EVERYONE: Shadows Over Hoenn (A Choose Your Own Adventure Story)

[Lone_Garurumon]

You groan as you gradually slip back into consciousness. You seem to be lying in some kind of bed, but it doesn’t feel like yours. You sit up in the bed only to clutch your head in pain, noticing your splitting headache. Waiting a few moments for the pain to subside into a dull ache rather than splitting pain, you squint in the darkness, attempting to make out your surroundings. You can see a lighter rectangle that’s probably a doorway nearby, a bunch of darker rectangles that could be more beds lined up around the room, and windows lined up along the wall that you can see the stars through. Yeah, this isn’t right. You tried thinking back to how you wound up here, but you don’t seem to be able to remember anything more recent than about a day ago. Deciding that you should probably start yourself towards figuring out what’s going on here, you ease yourself out of the bed.

So, what’s first?

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Look for a lightswitch.

You figure that the best way of figuring out anything about your current situation would be to get some light into the room. You fumble your way through the grid of dark rectangles, keeping your hands on the metal bars at each end for guidance. Upon reaching the side wall, you notice that it seems to be made of metal of some kind as you move towards the door. Lightswitches tend to be next to the door, so you figure that's your best bet. As you approach the door, your foot catches on something, tripping you up. You grab onto the door frame to stop yourself from collapsing, your hand catching on the lightswitch as you did so, illuminating the room. Regaining your balance, you look down at the object that tripped you up, and see a very familiar backpack sitting by the door. It's yours. Kneeling down next to it, you open it up and take a look inside. Not much, just your badge case and your two Pokeballs, a Great and a Dusk Ball. You open up the balls and feel your heart sink. These were supposed to contain your Lairon and Corphish, but were instead empty. Beside the obvious concern welling up as you wondered what had happened to your Pokemon, you really didn't want to be in this strange place without a Pokemon by your side.

Draw a pentagram into the floor and pray to the deity of destruction that the world will be obliterated.

You come up with an interesting idea that could help your situation, but you can't act on it without something you could use to draw with. Taking your first proper look around the room since turning the light on, you confirm that, yes, the rectangles were in fact beds, arranged in a grid throughout most of the room. You also notice that the metal wall you felt earlier was a row of lockers, and of course the door to the hallway behind you.

You now have your backpack, with which you can store objects you find around the place for later use, should you feel the need to do so. You can check the contents of your backpack at any time, the response to which will not advance the story, so you can have time to think about how you can use the contents.
The pentagram idea has been filed away for later, and you will act on it as soon as you find something you can draw with.
What action is next for our intrepid protagonist?

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Perhaps attempt to make a makeshift crowbar by ripping out some metal bar within your surroundings. Any sort of weapon should come in handy; either as a last resort or to conk a guard/enemy unconscious while they don't notice you.

You come up with the idea to try and fashion a weapon out of your surroundings. After all, anything is better than nothing, especially given that you you don't have any Pokemon with you right now. Your first thought is trying to get a piece of metal bar. You take a look around and see what kind of metal you can see. You definitely won't be able to tear out the metal in the windowframes without hurting yourself. Your other options are the bed frames and the lockers. You figure the locker door is probably going to be easier to tear off than any part of the bed frame. Heading over to the lockers, you try the doors as you go to see if any are already unlocked. Luckily, you find an unlocked door halfway down the row. Taking position with both hands clenched around the door, you prepare to try and wrench it from its hinges. Before you can give your tug though, something within the locker catches your eye. There's some clothes and such in the locker, of course, but there's also a cricket bat, ball, and some wickets. Seems like whoever uses this locker enjoys playing. Releasing the door, you reach in and grab the cricket bat, giving a few practice swings. It's not metal, but it swings good, and you're not really sure you're strong enough to tear any kind of metal from its housings anyway.

