Journey

Death of Duty

Part 7: The Fall of the Pokemon League

Trap

Hateful ways lead to hateful resolutions. — Archibald Maxon, eco-terrorist

Saffron was burning. The walled city was belching thick clouds of black smoke into the sky, the fires below casting the smoke clouds in hellish red light. A barrage of missiles sailed over the walls and slammed into one of the skyscrapers, a forking bolt of lightning trying and failing to stop the ordnance.

We'd teleported onto a hill west of the city that overlooked the approach from Celadon. Too many truck tires and armoured tracks to count had torn the picturesque natural Route to shreds. It was a muddy, desolate scar in the forests of central Kanto.

"Fucking shit," Karen swore pointedly.

I nodded in agreement. "We need to make contact with Surge. I'd bet anything that bolt was him."

I glanced down at my pokegear. I still had no reply from Janine or Surge. Surge was probably already neck deep in the fighting, but I didn't know if Janine had committed Fuchsia forces to the battle.

"Get us closer," I said to Will. "There has to be some kind of command centre outside the city."

"I have it," he replied. "There's a camp outside the walls. Hundreds of people."

"Get us there."

His alakazam touched my shoulder, and the familiar sensation of being submersed in water washed over me. The scene shifted, to a dozen or so tents arrayed against Saffron's wall. People were laid out in rows, a few nurse and doctors rushing from patient to patient.

A hastily constructed wooden tower sat beside a roadblock that barred the entrance to Saffron. We jogged up to the guard post on the road, the four men standing there eying us nervously.

One of the men raised his rifle. Another thumbed the safety off. The two up on the guard tower looked down at us stoically.

"Halt," ordered the one in the officer's cap. "Saffron is locked down. Civilians are advised to stay away."

"I'm with the Rangers," I started. "I need to get in contact with Surge."

The officer raised an eyebrow. "You're a Ranger?" he asked in a tone of obvious disbelief.

"Ranger Corporal Marcus Wright, attached to Lieutenant Colonel Surge's Zapdos Squad." I glanced up at the men on the watchtower. They had stiffened their backs and were looking down with severe expressions. "I was on leave when the fighting broke out, but I came as soon as I could."

He looked past me in suspicion, at the two mercenaries and Leaf. "And they are?"

"Some likeminded trainers," I replied. "we're here to help."

'They're going to attack,' Will whispered in my mind. 'Something has happened. They've turned against the Rangers. The entire army has.'

I sucked in a breath. My eyes darted up to the men on the guard tower. One of them was listening intently to his earpiece. The other was discretely checking the chamber of his weapon.

I took a half step back and felt something hit me from the side. Will catapulted me to the left as he sprung into action. Gunfire rang out as I crashed into Leaf, bowling her over. I heard a loud pop and a pained grunt, then the heavy sound of a body crashing down to earth.

"Will, we got more of them coming from the gates!" Karen shouted from above us. "Too many to handle."

I forced myself up, hauling Leaf up as I glanced up at Karen. She was standing up on the guard tower, one of the guards bleeding at her feet. The other had fallen headfirst beside the prone, twitching officer.

These two trainers were far more than they appeared to be. But I didn't have the time to contemplate that. A bullet ricocheted off the road beside me as if to punctuate that point. We needed to get out of here.

"Get us to that rooftop," I ordered, snapping into motion. "Now!"

Will spun, releasing his alakazam and gardevoir again. He spun back to me, and Karen stepped out from behind him. The alakazam held up a spoon, halting the rain of bullets.

"I can't guarantee it'll be the right rooftop," he replied. "It was too far."

The soldiers were lining up, raising their rifles. As powerful as Will's alakazam likely was, I didn't want to test that strength.

The scene shifted as the firing line erupted, and the familiar dunk into icy water swept us away.

We reappeared atop one of the buildings in Saffron. Smoke was billowing from another skyscraper, obscuring our view to the northeast. I glanced over the side of the building roof. It didn't look like our building had taken much, if any structural damage. We were safe for the moment.

I dug into my pack once I realized that the rooftop was empty. If Surge had been here, he wasn't anymore. "Leaf," I said.

The girl appeared at my side and I handed her the binoculars in my pack.

"Scan the nearby rooftops for Surge," I said. "If you can't find him, get a look at the Silph Tower. Rocket's probably positioned their forces around the building to keep us away as long as possible."

She nodded and walked over to the edge of the roof, scanning the city for me.

I rounded on Will and Karen with Leaf distracted, both of whom were panting heavily. "You two aren't telling me something," I started. "and it's connected somehow, to something that's been confusing me since I first took on Rocket."

Will glanced over at Karen. "Well, I'm a—"

"I know you're a psychic," I replied. "I'm familiar enough with them, and I've got a rudimentary sense of their abilities because of Luna."

My gaze shifted over to Karen. I caught the way Will's breath quickened and his eyes darted between Karen and I. "You, on the other hand…"

Karen smirked coyly. "What about me, darling?"

