Outsiders Side Story:

Written in the Stars by Firebird Zoom

[~][~]

There were tears in her eyes when she woke up. She didn't remember what her dream was about, but the fact that she had been crying was evidence enough for her. It had been months since she'd last had a dream like that, and she had started to think that they had permanently gone away. As much as it pained her to admit, she couldn't keep dwelling in the past, not even if it was for him. She was Nakagawa Coda, and her men needed her leadership.

Pushing herself out of her bed, Coda began her morning routine, the same pattern she'd followed for the past two years. Her lemongrass hair was brushed free of tangles and allowed to hang free. She smoothed down the front of her dress before affixing her stone heart on her chest. The red gem stood out like a splash of blood on her black dress, in contrast to the golden cross that took up most of its front. Satisfied with her appearance, Coda grabbed an object off a nearby table before exiting her cabin.

It had been raining earlier, so the ground was still somewhat muddy. Coda, however, seemed to take it in stride, playfully hopping from dry spot to dry spot, humming a tune as she went. Stopping in front of a tree, Coda cleared a spot and sat down. Then, she cast her eyes down to the object in her hands. The shades weren't hers, not originally. Unlike the stone heart pressed heavily against her chest, they hadn't even been a gift. Tracing her fingers over the contours of the shades, Coda sighed and put them on, the orange tint of the visor obscuring the golden eyes behind them. Even after all this time, she still felt slightly uneasy wearing them. It didn't help that her parents had taught her that a person's soul could be bound to an object that held great significance to them.

Coda grit her teeth at that thought, pulling out a pair of Pokéballs as she did so. "Mawile! Duosion! Get out here!" she yelled. Maybe it wasn't fair to them to act this way, but she wasn't a child anymore. Superstitions shouldn't hold any sway over her. No, they didn't hold any sway over her. Not anymore. Never again.

'What do you need, Miss Nakagawa?' Duosion said, worry evident in his tone.

Coda shook her head, "Has Ninetales returned yet?"

'He has not entered my range yet, no,' the green Pokémon adopted a thoughtful expression, 'That is strange, however. Even if he did run into trouble, Ninetales should have returned by now.'

Mawile chattered at Duosion, and the Mitosis Pokémon nodded at her before turning back to Coda.

'Mawile suggests that Ninetales may have been pursued, and is taking a roundabout route to try and shake them,' he calmly relayed.

"That's certainly more comforting than the alternative," Coda murmured, "Though I would have preferred that he hadn't been pursued at all."

'I could not agree more, Miss Nakagawa.'

"No use worrying about things I have no control over, I guess," the young woman said, unconsciously placing a hand on her visor as she stood up, "Duosion, go relieve Gothorita, and inform me if you hear anything about Ninetales. Mawile, gather the lieutenants, we need to decide on our next course of action."

Mawile gave a chirp of agreement while Duosion simply nodded before the two went to fulfill their orders.

Coda watched them go, then began making her way to the main hall. She had a long day ahead of her, after all. Besides, it wouldn't do to have her lieutenants wait for her.


The building that served as the compound's main hall was noticeable in a number of ways. Firstly, it was the only building not constructed entirely of rough-hewn logs. Secondly, and most notably, the building had a vivid mural painted on the side. Coda had never really like the painting, but she had left it alone all this time, if only out of respect. But this time was different. This time, Coda's expression darkened as she took in the mural. Her eyes blazed with a dark determination as her eyes darted across the wall, taking it in as if for the first time. Unlike then, the mural didn't elicit wonder and awe in her, but rage. Lysandre, Aliana, Celosia, Mable, Xerosic, Alain, Malva, every single one of their faces served to stoke the flames of her rage further.

Then, she tore her eyes away and turned around to face the men and women of her cell.

"It should be obvious what our first order of business is," Coda said, "You were complaining of low morale among our troops. The source is obvious."

Nobody responded. Coda simply pressed on, "I know that we should have reverence for the deceased. However, I can't help but question my predecessor's decision to adorn the most important structure in our compound with the visages of traitors!"

Some of her lieutenants flinched back at her words, taken aback by her brazen words. Coda ignored them.

