Betrayer-Of-Kin stepped slowly and delicately around a corner. She did not truly care if she was seen; aside from the Harbinger of Death, she was among friends (or beings too scared of her to call her their enemy). But she would quite welcome not being seen.
Her eyes beheld Xerosic, the portly Head Scientist of Team Flare. His back was to her as he hummed a jaunty tune. From the sound of it, he was tinkering with something at the same time. Betrayer-Of-Kin was about to turn and walk away; she wanted nothing to do with the scientist that Lysandre only seemed to keep around due to the potency of his inventions. Then she heard a low growl coming from the room.
"Silence," Xerosic said, abandoning his humming.
Betrayer-Of-Kin stood still for a second, part of her mind wanting to see what was going on. Then she shrugged as common sense overrode curiosity. It would not do to poke her nose into places she shouldn't be.
Betrayer-Of-Kin turned back around only to come face-to-face with an odd green-and-yellow Pokemon with two black beady eyes, one on each side of its face, and a yellow-lipped mouth curled in a querying expression. Betrayer-Of-Kin sighed as Xerosic's Kecleon stared her down, its expression unchanging.
"Go away, Mirage," Betrayer-Of-Kin hissed.
Mirage cocked its head. WHAT ARE YOU DOING? appeared between them, one letter at a time, as though the words were being written in the air by an invisible pencil.
"Nothing you would be interested in," Betrayer-Of-Kin retorted.
WERE YOU SPYING ON MASTER?
"Do I look like an idiot?" Betrayer-Of-Kin asked.
YES.
Betrayer-Of-Kin barely stopped herself from tearing the Kecleon's throat out. "I was merely passing by," she said. "You have nothing to fear. I'm on your side, remember?"
THAT IS NOT WHAT YOUR MISTRESS SAID. SHE HAS TOLD ME OF YOUR WORDS. ARE WE NOT YOUR PAWNS AND NOTHING MORE?
Betrayer-Of-Kin sighed. If she had still been using her Future Sight, she would have been able to anticipate and head off this meeting. But with the Harbinger possibly watching her every move, even that was unsafe. So, for the first time in quite a long time, Betrayer-Of-Kin had to pause momentarily, searching for a response.
"Xerosic!"
Luckily, she was absolved of that by the sound of Lysandre's voice. Lysandre barely paid Betrayer-Of-Kin and Mirage a glance as he strode into Xerosic's room. Betrayer-Of-Kin watched Lysandre's back as he stopped. Xerosic twisted, pointedly standing between Lysandre's eyes and whatever he was working on.
"I have received word that Diantha has initiated Galactic Protocol," said Lysandre. "How is your…project?"
"Test Subject 773 is ready and waiting, sir," said Xerosic excitedly. "And furthermore, the firing system for the Ultimate Weapon is nearly complete!"
"Excellent," said Lysandre, though Betrayer-Of-Kin could have sworn his voice sounded weary at that phrase. "I anticipate we will require 773's services soon. Once your system is complete, we will begin operations."
"Very good, sir."
"Get back to work," said Lysandre, turning on his heel and departing in the same stride he had entered with.
NOT SPYING, ARE WE?
Betrayer-Of-Kin sighed as she turned back to Mirage. "You were looking too."
A pause. I MEAN…YES.
"Why don't you go to your 'master'," said Betrayer-Of-Kin, "and do your skywriting to someone who actually is impressed by it?"
IT'S CALLED 'COLOR CHANGE', Mirage wrote. But the Kecleon moved into the room anyway. Betrayer-Of-Kin strode off in the opposite direction that Lysandre had gone.
It took a few moments to find an unoccupied room. Once there, Betrayer-Of-Kin looked around swiftly. Yes, the Harbinger had forbade changing events, and seemed to dislike Betrayer-Of-Kin looking at probabilities. But that was related to the Ultimate Weapon, not Xerosic's project.
With one last quick glance, Betrayer-Of-Kin used Future Sight.
Five seconds later, Betrayer-Of-Kin let out a grunt of pain, shaking her head to clear it.
"You're psychically blocking me," she said through gritted teeth. "You're psychically blocking everything around Geosenge, aren't you?"
"Of course," the Harbinger's voice replied. "After all, where's the fun in making plans if everyone's going to peek into them?"
