"We are gathered here today to mourn the passing of Mawile." proclaimed an Accelgor respectfully to the crowd. The funeral was held on top of the cliff that the town was built around. Mawile's coffin sat on a small pillar made of stone. As the pastor continued, Tyranitar struggled not to burst into tears. Once the pastor finished, he called Tyranitar up to speak. Tyranitar took a breath and began,
"When I met her... she was a shrewd, confident woman who helped me in my darkest times. When I became the mayor, she had many wonderful ideas for the town that I had to implement immediately. Her kindness was unrivaled, but tragically ended up being her downfall. Never in my life would I imagine that our relationship would end this way. It was a great tragedy that should have never happened, but it did. May you rest in peace, my beloved."
He turned towards his wife's coffin and placed a beautiful and ornate sword on top of the coffin. Then, he stomped the ground. A large hole appeared on the ground around the pillar. The pillar slowly sank into the grave as roses were thrown onto the coffin. Once the coffin disappeared into the darkness, the hole closed up and the funeral began to reach its conclusion. Tyranitar stared at the grave and his hand closed into a fist, his claws dug into his palm and blood slowly dropped from his hand. He growled like a bear, unable to let go of his rage. His eyes then briefly flashed red before he left
Gardevoir met with Sceptile in a cafe. The two had ordered drinks and waited. Sceptile asked,
"So what did ya need me for?"
"I need your help. Someone is in grave danger and I need you." Gardevoir said. She then told Sceptile everything regarding Garchomp and Roserade. Sceptile nodded along as he listened, not expressing a lot. Gardevoir, had she not known better, would have assumed that Sceptile wasn't listening. The grass type took a sip from his beer before placing it down.
"I don't see why I need to be involved."
Gardevoir went wide-eyed in shock,
"What do you mean?"
"I hate to give you the mitten, I really do, but anything I could do to assist, you could do better. Aside from combat but from what you've told me, you ain't aimin' for a fight." Sceptile explained. Gardevoir wanted to say something but then paused. Carrying Garchomp, she could do that easily. Maybe he was right. But then the vent issue came back to her mind. There was no way that the 6' 3 Garchomp could fit in there if Roserade barely could.
But Gardevoir wasn't going to let Sceptile do all the work. She would become a Senshi and a darn good one at that. Sceptile read her like a book. He smiled, sensing her determination, reminding him of his close friend Blaziken. Gardevoir then attempted to look badass as she took a drink of her tea, but it was too hot. She spat it out. Sceptile chuckled lightly,
"You might wanna wait before you make yourself look like an odd stick," Sceptile suggested. Gardevoir cleared her throat,
"Anyway, the only way we can sneak her out is through the front door, and the guards will be on high alert. Maybe a disguise would work? Oh! Perhaps, we could fly over all of the guards." Gardevoir explained. Sceptile raised an eyebrow,
"And assume no one does the extremely difficult task of lookin' up. You're really ain't good at this tactical thing, ain't ya?" Gardevoir blushed in embarrassment,
"NO! I just-you know-um-how about we…um…fake her death?" she suggested. Sceptile hmm'd and thought about it for a moment. He then stood up,
"You'll need someone to administer a safe dosage. I'll help, but don't expect me to carry the weight."
Infernape, Aggron, Ampharos, and Gengar were in a hotel room playing a card game. The rules were simple: place down a card with the same color or number as the previous one until you ran out of cards. However, Infernape wasn't having the best luck with cards.
"FUCK OFF!" he yelled as he was forced to add four additional cards to his deck. Gengar was laughing,
"Nothing personal, Infernape."
"Calm down, Infernape, it's not that bad." Ampharos comforted, placing a blue nine.
"You don't have twenty cards in your deck," Infernape grumbled as Aggron took his turn. After that Gengar smirked and yelled,
"ICHI!" before slamming a red four onto the table. Infernape laughed in arrogance before placing a red reverse card, forcing Gengar to take another turn.
"Caught you now, bitch, now take a card." Infernape boasted with a shit-eating grin on his face.
"Oh, thank you," Gengar said before placing his last card on the table. Infernape left the table in a rage,
"Fuck you guys, I'm going to bed," said Infernape. He was always one to get way too competitive with games.
"That's your fourth time winning, dipshit. Do you wanna stop?" Aggron asked in frustration.
"Nope," Gengar responded, "Don't blame me for being good at a card game, stupid."
As Infernape jumped into his bed, his thoughts drifted to his tarot card reading. He shook his head. No, he had survived Pangoro. He had escaped Umbreon. That was two times in a row when fate could've decided to end it for him, and yet it didn't. The doubts in his mind still surfaced, but they weren't as strong as before. Yeah, he was fine. Maybe it was best to just live, focus only on the moment, at least for now, and try to enjoy this while he could. Even if that meant losing miserably at Ichi.
