[Part 1]
"I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU LEARNED OF HIM, BUT IT SEEMS LIKE YOU'VE ALREADY DISPOSED OF TOMOHITO."
Energy had always been a problem for Hiei. Back on the mountain, she only had enough strength for a few hours of activity per day, regardless of whenever it was something as easy as tearing someone limb from limb, or as difficult as talking. Now that she didn't have to hold an entire mountain together while keeping a black hole on its top in the an unchanging state, her active time improved drastically, making this entire journey possible in the first place.
But even now, with her time improved, she still did not have that much energy to spare. Even the travel itself was strenuous, let alone consecutively bending the laws of physics, like she had to do this day. And at this point, the Gardevoir found herself running low on energy.
"WHICH IS PROBABLY A SHAME IN THE EYES OF MY BOSSES, BUT I DON'T CARE MUCH ABOUT IT."
Hiei was running low on energy, meaning she could not afford to waste it. And this particular situation seemed to be designed specifically to do so.
First - aside from the Gallade and the abomination, the Pokemon in front of her seemed to be chosen specifically to counter her kin. Normally, that would not have been worth mentioning, but the fatigue settling in meant she was slower. And with most of these Pokemon exhibiting those same blank stares as other 101s, they could prove to be a slightly bigger problem than most of the opposition she encountered. Even if she was willing to just disintegrate them all, Gardevoir's current fatigue would've slowed her down enough for them to counterattack.
Second - even with her tactile gravitational field, there was a significant issue with tracking where the signal came from. Electromagnetic radiation and its forms - like radio waves - had no mass. Sure, with enough concentration, Gardevoir was capable of tracking such phenomena in a short range, but the human trying to speak to her was NOT in a short range, and the concentration required was too much for a battle situation. No, all the remaining humans were far away, and there were a LOT of them left. Pinpointing this one was nearly impossible - it would've been easier to just kill them all.
Third - she could not afford to forget that Inabayama was also here, fighting on the surface. The dragon was too far to shield her from here, and too close to use any wide scale solutions without shielding. If Hiei was alone, she could've just unraveled the atomic structure of one of the Pokemon in front of her, causing the resulting explosion to destroy most of this facility, and following with one or two similar attacks to finish the job, but…
But her girlfriend's safety took priority.
Getting out of here a little bit slower was not that much of an issue. Getting out of here before she got too tired to continue was far more important. She had to be very methodical this time, since there was not much energy to spare.
At least as long as she wanted to come out of this unscathed.
Maybe opening a small black hole to disrupt electromagnetic waves, and disposing of the Pokemon in front of her with her own two hands, and then fleei-
"WHAT I CARE ABOUT IS SAVING YOUR SPECIES."
…
what.
[Part 2]
Ah, good, that caught its attention.
The endling's eyes narrowed, looking in the direction of the cameras - at Gallade's specifically. Yes, this was why Gallade - and to a lesser extent, Iron Valiant - were here. True, neither of them had a battle advantage over a Gardevoir, and that Gallade was not even a level 101, but Kagetora figured that it would've been worth a shot including it to try to get the Ghost to cooperate willingly.
"Think about it! You are the last Gardevoir, and would be unable to procreate if you stay on the run! And once you die, so will your species! But we - we can help!"
The poor thing looked downright skeletal - an evidence of just how bad it had it in the wild. Given how strong even the weakest 101s were, there should have not been any issues with hunting, meaning the Ghost was possibly seriously ill - but the League could afford to provide it treatment and a special diet to nurse it back to health.
And those spikes all over its body… Either those were some mutation, or had something to do with its psychic powers. Possibly like Gallades turned their arms into blades
"You've already killed Tomohito, so you know you won't be at risk once you join us. Instead, you will be protected, cared for, and properly fed! And moreover, you will be able to choose any Gallade in the world as your mate!"
Of course, Kagetora knew that any male Ralts was bound to be a Gallade. And according to the records, by the end of the species, the gender ratio went from 50/50 to 90/10 - which just meant that they'd have to also involve the League's cutting edge cloning technology to expedite the process. Maybe try genetic modifications to even out the gender ratio - though that was a thought for some time AFTER they had at least a few dozens of this species' females.
"You could have an actual family of your own in just a few years! I understand that it's difficult to trust us humans, but wouldn't it be worth it?"
The Ghost looked at the Gallade closely, and then it happened. The glow in those blood-red eyes dimmed, and then faded. The spikes on its arms slowly disappeared under its skin, and the muscles shrunk, making its already gaunt figure look like practically skin and bones. Then it slumped to the ground, barely able to keep its head up.
