FA/N: If you want to know what the 'more realistic' Pokémon in Truth and Lies look like, a good place to start would be Joshua Dunlop's art. You can find it at "joshuadunlop (d0t) art stat ion (d0t) c0m." ... Ffnet is getting more annoying with their filters. He's done most of the first 151, and a couple extras (Espeon and Umbreon come to mind), plus his art is amazing in general. Worth a look.

Also, if you like this story or any of my other stories, please consider supporting me on SUB SCRIBE STAR dot ADULT slash KajaWilder. I can only continue my current (or faster) pace of updates if I can pay my bills. I'm not there yet, but I'm definitely getting closer. If you think about how much enjoyment you get out of a movie- about two hours worth of fun- for $10-20- you are getting far greater value by supporting a writer like myself. If even one in twenty people that read this supported me on Sub Star at any level, I would be able to easily continue focusing on writing more... and you could read more. I'm going to keep writing anyway. But the pace would be and will be a lot faster if you can spare a few dollars monthly. My lowest tier isn't even a small drink at a theater, any more. Is it worth it? Is it worth it to you? If so, then please support me.
Of course, you can ALSO find more of the same stories there. I post everything on this site at least a week after it's posted on SubStar, so if you want more and don't want to wait, well... there you go.
That's enough out of me, though. Enjoy!

Chapter 23

Pewter Gym's a what now?

The foot scraped along Alex's left shoulder, tearing skin, fat, and even a little muscle away as it ripped through him. He was just inhaling a breath to scream in sudden pain and surprise when the foot hit the ground directly between he and Elle. The force of it sent both of them to the ground, the hard bedrock of the semi-abandoned mine shattering and breaking from the blow. "Mother fucker," Alex roared, instinct alone bringing his uninjured right arm up to protect his eyes from shrapnel, while his hand slapped against the mangled shoulder painfully in a futile attempt to shield that, too.

"Ah! Alex! What the fuck is that thing?!"

He scrambled away as best he could, half-rolling to his knees and then sprinting a dozen or more feet to the right before he spun.

Elle had mirrored his movement in the other direction, only more easily since the rocky appendage had missed her completely. She was staring upward, following the limb that had nearly stomped him flat.

It wasn't rock, as he had first thought. Instead, it almost looked metallic, a nearly uniform blue-green the color of aged copper or bronze. The foot itself was very basic in shape, little more than an angled, cut-off wedge that their Pokémon surrounded, just as aghast as their Trainers. Above that, two, no, three rings of burnished bronze formed some shape between an ankle and a boot's top half. Thick calves, crudely carved and angular, narrowed to knees too thin to support the structure above on looks alone, with thighs a little narrower than the calf section. Then a strange, skirt-like section covered the massive thing's genitalia, even from relatively close thankfully. It's torso resembled nothing so much as a sphere of bronze, with a huge crack diagonally across the chest that oozed liquid golden light, and seemed to be held together or repaired by a riveted patch of the same sort of newer bronze. Both shoulders were spiked with a dull protrusion as thick as Alex's head at the base, and a squared spiral symbol on the front of each block-shaped joint shone with the same golden light. The upper arms were narrow, like its knees, but widened quickly to lower arms thicker even than the thing's feet and legs were. Two more rings capped the wrists, while the back of its five-fingered hands had another plate with the same golden spiral. The fingers alone were as thick as Elle's arms. The head on the creature almost looked like an ancient warrior's helmet, with another spike jutting forward from the front, and two angular shapes that must have been meant to resemble eyes shone gold as well. The head was almost comically small, but as it looked down at them, at him in particular, the creature spoke.

"Intruder detected. Protocol: Defense. Mission Parameter: Destroy Intruders. Designate: Intruder One."
Then it turned the little head to stare at Elle, instead. "Designate: Intruder Two. Commence Destruc- Holding."

"Uh... A- Alex...? I don't think that's meant to be here..."

Before he could respond to his partner's worried comment, a smooth, rich voice called out from the opposite end of the cavern, where a dark-skinned, tall man was stepping out from behind a rock pillar, a Pokégear much like their own in his hand. "Oh, he is definitely 'meant to be here.' You, on the other hand, are just as definitely not. Sorry about this... my employers don't want anyone getting wind of what we're doing down here. I'm afraid I'll have to make sure you stay silent."

"Stay silent?" Alex growled, taking a few more wary steps away from the giant creature, which had gone still as the man appeared. "I don't even know who you are- or what that thing is! How could I tell anyone about it?"

