Chapter 3 – Sweep
"How many casualties did we sustain during the curfew?"
"Of the forty gym leaders, thirty-four were killed when the curfew was enforced. The remaining six have pledged their support to our cause."
"Who are they?"
"Byron, Roark, Pryce, Blaine, Skyla, and Drayden. All of the Hoenn leaders are dead."
"Byron, eh? He actually took out the force we sent to Canalave, it seems."
"He did?"
"Yup – that fossil team of his cleaned the streets with the pokemon and digimon sent there."
"... Blaine incinerated them."
"Excuse me! We seem to be getting off-track here... what's important is that we effectively have six senior gym leaders on our side."
"And five are of the old guard, too – definitely not pushovers."
"Think we should involve them in our plans?"
"Why not, pray tell?"
xxx
Lilycove City was probably one of Hoenn's busiest cities aside from Slateport. If one stopped to think about it, though, the only real reason why Lilycove had such a huge amount of traffic passing through it was the sheer number of pokemon coordination contests that took place in the city's large contest hall. Indeed, the visitor demographic was probably skewed grossly in the contests' favour when compared to the other attractions Lilycove featured, such as wailmer watching and Lilycove museum.
However, an event that took place there just three days after the Elites' coup managed to command more attention from the good people of Lilycove than anything else in the city's history. For the first time since the coup itself, not a soul was to be found indoors anywhere in the city, except for maybe the hospital. And they were all outdoors without worrying about what consequences they might have had to suffer from under the newly-enforced laws.
Well, admittedly the reason why they weren't afraid of the Elites' laws on the matter was because they had been ordered to assemble at the contest hall.
The contest hall was huge – it had been designed and built to accommodate over a thousand people, after all. However, Lilycove's sizable population of three million people made it impossible for everyone to fit into the hall, and so the city's streets were all jam-packed within a hundred-meter radius of the contest hall. Several police officers were in sight, but they did little to control the crowds. Instead, they lingered about at the street corners, looking oddly dazed – it was almost as if someone had hypnotized them and sent them out onto the streets while they were still mesmerized.
What the early birds of Lilycove noticed upon entering the contest hall was that someone was already waiting for them on-stage, alongside a police officer. The later ones, who were forced to fight for standing room on the streets, noticed the same thing by means of several projections onto the sides of several buildings.
The person on the stage was a familiar face to all who were present – after all, Glacia was none other than one of Hoenn's Elites. Severel tough-looking ice pokemon were flanking her, and she herself didn't seem to be in the mood for fun and games. After some time, the police officer standing by her side received a call on his walkie-talkie. He proceeded to whisper something into her ear, which caused her to perk up slightly.
Glacia stepped forward with a microphone that she fished out of somewhere within the folds of her billowing dress, and cleared her throat.
"Citizens of Hoenn," she called, her tone about as warm as the glalie hovering next to her. "Times have changed, as I'm sure you're aware of by now. So we'll be implementing some changes... permanent changes."
"When we first enforced the curfew three nights ago, we encountered some resistance among the more stubborn trainers out there. While we regret any unnecessary losses of life... know that we shall NOT be hesitant in taking any steps that we deem necessary to safeguard the greater good."
"Just what greater good are we talking about here?" came an angry shout from somewhere in the crowd. "What's good for you Elites might not be good for us!"
Cries and shouts of agreements were heard, and soon enough, the hall had become filled with a huge racket. Glacia, who didn't seem to be bothered in the least by the terrific noise, merely nodded towards her abomasnow. Within seconds, the frosted-tree pokemon had created a minor snowstorm in the hall, effectively shutting up the crowd.
"As I was saying, we shall not be pulling any punches here. For too long, we have stood by and watched quietly while many of you did things to both humans and pokemon - disgusting, abominable things. In the interests of safe, secure, and civilized society, we hereby declare the governments of Earth to be dissolved."
A colossal uproar broke out in the hall and on the streets almost immediately after she had finished speaking. Even the abomasnow's mini-snowstorm failed to keep the crowd from getting more agitated, and soon enough, several members of the audience began attempting to get on-stage.
Glacia merely sighed upon seeing the chaos that was unfolding in the hall, "As expected. Abomasnow, glalie, walrein - freeze them over!"
