Gengar and Ampharos stumbled out of the karaoke bar and looked around for Infernape. It had been a while. Gengar was still trashed but Ampharos was starting to recover. He was beginning to recognize that they had to find Infernape soon. They were supposed to be in Glittersphere in an hour and he really didn't want to let Furret down, let the town of Boltein down. Luckily for them, Gardevoir and Aggron had begun looking for them.
While Infernape and the rest of team Will-O-Wisp were off having a great time, Gardevoir and Aggron were off asking the populace about Glittersphere. They learned that the place was fairly touristy, looking like a little girl's fantasy. They also rather quickly found out the location of the Senshi headquarters there.
The Senshi were essentially Pokemon who were licensed to use their powers for good. This concept wasn't unique to Nihonera. In the UR, they are called heroes. Halstein had the Krieger. Dristov had the Zashchitnik, so on and so forth. They had more power than the police but also required months or even years of training. Not to mention there was a ton of regulation to ensure that misuse of power would be met with grave punishment. Of course, in Nihonera, everyone not living under a rock knew who the Senshi were. They were treated like superheroes.
Gardevoir was excited to finally get the chance to see a Senshi office. She bore a smile on her face throughout this whole trip. Naturally, Aggron had to learn about this. He liked the Senshi just like everyone else, but Gardevoir's energy was almost too much.
"You really like those guys, huh?"
"They're incredible!" said Gardevoir with delight, "They're so brave, willing to put their lives on the line to make sure we are safe." She then leaned in close to Aggron and whispered, "Don't tell Mom and Dad, but I watched the Mewtwo fight when I was eight." Aggron then looked towards her in surprise. That was quite a bloody fight, especially for an eight-year-old to bear witness to.
They stopped by a cafe for lunch and then began to search for the others. Upon hearing that Infernape was gone, they immediately rushed into action. Gardevoir floated up into the air and began to fly through the city. As she did so, she couldn't help but question why he left. If Gengar and Ampharos were as drunk as they were, then Infernape must've been just as inebriated, so he's not thinking straight. Then she remembered that conversation they had right after Pangoro exploded. He was probably having a crisis of faith, or worse. She had to find him, and soon before he inevitably ended up doing something terrible.
Infernape had stopped his crying and simply just sat down on that bench. He sighed to himself. He probably should've just been upfront with Gengar and Ampharos and said he wanted some alone time, but it was too late. Wanting to clear his mind, he looked around. The town was very small and he found himself looking at the town hall. In his peripheral, however, he noticed something. A Gigalith was making his way towards the town hall. He wore neon yellow bands around his four legs and a hard hat, looking rather silly. However, something seemed off. It shouldn't have, but despite all common sense, it did. Infernape stood up and followed the rock type towards the town hall, hoping that he was just being paranoid.
Gigalith smirked smugly to himself. This was going to go perfectly. He'd be in and out within a few hours. Entering the town hall, he was approached by a guard.
"Excuse me, you need a permi-"
"Here ya go." Gigalith said, sliding said permit towards the guard. Suspiciously, the guard looked through the permit, making sure that everything was in order. He too sensed that something was off here, but couldn't name what it was.
"What's your name?" he asked. Gigalith knew this was a trap. If he actually said his name, they would pursue him after this attack. Luckily, Gigalith's genius had figured the perfect name to give:
"...Coin. Coin Strussion."
"...Seems, uh, seems like a quite convenient name for someone in the construction business," said the guard in a somewhat confused tone of voice. Gigalith just quietly nodded,
"Yeah, I was picked on a lot for that name."
"I guess you could say that you spent your childhood Strussion." After the shock of that amazing display of mental warfare, Gigalith had to come up with an appropriate response,
"Yes… yes, I was." The guard, clearly put off by how awkward this conversation was becoming, simply gave Gigalith back the permit and allowed him into the clock tower.
He walked up towards the top of the clock tower, too focused on his plan to notice any noise, where he met up with the only goon he could hire. That sounds like a net loss, but this guy was more than worth it. A sea dragon-like Pokemon with brown fins and a purple chest floated in the air. On his head was a crest of red, brown, and green leaf-like antenna that drifted through the air as though they were underwater. The Dragalge stared outside the window, watching the city in front of him like it were a game before him. His glare was severe.
