Chapter 62: Iron clad psyche

Middle of the night

Sinnoh

Resort Area

BEEP~ BEEP~ BEEP~

The nerve wracking sound washed over the entire base, Lack-2 jumped out of bed and forcefully calmed his fluttering heart. How was a person supposed to evacuate properly if the base produced such a heart stopping sound every time they were attacked? It's a wonder no one managed to have a heart attack when the blare sounded. Pibo bounced around the room in a distressed manner and the Unova native spoke a few words of comfort to it. To his surprise, the little rodent stopped its insistent squeaking and settled for scratching up the door instead. Progress, Lack-2's mind agreed, at least it listened to him now. The boy stretched for a few times and allowed himself to get used to the racket, he didn't want to vomit all over some senior's shoes like the last time. A few earthquakes swept through the base and he observed tiny fissures snaking up the walls. Nonetheless, he calmly yanked open the door to his cupboard and retrieved a backpack, thereafter he started packing his clothes. Hauling the bag over to his now skewed table, he sorted through piles of junk and eventually retrieved his Xtransciever. On impulse, he booted up the device, navigated to his inbox and read the most recent message.

To Lack-2:

Team Plasma has been captured once and for all thanks to your efforts. Your insight and information has been very valuable. About the shadow triads: we have intelligence that they took the dark dragon stone and fled to Ransei. There are rumours floating that Lord Nobunaga, self-proclaimed leader of Ransei, ordered them to bring him the dragon stone and he wants the power of Zekrom to himself.

As for your investigations into the Dex-criminals...we are not satisfied. You do not always provide accurate information and thanks to this, our previous bust had been a total failure. I understand you are working undercover Lack-2 but you need to share the contents of your investigations with all of us and not only with Looker. You have been warned. We are conducting a high profile investigation into the incidents caused by the Dex-criminals, namely the breaking into the Veilstone building and the most recent attack on the Unova league. Thanks to the new information and the trails you left us, we have an accurate description of their inner workings and their modus operendi.

You are to extract yourself immediately and join in the raid against the Dex-criminals. Your subordinate is looking forward to your return. Once we are done with handling the Organization, you will be deployed to Ransei to chase after the Shadow Triads.

Once again, I repeat myself:

Extract yourself immediately.

Signed: Chief of Police

Anabel

He exhaled and pressed his fingers on the liquid crystal display. Extract himself? Snorting in indignation, he deleted the message and proceeded to toss his communications device into his backpack. Pichu uttered a high pitched squeak and nervously bounced around the room when an ear grating din pervaded the mansion. He suspected the noise issued from where senior Blue busied herself with cutting the base apart; he also heard the sounds of windows shattering, walls being torn apart and the earth shaking roars of legendary beasts. Shrieks, both human and animalistic, added to the general chaos and in the midst of it all, he fumbled around and tried to gather his things together. For some reason, his hands shook and he dove back into his wardrobe to sift through piles of clothing, both his and Gold's, and pull out an intricately carved box. Inside the wooden carton, a velvet padding cradled two ultra-balls and he snatched the black capsules up and stuck them to his magnetic belt. A glimpse in the mirror revealed a dishevelled boy staring back at him and he took note of the oversized t-shirt hanging off his frame. The shirt belonged to Gold. Mumbling tersely to himself, he stripped off his shirt, pants and everything else and rifled through his backpack. A black bodysuit with blue highlights caught his eye and he dragged it out. Quickly, he suited himself up and the thick latex moulded onto his body perfectly. On top of this, he fitted a lightweight bulletproof vest, strapped on few lightning absorbing rods to his left thigh and wound a holster around his waist and left thigh, the pocket rested slightly below his hip and would remain out of sight. Returning to the wooden box, he lifted the velvet padding, discarded it and reached down to the little crossbow hidden in the depths.

