Chapter 45 - No Going Back
"Mnnnghhh…"
Sparks snapped to attention the moment he heard Ziggy make a noise. He saw Rico and Terry nearby do the same. The four of them were still tied up in the secret basement of Hilo's lab, and a rather uneventful half hour had passed since Ziggy had first been knocked unconscious. The Buizel wore a grimace on his face and was struggling to open his eyes.
"Bud…?" Sparks said softly, leaning in as close as his restraints would allow.
"S'rks…?" Ziggy mumbled. He finally opened his eyes fully, though it looked like he had just woken up with a massive hangover.
Sparks bit his lip as he watched Ziggy lethargically try to sit up, difficult as it was with his restraints. Sparks couldn't keep his eyes from focusing on Ziggy's fur, the thing that Ziggy hated others doing the most. It was just impossible to keep his eyes off of the blotches of mixed colour that now adorned his fur, half in a Buizel's normal colour and half in a shiny's colour.
"Ngh…" Ziggy groaned, just barely managing to sit up with the help of Rico's tail supporting his back.
"Y-you okay, buddy?" Sparks asked, "Does anything hurt?"
Ziggy clenched his eyes shut for a moment, probably reacting to the bright lights on the roof, and then groggily looked up at Sparks. "Uh…N-no…Not really…"
Sparks felt a brief flash of relief, knowing that at least Ziggy no longer felt like his insides were burning up.
"Ugh…" Ziggy then moaned, "I dun feel so good, Sparks…"
Sparks tried his best to lean closer, concern etched across all of his features. "What's wrong?"
Grimacing again, Ziggy simply said in a pathetic tone of voice, "I feel sick…"
Biting his lip again, worry overcame him at the thought of the chemicals that were still probably mixed in with Ziggy's blood, compliments of Hilo's injection and the cause of his changed fur colour in the first place. "J-just…rest for a bit," Sparks said, trying to keep the worry out of his voice, "It'll probably go away in a bit."
"Mkay…"
Sighing, Sparks leaned back against the wall. The only silver lining was that Ziggy seemed to be too sick to notice what had happened to him, but Sparks knew that wouldn't last much longer.
"Sparks…!" Rico hissed.
The Raichu glanced over at him.
"If we get free…" Rico whispered as loudly as he dared, "We have to get your collar off."
Sparks glanced down, even though he couldn't see the electricity-inhibiting collar that was currently around his neck.
"It's the only way…" Rico added.
Gulping nervously, Sparks looked up at the other occupants of the room. All of the nefarious scientists that were apparently under Hilo's employ were buzzing around busily, so much so that none of them were paying attention to the four captives. Hilo had gone upstairs at some point. There had to be at least twenty or thirty of them in the room, far too many for a pair of unevolved mates to fight against. Rico was right; the only way out of this was for Sparks to use Thunder Wave. He had enough skill with the move that he would be able to hit the whole room at once while still keeping his friends out of harm's way, and it was the only way he could fight back without collapsing.
He desperately wondered what the rest of the Rescue Society were doing on the outside. Were they any closer to finding a way in so the four of them could be rescued? What were Jules and Tora doing? Had Javier or Shay arrived yet? What about Carmen?
"Ngh…"
Sparks felt movement next to him, and looked down to see Ziggy was now sitting up a little straighter. He already looked better than before, though still appeared quite miserable. He saw the Buizel try to lift one of his paws, probably to hold against his head to quell a headache, only to be reminded that his paws were bound.
"Oh right…" Ziggy mumbled, "We're captured…"
"You feeling okay?" Sparks asked him, "Still feel sick?"
"Kinda. A bit…" he replied lethargically to both questions. He blinked his eyes a few times and then lifted his head up as clarity finally seemed to return to him. He briefly glanced around, frowning as he saw that not much had changed about their situation.
"You tell me right away if anything starts happening or if you feel worse," Sparks said, "It…doesn't seem like it's poisoned you or anything, but…we just don't know." He swallowed a lump in his throat. Sparks knew that he wouldn't be completely relieved until Ziggy was checked out by a medical doctor.
Ziggy seemed confused by his words for a moment, and then he stiffened. He angled his head to the side, exposing the part of his neck where he had been injected. Sparks imagined he probably wanted to touch it with his paw, but couldn't. "H-he…" Ziggy murmured, "S-stuff…i-in me…"
"I-it'll be okay, bud," Sparks said, trying to be reassuring, "Besides the really bad burning sensation, it doesn't seem like it's…hurt you…" He gulped, not feeling full confidence in his own words. The injection site didn't seem to be inflamed or anything. Sparks figured that was a good sign, but ultimately he wasn't a doctor and had no idea.
Ziggy then turned his head and looked up at Sparks directly. His eyes danced with worry. "Sparks…? Wh…What did…What did he do…?"
"He just injected that stuff into you," Sparks replied, "Nothing else. D-don't worry."
The concerned frown on Ziggy's muzzle was enough to show that Ziggy had seen Sparks' worried look and knew that he wasn't saying everything. "What did it…do to me?" he asked quietly.
"Uh…Well…" he muttered, trailing off. He tried to keep silent, but Ziggy apparently noticed the Raichu's eyes briefly dart down to his torso. Before Sparks could say anything, Ziggy glanced down at himself.
His eyes went wide, then he looked confused for a moment. He lifted up both of his paws, bound though they were, and examined them as well. The room was bright enough that Ziggy had no trouble seeing the new splotches of colour on his fur. He stared in silence, alternating between looking at his paws and down at his belly, and the confusion in his expression only grew. He stretched his hind paws out, swung out his small tail, and even craned his neck to try and get a view of his floatation ring. Sparks saw him rub his bound paws against the fur on his belly repeatedly, as if trying to see if the unusual colours were just paint.