Leave the room in search of Lairon and Corphish

Satisfied, you exit the room into the rather barren hallway. Rather than explaining the paths open to you, I'm just going to show them:

Spoiler: Known area map (Not exact scale)

You now have a cricket bat as a weapon
Would you like to take anything else from the locker before truly leaving the room? Contents:

• A few sets of black clothes
• A black hat
• A cricket ball
• Cricket wickets

Choose your next destination amongst yourselves:

• Door 1
• Door 2
• Door 3
• The corner by door 3

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Well, the wickets aren't gonna do much, but the ball may act as a diversion, so it won't hurt to add that to the repertoire.
The clothes may be a uniform; so that could also be of use in the event that people affiliated with whatever this place is won't bat an eye, etc. Let's take that, too.

After thinking for a moment, you grab a set of the clothes from the locker, luckily looking to be about your size, as well as the cricket ball and stuff them all into your backpack. Zipping it up and placing it onto your back, you pick up the cricket bat and head out into the hallway.

I'll take the corner.

Examining your options, you decide to stick to the hallway and head towards the corner you can see a short distance away. You round the corner and see, somewhat unsurprisingly, more hallway. It stretches about as far as the last one did, with one door about halfway down on the left, a few windows down the right side, and a door at the end that seemed to lead outside the building.

Spoiler: Known area map (not exact scale)

You now have a cricket ball and a set of clothes
What's next?

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Go into 4. I think it'd be best to find Lairon and Corphish as soon as possible, and they're likely somewhere in the building.

As you gradually make your way down the hall, you hear sounds of banging coming from behind the closed door on your left. Gripping your bat in anticipation, you push open the door, revealing a bedroom much nicer than the one you'd woken up in. Or, well, it would have been if it wasn't so destroyed. There was a queen-size bed (torn to shreds), a desk (mostly demolished), and proper shelving (also mostly demolished). The most striking part of the room however was the Pokemon in the corner. It was your Lairon, you'd recognise that chip out of its back armour anywhere. The door creaks slightly as you push it further to come into the room. You recoil slightly as Lairon's head suddenly snaps around to look at you. You experience an unshakable feeling of dread as its normally blue eyes, now a harsh red, glare into you with a burning ferocity. Lairon turns toward you and roars. Something is very wrong.

How do you respond to this situation?

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Aim whatever Poke Ball that was used to contained Lairon at it to ready a potential recapture; but simultaneously anticipate the usage of a distractive cricket ball in case the worst happens...

Trainers shouldn't hurt their Pokemon.

Slowly and deliberately, you take the strap of your backpack off one shoulder and reach into the pocket on the side. You produce Lairon's Dusk Ball and the cricket ball you grabbed from the locker, stashing the cricket bat in the main pocket. The entire time Lairon never took its eyes off you; growling, but never moving from its place in the corner. Extending your arm, you point the Dusk Ball at Lairon and call for a return. The red beam of light extends from the button and strikes Lairon, wrapping around its form. The light holds for a few seconds, before shattering as Larion roars and shakes its body around. No good, looks like it's way too angry to accept a return. Lairon shook itself off from the effects before fixing those fierce, hateful eyes squarely on you. It roars once more and charges directly at you. In a fit of surprise and panic you toss the cricket ball over near the destroyed shelf. Its eyes locking onto the much more active and engaging target, Lairon veers off to the side in pursuit. It leaps towards the ball to catch it, banging its head against the wall, stunning it for a moment.

You have lost the cricket ball
You've got a few seconds, how do you use them?

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Uh, I feel like maybe now would be a good time to run, but maybe someone else has a better idea.

Y'gotta know when to fold 'em. Even if Lairon is confused enough to be caught; there's no telling if the Dusk Ball will keep ahold of it in its current state.

Seizing the moment of Lairon's temporary daze, you scramble back out the door you came from, slamming it behind you moments before Lairon collided with the closed door. What was that? Lairon was usually so nice, it loves cuddling up on your lap for crying out loud. What had happened to twist it into that? You didn't have much time to ponder however, as a feminine voice calls out from down the hall.
"What is going on over here!?" You turn to see a woman running down the hall, Pokeball in hand. She's dressed in black from head to toe, with matching hat, and a bright red R emblazoned on her chest. Her eyes seem to widen a tad as she sees you. "Wait, are you getting into nonsense again!?"

Response to this sudden appearance?

