One down, two more to go.
Avenging Asher had been one of the main reasons why I decided to head for Unova after I left Indigo behind. Now, I had finally taken a concrete step forward in avenging him. Since there are three people involved in his murder I just have to repeat the assassination process two more times, then I will move on to Ghetsis.
Yup, let's not forget about that delusional madman who thinks he can take over the world. While it's very worrying that he had proved himself capable of capturing two Legendary pokemon I have faith that there will be people who are equally capable that are able to face him at his worst. His actions had antagonised the Cards of Tarot, that's one. Then there's the unknown dark type pokemon which Aline had loaned to me on behalf of Tarot. I still have no idea what it may be beyond understanding that it has to be a dark type from what my ability is telling me. For my own safety I am going to put it on stasis in its pokeball until things really go south, but I am sure that this pokemon, whatever it may be, has to be absurdly powerful enough for even Tarot to resort to using a Master Ball to capture it. That's two.
And in the very worst case scenario there's still Mewtwo. While he's currently at who-knows-where and probably exploring unknown weird corners of the world I am confident in his psychic abilities, that if I truly tried reaching out to him through telepathy he could hear me and come to my side swiftly. He is a pokemon born and created for combat and I have faith that he is more than capable of exchanging blows with Unova's legendary dragons. That's three.
So, despite the bleak outlook looming over the region I don't think this is the end of the world.
I will admit that maybe I have dulled. I am definitely not as sharp as before when I was still in my prime. However, certain things that have been a major part of your life for years will stay. I just have to pick it up once again.
"How much longer?"
"About fifteen minutes-ish. If we want to crash a ship powered by a legendary pokemon it's best to do so away from any town or city," I heard Colress' reply in my earpiece using the comms powered by his magnemites. From what he told me the magnemite species are capable of generating strange radio waves that only their species can generate and decipher. Taking advantage of that trait, it's possible to set up a secret channel using clusters of magnemites and their evolutionary forms if you positioned them at key strategic areas to ensure that they can receive each other's signals and that was how Colress set up a secret communication channel between the two of us. He had magnemites hidden all over the frigate.
I will not be stingy with my praise. His idea to expand upon a pokemon's natural characteristics is stunningly brilliant. Tarot truly only accepts the best into their ranks and it wouldn't be nice if I couldn't keep up with his performance.
Don't get me wrong, I still don't trust Tarot a whole lot. In fact, I am wary of their true goals, whatever it may be. However, that does not stop me from appreciating and respecting their strength because I understand just how difficult it is to have an organisation flourish in the underworld on an international scale.
Tarot gave me the title of Magician. I'm not sure if that was intentional or it was simply a coincidence that the only available slot then was the Magician, but it's a fitting title for me. Magicians are performers of tricks and illusions and I have plenty of those. I'm sure people had experienced it before, the amazement of how a magician made the impossible seemingly possible with their tricks, only to stare in disbelief when the crux of the trick was revealed and then think to yourself how could I be fooled by that?
What people don't usually think about isn't how they were fooled by those tricks, but why they could be fooled like that. It's really simple, actually. All it takes is a little misdirection and playing on people's subconscious assumption on their common sense. It's actually the same when it comes to commanding dark types when you rely on them to trick your foes.
Colress said that we have about fifteen minutes. It's enough.
"I'm going to start."
"Sure, go ahead, but I'm telling you in advance, I'm going to get out of here the moment I've played my part."
"I expected that. Remember to get those elders involved once you are out of here."
"Have some faith in me, of course I will. So, um, good luck?"
We ended our conversation and I headed to the bridge. It's been a long time since I had to undertake an infiltration ops with such high stakes and the infiltration into the P2 Laboratory was a reminder about how much my skills had rusted in this department. I'm actually kind of thankful that I had the P2 Laboratory to use as a refresher before I infiltrated the frigate.
