Chapter 14: On the Brink - Part 2 "Decision"
Ein gradually rocked his handheld shortwave radio in front of him. In fluid motion, he swayed it back and forth over the bay, its forked antenna's tip glistening in the sunlight like an enchanted truncheon. Blank, ambiguous static persisted regardless.
"…"
It had worked. Through his ashen-tinted lenses, Ein glared at the immaculate coastal bay. Another adversary conquered. Another shortcoming turned exploitable.
His boney hand clenched tightly on the metal railing above the main control booth. A gentle breeze blew through his messy dark chocolate hair. High above him, the cloud of smoking blue dust continued to wilt, its long arms extending from the source of the explosion. Like a web of willow branches, it drooped across the sky, mixing with the bright sunlight.
It was the sunlight. It was the sun. So poetic were the parallels, Ein could only fathom the possibilities.
"Phaeton…" Ein exhaled, "simply marvelous…*sigh*…to think…it all developed out of human weakness… Frailty. How far we've come…"
The first clicks of electric noise sounded from down below. From his vantage point, Ein looked down towards the glass control booth, as the grated metal slits lifted up like frightened hair. Between the narrow gaps, he saw his assistant vigorously shuffling circuit boards around as if they were a deck of oversized playing cards. Even with protection, the core drives needed to be inserted into the protected spinning hard disk drives in order for the system to undergo a memory reboot. While the mainframe operating system had higher processing power in a solid state drive, hard disks allowed for data retention when remotely forced off—or 'Full-stopped'—, since data was made physical rather than purely electrical. Anything electrical was a vulnerability. Metal-plates could be demagnetized much easier than integrated circuitry made of silicone.
A faint click gave way to rapid crackling from his sleeves as Ein flipped his radio switch. "Status report?" he whispered into the handheld.
Nothing. Not even an ounce of static. Destroyed. Jaeger was stories below him, bumbling with engineering, completely unaware of Ein's attempted radio transmission. The device had worked only a moment before the light. Ein grinned, realizing Phaeton's permanence made his mind race with excitement. Extending his sore arm over the railing edge, he tossed the small radio with a smirk. Silently, it fell like a stone into bay; down the cliff it tumbled, too far to issue an audible splash.
Earnestly, Ein pressed his palms together, noticing his skin was becoming damp from the humidity. Phaeton countered Feyera quite nicely in the short-run. Ein had much bigger plans however; stalling an escape was the simplest of his series of planned maneuvers. And yet without this crucial crippling device, little else in his master plan would work. It wasn't just about stopping Feyera; no, quite paradoxically it was about restarting something—something that had been impeded. There was an undeniable charm to how it all fit together so well. Pieces coming together to form a whole, parts congregating together to generate order; this was the stellar beauty which brought him to science in the first place. The constellation of cause and effect daubed his mind with their flurry spider webs, a lovely tapestry of axioms and consequences. Ein had made his move; all he had to do was wait for Feyera to realize checkmate. And though Feyera may not choose not to acknowledge it, fighting it off in passionate denial, there was little else Ein was committed to bringing out. Everything was going according to plan. There were no loose ends. No externalities. No resistances.
Like a frail leaf frozen on a frosted pond, Ein's target had been frozen at the mouth of the wide bay. The Phaeton had prevented Feyera's escape by localizing a complete Full-stop—the death sentence to any circuit dependent technology left unshielded. It was a type of assault well known to Ein. If not for prior exposure, Phaeton would only have been found in the heavens above.
What was Phaeton? An invisible pruning of technology, a systematic willowing of domination's agents, a means of turning the very things humans relied upon against them. Phaeton was a weapon; powerful, swift, and operational. Similar to RAIL-class weapon designs and without any doubt as potent as the portable ion launchers, its dynamism came from the tiniest particles imaginable. While RAIL guns were proficient at decimating local targets by overwhelming atomic structures with focused beams of accelerated ions, Phaeton's chain reaction of so-called 'forced ion creation' unleashed a wide-reaching and disruptive magnetic field. The design was not to 'create' a turbulent magnetic field per se, but rather to 'open one up' high in the atmosphere. By breaking earth's natural solar radiation barrier, Phaeton triggered the equivalent to a solar storm. The same type of storm eastern lands like Orre were prone to experiencing.
Ein lifted his stern-faced head up. He wore protective lenses to shield his eyes from the predictable harsh light, but at this distance it was hardly necessary. Fallout wouldn't reach him, as far as he knew it was harmless. The detonation occurred miles above Evercrest, and resulting ionic energy—mostly visible light—would be pulled into outer space as soon as the rift in earth's magnetic field opened. Judging by the color of the receding blue streams, this suction had happened instantaneously. A SRBM could not travel much distance, belligerents of the Great War hadn't developed ballistic missiles capable of carrying shells long range. Flying Pokemon were much more useful for carpet-bombing and air raids anyway. Ballistic missiles were chiefly employed to perform destructive tasks not suitable for Pokemon: typically attacks on militia outposts rather than civilian infrastructure. During the war, Kanto's military strikes with projected suicide rates higher than fifty percent were deemed unsuitable for organic transportation, and thus used artillery for high-risk forays. The KRA had enough technological resources from Silph Co. to push that figure down to ten percent by the war's closing, saving themselves valuable troops and morale in the process. Once Kanto's navy established a foothold north of Gateon Port, continuous barrages of SRBMs carrying Electrode-Weezing payloads were launched. Distilled Muk mire was added to the slew of contents to create voracious flames of napalm. Casting water on the fires produced clouds of toxic smoke far deadlier than the sheer heat. Though this artillery could be intercepted—and was by many a brave Pokemon—, its prevalence from Silph Co.' mass-production led to Orre's inevitable surrender.
Compared to its incendiary, bio-hazardous precursors, Phaeton lacked high raw output. At surface level, it barely trumped a large group of exploding Electrode in terms of kinetic energy. However, it was semi-kinetic energy that caused ion formation in the upper layers of the atmosphere. This rapid excitement of electrons caused stratospheric burnout.
