As Giratina's focus roamed, spiraling in towards the world that Arceus had described, it couldn't help but feel inconvenienced. It was happily complying, had complied, and would continue complying with Arceus's request, of course, but concealing the direction it was focused on – or, the direction that it could pretend existed, in its realm – was no easy task. Dividing its focus would limit just how present it would be.
So. It felt inconvenienced.
It knew the cause, obviously, and though Arceus hadn't said the name of the specific God, Giratina knew enough of Arceus's dealings, had stood in and observed and was standing in and observing and would stand in and observe, to know the name of the God that had inherited humanity.
Just as Arceus hadn't said its name, Giratina was not thinking, would not think, and had not thought its name. Whether spoken by the frailest mortal or a deity with vast cosmic power, such utterances could draw attention, which it was avoiding, had avoided, and would avoid.
Finally, and eons ago, and one far off day in the future, its focus arrived at what it imagined was the border to the world that Arceus had told it of. Soon, and some time ago, and now, its focus crystalized into its destination.
It blinked, and it took in a breath that rattled its surroundings.
In a meadow inside a crater, Giratina stood surrounded by white flowers of every variety, the land kneeling before a vast, yawning cave entrance despite being above the crack in the ground. Above it, the sky was painted with the rainbow of a new dawn as the sun rose above the horizon hidden by the walls of the crater.
Simultaneously, it was curled, semi-conscious, within the confines of a Poke Ball, its mind inhabiting a memory meant to assuage its bodily processes, awaiting a time to grow from a size too small for the human who had captured it to see into its full height.
Within the crater, Giratina stomped on the ground. Within the Poke Ball, its body stirred and shook its container.
It waited patiently. It felt no smoldering anger or resignation, so it felt neither the urge to remember nor the desire to escape. This Poke Ball was not a prison, but its den. Its home.
A hand pressed against the exterior of its home, and a warm breeze blew through the crater.
Despite the familiar warmth and memories, despite the space it inhabited being its home, however inevitably temporary a home it was, despite the interior of the Poke Ball containing more than enough space for its physical form to inhabit, it felt just slightly too small.
Moments – seconds or minutes or hours, the difference hardly mattered – passed, and the crater and meadow faded away in a flash of light as its home opened and it grew, taller and taller.
It – they – were outside, as expected. Few human structures were built to accommodate Pokemon of its size.
Despite the vast open sky, bright and blue and cloudless, and the unadorned, perfectly manicured field, and the vast walls of seats for humans and Pokemon alike to fill, it still felt as if its surroundings were too cluttered. As if it were still slightly too large.
It rumbled. Yes, this feeling was because it was, had been, and would be splitting its focus in an attempt to experience a world while simultaneously obscuring what it was focusing on. It knew this, would come to know it, and would keep knowing it until, eventually, it did not.
It turned its attention from itself and its surroundings to the other.
It looked upon Cynthia, and it managed to find itself just the smallest bit surprised.
She was not the wide-eyed child that rarely encountered Giratina by complete accident, nor was she the headstrong youth that discovered its resting place, nor was she the straight-backed champion with years of experience who sought it out deliberately.
Her hair was gray, shot through with only thin streaks of lustrous silver-blonde. Wrinkles were carved deeply into her face. Spots and veins and bones painted and poked and lived beneath aged flesh. Her back was hunched slightly. Her hands rested on a jingling cane decorated with tokens of appreciation from friends and acquaintances from around this world.
Giratina blinks again. Cynthia was old.
"Hello, Giratina," she greeted with a small nod and a wry smile that makes it clear that the lines around her eyes and mouth are from a lifetime of joy.
She was wizened and ancient and content.
She was concerned. "What's got you so active?" She asked the question with an undercurrent of expectation.
It closed its eyes, and it remembered.
It took Cyrus from the world, to stop him from destroying it, as it had done before, was doing now, and would keep doing. It battled against Dawn. It resided deep within a cave next to a meadow inside a crater and it formed a bond with Cynthia through battle and a speech about goals. Goals it shared.
It traveled with Cynthia. It watched and, eventually, assisted her in uncovering mysteries of the past, be they human or Pokemon. It fought against forces attempting to harm and exploit others. It battled, in Sinnoh and across the globe.
It protected the world. It heard its moniker transform from a curse into a prayer.
In a fraction of a fraction of a second, it anticipated, lived, remembered, and relived decades of its life.
It opened its eyes.
Still, that fraction of a fraction of a second had still taken time, and the wry smile faded into a focused frown. "What's wrong?"
"I-" it rumbled. It said nothing else and backed away a few feet from its trainer, looking at the spot its throat had once occupied. Shining in the air, like a spider web made of the cracks in a pane of glass, was the sign of its unfettered power interacting with the world.
It was a crack that could only be measured in centimeters, but a distortion of such size is wholly unacceptable.
It frowned. Having to split its focus would prove to be a more trying task than it had expected.
"Oh dear," she said in reply as she gazed at the sparkling light emanating from the crack it had caused. "You're trying to speak with me directly," she shook her head. "It must be bad, then."
It tilted its head.
It closed its eyes, and it remembered once more.
