Hello there. Sorry I've been MIA. I was moving this past week and things just got a little crazy and busy. However, here is the next chapter. We're beginning a smaller Arc, that will take us more in to the actual war side of things, but as most of you can somewhat tell, we're nearing the end. Don't get me wrong, I'd still say we have at least six or seven more chapters to go, but we're definitely more than halfway there.
At the end of this chapter, there will be a brief rundown as to where all our characters are, seeing as everyone is beginning to spread out a bit. However, they'll be coming back together sooner than you think, and back where it all began.
Chapter 15
Meyer, also known as Blaziken mask, ran through the debris that was Lumoise city beneath his thick boots. Through his mask, he saw nothing but smoke rising from the fires finally dying against the asphalt. He drew his cape before his mouth, trying not to breathe in the fumes. He came to an intersection, looked both ways. He took off to the right and disappeared in to pools of shadows spilling over the city like residue from the moonlight. He jumped from one darkness to another, hiding from the dark trainers haunting the city, moaning like zombies.
Like the other survivors in the city, Meyer did not know what was happening or why. He only knew that whatever was moving in to the city, it was dark and it was powerful. By now, most have realized that this disaster did not occur by any natural cause. The region was under siege. All connection and communication to the outside world, lost; blocked out by a powerful force that did not allow the emission of a single signal.
Before the entire region fell, Meyer had contacted the other gym leaders and Diantha. They met at Lumoise to begin organization massive plans of evacuation, but they had only managed to emigrate thirty-seven percent of the population before the swarms came. Now, the survivors hid in underground basements and tunnels beneath the city, built in case of emergencies such as these. However, Meyer had to be honest—he never thought he would live to see a situation such as this.
He sped towards an abandoned Pokemart, charred and crumbling under the ash. Meyer peered around the corner of the building before moving in to the shattered glass door. He took out a sack and with one arm hugged an entire row of potions in to his bag. He grabbed full heals, waters, anything that would fit and tied the sack up and slung it over his shoulder.
However, Meyer was looking for something specific. He needed a stone—any stone—with which to act as a conductor for a satellite transmission he and Diantha were trying to build, one that would be able to send out codes in order to make contact with other regions. He looked through the rubble but found nothing. He knew of only one other store that would have sold what he needed, but it was in the worst part of town. He didn't like the idea of having to go there.
Meyer began to make his leave when he heard a sound coming from the door.
He froze.
He dove behind one of the aisles and did his best to avoid the broken poke balls on the floor. He crouched and waited.
After a few minutes, he lifted his eyes above the small half-wall and saw nothing but moonlight against the door. He began to straighten up.
Just as he was about to make his move out the door, Meyer heard something smack his head and shatter.
He fell to the floor, unconscious.
xxxxx
Clemont rode behind Akoni Akela as they neared the dark clouds around Kalos. Their small team consisted of only six other trainers, and they flew in clusters of two towards the center of the region from where the air grew cold and dead. Clemont tried not to look down from their Pigeot to where the sky became a sea of dark clouds, seemingly impenetrable. It rumbled with what sounded like thunder, but Clemont knew that it had to be more than just that. He shivered at the thought of a thousand dark pokemon, jaws open, waiting for their small team to dive in to the void. Their welcome would be anything but friendly.
He hoped Bonnie would be okay. Clemont felt bad not having said goodbye to her, but he felt as though she had been avoiding him since they last talked. For the first time, Clemont even felt grateful for Kaleb. He knew that boy would take care of her, and Clemont needed that comfort. Clemont knew that every decision he made was chosen out of concern and protection for Bonnie and he could live with that. He just had to make sure he made it home.
"There's no way of knowing what we're going to find," Akoni shouted over the blistering winds circling their head, pulling at their clothes. "We are first going to check the underground tunnels. Any ranger we sent would know about those passages in case of emergency."
"What tunnels?" Clemont asked, bemused.
"Exactly," Akonu Akela smiled and nodded over to the men flying on a Dragonite beside them. "Are we ready, Tarik?"
The Purehearted soldier nodded, his dark eyes only made more intense by the sea of his dark skin. Tarik took out another pokemon, a Goodra, and the two dragons created a mist that shielded their team in a dark cloud made gray by Goodra's rain dance. They blended in with the dusk sea of nightfall below, floating in from the edges of their enemy's fog.
