The bad news was disseminated to the civilians early next morning. Nobody was happy at this development but most could understand why our journey back home had to be put on hold. Zades had also let me know that he had discussed the offer I had given him last night with the other Hoenn commanders in this naval base and they were glad to have me assist them.
I had to get Vance to help me transfer over some of my pokemon that I previously transferred back home. Snap and Toothless were the ones that I thought of immediately since aerial battles will be what I will be finding myself in should the need arise. The role which I was given was more of a supportive role, probably because the commanders do not want to risk a member of an ancient family getting hurt on their watch which they would have to answer to their superiors should that happen. That's just my personal guess though.
To my surprise, Zades will be the person spearheading this operation and doing the heavy lifting, not the commanders that were stationed at this naval base. Even Norman had readily relinquished the control over to him and cited that Zades had far more experience in such operations and thus, the best suited person to lead this operation. Norman's decision only served to put into perspective just how skilled and experienced Zades must be for even Norman, possibly now the strongest Gym Leader of our region, to trust a trainer not even in his twenties to lead such a large scale operation.
Flannery wouldn't be of much help in this operation due to her specialisation and the venue where this operation would be taking place so like me, she had to be placed into a supportive role. We will be circling the airspace above the sea where the battle will commence and provide some long range suppressive firepower and deal with any aerial threats if needed. Flannery has her charizard and I have Toothless and Snap. I will also have Fuzzy and my ghosts, where most of them are capable of some limited flight capabilities to be of use in an aerial battle.
I wasn't expecting Vance to send over some of his pokemon over too.
"Just take it," Vance insisted over the call when three extra pokeballs materialised in the pokeball holders. "They are just lounging about on the farm doing nothing anyway and I had already instructed them to assist you. Well, you might have a problem getting salamence to listen to you but at the very least, he won't harm you. Macky would definitely cooperate and gallade will be able to retrieve you if things suddenly take a turn for the worst. I heard a little of Zades in passing, and while I really don't like that guy and trust him as much as I trust the Aquas and Magmas, I know enough to know that he's near unstoppable out at sea. Your help probably wouldn't be needed but take them just in case, okay? Just in case. Do this for me, please?"
"Okay…" I relented and accepted my brother's offer, although I cannot help but wonder what did Zades do or what had Vance heard for him to say something like that about my fellow Ability Holder. He seemed like a very nice guy ever since we were acquainted with each other.
Macky emerged from his pokeball with a gleeful cheer the moment I hit the release button and I happily greeted him with a hug like I always used to do back home ever since I was a young girl. Macky had been a constant presence in my life growing up and it's really nice to see him again, and he did have a fun time catching up with Wacky as the two gengars started to fool around as per usual. Vance's gallade acknowledged me with a curt nod and was cordial with me, knowing that ensuring my safety was the task that Vance had given him. The real problem, as Vance had foretold might happen, was his salamence.
Our pokemon had spent enough time with each other to know who they cannot hurt or harm on our farm. Salamence knows that I am part of Vance's family so it won't harm me, but that does not necessarily mean that it will listen to me. Unlike me, Vance picked and raised his team based on the sole criteria of their strength because he has his duties to fulfil as the future successor of our family and he needed that kind of power at his disposal to do so. For trainers like Vance, salamence is a species born with such incredible power that it would be foolish to ignore or not attempt to try and raise one. They are classified as pseudo-legendaries for a very good reason. Vance did succeed in raising a salamence, but dragons are highly prideful creatures that will only acknowledge and take orders from their trainers, especially so for the very powerful ones belonging to Elite trainers in the upper tiers of our community. I am not the one who has earned salamence's respect and it's not a sociable and friendly creature to begin with. Salamence's loyalty is to Vance and Vance alone, like how Kratos would only listen to me and me alone.
"I know you don't like to be separated from Vance, sorry about that. I will try to return you to him as soon as I can," I apologised to the huge winged dragon whose species is the apex predator in our region, running my hands over the scales covering its body. I'm surprised salamence allowed me to touch it in the first place although it still had that look on its face that plainly showed that it wanted to be anywhere but here. The colour and lustre of its scales are of a very healthy colour, an indication of how great a work Vance had done to raise it.
Macky cackled and started to annoy salamence by poking at its side, with salamence half-heartedly snapping its jaws at Macky who deftly avoided it. This probably is their usual dynamics in their team, much like how Dolly and Fuzzy would usually annoy Kratos.
"Wasn't aware that you had a salamence."
I turned my head and spotted Zades walking up to me, now decked out in combat attire with a skarmory walking by his side. I am also decked out in my own combat attire that I used when I was still an interpol agent, but now fitted with flying goggles that are strapped around my head which I will pull down to shield my eyes from the wind when I take my position up in the air later.
"Salamence's not mine, it's my brother's," I answered and salamence released a low rumbling growl from its throat while observing Zades warily. Perhaps Vance had really met Zades before? It might explain salamence's sudden apprehension towards him.
"Your brother really cares about you a whole lot, huh. Guess there really was a good reason why everyone called him a siscon. You are making me jealous," Zades commented and I smiled. I'm really lucky to have an older brother like him.