"A convulsion of ions high in the atmosphere," Ein thought aloud to himself, still in awe. "The sun wherever it's needed…The ability to filter Pokemon from Poké Balls, freeze ARMOS, break communication, cripple transportation, erase computer memory. It's the power to control the development of our world!"
And it was all in his hands. Not even all Pokemon were safe from the pulse, which is why Ein keenly decided to keep his Electric Pokemon with Jaeger under the Evercrest base's makeshift magnetic shields. The scientist's thoughts ran rampant with thoughts. He was invincible with this prototype. A base equipped like Evercrest could short-circuit and halt organized military strikes, nevermind fire an offensive strike on Kanto's mainland; all with a relatively simple semi-kinetic pulse. And no one save a few scientists from Orre knew of how to impede Phaeton's culling. Why? For decades, the high desert regions of Orre had been in the shadow of the sun's frequent outbursts. Believed to be caused by a mixture of diminished atmospheric immunity and strong magnetism of the ferrous soil, microelectronics would frequently fail during high winds accompanied by bright aurora-like lights in the sky. The rare but impeding phenomenon was dubbed a solar storm. Although Pokemon could predict magnetic disturbances, Orre had fewer numbers in the wild capable of foretelling when and where the storms would hit. Plus, the storms would often arise from something as uneventful as a sandstorm.
Years ago, Ein's mentor founded the Solaris Project, a protective venture to help rebuild Orre by stopping harmful full-stops. Amid his work with Cipher, Ein successfully perfected it, judging by the sound of restarting turbine generators shielded beneath him and the silence of the discarded radio. Phaeton mimicked the natural occurrence of cosmic vulnerability on demand. The Great War saw nothing like the Phaeton. Nothing like the power of the sun itself. To Ein, it would seem war would no longer cover the world in darkness, but embrace it in capacious light.
With a grunt, the Cipher scientist grappled with his stained lab jacket; his boney hands tapering down the wide lapels beneath his collar, scraping some dried blood off in the process. The west was at its end, and so was the crude cautionary role of science. On a macro scale, it was evolution punishing the slothful. Kanto would crumble under the very world they built. The rest of the world would follow, adhering to a new order. An order of progress, adaptation, and advance. An order where organic percussion thumped to the time of one heartbeat.
From advanced Poké Balls to basic sparkplugs, no electrical devices were immune without magnetic shielding. Evercrest's exterior had been recently upgraded with the latest 'Solarity Shields', thinly pressed sheets of lead alloys capable of blocking—or rather deflecting—even the most brutal of solar storms from the increasingly volatile sunbursts. The construction was common practice on Cipher's buildings in Orre and Ein, being the project's mantle-bearer, insisted on coating Evercrest in the polarization-immune substance.
The man's posture, stiff as a board, began to relax as one by one, Feyera's Pokemon were released from their Poké Balls in the distance. Ein knew time was running out before all of his circuitry failed from overheating. And there was one device in particular Ein was interested in seeing fail.
Before it came to fruition, a bright red light burst out from near Feyera's paralyzed watercraft, morphing into a massive creature easily twice his height.
"…!" Ein gasped. It was something Ein had not taken into account. He had lost track of his facts amid the struggle.
It was a Gyarados.
"Damn…!" hissed Ein, "Lorelei mentioned a Gyarados…"
How could he have been that careless? Ein should have known Feyera would conceal that member of his Pokemon team in a matter of defense from his grossly powerful Electric Type Pokemon. The trainer had little choice, especially after seeing the brutal execution of Lorelei's Lapras.
Feyera's Pokemon team hardly appeared to be debilitated by the magnetic blast of the Phaeton. The Rocket troopers, even though only a small taskforce, were eliminated by a combination of psyonics and Phaeton's electrical overload. But why not Feyera's craft? wondered Ein. What had the young man done to save himself from the fuel eruptions? How did he foresee the danger? Did he know about the Phaeton? No, it couldn't be; that information was constantly under lock and key.
Truth be told, Ein did not expect the fuel to be ignited by the rouge electrical sparks. How could he? PWCs were never tested to withstand Phaeton, much less the solar storms Phaeton was based upon. The watercrafts weren't ever anticipated to be exposed to solar storms in the desert region of Orre after all. But why hadn't Feyera's ignited? How did the young man know to kill the PWC's engine or suffer the fate of his pursuers? Were his psyonic powers really that strong?
Ein pressed on his temple, adjusting his protective glasses with a ring finger. Questions were driving him mad. Was it the Gardevoir at his side? Was it the both of them working together in tandem? He feared the latter; for as much as he had studied Pokemon, immaterial bonds of companionship were unquestionably the least understood. It had to be the Mercurium. It had to be the Gardevoir whose cells were metabolized; the cells incorporated into his ex-assistant's existence. Delta-two.
"The high powered microwaves! The electron overloads have enough sudden volatility to destroy the entire spectrum of semiconductors. And you knew to stop the motor?! How did you know Feyera?" he asked fiddling with his hands. "Even with an inhibitor present…my word…what a vibrant will to survive inside you…! The heart piece…it's…adapted."
Helplessly, Ein watched as the trainer's Gyarados arched its neck back and roared in the distance. For the first time, he second-guessed his plan, finding holes like these unable to be ignored.
"I must have it!" Ein yelled, imagining the crimson heart in his hands. The scientist released his white-knuckled grip from the railing and turned around to descend back into the base and prepare orders. He slipped past the metal framed door, sliding it open with a firm hand. As soon as he entered the base, he unclipped a small headset from the wall, clamping the bulky—yet protected—electronic device into position. Coughing from the base's air, he placed the microphone next to his cold lips.
"Jaeger!" he called out to the control booth through the speaker phone.
"Jah jah. *bzzz* how was zee weather up there?"
"Phaeton was a success, it disabled the vulnerable circuit technology…Hopefully, all of it." Worry once again crossed his face. Thankfully, these inklings of panic were invisible to Jaeger.
