body and a smaller cockpit. The sealed crates placed near the plane confirmed its role in the mining operation. A small cabin equipped with satellite dishes and antenna planted on the roof was nearby. To the left, a metal entrance gate with a serial number 311 painted on. A mountain in the distance could be seen behind that gate. There was not a single shade of greenery on that mountain.

Doc held up his arm. 'Be careful. The engine sound is going to alert every bandits in the area so be prepare to pull a trigger.'

'I doubt it. If they heard it then they would be all over the landing pad before we even land.' Axel said.

'Good point. Split up and search for clues. But still, need to be alert. Never know what could happen.'

Doc stood still and opened a compartment on his arm, revealing a strange device. He then raised his arm to the sky and activated the device. Doc let his arm stay that way for a few seconds.

'What the fuck are you doing, Doc?'

'Scanning for movements. Save us the effort of going too far.' He said then looked at the hologram screen on his arm. There were grid lines and statistic all over the screen. However, there was not a single beeping sound or a moving dot.

'Well, that's strange. The area seem clear.'

'Maybe they are in the mine?' Rick said.

'Possible. Yes'

'How far is the mine from here Doc?' Axel asked.

'Not very far from here. Located at that mountain's feet. Pass the living site of the miner and we'll find it.' He pointed at the metal gate. From there, the team separated. Axel went in the control tower, which was the cabin from before. Doc exanimated one of the bandits' helicopters while Catherine with Rick made their way to the living site. They passed the gate and found six or more box containers with houses size. Some of them were linked together with metal tubes of the sort. Painted on the metal wall were serial numbers and the Genesis logo. Catherine noticed that there was no bullets holes on any of these containers. But there were bloodstains, lot of them. Both on the wall and long trails on the rocky ground. All the trail let to the path that seem to lead to the mountain. The blood had dried up from a long time ago. Beside them were weird footprints, laid rather deep in the ground. Rick crouched down and examined the blood.

'Look pretty brutal, different from the usual bandit things. What do you think of it?'

'I don't know. But we are about to find out.'

Catherine approached the closest container by silently teleported to it. She tried to open its doors and failed. She sat there beside the double door and waited for Rick to get to her location. When he did, he pressed his ear to the metal double door. Heard nothing, he decided to push the buttons on the panel. Only got a small buzz of denial afterward.

'It's locked. Can you teleport behind it?'

'I can't. I need to see my destination.'

'Okay, I'm gonna bust this door open. It might tick the bandits off, so cover me.'

Catherine nodded and turned around. She aimed her submachine gun in different directions. Rick reached his arm back and punched a hole in between the double door with his right hand. That created a loud noise that shook Catherine's bones. He pulled back his fist, placed his hand in each side and forcefully spread doors open. A nasty screeching sound send vibration to their inner ears as he got it open inch by inch. He got the double opened enough to poke his head inside. After his eyes made it clear that there was no one inside. Rick then opened the door fully, giving him enough space to step in the container with Catherine.

The inside was brightly lit and didn't have any trace of any foul smell. A good sign in Rick's mind. They saw a few tables with glimmering blue crystal pieces and tools on top, suggested this container to be a workshop. Catherine passed by the workshop tables with her gun pointed.

'No smell of blood, the door is locked from the inside, and the light are on. That means someone is home.' He took a long breath and start yelling. 'This is the Foundation. I am agent 056. Don't be afraid, my friends. We are here to help you.'

There was only silence.

'You know, your voice sound like an angry bar keepers. Not the best way to call for scared miners. Let me try. Everything's okay, just come out. The bandits are gone.' She raised her volume in the last two sentences.

'Are you sure of that?' Rick whispered.

'SHH.' She put a finger near her mouth and focused her hearing. That dead silence was still remain.

Catherine stepped in further and reached the intersection. Through it, she entered the next container. She looked down with a confuse look in her eyes. 'Eh, is this what you guys from the outside call partying?'

'What do you mean?' Rick put a piece of crystal down and ran to Catherine. He too saw what Catherine meant.

'Oh, what the Fringe toast is that?'

This container seem to serve as a living room. More accurately, used to serve as a living room. Now, it is just a room with a broken television, smashed sofa, shattered glass table and a giant dirt covered hole in the middle.

'Well, let just, eh. You know what? Just walk around it. Maybe we'll find-'

'No! Haven't you seen movies?' Rick grabbed her arm.

Catherine got his arm off and said. 'No, I don't have the time for them.'

'Terrible things always happen when someone does something like that. Could be a giant sum bitch monster pops out of the hole and grab you. Maybe they are the things that caught the miners and the bandits. Maybe that's why everything is so quiet.'

'How do you know? We have not seen all the rooms yet.'

'So, want to take the risk of becoming possible snack for a monster for a low chance of finding something.'

Catherine looked back at the hole. The dirt around the opening shifted slightly and fell in. 'Yeah, you got a point. Fuck this.'

They both exited the container through the way they came and found Doc waiting outside with his submachine gun.

'Found something Doc?' Rick asked.

'No, not much beside the warm engine. Meaning the bandits should be close but well, not close enough to hear the plane and us.'

'I don't think we have to worry about them.' Axel got out of his invisibility behind Doc's back, making the Emboar and Catherine nearly jumped. While Doc's half computer brain and cybernetic body had prevented him from doing so.

'Dude, stop that!'

'Sorry, habit.'

'Phew. Okay. So what the fuck are we dealing with?'

'I found this from the security cams. Have a look and decide for yourself.' Axel took out the tube device and pushed a button on it. A hologram screen with the footage from a camera located in front of the mine was projected in the air. They saw a group of bandits wearing the same Bandit Kingdom armor. All were coming in a large opening hole. In their hands were guns, blades and even chainsaws. Stood in front was the Zoroark knight. The same one that accompany the Bandits King during his raid on the colonies Axel was in charge of. He said something to the other bandits while pointing his finger. All then disappeared into the mine.

'So what?'

'Are you suggesting that since they are in the mine, we don't have to worry?'

'No, just wait.' Axel then sped up the footage. He stopped the footage at one point when quick flashes of light were coming from the darkness. Axel returned the footage into regular speed. A dark smoke escaped the mine and formed into the Zoroark. The other bandits didn't come out with him.

'From several other cameras, the Zoroark you saw had made his way back into one of the helicopter and left.'

'So, what the fuck is in the mine?' Unknown to Catherine, a dark purple aura cloud was slowly made its way out of the fabric on the back of her coat.

'These.' Axel changed the footage into the recording of the night before. It was showing the scene when various kind of Pokémon in Genesis uniform were running away from something. And soon that thing stepped out of the shadow and revealed it to be hulking Armaldo. The Pokémon pass the camera and later got a miner between its claws. The miner appeared to screaming when the claws clamped his rib case. A line of blood was drew on the ground. The Armaldo then returned to the shadow. The footage stopped there.

'What the hell is that thing? Look like a Dunsparce on steroid.'

'Don't know. But there are a lot more of those things. They took all the miners. This footage is the least gruesome of all. '

'See, Catherine that could be your end.'

'Pff, by that logic some fuck ass monster is going to-'

'Keeeeeeeee.' From the door Rick had punched open, an abnormally large Anorith jumped out, lunging itself at Catherine. It shrieked and armed the twin claws near its head. Catherine heard the nasty sound and a sudden heaviness on her back. The Anorith dug its claws in her back. The points of its claws got in her flesh but couldn't get through her hard as iron bone. Anima and Lady Death placement also hindered it as well. Catherine screamed while a dark aura leaked out from her back and grew abruptly. It manifested itself into a fuzzy shape of a bone hand and grabbed the Anorith by the head. The hand then squeezed down on it, made a crunching sound. The Anorith was then yanked out from Catherine's back and thrown back inside the container house, banged itself into the wall. Finished the deed, the hand retracted back into Catherine.

When the Aronith hit the wall, Catherine turned back and saw the abomination in front of her. and fired the sub machine gun. A steady stream of bullet pin pointed the Anorith head and blew off the eye on its left side. The Pokémon stopped for pain but then quickly moved forward with by twisting its body. It then lunged itself again. Frustrated with the weapon, Catherine threw it at the Anorith. The gun hit the Anorith and stopped it in midair. After gravity took the Pokémon, she got out Cerberus and fired rounds after rounds of incendiary orbs at the Aronith. The Pokémon soon bore a black char on its body and laid on its back after Catherine had empty her magazine. Smoke and smell of crisp then came from its body. The multi feather like limps on its side bent like cooked crab legs. Catherine pulled out her Anima and charged up Psychic bullets. She fired at the middle of the Anorith body, exactly three times. The purple torpedoes hit and separated the limps from its body with crispy snapping sound. The Pokémon shook and let out a weak cry. Catherine teleported beside it and stomped the Pokémon with her weight. Its remaining liquid were sprayed on the metal floor and her boots.

'Well fuck you then!' Catherine said. Breathed spastically, she stomped once more on the lifeless body, squeezed the last of the red and green liquid. After dragged the sole of her boots against a rug nearby, she turned around. Noticed the look on everyone's faces, Catherine collected herself and straighten her coat. 'Come on, you saw me done crazier shit. I was startle.'

'Yes, that was. I cannot say unexpected because I have expected a similar reaction. A bit wasteful of ammo, though. But nothing too concerning. Attitude seem excessively extreme but understandable.' Doc said and took a quick breath. 'Well, clean up your boots. We still need to rescue the miners and exterminate those, things.'

'Are you alright, Catherine? Turn around and let me see.' Axel said as he checked on the two bloody holes on her back.

She reached her hand back and felt the dampness on her coat. Worked her way to the torn fabric and bit her tongue when she touch the opened wound. 'Shit, this is my only coat.' She stomped on the Anorith again. No resistance came from the body anymore. 'Fix the wound first. The fabricator can fix your coat, later. Give me your arm. This will sting a bit' Axel injected her arm with a syringe with the healing fluid.

'Thanks.' Catherine said before Axel took the needle out of her vein.

'Why didn't the barrier work?'

'Sorry.' Catherine reached back 'Forget to turn this fucking thing on all the time.

'The only one you should say sorry to, is yourself. You should always turn it on before leaving the base.'

'A bit too late for that. Agh shit, it does stung.' Catherine closed one of her eyes as the drug take effect. That and her own healing quickly patched up the skin. But the damage tissues would still made the rest of that day a little more unpleasant. She continued. 'I'm so used to using the move Barrier that I just find this thing unnecessary.'

'But having a little extra protection for these kind of ambush is vital.'

'I know, I know. I felt it.'

'And they can do more than just absorbing hits. A lot of barrier have some extra special features. I'll show you the shop that sell them later.'

'Yeah. That's better.' Catherine looked back at the Anorith. 'Irrelevant question, but do you know what the hell that thing is?'

'I don't know, but it look like the Pokémon in the footage. A smaller version of it. Could be a pre-evolution.'

'These things have babies? There got to be a nest nearby. We're gonna need back up for that.'

'Already on it.' Axel said and turned around. He saw another Killian plane on the horizon. 'I called the moment I saw the footage.'

'Good. Now, let's give them a proper greeting.' Doc said.

Axel and Doc then started to walk to the landing pad while chatting and proposed a few approaches. But Rick stood still in that one spot the whole time. The team didn't seem to notice because Rick would always make himself known by his commentaries. But that time, he was silent, quite different from his usual self. Usually when he saw someone pulled an overkill like that, his first reaction would be: "That was friggin epic." But that Anorith killed, it just silenced him. Not because of the brutality in the kill itself, but something he saw in that moment. The hand's texture and the darkness that briefly took over Catherine's eyes. And in the deep and hard to find corner of his mind, a similar image in the past popped up. Catherine stopped cursing at the corpse and picked up her submachine gun. She saw Rick was still standing like a statue.

