Thanks to Blue Kitten and Martyn for reviewing!
Blue Kitten, yep, Anti-Red's going to be quite a problem! Sky's worry about Gold isn't that he's not capable of battling, but that he rushes into situations without any thought. Besides, the Anti-Gold is trained to turn Gold's advantage of acting without thinking into a disadvantage. Ooh, thanks for the story suggestions! I'm going to go read those now...
Martyn, Yeah, I can use the idea, I just couldn't fit it in last week! Thanks again!
This is a long chapter, so sorry if it's not super well-edited. I went through it a couple of times, but I also wanted to get it out in time! Enjoy!
I thought to Gardevoir, Blue, I'm going to stop transmitting for now while I talk to Silver, and smiled at the tall boy in front of me. "What do you want to ask?"
He gestured for me to follow him and led me a little farther away to two flat rocks. He sat on one, and I gingerly sat on the other, letting Gardevoir wander around.
"What's the name of your organization?" he asked abruptly.
I hid all of my surprise and responded calmly, "Team Shield."
"What do they want?"
"They want to destroy the Dexholders to make a better world and protect the average people."
"Protect the average people?"
I looked in his eyes. "You forget that the entire organization has been programmed to believe you are evil. In their mind, you terrorize the majority of the population through your exceptional skills and battle techniques."
I almost got a smile from him
"What was your training like?"
"I know this isn't really what you want to ask," I told him, stretching my legs out. "But training took about a year to complete. We each went off with experts in our fields, so I was with thieves and con artists. Throughout the year, we also had people teach us the importance of the bonds between humans and Pokemon and the master made sure we got the organization's motto drilled into our heads: Victoriam Populi, which means victory for the people. After our year of training, we got our Pokemon, continued to train by ourselves, and the master gave us an examination every month. So now, what do you actually want to know?"
He was silent for a little while, then asked, "How much of a chance do we have of defeating them?"
"Well, we only need to win the majority of the individual battles with the Dexholders against the Antis, and I'm sure that will happen. I'll have to win my battle against the master, and Blue will have to hold the grunts off. The last two, I'm not so sure about."
"So we're probably not going to win."
"No, I'll just need backup. Can I ask you to do me a favor?"
He met my eyes. "Depends on what it is."
"When you're done with your battle, stay with Blue. I'm afraid that she won't be in a good enough condition to do her job by herself."
He nodded, then said, "It's getting dark," and stood up.
I rose as well, and we walked back towards our camp. The sounds of training still rang through the air, loud enough so that I couldn't hear myself. I let out my Ditto, who transformed into a bell, and rang itself madly until I had everyone's attention.
"Okay, guys, pack everything up. We're heading to Viridian City."
"What? I thought we were going to stay here and fight them!" Emerald cried, flopping on the ground.
"We are going to fight them, but your Pokemon are tired from training and it would be better if we went to a Pokemon Center right now. Besides, it would be nice to sleep indoors."
The Pokedex holders all looked at their Pokemon, who were panting and sweating, and agreed to go to Viridian for the night. We'd set out tomorrow morning after a good night's rest. I would room with Blue.
"Night, Sky!" she said, half singing.
"Night, Blue!" I said back in the same voice.
I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.
I was in the plane, trying to find my master in the hold. He had sent a message to me, informing me that my monthly evaluation would take place on the lowest level of the plane. I had been expecting it for a few days now, but I hadn't thought it would be this hard to find him…
There. A shadow moved. I flattened myself against the box next to me and quietly let Breloom out of his Pokeball. I waited.
The stillness broke into chaos as an Abomasnow charged through a wall of boxes into Breloom. My master's favorite Pokemon. "Good afternoon, Master Ciril! I see you've found me."
He made no answer.
I looked back at Breloom, who was suffering a lot of damage. "Sky Uppercut!" I yelled
Breloom obeyed, and Abomasnow staggered slightly. Just then, an old man walked in, with grey hair cut in the military style and a black suit and blue tie. His brown eyes met mine and he gave a short nod in greeting before commanding in a soft voice full of authority, "Blizzard."
