Sableye and the wounded Druddigon arrived in the city, walking through the alleys and traveling until they saw a dead end with a dumpster against the wall. The little purple gremlin knocked on the dumpster in a specific pattern, beforing violently gagging as he remembered that some idiot decided that their hiding spot should be behind a dumpster. It was Sableye. He was the idiot.
The dumpster then slowly shifted as a queasy Umbreon pushed it out of the way. She looked worriedly at Druddigon,
"What happened?"
"They've got an Ampharos who can Mega Evolve."
"And it was amazing!" Druddigon panted, fondly remembering the fight from the night prior. Umbreon could only smile, at least someone was having fun. Unlike her.
The three descended down into this hideout. At the bottom was a small room where Bisharp and a squid like pokemon with tentacles sticking out from his head. They were talking about something regarding the town of Kamado. Bisharp seemed to have this glint in his eyes, betraying some venom within him. The three hesitated to say anything, but Malamar noticed them first.
"Ah, so it didn't go very well?" Malamar mocked. Sableye glared at the squid before setting Druddigon down. Malamar then chuckled as he walked towards them with his tentacle legs, stopping next to Umbreon,
"Not even a little peep. Man, that must've been an embarrassment." he laughed. An errant tentacle slithered down towards Umbreon, wrapping around her waist. Umbreon struggled against it, much to Malamar's enjoyment,
"I'm just glad my darling little buttercup didn't get hurt," he cooed. Umbreon freed herself from his grip and snapped,
"Get-Get off me!" Malamar scowled at her and rolled his eyes. However, Malamar wasn't the only one she had to worry about.
"You FAILED!" Bisharp roared, crushing a glass cup in his grip. Sableye cringed, some glass had pelted him in the face. He stood up and said,
"One of them mega evolved. We didn't stand a chance. There was an Infernape and an Ampharos, and a Garchomp." Anger filled Bisharp's eyes.
Ever since this group had gotten itself involved, everything was going wrong. Bisharp's anger directed towards his team members. The only threat was Sceptile and they were taken down by some pathetic good-for-nothings, less than useless. Of course, they couldn't, why the fuck would they? They were a horde of barely competent, braindead, social outcasts. But he couldn't abandon them. He needed meat shields to stall for time. Vengeance would soon be his.
Ampharos was thrown back into the ground. It was his turn to train with Sceptile during one of the group's new training sessions. However, today, Sceptile was focused entirely on him, and he was unrelenting,
"You said you wouldn't counterattack." he whined. Sceptile countered,
"I'm sorry but we need to get you to Mega Evolve again ." Ampharos raised an eyebrow, not understanding what the rush was.
"Please explain to me how this works again," he asked. Sceptile then explained.
"Long story short, I have a Mega Stone, I can do it easily. You unlocked yours through emotion, my partner Blaziken unlocked hers the same way and said that the second time is always the hardest. But once you move past the roadblock, you'll be able to Mega Evolve at will." He explained. Ampharos nodded and stood back up to continue his training.
Infernape yawned and laid down next to a tree as he watch the two train,
"Hey, Aggron , you think that Sceptile is pushing Amp a bit too far?" he asked , wanting to strike up a conversation. Aggron didn't respond. "Aggron?" Infernape called out, slightly worried. He looked towards Aggron and found he was wearing headphones, listening to a song from a CD player.
"Goddamn, you have one of those? They're ancient." Aggron paused his music and turned to Infernape,
"What do you want?"
"I wanna know what you're listening to." Infernape answered. Aggron groaned in annoyance,
"It's just a song that my parents made," he said, which piqued Infernape's interest.
"Oh, they're musicians?" Infernape questioned with a hint of excitement. Aggron glared at Infernape before realizing he never told him about his parents.
"No, they just made it for me when I was a kid." Infernape nodded,
"What's it called?" he asked. Aggron paused for a moment before answering,
"My Child."
"Sounds like a lullaby." Infernape pointed out,
"It is. They used to sing it to me whenever I got nightmares." explained Aggron as he went back to listening to his music. Infernape went back to laying down before his tail began to beat the ground subconsciously, creating a rhythm.
Hydroton is a major city in Nihonera. It is famous for its upscale restaurants, very high upper class population, its beaches and its Koraru district. A section of the city that is entirely underwater about 45 meters deep. It's connected via see-through tubes that give you a 180 degree view of the ocean floor and coral reef. It is so gorgeous that it's become a major tourist attraction.
