Chapter 28:

Justice from Above

I made myself comfy on the big pile of pillows beside the unconscious Butterfree.

Ralts was guarding the Butterfree, though it was kind of unnecessary since she was all tied up.

The screen of my Pokédex illuminated the warehouse in a soft blue glow, pretty creepy if you ask me.

It wasn't quiet however, waves crashed against the shore and cars honked in the distance.

Midnight had passed an hour ago, yet I didn't feel tired in the slightest.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins and kept me fully awake and ready to fight.

Ralts was a Pokémon so I wasn't sure if she even had anything like adrenaline, still she was pumped and ready to go.

That's why it was so anticlimactic that I actually had to wait for Hylla to pick up and it led me to doubt if she was even awake at 1 AM.

She had been asleep most of the time I was staying at her hospital but she worked for the league so I kinda thought she should've been available at all time.

Of course, that was an assumption on my part.

Luckily, I got through.

The screen changed and the Pokédex informed me I was now in a video chat with a certain purple haired sociopath.

"Oh, it's you," Hylla smiled at the camera. "Good evening Mister Mysterious. Or should I say good morning?"

Still going with that nickname?

"Sup Hylla," I said automatically, then I took a good look again, "Wait, where are you?"

Hylla wasn't in a normal room as I expected, no she was fully clothed and sitting behind a desk which wasn't out of the ordinary but the background was.

Behind her, I saw a big room with big metal cabinets and gray walls with instruction manuals written on them.

The room was illuminated by a big neon light.

In the background, I could hear people talking, though I couldn't make out any individual words.

It thought it looked like she was in some kind of laboratory or something.

Hylla grinned. "That's classified information but if you really want to know,"

She picked up, what I later learned to be, her laptop and allowed me to the room from a different angle.

I saw a group of men dressed in heavy body armor preparing for something.

They all had guns on their belt and a rifle slung over their backs.

Different kinds of Pokémon stood beside them, I saw a Machoke, multiple Staraptor and a black crow-like Pokémon that I remembered from the Galar game but couldn't recall its name and a few wolf like Pokémon.

She put the laptop back in its place and grinned. "We're near Eterna Forest. I was asked to assist with a raid and to look over all the data. It's all very classified,"

She put a finger to her mouth, "So don't tell anyone okay?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Sure. Look, I need your help but I don't have a lot of time."

She grinned, "Oh, so no time for small talk huh?"

"Can I borrow Charizard?" I asked, ignoring her playful jab. "Please right now?"

"Why?" she frowned, she tapped a few times on the keyboard. "Oh, wow. You're at Jubilife City?"

I wasn't even surprised that she knew where I was. "Mmm, why would you want my Charizard in the middle of the night?"

"Look, I really don't ha-"
"It won't take long, I'm bored anyway." Hylla said. "You need her for something crucial, otherwise you wouldn't call in the middle of the night. You're in a dark room that clearly isn't yours."

Her eyes widened. "You found Crimson huh?"

I blinked. "Yeah…"

She tilted her head. "Well, that explains it. So he has a second teleporting Pokémon? The league already suspected such a thing. You really think you can keep up?"

I ignored the way she made skips in her deduction and filled the gaps with stuff she shouldn't know; maybe she did have psychic abilities after all? A short ranged clairvoyant power wasn't too weird for this world of magical creatures.

"Yeah, now can I borrow Charizard?" I asked impatiently.

I had no idea how much distance Crimson had managed to cover, it was possible that his first 2 teleports were an indicator for his travel speed but it could also be the opposite and the distance he could travel would decrease as time went on.

"Mmm," Hylla mused, "Well, Charizard wouldn't mind going on a chase."

She typed away at the keyboard. "There's a Pokémon Center 3 minutes away from you. Just go west and at the end of the city block you should find it."

She grinned at me, "I'll send her your way. Call me when you're done okay?"

I nodded.

"Also," she gave me a wink. "You now owe me one."

And with those cheerful words, she cut off the video call.

"Great," I muttered, then turned to Ralts. "Okay, we gotta run. Our transport is on the way."

"Ralts." She said and she ran towards the table, she managed to jump on top of it and rummaged through the pile of shit Crimson had looted in Jubilife City.

"Ralts!" She yelled and she threw something from the pile towards me. I caught it and smiled.

My good old backpack.

I opened it and to my amazement, Crimson hadn't even bothered to take out his own stuff.

Removing the TMs and purse I put in my own stuff from my second backpack and slung my good old backpack over my back.

The silver gun that was still lying at my feet sparkled in the moonlight.

Crimson had dropped it and I tried to use it, only to find out I sucked at it.

Nonetheless, I grabbed it and gave it a quick look.

It looked very similar to a gun from my world, although I had no idea what the official name was. Strange thing was that there was no way to remove or insert ammo clips.

The entire thing was one solid piece of steel or iron; or maybe actually silver, I had no idea what it was made of but it couldn't be opened and unless I had to insert the bullets via the barrel my guess was that this was another one of those bullshit Pokémon world technology things.

I yeeted the thing into my backpack anyway, finders keepers right?

"Come on Ralts." I said and she hopped towards me, I caught her and put her on my shoulders.