"Uh huh. He makes me feel very pampered and spoiled sometimes."
"The briefing will start soon, don't be late," Zades reminded me before walking off. He probably had a lot of things to check on before the start of the operation as the overall supervising officer conducting and leading this operation. I don't want to take up his precious time as well.
"Have you met him before?" I asked salamence softly at a volume that only it could hear. Salamence answered with another growl, shifting its body with a posture that I recognised to be an indication that it's on alert in contrast to its relaxed demeanour earlier. Even Macky looked a little grim and from what I could understand from him, they had not really officially met Zades or are officially acquainted, but they had witnessed him in action before.
I'm guessing that whatever Zades did then which they had witnessed wasn't very pleasant if a gengar and a salamence deemed it necessary to be wary of him. The unit that Vance was in probably had participated in a joint operation with whatever unit Zades was in and it was most likely how they recognised Zades on sight. Zades didn't seem to recognise Vance's salamence while they seem to recognise him.
Tate and Liza didn't really like him too from what I could tell. It got me curious, just what had Zades done for them to form such an opinion of him?
The objective of this operation was the subjugation of the pirate groups infesting the waters near island I-164 which had proved to be a lethal threat to any passing ships that used this route on their voyage. Their elimination had to be seen done as this route is a route frequently used by passing vessels on their journey.
The pirate group called themselves the 164 Pirates, read as "one-six-four pirates", similar to how I-164 was named, The pirates named themselves after the sea route that they frequent and which they conduct their illegal activities. I learnt from the briefing that these pirates are a highly dangerous group because they have no qualms doing any single dastardly deed that one could possibly think of. Any of those deeds that you could imagine and think of, they had probably done it before. It's exactly like what Zades had told me previously, they had no regards to human life and the flourish here out at sea where the law cannot reach them.
The good news is that the Indigo navy stationed here will be assisting us. The other naval forces from the other regions will be on standby although Zades had told me in private to not expect too much out of them. Some are not willing to help and are simply putting up a show for formality's sake and keeping up appearances, some are willing to help but are not in a good position to offer any useful help due to our forces being unfamiliar with how the other party operates. It's just the way it is.
I am assigned to a small squad of flyers that will be known as Alpha Detachment 2 for the purpose of this operation. It really is just a small team of three, me and Sebastian included, and we will be circling the airspace above where the battle will be taking place and providing suppressive fire for our allies. Sebastian will be riding on Toothless while I will be riding on Snap. Salamence will be kept in its pokeball and only released if things really got out of hand somehow for the simple fact that I cannot claim to have full control over it.
Determining and locating the exact positions of the 164 Pirates wasn't too hard seeing how brazen these pirates were after their recent string of successes. What I'm surprised about was the size of their fleet, already large enough to be mistaken for a small military fleet on its own. It's no wonder they had been so successful with their heists and why they were so bold.
The battle started when a large wave of seawater rose and crashed into the nearest pirate ship, causing it to sway violently but not toppling it. The primary directive given was to capture as many pirates as possible alive so that it will be possible to interrogate them and pinpoint their exact base of operations to remove them for good, which was why Zades didn't sink their ships from the get-go despite being capable enough to summon a tsunami with his ability alone. Lethal force was authorised for this operation but highly discouraged, it's a last resort that we will only use if our lives or if something highly important was at stake.
I couldn't really see in detail what's really going on below at sea from where I was since we were so high up. All I could vaguely make out from above was that our allies were quickly surrounding the ships through the assistance of their water types and were trying to board the pirate ships to subjugate the pirates. There were other teams of flying types who were also tasked to board the pirate ships and assist in the subjugation. I had initially wanted to see for myself just what kinds of pokemon Zades kept on his team but I guess I wouldn't be seeing them today. Everyone looked the same from the air as small black little specks. His water types were attacking the ships from below the water surface from what little I could see and the only water type that I could confirm belonged to Zades was his clawitzer, and that was only because of its very flashy attacks that it repeatedly fired from its huge cannon-like claw.
My role in this operation was a very easy one like Zades had promised. I simply had to instruct Snap to provide suppressive fire from above and cover for our allies when they were making the charge to quickly close the distance to reach the pirates' ships and board them, because that is the window of time where they will be the most exposed and vulnerable. Unlike me, Snap has a far better eyesight than I do. His Dragon Pulse and Hyper Beams found each and every target with pinpoint accuracy and if there's a moving target that's too fast to hit, we could rely on Fuzzy's Shock Wave to strike the targets that we had missed.
The pirates tried to put up resistance as well by sending out their own flying types but Sebastian and Toothless worked together well enough to quickly neutralise them. The squad that Flannery was in were also working efficiently to ensure aerial superiority for our side and her charizard is a real menace to face in a battlefield.
"Scatter! Tentacruels below!"
