Chapter 21: Overclocked

Friday, August 1st, 10:03 AM, Safari Zone Marshlands Area

Given the perceived difficulty of the situation, Vincent's battle against Rotompharos was going better than he initially expected.

Sure, having to duck under Quagsire to stay safe against the occasional Thunder from the beast was life-threatening, but as the move wasn't effective against either of his Pokemon (especially Quagsire, who was immune), it mostly resorted to Shadow Ball and Focus Blast, both of which were far more manageable to dodge.

However, while his Pokemon were still battling, he had barely put a scratch on Rotompharos. It turned out that hitting the one Zap Cannon was a fluke, as since then the hybrid had dodged every single one of Vincent's Pokemon's attacks. Every time the young man thought for sure that he would land a hit, Rotompharos would disappear with a flash of lighting and reappear in a different location. The way things were going, the creature would certainly outlast Vincent and his Pokemon.

While most of his thoughts were focused on the battle, some kept going back to the only moment where he managed to hit Rotompharos. It was a spur-of-the-moment command that didn't take into account that the beast would resist the move; but if it was resisted, then why did it get knocked back so far? That was the kind of reaction that Vincent would expect from being hit by a move that was super-effective.

Rotompharos quickly formed another ball of swirling, ghastly energy and threw it at Quagsire. Vincent responded immediately by commanding Magnezone to intercept the Shadow Ball with Mirror Coat, while he then told Quagsire to use Stone Edge.

Magnezone covered its body in a luminescent glow and let the Shadow Ball hit it. Due to the effect of the Mirror Coat, the attack bounced off of the Magnet Area Pokemon right back to Rotompharos. Meanwhile, Quagsire slammed his arms to the ground, causing stone spires to emerge from the muddy marshland, making their way to where Rotompharos was floating.

However, the creature simply disappeared in a flash of light, causing the two counterattacks to miss. It then reappeared behind Vincent and his Pokemon, preparing an attack with electricity crackling between its hands. Vincent ran around Quagsire so that he could hide behind him.

But before Rotompharos could attack, a female voice called out from a distance. "Helioptile, use Dark Pulse!"

A dark beam appeared from the corner of Vincent's eye and struck Rotompharos on its backside. The beast groaned from the super-effective hit as its attack was interrupted. It attempted to charge up another attack, but it was struck once again before it could fire it off.

"Klink, use Assurance!" Yelled a male voice.

Two small gear-shaped figures appeared from where the dark pulse had come from. They both slammed face-first into Rotompharos near simultaneously. Then, they meshed together and descended back to where they had come from. Rotompharos roared in response as its attack was once again interrupted.

Vincent turned to where the attacks had come from and saw Casey and Khoury running his way. On Casey's shoulder was her Helioptile, while Khoury's Klink had made its way back to his side.

"What's going on? What is that thing?" Casey asked.

"It's one of those fused Pokemon things!" Vincent answered in a raised voice. "It's a Rotom and an Ampharos!"

"Rotom and Ampharos? Klink, return!" Khoury said, choosing to switch out his Pokemon for ones that would be more helpful in the battle. "Sneasel, Gabite!" he called out while releasing his two choices from their homes.

Casey, figuring that she should send out another Pokemon as well, took out a ball. "Go, Sandslash!"

Rotompharos recovered and noticed that the number of opponents it had to face had tripled in size. In response to this, more clouds with question marks appeared above it.

"It's using Nasty Plot." Khoury muttered.

Vincent nodded. "Yeah, try not to let your Pokemon get hit by its attacks unless they are immune!"

Casey pumped her fist. "You got it! Helioptile, use Dark Pulse! Sandslash, use Drill Run!"

Khoury shot an annoyed glance at her but didn't say anything. Vincent, on the other hand, was quick to point out the problem. "Casey, ground-type moves won't affect it!"

Helioptile fired another beam of dark energy, which connected with Rotompharos, dealing super effective damage. Sandslash tried to spin towards the beast, but it couldn't reach it.

Khoury tsked at her. "C'mon Casey, Rotom's ability is Levitate. I thought you would know, given your love of electric types."

Casey's eye twitched. "Sorry," she said dismissively

Vincent raised his voice to get their attention. "Khoury, stop micromanaging Casey and actually help!"

Casey smirked. "Yeah Khoury."

Khoury huffed and raised his arm towards Rotompharos. "Sneasel, use Hone Claws! Gabite, use Bite!"

Khoury's Sneasel raked her claws against each other in order to sharpen them. Gabite meanwhile rushed up to Rotompharos and prepared to jump. Rotompharos noticed and charged up a Shadow Ball, which it then threw at the Gabite.

