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TEEN: The Legendarian Chronicles

Chapter 16: Reunion
Chapter 16: Reunion

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The flight home felt much longer than the flight to the base. I made Flygon head west of Celadon to start with, that way the Rockets wouldn’t know that the base was to the east. Even a vague hint like that could be disastrous later on. Practically every instruction I gave was met with some kind of complaint from the Flygon, but at this point I was too tired to care, and he ended up following them in the end anyway.

Finally, after everything we’d gone through to get this far, we were met with the glorious sight of Kanto’s eastern coastline, with the silver light of the full moon glimmering off the waves. Just beyond that lay Midnight Island, and it had never looked more inviting. I’d only been gone for a few hours, but it had felt like forever. What time even was it? I pressed the button on my watch to illuminate its face, but nothing happened. Well, that was strange. Not that it really mattered what time it was—either way, the answer was “way too late.”

I pointed Flygon in the direction of Midnight Stadium and we drifted down toward it, his diamond-shaped wings buzzing with a lot less vigor than they had at the beginning of the flight. Finally the dragon touched down on the ground with a clumsy thud, immediately collapsing onto all fours.

Damn it, why’d we have to fly so far?” Flygon gasped, his wings drooping. He’d probably never flown that far in his life. I almost would have felt bad for him… if he hadn’t tried to leave us all behind at the Rocket base.

“I already told you this is the safest place for us right now, unless you wanted to sleep in a random forest somewhere.” That got me shaken off his back in a hurry.

Chibi hopped a few feet from me, shaking out his fur while I picked myself up from the dirt and brushed off my pants.

Alright, I did my part, I got everyone here. Now let out the others,” Flygon grumbled, folding his wings against his back.

I shrugged and grabbed two Pokéballs from my pocket, one red and one black, opening them to reveal twin flashes of light that took the forms of a white beast and a tall green mantis. And then Chibi froze, staring wide-eyed at Razors in total disbelief. In all the time I’d known him, I’d never seen him look so stunned. But then, this was his first real reunion with Razors in… how long? Years? How many years had Razors been brainwashed? How many years had Chibi been forced to view his companion as the enemy?

Jade said she’d found you, but… some part of me didn’t believe her,” the Pikachu said quietly. “There’s no way. It can’t really be you.

The Scyther stared back, his expression impossible to read. Finally, he gave a gentle nod and said, “I’m real.

With slow, hesitant steps, Chibi walked over to him, not breaking eye contact the entire time. He then reached out and placed a trembling paw on the green edge of Razors’s scythe.

I’ve probably imagined this a million times. When you were first taken… I told myself I wouldn’t give up hope. That I would spend every day trying to free you.

Razors didn’t respond. He just stared downward, blinking slowly.

But as the years went by, I lost hope,” Chibi went on, breaking eye contact. “I thought you were gone forever. I…”—his voice broke—“I tried to kill you.

I know,” Razors replied, his voice the same monotone as usual. “So did I.

Something flashed through Chibi’s eyes. “That’s not the same. You weren’t you.

Razors chuckled. The sound was hollow and utterly joyless. “Does it make any difference? The outcome would have been the same either way.

The Pikachu shook his head. “That doesn’t… that’s not…

What’s done is done,” the mantis said firmly. “Neither of us can take it back. But it didn’t come to that—we’re both still alive.

Chibi opened his mouth like he was going to protest, but then froze, staring at the other hybrid. Slowly, his wide-eyed, desperate expression faded as he dropped his gaze to the ground and closed his eyes. “We’re both still alive…” he said quietly.

Alright, this is all very touching, but where are we, and what are we going to do now?” Absol cut in, stepping forward and glancing between the hybrids and me.

“This is my team’s base,” I answered. “As for what you’re going to do, we can ask Stalker in the morning.”

The dark-type tilted her head. “Who?

“My team leader.” I tapped my room key to the card scanner and the front door to the stadium opened up. I stepped a foot inside so the door wouldn’t shut itself, then turned back toward the experiments. They were still staring at me, perplexed. I made an expectant face and gestured inside.

Flygon glanced around suspiciously. “I’m not going in there.

I rolled my eyes. “Then sleep outside. I don’t care either way, just make up your mind so I can go to bed.”

I got the feeling from his expression that he was going to be offended either way, and just couldn’t decide which option was more worth getting offended over. Which meant that basic comfort won out—the bug-dragon slowly shuffled in through the entrance, making sure I saw how much he didn’t want to. He was closely followed by Absol, who rolled her eyes at the fuss he was making. Finally, Razors and Chibi stepped in together.

I walked across the lobby and pushed open the double doors that led to the battlefield. “You guys can stay in here. If any kids wake up before me and see you guys, Chibi’s in charge of explaining how you all got here.” The rebels had at least heard of him, unlike the other experiments. Still, the first kid to wander into the battlefield was probably in for a big surprise.

I left them there and made a beeline for the elevator, only vaguely aware of riding it to my floor, stumbling down the hallway, and scanning my card key into my room at last. My shoes thudded against the wall, kicked off the instant I walked through the door. And then, with my last ounce of conscious thought, I let out my Pokémon for the night.

