CHAPTER 160 - It Festers
Darkness had come to Solaceon. I took deep breaths— or as deep as they could be with how heavy the air was. I didn't know if there was a certain time limit to how safe we would be here, but we were at least alright for now, it seemed. From what Jerry Heo had told us though… a few days here, and all of our emotions would disappear. I was already starting to feel the beginning of it. I didn't think that it would be replaced by loyalty to Shiftry however. He was no psychic capable of mind control. His work was a lot more subtler than that. Shiftry plucked each emotion of his choosing, but could not add any himself. The only reason it worked on the Hunters in the first place was that they'd been brainwashed from birth by their family members.
Still… if we stayed here too long and I lost every emotion, did that mean that I would no longer have the will to run? To escape? Then I would have to wait for the League to get here to save me.
My Pokemon clamored at me, asking me to leave, and I frowned when I realized that their voices all sounded the same. The pitch. I spoke up as well, saying random gibberish, and my voice confirmed my doubts. We all sounded the same. The voice was neither feminine or masculine— it was in between the two.
"You guys are right," I said, clenching a fist. "We've got to go. Maybe people are organizing and figuring things out."
I could only hope that was true. I doubted that I would find my friends in the sea of people out here, but they couldn't have gone far from the Center. Electronics not working was really going to screw us over, but at least Pokeballs still functioned. After grabbing my backpack, I heaved against the door, struggling to push it against the void littering the floor until Tangrowth just destroyed it with a Vine Whip. The majority of people on this floor had already left it seemed. I hesitated for a second, wondering if I should go to my friends' rooms on the other floors, but I opted to leave instead. The smartest decision right now was to get outside.
I recalled Angel, Buddy and Sweetheart for now. The first two were too big to navigate through all of these trainers, and Larvitar was too slow to keep up with my pace. Electabuzz would be able to shield me with Protect should anything happen, and Togetic had her psychic powers—
Wait. Would they even work here? Common sense dictated that all of this dark energy would cancel out any psychic type attack. Damn it, I lacked information, but I couldn't panic. The silver lining about this was that my mind was clear. It didn't stop me from feeling anxious at all, but it would keep me from panicking, at the very least. Since the elevator didn't work, I stepped down the stairs and sighed in relief when I saw that the Nurse Joys were keeping everyone in line.
"...Everyone should stay near the Pokemon Center at all costs until we figure out what is going on! Don't push, keep calm, and wait for a response from local forces!"
"League trainers were in the city, so it's only a matter of time until we get help from the outside!" Another nurse yelled. "For now, just find a spot for you to sit, or feel free to go back to your rooms to leave more space for anyone wandering the streets!"
So their plan was just to wait? Fuck, I needed to find my friends—
"Can't we leave?!" A girl yelled. "I saw some people flying away!"
"We do not know anything at this time, so the best course of action is to stay put until more information is gathered!"
No way. I was going outside to find my friends. I pushed through the crowd until it fizzled out on the street and asked Togetic to fly up to see if she could find anyone. There were many flying Pokemon in the air that I assumed were doing the same thing. The void on the ground was even thicker on the outside, and I almost felt like it was clawing up the walls, slowly but surely.
"Keep an eye out," I told Honey. He replied with a sharp nod, and his already tense body hardened. Shiftry obviously had a plan. There was no way he had done this for no reason.
Two minutes later, Princess came back and yelled at us to follow her. She led us a street away, and I let out a heavy breath when I saw that Mira, Maeve and Justin were waiting there.
"Arceus! Thank the Legendaries you guys are alright," I cried, hugging each one of them. "Do you know where the others are? Weren't you going to meet Cecilia?" I asked Mira.
"I was, but she wasn't in her room, so I just went to Justin instead."
"If I remember correctly, she was meeting Pauline to talk to Emilia on the phone," Maeve said. "So those two should be together, at least."
Justin frowned. "I came across Mira and Maeve in a stroke of luck in the lobby, and we decided to go outside to wait for everyone. This is… mindblowing. It's like the end of the world."
"Yeah," Mira sighed. "I can't release my psychics here. Being out scrambles their brains, and they lack the focus to use any moves or even speak to me."
So Togetic was probably not going to be able to use Extrasensory or Psychic any time soon. I sent her off to find more of our group, and Maeve and Mira had already sent out Staraptor and Magnezone to do the same.
"All of our voices sound the same, it's really weird," I pondered. "I can barely breathe properly too."
"It's the same for everyone. Shiftry's doing the same thing it did when Cynthia came to power," Justin said.
"No, this is worse," I shook my head. "From the way Jerry spoke, it was subtle the first time. He tried to make the entire city the same as their land and mansion, and none of those have this… darkness," I hesitantly said, trying not to stare at the floor for too long. The emptiness still unsettled me. "He's giving it everything this time. It's all or nothing. This is the play of a desperate individual."