She asked, tried to sound gentle 'Were you standing there the whole time?' Rick didn't answer her. 'Hey, Rick, are you okay?'

Rick shook his head. 'Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just having a brain fart.'

'Okayyyyyy. I have no idea what that is. Just get your ass rolling. We got company soon.'

'Oh really?' He looked at the landing pad after hearing the sound of engines running. 'I'll get to it.'

'Yeah, you do that. I got to get this shit off my boots.'

Catherine then sat down and cleaned the rings on her boot. The look and Rick's reaction struck her as odd. But she just let him walked to the landing pad without exchanging another word. For she had something else on her mind.

"What the fuck was that?" Catherine asked inside her head.

"That was a new skill that I have created for us."

'What? And how?'

'At its core, it was just your body's reflex. Moments when your body gains instant control without the need of asking for the mind's permission. And I simply aid it during the process. The part that saddened me is that your body sensed the Pokémon but you just ignore it. Like you been ignoring me all these years. But fortunately, the body has me to count on, from now that is.

"How did you?"

"Well, lately, you have been letting me out more frequent than usual. That gave me a lot of chance to explore the possibilities. And eventually, I'll find a way. That skill was the first step."

"A way for what?"

"The thing that I have always wanted. Control."

"You can't."

"For now, but some day in the future."

"Again. Why?"

"Oh, you will never understand. You are like a child. Ignorant and fearful. You obviously have no idea how much power you possess. You don't even know how to use it right. And you are aimless, no purpose. You are wasting your, no, mine potentials, day by day. It would be better if I am the one who command this body. Why don't you just spare us the trouble? You don't know what to do with your life then why live it? Give me control. It is sooner or later it's going to happen."

The voice let out a taunting laugh. It had her stumped for a moment. But then Catherine grinned and laughed along with it. "Wow, your words stay the same as before. That's got to be the first. And to your dilemma. Boo fucking hoo. Isn't that's how it's goes? What did you said before? Things will never going your way in life. Or was it just something you shit out to convince me joining this mercenary band. A mean to get you closer to all the new toys that you could play with? Nice try. But I'm not falling for that crap."

"Well, you don't want me, us to be used by them so I was thinking: "What's so wrong with the other way around.""

"Oh, I see. So all that talk, was bullshit. You didn't care much for me, as usual."

"Always."

"It's a bad day to remind me of your true nature. Lately, I was letting my guard down. Thanks for the reminder."

"My nature? My nature is the core of evolution itself. The strong prevail, the weak parish. Simple and pure. You followed that path the past few weeks, and somehow you failed to understand."

"Don't give me that voice. I understand fully what the fuck is going on. You praise suffering and power, nothing more. Your point of existence are only limited to those. To me, they just dull and boring."

"How dare you!"

"For once. I do enjoy killing the deserving. But not the reason who think it is. I do it as a part of cleansing this world. It's the satisfaction of cleaning a golden vase of all the dirt. Your idea of killing is to prove your power. Killing is your only call in life. If that is what you call purpose, then what's the fun in that?"

"You igno-."

"Here is my reminder. You are in me. I am in control and you are my bitch. Therefore I call all the shots. And another one, I am and will be nobody's bitch. So consequently, you will never be in control. I don't know what you can do but I will never let you have your way. Not when I working here, near the resources for your crave of destruction. This world is doing badly enough without you."

"You don't care for this world and it doesn't care for you, then why?"

"I don't know. There are three billion civilized Pokémon in this world. Chances are, someone in that number did care about me. My mother, Azazel, my uncle-sometimes. There might be more. But how could I know when I let you kill them all? Yes I am aimless, for now, but some day in the future, I won't. One day I'll find my true purpose. And that day is my goal."

"Did you just?"

"Noted your concern and thank you for the skill. It would come in handy in the future. But now, I command you to shut the fuck up!"

The voice in her head was then silenced completely. Took Catherine a full minute to realize that had happened. During that time, Catherine got a numbing sensation ran from her head all the way to the tips of her toes. And then she started laughing like an idiot. As if she was a Pokémon who was lowered into a Sharpedo tanks with a bleeding noise. And yet somehow made it out alive in the end. She got all the rights to laugh. She kept that smile on her face for more than a minute. And stopped abruptly when her lungs collapsed. Almost choked from the excessive laughter, she coughed and filled her lungs again. Catherine then remembered her job. And seeing the Killian plane was about to land, she quickly teleported to the landing pad.

The team was at the middle section of the landing pad. They had anticipated the plane to land on where their own was. The Killian plane duel engines switched from horizontal to vertical, shooting streams of hot air downward. Catherine shielded her eyes while her pigtails were blown back from the heatwave. Rick and Doc seem to be fine with it. Axel was a bit more unusual. He got his orange orb surrounding him. And that somehow made him unflinching to the heat. The plane extended its landing gears and shut off the engines slowly. The landing gear contacted the ground gently.

'So, which team did you get?' Rick asked.

'You'll know soon enough.'

The haul began to open up and five Pokémon silhouettes were slowly revealed.

'Hi Axel!' Celeste's voice came out in sync with a waving motion of one silhouettes.

'Heh, figure.' Rick said.

'Well, this is a rescue and possible extermination, better have someone we trust. And was designed for the job.' Axel said.

The Manectric hopped of the plane, followed by Craig. 'G'day, mate. Long time no see.'

'A few weeks is far from long, Craig.' Doc said.

'Hello.' 'Hey' Bryan and Leon said in order.

'Hey, Celeste? How ya doing, girl? Heard you got effed-up pretty bad. Feeling better?' Rick asked.

'Doing better now, thanks Rick.' She said before turned to Catherine and winked at her. To that Catherine quickly saluted and reloaded her shotgun.

'So, Axel gave us a brief on this mission. You want us to help you rescue some miners?' Celeste said.

'Precisely, as they were abducted by giant mutated feral bugs. They are our employees so it is only fair to save them.' Doc said.

'Okay, that's a bit stranger than usual. But sure, we are here to help.' Celeste raised her metal fist and said enthusiastically. 'So let's get going, Pokémon!'

'I don't know about that. I don't do too well with bugs.' Bryan said and hid behind Leon's mane. The Chespin twisted a lock of the Keldeo's hair.

'Would you just get over it? You have armor plating all over. And your roll out would crush them like Dunsparce.' Leon said and shook Bryan's paw off his mane.

'They are just icky to me, that's all.'

'Seriously? There are Pokémon probably dying and you worry about bities, mate?' Craig said. The Manectric beside him shook its head, as if understanding its master's reaction.

'Well, personal phobias should be put a side. Suggest listening to Craig and get on with the mission.' Doc said.

'Okay, that is enough chatting. Please show us the site and we'll get going.' Celeste said.

'Follow me.' Axel said.

The two teams got through the gate and passed the container houses. Leon pointed his horn at the burnt and horribly mangled body of the Anorith to Bryan. A clear attempt to mess with him. Bryan didn't take it too kindly as he plucked a good chunk of hair from Leon's mane. Catherine gave the other a fair warning about the Anorith. And always be mindful of the ground underneath. Rick pointed the blood trails and the dents on the ground. Craig was first to examine them. The Monferno said it didn't reveal much beside whatever had dragged that miner was big and heavy. And had judged from the Anorith's body, he thought that Pokémon had a high chance to be the evolution: Armaldo. Axel showed him the footage and confirmed it. Craig seem to be the only one who know the name of the Pokémon. For all but him were shocked to see the footages.

The group then turn left and to the rock filled trail that led to the mountain they went. They went in deeper and deeper, approaching the mine.

'So, what do you know about these "Armaldo", Craig?' Celeste said.

'Well, one thing, these blokes aren't something you can find at this age and time.'

'Whatdaya mean? They time travel?' Bryan said.

'Eh,' Craig had to pause a good while for that. 'No, Bryan. That would be stupid. You see, these Pokémon are all prehistoric Pokémon. Before we only know of their existence through fossils.'

'And now we got a few live ones. So, what do you think of that?' Leon said.

'Well, I have a theory. Might sound farfetched but listen to anyway. Chances are these things had been living or hibernating in this mountain for thousands of years. And the mining operations must have disturb them. Explain the holes started appearing in the mine. '

'That is farfetched, mate. How do they survive all these years then? Hibernating doesn't mean surviving multiple climate and geographic shifts.'

'That is something I want and don't want to find out at the same time. Quite a paradox isn't it?'

'Uh huh.' Craig said.

'Never know that you are the archeologic type Craig.' Axel said.

'Nah, just common knowledge, mate.'

They walked up a steep path. From there entrance of the mine was seen. On their way, they found two metal creates almost as big as Rick. They were covered in thermal insulation materials. Words printed next to their serial number said "Explosive".

'Damn, that is huge. What are they mining here?' Rick asked as he looked up at the vehicle.

'From the records I found in the control room, this is a mine for binary crystals.'

'What the fuck are those?' Catherine asked.

'Basically the main component of the digital fabricators. Our exclusive tech so we'll need lot of them. But sadly they are extremely rare. Some say they came from space, but that is another theory. I don't deny it but now is not the time to explain.'

The Manectric beside Craig sniffed the air and glared its fangs. It started to get agitated. Craig held the electric type by the equipment on its back. 'Easy Raiden, easy boy.' Craig patted it on the head. 'We are getting close.'

Leon prepped up his Gatling guns, let them spin once. Bryan summoned up a pair of goggles and put it on. Doc told everyone to stop walking before he performed another scan. He did and still got no movement from inside the mine. 'Hum? Still nothing. Strange.'

'Something in the air just smell wrong to him. He can sense something that we can't.'

They finally reached the entrance. There were mining equipment scattered around the hole in the mountain. There was also a small tent in one corner, filled with tools and a work table. The mine entrance was a wide pitch back rectangle. Only a few wires could be seen sticking out of the darkness. All the wire were connected to a quiet generator.

The group looked at the entrance and sensed dread oozed from it. The natural light in the area was beginning to die slowly. The sun was settling down from the other side of the mountain. Wind blew through the cracks in the rock formations, created eerie noises. Like moaning that echoed in the distance. All just made the atmosphere the more unsettling. Everyone beside Bryan kept a straight face and let the chill wind gently rubbed their back. The group of agent tried to occupied every last space in their mind with concentration, leaving no room for fear.

'Patient everyone. We'll do something with that generator.' Doc said and signaled Axel to follow him. Doc opened up the inside of the machine and adjusting the motor and wires inside. While Doc and Axel were looking for a way to restore the light within the mine; Celeste and Leon were trying to comfort Bryan; Rick was alone with his thoughts; Craig was leading Raiden around the miner equipment and Catherine was wandering around the entrance. She then decided to check on the tent. Before that, she had a quick glance at Bryan. The anxious expression on his face caused her to genuinely feel sorry for the kid. Then Celeste gave him what looked like a piece of sweet and restored the cheerful look on the Chespin's face. Catherine didn't know if it was funny or sad to see that. Bryan might be among a group of mercenaries, yet he still had some of pieces of child innocence left inside. She stepped in the tent and found a strange piece of equipment laid on the work table. It looked like a gun with a rather long barrel. Attached to it were other machinery. They got the look of being slapped together as wires of red and green were exposed in a chaotic fashion. All the machine parts were Genesis branded. But there was a large tube canister attached to the end of the "stock". Painted on said canister was the Infinity symbol. She picked it up and tested its weight. Quite heavy but not to the point she couldn't handle. She put her hand on the trigger, minding the wires. She aimed it at the wall and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.

'What you got there?'

Catherine turned around and saw Craig.

'I don't know. Look like a Genesis made gun but it has Infinity symbol on it.'