"Janine said something when we met on Sawtooth. She said that there was a 'Shade' in play." Will's sharp breath gave it away. I was on the right track. "Luna couldn't sense either of you."

"Most psychics can't," Karen replied. She glanced over at Will and nodded. The lanky mercenary visibly relaxed. "Will can't even sense me most of the time and I've been travelling with him since we were both fresh faced trainers."

"What is a Shade?" I asked directly. "And how the hell do they avoid psychics?"

Karen sighed and I sensed some frustration on her part. "Look," she started. "this is the kind of thing that people get told they're crazy for believing in."

"I've seen some pretty unbelievable things," I replied. "I need to know how Rocket keeps avoiding Luna's psychic detection."

Karen raised an eyebrow. "That… shouldn't be possible," she said slowly. "It's far too rare for that."

I stared at her expectantly. Leaf did the same.

Karen sighed heavily. "Alright, fine. I'll tell you. No use in you not knowing what I can do if we're on the same side."

She held up a hand and glanced up at the rising sun. "This would work better if the sun was down, but it's enough for a demonstration."

The shadow cast by her hand seemed to writhe free of its natural position. It retreated towards her and wrapped around Karen's arm, obscuring it with a smoky veil of shadow.

"A Shade is a human who is somehow attuned to the dark type," she said. "at least, that's what my mother told me. Every other dark trainer I've met has no clue what I'm talking about." She shrugged. "I'd bet Janine knows more than I do if she knows what a Shade is."

She shook her head. "That's not the point." She offered me a smile, trying to show me she was being honest. "I can do things in the dark that shouldn't be possible. I can step through shadows, reappearing in any connected shadows. I can disappear almost completely in the dark. And psychics… they can't sense me, especially at night."

I glanced over at Will. "Is all this true?" I asked.

"Have you ever met anyone who seemed to be able to do impossible things?" he asked, flipping the focus back into me. "I can do strange things with my mind that I hardly even understand. Is it not plausible that other people can do things related to other types?"

"You're a psychic," I said. "we've measured the part of the brain that possesses that psychic ability. We understand where it comes from."

"Hardly," he replied. "and so little about how or why some humans have these abilities and others do not." He shook his head. "Something has happened to humanity. Some of us… are changed by their connections to pokemon."

I remained silent, thinking on what he'd said. Karen had probably been the only person I'd seen to explicitly show something extraordinary other than psychics.

"Have you every wondered why so many trainers seem to train only one or two types?" Will continued, pressing me further.

"I figured it was for ease of care. Probably easier to care for 6 of the same types instead of a diverse team."

He shrugged. "That's probably somewhat true," he said. "The phenomenon is rare enough that most monotype trainers are likely not attuned themselves."

"But it's real," Karen said. "I've seen thing that shouldn't be possible, fought people that could do incredible things. You can't tell me it's not real because I've seen it myself."

I stayed silent. It was almost absurd. Almost.

It hit me at that moment. I did know someone like that.

"Blaine," I said suddenly. "it was something that his grandson said."

Karen smirked, knowing she'd led me to the conclusion she was right.

"He said that Cinnabar should have blown 15 years ago. But Blaine kept it from blowing the entire time." I looked over at Will. "He was attuned to the fire type. He had to be. How else would he know the intricacies of lava flow well enough to hold off an eruption for that long?"

Neither of them said anything, just smiled and nodded at me.

"He lives in the goddamn volcano," I said with a grin. "how the hell didn't I see that?"

"But," Karen continued. "getting back to your question about how Rocket is avoiding your ninetales."

I looked back at her.

"It shouldn't be possible," she said. "Like I said, I've never met anyone else like me. I've heard stories about a Unovan elite that make me think she could be the same, but I could never get a meeting with her" She shook her head. "Unless they managed to replicate some of those abilities…"

I scowled. "Rocket's twisted science a thousand times. I wouldn't put it past them." My gaze shifted to Will. "Is there really no way to sense a Shade?"

He frowned. "Not in the way that psychics sense most things," he replied. "but there are some telltale traces and signs of their presence."

"Would you be able to show Luna how to recognize those signs?"

He nodded slowly. "She should already be able to see the signs," he said. "I can help her understand them."

I released her beside Will and relayed what was going to happen to her. Luna nodded confidently and I turned away to face Leaf.

"Anything?" I asked.

She shook her head and handed the binoculars over. "No sign of Surge at all," she said. "but there are uniforms all over the streets."

I peered down at the street below. She was right. Soldiers had blocked off a number of the side roads and alleyways that would have allowed us freedom of movement and built up defensive positions on the main road. I couldn't see a single pokemon among them. They weren't Rangers, that was for sure.

By chance, the view from this building gave me a decent look at the courtyard plaza in front of Silph Tower. The pristine pictures I'd seen looked nothing like the cratered and rubble strewn bulwark it had been turned into. I saw at least three machine gun nests, as well as a network of sandbag walls bristling with armed guards.

