Gardevoir and Garchomp had sat down on a bench near the market. For a few moments, they were silent. The scenery around was simply too beautiful to comment on. It meant so much more to just take it in. Garchomp sighed,
"I'm so glad this place wasn't modernized. Not that I don't like modern cities. It's just that this makes this so much more special." Gardevoir nodded along,
"It is truly remarkable," she said, "Though we should have to leave soon. Speaking of which." Gardevoir went into her bank app and saw that her checking account was nearly empty. She was about to add more money but a notification popped on the screen,
"The app is undergoing maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience." Gardevoir sighed in moderate frustration.
"There's a bank over there," pointed out Garchomp. Upon looking, Gardevoir saw that there was indeed a bank nearby. It was one of the larger buildings with two floors. There were no windows on the second floor but plenty on the bottom, showing off the desks where you could make the necessary deposits. With that squared away, Gardevoir and Garchomp walked towards their little detour.
The front had been renovated to be more practical. It was a large open space with benches for people to wait. Rope dividers separated the lines into easily managed lanes. It was a very boring place to be, and the line appeared to be long as well. Garchomp groaned, bracing for the simple hell that she was about to be stuck in for the next hour or so. Gardevoir tried to remain upbeat, but there was a hint of pain in her eyes. No one likes going to the bank. Except for the bankers, but they're getting paid.
As they waited, a couple walked in and stood behind Gardevoir. This wouldn't have mattered but the two were whispering to each other, bickering.
"We can wait until tomorrow." The husband hissed.
"Well, we're already here so shh!" The wife whispered. This back and forth didn't seem to end. Gardevoir didn't mind right now but knew this would eventually become grating. So she turned around and saw two older Zeraora trying not to make eye contact with each other. The man appeared to be dressed for an office job, probably IT.
"Excuse me," said Gardevoir, mercifully breaking up the fight for a moment, "I don't believe we've met. Just call me Gardveoir." With all due respect, she didn't want to share her name with strangers. The man answered hesitantly,
"Wasureru Oya," he said. The wife then elbowed his arm,
"Are you talking to this skank?"
"She's just talking to me, Bojuku."
"You'd better keep it that way," said the wife. Gardevoir was hurt by the comment and glared at 'Bojuku' but decided to put her pride aside.
"So, um, what brings you here?" she asked. Bojuku glared at her but did tell her,
"We're securing a loan for our house. This idiot thinks we need to wait like we haven't waited for a decade." Gardevoir tuned out Wasureru's response and simply told them about her situation.
At that exact moment, a loud bang filled the room. Everyone turned around to see a mysterious man wearing a blank, expressionless helmet with a surprising object raised in the air. There was a messenger bag. He yelled,
"GET ON THE GROUND, NOW!" before swiftly approaching the tellers. Gardevoir immediately flew into action. She soared towards him and raised her hand to fire upon him, but this robber came prepared. In one smooth motion, he pulled a collar from his bag, stepped out of the way, and attached the collar to her neck. Her powers immediately deactivated and she fell onto the floor. Garchomp then ran after the robber and stomped the ground, sending a wave of rock toward the armed man. However, the gunman then grabbed Gardevoir by the scruff of her neck and aimed the weapon right into her cheek.
"Don't move. I don't want to hurt anybody but I will if I have to," said the robber. Gardevoir, despite the fact there was a loaded weapon on her face, was more focused on the robbers voice. Why did he sound so familiar? However, Garchomp couldn't ignore that weapon. Normally, a firearm wouldn't be an issue for a Pokemon. Painful, sure, but it wouldn't leave any lasting damage. This wasn't an ordinary weapon. Her mother had encountered only one of these before and thank Arceus for that. The AV-17. Essentially, it was a shotgun specifically designed to punch through heavy armor at close range. Her mother had specifically tried to keep her out of the trial, but unfortunately, she saw the autopsy photo. She knew what that thing did to people.
(A/N: This is the one and only time a gun is going to appear in Pyrophant. Don't worry. I'll explain at the bottom)
With no choice, Garchomp stopped. The robber then released Gardevoir and approached the dragon-type. He affixed the collar onto her neck, but then whispered something,
"I'm sorry. I need this." Garchomp felt her powers disappear like mist on a sunny day. An anti-type collar.
