Tearing the Heavens

by Cepel

A young soldier from a once great family is thrust into the future and ends up in an unfamiliar and bizarre world, where his presence can cause complications both ancient and modern. He inadvertently becomes a trainer through mere misunderstanding and sets off in a journey to discover his own self and where he stands in a world that isn't his own.

71. Strike Hard, Strike Fast

A white sky and a sea of black melded beneath his feet as his eyes opened.

Coming to this inner world of his was always a strange occurrence. He didn't know whether it was a result of the Nightmare's influence, or if it was his own insanity and it didn't really exist at all. The melding white and black seemed to continue on forever, mixing in the far off distance and separating as he drew close. For what felt like an hour, he walked in silence, not an ounce of noise coming from anywhere in the world.

Then, Riven saw him—himself, if that was accurate enough to say. The Nightmare looked just like him, except for a few differences, with a head of white hair and splotches of black, and a cloak of shadows that seemed to blend into the ground, rising up from beneath. The claws from before hadn't disappeared, but his appearance was less animalistic than when they had last spoken, less primal. More human. A single red eye stared dimly back at him, the glow being the only speck of color in a sea of white and black.

"Look who's here, everyone. The foolish prince! Give him a round of applause!" He exclaimed sarcastically, clapping both hands slowly as his voice echoed across the emptiness. No longer guttural, but… strangely normal. Silence answered his call. "Now now, simmer down, everyone. He has something to say. Well, it's been quite some time, other half. That was a joke, by the way."

"And you're a twisted fuck. That wasn't."

Other Riven smiled. "You know you're just calling your-"

"Shut up." Riven shook his head, joining him on the floor a few feet across from him. "Three years of silence, it's been. And you decide to be a prick. Why am I not shocked? God… I was wondering why all the nightmares and dreams had disappeared, was starting to miss having three hours of sleep a day. You've been quiet. What were you doing all this time? Look less…" He struggled to find the correct word for it, "…ominous. Find empathy in that black heart of yours?"

The Nightmare snorted, inspecting the dark claws that clung to his fingers. "No more than you have. At least I don't lie to myself to sleep at night. I've been learning, just like you. I tried to fight your control, but why drive when someone else can be your chauffeur?" He leaned back on his hands to stare at the white sky. Throwing himself on his back, he languidly stretched on the floor. "Why fight when I can sit and learn? Isn't knowledge and planning important before springing anything into action? Learned that in the army. You're also much better with people than me, why do something someone else can do better? We do share a body anyway. Less work for me."

"That actually makes rational sense. It's like you're growing, and I don't think I like that."

The Nightmare clicked his tongue, scowling.

"Why would it be a surprise that I can grow too, genius? You grow, so do I. And you've learned to stop being less of a gigantic, paranoid cockswab. It's only logical. Aren't you the side that's supposed to use sense and logic? I was young, then. Younger than you, at least. Still clinging to the feelings I was born from. But I'm a big boy now. I have to thank Efrain for setting me free from your subconscious oppression. Wish it was sooner, though. Maybe then my hair wouldn't have this disgusting black streak in it."

He reached up and pulled on the black strands of hair, repulsed. Riven ignored it, preferring to stay on topic. He had the same marks in his hair, in the exact same spots, only the color was reversed.

"You used my pokemon's name. Didn't do that before, did you finally warm up to them? Or did you let go of the past? Because it's dead. Clans aren't coming back, in case you hadn't noticed. Stuck in the present for good, in case you didn't get the memo before."

The Nightmare grinned, laughing sardonically. "Oh, you think? The past, what a funny thing. Everyone says to let go of it, and yet they're soobsessed with it. If it's so dead, why are they chasing it like a blind Furret, only to make the same mistakes? Isn't that why the world is the way it is? Or becoming anyway, according to all these psychics."

He cocked his head, giving Riven a creepy smirk.

"Who cares what they think though. Speaking of the past, when will you look at that sphere Mother gave us? The one you gave Haona? That Liran told you weeks ago, what's the hold up? I know you're curious, because I am. I like what you like, and hate what you hate. Unfortunately. And now there's someone I really, really like. That someone that smells so good, with a smile that can warm hearts, and that's not even getting into the better, soft, and squishier parts... Well, we both know what we want, don't we?"

Riven didn't say a word. That was somewhat, no- extremely terrifying, actually. Like mindreading, only worse. "I've tried," he said instead, clearing his throat awkwardly to change the subject, "but at the same time, it doesn't feel like enough. Whenever I go near it, it doesn't react strongly enough. There's a spark, and it lights up but… nothing. Like it's telling me that I'm not ready. I think it has something to do with you, with us. Being separate like this. Why are you separate? Is it like this for everyone that's a dark type?"

Talking to his own self like this wasn't something he did often, and stranger yet was that this was him and yet it wasn't. A separate entity with similar but different traits and personality, who also happened to know more about the Origin part of himself than he did.

Or so he thought when his dark twin shrugged unhelpfully.

"No idea. You created me as a defense mechanism to deal with things your kid self couldn't. Ironic how quick you got accustomed to it. Far as I know, this is just a you thing, but since no one was using dark pulses back during the war, I think it's not just you and more of a result that the higher ups were idiots and decided to keep it hush hush. At a disadvantage and still had the audacity for stupidity. Hah, some cause…"

There was a pause as the scorn died down, and what appeared to be anger briefly flashed in his mismatched eyes. Riven thought much of the same about the subject, though it had subdued over the years since crying over spilt milk was relatively pointless.

"I only know as much you do," the Nightmare continued, drawing Riven's attention again. "I don't have to explain it to you why it happened. We both know why it happened, it's a redundant question at this point. Yanine was the start. Nemos was just fueling the flames. It's surprising you didn't go off the deep end like those… Sayre supporters? Is that what they're called?"

He spat, pointed teeth flaring as lips rose.

"Coddled children of this world, they don't know anything. And you… Being a gym leader won't change anything. Those kids are done for. They're not ready for loss, for heartbreak like that so early. Given a pokemon and shoved into the world like that? How the fuck could they be ready for the real world? You weren't, and our world was a sewage dump. Trying to think that being a gym leader can make a difference in their lives is absolutely worthless. Waste of time, too. This world's nice, but the people here are naive. Adult's can't even get their shit together, they expect children to? Please, wake the fuck up. Somehow, the system is going to break. Training has too many flaws," he berated disdainfully. "Just like child soldiers, huh? And yet, we're here trying to fight the odds once again, over and over when we should really just disappear and live our lives. Oh, but we're nosy, nosy little shits. And we can't possibly exist without conflict. Patron saints of lost causes!"

Raucous laughter came from him, ironic and frustrated at the same time.

"What a funny type we are, aren't we? Play it smart, we say, and yet we die trying to be heroes no one appreciates, poor us."

Despite the way he said it, what was said was completely and depressingly true. Riven nodded dismally. Felt shameful to admit it too. Absol warned humans of disasters and got nearly driven to extinction for it. Kept doing it regardless. Who knew what his clan did in the past, back when the war first began. What happened those thousand years prior? All he knew was that dark types were idiots too. Which made a lot of sense, now that he thought about it.

He sighed, the action odd from the lack of air around him.

"Sadly... What bothers me is that saving other people from a shitty existence makes you a hero, someone special and brave and noteworthy. But it shouldn't be like that. Something has to change. People need to stop being so worthless, no one is going to come save them."

"You will," the Nightmare inputted snidely. "From the looks of things."

Riven crossed his arms, rolling his eyes.

"I don't want to save them, I want them to learn. But they don't. All these people here in Nimbasa, even after what happened, they were pissed for a week and now they're back to the same things, indulging themselves while things go to hell around them. I'm an idiot for trying."

"No hope for them and still try to save them. You're stupid."

Riven scowled.

"Yeah, because I'm a fool and get enticed by things. Not because I care about what happens to people who can't even protect themselves. Wish you could shut up about that, or maybe it's just you being the general dickbag you are." He sighed. "Hell freezing over is next, trust me on that. The job also came with far more resources and benefits than I had before, which was pretty much nothing. I can't hope to outmaneuver Singularity, or slice Loberia into threes without resources. I didn't do it just because I was idealistic, far from it actually. I don't really care much about others, but when their actions sour things over for me, there's a problem. Maybe you don't see that. I see in grays, you only see black and white, Nightmare."

Below Riven's feet, a spot of grey flowed as both sky and sea blended together.

The Nightmare shook his head as he noticed, accepting that fairly readily with little more than a nod and a shrug. Riven was expecting him to have already begun the mocking and taunting. He really was different, or was it because he'd changed too? Matured?

"Is that why you're here then? Because you need power to fight? Why would it be wisdom? I'm as stupid as you are, which is a lot, actually. I didn't call you here, you called you here. I was perfectly content sitting here in this colorless world, counting Mareep to pass the time."

There weren't any.

"Obviously not, dumbass, it's fucking dull here. I distinctly remember someone vowing not to use this… gift, and yet here you are. Finally accepting it? Cost you more than a few scars, didn't it? Could have made life so much easier but no… just had to do it the hard way. Idiot. Let's take on an Aberrant Pangoro without powers! Oh, what's that? You got absolutely shit on? Well fuck me dead. What do you want now, foolish prince?"

"I want a lot of things. But right now, I want the strength-no, that's not right, the ability- to keep up with people who have way more experience than I do and kick them in the teeth. I can't pull wins out of my ass, unfortunately. Gale almost died. Seab and Amy could have, and I nearly died myself if it weren't for Lucia. I'm going to win, and I'll use everything I have at my disposal to do it. Including whatever this is, unstable or not. No more reacting, I'm amassing my advantages and hitting the bastards where it hurts."

"Good answer." His other self smiled, far too content with that answer. "Well, well, well. For once, you're honest. That's a first," he quipped sarcastically, promptly destroying the aura of respect that had manifested for a whole .05 seconds.

"Fuck you too," Riven growled back. "Is there a way to use darkness differently? Not just to cut or blow apart. I'm talking… defensively."

His other self's brows furrowed, then he sat up and groaned, clearly disappointed. He seemed reluctant to tell Riven anything, mostly because it didn't sound interesting enough. Defense was hardly interesting, surely, but it was far more important than people gave it credit for. Storming a castle or riding over a hill with a battle cry that pierced the heavens was fun, compared to sitting in said castle and shooting arrows down for a few hours.

Depending on the viewpoint. Viewpoints were everything. This being from a very nonobjective one. Getting shot at with arrows and not knowing whether one would take your eye out was far from the definition of fun, crossing into scared shitless territory. He'd been there before, and not with a grandiose army. A small, shitty band of skirmishers more like.

Still, sometimes mundane was the best solution.

"I know it's less fun but think about it," Riven clarified with a roll of the eyes. "Look, if I die, you die. Help me here. And I will sure as hell get us into a stupid and likely desperate situation. You can't save me all the time, because you're not immune to bullets. Or fairies. Or aura spheres. And we both know how much those two things hurt."

Brows relaxed. That taught him to blow him off, though he was peeved about it.

"I hate being linked to you, you're so stupid. Ugh, maybe, if you have the patience." A claw pointed at Riven. "I don't have all the answers though, I'm not a fucking wizard. Don't expect miracles."

"Obviously, or I wouldn't need you. Trust me, I have patience in spades. Just give me the general idea and I'll work from there."

"One condition. A small, insignificant… condition. More of a want than a condition, like a chocolate bar, you know. That kind of thing."

Chocolate bar, right... Warily, he asked, "What?"

"If you and that girl ever get around to doing anything, I want a go at some point. I want to be in control, more specifically. For one 'shot'. Or more, if she likes it."

He made a ring with his thumb and index finger, stuck a finger inside, then moved it vigorously in and out, grinning like a bastard. The gesture meant something lewd, obviously, but when said finger had what could be considered a six inch stiletto attached to it, the gesture seemed a lot more sinister than originally thought. Message was received though. Granted, anger and hatred weren't the only "darker" emotions a human experienced. There was lust… and at times, passion.

The Nightmare was an amalgamation of all those things. Also a massive asshole.

Riven looked… absolutely horrified and good lord he didn't want to imagine what crazy him would do in a situation like that. "You can't be serious. Of all the things… this. I'd have been more okay with letting you viciously slaughter a building full of smugglers. Is this serious? This is what you want? Really?"