"*Cough!*" The heavy voice came through the headphones along with a slew of crackling. "Jah. I can confirm a visual chief; Fey— *bzz* —a's Pokemon were all released involuntarily."
"It's a good sign. But I was expecting him to be frozen on the PWC for us to collect at our leisure."
"No." Deprecatingly, Jaeger affirmed, "It would appear that isn't zee case. A careless miscalculation has given him wings to flee on."
"…" Ein fell silent. Miscalculation also nearly killed his target rather than freeze him. He could not take the responsibility. "Variables…they change. Until we eliminate human emotion, Jaeger…they'll always change."
"We need to have an action plan for Feyera."
"He'll undoubtedly use this short-lived lull to run away on his Gyarados."
"—Surf away—"Jaeger corrected.
"—Not that he'll get very far on that runt of a specimen! Looks like it would barely be able to tow Feyera," Ein said ignoring Jaeger's condemning tone. "We'll position a barricade on the northern part of the island to cut him off."
"Our troops are already stationed there, west of zee Lost Cave. Good thing we were excavating for Mercurium there yesterday."
"Right. The so called 'Cave of No Return' was due for an earthquake excavation on our behalf."
"However."
"However…?"
"We'll be unable to send orders until zee storm quells."
Ein graced his hand on the corridor's metal wall, triggering a sequence of lights to brighten the dim passageway. As light illuminated his path, he darkly said, "At the very least we turned off that infernal piece of equipment delaying dear Feyera's progress."
"I can't— *crackle* —can't get a clear read on that though, chief. I can't read his hemodynamics from this distance."
The prospect of further unhinging his prey was not only a liability but an anomaly. A gamble yes, but one he had to take. For the sake of seeing Mercurium's full potential. If a human could manage to control a Gardevoir's heat shard then the rest was simple. Replicable even. The future would be within his grasp.
"Peh…useless…" muttered the admin. "Give me a status report on the Evercrest Base!"
"S.S. bulkheads blocked solar wind interference, but we're only recovering at forty-two percent expected efficiency. Generators are crawling slower than a Slugma on a hot summer—"
"—Sap the Pokemon, Jaeger. Use their energy to power the base back up!"
"Ah! Right away! Using your Electric Pokemon, we can optimize za recovery speed. Your Pokemon—Magneton in particular—are projected to boost us up to…hrrm sixty-two percent effective recovery."
"Not just my Pokemon. Drain our specimens in Gamma as well.
"They won't last as long as your Pokemon."
"It doesn't matter. They were useless anyway. Inject then with high doses of CYP, family four-fifty, that will maximize their output. Anything to get us back online ASAP. We have to send that transmission!"
"Roger. Hurm hurm…Add in zee energy from experiments…let's see, accounting for a few casualties here n' there, we're still looking at a measly seventy-four percent…"
"Cut unessential energy expenditures and give me a time frame before we can broadcast our signal!" Ein barked into the headset.
"Erm…" there was heavy muffled breathing from the other end of the transmitter. "Ten to twenty-five minutes…sir. Propagation keeps shifting on our dishes."
"Dammit! If Feyera gets away for good it's your head—!"
"—Sir? Um…Sir!"
"What?" a quick pacing Ein asked. Hearing worry in Jaeger's voice, he came to a halt in the middle of the hallway. Rather awkwardly, he shouted to no one, "WHAT?!"
"*Crackle* He—erm…Feyera's not leaving zee bay!"
Dumbfounded, Ein's stance remained frozen in the center of the hall. A chill shook his chest. Had he been outwitted somehow? What was happening? He held a hand over his eyes. They had become inflamed with sharp pain. "What…!?" he breathlessly spoke into the padded microphone.
"It's—*crackle!*" The transmission cut out into tormenting interference.
He tapped the headset pieces over his ears. "Jaeger! Jaeger!" Ein said to the hiss of static noise cupping his brain; its monotone reverberations growing louder by the second. Suddenly perturbed, his eyes shifted back and forth, dancing in their sockets like window-veiled shadows in the night. "Tell me what's going on!"
Meanwhile in the bay, Feyera tightened his grasp around Sanaria. The motor mutely responded to his throttle. Try as he might, nothing happened. Even the steering bar was stuck.
"Dammit…Looks like I broke this thing along with the Poké Balls."
"We," Sana corrected him, tugging on his shoulder playfully. She rocked back from where she was sitting on his lap.
"We…" he repeated whilst aimlessly fumbling with the PWC.
"…We make quite the pair, wouldn't you say?"
Flushing, Feyera nodded his head. "D—destructive as ever."
"Is blowing things apart the only thing you care about—?"
"Well you wouldn't—!"
[Hey!] Waving her tiny arms from her post on the seat behind them, July chuckled, [I'm sure glad you two aren't fighting anymore!]
Des let out a haughty laugh, knowing more than July was aware of, [Hah! HA! Not a twinge of animosity 'tween tha two of ya.]
Edge twirled his wrist nervously. Sanaria made a similar twitch with her neck, tilting it ever so slightly towards the young man. Furtive perhaps, but it did not go unnoticed.
"Yeah. None of that. Haven't the time," he said in short bursts. "Have to figure out how to start this POS up."
[POS?] asked July.
"Wasn't it called a PWC?" Sana asked. She furrowed her brow, partially concealed beneath her green bangs, in confusion. "That's what you called it before. Why a new name for when it's stationary?"
"Hah yeah, but—" Edge jerked the accelerator with both his hands to little avail, "—PWC stands for 'personal water-fairing craft'. Ya know, the thing that we weren't stuck on a few minutes ago! Grr…ugh! POS on the other hand, stands for 'piece of sh—"
Brucie quickly interrupted Feyera, [—Whoa wait! Boss, I don't want to be stuck out here out in the bay!]
"Gah!" Edge stomped his rear on the seat and kicked the fiberglass footholds. "Looks like we can't get a freakin' break here!"