The Charmeleon and Pidgeotto appeared in a flash and took fighting stances, relaxing upon noticing we were back in our room.

You made it out,” Swift said, his voice almost sounding proud.

Did you get the experiments? What about Stalker’s mission? Did you fight any more Rockets?” Firestorm demanded, his eyes wide.

“Yes, yes, and… yes,” I answered. And before either of them could say anything else, I collapsed onto the bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’d like to thank you for a mission well done.”

Twigs and leaves snapped under our feet as Stalker and I walked along the trail that ran through the forests near Midnight Stadium. It was a bright, cloudless day, and the September air was cool and breezy now that the oppressive summer heat was finally over. It was hard to appreciate the perfect weather, though. The idea of briefing him on what had happened in the base had been eating away at the back of my mind, refusing to let me think of anything else.

“I wouldn’t call it well done with all the trouble I got into,” I said.

“You made it out alive,” he said matter-of-factly. “Not to mention rescuing four experiments and recovering the Mewtwo data.” He held up the flash drive I’d given him to emphasize the point.

I grit my teeth. No sense holding back any longer.

“I ran into an executive… Astrid.”

Recognition flashed through his eyes. “And you escaped. That’s impressive.”

I nodded. “But not before she figured out my identity. She recognized me from the plane incident.”

Stalker paused, considering the information carefully. “I’ll keep an eye on your Rocket account and see whether or not it’s been flagged for suspicion. But just in case, stay away from any Rocket bases for now.” That was going to be a problem.

“But I’m due for grunt work in Cerulean next week,” I protested. And my supervisor was… not exactly the kind of person I wanted to upset.

He gave me a pointed stare. “The last thing you want is to be captured inside a base.”

I couldn’t argue with that. It was frustrating, but I didn’t have any alternative.

I glanced at my watch for about the millionth time that day only to be met with the same blank face. I’d realized at some point that it was probably dead from Raichu’s lightning, though I didn’t seem capable of remembering that fact for more than five minutes.

And then, for whatever reason, it hit me. My watch wasn’t the only sensitive device I’d had on me at the time.

Stalker’s gaze fixed on me. He obviously noticed my expression take a sudden nosedive, because he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“The Mewtwo data’s probably gone. It… might have gotten… exposed to some lightning.” Stupid. Why didn’t I just say that she’d hit me with Thundershock? But then… the memory burned. That feeling of being cornered, unable to do anything, facing down a vastly superior opponent who could do whatever she wanted to me. It was… humiliating.

“I take it that was Astrid’s doing?” Stalker asked, looking vaguely amused by my choice of words.

Right. I’d already told him I’d run into her. He obviously had to realize what had happened.

“Her Raichu is infamous,” he went on, “but you don’t have to worry about the Mewtwo data. That script wasn’t just copying the data to the drive. It was uploading it to an online storage. I actually read some of it last night.”

I gaped at him. “Wait, seriously?” Did he ever sleep?

“It wasn’t my idea—you can thank my friend who wrote it.”

“So if you’ve read it… what did you find out?!” I asked excitedly.

Stalker paused, gazing off into the distance. “Mewtwo is more powerful than we could have ever thought. Much stronger than any of the Legendaries on record.”

My face fell, and the ridiculously overbearing presence of Raikou and Entei flashed through my memory. To think that Mewtwo was even stronger than them…?

“Chibi told me that they figured out the Legendary control,” I said slowly. “They’ll be able to use it in the next Legendary mission. If that’s true, then… I don’t know how we’ll stand a chance at stopping them.”

Stalker gave me a pointed look. “Don’t lose hope. We’ll have to change our tactics for the next mission, but I’m confident we can stop them.” I was glad he had that much confidence in us because I sure didn’t.

“Not to mention, we have some new allies…” he continued, trailing off at the end. We’d just stepped out of the trees into the clearing around Midnight Stadium, and were met with the sight of half the Rebellion still crowded around the experiments like they had been when we left. I couldn’t help chuckling a bit under my breath at how much everyone was admiring them. Most of the experiments didn’t seem to care about the excessive attention, although Flygon was starting to grow agitated.

The crowd of trainers parted as we approached, allowing Stalker to step forward and talk face-to-face with the experiments.

“Up until now, you’ve lived your entire lives for Team Rocket, haven’t you?” Stalker asked.

They made us, so yeah,” Absol said flatly.

“Well, it’s up to you what you want to do with your lives now. I suspect none of you have ever spent time in the wild, so you’re welcome to stay here with us. But in return, I’d like to make a deal.”

Chibi and Razors stared unflinchingly while Absol and Flygon exchanged skeptical glances.

“You already know that we’re fighting against the Rockets. Will you lend us your strength? We could use the extra help from strong Pokémon.”

I don’t want to have a trainer,” Flygon said gruffly.

“You won’t have one,” Stalker said, raising his hands disarmingly. “You’d just be free Pokémon who happen to train with us and fight Rockets with us.”