What made the Rocket's Exterminator so fearsome was the fear of the unknown. The reason the Exterminator was an unknown was because nobody lived to tell the tale and those that did could not remember the crucial details. Why was that so?
The Rocket's Exterminator is a master of Hypnosis, a move created for manipulation.
I hadn't been relying on Hypnosis as I rightfully should ever since I left my identity as a Rocket behind. This time, I don't mind slipping back into my Exterminator mode.
I arrived at the bridge and a quick observation of the place confirmed that there's no one here that could stop me from manipulating the people here as I please.
"Hypnosis."
Spiritomb easily caught everyone with Hypnosis the moment it emerged. I released ninetales and exeggutor out as well to assist spiritomb once spiritomb got the groundwork done by having them in his grasp before the other two took over. Ninetales and exeggutor can take over executing the finer details from here.
"Chart a course for White Forest," I informed the hypnotised captain and instructed Nosy to slip into the frigate's command system to forcefully take control of the ship while we were at it. Nosy will ensure that our little performance will not be interrupted until it's too late. Colress and I had agreed that given the original route that the frigate was set for, White Forest will be the best place to crash the ship to minimise damage to the region in the worst assumption that the crash will release an astronomical amount of power due to the frigate using a legendary pokemon as its power source. The White Forest is a secluded forest in eastern Unova far enough from civilisation and near enough to Castelia such that nobody will realise that the frigate had strayed off its original course until it's too late. Hence, it's the perfect destination for our plans.
'Master Jayce, someone is approaching the bridge,' exeggutor informed me and I took a look at the security footage at a nearby screen. Ah, just the person that I'm looking for, another member of that accursed Shadow Triad.
"Assassinate," I passed down instructions to my pokemon with purposeful flicks of my fingers. I would never forget how outclassed we were in the face of their combined might back at the Dreamyard. Yes, I'll admit, we are most likely unable to come close to defeating them in a direct battle. In that very aspect, they are far more accomplished Dark Specialists than I am and it is something that I should look to improve upon as a Dark Specialist. Add their mastery of Resonance into the picture and I still couldn't see a way to defeat them in battle. They had me beat in the combat department, hands down. I will acknowledge that.
But there's no rule stating that I should play the game by their rules. My team is a team of assassins and spies first and foremost and combatants second. The whole point of having an assassin is to have someone that can end your opponent even before they could unleash their power. Why fight your opponent when they are at their full power if you can kill them before they reach their full strength? An assassin would never consider how much more powerful their opponents are as compared to them. In fact, most of the time it's a given that their targets will be a considerably powerful figure because why else would anyone need an assassin otherwise?
What assassins are concerned about is if they can kill their targets faster than their target can react and kill them in return.
As a trio, the Shadow Triad had close to no weaknesses that I can exploit. So, I will not face them when they are together but pick them off individually one by one. Their greatest strength lies in their perfect teamwork but that was already removed from the picture when I assassinated their first member.
I did one last quick check that zoroark still had me disguised as their dead member and that he had also hid the entire team from view as well. With zoroark's illusion and the voice modulator Colress had given me I'm confident that I am able to fool this second Shadow long enough for my pokemon to do the assassinating. I will be the bait that draws the attention of the target, my pokemon will be the magician to pull off the trick for this performance.
It's all about playing the game of misdirection.
The door opened. The second Shadow entered the room.
"So here you are bro, I've been trying to look for you," the second Shadow spoke the moment he spotted me standing beside the ship's captain and seemingly looking at the view of the sea of clouds through the reinforced glass.
"Something happened?" I asked, deciding to go for an approach where I could speak as little as possible to reduce my chances of being exposed as much as possible. I am not too sure about the personality of the dead person that I am impersonating so I have to be very careful about how I hold myself and the words I say.
"Nah, you just don't usually disappear on us like that so I thought I would come and find you. It's kinda boring until we touch down at Castelia," my target flippantly waved his hand to dismiss my concern and I took this opportunity to scrutinise every detail I could possibly observe. Where his pokeballs were held, any possible hidden weapons on him, where he placed his hands, where he was currently positioned in the room, if there are any pokemon accompanying him; they are all important details that could determine the success or failure of an assassination.
