Cast:
Taggarty Lee - Kamaitachi
Jill Laurent - Yzarc Drowsnam
Darryn Kellor - Living Arrow
"Nate!" Ace, one of the high ranking Team Deception members, had made his way into the science facilities. This place was sterile, white and nothing like the pokemon tunnels most of the resistance was going through. There weren't a whole lot of people here, since most of the scientists already cleared out. Ace's mission was to find Nate Guzman, a lower ranking Team Deception grunt (though with very powerful pokemon) and seek out the device used to force all pokemon to become level 50.
This device was extremely powerful. It was no replacement for evolution, or real training, and it would likely actually weaken most legendary pokemon, but it would serve to provide an instant boost of power to very weak pokemon, which would allow even the weakest Team Deception grunts to wreck some serious havoc.
"Yo," Nate popped his head from around the corner in one of the rooms, then saw who it was. "Ace?" The two had been on one mission together before, certainly the most frightening mission either had ever been on. The image of a Dusknoir holding up Ace's bodyless head and laughing all while in a dreamworld orchestrated by Darkrai, flowed back into Nate's head, and he could feel himself getting sick. "Shit, dude. Sorry, I can't- Gimme a sec."
"What's up? You okay?"
"Yeah, it's just-" Nate began. "I guess Omar and Miriam didn't tell you what happened after you died in your nightmare."
"Oh." Ace felt himself gulp loudly. "I don't, uh- If it's cool with you, I don't wanna talk about that. We need to focus on the mission."
"Yeah," Nate nodded. "There were a few scientists down here who tried to fight me off, but they were handled. Most of 'em bailed, but I'd wager there's a few more protecting the device itself."
"Well," Ace nodded. "At least we know they're not gonna run away with it."
"How do we know that?" Nate asked.
"The device is huge, man."
"Ah," Nate nodded. "So then, how were we gonna get it out of here?"
"My Machamp's gonna do the heavy lifting. No problem."
"You don't think the scientists have any strong pokemon?"
"I-" Ace began. "Shit. Yeah, we better get there."
Ace took the lead and Nate followed behind. With Ace focused on what was ahead, Nate took the opportunity to pull out his phone to see if his friend from outside had responded. This device was too powerful to be able to fall into the hands of Team Deception, and Nate planned on forcing the mission to fail. To do that, he'd need help.
A sharp whistle pierced the air as Taggarty Lee approached the dome. As he braced up against the frame of the door, his temporary teammate Togekiss floated down, alighting on his outstretched arm.
With his free hand, he flipped out his Pokedex, looking at the message.
"Arrived at the entrance. What now?"
There was a part of him that figured an ambush would be sprung at any time. It stood to sense that if Team Deception was involved, they'd take out people with any prior knowledge of them and their means. He ran through a mental checklist of people in his head. He doubted if Seiccan even knew if they existed at all, and the only other person he knew had contact with the Team was...
A sharp pang ripped through him for a moment as his thoughts hit Raven Amaranth, probably the closest person he'd actually even thought about having a relationship with. Shaking his head for a moment, he drew a concerned trill from the surprisingly empathic Togekiss.
"I'm fine, friend."
In order to distract himself from what would ultimately be a futile line of thinking, he flipped out the pokedex, scanning the pokeballs at his belt.
The tattooed man visibly relaxed as he saw Jill approach. As she drew up close, he gave her that was somewhere between a mix between a stern nod and a relieved smile. The Togekiss on his arm trilled gently at Jill's approach, chirruping happily at her.
"It doesn't matter who's wrong or right here...we've got a mission."
His Pokedex beeped insistently in his hand, and he gave Jill a rather significant look. Hopefully, he transferred the sense of the gravity of the situation via eye-contact.
"And there it is."
Jill was just taking in all the information that Tag was giving her. He gave her a list of six pretty powerful pokemon, with the guarantee that there were more. Her own roster was, in her opinion, weak comparatively. But apparently one of the guys, Nate Guzman, was going to throw the fight-Wait.
"Nate Guzman?" She heard him say "And prettier," recognized it, and chose to completely ignore it. Something else popped up in her mind. "I've fought him," she looked up at Tag, with probably one of the more confused looks on her face in the past few years. "He was my preliminary round in the tournament. Was he- He was pulling his punches then too, wasn't he? That fucker let me win."
She went over the roster Tag told her in her head once more. Kingler, Numel, Sneasel, Espeon, and Ursaring. Kingler and Sneasel checked out, but he had a different third from the others. What was that third? It was a poison type, she remembered because she was confident that it couldn't poison Vinyl, because he, too, was Poison. Arbok? No. "Seviper." She said, though it was likely Tag didn't know why. "Nate has a sixth pokemon. A Seviper."
"And yes," she added. "I got your back, Tag."
------------------
Nate got Tag's text and was waiting for the right opportunity to respond. He needed Ace to be distracted, but Ace just kept looking at him weird. "What?" Nate finally asked.
"You're the wrong person,"
"Uh," Nate shrugged. "I don't-"
"Pan was supposed to be down here. That was the plan," Ace said. "Pandora Gibbs was supposed to be down here with me. You were supposed to have been the one to set up the explosion. So, what happened? Why are you here?"
"I made the call," Nate said. "It was on me. I barely know Pan, so I wasn't comfortable with her being down here, on basically the most important part of the mission. Setting off the bomb is easy. I gave her instructions. No problem. Unless there's some reason that is a problem?"
"Not from my end," Ace shrugged. "Was just wonderin', man."
"Okay," Nate nodded. "Fair enough."
Nate was getting more and more suspicious, as he spoke to Ace, that Ace was a lot smarter than he let on. This was somewhat concerning, because it just seemed to him that Ace was the muscle. Omar was the leader. Miriam was the brains. But if the muscle is actually smart, he began to wonder how strong Miriam was. Maybe Miriam was actually the muscle? But then who was the wildcard?
He figured he'd just have to text from his pocket and hope he didn't have too many typos. Or that he accidentally sent it to Omar or something.
"You fought him, huh?" Tag tilted his head at this news. Jill seemed pretty peeved about it, but a part of him was quite convinced that she'd actually beaten Nate of her own accord. If Nate had been pulling his punches against her, then perhaps if Tag ever had to face Nate, he more than likely would lose.
"A Seviper, huh?" Tag's eyebrow raised. He couldn't be certain for sure, but this was quite possibly the first sign that Justin had kept his promise. Tactfully, or perhaps out of fear, Tag had never inquired as to Justin's end of that promise. There was no way Jill knew the possible significance of that revelation, but she had just given Tag an extra little bit of hope for his allies in their dangerous predicament. One little promise could mean the world to him.
A message beeped, and Tag flipped it up. The text seemed garbled, which meant that Nate was working under duress or in a hurry. He didn't have time for more messages. Hopefully, Nate would understand.
"Glad to hear it." Tag nodded firmly. "We've got an entrance up ahead, so let's head on down."
* * *
Tag and Jill made their way into the tunnels. Tag, for safety purposes, had his Excadrill leading the way. It stood to sense to have a Pokemon out, to save on time between summoning and first attack. Also, Excadrill had excellent defensive typing, and would hopefully resist any pre-emptive strikes. Likewise, he could always whip up a localized sandstorm to provide cover for their retreat. It seemed the best choice.
A sudden noise from one of the tunnels, and Excadrill immediately jumped into a fighting stance, ready to strike. Tag stood, hovering just by his Pokemon, glaring intently into the tributary hallway. A figure was moving towards them. Excadrill's movelist ran through Tag's head as he prepped for combat. The command for Rock Slide started to form on his lips when he recognized the figure moving towards them.
"Darryn?"
“Gallade, Close Combat!” Darryn cried, his borrowed Pokemon delivering a speedy barrage of deadly kicks and punches that launched the lioness with the flaming mane into the far wall. With a growl and a grumble, the species that Darryn had never seen before collapsed into an unconscious heap at the Gallade’s feet. Darryn reached back for his bag without thinking about it and found nothing but air. He chuckeld to himself and ran a hand over his face.
“Didn’t bring it, Daz.” He reminded himself slowly. “And these Pokemon probably aren’t wild so we cant catch them anyway…”
“Lade?” The knightly Pokemon returned to Darryn obediently, waiting for further orders. What a Pokemon. So bold, so courteous. Powerful and fast, this Pokemon had certainly been raised by a talented trainer somewhere and now here Darryn was, wishing he could keep it.
“Nice work, Gallade.” Darryn nodded to the Pokemon firmly. “Please, stay out of the Pokeball and come with me.”
“Gal gall.” A salute was the only response. Darryn inwardly groaned at the ridiculous nature of the Pokemon but secretly thanked his lucky stars that he got such a reliable donation from the mysterious swapping of his Pokeballs.
*Whereever you are, Lady – I’ll find you and the others.*
<Come, now.> Entei’s rumbling voice bloomed in Darryn’s head, reminding him that there were ore pressing issues waiting for his attention. <Turn right.>
“Okay okay.” Darryn muttered back, following the disembodied voice that spoke only in his mind. “Don’t need to yell…”
Descending further into the tunnels, Darryn had found a number of seemingly Fire-typed Pokemon and had managed to avoid any skirmishes until the most recent with the lioness. Maybe Entei had had something to do with the wide berth that the other Pokemon had given him as he had negotiated the network of tunnels? Maybe not. Maybe Darryn was clutching at straws.
With a deep breath, Darryn came to the doorway that Entei must have been referring to and paused at it before going through. The air coming from the other side was cooler and the corridor shone with pristine square tiles. Nothing else was remarkable to the Co-Ordinator and Gallade didn’t show any outward signs of protest that they shouldn’t go through.
<Here?>
<Yes.>
“Okay, let’s go, Gallade.” Darryn sighed as he stepped through and continued into the facility. They had gone barely two steps before the sound of feet on tiles reached their ears. In the near dark of the tunnel, Darryn squinted towards the sound and tensed automatically. Gallade practically bristled at his side, ready to strike.
*Psycho Cut, Leaf Blade, Close Combat, Night Slash, Teleport.* Darryn reminded himself of the moves Gallade had which he had commited to memory. There was no way he could keep all of the moves of all six borrowed Pokemon in his head so only the most powerful or useful techniques had made the short list which he rolled through his mind like a broken record player.
“Darryn?”
“Wha- who- Tag?” Darryn stammered, tension seaping out of his bones like treacle. Gallade fidgeted with anticipation. “Tag Lee?”