"Which means that the League was closing in on them," Mira smirked. "What's the plan then? Try to leave?"
"I guess?" I hesitantly said. "The edges of the city look walled in."
It was as if Solaceon was completely trapped in some kind of… shape. It was impossible to know which one due to how indistinguishable the darkness in the sky was, but we were definitely encased somewhere. It was a wonder we were still managing to see things, although barely.
"I don't see a better option," Maeve said. "If we stay here too long, we'll lose everything that makes us… us. We'll be a blank slate."
A blank slate… was that what dark type energy was? I didn't have time to continue that train of thought. A sharp cry from Maeve's Staraptor caught our attention, and we cheered when we saw Cecilia, Denzel, Pauline and Louis approach. I rushed to my girlfriend and tackled her into a hug. She grabbed my face and kissed me, and we both cried from the amount of relief we felt.
"I was so scared for you," Cece sniffled. "Thank the Legendaries."
I hoped I would get to cry for a while longer yet.
I hugged the rest of my friends. I was so happy that we wouldn't have to get through this in separate groups. After whistling to get Togetic back, we waited for Magnezone to do the same.
"This is batshit insane," Pauline scoffed. "I—I read something about this online. This is like, a domain, but I thought only fairies could do that."
"I mean, when you're a thousand-year-old Pokemon, I guess you can skirt the rules a little."
I had to turn to figure out who had said that. It was impossible to distinguish between voices now.
"There might be a difference anyway, I don't know, I'm not a fairy type expert," Denzel continued. "None of us are. The question is, what the hell do we do?"
"We were considering trying to leave. Get to the edges… wherever those are," Justin said.
"That won't work," Cecilia shook her head. "People have come back on their flying types saying that the darkness at the edges is like an unbreakable barrier. Moves just wash over it like nothing."
"More precisely, they're absorbed," Louis specified. "The dark type has a lot of quirks we're unfamiliar with. Sinnoh isn't exactly crawling with experts."
"So do we just wait?" Maeve asked, her voice trembling. She jumped when Magnezone arrived and hovered over Mira's head.
We all stood still in silence, with only the noise of trainers and civilians alike to fill our ears. Denzel leaned against the floor and scooped darkness into his hands. It slipped through his fingers instantly. It was untenable.
"I think that we could wait a few hours to see what happens," he said. "But we can't wait forever. On our way there, we theorized that—"
"We'll lose ourselves if we wait too long. We have a few days," I guessed.
"Or less, if what you said about Shiftry going all out is true," Justin said.
I groaned. "Fuck. Fuck. Okay, I've got to speak to my Turtonator. Alone."
"Now?" Cece asked.
"Now's the best time to do it. I'm going to, uh— I'm going to go down the street and try to explain the situation to him."
"Grace, I know you came to a deal with him, but… look at what Shiftry did. He's far more powerful than we thought he could ever be. He's more than a millennia old!" Denzel exclaimed.
"Yeah. I know. But think of it this way," I paused and looked at each and every one of them. "We caused this. We were the ones that cornered Shiftry and his family. Logic dictates that they'll come and get their revenge soon, so I don't think that we'll be able to avoid a fight. And I also think that since we caused this… the responsibility falls onto us."
If I could have seen color, I probably would have seen them pale.
"But Shiftry also isn't here yet," I continued. "And a Pokemon of his power could have killed us a thousand times over now. This means that keeping this up is tiring him, or at least I think so. I don't know if we'll be able to beat him, but maybe if we take him on all together and break his focus, the League's main forces will manage to break through from the outside. I don't know, I'm just brainstorming, but Cynthia's probably there right now trying to break in."
"And Shiftry will probably be forced to keep this up because the League was about to send forces to raid its property from outside the town," Justin nodded.
"They had only sent some trainers, right?" Denzel said. "So they'd probably found definitive proof of a link and were about to send squads via Teleport, which isn't possible any longer."
"So we have to be ready," I said.
I walked down the street with Honey and Princess by my side. There wasn't really a spot without anyone, and I didn't feel like having to convince Sunshine to not freak out and kill anyone. Even in this situation, I didn't think that he'd be able to restrain himself. I turned to an empty grocery store and groaned when I saw that the owner or employees had locked up before running away.
"Talk about priorities," I sighed. "Break the door down."
Honey punched the door twice and I let myself in. People looked at me with disdain as I entered. Did they think I was a looter? Well, no matter. I grabbed Turtonator's Pokeball and released him. His eyes flared in panic when he noticed the situation, but I placed a hand on his plastron.
"Relax. Or at least try to," I said. "I'm scared too, but the dark is keeping me from panicking."
