My Pokémon AU! The same AU that Delta is set in, in fact.
One Insurgent Butterfree Flaps Its Wings
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He Showeth His Might on a Wild Midnight
- Pronouns
- She/They
Gary Oak gets an e-mail from Professor Aurea Juniper about a conference of Pokémon professors and researchers, and attends alongside his grandfather. They arrive, not suspecting that a shadow lurks among the attendees.
A song to the oak, the brave old oak,
Who hath ruled in the greenwood long;
Here 's health and renown to his broad green crown,
And his fifty arms so strong.
There 's fear in his frown when the sun goes down,
And the fire in the west fades out;
And he showeth his might on a wild midnight,
When the storm through his branches shout.
We're still having fun in Galar, thanks for asking. You wouldn't believe what the Chairman tried to do "for the sake of the region". He awakened this ancient Dragon-type called Eternatus and tried to use it to make sure Galar wouldn't run out of power. It was tough, but Dragonite ended up taking it down a few pegs, with the help of these two really neat Pokémon called Zacian and Zamazenta, who change forms when you give them this old sword and shield!
If you ever want to battle a League Champion, I'll take you on, just like old times.
All my best,
Ash.
"Oh boy," huffed Gary, shaking his head fondly. "It's always something with you."
Making a note to reply to Ash's email later, he moved onto the next item in his inbox. "Professor Juniper, eh? Let's see what she's got to say." He clicked into her email, and started reading.
Five minutes later, he finished, stood up abruptly and ran to the phone, then dialed a number he'd long since memorized.
As soon as the other end picked up, he began to speak. "Hey, Gramps. Have you gotten an email from Professor Juniper?"
He winced, hearing his grandfather reprimand him for calling during dinner, again. "Sorry, Gramps. I keep forgetting Kalos and Kanto aren't in the same time zone. But this is important! Have you gotten anything from Professor Juniper over in Unova?"
Gary nodded absently as his grandfather left to check his emails, and grinned when he came back, babbling excitedly about the new research opportunities this would bring.
"I thought you'd be excited. I've got Alakazam with me, so I'll arrange with Unovan immigration services for us to get visas to work with her on that, then I'll pop over and pick you up in a couple days once that's all taken care of." Gary frowned a moment, thinking, then continued: "And maybe see if Ash wants in on this. He's seen a few new Pokémon from his time in Galar that might help on this project, I think."
After a moment of his grandfather speaking he nodded. "I'll go ahead and get that particular ball rolling. See ya soon, Gramps." He hung up, then turned to his Espeon and Alakazam, who had started listening once he had started the phone call. "Alright, let's get packing. We're going to Unova!"
"Not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting to be here again so soon. The whole Plasma incident kinda put me off the whole region." Gary shaded his eyes as he pulled a pair of shades out of his bag for himself, then returned Alakazam to his Pokéball. "But hey, it's for science."
"A very commendable attitude, Gary." Professor Samuel Oak, world-famous Pokémon professor, inventor of the Pokédex, former Silver League Champion, and Gary's grandfather, smiled at his grandson.
"Alright, Gramps," Gary said dismissively, but he did still smile fondly. He looked around at the dock they were on, then nodded, likely trying to refresh his memory on the layout of the town. "Now, it's been a while since I've been here in Nuvema, so would you mind leading the way to Juniper's lab?"
"Why of course, dear boy." The two trainers walked off in a comfortable silence, with the Professor setting the path. After only a few minutes, the duo arrived at their destination, an orange-roofed building with two stories and plenty of windows. They were greeted at the door by a man around Oak's age in khakis and a beige sweater over a collared shirt.
"My word, Cedric Juniper? It's been too long!" Professor Oak seized the other man's hand and gave it a firm shake.
"Samuel! Good to see you again. I think the last time was before you donned that coat, at your last battle on the Plateau." Cedric returned the other Professor's handshake, then turned to his grandson. "You must be Gary." He took the younger trainer's hand and pumped it once. "I must say, your paper on the variation in Omanyte shells between regions had some brilliant insights, and your contribution to the Pokédex project is certainly something to be proud of as well."
Caught off guard for a moment, Gary recovered quickly, squeezing the older man's hand. "Thank you, sir. I took inspiration from your own study of the distribution of the Ice-type regional variants of Kanto Pokémon, and why they evolved in Galar and Alola before Sinnoh."
"Ah, yes, I was always proud of that one myself, and I'd love to talk it over with you after my daughter's presentation. Now, why don't you two come in? Aurea is about to start, we're just waiting on Kukui at this point." As Cedric ushered the two Oaks inside, they could hear something thrumming with the telltale hum of magnetic levitation. "Never mind, here he must be now."
As he said those words, a Steel-gray disk with rotating magnets at three equidistant points around the rim swooped down, and a well-built Alolan man in an open lab coat, gray capris, and a white hat hopped off the flying Pokémon. "Thanks for the lift, Magnezone! Go ahead and rest up in your 'ball, now."
Returning the Pokémon to it's Pokéball, he jogged up to the entrance of the lab. "Sorry I'm late, we got a little caught up with an Ultra Beast from the far Ultra Wilds going through Shift Sickness."
Cedric just shook his head, smiling softly. "Just get inside, young man, or I'll let your wife know about the incident with the Rufflet. Speaking of which, how's he doing?"
Kukui winced, then smiled. "He's doing just fine. He went toe to toe with the Guzzlord that came through and actually would have won if he'd been at full strength. But enough stalling, I wanna see what little Aurea's done in terms of preliminary research on this one, woo!" He drove the three already there in through the doors with his sheer enthusiastic presence, then Cedric took over and led them to the main viewing room, which had been set up as an ad hoc auditorium.
The four took their seats, and, as if she was waiting for them (which, of course, she was), a woman with a brown updo and a faded sea-foam green lab coat stood up in front of a screen, quieting the general noise of conversation in the room as everyone looked up to see her.
"Thank you all for coming," she said, as she raised a clicker, causing a title slide to appear on the screen:
"I've asked you all here to help me refine the research I've been undertaking lately, which will be distributed to you after this presentation. As some of you might know, I specialize in the origin of pokemon-just how, exactly, did we get the Pokémon we have today?" Here, she clicked to the next slide, showing an image of several canine Pokémon.
"These Pokémon all have similar body styles, diets, musculoskeletal setups, and even fairly similar relationships to people. So what made, say, Arcanine develop so differently than Houndoom?"
She clicked to the next slide, showing a world map. "I hypothesize that it has to do with the regions they were first found in, and perhaps more important, the arrival of humans in those regions." She clicked again, and dates appeared on several different places on the map.
Unnoticed by most of the denizens of the room, a blue-haired man leaned forward, his keen strategic mind already analyzing how he could exploit this knowledge for his own gain.
"Let us take the Galar region, one of the earliest settled. Pokémon here tend to be much sleeker than others, as well as more appealing to the human eye. The canid most primarily found here is Yamper, which is widely believed to be one of the cutest Pokémon in existence, according to a survey published last year administered by Professor Samuel Oak." She gestured to him in the back, and allowed the audience to applaud politely.
"Contrast this with the Kanto region, which is one of the last non-microbiome regions to be settled. Their local canid is Growlithe, who has a much simpler, more rugged appearance than almost any other canid Pokémon. Why would that be, do you think?" She paused here to allow the assembled academics a moment to ponder on this question before she answered.
Gary had a flash of insight just as she opened her mouth to speak. "Simply put, these Pokémon have had less time to develop alongside humans, so they are more survival-adapted than some of their kin from longer-settled regions. Growlithe and Arcanine fur is so rugged and thick because they lived for a longer time with no need for it to be any different from how it appeared during the latest ice age. Contrasted with Furfrou, whose fur seems almost designed for human grooming, and the much softer fur of Yamper and Boltund, and the conclusion seems almost forgone that these Pokémon, even when accounting for purposeful breeding for traits, have been directly impacted by humans in a purely natural selection-based way."
"Well, it certainly puts some things into perspective. I've always wondered why Pidgey looks so different from birds native to other regions, especially Pikipek. With this information, it does make some sense- Pikipek has had more time around humans to develop into its current form, and has had the benefit of more 'generations' of predecessors from which to hone its design than Pidgey has." At this point, Gary was absently tapping on his Pidgeot's Pokéball, likely unaware he was doing it.
"There's also the comparison between Raticate and Dubwool, which is also related to the whole issue of time developing around humans, plus the Porygon line is almost made to be a textbook example of the whole 'time spent with humans' argument." Gary stopped to take a breath.
"Hmm… and how would you say that would affect the battle performance of Pokémon?" The man had a hungry gleam in his eyes now, not that Gary had noticed.
Gary frowned, thinking. "I mean… there does seem to be some overlap between increased battle prowess as a fresh-caught wild Pokémon and presence in a region longer settled by humans. Like, in regards to their viability in the Smogon Competitive Leagues, I know Corviknight has a significant edge over most other bird Pokémon, especially when its Mirror Armor comes into the picture." While he was looking up to try and remember the battle effectiveness of regional birds, Taen checked a device on his wrist, and nodded as he saw a progress bar finish. "The only other 'regional birds' that are anywhere close to it in terms of usage there are Staraptor-the hardest hitting of the other birds-and Talonflame with its Gale Wings." A thought occurred to Gary. "Hey, why are you asking about this?"
"Oh, no reason at all." He raised an Ultra Ball, and it opened, releasing a two-necked biped with a long tail. Gary felt his blood run cold at the sight, and he fumbled for his Umbreon's Pokéball frantically as he recognized the man as Taen, an infamous cultist from Torren responsible for the near death of both the current Augur and Ash multiple times.
"Mewtwo, wipe his-"
"Dragonite, Hyper Beam!"
Gary had never been more relieved to hear his grandfather's voice.
The blast of raw power, from the ace Pokémon of a champion who had never been officially dethroned, would have been enough to overwhelm almost any other Pokémon and send them to a Pokémon Center, unconscious, in one hit.
As it was, Mewtwo was pushed back almost ten feet and singed, even through its barrier of raw psychic power.
"Taen, wasn't it? As an official of the Pokémon League, I hereby place you under arrest for attempted psychic assault, attempted murder, conspiracy to disturb the peace, and illegal genetic experiments on Pokémon."
"I don't think so, Oak." Taen almost lazily threw out two Pokémon, with a Hydreigon landing to Mewtwo's left and a Goodra on its right.
"So be it." Oak threw out another two Pokéballs, these ones containing a massively muscled Nidoking and his signature Charizard. "Gary, get clear. Find Ash or the Augur, if you can, they'll have the most experience dealing with him."
"Right!" Gary shook himself, then threw out his Alakazam's Pokéball. Just before the two teleported away, he nodded to his grandfather. "You got this, Gramps," he said, smirking, as he and Alakazam vanished a mere instant before the Hydreigon lunged forward, all three heads snapping closed on air.
Taen sneered, then turned back to the Professor. "You're past your prime, Oak." He raised his right wrist, pressing something on a band around his wrist, and a shell of silver light appeared around his Hydreigon momentarily, before exploding in an impressive polychromatic lightshow, revealing a ground-bound, five-headed version of it, something Samuel had never seen before in person. "You should have just stayed in obscurity in Pallet, where relics like you belong."
"A Mega Hydreigon, eh? Alright, two can play at this game. You know what to do, old friend." Oak pressed his notebook between his palms, then raised it in the air, allowing the same kind of shell to form around his Charizard. When it burst, his oldest friend was at least a foot taller than before, with jagged edges to his wings and sharp spikes on the rest of his body, on top of the larger tail flame wrapping him in a cocoon of desert-like heat.
This done, he turned the full force of his attention onto the cultist. "A relic, eh? You should count your lucky stars Agatha wasn't here to hear you say that, young man."
"Hey, Sam, have you found Gary y- wait, is that that one cultist from Torren? Tin or something?" Cedric Juniper backed away, having come to investigate the ruckus.
"Get clear, I'll handle him long enough for reinforcements to get here." Oak snapped his fingers. "Dragonite, try a Dragon Pulse this time." This attack, too, splashed off of Mewtwo's Barrier.
"Very well. This has been fun, and all, but I believe it's about time we left. Mewtwo, teleport us out." Taen turned his back on Oak confidently, then frowned, having heard something from Mewtwo telepathically. "What do you mean you can't teleport away?"
A pink, catlike Pokémon floated down from above and meowed. "Hello, Mew. Thank you for your help, this young man would have gotten away otherwise," said Oak. It giggled, then floated off to sit on top of a lightpost and watch.
Taen growled. "No matter, I'll break you on my way out. Hydreigon, Outrage. Goodra, Rain Dance, then Hydro Pump. Mewtwo, Psychic."
The hydra-like Pokémon closed in on Charizard, pushing through the palpable aura of heat by surrounding himself in raw Dragon-type power, then slamming into the more saurian Pokémon, who toughed it out with a steely coating on his wings. After a moment of contemplation, Oak said "Charizard, try and hit it with Dragon Claw or Dazzling Gleam, if you can."
Roaring his acknowledgement of his trainer's orders, the fiery Mega raked claws wreathed in purple power down his opponent's flanks, then opened his maw and, with a roar, let loose a massive flash of light, searing the Hydreigon's chest.
The Goodra was trying to outrange his Nidoking and blast it with a massive spray of water, somewhat boosted by the localized storm front around it. For now, the Poison Pin Pokémon was able to deflect the blasts with carefully timed Ice Beams and Iron Tails, but that couldn't last. "Nidoking, close in and start punishing its attacks," Oak said after a moment of contemplation. Breathing out one last blast of icy cold, this one stronger than the last, to put the Goodra off its rhythm, Nidoking closed in and started to pummel at the gooey Dragon with powerful punches, ignoring the rain and pulses of water the Goodra managed to collect in between dodging hits.
This done, he turned back to focus on the central battle, between Dragonite and Mewtwo. The psychic attack that Mewtwo had launched was mostly just reflecting off of Dragonite's scales, aided by a defensive application of Steel Wing. However, Mewtwo's barrier was too strong for most of Dragonite's regular moves, and it couldn't muster the focus for its more powerful ones while maintaining Steel Wing.
Oak grinned, as a strategy he had used once, decades ago, occurred to him. "Dragonite! Disappear into mist!" Dragonite, understanding the command from when he had been a much more regular battler, exhaled, the telltale purple-blue mist of Dragonbreath filling up the battlefield and obscuring his position.
"What? Misty Terrain? Really? Pathetic. I guess you really are getting forgetful in your old age. This can only weaken your attacks!" Taen sneered. "Very well. I guess I'll finish it. Mewtwo, Psystrike!"
The Genetic Pokémon complied, a wave of raw psychic power collecting in its hands and then rushing forth to detonate.
When the spatial distortion disappeared and the "mist" from the area targeted cleared, Dragonite wasn't there.
Taen blinked, flabbergasted. "What! Mewtwo, find i-"
"Horn Drill." As if coalescing from the fog, Oak's ace rammed its head into Mewtwo, a massive cone of draconic power rotating atop its horn as it pierced through Mewtwo's barriers and smashed into the cloned Pokémon with the fury of a hundred Primeape, slamming it backwards and into the ground. It didn't get back up again.
"Ugh. No matter. Hydreigon! Dark Matter!" The Pokémon in question opened each of its five mouths, a ball of empty wrongness appearing in each of them.
"Charizard, Blast Burn."
The ultimate Fire-type technique blasted forward from Oak's oldest friend's mouth, taking the Hydreigon slightly below its central neck and causing the attack it had been preparing to dissipate more-or-less harmlessly. The pseudo-legendary Mega flew backwards as if shot from a cannon, slamming through a tree and coming to rest just shy of the nearest wall, unmoving. As the flabbergasted Taen watched, it glowed a dull grey, then the extra heads and limbs disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a very much unconscious normal Hydreigon.
"Ugh. Goodra-" Just as Taen turned to look at his last Pokémon on the field, Oak's Nidoking slammed it with a massive punch, laying it out flat on its back, unconscious.
Taen recalled his Pokémon, then clenched his fist, weighing his options as he glared at Oak. "Come quietly, Taen. I'm not inclined to hold back if you resist any more," commanded Oak.
"I suppose there isn't any point to it, anymore. We got what we needed. Kyurem, Glaciate." He threw out a Master Ball, revealing an almost raptoid creature, in shades of gray, glaring at Oak and his team as hoarfrost crystals appeared on the ground.
Oak's eyes widened in fear as he backpedaled. "ProtectDracoMeteorBlastBurn!" he chain-chanted, scrabbling for a Pokéball and throwing out a Frost-Rotom between Dragonite-who had called down a hail of meteoroid orbs of flaming power-and Kyurem and ordering him to use Protect as well just before the massive blizzard hit.
It was barely enough.
Of the three Pokémon who Oak had sent out to battle Taen, only his Charizard wasn't especially vulnerable to ice-type attacks. Nidoking could handle it, with the Protect soaking up the majority of the power of Kyurem's signature move. Charizard could rely on his Drought-based aura to protect him and to help his Blast Burn punch through the massive attack to try and hit Kyurem. Dragonite, even if it had managed to use Protect, couldn't shake the attack off, due to its cold-blooded nature, so Oak had it go on the offensive and rely on his Rotom to Protect it.
Rotom was nonetheless frozen solid inside a massive wall of ice, having been directly in front of the ancient Ice-type, but its ghostly nature allowed it to slide free of the encumbrance with no issues whatsoever. Dragonite was a little frostbitten, but otherwise okay. Nidoking had been encased in a hamster ball-like orb of ice, but a few punches had it free and none the worse for wear. Charizard, on the other hand, was perfectly fine. The Drought aura had prevented the mini-blizzard from really reaching it, but somehow, the Blast Burn had been frozen solid, falling to the ground as a chunk of red-orange ice.
"Hah, that was intense. How are you, my friends?" asked Professor Oak, hands shaking slightly-both from the cold and from adrenaline-but his voice as steady as ever.
His Charizard crooned softly, then pushed out its aura of warmth to encompass all four of them. "Thank you, Char." He scratched the underside of Charizard's jaw.
"Gramps, are you okay?" Gary reappeared with Ash and his Alakazam without warning, Ash's Pikachu already glowing with built-up electric power and a Pokéball in Ash's hand, ready to throw.
"I think so. Let's see what came of him, now shall we?" Oak nodded to his Charizard, who breathed out a cautious stream of fire, melting a fair portion of the wall and revealing the empty crater that Dragonite's attack had left, with just a shrinking speck in the distance to point to where Taen had got to.
"He got away. Well, at least we don't have to worry about him getting back with Perfection, the Augur and I took care of that!" Ash shrugged, then turned to the Professor. "How'd you know it was him?"
"Well, Cedric Juniper mentioned wanting to talk with Gary after the presentation, and he hadn't seen him in a fair bit, so we went looking for him. I came upon him and Taen talking out of the way, with Taen trying to block everyone's view of Gary. I was trying to surprise him with Dragonite, but when he tried to wipe Gary's memory with Mewtwo I had to step in." Oak looked back at the destroyed corridor, then winced. "This was an unintended consequence, I'll have to see about getting some Diglett to come and fix up the courtyard."
Gary winced. "Hey, Ashy-boy, I think you're wrong on one count. Perfection has been making a resurgence, since we never took down Reukra. There's gonna be a manhunt, since I think they're still trying to create a perfect Pokémon."
Ash's eyes widened, and he started yelling. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me! Not again, this was hard enough the first f-"
"Sam? Is everything okay for us to come out?" Cedric Juniper peeked around the corner, then fully emerged once he saw the ex-Champion's Pokémon had relaxed. "How'd things go?"
"Well enough, all things considered. I'll take care of the repair of the courtyard, but I think we'll need to call in Looker to help manage the manhunt, as well as Adam's kid to help with the capture." Oak recalled his Pokémon, then turned to his grandson. "Gary, if you would be so kind, could you please go to InterPol headquarters and alert them that Perfection is starting to move again?"
Gary nodded. "You bet, Gramps. See you soon." He nodded to his Alakazam, then vanished in a flash of light again.
"Ash, dear boy, would you be so kind as to let your friend from Torren know that we'll be needing their help? Even if Taen hasn't managed to reconstruct the Original Dragon, he has a Kyurem and a Zekrom, not to mention his Mewtwo." At this point, Oak pulled out a Rotom Phone and started tapping away, trying to arrange for a construction team of Diglett and Dugtrio to come by and fix up Taen's mess.