It told her that it was but a fragment of the larger, vastly more powerful whole that encompassed what Giratina had been, would be, and always was. It watched Cynthia being pushed and pulled by others and, eventually, watched her purposefully wade into a growing web of politics and becoming ever-more skilled in an arena she disliked even thinking of. It recalled moments, days, weeks, months, and years where her love of battling and of archeology and exploration and even ice cream all waxed and waned in discordant cycles. It watched her break down as her position demanded she grow ever-stronger.
It felt greed and avarice and desperation and love deepen within itself towards the presence of its trainer.
It curled around its trainer as her myriad emotions erupted at her name and her image and her very being becoming synonymous with Sinnoh itself.
It keened for every loss.
Roserade. Porygon-Z. Swafle. Gastrodon. Braviary. Yukimarmeon. Togekiss. Lucario. Milotic. Family and Friends, Human and Pokemon.
The means had been plentiful. Old age. Battle. Insanity. Sickness.
Throughout its time with her, she had gained and lost and lived.
It opened its eyes.
Despite that, despite the signs of age and of her own failing health, she stood, poised and attentive and ready to spring into action once more. To keep giving in spite of how little of herself she had left.
It crooned and stepped forward, towards its trainer, and bent down. It rubbed the side of its head against an outstretched hand, hastily raised in time with one of her eyebrows.
It focused.
"There is no crisis. As I told thee, decades ago, I have simply decided to focus."
She continues rubbing the side of its head, her tone curious. "But not because there's a crisis?"
"No. Something interesting is occurring."
She opened her mouth, to respond with all the sarcastic, good-natured humor she could, but she didn't.
Instead, her hand fell to her cane and struggled to support her as her body was wracked with coughs. It tilted its head, concerned.
Without even needing to close its eyes, it remembered again.
Cynthia was dying.
Giratina wailed.
-OxOxO-
"Hideyoshi! On the way to the breakroom? Or maybe the bathroom?"
Frozen, he tried to stifle a nervous gulp as his hand wavered above the doorknob that would open the door into the hallways of the fifth floor of Silph Company Headquarters's fifth floor.
He kept his mouth closed firmly shut as his mind raced to think of what he should say. "C'mon, Meowth got your tongue?" his boss asked. Hideyoshi finally turned around to see amusement and disappointment in the man's posture and face.
Hideyoshi nodded and plastered a smile of his own onto his face. "Uh, right. The breakroom." He only barely managed to make the words sound like he was answering Chatetti's question rather than asking himself if that had been where he was headed.
The man nodded. "Well, why don't we both head over together? There's a few things your team lead wanted me to talk to you about."
He resisted the urge to gulp again. He'd known this was probably coming, but… sue him! There was just-
"Now Hideyoshi," his boss said as he simultaneously opened the door for him and read his forming expression, "You and I both know what this is about."
He didn't say anything as the man led them down the hall, took a quick right, and then entered the break room opposite of the elevator and the brightly labeled panic room. Then, as they stood in front of the door, his boss standing motionless in front of the door, he said, "You've had access to the onboarding for two weeks and you still haven't finished it."
"I know, sir," he replied, tinging his voice with respect and chagrin and absolutely none of the petty and admittedly unjustified annoyance he felt. "With the acquisition and the work and everything, I just haven't had a lot of time." He finished his sentence. "Sir," he tacked onto the end.
His boss finally pushed into the unoccupied break room, and, with a sigh, got himself a cup of coffee as Hideyoshi grabbed himself a muffin of some kind while sneaking his phone out of his pocket.
Both of them knew that what he'd said was a lie. Hideyoshi wasn't lacking in time, but he was lacking in time that he was willing to give up to fill out a bunch of useless paperwork that didn't even really matter.
"What is it this time?" his boss asked. Hideyoshi grinned as he navigated his phone and his nervousness drained away. "The East African Federation is holding a country-wide tournament in preparation for the Pokemon World Tournament," he began, taking in air as he spoke. He was about to continue, to expound upon the amazing trainers and unique Pokemon that he wished he could catch, or even just battle, but Chatteti just held up a hand. "Alright. I understand that you're really interested in professional battling, but you have to finish filling it out. Today."
Hideyoshi grumbled, but Chatteti just shook his head. "No buts about it!" he said, his returning jovial tone tinged with a hint of desperation. "You are legally required to finish it, Hideyoshi Katsuka, and if you don't…" he trailed off, and then continued, the joviality replaced with fatigue. "They're probably going to ask me to ask you to hand in your two weeks."
Hideyoshi's grumbling dried up in an instant. "Shit, really? I didn't think it was that important."
Chatteti just shook his head again and rolled his eyes as he took a sip of coffee. Hideyoshi was sure the man was probably thinking that Hideyoshi's problem was that he didn't think, but Hideyoshi did!
It was just that watching Pokemon fight was way cooler than paperwork.
Instead of saying what he probably thought, though, Chatteti just said, "Well, just make sure you get it done today before you clock out."
Hideyoshi nodded deferentially, and Chatteti left. Hideyoshi immediately began watching the video on his phone – he'd get around to the paperwork later. He had a battle to watch! If he had to stay a bit late, it would be fine.