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Team Rocket generally fight using Pokémon, which we do not currently have. Pulling the cricket bat against her would probably get us beat up by one of her Pokémon. Releasing Lairon from the room would probably be very poor choice at the moment.

I'd say play along with her for now. Maybe we'll learn something about what they're doing here.

You remain silent as the Rocket Grunt catches up to you, panting slightly.
"Hey, are you ok? I heard-" She started to say before being cut off by scratching at the door next to you. "What is that?" She asks, glancing nervously at the door. You briefly consider opening the door to have Lairon drive her off, but decide against it; too unpredictable. You decide that full-disclosure is probably the best course of action at the moment, and explain how you found your Lairon having gone entirely insane. "Wait, that Lairon is in there? No. Absolutely not." She says, grabbing onto your arm. "We are not talking here." You cautiously follow along as she leads you back the way she'd come, prepared to wrench your arm away at any moment. She leads you back past the bedroom you'd started in and around the corner, into a kitchen. You glance around at the kitchen as she brings you in. There's a fridge and freezer, various cooking appliances such as an oven and microwave, bags of various snacks across the table and counter looking like they'd been scattered in a hurry, and a whiteboard and markers, presumably for noting groceries (though a large number of simple doodles also covered the board).
"So, that Lairon's yours, huh?" The Rocket Grunt asks as she sat down on one of the chairs by the table. "Guess that explains why you've gone after it twice now. Just maybe make sure you're prepared before the third try, huh?" She says with a smirk.

What's next?

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Alright, maybe giving our little metal bugger a tasty meal could placate it from its trance? Let's see what our culinary judgment and/or experience can offer.

The Rocket Grunt's words fill you with a mix of shame and sadness. You lean back against the wall and think about the situation. Try as you might you just can't put the thought of Larion and its condition out of your mind. Somehow, you'd lost both of your Pokemon, and when you found Lairon it had been turned into some kind of crazed monster, and who knows what state Corphish is in. The worst part is that you can't even remember how this had happened. Standing around moping isn't going to fix anything though. Straightening up, you begin to rummage through the kitchen for ingredients. Eggs, flour, milk, butter, sugar, berries. Perfect, everything you need. You're going to figure out a way to snap Larion out of whatever is going on if it kills you.
"What are you doing?" The Rocket Grunt asks as you dash over and turn on the oven.
"Baking." You say simply, retrieving the implements you'd need from the cupboards. You'd learned how to make poffins from your friend Diane, who'd moved down from Sinnoh a few years ago, and you'd developed your own recipe that Lairon in particular loved. "You know how to make batter?" You ask, turning your head to face the Grunt.
"Umm... Vaguely?" She says with a shrug. "You just mix together all that stuff you just got out, right?"
"No. Here, cut these up then. Thin slices on the pecha." You say as you pass over a cutting board loaded with pecha, cheri, and figy berries. You won't be able to make the exact recipe with the ingredients available here, but you should be able to approximate it reasonably well. By the time you'd mixed up the batter ready for the berries, she'd finished cutting them up and passed them back over to you. You mash up the chunks of cheri and figy berry, and mix the mush into the batter. The pecha slices you simply mix in as they were.
"So... What, your plan is to bribe Lairon with baked goods?" The Grunt asks as she watches you mix up the batter.
"Well, yeah, pretty much." You reply sheepishly. "It really likes a recipe that's pretty similar to this one, and I'm hoping it'll remind it who I am."
"Well, let's hope it works." She says with a soft smile. After you finished mixing, you stick a finger into the batter and have a taste. It's not perfect, but it's not like you have the berries left to try again. It'll have to do. You portion the batter out onto a tray and stick it in the oven, setting the timer.

These poffins are going to take about half an hour to cook. Is there something you want to do in the meantime? Or just wait it out.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Well, now. No plans brew on my head at the moment; and the Grunt seems decent enough that I don't feel like sacrificing dealing with her.

I kinda feel bad for the protagonist, tho. How 'bout we compel them to hum a song that they love/remember to further destress them?