[And I can't even be recalled.]
"I'm sorry Brucie; I'm tryin, I'm tryin!"
[If we're stuck here then that means…] July murmured.
From a few feet away, Des shook her head. [Best ta keep calm,]
Feyera looked over at the Evercrest facility following the perimeter of the bay along the cliff sides. It was ominously quiet. Sealed closed with panels of bright stainless steel. Then again, why would the scientists inside need windows? That would be a huge waste of energy on the tropical island.
"We can't be stuck here, veh Feyera." Sana shuddered against him. "If that man—Ein—were to capture us now…"
"—There's no way in hell I'm going to let that happen to you!" Edge shouted, feeling incredibly driven. Maybe even a little overly protective, like he would for one of his Pokemon but then some. Seeing Sanaria in a sense of distraught had amplified these sentiments significantly, especially after what they had just experienced together. Was it responsibility? The prospect of companionship? Whatever it was, he felt a duty to protect her. It was more personal than what he felt between Brucie, Des, or July. And who could blame him? He hadn't kissed any of them!
With large scarlet eyes, she stared at him, dumbstruck.
Melodramatically, he corrected, "To us I mean."
Des shot him a small wink. [Glad you care 'bout us too, darlin'!]
"Of course! I'll get us out of this. I have to! My reputation's on the line, right Despie?"
[Sure sure,] Des lambently nodded, [Edgiest character out there n' all…]
[Too edgy for me.]
"Sigh…" Sanaria rocked her head, "Look at you; it's almost like you have a plan! So far all I've seen you do is fidget with the washtu—boat!"
"Oh please! Of course I have a plan, Sana!" Feyera lied. However, his continuing struggles with the PWC brought little success.
"What is it then?" she whispered, nudging him affectionately, using her uninjured hand to claw at his shirt's collar. "I want to know!"
"I err…well see—" Edge punched the dial with a fist in a last ditch effort, causing Sana to jump up in surprise and hug her arms around him. "Damn…" he whispered to a sore hand.
"What are you doing? Trying to break it more?!" she scolded.
"—Heh. Guess that only works in the movies," the trainer mordantly growled.
"Hmm? Movies? But we're not moving."
[Huh?]
"Nevermind…*sigh* it was a bad joke. I should just close my mouth and…"
[—Ah ha! Always talkin' nineteen ta the dozen, that's our Edgie.]
"You are a bit of a chatterbox."
"Can you please, just try and let me fix this? Or we're not getting anywhere."
[We're not going to be able to get away are we?] July asked.
Brucie brought his paws up to his chest. [Oh no! We're not really trapped for good?]
Sanaria tried to remain positive, but such thoughts were infuriatingly flippant. "Try to…I don't know. Washtubs don't have all these colorful buttons and spinny Spinda things…"
"What is with you and washtubs?" Edge asked.
"Oh you wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
"Fine, when I was younger I went on little adventures in the shallow waters of Mother Sea with Seph in a washtub we called our boat."
"Are you serious?" Edge asked with a smirk. "That's ridiculous!"
"What is?" Sanaria asked with concern.
"I didn't know you…Gardevoir were pioneers," the trainer said furrowing his brow at the machinery on the steering bar. Like that would change anything.
"Pioneers?" Sanaria said aloud, mimicking Edge with her high-pitched voice.
[Aye! Only the roughest, toughest, meanest, rootin', tootin' explorers on this side of paradise, darlin'!]
Sana looked blankly at Des' wide grin.
[You fit right in with us, hun.] the Gyarados went on to say. [I knew you were an adventurer at heart just like the rest of us the moment I laid eyes on you!]
Sana looked down at her heart shard. "At heart?" she echoed.
[Eeyup!] the Gyarados said with a faint gallop in her tone. [Jus' like me 'n the rest of the gang, sugar. Eh he, especially Edgie!]
"Hmm," Sana hummed softly to herself.
"Des…" Feyera grumbled, "is there anything besides battling and banter you're good at?"
['Fraid I can't carry y'all off. I ain't big enough for cargo service.]
The soft water continued to gently rock the craft.
"What do I do…" Edge muttered. "What do we do? We're running out of time, I'm sure they've got more troopers eager to capture us. And the sea is so close…!"
[Look here n' listen.] Des' tone changed from jolly to serious. [I can carry you 'n one of the small fries at best. I'm just not big enough ta support the whole crew now that ya up and busted our Poké Balls.]
"What good will that do though?" The thought of leaving Sanaria behind was mortifying. He suppressed an involuntarily reaction to hug her. "We can't leave anyone behind!"
[Boss…] whispered Brucie. [I'm not afraid anymore. If you want to go on without me, I understand. I've been with you the longest; count me the luckiest.]
"I…No! I can't let you leave my side Brucie."
[It's okay,] he said through a closed smile revealing two of his fangs. The Pokemon's light blue eyes no longer looked ill. [Chris…you've been good to me.]
[Me too!] July chimed in. [I'm so happy to have met you, Mister Feyera!]
"There has to be another way. I won't abandon you—anyone out here!"
[I know, but it's too important of a mission.] The Charmeleon raised a nail and pointed at Sana. [You need to go on with your—…Pokemon.]
"Brucie!" Edge hollered, too distraught to differentiate between Sana as his Pokemon and what she really was. "You don't understand; if I leave you here you'll die!"
"Then leave me here."
"SANA!?"
"…I won't die. I—there's something worth fighting for in my life; something that will keep me alive."
"Absolutely not!"
She squinted her cherry eyes in admonishment. "Don't be so selfish."
"You don't understand," Edge exclaimed shaking her, "When Ein's troops come out looking for me, they'll kill you! Hell, they might have more bombs. Fredrick can't save our hides forever!"
She closed her eyes. Bringing her head next to his, she softly hummed into his ear, "You have to let go. Veh Feyera…please try to understand. Everything in life is a cycle; you've got to let it come to you…when it does, you'll know what to do."