With those words, the Harbinger receded, leaving Betrayer-Of-Kin alone once more, and with even more questions and still no answers.
Frustrating. It seemed that she would have to find out the same way everyone else would. She was not used to being surprised. But then again, she was not used to working with the Harbinger of Death.
She would adapt. As she always did.
"Flame Tongue!"
Houndoom was breaking in nicely. Marcus had been using him in most of his battles. It helped that a lot of the Trainers littering the various routes utilized Grass and Psychic-types, two types that Houndoom did quite well against.
At present, though, Houndoom was battling against a cackling Haunter that reminded Medicham of Phantump. Perhaps all ghosts were like that, she thought as Haunter darted away from the Flame Tongue. "Sleep Time!" Haunter howled with a grin, sending a spurt of Ghost energy at Houndoom with a wave of its clawed hand.
"Dark Surge!" Houndoom's response was an omnidirectional pulse of Dark energy that ripped through the oncoming Sleep Time. Haunter could not evade and fell with one last screech.
Haunter's Trainer, a woman who looked every bit as ghostly as her Pokemon, sauntered up to Marcus and handed him a stack of Pokedollars, then moved off to find a Pokemon Center, swaying gently and humming. Marcus fed them into his Pokedex, where they were scanned and an equal balance was sent to his bank account.
He grinned. "We're getting close," he said to Medicham. "Laverre's not far."
He began to walk again. Medicham followed a little closer than she otherwise would.
Route 14 was a little bit more eerie than other routes. The path was surrounded by swamps that seemed to be dark even though it was broad daylight, and the place was full of Ghost-types. Phantump would have liked it here, Medicham thought.
"I challenge you to a battle!"
Medicham was pulled out of her thoughts by the voice of a red-garbed Trainer with three Pokeballs on his belt. Marcus sighed quietly as the Trainer, the sixth today, sent out a Poliwhirl. The Poliwhirl flexed its muscles. "All right! Who am I beating today?"
Marcus threw Phantump out without a word.
Poliwhirl's face fell. "Aw, darn."
That reaction was unsurprising, considering that Poliwhirl was a Water-type with emphasis on melee strikes, something that Phantump would have no trouble against. The surprising reaction, though, was Phantump's; the Stump Pokemon's eyes widened at the surrounding swamplands.
"Wow," Phantump whispered. "I never expected to be back here."
One fairly short and uneventful battle later, Medicham approached Phantump as the fallen Poliwhirl's Trainer handed Marcus some more Pokedollars.
"So this is your home?"
Phantump started. "Oh, it was, once upon a time. My family moved soon after I was born. I only remember bits and pieces."
"Anything or anyone we should be worried about?" Medicham asked.
"Not that I know of," said Phantump. "I mean…there are a lot of Ghost Pokemon in these woods. But they're not too dangerous. Just a bunch of pranksters."
"Are they difficult to handle?" Medicham asked.
"Oh, very much so," said Phantump. "But they prefer to stay in the woods. As long as we don't stray off the beaten path, we shouldn't have any trouble with them."
"Hey, you two," said Marcus. "So, I was thinking we could explore these woods. That last Trainer was a Ranger, and he told me there are some interesting Pokemon in there. Who knows, we might even catch one."
Medicham and Phantump looked at each other.
Phantump shrugged. "Never mind!"
Unbeknownst to either of the trio, from the undergrowth about thirty feet away from them, two piercing eyes were glaring out at them, watching as the Trainer and the two Pokemon turned and began moving in the direction of the woods.
"What do you see?" a voice asked. The voice was filled with contempt as it addressed the bearer of the two eyes.
The eyes in question turned to look at the source of the voice. "They appear to be heading into the forest, my Lord."
"Hmph." The source of the voice stayed quiet for a moment before opening his mouth again. "Then we will deal with them. Haunter-5. Take a few guards to deal with this rabble."
He spoke imperiously and with, if possible, even more contempt than he had shown previously. Haunter-5 shivered reflexively, a motion that did not escape his eyes.
"Is there a problem with this task, Haunter-5?"
"No, my Lord!" Haunter-5 responded quickly.
"Then go." He waved a hand dismissively. Haunter-5 rapidly sped off, disappearing into the undergrowth in an instant.
He chose to follow Haunter-5. It was always a good day when outsiders walked into his forest. The Trainer complicated things, but he had no doubt that, come about an hour later, they would be running all the way back to the path, shrieking as if the Harbinger of Death himself was on their tails.