"I know you all think I'm just exaggerating," she carried on, "but, think about it. Every single one of them who hasn't outright betrayed us since was present when Lysandre prepared to bring about our perfect world. They failed to protect him and the Ultimate Weapon. While Malva and Alain are guilty of treachery by their own actions, the others are guilty of treachery by inaction.

"Think about it! How must you all feel to wake up every morning to see just who we glorify!? A bunch of traitors and cowards who held the world in their hands, yet failed to change it for the better!"

Her lieutenants looked somewhat worried, but this speech wasn't for them. Her men, the rank-and-file of her cell let out a rousing cheer. Coda couldn't help but smile. She had always been told that men would follow one with conviction, and it seems that he was right. She'd never elicited such a response from her cell before, but, then again, she was just trying to emulate him back then. This time, her conviction was truly her own. Her words were her own. She'd finally taken control.

"We may be weak now," she said, "But it's only a matter of time before we're strong enough to finish what our forebearers started!"

Her cell cheered even louder at this. Coda frowned, not because their reaction was unsatisfactory, no. She frowned because she felt a presence intrude into her mind.

'What is it, Duosion?' she said, half of her mind continuing her rally, 'This had better be important.'

'Ninetales has returned, but he is not alone,' Duosion replied, 'There is a man outside the gates who wishes to speak with you. He claims to be Maxwell Fletcher.'

Coda grit her teeth, 'Tell him he can shove off. His failure of a raid was all over the news. We don't need failures like him weighing us down.'

'From what little I know of him, he does not seem the type to take something like that well, especially not from one younger than he is.'

'Then we beat him up. I doubt that he'd provide much of a challenge without two-thirds of his team.'

'Even still. I will have Ninetales and Mawile meet up with you.'

'Warn me if he tries anything.'

'You do not need to worry, Miss Nakagawa. I will— What is—?' Duosion's mental voice suddenly cut off, and Coda felt her breath hitch.

'Duosion? Duosion?' Coda thought worriedly. However, she couldn't let her unease show.

'Gothorita,' Coda broadcasted, 'Duosion just went silent. Find out what happened.'

'You can count on me, Naki!' Gothorita responded almost instantly.

"Well, well, well," a voice said, pulling Coda out of her mind, "It seems that Kami chose his successor well."

"I already told you, you weren't welcome here, Maxwell," Coda shot back, not even needing to identify the speaker.

"My, my," Maxwell said, "Is that any way to treat a peer, Miss Coda?"

"You stopped being my peer when your raid failed. What did the headline say? 'Seventy Flare Grunts captured in failed raid on Pokémon Daycare.' Besides, I hear you lost more than just men there."

Maxwell's face fell at those words. Almost unconsciously, he began to rub the tattoo on the back of his right hand before pushing up his sleeve to reveal a gem-studded bracer. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this," he said as he placed his hand on a light blue gem.

Coda's mouth was dry. It seemed that she really had kept talking. A pale blue tail brushed past her hand. Coda smiled.

"You underestimate my resolve, Maxwell," she said.

"On the contrary," Maxwell replied, "This is probably the only way I can get you to listen to me."

"Mawile, Ninetales. Vanguard."

"Aqua Jet."

Her cell scattered, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire. Neither combatant cared. That just made their jobs easier.

Ninetales sent a wave of ice towards Maxwell while Mawile began to gather energy in her arm. The man dodged the first with almost contemptuous ease, then took note of the latter and frowned.

"Where's your partner, Maxwell?" Coda sniped at him, "Did you lose her too?"

"Were you any of the other cell leaders, I would simply dismiss your statement as bravado," Maxwell said, his voice dripping with confidence, "but you've never seen her before. To answer your question, she's right here."

Coda's eyes went wide as she registered his words. "MOVE!" she shouted, and she wasn't a moment too soon.

No sooner had her Pokémon moved than a wave of water smashed into their former positions.

"You think quickly," Maxwell said as a large, seal-like Pokémon landed behind him, "But can you keep that up? Aria: Rigid Paradise."

Then, the Pokémon began to sing. Coda watched as orbs of water coalesced out of thin air and fired towards her. Their locations seemed random at first, but, as they started appearing faster and faster, it became clear that they were forming a pattern, one moving too quickly for her to find gaps to exploit.