The robber then returned to the entrance and pressed his hand against the door. It sparked and exploded with electricity, trapping everyone inside and keeping unwanted visitors out. He then yelled at the tellers,
"Get me every dollar from the vault! Please don't do anything dumb!" and they followed his orders, disappearing into the back. He then started to go through the process of zip-typing everyone there, starting with Gardevoir and Garchomp. As the plastic dug into her wrist, Garchomp hissed at the masked criminal,
"You'll never get away with this." Surprisingly, there was no overly confident comeback. No monologue about his intellect. Instead, the robber gulped and silently continued, clearly shaken by what she had said. He only appeared to have two anti-type collars. Garchomp took note of this.
Immediately after being restrained, Gardevoir and Garchomp began to whisper to each other.
"We need to get everyone out of here as soon as we can," said Gardevoir, looking at the robber to make sure she didn't lose track of him.
"But how, the front entrance is blocked. He'll notice any attempt at escape. " said Garchomp carefully. Gardevoir began to plan. That weapon meant that no one would be willing to step up and ight him. Lest they perish horribly. Her mind then quickly became sidetracked. She could swear that this robber was familiar. However, Garchomp soon had a plan of action. They needed a distraction, one that didn't alarm this criminal so much that he'd fire, but just enough to draw him away long enough to sneak around back and find the emergency exit.
Police sirens then ran out from outside. Everyone in the bank looked toward the door and saw the flashing blue and red from the windows, but couldn't get a good view of how many officers were there. Quiety, Garchomp groaned in frustration,
"Looks like someone tripped the silent alarm early."
"Why is that a bad thing?" asked Gardevoir, noting the dragon type was less than amused tone,
"They are trained to press the alarm when the robber is leaving, so we don't get in a situation like this," explained Garchomp. At that point, it clicked. They were now in an active hostage situation.
Evidently, the robber was just as unhappy with this turn of events. He started visibly shaking but shook his head in defiance. Cocking his weapon, the robber then yelled out,
"S-STAY OUT! I-I-I HAVE-" An psychic blade then fired from the outside, breaking through the window and cutting across the criminal's cheek. Gardevoir then heard someone, presumably the police chief, screaming at someone in what sounded like abject fury. In retaliation, the criminal aimed and fired at something that neither woman could see. Garchomp peered up and saw that one of the police cars that had pulled up had its door shredded like swiss cheese. You could see the other side of the street from it, where it even destroyed the asphalt. Luckily, no one was hurt. A simple warning shot, thank Arceus.
However, Gardevoir saw an opportunity. She may not have access to her powers anymore, but she could find a way to send a message to the police. Bankers had pens to write things down. All she needed was time and for the robber not to turn around. Standing up, Gardevoir began to tip tow past the robber as he yelled demands at the police. Although, the cut in the mask gave a small glimpse into who was responsible for this. Blood dripped down the plastic mask, dangerously close to where the eye was and just enough for her to see black…and…yellow fur.
Her heart froze. Zeraora? The one from earlier. That's why his voice was so familiar to her. But why? Why was he here? No, no, no. This had to be a mistake. Surely, she had just confused him for another Zeraora and the one she met just a half hour ago was home or safely away from here. Try as she might, she couldn't move. The fact that just prior, he had nervously asked her for advice and went about his day, only to turn a gun on her frightened her to her very core, like handing a coffee to a crazed killer.
But that left just one question: why? Why was he doing this? Was this what he meant when he said he was doing something to make his parents proud? There had to be so much more to this than just the money, or maybe it was the money? She couldn't help herself,
"Zeraora?" she said. The masked robber then turned around and aimed his weapon at her,
"G-Get down!" he yelled anxiously. However, Gardevoir refused, now growing more confident in spite of the situation.
"Why? Why are you doing this? So many people could get hurt." The robber quivered in place, readying his gun, but not willing to fire. He exposed his identity when he responded,
"This isn't about them! It's about me!"
"But you're going to get yourself hurt," she insisted. However, Zeraora didn't budge,
"I don't care! You don't need to get involved. Just get on the ground, please! I don't wanna hurt anyone." It seemed that he wouldn't listen to reason. So, Gardevoir said something that she hated. As much as she wanted to keep her mouth shut, this needed to be said. Was it harsh, sure felt like it, but he needed to hear it,
"If you did, you wouldn't have come here."
