Chapter 134:

Phantom Pain

Alamos was a corpse. The sky had been taken, its people mere bystanders and at the center of it were the Space-Time towers, visible from the entire city and in return, it was watching the entire city with a cold clinical indifference.

Claire could still feel how her arm was stuck in a different timezone. How half of Dragonite's body became incorporeal and she was dropped through his innards.

Claire clutched her right arm, softly tapping it to reassure her of its existence. It was strange to have a limb she distinctly recalled losing and shriveling up.

She gently stroked a finger across the smooth skin. The sensation felt real enough, yet a part of her said to keep touching it, just to confirm it was still there.

She forcefully removed her hand and steered her thoughts away from her missing arm. She could get someone else to look at it later but now other things were more important.

As a Gym leader she was expected to be a first responder whenever a threat emerged, or had passed.

Normally this meant setting up any kind of first aid center, contacting the League, taking down whatever was causing a ruckus or evacuating people.

But there was no damage to control, no wounded to carry away and nothing to fight out here. Alamos looked fine, pristine even, the gears of time had restored it perfectly and yet, an invisible gaping wound had been left.

Claire continued pacing forward, her red cape flashing behind her, tousled by the evening wind.

She kept her expression stern and cool, acting every part of the confident Gym leader she was supposed to be. Next to her, Dragonaire slithered along and accompanied her.

The distant wailing grew louder. Claire turned the corner and spotted a man sitting in the corner against the wall of a restaurant.

He was huddled over, clutching himself and rocking back and forth. A soft but continuous crying poured from his mouth.

A group of people and Pokémon surrounded the man. Some were taking pictures, others looked on in shock and a sparse few tried to calm down the poor man.

"It's been years," the man muttered to himself. "Years upon years."

Claire subconsciously reached for her arm again. It could have been a whole lot worse, she reminded herself.

Her Dragonaire slithered towards the poor soul.

"It won't work," a young girl with an Espeon warned. "I tried using Calm Mind but he won't stop."

Claire took a look at the man. Most people were better off than this person and only remembered a quick death. Those who were unlucky recalled being stretched out, twisted or hit before they died. And then there were those who didn't die.

"Dragonaire, shut him up please."

The blue serpent's tail suddenly whipped forward and with a loud noise it struck the man on the head.

The people around her gasped and pulled away, looking at her like she had lost it.

The time loop victim slumped over instantly. His eyes rolled back and his mouth fell open as every muscle in his body gave up at once.

"He's fine. You there," Claire pointed her finger at a group of trainers in the back. She purposefully pointed it at a specific person in the crowd. An older guy that wore a fancy suit. He looked mentally well enough. "Get him to Alamos Central Square. There should be a Recovery Station set up. They should be able to help further."

Without further ado and a powerful spin, Claire left the gathering of souls and continued the search for more victims.

Behind her she heard people talk to each other in hushed tones, gossiping over her actions and demeanor.

A small smile played on her lips as she left the scene. At least this was familiar territory, and that poor soul would get help soon.

Claire passed by more people. There were quite a lot of people still on the street. Some tried to prepare for the night but most just couldn't sleep. They had stories they wanted to tell, thoughts too loose or memories that just stuck.

She couldn't help with that. Maybe the League had some expert shrink or some Ghastly could solve this issue.

It kept feeling eerie. Walking through the perfect streets of Alamos, knowing it had been a void hours earlier. The League would be working overtime trying to explain whatever happened here.

She let out a sigh. If they could even explain what happened.

Behind her a man accompanied by a Shiftry crossed the street.

Looker looked at the TV monitor. He was silently cursing the entire IT department. Those nerds have one job for crying out loud, and they beautifully managed to fuck that up.

"We never said that we got rid of the attacker. It just disappeared."Well bravo, whoever was in charge of that department hopefully would be fired by now.

Looker overlooked the timeline he'd gotten from his Rottom.

11:57 Unknown entity enters the Sinnoh Communications Network.

11:58 Attack on the League network communication.

12:05 Entity executes a Remote Emergency trigger on all devices capable of receiving news broadcasts.

Looker knew to trust his guts. He wasn't really into tech, he had people for that, but even without understanding all the backporting and Porygon shit, he knew it had been Galactic.

They wanted the world to see Alamos' disappearance. They were lunatics, of course they would. But the ease with which they had hijacked the network was unnerving.

12:15 League Porygon Counterforce launches a counter attack.

From that moment until seven o'clock they had been playing tag with a ghost. It was effortlessly dodging any attempts to identify, trace, contain or annihilate it. No other branches had been breached, no data leaked or copied, it was just hanging around for god knows why.