"What…?" he whispered. Sparks' heart sank as he watched the confused expression that he wore slowly morph into a shocked one. Ziggy had always wanted, from a very young age, to have orange fur and a yellow neck ring. He had said so to Sparks many times before. However, Sparks knew that something like this wasn't exactly what he wanted.
"B-buddy…"
Ziggy slowly turned to look at him. "What…happened to me?"
Sparks' ears drooped and he broke eye contact. "Apparently…that stuff Hilo injected was supposed to, um…turn your colours to a standard Buizel's. But…it only worked halfway…" Sparks gulped and hesitated before continuing. "He…He, uh…said it was…permanent."
He waited for Ziggy to respond, but all he got was silence. After a few uncomfortable quiet moments, Sparks forced himself to look at Ziggy again. He saw the Buizel was looking down at himself again. There was a look of stunned disbelief on his face, and he kept looking at the same spots on his fur over and over again as if expecting them to change. Slowly but surely, sadness crept into his expression until he was frowning heavily and there were tears in the corners of his eyes.
"I…" he croaked, "I'm…even more of a freak now…"
Sparks perked up. "Wh-! Ziggy, no! You're…You're not…" Though he tried hard to refute Ziggy's words, the truth of the matter was simply too heavy to bear. Sparks would never use the word 'freak' obviously, but there was a horrible truth to what Ziggy had just said. Before, he had been a part of an extremely small outcast minority of Pokémon, but he had still been something normal that happened to plenty of Pokémon all over the world. Now, though…
Ziggy could only continue to stare at himself in silence.
"Buddy…" Sparks bemoaned, "I…I'm so sorry…" He glanced up helplessly at the other two captives, but Rico and Terry both looked just as distraught and helpless as he was. Sparks closed his eyes, grimacing as feelings of anger, frustration, sympathy and sadness all rushed through him. When he finally spoke again, though, it was in a calm voice. "Buddy, I'm…just glad you're okay. I'm glad you're…" He hiccupped. "…alive."
"No negative symptoms?" a voice spoke up.
Three heads snapped up suddenly to look at the newcomer and saw that a Toxicroak was standing before them and holding a clipboard. He was looking down at it with a half-disinterested look in his face.
"…What?" Sparks asked in confusion.
"With the subject," the Toxicroak replied insistently. When nobody said anything else, he briefly glanced up and irritatedly said, "The Buizel."
Sparks briefly glanced at Ziggy, only to see that he hadn't even looked up and was still staring at himself. "What do you mean, 'negative symptoms'?" Sparks barked as he looked back at the Toxicroak, "Look what that stuff did!"
"You know what I mean," the Toxicroak replied boredly.
"You mean besides burning his blood?" Rico exclaimed, "And…And mu- And changing him like this?"
"Yes," the Toxicroak replied, as if Rico had asked a simple question.
Sparks growled loudly, enough that literal sparks would be darting from his cheeks if not for the collar on his neck. "Piss off!" he shouted, "My friend is not a research experiment. You can all go to hell!"
The Toxicroak eyed him, then eyed Ziggy, and finally shook his head. "Just tell me if there were any negative side effects when it woke up. This is for documentation purposes. I don't know exactly what danger you think I'm going to put it in by telling me…"
"Ziggy is not an 'it'!" Rico shouted hotly.
There was a moment of tense silence, and then finally Terry spoke up. "He felt really sick for a few minutes."
For a couple seconds, the Toxicroak stopped writing on the clipboard and glanced passively at Terry. "Thank you," he finally said succinctly.
Terry glanced at the others for a moment, and then looked back up at the Poison-type. "What's going on down here?" he asked calmly, "What is Hi- Dr. Hilo working on?"
"Something you need not be concerned about."
"He mentioned that he was testing if it's safe to go through the portal," Terry continued undaunted, "Is he planning to go through the portal himself? Is he gonna, like, explore the world the Nihilego comes from?"
The Toxicroak continued writing stuff down and didn't respond.
"That's gotta be it, right?" Terry said, looking to his companions, "You heard how fascinated he was by the Nihilego and the other world. He probably wants to explore and study it."
Rico wore a sour look. "I mean, that'd just make him a stuffy version of the old exploration teams from decades ago. When Pokémon want to go study and explore something, they do it. They don't hide everything in a secret lab and put a city full of Pokémon at risk."
"Well," Terry countered, "Something this big, it makes sense he'd keep it a secret, but…"
"No," Rico shook his head, "He's clearly planning some kind of attack. Right? Like, what's he gonna do after he comes back from exploring the other world? 'Oh hey guys, sorry I wreaked havoc on the city and stole a bunch of Pokémon's memories, but look at this cool data!'"
"Unless…" Terry wore a thoughtful look for a moment. "…Unless he's not planning to come back."
A light chuckling reached their ears. "Perceptive…"
The three glanced up at the Toxicroak again, who was still there. Sparks wondered why at first, but then saw that he was still looking carefully at Ziggy and writing stuff down.
"So that's it?" Terry spoke up eagerly, "He's gonna go over to the Nihilego dimension permanently? But why?"
"That's an insipidly stupid question," the Toxicroak commented dryly.
"That still doesn't make sense, though!" Rico cut in, "Again, if he was planning to say sayonara and hop through the portal, that's still no reason to keep it secret from everybody and do all of this. Pokémon would call him crazy, but he could still just do it."