"HIGAISHA!" yelled a ferocious male voice. Zeraora, who was apparently named Higaisha, looked like he had just seen a ghost. He turned around to see the very angry Wasureru standing up with a seething Bojuku right by his side. However, his resolve then steeled. Wasureru then stormed towards his son and berated him severely,
"YOU COME IN HERE AND EMBARRASS ME AND YOUR MOTHER! YOU USELESS SACK OF-"
"SHUT UP!" yelled Higaisha before smacking his own father with the butt of the shotgun. Wasureru's blood splattered onto the floor. Gardevoir gasped in horror at the sight, the full weight of the situation now finally revealing itself. Bojuku's anger quickly evaporated and was replaced with fear. With the unrelenting fury of a blazing inferno, Higaisha screamed at his own father as a man possessed,
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! I DON'T WANNA HEAR IT!" Gardevoir immediately threw herself in front of Wasureru and held out her hands,
"Calm down! Relax! You don't want to do this!"
Garchomp immediately stood up and rushed towards the distracted Higaisha. He was extremely upset and with a loaded weapon. A dangerous combination. She had to stop this before someone got killed. With her immense raw strength, Garchomp ripped off her zip tie and grabbed at her collar, hoping to rip it off. Higaisha was barely able to look before he was tackled to the floor. The impact knocked off his mask.
The two wrestled with the weapon. Higaisha yelled,
"GET OFF ME!" before trying to hit Garchomp with the stock of the gun. He flicked it at her like the arm of a catapult, with the hard plastic smacking against the side of her head. However, Garchomp still held on, although her grip had weakened. This gave Higaisha enough wiggle room to move the barrel towards the roof, but Garchomp grabbed it just before the electric type's finger slipped.
The crack of the gun battered Garchomp's eardrums and left behind a high ringing noise. She grabbed onto her ear but remained calm. Higaisha wasn't as resolute. His eyes went wide as he froze like a deer in headlights. The only thing his body could feeling was the air entering and leaving his body and his own heart trying to rip itself out of his chest. The pulsing grew louder and louder as his eyes drifted towards the smoking barrel of his weapon. Many thoughts rushed through his minds, all barricading him at once like an artillery strike, tearing away at the fortress his conscience had formed and turning it to dust.
He had come within inches of killing someone. But he had to continue. He had to. For he had nothing else. With adrenaline pumping through his veins, he planted his feet on Garchomp's stomach and pushed. Garchomp was thrown onto her back and looked up to see Higaisha aiming the gun at her. She had no choice but surrender. She raised her hands in surrender as Higaisha led her towards a nearby Ariados and ordered him to,
"Use your webs to tie her up! I-I'm not saying this again!" The Ariados simply glared at the electric type but followed orders, preferring to live than have his brains as decoration. With her hands wrapped up in a ball of web, Garchomp knew she couldn't pull that stunt again. She'd have to take a more subtle approach.
Gardevoir sighed with relief, thanking the heavens that Garchomp was okay. However, she could see just how upset Zeraora had just been. He was clearly in a very bad state right now and needed help. However, she then looked toward his parents. Despite what her parents had taught her, she couldn't help but look down upon the older couple. With how aggressive he was towards them, clearly, something had happened between them. Luckily, he had told her about how they never gave him praise for anything. All she had to do was get into the nitty gritty and figure out how she could resolve this.
Higaisha then looked towards Gardevoir and demanded,
"Please, just get on the ground." But Gardevoir stood firm. She simply stood there, locking eyes with him and silently pleading with him. Try as he might, he couldn't be the stone-cold criminal who could do a task this well. He looked towards the bank desk and saw that the staff had filled a briefcase with the money. Had there not been an army of policemen and women outside, he'd've taken it and left. However, that money was rendered worthless until he could find a way out of here. Gardevoir capitalized on this and told him,
"You can't escape. Please, just drop the gun and we can fix this!" For a moment, it seemed, he actually considered the offer. But he was in too deep. Besides, nothing was ever good enough, so this time he'd actually succeed.
He shook off her concerns but didn't tell her to get down. It seemed he knew that there was no point in stopping someone who meant no harm. In the meanwhile, Garchomp started to shuffle toward Ariados. Now that she knew he was there, she could try and create a plan with his skills. However, immediately with no prompting whatsoever, he just goes,
"All I wanted was to get some cash to bet on the game, but this is what I get for making the mistake of getting out of bed today." Noting his cynical attitude, Garchomp did have some concerns about recruiting him for the plan but considering no one else seemed up for the task and quite frankly he wasn't either, Garchomp just really needed backup if Gardevoir was playing negotiator.