Sure enough, out of the gloom came the well-built trainer and a sturdy looking mole of a Pokemon. Although still kind of scary, Darryn had never felt better seeing Tag’s tattooed face and suddenly everything felt a little better than it had a moment before. With them, another trainer appeared. She was probably around the same age as Tag but carried herself differently – firmly and with purpose in her step that Tag couldn’t match even on his best day. Whoever she was, the face seemed familiar to Darryn but there was no way for him to place her… Maybe she had been one of the faces up on the boards during the tournament? Whoever, the more people that could help him get out the better.
“Tag! You’re down here to help find any survivors, too?” Darryn asked ignorantly. “I’ve had no luck and the shaft I came down got sealed again before anyone else could follow. I was just-“
*Following an Entei?! What are you meant to say?! Lassie led you here?!*
“I mean, can I join you guys?”
Tag's hand flashed out, stopping in front of his tensing Excadrill. The Steel Mole visibly relaxed, watching Darryn coolly and clacking his claws idly.
"Darryn." A genuinely happy smile appeared on Tag's tattooed visage. The older man looked genuinely relieved to see another friend. While he only ever seemed to run into the young co-ordinator when the world was ending, it didn't stop him from looking pleased when Darryn asked to join him.
"Absolutely" Tag nodded, looking over at the Gallade. Darryn apparently fared well in the crazy-swap, at least having received one fully evolved Pokemon and not a team of Six Level 50 Magikarps. "Darryn, this is Jill Laurent. Jill? Meet Darryn. We'll need all the help we can get. Here's the deal:
"Team Deception is going after something big, and it's our job to stop them. We'll be facing Ace and Nate. Nate is on our side, but we can't let them know that. We take them on, Nate's going to throw the fight. He's smart, so he can at least make it look like he's not holding back." Tag took a moment to collect his thoughts. "We can trust him. I trust him."
It felt like a heavy thing to say. Tag, not being someone who trusted easily, especially with people whom he'd met under questionable circumstances, found it quite difficult to say that he trusted Nate. But, the fact of the matter was that he did, never mind that he really had no choice on the matter.
The Seviper, he hoped, would be the proof of their trust.
"The other guy, Ace, is a high ranking member, and presumably has some very powerful Pokemon at his disposal." Under normal circumstances, they probably would not have stood a chance...or perhaps because they didn't have their normal teams, they stood less of a chance? The former Dragon Trainer now felt quite unsure as to their odds of success. Nevertheless, they had to try.
For a moment, Tag looked at Darryn curiously. The guy's story seemed...not entirely fleshed out. The tiny possibility that Darryn was a member of Team Deception crept into his ever-calculating brain, which meant that there was the potential that he'd just given up Nate's biggest secret.
On the one hand, he and Darryn had gone through the harrowing affair of Starfall Field, working selflessly together to rescue Lyla, and get as many people to the cave as possible. In crisis, peoples' true colours were revealed, and Darryn, he felt, was a good person.
But so were Nate and Justin. To that extent, so were Omar, Miriam, and Ace. They, too, had shared a horrifying event, where the Ace, Miriam, and Omar had all died in front of his very eyes. They had all worked together to escape the horrid nightmare world, but such a thing couldn't necessarily make them good people? But Nate and Justin were good people...but they were still involved in the attack-
There were too many shades of morality to interrogate. For a moment, Tag darkly entertained the thought of sitting down everyone he knew and torturing them until they answered properly. The idea, while entertaining, disturbed him a bit. He had never been that person; that's just what he'd told himself over the past few years. Taggarty Lee was no villain.
So, with Jill and Darryn, he'd just have to put faith in the fact that they weren't going to turn on him. Preparing a safeguard against it, however, seemed like a natural, albeit suspicious, move.
"Okay...we're all clear." Staring at his two teammates for this mission, he let out a sigh and turned to continue down the hallway. "C'mon guys; let's try and catch up to them."
Jill was slightly comforted by the fact that Tag appeared to trust this Darryn guy. When they were introduced, she simply nodded her head towards him in acknowledgement. She wasn't looking to make more friends; her mission was very specific.
She nodded at Tag's suggestion to keep moving as well, and so the trio continued, following Tag's lead.
------
"Hey Nate," Ace began as the two continued through the facilities. "Can I ask you a question, man?"
"Uh yeah," Nate nodded. "Go for it."
"You got to see Omar's nightmare, right? When we were in Darkrai's dreamworld."
"Yeah, I was there."
"What was it like?" Ace asked. "It's crazy to me, imagining that guy could be scared of anything."
"It was just a series of natural disasters," Nate replied. "The world was basically falling apart all around us, and there wasn't anything any of us could do. So I'm guessing-"
"He's afraid to lose control," Ace shook his head and chuckled. "No amount of strength or charisma can overcome the apocalypse. So how'd you guys get through it?"
"The guy just closed his eyes and concentrated," Nate said. "He just took control over the dream world. It didn't make sense. No one else could do it. But he fuckin' did it."
"Omar's crazy, man," Ace said. "Dude scares the shit out of me."
Nate gulped silently. That hit home much harder than Ace could have anticipated. Nate's nightmare, after all, was being targeted by Team Deception. For the time being, Omar was on his side, but he didn't imagine that would last much longer. At this point, it felt like the only thing which was going to take out Omar was the apocalypse, and even that wasn't a sure thing anymore.
"Yo, you think this room is it?" Ace continued as they reached the end of the hallway. He didn't wait for Nate to respond to open up the door. The room was filled with computers all hooked up to a larger, central, spherical device. It looked to be powered by a combination of human technology and pokemon power. As Ace mentioned earlier, it was too large for a human to carry. They'd need Machamp. "Yeah. Yeah, that's it."
"Should we unplug everything before we try to move it?" Nate asked, figuring it would at least buy them some time for Tag, and whomever he brought, to get there and contest it.
"I guess so," Ace shrugged. "I'm just glad we didn't have to fight anybody to get here."
"Yeah, me too." Nate nodded.
------
When Tag, Darryn and Jill made it to the final stretch of hallway before the leveling device, they were able to clearly see Nate and Ace at the end of the hallway, finishing up unplugging everything from the large, spherical device. "I'll take Nate," Jill said. "I've fought him before, and beat him, so it won't be surprising for me to beat him again."
------
"Looks like some heroes found us," Ace said as he noticed the trio down the hall. "Let's deal with them, then we can finish up here."
Nate nodded, and the two left the room with the device to confront the trio, towards the middle of the hallway, some distance away from the device itself. This was a strategic decision on Ace's part, as he didn't want the device destroyed during the battle. However, as they got closer to each other, Ace recognized Tag.
"Tag Lee," he shook his head. "I gotta admit, I'm a little surprised to see ya here. You seemed a little too smart to be makin' enemies out of us."
*Team Deception!? How do these guys know about Team Deception!?* Darryn’s ease was lost, his muscles tensing involuntarily. The criminals who went by that name had crossed paths with Darryn ad his friends before and not once had he thought he would come out of their encounter alive or in the very least hospitalised. First Mount Carello with the forced-evolution machine, then in the woods between Arasam and Pallet where they had tried to do something to Tuesday… That was when he had…
*Don’t think about it!* Darryn chided himself, trying to maintain an air of calm around his composed peers. *You did it to save Tuesday!*
“Ace and Nate?” Darryn muttered to himself. The names didn’t ring any bells but Tag sure seemed familiar with them… What was his involvement with Team Deception? The thought that Tag Lee was a criminal was one that Darryn had no time to entertain after the way he had acted at Starfall Field – no bad guy could be that selfless. With all of his concerns, Darryn had no room to wriggle out of the helpless situation he was in and so fell into step behind Tag and Jill.
"Me?" Tag pointed at himself, "Smart?" He couldn't help but laugh at the statement. Taggarty Lee had been called many things in his life (including Tiki-man), but he'd never been called smart. He knew how to battle and how to survive, and that was about it. Perhaps to an oaf like Ace, he probably seemed smart in comparison.
Darryn stepped up to take on Ace with the powerful looking Gallade at the ready and a fairly good retort. Darryn's camera phone snapped a quick picture, and it took everything he had inside to not shoot a worried look over at Nate. He steeled his poker face, staring resolutely at Ace, secretly praying that the man was too focused on Darryn's picture-taking to notice Tag's discomfort. Sure, there was no signal down in the caves, but Tag had never used a cell phone...that was not something he'd ever thought about.
As the conversations drew to a close, and it seemed that battle was about to happen, Tag found himself staring at Ace's neck. The main image that still floated in his mind usually consisted of Ace's lifeless, horrifed face, and no body to speak of. For a moment, he wanted to shake the image from his mind, but he wondered if he kept staring at Ace's neck, would it make the man uncomfortable? Was there a meta-game to all of this?
Placing a hand on Darryn's and Jill's shoulders, Tag nodded grimly to the two of them, hopefully as a sign of reassurance.
"Alright guys. I've got your backs. When we're done cleaning up here, drinks are on me."
A confident grin snuck onto his face as he turned his gaze pointedly at Ace. With a slow motion, Tag raised his thumb and drew it across his neck, making sure to keep eye-contact with the opponent.
With that, he and Excadrill stepped back from the center to clear out a battlefield for the four battlers. If things were going poorly, he'd jump in, but for the mean time, he had to figure out which machine was the leveling device. Then, while all of their attentions were focused on the battle, he and Excadrill would destroy it. He couldn't afford to run around causing wanton destruction with the loaned Pokemon; he still wanted to get out alive.
After Darryn's retort, Ace took a figurative step back, and everyone else could see that he was pondering something. He had this snarky, yet confused look on his face, so it was clear it was of little importance. "Yo, if I was too arrogant, wouldn't I just not give a fuck who my enemies are?" He shrugged. "It was a good try, though, kid."
Fortunately, the heroes were already lined up appropriately to the villains for who they wanted to fight. Jill stood directly in front of Nate, Darryn in front of Ace, and Tag quickly made himself scarce. Nate was hoping Ace wouldn't notice that, but at the same time, he was starting to learn not to underestimate the guy.
Ace made eye contact with Darryn as he tossed out his first pokeball, signifying the beginning of their duel.
"Hey, I-" Nate began when he finally got to focus on Jill, as they were about to fight. "We fought before, right? In the tournament?"
"I beat you pretty good."
"You beat me okay," Nate laughed. "I wouldn't say 'pretty good,' though. Truth be told, I wasn't tryin' too hard. I wasn't supposed to get past the first round. You got a free win, congrats. How'd your second battle go?"
"I went against Tag."
"Sorry to hear it."
By this time, Ace and Darryn's battle had begun, and Ace noticed the chit chat. "Yo!" He yelled. "The fuck, Nate?"
"Right," Nate nodded. "Let's see if you can hold up when I'm trying."