"Well, we aren't walking in the front door…" I looked back the other way, scanning for any opportunities we could use. "Unless we find a whole lot more manpower than we have."

Leaf flipped out her pokegear, silencing the swelling guitar riff before it could get us noticed. "It's Red," she said. "Pallet got hit pretty bad, but they'll get here once they've got the fire under control."

I grimaced. Rocket had given us what we thought was an opening and we'd walked right into the trap. "Hope everyone's alright," I said with my mind on Acolyte and the cubone.

"Marcus," Karen said. "we need to get off the street. There's too many for us to take, and we don't know if we even have Ranger backup."

I glanced at her, then down at Leaf's pokegear. I'd have thought that civilian communications would have been down, but if they were still working then I had an idea. "Get inside," I said. "I've got a call to make."

"It is damn good to hear your voice, Novice."

I cracked a grin despite the dire situation. "Well, I figured it was time to finally visit my sponsor in person."

Gemma chuckled on the other end of the line. "You picked a terrible time for it." I heard the humour in her voice die. "The army's here. They're… they're saying some bad things about the Rangers."

"Well I've got some choice words myself for the army." I hoped sincerely that Gemma hadn't bought whatever story they'd cooked up. "But this is bigger than them. It's bigger than the Rangers."

I heard other voices in the background, before Gemma shushed them loudly. "Would this have to do with the man who attacked us in Cerulean?"

"Gemma, I swear I've never been happier to be able to talk about this shit." I shook my head. "I've wanted to ever since I got to Vermillion, but first they had Curie and then—"

"Curie's alive?" she asked suddenly. "You said—"

"Yeah, I know what I said." It was my turn to sigh. "I didn't know who I could trust and they had access into Silph's mobile networks."

For one of the few times since I'd met her, Gemma was silent.

"Look, I didn't like lying about it. I had to keep her safe, it was the only way."

"It's ok, Novice," she said with a smile in her voice. "Curie's ok and that's what matters." She paused for a moment. "I get the sense that you aren't calling to say hello."

It was my turn to chuckle. "You'd be right," I said. "I need into Silph. Without the army trying to kill us."

I heard the stunned silence on the other end.

"Look, I know how it sounds. But the guy who attacked us in Cerulean, he was part of a bigger organization. They've infiltrated Silph looking for the project your father has been working on." I took a breath and hoped that she was inclined to listen. "It's a prototype pokeball, the most powerful ever created. They want it to capture an enhanced clone of the pokemon, Mew."

She took a moment. I couldn't blame her. "That's… a lot," she said slowly. "but how does that involve the Rangers and the Army fighting it out in Saffron?"

"You've got me there," I replied. "I don't know what happened. But this goes all the way up to Lance. Maybe him or Giovanni pulled some strings or something."

Gemma sucked in a sharp breath. "Giovanni? Like… Viridian Gym Leader Giovanni?"

"Yeah, he's the mastermind behind all the pokemon swarm attacks. That and half a million other things." I went quiet, my voice dropping to a whisper. "He killed Pride… he's responsible for so much…"

"Marcus," she said. "he's here right now. He got here yesterday and pulled all the department heads into a meeting with the chairman that hasn't ended yet."

"Then we don't have much time."

"What's going on, Marcus?"

"We need into Silph," I said. "Before Giovanni gets the ball."

I prayed that Gemma trusted me enough to help us. I hadn't spent much time with her since Celadon, only calling every now and then. I'd had to keep so many secrets that I kept her at a distance for fear of incriminating myself to Rocket.

"Look," she said. "I wouldn't believe any of this if weird things hadn't been happening." She paused, but I heard her saying something to another person. "Dozens of supposedly 'Silph sponsored' trainers showed up here in the last week or two. But I don't recognize a single damn one of them. Neither does Nick."

"They're Rocket," I said. "they're already inside the company."

"Then you don't have a chance in hell at getting into the building."

I nodded to myself. She was probably right. It didn't change things. "We have to try," I said. "or else a whole lot of people are gonna get hurt."

She was quiet. "It's already at that point, Novice."

"Gemma…"

She sighed. "Trainers help each other."

I nodded in affirmation. "Trainers help each other," I repeated.

We popped into the storage room, Gemma instantly pulling me into a crushing hug.

"Good to see you too," I wheezed as she squeezed the air out of me. "It's been too damn long."

She let go and I looked over at the man behind her. "Nicholas," I said with a nod. "glad to have your help."

"You're going to need it," he said. The PR coordinator scowled, and I had the feeling he hadn't had much good news to work with as of late. "whoever these guys are, they've sealed off the elevator. They put something into the computer system that runs the building, stopped it from responding completely."

I knew what that meant. Two hadn't been the only porygon that Bill had created, and there was always the possibility of other replicas that Rocket had made. "I might be able to fix that," I said.