Ash tossed out his Pokéball, revealing a Dragonite of his own, then climbed onto its back. "Sure thing, Professor. I'll also let the other Mewtwos I've encountered know, just in case they want to help out. But what will you be doing?"
Oak sighed, deflating a bit. "Paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork." Ash nodded, then took off towards the South. Oak then turned to address the elder Juniper, who at this point had been joined by a fair few of the other professors in attendance, most of whom were gawking at the destruction of the courtyard. "Esteemed professors! Please, let's take this inside, and we can discuss what exactly happened out here."
He pulled out a communicator and flipped it open, a hologram of a man in a long coat and a white-banded round hat. "Reukra, it's me. I have the data we need, plus I even managed to hack one of Oak's Pokédexes. I did hit a bit of a snag, though."
The man nodded once, then frowned. "What kind of a snag?"
Taen winced. "Samuel Oak saw me and prevented me from obscuring my presence. There was an altercation. I got away, but they know about our involvement."
"That's… unfortunate. Very well, we must obscure the reasoning behind our visit. Do this as you see fit, but keep them off of the design lab's existence at all costs." Reukra winked out without waiting for a reply.
Taen sighed, then pulled out a tablet. He had to start planning…
-----
Work title is from "The Brave Old Oak", by Henry Fothergill Chorely:A song to the oak, the brave old oak,
Who hath ruled in the greenwood long;
Here 's health and renown to his broad green crown,
And his fifty arms so strong.
There 's fear in his frown when the sun goes down,
And the fire in the west fades out;
And he showeth his might on a wild midnight,
When the storm through his branches shout.
-----
Hey, Gary!We're still having fun in Galar, thanks for asking. You wouldn't believe what the Chairman tried to do "for the sake of the region". He awakened this ancient Dragon-type called Eternatus and tried to use it to make sure Galar wouldn't run out of power. It was tough, but Dragonite ended up taking it down a few pegs, with the help of these two really neat Pokémon called Zacian and Zamazenta, who change forms when you give them this old sword and shield!
If you ever want to battle a League Champion, I'll take you on, just like old times.
All my best,
Ash.
"Oh boy," huffed Gary, shaking his head fondly. "It's always something with you."
Making a note to reply to Ash's email later, he moved onto the next item in his inbox. "Professor Juniper, eh? Let's see what she's got to say." He clicked into her email, and started reading.
Five minutes later, he finished, stood up abruptly and ran to the phone, then dialed a number he'd long since memorized.
As soon as the other end picked up, he began to speak. "Hey, Gramps. Have you gotten an email from Professor Juniper?"
He winced, hearing his grandfather reprimand him for calling during dinner, again. "Sorry, Gramps. I keep forgetting Kalos and Kanto aren't in the same time zone. But this is important! Have you gotten anything from Professor Juniper over in Unova?"
Gary nodded absently as his grandfather left to check his emails, and grinned when he came back, babbling excitedly about the new research opportunities this would bring.
"I thought you'd be excited. I've got Alakazam with me, so I'll arrange with Unovan immigration services for us to get visas to work with her on that, then I'll pop over and pick you up in a couple days once that's all taken care of." Gary frowned a moment, thinking, then continued: "And maybe see if Ash wants in on this. He's seen a few new Pokémon from his time in Galar that might help on this project, I think."
After a moment of his grandfather speaking he nodded. "I'll go ahead and get that particular ball rolling. See ya soon, Gramps." He hung up, then turned to his Espeon and Alakazam, who had started listening once he had started the phone call. "Alright, let's get packing. We're going to Unova!"
-----
Three days later, after blatantly abusing his connection to Ash and his grandfather setting it up so he and his grandfather could legally work with Juniper on her new project, they had arrived in Unova."Not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting to be here again so soon. The whole Plasma incident kinda put me off the whole region." Gary shaded his eyes as he pulled a pair of shades out of his bag for himself, then returned Alakazam to his Pokéball. "But hey, it's for science."
"A very commendable attitude, Gary." Professor Samuel Oak, world-famous Pokémon professor, inventor of the Pokédex, former Silver League Champion, and Gary's grandfather, smiled at his grandson.
"Alright, Gramps," Gary said dismissively, but he did still smile fondly. He looked around at the dock they were on, then nodded, likely trying to refresh his memory on the layout of the town. "Now, it's been a while since I've been here in Nuvema, so would you mind leading the way to Juniper's lab?"
"Why of course, dear boy." The two trainers walked off in a comfortable silence, with the Professor setting the path. After only a few minutes, the duo arrived at their destination, an orange-roofed building with two stories and plenty of windows. They were greeted at the door by a man around Oak's age in khakis and a beige sweater over a collared shirt.
"My word, Cedric Juniper? It's been too long!" Professor Oak seized the other man's hand and gave it a firm shake.
"Samuel! Good to see you again. I think the last time was before you donned that coat, at your last battle on the Plateau." Cedric returned the other Professor's handshake, then turned to his grandson. "You must be Gary." He took the younger trainer's hand and pumped it once. "I must say, your paper on the variation in Omanyte shells between regions had some brilliant insights, and your contribution to the Pokédex project is certainly something to be proud of as well."
Caught off guard for a moment, Gary recovered quickly, squeezing the older man's hand. "Thank you, sir. I took inspiration from your own study of the distribution of the Ice-type regional variants of Kanto Pokémon, and why they evolved in Galar and Alola before Sinnoh."
"Ah, yes, I was always proud of that one myself, and I'd love to talk it over with you after my daughter's presentation. Now, why don't you two come in? Aurea is about to start, we're just waiting on Kukui at this point." As Cedric ushered the two Oaks inside, they could hear something thrumming with the telltale hum of magnetic levitation. "Never mind, here he must be now."
As he said those words, a Steel-gray disk with rotating magnets at three equidistant points around the rim swooped down, and a well-built Alolan man in an open lab coat, gray capris, and a white hat hopped off the flying Pokémon. "Thanks for the lift, Magnezone! Go ahead and rest up in your 'ball, now."
Returning the Pokémon to it's Pokéball, he jogged up to the entrance of the lab. "Sorry I'm late, we got a little caught up with an Ultra Beast from the far Ultra Wilds going through Shift Sickness."
Cedric just shook his head, smiling softly. "Just get inside, young man, or I'll let your wife know about the incident with the Rufflet. Speaking of which, how's he doing?"
Kukui winced, then smiled. "He's doing just fine. He went toe to toe with the Guzzlord that came through and actually would have won if he'd been at full strength. But enough stalling, I wanna see what little Aurea's done in terms of preliminary research on this one, woo!" He drove the three already there in through the doors with his sheer enthusiastic presence, then Cedric took over and led them to the main viewing room, which had been set up as an ad hoc auditorium.
The four took their seats, and, as if she was waiting for them (which, of course, she was), a woman with a brown updo and a faded sea-foam green lab coat stood up in front of a screen, quieting the general noise of conversation in the room as everyone looked up to see her.
"Thank you all for coming," she said, as she raised a clicker, causing a title slide to appear on the screen:
Form of our Friends: How the appearance of Pokémon denotes the region they originated from
By Aurea Juniper
By Aurea Juniper
"I've asked you all here to help me refine the research I've been undertaking lately, which will be distributed to you after this presentation. As some of you might know, I specialize in the origin of pokemon-just how, exactly, did we get the Pokémon we have today?" Here, she clicked to the next slide, showing an image of several canine Pokémon.
"These Pokémon all have similar body styles, diets, musculoskeletal setups, and even fairly similar relationships to people. So what made, say, Arcanine develop so differently than Houndoom?"
She clicked to the next slide, showing a world map. "I hypothesize that it has to do with the regions they were first found in, and perhaps more important, the arrival of humans in those regions." She clicked again, and dates appeared on several different places on the map.
Unnoticed by most of the denizens of the room, a blue-haired man leaned forward, his keen strategic mind already analyzing how he could exploit this knowledge for his own gain.
"Let us take the Galar region, one of the earliest settled. Pokémon here tend to be much sleeker than others, as well as more appealing to the human eye. The canid most primarily found here is Yamper, which is widely believed to be one of the cutest Pokémon in existence, according to a survey published last year administered by Professor Samuel Oak." She gestured to him in the back, and allowed the audience to applaud politely.
"Contrast this with the Kanto region, which is one of the last non-microbiome regions to be settled. Their local canid is Growlithe, who has a much simpler, more rugged appearance than almost any other canid Pokémon. Why would that be, do you think?" She paused here to allow the assembled academics a moment to ponder on this question before she answered.
Gary had a flash of insight just as she opened her mouth to speak. "Simply put, these Pokémon have had less time to develop alongside humans, so they are more survival-adapted than some of their kin from longer-settled regions. Growlithe and Arcanine fur is so rugged and thick because they lived for a longer time with no need for it to be any different from how it appeared during the latest ice age. Contrasted with Furfrou, whose fur seems almost designed for human grooming, and the much softer fur of Yamper and Boltund, and the conclusion seems almost forgone that these Pokémon, even when accounting for purposeful breeding for traits, have been directly impacted by humans in a purely natural selection-based way."
-----
"So, Gary. What did you think about the presentation?" A blue-haired man in a white coat had taken the youngest attendee aside, to an open area in a courtyard, to discuss the presentation more privately. He slipped a data chip into his pocket surreptitiously, angling his body so Gary couldn't see it."Well, it certainly puts some things into perspective. I've always wondered why Pidgey looks so different from birds native to other regions, especially Pikipek. With this information, it does make some sense- Pikipek has had more time around humans to develop into its current form, and has had the benefit of more 'generations' of predecessors from which to hone its design than Pidgey has." At this point, Gary was absently tapping on his Pidgeot's Pokéball, likely unaware he was doing it.
"There's also the comparison between Raticate and Dubwool, which is also related to the whole issue of time developing around humans, plus the Porygon line is almost made to be a textbook example of the whole 'time spent with humans' argument." Gary stopped to take a breath.
"Hmm… and how would you say that would affect the battle performance of Pokémon?" The man had a hungry gleam in his eyes now, not that Gary had noticed.
Gary frowned, thinking. "I mean… there does seem to be some overlap between increased battle prowess as a fresh-caught wild Pokémon and presence in a region longer settled by humans. Like, in regards to their viability in the Smogon Competitive Leagues, I know Corviknight has a significant edge over most other bird Pokémon, especially when its Mirror Armor comes into the picture." While he was looking up to try and remember the battle effectiveness of regional birds, Taen checked a device on his wrist, and nodded as he saw a progress bar finish. "The only other 'regional birds' that are anywhere close to it in terms of usage there are Staraptor-the hardest hitting of the other birds-and Talonflame with its Gale Wings." A thought occurred to Gary. "Hey, why are you asking about this?"
"Oh, no reason at all." He raised an Ultra Ball, and it opened, releasing a two-necked biped with a long tail. Gary felt his blood run cold at the sight, and he fumbled for his Umbreon's Pokéball frantically as he recognized the man as Taen, an infamous cultist from Torren responsible for the near death of both the current Augur and Ash multiple times.
"Mewtwo, wipe his-"
"Dragonite, Hyper Beam!"
Gary had never been more relieved to hear his grandfather's voice.
The blast of raw power, from the ace Pokémon of a champion who had never been officially dethroned, would have been enough to overwhelm almost any other Pokémon and send them to a Pokémon Center, unconscious, in one hit.
As it was, Mewtwo was pushed back almost ten feet and singed, even through its barrier of raw psychic power.
"Taen, wasn't it? As an official of the Pokémon League, I hereby place you under arrest for attempted psychic assault, attempted murder, conspiracy to disturb the peace, and illegal genetic experiments on Pokémon."
"I don't think so, Oak." Taen almost lazily threw out two Pokémon, with a Hydreigon landing to Mewtwo's left and a Goodra on its right.
"So be it." Oak threw out another two Pokéballs, these ones containing a massively muscled Nidoking and his signature Charizard. "Gary, get clear. Find Ash or the Augur, if you can, they'll have the most experience dealing with him."
"Right!" Gary shook himself, then threw out his Alakazam's Pokéball. Just before the two teleported away, he nodded to his grandfather. "You got this, Gramps," he said, smirking, as he and Alakazam vanished a mere instant before the Hydreigon lunged forward, all three heads snapping closed on air.
Taen sneered, then turned back to the Professor. "You're past your prime, Oak." He raised his right wrist, pressing something on a band around his wrist, and a shell of silver light appeared around his Hydreigon momentarily, before exploding in an impressive polychromatic lightshow, revealing a ground-bound, five-headed version of it, something Samuel had never seen before in person. "You should have just stayed in obscurity in Pallet, where relics like you belong."
"A Mega Hydreigon, eh? Alright, two can play at this game. You know what to do, old friend." Oak pressed his notebook between his palms, then raised it in the air, allowing the same kind of shell to form around his Charizard. When it burst, his oldest friend was at least a foot taller than before, with jagged edges to his wings and sharp spikes on the rest of his body, on top of the larger tail flame wrapping him in a cocoon of desert-like heat.
This done, he turned the full force of his attention onto the cultist. "A relic, eh? You should count your lucky stars Agatha wasn't here to hear you say that, young man."
"Hey, Sam, have you found Gary y- wait, is that that one cultist from Torren? Tin or something?" Cedric Juniper backed away, having come to investigate the ruckus.
"Get clear, I'll handle him long enough for reinforcements to get here." Oak snapped his fingers. "Dragonite, try a Dragon Pulse this time." This attack, too, splashed off of Mewtwo's Barrier.
"Very well. This has been fun, and all, but I believe it's about time we left. Mewtwo, teleport us out." Taen turned his back on Oak confidently, then frowned, having heard something from Mewtwo telepathically. "What do you mean you can't teleport away?"
A pink, catlike Pokémon floated down from above and meowed. "Hello, Mew. Thank you for your help, this young man would have gotten away otherwise," said Oak. It giggled, then floated off to sit on top of a lightpost and watch.
Taen growled. "No matter, I'll break you on my way out. Hydreigon, Outrage. Goodra, Rain Dance, then Hydro Pump. Mewtwo, Psychic."
The hydra-like Pokémon closed in on Charizard, pushing through the palpable aura of heat by surrounding himself in raw Dragon-type power, then slamming into the more saurian Pokémon, who toughed it out with a steely coating on his wings. After a moment of contemplation, Oak said "Charizard, try and hit it with Dragon Claw or Dazzling Gleam, if you can."
Roaring his acknowledgement of his trainer's orders, the fiery Mega raked claws wreathed in purple power down his opponent's flanks, then opened his maw and, with a roar, let loose a massive flash of light, searing the Hydreigon's chest.
The Goodra was trying to outrange his Nidoking and blast it with a massive spray of water, somewhat boosted by the localized storm front around it. For now, the Poison Pin Pokémon was able to deflect the blasts with carefully timed Ice Beams and Iron Tails, but that couldn't last. "Nidoking, close in and start punishing its attacks," Oak said after a moment of contemplation. Breathing out one last blast of icy cold, this one stronger than the last, to put the Goodra off its rhythm, Nidoking closed in and started to pummel at the gooey Dragon with powerful punches, ignoring the rain and pulses of water the Goodra managed to collect in between dodging hits.
This done, he turned back to focus on the central battle, between Dragonite and Mewtwo. The psychic attack that Mewtwo had launched was mostly just reflecting off of Dragonite's scales, aided by a defensive application of Steel Wing. However, Mewtwo's barrier was too strong for most of Dragonite's regular moves, and it couldn't muster the focus for its more powerful ones while maintaining Steel Wing.
Oak grinned, as a strategy he had used once, decades ago, occurred to him. "Dragonite! Disappear into mist!" Dragonite, understanding the command from when he had been a much more regular battler, exhaled, the telltale purple-blue mist of Dragonbreath filling up the battlefield and obscuring his position.
"What? Misty Terrain? Really? Pathetic. I guess you really are getting forgetful in your old age. This can only weaken your attacks!" Taen sneered. "Very well. I guess I'll finish it. Mewtwo, Psystrike!"
The Genetic Pokémon complied, a wave of raw psychic power collecting in its hands and then rushing forth to detonate.
When the spatial distortion disappeared and the "mist" from the area targeted cleared, Dragonite wasn't there.
Taen blinked, flabbergasted. "What! Mewtwo, find i-"
"Horn Drill." As if coalescing from the fog, Oak's ace rammed its head into Mewtwo, a massive cone of draconic power rotating atop its horn as it pierced through Mewtwo's barriers and smashed into the cloned Pokémon with the fury of a hundred Primeape, slamming it backwards and into the ground. It didn't get back up again.
"Ugh. No matter. Hydreigon! Dark Matter!" The Pokémon in question opened each of its five mouths, a ball of empty wrongness appearing in each of them.
"Charizard, Blast Burn."
The ultimate Fire-type technique blasted forward from Oak's oldest friend's mouth, taking the Hydreigon slightly below its central neck and causing the attack it had been preparing to dissipate more-or-less harmlessly. The pseudo-legendary Mega flew backwards as if shot from a cannon, slamming through a tree and coming to rest just shy of the nearest wall, unmoving. As the flabbergasted Taen watched, it glowed a dull grey, then the extra heads and limbs disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a very much unconscious normal Hydreigon.
"Ugh. Goodra-" Just as Taen turned to look at his last Pokémon on the field, Oak's Nidoking slammed it with a massive punch, laying it out flat on its back, unconscious.
Taen recalled his Pokémon, then clenched his fist, weighing his options as he glared at Oak. "Come quietly, Taen. I'm not inclined to hold back if you resist any more," commanded Oak.
"I suppose there isn't any point to it, anymore. We got what we needed. Kyurem, Glaciate." He threw out a Master Ball, revealing an almost raptoid creature, in shades of gray, glaring at Oak and his team as hoarfrost crystals appeared on the ground.
Oak's eyes widened in fear as he backpedaled. "ProtectDracoMeteorBlastBurn!" he chain-chanted, scrabbling for a Pokéball and throwing out a Frost-Rotom between Dragonite-who had called down a hail of meteoroid orbs of flaming power-and Kyurem and ordering him to use Protect as well just before the massive blizzard hit.
It was barely enough.
Of the three Pokémon who Oak had sent out to battle Taen, only his Charizard wasn't especially vulnerable to ice-type attacks. Nidoking could handle it, with the Protect soaking up the majority of the power of Kyurem's signature move. Charizard could rely on his Drought-based aura to protect him and to help his Blast Burn punch through the massive attack to try and hit Kyurem. Dragonite, even if it had managed to use Protect, couldn't shake the attack off, due to its cold-blooded nature, so Oak had it go on the offensive and rely on his Rotom to Protect it.
Rotom was nonetheless frozen solid inside a massive wall of ice, having been directly in front of the ancient Ice-type, but its ghostly nature allowed it to slide free of the encumbrance with no issues whatsoever. Dragonite was a little frostbitten, but otherwise okay. Nidoking had been encased in a hamster ball-like orb of ice, but a few punches had it free and none the worse for wear. Charizard, on the other hand, was perfectly fine. The Drought aura had prevented the mini-blizzard from really reaching it, but somehow, the Blast Burn had been frozen solid, falling to the ground as a chunk of red-orange ice.
"Hah, that was intense. How are you, my friends?" asked Professor Oak, hands shaking slightly-both from the cold and from adrenaline-but his voice as steady as ever.
His Charizard crooned softly, then pushed out its aura of warmth to encompass all four of them. "Thank you, Char." He scratched the underside of Charizard's jaw.
"Gramps, are you okay?" Gary reappeared with Ash and his Alakazam without warning, Ash's Pikachu already glowing with built-up electric power and a Pokéball in Ash's hand, ready to throw.
"I think so. Let's see what came of him, now shall we?" Oak nodded to his Charizard, who breathed out a cautious stream of fire, melting a fair portion of the wall and revealing the empty crater that Dragonite's attack had left, with just a shrinking speck in the distance to point to where Taen had got to.
"He got away. Well, at least we don't have to worry about him getting back with Perfection, the Augur and I took care of that!" Ash shrugged, then turned to the Professor. "How'd you know it was him?"
