Mercury and Pluto

The helicopter ride was mostly silent, save for Aetherdex lecturing Gladion on how they'll surely be late for the ceremony now. Gladion just tuned him out. He had perfected that technique over the course of many other snide comments and lectures such as this one.

The girl Gladion had rescued sat across from him, hugging her Happiny close after what happened. Silvally was asleep on the floor of the chopper, resting after its last battle. Gladion studied the girl. She had brown hair tied in a ponytail and wore a pink dress. She couldn't have been more than ten years old, probably only just having received that Pokemon.

Gladion noticed that his studying of the girl was making her uncomfortable. He decided it would be best to talk to her. "So," he said, "what's your name?"

The girl stayed silent for a few moments before she spoke. "Vally." She replied in a small voice. Once again, silence filled the room. Vally seemed too shaken up after what happened to speak and Gladion generally preferred silence anyway.

"Thank you for saving me."

Gladion looked up. Vally was looking up and him and smiling. Gladion gave a small smile too. "You're welcome." He replied.

"You're a really strong trainer!" Vally said animatedly, coming out of her shell a bit. "You must be the strongest trainer in the world if you can beat a Pokemon Fusion with just one Pokemon!"

Gladion patted Silvally's head. It made a noise in its sleep but didn't wake up. "I owe it all to my partner." He said.

"That's such a cool Pokemon!" Vally said. "What's his name?"

"Silvally." Gladion replied proudly.

"Hey! Part of that's my name!" Vally said excitedly.

"Heh. Yeah." Gladion stayed silent for a moment. Then he asked, "What is Pokemon Fusion?"

Vally thought for a moment then shrugged. "I dunno." She said. "I just know it's a new thing and that only really strong trainers can do it."

Gladion nodded. He'd have to have Wicke do some research on that. Finally, the chopper landed in Cinarum Town. "We're here." Aetherdex said. "And let's pray that you aren't late for the opening ceremony."

"Aw, shut it." Gladion said, grabbing Aetherdex and stuffing it in his bag.

"Opening ceremony?" Vally asked as she and Gladion got off the helicopter. "For what?"

"A new Aether Foundation branch." Gladion replied as they walked through the town. The town wasn't much to look at. A few houses, a couple of small businesses, a Pokemon laboratory that could be seen in the distance, and, of course, the gigantic new Aether Foundation laboratory right next to it. Gladion turned to Vally. "You should probably be heading home now. "He said.

"No way!" Vally replied. "I wanna see the Aether Foundation building! Can I please come with you? Pleeeeeeaaase?"

Gladion thought for a moment, then gave a small smile and nodded. "Sure. Come on." He said as they kept heading towards the Aether Foundation lab.

One thing Gladion didn't take into account before allowing Vally to follow him was the mob of reporters that were waiting for him there. "Gladion! Gladion!" One of them said. "What do you have to say about what the Aether Foundation plans to do in Miamia?"

"No comment." Gladion said grumpily.

"What about the reports of Ultra Beast sightings in other regions?" Asked another one.

"No comment!" Gladion said, more grumpily.

"What do you have to say about your mother's insane actions five years a-"

"I said NO COMMENT!" Gladion shouted, shoving past the reporters to get to the podium in front of the new lab. Standing nearby was the jerkiest of jerkbags, the king of crud, the one person Gladion hated most in the world: Faba. "I assume the reporters are your doing." Gladion growled.

Faba shrugged. "I simply thought the Foundation could use some extra press." He said with a sly smile. Gladion rolled his eyes. He knew Faba only called the reporters to annoy him. "Who is this?" Faba asked, gesturing to Vally and her Happiny with a sneer of disgust.

"Hi! I'm Vally!" Vally said excitedly. "And this is my Happiny!"

"Happiny!" Happiny said happily. Faba's face contorted with disgust.

"And you'll treat them with respect." Gladion said in a threatening tone. Faba's disgust contortion only grew worse. If there was one thing he hated more than children, it was being ordered around by children. Gladion turned to face the press. "Hello, everybody." He said. "I'm Gladion, president of the Aether Foundation. I, uh, prepared a speech."

Before Gladion could begin his speech, though, the sound of maniacal laughter and ATV engines ripped through the air. "You won't be needing it now!" Yelled a crazy-sounding voice. Suddenly, two figures on ATVs sped up, scattering the crowd of reporters. They took off their helmets. One of the figures was a man who had long brown hair with the sides of his head shaved, beady eyes and a crazy smile, and was wearing a white tank top and chrome-colored pants. The other was a woman who had short, grey hair, a solemn expression on her face, and wore a long, black dress with a high collar. Both of them had golden G's emblazoned on their chests. "Hee hee hee! What do you say, Pluto?" The man said. "Can we rip him to shreds, or what?"

"No, Mercury." The woman, apparently called Pluto, said calmly. "We need him alive."

"Who are you people?!" Faba yelled at the two of them. "And what idea do you have interrupting the Aether Foundation's business?!"

"We," Pluto said, "are Team Galactic. And we require the Pokemon belonging to the Aether Foundation's president."

The reporters all gasped and murmured. "Team Galactic?"

"In Miamia?"

"Weren't they disbanded?"

Gladion stepped forward. "Nobody's taking Silvally." He said in a deadly quiet voice.

Mercury grinned wickedly. "Suit yourself!" He said, taking out a Pokeball. "I was hoping we'd have to use force! Toxicroak, come on out!" Mercury threw the Pokeball, and from it appeared a Toxicroak.