Clemont instinctively closed his eyes as the darkness met them. He expected to be slammed by a thick, visceral entity but they cut through the storm like a bullet. The Pigeot flapped its wings in a powerful rhythm, propelling them further in to the heart of the city. Within minutes they were flying over the destruction eating away at the buildings. Clemont felt his breath leave him at the sight of the wreckage.
Street lamps and cobbled streets were turned over like wooden chips, everything was splintered, jagged and torn from explosions or earthquakes. Smoke billowed out of buildings that were still on fire, the cement slowly being eating by ash. It was, Clemont thought, an apocalyptic nightmare. He couldn't imagine anyone surviving this.
"Hold on," Akoni said, and they dove straight for the outskirts of the city, to the north entrance that offered shelter from clear view.
They landed with a silent rush of wind, and immediately their pokemon were returned before the mist dissipated. Akoni grabbed the back of Clemont's shirt, and led him to behind one of the fallen skyscrapers, lying shattered on its side. They crouched low in the debris until the rubble came up to their ankles. Akoni signaled to Tarik to come closer, but quietly. This part of the city was already too silent for comfort. There only sounds they could hear were the creaking of the ruins, and soft flames chewing away at the plaster.
"Have you located the nearest tunnel?" Akoni asked, trying to activate his pokenav, but every signal was blocked.
"It's right beside the gym,"
"That's near the center of town," Clemont muttered.
"Well, we could go there or steer a bit farther to the bike shop," Tarik explained. Like most cities, he knew Lumoise like the back of his hand from much experience with high risk missions.
Akoni nodded, agreeing with the ladder of the options. "There's likely to be less activity there."
"What should we do if we get split up?" Tarik asked, beating the side of his transmission, "we have no way of contacting each other out here. It's a dead zone."
"If we get split up we meet underneath the gym," Akoni said, "and wait there for no more than forty-five minutes. You can assume anyone who doesn't show up is dead."
"Wonderful," Tarik smirked.
"Alright, men," Akoni grinned, drawing out a pistol from his belt and handing one to Clemont, "time to go."
Safron City, Kanto
"What do you mean we can't see the chief of staff?" Oak demanded as he, Tracy, and Misty just outside the Officer's Bureau on the seventh floor of the Capital Building. The entire wall behind the secretary was made of glass, offering a beautiful view of Kanto, stretching all the way out to the grey dots of Vermillion to the southern sea.
However, Oak was not interested in a view at this point.
"Have you told her that we have information about the Kalos and Johto invasions? About the swarm?" he reiterated, hoping to change some sort of outcome.
"Look, sir," began the young secretary in a monotone voice, "Chief Officer Jenny is currently in a meeting with all the regional officers."
"Well that's perfect, because we have information that could help all of them!" Misty exclaimed, taking over for the soft-spoken professor.
"She strictly asked that no one should come in and out of those doors until the meeting has concurred,"
"And when will that be?" the red-head sneered, looking tall and menacing from the other side of the desk.
"I-I," the secretary stammered, growing intimidated underneath Misty's fiery stare, "it could be hours? She has to catch a flight later this evening, so—"
"That's it, we're going in," Misty muttered, marching to the wooden double-doors despite protests from both sides.
She flung the polished doors wide open in to a huge meeting room surrounded by glass walls and filled with rows if seats, in which every officer Jenny in the region sat listening to a panel of recognizable international champions. Misty immediately identified Lance, Wallace, and Steven all sharing thoughts about the oncoming threat while the officer listened and took notes. Even the chief officer Jenny, decorated in a more medals and sashed, was quiet.
However, as soon as Misty barged in to the rooms, every single eyes turned to her and the others. Oak was standing with his jaw moving up and down, Tracy looked white, and the secretary knew she was more than fired after this.
"Professor Oak?" came a voice from the panel, from the tall darkly dressed blonde. Her eyes flashed at the sight of their visitors.
"Cynthia, how good to see you!" Oak looked relieved and entered the room casually, "I must ask what brings you, and this impressive congregation, together?"
"Clara, didn't I specifically say that no visitors were to—,"
Cynthia cut the chief officer off with the wave of a hand. "It's fine, Jenny, in fact we probably should have extended the invitation to the famous Professor Oak, our mistake."
Chief Officer Jenny looked as though she were about to say more, but instead opted to nod and dismissed the secretary to bring their new arrivals some seats.