19:07 Entity abruptly leaves the network.

19:08 Encrypted file found within root structure of the datarecovery launch.

The ghost had left the network soon after. That made him feel only more paranoid.

Where did the ghost come from? How long had it been there and what else could it access? Maybe it had been within the servers for years, silently spying for Galactic?

More important was the question, what would prevent it from entering the network again?

19:09 Decrypted found file: gg. It was fun, cya.

The wind pushed against Hylla's face and scattered her hair in the wind. She lowered her head until it almost rested completely on Charizard's back and held on tight, every muscle in her body was working overtime as the wind tried to peel her off the dragon's back.

Around her there was nothing but the dark night sky and a long fall below her. Above, thousands of stars sparkled against the deep blue sky. They flashed in vibrant and strange colors, almost like they were alive. They felt closer to earth, much closer. Hylla kept looking up as her Charizard spearheaded towards Alamos.

She had heard rumors about the sky near Alamos being strange, but this went far beyond the documented behavior. More worrisome was that the sky had been this way long before she closed in on Alamos Town.

She had seen the stars appear and had observed them from nightfall up till now, and she could say with a certainty that they were closer. Whatever had happened in Alamos, it had left a wound on the sky itself.

It was still a surprisingly nice night and although the air was cold, it wasn't the harsh cold that Sinnoh was infamous for.

Charizard kept her warm enough, and the beating heart she could hear when she pressed down upon her scales was soothing in its own way.

The League had yet to declare Teleportation safe, and all the flights near Alamos town had been canceled the moment the town disappeared.

Without losing her footing or grip, Hylla pulled one arm free and took out her phone and unlocked it using her voice.

Dust: Flamera. It's all her fault. I don't know what exactly happened, but she started it all.

Hylla: Don't say anything else. I am coming over.

Dust: Right now? It's late and I think whatever the fuck just happened is over.

Hylla: A mass network breach today. This line might be compromised. I'll be there in 4 hours.

Dust: Fly safe.

Hylla swiped the chat away and opened her browser. She quickly did a search on the name and found nothing of interest. Some public appearances, contests she won, a boring rise to the position of mayor and a request to the Eterna Eternal History museum for Heartbreaker.

She had no criminal records at all, in fact, her entire story so far was very only thing of interest was the picture of her holding the sword in front of the Darkrai. In that picture was of course Dust.

Somehow, Dust had always managed to be wherever things went wrong, yet he always managed to pull through. Was his arrival in Alamos Town just another unfortunate incident for Dust, or did he know something no one else did?

Hylla looked up from her screen to check if they were still on course. Charizard let out a reassuring huff and she narrowed her attention back on the small glowing screen. With a few taps she opened a new file, this one was still actively being updated. Information was added, edited and removed at a breakneck pace by the Porygon.

A few people were listed as missing still; Evy Falls, Flamera Brande, Grayson Garlocks, Mike Thorn.

2 of them had come into contact with Dust.

Hylla swapped to another file on her phone. She quickly entered the password and accessed her personal notes. She began typing.

Fakes Agnosia? Time traveler?

Barry looked up at the sky. It had been a peaceful day, a long day of not doing anything. Next to him lay Prinplup, snoring away lazily after a grueling week of training.

Satisfied, Barry allowed all his muscles to relax, to lie back and just enjoy the breathtaking view of the night sky.

Somewhere far away he could hear the sound of a Hoothoot cooing. The leaves in the trees rustled as night Pokémon began their daily routine while the day Pokémon slept.

Barry made a mental note to pay more attention to the beauty of his surroundings. Normally he was already in bed by this time, or inside his tent, but nature was beautiful. Sometimes he felt like he was trying to rush through life too much.

As a treat, the stars seemed to shine extra bright tonight, like tiny embers in the sky. They were almost uncanny in their presence, but this just showed how Barry wasn't accustomed to being outside this late.

Using one hand, Barry reached for his Pokédex and pressed the power button on the side.

Today was a day for nothing but relaxation, so he had left it closed all day. He had read somewhere online that being connected 24/7 was bad for mental health and stress. The article advised people to cut themselves off every now and then.

Barry had felt more relaxed today, but he had also been rather stressed about all the things he was missing out on. But he had to force himself to calm down and not compulsively turn on his Pokédex.

There were only a few more hours until the middle of the night, Barry figured that it was already practically the next day and he was allowed to access his Pokédex again. Just to see if his favorite game got any updates.

Immediately the Pokédex began to buzz as notifications exploded. Startled, Barry got up and paid attention.

The notifications flooded in, warning for possible B level threats, ceasing of all Teleportation and a town that went missing.