"Completely," he replied firmly. "I'm stuck here in limbo, looking out through your eyes and smelling the same things you do. And when I smell something nice, I want to take it. And she's very nice… perky and curvy in the right places."

"You're a dog."

"No, I'm you," he replied happily, smiling like a cheeky Buizel. "I want the things you want, remember? Someone snuck a peek for a split second when you were both bathing in the stream back then. Then got all excited. Who's the horny Mightyena now? Shall I howl as well? Ooooo!"

This fucker.

"It's called restraint you moron. That's what separates people from beasts."

"Oh, because you sure have a lot of that. You kill people on the spot if they do something you don't agree with. That logic falls very, very flat where I'm standing. Least I'm not kidding myself."

Biting his cheek, Riven dragged a palm down his face. Ridiculous, conceding to his crazy side to give him information on his own power in exchange for a temporary change in body ownership so he could… And now he was getting thoughts that were getting him way too excited. He glared knives at other him, who snickered devilishly.

Wow, that UFO uniform was extremely form fitting-

"Fuck. Off."

"Ahahaha!"

"Give me the information already. I agree to your little deal, but if she runs away because you're a tactless fuck, I'm shutting you out forever and having Nera's Gardevoir lobotomize both of us. You terrified Amy, remember?"

"Yes, and what an excellent pair of legs that blonde has. Shame, that. If I scare off this one, I think I'd fully support that idea. I may enjoy carnage, but I like this one quite a lot. Sounds like a deal, other half."

They shook hands uncomfortably as Riven tried to get around the bladed parts. Kind of awkward. A part of him felt really bad about it too. The deal was conditional anyway. He did say if.

Afterwards, his twin happily raised a finger, causing the world to shift as shadows seeped from the ground to engulf Riven's vision, a swarm of thoughts and ideas pouring into his mind like a sieve, about the dark and the dimension from which it came. A world without light, without life. He saw slight glimpses of the power that he could summon at his fingertips, of roaring pillars of destruction followed by dark traces that consumed anything they touched, but he also saw a glimpse of what he could become if he let it roam free. The power and strength that came from the dark was enticing—a twisted kind of temptation that could overwhelm a person if they fell for it. The void pulled at him, trying to get him to submit… Steeling himself, he held against the darkness as he sharpened his focus.

In a way, darkness wasn't like the other elements. Or the other types. Or anything reasonable. Whereas dragon typing or bug typing was a physical change, and fire and others like it were more elemental—dark, ghost, fairy, and psychic were different. And most alien of all were dark and ghost. He couldn't say much about the latter kind, but he knew what he felt whenever he used the dark.

The Other flow ran parallel to the normal flow of the world, or so Kai had said. Coming from a place that existed before the universe, a place that gave birth to the creator. Chaos, some said. Before the universe there was nothing but darkness, until Arceus made the cosmos and brought order to the universe. Of all the types, dark was the most ancient. And hardest to fully understand, maybe impossible, even to someone born of it.

Fire burned, water was wet, steel was hard, bugs scuttled, dragons roared, and fairies were dicks. This was obvious. But dark… what exactly was it? What were ghosts, and how did they even function?

One flow powered life, and its opposite… something different. Death, perhaps. Nobody really knew.

The creatures of the dark, and the ghosts—they drew power from there, and as such, ghosts and dark types were fundamentally different from the others. Fire could destroy, consume, burn, and eventually die out. It used fuel, energy, and oxygen to function—matter, something material and real. Water and ice depended on the same thing, if in different states of existing matter. Every type needed something that existed in the natural world, even the more supernatural ones like fighting and psychic. The flow of life, or brainwaves. Energy in different forms.

The dark… that was an impossibility. Not a question of whether it could do the things it could do, but how it was doing them. Darkness isn't a thing, or an object, but a lack of light—a void of nothingness. No light, no matter—not even physical or tangible. Theoretically it shouldn't be able to move, cut, or even destroy. But it could. Remarkably well, too. Seemed like all it was ever good at. It had since dark types were first documented. Nothing about it was natural, and made even less sense.

Fire types had flame sacs for ignition, while water types could hold large volumes of water in their bodies. Flying types had wings, and dragons had scales. Every type had some form of biological explanation for doing what they did. Except dark or ghost.

Seriously, a floating sword? And what were dark pulses actually channeling? The energy wasn't hot, or relatively explosive. In fact, most of the time you couldn't even feel a dark pulse like you could a hyper beam, only the wind that it carried and the debris that flew when it hit. By all observations, dark pulses were cold. And the sound was more like a howl than a bomb going off.

Come to think of it, most dark types didn't look all that different from most pokemon either. They looked relatively normal, save for the monochromatic color scheme and a few other things, like claws and teeth. There wasn't anything too noteworthy to observe, so no physical changes for the most part.

There were articles about it, and most of the researchers either gave up out of frustration or their endeavors were as fruitless as the quest for eternal life. Thinking about the dark as a logical, understandable thing was therefore pointless. Trying to control it logically and bending it to your will was also pointless because it defied logical explanation. Will said he coaxed the fire, but Riven couldn't hope to coax something older, inherently shapeless, and more unstable than the universe itself. Forming it and shaping it had to be felt, there was no set technique, which did kind of irritate him. There was a trick to it, though. Visualization and creation. It was like playing god, only weaker and less impressive.

I formed claws before. I can materialize black blades from knives. I've done it before… out of thin air. Just need a blueprint.

Which again hammered home the concept that darkness could be converted from something amorphous and matterless into something solid and physical, and dissolve and dissipate the very same matter into nothingness again without so much as a trace. No smell, no residue, no evidence. That much was obvious for a long time, but no one really thought about it that deeply and just took it for granted. The intangible becomes tangible, and vice versa. By all conventions, "doesn't make a lick of sense," was something of an understatement. The dark shouldn't exist. So going by that, wouldn't it also be possible to use it in different ways that bent the laws of reality themselves?

He delved into that, applying the illogical to reality.

Dark type attacks had always been described as some of the most aggressive attacks in the training world, whether it was to incapacitate, kill, debilitate or counter, they all served some purposes in disabling the opponent. Seldom were they considered to be defensive. And defense was a dark type's biggest weakness. They couldn't take a hit, so they got faster, craftier, to compensate. Speed could make up for a lot of things but… well, you can't dodge everything. Sometimes a strong defense was needed.

Or the image of one.

He'd already used protect differently against Efrain, condensing the surface area of the shield in order to maximize protection. Protect failed quite often after the first or second hit, depending on the strength of the attack it deflected. Mainly the reason for that was because keeping up a protective barrier of energy was taxing on a pokemon's concentration as well as their physical strength. By minimizing it, the effectiveness of the block was much greater, and could withstand more punishment for less effort, while also being able to move. The only tradeoff was a smaller radius for protection.

Didn't matter much when it was about glancing blows to get in close anyway. Most of his pokemon were close range fighters, so a dueling nature was better as opposed to static defenses. That much was known, and he already put his pokemon to learning it. Aine hardly cared for it, but Baron was trying to learn how to make a protective buckler. So far the shield had reduced in size to that of a smaller round shield instead of a buckler for deflecting blows. It'd already withstood Boagrius' solarbeams in succession, which solidified his theory that pokemon moves at their very core were basic for the most part, and most trainers didn't really know how to refine them, instead choosing to improve their strength or utility in battle.

That wasn't a bad idea, which gave way to more creative battle styles. More options never hurt.

Clashing was an effective method of protection in battles also, albeit explosive, and was offense turned defense. Aine and Haona's preferred method, which they didn't care to deviate from. In the same way, he figured he could do the same, but without the fireworks and shockwaves. Well, less clashing and more facetanking, really. And from what Gale and Will demonstrated, their types had a lot of different variations and how to use them. His own typing seemed utterly mundane in comparison, which kind of sucked since explosions and flesh ripping winds were cool.

The question remained: what could he do? What his other half showed him were only possibilities, no real techniques, per say. Semi-useless, but whatever.

Dark was powerful and unstable, capable of mass destruction, even able to suck the life out of living creatures like the legendary Yvetal was rumored to do. He had a feeling learning something like that was taboo, and who knew what adverse effects that'd bring about. If there was a need, he'd learn it too, since without it he couldn't hope to touch Loberia with his Miracle Eye, or fight against others like him. He didn't even want to imagine what Tesla could do with his lightning and fifty years of experience. More and more Origins were appearing, and he needed to be ready, both in mind and body. And they had pokemon too. He couldn't fight them with just knives. A sword perhaps, but that was doubtful too.

"Here", his other half said, fading with a wary look around, like he was watching for something. "Don't anger him… he'll notice you. Make it fast."

Riven had no idea who "he" was, heeding the advice nonetheless. Roaming inside the vast void, he searched among various fragments of worlds shaped by the darkness, visible along the flow that connected life, running reversed and parallel. Coming to a debilitated fountain in a fragmented world where buildings floated in the air, a pond of black water remained unmoving, somehow able to show his reflection without any light.

As he examined the pool with odd curiosity, a voice in his head rang, "don't waste time. We're trespassing."

"Trespassing where?"

"In the demon's domain. Giratina's. The voidkeeper. He doesn't like it when people from the alter world come into his. If you see red eyes, let go of the dark and reject it with everything you got or he'll kill us both. This place connects to you like a tether, break it and you can leave instantly, since we're part of the dark. We got a natural connection. Lucky us."

"Isn't this all in my head though?"

"No, because you're asleep, and ghosts can kill you through your dreams. When you touch the dark, it touches you. And right now, we're in a different dimension. Souls are vulnerable prey to a ghost, and Efrain's mark is still there, look at your arm."

The constriction marks around his arm-which had healed over quite some time ago- glowed in pale blue light.

"We're not here physically, and your soul is leaking in here. That attracts the voidkeeper. You best hurry."

Riven swallowed and prepared himself, reaching into the pool, gripping something… moving, if that was correct to say. It pulsed like a heart, contracting and relaxing within the flowing black water. He squeezed, feeling knowledge-or was it instinct- fill his mind as the world seemed to blur and spin.

The water shattered like glass, revealing a deadly pair of red eyes, angry and resentful. Riven pulled on the black object in his hand as hard as he could, feeling a tear as a shriek pierced his eardrums and a roar bellowed from within the pool.

Red, glaring eyes began to rise from within as Riven was pulled back and away from the strange world, his vision blurring into blackness. Before everything blackened, a huge monster rose from the pool, looking like a gigantic bug type centipede. It watched as he was taken awayAdjusting himself as his vision returned, safely back inside the colorless inner world. Riven eyed his twin, who also breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was close," the Nightmare hissed. "Don't make me do that again. The dream world is connected there in a way I don't even understand. Watch out for reflective surfaces. If the voidkeeper catches you and kill you, your soul gets ripped apart, not your body. Your physical body will be alive but your mind's gone, because then you'll be trapped there forever unless you get lucky, and that is a curse also. Once in a while it pushes back into the real world and then you have a ghost with no memories. At best you'll become a Yamask. At worst, you'll be stuck in a place full of nothing, where nothing happens and everyone is dead. That kind of afterlife sucks."

They both shivered.

"For once I agree. Let's get this done with then."

His twin nodded, touching the black object in Riven's hand. It flashed red once contact was made.

Riven let the fear fade as he decided he should focus on other things apart from soul destruction. In between his fingers dark wisps shifted as the red heart unraveled with a blue glow, spreading along his palm and into his arm, sinking into his skin.

Fire and wind were flashy and powerful, able to level cities and consume forests… but dark types were all about practicality and deception.

He knew exactly what he wanted too. Counterintuitive for his type, but that was sometimes what you needed.

"So that's what it showed you? Armor, really? What are you planning to do with something like that? Not very exciting or elusive, if you ask me. People will catch on so quick that you're not normal when you have armor forming on your face, idiot. So much for stealth and secrecy, why not just put a sign on to reveal our kind to the rest of the normal plebians?"

Riven smiled slyly.

"That's why I'm going to modify it. I want instantaneously forming armor that can dissolve in the blink of an eye. Most attacks tend to explode, in dust or pretty colors. Makes for great visual impairment." The sly smirk spread on Riven's face, malevolence dancing in his eyes. "Tell me, what do you think about a person who shrugs off attacks like they're nothing? When bullets and explosions bounce off uselessly? What does that do to a person's image of them, when nothing can seemingly touch them or hurt them?"