That sudden warning through the radio did little to prepare us. A large burst of disorienting sound waves hit us all and disrupted our radio communications. Despite being high above in the sky we were also severely affected by that combined burst of Supersonic and I could only imagine how much worse it must be for our friendlies down below. I nearly fell off Snap's back myself if it wasn't for Fuzzy preventing that from happening by holding tightly onto my vest and keeping me firmly seated on Snap's back. Snap wasn't very pleased at the ambush either judging from his enraged roar and how he had immediately started blasting Dragon Pulses down at the large school of tentacruels that had popped up from nowhere. Another burst of Supersonic was released from the tentacruels and I could observe from above how sound waves travelled in water from the unnatural ripples of the water surface. This time, Snap was better prepared and countered the sonic attack with his own through Boomburst. The resulting explosion of sound was loud and horrid but at least it wasn't as disorienting when compared to the Supersonic.
A powerful surge of Dark Pulse cut through the water surface and struck at the middle of the school of tentacruels, causing a small explosion of dark type energy to implode among them. I recognised that to be the work of Zades' clawitzer. Our other friendlies who did not have their hands full also wasted no time to assist in defeating the tentacruels, acknowledging the fact that these pokemon will be a severe hindrance to our operation if left alone.
"This is Delta Detachment 6! We sighted a small vessel escaping from the scene of the battle towards the northeast direction at our two o'clock but our hands are tied here! The commander of the pirate fleet is on that boat! I repeat, the commander of the pirate fleet is on that boat! Is anybody able to give chase, over?!"
"This is Sealord! Our hands are tied as well down here! Alpha Detachment 2, are you able to assist, over?!"
"This is Alpha Detachment 2, hear you loud and clear. Roger wilco, over!" I immediately replied over the comms and signalled to Snap the direction which he should give chase. Snap immediately swerved and launched himself at where I pointed him to with Sebastian and our remaining squad member following close behind on his pelipper.
We spotted the escaping vessel soon enough, a small motorboat that's desperately making a beeline away from us at high speed but Snap proved to be a very fast flyer ever since Skye taught us a little of her specialty, Tailwind. Snap and Toothless were slowly catching up while our last squad member had dropped out halfway into the chase. I'm not too surprised that his pelipper was unable to keep up with our pace, their species were not known to be very fast flyers in the first place.
We were almost close enough for the boat to be in our firing range when the water below us bubbled violently and a huge towering splash of water burst forth. Massive blue sea serpents that were commonly feared across the globe ever since the Mahogany Massacre two hundred years ago made their appearances with thunderous roars and my eyes widened in fear for suddenly finding ourselves right in the middle of them.
These pirates had led us into a trap.
"Double Team!"
I quickly held onto Snap as tightly as I could and braced myself for the high speed movement that Snap will be using. I don't feel good at all from the resulting motion sickness that came from riding Snap while he used Double Team, but it's the only move that we could possibly rely on to quickly get ourselves out from our bind immediately because the other alternative was to be obliterated by the large horde of gyarados. The Double Team that Snap used confused the gyarados just long enough for him to nimbly weave through the gaps of their long serpentine bodies that they were attempting to surround and trap us with and we eventually made our escape. I spotted Toothless and Sebastian not too far away after a quick glance at my surroundings and I breathed out a soft sigh of relief after seeing that they were fine too.
But our trouble does not end there. It didn't take long for the large horde of gyarados to realise what had happened and they also located us fairly quickly. I spared a second to look at the escaping motorboat, which was steadily getting smaller and smaller with every second we wasted here and then back at the gyarados. A supposedly high priority target that we cannot afford to let loose is going to make his escape and we have to quickly do something about it.
What worried me more was the state that the gyarados were in. Their eyes were bloodshot and crazed, which probably is kind of a commonly seen trait in their species since they always seemed to be perpetually angry but to me, that look in their eyes seemed unnatural. It reminded me of the unpleasant memory of the berserk machamp that nearly killed me back in the Lilycove Invasion. Very likely, these gyarados were injected with power enhancing drugs just like that machamp was. They are not in a sane state of mind and if we cannot effectively subdue them immediately, our only option to stop them would be to put them down through lethal force. Leaving them alone would mean trouble for everyone when they are in one of their angry moods.
I could also see that they were on the verge of firing Hyper Beams. Damn it.
"Snap, Toothless, pull back!" I yelled as loud as I could and my pokemon immediately heeded my orders. I quickly primed another pokeball in my hand and I really am glad that Vance insisted on sending his salamence over as a precautionary measure. While I had some experience in aerial battles I cannot claim to be very well-versed in it. The only pokemon that I could think of right now that could give us a fighting chance is Vance's salamence, who definitely had far more experience than we do.
"Salamence, take them out!"
Vance's salamence emerged with a furious roar. A bright glow of condensed energy quickly formed between his maw and Snap and Toothless wasted no time to clear the area. A devastating Draco Meteor laid waste to the horde of gyarados seconds later, causing an immense explosion that quickly heated the seawater to unbearable levels. The large wall of seawater that was thrown up descended upon us like falling rain that drenched us from head to toe and the violent winds that were produced from the force of the explosion threw even Snap back a little before he righted himself.
I knew my dorky older brother is a very skilled trainer, but was Vance always this powerful?