He smirked at the thought as he disappeared into the trees after Haunter-5.
"Huh," said Phantump. "This is odd. As far as I remember, this place used to be bustling."
"Really?" Medicham looked around, eying the completely empty bushes. Not a Pokemon lay in sight, nor did any noise fill the air save for the snapping of twigs as Marcus strode through the undergrowth.
"Yeah," Phantump affirmed. "Ghosts filled every treetop, you couldn't swing a Liepard without hitting a Bug (not that many Pokemon can actually swing a Liepard), every tree seemed to either be the home of a Grass-type or was a Grass-type…"
Phantump's voice trailed off as the Stump Pokemon reminisced. Medicham shuddered at the thought; that made her old forest, with its constant wars between the Ice-types and the local Geodudes and Digletts, sound tame by comparison.
How long had it been since she'd thought of her old home? Medicham's mind flew back to Boulder, and Ekans, and the Digletts, and even the Spinaraks.
She could not help but miss them. It was a momentary feeling, one that she dismissed. That was in the past. She had a team now, a team that was counting on her to lead them.
Medicham looked up at Phantump as the Stump Pokemon whizzed excitedly through the treetops, pointing out individual trees and bushes and little hollows that Medicham would never have seen. Bits and pieces, she thought sardonically; it felt as if Phantump knew every single part of this forest from the way the Stump Pokemon was talking.
"Check this out. This is the Bendy Tree. It's called that because it bends. I always thought it was a sleepy Trevenant. Guess I should have learned when I spent six hours trying to feed it."
"Hey, come over here! This is the Twisty Root! Get this: it extends so far that all the young forest Pokemon used to have a competition to see who could walk the farthest along it without falling off."
"Ooh! And this is the Mud Pit! A pair of Gastly tricked me into thinking that there was a magical stone in there that would make me evolve, but it turned out to be just a pit full of mud."
Medicham looked up at Marcus once more. "Marcus?" she asked.
Marcus heard the sound of Medicham's voice and stopped. "What is it, Medicham?"
Medicham pointed out of the forest fervently. "I think we should probably leave."
Marcus clearly understood the gist of what she was trying to say. "I have to admit this forest is not turning up anything," he grumbled. "All right, Medicham, Phantump, let's go."
Medicham turned to face Phantump, and a thought occurred to her that made her blood run cold.
Phantump had stopped talking.
Medicham hoped desperately the Stump Pokemon had simply gotten bored. But sure enough, when Medicham looked, she could not see Phantump anymore.
"Phantump?" she asked.
No answer came from the forest.
Medicham turned to Marcus, who was eyeing her with a little bit of worry. Clearly, he'd detected the questioning tone of her voice.
He looked up, clearly also scanning the treetops for Phantump.
"Hey, Phantump?" he asked, turning away from Medicham to look.
The instant his back was turned to Medicham, a loud rustle came from directly behind her.
"Psychic Dodge!" she cried. Even though she could use Aura now, Psychic energy was far more familiar and easy to swiftly draw upon. It was well she did, for she felt a shiver across her back as something that felt eerily like Ghost energy passed right next to her back as she dove forwards.
Medicham spun as she landed and looked up into the eyes of a trio of madly grinning Haunters, all of whom were forming balls of Ghost energy in their wickedly clawed hands.
"Psychic Blast!" Medicham cried, knowing that her Fighting and normal attacks, the majority of her repertoire, would be completely ineffective. The frontmost Haunter flew backwards, clearly not expecting the swift retaliation. Marcus spun at the cry. His face paled.
It was at that moment that a blast of Ghost energy struck Medicham right in the small of the back just as she was beginning to stand. In an instant, her head exploded in pain and she pitched right back down, landing hard on the ground.
She heard the hissing of Pokeballs as Marcus threw out the entire rest of the team. There was a brief moment of silence, and then Drapion and Kriesh raised their voices at the exact same time. "No Escape!" "Flurry Impact!"
Shrieks filled the air as the Haunters scattered before the flurry of Dark-type attacks. Medicham rolled over to look at the ongoing battle. She could see at least five Haunters now, along with several Gastlys and even a couple Phantumps, though none of them were Marcus's.
