Chapter 78: Legendary adroitness
Midnight
Ransei
Valora
Pathetic.
Gold could not help thinking when he saw his senior whimpering on the floor. His mind shied away from such brutal thoughts. He understood Aggron hammered a primordial fear in Red by bulldozing his entire team, but shouldn't the crimson eyed man swear vengeance and go after the monster with fury boiling in his veins? The warden mentioned that the convict was mentally unstable.
What did these people do to him?
"I can't do this Green!" Red shrieked as the soldiers and mega evolved creature lumbered closer. "I'm not going to fight them...I'm scared...I'm so scared I can't think straight." He hugged himself, pressing the pale, filthy kimono closer to his haggard body. When venusaur shifted, the ebony haired man whined and threw himself over the creature. The mass of moving men branched off and closed around them, charizard roared and they maintained a respectable distance. Holding tightly to Saur, Red shivered and whimpered when he heard the dragon's roar. Green stared at his best friend with a clenched jaw and Gold noted potent anger swirling in the commander's jade irises. Oak wanted to explode and deep down, he too, thought of his co-commander as a pathetic man.
Strategy's leader turned his back on his friend; Red yelped and cowered behind him. Green came face to face with the aggron Red spoke so highly of, the tank-esque beast puffed its chest out and its golden breastplate creaked under bulging muscles. The numerous spikes and horns on the monster's body were capped with silver and jewels rippled on the surface of its muscular hide. Under the burning light of a thousand artificial suns, the iron armor pokemon appeared cruel and hideous, it uttered a guttural growl and next to Oak, Gold gagged at the stench its foul breath emitted. Typholsion and politoed were healed by Saur and the two beasts positioned themselves in front of their trainer. Aggron sliced the ground with its fists and scooped up two boulder sized wedges, quickly, Green touched his bracelet and his fire wrym transformed just in time to spew a flame thrower at the earthen projectiles. The boulders dissolved and rained dirt in the space between aggron and Green. The Kanto native held his breath, his opposition, despite being a pokemon, operated with the knowledge and tact of a human. Several armored men slid their swords out from their lacquered sheaths, the blades glinted brilliantly. Clutching his weapon, Oak drew his sword and out of the corner of his eye, he witnessed Gold's visage change. The younger male's face reflected the grim situation they landed in and he glared at the aggron with his might, however, he made no move to attack. Even the breeder, boisterous, perverted and outright disobedient, knew when the odds were against him.
"...Get scared later Red." Green muttered with forced calm. "Right now, we have to fight our way out of here..." His co-worker sniveled and said he was not in the condition to fight a homicidal monster. "If you don't fight here Red...We are all going to die." The ex-champion kept quiet when he heard that, "You are a fighter and a leader, you do not have the luxury of being afraid. Gold and I respect you, the Organization sacrificed much in order to rescue you, do not let their efforts be for naught...And more importantly, do not let us loose our faith in you. You are a champion; you took over the league at the age of eleven and constantly honed your skills. Call out everything Red...And defeat that thing. Here, I held on to this for you." Green tossed Red's mega cuff and the gleaming, scarlet jewels induced a wave of nausea from the crimson eyed trainer.
Blood.
His mother's blood, filling his mouth and nose with a coppery taste and smell.
Get scared later...Heh, what did he know anyway?
However, the thought of having his precious friends die brought on another form of fear.
He curled up.
For the first time in his life, the fighter...Did not want to fight anymore.
Following an order from its trainer, typholsion, covered in a heat haze, sent an eruption rolling across all sides. The metal plates, hammered on the ground, shriveled from the overheated earth, the floor cracked and between the crevices, hell hot flames spewed up and charred half of the soldiers. Dropping on all fours, its mane ignited and spread across its back, Gold barked another command and the flame cloaked pokemon blitzed straight towards aggron, the two monsters collided with each other and the intense heat melted the breast plate of gold. Aggron staggered backwards, swung itself forward and blasted an arm straight at the fire creature's skull. The volcano pokemon soared through the air, blood streaming from its nose; it flipped and landed heavily next to its master. Without wasting a beat, politoed followed up the attack, pushing the metal beast further backwards with twin jets of hydro pump, the pressurized streams of water sent fissures snaking up aggron's armor hide, to the toad pokemon's astonishment, the steel type called forth thunder and a lurid pillar of cackling electricity struck the water type. Politoed endured the pain, it couldn't faint now and leave its master in peril, opening its eyes, it twirled around for a few seconds and heard its owner call. It did not understand what the human said...And why were there so many aggron leering at him? Deciding to take down at least one of those beasts, the toad opened up a palm and let an ice beam rip. It's human screamed, in anger and pain and the frog pokemon wondered what it did wrong. The edges of its vision blurred and it rotated to see Gold staring disbelievingly at him.