'Oh, let me see.' She handed him the equipment. He had a one of two look at its sides and said. 'Ha, clever bloke he was. This is Genesis laser cutter. This thing can easily cut through solid rocks like butter. And he somehow combined it with an Infinity engine, which would make it never run out of power. Perfect for those extended mining operation. Really clever. Don't worry about the Infinity part. It's just a modification. So nothing to worry about. No one is cheating behind our backs.'

'Can I take it?'

'Go ahead, the bloke is probably dead anyway.'

'What if we are about to rescue him?'

'Then you give it back later. No big deal. Just keep it, could come in handy.'

'And how do I turn it on.'

'Here, this switch.' Craig pointed at the switch on the side. 'For safety I guess.'

Axel pulled a core and turned on the generator. A chain of light hanging on the mine's ceiling backed online, one by one.

'We got light.' Bryan said.

'Thanks captain Obvious.' Leon said.

'Well. It's time, let's go.' Craig said as he stepped out of the tent.

All then set foot in the mine. The lights overhead weren't as bright as they hope. But that was still a big different to no light at all. They walked in and found a long, single rail road underneath their feet. A few meters from the entrance and one could see a cart hovered above the rail. Inside it were a few broken pieces of blue crystals and a darkened puddle of blood. A finger was inside as well.

Slowly and carefully, they followed the rest of the rail. Body parts and Pokémon remains were scattered. All the bodies were disfigure and twisted. A smell of decomposing flesh was noticeable as they went on. But the deeper they got, a new and much fouler scent mixed in. And soon the smell was unbearable and all got their gas mask on. They reduced talking to a minimum and switched to hand signals. The wind blew and howled behind their backs. Catherine turned back. Just to make sure that was in fact the wind and not the Armaldo's breath that made the sound. Leon tilted his head back from time to time. Checked to see if Bryan was doing alright. Doc performed a scan every 100 meters and each time yielded the same result, nothing.

Then the rail ended and they found one explosive crate on the way. This one was opened and completely empty. On the ground near it, were a detonator and a long wire. The mine walls were no longer smooth from that point on. It was rugged and chunks of rocks were displayed. Deeper and they found the blue binary crystals stuck to the rough walls. The lights came from within each crystals proven to be a much more effective light source. They kept on moving forward until they found a deep and large crevice on the ground. Beneath it was lit up by a faint blue light. Raiden began to get more agitated when he sniffed around the crevice.

'I see what happened.' Axel said. 'The miners recently blew this part open in order to extend the mine. The impact of the blast must have triggered the Armaldo. From down there, the Armaldo dug this hole and got to the living area.'

'Still haven't answer why the Armaldo are still alive.' Leon said.

'We might find that out soon.' Doc said.

They walked to the crevice and found another area underneath. One could access this section with a slope created by smashed rocks. The slope looked rather unstable and narrow, so they took turn, one by one. That also helped avoid making too much noise. All aimed their weapons around, checking for any kind of threat.

Catherine looked down while waiting for her turn. Rick stood by her side. He then told her to step back from the crevice and lead her back to the empty explosive crate.

He whispered. 'Hey, is everything okay with you?'

'Yeah, why shouldn't I be?'

'I don't know. You were something fierce back there.'

'Oh c'mon. The fucker got a jump on me. You would do the same, if not worse.'

'And what is that weird arm-like thing?'

'Oh, it's my new, trick. Something I picked up during my time in the medical wing. Like it?'

'Well, it's certainly out there but…'

'Okay, spill it out. Obviously something is up with you. What the fuck is bothering you, anyway?'

'If you say so, then I'll make it quick. That arm, it's not you. It something else, isn't it?'

'Oh c'mon, that's bullshit. It's just me. What else could it be? Oh, I know that look. You are trying to pull some philosophers' bullshit, isn't it? If you are worry about my behaviors then this is not the right time.'

'It's not.' Rick seem determent. 'I'm not a psychologist so yes, I don't know what you were thinking. What I want to know is what the hell happen to you when you did that "trick". Those eyes, how did they change? '

'What, it's a, eh, Celestian thing. I am the only one you see so you might find it weird. We have that shit all the time.'

'Except I saw the same thing but with a bandits originated from Agni nation.'

'Okay. What the fuck are you trying to pull? Interrogate criminal? You are starting to piss me off.' She tried not the yell.

'That bandits almost killed me when I was still in The Gate mode. He slaughtered hundreds of Pokémon and said he was just doing what he was told. When I fought him, he had the dark aura around him with the texture of that hand and his eye was complete darkness, just like yours. He said that thing I was witnessing was his master and I should be fearful of it.'

'It...' Catherine was speechless. She didn't know how to get an answer to that. Only a few sentences and it had already overloaded her. "Master" that word somehow disturb her more than it should. Is that what would happen if the voice found the way to control her? And what would Rick think of her know. If he told Genesis about this then she could be killed.

'So that is how you defeat the King. Because of whatever that thing is.' He sighed. 'I'm not accusing you or anything. I'm sorry if I sound like that. And I'm not judging you either. I never will. I have something similar and I have suffered enough for it. I also have made a lot of mistakes because of it. Mistakes that I would forever regret. I just don't want to you to do something that you would regret like I did. Especially when what inside you is much more powerful then what I have.' He patted on her shoulder, as gently as he could. 'Can I still trust you with something like that inside?'

Catherine swallowed her words and said. 'I know what you are trying to reach. But I can't promise anything. Yes, it's something else and yes, I'm still struggling to control it.' She sat on a nearby rock. Her face failed to meet Rick's. 'But this, I can promise, I will do my fucking best to keep it from harming anyone that aren't the bandits. You have no choice but to trust me on that. Like me when I have no choice but to join you guys. Just forget about this and grab your gun. We got miners to rescue. Just save us the time and focus on that. And god damn it, just let me deal with my own shit.'

'I see, that's how it's going to be then. I understand. But remember, that thing, if it got out of hand would not be just your shit.' Rick returned to the crevice and was ready to take his turn. Both then heard Celeste said through the communicator.

'Rick and Catherine, where did you go? There is something you should see down here.'

'I'm coming, lady and gents.' Rick said before coming down. He struggled to get a foot hold on the unstable rocks. After a few feet, he just forgot everything and slid down. Thankfully, that didn't caused too much of a ruckus.

'Holy Arceus's balls sack what the hell is that?'

'Keep it down, Rick.'

'Catherine…Catherine come down here quick, we need you.' Celeste said.

Catherine shook her head and got up. '"Still" huh, since when?' Catherine whispered to herself and then later came down the crevice with a few teleport bursts. She didn't seem to notice that the voice in her head had been quiet the whole time. That voice might be quiet but her mind sure wasn't. As she constantly asking herself questions that she couldn't yet answer.

She was finally under the crevice and saw what they were referring to. The cave wall down here smooth and round, like a manmade tunnel. There were bricks struck out of the wall. All craved from stone in the shape of precise cubes. They were covered with runes that let out a faint glow. A closer look and they could see small pieces of binary crystals made up these rune. Among the runes were a few Unown symbol.

'I don't know if you can read these. But.' Axel said and was interrupted by Catherine's "Yes". She examined the bricks and said. 'Okay, this is quite painfully obvious.'

'What do they say?' Axel said.

Catherine pointed at one on the ceiling. 'That one said: "Beware." Same goes for that one, that one and that one.' She pointed at a slab. 'And that one over there said: "She is not the icon of fertility but a beast." So these bricks basically say: "Fuck off." We are definitely going the right way.'

'Hey guys, look at what I found.' Celeste said behind the dune of crushed rock. The group walked around it and found more of the area. The smooth and round path ran straight for 200 more meters and was the blocked by a stone wall. Catherine looked at the bricks around this section and found different messages written on them.

'Huh, these fuckers need to make up their mind.'

'What do they say?' Doc said.

'Praise for this goddess of "fertility" and her workers. That's odd.'

'Axel had a look at these rocks.' Celeste touched to rock wall that blocked the exit. The rocks there were all melted together like chunk of chocolate left in the sun and hastily put back inside the freezer. Axel then touched it and had a look up. 'What do you think caused it, Axel?'

'Nuclear blasts. I saw things like this in the Zeniburg site.'

'Hey, you two, Doc thinks of something.' Leon said through the comm.

They gathered around the Alakazam. 'I think I know what this place is. Just want to put it out fast, Need to save lives afterward.

'Sorry everyone, I got side-tracked. I swear it won't happen again.'

'It's okay, we got distracted by all this friggin things too. Like something come straight out of a movie.' Rick said.

'E hem, allow me. So I don't know how the Armaldo are still alive. But I have some idea of what this place might be. This is a shrine for some kind of cult. And judging from the geography shift and the use of binary crystals, this cult could be run by human.'

'Okay, you lost me there mate. How?'

'Like I said, geography shift. This very tunnel used to connect directly to the surface. And after a few thousand years or more, they were pushed down here. Human seem to fit in the timeline. And the binary crystals. The only reason we are using it is because of we reverse engineer human techs. Human and Genesis are the only consumer of these crystal and Genesis was not here a few thousand years ago, you'll figure it out.'

'A human cult that worshiped Pokémon. A bit backward don't you think?' Catherine said.

'But the main mysteries are still there.'

'Well, might I barge in mate?'

'Go ahead.'

'Well, since prehistoric Pokémon existed way before human time. Chances are the human had revived these things in the past. And most revived prehistoric Pokémon were injected with various chemical that would reanimate and sustain them for a really long time. That might explain why they are still here.'

'That is a plausible assumption. That leave only one mystery left. What is this Goddess of fertility slash beast?'

An alien cry then echoed through the tunnel.

'We spent enough time with the investigation. Let's get back to the miners.' Celeste said.

'Right!' Everyone but Doc and Axel said.

'Shh, don't yell.'

'Oh, sorry, dude.'

Doc's motion sensor finally detected movements up ahead. He instructed everyone to lay low and advance forward. Craig commanded Raiden to stay still and calm down. Despite the urge to ran forward and practice its animalistic instinct, Raiden obeyed. Craig then heard something up front. He grabbed the harpoon gun on his back and pushed a button on it. A sharp crystal harpoon was fabricated at the end of the barrel. He made the sign for Axel to follow his steps. Celeste caught up with the signals and instructed everyone to move forward in a single line, with Rick being the last. Craig got to behind large pedestal and saw what made the noise. It was what else but the Armaldo.

Six of them were there, occupying the section up ahead. Some of them stood still and motionless. Some of them were walking around, patrolling and making weird clicking noise in between their name. Craig made the sign for Axel to come to him, slowly.

'Look at those things, mate.'

'I saw. How many are you think are there?'

'I saw 6 but wait.' He focus his hearing once again. And then popped his head up. 'Yeah we have two more Anorith. Look at the floor near the corner, easy to miss.'

Axel peeked 'Saw them. So only 8. Six Armaldo and two Anotith.' The two Anorith then moved out of the corner and patrolling the center area. 'These are just the guards. The rest must be resting deep inside this tunnel.'

'Let me have a closer look at these chums.' Craig aimed at the Armaldo through the scope on his harpoon gun. He observed them closely and said 'These things had those weird sideway eyes, meaning they have limited vision and a humongous blind spot. Since they are active at night and live in a tunnel, I guess they don't need that.

'What make you think they are active at night?'

'It's a guess, based on most feral bug types' behaviors. Since these oversize bug are the ancestors of today bug type, they should share some characteristics and such. And come on mate, look at their bloody eyes. Sunlight will fry them quicker than you can say: 'Shag on a rock'. Craig pushed a button on the scope. It somehow made a camera click sound. 'I'm will show this to the professor and ask him for a nice cool glass of amber fluid.'

'Good, what else can you see from them?'