"Things will be fun then, just like how it was for Lacunosa," I "agreed", my fingers subtly curling then relaxing in a set pattern out of his sight.
"Hah, it'll be much more fun than the shit we did at Lacunosa!" My target exclaimed. The greatest threat to my assassination would be the accelgor accompanying my target but the good news is that it's not on high alert. It hasn't recognised that I am not part of the trio yet. In a sense, I'm lucky today, because if it were a pokemon that is able to identify individuals through the sense of smell my disguise would have been seen through rather quickly.
"Remember what we did there? Good times," I kept up the conversation to keep his attention away from our surroundings. Anytime now.
"Of course I did. Not everyday we could fight a skilled Dark Specialist. Hmph, Dandolos, masters of dark types… In the end they are nothing but talk. Hey, if we could kill that little Dandolos do you reckon we could take on Grimsley?"
"You really want to know what I think?" I put my hands in my illusory "pockets" and secretly prepared another of those syringes that Leticia gave me before we parted as a precautionary measure. My target nodded, curious to know my answer.
"You don't stand a chance against my old man."
Everything happened at once, just as I had purposefully timed and waited for my pokemon to get into position. Ninetales caught the accelgor in a Hypnosis to allow bisharp to cleave it into two with his bladed arm. Exeggutor swiftly destroyed the switches of my target's pokeballs with a mental thought and removed it from him using his psychic powers. Greninja physically restrained him from behind, not allowing him to move his arms and legs using his limbs and flexible tongue while Grumpy gave him a shock for extra insurance, powerful enough to render a human temporarily powerless but not powerful enough to harm greninja.
A merciless pull from greninja's webbed hand easily dislocated our target's jaw, preventing him from making noises to attract attention that we do not need. I could see the disbelief in his eyes until zoroark's illusions dropped and revealed me for who I truly am.
"Hello there, we meet again. You remembered me, I hope? Hmm, maybe not, but I can't blame you for that since my face was covered. What about my pokemon? Remember them? We met at the Dreamyard some time back."
"Urrgh-! Urggh!"
Right, I just remembered that greninja dislocated his jaw, he wouldn't be able to make a coherent reply. I smiled and slowly knelt down to face him from where he was pinned down onto the floor.
"Surprised? I hope you enjoy what we planned for you. It wasn't easy getting into this place. Oh don't worry about your bro, you will meet him soon enough."
He struggled and I let him be. It will be the last thing he can ever do.
"You had such a fun time at Lacunosa, didn't you? Why, as the host it's simply impolite to let our guests go without giving them a gift in return. You massacred our people and my younger brother and I thought, hey, we really should reciprocate in kind or else it just wouldn't sit right with me."
My finger slowly hovered in the air until it pointed at where his heart was.
"Are the three of you siblings? You three certainly look like it. I wasn't there to see it but I heard you put a hole through my brother so I was thinking, what would your brother- the other living one, I mean- feel if he sees me slowly sticking something pointy into your heart until it comes out from the other side? You put a hole through my brother, I put a hole through your brother's brother. That's only fair, right?"
I smirked as he came to the realisation as to what I'm going to do.
"Spiritomb, have fun with your new toy."
Spiritomb howled in joy as he emerged upon my command, its eyes glowing in an eerie light as we put the final step of our plan into motion. We couldn't beat the Shadow Triad in their own game but there was never a need to play the game by their rules in the first place. To take them apart I just have to deal with them separately when the opportunity presents itself.
I am a Dark Specialist, I set the rules. My expertise is in getting people to play the game by my rules.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
That's only fair, right?