Hefting the bow, he ran his fingers over the string and plucked it. It twanged satisfactorily. Lack-2 retrieved several arrows from the chest and examined them; the arrows remained in perfect shape, each arrowhead as sharp as the edge of Keldeo's horn. The blue arrows gleamed eerily in the light and he thrust the weapons into his holster. He could hear someone running down the corridors and hurriedly he looked around the messy room for clothes to cover himself with. He slipped on a pair of shorts, crudely crammed his bare feet in a pair of fashionable trainers and zipped himself up in a blue rain jacket just as the door to his room crashed open to reveal the panting form of his leader. Red wheezed and the Unovian blinked. The copper eyed boy wound his magnetic belt around his waist and fixed his trusty visor atop untamed locks. Gold didn't barge into his room this time and briefly, he felt relief bloom in his chest.

"Gold..." Red rasped, "I can't find Gold." The red eyed commander gulped in a few lungfuls of air and spoke more coherently, "I thought he might be looking for you in all this chaos so I came here first...I can't find him!" The Kanto native threw his hands up in the air and distress distorted his face.

"...Let's look for him together then." Lack-2 intoned and followed Red out into the rapidly collapsing passage.

Gold had been ogling at Red and Cynthia duking it out with each other. Mega venusaur morphed into nature's fury and those barbed vines crawled around the place like live, poisonous snakes. The amber eyed trainer scurried around the brambles and tried to find the best angle to witness his superior bombarding a fellow champion. The two of them fought spectacularly and Virizion lithely weaved itself between the tendrils and delivered precise strikes. Till date, no one else managed to make Saur bleed like the way the grass type legendary did. However in the end, all the fighting amounted to nothing as Red tangled both the Sinnoh champion and her monster up and zapped the two of them into oblivion. Execution's leader liked to use this strategy to deliver an accurate attack; venusaur's vines absorbed the electricity and conducted it directly to the target. If Pika struck, there was always the chance of grounding the electricity. The strategy worked soundly except that Gold now had to leap away from Saur's shoots. All the brambles lit up as stray sparks hissed and dissipated in the air. In his quest to avoid being shocked to death by deviating charges, he bumped against part of the wall and heard something click. A few seconds later, he fell through a hole in the wall and watched, quite dumbfounded, as the panel slid back into place and shut him out. He tumbled into some sort of secret tunnel and heard Red call frantically for him. Banging on the panel did absolutely nothing, he heard his commander screech one more time before the older man vacated the room altogether.

Alone in the dark, narrow passage, he fumbled on his person for a torch and found none. Unlike these new-fangled devices, his Poke-gear functioned like an old fashioned communications device and had no other extra accessories, thus he could only call someone with it. Unfortunately, he had no signal and after cursing at Giratina, he stuffed the gadget back into his cargo pants. He regretted not having the sense to at least bring a flash light...but at that time his only concern was the wellbeing of his team members, he didn't have time to think and only relied on his instincts. Shuffling forward in the dark, he felt his way forward and one of his pokeballs wriggled. Pressing the switch, ambipom tumbled out and the fleeting flash of light lit up his dismal surroundings. The amber eyed trainer only picked out a plain conduit leading to Ho-oh knows where. Were these secret tunnels? He mused and decided that they very well may be. Platinum's family was rich and wealthy families had many enemies so it made sense to construct secret tunnels and hiding spaces. Alas, these spaces won't do much good because the whole building would start collapsing on itself. A distant rumbling perfused the air and the ground underneath him rolled. Feeling claustrophobic, Gold blindly ran forward with Aibo sitting on his head and collided hard against a wall. The resulting impact sent him tethering to the edge of his consciousness and after fighting the pain off for a while, he succumbed to it and passed out.

Unknown time

Resort area

Dex Criminal's base, first floor

Yellow helped Whi-2 out of a broken window and the young girl gratefully jumped into her leader's waiting arms. Blue smiled genially at the blonde and after waving, she summoned a jigglypuff and floated off with Whi-2 in a tow. The strategy team member fixed her loosening ponytail and hurried back into base. She felt strength rapidly draining from her and for a moment her vision blurred. Rubbing her eyes and forcing herself to swallow a few energy inducing herbs, she hurried for Sapphire and Diamond. Lt. Surge followed them like a houndoom and this caused several problems when they tried to flee from the base. A trickle of apprehension trailed down her spine and she followed Chuchu as the creature's sensitive hearing picked up danger and darted towards it. Yellow conserved her energy as much as she could and only sent one of her pokemon out at any given time. In the eastern wing of the mansion, she heard the sounds of war and ran faster. On rounding the bend, she stopped.