'Don't know about their other senses. But since the body doesn't fit to be a speedy or stealth predator, I guess the other senses are not needed. I mean if they have good hearing they would have killed us by now. The armor look quite sturdy, though. Going to need my stronger harpoon for them. He pushed a button on his harpoon gun and harpoon in the barrel changed shape. Became thicker and sharper. Tranquilizer darts probably wouldn't pierce through.'

'Well I have a few armor piercing darts for these kind of situation.' Celeste whispered behind their backs. She was kneeling behind them. 'So, what do we got?'

Craig coughed and signaled Celeste to give him some space. He then gave Axel a metal orb. 'A containment field. Sneak behind their backside and trap them in. Looking for any kind of extra beast that need to take care of. And you Celeste, have a peek at these. There are eight of them, look closely on the floor.'

She quickly popped her head up and her eyes scanned this section of the tunnel 'I got it.'

'Good. It's up to the rest of you to kill them. Make it fast.' Axel said and took out his crossbow.

'Got it, mate'

'I will. And be careful out there.' Celeste said.

'I am, always.'

'Good. I shall coordinate everyone when you are done.'

Axel turned invisible and walked out of the hiding pedestal. He walked in a diagonal path and passed the first Armaldo while carefully avoiding the two Anorith on the floor. Then he swiftly moved the right and behind a waist tall wall. He got out of the Armado's sight, just in time for the invisibility to wear off. The ground here was designed to let water run through. But lucky for Axel, the water had dried off a long time ago. Waited for the invisible drive on his barrier to recharge, he loaded an arrow to his crossbow. This one resemble Craig's harpoon but smaller in comparison and have a black box attached to the end of it. The crossbow automatically prepped up the arrow. After that, he ran along the long wall in silent. He reached the end of the wall. From there, Axel got behind the last Armaldo without rattling anything. He turned on the invisibility field and got out of cover. He then pierced his vision further back at the tunnel. Seen nothing but endless and empty space, He took out the orb. With a button press, the orb opened up and started emitting the blue glow found in most Genesis's fabricator. Axel tossed the orb on the ground, made it released a wall of blue force field that completely blocked the path behind him.

The Armaldo looked back and saw the blue wall. It raised its head and alerted its friends with a loud cry of their kind's name. That one Armaldo suddenly got a massive crystal harpoon pieced through the head, right to the middle. Its eyes rolled back and it fell down on its face, nudging some part of the harpoon out from the back of its head. The other began to get aggressive and started scanning for threats, prepared themselves for combat. They were about to advance forward until Celeste's voice that said "Now" came. The smaller Anorith suddenly slammed into the ground with an unknown force. A grenade and a spinning white ball then flew to the group of Armaldo in the left and right side. They were followed by an Icy Wind attack in the mid field. The orb directly hit a charging Armaldo in the right corner and set off a white explosion of below zero nitrogen air. The grenade went to the left and exploded approximately near a group of Armaldo there with similar effect. And the Icy wind hit where most of the Armaldo and the Anorith were. Its spread caught them all in one go. The combine attacks failed to freeze them in place but manage to greatly reduce their movement speed. Which almost made them stood still because of their already dismal speed. Axel got out of the invisible state and fired his crossbow at the nearest Anorith. The arrow hit it in the back. The box behind the arrow let out a beeping sound and a blinking red light. Soon the beeping turned high pitch and the arrow exploded, scooped a hole on its back. The Pokémon fell down, twitching. Blood gushed and ran all over the floor. The Armaldo let out a few click and a cry of its name before closed its eyes. The sound of grinding stone was heard somewhere and stopped abruptly. Suddenly a metal spinning spike ball flew to an Armaldo in the middle and drilled right into its chest. The ball spun on itself with great speed. Slowly and painfully buzz sawed its way through the Armaldo's body. Once the spike ball finished it continued in a straight path and did the same to another standing behind the first. Celeste fired her rocket at one Armaldo. But the Pokémon crossed its claws and shielded its face. It screamed it name and prompted the remaining Armaldo to do the same. They worked through the pain from the frost bite and charged forward. Catherine and Rick then fixed that with a Focus Blast and a salvo of six rockets respectively. Catherine's Focus Blast finally got rid of the two Anorith and caught an Armaldo with the explosion. Rick's rockets were left with the task of flying around and seeking targets. They killed the final Armaldo and finished off anything that didn't quite dead-The bleeding out Armaldo was included.

When the burning fire set by the rockets subsided, one Armaldo could still be seen crawling about. Craig shot another harpoon at it. Nailed the Pokémon's head on the ground. Axel gave the clear signal and withdrew the wall.

'Good job, everyone.' Celeste said.

The group nodded and pressed on. It was not the time for them to celebrate yet. They still have a mission to do and lives were dependent on it. They traversed deeper in the tunnel. Found out more and more leftover body parts from both the miner and the bandits on their way. There were bones as well, but they have the texture of rock, almost fossilized. They then faced a split in the tunnel. The one on the left leading up and the other leading down. Raiden sniffed up something and told its master through a "Manectric" bark. Craig pointed at the left route.

'Okay, Rayden sniffed the scent of the miners this way. That mean this way-'he pointed the other 'may have, something else. We should split up and see.'

'Since my team is fit for scouting and rescuing, we'll take left and you guys take the other path.' Celeste said.

'Yes, but there could be some unexpected enemies from both end. Should one side been overrun then it would be hard for the other side the help. Or even worst, both could be under attack. Making it hard to, stay alive. Suggest we, investigate first and come up with a plan. Preparation is always important. We will stop here and gather up some visual. I have a spy bot. I shall use it and exanimate each route for further strategies.'

'That would take too long. I'll go this side and you use the spy bot at the other. Two things at once, save us more time. I'll report back and we made a new plan then.' Axel said.

'Good idea, mate.' Craig said.

'That sounds risky. But, if you want to then go ahead.' Celeste said

'So, is everybody okay with this? Please do not yell like the last time.' Doc said.

They all nodded.

'Good, then we shall proceed.'

Axel walked down the right path. Meanwhile Doc summoned a small drone with 4 helicopter rotors. He controlled it with a hologram screen on his arm and made it hovered its way to the other path.

'Doctor, no offence, but that thing? All these Armaldo just need to look up and they could see it.' Leon said.

'Nah, don't worry mate, these thing have limited vision. With those kind of eyes, even if a chopper pass by and they couldn't see it.'

'Hm, okay, turning on thermal censors. Oh, there are a lot of heat signature up there. Going further.'

Axel's voice then came through the communicators.

'Okay, there's a steep drop from here. Don't run down this path, you will fall. There is a lot of weird sound coming from down here. Don't know if you guys can hear it.' The comm then went silent for half a minute. 'I'm going down. Hope my wire is long enough for this.'

'Ah, found something. There are a foot soldier or whatever is the proper term for bug types. I'm an engineer, not a biologist. Behind that Armaldo are a few smaller Anorith. And a cluster of heat signatures that different from the rest. Those must be the miners. Still alive but rather weak. Let's hope that they are not the bandits. Most of them that is.'

'You don't have a camera for that thing, mate?

'Well I do, but the lighting is not optimum for it. Thermal sensor is better.'

Axel said. 'The path lead to a large chamber in the cave. You have to see this. There are thousands of those things down here. I can also see the other connected chambers, well part of them from here. And I think the one with the miner is way up there. There are holes for these thing to climb up into that chamber, but I don't see any of them right now. And there is a long green tube connected to that chamber and lead to the ground down here.

'What are they doing down there?' Craig said.

'I don't know. Wait.'

'Axel? Axel?' Celeste asked, sounded worry.

'SHH, you wanna get him killed?' Leon said.

'Okay. It's clear again. They are just standing and raising their claws, clicking some kind of rhythm. All stood in a strange pattern, surrounding the tube. I'll try to see what it is.'

Doc said. 'Not recommend. Advancing further into danger is never recommended. We only need to.' Axel cut off the communication. 'He cut me off.'

'Oh shit, what the fuck is he thinking?' Catherine said.

'I'll go after him.' Celeste said.

'No, Axel can handle it.' Doc held Celeste arm with his right. 'You are not good at stealth. Terrible idea. Do more harm than help.' Doc sad while trying to get Axel back on the line.

'And if you stuck there, then we have more Pokémon to worry about.' Craig said.

The entire place suddenly shook. The alien shriek from before came back.

'Everyone. You won't believe what I am seeing right now.' Axel voice came again.

'Not this shit again.'

'It just emerged from the ground. It's a gigantic Armaldo I think. Much larger than the rest. The large green tube was connected directly to its back. The thing has the size of 30 of those Armaldo. And that is only the part that I can see. More of its body was underground.'

'A queen?' Craig said. 'I thought only Combee do that?'

'Now we know what "she" is.'

'Well. Not sure of that. Again arthropodology is not my expertise.'

'There is something on its head. It's a. Hold on, let me get my scope.'

'No, Axel get out there. We got enough info of these things. Don't risk it and return.' Celeste said and was answered with.

'It's a plate. A green one. '

'A plate? What does he mean by that?' Celeste asked.

'You know. Basically, chunk of Arceus power crammed up into a stone plate. There are 18 of those for 18 types.' Rick said. 'That's the clip note version.

'Oh, so it's like a game of trading card? Collect them all and you'll get full set?' Bryan barged in their conversations. Everyone then gave a judgmental look at him

'Sorry.'

'This is serious matter, mate. Act like it.'

'Okay. Axel don't try to get the plate. The miners are our priority.'

'I know. I'll let Genesis handle this "queen". We got to take the miners out first. You guys tried to get them out. I'll stay here and observed them. Making sure they don't go up.'

'Axel don't.'

'Easy Celeste. I know what I'm doing. Have some fate in me.'

She touch a deep breath and exhaled. 'Alright. But again be careful Axel. I cannot stretch that enough.' Celeste said.

'I got it the last time.'

'Good luck with that, mate.'

'When things go south, just use the grenade I gave you.' Rick said.

'Yes, proceed with precaution'

'Yeah, don't fucking die, I still haven't pay all the debts, yet.'

'Don't make me laugh Catherine. It's dangerous to my health right now.'

'That is not a joke. I hate owning Pokémon. Especially dead one.'

After everyone had turned off the comm links, Celeste said.

'Okay, let get to the miners. Rick, you stay here and watch our back. Okay?'

'No prob.' He gave her a thumb up. 'Hey Catherine, before you go. I got something for you.'

'Huh?' She was surprised that he called, but quickly approached him. He press a button on his belt, summoned up a heavy assault rifle. Its barrel was protected by thick metal coat decorated with printings that said: "Keep hands off surface; Hot when fire.". Above the barrel was a handle bar covered in grease. This gun reeked with the smell of char and gunpowder. Rick held the gun by the bar and summoned a magazine. That magazine was consisted of a big ammo box and a drum at the end of it. Through a ludicrously long sequence he loaded the magazine in and locked it tight with a click.

'Just want to give you this. It's a bit bigger for you but, these thing won't drop fast enough with your current load-out. Use this whenever you need to shoot your way out.' He handled the gun to her. Catherine grunted when she felt the weight of it. She then slowly adjusted it and grabbed the handle bar. Still struggled to aim the weapon because she couldn't get the stock to press against her shoulder.

'Maybe a little too big.'

'It's okay, I'm good.' She applied some psychic glow on it, lifting the gun up.

'1000 rounds, all armor piecing. This thing can shoot down a plane if you can aim the damn thing up in the sky. It's a 5* so please don't lose it. Can I trust you with that?'

'What is that supposed to mean?'

'Don't die and bring it back to me.'

'Pf, of course. You can count on that.'

'Yeah, and that is the best I can help you. Good luck.'

Catherine paused for a while. 'Hey, about the little.'

'Nah, no need for that. Like you said, just focus for now. And don't be bothered by me. I trust ya. Do what you got to do.' He gave her a thumb up.

'Right.' She said with absolute certainty and deconstructed the gun. Rick grinned as he watched her followed the others.