Salamence's attack did not manage to wipe out all the gyarados in one hit. There were a few remaining and salamence was already engaging them in battle when I finally managed to spot it, brutally tearing into them with its claws and fangs before putting them down for good with a powerful blast of Dragon Pulse.
"The boat, give chase!"
Salamence roared in acknowledgement the moment it spotted the boat and accompanied us in giving chase. It implicitly understood that our objective was to capture our targets alive and so started to fire attacks at the water surface near the sides of the boat, creating violent waves that eventually caused the boat to capsize. I had no doubt that salamence had learnt how to do this during Vance's stint in ACE. Hoenn's territory is divided approximately equally into fifty percent land and fifty percent water and like Zades said, learning how to fight effectively out at sea is an essential skill for any Hoennian Elite trainer due to the unique geography of our region. It is a skill that I should also quickly pick up after I return home.
"They are gone," Sebastian reported back to me through the radio when he volunteered to go closer to ascertain where the pirates on the motorboat were for my own safety, in case they set up another ambush like how they did using the gyarados. None of us believed that the pirates had drowned because we would have spotted their bodies by now, so it must have meant that they had made their getaway underwater through the assistance of water types the moment they were thrown overboard.
We unanimously turned our heads to look at the unnamed island not too far away that would only take us a few minutes to reach via flight. The pirates cannot possibly breathe underwater and hold their breath for extended periods of time, they have to make their landing somewhere. If they were to make their escape, this is the only place where they could land.
We made our landing on the small unnamed island after we reported our findings back to command through the radio. We spotted fresh footsteps in the sands almost immediately, which further affirmed our initial guess. From the footsteps we could deduce that there were five people who landed here and they split into two paths, two on one path and three on another. The footprints suggested that they were very hasty in making their escape as they didn't even spare the time to cover their tracks. Vance's salamence must have struck quite an impression into their minds.
"Ms Velda, I would not encourage us to split up," Sebastian could see through me almost immediately.
"But if we chose the wrong path and the high priority target escaped…" I trailed off, also a little at a loss of what to do because this is my first time participating in such an operation where I have to make my own judgement calls that might directly affect its success or failure. Sebastian's priority is my safety as the family's butler, he will not prioritise the outcomes of this mission because protecting me is his job. Every decision he makes, it will be done with my safety as his foremost concern.
However, my desire to prevent the high priority target to escape ultimately won over. That pirate fleet was a fraction of the 164 Pirates' full strength and that high priority target was its commander, an important figure within that large criminal group. He would hold information that the navy stationed at I-164 desperately needed to remove them from the picture. I dread to imagine what other kinds of atrocities the high priority target might inflict on other passing vessels should he make his escape after learning what kinds of crimes they regularly commit on a near daily basis during the pre-operation briefing. I don't know if anybody else would feel the same way, but if the pirate made his escape because of my negligence and somebody else were to be hurt or killed because of it, that guilt would gnaw at me forever.
Sebastian eventually relented, having served me long enough to know that it would be difficult to change my mind once I had made my decision. He insisted on taking the path with three escapees and I took the path with two escapees and we split up, agreeing to meet back here in two hours since there's no guarantee that our radios might work properly once we split up. I recalled my flyers and salamence and released other pokemon that would be more suited for tracking down targets in a forested area.
'There's lingering scent, they passed by this area not too long ago,' Rena reported back to me as I allowed myself to be carried by Lily on one of her tentacles. Vance's gallade was never more than ten feet away from me because the instructions he received from Vance was to ensure my safety.
I withheld the urge to sigh. It was not easy trying to track our targets through the dense forested area of the island which the two pirates had chosen to flee towards to hide themselves from me. There's also hostile wild pokemon that we had to deal with on our way here, which also hampered our progress.
We eventually found a large metal shack that had no business doing here on a small uninhabited island. I'm guessing that this island might be one of the pirates' favourite hangouts or base of operations and it might be why they had chosen to flee here. Rena and gallade also confirmed the presence of humans and pokemon alike in that large metal shack whose size was large enough to be a huge warehouse. Seeing that I have confirmation that there were more than two people inside, the two pirates that I was tracking down must have reunited with their friends and I have no doubt that they are preparing to welcome me warmly into their humble abode the moment I so much as pushed open those metal doors.
"Alright, time to get to work," I muttered to myself from where I had remained hidden behind the trunk of a large tree to observe the metal shack. The shadow beneath my feet swirled before Dolly and Wacky appeared to greet me. I released Macky as well, knowing that his help would be needed. I was briefed that these pirates were involved in slavery and human trafficking for the victims that they had kidnapped out at sea. I wouldn't be surprised if they held their prisoners here given the size of the place.
"Scout out the place, check for any hostages and let me know if there are any. Our plans will have to change if there are hostages. If there are none, take them down, but try to use non-lethal takedowns if possible."
My ghosts vanished to do as I instructed and I patiently waited for their return. As luck would have it, there were prisoners in the building, which complicated matters for us. Should I wait for reinforcements to arrive or should I do this on my own? Am I well equipped to embark on a solo rescue mission? Would the high priority target escape if I reported my findings back and waited for further instructions? These are all factors that I have to weigh and consider.
