Outsiders (ZnT/Pokémon Reverse Summon)
Season 1, Episode 9, Chapter 6
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Louise could only watch in horror as the metallic orbs blocked her off from Saito. She desperately wanted to go help her friend, but the speed the orbs were moving at made that desire impossible. They were akin to a sea of sawblades, and she didn't want to think about what would happen to her should she attempt to cross it. Her thoughts drifted to Espirit and Maindo, thinking that maybe they could teleport her over, but even that wouldn't work. Maindo wasn't powerful enough to teleport a full-grown human with him, and neither could Espirit even when she was at full strength.
She was stuck, and there wasn't anything she could do about it.
"Hey!" Louise finally shouted towards the Flare Admin. "Leave my friend alone!"
"I would, had you two decided not to interfere," the Admin replied, his two Pokémon keeping Saito at bay. The boy was infuriated, his fists tightly clenched, but made no sudden movements lest the enemy Pokémon attack him. "But here we are. Two meddling kids in way over their heads. You made me do this."
Louise ground her teeth and glared daggers into the smirking Admin. She was about to send Aile over to assist, the Fletchling clearly wanting to, only for Saito to quickly glance at her from the corner of his eye. His hand was strapped to his side, his palm rotated towards her, and a quick thrust of his finger against it directed Louise's attention towards the roof. For a moment, she saw Maindo readying himself to catch the criminal off-guard, and another shake of his hand told her not to try and assist. She knew what he wanted her to do, and Louise wanted to argue, to protest that there was no way she would just leave him. But another look at the orbs separating them told her, once again, that she couldn't.
Reluctantly, Louise turned tail and ran down the corridor, intending to catch the fleeing Flare Grunt. Carnegie laughed and looked back at an infuriated Saito, and his grin grew wider.
"Look how she runs. Should have done that from the start. But if she thinks she can get out now, she's sorely mistaken." Carnegie let his threat hang in the air, and Saito's fury grew as did his Pokémon. Brennaraki, covering a still heavily burned Espirit, snarled and bared her fangs, but rather than feel intimidated, Carnegie merely laughed.
"What are you going to do?" he asked, throwing his arms wide. "In case you haven't noticed, my Pokémon are a lot stronger than yours, so please. For your sake, surrender now or prepare to fight."
Saito remained quiet, looking contemplative. For a moment, Carnegie allowed himself to believe the young boy was seriously considering his suggestion, only for Saito to instead smirk and chuckle.
"What's so funny?" he asked.
"Nothing, it's just… You think you're intimidating. It's cute," Saito responded and shook his head. From behind his goggles, Carnegie's eyes widened before he ground his teeth. He prepared to order his Pokémon to attack, only for Saito to cut him off.
"Now the last Flare Admin I dealt with, ho boy. He could do intimidating, and I didn't even meet the guy in-person. Just met his Lucario and Gallade and let me tell you; if a man can train two Pokémon to behave like they did, that is one seriously messed up dude."
"What are you—" Carnegie stopped as Saito's words fully registered. A Lucario and a Gallade belonging to a Flare Admin? There were many isolated cells across Kalos, each working under there own Admin and utilizing their own strategies, but only one had both a Lucario and a Gallade. "Maxwell… You two were at the daycare…"
"Yep," Saito confirmed, just as the Shadow Ball Maindo had been silently building was launched and hit right behind Carnegie and his team, creating a small explosion that sent him sprawling to the ground. Immediately, Brennaraki fired a Psybeam at the distracted Zebstrika while Ronin fired a Water Gun at the Rapidash. Tanuki, meanwhile, assaulted the electric horse with a Meteor Mash, slamming his metallic paw against the side of its head and snapping it back. Maindo focused his mind, trying to assault the quickly recovering Flare Admin, only to be surprised when his Psychic-type attack did absolutely nothing.
'Oh, that's Tauros-shit!' he cursed just as Rapidash noticed him and fired a Flamethrower attack towards him. Maindo teleported away from the flames, and when he reappeared he fired another Shadow Ball towards his attackers. Rapidash took the attack and charged forward in a Flame Charge, forcing the Ralts to back away quickly.
Carnegie watched this with a scowl on his face and turned to face Saito, only to find the boy throwing a sucker punch towards his face. Carnegie turned, allowing the attack to move past him, then grabbed the arm and pivoted. Saito was flung away, carried by his momentum towards the balls, but he was able to stop himself from running into them.
"Grr," Saito grunted as he turned to face Carnegie, his fists held in front of his body. Carnegie scowled at him, only to duck as Derflinger swung himself horizontally. A sickly blue glow encased his arm as he grabbed the Honedge's blade and threw him away, showing no signs of discomfort or pain. Saito watched with his eyes wide as the glow faded, seeing how it emanated from his chest, but whether the man was an Aura-user or something else entirely Saito couldn't say.
"Don't you see! You may have beaten Maxwell, but he's nothing compared to me!" Carnegie shouted, again throwing his arms to the side while stepping forward. Derflinger, floating by Saito's side, focused his eye on Carnegie's chest. He could sense that something was there, but he couldn't quite tell what exactly it was. Saito looked at the ancient Pokémon before looking back at Carnegie, cracking his neck as he stepped forward to meet his challenge.
"Let's prove that, shall we?"
Louise ran down the hall as fast as her legs could carry her. Her muscles were beginning to burn under the exhaustion, but she pressed herself forward in her attempt to catch up to the fleeing Flare Grunt.
"Why don't you quit?!" the Grunt demanded as she knocked over a podium, trying to block Louise's path. The noble, rather than be dissuaded, merely vaulted over it and continued her pursuit. She didn't deign the criminal with a response, merely glaring at the back of her head intensely. Louise then whipped out her wand and aimed at the girl as they neared the end of their hallway.
"Rock Smash!" Louise yelled, her spell hitting the wall right next to the Flare Grunt. To the criminal's surprise, the wall gave way and collapsed into rubble, causing her to lose her footing and fall onto her back. Looking back up at the advancing Louise, the Flare Grunt reached for her Pokéball, only for Aile to swoop down and snatch the ball away, hurting her wrist in the process. The criminal tried to crawl away, only to stop herself when Louise finally caught up and pointed her wand threateningly towards her.
"Don't. Move," Louise ordered. Knowing what exactly the stick could do, the Grunt raised her hands up, showing that she was unarmed. "Good. Now, I'm going ask you a few questions."
"Shoot," the Grunt replied, glaring at her from behind her glasses.
"How many of you are there? Why are trying to steal from the museum?"
"Fossils and Fossil Pokémon are rare commodities. They fetch quite the pretty penny. You're a smart, you figure out the rest."
"You didn't answer the first question." Louise punctuated her statement by pressing the tip of her wand at the Grunt's forehead. Taking a deep gulp, the Grunt continued.
"There's ten of us, not including our leadership and myself. There may not be a lot of us, but we more than make up for it." The grunt then smiled wickedly. "I imagine they're all gone by now, despite your best efforts. Heh, the way I see it, your little meddling failed specta—"
She was cut off by Louise violently socking the girl across the head, knocking her out. Aile, perched on glass display case, looked at her trainer with a tilted head as Louise tied the unconscious criminal to a pole.
"What?" Louise asked as she finished. "I sincerely doubt she would have told us anything else. Besides, we already know where they'd try to flee from. Come on, let's get to the cargo doors. If we're lucky, we might be able to cut them off."
Aile squawked in response, and the two then made their way through the dark corridors. They could see further evidence of Flare's theft as they passed by shattered display cases with missing fossils. Nothing else was stolen, telling Louise that the criminal was telling the truth. She couldn't afford to stay and gawk, however. Increasing her pace, Louise pressed on. When she neared the place where Saito and herself had first entered the building, she paused at the entrance to the garage to see that the trucks were, miraculously, still there.
"Oh, thank the Founder," she muttered, relieved that Team Flare hadn't yet escaped. Louise then perked her head up in bewilderment, wondering just why were still here. She doubted it was a case of 'honor among thieves', so their continued presence was most curious. It was then that she heard a faint, muffled sound emanating from the opposite side of the wall. She pressed her ear against the wall, trying to hear exactly what it was, and to her surprise she recognized the sounds of both yelling and battle.
It didn't take her long to realize why Team Flare would be battling; someone was here. Louise threw herself from the wall and tried to open the door, wanting to get out and help their apparent ally, only to find that the door was now locked. Part of her wanted to be dramatic and blow the door open, but she quickly shook that idea out of her head and simply unlocked it. She then threw the door open and ran outside, only to see the rest of Team Flare attacking a single young man and his six fully evolved Pokémon.
"Wait, Calem?!" Louise yelled out as she recognized her newest friend.
"Louise?!" Calem shouted back as he turned to face her, recognizing the noble instantly. "What are you doing here?!"
