A general of the aforementioned dangerous terrorist group known as the Orakuru has arrived on the battlefeild. What will become of our trio? Welcome to chapter 4 of Pokemon Re:Dux, and the pre-final chapter of this mini-arc. I have a lot in store for the gang, so let's get this on!
2027 - Unova, Star City Plaza Detonation site
"Who are you!?" Kyu yelled, questioning the man on top of the pillar.
"You may call me Ascent." The man responded.
His voice was deep and mysterious, but at the same time oddly soothing.
Khan and Kion helped fend off another barrage of Dark and Rock-type attacks.
Where are they coming from!?" Kion exclaimed.
The man remained silent, and sat atop the Pilar, continuing to watch them.
Via looked down at the Braixen next to her and back to the man.
"Looks like we're gonna have to fight our way out!" Via shouted out to her friends. "Vye! Fire Blast!" Via ordered.
Vye nodded and jumped up, causing Via to stumble back a bit.
She opened her mouth and released a huge ball of fire into her stick, which exploded, illuminating the room.
The massive ball of flame began to fall onto the Orakuru grunts below.
The entire dark room was surrounded by Orakuru grunts, and they were encased in a barrier zone.
The burst of light caused the Orakuru grunts to notice Via across the hall and fire another barrage of attacks.
"Vye, Wild Charge!" Via ordered.
Vye surrounded herself with electrical force and jumped into the air to meet the attacks with brute force.
She rammed right through the threat and landed safely next to Via, completely unscathed.
Kion held the brim and lowered his cap to cover his eyes in annoyance.
"You've got to be kidding me." He groaned. "Let's take care of this quickly, Retsuko!" Kion yelled.
Retsuko looked back at Kion and nodded in agreement.
"Right!" He responded eagerly.
Kuu shot an arrow into the air and took flight, as Retsuko grabbed onto his back.
Kuu generated a total of 20 arrows with purple energy around them and swopped down toward a group of Orakuru grunts.
"Kuu! Multi-Spirit Shackle!" Retsuko shouted.
He ascended the second before they collided with the enemy, and allowed all twenty to scatter and damage the pokemon and their trainers, leaving all of them unconscious.
Kion and Khan joined in, and Khan began to swing his blade at the enemy pokemon, knocking them out as they charged in their direction.
Kion placed his hand on his hip as he watched Khan effortlessly defeat the pokemon in front of them.
"This is Pathetic. For something like this, these trainers are unreasonably weak." He thought.
A Unfezant swopped in from above them and prepared to attack Kion, but was shoved into a wall by Nagatae, leaving the bird unconscious.
"Don't forget about me!" Kyu shouted.
"Vye, use Fire Blast!" Via told her Braixen.
Vye jumped out into the bridge and breathed a kanji-shaped wall of fire at an opposing Metagross below.
"Brave Bird!" Retsuko shouted, as Kuu shifted its body into the silhouette of a bird and charged into the fire, carrying it into the Metagross ignoring its supposedly super effective damage. Kuu then tackled a group of pokemon and Trainers behind Kion and Khan.
"Water Shuriken!" Kyu commanded Kou, who used his trainer's arm as a board to leap into the air.
Retsuko and Kuu swooped on by the Greninja, and Retsuko grabbed onto Kou's arm, hoisting it farther into the air.
Kou created a massive blade of water that covered the entire room and compressed it until it exploded, creating a massive grenade-like attack that knocked out a majority of the Orakuru trainers and pokemon.
"Finish it! Grass Pledge!" Retsuko shouted to Kuu.
"Water Pledge!" Kion and Kyu both Added. "Nagatae, Wood Hammer!"
"Fire Pledge!" Via finished.
All three trainers' pokemon attacked at once, their abilities all combining into a supermassive attack. The mall surged with energy, and what felt like another explosion ran throughout the city.
When the dust settled, all the Orakuru grunts were unconscious and so were their pokemon.
Due to all three pledge attacks being used at once, the mall had turned into a sea of fire, that then developed into a burned-over swamp, with nature and mold slowly growing over the area.
