NSO Chapter 18
I don't own Pokemon.
It was Sunday. Zenith had woken up at 4 a.m. and sneaked out of Cleo's room through the window to get his toothbrush from his house. To prevent waking anyone up unnecessarily, he decided to re-enter the house of the Torrents back through the window as before. He was halfway done in reopening the window from the outside when a cloud moved, uncovering the moon that had been hidden behind it. A beam of moonlight shone brightly into Cleo's room, lighting it up and revealing the Vaporeon sitting on her bed, no longer fast asleep. She was staring at the window as she observed the Umbreon that was opening it, an amused expression on her face. Zenith jumped, almost falling off the ledge he was standing on in surprise. He jerked his head at Cleo, showing her the toothbrush that was clamped firmly between his jaws. Opening the rest of the window, he leapt deftly into the room, waiting for Cleo's reaction to his actions.
"You could have used the front door, you know?" Cleo had a smirk on her face as Zenith shook his fur like a waterlogged dog, sending up a cloud of dust that he collected during his early morning run. They hung in the air, visible in the glow of the moon, before a light breeze blew through the house, sending the tiny particles out the window.
"Alright, I was dumb."
Dumber than usual, apparently. You do know about my time powers, right?
Don't rub it in.
"Anyways, I'm just gonna go brush my teeth now." As Zenith left the room, Cleo curled back up into a ball and fell back asleep almost immediately, relishing the comfort of her bed. It was only 4:30 in the morning. Who wakes up so early on weekends, anyway?
Apparently, Zenith does. With sparkling white teeth and minty fresh breath, the Umbreon left Cleo a note, before setting off for a walk among the neighbourhood. He considered using the door like Cleo had advised him to, but still chose to exit through the window in the end. The oak door was too heavy to open quietly, and the way its hinges creaked would definitely wake someone up.
Zenith's rings and bands cast a faint blue glow around him in the faint darkness of dawn. Even though the sun was slowly rising, it was still quite dark outside, and the Umbreon's natural light and night vision helped him to see. He set off at a steady pace, jogging towards his school.
With that video's popularity, there's bound to be someone who's looking for me there, good or bad.
Most likely bad. I mean, that's all you ever run into.
Dialga's guess was spot on, much to Zenith's dismay. As the Umbreon neared the familiar building, his large ears could pick up faint voices coming from a nearby bush, trimmed and pruned exquisitely into the shape of a Kingdra.
"Okay, remember the plan. When he walks past, throw this at him."
"You already told me the plan! More than once! Why do we even have to wait here so early in the morning?"
There was a loud sigh before the other speaker continued.
"So we can get him before others do! You know, the early Pidgey catches the Wurmple and all that." Zenith decided that it was time to show himself. The two Pokemon were so busy arguing with one another that Zenith had to shout to get their attention.
"Hey!"
The bush immediately fell silent. There was rustling as the Pokemon hiding behind it moved about, but the foliage provided so much coverage that it was unable to make out who the Pokemon were.
Suddenly, a canister flew out from the bush. It was poorly thrown, even by normal standards, since the assailant was throwing through a thick wall of branches and leaves. Zenith easily sidestepped the attack, and the glass canister cracked as soon as it hit the ground, releasing purple, pungent ooze that caused the tar of the road to bubble as soon as it made contact.
Poison. No other types can pick it up, protection or not.
So… one of the Pokemon must be a Poison-type!
Nice deduction, Captain Obvious.
Hey, just pointing things out. Speaking of which, duck.
Zenith instinctively dropped to the ground upon Dialga's advice, and felt a sudden blast of heat warm his back as a stream of fire shot over his head in the form of a Flamethrower.
Thanks.
Come on, get your head in the game. You're getting sloppy.
Zenith rolled to the side as the Flamethrower was directed downwards, trying to track his position to incinerate him to ashes. Staying out of its range, the Umbreon juked left and right, trying to see if what he predicted could come true.
Never use a fire-based attack around anything that catches fire easily. Especially when the flammable object is the thing that you're hiding in. As he predicted, it didn't take long for a stray spark from the Flamethrower to jump onto the shrubbery, the Kingdra bush going up in flames almost immediately.. The Flamethrower stopped abruptly, and as the cold dawn air swallowed up the heat, the two Pokemon quickly leapt out of the burning bush, stamping on it to put out the fire. Now that they were out in the open, Zenith could identify their species. They were a Trubbish and a Grimer, and despite them being pre-evolutions, they still looked pretty old, around their mid-30s, and also pretty high level.
Zenith waited until the flaming Kingdra was a pile of glowing cinders before speaking.
"Well, look at this. A Trubbish and Grimer, working together to bring me down. You guys must be really desperate, huh? Also, if I may ask, why is your poison in a bottle?"