Just like fighting a steel type with a sword. When nothing worked, what could you do? And how easily something like that could destroy morale?

Remembering night raids and screams in the dark as enemies were picked off one by one, he could still see the fear in those Rosan soldiers as panic spread, bolstered by frantic cries. They ran with their tails in between their legs, fighting shadows and demons instead of people.

When morale was broken… you didn't even need to fight, enemies scattered—easy targets, like hunting a Pidgey with a clipped wing.

"A trick, then? Hah, now I see."

Blue met red, and both halves grinned at each other, their thoughts synchronizing as the dreamscape faded away.

---

Which reality then took the sweet liberty of replacing, and being the all purpose cunt that it was, made his inner world escapade into a boring day at the gym, trying to tinker with the supernatural like an amateur with a broken radio and no instruction manual.

Being a gym leader was like being a teacher—necessary, but ultimately stressing and duller than a rusty nail. And completely not what he expected. Maybe he was overreacting, though.

It seemed like designing his gym to be challenging was a secret curse. It left him unbelievably bored because it proved to be too effective at keeping challengers perpetually frustrated.

Riven sighed as he ordered Spoopy and Haona to do another drill for the fiftieth time, or was it the seventieth? By now maybe his finger would fall off from how many times he'd waved it. Baron and Aine seemed to feel it as well, considering they were hunched over the same railing, looking like they'd ingested a rotten Magikarp, raw sewage, and a decayed Weepinbell. He couldn't blame them really. He hadn't had this much free time in… well, not since that dry spell of work in Kalos when Nera decided to be an enormous waste of energy and effort.

Since opening, Riven hadn't gotten his first challenger even after a few hours of watching the trainers struggle below between his gym trainers, the dim light, and the obstacle courses in general. Considering the line to enter his gym had extended down the steps, outside, around the corner and across the street, that said a lot. Mainly that trainers weren't training themselves hard enough. He had to prevent himself from giggling whenever someone wiped out, or tried to cheat, and left the gym seething.

While mildly hilarious, it'd gotten stale incredibly quickly. Even Boagrius stopped laughing.

If this was what being a gym leader was like, no wonder Steven quit being the champion. He wondered what the Elite Four did all the time, this level of inactivity was maddening and he'd heard they got less challengers than late gym circuit leaders. Sometimes lucky to get one a month. And their obstacle course was Victory fucking Road, which regularly killed trainers or their pokemon and was followed by enormous press coverage and regional fame, which also served to scare off potential challengers.

Also what was responsible for the whole Sinnoh Incident when Cynthia's pokemon got decimated by Nicholas Sayre's Garchomp and the rest of his team.

Thank the heavens for cameras. Right.

In the meantime, he practiced trying to form the darkness around himself, using night slash as the blueprint. Black wisps seeped out of his fingers and skin, crawling out of the pores and wrapping around his hands until they formed the rough outline of armored gauntlets. Keeping their shape was harder than he thought, and he had to continuously refocus. Thinking about it like he did when using the blades, he felt the dark wisps condense and harden momentarily into a black crystalline covering, which broke and shattered as he tried to move his fingers through the tension.

Too rigid and brittle.

Night slash was static and very hard, which made for a good sword or claw, but poor armor. A balance of flexibility and strength had to be found first, then he could start playing around with other variables. Armor that was too hard couldn't be placed around the joints or it could hinder movement, and armor that was too flexible was light and could only block glancing blows, not really ideal for his "untouchable" image. Steel or leather had limits in their degrees of protection and mobility, the dark armor didn't. As long as he got the right balance or both, it could work. There wasn't a constant variable, which made it infinitely easier.

At first he tested how fast he could reform and dissipate the armor, finding the time interval to be a second or so. Fairly fast, to be fair, but he wanted it to be near instant, almost too fast for the eye to see. Being too brittle and susceptible to breaking from mere movement was a no go also.

At this point, it being brittle was to be expected of a prototype, but within a few hours, the hardness of the black armor was improving. Much faster than Sacred Sword, at least. That was still a work in progress, if it could even be called progress. He'd since stopped trying to practice with Efrain, since they got absolutely nowhere anyway. Practicing with a shiny Doublade was too risky anyway and with him being a public figure now it wasn't worth the attention or suspicion. The fact it couldn't cut shit didn't help.

Midway through practicing his idea, Tai and Haona got into an insult match, again, which devolved into angry biting, turned into a wrestling match and thereby forced Riven to interfere. Perfect time to test his idea—which showed promise as Haona's teeth only managed to perforate slightly less of his skin than normal. Letting your Absol bite you while she was angry was ill advised.

He was dripping blood over the floor while trying to keep a rabid female Absol from disemboweling her teammate. Or him.

"I'll mill- fim!" Haona seethed with a muffled hiss, mouth shut by Riven as she kicked clawed feet right into his stomach. At least the armor held up better there, or his guts would be on the floor too.

Tai, meanwhile, curled his tail and sneered at her. Eventually, Haona decided that Riven was getting on her nerves and started to freeze his hands through his gloves. His whole team got involved, requiring Aine to pry Haona off of her trainer, set her aside in a corner and try to talk her anger down. Thank god his Blaziken was more level headed than most fire types. Baron came over and began to use heal pulse on his poor abused hands. The Gallade actually found himself annoyed that he was playing the medic more than the fighter as of late. On the plus side, his heal pulse was getting better.

Spoopy scuttled over to the edge of the arena, with… Omy webbed to his back. Those two had formed an odd friendship. With his mandibles, Spoopy pointed to the approaching challenger.

"Can I wrap him too?" He asked, delighted at the thought, rubbing the fuzzy mandibles together to create sparks.

Riven turned around, finally expecting some excitement. "No, I'm fairly sure that'd get me in trouble for assault with a pokemon outside of battle. Very serious stuff these days."

Mandibles drooped sadly.

"You know you're bleeding all over the floor, right?" Baron reminded with a whisper, smacking his trainer's hands to get him to pay attention. Riven kicked him in the shin but the psychic refused to flinch, then smacked him again. "First gym battle and you look like shit. Nice job."

"Yeah, I know. No thanks to moody children. If you were all smaller I'd carry you apart with my hands but god, do they have Absol nail clippers?" Riven managed through his teeth. "Just don't move too much, maybe he won't notice. Younger trainers are like Linoone, they react to movement. There's a mop in the back. Quick, Spoopy hide. Be ready to pounce at the opportune moment. And get Omy off, I need her to switch in first to get cheap experience."

The Galvantula perked up instantly with a jolt of electricity and deposited a web wrapped Blitzle in front of Tai, before shooting a web into the roof and lying in wait, cackling.

Riven nodded at his Gallade, strangely giddy for his first gym battle.

Baron wasn't as thrilled, unfortunately, and scowled, telepathically relaying the message to Aine, who miserably nodded and disappeared into the backroom. Haona looked ecstatic that something she was allowed to destroy had wandered in. The look on her own was murderously hungry, to say the least.

When the challenger made it across, Aine had managed to mop the blood off the floor with some saltwater, Baron healed Riven's fingers to acceptable non-bleeding standards, and the rest of his team had been returned to their pokeballs. The gym leader quickly polished up his appearance, set a hard expression on his face, and took a seat on his throne(really just a stool on the leader side of the arena). Thank god it was dark.

Still, Riven was impressed. A kid in his early teens managed to get past everything when stronger and older kids failed. The lights came on, illuminating the arena as the challenger neared. When he shakily crossed the monkey bar obstacle and dropped onto the battling platform, he pointed a quivering finger as his knees buckled.

"YOU! ASS-" He exclaimed with a pitiful wheeze, fishing into his pack for a water bottle instead of finishing his insult.

Impressed quickly became disappointed.

"How… are you the fourth?! Your gym…is…so…stupid!" The trainer declared as his voice cracked, huffing and puffing. Sweat poured down his reddened face and his arms felt like they would fall off, more exhausted than confident. There was no hint of the smug grin most trainers sported when gym challenging.

Riven chuckled, calmly standing up from his chair to face his challenger. Or stare down. "I was starting to wonder when someone with the strength to do more than wave their arms around barking orders at their pokemon would come around. Good job, you're the first one up here. It only took about-"

He checked the electronic clock behind him and whistled, drawing up a half-hearted laugh. "-Seven hours. I expected more from the Unovan trainer community, given they talk so much."

"Yeah? Well at least they were right. They weren't kidding, you're evil," the kid shot back acidly.

"Evil? No, no, no. I just think my idea of challenging is more in line with the definition," Riven replied flatly. "Like, actually difficult. Sorry if you Unovans aren't too fond of it, just like foreigners, I'm sure." The boy made a face, no doubt having thought Riven was just another baguette loving asshole from Kalos. Everyone outside of Kalos seemed to think that, for some odd reason. Kalosian people did eat them, but not as often as others thought. "Gym leaders shouldn't be easy pickings. Now, you're not too tired to battle, are you? Look tired there."

The kid huffed irritably and sat down, lamely throwing out a pokeball as he wiped his forehead of sweat. A Krookodile emerged with most of its hide damaged from the battles below, sporting several cuts and gashes beneath missing or chipped scales. The poor pokemon looked as tired as its trainer. Wobbled off-balance for added effect, too.

So he was using a type advantage. Typical. There was a part of him that was just slightly annoyed that trainers constantly cheesed gym leaders like this. Good strategy though. Using a ground type for an electric gym wasn't a bad prospect. If it was Elesa, at least. Partial dark typing also made it more resilient to dark attacks but whoever said he didn't have a backup plan for that? Elesa's flame wheel had chewed up dozens of grass specialists who thought she'd be an easy win. Typings weren't everything.

Riven eyed the ground lizard dispassionately. Like that it'd take one hit and be out for the count. No, he could probably piss on it and it'd get knocked out. No excitement there, and excitement was something he needed desperately to avoid raking his eyes off.

He scowled, pointing at the pokemon with his chin.

"You might want to use some potions on that pokemon you have there, one hit and it looks like it'll fall over. Then you'd have to make it all the way back up here, and from the look of you, I doubt you want to do that."

"Screw you!" The kid waved angrily, which just made the gym leader chuckle. The challenger's face seemed to burn further. A gym leader that laughed at challengers? How could they think he was a good replacement for Elesa? "What kind of gym leader are you?!"

His pokemon followed suit as it flared its nostrils and growled at him, all but demanding Riven to release his own and get the battle started already. The kid didn't even bother to stop it, more out of exhaustion than lack of want. Kid halfway looked like he wanted to pass out on the floor. Riven crossed his arms, raising a black brow as he tapped his foot on the ground. A wave of the hand carried forth his message, leaning his weight on his right leg, expectant.

No potions, no battle.

After a few seconds and with a petulant groan, the challenger went into his pack and administered some injection type potions, healing the Krookodile enough to make it look like it could actually do something.

Mighty shame potions could almost magically mend wounds but not fatigue. Injuries could be healed, but exhaustion wasn't so easy. Perfectly healthy, but tired. As a soldier, exhaustion could be deadlier than an injury, at least adrenaline somewhat made up for that. Technically both, but fatigue less so, unless an artery was busted, at which point you were probably fucked anyway.

Now, it could be said that having trainers physically exert themselves as well as their pokemon to the point of exhaustion was cheap because it screwed with their focus. And cheap. And underhanded, but hell, it was both and Riven thought it a marvelous idea. That way he wouldn't lose to bullshit so much, spin any accusations into a lesson, and mold trainers the way he saw fit. Maybe it'd save their lives down the road. Or maybe they'd just hate him. Who knew?

Either way, he hadn't received his first loss yet, but hell if he would even think of making it easy.

And he was a living dark type. Cheap and dirty was his lifeblood. There is no fair play out in the wilds, or on a battlefield, or when brigands and general miscreants decided that they wanted your lunch money too.

So when he sent out a seething Haona to turn the Krookodile into an ice block, there was no remorse. She blew through the rest of his equally exhausted team within a few minutes, unleashing icy wrath on the poor kid's team, no thanks to the fight Tai had instigated with her. The trainer returned his last pokemon-who was frozen solid- and fumed in place, again pointing accusingly at Riven.

"That Absol's too strong! You get trainers tired on purpose and don't even let us use our pokemon to climb, that's cheating!"