Nate tossed out his first pokemon, Ursaring, while Jill threw out the only one of her new pokemon with whom she had fought, Onix. Being Rock type, she had the advantage, but the sheer power of Ursaring probably meant it had some fighting moves up its sleeve. She knew he'd try to let her win, but she also knew he couldn't be too obvious about it, so she needed to give it her best, and not make assumptions like that.
Darryn inwardly kicked himself. If it could be avoided, he didn’t really want to battle with Pokemon he wasn’t familiar with and this Ace guy seemed more than competent if the treacle-thick confidence in his Emotaglow was anything to go by. Why did all of these crazy things happen to Darryn!? Could his psychic abilities be acting like a danger-magnet?! Ever since he got the damn itching in his eyes, his life seemed to be one perilous event after another!
Darryn nodded back to Tag and offered Jill a sideways look. The older trainer was incredibly focused and seemingly eager to battle the guy called Nate. It was understandable – they all wanted their precious Pokemon back, after all.
Ace threw out a Pokeball and Gallade flinched, stepping forward and blocking Darryn’s path with a protective bladed arm. Light flashed and a Pokemon emerged with four arms bulging with muscle – a Machamp. Gallade narrowed his eyes and bristled visibly. Darryn quickly reached out a hand to take hold of the Psychic-type’s arm.
<No. Not yet.> Darryn signalled with his mind. <He’s too sure of himself not to be hiding something else – I’ll need you for the trump card.>
“Let’s see how this one does,” Darryn hefted a borrowed Pokeball, “go, Stantler!”
Ace made a lofty, sarky comment but Darryn didn’t have time to listen – recalling just what all of his temporary Pokemon could do had to come first if he was going to have any sort of battleplan.
*Hypnosis, Confuse Ray, Me First, Sand Attack, Zen Headbutt.* Darryn rapidly reminded himself of the few moves he had commited to memory for the deer Pokemon as she materialised proudly in the corridor. *We’re at a type disadvantage, but- there it is!*
With her antlers burning a brilliant red, Darryn’s Stantler let loose her natural ability – Intimidate – which resulted in a temporary crimson haze settling over Ace’s Machamp. Whatever power the Fighting-type had would be reduced slightly but Darryn doubted that would matter all that much against a Normal Pokemon like Stantler.
“Stantler! Confuse Ray, now!” Darryn ordered quickly, running through his other options of Pokemon should Stantler fall too soon. *Minccino, Roselia, Probopass, Kingler… Let’s hope you don’t all have to see the outside of your Pokeballs today…*
Crossing his arms, he kept his eye on the battles, and tried to at least appear like he would spring in at any moment. While he kept his focus on the Pokemon that were appearing on the field, Machamp, Stantler, Ursaring and Onix, he kept an eye on the machinery all around the room. The main problem with his plan was that...without Ace or Nate to indicate which device it was by going for it, Tag had no idea what to do. With any luck, Jill and Darryn would just win, and then Tag could smack the information out of the cocky Ace.
That seemed like a much better plan.
As he turned his attention away from the battle again to give another look around the room for anything that possibly had the label: "THIS IS THE IMPORTANT DEVICE YOU'RE LOOKING FOR, TAG", he noticed yet another person was standing patiently in an entrance. Leaned up against the frame of the door, the newcomer's eyes met Tag's immediately, and the latter felt his blood simultaneously boil and turn to ice all at once.
"Omar."
"Tag. Didn't figure you a heroic type."
The former Dragon trainer skipped the banter entirely. He wasn't on the mission to make light or make friends; he had a job to do, and now there was the biggest possible obstacle in front of him. A man he'd watched stop a series of natural disasters with nothing more than his mind. Part of him dreaded the possibility of confrontation, while the other reveled in the task of facing Omar. But he didn't have any of his own Pokemon this time, and the stakes were high.
In lieu of sniping back a witticism at Omar, as Tag wasn't really the sort of person to snap one-liners in general. His comeback came in the form of a single phrase:
"Horn Drill."
Excadrill started for a second, noting that Tag had ordered a potentially fatal move on a human. After a moment of hesitation, the Subterrene Pokemon ran forward, throwing himself forward and rotating like a drill.
Unphased by the action, Omar stood calmly in the doorway, not bothering to change his posture. As the Excadrill tore forward, poised to tear him apart, a blast of water came rocketing over Omar before angling downwards and slamming full force into the Mole Pokemon from above. Tag watched impassively as Lily, if he recalled correctly, easily knocked the powerful Ground Pokemon aside with an Aqua Jet.
"Slash!"
"Hydro Pump."
The former Dragon Trainer winced as his makeshift ally roared in pain. It came as no surprise to him that Omar's Pokemon knew some incredibly powerful attacks, and he hadn't been expecting Omar to hold back. What he hadn't expected was that his Pokemon would go down so easily. This would've been a difficult match, even with his own team. Could he manage to utilize his tricky technical style with a team of Pokemon that lacked most of the status coverage that he usually employed, or would he have been better off drawing back on his days as a Dragon Trainer, and simply employing brute force? He had to be perfectly ready for this opponent, but it seemed now that his own ambivalance could quickly lead to his downfall. He had to make a choice, and he had to make a strong one.
"Excadrill, return. Dratini, you're up. Dragon Rush!"
Nate vs. Jill. Ursaring vs. Onix.
Two devastatingly intimidating pokemon, but the match was a little more than power, here. Jill was fighting alongside a pokemon she barely knew. She was in one fight with Onix before, and that's not enough to develop any kind of relationship. Nate, on the other hand, had been with Ursaring since it was a Teddiursa, back when he first joined Team Deception. On top of that, Nate wanted to lose, and Jill wanted to win. She wondered which would be the stronger force.
He couldn't hold back in any obvious sense, though. Ace fought directly next to him. "Hammer Arm!"
"Dig!" Jill called out, simultaneously. Given the odd situation of the fight, she needed to know how strong Nate was going to hit. She needed to be completely aware of who she was up against, and how to fight him, and stalling the fight seemed to be a good way of going about that. So, before Ursaring was able to maul the rock snake, he crashed through the floor, digging into the earth, and avoiding the hammer arm.
As she brought her right hand up to her face to push the hair out of the way, she felt the air from her nostrils as she exhaled just a little bit harder than usual. Nate didn't appear to be holding back. Hammer Arm was Ursaring's strongest attack against Onix. He could evidently sense her confusion as he gave her a slight shrug. Of course he wasn't going to hold back. Not even a little bit. Maybe he'd find a situation to reasonably throw the fight, but she couldn't rely on that. He'd made that clear.
Onix dug his way towards Ursaring and burst forth from the facility floor. Though the bear took damage, it countered immediately with another Hammer Arm, dealing a significant amount of damage to the snake, but not enough to knock it out. Onix's defense was incredible. Jill could see that Ursaring was winded from two Hammer Arms and was moving notably slower. Onix, on the other hand, looked just a little more agile. His ability, Weak Armor, meant his defenses got lighter each time he got hit, but at the same time, his speed would increase.
So, in essence, Onix's speed would get higher and higher, while Ursaring's would get lower and lower. But his attacks would hit harder, and Onix really had no way of doing significant damage, not to Ursaring at least. But if this was going to be a long battle, she might as well have him do something significant. "Onix, use Stealth Rock."
It quickly shot chunks of rock in the air surrounding Ursaring. The bear pokemon countered with another Hammer Arm, which, due to Onix's lowered defense, was enough to knock him out. Jill noted that he did well, taking that hit, and perhaps if she were more prepared, he could have been more effective. He was also unevolved.
She called out her next pokemon, Hitmontop. She noticed Nate smirk, as he was very familiar with this pokemon, but she didn't take too much heed. Unlike Nate's partner, Jill knew a little bit about strategy and battle. It took Justin a very long time to realize the effectiveness of Fake Out Mach Punch on a Technician Hitmontop. Jill had come up with the plan during their walk through the facilities.
"Hitmontop, Fake Out!"
Nate had predicted it, though. As soon as he saw Hitmontop, he knew to expect that combo, as he'd seen it done a hundred times. Still, he found that this would be a subtle opportunity to throw the match in Jill's favor without being obvious. So, instead of doing the smart thing and switching to his Espeon, Whip, he kept Ursaring in the fight. It was definitely an odd feeling, letting his pokemon take damage, but he also knew they could take it, and were willing to. "Ursaring, use Thrash!"
Its most powerful attack, Thrash, would have done devastating damage if Hitmontop had not startled it by clapping its feet directly in front of the bear's face. "Mach Punch!" Jill called out. Before Nate could even state a command, Hitmontop had punched with such immense speed and accuracy that Ursaring was out.
Nate called it back and sent out Whip, his Psychic type Espeon. It was the correct choice against Hitmontop, so he made it. Whip took some damage as he entered the field, Onix's stealth rocks hitting him as he faced down the Fighting type.
Jill had a correct move here as well. Rather than trying to fight this at a type disadvantage, she called back Hitmontop, and switched to Houndoom. Switching into a Psychic move, to which it was immune, was almost as good as switching into Fire (which would actually boost its power). Nate smiled when Espeon's Psychic attack was completely ineffective against the hell hound. Well, he wasn't going to let Whip just get torn up.
He switched to Pinch, his Kingler, who also took some damage from Stealth Rocks. The switching game was certainly playing to Jill's competitive advantage here, and she very quickly found that she appreciated that move. Nate had expected a Dark type attack, Dark Pulse or Crunch perhaps, something which Pinch could take. What he didn't quite expect was that Houndoom used Nasty Plot, massively increasing its offensive power.
"Oh." Nate sighed. "Pinch, use Bubblebeam!"
"Dark Pulse."
Dark Pulse, with its increased damage due to Nasty Plot, did significant damage to Pinch. Not enough to knock her out, but it hurt. Bubblebeam hurt too, though not nearly as bad. He knew the next Dark Pulse would knock her out, but it was just going to have to happen. It hit, and she was out. Nate sent out his next pokemon, whom he thought stood a chance.
"Da Bomb, go! Use Earthquake!" Da Bomb was Nate's former Numel, yet now it was a Camerupt. His second pokemon ever, Da Bomb was fiercely loyal, following Nate's instructions even if it meant hurting itself.
"Dark Pulse!" Jill called.
Houndoom's Dark Pulse went first, dealing so much damage to the Camerupt, but not knocking it out, not completely. Da Bomb's following Earthquake made the entire facility shake, but it focused its center directly beneath Houndoom. The Ground type attack was able to knock Houndoom out, instantly.
