Chapter 78 – The Zeraora Guild
From one humiliation to another, Charizard thought as he reflected on their current predicament. He, Ashachu, Dragonite and Geyser once again found themselves restrained and 'on display,' this time bound by their paw/claws and foot paws/claws to large X shaped frames, in a spreadeagle position.
The X-frame was made of a solid steel, cold against Charizard's scales and left little freedom of movement. He could writhe and squirm but not thrash. The only part of his body he could move relatively freely was his neck and head. His tail had been secured to the floor, held in place by ties that prevented him moving it at all.
At least, this time, there was no muzzle…
The four X-frames were positioned in the middle of a large round chamber, placed before a large dais, upon which were situated a long table with five chairs behind it. Charizard looked over his shoulder at the seven Genesect, lined up against the back wall, not moving.
The Pokémon who had attacked and subdued them and put them in their places on these infernal devices. Anger and annoyance boiled within him, and he thought about flaming them, but he couldn't angle himself right to do so. Still, he snarled in an attempt to intimidate.
The metallic Pokémon show no reaction in their blank robotic eyes and didn't move a muscle.
"Quite trying to be a tough guy," muttered Geyser irritably. "It isn't helping."
Charizard glared at him. "Keep talking otter boy and those freaks will be the least of your concerns. I'll burn you to cinders long before they can do anything."
Geyser just rolled his eyes. "Why do you have to be such a hothead all the time."
"Guys, this really isn't the time to be fighting," sighed and exasperated Dragonite. "Can't we all just…"
"SILENCE."
A loud voice boomed through the chamber, echoing off the walls. Five Pokémon emerged from behind the dais, taking their seats at the long table. In the centre was Zeraora, flanked on either side by…
"You are brought before the leaders of the Zeraora Guild. May I present to you, Suicune the lord of water and healing."
The Pokémon to his immediate left, a tall but slim quadrupedal mammalian Pokémon with blue and cream fur and a purple main that seems to resemble the shape of an aurora and two wispy white tails bowed their head gracefully.
"Dialga, master of time."
On the opposite side of Zeraora sat another quadrupled Pokémon with metallic looking skin. They had a chest plate on their torso, embedded with a deep blue diamond-like crystal in the centre, a fin like structure on their back, and two structures of the side of their head resembling horns. Unlike Suicine, Dialga acknowledged their presence with a gruff grunt. A deep, almost menacing note.
"The hero of many battles, Zamazenta."
On the far-right hand side of the table sat a wolf like Pokémon. Charizard, Ashachu, Geyser and Dragonite each coxed their heads or raised their eyebrows in surprise. There was something awfully familiar about this Pokémon.
They had the same shaped muzzle as Zacian, except the fur around their face and dawning most of their body was a deep red in colour and their chest and shoulders was much bulkier, resembling a shield.
"Wait," Ashachu blurted out. "Aren't you."
"SILENCE," Zeraora called again. "You will not speak unless you are spoken to."
Ashachu fell silent, feeling a pang in his stomach. Despite this however Zamazenta life their muzzle and greeted them, "Welcome, young Ashachu. Charizard, Geyser, Dragonite," nodding to each restrained Pokémon in turn. Despite the masculine appearance, Zamazenta spoke in a high soft voice, indicating she was a female. That surprised Charizard and Ashachu.
"I present also," Zeraora continued. "Virizion of the swords of justice."
He gestured to the Pokémon seated at the far left of the table. A stag like creature, with fur that was primarily green in colour, and an overall feminine appearance. Her head was topped with long horns that ended in dull curled points, her face pointy ending in a small black nose and pink tipped leaves on each side of her neck.
She simpered at Zeraora's introduction. "Hehe. Thank-you, Ashy!"
To Ashachu's intrigue and Ashachu's bemusement, and surprise from the other, Zeraora blushed. "Uhh hi! Now who's left."
At the same time, another Pokémon appeared from behind the dais, much larger than all the others. So large they didn't seem to fit at the table with the others, and stood behind, only their head and neck visible. Unlike the others who, besides Zeraora, were all quadruples, this Pokémon was draconic and didn't resemble any Pokémon any of Charizard and the others had seen before.
The draconic Pokémon's head was triangular in shape, and they had a pair of white, eye-like marking in the form of three connected circles, as well as a spindly lower jaw with several diamond-shaped teeth. Over their head was a translucent film held between five long spikes extending towards their rear. The body, or what was visible of it above the dais, had a skeletal appearance.
"Ahh yes, Eternatus. Pleased you could join us."
"The pleasure is mine," Eternatus replied in a strange voice; sounded far away and androgynous with an echoing quality to it. "What have we here."
"Travellers from World Earth-598," said Zeraora.