She simply stopped and fear froze her to the spot. The hazel eyed woman forced herself to move forward.

However...

Her body refused to obey commands.

At the end of the long corridor, she beheld how Entei rested a heavy, flame cloaked paw on Sapphire's; the girl's clothes were partially torn. Her pokemon had been reduced to broken, comatose beasts. Dia quivered in the clutches of an older blonde man and said person aimed a gun at Ruby who lay on his stomach on the floor. Yellow felt faint, her pikachu squeaked and tugged her clothes and yet for some reason her body trembled and rebelled.

And then.

Something miraculous happened.

Relief washed over her on seeing Regigigas unfold from the ball and crush everything in its sight. The gargantuan monster had no qualms on belting out a few punches to his fellow legendries. Raikou crumpled on the spot as its skull smashed under a monolith of a fist. Entei danced around and countered a few moves with plumes of lava, it managed to heat one of the titan's legs and reduce it to molten lava. The leader of the titans twisted, located the fire type and clobbered it with two fists. Blaine's mouth opened when his Entei disintegrated into particles of light. He just witnessed one mythical creature kill another. Finally, Terrakion faced off with Regigigas and didn't fare too well either. Pillar esque fingers wrapped around its solid form and sword of justice was repeatedly bashed into the earth till it fainted. Regigigas slammed a spade like hand over the creature one final time and then swept his other arm on the offending humans. Like fragile porcelain dolls, their bones splintered and they fell, spattering blood on the walls and floor. Yellow unfroze and this time she rushed with full speed and called out Ruby's name. The boy stared at her with glassy irises and then fainted with half lidded eyes.

Posting her golem and butterfree as sentries, she arduously hauled the half comatose bodies out of a shattered window and rolled them on to the grass. Ruby went first and despite his lean appearance, he proved to be a dead weight. Puffing, she deposited him on the lawn and climbed back into the hallway, scraping her shin in the process. On reaching Diamond, she jolted on seeing the boy stir. He sluggishly pushed himself up and wiped his cheeks.

"Sorry...I was so scared...it's my fault they...they..." the Sinnoh native sputtered.

"Shhh Diamond... Everything is okay, they are simply asleep. With some medical care, they will wake up in no time." Yellow soothed.

"No...Senior White is trapped under my pokemon!" He wailed and frantically started recalling his exhausted beasts into their respective capsules, "I think I crushed her!"

"Listen to me Dia!" the hazel eyed woman forcefully piloted his attention and he gulped audibly, "everyone is safe and sound...repeat this after me."

"Every-one is safe...And sound" he repeated and tried to ignore the quiver in both their voices.

"Good," she breathed softly, "Pearl and Platinum have already evacuated...Now help me with the others okay? Or do you want to leave?" He shook his head vigorously, "thank you Diamond, I appreciate all the help I can get." Instead of helping her, he mutely observed the petite girl hitch her dress up to mid-thigh and climb in and out of a window as she singled handedly dragged three bodies outside. And all of them were heavier and taller than her. Done with laying them neatly on the grass, Yellow knelt down next to them and her body glowed with a golden aura. Dia sensing what she was about to do, hurriedly clamped his chubby, sweaty hand down on her shoulder and she looked up in alarm. "Is there something wrong?" she queried and he noticed her eyes hazing over with obvious exertion.

"We can... tend to them after we reach our new base..." he intoned, "please escape with them; our base is in main-land Sinnoh right?" She nodded and wiped some questionable stain from her pale cheek, "under Mt. Coronet...Senior Green said that the police won't susp-ect us hiding right under their noses." The Kanto female got up and summoned her monsters and Dia unwound his bandanna and used it to cover Sapphire's gashes.

"Aren't you coming with me Diamond?"

"No, I want to see sen-ior Red." He answered and stubbornly limped back to the mansion. Once it stood proudly and beautifully and now, shattered windows, a caved in roof and a burning third floor reduced the ancient domicile into nothing of value. Yellow inwardly lamented the fate of the Victorian styled palace, what would Platinum's parents say? Seeing her junior hobble back to the haunting building, she grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and he yelped in astonishment.