Jill's Dewott was next. With Da Bomb having taken significant damage already from boosted Dark Pulse, and Stealth Rocks, Dewott's Aqua Tail was enough to finish him off.
Nate's next pokemon to be impaled by the Stealth Rocks was his Seviper, whom he had named Rebel. "Rebel, use Poison Tail!"
"Razor Shell!" Jill knew that it would probably take a few hits to bring down Seviper, since Dewott wasn't fully evolved. If Razor Shell was able to reduce Rebel's defense, then she could likely reduce the amount of hits it would take.
What neither of them particularly expected, though, was that Poison Tail landed a critical strike. As Seviper was slightly faster, Dewott was out before it even got to use Razor Shell. Jill called the pokemon back and sent out a pokemon she knew could handle Seviper's poison attacks. Aggron.
Nate had no immediate answer to Aggron. His remaining pokemon were Espeon, Seviper and Weavile. None of these pokemon could switch into Aggron safely, so he'd have to accept another loss. However, Seviper was faster, he knew, so Rebel could get off one attack before being utterly devastated. "Swagger!"
Aggron felt a sharp boost in power, which quite possibly went to his head. Not entirely sure how it happened, it was clear he was confused by it. Nevertheless, he followed through with his command. "Head Smash!" This absolutely ridiculously powerful attack normally caused damage to the attacker as well. Aggron was just so strong, though, that it didn't take recoil. Rebel was out.
Whip the Espeon was next, unable to damage Aggron significantly with Psychic, and immediately knocked out by another Head Smash. Ninja the Weavile, though incredibly agile, simply had no way of dealing with this pokemon. Even though Aggron's swagger caused him to trip up for a second, it didn't matter. Head Smash hit Ninja harder than she'd ever been hit. She was out, and Nate found himself without any pokemon remaining.
"Well." Nate shrugged. "I guess it's up to you, Ace."
“Stantler, return!” Darryn recalled his fallen doe and narrowed his eyes at the muscle-pumping Machamp that had just delivered the finishing blow. Well, the ‘finishing’ blow was also the ‘starting’ blow so, really, he should have regarded it as the ‘only blow’ but that would suggest that the Machamp had not suffered at all during the fight.
*Confuse Ray did the trick for a while and Stantler’s speed let her hit twice with Zen Headbutt before they managed to counter attack. Sure, her power was less than that thing’s but there’s no way he’s full of energy right now.*
With Jill’s Onix taking up much of the room, Darryn found himself and Ace naturally moving further away from them to let their own combatants do battle. Positioned slightly apart, Darryn could get a sideways view of what was happening with his apparent new ally and things were already swinging in her favour.
*But I cant afford to be complacent now…*
“Hey, kid!” Ace’s patronising, self-assured tone really pissed Darryn off. Who the hell did this guy think he was?! “What’s the big battle plan?”
*I can’t send Minccino or Probopass – they’re at too much of a disadvantage right now…*
“Go, Roselia!” Darryn shouted as he threw the ball, summoning the thorny plant Pokemon into the tech room. The tiny ballerina emerged with a confident spin, throwing her flowers wide in an aggressive stance.
“Ha! A weed for a weed?!” Ace ran a hand through his hair languidly. “Stop wasting my time.”
*My sister is a high-ranking Trainer for the Celdaon City Gym – I know exactly what a Roselia can do and just how weedy they are.* Darryn mentally spat.
“Roselia! Stun Spore, now!” Darryn didn’t skip a beat, his borrowed Pokemon launching into motion almost instantly. With a neat leap and spin, the rose Pokemon poured out a flurry of golden dust that rained upon the Machamp thickly. Ace audibly grunted.
“Machamp, use-“
“Magical Leaf, go!” Darryn interrupted, the speedy plant landing and firing in one smooth motion. Petals burst forth from the win roses on its arms, glittering with a mystical energy as they homed in on their target to slash and cut into its bulging body. The Machamp shielded itself with all fours arms, paralysis binding it to the spot as the rain of foiliage hacked and cut into the exposed flesh of the Fightling-type, but to no avail as the damage built up and knocked the humanoid down.
“Return.” Ace held up a Pokeball.
“How’s that for a weed?” Darryn goaded Ace, sneering while the foe Pokemon was recalled. “Now, what’s your big battle plan?” *Dick.*
The battles around him ceased to exist for the moment. Tag watched intently as Dratini and Floatzel blasted about the room. Dratini, while using the more powerful Dragon Rush, seemed to be having a difficult time against the faster Floatzel's Ice Fang.
As the two continued to flash around the narrow battlefield, Tag determinedly kept his eyes on the combatants. He felt Omar's eyes searching his out from across the room. But Tag had worked with Omar before, and while he had a healthy respect for the Team Deception Boss, he figured that if he made eye contact it would be all over. Omar's confidence would overrun Tag's battle spirit in an instant, and Tag couldn't afford to give Omar any advantages.
Tag winced as he heard Dratini cry out. He watched the little Dragon Pokemon slam into the ground, pinned under the weight of Floatzel's Ice Fang. The recall beam shot out, recalling the defeated Dragon Pokemon to the ball. Plucking out the Dive Ball from his belt, he threw it towards the field.
"Squirtle!". His remaining choices were Togekiss, Golett, Squirtle, and Pichu. With the little electric mouse virtually a non-combatant, his options were quite slim. Floatzel had taken plenty of damage from Dratini, and the other two possessed weaknesses to Floatzel's main attacks, so he'd have to use Squirtle to stall them out.
As the Tiny Turtle appeared on the field, it immediately flexed its tiny little muscles. However, once its oddly familiar gun show, its attention was immediately off of the battle. Tag frowned, not having noted such distracted behaviour from earlier.
"Squirt!"
The turtle broke stance and immediately ran towards Darryn, an overjoyed look on his features.
As Tag watched the Squirtle dash towards Darryn, he immediately remembered the name of the Pokemon he had summoned to the field.
"Victor!"
"Aqua Jet. Double Hit."
As Victor's back was towards Omar, the Team Deception Operative wasted no time in capitalizing on the match. While Tag feared he would, it still caught him off guard. It wasn't that the match was an honourable one. Honour had no place here, and Tag should have been more prepared.
Before Victor reached Darryn, the Floatzel burst into his side covered in a veil of water. Before the slower Squirtle could even hit the ground, the Floatzel continued his forward momentum, striking the Tiny Turtle Upwards with his tails, then flashing up and slashing downwards with them once again.
Victor slammed heavily into the floor, crying in pain.
Without bothering to explain himself, Tag simply issued the next command:
"Roselia, Magical Leaf!"
While not the most orthodox plan, Tag needed every advantage, and even this quick switch would hopefully throw Omar for a quick loop. After all, Victor was Darryn's Pokemon, and Roselia was a borrowed one.
But his gambit didn't pay off. The Roselia looked at Tag and Darryn confused, giving Team Deception lot yet another opening.
Omar wasted no time in capitalizing.
"Floatzel, pin them down with Swift." He gave a sideways nod to Ace, who, without looking, nodded in turn before issuing his command.
“Squirt!”
Darryn’s ears pricked up as he heard the familiar cry of one of his Pokemon and, in his excitement, turned away from the Roselia to find his Squirtle mid-battle with the Floatzel that Tag had been battling. The relief that his Pokemon was alive and OK flooded Darryn instantly but was soon followed by a heavy confusion whcih rooted him to the spot. Before he realised what Tag was doing, their battles were instantly transformed with their Trainers’ momentary stumble and Darryn found himself once again on the backfoot.
“Floatzel, pin them down with Swift.”
“Go, use Iron Head, Agrron!”
“Wait, wha-?” Darryn stammered, his head snapping back and forth. His opponent, Ace, had summoned a monstrous bipedal Pokemon covered with metallic horns and plates that immediately lowered its head and began to charge at Roselia and Victor like an out-of-control steam train. At the same time, the Floatzel rained Swift stars towards Roselia and Victor, making them unable to move out of the Iron Armor Pokemon’s path.
“Roselia, use Magical Leaf to keep the Swift at bay!” Darryn didn’t know why Tag had his Squirtle but there was no way he was going to stand back and not work with his own Pokemon. “And Victor, hit that Aggron with your Hydro Pump!”
With a flurry of glittering leaves bursting from the Roselia’s petals to shoot down the Swift rain, Victor jumped between Roselia and the Aggron to withdraw into his shell and let loose his most powerful Water-type attack. The forceful jet rocketed out of his shell in a torrent that struck the Aggron head-on but did nothing to prevent the thing from crashing right intothem.
“Squiiiir!”
“Rooo!”
“Roselia, return!” Darryn recalled the Rose mid-air. There was simply no way she’d be getting up from a hit like that but Victor’s hard shell would be enough to protect him for a little longer. And, if Victor was back and ready to battle, Darryn wouldn’t be picking another Pokemon over him to battle alongside. “Tag, let me battle with Victor – we’re more in-sync than I am with any of these other Pokemon and I know his moves better than anyone!” Tag gave a confirmatory nod and selected another Pokeball. Darryn’s brow furrowed as his Squirtle found his feet, rubbing his head tenderly where that Aggron had hit him so hard.
*Time to take out that Floatzel.*
“Victor, Glitter Spin!” Darryn commanded, reaching back to grab his borrowed Gallade’s arm.
<Gallade, use Teleport to grab Victor then throw him as hard as you can at that Floatzel!>
Darryn’s Squirtle gave a battle cry as he sucked back into his shell and performed an Iron Defense / Rapid Spin combo. Dazzling lights flickered and span off of his shell like a disco ball as he whirled at high speed then leapt into the air to corkscrew straight at Omar’s Floatzel. The weasel braced itself, preparing another attack with narrowed eyes just as the bold form of Gallade flickered in between the two Pokemon, grabbed Victor and disappeared. The Floatzel gave a start, its eyes widening in shock before any sort of realisation could take hold.
“GAL!” A primal roar from behind was the only warning the Floatzel had before the Iron-hard spinning shell of Victor was catapulted directly into its back.
“SQUIRTLE!”
“Yes!” Darryn punched the air, “Excellent, Victor!”
“Omar!” Ace’s voice sounded from the back of the room. Darryn had almost forgotten that the cocky asshole was still there but dismissing him so soon would be a big mistake, especially if he had more Pokemon like that Machamp and Aggron. “Omar, I’m lettin’ loose,” Darryn turned his head to find Ace had drawn free a gaudy medallion worn on a chain around his neck and it was glowing with an eerie light, “you might wanna clear the area. Go, Aggron!”
And with that, Ace’s Aggron began to evolve.