Nice try. Gym leaders set their own rules for their gyms, and no one said they weren't allowed to custom tailor their gym into a proper obstacle course, not some shitty maze a Primeape could figure out. Wattson had electrified traps! Electrified. Getting tased by that was enough to knock you on your ass, and he'd been hit by it several times.

Bodily harm was fine, but physical exertion? Out of the question, apparently.

Villainously, Riven let out a low chuckle.

"Cheating? Why because I want trainers to actually earn their gym badge?" Riven said dismissively. "Hah! The League wants us to give trainers a chance. I'm not the League, and this is my gym now. Quit whining. Trainers need to be strong physically and mentally, not just their pokemon. A strong body and a strong soul can prevent disasters in case something… unfortunate happens."

"Like those crazy Sayre guys being back? You sound like them!" The kid retorted indignantly. "Is that why they hired someone like you? Because gym leaders can't do their jobs? So they hire people like-" He flicked a hand in Riven's direction. "- You! You belong in the eighth gym, not the fourth! Or with those nutjobs! This is so unfair! I heard Iris' gym is easier than whatever the crap you put here! How did you even get past the personality screening?! Do the UFOs know about this?"

Riven stared blankly at him while his palm said hello to his face. Hate most trainers… I swear. Doesn't matter if they know, they shouldn't get involved with this anyway. Got enough issues as it is.

"Do you honestly think you could beat me if I didn't use my Absol?"

"Yeah, gym leaders aren't that hard when they're not cheating."

Irritating, arrogant trainer. Could he legally strangle someone?

"Okay. Then let's have a rematch. What's your name, kid?"

"Kirin Siegler, and I'm- Wait, did you say rematch? Seriously? Like, right now?"

"No, in a week from now. Of course right now. You heard me right, now hand over your pokeballs so I can heal them. One condition. If I beat you again, you will take the fastest way down my battling platform and not come back until your head isn't residing in your asshole, you got it?" Riven warned, making sure he had setup the machine properly. "I need to teach you a lesson, considering this was your first gym loss. Yes, I know that it is, don't deny it."

The kid sputtered, demanding to know how he knew that. Riven tried not to look Baron's way, who was holding up a green finger in the shadows, utterly bored out of his mind on the darkened safety rail. Psychics and nightvision were such bullshit.

"I deduced it was your first loss, given your temperament," Riven lied. "Not many trainers react well to losing, and calling a gym leader a cheater, why that's pretty serious. Also pisses off the gym leader."

"Well, that's 'cause you are! Trying to teach me a lesson?! You're using pokemon that are probably elite level and expect trainers at the FOURTH gym to beat you?! And there's no regret at all! Or guilt. You're the worst gym leader I've ever seen," Kirin accused, still eyeing Haona in the corner. She eyed him back, unimpressed as she licked herself clean of dirt. She growled, causing him to flinch.

Riven snorted instead, taking it in stride.

"I don't believe in training wheels, and neither did my mentor. Welcome to the real world, Kirin."

Kirin furrowed his eyebrows, huffing in frustration. He rolled his eyes. "Let's see when I beat you, dick. Just what the gym circuit needed, more hardasses. Because there obviously weren't enough. We have already have Brycen and Drayden, we don't need more of their clones. Not a Kalosian clone either. I heard your leaders are pansies."

"Just keep believing that, Korrina would wipe the floor with your face like my Absol did your team," Riven boasted, drawing a snarl from Kirin. "I wish I could say that there'd be less aggravating trainers we gym leaders have to deal with, like you, but that's unfortunately not the case. I hope you enjoy the trip downstairs."

Riven smiled sinisterly. Kirin matched it, only less sinister, more cocky, and extremely enticing to punch.

"By the way, the fastest way down? It's a cannon."

Kirin's smile died. "I think you're lying."

"And I think your ass is grassed, kid. Machine's ready."

With a beep, the healing machine flashed green, signifying that the challenger's pokemon were fully healed. And ready to get their ass beat into battling platform again.

Riven took them and handed them back to Kirin, who was too busy practicing his shit eating grin to notice that the gym leader had given his Dewott back to him last.

Remember how trainers often went for the first pokeball they had on their belts when ambushed as a gut reflex? Heh.

As leader and challenger took their sides, Kirin was about to inspect his pokebelt to formulate his strategy when Riven pointed up, smirking.

Kirin lost all the color in his face when a cocoon of conductive silk came crashing down onto the battling platform where he stood, suspended by a string of silk. In his panic, he fumbled for the first pokeball on his belt.

Out came a Dewott. Poor watery bastard.

Just moments after the white light surrounding the water pokemon's silhouette had cleared, Spoopy had let loose a bolt of lightning down the web, causing an electric silk shrapnel bomb as electrified silk strands blew outwards over the arena.

The Dewott spasmed in place as electrified silk strands stuck to its body and shocked it senseless. It dropped to the ground, sizzling and paralyzed.

Good job, Spoopy.

Riven 1, challenger 0. Kirin could go eat Zubat droppings.

"And the battle will now commence!" Riven announced, completely taking advantage of Kirin's utter shock.

"WHAT?!" He screeched, watching his Dewott struggle to get up in a daze, only to drop back to the floor from unresponsive legs.

"Remember, surprise attacks and ambushes, always expect them! Boag, fog please!"

Mist began to cover the area as the challenger's jaw hung open.

"YOU JUST FUCKING AMBUSHED MY POKEMON!"

" Oh, really? That's unfortunate. Should have expected anything! A group of thieves just ambushed you, what will you do now? FIGHT BACK! THUNDER FANG, SHOW ME WHAT YOU DO UNDER PRESSURE, ZIEGLER!"

The trainers below looked up at the darkened battle platform as thunder flashed ominously in between Boagrius' fog, simulating lightning clouds.

Upon trouncing Kirin even more effortlessly than before(not using Haona), Riven let out the most haughty and boisterous laugh he could muster, watching as the challenger seethed on the floor, eating a milkshake with eyes full of complete and unrepentant disdain. Beating a trainer with no battle plan and a disabled pokemon at the start of a battle was so easy it was laughable. Once he was done, Riven couldn't help but rub his hands together.

"Aine," Riven called, waiting for a moment. "Next time, be aware of your surroundings. Always. I suppose now would be a good starting point. See you next time."

The kid looked around nervously, watching for a cannon. He didn't see Aine behind him. No one said anything about a mechanical cannon.

Kirin could barely manage a squeak as he was picked up off the floor by a Blaziken and thrown like a ragdoll into the safety net below. He did scream on the way down though. That wouldn't leave a good impression, and he'd probably complain to Alder, but honestly… fuck that kid. Originally he planned to give him a verbal lesson in ego and arrogance. Which was abandoned the moment he reprimanded him right after being a sore loser. Sometimes the hard way was best.

His second challenger was less rude and more… for lack of a better word, alluring.

Tall, black hair, and grey eyes. Striking. But something felt… off about her. She'd reached the platform easily, hardly breaking a sweat, and when she landed on it, fell with a thud that made her out to be a bit heavier than she appeared. She walked seductively, deliberately putting extra emphasis into her steps to accentuate her impressive figure.

There was no way in hell she was here just for the gym badge. Hardly wore trainer attire too. Pretty girls approaching him always set him on edge, considering they didn't do it unless they wanted something. That much he'd learned from his experiences with them. Being a gym leader was no exception and he'd convinced himself that there were no coincidences, she definitely didn't belong here. Riven's paranoia had jumped to the sun the moment she got close, and it wasn't because her assets were frustratingly nice and distracting. They even bounced a little as she came to a stop.

Despite looking harmless, it still didn't shake that feeling of… something. The grey of her irises appeared innocent, but he knew better than that. His pokemon likely felt it too, as he could see them tensing out of the corner of his peripheral vision.

He held out a hand as he came to greet her in the center of the platform.

"Leader Nathan Ethne, pleasure to meet you, challenger…?"

She gave him a beautiful smile, eagerly shaking his hand in return. The skin on her palms was silk smooth. Too smooth. It rubbed him the wrong way. Not even Gale's hands were that smooth, almost felt unnatural. For a trainer, smooth hands was something of a rarity with how much physical strain the journey actually placed upon them. Gale was hardly a trainer and her hands were beginning to form calluses. Other female trainers had hands that looked even worse, especially the more experienced ones. Lucia was a beautiful woman through and through too, but her hands displayed years of abuse and wear from her journeys.

"Aveena Leewald," she said cheerily. "Man, your gym's tough, there's so many people in the pokemon center complaining about it, with how dark it is and all the climbing! I thought it'd be rollercoasters like the other trainers said Elesa's was. Wow, we are high up! You can see everything from up here."

"Tough?" Riven inquired, oddly curious. Felt strangely proud. "Is that what they're saying?" Not that I'm evil? Well, I guess she wouldn't tell me that.

"Mm-hmm!"

"I see. Well, you didn't have too much of a problem. A climber?"

"Yep! I climbed Mt. Coronet, and Chimney, and several others. It's a hobby, actually."

Bullshit, Riven thought. He'd seen Ben's hands, full of calluses and rough skin that marked a climber's hands—along with a grip that could crush rock. His own were equally as ragged and worn, both as a result of sword training, journeying, and his time as a scout. Her hands were pristine, there was no way. Rather than point this out, however, he decided to keep it to himself, going through the gym proceedings instead. People usually added up, when they didn't, there was hardly ever a good reason why they didn't. Pointing out these inaccuracies was a good way to get assaulted.

Heading back over to his side of the arena, he questioned, "so, just getting your fourth badge now? Or is there another reason?"

Riven tried to leave out all the interest in the question, asking as politely as possible. Casual conversation, not intrigue.

If the question had bothered Aveena, she didn't show it. "Other reason! This is my first time getting the badge in Unova. See, I'm from the Sinnoh region and I figured with the whole lockdown, I should probably get a souvenir from Unova, you know, as a reminder, I guess. I'm leaving as soon as the lockdown is over and I can go back, things are starting to heat up and I don't think it'll be good if I stayed. This was just supposed to be a vacation too… Anyway, I'm not really new to training. I think you noticed that. And something else too… It's not nice to stare, Mr. Gym leader."

She crossed her arms and pushed her breasts up with a giggle, drawing Riven's eyes to them. He cursed mentally. "I didn't think that traveling up north would be good since it's so cold out now, and Elesa was gone so… I decided why not! I kind of don't want to leave Unova now. I've always wondered what a Kalosian is like," she said suggestively, turning a little pink in the cheeks. "I heard they're romantic. No accent though, I thought they talked funny?"

Realizing what she goaded him into, he chuckled.

"Lumiose has a large English speaking population. French isn't necessary most of the time, though I do understand it. As for romantic… Not anymore than anyone else, I believe, even with all our fancy cutlery and cafes. You'd probably be disappointed."

"Really? I don't believe that… What about you then?" She suggested, swaying playfully. "Care to tell me with some coffee later? After the battle? Most leaders aren't this… handsome. Or intense. Had me at the opening press conference, actually."

Bold too.

He shook his head, not quite comfortable enough to take it as an innocent compliment. It felt more like a hidden dagger. "Most women don't think about flirting with a gym leader. And not me. Most run, actually. In fact, I'm flattered, and a little concerned."

"Why? Most girls are just as shy as boys are, they're just scared of rejection like everyone else. It's normal! My mentality is if you want something, you should go after it. A hot gym leader shouldn't just be eye candy."

She licked her lips.

"Heh, you're incredibly bold. Well… I'm not sure I'm personally that romantic, that's not what people usually know me for. You seem very friendly, but I'm afraid I'll have to decline," he replied, offering her a grateful and polite smile in return for blowing her off. "Thanks for the invite and compliment, however. Having a woman like you say that means a lot. We should get on with the battle now, in case someone else gets up here."

"Aww, so professional."

She giggled girlishly, but he refused to flush, holding out Tai's pokeball. If it was any other woman, he'd probably consider the possibility, but his senses were on edge. He trusted his senses, they hardly ever screwed him over, and this girl had danger written all over her. Not the crazy kind of danger teenagers talked about, but the one that crawled under your skin and set you on edge, like you could die at any moment with a false move. The very same he got around Tesla, Nera, and any one of them. No doubt she was probably reading his every move too. Playing it safe and refusing to fall into her traps was the best method, it seemed.

Or he was an idiot and read too much into the situation. False positives were always a danger to the manic paranoiac.

