Here we go! Let the action continue!
Jack and Diego looked up at the mechanical beast towering over them, it had the general physiology of a normal Dragonite, though it body was a lifeless gun-metal grey. The arms of the machine appeared to have various retractable panels and something within the arms themselves as the color appeared to be a darker shade of grey as opposed to the rest of the body. Bystanders and audience members tried to run out of the arena in a frenzied panic
"Wh-Wh-What is that?!" Julia asked in both awe and terror.
"Did they say 'Team Dark Star'?! Is this what they've been up to?!" Her sister gasped.
"It's the Mecha-Dragonite..." Max answered, his hands trembling a bit as the everyone turned to him and Sandra.
"The what?!" Sinead asked.
"The Mecha-Dragonite." Sandra repeated. "It was one of the planned projects that were in production when we were all in the organization, but when were doing reconnaissance on what the Singularity and the rest of the higher-ups were planning, I wasn't able to get much info on it. We were discovered soon after, so I couldn't get any more information."
"They were building that this whole time?!" Sinead gasped, her face growing pale.
"Well I can't allow them to cause any more damage!" Cynthia exclaimed, getting up from her seat and running past the frantic people in the audience who were trying to run out of the arena. With a graceful leap, the Sinnoh Champion joined the two trainers in the arena, her nieces and their friends joining Cynthia at her side. Julia carried Verity in her arms, the young child trembling in terror as she and Julia tried to keep as far away from the machine as possible.
"What the heck is this?!" Diego exclaimed. "I didn't think these creeps were going to make their move now!"
"Neither did I." Jack hissed. While most of his friends looked at the Mech with apprehension, his glare was firm and full of fury as he shouted up at the monstrosity. "SINGULARITY, I KNOW YOU'RE UP THERE! COME OUT AND FACE US LIKE A MAN!"
The machine's head looked down at the group below. The speakers around the head of the beast crackled back to life.
"HAH! You think you get to call out the boss? Well tough luck, he isn't up here! He just sent us here in this thing to cause as much damage as we could! But he did give us all two specific missions: Get the Plates that you have, and make sure you kids never get in our way again!" The grunt within the cockpit of the machine explained. The Mecha pointed one of its robot fingers at the group, with the digit suddenly began glowing a bright orange...
"HIT THE DECK!" Diego shouted as a burst of plasma erupted out of the machine and exploded onto the field. The trainers ran into the locker rooms of the arena. What was once a quiet space for trainers to prepare now felt like the only safe place from the chaos erupting from the outside as the screams of the once excited audience only seemed to make things more stressful.
Before any word could be said, a ringing came from Cynthia. The Champion reached into her pocket and pulled out a Holo Caster, which turned on to show Looker, looking just as frantic as they all were. It was a bit difficult for everyone to see, but they were able to make out the figures of Anabel and Goff fighting off several Dark Star Grunts.
"Miss Cynthia! I'm sure you're well aware of the disaster going on right now..."
"We all are. The attack started in the middle of one of the tournament battles. I'm currently in one of the arenas, hiding from the giant machine they have."
"Yes, that is our main priority right now. We cannot allow that machine to cause more damage than it already has, but there are far too many Dark Star members for us to head there and stop them!" Looker explained. The sound of chainsaws revving and more people screaming grabbed Looker's attention as a scrambling of more civilians forced him away from Anabel and Goff. "P-People, people, please! If you wish to get away, please do so in an orderly manner!"
Looker turned back to the Holo screen, his hair disheveled from the crowd of people pushing him before he was able to make some space for himself. "They've also brought a platoon of those robotic hounds based off of their robot Mightyena as backup for their field agents! It's also likely that all of their upper ranking members are here as well! They're truly pulling out all the stops to complete their objectives!"
"So what do we do?!" Renée asked.
"This may not be the best idea, but I'm afraid there may not be any better options! I would suggest getting into contact with any friends and allies that you can and try to help as many innocent people escape as you can! I know not all of you are trainers, but try to defeat and apprehend as many Dark Star members as you can! While the leaders are top priority to stop, avoid them if possible, especially if you find yourself alone!"
"What about the Mecha-Dragonite?" Sinead asked.
"We... have little information on the specifications of the machine, but it is our highest priority to stop that machine!" Looker answered.