The three powerful ice types instantly obeyed her orders, sending volleys of freezing-cold attacks towards the audience. Blizzards and Ice Beams froze entire groups of humans into blocks of ice, and the crowd out on the streets got into a panicked frenzy of its own.
Despite the pandemonium that had erupted on the streets of Lilycove – her team had seen to it that the contest hall itself was free of any problems – Glacia was quite literally as cool as a cucumber.
After all, her task had been to break the news to Hoenn that there would be a change in the governments; somehow, no one had specified if she was to be tactful in doing so.
xxx
"- you lot! I'd string you up and beat the crap out of you, but apparently I'm not allowed to do that. So be thankful that all I've done so far is paralyzing you."
Byron glared at the group of prone forms on the floor beneath him. He was standing at an elevated platform that overlooked a prison exercise yard, and several of his best pokemon were at his side. When the prisoners had first found out that he was to be their new warden for the time being, some had decided that he was a pushover of sorts. A brief soaking from his empoleon followed by a Thunder Wave from his magnezone had rapidly dispelled any such thoughts, though.
Leaning on his signature shovel, Byron continued to address the group of immobile prisoners.
"Pryce will be coming around soon to pick you lot up. He'll probably be freezing you all into popsicles for the journey over to Data-"
"Byron! Where's the scumbag collection?"
"Speak of the devil... Pryce, they're out here, Pryce!"
The elderly ice specialist made his way out onto the platform, and surveyed the handiwork of his colleague's pokemon.
"Nice one, Byron. But did you really have to zap them? Some of them must've shat themselves."
"Bah, they were getting rowdy! Nothing like a decent Thunder Wave to shut dissidents up... works just like it did back in the olden days."
"I sometimes forget that you were the one who passed that zapping fetish to Surge, you know."
"Whatever... do you want them like this or not?"
"Not like I have a choice now, do I? The transport leaves in three hours."
"That fast? We'd best get to moving them, then."
There were three flashes of light as both of the gym leaders let out their pokemon onto the platform. Byron had released his bronzong and metagross, whereas Pryce had let out a jynx whose hair was slightly frizzled. Within seconds, the entire group of prisoners had vanished along with the three pokemon, leaving the two men behind.
"Remind me again what they'll be doing over at Data?"
"Hard labour, apparently. Mining, construction, manufacturing, stuff like that. But mostly jobs that even the digimon find too tedious under normal circumstances."
"Anything particularly dangerous?"
"I've heard that the mines have a seventy percent casualty statistic."
"Good! The faster we dispose of those scumbags, the better."
xxx
Cinnabar Island's population had been relatively unharmed by the pokemon and digimon that had marched through its short, winding streets on the night of the coup. Most of its citizens, long accustomed to the eccentricities of the local gym leader, Blaine, had obediently trooped indoors when the Elites' declaration of a curfew had been broadcasted. Some of them had been understandably unnerved by the nature of the announcement, but otherwise most of them had made it indoors after seeing Blaine take to the skies on his charizard.
Blaine himself had been only slightly disturbed by the announcement. Upon seeing for himself the groups of pokemon and digimon that had teleported onto the shores of the island he called his home, he had brought together his strongest team of fire pokemon, and had lifted off.
Needless to say, things had not been pretty for the creatures sent by the Elites to enforce their curfew. The old gym leader had not forgotten any of his tricks, and entire groups of digimon had been incinerated by a very angry-looking magmortar, just as their pokemon allies got trapped within a ring of fire that a tough, battle-scarred typhlosion had created around them. Within thirty minutes of the curfew being declared, Blaine had managed to subdue every living thing on Cinnabar Island.
When he eventually found out just why the Elites had decided to start their revolution, he was only somewhat surprised. After all, the government conspiracy theories had been circulating for years since the Odaiba incident – Lucian really should have known better than to assume that he had been successful in wiping out all traces of the massive brawl between the two digimon. Conspiracies aside, though, he personally regarded the revolution as a necessary evil.
Indeed, most trainers who were from the older class viewed the toppling of the governments as something that had been long overdue. While they might have disapproved of the Elites' methods, they mostly agreed that the world had once been a much better place to live in for both humans and pokemon – much of its present condition was attributed to the governments' lack of initiative and commitment towards eradicating crime, or so they said.
Of course, it didn't help that there were numerous high-profile crimes whose files were never closed. Corruption, abuse of power, criminal breach of trust... the list just went on and on and merely grew longer over time.