"I could ask you the same thing!" Louise responded just as the other criminals noticed her presence. Louise took a moment to study all of them. They were clearly injured, many of their Pokémon sporting wounds and deep bruises, their breath labored and heavy. Calem's, in contrast, was in much better shape. A few bruises here and there, but nothing to the other side's extent.
"Oh, Arceus' sake!" one of the Flare Grunts wailed. It was then that Louise noted that, for whatever reason, every single member of this flare cell was a woman. Whatever details that offered of the Flare Admin she didn't care to think about it, instead deciding to focus on the task at hand.
The criminal cell divided their attention on both Louise and Calem, with most focusing on Calem's six versus Louise's one. She was fine with that, and as she watched Calem's Pokémon charge forward to engage his horde, Louise began to order Aile to engage enemies of her own.
"Aile, use Tailwind and follow it up with Agility!" Louise ordered. Aile whipped up a Tailwind while her body shone with purple energy, allowing the diminutive Fletchling to vastly increase her speed. Louise could see that Calem's Pokémon were also experiencing a speed boost. A couple of Golbats and Hoothoots flew up to face her, but Louise promptly ordered Aile to send them down with a barrage of Razor Winds. Many of the enemy Pokémon fell back to the ground, their wounds preventing them from acting their full potential, but one the Golbats was able to stay aloft. The chiropteran, with its larger, leathery wings, flew up to face Aile head on. Its fangs glowed purple as they became imbued with poison and tried to bite down with its massive mouth – idly, Louise wondered where the mouth began and the body ended – but Aile was able to swerve around the Pokémon and strike its back with a Steel Wing. The heavy blow knocked her opponent back, but it quickly recovered and hovered around to face her.
Aile stared back at her opponent for but a moment before using Quick Attack to close the distance. Golbat turned its body sharply, causing Aile to speed past it to no effect, before firing barbs of Poison Sting at her. Most missed, but a few managed to hit their mark and embed themselves into Aile's feathers. Aile grunted at the pain but flew around to attack the Golbat once again. She fired yet another Razor Wind at the creature, who blocked most of them with its wings. The lack of wingbeats caused it to briefly descend, causing the Golbat to quickly flap its wings to stay aloft and leaving itself defenseless. Louise and Aile exploited its current defenseless state by using another Quick Attack, striking its face with Aile's beak. The blow sent Golbat flying back, tumbling through the air before finally stopping itself just before it would have struck a nearby power pole. Aile allowed herself to feel smug at the successful attack, only to suddenly feel a deep pain course through her boy. Her wingbeats faltered for but a moment, and she looked back to where the pain originated to find a few barbs poking out of her. Louise, although unable to accurately make out what exactly was sticking out of Aile, did recognize the symptoms of a Pokémon being poisoned.
"Aile, finish it off, quick!" Louise ordered, wanting to get her Pokémon to safety and administer an Antidote.
"Hey!" one of the Flare Grunts she was fighting against piped up, "My Golbat is not an 'it'! He's a majestic creature!"
"He's a flying mouth, that's what he is!"
"HOW DARE YOU?!"
As Louise continued to fight on the ground, Aile remained up in the air. Golbat smirked at the sight of Aile in pain, only for the Fletchling to reengage. Golbat flew as fast as he could to meet her head on, but just before they made contact, Aile swept herself up to fly above his back. Before could react, Aile used Peck as hard as she could on a certain point near his shoulder. As soon as she did, Golbat felt his wing go limp and found himself unable to move it. Surprised and feeling numb, he tried to keep himself aloft with only one wing, only to find it incredibly difficult to do so. Aile then stuck his face with a Wing Attack, sending him rolling back as she followed it up with a Razor Wind. Golbat tried to retaliate with another barrage of Poison Stings, but Aile used her superior speed and his newfound lack of mobility to easily dodge the attacks by flying downward. She then swopped up, having used gravity to further increase her speed, and slammed into Golbat as fast as she could. She then followed it up with an Aerial Ace, swiping her wing across Golbat's body repeatedly until he could only keep himself up. He plummeted to the ground and stuck the concrete with a dull thud. He tried to push himself up, only to collapse into unconsciousness soon after.
"Golbat, no!" Golbat's trainer wailed. She couldn't rush over to tend to him before the last of Flare's Pokémon were routed by Calem's. For a moment, Louise was surprised, only to figure that she was so focused on the battles she was having that she paid no attention to Calem's performance. The Team Flare Grunts, knowing that they were now hopelessly outmatched, grumbled and threw their hands in the air. Calem smiled and walked over to Louise, who herself was attending to an injured Aile.
"You good?" he asked as his Gogoat tied the criminals up with long, thick vines.
Louise nodded, "I'm good. Thanks for the help. Why were you here, anyway?"
"You first," he replied, and Louise sighed and shrugged.
"Saito and I saw an Absol, who led us here. When we saw the trucks and the unlocked backdoor—"
"Oh, you dumbasses!" several of the Flare Grunts suddenly yelled out to two of the Grunts. Louise recognized the two as the ones who she and Saito first ran into. The two of them looked a combination of sheepish and slightly afraid, but Calem shut them all up by having his Tauros freeze their mouths shut with a careful application of Ice Beam. They groaned through the block of ice, but otherwise did nothing.
"Continue," he started, but Louise shook her head.
"No, that's pretty much it. I decided to press forward, Saito followed me in, where we tried to hold Team Flare off before the police arrived. What about you? Why are you up so late?"
"Some guy living in the mountains ordered a pizza, and I had to take it to him. On my way back, I heard an explosion coming from here – which was you, I take it?" Louise nodded in affirmation, and Calem continued. "Saw these bozos trying to make a break for it, and we've been in a battle ever since. Speaking of which, Dodrio, pop these tires. Don't want to take any chances."
Dodrio did as instructed and want to pop the thick tires with her beaks, each puncture releasing a hiss of air. Louise watched as the semi-truck lowered to the ground as the tires deflated one by one, but she only allowed herself to relax once both trucks were fully immobilized.
"Well, glad that's—"
Calem's remarks were cut off when Dodrio was suddenly attacked by multiple rocks. Caught completely off guard, each super-effective attack rocked her body before she slammed into the trailer, denting it slightly. The attacks only stopped once Mudsdale threw himself in front of the blows, absorbing the attacks with his large body and allowing his comrade some much needed reprieve. Dodrio, meanwhile, slumped over and fell to the ground in a daze, and Calem shouted out her name while running over to her. Louise, meanwhile, twirled around in shock to where the attacks had come from. She saw that one of the garage bay doors was open, where the silhouettes of a woman and her large Pokémon were standing. The woman stepped forward first, revealing a short woman wearing a red shirt and black pants, her red hair tied into twin ponytails, with her eyes hidden behind dark orange sunglasses. What caused Louise to step back, however, was the Pokémon that stepped out after her. It was large, looking vaguely like a shrimp, and covered in blue-and-black plates. Louise pulled out her Pokédex and canned the creature.
"Armaldo, the Plate Pokémon, and the evolved form of Anorith. Armaldos thrived in—"
Louise's Pokédex was abruptly shut off when the Armaldo attempted to take advantage of Louise's distracted state by firing another Rock Blast towards her. The attack sent Louise and Calem diving for cover behind a trailer, the aluminum denting with a loud bang upon each impact. They only allowed themselves to look once the barrage ended, and they could see that the lieutenant was now joined by a familiar looking Grunt. Louise groaned in annoyance at her having been freed, but to her surprise Calem's face warped into one of absolute rage.
"Oh, you got to be shitting me…" the grunt complained as Calem's calm face warped into one filled with rage.
"Isabel…" he growled. "You drugged my Pokémon, you bitch!" Calem's curse was punctuated by his Pokémon roaring at her, but if the girl seemed scared she didn't show it.
"Wait, you know her?" Louise asked in surprise.
"Yes," Calem replied through a snarl. "She and I fought against each other in the Pokémon League years ago. Drugged my Pokémon to try and win."
"Oh, you gonna cry, little man? You wanna rematch, is that it?" Isabel stepped forward, almost as if she were serious, while reaching into her pocket and beginning to pull out what appeared to be a syringe, only for the lieutenant to snap her fingers and stop her in her tracks. In a complete one-eighty from her previous personality, Isabel seemed cowed and relented. "Yes, ma'am. At once."
Isabel then made her way towards her tied up comrades, pulling out a knife to cut them out of the vines that bound them. Louise and Calem moved to intercept, only for Armaldo to step in front of her defensively. The two sides stared at each other for a moment, sizing the other up, before Calem yelled and ordered his Pokémon to attack.
Dennis Nedry sat panicked in front of his monitors. Everything was not going to plan. In fact, it was rapidly turning into a complete disaster. Sure, that CZ woman had managed to get the captured Flare goons freed and currently kicking the two trainers outside's asses, but the fact that they were ever captured at all was the problem. None of this was supposed to happen. They were supposed to be in an out in the span of an hour. No one would have known they'd even been in until the following morning when the museum workers would find that all their precious fossils and priceless lab equipment were stolen right from under their noses. They wouldn't have known Nedry would have allowed this to happen, and so he'd feign the part of a horrified coworker while internally cackling with glee at having pulled one over that slave-driver Mr. Hammond.