"Hello friend," a certain scientist just had to be a killjoy and interrupted me when I was having my moment through the secret channel set up by his magnemites. "Not too sure what's the progress on your end but I'd thought it'd be nice to let you know that the ship is set to go to power overload in two minutes' time. Meaning to say, the alarms will be blaring soon and it will be starting its descent. I'm getting out of here, like right now. I know we've discussed previously that we will make our individual escape but I thought it would be nice to ask if you want to join me?"
"Nah, I still have unfinished business. Thanks though," I replied and stood up, taking off the Plasma uniform that I had been wearing in order to go undercover, leaving me with the plain black tee I wore underneath. There is no longer a need for disguises. I can now act as my true self.
"This channel will cease to work once I'm out of here. If you need to contact me, do it through the Tarot app. Alright, I've got to go before the ship's emergency protocols take effect."
The call ended and I removed the earpiece and dropped it onto the floor. I opened the small pouch I wore around my waist and once again I marvelled at the ingenuity that is the Foldable Space Technology because bringing along my usual attire and equipment would be impossible otherwise.
"How's everyone feeling today? Excited?" I asked and received eager responses from my pokemon as I wore my usual gloomy coat as Elesa likes to describe it. Our plans are finally in the final stages and we are all in a good mood.
"Glad to see that we are all feeling the same way. Alright folks, let's get this show on the road," I cannot hide the large grin on my face even if I tried as I wore my favourite breton cap on my head and adjusted it to tip at my favourite angle. "You heard that bastard, didn't you? The Dandolos are nothing but talk- they said. And I'm like, whoa, there's no way we can take this lying down, can we now?"
Spiritomb's growl of agreement said it all.
"Easy now, spiritomb, this is your show. Hey Nosy, had the captain set the ship on autopilot to the White Forest?"
Nosy emerged from a nearby terminal and nodded his head before rejoining me by slipping into my smartwatch. Good.
"Let's see how far along you've come. Spiritomb, Hypnosis."
Previously, after spiritomb had caught every single person in the bridge with Hypnosis he had to relegate some of the control to exeggutor and ninetales as we needed their assistance to allow our targets be able to complete complex instructions to set the ship on autopilot and rechart the ship's course to the White Forest. Obviously, that is not needed after we were done with that part of the plan. If it's simple manipulation spiritomb is more than capable of doing this on his own.
This revenge is for Asher and thus, this performance is for greninja and spiritomb to strut their stuff.
Every victim of ours began to walk out of the room under spiritomb's command, including the Shadow which we had subdued and controlled via Hypnosis. We sure made a sight as they marched down the corridors and that attracted the attention of everybody that we passed by.
"Hypnosis."
It would be rude to not share the fun and clearly my pokemon thought the same. Every single Plasma that we attracted the attention of thanks to the commotion we made were swiftly placed under our control. Spiritomb may not be skilled enough to have his victims complete a complex set of instructions without external help but for him to control his victims to fulfil simple instructions like marching ahead? That's easy enough.
The alarms then started to blare like what Colress had warned. Red lights started to flash and the speakers started to repeat the pre-recorded warnings that they were programmed to do in the case of an emergency. I could feel the ship starting to rapidly drop in altitude. The timer is starting to count down.
We had accumulated quite a large gathering of followers so I wasn't surprised that we managed to lure out Ghetsis himself. This is my first time seeing him in person or just matching a face to a name in general. He had the kind of look that one look at him and anyone would know that he had to be the mastermind behind this madness that led to Asher's death.
"Who are you?"
I could hear the sheer hate oozing out through his gritted teeth, spotting how tight his hand had gripped onto his cane and how prominent his veins around his forehead had bulged in anger. What a beautiful sight to behold.
"Ghetsis, I take it?"
"Answer me!" Ghetsis roared and the cofagrigus beside him howled to support its master. The last member of the Shadow Triad stood in a defensive posture in between us, ready to defend his master if need be but there's no mistaking his confusion and shock when he spotted his bro among us.