In a flash, Breloom was replaced by Ninetales, whose well-aimed Flamethrower not only disintegrated the Blizzard, but also reached the Abomasnow, enough to hurt it significantly.
"Fire Blast," I whispered so Ninetales could hear me while my master commanded Abomasnow to use Slam.
The fire attack was enough to push him to the ground, and my master sent out his Bibarel, calling for Surf.
I switched Ninetales out for Gardevoir, since Breloom was too wounded to fight. "Magical Leaf," I yelled, running past rows of boxes. Gardevoir teleported to me almost instantly. That meant that Gardevoir couldn't do much more damage. I took a look at her, and sure enough, huge gashes covered her body. "Hang in there just a little while longer, sweetie," I whispered. "Can you tell me where he is?"
She showed me an aerial diagram of the room we were in. I saw him, walking with Bibarel, a few rows over. I could cut him off if I moved just a little to the right…
I switched Gardevoir for Altaria. "When he comes to that intersection, use Fly, okay sweetheart?"
She nodded to show that she understood and we waited. He took one step out into the open, and Altaria rocketed out of our hiding place and straight into Bibarel, nearly knocking it out. My master immediately switched for Abomasnow, as I yelled, "Dragon Claw!"
A powerful Blizzard quickly knocked Altaria out. I gritted my teeth and sent out Ninetales again. "Flamethrower!"
"Ice Punch," my master said, calmly.
Ninetales did a lot of damage, but the Ice Punch left him frozen completely. He was a fire-type so it shouldn't have hurt too badly, but my master's Abomasnow was strong enough to defy type advantages. I could see through the ice that Ninetales was seriously hurt. "Come on, you can melt yourself out of there!"
The ice began to glow, and soon Ninetales was standing in a puddle of water. He was shaking though, and I quickly switched him for Lapras. "Confuse Ray!"
My master tried to command Abomasnow to use Slam, but the Abomasnow went on a rampage against himself. In frustration, my master switched for his Sudowoodo. "Double-Edge," he said, still maintaining his outward composure.
Lapras managed to avoid it and I called, "Surf!" I jumped back to avoid the water, which pushed me a little closer to the open door of the hold than I wanted. I could barely hear myself over the air blasting past the plane.
The Sudowoodo was knocked back on a torrent of water, but he didn't faint. "Rock Slide."
Lapras flinched, and Sudowoodo followed it with Double-Edge. Lapras nearly fainted, but I didn't have many other choices. "Surf!" I yelled, then as soon as possible, I switched him for Blissey. "Toxic!"
While the Sudowoodo was poisoned, I didn't have any good moves to damage it. Blissey could heal, poison, and use Hyper Voice, but none of that would be effective now. "Hyper Voice," I told her anyway. It was the only thing I could do.
Sudowoodo barely reacted, and responded instantly to my master's command, "Rock Slide."
I returned Blissey to her Pokeball, fainted. "You're as strong as ever, my master," I yelled over the rushing air, bowing a little. "I-"
Wordlessly, he picked me up and dangled me out of the plane.
"M-master?"
His face betrayed no emotion as he let go. I was falling, falling…
Altaria was too wounded to support me, Gardevoir was too weak to catch me. I watched the beautiful blue sky expand over me, thankful that at least I couldn't see the ground flying towards me, ready to pummel me to dust. And also that I wouldn't have to lie anymore about being a faithful servant to my master.
My back arched as I hit something hard, and the sky faded to black.
I jolted up in bed, hoping that I hadn't screamed. Blissey popped out of her Pokeball, and jumped into bed with me. "Shh, dear. Don't wake Blue up," I said, glancing at the girl on the other side of the room. The only movement I saw was her regular breathing, so I let out a breath of relief. "I'm all right," I whispered to Blissey, hugging her tight. "Just a nightmare."