Only, that's not what happened. They weren't even halfway done before those two meddling Pokémon trainers stumbled upon them. Why they were even up at this hour he didn't pretend to know, nor did he know exactly how they managed to even get inside. As best as he could guess, some idiot left the back door unlocked, but them getting as far as they did without anyone knowing was, unfortunately, his fault. He loathed to admit it, even to himself, but Nedry's decision to turn off all the security cameras to prevent any evidence of their transgressions meant that no one on their side could see inside the building either, allowing the two near limitless access. They only discovered their presence after a battle broke out. He then turned on the cameras, but at that point it was already too late. Most the cell left to try and take what they had and run while Carnegie went to capture the kids, trying to save what was left of his plan, but that was dashed as soon as the third kid arrived. This one was much stronger than the other two, managing to hold off several goons at once, and even now he could hear sirens closing in.
In short, he was doomed.
"No…nonononono…" he mumbled and paced back and forth. His eyes drifted towards the monitors displaying the main room, where Carnegie was fighting against the first boy. Carnegie was managing to hold his own thanks to his much more powerful Pokémon and generous use of his own apparent mystical abilities, emphasizing speed more than anything else, but it was quickly becoming apparent that battlefield tactics were not his forte. Whatever disadvantages the boy had against the Flare Admin in terms of strength was balanced by his superior tactical ability. The boy appeared to be picking up on gaps in Carnegie's strategy and began exploiting them to full effect.
"Come on, Carnegie… Get your act together," Nedry begged, leaning back against a counter where a tubular machine was resting while his attention was focused squarely on the screens before him. So focused on seeing how the battle played out that he missed a small beep emanating from the machine, followed by a hiss of air. Slowly, the top of the machine retracted, allowing a cloud of white smoke to fume out of the top. Only when the cloud reached past his face did Nedry finally notice, causing him to jump back from the machine while turning to face it. He began to see a dark silhouette emerge from behind the smoke. It was a small, bipedal creature, with a short, thick tail balancing out a blocky and oversized head. Two tiny arms questioningly reached out to grasp the air around it, and a spiked collar erupted from around its neck.
"What in Arceus' name are you?" he asked himself, only to flinch when the creature sharply turned its head to face him. A low growl soon came out of the creature as it studied the overweight man intensely. More of the smoke began to dissipate, revealing the brown-scaled hide of the Pokémon, its jaw a dull grey with orange horns atop its head and tail. His collar and claws were bone-white, and striking red eyes narrowed into slits regarded the man with a primal fury.
It stepped forward, causing Nedry to step back. The man was shaking, while the revived Pokémon growled and barred its fangs. It stepped forward again and Nedry began to panic. He held up his shaking hands in a placating gesture. This seemed to give the creature pause, causing a sense of hopeful relief to flood through Nedry. An idea then formed in his head, a desperate one to be sure, and he quickly jumped upon it.
"Easy, boy. I'm a friend, see?" Nedry declared while pulling out a chocolate bar. The creature tilted his head to study it, and when Nedry waved the bar around its eyes and head followed. "You want this? You want this? Here."
Nedry broke off a piece of chocolate and tossed it to the Pokémon, who attempted to catch it in its jaws. Still unused to life, its attempt was fumbled and the block clattered to the ground. It looked at the piece of food with an annoyed glared before glancing at Nedry. Its eyes dared him to move, and so Nedry stayed in rooted in place as the Pokémon thought on how to get off its perch. Its body swayed from side to side as it gauged the distance between the counter and the tile floor, and when it was satisfied, it jumped down. It briefly lost its footing and tripped, but quickly righted itself before slowly walking towards the chocolate block. Sniffing it and nudging it with its nose, the Pokémon determined the confection was safe to eat and chomped into it, swallowing the block whole. Nedry saw its eyes widen as it saved the taste, and he let out a relieved sigh.
"You like chocolate, boy?" he asked, shaking the remains of the chocolate bar in his hand. The Pokémon shook its head enthusiastically, and Nedry smiled. "Here, fetch!"
Nedry through the bar to the far end of the room, where the Pokémon immediately gave chase. Nedry waited until it disappeared behind a desk, and only then did he slowly move to the back door to the laboratory. Reaching the door, he briefly shot a look behind him to try and see the Pokémon. Finding nothing, he pulled out his employee ID card and opened the door, sighing in relief once the locking mechanism unlocked and flashed green.
"Thank Arceus it's an idiot," he sighed as he prepared to step through the threshold. "No wonder they went extinct."
Just before Nedry could take another step, a low growl emanating right next to his ear stopped him cold.
The soft-skin went down easily, flailing and screaming as it bit and tore off its blue-tinged hide. The flesh tasted awful, and that was only the surface layer. The Pokémon, in his young, primitive mind, quickly decided that the rest of the creature would be just as unappetizing, so he wouldn't eat him. He couldn't let it try to attack him, however, so he tackled the man into the nearest wall. Its eyes rolled into the back of its fleshy, rotund head and its body slacked. Then Pokémon then grunted in accomplishment, licking his lips at the memory of the food the soft-skin had given him. Compared to that delicacy, the soft-skin tasted like absolute filth, so he felt no shame in leaving him there as he went to the slightly open part of the wall. Seeing it as a way out of his current environment, the Pokémon paused at its mouth. A sense of tepid curiosity filled its small body, and for the first time in its brief existence, it didn't know what to do. Before everything was easily decided upon. After all, the soft-skin was clearly a threat, or at the very least prey given how it tried to distract him with an offering while its fat body shook from fear. He had no idea what it has said afterwards as it tried to escape, but the tone of its voice told him that was undoubtedly an insult. Obviously the soft-skin wasn't as smart as it thought itself to be, otherwise it wouldn't have done so.
Still, what's done is done. The creature had paid for its insolence, leaving the Pokémon to focus on himself for the first time. He scanned the environment for the first time. It felt cold and lifeless, sterile beyond anything he was comfortable with. Yet at the same time, it was the only environment he had ever known. Part of him felt that statement was wrong somehow, that he was meant for something else, but for the life of him he didn't know where that feeling came from.
He then looked forward, past the hole in the wall. He could feel the difference in the air. Outside, it was warmer, more natural looking. At the same time, something didn't feel quite right about it, yet a sense of deep curiosity compelled him forward. Slowly, he tentatively stepped out into the next room, glancing from side to side as it scanned for any enemies. There were none, so he pressed forward.
The Pokémon passed by blades of grass, momentarily stopping when he saw three blue scaled Pokémon with long necks and yellow frills staring out across the stony field he himself was walking across. They themselves were standing in a small splotch of ice, which immediately stuck him as odd given how he was in a grassland. He growled menacingly at them, warning them not to try and attack, but when they didn't even respond he changed from feeling threatened to merely curious.
'Why aren't they moving?' he thought as he tentatively stepped towards them, sniffing the air as he did. Something smelled off about them, but he only realized what it was when he finally touched one. The Pokémon were cold to the touch, lifeless and fake. A quick bite to the hind as a test proved it. Instead of meat, he got some white fluff that tasted like nothing but clogged his mouth like no tomorrow. He spat it out and shook his head, trying to rid the taste from his mouth. When he got as much out as he could, he angrily kicked the fluff away before moving on.
Walking through the stone field once again, the Pokémon began to see more and more of the fake Pokémon in various environments. He was growing more and more confused with each set he passed. Mighty winged dragons, ones that he instinctually feared, did nothing more than pose dramatically. Shelled Pokémon laid across wet rocks, only the water itself turned out to be nothing more than an illusion. He was quickly finding that everything around him was fake, from the rocks to the trees to the grass. Nothing made sense.
'Is the entire world like this?' he wondered, only to pause when he came across yet another set of fake Pokémon. He thought about leaving them behind, but when he looked at them more closely his eyes widened in surprise. The fakes looked just like him. Wondrously, the Pokémon stepped forward to inspect them more closely. Behind a clear wall was, to his further surprise, a set of dark bones forming a complete skeleton. The other clear walls were empty, some even shattered, but this one was miraculously undisturbed. He took a sniff of the bones and discovered that they smelled more like very old rock. Unlike the other rocks he had found, however, these were real.
'Is… is that… me?' he wondered as he gazed upon the display with his complete attention. He then became aware of the similarities between himself and the rocks, namely that they were the only things in this entire place that were real. He wondered if, somehow, he and the bone-shaped rocks were related, that he was born from them. When he emerged from his egg, he noticed the distinct lack of egg shells or his mother and father. At first, he thought that they were simply gone now, but now he was beginning to think that perhaps they never existed.
