Almost everyone in Team Plasma wore similar outfits to signify their allegiance to their shared beliefs. There are only a small group of three who remained an exception to this unspoken rule, yet nobody would ever dare to make them don the organisation's outfit. They are Ghetsis' personal guards and the most powerful trainers in Team Plasma, the Shadow Triad.
Nobody knows who they really are and how they came to work for Ghetsis. All they knew was that the trio with obvious shinobi origins are some of the deadliest and fearsome trainers to ever grace Unova and they do not have a good temper. It was why everyone respectfully shuffled out of the way when they spotted one of the trio walking down the corridor of the interior of the Plasma Frigate.
Said member of the Shadow Trio had a destination in mind, which was the bridge where the captain of the frigate steers the ship to their next destination. Ghetsis' dream is to rule over Unova and for that to happen the heart of the region must fall into their grasp. Ghetsis must gain control of Castelia City or his dreams will never come true.
"How much longer to Castelia?" He asked the captain when he reached the bridge, or more commonly known as the helm room among them. Ghetsis is now closer than ever before in making his dreams come true and the anticipation is making him an impatient man. He's so close in making his visions a reality.
"In about two hours, sir. This is the fastest that we can go without alerting our presence to the League."
That Shadow left, believing that Ghetsis should be able to wait it out for another two hours. In the meantime he could go and check on how the preparations for their next big conquest is coming along.
His feet brought him to the Kyurem Room, the room that housed the legendary third dragon and the source of infinite power fueling the Plasma Frigate. It's simply mind blowing how a pokemon could produce such a vast amount of power even in its dormant state. If this is the amount of power it passively produces in its slumber, what would happen if it ever awakens?
It excites and scares him both at the same time.
"Colress, update," the Shadow intoned emotionlessly the moment he stepped into the room. The self-serving scientist was hard at work at his terminal, furiously typing things into the computer with his assistants running harriedly from place to place to get their jobs done.
"The weapon will be ready before we reach our destination. We will be freezing Castelia next, correct?"
"Yes," the Shadow affirmed and his eyes briefly glanced at the magnemite idly hovering near the scientist placed in charge of their greatest weapon. That man does have a love for that species of pokemon, having numerous magnemites and their evolutionary lines in his possession.
The subconscious instinct ingrained into the Shadow from years of harsh training enabled him to easily sidestepped the assistant who tripped and very nearly crashed into him while passing by. That assistant fell onto the floor, the vials that he was carrying broke and shattered and caused the contents within to spill all over the place. The pungent scent of the chemicals nearly made the Shadow wobble on his feet the moment it was exposed to the air.
What the fuck was that?
"Oh for goodness'- JACOB! That's the cryo booster! We don't have many of those in our inventory for you to keep dropping them like that!" Colress scolded that clumsy assistant, his furious voice could be heard loud and clear for all to hear. "Go get another batch and this time, DO NOT DROP IT!"
"Y-Yes sir! I'm sorry!" The assistant which Colress referred to as Jacob anxiously apologised over and over again before scurrying off to do as instructed. The Shadow quickly shifted himself away from that chemical mess, the horrible smell of those chemicals were so bad that even someone like him is now tearing up uncontrollably and could barely see what's ahead of him.
"Sorry about that, that assistant of mine is quite brilliant but he is also quite a klutz. Smells horrible, eh? Who would have thought that the crucial component that is necessary for the Kyurem Cannon to function properly to smell that bad? You might want to visit the restroom to wash the smell off your nose or you will be tearing up the entire day, I'm speaking from personal experience."
"Ugh, shouldn't have come here," the Shadow grumbled under his breath but followed Colress' suggestion anyway. He's about to head into battle in two hours' time and there's no way he could battle effectively if he's going to be constantly tearing up for the entire day.
How bad was the smell? Uncontrollable tearing aside, that assault on his olfactory system was so impactful that he's barely walking in a straight line as it is and he could barely think straight. It might have been his imagination but were the lights blinking? And why does it look like the walls were warping into something strange? He would need to check with Colress later if there are any hallucinogenic chemicals in that cryo booster. This isn't normal.