"But it's the testing that he had to keep under wraps," Terry said, "'Cus it's unethical. You just joked about it yourself. He couldn't publicly test out the portal because it endangers others."
"Grrr…" Rico growled, "So I almost paid a huge, huge price just so Hilo can have a fancy vacation? I still don't totally buy it. I'm sure there's something sinister to this we haven't figured out yet."
"Believe that if you must…" the Toxicroak intoned.
"And what do you nerds get out of it?" Rico demanded, "You're all basically criminals by association at this point. That's a huge sacrifice, so what do you get out of this whole deal?"
"They probably get to go with him," Terry replied.
"What?"
"Hilo said earlier, 'Only so many can join me'."
"Aha," the Toxicroak said in mock excitement, "Some of you were paying attention."
"You can't be serious…" Sparks spoke up, "So every one of you scientists is going with him on this insane jump through the portal?"
"Not everyone."
"But why?" Sparks persisted, "That's insane! You've seen how much damage those things can cause!"
The Toxicroak put down the clipboard on the table and finally looked directly at them. "Because Dr. Hilo is right," he explained, "Science is advancing nowhere and the world we Pokémon live in has basically reached its peak with nothing new to discover. Besides a few very rare exceptions, MD's have all been found, cleared out, explored, and cordoned off. Technology hasn't made any leaps since the computer was invented, and all questions that science can answer have been answered. What do we have to show for it? A stagnant, dry, depressing world still filled with abnormalities and freaks."
Sparks stared at the scientist in disbelief. He glanced over at the other side of the room, noticing all of the other scientists working hard over near the Nihilego's enclosure, and then back at the Toxicroak once more. "You're…done with this world," he said, "You want something new. You all do. New questions you can answer, new things you can discover. New mysteries… You want to back to the days of Pokémon and Mystery Dungeons." He glanced at the Nihilego again. "And what's more mysterious than a whole entire mysterious new world?"
"We are all scientists at the top of our fields," the Toxicroak explained, "Why do you think Jiuji is so renowned? We've all left our mark on this world and have little to show for it. None of you probably even recognize a single one of us. We no longer care what happens here, we're going to explore new horizons." And with that, he started walking off.
"Hey!" Rico shouted, "We're not done talking to you!"
"So, wait," Terry spoke up, "That's it then? I mean it sounds crazy and insane, but it's not dangerous…for us or the city, I mean. Once they go through, it'll all be over, right?"
"If the city's still standing…" the Toxicroak remarked right before going out of earshot.
"What?" Sparks shouted, but the scientist didn't turn back and kept on walking.
While Rico kept shouting obscenities at him, Terry turned to Sparks and asked, "What did he mean by that?"
"'If the city's still standing…'" Sparks repeated, "Is he planning to unleash the Nihilego on the city once he and his gang leave? Even in their twisted views, what would that achieve scientifically?"
Suddenly, the colour drained from Terry's face. "What if…? Oh no…" he whimpered, "They're using a…device or something to make the portal, right? They've only used it to bring over the Nihilego. What if…something bad happens if a whole big huge group of Pokémon go through it at once?"
Sparks regarded him silently. "You mean, like…it might overload or explode or something?"
"If they go through the portal," Terry reasoned, "they're over there but the device is still over here, so if it goes boom…"
As his blood ran cold, Sparks looked over at the other side of the room again. Even though what Terry had said was just speculation, the possibility was a horrifying one. The kind of technology that would be required to create a portal to another dimension must be incredibly powerful, now that he thought about it. Sparks didn't know a lot about technology, but he did know that in the early days of the computer one of them overloaded and a building caught fire.
"Sparks!" Rico hissed suddenly, "We gotta get out of here as quick as we can."
The Raichu turned to look at him, seeing that Rico had an intense and serious glare. "You're right, but how?" he asked.
"Shh!" Rico shushed him, and then looked over his shoulder. Nobody was nearby, since all of the scientists were working near the Nihilego. So, once he was sure nobody was watching, Rico shifted his body slightly and held out his bound forepaws.
At first Sparks was confused, but then he looked more closely and saw that the rope tied around his paws was just slightly frayed at one end. He soon saw the cause of this, sitting right above the rope on Rico's wrist; his bangle.
He was using the golden craft his mate had got for him, which had the same intertwining tails design on the clasp, to slowly cut through the ropes.
Rico then moved back into a normal sitting position, so as to better hide what he was doing, and whispered, "Figure out how to get that collar off. Is there a button or something?"
Ears perked, Sparks glanced downwards. He then mentally facepawed at his own stupidity, as there was no way he could see anything more than a tiny bit of the collar at the very edge of his vision. He sat there helplessly for a moment, but then realized what he had to do and turned to the Pokémon sitting next to him. "Ziggy!" he whispered.
To his dismay, he saw that the Buizel was still sitting in the exact same position. Ziggy was still just staring emptily at his paws.
"Ziggy, c'mon! Snap out of it, buddy. I need your help."
That last word seemed to click something in the Buizel's head. "Wh-huh?" he muttered, though his voice sounded strained and weak. He turned to look at Sparks, and it was clear to see the crushing despair in his expression. Sparks hadn't seen him look like this since he'd gotten the memory of his parents back.
"Buddy, I…I'm sorry this happened to you," he said compassionately, "It hurts me so bad to see something hurt you so deeply and I would give anything to make this all better for you, but right now there's nothing we can do about it. Right now we're in trouble, and I need your help if we're gonna get out of this unscathed. Please…"
Ziggy stared up at him silently for a few moments, a thousand emotions dancing in his eyes. Finally, though, he set his jaw and gave Sparks a small nod.