"Ten hostiles, at least twenty to thirty prisoners being kept on constant watch, at least three pokemon per hostile..." I went through the information my ghosts had scouted and reported back to me. We would have at least thirty hostile pokemon to deal with should we choose to do this on our own. I would have to consider what other options I might have at my disposal should they start to threaten me to kill their prisoners. I don't want to deal with a hostage situation. I am not equipped and not trained to deal with a hostage situation. I will be royally screwed the moment they use a hostage against me.
The prisoners, I have to find a way to first ensure their safety before I can do anything else. The priority of this subjugation mission had now changed the moment they came into the picture. Am I able to sneak them out using only Shadow Sneak and Phantom Force? These are the only viable rescue options that came to my mind. Thirty people is not a small number, especially when I have to do so without the pirates noticing when they are keeping a close watch on them and I don't think reinforcements will be here anytime soon.
I tried contacting Sebastian through both the radio and my xtransceiver. The radio wasn't working but my xtransceiver somehow was able to get my message out. Sebastian acknowledged the receipt of my message and informed me that he had successfully apprehended the three pirates on his end, which would mean that the high priority target was very likely hiding himself in that metal shack which I am keeping a watch on.
We came to an agreement quickly. Sebastian will assist me to convey our findings back to Zades and let him decide what we should do with this new information we learnt. He will come and find me as soon as he's done with whatever he needs to finish on his end. I will continue with my stake out in the meantime until reinforcements arrive.
I quietly waited for almost another hour before the soft rustling of the bushes near us had us on alert. To my relief, it was Zades and Sebastian. They brought a small team of reinforcements as well.
"What's the situation?" Zades asked softly as we all laid low to hide ourselves behind the dense foliage to observe the huge shack. Even Zades was impressed at how the pirates managed to hide such a huge metal shack on this island that evaded detection.
"No change from when I first came across it. The same ten hostiles that we sensed had all never left the building, probably still waiting for us to go in and spring their trap. Also, I cannot confirm if that high priority target is among them. For all we know he may not be among the two people that I was tracking down and had made his own landing elsewhere."
"We will have to see. Thanks for the help, good job," Zades agreed with a grim nod before ruffling my hair with his hand when I least expected it, causing me to scowl at him although it didn't seem like he noticed. I don't like it when people touch my hair, even if it's Vance. My parents are the only exceptions.
"How are you going to do this?" I decided to put my little grudge aside and asked. "My ghosts are pretty skilled in Shadow Sneak and Phantom Force, it's quite useful."
"Can they make a direct appearance at where the prisoners are?"
"You can count on it. I can even take out the guard watching the prisoners while you are at it," I offered, because while I wasn't confident in doing this alone previously things are different now that reinforcements are here. I can now focus my attention solely on the rescue aspect instead of the subjugation side of things. I will let Zades and his men handle that, I will call it a day after I played my role in rescuing the prisoners.
"Alright, great. Let's get this started." Zades agreed and we quickly came up with a plan with the other members of the navy who had followed Zades here. Sebastian and I will deal with the prisoners and the guard watching them. Zades and his team will deal with the rest.
I sent my ghosts ahead of me before I allowed them to warp me and Sebastian over. The guard watching the prisoners was already taken out when I found myself within the area of the shack. It's foul with stench and I nearly retched at the smell of it. A loud din was going on outside and the shack started to shake, which meant that Zades had initiated the assault.
Cold fury enveloped me when I spotted the state that the prisoners were in. They were malnourished, too weak to even speak or move. The pirates had given them enough sustenance just to keep them alive so that they would not be able to mount a resistance and thus, will be easier to control. I could see obvious signs of abuse on their bodies and some were definitely beaten regularly. I saw a few children lying motionlessly and I don't even know if they were still alive because they remained so still. Some of the women were naked and I could already imagine the kind of unspeakable things the pirates had done to them judging from the injuries and telltale signs on the lower half of their bodies. Those injuries told a story that left no room to suggest otherwise.
I turned my head to glare at the unconscious pirate and I truly entertained the thought of murder for a moment. I had killed and saw how easily people could die ever since the Lilycove Invasion. I had seen things during my stint in the interpol but this was inhumanely vile in a way that I had never encountered before. I felt so disgusted at the thought of how some people could really stoop that low and inflict such harm on another fellow human being. I could sense my fury affecting my ghosts too, my emotions causing them to be roused from deep within my shadow where they were usually hiding and more and more of them were starting to make their appearances in response. I could feel Emil's stolen ability rippling under my skin, almost ready to be let loose upon the unconscious pirate the moment I gave in to my impulse.
These lowlives
It was only when Dolly hugged me that I was broken out of my reverie.
"Ms Velda, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I shook my head and closed my eyes, raising a hand to clutch at my head because whatever that was just now, it clearly wasn't normal. That's not how I normally am. It was like my mind was being influenced by something that made me thirst for slaughter for that one brief moment until Dolly snapped me out of it. I really wouldn't know what I have done if she didn't.