"Dark Surge!" Houndoom barked, sending a wave of Dark energy at the army of Ghosts. Gastlys and Phantumps scattered every which way, though two were caught and instantly felled. They joined two more already on the ground, probably from Kriesh and Drapion's opening salvoes.
The remaining ghosts began hurling blasts of Ghost energy at their adversaries, clearly aiming to overcome them by sheer force of numbers. Kriesh flared her wings and lunged in front of Houndoom, who seemed to be the target of most of the attacks. The Ghost energy that struck her dissipated; Medicham recalled that Normal-types like Kriesh were immune to Ghost-type moves. Ghost energy apparently worked partially by feeding off the unique energies of their targets, but Normal-types had no 'unique energy' to speak of, and thus were not affected.
Unfortunately, by the way Kriesh stiffened, it wasn't just Ghost-type attacks that the Gastlys had thrown. And she was not immune to mental attacks like Confuse Ray, even if they utilized Ghost energy.
Indeed, Kriesh lunged for the Gastlys, her eyes wild, a sure indication that she was not in full control of herself. The Gastlys easily avoided the wild charge and allowed her to slam beak-first into the ground. A second later, a Phantump struck Kriesh with a Leech Seed, which failed to ensnare her wings but did wrap around her body and begin draining the life from her.
Drapion also lunged, going for the three Haunters that had attacked Medicham previously with arms swathed in Dark energy. "Slam!" he bellowed, lashing out an arm that failed to hit the Haunter that was his target but did hit the Haunter behind it. The Haunter shrieked and flew into the undergrowth. It did not come out.
"Ice Flurry!" Cloyster fired a barrage of at least a dozen icicles at the horde of Ghosts. Another Gastly and a Phantump fell, and a few others were struck, screeching in pain as icicles stuck in their bodies.
"Flame Storm!" Not to be outdone, Houndoom launched several embers of Fire energy at the Ghosts. More fell. Medicham raised herself up on one arm to watch the battle. Now there were only five Gastlys, one Phantump, and four Haunters left.
More Ghost-attacks flew from those, but Kriesh was still struggling to her feet, burdened by the Leech Seed draining her life. Without Kriesh to tank the Ghost attacks, both Drapion and Houndoom took a few. Drapion managed to shrug the bulk of it off, but Houndoom suddenly relaxed as the Ghost energy struck him, and then his eyes drooped and he fell to the ground, where he began to snore.
Drapion snarled with rage and launched himself at the greatest concentration of Ghosts. A Gastly fell before his massive arms; the last Phantump could not escape his wicked tail and flew into a tree. Kriesh managed to rip away the Leech Seed and fired off another Flurry Impact, sending a Haunter to the ground in conjunction with a Water Blast from Shellder.
Things finally seemed to be going in their favor. Houndoom was snoozing, but Drapion was tearing through the Ghosts, and Kriesh and Cloyster were providing plenty of backup. Medicham still couldn't see Phantump, though she could assume that the Stump Pokemon had been knocked unconscious by the Ghosts. Their attacks were, oddly enough, more effective on their own type than any other.
Of course, that was when everything went wrong.
A theatrical sigh came from the bushes. "As usual, I have to do everything myself. Lord's Command: Electrify."
Medicham's eyes widened as a Heliolisk, larger than Clemont's and with a much nastier look in its eyes, stepped from the bushes, the mane around its head lighting up with electricity. A brutally powerful bolt of Electric energy shot from the Heliolisk and nailed Kriesh right in the back. Kriesh collapsed, unconscious, smoke trailing from where the attack had struck.
Medicham finally mustered the strength to rise to her feet. Heliolisk glared at her derisively. "You think to challenge me? I am the Lord of this forest. My will is law. My every command is followed. You will bow and scrape before me, beg for my mercy, and perhaps I will grant it. Otherwise," he gestured grandly, "your Trainer will have to carry your bodies out."
"Where's Phantump?" Medicham snarled.
Heliolisk's eyes narrowed. "You dare ask a question of me? Suffer for your insolence. Lord's Command…"
"Psychic Avoidance!" Medicham cried, already hurling herself to the side with closed eyes, anticipating the bolt of lightning.
"…Discharge," Heliolisk fnished with a smirk.
Electricity flew from his head in all directions. Medicham barely manage to leap through several bolts, and even so she felt electricity singe her extremities. But from the cry of pain behind her, at least one of her allies had not been lucky enough to dodge it.