Everything became black and peaceful.
The breeder eyed his frozen Exbo; he did not have any healing items on him, not even a measly berry. Wisely, the soldiers retreated a safe distance from the criminal group and let aggron take the stage. Ieyasu, the pompous man mountain, did not make an appearance and Gold inwardly thanked every deity monster they captured. If the Warlord did make an entrance, they were doomed to a place beyond the realms of Giratina's under world. Charizard X kept the metal monster occupied by raking its claws over its tough hide and shooting out beams of fire and ice. The dragon whipped the iron armor pokemon with its tail and the beast fell on its back. Taking the opportunity, Green fired a series of rapid commands. Ebony tinted talons went for aggron's eyes and the monster instinctively caught the wrym by its legs and proceeded to slam the dragon on the cracked floor. Still grasping charizard X, aggron pounded it once more before throwing the creature back. The dragon tumbled on the ground, its wings ripped up a few metal plates and it came to a heaping, steaming stop before Green whose eyes went wide with horror.
And yet, Red curled up and rocked like a baby.
The block of ice imprisoning typholsion melted and the creature shook stray droplets of water off its heavy fur. A few brave soldiers crawled forward, brandishing their swords whilst charizard X, prompted by its trainer, slowly got up to its feet. Opening its webbed wings, the dragon shot up to the sky and elegantly dodged an arc of electricity. Gold shifted, eyeing the palace pawns as the steadily marched closer with their marginally lower leveled pokemon. "Exbo, use eruption once more buddy, keep the area clean," he ordered and the volcano pokemon reared up and slammed down on the fissured earth.
"Charizard...Blast burn." Green curtly commanded.
Through the clefts, the earth heated up again. Swirling vortices of fire erupted from the crevices and flared from the ground akin to lava. Men and beasts screamed, frantically trying to get away from the inferno. The fetor of charred flesh and melted metals infused the air; the breeder inhaled shallowly and ordered his monster to return to his side. Above them, the tourmaline dragonoid circled, calculating the best angle of attack. On the floor, its prey pounded the earth, sending wavelets across the ground. Aggron's beady eyes shone with vicious determination as it chucked a steel coated rock at charizard X; the dragon calmly swerved to the side and dodged several thunderstorms. The sky, pregnant with clouds, rained down bolts, striking the metal plated ground and leaving black scorch marks on it. Quite suddenly, the wrym's body ignited with fire, in tandem, five other pillars of fire gushed out in a circular formation next to aggron. The steel type shrieked as charizard X dove down towards it. Crossing two beefy arms in front of its face, the monster protected itself as the dragon cannoned into it. The columns of fire surrounding it converged into one and then dissipated, racing across the ground and charring everything it touched. The momentum of the attack lifted the iron armor pokemon off its feet and it crash landed into the army. An exhausted vermilion dragon skulked back to its master, its tail flame flickering feebly in the wind.
Valora's soldiers rushed towards the injured aggron and fed it berries. Gold smirked and wiped oily sweat from his forehead, no way was that metal monster getting up after suffering from a point blank blast burn. To their greatest dismay, the pokemon moved, it slammed a bleeding fist down on the earth and created a mini earthquake. Dumfounded, the criminals merely watched as the beast painstakingly hauled itself to its feet. "...I'm dreaming, please, someone wake me up from this nightmare because no way is that thing supposed to move!" The golden eyed man sputtered, "How? It feels like I'm going up against a legendary pokemon, how is that aggron moving after taking a blast burn to its face?!" Gold questioned and curled his hands into fists. "It doesn't make any sense!"