"Dragalge! You beat me here!"
"That matters not. Do you have everything?" he asked coldly, never once turning around to face his leader. Gigalith readjusted his posture as he began his work. Dragalge simply stared out to the city, looking for one man in particular. He had no idea where he came from, but knew he had to live near Boltein. His grudge against that man went beyond just this plan. This was just a way to find that man. His face had been in the news a lot these past few days. Why wouldn't it?
He was the one that destroyed the Black Masks in one fell swoop. He had to die.
Infernape watched as the Gigalith entered the town hall. As he followed, he began to realize why he had that odd feeling. This was supposedly a construction worker with no crew, equipment, or anything that would let him do his job. Furthermore, the town hall looked completely fine. Maybe there was something inside that caused problems, but then he overheard the Gigalith's name. Bullshit that was his actual name. Now he knew that something was up, but what to do know? Would the others even believe him? No, no, no, no, he was just being paranoid. If he just asked the man, he'd get an answer and everything would be right.
So Infernape walked past the guard, lying and saying that he was part of the crew. He was then allowed access to the rest of the building. Watching as Gigalith went up the staircase, Infernape called out to him,
"Hey, buddy. What are you up to?" but was promptly ignored. Logically believing that he didn't hear him, Infernape called out again to the rock type again, but once again, his words went unheeded. "Is he deaf?" thought Infernape. He'd have to dust off some old sign language lessons if that was the case. All the while, he remained in the dark about the man in the very top.
Infernape picked up the pace, hoping to catch up to Gigalith and ask him the question. However, he missed a step and stumbled, sacking his arm right into the wall. It was crushed between his own weight and the solid wood. As a result, in addition to his injury, his arm erupted in pain. Vison blurring and arm feeling like it was shoved under a bulldozer, Infernape quickly grasped his arm and witheld any scream in pain, not wanting to make a scene and draw attention to himself. Instead, he grasped his arm tightly and hissed in agony. Still, he decided to press on. This was not worth it at all, but he was too stubborn to give up.
Too stubborn for his own good.
As soon as he reached the top of the stairs, Dragalge saw him and made his move. He spun around and swiped his tail. A moon shaped pulse of water then slammed into Infernape. Infernape hit the wall and crumbled to the floor. Still disorentated from his pain, his weakly looked up to see Dragalge floating towards him. The poison type glared at Infernape with a glare that could kill a man,
"There you are."
"Who…Who are you?" groaned Infernape, who was struggling to maintain consciousness. Dragalge simplely remarked,
"The man who will put you down like the dog you are," as Infernape collapsed.
Gardevoir had scoured through the entire town but couldn't find him. She was growing increasingly worried. With no idea where he could possibly be, she had to regroup with everyone for additional help. Gengar and Ampharos had mostly recovered from their brief bout of alcoholism and realize what had happened. The group decided to split up and ask the people if they knew where he went Ampharos immediately went fpor a search but Gengar stayed behind. He could tell that something was wrong, more than just a disappearence. Waiting until the others vanished, Gengar looked around and frowned. He remarked to himself,
"Tiny town and he get's lost. Yeah, sure."
He sank into the ground and transformed into a shadow. He went to the nearest pub and search. A task rendered easy due to his ghost typing. Immediately, he broke into the pub owners personal home but found nothing. So he continued his search, breaking into more people's homes to figure out just where Infernape is. Naturally, he ended up finding some very personal secrets from the townsfolk, the juicy deets that would make a gossiper squeal with delight. However, because he has a life, and didn't feel like being a homewrecker, Gengar decided not to say anything. He had a fire monkey to find.
Eventually, Gengar found the town hall after searching through the town. One of the only places that he hadn't yet checked. So something had to be up with it. Perhaps the mayor was in on it. His eyes then gravitated towards the top of the tower, where he saw a few vague shapes around it. They seemed to be doing something up there. A civilian walked behind him and he asked them,
"What's up with that?"
"Probably the renovations I heard the mayor talking about," they said, "Apparently, they are sending a gas line up towards the top."
Gas line. Right. Experience told him that sounded like a cover for something. But he needed the group first, for the type coverage if nothing else. Although…Gengar then smiled as he stepped towards the tower. Sinking into the floor and rising into the town hall, a cocky grin made it's way onto his face. This was going to be fun.
