Chapter 17 - Paradigm Shift
It was a wonderful day in Radiant City, and Sparks couldn't be more pleased.
One could guess that it was because it was a nice and pleasantly warm day considering the time of year, as it wasn't even springtime, and that he got to be outdoors in the fresh air, but that was only part of why he felt so happy.
Sparks and a bunch of active team members were in Edwards Memorial Park, a fairly large public greenspace in southern Radiant City, the opposite side from the cliffs to the north. It had a playground for cubs and a picnic area for families, but also a grassy field and some quiet paths leading between sparse trees.
The park was empty aside from the guildmembers today, though, because the guild was helping to clean up the park. Like any public space, careless Pokémon tended to drop trash and other undesirable items which tended to unfortunately accumulate over time. So, Sparks and his teammates were there to find and clean up the trash, making the park a more beautiful and family friendly place.
Along with the Raichu were Kona, Lupe, Jules and Rico. They had each been given gloves for their paws, a box full of trash bags, and a couple of extendable grabbing tools they could use to pick up trash without touching it. This was a service the guild often did for the city from time to time, and Sparks was always happy to lend a helping paw.
What made Sparks feel so pleased, though, was that Ziggy was along with them.
Glancing over to his left, Sparks saw the hooded Buizel use his grabber to pick up a food wrapper that had blown under a shrub and then dutifully put it into the trash bag he was holding. Sparks didn't even mind that he had his hood up. Ziggy was out here with them, in an open public park out deep in the city, doing his best to help out.
Over the past week, Ziggy and Sparks had come along on two short, simple jobs. Both times had gone fine, though Ziggy had been quiet and trying to make himself invisible through most of it. Today, Carmen had agreed to let him come along on this job, and his spirits seemed to be a little higher.
Sparks just stood there for a minute and quietly watched. Ziggy didn't seem very stressed out. He almost seemed like he was enjoying the work. While it was true that the park was cleared out and closed to the public while they worked, this was a still a busier part of the city. They had walked through some big crowds to get here, and there were still Pokémon up on the hills that overlooked the park who could easily look down and see them.
Ziggy picked up one more wrapper from the shrub, and then started to wander further down the trail. Sparks followed behind him at a distance, wanting to keep him in sight but also letting him do his own thing. Sparks could see Ziggy using the skills that he usually used to look out for danger, except this time he was using it to look for trash. They both walked for a bit down the path, moving slowly but not finding any trash for the moment.
"Beautiful day, huh?"
Sparks turned to look at Rico, who had somehow snuck up next to him. He noticed Ziggy turn and look back as well, but he went back to his work once he saw that it was Rico.
"Yeah," Sparks agreed, "Still scarf weather, but only just. No chilly winds, no rain or snow, and the sun's even shining through…"
"Glad you two could join us…" Rico said, briefly glancing over at Ziggy. The Buizel was preoccupied with looking for more trash.
"This was a wonderful idea. I'm so glad we did this…" Sparks remarked.
"Well, I hope it helps. Sure looks like it is…"
Sparks nodded in agreement. "I mean," he said a moment later, "Even in just my own personal opinion, doing this is fun. I know it involves garbage, but in a weird way it's kind of like a treasure hunt, and the fresh air feels great."
"Yeah, I didn't think I'd have fun the first time Carmen signed me up for one of these, but it's pretty neat I suppose."
"Heh…" Sparks snickered, "You think Terry's having as much fun as us?"
"Oof…Poor kid," Rico said, "I can't believe Carmen broke up the dream team just to make him do some dumb paperwork."
Sparks leveled a look at Rico. "It's important paperwork that'll let him keep doing his job."
Rico shook his head. "Nah, all paperwork is evil."
"You know," Sparks then remarked, "It is still so weird hearing you call him 'kid' even though you two are almost the same age."
"Yeah well, I'm engaged to him so I can call him whatever I want," Rico retorted, sticking out his tongue at the Raichu.
"Sparks?"
Looking up, it took Sparks a moment to find where Ziggy had called from, and then realized that he had inadvertently let the Buizel get quite far ahead of him. "Oh, sorry bud," he said, "I got distracted." He then waved at Rico, who waved in return and got back to work, and then Sparks returned to Ziggy's side.
"You doin' okay?" Sparks asked once they were near to each other once again.
"Yeah…This is fine," Ziggy answered.
"Good, good… I've always found this to be a really fulfilling task…"
"Yeah…" Ziggy walked forward for a bit, looking for trash but not finding any. He then turned back to Sparks and asked, "Wasn't Danika supposed to come?"
"Hm? Oh, right. Yeah, she was, but she forgot that she was meeting with Dr. Hilo today. You know, the Inteleon scientist?"
"O-oh yeah, him…"
Sparks sighed quietly. By the time he got back from this job, the safe in Danika's room would be empty. It weirdly felt like he was losing an old friend.
"What does he do? Why does he keep coming to see Danika?"
"He works at Jiuji Labs," Sparks replied, "They're a research firm and they specialize in weird, unknown things or new discoveries. They do a lot of study and research, and they have tools and stuff for experimenting to see how…stuff works. I think, anyway. I'm not totally sure."
Ziggy came upon a bench and picked up a few small candy bar wrappers from underneath it as silence passed between the two.
"Does he make you nervous?" Sparks asked.
"No," Ziggy replied. He paused for a moment, and then admitted, "K-kinda…He's just…really big."
"He's tall, you mean?"