Shine on, beat of my heart.

'Gothorita,' Coda broadcast, 'Can you create a link between my team and I?'

'I've never done it before, Naki,' she replied, 'but I can try.'

'Do it, please.'

Coda winced as a bolt of pain lanced through her mind.

'I'll never get used to that,' Ninetales drawled.

'Ow… This may just be me, but this is somehow more painful than usual,' Mawile groused.

'It's not just you,' Ninetales muttered, 'It feels like there's a troop of Drillburs going to town on my mind.'

Duosion usually isn't this sloppy.'

'Sorry, guys,' Coda murmured back, 'We can't slow down now.'

'Aye, aye, Captain!' Mawile chirped.

'Shut the Hell up, Mawile,' Ninetales droned, 'You're annoying enough when you aren't in my head.'

'Language, Ninetales,' Coda admonished, 'Follow my lead exactly, we don't have much room for error.'

'Aye, aye, captain,' he sarcastically quipped. As much as she wanted to admonish him, Coda simply didn't have the time.

The move stretched on for what felt like an eternity as Coda furiously directed her team through the waves of bubbles. Which to dodge, which to destroy, and which to simply endure. Then, it was over. Mawile and Ninetales had taken more damage than she would have liked, but things were beginning to turn in her favor.

"I'm sure Kami would be proud of you," Maxwell said, "but pride always cometh before the fall. Primarina, Moon Blast"

At his word, Primarina launched a barrage of silver beams. Mawile quickly used Iron Defense, and braced for the hit, only for Ninetales to generate Ice Shards in front of himself, harmlessly scattering the bolts.

"Try again!" Ninetales taunted, returning fire with a barrage of his own. Entirely sure of her own strength, the Soloist allowed the beams to hit her, not noticing the iridescent sheen a few of them had.

'Wow, I usually don't have this much trouble parsing the extra sensory inputs,' Mawile said, glancing around in confusion, 'Gothi's doing this isn't she?'

'Considering Duosion would have ranted at me when I swore earlier, I'd assume yes.'

Pressing her initiative, Primarina sent an Icy Wind downrange. Ninetales to almost contemptuously canceled it with a Blizzard, the much stronger move continuing downrange. The white fox allowed himself to smirk as the Blizzard smashed into Primarina, but his feeling of triumph quickly faded as the large seal emerged from the ice storm all but unscathed. Unwilling to let her opponent regain control of the battle, Mawile struck out with Astonish, causing Primarina to flinch as Ninetales fired off another barrage of mixed Ice and Aurora Beams. The Deceiver Pokémon capitalized on the momentary stun and caught her in a Vice Grip.

"Liquidation," Maxwell ordered, seemingly bored with the whole proceeding.

A wall of water smashed into Mawile, dislodging her and sending her flying. Ninetales quickly used Ice Beam to break his teammate's fall before retaliating with another barrage. Primarina scoffed as the attacks pinged harmlessly off her, uncaring of the small patches of frost building up at some of the points of impact.

"Am I a joke to you?" Primarina inquired, her voice sounding just as noble and haughty as her appearance suggested.

"YES!" Ninetales immediately snapped back.

"Well then, I'll enjoy taking you down a few pegs."

Making good on her promise, Primarina fired off salvo after salvo of Water Guns. Despite the relative weakness of the individual bolts, the sheer number of attacks more than made up for it. Noticing that the Soloist Pokémon wasn't even bothering to aim her shots, Mawile did the first thing that came to mind: she turtled. Using her secondary jaws as a makeshift spade, she quickly dug herself a shallow foxhole and hid inside it, trusting Iron Defense would reduce the effects of any stray shots that managed to hit her. Lacking an easy way to get into cover, Ninetales hastily formed barricades with Ice Shard and Ice Beam, fully intending to weather the storm.

'Coda,' Ninetales cried in distress, 'I'd prefer if this ended as soon as possible. Fighting someone like this is— Damn!'