Inside one of the Koraru districts' many nooks and crannies, a Whimsicott was pinned against the wall by a pair of officers.
"Well, well, well," the larger of the two officers, a Primeape, mocked with sadistic glee, "Look's we got ourselves the Koraru jewel thief." Whimsicott struggled against his grip,
"L-Let me go!" she demanded weakly, fighting against his hands, yet wasn't strong enough. The smaller of the two cops, an Obstagoon licked his lips,
"Well, maybe we will. After you give us a little something." The thief's eyes went wide in horror as she fought even harder against the Primeape, only to be smacked across the face with a ferocious baton. The gorilla slimily told her,
"There ain't nobody that'll come save a worthless criminal like you.
"Hmm-hm-hmm. Hmm-hm-hm-hm-hmm," someone hummed. The cops and the thief looked around to look into the alleyway to see a feminine shape…stretching? Rabbit in appearance with powerful legs, with two large fluffy lop ears on top of her head. The Lopunny groaned as she finished up her stretches.
Rillaboom just smiled at the bunny, dropping Whimsicott and letting Obstagoon grab the thief before she could escape. The big cop cracked his knuckles,
"Lookie here, It's Hydroton's wannabe hero," he mocked sarcastically, "I could crush you like a bug."
"If you wanna fight, you might wanna move. There's a woman in the way," said Lopunny as she stared up at the cop with a grin. Primeape flinched for a moment,
"You mean her? Ha! She's a dirty jewel thief. Undeserving of even-" he was interrupted by Lopunny
"Sorry, missed the part where I care." The gorilla gritted his teeth, dropping his baton and roaring at Lopunny with the fury of a tiger,
"You better respect me. I can put you away for a long time, you bitch!"
"OooOooh, so cool. By the way, you might want to turn on that body cam of yours…" At this point, Primeape lost it. He roared with fury before punching at Lopunny. His fist was enveloped in bright yellow energy: Mega Punch.
"I want you to remember this ass kicking."
With ease, Lopunny dodged the attack. Primeape then threw dozens at her in a manic attack. Every. Single. One. Missed. Lopunny dodged every attack thrown at her with the precision of a surgeon and the grace of a dancer. Meanwhile, Primeape's attacks were as graceful as a pick-up artist at a wake. Obstagoon and Whimsicott both watched in awe, the latter smiling a little bit to see this asshat get humiliated. That man deserved everything. Eventually, Primeape told, no, demanded that Lopunny,
"STOP FUCKING DODGING!" Maliciously obeying his commands, Lopunny froze in place.
Only to catch the cop by the wrist.
Primeape's eyes went wide before he suddenly grabbed his wrist in pain. The resulting snap made the Obstagoon shake and quiver in fright. Whimsicott watched in awe. Just then, ice formed around the ape's now broken wrist as Lopunny, with the giddiest smile on her face, told him,
"And I thought today would be boring."
Lopunny spun around and slammed Primeape with a violent yet calculated roundhouse kick. A shockwave erupted from the impact. The ape slammed into the wall, nearly crashing clean through it. Lopunny punched him into the stomach, almost caving his stomach in. The officer fell onto his knees, desperately trying to gasp for air, when he felt someone sit on his back. He growled with fury as he looked back to see Lopunny, sitting on his back, waving at him.
"What's the matter? Some people would pay for this, you know."
Primeape stood up, throwing her off to her surprise. However, Lopunny quickly caught herself and, to the surprise of the ape, punched at him with her ears. Despite their fluffiness, they hit like two garbage trucks. The impact dazed Obstagoon just enough for her to land the final blow.
She leaped up onto his neck and tightly caught him between her thighs. He was damn near suffocating, the force was so strong. Lopunny then looked down to see a solid ice floor behind the both of them and roared, falling back and slamming Primeape head first into the ice. The frozen floor cracked and shattered from the impact, as did the concrete beneath.
Obstagoon threw Whimsicott onto the floor and ran for the hills. Lopunny gave chase with the jewel thief in tow,
"Come back here, you bastard!" she yelled. As the two ran out into the open, Obstagoon tried to pull a classic villain move and grab a hostage for leverage. His eyes immediately drifted to a mother and her child. Grabbing the baby and sharpening his claws with dark type energy, he screamed in a mixture of desperate defiance and pure terror,
"STAY AWAY! Take one more goddamn step and the kid dies!" Unfortunately for him,
Lopunny wasn't afraid.