Gigalith had just finished setting up the gas line. Releasing the pressure valve, he let the air begin to fill the room. Then he left a blowtorch on and left it on the floor so it would detonate the tower as soon as the right mixture of air, gas and flame was achieved. He looked back to see Dragalge staring off the unconscious body of Infernape, who had been moved to rest by the window. A faint purple smoke drifted from Infernape's mouth. Gigalith asked the sea dragon,
"Aren't we moving him away from here?
"No," answered Dragalge simply.
"What do you mean? We aren't killing him, are we?"
"You aren't killing him. I am. For my revenge will be slow."
"So why did you poison him? And with Toxic no less?" questioned Gigalith, who was now getting second thoughts, if only because someone could actually die. But Dragalge cared not for that sentiment. Infernape would die, and he would make sure that he died as slowly and painfully as possible.
From the floor, a blur of purple shot up. Dragalge could barely register what just happened before being blown back by a shadow ball. Gengar landed on the ground a looked back at the poisoned Infernape. He scowled once he realized what that living piece of kelp had done to him. Gigalith yelled in panic, how did he know about his plan? No matter, he had Dragalge to deal with this. Speaking of which, Dragalge quickly recentered himself and stared down the intruder. Glaring at him with fury, before that fury evaporated into something else, recognition.
"You!" he hissed. Gengar just laughed in his face,
"Ohoho! I've got a fanboy. Sorry, my autograph signing is in the grave, why don't you jump in?" Dragalge then looked towards Infernape and then made an assumption, making his heart run cold,
"I-Is he with you?" he asked worriedly, which shook the onlooking Gigalith.
Gengar immediately disappeared to the floor. Dragalge then remained still, ready for an oncoming attack. He reacted quickly. Just as Gengar emerged from the ground, he turned around and blasted a ferocious dragon pulse at Gengar. However, Gengar swiped the blast away, striking Dragalge in the chest with a shadow-covered fist. He then clutched onto the sea dragon's thin body and his eyes flashed yellow. A small yellow sphere of energy then floated from Gengar and encircled Dragalge before fading away. Immediately the dragon type's vision became blurry as he was releasing, leaving him off-centered and floating around like an inebriated balloon. Confuse ray.
Taking advantage of Gengar's focus, Gigalith summoned rocks from nowhere and made them fall onto the ghost type. The rocks seemingly made their mark. Although the smoke made it difficult to see, Gengar was nowhere in sight. Suddenly, Gengar rushed towards Gigalith and hissed,
"You shouldn't have done that," before grabbing the rock type and slamming him into the wooden floor.
Gigalith fell through the floor like it wasn't even there. He fell thirty feet from the very top of the tower to the very bottom. The ground floor caved in from the impact. Everyone working there immediately left their offices to see what happened, only to hear Gengar and Dragalge fall through the ceiling as well.
In the air, Gengar dodged a violent hydro pump from Dragalge, who flicked his tail to send a wave of water at the ghost. This attack collided with Gengar and knocked him towards the wall. Gengar took advantage of this and bounced from it, allowing him to get another good punch in. Dragalge, still confused, released a smokescreen to protect himself. But his befuddled state meant that he had ended up choking on the noxious gas, giving Gengar all the time he need to grab the sea dragon by the head and slammed it into the floor with the force of a truck. The onlookers cringed at the sight of such a severe attack.
Gengar stepped back, glaring at the civilians, as though silently telling them to shut up. They fearfully ran from him as soon as they could. Gigalith then emerged from the crater and looked for his partner. The dragon type was crumpled onto the floor like a collapsed house of cards. It was like he had jumped off of a building, it was that bad. Gengar scoffed at the defeated Dragalge,
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. That all you got? God, I thought you were worth a damn," before turning around to tell the others.
Something stabbed into Gengar's back. But instead of gasping in pain, he hissed before erupting into a sinister laugh. He turned back around to see that Gigalith was the one who sneak-attacked him.
"Oh, you dirty bitch." Hearing this, Gigalith raised a defense. Several football-sized rocks floated around him to block any attack from hitting him but Gengar then deployed a special technique of his. Suddenly, in a split second, Gigalith's vision was completely shrouded in darkness, leaving only a distorted and horrifying version of Gengar screaming out violently at the rock type. Gigalith screamed in fright, dropping his guard long enough for the real Gengar to slip through his defenses. He slammed into the rock type and phased through him, striking at a bone, and breaking it. Gengar then emerged from the other side. He skidded to a halt and shrugged his shoulders just as the doors behind him burst open.