Infernape tried to smile uneasily. God, how long had it been since he made himself smile? Without the help of imaginary women, that is. Infernape chuckled as he rubbed his temple. He was such a pervert. Yes, he didn't upskirt women or commit other heinous acts. He had basic Pokemon decency, but when he saw a pretty lady, his mind couldn't help but imagine. It's a trait that carried over from his teenage years and hadn't really gone away. Fantasizing about a cute girl comforting him and telling him that everything was gonna be okay, while also having a nice set of thighs enthralled him. Perhaps that quirk remained with him as a coping mechanism for years of isolation and mistreatment and wow that got depressing fast.
Luckily, Ampharos entered the room,
"Infernape, we are ordering pizza. What do you want?" he said. Infernape thought for a moment, sure, he could procrastinate his sleep. Infernape told Ampharos,
"I want pepperoni, peppers, a little onion, and, uh, sausage."
The plan was simple: sneak into Garchomp's prison, fake her death, and sneak her out of town. To say Roserade was shocked to see Sceptile was an understatement,
"YOU GOT SCEPTILE?! HOW?!" Roserade yelled in shock. Sceptile chuckled as he saw Roserade fan girl at him,
"She's my trainee." He explained. Once Roserade calmed down, the plan went into action. Sceptile, Gardevoir, and Roserade snuck into Garchomp's cell and Gardevoir stayed by the door to keep watch. Sceptile pulled a black and red seed from his bag and explained to the group,
"This seed contains special spores called 'falsum mortem.' Very clever name, I know. It is capable of leaving the victim in a catatonic state, similar to death. The victim will awaken within two to twenty-four hours, depending on the dosage." He then turned to Garchomp,
"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Garchomp didn't respond which concerned her best friend,
"Garchomp, what's wrong? We are helping you."
"I-it's nothing." Garchomp denied quietly. This wasn't right. To use falsum mortem was strictly against NFDA regulation, and faking one's death is grossly illegal and could easily be argued to be insurance fraud. But more importantly, Roserade was going through all of this to protect a guilty woman. The system was never wrong. Roserade saw right through Garchomp's facade,
"Garchomp, please don't lie to me. I-"
"I hear someone coming! Hurry up!" Gardevoir warned, accidentally interrupting Roserade.
Without much choice, Garchomp reluctantly agreed and Sceptile released the spores. Garchomp inhaled the fumes and painlessly passed out. Gardevoir then used her psychokinesis to lift herself, Sceptile, and Roserade to the ceiling, hiding in the darkness. A guard entered the room to check on Garchomp. He stopped when he noticed that Garchomp wasn't moving. He yelled for help as he unchained the dragon type. More guards entered the room to carry the body to the coroner's office. The guard captain then ordered,
"There isn't a place where someone can easily leave. They have to be in this room somewhere! Quickly! Search the place."
The guards then locked eyes with each other and laughed. Hell no, were they doing that. That required effort. The guard captain shrugged his shoulders,
"WELP! Looks like there's nothing we can do! Let's just take the body. You! Tell Tryanitar."
"Ugh, he's gonna be pissed.
As the rescue party watched, Sceptile could only remark,
"God help us if this is the guard to a major political figure."
Roserade squealed in delight,
"Bob's your uncle! Everything's going according to plan!"
"Don't celebrate just yet," Sceptile warned, "we still have to get her out of town once she wakes up in about two hours."
Once they left the castle, they followed the guards as they stealthily took the 'body' toward the mortician's office. As they traveled, Gardevoir couldn't shake the feeling of being followed. She kept making brief glances over her shoulder, looking for someone that was following her. She shook it off as her being paranoid. Once they found the morgue, they found a place to wait until two hours passed by. The feeling of being watched faded as Gardevoir waited for the signal.
Two hours later, Sceptile gestured for Roserade and Gardevoir to follow him. He silently picked the lock on the back door and opened it. He then moved out of the way,
"I'll wait out here for you." Gardevoir nodded, accepting the challenge, and walked inside of the morgue with Roserade close behind. They quietly stepped into the morgue, looking for any sign of Garchomp. They looked through the various tables and drawers, trying to find either Garchomp herself or her name. Gardevoir turned a corner and hid behind the corner. A forensic scientist was examining a clipboard
"Doctor's log #52. Victim has no signs of blunt force trauma or puncture wounds. Based on her last check-up, she had no health issues that could've led to her demise. I'll have to cut between the pectoralis majors down to the linea alba to search for evidence of cardiac arrest or other sudden and unpredictable causes of death." He picked up a scalpel from a table and walked towards a table. Gardevoir peaked around the corner and her heart stopped, Garchomp was on that table. She had to intervene somehow, she saw the door was open and used her psychokinesis to slam it shut.