"I'm all ears," he said. "because the tech staff have been stumped."

I glanced between the two of them. "Can you get us to an access point?" I asked.

Gemma grinned and tapped one of the balls on her belt. Domitian appeared from the light, towering over us. Gemma pointed the crate beside her. "Get in," she said. "I've got a plan."

I looked at the crate. It was small. Too small for more than two people. I glanced at Karen and Will. We were still outgunned. We needed backup. Maybe Oak and the boys were coming, but they wouldn't be enough. I needed Zapdos squad.

"Find Surge," I said, locking eyes with Karen. "Get him here. This is gonna spiral out of control real quick, and I'm not gonna be able to handle it alone."

"All the better reason for us to stay," she replied quickly. She pulled back her hair, tying it up to keep it out of the way. "We'll be better use to you in here."

"But that won't matter," I said. "Giovanni is too strong, he'll wipe the floor with all of us. I need more trainers, people that can stand on his level."

She grinned viciously. "You've never seen me battle," she said with a growl. "I can—"

"If you're wrong, we're all dead for nothing." I put a hand on her shoulder, trying to project calm. "Get Surge. Heck, get any other Gym Leader you can. Get them to the Tower."

She stared back at me for a long moment, then nodded. "Yes, sir."

I stepped back. Respect from someone like her… who was stronger than me… it felt strange. Undeserved. "Just go," I said. "Before it's too late."

She turned to Will. He put a hand on her shoulder and they disappeared with a faint pop.

Leaf lifted her leg up and hoisted herself into the crate. I nodded at Gemma and moved to do the same.

She stopped me.

"You've grown up," she said. "I can't call you Novice anymore."

I smiled. "Thank goodness for that," I replied. "You'll have to use my name."

A wide grin spread across her face. "I'll find something, don't you worry." She gestured at the crate. "Now, get in the box."

I crawled into the crate, curling up beside Leaf. "Snug fit," I commented.

Leaf chuckled. "I've actually been in worse situations," she said.

Domitian placed the crate's lid back on. I heard the machamp beat several nails into the lid. Darkness enclosed Leaf and I completely. She snapped a glow stick on, giving us some small measure of light in the crate.

"How's that possible?" I asked. I wasn't exactly afraid of the dark, but I wasn't fond of it either.

She twisted her head to look at me in the dim glow of the glow stick. "I was stuck inside a coffin, inside the Pokemon Tower in Lavender."

My jaw went slack. I felt us lift off the ground and heard Gemma's muffled voice order Domitian into the hallway outside the storage room. "I take it back. That definitely sounds worse."

We stayed still and silent for a long while. The constant stop and start of motion, not to mention the consistent rattle of impact every time Domitian knocked the crate into something.

More voices were audible outside the crate and we felt us come to a halt. Leaf and I went utterly quiet. We must have moved into a busy part of the building. We didn't dare move or make a noise, putting our trust completely in Gemma and Nicholas.

After what seemed like an eternity, Domitian set us down. I heard the lid crack open and light flooded our hiding place.

Gemma pulled me to my feet. I glanced around at the gathered crowd, blinking rapidly as my eyes adjusted to the light.

"Hell of an IT staff," I remarked. My eyes found the pokeball belts and the hardened expressions. This crowd was definitely not an IT staff.

"Yeah," Gemma started cautiously. "about that."

I glanced around fearfully for a moment. Nobody was bearing weapons or releasing pokemon to attack us. Shame filled me a moment later as I recognized a few of the faces in the crowd as Silph sponsored trainers. Gemma wasn't betraying us. She'd gotten us help.

My eyes narrowed a moment later. Rocket was inside Silph. What was to say that they didn't have someone inside the sponsored trainers?"

"The IT staff are here. But I heard you telling that woman that you were outgunned and… well, I brought some backup." She turned to face me proudly, a wall of determined faces at her back. "Like I said, trainers help each other."

I nodded confidently, trying to push the doubts from my mind. Maybe we actually had a shot at this. Maybe Rocket didn't have everyone in their pocket. "Alright then," I started. My hand dropped to my belt, releasing Two at my side. "let's get to work."

I pulled out the bulky headset that Bill had created to translate Two's speech and pulled it on. "Two," I said.

"Marcus-Trainer," he replied. "how may I be of assistance?"

I looked over at the pair of wiry IT workers. They couldn't have been more stereotypical. Both of them looked at Two with clear awe.

"You…" started the woman. "what is this?"

I grinned widely, getting the chance to boast about my pokemon. "Two is a Porygon-2. Bill gave him an update of sorts, that seems to have evolved him into something new."

Her eyes went wide behind her massive lenses. "William Sonezaki?" she asked. "He's a legend in the programming community. Does things with a computer that are impossible."

I gestured to Two. "The impossible," I stated. "Bill meant for the porygon to be more. Two is that vision."