The thought alarmed him, but before he could ruminate on his existence more, he heard a dull thud come from a nearby room. His head snapped to face it, his eyes narrowing once again into slits as he let out a low growl. Stepping forward towards the source, his body hunched low to keep a small profile, he walked past another opening in the wall into a narrow corridor. The noises were becoming louder and more pronounced, and he was recognizing them as the sounds of battle. He felt his blood begin to boil, the instinctual urge to fight growing with each passing moment until he finally reached the battle arena.
Almost as soon as he entered the room, a small white and green-capped fairy Pokémon was thrown into a wall, denting it slightly. He recoiled at the sight of the fairy, having an instinctual urge to get away from it before it hurt him, only for the Fairy to not only ignore his presence but instead form large shadowy balls in his hands and let out a roar. A pitiful attempt at one, at least by his own standards, but a roar nonetheless. Much to his own surprise, the voice echoed from within his own mind rather than come from the fairy's lips, causing his eyes to widen and look around from side to side in confusion. The fairy leaped forward, and another explosion followed, sending shards of rock and rubble spraying out, some of which hitting against his hide and forcing him to take cover.
Poking his head behind the wall, he watched as the battle commenced before him. He didn't recognize any of the creatures fighting one another, but he could recognize it as being very lopsided. On one side were two four-legged Pokémon with thin fur and manes that raced along its back. The yellow-furred Pokémon's mane and tail was literal fire while the black-furred quadruped's reminded him of electricity. Behind them was a single soft-flesh, only his skin was orange and pink rather than blue. His eyes were weird, being extremely large black orbs that covered much of his face, while his head spread out from the very top and formed a frill. His body itself appeared to be covered in orange-stained armor plates with crisscrossing stipes of brown, the ends of which ended in shiny stubs, and his black feet looked and sounded thick and heavy with each step. Orange flesh came out from its black feet, and around the soft-flesh's neck was a single piece of white fur. All together, they were unnerving, as was the blue aura emanating from his body in an impressive display of power, so he turned to look at their opponents.
Unlike them, they were much smaller in stature. In addition to the white and green-capped fairy, he saw a blue ocean-dweller wielding a shell as a weapon alongside a blue biped. A purple-grey furred Pokémon was hovering protectively over another fairy, this one appearing to be burned and in pain. Judging from the smoke and steam billowing out of its ears and nostril, he had to guess the mammal was a fire-starter. Behind them was a smaller, likely young, blue-and-pink skinned soft flesh. Its back protruded outwards, but to his surprise the soft-flesh took it off completely and pulled out a small object, pointing one end at the injured fairy. The other soft-flesh attempted to take advantage of this one's distraction, launching a shadowy orb forward with an outstretched arm, only for the fire-starter to destroy it with a fireball of its own.
"Thanks, Brennaraki. Maindo, Ronin, keep him busy!" it yelled as it sprayed a watery compound onto the burn. The fairy winced in pain, but slowly relaxed as the compound seeped into its skin. The other fairy and the water-dweller, however, shot forward and engaged their much larger combatants. Water and shadow danced against fire and electricity, the much larger Pokémon easily taking the hits from their smaller opponents while trying to attack with their own. In turn, the smaller Pokémon were dodging to the best of their ability, but the bruises on their bodies showed that they weren't completely successful. The larger Pokémon also had wounds of their own, but they weren't as substantial as the others.
"Hey, how's it going?" someone suddenly asked, causing him to jump up in surprise and sharply turn around to face the speaker. He saw a shiny, elongated Pokémon that was unlike anything he had ever seen. It didn't look as though it was even alive, but the energy he sensed from it told him that it was a ghost. He growled a warning at the creature, but rather than appear frightened it instead chuckled.
"Easy, kid. I'm not your enemy, I'm your friend. We all are." Another fiery explosion punctuated the creature's response, followed by a roar. "Well, not orange guy over there. He's a jerk."
The ancient Pokémon raised his eyebrow and turned back to face the battle then back to the floating creature. Seeing how it wasn't looking for conflict now, he felt a sense of curiosity override his instincts and began to let out a low growl.
"How…understand…me?" he garbled out, unused to speaking. The creature didn't seem to mind and began to answer.
"I'm a Pokémon, just like you," it said. "Specifically, a Honedge. Name's Derflinger."
He tiled his head in confusion. "Honedge?... Derflinger?"
"Ah, Honedge is my species' name. Derflinger's my personal name. You're a Tyrunt?"
"A…'Tyrunt'?" He was finding that speaking was slowly growing easier, and Derflinger nodded in a strange motion with its narrow head.
"Yeah, a Tyrunt." When the Tyrunt didn't answer, Derflinger grew somber in understanding. "Right, you would have just woken up."
Tyrunt's eyes widened in realization. This 'Derflinger' knew things that he didn't. He might be able to answer the questions burning him up from the inside. Curiosity and a desire to know screamed at him to ask the important questions he had been forming, and so he began to speak once again.
"Everything…fake," he stated. "Rocks…plants…water and air. Only me real. Where egg? Where mother and father? Where other 'Tyrunts'?"
Derflinger sighed and looked at a clear wall, focusing on the rocky bones held within. The Tyrunt followed his gaze for a moment before looking back up at him expectantly, then Derflinger looked back down at him.
"Listen, kid," he began, "understand this. You are real, no matter what anyone else tells you. You got that?" Tyrunt, after a moment, nodded, and Derflinger took a sigh before continuing.
"You…don't have a mother and father, not in the traditional sense at least. Yesterday that human boy over there," he pointed his sash towards the younger soft-flesh – or human, as he called it -, while Tyrunt's eyes widened, "found you…in a manner of speaking."
"What…mean? Was asleep?"
Derflinger took a hissing breath, trying to figure out how to break it to him, but the look on Tyrunt's face told him that trying to diminish his revival would only do more harm than good in the long run.
"…No. Kid, when we found you, you were that." He pointed at the rocky bones, and Tyrunt tilted his head in confusion.
"Me don't understand." Another explosion caused shards of rubble to burst out, causing Derflinger to briefly glance back towards the battle before looking back at the Tyrunt.
"You were a fossil. Bones so old that they turned into rock." Tyrunt's eyes widened at this statement. He turned to look at the fossils once again, seeing them suddenly in a brand-new light. "The last of the Tyrunts died out millions of years ago."
Tyrunt remained silent, feeling his arms slack and his jaw clench. His heartbeat began to quicken, and without taking his eyes off the fossils he said, "Then…if Tyrunts dead, how I alive?"
Derflinger placed his sash on Tyrunt's back in a comforting gesture. "The humans here… They managed to find a way to bring you back to life from just a jawbone thanks to the power of modern science. Saito knew this, and when he found your jawbone just two days ago he brought you here to be revived. And now you're here."
Tyrunt stared hard at the fossil before him, hearing Derflinger's words but not responding to them. They kept echoing in his mind, however. That he used to be nothing more than a piece of rock, that his fellow Pokémon were dead and gone. Part of him wondered whether he himself should still in the be in the ground, until he felt a particularly hard heartbeat. He brushed his clawed hand against his chest, feeling his heart pounding, and he began to realize something.
He was alive. He could hear, taste, smell, feel, and everything in between. Sure, the rest of his kind may have been dead, but Tyrunt himself was not. How could he deny it when he could feel his heart beating inside his chest? Tyrunt was alive, and it didn't matter if me came from an egg or from this 'human science'. The more he thought about it, Tyrunt began to think that the way he reentered the world was a blessing. Before him was a chance to experience what life had to offer all over again.
Who else could say that they had this opportunity but him?
With that in mind, Tyrunt steeled his face and turned around to face the battle, surprising Derflinger. Tyrunt analyzed the battlefield, feeling his primal instincts take over. On one side was Saito and his pack. It was obvious that he was the alpha, directing others to do his bidding while they, in turn, protected him and the injured. Given how he was the one who led to his revival, that meant they were allies. On the other sides was the orange-fleshed human. As the man glowed blue and hefted a heavy object in a pale blue aura, undoubtedly intending to hurl it towards his retreating opponent, Tyrunt sniffed the air and to his disgust recognized the smell of the fat human from before. He figured that they were together, freshly acquainted but together none the less. The fat human was an enemy, and the one before him was attacking his ally. That meant he was enemy, one who had to be stopped. The other Pokémon with him were following his orders, telling Tyrunt that he was another alpha. Why two alphas were fighting he couldn't tell, possibly over territory, but right now he knew that taking out the enemy alpha was the best way forward.
"Kid, what are you doing?" Derflinger asked, beginning to sound concerned as Tyrunt crouched low and stalked towards the orange human, using the displays as cover to mask his approach. Were he bigger, Tyrunt simply would have charged the man, but he knew such an attempt would only end in disaster. So, he stuck to the shadows, watching as the other Pokémon fought it out. He noticed, on top of a stand, was large seed with a face on it firing a barrage of smaller seeds onto the black-furred quadruped. Tyrunt continued without much more thought, figuring his objective was much more important.