They walked up the path and found a set of damaged stairs. As they were approaching the upper chamber, Celeste signaled Catherine and Craig to walk by her while the rest stay put. Accessed the digital fabricator on her arm, Celeste summoned a long white sniper rifle with a six shots crystal-like magazine. She tossed it at Craig then whispered to Catherine. She told her to Burden everything in the chamber and let Craig and her take care of the rest. Celeste and Craig crouched down and moved slowly to the pedestals laid outside of the chamber's entrance. While Catherine just teleported behind the pedestal on the left. Catherine peeked up, get a lock on her targets-only one Armaldo and a dozen Anorith. She couldn't focus her eyes long enough to look pass them and saw what they were guarding. Catherine closed her eyes and used Calm mind. With her head was clear she touched the ground and prepare for the Burden attack. Celeste got the opposite pedestal and loaded the DMHP grenade in her launcher. She showed Catherine three of her fingers. And slowly retracted them before standing up and ran into the chamber. With a trigger pull, Celeste launched the grenade filled with drug near the heart of the chamber. The grenade bounced off the ground and began released a dense green wall of smoke. The sound of the grenade got Craig entering the chamber and primed the sniper rifle. Immediately after Celeste reached "one", Catherine used Burden and effected the entire chamber with it. The Anorith that were clinging on the wall or on the central piece of the room were pulled down by the hands of gravity. Their outer shells cracked as if the few feet drop was the equivalent of a sky scraper. The Armaldo were still standing firmly. Their body structure appeared to help them hold their ground. Failed to move their feet, the Armaldo and Anorith let their lungs to the brim with the green smoke. The drug took effect, disoriented and drove them confused. The Anorith were then released from the Burden. They then flipped themselves over and rested on their backs. The side feathers-like limps moved at a relaxed pace. Worked through the smoke and trusted the clicking sound he heard, Craig fired Celeste's sniper rifle at the source of the sound. A dart with a drill bit for the tip was shot out. Its heavy head made the dart moved with an arc. But Craig's years of experience had got the dart rested at the Armaldo center mass. The drill bit activated and helped the dart got through the thick armor. As the dart slowly made its way inside, the sound it made was similar to a dentist's drill. The dart stopped within the Armaldo's flesh and injected a chemical in the Pokémon's blood stream. That tranquilizer and the smoke was enough to knock the Armaldo down in two seconds. A thump was hear as the Pokémon fell to the side. Craig pulled the bolt handle on the sniper and focused his hearing, tried to find another target for the gun. He and Celeste waited for the smoke to die on its own before putting away their weapons.

When the smoke was clear, leaving behind a chamber with a dozen out cold bug type and a strange multi-inter-pods structure. Celeste contacted Axel and he confirmed that the noise they made didn't attracted anything down there. Catherine got out of the pedestal cover and gave the signal for everyone else to enter the chamber.

The group examined the structure. Against the rock walls were green and near transparent pods. They were containing various Pokémon. They could tell which were bandit or miners by the Genesis uniforms. There was still a lot of miners compared to bandits, thankfully. Celeste scanned them and most were still alive. All the pods were connected to a large tube above a broken, stone table that buried under layers of green mucus. And the tube was linked to the ceiling from there. Other than that, they could see the holes Axel mentioned but nothing were going through. Not at the moment. A closer look and one can see a few of those pods were just contain a red sludge. Every one of them know what it is. Everyone looked away from seeing those. Some in disgust, other were troubled by it. But Celeste regained her focus. She did so by reminded herself that she had seen worst. Those faceless sludge is nothing compare to the butchered, crushed, burned or rotten faces she had seen during some rescue missions. She checked under her foot to see if there was a severed finger below it. A common practice that she did after her first rescue mission. Doc summoned a spray gun contain a blue liquid and started spraying at the holes. The blue substance expanded and gain the texture of thick blue jelly. The substance soon branched out and plugged all the holes.

'That should keep them busy for a while.' He said.

Catherine kneeled down read the Unown letters on the table. 'A sacrifice table. What is this place?'

'Well, since this is a cult. I guess it is normal for them to do that. So the pods melted the victims into fluid. And this tube pass the fluid on to the "queen" for nourishment. How intriguing and disgusting. I cannot lie.' Doc said.

'No one judging you, mate.'

Craig summoned and abnormally huge hunting knife and walked to the unconscious Armaldo. He lifted the head's armor plate up with a well-placed incision, exposing the pulsing flesh. 'I'm no archeologist and so are you. Just focus on the pods. Need to take these miner out before they become that red goo.' He then stabbed the blade in the Armaldo's head with a firm thrust. Blood sprayed on his kaki shirt and gushing out like a waterfall when he pulled the blade out. He wiped the blood on his hand to his shirt and hat.

Celeste put her hand on her chin and had a quick glance at the group. Thought of something, she said. 'Alright, I really don't want to sound bossy, but it's time to split up and go to work. Craig, Bryan and Doc, can you stay here and get the miners out of the pods. Craig is good with the knife, Bryan you got the quill and Doc got his hand. Bryan, if this gross you out then I'll assign another job for you. Are you fine with this? It will get messy.'

'I've seen worst. What about you, mate.'

'Fine by me.'

'I see grosser stuffs from TV, so I'm good.'

They then got right to it. They cut the outer layer of the pod, made a green ooze flowing out on the floor. All had their gas mask on so they didn't know what the ooze smelt like. But there was a high possibility that it would the smell they got a few minutes earlier. None of them wanted to take of the mask off and tested the odor.

'Okay, Catherine and Leon. I know I'm going to own you both a lot for this. Since you both have the fastest speed here, you will in charge of carrying these guys out. How much can you carry with your psychic power Catherine?'

'With the size of those guys, two.'

'Leon?'

'The same.'

'Need some more.' Celeste then touched her comm device. 'Rick,'

'I got it, will be there and help you guys with it.'

'Since you are slow, can you carry like four in one trip?'

'Depend, but I'll find some way to, my friend.'

'Great. After this, I'm going to take the three of you to a fancy restaurant for 5 days. Is it a good enough motivation for you? If not, pretty please.'

'Make it a glass of Bliss and I'm good.' Catherine said. 'Oh and a box of ice cream.'

'That is much more manageable, thanks.'

'Hey, what you got for us? Where is our bloody reward? This is not exactly pleasant, either.' Craig put the first miner on the ground. His body and the miner were cover in a slippery slime. 'No time for that, finish tasks first, reward later.' Doc said as he laid another miner on the ground.

'Okay, you all will get a drink, I promise.' She turned back to Catherine and Leon. 'Okay, I'll help you two with the first trip. After that I'll stay with the miners to nurse them back to health. Everybody understand their jobs?'

'Pretty straight forward if you ask me.' Leon said. Everyone else nodded.

'Right, let's get to it! Sorry, it's a bit cheesy but that's all I have.'

Catherine just shrugged her shoulder and pointed the two miners on the ground. She encased them with bright purple glow and levitated them above her shoulders. Without a word, she sprinted down as fast as she could. She found Rick on her way out but didn't said anything to him. She just ran straight to the entrance of the mine and laid the two miners near the tent. Leon arrived shortly after her, carrying two miners on his back. Both were held tight by blue transparent wires. Catherine helped him get them off from his back and laid them next to the other. They exchanged a short conversation about showers during the process. With everything done, they returned back to the mine and met Rick in midway with four miners and Celeste with one miner.

Everyone did what Celeste told them and got into a steady rhythm after a few cycles. Soon, there were only a few miners left. Craig was tired and sweating while Doc was still showing no sign of slowing down. Bryan had stopped and instead doing the job of assisting Leon with strapping the miners on to the Keldeo's back. Craig removed the membrane of one pod and got a Kadabra miner inside. But when Craig touched him, his eyes open up and his lip trembled.

'Oh, don't.'

The Pokémon screamed of terror.

'Quiet you dag!' He punched the miner in the face, knocked him out cold. But it was too late, his scream had echoed through every part of the cave. Even Axel and Celeste could hear it. At the intersection, Catherine was going along side with Rick when the scream was heard.

'Oh shit! They both exclaimed and ran toward the pods chamber but then they heard a series of explosion at the other pathway.

'That's my grenade. Must be Axel. He is trying to get the Armaldo on to him.'

'He is gonna die if he do that. We got the help him.' She grabbed Rick's assault rifle and ran to the right path.

Rick didn't said much else but followed Catherine. The path suddenly turn steep and both slid down. 'Oh fuckkkkkkkkkkk.' Catherine yelled during the whole drop.

Back in the pod chamber.

'Quick, get the rest out.' Craig put three miners on Leon back and said. 'Giddy up.'

'You did not just,'

'Don't make me slap your bum. Just shut up and move.' Craig said as he carry the Kadabra miner on his shoulder. 'Bryan, clear the way. And Doc you got to back Axel up. He is going to die down there, mate.' Craig said as he finished tighten another miner on Raiden's back. They them moved out of the chamber before hearing a rustling sound coming from the holes on the wall.

Catherine and Rick fell down from the sloop and dropped to a deeper part of the cave. Catherine got herself inside her teleportation phases and jumped upward. With that, she got a second or two to look at the new area. The place was a gigantic chamber made of rough stone and binary crystals. And it was in absolute chaos. There were thousands of those Armaldo down here. All wiggling and moving, emitting heat and the ear scratching clicks. A large chunk of them were focusing on one point and Axel was at the center of it. He managed to keep them at bay by created a ring of thorn vines around him. He rail-gunned four or so Armaldo. Created for himself a line out and disappeared. Catherine also saw the big Armaldo that Axel told them about. Its body was large and saying it's the size of 30 Armaldo was an understatement. To Catherine it was a little bigger than that. That thing had a long, multi-parts body. Each of those parts were still resemble that of an Armaldo. But the head was different. It was longer and the eyes didn't stretched out sideway but instead stay attached to the side of the head. And this queen had more than two eyes. Its multi-eyed head was glowing green the same as the membrane on the queen's forehead. The green glowing plate was planted deep within this membrane. The rest of its body was indeed underground. Catherine couldn't see all detail of it as she began to mind her landing. Rick engulfed his fist in flame and propelled himself straight down. One Armaldo saw him and raised its claws. And that Armaldo was at the center of Rick's inferno Nova. It didn't have a chance for a second thought before being crushed from head to torso by Rick's weight. Its carcass was seared by the fiery explosion that came after the attack. Anticipated the impact of the nova, Catherine teleported upward and covering herself in her Barrier move. The purple glass shattered under the fire nova, but it had softened up the blow for her. Rick's Inferno nova expanded in a quick and violent burst. It blew a dozen or more Armaldo around the area away. That gave him and Catherine a relatively large clear area to work with.

Catherine landed softly on her feet and immediately fired the armor piecing assault rifle. She gently put pressure on the trigger and five rounds were instantly launched out the barrel in a quick burst of sound. The barrel shot up, telling Catherine to release the pressure. The armor piercing rounds seemingly teleported through the air and appeared as smoking holes and cracks on an Armaldos' torso and head. The shots entered its body and broke the armor from within, shattered the rock hard hide like cheap china. With the first Armaldo died by a single trigger pull, Catherine quickly change to another target. Rick certainly didn't exaggerate about this weapon's fire power. But such power came with a price. The recoil was much more powerful than anything Catherine had experienced from a firearm. The stock was too long for her shoulder, so she didn't have anything to deal with the massive kick back. Even if it fit her shoulder, she would twisted it just for trying. The whole time, she was gripping the stock with her arm pit. And stabilized the gun by engulfing the gun's stock and barrel with her bright purple psychic glow. Yet, even that was still not enough. It forced her to burst fire the gun instead of held down the trigger. However, since each burst was enough to take off one of them she didn't mind at all. Plus, the time between bursts made switching between targets manageable for her. When a large amount of those Armaldo corpses had piled up enough to act of a barricade, she looked at Rick. His fist was still on the ground.