I decided to leave the Butterfree and the entire base behind, knowing Hylla, she would probably inform the police anyway and I had a certain red haired thief to stop.

Deciding this was the best spot to release Charizard I tossed the Pokéball at the ground.

I wanted to release her the moment the lady at the Pokémon Center handed me her Pokéball but I had to consider the sheer size of a dragon Pokémon and I also didn't want to scare off any pedestrians.

Luckily Jubilife City had a lot of parks for grass Pokémon and trainers to battle.

With an impressive roar, Charizard appeared in front of us.

Her head was facing the sky as she roared and for a second I kinda worried someone would complain about me disturbing the peace.

However, after her quick show of dominance she faced me, I was ready to go.

"Ralts." Ralts greeted the dragon who was clearly confused about where the hell she was.

Guess Hylla didn't inform Charizard beforehand.

"Sup," I greeted.

"Zard?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, I asked Hylla if you could assist us. So yeah, wanna help us out?"

I really hoped she would say yes, otherwise it would be all for naught.

Dragons were a proud species in the Pokémon world and I thought I had earned her trust last time and I really hoped I was right.

She stepped towards us and lowered her head.

The big orange dragon let out a demanding growl and I did the first thing that came to mind.

I stroked her head and she let out a satisfied groan.

"Ralts." Ralts informed me and she was right, we were in a hurry after all.

I stopped and Charizard gave me a puzzled look.

"We're chasing after a criminal who has a low range teleporter with him. Can I ride on your back?" I asked.

Charizard nodded and she turned around, she opened her wings and gestured to me to get on her back.

Awesome.

Ralts climbed onto Charizard's neck and I followed behind her, placing myself between her wings.

Ralts leaned into me while I grabbed Charizard's neck to get some leverage.

"Okay, fly South-East, not too high!" I commanded and Charizard flapped her wings a few times before flying up.

It was a much better take off than last time, she flew above the streets and weaved between all the skyscrapers like she was born for this moment.

Flying in a city during nighttime was a lot different from flying above a forest.

The cool midair night forth a wind that was actually really nice. It was cold, but in a good way, it helped me focus and forget my tiredness.

Clouds wrapped around the moon, yet the moonlight shone through it and allowed me to see the entire city below us.

It wasn't just the moon, a thousand tiny lights coming from traffic, houses and skyscrapers all added to the entire picture.

Charizard growled victoriously and I had the idea she was smiling.

Meanwhile, I was trying to do the mental math of how far Crimson was.

He wasn't in Ralt's range but he couldn't have gotten too far, it had only been 10 minutes since he escaped.

Crimson could teleport but I had no idea about the interval between teleports, did it increase over time or decrease?

Charizard soared around a skyscraper that had a big billboard announcing some kind of new product.

"Ralts!" Ralts suddenly said. "RaRalts!"

I had no idea what she meant but Charizard understood it, she lowered her flight and changed her angle slightly.

She flew a bit faster over the city.

The cityscape underneath us had changed a little bit.

Skyscrapers were now less frequent, instead, I saw apartment blocks and luxurious hotels.

The streets in this part of town were almost empty at night, I only saw one lone car drive underneath us and a few trucks, probably people who were coming home from a late night shift.

"RALTS!" Ralts announced and she pointed in front of us.

I narrowed my eyes and I saw a figure standing on a rooftop.

Seeing details was impossible from this far away but I could see him distinctly holding a gun and a floating create next to him.

And they disappeared in a flash a second later.

"Ralts!"

The Charizard changed directions and flew faster.

At the horizon Crimson appeared on top of a large radio tower, only to disappear a few seconds later.

I frowned as Charizard flew much faster than before. She had already reached his last location and Ralts was informing her of Crimson's new location.

Crimson was traveling via rooftops, but why?

He could just teleport from house to house, making him impossible to track with the naked eye.

This made him stand out and wasn't really logical...unless.

"Abra's Teleport is limited by line of sight!" I cried out, "He can't teleport to a place he can't see."

It made sense, from a roof he could see more places and thus more potential locations to teleport too.

If he were in a street he could only travel to the end of that street.

From a rooftop, he had much more choice.

Abra was much weaker than Butterfree it seems, that much was clear.

Butterfree had a bigger range and wasn't limited by line of sight.

It made sense I guess, not every Pokémon is the same as in the games.

Maybe Crimson never bothered to refine Abra's Teleport or maybe Abra was just a weaker species.

Charizard roared and spit out a flamethrower.

Underneath us Crimson and Abra had reappeared.

He stood on a slanted rooftop that seemed to belong to some kind of factory.

His golden gun was aimed at us and he shot a few times.

Charizard steered out of the way while at the same time spitting flames at Crimson, forcing him to teleport again.

The flames didn't burn the building, instead they just simply disappeared which was quite interesting, scientifically speaking of course.

He and Abra disappeared from sight and appeared a few rooftops over.

Charizard flew towards him and the pair teleported again. This time even a smaller distance away.

"Abra's getting weaker." I muttered and Charizard gave me a questioning look.

"Either Abra has only so much distance in total he can cover or every time he uses Teleport it gets weaker." I explained.