"Yeah…really tall…"
Sparks ruffled the fur on Ziggy's head. "He's a professional Pokémon. He's not gonna hurt ya. Besides, he's so skinny. You could probably blow on him and he'd fall over."
"…What?"
"Nothing," Sparks said, shaking his head, "Don't tell Danika I said that."
"Okay…?"
"Anyway," Sparks said, deciding to change the subject, "You got a nice full trash bag there? You've actually found quite a bit of trash hidden away, haven't you?"
"Yeah, I guess…" Ziggy said, examining his bag. He hesitated for a moment before quietly saying, "It's…kinda like scrounging for food…"
"Ah, well. Skills can be applied anywhere y'know?" Sparks patted Ziggy on the back and then said, "You wanna go drop that one off and get another empty one?"
"Uh… Sure, yeah."
"Actually…" Sparks trailed off as he glanced upwards, looking at the sun's position in the sky. He tapped his badge and said, "Is it lunchtime yet, Kona?"
There was a pause and then Kona's voice replied from the badge. "How did I know you would be the one to ask that?"
"S'cuse me, that's profiling."
Kona chuckled. "Yeah sure, close enough." There was a pause, and then, "Calling everyone to the clearing, it's time for lunch!"
"Ready for food, bud?" Sparks asked Ziggy, who lit up at the mere mention of the word.
Later on, the whole group was gathered in a small clearing in the middle of the park. It was an almost circular-shaped area with nothing but fresh grass, surrounded by sparse trees on all sides with a few paths leading into it. There used to be a gazebo there, but it had been damaged by a windstorm years ago and had to be removed.
Sitting nearby was a pile of securely tied-up trash bags filled with the trash that had been picked up from the park. The pile wasn't all too large, which was nice to see from an environmental standpoint, but it was still a fairly large park with lots of places for litter to hide.
The day was half over and the collection of Rescue Society members had just finished eating lunch. They were taking a short break and talking to each other now before the cleanup work would recommence.
Everyone's spirits were pretty high, even though they were all picking up trash all day. There were lots of laughs and smiles all around. Ziggy had even taken off his hood while he ate his lunch and still had it off for the time. He seemed comfortable and content, surrounded by his friends. Many of the group had commended him on his bravery for coming out on the job and for the good work he had done so far.
"All right, three more minutes and then we'll get back to work," Kona announced.
"You can't tell me what to do, you're not my real dad," Jules joked.
"Not as far as you know, anyway…" Kona mused as he started packing up the empty containers left over from after the lunch break.
"Great work so far, everyone," Sparks said, "The city and its residents appreciate your hard work."
Sparks started to help Kona pack up, while the others busied themselves preparing another set of trash bags. Ziggy walked over and handed over the container that had held his Leppa pastry. "Where're we going next?" he asked.
"I dunno…You wanna go over to the east side? There's a neat fountain over there we can take a look at."
"Which way's east?"
Sparks pointed in an easterly direction. "It's a bit closer to the neighbouring homes. You okay with that?"
"…Can I wear my hood?"
When Sparks nodded, Ziggy nodded as well in agreement. Out the corner of his eye, he saw Kona grin as well, the Dewott seeming happy that his donated clothing was helping Ziggy out so much.
A few minutes later, the lunch break came to an official end. It didn't take long for everybody to pick up a fresh empty trash bag and choose a direction to set out in. The mission to clean up the park continued as the group began to disperse from the clearing in different directions. Ziggy actually began walking towards the east ahead of Sparks, who was surprised by his initiative. Sparks followed close behind him.
"Oh, wait!" Sparks remarked, "Shoot, I left my grabber back there. Hang on." The Raichu quickly turned on his paws and dashed back over to where the lunch break had taken place. He spotted his discarded grabber and went to pick it up. Ziggy hadn't followed him and was waiting patiently where he had stopped after Spark's exclamation. Sparks picked up the grabber, and that's when everything changed.
A short but powerful tremor suddenly erupted from the ground below, causing Sparks to lose his balance and fall down onto all four paws. His fellow guildmates could all be heard gasping, as none of them had actually left the clearing yet. The quake lasted no longer than five seconds, but it was alarmingly intense.
Before Sparks could stand back up or even say a single word, a deafeningly loud crack rang out through the air. It was followed seconds later by a white flash which then persisted as an erratic white glow emanating from about the centre of the clearing. A strong gust began to whip through the area, seemingly from out of nowhere.
Sparks steadied himself, anchoring himself just in case another tremor followed, and tried to look up at the glow. He grit his teeth and squinted his eyes, straining to see past both the bright light and the biting wind. What in the world was happening? That had absolutely not been a normal earthquake, nor a Pokémon using Earthquake or Magnitude. It had been too short and sudden.
Once his eyes finally adjusted to the light of whatever was glowing, Sparks could finally see something in the middle. He backed up a few steps, both to get a better view and just in case something dangerous was happening, and tried to make sense of what he was seeing. In the air above the grass, almost exactly in the centre of the clearing, was something Sparks could hardly describe even though he was looking right at it. There was, for lack of a better term, a hole in the air.
In the middle of the white glow, or perhaps what was causing it, was an 'opening' that curved inwards. It was shaped like a drain in a bathtub, only sideways and simply existing in the air itself. It was as if there were an invisible glass wall in front of him and this hole was in the middle of it. The curving edges of this hole were a purpleish blue colour, decorated in a pattern of white lines, and there were white lines in the shape of 'cracks' emanating from out of the hole's edges.
