Chapter 83: Falling Behind
It had all happened so quickly. One moment Team Rocket's battleship Halberd was moving forward, following closely behind the other vessel. And the next moment the ship erupted in a blinding flash of light.
Once Shadow opened his eye again he watched it plummet into the ocean below.
"What happened?" Pyre asked as he held tight on Shadow's back.
"I am not certain. It looks as though it sustained too much damage. And perhaps lost power." Shadow replied.
He watched as a small group of humans and pokemon descended onto a nearby beach. Now that the light of the explosion had dissipated, Shadow could see them perfectly, it was Ash and his friends, but something was wrong. They were all strangely naked, and not all of their Pokemon were there with them. The darkrai let out a sigh as his body tensed with anger.
"Shadow, relax, it's fine."
"No, it is not Pyre. I…I cannot feel him anymore." Pyre looked confused. "I was focused on him, I could feel him. But when that last blast hit…" the darkrai trailed off.
"Shadow, nobody just vanishes like that, I'm sure Blade is fine."
"Then why can I not feel him. Where is he?!" Shadow forced himself to relax. As he slowly hovered toward the beach. Now would be the best time to act, to help them, but something gave him pause.
Someone else was on the beach, three strangers, who seemed to be talking to Ash. But before he could get any closer he was forced to hover back as what appeared to a second Halberd came into view. "They had two of em?!" Pyre shouted in surprise.
Not wanting to be caught in the first path of any of the vessel's weapons, Shadow flew back further. "I will kill them for what they have done."
Pyre frowned. "Shadow, come on, they didn't kill Blade, you know better."
Shadow fell silent as he watched the beach intently. Minutes passed, if anyone knew what happened to Blade, it was them. Just as the second Halberd finished passing and Shadow made his approach, a portal opened on the beach, and out came several Pokemon he recognized. Ashachu, Hunter, Geyser, Charizard, and "Blade."
"See, told ya he was fine." Pyre nudged the darkrai.
All was not well, as Charizard collapsed upon the ground. The humans and pokemon all set to massaging his body and lighting fires around him to keep him warm. Blade however was quickly restricted back inside a pokeball. It irritated Shadow, seeing Blade held captive in such a way, but the sneasel hadn't protested.
Shadow hesitated to continue on, a sense of nervousness had filled him.
"We should help them, I can help Charizard." Pyre spoke up looking over Shadow's shoulder. Suddenly Pyre pointed over him. "Look, an egg!" Pyre was right, there with the pokemon on the beach, was a brightly glowing egg, seemingly getting close to hatching. "Little one though, not the biggest aura, a runt probably."
"Yes, I quite agree with you Pyre." Shadow added. "Though I fear I am to blame for the runt. If it is Charizard's egg, I removed it prematurely back on the train. Just before…" Shadow seemed to make a motion similar to a sigh of regret. "As if I did not hurt them enough already. Blade will never forgive me if that egg does not survive." Again Shadow began his descent, but stopped as yet another portal opened, this time strange pokemon emerged. It looked similar to the red dragon pokemon, Koraidon, already there, but it was violet and metallic like a machine. Miraidon.
"I don't recognize either of them." Pyre said as they watched. Another two Pokemon emerged from the portal. A mechanical, doll-like pokemon Magearna. And a Deoxys. "Oh, I know that one, Deoxys, Rai helped me fight one a while back."
And moments later a fourth and final pokemon emerged, a light purple in color with what appeared to be a cannon mounted on its mechanized back, Genesect.
"I do believe that is Genesect. I witnessed a few of them not long ago myself." Shadow added.
As the watched, Genesect seemed to bind Koraidon in thick webbing.
What happened next, happened so quickly Shadow wasn't able to intervene. Flygon and Dragonite, as well as Typhlosion, jumped into attack the newly arrived pokemon, but were quickly subdued and they were all dragged through the portal, which promptly closed behind them. Just as Shadow has reached it.
Pyre hopped off his back. "Well, that didn't go well."
Shadow collapsed to the ground and slammed a fist into the sand. "That is why I could not feel Blade, he was not in this world. Of course, that is why I cannot feel him now."
Both Shadow and Pyre felt a sense of dread fill them as they looked toward the sky. Shadow could feel Blade again, but he didn't like the reason. Hanging above them, the second Halberd was flying through a wormhole of its own.
"Well I'm guessing we're not missing this one?" Pyre prepared to hop on Shadow's back.
But the darkrai stopped him, looking away from the wormhole. That was strange, moments ago he could feel Blade through the wormhole, but now it just felt like he was across the country. The pitch black pokemon grabbed the fire type and hoisted him, suddenly bursting off in the opposite direction. "I do not understand how or why, but Blade is back already. I imagine wherever he is, those trained pokemon are, and if we reach them, perhaps we can coordinate some form of attack on Team Rocket."