Her team indeed had stronger pokemon too, all mostly Sinnohan in origin. An Infernape, a Staraptor, a Driblim, Toxicroak, and a Gliscor. She beat him despite having only one pokemon left on her team, with Haona taking out three of her pokemon alone, falling to the Infernape's fire punch as she struggled with exhaustion. Riven hadn't expected to lose on the first day, but considering Haona was the only one on his gym battling team with enough experience to match her team, it was no surprise. New gym leaders attracted experienced trainers, not just people who were just earning their badges. Most thought it'd be an easy win, and most of the times it was.

When he handed her his badge, he was stunned as she came in for the embrace, his blood freezing as he let her get close. Instinct told him to shove her away, cut and run, but he fought it, holding in place, ready and alert. The hidden knives in his coat felt heavier.

"It's so pretty!" She squealed, pressing her chest up against his. Wow, they were incredibly soft. "It looks perfect for a pendant with the lightning bolt and the shadows! So cool! What does it represent?"

"Err, uh… duality. Can you let go of me, please?"

Riven struggled to find a way to pry her off of him, so he asked instead. As it was, there was no reason for him to push her off, on the surface, at least. Her chest sending too much blood to lower parts of his body was probably a cause for concern, though.

She was testing him, and he didn't know whether she was with the Sayres, the Plasmas, or Singularity. Or maybe he was just being paranoid for no reason, but his insides churning into a knot told him otherwise.

When she pulled away, smiled and waved as she left, he felt a sigh of relief.

Baron stepped out from the shadows with Aine, concern dawning on their faces.

"You were incredibly tense. Among other things." Baron stated with disgust, chest horn glowing a dull red. He joked, but his blades were already extended, no doubt as ready as Aine was. Riven could feel the heat rolling off her feathers.

"What else was he feeling?" Aine wondered innocently.

"Hor-"

"Don't tell them, Baron. I swear I'll kill you, smash your pokeball, and spit on your corpse."

"Honestly, right now, I kind of want to kill myself," the psychic replied sickly. "Just… gross."

"Is she one of those people, then?" Aine asked instead, the one sided conversation lost on her. Blue eyes remained transfixed on the woman exiting the gym, who drew stares from the other trainers. "The ones you've been going after so long? That are like you? Pokemon humans?"

"Maybe," Riven answered, holding up a sweaty palm. "Her hands were incredibly smooth."

His pokemon exchanged looks, confused.

"How is that important?"

"He's thinking with his d-"

Riven shut his mouth with his palm.

"No climber has hands like that. She hardly broke a sweat with the gym obstacles, and breezed through the gym trainers. It's hard to find anyone who trains pokemon with hands like that, and her pokemon are strong enough to require Haona to beat. I'd say they're not hers, but… it'd show in her coordination. She commands them like they're her own. Doesn't make sense. She's undoubtedly strong, is surprisingly physically fit, and tried to flirt with me, of all people. Fairly overtly. I scare people, not attract them. Something's up."

"So she's up to something because she's attracted to you? How does that make sense?"

"Look, Baron, people are nefarious and can want more than just to procreate. Unlike pokemon, they scheme. This is why I think it's a miracle we haven't killed ourselves yet."

His pokemon gave him a moment.

"Oh fuck, that's right. We did kill ourselves. Anyway, why would she suddenly decide to take on the gym now? The lockdown has been going on for at least two months now. She could've beat Elesa just as easily, or anyone else."

"They did make quite the spectacle of it, trainer. With the nosy humans and the flashes and fancy human metal inventions," Boagrius added, floating beside them. "The young ones call it, 'hype'. Interesting terms humans use."

"Yes, and the metal inventions are called cameras," Riven corrected. "And the people are called reporters. The humans, I mean. Though they are incredibly nosy."

"Indeed, many trainer humans don't seem to like them," the Castform noted. "I wonder why."

"You'd understand why if you were a trainer, Boag," Riven groaned. "Luckily, you're a pokemon. Those people can end you without really trying. Or end your privacy."

"Like Linoone? They're everywhere, eyeing you all the time. Infuriating I say!"

"Uh, sure. Let's go with that."

Reporters could stay as far away from him as possible. Not in visible sight was preferable, but an unrealistic wish really, since he was the new gym leader and all. Who'd replaced Elesa, and who'd basically called out every trainer in Unova, including the murderous ones. It was one thing to call someone out, it was another when someone from another country called you a bitch in your own stomping ground. That tended to piss people off.

Either way, the time to close the gym couldn't have come sooner. It was well past eight when his gym trainers had gone home. He'd begun to lock up when he saw five people standing outside the doors, all in UFO uniforms.

Here we go… what now?

The doors slid open and Riven motioned them inside with a sigh. "I was just about to close the gym and make the fastest dash for home I've ever made in my life."

Allen, Lucia, and Yates stood in front of him, backed by two operatives he'd seen in Nimbasa, Crowley and Walker. They had assisted in getting some of the civilians to safety. Walker had taken a knife to the side and had been put in critical care for a good two weeks, he'd heard. One of Crowley's pokemon got its leg blown off by one of the explosions. Unfortunate.

Yates was business as usual, but Lucia looked tired. More than he felt, actually. The way she scrunched her nose, add a migraine too.

"A lot of challengers?" Allen asked snidely.

"A grand total of two," Riven said, laughing pathetically. "Apparently my gym is too hard. Do you know how painful it is waiting for ten hours of nothing? My gym trainers looked ready to keel over and die, the healing machine downstairs nearly broke, and I wanted to put a bolt into my brain to try and save myself from the boredom."

"Tragic," Allen said sarcastically. "Is it a coincidence then that the League informed us that over twenty complaints were filed today alone regarding the gym circuit? From Nimbasa, specifically?"

"What did they, uh, say?" Riven wondered, curious.

"Gym too difficult for trainers of this level, unfriendly atmosphere, hazardous to health in case of a fall, hazardous in general, reports of cheating, and several others reported seeing a trainer get catapulted off the battling platform after 'ominous lightning storms and maniacal laughter'. Did you install a cannon in your gym? Dear god tell me you didn't."

Riven opened his mouth and hesitated, half grinning. "Not so much a cannon you see. I had my Blaziken toss him down into the safety nets."

Allen scowled. "That's… pretty much the same thing. Alder's going to pay you a visit reasonably soon. Also, I checked the trainer social media networking sites and they unanimously seem to despise you."

"My job is fulfilled… now what do you fine operatives want with me? UFO presence scares people. Too much of it around here as of late. I don't need to tell you this, but most of the people in Nimbasa really don't like you. There's been more dark types around lately, probably because they're scared of being amnesia'd again. Half the trainers today looked jumpier than me."

The operatives found that a little hard to believe. Riven was almost offended.

"The general population have a general dislike for us already, this is hardly new, though the increase in dark types is troubling. Still, we are obligated to perform a routine psychic lock on new gym leaders after their first day of occupation," Yates answered, catching Riven's chortle. "Yes, we know it'd be worthless in your case, but the rest of the government doesn't know. Appearances must be kept, you'd know better than anyone, gym leader."

Right, he'd forgotten Yates was a condescending prick.

"There's something else, also," Lucia interjected, drawing Riven's attention. He exchanged concerned looks with the other men, then Allen, who shook his head slowly. No sarcasm, he mouthed. He'd once had a mock battle with Lucia and was handed his ass rather thoroughly. As a recipient of a similar ass beating, Riven agreed silently. Lucia never quite looked this spent.

"More Challenger Rush preparations? Or…?"

"Or," she said tonelessly. Lucia produced a file from the folder tucked underneath her arm. Riven took it, examining it for a moment, eyebrows furrowing into increasing fury as he read the contents.

"Antoine Pollock. Kalosian. I heard of this guy from some of the ones I 'interrogated' in Kalos. He used to be a ranger. Now he's scum," Riven spat, an edge of pure hatred lacing his voice as he sifted through the file. Several pokemon ripped apart and burned gruesomely, not mentioning their trainers or owners, who were found grimly next to their pokemon. There was a note written on the picture of the Serperior—blackened and charred scales littering its body, with gashes and a wound that nearly tore it in half—that mentioned a Maya in messy handwriting. He didn't even need to read the rap sheet to know what kind of despicable creature this guy was.

The gym leader shook his head, nearly snarling. "This isn't a local issue," he said pointedly, closing the file. "This is a regional threat. This file has at least twenty photos in it and I'm not even done. All different scenes too, what the hell. He's a big fish, so why are you bringing him to me? I can only operate in Nimbasa and around the accompanying routes, not outside it. This type roams, he isn't local."

"I see you've learned the law," Yates said stoically. "That's a good sign."

"You have to know it to figure out how to best break it. Stupidity is a criminal's downfall," Riven replied simply, drawing faint astonishment from the two operatives who weren't nearly as experienced with him as the other three.

"Aspertia," Lucia said instead. "Starter city. It's the investigation I'm working on. Page six." Riven turned to it and closed the file again, disgusted. Just god damn kids and he'd done… that. He let her continue. "He's been doing this for a long time, and it's gotten increasingly difficult to track him. Somehow he has a pokemon that can break psychic locks. He's been sighted in two different cities in the span of the same day too."

"Which means he can teleport too. It gets better," Riven muttered ruefully.

She sighed, rubbing her eye. Almost guiltily, she confessed, "Gale told us you… took care of a group of people like this."

With the way he'd handled those followers weeks before, not a single one of them dared doubt it, but the question hung in the air. Riven looked up from the file at her and didn't object, the silence enough to get the message through.

"I still can't operate outside Nimbasa though. Officially. And I can't leave the gym without someone noticing. Might tip someone off, and then I'll get Alder's attention for operating outside my jurisdiction."

"Won't have to leave, actually. There's another reason we're bringing this to you," Yates said, ignoring Riven's disdainful grimace. "Nimbasa is a center point for illegal activity related to pokemon poaching. Elesa wasn't able to do much about it because although she was a gym leader, she knows about show business, not crime. She'd be a poor investigator."

That much was true. Strength didn't matter for shit if you couldn't apply it correctly.

"Antoine's always been a slippery fuck, evades us at every turn and leaves a bloody mess otherwise. He's been arrested a few times before the major things started, and every time he gets smarter. He has experience taking down strong trainers and his connections are endless. Every time we get close, he's gone. Undercover operatives have died trying to bring this guy to justice, and now he's up to something. Something that has to do with you, somewhat," Allen added with some uncertainty. Riven didn't bat an eyelash and was starting to wonder if he was being used. Allen squirmed. "Remember those Plasmas that attacked you in Castelia?"

"What? I never told you that." Riven blinked. "How did you-"

"The report said that victim, let's see here if I remember, oh yeah—'suplexed one of the assailants, viciously beat several, got thrown through center computer, got up and continued fighting, with mild concussion and scalp injuries. Unsure of drug usage or uppers to boost adrenaline levels'. Wow. Now, most trainers can't even throw a solid punch without their pokemon. Are you seriously suggesting that there's another crazy bastard who decides to knee a Throh in the face willingly—by using his Blaziken as a launching pad? Because if so, I don't think we can handle two of you. We've seen some shit, and your kind of nuts scares us."

"Don't even try," Lucia cut in as Riven opened his mouth to deny it. "We know it was you. Trouble comes to you like it's a curse. Though it's a good thing it did this time." At his face, she snorted. "Oh, quiet, you survived an explosion and worse. They mugged the wrong, wrong person."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"Those weren't Plasmas," Allen answered, grinning widely. "Those were pokemon hunters, and you were their next target. They just dressed like Plasmas. Pictures in there? They were going to leave you like that, only you beat their ass first."

Riven stared.

"I'm confused, why is this relevant?"

"Because this didn't just happen to you. These poachers are dressing up like Plasmas to shift the blame onto them by mugging and killing solitary trainers. Remember their uniforms? They were the rebanded black Plasmas, the violent ones. The newly formed Plasmas right now are using the old uniforms, symbolizing a crusade for justice with a knight templar motif. They don't match up. Someone's trying to tarnish their reputation, and the Plasmas are in a tizzy over it."

Riven snarled as things came together, now all the more pissed off.

"The poachers get their business off, blame the Plasmas to piss them off, spurring more recruitment, who in turn fight the Sayre followers because they detest them, who are also driven into that mindset by losing their pokemon, courtesy of the poachers. And that splits authority attention in three ways instead of just one or two, making it extremely hard for all of you to track their illegal activity down while they take complete advantage of the chaos. It's a self feeding loop of fuck is what it is."