Charizard nodded and I grinned. "Only a matter of time."

Crimson shot a few times at us but Charizard blocked it with her wings, making a sudden spin.

It almost threw me off but Charizard quickly returned to not be a rollercoaster.

I heard the bullets hit Charizard and bounce off them.

Crimson cursed and the pair teleported away, this time they teleported to a rooftop.

It was a high building made of redbricks, it had a big pipe running over the roof and connected to a big machine.

Chariszard flew towards him and this time however the pair didn't teleport away.

"Hold it," I told the dragon and she began to hover mid air, a small distance away from the building.

"You really don't know when to stop do you?" Crimson snarled.

He was shivering in his nightwear.

It was a stark contrast to our first meeting.

He didn't wear a mask and cape, he wasn't the one holding all the cards.

I allowed myself to grin, oh how the tables had turned.

Here I was, sitting on a dragon with a psychic Pokémon while the thief was cornered, stuck with a Pokémon who was growing weaker with the second.

"I do love my revenge." I said loud enough so Crimson could hear it.

"RRRAAALLTS!" Ralts added, smirking evilly.

Charizard huffed and a small burst of smoke came out of her mouth.

Crimson spat on the ground, "You really want to keep going?"

I laughed. "I have the high ground you loser. You're running out of energy to run. Just put an end to it."

The criminal gave me a small smile. "Fine, if you want to play that way I'll play along."

He raised his left arm and aimed his golden gun, without even looking he fired three shots.

The bullets hit a skyscraper, all three bullets hit the same window and the glass panel shattered into pieces.

It created a distinct hole in the top floor of the skyscraper.

I frowned. "What was that for?"

"If you want to play, fine by me." Crimson snarled. "Let's play hide and seek."

He aimed his gun at me, Charizard twisted her body to tank the bullet if necessary.

Crimson didn't shoot instead he lowered his gun.

"You have my other gun right?" He asked and I gave him a confused nod.

He pointed at the window he just shot. "If you're really that determined let's see who finds who first."

He gave me the finger. "Come and get me."

Abra's eyes glowed white and the pair disappeared.

They reappeared standing in front of the shattered window, he gave me one final look before walking inside the darkened building.

"Are they actually inside?" I asked Ralts.

"Ralts." She narrowed her eyes and nodded.

Charizard flew towards the building but she stayed a safe distance away.

Two questions in Pokéspeak came at me, both wanting to know what to do next.

I sighed and explained the situation. "Crimson's luring me into a trap,"

It was kinda obvious, however it put me in a dilemma.

"He's trying to get me into a small confined space where he can use his superior snipe skills."

"Ralts." Ralts said and she made some weird motion with her hands that probably meant to explain something.

"No," I said. "If we wait outside there's a chance Abra's Teleport recharges and that could lead him to escaping for real."

I was unsure how long it took for Abra to get stronger but if it could get to its original strength our entire chase would all fall apart.

It took Abra three full teleports to escape Ralts' range, from there he could go any direction he wanted.

There was no point in calling reinforcements either, they would take to much time reaching him.

"Ralts," I said, "We're going inside."

Charizard made an unsatisfied growl.

"Ralts!" Ralts protested.

I gave them both a smile. "Charizard, you need to cover his escape routes, you would be too tall anyway."

Charizard let out a sound that was a combination of a growl and whimper.

"Ralts!" Ralts protested.

"Don't worry, I have a plan." I reassured her. "I'm not one to go into a situation blindly."

"Ralts." Ralts gave me a long stare but I didn't waver.

After that she let out a sigh, and pressed her first together.

The shattered window was somewhere on the 30th floor and I urged Charizard to fly towards it.

"Cover the entire floor with a smoke screen." I commanded. "Then send a smokescreen into the building as well. Don't want him waiting for me at the entrance."

"When we enter I want you to find and take out Abra." I told Ralts. "Use your emotional sense."

Ralts nodded and gave me a questioning look.

"I'll deal with Crimson." I said.

It was almost poetic, a final duel, man against man.

Red vs Blue.

Never say Fate doesn't love her jokes.

I began swiping at my Pokédex while Charizard began covering the entire floor in a black, impenetrable smokescreen.

"I give him 90 seconds to hide." I announced.

I tapped a button on my Pokédex. "There's no running now."

A/N The poll will be online tomorrow.

Also, thank you all for notifying me that the last chapter went wrong, it should be fixed.

-Runeion (Stabs!)

-Zera Of The Damned (that's a lot of chapters to go through ;-()

-vincent1875 (it actually is, after 5 meters shooting becomes much harder than films make it look like)

-Debojit

-Twister60

-DopplerZack (no problem)

-RTNK

-oneoddtodd

-Guest

-Blaze2121 (I still do the Gym Challenge, it won't be the main focus and I added a warning the first chapter.)

-Kept123

-blitz129

-Vivi Neferatari

-Biodegradable Spoon (Proofreader would be nice yeah)

-frankieu

-Thorias (I won't)

-Adrian King1

-Reikon67

-gamerjames27

-Hashirama 1710

Cya all later!

-CaptainMoonShine-