Jill and Nate's battle had just ended, fortunately with three of Jill's pokemon still conscious. One of those was an unevolved Nidoran, however, so really she only had two at the ready, and Aggron was hurt (mostly due to his own confusion, but it was still a big hit).
So, while she was initially expecting to jump into combat to help Darryn against Ace, the timing was way off. Her and Nate both backed away from that battle as Ace's Aggron became something different. It was something neither of them had ever seen.
They found themselves with their backs against the nearest wall, looking at this monstrosity in front of them, somehow bending to the command of Ace. Jill tilted her head towards Nate, her former opponent. "The hell is that?"
"I-" Nate didn't really know how to answer, as he was just as shocked as her. "Aggron doesn't evolve."
"Yeah, except I'm looking at some fairly compelling evidence which says it does."
"This is beyond me," Nate said frankly. "Whatever this is, I wasn't involved." Then he remembered a foe he faced once before, one whom he was unable to beat, but simply had to run away from. There was science at play here, high level tech, likely created through experimentation on live pokemon. Something like that could only have been taken out by the most either sadistic or heartless person Nate had ever met.
But Mondo would have meant nothing to Jill, so he kept it to himself. Justin would need to know, and probably Pan and - He had to think for a second to remember Douken's name - Douken. They all knew Mondo, and what he was capable of. And if any one of them had seen this evolved Aggron as he did, they would all agree that the mad Doctor was behind it.
"Do you think it can be beat?" Jill asked.
"Well, that dude's not gonna be able to take it without help." Nate said. "I'm out of pokemon, but you have a few left, yeah?"
Jill couldn't take her eyes of the thing, but she finally sighed. "Yeah." She moved forward, summoning Hitmontop. It was likely still Steel/Rock, which meant Fighting was their best bet at bringing it down. Nidoran would be completely useless, and she couldn't see her weakened and unevolved Aggron being able to do anything to its beefed up counterpart.
Tag's blunder had cost both him and Darryn some momentum. He cursed himself silently for not only setting back his match with Omar with the risky gambit, but also for shaking up Darryn as well. It always seemed so flawless when people worked in tandem, syncing up in such perfect ways. He and Darryn had done so quite wonderfully (if he did say so himself), protecting people from flaming fireballs from the sky at Starfall field.
But this was battle, and he had no right to interfere in Darryn's.
Luckily, the co-ordinator possessed remarkable skill, and reuniting him with his own Pokemon had been the correct move. Darryn quickly took charge of both Roselia and Squirtle, and launched an excellent counter-offensive against Ace's Aggron while simultaneously repelling the Swift from Floatzel that had pinned them both down.
Tag gave a confirmatory nod to Darryn, reaching down to his Pokeball belt and drawing one out. Darryn quickly took out Omar's Floatzel, and Tag found himself flushed with humiliation. The Bane of Blackthorn, the feared Dragon Tamer whose terrifying reputation had even leaked over to Furoh (by way of Darius Dovakin), had yet to take out one of Omar's Team.
Ace, however, had other plans. With Omar's Pokemon removed from the field, he...
A stunned silence filled the room for a moment after the traditional jolting noise of an evolution. The silence quickly vanished as searing and crackling energy filled the room. Aggron was...evolving?
Never in all of his years of training Pokemon had he seen a fully evolved Pokemon evolve once more.
Omar gently stepped aside, his eyes still firmly affixed on his opponent. Tag, at least, had the excuse of staring hard ath the evolving Aggron to meet Omar's eyes this time. The man had successfully beaten Tag mentally. It didn't matter that Tag was under tremendous amounts of duress, between not knowing where his own Pokemon were, Electrode falling from the sky, and being secretly recruited to take on Team Deception. Omar had his mission, and his mission simply evolved as well to include Tag's elimination.
"Togekiss!"
Now this...for lack of better term, Super Aggron, had fully materialized, and looked even more formidable than before. The steel plates, while durable before, seemed nigh impenetrable now. Tag couldn't help but feel the sense of impending doom.
But he wouldn't cower, not now. It appeared that Omar was giving space for Ace to let loose. That meant, at least for now, that Tag, Darryn, and Jill could focus on taking it down. But he had to keep Omar in his periphery. Deception was his game, and he was free to sneak back in at any time.
Togekiss was hardly as mobile as possible in the room. While she had free reign of the aerial space, it appeared that Aggron's reach could still easily take her down. Jill had summoned Hitmontop, and Darryn still had Victor on the field. He needed to make openings for them.
"Togekiss, Thunder Wave!"
If this Uber-Aggron followed the same trend as its evolutionary line, it made sense that it would possess incredible physical defense, but atrocious special defense. Togekiss had the powerful, unblockable Aura Sphere at her disposal, which would certainly help. Thunder Wave was not aimed at slowing the Aggron down, but hopefully disabling it through paralysis, giving them more options to attack without fear of being punished each subsequent round.
Soaring overhead of the monster, Togekiss's electricity rained down and danced over the steel plates, sending electric pulses clear through its metal body.
As Togekiss moved back to Tag, his attention once again floated to Omar, who remained in the doorway, stepped back to remain in the shadow. He could still feel his eyes there while his own flashed down to Omar's hand. Just barely glinting in the light, a Pokeball and a gaudy stone similar to Ace's were being rotated slowly around each other, like a pair of benoit balls. A nice reminder that even if they managed to take Ace down, they had a more formidable contender waiting in the wings.
Now that he wasn't directly facing Omar, Tag's eyes slowly rose to meet his enemy's, possibly the most dangerous enemy he'd met to date. His unease fading away, he slowly let out a ferocious, fearless smile. He couldn't spend the rest of his time sitting around wallowing in a pool of his own dread. No. Ace had let loose. It was time for Taggarty Lee to do the same.
*What the hell is that thing?!* Darryn’s mouth hung agape in shock as the monstrous form of the Mega Aggron filled the room. If the metal-plated beast hadn’t been bad enough to start with, it had gained wider and undoubtedly tougher scales of iron that would surely make it impossible to even scratch. There was a moment after its evolution where Darryn and his fellow ‘heroes’ witnessed the change in completely awe before anyone made a move to stop it.
*Let loose?! Just what is that thing capable of!?*
Tag was the first to make a move and, damn was Darryn glad he did – Thunder Wave would be perfect for them to find all of the openings that the powerhouse before them left with its reduced speed… not that it appeared fast in the first place….
“Victor, come back here and take a rest for a second!” Darryn called out, his Squirtle gladly hurrying back to him with a limp. Darryn was so glad that one of his Pokemon had somehow made its way back to him but instantly found himself missing the others even more. If he had them, then maybe the next battle would be a lot easier…
“Gal, Gal!” Gallade urged back to Darryn, lowering himself into a battle-ready stance while keeping his eyes fixed on his adversary.
“OK, Gallade – Go!” Darryn yelled, his words triggering a lightning-fast response in the knightly Pokemon. In a flash, the soldier was at the Aggron’s side with power bursting from his blade-like arms. “Leaf Blade!”
SLASH SLASH
“Night Slash!”
SLASH!
Darryn’s hopeful feeling that the newly evolved Aggron could be taken down by the three trainers and their Pokemon rapidly diminished as both of Gallade’s moves were shrugged off by the immovable form of the Aggron. Instead, the Iron Armor Pokemon barely even blinked and instead grinned a toothy smile of contempt down at the fighting-type assaulting it. Gallade tried to spring back but the tank’s tail sweeped around to remove the legs from under him in a fluid motion before…
“Heavy Slam!”
Ace’s cry heralded one of the most horrific moves Darryn had even seen in a Pokemon battle. Prone on the ground, Gallade was completely crushed by the full-weighted body slam that the Mega Aggron delivered into his back.
“Gallade, no!” Darryn cried in shock as the form of his borrowed Pokemon disappeared under the ridiculous weight of the Mega evolved Pokemon. The ground cracked underneath the force that the Aggron delivered to it, leaving Darryn with only one thought: Could anything survive that!?
Darryn's Gallade sprang into action, slashing furiously at the enemy monstrosity. As it did so, Jill and her Hitmontop appeared to be biding their time, waiting for an opening.
If this Aggron still maintained its original typing, then Hitmontop and Togekiss would be able to do some damage once their was an opening-
No immediate opening presented itself, and Tag watched in horror as Ace's Giganto-Aggron slammed down with the full force of its weight on Darryn's Gallade.
"Aura Sphere!" the words ripped from Tag's throat almost like a pained cry, and Togekiss immediately rose into the air to answer. The Jubilee Pokemon swooped low, firing off a sphere of fighting energy, aimed to knock the enemy off of his ally. The move impacted heavily, but did nothing in the spirit of budging the metallic monstrosity that had landed on top of Darryn's Pokemon.
If the creature wasn't going to move, or be moved, he had to get Ace to summon it back to its Pokeball. Swallowing heavily, Tag refocused himself, staring at the monster that was just now beginning to rise back up off of the surely defeated Gallade.
"Once more! Aura Sphere!"
Hitmontop stumbled for a second when it watched Gallade get absolutely devastated by Aggron's attack. Jill knew exactly how the spinning top felt. All of a sudden, everything appeared to be lost. She actually feared for her life. Here she was, surrounded by criminals and those conspiring with them. The only seemingly innocent person here was Darryn - Everyone else was dirty in some way or another, and she wouldn't be entirely too surprised if this whole thing escalated to murder.
And then there was that black guy who just showed up. He and Tag appeared to know each other, but he was hanging back while Ace's Aggron did its thing. Even if they managed to bring the titan down, they'd have to deal with him, and it really just seemed impossible to come out on top.
"Hitmontop," she said, "Land hits where you can. Avoid its attacks as your priority. Use only Mach Punch, nothing else. You're faster than that thing, so just don't get hit, whatever you do. Okay?"
"Top," It appeared to nod as it began spinning on its head.
Jill took a few steps back as Hitmontop spun into the fray, her mind leaping from tactical to strategic. The battle could be won, sure, and if that were the case, their next path would be clear. But losing this battle would put them in a tight spot, and they needed a way out, or a way to lighten the blow. She looked back at Nate and took a few steps back so she was standing next to him.
"Where's the device?" She asked, her eyes not leaving Hitmontop.
"You might wanna survey the battlefield, lady," Nate laughed. "You're not really winning anymore. That means I don't tell you shit."
Somewhat shocked, as he had shown his willingness to cooperate already, she turned her head towards Nate, and then realized that the other guy was standing not too far off, his arms crossed, watching the battle. It was possible he could hear what they were saying, and so Nate had to be 'on' again.