Sparks could only stand there and stare, dumbfounded. It looked as if a hole had been punched right through the fabric of reality itself. The wind continued to whip around, his tail and the tips of his ears waving around wildly in the gusts.
For a few moments, nothing more happened. Sparks had no idea what this thing was, but something told him it wasn't anything good. There was a primal fear bubbling within him that he had never felt before. A fear of the unknown, of the fantastic. What he was looking at couldn't be real; it had to be a dream. In his heart, though, Sparks knew he was wide awake.
Quickly, he checked around him to see where the other guildmembers were. All of them were still in the clearing, watching in just as much fear and fascination as him. Thankfully, nobody was doing anything stupid like approaching it. At first he couldn't see Ziggy, but then he caught sight of a little hooded head quivering and hiding behind a bush. He realized he could hear shouting and screaming, which he figured must be from other Pokémon up on the cliffs surrounding the park.
Another loud crack emanated, causing Sparks to wince in pain and recapturing his attention. He clamped his ears down to his skull and squinted into the bright light of the weird hole in the air again. He gasped and took a step back when he realized there was something new. Something was inside of the hole now.
And it was emerging.
It happened more swiftly than Sparks was expecting. In a few short seconds, something squeezed its way out of the hole and tumbled out into the air. Instead of crashing to the ground below, though, it righted itself in midair and remained hovering. The wind stopped, the white glow subsided, and a few seconds later the hole simply vanished into thin air.
Sparks stared in utter disbelief. Some sort of creature had come out of the hole and was now hovering gently in the middle of the clearing. It was unlike anything Sparks had ever seen before in his life. Was it a Pokémon? There wasn't much else it could be, but there were definitely no Pokémon that looked like this thing.
It was relatively short, only about a foot taller than he was. The closest resemblance to a Pokémon Sparks could think of was a Tentacruel, though that was only because it had tentacles like one. It had a large, round, bulbous head that sat upon a frilly neck. Hanging down below this was a set of tentacles, some of which looked just like a Tentacruel's but others were strangely fused together. It sort of looked like a floating head with a tattered cape hanging down below it. It was mostly white in colour, with a few haphazardly placed splotches of yellow across it and a streak of blue around the frills below the head.
What really made the creature look so strange and even a bit terrifying was the fact that it had no face. There were no eyes, nose, mouth, ears or anything of the sort that one would see on a living Pokémon. The head was decorated with some patterns that sort of resembled stars, but that was it. Looking more closely, Sparks noticed that the entire creature, both head and tentacles, were slightly transparent. The head especially was almost completely transparent. Sparks could see a few stray bubbles floating inside of its head and the end of some of its tentacles.
Sparks could only stare at this strange being. He struggled to wrap his mind around the fact that he was even seeing this. How could this be real? It couldn't be real! There were only so many species of Pokémon in the whole world, and all of them were known and identified.
"What…What is that?!"
Sparks glanced over at Lupe, who was standing a few feet away, while still keeping an eye on the creature. The Vulpix had a terrified look on her face
"I…don't know…" Sparks replied.
"Is…Is it a Pokémon?"
Sparks didn't answer, for he simply didn't have one. He wasn't completely convinced the thing he was looking at was even alive. How could it be alive if it had no eyes, nose or mouth? For the moment, the creature was just floating there in midair. It pulsated ever so slightly, as if it was breathing, but so far it hadn't done anything else. Sparks gulped as his heart hammered in his chest. In all of his years he had put a lot of experience under his belt, but nothing could have prepared him for this. He was at a complete loss as to how to even react.
"Uh…H-hello?"
Sparks glanced over, seeing that it was Kona who had spoken up. The Dewott looked more confused than nervous, and he was looking up at the creature while he spoke.
"Hello," he repeated, "Are you…a Pokémon?"
Kona was trying the diplomatic approach. It was possible this was, in fact, just a Pokémon that they had never seen before. If that was the case, it wouldn't do to treat it with fear and hostility. Sparks had to commend Kona for keeping a level head.
"Hello?" Kona called out again, louder this time.
Finally, something changed in the creature's behaviour. It perked up slightly, as if it had 'heard' Kona's voice. First it started twisting around slightly in the air, and then started moving around randomly in small circles. It looked as if it were a bag caught in a gust of wind.
Sparks saw Kona take a step towards it. "Can you speak?" he asked it. So far all of the guildmembers had maintained about a 12 foot radius from the creature, with Sparks and Kona being the closest. The Dewott hesitantly raised up one of his paws and gave the creature a wave.
The creature started moving about more vividly, though still with a sense of aimlessness. It flitted about, back and forth, waving its tentacles around in gentle motions. It honestly looked quite graceful in the way it moved, like it was swimming through the air. From all outward appearances, it didn't seem hostile. Sparks decided to follow Kona's initiative. As the Dewott started to slowly approach, Sparks took a few steps forward as well.
His cheeks sparked, and he yelped in surprise. Sparks' ears shot up as a sudden wave of sensations crested over him. This creature had an electromagnetic field. It was something that any Electric-type Pokémon had in some capacity. He himself had one, and he could always feel a little buzz in his cheeks whenever he was in the vicinity of another Electric-type. It was usually very small and hard to detect unless the Pokémon was using an attack.