"Ah, where are my manners?" I playfully tipped my cap a little in his direction in greeting. "Bonjour! This is a valorous day, is it not? A merry day for blood and gore, a joyous occasion for destruction and ruin! I'd say that we-"
"ENOUGH OF THAT CRAP!" Ghetsis interrupted me with his screech. "I'm so close! So close! And you just had to ruin it! Everything! Do you know how much effort goes into creating the Plasma Frigate?! I won't be appeased until I separate your flesh from your bones, anyone who gets in my way of obtaining Unova will be eliminated! Eliminated! Get him!"
His last words were directed to the last remaining member of the Shadow Triad. In response, I snapped my fingers and pointed forward. Spiritomb howled as a huge mass of our victims began to charge forward recklessly upon his command. It's obvious that each and every Plasma that was onboard the ship was either a trusted member or had something that Ghetsis highly viewed upon or coveted. These are his best members, the elite forces of his little cult, people that he heavily invested time, money and resources to nurture into who they are today. For every person that he's forced to cut down is an investment that has gone down the drain. The very thought of that must be a stab of pain into his heart.
And I like the thought of it.
Our unexpected move certainly caught Ghetsis and his loyal dog by surprise. There was obvious hesitation from the last Shadow because for him to be able to get to me in the first place meant that he had to cut through that sea of people that I manipulated and used against them.
"What are you standing around for?! If they get in the way just mow them down!"
"But Lord Ghetsis! They are our-"
"JUST DO IT!"
"Understood, Lord Ghetsis."
The last Shadow released his team and began doing as instructed. I cannot help but whistle in appreciation. Should I say that Ghetsis is a man who knows how to cut his losses, or should I say that he is a cold-hearted bastard?
Perhaps both.
"Hey hey, aren't they your most loyal followers? That's how you reward the people who wholly believed in you and placed their lives in your hands?" I taunted behind the safety of the wall of human shield that the last Shadow was swiftly cutting down. I'm not concerned about the loss of puppets, I wanted Ghetsis and his dog to kill them for me. The whole point of this drama was to mess with their heads.
Ghetsis did not answer but instead turned on his heels and left, leaving his lap dog to clean up the mess. As much as I wanted to pursue this is not the time to give chase. I have to put an end to the Shadow Triad here and now.
"Wow, he really left you alone here to deal with me. I really wish I can be as coldhearted as he is sometimes," I continued my taunt and cooly paced about while observing the last Shadow desperately trying to mow down the human wall in between us. Some of them were obviously Ability Holders with weird abilities as far as I can tell, which made things a little harder for him and a little more entertaining for me. I'm witnessing the art of mass murder at its finest.
"Honestly, what made you want to work for him? If he could order you to kill them simply because it's convenient he can do the same for you. See? He left you behind to die."
"You shut your mouth," the last Shadow hissed with a cold whisper and a familiar pressure descended upon the not so spacious corridor that we are holding our final battle. The alarms continued to flash and the sirens continued to blare. Meanwhile, the ship continues to drop in altitude at an even greater rate.
"Resonance?" I smirked. "Fine, let me see what this power is capable of in a one-on-one. Umbreon, Baton Pass!"
The human wall wasn't just there to enrage Ghetsis and his lap dog. It also serves to buy time for umbreon to build up the needed power boost through Psych Up by copying the stat changes provided by other team members before polishing it a little further with Work Up. After which, it's simply a matter of passing on this power to the chosen one when it's finally time for us to head into battle.
In this case, we chose greninja to be the star of the show. It's time greninja and spiritomb had their closure.
Greninja roared upon receiving the power the team so graciously bestowed upon him. This is another form of teamwork, where we entrust everything we have to one member to finish the job. Yes, we are individually weak and not everyone can be a supersoldier that can take on an army on their own; we had tried that and failed in our spar with Elesa, but that's not to say that we cannot achieve something similar to that effect. This is my answer to how we can take one step closer in becoming a Dark Master, to strengthen our "body" further to match the mastery of our "mind" in order to reach the pinnacle of our craft.