"What a lovely surprise," Cynthia smiled, regarding her old mentor and friend from across the room, "I'm sure Rowan sends his regards?"
"If he knew I'd be seeing you, I'm sure he would have," Professor Oak nodded and began walking to the front to where the secretary, Clara, guided them to a few empty seats near the panel.
"Ah," said the professor as he sat down, feeling relieved by the much needed rest on his legs, "so what did I miss?"
Cynthia smirked, her hair whipping through the air as she turned their attention abruptly to the large screen being projected against the wall behind the panel. The projection was of the Alpha Continent, and the movements of the swarms from Johto to Kanto marked in black.
"I'm sure you've heard about this devastation?" Lance ruffed from his seat, scratching his red beard.
"We've been spending hours figuring out what to do about it," Cynthia explained, "as of twelve hours ago, the swarm has begun moving again. As you can see, part of it—like a huge storm—is on its way to Kanto. We know Kalos and Johto have been consumed without any sort of contact from the inside. Sinnoh is being hit as we speak. We have so many questions."
"And let me tell you, Cynthia," Professor Oak announced, drawing out an old book and a scroll from his bag, "I believe I can help you answer them."
"Ah yes," Steven, another former champion, said as he noted the materials intellectually, "what are those, exactly?"
"The answers, of course," Oak suggested and unrolled the scroll in front of the panel, "this is no unorthodox swarm of pokemon, I'm afraid. It's much much worse."
"What is it then?" Lance asked, "Some sort of army?"
Oak looked at him and nodded. "Actually, yes. It is."
xxxxx
"You're telling me that those pokemon are being controlled," Cynthia began after being briefed on what the professor and the other two found in the archives, "by an ancient moon pokemon in order to form some sort of 'army of darkness,' that is designed to destroy another ancient pokemon, that has yet to show its face?"
"Well, technically both pokemon have yet to be revealed," Tracy pointed out, earning him a hard stare from Misty, "but one has definitely been more active."
"This is ridiculous," Lance scoffed, pushing the papers away from him him.
"Is it, though?" Steven began looking over the book, reading the contents Oak noted, "when have we ever understood legendary pokemon? How many times have we underestimated them?"
"I'm saying its ridiculous for a pokemon to have that much power," Lance clarified, gritting his teeth, "not even Entei can summon an army of brainwashed minions. This cannot be real."
"If these pokemon, as the legend says, created the universe, man, and the soul," Professor Oak said, pointing to a picture of Lunala, Arceus, and Solgaleo, "then I'm willing to believe in anything at this point."
"And we can't disregard that the movements of this swarm are much too organized to be a random horde," Wallace added, speaking up for the first time after spending much of the conversation in thought.
"Not only that, but Sinnoh is reporting that trainers are fighting beside the pokemon," Cynthia added, folding her arms in front of her chest and leaning back in her seat, "this is clearly an offensive aggression, but we can't know for sure if it all has to do with some legend."
"True," Oak agreed, "but as you have all concluded by now, we can affirm that this is too powerful to be the product of any human organization, too organized to be a wild swarm, and too dangerous to fight alone."
"Well," Steven said, looking up and down the panel, "then what's our plan? By all accounts, we're at war without an army."
Cynthia chewed her lip. She turned to stare at the map behind her, tracing the edges of Sinnoh with her fingers.
"I suppose that if we are in need of an army," she began, pulling her hand away to stare at her fingertips, as though the residue of her home would be seen lingering on her skin, "it's about time we form one."
Akoni, Clemont, Tarik, and the rest of their team descended in to darkness of the underground tunnel, which was accessed through the floor of the bike shop by removing the tiles behind the ruined counter. Clemont thought it a miracle that the building was more or less in tact, only the roof had collapsed inward slightly due to the weight of the debris from the neighboring buildings. The bikes, however, had all been stolen or destroyed, and Mr. Subert—whom Clemont had known since purchasing a bike himself from the man—was nowhere to be seen, and still the young blonde felt an odd sense of guilt for waltzing in to the shop when the "closed" sign hung lopsided from one chain before the shattered front door.
There was a ladder that led down in to the earth, but the other end was veiled in a thick blackness that looked almost visceral to the touch. Clemont felt his will pull away from the cool air shooting up from the tunnel, but Akoni went in without hesitation. He reached the bottom more quickly than Clemont expected and lit a mechanical torch. Clemont squinted, curious by the technology, but it seemed to be a retractable rod of metal with a gasoline feeder at the tip. It gave a bright fire, one that comforted Clemont enough to follow Akoni's lead.