"Oh... you'd be surprised," the man said with a shrug and a confident grin. "I'm Morley Vaan, however. I know you... Alex Ward, Elle Berkman. It's not a coincidence that you're here, though, is it? You came looking. I know your type."

"It is," Elle protested, "We just came to get some experience before we tackled the Gym! The tour is open, so we just came to practice here!"

"Hmph," the man snorted derisively, then looked down at his 'gear. "Well, I haven't got much time, but I do have some, and the bosses are interested in seeing what you can do. You two in particular, actually..."

"Speaking of us in particular," Alex said, his voice as flat as he could make it through the pain, "How do you know our names?"

Vaan rolled his eyes, "We do our research, that's how. All the interesting Trainers get checked in on. You two happened to make the list. Simple as that."

"That's a non-answer if I've ever heard one," Elle grumbled, "Come on- why us? What makes us 'interesting'?"

"Prime candidates for recruitment, for one," Vaan replied coolly, giving her a glance, "though more him than you. Don't get me wrong, you're talented, our scouts are sure on that one. He's just better. Bit of a moral high-grounder for us, though. You're better suited in that respect- we like your... outside-the-box thinking. But I'm not here to recruit you. Not yet, anyway. I'm not even here to scout you. I'm not here for you at all, I just remembered your names from my mission briefing."

"Mission...? What mission briefing? What mission?"

Vaan looked back to Alex and gave a one-armed shrug, "None of your business, sorry. I'm not some cartoon villain who spouts their secrets to anyone who asks, or a mastermind that has to reveal my cunning plan to the hero. For that matter, you aren't heroes, either. You're Trainers. Good ones, horny ones, but still just Trainers like any other. Good, bad, evil, justice, crime, those are concepts of society. What matters is what you can do, and what you can't. What you will, and what you won't. You can try and stop me. You can't succeed. I know you will try, but I know you won't succeed. I have you seriously outgunned, and am just a better Trainer than you, too. For now, at least."

"Fuck that," Alex shouted, removing the arm from his bleeding shoulder to slash the air in front of him angrily, "We've got you outnumbered, in case you hadn't noticed, and neither of us are slouches. And what do you mean 'for now'?"

"Simply put," Vaan sighed, as if explaining it was just not worth the effort, like he was a child who needed everything spelled out, "you might be better than me in a few months. Years. A decade. I'm getting closer and closer to a desk job- a job I'm sure I'll hate, for the record- and that'll probably make me soft, while you've got a good few years of getting stronger ahead of you. But for now, you aren't. Simple as that. Look, we're wasting time and I haven't got a lot, like I said. So let's cut to the chase. I'm not telling you what the mission is. You can try and force it out of me, but you won't succeed. And I know you won't, because even two on one I'm a match for you right now. I might only need one Pokémon, in fact. I mean, he did almost take you both out in the first hit... Right, Golurk?"

"Response: Affirmative."

"Ah, on that note... Resume."
"Resuming Destruction."

Elle's eyes widened at the same time Alex's did, and both jumped away. The huge creature- a Pokémon of some sort, Alex guessed, given the black and white Pokéball Vaan now held in his free hand, though the man's attention had gone back to the holo-screen of his Pokégear.

His jump came just in time. Somehow, even though he was twenty or more feet away now and the Golurk was fifteen or more feet tall and just over that in armspan he guessed, the bronzed fist smashed into the ground where he had been standing, then vanished- or half vanished. It seemed to jet out powered by a flare of the same golden light that spilled from inside the creature, but then the fist became insubstantial, almost translucent, ghost-like, before it retracted back onto the thing's arm. "Shadow Punch: Miss. Second Attempt."

"Fucking hell," Alex shouted as the creature tried again. He threw himself into a sideways roll, bouncing painfully- especially on his bloody shoulder- on the granite surface of the cavern.

Again, the fist barely missed him, but as it retracted, Alex's flailing leg passed through the intangible arm, and he shuddered.

Cold, unimaginable, unattainable cold, the cold of the very grave he imagined, ripped through him and numbed his entire leg from the mid-thigh down. "Fuck- Elle, don't touch it even when it's ghost-y! F-F- Fucking cold!"

"Shadow Punch: Miss. Commencing- New Targets registered. Designation: Nidoran. Designation: Ghastly. Warning: Type Weakness to Ghastly. Priority Target: Ghastly."