-OxOxO-
Hideyoshi whistled to himself as he left the breakroom and began walking back to his workplace, having thoroughly enjoyed watching the last round of the placement matches for the East African Federation Tournament and ready to go back to working on his translations.
He felt a smile breaking out on his face. And what translations they were! Not everyone had clocked on yet, but he'd been talking to Jamal, of course, and also of course they'd been talking with some of the other translation teams when the opportunity arose, and it was pretty clear to just about everyone in the Silph headquarters, if not the company as a whole, that they were angling to get the World Tournament hosted in Autumna.
He continued whistling jauntily, until he felt a sudden urge and diverted himself to the bathroom to take a leak. He went about his business, still giddy at the thought that the PWT would be in town, and maybe he'd get in at least one or two battles with some big shots.
Visions of battle filled his head as he did his business; could he get the five badges he didn't yet have? Lavender wasn't that far away, so it would only take a weekend to pop over and get his fourth. The three gyms in the west half of Kanto would take longer, even if he took a magnet train. Traveling to Seafoam City would require a boat and take even longer.
He grinned as he walked out of the stall. He had a whole six months, though. He wouldn't become champion material in such a short time, but five badges should be manageable.
He began washing his hands as his mind continued to whirl. Eight badges… getting them, or completing the equivalent skill requirements set by the league of one's region, was what separated amateur trainers from casual ones. The PWT catered to all kinds of trainers and watchers, and amateur trainers were included. Competing there was an accomplishment, no matter your skill relative to the Master and Champion tournaments.
Getting all eight badges was an accomplishment.
An accomplishment he'd missed out on, when he'd chickened out of his journey.
He wiped his hands on his pants, and then he lingered in the brightly lit bathroom, hands gripped into fists. Could he really-
The lights in the room flickered, and then, from beneath the tiny cracks between the door and the wall, a light began to shine.
He paused, perplexed. What-
Then, echoing off of the bare walls of the bathroom, was a singular sound.
A long, drawn out scream.
It was soon joined by others. A chorus of people's voices, from all around the floor, all around the building, echoed through the clean, undecorated interior of the floor, into the bathroom, and reflected inside Hideyoshi's skull.
Then, all at once, they stopped, and the sound of nervous feet and scared voices began to fill the hallways and echo inside the bathroom instead. He gulped, a hand drifting towards the satchel strapped to his back.
"What the hell?" he said, the only things that might have heard him being his Pokemon.
BOOOOM! KA-BOOM!
The ground shook, and he fought to stabilize himself. The screaming started again. His bag jolted, and he hurriedly unzipped it-
In a flash of light, his Nuzleaf had materialized in front of him. She joined him in wobbling around on shaky feet as explosions continued to rock the building.
Then, they stopped, and the walking began again, more hurried and panicked. His Nuzleaf looked at him, her expression troubled. He recognized the kernel of nervousness. "Sorry, bud, I don't have a clue what's going-"
BANG!
He flinched, blinking rapidly as the door flew open. Wreathed in an ethereal white light, Tanya von Degurechaff scowled angrily. For a moment, the scowl was replaced by wariness as she looked down at Nuzleaf and studied her. Nuzleaf glared up at her and raised her hands, ready to attack.
When Nuzleaf made no further attempt to move, Degurechaff seemingly dismissed her and looked up at Hideyoshi and speared him with one of the more potent glares in the arsenal of annoyed and angry expressions she'd displayed the astonishing capacity to use at the drop of a hat. "There you are. Why aren't you at the panic room?"
"What's going on?" he replied. She rolled her eyes. "No clue. I'm not arguing wi-"
She paused, and then she sighed. "You still haven't finished the onboarding?"
He opened his mouth to attempt to defend himself, because he'd known that safety information was in the part of the onboard he hadn't finished and he still hadn't read it because, really, what were the chances-
She stepped past Nuzleaf. "Nuz!" she objected as Degurechaff grabbed his arm and derailed his train of thought. "Let's go," she insisted with a snarl and a shake of her head. He opened his mouth to respond-
"Nuzleaf," Nuzleaf demanded, glaring up at them both, but mostly at Tanya. She raised an eyebrow at her before snapping at Hideyoshi. "And return that thing. As soon as we get to the panic room, we'll all use the teleporters to head to the basement."
He shook her grip off of him, but, before she could get mad again, he said, "Okay, fine. Let's- Let's go."
Her eyes narrowed, and she gave him a satisfied nod before taking off down the hallway. He blinked and rushed to catch up, Nuzleaf hurrying after him. In any other situation, he would have grumbled and swore up a storm about Nuzleaf sandbagging so he could keep pace with her, despite him being a whole foot taller than her.
Instead, they just shared a look in uneasy recognition that this wasn't the time or place for that and ran forwards.
They tore around the corner after Degurechaff, down the hallways that were all being bathed with a silvery-white light streaming in through every open door they ran past, He chanced a glance through one door, and saw some kind of thing hanging in the air-
"OOF!"
He was stopped by an arm covered with bark-like skin and a strength that far outclassed his own and almost sent sprawling due to the difference in their height. Still she gripped his shirt and he managed to stabilize himself and look at what had stopped them.