This was not a small electromagnetic field. What usually felt like tingling in his cheeks instead felt like knives jabbed right into him. He could feel the waves of electricity over his whole body, even though nothing was visible. When the creature in its aimless movements drifted closer to him, the intensity increased tenfold. Sparks cried out as a sudden migraine assaulted him.
"Kona!" he shouted, "Stay back!"
The Dewott heeded his words, but looked over at him in confusion. "What? What's wrong?"
Sparks looked up at the creature again, this time in full terror. He could visibly see the sparks dancing from his own cheeks. The most powerful Electric-type Pokémon he had ever met was a chance encounter with a Zapdos many many years ago. The electromagnetic field being emitted by this creature was off the charts compared to Zapdos', despite there being nothing to visibly see. Just being about 10 feet away was already starting to overload his senses, and the ramifications of that were truly terrifying.
"Get back!" he shouted, addressing everybody in the clearing.
"Sparks, what's happening to you? What's wrong?" Kona asked in concern.
Sparks quickly took a few steps back from the creature. "Don't let it touch you!"
"What? Why?"
"That thing is brimming with an insane amount of electricity!" Sparks said, dread laced in his voice, "If one of those tentacles touches you, you're dead!"
"What?!" Lupe exclaimed from beside him.
"It'll kill you!"
A few of the others started shouting things, but Sparks' full attention was drawn back to the creature. Its behaviour was changing. It started writhing slightly and twisting around in the air. It pulsated in a sickening manner, its colours shifting between muted yellows and blues for a moment before going back to white. It twitched about in an agitated manner, as if it had heard them shouting.
Then without warning, it started drifting forward.
"Jules! Move!"
The Sylveon quickly scrambled to the side as the creature hovered past him. It was moving faster than walking speed, but slower than running speed. Thankfully it didn't change course to chase after Jules or anything and simply continued gliding forward in the same direction. Everybody started to move and back away from it when it suddenly struck a tree. As if it were a ball made of rubber, it squished against the tree's trunk for a half second and then rebounded off of it, now gliding forward in a new direction. A scorch mark was left behind on the tree.
Kona had to run out of its path this time, and Sparks could almost see the Dewott's fur stand on end as the creature passed by. Sparks watched in dread as the creature cascaded towards another tree and bounced off it in much the same manner. It zipped past the group, still not hitting anybody, and then struck another tree. It was bouncing around the clearing like a deadly game of pinball.
Chaos erupted. Sparks started shouting to try and get everyone to run somewhere safe, but the creature was moving so erratically that this was difficult to do. Everyone had to keep a close watch on the thing and dodge out of the way when it came close enough. It was not moving so fast that dodging it was difficult, but it was moving fast enough to keep the group guessing on what it would do next.
No-one was able to easily get out of the clearing and into the trees, where it would be more difficult for it to chase them. Sparks began to wonder, with a sense of dread, if this creature's movements weren't as random as they appeared to be. It always moved to cut off whoever was about to escape into the trees, or at least that's what it seemed like to Sparks' eyes.
Thankfully, nobody was getting hit by the creature or its deadly electricity. Sparks knew that they had to subdue it before it could strike any of them or, worse, escape out into the city where it could cause even more pandemonium. As he considered his options, though, Sparks started to panic. If it was brimming with this much electricity, it was almost certainly an Electric-type Pokémon and his Thunder Wave wouldn't work. Besides, the electromagnetic field was giving him such a pounding headache that he wasn't sure he'd be able to pull off Thunder Wave in the first place.
Sparks' breathing started to get shallow. His chest felt tight and his limbs felt shaky. He could feel himself slipping.
Suddenly, a powerful stream of water struck the creature in its head. It tumbled through the air slightly from the impact and slowed down for a moment. Sparks gasped and looked over to see that Kona was beside him, having just unleashed a Water Gun. A moment later, he let loose another one directly at the beast.
With a sudden start, Sparks regained his clarity. "Everyone behind me!" he shouted.
Kona continued his onslaught of Water Gun after Water Gun. Sparks wasn't sure if it was doing any damage, but the force from Kona's stream of water was managing to keep the creature at bay at least. It did seem like it had noticed him as an aggressor and was trying to move towards him, but the Water Guns were thankfully pushing it back.
Jules, Lupe and Rico heeded Sparks' call and started to run over to where he was standing. Sparks didn't see Ziggy among them, and hoped that the Buizel was still hiding in the same bush. Jules was the closest and practically dove behind Sparks once he was close enough. Rico was the next closest, and Lupe was unfortunately the furthest away. Sparks questioned whether it would be better for her to run in the opposite direction into the trees, but she had already started running at this point.
"Ow!"
Sparks and Jules both gasped as Lupe suddenly tumbled to the ground. She had tripped over a rock protruding out of the ground slightly. She had landed onto her shoulder and rolled onto her back, and Sparks could see her wincing in pain. Lupe had only made it halfway across the clearing, and was a fair distance beside the creature from his perspective.
Rico slowed down and looked over his shoulder. "Lupe!" he called out in concern.
The steady stream of water that had been attacking the creature suddenly stopped, accompanied by guttural-sounding coughs. Sparks quickly looked over to see Kona wheezing as water dripped out of his mouth. He'd used the attack too much and overexerted himself.
"Lupe! Move!"
Without Kona's Water Gun to stop it, the creature had started to move again. It began floating slowly, but Sparks could see it speeding up already. To everyone's horror, it was moving directly towards Lupe. The Vulpix tried to stand up and escape, but she had sprained her ankle or something because she was still wincing and moving slowly.