I was already going to do that,” Chibi said simply.

Absol closed her eyes. “Whatever.

Flygon glanced around uncertainly, as though looking for some excuse to not have to say anything. Finally, he put on his best disinterested face and said, “I… guess I wouldn’t mind still getting to fight.

Razors was the only one who hadn’t responded. The mantis just stared at the ground quietly, as though deep in thought. His eyes slid to the Pikachu at his feet, who was watching him expectantly. Then, slowly, he nodded.

“It’s settled then.” Stalker turned to face the rest of us. “Experiments eight, nine, twenty-four, and twenty-five will be joining the Rebellion,” he announced, to a wave of excited chattering from the crowd.

We’ve escaped from the Rockets,” Absol said with a huff. “We’ll never be tested on again. Those identities are meaningless now.

Stalker folded his arms. “I see. Do you have preferred names?”

Razors and I do,” Chibi said. “These two don’t.

Never needed them,” Flygon added.

Stalker nodded. “Alright then. I will give you new names.”

The two clones blinked in surprise. They clearly weren’t expecting that, but neither of them protested. Stalker proceeded to pace back and forth in front of them, rubbing his fingers on his chin while they eyed him curiously.

“You’ll be Aros,” he said to the Flygon. He then turned to face the Absol. “And you—you’ll be Stygian.”

Absol—or rather, Stygian—tilted her head a bit, but then just shrugged. Aros paused to consider the name, like he was trying to find something wrong with it, but he wound up nodding in the end.

I couldn’t help feeling really, really proud. Not only had my mission resulted in four experiments being freed, but they were also joining us? This pretty much completely made up for my inaction at the Raikou mission.

“Do you still have their Pokéballs?” Stalker asked me. Right, there was no reason for me to hold onto them if they were going to be free now. I dug through my pockets and retrieved the minimized balls, handing them to him. He gave them a curious look before saying, “I’ll keep them in my office. Having the option to recall them in case of emergencies could be useful.”

And then, for whatever reason, my brain caught up with my hands and realized what I’d done. Without even thinking about it, I’d handed him Razors, Aros, and Stygian’s Pokéballs, but not Chibi’s.

Chibi, who’d stayed with me all through Vermilion. Who’d inspired me to act aboard the S.S. Anne. Who’d protected me just like a member of my team.

“Hey, Chibi… can I ask you something?” I asked, gesturing away from the crowd.

The Pikachu glanced up at me with a puzzled expression, but then followed me as I led him off to the side, close to the trees. I couldn’t help noticing how slow his steps were, and the wince that followed each one.

“Um… are you okay?” I asked.

I’m fine, everything just hurts… I’ve got to get used to that again,” he muttered.

I tilted my head. “Still?” He’d been off that Rocket machine for over twelve hours by now. If the effect was lasting this long…

It’s normal for me,” Chibi said, cutting off that train of negativity and replacing it with another.

“…What do you mean?” I asked warily.

The look on his face plainly said that he didn’t want to explain. Despite this, the hybrid took a deep breath and said, “My Zapdos energy is too strong for this body. The feeling of generating power… it’s always hurt, as long as I can remember.

He was… always in pain? And that was normal for him? How come I never noticed? Was I just that unobservant, or… was he just that good at hiding it?

That’s the reason I train so often,” he went on. “Releasing the energy is one of the few things that feels good. Although once I start, my body tries to let it all go at once.

“Like when you finished the battle at the plane,” I said slowly. He had been able to absorb Pichu’s entire store of electricity and fire it off in a single move.

He nodded distantly. “That felt amazing…

I stared at him, lost for words. I was still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that it was a thing. And the kind of thing that nothing could change. I couldn’t help him. No one could.

Chibi glanced up at me and glared when he saw my expression. “I don’t need sympathy. I’m like this because they made me this way. It’s as simple as that. In any case, you’re stalling. You wanted to ask something. So ask it.

I hadn’t even realized that’s what I was doing, but he was right. I still had absolutely no idea how to word the thing I wanted to ask, and I also had no idea how he was going to react.

Finally, I just took a deep breath. “Last time I saw you, you were kind of stuck with me. I’m not sure how you felt about that, but I just… wanted you to know that I’m glad you’re here. And I know you never really got a choice to stay with me before, but…”

I could have left at any time,” the hybrid said simply. “I didn’t.

I fidgeted uncomfortably. “Well… yeah, but…”

I’ll stay by your side. It’s the least I can do to repay you for what you’ve done.

Honestly, it didn’t feel like I’d done anything special. Anyone on the Rebellion could have done what I did. But would they have? I guess that’s what it all came down to—the fact that I’d wanted to. Still, I couldn’t deny that I was really, really happy that he was alright with staying with me. I couldn’t even explain why.

By this point, Aros and Stygian had been dragged off to our outdoor battle area while the rebels fought over who got to battle them first. Razors had turned down several battle requests and was now sitting off to the side, quietly watching the others. I couldn’t help noticing Chibi gazing at him with… probably the most content expression I’d ever seen on his face.