The five operatives seemed rather impressed.

"I'd still argue you'd make an excellent operative, Prime. My offer still stands from before. A disobedient, mal-tempered and frustratingly snappy operative, but a highly perceptive one with the combat skills to match. It's not often we get soldiers in our ranks."

"Why?" Riven guessed sardonically, "because I have loose morals and no compunctions about carrying out black ops? Nope, I refuse, thanks."

Yates shrugged, not bothering with Allen and Lucia's pointed glares.

"Regardless, we wanted to inform you in case you were interested. This case is rather personal as well, for many operatives involved. That Serperior belonged to the Unovan envoy during the Sinnoh incident, Maya Blair Majors. She's a UFO rookie at the moment. The whole incident affected her quite negatively, and were glad she chose the better way to cope with it, rather than turn to destructive behavior."

Riven grimaced, shaking his head. He looked at the picture again and his face twisted. "God, that's fucked."

"Yes," Crowley said suddenly, finally speaking up. "My sister's in there too. Still haven't looked at the picture, don't want to. Dragonbreath almost burned her unrecognizable. If I catch that bastard, I'll kill him myself, chief."

Yates nodded. No one said a thing.

"So… you want me to go after this Antoine? Is that what you're asking? I don't think I'd get very far, this guy… he's skilled. I don't think I know the spell called miracles, Yates."

"Not quite," he clarified. "This isn't about Antoine Pollock, we can't touch him until an opportunity arises. The rest of his organization, however, we can. You'll be assisting us in a UFO led raid. We've had undercover operatives and informants dispersed among the smugglers ranks for months, even years. Lately we have enough acquired information to take out a majority of the Nimbasan crime ring, as well as Castelia's and Black City's. While this might not make a difference in the short term, not having a centralized location to conduct their business would hamper them severely and split their trade and delivery routes."

Riven was intrigued. Allen chuckled. Like baiting a Magikarp.

"This way we can cut off the feedback loop at its root and disrupt the poachers enough or us to bring Antoine Pollock into a corner, eliminate one target and concentrate on the political issue on hand between the Plasmas and Sayres."

"Shatterpoint," Riven muttered, smiling viciously. "There's a but though."

"I was waiting for it," Yates said tiredly. "What is it?"

"The moment it happens, and we get these guys, you need to assign a personal UFO to every one of my gym trainers. And in all the cities involved in the raid. These people won't take that kind of official crackdown lying down. They'll retaliate in the ways they know how, target the local authority figure and squeeze him dry." He pointed to himself with a thumb, "that figure being me and the other leaders. They won't screw with me directly, because I have an elite level team that can destroy most challengers if they looked at me wrong, but my gym trainers don't. No 'I'll see what I can do', either. Do this, or I'm not lifting a finger. I don't want to explain to their parents how they died."

"That's illegal," Yates retorted. "We can only assign them under very special circumstances, and since they're being protected by a gym leader then-"

"Do it! Arguing is pointless!" Lucia snapped. "We need his help, like it or not. He's the Nimbasan gym leader now, and we have to respect his wishes if we want his assistance, sir. Riven knows these kinds of people better than any of us. The law can be bent, right?"

"I don't like it." Yates' jaw clenched, shaking his head. "Fine, I'll assign operatives to your trainers. Now, will you help or not?"

"I'd be stupid not to. If this is tied to Singularity, then I'm in. Got names, locations, and patterns? Anything you know about them?"

Allen pulled up his phone, sending the files to Riven's holo caster. He skimmed through them, showing them to Baron, who'd begun memorizing them. While he had good memory, it wasn't photographic. Baron's was.

"Alright, you guys are in charge. When are we doing this and where am I going?"

"We're getting briefed in a few days, that's when you'll know. Operatives are getting pulled from different branches and cities. We're also only going to be receiving limited orders so in case there's a Singularity spy amongst us, they won't know everything."

Riven didn't look convinced. Concerned even. "Castelia and Black City. That's where Gale, Amy, Seab, and Will are. Are they going to be part of this too?"

Lucia swallowed uncomfortably, no doubt disliking it too. "Will wanted to. He's going in as part of a more experienced unit. His pokemon are strong enough, and he's an Origin too, so I think he'll be fine. Your two other friends volunteered also. The girl was very adamant about participating, though we had to reject the Sinnohan boy because he's still injured. Strong trainers willing to help out officials are few and far between."

"So them too, huh? Seab shouldn't get ahead of himself. Those two like being part time heroes or something. Gale… she's not fighting too, is she? Tell me she's not."

"You can't control her, Riven," Lucia said quietly.

"I'm not trying to. It's just… Poachers aren't going to go quietly. Nonlethal force may not be an option. Gale hasn't killed a person before, and if she breaks down in the middle of everything, it can mess her up. You saw what Will did and how his abilities reacted. Gale's have more destructive potential than his. If she kicks up a tornado or something with razor winds, a lot of friendlies can die too. Including her own team. She didn't even want to become a UFO."

Lucia smiled sadly over his concern for the girl. "She's stronger than you give her credit for. A lot stronger."

"I've never doubted that," Riven admitted. "Gale's stronger than I am. But even the strongest can break."

He glared at Yates, who glared right back, unmoving. "She's a threat, and rather than treat her as one, I gave her the chance to become an asset."

"You didn't give her a choice."

"Neither did you."

Riven almost leapt at him were it not for Baron holding him back. Allen stood between the two men and the psychic, sighing.

"Personal feelings aside… there is one last thing you should be aware of. The lockdown is being lifted and tourists will be allowed to go to and from Unova in the following two weeks. All of the gym leaders were notified of this, and since you started today, I'm letting you know now before you storm into the UFO field office and start punching people in the mouth for screwing you over. Dignitaries from each region are coming here to see what the current state of Unova is, and I for one, would like things to go smoother this time."

"Oh, you mean like the ones from Sinnoh a few months ago? Last I heard they caused a scene in Castelia and managed to get you shot."

The operative winced.

"Are you positive that won't fuck something up?"

"Unfortunately, we can't refuse them," Yates replied irritably. "I advised against it, but matters will appear far worse if we had refused. There was talk of the old days, when Unova was at war with itself. Those times are long past and we don't want the rest of the world to start rumors they know nothing about."

Lucia and Walker were whispering about something behind Yates, then did a show of rock paper scissors, which Walker lost. Riven raised a brow, only paying half attention to the lead operative.

Walker groaned, scratching the back of his neck. "These, uh, dignitaries… Nathan… well, they're going to be invited to stay in different cities. And they'll stay within the gyms during their tenure to assist the gym leaders as peacekeeping forces while they get to know the cities and assess the situation."

Riven frowned, his heart sinking when he knew where this was getting at. "Oh, hell. Who am I getting assigned?" He prayed it wasn't someone irritating.

Walker pulled up the schedule, sweating as he made eye contact with Yates, who actually seemed glad he didn't have to deal with Riven this time.

"Uh… Nimbasan gym… Sela Schaffer, Sinnohan dignitary and leader of the Snowpoint City gym. Morty, Johtoan dignitary and leader of the Ecruteak City gym. Flannery, Hoenn dignitary and leader of the Lavaridge City gym. And a Kalosian leader. Should be a welcome visit for you, I assume."

"Who is it?"

If it was Ramos… well, that wouldn't be too bad actually. Maybe they could start a garden on the roof of the gym.

"Viola of the Santalune Gym."

Riven's fucking soul cleaved in two. Flannery he could handle with light explanations. But Viola? She'd seen him as Prime, had seen his face and would undoubtedly recognize him. Fuuuuuuuuccckkkk wouldn't begin to describe that feeling of dread.

"What's wrong? You lost all color in your face," Lucia noted, holding him as he went limp. "Did you eat anything today?"

"Oh…" Riven answered weakly, feeling his knees try to buck. "Oh, I'm fine. That's great. Dignitaries. I should buy a lawn chair and see how much chaos goes down. Wait but I'm a gym leader. God dammit why did I take this job… Viola knows me, and when she freaks out that Prime the merc is a Unovan gym leader, the others will too. And if one of them talks…"

"It'll be bad," Allen concluded in summation. "Oh boy."

Yates grimaced. "Best pull her aside and explain the situation calmly. I doubt amnesia could wipe three years or more of memories. And to do it on a foreign gym leader from a region we have the best relations with? I wouldn't be caught dead doing that. It'd put Unova in jeopardy."

Riven scoffed. "For once there's something you won't do? They're just going to be highly attractive targets if they come here. We might see gym leader deaths everywhere. Doesn't that raise some alarm bells? Or is it just me that thinks this is a really stupid idea? Are the champions coming too? Elite Four?"

"The Sinnohan champion requested it personally," Lucia flinched. "Lance is coming too. Most of the Elite Four are going to temporarily cover the dignitary's respective cities, so they won't be coming. Our Elite Four will double up on security, and speaking of which, they're coming for the raid too. Grimsley's going with you."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

Allen never wanted to see Riven smile like that again. Or anyone, for that matter.

---

Blonde hair blew beneath his hat as Tesla stood on the roof of an apartment building, looking on the gym from above. He saw the three UFOs go in, but not out, which meant that they'd probably teleported out. What they discussed in there… he was dying to know. When the gym leader, his good friend the Cerul, had emerged, he traced him walking down the street, followed by a small Blitzle.

When Tesla found out that his under the table ally had suddenly replaced the gym leader of Nimbasa for a while… well, stunned wouldn't have the same kick to it. He was floored. He'd always taken the Altean for a bit of an eccentric fellow with a reputation in the unexpected and even then he didn't expect the jump from merc to gym leader. And that he'd neglected to tell him a thing… more interesting still. What was he planning?

"Someone could confuse you for a stalker," a woman said, landing on the rooftop as she dismounted from a Skarmory. "Binoculars, baseball hat, and a tall building? Creeepy."

Tesla put the binoculars down, snorting.

"Oh? Says the one whose breasts are about to burst out of her shirt. Not that I mind, anyhow. Mind doing a few jumps for me?"

"Fuck you, Tesla," she said with a laugh, putting on a jacket. "Look! I got a gym badge. It's so pretty!" She beamed, holding out the golden trimmed badge of lightning and shadows.

"So you actually beat him? I told you to observe him, not win. Although it is a pretty badge," he admitted, examining it. "Did you get absorbed in the battle?"

"A bit?" Aliac pouted. "He went easy on me though, that was irritating. I guess the League doesn't want gym leaders to be too hard. He is the fourth... Anyway, his Absol was tough as nails! And I did observe him! Up and down, front and rear. It was definitely him, but he was a lot more polite than you described. He only stared at my boobs once."

Tesla rolled his eyes. "Get anything good then? I assume you tried to make halfway stimulating conversation?"

"Stimulating is one word for it."

"You flirted with him, didn't you. We did speak about this before. Specifically about you drawing too much attention."

"I remember no such thing. As for the flirting… just a bit?" She smiled coyly. "I wouldn't mind if he said yes, took me to his place and made my head go blank. He's cute. In a grizzled, recovered from grief kind of way. And that entrance during the press conference? Very cool."

"Well, you screwed up, Ally."

"Huh? How?"

"The guy is a manic paranoid who trusts no one other than his close friends, is a mercenary, and an ex-Remnant. We carry ourselves differently than other people, and he can pick apart those differences just as easily as we can. Besides, he probably thinks that an attractive woman interested in him is a trap. In this case, it wouldn't be wrong in the slightest."

"Oh… so you think I'm attractive? That's good to hear, Tes. Although it's unprofessional to hit on your subordinates."

"Ally, everyone with eyes knows you're attractive. He knows you were up to something. That guy is more perceptive than I initially thought. And highly prone to spontaneous behavior. That's why I'm monitoring him. That's why I have these."

Binoculars came back up, almost petulantly. "Can I not confide in anyone any longer? The woe of the plotter. Such a shame."

"I didn't screw up!" Aliac put her hands on her hips, huffing. "You don't know that. I was good! Don't tell me he's gay. Please tell me he isn't. All the good ones are gay."

His phone buzzed. "Oh, look who it is." He checked it and laughed.

"What's it say? Does it say something about me? Tesla don't keep it away, lemme see!"