The scientist jumped,
"Arceus!" before turning to face the door. He saw nobody there and walked over to it.
"Ha ha, very funny." He sarcastically remarked. He was about to open it when it slammed in his face, knocking him unconscious. Gardevoir ran over to Garchomp, but not before apologizing to the unconscious mortician, and then informed Roserade about Garchomp. Gardevoir whispered to Garchomp's body,
"Come on, wake up."
"Don't get your knickers in a twist, she'll wake up any minute now." Roserade comforted. Just as she said it, Garchomp slowly but surely woke up, her eyes flickering open. Gardevoir helped the dragon type into her feet.
"Alright, so where do we take her?"
"I have a summer house not too far away. She can live there." Roserade said as she started grabbing papers. Gardevoir, worried, asked,
"What are you doing?"
"Mawile has to have an autopsy report somewhere!" Roserade answered, eventually finding something. She lightly slapped the paper with the back of her wrist,
"Here we are. Wood chips were found in the vic-" The door to the morgue then suddenly slammed open.
"Sir, can you please-" another forensic scientist demanded.
"No! I demand to see the murderer." Now where is-" Tyranitar stopped and stared at the scene in front of him. His eyes went to Garchomp, then went to Gardevoir and Roserade. He began to shake violently in rage.
"Sir, do you want me to get the guards?" The scientist asked. Tyranitar roared in fury before charging at Garchomp. Gardevoir moved in front of Garchomp to protect her. She was thrown across the room and she slammed into a wall. Tyranitar grabbed Garchomp by the throat and grabbed a hack saw.
"NOW JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED!" He yelled as he slashed at Garchomp. A vine grabbed the weapon out of his hand before it could connect. Tyranitar turned to see Roserade, who froze as soon as his eyes landed on her. He charged at her and Gardevoir pulled Roserade out of the way. Tyranitar crashed into a wall, shattering it with ease. Gardevoir used her psychokinesis to carry Garchomp and Roserade out of the morgue. She sprinted past Sceptile, telling him to run once she passed him. Sceptile ran close behind her as the walls of the morgue collapsed and Tyranitar gave chase.
Tyranitar fired an orange beam at the psychic type who barely managed to dodge. The resulting explosion blew Gardevoir off of her feet. She instinctively threw Garchomp and Roserade to safety. Roserade called out to Gardevoir,
"What are you doing? He'll kill you!"
"Run, I'll hold him off." Gardevoir stood up as Tyranitar stared at her with pure hatred.
"You dare protect that murderer?! Your sin will not go unpunished!" He yelled as he ran towards the psychic type. Gardevoir dodged but Tyranitar stopped and he turned to slam his fist into Gardevoir's stomach. Gardevoir was launched into a building, she moved out of the way as Tyranitar struck the wall. She started to charge a moonblast,
"Please listen to me, Mawile was torturing her!" Gardevoir insisted, trying desperately to reason with him. He wasn't having it.
"HOW DARE YOU LIE ABOUT HER!" Tyranitar charged toward her again. Gardevoir continued to charge her attack. She fired the beam at Tyranitar, he was pushed back by the attack. He tried to push back against the attack but his actions bore no fruit. He crashed into the side of another building. Gardevoir finally stopped the attack and ran towards Tyranitar in a panic. She looked into the rubble, dust obscuring her vision. She yelled into the rubble,
"I'm sorry sir. I put too much into that attack. I'll take you to a-" A roar erupted from the rubble as a massive rainbow explosion covered the area Tyranitar was. Gardevoir covered her eyes as the light was blinding. There was one thing she did see. A catseye pattern she had seen on television before, she froze as she remembered exactly what it was.
It was Mega Evolution.
Sceptile mostly watched from the sidelines. He did have concerns with Gardevoir fighting Tyranitar. but he had said that this was her battle. So he promised himself to only intervene if she wasn't capable of fighting Tyranitar. Besides, she had a type advantage. His eyes widened in realization when he saw that damned rainbow energy burst.
"He can Mega Evolve?!" He ran towards the building, pulling out a green marble with a red catseye pattern from his bag.
Roserade was really hesitant to leave Gardevoir behind, but she reasoned that Gardevoir must've been confident in her ability, plus she had Sceptile to help. She grabbed Garchomp,
"Come on, let's go!" she demanded as she tried to drag Garchomp along. Garchomp wouldn't move.
"What are you doing?! Please don't throw a spanner in the works."
"I've told so many times, I don't want to be saved. I killed Mawile-"
"You didn't! And I have proof!" Roserade yelled definitively, pulling out that autopsy paper. Garchomp didn't realize what she was looking at at first, but would soon learn once Roserade read it aloud. "Trace amounts of bark from a Pachira aquatica was found along the wound," Roserade then threw the paper down, "You didn't commit the crime! Someone else did!"