All of the aforementioned factors made Blaine numb to the shock of having a curfew declared all over the world, but not what Datamon was asking of him a mere four days after the curfew's bloody execution. The very fact that Datamon had actually taken the time to visit his laboratory on Cinnabar was intriguing enough, but what the digimon had asked him was even more puzzling.
"Say again?"
"What do you know about the Gunslinger project?"
Blaine raised an eyebrow as he regarded the mechanical digimon with a guarded expression, "Nothing much. In fact, you probably know more about it than I do."
"That's the problem – I don't know much about it," replied Datamon, as he paced in front of Blaine's desk. "It's highly under wraps – if not for what Phoebe accidentally let slip, I would be ignorant about its very existence. As the former head of such research and development, I thought maybe you would be able to shed some light on the matter."
"What makes you think that I'll divulge such information to you, even if I did know it?"
"Just because," Datamon grinned, "you happen to be one of the few who actually supports our cause."
"Only in the name of what is best for Earth."
"Does that even extend to the basic description of the Gunslinger?"
"It exists, and that is all I can say on the matter."
"Very well then – I shall take my leave of you."
However, right before Datamon exited the gym leader's office, he turned to face the bald man once again.
"I'm assuming that the Elites have silenced you on the matter, and I'll respect their wishes while they remain in power. But if they were to somehow grant you freedom of speech, would you be willing to reveal the information?"
"Depending on why they'd allow such a thing to begin with."
"I see. Goodbye for now, Blaine."
xxx
Lucian watched as the digimon's massive cargo cruiser slowly made its way out of Earth's gravitational field, gradually moving past the atmospheres' furthest reaches. As time went by and its distance from Earth increased, it became smaller, and was eventually rendered invisible against the night sky. Only he and Caitlin were still at the Elites' headquarters, and they themselves would soon be heading to their respective living quarters for some shut-eye.
Within the spacecraft were various ores and minerals that the digimon had received in exchange for their assistance in toppling the various governments all over Earth – something which the digimon had been quite happy to work on. Apparently, the ores which they had requested for were considered as rarities back on their own world, despite the substances in question being relatively common on Earth.
There had been quite a few snickers when the digimon's request for aluminium had been noted, and quite a few more were heard when they asked for graphite. But at the end of the day, the Elites had managed to come up with enough of the materials to honour part of their agreement with the digimon, and so all was well.
The other part of the deal was also honoured, in the form of fifteen thousand prisoners that were being shipped out to Data as labourers. All of them had been placed into cryogenic stasis for the three-week journey that quite literally spanned the length of the galaxy, and when they woke up... suffice to say that they definitely wouldn't be too happy with their new home.
When he heard a brief knocking on the door to his officer, Lucian turned around to regard the door with some curiosity. He wasn't expecting anyone to drop by at that time of the day, and most of the other Elites had probably retired to their quarters already.
"Who is it?"
"Mummymon," replied the person on other side of the heavy wooden door. "We have some business to discuss."
Discretely getting out the pokeballs containing his alakazam and gallade – one could never be too cautious – Lucian called out to the cadaverous digimon, "Come in, then."
His suspicions were confirmed when Mummymon walked in, followed by two digimon resembling stars with hands and legs.
"And just what is this... business you speak of?" His thumb brushed the pokeballs' release buttons, releasing the two psychics. "I highly doubt it's anything pacifistic, given that you've got those two with you."
Mummymon laughed darkly, his lone eye gleaming with a sinister yellow light, "Correct, my dear psychic. Starmon, get them!"
Even before his pokemon could make their first moves, the lights went out, leaving the room in darkness as the melee commenced. There came the sounds of his gallade dishing out several vicious blows, and for a brief moment, the room was lit-up with a brilliant flash of light as one of the starmon attacked his alakazam with several glowing orbs. Deciding to let out more of his pokemon, Lucian tossed their pokeballs into the air, only to receive a glancing blow to the back of his head as Mummymon lunged at him.
All he saw before everything went black was his gallade's head rolling on the ground in front of him.
xxx
As soon as her mind had detected the spike of alarm from Lucian's office, Caitlin had released her reuniclus and sigilyph from their pokeballs. When a certain humanoid creature had appeared in her office, she had immediately released the rest of her team.
"I should have known that you would resort to treachery!"