"Well, Cedric Juniper mentioned wanting to talk with Gary after the presentation, and he hadn't seen him in a fair bit, so we went looking for him. I came upon him and Taen talking out of the way, with Taen trying to block everyone's view of Gary. I was trying to surprise him with Dragonite, but when he tried to wipe Gary's memory with Mewtwo I had to step in." Oak looked back at the destroyed corridor, then winced. "This was an unintended consequence, I'll have to see about getting some Diglett to come and fix up the courtyard."
Gary winced. "Hey, Ashy-boy, I think you're wrong on one count. Perfection has been making a resurgence, since we never took down Reukra. There's gonna be a manhunt, since I think they're still trying to create a perfect Pokémon."
Ash's eyes widened, and he started yelling. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me! Not again, this was hard enough the first f-"
"Sam? Is everything okay for us to come out?" Cedric Juniper peeked around the corner, then fully emerged once he saw the ex-Champion's Pokémon had relaxed. "How'd things go?"
"Well enough, all things considered. I'll take care of the repair of the courtyard, but I think we'll need to call in Looker to help manage the manhunt, as well as Adam's kid to help with the capture." Oak recalled his Pokémon, then turned to his grandson. "Gary, if you would be so kind, could you please go to InterPol headquarters and alert them that Perfection is starting to move again?"
Gary nodded. "You bet, Gramps. See you soon." He nodded to his Alakazam, then vanished in a flash of light again.
"Ash, dear boy, would you be so kind as to let your friend from Torren know that we'll be needing their help? Even if Taen hasn't managed to reconstruct the Original Dragon, he has a Kyurem and a Zekrom, not to mention his Mewtwo." At this point, Oak pulled out a Rotom Phone and started tapping away, trying to arrange for a construction team of Diglett and Dugtrio to come by and fix up Taen's mess.
Ash tossed out his Pokéball, revealing a Dragonite of his own, then climbed onto its back. "Sure thing, Professor. I'll also let the other Mewtwos I've encountered know, just in case they want to help out. But what will you be doing?"
Oak sighed, deflating a bit. "Paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork." Ash nodded, then took off towards the South. Oak then turned to address the elder Juniper, who at this point had been joined by a fair few of the other professors in attendance, most of whom were gawking at the destruction of the courtyard. "Esteemed professors! Please, let's take this inside, and we can discuss what exactly happened out here."
-----
Miles away, Taen and Kyurem landed in the forest just outside the city. Taen hopped off the ancient Dragon, then returned it to its Pokéball.He pulled out a communicator and flipped it open, a hologram of a man in a long coat and a white-banded round hat. "Reukra, it's me. I have the data we need, plus I even managed to hack one of Oak's Pokédexes. I did hit a bit of a snag, though."
The man nodded once, then frowned. "What kind of a snag?"
Taen winced. "Samuel Oak saw me and prevented me from obscuring my presence. There was an altercation. I got away, but they know about our involvement."
"That's… unfortunate. Very well, we must obscure the reasoning behind our visit. Do this as you see fit, but keep them off of the design lab's existence at all costs." Reukra winked out without waiting for a reply.
Taen sighed, then pulled out a tablet. He had to start planning…
-----
This is actually the first work I ever published (well, that wasn't in an audience limited to my school, at least).
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Façade
- Pronouns
- She/They
Someone is trying to make a major move in Team Rocket territory. Giovanni doesn't approve, and sends his best out to deal with it.
Just the kind of day he enjoyed.
He spent most of the morning doing paperwork for the planned buyout of the Veilstone Game Corner, and then once he was on track to finish the next day, he shifted his focus to the memos he had received over the weekend.
One in particular caught his eye, and he scrutinized it more closely before sending a reply asking the author to come up to his office.
Five minutes later, Proton knocked on his door. "You wanted to see me, boss?" he asked.
"Indeed. Tell me, what is this about a call for muscle in Saffron City?"
Proton frowned, thinking for a moment, before nodding as he remembered. "Right, that. I couldn't get too close to that myself, so I sent someone in to find out, since the listing was pretty light on information. All it was about was how there was a big job going down this weekend and they'd need a lot of muscle to pull it off, and she hasn't gotten back to me yet. Pretty decent pay and a potential for long-term work, too."
Giovanni very carefully did not frown. "I see. What's your take on this situation?"
The younger man rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. "My gut tells me it's on the level, as far as any of these things are. There's a few enticing targets in Saffron too, what with Silph and the Magnet Train."
Giovanni nodded once, a curt gesture of approval. "Very well. I'll have it taken care of."
Taking this for the dismissal it was, Proton turned and left Giovanni's office even as the man himself began to plan.
Some time later, he felt he had a more-or-less ironclad plan for the situation and picked up the phone and dialed an internal number. "Ariana? Have unit JJM extracted in a reasonable timeframe, then send them to me for a briefing on a short-term assignment."
"Yes, I have a new assignment for you." Giovanni projected a listing for short-term enforcer work, set in Saffron City, above his desk. "Proton has brought this to my attention. While ordinarily, the contracting of muscle is not something we'd concern ourselves with, this has been spread around all of Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh, and Proton's sources say that there's been a significant number of responses."
Jesse frowned, thinking hard. "Wasn't the last time someone put out this big a recruitment drive before the Flare incident in Kalos?"
"The last time of this magnitude, yes. Before that, it was the issues with Cyrus' Team Galactic. I'm assigning you three to stay in Saffron for the time being, to see if you can find whoever it is that's put out the call in flagrante and find out what their angle is. This is a no façade mission. As such, you are being issued special equipment to help level the playing field. James, you still have access to a Pinsir, correct?" Giovanni steepled his fingers.
"Yes, sir."
"Excellent. You're being temporarily authorized for use of a Mega Ring and Pinsirite. Now Jesse, I understand you have access to a Banette?" Seeing her nod, he continued. "You are also being dispensed a Mega Ring and Banettite. See Archer for your equipment, then deploy to the midtown base and begin surveillance."
"Yes, sir!" came the answer from three throats, and Team Rocket's most experienced unit turned to prepare for their mission.
Jesse closed her eyes for a moment, then slotted the last piece of their surveillance monitor in place before setting it down on the roof. "There. Now that I've got that set up, we can talk about that."
"Oh, sorry, Jesse."
"It's… fine." She took a deep breath to recenter herself, then turned her mind towards the question at hand. "I'm not entirely sure. It's probably a smash and grab, or at least something along those lines."
"Dat seems eminently sensible," drawled Meowth, "but if we managed to figger out who's tryin' ta do it, we might be able to figger out where."
"The thing is, I can't think of anyone who has the capital to mount an operation this big. Galactic probably, at its height at least, and maybe some of the cults from Torren. But they've all been dissolved." James frowned, trying to think of anything else.
"It could be industrial sabotage? Flare had Lysandre Labs behind them, but Malva's been taking them legit after all that came to light. There might be someone after either Silph's data or Magnet Train schematics, but the only companies that would really want those are Devon and the Pokétch Company, but they both have standing partnerships that would let them get what they're looking for more easily." Jesse flipped a switch on the surveillance appliance, activating it.
"Hang on just a tick. James, you said someting about Torren's cults?" Meowth asked.
"Yeah, why?"
Meowth tapped his finger on thin air. "I wanna say dat Reukra and dat other guy, Taen, are still doin' things. Dey might be da ones behind dis."
A loud beeping issued from the machinery that Jesse was looking at, and James and Meowth turned to look, showing a number of people in dark clothing streaming through the doors into a glass-fronted building.
"Sounds like we're about to find out. Whoever it is, they're going for Silph Co. Gear up and let's go." Jesse stood up, checking her Poké Balls, then released Yanmega. "Hop on once you're ready."
James patted each of his four Pokémon, then mounted the Flying type, with Meowth climbing his leg. "Alright, let's go!"
The titanic dragonfly buzzed its wings, then flew forward, its Speed Boost ability accelerating their journey until they arrived on the roof of the Silph building. The three operatives all leapt off of their mount, landing softly. "The security guard radios make it sound like they're going to the basement, so they're probably after active experiments. We shouldn't discount the idea of them being on upper floors, though." Jesse returned Yanmega to its ball, then threw out the quieter Pumpkaboo. "We'll lean on stealth first, but have Growlie ready to back us up in case we need some muscle."
James nodded. "Let's go, then."
Meowth jimmied the handle of the door leading to the staircase, then shook his head. "I'm gonna hafta pick it. Somebody hold me up so I can do it."
James offered his knee for the Scratch Cat Pokémon to stand on, and after a few seconds of unsheathed claws clicking against pins, the door clicked open slightly, and Jesse pulled it open. "Pumpkaboo, take these trackers, and put them on anyone who's not a Silph employee with Bestow, top floor down." She gave it a bag of tiny flakes of metal, and it phased through the roof, giggling silently.
Jesse tapped on the back of her left glove, projecting a holographic model of the building, based on the blueprints that Petrel had scanned when they had taken over Silph for a few days, when Ash was still journeying in Kanto. She flattened it with her other hand, showing only the top floor and the trackers that Gourgeist had. After two of them had split off from the main group, the remainder vanished from the floor.
"James? Ya wanna get Carnivine ready ta use Grasswhistle?" Meowth pointed at the two dots still visible on the top floor. "Dat way we can take the two of dem down and get some a' da scoop on what dey're up to."
He nodded, then sent out the Bug Catcher Pokémon. "Carnivine, go down to the top floor, lure everyone in with Sweet Scent, then hit them with Grasswhistle."
The three operatives waited until they heard the faint sounds of Carnivine's soporific attack fade out, then descended the stairs to the top level, following the trackers to where Carnivine was floating above a man and a woman drooling on the floor.
"Good work, Carnivine. Now tie them up with Vine Whip." That being done, they took a look at the two. The man was square-jawed and blue-haired, and he had a whip strapped to his side opposite two Poké Balls. The woman had reddish-purple hair just a shade too faded to be her natural color cut in a chin-length bob, and she also had a whip secured across from two Great Balls and a Poké Ball.
Jesse frowned, thinking, then snapped her fingers. "Hang on a sec. Weren't these two Grunts at one point?"
"Yeah, da guy was kicked out for unnecessary brutality to his Pokémon. I gotta say, I was glad dat Ariana had his Pokémon confiscated when he left." Meowth scowled down at the two criminals. "Not sure about her, doh. She just kinda stopped showin up."
"Well then, let's see what they're doing here." Jesse reached down and shook the man until he woke up.
"You! What'd the boss send you here for? This ain't a Rocket op! We're independent contractors! You guys have no reason to butt in!" he snarled, struggling against the tough vines he was wrapped in.
"The boss got wind of a big operation going down right in the middle of Rocket territory. Of course we'd get involved. Now spill, what's the job?" demanded Jesse.
"I ain't squealin, ya pansies! Yeah, I ain't gonna talk to two losers who can't even steal one Pikachu!" He spat at her feet.
Jesse looked at James. "Well, it looks like the ruse worked." She released her Banette, then turned to Carnivine. "Grasswhistle him, then Banette, Dream Eater and make him forget this conversation."
That done, she turned to the other "contractor" and shook her awake. "What's the deal with the takeover?"
She sighed in relief. "Oh, good, they sent in the big guns." Seeing the trio's confused looks, she elaborated hurriedly. "I'm still a member of Team Rocket. Proton recruited me for deep cover work, so I'm trying to make my way to the top of this particular group. It's… pretty bad. Perfection is making a comeback."
"That is very fu-" James began.
"James! No swearing, dere are kids who are gonna read dis!" Meowth slapped him across the face. He then turned to the double agent. "What're dey tryin ta do here?"
She shook her head. "Taen didn't say. All we were told is that we were taking over Silph Co for him to get to something in the basement."
Jesse winced. "That's not great. We might need some backup to deal with him."
The agent shook her head. "I don't think so. He's relying on stealth, so he doesn't have his normal team. He's using a Porygon-Z for data acquisition and his Delta Metagross for muscle and transportation. If you're using the Sweet Scent-Grasswhistle strategy, you should be able to make it all the way down to him if you hurry."
James nodded. "We're going to have to put you back under if you want to keep your cover. Is there anything else we need to know before we go on?"
She shook her head. "Nothing urgent, but pass my congratulations on to the boss for finally setting up the arrangement with InterPol."
Jesse nodded. "Will do. Good luck on your mission."
"Hold on just a sec. You wanna rough up your team a bit? It'd go a long way towards setting ya up as competent if yer the only one ta put up a fight against us," Meowth suggested, cutting the vines with Night Slash and allowing them to fade back into energy, which dissipated.
"That sounds like a good idea. Alright, Crobat, Thievul, come on out!"
The two Pokémon burst out of the Great Balls, with Crobat trilling excitedly and Thievul lowering itself into a combat crouch.
"Alright, Mimikyu, prepare for trouble!" shouted Jesse, calling out her Fairy type.
"Toxapex, it's your turn! Let's make it double!" James posed as his Toxapex landed on the ground.
"Aerial Ace! Foul Play!" the sleeper agent cried, sending her two Pokémon into action.
"To Protect the world from devastation! Shadow Sneak!" Mimikyu's energy barrier deflected the charging Crobat, and she retaliated by reaching through its shadow to swipe at it.
"To unite all people within our nation! Baneful Bunker!" Toxapex's tentacles slammed down in time with James' shout, and her spikes exuded poison just in time for the Thievul to run into them and cover itself in the goo, which seeped into its skin and started eating away at its stamina.
"To denounce the evils of truth and love! Will-O-Wisp!" A flash of witchfire shot out from Mimikyu, landing dead center on the Crobat's head and imparting a nasty burn.
"To extend our reach to the stars above! Venom Drench!" Two of Toxapex's tentacles rose up, and she spat a blob of toxic goo towards the Thievul, gumming up its fur and hindering its motions.
"Jesse!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket! Blast off at the speed of light in a Hex!" At this, Mimikyu's eyes gleamed, and a cloud of miasma formed around Crobat, sending it careening dangerously close to the ground before it managed to pull up.
"Surrender now, or prepare for a tremendous fight! Venoshock!" Toxapex opened its mouth, spitting a stream of poisonous liquid that pushed the Thievul back, staggering it.
"Meowth, dat's right!" The Pokémon in question darted forwards, bouncing between the two opposing battlers in a flurry of Fury Swipes before sticking a three-point landing right in front of Jesse and James.
"We're not out of this yet! Thievul, try a Mud Shot! Crobat, Shadow Ball the Mimikyu!" Thievul coalesced mud out of pure Infinity Energy, then blasted it at Toxapex as Crobat swooped up, releasing an orb of darkness as it climbed out of its dive.
"Mimikyu, Shadow Claw and then Thunderbolt!" Forming blades of shadow-aligned Infinity Energy, Mimikyu slashed the ball of darkness apart, powering through the splash of darkness and releasing a blast of lightning that knocked Crobat out of the sky, unconscious. The secret Rocket agent called it back before it hit the floor.
"Overwhelm it with a Hydro Pump, Toxapex!" The Brutal Star Pokémon blasted a massive stream of water forward, blasting the mud back at the Thievul, sending it slamming into the wall and then allowing it to drop to the floor, unconscious.
The agent shook her head, smiling. "I really forgot how strong you two are. Not a whole lot of need to strut your stuff around Ketchum, is there?"
James smirked. "Not really, no. It's nice to be able to cut loose, at least a little." He turned to his Carnivine, calling back his Toxapex. "Tie her up with Vine Whip, but not too tight."
With that done, they trooped towards the staircase, with Gourgeist phasing up through the floor to return the significantly lighter bag of trackers.
"Good job, Gourgeist. Return, for now," Jesse said, calling it back and then re-expanding the holographic map of the building, showing two to four red dots on each floor, with the exception of the basement, which had only one.
James looked at the map, then nodded. "I think we could still get away with using the Sweet Scent-Grasswhistle idea to take out the trainers long enough to tie up."
"Sounds good ta me, let's go!"
"That just means this is serious. If he wanted to risk Sabrina or Karate Master Koichi coming down on him after taking on the Silph Security Department, he has to be here for something important to Perfection." Jesse fed a Potion into the delivery method of Mimikyu's Poké Ball, healing off the damage that it had taken in the battle with the Crobat.
"Dat makes sense. I know I wouldn't wanna deal wit Sabrina." Meowth tested his claws against the corner of a table, then nodded. "We ready ta get on wit da big battle?"
"I'm all ready." James had already given Pinsir the Mega Stone, and had the Mega Ring secured around his wrist.
"Alright then." Jesse pulled the basement door open, then led the two other members of Team Rocket down into the basement, where they proceeded into a corridor full of doors.
"Of course it's da one at da back. Why can't we have it be one a da closer ones?" Meowth groused, shaking his head at the rectangle of light shining forth from the door at the end of the hall.
"Dramatic effect, I suppose." James led them down to the door, and then they burst through, Poké Balls at the ready.
The blue-haired man at the computer terminal at the end of the nearest computer stack, who the Rocket agents identified as Taen, looked up and sighed. "Oh, great. You three."
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all people within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Team Rocket! Blast off with the power of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare for a Mega-size fight!"
"Meowth, dat's right!"
"Did you really have to do the motto again? You already did that once, and it's incredibly tacky." Taen pinched the bridge of his nose.
"We'd be remiss in our duties as loyal Rocket agents if we didn't declare it to the world," snapped Jesse. "Now surrender!"
"I don't think so." Taen threw out a stony, four-legged construct Metagross, then sneered, "Crystallize, Metagross."
A shard of arctic blue crystal, almost hidden in the mossy X on its face, glowed, then melted into the stone of the Rock type, transmuting the stone of its body into cloudy spikes of crystal, leaving it hovering, but with two legs with mossy "bracelets", ready to maul with sharp claws.
The Rockets' eyes all widened, then they burst into action, with Jesse calling out Banette and James releasing Pinsir as Meowth darted behind them.
"Prepare yourself to blast off! Mega Evolve!" cried Jesse, raising her Mega Ring and unleashing the power within Banette's Mega Stone to transform it from a forgotten toy to an aspect of nightmares.
"Alright, Pinsir, time to fight!" James raised his arm also, the power of the Mega Stone allowing Pinsir to stretch its wings and strengthen its horns.
"Crystal Rush combo." At this command, the shard-clawed Pokémon blurred forward, slamming its limbs into the Rocket Megas, knocking them into the air where it could blast them with Seed Bombs.
"Icy Wind, continuously! Don't let it build up any momentum!" snapped Jesse, and Banette opened its formerly-zippered maw and exhaled a massive gust of freezing air, slowing its movements down.
""Quick, while it's slow! X-Scissor!" Pinsir clacked its mandibles, then launched itself buzzing forward, massive pincers slamming closed on one of Metagross' limbs and cracking the outside shell of its armor. Unfortunately, as the crystal fell away in shards, the Metagross whipped the Pinsir off its leg, then blurred forward even faster, accelerated by the loss of mass.
"Keep it up, Banette!" Jesse stepped back and whispered a direction to James, who nodded and pulled Pinsir back before breaking a capsule of something over it. Meanwhile, Banette was keeping up a constant stream of icy air to try and slow down the Metagross.
"Rock Polish, Growth, then Wood Hammer. Make it quick." The Crystal-type's sheen brightened as the moss on its legs doubled in thickness, then it smashed its arm down at Banette.
"Destiny Bond!" Jesse shouted frantically, and Banette began to wrap the Ghost-type energy around itself. Unfortunately, it wasn't fast enough, and the Metagross' arm slammed it into the ground and left it unconscious, albeit not without a little of the energy splashing onto the Metagross and slowing it down.
This was exactly the opening James needed.
"Guillotine!" James ordered, throwing his arm forward.
"What? No! Metagross, get back!" Even with the speed boost from Rock Polish, Taen's Metagross was too slow.
Pinsir charged in sideways, catching Metagross' main body between its pincers perfectly thanks to the X Accuracy that James had given it and crunched down with a flash of light and a massive CRACK!, then threw the unconscious Pokémon at Taen, forcing him to dodge aside.
Jesse called out her Pumpkaboo, pointing at Taen. "It's over! Come quietly."
He called his Pokémon back, then turned back to the computer screen. "Porygon-Z, finish up and then it's time to go."
Almost immediately, the Virtual Pokémon burst forth from the computer screen, stack of data drives under its arm, then it latched onto Taen's outstretched arm.