Leaning on the counter by the oven, you glance over at the timer. 28 minutes to go. Pushing off from the counter, you begin to pace down the length of the room. After a time, you glance back over at the timer. 25 Minutes. Grumbling a bit, you kneel down in front of the cupboards and begin counting plates. There's 17. You get up and glance once more at the timer. 23. Gah, this is taking forever! You run your fingers through your hair. All this waiting is driving you mad. In an attempt to re-centre yourself, you close your eyes and begin to hum a tune, an old melody you remember your mother singing to you when you were little. You'd forgotten the words over the years, if you ever actually knew them, but the melody had burned itself into your mind, and it always helped calm you down if necessary. After finishing a verse, a feminine voice joined in and began singing along to your melody.

So
On the first evening a pebble
From somewhere out of nowhere drops upon the dreaming world​

You open your eyes and look at the Rocket Grunt still sitting at the table, facing you. You guess she must've heard the song somewhere herself and memorised the words. She gives a smile and motions for you to keep humming. You do so, and she continues singing along.

So
On the second celestial evening
The children of the pebble, holding hands, compose a waltz

Sound Life
​

And so it continued. For the first time since your encounter with Lairon, you were finally able to put the situation out of your mind for 20 blissful minutes. Simply standing there, performing a song with a stranger, and allowing the tune and memories to wash over you and take you out of the moment. You're sure she must've reached the end of the song and started over several times, but she never spoke up, so you assumed she must not have minded and just kept humming along. Eventually, you're jolted out of your trance by a sharp ringing. Leaning over, you take a peek through the door of the oven. They've definitely risen properly. You put on the oven mitt hanging from the handle on the door, and remove the tray with the poffins, placing them on top of the oven. Giving them a few minutes to cool down, you examine your handiwork. They've come out bright red, a good sign, broken up by pink strips of pecha berry. Gingerly picking one up, you take a bite. The spiciness of the cheri and figy berries briefly threaten to overpower your palette, but a moment later you chew into a piece of pecha berry and its sweet juices flow through your mouth, balancing out the flavour. Yup, this'll do great.
"Here, try it." You say, passing it back to the Rocket Grunt. She looks it over for a moment before taking a bite of her own. Her eyes widen as she chews.
"Wow." She says upon swallowing. "This is good! Did you come up with this?"
"Uhh, well, kinda? I made the original recipe through trial and error, but this isn't really the right berries, I'm just lucky the flavours are close enough."
"Well it's good. I think you've got a talent for this."
"Thanks." You rub the back of your neck sheepishly. You pack the uneaten poffins into a container you'd found while counting plates.

You now have a container of 10 spicy-sweet poffins
What's the plan from here?

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

I guess it's to go see how how well bribing Lairon with poffins goes over.

Alright, now that you had your resources, it's time to head back and try to bring Lairon to its senses. You leave the kitchen and head back down the hall to the bedroom you'd left half an hour ago. Glancing behind you, you notice that the Rocket Grunt has followed you over. You give her a bit of a quizzical look.
"I need to know if this works." She says after seeing you face. "And don't worry. If this goes bad, I've got your back." She says, smiling and holding up her Poke Ball.
You once again push open the door to the room, this time armed with a new weapon: A box of baked goods. Your eyes quickly sweep over the room and lock in on Lairon, having moved back to that same corner of the room.
“Uhh, h-hey buddy.” You say, opening up the box. Just like last time, Lairon fixes its fierce, red, hateful eyes directly on you. “You uhh, you want a snack?” You take a poffin out from the box and toss it over to Lairon. Much like with the ball, Lairon’s eyes fixate on the movement as it leaps to intercept the poffin in midair. After landing back on the ground, Lairon snaps the treat down in a single gulp and looks back over to you. Something about the look feels different, though. Its eyes are still that same shade of red, but they seem softer somehow, as though something’s stirring in its mind. You take out another poffin and toss it to land about halfway between the two of you. Rather than leaping at it again though, this time Lairon walks over to the poffin lying on the ground and scoops it up in its mouth, chewing on it for a bit before swallowing. You take another poffin, kneel down, and simply hold this one out in front of you. You feel your heart pounding in your chest, desperately hoping Lairon will act the way you think it will as it walks up and sniffs at your hand. After a few tense moments, Lairon grabbed the poffin from your hand and began to chew. Hand shaking, you reach out to Lairon as it chews, its eyes tracking your movements. You slowly reach towards its head and touch the armour on its face. You begin to rub the hard armour. After a few moments, Lairon suddenly thrusts its head into your lap and begins whining, as though in some form of pain.
“Incredible…” You hear the Rocket Grunt say from behind you.