Retsuko, Kion, and Kyu looked around at the complete massacre around them.
The man on the pillar looked around at all of his underlings who had been defeated near-effortlessly by the group.
He began to slowly clap, commemorating their victory in sarcasm.
Ascent eyed Kyu and Via, and his expression changed to a sour glare.
"This was to be expected." He said.
"And you?" Kyu asked as he focused his attention on the man on the pillar.
Ascent bounced off of the pillar, seemingly not moving at all, and landed right in front of him.
Kyu began to say something but was immediately launched into a wall by a massive blast of wind, along with Nagatae and Kou.
"Kyu!" Via and Retsuko yelled in worry.
Retsuko ran, trying to run over to his friend but was blocked by a bolt of lightning.
"Via, get away from him!" Kion ordered the girl, who was still right next to Ascent.
Via jumped to the left to escape his range.
"Vye, Wild Charge again!" She ordered.
Vye surrounded herself with electrical force and jumped into the air a second time.
She nearly made contact, but a Castform appeared out of nowhere and blocked the attack, millimeters away.
Vye readjusted herself and jumped away from the opposing pokemon.
Ascent looked at the three remaining trainers before him.
"This is the business of the Orakuru. I do not wish to harm anybody unnecessarily, but if you continue to fight us, then I will have no choice but to defend myself and our organization. As for your friend, I've only immobilized him for the time being. For safety precautions." He told the three of them.
Kion took a good look at Ascent and noticed that he had the Symbol of the Orakuru all over his coat and his suit.
"Judging by his coat and attitude, this guy has to be some sort of high-ranking person." Retsuko and Kion both thought.
Another electric attack was fired at Retsuko, and he held his arms in front of himself as a reflex and deflected most of the damage, leaving his already ruined sleeve singed.
Kion moved a few meters over to Retsuko's side.
"Let's attack him at once!" He told Retsuko and Via.
Kuu jumped in front of them, defensively taking a fighting stance.
"We're going to have to stall him until the proper authorities arrive," Kion said quietly.
Retsuko and Via nodded slightly.
Kuu took flight, as Retsuko grabbed onto his back again.
"Brave Bird!" Retsuko shouted, as Kuu shifted its body into the silhouette of a bird and rammed into the wind barrier that Ascent's Castform had put up, completely smashing it and making a direct hit on it.
The Castform erupted into a cloud of white smoke, as the pokemon Kuu had attacked was a clone of Castform using the double team attack.
Retsuko readjusted and jumped off of Kuu to regain his balance.
"Use Leaf Blade to stop him from reforming! " Retsuko ordered.
Kuu whipped around and made a slashing motion with two of his feathers.
The castform blasted Kuu and Retsuko away with another wind attack and Kuu created a storm of light green leaves to surround Ascent.
"Kion!" Retsuko yelled, tagging his friend into the battle.
"On it!" Kion replied.
Khan threw his Seamitar into the storm of leaves that Kuu created, and it gained momentum.
"You're trapped," Kion said, walking over to the wall of the storm.
Right as it dispersed, Khan used Water Pledge to create a pillar of water that created a circle around Ascent, and Kuu charged up a brave bird for a second time.
The seamitar spun back around and Khan caught it. He charged it with a burst of water and went in for a slash on Ascent's castform.
Once he'd reached the ceiling of the large room, Kuu stopped and began to descend into the eye of the storm of leaves and water.
Retsuko lifted the remains of his sleeve on his hoodie and raised his hand into the air, revealing Via's band of metal plates from before, with a greenish crystal on the biggest plate in the center; A crystal with an image on the top that resembled the head of a Decidueye.
He then struck three different poses, as greenish-blue energy surrounded He and Kuu. All of the energy moved over to Kuu and a total of 80 arrows with greenish-blue energy around them spawned above the trainer and his pokemon.
Kuu started to go faster and faster down, targeting Ascent and his Castform who sat calmly in the center of the storm, completely unaffected by the typhoon of Pokemon attacks swirling around them.
