A/N: New chapter yay! For those of you keeping up with my profile updates, this later upload is part of me switching to a 2.5 week upload schedule. This means the next chapter will be in 2 weeks, then the next one in 3 weeks, and so on, all on Fridays. Check my profile for any updates on that. Once more, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the return of one of our two protagonists! (finally lol)
A camera's shutter noise played from the speaker of Larry's rotom phone as he snapped a picture of the latest quarantine zone. What had at one time been a lush forest was reduced to ugly patches of acidic dirt and sheer reflective crystal surfaces. Every location he'd visited had been the same, if not in a worse state as he'd lost time travelling. It was depressing, and not in the heroic martyr sort of way that his corporation encouraged. On that front, Larry's health was currently being neglected by his boss and himself so his boss wouldn't have to go through the trouble of being without frequent progress on his end. This double helping of neglect increased the weight of his shoes as he trudged to the edge of the quarantine zone. He worked on a crunch schedule constantly, but there wasn't usually this much exercise involved. Wasn't this supposed to be his case to solve? He could vaguely recall Geeta assigning him to the currently missing detective until they'd resolved Juliana's disappearance. Whether that was still his task or not hadn't been established since Geeta had gone dark on him several days ago. There wasn't much he could do when the quarantine zones he frequented kept communications sporty, so he focused his efforts on completing this secondary mission.
Good employees didn't have the right to complain about their assignments. They just got the job done, no questions asked, no ifs ands or buts. Examining the photo he'd taken, Larry was able to spot his target off in the distance. It had been a long and arduous journey to travel to all four locations where the treasures of ruin had been acquired without drawing attention to himself. Most of the main roads were already full of holes due to being quarantine zones, and those that weren't were covered in people from the league and academy alike to ensure the wellbeing of the citizens. In theory, Larry shouldn't have to care about running into people on his business trip, but Geeta's orders had been very clear to keep a low profile. The only place Larry allowed himself to be seen was at his gym, though nobody had challenged any gym recently given the circumstances. It was another façade he was being forced to put up purely because it was convenient for someone else to gloss over the truth.
But there would be time for complaining later when he was off the clock. Larry was being positive right now. If his guess was correct, then this would be the last stop before he could return to his post and… do what? Tell Geeta he'd figured out how to find Juliana's location in Area Zero? It wouldn't be to return the treasures that had been thoroughly destroyed at every shrine he'd visited. Twiddling his thumbs waiting for Geeta to make a move wouldn't be productive either. He couldn't help but feel like he wasn't benefiting her or himself directly through this assignment. Instead, he was just gathering information that the enemy could easily steal later. Unless that was Geeta's plan, she hadn't thought this through very well, as usual. Larry would have told her this himself if she'd bothered to attend to any of the calls he'd placed recently. The most that he'd ever been able to get out of her was a noncommittal response encouraging him to keep up the good work regardless of what sort of questions he thrust on her before his phone went silent for the last few days due to tera interference. But there would be time to rewrite that script as well. He couldn't comment on the quality or necessity of a job that wasn't done.
Larry donned the gas mask that he'd been wearing frequently over the past month. All four treasure of ruin sites had become hotbed quarantine zones, likely because of the intimate connection to teraite that had been discovered within them shortly before Juliana's incident. It was a blessing that guaranteed fewer onlookers, but it meant that Larry had to be careful how he approached each move within the zone, as one mistake could be fatal at worst. Starraptor carried the gym leader low over the ground, zipping by various tera pokémon and even a titan pokémon far off in the distance. Had this been Looker, the man would likely have wasted his time by combing every inch of the path leading up to the shrine before finding some insignificant piece of garbage on the road to justify their time spent. "Time's the most valuable resource we have," Larry informed the non-existent detective. Squandering company time was unacceptable.
There was much to do to conduct a thorough investigation, that was true, but only so many things were worth the time necessary to do them, and only so many of those so many things were ever going to be in reach of the general populace. Larry had taken great pains to avoid those pitfalls. With the region falling apart, he had a job with a steady income and only mildly dangerous work. Looker couldn't say that. That guy was wandering about somewhere in Area Zero if he wasn't dead. All that mattered was delivering appealing results with no lasting consequences to all involved. It was the last tenet that continued to spur Larry's feet forward as starraptor let him down at the shrine's perimeter. Wishing to confirm his partner's safety was therefore a professional desire, not an emotional one.
Reaching the shrine's entrance, Larry was confronted with a large mass of teraite. This was exactly what he'd encountered at the last two shrines, with the first one only partially terastilized. He could spend all day trying to destroy it with his pokémon, or he could take a shortcut. One benefit of Juliana's treasure hunt was that it gave all League staff a massive surplus of tera shards to use to their liking. He and Geeta had been aware of the tera shards and their importance for a while, but there was a big difference between stockpiling leftovers at the Treasure Eatery from trainers changing tera types and having a region-wide scavenger hunt supplying you. As Larry placed the two circles of tera shards in the proper formation, they began to glow until they burned a hole through the teraite that they surrounded. With larger tera shards, the entire crystal might have been destroyed with this alone, but more motivation was necessary with the paltry offering Larry was able to muster. A single brave bird from starraptor was all that was needed to turn this small fracture into a massive shattered teraite crystal.