If we pour all our power into one member to get the job done by turning him into a supersoldier that has both superior "mind" and "body", we trust that he will not disappoint us. Likewise, he will trust that we can provide him with the greatest power we can give him. It's just that this is not a tactic that I foresee that we will be using often because this is akin to us placing all our eggs into one basket, sacrificing our superiority in numbers for individual power. The circumstances where such a tactic is viable is a little too specific for it to be our mainstream combat style, but I digress.
This is the result of our experimentation. Right now, greninja is able to single handedly take on a team of Resonance-boosted pokemon and is retaining the upperhand. This is proof that my line of thinking was on the right track. Dark types are not meant to be supersoldiers so it's simply not possible to make everyone a supersoldier, but if you needed a supersoldier that can take on an army on its own you don't need to have a team of them in the first place.
You just need one.
If each of us were unable to individually hone our "body" to what we need it to be, then we just have to help one of us make the mark. Doesn't matter if it's a temporary thing, I don't need my pokemon's "body" to be strong at all times. All I needed was to have their "body" to be powerful enough as of that moment we found ourselves in battle.
I'm not worried about the decision we jointly made by making greninja our chosen one. Greninja will be the one dishing out the firepower while spiritomb will assist by manipulating the victims we had gathered under our forceful control to obstruct our enemies through sheer numbers. We all understand how much spiritomb and greninja needed this just like how I needed closure when I decided to confront Giovanni on my own. Besides, the site of this battle doesn't really allow the entire team to fight at full strength due to space constraints. I couldn't even release drapion and hydreigon out here with us so having a supersoldier will work just fine for our cause. Our opponent is not only handicapped for being forced to fight alone instead of being backed up by his usual companions, but also emotionally compromised since we have someone who he cares about in our hands. Team Plasma really does love abducting people from their loved ones and it's about time I had them taste their own medicine. Even if we really do fail to overpower them, the hostage which we held in our hands is enough to guarantee our safe escape.
"Exterminate them."
Greninja vanished in a blue blur upon my command, using the wall of human shield to his advantage to obscure his opponents' view of him before taking them down in one deadly strike. An accelgor tried to pin him down but greninja easily neutralised it by closing the distance with Quick Attack before smashing it into the wall with Acrobatics. A liepard tried a Fake Out but spiritomb was there to assist by controlling a Plasma to pounce on the liepard when it least expected it, allowing greninja to take it out with a Water Shuriken even before the Fake Out could be used. It may be one greninja against an entire team but none of them could afford to just ignore greninja and head our way because greninja is just that huge a threat with all the power that it is currently wielding. His presence alone had effectively forced all of the opposing pokemon to focus their attention on him and him alone and he's doing a perfect job as our supersoldier. Greninja is no longer a presence that can be left ignored.
So this is how a dark type who reached the pinnacle of both "mind" and "body" looks like. Even if this power is temporary it still is a very mesmerising sight to behold.
I had heard a little of greninja's history with Asher from my father. In a way, he's a little like Grumpy, but whereas Grumpy was abandoned by his trainer due to him being born with a medical condition that resulted in him unable to evolve, ever since greninja was a froakie he was determined from birth to not possess an ability at all and thus, unwanted by trainers. Similar to Grumpy, greninja's circumstance was one of those one in a million rare medical conditions.
Its species is a member of Kalos famed regional starters, pokemon that are known to be powerful combatants once they reach their final evolution. These are pokemon born and bred for battle but a pokemon without an ability is like a swordmaster being forced to use a rusty sword instead of a sharp one that he should rightfully wield. Greninja was simply unwanted because people believed he could never reach his full potential without an ability and it would be a waste of time, effort and resource trying to raise such a pokemon.
Greninja was passed around until he eventually met Asher. Asher was the only trainer who accepted greninja for who he is and that brilliant brother of mine had somehow trained him to be a splendid fighter despite not possessing an ability. A very marvellous achievement, don't you think?