"I don't know about it's exact strengths and weaknesses..." Max began. "But it's likely that there are at least two people controlling that machine. One in charge of movement and the other in charge of the weapon systems. If we want to stop that mech, you would have to either stop those pilots, or somehow cause enough damage to render the weapons useless and the machine immobile."
"Then we'll hammer it as hard as we can." Jack growled. His brows furrowed and gaze hardened into a wicked scowl. "If it means showing Singularity that we're not people he wants to mess with, I'll do it."
"What?! Jack, that's suicide! You can't take that thing on by yourself!" Julia cried.
"Well if that's what it takes to send that message, then I'll do it!"
"Don't be stupid!" Renée responded, slapping Jack in the face. "We're not going to let you throw your life away like this! We'll find a way to stop all of this and we'll do it together!"
"She's right." Looker said in between guiding civilians to safety before a crashing sound silenced everyone. The stadium itself shook before another loud boom rattled the arena and caused some of the lights to short circuit before they settled. "Try to get to safety and find your bearings first! We can try to figure out our next course of action afterwards!"
The door leading to the battlefield suddenly exploded, destroying a good chunk of the wall and section of the seating section along with it. As the dust flushed through the air, the ominous red glow of the mech's eyes bore down onto the group.
"I don't think finding a safe place is possible anymore..." Diego gulped.
"DID YOU THINK YOU COULD HIDE?!" One of the pilots asked. The shrill eagerness in her voice only caused Jack's anger to grow. The woman began to laugh maniacally as a swarm of Dark Star grunts crowded around the newly blasted open hole a red glare coming from their masks alongside an orange tinted glow and the sounds of multiple saws revving coming from the Fenrir's by their side. The tension and panic was already far too much for young Verity to take, as she had began to cry in fear.
"This can all be over if you surrender and come quietly." One of the masked men said.
"Surrender? After all the damage you and your ilk have caused?" Cynthia asked, her anger now matching that of Jack's. "After you made my daughter cry?! No, I'll see to it that all of you suffer the consequences of your actions and that you all rot behind bars!"
With an icy glare that was as cold as a Galarian Articuno, Cynthia reached for her belt and grabbed two of her pokeballs, sending them out and revealing two of her strongest pokemon: Lucario and Garchomp.
"Girls, get my daughter to safety! I don't want her to get hurt, or worse! Please... Please!"
"Aunt Cynthia..." Julia choked out as Renée gulped in fear at the sheer desperation in the Champion's voice.
"Mommy..." Verity cried out as Renée shook Julia's arm in a panic.
"Come on! We need to move!" She called out.
"The rest of you, please go with them!" Cynthia added. "I don't want to see any member of my family get hurt out here!"
"I'm staying here!" Jack assured, sending out his Gallade again. "I'm not going to run away from these Dark Star freaks!"
"And I'm not just gonna abandon my best friend!" Diego added. "If he's staying, I will, too!"
"Your pokemon are already heavily worn down from your battle!" Ray exclaimed. "You'll get crushed out there!"
Without a word, Pandora hurried to Diego's side and handed him a white box with a pokeball symbol surrounding it.
"Good luck..." The shy girl said before hugging Diego and hurrying away.
"A med-kit?" Jack asked.
"And it looks like there's enough stuff in here to get both of our teams back into action." Diego nodded.
"Then I suppose there's really no point in trying to talk you two out of this..." Cynthia sighed. "We'll have to fight off as many enemies as we can before reinforcements arrive! The rest of you, hurry to safety! Go!"
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Ryan replied as he and the others ran away from the grunts. Julia tried her best to cover Verity's body, specifically her head, from anything that might come their way.
"Not so fast!" Another TDS grunt called out from the pack. "Don't let them get away!"
Several of the Fenrirs dashed past Cynthia and the two boys much faster than they were able to react. The robot hounds followed the other trainers out of the arena, causing the three that stayed to panic even more.
"If any of those children end up injured because of those beasts, I'll make you regret every life decision you ever made!" Cynthia hissed.
"That's if they're still able to feel anything after I'm done with them!" Jack added.
"Ooh, looks like they're feeling feisty!" A third grunt chuckled. "Well, come on then! Let's see how tough the Sinnoh Champ really is!"
"These kids are the ones the admins and the boss warned us about, right?" Another inquired. "Let's see if they're really all that!"
"You tell your boss that once I'm done with you clowns, I'm coming for him next!" Jack assured.