"Thief!" shouted Jesse, sending her Pumpkaboo to swipe at the data disks, which the Normal-type managed to keep a hold of.
"Pinsir, Feint!" James' Pokémon surged forward, landing a glancing blow on the Porygon-Z.
An instant later, a flash of light filled the area, and once Team Rocket blinked the spots out of their eyes, Taen and his Porygon were gone.
"Drat! We almost had it." James sighed, then recalled Pinsir into its Poké Ball.
Pumpkaboo shook, then held up a single disk that it had managed to swipe from Taen's Porygon-Z.
"I think the Boss might want to see this." Jesse stood up, then started heading out of the room. "Come on, you two!"
"Proton is also attempting to infiltrate them, sir, and we did what we could to support his agent." After answering the question, Jesse lowered her head and waited for Giovanni's judgement.
The man in question closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. "The three of you did as well as could be expected, given the situation at hand. Take the next two days off, and then return to shadowing the Ketchum boy. He'll likely encounter Perfection too, so make sure you are prepared for that eventuality. Dismissed."
The tension in the room dissipated at this, and the three operatives filed out of Giovanni's office, leaving him alone to contemplate courses of action.
After almost ten minutes of silent contemplation, Giovanni started to compose a memo to Proton about the situation at hand. There were plans to be made, schemes to be prepared, contingencies to prepare for, and a destructive influence to remove from the equation.
"Taen. How did the Silph operation go?" asked the hologram of Reukra that sprang into existence moments later.
"We got all the data and schematics we need. However, Team Rocket is aware of our presence on the figurative stage. They sent the JJM trio out, and they very nearly managed to stop me getting away. They were much more dangerous than I was led to believe," said Taen.
Reukra frowned. "Hmm. I'll update their threat level once I get the data from your combat recorder. Were any of the contractors you hired worth keeping on?"
"There was one who actually managed to avoid the Carnivine that they were using to put everyone to sleep, and she actually managed to last almost thirty seconds in battle against them. I think the name she gave was Maria." Taen closed his eyes, pulling up a mental image of the application she had submitted. "Yes, Maria Calaveras."
Reukra nodded. "In that case, consider her for recruitment. I leave the actual decision up to you.
"Very well, sir. By your leave."
Reukra said nothing for several seconds before his hologram faded into nothingness.
Taen sighed, then turned to the restorative machine in the gray, featureless room, placing his Poké Balls in it to heal the damage done in battle. Then, he turned to his computer and loaded the data disks. Some of the devices he had schematics for could aid him on his missions…
Some of the Pokémon might have been released, or unevolved, when shown in canon, but I'm buffing up their teams so they can fight at least somewhat close to the version of Ash Ketchum that's in this AU, who will be able to strut his stuff in the next fic in this series.
-----
Façade, noun. A false, superficial, or artificial appearance or effect.-----
It was a perfectly ordinary Monday, just the way that Giovanni liked it. There were no scheduled gym challengers to the Viridian Gym, the Game Corner in Celadon had been given the rubber stamp by Health and Safety, talks with Lance were going well to start subcontracting for InterPol, and there weren't any major crises that he had to deal with.Just the kind of day he enjoyed.
He spent most of the morning doing paperwork for the planned buyout of the Veilstone Game Corner, and then once he was on track to finish the next day, he shifted his focus to the memos he had received over the weekend.
One in particular caught his eye, and he scrutinized it more closely before sending a reply asking the author to come up to his office.
Five minutes later, Proton knocked on his door. "You wanted to see me, boss?" he asked.
"Indeed. Tell me, what is this about a call for muscle in Saffron City?"
Proton frowned, thinking for a moment, before nodding as he remembered. "Right, that. I couldn't get too close to that myself, so I sent someone in to find out, since the listing was pretty light on information. All it was about was how there was a big job going down this weekend and they'd need a lot of muscle to pull it off, and she hasn't gotten back to me yet. Pretty decent pay and a potential for long-term work, too."
Giovanni very carefully did not frown. "I see. What's your take on this situation?"
The younger man rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. "My gut tells me it's on the level, as far as any of these things are. There's a few enticing targets in Saffron too, what with Silph and the Magnet Train."
Giovanni nodded once, a curt gesture of approval. "Very well. I'll have it taken care of."
Taking this for the dismissal it was, Proton turned and left Giovanni's office even as the man himself began to plan.
Some time later, he felt he had a more-or-less ironclad plan for the situation and picked up the phone and dialed an internal number. "Ariana? Have unit JJM extracted in a reasonable timeframe, then send them to me for a briefing on a short-term assignment."
-----
"You wanted ta see us, boss?" asked Meowth, ignoring Giovanni's Persian in the manner only cats and the idle rich could."Yes, I have a new assignment for you." Giovanni projected a listing for short-term enforcer work, set in Saffron City, above his desk. "Proton has brought this to my attention. While ordinarily, the contracting of muscle is not something we'd concern ourselves with, this has been spread around all of Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh, and Proton's sources say that there's been a significant number of responses."
Jesse frowned, thinking hard. "Wasn't the last time someone put out this big a recruitment drive before the Flare incident in Kalos?"
"The last time of this magnitude, yes. Before that, it was the issues with Cyrus' Team Galactic. I'm assigning you three to stay in Saffron for the time being, to see if you can find whoever it is that's put out the call in flagrante and find out what their angle is. This is a no façade mission. As such, you are being issued special equipment to help level the playing field. James, you still have access to a Pinsir, correct?" Giovanni steepled his fingers.
"Yes, sir."
"Excellent. You're being temporarily authorized for use of a Mega Ring and Pinsirite. Now Jesse, I understand you have access to a Banette?" Seeing her nod, he continued. "You are also being dispensed a Mega Ring and Banettite. See Archer for your equipment, then deploy to the midtown base and begin surveillance."
"Yes, sir!" came the answer from three throats, and Team Rocket's most experienced unit turned to prepare for their mission.
-----
"So what do you think is going on here, Jesse?" asked James, again.Jesse closed her eyes for a moment, then slotted the last piece of their surveillance monitor in place before setting it down on the roof. "There. Now that I've got that set up, we can talk about that."
"Oh, sorry, Jesse."
"It's… fine." She took a deep breath to recenter herself, then turned her mind towards the question at hand. "I'm not entirely sure. It's probably a smash and grab, or at least something along those lines."
"Dat seems eminently sensible," drawled Meowth, "but if we managed to figger out who's tryin' ta do it, we might be able to figger out where."
"The thing is, I can't think of anyone who has the capital to mount an operation this big. Galactic probably, at its height at least, and maybe some of the cults from Torren. But they've all been dissolved." James frowned, trying to think of anything else.
"It could be industrial sabotage? Flare had Lysandre Labs behind them, but Malva's been taking them legit after all that came to light. There might be someone after either Silph's data or Magnet Train schematics, but the only companies that would really want those are Devon and the Pokétch Company, but they both have standing partnerships that would let them get what they're looking for more easily." Jesse flipped a switch on the surveillance appliance, activating it.
"Hang on just a tick. James, you said someting about Torren's cults?" Meowth asked.
"Yeah, why?"
Meowth tapped his finger on thin air. "I wanna say dat Reukra and dat other guy, Taen, are still doin' things. Dey might be da ones behind dis."
A loud beeping issued from the machinery that Jesse was looking at, and James and Meowth turned to look, showing a number of people in dark clothing streaming through the doors into a glass-fronted building.
"Sounds like we're about to find out. Whoever it is, they're going for Silph Co. Gear up and let's go." Jesse stood up, checking her Poké Balls, then released Yanmega. "Hop on once you're ready."
James patted each of his four Pokémon, then mounted the Flying type, with Meowth climbing his leg. "Alright, let's go!"
The titanic dragonfly buzzed its wings, then flew forward, its Speed Boost ability accelerating their journey until they arrived on the roof of the Silph building. The three operatives all leapt off of their mount, landing softly. "The security guard radios make it sound like they're going to the basement, so they're probably after active experiments. We shouldn't discount the idea of them being on upper floors, though." Jesse returned Yanmega to its ball, then threw out the quieter Pumpkaboo. "We'll lean on stealth first, but have Growlie ready to back us up in case we need some muscle."
James nodded. "Let's go, then."
Meowth jimmied the handle of the door leading to the staircase, then shook his head. "I'm gonna hafta pick it. Somebody hold me up so I can do it."
James offered his knee for the Scratch Cat Pokémon to stand on, and after a few seconds of unsheathed claws clicking against pins, the door clicked open slightly, and Jesse pulled it open. "Pumpkaboo, take these trackers, and put them on anyone who's not a Silph employee with Bestow, top floor down." She gave it a bag of tiny flakes of metal, and it phased through the roof, giggling silently.
Jesse tapped on the back of her left glove, projecting a holographic model of the building, based on the blueprints that Petrel had scanned when they had taken over Silph for a few days, when Ash was still journeying in Kanto. She flattened it with her other hand, showing only the top floor and the trackers that Gourgeist had. After two of them had split off from the main group, the remainder vanished from the floor.
"James? Ya wanna get Carnivine ready ta use Grasswhistle?" Meowth pointed at the two dots still visible on the top floor. "Dat way we can take the two of dem down and get some a' da scoop on what dey're up to."
He nodded, then sent out the Bug Catcher Pokémon. "Carnivine, go down to the top floor, lure everyone in with Sweet Scent, then hit them with Grasswhistle."
The three operatives waited until they heard the faint sounds of Carnivine's soporific attack fade out, then descended the stairs to the top level, following the trackers to where Carnivine was floating above a man and a woman drooling on the floor.
"Good work, Carnivine. Now tie them up with Vine Whip." That being done, they took a look at the two. The man was square-jawed and blue-haired, and he had a whip strapped to his side opposite two Poké Balls. The woman had reddish-purple hair just a shade too faded to be her natural color cut in a chin-length bob, and she also had a whip secured across from two Great Balls and a Poké Ball.
Jesse frowned, thinking, then snapped her fingers. "Hang on a sec. Weren't these two Grunts at one point?"
"Yeah, da guy was kicked out for unnecessary brutality to his Pokémon. I gotta say, I was glad dat Ariana had his Pokémon confiscated when he left." Meowth scowled down at the two criminals. "Not sure about her, doh. She just kinda stopped showin up."
"Well then, let's see what they're doing here." Jesse reached down and shook the man until he woke up.
"You! What'd the boss send you here for? This ain't a Rocket op! We're independent contractors! You guys have no reason to butt in!" he snarled, struggling against the tough vines he was wrapped in.
"The boss got wind of a big operation going down right in the middle of Rocket territory. Of course we'd get involved. Now spill, what's the job?" demanded Jesse.
"I ain't squealin, ya pansies! Yeah, I ain't gonna talk to two losers who can't even steal one Pikachu!" He spat at her feet.
Jesse looked at James. "Well, it looks like the ruse worked." She released her Banette, then turned to Carnivine. "Grasswhistle him, then Banette, Dream Eater and make him forget this conversation."
That done, she turned to the other "contractor" and shook her awake. "What's the deal with the takeover?"
She sighed in relief. "Oh, good, they sent in the big guns." Seeing the trio's confused looks, she elaborated hurriedly. "I'm still a member of Team Rocket. Proton recruited me for deep cover work, so I'm trying to make my way to the top of this particular group. It's… pretty bad. Perfection is making a comeback."
"That is very fu-" James began.
"James! No swearing, dere are kids who are gonna read dis!" Meowth slapped him across the face. He then turned to the double agent. "What're dey tryin ta do here?"
She shook her head. "Taen didn't say. All we were told is that we were taking over Silph Co for him to get to something in the basement."
Jesse winced. "That's not great. We might need some backup to deal with him."
The agent shook her head. "I don't think so. He's relying on stealth, so he doesn't have his normal team. He's using a Porygon-Z for data acquisition and his Delta Metagross for muscle and transportation. If you're using the Sweet Scent-Grasswhistle strategy, you should be able to make it all the way down to him if you hurry."
James nodded. "We're going to have to put you back under if you want to keep your cover. Is there anything else we need to know before we go on?"
She shook her head. "Nothing urgent, but pass my congratulations on to the boss for finally setting up the arrangement with InterPol."
Jesse nodded. "Will do. Good luck on your mission."
"Hold on just a sec. You wanna rough up your team a bit? It'd go a long way towards setting ya up as competent if yer the only one ta put up a fight against us," Meowth suggested, cutting the vines with Night Slash and allowing them to fade back into energy, which dissipated.
"That sounds like a good idea. Alright, Crobat, Thievul, come on out!"
The two Pokémon burst out of the Great Balls, with Crobat trilling excitedly and Thievul lowering itself into a combat crouch.
"Alright, Mimikyu, prepare for trouble!" shouted Jesse, calling out her Fairy type.
"Toxapex, it's your turn! Let's make it double!" James posed as his Toxapex landed on the ground.
"Aerial Ace! Foul Play!" the sleeper agent cried, sending her two Pokémon into action.
"To Protect the world from devastation! Shadow Sneak!" Mimikyu's energy barrier deflected the charging Crobat, and she retaliated by reaching through its shadow to swipe at it.
"To unite all people within our nation! Baneful Bunker!" Toxapex's tentacles slammed down in time with James' shout, and her spikes exuded poison just in time for the Thievul to run into them and cover itself in the goo, which seeped into its skin and started eating away at its stamina.
"To denounce the evils of truth and love! Will-O-Wisp!" A flash of witchfire shot out from Mimikyu, landing dead center on the Crobat's head and imparting a nasty burn.
"To extend our reach to the stars above! Venom Drench!" Two of Toxapex's tentacles rose up, and she spat a blob of toxic goo towards the Thievul, gumming up its fur and hindering its motions.
"Jesse!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket! Blast off at the speed of light in a Hex!" At this, Mimikyu's eyes gleamed, and a cloud of miasma formed around Crobat, sending it careening dangerously close to the ground before it managed to pull up.
"Surrender now, or prepare for a tremendous fight! Venoshock!" Toxapex opened its mouth, spitting a stream of poisonous liquid that pushed the Thievul back, staggering it.
"Meowth, dat's right!" The Pokémon in question darted forwards, bouncing between the two opposing battlers in a flurry of Fury Swipes before sticking a three-point landing right in front of Jesse and James.
"We're not out of this yet! Thievul, try a Mud Shot! Crobat, Shadow Ball the Mimikyu!" Thievul coalesced mud out of pure Infinity Energy, then blasted it at Toxapex as Crobat swooped up, releasing an orb of darkness as it climbed out of its dive.
"Mimikyu, Shadow Claw and then Thunderbolt!" Forming blades of shadow-aligned Infinity Energy, Mimikyu slashed the ball of darkness apart, powering through the splash of darkness and releasing a blast of lightning that knocked Crobat out of the sky, unconscious. The secret Rocket agent called it back before it hit the floor.
"Overwhelm it with a Hydro Pump, Toxapex!" The Brutal Star Pokémon blasted a massive stream of water forward, blasting the mud back at the Thievul, sending it slamming into the wall and then allowing it to drop to the floor, unconscious.
The agent shook her head, smiling. "I really forgot how strong you two are. Not a whole lot of need to strut your stuff around Ketchum, is there?"
James smirked. "Not really, no. It's nice to be able to cut loose, at least a little." He turned to his Carnivine, calling back his Toxapex. "Tie her up with Vine Whip, but not too tight."
With that done, they trooped towards the staircase, with Gourgeist phasing up through the floor to return the significantly lighter bag of trackers.
"Good job, Gourgeist. Return, for now," Jesse said, calling it back and then re-expanding the holographic map of the building, showing two to four red dots on each floor, with the exception of the basement, which had only one.
James looked at the map, then nodded. "I think we could still get away with using the Sweet Scent-Grasswhistle idea to take out the trainers long enough to tie up."
"Sounds good ta me, let's go!"
-----
"I don't think I've seen this much muscle in one place that wasn't a big team event," said James, 26 tied-up Trainers later. Most of them had had to be lured in, but on two floors, researchers had managed to react and engage the grunts in a battle, explaining why no one had come to investigate when they had taken on Maria-there was enough resistance elsewhere that they were assumed to just be another holdout, since they had been fortunate enough to catch them before they had reported the floor secured. On those floors, James and Carnivine managed to bypass the Sweet Scent and just go straight for Grasswhistle, putting the researchers back in control of the floor."That just means this is serious. If he wanted to risk Sabrina or Karate Master Koichi coming down on him after taking on the Silph Security Department, he has to be here for something important to Perfection." Jesse fed a Potion into the delivery method of Mimikyu's Poké Ball, healing off the damage that it had taken in the battle with the Crobat.
"Dat makes sense. I know I wouldn't wanna deal wit Sabrina." Meowth tested his claws against the corner of a table, then nodded. "We ready ta get on wit da big battle?"
"I'm all ready." James had already given Pinsir the Mega Stone, and had the Mega Ring secured around his wrist.
"Alright then." Jesse pulled the basement door open, then led the two other members of Team Rocket down into the basement, where they proceeded into a corridor full of doors.
"Of course it's da one at da back. Why can't we have it be one a da closer ones?" Meowth groused, shaking his head at the rectangle of light shining forth from the door at the end of the hall.
"Dramatic effect, I suppose." James led them down to the door, and then they burst through, Poké Balls at the ready.
The blue-haired man at the computer terminal at the end of the nearest computer stack, who the Rocket agents identified as Taen, looked up and sighed. "Oh, great. You three."
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all people within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Team Rocket! Blast off with the power of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare for a Mega-size fight!"
"Meowth, dat's right!"
"Did you really have to do the motto again? You already did that once, and it's incredibly tacky." Taen pinched the bridge of his nose.
"We'd be remiss in our duties as loyal Rocket agents if we didn't declare it to the world," snapped Jesse. "Now surrender!"
"I don't think so." Taen threw out a stony, four-legged construct Metagross, then sneered, "Crystallize, Metagross."
A shard of arctic blue crystal, almost hidden in the mossy X on its face, glowed, then melted into the stone of the Rock type, transmuting the stone of its body into cloudy spikes of crystal, leaving it hovering, but with two legs with mossy "bracelets", ready to maul with sharp claws.
The Rockets' eyes all widened, then they burst into action, with Jesse calling out Banette and James releasing Pinsir as Meowth darted behind them.
"Prepare yourself to blast off! Mega Evolve!" cried Jesse, raising her Mega Ring and unleashing the power within Banette's Mega Stone to transform it from a forgotten toy to an aspect of nightmares.
"Alright, Pinsir, time to fight!" James raised his arm also, the power of the Mega Stone allowing Pinsir to stretch its wings and strengthen its horns.
"Crystal Rush combo." At this command, the shard-clawed Pokémon blurred forward, slamming its limbs into the Rocket Megas, knocking them into the air where it could blast them with Seed Bombs.
"Icy Wind, continuously! Don't let it build up any momentum!" snapped Jesse, and Banette opened its formerly-zippered maw and exhaled a massive gust of freezing air, slowing its movements down.
""Quick, while it's slow! X-Scissor!" Pinsir clacked its mandibles, then launched itself buzzing forward, massive pincers slamming closed on one of Metagross' limbs and cracking the outside shell of its armor. Unfortunately, as the crystal fell away in shards, the Metagross whipped the Pinsir off its leg, then blurred forward even faster, accelerated by the loss of mass.
"Keep it up, Banette!" Jesse stepped back and whispered a direction to James, who nodded and pulled Pinsir back before breaking a capsule of something over it. Meanwhile, Banette was keeping up a constant stream of icy air to try and slow down the Metagross.
"Rock Polish, Growth, then Wood Hammer. Make it quick." The Crystal-type's sheen brightened as the moss on its legs doubled in thickness, then it smashed its arm down at Banette.
"Destiny Bond!" Jesse shouted frantically, and Banette began to wrap the Ghost-type energy around itself. Unfortunately, it wasn't fast enough, and the Metagross' arm slammed it into the ground and left it unconscious, albeit not without a little of the energy splashing onto the Metagross and slowing it down.
This was exactly the opening James needed.
"Guillotine!" James ordered, throwing his arm forward.
"What? No! Metagross, get back!" Even with the speed boost from Rock Polish, Taen's Metagross was too slow.