“You’re really glad he’s free, huh?” I asked.

For several seconds, the Pikachu didn’t acknowledge that I’d said anything. Finally, in a weary tone, he said, “For the first half of my life… he was all I had.

I nodded. He didn’t need to say anything else. In spite of whatever had happened in the past, things were better now. And that was true for the Rebellion as well. And for me.

No more fixating on the past. Time to move forward.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two weeks passed and September was suddenly almost over in what felt like no time at all. No news of any upcoming Legendary missions had reached us, and the atmosphere of the Rebellion had become fairly relaxed.

Which was why it was weird that Firestorm still insisted on training like his life depended on it, every day, long after the rest of us had quit. I’d left him alone most of time because I figured he’d get it out of his system and stop on his own eventually, and any attempts to ask him why never seemed to get anywhere. But after two weeks, I was kind of starting to get worried.

It was dusk, and the Charmeleon was training on the edge of the forest. He’d found an old log amongst the trees and had set it up as a target, practicing all of his moves on it. Back by Midnight Stadium, Stalker was giving a demonstration on setup moves with his Charizard and Dragonite. Which made the whole situation even weirder because Firestorm loved watching Stalker’s demonstrations. And, yeah… occasionally he did stop to glance over at it—largely to stare at Charizard, I couldn’t help noticing. But then he immediately went back to what he was doing with a renewed vigor.

I didn’t know whether or not to say anything this time. Would it do any good, or would he just brush me off like last time? Then again, I was his trainer. It was kind of my job to take care of my Pokémon. I couldn’t just ignore that.

“Really, Firestorm, you’ve been at this all afternoon,” I finally said.

The Charmeleon paused, pretending like he’d just noticed me, even though I’d seen him glance in my direction when I’d first walked up.

Yeah, and you’re my trainer, why am I training without you?” he asked flatly.

“Because I already did my training for the day,” I said, folding my arms. “You just keep insisting on doing double time.”

Lazy.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, well, when you battle yourself into exhaustion, see if I care,” I said, turning to leave.

The fire lizard snorted and went back to his training. I didn’t really plan on leaving, of course, but he ignored me after that, so I opted to just sit and watch him for a while.

He took a fighting stance in front of the log and brandished his claws before lunging forward and slashing deeply into its surface, faster than I’d seen him move before. He drew his arms back for a second strike, and his claws suddenly glowed with a metallic sheen right before cleaving deeper gashes into the wood. A third strike, and his claws were cloaked in wispy tendrils of purple smoke.

I hadn’t seen his Shadow Claw look that well-developed before. But I didn’t have much chance to appreciate it before the Charmeleon leaped back from where he stood and breathed out a flurry of embers. The attack lasted a few seconds before he frowned and stopped. The fire lizard closed his eyes in concentration, inhaling deeply. He then spat out a half-dozen small fireballs that burned brightly in midair before going out in a puff of smoke.

He really was getting better. But there was something almost… desperate about his expression and movements throughout all of this. Like he didn’t just want to be doing this, but felt like he had to, for some reason. Maybe I was just reading too much into it, but… it reminded me of something.

The time he’d been desperate to help at the plane incident. The time he’d been completely shut down on the S.S. Anne. And, more recently…

“This is about what happened with Stracion, isn’t it?”

The Charmeleon froze mid-move, losing his balance and faceplanting into the dirt. He picked himself up with a huff, shooting a glare in my direction, but then turned away and sagged his shoulders. He wasn’t denying it.

Even after all the training here… I didn’t stand a chance. Swift at least got a few hits off, but I…” His voice trailed off.

I exhaled slowly. So I was right. I’d kind of figured as much, but this trend of him being obsessed with being useful in battle was starting to get out of hand. I’d originally chalked it up to the time he’d spent as weak little Charmander, but the past two months of being a Charmeleon hadn’t really helped much.

“You know, you don’t have to worry about whether or not you’re useful to me. I still want you around,” I pointed out.

Whatever,” the fire lizard muttered, standing up and giving a few half-hearted slashes at the log.

I sighed. This wasn’t the sort of problem that was going to sort itself out. And if he was upset about losing battles, then that wasn’t all on him anyway. They always said that in competitive battling, a Pokémon was only as good as their trainer—and as a trainer, I was failing him. The question was, what was our biggest weakness right now? During the fight with Stracion, he hadn’t been able to land a hit. Part of that was because her Grovyle was so fast, but the other part… was not having any decent fire moves to hit it with anyway.

“Alright then… I’m your trainer, I need to be training you. We need to get you some new moves,” I announced suddenly.

Firestorm whirled around in surprise to stare at me incredulously.

“Don’t give me that look, I’m serious,” I said. “All this time you’ve been stuck with Ember. I think that’s the source of a lot of our problems—the lack of a good fire move. And I know we’ve tried working a bit with Fire Fang, but—”

I don’t like Fire Fang. It’s too hard to land a hit with it.