Only now did Green understand why Red feared the monster. Despite sustaining heavy damages, the creature maintained its mega evolved form. The aggron gravitated back towards them, dragging one broken leg along with it. A bead of sweat snaked down Oak's temple and dripped off the end of his chin. With each lumbering step of the metal beast, his heart sped up, beating a cacophony in the confines of his ribcage. He wanted to run; however, fear paralyzed him to the spot. Charizard growled softly and gently rubbed its head against Green's face while Red remained inert on the floor. Gripping the blade with bare hands, Strategy's commander relished the cold feel of the sword and it jerked him back to reality. "Charizard, you do not have time to be sentimental; use roost." he gently admonished and continued with his analysis: "The aggron is weak and therefore it will become more aggressive from now on. My charizard will not be able to attack anymore, even if I mega evolve it, the best it can do is provide support. On the other hand, your typholsion is still full of stamina...It executed two eruptions, took a bash to its skull and is still in optimal condition." Green exhaled, "Gold, use your Typholsion to attack, I'll try and-
"Saur, use growth." Behind them, Red stirred and pulled himself up by grasping the thick foliage spilling from venusaur's back. Gold's eyes lit up whilst Green fiddled with the mega bracelet around his wrist. His co-worker touched his own cuff and behind him, the seed pokemon mega evolved. Thousands of new shoots and barbed vines wriggled out of the forest on its back. "Follow it up with sweet scent and synthesis. The ebony haired male snapped his fingers and a set of razor leaves blasted out of venusaur, sliced through aggron's hide and embedded itself deep within its skin. The steel type stopped in order to pick poison laced leaves out of its flesh. Once sweet scent came into effect, the movements of the aggron slowed down and it took its own time to pull out the razor edged leaflets. Green slipped his mega bracelet off and pressed it into Red's palms, the soldiers rushed forward once again.
"Use charizard X for back-up." He stated, faced forward and brandished his sword. "I'm a little bit out of practice but I can take care of some small fry." Next to him, Gold paled and angrily asserted his position on the team.
"You are back up Gold..." Red rasped and charizard X rose to the skies. "I'm feeling very faint; I need someone to carry me if I pass ou-"
"You are a dude!" The breeder gesticulated wildly, "why do I have to carry a dude outta all people?" he moaned but nonetheless flashed a hearty smile at Red. "More importantly," he turned his attention to Oak, "are you sure you know how to use that thing?" Golden irises reflected the steel sword. "Are you really, absolutely sure you know how to use a sword?"
Green smirked devilishly despite their circumstances. "You might want to duck every time I swing it, I don't want to accidentally lop your head off." Next to him, Gold dissolved into a fit of hysterical cursing and Red found a tiny smile tugging at his lips.
Time for business.
Sweet scent's effects wore off and aggron tore the rest of the leaves out with fury. Red breathed deeply and focused. The beast had a leg broken, a few of its horns were splintered or cracked, its steel tipped appendages were drenched in orange-red blood and it was angry. The man grinned, anger clouded judgment and the numerous injuries will put a dent in the monster's speed. Commanding a protect, he sat in the safety of his pokemon's back and watched as several vines danced across the floor with Gold and Green. His two friends plunged themselves within enemy ranks and threw the formation into disarray. A net of thorny tendrils followed their movements and lashed the heaviest attacks away from them. "Charizard! Use sunny day!" The ex-champion thundered and Green faltered whilst trying to stab an enemy retainer. He got a clipped forehead instead and mutely watched his best friend utter an impossible command.
"It's the middle of the night you insufferable moron!" He screamed furiously, "how the hell do you expect my dragon to..." Charizard X used sunny day anyway, instead of the sun miraculously rising ahead of schedule, the large, spherical lamps burned with a brighter intensity and the glass around them shattered.