He frowned at me and then glared. I could almost hear his haughty call for me to explain the situation right now, and I did in excruciating detail, including the probable time limit that we had. I hadn't felt any change in my behavior yet aside from fear, panic and anxiety being somewhat muted, but it hadn't even been an hour. We'd probably be able to estimate a hard number soon when the first side effects started to sink in. Hopefully Pokeballs would protect my Pokemon from the worst of it.
"There you have it," I said. "We're in deep shit, Sunshine. The deal we had? I'm cashing it in now, and we're going to knock down two birds with one stone. Harry Rodriguez? The Hunters? They're linked to Team Galactic."
The temperature rose, causing me to back away. Not in fear, but because I had grown so accustomed to this feeling of… nothingness that this place had. A slight change in temperature here was as unnatural as a fish out of water. Everything stayed the same here. A change of any kind was wrong.
"Yes. You're right to be angry," I said. "They're going to come after us, I'm sure of it, and when the time comes, I'll need to use you. Deal?"
The fire type nodded.
"That means no killing random trainers, and listening to my orders. Or at least cooperating with me."
He nodded again, this time more reluctantly. A deal was a deal.
"Got it. I'm keeping you out then. Princess and Honey are on protective duties, and you'll be my battering ram. Actually wait, Princess, can you still use Ancient Power?"
The flying type chirped, and a small pebble rose from the floor. Darkness seeped out of it in a split second, and it became as natural as it had been before Shiftry had shrouded the world in its darkness. At least we still had that to protect me, but the lack of Psychic would cripple us.
"Okay, let's head back then. Watch your head."
Sunshine ignored my warning and simply walked through the concrete above the broken door with the scaly hat on his head. He deigned himself above such bothersome actions. My friends took a fearful step back when they saw the looming dragon behind me. I playfully slapped his scaly arm without looking back.
"Stop it. No death stares."
He gruffed, but everyone relaxed, at least slightly. I felt a lot safer with Sunshine by my side, although for him to fight effectively, I would need to be far away from him or I would be collateral damage. Honey's Protect would only last so long, and although there was a way to stop elements like heat and cold from going through psychic barriers like many Kadabra did for the gyms or tournaments, it took years of honing their skill to achieve such a feat.
And we were in the middle of a city filled to the brim with dark type energy, so that wasn't even an option.
"What now?" Maeve asked.
"We either wait for them to come to us…" Denzel muttered. "Or we go to them."
Cecilia took a few breaths. "I'm inclined to agree, unfortunately. They'd never expect us to go to them instead of hiding out in a Pokemon Center. They could wait us out too, but if we hide… either we wait too long and become shells of our former selves, or they come looking for us and kill innocents in the process."
"We're all innocents," Maeve exclaimed. "Shouldn't we at least wait until they attack first—
Turtonator snorted and looked at her with disdain and she flinched. He despised fearful trainers and thought of them as less than bugs. I knocked on his arm and shook my head, but he shrugged me off and told me that he wanted to speak again. Alone.
"Later."
"What?" Louis asked.
"I was talking to Sunshine. Anyway, I think this is the correct solution. We go to that mansion… and we fight. There's no other way out of this. I'm not going to take a chance and wait for someone else to save us. I wish you could stay alone, but you'll be safer with the group at this point."
"And you won't have to go inside the mansion," Mira grabbed her hand with both of hers. "I'll stick by you. If everything goes to shit and we become these cold, logical beings… I think you might have to stop me from doing something bad."
I eyed her in surprise. She was giving up her personal vendetta.
"When you only have two functioning Pokemon? I'll be the one to protect you, stupid," Maeve let out a wet chuckle.
"Thank you," she sniffled. "The thoughts are growing louder in my head already… they're telling me to do things to myself. Painful things. And the worst part about this is that they're mine."
I felt my heart drop and stared at Mira in disbelief. Had she been hurting all of this time, and yet hadn't told us anything?
"Mira…" Louis trailed off.
"We— are you—" Denzel choked. "We'll talk about this when we're done. There's definitely no time to waste then."
The mansion wasn't difficult to find. It seemed to be this world's only source of light. Without it, this place would truly be pitch black, with only touch to locate ourselves. I stayed back a few steps and walked by Sunshine's side, who angrily stared at my friends. The gist of his problem was that he thought that they'd slow us down. He wanted to do this alone, with only the other members of the family there to assist. Having other trainers there would take away from his revenge.
"You're asking a lot out of me here," I said, crossing my arms as I walked. Togetic and Honey loudly disagreed with him, but he ignored their protests.
He huffed and breathed out smoke from his snout.
"I… I did technically say that we'd break into a Team Galactic stronghold alone, but I also said that we'd call the League first, which meant that help would be on the way."
The fire type rolled his eyes and growled.