She figured it only made sense that the device was in the room, though she had no idea what to look for. If Nate and the mystery guy were going to just stand around and watch the fight, she was gonna be more active, even if it meant leaving Hitmontop to his own devices. So, she began walking towards the room, which the mystery man was standing in front of.
His eyes momentarily moved towards hers before going back to the fight as she approached. Finally, she found herself just next to him, and he spoke. "You got any idea what you've involved yourself in?"
She was standing next to him, but facing him, while he faced perpendicular to her, watching the battle. To her right was the fight, to her left was the room. She tried to get a look at the room with her periphery to see if she could notice anything. It was unlikely he'd just let her walk in and look around, but maybe she could see something obvious and make a quick play.
"You hear me?"
"Who are you?" She asked.
"Lemme ask you a question before I give you an answer," He said. "Do you really think it's likely for me to give you a truthful answer?"
"What are you here for?"
"See my previous answer."
"What are you gonna do with us when you win this battle?"
He opened his mouth, but immediately closed it, and finally turned his body to face her as well. His arms remained crossed. "You so sure you're gonna lose?"
"You seem pretty sure you're gonna win," Jill said. "So we agree with the outcome, why argue about it? Answer my question."
He cracked a slight smile. "Be glad I didn't answer your first two questions." He said. "Ignorance, in your case, is a little bit more than bliss."
"So you'll let us go?"
"Assuming you don't fuck up my shit too much," he said, turning back towards the battle. Then, he turned his head towards her. He had this sincere look on his face, almost innocent. "I'm not a murderer." He said, and then turned back towards the fight. "But I'll do what I have to do."
She took this opportunity to turn her head full to the left and saw what was so obviously the most important device in the room. It was the only logical answer.
"You run towards that thing," he said. "I might just lose my calm demeanor. You should watch the battle. Hitmontop could use your help."
Jill gulped, sighed, and turned towards the fight, now standing next to him. "How did you know my pokemon's name?" She asked.
"Now ain't the time for jokes, Miss." He said, not losing focus.
“Gallade!” Darryn cried, the twisted form of the psychic Pokemon uncurling as the Mega Aggron withdrew itself from on top of him. The soldier twitched weakly, completely unable to move. Darryn’s arm came up fast while tears began to well in his eyes, “Return, now!”
*What IS this?!* Darryn’s body froze as Tag maintained the offensive on the ridiculously Pokemon monstrousity. *And what kind of Pokemon is that?! Nothing makes sense here at all… But one thing’s certain – if we don’t win here then these guys aren’t going to stop at just making our Pokemon faint. Maybe it’s time for me to… not yet… it’s a last resort…*
“Minccino and Kingler go!” He threw two of his last three balls, summoning the small rodent and enormous crab. Both would have difficulty damaging that thing but, as Darryn knew from Contests, direct damage didn’t always win a battle – the right amount of flash and distraction could always tip the balance in your own favour.
“Minccino, Charm!”
“Mega Aggron, Metal Sound!”
The sweet lovehearts emitted by the Chinchilla danced across the room in a string of glittering glowing shapes but didn’t come anywhere close to reaching their target at the Aggron unleashed a terrifyingly intense screech right back which neatly disrupted the Charm attack, nullifying it completely. Darryn clenched his fists tightly. That had been a very deft counter, indeed – the sort of move he had come to expect from Hall Leaders, not criminals.
*And if Kingler can’t get close enough without being knocked back, our strategy will fail.*
“Victor, Bubblebeam!”
Darryn Squirtle leapt back into action, spitting free a tirade of bubbles right at his opponent with a wide-ranging spray. The Aggron raised a bulky arm to cover its face as the water rained down upon him and Tag’s Togekiss threw Aura Spheres at it from above.
*Now!*
“Kingler – Guillotine, fast!”
Even as Aggron slowly rose up off the ground, Tag watched closely at the shifting metal plates. A few seemed to be moving a little stiffly. It either meant that paralysis from Thunder Wave had worked, or that it was how the super Aggron had been designed, and therefore Tag was wasting his time.
Hitmontop and Togekiss continued their joined assault, while Jill sidled over to Omar. Tag watched, in his periphery, as the two carried on. He couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but he was pretty sure that he could still trust Jill, given the rather grim look on her face. Hitmontop hadn't turned on them yet, but it did cross his mind that perhaps Omar new about Nate, and had planted Jill.
There were just too many variables, and it was starting to make his head hurt.
Focusing his attention back on the battle, Tag commanded another Aura Sphere. The attack swirled up several of Victor's Bubbles, in something that resembled a co-ordinator's repartee. The attack slammed heavily into Ace's Aggron, staggering it slightly. It's horrific tail lashed out, slamming Togekiss violently aside, leaving the Jubilee Pokemon defeated. But, with its mighty back turned, it left the opening for...
"Guillotine!"
Tag winced. If Aggron stilled possessed Sturdy, it would be a waste of such an opportunity. Tag furiously began flipping through his mental codex of Togepi, Togetic, and Togekiss moves...
To his surprise, Kingler made a furious leap, clamping his massive claw onto Aggron's thick, sturdy neck. The move should have been much more gruesome, but as he released, Aggron fell to the ground. Tag could clearly see the indent in the metal where the move had impacted...any Pokemon less armoured than that would have easily been decapitated.
The Ultra-Aggron and Togekiss disappeared in a simultaneous flash of red, leaving the field open, with Hitmontop, Victor, Minccino, Kingler, and Togekiss. Ace looked to Omar, hardly phased by the loss of what Tag had figured to be his trump card.
With a cocky swagger despite the trouncing, Ace sauntered over to Omar and Jill, slapping five with his partner, as if tagging him in.
Omar, with the gravitasse and confidence that only Omar possessed, moved into Ace's place. It was as if they were saying: "Two of us is overkill."
The silence in the room echoed in everyone's ears, broken by the sound of a pokeball being tossed to the ground. Houndoom appeared, its sinister countenance already emanating from its haughty sneer. And then, like Aggron before it, began to glow. Tag's hand gripped the pokeball at his belt, turning his knuckles white from the sheer force of his grip. Excadrill, Dratini, Togekiss down. Squirtle with Darryn. He had Pichu and Golett...what use was he to the team now?
"Inferno."
Tag only got a glimpse of the evolved hellhound before the entire battlefield burst upwards in a black blaze of flame.
Omar and Ace were clearly more than just street level thugs. The way they carried themselves and the way they spoke hinted otherwise. Their confidence had seemed unearned, but once Omar's Houndoom entered the battle, everything was made so obvious to Jill. It was so obvious, now, that she was in over her head, and all she wanted was to leave. If they failed here, and it seemed so likely, they would most likely be killed.
For a moment, she just sighed and shrugged. What the hell did she have to lose? Her family was dead, her pokemon were gone. She bailed on her friends and her career because of the life insurance money from her husband. So, why not fight with everything she had? Why not risk her own life?
And the lives of the stranger pokemon with whom hers were swapped. And the lives of Tag and Darryn, and all of their temporary pokemon. And shit, it's not like she wanted to die. She was still young, had plenty left to do.
So, she called back Hitmontop into his pokeball and made eye contact with Omar. Once done, she averted her gaze, so as to show submissiveness. She was surrendering. Maybe there was a way of getting her pokemon back. Maybe there was a way of stopping this group from taking over the world - But it wasn't through combat, at least not at that moment. The strategic call was to back down.
"Guys!" she shouted to Tag and Darryn. "I think they're gonna win this one! We need to back down."
"Not gonna give me any play?" Omar laughed. "I'm fine with that, I guess, but I'd prefer some action. Come on, Tag. What do you say?"
Tag's head snapped to Jill as he held Golett's pokeball in his hand. His gaze shifted from shocked, to confused and finally to angry all in a moment. Yet, despite all the turmoil happening within, his more practical mind told him that she made the right call.
With clenched teeth, and fists shaking with shame, Tag followed Jill's suit despite Omar's taunts. His head to one side, as if that would hide his evident frustration at their situation, he really had no other choice. Though the inn Dragon Lord deep in his heart screamed to fight the battle to the end, Tag knew there was no blaze of glory in this fight.
For now, he still had his life. He still had hope that he could be reunited with his Pokemon partners, and that he could still continue to fight another day. While the loss itself felt bitter, it was better than needlessly throwing his remaining Golett and Pichu into the fray only to be devastated by Omar's clearly superior Pokemon.
"You want play? Get me my team back and we'll settle this like men." Tag growled. He had spoken out of instinct, but a part of him knew that even with his regular team, Omar still outclassed him. He looked down at the Pokeballs on his belt. Togekiss and Excadrill, the powerhouses of this makeshift team, were out for the count. He felt his knuckles turning white, and the sting behind his eyes that encroached on his pride as a man and as a trainer.
He stared for a moment at the terrifying Houndoom in front of him. Darryn still had a chance of taking it down, but he didn't want to encourage the young co-ordinator when he and Jill had already backed down. He placed a hand on Darryn's shoulder, looking apologetically at the young man.
"I'm sorry, Darryn." he sighed "Jill's right. We've lost this one." He looked to Omar, anger still boiling through his veins. He wanted to knock the arrogant smirk right off of the man's face...but there was nothing he could do. Once again, his own helplessness prevailed, and he had no idea how to proceed. Hopefully, they could walk away from this.
Darryn raised his arm to cover his face when the Super Houndoom let free a blaze of black burning ferocity into the space where the trainers were battling. Was there no getting away from these souped-up versions of regular Pokemon? Tuesday had a Houndoom but he was pretty sure that Ashleigh couldn’t perform such a feat and he was a well-trained Pokemon… It had to be those stones… Where did they get things that could force Pokemon to evolve to another stage? Did they invent them?
Jill and Tag’s admission of defeat was a surprise to Darryn – they had both seemed so confident before. Other than the strong Pokemon facing them, nothing else had changed… had it? Was it just the sheer power of their new foes that had convinced the other trainers to throw in the towel just like that? If Omar and Tag had history, which they clearly did, then why would Tag let the guy walk over him like that? Was the guy really so dangerous?
Tag’s hand on Darryn’s shoulder felt heavy as lead. "I'm sorry, Darryn." he sighed "Jill's right. We've lost this one."
“No,” Darryn muttered under his breath, “we haven’t.”
*Not yet. Not when I still have another card to play.*
Darryn leapt into the void of his abilities, his body remaining fixed to the spot, eyes narrowing slightly as he gazed at Omar across the room. Within his mind, Darryn raced toward the ball of smug irritation facing them. Omar’s emotions were thick, like treacle, and stank of overconfidence and self assurance. Other things floated there that Darryn didn’t give much thought – a tiny ball of indecision here, a mote of affection there – and focused instead on a wisp of green that he had never truly expected to find there.