More cackles from the ghosts. She ignored them and concentrated on the smirking Heliolisk. "Fighting Strike!" she cried, lunging for him, knowing only that she needed to wipe that stupid smirk off his face.
"Lord's Command: Electrify," Heliolisk intoned, unleashing another swift and vicious bolt of Electric energy. It slammed right into Medicham; at once she felt it ripping at her, trying to force her backwards. But she gritted her teeth and forced herself to keep going, even though the crackling energy tore at her body.
Heliolisk's eyes widened. "Haunter-5! Protect me!"
Medicham was too off-balance, straining as she was to break past the electric blast, and as such could not stop herself. One of the remaining Haunters lunged between Medicham and Heliolisk, intercepting Medicham's blow. The Fighting Strike passed right through Haunter-5's body.
So did the rest of Medicham. But Haunter-5 had known that. Even as Medicham lunged through Haunter-5, her entire body was overcome by a vicious, crippling pain.
She felt the energy around her arm dissipate in the face of the pain. But her legs still worked. Biting back a scream at the sheer agony surrounding her, she drove her energy-less fist with all its strength into Heliolisk's face.
From the crack and the cry of pain, Heliolisk was not nearly as hardy as Clemont's Heliolisk. But that hit was all Medicham could manage before the pain of what had to be a Curse overwhelmed her. She fell to the ground, unable to support herself anymore.
"Idiot!" Heliolisk snapped at Haunter-5. "Make yourself useful and finish the rest!"
Medicham could do nothing but writhe in pain as she beheld Drapion and Cloyster, the last two standing, surrounded by Ghosts. They were still fighting, but clearly being overwhelmed.
Heliolisk bent down and grasped Medicham's chin, forcing her to look up into his eyes. "For that," he snarled, face completely devoid of any smirk whatsoever, "I'll make this hurt." His mane began to charge with electricity again. "Lord's Command…"
Medicham flinched, waiting for the brutal Electric attack to rip all traces of consciousness from her body.
But then she realized that Heliolisk's voice had trailed off, and he was looking past Medicham.
Through the pain that wracked her body, Medicham turned her head to follow Heliolisk's gaze. There stood Marcus, glaring at Heliolisk with vicious intensity.
And holding a Pokeball in his upraised hand.
"Oh, you have got to be-" That was all Heliolisk got out before Marcus chucked the Pokeball as hard as he could.
His aim was true. Heliolisk tried to dodge, but the Pokeball was simply too fast for him. He disappeared into the Pokeball before he even had time to finish the sentence.
It was as if a switch was flipped. Every single Gastly and Haunter still up immediately stopped attacking. Their eyes went to the Pokeball, locking on it with almost fervent attention.
The Pokeball shook madly as the light on it remained stubbornly unlit. But Heliolisk did not break free. Even though her blood seemed to be on fire, Medicham thought wryly that her punch must have done even more damage than she'd thought.
It took almost a minute for the Pokeball to stop shaking. The light flashed brightly, indicating a successful capture.
And as one, every single Ghost gave an uproarious cheer.
Sadly, that cheer was the last thing Medicham heard before she slipped into unconsciousness. But it brought a smile to her face all the same.
Drapion moved a little more violently than he usually did as he trailed Marcus back towards the path.
Everything had been dealt with quite neatly. Apparently Heliolisk had taken control of the forest a few months ago and had forced the local Ghosts to do his bidding. The Ghosts were pranksters, not warriors, and so did not like following Heliolisk's orders, but his Normal typing made him immune to their attacks and he'd warned them that he was also immune to their mental manipulations (definitely a lie), so no one had tried to rebel against him. Thus, the instant it was confirmed that Heliolisk was safely locked away, they were quite happy to end the Curse on Medicham and the Hypnosis on Houndoom, and to hand over the conscious but sleeping Phantump, who'd apparently been grabbed and hit with a Hypnosis while Marcus and Medicham had been talking.
Drapion had been the least injured, so he'd been asked to walk with Marcus just in case while the rest of the team rested in their Luxury Balls. It occurred to Drapion that Marcus had now used all six of the Luxury Balls; Heliolisk had been caught in a normal Pokeball. He would probably stay there for however long it took before Marcus released him.