'Hey Rick! Are you still with me?'

'Yeah, but not for long, stand away.' He said as the flame beard began to grow.

Catherine stepped aside while kept on firing. She then heard a long, ear blasting screech from the queen. Commanding more troop to attack.

'Hell raiser.' Rick yelled, engulfed his head in flame and charged toward the Armaldo hoard blindly. He summoned the super shotgun and loaded two shells into it. He fired the weapons and cut two Armaldo into pieces with 40 pellets launching from the barrel. The sprayed blood and green body fluid put some color on Rick's armor. He swung his arm and punched through the armor of an Armaldo in his sight. The Pokémon looked at his fist and shook violently when flame started coming out. That cooked the Pokémon from the inside out. Rick ginned, pulling out the dark, well burnt entrails before smacked it with his gun. The surrounding Armaldo didn't stand still and wait for their fate. They were constantly screaming their name and swinging the twin claws. However, an invisible force came from Rick dual generator denied their murderous intentions. Engulfed his fist in flame he punched the ground, triggered a mini Inferno Nova. That fanned away the Pokémon around him, giving him room to step back. He then jammed a large grenade in the hole of the Armaldo corpse and flung body toward a large crowd of them in front of him. The grenade went off, spreading messy chunk of blue rock hard body along with child a handful of grenades. The mini grenades latched on a few Armaldo and exploded in sequence.

'What are you both doing here?' Axel appeared beside Catherine, in his hand was to automatic sniper rifle. He took aim at the Armaldos head and popped the eyes pair by pair. Blinded them and forced the Pokémon to hurt each other.

'Recusing your ass. What else?' Catherine said before throwing a grenade and activated her Singularity trapping in three Armaldo at the same time.

'You don't get it. Now we have no choice but to survive.'

'So? I am already here. I want to try a hoard mode, so this might be a good test run.' Catherine let of the handle bar and pushed back the Armaldo with her psychic power. She continued firing and charged up a Focus Blast. When that was ready she threw it at a far distance. The triggered explosion flung a few Armaldo and rock pieces up.

'This is not a test run. What we have here is probably the hardest extermination mission yet. Did I told you that.' Axel paused to rail-gunned another line of Armaldo. 'this kind of assignment has the highest mortality rate?'

'Start hard, and the rest will be easy.'

'You have no idea what we are in right now, don't you?'

'Yes. So let's just kill these fuckers and get today over with.'

'At this rate then there will be no tomorrow.'

Catherine began to feel the burning heat on the grip above the barrel, but her adrenaline rush kept her attention away from it. Seeing Rick was going deeper and deeper into the heart of the chamber, Catherine slowly advancing.

'What are you doing?' Axel grabbed her left shoulder.

'Backing him up, what else?'

'Are you crazy?' Axel commanded a thorn vine to sprout up. Blocking the Armaldo and Catherine's path.

She turned around. 'Sooner or later he is going to get overrun. We got to be there.'

'We barely got enough fire power to control this position. How do you expect us to…'

A salvo of rocket went from above and blasted up those Armaldo that tried to get over the thorn vine. The rocket exploded and lit them up into balls of electricity, deep fried them from the shell to the inside. At the source of the rockets was Doc slowly descending with his rocket propelled feet. In his hand was the three barrels rocket launcher. He fired two other salvos at the areas near Axel and Catherine's flank. As soon as Doc touched to ground, he dropped a few turrets with various array of weapons. One with double machine guns, one with rocket launcher and one with a large cannon that fired explosive rounds. Their laser sights locked on the Armaldo around them and fired without warning. Doc pressed a button on his arm and activated barriers on the turrets.

'Seen the situation from above. What is Rick doing in there? It is not ideal to fight these with that kind approach.'

'See.' Axel said before reloading.

'However, couldn't let him over run like that. He is going to need cover fire. Maybe after his rage we can convince him to return to a safer area.'

'See?' Catherine said before launching a Focus Blast in front of her. This one didn't aim for the ground but directly at an Armaldo, shredded the Pokémon's torso in an instant.

The team with the help the turrets was slowly advancing. The barrier provided by them kept the Armaldo busy and the extra guns also helped. Every time a barrier in on turret went down, Doc put it back up with a raise of his hand. Doc's air cannon didn't quite kill the Armaldo straight away but the shots propelled and stunned mobs of those Armaldo effortlessly. Giving Axel and Catherine Focus Blasts better chance to kill them. They tried to stay as close to Rick as possible. And at the same time keeping the claws of Armaldo away from them.

The queen screeched another ear splitting scream. It had seen Rick going through its troop. He was ferociously punching and shooting his way in. His barrier had dropped a few seconds back, but the claws couldn't do more than scratching at his armor. The queen's head reached up. Two long tentacles with claw like tips burst from the ground. One of them whipped down at Rick. The Emboar quickly rolled to the left, dodged the attack. The flesh whip instead crushed the queen's soldiers in a straight line. The other tentacle came down on him. This time he blasted it from the base with his shotgun, severed it in a messy cut. The queen shrieked. It then raised and slammed down the first tentacle, which got interrupted by Axel's rail gun shell. Took his chance, Rick reloaded and fired his shotgun. But the tentacle retracted back to the ground just in time. With the queen cleared the path for him, he ran forward. He then reloaded, fired at the queen, rinse and repeat. The shots bounced off the armor on her body. But as he got closer, the pallets spread were smaller and landed better shots at the queen's head. Some hot pellets finally pinned in the membrane. Yet still hadn't pierced through and touched the plate inside. More of her minions were closing in on him. And soon they stacked themselves on him and pinned Rick down. The Armaldo bashed their head and clawed at Rick's armor. He slammed both his fist to the ground. A death grunt was shout and the flame on his head grew bigger.

'IBLIS'S PURGE.' He shouted and huge pillar of flame flew up from the ground under his feet. It then enlarge in diameter and turned every living Armaldo in a five feet diameter into near ashes.

Rick's rage began to die down with the attack, seen by the decreasing volume in his flame. He got his fists off the ground and continued fired his shotgun at the queen. An Anorith ran and jumped behind him, planning to stab him by the back of his head. Rick put the shotgun's barrel on his shoulder and filled the Anorith's face with a buck shot. The tentacle raised again. This time, it came out right behind him. He couldn't respond fast enough to that, but Catherine was. She held it by casting her psychic glow around the end of the tentacle. She stopped just in time. Moment before it could touch Rick's spine. Axel appeared with the device morphed into a large axe and chopped off the tentacle. All with one clean cut. The queen shrieked again. Rick had a look back and saw his team was much closer that he expect. Catherine had cleared an Armaldo-free path to them and him. Around her location were gigantic holes and heap of dead bodies. She had a rip on her sleeve and a blood drew scratch on her arm. Doc and his turret was constantly firing, making the Armaldo form a warped semi-circle around him and her. Doc commanded his turret to follow him and regroup, closing the gap between them and Rick. The queen was still screaming and mourning over its lost tentacles, giving Axel the chance to speak with Rick.

'Get back now. We need to stick together if we want to survive.'

Rick loaded two shells and fire at the Armaldo going for Axel's back. Axel did the same but with an explosive arrow.

'I can get to her. Just when these thing stop being major cockblocks.'

'We don't need to risk this.' Axel loaded a power cell to his device. 'We got the miners, just get back and we'll fight another day.'

'But, she is so close.'

'We are wasting time, just fall back.'

'Right.' Rick said before he clubbed an Armaldo with his gun. He then slowly stepped back and regrouped. Axel and Catherine continued providing a clear path way. And soon the four of them were together. They put their back together and fired away.

'Welcome back! Not being sarcastic.' Doc said.

'What now?' Catherine said before pulled off another singularity.'

'Well, it is impossible to go back the way we came at this rate. We are a bit too far in.

'You said we could get back.' Axel said.

'Of course, just not now. We have back up up there. Once they finish with the miners they will help us clear the way. It's not optimum but we could station here and fight off these thing while waiting for back up, more back up. But since we couldn't go back the way we came at the moment, I say that's the only option.' Doc propelled away a line of Armaldo with his air blast gun.

'That's sound pretty grim.' Rick said.

'We wouldn't be in this if you guy just leave me here in the first place. I could have find a way out on my own.' Axel said and fired an ice arrow and shielded his eyes from an explosion of ice shards.

'A little appreciation would be nice. And what do want us to do? Ignore the fucking explosion? If anything. If you had given us a head up maybe me would have gone here and tried to rescue your ass.'

'Dude Stop. There's no time for the blame game. We need to stay alive together, remember?' Rick said.

'I don't know how long could do this. My weapons have a limited ammo pool. I can't fight for long.'

'A Suggestion. How about accelerating things? Maybe we could focus on the queen. The plate maybe be her way of controlling them. Or maybe she did all the work herself. Any which way if she go down the other might stop or at least make them disorganize and easier for us the slip through.'

'So our life is depending on those "maybe"?' Axel said

'Hate to admit, but yes.'

'Yeah, But what about the rest? These fuckers won't let us do that to their, "queen".'

'I could give us a minute a two without worrying about them.'

'Well, then fucking do it.' She said after kicking an Anorith away.

Doc summoned a briefcase that opened up and expanded into a transmitter of the source. From the top, it emitted a large orange transparent dome that covered a large area above the team. Doc pulled the lever on the device and the dome kept on expanding till it couldn't expand no more. He the pressed a button and made the dome completely touched the ground. Completely sealed off the team from the hoard of Armaldo. Yet, the dome was still not big enough to reach the queen. A few Armaldo touch the dome and experienced pain and heat that made them recoiled back.

'Should have touched her. Miscalculation. Unacceptable, but cannot change the past. Now's our chance. Focus all your attack on her. The power of this device is limited. We got 2 minutes.'

The team immediately took out their best weapon and fired at the queen's head. Catherine gave the assault rifle a break and put it on the ground. She put her hands together and charge up a Crimson Focus Blast. Axel scored a few rail gun shot on the queen but its head movement were too violent, resulted in missing the plate and went in other part of the membrane or missed the head completely. Rick had switched the shotgun out for two assault rifles to get a better shot at shooting her head. Doc's turrets had quite limited range so he assigned them with the task of killing anything in contact with the exterior of the barrier. Meanwhile he blasted the queen with his ice orb, trying to see if that could slow it down. 45 seconds had passed and the queen received damage all across her head. A few of the queen eyes were either froze and broken by gun fire or just burst open like tomatoes from direct gun fire. The membrane was losing bits and chunks. One could even see a few railgun shell still pinned in it. The armor on its head and neck were cracked and broken under Catherine's three Crimson Focus Blasts. It was still standing but appeared to be in pain, constantly screaming its name and shrieked. The Armaldos' body parts were stacked up outside of the barrier, slowing the Armaldo down. Yet the troops were still on the aggressive.

'This doesn't seem to work. I'm almost out.' Axel said.

'All those attacks and these things are still going.' Catherine said before charging up a Focus Blast.

Rick stopped firing and said. 'Okay. I got an idea, a crazy one.'

'Hah, are we always up for those? ' Axel said.

Rick summoned a syringe with unknown sustains and jabbed it in his neck. Whatever inside made his heart beat much faster and his adrenaline levels began to go up. Breathed like and angry beast he jumped out of the barrier. He slammed his fist together and looked up.

'The Gate, TWO.' He shouted and an Iblis's Purge pillar covered him and cleared any possible interfering Armaldo. When the pillar died down, it leave Rick with the head fully consumed by bright orange fire. One could only see two extremely bright red dots in where the eyes should be. His arms and even the grieves under his feet were on fire. Some gaps in his armor began to leak out traces of flame as well. He pointed at the queen.