"Okay," Sparks said, "You're the closest one to me so I need you to take a look at this collar. Find out if you can see a way to get it off."
"A-all right," Ziggy said. The strain in his voice told Sparks that he was on the verge of tears, but nevertheless Ziggy adjusted himself as much as he could and leaned in to examine the collar. Sparks slowly turned his head this way and that, so Ziggy could see it from different angles. "There's…a button or something on the back," he eventually determined.
"Great," Sparks said with a nod, "Thank you. That's very helpful." He then turned his head up and gave Rico a meaningful look, and the Riolu nodded in response. Rico then got back to the agonizingly slow process of cutting through the rope with his bangle.
"…Sparks?" Ziggy murmured after a prolonged silence.
"Yeah, buddy?"
Ziggy was frowning heavily, and a single stray tear ran down his cheek. "What's…g-gonna happen to me?"
Sparks tilted his head slightly. "What do you mean?"
"I…" Ziggy sniffled. "I finally got used to being a shiny, and now I'm this… What're other Pokémon gonna do to me now…?"
"Nothing, if I have anything to say about it," Sparks replied firmly.
Ziggy just sighed forlornly.
A soft growl escaped Sparks' throat. "Listen, Zig," he said resolutely, "If I get out of this okay, I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure you live the happy, safe, fulfilling life that you deserve. I'm sick of the universe throwing crap at you, and this time it's just too far. You're a wonderful Pokémon, and anyone who can't see that just because of your fur colour is a complete and utter idiot."
"I-If you get out…?" Ziggy repeated in a trembling voice. He looked at Sparks' collar for a moment. "But I thought…"
"Ziggy, we don't know what'll happen. I was serious when I said earlier-"
"No!" Ziggy exclaimed, tears streaming from his eyes. "No, you can't!" he continued in a thankfully quieter voice, "You have to get out of here with us! You just have to! I can't…I…" He then scrunched up his muzzle and sobbed a few times. "I need you, Sparks…"
"Zig…"
"P-please…"
Sparks couldn't help the tears gently running down his own cheeks as well. "Ziggy, I…I don't want any of you to get hurt just because my stupid brain is messed up. It's much more important for all of you to be safe."
Ziggy shook his head, flinging more tears into the air. He seemed like he wanted to say more, but could only keep sobbing.
The ache Sparks felt in his heart was like a Mach Punch right to the gut. For a moment he just sat there quietly, his ears drooped, as he fought off his own urge to sob. "Listen, buddy…" he eventually croaked out.
Ziggy sniffled, but looked up to meet his gaze.
"Meeting you," Sparks said softly, "has been one of the most wonderful experiences of my whole life. This past half-year that I've spent with you has brought me more smiles and warm feelings than I usually get in a whole year. And part of that is because…well…you finally gave me a real purpose. You made me feel like my old self again."
"What do you mean…?" Ziggy asked.
"Ever since I returned to guild work, three or so years after the incident, I've hardly ever done anything that would be considered worthwhile by others working at the Rescue Society. My title and my badge were mostly ceremonial, to honour all the hard work I had done before my life crashed and burned. Sure I still did work every day, striving to help wherever I could, but it was a lot of simple work, a lot of errands, a lot of just tagging along to help out other, more competent guildmembers. As the years went on, Carmen was finding it harder and harder to find stuff for me to do…
"I've brought in homeless Pokémon off the street before, and worked with some of them to get them back on their paws. Usually, that was the most rewarding feeling I got from guild work, to the point that Carmen had to tell me to stop picking up every homeless Pokémon I found or the guild would get overcrowded. At first that's just what I was doing for you, but I quickly learned that you're something different. You're not a drunk, a drug addict, or someone who's made poor life choices, like most of the Pokémon I was picking up. You're a wonderful, bright-eyed Pokémon with a heart of gold that was trapped in an impossible situation, and…
"…And I'm just so happy that I was able to give you the help you needed. I'm happy I got to be your friend."
Ziggy stared at him in stunned silence for a few moments. Sparks could see out the corner of his eye that Terry and Rico were also looking over at them with empathetic frowns. Finally, Ziggy sniffled again before speaking. "Sparks…I meant what I said before…"
"Hm?"
"It's…why I'm like this now…" he said sadly, "I'm the one who asked him to use that stuff on me. If it means you won't get hurt, then…it's okay. I meant it, Sparks. And if it means getting you out of here safely, then…whatever it takes."
"Z-Ziggy…"
"I'm okay with it."
A loud voice suddenly cut through the air, interrupting Sparks and Ziggy's heartfelt conversation. "Right! Places everyone!" The group looked up and saw that Hilo had finally re-entered the room. He wore a determined look and an eager grin as he addressed the other scientists. "Time is running short, as you all know. If this is to happen, it needs to happen now, and I'm 90% confident in our precautionary work. The Pokémon up top may be insipid, but they are resourceful and sooner or later they will find a way through the building's shield."
Sparks sat up straight, ears perked. "What's happening?" he asked his companions, "Is he getting ready to open the portal and go through?"
"Sounds like it…" Terry said worriedly.
"Those of you here on the team," Hilo continued, "make your final preparations and ensure all final analyses are completed. Those of you not, you know where the shelter rooms can be accessed from. Thank you for your service to this ground-breaking project, sorry you'll be unable to join us, but at the very least we can keep you safe. Perhaps you may be able to salvage something from this world with your superior intellects…"
All of the other Pokémon then immediately started scurrying around. Most of them were quickly scribbling things down on papers, retrieving items and packing them into bags, and generally gathering around near the Nihilego enclosure. About a quarter of them instead made for the stairs leading up and soon disappeared from the underground room.