"Earth-598," repeated Ashachu without thinking.
"Each known world has a number assigned to it," explained Zamazenta. "It's how we keep track of known ultra-space."
"I told you not to speak unless spoken to," snapped Zeraora.
"Yeah, and who in the distortion world put you in charge," Charizard growled irritable. "Now would you mind telling us why we were arrested and what you're planning to do with us! Why are we chained to these contraptions."
"Hmmp. He's just as arrogant and hot headed as our Charizard," growled Suicune. "Seems those crosses does little to teach you some humility."
"Your Charizard," muttered Ashachu to himself. "The one in the statue. The one who died fighting Lysandre?" The Pokémon on the dais either didn't hear him or chose to ignore him.
"No," came a voice that didn't belong to any of the Pokémon gathered there.
"Pii" Ashachu felt a chill run down his spine – this voice too was extremely familiar.
"That is not how Charizard died…" Up onto the dais rose a black cloaked figure with a plume of smoke billowing out of its neck.
"No," gasped Ashachu. "It can't be!"
"Ah our final member," said Zeraora, as the newcomer took a seat at the far-right hand side of the table. "Shadow the Darkrai!"
[Pokémon]
Meanwhile, back in Alola…
After the dim of the secret laboratory, the bright lights and stark white walls of the new environment Ash and Cameron suddenly found themselves in came as a shock. It was almost painful on the eyes, and he was forced to blink a couple of times. His surrounds were a blur.
"Ah, Ash, Cameron. It's been a while since we last saw you…"
That voice…Ash groaned internally at the sound of the woman's voice, followed by a sinister laugh. "Lusamine," he said through gritted teeth, forcing himself to open his eyes.
As his eyes finally adjusted, he found himself in what appeared to be the bottom of a well. The white walls boxed them in on all sides, but the ceiling was so high it was almost hard to make out. As though the walls just continued to rise meeting in infinity.
There was even water at the bottom, a vast pool of indeterminate depth, its surface and inky black. They were standing on a platform in the middle, the water lapping at the sides. Like the walls it was a bright white in colour.
"What in the distortion world is this place," said Cameron. Ash glanced to his right to see the other boy standing beside him. The sight of him was comforting and he took a step closer. "How did we get here?"
"It was a diversion wasn't it." Realisation dawned on Ash. Everything suddenly made sense. "Colress gave us the key to the secret laboratory to get us out the way. Our Pokémon were never down there, were they?"
Lusamine gave him a smug smile. "How perceptive."
Ash felt a twinge of annoyance. How could he have fallen for it. Just being handed the key to a secret location – of course that made no sense. He had been so desperate to find Pikachu and the others, he had been willing to listen to everything.
"So, what do you think," said Lusamine holding her arms out. "This is my private collection!"
Private collection… Ash looked around the room. The platform they were standing on was filled with glass cases, like trophy cases. The type a Pokémon Champion might have to hold their trophies, medals, and gym badges. But these cases were not filled with the anything like that.
Ash stepped tentatively towards the nearest case and felt a painful lurch in his office. Inside, frozen in a thick layer of ice with its eyes closed and a peaceful expression on its face, was a Pokémon. The pink skin, round ears, and stubby muzzle of a Slowpoke.
"No," he gasped. "It can't be."
"My precious babies," said Lusamine an almost insane sound to her voice. "They will all be preserved for eternity here!"
Ash ran from case to case, not able to believe what he was seeing. Each contained a frozen Pokémon; A Starmie, a Magmar, Poplio, Pyukumuku and finally, in a case at the far end of the island…
"Pikachu…." The name stuck in Ash's throat as he looked into the case and saw his partner.
Just like the other, Pikachu lay or sat in the middle of the case, a block of ice surrounding him…continuing him. His eyes were closed, and his head was dropping down slightly, his paws a little outstretched. His tail hung below him, curling at the end.
"Oh Pikachu." Ash felt like the bottom had dropped out of his world. He fell to his knees in front of the case, placing a hand on the surface of the glass. It was cold to the touch and covered in condensation.
"I required a little insurance policy," Lusamine continued, her voice sounding almost distant in Ash's emotional state. "I couldn't be guaranteed that you or Geyser would actually be willing to help me. If the light is stolen from this world, then I won't be able to love my babies any longer."
"YOU EVIL BITCH!"
Unbridled rage exploded within Ash like a volcano. He got to his feet and charged at Lusamine. "Let Pikachu go right now!"
Lusamine didn't seem perturbed by the sight of the teenage boy. She just raised her fingers and clicked. It became clear why a split second later as Ash felt a claw grab him from behind, cutting into his stomach, and an arm wrap around his chest.