"Kuu! Sinister Arrow Raid!" Retsuko shouted.
Kuu flew straight into Ascent, but instead of doing any major damage, Ascent raised a single finger and stopped the force of the impact.
"What!?" Kion, Retsuko, and Via all said in confusion.
"Though Castform is normally a weak Pokemon, you've given me the prime environment to use the full capabilities of this wonderful pokemon," Ascent explained.
He held a crystal out of the inside pocket of his coat and seemingly crushed it, as white, red, blue, and brown energy enveloped his body.
"Stop him!" Via yelled, as Vye, the Floatzel, Kuu, and Khan all attacked Ascent at once.
"One Percent." Ascent said as he extended his hand in their direction.
They were immediately propelled backward by a bolt of lightning, and a thunderstorm had begun to form.
"He can control the weather?!" Retsuko exclaimed.
"That explains the different elemental attacks. Retsuko couldn't touch him even with my Z ring." Via mumbled to herself.
Ascent turned around again. "We feed on the energy of elements. Basic attacks that leave the residual fire, water, or ice type energy allow me to create storms and change forms just as a normal Castform."
Ascent raised his hand again and shot a blast of fire at Kuu, who was knocked into Retsuko.
"No, That's not just it! He seems to have fused with his Castform somehow!" Kion yelled out.
Kion was correct. Ascent had completely joined with his Castform. His hair was now white and had a whisp-like ahoge, resembling Castform's and his eyes had a half-formed star. He had Castform's eye instead of an iris, and His voice had an echo; A very powerful sound, that could send shivers down the spine of the most powerful trainer.
Kion backed up so that he was by Retsuko's side once again, as Khan joined him and Kuu.
"Retsuko… I'm giving you permission. We have to use it." He whispered.
Retsuko's eyes widened as he heard Kion's request.
He gulped.
"A-Are you sure?" He questioned, his voice shaking.
"This guy isn't a joke. Let's take care of this quickly, Retsuko!" Kion yelled.
Neptune quickly transformed into the form it donned during the pokemon league and drew his black and red sword in front of his upper body.
"Origin Forme!" Retsuko followed after them with Kuu, and the Arrow Quill Pokemon plucked two feathers out.
Two separate storms of arrow shaped leaves and black and red water surrounded the two pokemon and their trainers.
Retsuko ran forward as fast as he could, nearly tripping, and avoiding more weather attacks from Ascent as Kuu followed him behind on foot.
Retsuko swiped his hand forward and pointed at Ascension as Kuu jumped forward with an axe kick.
"Triple Arrows!" Retsuko shouted as Kuu finished it off by firing three arrows.
Khan jumped up and threw his seamitar at Ascent, who swatted it away and threw three more weatherballs at Kion.
Khan deflected them consecutively and Kuu whipped up another storm of arrow quills.
Khan jumped in again.
"Ceaseless Edge!" Kion ordered as Khan slashed Ascent in an X shape with both of his seamitars.
"A direct hit!" Via thought.
Ascent jumped back, assessing his wounds, before correcting himself as they healed instantly.
Kion stumbled back in shock.
"Not even origin forme is strong enough to beat him?!" He questioned in frustration.
"Vye use Sunny Day!" Via ordered her Flareon, as she dodged Ascent's water blast.
Vye jumped out into the bridge and breathed a ball of fire into the air, working as a substitute for the sun, and intensified the rays, attempting to negate the rain and thunderstorm that blocked them from getting any closer.
Kuu flew into the air and generated another leaf storm.
"That's a good idea, Vee!" Retsuko shouted.
Kuu launched the storm at the fusion, but it did not affect them.
Ascent snapped his fingers, and Vye's sunlight was completely enveloped by the storm.
"Sorry, But that's not going to work," He explained.
"That wasn't our plan!" Retsuko yelled, as he suddenly appeared from behind the Ascent, along with Kuu.