Sparks could feel the colour drain from his face. "He seems quite serious about the prospect of his device causing devastating damage…"
"We can't just get out of here, then," Terry hissed, "We have to stop them, or destroy the machine."
"I'm almost free…" Rico whispered.
Sparks was about to say something else, but his words died on his tongue when he noticed something that caught his eye. Hilo was holding something, a small object about the size and shape of a rock, that was casting a dim blue glow onto him. "Wait…" he murmured.
Hilo approached the Nihilego enclosure as a scientist stepped aside, and he began pressing on a keyboard situated next to one of the nearby screens. Seconds later, to Sparks' astonishment, a section of the wall next to the enclosure split apart with a faint hiss of steam, and then the two parts separated to reveal some sort of metallic contraption that was built into the wall. It was vaguely ring-shaped and was covered in tons of colourful wiring.
"Is that the portal device?" Terry asked.
Hilo approached the device, looking at it fondly, which seemed to support Terry's guess. Hilo held up the object he was holding towards the device, which also gave Sparks a better view of it, and some of the wires started glowing the same blue colour. There was a quiet snap sound and for just a brief second there was something strange and swirling in the middle of the device's ring. It looked rather similar to the now all-too-familiar holes in the middle of the air that had dropped Nihilego onto them.
Sparks' eyes locked onto the object again. "No way…"
"What?" Terry asked, "What is that?"
Hilo seemed to notice Sparks' staring. He gave a few short commands to some of the scientists who immediately got to work on the computers, while Hilo crossed half the distance of the room so that he was within earshot. "Recognize it?"
Sparks indeed recognized it. What Hilo was holding was the rock. The unusual item that had been residing in a safe in Danika's office for a long while. The weird, unexplainable thing that had ultimately been sent to Jiuji for testing.
"Your guild really was a thorn in my side," Hilo commented, "It took far too long and far too many hoops to get this thing out of your paws and into mine…"
"What…?" Sparks muttered, "You…figured it out, finally?"
Hilo actually laughed at this. "You poor simpleton," he commented, "There was nothing to 'figure out' in the first place. I knew what this was from the moment I had learned it was in the guild's possession."
"Sparks, what is that?" Rico asked.
"The 'secret project' Dani and I were working on right before we took Ziggy in…" Sparks revealed.
"This is an example of the very reason I was able to see into the Symbiont dimension in the first place," Hilo explained, "The walls between the dimensions are, evidently, not completely solid. Occasionally, debris can slip from one 'world' to another." He then held up the dimly glowing stone. "This is a chuck of 'rock', for lack of an official term, from one of those fascinating floating islands in the other realm. And, more importantly, it is quite a sizeable specimen, much larger than what usually comes through.
"As I mentioned, the first Nihilego portal was tricky and temperamental, honestly it could be called a fluke of success, and the difficulties we had recreating the experiment. A sizeable specimen such as this was exactly what we needed to get things stable enough for our portal experiments to be a true success. Thank you so much for discovering it, but curse you for hogging it for so long."
"You and Danika were studying a space rock?" Terry blurted out.
Hilo closed his eyes. "Ouch," he droned, "Your blade of ignorance cuts my very soul."
"And you needed to get it from us…" Sparks spoke in a slow tone, "…so that we wouldn't figure out what it was or what you were doing with it…"
"Didn't you happen to notice," Hilo continued, "that the first public Nihilego appearance in Edwards Memorial Park happened on the same day that this stone was transferred to Jiuji?"
Sparks' eyes went wide. "You…use it…?"
"If you prefer, you could call it a 'summoning stone'… fits in with other items such as Thunder Stone and Hard Stone. This stone is from the dimension we are trying to reach, and our device uses it to find a way back there. In layman's terms, at least…"
Hilo walked back over to the other scientists, while Sparks sat in silence for a minute and then growled in frustration. He swore and then shook his head. "That stupid rock was actually the key to letting those things come in and wreak havoc, and we just gave it to him."
"Calm down, Sparks," Terry said, "You didn't know."
"Urgh…! I can't believe it…"
Over on the other side of the room, Hilo had already placed the stone onto a small stand next to the ring shape. The stone started to glow more brightly, and some wires that were attached to the bottom of the stand lit up as well.
"Sparks?" Ziggy whispered, "What's he gonna do…?"
"Apparently he's gonna open a big portal and they're all gonna jump through…"
"Are…we gonna stop him?" Ziggy asked. "Should we?"
"Almost there…!" Rico hissed quietly.
"Step back everyone!" Hilo proclaimed, which recaptured their attention, "Running final baseline test. Three…two…one…!"
A loud crack sound, one which had become intimately familiar to the guild Pokémon, rang out through the room and caused Sparks' ears to ring. In the middle of the circular device built into the wall, a portal formed. It was just like the ones that had appeared before to release the Nihilego and the other red creature, appearing as an inverted funnel forming from a 'crack' in thin air. This one was even stranger because there was still a wall behind the device, yet the portal sunk back into the wall as if it wasn't even there.
Then there was a sudden loud thump. The four captives looked up in surprise and saw that the Nihilego, who had been remaining stagnant inside of its glass enclosure this entire time, had finally moved. It was now pressed up against the glass which was closest to the portal, twitching and writhing slightly.