"Okay, it's true that you would have gotten some time to act alone, but we don't even know if the League is coming. There hasn't even been an act of this scale in I don't even know how long, and I don't know if they'll be able to break in here. Obviously the League trainers that were already here failed, or this would have stopped by now. To be honest, they'll probably be sending the Elite Four and Cynthia to deal with this…"
I sighed and clenched my forehead in frustration. We still had a ways to go, especially with how difficult walking was, and he would keep pestering me until I either gave in, or he would renege on the deal. I needed to find a way to bargain my way out of this or I'd be back at step one—
Blotches of darkness lashed out at my friends' feet. It took a few seconds for Denzel to even realize what was happening.
"Recall your Pokemon, now!" He screamed.
They immediately all listened to him, and I did the same. Mira disappeared into the abyss first. She was dragged down into the floor before she could even scream. Cecilia was next, and then Denzel, and so on and so on. We were all being brought to separate locations. I narrowly managed to recall Sunshine before the void brushed up against my skin. This wasn't like teleportation. I felt a sudden drop, causing me to flinch. Like when I woke up sometimes with a sudden feeling of vertigo. I opened my eyes, and I was in a field. The mansion was in the distance, but a lot closer than it had been. I was somewhere on the Hunters' property. If I had to guess, it was in one of the fields where they raised Pokemon. It looked like our decision hadn't even mattered, and Shiftry had planned to teleport us to him in the first place. Could it sense each person that stepped through its darkness and pluck them anywhere it wanted at will? What a terrifying ability.
Something still bothered me.
If they had the power to somehow sense us and teleport us, why not just get to the point, get us in the room with Shiftry and finish us off? Maybe it was even weaker than I thought, and it made sense. Jerry Heo had told us that there were only a few trainers in the family with one Pokemon each because Shiftry feared rebellion. That only made sense if it was either weaker than it seemed— and even more so while maintaining this darkened world, or scared of fighting. Or both.
Was it…
Was it actually scared of fighting—
I flinched when I made out a shape in the distance. A man stood opposite of me. It was too dark for me to see his face.
"You really fucked everything up, didn't you?" He said. I couldn't recognize him by the voice either due to its pitch. Was he a Hunter? Did that mean that everyone else was also in danger? Mira was alone!
Damn it, I couldn't afford to worry.
"Yeah. So?" I said, trying to keep my voice from trembling.
"So your life ends here just like you ended mine with your fucking meddling," he said, releasing a Torterra, a Crobat, a Pelipper and a Luxray at his side.
This was Harry Rodriguez. And he wasn't done. A Weavile and a Crawdaunt had joined his team, no doubt given to him by the Hunters.
A grin stretched on my face, and it came along with a muted sense of satisfaction I could not explain. I released my entire team and licked my lips. The ground rumbled under my feet from Princess' pre-charged Ancient Power. Angel wrapped a vine around my waist, ready to pull me back from any attack. Buddy's eyes had such hatred in them that they illuminated his entire head with a pale, grey light. Honey's body tensed, and my hair began to stand up from the electricity building up inside of his body, accompanied by crackles and a low hum. Sweetheart angrily stomped a foot against the floor, causing it to shake.
Sunshine's shell lit ablaze and heat washed over my body.
I clenched a fist. "Harry Rodriguez, it is time for you to pay the long price."
Soussouni
Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish
TEAM
SpoilerTogetic/Princess (Hustle) - Pound, Sweet Kiss, Growl, Headbutt, Fairy Wind, Ancient Power, Extrasensory, Thunder Wave, Air Cutter, Wish, Psychic, Shadow Ball, Dazzling Gleam
Jellicent/Buddy (Water Absorb) - Bubblebeam, Night Shade, Absorb, Water Sport, Water Pulse, Hex, Poison Sting, Mist, Acid Armor, Shadow Ball, Recover, Brine, Whirlpool
Electabuzz/Honey (Static) - Thundershock, Swift, Electric Swift, Thunder Punch, Charge, Leer, Ice Punch, Thunderbolt, Discharge, Fire Punch, Protect, Cross Chop
Tangrowth/Angel (Chlorophyll) - Vine Whip, Absorb, Mega Drain, Stun Spore, Bind, Poison Powder, Leech Seed, Ancient Power, Power Whip, Knock Off, Sunny Day
Larvitar/Sweetheart (Guts) - Leer, Tackle, Horn Attack, Rock Throw, Payback, Stomping Tantrum, Smack Down, Bite, Rock Slide, Crunch, Sandstorm
Turtonator/Sunshine (Shell Armor) - Smog, Ember, Smokescreen, Incinerate, Iron Defense, Flamethrower, Shell Trap, Dragon Pulse, Bulldoze, Scorching Sands, Rock Tomb, Body Slam, Flash Cannon, Solar Beam, Rapid Spin, Scale Shot, Iron Tail, Focus Blast
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CHAPTER 160 - It Festers
Darkness had come to Solaceon. I took deep breaths— or as deep as they could be with how heavy the air was. I didn't know if there was a certain time limit to how safe we would be here, but we were at least alright for now, it seemed. From what Jerry Heo had told us though… a few days here, and all of our emotions would disappear. I was already starting to feel the beginning of it. I didn't think that it would be replaced by loyalty to Shiftry however. He was no psychic capable of mind control. His work was a lot more subtler than that. Shiftry plucked each emotion of his choosing, but could not add any himself. The only reason it worked on the Hunters in the first place was that they'd been brainwashed from birth by their family members.