Positioned just behind the stock-still Degurechaff, they stared at the panic room. Several dozen people were outside of it, and several dozen more were probably inside. Some people were on their phones, others were arguing about something or another, others had their Pokemon out and were talking with them quietly. Perched on the wall, the screen above the entrance to the room blinked the words 'Teleporter Out of Service' in a block of text.
"Out… of service?" Degurechaff murmured. Someone burst out of the crowd – the head of Silph Company Translations that he didn't remember the name of – and gave them a very radiant smile that reeked of experience placating people. "Apparently, whatever is happening is meddling with Space-Time, so there's a, ah, not-insignificant chance of gruesome death if we use it. Not to worry though!" he said, "Procedure obviously states that we should go to the stairs, so as long as they're still structurally sound, we should be fine."
His smile and his confident words did very little to hide just how nervous he was.
Someone came jogging down one of the other hallways, towards the suited man in front of them. "The west stairs are filled with rubble partway down," she reported. He recognized her from one of the other translation teams on the floor.
An explosion shook the room. Shouts and screams rang out, and almost everyone standing wavered. Kanto was as earthquake-prone as anywhere else in Japan, but the noise and movement were completely disorientating.
The only one to stay standing perfectly straight was Degurechaff.
"HELP! HELP ME!"
Everyone turned. The sound of a pair thumping, sprinting footsteps, one a drumbeat and the other erratic, began echoing down one of the other hallways, and Hideyoshi gulped.
A man in casual business attire crashed into a wall and went sprawling. A few gasps rang out, and then-
A white, floating orb covered in multicolored spots peeked around the corner. Hideyoshi's brow furrowed as he wondered what was so scary about a floating ball.
Then, the rest of it creeped around the corner, the ball floating after the tip-toeing body and revealing the full height of the thing that he assumed had to be a Pokemon, even if it wasn't one he'd ever seen.
The first thing that sprang to his mind was 'clownish.' Striped yellow, blue, and pink, with an exaggerated waist, thin, spindly arms, and white hands, feet, and a wide collar, atop which the white ball floated, flashing yet more colors, the only constant color being the bleached sphere beneath. It looked like a circus tent given a bipedal form.
It moved gaily, swaying as it stepped forward, closer towards them. The crowd stood still, silent and transfixed and wondering what it was going to do, if it-
The mitten-like hands cupped its head, and the woman who'd come from the western stair shouted. "C- Comfey, Protect!"
Light burst from the ball tightly gripped in one of her hands, and a tiny, yellow, hairy Pokemon with a thin tail adorned with flowers trilled angrily as it rushed forward, towards the blinking white ball, a sphere of green-blue energy forming around it.
The ball left its hands, the Comfey rushed to meet it, and Hideyoshi found himself being flung to the ground as an explosion rocked the room.
What… had happened? What…
Rough, grainy hands gripped his arm, tugging incessantly, and Hideyoshi sat up with a jolt. Th- that thing had-
There was an explosion. He looked around, his head swimming, and he realized people were battling. Others were running, scattering around the ground, or curled up in the panic room covering their heads.
He rose to his feet, the dizziness fading slightly. "What is that thing?"
He turned to look at the voice that had uttered that question.
It was Degurechaff.
"It's an Ultra Beast; a Blacephalon," replied another familiar voice. He found that the woman with the Comfey was tending to it, spraying it with a Super Potion.
Her hands were shaking.
The thing- the Blacephalon, shouted angrily, its cry like laughter being pushed through a fat pipe organ as three Pokemon rushed towards it and it pirouetted out of the way.
"T- They come from other planets, or maybe dimensions, through Ultra Wormholes. Uh- they're only really a problem in Alola? They've been a lot less common, but you can't catch them in normal Pokeballs, so-"
"What," Hideyoshi interrupted, "Type. Stats. What was that move?" he demanded.
She blinked, and then she nodded rapidly. "Um, they're Fire and Ghost, I think? That move- it's like Explosion? I'm not a battler, I don't-"
"Hideyoshi."
He turned again. Jamal was there, a Great Ball gripped in one hand, and his phone in the other. "Ready to fight?"
Shakily, he nodded. He probably wasn't, but he'd do what he could. "Always."
They weren't doubles partners for nothing.
He turned to Nuzleaf. "What about you, bud?"
She looked at the Blacephalon, which was being hounded by five Pokemon now, while others were crowded around their phones trying to strategize. She looked back up at him and nodded.
They ran forward.
-OxOxO-
KABOOM!
They'd managed to win against it. No matter what it was – and the consensus reached across everyone's scattershot knowledge, Pokedex apps, and the internet in general was that it was a Fire and Ghost type special attacker with weak physical defenses and monstrous attacking stats – it was one Pokemon against twenty-odd Pokemon with varying affinity for battle.
SKRITCHSKRITCHSKRITCHSKRITCH
Then more had begun showing up.
"KEEP GOING!" he shouted.
Blacephalon. Pheromosa, Tennae, Nihilego, and more. Anything that could fit itself into human infrastructure, even with difficulty in the case of Pheromosa, had come through the windows and the stairwells. Nothing had come up the empty elevator shaft.