Sparks recalled what Hilo had said about the Nihilego eventually getting forcibly 'sucked' back into its own dimension, and he wondered if this was happening right now and it was only the thick glass wall keeping it from entering the portal. Was this how Hilo had 'subverted' this from happening?
The Inteleon in question took a few cautious steps towards the portal and then leaned in, as if he were looking through a small window. He smiled at whatever he could see. "Beautiful as always…" he said, "I can hardly believe that we will be there within minutes assuming everything goes accordingly." He then pressed a key on the keyboard, there was another snap, and the portal dissipated.
"The mad 'mon's really gonna do it…" Terry mumbled.
"Right then!" Hilo announced eagerly, "Begin the initiation sequence, begin powering up the device. It is time, my colleagues!"
A bunch of the scientists then went to the device and the computers, started tinkering with a few things, and then the portal machine hummed to life. There was no snap sound or formation of a portal this time, but there was a steady drone that was slowly growing louder and more high-pitched. The rock on the stand was still glowing brightly.
Rico jumped up a moment later, the severed ropes of his binds falling to the ground. He didn't waste any time and hopped over towards Sparks, where he reached behind the Raichu's head and pressed the button on the back of his inhibitor collar. It popped open and fell from his neck. Immediately, Sparks could feel a tingling rush as electricity was once again allowed to flow through his body like it was naturally meant to do.
Unfortunately, Sparks was still tied up. Rico quickly glanced around and soon noticed a glass beaker sitting on a nearby table. He promptly picked it up and smashed it against the side of the table, shattering it completely. He then picked up the largest shard of glass he could see and zipped back over to Sparks. The Riolu used the sharp edge of the broken glass and started to cut through Sparks' ropes.
Some of the scientists had obviously noticed this sudden commotion and were yelling and running over towards them. Rico worked quickly, and perhaps a bit recklessly as a few drops of blood were spilled, and the ropes around Sparks' paws and tail were on the ground before anybody could reach them. Once he was free, Sparks hopped forward onto all fours. He concentrated on the scientists who were closest to reaching them and seconds later he unleashed a small but focused Thunder Wave at them. Three of the scientists were struck by the attack, who all seized up and immediately tumbled to the floor in paralysis. The other approaching scientists came to a halt, looking warily at what had happened to their cohorts.
"Let 'em have it, Sparks!" Rico shouted, who was already working on freeing Terry.
Sparks didn't need to be told twice. He deftly leapt onto a nearby table as sparks began to dance from his cheeks. He regarded the rest of the room's occupants and allowed electricity to build up in his cheek pouches. He couldn't remember the last time he'd needed to use Thunder Wave on this many foes at once, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. All he needed was a few short seconds to increase the move's power.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Hilo called out to him. The Inteleon was shouting so he could be heard, but didn't sound the least bit worried.
Sparks simply ignored him, and the blue bolts of electricity from his cheeks grew brighter and wilder. He growled and arched his back, ready to unleash a powerful localized Thunder Wave that would render everyone in the room besides his three friends paralyzed.
"I'm serious," Hilo shouted again, just as calmly, "You do understand that we are all standing nearby highly complex machinery working with volatile energies, right? Are you planning to blow every one of us to kingdom come, including yourself and your friends?"
"What?" Sparks blurted, ears and tail both perking up in surprise. The electricity from his cheeks died instantly.
Hilo chuckled to himself. "Yes, even a non-damaging Thunder Wave would wreak havoc on this device and would most certainly cause a dangerous overload of power. No matter how skilled you are, I highly doubt you'd be able to aim a Thunder Wave enough to hit all of us without at least one stray bolt striking the device. It is quite large, after all."
Now Sparks' ears drooped, and he immediately quelled all of the electricity he had built up. He knew that Hilo was right, as most of the scientists were gathered around the portal device. He would surely hit it if he tried to use Thunder Wave. He thought about the possibility that Hilo was simply bluffing, but Hilo had been fairly forthcoming during this entire escapade. Furthermore, Sparks simply couldn't risk causing a massive explosion like that. The mere thought of spilling so much blood nearly made him freeze up on the spot.
"Sparks!" Terry called out before hopping up on the table next to him. The Raichu glanced over and was thankful to see that Rico was now cutting through Ziggy's bonds.
"I'm okay," Sparks confirmed.
"What do we do?" Terry asked him, but Sparks didn't have an answer.
"The rest of you," Hilo then called out, addressing the scientists who had been running towards them earlier, "Come back over here and gather round. They won't try anything, don't worry."
"Keep thinking that!" Rico called out hotly while still working on Ziggy's ropes.
Sparks bit his lip and wracked his brain. "I…don't know," he admitted, "We're free from the rope, but we still can't get out of here. Even if Ziggy got into the vents, he probably wouldn't be able to get out before…whatever happens…"
"Can we just stop them, then?" Terry asked.
"There's still too many of them. Thunder Wave could handle them all, but in a normal fight they would overwhelm us…and if a fight broke out, there would still be a risk of making the device explode…"
"Well, we gotta do something!" Rico shouted. The Riolu was now standing next to the table, and Sparks glanced over to see Ziggy rubbing his wrists, now freed from the rope.
The rock was glowing brightly, and now the ring shape of the device was beginning to faintly glow a blue-purple colour as well. Hilo was looking at it excitedly, as were many of his colleagues. The hum of the machinery was getting louder, and Sparks knew it was because the device was powering up. The Nihilego was starting to get agitated again.
"Our badges!" Sparks said suddenly, "We need to find our badges. We can't handle this on our own. We need help, so we gotta find them."
Terry nodded in agreement. "I was looking for them while we were tied up, but I couldn't see them anywhere."