"You are coming with me..." she articulated clearly and left no room for arguments, "If something happens to you, I won't be able to look at my seniors in the eye. Please Diamond, don't make this difficult than it already is. How do you think Pearl and Platina felt on leaving you behind?" The blonde blinked back tears, "they didn't want to evacuate without you but I forced them too, the least you can do is to get to your new rendezvous point as soon as possible and assure them of your safety." On hearing the pleading tone in her voice, he relented and after casting a longing glance at the dilapidated mansion both he and Yellow melted into the night.

In another area:

"GOLD! RED!"

Green did not remember screaming this loud ever since he was born. In fact, he doesn't remember screaming at all. Not when he accidentally encountered Mew in the Viridian forest or when he brutally slaughtered Koga's arbok at the tender age of twelve. Lavender Town was famous for its tower and the locals loved to whisper rumors of ghosts possessing people and living pokemon. Their favorite tale was the one about a dead marowak who did not allow visitors to access the roof of the tower. Green, a hot blooded trainer and focused on debunking any supernatural nonsense, entered the tower and unfortunately for him, Red followed suit. The black haired child sniveled and nearly wet himself when a ghastly possessed the bones of a long dead psyduck and erupted out of its grave. Oak snorted at his rival and marched ahead. When he neared the famed, marowak possessing stairwell, an arbok charged out of nowhere and tried to tear his head off. Understandably frightened, he covered his terror up by commanding his charmeleon to kill the snake. Red eventually frothed at the mouth and fainted on seeing this brutal display and Green came face to face with a furious Koga.

Thankfully, the ninja did not end him there and later, Strategy's team leader came to learn that Lavender town fell under Koga's clan. They, like Blackthorn's Dragon Clan, were part of the elite nobles of Kanto and had ties to the aristocrats of Ransei. The knowledge didn't faze him at all and when he faced the man at his gym, the spiky haired pre-teen made extra sure to drag Koga through the mud.

It felt good, seeing the aged man's face scrunch up in disbelief when he defeated the opposition with grass types. Flashing the soul badge proudly in Red's face, he ended with the customary jibe and grinned widely when his rival rushed into the poison type gym whilst puffing steam.

Good old times.

His blissful reprieve shattered on hearing some awful sound. He stood still with his hands in pockets and ears perked in case anyone yelled for help. No one did and he exhaled in mild relief, his Poke-gear dinged with an oncoming message and he smiled on reading the note. Yellow and Diamond were safe, they managed to get away after Regigigas wreaked havoc and got rid of the opposition. Regigigas? Could Diamond command it? He wondered and pulled himself out before delving too deeply in his thoughts, he didn't have time for that.

BEEP~ BEEP~ BEEP~

"Ugh...Couldn't Silver shut the annoying din off before leaving?" He questioned himself. Due to faulty machinery, the alarm didn't ring periodically, instead it beeped at odd times and his head pounded from the sound. At least the eye stabbing red light stopped flashing. Taking another deep breath he hollered:

"REEEDDDD! GOOOLLldd" His voice cracked and he spent a second hacking and massaging his throat. A hairline crack concealed in one of the walls and behind a suit of dented armor caught his attention and he released his rhyperior and commanded the rock pokemon to bulldoze the partition off. A narrow pathway opened up before him and all the facts clicked together. Silver said that Gold disappeared off the cameras. Somehow, the blubbering Johto native fell through a secret door and ended up in the shadowy catacombs of the mansion. All ancient structures had labyrinths built for emergency hiding purposes and Platinum informed him that the passages wound up to a room in the heart of the domicile. The Berlitz family kept their most prized bits of information and priceless scrolls and scriptures there. And at her insistence, there were no cameras monitoring the gloomy passages. Exhaling and cursing his best friend's perverted subordinate, he fished out a flashlight and descended into the darkness.

When Gold came too, he witnessed a shower of golden stars arcing across a black canvas of a sky. He laid there, his head swirling and face throbbing with pain. Stars? How did he get outside? He wondered and tried to push himself up.