Alamos Town? Wasn't that the place Dust had gone off to?

A new popup appeared on screen.

Upcoming: Sinnoh League Official Briefing Regarding the Alamos Incident.

Sabrina tried to relax. She tried really hard, extremely hard, and put her utmost effort into being as relaxed as possible.

She couldn't relax.

The Psychic shifted her position on the floor, allowing her calves to rest a little and shifting the weight onto her butt.

She forced a deep sigh out of her lungs and tried to focus on how good it felt not to think.

It didn't work. Instead, her mind decided to laser in on the sensations of having a tailbone and how much she wasn't relaxing.

Sabrina released the relaxed breath she was holding and slumped over.

The room she found herself in was extremely barebones. The Ranger had used it as a storage room, when the Hunt moved in Sabrina had requested this room for meditation.
For this exact reason the room was empty and clean. She could almost see her own reflection in the polished floors, and through that mirror she saw the faint glow of her eyes stare back.

"Damn." Sabrina swung her head back and bit her lip. Maybe she was too tired from today's battle. Could she call it a battle?

Sabrina decided to call it a battle. Anything involving a Legendary class Pokémon was considered a battle. Just their sheer presence would give anyone a headache, Psychic or not.

Not a single shot had been fired today. Which was a good thing, in Sabrina's view any strategy that involved avoiding the battle was a superior tactic.

But with Lugia, you really don't want to be on its bad side. Both because it could create storms that could flood an entire city and because he was sacred to some groups in Johto. It would be bad press if the Hunt had shot down their divine protector.

Luckily Lugia was one of the more reasonable Legendary Pokémon. With the Commander's oversight they managed to continuously block the path to Sinnoh using their fliers and aircrafts and steer him away from his destination.

Lugia got grumpy but never directly retaliated.

That probably was the reason Sabrina couldn't focus right now. Acting as a telephone for over 20 people for multiple hours would be much for any telepath. Yes, that had to be it!

Sabrina decided to give it another go and used Calm Mind. Immediately her senses dulled and her thoughts became sharper.

Sabrina tried to look forward. Flashes of information and possible futures arose in her mind.

Dark clouds would form over Ilex forest in the following month, a man in Unova would drink too much and mistake a Drifloon for an electrical cord tomorrow at dawn, at an undetermined point in time she saw vague glimpses of flooding in Porta Vista and sometime the day after tomorrow the Littleroot orphanage would catch fire.

These visions were normal. Her powers were always like this, incoherent, sporadic and hard to control, but useful. She doubted she could do much to save the drunk stranger, but she could warn the orphanage. She wasn't sure whether that event was set in stone, or if it could be prevented, but a small heads-up would be worthwhile.

Getting good luck, Sabrina pressed her eyes shut more forcefully and tried to reach further.

What will happen in the far future? A year from now? Half a year from now? 3 months?

No images came to her. No glimpses of the future, sensations or paths to avoid.

Sabrina furrowed her brow and tried to concentrate harder, trying to shape the unknown into a future.

Nothing appeared.

Sabrina exhaled slowly, trying to curb a small hint of panic.

This didn't mean anything. The Zone had been lifted only mere hours ago, the future was probably still recovering and she was weak from dealing with Lugia.

It had to be that. The idea that the greater future was outside of her grasp was simply unimaginable.

Sabrina decided to give it one more try.

Seconds later, she fell asleep.

Giovanni paced back and forth in his office while the press release was being set up. He didn't expect much of it, no, not much, he expected nothing.

Still, the TV monitor was set to Sinnoh Now and was currently showing a room filled with journalists waiting for Cynthia's arrival. Each of them had a thousand questions, some to which even he didn't have answers to.

How much would they tell?

Would they reveal that the mythical Pokémon of Space and Time invaded their world?

Would they tell them about Galactic's involvement?

Would they tell the people that the future was fractured and that all attempts at long range precognition continued to fail?

Maybe it was for the greater good not to tell people that the fabric of space around the earth had been severely weakened.

Whatever would be said, the game had been changed significantly. Pokémon as old as time roamed the world and regardless of whether the league confirmed it, the world had seen it.

The question was, how would the High League handle this?

How would he have to act to protect the world from devastation?

Cynthia appeared in front of the mic. "Dear people of Sinnoh…"

Tick… tick… tick… tick

He'd gotten very good at ignoring that sound.

The one thing he was bothered by was the sound of his own footsteps. His boots echoed strangely in a way he couldn't quite put into words. They sounded shorter and softer than they should, almost as if these echoes weren't his.

A second pair of footsteps followed behind him but these were distinctly not his. They sounded off in their own way, but as they tapped on the mosaic, their sounds too were distorted.