When the fire Pokémon crashed into a display before him, Tyrunt froze himself and sunk to the floor, trying to conceal himself as the Pokémon whined and rose to its hooves. The light it emitted was almost blinding, but to his relief it didn't notice him as it surrounded itself in a ball of flame and charged back forward. With the coast clear, Tyrunt continued, keeping to the outskirts of the room as he made his way forward. Arcs of fire and electricity raced past him alongside intersecting balls of shadow, scorching the wall and shattering many of the clear barriers into tiny shards that crunched underfoot, but still he kept going until finally he was behind the orange human. He saw that Derflinger was keeping his eyes on himself while floating over to Saito, where he poked his sash against Saito's shoulder.
"Uh, Saito?" Derflinger whispered.
"I'm a little busy as the moment, Derf! Tengu, use Bide! Brennaraki, use Fire Spin on Zebstrika!" Saito replied while continuing to check on the injured fairy.
"It's kinda important."
"What could be so important that-!" Saito was interrupted when his gaze glanced upon the Tyrunt hoisting himself onto a desk behind the Flare Admin's back. "Oh."
"Yeah."
Tyrunt, ignoring Saito's increasingly alarmed look, looked upon the back of the orange man's head and shuffled his body from side to side. By now, Saito's other Pokémon had noticed his presence and had stopped what they were doing. As they did, the Flare Admin misjudged the reason why they were stopping and began to haughtily laugh.
"Finally had enough, huh?" he mocked, throwing his arms to the side, his body flaring blue as a taunt. Tyrunt, meanwhile, began to shift his weight back and forth and side to side, testing out the distance between him and his target. Satisfied, Tyrunt shifted his weight back and glared daggers at the man's back, letting out a low, deep growl as he did. The man tensed at this and slowly turned to face the Tyrunt. He managed to catch a glimpse of the creature just as it leaped, its jaws spread out as far as it could and barring its pristine white fangs.
Tyrunt didn't quite manage to make it all the way to his shoulder, as he had intended, but he was able to chomp down onto the man's lower leg. He let out a pained scream and flailed his leg as Tyrunt bit down as hard as he could. His screams shook both of his Pokémon out of their concentrations. They both tried to turn around and assist their master, only for Saito's Pokémon to take advantage of their distraction and unleash everything they had into their unprotected flanks. As the amassed attacks struck, creating a large cloud of dust in the process, both Pokémon cried out in pain. Derflinger, meanwhile, cut through the dust as he sped straight towards the Tyrunt and his prey. Saito was right behind him, running as fast as he could while avoiding the battle around him.
Before long, the man finally tore Tyrunt off his leg and hurled him across the room, but Tyrunt was able to land on his feet and charge once more. He leaped up and snatched at his waist, digging his feet into the man's leg as he snapped at his armored torso while he himself kept him away with his arms. The massive weight, however, caused the man to fall onto his back, allowing Tyrunt to free himself and chomp down onto the man's chest. As he did, however, a sickly-blue aura enveloped the man, preventing his jaws from doing any damage. Surprised, Tyrunt was helpless as the orange human hefted him up and threw him into Saito.
"Oof!" he grunted as he fell to the ground. He began to breath heavily as air desperately tried to return to his lungs, which was helped when Tyrunt quickly got off his chest. "… Thank you…"
Tyrunt grunted in response, offering his snout as a support to the young man. Across from them, the other human glared daggers after inspecting his shredded pant leg. A few trails of blood could be seen coming out of shallow cuts and bite marks, nothing serious but still noticeable. Saito quickly turned his attention to Tyrunt, checking to see if there were any damage to his body. Derflinger, however, was not.
"Nice job, kid! Never do that again," he chastised. "What were you thinking?"
"Bad man alpha. Take down alpha, take down pack," Tyrunt responded but Derflinger merely narrowed his eyes in response.
"Well then, next time, loop me in at least. You could've gotten hurt."
"Me almost had him, though," Tyrunt mentioned before a look of confusion crossed his face. "Did not know humans both dark and ghost."
"What are you talking about?" Derflinger asked, suddenly confused. Carnegie, meanwhile, tried to order his Pokémon to attack, but they were too busy fending off Saito's other Pokémon.
"In chest. Felt ghost and dark. Humans Pokémon?" Tyrunt asked, and a look of confusion crossed Derflinger's eye.
"Derf, what'd he say?" Saito asked, seeing how Derflinger was now studying the other human intensely.
"…Saito," he finally began, "do you know of any Dark and Ghost-type Pokémon in the world? Ones that could dwell inside a person's chest?"
Saito prepared to ask what type of question that was, only to think about the answer. To his knowledge, there were only two in the world. The more he thought about it, one of the Pokémon had a characteristic that would potentially answer Derflinger's question. The suddenly nervous look on the other man's face convinced him.
"Maindo, use Disarming Voice on Carnegie! Aim for his chest!" Saito ordered. Maindo, reading his thoughts, smiled wickedly as he breathed in deep before letting out a large cry consisting of pink soundwaves visible to the naked eye. The sound shattered the remaining glass as everyone covered their ears, but Carnegie meanwhile flew back as the waves impacted his cuirass, warping it slightly and causing the leather straps to eject from their metal studs. Meanwhile, the pink interacted with the blue aura surrounding his body, pushing it back and causing it to recoil before finally it retracted as a purple and green gaseous Pokémon was flung out of his chest. Saito and Derflinger immediately recognized the creature, and Derflinger let out a snarl.
"A Spiritomb," Derflinger darkly muttered as he tore off his sheath, exposing the blade underneath. Spiritomb, seeing how it was outside of his host's body, attempted to fly back inside, only for Derflinger to slam into him while attacking with an Iron Head attack. Carnegie, meanwhile, looked fearful for the first time since their engagement began as his aura disappeared entirely, watching as his protector battled against Derflinger.
It was wholly lopsided. In sharp contrast to his normal demeaner, Derflinger had turned into a complete beast, calling upon centuries of combat experience that the Spiritomb was unable to effectively counteract despite the massive type advantage. Spiritomb fired a Shadow Ball at Derflinger, only for him to break it apart effortlessly with an Aerial Ace. He followed it up with a Shadow Sneak, causing Derflinger's shadow to reach out and strike the Spiritomb across the face. Spiritomb countered with a Feint Attack, to which Derflinger used Iron Defense to coat his body in a protective layer of steel. The Feint Attack bounced off Derflinger's body while he himself grunted in pain, then the Honedge attacked with an Iron Head attack. Spiritomb flew back into the ground, and as it tried to float back up it was attacked by yet another Disarming Voice.
Saito turned to face the source, and to his surprise he saw a wobbly Espirit standing on her two feet, supported by Brennaraki. It then suddenly grunted in pain for no reason as Tyrunt, who had managed to get out of Saito's grip, tackled Carnegie into a stand and began to slam his head into the Flare Admin's chest. Saito watched this in surprise before realizing what was occurring.
"You got to be kidding me. You used your own body as Spiritomb's keystone?" Saito suddenly asked. Carnegie, trying to get Tyrunt off himself, did not answer and so Saito took it as a yes. Saito turned back towards Spiritomb, where he saw Espirit stand before it. She then leaned down, closed her eyes, and kissed the side of his body. Moments later, pink energy surged through Spiritomb's body, some of which transferred over into Espirit and miraculously healed her wounds.
'Oh, Espirit learned Draining Kiss. That'll make Louise happy,' Saito thought as Espirit continued to kiss the Pokémon, draining more and more of its energy while healing herself. It tried to break away, but Derflinger had managed to hold it down with a careful application of Shadow Sneak, and before long it collapsed into unconsciousness.
"No!" Carnegie yelled as Spiritomb fainted, finally managing to hurl Tyrunt off him. He was now panicking and hyperventilating, watching as his remaining Pokémon attempted to drive off Saito's. He could no longer think straight, his normally careful planning disintegrating before his very eyes, and so he did the only thing that rationally made sense.
"Zebstrika, use Wild Charge!" He ordered as he returned Rapidash and Spiritomb to their Pokéballs. Zebstrika did as instructed, forming a cone of electricity around his body as he ran straight towards a wall. As the Pokémon passed by Carnegie, he grabbed hold of Zebstrika's mane, the Pokémon keeping sure to not harm its trainer, and the two then ran straight through the wall and several ones behind it. Each breach was punctuated by a loud crash, until finally he emerged into the outside world. Saito and the others watched as he disappeared into the night, the yellow electricity disappearing into the light. They could only hear hoofbeats on concrete, but soon enough that, too, disappeared. They let out a sigh of relief that the criminal was finally gone and sat down for a good rest.
"Good riddance. Hate Spiritombs. Haven't met a good one yet," Derflinger mumbled. Saito felt a story there but figured now was not the time. Instead he focused on Tyrunt, who was now sporting a limb after a stray attack hit him in the leg. Saito let out a small smile and knelt, extending out a hand in a placating gesture.