Thwack!

"OUCH!" The amber eyed adolescent screeched and the pain ricocheted around his head. He wasn't outside; Gold sat on the floor of some cryptic space and banged his head on the wall. Ambipom roused him up by repeatedly smacking its trainer and showering the cramped corridor with swift. Each time the gilded stars materialized, it would provide a faint glow and dimly lit up their dismal surroundings. "Aibo!" the Johto native whined, "is that anyway to treat your partner? My handsome face is a swollen mess! What if Crys or the other pretty gals don't recognize me huh? Worse still...What if they refuse me when I ask them out on a date?!" Ambipom waited for Gold to wallow in his self-pity. Five seconds later, the black haired adolescent traced his palm against the worn stone walls and tried to retrace his steps. Several times he stopped to listen to loud thunks and tried to grope towards the sources of the sounds, unfortunately, most of the snaking catacombs ended in dead ends. Markers would be of no use, the surroundings were so dark, it seemed to suck light and everything in. A draft of cold air gusted down the hallways; he shivered and pushed forward, trying to catch the trail of the breeze.

Ambipom couldn't see so well either and the monkey knew that Exbo could provide the light they needed, unfortunately for them, the corridors were too narrow to hold typholsion's bulk and even his master had to sometimes squeeze himself through. They couldn't tunnel through sheer rock and the base of the mansion rested a steel plate with sensors embedded it. Humans liked to complicate their surroundings; the primate thought to itself and groomed Gold's hair. Its trainer didn't appreciate the loving gesture and snarled something rude. In retaliation, Aibo smacked one of its tails hard against Gold's cheek and screamed in delight when its human cursed and walked further into another wall.

"That's IT!" Gold banged his fists on the partition and yelped when it slid apart. Instead of seeing light or feeling the welcome rush of cold air, he glumly observed another black hole open up before him. Sighing in defeat, he crossed the threshold and stopped. Pressure pads implanted at the entrance of this chamber depressed beneath an unnatural weight and this caused the lights inside the room to flicker to life. The Johto native's mouth fell open on seeing the chamber properly. Books. Books and scriptures everywhere. Floor to ceiling length shelves held thick tomes chained to the wood. He smelt aged paper and crept forward cautiously. So this was the secret archives of the Berlitz family. Ambipom screeched delightedly and hopped off his head whilst Gold grabbed his monkey by the tail. "Don't touch anything," he commanded, "this place is worth more than we can ever imagine and it belongs to the Berlitz family. Sheesh, it's giving me the creeps...the chamber looks as old as time itself and yet the lights flicker on automatically. An ancient library huh? Aren't libraries supposed to be warm and cozy? I can feel chills gnawing on my bones!" He complained and crossed to the other side without sparing the stained oak shelves a glance, "now I sound like an old coot...Whatever, let's get the heck outta here!" The moment he stepped back into the gloom, the lights faded and the walls slid shut.

And Gold was utterly lost again.

The amber eyed trainer fumbled his way across and ignored the grumblings of his stomach. He felt depressed and drained of energy and wondered if he'd have to wander these walls for the rest of his life. Even his cheeky partner opted back into a pokeball and now snoozed contently whilst his master trudged forward. Another dead end. Gold exhaled and slumped to the floor. His arms and legs were freezing cold and he felt light headed due to the inadequate concentration of oxygen. The recycled air fatigued his brain and he wanted to take a nap. Shaking his head, he pushed himself up and fumbled around and found another passage branching off. Without thinking, he ambled into it and as expected, his palms brushed against cold worn stone.