"Wow," Mars marveled behind him. "I've seen and heard of this place, but seeing it in person really is something else." Even on a mission as important as this one, she couldn't help but admire the grandiosity and scale of the Space-Time towers.

"Yeah, it is quite something," he answered softly. Right to him, Shiftry nodded. His footsteps didn't make any sound at all, but that was to be expected.

The Space-Time towers were a true delicate masterpiece. The moon bathed them in silvery light through the window, making this place feel even more timeless.

The dull gold gleam on the walls had stayed the same through the years, the machine parts, pipes and gears had not a single spot of rust, the windows and the floor were impeccably clean.

The air inside however felt stall, heavy in a strange way. The gears in the center of the room slowly ticked away, measuring the time with methodical increments, filling the spacious room with its sound.

Mars moved deeper into the room and the Hunter followed her. The arrhythmic ticking of the aurateller violently clashed with that of the clock towers

Tick…tick..

As they headed deeper into the room it felt like they were swallowed by it. Consumed in a way he couldn't quite put into words.

Mars gleefully soaked in the atmosphere. "You can just feel it in the air, can't you? The power of the divine?"

"Maybe," the Hunter answered curtly. His eyes moved to a darkened corner of the interior, all the way hidden in the back.

He subtly gestured to his compatriot into the direction of the surveillance camera.

Shiftry spun around and shot a grass pellet towards the device. It was torn off and fell to the floor, electric sparks rained from the spot it had been attached to the wall.

Mars turned around and eyed the broken camera. "That one was ours."

"Wasn't aware you guys had eyes around here."

"They installed multiple devices around the tower to capture footage of the two legendary class Pokémon. Some were also installed in the Town itself, but only the ones connected to the towers managed to retain their data." Mars shrugged. "Well, it's not like we need them anymore."

She put her attention back on the aurateller and swung it around, trying to gauge where it pulled her towards.

Again, the structure beckoned them deeper into its stomach. And at the center of its stomach was of course it's beating heart; a peculiar looking machine that had far too many gears and pulleys. It looked ancient and impractical, yet it kept ticking with rhythmic precision and kept, presumably, the pendulum swinging.

Not fast enough. The trio moved past the timekeeping device and to the back of the room.

And there they found it. A giant mural that spanned from one end of the room to the other, capturing the attention of anyone that would step foot inside of this hall.

The aurateller went haywire and the ticks it produced became screeches. It made him nauseous. It reminded him of a bomb that was about to detonate.

Mars turned it off and soon they were only accompanied by the ticking of the tower's clockwork and their own breathing.

There were no guards here, at least not anymore. They had been disposed of, but with these kinds of places you never quite know what could come at you.

Hesitantly, the Hunter approached the mural.

The piece was enormous and easily one of the greatest works of craftsmanship he had ever seen. It displayed a rich scene of a garden with a young girl at the center of it, blowing on a leaf.

Pokémon carved out of marble surrounded the girl in awe, waiting to hear her song.

Surrounding the mural were big discs inscribed with beautiful flower patterns and bronze frames covering each of them. Within, they all held a smaller music disc.

"It's a shame," Mars pondered out loud. She too had been captivated by the scene on the mural. It looked so serene and peaceful.

Mars pulled her gaze away and turned back. "Break it."

The Hunter nodded at Shifry.

Shiftry's arm began to glow and he retracted it. His fists began to fume with energy and then all that stored up energy was released in one massive burst.

The wall shook. Cracks spread out like cobwebs across the girl's face. Slow and hesitant at first, but faster the more the image broke. The Pokémon and the trees that made up the statue began to shatter like a mirror, spreading out from the center like a rot.

The Hunter and Mars took a few steps back.

The girl's face broke off and fell onto the mosaic floor. The missing center spread out and more pieces of the sculpture crumbled away.

The art was further desecrated by a second hit from Shiftry. Dust plumes stirred up and the sound of the marble tearing continued for a short while as every part of it was torn down like it was a mere canvas.

"There it is," Mars declared.

The dust began to settle and most of the mural had now been torn down. But behind it they didn't find the walls of the Space-Time towers, they found another mural. One just as intricate and delicate, yet covered up like a dirty secret and hidden behind an equally stunning work.

But now, after all this time, maybe for the first time since it had been chiseled, the scene was visible to the world.

Although the work was well designed, the scene it depicted was far less idyllic and coherent than the forest piece.

The mural depicted a sideways view of Alamos' skyline, including the Space-Time towers themselves. At the bottom a Scolipede like creature was carved into the canvas, eating away at the roots of Alamos Town.