Rico had turned around and was running back towards Lupe. At the same time, a bright sphere of blue and pink light raced through the air towards the creature, a powerful Moonblast compliments of Jules. It struck the creature directly in the side of the head and then fizzled out, but it was as if the creature hadn't even noticed it. It wasn't slowed down in the slightest.
Kona was still coughing, Jules' attack was useless, and Sparks tried his best to form a Thunder Wave but his splitting headache was utterly preventing him. The group could only watch as Rico bravely ran back towards Lupe. The Vulpix was trying to hobble away along the grass, but it was as if the creature was now locked onto her because it continued to relentlessly approach. With nothing more any of them could do, dread gripped the Raichu's heart.
It was too close of a race to tell who would reach Lupe first.
With only seconds to spare, Rico let out a determined yell and performed a Quick Attack, aiming directly at Lupe. The short speed burst was enough to get him there first, where he roughly collided into Lupe with his shoulder. Lupe was sent careening off to the side from the impact, yelping in pain as she rolled along the grass, though safely out of reach from the creature. Rico, however, had now taken her place. He quickly shot a glance over his shoulder, seeing that the creature was now approaching him, and desperately pounced to the side to get out of the way.
One of the creature's tentacles grazed the back of Rico's head at the last second. There was a visible yellow spark, and then Rico collapsed to the ground in a heap.
"Rico!" Sparks cried.
Their only saving grace was that the creature seemed unable to turn around very well, as it once again went cascading towards one of the trees. Like before, it hit a tree and rebounded. However, before it could go back towards Rico or Lupe, it was hit with another stream of water. Sparks looked and saw Kona straining himself to unleash one more Water Gun. It only lasted about five seconds before Kona was struck with another coughing fit.
Sparks looked back over to where the others were, extreme panic gripping him from head to tail. Too much was happening too fast, and Sparks didn't know what he or anybody else could do. The thing was too fast and moved too erratically, and Lupe was still laying on the ground injured and unable to stand up. The horrible feeling of dread only grew stronger as Sparks realized the only thing they could realistically do was turn tail, run away, and hope for the best.
Another loud crack rang out, just like the ones that had heralded the arrival of this creature. There was another white flash and another small, powerful tremor. Sparks' heart nearly stopped as a look of pure horror appeared on his face. Was another one appearing?
However, that didn't seem to be the case. With another loud crack, the light grew brighter, and Sparks realized it wasn't coming from the same place. He looked upwards and saw that a new 'hole' had appeared, though this one was much higher off the ground and was pointed downwards. The same powerful winds swept up all around them.
Mercifully, the creature had stopped moving. It simply hovered there on the spot for a moment, doing nothing. The wind whipped around everyone for a moment as a cautious, tense silence permeated the clearing.
Then, the creature started to rise up into the air. Sparks watched it go, like it was being slowly vacuumed up by the new hole in the sky. It twirled gently, as if being drawn to the portal. Sparks just watched in stunned silence as it went. It slowly rose up into the portal, and before long it had passed through and was out of sight.
The hole vanished, the wind stopped, and everything went still.
Sparks just stood there on all fours, stunned. He was panting heavily as the adrenaline still coursed through his veins, and for a moment all he could do was just stare in bewilderment at the spot where the creature had last been. The only sound that could be heard was the distant commotion from the streets nearby that overlooked the park.
What in the world had just happened? Sparks could feel his brain breaking down at the mere thought of what had just transpired. It didn't feel real. It couldn't have been real. It was the most impossible thing he could even imagine. It hadn't made sense. Nothing made sense.
The sound of Lupe's voice nearby thankfully managed to rope him back down to the real world. He shook his head, immediately regretting doing so because of his headache, and suddenly remembered the present most pressing issue. "Rico!"
Sparks immediately took off and dashed over to where Rico had been struck. He saw the Riolu still laying face-down on the grass, and Sparks' blood ran cold. He could hear the pawsteps of the others following behind him, but he was at Rico's side in seconds.
"Rico! Rico, buddy!" Sparks panted once he arrived. Rico's form was eerily still, and Sparks' breath caught in his throat. He used his forepaws to carefully roll Rico over onto his back so he was facing upwards.
"He's still breathing!" Sparks exclaimed in relief, "He's still breathing! He's alive!"
Various sighs of relief could be heard from all the other team members. Sparks himself felt a weight lift off of his shoulders. The Riolu's chest was slowly rising and falling, and when Sparks leaned in close he could hear quiet breathing. Rico appeared to be unconscious, rather than anything worse.
"Hey," Sparks said, jostling Rico a little, "Hey, Rico! Wake up. C'mon, buddy, wake up."
By now Kona and Jules had joined him. Lupe was still sitting nearby, but was looking over with a great amount of concern.
"C'mon, Rico. Up and at 'em," Sparks said, lightly slapping Rico's cheek. He continued to try and rouse the Riolu, still feeling quite a bit worried about his condition. He wasn't dead, but that didn't mean he was okay.
"Sparks…" Kona said in a haunted voice, "What the hell was that thing?"
"I don't know," Sparks replied, "And I don't give a Raticate's fat ass right now. It's gone and hopefully it's not coming back any time soon." He jostled Rico again. "Rico! Are you in there, buddy? Wake up!"
This went on for a few more tense seconds before Rico finally stirred. He let out a long, low groan, which was music to Sparks' ears.
"Hey, there he is. Rico, can ya hear me?"