"That's it!" Edge shouted, causing the Gardevoir to jump with surprise once again. She hugged him rather than fall from the shock.
"Veh Feyera?"
"Sana! You just gave me a brilliant idea!"
She reddened in his partial-embrace. "I did?"
Feyera looked at her, and then turned his eyes in order to hone in upon the structure buried in the cliff face. They were close enough to see the Southern Sea from within the bay. Cipher's Evercrest facility traversed the entire cliff face, from the harbor they had exited from, to the natural gateway to the Southern Sea. The massive metal structure must have been as large as some of the small towers in Saffron City. Of course, it was lying on its side, built into the cliff that ran along the bay's perimeter. However, there was something odd about the part of the building that ran up against main cliff right before the aquatic bottleneck.
A door. An absolutely massive door. It was easily the size of most airship hangers. Feyera pointed at the grey garage contrasting with the orange cliff's face.
"That."
"That?" [Huh?] [That?]
"Yes. That's how we'll get out of here for good."
[Ave ya gone an' lost your marbles?!]
[You can't go back!]
Sana touched his forehead with the back of her palm and asked, "Are you losing it, Mister?! Was the kis—erm shared sight too much?"
[Ya jus' off 'n told me about how ya almost died in there, proclaimed how not even I could getcha out of that jam, and now ya wanna to go BACK?!] Desperado shouted.
[You're crazy!]
"Feyera, your heart must be overheating your mind."
[There's no way!]
"No. Just think about it. We're not going to be able to get away on this PWC anyway. It has no power left. Even if it did, I don't know how we'd traverse the rough Southern Sea."
[Yeah, she's a bit rough,] Des conceded, [at least when I went for a lil dip on the northern end of the island.]
"And Des can't take all of us on her back. I can't store Brucie and July in their Poké Balls either to conserve space…"
[Right, so your plan is to stay here?! Go back to the guys that killed your friend Lorelei and tried to kill us?]
"Not stay there, think about what Sana said. It's all one big cycle."
[Huh?]
[Afraid I'm not seeing it, chum.]
"It made sense to me in the moment." Edge sighed, "Basically, we stole this PWC from Cipher, and now we're going to steal a yacht."
[A YACHT?!] all three of his Pokemon exclaimed in unison.
"…You mean Lorelei's?" Sanaria said; her mind on the same track as his.
"Yeah, that prick Ein mentioned that he took the boat that we came here on," Edge quickly responded. All the pieces were coming together like one big puzzle. "Lorelei believed she was being rescued. Ein had to maintain his ruse, right up until the bitter end. Cipher must've transported her boat from the crash site to their main harbor for repairs. That's why you couldn't find it before, Des."
July nodded, [It's starting to make sense. I think…]
Feyera tried to curtail his excitement as he spoke, "There wasn't enough room to keep the yacht in the harbor we came from. Oh no, that place was much too small. They needed a larger harbor, a harbor right next to the bay's exit makes sense. And revoke my trainer's license if that huge metal door isn't housing a harbor!"
Sanaria seamlessly continued his thoughts, "So they must've put it in there. That's the only logical conclusion."
"Precisely," Edge said with a bright smile. He wasn't sure if she had actually read his mind, feelings, or what. Regardless, there was something keeping them on a similar wavelength of perception. In either case, he loved hearing her say "logical conclusion". Who knows, maybe he'd be able to actually teach the Gardevoir what that meant to a researcher like himself. Little did Feyera know, his marriage to emotion would make that more difficult than he thought.
[That sounds Zubat-droppings-crazy, sugar!] Des said. [Pardon my obtrusiveness.]
[Ain't it?] Brucie revealed his sharp teeth. [Think it's crazy enough to work though?]
"Hah…well you've both been around me long enough."
[Sure have, darlin'. Crazy is your middle name.]
July snickered, [Heh…heh…I thought it was 'veh'.]
"Mmm," Edge pondered for a moment. Sana did like to call him that a lot. Specifically 'Chris veh Feyera'. He wondered its meaning, but soon became distracted by the specks of motion from his peripherals. Looking, he saw that there was some movement and commotion back at the smaller harbor he had just escaped from. Nothing overly alarming, they were far away. Edge figured it was either another strike force of PWCs or Pokemon. As long as no more fireworks were being launched in their direction, he assumed they were relatively safe. He had to act fast though.
"They think we're gonna bolt. If they've got things like that missile weapon, we're not getting anywhere. But why did it miss us?" Feyera asked. "The black helicopter, the IPF, Fredrick must've sabotaged it."
[You really think that?]
"Yeah, what else would be stopping them from unloading all their armaments on us? They have a professional infiltrator on their hands," Edge said with a smile, thinking back to the days under Celadon City's Luxaira casino.
[How?!]
Edge looked over at Sanaria's crimson eyes before saying, "I—well, I don't really know how for sure. But what matters is we have a chance to nab that yacht from right under their noses!"
"Veh Feyera…What we did back there…it won't happen again."
"…!" he gasped. It had not been more than an hour since that magical moment, but it felt like a lifetime ago. Must've had something to do with quicker brain activity.
Seeing his reaction, she flushed. "I just thought you needed to know; you can't rely on it."
[What did you two do?] July asked as Sana pawed her flowery bulb.
Feyera squinted his eyes shut for a moment, "Err…we…what exactly did we do…?"
Sana smiled lightly. "We…Teleported. Together."
[Huh? Y'all serious?]
[What's that?] asked Brucie.
[…Tele…Teleport…Teleporty?]
"Think about it like moving really fast, July. Too fast for anyone to see." The Gardevoir stretched her arm over the water. Feyera and the other Pokemon looked at it and its pristine reflection in the bay. "With enough…lo—um…emotion, you can make space kiss for you *sigh* if only for a moment."
"Kiss?!" exclaimed Edge. Accountability was bending him over himself at this point. Did she have to use words like that? He didn't even dare look at Des.