Singularity stood on the ledge of a hill overlooking the chaos unfolding at the Indigo Plateau, his expression remaining stoic and emotionless before he turned and faced Andromeda, Sirius, Typhoon, Meridia, and several grunts standing behind him, waiting for further instruction. Among those grunts was Agent Ellis, still in his disguise.
"Despite our plan moving ahead of schedule, things seem to be going well. We've stoked enough chaos for us to have our chance to find those Plates. I'm counting on you all to be the ones to locate and retrieve them."
"Understood." Typhoon grinned, his fellow admins nodding in affirmation.
"Good." The boss nodded. "I've also asked you for another reason. There's something that needs to be done and another thing I need to find out." The villain's eyes zipped over to Ellis, who was met by a hard bash in the back of his head by Andromeda, wielding a wooden bat. Typhoon approached the man and grabbed him by the neck before removing his mask. Ellis barely had time to open his eyes before he felt his arms get forced behind his back and bound together by a rope, courtesy of the Empress of TDS, who was sporting her own wicked grin. Meridia, just like Singularity, remained eerily calm while Sirius looked rather apprehensive behind his mask as the two watched Andromeda tie up the man's ankles.
Ellis was left in a kneeling position, with him at Singularity's mercy.
"How much information was smuggled back to your agency?" The boss asked.
"I'm not telling you anything!" Ellis growled, his head still throbbing from the sneak attack.
"Hmph, that's to be expected, but a shame nonetheless. Now you'll see how we deal with informants!" Singularity shook his head before signaling to Andromeda. The wicked woman sauntered over to the front of the agent and cackled a bit before hitting Ellis in the face with her bat. The poor man barely had time to recover before Typhoon returned him to his kneeling position.
"If you're willing to talk then we can consider letting you live." Andromeda remarked.
"Like I said before, I'm not telling you anything about what the Agency knows!" Ellis hissed after spitting out blood and a tooth that had been knocked out. "But I will say this; my boss and associates are strong enough to deal with whatever you throw at them. Backup is on the way soon, too, so you won't have any time to finish your mission! But even ignoring my team, the kids they've recruited are all strong in their own right. Strong enough to even fight back against your organization. I know your history, Paraeah, and if you were pissed about one kid taking down Team Rocket and Team Galactic, then I know you're quaking in your boots about an entire group of kids coming to take you down! You've already gotten one riled up enough that he's after you specifically! Face it, Paraeah, your time is coming!"
"Tch! Kill him!" Singularity spat.
"With pleasure...!" Andromeda smiled as she walked behind Ellis, pulling out a pistol from a holster on her hip and aiming it at the back of his head. Despite the screams and explosions coming from the Plateau, all felt quiet on that hill when...
BANG!
"Where is the Plate, old man!"
King Larose struggled against the Dark Star grunt that held him off the ground by his robe collar.
"Unhand me, you... you vile scoundrel!" The king spat.
"If you hand over the Plate then-"
The grunt was unable to utter another word before Christopher practically tore his hand away form the king and threw the man into one of the walls of the castle.
"I shall not allow anyone to threaten, let alone lay their hands on, any member of the royal family!" The butler exclaimed proudly. He had taken off his dress shirt, revealing a shocking amount of muscle as he and the castle guards did their best to fight off the grunts attacking the palace.
"Your Majesty!" Christopher continued. "I shall have some of the guards escort you and the queen to a more secure location within the castle. I apologize for not being able to do so myself, but I cannot let this heinous act go unpunished."
The queen hurried over to her husband, clearly frightened but with two guards by her side.
"You are a fine worker." The king replied. "No, a fine man, Christopher. Please remain safe."
"Oh, dear, what is happening?!" The queen cried.
"I wish I knew, darling..."
From the base of Mt. Moon, Bella watched the chaos unfolding at the castle and the arenas from news helicopters arriving on scene, keeping a safe distance away in order to avoid attacks from the giant mech.