There were explosions below them, and the floor rumbled. He grimaced. Nothing had come up the elevator shaft yet.
"COME ON! AGAIN!" he shouted, willing his Pokemon to keep fighting.
"Helping Hand!" a voice next to him shouted. He was fairly sure it was Jamal, but he couldn't be certain. He'd been hit by debris and one of his eyes had swelled up, and there were so many people with Pokemon all using moves and fighting, desperately, to keep them all alive, even as they were hemmed in ever closer to the panic room.
He didn't know where the woman with the Comfey from Alola had gone. He didn't know where the head of translation had gone. He barely even knew where he was anymore.
The ceiling above them groaned in time with the floor, and his Pokemon launched another attack. He knocked another Ultra Beast out in a single hit.
Behind the ethereal jellyfish that rapidly shrank until he couldn't see it, two more swam into place.
He looked down at the Poke Balls on his belt.
Nuzleaf, bless her, had been able to do quite a bit more damage with Feint Attack and Beat Up than he'd expected, and her Explosion had finished off two of their opponents.
Growlithe had managed to weather the power of a Blacephalon's Mind Blown attack with her ability, land one good Bite, and had then gotten blasted into a wall.
He prayed she would live.
Slowpoke had fared only marginally better, being blasted with several globs of poison before succumbing to his injuries, unable to even get an attack off.
His ace, however…
"I know you've got more," he shouted. "So keep. Going."
He breathed out as he looked, really looked, at Primeape.
His fur was matted by blood – his own, and that of his opponents. The tan skin of his arms and legs was barely visible beneath all the scrapes and bruises and blood, not to mention how they were bulging oddly, which might have been from his ability being activated by a Pinsir with Storm Throw, or it might have been from the damage he was sure he had suffered by now, or it might have just been pure anger. Hideyoshi could see, in every pause he took after every move he made and every punch he threw, that he was hurting, that he probably should have retreated to his Poke Ball by now.
He saw his partner briefly glance back at him, and he saw that his eyes were filled with blood.
His Pokemon was dying.
A Sneasel – Jamal's – jumped next to his, clapped his hands together twice, and then touched them to his ace's gnarled, scarred fur. A dark, swirling purple aura flowed from the smaller Pokemon to Primeape, and he shouted in fury as he launched himself at yet another Blacephalon.
As he hurtled through the air, the purple aura deepened in hue, and ghostly miasma exploded as his fist connected with the newly arrived Pokemon. It went flying through a hole in a wall, already shrinking. Primeape turned his furious gaze onto his next opponent.
Hideyoshi let out another shaky breath. That was another one gone.
Primeape was running out of PP. He had already run out of Cross Chop, Assurance, Brick Break, Shadow Claw, and Thrash. None of the Pokemon they'd fought were particularly heavy, so he wasn't going to waste his time with a Low Kick that could leave Primeape open to counter attack unless it was his last option. Scratch and Fury Swipes were jokes, which just left…
Rage Fist.
Primeape howled and flew through the air, launching another spectral blow against a diminutive Tennae. It attempted to shield itself with its metallic hair-dish-arm-face things, the black filings forming a barrier that did absolutely nothing to stop Primeape's attack.
Rage Fist's power grew from 50 base power to a maximum of 350. With Jamal ordering Sneasel to use Fury Swipes on him – just as they'd practiced – the move's power had grown without needing their opponents to land actually impactful moves.
They needn't have bothered, considering how much damage Primeape had already taken. How much damage Hideyoshi had healed with his limited supplies. The lone Leppa Berry someone had given him.
Rage Fist also allowed Primeape to evolve, if he used it twenty times without fainting and leveled up. Since the move only had 10 PP, it rarely happened in the wild, especially in a region as urbanized and lacking in wild berries as Kanto.
Especially because there was a real chance that a Primeape would often die before it got the chance to fulfill those conditions.
He flew through the air once more, a whirling dervish of power and anger and swirling spectral energy. He ducked below a Fire Blast, jumped into the air, and knocked another Blacephalon out of the room with an uppercut.
Any number of things could end up killing it. A heart attack. Tearing too many blood vessels. An embolism from the air in its veins. Shock.
Still, he fought on.
There were ways to mitigate the dangers of a Primeape's evolution, of course. Doing so in a controlled environment with medical professionals nearby was the chief one. Keeping its rage in check by not activating Anger Point and limiting how powerful Rage Fist got was another. Keeping the fight relatively low stakes was a third.
His Primeape knew about all of them. He'd talked about them with his first Pokemon enough, after all.
He still fought on.
Primeape landed on the ground, mouth foaming, wildly searching for his next opponent. A jellyfish floated through the hole the soaring Blacephalon had created as it shrank.
"Above you!" Hideyoshi called out. Primeape whirled around and lashed out. The Nihilego went flying.
Four.
A Pheromosa tore through a wall and launched Primeape into the ceiling. As he fell, Sneasel, briefly returned to his Poke Ball, was sent back out and stunned the Pheromosa with a Fake Out. Primeape hit the ground in a heap.
"GET UP!" Hideyoshi shouted. "I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT!"
Sneasel used Double Team, and Pheromosa missed its kick.