He bit his bottom lip to stop himself from screaming. Gold was about to go mad. He couldn't hear anything anymore and more often than not, he wondered if he somehow became blind instead. How could any place be this black? Grunting and punching the wall, he jumped when a silver of white light bled from underneath the cracks. This time he yelled and kept on yelling even after Green slid the partition to the side and told him to shut up. "Senior Green! I am so HAPPY to see you!" Gold sobbed and clutched the older male with all his might. Oak inwardly shuddered and contemplated on removing the whimpering adolescent from his person because his pristine shirt was being soaked with tears and other less than pleasant fluids. And his ribs were also being compressed. Green endured the mild suffering for ten more seconds before bodily shoving Gold away. To his alarm, the adolescent staggered back a few paces, promptly crashed to the cold floor and began howling with laughter. Strategy's leader cocked his eyebrow; he didn't see anything funny at all. "Whew! I almost went mad in here senior!" the ebony haired man chirped and Green questioned him on how he ended up in the catacombs in the first place, "well...I watched Red and Cynthia battling and when senior delivered the final strike...You know the one where Saur conducts Pika's lightning strikes...the move he used to defeat you?" Gold snidely questioned and Green's fingers twitched, he longed to wrap them around something and the pervert sitting in front of him provided a good target, "I had to dodge stray bolts and somehow I crashed into the wall and ended up here. Nasty place though..."

"It wouldn't be so nasty if you had the sense to bring a flashlight." Oak droned and motioned him to get up, "don't you know about these labyrinths?" The amber eyed man shook his head in a negative reply, "didn't Red tell you?"

"...Red tell me?" The breeder snorted, "I'm one hundred and one percent sure my mentor doesn't know about these himself"

"True..."

"So how do we get back and more importantly is Lack-2 safe? What about everyone else?" Gold fell in step with Green as the duo retraced their steps. Golduck left a thin trail of water behind and the two humans followed the duck as it led them back outside.

"Most of them have already evacuated and Lack-2 and Red are safe I presume." The professor replied.

"You presume?"

"First let's get out of here Gold." Green breathed exasperatedly, "then you can scream your head off whilst searching for you brainless mentor and your idiotic lackey. Thanks to you and Red our plans are all awry!" They stepped into the corridor and the breeder inhaled deeply and looked around him. The area presented an ugly sight. Blood stains, broken glass and plaster, crumbled buildings and comatose humans greeted him. Gold walked briskly past them and paused on seeing a huddle of bodies piled over each other. He spared them a glance before continuing down the corridor. "Red is in the first floor." Strategy's commander further informed him, "he searched high and low for you and finally went to Execution's dormitories. I believe he met up with Lack-2 there."

"Lack-2 didn't escape yet?" The Johto native quizzed, "Argh! Why does that brat always wait till the last second? Tsk!" Gold put a burst of speed sprinted down the hallways and Green followed him at a brisk pace.

Middle of the night

Sinnoh

Resort Area

"...Let's look for him together then." Lack-2 droned and followed Red out into the rapidly collapsing passage. Execution's leader stepped out of the room and the russet eyed teenager grabbed a squeaking pichu and bodily stuffed it inside a great-ball, he couldn't risk his treasure breaking out and hightailing to some distant part of the broken down mansion. Cautiously, Red peered down the corridors and stood still on seeing a figure approaching them. A man. He wore a dull brown trench coat and had a toxicroak faithfully keeping in step. The personnel's hat gleamed dully in the silver moon light and the scarlet eyed trainer briefly glimpsed the International police's insignia and his breath hitched ever so slightly.

"Lack-2" he spoke more calmly than he felt, "we have to run...I'll find Gold later but right now our priority is to get away from that person." Red pointed to Looker who rapidly grained ground, "he is a member of the International police and..." the commander stopped speaking on hearing two audible clicks...the sounded very familiar. A tingle snaked down his entire body and the whirled around to witness Lack-2 empting out two black capsules.

BOOM!

The careering duo stopped for a moment as part of the mansion tumbled down.

"What the HECK was that?" Gold screeched and Green rubbed his temples, "it sounds like someone is battling...I sure hope Lack-2 and Red are safe." Without waiting for further instructions, the breeder started climbing up the broken bits of construction and grating his hands and knees along the rough surfaces. Oak observed him passively and heaved a sigh. Their way had been blocked on purpose and someone, a police officer no doubt, deconstructed part of the mansion in an orderly manner. This passage served as a shortcut to Execution's residences and now a derelict wall blocked the way. Not a coincidence. Gold spat a few expletives and Green ordered him to come down. The adolescent got his head stuck from forcing it into a crevice and now struggled to pull it out. Eventually the body part loosened and he came rolling downwards and comically landing on his backside. "We can't take the long route" The Johto native wheezed and rubbed away at the stream of blood trickling down his forehead, spreading the it further across his face and cheeks. "It'll take too long and by that time something bad might happen to Lack-2 or senior Red!"