I groaned. If he could just stop complaining for two seconds… “Well alright, then we’ll need to try something different.” What other fire moves were Charmeleon capable of using? I’d know if I had a Pokédex. Technically I could go back to the stadium and look it up, but I wanted to figure this out on my own.

Let’s see… he did know Fire Blast, but… we’d only tried it once since he’d learned it from that TM, and it was still every bit as unpredictable and impossible to control, even now that he was a Charmeleon. I’d been afraid to try it again ever since… at least not without Rudy’s Wartortle standing by. But there were other options…

“Flamethrower is one of the best fire moves,” I said, thinking aloud. “Powerful, easy to aim. Takes a lot of energy though, so it’s not a low-level move.”

Firestorm’s eyes lit up. “I wanna try it.

I nodded, taking a few steps back. “From what I remember, it’s basically just a long stream of fire. Like Fire Blast, but way thinner, and you don’t have to get it to split into five, so it should be easier to control.”

Firestorm planted both feet firmly on the ground, digging his claws into the dirt and taking a deep breath. He then exhaled a large burst of flame that billowed outward in the air before splitting off into wisps and then vanishing completely. The Charmeleon blinked a bit in surprise, then let out two or three more spurts of fire with similar results. The flame was impressive—it just wasn’t going anywhere.

“It keeps fading before it travels far enough. Try making it hotter,” I suggested.

Firestorm closed his eyes in mild frustration before blasting out an even bigger fireball, but this one travelled even less distance before fizzling into smoke. The Charmeleon stamped his foot against the dirt and tried again, and again, but the more force he put into it, the more it just kind of… scattered all over the place, until finally one attempt didn’t even catch fire in the air, but just sputtered red-hot flares across the ground.

This is stupid, why can’t I just use Fire Blast?” the fire lizard growled, right before inhaling deeply and—

“Don’t!!” I shouted, lunging forward to grab his arm as the fiery glow rose up from his throat. At the last second, Firestorm snapped his jaws shut, smoke leaking out of the corners of his mouth.

“Just… don’t. We’re not there yet,” I said quietly.

Firestorm stared at me in surprise, blinking several times before staring downward. “Alright, fine…

I gave a heavy sigh of relief. “Besides, how would we even use Fire Blast indoors? I mean, stadiums are all well and good, but the average Rocket battle isn’t exactly gonna be in a regulation battlefield.”

The Charmeleon folded his arms and gave a slight huff, but he didn’t complain, which was generally code for when he knew I had a point but didn’t want to admit it.

Alright, so his fire breath wasn’t controlled enough for Flamethrower yet… what else could we try? I racked my brain for fire attacks, half-tempted to just drag Firestorm over to Stalker and ask him directly.

But then the idea struck. This whole time, he’d been way quicker to pick up physical moves than long-distance ones. Slash, Metal Claw, Shadow Claw—he was getting good at all of them. But the instructions I’d been giving him in battle didn’t really reflect that. Were we wasting our time trying to figure out how to pull off ranged moves when he already had a solid foundation for close-quarters fighting?

“Can you generate fire around your fist?” I suddenly asked.

Firestorm stared blankly. “How on earth would I do that?

“Just try focusing your energy into it,” I suggested.

The fire lizard shrugged and held a fist up in front of his face, staring at it. After several seconds, he clenched it tighter, tensing every muscle in his arm. His brow furrowed, his breathing grew heavier, every ounce of concentration pouring into it. I squinted, trying to make out if anything was happening. A spark, a shimmer of heat, anything…

Yeah, this is stupid,” Firestorm said, letting the arm drop to his side.

I sighed, really wishing he wasn’t so quick to dismiss things. I was definitely onto something with idea of focusing on physical moves—I was sure of it.

Then again… he’d been able to breathe out decent fireballs. They were just fading away too quickly in the air. But if they couldn’t be used as a ranged move, maybe they could work in a different way…

“Try breathing a fireball onto your fist.”

What?” Firestorm asked, gawking at me like I’d just gone insane.

“I’m serious, try it.”

The Charmeleon held his fist in front of his face and gave it an incredulous look, like this couldn’t possibly work. Still, he went ahead and blew out a small fireball onto it. The flames surrounded his claws, not really doing anything at first. But then he stopped adding fire with his breath and the flames… actually stuck around for a few seconds before going out.

Firestorm’s eyes went wide. “Did you see that?!

“I did—try striking with it next time!” I said excitedly.

With the most enthusiasm he’d shown all night, the fire lizard breathed a huge fireball onto his fist and immediately concentrated on holding it there. The fireball shrank considerably after the first few seconds, but it was still there, flickering away. Firestorm stared at it excitedly, then remembered that he was supposed to be doing something with it and swung the flaming fist at the log, striking it with a solid punch that sent a wave of flares flying away from the impact. It had worked!

“There we go! That’s the start of a decent Fire Punch!” I exclaimed.

Firestorm stared at the log, like he could hardly believe was he was seeing. But then the shock wore off and a grin started to creep across his face.

I patted him on the back. “Not bad. Now come on—is that enough success for the night? Ready to stop?”