"Magnezone, intercept with Flash Cannon!" Vincent called out.

Magnezone shot a white sphere of energy from between its magnets towards the shadow ball. The two collided, creating a small cloud of white fog. Gabite leapt up through it and bit down on Rotompharos' arm. The beast roared in pain as it tried to shake Gabite off.

"Quagsire, Stone Edge!" Vincent exclaimed.

"Sandslash, hit it with Shadow Claw as much as you can!"

As both Pokemon executed their attacks, the three watched and tried to formulate some kind of strategy.

"We have a lot less people than last time." Khoury noted. "Part of the reason why we were able to knock Conkelcario out was because of our numbers. We don't have that, so we need some kind of strategy to take it down."

"That would be a lot easier if we actually knew how these fusions work!" Casey added with indignation.

"We know that they can use more than four moves, and that they can take an abnormal amount of hits. However, anything regarding abilities and typing is mostly unknown." Vincent said.

Khoury saw that his Gabite had finally been thrown off of Rotompharos' arm, prompting another command: "Use Dual Chop!"

Gabite's claws glowed as she leapt up and began to strike Rotompharos repeatedly.

Khoury then continued to talk. "It at least has Levitate as its ability, but it may have a second one from the Ampharos side. Also, is its typing electric/ghost? Or perhaps it somehow is a double-electric type considering that both Rotom and Ampharos are electric-type."

"Helioptile, use Dark Pulse!" Casey exclaimed whilst launching Helioptile off of her arm towards Rotompharos, allowing it to unleash another beam of dark energy. Then, she added on to Khoury's musings: "It doesn't really matter if it's double electric or something like that. It's immune to Ground moves due to Levitate anyway."

Rotompharos began to curl its body into itself as electricity crackled all around it, then it released it into the clouds above it.

"Look out!" Vincent warned.

Casey called Helioptile and Sandslash back to her. She held up Sandslash while Helioptile clung to her leg. Vincent told Magnezone to come to him and for Quagsire to shield them both. Khoury told Gabite to shield him and then for Sneasel to come to him.

Huge lightning bolts began lighting up the marshlands, touching down on the muddy water and on anything with a pulse. Lightning struck Sandslash, Quagsire, and Gabite, who absorbed the bolt harmlessly, and therefore protected those that they were defending. However, Sneasel failed to make it back to Gabite in time and was struck by one of the lightning bolts. In that instant, Sneasel stopped moving. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and then she fell to the muddy ground, fainted.

Khoury grimaced and returned her to her ball.

Rotompharos floated upwards and disappeared into it. Then, the wind speed began to pick up to a ridiculous level, and soon, the cloud began to move as well.

"It's trying to get away!" Casey exclaimed, putting Sandslash down.

"It's probably off to wreak havoc somewhere else." Khoury guessed.

"Then we have to follow it!" Vincent said. "Does anyone have any Pokemon that can fly.

"Come on out, Beedrill!" Casey said.

Casey's Beedrill came out of his ball and looked around.

"Beedrill, I need you to fly with Vincent into that cloud and help him take down the thing inside of it!"

Beedrill stared at her for a moment before he tapped his Pokeball with one of his stingers and went back inside.

"...Come on…" Casey groaned.

"What's your plan anyway, Vincent?" Khoury asked.

"This thing may have a big weakness. I thought I was mistaking it at first, but if I saw correctly, then we should have no problem taking it down. I want to go up there and test my theory, and if it works, it'll get knocked back down to the ground, which is what we want."

Vincent nodded and brought out one of his own Pokemon: "Klink!"

The Gear Pokemon emerged from its ball and spun around happily at the sight of its trainer.

"Klink, I need you to follow Vincent up into that cloud and follow any order he gives you. Is that okay with you?"

Klink levitated over to Vincent and spun around happily without changing either of its expressions.

Vincent chuckled. "This species of Pokemon always kind of creeped me out with its face– well faces never changing. Khoury's seems to be friendly, though."

Khoury then turned to Vincent. "Klink's moves are Gear Grind, Assurance, Vice Grip, and Shift Gear."

Vincent nodded, walked over to his Magnezone and hopped on top of it. Then, together with Klink, they ascended into the sky, following the cloud that Rotompharos called its home.

Friday, August 1st, 10:17 AM, Safari Zone Marshlands Area

Vincent, Magnezone, and Klink all approached the cloud at a steady pace. The high winds threatened to throw Vincent off of Magnezone, but he managed to stay on despite them. Soon enough, dark cloud cover filled their vision, reducing their visibility by quite a bit. Vincent asked Magnezone to charge up a Zap Cannon and hold it in place so that they could see.