Retsuko and Kuu had expected Ascent's new storm to overpower Via's attack, and he'd had an idea just in case that would happen.
"Kuu, use Leaf Blade!" He ordered, as his avian friend slashed the area around Ascent.
A sort of invisible shield blocked the Kuu from making a direct hit, and in response to getting too close to them, Ascent pushed him back into the pillar from before.
"Hey!" Retsuko called out to Kuu but was forced into a pillar himself.
Kion, Via, and their pokemon were also pushed back again and this time, the rain changed to a bright sunny sky.
All of the trainers and the pokemon In the room were impaled by an invisible stream of energy.
Retsuko slightly moved his hand in anticipation of the attack, and Ascent froze.
"Did that boy see my burst stream?" He questioned.
All the trainers in the room were effortlessly defeated at the hands of this Pokemon-Human fusion.
Retsuko, Via, and Kion sat there bleeding and their Pokemon were all badly injured and unable to battle.
Kuu and Khan's origin forms dispersed and Ascent turned around and began to walk to the center of the room.
As he took his final step onto the middle floor, a shadow ball grazed his face.
Nagatae appeared in front of him and began to aggressively attack him with her claws, causing Ascent to dodge and weave around it.
In anger, he frantically looked in the direction where he had launched Kyu and found something completely different.
Kyu was now awake and staring Ascent right in the eye.
His eyes were red with black sclera and had white and unkempt hair and his teeth were sharper than they were either.
He made a devilish grin and then finally spoke.
"It's my turn."
Kyu was launched into his subconscious and was now facing another version of himself with red and black eyes.
He floated around aimlessly before seeing another version of himself inside of his mental bubble.
The impostor's clothing was partly different, as the second Kyu was wearing completely different clothing, and was visibly younger.
He wore a belt with stones on it and a checker pattern.
"Hey Kyu." The being said eagerly, its distorted voice causing the bubble that they were in to shake.
"Moé." Kyu blankly responded.
The alter smirked happily.
"You remember me." He said sarcastically.
"I don't need you. You're a mental representation of my anger. An alternate personality that takes over me when I get pushed too far. I know what you are now." Kyu said sternly.
"SO you finally figured it out. I'm guessing with some help from that friend of yours... Shino Akaba?" Moe replied.
Kyu remained silent.
"That bit about you not needing me was a bluff. Without me, you wouldn't have gotten over your loss in the Alola league. Without me, you also wouldn't have gotten as far as you did back in the Unova League." Moe added.
"BECAUSE OF YOU, I jeopardized the lives of everybody in the league stadium that day." Kyu deflected.
"That was YOUR buried anger," Moe replied carefreely.
"I'm not playing the blame game with you. If I let you take control again-" Kyu began.
"With me, you became stronger than you ever were." Moe interrupted.
"Sure. Because if you do take over. Then you go on a power trip and endanger everyone I love. He died because of you." Kyu retorted.
"I exist to punish anybody who ever crossed you."
"Including my friends? What about Gill-" Kyu asked.
"They crossed you. Multiple times. Nobody is safe from your rage. And your friend fell victim to it. Kiatsu. Was it?" Moe provokingly suggested.
"My style of battling infuses your anger into Nagatae." Moe explained.
"Use me." He pressed.
"No," Kyu replied.
"Face it Kyu, I'm the Demon Fox to your Naruto, The Sukuna to your Itadori. I'm the one that makes you powerful." Moe explained.
"Your power is a blessing, I'll give you that." Kyu gave in.
A hopeful and sickening grin crept onto Moé's face.
"But the only blessing you give me is a power that comes with a curse. You love to cause me and everyone I love pain." Kyu defended.
Moe's grin reverted to a scowl of disappointment.
"I am a curse. A curse that makes you strong. Besides, you didn't seem so worried about your little friends before you decided to waltz back into their lives."
"Come on Kyu... Accept me. Accept me. Accept me!" Moé aggressively repeated.
"Shut up." Kyu retorted
"It's not you that makes me strong." He scoffed.
Moé smiled.