'TODAY WILL BE THE MARK OF YOUR DEMISE!' He screamed in a voice that was not quite him. He then crouched down, the flame under his feet grew and grew until it covered half of his body. Immediately after, he made a leap that achieved extraordinary height. He raised his fist at the queen and let out a battle cry that shook the air around him. The queen extended its head, opened its mouth and gobbled him up.

'Aw shit!'

'Rather unorthodox. Hope that's a part of the plan. He should coming out any moment now. Just like in the movies.'

'Ehh, Doc.'

'Be patient, Axel.'

The team stood silent while the Armaldo kept pounding on the barrier. They waited for 10 seconds or more. With nothing seem to be happening to the queen. Instead it sprouted another pair of tentacle and slammed the barrier violently. Axel fired rail gun shots at them.

'Oh yes, just movies, they are not in the realm of possibility. Continued firing, everyone. We shall moan his lost later.' Doc launched an ice orb at the tentacles, froze them and allowed Catherine to shatter them with the assault rifle.

'It's mourn, Doc.' Axel said.

'You are going to pay for that.' Catherine launched a regular Focus Blast at the queen's head.

'The barrier is nearly down. Start shooting or you are going to join him.' Axel said.

From under the queen belly, an orange spot began to grow and grow. Its surface heated up and suddenly a geyser of fire and brimstone shot out from it. The queen's head spun and letting a long painful scream out of its mouth. And Rick leaped out and faced it.

'YOU WILL FUCKING PAY FOR THAT.' Rick screamed instances after got back on his feet. He summoned the drilled from the underground missions and rolled to the left to avoid possible tentacle attack. He then latched the drill on his right arm. Through a series of twisting a few controls, took apart and assembled a few pieces, the drill became a part of his armor. He armed the drill over the queen's head and grabbed his hand into a fist. That launched the drill bit up in the air with a long blue core attached to it. The drill flew in an arc and pinned in one of the multi eyes. Rick moved his thumb and the drill bit began to spin and got deeper in the queen's head. When he thought the length was enough, he moved his index finger and the drill head opened up, keeping it in the queen skull. He then reeled himself upward by a quick pull of his fist. In two seconds, he was a few feet away from the queen's head. He struck out his fist and punched the queen. The impact nearly topple the Pokémon and his fist dug deep into the eye. The queen tried to shake him off but the drill bit was in too deep and his hand and feet were clinging on too tight. He got his fist out and punched the multi eyes around him. When there was nothing left to punch, he dipped his hand deep in its eyes socket, ripped out anything he could grab and then dug his hand deeper. He did so with her other eyes, and eventually completely filled its head with empty holes. Brought great suffering to the mutated Armaldo to boot.

Down at the team. Axel fired a few explosive arrows inside the gaping hole in the queen's belly and detonated them. That made the queen losing a great amount of blood and weaken her. Catherine contributed by occasionally threw in a Crimson Focus Blast in the hole, enlarged it even bigger and made the queen's agony the more excruciating. Doc had left the queen to the other members and focusing on his turrets. He was recalling the machine gun one and replace it with one equipped with a Gatling gun. He also replenished ammunition on the other as well. He did all this because when the barrier drop, these turrets would be the only thing that keep them from being overrun.

Rick shoved a grenade inside the deepest eye socket he could find. And waited two seconds for it to go off. The grenade blew up, sending a fiery sensation through the giant Armaldo's head. After that, the queen's head started to drop and it was swinging lightly like a drunken state. Rick extended the blue core and started getting himself back on the ground. For good measure he threw four or five grenade down, clearing any possible Armaldo down there. After the chain explosion cleared his landing, he got a firm stance on the ground and started pulling the core, bringing the queen's head down. Rick made it look as easy as a man pulling a stubborn corgi that wished to get away from its owner.

'I AM RICHARD DOUGHLAS, YOUR MAKER.' He screamed as he tighten his grip and got her head lower and lower in each pull. The queen desperately trying to get up, but Rick's strength, brutality and its weaken body made it hard to make a different.

'Rick that word is not for.' Catherine said but was interrupted by Doc.

'He can't hear you. Just let him have this.'

Rick stopped when the blue core was on the verge of breaking and the queen head was lowered to his height. Axel saw his chance and took aim. When the plate was in the scope, he shot the rail gun. The shell pierced through the membrane and hit the plate by the edge, wedged the plate out. Catherine took the assault rifle off the ground and fired a long burst, scrapping away the membrane. Axel shot another shell in the edge of the plate and levered the plate out. Catherine immediately covered it with her psychic glow and pulled it to her hand. Rick summoned his six barrels missile launcher and took out the queen's head with a relentless barrage of fire missiles. The fire cooked the head, burnt and shrunk it. After a few seconds, the burning the head crashed into the ground. The drill head was retracted before Rick fell on his knees. The flame on his head and beard shrunk dramatically. He was about to fall until Catherine lifter his side up. She teleported beside him and fired at the Armaldo around him. Levitated above her back was the plate. She looked at him and asked. 'Can you stand?'

'Yeah, I still.' He summoned a syringe with a red liquid. But his hand were too tired to pick it up. Catherine helped him with her psychic hold and injected Rick with it.

Rick was then brought back to his feet. 'Thanks, I need that.'

'No time for sentimental shit, we gotta haul ass.'

With Catherine's assistance and everyone else's cover fire, Rick successfully limped back to the large barrier.

The queen may have died, but the other were still on the aggressive. If not more so then ever. Some of them climbed on the corpses of their fallen allies and slammed into the barrier. Doc blew some of them away from the barrier with the last energy cells of his air blast cannon.

'Why are they still going ape shit at us?' Catherine said before the assault rifle let out the dreaded click. She deconstructed it and got her miner cutter. After lifting Rick's assault rifle for a few minutes, this miner cutter felt much lighter. She put her finger on the button and pressed it, firing a steady stream of red laser from the barrel. The beam effortlessly punched through the armor. But the cut are too clean and small, making it took quite a while to get some Armaldo down.

'Well, we just killed their queen might be a factor.' Doc said.

'Or it's night time.'

Rick summoned the two assault rifles. 'I say both.'

The barrier overhead began to retract. The barrier's wall was growing thinner and thinner

'Oh shit!'

Axel sighed and said. 'Blaze of glory?'

'Yeah, blaze of glory.' Rick said.

'The fuck?'

'Everyone, hit them with everything you got.' Doc shouted before throwing all the turrets that he had on the ground. For greater effect, he fabricated three flying drones. Each of those armed with missiles strikes and energy blasts. Axel's touched the ground and summoned a long thick thorn wine and slammed it down at all the Armaldo in front of him, giving him some space to breathe and come up with a new plan. He looked at his ammo reserves. He was running dangerously low. Catherine slammed her hands together, making a bright purple grow appeared around her feet. 'Angle lift.' She separated her hands and the glow expanded. She then lifted her hands and every Armaldo that set their large feet on the glow was instantly elevated and drifted hopelessly in the air. She them picked them apart with the miner cutter.

'Holy crap, how did you do that?'

'That's pretty much my last trick. Don't waste it!' She said as the Armaldo began to come down on the ground. Rick and Doc's turrets put out a hail of lead, decimated the hopeless Almaldo. When Catherine's Angle Lift lost its effect, butchers or incinerated Armaldo carcasses rained down around them. Rick's assault rifle started clicking and the other was getting lighter. He deconstructed both of his current weapons and get himself the explosive spike shotgun and another assault rifle, this one fired slow moving explosive round. The slow moving projectile didn't hinder the weapon performance much as these Armaldo were so close to him. The canister behind Catherine's miner cutter reached critical heat and stopped the gun from firing. Rick tossed her his assault rifle and told her to take it. In Rick's free hand was then the super shotgun. This time his method reloading it was directly fabricated the shells inside the chamber after firing. It reloaded much slower than usual but it got him fire weapons with both hand, mowing down the Armaldo more efficiently over all. Rick continued firing both his gun. When they were too close for his comfort, he coughed up a flamethrower to accompany the shotguns' fire. Doc switched his air blast cannon for a gun with a tesla coil. This one was much differ than Rick's as it shot on steady stream of lightning that seem to chain from enemies to enemies. For all the Armaldo were so close together, the chain lightning struck the brain of at least a dozen of them before disappearing. He deployed two extra flying machines. They looked like miniature fighter jets and started rained down the area with machine guns fire at summons. Axel depleted his automatic sniper and railgun. Left with no choice, he manifested his device into a 13 foot long sword. He slammed a power cell to the back. A plasma stream began flowing along the edge. When the blade turned white, he leaped forward and sliced two rows of Armaldo with one swipe, severed them in half. He ran forward and got two more swipe before the power core ran out.

After a minute or so, the bodies had created an unstable wall around them. Saw that they were about to fall on the team. Catherine stopped firing and launched a Focus Blast at the wall, pushing it away from them. A part of it collapse, letting a swarm of Armaldo went through. Catherine started to pant and sweating but still kept on firing and launching Focus Blasts in between shots. Rick appeared to be fighting strong. He had just replaced the two shotgun for a Gatling gun-his last resort weapon. The weapon cut through the Armaldos' heads and armors like a lawn mower. Doc was still in control of his machines. The power core within himself could help him fighting as long or even longer than Rick, but the ammo situation didn't look to well for him. As he was now forced to use his submachine gun and elemental orbs for these creature. He had modified his orb in to a freezing wave, similar to Leon Icy Wind but much wider. That attack flash freeze the enemies but not as effective as he hoped it would be. Axel seem to have the worst of it. He was afraid the Armaldo on his side would punch through his line of defense and over run the team. He had ran out of ammo except for the only thing in his hand, the rocket launcher. His blade proven to be ineffective and he had ran out of plasma cells. He fired the rest of his rockets. A good hit of it could blow up one whole, but the splash damage is not strong enough to kill multiple Armaldo. Rick sometime help him by cutting a few of them from time to time. Axel was about to give up and tried a large Absolute Barrier to hold them off and then pass out. He worried about his team but the situation didn't offer much option. However, he was stopped by the shatter sound of an ice grenade tossed from above.

That was none other than Celeste's. She was up at the hole led to the exit. She waved and yelled, but the sounds and clicks from the Armaldo just drowned her out. She fired a grenade directly downward. The grenade stuck to an Armaldo and went off in a rather small explosion. But the heart of it, white foam began to form around the Pokémon. And soon it expanded and swallowed the Pokémon completely. The foam then harden into a gel like substance and suffocated the Armaldo. She fired a few fire grenades at the area round the foam, repelling the other Armaldo. Then she jumped and land softly on the gel pad, like a big pile of bubble gum. She got off from it and loaded a grenade in. She looked for Axel and the teams' general area and took aim. She shot a rocket propelled grenade that ran in a straight line. The grenade set off 4 or more explosions along its path, giving her way clear path to the team. Leon with Bryan on his back were seen leaping down and landed on the gel shortly after. Leon stomped his hoofs on the rock hard ground and spun his Gatling guns. He bit down a switch in his mouth to fire his Gatling gun. The bullets combusted while traveling and penetrated everything in Leon line of sight. Bryan activated the visor and jumped off Leon's back. He them curved up into a ball and began to spun, grinded the rock underneath into dust. Spinning at his max speed, he set himself off and flew to the Armaldo by Celeste left flank. He cut through their guts, like a cannon ball going through rows of plywood.

Celeste approached the team and dropped a small box like device on the ground under their feet. The device folded itself and fabricated large boxes around it. The boxes opened up and revealed all kind of ammunition inside.

'Sorry for coming too late. Traffics. You guys load up and we'll help you get back to Leon. There will be a great point to hold out and exterminate these.'

She then took the place of each member, who took turn reloading their weapons.