He stumbled into the nearest restroom and impatiently pressed on the tap to get the water that he so desperately needs right now to be dispensed. He wasted no time pulling down his mask and splashed the water all over his face, trying his darnest best to clean his nose while he's at it because that pungent smell is still lingering within his nostrils and damn if he's going to head into battle like that.
Was it his imagination or did the water smell like roses? That's not possible. Once he's done washing up he really has to go back and check with Colress if this cryo booster had any compounds in it that might be hallucinogenic. If there are, he needs to find an antidote to it as soon as possible.
He lifted his face up, just in time to spot his reflection in the mirror. His reflection wasn't the only thing he spotted because he also spotted that same clumsy assistant that resulted in his current pitiful plight standing right behind him.
There was no longer any clumsy or subservient look in his eyes. Instead, what replaced that was a cold sharp gaze that screamed danger.
His mind was too addled to really compute or comprehend why that assistant was there of all places, and by the time he realised something was wrong he felt a sharp acute pain stabbing into his neck. He tried to struggle, to yell, to reach for his pokeballs but an invisible force was restraining his limbs while that assistant had a hand over his mouth, resulting in his screams becoming an inaudible muffled moan. They remained that way until the Shadow slowly bled out, his struggles quickly weakening until he eventually remained still and lifeless.
Even in death, he had no idea what happened or how it happened.
"So you are an assassin," Colress remarked from where he was observing the entire proceedings from the entrance of the restroom, now hidden from view thanks to zoroark's illusions. He had a few guesses to Magician's true expertise ever since they first met but this is truly the first time he saw him at work.
The invisible force that held the dead Shadow in place quickly came to view. A greninja revealed itself and retracted its long and flexible tongue that were restraining his limbs, letting the dead body fall callously onto the floor and even kicked at it in sheer hatred. A spiritomb popped out from Jayce's shadow and began to slowly feast on the corpse, the sound of crunching bones and tearing muscles too much for Colress to look at it.
The Plasma Frigate had many security cameras monitoring every crook and cranny of the ship. Jayce had a porygon-z that allowed them to easily monitor anyone that might be visiting the Kyurem Room while they secretly plotted the destruction of the Kyurem Cannon behind the backs of all the other assistants in the same room. They spotted a member of the Shadow Triad coming before he arrived, and they both quickly decided to put up an act.
It was an impromptu act because neither of them had any real idea what the other party was about to do, but they managed to cooperate with each other well enough to herd the Shadow to somewhere where they can quietly remove him from the picture. Each of the Shadows of the Shadow Triad are powerful trainers when you are facing them in direct combat, but the value of an assassin lies in their ability to end their opposition before their targets ever had a chance of drawing out their weapon.
"What was in that vial anyway? Some hallucinogenic compound?"
"Why? You want me to have a taste of it? All you have to do is to ask, I still have spares."
"Oh you jest. You still need me to take out the Kyurem Cannon," the sound of crunching bones and tearing flesh finally ended and Colress mustered enough courage to take a quick glance of the aftermath. What was left of their victim is a pool of blood that greninja easily flushed down a drainage hole with a simple Water Gun.
There, no more traces of their target, like he had never been here before.
"The cameras didn't catch us, I hope?"
"Zoroark hid us with his illusions. By the time somebody actually watches the footage and realises something is amiss, we should be done with our job here."
"Good enough," Colress was satisfied with Jayce's answer. "I'm going back to the Kyurem Room so what are you going to do now?"
In response, Jayce's figure shimmered and warped and Colress watched in fascination as the Magician transformed into an identical copy of the man they just killed right in front of his eyes. The illusions created by a zoroark who mastered its Illusion ability is always such a feast for the eyes.
Magician indeed.
"Something that I should have done a long time ago," Jayce answered, now donning the image of the Shadow and holding out his palm to him.
"Voice modulator. I know you have it."
"You are a demanding one," Colress did as Jayce requested and passed over a voice modulator that Jayce strapped around his neck where his vocal cords are, hidden under the shroud of zoroark's illusions. "Not too sure if we will be seeing each other again but good luck to you, Magician."