Firestorm glanced up at me with a sort of weary exhilaration. Like he was too excited to stop, but had also just realized how tired he was. “Yeah. Alright.

I gave him another pat and turned to walk back to the stadium, motioning for him to follow me. The Charmeleon plodded along after me, slowly at first, then jogging to catch up.

Hey, um… thanks,” he mumbled awkwardly.

“Don’t mention it,” I said. But then one more thing occurred to me, and I couldn’t just let it go without saying something. “So I saw you staring at Stalker’s Charizard a bunch. What’s with that?” I teased.

Firestorm’s eyes went wide, and he immediately looked away. “Nothing, she’s just… really strong, and I wanna be strong like that someday,” he mumbled. Sure, that’s all there was to it. I definitely believed that, except that I didn’t.

I nudged him playfully in the ribs but didn’t press the matter any further. The embarrassed look on his face was more than enough for me.






End Chapter 16

Next chapter has ALL THE PLOT.
 
Ah, and here we go, another little interlude chapter. I think these have been generally good for the flow of the story, and compared to the opening chapters, I think these were paced a lot better in terms of being able to follow everything and actually getting a good feel for the characters, to an extent. Swift definitely got a bit of a backseat here in favor of Firestorm and Chibi, but I think that works out for now. I do wonder if Razor would be a permanent addition to Jade’s team, though—after all, he and Chibi used to be really close, right? At the very least, I would have wondered why that wasn’t a bigger consideration, unless I missed it.

I pressed the button on my watch to illuminate its face, but nothing happened. Well, that was strange

I know this was a bit of a minor point now, but I kinda was expecting this to be a bigger deal than it turned out to be. Maybe I’m just too keen on protagonists dismissing something clearly important because “why else would the author dedicate a sentence to it?”

the bug-dragon slowly shuffled in through the entrance, making sure I saw how much he didn’t want to.

Okay are we writing the same Flygon?

It was uploading it to an online storage. I actually read some of it last night.”

I’m… kind of perplexed by this from a software security standpoint. Why would something as important as Mewtwo’s data be kept on a criminal syndicate’s computer with open access to the Internet, and not on a closed-shell system? The USB stick doesn’t have wireless capabilities, does it? Wouldn’t they have had jammer signals to prevent something like that from happening via foreign items? I guess I can chalk it up to security oversight / someone leaving the Internet ports open for the Mewtwo-related computers (but if that was the case, they could’ve tried to find a way to hack in from there remotely, if that’s how flimsy their security was…) but this is definitely another spot that has me furrowing my brow.

Even if this is a big twist and all of these missions are a big façade by Stalker, in the moment, I just find that odd. After all, if it was broadcasting it automatically, why was Stalker so intent on bringing the data back physically? He could’ve just said to put the USB in, let it do its thing, and then get out/destroy the evidence since it’s no longer needed. If that was the case, why didn’t Jade point it out or otherwise say, “Why didn’t you tell me that?!” or something to that effect? The whole part of the mission about getting out with the data was rendered moot from her perspective.

Still, I couldn’t deny that I was really, really happy that he was alright with staying with me. I couldn’t even explain why.

Another moment of telling and not showing that bugged me a bit, coupled with the “and I don’t know why I felt that way” clause that gets used really often. I feel like this would have been better if how Jade manifested her relief—a sigh, a weight lifting, etc.—and then just nixing the second sentence altogether and leave it to implication.

That’s the start of a decent Fire Punch!

Man I wish the move tutor was this easy normally.



Anyway, aside from those nitpicks, I liked this scene. Razor’s emotionlessness kinda blunted things, but it seems like Chibi’s used to that sort of thing. Guess now we’re going to see what the next mission entails, and whatever this plot is you’re talking about in the next-chapter warning.
 
Chapter 17: The Ruins
Thanks for the review, namo! You got me chuckling about some things that will be revealed later. Also, I have a bit of a housekeeping note:

I have applied a hotfix to chapter 8 to fix the great teleport debaucle once and for all! The S.S. Anne was supposed to host a special event for invite holders. Those recruits who proved themselves by completing the event would then be teleported to Midnight Island. Since the Rocket attack happens before the event, all the survivors are then teleported to the island without needing to qualify (since it would be… kinda dickish to force them to prove themselves after going through that.)

This is really only a patch job. I still intend to go back and add more later (like editing Jade’s initial conversation with Stalker to make it clear that he does intend to test the recruits before allowing them to join his rebel team.) But that can wait until the next proper revision after Book 2 is completed.
And with that, it's probably time I finally follow up on all that important-sounding Legendary plot from the prologue, huh?



Chapter 17: The Ruins

ch17art_by_chibi_pika-daxc7jj.png

Firestorm took a fighting stance in front of me, claws flexed, flame-tail swinging back and forth. Across from us, Darren gave a confident smirk while his Ivysaur posed as tall as he could on his stubby legs. And opposite the both of us was Rudy. It was the perfect three-way matchup. All three of us had a different starter Pokémon, each with an advantage and disadvantage over one of the other two.