"You knew what we were capable of," laughed Arukenimon, as her two monochromon flunkies stepped forward. "Yet you made an alliance with us. Alas, you Elites have outlived your usefulness for now... so we'll just have to dispose of you."
"Begone!" shrieked Caitlin, as her team charged towards the red-dressed digimon.
The two monochromon bellowed furiously and charged towards her in retaliation. When her musharna tried to shove them aside using its psychic powers, it found that they might as well have been umbreon – nothing worked on them as far as psychic attacks were concerned.
"Stop!" commanded Caitlin's reuniclus, as it fired a Focus Blast at one of the monochromon. "This is madness!"
The words had just left its mind when one of the two dinosaur-like digimon sank its fangs into Caitlin's sigilyph. Blood spurted out of the dead psychic's mangled body as the digimon let out a roar that rattled the windowpanes, and Caitlin herself rushed forward to try and attack it.
"NO!"
"Mistress, no!" cried her gothitelle, sending her flying backwards with a mental push. While it managed to save her from being mauled by the blood-splattered monochromon, it failed to save itself – the digimon bit into its shoulder with enough force to rip its arm off.
Arukenimon herself had not been idle – she had run right up to where the second monochromon was grappling with the reuniclus, and had driven a knife into the psychic's gelatinous body. Within seconds, the blob-like pokemon had quite literally liquefied and expired, leaving Caitlin with just her musharna to defend her.
"So now," purred the digimon as she reverted to her spider-like form, "let's end this little parody, shall we?"
Caitlin's screams echoed in the night, even as multiple skirmishes broke out in the individual league members' quarters.
xxx
On the rooftop of the league headquarters, four humans stood alongside Datamon, ignoring the sounds of the numerous battles that were taking place beneath their feet.
"I'm surprised that you four sided with us, you know. Some would say that you've sold out your own species."
"It's not a question of human supremacy," Shauntal said brusquely. "Anyone who deals with ghosts would know that being ruled by others is not always submission."
"It is... of no consequence to me," Blaine shrugged. "Everything is relative, after all."
"We should learn from the insects, you know," Aaron murmured, as a durant scuttled onto his shoulder. "Organized society is so simplistic, really."
"You do realize that after tonight, there'll be no more leagues and whatnot. We're not interested in your petty games."
"No big deal," scoffed Lorelei. "Most of us stayed in our positions to try and fix things... but you know how that turned out."
"Let's make it official, then," Datamon said, snapping his metal fingers. A lanky cyborg digimon with a prominent head materialized on the rooftop, hovering several feet above the ground. "Vademon! Get us a link to His Majesty."
"Immediately, sir."
Within two minutes, a holographic representation of a skeletal digimon with frayed robes was being projected out of Vademon's mechanical half. The figure in the hologram was the same one which Diaboromon had been communicating with when he was working on establishing the portal connections between Data and Earth, and this time, he looked somewhat pleased at the sight before his eyes.
"Well, well, well. I take it things are going smoothly, Datamon?"
"Indeed, my lord. We even have cooperative humans – powerful trainers, at that."
"Good, good... and what of the other Elites?"
"We got them while they were apart – united they posed a problem, but separate was another issue."
"Hmph. What of these four? They sold out their species, what's to stop them from betraying us in the future?"
"Our loyalties lie with the human race," Blaine deadpanned. "As long as the well-being of humans and pokemon is being protected, you will be assured of our cooperation."
"It does not bother you, this butchery?" the digimon emperor asked, his red eyes glinting with malice. "Your allies were all murdered, and you stood by just like that."
"It was in the name of the greater good," said Shauntal firmly. "And we... have had our opportunities to get glimpses of the future. What's best for humanity lies along this path, somehow."
"How sure are you of this?" asked Datamon, sounding quite amused. "Prophecies are never set in stone."
Shauntal offered him a ghost of a smile, "Trust me, Datamon – my ghosts and I have seen more than you could ever imagine."
"I do believe we have come to an agreement, here."
"Excellent!" laughed the emperor's hologram. "Datamon, you may do the honors!"
The four-legged cyborg grinned, and spoke.
"By the power vested in me by His Royal Highness, Emperor Apocallymon, I declare this planet – Earth – to be a world under the auspices of the Digimon Empire."
With that simple declaration, the conquest of Earth was formalized.