Slowly, Primeape rose, one nostril flaring wildly, the other gushing blood.
He screamed.
Sneasel was sent flying as the Ultra Beast landed a kick. "I'm out," Jamal said, fear heavy in his voice. Hideyoshi just nodded.
Primeape howled and scrambled and used his bulging arms to launch himself at his opponent. He landed a hit squarely on its head.
Three.
Two Nihilego emerged through a destroyed door. They rushed towards the panic room.
Primeape lunged after them, flying over the debris littering the ground and punched them in rapid succession, one after the other, as twin bursts of ghostly light shone around his hands and arms.
As they flew across the ground and disappeared from view, Primeape tumbled through the air and rolled across the ground, landing in front of Hideyoshi and Jamal.
Hideyoshi crouched down immediately, his throat tightly closed with worry and fear. Primeape's eyes were filled with blood now, almost entirely a dull, dark red. His pupils were pinpricks and focused not on Hideyoshi's face but on something only he could see. His chest was rising and falling rapidly.
Hideyoshi gulped. "P- Primeape?"
He didn't move. He just laid there.
Where was the anger? It should have been uncontrollably angry. He could still use Scratch and Fury Swipes and Low Kick, and-
He saw his tears reflected in his Pokemon's eyes as they fell into his fur. He gulped.
The damage was too much. Primeape was going into shock.
His gaze jerked up, towards the other buildings visible through the holes littering the walls of their floor. Where were their rescuers?! They- they had to be nearby. This had been going on for over twenty minutes. This city had three goddamn gyms, so what the fuck was the point if they weren't there?!
The floor rumbled again, and the space just in front of the panic room began to deform. His breath caught in his throat, he grabbed onto Primeape and threw them both towards the panic room, and the world behind them erupted in a fountain of concrete and carpet and debris.
"BUZZZZZZ."
Slowly, he turned his head, gaping as he beheld what had destroyed the floor. What-
"B- Buzzwole, Fighting and Bug, monstrous physical stats," came the shaking voice of the woman from Alola as the monstrosity, perched above the hole it had created on four legs, flexed the bulging black-and-red muscles that covered its entire body. Its unreadable eyes stared down the barrel of an intimidating proboscis towards them.
Hideyoshi cowered, for a moment, and then-
He threw himself over Primeape, his back facing the creature, his face buried in Primeape's fur. "Please," he whispered, "You've got one more to go. I know you know, so please-"
Briefly, Primeape stirred, but instead of getting up, he rolled away from the beast;s direction, and Hideyoshi felt his fear drain away. That was it, then. They were going to die.
They were going to-
Then, he stirred again, more strongly this time. Hideyoshi looked up.
There, in the back of the room, was Degurechaff.
She looked terrified. She was shaking. Tears were shining in the corners of her eyes.
Dimly, he realized that she'd said something about having a bad experience with Pokemon, and not finding any value in interacting with them. This was probably a pretty bad reminder, then.
Primeape bucked against him, weakly, and Hideyoshi's eyes widened. He looked between the face of his Pokemon and the girl, and realized something else.
More than terrified, the girl looked… furious. Enraged. Wrathful. Irate. Fuming. Incensed. Pissed the hell off. Mad.
Tanya von Degurechaff, in the face of an invader from another dimension, was terrified. She was shedding tears and shaking, but she was not doing those things because she was terrified.
She was angry.
Wobbling, Primeape pushed Hideyoshi off of his body with one arm, lumbered around, and, in defiance of his labored breathing, raised his shaking fists once more. The Buzzwole's wings hummed as it flexed and challenged Primeape by taking a stance of its own.
Primeape charged, and Buzzwole responded. Its arm reeled backwards, light shining out from within its liquid muscles. The fist launched forward-
THUMP
The fist impacted, sending up a cloud of dust into the air, and the ground shook. People behind him screamed, but Hideyoshi said nothing. Did nothing. Was absolutely, unbelievably still.
If he recognized that move, and he did, because if it was another move, then it would hit, so it had to be-
Primeape screamed as the dust cleared, revealing he had jumped to avoid the obviously telegraphed Dynamic Punch. He landed on the arm that had impacted the ground, his own arm now pulled back.
The Buzzwole tried to raise its other hand, to swat away the ape Pokemon. Spectral light swirled, revolving faster and faster around Primeape's fist, his arm, his entire body as ghostly purple light concentrated. He jumped again, avoiding the thing's other arm. He arced through the air, and, at the apex of his leap through the air, right above the hulking frame of the Ultra Beast, shining like the ghost of a long dead star-
FWOOOOM!
Released his attack, hammering down with all the force of a meteor. Purple light exploded and wind fled the room as the blow impacted the top of the Buzzwole's head.
The Buzzwole hardly had time to react as it was flung bodily down the hole it had arrived through, crashing through two other floors and causing the building to shake further still.
Hideyoshi could hardly care.
Please, he prayed, please-
Primeape burst into glowing light, and Hideyoshi's heart soared.
The light tumbled through the air and crashed into the ground before the light had faded. Hideyoshi rushed forward, elated, and worried, and praying, praying, that he'd be alright, alright enough that he'd survive-
The light faded.