There was no way Marcus was thinking about letting Heliolisk stay on the team. Not after Kriesh.
With Medicham and Kriesh both down, Marcus's priority was now simply getting to Laverre City, their next destination. As such, he very nearly bumped into a Trainer that was standing right next to the trees.
"Oh!" Marcus cried. "I'm sorry, miss…" His voice trailed off as he beheld exactly who it was he'd narrowly missed. "Gym Leader Valerie?"
The woman looked at Drapion with an unflinching expression. She was dark-haired, wearing black leggings, a pink-and-purple dress, and platform shoes that made her look even taller. The real oddity about her, though, were the gleaming pink-and-tan wings that stretched out from her shoulders and actually seemed to cover her arms. They were clearly not real, and in fact seemed difficult to utilize; how would Valerie throw Pokeballs without hands? Additionally, the wings seemed odd to be wearing about near branches that they could get caught on.
But Drapion had to admit that they were definitely distinctive.
Valerie turned her gaze back to Marcus. "I assume you intend to battle me with that?"
"I believe so," said Marcus.
Valerie smiled. "I look forward to it," she said.
"Gym Leader Valerie," Marcus asked, "why are you wearing wings?"
"These?" Valerie spread her fake wings. "They help me identify with Pokemon. Wearing this strengthens my bond with my Pokemon. And they're quite comfortable - and, yes, there are arm-holes at the bottom. It is just, pardon the expression, captivating to feel as if you were a Pokemon yourself, is it not?"
"I couldn't know," said Marcus with a slight chuckle.
"Walk with me, Marcus," said Valerie.
Marcus did not walk. "I never told you my name. How did you know it?"
"The newspaper," Valerie answered. "Your story was not confined to Lumiose. In spite of all that went down at the Power Plant, your injury, and with it small elements of your story, was leaked to the press. Mauled by an Absol - it's a sad fate, and surprisingly common nowadays. I am glad you survived."
"Right, the newspaper," said Marcus; now he began to walk, stepping alongside Valerie with Drapion at his heels. "My parents don't generally get that - they live pretty far out of the way - so I'm not too familiar with it, though I know what it is." He paused as if realizing something. "Wait, what's this about the Power Plant?"
Drapion stifled a gulp.
Thankfully, Valerie simply gave an abbreviated explanation. "Team Flare attempted to take over the Kalos Power Plant. The situation was dealt with by Clemont, Ramos, and Siebold. You were probably still unconscious at the time."
With that done, Valerie turned her head back to Drapion. "But enough about past events. Let us talk about your relationship with your Pokemon. Is this Drapion your Ace?"
"I don't have an Ace yet," said Marcus. "That's the term for Gym Leaders and up."
"My apologies," said Valerie. "Is this Drapion your Starter?"
"No," said Marcus. "My Starter is a Medicham, but she got into an encounter with some Ghost-types in the woods and is unconscious at present."
"And the team members that you will not be using against me?" Valerie asked. "Seeing as I do not wish any more of an advantage than I already have."
"I don't entirely know which team members I won't use," said Marcus. "I might use my Fearow…darn it. Sorry. But I know I won't be using my Heliolisk. That's the only one I know for sure."
Drapion nearly tripped at that. Did he seriously intend to keep Heliolisk? Did he even remember what had happened with Kriesh?
"Interesting," said Valerie. "You are obviously a more power-oriented Trainer. And you strongly favor, if not exclusively possess, Pokemon who only evolve once."
Marcus grunted. "I never thought of it that way."
"This indicates that you are impatient," said Valerie. "Keen to throw yourself into battle, and keen to strengthen your Pokemon as quickly as possible. Perhaps that is why you have managed five Gym Badges in around three weeks."
"Did you get that from a newspaper?" Marcus asked.
"No, I got that from Viola," said Valerie. "She was quite impressed by you, actually. Viola is quite an avid photographer with a keen eye towards which Trainers will do well and which won't. Not every Trainer attracts enough recognition from Viola for her to tell me about them."
"But I was…not a very good Trainer back then," said Marcus, sounding a little embarrassed.
"She mentioned that," said Valerie. "She also mentioned how, despite being underpowered enough that you should have lost, your Pokemon cared about the outcome of the battle enough that your Skorupi followed your order to fight her Vivillon even when on his last legs, and your Meditite defeated Vivillon despite being ludicrously outmatched by simply, as Viola put it, 'toughing it out'."