"Hey there," he said as the Tyrunt eyed him, not with anger or fear but with something Saito couldn't quite recognize. Still, it wasn't attacking him, so he took it without a second thought. "Do you understand me?"
Tyrunt stayed still for a moment, contemplating his words, before nodding. Saito smiled again, then pulled out a potion bottle. "You're hurt. Will you let me help?"
The Tyrunt eyed the bottle curiously, recognizing it as the same one that had healed the fairy from before. After a moment, he turned his body the side, allowing Saito easier access to his wound. Nodding to the Pokémon, Saito carefully applied the medicine, recoiling back when the Pokémon winced and cried out in pain.
"I know it stings but trust me. It'll help," Saito emphasized. Tyrunt eyed him and the bottle warily before sighing and allowing Saito to proceed. He winced in slight pain as the medicine was applied, but soon a sense of relief flowed through him. When Saito was finished, he turned to face the human and stared back up at him. Saito then sat down completely, and to his amusement Tyrunt did the same. Saito couldn't help but laugh, harder still when Tyrunt attempted to copy that as well.
"Heh, you certainly got a lot of personality, don't you?" Saito asked. Tyrunt didn't quite understand the question, merely tilting his head in response, before Saito slowly extended his hand towards the revived Royal Heir Pokémon. Tyrunt studied it for a moment then extended his head towards Saito's open palm, allowing it to rest atop his head. For a moment, Saito was surprised, but he soon smiled and began to slowly pet the Pokémon's rough head.
"Welcome to the world, Tyrunt."
Louise could only watch in horror as another of Calem's Pokémon went down hard against the Flare Lieutenant's lone Armaldo. She and him were getting absolutely destroyed. Nothing they did worked against her, and she suspected that the reason why the lieutenant allowed them to last as long as they did was so that she could analyze them for weaknesses and exploits. Any she found she quickly exploited, tearing Louise's and Calem's Pokémon apart in the process. It was infuriating. At one point, Louise tried to simply blow her up with her wand, but the lieutenant had her Armaldo shoot it out of her hands with a jet of water almost as soon as Louise had pulled it out, knocking it into the dead of night. Louise didn't have time to try and search for it, so she was limited to hiding behind the cab of a semi-truck and ordering Aile to bombard the Armaldo from high in the air.
Aile herself wasn't in much better shape, either. She was fluttering dangerously, repeatedly falling and having to reorient herself lest she crash to the ground. Her body was covered in bruises and spots where feathers were forcibly torn out by the force of Armaldo's attacks. Louise wanted nothing more than to recall Aile and administer first aid, but prior attempts to do just that resulted only in the lieutenant attacking them both at the same time. Most of her attention was concentrated on Calem's last remaining Pokémon, his Gogoat, but deep down, Louise knew it would only be a matter of time before she, too, fell.
"Gogoat, use Vine Whip!" Calem ordered. Gogoat cried out as twin vines shot out of her leafy mane towards the ancient crustacean, but the lieutenant merely snapped her fingers in response. Armaldo immediately acted upon the unspoken command, grabbing hold of the vines and dragging a surprised Gogoat towards itself. When Gogoat got close enough, its mouth glowed green as it used Bug Bite on the Grass-type. Gogoat squealed in pain as it tried to break free, only able to do so with Aile launched a barrage of Razor Winds at Armaldo's face, breaking its concentration.
That entire exchange brought Louise to mind of yet another reason this battle was proving to be so difficult. The lieutenant said nothing. The only sounds she made came from snaps of her fingers. No words, no shouts, nothing. It was unnerving, if nothing else, but at the same time it prevented Louise from fully figuring her out. She was a blank mask to the noble, preventing her from knowing what her aim was and countering appropriately.
Louise grit her teeth and clenched her fist. "Aile, use Roost to patch yourself up!"
At her trainer's command, Aile fluttered over to a high pole and rested on its top. She sighed contently as a soft, feathery glow enveloped her, feeling her wounds slowly heal.
"Watch out!"
Aile immediately shot her eyes open at Louise's cry, only to see a large boulder being shot towards her from the Armaldo. With almost no time to take flight, Aile used Quick Attack to speed off to the side. Not a moment later, the top of the wooden pole she was previously resting on was splintered by the rock. She eyed the shattered pole in shock, grateful that it wasn't her, before looking back down at her opponent with an angered expression. Crying out, she beat her wings rapidly and fired a barrage of Razor Wings, buffeting against the Armaldo's armored carapace as it stared back up at her unamused. Its eyes flashed blue as it used Ancient Power. Rocks were torn out from the ground, where they hovered and circled around the Pokémon ominously before shooting off one by one towards Aile. She bobbed and weaved through the attacks, trying to avoid getting hit, only for one to find its mark and cause her to careen towards the ground.
"Aile!" Louise shouted as she ran out towards her Pokémon, diving to catch her before she hit the ground. Louise gasped as her body scraped against the shattered concrete, tearing part of her jeans and scratching her leg. She hissed and briefly grasped her wound before checking on Aile. Her Pokémon was battered and breathing heavily, but luckily was still conscious.
"Louise, are you okay?" Calem asked as he ran over to help her up. She hissed as pain briefly pulsed through her leg, but she quickly shook it off.
"I'm fine." Louise paused as she strained her ears for the police sirens. They weren't far off now, perhaps just a few minutes, but Louise doubted they'd last that long. She shook her doubts from her head, reasoning that now was not the time to have them, looked at Aile. Aile looked back and nodded, then took flight and hovered over Louise's body.
"Alright. Gogoat, use Razer Leaf!" Calem ordered.
"Aile, use Razor Wind to boost them!" Louise ordered as well. The two Pokémon acted as one, Gogoat firing razor-sharp leaves from her mane while Aile have them a boost from behind with slices of air. The attacks shot towards Armaldo, and for a moment both trainers thought they might be able to harm the Pokémon. Those hopes were dashed as a green sphere consumed Armaldo, causing the attacks to bounce off it to no effect.
"Protect…" Calem muttered. Gogoat narrowed her eyes and ground her hoof against the ground as her horns glowed green as she used Horn Leech. She then charged at Armaldo head-first, dodging a thrown rock and slamming into Armaldo's chest. Any hope that this did anything was dashed one Armaldo grabbed hold of Gogoat with one of its claws, using Claw Crush in the process. Gogoat screamed, helpless to stop as Armaldo threw her to the ground. It then raised both pincers upwards and cross them, both glowing light green as it used X-Scissor on the Grass-type. The attack flew Gogoat back, slamming her against the heavily dented semi-truck cab, and she did not get up.
"Gogoat!" Calem yelled out as he ran to his unconscious Pokémon. Aile, meanwhile, continued her assault as she fired barrage after barrage of Razor Winds towards the Plate Pokémon, but each attack did nothing. She watched as Armaldo smirked and used Ancient Power yet again, clearly intending to hit both Calem and his helpless Pokémon with the projectiles, and time seemed to freeze for Aile. She knew that, should those attacks hit, there stood a serious chance that both Calem and Gogoat would be seriously hurt, possibly Louise as well. A sense of pure rage consumed her, rage that this criminal would even think about hurting her trainer and her friends. She might not always be the best Pokémon, she knew that, but she'd be damned before she'd let her get hurt. Not when she could do something about it.
A deep power shot out from Aile's body as she flew down towards Armaldo as fast as she could, glowing blue in the process. She herself did not notice as her body enlarged and became consumed in fire, and Louise watched in amazement as her Fletchling underwent evolution, turning into a Fletchinder. Armaldo was surprised as the Fletchinder, using Flame Charge, slammed into his head, knocking his attacks off course, and for a moment Louise thought they might have a second chance.
That hope was dashed when Armaldo slammed his nearest pincer into Aile using Smack-Down, sending her crashing into the ground with a dull thud. Louise could only watch in horror as Armaldo stomped over to the fallen Pokémon, who was trying to pick herself off the ground. It prepared to strike her once again, and Louise quickly pulled out her Luxury Ball and returned her injured Pokémon. The Armaldo and Flare lieutenant looked surprised for a moment as they regarded Louise, who herself stepped in front of an equally surprised Calem and raised her fists defiantly. Her mind screamed at her that what Louise was doing was idiotic at best, but desperation kept her shaking knees from running away.
"Leave. Now," Louise ordered, trying to keep her fear in check. The Armaldo chuckled at the sight while the Flare lieutenant frowned in annoyance at her Pokémon's action. Louise saw this and her fear became replaced with anger. She marched up to a still laughing Armaldo and, to everyone's surprise, threw a punch against its armored head. The Pokémon stared at her incredulously while Louise herself clutched her hand in pain, having immediately regretted her decision. Then, almost amused, the Armaldo knocked her to the ground and placed its foot on her chest, pinning her. The Flare lieutenant, now back to her normal stoic persona, regarded her with cold indifference as she visibly tried to determine what exactly to do with the young noble. Only now could Louise see the thoughts moving through the criminal's head. Thoughts of ending Louise here and now danced through her eyes as well as simply tying her up and holding her for ransom. She even entertained thoughts of trying to indoctrinate the woman into their ranks. Louise snarling back at up at her, even in her current position, told her that would be impossible.