"What you're watching now is some of the chaos unfolding live from Indigo Plateau. The terrorist group known as 'Team Dark Star' has appeared to launch an attack during the semifinal round of the Indigo League Tournament. Their motives at the moment remain unknown but many innocents are scrambling to any safe place they are able to get to. Law enforcement and medical personnel are racing to minimize the damage and ensure the safety of the audience, trainers, league staff and other innocents. This attack also goes as far as the castle of the royal family, who we have also not been able to get in touch with at this time. From what we're able to see, some of Team Dark Star's arsenal appears to be robotic canines that have traits that resemble canine pokemon such as Mightyena, Arcanine, and Granbull, but we do not have confirmation at this time. Their most apparent piece of weaponry is what can only be described as a mechanical Dragonite that is standing within one of the arenas and has already caused considerable damage. While we cannot get any visual confirmation without risking the safety of our airborne news team covering this incident, we've received calls from civilians on the scene that Cynthia, the current Champion of the Sinnoh region, is already on scene and helping combat this terrorist group."
The young woman's heart sank at the sight of the terror on the screen, the mention of the royal family being in danger only made her mood dampen even more as she stood up from where she sat and hurried outside. The deep orange glow of the sky was already beginning to take on a violet hue as the first stars of the night began to creep out. Wiping away the tears that were beginning to form in her eyes, Bella began to sing as loudly as she could.
Almost immediately, several species of pokemon ran over to her, ranging from the young Pidgeys, Mankeys, Jigglypuffs and others that were typically found along the regular path. However, some noticeably stronger pokemon also came from the deeper parts of the mountain and woodlands, beckoned by her call.
Among these stronger pokemon were wild Tauros, Stoutland, Scyther, Pidgeot, Crobat, Clefable, Kadabra, Alakazam, Rhydon, Nidoqueen and Nidoking.
"Please, friends..." Bella began, no longer able to hold back her sobs. "My friends and family are in danger! I know some of you are distrustful or fearful of humans, but I must ask you this once to help me!"
The princess sank to her knees and bowed her head to the wild pokemon, unsure of how they would react. It wasn't until one of the wild Clefable waddled over to her and offered the princess a hand did the woman smile, taking the hand and giving the fairy pokemon a hug.
"Thank you! Thank you all so much! We cannot afford to waste time, we need to hurry!"
With a squawk, one of the Pidgeot offered to give Bella a ride while some of the Alakazam used their Psychic power to levitate some of the slower pokemon. As the platoon of pokemon sped off through the air in the direction of the Indigo Plateau, a curious sight caught the princess' eye. Speeding up a bit, Bella was able to see two more figured flying in the same direction she was. It took a moment, but she identified the figures as two people flying on an Aerodactyl and a Togekiss respectively.
"Hey, you two... aren't you the gym leaders of Viridian City and Pewter City?" Bella asked, looking to the gym leaders, Forest and Luna curiously.
"Yeah." Forest nodded. "What are you doing? Don't you know it's too dangerous for any normal person to go to the Plateau right now?"
"I'm well aware." Bella affirmed. "But I cannot stay back! My family are there right now, and while I may not be on the best terms with them, I refuse to let them get hurt!"
"Well, both of us have family there, too!" The Pewter gym leader remarked, his gaze shifting to the arena, now speeding into their sights.
"I'm afraid there is no stopping her, Forest." Luna replied. "The tea leaves foretold that a great danger was to come and this is what it was referring to. We are going to need all of the backup that we can get."
"Erg, alright..." Forest replied. "Just... stay safe, alright? My brother may be a doctor, but he can't heal all of the injured on his own, especially if too many people get hurt."
"I would like to say that there is nothing to worry about." Luna replied. "My two sisters are also there and the three of us are more than capable of fending for ourselves. But... there is a more personal issue that we're worried about with this mess."
"I'll try to have some of the pokemon I have here assist the both of you." Bella assured. "I just hope that we can make sure the worst doesn't happen..."
Bella called for the wild pokemon to split into two groups, one following her and one following the gym leaders before the three humans split up into their respective destinations.
The twins lead the way back to the hotel while Verity clung to Julia as if the child's life depended on it, which it very well could have with the sheer number of trainers doing their hardest to fight back against Team Dark Star's goons and the Fenrir's slashing anything not wearing the masks of their masters.
"Oh man look at all of this!" Ryan called out. "They're everywhere!"
"We need to keep moving, if we can at least get inside somewhere for a minute, maybe we can- AH!"
A Fenrir leaped in front of Sinead before she could finish what she wanted to say. The machine revved its chainsaw at her before a stream of fire blasted it away.
"I've already had enough regrets with these guys before..." Ryan said, his Magmortar standing by his side. "I'm not going to let them hurting my friends be another one of those regrets!"