"Maybe they're upstairs?" Rico asked.
"Possibly," Sparks replied, "but I also feel like Hilo would want to keep them close to him, so he could keep an eye on them…"
SNAP!
Sparks winced, cringing from the bad memories associated with that sound, and looked over towards the machine again. He saw a portal being formed, again just like the typical ones that the Nihilego had appeared from, only this one seemed wider. It quivered and shimmered in the middle of the device's ring shape for a moment, but then it slowly started growing larger.
"Oh no!" Terry exclaimed.
"We don't have time…He's making the portal now!" Sparks bit his lip as a sudden great fear washed over him. He knew that this was the portal Hilo and his team were planning to travel through, based solely on its growing size. The portal was already wobbling in midair, unlike the previous ones he had seen, which suggested that this larger portal was less stable. "Once they go through…" Sparks murmured dreadfully, "Who knows what will happen…?"
"Look!" Hilo exclaimed to his compatriots, "Behold the glory!"
Terry gasped. "I…can see them!"
Sparks squinted and looked towards the portal, now that it was larger and wider. It was hard to see from a distance, but he could see a number of white roundish blob shapes floating about. Was this what Hilo had described? This other universe where the Nihilego all lived?
Then, there was a sudden loud blaring sound. Sparks winced and clamped his ears down to his skull. He looked around nervously, trying to find the source, and soon noticed that one of the computer screens was now displaying a vibrant red colour.
"Report?" Hilo asked curtly of the Gardevoir sitting at said computer.
"Sir, the power is increasing exponentially," she replied, "The device is not overloading, and connection of the portal is still stable and within parameters, but measurements of the dimensional energy are much greater than anticipated."
"But the energy is not overloading our device or our portal?"
The Gardevoir shook her head. "It's being dispersed, as per contingency plan alpha. We're measuring it thanks to our sensors."
"Hmm…We suspected something of the sort might happen…" Hilo mused, "Keep monitoring our portal to ensure it remains stable and traversable."
"Of course, Dr. Hilo."
Meanwhile, Sparks was really sweating by now, having heard everything the two had said. High levels of energy? That couldn't be good, even if he didn't understand it. That had to be the kind of thing that would lead to some sort of backfire or explosion that Hilo had threatened them with earlier.
Seconds later, there was a very short but noticeable earthquake. It was enough to knock Sparks off of his paws and he nearly fell right off the table. Panic coursed through his veins. Nothing else seemed amiss, and all of the other scientists only seemed intrigued by the earthquake. No further alarms were going off at the very least.
"Sir!" the Gardevoir spoke up again, "The energy readings are dropping back to expected levels. Now only 50% above."
"I presume they started going down at the moment of that tremor?" Hilo questioned.
"Correct. Now 25% above."
Hilo then surprisingly turned and looked over at Sparks and the others, an enigmatic grin on his face. "Well, this should be interesting for you lot…" he called over.
"What did you do?!" Rico demanded.
"The good news," he continued while completely ignoring the Riolu, "is that the projected massive explosion and/or destructive overload will not occur. The bad news, for you anyway, is that the alternative isn't exactly any better."
Sparks felt himself relax slightly. Even though Hilo was basically an evil mad scientist at this point, he was still a scientist and Sparks found himself oddly trusting of the Inteleon's words. "What was that quake?" he asked.
Hilo didn't answer and turned back towards the device, where the portal was growing larger and had nearly filled up the entire ring. He actually hopped in place a few times, looking like a giddy cub. "It is working! Most excellent, yes! We are nearly to new frontiers, everyone!"
"Energy levels nominal," the Gardevoir announced, "UB-01 portal stable and continuing to grow."
"And the others?" Hilo asked. Sparks' ears perked up.
"Detecting them all now. Most are approximately 50% the size of UB-01 portal, but not continuing to grow. Concentrated in approximately a 200km radius."
Sparks' cold sweat returned. "Wait…" he murmured, "What does he mean 'others'?"
"Others?" Terry spoke, "Other what?"
Rico looked confused for a moment, but then his ears perked and his eyes went wide. "Oh, no way…" he muttered. He then looked over at Hilo and shouted, "Hilo, you maniac, you didn't seriously just do that?"
"How many?" Hilo asked curiously, again ignoring the Riolu.
"47," the Gardevoir answered, "Entities detected from all of them."
Hilo then shrugged nonchalantly. "That's sure to cause a touch of mayhem, but it doesn't concern us. Our portal is nearly complete and will close behind us once we're through, so whatever happens out there will not be an issue to-"
An extremely loud CRASH suddenly rocked the entire building. Half a second later, part of the roof started to cave in. Before Sparks even had a chance to process what was happening, a rain of debris and a cacophony of noise obscured all his senses. For a brief moment there was nothing but pure chaos. Once it was over he looked up, to his astonishment, and saw that part of the roof had indeed been caved in. The roof of the underground room. There was a lot of dust in the air, but Sparks could definitely see glimpses of the sky through the ruined wreckage of the building that stood above them.
All of which paled in comparison to the brief glimpse he caught of the massively large black, mouth-shaped claw that quickly disappeared from view.
"…Unless that happens…" Hilo grumbled in frustration.
"Device undamaged!" one scientist shouted.
"Portal size reaching maximum in T-minus ten seconds!" another shouted.
"Hurry through once it's ready!" Hilo commanded, "Whatever has just attacked this building is none of our concern. Our portal is ready, and we will be safe on the other side."