"Don't get yourself hanged, Hanged Man."
The agreed meeting point is at a secluded spot in between Opelucid City and the Pokemon League at the northeastern part of the region. This was where Jayce had told Leticia to meet with the people he will be linking her up with to undertake this rescue operation. Like he said, it will be difficult to advance their plans if Team Plasma decides to use hostages against them. A hostage situation is not something the League would want on their hands, especially now.
The meeting spot is within the lush wilderness in this part of the region. She had brought along EDGE operatives and trainers working under her family along, but the number of people she counted on the other party only amounted to two.
"Is that your people, doc?"
"Yup, that's them," the doctor confirmed with a nod of his head before calling out to both individuals. "Avatar, Gracidea! Over here!"
The people who the doctor referred to as Avatar and Gracidea turned their way and joined them. Appearances wise, they don't seem to amount to much. Both are very much average in size and build. Avatar's a man and Gracidea a woman as far as Leticia could tell. Both wore metal masks over their faces and a full body combat suit. Avatar had a yanmega by his side while the woman had a hitmonlee.
At first glance, there seems to be nothing special about them. However, these are the people that Jayce had chosen to enlist the help of through the recommendations of the doctor so she's not going to underestimate them.
"Doc," Avatar greeted the doctor, "we found it."
"Great," the doctor clapped his hands once in glee. Finally, some sweet vengeance against the Plasmas for nearly freezing him over in Opelucid.
"You know what we are here for," Gracidea reminded the doctor. The services of hitmen of her and Avatar's calibre do not come cheap. The only reason why they agreed to assist the doctor when he asked was because he is able to provide them the assistance for their own individual gains that is difficult to find anywhere else.
"Don't worry, I am a man of my word," the doctor assured them before turning to introduce Leticia. "This is Leticia Dandolos. She will be leading the EDGE forces and her own trainers in this joint operation."
"Just to be clear, our contract does not include babysitting. If she dies in there because she's weak it's none of our business. We are not responsible for her lives and her men," Avatar drew the line immediately. "No offence to you, lady, but we are mercs and this is how we operate. We only complete what the job description entails."
"None taken," Leticia replied coolly although in her mind she was already thinking of the many ways he would poison this man to death, but there is a much bigger picture to consider right now. If taking a little insult is able to help turn the tides of the battle in Unova's favour she could take them with a smile on her face all day long.
The doctor is not a combatant and so he promptly left the area after his job of introducing both parties to each other was done. Avatar led the way forward as Leticia and her soldiers followed behind. Avatar struck up a conversation, although whether it's because he's feeling chatty or if he felt a need to inform them of certain things remains to be seen.
"I believe the Dandolos are already aware, but the Plasmas had a huge underground network of tunnels spanning across cities. I heard that it was first discovered in a raid at a pokemart in Nimbasa."
"We are aware," Leticia affirmed. That was the operation that her mother, Elesa, and Jayce were on. It was how they first discovered the existence of such a tunnel. "But Team Plasma had collapsed the tunnels to the point that it's impossible to continue to map them out. We were unable to figure out where they led to."
"They lead to the castle," Avatar informed. "You see the castle behind the League headquarters? It's aboveground now but it used to be buried deep underground under the League headquarters for years, the tunnels were how Ghetsis deployed his men to various towns and cities undetected in their early days until they built the influence needed to be able to operate boldly in public. At the very least, that was what we discovered. We found a section of the tunnel network that wasn't blocked off, so what we are going to do is to dig underground until we reach that tunnel and use it to infiltrate the castle from below. It's also how we are going to make our escape later. If you have enough manpower I would suggest deploying some of your men to guard the tunnel once we reach underground later. It would be bad if our only method of escape were to be sabotaged."
Avatar came to a stop when he reached a specific spot and took out a pokeball. A click of the release button later, a garchomp appeared in the space before him. The garchomp turned its head back to its trainer for confirmation and upon seeing Avatar giving a nod of his head, started digging the ground at a rapid speed.