Still… if we stayed here too long and I lost every emotion, did that mean that I would no longer have the will to run? To escape? Then I would have to wait for the League to get here to save me.
My Pokemon clamored at me, asking me to leave, and I frowned when I realized that their voices all sounded the same. The pitch. I spoke up as well, saying random gibberish, and my voice confirmed my doubts. We all sounded the same. The voice was neither feminine or masculine— it was in between the two.
"You guys are right," I said, clenching a fist. "We've got to go. Maybe people are organizing and figuring things out."
I could only hope that was true. I doubted that I would find my friends in the sea of people out here, but they couldn't have gone far from the Center. Electronics not working was really going to screw us over, but at least Pokeballs still functioned. After grabbing my backpack, I heaved against the door, struggling to push it against the void littering the floor until Tangrowth just destroyed it with a Vine Whip. The majority of people on this floor had already left it seemed. I hesitated for a second, wondering if I should go to my friends' rooms on the other floors, but I opted to leave instead. The smartest decision right now was to get outside.
I recalled Angel, Buddy and Sweetheart for now. The first two were too big to navigate through all of these trainers, and Larvitar was too slow to keep up with my pace. Electabuzz would be able to shield me with Protect should anything happen, and Togetic had her psychic powers—
Wait. Would they even work here? Common sense dictated that all of this dark energy would cancel out any psychic type attack. Damn it, I lacked information, but I couldn't panic. The silver lining about this was that my mind was clear. It didn't stop me from feeling anxious at all, but it would keep me from panicking, at the very least. Since the elevator didn't work, I stepped down the stairs and sighed in relief when I saw that the Nurse Joys were keeping everyone in line.
"...Everyone should stay near the Pokemon Center at all costs until we figure out what is going on! Don't push, keep calm, and wait for a response from local forces!"
"League trainers were in the city, so it's only a matter of time until we get help from the outside!" Another nurse yelled. "For now, just find a spot for you to sit, or feel free to go back to your rooms to leave more space for anyone wandering the streets!"
So their plan was just to wait? Fuck, I needed to find my friends—
"Can't we leave?!" A girl yelled. "I saw some people flying away!"
"We do not know anything at this time, so the best course of action is to stay put until more information is gathered!"
No way. I was going outside to find my friends. I pushed through the crowd until it fizzled out on the street and asked Togetic to fly up to see if she could find anyone. There were many flying Pokemon in the air that I assumed were doing the same thing. The void on the ground was even thicker on the outside, and I almost felt like it was clawing up the walls, slowly but surely.
"Keep an eye out," I told Honey. He replied with a sharp nod, and his already tense body hardened. Shiftry obviously had a plan. There was no way he had done this for no reason.
Two minutes later, Princess came back and yelled at us to follow her. She led us a street away, and I let out a heavy breath when I saw that Mira, Maeve and Justin were waiting there.
"Arceus! Thank the Legendaries you guys are alright," I cried, hugging each one of them. "Do you know where the others are? Weren't you going to meet Cecilia?" I asked Mira.
"I was, but she wasn't in her room, so I just went to Justin instead."
"If I remember correctly, she was meeting Pauline to talk to Emilia on the phone," Maeve said. "So those two should be together, at least."
Justin frowned. "I came across Mira and Maeve in a stroke of luck in the lobby, and we decided to go outside to wait for everyone. This is… mindblowing. It's like the end of the world."
"Yeah," Mira sighed. "I can't release my psychics here. Being out scrambles their brains, and they lack the focus to use any moves or even speak to me."
So Togetic was probably not going to be able to use Extrasensory or Psychic any time soon. I sent her off to find more of our group, and Maeve and Mira had already sent out Staraptor and Magnezone to do the same.
"All of our voices sound the same, it's really weird," I pondered. "I can barely breathe properly too."
"It's the same for everyone. Shiftry's doing the same thing it did when Cynthia came to power," Justin said.
"No, this is worse," I shook my head. "From the way Jerry spoke, it was subtle the first time. He tried to make the entire city the same as their land and mansion, and none of those have this… darkness," I hesitantly said, trying not to stare at the floor for too long. The emptiness still unsettled me. "He's giving it everything this time. It's all or nothing. This is the play of a desperate individual."