Eventually, I managed to fall back asleep, but morning came much sooner than I would have liked. We stepped out into the bright sunlight, Pokemon healed, and faced the day.
"Okay, guys. We'll fly in on our Pokemon, then when we get to the hold, we'll use our Dittos to disguise ourselves as grunts. Hopefully, that'll keep the actual grunts from attacking us. We'll lose the disguises when we hit the second floor, and you'll go into the room without any disguises. Remember, you're trying to prove that you're honorable, so don't use your Ditto in battle if you've already got six Pokemon. Got it?" I asked, staring at Gold. "Blue, since you'll be battling more than one opponent, you're welcome to use more than six. If the rest of you want to, mark the Pokeball of your Ditto and give it to Blue when we get to the battle room."
We climbed on our flying types. Blue rode with Green and Ruby, with Sapphire. I felt Altaria's soft, fluffy feathers beneath my hands and saw the determination written on the Dexholders' faces. Well, except Red, whose smile looked calm, Blue, who winked at me, and Gold, whose face was hidden behind whatever food he was stuffing in his mouth.
"Ready?" I asked, taking another look around. "Go!"
The wind rushed, wings flapped, and feathers shot into the air. Soon we were at a comfortable height and I could enjoy the wind on my face. I wasn't afraid of the grunts appearing anymore. I knew they wouldn't come. Our exit from the Viridian Forest had gone unnoticed, as Blue, Silver, and I had confirmed. The grunts currently in the plane were the lower level, weaker grunts, and they wouldn't be deployed in midair. They probably weren't even expected to participate in the battle anticipated in Viridian Forest. So I had nothing to worry about.
Except the battle. So many things could go wrong.
But I forced myself to focus on the green trees, the specks of people and Pokemon on the ground, the white clouds against the brilliant blue sky that Sapphire had named me after. Soon, the half-hour ride was almost at an end. We spotted the plane and dove down, below it. Red and Aero led us to the back of the plane, where the hold door was still open. We shot through, and landed inside. I clambered off of Altaria and thanked her before I put her back in her Pokeball and brought my Ditto out. "Okay, darling, can you transform into those grunts we saw yesterday?"
It curled around my feet and began to ooze up, covering my body and my face with something that felt like rubber, but much stiffer. Finally, eyes opened in front of mine, and I could see everyone else disappearing under purple goo that changed into clothes, skin, and the face of the grunts. I tested it carefully, holding out one hand and wiggling my fingers, and then marching around a little. "Wow," I whispered. "You're good."
Suddenly, one of the "grunts" started wailing and waving his arms. Sapphires voice came from another "grunt". "Will ya shut it, already? We're on a mission!"
The "grunt" kept going and Ruby's voice came through, "I can't find my glasses!"
"Ruby," I said, trying hard not to laugh. "The grunts don't have glasses."
"But I do! And I don't know where they are! This stupid Ditto pushed them off of me! I won't be able to see my beautiful Pokemon!"
I picked up the glasses on the ground, avoiding his flailing feet, and held them up so he could see them. Well, hopefully. I had no idea how good his vision actually was.
"See? I have them. Now will you quit it? We have to start moving!"
"Okay, okay. Can you put them in my bag or something?"
I sighed. "Fine." His Ditto opened up his side and I shoved his glasses in the backpack. Ruby could find them later, after the battle. "Let's go."
I led them to the stairwell and up two flights of stairs. The Dittos all melted off of us, and I gave mine to Blue, before giving her a small smile. She smiled back, and put on her mike. I let the Dexholders pass into the room before I sent out Gardevoir and put the earpiece in my ear. Ready?
"As ready as I'll ever be," she said, sliding into the room.
I walked stealthily up one more flight of stairs and snuck up to the door of my master's room. Gardevoir opened the door slowly with her psychic power, and we stepped in the room.
An old man turned away from the desk he stood in front of to face me. "Anti-Blue," he said, brown eyes studying me. "What a surprise."
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