A tunnel leading downwards soon came to being and everyone followed Avatar's lead. Soon, the tunnel that garchomp dug connected to another huge tunnel.
"This is the tunnel dug by Team Plasma. It's not being used ever since their activities started to grow bold enough to outright challenge the Unova League, so I'm not too worried about us being discovered, but station a few people here just in case."
Leticia motioned for two of her trainers to do just that. While Avatar and her are not necessarily allies, his words do hold some logic to it. Avatar continued to move ahead and it wasn't long before they reached the spot right underneath the castle which had sprouted right behind the Unova League. They are currently in an impossibly huge cavern and while they could climb the pillars that rose the castle up to the surface and breach the place from there, it's still too large a distance to realistically climb unless they have flying type pokemon to fly them there, but they do not have enough of such pokemon at the moment.
"You said we can infiltrate the castle from beneath this way, but how exactly are we going to do that? Locating the hostages will take time too."
"Let us worry about that," Avatar took on that job and released a meowstic, who immediately closed its eyes and began to map out the entire place with its psychic abilities. "Garchomp, ready?"
Garchomp gave an affirmative grunt upon its trainer's command.
"Double Team, Substitute."
Numerous illusory copies of garchomp began to fill the place, so many that Leticia couldn't tell which was a Double Team and which was a Substitute. Just as everyone was confused as to how this would be of any help, Avatar gave his next command.
"Earthquake."
Leticia wouldn't be alarmed if it was just an ordinary Earthquake. Clearly, that wasn't. To her surprise, each and every of garchomp's illusory copy were able to use Earthquake to the same effect as the original, which just doesn't make sense. Copies created through Double Team are supposed to be nothing more than illusory copies that are incapable of using any moves like the user does. Copies created through Substitute can be physically touched and skilled users of that move could even mould the shape and colouration of the substitute to look like an exact replica of it but similar to copies created through Double Team, they are supposedly incapable of using any moves like the user does.
Avatar allowed himself to smirk under the cover of his mask in contrast to the shock that everyone else was feeling. That is what they would get for belittling him, there is a reason why his alias in the underworld is "Avatar". His pokemon's mastery of Double Team and Substitute is the reason for it.
At its very core, Double Team is simply a move to allow the user to move rapidly to create illusory copies of itself. The move itself doesn't allow the user to create "real" copies of the original, so to speak, but Avatar had always been intrigued about the workings behind how Double Team worked. It is a move that will allow a pokemon, no matter how slow, to instantly create illusory copies of itself through near instantaneous high speed movement. In his opinion, it is a very underrated and underused move that has so many possibilities waiting to be discovered.
As for Substitute, it is a move that allows the user to create an identical tangible copy of itself such that masters of it can fool others into thinking that it's the original. There were even records that pokemon who mastered Substitute were able to remotely control the actions of their copy with limited success. To Avatar, these were proof that there is value in learning and achieving absolute mastery of this move, something that very few in the world would set out to do.
So what if a pokemon mastered Double Team to the point that it became so fast that they could never be hit, and also created Substitutes with such realism and absolute control over it such that the original is able to control each and every copy to move and operate independently? Each of his pokemon could theoretically be able to become a one-man army, and a trainer with such a pokemon team could theoretically turn a small team into an entire legion. The possibility of achieving such a combination move was what he set out to find out and how he eventually became a member of Tarot for the mastery of two basic moves.
Like Gracidea, he too desires to be offered a seat among the monsters of the world, the Cards of Tarot. While he had not yet been acknowledged, many members of the organisation already view him as a possible candidate to one day find himself among the ranks of monsters when the Cards had to reshuffle their deck once more. The same goes for Gracidea. This was why they agreed to help the doctor, because he had agreed to put in a good word for them to the High Priestess the next time a position is up for grabs once again. It is an open secret that the High Priestess is the de facto leader of the organisation in the absence of their true leader.
"Dragonbreath, Flamethrower, sink it."
Several copies of garchomp did as instructed, with some firing Dragonbreath and a few others torching the foundations of the castle with their attacks. If climbing up to breach the castle from below is not possible, why not sink it and get it to come down?