"Listen, I need your help," she said, "We need to get everyone out of here. Your webbing might be essential." Ariados simply stared forward, completely disregarding her. She scoffed in frustration and turned to leave, but an idea struck her. He did mention a game. Slowly, she turned around and passively began to talk,
"I hope we aren't here too long. But that Zeraora doesn't seem to want to surrender. Unless the police have a really good plan, then we might be here for days." That seemed to make the spider stir. He looked up into the lights and remarked,
"And I already spent three days without sleep. Fine, I'm in."
"Why were you up for so long?"
"HardQ energy drink. Did you know there is enough caffeine in HardQ to put down a large elephant," he answered in a deadpan voice.
Garchomp then began to look through the rest of the guests. There was some variety. A Nidoking and Nidoqueen. An Electrode. Couple of Swoobats. A very old Oranguru. However, she noticed a black, ghostly hand sneaking money from the locals and the bank tellers. She followed the trail to see something that made her furious. A thief. But it was clear he was very good at pickpocketing, considering he just snatched a woman's purse, two wallets, and a fucking machete in the time it took to finish this sentence.
The ghost hands belonged to what looked to be a living sarcophagus. He had a permanent grin and red eyes, much like Gengar. The Cofagrigus then made eye contact with Garchomp and wiggled his eyebrows. Garchomp and Ariados then moved towards him. To Garchomp's surprise and Ariados' lack thereof, Cofagrigus had already freed himself of his bonds, but stayed here regardless. He then shoved his stolen trinkets into his sarcophagus body. Whispering into their ears, he told the two,
"Little secret here. Was gonna rob this place myself but then this idiot makes this huge scene and I've got free reign. Want someone's debit card, toots?" he asked, offering her someone innocent victim's debit card. Garchomp simply glared at him and responded,
"No!"
"What, you wanna credit card?"
"I don't want any of that! You're stealing from these people."
"So is he," he countered, gesturing to Zeraora, "But unlike him, I have the honor to rob them blind." He then pulled out a single Poken note with writing on it that said,
"Don't react. I am robbing the place." On the other side, it read, "Place 50 dollar bills into a briefcase and hand them over. Don't test me." However, Cofagrigus tore it in half and rested his hands behind his head,
"So what do you want?"
Garchomp wanted to ignore him. He was no different than Zeraora, no matter what he says about honor. A crime is a crime and people deserve punishment for violating the law. But she wasn't stupid. Having someone with experience in a heist would be essential for finding a way out oif this mess. Bank robbers case out the scene to determine the best strategy for robbing the place. Most likely, he knew an exit, and his ghost typing would allow him to sneak around the place. Alas, Garchomp couldn't surrender her morals.
However, it seemed that Ariados either recognized Cofagrigus' potential or just didn't care about his criminal history because he told him,
"We need your help. You have the ability to get everyone out of here in time for the game. The Hydroton Rockets are playing tonight. The only thing I've been looking forward to all week." Cofagrigus frowned slightly,
"You alright, there's a shrink two blocks down if you need help."
"No. Actually, I'm in a really good state mentally."
"You sure, man? I won't judge."
"Yes," said Ariados. Apparently, he was just like this. Cofagrigus then smiled and picked at his teeth,
"I don't know if I can help you. You'll have to make it worth my while." His eye's then gravitated towards Garchomp. Cheekily, he remarked,
"Perhaps a kiss from-"
"No."
"Worth a shot. Anyway, what I actually want is…safety. See I told you what I was doing here today. So I need your word that you're not telling anyone
Ariados only responded with,
"Whatever. I just want to see who wins and cry myself to sleep."
"Are you really sure you're okay?" asked the sarcophagus. Ariados then nodded slowly and answered in that same monotone voice,
"It is a really good form of stress relief." Garchomp couldn't bring herself to agree to these terms. Like hell, she was going to let him go and take even more. However, she then realized she had her own leverage. Cofagrigus was stuck smack in between an Armaldo and Bastiodon. Both of whom, Cofagrigus presumably robbed. She then smirked as she whispered to him,
"Help us, or I'm telling everyone what you've been doing."
Cofagrigus' smirk vanished. Even the mere thought of her doing that made him shiver. He quietly pleaded,
"Come on, you wouldn't do that do a guy now, would ya?"
"Maybe I will," Garchomp said, "Only one way to find out." She then turned to Armaldo and said,
"Hey, sorry to bother you but-"
Cofagrigus then dragged her away from his victims quickly. Reluctantly, he agreed and said,
"Fine, I'll help. Guess someone's feisty."