The fur that had once been beige and stuck up every which way had faded into a light gray that was only slightly smoother thanks to its increased length. Every tuft seemed to be pulling slightly away from the ground, seemingly repelled by gravity. The longest bundles of hair on top of his head and around his ears stretched up and faded into white that seemed to dissolve and reform like the flickering of a ghostly flame.
As he began to calm, the hair around his ears fell down, and he looked down at himself briefly, and then at his surroundings, his now dark gray fists raised, just in case. The metal shackles on his arms, that had helped train his strength and regulate blood pressure, were partially broken around one arm and completely missing around the other.
Then, when no further enemy presented itself, the Pokemon turned.
Hideyoshi met the eyes of his Pokemon. No longer was just the white sclera filled with blood, but the iris as well. Rather than a dark, sluggish red color, his eyes glowed a vivid, ghastly red filled with energy and signifying that his rage had surpassed the ability of his body to contain.
It was not Hideyoshi that took a step back as they came face to face with each other, but Annihilape. Then, his nostrils flared, his hair began to undulate at an increased tempo, and Hideyoshi blinked, wondering-
In a flash of speed Hideyoshi could hardly process, Annihilape had picked him up, bounded over the hole in the room, and set him down again in the panic room. He could only blink as his Pokemon, still showing signs of damage and only freshly evolved, patted his swollen eye and the cuts that he'd scarcely noticed in concern.
Hideyoshi sniffed and then, without any further warning, he began to bawl.
Others in the room followed, shouting or crying or whooping that they'd seemingly survived… whatever had just happened! They'd lived!
Static cracked over the intercom of the panic room, but Hideyoshi paid it no attention. He kept crying, hugging his partner close. His partner hugged him back.
-OxOxO-
This was one of the parts of the job that Emma didn't like. At this point, she was used to it, obviously, and she knew that it was important and that they had to do it.
None of that meant that even decades of experience could make her like it.
As for what she was doing… Emma was waiting. Specifically, she was sitting between Looker and Anabel while the three of them were seated at one of the Qiaodong region's famously excellent beer halls, partaking in non-alcoholic drinks and waiting for the okay from Interpol's China-North command and China-East command and the technicians that were part of the Ultra Beast Task Force that they could move on.
She sighed and stirred her Razz Berry lemonade. Looker'd made it sound exciting, to travel across over a dozen regions in east Asia, and sure, the first month and a week in Qiaodong certainly had been.
They'd done some sleuthing, interacted with the local law enforcement, helped solve five cases wholly unrelated to the Task Force's mission, and busted a cabal of officials for corruption that involved the cover-up of Pokemon trafficking.
That last one actually had involved their actual mission, even if only tangentially, because they'd been selling juvenile Ultra Beasts to the highest bidders both inside China and abroad, which had included trainers, collectors, as well as a handful of people with connections to pharmaceutical companies and militaries. It was quite the feather in the cap of the newly reformed UB Task Force and would help ensure things went smoothly in the future.
She smiled down at her drink and took a gulp. Just like the old days…
She pouted. And now, they'd been waiting for over a week so they could move on to the next region. They weren't even leaving China! And she hadn't even been able to battle because they were trying to keep a low profile in the aftermath of the aforementioned operation.
She glanced to one side, to the legendarily stoic Looker, and then to the other, at the somehow more stoic Anabel.
She looked back down at her drink and grinned slightly. Anabel, no middle or last name, was a terrifically strong trainer that Emma was currently going even with, as far as wins and losses went. She was almost positive that she had the edge, but neither of them had gone all out yet.
The only thing keeping Emma from complaining verbally was Anabel's promise that if she kept the complaining to a minimum, they could go all out once they got to the UROK.
Glancing to her left and right once more at the two people staring down at their phones and very deliberately not looking at each other, she only wished she'd gotten Anabel to promise not to be such a worrywart as part of the deal…
Though she couldn't do anything about Looker acting the same way.
Oh, they were professional, obviously, but whatever bittersweet memories Looker had reminisced about on the trip here had vanished five minutes after they'd actually met each other again. They'd traded barbs once or twice, and it was clear to Emma that they would have already had an argument or two if she hadn't been there or if they weren't actively working.
The pair were both weathered by age and a job they really should have retired from years ago. Looker's hair was all gray, while Anabel's still had a streak of her natural purple. Looker had to fight desperately to keep his back straight and even to run at times, while Anabel projected strength despite her age. Looker's face sagged like how his trench coats hung from his body, while Anabel's skin was pulled as slightly taut over her bones as her impeccably tailored suit was on her body.
Despite their differences now, she'd heard a rumor from the wizened lead technician that the pair had been in a sort-of relationship for years and years before suddenly breaking things off out of nowhere.
She'd tried, once, to bring it up, but both had shot her down. It had been one of the few things they'd agreed on outside of work.
Before she could think on the topic anymore – and how to ask about it without making Anabel renege on her promise to go all out when they got to Korea – all three of their phones received a notification at the same time.
Emma blinked and pulled her phone out.
"Shoot," Looker cursed.
"My thoughts precisely," Anabel added.