"Ngh…" Rico moaned. He slowly wrenched his eyes open as his muzzle skewed in discomfort. "Mnf….Sparks…?"
"Yeah, it's me Rico. Are you okay? What hurts?"
"Urgh…"
"Can you sit up?"
The others crowded around close as Sparks helped Rico into a sitting position, including Lupe who finally managed to hobble over. Rico immediately brought a paw up and held it to his forehead.
"How do you feel?" Sparks asked him.
"Head hurts a bit…A little dizzy…" Rico murmured.
"Do you remember what happened? Do you know where you are? What's my real name? What's your name?"
Rico dutifully answered all of Sparks' questions correctly, which made Sparks satisfied that Rico wasn't concussed or anything serious like that. He leaned in and examined the spot where Rico was holding his paw and found nothing more than a few strands of fur with their tips charred black.
"It just grazed by you, Rico. It only just barely got you."
"Heh…Lucky me…" Rico chuckled. Already, in just the span of a few short minutes, he was starting to look better. He appeared to be quickly shaking off the wooziness he had felt upon waking up.
"You sure you're okay?" Sparks asked, "Which paw am I holding up?"
"The left one," Rico answered correctly. He then lightly shook his head and brought his paw down. "Headache's already going away. I'm fine, Sparks."
"Good heavens…" Sparks murmured, "You must've just gotten a little zap that knocked you out. You really are lucky that wasn't a lot worse." He let out a huge sigh of relief now that he knew his friend and fellow alumnus wasn't seriously hurt. He took a few breaths to calm himself and to try and slow his wildly beating heart.
Then he loudly gasped. "Ziggy!" he exclaimed, "Where's Ziggy?"
Sparks leapt to his paws and looked around wildly, trying to find that one bush where he had last seen Ziggy hiding behind. He called out Ziggy's name a few times before he finally spotted the bush in question and ran over to it. When he parted the bush's foliage with his paws, Sparks looked down to find the shiny Buizel curled up on the ground in a tight ball, shivering profusely.
"Ziggy!" Sparks said with relief, "Oh thank goodness you're okay too. It's okay, Ziggy. It's gone now."
Ziggy looked up after hearing Sparks' familiar voice with terror-filled eyes. His breathing was shallow and he was still quivering. Sparks couldn't blame him, though. Not after the insanity that had just occurred.
"C'mon, Zig. Get out of that bush and come hang out with us. You'll feel safer close to us."
"S-S-S-Sparks…"
"It's okay," Sparks said, reaching down a paw, "It's gone now and we're all fine. Just minor injuries."
After a little more coaxing, Sparks was finally able to draw the Buizel out from under the bush. Ziggy clutched his paw like it was a lifeline and huddled close to Sparks' side as they walked back over to where the others were. Rico was sitting up straight now and already looked like he was back to full strength.
"Rico," Lupe was saying as they approached, "Thank you for doing that. You probably saved my life. That…was really brave of you."
"Aw, don't mention it," Rico replied with a smile, "I'm glad a sprained ankle is the worst of what you got."
"That was…terrifying…" Lupe said with a haunted look.
"What was that thing?" Rico asked, repeating the same question that had been spoken over and over in the past couple minutes.
"I don't know," Sparks said with authority, "We need to figure out what to do about all this. We have to report this to…somebody. I don't know, the police? But we also have to get Rico and Lupe back to the guild so Kandice can check them."
"I'm fine, Sparks!" Rico protested.
"You got zapped in the head, buddy. We really should make absolutely sure." Sparks sighed and held a paw to his head. This had been an incredibly stressful situation, and the stress wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. "Okay…" He briefly glanced up at the nearby streets. "So, clearly, other Pokémon saw that…thing. There's gonna be a bit of an uproar."
"What if it comes back?" Lupe asked.
"I'm afraid of that too…" Sparks remarked. He furrowed his brow and wracked his brain, trying to come up with a plan of action quickly. "Okay…Jules, can you handle things out here by yourself?"
The Sylveon nodded resolutely.
"Contact the police with your badge. Get as many officers out here as you can, and work with them to keep Pokémon out of the park. Answer any questions you can, and tell anyone who asks that if they have further questions, the guild will answer them later.
"Sparks, I can stay behind with him," Kona said.
"No, Kona, I'm gonna be carrying Lupe on my back and I might need you just in case Rico passes out or something."
"It's fine, Kona. I'll handle things," Jules said. It was not often that the Sylveon spoke in such a serious, no-nonsense voice, but it was a familiar reminder that Jules was on the active team for a reason.
"If that thing shows up again, run. Tell everybody to get away. Don't try to hold it off, don't try to fight it. Don't be a hero, Jules."
Jules nodded. "I'll head to the park entrance now," he said, and then immediately turned and dashed off. Sparks saw him use his ribbons to press his badge and began talking into it.
Likewise, Sparks tapped his own badge. "Carmen. Come in. Urgent message."
It didn't take long for the Braixen's voice to respond. "Sparks. What's happened?"
"Good heavens, where do I begin?"
The five Pokémon rushed back to the Rescue Society as quickly as their paws could carry them.
Thankfully, after the insanity that had just taken place in the park, the journey back had been very uneventful. Lupe rode on Sparks' back while he ran on all fours, and the others kept the pace up well, even Ziggy who looked absolutely terrified and clearly wanted to go back inside as soon as possible.