"Really? Are you sure? Team Rocket is a problem, but should we really bother?" Pyre wanted to fight them, but he knows Shadow's main priority would always be Blade.
"Pyre, I read your memories. I saw what you saw." Shadow spoke surprisingly gently. "If you found a version of Blade and Myself there, then we are not the only ones. I also felt the memories of another me, I believe over where Team Rocket is going. He had a Blade as well."
"Shadow?" Pyre sounded curious.
"Team Rocket was a threat to me, and to Blade. If the can go through Ultraspace at will, they have made themselves a threat to a likely infinite number of Blade's." Shadow was laser focused, flying as fast as he possibly could, but not teleporting to conserve his own energy. "And I will not allow them to harm even a single one!"
They continued flying toward where Shadow could feel Blade.
*With Blade*
"Ahhh. That's better. What did I miss," Blade stretched, he hadn't been in his ball for very long, but it wasn't comfortable for him. He shook his hips and stretched his arms over his head. He looked around and blinked, this certainly wasn't the beach anymore, but a rainy field. "What did I miss?"
"Are you going to release me," Miraidon asked. Blade guessed he must have been restrained for a reason and ignored him. Instead looking over what the other pokemon were doing, which seemed to be building, or rather rebuilding something.
"That's me," he mumbled and shook his head in confusion. "Always behind the time." He quickly noticed Ashachu and Geyser, and immediately approached them. Geyser had evolved into a samurott since he last saw him, but no normal Samurott, his shells seemed to be black, and accentuated with red stripes. Blade had to admit he was a bit disappointed, he was much more attractive as a Dewott, though part of him thought it was just because he would've been easier to dominate. "Hey Kid!"
The Pikachu and Samurott were standing on opposite sides of a large crystalline object, holding it and seemingly channeling their aura into it. If the bright blue glow the crystal emitted was any indicator. They both looked up as he approached.
"Blade," said Geyser, raising his brows inquisitively, "Where'd you come from?"
Bladed folded his arms and replied in a deadpan expression, "Oh I dunno. Just the Pokéball where you left me." He was a bit sour about it, but there was no point staying mad.
"Yeah, well we don't have time for you now," snapped Ashachu, purposely not looking at him. Blade noticed color rising to his cheeks. "Go find Snorlax and stick your head up his arse."
Blade ignored the remark, but it still hurt. Was he really still upset about the paw stuff? "What's going on around here." He looked up at the Yungoos Mecha, recalling how he had seen Meowth prepare it to capture Geyser and Hunter. "Isn't this..."
"We're waging war against Team Rocket," explained Geyser. "They kidnapped Ash, Hunter, and Pikachu, as well as Cameron and Jimmy. We're going to use this Mecha to fight back."
Blade tilted his head and glanced upwards again. Fighting Team Rocket was far from a good idea, and wasn't something he was keen on doing. But he knew it was better not to argue. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Yeah, go stick your head up Snorlax's arse," Ashachu repeated.
Geyser seemed to take pity on him. "Uhh not us personally, but you should go ask Meowth and Snivy. They're overseeing everything. We'll explain everything later, it's just we're really busy right now and time is running out!"
Blade looked perplexed before he shrugged and turned around to see if he could spot Meowth. "I really did miss a lot," he mumbled. "How did I ever let myself get captured!"
'Well, you fell for that stick up his ass Pikachu back there.' Xiphos' voice came to him. 'From there it was all bad luck.'
"You're telling me. As crazy as it sounds, I'd do most of it again." Blade fell silent as he scanned for Meowth, noticing him bound and restrained. With Snivy hovering over him, seemingly as a guard.
'I know, you really need to stop blaming yourself for that.' Xiphos' rested his hand on Blade's shoulder.
"It doesn't change the fact that I got Shadow killed." He spoke under his breath and walked toward Meowth shaking the depression from his face. "Hey, Meowthy, how's it going?"
"Blade? Didn't know da twerps still had ya."
"Call it bad luck." Blade sat down beside him. "Or good, since I got to see you again." Blade blushed at his own words. "So, any way I can help out." He had asked Meowth directly, but given the suggestion from Geyser, he extended the question to Snivy as well.
"You can help by fucking off." Snivy interrupted. But Blade ignored her.
Meowth blushed as well. "Nya, any chance of ya untying me?"
Snivy glared at the two of them, focusing on Blade.
"Considering I'm not trying to get my ass kicked, afraid not." Blade frowned seeing her gaze. "But hey, if everyone's going on a suicide mission to fight team rocket, I might as well go too." Blade smiled lightly, trying to hide his pain. "Might get lucky and die, so I can see Shadow again."