The noise reverberated through the area as the untransformed parts of the crystal crashed to the ground and scattered toxic dust everywhere. Larry crouched down, hiding his mask with his briefcase until the dust cleared. Any pokémon that was overly curious within a 20-mile radius probably heard that. The businessman sighed. At least he could charge overtime if he had to take down twenty or more pokémon, and tera pokémon counted for two. Titan pokémon counted as thirty, but he had no intention of engaging one of them by himself. They required special battle tactics he didn't have access to, like friends. For now, he'd have to rely on the dueling skills he was being paid to maintain. With the teraite removed, Larry quickened his pace and stumbled through the dark cave to reach the shrine's back. Pay wasn't equivalently exchanged with his time in Geeta's world when results weren't produced. The actual shrine where the treasure of ruin had been imprisoned wasn't particularly impressive. Larry's rotom phone illuminated a variety of ancient artifacts stacked against a wall made entirely of teraite by now. There was likely to be as much useful information in this shrine as the last one, but Larry was holding out hope that this would be his lucky break. This was the shrine that the treasure Juliana had supposedly used was held, after all.
Inspecting artifact after artifact didn't yield any positive results. Everything was either too worn down to be of any value or some sort of art piece that wouldn't do anyone except some rich maniac any good. The treasure itself was destroyed like the others, meaning that whatever knowledge could be gleaned from it was destroyed as well. Larry might have given up had he not laid eyes on the back wall of the shrine. It startled him to see that it wasn't made of teraite as he initially assumed. Instead, it was composed of the same stone that entombed this shrine and kept the roof from caving in on Larry's head. That hardly made sense given what was supposed to be contained here. Larry pressed forward to investigate. As he ran a hand along the stone, he realized how it had held out this long. The stone wasn't connected to the wall. He was touching some sort of slab, one that likely had been disconnected from the shrine walls for a reason.
With starraptor and flamigo's help, Larry managed to pull the heavy slab away from the wall and turn it around. This revealed an ancient writing that Larry wouldn't be able to decipher by himself. He had a good idea of what it probably said, but he could worry about the details when he wasn't standing in a room full of poisonous air. Snapping some pictures on his business and personal phone and checking to make sure he'd captured what he needed, Larry made his escape. All things considered, it was a successful mission. Sending this information to Geeta would make it her problem and leave him to consider how he could make himself more useful since nobody else was trying to do it. First, however, he'd take an afternoon off. There was no greater feeling than passing the buck to your boss without the fear of consequences.
As Larry was enjoying this wonderful opportunity, he sensed something was off. His briefcase, which he'd left at the entrance to the shrine due to how small the opening starraptor had created was, was gone. This wasn't particularly problematic if a pokémon ran off with it, but there were no footprints or signs of bird pokémon anywhere. That meant he might be dealing with an assailant, and not a very smart one. Wise people didn't announce their surprise attack by stealing their victim's things first. Perhaps he thought that he could get away with stealing information Larry only recently obtained by nicking his suitcase. Failing that, the next move would surely be to attack Larry himself. The natural follow-up to this thought was a kunai piercing through the tube coming out of Larry's gas mask. It would have embedded itself into Larry's skin had his suit not stopped it. Larry wasn't foolish enough to skimp on defenses for himself after last month. Still, his ability to breathe was severely impaired and he lamented that his spare gas mask was currently in the possession of the enemy. So that had been their aim the whole time. The one who starts to believe they have all the answers has the most to learn. Basic training, Larry.
Larry gasped as these thoughts raced through his head, quickly reattaching the tube with fumbling hands as he dove behind a large chunk of teraite, but the damage was done. If he didn't get out of the quarantine area soon, he'd be just another casualty. The killer would probably get away without an investigation even being opened. Larry must have been careless. I bet he ran into a magikarp, got scared, and tripped on a rock. What a sorry report that would make for the boss. "Come out," Larry requested, his monotone voice obfuscated by the damaged filter in his mouth.
His assailant obliged. Larry wasn't sure what he was going to do if his foe had remained hidden. Attrition wasn't much fun when someone was doing it to you. The figure standing in front of him, perched on the top of a large teraite boulder, was someone from Larry's files. Larry didn't dare look more closely from behind his cover, but a single glance was enough to confirm his suspicions. Unlike his former classmates, Atticus hadn't changed his appearance at all, as if age was a suggestion he was ignoring. The poison-type master and former Team Star admin glared at Larry from behind his own mask, his toxapex bristling in anger. "You know what you're doing?" Larry asked for confirmation. He wouldn't have to hold back depending on his answer.
