Chapter Sixty-Two
Preparations for battle began in the abandoned eastern cityscape. Rocket Grunts, police officers, and drafted citizens, all armed and dressed in Rocket attire, checked their weapons and oiled artillery. Excavators scooped out pavement and pipelines to form jagged trenches. Medics sanitized needles and sorted blood bags. Cooks doled out bowls of scrambled eggs and oatmeal, commanders briefed their soldiers, and men made one last call to their families.
One office building had weathered abandonment well enough to become a temporary headquarters. Its windows were small, paned with thick glass, and its walls were steel and concrete. A conference room on ground level held a long plastic table and a dozen dusty padded chairs. The Sages, the Rockets, and Team Plasma assembled there for a final review of their battle strategy and agreements. N, without any illusion protecting him, sat at one end of the table with two Lucario.
The eyepiece had gone eerily silent through the early morning. N ran a finger over its smooth steel rim. It had said something about entering power-saving mode, but N wasn't sure he believed it.
"Do you accept this arrangement?" Giovanni asked.
N looked across the table. Giovanni, flanked by Fisher and Colson, stared at him with an unreadable mask. Without an illusion covering him, each nerve on N's skin tingled, as though the sunlight burned him.
N adjusted the eyepiece. "Should I be content with you leaving the most difficult job for us?"
Giovanni's eyes narrowed. "You're the only ones with the ability to fight him. That is why we handed over the Mega Stone in the first place." He glanced around the room and added, "Is there a reason Elder Bayron isn't present?"
"He is still recovering from yesterday," N said, "But he is well enough to use the Mega Stone."
Giovanni's expression betrayed nothing, but Fisher's eyes flicked towards his boss. N knew they were planning something, but even the eyepiece couldn't guess what would happen.
"Why the curiosity?" N asked. "Quite frankly, I'm surprised you can tell the difference."
The Lucario around him shot him a glare, but Giovanni gave no reaction. "I'd rather not find out that you were waiting to use the Mega Stone against me. I could see that happening, given the misunderstanding we had yesterday."
N knew it wasn't the truth, but he couldn't find a way to probe further. Instead, he asked, "Why did you try to capture us? You still need us to defeat Bruno."
Giovanni shrugged. "Just business. I had no intention on harming the Elder. You, on the other hand, serve no purpose here and posed a significant threat by impersonating Ghetsis. I used you to discredit Ghetsis and earn the trust of the public, and had I succeeded in capturing you, treachery from the Lucario would have been less likely."
Giovanni steered the conversation further away from the secret N was trying to uncover, he knew, and yet, he didn't know enough to ask a more precise question. He tapped the eyepiece, hoping it would give him something to ask. The Rockets stiffened in their chairs, even Giovanni. The plastic armrest groaned underneath Fisher's hand.
"Do you know how Ghetsis had cheated death?" Giovanni asked.
N nodded. "He escaped that car bombing, and a few other ones, I think."
Giovanni shook his head. "I meant to say, do you know how he survived all those attempts?"
On one hand, N knew it was another distraction, but on the other hand, he felt there was an important nugget of information hidden in this mud. "I told you about the cloning facility."
Giovanni took out a portable bottle of hand sanitizer. As he lathered it into his palms, he said, "The clones were only a shell. He–"
The eyepiece flashed to life. "Attack imminent," it told him. "Tell the Elder."
N stood. "They're here."
Everyone stood. "We can finish this conversation once we have won," Giovanni said. "Please don't make the mistake of leaving without hearing what I have to tell you."
N had considered doing exactly that, but the grave tone of the Rocket Boss' voice piqued his interest. There was a secret here as well. Perhaps it was to divert his attention from Giovanni's real plan, but it might be worth hearing.
N was first out the door, followed by the Lucario. They had set up quarters a few blocks down the road, in an old library. When he first saw it, books had slipped off the shelves, and a heavy layer of dust coated every surface. Lights were cracked and several windowpanes were broken. Now, the only evidence of the building's abandonment were missing light fixtures and empty windows.
Elder Bayron sat in a reclining chair. His eyes were unfocused and glazed over, but they snapped to attention when N entered the room.
"Is it time?" he asked. He sounded stronger, but strain clutched at his voice.
"It's time. Are you sure no one else can take the Mega Stone?"
The Elder shook his head. "It is more difficult to control than I feared. I'm the only one with enough discipline to use it." A Lucario helped him out of the chair. "I will have to leave as soon as possible or risk insanity."
"I have transport on standby, enough to get us all out of here. The reserves can escort us out."
"Do you think we'll need it?"
N chuckled. "He's hiding a powerful psychic, and I suspect he intends to kill you. We can't take any chances."
Bayron leaned against a shelf and stretched his legs. "It will be dangerous to stay close."
"I'm the only one that can protect you from a psychic."
"I suppose you are." He shoved off the bookcase. Four books tumbled from the shelves, and a Lucario put them back in place. The Elder took two steps forward, trembled, and leaned on another Lucario.
"I'll just need a minute," he said. "Head's still spinning from all that aura."