"Nothing bad is going to happen to Red!" Strategy's commander snapped, "he is a capable fighter and he will protect Lack-2 with his entire being...Stop whining, your worry is vexing me." He let loose his rhyperior and prepared to tunnel a way through the building remains and emerge on the other side.

"Well excuse me for having a better emotional range than a teaspoon..." Gold shot back, "although I'm not sure if your emotions can fit on a teaspoon...More like the end of a toothpick...Pfft. HAHAHAHA! Man I'm awesome!" A vein beat visibly on the side of the older man's temple and he ignored the guffawing junior and commanded his monster to bulldoze. Rhyperior swung its arms and pounded them into the solid pillar barring their way, instead of neat hole, the entire stone column disintegrated and this sent the gold eyed man snorting with fresh giggles. Green ignored him. Angling its head low to the ground, rhyperior tensed and then shot forward akin to a coiled up spring and carved a clean path through the tangle of bricks and masonry. The two waited for any loose bricks to fall and then entered the semicircle. For a short moment, darkness swallowed their forms and they stepped in a corridor full of steam. No, not steam, but fumes. They tasted black smoke and caught the faint odor of charred cement and Gold came to a halt. The fumes stung his eyes and nose and he irritably wiped his watering eyes and waved his hand about in a futile effort to diffuse the smoke screen, the fog dissipated moments after and his irises shrunk into pinpricks.

And his body drained of energy.

Gold rubbed his eyes.

Sapphire said something about an illusion.

He looked back to see Green mirroring his horrified expression.

Green?

That man would probably look less horrified even if someone told him that the world would end in five seconds.

So...

The scene before him...

Was real...

Real?

Real?

"Lack-2 what...What...Are you doing?" Gold struggled to speak, his throat suddenly turned into sandpaper. "That's...that's my mentor you're...pointing..." Near the end of the corridor and opposite Lack-2's room, Red crouched against a cracked wall, held up his hands in a gesture of helplessness and angled his head towards the ceiling. Pointed to his throat were two sharp horns belonging to two different creatures. One long, thin and cream colored belonged to samurott and periodically grazed the pale skin of Red's exposed neck, the other was spiraled, thick and blue and this one jammed right against the commander's Adam's apple. The Kanto native didn't dare swallow and a bead of sweat dripped down from the end of his chin. The breeder took a tentative step forward and frowned confoundedly. Everything around him seemed to be out of place and wrong.

"Don't move. Or I won't hesitate to server his vocal cords" A low voice froze Gold in his tracks. Could Lack-2 speak with such a gravelly voice? A small but wicked crossbow aimed its point at Green and involuntarily, Oak put up his hands in a manner similar to his best friend. Lack-2 held up a pass and his mentor squinted at the words, it read: Superintendent Lack-2, senior officer to Looker, status: Undercover. "As you can see, I planted myself in this organization in order to get my hands on a ringleader...Tough work but I eventually managed it." Lack-2 didn't look at Gold when he spoke, rather, his copper tinted eyes rested to a vacant space slightly to the left of the black haired man, "I let myself get kidnapped and eventually made it in here. At least the farce is over," he lowered the crossbow, "you will let us go or else..." He let the threat hang. The Johto native turned white as a mega evolved ghastly and he watched the proceedings like a mannequin. Looker approached the ex-champion whilst Keldeo and samurott shifted away. Just before the investigator cuffed Red's hands, the ebony haired man wrenched off the mega cuff from his person and threw it over. It sailed past the heads of Green and Gold and landed somewhere with a clang. Jade and amber eyes watched vacuously as two police officers pulled Red away.

The surroundings remained a deafening silence as Gold dropped weakly to the floor.

His eyes remained fixed at Red's rapidly retreating back and flickered to Lack-2.

The brown haired teenager did not look back.