She lunged at Obstagoon like a predator, resulting in him completely panicking and dropping the kid. A soft pile of snow protected the baby from any damage. Lopunny landed before jumping again, this time for a spinning roundhouse kick. Upon her foot hitting its mark, he flipped in the air before being forced to the ground with an axe kick.
Lopunny stepped off of the man and sighed. Really? He couldn't even give her a proper fight. Even Primeape was kinda disappointing. She liked crushing her opponent just fine, but an evenly sided duel where it could go either way was just so much fun. The thrill of thinking on her feet and brawling against her foes, making all of these micro decisions, with one slip up potentially bringing about the end, was unparalleled. But perhaps they couldn't all be winners. She handed off the jewel thief to the proper, non-asshat police officers and walked off.
She walked towards a place she had visited occasionally. She didn't want to visit too often in order to stay in fighting shape, but she wanted to relax after the train wreck minutes prior. She arrived at the shop, Bo's and placed her regular order: a medium size cup of cake batter ice cream with sprinkles, marshmallows, gummy bears, and a piece of a waffle cone. She took a seat on a table outside of the shop and stared into the coral reef window. The blue glow from the water washing over her. Colorful fish of all varieties swam in front of her, weaving through the coral like it was nothing. Lopunny even thought she saw a shark slowly drift by.
An excited voice, a child, started asking his father for ice cream. The father obliged and took his son into the ice cream shop. Lopunny caught herself looking at the duo. Frowning, Lopunny watched as the kid eagerly selected his ice cream, but was more focused on the father. She shook her head and focused back on her ice cream before quietly declaring to herself,
"I'll find you guys , I swear."
Gardevoir pulled out a device from her backpack. It was a device that was attached to the wrist. She put it on and a blue screen was projected above the device. Gardevoir went to her contacts and clicked on an all too familiar one. She waited patiently for a response. She finally got her answer to see her mother appear on the screen.
"Oh hey sweetie! What heroic adventures did you get up to today?" Kakei gushed, she appeared to be cleaning the dishes. Gardevoir grinned, she loved talking to her family,
"Nothing today mom, Sceptile has been training Ampharos to achieve Mega Evolution." Another voiced piped up from off camera,
"Is that ma petite fille on the WristOn?" Her father appeared from the left holding a few pots.
"Papa!" bubbled Gardevoir. Two small figures quickly rushed behind and took up the screen.
"BIG SIS!" Ralts and Kirlia yelled in excitement as they saw their hero.
Gardevoir's heart melted upon seeing her little sisters,
"Hey Tsumi, hey, Fushigi." she greeted. The two girls excitedly asked their elder sister with infectious energy,
"Are you beating up the bad guys?!"
"How many people did you save?!"
"One at a time please." Gardevoir interrupted as she tried to get a word in. The two apologized and Gardevoir told them an abridged, more child friendly version of the events of Stalagmiton, removing the part about her injuries. The two girls were bursting with energy,
"Our sister is awesome!" they chanted. Gardevoir's mom took back the WristOn,
"Well then good luck to you, be careful sweetie." she waved.
"Bye guys." Gardevoir then turned off her WristOn.
A rustling noise cut through the air, sending Gardevoir on high alert after the last forest incident. Thankfully it was only Garchomp that came out from the bushes. Garchomp waved at her,
"Who were you talking to?" she asked curiously. Gardevoir told her about the call as the dragon type sat down next to her. However, something struck as odd to Garchomp. There was this strange anxiousness in Gardevoir's voice. It wasn't like she was hiding something, no. This was more akin to understanding some truth that shakes you to your very core, eating away at your conscience, until it consumes you in a well of dread. Something that Garchomp knew well, at least when she thought she knew said truth.
"Is something wrong?" Garchomp asked. Gardevoir shook her head far too quickly,
"Of course not. It's fine, really." she insisted. Now concerned, Garchomp had to say something,
"Gardevoir, if you're worried about something, you can talk to me." she said. Gardevoir's facade then faded away. Her eyebrows furrowed as she curled up tightly. Garchomp then sat down next to the psychic type. The two sat in silence for a minute or two, only the occasional breeze blowing through the leaves.
Finally, after what felt like a eternity, Gardevoir confessed, trying to laugh it off,
"I'm just being paranoid."