"Which means that the League was closing in on them," Mira smirked. "What's the plan then? Try to leave?"
"I guess?" I hesitantly said. "The edges of the city look walled in."
It was as if Solaceon was completely trapped in some kind of… shape. It was impossible to know which one due to how indistinguishable the darkness in the sky was, but we were definitely encased somewhere. It was a wonder we were still managing to see things, although barely.
"I don't see a better option," Maeve said. "If we stay here too long, we'll lose everything that makes us… us. We'll be a blank slate."
A blank slate… was that what dark type energy was? I didn't have time to continue that train of thought. A sharp cry from Maeve's Staraptor caught our attention, and we cheered when we saw Cecilia, Denzel, Pauline and Louis approach. I rushed to my girlfriend and tackled her into a hug. She grabbed my face and kissed me, and we both cried from the amount of relief we felt.
"I was so scared for you," Cece sniffled. "Thank the Legendaries."
I hoped I would get to cry for a while longer yet.
I hugged the rest of my friends. I was so happy that we wouldn't have to get through this in separate groups. After whistling to get Togetic back, we waited for Magnezone to do the same.
"This is batshit insane," Pauline scoffed. "I—I read something about this online. This is like, a domain, but I thought only fairies could do that."
"I mean, when you're a thousand-year-old Pokemon, I guess you can skirt the rules a little."
I had to turn to figure out who had said that. It was impossible to distinguish between voices now.
"There might be a difference anyway, I don't know, I'm not a fairy type expert," Denzel continued. "None of us are. The question is, what the hell do we do?"
"We were considering trying to leave. Get to the edges… wherever those are," Justin said.
"That won't work," Cecilia shook her head. "People have come back on their flying types saying that the darkness at the edges is like an unbreakable barrier. Moves just wash over it like nothing."
"More precisely, they're absorbed," Louis specified. "The dark type has a lot of quirks we're unfamiliar with. Sinnoh isn't exactly crawling with experts."
"So do we just wait?" Maeve asked, her voice trembling. She jumped when Magnezone arrived and hovered over Mira's head.
We all stood still in silence, with only the noise of trainers and civilians alike to fill our ears. Denzel leaned against the floor and scooped darkness into his hands. It slipped through his fingers instantly. It was untenable.
"I think that we could wait a few hours to see what happens," he said. "But we can't wait forever. On our way there, we theorized that—"
"We'll lose ourselves if we wait too long. We have a few days," I guessed.
"Or less, if what you said about Shiftry going all out is true," Justin said.
I groaned. "Fuck. Fuck. Okay, I've got to speak to my Turtonator. Alone."
"Now?" Cece asked.
"Now's the best time to do it. I'm going to, uh— I'm going to go down the street and try to explain the situation to him."
"Grace, I know you came to a deal with him, but… look at what Shiftry did. He's far more powerful than we thought he could ever be. He's more than a millennia old!" Denzel exclaimed.
"Yeah. I know. But think of it this way," I paused and looked at each and every one of them. "We caused this. We were the ones that cornered Shiftry and his family. Logic dictates that they'll come and get their revenge soon, so I don't think that we'll be able to avoid a fight. And I also think that since we caused this… the responsibility falls onto us."
If I could have seen color, I probably would have seen them pale.
"But Shiftry also isn't here yet," I continued. "And a Pokemon of his power could have killed us a thousand times over now. This means that keeping this up is tiring him, or at least I think so. I don't know if we'll be able to beat him, but maybe if we take him on all together and break his focus, the League's main forces will manage to break through from the outside. I don't know, I'm just brainstorming, but Cynthia's probably there right now trying to break in."
"And Shiftry will probably be forced to keep this up because the League was about to send forces to raid its property from outside the town," Justin nodded.
"They had only sent some trainers, right?" Denzel said. "So they'd probably found definitive proof of a link and were about to send squads via Teleport, which isn't possible any longer."
"So we have to be ready," I said.
I walked down the street with Honey and Princess by my side. There wasn't really a spot without anyone, and I didn't feel like having to convince Sunshine to not freak out and kill anyone. Even in this situation, I didn't think that he'd be able to restrain himself. I turned to an empty grocery store and groaned when I saw that the owner or employees had locked up before running away.
"Talk about priorities," I sighed. "Break the door down."
Honey punched the door twice and I let myself in. People looked at me with disdain as I entered. Did they think I was a looter? Well, no matter. I grabbed Turtonator's Pokeball and released him. His eyes flared in panic when he noticed the situation, but I placed a hand on his plastron.
"Relax. Or at least try to," I said. "I'm scared too, but the dark is keeping me from panicking."