He kept it out of reach of her, dashing around her to make sure she didn't grab it. Frustrated, she gave up and pouted again. The blonde smirked.

"He's not gay at least. I know that for sure, it's just… one small thing. Again, you messed up, Ally. I was right."

He showed her his phone, shaking it in his fingers for emphasis. Unconvinced, she leaned in, reading the contents. It was a message from him to Tesla.

Stop sending pretty girls to seduce me. I considered saying yes too. Nice try ASSHOLE. Dont watch me ill find you and stick a knife in your eye.

Aliac flushed red. "There's a chance he'll say yes?!"

"Threatened my life and that's all you gleaned from it?" Tesla sighed, wondering why he couldn't have a subordinate less obsessed with trying to find the perfect man. Like a lovesick Herdier. "Continues to surprise me..."

"Does he know who I am?" The girl gasped. "He can tell? Do we have a certain scent? I'll have to ask my pokem-"

"No, you stupid girl. He most likely deduced it... somehow. Did he shake your hand?"

She paused.

"Uh… yeah. Why?"

The Liran stared, then chuckled loudly in disbelief. "Oh, this is fun. I heard his gym had a lot of obstacles. And your skin can't be scratched. It's smooth like metal, and just as hard. He used to be a scout in the Remnant army. He knows how someone's hands look after a journey."

He held her hand up, tracing a circle in her palm with his index finger. Not a single callus or scar.

Instead of paling, the female mercenary smiled widely. "Holy. Shit. He's like a detective! Is that how he got you at the hospital? With the knives and the potion?"

Tesla nodded amusedly. "Quite something huh? From just two little things."

She lit up like a kid on their birthday about to receive presents.

"I can see now."

"What?"

"Why you find him so interesting! What now then, since mission reconnaissance failed spectacularly?"

"Your reconnaissance failed, Ally. Specifics are important."

"Hey, it was your idea! Go in there and battle him you said. You didn't mention he was cute! Most of the guys we deal with look like they hit the gym too often or don't shower enough!"

"True enough I suppose. You get off easy this time, then." She waited expectantly. "Fine, dinner's on me."

Her frown turned upside down.

"Don't get too excited, the fun's about to start. Now, we wait for the fireworks." Tesla pulled his hat down, grinning lightly. A map of Unova flashed into his mind, visualizing the most likely zones that'd get hit soon enough. "The UFOs had to get their information somewhere. Now all we have to do is wait and see what they have in store for our friend Pollock and his people. I'm hoping it's exciting. "

"You tipped them off," she realized, gawking. "You're serious about defying Locryn, aren't you?"

"The good thing about the good operatives is that they don't question sources too much if the information proves true. A sensible cop would bury himself trying to dig that deep. The operatives take what they can, remove the hostiles, and go about their way. However they can. It's quite fascinating, and possibly why they're fantastic at their job."

"That's not what I asked," she reminded.

"Ah, right. My apologies. Locryn... yes. I just keep his extremist tendencies in check from the sidelines. He doesn't have to know—he's not the one I'm defying outright."

Aliac crossed her arms, unconvinced. She leaned against the railing, exhaling. The blondes' eyes were focused, pointed and unrelenting. There'd be no changing his mind, no matter how many times she reminded him.

"Sheesh… Still with that? I thought you got over that when we were kids. You can't defy god, Tes. He's too strong."

Electricity sparked in between his fingers, blackening the aluminum he held onto.

"I can try, Ally. For everything he's done to us."

---

Pink light flared as a door was cut in half, followed by searing black flames that scorched the hallway within—the noxious fumes assaulting the noses of the occupants inside, causing horrific burns that wouldn't seem to stop stinging. Men ran frantically, summoning their own pokemon in a bid to escape. Behind them they could see as two figures advanced through the corridors, draped in black and covered by the smoke as flashes of steel and light preceded spatters of blood and screams.

Pokemon barely materialized as a Blaziken unleashed a burning hell of punches and kicks, lacing its limbs with arcing fire that seared flesh and cracked bone. To its right a Houndoom charged, biting into the neck of a Scrafty that had been caught in the surprise attack.

There was a sudden sickening crunch as the Houndoom applied pressure and twisted. A scar ran down the length of its snout and jaw, giving the criminals a horrifying idea of who they were up against.

Electricity brought down poachers who were caught off from the flames, paralyzed by the rush of operatives into the building.

As the smoke cleared, the poachers had realized who'd attacked them. Grimsley and that gym leader. While the gym leader was terrifying, the man in the fancy suit held a sadistic nature beneath that smirk, subdued only by his ties to the League and his duties as the Elite Four. The man was as vicious as the dark types he commanded.

They'd arrived so suddenly that most of their group had to cut and run, abandoning their hauls and belongings. Those that did try to fight were cut down by momentary flashes of green as a Gallade danced around people and pokemon between momentary flashes of light, cutting into flesh like notes in a musical piece, his blades the bow and his body the instrument.

It teleported into entire rooms, clearing them in seconds as men struggled to realize what they were fighting.

Shots rang out as muzzle flashes illuminated a long adjacent hallway, steel ringing against steel as Grimsley's Bisharp simply walked through the hailstorm, unperturbed. Halting for a moment, the Bisharp opened its eyes and sped across the distance, slashing horizontally with a bladed hand to cut down a line of men before their pokemon could save them.

Footsteps could be heard from behind when a Stoutland, Scolipede, and Sawsbuck tried to advance, with only a few more pokemon being able to be held back by the Bisharp when it sensed the trap.

An inferno of flames blazed from a doorway, incinerating the three pokemon who'd pushed out of position. An Emboar stepped into view, smoke rising from its nostrils, its eyes ablaze.

The Bisharp prepared itself, holding the others back as a flamethrower blew toward, pushing it back as it summoned a purple sphere of protective energy to protect the others. The Emboar advanced, embers igniting into swirling vortexes of fire around its wrists as it closed the distance. As it swung down to hammer at the cracking shield, clawed paws slammed against tile when an Absol bounded over the Bisharp, who dropped the protect and knelt to avoid the psycho cut.

The sickle swung and tore past the Emboar, cutting deep into its face and down its right side in a spray of blood. Standing once again, Grimsley's Bisharp turned to eye the Elite trainer, who nodded his consent and returned his Absol as they advanced past the corridor.

Riven heard a shunk as the Bisharp brought its glowing arm down on the Emboar's head. Guillotine.

They continued the assault.

"Haona, ice beam! Wall them off! Boagrius, energy ball! Disorient them! Tai, pursuit and night slash, clean up the stragglers!" Riven ordered, producing a knife as he buried it in a gun toting poacher's leg, bringing his other up to grab for his wrist. He ducked inwards, bringing the arm down to slam his elbow into the joint, snapping the poacher's forearm. One swift knee took the man out.

He turned to react to another attacker when a glowing Honchkrow slammed into the Sawk, carrying it into the wall with enough force to dent steel. It slashed at the fighting type with glowing talons, aerial aces raking across its body until it was left an unconscious, bloody mess.

Grimsley wasted no time in releasing his own Absol and Liepard, allowing them to join Haona and Tai in fending off a Seismitoad and a Ferrothorn. The hallways ahead were blocked with hazards; littered with sharp vines, thorns, floating rocks, and exposed cable wires—a last ditch effort to impede their progress.

Getting to the stolen pokemon's holding chamber would take some time.

Their chosen target was a rundown apartment complex that had been closed to the public for several years. They had approached the building and found a lone scout on the rooftop who'd spotted them approaching. He never made it to the radio before Baron flashed into his view, fist colliding with his face a second later.

Inside, they found a vast network of hallways and rooms for housing the poachers, acting as a safehouse for smugglers and hunters in between jobs. The UFOs had performed a thorough combing of the area to make sure they weren't ambushed, disabling surveillance cameras with Magnemite to mask their approach.

Baron's teleport rush, Aine's blitzing attacks, and both Grimsley and Riven's Absols made quick work of any unawares, with the Elite Four's Bisharp and Krookodile acting as rearguards in case they needed to fall back. Operatives supported them with psychics, drawing up moving light screens and reflects in case of ballistic weapons.

When they got to the inner levels after someone had managed to trip an alarm, things got hectic. They increased their speed, breaking formation and leaving the solitary rooms for the other operatives to clear, which meant they had no protective shielding for surprise attacks and had to improvise or slow down and fight.

After clearing the hallways of hazards and more rooms full of pokemon and poachers, Grimsley and Riven rounded a corner, coming to a stop as a line of hostiles stood in front of a large metal door in the antechamber of the facility.

The space was bigger than a gym arena's battling platform. Behind that were all the abducted pokemon. Only one… huge problem.

The hunters had a metric fuckton of pokemon.

Sawks, Throhs, Scrafties, Klinklangs, Bouffalants, Heatmor, Scolipedes, Gigalith, Zebstrika… The list went on. They had it. A Haxorus then materialized behind them for added insult to injury, followed shortly by a Druddigon. Shit.

Oh, and the scum had semi automatic rifles with them.

Grimsley and Riven ducked behind barriers as beams, blasts, and bullets collided against their pokemon's shields, arranging each in a phalanx formation for maximum protection. Those who couldn't use protect fell back behind the shield, retaliating with their own attacks through the gaps. Haona's ice beam hit the floor, causing a rising wave of ice to temporarily block the assault before the Haxorus smashed through it.

Luckily, there were only a few good special attackers in that line up, and most of Riven and Grimsley's pokemon-who were far more experienced and likely stronger- were close range attackers. The poachers knew this, and had no desire to engage at that range with the obvious presence of fighters and ice type attacks. Pulling back into the doorway, Riven and Grimsley's teams hid behind it as bullets cracked past them when they peeked. Right now the poachers had the range advantage, as well as numbers, but they were backed into a corner.

Riven and Grimsley on the other hand, only needed to wait for the other operatives to catch up to give them support. Both sides obviously knew this, and the close range skirmishes would likely start soon once they realized that was the only course of action other than lose their chance and get annihilated. Right now they were wary of a trap. They weren't stupid. Wouldn't last long once they wised up and knew there wasn't one. They sure could let them think there was. It'd buy them a few minutes.

"How well do you think the others are faring?" Riven asked lightly as the attacks continued to come past the door. Sweat dripped from his forehead as his breathing slowed. He ordered Spoopy to set up a web cocoon just in case.

Grimsley shrugged, dusting off his suit. How could he run in that? Must have been sweating through it or something. Looked uncomfortable.

"I'd like to believe well, though I could be wrong. Ms. Ethne and her operatives are with Shauntal. Her ghosts can get past any defenses and transport large groups of men inside a building without getting seen. Marshal's pokemon are pure power, and with Yates at the helm, no one should be able to stop them. And Caitlin… well, her psychics are good enough to do the job by themselves. These pokemon poachers are hardly organized when caught unaware. Beasts are often the hardest to deal with when cornered, however. Obviously."

His point was further proven when a hyper beam rattled the steel protecting them. It was a small miracle it was heavily, heavily reinforced and their pokemon weren't special attack inclined.

"So in other words, a slight chance of disaster. About eighty percent?"

"Slight… yes, let's take those odds and hope lady luck smiles down upon them, like she is us," he chuckled wryly, wincing as a bullet buzzed past his face. "I didn't expect that many, interesting how intelligent they are. For poacher scum anyway. If we went in there we'd be turned into pulp. Now I see why they evaded the UFO branch so long."

Peeking out, Riven got a better look at the pokemon inside, relaying orders to Baron, who then shared them with the rest of the team. Grimsley watched them in strange fascination, completely unfazed by Riven taking out two more knives from his coat. Knives for maiming and combat, not for general usage. He'd already seen him brutally disable an enemy combatant.

"Are you sure you're a gym leader?" He asked, rubbing his chin. "You act like a soldier! Am I on the mark? 50/50? 70/30?"

Riven froze for a second, then turned to face the fancily dressed man. "Depends on your viewpoint. I'm just a trainer who became gym leader and learned a few tricks along the way."

Grimsley paused, then smirked with knowing eyes. "Oh? Oh of course you are, of course. Few tricks… What kind of trainer would bother teaching their pokemon room clearing techniques. Or teach your Blaziken lethal fighting styles for maximum damage to the opponent's body? Your team fights as a unit and outside it they're highly independent. I've only seen that with trainers in the military and the UFO. By Arceus where did you pick up knife fighting and close range combat if not in the military of Kalos? Fighters have footprints, and yours are dirty. Quite different from Elesa, aren't you? I wonder what she saw in you?"