"Yeah…tehee, it has the same meaning—" she replied. She bent her forearm so that her delicate hand touched her smooth exposed shoulder from beneath the clothing. "—It would take a Caterpie too long to crawl down my whole arm, but when you make my hand and shoulder kiss, it can get there right away."
[Oh!]
"Faster than light travel is absolutely fascinating, but can we please not talk about Caterpie crawling around on people's arms," Feyera grumbled. Despite an irrational fear of insects, at least it was better than her talking about kissing. In particular, their kissing.
Sana sniggered.
[Wow, you can do that boss?]
"Err…I'm no magician."
"He's right; he's too grown up to do it on his own."
[Hurmph!] Happily, Des rung in, [The surprises don't ever stop with you Edgie!]
"I don't…no, I know I couldn't have…Physics don't allow—"
[Psyonics?] questioned Brucie.
"Even still, you'd need something hundreds of times earth's mass to manipulate and bend space like that." He sighed, "Something like the size of Jupiter. It couldn't have possibly been me." Feyera looked down menacingly at his heart shard.
"That's because it was us!" proclaimed Sanaria, quite fond of being able to group Edge as a part of what they had done together.
Edge snapped his gaze up, just in time to catch the Gardevoir wistfully eyeing his chest.
She bit her lower lip, a little embarrassed that he had caught her staring again, but more taken aback by the fact that she couldn't help herself from ogling it at every moment.
Enveloped in infatuation, or perhaps simply the idea of infatuation, Feyera found it difficult to chastise the Gardevoir. If she was obsessed with him, that was one thing, but obsession with the heart shard itself was whole other. After their little exploit and merging of hearts, the division between the two had all disappeared for a few brief moments. He knew he enjoyed it. In fact, he allowed for the intimacy to occur. What were the costs though? Edge groaned at the thought of this sadistic pleasure, "Maybe. But that doesn't make it any less nuts."
Sana clenched two tiny fists and rocked them up and down eagerly while insisting, "Aw come-on; veh Feyera, you know you did it with me. You felt it!"
It was obvious he did. He wouldn't be able to deny that. Part of the aftereffect was ecstatic pleasure. The type of pleasure making him feel like he could accomplish anything. Following their little lip pecking, even that buoyancy was amplified ten-fold. Like winning the Kanto Lottery or something. It was something extraordinary, yet he had no idea what to do with it next. Filled with a bizarre inability to disavowal his compounding sensations, Edge rocked his head back and forth. Not a word could be said about it. There was too much awe. Too many outlandish implications. Not enough concrete facts. There would never be enough facts, never enough words to fully explain the feeling.
For several seconds, Sana watched him ponder. Sitting completely still, she opened her mouth as if to say something but held off, resorting to telepathy instead, "Even we have our limits, te he."
"That's great, but those are your limits; not mine. I'm only grafted-in for the time being. Teleporting is the type of thing you do; that's like your Gardevoir livelihood or something."
She wagged a finger. "Veh Feyera, I don't think you understand how a Teleport works at all!"
[I dunno much about Psychic Pokemon, but ol' hearsay tells me they can only Teleport when they are really tiny!]
Sana grinned, "Exactly, Des. Only children can do it at will!"
[Heh, I know a bit more than I lay on! Guess it pays ta listen!] she chuckled, [Used to always eavesdrop on my ex-master. Boy, that 'ol chum had a score ta settle with an Abra who kept getting' away!]
"Don't call that sleazebag merchant your master, Des," ordered Feyera, "that man was nothing but a scamming crook!" Though to be fair, had Edge never been conned, he'd be out of a very important member of his crew. But hey, that old magazine he had gotten with the deal was a total con.
[Oooh!] teased the Gyarados, [Lookie here. Seems like someone's awfe'lly jealous he didn't get ta me first!]
Edge felt his face blush. At least she was teasing him about his friendliness towards her—a Gyarados, rather than the much more realistic—and obvious—affection present towards Sanaria.
Right on cue, Sana gave him a poke with her elbow. He wasn't sure if it was intentional because she quickly moved her body, perhaps adjusting out of a fidgety urge.
Then wind began to pick up. The craft was beginning to drift with the afternoon tide—the same tide that pushed him ashore two years back. "I don't know what's holding Ein up, but it wouldn't be smart to wait and see. There will be time to explain all of this later right?"
Sana's face lit up in delight, "I can tell you all about it whenever! But…"
"—Right, because we gotta get moving" Edge said looking up at the sky. It had grown significantly less pure blue over the past few minutes, almost like a dim grey, like the kind of sky you'd find on a March afternoon after a morning of rain. "There must be a storm on its way."
With concern, Brucie howled in anguish, [Oh no, not a storm!]
[A storm's coming? I don't see any rainclouds,] July said through a squinty set of eyes.
"You can feel it right?" Edge asked his maritime Pokemon, thinking she would know best. "Like something's coming."
[Nah, darlin',] Des reluctantly answered, [must just be a change in the wind yer feelin'.]
"Feyera…you should get going."
"Hmm…Okay. Des, we got a yacht to steal."
[Wha' about all that stuff about Ein being too powerful?]
"This isn't just about doing what's easy." Feeling his gut clench up, he stammered, "I'm—I'm going to be honest with you guys."
[Really?] Des jeered sarcastically, for Feyera wasn't one to be disclosing about anything besides his emotional state. And even those he tried to conceal.
"Yes. I have something to say."
[Go on.]
[Yeah, tell us.]
"Well the truth is, we…we're running out of time."
[Huh?]
"Hmm?" Sanaria eyed him peculiarly, she half expected him to try and back out of his Gardevoir traits once more with an excuse like: "If I don't undo this soon, bad things will happen to me." An apparent fear of Feyera's she had heard far too often.
"Brucie…is sick. I allowed him to battle when I wasn't at my best, when I thought I could run the show on my own, and he paid the price."
[Boss?]
[Hmmm?] groused Des.
"Just…let me finish *huh…*" Edge took a quick breath, "Guess there's no stopping now. Look, Koga's Toxic is attacking his body."