"Stone Edge!" A voice called out. Before any of the trainers knew it, a barrage of razor sharp stones blasted the area by their feet, courtesy of another grunt with their Solrock. "Damn it, I missed!"
"Oh man, we have to fight our way through!" Simon bemoaned.
"Don't worry! If we stick together then we can do this!" Ray assured as he brought out his Poliwrath.
"Is that so?" Another grunt asked as Renée and Pandora fought a pair of Fenrir. "Well then I guess we'll have to make sure none of you can fight together! Skuntank, use Smoke Screen!"
The Skunk pokemon cackled before turning its backside to the heroes, unleashing a thick black cloud of foul smelling smoke. With the gas stinging their eyes and noses, the trainers all scattered, unknowingly going in different directions. While nobody was left when the smoke cleared, each of the Dark Star members were able to follow where most of the teens went...
Pandora hacked and coughed as she ran from the foul cloud. While her sense of smell eventually stopped being assaulted, the amount of dirt and smoke in the air from the explosions did little to help her catch her breath. As she looked around, her heart sank when she realized she was alone. The number of panicking people around her coupled by the chaos and continuous explosions and battles only made her already high level of anxiety much worse.
The world soon became a blur to her as everything seemed to speed by her. All the colors blended together in a speeding rush that mixed in with the cacophony of sounds blaring around her. It was all so much for her to take. She started to hyperventilate as she reached for her trusty cube, only to realize that it was completely broken.
Pandora sank to her knees, unsure of what to do now as everything seemed to be happening so fast. Eventually she took a sharp breath as she felt someone grab her by her shoulders.
"Pandora! Pandora, are you alright?"
The young woman's vision came back to her as she saw Styles looking at her with worry painted on his face.
"Just try to take slow, deep breaths and think about happy thoughts." Styles said. "Think... Think about Diego! You like him, right?"
The mention of her crush made her blush, but it did succeed in calming Pandora down, at least a little bit.
"Alright..." Styles continued. "I know things are a freaking mess right now, but I need you to listen carefully, alright?" Pandora nodded, her attention now focused solely on Styles. "We're going to try and find Professor Goff, or at least the other members of the International Police, should know what to do right now. But I need you to stick by me no matter what!"
Pandora nodded fervently as she slowly rose back to her feet. Styles smiled a bit as the two were just about to move until...
"Oh! Do my eyes deceive me? Is that Styles Kaizu, my little Adonis?"
The voice instantly made the boy freeze with a look of utter disgust on his face as he turned to the direction of the voice. Styles couldn't help but shudder and even Pandora felt creeped out by the sight of Tsar Agus standing before them, a sultry look in his eyes as he looked at Styles. His gaze turned to a noticeable distaste when he looked at Pandora.
"Ugh, I see you're with another girl."
"Blech! Of course you had to be here..." Styles gagged.
"Oh, but of course! I would never miss this for the world! Especially since I get to see you my little Styles!"
"My gosh, do you ever stop being creepy?!"
Snow managed to get the horrible stench away from her, but her eyes were still watering from the smoke as she ran. A part of her was thankful that she hadn't run into anyone or anything. However, once she got her vision back, she had noticed something that made her blood run cold: it was quiet around her. She could still hear screaming and action further away from her but the immediate area around her was nearly silent as a haze of dust swirled around her. From within the brown-grey mist, a red light flared on, centering right onto Snow. The girl felt a cold chill run down her spine as she watched the red light glow brighter and larger until...
"Chronal Strike!"
Before Snow could even blink, the RM leaped right towards her with its knife-like claws ready to strike. The girl was barely able to jump away from the attack, albeit at the cost of her leg getting a long cut along her shin. It wasn't deep, but it did manage to cause bleeding.
"Gah!" Snow hissed in pain as her Blastoise sent itself out of her pokeball with a a furious roar.
"The Chronal Strike uses the Chronal Accelerator that this combat model has been equipped with, and yet the designated target was able to evade the attack. Commencing battle!"
"You... You're the Robot Mightyena!" Snow said, getting back to her feet despite cringing a bit from the pain as her Blastoise readied its cannons to attack.
"Correct. Now, as per battle protocol, designated by Dark Star Admin Typhoon, all communication with enemy shall cease."
"Guess that means I've got no choice but to fight then..." Snow grumbled. "Ready, Blastoise?"