The Flare lieutenant's eyes steeled themselves as they prepared to come to a decision. Louise braced herself for whatever might come, only for her eyes to catch glimpse of a black shape looking out from the top of the museum. The lieutenant saw this and turned her attention towards the roof, only to find that the shape was gone. Rather than assume that Louise saw nothing, she snapped her fingers a few times towards Armaldo, keeping her eyes focused on the roof. Armaldo removed his foot from Louise's chest, allowing a sense of relief to pass through her as she quickly scampered back. Calem crawled over to her side, helping her rest against the trailer as he inspected her for any injuries.
"What in Arceus' name were you thinking?" he asked, clearly concerned.
"I wasn't," Louise admitted, her hands absentmindedly trailing against the ground. They stopped once she felt them pass a small wooden rod, instantly recognizing it as her wand. "What the…?"
"Hm?" Calem wondered as Louise held her wand to her face. She wondered how it managed to get back to her, only for Calem to silently poke her shoulder. She looked at him and saw his gaze was directed upwards. Louise followed his gaze to the top of the trailer and gasped as she saw the shape from before, now fully illuminating its body. With its white fur, dark-blue skin on its exposed face, and a single scythe-like horn on the side of its head, Louise recognized it instantly as an Absol. Her mind raced with the possibilities, settling on one that told her that this Absol was the same one that led her here to begin with. A nod from the creature, seemingly reading her face, told her she was correct.
"… Thank you," Louise whispered to the Pokémon as she got to her feet, her hand steadying herself against the aluminum trailer. Louise glared at the Flare lieutenant's back, who was still distracted by trying to find what Louise had clearly seen before, allowing the noble the chance to aim her wand straight at her.
"Fireball," Louise casted. At the same time, Armaldo turned its head to see Louise aiming at its trainer, causing it to leap in front of the spell to protect her. The blast knocked both to the ground, but Armaldo, visibly singed in areas, quickly rose to its feet and roared before charging at her. As it did, Absol suddenly leaped down from above and used Sucker Punch, knocking Armaldo back where it followed up with a Night Slash. The attack, to Louise's simultaneous surprise and relief, caused a visible gash to appear on Armaldo's chest plate.
Unbowed, the Pokémon roared defiantly as it flailed its arms around, making itself look larger, as Absol crouched down low and hissed angrily. Armaldo used Ancient Power yet again, launching the rocks towards Absol who, to Louise's surprise, leaped from rock to rock towards the Plate Pokémon, using Night Slash once it got close enough. This time, however, Armaldo was ready and dodged the attack, using X-Scissor on her flank as Absol passed it by. The attack hit, causing Absol to cry out in pain before it turned itself into multiple copies at once, encircling Armaldo from all sides. Armaldo roared as it swerved its head from side to side, trying to find the correct copy, before Absol suddenly attacked from behind and latched itself to its back, using Bite on the back of its neck. Armaldo flailed, trying to knock it off, before it managed to angle its head towards the body of Absol's body. Salty water then sprayed out from its mouth as it used Brine, knocking Absol off and towards Louise. The young girl, now able to hit the Armaldo with another spell without running the risk of hurting it, prepared to do so before a specially shaped wall of Protect separated the two sides just the spell was cast.
"Dammit!" Louise cursed as her spell exploded harmlessly against the Protect. The Flare lieutenant glared at her, thinking of strategies on how to take her out, only for her radio to suddenly flare to life just they heard several large, successive crashes coming from inside the building.
"CZ, retreat! The operation's failed, fall back!" Carnegie shouted at her, clearly in a panic. Behind his voice was the same crashes they themselves were hearing on the outside, telling them that he was their cause. A look of surprise briefly shot across her face before being replaced with resignation. A moment later, the Protect still up, CZ pulled out another Pokéball and released a large gray-skinned Pokémon with leathery wings and a pointed crest on the back of its head. Louise and Calem recognized it as an Aerodactyl as she hopped onboard and flew away, returning Armaldo as she retreated. Louise, Calem, and Absol could only watch as the Flare operative flew off into the night. Part of her felt relief that she was gone, but another felt angry that the woman was able to effortlessly defeat her. Upon further reflection, she decided that she didn't just get defeated. She was absolutely destroyed. Not even her first battle against Viola had been this much of a trouncing, but before she could ruminate further on that feeling, a sense of exhaustion caused her to collapse. Calem and Absol caught her before she could fall, helping her rest across the ground, and the young girl rested her head against the trailer, closing her eyes as she did.
"… Is it over?" she finally asked after a moment. Calem didn't respond until flashing lights finally arrived, nearly blinding them. He then smiled.
"Yeah, I think it is," he said.
Everything passed by quickly after that. Police officers swarmed the building, sweeping it from top to bottom to find all evidence. Fingerprints, security feeds, everything. Nothing was spared. Unfortunately, the only person who they managed to capture and arrested was one Dennis Nedry, supposedly the chief IT officer for the entire museum. After being cornered by the now freed Muldoon's and Owen's Archeopses following a failed escape attempt, the sniveling coward told the police everything he knew and what he did to help Team Flare in his own attempt to strike back against perceived poor working conditions.
Speaking of which, a few insurance agents accompanied the museum workers as they assessed the damage. Louise and Saito couldn't help but feel guilty over the apparent thousands of Pokédollars worth of damages, not including the destruction of a few exhibits and several Carnegie-shaped holes in the walls he made during his frantic escape, but the workers stressed that no charges would be filed nor would they be punished for their actions. That was a relief to both, but right now she was more concerned with the Officer Jenny in front of her.
"Do you three have any idea how lucky you are?" she chastised the three trainers, hands resting on her hips and a frown on her face. Saito and Calem looked apologetic while Louise remained silent, her gaze transfixed on Jenny's face.
"Yes, we understand completely," Saito replied calmly. Jenny huffed and looked at Louise expectantly. The noble stared at the police officer for a few more moments before Saito nudged her with his elbow, shocking her back into focus.
"Oh, uh, yes. I understand officer. It's my fault we got into this, and by the time we tried to get out, it was too late," Louise explained.
"Yes, I figured that from our last conversation over the phone." Jenny sighed and rubbed her forehead, then looked at the two with a much calmer expression. "Look, we're grateful for the help you three gave. My gut tells me that things would have been a lot worse had you not intervened. But catching criminals is the police's job for a reason. Team Flare and other criminal syndicates around the world may dress funny and act weird, but they're dangerous people. You could get yourself or others hurt, perhaps worse. So please, next time you see criminal activity, call the police and get to safety, okay?"
Louise stared back silently for a moment before sighing. "… I know, but… Whenever I see something like that happening, I can't help but at least try to stop it. To just sit back and let others do something important while I sit on the sidelines is just…" Louise trailed off, but Officer Jenny smiled as she figured the rest of her sentence. She then sighed and stood up straight.
"Just be careful. In any case, Nurse Joy told me that your Pokémon are good to go. They're waiting for you in the Pokémon Center."
"Thank you, officer," Calem said as he and the others stood up. The three prepared to walk out of the police station, only for Officer Jenny to call out towards them.
"By the way, kid. The Officer Jenny you met at the Kalos River Daycare was my cousin."
"I never said-!" Louise started, an embarrassed blush on her face.
"You were thinking it."
"…yes. Thank you." Louise quickly shuffled out of the building, ignoring Jenny's chuckled at her expense. Saito and Calem, meanwhile, looked at the young girl in sympathy.
"Yeah, took me a while to get used to it, too," Calem admitted. "Funnily enough, if you look hard enough, each one has a subtle difference that makes them unique."
"Oh really?" Saito asked, genuinely curious. "Like what?"
"Well, there was one I met in Lumiose that had a beauty mark on her face, while this Officer Jenny's hair had a slightly different shade of green than the others."
"Hmm, interesting." Saito hummed while rubbing his chin. Louise, admittedly, found that to be curious before a thought entered her mind.
"Were those differences natural? People dye their hair and makeup can do a lot of things," she pointed out. Calem moved to counter, only to pause and let her words sink in. A look of astonishment crossed his face as did the others, and they all simultaneously shivered.
"Anyway…" Saito stated, moving the conversation along, "thanks for helping us out, man. Sorry you got dragged into this."
"Don't worry about it." Calem waved their concern off as they entered the Pokémon Center. They greeted the nurse at the counter, who directed them to sit down while her Wigglytuff went into the back to grab their Pokémon. A moment of silence came between them as they rested.
"So…," Calem began, leaning his head back against his arms, "…you're from another world?"
"Yes," Louise admitted. She had told Calem this in the immediate aftermath of Team Flare's retreat, before the police arrived. After seeing her blow up an Armaldo with a wooden stick – his words – he believed her on the spot.