Sana gently nodded, finding it touching to see Edge being honest about the circumstances. If not about himself, then at least for his best friend.
Brucie clutched his torso.
Edge tried to look away but couldn't help. "*Sniff*—And the Toxic poisoning is going to continue to make him sicker…unless…"
[Unless what?!] demanded the lumbering Gyarados, now looming ominously over the PWC.
His tone firmed. "—Unless we get to Lorelei's yacht—" Feyera pointed to the section of the Evercrest Facility that was clearly an entranceway "—The medicine is in my bag there. Even if Cipher managed to confiscate my things, we can still take the yacht to civilization and get more of the antidote."
The whole group remained quiet as Edge continued to collect his thoughts hastily.
"They won't expect a second infiltration. Their missile missed us, our pursuers are all dead, the PWC is busted, we can't get out into the Southern Sea, and—" Feyera padded his knee with a determined fist, "…guys, this is our last chance. That's why we gotta do it."
[Okay; take a hop on my back, Edgie, ol' Despie will do the rest.]
Feyera smiled weakly. Des had saved his life before in Vermilion's bay. It was only appropriate for the two of them to travel on Chrono Island's bay.
[Wait, can we come too? Des said she could carry us!]
[I'll reckon I can carry only one and a half,] said the Gyarados, bending her neck down to surface level. [Sorry…]
"No, it's too dangerous for you Brucie!" Feyera quickly said. He didn't want to leave Sana with the smaller half of the team. Plus while on the water, his flame-tipped tail was a huge liability; especially on anything that wasn't stationary. "Stay with July and Sana until I get back. They might need your help."
Sana lifted herself gracefully off his lap. "Take him. I'll manage fine, veh Feyera. You haven't seen anything yet."
"No," he said clutching her wounded hand, "I'm not taking that risk."
"You have to hurry," she protested. "Go now before they come!"
Standing up next to her, he put his arms on her shoulders. "Sanaria, I'll be back; I promise."
"…!" She wore a face of shock. He had suddenly gained such determination, such charisma. Sana wondered if he knew that. Looking deep into his green eyes and projecting her feelings, she hummed, "I know. Be careful."
"I…I will." He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to so badly. The way she held such composure at a time like this was more attractive than imaginable. If only she were a human. If only she hadn't been a Pokemon. Tragically, he could not muster the courage. He could not bring himself to do anything in front of his Pokemon. It was a private matter, something he wanted kept secretive and buried.
Even more heartbreaking was the fact that she felt his resistance. The way he sodomized his desires, suppressed his urges. It pained her greatly that he could not be honest and truthful. Nevertheless, she remained strong, gently stroking his heart with a purr, "I'll be with you regardless. Right here."
Edge could do little but nod his head. Could she really follow me through this thing on my chest? He opted not to ask. "Take care of Brucie and July until we get back," he said swallowing a dry gasp.
She avoided his eyes as he sat frozen like a statue. How could he do this to her? After all they had shared together just now, he could not even hug her? What if something bad happened while they were separated? Rather than anger, she felt disappointment. Frustration that he could not acknowledge his feelings.
Sensing her eschewal, Edge lifted his leg over the seat and grappled onto his Gyarados without another word. Once partially secured on her upper back, he whispered into her ear. "Thanks Des." "We'll be back!"
He felt the warmth of his Gyarados' scaly body and the quick exaggerated breaths from her anticipation. She leaned her head back ever so slightly to respond, [Daw, don't thank me till we get there in one piece, sugar.]
"Right, let's do this!"
[Ride 'em cowboy!]
Feyera took one final look back at Sanaria and July before the splash following Des' tail obscured them from his sight.
Static persisted, cleaving each transmission between the Cipher scientists. One of which was deeply frustrated by the anomalies occurring all around him. Although weakened, Ein's trembling fist grew tighter still. His heart pounded in anticipation. He held his breath as if underwater, waiting for oxygen in the details. Finally, there was a recognizable set of sounds. Jaeger's voice.
"It would appear Feyera's…not leaving zee bay…sir."
"I heard you the first time! I'm in the dark here, Jaeger! What the hell is he doing?! Give me a visual!"
"Telecom feed is shut down to conserve energy for za reboot. Umm…I err…do you want me to describe it to you?"
"No, I want you to go fetch yourself a goddamn snack—" Ein pounded his clenched fist into an open palm. "—OF COURSE I want you to describe it to me, you oversized sack of phospholipids!"
"He's…*Zzzzz* he's on his Gyarados. Riding zee beast. *bzzz* is—approaching Alpha Sector."
"Alpha Sector?!"
"Affirmative. At twenty knots per clip, they'll be at zee main harbor's gate in two minutes."
"What…? Why…?" Ein stammered into the microphone. His thoughts were racing with potential reasons for why Feyera to reattempt a base infiltration. A change of heart? Perhaps the emotion of vengefulness—no, loathing—took over him? Maybe he had lost control. But this soon? It seemed completely irrational to Ein. He was sure there was a reason…there had to be a logical explanation. There just had to be.
Jaeger broke the hum of interference with a quivering voice, "I wonder if could it be that he really thinks he's a Pokemon. Considering he's feeding off emotion enough to Teleport, he might have suppressed human rationality."
"He was taken over by the heart before; right in front of me. Although I am unable to understand how since it could be neural or exocardiactic. The heart caused a surge of chemicals to douse his system. Whether it was his brain's mesocortical pathway or the heart's receptors."
"Head or heart. I wonder if that is how it works for him? You'know, sides of zee brain, halves offsetting each other. Like zee balancing scales, jah?"
"Cease your conjectures!" Ein barked. "Hearts don't 'think'; however, this one has a pull on the chemicals that generate emotion and that 'pull' is exactly what we'll need. This is the key. Mercurium consumes, and Feyera's heart shard feeds on emotion—brain signals—to consume. In tandem with one another, the process is sustainable, even exploitable since he's been employing those Gardevoir powers."