"A righteous man heeds not the platitudes spouted from the hearts of the wicked," Atticus probably countered, Larry wasn't entirely sure due to his manner of speech. "Kneel while you still draw breath."
"I hate unscheduled meetings," Larry complained, waving a hand in front of him. "Starraptor, flamigo, get to work."
Atticus was gone before Larry even finished speaking, vanishing in a puff of smoke as Larry's pokémon charged from the entrance to the shrine. Right, that was exactly according to the boy's schedule. Atticus had no reason to directly engage his foe when he could simply wait for Larry to expire from the poisonous air. That meant the first thing Larry needed to do was get out of the quarantine zone. Larry rolled out of his cover and broke into a sprint toward the nearest quarantine zone border, flanked by his two active pokémon. This sprint lasted a full second before Larry forced himself to skid to a stop. Had he continued his headlong charge, he might have risked losing a leg to the toxic spikes that were cleverly scattered all over the ground. Only flamigo's cry had warned him to the impending danger. Sensing their trainer's discomfort, flamigo and starraptor circled low to pick him up. "Were you not expecting me?" Larry asked more to himself than to Atticus.
This sort of trap would have been much more trouble for someone who didn't work from the skies or abuse teleportation, with Larry being of the former group. He mounted starraptor, preparing to take off by air. It would have been preferable to leave, but Atticus had seen to that when he stole the businessman's briefcase. Just because there weren't any state secrets in there didn't mean Larry wasn't going to get it back. More importantly, Atticus was the best investigation lead he'd gotten in the last five minutes. "You'll be the one to tell me why he left," Larry informed the invisible enemy.
Larry started by flying straight up, high enough to be out of the range of the quarantine zone. Yanking the mask from his face, Larry took in a gasp of clean air. It was a bit thin for his liking, but at least it wouldn't try to kill him. "Can you see him?" Larry asked his pokémon.
The response was a gunk shot flying at him from somewhere in the land below them. Larry swore, clinging on tight as the attack barely missed him and starraptor. Atticus had a further reach than he anticipated. More gunk shots followed, each hurled from different angles and directions in a blatant attempt to prevent them from fleeing as Atticus probably suspected he was doing. Where could their master be? There was no time to look when Larry was being pelted from every direction. Perhaps dozens of pokémon had been prepared for this ambush. The ground was now looking decidedly safer than the air. Punctuating this conclusion was flamigo taking a shot to the chest. Though it was a single blow, this was all it took to disrupt the bird's momentum, allowing it to be struck by a second and third blow almost immediately. Larry recalled his partner as it began to plummet to the ground. He wasn't going to let whatever was down there take his coworker from him again. "We're retreating," Larry informed his starraptor, leaning in closer as a gunk shot whizzed by his head.
Even this option turned out to be closed off to him. When they became certain starraptor was trying to flee, the shots intensified, herding starraptor deeper into the quarantine zone in an attempt to keep its trainers safe. Larry grit his teeth and grunted in frustration, his starraptor shifting uncomfortably at the burst of emotion. Most trainers were a bit more talkative than this. Larry was used to listening to an entire diatribe about why he or Geeta were the object of some assassin's ire before they tried to carry out the deed they came to do. In contrast, Atticus had only appeared long enough to tell Larry that he was there, obeying some sort of twisted ninja law about respecting one's opponent. Releasing more pokémon would just create more targets, and pulling starraptor back wasn't exactly an option. Perhaps Atticus had been preparing for Larry specifically after all. If that was the case, then his next move was clear. "You prepared for Larry, not me," Larry muttered, straightening his tie and tossing a pokéball in front of him.
Immediately, several gunk shots were fired at the pokéball, trying to destroy it before it could even open. The poison pokémon on the ground either had incredible eyesight or were being assisted with their aim in some other way. In any case, it worked in Larry's favor. The pokéball decoy he threw exploded into white smoke. Though it wasn't his style, it made getting away much easier when the opponent couldn't see you. This time, however, Larry wasn't running. The gunk shots continued to fire into the smoke, hoping perhaps that they could entrap their foe now that he was confined to where he couldn't be seen. But that's exactly what Larry was counting on. As the smoke cleared, five different pokémon shot out in different directions. Larry's braviary, starraptor, tropius, oricorio, and altaria all fled from the smoke, keeping their backs away from the ground to conceal which pokémon Larry was on. To an observer, this was a heartless trick, sacrificing one's pokémon just for the chance to get away.