"Maybe that I like to make my own luck," Riven replied, drawing a grin from the gambler. "Gym leader or not, we're still stuck here. Think we can hold out long enough against that?"

Grimsley shook his head. "Not a chance. The second wave will shatter the protects our pokemon can establish and will just get us killed. I really hate this situation. I've never been good at defense and our positioning is rather poor."

"Defense isn't my forte either. That's why I got something in mind. You're a dark type trainer, right?" Riven laid his eyes on Grimsley's Houndoom, an idea blooming in his mind. "Aren't a Houndoom's toxins flammable?"

Grimsley was surprised, but then laughed darkly.

"Why yes, yes they are."

---

Lucia covered her eyes as a Golurk's fist caved the reinforced steel door inwards with a tremendous punch, blowing a massive hole in its center as steel screeched and groaned. Rather than walk into an ambush, Shauntal leisurely strode into the room, eyes attached to her latest novel and raised a hand.

The entire operative team, Lucia, and their pokemon were safely shadow snuck behind the poachers and their own pokemon. The poachers turned around and hardly managed a sound before operatives fired into them. Psychics, thunder waves, and sleep powder incapacitated the released pokemon, allowing them to easily capture the abducted pokemon inside the vault.

Shauntal climbed out of the hole, her heels clacking on the floor.

"Well, that was easy! Good job, Lu!" She cooed at her Golurk, which rumbled in response. "Oh, I should use this in my thriller! The operatives dashed in, pokemon and guns blazing, with the two heroines at the helm! The proud black clad fighter and her Sceptile-Roland the Waltzing Blade! And… let's see… I can't self insert because that'd be lame but…"

"Umm, Shauntal?" Lucia called, waving. "Sorry to interrupt your brainstorming but we need help with all the, you know-" She pointed at the operatives collecting the pokeballs in sacks, "the abducted pokemon."

"Right! I'm so sorry, I just get so distracted and exciting when there's a raid going on that the juice starts flowing to my head. They never expect ghosts, heh! Want to be in my book, Lucy?"

"I'd love to." Lucia looked around, red eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I just… didn't think it'd be this easy."

---

"I thought this would be easier! Holy fuck!" Will exclaimed as he took cover behind a pillar Quil had erected with stone edge. The other operatives in his team were doing the same, pinned down hard by bullets, flamethrowers, and dark pulses.

In the sky, dragons and birds screeched and roared as the aerial battle over Black City's industrial sector raged on, blue fire and white flashes illuminating the dim sky. Riven had always said that night battles were horrible for those who couldn't see in it, and now Will understood why. Nobody could see shit, it was a mess of shouting, snarling, and the impacts of explosions and dust.

It was terrifying.

Gale was up in the air, conducting aerial warfare with a douchebag on a Braviary. She was practically untouchable as she moved the air currents under the Braviary's wings to send it spiraling off course and miss every attack possible. Thus, she was the only thing keeping those dragons off their backs, which included other Flygons, Hydreigon, and Salamence.

Wind manipulation was such bullshit.

Their commanding leader, Jonathan Avern, was gutted like a Magikarp by a Beedrill the moment they stepped into the damn place—a giant warehouse on Calum Street in the center of the district. When they managed to drag him away and find cover, the guy had a hole in his stomach several inches wide and his bloodstream had already been severely poisoned by the stinger. There was blood everywhere along the ground. When the Audino arrived, she got one look at him and shook her head.

Then a dark pulse took it away from her and sent four operatives flying back. All that was left of the Audino was pieces.

They were down a healer and there was no way that the combat medic would risk it after that.

That left Will, with no commanding experience, and a bunch of other operatives-also with no commanding experience- to push into the sector in a bad position and with no aerial support until Gale and the other airborne ops managed to get their asses some cover.

Will emptied a magazine from his firearm, which just drew a gout of flames back at him. The heat didn't bother him, but knowing he had the means to light this place up brighter than Unovan independence day and not being able to use it did.

Gale's abilities were subtle and mostly invisible, meanwhile his stood out like… well, explosions.

"God dammit," he grumbled. "Screw it, Casca, hydro pump those pillar supports! Maximum pressure!"

She stepped out from the protective rock pillar, covered by a Reuniclus and a Beheeyem who used protect to shield her.

Pressurized jets of water blasted out of the Samurott's mouth, destroying and slicing through the thick metal supports as steel groaned and shrieked, likely severely injuring the poachers and their pokemon who got caught in its path, considering the screams.

Thank god he couldn't see them.

The distraction allowed some of the operatives to flank to the sides of the warehouse building, where they got ambushed again. Inside there were metal catwalks where men with rifles and special attackers lay in wait, unleashing a hell of attacks at the doorways and entryways, injuring more operatives and their pokemon in the crossfire.

"Shit! McKinley, Lillard, Munoz, Torres, and Sera are down! Get the psychics to extract them, light screens up!" One of the men yelled. "This place is a fucking fortress! Were they expecting us?"

They refused to go in until they heard the pained shrieks of a plummeting Salamence, wings iced over as gravity escorted it to its death, which it found when it hit the roof of the warehouse and kept going. It crashed through the top, fell through several catwalks and finally landed on a steel ramp.

It didn't get up.

Gale flew in after Rika, slashing an arm out as a wave of wind blew the ambushers off their feet and into walls. Yukiko floated beside her, ice beam encasing several others to their places. Rika's mouth opened, energy spiraling into her mouth as a hyper beam blew up a portion of the warehouse in an explosion of light.

Guns clattered to the floor and with the pokemon stunned by the whirlwind, the ice, and the hyper beam, the remaining ground operatives closed in, quickly subduing the remaining poachers. Will rallied with the other operatives, forming a basic battle plan.

Some of the injured UFOs and pokemon didn't make it when the combat medic got a look at them. She shook her head, grimacing. Will exchanged looks with the others, then Gale, who swallowed in discomfort. She saw Will gripping Yanine's knife with a vice, and her worry increased as Will's eyes turned dark.

"Gale, stay here with the others and make sure no one follows us in. Riven wouldn't want you to follow me. I promised to keep you out of it."

"Careful in there," she said sadly. Who's protecting who…? "And Will… hold it back, I knew them too. They were good people and pokemon, but it's not worth it."

"They keep telling me that, when am I supposed to believe it? When more of us die?" He snarled, sparks lighting around his palms. This was his first direct assignment outside training. A night operation in the middle of an ambush. There weren't supposed to be casualties. No one was supposed to die. But they did. He'd enlisted with the combat branch, thinking it'd be his forte, thinking that he'd fit there.

He hadn't expected the mess. The absolute fear of not knowing who you were shooting and what was shooting at you. He'd just seen his unit leader get ripped open and an Audino get blasted to pieces. This wasn't what he expected at all.

Donning gas masks, the other operatives nodded to each other, calling forth fire and poison pokemon.

The most seasoned of them came forward, placing a hand on Will's shoulder. "We'll go in first with barriers, then you and your Typhlosion go in and light them up. Show us what an Origin can do."

Grudgingly, Will nodded. They descended into the dark warehouse, pokemon and pistols at the ready.

Within an hour, smoke billowed out from within, a thick column of black rising into the air from the fires underground. The group reappeared a few minutes later, carrying with them cases of pokeballs. One of them held a bodybag, the target of the raid, Andrew Priett, a major player and trusted contact of Pollock's.

UFO uniforms were stained black from the soot and smoke, and when Gale saw Will come back out, she rushed over to check how he was doing. He sat down on a nearby bench, looking down at his blackened palms. He stared off into the distance, eyes fixed on the dimly lit buildings of Black City, but unfocused.

He breathed in deep, knife trembling in his hands. "It's done," he muttered, "It's done."

Gale nodded grimly, wiping his face with her fingers.

"Yeah... it is."

---

Castelia's sky flashed as thunderstorms rolled in, blanketing the city with rain and lightning. In the midst of it, an Ampharos and a Manectric brought forth cascades of electricity from the heavens as Amy solely directed the pokemon to cover the UFOs from the multitude of flying pokemon that had taken to the skies.

Who'd have guessed that a corporate building was home to an illegal smuggling operation? And with ties to the Silph company in Johto? She couldn't believe it. Mila, her Altaria, and Seab's Salamence flew above the clouds, relayed detailed information by one of the UFO's Reuniclus on the floor, launching calculated dragonbreaths and moonblasts down at the birds.

The effect was visually stunning, like god himself was raining down judgment on the guilty. It made her feel a lot better knowing the bastards were actually guilty, too. Explosions shattered the building's windows as operatives cleared it, ending the raid by late morning.

There'd been no casualties, but all of Castelia had woken up to see the events unfold. Before Amy realized it, a crowd had gathered on the street, watching in awe as the operatives hauled upwards of thirty people across the street and with them bags full of stolen pokeballs.

She felt very small as they turned to her, the storm subsiding when she returned the two electric pokemon by her side. In the crowd, Seab clapped with a proud smile on his face, a Reuniclus floating in happiness behind him.

A reporter who managed to get on the scene stumbled to her, uneased by the two dragons that landed beside Amy, holding up a microphone.

"H-h-hi! That thunderstorm was amazing! Would you mind an interview?"

Amy grinned.

---

Both Riven and Grimsley's teams heaved as they entered the chamber, exhausted from the amount of fighting they'd just done. They managed to knock most of the poachers' pokemon unconscious in the distraction created by the smog explosion, but many recovered enough to give them one hell of a fight.

The poachers, on the other hand, were very much dead. Psychics, telekinesis, and bullets didn't mix well.

"You fight well," Grimsley admitted, his hair undone and dust ridden.

"Likewise," Riven replied, exchanging a short laugh with the other man as they managed to defeat an entire room of pokemon with just their two teams. When Aine and Grimsley's Houndoom managed to finish cutting through the steel door with their fire, the two officials and the rest of the operatives that had caught up were astonished to find no pokeballs whatsoever.

Only briefcases hidden in shipping containers, buried under stolen shipments of pokemon food meant to be shipped to Unovan pokemon centers.

When they cracked them open, Riven couldn't do anything but stare.

They were uncharged Origin spheres. Hundreds of them, manufactured on an industrial scale, with the same markings and shape he'd seen in Tesla's sphere. Exact replicas.

In the center, a blue sphere identical to the azure one he found in Dewford sat snuggly among the others. Riven's mind raced, thinking.

What were they planning? And what legendaries would they use to do it?

Grimsley peeked over deathly silent UFOs and the Nimbasan gym leader, who was lost in thought over their nonsensical discovery. He expected pokeballs and pokemon, not measly trinkets.

"Oh, what's this? A blue jewel? It looks interest-"

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Everyone exclaimed.

Grimsley's exposed finger tapped it before he could pull away.

"Huh? I don't see what's the big uproar, it's just a bunch of-"

A wave of water exploded outward and blew Riven, pokemon, operative, and unconscious criminals across the room, into the corridors and down the hall.

---

Holy shit. I thought my job would be less taxing on me but I was wrong. The hours are pretty terrible, 4pm to 1am, and the work is heavily physical(poor student with loans, man), so I've just been getting my ass kicked.

My circadian rhythm got thoroughly dumpstered and my entire body feels like crap by the end of the week. On the plus side I've lost about ten pounds and gained a few pounds of muscle. Unloading trucks is hard work.

I've also been swamped by a release of games I hardly have time to bloody play anymore. I haven't gotten past the apparel shop in Sun, haven't even beat Alduin's scaly ass in skyrim SE, have been behind on every show I follow, barely finished Dishonored 2 after a few weeks, caught up to my MMOs, and haven't had the time to hang out with the squad or play me some Battlefield.

Dating and social life is nowhere to be seen. I only have weekdays off, god dammit.

I'm trying to figure out how to make 30 hours out of a 24 hour day. So far no luck. I can only write in the damn night and it's pissing me off. Regardless, I'll have another update out on New years for sure, and can definitely promise more consistent updates since my body is getting used to my schedule. Two months without an update was getting me frustrated, I'm not even going to try to understand how some of you felt.

If you still read my story, anyway. But I digress, enjoy the chapter! Or don't and leave a criticism and tell me what I can improve! See you New Years! Hope you all had a merry Christmas in this god forsaken year.