Pinsir charged in sideways, catching Metagross' main body between its pincers perfectly thanks to the X Accuracy that James had given it and crunched down with a flash of light and a massive CRACK!, then threw the unconscious Pokémon at Taen, forcing him to dodge aside.
Jesse called out her Pumpkaboo, pointing at Taen. "It's over! Come quietly."
He called his Pokémon back, then turned back to the computer screen. "Porygon-Z, finish up and then it's time to go."
Almost immediately, the Virtual Pokémon burst forth from the computer screen, stack of data drives under its arm, then it latched onto Taen's outstretched arm.
"Thief!" shouted Jesse, sending her Pumpkaboo to swipe at the data disks, which the Normal-type managed to keep a hold of.
"Pinsir, Feint!" James' Pokémon surged forward, landing a glancing blow on the Porygon-Z.
An instant later, a flash of light filled the area, and once Team Rocket blinked the spots out of their eyes, Taen and his Porygon were gone.
"Drat! We almost had it." James sighed, then recalled Pinsir into its Poké Ball.
Pumpkaboo shook, then held up a single disk that it had managed to swipe from Taen's Porygon-Z.
"I think the Boss might want to see this." Jesse stood up, then started heading out of the room. "Come on, you two!"
-----
Giovanni steepled his fingers, resisting the urge to frown. "So Perfection is the one who muscled in on Silph Co, and they stole a great number of design schematics. Is this all?""Proton is also attempting to infiltrate them, sir, and we did what we could to support his agent." After answering the question, Jesse lowered her head and waited for Giovanni's judgement.
The man in question closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. "The three of you did as well as could be expected, given the situation at hand. Take the next two days off, and then return to shadowing the Ketchum boy. He'll likely encounter Perfection too, so make sure you are prepared for that eventuality. Dismissed."
The tension in the room dissipated at this, and the three operatives filed out of Giovanni's office, leaving him alone to contemplate courses of action.
After almost ten minutes of silent contemplation, Giovanni started to compose a memo to Proton about the situation at hand. There were plans to be made, schemes to be prepared, contingencies to prepare for, and a destructive influence to remove from the equation.
-----
Taen landed gently, his Porygon-Z having teleported them back a few inches above the ground of his safe house so as to avoid the soles of his shoes being fused with the floor. After a moment, the Pokémon in question lost cohesion and dissolved into red light, exhausted from retrieving the muscle they had hired before they could be arrested, returning itself to its Poké Ball and leaving the data disks in Taen's hand."Taen. How did the Silph operation go?" asked the hologram of Reukra that sprang into existence moments later.
"We got all the data and schematics we need. However, Team Rocket is aware of our presence on the figurative stage. They sent the JJM trio out, and they very nearly managed to stop me getting away. They were much more dangerous than I was led to believe," said Taen.
Reukra frowned. "Hmm. I'll update their threat level once I get the data from your combat recorder. Were any of the contractors you hired worth keeping on?"
"There was one who actually managed to avoid the Carnivine that they were using to put everyone to sleep, and she actually managed to last almost thirty seconds in battle against them. I think the name she gave was Maria." Taen closed his eyes, pulling up a mental image of the application she had submitted. "Yes, Maria Calaveras."
Reukra nodded. "In that case, consider her for recruitment. I leave the actual decision up to you.
"Very well, sir. By your leave."
Reukra said nothing for several seconds before his hologram faded into nothingness.
Taen sighed, then turned to the restorative machine in the gray, featureless room, placing his Poké Balls in it to heal the damage done in battle. Then, he turned to his computer and loaded the data disks. Some of the devices he had schematics for could aid him on his missions…
-----
And that's on that.Some of the Pokémon might have been released, or unevolved, when shown in canon, but I'm buffing up their teams so they can fight at least somewhat close to the version of Ash Ketchum that's in this AU, who will be able to strut his stuff in the next fic in this series.
Luminiferous
- Pronouns
- She/They
The Luminiferous Ether was the hypothetical medium through which it was believed that light propagated before it was proven to be self-propagating.
"You've ensured that the Sonic Neutralizers have been distributed properly? We can't be too careful with Aether." The arrogant tone he always took grated on her nerves, and his doubting every act she took spoke to just how asinine the man could be.
"Yes sir. Everyone has also been issued proper ear protection." Her spine remained ramrod straight, the only sign of her displeasure with the man being the stiffness with which she held herself.
"Very well." He rose from the chair in which he was seated, crossing over to a rack of Poké Balls and selecting decidedly more than the standard six to bring with him. "Load the vehicles, I'll be there momentarily." He flicked his hand negligently in her general direction, and she turned and stalked out of the room.
When she arrived in the room of the staging area they had designated the meetup room, the chattering of voices silenced as the contractors hired for the job turned to her.
"Get in the trucks, we're moving out as soon as the boss is ready." Internally, she winced at the necessity of calling anyone but Giovanni "boss".
Once she was alone in the room, she reached into her pocket and withdrew a box with a few buttons on top. She made sure to keep her arm down by her side as she swept the room, doing one last check to see if anything had been left behind even as she tapped the buttons on the box, preparing a coded message to be sent to Giovanni.
She finished the message just as Taen entered the room, nodded at her, then swept forward, white coat billowing behind him as she followed him to their next mission.
Taen moving on Aether, seeking data
Giovanni frowned, seeing the message Proton had brought to him. "We don't have any operatives anywhere near Aether Paradise, do we."
Even though Proton knew it wasn't a question, he nodded. "The closest are JJM, who are trying to make contact with Guzma and set up something we can use to protect the region where Aether can't."
Giovanni frowned. "If JJM is in Alola, then where is Ketchum?"
Even though Proton didn't smile, something about the way his body language sharpened betrayed a vicious sense of glee. "Visiting an old friend of his on Aether Paradise."
A smile spread across Giovanni's face, with even his considerable talent at controlling his expressions failing him. "Excellent. Send a message to JJM, they are to act as clean-up if needed after the altercation that I'm expecting. They likely won't be needed, but they will be there if they are. I'll send Archer and Ariana to manage the negotiations with Team Skull, just in case."
Unfortunately, his visit wasn't (primarily) for leisure. The Aether Foundation had to be made aware of the threat Perfection posed-while they hadn't had the greatest numbers when Ash had visited Torren, their experiments with Pokémon genetics more than made up for that lack. Adding in the fact that Taen had had two legendary dragons even before joining them, as well as that Reukra was strong enough to become the Torren Champion before Amber had challenged him and earned the title of Augur, all pointed to a terrifying level of danger that the pretentiously-named group exhibited to its foes.
Unfortunately, Lusamine was focusing entirely on the wrong aspects of the situations.
"There is no way that Taen has both a Kyurem and a Zekrom. There is only one Tao Trio, and they are under the protection of Team Plasma's N!" Lusamine shouted, dismissing the multi-Champion's words.
"Look, it doesn't make any sense to me either. Amber tried to explain things to me, but all I really ended up getting is that Torren used to be in a separate world before an incident with a crystal thing that was important to both Giratina and Arceus. Even without the issue of the legendary dragons, Taen has at least one Mewtwo, maybe more, and he even managed to stand up to Professor Oak!" Ash ran his hand over the top of his hat, frustrated.
"Hmm. That very well could be a threat." Ash sighed, relieved that he finally had gotten through to Lusamine. "What do you know of his motivations?"
"Not a whole lot. Amber said they were always trying to make the perfect Pokémon after she met with Reukra and got her Mega Ring, but beyond that, we don't know what their goals are." Ash tapped on his leg nervously, something just outside of his mental reach was telling him to be on his guard.
After a moment of contemplation, Lusamine asked, "Do you think they might be after data on Type:Null and Silvally?"
"That's… certainly a possibility, if they come here, but data on the Ultra Beasts or an Ultra Wormhole generator might be their target instead. There's just so much that they could see as helpful to their cause that it's hard to pick out just one thing that they might want." Ash shrugged. "They might even be after some of the Pokémon you have here, since they do tend to be on the rarer end."
"Hmm. Very well. I trust Mr. Faba will be an adequate guard for the data levels, as well as the scientist-guards we have stationed there." Lusamine withdrew a tablet and stylus from where it had been secured to her back and began writing out orders.
Despite the uneasy feeling Ash had in his gut, he couldn't think of any rational reason this wouldn't be adequate, and said as much.
"Excellent. I do hope you'll stay the night, it's getting to be quite late." Ash looked down at his Pokétch, surprised to find it was almost 4:30 PM.
"Sure, it'd be nice to catch up with you and Lillie." Ash smiled, then followed Lusamine as she started to walk towards the conservation area, likely to retrieve her daughter.
They passed the green-goggled Mr. Faba on their way to the outdoors portion, and Lusamine tapped a button on her tablet that sent a piece of paper shooting out of the bottom. "Ah, excellent timing, Mr. Faba. For the time being, you're being assigned to protect the data centers against potential intruders." She handed him the sheet of paper. "Take this to the equipment center first, you're being issued both an Alakazite and an Aloraichium Z to better aid your efforts."
For a split second, Ash saw a flash of some emotion in the scientist's face-disdain, perhaps?-but it vanished after a split second, and he nodded. "Certainly, Madam President! None shall pass a defense headed by myself!"
"I knew I could count on you."
"Oh, not a whole lot. I went back home to visit Mom and Professor Oak for a few days, then I took the Galar Gym Challenge. I challenged the Galar League, but right in the middle of things, Chairman Rose decided to unleash this weird dragon thing called Eternatus, so Champion Leon and I had to deal with that. Otherwise, not a whole lot." Ash shrugged.
Lillie blinked. "Wait, that was you? We don't get a whole lot of Galarian news coverage across the world in Alola, so we never heard who it was who fought the legendary."
Ash shrugged. "I mean, it's not a huge deal. I had another Champion with me for this one, plus we were already all prepared for a fight. It went a lot better than it did with-"
Everyone's world dissolved into screeching, and most of them froze up, paralyzed by pure sound.
Ash just shook his head, then pushed himself up from the table, taking a look around to see what the situation was. Around him, he saw both Lillie's and Lusamine's Clefables moving, albeit slowly, and Pikachu looked mostly unaffected, albeit with his fur glowing with electricity.
"Somebody use Heal Bell!" Ash screamed over the din, then reached into his pocket for Dexter. A few quick button presses later, and Noivern's Poké Ball appeared in his hand, which opened a moment later to release the Sound Wave Pokémon.
"Noivern, Hyper Voice! Try and cancel out the sound!" Noivern's mouth opened, and after a moment, Ash felt the sound weaken, and then die down to nothing, Noivern's ears still vibrating.
This allowed the sound of a bell to be heard, and after a moment, the two Clefable had everyone else back on their feet.
"What's going on?" asked Lillie.
Ash shook his head. "I think we're under attack. That was a sound-based paralyzing device that I ran into in Sinnoh, when we were up against Team Galactic. I know Silph Co was analyzing the devices to make it easier to subdue hordes of Pokémon, but I- oh. Right. The break-in."
"Hmm. I believe that we have noise cancellation technology installed as a base defense measure inspired by those same devices, but it's all managed from the lower levels, and since it hasn't already been activated, I believe the control room has been occupied." Lusamine, frowned, then drew another Poké Ball. "Make yourself ready for combat, and I shall have Clefable teleport us there."
Ash continued tapping at his Pokédex, browsing his battle options, then selected four, dispensing a Delta Ball, a Beast Ball, and two regular Poké Balls. "I'm all ready."
"Hey, Ash. Why didn't you get paralyzed by the weird sound wave thing?" asked Lillie as she made sure all of her Poké Balls were easily accessible.
Ash shrugged. "Not really sure. It didn't work for Saturn or Charon when they tried it on me in Sinnoh, but no one ever managed to work it out."
"Ah, okay." Lillie turned to Lusamine, recalling her Clefable as she did so. "Ready, mother."
The President of the Aether Foundation drew her mantle around her, transforming from a kind (albeit strict) mother to a fierce protector who could, if necessary, go toe to toe with all but the most powerful of Pokémon and come out on top. "Clefable, take us to the defense center."
After blinking away spots left by the telltale flash of teleportation, the three trainers and Wicke looked at a pair of very confused thugs who were looking at them awkwardly from their position bent over the command console, who nonetheless rallied, sending out a Nidoking and a Dragalge after seeing the only three Pokémon ready to battle were Pikachu, Clefable, and Noivern.
Pikachu, of course, didn't care about type matchups (or at least those that would protect against Electric attacks), and promptly blasted the two into unconsciousness with Thunderbolt.
Lusamine stepped forward in the direction of the control panel, and when the two grunts tried to step together and block her path, she just looked at them. Intimidated, they backed away, recalling their defeated Pokémon.
After pressing her palm to a dark rectangle on the console, Noivern visibly relaxed, the continuous sound it had been emanating no longer being necessary.
After a moment, Lusamine pulled up the surveillance feeds of the entire building on an array of screens built into the walls. "It appears that these intruders are trying to breach the research area, as well as the conservation and Ultra Space areas. I will go and reinforce the conservatorium, as that is where they are sending the greatest force. Lillie, I suggest you rally the Ultra Guardians, and Ash, I suggest you take care of those heading to the bottom levels. We don't know how well Faba will recover from the paralysis."
"Right!" came from two throats at once as the two friends turned to go accomplish their assigned tasks.
"You all ready, Pikachu?" he asked, having already recalled his Noivern.
"Pi-ka!" the Pokémon in question chirped, flashing his cheek spots as a warm-up.
After a teeth-grindingly long time later, the platform clicked into place, and before the multi-Champion rushed off, he took the time to focus and listen for the sounds of combat. That done, he charged off into a corridor, skidding around the corner to see-
"Faba? What are you doing?" Ash dearly hoped there was a good explanation as to why he was handing over a series of data drives to two thugs even as the three scientists fought valiantly to hold off a number more.
"I suppose you can consider it my resignation from the Aether Foundation." He shrugged. "Lusamine's organization was a good place for me to experiment with some things, but at this point, I've gotten all I can from it. It is time for the brilliance I have been hiding to shine through!"
Ash shook his head. "I'm disappointed in you, Faba. I thought you were a genuinely good teacher." In one smooth motion, he sent all of his Poké Balls flying, releasing the five other Pokémon he had on his team.
"Noivern, Naganadel, Mismagius, help the scientists!" At his order, the three flying Pokémon darted over, with the telltale jingle of bells coming from the Delta Mismagius as it prepared an ice attack.
"Pidgeot, Greninja, take care of the other two Grunts! Focus more on Protean than on the bond!" The grunts in question threw out a Weavile and a Delta Lopunny, who managed to react in time and engage the two incredibly fast Pokémon.
Ash's Pikachu leapt down from his shoulder, standing directly between the young trainer and Aether's turncoat.
In return, Faba sent out his Claydol. "I cannot allow you to stop me!"
Ash just raised an eyebrow. "Did you forget about Overcharge?" With that, Pikachu's cheeks glowed for a moment before Ash's partner blasted the Claydol into unconsciousness with a Thunderbolt.
"Brat! You should surrender while you have the chance!" Faba sneered, releasing his Bruxish and Raichu at the same time.
Ash stepped back, presenting a smaller area for an errant attack to hit. "Pikachu, Rebound Shock! Try and bounce it between the two of them!"
Ash's Pikachu let out a "Chu-PI!" as he created a modified Electro Ball, then slapped it forward with his tail, sending it shooting right for the Gnash Fish Pokémon, who flinched back as it rebounded off its flank with a snap of voltage, making a beeline for the Raichu hovering nearby.
Bruxish rushed forward, getting out of the rebound zone and getting space to dodge as it gathered psychic energy around its fangs, beelining for Pikachu's tail, likely to try and cripple his ability to direct his energy.
The energy construct shattered on an Iron Tail, which slammed into the Bruxish's actual teeth a moment later. This strike hurled it back, just in time to get slammed by the destabilizing Electro Ball, which burst and sent the Water-type into unconsciousness.
Raichu rose into the air, crackling with raw power, as Faba posed. "Take our ultimate power! Stoked Sparksurfer!"
The floating Pokémon charged down, bodily slamming itself into Pikachu. Lightningrod protected him from the energy coursing through his body, but he was still thrown back by the impact.
"Pikachu!" shouted Ash, although not before Pikachu pushed himself back up into a proper fighting stance. "Recharge, then close in!"
"Pi-ka!" The diminutive Pokémon threw out a bolt of energy towards the Raichu, which returned to him, restoring his stamina and allowing him to shake the dazedness of the impact off. Then, he drew a nimbus of electricity around himself, including the Thunderbolt the Raichu blasted at him, and blasted forward, hitting the Raichu with a Volt Tackle that was, somehow, more powerful than the attack that had sent him flying just a moment before.
It sent the Raichu shooting backwards, only barely missing Faba after he threw himself out of the way in a very undignified manner, and slammed right into one of the grunts' Delta Lopunny, knocking the two Pokémon in question out and leaving an opening for Greninja to attack the already-flagging Weavile.
Faba growled as he got back to his feet, then released his Hypno and Alakazam, who began glowing with the multichromatic light of Mega Evolution.
"Greninja! Take it down, then activate Battle Bond!" Ash called, then pointed to the Hypno. In an instant, the ninja had arrived, slamming it with a Night Slash that, on the heels of Pikachu's repetition of Parabolic Charge, dropped the Psychic-type, allowing Greninja to perform his own Forme change in time to dissipate a burst of psychic energy that targeted Pikachu with a quick Feint Attack.
"Gah! You are proving to be exceptionally annoying. Alakazam, Dazzling Gleam." At Faba's orders, a blast of Fairy light expanded out into the wide room, with only a last-minute Substitute protecting Greninja from its effects. Pikachu replied with a crackling Thunder Wave, which fizzled out as it neared the Mega.
"Ugh, I hate Trace. Pikachu, projectiles! Greninja, Psycho Cut! Keep it on its toes!" The two Pokémon both burst into motion, with Greninja forming shuriken of pure force to throw at the Alakazam, while Pikachu slammed an Iron Tail into the floor, sending rubble everywhere before picking up a piece of the polished metal floor, holding it between his paws for a moment before sending it blurring forward, breaking the sound barrier on its way to slam into the Alakazam's defensive barrier, denting it but not breaking it.
"Enough of this facade! Remove them all!" At Faba's order, Alakazam gestured, releasing a blast of psychic energy that swept everyone back except Greninja, who had allowed his use of Protean to lapse as he transformed into Ash-Greninja.
The Pokémon in question darted forward, slamming a Night Slash into and then through the Mega's Reflect shield, throwing a Water Shuriken through the gap that broke on the Alakazam's nose, splashing his eyes and forcing him to recoil, disrupting his concentration and allowing the floating people caught up in Alakazam's Psychic to drop back to the floor.
"Pikachu, Quick Attack into Iron Tail! Greninja, keep up the Night Slashes!" Ash shouted, and the two Pokémon charged forward to complete their orders.
Ash's partner blurred forward into a leap, then wrapped his tail in steely power, spinning into a downward strike while Greninja vanished in a puff of smoke, reappearing behind the Alakazam and swiping a blade of shadow upwards. The two attacks slammed into the Psychic-type from opposite directions, sending it spinning backwards. Once it came to a stop, it shimmered with a gray aura before dropping to the ground, unconscious from the backlash of being forcefully returned to its normal form.
"Bother." Faba recalled the passed out Alakazam and returned the Poké Ball to his pocket, leaving his hand there as he looked around at the other toughs, who were all out of usable Pokémon.
"Why did you do this, Faba?" asked Ash.
Faba sneered. "I wouldn't expect a child to understand the magnificence that would drive one such as me. My talents are underutilized by that insipid woman, and when Taen approached me about reaching my full potential among other scientists, well, the opportunity could not be missed."
Ash started moving forward, intent on restraining Faba, before a massive BANG! split the air and, in a flash of light, Taen appeared alongside a Porygon-Z.
"Stymied by a child, eh, Faba?" Taen smirked, then snapped his fingers. His Porygon-Z, clearly understanding it as some sort of signal, raised both its arms and blasted out a Tri Attack from each, as well as launching one from its beak, throwing Ash back into a wall and doing a good job of pushing his Pokémon back. "Well, as fun as it's been, we've got other things we could be doing, so ta for now!"
This teleport was silent and only put out a small flash, but when it faded, all the thugs were gone, as well as Faba and Taen.