Atticus seemed to agree by the way the bombardment intensified. Tropius was the first to fall. Larry predicted that; it wasn't wise to send a large grass type into a poison bombardment. As it plummeted to the earth, oricorio and the slower altaria followed shortly after, taking their own hits on the way down. Braviary and Starraptor were the last two birds standing, and Larry had wisely sent them in opposite directions. Most of the fire was directed toward starraptor, but braviary had its own line of fire to duck and weave between as it made for the exit to the quarantine zone. As they both reached the edge of their destination, tragedy struck. A stray gunk shot managed to clip both pokémon at around the same time, sending them careening to the ground. All that awaited them there was poisonous air and toxic spikes. Humans couldn't tolerate the toxic environment for long, but pokémon exposed to the tera energy for extended periods simply became wild terastilized pokémon. This usually caused them to forget about their trainers, expressing symptoms of amnesia and even losing their ability to return to their pokéballs. It was a fascinating phenomenon that someone other than Larry would probably be interested in. All Larry cared about in the moment was ensuring that his foe thought he was dying.
As starraptor and braviary hurtled to the ground, Larry put his plan into action. The smoke from the businessman's smoke grenade was finally starting to clear up, revealing that one pokémon had remained there, hidden from view. Larry clung to his flamigo precariously, the smaller bird pokémon supporting his weight through willpower alone. The damage it had taken wasn't fully healed, but he'd given it enough of a potion boost to keep it airborne. He'd look a curious sight on a good day if his foe hadn't been too distracted by his other pokémon to notice that Larry hadn't moved. "Do you see the leader?" Larry asked, not trusting his own eyes for this task.
Flamigo said its name affirmatively. Nodding, Larry signaled to his pokémon. "Then go get it."
Instantly, flamigo dove. The knot in its neck was unwound to give it the additional speed it needed to strike before its foe caught on to what was happening. Under normal circumstances, this would have led to Larry being flung off his pokémon and plummeting to his unceremonious death. Fortunately, he'd had the good sense to strap a leash on flamigo's leg before the attack was launched. He could still feel his entire left side getting dislocated as flamigo dove, but the alternative of death was far less enticing. As they closed in on a specific point in the quarantine zone, Larry could see Atticus standing among a small circle of muk, evidently distracted by watching starraptor's falling body. His command central was obscured by a ring of boulders and teraite that appeared to have been placed there rather than having been naturally formed. Someone like Larry never would have been able to tell.
By the time Atticus realized what was happening, it was too late. Larry let go of flamigo as the ground rapidly approached, throwing down another ball that exploded into an inflatable cushion for him to land on. Unlike Nemona, he couldn't afford to break a bone every time he had his pokémon carry him somewhere. This sort of thing wouldn't save him from a long fall, but it could handle a couple of stories. The landing was harsh, and Atticus was far worse off in the exchange. He took the full brunt of a liquidation attack from an infuriated flamigo that was just made to watch its teammates get hunted. The ninja managed to pull out a kunai to help block the attack, but he still went flying into a nearby tera structure as a result of the attack.
The rock wasn't so much as dented by Atticus' impact, and the former student crumpled to the ground, coughing into his mask. By the time Larry made it to his feet, Atticus was still trying and failing to do the same. The muk that had been surrounding Atticus had gotten between him and his assailant, forcing flamigo to wait for further orders, wrapping its neck back into a knot to conserve energy. Larry stretched his back, hoping he hadn't herniated a disk. There wouldn't be much time before the rest of Atticus' team converged on his location. "You probably thought you had the advantage in a place like this," Larry presumed, starting toward the downed student. "But there's nobody easier to beat than someone always looking up." Where that confidence had come from was unknown to Larry, but he could admit that he took some pride in the taunt.
"You.. ack… fool," Atticus sputtered as he rose unsteadily to his feet. "That chance to flee was your one ray of… salvation." As he spoke, Larry could sense more muk and other poison type pokémon gathering around him.
"I'm surprised someone like you would simply attack another person on sight, regardless of the reason," Larry responded, trying to stall for time. "You should leave business like that to grownups who understand it."
"Your ways of thinking are as archaic as your skills, lackey," Atticus fired back, his head clearing up. "There is no room for emotion, thought in this line of work. In forgetting that, you have guaranteed your demise." He meant those words, and Larry could tell.
If the businessman made any sudden moves, he would be fired upon from all directions. "How are you controlling this many pokémon at once?" Larry asked. "Are there other collaborators or are you working alone?"
"Words are wasted on the dead," Atticus responded, shifting into a battle stance. "But your strike has earned my respect. Come on. I've no need for your head to roll quickly."
If Larry believed that offer to be legitimate, he would have considered an invitation to a direct battle to be fortuitous. He could still see poison spikes scattered around the ground, and now that he was back in the quarantine zone, his time to breathe air through a broken filter was limited. It was entirely in Atticus' favor to draw this contest out with a direct duel. Fortunately for Larry, it was in his interest to keep Atticus too focused on his mission to do anything else. "That's why you're not cut out for this line of work. There's no honor in- guh!" Larry cried out as a needle from toxapex struck his unprotected hand.
He didn't need to check to know that he'd just been poisoned. "I offer no clemency, fiend, save an honorable demise," Atticus corrected, one of the muks coming forward to serve as his pokémon. "Now come on!"