You have 7 poffins left.
What do you do with Lairon at this point?

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Well, it's already in a relatively passive state; maybe feed it at least one more Poffin before retrying capture. The rest should be saved for Corphish by the possibility that our little crustacean is an infectee of what Lairon's been afflicted with.

Continuing to rub Lairon's head, you reach back into the box and produce another poffin. You hold the poffin down in your lap, which Lairon sniffs and begins to chew. You reach into your backpack and produce Lairon's Dusk Ball. After finishing the poffin, Lairon whines and presses its face against the button, willingly returning to its ball.
"So it worked, right?" The Rocket Grunt said, leaning over your shoulder to see what happened. "It's back to its old self?"
"To be honest, I'm really not sure." You say, putting the Dusk Ball back in your backpack. "It's not going crazy anymore, that's good. But its eyes were still red, and it was whining at the end there."
"So... Does that mean it's not enough?" She muses, before perking up. "Well, no matter. Hey, I helped out with your thing (kinda), so what do you say you help me out with mine? Might even learn how to fix 'em up properly."

You have 6 poffins left
You have recovered Lairon
Will you help the Rocket Grunt with her task?

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Before I decide on whether to help her or not I'd ask what she wants.

You eye her skeptically for a moment after her request. She's been helpful, sure, and she does seem nice enough, but she's also a Rocket Grunt.
"That depends." You say. "What exactly is this 'thing' you want help with?"
"Well, as you could probably guess, Team Rocket is... Doing something to the Pokemon they're capturing, driving them wild." She says gesturing to the demolished bedroom behind you. "I have no idea what they're doing or how to fix it, but I'm here to find out. You've definitely figured out something with how you managed to calm down your Lairon, but somehow I doubt it's as simple as giving them a quick snack. Unfortunately, grunts normally aren't allowed into the R&D building. I was planning to head over now that most of the staff have flown the coop, but then I found you unconscious after your last meeting with Lairon and got kinda distracted by that for a while. So yeah, I want you to come with me to the R&D building and help me figure out exactly what's going on, here."

Hmm....

....

....

....sure. She's pretty much been nothing but affable towards us. Let's be the good Samaritan and see how things go. We might even gain more information of whatever's going on through her.

You muse over the proposal for a short while, your arms crossed in thought. She's been nice enough so far, and finding information on what's actually happened here would certainly help you out. Eventually, you nod. "Sure." You reply. "I'll help you out."
"Great!" She cheers. "I've been good to go for like, a few hours now, so we'll leave once you're ready!"

Team Rocket Grunt has joined the party! Unlike the player character, she cannot be controlled directly, but suggestions can be made to her, which she may or may not agree with based on factors such as her own personality and goals, and her relationship with you. You can also talk freely with her in most situations, so don't be afraid to strike up conversation if you're not sure what to do next, or even if you're just feeling talkative.
Are you ready to head off to the R&D building with the grunt? Or is there more you want to do here first?
(The current building will not be blocked off, you can return later if you decide you want to)

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Assuming that we've not visited it, let's go to room 2, and if we've visited that let's visit room 1. If both have been visited then lets head to R&D.

You glance around the hall for a moment, trying to think of whether there's anything you still need to do here before you headed off, and notice the door at the corner of the hallway that you hadn't checked out yet. It's right there, so why not? You walk over and hesitate slightly as you approach the door. You gently push the door open and peek around the edge. It's dark, but it seems to be a small room, and nothing reacted to your opening the door, so you figure it's safe to just open the whole thing up. With the door opened you can see into the room better, and realise that there's not really much to see at all. It's just a small, empty room with a door in the floor.
"Oh, that's the tunnel I was planning to use to get to the R&D building!" The Rocket Grunt says, peeking over your shoulder. "It should (probably) be safer than trying to walk across the grounds at the moment. So, this mean you're ready to go?"