In the aftermath of the event, however, spirits started to lift. Feelings slowly began to shift from terror to wonder. They all started to become more and more fascinated by what they had seen, especially since they had come away from it relatively unscathed. Rico, in particular, had started to smile as he ran. He was quite upbeat and excited about whatever they had just encountered. Sparks was at least relieved to see that the only lasting malady he had was his lightly charred fur.
"So what do you think?" Rico asked excitedly, "Alien?"
"I don't know, Rico…" Sparks grumbled. He wasn't sharing in the excitement as much, mostly due to having a Vulpix on his back.
"But d'ya think?"
"…Personally I don't think so…but anything's possible."
"I'm more wondering about the weird…hole thingy it came through," Lupe commented.
"Yeah! Definitely never seen a Pokémon do that before!" Rico replied.
Sparks glanced over at Ziggy, who was running right next to him also on all fours. The Buizel looked miserably uncomfortable and on the verge of tears. "Sorry, Zig," Sparks said, "I know you're anxious to get back home. We're almost there. Just up the hill."
Ziggy didn't say anything, but he did nod in acknowledgement.
"Reporters are going to be busting down the door tomorrow," Kona noted, "Maybe even tonight…"
"Do you think anybody snapped a picture of it?" Rico asked.
"I hope so…" Lupe said.
"Will we get credit for discovering an entirely new species of Pokémon? Maybe they'll hire the guild to make first contact! Just like my favourite comic book!"
"It's dangerous," Sparks remarked, "Just its very physical presence was dangerous. And you saw how it was bouncing around wildly. Does it even have a brain? Did it even realize what it was doing?"
"I know right! It didn't even have a face! So weird!" Rico gushed.
"Was it really as dangerous as you said it was?" Kona asked.
Sparks nodded. "Undoubtedly. I've still got a cold from it," he said, referring to how excess electrostimulation in his cheeks gave him symptoms similar to a cold.
The group finally reached the front gate of the guild and made their way inside. Ziggy let out a loud sigh of relief once his paws passed the gate's threshold, and he finally stood up on his hind legs. He kept the hoodie wrapped tightly around him, though.
Carmen was waiting for them at the entrance, holding the door open for them. Sparks took the lead and headed inside first. He made his way over to one of the benches set up in the entry hall for visiting Pokémon and laid down next to it so Lupe could carefully climb off his back. The others entered after him, and then Carmen closed the door.
"I've spoken with the police," the Braixen informed them, "They've rendezvoused with Jules and are cordoning off the park."
"Good," Sparks commented, and then stood up once Lupe was off his back, "Where's Kandice?"
"She was out on call, but she should be back any minute."
Sparks glanced over at the others, and then let out a quiet sigh. Ziggy looked leagues more comfortable and secure now that he was back in the guild, though he wasn't taking off his hoodie.
"A part of me is still expecting one of you to tell me this is all a joke…" Carmen said dryly.
"Believe me, it was no joke…" Sparks said.
"An…unknown creature? Just coming out of nowhere?" Carmen mused, "It's almost impossible to believe…"
"Hey, they're back! They're back, they're back, they're back!"
Sparks looked over his shoulder to see a very excited Yamper coming out from the common room. Shay bounced over to them eagerly, and was followed by Akash, Tora and Liz. "Hey everybody…" Sparks greeted them.
"Hey y'all," Liz greeted them, "You okay?"
"We're fine, for the most part," Sparks replied.
There was a commotion as everybody gathered around. Many questions were thrown around by the team members who hadn't been present, most of which came from Shay. Rico was happy to answer most of the questions, and he gave a very vivid description of the creature they had seen.
"No face?" Tora asked in disbelief.
"No face!" Rico confirmed, "Just a big…blob head."
"Was it a Pokémon?" Liz asked.
"That's the question, isn't it?" Rico said with a chuckle.
Sparks excused himself from the crowd of excitable Pokémon. He first went over to check on Ziggy, who was sitting on another bench separate from Lupe. He had taken off his hood and looked rather exhausted by the whole ordeal. He looked up when Sparks approached and flashed him a quick little half-grin.
"Well…that was unexpected," Sparks remarked.
"Y-yeah…"
"You feelin' okay?"
Ziggy nodded. "I, uh…Heh, well…I think I'm actually okay knowing that everybody was freaked out by that and it wasn't just me…" He then looked up at Sparks and said, "I'm glad we're back now…"
Sparks nodded. "You don't have to do any chores or activities for the rest of the day. That was more than enough. You can go hang out in the common room or your room if you want."
"Thanks, Sparks…"
"Let me know if you need anything." Sparks then made his way over to Lupe, who was talking with Carmen from on her bench.
"She just contacted me, she'll be here in five minutes," Carmen was informing Lupe.
"Thanks," she replied, "I don't think it's too bad. Just a small strain or a pulled muscle or something."
"Hey, Carmen?" Sparks interjected, "Where's Terry?"
"He was at city hall submitting his paperwork when this all happened. I told him that nobody was seriously hurt and that he should finish what he was doing, but he should be back any minute now."
"Okay…"
Carmen then glanced over her shoulder at Rico, who was still spinning a yarn about their adventure. She listened to him for a moment and then looked back at Sparks. "What do you make of this…thing?" she asked.
"I honestly couldn't tell you…" Sparks said, "It was definitely dangerous. Too much electricity." He rubbed his cheeks, which were still tingling just a bit. "But I'm still not sure if it was actively aggressive or not. Its movements seemed…random. Uncontrolled."