Except Rudy still had yet to send out Wartortle.

He shuffled a bit with a look of hesitation. “I still don’t see why I can’t use Ebony.”

“Cause we’re having a starter battle? Last time I checked, Houndoom aren’t starter Pokémon,” Darren replied.

“Well… yeah, but she was my first Pokémon.”

“And Swift was my first Pokémon,” I said exasperatedly.

Rudy glanced back and forth between me and Darren and groaned. “Alright, fiiine,” he said, replacing Ebony’s ball on his belt and pulling out another. He tossed it forward to release Wartortle before folding his arms in a huff. The bipedal tortoise laid eyes on his opponents and flinched slightly, but with a glance back at his trainer, he forced himself to take a more confident stance.

The only question now was who would make the first move? Should I be the one, or would it be better to lead with Protect and wait for an opening? Go for the easy target in Ivysaur, or try to stall while Ivysaur took out Wartortle? The other two hesitated similarly. Rudy’s eyes flickered around, but then settled on me for just a second too long…

And that was the sign I needed.

“Now! Water Pulse!” he yelled, pointing at me.

“Dodge and use Scary Face!” I immediately countered.

Firestorm had already broken into a run by the time Wartortle took a deep breath and shot out a pulsating water ring at him. The fire lizard easily avoided the water move, then spun around and flashed a menacing snarl at his opponent, making the water-type freeze out of shock.

“Razor Leaf!” Darren called out.

While the other two were focused on each other, Ivysaur was free to launch a flurry of razor-sharp leaves at his opponents, catching both of them with tiny cuts all over. Firestorm braced his arms in front of his face and weathered the storm, but the leaves dug deeper into Wartortle’s scales, forcing the tortoise to withdraw into his shell.

“Come on, Water Pulse again!” Rudy called out.

“Er… Protect?” I ordered.

I wasn’t totally sure if Firestorm was even the target, but sure enough, another ring of water shot right at him. The fire lizard had plenty of time to produce a shimmering white barrier around himself, deflecting the attack with a spray of mist.

Rudy stared incredulously. “The hell? Come on, you’ve gotta attack sooner or later!”

“You’ve got the type advantage, of course I’m not just gonna rush in blindly against—” My words were cut off by the whoosh of another Razor Leaf.

“Hey guys, it’s cool if you just wanna keep attacking each other the entire time, but I thought this was a multi battle?” Darren asked, his voice dripping with mock innocence.

Eh… right.

Rudy glowered at him. “Fine, use Bite on Ivysaur!”

Fangs bared, Wartortle charged ahead as fast as he could before lunging at the grass-type, who made no attempt to dodge. The tortoise clamped down hard onto Ivysaur’s leg—the latter winced, but stood his ground until his trainer gave out the command, “Stun Spore!”

So that’s why he’d taken the hit.

Ivysaur gave the slightest trace of a grin right before tilting his body so the flower bud was facing forward and unleashing a cloud of yellow spores all over Wartortle. Firestorm paused as the cloud started to spread out and drift toward him. But then, without any orders from me, the fire lizard spat out a flurry of embers, which snapped and crackled as they burned up the paralyzing spores.

“Good thinking!” I called out. “Alright, time for a Fire Punch!”

The Charmeleon breathed out a fireball onto his claws and lunged forward at Ivysaur, catching the grass-type in the side with a flaming punch. He jumped back just as fast to avoid a counterattack, but then Ivysaur’s vines suddenly shot out from all around him! Firestorm lashed out with his claws, but soon found himself completely tied up with his arms pressed against his sides.

“Try dodging Sleep Powder now,” Darren said with a smirk.

Crap. If Firestorm got put to sleep, he’d be a sitting duck just asking to get hit with a Water Pulse. And there was Rudy, pointing forward, ready to call out another move. Had to do something, and fast!

“Ember!” I blurted out. Ivysaur’s eyes went wide as he realized his mistake, right before a burst of flares hit him right in the face. The vines slackened for just a second—enough for the fire lizard to untangle himself. But not before a blast of water struck him head on. The fire-type reeled backward, coughing and sputtering. The culprit, Wartortle was already prepping for another water move.

It had been long enough since the last time Firestorm used Protect, right?

“Protect!” I yelled.

It took a good second longer than the last time, but Firestorm barely managed to raise the white barrier in time to block the second water ring that flew towards him.

Rudy was dumbfounded. “What?! Come on! Why are you only blocking my attacks?!”

“Well if you’re just standing there ordering Water Pulse the entire time, it’s kind of predictable!” I countered.

“I’m just gonna use Razor Leaf again, if that’s alright with everyone,” Darren said, pointing to his Ivysaur.

Ugh. Yet again, Rudy had gotten me to only focus on him in the battle. But of course Darren didn’t want Wartortle to go down first. That was his best shot at Firestorm getting defeated. He’d been sticking to spread moves and single targeting Firestorm. No reason to think that was gonna change.

Come on, think… there was a solution there, I just knew it.