The group entered the town hall to a scene that would not look out of place in a warzone. Obviously, the ceiling had been shattered and there was a huge fuck-off crater in the center. Aggron saw Gengar and immediately put two and two together and roared at Gengar,
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?"
"Man of the hour's in the tower," answered Gengar as he stared down the now very frightened Gigalith. Gengar noticed this and mocked Gigalith, "Now you realize just how fucked you are." Gardevoir flew up to the very top of the tower to confirm Gengar's assessment. Once she saw the state that Infernape was in, she was terrified. What had happened in the time between his abrupt departure and now? In any case, all she knew for certain was that he was poisoned, badly. She lifted him up telekinetically and carried him down to get him help as soon as she could.
Suddenly, Dragalge rose from the spot, seemingly unharmed from the impact. He took aim at Gardevoir and shot a massive beam of draconic energy straight toward her. Its speed was as incredible as it was terrifying. Gardevoir couldn't dodge in time and was forced to block. Surrounded by a psychic barrier, Gardevoir managed to withstand the attack, but not for long. Dragalge's raw power won out and her barrier shattered. She was sent through the wall, out of the hall, and into the nearby park. Dragalge then took aim and fired that same blast at Infernape. Ampharos saw this and knew that if the fully awake Gardevoir couldn't do anything, then how could the barely conscious Infernape?
He rushed into action. Jumping into the air, Ampharos managed to tackle Infernape out of the way just in time. The draconic beam roared just inches away from Ampharos' tail. It tore yet another hole into the side of the town hall. The two skidded across the ground as Ampharos then slung the fire type's arm over his shoulder and ran with him out of the building. Dragalge tried to give chase but Aggron punched him across the face, screaming at Ampharos,
"GET HIM HELP! NOW!" Not one to disregard orders, especially in a position like this, Ampharos sprinted as fast as he could with Infernape in tow, the adrenaline giving him the strength to make up for Infernape's dead weight.
Even as he left the place, he heard the sounds of combat. Distinct voices screamed and yelled out from within. This only further Ampharos' panic. His legs were practically moving on their own as he struggled to maintain his composure. Was Infernape going to be okay? Like a child watching an earthquake, he had no clue what was happening, only that it was very bad. Would he make it to the hospital in time? Oh God, what if there was no hospital? What if there wasn't a doctor for miles?! He couldn't do anything to help if the worst happened, and that's even if he and Infernape were in the clear. Dragalge beat Gardevoir with ease, would the others be crushed just as easily. Ampharos was spiraling.
"...Ugh….Amp…" groaned Infernape. Immediately, Ampharos turned to ask him,
"LEE! It's okay! It's okay! It's okay! It's all gonna be okay. Is it bad? What did they do to you?" he said rapidly. Infernape, barely able to speak, weakly lifted his head. After a few moments, he managed to say
"Take me…to…the forest. Pe…Pecha berries." Ampharos practiucally melted in relief, Pecha berries! There had to be some nearby. Looking around, he took stock of the situation, they were currently in an alleyway, with no clear indicator as to where their were. However, there were some houses just up ahead. He could just ask them if they had any sort of poison medicine or pecha berries. Finally, relief had come.
The unique screech of a dragon-type attack rushed from behind. Ampharos jumped out of the way just in time. The street in front of them exploded into blue and yellow flames, blocking off their one and only escape. Ampharos looked back to see Dragalge floating towards them. Fear overwhelming him completely, Ampharos fell to the floor, leaving Infernape to slump against a nearby wall. Dragalge simply stared at the electric type with a look that could kill. He then looked over to Infernape and started to float towards him.
The fight in the town hall did not go to plan at all. Aggron charged toward Dragalge after telling Ampharos to leave. He raised his fist and tried to punch the dragon type. However, Dragalge deftly avoided the attack. He spun around and wrapped his tail around Aggron's throat. With an alarming amount of strength, Dragalge then threw the steel type across the hall. The steel type plowed through a wall like a cannonball, eventually landing on the remains of office space, crushing the desk beneath his weight. He groaned in pain as he sat back up but the onslaught wouldn't stop.