"L- Loki? He's talking about Loki- get out of there! Dodge whatever it's-"

Too late. In the shadowed recesses of the ceiling, where Loki had been hiding since the attack had begun, the rocket-launched left arm smashed into the stone. There was a puff of smoke and purple gas, a few seconds before the Pokéball at the front of Elle's team beeped, then booped to signify its new contents were unconscious.

Perhaps worse.

"L- Loki..."

"Elle, move! No time for moping- it's a Ghost-Type! Morpheus might be your best bet, but he's going to go down fast too!"

"I know my Types, Alex," she yelled back as she took her own turn to dodge a Shadow Punch aimed in her direction. "Morpheus, your turn! Hit that monster with a Confusion, then try Hypnosis!"

"Ah, hah... so predictable. You really should lead with the status effects, girl, they're your strong suite," Vaan mused with a chuckle, not looking up from his screen. "You'll just let your Drowzee get hammered going for the blaster moves. An alpha Golurk isn't going to drop that easy, after all."

"A- Alpha? What does that mean?" she shouted, then cheered as Morpheus caused the air around the Golurk's tiny head to shimmer, and it reeled backward, both arms pinwheeling as it fought to keep its balance against an imaginary push.

"It's stronger than other Golurk, in simple terms. A pack leader, if you will. It's rather a misnomer in some ways, but the term's stuck, sadly. Anyway, the point is, he's larger, stronger, smarter, and faster than other Golurk. Which is why he shouldn't have a problem decimating your team. Teams, probably. Golurk, why don't you take them all out at once? I know they're frustrating you."

"Command acknowledged. Tactic switch. Rock Slide."

Alex's Nidoran, Cock, jumped away but still caught five or six blows from the wave of stone the two rocket-fists sent crashing down from the ceiling above, and Morpheus got clocked on the head, too. It seemed to shrug it off for the most part, but Cock wasn't so lucky.

"Damn it, buddy," Alex grunted as he skidded to a halt on his knees, a Potion spray-bottle in his hand. "Hold on- I didn't expect a Ground-Type move from a Ghost Pokémon. Shit..."

"It's Dual-Type," Elle cried, her own 'Gear aimed at the giant Pokémon, which was just recovering from its two-handed attack. "Both Ghost and Ground! I can't read what moves it has, but it's both types- we should be ready for anything, really!"

"Ground, though," Alex muttered, "I can do something about that- we both can. "Shooter, Sappy, I know you're both tired, but I need your help!"

Both Pokémon appeared together, and sighted their foe quickly. Shooter was the more beaten of the two, the Remoraid literally had a bandage around most of its front half, but Sappy was more exhausted from earlier fights. "I know you two are worn out, but just- do what you can while I get Cock back on his feet, okay? Mega Drain, Water Gun, Psybeam, any of those should do well. Just hit him hard and fast! Keep moving!"

The Remoraid wasn't exactly mobile, but in a display Alex thought he might have to work years to see, Sappy actually picked up a Pokémon that might have been prey on a normal day in her leaf-arms, and sprinted on her tiny little sprout-feet to his left, angling the fish Pokémon toward their target as best she could.

Meanwhile, Elle was doing similar work with Squirt, but Gobbler was even more exhausted than Sappy, and she didn't pull the Bellsprout out. Instead, she held Nike, her Pidgey, aloft and tossed him into the air with the Horsea held sideways in his talons. The little blue creature whined as it went airborne, but it dutifully started raining down high pressure streams with Water Gun as Nike started swooping and diving in a crude form of strafing.

"Enemy attack determined. Initializing Iron Defense."

The Golurk's huge arms crossed in front of its torso in an X, and a strange, barely-visible field of energy appeared in front of it, as if a hexagon-shaped forcefield had been conjured. It was imperfect, attacks still got through it, but their momentum was slowed somehow, lessening the impact of each.

"Damn it, that's going to make things harder," Alex grunted, then louder, "Keep up the attack- I know you're all tired, but we need to finish that thing off!"

"Defense engaged. Resuming attack. Rock Slide."

Again, two more blasts hit the ceiling, sending more granite and even a few chunks of ore raining down onto the cavern floor, which was already becoming choked with debris and boulder-sized stones. One rock hit Elle's arm, sending a high-pitched snap through the air, followed by a shriek of pain.

When Alex had time to look, her wrist was definitely at an odd angle as she clutched it to her petite chest, face red as she grimaced in agony. "Squirt, blast that fucker in the face! Blind him! Morpheus, keep using Confusion- no more time for Hypnosis!"