"What the…Hey let me go." He thrashed, trying to get free, tilting his head back to see who had him.
With a hang of horror, he saw that it was Zoroark…His Zoroark, still evidently under the control of the EM Waves. His eyes a blood red. The sight of it made him fall limp at once, a sense of fear rising within him. A wave of ice to put the fires of rage out.
"Hey get off me!"
Looking to his left, Ash caught sight of Cameron having a similar struggled with Flygon. The only difference being Flygon had him held from under his armpits and was levitating him off the ground, his rhombus wings beating furiously.
There was one other member of the hypnotised group, Zacian. She seemingly appeared from nowhere and stood beside Lusamine's side in a protective stance. A devilish grin crossed Lusamine's face, and she folded her arms as if triumphantly.
"Gigaremo Units," she explained. "They generate EM Waves which disable the hippocampus of a Pokémon's brain and allow electrical impulses to be send to the other parts of the brain in order to control the Pokémon. More effective than hypnosis. I dislike having to control Pokémon this way, but occasionally it is necessary."
Ash said nothing. What was there to say! Cameron, it seemed, wasn't listening, still trying to free himself from Flygon's grip…even though he was a fair way off the ground.
"Madame President…"
A voice came from the far end of the room. From how Zoroark was holding him, with his arm wrapped around him just below his neck, he wasn't able to crane his neck to see that far down the end of the room but could just out of the corner of his eye make out the sudden appearances of three people.
"We have a problem!"
"Hey, who are these people," Cameron blurted out. From above he had a better view.
There were three of them, of varying heights. Two reasonably tall and one shorter. Each was dressed in a blue and white jumpsuit with their head and face hidden under a helmet and visor. Only their mouths were visible, and in the case of tallest, a blue goatee and moustache.
"These are my guests," said Lusamine. "The Ultra Recon Squad. They have been giving the foundation advice about Ultra Beasts. What's the situation."
"The Cosmog-Dewott," barked the goatee man. Was he a man? Hard to tell under outfit he was wearing, but he had a deep gravelly voice. "It managed to escape into an Ultra-Wormhole. Took two of the others with it."
Lusamine's eyes widened in shock and a look of anger came over her face. "WHAT! Are you serious."
"I'm afraid so." It was one of the other two than answered. Ash guessed this was a woman as her voice was much higher.
"Any idea where it went."
"Impossible to gauge where an Ultra Wormhole will lead from looking at it," said the goatee man. "But if our model of the know ultra-space and calculations are correct, it probably went to the core world of Ultra Megalopolis."
"What about Necrozma!"
The woman answered again. "Our calculations indicate an appearance likely within the next three hours."
Lusamine swore. "Shit. I had those Pokémon bound and vulnerable for you, how could you screw that up. Is there anything we can…"
But before she could finish her sentence a siren suddenly went off and the room became bathed in a flashing red light.
"Proximity warning…Large vessel approaching AP. Ten Kilometre's south!"
Ash blinked as the sudden flashes of red burned his eyes. Turning his head to the right, as far as he could in Zoroark's grip, he saw a holographic screen projected above a console at the far end of the island.
On it was what appeared to be a map of the four Alolan Island, with the Aether Paradise a spec in the middle of the ocean between them. At small red dot, somewhere in the south over empty sea, was approaching them at a rapid speed…
[Pokémon]
Ultra-Megalopolis…
"Since you are new to this world, it is important that we explain the context. The Zeraora guild was conceived to train and watch over the exploration and rescue teams. Pokémon who volunteers to either rescue other mons who find themselves lost and alone in the mystery dungeons, or to explore and map those parts of our world that had yet to be discovered…"
'…but you're dead…' Ashachu quivered in his bondage as he heard the Darkrai told his tale. Hearing that deep, cold voice, albeit more upbeat and less menacing that usual, filled him with dread, making him feel exceptionally vulnerable in his restrained state.
How could Shadow be alive – Was this even Shadow?
What in the Distortion world was going on…
"…Unlike, perhaps, in your world, the guild has known about the existence of the Ultra Space and the other worlds within it for a long time. There have only been one group of Pokémon who can enter the Ultra Space at will. Those devolved from the Cosmog line. However, a few years ago a pair of explorers, Umbreon and Espeon, developed a mechanism to allow other Pokémon to travel freely into other worlds. They called their creation, Entercards!"
"Why do we give a shit about this," Charizard growled irritably.
A this earned him a snap of "silence," from Zeraora.
And a "Perhaps if you weren't so hot headed you might listen and learn something," from Suicune.
"The guild kept a close control on who could possess Entercards," Shadow continued. "Only the strongest rescue teams were ever provided with them, and the teams were obligated to conform to strict mission protocols. But one team, however, chose to be more…Maverick, shall we say!"