"I function off of anger. Whenever you get pushed to the edge, lose any type of battle, or make me feel in ANY way that you need me, I'll take control over you. But if this mental constitution of you dies, you'll become me. I get the chance to take over. I'll give you access to all the power your anger gives you. You'll have complete access to the power, the complete rush you felt during the pokemon league."
Kyu's eyes widened, and Moé began to smile.
It was a confident but horrendous grin that exposed every single one of Moe's sharp and menacing teeth that made Kyu glare at Moé angrily.
"HOW DID YOU DO THIS?! ANSWER ME MOÉ-" Kyu engagingly yelled, but was gagged by an unknown force.
A gate appeared between them, and shadowy handcuffs appeared on Kyu's wrists.
Moe smiled as he confidently walked away from Kyu, basking in the sweet sounds of his alter struggling.
"This is a mental constitution Kyu. A Dream. You'll wake up in the lab like your experiment was a success, and be completely oblivious to what I've succumbed you to. Your time is limited." Moe said confidently.
He stopped walking for a second and turned over his head to Kyu, looking him in the eye.
His Black and Red eyes, and Kyu's white eyes met.
Moe's smile returned, as he walked back to Kyu and placed his hand on the other's shoulder.
"Like I always say... The two of us are the same. You just have yet to accept me."
2027 - Star City
Kyu opened his eyes and looked at Ascent, but this time, the one in control was Moé.
"So. You're the guy that handed Kyu's ass to him..." He said, as he steadily stood up.
Nagatae began to regain consciousness as well, but Kou remained inactive.
Ascent looked at him.
"I knocked you unconscious first to prevent this from happening, but now I have no choice. I must eliminate you." He said.
Moe began to slowly walk towards Ascent, knocking on his head repeatedly.
"You see, Now that you've defeated Kyu, you've given me the gracious opportunity to take over his body. Meaning I have to put an end to you. "
He grimaced evilly, as purple energy began to envelop him and Nagatae.
"The only thing that matters right now is deciding how we'll kick your ass!" Moé yelled as Nagatae charged towards Ascent.
She completed her transformation into the menacing, four-clawed, red, purple, and black creature that she had become during the 2025 Pokemon league and made a swiping attack at Ascent.
"No matter how strong you think you are... You're nothing compared to me." Ascent replied, moving his hand upwards and deflecting the attack.
"Castor Shield." He chanted, while a white ball of energy covered his body defensively.
Moé smiled again.
"Outta my way!" Moe shouted.
Nagatae effortlessly shattered the barrier with her claw and created a Shadow Ball in her palm. She forced it into Ascent's chest and pushed him back several meters.
Ascent looked back at Moé and Nagatae.
"It seems that you're more of a threat than I initially realized. I should have put an end to you earlier." Ascent concluded.
"I'm tired of these games. We have one goal, and you're obstructing our path to achieving it." They said.
They generated a sphere in their hand, and blue, red, brown, and white smaller balls began to spin around it.
"I'm not playing around anymore. Weather Ball!" Ascent yelled as he threw the ball of energy at Moe and Nagatae.
Nagatae jumped into the air and caught it with her claws, but the ball exploded, immediately freezing her.
She shattered the ice by vibrating her body and charged at Ascent for a second time.
"Castor Force!" Ascent chanted again, as he extended his hand forward.
"Wood Hammer! Meet him head-on!" Moé ordered, as Nagatae raised her claw and enlarged it again which shattered the ice.
Forest Green energy appeared around it in the shape of a hammer, and she brought it down onto Ascent, just as a huge wave of heat blew past her.
Ascent rushed forward and met him with his hand, blocking the attack personally.
Nagatae jumped backward and generated six different shadow balls above her head.
"Go," Moé ordered as she shot all six of the orbs right at Ascent.
Ascent began to walk forward, using their shield to walk right through the attacks.
"Play Rough!" Moé yelled.
Nagatae rushed forward in the blink of an eye a d clashed with Ascent's shield for a second time, but this time, she broke through and swiped their mask, leaving a noticeable crack.