"I don't see what this has to do with my relationship to my Pokemon," said Marcus. "Sure, they fought for me. But back then, they fought because it was expected of them. Because I told them to fight. They 'cared' because I ordered them to care."
"Exactly," said Valerie. "You were merely focused on their power, on the strength they could wield. And because of that, so were they. They cared about gaining enough strength to win that battle." She smiled. "A Medicham is so devoted to power that it will perform any amount of training required to become stronger. A Drapion lives for power and is known to take great pride in its strength. A Fearow is consistently fierce and constantly seeks enough power to protect its flock. And a Heliolisk yearns to generate as much electricity as possible; Clemont's Heliolisk, for example, is capable of powering the entire Prism Tower, though doing so admittedly takes quite a bit of energy and he can only do that for about half an hour before tiring. Marcus, all Pokemon desire power. But each of the Pokemon whom you have selected as your team appears to be known for an especially intense pursuit of power. That is your relationship to your Pokemon, Marcus. And that is why you have achieved a surprisingly fast rate of obtainment of Gym Badges. Were it not for your loss to Grant and your…extended stay in Lumiose, you very well might currently be heading to your eighth badge instead of your sixth. The fact that you have kept pace with Professor Sycamore's students, who have never lost a Gym Battle nor been bedridden in a hospital for two days, is proof enough."
"Um…" Marcus had clearly not been expecting that. "Thank you, Gym Leader Valerie."
"Just Valerie is fine," said Valerie. "Calling me 'Gym Leader Valerie' makes me feel old. And I would prefer to stay young for several more years at least. Ah, Laverre is within sight. I must return to my Gym. Come when your Pokemon are ready. I anticipate a most captivating battle."
She began to walk away, and then stopped to look back at Marcus. "One of my Pokemon is a Mawile," she said. "Your Drapion's poisons will be ineffective against it. Bring a Fire-type if you have one."
With that, Valerie stepped lightly away, leaving Marcus and Drapion standing alone.
Marcus turned his head to look at Drapion. Drapion's eyes were glaring right at Heliolisk's Pokeball.
Marcus clearly caught his meaning. "Look, we caught Heliolisk," he said. "I remember Kriesh, don't worry. If he gets to be any trouble, I'll release him."
This didn't fully satisfy Drapion, but he acquiesced anyway, knowing it would be pointless to argue with his Trainer on the issue. Instead, he followed Marcus as he walked towards the Laverre Pokemon Center, dreading the moment when Heliolisk would be let out of his Pokeball.
That moment came immediately after the team departed the Pokemon Center, fully rested and healed. As with most of these moments, Marcus released the team onto a patch of grass underneath a shady tree, good protection from the sun.
Heliolisk's reaction to all of this was, well, not what Drapion had predicted.
"Ahhh," he said, using that same imperious tone he had commanded the Ghosts with. "Decent treatment, all things considered. You, fetch me some food." He pointed commandingly at Phantump.
Medicham looked at him as if he were insane. Then she looked at Marcus as if he were insane. The rest of the team had similar reactions of incredulous shock mixed with disgust.
"Well?" Heliolisk snapped at Phantump, who was floating in midair and completely ignoring him.
Medicham took a step towards Heliolisk. "Listen," she said. "I don't know why Marcus is keeping you around. But you don't talk to the rest of my team like that."
Heliolisk cocked his head. "Oh? Your team? As you may recall, I defeated you. And while, thanks to the idiocy of my followers, it was not a clean victory, at the end of the battle I still stood over you. So I do believe this is my team now." He glared back at Phantump. "Are you deaf? Or are you just an idiot who can't follow simple instructions?"
Fortunately, recognizing that Medicham seemed ready to fly at Heliolisk and tear him to pieces and that the rest of the team weren't much better, Marcus chose that moment to intervene.
"Heliolisk." His voice held enough authority to tear Heliolisk's gaze away from Phantump. Unfortunately, that gaze was filled with contempt.
"And you," Heliolisk stated furiously. "What a coward you are. Hiding behind your subjects and then taking action only when I was softened up? You only defeated me because I was weakened."
This time, Medicham's reaction wasn't as much anger as it was pure shock at the blatant hypocrisy in Heliolisk's words. "You…you did the exact same thing!"