He frowned at me and then glared. I could almost hear his haughty call for me to explain the situation right now, and I did in excruciating detail, including the probable time limit that we had. I hadn't felt any change in my behavior yet aside from fear, panic and anxiety being somewhat muted, but it hadn't even been an hour. We'd probably be able to estimate a hard number soon when the first side effects started to sink in. Hopefully Pokeballs would protect my Pokemon from the worst of it.
"There you have it," I said. "We're in deep shit, Sunshine. The deal we had? I'm cashing it in now, and we're going to knock down two birds with one stone. Harry Rodriguez? The Hunters? They're linked to Team Galactic."
The temperature rose, causing me to back away. Not in fear, but because I had grown so accustomed to this feeling of… nothingness that this place had. A slight change in temperature here was as unnatural as a fish out of water. Everything stayed the same here. A change of any kind was wrong.
"Yes. You're right to be angry," I said. "They're going to come after us, I'm sure of it, and when the time comes, I'll need to use you. Deal?"
The fire type nodded.
"That means no killing random trainers, and listening to my orders. Or at least cooperating with me."
He nodded again, this time more reluctantly. A deal was a deal.
"Got it. I'm keeping you out then. Princess and Honey are on protective duties, and you'll be my battering ram. Actually wait, Princess, can you still use Ancient Power?"
The flying type chirped, and a small pebble rose from the floor. Darkness seeped out of it in a split second, and it became as natural as it had been before Shiftry had shrouded the world in its darkness. At least we still had that to protect me, but the lack of Psychic would cripple us.
"Okay, let's head back then. Watch your head."
Sunshine ignored my warning and simply walked through the concrete above the broken door with the scaly hat on his head. He deigned himself above such bothersome actions. My friends took a fearful step back when they saw the looming dragon behind me. I playfully slapped his scaly arm without looking back.
"Stop it. No death stares."
He gruffed, but everyone relaxed, at least slightly. I felt a lot safer with Sunshine by my side, although for him to fight effectively, I would need to be far away from him or I would be collateral damage. Honey's Protect would only last so long, and although there was a way to stop elements like heat and cold from going through psychic barriers like many Kadabra did for the gyms or tournaments, it took years of honing their skill to achieve such a feat.
And we were in the middle of a city filled to the brim with dark type energy, so that wasn't even an option.
"What now?" Maeve asked.
"We either wait for them to come to us…" Denzel muttered. "Or we go to them."
Cecilia took a few breaths. "I'm inclined to agree, unfortunately. They'd never expect us to go to them instead of hiding out in a Pokemon Center. They could wait us out too, but if we hide… either we wait too long and become shells of our former selves, or they come looking for us and kill innocents in the process."
"We're all innocents," Maeve exclaimed. "Shouldn't we at least wait until they attack first—
Turtonator snorted and looked at her with disdain and she flinched. He despised fearful trainers and thought of them as less than bugs. I knocked on his arm and shook my head, but he shrugged me off and told me that he wanted to speak again. Alone.
"Later."
"What?" Louis asked.
"I was talking to Sunshine. Anyway, I think this is the correct solution. We go to that mansion… and we fight. There's no other way out of this. I'm not going to take a chance and wait for someone else to save us. I wish you could stay alone, but you'll be safer with the group at this point."
"And you won't have to go inside the mansion," Mira grabbed her hand with both of hers. "I'll stick by you. If everything goes to shit and we become these cold, logical beings… I think you might have to stop me from doing something bad."
I eyed her in surprise. She was giving up her personal vendetta.
"When you only have two functioning Pokemon? I'll be the one to protect you, stupid," Maeve let out a wet chuckle.
"Thank you," she sniffled. "The thoughts are growing louder in my head already… they're telling me to do things to myself. Painful things. And the worst part about this is that they're mine."
I felt my heart drop and stared at Mira in disbelief. Had she been hurting all of this time, and yet hadn't told us anything?
"Mira…" Louis trailed off.
"We— are you—" Denzel choked. "We'll talk about this when we're done. There's definitely no time to waste then."
The mansion wasn't difficult to find. It seemed to be this world's only source of light. Without it, this place would truly be pitch black, with only touch to locate ourselves. I stayed back a few steps and walked by Sunshine's side, who angrily stared at my friends. The gist of his problem was that he thought that they'd slow us down. He wanted to do this alone, with only the other members of the family there to assist. Having other trainers there would take away from his revenge.
"You're asking a lot out of me here," I said, crossing my arms as I walked. Togetic and Honey loudly disagreed with him, but he ignored their protests.
He huffed and breathed out smoke from his snout.
"I… I did technically say that we'd break into a Team Galactic stronghold alone, but I also said that we'd call the League first, which meant that help would be on the way."
The fire type rolled his eyes and growled.