Garchomp visibly recoiled at the accusation,
"What?! No, no. How could a plant?"
"Grass types can control plants! It had to be a grass type who did this! And you know that I couldn't have done it." Roserade insisted, "You're bloody innocent!
Garchomp remained as silent as the air itself. Her mind was left racing. But she remembered lunging at Mawile and grabbing her. Then again, she never felt herself puncture flesh. She did have a perfect motive, but the facts were right in front of her. How in the hell did parts of a tree get into Mawile's throat wound, especially since the money tree wasn't anywhere close to them. Garchomp looked Roserade in the eyes, who smiled back, knowing that she has saved her, but then Garchomp's eyes drifted to Gardevoir. Something inside her panged for Gardevoir's safety. Before she left, Garchomp thought to herself,
"Please be okay."
Gardevoir was finally able to look at the source of the light and her worst fears were confirmed: Tyranitar had indeed Mega Evolved. His armor had more gaps with the spikes on his back smaller while the ones on his head were larger. His chest plate expanded, curving over his shoulders and his sides. He didn't even appear to acknowledge the change as he stared daggers at Gardevoir. He disappeared for a brief second before reappearing in front of Gardevoir. Tyranitar struck her in the stomach and she flew to the opposite side of the street. She crashed onto the sidewalk, and blood shot out of her mouth like a pastry bag getting crushed. Tyranitar was suddenly right in front of her. His foot crashed into her and she was kicked down the street. Tyranitar started to run towards his target but vines wrapped around his arms and shoulders.
"You realize that this ain't a fair fight, don't ya?" Sceptile asked from behind Tyranitar in his mega form. Tyranitar turned his head to stare at his attacker, fury written all over his face. Sceptile pulled Tyranitar to himself and threw Tyranitar over himself and into the ground. Sceptile yelled at Gardevoir,
"Find Garchomp and run! Tyranitar will kill you with ease."
"NO! You said that I'd do the heavy lifting, I'll finish the fight."
"That was before he could Mega Evolve. Now it's way too dangerous for someone with your experience."
Sceptile turned just in time to dodge a hyper beam from behind him. Gardevoir stood up and ran towards Tyranitar, charging an energy ball. Sceptile threw one of his seed pods at Tyranitar. It exploded into a yellow cloud of spores that the ground type inhaled. Tyranitar tried to punch Sceptile but he froze just short. Sceptile just smirked,
"What's the matter?" and whipped Tyranitar in the chin with a vine, sending the armor Pokémon into the air. Sceptile jumped up and kicked Tyranitar with his prosthetic foot. He then used Tyranitar as a step stool to get above the dark type. He shot smaller seeds at Tyranitar at a rapid pace, like a machine gun. Sceptile was about to whip Tyranitar into the ground...
When Tyranitar was blasted away by a green sphere.
Tyranitar was launched away from Sceptile's attack,
"GARDEVOIR, WHAT ARE DOING?!" Sceptile yelled as Gardevoir ran towards the ground type. Tyranitar roared before firing a hyper beam at Sceptile. He desperately tried to use his vines to dodge the beam but he couldn't escape in time. A large explosion completely enveloped Sceptile before he fell out of the cloud of fire and smoke. He landed on the street with a crack.
"No!" Gardevoir yelled as glowing leaves surrounded her. She threw the leaves at the armor Pokémon who ran through the attack and tackled her. Tyranitar grabbed her by the leg and slammed her into the ground. He did that again and again, each slam even more agonizing than the last, before throwing Gardevoir like a ragdoll into a shopfront. Glass shattering around her, she crashed into a table and onto the hard tile floor.
She struggled to get onto her feet before getting grabbed by the throat. She stared into Tyranitar's eyes, any humanity he had left was gone, he looked like a rabid animal.
But she wouldn't give in. Now was the time for action. She would become a Senshi, and nothing was going to stop her.
She looked around for anything to help her in this dire situation. She saw the chandelier on the ceiling and used her psychic powers to throw it at Tyranitar. He didn't even notice the impact. Tyranitar continued his onslaught, throwing her into the wall before running through it. The building collapsed upon him, but he didn't care. In front of him lay Gardevoir's beaten and bloodied body. He felt Pokémon trying to pull him away from her, he knocked them away without even looking at them. An orange glow came from his mouth as he charged one last hyper beam. Gardevoir stared into the glow and awaited her demise.
An explosion enveloped Tyranitar as someone pulled Gardevoir out of the way. The hyper beam flailed around, destroying buildings, radio towers, and even part of the cliff face. Gardevoir was placed into the ground and she opened her eyes to see her savior,
"I have no fucking clue what is going on," Infernape declared, "but stay away from her!"