Ash shook his head, then pushed himself out of the dent he had made by slamming into the wall. "Everyone okay?" he asked, rubbing the charred area on his shirt where the attack had hit home.
Various grumblings from the scientists, who were still rubbing spots from their eyes, seemed to point to yes.
"Ash!" Lillie ran into the room just ahead of Lusamine. "Are you okay?"
He waved them off. "It's fine, it's fine. It just feels like a sunburn." He pulled out Poké Balls and began calling back his Pokémon. "How'd it go up top?"
Lusamine stepped forward. "Ash, I think it would be for the best if you came and got checked out by our medical division. You did take an attack from a Pokémon, after all."
Once again, Ash waved them off. "I'm fine! Aura adepts are hardier than normal folk, and I've been burned harder by Charizard."
"Be that as it may, I must insist that you come to the infirmary, so you can explain to me what happened to Mr. Faba." Lusamine turned and stalked out of the room, beckoning for everyone to follow her.
Realizing that she wasn't going to budge on this, Ash hurried to catch up. "Okay, you know how Faba has all sorts of pride in his intelligence?"
Taen turned to Faba, anger rising off him in waves, as the other operatives took that as their cue to evacuate the area so as to avoid becoming collateral damage.. "What, exactly, happened that you were unable to leave on your own?"
Faba stepped back defensively. "The Ketchum boy is a powerful opponent, and I am not a true fighter. My strengths lie in science, not in the struggle!"
Taen closed his eyes for a long moment, then turned his back on Faba. "Go. Make yourself useful. Charon has the genetic sequencer ready, so you might as well make use of that while I report to our leader."
He heard Faba's footsteps recede into another room, and only when he was sure the arrogant scientist had entered another room did he force the anger down and move to activate the hologram projector and transmitter he used to make his reports. After only a moment, a high-collared silhouette appeared.
"Sir, the raid on Aether Paradise was a success. We retrieved the data we need, and we managed to avoid capture, no thanks to Faba." This last phrase was said under his breath, but the microphones still picked it up and transmitted it.
"What complications did you encounter?" asked Reukra.
"The Ketchum boy was there. He nearly captured Faba, and I had to rescue him and those we sent to retrieve him." Taen's jaw was tight as he said this.
Reukra nodded. "He was personally tutored by Amber, it should be no surprise that he's a formidable battler. There is no easy way to account for either of their movements, nor those of Samuel Oak or Team Rocket's Elite Units, so you and your operatives should always be prepared for any of them to interfere with your operations. Anything else?"
"No, sir."
"Then join your fellow scientists. There is much work to be done." Before Taen could respond, the hologram lost cohesion and dissipated, indicating that Reukra had disconnected.
Taen turned smartly on his heel and proceeded towards the lab that had been set up. What with the new data and the genetic samples from the Ultra Beasts and Type:Null, they could advance Mewtwo's combat effectiveness by leaps and bounds, to say nothing of the ideas that Xerosic had already contributed thanks to his work with Xerneas, Yveltal and Zygarde. All they needed was time, and that was one thing they had in spades.
No, Pikachu can't normally learn Parabolic Charge. No, Ash doesn't care what's normally possible.
Read and review, please.
-----
"Sir, everyone's ready for the next move." Maria Calaveras, Team Rocket plant, was standing at attention, waiting for Taen to respond."You've ensured that the Sonic Neutralizers have been distributed properly? We can't be too careful with Aether." The arrogant tone he always took grated on her nerves, and his doubting every act she took spoke to just how asinine the man could be.
"Yes sir. Everyone has also been issued proper ear protection." Her spine remained ramrod straight, the only sign of her displeasure with the man being the stiffness with which she held herself.
"Very well." He rose from the chair in which he was seated, crossing over to a rack of Poké Balls and selecting decidedly more than the standard six to bring with him. "Load the vehicles, I'll be there momentarily." He flicked his hand negligently in her general direction, and she turned and stalked out of the room.
When she arrived in the room of the staging area they had designated the meetup room, the chattering of voices silenced as the contractors hired for the job turned to her.
"Get in the trucks, we're moving out as soon as the boss is ready." Internally, she winced at the necessity of calling anyone but Giovanni "boss".
Once she was alone in the room, she reached into her pocket and withdrew a box with a few buttons on top. She made sure to keep her arm down by her side as she swept the room, doing one last check to see if anything had been left behind even as she tapped the buttons on the box, preparing a coded message to be sent to Giovanni.
She finished the message just as Taen entered the room, nodded at her, then swept forward, white coat billowing behind him as she followed him to their next mission.
Taen moving on Aether, seeking data
Giovanni frowned, seeing the message Proton had brought to him. "We don't have any operatives anywhere near Aether Paradise, do we."
Even though Proton knew it wasn't a question, he nodded. "The closest are JJM, who are trying to make contact with Guzma and set up something we can use to protect the region where Aether can't."
Giovanni frowned. "If JJM is in Alola, then where is Ketchum?"
Even though Proton didn't smile, something about the way his body language sharpened betrayed a vicious sense of glee. "Visiting an old friend of his on Aether Paradise."
A smile spread across Giovanni's face, with even his considerable talent at controlling his expressions failing him. "Excellent. Send a message to JJM, they are to act as clean-up if needed after the altercation that I'm expecting. They likely won't be needed, but they will be there if they are. I'll send Archer and Ariana to manage the negotiations with Team Skull, just in case."
-----
Ash was enjoying his time on Aether Paradise (on the whole, at least), and, if his excited cries from where he was playing with Lillie in the conservation area were any indication, Pikachu was as well. They hadn't been back to visit Alola since his victory in the Mahalo conference, and that was more than a year ago.Unfortunately, his visit wasn't (primarily) for leisure. The Aether Foundation had to be made aware of the threat Perfection posed-while they hadn't had the greatest numbers when Ash had visited Torren, their experiments with Pokémon genetics more than made up for that lack. Adding in the fact that Taen had had two legendary dragons even before joining them, as well as that Reukra was strong enough to become the Torren Champion before Amber had challenged him and earned the title of Augur, all pointed to a terrifying level of danger that the pretentiously-named group exhibited to its foes.
Unfortunately, Lusamine was focusing entirely on the wrong aspects of the situations.
"There is no way that Taen has both a Kyurem and a Zekrom. There is only one Tao Trio, and they are under the protection of Team Plasma's N!" Lusamine shouted, dismissing the multi-Champion's words.
"Look, it doesn't make any sense to me either. Amber tried to explain things to me, but all I really ended up getting is that Torren used to be in a separate world before an incident with a crystal thing that was important to both Giratina and Arceus. Even without the issue of the legendary dragons, Taen has at least one Mewtwo, maybe more, and he even managed to stand up to Professor Oak!" Ash ran his hand over the top of his hat, frustrated.
"Hmm. That very well could be a threat." Ash sighed, relieved that he finally had gotten through to Lusamine. "What do you know of his motivations?"
"Not a whole lot. Amber said they were always trying to make the perfect Pokémon after she met with Reukra and got her Mega Ring, but beyond that, we don't know what their goals are." Ash tapped on his leg nervously, something just outside of his mental reach was telling him to be on his guard.
After a moment of contemplation, Lusamine asked, "Do you think they might be after data on Type:Null and Silvally?"
"That's… certainly a possibility, if they come here, but data on the Ultra Beasts or an Ultra Wormhole generator might be their target instead. There's just so much that they could see as helpful to their cause that it's hard to pick out just one thing that they might want." Ash shrugged. "They might even be after some of the Pokémon you have here, since they do tend to be on the rarer end."
"Hmm. Very well. I trust Mr. Faba will be an adequate guard for the data levels, as well as the scientist-guards we have stationed there." Lusamine withdrew a tablet and stylus from where it had been secured to her back and began writing out orders.
Despite the uneasy feeling Ash had in his gut, he couldn't think of any rational reason this wouldn't be adequate, and said as much.
"Excellent. I do hope you'll stay the night, it's getting to be quite late." Ash looked down at his Pokétch, surprised to find it was almost 4:30 PM.
"Sure, it'd be nice to catch up with you and Lillie." Ash smiled, then followed Lusamine as she started to walk towards the conservation area, likely to retrieve her daughter.
They passed the green-goggled Mr. Faba on their way to the outdoors portion, and Lusamine tapped a button on her tablet that sent a piece of paper shooting out of the bottom. "Ah, excellent timing, Mr. Faba. For the time being, you're being assigned to protect the data centers against potential intruders." She handed him the sheet of paper. "Take this to the equipment center first, you're being issued both an Alakazite and an Aloraichium Z to better aid your efforts."
For a split second, Ash saw a flash of some emotion in the scientist's face-disdain, perhaps?-but it vanished after a split second, and he nodded. "Certainly, Madam President! None shall pass a defense headed by myself!"
"I knew I could count on you."
-----
"So, Ash. What have you been up to since you left Alola?" asked Wicke."Oh, not a whole lot. I went back home to visit Mom and Professor Oak for a few days, then I took the Galar Gym Challenge. I challenged the Galar League, but right in the middle of things, Chairman Rose decided to unleash this weird dragon thing called Eternatus, so Champion Leon and I had to deal with that. Otherwise, not a whole lot." Ash shrugged.
Lillie blinked. "Wait, that was you? We don't get a whole lot of Galarian news coverage across the world in Alola, so we never heard who it was who fought the legendary."
Ash shrugged. "I mean, it's not a huge deal. I had another Champion with me for this one, plus we were already all prepared for a fight. It went a lot better than it did with-"
Everyone's world dissolved into screeching, and most of them froze up, paralyzed by pure sound.
Ash just shook his head, then pushed himself up from the table, taking a look around to see what the situation was. Around him, he saw both Lillie's and Lusamine's Clefables moving, albeit slowly, and Pikachu looked mostly unaffected, albeit with his fur glowing with electricity.
"Somebody use Heal Bell!" Ash screamed over the din, then reached into his pocket for Dexter. A few quick button presses later, and Noivern's Poké Ball appeared in his hand, which opened a moment later to release the Sound Wave Pokémon.
"Noivern, Hyper Voice! Try and cancel out the sound!" Noivern's mouth opened, and after a moment, Ash felt the sound weaken, and then die down to nothing, Noivern's ears still vibrating.
This allowed the sound of a bell to be heard, and after a moment, the two Clefable had everyone else back on their feet.
"What's going on?" asked Lillie.
Ash shook his head. "I think we're under attack. That was a sound-based paralyzing device that I ran into in Sinnoh, when we were up against Team Galactic. I know Silph Co was analyzing the devices to make it easier to subdue hordes of Pokémon, but I- oh. Right. The break-in."
"Hmm. I believe that we have noise cancellation technology installed as a base defense measure inspired by those same devices, but it's all managed from the lower levels, and since it hasn't already been activated, I believe the control room has been occupied." Lusamine, frowned, then drew another Poké Ball. "Make yourself ready for combat, and I shall have Clefable teleport us there."
Ash continued tapping at his Pokédex, browsing his battle options, then selected four, dispensing a Delta Ball, a Beast Ball, and two regular Poké Balls. "I'm all ready."
"Hey, Ash. Why didn't you get paralyzed by the weird sound wave thing?" asked Lillie as she made sure all of her Poké Balls were easily accessible.
Ash shrugged. "Not really sure. It didn't work for Saturn or Charon when they tried it on me in Sinnoh, but no one ever managed to work it out."
"Ah, okay." Lillie turned to Lusamine, recalling her Clefable as she did so. "Ready, mother."
The President of the Aether Foundation drew her mantle around her, transforming from a kind (albeit strict) mother to a fierce protector who could, if necessary, go toe to toe with all but the most powerful of Pokémon and come out on top. "Clefable, take us to the defense center."
After blinking away spots left by the telltale flash of teleportation, the three trainers and Wicke looked at a pair of very confused thugs who were looking at them awkwardly from their position bent over the command console, who nonetheless rallied, sending out a Nidoking and a Dragalge after seeing the only three Pokémon ready to battle were Pikachu, Clefable, and Noivern.
Pikachu, of course, didn't care about type matchups (or at least those that would protect against Electric attacks), and promptly blasted the two into unconsciousness with Thunderbolt.
Lusamine stepped forward in the direction of the control panel, and when the two grunts tried to step together and block her path, she just looked at them. Intimidated, they backed away, recalling their defeated Pokémon.
After pressing her palm to a dark rectangle on the console, Noivern visibly relaxed, the continuous sound it had been emanating no longer being necessary.
After a moment, Lusamine pulled up the surveillance feeds of the entire building on an array of screens built into the walls. "It appears that these intruders are trying to breach the research area, as well as the conservation and Ultra Space areas. I will go and reinforce the conservatorium, as that is where they are sending the greatest force. Lillie, I suggest you rally the Ultra Guardians, and Ash, I suggest you take care of those heading to the bottom levels. We don't know how well Faba will recover from the paralysis."
"Right!" came from two throats at once as the two friends turned to go accomplish their assigned tasks.
-----
Ash pressed his palm to the panel on the triangular platform that Aether Paradise had instead of elevators, and once his security clearance had been checked, he jabbed his thumb into the button for the lowest floor, sending the elevator on its journey down several levels."You all ready, Pikachu?" he asked, having already recalled his Noivern.
"Pi-ka!" the Pokémon in question chirped, flashing his cheek spots as a warm-up.
After a teeth-grindingly long time later, the platform clicked into place, and before the multi-Champion rushed off, he took the time to focus and listen for the sounds of combat. That done, he charged off into a corridor, skidding around the corner to see-
"Faba? What are you doing?" Ash dearly hoped there was a good explanation as to why he was handing over a series of data drives to two thugs even as the three scientists fought valiantly to hold off a number more.
"I suppose you can consider it my resignation from the Aether Foundation." He shrugged. "Lusamine's organization was a good place for me to experiment with some things, but at this point, I've gotten all I can from it. It is time for the brilliance I have been hiding to shine through!"
Ash shook his head. "I'm disappointed in you, Faba. I thought you were a genuinely good teacher." In one smooth motion, he sent all of his Poké Balls flying, releasing the five other Pokémon he had on his team.
"Noivern, Naganadel, Mismagius, help the scientists!" At his order, the three flying Pokémon darted over, with the telltale jingle of bells coming from the Delta Mismagius as it prepared an ice attack.
"Pidgeot, Greninja, take care of the other two Grunts! Focus more on Protean than on the bond!" The grunts in question threw out a Weavile and a Delta Lopunny, who managed to react in time and engage the two incredibly fast Pokémon.
Ash's Pikachu leapt down from his shoulder, standing directly between the young trainer and Aether's turncoat.
In return, Faba sent out his Claydol. "I cannot allow you to stop me!"
Ash just raised an eyebrow. "Did you forget about Overcharge?" With that, Pikachu's cheeks glowed for a moment before Ash's partner blasted the Claydol into unconsciousness with a Thunderbolt.
"Brat! You should surrender while you have the chance!" Faba sneered, releasing his Bruxish and Raichu at the same time.
Ash stepped back, presenting a smaller area for an errant attack to hit. "Pikachu, Rebound Shock! Try and bounce it between the two of them!"
Ash's Pikachu let out a "Chu-PI!" as he created a modified Electro Ball, then slapped it forward with his tail, sending it shooting right for the Gnash Fish Pokémon, who flinched back as it rebounded off its flank with a snap of voltage, making a beeline for the Raichu hovering nearby.
Bruxish rushed forward, getting out of the rebound zone and getting space to dodge as it gathered psychic energy around its fangs, beelining for Pikachu's tail, likely to try and cripple his ability to direct his energy.
The energy construct shattered on an Iron Tail, which slammed into the Bruxish's actual teeth a moment later. This strike hurled it back, just in time to get slammed by the destabilizing Electro Ball, which burst and sent the Water-type into unconsciousness.
Raichu rose into the air, crackling with raw power, as Faba posed. "Take our ultimate power! Stoked Sparksurfer!"
The floating Pokémon charged down, bodily slamming itself into Pikachu. Lightningrod protected him from the energy coursing through his body, but he was still thrown back by the impact.
"Pikachu!" shouted Ash, although not before Pikachu pushed himself back up into a proper fighting stance. "Recharge, then close in!"
"Pi-ka!" The diminutive Pokémon threw out a bolt of energy towards the Raichu, which returned to him, restoring his stamina and allowing him to shake the dazedness of the impact off. Then, he drew a nimbus of electricity around himself, including the Thunderbolt the Raichu blasted at him, and blasted forward, hitting the Raichu with a Volt Tackle that was, somehow, more powerful than the attack that had sent him flying just a moment before.
It sent the Raichu shooting backwards, only barely missing Faba after he threw himself out of the way in a very undignified manner, and slammed right into one of the grunts' Delta Lopunny, knocking the two Pokémon in question out and leaving an opening for Greninja to attack the already-flagging Weavile.
Faba growled as he got back to his feet, then released his Hypno and Alakazam, who began glowing with the multichromatic light of Mega Evolution.
"Greninja! Take it down, then activate Battle Bond!" Ash called, then pointed to the Hypno. In an instant, the ninja had arrived, slamming it with a Night Slash that, on the heels of Pikachu's repetition of Parabolic Charge, dropped the Psychic-type, allowing Greninja to perform his own Forme change in time to dissipate a burst of psychic energy that targeted Pikachu with a quick Feint Attack.
"Gah! You are proving to be exceptionally annoying. Alakazam, Dazzling Gleam." At Faba's orders, a blast of Fairy light expanded out into the wide room, with only a last-minute Substitute protecting Greninja from its effects. Pikachu replied with a crackling Thunder Wave, which fizzled out as it neared the Mega.
"Ugh, I hate Trace. Pikachu, projectiles! Greninja, Psycho Cut! Keep it on its toes!" The two Pokémon both burst into motion, with Greninja forming shuriken of pure force to throw at the Alakazam, while Pikachu slammed an Iron Tail into the floor, sending rubble everywhere before picking up a piece of the polished metal floor, holding it between his paws for a moment before sending it blurring forward, breaking the sound barrier on its way to slam into the Alakazam's defensive barrier, denting it but not breaking it.
"Enough of this facade! Remove them all!" At Faba's order, Alakazam gestured, releasing a blast of psychic energy that swept everyone back except Greninja, who had allowed his use of Protean to lapse as he transformed into Ash-Greninja.
The Pokémon in question darted forward, slamming a Night Slash into and then through the Mega's Reflect shield, throwing a Water Shuriken through the gap that broke on the Alakazam's nose, splashing his eyes and forcing him to recoil, disrupting his concentration and allowing the floating people caught up in Alakazam's Psychic to drop back to the floor.
"Pikachu, Quick Attack into Iron Tail! Greninja, keep up the Night Slashes!" Ash shouted, and the two Pokémon charged forward to complete their orders.
Ash's partner blurred forward into a leap, then wrapped his tail in steely power, spinning into a downward strike while Greninja vanished in a puff of smoke, reappearing behind the Alakazam and swiping a blade of shadow upwards. The two attacks slammed into the Psychic-type from opposite directions, sending it spinning backwards. Once it came to a stop, it shimmered with a gray aura before dropping to the ground, unconscious from the backlash of being forcefully returned to its normal form.
"Bother." Faba recalled the passed out Alakazam and returned the Poké Ball to his pocket, leaving his hand there as he looked around at the other toughs, who were all out of usable Pokémon.
"Why did you do this, Faba?" asked Ash.
Faba sneered. "I wouldn't expect a child to understand the magnificence that would drive one such as me. My talents are underutilized by that insipid woman, and when Taen approached me about reaching my full potential among other scientists, well, the opportunity could not be missed."
Ash started moving forward, intent on restraining Faba, before a massive BANG! split the air and, in a flash of light, Taen appeared alongside a Porygon-Z.
"Stymied by a child, eh, Faba?" Taen smirked, then snapped his fingers. His Porygon-Z, clearly understanding it as some sort of signal, raised both its arms and blasted out a Tri Attack from each, as well as launching one from its beak, throwing Ash back into a wall and doing a good job of pushing his Pokémon back. "Well, as fun as it's been, we've got other things we could be doing, so ta for now!"
This teleport was silent and only put out a small flash, but when it faded, all the thugs were gone, as well as Faba and Taen.