A bright orange ball of energy raced after him, exploding upon impact with his face. This time Aggron was blown out of the building like Gardevoir was before. Tumbling through the streets, Aggron was only stopped when he crashed into a storefront. That attack did far too much damage for his own liking, it had to be focus blast. Flying towards him, Dragalge chased after him, preparing another focus blast. Aggron wouldn't remain idle however. He grabbed onto the road itself and pulled out a large chunk of it, before throwing it.
A thin beam of water then pierced through the rock like it was nothing. Aggron moved his head just in time to avoid the razor-sharp burst of water. The beam then sliced through the rock like it was butter. Most rock types would've controlled the split halves to crush Dragalge. Most. Aggron then freed himself from the remains to the storefront and grabbed a nearby street sign as a weapon, but that was quickly dealt with a quick spray of acid. Aggron was left with no way to defend himself.
Right as Dragalge was about to release another focus blast, Gardevoir flew it and fired several moonblasts at Dragalge. He dodged the attacks fairly easily and returned fire with a stream of poisonous liquid. She was just barely able to avoid it. She flew towards Aggron, but Dragalge wasn't going to let that happen. He himself flew towards Gardevoir and shot an explosion of toxic acid straight towards her. There was absolutely no way for her to dodge it.
Luckily, Aggron made the save, jumping in front of all that acid. His steel typing rendered that completely useless. The two then stood side by side and looked at each other,
"You got the dragon type."
"And you can handle the poison," answered Gardevoir.
Dragalge once more fired a focus blast, only for that to be deflected by Gardevoir. She took her turn to attack with a swift fairy-type blast, which hit its mark. The first hit they've landed on his since this fight started. Dragalge was clearly hurt, but he quickly recovered from that and recognized their plan. With a smug look in his eyes, he simply began to charge something within him. Electricity sparkled around him, before bolting towards the two, Aggron tanked the hit, whilst Gardevoir flew back to avoid the thunderbolts. However, Dragalge predicted this, and flew to her flank, doing that same poison burst from before.
The poison landed on Gardevoir. It seeped into her skin and quickly began to rush through her blood. She began to feel faint before being blasted away by a hydro pump. Crashing into a nearby car, Gardevoir tried her very best to get back up. However, toxic was far too strong of a poison. Her vision blurred significantly as pain began to creep up from her arms to the rest of her body, strength draining from her like a sink, mind weakening. She simply had no way to counteract such a strong poison given her experience.
Aggron yelled out for the psychic type but was quickly pushed away by another hydro pump, clearly meant to just throw him off. He held his ground but Dragalge anticipated that. In addition to the massive beam of water, he began to fire off multiple thunderbolts into Aggron. Each one did little damage to him, but there was more to Dragalge's plan than blind fire. Eventually, Aggron's block gave in, and he was pushed off of his feet. In a desperate attempt to get a moment of reprieve, Aggron unleashed a full-power hyper beam, but before he fired, he suddenly froze in place with static surrounding him. This paralysis left him frozen just long enough for Dragalge to fire one more focus blast to finish the job. Just like that, Aggron and Gardevoir had lost.
Ampharos wanted to help. He wanted to rush to Infernape's aid, but he couldn't. No matter what he did, his body refused to move. It was like he had been turned to stone and forced to watch. All he could do was sit there and watch his friend. Not that freedom of movement would help Ampharos, he had completely given in to fear. In his own head, he constantly reinforced the idea that he could do nothing, and not without reason. All he had were his electric-type attacks and the ability to make the gems on his tail and head glow. He stood no chance, and he dared not test that idea. Ampharos thought himself a coward.
Dragalge now looked down upon the poisoned fire type, who could do nothing but stare up at the man who defeated him.
"Why? …Why me?" Infernape asked weakly.
"You idiot," Dragalge hissed, "Do you have any idea what you have done?!"
"What are you…talking about?!" questioned Infernape.
"Remember Pangoro? The Black Masks? The people who you destroyed?! You'll pay for what you did!"
"ENOUGH!" Someone yelled.