Ninetales launched himself into the air with an Ice Shard mere instants before Primarina's Water Pledge created a geyser directly under him. The sudden cessation of the Soloist's incessant assault had tipped him off, but he wasn't fast enough. Unable to block it completely, Ninetales was sent flying and crashed into the ground, the ice he had cocooned himself in shattering on impact. Seeing her friend's plight through Coda's eyes, Mawile leapt out of her hole and rushed over to the crash site, Coda following not far behind.

'Hey, Nines?' Mawile hesitantly asked, 'You okay?'

'Definitely could be better, but it looks like the Aurora Beams did their job,' Ninetales groused as he freed himself from the shattered ice.

Surprised by the lack of damage, Maxwell looked at Primarina and was surprised to see the frost spreading across his partner's body. "Impressive tactics," Maxwell said, "but you're still no closer to beating me. Aria: Old World."

'Not this again,' Mawile cried.

Bullets of water began appearing out of nowhere, forming into serpentine shapes as they surrounded Coda and her team.

"Okay! I'm not dealing with this again!" Ninetales howled, "Fuck this. Fuck you. Fuck this move. And FUCK THIS STUPID FIGHT!"

'Ninetales,' Coda broadcast, 'Just because you don't think it doesn't mean I can't understand— What are you doing?'

In an instant, the air suddenly felt far dryer. For Mawile and Coda, the closest to Ninetales, it was as if every particle of moisture had been ripped out of the air, leaving even their mouths dry. But all that paled in comparison to the wind. It's common knowledge that fluids move from high pressure to low, but the sheer difference in temperature made the normally mundane process far more explosive, knocking both Mawile and Coda back forcefully.

With a howl, Ninetales fired a massive Freeze-Dry off in all directions, the intense pressure bursting out in a wave of dehydrated, supercooled air. Instinctively, Coda covered her face with her arms as the blast hit her. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't quite suppress a hiss of pain as she felt the ice form across her arms. Still, she couldn't deny how effective it had been. The attack had wiped out Primarina's Aria, every one of the bullets had been either torn apart or frozen into starbursts. But Primarina herself didn't seem fazed in the slightest.

'Why didn't you do that earlier?' Mawile demanded shaking off the ice that had accumulated during the attack.

"How the HELL did you tank that!?" Ninetales screamed, ignoring her question.

"Unlike you, I've actually trained for years," Primarina sneered back.

"FUCK YOU!"

'We're not getting anywhere like this,' Coda broadcast.

'Oh, I don't know, I rather enjoy SMASHING MY HEAD AGAINST A BRICK FUCKING WALL!' Ninetales sniped back, 'Of course we're not getting anywhere!'

'You have a plan, Coda?' Mawile asked.

'Just do as I say.'

"I've had just about enough of this, Coda," Maxwell said, disappointment evident in his tone, "Sure, Kami never managed to hold his own against Primarina for this long, but you lack his flare. How do you expect to fill his shoes if you can't even ape a tenth of his charisma?"

"Say his name one more time, I dare you," Coda snarled, clenching her fists.

"You know very well Kami considered me one of his closest friends," Maxwell smirked, "I have every right to say his name."

"I warned you," Coda ground out.

"Please, we both know your threats don't have any teeth."

"People can change."

"Prove it to me then. Primarina, Hydro Cannon."

'You just HAD to taunt him!' Ninetales screamed, 'GET OUT OF THE WAAAAY!'

'No. Use Ice Beam. Strike it head-on!' Coda ordered.

'WHAT!?'

'Do it!' Coda shouted at him, 'We've practiced for something like this, remember?'

'The things I do for you, Coda. I swear you're going to be the death of me someday,' Ninetales sighed as pulses of intense cold radiated from his body, the change in temperature was so rapid that the very air around him began to flash-freeze into crystalline shards. 'If I get pasted, I'm finding some way to haunt you,' Ninetales quipped as the shards began drifting into alignment. With a sigh of resignation, he squared his shoulders and began charging up power within his body.

'You won't, trust me'

'Uhh, Coda,' Mawile hesitantly interjected, 'hasn't—'

'Not now Mawile, just wait for my signal.'

With a roar of barely-contained power, Ninetales and Primarina let loose in the same instant. The Soloist's move flew straight towards Ninetales, fully intending to wipe him away, but the Fox's move didn't. No matter how much power is put into it, Ice Beam would never be as powerful as Hydro Cannon, but outside factors could tip the balance. That was the purpose of the array Ninetales constructed.