"That's cool. What's it like over there?"
"From what she told me," Saito replied, "kinda like a medieval fantasy world without Pokémon where mages rule and the rest are commoners."
"Weird. No Pokémon at all?"
"Yeah, none. Freaked me out, too."
"Okay first, its closer to the early Renaissance from what I've read of Earth's history. Second, I just want to say," Louise stated, amusement in her voice, "I find it amusing that the lack of Pokémon is what freaks you two out the most."
"Well yeah, duh. Everything else is just really interesting and cool."
"Not everything," Louise admitted before smiling. "This place is pretty cool, too. Unsavory rapscallions aside."
"Did you just say 'rapscallion'? Arceus, you really are old-fashioned." Calem laughed.
"Shut it, plebian." Calem laughed harder at Louise's joke, and the others couldn't help but join him. After a while, they calmed down and let the events that had transpired wash over them, and a serious look crossed Louise's face. "By the way, Calem? How do you know that…? What was her name again?"
"Isabel. Isabel Douglas Wolfram," Calem answered, his voice becoming uncharacteristically venomous. "You know how I told you guys I lost my Kalos League circuit?"
"Yeah," Saito replied, leaning forward in his chair in rapt attention.
"We fought in the semi-final rounds, and things went wrong almost from the beginning. My Pokémon were sluggish, erratic, and not performing nearly as well as they should have. At first I thought that perhaps they were just exhausted from several days' worth of battling and it just now catching up to them, until my Greninja collapsed and started having a seizure in the middle of battle. Refs halted the match and brought my Pokémon to the infirmary, where they found traces of illegal performance depressors in their food. Security cameras showed that Isabel had tampered with it right before the battle." Calem clenched his fist. "She almost killed them for a chance at a victory she didn't earn."
"Founder…" Louise muttered, completely horrified. Her thoughts drifted towards what would happen if someone tried to do that to Brennaraki or any of her Pokémon, and her fists tightened in response.
"My only consolation is that they caught her immediately, blacklisting her around the world while giving me the victory. Personally, I thought and still think she should have gone to jail, but they thought the blacklisting and stripping of all achievements was enough." Calem paused to take a deep, calming breath, then continued. "It took two weeks for my Pokémon to recover enough to battle Diantha on even footing. For that, I'll never forgive her."
Saito and Louise nodded at his statement, understanding where his feelings came from. Calem then shook his head and relaxed just as Wigglytuff returned with their Pokémon. Tyrunt was being carried on a metal cart while, much to Saito's surprise, the Absol from before was walking alongside them.
"Wait, is that…?" Saito began.
"Yep, the same from that Louise saw," Derflinger answered. "Also, the same one you and I saw from the Kalos River Daycare. Apparently, she'd been following us ever since then."
"Really? Why?" Louise asked, genuinely curious.
"You, apparently," Derflinger replied, taking Louise aback.
"Me? What'd I do?"
"You remember when I told you that Absols are walking disaster monitors?" Louise nodded. "Well, according to her, you are a, quote, 'walking disaster area that she feels contractually obligated to stay next to in order to help ward off future disasters, both manmade and otherwise.'"
Louise stared at the Honedge and Absol for a long minute. No one said a word, causing the entire area to fall into an awkward silence that was only broken by a cough.
"Also, she wants to join your team," Derflinger quickly got out. Louise slowly craned her neck to look at Absol, who herself was staring unflinchingly at the young noble. The two stared into each-other's eyes, sizing the other up, before Louise took a deep, calming breath and forced herself to smile despite the immense feeling of indignation coursing through her veins.
"…Thank you, Absol. I appreciate your concern, and humbly accept your offer," she said while pulling out a Luxury Ball. Absol nodded and pressed her face against the ball, causing her to be absorbed within. The ball shook for a few moments before flashing green, indicating a successful capture. Everyone stared at it for a moment in complete silence.
"She's not—"
"You say anything about it, and I will blow you up, Saito."
"Understood." Saito clammed up. The Tyrunt, from his perch on the metal table, looked at the two inquisitively before hopping off and into Saito's lap. He nestled into his trainer's lap and sighed contently as the young boy began to pet him. Louise's indignation faded away at the sight and she smiled happily at her friend and his newest capture.
"I'm happy for you, Saito," she admitted. "Did you come up with a name for him, yet?"
Saito looked down at his Tyrunt for a few moments while continuing to pet him. "Yeah, I did. Louise, meet Shogun."
"Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!" Carnegie shouted as he stored everything in his camp in a hurry. Months of planning, thousands of Pokédollars spent, countless hours of drilling and preparation, all for nothing. Just because three children happened across them on a fluke. Throwing papers into suitcases, he ruminated on his failures. It was obvious to him where things had gone wrong. He had trusted the wrong people, people like Nedry who's incompetence kicked off the chain of events.
"When I get my hands on them…" he muttered to himself.
"No, you won't," a voice suddenly announced her presence, catching Carnegie off-guard. He jumped around to see a small group of his operatives glaring at him, and a sense of foreboding fell over him.
"What are you doing? Get back to work, all of you. We have to get out of here before the police arrive, and—"
"The police are the least of your concerns right now, Carnegie," one of them cut him off, pulling out a Pokéball in the process. Carnegie watched them in dismay, now understanding what was transpiring.
"You…traitors…" he growled, reaching towards his belt to pull out his own Pokémon, only to find them not there. Shocked, he looked towards the group to see his Pokéball belt being twirled around one of the traitor's fingers absentmindedly. "You won't get away with this. When the others find out what you're doing, they'll—"
"They'll understand and support us," the third countered. "We watched as you and your incompetence has led this cell to the ground. Failure after failure, loss after loss. We are no closer to achieving global perfection now than we were a year ago, and back then our cell was the second strongest in the entire region! Now look at us! Reduced to barely a handful of operators who couldn't even stop a pair of children!"
"That was not my fault!" Carnegie countered. "I—!"
"Quiet!" the head girl kicked him in the chest, knocking him back into a chair. Carnegie looked back up at them fearfully, causing them to scoff. "Look at you. Even now, you're a sniveling coward who refuses to fight back. We should have done this months ago…"
Carnegie began to sweat profusely as the traitors surrounded him, cutting him off from the tent's lamplight. He heard someone else enter, and when the person snapped her fingers he felt a sense of dread overwhelm him. Seeing CZ at the front of his tent after the traitors parted caused him to sigh in resignation.
"I should have known…" Carnegie glared at his former second-in-command. The woman snapped her fingers and, at once, the trio left outside. CZ stared silently at Carnegie as she pulled up a chair and sat across from him, resting her left foot across her right thigh. The two stared at each other for a long moment before Carnegie began to speak.
"Are you going to kill me?" he asked. CZ remained silent for a moment before shaking her head.
"… No, I won't," she admitted, and Carnegie couldn't help but raise his eyebrow.
"You know, I think this is the first time I've heard you speak since we've met."
"I only speak when it's worth my time. A situation like this is worth my time, you are not," CZ replied. "I admit, the thought of killing you for your utter failure to lead this cell has crossed my mind but doing so would only cause the cell to disintegrate completely. Besides, for as much of a failure at leading, I can't help but admit your logistics skills are superior to my own."
"Thank you for the compliment," Carnegie said through a glare.
"It's the only one you're going to get." CZ leaned back and rested her elbows on her legs, tapping her fingers together. "Here's what's going to happen. Nominally, you will remain the Admin of this cell. But any 'decision' you make will be mine and not yours. You'll be the face and nothing more."
"So, I'm the fall guy?" Carnegie guessed, and CZ nodded. He glared daggers at her before asking, "And if I refuse?"
CZ leaned back against her chair. "You won't."
[~][~]
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the last chapter of Outsiders! Lots happened here today as this arc comes to a close. Saito got himself a new Pokemon, Shogun the Tyrunt, while Louise herself had yet another of her Pokemon evolve (Aile into a Fletchinder) and caught an Absol. We look forward to exploring both of these new characters in the upcoming chapters.
Now, onto the Q&A:
Princess Asuna: I'm happy that you're enjoying the story so much. Now, I won't be answering any spoiler questions, but rest assured that we have plans in motion. Now, Louise rejected the egg because she felt that she, herself, didn't really deserve it. In her mind, she figured that she got herself and her friends into this mess in the first place, putting Saito in the hospital, so she didn't deserve a reward. Hence, she rejected the egg offered to her. Plus, from a writing perspective, there wasn't a need for both to have one. The egg we got is a background object already, no need for two. As for 200 Celsius, that was a deliberate decision. For one, Pokemon is a Japanese franchise and Kalos is based off of France. Both use the metric system, so we consciously chose to use the metric system whenever possible.
Manah Scarlet Shadowsong: Your gut wasn't entirely wrong, but good things happened to her as well.
That's it for today. We hope you guys enjoy and we'll see you all next time.