Red smiled and sat cross-legged, only the nervous tapping of his thigh belied the anxiety he felt. "Sunny day, intensifies light, it forces light, whether its natural or artificial, to shine brighter. It does not bring up the sun and therefore can be used in the middle of the night as well...As long, there is a powerful enough light source." He reveled at his spiky haired comrade's astonished expression, "Bet you didn't know that huh? Saur, petal blizzard and lace it with toxic." A tornado of leaves halted the stampeding aggron in its tracks, the poison infused leaves ripped multiple gashes in the iron armor pokemon and several jewels fell off its skin and hit the ground with small clangs. The soldiers scurried for cover and some tried to protect their pokemon partners with their bodies. Swiping its pillar-esque arm in an arc and buffeting the leaves away from it, the aggron lumbered forward at high speed and clobbered venusaur in the face. Two barbed vines immediately crawled across its face and gouged out its eyes. Lurching backwards, it howled and clawed its face whilst Saur calmly flicked the eyeballs away. Red shuddered and rubbed his cheek, a bit of that eyeball fluid just splashed on his face.
Aggron roared and slugged Saur again, this time, the seed pokemon uttered a cry of distress and Red frantically patted the saurian creature's bumpy skin and soothed it with words. The iron armor pokemon continued to pummel it, each steel reinforced fist puncturing through green-blue skin and coating with venom and chlorophyll tinged blood. The cuts healed on Saur's body to an ugly bluish bruise and the crimson eyed man merely watched with bated breath. He could not force the aggron away and Saur synthesized a solar beam so that move was no option, right now, all he could do was wait for the poison saturated blood to start corroding the metal on the iron armor pokemon's fists. If the armor wore off, he could order venusaur to slice its wrists off. Sure enough, the aggron growled deafeningly and quickly retreated, licking the blood on its fists. The toxic properties of the grass pokemon's blood eroded his tongue as well and the monster felt its arms become heavy. Aggron was tired of this battle and needed to end it soon.
It must protect his master's territory.
Tottering blindly, the monster used its sense of smell to locate the fragrant smelling venusaur. Doing a spin, it smashed the end of its plated tail into the seed pokemon's side, Red felt the shockwave ripple across the leathery hide and transmit all the way to him. A starburst of pollen and bright green fluid puffed into the air and rained down. Several vines snared the metal monster and pushed it away. Thrashing viciously, aggron pulled on the vines and ripped them up one by one as the grass monster wailed in terror. Red bid his time and after his target took a brief spell to catch its breath, he commanded Saur to use solar beam. The previously closed bud re-opened and both his friends stopped to ogle at the intensity of the solar beam crafted from artificial light. A flavescent orb of light collected in the middle of the open flower, the stream rocketed outwards, leaving trails of smoke behind. Once again, the aggron sensed danger and invariably pulled its arms across its chest. The beam of blinding light pushed it backwards; the beast toppled and to their utter astonishment, slapped the lurid pillar of light away from him. The environs dimmed once more and Red simply nodded. He expected that. After all, the metallic beast did take a blast burn and survive. Letting its guard down, the iron armor crouched on the floor and panted. Blasts of hot hair escaped its mouth and drilled into the earth below its gaping maw. A shroud of light covered it and mega-evolution undid itself. The ex-champion simpered disturbingly; it was common for beasts to be rendered incapable after executing a move of raw power. However, he synthesized the solar beam over the course of the fight and hence, his venusaur still had the energy to execute another move.
"Frenzy plant."