The castle tilted with a crash and started to sink further and further back into the earth, now low enough for them to realistically reach it with the help of their pokemon. The Plasmas in the sunken castle were starting to flood out to enact revenge on whoever had dared to sink their holy castle back to the depths of the earth once more.
"Meowstic, are you done?!" Avatar called out and meowstic replied with a determined meow. Great, now they can go all out.
"All of you follow meowstic, she knows where the hostages are! Gracidea and I will hold back the Plasmas!" Avatar called out and released his team as Gracidea did the same. Leave the hero work to the Unova forces, it's their job to rescue their own people in the first place anyway. He'd rather do the fighting and he's sure Gracidea is feeling the same.
"You really could have told us of your brilliant plan sooner," Leticia chastised the mercenary for his reckless plan but they had no other choice at this point but to push on forward since the gears had already been set into motion. "EDGE, prepare to breach the castle!"
A humongous steelix was released from one of the EDGE teams and the operatives quickly rode on its back, the steelix easily breaching the castle simply by ramming its head into the wall with meowstic giving them directions.
"You still okay?" He asked Gracidea once it's just them alone, well aware of her unique… ahem, condition.
"Just stay clear of me later and you will be fine," she rasped, her body trembling uncontrollably as if struggling to keep herself in control.
"Ghetsis is not here," Gracidea noted when she saw none of the Sages nor their leader among the Plasmas now charging straight at them. Wonder where they went?
"That's a good thing for us," Avatar replied. "Florges, Gogoat! Seed Bomb!"
A normal Seed Bomb is simply slamming a hard-shelled seed with explosive force at the target, but each and every of Avatar's pokemon are true masters in their ability to control their copies to act and operate individually, with each copy acting as real as the original and able to use moves independently from the original. Under the combined effects of Double Team and Substitute, what seemed to be a normal Seed Bomb turned into artillery hellfire that swiftly softened up their foes.
"Chatot, Boomburst."
Gracidea gave her first command and the chatot that had been obediently perching on her shoulder took off into the air. Once it reached a suitable altitude it opened its beak and from it came an explosive sonic attack that swept through the rank and file grunts that tried to overrun them with their sheer numbers. It packed an incredible amount of power for such a small pokemon that are more often kept around as companions rather than battlers.
"Not bad," Avatar whistled in appreciation and turned back to find Gracidea, only to find that she had already disappeared. Where'd she go?
He received his answer when he saw how bodies were sent flying up in the mess ahead. Had she given in to her bloodlust already? Damn, that's quick.
"Fine, let's just get this over and done with," Avatar rolled his shoulders with a sigh in the company of his pokemon. "Just don't accidentally hit her or her pokemon, pals. You know how much it takes to shake her off our tail if we pissed her off."
With that, Avatar broke into a sprint and charged into the fray with his pokemon. If they couldn't decimate the foes in front of them on their own they would never be good enough to be a Card of Tarot. He had been eyeing that position the moment he was inducted into the organisation.
He had always been looking up to the heroes and monsters that made up the Cards of Tarot. One day, he will be among their ranks as well.
He will be one that is able to walk alongside legendary figures as their equal.
Name: Jayce Dandolos
Age: 23
Pokemon Team:
1. Ninetales, female
2. Exeggutor, male
3. Weavile, male
4. Honchkrow, female
5. Umbreon, male
6. Hydreigon, male
7. Drapion, female
8. Zoroark, male
9. Bisharp, male
10. Shiftry, male
11. Porygon-Z, (Nosy), genderless
12. Greninja, male
13. Spiritomb, male
14. Pikachu, (Grumpy), male
Name: ?
Alias: Avatar
Age: ?
Pokemon team:
1. Yanmega
2. Garchomp
3. Meowstic
4. Florges
5. Cloyster
6. Gogoat
Name: ?
Alias: Gracidea
Age: ?
Pokemon team:
1. Hitmonlee
2. Kecleon
3. Lickilicky
4. Lopunny
5. Bibarel
6. Ditto
7. Chatot