Larry's head was already starting to spin. That probably wasn't a good sign. Whatever he'd just been shot up with was probably going to leave him with far worse than a headache if he left it in his system for too long. That left one clear solution. Larry removed his mask completely, allowing himself to breathe in unfiltered terastilized air. Atticus raised his eyebrows as Larry stepped forward. Already the man's vision was beginning to clear up. If he kept this up for too long, he would surely die of the terastilization poisoning, but there was nothing any poison pokemon's attack could do to interfere with that tera poison. "It takes one poison to kill another," Larry responded, motioning flamigo forward. "Let me show you what it means to get a job done."
Flamigo surged forward, spurred on by the encouraging words of its trainer. It opened its wings and began to glide across the ground, turning the world around it into a blur as it prepared to slam into the opponent's muk. Atticus did nothing, his pokémon simply bracing to take the attack with its considerable bulk. "A bully knows naught but the savage way. We are smarter." Flamigo's attack sputtered and died as it made contact and failed to send muk anywhere.
"Again," Larry ordered, prompting flamigo to take a few paces back before muk could entrap flamigo to make another attempt.
The second, third, and fourth charges ended with the same result. Atticus, so dedicated to seeing a battle play out just seconds ago, was perplexed. Larry could see on his face that he was trying to figure out what angle his true attack was about to come from, only to have flamigo butt its head uselessly into muk once more. Surely a renowned gym leader and member of the elite four had more tricks up his sleeve than spamming a single attack over and over? People would be surprised how effectively that strategy worked, but it wasn't why Larry had chosen to employ it in this situation. Right now, all he needed was a battle that was irritating enough to be worth focusing on. "Enough!" Atticus shouted as Larry's attack failed for a fifth time. "You mock me? Muk, end this!"
Having Atticus abandon his previous strategy was all Larry needed. Now that Atticus was focused on where his muk's gunk shot was going, he'd stopped paying attention to what was going on around him. It was a persistent failing of most people; seeing the big picture required being able to take a step back from the self without getting caught up in all the little details that the human side of you wanted to fixate on. In fighting against his own nature, Larry considered himself to be more human than anyone else. "Now!" Larry commanded, and a blast of air struck muk from six different directions at once.
Shocked, Atticus swept his gaze around the arena to see that his legion of poison types had been replaced by Larry's team. The fatal wounds that he'd seen inflicted earlier had been decoys meant to get him to lower his guard. Even with this advantage, Larry had waited for the moment when his team would be able to sweep across the entire field at once, at the expense of his health and all. "Misdirection was supposed to be your job, wasn't it ninja?" Larry taunted as he walked over to where Atticus had left his briefcase sitting on the ground. "I'd advise you to come quietly. I have a lot of questions that-" Larry was cut off as Atticus came charging at him, pokéballs in hand.
Knowing when to give up was an important skill for adults that needed to be imparted to children better. As Atticus roared in rage, he was swiftly knocked down by a wing to the back of the head from starraptor. "That's enough then. Round up his pokémon," Larry instructed as he went searching in his briefcase for a spare mask.
"You would call this contest?!" Atticus bellowed, rising to his feet once again. "I have not yet begun to fight!" Era inconsistencies aside, Atticus was still full of vigor despite being beaten down thoroughly by when would normally have disabled someone of Larry's build.
Starraptor attempted to pin Atticus to the ground, but wings made poor grappling tools and Larry had expressly forbidden the use of talons on a human. Because of this choice, Atticus was able to resume his doomed crusade, though his leg had been hobbled from the first impact. Larry allowed Atticus to approach, one hand still inside his briefcase. "I won't let you!" Atticus cried, dropping the archaic inflections in his voice to lunge out at the businessman. "You can't have your way any longer!"
Larry instinctively took a few steps backward out of Atticus' range, dropping what he'd been holding. The man wasn't the ninja's target, however. Instead, Atticus took a kunai and brought it down swiftly into Larry's briefcase. A crunching sound indicated that his target had been struck, and when Atticus pulled out the kunai, Larry's work phone was pierced through. The rotom inside came flying out, escaping into the air with its home destroyed. Larry tilted his head, puzzled and annoyed in equal measures. "You're going to pay for that," he sighed, already motioning to the rest of his pokémon.
"I have accomplished my mission!" Atticus responded boldly as he sank to his knees. "Know that, and despair as your future generations curse your name! Long live Team Star!" With that, he allowed himself to fall unconscious.
Now thoroughly confused, Larry inspected the unmoving body of the fanatical student. Atticus was very much alive, but his injuries and their location wouldn't let him stay that way forever if Larry did nothing. His work phone had been shattered, which was more of an irritation than anything else. Larry considered sending a report on this to Geeta on his personal phone, but he wouldn't get any reception until he left the quarantine area anyways. "What a pain," he muttered, stretching out his back and arms as starraptor and braviary worked to get Atticus on their back.