Further away now, Alex felt a little safer from falling rocks as the slide petered off, so he took a moment to glance at his own Pokégear. The enemy Golurk was only about half-way down according to the abstract health bar that it displayed.

Cock, back up after his Potion had done its work, dashed back in, zig-zagging forward. He watched as the Nidoran leaped up, almost rabbit-like, into the air and somersaulted forward into a tumble. Two feet came down, lightning-fast, as Cock started a Double Kick.

Only to fail completely as the Golurk became insubstantial, and his Pokémon flew completely through it to collapse bonelessly against the rock wall near the cavern entrance. He struggled to his feet, and shook his head, clearly dazed.

"Fuck- Ghost-Type, immune to Fighting and Normal- shit, Cock, come back! It's not safe for you here- I'll have to use Lingus!"

"Alex, no, she'll-"

"Normal's also immune to Ghost, so at least those Rocket Punches or whatever they are shouldn't hurt her! And she still knows Lick!"

Elle froze mid-dash for a half a moment, then laughed, "You're right, I forgot she had that- der! Just don't bring out the Fire-Types, they'll get smashed!"

"I know my Types too, you know!"

"Idiots," Vaan murmured quietly, then looked up. "Well, it's been fun, but I really do need to be going. Finish them off, Golurk. Time for a Stomping Tantrum."

Again, the Ghost-Ground Type spoke in its strange, robotic voice, "Command acknowledged. Stomping Tantrum."

In an eerie echo of the creature's opening attack, a ghostly image of the rock-like foot appeared, then another, and another, all around the Golurk until there were a dozen or more, all six or seven feet in the air. All at once, they pounded down, smashing stone and rubble and Pokémon alike.
One caught Alex in the other shoulder, and drove him to the ground. It hurt, very much, but it did not have the sheer force and ripping strength of the clipping blow from the real foot. Elle got hit too, but even she only winced a bit. Nike and Squirt, high in the air, weren't struck at all, but each of the other Pokémon on the field took at least one stomp. Morpheus stuck it out like a champ, reminding Alex that his line had long been known as some of the sturdiest of Psychics, though he was looking a bit rough too now.

Poor Shooter was knocked clean off Sappy, and as the already-weakened Grass-Type went rolling across the floor, Alex returned both to their balls. Sappy was just too tired to keep fighting, and he knew even just a weak attack might take his Remoraid out for good.

With the Fire-Types being at too great a disadvantage against Ground, he wasn't left with many options. Larvitar had the same problem, being Rock-Types, so he couldn't send out Spike, either.

But Lingus was a tough little ball of blubber.

Her tongue lashed out like a whip, cracking across the front of the Golurk at supersonic speeds, and it recoiled. Not much, but enough Alex was at least sure he felt the Lickitung's attack. "That's it, Lingus- try using Acid! See if you can lower its defense, too!"

"Ling-itung!"

He had to hope that was acceptance, because Alex was forced to dodge as another series of ghostly feet appeared. This time, most of them knew what was coming and got out of the way.

Even the slow-moving Morpheus dodged the attacks coming after him. Lingus alone ignored them, and was rewarded for her stoicism by taking several attacks on her noggin, her thick thighs, and even her tongue in a couple of places. Those, more than anything, seemed to bother the pink Pokémon, but she fought on, interspersing her acidic spit with more Licks.

"Squirt's dryed up, Alex- I need to pull him back!"

"Do it," he grunted as loud as he could, "We- we can finish it off! It's health is almost gone!"

Again, this time without command, the arms came up to form the Steel-type shield around the Golurk, but just then, a powerful blast from the damaged, and furious, Drowzee sent it reeling.

The Golurk staggered, turned, and threw a wild haymaker of a punch into the wall behind it.

The stone shattered, sending a spray of rock into the ramp leading upward, but not enough to block the tunnel.

A moment later, another wave of Psychic energy rippled through the air. This time, it struck the Golurk's back, and it tumbled forward onto one skinny knee.

"Lick again- wait, no, use Wrap! Tie that fucker up!"

Of course, that didn't work, the Lickitung's long tongue, not encased by whatever Ghost energy made Lick that Type of a move, passed through the Golurk without issue. "Tch, fine, Lick it again- just bring that fucker down!"

The final blow, as the confused and dazed Golurk struggled to its feet, went to Nike. The Pidgey somehow conjured a dozen razor-sharp talons around itself, which flew at the Golurk. They were tiny in comparison to the creature, but somehow they ripped and shredded at its metallic or ghostly flesh. Alex had the feeling the damage was not great, but somehow it was still enough.