N glanced out the door. Shouts rang across the streets as men rushed for the trenches. He looked back and said, "I'll meet you out there."
"Wait."
N stopped halfway out the door. When he turned back, the Elder strode towards him with one hand trailing along the shelves. He came up to N, leaned towards his ear, and whispered, "If I do go insane, make sure that the psychic kills me. We can't have another."
N grimaced. "I understand."
Two hundred Team Plasma members stood ready in the lobby of a movie theater. They saluted when he entered the room.
"Get moving," N told them. "The enemy will arrive shortly."
And he thought to himself, the enemy's already here.
"Leave fifty ready for our escape. The rest of you, form a defensive perimeter for the Lucario. Keep your throwers topped off, and stock up on grenades.
White-clad men lugged heavy tanks of napalm and hefted boxes of grenades. They moved in double-file, with supplies wedged between them. Once they had squeezed past the ticket counters, only trampled dust and dirty dishes remained of them.
N peeled the eyepiece off his face. He plucked bits of goo from its surface and stared at the red-tinted glass. His hand tightened. Metal and glass strained within his grip, but the eyepiece gave no response.
He held it up to his face. "Do you still have control of the nukes?"
No answer.
"Have you run out of power?"
Nothing.
"If you don't answer me now, I'll smash you on the ground."
The device flicked to life, its light on its dimmest setting. In its largest font, it said, "Battle outcome calculated. Battery critical. Will provide support in the moment you need it."
The light died.
N stared at the device in his hand. Questions flooded his mind, such as "How could it predict the battle's outcome? What support? Can I really trust this thing?"
Distant gunshots wrenched his gaze away from the device. His hand twitched, and he dropped the eyepiece, but he fumbled after it. As he sprinted down the cracked streets, he affixed the device back over his eye.
A procession of Lucario strode down the street, flanked by men in Rocket uniforms. The men raised their guns as N approached, but with an order from an officer, they stood aside.
"Well?" the Elder asked in a hushed murmur.
"Team Plasma is mobilized. Ghetsis' monocle says it has a plan, but it won't tell me anything."
"You should have destroyed that thing the moment you got it."
N scratched at the skin around the eyepiece. "I've been tempted to, but it's our trump card. You know that."
Another shot rang through the streets. N peered ahead, but he saw no signs of battle.
"Haven't they begun their attack yet?"
The officer, marked by red trim on his shoulders, looked back as he marched. "They're setting up a small base just within the city limits. We have orders to hold our perimeter until Bruno arrives."
"It'll be another half hour, I think," the Elder added.
N stared through the empty lens. Had it fed him false information? Why? Giovanni was about to say something, about how Ghetsis eluded death…
The commander's radio crackled. The man stiffened, and he whirled towards the men behind him.
"Battle formations, now! They're coming from underground!"
"What's this?" Elder Bayron asked. The Lucario stood with paws extended, glancing underneath them. "I don't sense anything! Same! How could they be below us? Is a psychic teleporting them in? No, it would take too much power!"
The men bunched around the Lucario in a tight circle, guns raised. The commander pressed his ear to the radio and kept a hand on his pistol.
"It's mainly Rattata and Pidgey! All normal types! They're using ghosts to –"
The ground heaved underneath them. With a booming crack, concrete exploded beneath the group. Men screamed as they were crushed by falling chunks. Surrounding themselves with a blue glow, the Lucario held their section of the road steady and moved it away from the quaking ground.
Four gray shapes rose from the heaped rubble. A baleful red eye peered out from each of them. As they emerged into the sunlight, their massive arms, amorphous tails, and gaping maws in their midsections became distinct.
"Dusknoir!" one man shouted. "Fall back! Get the UV lasers!"
Their maws opened. Out of them rushed a throng of Rattata, biting and snapping at anything that moved. Concrete and bone cracked between their teeth. The standing men answered with a volley of bullets, tearing through the pack, but more rushed over their fallen comrades. Men fell screaming as the swarm consumed them.
A blue flash engulfed the street. Rattata were blown back like leaves, hurtling into buildings and trees. Some staggered to their feet, but more lay on the ground, still or writhing with broken limbs. The four Dusknoir stood unwavering as the aura blew through them.
"There's little we can do to those ghosts," Elder Bayron said to N. "We'll need you to attack them."
N grimaced. "I shouldn't waste my strength, not with that psychic out there. I don't know how much I can take."
From above, a ray of blinding light shone on the street. It passed over a Dusknoir, slicing it in half. Its wounds hissed and gave off sparking black vapor. With a shudder and a low, sonorous moan, the ghost collapsed into shadow. The beam darted left, taking two more Dusknoir, and it grazed the last as it retreated underground.
N looked up. Perched on a high building was a spotlight five feet in diameter. Cables snaked out of the back and wound its way into a window.
The commanding officer, wiping blood off his face, approached N. He had a gash over his left eye and bite marks in his left arm. His coat hung off of him in bloody tatters, and his hat had vanished.
"We have lights up, but we can't cover every area. We'll have to take a detour to get to the combat zone."
"Then we better hurry," Elder Bayron said. "He's coming."
Changelog
12/28/18 – minor edits