The beam hit the first crystal in the array, and split. Each of the smaller beams bounced from crystal to crystal, growing in intensity before merging back into a single beam to meet Primarina's halfway. Unlike with the Freeze-Dry, there was nothing to obscure the interaction between the two moves. It was beautiful, in some terrifying way, to watch the column of water repeatedly freeze and shatter under its own pressure as it traveled ever closer to the resistor's source. Even with all the magnification the beam went through, even with Primarina still weakened by the Aurora Beams, Hydro Cannon was ever so slightly more powerful.

Just like in any system, no matter how closely matched two opposing forces are, the center of mass will accelerate along the path of the larger force. And accelerate the center did.

'Any second now, Coda,' Ninetales pleaded.

'Substitute, now!' Coda commanded, literally waiting until the last second.

'NEVER make me play beam chicken again,' the Fox insisted, seemingly teleporting to Coda's side as Hydro Cannon obliterated his former position.

'No promises, but I don't think that will work a second time,'

'At least give me some warning next time.'

'I will,' Coda reassured him, 'Ninetales hem Primarina in with Ice Shard; Mawile use Thunder Punch and take her out!'

"With pleasure!" Ninetales roared, his voice tearing chunks from the permafrost he'd created.

'I thought you'd never ask, Naki!' Mawile chirped as electricity surged across her arm.

Primarina tanked the shards without flinching, then flawlessly parried Mawile with an Iron Tail of her own. Coda just smiled, everything was going according to plan.

'Mawile, use Covet. Target Maxwell,' Coda broadcast.

'You got it, Boss-lady!'

The Deceiver Pokémon quickly rounded on the Alolan and struck at his wrist. Maxwell was just a hair too slow to avoid the hit.

"Liquidation," he ordered with a frown, something wasn't right here.

Primarina quickly followed the order, slamming into Mawile with a wall of water.

Barely managing to control her flight, Mawile awkwardly slid to a stop in front of Coda. 'Is this what you wanted?'

'It is,' Coda broadcast back, taking a pale blue gem from Mawile, 'Thank you.'

"You lose, Maxwell," she declared, a pale blue aura whipping up around both herself and Ninetales.

"Awww yeah!" Ninetales whooped, every last shard of ice in the courtyard rising at his cry.

Surprised, Maxwell placed his hand on his bracer, immediately finding the empty spot. "Clever girl, but things get real interesting from here on out," he said, removing his hand as both he and Primarina were covered in a blue aura. "Now, If you win, I'll shove off like you asked me to."

"And if you win?" Coda asked.

"How soon can you be in Cyllage?"

[~][~]

Hello, everyone! Here's yet another Outsiders Side Story for your, courtesy of Firebird Zoom. She worked extremely hard on this and she's eager to hear your guys' thoughts.

In case any of you are wondering, this segment takes place during the Battle Chateau arc and is not concurrent with the Ambrette Town arc. It's important to set up another Flare Admin, this one Nakagawa Coda, as well as further the last major Flare activity of this season.

Now, onto the Q&A:

Zander2212: Not exactly, but I do get what you were getting at. Absol in Outsiders is meant to embody Louise's drive to protect those in harm's way. As such, Absol wants in to help prevent said disasters. And yes, Carnegie saying that was a tongue-in-cheek reference. I couldn't help myself.

Saraak: I thought about it, but having a dinosaur eat a guy would cause a lot of ethical issues to be brought up. So I went with Shogun simply not liking how Nedry tastes and leaving him behind. And I'm happy that you liked Shogun's thoughts. It was a lot of fun to write them.

DPSS: Louise's Pokemon evolving first was a deliberate balancing act to make up for the fact that Saito got most of his team first. His will start evolving soon enough, though. We're reaching the point where a lot of evolutions will ensue in short order.

Princess Asuna: I assume you mean Owen? If so, that wasn't necessarily a reference to Jurassic World. I just felt the line worked there.

Now, the next posting will be a mainline episode, and will come in a few weeks. We hope you guys enjoy and let us know your thoughts! See you next time!