Ascent jumped back as he was being relentlessly chased by Nagatae, as Nagatae smashed through pillars in an attempt to devour her prey.
Ascent let Nagatae get close, and impaled her with another storm of cold wind, throwing her into a pillar.
Nagatae recovered quickly and got on the offensive again, rushing forward with another set of attacks.
Ascent moved around quickly, dodging everything that Nagatae had thrown at them, and pushed them into another pillar.
Ascent then picked Nagatae up using the wind energy, freezing over the entire mall with a massive hailstorm.
They then changed up their strategy to using a bright wave of sunlight to immediately raise the temperature by a large quantity and then created a massive sandstorm to blind their opponents.
Moe covered his eyes to defend himself from the sand but hadn't expected Nagatae to be thrown at him.
He caught her mid-fall and jumped up to avoid getting frozen by the next hailstorm that Ascent created.
Moe landed safely with Nagatae, but due to the massive changes in their body temperatures, both of their bodies had instinctively shut down.
"Shit! The rapid temperature change can't be good for Kyu's heart!" Moé frantically thought.
Ascent placed their hand on the ground again and froze it completely with their hail ability.
Moé crouched there, helplessly knowing that there was no way he could parry or avoid the attack due to him being unable to move his body.
He allowed himself to be frozen for a second time.
Ascent's ice traveled across the room, fixing the damaged ruins. The pillars were being slowly restored by the ice, and Ascent walked over to the motionless Moé and Nagatae.
"I can't allow any casualties. You're the first Pokemon trainer to ever land a real hit on me. I congratulate you on that. But..."
Ascent delinked with his Castform, and the cloudlike Pokemon floated away from his trainer.
He gazed up at the main pillar in the center of the room, and Castform used Weather Ball to reveal a small opening under the fountain.
A box that had images of the Legendary Pokemon Solgaleo, Lunala, Reshiram, Zekrom, Groudon, Kyogre, Palkia, and Dialga standing/bowing down under Mew, the grandfather of all pokemon, and Arceus, god sat beneath a pedestal. It looked at least 500 years old, and the lock that kept it shut was a beautiful, carved image of Arceus's head.
The box on top of the pillar fell and Ascent reached to pick it up but was stopped again, this time by a small flash of what looked like water.
The box began to glow a bright white color and Retsuko suddenly got a collection of flashes in his mind of the same Pokemon he had seen in his dream, in a sequence of her reaching her hand out to him.
"Two years." Retsuko mumbled as he struggled to his feet.
"Ho?" Ascent questioned.
"Two years of loneliness. Two years of torture. Two years of crying myself to sleep. All of this pressure that I've had to bear alone for two years... AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT RIGHT AS THE PEOPLE I LOVE THE MOST COME BACK INTO MY LIFE, YOU'RE GONNA GO AND TAKE THEM AWAY?!" Retsuko screamed.
In a lake on the outskirts of Pinwheel Forest, the Pokemon from before sat in the center, sleeping on a similar rock from her childhood.
She began to see the same visions of Retsuko, who was reaching out to her and she did the same.
The two of them had no control over their bodies and they joined hand to paw as the Pokemon turned into a beam of pure orange and blue energy that shot all the way to star city and surrounded Retsuko in a circular formation and bonded to his body.
"AAAAAAAARRRRGG!" He screamed as he changed form.
A massive water vortex surrounded him and the energy that the pokemon had become, disguising their new form, and only showing a pair of glaring blue eyes.
Under his mask, The Ascent's eyes flickered in a way that they hadn't in two years.
Recognizing the sheer power the being in front of him radiated, the way the water swirled around him as a dancing Kirlia gave him hope.
How couldn't he have noticed?
There was only one conclusion for what the energy that Ascent was feeling was.
He smiled and set down the box in his hands.
"The Redux has officially begun."
Retsuko has just unleashed a hidden power equal to that of Ascension! And who is this mystery Pokemon that he fused with? All will be answered in chapter 5!