"And of course, Charizard was one of the strongest Pokémon working for the guild." It was Virizion who had spoken this time.
"But they abused the privileged almost as soon as they received it," barked Dialga in his deep, dark voice. "They started penetrating deeper and deeper into the Ultra Space until they started to reach into worlds dominated by humans."
"It had always been assumed that humans were merely a legend," said Virizion. "Yet Charizard and his team discovered them."
"The guild had to act," interjected Zeraora. "Punishments were meted out and we considered banishing him from the guild."
"The trouble was," giggled Virizion. "His team was too strong and too effective as a rescuer. We'd be doing Pokémon a disservice if we were to eject his team from the guild."
"Even so his behaviour was irresponsible and arrogant." Shadow had resumed telling the story. Ashachu could hear the contempt in his voice. "And the punishments never left a mark, because Charizard and his team continued to penetrate deeper into the ultra-space. Even when the Entercards privileges were revoke they continued to find a way to use them.
"Charizard recruited Pokémon to his team who had also acquired the skills of being able to produce Entercards," explained Virizion.
"That, and he failed to turn over the guild the unlawful Entercards which were sized from a few rouge Pokémon in the Crystal mountains," added Suicune. "But that is another tale in itself."
Shadow continued. "Until one day it finally came to a head. Something that everyone except Charizard had predicted."
"He found something deep within the ultra-space wilds," said Zeraora. "Something that should never have been allowed to enter our world…"
"A great metal beast," said Shadow. "The Centurion! A starship containing the refugees of a long dead human civilization. They called themselves Team Flare."
Ashachu shuddered at the name…
"One of Charizard's Teammates, the aura master, had premonitions about a captive Pokémon aboard the vessel. A lost Aura Totodile, Waninoko. One of the last surviving Pokémon from his world. The guild forbade Charizard to approach the Centurion. There were legends of the one called Team Flare in the tall tales of humanity. How they had risen up and destroyed the light of their world. But we never imagined for a second…"
It surprised Ashachu, to hear the trepidation in Shadow's voice. The Darkrai seemed to shudder when he uttered that last sentence.
"In the end it was decided that Waninoko was not of our world. The Guild elected not to intervene."
"But Charizard defied the guild yet again," said Suicune. "He led a team into the belly of the Centurion without our knowledge and woke Team Flare. Nobody knows what happened up there, but there was a battle. One of Charizard's teammates, Raichu was mortally wounded, and one was killed."
Darkrai put his paws together and continued sombrely. "The Centurion Crashed here in Ultra Megalopolis. And that brought Team Flare to our world."
"An entire army of human grunts," added, speaking for the first time in the whole story, Zamazenta.
"And with each human, six Pokémon trapped within tiny red and white spheres," said Shadow. "I've never seen technology like that."
Ashachu blinked several times. There was something odd about his voice. It took Ashachu a moment to realise it was fear…Shadow was afraid.
"Across the world they went like a ravaging hoard," growled Dialga. "Capturing our Pokémon and imprisoning them in those spheres."
Dragonite frowned at him. "Wait red and white sphere. Those are Pokéball. They aren't prisons."
"I suspect they are when Team Flare are using them," murmured Geyser.
"How many times have you been told not to speak," Zeraora snapped.
This barely registered with Ashachu as he stared at Shadow. Shadow was actually afraid, recounting the story as though the memories were painful.
When he spoke again, his voice was barely a whimper. "It was their aura that they wanted. Their life force. They used it to power their machine. The Centurion. They started building out from the crash site. Taking over the world."
And then Ashachu heard something that truly shocked him. A sniffle. Was Shadow…crying?
It was Zeraora who told the rest of the tale. "And so, the Pokémon of this world banded together to fight Team Flare. Charizard joined us. He fought gallantly to defeat them and in the end we were victorious. But there remained one question. What to do with Charizard…"
It was that last statement which brought Ashachu out of his fixation on Shadow and give his attention back to the guild as a whole. He shivered… Now he understood what had happened to this world's Charizard. He didn't want to hear anymore.
Fortunately for him, Zeraora left that part of the tale there. Instead, he is saying, "There were three members of Team Flare who managed to escape: Dulse, Zossie, Soliera and their leader Phyco. They named themselves the Ultra Recon Squad. They built new vassals from the wreckage of the Centurion and blasted themselves into an Ultra Wormhole. But they stole one thing from our world…"
"My beautiful bride, Necrozma."
Ashachu, Charizard, Dragonite and Geyser all looked up at Eternatus. Another surprise…A large tear had formed in the creature's eye.
"And with them, the light of our world."