Did… Did it agree?
"Oh, thank you! Thank you! I'm happy to see that you saw the reason!" Kagetora beamed, "Don't worry, we-"
Suddenly, the Ghost's body jerked to the side, as if struck by a jolt of electricity. Then in the other direction. Then, it slumped forward, as if tripped over something, barely catching its own body with its arms, as some sort of dark THING permeated the air around it. A… Corrupted aura? No, it was something darker.
Shit.
"Everyone! Defensive formation! Ghost, please, don't!"
Its body jerked once more, and it opened its eyes, that were now two pools of liquid black - deep, unnatural, eerie black that looked like it did not belong to this world. Same black slowly pulsed through its heart crystal, overtaking the blood red.
Kagetora shuddered, looking as the Gardevoir slowly opened its mouth, and then-
Then it shrieked.
[Part 3]
Taro's return to consciousness was abrupt, and painful. His poor, abused skull hurt like crazy - seemed like he managed to hit the back of his head against a table corner when he lost consciousness, when… …when… There was some sort of a terrible sound? It... It hurt a LOT, and his eardrums nearly bursted. He could still hear ringing in his ears.
What WAS that? It sounded like… Like that recording recovered from Mt. Hiei, but… But somehow even more terrifying.
The detective checked the time - seemed like he was out for maybe a minute or two - and then paid attention to the walkie-talkie that Kagetora gave him.
"Uh… Sir?.. What-"
"AH, YOU'RE ALIVE!" Kagetora answered, the cheer in their voice feeling far more strained than usual. Somewhere in the distance, was a sound of explosion, the aftershocks of which the detective soon felt in his feet, "I'M SORRY, TARO, I REALLY SCREWED UP. THE GHOST, IT… IT GOT REALLY ANGRY. AND NOW IT'S RAMPAGING. I'M NOT SURE IF I HAVE ANYTHING THAT COULD STOP IT."
"We-we should evacuate then!"
"YEAH. YEAH, THAT MAKES SENSE. ARE YOU STILL IN THAT SECURITY ROOM?"
"Yeah?.."
"IN THE WALL BEHIND THE MONITORS, THERE'S A SAFE. THE CODE IS 011221," they instructed, even as Taro could hear a weird, if still distant noise, of someone violently cutting through metal.
It took Taro a few seconds to find the safe, and two tries to open it on account of shaking hands. Inside was…
"A Pokeball?.."
"OPEN IT."
Detective released the Pokemon inside - a yellow humanoid carrying two spoons for some reason. In the back of his head, he remembered that these were exceptionally rare. The Pokemon made a sound declaring that it was present, and then looked threateningly at Taro.
"LISTEN HERE, ALAKAZAM. YOU ARE ALL IN MORTAL DANGER. SO I WANT YOUR HELP WITH EVACUATION," Kagetora said, and the Pokemon made some noise in response. Huh, seems like it was not a cryptid, "THERE IS A DANGEROUS POKEMON RAMPAGING THROUGH THIS FACILITY. I WANT YOU TO QUICKLY GATHER AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN IN THE NEXT FEW ROOMS, AND THEN TELEPORT BACK TO KYOTO."
Alakazam looked a little bit confused, and made another noise, only to startle as on the other side of the radio, there was someone's distant scream of agony, that was cut off just as suddenly as it began.
"NO, ALAKAZAM. DO NOT TRY TO FIGHT. IF IT FINDS YOU, TELEPORT IMMEDIATELY, OR YOU ALL DIE," Kagetora replied, seemingly understanding what the Pokemon said, "AFTER THAT, THE MAN NEXT TO YOU, TARO, WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU."
Alakazam hesitantly nodded, saying something. Seemed like he did not like the idea.
Hold on, take care of it? For how long? Don't say that Kagetora meant-
"Wait, do you have another Pokemon on you with Teleport?"
"NOPE!" they answered, with a horrible moan of deforming steel somewhere dangerously close, "ALAKAZAM IS THE ONLY ONE I HAVE HERE, AND I WON'T MAKE IT TO YOU. IF I DON'T MANAGE TO STOP IT, THIS IS A FAREWELL. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME, AND EVACUATE. AND… PLEASURE WORKING WITH YOU, TARO."
With that, the radio went silent, and Taro with Alakazam hurriedly left the room to gather as many people as possible.
Just two rooms later, the lights flickered, as another shriek cut through the air.