He chirped at me. I grinned and nodded at the staff. "He wants to know how he can help," I translated. "Says that he can likely purge the Silph system of other malicious programs."

"Like an antivirus system?" the man asked.

Two chirped dismissively. "He didn't like that comparison," I said. I left out the colourful insult that Two had given for him.

"That'll only get you up to the forty-fourth floor. The top three floors are on a separate system. There's an entirely separate server up there connected through a satellite network in the event of any attempted break-ins."

Gemma nodded at my shoulder. "Which is pretty much what we're doing right now," she said. "So we can get up to the forty-fourth…"

"Then we fight," I said. I grimaced. I didn't like this plan. It was too risky, too dependent on the chance of battle. I didn't have much of a choice. We needed to act before Giovanni got a hold of the ball.

I looked at Two. "Do it," I ordered. "seize the building."

It turned out that Two was so much more advanced than the basic porygon Rocket was using. He tripped half a dozen alarms as he entered the building's system, silencing them all a heartbeat later. Swarms of porygon descended on my living computer, but he was more than a match for even a horde of his predecessors.

A small flicker in the lights was the only signal anything was awry.

Two reappeared on the main monitor in the IT control room, chirping happily. He disappeared back into the computer and his voice came over the IT room's PA. "I've gained control of most of the building's systems. Some of the porygon tried to alert a network centre on the thirty-eighth floor, but I stopped them before they could raise a response."

The main elevator lit up on the display. "I've gained access to the elevator system, as well as a variety of other systems that could prove helpful."

Two reappeared on the screen. "I cannot say whether or not the Rockets in the other network centre have noticed, but there is no unusual movement throughout the building." He pulled up door controls beside himself on the screen. "I can isolate the Rockets masquerading as Silph trainers with some assistance identifying them."

I grinned. "Great job," I said. "be ready if they try to retake any of the systems. They'll know that we're here. They'll be waiting."

He chirped an affirmative and disappeared back into the machine.

I turned to the gathered trainers. "I want to thank you all for coming," I began. "I'm gonna be honest with you all. This is not going to be easy." I glanced around at the determined faces looking back at me. "Rocket… they know we're coming. They'll be waiting for us, and they have more than enough troops throughout the building to hold us off."

"You're going to need a distraction," one of the trainers said. He stepped forward and offered a curt nod as I realized who it was. I recognized that bright white hair and cold gaze. "we'll keep them off you," Elias Greenwin said. "pull their forces down to the ground floor and keep them there."

He'd admonished me last time I'd met him. Shamed me in front of a pair of Rangers. Now he showed me clear respect and deference. I didn't quite know how I felt about that.

"Don't risk yourselves unnecessarily," I said, ignoring the discomfort. "bottle up the hallways leading to the elevators and use area denial strategies. Don't risk yourselves unnecessarily." I looked out at them all. "I don't know if the Army will jump into this fight, but get the hell out if they start firing on you. You aren't soldiers. You didn't sign on for this kind of fighting."

"With all due respect," Elias said. He nodded at me. "Silph trainers pull their weight. We're with you. If the League is rotten all the way up, then something has to be done."

I nodded slowly. They were all trainers too, all of them under the authority of the Pokemon League. All of them were just like I had been. "You all feel like this?" I asked.

Elias nodded and not one of the group made any move to contradict him. "I speak for everyone here," he said. "We talked this over before we let you out of the box." He held out a hand. "We're with you, Marcus."

I took his handshake proudly. Maybe he was still a prick. But he was still a trainer. My suspicion that Rocket had a mole inside the Silph sponsored trainers vanished. These people were trainers just like me. Trainers help each other.

A confident grin returned to my face and turned to my makeshift army. "Then get ready." I turned to Leaf and gestured for her to follow me. "Because we're about to kick the beedrill nest."

The elevator doors opened. I stepped in, Gemma and Leaf at my sides. I looked out, past Elias and the pair of trainers waiting with him. "Thank you," I said. "Stay safe. All of you."

"We'll do our best," Elias replied. "Now go. Time for this to kick off."

The doors shut and I stepped back, leaning against the elevator and breathing deeply. We jerked into motion and began our ascent.

"Mr. Greenwin is sealing the doors," Two said over the PA. "his magmortar has melted them shut."

I nodded. "Smart," I replied.

I glanced at Gemma. "Hell of an army on short notice," I commented.

She shrugged. "They were ready to do something themselves. Things have been weird ever since the Cerulean attack, and then the past few days…" she trailed off and shrugged again. "I dunno, so many things didn't add up. There was the army rolling in and fortifying the plaza, the new arrivals that none of us recognized, then the meeting Giovanni called." Gemma looked back up at me. "We were all confined to a single floor and restricted from letting our pokemon out. Something had to change."

Two pinged the PA again. "Movement, there are groups of trainers trying to reach the elevators on other floors."

"Anything in the lobby yet?" I asked.

"No," he replied.

"Keep them away. You have the building."