My ability allows me to be highly attuned with dark types and them with me as well. It's a bit of a two way connection that I'm not exactly sure how to put it into words to describe. However, as the battle unfolded I could feel greninja's emotions more and more deeply. His rage, his thirst for vengeance, the cold calculating fury he used to pick off our foes one after the other and lead them to their demise; I could feel and understand it all as the seconds continued to tick by. It's an unexplainable yet wondrous feeling, almost similar to how I emotionally bonded with houndoom whenever we undergo Mega Evolution when he was still with me.
Double Team to evade, kill with Water Shuriken, I could hear those vague thoughts in my mind just a split second before greninja did the exact same thing I heard in my mind to a krookodile. Taunt to stop lilligant, freeze with Ice Beam were the thoughts I was hearing next before the only lilligant in battle met that exact same fate.
I allowed my eyebrows to raise slightly from the surprise of this revelation. So not only am I a living dark type detector now, but also a dark type mind reader? Is my ability evolving, so to speak? If so, why is greninja the only one whose thoughts I can hear? Is it because his emotions are at its peak right now, or something else? Is this something unique to greninja?
"Paralyse with Lick, reposition with U-Turn," I found myself whispering under my breath to myself at the same time greninja did that to a liepard. "Trip with Low Kick, bash the head in with Power-Up Punch," I narrated to myself as greninja took out a bisharp at the very same time those words left my lips. Yet, these weren't my commands. Whatever greninja did back there, it was entirely his judgement.
I could feel myself more and more attuned with greninja's emotions and his every thought, I could feel myself experiencing what greninja is going through on a level far deeper than just trainer and pokemon with his every move. I don't know how I know this, but I instinctively understood that this is not just a mere mind reading or a prediction. Greninja's thoughts and mine are both aligned as of this moment, thinking and acting the same way and coming to the same conclusion at the same time based on the information we are receiving in the heat of the battle.
Both of our consciousness are slowly intertwining to form a bond that I only felt when I used Mega Evolution with houndoom and I'm steadily getting the same feeling as when I'm on the verge of evoking Mega Evolution. I know that I should steer clear away from that power if I don't want to die a premature death but something is telling me that it's alright, that it would be fine to allow this mysterious feeling to take over from here and see how things will end up, that my life is in no danger all this while.
That feeling finally reached its peak, about to culminate and bloom into something new entirely. My instincts were egging me to let it happen naturally, to not stop the flow.
I never ignored my instincts. I did not stop the flow, I chose to let it flow.
Greninja began to glow in an all too familiar rainbow hue while continuing to flit about in his quest for vengeance, still steadily taking down the opposing pokemon boosted with their trainer's mastery of Resonance. I could sense the shock from the rest of my team as they looked at greninja and back at me. Some of them were worried when they remembered that I shouldn't be touching Mega Evolution within a ten foot pole.
"I'll be fine," I reassured my team despite having no idea just how on earth greninja is undergoing Mega Evolution without a Mega Stone and me not having a Key Stone. I had left that gimmick at home since there's no way I could possibly be using it given my team composition after I entrusted houndoom and gengar to Daisy. All I knew was that this is a power that is unique to me and greninja and that this is the power we are going to use to avenge Asher even if I have a million questions in my mind about this phenomena. Greninja had a mega form?
The Mega Evolution was eventually completed and greninja- or is it Mega Greninja now- graced us with its new power. Greninja's new transformation didn't differ much from its original form, the only difference I could spot were the slight change in colour of the fins on his head and the addition of some black conical gills at the side of his head similar to those of a swampert.
The difference in power that it now wields though- Oh boy, were we all taken by surprise.
A simple Water Shuriken easily tore through three opposing pokemon while back at the Dreamyard, even hydreigon had struggled trying to keep up with one Resonance-boosted pokemon. What else is there to say about that?