"From how you described it, it sounds…life-threatening."
"Maybe. I mean, thankfully, I can't confirm that first-paw. I obviously didn't see it zap anyone to death…" Sparks glanced over his own shoulder for a minute, looking at Ziggy who was still just sitting thoughtfully on the bench. "It could have been a lot worse…"
"Well, once Kandice checks these two over, we'll have to contact the proper Pokémon to deal with this."
Sparks looked back at Carmen and arched an eyebrow. "And who would those 'proper Pokémon' be exactly?"
"Figuring that out will be the fun part…"
"Yeah…" Sparks nodded and glanced off to the side for a moment, and then sighed. "This keeps happening. It feels like every time I convince Ziggy to step outside and do something beyond his comfort zone, something totally beyond my control happens."
"Well, don't beat yourself up over it," Carmen reassured him, "Ziggy's been doing pretty well. I think he'll be fine to go out again soon enough."
Sparks then looked over at Rico, who was still enjoying being the centre of attention. He had to admit that this was probably the most exciting adventure the young Riolu had been on thus far. Poor Terry would be jealous.
"Yeah, Sparks said so! Right?" Rico suddenly said, turning to look at him.
"Huh?" he replied, getting up and walking over.
"That it's an Electric-Type!"
"Oh," Sparks said, looking at all the other eager listening faces, "Well, it was…electrical. That's probably a pretty good sign that it's an Electric-Type, but really who knows? Would you call a Charmander a Steel-Type because it used Iron Tail?"
"I think it's an Electric," Rico said, "It's gotta be!"
"Pure Electric-Type?" Tora asked, "Or a dual type?"
"Hmm…" Rico put his paw under his chin in thought.
"When Jules used Moonblast on it, it hardly had any effect," Sparks observed, "Perhaps that's a hint? Maybe it's a Poison-Type?"
"But Water Gun held it back," Kona interjected, "What if it's a Fire-Type? They're strong against Fairy too."
"That thing looked like a Tentacruel, do you really think it's a Fire-Type?" Rico remarked.
"Maybe it's a Rock-Type then?" Sparks noted.
"A Rock-Type?! In what world is that thing a Rock-Type?" Rico said with a hearty laugh.
"Well, if it's an unknown kind of Pokémon…" Akash said quietly, "Maybe…it's got more than two types?"
Sparks turned and looked at the Deerling with a surprised look. "I…hadn't considered that…"
"Is that possible?" Tora asked.
"Who knows?" Sparks said with a shrug.
"If that's true…" Akash continued, "Then that means it's got a lot of really strong moves."
"Hmm…" Sparks frowned worriedly. There were too many questions, and he felt like there were only going to be more and more questions as time went on. How does one even comprehend something as impossible as this? It was like the moon suddenly turning hot pink; it just wasn't a thing that happened.
The front doors to the guild burst open, catching everyone by surprise. Sparks, and those around him, turned towards the doors and saw a single Pokémon standing inside of them. It was an exhausted and panting Eevee.
"Rico!" Terry exclaimed, and then ran at full steam directly towards the Riolu.
Sparks and the others stepped back just in time to avoid the flying Eevee as he leapt right onto Rico and smothered him in a tight, warm hug. Rico was completely caught off guard, looking like he had almost toppled over backwards.
"Oh, Rico! I'm so glad you're okay!" Terry babbled, "They told me there was an incident! They told me you got hurt! I was so worried about you, Rico! I wish I could've been there with you." Terry smiled and hugged him tighter and nuzzled his cheek. "Are you okay, though? Are you still hurt? Never go out on a mission without me ever again!"
"He's fine, Terry," Sparks chuckled, "He's a hero, even! Probably saved Lupe's life!"
"Sparks, cut it out," Lupe said, laughing in embarrassment.
Before Rico could even say anything, Terry pressed his lips to Rico's and gave his future mate a passionate, loving kiss. Sparks looked happily at the display of love before him. It was still amusing to see how love-struck Terry could get sometimes, and he was happy that Rico had managed to return to him unscathed. Rico had clearly not been expecting the sudden kiss, considering his big wide eyes.
When the kiss ended, Terry looked up at Rico and smiled amorously. "You can tell me all about it later," he said, "I'm just happy you're safe. Please be more careful when you go out without me, Rico."
Rico didn't say anything. His eyes were still wide open in shock from the sudden kiss.
Terry giggled and wagged his tail. "Did you really save Lupe's life? That's amazing, Rico! You're so amazing. I mean, you're always a hero to me but, y'know! Haha! Ah, I'm just glad to be with you again. Today kinda sucked for both of us, didn't it? You wanna go get dinner somewhere tonight? Rico?"
There was still no response.
"…Rico?" Terry spoke, a bit more worriedly.
Sparks was frowning now too, looking at Rico and his expression. He had thought that the Riolu had just been caught off guard by the sudden kiss. Now that Terry was out of the way and Sparks could get a better look, Rico looked more confused than anything. Bewildered might have been a more apt term. "Rico?" he asked hesitantly, "You okay?"
"Rico…?" Terry spoke again.
"Uh…" Rico finally spoke. He was quiet for a few more moments as he simply looked down at the Eevee and then said, "I'm sorry, but…"
Rico worked his jaw wordlessly for a few moments, as if he was trying to find the right words. When he finally found him, the words he spoke were pretty much the last thing Sparks had expected the Riolu to say.
"…Do I know you?"