Are you ready to head to R&D? Or do you want to look around a bit more?

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Might as well just head to R&D.

"Yeah, might as well." You say, turning your head back to her.
"Great! We've just gotta head down there." She points to the floor door. You crouch down, grab the handle, and give a strong pull. With the door open, you can see the stairs leading down into a dark basement-type area. "Alright, let's go. Don't worry there's lights down there." You make your way down the stairs into the basement, careful to take it one step at a time. As you reach the bottom, you confirm that yes, there are lights down here like she said. Dim lights, but enough to let you see where you're going once your eyes adjusted. There are two pathways branching off, the dim lights stretching down along the walls. "It's the left one." She says, having come down after you.
You walk down the indicated path in silence for a few moments, your footsteps echoing off the walls. Mostly lit or not, this place still kinda puts you on edge, thinking that some savage Pokemon might be hiding just around the corner you can make out ahead of you. You strain your ears to try and catch any other sounds in the darkness. You think that you might be able to hear... Something, but you really can't be sure.
"This is it." The Rocket Grunt says, bringing you out of your own mind as the tunnel opens up, revealing that the corner you saw was actually a room with stairs back up. You stick close as you both head up the stairs. She pushes the door open a crack and peeks through the opening. "All clear." She says, and opens the door the rest of the way.
The smell is the first thing that hits you. It's that kind of smell that fills a room animals are kept in, but nobody bothers to keep it overly clean beyond occasionally wiping down a cage or two. As you climb the last few steps and look around, you conclude that yes, that's exactly what this room is. The walls are lined with cages with sizes ranging from small to absolutely massive, the doors for each torn to shreds and hanging from their hinges. A small chest of drawers sits next to you, a torn bag of Pokemon food lies spilled in the corner, and you can hear a noise coming from one of the nearby cages, though you can't tell what's making it from where you're standing. The exit door is on the side of the room opposite yours.

What's next?

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

I'd say that it's a good idea to check the noise, if it's coming from something in an open cage or out of a cage, it might ambush us when we're trying to leave the room.

You quickly decide that the most pressing feature of the room you've found yourself in is the noise from the nearby cage. As you cautiously make your way to the cage it sounds to be coming from, you figure out what the sound is. It's growling. You eventually come level with the cage in question, and take a look inside from a safe distance. Within, you see a Zigzagoon glaring back at you, hunched in its torn open cage. The most striking part about it, however, is those vicious red eyes, identical to the ones on Lairon.

What's the response?

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Sure, it is unquestionably in the same baleful trance that Lairon had, but there's only so much poffins we have to offer; there's a good chance that Corphish is somewhere, presumably under that same influence. This trainer doesn't even recall owning a Zigzagoon, anyway. So... might as well resort to force and get refreshed in Pokemon battling.

As you continue to look into the cage, the Zigzagoon, apparently quite a bit more unruly than Lairon, suddenly leaps out of the cage. You cry out and stumble back as it clings to your head, its hind claws raking across your face. After a few moments, you manage to pry it off and toss it to the ground. It scrambles to its feet and hisses at you, fur standing on end, before charging for your legs in that zig-zag pattern distinct to its species. You're able to get out of the way as it rushes past. You reach into your backpack. Doesn't look like there's much of a choice.
"Lairon! Time for some action!" The dusk ball bursts open and releases a brilliant white light that quickly solidifies and takes the form of your still red-eyed partner. Lairon roars ferociously as it prepares for combat. Perhaps, a little too ferociously... Next to Lairon, another light becomes a Loudred.
"Don't worry, I've got your back." The Rocket Grunt says, clutching a great ball. You nod and turn your gaze to the battle about to unfold.