The command echoed hollowly. Shifting, Saur wriggled his buried tendrils and they erupted, first slowly, emerging one by one and then with frightening speeds. The soldiers screeched and retreated. From above, charizard X rained down fire and the surrounds went up in a rush of flames. Aggron did not retreat; it stayed behind and violently tore the invading vines apart. Red sensed his pokemon was at its limits and patted it encouragingly. Saur could do this. Accepting the compliment its master dished out, the seed pokemon decided to end this, the pulsing vines grew limp, green tendrils shriveled up and shrunk. Thereafter, they hardened to bark-like consistency and the tips sported white, finger sized thorns, locating a chink between the monster's moving plates of armor, several vines pierced right through and struck a few vital organs. Red ordered it to repeat the move once more and another dozen of withered vines, stabbed it till the iron armor pokemon stopped moving completely. It emitted a growl of such intensity; it almost peeled the skin off the humans' faces. Deep within the castle, another siren blared, but out here, with the stench of burned remains, blood and the cloying aroma drifting from venusaur's damaged petals, a deafening silence permeated the battle field. Instead of sliding down his beast and flattering himself on a job well done, Red simply balked at the aggron, the beast pinned the three humans with a look of unwavering hate and it unnerved the crimson eyed man that he could decipher the loathed look so easily. A muted groan of misery seeped from the pokemon's mouth and this prompted Green to sheath his weapon and rally the three of them together. Stuffing the injured Saur into an apricorn ball, he saddled the exhausted fighter to charizard; heaped Gold on the protesting dragonoid's back and climbed on. An arrow sailed out from behind him and struck the ground uselessly. Urging charizard to fly, the trio desperately escaped amidst a shower of a thousand arrows. The amber eyed individual twisted himself backwards and picked out a few arrows which managed to strike the vermillion dragon. When Red wearily asked where they headed Oak replied:
"Greenleaf...From there, I'll ask the Warlord to drop us off at Hoenn so we can slowly make our way back to base." He paused, listening to the war cries and the whistle of arrows as the sliced the air in great arcs and soared over his head. "Welcome back home Red..." he mumbled and then scowled when Red slumped against him and snored softly.
A few weeks later, morning
Sinnoh
Base of Mt Coronet
A digital screen set into the side of a white painted wall displayed the blueprints of a fancy mansion. Three red dots blinked on the screen and Silver scribbled the locations down on a sheet of paper. He memorized the protocols...However; his mission partner seemed to have some problems. Granted, Crystal hardly participated in any of Constellate's assignments, she functioned as a capturer and most of time went with Team Execution in order to help them capture legendary pokemon. The two of them sat opposite the screen and he quickly glanced at the capturer to gauge her progress. Crystal's indigo hair fell in a loose sheet around her shoulders, a beanie rested atop her head and a dark grey pleated coat dress warded off the chill. Sitting adjacent to them, Ruby and Blue filed their nails and debated on the best disguises for their comrades. Silver and Crystal would be posing as invited guests to the grand auction and will have to dress accordingly. The event will open up with a ball and after a heated discussion with Diamond, the commanders agreed to send a female with him. Yellow vehemently denied any participation and Constellate's leader noticed her blush furiously. Understanding exactly what went on the blonde's mind, the sly woman questioned her friend if she imagined Green all dressed up in a form fitting suit and leading her across polished marble tiles and glittering chandeliers in a surprisingly wonderful waltz. Dia turned to see the blonde rush out of their meeting room with her face on fire and Blue simply cackled in pleasure. Presently, Diamond and Yellow sat opposite the Constellate members and observed their debate listlessly. Ruby stabbed his manicured finger at a picture of an aquamarine ball gown which complimented well with the suit of his choice and his commander shook her head, flipped the page and pointed at a royal purple tiered evening dress. The blood eyed teen exhaled and resumed the passionate defense of his desired dress. On screen, a message popped up; there was someone at the entrance. Hopping off his chair, Diamond raced down the corridors and came to the main gate. He pressed a switch on the board and the shutter groaned upwards.
A light breeze buffeted a few snowflakes inside the base as he gazed up on the forms of three adults. Two grinned at him and the third's emotionless visage scrunched up in mild perplexity on seeing the white washed corridor stretch behind the diminutive commander. Red and Gold sported similar attire, peak caps thrust on top of unruly black locks, a skiing jacket decorated with yellow highlights and jeans paired with black boots. The Johto native wore a pair of reflective goggles over his cap. As for the professor, somehow, he managed to buy the exact same jacket his sister, Daisy, gifted him. Jade irises peeked beneath a brown, fur lined hood and his hands were thrust into the pockets of a tan combat pants. Like his friends, he wore a pair of black boots and repeatedly stamped on the snow to keep himself warm. "Who designed this thing?" Green hissed instead of sending Dia a warm greeting. The Sinnoh native meekly raised his hand and shrunk against the man's stare.