Larry would have considered flying out himself were his head not swimming. Trying to get on a bird pokémon when he was already nauseous was asking to fall off, and falling without the cognizance necessary to soften his fall would be the end of Larry the businessman. Ironically, someone with no motor control was easier to manage that someone who would flail around trying to save themselves if they sensed an imminent fall. "On to the exit then," Larry ordered his pokémon as they finished gathering up Atticus and his team.
It would no doubt be an arduous journey, fraught with many of the traps that Atticus had set for them on the way. Larry had plenty of time to contemplate why Atticus had attacked him as he navigated the treacherous landscape. The boy had known that he was investigating the shrines and had waited until he visited the shrine that was the furthest away from civilization, the one where he presumed he would have the greatest advantage. Attacking in a quarantine zone all but guaranteed that help wouldn't be coming as well. That aside, Larry couldn't fathom why Atticus felt the need to assault him in the first place. Was it some sort of misguided revenge for his friends? He ought to have known that they accomplished their goal of infiltrating Area Zero. Atticus would have simply responded to the summons Penny had sent him if that was his concern. That also ruled out Ortega as a potential culprit. The fairy boy was too proud to stoop to something like assassination. Even so, Larry couldn't think of anyone else who even knew Atticus well enough to find him, let alone drive him past the bounds of the law. It was unnatural. The businessman sighed as he took another deep breath from his oxygen mask. The air tasted like metal.
Blinking, Larry realized something was wrong. He felt like he'd been walking for a while, but the quarantine zone refused to end. Had he seen that rock before? Larry checked his oxygen levels. He was receiving air normally. Normal air… Larry kicked himself and a rock in a rare burst of anger. His defense against Atticus' poison had been removed by his own hand. In focusing on the boy's desperate charge, he'd forgotten about the poison his arm had been injected with. It was ironic that his own tactics were now putting his life in danger. "Gotta get us out," Larry muttered, increasing his pace.
More time passed. Larry could tell that he was making progress, but every step was a challenge. His pokémon tried several times to convince him to take a ride, but Larry had already abandoned that idea. They were all busy transporting Atticus and his pokémon anyways. Not all of Atticus' pokémon had pokéballs, and abandoning a pokémon that would otherwise likely perish if left alone wasn't an option. Geeta needed the region she ran to be intact, after all. All Larry would add to his team's burden was some unnecessary weight that could fall off at any moment. Besides, he needed to stay in this air, at least for the moment. Larry alternated between wearing and removing his mask, which made breathing more difficult, but the small pains that assaulted his senses with each breath helped to sharpen his focus and keep him awake. As long as he could see the path in front of him, he could escape and get help. His pokémon took turns staying with their trainer and soaring above the quarantine zone when the effects of it became too much for them. It seemed like pokémon that output noxious fumes of any sort were more resistant to the effects of the quarantine zone based on how well Atticus and his pokémon had fared. They must have hidden for at least an hour to reach the positions they had unnoticed. Larry made a mental note to find a way to take advantage of that if he survived.
It was becoming difficult to keep track of how long Larry had been walking. The world was beginning to swim despite him breathing more and more of the terastilized air. At this point it was likely doing just as much damage as the poison in his arm. His pokémon were supporting him like living crutches, helping him put one foot in front of the other while watching for the various traps and wild pokémon that Atticus and nature had conspired to hamper him with. They worked in shifts to avoid spending too much time in the quarantine zone. "I can't clock out yet," Larry would reassure them when they looked at him with concern.
To be frank, Larry wasn't sure what they saw in him. His pokémon were an extension of himself, workers being assigned a task to complete. Their relationship therefore was supposed to be purely professional. But it had become apparent to Larry that he didn't treat his pokémon quite like that. He'd seen plenty of cases of pokémon abuse in his time as Geeta's enforcer. Pokémon forced to attack humans, injected with supplements to make them stronger, feral. All manner of atrocities that Larry had been forced to contend with, yet his pokémon would cross those lines so long as Larry gave the command, knowing their way of doing things was considered morally wrong. They trusted him implicitly, and in watching the way that Looker battled with his own pokémon, Larry felt that he'd finally come to understand why. They didn't act because they didn't understand that what Larry asked them to do was wrong, they did it because they trusted him to act for just reasons.
"Really now, you should make those decisions for yourself," Larry informed his flamigo as it helped him over a particularly large boulder and around another set of toxic spikes. "You shouldn't attack people just because I tell you to."
This sudden burst of morality confused flamigo, and it turned to regard him curiously as Larry slid down the other side of the boulder. "I think I went over this when we first met. Our job is to serve as the steppingstone for others to grow. Gym trainers, champions, the top champion. We only exist so that others can demonstrate their growth to the world. There's no morality in that, is there? We don't get to decide how we're used, we exist only to be a marker for strength. Whatever we're able to accomplish together will be labelled as someone else's success, or even failure. I guess that's kind of freeing in a way, isn't it?" Flamigo didn't respond, instead continuing its duty without complaining.