"It did look like he enjoyed it. In zee footage."
"Yes…mind over matter. It's fortunate that the painful derma-toxicosis is being covered up by biological ecstasy. Evolution at work."
"Toxicosis?"
"Curator Toxicalia, specifically. At the epidermal level."
"Isn't toxicosis is zee over presence of an organism's cells in a splice?"
"Yes and no. Toxicalia is one organism's physical properties taking-over another's. His heart is a prime example of this since his body is undeniably human. Thus it's local toxicosis."
"Zee heart…that makes sense, that's a Gardevoir's life essence. But why on his wrist? Why there, Ein?"
"Initially it stumped me as well. But now I see it as a self-defense reaction. It's a biological response to fending something like a virus off. It's rapid adaptation at work; the very same as a Pokemon's rapid evolution."
"But what does it mean?"
"Gardevoir cells must be more adept at channeling emotional energy under…artificial strain."
"You keep insisting emotion is tangible. Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine. And you're correct, it's not tangible per se. But its effects are. It's chemicals are."
"Hmm…Seventy-six percent. *sigh* Would it make a good power source?"
"I hardly intend to make him into a living battery, Jaeger." Ein's light steps passed a large metal door leading into the main laboratory. He paused for a moment to look inside at the dark room. Seeing nothing of interest, he pressed on through the catacombs. "—After all, a furnace is only as useful as your wood supply. Judging from Maxwell's footage, psychological energy would be consumed far too quickly which is why we need to think outside the box."
"Then…?"
"It's principle, Jaeger. What does a Gardevoir do best? …Connect to others; feed off others. We let the subatomic merging process of Mercurium bonding continue. If Feyera doesn't cooperate, we'll exacerbate the process. Replicate it with another specimen if we have to; we have the means to now…"
Silence came from Jaeger's end.
"…By supplementing a Gardevoir's empathy powers with a voracious element like Mercurium, you'll have the perfect emotional drainer." Ein paused, gathering his dark thoughts. "We'll be able to create Shadow Pokemon at twenty times the current rate. I ran the projected results ten times already. And that's just the beginning…"
Jaeger answered with auxiliary information, "Power restoration is nearing eighty-five percent."
"Good. We'll find out if Phaeton put him 'back on track' by looking at the hemodynamics. In the meanwhile, we need to secure Alpha Sector immediately, Jaeger. He's going to try and get in again. The blasted fool."
"Zee gate's sealed though." Jaeger snapped his pudgy fingers. "Good n' tight."
"You imbecile! That flimsy partition won't keep him out, much less a Gyarados! It's only designed to deflect waves of solar radiation, not 'Harbingers of the Sea'!"
"*Crackle* What should we do?"
"We need to greet him there. Together. You have your little machine right?"
"Yes. *zzz* Understood, chief. I'll prepare a secure route through zee base. Meet me in zee Omega Foyer, level seven."
"Roger that," Ein murmured pressing his spare set of glasses closer to his eyes. "Send our reserves into the bay! Give them no quarter! If I can't get a cell sample—"
"—But *bzzz* chief!" replied Jaeger through a broken transmission. "Our reserves are thin! *Hsss!* —most of zee hired *crackle!* men are combing zee northern mining site."
"Then release Pokemon unable to provide power to the facility! Engage their Predatory Programing," Ein shouted into the receiver.
"Right." Jaeger grumbled, "What should I type in for zee target's composition?"
"Gardevoir. Angelus Curator. They'll know what to do."
"Affirmative." A few pouncing clicks on a keyboard echoed in the background before Ein heard "Drawing from battery power…and…cages opening."
Silence followed by a dull hum from deep within the bowls of Evercrest. An eerily collection of abysmal howls echoed far below. They didn't even sound like Pokemon any longer. The awful thuds and shrieks were enough to make neck hairs stand on their ends. Ein fought the human instinct to shudder by picking up his pace.
"They're loose. Zee Shadow Pokemon."
"Good," Ein said tightly grasping the RAIL pistol at his side. "Take caution on your way down…still haven't worked out all the kinks."
"I'm reading a faint resonance of Mercurium in Alpha Sector!"
"Already?"
"Our dials are spinning out of control. Point zero four PPMs and rising!"
"Did we have a leak?"
"No…that's impossible. A leak would have rendered backup circuitry like our headsets useless."
"Not if it was isolated. And Alpha Sector is isolated. We need to get there right away."
"Sir. I have to ask: in Alpha Sector *bzz* is it zee Shadow Diamond?"
Ein halted mid-stride. A faint smile crossed his lips. "Yes…yes of course, it's the Obsidian," he whispered. "But how does he know…?"
"Is it too late to—*Brrzzzzz!*" Incomprehensible static came from the other end of the transmitter. While physical energy conduits and wires were shielded, little could be done to protect wireless communications from electromagnetic interference.
He descended further down into a steep stairwell, passing a shielded window. He took a moment to peer out it, making out the blue sea snake charging towards the side of the bay's mouth. However, with all the foam spraying about, he couldn't be sure if Feyera was riding the Pokemon.
"So you want to invade Alpha Sector, Feyera?" Ein asked walking deeper into the labyrinth of Evercrest. The metal beams, cold glistening steel, shone under the faint fluorescents. "I can assure you, you won't like what you'll find there. Although I'm curious, Mister Feyera…I pegged you too young to remember. Heh heh…not that you remember much."
Sweeping a gaunt finger over the Evercrest transportation platform's control, he took a deep breath as the panel illuminated. How nice it was to have command when Phaeton stripped everything else. How nice it was to be in control. Soon Feyera's Mercurium would also be within his control. All that and more.
Pausing, Ein pressed his head and hand against the screen. "You've demonstrated a brilliant spectacle of willpower; but all for naught, Mister Feyera."
There was a whirling noise from down the corridor. The distant noise of energy and power littered with screeches of blood-lust brought a smile to his face.
"All for naught."