"...I'm back Commander Diamond!" Red chirped happily and his face scrunched up lightly, "is it me or did you lose weight?" he gently questioned and Diamond's knees grew weak. His idol just called him commander. Behind him, a thumping noise gave way to Pearl as he hurtled to a stop before them. The blonde peeked at the three men and despite his leader's obvious disdain, threw himself over his superior. Diamond did the same, the black haired Sinnoh native sniffed, trying to hold his tears in place. Green vainly shoved Pearl off him whilst Red patted Dia's head and ruffled the boy's close cropped hair. This proved to be too much for the indolent teen and he started crying. Ushering them inside, the teary eyed Dia led the procession down the winding passages whilst Oak kept up a running commentary about the unhelpful design of the base. They halted at the meeting room and when the door slid open. Blue raised her head to see her best friends grinning at her.
Okay, so Green wasn't smiling. But the sheer happiness on Red's face was enough to convey both their feelings.
Getting up from her chair, she barely registered the shock on her underlings' faces. Her seat toppled back. Green's eyes bugged out and he quickly stepped backwards whilst Red steeled himself for the incoming impact. Blue hugged them both forcefully, she let go of Green who found himself embraced by Yellow. The brown haired woman sobbed in Red's chest and clutched him tightly, he felt her fingernails dig into his skin as she hiccupped and told him how lonely she felt without them; and they better buy her expensive gifts to make up for the grief they caused her. Nodding, he let her cry. Gold plopped himself in between Crystal and Silver. The former gasped and threw her arms around him whilst the latter sent him a rarely seen smile and bumped fists. The breeder then threw his arms around the two of them and enforced a group hug. To his surprise, Silver hugged him back. A second later, the meeting room exploded with noise as the other team members rushed into the cramped chamber. Sapphire vaulted into Red's arms, seeing this, Ruby growled in displeasure and smacked Rald when the midget pointed to his jealousy. Half an hour later, the entirety of the Dex Criminals squeezed into the room. Emerald sat on Ruby's lap much to both their chagrin. Diamond squeezed himself next to Red whilst Pearl dominated the space between Crystal and Green. Whi-2 balanced herself precariously on White's lap and the organizer squashed herself between Gold and Blue. She shuddered when the golden eyed man winked at her. Soda and juice flowed freely. Chip packets and snacks were torn open and soon, the area underneath the table harbored more than a dozen discarded packets. Crumbs, stains and the occasional soda spill littered the carpet and laughter echoed inside the chamber.
"Shouldn't the three of you rest or something?" Blue asked and tossed her hair back. "I bet you are tired...I mean, Greenleaf's Warlord dropped you off in the middle of Hoenn and you slowly made your way back here with a recovering Red to look after. Not to mention that you needed to constantly move from place to place."
"Sleep is for the weak!" Gold declared, "I kept us all alive by repeatedly winning at the game corner. Man it was tough to fly all the way to Mauville from Fortree! It's always raining in Fortree and we lived in tree houses"
"Gold, I hope you aren't looking for an excuse to gamble freely from now on." Crystal sighed and Silver snorted when the breeder whistled innocently.
"I am interested to know what you have on that screen there." Green pointed to the blueprints. "I understand this base is remodeled with utmost safety in mind...However, navigation is hazardous." Blue snickered and commented that he must have horrible directional skills, no one else but he complained about the layout of the base. Oak flushed and irritably gestured at the screen. "Enlighten me." He droned and next to him, Red muttered something about a working robot.
"The base renovating carved a valley in our funds you know." The azure eyed woman sipped her drink and elaborated, "Diamond conned the construction company and thus we survived the harsh payouts. Nonetheless, to be optimally functional, we need to gather more income." She paused and waited for the babble of voices to quieten. "Several weeks ago, I stumbled upon an auction held in Sunnyshore, a rich couple is selling off a sableye jewel-"
"Those are hardly valuable." Green interjected, "sneak into the mines and you will find sableye jewels everywhere."