"I appreciate all your hard work," Larry informed the pokémon, hoping his voice was reaching the rest of the team above him as well. "I make unreasonable demands of you in the name of making a better world. It's a busy job, but will you stick by me, even if it means we have to continue to stoop to these levels?"
It was the first time that Larry had asked his pokémon for feedback on his leadership performance. The way they obeyed his orders without question wasn't something that Larry had ever questioned before. He simply assumed that they understood their place in the hierarchy of life the same way he understood his relationship with the Paldea League. But Looker's pokémon didn't act like that. He valued them over his mission, and they came through for him when he needed them to. The other people he fought with had similar philosophies.
So Larry was missing something. Fortunately, his pokémon were there to pick up his slack. Flamigo nodded innocently, this action reciprocated fervently by all of Larry's birds putting out various cries of agreement as they proceeded through the quarantine zone. Only then did it occur to Larry that they'd chosen to stay with him despite being able to fly out of the quarantine zone themselves. In favor of getting the job done more efficiently, they'd chosen to stay by his side. "That's… rather inefficient," Larry muttered, feeling his breathing become more and more labored. "And you're wasting it on a guy like me, who doesn't even have that much to live for in the first place."
If his pokémon agreed, Larry couldn't tell. He wanted to make sure they got out of here if nobody else did. The trainer fumbled around in his pocket and withdrew the notes he'd taken in the shrine. "You all… need to make sure these get back to Geeta, alright? This is a top priority assignment. Don't worry about me and take care of this." As he held out his hand, however, none of his pokémon moved to accept the task.
He tried foisting it onto the nearest bird, but it would dodge his attempts easily. Forcing it into flamigo's mouth would just ruin the notes, so Larry sighed in defeat. "I'll be alright. But this can't wait. Nothing we do will have any value if Geeta isn't able to save this region by herself. Does that make sense? This is what we've been working toward this whole time."
Still no pokémon attempted to accept Larry's task. Realizing he wasn't going to win this argument, Larry sat down hard on a clean patch of ground. Instantly his pokémon stopped what they were doing and surrounded him, urging him to get back up. Larry wanted to obey, but his muscles were simply refusing to listen to him. At this point he was going to get airlifted out of the zone whether he wanted to be or not. "Be gentle," Larry advised his team as his vision continued to blur. Before he passed out, he thought he saw another pokémon approaching from behind his team as they fretted over their trainer.
Larry tried to open his mouth to warn them, but it seemed like he'd lost the ability to form words coherently. That would make his job decidedly easier if he had an excuse not to talk. On the other hand, if they were attacked by a terastilized pokémon now, he'd probably get all his partners wiped out just trying to defend himself, let alone make it out of the quarantine zone afterwards. Everything he'd done up to this point would be for nothing. This thought was somehow freeing. The pokémon in front of him and behind his team let out a cry, alerting them to its presence. Larry thought he could sense something familiar about the pokemon's presence, but he'd lost the ability to perceive exactly what that familiarity was. His last thoughts as he lost consciousness were of his boss and how she would admonish him for slacking on the job.
When Larry awoke, the first thing he did was check his watch. It had been nearly four hours since he'd taken an unauthorized break. In that time, the poison that was coursing through his body likely should have ended him. Because that hadn't happened, he assumed that someone had saved him. His surroundings had swapped from the arid quarantine zone to a sterile manmade quarantine zone. Pokémon centers had set up tents for trainers exposed to the quarantine zone to rest and fight off potential infections caused by teraite. He was currently laying inside one of them. From nearby, he could see Nurse Joy watching his vitals carefully. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that Larry was awake. "You're lucky to be alive, Larry. Most people couldn't have survived in the quarantine zone as long as you could."
"The poison?" Larry asked, trying to show off his hand and wincing with the effort.
"It was dangerous, but not lethal. I administered the cure. Whoever did that do you really did a number on you and your friend."
Larry turned his eyes to the occupied bed next to him. Atticus was still unconscious, the effects of the quarantine zone more pronounced on a younger body than an older one. For once, Larry was grateful for his age. Normal protocol would require him to bring Atticus in for what he'd done, but Larry was more concerned with simply existing for the moment. As he tried to sit up, Nurse Joy laid a hand on his chest. "Rest. You're going to make your condition worse. Is that one with you?" She tried to insist, but Larry forced himself to rise anyway.
The world swam, but it was no worse than getting up in the morning after only two hours of sleep. Larry could function on this so long as he put some coffee in him. "I trust my pokémon are alright?" He asked, dodging her question.
Nurse Joy placed her hands on her hips and gave the gym leader her best disapproving look. It wasn't very effective. "I don't know why they call you the everyman. You're far more stubborn than the rest of them." That was a running joke Larry wasn't aware of, and he pretended that was still the case as his pokémon were returned to him. "Oh, we couldn't find that one's pokéball. Do you know where it is?" Nurse Joy indicated a pokémon waiting patiently outside the door.