Soon, thunderclaps accompanied by flashes of lightning began to echo throughout the cloud. Vincent's soaked body began to rise with Goosebumps as the danger of his situation settled in. Regardless, he carried on.

"Jimmy or Marina wouldn't back down in a situation like this one, so I'm not going to either!"

As they went further and further into the cloud, the more the wind howled, and the louder the thunder clapped. Vincent gripped Magnezone's transmitter on the top of its head tightly.

Finally, a bright light appeared through the dark, vast, expanse. Vincent told Klink and Magnezone to move toward it, and they obeyed. At first it started as a bright light, but as Vincent drew closer it began to take the familiar shape of Rotompharos. The beast had yet to notice them, so they had the surprise advantage.

"Klink, use Shift Gear," he whispered.

Klink spun around excitedly, creating an abundance of kinetic energy for itself.

Vincent pointed at Rotompharos confidently while using his other arm to grip harder than he was before. "Use Assurance!"

Klink zipped over to Rotompharos with much greater speed than it had before. Rotompharos perked up upon hearing Vincent's voice and turned around to face its attacker, but before it could register what it was up against, Klink had already slammed itself into its belly. Rotompahros screeched in pain as it was pushed several meters away by the impact of Klink's attack. It then charged up a Shadow Ball and threw it at Klink.

"Dodge it!" Vincent yelled. Klink obeyed, separating its gears and moving around the attack before reconnecting.

Now Vincent felt he was in a perfect position to test his theory. "Now Magnezone, fire that Zap Cannon!"

Magnezone released the sphere of electrical energy that it was holding in Rotompharos' direction. Rotompharos didn't see it coming due to its focus being on Klink, so it was struck hard by the attack. Once again, it was not just knocked away a few meters, but rather, it was knocked out of the sky entirely.

Vincent's eyes widened in surprise. "I was right!"

"Magnezone, Klink, let's go back down!"

Magnezone levitated down below the cloud with Klink tailing behind. When they reached the ground, Vincent hopped off and looked around for his friends and Rotompharos. Eventually, he noticed Casey and Khoury running up to him.

Khoury called Klink back to his side before talking to Vincent. "What's the situation?"

"I was right, it really is weak to electric-type attacks, as little sense as that makes!"

Casey grinned and slammed her fist into her palm. "I like the sound of that! Helioptile, use Electric Terrain!"

Helioptile rubbed its hands together and unleashed an energy field all around everyone, which caused Vincent, Khoury, and Casey's hair to stand on end.

"Now, use Parabolic Charge! Sandslash, use Shadow Claw!"

Heliopile's body surged with energy as electricity exited the recovering Rotompharos and danced over to her. Sandslash dashed over, ignoring all of the crackling electricity, and slashed Rotompharos with a shadowy claw.

Rotompharos angrily floated up and threw a Shadow Ball at Sandslash, which sent him flying back towards Casey. Then, it began charging up a Focus Blast.

"Everyone, protect your electric-type!" Vincent ordered.

Casey and Khoury nodded.

Rotompharos threw the attack at Magnezone.

"Quagsire, take it!" Vincent commanded.

Quagsire threw himself in front of Magnezone, allowing himself to get hit with the Focus Blast. The force of the attack sent him barreling several feet away. When he stopped, Quagsire's eyes had turned to swirls.

As Vincent returned Quagsire to his ball, Rotompharos appeared above Sandslash, ready to fire its Shadow Ball down on him once more.

"Dodge it!" Casey yelled.

Sandslash leapt to escape the attack, but he couldn't get out of the way in time. The Shadow Ball connected with Sandslash's forehead, which slammed him into the muddy ground. Casey returned him to his ball.

Upon seeing two pesky ground-types dealt with, Rotompharos once again unleashed electricity into the clouds above it. With Gabite as the only ground-type remaining, Khoury and Klink both ran between her legs to defend themselves.

"Vincent, Casey, use your Meganiums to shield yourselves!" Khouy shouted.

Electric peril began to erupt from the sky as the two teens took out their pokeballs. Lightning struck right next to Vincent, making him freeze in terror for a fraction for a second before releasing Meganium and diving under him. Magnezone, meanwhile, was too large and chose to float close to the ground next to Meganium, hoping that it wouldn't get hit. Casey was about to get under her Meganium, but then thunder clapped and lightning struck right in front of her. Casey fell backwards on the muddy ground and stared at the sky whilst breathing heavily.

"Casey!" Khoury and Vincent both called out.