The Shellfish pokemon growled while getting down on all fours as if trying to concentrate its aim...
"Please, please, please...!" Julia continuously repeated to herself as she continued running towards the direction of the hotel. Thankfully the effects of the smokescreen wearing off for her, though Verity was still coughing a bit.
"Yes! There it is!" The younger twin sighed in relief as she ran past the doors of the hotel, a crowd of people scrambling to block the doors and windows while others barricaded themselves into the rooms of the first floor and basement.
"People, please find a safe place and remain calm!" An Officer Jenny ordered, waving people to the basement stairs as orderly as she could. "We're doing all that we can to ensure your safety and stop this sudden attack!"
"Officer Jenny!" Julia cried out, hurrying over to the woman and showing her the child. "I know this may be a bit much to ask, but can you keep watch over my baby cousin?"
"Um, sure, but you're not planning on going back out there, are you? It's unsafe!"
"I know... But I have other friends that could be in danger! I was in this tournament, too, so I'm no pushover!"
"Well we'll just see about that, hehehe!" A distinctly male voice cackled. Julia's eyes widened when she recognized the voice as one she had not heard in quite some time. As she turned around, the pit in her stomach only deepened upon seeing Typhoon standing in the center of the hotel's lobby. Both Julia and Jenny were thankful that the room was now empty of civilians.
"Officer, quick, get my cousin out of here!" Julia shouted. With an affirmative nod, the police officer hurried down the staircase with the young girl in her arms, making sure to close the door behind her.
"Well, look at you!" The man snickered. "Ordering an officer like that!"
"I'm not going to let you anywhere near her!"
"Hah, I don't care about the kid. You've spent time with those agents, so by now you should know that we're after those Plates. BUT, if you're going to be in my way..." Typhoon explained, sending out a Scizor and a Magnezone. "...Then I need to take you out. Paying you back for beating me at our old HQ is just icing on the cake. Don't think I forgot about that!"
"Hmph, well I've only gotten stronger since then!" Julia huffed, sending out her Walrein and Dragonair.
"So have I..."
"Hello... Verity? Sis?... Anyone?" Renée called out, only to be met with the sound of people still running to find a place to hide.
'At least there are less people out here.' She thought to herself. 'Hopefully that means people are getting to safety...'
"Hmph, well isn't this a sight for sore eyes." A man called out. It took a moment before she fully recognized him, but she narrowed her eyes and readied one of her pokeballs.
"You're one of those Dark Star admin guys! You're Sirius, right?"
"Good to see that you remember me." The man said. "Look, I don't want to fight you."
"Pfft, yeah right! You guys are in the middle of destroying the stadium and hurting people! You've already started the fight!" Renée hissed, sending out her Arcanine and Ampharos. Sirius sighed as he sent out his Steelix and Gliscor.
"Look, kid, I have my own reasons for doing what I do. If you've talked to those International Police folk then you'd know that."
"I have, but I still can't let you keep hurting people!"
Sirius remained quiet as Renée continued to glare daggers into him and the four pokemon prepared themselves for a fight.
Meridia casually sauntered through the empty paths of that once held the tents and kiosks that people could enjoy between matches. Despite the chaotic sight of seeing some of the tents on fire, smoke rising in the air, the kiosks in ruins and the moon and stars hanging ominously in the sky, the nun looked strangely at peace.
"Hey!"
The silence was broken by a voice calling out to the Dark Star admin, who turned around and looked at the source of the voice as if she was expecting them.
"Ah, Roxie, it's been such a long time, dear." Meridia said, her tone as calm as her demeanor despite the stoic expression on her face contrasting the look of fury on the face of the Virbank Gym Leader. Both women kept their eyes locked on each other when Luna flew in on her Togekiss and landed by Roxie.
"Sister, there you are!" She said before turning to Meridia. "I see you've found Mother."
"Ah, Luna, I see you've arrived as well. Tell me, is Margaret with you?" Meridia asked, only to be answered by what sounded like a gunshot and a piece of the gravel path in front of her breaking. The three women turned to look in the direction the bullet came from and saw a glint from the scope of the gun within the official League Building of the Indigo Plateau. The three couldn't see her due to the distance, but the shooter was another young woman wearing a black and white furisode that matched the woman's pale skin and stark white hair tied with black ribbons. Her black eye shadow and lipstick complemented her appearance. Even the sniper rifle she held in her hands was painted black and white as she continued to stare at Meridia through her scope.