The original plan was to Shadow Sneak the prisoners out directly but after seeing the state that most of the prisoners were in, I don't think it would be wise to move them carelessly because there will always be some inertia or momentum involved when being warped with Shadow Sneak or Teleport and I don't know if that would aggravate their injuries. It's the same reason why medics don't move the injured via Teleport unless it's really an emergency and it's either that or they die in the next few minutes, you never know what you might accidentally aggravate or move during the process. I'm stuck at an impasse again because I don't have any other means to move so many people out of here.
I decided to guard this area until Zades is done on his end. He would know what to do as a seasoned veteran.
Things ended very anticlimactically. The entire adhoc rescue and subjugation operation didn't even take five minutes because Zades and the men he brought along really were that skilled. I did manage to see a different pokemon under his command this time, a starmie, and it was really versatile with the diverse range of movepools that it displayed while clawitzer continued to play its role of a mobile artillery cannon and simply blasted any and all opposition into oblivion to assist starmie.
More reinforcements arrived to assist in evacuating the rescued victims that the pirates held prisoners. Evacuating them was tricky business due to the severe injuries that most of them sported and we had to cover the bodies of the women with whatever we could find to protect their modesty. Even Dr Lott was brought over and he wasted no time in doing what he can to save lives and stabilise their conditions enough for us to move them back to base. They really were in a very bad state.
"The high priority target escaped. He was not among the ten," Zades informed me as we both took a short break under the shade of a large tree, looking at the partially demolished metal shack while other soldiers continued to busy themselves with their respective works on the ground. I'm getting very tired myself because it's way past my usual naptime but I don't want to leave until I had ascertained that the prisoners were alright. It just felt right to see things to the end.
"Do we have any leads?"
"Already sent a few teams to track him down. He should still be on this island somewhere, we just have to wait and see what they report back to us," Zades told me and gave me a pat on the shoulder. "Don't beat yourself over it, you did your best. This is a problem for the military in the first place, you had already done us a very huge favour in this operation."
"I really want to go home," I released a tired sigh, hugging my knees close to my chest and resting my forehead on my knees and Rena gently nudged me with her head in a show of support. This operation had been physically and mentally exhausting for me from start to end.
"I will try to wrap things up here as soon as possible. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can all go home," Zades promised as he stood up to return to his post and wore his helmet over his head once more. I looked up, a word of farewell was about to leave my lips when I noticed an unnatural glint far away from a high vantage point in the trees, only noticeable when the rays of the scorching sun happened to shine at the right place and time.
Everything happened so fast, so soon, but even till today I could recall everything with such clarity as if everything happened in slow motion. I didn't know what that glint was and I didn't know how nobody and no pokemon noticed it until I saw it but I knew it definitely meant trouble, my body was already moving before I realised it did. I knew its target had to be Zades but he was unaware of the danger because he was facing me and his back was facing towards the source of that glint.
I clumsily tackled him down to the ground because that was the only thing that came to my mind in my moment of panic. I heard the sharp whizzing of projectiles being fired as my shadows bloomed. I could vaguely spot the signs of Rena erecting her psychic barriers around us and Vance's gallade teleporting to attempt to place itself in between me and the sudden ambush.
To our collective horror, those projectiles were able to easily bypass Rena's barriers. I also managed to identify what they were at this distance, that was Razor Leaf, and there is only one move I know of that allows the user to easily bypass protective moves and that is Feint. Someone had trained a pokemon to use a combination move that fused Feint and Razor Leaf into a lethal combination that could easily reaped lives in an instant, and the only pokemon that I could think of with access to both moves is the tsareena line. Looking back, it's weird how I could deduce so much in the heat of the moment even when my life was at stake.
I felt Zades pulling me aside and he rolled me over such that he was now the one on top of me, intending to use his body to shield mine the moment he registered what had happened but I could still see what was happening through the gaps of our bodies. Our pokemon wouldn't react fast enough and I suddenly recalled what Jayce told me a long time ago when I visited him at his family mansion at Lacunosa, about our conversation about how he was originally assigned to kill Pryce upon Giovanni's orders. Jayce is not the most powerful trainer but he confidently claimed that if he truly intended to assassinate Pryce, if he had the time to prepare and Pryce wasn't expecting him, he could assassinate him with ease without giving Pryce the chance to call out his pokemon to defend him. Such is the value and purpose of an assassin.
That's exactly what happened. We were all taken by the backfoot and none of our pokemon would be fast enough to save us. The Razor Leaves were fired at such high velocity and barely slowed after slipping through Rena's psychic barriers thanks to the effects of Feint. Vance's gallade had intercepted and destroyed some of those projectiles but it didn't get everything. Zades intended to shield me with his body but we both knew it won't be enough. Razor Leaf is an attack known for its high piercing power and it's still a favourite among certain Grass Specialists just for that alone despite it not being the strongest grass type attack in terms of pure firepower. Some of the leaves had slipped through our pokemon's interception and will be piercing through our bodies in a split second, riddling us with holes that will either kill us instantly or have us bleed messily to death in a matter of minutes.
We are both going to die.
What I feared never came. A large shadow blocked my view and I could hear the dull sound of the projectiles hitting flesh. I heard a body collapse near us and Zades and I both looked up, spotting somebody whom we least expected who had obviously taken the blow for us, even if how he managed to suddenly put himself in harm's way for us was a complete mystery.