"Okay, it's true that you would have gotten some time to act alone, but we don't even know if the League is coming. There hasn't even been an act of this scale in I don't even know how long, and I don't know if they'll be able to break in here. Obviously the League trainers that were already here failed, or this would have stopped by now. To be honest, they'll probably be sending the Elite Four and Cynthia to deal with this…"
I sighed and clenched my forehead in frustration. We still had a ways to go, especially with how difficult walking was, and he would keep pestering me until I either gave in, or he would renege on the deal. I needed to find a way to bargain my way out of this or I'd be back at step one—
Blotches of darkness lashed out at my friends' feet. It took a few seconds for Denzel to even realize what was happening.
"Recall your Pokemon, now!" He screamed.
They immediately all listened to him, and I did the same. Mira disappeared into the abyss first. She was dragged down into the floor before she could even scream. Cecilia was next, and then Denzel, and so on and so on. We were all being brought to separate locations. I narrowly managed to recall Sunshine before the void brushed up against my skin. This wasn't like teleportation. I felt a sudden drop, causing me to flinch. Like when I woke up sometimes with a sudden feeling of vertigo. I opened my eyes, and I was in a field. The mansion was in the distance, but a lot closer than it had been. I was somewhere on the Hunters' property. If I had to guess, it was in one of the fields where they raised Pokemon. It looked like our decision hadn't even mattered, and Shiftry had planned to teleport us to him in the first place. Could it sense each person that stepped through its darkness and pluck them anywhere it wanted at will? What a terrifying ability.
Something still bothered me.
If they had the power to somehow sense us and teleport us, why not just get to the point, get us in the room with Shiftry and finish us off? Maybe it was even weaker than I thought, and it made sense. Jerry Heo had told us that there were only a few trainers in the family with one Pokemon each because Shiftry feared rebellion. That only made sense if it was either weaker than it seemed— and even more so while maintaining this darkened world, or scared of fighting. Or both.
Was it…
Was it actually scared of fighting—
I flinched when I made out a shape in the distance. A man stood opposite of me. It was too dark for me to see his face.
"You really fucked everything up, didn't you?" He said. I couldn't recognize him by the voice either due to its pitch. Was he a Hunter? Did that mean that everyone else was also in danger? Mira was alone!
Damn it, I couldn't afford to worry.
"Yeah. So?" I said, trying to keep my voice from trembling.
"So your life ends here just like you ended mine with your fucking meddling," he said, releasing a Torterra, a Crobat, a Pelipper and a Luxray at his side.
This was Harry Rodriguez. And he wasn't done. A Weavile and a Crawdaunt had joined his team, no doubt given to him by the Hunters.
A grin stretched on my face, and it came along with a muted sense of satisfaction I could not explain. I released my entire team and licked my lips. The ground rumbled under my feet from Princess' pre-charged Ancient Power. Angel wrapped a vine around my waist, ready to pull me back from any attack. Buddy's eyes had such hatred in them that they illuminated his entire head with a pale, grey light. Honey's body tensed, and my hair began to stand up from the electricity building up inside of his body, accompanied by crackles and a low hum. Sweetheart angrily stomped a foot against the floor, causing it to shake.
Sunshine's shell lit ablaze and heat washed over my body.
I clenched a fist. "Harry Rodriguez, it is time for you to pay the long price."
Soussouni
Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish
TEAM
SpoilerTogetic/Princess (Hustle) - Pound, Sweet Kiss, Growl, Headbutt, Fairy Wind, Ancient Power, Extrasensory, Thunder Wave, Air Cutter, Wish, Psychic, Shadow Ball, Dazzling Gleam
Jellicent/Buddy (Water Absorb) - Bubblebeam, Night Shade, Absorb, Water Sport, Water Pulse, Hex, Poison Sting, Mist, Acid Armor, Shadow Ball, Recover, Brine, Whirlpool
Electabuzz/Honey (Static) - Thundershock, Swift, Electric Swift, Thunder Punch, Charge, Leer, Ice Punch, Thunderbolt, Discharge, Fire Punch, Protect, Cross Chop
Tangrowth/Angel (Chlorophyll) - Vine Whip, Absorb, Mega Drain, Stun Spore, Bind, Poison Powder, Leech Seed, Ancient Power, Power Whip, Knock Off, Sunny Day
Larvitar/Sweetheart (Guts) - Leer, Tackle, Horn Attack, Rock Throw, Payback, Stomping Tantrum, Smack Down, Bite, Rock Slide, Crunch, Sandstorm
Turtonator/Sunshine (Shell Armor) - Smog, Ember, Smokescreen, Incinerate, Iron Defense, Flamethrower, Shell Trap, Dragon Pulse, Bulldoze, Scorching Sands, Rock Tomb, Body Slam, Flash Cannon, Solar Beam, Rapid Spin, Scale Shot, Iron Tail, Focus Blast
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