Two trilled happily. "With pleasure," he replied.

Gemma nodded at me as we moved past the fifteenth floor. "You've changed," she said. "You aren't so…"

"Inexperienced?" I asked, offering her an end to her sentence.

She smirked. "I don't know about that." Gemma looked over at Leaf and then back at me. "Heck, she looks like she's been in more scrapes than you have."

I raised my eyebrows. "Oh really?" I glanced over at Leaf. My doubt died in the way she stared back at me. "Heh, maybe you're right."

"Movement outside," Two said. "some of the soldiers are forming up into groups. Looks like they're getting ready for something."

I grimaced. Rocket was opening with their trump card. "Can you keep them out?" I asked.

"Not for long," he replied.

We rose past the twenty-fifth floor. "Do what you can," I said. "keep me in the loop."

Leaf glanced over at Gemma. "Nice to meet you," she said. "Marcus spoke very highly of you."

Gemma grinned. "I'll bet he did," she said with a laugh. "I saved his ass twice before the guy even had his second badge."

"To be fair," I interjected. "you did put me into the danger on the second one."

She shrugged. "Still saved your life," she replied.

We hit the thirtieth floor. The elevator went dark and ground to a sudden halt. The lights flicked back on a moment later.

"Two, report."

He trilled over the PA. "They cut the main power from the breaker room, but the building has reserve generators in the basement."

We rumbled back into motion, moving past floor thirty-one.

"Shouldn't be any more interruptions," Two said. "I've locked them into the breaker room. They won't be able to do anything else from there with the main power off."

The building shook with an impact. The elevator rumbled but continued to rise.

"The army has breached the lobby," Two said calmly. Another explosion rocked the building, rattling the elevator again. "But the Silph trainers are holding."

We rose past thirty-five. The mood in the elevator darkened and I caught my grim expression in the mirrored wall behind Gemma.

"Rocket trainers are descending through some of the stairwells," Two said. "they'll trap the Silph trainers in if they don't retreat."

"Can you get me into contact with Elias?"

Two chirped an affirmative again.

The PA crackled and the pained grunt of a person struggling came over the speaker. Gunfire echoed in the background.

"Elias, you gotta get out of there," I said. "Rocket trainers are coming down the stairwells."

"We're pinned by the army!" He shouted. I heard a deafening roar, then the unmistakable whine of electricity arcing. "I don't see how we can move!"

"Down the stairs!" I ordered. "Get out through the maintenance tunnels, they're not guarded."

He swore and I heard the heavy sound of two people struggling in close quarters. A loud buzz drowned out the noise, then went quiet.

"We're not leaving you alone here," he said, panting heavily between words. "They'll be all over you in minutes."

We rose past the fortieth floor. "Elias, we're almost up to the top. They can't stop us now, get out before they trap you."

He was quiet for a minute. I heard another voice. "Alright," he said. "we're going. Good luck, Ranger."

I nodded. "Good luck, Trainer."

We ground to a halt at the forty-third floor. "There is a squad of Rockets waiting to ambush you on the floor above," Two said. "I have sealed the hallway off. They will not be able to obstruct you."

The elevator door opened. Lights lit up, running the length of the hallway and then turning right. "I will guide you," Two said confidently.

I dashed down the hallway and turned the corner. The lights led into a stairwell. I raced up the steps two at a time, dashing past the floor with the trapped Rockets.

"I'll lose you on forty-five," Two said as I reached the door to the upper levels. The stairwell stopped. "There's likely another elevator, or another stairwell that can get you up to the top."

"Where's the closest access point?" I asked. "I need you up here."

"The level below you," Two said. "But I cannot leave the system if we hope to hold off the Rockets and the Army downstairs."

I grimaced. To go into battle down what Two brought to my team was a terrible idea. But to let Rocket regain access to the building was an even worse one. I made a snap decision and hoped that it wouldn't come back to haunt me. "Stay in then," I ordered. "get everyone downstairs out and make damn sure that Rocket can't move through the building."

Two chirped twice. Then the PA went quiet.

"This is it," Gemma said.

I nodded. "Be ready," I said. I pulled my pistol from its holster. "They're not gonna make it easy."

Leaf nodded behind us, her hand on the balls at her belt.

I looked at the two of them and breathed deeply. "On me, then."

My pistol snapped up. I fired three times, blasting through the hinges and the lock. I leaned back and put everything I had into a kick in the middle of the door.

The door came down with a crash. I barged through, checking the corners and expecting to be swarmed with Rockets the moment I charged through.

Nothing greeted me. No bullets, no pokemon. Nothing but silence.

"Well that's ominous as shit," Gemma said. "Where the hell are the guards?"

"Spread out," I said in a half whisper. "look for any way up to the top floor, but be careful!" I glanced around. "I don't like this."

I picked through the darkened hallway, keeping my weapon up and at the ready. My free hand dropped to Luna's ball, releasing her at my side.