"Skarmory, Magnezone, back them up." The woman said, allowing the two airborne pokemon to descend down to her sisters.
"Hmph, I suppose the family's all here then." Meridia commented.
"Oh don't give us that!" Roxie hissed. "You abandoned all of us out of nowhere years ago! Do you know what that did to us?! What that did to Dad?!"
"Don't get things twisted, girls." Meridia replied. "I do care about you and your father. But I had an issue that I couldn't allow to fester any longer."
"This is not a healthy way of dealing with the issue you're facing, Mother!" Luna yelled, looking to be holding back tears. "It's not too late to turn this all around! It's never too late!"
"On the contrary, it's already far too late to turn back now." Meridia sighed, sending out her Mawile, Hatterene, Nidoqueen and Mr. Rime. "Very well, girls. I hope you'll show me just how much you've grown and how you've earned the positions you have now."
"Shade!"
The young man was just about to order his Luxray to attack when he noticed it was Celeste who called out to him. Upon seeing her, the boy relaxed just a little bit.
"Celeste, good to see you're still kicking." He said.
"Hah! As if a few Dark Star creeps could keep me down!" The girl huffed pridefully. "But it's strange, the few that were around here seem to have either scattered. I heard a few mention to act sharp because 'she' was nearby."
"'She'?" Shade repeated. "Do they mean Meridia? She's most likely part of this mess, too. Wherever she is, we have to beat her just like the rest!"
"Is that so?" A woman's voice called from the dusty mist. The woman stepped out, revealing herself to be Andromeda, sporting a new black and red suit alongside her mask. "Well, I believe I am the woman they've been referring to." The two trainers prepared themselves as they watched Andromeda send out a Flygon and Dragapult.
"However, while we are fully aware that you know about most of us, we also know a lot about you. Your names are Celeste and Shade, correct?"
The two remained silent, but the shock in their eyes told the woman everything she needed to know.
"Hehehe, you two truly have no idea what you're up against!"
"So you know our names, big whoop!" Shade replied, steeling his nerves as best as he could. "We still won't let you win!"
"Oh you poor, deluded children." Andromeda sighed. "Go!" She exclaimed, pointing forward as her dragons swooped towards the two trainers...
Yuki and Aiden had found each other not too far from the 2nd stadium and had been trying to fend off a group of grunts and Fenrir on their own. One of the robotic beasts lunged at Aiden before Yuki snapped into action.
"Not so fast!" She called out. "Ember, hit them with a Crossfire Hurricane!"
Yuki's Ninetales let out a wail as her tails extended before the fire pokemon unleashed a blast of flames that took the shape of an ankh before splitting into several smaller flames of the same shape. Each flaming ankh burned into the Fenrir, the momentum blasting it away from Aiden and leaving it to spark for a moment before exploding.
"Nice one!" Aiden called out.
"Like it? We've been practicing for our next contest!" The coordinator winked. The moment was short lived though, as another group of Dark Star grunts charged at them. One of the grunts looked to be much less energetic as he scanned the area around him. All the people crying, desperately trying to get to safety. The trainers that were in a panic just trying to figure out what was happening. All of the pokemon looked just as frightened as their trainers did. It was all so much to take in that the grunt nearly sank to his knees. Nobody could see behind his mask, but the boy in the Dark Star uniform felt like he was about to start tearing up.
"Wild Charge!"
The grunt was caught off guard by the sudden attack and would have been hit hard had it not been for his Haxorus popping out of his pokeball to block the attack. The grunt's Dusknoir summoning itself right after when Yuki and Aiden ran up to him. Upon seeing the two pokemon, Yuki's eyes widened.
"Hmph, another Dark Star creep here to cause trouble! Well you're not beating us!" Aiden proclaimed.
"Wait!" Yuki called out. "I... I think we've seen this guy before!"
Anabel and Goff ran around the Plateau, fending off as many enemies as they could and helping as many civilians as possible get to safety. Unfortunately, they had lost sight of Looker a little while ago.
"Are you certain we don't need to look for him?" Goff asked.
"Looker may only be armed with a Toxicroak, but he is more than capable as both an officer and a fighter in his own right." Anabel answered. "Our main priority should be finding and apprehending Singularity. I'm certain he's here coordinating this attack, and if we take him down, the others will go down with him!"