Diamond fidgeted and spoke up. "...This jewel is not an ordinary one senior Green." He reached for a remote and fiddled with it, a large, scarlet jewel flashed on the monitor. "As you can see, this one is huge and acc-ording to the couple, it is an additional accessory held by the sableye. They said something about a mut-ation." Oak nodded and informed them that it was a mega sableye who holds a jewel of that size. Due to its diamond hard consistency, the jewel acts as a foolproof shield. "...There-fore, we decided to send seniors Crystal and Silver, they will be posing as a couple-"
"WHAT?!" Gold screeched. "No way am I allowing that! Silver is a dude, he's a guy and I can't let Crys be subjected to his perverted tendencies."
A moment of profound silence ensured as each and every member of the Organization turned to judge the golden eyed breeder.
"Tch..." Green rubbed his eyes whilst Gold and Silver divulged into a petty squabble. Next to him, Red stifled a yawn. "So you are sending the two of them off on a quest to steal that jewel?" Constellate's leader replied in affirmative. Suddenly, the brunette male's eyes lit up with mild anger. "Pesky woman, why didn't you inform me about the algorithms used to calculate the duration of the legendary pokemon's stay in the distortion world? Platinum informed me that you, Silver and she worked out the approximate date. Why...Don't I know this? It could save me a whole lot of trouble." Blue put her drink down and pouted; she clasped her hands together and told him that it completely escaped her mind. Red noticed Oak grow angrier at her obvious lie, she sent the former a wink that told him to deal with Green.
"Come on Green..." Red got up and stretched, "let's go check the second floor and get some sleep. We're both tired. Gold, that goes for you as well." The breeder opened his mouth to protest. "No. Sleep is definitely not for the weak." The ex-commander insisted and sternly stared at Gold. "This mission takes place tomorrow, you can't go. Currently, you have no intelligence on how the mission should be executed and you will suffer if you don't get some sleep. Bed...now." Without another word, he turned around and stalked out of the room with Green slouching after him. Gold grumbled under his breath but eventually followed the duo as well. Blue sent White and Yellow after them, in order to familiarize the trio with the corridors and rooms. Once they left, the meeting room quieted and one by one, the others left. The room emptied out save for the Sinnoh duo, Blue and Crystal and the indigo haired female kept on staring at her notes and regretting her mission. The moment Gold returned, a heavy feeling of dread settled in her chest. Her red headed best friend vaguely muttered about checking his room but she knew Silver will eventually end up cleaning Gold's room and tactfully making sure the breeder was comfortable. She wanted to help him, however, a more insistent part of her dictated that she stay here and prepare for the mission ahead. She peeked at Blue; the female leader twirled her chocolate brown hair in her fingers and vacantly gazed at the screen. It must have been a surprise to see her best friends pop up without word or warning. Senior Red...Lost a lot of weight. His hair looked longer than usual and his face was slightly ashen. Her commander appeared to be perpetually stressed and Gold...
Was just Gold.
"Crystal darling," the azure eyed female called, "you can take a break now and catch up with your friends if you like." The girl shook her head and said that she needed to go over the assignment. "Hmm, I understand, but I bet you can't focus much. Take a break and resume your studying after lunch. Sit with Silver and ask him to relate them to you, it will be much easier to commit to memory. And don't worry about mishaps; by the time anyone finds out that the jewel is missing, you will be half way here already." She turned the pages of a leather bound journal. "Also, next week, we need to climb the summit of Mount Coronet. Based on our calculations, all the legendary pokemon will fly out of the distortion world and I want Red to see the spectacle. Well, I hardly remember if we actually released the legendries but from the news and other reports, we must have succeeded in our plan no?" A soft giggle escaped her lips and Crystal smiled at the older woman's enthusiasm. "It is a shame some of our members will not be here to witness this." Leaning back on the spindly metal chair, she blew a strand of hair away from her face and snapped her journal shut. "I'll go bother Red and Green...I want to find out why our ex-Execution commander resembles a skeleton...not that he was particularly gorgeous to begin with. I suppose his experiences in prison would be far from anything pleasant...Maybe I should get him something to eat? Ugh! If Green was looking after him for the past several days...I can only imagine that professor feeding him something akin to poison." Getting up, she brushed her pleated skirt downwards and made for the door. "Dia, don't you want to see Red?" The boy slowly nodded and answered that he will come up later. Blue left and Crystal squirmed in her seat, at the end of the rectangular table, her two juniors sat and conducted a hushed conversation.