Fear. This Omar guy, for all of his confidence was actually scared of something. True, Darryn couldn’t tell exactly what he was scared of, even if it was in the room right now, but it was still there. With a triumphant grin, Darryn reached out and-
Nothing. He swept a hand through it again. Nothing. Realisation hit Darryn hard and fast.
*The Houndoom! It’s Dark presence makes my abilities weaker – just like those Mightyena fangs those guys in the forest wore!* Darryn wracked his brains for options. *There’s no way we can be sure those two will really let us out of here just like that… But if I could make physical contact with him… or the other one… it’s like the Dark isn’t there anymore…*
Darryn’s body blinked and he was back. He looked up at Tag. The tattooed man was grave, anger stinging in his touch, but resigned to his earlier claim. They had lost. Well, they had. But they weren’t the only ones nearby.
<ENTEI!> Darryn pleaded the facility with his mind just as Pan’s voice illuminated in his skull once more… And even as she spoke, her tale a barrage of ugly admissions, Darryn knew he had done the wrong thing.
As the trainers' pokemon went back into their pokeballs, save Omar's Houndoom, Inferno, the highly ranked officer crossed his arms and shook his head with a smile. "Tag. Friends of Tag. You're very brave for having come here, but also smart enough to know when to back down. I would have preferred a fight myself, but that's only because I know I'd win. I have quite a bit of respect for those who know where to draw the line between bravery and stupidity. Not many of you in the world, I gotta say."
A look of seriousness came upon his face. "Unfortunately, it's not my respect you three should seek. It's my mercy. And I don't plan on giving up any of that to my enemies, so long as I respect them like I do you."
Nate was slowly coming to grips with what Omar was saying, but it appeared as though Ace knew the whole time based on his unwavering and frustratingly cocky face. "You made a smart decision, backing down. It was your best chance of getting out of here alive. But it was no guarantee. Tag, I do wish we could have one day had it out as trainers. It would have most certainly been a great fight."
There was a pause. Omar uncrossed his arms and let his right hand fall to Inferno's head. The Houndoom looked upon the three trainers, intense seriousness emanating from her. It was by far the most intimidating creature Jill had ever seen, and that had everything to do with its stoicism. There was also the fact that it only waited on a command from their enemy to rip them to absolute shreds.
"Inferno-"
"Omar!" Nate's voice rang out from the room behind him, the one with the leveling device.
"What?" His eyes remained carefully rotating between Tag, Jill and Darryn.
"Um, Omar," Ace said, fear in his voice. This caused Omar to look to his left, towards Ace, whose gaze was focused on the room. "Nate's doing something weird."
"The fuck?" Omar sighed. "Nate, what are you doing?"
"I'm threatening you." Omar turned back to the group of three and forced a laugh. Inferno did not share the carefree sentiment of Omar being threatened.
"Omar, you should look," Ace said. Omar rolled his eyes and turned around, this time leaving his left hand on Inferno's head. There, he saw Nate and Pinch, his Kingler, only recently revived through medicine, holding her claw against the leveling device.
"I'm not sure how this thing works, to be honest with you," Nate said, his nervousness betraying his attempt at a cool demeanor. "But I'm pretty sure it won't work so well if any of those three are killed. I have that feeling."
"Nate-" Omar's cool demeanor was also betrayed, though his by anger. "This is-"
"We don't need to murder anyone for the plan to go through!" Nate shouted. "We might be criminals, but I'm not a murderer."
"So don't kill anybody!"
"I won't be complicit."
"You're a criminal, Nate," Omar said. "But you're my criminal. That means you don't get to decide which crimes you do or don't do. You are mine. You will do as I say."
"It would appear as though you're wrong on that." Nate said with a hint of finality. "Make your call."
It was true that Omar knew Nate's worst fear. He had lived it, thanks to Darkrai. Omar knew full well that Nate feared being hunted by Team Deception. He feared getting on their bad side, and he was right to fear that. But Nate also knew Omar's worst fear - Losing control. The situation was spiraling out of Omar's reach, and now an ultimatum was placed upon him, a choice he didn't want to have to make.
He turned his head towards Tag, Jill and Darryn. "Go on then. But know that you are my enemies. And know that we won't cross paths more than one more time."
Darryn and Jill were on either side of him, and he kept the two in his periphery, making sure to note their every moves. There was no way they could co-ordinate without speaking, and speaking meant giving away everything. Hopefully, they could just back up slowly, and be let free. Sure, they'd lost the battle, and with the Level Device in Team Deception's hands, it meant that they would be entering a nigh unwinnable war.
But they still had Nate.
Tag knew Omar was incredibly sharp, but the man was growing ever more confident by the minute. Perhaps as he encroached the territory of arrogance, he'd let slip. In Tag's experience, those sure of their victory tended to lose focus. He still had Golett and Pichu. While not much of a team, perhaps Golett could use the swift Shadow Punch on Omar himself, and Pichu could use Thunder Wave on the terrifying creature. It was a fighting chance at the very least. He couldn't expose Nate, but maybe he could at least 'beat' Nate in a fight. It seemed plausible, that the bigger, more powerful, Tag could take out the smaller, wiry Nate.
Mercy. His full attention snapped back to the monologuing Omar.
Tag met Omar's look of seriousness with a determined grimace of his own. He could not afford to look away submissively, especially since Omar had now declared that mercy was not an option. They'd backed down, and Tag knew exactly what that meant. Respect was all well and good, but this was war. Mercy and respect had no place in the room, and Tag desperately wished that he hadn't surrendered.
His hand rested dangerously on the last two Pokeballs. Omar didn't know which Pokemon were in there, but pragmatically, if Tag had surrendered, the two within were most likely not capable of taking down Inferno, the devilish enemy before them. But Tag didn't need to take her down. At this point, he just needed to buy time for everyone to escape.
As the seriousness built within Inferno herself, Tag plucked the two Pokeballs holding them at the ready by his side, even as the Devil Dog moved to attention. No guarantee. Omar was right. But it was either die with dignity, or die fighting at this point. Omar wouldn't take prisoners; of this much he was certain.
Thankfully, Nate finally made his move. Even as Omar laughed, Tag's attention was rapt upon Nate. The Former Dragon Trainer's hands gripped the pokeballs tight, ignoring the fact that his grip had turned his knuckles lily-white with tension. Nate had made a clever move. He hadn't belayed his allegiances, but had managed to find precisely the path in the middle that didn't incriminate himself in totality, and would let the 'heroes' walk free. For now. Tag knew the guarantees here. He knew that if they walked out, then Omar would hunt them down. This was an absolute certainty.
If it was kill or be killed...
Nate wasn't a killer, but Tag was. Rather, he had been. If his safety, his survival, and the survival of his companions meant that Omar and Ace had to go, then so be it. He would meet them head on, with his own team of Pokemon. They'd do in honourably this time. On Tag's terms, and one of them would not walk away alive. Absolute Certainty. No Mercy. Those were the terms that Omar had just enforced, and Tag meant to follow through. But not today.
He wasn't sure how to continue playing this situation out though. His mind had been worn out from the constant vigilance, the never-ending excitement of the tournament and the subsequent devastation...how was he supposed to continue thinking at his prime when he realized just how tired he was?
"Golett, Guard our retreat."
In a flash of light, the little ghost Pokemon appeared on the field, standing in front of Tag. It would not last one minute in battle with the Mega Houndoom, but if it bought the team a moment more to retreat, then perhaps it would be a necessary sacrifice. He didn't want to throw the Pokemon away like such, but he needed to use everything at his disposal. He could recall and run all in the same motion, and a minute was perhaps all the difference between life and death.
He began to gently back up, holding his hands out protectively in front of Darryn and Jill, eying Omar suspiciously. The Golett, fists raised, backed up with Tag, eying the Houndoom warily (or so his makeshift trainer assumed; the little ghost didn't have much of a face).
"Nate. Come with us." He looked imploringly at the young man, carefully choosing his words so that he didn't give away much more. Omar and Ace knew that Tag had a history with Nate and Justin. How much could he give away with just four words?
In all his time travelling with his Pokemon and his friends, Darryn had never truly stopped to consider how young he was. Truth be told, he knew deep down he was one of those teens that thought he was more than his contemporaries – an adult in his own right who deserved recognition among those with more experience than himself. And yet, truth be told, he couldn’t have been more wrong.
With Omar laying down the law with death threats, Darryn’s usual confidence was waning fast. The stakes were climbing at an alarming rate and he had a complete lack of control over the events playing out in front of him. Never before had he felt so helpless. Even when he had been separated in the forest from his friends, cold and afraid and armed with a selection of Pokemon that weren’t even his own, he hadn’t felt so useless as he did while Omar denied their merciful release.
*If they come close enough…* Darryn licked his lips nervously. *If I can touch them…*
Nate’s sudden interruption was a welcome one – enough for Darryn to start breathing again, anyway. He didn’t remember holding his breath so stolidly but even the close air of the underground was a soothing calm within his burning lungs. The intense trade-off between Nate and Omar made Darryn feel sick to his stomach while they decided the future of the three defeated trainers. How, how, had he gotten into such a mess?!
It was selfish but Darryn didn’t care; when Nate’s fate was sealed with Omar and Ace, leaving the three trainers to leave unharmed, he felt relieved. It was unpleasant and nasty but how else was someone supposed to think when they had evaded the hands of a willing murderer? That they should trade places with the poor souls that got left behind?
*Uh, no. Darryn told himself firmly, gladly allowing Tag to guide him towards the exit and protect their rear. *He chose to be in this mess – we didn’t.*
As they walked away, however, Darryn’s thoughts of self-preservation became plagued with guilt.
*C’mon, Daz! He’s just saved you… What would Jaima do? Cleo? Meiko? Even Tuesday?*
He reached out once more, broadcasting his call to the Pokémon that had led him to Tag and Jill. True, he didn't have a proper emotional connection with the beast but there was no other way the right thing could be done.
<ENTEI! PLEASE! THEY’RE GONNA KILL HIM!>
"I'm not on your side, Tag," Nate said, frustrated. What the hell was he thinking? The only thing allowing the three to get out was Nate holding the device hostage - He couldn't leave with them, because then everyone would just get killed. The only thing Tag's suggestion did was put a whole lot more explanation on Nate's shoulders. He could handle that, sure, but why force him to do it? "I'm not ready to be a murderer, though. Listen to Omar's advice. Don't cross paths again."