Clemont had to jump from a few feet to the floor, for the bottom part of the ladder was missing. He landed awkwardly, but wobbled in to balance and adjusted his backpack. He watched the others descend, and Tarik, who was last, placed the tile back over their heads.
The darkness covered them. Only two other men had touches, the rest loaded their slim chrome pistols and waited for Akoni's lead.
"Cock your pistol, Clemont," said the Alolan, his voice in an unusual state of seriousness, "who knows what in Arceus we're going to find down here."
With shaky hands, Clemont reached for the gun at his belt. He loaded up a full magazine, and slammed the pistol shut.
xxxxx
Meyer woke up and found himself bound at his wrists and his ankles and seven feet away from a crude fire ignited from various chunks of plaster and cement. His mouth was gagged. He tried not to move, but managed to quietly lift his head and look around.
There were at least six "rogues"—what he and the survivors called the brainwashed trainers—three Mightyenas, and four Houndooms snarling at one another over some sort of bone on the ground. Meyer didn't want to know where it came from.
The rogues were all staring in to the fire, their faces dead as he had always seen them—starving and turning to bone. They muttered things to themselves every now and then, but didn't move much. They would sometimes turn to their pokemon just to watch them fight, and then slump forward as though to sleep with their eyes open. Meyer hadn't seen anything more devastating in his entire life. He prayed the Clemont and Bonnie were safe, he couldn't imagine seeing his children in such a state.
"What to do, what to do with you," chanted one of the rogues, a young woman with witch-like hair and dead eyes. She was looking at him without seeing. Her bony fingers combed themselves through her hair like a schizophrenic, and she was baring her teeth at him, her tongue moving wildly between her lips.
"He is my prisoner," said a rogue that might have been middle-aged, but with the state of his current body he now appeared ancient. "He must be taken to the master."
"The master," said the woman rogue, crawling up to Meyer's face, her breath wreaked like the bodies they burned on the streets, "is not here."
The other rogue kicked her in the stomach and she recoiled, crawling back weakly to the fire.
"The master is coming," said the older man as he sat on a block of cement next to Meyer, "the master will make him one of us."
Meyer could feel tears moving down along his face from fear. His body was shaking and he had trouble breathing from his nose. He wondered who their master was, if he would be coming to the city. He wondered how he would get out of this mess.
xxxxx
Lunala landed in Lumoise City in the form of Gary Oak just before dusk claimed the remnants of light fading behind columns smoke that funneled up in to the sky, obscuring the city in an opaque matte atmosphere. He moved deftly through the rubble, his eyes still inked in that obsidian black. He sneered at the sight of his army, huddled and muttering to themselves before fires. He turned over blocks of cement, extinguishing the flames, and hissed.
"Get up, you fools," he said in a voice that did not belong to the boy he possessed, "fly east, follow the rest to Kanto,"
The creatures moaned. They got up and called upon pokemon to begin their move.
Gary looked frantic and nervous. He kicked those who did not move fast enough and hurled insults at the weak. One man, he took to beating until both legs of the soldier's legs had broken. There was no time, and no unit to waste. The swarm in Kanto would be met with fierce opposition, and with Ash no where to be found, the darkness grew uneasy.
"Master, I have a prisoner," coughed one man, dragging a large bound body behind him, "may I find favor with you."
"Out of the way," Gary growled and pushed the soldier to the ground. He looked at the broad-shouldered man shaking on the floor, covered in dust. The man looked strong and more than suitable for use. Gary bent down and lifted the man's head up by the hair, ripping the gag out of his mouth, "you could be useful,"
The man began spitting and hurled curses towards Gary. "You're nothing but a boy, how could you do this!?"
Gary smiled wolfishly. "I'm nothing but a boy, you say?"
Two huge wings, as black as the dead voids in space, erupted from Gary's back. They looked like those of a bat, with claws at the top and jagged flesh webbing the black skin in to the lines of bone.
"I'm the eater of souls, don't you know?" Lunala grinned and his face was revealed to the man but for a moment.
"Let the man go, Lunala," shouted an all too familiar voice from across the rubble.
Lunala reverted back in to his human host and kept a cool smirk as he turned to face Drifter and Brock
"You are becoming a nuisance," Lunala said, his arms crossed in front of his black shirt, "when will you just die?"