Pearl stared at the opposite wall. It was plastered with maps of the different regions, photographs from when they celebrated the completion of the base's remodeling and a snapshot of Diamond, Green and Blue as they took a commemorative photo together. Orange tinted eyes roamed around and came to a rest at an image. Platina carried a stack of documents and smiled at a figure next to her. Judging by the long, brown tresses, it was Whi-2. In the background, he spied the fire burning in the middle of the once main cavern. The fire disappeared and central heating took its place. On the day of departure, he failed to bid Platina goodbye. At the very least, Diamond must have had the privilege to say goodbye. Next to him, his best friend decorated rice balls with berries; normally Dia's face split into a wide smile at the sight of food, now, his blank expression conveyed absolutely nothing. "...Say Dia" Pear timidly whispered. "We are never going to see Platina again are we?"
His friend did not reply, rather, the smooth movements of his hands became jerky and on a few instances, he picked up the little decorations and gingerly pressed them against the rice balls. Seeing the two converse secretly, Crystal vacated the room and only the imperceptible whine of the digital screen was heard in the otherwise silent meeting chamber. "If we can't see her, we will make a way won't we Pearl? Once we become world famous come-dians, we can invite her on our show...She can't say no to that right?" Diamond quietly stated and the blonde chuckled at his words and vehemently agreed, if Platina was unable to visit them, they would force her to see them. "Since senior Red is back...I'll step down from my posi-tion as a commander, it's very stressful you know. I even lost weight!" Pearl snickered and told Dia that he looked good with a little weight loss. "You think so? Then...I suppose I'll have to go on a diet from now on...But what if I can't survive the diet?" The ebony haired male wailed and sent his friend into another fit of giggles. "Missy will be all right, she's much stronger than we realized." The flame eyed boy stopped laughing and somberly agreed.
"I...Liked her a lot." The blonde hesitantly confessed. "No...I loved her."
"Me too." Diamond whispered and Pearl felt a void in his heart.
Platina vanished from their lives, but secretly, he felt glad of the renewed friendship he and Diamond currently shared.
A/N: Red overcomes his fears and the trio is back at the base. Dia's and Pearl's friendship is stronger than ever. Honestly I love those two. Much thanks to all those who read and reviewed, virtual milkshake to all. Keep on reading and reviewing and telling me what you think.
At Guest: Bald Green? Somehow, I can't picture it but it sounds hilarious. Heh, your sense of impending doom is on point. Misty is headstrong and strong willed and gives Red his first wakeup call (manga). Green worries about Red and is often the one who cheers the Execution's commander up when he is down in the dumps. Blue is equal parts heartwarming and devious. Personally, I think she shares a deeper/sibling like relationship with Red but loves to tease the daylights out of Green. However, she adores both of her friends and will fiercely stand up for them. Your scenarios made my day; I was laughing and grinning like a maniac. If Blue and Gold team up, they'd drive Green crazy and Red would just stand by and helplessly watch them reduce his best friend into nothing. At Jack54311: Sorry, I've never heard of Sky Cooper. I get your feeling, when reading the D/P/Pt chapters, I was impressed by Dia's growth and emotional depth. He is possibly my favorite character. I like devious Dia though, since he is so complex, I feel he could be equal parts compassionate and heartless at the same time.
At AceTrainerLeaf: Manga online…you can read it but it's incomplete. I binge read my manga; I don't have the patience to read a chapter a week. So when I saw X/Y has less than 10 chapters on Mangafox, I gave up. Lol, shipping in Pokemon is serious business, but hey, I thank you for still reading even though you dislike Red/Misty. At Guest: Hehehehe, to be honest, I think I tortured Red the most in the fic…L2 is a close second. Green is there because I'm sick and tired of seeing him being a silent, all knowing moron. He is a moron, but he is a lovable moron. Green uses Square-Enix gel, he'll feel right at home next to Sora, Cloud and Noctis. Thank you for your kind words, they mean very much to me :) Hope you are fine as well.