"D-Dr Lott!"
I quickly scrambled up to my feet and I heard Lily upturning the earth with a furious screech, raising towering walls of hardened earth to shield us from the sudden ambush when psychic barriers proved to be of no use. I heard Zades immediately barking out orders and powerful blasts of attacks being fired as the soldiers and their pokemon around us immediately leapt into action after understanding that we had encountered an ambush. My ghosts howled in rage and began to zip into the treelines as a massive swarm to enact vengeance for me, Rena and gallade positioned themselves near me protectively and opted to directly interfere with the massive rain of Razor Leaves using their psychic powers instead of relying on shields. I saw Sebastian standing near me and commanding his claydol to seek out the attacker but I couldn't spare any of them my attention at that moment.
The doctor was bleeding profusely in many places and some of the places which he was hit had to be fatal. The leaves never managed to pierce through his body as I expected them to be capable of and instead, was left deeply embedded in his body. His body was somehow sturdy enough to prevent those leaves from getting past him when he used it to shield us. I never felt so useless as I knelt beside him, my hands drenched with his blood and not knowing where to place them or what to do in my panic. The doctor was still conscious and despite the wounds he was being inflicted for taking the blow that was originally intended to kill me, he managed to squeeze out a smile.
"It's… alright," he weakly raised his hand and lightly cupped the side of my face, his thumb gently wiping the tears I never knew was streaming down my face until then. "Just give me a moment…"
"D-D-Don't move! You are bleeding out!" I tried to apply pressure at where he was bleeding out the most but nothing seemed to work. The doctor slowly reached out to place his hand on top of mine to catch my attention and break me out of my panic attack.
"Vel… My belt… First on the right, blissey's pokeball…" Dr Lott managed to communicate through wheezes and I immediately understood what he intended to convey. I immediately found the pokeball in question, attached to his belt just right next to an Ultra Ball, and hit on the release switch. A blissey appeared just as the doctor said it would.
"Blissey…" The doctor called out for his pokemon who looked as shocked as I am when it found its trainer suddenly on death doors. I was expecting for the doctor to instruct his blissey to heal him through Heal Pulse but he gave a different instruction.
"Sunny Day."
Blissey let loose a high pitched cry and the skies drastically brightened in an instant, turning the already unbearable heat up to intolerable levels and forcing us all to close our eyes from the sudden flash of light. That was a very skilled usage of Sunny Day from a pokemon that I least expect to find a reason to master this move. Blissey is a pokemon known for their abilities to heal injuries or if trained well, can be capable of stalling powerful threats due to their abilities to take massive amounts of punishments in a battle, but they are not used for the purpose of setting up favourable weather conditions because there are so many pokemon who could better fill that role.
The bright glow soon dimmed enough for us to finally open our eyes although the skies were still glaringly bright from the influence of Sunny Day. I felt a hand lightly patting my head fondly and ruffling my hair and I tried to slowly open my eyes as well. Dr Lott looked at me with a smile on his face, already seated in an upright position and while his shirt was still ridden with holes and covered in blood, the Razor Leaves embedded in his body had all been mysteriously purged and his wounds healed.
"It's okay now, everything's okay now. See? I told you it would only take a moment. There's no need to cry anymore, okay?"
"You.. What…"
I was at a loss for words, unable to comprehend what just happened, not knowing what to do or say after the roller coaster of emotions that I had been through in that one minute where everything suddenly happened so fast for me to really come to terms with reality. The doctor slowly stood up and patted my head before dusting himself off as if he wasn't on death's doors just a few seconds ago.
"Ah drats, there goes my favourite shirt," the doctor even had the luxury of time to complain about something so mundane as he ripped off the tattered shirt from his torso, revealing his bare chest. He had well defined muscles hidden underneath his shirt despite being on the leaner side and the most glaring thing that I spotted almost immediately was the tattoo of a sword wrapped by a thorny vine inked on the left side of his chest over where his heart was at.
"Are you… okay?"
"Disregarding the state of my clothes, I look okay, don't I?" The doctor spread his arms and I finally focused enough to observe his body in detail. No cuts, no wounds, like he wasn't just shot by a lethal attack a minute ago. Even my pokemon looked gobsmacked after witnessing the impossible. What on earth happened? How was that possible? Why had his wounds disappeared after blissey used Sunny Day?
I know that the doctor is an Ability Holder. Was it due to his ability? Is this his ability?
"Vel, I really am alright. Look up, breathe, deep breaths in and out, you are on the verge of a panic attack," the doctor's gentle voice gradually grounded me back to reality and my quickened breathing gradually receded back to normal levels after forcing myself to take deep breaths.
"Rena, was it? Can you keep your trainer company?" I heard Dr Lott calling for Rena and my espeon nudged her head against my face to remind me that she's here for me, her presence calming me down. I looked at Dr Lott once more, who was about to leave the protection provided by the stone barricades that Lily had erected.
"D-Dr Lott…?"