With two partners, Garchomp felt like she needed one more in order to make her plan work. Ariados had his webbing and his don't-give-a-shit attitude for quickly moving things, and Cofagrigus had his stealth to scout and 'experience' that allowed him to find an exit. Garchomp could handle the heavy lifting so all they needed was someone to cause a distraction. No one seemed up for the task. Technically, anyone could do the job, but they needed a distraction that wouldn't risk Higaisha firing an anti-tank weapon into a Pokemon. However, one quirky volunteer provided them the opportunity they need with a rather unconventional method of diversion.
Meanwhile, while Garchomp was recruiting her team, Gardevoir tried to figure out just what Higaisha's motivation was. His reaction to his own parents led her to try and talk to them. Luckily, it seemed that Higaisha no longer saw her as a threat and let her wander on her own. A mistake that only someone with his lack of experience would make. She saw that he had restrained his own parents and shoved them into an office, Wasureru still bleeding from before. She fell onto her knees in front of them, checked to see that Higaisha was occupied with the bankers, and requested,
"You seemed to know who he is. Could you please tell me?"
"And why should I?" asked Bojuku suspiciously.
"It's none of your business," said Wasureru harshly. However, Bojuku didn't take kindly to having her husband repeat her point,
"I already said that."
"No, you didn't!"
"It's the same thing!"
"Oh my god, woman, who cares?"
Gardevoir groaned. She really was going to have to squeeze an answer out of these two, was she? But with violence out of the question, she had to. Her parents rarely argued, and when they did, it was over in mere minutes. To say she never had to experience something like this was an understatement. However, knowing that this was the environment that Higaisha grew up in gave her more motivation to dig into the trenches and find out the truth. So she took a breather and asked the question again.
"Please. Just answer the question. Lives are at risk and-"
"Oh boo-fucking-hoo," said Bojuku mockingly, "Nobody cared for us when we-"
"Here we go! Expecting me to give a shit about unhelpful jackasses."
"Don't cut me off!"
"I do what I want!" Gardevoir knew she was going nowhere fast. Clearly trying to get them to talk wasn't going to work. She began to wonder how these two even got married in the first place. But then she realized something about what the two said. Nobody caring? Unhelpful? Suddenly, the answer seemed clear. It wasn't exactly a plan that Gardevoir felt comfortable going through with, abusing the current state of their "marriage" to get information, but it seemed to be the only way to find out anything. She sighed and apologized to her own parents. They wouldn't be proud of what she was going to do.
Reluctantly, she said,
"Say…you must be very proud of your son." At that moment, it was like a dam exploded into a million pieces. Wasureru threw his hands into the air,
"Oh, don't even get me started on that failure! I swear to god, I'd rather have syphilis than hear him complain all over again."
"He sees the finances. The situation's fucked. The house is fucked, and he goes, 'Guys, I wanna be an artist!' Are you kidding me!"
"Let me finish!" yelled Wasureru.
"Shut up!" yelled Bojuku. Quickly, Gardevoir brought them back on track,
"Why would being an artist matter? Artists make plenty of-" She was quickly cut off by both parents, in the first instance of them being united about something,
"Quiet!" Gardevoir simply backed away, hoping that Higaisha didn't hear his parents in the upcoming tirade.
"I don't give a flying fuck what some pretentious prick thinks about lines on paper. He needs to get a fucking pair and get a real job" said Bojoku, "All I care about is getting out of this stupid hick town!"
"For the last time, we don't need to rush! We already spent fifteen years in that trailer, what's a few days?"
"No! I'm not going to sit in that trash heap for another moment!"
"You seemed to love sitting in it, you lazy cow!"
"That's rich coming from the bastard that gambled us into this mess!"
"Like you're any better! Mrs. 300000 Poken jacket!"
"Well, we would've been in a better place if that useless sack of wasted-"
"ENOUGH" screamed Gardevoir. Her patience snapped like a twig at just that moment. She immediately covered her mouth after she realized just how loud she was. It seemed that her moment of fury silenced both Wasureru and Bojoku. In fact, they seemed even slightly afraid of her. But now had a full picture of what had happened, and now she had a very possible motive as to why today's events occurred.
(A/N: So, a lot of you are probably very confused as to why I gave a Pokemon a gun. Long story short, I wanted to give this arc a unique set of stakes that Zeraora's normal move set wouldn't allow and that wouldn't also contradict his role as a sympathetic antagonist who was woefully unprepared for this job. If this is too much for you, then I sincerely apologize. For everyone else, rest assured that this will be the only gun to appear in Pyrophant.)