Emma's expression clouded, and she watched the video, her eyes widening as it went on.
Dozens of Ultra Wormholes had opened in downtown Autumna, right where some of the most wealthy Japanese businesses were headquartered and hundreds of thousands of people walked daily. She watched as hundreds of specimens from over thirty different species were disgorged and began to go on a rampage. Most people had the good sense to flee or stay to try and fight, if they had Pokemon.
Not everyone made it.
When they reached the gym, Hammond Takenori commanded his entire team of eleven from the front of his dojo, drawing away over a hundred and managing to hold them off with the help of other trainers, employed by the gym or hoping to challenge it, in tandem with the those in the Psychic Court next door.
Dozens of people, both casual trainers and more professional, did their damndest to fight as much as they could.
The two other leaders in the city arrived shortly and added their Ice and Water Pokemon, and the aid of the trainers at their gyms, to the mix.
And all Emma could do was wait.
Minute by minute, more Leaders showed up, from Kanto, Johto, Mohto, South Tohoko, and every region of Japan besides, teleported to the edges of the city and rushed inwards as fast as possible atop flying Pokemon. It took the arrival of one of Kanto's Elite Four to put an end to the Guzzlord that had begun besieging the Fighting Gym.
Emma didn't set her phone down until Elio arrived from Alola riding his Solgaleo and carrying crates full of what she knew were Beast Balls. With him there, the Wormholes would be closed in short order. The cleanup would take a while as people waited for the Ultra Beasts that had fainted to wake up to capture them, but otherwise, it seemed the incident was over, for now.
As she did set it down, she breathed out a long sigh of mingled relief, frustration, and anger.
Looker and Anabel were already working. "Well, that's as good an indication as any other where the aberrant wormholes are manifesting. Any chance this is a coincidence?" Looker asked. A tinge of worry colored his voice, but no more than a tinge. He was a consummate professional, and he would grieve when they had the luxury.
"Absolutely not. This is the third time an Ultra Wormhole has appeared within the area the first two were suspected to have manifested. It is assumed, with the lack of Ultra Beast sightings or odd Pokemon activity that cannot be attributed to unrelated phenomena within the designated area, that we have two Fallers to track down, that assumption is not technically a guarantee. Regardless of the possible identity and location of the first two, this clearly indicates that Kanto is where the first two are most likely to have appeared."
Anabel analyzed the situation clinically, while Looker sat and listened to her with his eyes closed.
"Well, if the other two did happen somewhere else, this obviously takes priority," he finished. Then, he smiled. "I hope you've brushed up on your Japanese, Emma."
She rolled her eyes and was opened her mouth to respond. At fifty, she had traveled to Japan twice in her life to see the sights and scope out the very active and competitive battle scene. She certain understood it as well as she understood Chinese.
Anabel spoke first, though. "HQ will be upset that we'll have only gotten a month's worth of value out of the paperwork they arranged for us."
Looker's smile faded, and the conversation paused. Emma could feel that there was some hidden meaning she couldn't parse there. She frowned.
Then Looker responded. "You would think that."
She bristled. "I'm just stating facts. Even if it's obvious we are needed in Japan, they will still ensure we hear their complaints."
For the first time the entire conversation, Looker glanced at Anabel. She didn't look up from her phone. "Would they be any more happy to learn that you've been looking into the myths surrounding the local legendary Pokemon?"
Emma's frown deepened. When was that supposed to have happened? They'd been together almost the entire time, right?
And… why wasn't she denying it?
As Anabel did turn to look at the steely-eyed Looker, an eyebrow raised, Emma hurriedly inserted herself between the two of them. "Hey, does this mean we're not going to battle? You said we'd do it if we got to Korea, but it looks like we aren't going now!" she said, cheer and disappointment injected into her tone.
Anabel blinked slowly, and then she shook her head. "Fine, If you're so dead set on battling me at my best, we can have a battle in three weeks instead."
Emma visibly brightened as Looker pushed away from the bar and stood. "Hooray!"
Looker shook his head as she and Anabel also rose. "How is it you can still act so… chipper at fifty?"
It helped that if she didn't, her two companions would start fighting like a really bitter old married couple, but more than that…
"Well, Japan's really cool, as you well know," she said. "I can't believe you met Cynthia and didn't tell me for ten years!"
He laughed at her indignation, and the three left the bar, purpose swelling to fill their being.
The wait was over. It was time to investigate.
-OxOxO-
A/N 1: No perspective from Tanya this time, but I'm sure you all can guess what she's going to do after this. I've got some ideas on what I could have her other Pokemon be, although a third are ripped from a video by bulborb jp on what Pokemon the Isekai Quartet characters would be, a third are basically references to other Youjo Senki fanfics, while the last third might fit her powers and personality to varying degrees.
Regardless of my rambling, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!
A/N 2: I almost forgot! The names for the other regions of Japan come from a post by Generic_Eric on Reddit.
A/N 3: If you'd like to donate to support me monetarily, search for Sugarcane Soldier on the website of the Patrons.
Thank you to WarmasterOku, Afforess, UNSC_Kawakaze, Theewizzz, and Vee for supporting this story and everything else I write. Make sure to vote if you haven't yet!