The Trubbish was the first one to speak. He had a snobby accent, and the superior tone he had ground against Zenith's ears. "We are united by one goal: to eliminate you. Shinies are the scum of the Earth, different from the equals Arceus created us to be. And this allows us to set our differences aside in order to purge your kind from the face of the Earth. Also, we store our poison in canisters for better accuracy. We're aiming at you, not trying to destroy everything around us. We're not monsters."
Zenith surveyed his surroundings. "Not trying to destroy everything, huh? Doing a great job." The Grimer started to speak as well, but Zenith held up a Dark Pulse in his paw, cutting him off.
"Can't we all just talk about this? I mean, I sense many flaws in your plan. I, for one, will be more than happy to point them ou-whoah!"
Zenith hit the ground once more as a Sludge Bomb was lobbed at him, forcing him to duck. He groaned inwardly. These guys didn't seem like they wanted to talk things out.
Okay, for the record, I DID try a peaceful solution.
I'm sure they'll take note of that.
"Last warning."
The two Poison-type were still advancing towards him, a canister in each hand. Picking himself off the ground, Zenith faced the two Poison-type Pokemon. "Well then. One more thing for you guys to take note of before we fight. Your reason for killing off shinies is trash. But then again, you guys are literally piles of trash, so I shouldn't have expected better." Zenith's eyes narrowed into thin black slits, preparing himself for the inevitable fight as the two Pokemon before him did the same.
"Okay then. You guys asked for it. Let's get this over with."
Zenith threw his Dark Pulse towards the feet of his opponent and leapt upwards. Just in time, too. A canister sailed below him, bursting into a giant purple mess, which quickly congealed and solidified on the road. Zenith landed a good distance away just as his attack hit his targets. The explosion flung the two Pokemon backwards, causing them to land face flat on the cold, hard tarmac.
The Umbreon gave his opponents no time to recover. His eyes glowed a bright purple, a light blue glow mixing with his blood-red pupils. His rings glowed brighter, enveloping his entire body in the same bright blue glow. Two giant crescent blades appeared into existence on each side of the Umbreon. The blades were a faint blue colour as well and were translucent. The Poison-types cowered in fear, recognising the attack that bore down on them. The Grimer lobbed a Sludge Bomb at the Dark-type, trying to break his concentration, but Zenith barely flinched as it detonated at his feet, covering him ear-to-paw in the sludge. If anything, the blades seemed to grow even larger, and they started to thicken.
"Tell all your friends, 'Shiny' haters or not, to stay far away from this area. If not, well..." A sinister smile formed on Zenith's face, the weak sunlight of the dawning sun casting shadows upon his features, making him look even more intimidating than before. "This will happen to them." And with that sentence, he unleashed his Psychic attack at the Sludge and Trash Bag Pokemon.
The powerful telekinetic blades slammed through the bodies of the two Pokemon, the impact sending them flying high into the air, before landing on the ground with a 'thump'. When Zenith went over to inspect their state, he realised that they had fainted, swirls replacing their eyes.
Zenith sighed in relief. Even with two Pokemon, that fight wasn't as intense as his previous fights. He tried to wipe his forehead, then realised that he was still covered in sludge. He hadn't felt it when the Sludge Bomb exploded at his feet. But if he had, he would have lost his focus, draining a huge amount of mental energy on an attack that wouldn't even hit his opponents.
Maybe this partially pain proof thing isn't so bad after all. But on the other paw, I have to clean myself up.
As Zenith looked around for something to wipe off the sludge, he saw a yellow head peek out from behind a house. It had two long antennae, with large green compound eyes. Before Zenith could take a closer look, it squeaked in surprise at being noticed and ducked back behind the house. When Zenith went to investigate, the Pokemon was already gone.
Oh well. I guess I'd better get back to Cleo. I think that sludge's starting to harden. I can feel it sticking to my fur!
Think on the bright side! The effect of the poison are weakening now that the sludge's hardening,, so only a bit of it managed to eat into your flesh and fur!
That's nowhere near a bright side... wait. Did you say that the sludge ate into my flesh?
Yup! Better walk faster!
By the time Zenith had trudged to the doorstep of Cleo's house, most of the sludge had dried and hardened, except for the ones covering his moving limbs, which were still working their effects into his flesh. The other parts of his body, like his jaws, were immobilised.
Due to the sludge, Zenith couldn't lift his paw to ring the doorbell, so he rammed his face into it. It hardly hurt, and the shell of sludge around his muzzle started to crack. He couldn't hear the bell ring inside the house, but it must have, because a few moments later the main door opened to reveal a recently awoken Cleo.
"So." She surveyed Zenith's current state: covered from ear to toe in purple sludge, completely unable to move, now that the quick-drying sludge had hardened itself around his leg joints.
"You need my help?"