"Don't worry, it will only take a short while. Despite not looking like it, I'm actually quite angry at whoever did this to us. I won't feel good if I don't get to give a punch or two to his face."
"Y-You are not a trainer. Stay here-" I wanted to stop him from leaving but he simply smiled and raised a finger to his lips.
"You're right, I'm not a trainer, but I don't need to be a skilled trainer to catch that asshole. Relax, I'll be fine. Blissey."
The blissey standing beside the doctor answered with a cheerful chirp.
"Gravity."
It was like the earth shook and flattened, the trembling and pressure that was exerted on the atmosphere felt tangible enough to be felt even if I knew that blissey did not direct the influence of Gravity at us or we would have already been flattened into pancakes. What we felt was simply the residual pressure from blissey's Gravity because we were a little too close to the epicentre of its attack.
The huge metal shack started to crumble and collapsed onto itself into a compressed heap of scrap metal before floating upwards, the trees were also uprooted and large chunks of earth also started to float into the air. All the obstructions that were preventing Zades and the soldiers from giving chase to the attacker were being cleared in quick succession by being forcefully uprooted and lifted into the air in an amazing manipulation of gravity. The blissey's mastery over such a move had us drop our jaws in awe because while many pokemon could learn how to increase the gravity over a certain area, very few managed to master the skill to do the opposite and decrease the gravity over the same area, much less freely manipulating the direction of gravitational pull however they liked similar to how this blissey had displayed. I've never heard of or seen a pokemon capable of manipulating gravity like how blissey was doing.
"Found you."
The attacker was quickly located when all obstacles were being removed, allowing him to be quickly taken down and apprehended by the soldiers. Everything that blissey had lifted into the air came falling down in a thunderous crash thereafter, kicking up a loud cloud of dust and dirt and shaking the earth along with it.
"... I'm very grateful to you for saving us but… What the hell was that, doctor?"
The silence that befell the entire area was only broken when Zades finally spoke up. The doctor simply shrugged nonchalantly, an action playfully mimicked by his blissey.
"Got to have a few tricks up my sleeves to ensure I don't get killed in Unova. It's a very violent and xenophobic place there, y'know? Anyway," the doctor dusted his hands and looked back at the rescued prisoners which he was previously doing first-aid for, "their conditions have all been stabilised enough to move them back to base. I will leave the follow up to you, vice-captain."
"... Right," Zades could only squeeze out that reply when he understood that the doctor has the right to keep his own secrets as long as it doesn't jeopardise the safety of the people around him. He quickly ordered his men to double up and start on the preparations to move back to base before giving his thanks to the doctor for saving his life, which the doctor accepted and waved off, saying that it was no problem at all.
"Sorry if that scared you, it wasn't my intention," the doctor apologised when we were making our return journey back and hitched a ride from us, riding on Snap's back with him sitting behind me.
"No, I mean, okay, yes, I did get a shock, but you shouldn't apologise when you were the one who saved me. I would have died there if it wasn't for you," I quickly assured the doctor. It didn't make sense for him to apologise to me when I am the one who was indebted to him. He's still shirtless since his shirt was ruined from the ambush and while he wasn't the most muscled person I had seen, I had witnessed how he easily threw a crawdaunt back then with a simple throw. Who knows, he might even give Elite Four Bruno a run for his money in terms of pure muscular strength alone.
I really wanted to ask him what really happened but at the same time, I understand that is his secret to keep. I shouldn't poke my nose into things that I shouldn't pry, especially to someone who had risked his life to save mine. That still didn't stop me from trying to figure out what the doctor's ability really is since none of the things he displayed made any sense. Incredible muscular strength, powerful regenerative capabilities but most importantly, the sunlight.
Why was Sunny Day needed? Is his ability grass-inclined and worked similarly to how Synthesis worked for grass types? But that wouldn't explain his raw strength, that seemed more like an ability that is fighting-inclined, wouldn't it?
"Don't think too much. Wash up, go and get some sleep, tomorrow will be a better day," the doctor snapped me back to reality and I nodded, deciding that I really should heed his advice and just get some rest as soon as I returned. It's been a long and harrowing day today.
I really need a break.
AN: Surprise! I actually had time to post new chapters! *cries dramatically after all the overtime that irl work had subjected me to and will continue to subject me to*
Missed out on the opportunity to write an anniversary story again this year, so hopefully the double update would make up for it and hopefully you guys had enjoyed it. This really should be my last update for 2023 but I will try and see if I could get some updates in on 31 Dec.
Last but not least, merry christmas and a happy new year!
Character and pokemon list:
Velda Vera, Age: 14, Female, Pokemon Trainer
Pokemon on hand:
1) Rapidash (Flamel), male
2) Swampert (Bigblue), male
3) Banette (Dolly), female
4) Flygon (Snap), male
5) Absol (Kelsa), female
6) Charizard (Toothless), male
7) Cradily (Lily), female
8) Espeon (Rena), female
9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male
10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male
11) Clefairy (Joy), female
12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female
13) Pangoro (Hulk), male
14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless
15) Scizor (Archer), male
16) Lapras (Chill), female
17) Gengar (Wacky), male