Casey snapped out of her stupor and scrambled over to her Meganium. Right as she dove under her, lightning struck again, this time in the spot where Casey had just been. Casey was facing the opposite direction, so she didn't notice aside from the thunderclap, but Vincent and Khoury did, and both of their eyes widened.

Khoury, deciding that something needed to be done about the constant lightning, told Gabite to walk over to Casey's Meganium while he and Klink followed. It was a slow trek, given how awkward it was for Gabite to move while also protecting Khoury. Eventually, Gabite was close enough for Khoury to transfer his hiding spot to underneath Casey's Meganium.

"Can I come under here?" he asked Casey. "I want to have Gabite stop that thing from attacking us with lightning, but he can't do that while protecting me."

Casey appeared to stare at him, but at the same time she didn't even seem to register that he was there.

"Casey?" he asked again, louder this time.

No response, but before Khoury could ask again, a thunderclap sounded, causing Casey to finally take notice of her surroundings. "Huh? Oh, sorry! You can come under."

Casey and Helioptile made room as Khoury and Klink crawled underneath Meganium.

"Gabite, use Bite on Rotompharos!" Khoury commanded.

Gabite raced off to attack the mutant as Khoury turned to Casey.

"You doing okay?" he asked.

Casey faced him. "Yeah. Why do you ask?"

Khoury frowned. "You seemed a little out of sorts just a moment ago."

"...I must have spaced out."

"In these circumstances?"

Khoury's retort caused Casey to turn away from him and not give a response. The voice of her father echoed through her head.

"The thing is… we can't support your decision anymore."

"Casey, Khoury!" Vincent shouted. "Now's our chance!"

Gabite had bit Rotompharos' arm, making it stop its constant attacking. It didn't take long for it to take Gabite out with a Focus Blast, sending her several feet away, fainted.

Khoury quickly returned Gabite to her ball and faced Vincent. "What's the plan?"

"Casey and I will hold it in place with our Meganiums' vines, and to make sure that it truly doesn't move, I need your Klink to hold its neck in place."

"Got it! Klink, use Gear Grind on its neck!"

"Meganium, use Vine Whip and grab its arms!" Casey commanded.

"Do the same to its legs!" Vincent told his own Meganium.

It took less than a second for Klink to zip over to Rotompharos and lock the creature's neck between its grinding gears. The beast soon found its arms and legs tied up as well. It roared in anger as it began charging up electricity.

"Now Casey!" Vincent yelled.

"Right with you! Helioptile, use Rising Voltage!"

"Magnezone, use Zap Cannon!"

Before Rotompharos could fire off its attack, it was struck by two powerful electric-type attacks, which caused it to wail in pain so loud that everyone had to cover their ears. When it finally died down, the beast glowed blue and shrunk down. It fell down to the ground, and when it stopped glowing, two Pokemon were lying there: a Rotom, and an Ampharos.

The pouring rain turned to a drizzle, then a sprinkle, then finally it vanished all together, along with the dark clouds in the sky. Rays of sunshine beamed on the group's wet faces as they breathed heavily, finally relieved of the tension.

Vincent couldn't control his grin. He raised his fist in victory. "We did it! Amazing work, everyone!"

Khoury sighed as a smile appeared on his face too. "We really did. We beat a hybrid with half of our group!"

With the fear of danger dissipated, Casey took a deep breath and high-fived both Khoury and Vincent, a smile adorning her face as well.

As they were celebrating, some movement caught the corner of Vincent's eye. He turned to see something shocking. The Rotom and Ampharos had already recovered, and even more puzzling, they seemed perfectly fine, aside from some obvious dizziness and confusion.

"That's weird." Vincent said aloud, catching the attention of Casey and Khoury. "With the other hybrid we fought, the Pokemon making it up had to be run to the hospital. These two seem fine for some reason."

Khoury scratched the bottom of his chin. "That is odd. Maybe something went wrong with the fusing process of Conkelcario and it was negatively affected because of it?"

"I thought that the other hybrids reported also had the same problem though." Casey said.

Khoury nodded. "Right, I almost forgot. They did say that the only Pokemon from the original wave of hybrids to survive was the Conkeldurr side of Conkelcario."

"Regardless, I'm happy that they're alive." Vincent said. He then tried to think of something that Jimmy might say in this situation. "The more beings we save, be it human or Pokemon, the better."

His mind flashed back to the state that the marsh was in when he arrived. He shivered upon remembering all of the dead bodies of Pokemon floating on the water. The marshlands would certainly take a long time to recover. He was just glad that there wasn't any more unnecessary bloodshed than there already had been.

Next Chapter: The Splitting Mutant