Spoiler

The enraged Zigzagoon attacked!
You sent out Lairon!
- Lairon's moves are not currently set. It's your Pokemon, you tell me how you've trained it. Available moves include all level-up and TM/TR moves.
Team Rocket Grunt sent out Loudred!
- Team Rocket Grunt will give her own instructions to Loudred, but will attempt to synergise with your commands as best as possible, and is receptive to suggestions should you wish to give them.
- Loudred's moves: Supersonic, Uproar, Bite, Thunder Punch

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

While Lairon has a good defense, and Zigzagoons are mainly phisycal attackers, some more won't hurt: Lairon, use Iron Defense!

Zigzagoon begins by charging headfirst with a Tackle as you give your command. Raising its body, Lairon presents as many armour plates towards the Zigzagoon as possible, all of them glowing a bright white as they reinforced themselves. As Zigzagoon slams into Lairon's reinforced head, the Iron Armour Pokemon bucked forward, flinging Zigzagoon into the air slightly.
"Thunder Punch!" The Rocket Grunt shouts, and Loudred steps up, slamming an electrically charged fist into the airborne Zigzagoon, blowing it across the room.It quickly gets up and hisses at you as its prepares for another strike.

Next command?

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Zigzagoon clambers to its feet on the other side of the room before rushing forward at blinding speeds, a white strip of light trailing behind it.

Let's play it safe, Lairon use Protect!

At your command Lairon takes a similar defensive pose to before, and projects a green dome of energy around its body. Zigzagoon comes to a dead stop as it slams into the barrier. As Zigzagoon claws and bites at Lairon's shield, the Rocket Grunt calls out to you.
"Cover your ears!" You look at her confused for a moment, her hands over her own ears, before remembering what Pokemon she's commanding and hastily plugging your own ears. You see her tell Loudred... Something. You're not 100% sure what. Loudred spends a few seconds taking a deep breath, before screaming at the top of its lungs, stomping its feet, and blasting even more raw deafening noise from the speakers in its ears. Even through your plugged ears, you can feel the force of the sound vibrating your skull. You look over at Zigzagoon to see it desperately trying to cover its ears, its mouth wide open in what were likely cries of pain. You unplug your ears when the sound dies down as Loudred runs out of breath, your ears sore but not damaged. Lairon, protected from the violent sound by its dome, drops the barrier and shoves the prone Zigzagoon back across the room, giving some space to your team.
"Wait... What's that?" The Rocket Grunt asks, looking over at Zigzagoon. As you look closer, you see what she saw: strange wisps of dark energy floating up from Zigzagoon's fur, steadily growing in intensity. It once again fixes those red, hateful eyes on your group, but with an even greater malice and ferocity than you'd seen either it or Lairon give previously. It roars at you, the dark energy flaring to surround its entire body, coating its form in writhing darkness as it prepares its next attack.

Seems things are starting to heat up. What's your next move?

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

"What the hell is going on!?" The Rocket Grunt shouted, holding down her hat as the wind from the flaring aura threatened to blow it off.
"Why are you asking me!?" You shout. "How should I know!?" As you're talking, Zigzagoon growls and swipes with its front claws, one after the other. As each swipe occurs, a wave of that dark energy shoots across the room, knocking Lairon and Loudred back. The Rocket Grunt flails her arms in front of her, frantically attempting to figure out what the heck that last attack was. Thinking on your feet, you figure that the best way to get the situation under control is to pin Zigzagoon down and keep it from moving.

Body Press.

At your command, Lairon rushes forward. Zigzagoon, charges itself in response, the dark aura cloaking its form. The two collide head-on, pushing against each other. After a few moments, Lairon shoves its head to the side slightly, throwing Zigzagoon off balance. Seizing the moment, Lairon pushes Zigzagoon backwards, driving it into the wall. Zigzagoon snaps at Lairon's face as it's pressed continually into the wall, Lairon snapping back to keep it in check. The plan works for a minute or two, Zigzagoon steadily weakening under Lairon's hold. Soon, however, Zigzagoon roars, and its aura flares once more, blowing Lairon away and causing it to slide across the floor. Lairon roars ferociously as it scrambles back onto its feet. Zigzagoon watches, breathing heavily, its aura weakly rising from its body in wisps now, rather than fiercely flaming as it was before.

Zigzagoon seems close to its limit. The next attack will probably do it in. What'll it be?