"Toxicroooooaaaak!" The Toxicroak roared. Gladion was surprised by how powerful this Pokemon seemed. It appeared to be all fired up for battle.

Pluto also produced a Pokeball. She sighed. "I suppose if we have to." She said. "Lucario, I choose you!"

A Lucario appeared from Pluto's Pokeball. There was something different about this Lucario, though. It appeared older than the ones Gladion had seen before. It looked almost elderly, but still appeared to be very strong. "Lucar!" The Lucario grunted.

Gladion turned to Slivally. "You okay enough to battle?"

"Val!" Silvally responded. Gladion grinned. From his bag, he selected the Psychic type Memory Drive and loaded it into Silvally's RKS System, causing his head fins and tail to turn bright pink. Silvally jumped off the stage, ready for battle. "Vally!" It roared.

"Silvally, use Multi-Attack on Toxicroak!"

Silvally rushed forward, energy from its RKS System flowing to its claws. It raised its claw to attack, but, before it could… "Toxicroak, dodge it!" With impossible speed, Mercury's Toxicroak jumped upwards to dodge Silvally's claw. "Now use Mud Bomb!"

"Croak!" Toxicroak fired multiple globs of mud down at Silvally. Silvally jumped out of the way of the mud as it hit the ground and exploded.

"Lucario, Flash Cannon!" Pluto commanded.

Lucario fired a bright silver beam of energy at Silvally. Silvally jumped out of the way just in time, though. "Silvally, use Crush Claw on Lucario!" Gladion yelled.

Silvally's claw glowed bright white. It rushed at Lucario and lunged to attack it. "Block it with Iron Defense!" Pluto commanded. Lucario and glowed bright silver as Silvally brought its claw down. It crossed its arms to block the attack. Lucario's enhanced defense allowed it to easily withstand the hit. "Now use Power-Up Punch!"

"Lucar!" Lucario's fist glowed bright red as it threw Silvally off of it and hit it with its full strength. Silvally was sent sliding back a few feet, but it seemed okay. The only problem now was that Lucario now had increased defense and attack stats.

"Silvally, use-"

"Toxicroak, use Sucker Punch!"

Before Gladion could finish his command, Mercury's Toxicroak sped up, its fist glowing black, and punched Silvally with a super-effective attack. Silvally was sent flying back a few feet after taking that hit. It got up and was panting hard. Apparently, it had not yet fully recovered from its last fight. "Hee hee hee!" Mercury laughed insanely. "Time to finish you off! Toxicroak, use-"

"Happiny, use Copycat!" Suddenly, Vally's Happiny jumped in between Silvally and Toxicroak and hit Toxicroak with Sucker Punch, surprising Toxicroak and sending it to the ground despite the weak quality of the attack.

"Piny!" Happiny shouted. Gladion was stunned. Just as he had saved Vally from Team Hammer, Vally was saving him from Team Galactic. However, it also meant that her Happiny was in extreme danger. Toxicroak got back up and stood over the tiny Pokemon.

"Croak." It said darkly, regarding Happiny as if it were a lesser being it was about to beat down.

"How dare you!" Mercury screeched. "I'll rip your stupid little Pokemon limb from-"

"Hold it right there, Team Galactic!" Mercury and Pluto took their eyes off the battle to see that they were surrounded by a squad of police officers. Officer Jenny sat on a motorcycle with a megaphone. "We've got you surrounded!" She said into the megaphone. "Give yourselves up and there won't be any trouble!"

Pluto sighed. "And just when we were starting to pull ahead." She said glumly. "Lucario, clear a path for us."

"Lucar!" Lucario plunged its fist into the earth, using Stone Edge and causing several stone spikes to rise up from the ground, destroying several police jeeps and clearing a path for Pluto and Mercury to escape. They returned their Pokemon to their balls and sped off on their ATVs.

"How did the police know to come here?" Gladion wondered aloud.

"Because I called them." Aetherdex said, somehow having gotten out of Gladion's bag. "Honestly, if you'd just done that in the first place, your Pokemon wouldn't have-" Gladion grabbed the annoying Pokedex and stuffed it back in his bag.

Gladion turned to Vally as she went over and picked up her Happiny. "You shouldn't have done that." He said, walking over to her.

"Why not?" Vally asked. "I saved your Pokemon."

"Because now Team Galactic might come after you." Gladion replied. "I appreciate you helping me, but I don't want you to put yourself in danger like that again."

"You can't tell me what to do!" Vally retorted.

Gladion glared at her for a moment, then sighed. "I guess I can't." He said. "Thanks again."

Vally smiled. "Hey, do you wanna come over to my house?" She asked him. "My mom can make you some lunch. It's the least I could do for you saving me earlier."

Gladion thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Sure. Beats doing a thousand interviews and a dumb speech. Didn't really even have one prepared anyway."

"Yay!" Vally raced off towards her house and Gladion followed her at a much slower pace, walking side-by-side with Silvally. As he walked, Gladion thought about Team Galactic and why they might have wanted to take Silvally. He had heard of them before and knew that they came from the Sinnoh region. However, he also knew that the team had been disbanded long ago. Though, evidently that wasn't true. He would have to ask Wicke about them, as well as ask her about Team Hammer and this new Pokemon Fusion technique. Something strange was happening in the Miamia region. And Gladion was going to find out what it was.