He'd hoped that Tag would recognize that Nate was bluffing, that the fight needed to continue. But either way, he figured there wasn't much of a chance he was going to be walking away from this his own self. Omar didn't seem the forgiving type.
Jill rested her hand on Tag's shoulder, who seemed so intent on saving Nate. It seemed the kid was trying to do something good, and it would be shitty of them to get killed. "Tag. Let's go." Was all she said before moving towards the exit. Tag summoned a pokemon to guard their escape, but she figured it wouldn't have done much good. They needed to play submissive, make it a clear retreat. Omar was a prideful guy, if he was allowing them to leave, she figured they needed to do so on his terms. Going out aggressively would probably just piss the guy off. Fortunately, though, it worked. It remained tense between the three until they turned the corner, at which point, Nate was effectively behind them. They could only hope he knew what he was doing.
----
Omar and Inferno's eyes remained on the heroes as they made their way out, and then he turned them onto Nate, whose Kingler still had her massive claw on the trigger, so to speak. So Omar began walking towards Nate. The closer he got, the more intimidating he was. He was a good deal taller, not to mention the vicious Houndoom at his side. "Okay, Nate." He said. "They're safe now. Tell your pokemon to release the device so we can have that talk you so desperately want to have."
Nate nodded, looking somewhat defeated. He needed to make it clear that he only did what he did to save the lives of his friends, not to hurt the mission. That meant that, according to his cover, he needed to have Pinch back off. But this would also mean submitting to Team Deception, and letting them get their hands on the leveling device. So he needed to decide, right then and there, which was more important: His cover, or the leveling device.
"Nate?"
Nate couldn't help but let out a chuckle once he made his decision. This was it. This was where he was going to die. And somehow, a piece of him was okay with it. Darryn and Jill didn't really know anything about him, but Tag would know he went out a hero. And Justin would know. His pokemon would probably be executed - That was the toughest part. But they all chose to be with him, to follow him to the end. He hated making the decision on their behalf, but ultimately, he had to.
"Pinch," he finally said, looking down at the Kingler. She looked back up at him and somehow knew what he was thinking. When he nodded, she clamped down, destroying the device, shattering the outside and cutting through the inside of it. Omar and Ace couldn't help but jump back in surprise.
Omar's surprise turned to stoic anger as he stared the boy down. "I got one question for you, Nate."
"Make it count," Nate shrugged. "Smart money says my answer's gonna be the same no matter what you ask, though."
"Is Justin in on this?"
Nate didn't wait a second to respond. "Go fuck yourself."
Omar just let out a whispered "Hm," and stepped back up to Nate. "You got that out of your system, now give me the answer I want."
"What do you want me to say?" Nate asked. "You want me to lie, or you want me to tell the truth? 'Cause either way, you're not really gonna learn anything from my response."
Omar sighed and looked towards Ace. "It'd be hard to tell, that's true." Ace shrugged.
Omar nodded. "I guess Justin's life depends on whether or not he captures Suicune. Okay, Nate. Are you working with anyone else?"
"You had one question." Nate smiled. "Shouldn't you be killing me right about now?"
"I suppose you're right." Omar shook his head. Nate saw hesitation in the man's eyes. He didn't want to do it, but he knew he had to. Nate couldn't be allowed to leave.
"You ever killed anyone before?" Nate asked.
"Once," Omar nodded. "Still fucks with me."
"I imagine it would," Nate said, making sure to maintain eye contact with his would-be killer.
Ace spoke up. "Omar, if you need, I can-"
"I got it." Omar insisted, then looked back at Nate. "This doesn't mean I'm not gonna kill you."
"Never crossed my mind it would." Nate said. At that point, he pulled out Pinch's pokeball and called her back. He smiled as a tear rolled down his cheek. "I pretty much accepted my fate. Though, I gotta say. Does it really count as you killing me if you just order you Hound-"
He was interrupted by Omar pulling a small handgun out of the back of his pants and simply holding it at his side. This caused Nate to gulp. "Turn around," he said. "On your knees. Say your last piece."
Nate nodded and turned around, facing the wall, and fell to his knees. "Let me, uh- Can I get a second to think of what I want to say?" He heard the gun cock, and his eyes shot open. "Uh, okay, okay. I, uh- Oh god, what do I say? I don't-"
BAM. He heard the loud noise and slammed his eyes shut. He was surprised he maintained consciousness, though, even in the darkness. And he heard noise, too. This wasn't the darkness. This was just his eyes being closed. He opened them and, in front of him, where the wall formerly was, was a large hole, broken inward. He stood up, confused, then looked behind him to see the legendary Entei in front of him, facing down Omar, Ace and Inferno.
Asking questions was a luxury Nate didn't have. He had an escape route. He took it.
"Nate!" Omar called out while simultaneously pulling out his specially designed pseudo-masterball. "We will hunt you. We will hunt you until we find you and kill you, or until you die in some other way. I'm not gonna stop, Nate!"
Nate turned around in time to see Entei being captured. Evidently, capturing the legendary was a higher priority than capturing Nate. Which would have been great news, if not for the fact that Omar wasn't bluffing. He looked forward to see Tag, Jill and Darryn. He thought about Justin for a second and came to the conclusion that he couldn't be friends with the people he cared about anymore. He was on the shitlist of Team Deception, who had made it pretty clear murder wasn't out of scope for them. He couldn't get his friends caught up in that.
He ran to catch up with the others.
"I'm glad you're okay, Nate," Jill said. "What happened back there?"
"Entei showed up," Nate replied. "Omar decided that was more important, I guess."
"So I guess he captured it?" she asked.
"Yeah," he shrugged. "But the leveling device is destroyed. I made sure to do that. Team Deception might have some powerful pokemon, but if they want to train them, they'll have to do it the old fashioned way."
"So what happens now?" she asked. "Do we get our pokemon back?"
"A girl named Pan should be taking care of that," Nate said. "They should automatically switch back. Anyway, there's something more important. You two are probably fine," he said to Jill and Darryn. "Omar doesn't know who you are. But Tag, me and you are in trouble. Omar's gonna hunt us until he can't, so we need to stay hidden. We should probably split up, and we definitely can't associate with Justin until he's made his move."
Darryn knew Nate was catching up with him before the others would even hear him coming – that balls of emotions that came with his consciousness assured that – but Darryn also knew what that meant. It meant the same thing as the disappearance of the void of legendary calm that had announced itself on the Co-Ordiantor’s Empath radar.
Entei had been captured. It had given itself up to save Nate and been captured by the same criminals that had threatened to kill them all only a matter of minutes before. And why?
*Because you made it come back.* Darryn berated himself silently. *It’s your fault.*
Darryn remained silent, mentally checking off Nate’s claims while he spoke to Jill. Yes, Entei had been caught. Yes, the levelling device had been destroyed. Yes, Pan had put their Pokemon back where they were supposed to be. Only his abilities had let him know all of that before the others and yet he found himself hating those abilities even more for what he had done.
“Omar doesn’t know who we are?!” Darryn rounded on Nate in an instant. “Are you dumb?! We registered our names and faces with this event – it doesn’t take a genius to check out the website to see who we are – so, actually, Omar knows exactly who we are.” Darryn ran his hands through his hair with frustration. “And if that wasn’t enough I’m shooting a commercial in the next couple of weeks for my Contest Sponsors – it’ll be everywhere before the end of the month.”
*Goddammit! I’m not dying for this!*
“So, what’s the big plan to keep everything under wraps, huh?” Darryn demanded, his upset and frustration boiling over, “where will we be safe now? If we’re registered with the league and I’m on TV then…” the penny dropped, “then… we’d be fine… hiding will just get us killed without anyone noticing but if we’re in the public eye, what can they do to us? Fanmail us to death?”
Tag released a sigh of relief as Nate caught up with the group. The story of Entei's appearance, however impossible it sounded, was much preferable to the one where Nate died and Tag ran away. Entei being captured could be undone; to his knowledge, a ressurection was not.
Then, the threat of Omar remained a very real one. Tag ventured, however, that Omar's top priority was getting the captured Entei back to his superiors. On the other hand, the possibility that he dumped it off on Ace was still plausible. At the same time, Tag figured Omar wasn't the sort of person to let Ace take all the laurels for the capture, and he imagined that the Upper Echelon of Team Deception would like that their member ran off in pursuit of some no name enemy who periodically appeared in their reports.
Would Omar chase after a traitor and a rag-tag bunch of do-gooders? It seemed unlikely.
Darryn, too, was right about maintaining public appearance. Though, he didn't say it out loud, it seemed just as likely that Omar could make something look like an accident. Maybe Team Deception had a PR unit aimed directly at manipulating media. Any one of them could've disappeared, and it would be the result of some tragic accident.
"I'm not going into hiding." Tag stated firmly, "I'm not running away."
The group finally exited the tunnels, finding the ropes they'd used to descend. Friendlier faces peered down at them from the opening in the ceiling, and Tag waved half-heartedly up at them.
While they were still out of hearing range from the rest of the group, Tag turned to Nate, meeting the younger man's eyes.
"You're welcome to travel with me. If we stick together, we're less likely to be caught off guard." He looked to Jill and Darryn, who had also been wrapped up in this mess, the former entirely on account of Tag. "The same goes for you two." He wondered if offering his services as a bodyguard to either Jill or Darryn would be more beneficial in keeping them safe, or more detrimental by bringing them more trouble. He couldn't keep all of his thoughts straight with the sun beaming down on him. The catastrope had taken its toll on him, and he needed to rest. "These are things we can figure out after some food." He sighed, trying to remain as upbeat as was possible for Taggarty Lee. The thought of Entei's capture guilted him only somewhat given the destruction of the Levelling device, as well as Nate's survival. He'd already been a rescuer of Pokemon before; Entei, and by that logic, Suicune and Raikou were most likely also present and therefore captured as well. He didn't know what to do about any of it though; everything before him seemed like a monumental task, and he wasn't ready to take the first step, not before-
His Pokeball belt was suddenly overwhelmed with light. Similar lights wrapped around Darryn and Jill's belts, and as the light faded, Tag felt a more familiar weight around his waist.
Disbelievingly, he drew the pokeball and stared at it, dropping it on the ground to reveal his most cherished friend.
"Suzu."
"Yan."
"...you're back..."
His voice choked with barely contained emotion, Tag reached forward and wrapped his arms around the Ledian, whom he'd met when she first hatched from an Egg back in Johto. This alone was enough to give him some comfort. Enough to know that next time he faced Omar, he'd at least be at his own full strength, whatever that meant.
"Guys. Let's get out of here."
Powered by Invision Power Board (http://www.invisionboard.com)
© Invision Power Services (http://www.invisionpower.com)