'What happen to the miners? Aren't you suppose to take care of them?' Axel asked while filling up his sniper rifles.

'Worry not, Lazarus is on it, so I can help you guys.'

'Lazarus, so that's mean.'

'Yes, we contacted Genesis for more back up. His team will be helping us shortly.'

'Sounds good. More guns means higher chance of surviving.'

When everything is set and loaded, they slowly walked back with Celeste instructions. Craig giving them some form of covering fire with his harpoon gun from above.

A thundering cry came out from the hole and an Electivire jumped beside Craig and got in the middle of the chamber. He raised his humongous sword in midair and the saw blade edge slammed down when he landed. The impact shook the cave and created a thunder from the biggest storm. The Armaldo slowly backed away from him. The Electivire took his blade from the ground and slashed the closest thing to him. The sword didn't sliced but rather crushed it into chunks of rock and red meat. The thick sword made sure each cut was painful and unforgiving. He charged up electricity into the blade and got the strikes out faster. He lunged forward, dashed, slashed and decapitated everything he see in a blood rage. Screaming and yelling in the process. The blood of the Armaldo got in his eyes and blurred his vision. But that just made his strikes more ferocious and drove him in frenzy.

A Lopunngy descended near Leon. She was wearing the same battle armor as the one in the assignment center but now had a helmet that just let her ears exposed. On her back was the blind Sableye with a flak jacket with ton of grenade and explosives that could possibly strapped on it. The Lopunny summoned two brass knuckles that covered her hands and started running to the team. She was punching and kicking any Armaldo in her way. The brass knuckles and the armor on her feet helped her bypass armored hide with ease and punctured the organs.

The blind Sableye took a large grenade and strapped four smaller grenades on it. He set up the timer and asked Leon to fire it a far with a Hydro Pump. Leon obliged and opened his mouth. A powerful jet of water launched the grenade in an Armaldo dense area. The grenade went off and fired bullets from the hearts of the explosion, along with the four grenades. The four grenade then fired bullets of their own before going off. That one grenade alone got rid of the Armaldo in a wide area within seconds. 'You all have been killed by the splode master.' The Sableye said with a wide grin. He tossed out a grenade that went up on the rocket and showering down mini explosions from above.

With the Armaldo cleared out, Celeste told everyone to make a run through the temporally clear field. Catherine and her team finally made it back to Leon. Bryan also went back by Celeste's instructions. And he then contributes with his pistol. The Lopunny stopped the hand to hand combat and switch out for a submachine gun. She did a few acrobatic flips to regroup with everyone. While everyone was fusing their gun, The Electivire was still in the middle of the hoard and still swinging his blood drenched blade like mad.

They stationed in that one corner and began the process of extermination. Craig occasionally dropped boxes of ammunition from above, ensuring the longevity of this fight. They kept that up for more than half an hour. The Armaldo's number diminished and soon found themselves retracted back into the other chamber in the cave, leaving the group with piles upon pile of corpses. Catherine suggested pursuit but Doc and other said it was not a priority.

When all the violent were over and everything was quiet. They started climbing up and got out of the mine. Everyone then gathered in the landing pad. It was at nearly 8 PM and the lights planted around the landing site was activated. That allowed 5 Kilian planes and a few Genesis employees to operate effectively.

Catherine was sitting on the edge of the landing pad. Her arms were let loose for they were soar and exhausted. The hand that held the barrel of Rick assault rifle was burned slightly. It appeared to sting from time to time but was nothing to cry about. Catherine looked back at the miners. Some were covered in bandages but still be able to walked to the planes. A few were still lying motionless on stretchers. A Delphox wearing light combat armor with a gigantic green cross painted on his back slowly walked to them. He inserted a needle connected to a device on his arm directly to one miner's head and said. 'Come'. He pushed a button on the device and transferred something to the miner's head. The miner's body shook violently then the Pokémon woke up while panting hard. The Delphox patted him in the back, calming him and told him to lie down and rest.

The miners were then instructed to step on the plane and returned to the delta base. They were priorities so Catherine and everyone else have to wait. All the other agents were making indie chats in a pair with the excepting of the Electivire, who was sitting in silent and cleaned his sword. Axel and Doc were discussing about the outcome of the situation; Celeste was encouraging and rewarded Bryan with a piece of sweet; Leon was talking to Craig about the miner that he punched; And the Lopunny was bombard the Sableye with complains that best not to know. Catherine then saw Rick coming to her and turned her head back. He sat beside her and said.

'Quite a day huh?'

'Yup. It's not every day you can just go in a cave chalk full of ancient monsters and kick their asses.' She summoned Rick's assault rifle and laid it on her thighs. She then lazily gave it back to him. 'See, I keep my promise.'

'I know you would. And thank you for backing me up down there.'

'That's what we do right? You do the same for me and I did so for you.'

'Right.' He paused. 'I have been thinking. About what we have been talking about.'

She sighed. 'That again.' Catherine sighed.

'I know, I know, it's annoying. Doc gave me the same talks when I first join in. And it's pissing me off to hear that all the time, I won't lie, it did. But after a while, I know he was just doing the best for everyone here at Genesis.'

'Yes, I got it. It's reasonable. I won't deny that.' Catherine kept looking down.

'But knowing that, still pissing me off. He acts like he knows all but he had no friggin idea. Even the therapists are full of shit. They don't understand what it's like having something that made everything around you turn to ash in two whole seconds. They doesn't know how hard to keep something like that from harming the Pokémon around you. How hard to maintain control.'

'But you are still an agent. You found a way, right?'

'I did. But I have to deal with it by myself. And it ain't a god damn walk in the park, I tell you that. Genesis nearly have me put down at one point. After that, took me nearly five years to get things together. Sorry for taking you down the memory lane but what I want to say. You are not alone in this. You don't have to deal with whatever is inside you, on your own. God that sounds weird but roll with it. If you find yourself struggling in taming that beast, just ask me, I might know a trick or two to help you, been there done that and all. And yeah, I don't care if you trust me or not, I trust you on this. Hell, I'll willing to help, aren't I?'

'Wow, isn't it would be better if you had told me this before. So much clearer and less, preachy.'

'Yeah, haven't thought of that one in there. The nostalgia feeling when I got my ass handled to me by that bandits and the mission just overshadow the thoughts my head. It like a giant brain fart. Now, it's much clearer when everything is done.'

'Okay, this is getting sappy so let's just end it here.'

'Of course, but you got to work for it.'

'What now, Rick?'

He showed her his fist. 'Just punch it, I know it's strange but do it. It's like a commitment. Once you punch it, it's mean I trust you and the same for you. And I'll promise to never bringing this conversation up ever again. Unless when you want to. Deal?'

'Deal' she punched his fist with her left.

'Man, you really need to do some work out. How can you carry heavy weapons with that sissy arm?'

'I'm gonna smack you in the face and see if you can still say that.' She said as both retracted their fists.

'Go ahead.'

She reached out her fist and struck Rick in the face. However, he was unfazed by the blow.'

'Haha, you are going to need that work out, my friend.'

'My fist was tired. Too much shit happened today.'

'Yeah, right. So looking back. Do you regret agreeing the extermination assignments yet? I swear they are not as tough though.'

'Nah, we can still do that. Weekends and shit, right? '

'Might be a good excuse for an outdoor barbecues.'

'Yeah, that sounds good.'

Axel and Doc stopped their conversation and looked at Catherine and Rick.

'Those two sure are friendly today.' Axel said.

'Would you want them to fight and tear each other apart with knives?'

'No, just observing.'

'Yes. Well, personally, I think it's great. Letting Rick deal with another version of him. Much easier for us.'

'That was just a figure of speech. She is nothing like Rick.'

'Quite the contrary, she bare a lot of resemblance to Rick when I first met him. Quite a ticking time bomb he was. But now, look at him. So calm and what is the word? "Refrigerated"? Oh, chill. He is that one Pokémon who love to share a drink with you. And still can get his blood rage to work for us. I believe with his experiences, he could help her adapt to our environment easier and faster. It's better for everyone, especially for her.'

'I can see that.'

Back at the edge.

Rick stood up. 'So Catherine, ready to leave?'

'Yup, give me a sec to catch my breath and I'll join you.' Catherine said before saluted him.

She looked at Rick walking to Axel and Doc. He talked something to them for a good long while. She thought back of the talk with Rick. It certainly put her at ease but she was still concern about something. "He claimed that thing is his master and I should be fearful." The voice in her head was still silent. That little moment must had a much larger impact than Catherine expected but she wondered how long that impact would last. Rick, Doc and Axel turned to her.

'Hey, Catherine. What take you so long? The guys agreed. We're gonna celebrate by emptying Gwen's bar tonight, drinks on me. You want in?'

'Sure.' She stood up and grinned. 'Why the fuck not?'

In a deep dark, underground tunnel, there laid a throne made from rusted pipes, spikes and gears. Sitting comfortably on it was a mega Alakazam with pale yellow skin and holes in his face. He wore identical clothing to the double that did his dirty works. Except for a few things. In his hand was a large scepter held three crystal balls and there was a crown on his head. The mega stone was stamped in the middle of the crown. But the Mind plate was still in the same place, linked on his back. Beside his throne are four pods. Two were empty and two have bodies of Alakazam.

The King had a visitor that day. An all too familiar face to him. His visitor remained silent for a rather long time, waiting to hear the King's excuse to meet him.

'You, you've never said anything thing, about the monsters.'

'Well, I did say that there will be challenges along the way. And advised you to be extra careful.'

'I lost a lot of my Pokémon and got nothing.'

'It is your own fault for not supervising the expedition yourself. If you aren't such a coward-'

'I AM NOT A COWARD!' The King yelled.

'I'm in no position to judge, but explain to me. Why didn't you do it yourself, again? If you are such an "honorable" king then why don't you personally oversee everything? Especially during an important task like this. Maybe things will be much different. Why have so little confidence in your power? I have given you so much and you are still afraid.'

'Look who is talking. You are no better than me. You ask me to do the search and everything for you. Why don't you just do it yourself?'

'Hehehe. Hahahhaha. Oh. Don't be silly, your highness.'

'What, what are you trying to say?'

'I have something clever, but I'm afraid the sarcasm would surpass you. I'm not a coward nor am I a brave soul. I'm just a Pokémon who knows a lot. I am a Pokémon who provided knowledge and suggestions to you, free of charge. Without my words, you would have been dead for a while now. And I wish nothing more but to help you. The end goal of all the searches are simply come down to giving you more power. But, if you don't want me to then I could stop. If anything, I will disappear right now and you will never see me again.'

'Wait, no!'

'If so, then please, spare me the bitterness of your words.

The King sighed. 'Fine, I'll gather up some Pokémon and we will claim the plate later.'

'I'm afraid it is too late for that.'

'They have, obtained it?'

'Yes. I think it would be better off for you to complete the tasks I have suggested to you first. In the meantime, tell your knights to help you gather up more, followers. You are running short.'

'I'll get it done. But one thing, I must ask. Can you get me another body?'

'No, these are only one I know of and I know more than you could ever know. If you are afraid, I suggest staying here, rest and gather up strength. Those are just simple suggestions, follow them or not is up to you. And fair well, your highness.'

'Where are you going?'

'I go whenever I have the urge. And where do I know simply does not concern you.'

The King then watched his visitor walked to the door and whispered something under his breath.

---

Author's notes:

Thank you so much for reading. If you enjoyed what you have just read and wished to see more, please follow or leave a review. They would give me motivation to write more for everyone. All feedbacks will be appreciated. If you find anything lacking or flawed in my story (grammar, word use, etc.), please tell me in the reviews as well. I shall do my best to updates these chapters sooner and make them more polished. This is my first ever story so please forgive any possible mistake in the future and help me fix them.

Thanks again and have a pleasant day.