"I'm happy that you were alright superintendent." Looker smiled at Lack-2 who didn't smile back. A cavalcade waited for them and in the dark of the night, the duo slipped into a police car. The great ball hanging from his belt wriggled insistently and the brown haired male ignored it. Soon pichu will get tired and go to sleep. Armed men forced Red into the back seat and the man sat quietly, his belt lay in the possession of Lack-2 and the officer separated the capsules from the belt and put them in a special container lest one of them entertains thoughts of escaping. The car started up and sped down an empty road. Looker pulled off his hat and glanced at the rearview mirror to see their prisoner pressing his face against the grate partitioning them and peering through the windshield. Normally captives were timid and sat quaking in the back, however, the once glorified Kanto native had the barest hint of tension lining his brow and he strained his blood red irises to see where they headed. "Where are we going to detain him? And I'm still surprised by the fact that Samuel Oak's grandson is part of the Dex-criminals" Looker muttered, forced his eyes back on the road and drove.

Lack-2 drunk half a bottle of water and typed furiously on his Xtransciever. "We can't arrest Green for the moment, the public will cry foul and I'm sure the Kanto authorities will pull strings in order to secure their prized professor back, as for Red, we are taking him to Ransei," he finally said and his subordinate's eyes widened. "The Dex criminals are very flexible when it comes to crime...If we keep him on any other region, professor Green Oak can and will use his authority to conduct some 'research' on the target region and then it's a simple matter of letting Silver or Blue break into the cells and whisking their precious leader away. So Ransei it is, I got clearance just now, we are not taking any detours. From mainland Sinnoh, we shall board a plane for Ransei.

"Tonight?"

"Yes Looker, if we give them a window of opportunity, then I've just wasted the last three years of my life.

"Gold loved you like a little brother." A new voice cut in the conversation and Lack-2 who, brought an open bottle to his lips, spilled the contents on his lap. Red leaned back after delivering his curt sentence and gazed forlornly out of the window instead.

Ransei...

They were taking him to an impregnable fortress, to the home of the nobles.

The land of the gods.

A/N: Okay, who saw that coming? All of you…? Fine, I'll be in that corner, tending to my mushroom garden. In any case, tell me what you think people! I'd like to know what you guys think will happen next. Sometimes, I forget that Yellow defeated Lance and that she is extremely capable when it comes to battling. (Chews thoughtfully). Whoa, multiple guests :) pardon me if my replies are a bit wacky. At Guest 1: I periodically bust a few brain cells in order to think up appropriate chapter names, thank you for appreciating them. Go ahead and dissect this story all you like, I do the same with whatever I watch/play/read and I'd like to read about your interpretations, I'm sure they will be very interesting. At sakurafox1218: Thank you for reviewing, hopefully this story will continue to captivate you. Does Red die? Heh, read on to find out, but this chapter should answer your question somewhat. Dia still suffers from his problem, I portray it in his broken up speech. Hmm, restorative abilities…personally, I think they are mostly bestowed on grass types and psychics, Cobalion is a steel/fight. Hehe, fridge logic, I forgot that Falkner had his legs frozen.

At Guest 2: Confused? Sorry, I don't get what you mean. Ruby passing out…Lol, I never counted but it seems that he goes unconscious a lot. At Eevee: This isn't a reply, Mindy said Hi so I'm conveying that to you. She also said that she's drowning in depression and anxiety and that listening to loud music helps her cope. Also, I think intense people are wonderful. You don't have to apologize. None of your reviews ever bothered me and I actually looked forward to read them. Keep well and all the best for you :) Btw: Thinking is good. The universe needs more people who think deeply. At Guest 3: Yellow can sketch? Whoops, I forgot about that. Giovanni is currently rotting in jail. As for Green, he hates being in untidy surroundings and seeing Execution's chaotic room ticks him off. Relaxing is good, personally, I feel that Yellow and Crystal are good friends. Black's pokemon: *collectively inhales deeply* YAHOOO! We're gonna win the league! The inhaling is important you know. At Jack54311: Predictable huh? I suppose. Regigigas is the lord of the titans, more than protecting Dia, it wants its freedom. Freedom that will severely be restricted if he falls in the hands of the authorities. Or we could go with your theory :P It's a plausible one.