"What do you mean?" questioned Garchomp.
"Well," Gardevoir began, "It's just that…you know…What if something goes wrong? It won't, of course, Sceptile can protect us. But I can't help myself from wondering…what if?" Garchomp had figured out where this was coming from fairly quickly. She had nearly fought to the death against Tyranitar. Perhaps that phone call had reminded Gardevoir of something. Garchomp voiced her thoughts to Gardevoir,
"Is it your family?"
Gardevoir visibly reacted from the statement, confirming Garchomp's suspicions. It wasn't that she was scared that Sceptile wouldn't be able to save her.
"Tsumi, Fushigi. They look up to me. I'm a hero to them and when you are a kid, you tend to see your heroes as invincible. So…when your hero is your sister and she gets hurt…" Gardevoir trailed off, unable to continue. Garchomp simply patted her on the shoulder. The dragon type had no words of comfort. Her fear was rightfully justified and what could you possibly say to ease that worry? What could anyone say to make someone forget their feelings and humanity to ignore the pain that their death would cause to their family? The only thing that Garchomp could do was silently comfort her. She wanted to hug Gardevoir, but she didn't want to push against Gardevoir's boundaries. It was wrong to use someone's pain to manipulate them into becoming your lover.
That night, Infernape left the campsite to get some alone time. He turned on his WristOn, an older, less functional and cheaper model. He laid down and looked into its store for one type of app in particular.
"I can't believe I'm actually doing this." he thought to himself as he downloaded a dating app. He started to put his information, "Name: Son Lièyànhóu, age: 25." Infernape whispered out loud. Once he finished, he started looking through his options. There were some nice people there. Some very pretty people. Some he would love to get to know. However, everytime he wanted to send a message to start a conversation. He stopped himself. Dating was a risk. Sometimes people just don't connect but he was worried about being the cause. Shaking his head, he tried to rally himself. He wasn't…he groaned. After all of this time, he still couldn't deny it.
Ampharos dodged another onslaught of attacks from Sceptile. Vine whip after leaf blade all attempted to strike him only to barely miss. Sceptile was not letting up and managed to throw Ampharos back. Ampharos stood back as Sceptile's hands went to his hips. The electric types eyes widened in terror as he recognized this,
"Whoa, this is overkill?"
"If you think it's overkill then dodge." Sceptile remarked as he charged the Solar Quick-Draw. Ampharos was internally debating whether or not to dodge. He decided to try to deflect the blast as the Solar Quick-Draw was unleashed. Ampharos raised his hands to block the beam in vain as he was pushed back across the battlefield.
Ampharos was immediately regretting his decision. He was pushed back further and further back.
"No no no no no! I have to send this back! Coward, no, don't call yourself that anymore. Come on!" Ampharos then yelled in pain as he Mega Evolved and threw the Solar Quick-Draw into the sky. Sceptile smiled as Ampharos looked upon his Mega form. Gliscor then flew into the middle of the battlefield to congratulate Ampharos.
"CONGRATULATIONS, AMPHERNOSE! I HEREBY DECLARE YOU MY PERSONAL MINION!" Sceptile just rolled his eyes and Ampharos smiled.
Lopunny returned to her home, emotionally exhausted. She opened the door as she smelled something nice: food. She walked to see her grandfather cooking something she couldn't quite make out, not that she really cared.
"Hello, Lopunny," he looked at some of her bruises and frowned slightly, "What happened?
"There were some corrupt cops beating on a jewel thief. I swear, there are more of these guys every day," she said. Her grandfather sighed and pointed towards a cabinet,
"Bandages are on the top shelf. If you don't mind me asking, have you ever considered…" he paused, hoping to not come off the wrong way, "Someone in your corner,"
Lopunny raised her eyebrow,
"What do you mean?"
"I'm retired. I've been through a lot and that means I probably won't be around to protect you in a FUBAR scenario
"Grandpa, I can fend for myself," insisted Lopunny.
"I understand, but I don't just mean strength. You can't punch and kick every demon that comes to haunt you. All I hope is that you can find someone, whether it be a friend or something more, that will help fill that void in your heart," said Grandpa. Lopunny looked towards the concerned eyes of her guardian and frowned slightly. It has been getting quite lonely these past few years. Maybe she should start going out to try meeting people. It's probably what she wanted anyway. Lopunny hugged Grandpa before walking up to her room.