"Not until I've seen your head hanging from a tendon," the prophet said, drawing a bright sword from his belt. "Let the man go, and while you're at it, free Gary as well,"
"But I am Gary?" Lunala scoffed, using Gary's voice to further perturb the two, "I chose this. I'm more powerful than death."
When Drifter only narrowed his glare, Lunala shrugged, his voice returning.
"It's no use. The boy who once lived in this body is as good as dead. And as much as I would love to sit and chat about it, I have an army to lead," Lunala drew his sword, black like color of his wings, which reappeared in a more visceral form. "Let's make this quick, shall we?"
xxxxx
Clemont stopped. He looked up and down the tunnels, but nothing could be seen save for their team. There was not a soul besides their own here in the dark, yet Clemont thought he hear something.
"What is it?" Akoni waited as the young man's mind returned to his eyes, brightening in the torch light.
"I thought I heard something coming from the walls," Clemont said, placing a hand on the old metal that lined the tunnel on both sides. He could feel it vibrating, like a pulse coming from the earth. "Does the tunnel lead left at all?"
"It leads everywhere," Tarik scoffed, "this thing is one giant maze."
"We should go left."
"Actually," came an unfamiliar voice from the dark. Akoni whirled around and illuminated an obscure group of survivors, about seven of them, holding Akoni's team at gunpoint with semi-automatic rifles, "I think you should halt."
Akoni lifted his hands in a form of surrender, "We mean no harm. We're rangers sent by the Purehearted, an army specifically mobilized to fight we what has taken over your city."
"Well good luck with that," the voice said, lowering her weapon, "it's alright, men, there're not rogues."
"Rogues?" Tarik questioned.
"Rogue trainers is what we call those zombies upstairs," said the woman, her light eyes made bright by the fire, "and obviously, you are all too sound of mind to be one of them—well in the important ways."
Clemont stepped forward to get a better look at their captors.
"Clemont?"
The young blonde looked harder beneath the dim light and recognized the leader of the survivors. "Diantha? How did you get here?" Clemont was dumbfounded and relived and amazed.
"I should ask you the same thing," she said slowly, "how did you end up playing war with a bunch of Alolans? What are you all doing here anyway?"
"We've been sent to locate your position," Akoni announced with a grin, quite amused by the situation, "we're looking for survivors. How many of you are left?"
"There's no way of knowing," Diantha said, still reserved out of suspicion, "but there are seventy-five of us stuck here under Lumoise, but all the air signals are blocked around here. And if you haven't noticed, the city is crawling with rogues."
"My dad," Clemont blurted, dazed and growing a little desperate, "have you seen my dad?"
Diantha went silent. She shifted her gun to her hip and ran her pale fingers through her dark hair.
"Your dad has gone missing as of eight hours and twenty-seven minutes ago. We were actually going out to look for him. He was helping us build a transmission that could break through this dead zone…we need him alive," Diantha explained, but looked gratefully at Clemont, "it's good to see you. Your father would be relieved to know you're alright."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Clemont asked, looking from Akoni to Diantha, "Let's go after him."
He couldn't let this chance go. He had come all this way, and for what? To just barely miss his father's death? No. They would find him.
"Clemont, there's—,"
Diantha cut the Alolan off, "Why not? You've been sent here to help us, then help. If we get this transmission built, we'll be able to contact other survivors around the region as well as warn the others what their up against. We're not blind. We know we're in some sort of war. Communication is our greatest asset."
Akoni Akela looked at her a moment. He eventually shrugged, much to Tarik's dismay.
"She's right," Akoni said, turning to his team with one of his brilliant grins, "perfect timing, I'll say."
So we have Clemont and Akoni in Kalos,
Drifter and Brock pursuing Gary, which has landed them in Kalos,
Bonnie and Kaleb on the search for Serena,
Misty, Tracy, and Oak in Kanto preparing the region for war, however they are still left in the dark concerning Ash's involvement. They know Brock and Gary are involved somehow, but it has yet to be revealed to them.
Meyer is Clemont's father (just so we're clear, he's even in the anime)
Next chapter we will see what Ash and Serena, as well as Bonnie and Kaleb, have been up to. We will also see more of the tide shift from Kalos to Kanto.
And yes, Pikachu will be in the next chapter. Don't worry about that ;)