Ash shook his head, then pushed himself out of the dent he had made by slamming into the wall. "Everyone okay?" he asked, rubbing the charred area on his shirt where the attack had hit home.
Various grumblings from the scientists, who were still rubbing spots from their eyes, seemed to point to yes.
"Ash!" Lillie ran into the room just ahead of Lusamine. "Are you okay?"
He waved them off. "It's fine, it's fine. It just feels like a sunburn." He pulled out Poké Balls and began calling back his Pokémon. "How'd it go up top?"
Lusamine stepped forward. "Ash, I think it would be for the best if you came and got checked out by our medical division. You did take an attack from a Pokémon, after all."
Once again, Ash waved them off. "I'm fine! Aura adepts are hardier than normal folk, and I've been burned harder by Charizard."
"Be that as it may, I must insist that you come to the infirmary, so you can explain to me what happened to Mr. Faba." Lusamine turned and stalked out of the room, beckoning for everyone to follow her.
Realizing that she wasn't going to budge on this, Ash hurried to catch up. "Okay, you know how Faba has all sorts of pride in his intelligence?"
-----
Once again, the teleport left Taen and his guests to fall to the floor from a height of a few inches.Taen turned to Faba, anger rising off him in waves, as the other operatives took that as their cue to evacuate the area so as to avoid becoming collateral damage.. "What, exactly, happened that you were unable to leave on your own?"
Faba stepped back defensively. "The Ketchum boy is a powerful opponent, and I am not a true fighter. My strengths lie in science, not in the struggle!"
Taen closed his eyes for a long moment, then turned his back on Faba. "Go. Make yourself useful. Charon has the genetic sequencer ready, so you might as well make use of that while I report to our leader."
He heard Faba's footsteps recede into another room, and only when he was sure the arrogant scientist had entered another room did he force the anger down and move to activate the hologram projector and transmitter he used to make his reports. After only a moment, a high-collared silhouette appeared.
"Sir, the raid on Aether Paradise was a success. We retrieved the data we need, and we managed to avoid capture, no thanks to Faba." This last phrase was said under his breath, but the microphones still picked it up and transmitted it.
"What complications did you encounter?" asked Reukra.
"The Ketchum boy was there. He nearly captured Faba, and I had to rescue him and those we sent to retrieve him." Taen's jaw was tight as he said this.
Reukra nodded. "He was personally tutored by Amber, it should be no surprise that he's a formidable battler. There is no easy way to account for either of their movements, nor those of Samuel Oak or Team Rocket's Elite Units, so you and your operatives should always be prepared for any of them to interfere with your operations. Anything else?"
"No, sir."
"Then join your fellow scientists. There is much work to be done." Before Taen could respond, the hologram lost cohesion and dissipated, indicating that Reukra had disconnected.
Taen turned smartly on his heel and proceeded towards the lab that had been set up. What with the new data and the genetic samples from the Ultra Beasts and Type:Null, they could advance Mewtwo's combat effectiveness by leaps and bounds, to say nothing of the ideas that Xerosic had already contributed thanks to his work with Xerneas, Yveltal and Zygarde. All they needed was time, and that was one thing they had in spades.
-----
For the purposes of this AU, certain very powerful Pokémon can have multiple abilities. This includes legendaries (since they are, mostly, directly connected to an aspect of nature and can draw from it to power them), and the Pokémon of certain very powerful trainers, such as Lance, Cynthia (her Garchomp, for example, has both Sand Veil and Rough Skin), and indeed Ash. In this case, his Pikachu has Lightningrod on top of a new ability, which I'm calling Overcharge, that came from when he was trying to power up before rematching Brock. This ability ignores all immunities and resistances to Electric attacks granted by typing and also nullifies the effect of another Pokémon's Overcharge on him. So, for argument's sake, if he were fighting a double battle against a Garchomp and an Electrivire with Motor Drive and used Discharge, he'd deal neutral damage to the Garchomp, but no damage to the Electivire because of Motor Drive.No, Pikachu can't normally learn Parabolic Charge. No, Ash doesn't care what's normally possible.
Read and review, please.
Augury
- Pronouns
- She/They
Amber picks through the rubble of Perfection's old Torren Headquarters and encounters things long thought buried.
Italics, with the exception of when they're used to denote a letter, indicate psychic communication.
We weren't sure if you'd heard yet, but Perfection is back on the move. Seeing as how you're the one with the most experience dealing with them, we figured you might be able to look at some of their old facilities, maybe track them down from there.
Sorry for springing this on you with such short notice, it's been a hectic few weeks since Professor Oak had his first confrontation with Taen.
Good luck out there,
Ash.
After reading the note for the umpteenth time, Amber put it down on her desk, then pinched the bridge of her nose. "Thoughts, Mewtwo?" she asked.
I believe that the suggestion has merit. Taen was never the most thorough of men, he certainly could have left something behind that we could make use of. The hovering Psychic type lowered himself gingerly onto his feet. I feel we could at least gain some insight on the projects they were working on in their spare time.
I agree! Mew burst out of their Pokéball too, ready to add their two cents. Besides, it's not as if there's anything there that can really threaten us!
Amber looked at Mew for a long moment, then sighed, picking up paper and pencil. "Fine, but if Murphy takes his due, I will say I told you so."
Mewtwo chuckled as Mew pouted. Fine. But I get to tell everyone else to get ready! Mew perked right back up.
Amber laughed, waving a hand. "Alright, you little rascal. We'll be going tomorrow so I have time to let Ash know what, exactly, is going to happen."
Wheee! Mew took a turn around the room, then vanished in a flash of pink light.
"Never grow up." Amber reached out, then a pencil and a sheet of paper flew into her hands, which she promptly put down on the surface of her desk. "You know, you don't have to stay and watch me to make sure I'm not going to keel over. I'm even sitting down!"
I am aware of that fact. That does not stop us from worrying about you, Amber. Mewtwo settled down in the custom built chair that Amber had for him along the back wall of her room.
Amber smiled. "Thank you, Mewtwo." Then, she set to writing a letter to Ash, and by extension, the rest of the Pokémon League International.
Hey, Ash.
Thanks for letting me know about Perfection. They're staying away from Torren as far as we can tell, so we hadn't heard much more than rumors. We're going to check out their old headquarters under Helios City, see if they might have left anything there.
If you can put together some reports about their reported actions and combat potential, we might be able to work out both their plans and a solid way to counter them.
Much as I hate to say it, I'm not sure if this is something the League can deal with on their own. It took months to deal with everything Reukra had set up over here, and he had unfettered access to this Arceus for a fair bit, so who knows what kind of nasty mods he had made to the fabric of reality.
As soon as I'm confident that there's nothing else to learn from their old facilities, I'm coming to Pallet Town to help.
See y'all soon,
Amber.
It was more than time that she began taking action once again.
As she limped to the door, a man walked out of the door, did a double take when he saw her, then turned back and sprinted inside.
"Do you know what that's about?" Amber asked, frowning.
I do not, but it does seem like something to be wary of. Mewtwo bobbed lower, flexing his fingers in preparation for battle.
A moment later, three men all rushed out, Poké balls flying from their hands to release a Delta Arcanine, a Houndoom, and a Mightyena. "Stop where you are! This is an area under investigation by the International Police!"
Amber's eyebrows shot up almost far enough to touch the wisps of teal hair hanging down from the front of her head. "Do you… do you not recognize the staff? Or me?"
"We have orders from the Augur not to let anyone through!" Amber stepped back, confused.
"You mean orders from me?" By the looks on their faces, she could tell that wasn't the case.
"Ah, crap. Reukra's gonna be pissed. Well, Crunch!" The man in the middle interrupted himself with an order to his Pokémon, which was promptly obeyed by all three Pokémon.
Amber threw herself back, then she telekinetically yanked herself up beyond their reach. She dropped a Poké Ball as she rose, calling forth Delta Blastoise. "Aura Sphere, both of you!" she ordered.
Mewtwo rose up, throwing out both arms and summoning a condensed ball of Aura from each one, then sent them forth to strike the Arcanine and the Houndoom.
Blastoise chose to take a more direct approach, blurring forward and hoisting the Mightyena into the air by the throat and then slamming a massive orb of power up into its ribs, blasting it out of her grasp to slam into the ceiling.
All three canine Pokémon were unconscious before they hit the ground.
"Any other bright moves you want to make before I get the actual International Police here?" Amber settled to the ground behind the menacing Pokémon after pulling out her phone.
The three men raised their hands, and, in unison, said "We surrender!"
"Smart move."
She clacked her staff against a crate, then sighed and moved on. "Didn't think I'd end up back here."
Why not? asked Mewtwo.
"I dunno, it's just… After Reukra left, he said he was going to join Team Rocket. We never thought he'd rebuild his organization, or that I'd need to dig up his old digs." Amber shrugged.
We often must confront the demons of our past in order to move forward. Mewtwo closed his eyes for a moment, then shook his head. I cannot hear any other thoughts in the building.
"That doesn't mean there's nothing to find." Amber jerked her chin up, indicating the chamber that Taen and Reukra had used to grow their Mewtwos. "There might be something on the computer that ran that gestation chamber."
The two rushed over to the machine, and Amber wrapped her arm around her staff to tap at the keyboard. She pressed the spacebar, then again, then noticed the massive crack that split the screen.
She looked at the machine with fresh eyes, then slumped against her staff. "Looks like someone took a sledgehammer to it. I don't think we're gonna get anything out of this."
Mewtwo turned, looking around to see if there was anything else he could see on this level that might have held data they could use.
"Come on, Mewtwo. I saw some books in the rooms up the stairs last time I was here, let's see if we can get our hands on them." Amber pushed herself upright, then started climbing the stairs.
As the first door came into view, Amber felt her heart quicken. It was ajar, and she could see book covers on the floor.
She quickened her pace, clomping up the stairs and bursting through the door, then all but collapsing in the middle of the books, grabbing one at random and opening it. Inside was notes on genetically altering Pokémon in order to create Delta Pokémon, as well as a dull gray key which fell into her lap.
Amber! Mewtwo appeared in the doorway in a panic, then lifted her up gently. Are you okay?
"Huh? Oh, right. Yeah, I'm fine. I just found us a lead." She waggled the key. "Can you use psychometry to teleport to the lock this key opens?"
Mewtwo leaned down, touching the key for a moment, then nodded. I can, although I can't say that the destination would be safe without going through personally. I cannot use Future Sight while charging a teleport without having been there before.
Amber nodded. "I wasn't planning on going until we had gone through all of these journals."
Good. You do have a tendency to rush in.
"Hey!" Amber paused for a moment, then looked down at her feet, hovering a few inches above the floor. "Mewtwo, would you please let me down?"
After a moment, Amber was lowered back to the floor, where she sat down and picked up the journal that had fallen when Mewtwo had picked her up. "Thank you, Mewtwo." She withdrew her Box Link from her bag, then tapped on its screen a few times. She deftly caught the Poké Ball that it dropped, then clicked it open, sending out a Delta Ludicolo.
"Alright, we're gonna have to form a brain trust so we can go through these notebooks quickly so we can get to the secondary location soon." Then she realized what she said and then huffed out a laugh. "Right, let's get started."
After a moment, Amber felt the other two Pokémon's minds withdraw from her own, leaving the combined knowledge that the books contained. "Good work, Elminster. I'm gonna send you to take a rest." She recalled him into his Poké Ball, then tapped it to the Box Link, sending him back to Professor Sylvan's lab.
Are you prepared? asked Mewtwo.
Amber held up a finger before thumbing the button of the Ultra Ball on her belt and releasing Mew. "Mew, would you mind too terribly using your Future Sight to make sure when Mewtwo teleports us we don't end up somewhere too terribly dangerous?"
Sure! Where are we going?
"We're not quite sure yet. It's a lab somewhere around Metchi Town. We have a link to the destination but we don't know what's on the other end," Amber said.
Mewtwo surrounded the trio in an aura of his psychic power, and then closed his eyes, pressing one hand to the key in Amber's left hand. Transitioning in three, two…
Mew's eyes flared with a bright blue light, then it blinked and nodded. Go ahead!
…one, now.
The Augur and her two companions appeared half an inch above the ground in a grassy area near a large flowerbed, floating on Mewtwo's power. He let Amber down gently, allowing her to plant her staff first, then Mew took control of its own flight, doing a loop in the air.
In front of them was a building that was almost impressive in its unimpressiveness, with its slate gray walls almost matching the shade of the corridors in Perfection's Helios City base, albeit with more windows.
In the center was a door made of what looked like glass with a metal frame, and a lock matching both the color of the frame and the key Amber had in her hand.
"Well, here goes nothing." She slotted the key into the lock and turned it, then pushed the door open.
While the ceiling lights were off, the windows provided more than enough light for Amber and her Pokémon to see the interior of the building. There was a thick layer of dust on the plastic plants.
Immediately the three were assaulted by the familiar stench of toxic waste. Scrunching up its eyes, Mew raced forward to see the source of the rancid odor, then transformed into a Shaymin and let off a burst of energy, cleansing the air and causing the glowing pool of green sludge to shimmer for a moment before turning into pure water.
"Thanks, Mew." The three of them continued forward, floating above the water, to the bend in the corridor, which led to the pool of water that turned out to have flooded the corridor around the next bend as well.
In the room that had once appeared to be a security station in front of the flooded area, there were four computers. The two closer to the door described Perfection's experiments, with one containing notes about the creation of the first Delta Pokemon-a Dark/Poison Larvesta, from their data-and the other described the discovery of the weather condition that Amber recognized as New Moon. One of the other two computers had been infected with a virus of some sort and had frozen, but the last one provided a security video of a scientist unlocking a gate made of spikes protruding from the floor that he subsequently walked through, passing a set of armor built not for a human but for a bipedal Pokémon of some kind. Mewtwo quickly memorized how he'd pressed a series of buttons, and then tried to navigate away to no avail.
"Leave it, Mewtwo. Looks like it's a devoted security station, there's not much point in looking for anything else there." Amber turned back towards the door. "Come on, you two. The sooner we get through the security and see about getting data, the sooner we can get out, and I don't like the vibe of this place."
Truly. What could ever possess someone to create such a silly word? snarked Mewtwo.
"Oh, right. You wouldn't know." Amber pulled out her phone, then activated the digital assistant. "Remind me to tell Mewtwo and Mew about antimatter tomorrow."
After confirmation that the reminder had been created, she clicked off the screen and slipped the device back into her pocket. "Alrighty then. Let's go see what all this jazz is about."
I fail to see what jazz has to do with security. Mewtwo winked, then, with a minor effort of will, warped them back to the door console that had prompted them for a password.
After tapping away at the screen, the door gave way to an unlit room. Even when Mewtwo raised his hand and created a ball of light, they still couldn't see more than five feet from themselves. This doesn't feel right.
"You made incredibly good time."
Immediately all three psychics snapped into a combat stance, building up coronae of power to attack or defend, as the situation called for.
"Honestly, Amber. If I was going to attack you, I wouldn't have announced my presence." This time, she recognized the voice. While she hadn't heard it in a significant amount of time, the occasions on which she had heard it were rather memorable.
"What are you doing here, Reukra?" Her voice was flat, hard, and heavy with barely leashed violence.
"I wanted to see whether you'd follow the trail, child. After all, this game is significantly less fun without an opponent." With that, the shadows receded to show the fedora-sporting form of the leader of Perfection, Taen's boss, and ex-Champion, Reukra.
"Not good enough. There's something else."
Reukra inclined his head to her. "That there is, as you're so impatient to find out." He gestured, and the darkness retreated, revealing that they were standing on a regulation-compliant battle arena. Behind him floated the armored form of a Delta Volcarona. "It is my intent to test you and see if you're strong enough to be a worthy adversary."
"So what, I beat your team up and then you teleport away like Taen?" Amber slid one foot back, preparing to lunge.
"Oh, nothing so pedestrian." He waved at the Delta floating behind him. "This Volcarona is still wild. If you can subdue it and capture it, then I will acknowledge your strength." He turned, withdrawing a red-and-white Poké Ball from within his jacket. "I wish you luck." He threw the Poké Ball, releasing a Palkia, then vanished in a swirl of spatial distortion.
As if Reukra's presence was preventing it from moving, the Delta burst forward, sending a lance of raw blackness towards the psychic trio.
Mewtwo broke left, Mew darted to the right, and Amber forced her body to rise upward and away from the blast. Mew! There was a set of armor inside, near that gate we had to use the weird colored switches for! I'd bet that's sized for Mewtwo! We'll keep him busy, you go find it!
Right! Mew teleported away, leaving just Amber and Mewtwo facing the Volcarona.
Amber quickly rectified this, sending out Blastoise, who landed heavily on the ground. "Stay mobile, start blasting!"
Then, she couldn't spare the attention it would take to issue further commands to either Blastoise or Mewtwo in between dodging blasts of darkness or poison and countering with psychic blasts after locking onto the Delta with Miracle Eye.
"Really wishing I'd gone to Tandor to pick up a Nuclear-type about now," she muttered as she deflected a stream of venomous liquid.
Eventually, Mew flashed back, appearing in a shadow cast by a tree, burdened by the Mewtwo armor. Mewtwo, I have the armor! Come grab it!
The Psychic type did just that, leaving a parting Aura Sphere to slam into the armor and drive the Dark/Poison Delta back, throwing its rhythm off. Unfortunately, it quickly recovered, and without Mewtwo occupying its attention, it was more able to focus on Amber and Blastoise, putting them firmly on the defensive.
Her dodges got closer, her strikes slowed, and a noticeable sheen of sweat appeared on her forehead as she burned through her stamina. "Wow, I'm out of practice," she said to herself.
In the break between another volley of attacks, Amber reached into her bag, scrabbling around for a Sitrus berry to stave off the tiredness she felt weighing her down like an old school backpack stuffed with textbooks while preparing a burst of raw psychic power with her other hand.
Just as she released the blast, her hand brushed against a flat, smooth surface, and she felt a jolt of something flow through her, and the attack compressed significantly, shooting forward like an Extremespeed and blasting the helmet off of the now extremely surprised Delta.
This moment of surprise lasted longer for Amber than for the Delta, who lashed out with a wave of raw darkness that slammed her into the building, then another that slammed her already-falling form into the ground, causing pain to shoot up her spine as her legs reported severe damage.
It floated closer, gathering a ball of dark energy in front of its eyes and chittering in anticipation of dealing with the flying thing that kept hurting it.
It did not expect the metal-covered projectile that slammed it aside.
Focusing his power through the suit of armor he was now wearing, Mewtwo gathered an overcharged Psystrike between his hands. It's over.
The explosion that resulted could have been seen from Metchi Town proper, and sent the Volcarona flying through several trees before it crashed to a stop, unmoving.
Amber, are you okay? Mewtwo rushed over, hovering over the fallen woman.
"Ow." Amber pushed herself up into a sitting position, then looked down at her legs, which both had decidedly more bends than they should. "Gimme a sec."
She closed her eyes, then muttered a few words and her legs straightened out. After another repetition, she pushed herself to her feet, then held out her hand, calling her staff from where it had fallen after she had been blasted into the wall. "Good enough."
She dug around in her bag, then pulled out a Delta Ball and started clomping along into the forest, leaning more heavily on her staff than she had that morning.
Where are you going? By all rights, we should be going to a doctor! Mewtwo started after her.
"We need to catch that Volcarona." She continued forward, picking the Volcarona's helmet up psychically on her way to the Delta. After a moment, Mewtwo sighed and floated forward, followed closely by Mew.
While the fallen Delta was still conscious by the time they arrived, it was only barely, and it couldn't even muster the strength to use Levitate. The Delta Ball stilled quickly after drawing it in.
"Alright, Mewtwo. I think it's time we called in Looker, see if he could get any information out of this place." She yawned. "Once that happens I think I'm going home to sleep."
By the time she got up, Looker had already compiled a dossier with data extracted from both the abandoned lab and the Helios City Base and sent it to her, which she began perusing after getting up. Apparently, he had found an extendable blade with a complex crossguard that sounded very much familiar to her.
At about midmorning, she was interrupted by a knocking on her door. Closing her computer, she pushed herself up, then walked over to the door, pulling it open to reveal Nora.
"Nora! Hi! What's going on?"
The green-haired girl raised a letter that she was holding in her left hand. "Cynthia gave me this to give you."