Larry raised an eyebrow. A Miraidon was parked like a bicycle waiting for him as if it wasn't a legendary pokémon from the future. Larry exited his tent with shuffling steps and approached the pokémon. He was aware of the existence of two of these pokémon in the Paldea region. One of them had gone into Area Zero with Juliana. The other was supposedly last seen with Arven according to recent reports. People about to be crushed by titan pokémon would suddenly see streaks of lightning tear across the sky. The next thing they remember is being left with a warm meal and a defeated titan pokémon. Miraidon had a thermos and a rotom phone on its back. "Quite a loyal pokémon. It carried you and your friend all by itself," Nurse Joy commented.
"It would seem I owe it my life then," Larry echoed, nodding cordially to the Miraidon. "Thank you."
The miraidon remained neutral to the praise. If it appreciated being needed, it didn't show it. Instead, it walked up to Larry and nudged his side, insisting that he take the packages on its back. With some small protest, Larry accepted the thermos and the phone. The phone didn't have a lock on it, and the home screen had been changed to a large arrow pointing to the photos app. Said app only had two videos on it. Excusing himself from Nurse Joy, Larry went back into the infirmary tent and started the first video, holding the thermos in his other hand absentmindedly.
As he expected, the first video was of Arven standing in front of what looked like a quarantine zone in Area Four. "Hey Larry. I would have preferred to do this in person, but I don't have much time, big shock, and I didn't want to see your face more than I wanted to help. I'll cut to the chase. Your life is in danger. I know, given our past history, you're wondering why I care. I don't." Arven paused, rubbing the back of his neck. "Wow, that came out way harsher than I meant it to. I mean, you did attack me out of the blue. A couple of times. But still… nah, I can't do it. Sorry, Larry, I can't pretend that I want things to be square between us. I couldn't give a rattata's ass what happens to you, Geeta or the League, but I know you and Geeta will try to drag the rest of us down to hell with you if you get the chance, so consider this my preemptive smoliv branch. Anyways, life in danger. I don't know the details, but there's a faction within the League seeking to replace Geeta, and they're getting the IP to step in to help." He paused, turning back to listen to the distant cry of a pokémon from the quarantine zone.
"Look, I need to keep this quick. The League is going to hold a vote in a few days with all the gym leaders to decide whether or not to move on Geeta. They're trying to distract you so you miss the summons. Well, no, they're probably going to try to get rid of you to cripple Geeta. If you haven't received the notification already, do NOT go into a quarantine zone. That's what they're waiting for. They- Aw, crap." The roaring sound in the background grew louder. "Look, I'd be there to explain more if I could, but these damn titans only get more aggressive. Someone has to keep 'em in check. So do your job and get the hell back to the League, already! I shouldn't have to be the one to tell you people these things!" With that, the video cut off.
Larry paused to check his own phone before proceeding to the next video. Atticus had gone out of his way to ensure the device had been destroyed. It seemed that that was the only thing he was actually trying to kill rather than Larry himself. No, that didn't add up. Larry had too many questions to go back to Geeta with. He opened the second video, twisting the cap off his new thermos as he did so. Arven was back, though his clothing was notably disheveled compared to video one. The roaring in the background was notably absent. "Right, one more thing, since I realized you might not listen to me. Go back to Geeta and raise hell with her. I don't know or care what your plan is, but if you're not there when that vote goes down, it won't end well for her, and I can't have that yet. Also, I'm not giving you this information or lending you Miraidon for free. When you and your squad finally does get into Area Zero, I expect you to overlook what Juliana did and focus on saving the region, even if that means going against the League. Oh, and leave Atticus alone. It's not his fault. When the time comes, you're going to need allies. Don't burn the last few bridges you have. You're already accepting miraidon's help, so you can't say no. No excuses, everyman. Arven out."
Larry sighed as he set the silent phone down. Children were such a handful that it was a wonder more people weren't single like him. It was the same thing as a job, but you didn't get paid and most of the time your boss was an ungrateful child. At least Geeta paid him. Larry took a swig of the soup that he'd been given. There must have been something to that nomadic chef life if Arven could pull a dish like this off while on the run. Sparing a glance to Atticus, Larry stepped back out of the infirmary tent, where Nurse Joy and miraidon were waiting. "Keep an eye on him, please," Larry requested of the nurse. "I'll send someone to pick him up later. Miraidon, can you get me to the headquarters quickly?" Miraidon nodded once, expecting this request. Any other land-based pokémon would have been slower than his birds, but miraidon was faster than a train when it wanted to be.
"Larry, your injuries-"
Larry waved the nurse's concerns off as he mounted miraidon. The way he made it there didn't matter. Geeta needed him to report in, so that was what he'd do. "Don't worry about that. I have a meeting to attend, and it seems like I'm already late."