Above, looming over the Space-Time Towers were two dragon Pokémon, both massive and terrifying, their gazes locked onto the towers themselves.

And all the way at the top, in the sky of Alamos, was a glowing plate, embedded into the very marble that contained the scene it occupied.

Basking in the light once again, the plate began to glow and pulse softly, like a heartbeat, and although it had been covered by a fake mural for decades on end, it felt very much alive.

"Prepare for extraction." Mars snapped her fingers. A grin spread on her face. "We better be fast."

Dawn leaned onto the balustrade, her fingers tapping at the dry wood in a mindless manner.

In front of her lay Alamos Town, wide and open with a thousand lights to ward off the dark of the dark. It almost was as if the festivities continued for another night.

Overheard flew a helicopter, belonging to some news agency. There wasn't much to broadcast, just the town trying to fall asleep after what had happened. Or rather, hadn't happened?

Things were weird, extremely so.

Ash and Brock had immediately crashed and were sleeping soundly in their rooms but Dawn just struggled to fall asleep.

It wasn't some terrible pain that kept her awake. She'd spoken to a man who'd been bisected, yet kept alive despite it all. She couldn't imagine what he must be feeling now.

She also hadn't seen the gross scenes some people lived through. Nor had she partaken in any futile counter attack against the two dragon Pokémon.

Dawn had read about survivor's guilt before, did it really apply in this case? She felt like she should feel more impacted by it all, but in all honesty, she felt pretty good.

The embarrassing truth was that Dawn hadn't experienced any of it. After the two Legendaries had appeared she got separated from her friends and then…nothing.

She had died, without even realizing it.

The strangest thing, from her perspective, was the jetlag. It felt like it was still just five in the afternoon, while the clock blatantly stated it to be almost eleven o'clock.

Dawn couldn't help but to laugh at the bizarreness of her situation.

She reached out for her glass of water, ready to take another sip when all of a sudden; rumbles.

Dawn gasped.

In the skyline, the Space-Time towers began to crumble.

Cynthia faced the camera and felt the many eyes upon her. She kept her face neutral and pushed aside all the fatigue.

"Today at exactly twelve o'clock the entirety of the Alamos zone was displaced. This coincided with the appearance of two Legendary class Pokémon, rumored to be Dialga and Palkia. Two Pokémon mentioned in various local legends and myths."

She paused for a brief second.

"We don't know what caused them to appear, but we have confirmation that these two Legendary class Pokémon managed to restore the Alamos zone in its entirety. There are no confirmed casualties so far—"

The soft buzz of a Pokéwatch interrupted Cynthia's conference. Another buzz followed. Then a ping.

"The following video published online by Galactic may be considered shocking to some." The reporter said gravely.

Behind the camera, in the studio, a button was pressed, and the clip began to play.

"Today, Alamos town got invaded by two legendary class entities," a strong male voice said, his disdain was clear.

A grainy video started playing, a recording. Static lines and snow plagued the footage but through it details could still be made out.

There was an eye poking through a hole in the sky.

"Today, we were attacked."

The footage abruptly shifted into a scene of destruction. Again, the details were scarce due to the poor quality of the footage, but through the fog you could see a Pokémart floating above the ground, untethered by gravity. People and Pokémon experienced one brief moment of wonder, before gravity came back in full swing and crushed everything.

"Everyone in Alamos died today."

The scene changed to a skyline with a large creature towering over it. It roared and spikes of energy were released from the ground. The scene shifted. A black and white clip of a stretched out street was shown on the screen. The ripped fiber and blood of a Carnivine caught within it were perfectly captured by camera. And then another clip, another tragic end.

"There are currently over 23 Legendary Pokémon that we know of. Beasts from outer space, monsters under the earth and creatures hiding in different planes of existence. Pokémon who can control the weather, bend the fundamental aspects of reality or break the earth we walk."

More clips were shown. A montage of the destruction left in Alamos.

"The League was unable to prevent or stop the march of these two entities. They have no way to capture or kill one. All League procedures are aimed at recovery and defensive measures. We aim to change this."

A gold coloured G faded into view.

"We are Galactic. Our goal is to free humanity from the blight of these so-called gods. So that humanity may one day be among the stars."

A/N Awww. Holy shit, I got so many pleasant and cool reviews last chapter. Glad everyone liked it, I was anxious about it, but damn, am I happy.

So yeah, just an interlude chapter which shows various other people dealing with the recent turn of events.

Thanks to RatKingMuffin for helping me with some typos. Every typo missed can solely be blamed on him.

Discord in bio. Be kind to each other, rot in peace. That kind of stuff. Halloween chapter?

-CaptainMoonShine-