Dragalge looked back to see Gigalith stomping toward them. His eyes seemed redder than usual. Angrily, Dragalge glared at the rock-type but was met with a point towards the still-burning draconic fire in front of them,
"Toss them into the flame. We don't have the time." With some reluctance, Dragalge picked up Infernape and turned around towards the flames. Ampharos at that point passed out due to fear. However, Dragalge felt like something was off here. He turned back around.
A large purple explosion of energy blew up in his face. The sheer force of which snuffed out the dragon flames. As the dust settled, Gigalith stood there, staring down at Dragalge's body. He then spoke to the corpse, with a second dominant voice in control,
"See you in hell." A purple shape then emerged from Gigalith, who fell unconscious. Gengar looked towards Ampharos, then at Infernape. His face was expressionless. He started to walk away from the scene but stopped himself. Looking back at the two, knowing that Gardevoir and Aggron were likely just as hurt, he sighed to himself, before speaking to no one,
"Alright. Guess I gotta tell the police. FUCK I should've used an illusion. Oh well, not like they were conscious enough to see that."
Once more, Infernape woke up in a hospital bed. He got the feeling that this would be more common than he'd prefer. Sitting up, he looked around his room to see it was a small single-person room, with a large window and balcony for him to get some fresh air. Naturally, he surmised that if he was here, the others were there as well. The blue glow of the moon illuminated the room. As such, Infernape almost didn't notice Gengar sitting on the balcony railing, smoking a cigarette. Something then clicked in Infernape's head.
"You saved us, didn't you?" he asked. Gengar looked back to see the awakened Infernape and grinned,
"Nah, that was the police. Dragalge kicked my ass," he lied. However, he didn't realize that he made one fatal mistake,
"Yes, you did. It was the last thing I saw before I fell unconscious."
"Goddamn it," Gengar whispered under his breath, before speaking aloud, "How much did you see?"
"Not much. Just you landing that final blow," answered Infernape. The fire type then frowned at Gengar, why would try to lie about that? Seeking answers, he told him that sentiment out loud. Gengar then remained silent for a moment. After said pause, he answered with,
"Well, let's just say Dragalge won't be bothering anyone ever again."
Infernape's heart stopped. It made sense in hindsight, and he was aware of it, but hearing out loud made it so much more real. He…He killed him. Dragalge was a bad person, yes, but killing him. That was way too far. But he realized that he had no right to make that statement. He was a hypocrite.
Pangoro. He was dead too. Murdered by Infernape's hand. In the moment, Infernape didn't even recognize what he had done. But now as the memory of Dragalge's death replayed in his head, it all came crashing down onto him. He killed a man.
"Hey, HEY!" Gengar yelled. Infernape jumped in surprise,
"What?"
"I see what you're thinking. It was either us or him!" he said.
"But that doesn't give us the right to end his life! Nothing is," said the fire type. Gengar groaned in frustration, before calming himself. He then stated his point of view,
"Look, picture this. You've got a train rushing towards four people tied up on the tracks. You cannot stop the train or save the people. However, you can pull a lever and make the train hit one person. What do you do?" Infernape paused to think. He didn't want to answer that question. No one should decide who gets to live and who gets to die. Logically, there was an obvious answer, but Infernape didn't want to say it. Luckily, he didn't have to. "Some people have to die, Sparky," said Gengar, "Whether you like it or not, someone's gonna have to go, and in a situation where everything's fucked, you have to make a decision. I chose one over four and I have zero regrets."
Hearing Gengar out, Infernape could only nod. Gengar's words did give him some level of comfort. He was still not willing to kill. Not again, anyway, and he would take every measure to make sure he would never have to do that again. However, Infernape had one question left for the ghost.
"Why did you save us?" Naturally, Gengar looked towards Infernape quizzically. So, Infernape elaborated,
"It's been a month. You didn't really get to know us until today. So why?" Gengar remained silent for far too long. He looked back out to the night sky and smoked his cigarette once more. Infernape couldn't help but interject, "You know those are bad for you."
"I know," said Gengar, "I just don't care. Need something to take the edge off." With that, Infernape began to think. Take the edge off? What for? Finally, Gengar came out with an answer,
"I couldn't just leave a bunch of bodies on the street now, huh?" he said in a somewhat joking manner. Sensing that he wouldn't be getting any more answers out of the ghost, Infernape simply laid back down. He would spend the rest of that night thinking.
Unbeknownst to him, he had just unleashed a monster.