Our wall of human shield had all been thoroughly mowed down by now, not that there's any love lost on our end. Spiritomb did great to support greninja by controlling his puppets of Ability Holders to obstruct our enemies as much as he could throughout the battle. Perhaps our enemies were all out of tricks, but a cacturne did try to bypass greninja- my apologies, Mega Greninja now- to take me down instead when it saw no hopes of defeating Mega Greninja. How predictable.
"Spiritomb."
Spiritomb mind controlled our captive Shadow and placed it in between me and the cacturne. I watched with a satisfied smile on my face when the lap dog yelled at his cacturne to stop when he realised the inevitable that was going to happen, yet powerless to stop it when cacturne was unable to halt its attack because it's already committed to it. The sight of cacturne's spiky arm punching a perfectly round hole through our hostage's torso was such a beautiful sight to watch as the rest of my pokemon swiftly killed the cacturne before it could cause us more problems. That killing blow broke the hypnosis imposed on our hostage, and I watched as his eyes opened wide in disbelief when he finally woke up from his slumber only to find a hole through his chest.
The unfortunate one tried to weakly call out to his brother but all that came out from him was a weak gurgle, his hand weakly reaching out in his brother's direction before he fell dead onto the floor unceremoniously. Well, that makes two.
"NOOOO!"
Ah, that scream of despair and regret from the enemy. Music to my ears.
"Ah, brothers killing brothers, what a perfect ending to such a touching story."
"You-!"
He never did get to complete his sentence. Mega Greninja threw a Water Shuriken that separated his head from his body and left the expression on his face forever affixed into one of rage and regret.
That makes three.
The greatest adversaries we had met after Giovanni, my younger brother's killers, now lay dead beneath our feet and I could feel the bottleneck that had been troubling me all this while in my quest to reach the realms of a Dark Master finally loosening a little. This battle is proof that I am doing something right.
This battle is also the closure that we all need. At least for me, I had fulfilled my original objective of avenging Asher.
Did you see this, Asher? We avenged you. You can rest in peace now.
"So that's your new form?" I cannot help but ask in jest when Mega Greninja rejoined us with a happy and proud croak that announced his victory over our enemies. Unfortunately, the transformation receded just seconds later before I could get a better look at his new appearance.
This ninja frog couldn't even be bothered to hold onto his transformation long enough for me to snap a picture and brag to my old man about it. If we couldn't reproduce this feat after this is all over nobody would ever believe me when I said that I Mega Evolved a greninja.
"And you couldn't let me snap a picture before going back to normal?"
Greninja answered me with an unrepentant croak and it was clear that him choosing to revert back to his normal form before I could snap a proof of our breakthrough was entirely intentional.
Sassy little frog.
"Huh, not dead yet. Strange," I remarked when I observed my body, fully expecting to feel some sort of extreme discomfort for choosing to invoke this unknown form of Mega Evolution. Yet, there's nothing wrong with me. At least not yet.
The violent jerk of the ship that nearly tripped us all on our feet reminded me that we were aboard a ship destined to hell. We had overstayed our welcome, better get out of here before it crashes.
"Honchkrow."
A Night Slash from honchkrow cut through the reinforced glass and I recalled everyone else back to their pokeballs. Honchkrow's talons grabbed firmly onto my shoulders as she flew me out of the smoking airship. Already, the ship's altitude was low enough such that it would be having a crash landing in a matter of minutes. I know that there's a legendary pokemon onboard but I'm honestly not too worried about its personal safety. It's a legendary pokemon, this much wouldn't even scratch it and who knows, maybe this crash is enough to help it break free from Ghetsis' control and it may even be grateful for our assistance.
The resulting crash is a picturesque explosion of fire and ice, so beautiful that I cannot help but take out my phone to capture this fleeting moment to commemorate this joyous occasion. I wasn't able to snap a picture of Mega Greninja but this? This would be a fine replacement.
A tap of a button later, a fleeting moment was preserved for eternity on the digital screen of my phone.
Picture perfect
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