He could tell, because as soon as the attack finished, the Golurk vanished into gray light which streamed back into not the black and white ball Vaan had been holding before, but a green one with a net-like shape in black around it. "Interesting. Well, you've passed one test. I look forward to seeing what you can accomplish. My work's done. Well done for distracting them so successfully, Golurk. I'll make sure you get an extra reward later. Ta-ta, Mr. Ward, Miss Berkman."

"Wait," Alex shouted, then winced as the arm he had gestured with pulled at the bloody mess of his shoulder, "We aren't finished with you!"

"Oh, I think you are. Or rather, I'm finished with you. See these?"
Vaan quickly tossed out three regular Pokéballs, and a Totodile, Cyndaquil, and Chikorita- all from the almost-legendary Generation Two- appeared. "These are Starter Pokémon. And they're each strong enough to wipe out the Pokémon you have left. The three of them together could take out my Golurk. Ask yourself, Mr. Ward: What have you got left? A couple more Pokémon? I'll admit they're mysteries. I know you have a Larvitar, but we haven't got a report on your respective sixth team members yet. But that's fine. I still have my trump."

Vaan patted the black and white ball, "And this one can handle my whole team by himself. Again, ask yourself: Can you really stop me? I've enjoyed our little game. I truly have. That's why I'm going to let you go: I want to see what you can do, both of you. Honestly, you handled yourselves admirably against Golurk. Ah... one thing, though. I noticed earlier- security footage, before you ask, Miss Berkman- you are planning for a Rock-Type Gym. Well, I feel it's only fair I should warn you. Pewter City hasn't had a Rock-Type Gym since old Brock Jr. died, a hundred or so years ago. Steel replaced it."

"S- Steel?" Elle gasped, "But that's-"

"A Type good against Rock, yes," Vaan rolled his eyes condescendingly as he started walking for the entrance, apparently uncaring that he was trapped between them if they dared attack.

Not that they were, Alex knew he was right. Each of his Starters- just three of the six Pokémon the man carried- were Battle Rank thirty. He really would crush them if he was trying.

"The important part is that Brock Harrison's grand-daughter took over ages ago, and when she married the Harrison dynasty as Pewter's Gym Leaders died with her. Well, sort of. Their descendants are still running the place now, but it's quite a lot different. The Steelworks, they call it. Woman by the name of Brigid Stirling runs the place. They call her Rock-Crusher- an apropos name."

"Steel," Elle whispered again.

Alex understood why. If they had spent all this time planning for a Rock Gym, they had wasted whole days. Steel required an entirely different move-set, and Type! They did have some advantages since both had a Fire-Type, but would that be enough?

"Of course, if you find that too tough a challenge, you can always go for the other Gym. It's only opened up in the last few months, but it's quite popular with newcomers from what I understand. Hmm, where was it... ah, yes, up at the top of Mt. Fennel. Ah... Airy? No, Aerie, that's the name. I suppose I'll leave you to guess it's Type."

Then Morley Vaan walked away, whistling a little off-key, a confident spring in his step as he tossed the mysterious black and white Pokéball in the air, catching it in his hand.

A minute later, he was gone, and Alex started limping, his leg still tingling and numb, toward Elle.

His arm would need looking at, and her wrist was definitely broken. Fuck.

This game was too realistic.

"We should go," he said quietly, "before our Pokémon get any more messed up."

Elle nodded numbly, but turned away from the entrance to the huge cavern. He followed her, confused, until she stepped up to the pillar Vaan had appeared from behind.

There was nothing there.

A simple stool, still warm in fact, and a half-empty paper cup full of water.

"He lied," she said numbly. "He was waiting for us. There wasn't a mysterious plan or mission- he was here for us."

"Looks that way."

There wasn't anything else to say. All they had was questions, and not enough answers. Well, and pain. Plenty of that.

"What did he say the name of the new Gym was? Not the Steelworks."

Alex snorted, "Something ridiculous. The Aerie. My guess it's it's Flying-Type."

Elle actually stopped.

"Pewter City's newest Gym is what Type?"

A/N: A final note before you click away.

DON'T go to The Patron Site if you can help it. I am still posting there, but they are HEAVILY censoring my content (especially this story). If you want the full experience, either be patient, or, to support me and get things sooner, go to Sub scribe Star DOT Adult SLASH KajaWilder.