Amber took it, then gestured to the couch. "Come in, come in. Do you want something to drink?"
"Oh, um, just water." Amber opened a cupboard in the kitchen and took a glass out, then filled it with water from a pitcher on the counter.
After bringing the glass to Nora, Amber absently slit the envelope open, pulling the letter out. "So, how have you been? I know it's been a while."
"Oh, fine." She shrugged. "Cynthia's a tough teacher, but she is a good one."
"That's good. I'm glad you're…" Amber trailed off, eyes firmly fixed on the letter. "Oh, fuck all kinds of duck."
"Amber!" snapped Nora, frowning. "What about the kids that read this?"
Amber waved her off. "This is PG-13 equivalent, we get one F-bomb and I'm dropping that now. Besides," Amber pulled out Mewtwo's Poké Ball, then released him, "We've got bigger things to worry about."
What is it, Amber? asked Mewtwo, frowning.
"Charon's been broken out of prison." At the blank look from Mewtwo, Amber continued. "He's a scientist from Team Galactic. He's the one who figured out how to make the Red Chains that were involved in the events with the Creation Trio leading to their capture."
Mewtwo's eyes went wide. And Reukra has Palkia.
"And Reukra has Palkia." Amber sat down hard across from Nora. "Hoo boy. This is gonna get nasty."
"What are you going to do?" asked Nora.
Amber closed her eyes for a moment, then stood up, calling her staff to her from where it had fallen after she had sat down, and started towards her computer. "In the short term, I need to send an email to Ash. But in terms of bigger steps?" Amber turned back to Nora and gave her a lopsided grin. "I think it's about time I got Adam back."
This is the last fic I have in my collection over on AO3/FFN, so this collection is going on hiatus now.
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The art of augury was a method of telling the future based on bird movements.Italics, with the exception of when they're used to denote a letter, indicate psychic communication.
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Amber,We weren't sure if you'd heard yet, but Perfection is back on the move. Seeing as how you're the one with the most experience dealing with them, we figured you might be able to look at some of their old facilities, maybe track them down from there.
Sorry for springing this on you with such short notice, it's been a hectic few weeks since Professor Oak had his first confrontation with Taen.
Good luck out there,
Ash.
After reading the note for the umpteenth time, Amber put it down on her desk, then pinched the bridge of her nose. "Thoughts, Mewtwo?" she asked.
I believe that the suggestion has merit. Taen was never the most thorough of men, he certainly could have left something behind that we could make use of. The hovering Psychic type lowered himself gingerly onto his feet. I feel we could at least gain some insight on the projects they were working on in their spare time.
I agree! Mew burst out of their Pokéball too, ready to add their two cents. Besides, it's not as if there's anything there that can really threaten us!
Amber looked at Mew for a long moment, then sighed, picking up paper and pencil. "Fine, but if Murphy takes his due, I will say I told you so."
Mewtwo chuckled as Mew pouted. Fine. But I get to tell everyone else to get ready! Mew perked right back up.
Amber laughed, waving a hand. "Alright, you little rascal. We'll be going tomorrow so I have time to let Ash know what, exactly, is going to happen."
Wheee! Mew took a turn around the room, then vanished in a flash of pink light.
"Never grow up." Amber reached out, then a pencil and a sheet of paper flew into her hands, which she promptly put down on the surface of her desk. "You know, you don't have to stay and watch me to make sure I'm not going to keel over. I'm even sitting down!"
I am aware of that fact. That does not stop us from worrying about you, Amber. Mewtwo settled down in the custom built chair that Amber had for him along the back wall of her room.
Amber smiled. "Thank you, Mewtwo." Then, she set to writing a letter to Ash, and by extension, the rest of the Pokémon League International.
Hey, Ash.
Thanks for letting me know about Perfection. They're staying away from Torren as far as we can tell, so we hadn't heard much more than rumors. We're going to check out their old headquarters under Helios City, see if they might have left anything there.
If you can put together some reports about their reported actions and combat potential, we might be able to work out both their plans and a solid way to counter them.
Much as I hate to say it, I'm not sure if this is something the League can deal with on their own. It took months to deal with everything Reukra had set up over here, and he had unfettered access to this Arceus for a fair bit, so who knows what kind of nasty mods he had made to the fabric of reality.
As soon as I'm confident that there's nothing else to learn from their old facilities, I'm coming to Pallet Town to help.
See y'all soon,
Amber.
It was more than time that she began taking action once again.
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Amber lightly touched down, then began trekking forward, staff clomping with every other step, into the steel-walled corridors of Perfection's facility. In her other hand, she held a flashlight, which she was using to make sure she didn't trip over any debris or Pokémon, although there were few that would attack with Mewtwo floating along just behind her.As she limped to the door, a man walked out of the door, did a double take when he saw her, then turned back and sprinted inside.
"Do you know what that's about?" Amber asked, frowning.
I do not, but it does seem like something to be wary of. Mewtwo bobbed lower, flexing his fingers in preparation for battle.
A moment later, three men all rushed out, Poké balls flying from their hands to release a Delta Arcanine, a Houndoom, and a Mightyena. "Stop where you are! This is an area under investigation by the International Police!"
Amber's eyebrows shot up almost far enough to touch the wisps of teal hair hanging down from the front of her head. "Do you… do you not recognize the staff? Or me?"
"We have orders from the Augur not to let anyone through!" Amber stepped back, confused.
"You mean orders from me?" By the looks on their faces, she could tell that wasn't the case.
"Ah, crap. Reukra's gonna be pissed. Well, Crunch!" The man in the middle interrupted himself with an order to his Pokémon, which was promptly obeyed by all three Pokémon.
Amber threw herself back, then she telekinetically yanked herself up beyond their reach. She dropped a Poké Ball as she rose, calling forth Delta Blastoise. "Aura Sphere, both of you!" she ordered.
Mewtwo rose up, throwing out both arms and summoning a condensed ball of Aura from each one, then sent them forth to strike the Arcanine and the Houndoom.
Blastoise chose to take a more direct approach, blurring forward and hoisting the Mightyena into the air by the throat and then slamming a massive orb of power up into its ribs, blasting it out of her grasp to slam into the ceiling.
All three canine Pokémon were unconscious before they hit the ground.
"Any other bright moves you want to make before I get the actual International Police here?" Amber settled to the ground behind the menacing Pokémon after pulling out her phone.
The three men raised their hands, and, in unison, said "We surrender!"
"Smart move."
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Once the International Police had arrived to remove the toughs and their Pokémon, Amber walked forward into the base.She clacked her staff against a crate, then sighed and moved on. "Didn't think I'd end up back here."
Why not? asked Mewtwo.
"I dunno, it's just… After Reukra left, he said he was going to join Team Rocket. We never thought he'd rebuild his organization, or that I'd need to dig up his old digs." Amber shrugged.
We often must confront the demons of our past in order to move forward. Mewtwo closed his eyes for a moment, then shook his head. I cannot hear any other thoughts in the building.
"That doesn't mean there's nothing to find." Amber jerked her chin up, indicating the chamber that Taen and Reukra had used to grow their Mewtwos. "There might be something on the computer that ran that gestation chamber."
The two rushed over to the machine, and Amber wrapped her arm around her staff to tap at the keyboard. She pressed the spacebar, then again, then noticed the massive crack that split the screen.
She looked at the machine with fresh eyes, then slumped against her staff. "Looks like someone took a sledgehammer to it. I don't think we're gonna get anything out of this."
Mewtwo turned, looking around to see if there was anything else he could see on this level that might have held data they could use.
"Come on, Mewtwo. I saw some books in the rooms up the stairs last time I was here, let's see if we can get our hands on them." Amber pushed herself upright, then started climbing the stairs.
As the first door came into view, Amber felt her heart quicken. It was ajar, and she could see book covers on the floor.
She quickened her pace, clomping up the stairs and bursting through the door, then all but collapsing in the middle of the books, grabbing one at random and opening it. Inside was notes on genetically altering Pokémon in order to create Delta Pokémon, as well as a dull gray key which fell into her lap.
Amber! Mewtwo appeared in the doorway in a panic, then lifted her up gently. Are you okay?
"Huh? Oh, right. Yeah, I'm fine. I just found us a lead." She waggled the key. "Can you use psychometry to teleport to the lock this key opens?"
Mewtwo leaned down, touching the key for a moment, then nodded. I can, although I can't say that the destination would be safe without going through personally. I cannot use Future Sight while charging a teleport without having been there before.
Amber nodded. "I wasn't planning on going until we had gone through all of these journals."
Good. You do have a tendency to rush in.
"Hey!" Amber paused for a moment, then looked down at her feet, hovering a few inches above the floor. "Mewtwo, would you please let me down?"
After a moment, Amber was lowered back to the floor, where she sat down and picked up the journal that had fallen when Mewtwo had picked her up. "Thank you, Mewtwo." She withdrew her Box Link from her bag, then tapped on its screen a few times. She deftly caught the Poké Ball that it dropped, then clicked it open, sending out a Delta Ludicolo.
"Alright, we're gonna have to form a brain trust so we can go through these notebooks quickly so we can get to the secondary location soon." Then she realized what she said and then huffed out a laugh. "Right, let's get started."
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Amber flipped the last notebook closed, then stretched, coming down from her stretch with her staff in hand. Alright, you two. I think we're about ready to go, now.After a moment, Amber felt the other two Pokémon's minds withdraw from her own, leaving the combined knowledge that the books contained. "Good work, Elminster. I'm gonna send you to take a rest." She recalled him into his Poké Ball, then tapped it to the Box Link, sending him back to Professor Sylvan's lab.
Are you prepared? asked Mewtwo.
Amber held up a finger before thumbing the button of the Ultra Ball on her belt and releasing Mew. "Mew, would you mind too terribly using your Future Sight to make sure when Mewtwo teleports us we don't end up somewhere too terribly dangerous?"
Sure! Where are we going?
"We're not quite sure yet. It's a lab somewhere around Metchi Town. We have a link to the destination but we don't know what's on the other end," Amber said.
Mewtwo surrounded the trio in an aura of his psychic power, and then closed his eyes, pressing one hand to the key in Amber's left hand. Transitioning in three, two…
Mew's eyes flared with a bright blue light, then it blinked and nodded. Go ahead!
…one, now.
The Augur and her two companions appeared half an inch above the ground in a grassy area near a large flowerbed, floating on Mewtwo's power. He let Amber down gently, allowing her to plant her staff first, then Mew took control of its own flight, doing a loop in the air.
In front of them was a building that was almost impressive in its unimpressiveness, with its slate gray walls almost matching the shade of the corridors in Perfection's Helios City base, albeit with more windows.
In the center was a door made of what looked like glass with a metal frame, and a lock matching both the color of the frame and the key Amber had in her hand.
"Well, here goes nothing." She slotted the key into the lock and turned it, then pushed the door open.
While the ceiling lights were off, the windows provided more than enough light for Amber and her Pokémon to see the interior of the building. There was a thick layer of dust on the plastic plants.
Immediately the three were assaulted by the familiar stench of toxic waste. Scrunching up its eyes, Mew raced forward to see the source of the rancid odor, then transformed into a Shaymin and let off a burst of energy, cleansing the air and causing the glowing pool of green sludge to shimmer for a moment before turning into pure water.
"Thanks, Mew." The three of them continued forward, floating above the water, to the bend in the corridor, which led to the pool of water that turned out to have flooded the corridor around the next bend as well.
In the room that had once appeared to be a security station in front of the flooded area, there were four computers. The two closer to the door described Perfection's experiments, with one containing notes about the creation of the first Delta Pokemon-a Dark/Poison Larvesta, from their data-and the other described the discovery of the weather condition that Amber recognized as New Moon. One of the other two computers had been infected with a virus of some sort and had frozen, but the last one provided a security video of a scientist unlocking a gate made of spikes protruding from the floor that he subsequently walked through, passing a set of armor built not for a human but for a bipedal Pokémon of some kind. Mewtwo quickly memorized how he'd pressed a series of buttons, and then tried to navigate away to no avail.
"Leave it, Mewtwo. Looks like it's a devoted security station, there's not much point in looking for anything else there." Amber turned back towards the door. "Come on, you two. The sooner we get through the security and see about getting data, the sooner we can get out, and I don't like the vibe of this place."
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Amber snapped the book closed. "Okay, I figured it out. The password to the sanctum area is 'antilithium'."Truly. What could ever possess someone to create such a silly word? snarked Mewtwo.
"Oh, right. You wouldn't know." Amber pulled out her phone, then activated the digital assistant. "Remind me to tell Mewtwo and Mew about antimatter tomorrow."
After confirmation that the reminder had been created, she clicked off the screen and slipped the device back into her pocket. "Alrighty then. Let's go see what all this jazz is about."
I fail to see what jazz has to do with security. Mewtwo winked, then, with a minor effort of will, warped them back to the door console that had prompted them for a password.
After tapping away at the screen, the door gave way to an unlit room. Even when Mewtwo raised his hand and created a ball of light, they still couldn't see more than five feet from themselves. This doesn't feel right.
"You made incredibly good time."
Immediately all three psychics snapped into a combat stance, building up coronae of power to attack or defend, as the situation called for.
"Honestly, Amber. If I was going to attack you, I wouldn't have announced my presence." This time, she recognized the voice. While she hadn't heard it in a significant amount of time, the occasions on which she had heard it were rather memorable.
"What are you doing here, Reukra?" Her voice was flat, hard, and heavy with barely leashed violence.
"I wanted to see whether you'd follow the trail, child. After all, this game is significantly less fun without an opponent." With that, the shadows receded to show the fedora-sporting form of the leader of Perfection, Taen's boss, and ex-Champion, Reukra.
"Not good enough. There's something else."
Reukra inclined his head to her. "That there is, as you're so impatient to find out." He gestured, and the darkness retreated, revealing that they were standing on a regulation-compliant battle arena. Behind him floated the armored form of a Delta Volcarona. "It is my intent to test you and see if you're strong enough to be a worthy adversary."
"So what, I beat your team up and then you teleport away like Taen?" Amber slid one foot back, preparing to lunge.
"Oh, nothing so pedestrian." He waved at the Delta floating behind him. "This Volcarona is still wild. If you can subdue it and capture it, then I will acknowledge your strength." He turned, withdrawing a red-and-white Poké Ball from within his jacket. "I wish you luck." He threw the Poké Ball, releasing a Palkia, then vanished in a swirl of spatial distortion.
As if Reukra's presence was preventing it from moving, the Delta burst forward, sending a lance of raw blackness towards the psychic trio.
Mewtwo broke left, Mew darted to the right, and Amber forced her body to rise upward and away from the blast. Mew! There was a set of armor inside, near that gate we had to use the weird colored switches for! I'd bet that's sized for Mewtwo! We'll keep him busy, you go find it!
Right! Mew teleported away, leaving just Amber and Mewtwo facing the Volcarona.
Amber quickly rectified this, sending out Blastoise, who landed heavily on the ground. "Stay mobile, start blasting!"
Then, she couldn't spare the attention it would take to issue further commands to either Blastoise or Mewtwo in between dodging blasts of darkness or poison and countering with psychic blasts after locking onto the Delta with Miracle Eye.
"Really wishing I'd gone to Tandor to pick up a Nuclear-type about now," she muttered as she deflected a stream of venomous liquid.
Eventually, Mew flashed back, appearing in a shadow cast by a tree, burdened by the Mewtwo armor. Mewtwo, I have the armor! Come grab it!
The Psychic type did just that, leaving a parting Aura Sphere to slam into the armor and drive the Dark/Poison Delta back, throwing its rhythm off. Unfortunately, it quickly recovered, and without Mewtwo occupying its attention, it was more able to focus on Amber and Blastoise, putting them firmly on the defensive.
Her dodges got closer, her strikes slowed, and a noticeable sheen of sweat appeared on her forehead as she burned through her stamina. "Wow, I'm out of practice," she said to herself.
In the break between another volley of attacks, Amber reached into her bag, scrabbling around for a Sitrus berry to stave off the tiredness she felt weighing her down like an old school backpack stuffed with textbooks while preparing a burst of raw psychic power with her other hand.
Just as she released the blast, her hand brushed against a flat, smooth surface, and she felt a jolt of something flow through her, and the attack compressed significantly, shooting forward like an Extremespeed and blasting the helmet off of the now extremely surprised Delta.
This moment of surprise lasted longer for Amber than for the Delta, who lashed out with a wave of raw darkness that slammed her into the building, then another that slammed her already-falling form into the ground, causing pain to shoot up her spine as her legs reported severe damage.
It floated closer, gathering a ball of dark energy in front of its eyes and chittering in anticipation of dealing with the flying thing that kept hurting it.
It did not expect the metal-covered projectile that slammed it aside.
Focusing his power through the suit of armor he was now wearing, Mewtwo gathered an overcharged Psystrike between his hands. It's over.
The explosion that resulted could have been seen from Metchi Town proper, and sent the Volcarona flying through several trees before it crashed to a stop, unmoving.
Amber, are you okay? Mewtwo rushed over, hovering over the fallen woman.
"Ow." Amber pushed herself up into a sitting position, then looked down at her legs, which both had decidedly more bends than they should. "Gimme a sec."
She closed her eyes, then muttered a few words and her legs straightened out. After another repetition, she pushed herself to her feet, then held out her hand, calling her staff from where it had fallen after she had been blasted into the wall. "Good enough."
She dug around in her bag, then pulled out a Delta Ball and started clomping along into the forest, leaning more heavily on her staff than she had that morning.
Where are you going? By all rights, we should be going to a doctor! Mewtwo started after her.
"We need to catch that Volcarona." She continued forward, picking the Volcarona's helmet up psychically on her way to the Delta. After a moment, Mewtwo sighed and floated forward, followed closely by Mew.
While the fallen Delta was still conscious by the time they arrived, it was only barely, and it couldn't even muster the strength to use Levitate. The Delta Ball stilled quickly after drawing it in.
"Alright, Mewtwo. I think it's time we called in Looker, see if he could get any information out of this place." She yawned. "Once that happens I think I'm going home to sleep."
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Amber slept for the entire next day.By the time she got up, Looker had already compiled a dossier with data extracted from both the abandoned lab and the Helios City Base and sent it to her, which she began perusing after getting up. Apparently, he had found an extendable blade with a complex crossguard that sounded very much familiar to her.
At about midmorning, she was interrupted by a knocking on her door. Closing her computer, she pushed herself up, then walked over to the door, pulling it open to reveal Nora.
"Nora! Hi! What's going on?"
The green-haired girl raised a letter that she was holding in her left hand. "Cynthia gave me this to give you."
Amber took it, then gestured to the couch. "Come in, come in. Do you want something to drink?"
"Oh, um, just water." Amber opened a cupboard in the kitchen and took a glass out, then filled it with water from a pitcher on the counter.
After bringing the glass to Nora, Amber absently slit the envelope open, pulling the letter out. "So, how have you been? I know it's been a while."
"Oh, fine." She shrugged. "Cynthia's a tough teacher, but she is a good one."
"That's good. I'm glad you're…" Amber trailed off, eyes firmly fixed on the letter. "Oh, fuck all kinds of duck."
"Amber!" snapped Nora, frowning. "What about the kids that read this?"
Amber waved her off. "This is PG-13 equivalent, we get one F-bomb and I'm dropping that now. Besides," Amber pulled out Mewtwo's Poké Ball, then released him, "We've got bigger things to worry about."
What is it, Amber? asked Mewtwo, frowning.
"Charon's been broken out of prison." At the blank look from Mewtwo, Amber continued. "He's a scientist from Team Galactic. He's the one who figured out how to make the Red Chains that were involved in the events with the Creation Trio leading to their capture."
Mewtwo's eyes went wide. And Reukra has Palkia.
"And Reukra has Palkia." Amber sat down hard across from Nora. "Hoo boy. This is gonna get nasty."
"What are you going to do?" asked Nora.
Amber closed her eyes for a moment, then stood up, calling her staff to her from where it had fallen after she had sat down, and started towards her computer. "In the short term, I need to send an email to Ash. But in terms of bigger steps?" Amber turned back to Nora and gave her a lopsided grin. "I think it's about time I got Adam back."
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Alright, hope y'all enjoyed.This is the last fic I have in my collection over on AO3/FFN, so this collection is going on hiatus now.