Sparks' ears were still ringing and there was still tons of dust in the air, causing him to cough. He sat himself back up on shaky paws, gave his head a little shake, and finally took in his surroundings. Firstly, he quickly looked and saw that his three companions were still next to him and unharmed. Then he noticed that a huge pile of stone, metal and wrecked debris had fallen into the middle of the room, creating a massive pile that cut off most of his view of Hilo and the others. Looking up, he saw the hole in the roof, which was actually the 'real' lab's floor. Something had just attacked the building with such a powerful strike that it smashed through both the roof and the floor of the upper building.
"What the hell is happening?!" Terry shouted, panic quickly creeping into his voice.
"He opened other portals!" Rico shouted, "His machine thingy or whatever didn't just open the big portal there, it opened a bunch of other portals in the city!"
Terry's face went white and he looked over at Sparks in shock.
"That's what it seems like…" Sparks growled, "They're probably dumping more unknown creatures out there. One of them probably just attacked this building."
"N…No…!" Terry whimpered.
There was a sudden purple flash that caused all of them to cry out in surprise. When it disappeared, there was suddenly a new Pokémon standing in front of them all.
"Ah!" the Beeheyem exclaimed, "We're finally through. The psychic shield is down!"
Sparks recognized him immediately as Yang, a member of the guild. Not only was he wearing a guild badge, but Sparks had worked with him before. The Raichu realized that the guild, or Yang specifically, must have been trying to teleport in ever since they had been captured.
Yang immediately took notice of the destruction that surrounded him. Eyes wide, he looked straight at Sparks and said, "I'm getting you out! Who's first?"
"Ziggy!" Sparks replied immediately and pointed at the Buizel sitting on the ground nearby.
"What…?" Ziggy spoke in a wavering voice, "But-"
"Don't argue!" Sparks cut him off, and then said to Yang, "He needs medical attention immediately! He's been injected with an unknown substance. Get him to Kandice or anyone and then come back for us."
Ziggy's look softened. He briefly glanced down at himself and again looked at his multi-coloured fur. "Sparks…" he then said, but trailed off.
"Just get him to safety!" Sparks shouted to Yang, who floated right over to Ziggy. Before anybody could say anything else, Yang reached down and touched Ziggy's shoulder. Then in another purple flash, both the Beeheyem and Buizel were gone.
Following this was another crash that rocked the building. Only a bit of debris came down this time, but it was no less worrying. From across the room, Hilo swore loudly. "Zhang!" he shouted, "We can't afford to risk this. Contingency plan Sierra!"
A Pokémon raised their arms up, though Sparks could only tell that it was someone wearing a lab coat. Above their arms, a transparent pink bubble seemed to form. After a brief pause, it suddenly expanded at an exponential rate. Sparks winced as it passed over him, but he suffered no ill effects.
"Psychic field in place and holding," the Pokémon announced.
"…Aw, fudge…" Terry grumbled.
"This is it!" Hilo then proclaimed, "The portal is ready! I hope all of you are as well!" There was some muted cheering and words of praise that followed. "A beautiful world of fresh, new discoveries awaits us! A wonderful world filled with wonderful creatures, all so pristine and perfect, free from the blemishes of this world like ACPs and the like…"
Rico growled. "Sparks, what do we do about them? Do we stop them?"
"No," Sparks said as he shook his head, "If those lunatics want to jump through a portal and get themselves killed, let 'em. We need to figure out how to get out of here and into the city, 'cus they're gonna need all the help they can get. And with that psychic field in place now, Yang's not coming back…"
"At least we got Ziggy out," Terry commented.
Sparks sighed softly. "Yes," he said, "Yes, I'm glad about that." He then glanced at his two companions. "If we don't all make it out of here, I just want you guys to know you've been wonderful friends and I'm glad I got to know you both."
Terry looked up at him shocked, but Rico just nodded resolutely and said, "Likewise, Raz."
"Now, let's get the hell out of here…"
Another massive crash rocked the building.
In a flash of purple, Ziggy's paws touched the ground and he wobbled dizzily on the spot. Completely disoriented, he promptly fell onto his backside with a groan.
"First teleport?" Yang asked, "It's just dizziness, you're fine."
Ziggy held a paw up to his forehead, shook his head, and then took in his surroundings. He saw that he was in the front courtyard of the Rescue Society building, the area with the main gate and the requests board, and was sitting looking up at the building itself. His mind was briefly boggled at the idea that a Pokémon had been able to teleport him so far away in mere seconds.
He glanced up to Yang so he could ask some questions, but the Beeheyem was enveloped in another purple flash. Ziggy knew that he was going back to rescue the others. However, when the flash disappeared, Yang was still there.
"…Seriously?!" he exclaimed in frustration.
"What?"
"There's something else now blocking my teleport. I can't get back in…"
Ziggy gasped and scrambled to stand up. "B-but, Sparks! A-and-"
Yang touched his badge and spoke into it. "Kandice! Need you in the courtyard immediately!"
"Coming!" the Audino's voice replied.
Ziggy was about to speak again, but then he heard the distant sound of a loud, mighty roar that immediately sent shivers up his spine. It was followed by a loud smashing sound. Ziggy looked over his shoulder in the direction of the sound, and then he froze up completely at what he saw. He very slowly turned around completely, and took a few cautious steps towards the open gates. As Ziggy knew quite well by this point, the Rescue Society was located on a tall cliff that overlooked the city and provided a view of almost the entire cityscape when standing at the gates.
So, Ziggy had no trouble seeing the havoc and chaos that was presently wreaking destruction across the fair city, compliments of the many gigantic, mysterious and terrifying unknown creatures.