"Scan the floor," I ordered. "I don't like this at all."

She closed her eyes and I could feel the telltale ripple of reality warping around her. Her tails floated weightless, billowing up around her.

'Confused,' Luna said in my mind. 'can't tell. Can't sense. Maybe someone. Maybe not.'

I nodded. She needed more practice at this. I resolved to ask Karen and Will for some help training this skill once we got out of Saffron.

"It's ok, girl," I said. I scratched her under the chin. "We'll assume there's a whole bunch of bad guys, just to be safe."

"Found a stairwell!" Gemma shouted.

I followed her voice. Leaf was already there, waiting, when I arrived.

"Looks like it leads up to the top," she said. "What are the odds that there's a trap waiting for us?"

"Guaranteed," I replied. I looked back at Luna. "Can you try to sense anything again?" I asked.

She nodded and her tails floated ethereally behind her once more.

'One person,' she said in my mind. 'One person at top of stairs.' I felt her confidence. She was more sure of this answer than before. 'Big group past him, numbers cloudy.'

"We've got someone guarding the door to the board room," I said. I patted Luna on the head. "swarm them, focus down any pokemon that appear." I checked the chamber of my weapon for the thirtieth time. "I'll take care of the trainer."

Gemma nodded. Leaf did the same. I stepped up to the door, taking point. Luna brought up the rear, alongside a leafeon that Leaf had let out.

"Move," I ordered, kicking open the door.

We charged up the stairs in formation, my weapon pointed upwards and waiting for movement. The stairwell was dark, only a faint red glow above us offering any light.

We rounded the forty-sixth floor, and still no movement greeted us. I kept moving, scanning the corners as I took the stairs three at a time.

I hit the forty-seventh floor and stopped. The dull red glow had been growing brighter and now I knew why. Gemma and Leaf took up positions behind me, Luna joining me at the front.

"Stand aside," I ordered, trying my best to put on a commanding voice. "only warning."

The red glow faded and I saw that his half of his face had been replaced by machinery. Crimson red hair hung down over the remaining half on his face, only the robotic eye was visible. It was locked on me.

"You shouldn't have come," he said, his voice tinged with synthetic tones. "you're all going to die."

He stepped forward and I saw that one leg was entirely machine. His other ended at the knee and continued in another robotic limb. One arm raised and I widened my eyes. He was more machine than man.

I opened my mouth to give an order. I never got the chance.

He hit me at full speed, driving the wind from my chest with the impact. I flew backwards, crashing heavily into the concrete walls of the stairwell. My weapon went bouncing down the stairs and I fought to suck in a breath.

Luna was snarling, already spewing a jet of flame. The cyborg deftly ducked under her attack and drove a knee into her throat. Her flamethrower died at the source and the man followed up with a throw that bowled over Gemma and Leaf.

A red flash lit the stairwell a moment later and I saw the hulking form of a johtan powerhouse forming in the gloom. Its eyes glowed red as well and my heart skipped several beats. Whoever this was, his pokemon had been similarly upgraded.

There was a reason I'd considered a totodile when Erika had given me a choice of bred pokemon. Feraligatr were damn powerful. Add in the cybernetic modifications that Rocket had made, and the creature before me was terrifying.

As the water type before me stretched to its full height, I realized that perhaps my choice of an aerodactyl had been premature. The distinct lack of a counter to water types on my team had reared its head at the worst possible moment.

I was back to my feet in a scramble, my hand going to my belt. Curie was out, appraising the situation without needing an order. She shook the egg that she tore from her pouch and pitched it into the feraligatr's face.

It exploded, driving the feraligatr back into the wall behind it. The man stood strong though, his legs clamping to the floor and finding purchase there.

"The door!" I roared, not sparing the two women a moment's glance. I couldn't afford to if we wanted to survive. "Get it ope—"

He hit me again, driving me past Leaf and Gemma. I slammed into the door and it gave way, crashing heavily to the floor. He was on me again a moment later, lifting me off the floor by my Ranger fatigues.

"No," he said. His mouth barely moved, and I got the sense that he no longer had vocal chords. "you die now."

Luna grabbed him with a wave of telekinetic energy. The cyborg held fast and both of us launched through the air.

The floor we'd busted into looked like it had been a high end office. Maybe some sort of executive suite. I crashed through a glass wall and hit the table inside the room. A loud tearing noise freed me and I tumbled to a halt as Luna drove the cyborg into the floor below us.

I sat up, coughing madly. Every breath was agony. Ribs were broken, more than a few of them if the grating pain was to be believed. My Ranger fatigues were hanging off me, the cyborg having taken a large patch of the chest with him.

"Luna," I coughed. "torch that thing."

She leapt up to the edge of the hole she had smashed the cyborg through. My ninetales erupted, spewing a stream of fire into the floor below.

Gemma grabbed me up, hauling me into a standing position. I groaned with the movement, but adrenaline was flooding my system and blunting the pain.