"Well, if he is here, all we need to do is find him. Ellis is likely part of this attack as well, why hasn't he contacted us?!"
"It's possible they're using something to jam communications. Remember, Ellis wasn't equipped with a Holo Caster or PokeGear when he was assigned this mission."
"Right." Goff sighed, worry etched on his face for his friend.
The two continued running until they came to a sudden halt at the edge of a cliff overlooking Tohjo Falls with Silver Village and Mt. Silver not too far off in the distance. Such a sight would typically be a thing of beauty, but for the two agents, it only served to surge their anxiety to its maximum as they came face to face with Singularity himself, his back turned to the agents as he looked out into the distance
"Freeze!" Anabel shouted. "Malakai Paraeah, under the order of the International Police, you are under arrest for crimes against humanity and pokemon alike!"
The Team Dark Star boss simply turned around and glanced at the two through his mask.
"The International Police? Quite honestly, I thought you would have tried to make your move sooner. For you to address me by my real name means that your mole has given you about as much information as I had expected. With that being the case, it's likely you also know what I look like, so I suppose this mask is unnecessary." The man said, removing his mask and allowing the two to see his true face.
He looked different from when he showed himself to Jack so long ago. He had grown his hair out, revealing it to be more wild as it sprawled down to his shoulders. Typically, it was dark with a bit of a greenish tint to it, but it looked nearly pitch black in the dark of night. He had grown out a goatee underneath his lower lip that stretched around to his chin. His eyes were a lighter shade of green, though the life and energy a normal person would have had was absent, instead replaced with an apathetic lifelessness that bore down onto the agents.
"But, arresting me? Hah! You fools are outnumbered and outgunned. We will find those plates, finish you off and complete our objective."
"Not a chance!" Goff responded as the two sent out an Alakazam and a Duraludon. "We will stop you, here and now! You've caused far too much harm to be allowed to roam free! Your numbers mean nothing when there are strong trainers all over the world that have congregated here to fight, they won't allow your group to cause so much chaos! Don't forget, amongst those trainers are those that know about you and your misdeeds, those trainers are more than ready and more than capable of fighting back against you!"
"Ah yes, your students. If I recall correctly, one of them is Jack. I've crossed swords with him before. I allowed him to win simply as a means of testing my creations."
"And he successfully defeated both of them." Anabel remarked. "He's only grown stronger since then, grown more capable."
"Capable, you say?" Paraeah scoffed with a smirk. "I find that hard to believe."
"Not just capable either." Goff continued. "Angry. Perhaps it's from your organization framing him to be a wanted criminal, maybe it's what you did to his friends, it could be the knowledge of your criminal history and your current crimes. It could even be a combination of all three, but one thing is for certain..."
Jack, Diego and Cynthia continued battling the Mecha Dragonite and swarm of grunts alongside it. Diego was riding on his Charizard, facing off against other grunts who had flying pokemon as he occasionally landed in the stands to be near his other pokemon. Cynthia remained on the perimeter of the battlefield, fending off the grunts while taking note of how some seemed to be armed with the Galarian fossil pokemon of Dracozolt, Dracovish, Arctozolt and Arctovish. Despite her surprise at seeing those specific pokemon, she appeared to be easily fending off the enemies and even forcing them out of the arena.
"You've managed to light such a fire of fury in that boy that he's made a vow to go after you personally!"
Jack ordered his Venusaur to destroy an oncoming rocket the Mecha had sent using Sludge Bomb before ordering his Gallade to hack and slash at the legs of the machine using Psycho Cut. The attacks left scratches on the metal, but didn't appear to be doing much else. Despite it's rather clunky appearance, the machine moved much faster than it let on as it quickly motioned to swipe its giant tail at the boy and his pokemon, who were just able to avoid it with a dive before the tail crashed into the wall of the arena. As the Mecha readjusted itself, Jack hid behind a stray piece of rubble larger than himself, peeking past it to get a look at the machine head on.
"HAHAHAHAHA, RUN LITTLE MAN, RUN!" The pilot cackled.
Seems like everyone is in a rough spot right now. But the action has just begun! Anyone who's anyone is on their way to join this full-scale war! Stay tuned because in the next chapter we'll see some of these encounters flesh out a bit more and we'll see some more surprises!