"I did not hide," Heliolisk stated, not looking at Medicham. "I allowed my subjects to face you because I considered you beneath me. And you were. My subjects would have beaten you by themselves. I simply desired to make a statement."
"Heliolisk," Marcus said again, this time more sharply. "You know what happens when you're captured, right?"
Heliolisk's eyes narrowed. "Do you expect me to be a common servant?" he asked. "To answer to your every whim? Who do you think I am?"
Marcus pressed on, ignoring the words that he couldn't understand. "If I could bring myself to release you, I would," he said. "But I know that the instant you leave, you'll just go back to that forest and subjugate those Ghosts again. It was obvious that they hated you."
"Hated me?" Heliolisk asked. "Nonsense. They were proud to serve me!"
"I mean, seriously, they were cheering when you left!" Marcus continued. "So I'm keeping you. If you don't want to fight, fine by me. Just be prepared to spend a lot of time in your Pokeball, since all you seem to do when out of it is irritate the rest of my team. If you do want to fight, then I'll help you become stronger. That's kind of my thing. So, Heliolisk, nod if you want to fight, shake your head if you don't."
Heliolisk did neither. He simply sniffed dismissively. "Already giving me orders. As expected. Your offer is worth nothing. Either way, you seek to hold me hostage. Either I allow you to exploit my abilities for your own gain, to use me as a pawn the same way you have done with the rest of this rabble, or I am shut away to spend the rest of my life in your prison. I have no interest in anything to do with this team. Now I am going back to my forest to be greeted by my cheering subjects. If my eyes ever fall upon any of you ever again, I will order you killed. Good day."
Heliolisk turned and began to walk away. Instantly, Marcus recalled him. Then he sighed.
Medicham rounded on Marcus, only for Marcus to hold up a hand. "You heard me," he said. "You know I'm right. We can't just release him."
Slowly and reluctantly, Medicham nodded.
"I'll ask Valerie about it after the Gym Battle," said Marcus. "She should know what to do. Until then, I'll have to keep him in the Pokeball."
This brought nods of acceptance from the rest of the team. The excitement done with, they began to automatically divide up into teams of two, to begin the training session that they all knew was coming."
"Hold up," said Marcus. "Medicham, Drapion. I know you haven't exactly had the best experience with electricity, but Clemont gave me the TMs for Thunder Punch and Thunder Fang. And you two should be able to make good use of those. Houndoom, I hope you don't mind."
"Fair enough," said Houndoom.
"Good," said Marcus. He touched the TMs to Drapion and Medicham's heads. Instantly, both of them stiffened as the new technique embedded itself into their minds. It was as if a surge shot through their bodies as they became aware of how to draw Electric energy from inside themselves and wreath it around their fists or jaws.
"And Cloyster," said Marcus. "I've put this off for way too long. Serena didn't give me a TM for Surf so that it could gather dust in my bag, did she?"
Cloyster wriggled with excitement, looking a lot more like his old self, as Marcus touched the Surf TM to his shell, allowing him to absorb that knowledge.
"Start testing," said Marcus. "Drapion, Houndoom, Phantump, Cloyster. You'll be the lineup for this gym. We don't have very many good Pokemon against Fairy-types. Drapion, your poisons will be strong against them, and Houndoom, Valerie told me that she has a Mawile, so you're on too. As for the rest of you, Medicham's out because she's weak to Fairy-types, I'm not using Heliolisk, and I accidentally told her about Kriesh, so that leaves you two." He pointed to Phantump and Cloyster.
The foursome nodded.
"So you four pair up. And Medicham, work with Kriesh to master Thunder Punch. Kriesh, use the opportunity to try and block Electric attacks with your Drill Run. And I have another technique that I want you to try, so be prepared for that."
So it was that for the rest of the day, Marcus and his team practiced and prepared, all of them pointedly shoving thoughts of Heliolisk out of their minds whenever they did think of him.
A hiatus can become intoxicating. You take one, and suddenly you realize that you really want more and longer.
That intoxication is probably one reason why so many fanfictions die.
I don't plan on this fanfiction dying anytime soon. I've got way too many ideas to do that. And when I do take a hiatus, I will endeavor to let you know when and how long. If I do take a hiatus that I don't tell any of you about, assume that I'm deathly ill, seriously injured, or dead.
Please do review and let me know how this chapter turned out!