"Marcus, we have to—"

I shoved her away and dove backwards with the same movement. A pressurized torrent of water ripped through the space we'd been standing. The window shattered under the feraligatr's assault, bursting outwards.

Leaf's leafeon was harrying the hulking water type every step of the way. A relentless stream of plant life washed against its hide, merely annoying the giant. It walked through the leaf storm, rumbling deeply.

Curie leapt from behind it. She reared back, and I watched in horror as she pitted her strength against the feraligatr's. They locked arms, Curie's stubby little limbs holding the heavier and larger water type at bay.

A series of flashes behind them lit the room. Six arms grabbed at the feraligatr and slammed it backwards into the floor. Domitian and Cuddles hammered blow after blow into the cyborg pokemon, Curie jumping in and joining them a moment later.

A black blur hit Gemma's pokemon before they could react. Both of her powerhouses fell backwards, the sneasel's claws dripping with blood. Gemma shrieked again, her and Leaf releasing more pokemon to face the new threat.

Again I rose to my feet, scanning the office for any sign of the man. "Luna," I started. "do a sca—"

He was on me again, moving too fast for me to counter. His metal arm wrapped around me, squeezing and crushing my already aching chest.

Luna hit us with another wave of psychic energy, trying in vain to separate us. The man simply lifted his free arm and absorbed the rippling wave of power.

I drove my elbow into his fleshy side, drawing a grunt from him that sounded more human than anything he'd said. My follow up kick hit him in the metal knee. It didn't move.

He threw me again, back through another one of the wall height windows. The impact rattled my already broken ribs and I fought ragged breaths for air as I rolled to a halt.

I heard movement, but it sounded so distant. My ears were ringing, every bone in my chest grating against another with every breath. This man was going to kill me if we didn't end the fight now.

"Luna," I said weakly. "you have to stop this. You have to end it before he kills us all."

Her mind touched mine. I didn't know where she was, or how much she had heard me say, but that didn't matter now. I showed her what to do.

'Is crazy plan,' she protested. 'will kill us all.'

"Might kill him."

She was silent for a long moment.

'Will do it,' she said reluctantly.

I forced myself up onto one knee. I could hardly draw a breath but I moved nonetheless. I grabbed at the heavy red case on the wall, wrenching it open and grabbing the weapon within.

He was stalking towards Leaf and Gemma. They had pokemon in between them, but I had the horrible sense that it didn't matter. They weren't going to able to stop him. Not directly. Not unless I gave them an opening.

Both of them were going to die. Both of them would die unless I did something to buy Luna some time.

I did the only thing I could. I charged. I raised the fire axe and swung with all my might.

He spun on the spot and intercepted the axe with his robotic arm. It stopped dead. My eyes went wide.

"You are stubborn," he said, cocking his head to the side. He looked me up and down, a small grin spreading across the human parts of his face. "I'd be impressed if you were any stronger."

He yanked me closer along with the axe. "But you're weak. You always will be."

"That's the thing about being weaker than your opponent," I said, cracking my own grin despite the pain. "it means that you have to fight smarter than them."

"Luna!" I shouted. "Do it no—"

A resounding crack echoed through the building. I felt the floor shift beneath my feet. Luna had found the support columns.

A wave of telekinetic power erupted from her a moment later, blasting another gaping hole to the floor below us. I hit the wall, then tipped as the building groaned under the assault.

The floor dropped out from under me. Dust billowed around me, obscuring everything as I crashed down into the forty-sixth floor. I felt more than heard the feraligatr land in front of me, an avalanche of rubble burying it before the beast could rise.

A dull red glow cut through the dust and I knew that I'd failed. He was rising from the gloom, a limp marring his mechanical gait. But he was still alive.

I tried to scramble away in vain, but it was too late. My opponent was there again, grabbing me and fending off my clumsy counter. He spun and threw me, his crimson hair spinning with him.

I sailed backward, hitting the massive window. A network of cracks spread out behind me as I slumped down to the floor, coughing up a splatter of blood.

Leaf was shouting, but I couldn't hear her over the ringing in my ears. I couldn't hear anything except the ringing and the pounding of my heart in my broken chest.

It didn't matter. I forced myself back up. I had to fight. I had to—

He was on me again, wrapping that metal arm around my waist as I rose, faster than I could move. I felt myself spinning, then sailing through the air again.

I hit the window and it broke. I smashed through the weakened glass and tumbled into open space. Forty-six stories above the ground.

Intermediate Trainer KT#07996101

Indigo Ranger Corps, Special Task Group, "Zapdos" Squad,

Corporal SN# 109-512-6591, Marcus Wright, current team:

Luna, Ninetales

Artemis, Aerodactyl

Two, Porygon-2

Curie, Chansey

Savage, Tyrunt

Apparently this is a shonen anime now…

'Shrug'

Its cool.

If anybody is interested, Silver comes out of the one shot "What We Do For Our Children".