“Alright Wartortle, use Rapid Spin to dodge the leaves and then Water Pulse right in Charmeleon’s face, before he can Protect again!” Rudy yelled.

That was going to be a problem.

Wartortle ducked into his shell before zooming along the ground at high speed, deflecting most of the leaves that had been sent his way. The tortoise closed the distance with Firestorm way quicker than I’d been expecting. He sprung out of his shell, ready for the attack—!

…and then dropped to his knees, his muscles twitching from paralysis.

“Are you kidding me?!”

It took me several seconds to realize now was the time to make a move. Something—not a fire move, not something that would just bounce off Wartortle’s shell, something like—

“Dragon Rage!”

Firestorm breathed out a lick of sparkling blue and green dragonfire onto the downed water-type, who fell onto his back and didn’t move.

“Whaaaat?!” Yep, that was pretty much the response I’d been expecting. I ignored Rudy and turned my attention to my sole remaining opponent, who folded his arms and said, “Well that’s exactly what I was hoping wouldn’t happen.”

I laughed and said, “Hey, I’m not complaining.” Then I motioned to Firestorm and called out, “Fire Punch!”

The Charmeleon grinned and breathed out a fireball onto his claws before lunging. Darren had his fists clenched in concentration, waiting for the fire-type to draw near. At the last possible second, he ordered, “Protect!”

Firestorm’s punch collided with a barrier out of nowhere, scattering red-hot flares throughout the air.

“Don’t let up! Fire Punch again! Ivysaur can’t keep that up forever!”

Darren frowned. “Drop the Protect and use Sleep Powder!”

Trying to catch us off guard? But Firestorm was too quick and already had his attack ready. The instant the shield went down, he connected with a flaming uppercut that scorched the grass-type’s scales. Ivysaur stumbled backward, struggling to stand, and then finally collapsed.

I had won. I had… actually won.

Firestorm turned around with an equally stunned expression, which slowly faded into a wild-eyed grin.

“You did awesome!” I exclaimed, giving the Charmeleon a thumbs-up.

“Alright admit it, you totally had the advantage there,” Darren said, giving me a snide look.

I snorted and was about to ask what he meant, but then noticed him ever-so-slightly tilt his head. Right… the Pokémon that Firestorm was weak to in that match also had a trainer completely uninterested in training him.

“Okay, seriously, that was ridiculous, I’d have won hands down if you just let me use Ebony,” Rudy grumbled, walking over to us.

“You’ve been using Ebony in every battle since she evolved,” I said, rolling my eyes.

Rudy was unimpressed. “Well yeah, Houndoom are awesome and she always wins.”

I wouldn’t have said always, but he definitely had a pretty good record with her. When the two of them battled, they were almost perfectly in sync. Which was why I didn’t really feel like arguing against his point.

“Aw whatever,” he said, wandering off. He barely got five steps away before grabbing a Pokéball and letting out Ebony, who glanced up at him, tongue hanging out of her mouth.

“Ready to kick some more butts?” Rudy asked.

The firedog barked out an overexcited, “Yeah!” before running circles around him. Twice as big as she had been as a Houndour, now sporting a full set of horns and skeletal spines—still just a pup at heart. Finding an opponent right now was likely gonna be hard, though. Most of the rebels outside were currently watching the experiments battle.

Stygian only liked fighting the stronger rebels like Ray and Mai—right now the latter had pitted her Arbok and Primeape against the dark-type. Aros, on the other hand, would battle pretty much anyone at any time, bragging constantly about beating Pokémon half his level. I wasn’t too sure how helpful that was, but Stalker hadn’t made him stop. And the dragon never hurt anyone too badly. Mostly just egos.

Razors stood off to the side, watching the others. I still had yet to see him battle with anyone here, which was kind of a shame. I’d been looking forward to seeing his fighting style when he wasn’t controlled by Team Rocket. But he always turned down any battle requests.

By now, Darren had let out the rest of his team members and was busy discussing the afternoon’s training plan with them. The freshly-healed Ivysaur sat apart from the others and glowered at Firestorm, still sore from his recent defeat. Sandslash gave the grass-type a reassuring pat before gesturing for him to join the others. Psyduck and Kadabra welcomed him over while Sneasel, the newest addition to the team, listened to Darren with starry eyes.

“C’mon, let’s see if we can get Psyduck to evolve today,” he said to his team before the group of them walked off into the forest.

When am I gonna evolve?” Firestorm’s voice suddenly cut in.

“Is that the only thing you think about? I dunno, Stalker said you still had a ways to go, so I’m gonna trust him on that.”

Firestorm scoffed. “He always says that.

“Then it’ll keep on being true until he says otherwise.” The fire lizard snorted but didn’t argue.

At some point the two of us joined the rest of the group watching the battle between Mai and Stygian. The Absol’s movements were sluggish, and her left foreleg bore a purplish tinge—poison, most likely. Still, the white-furred beast kept deftly dodging punches from Primeape like they were nothing, following up with slashes of pink energy from the blade on her head.

Heavy wingbeats behind me caught my attention, and I turned to see a Pidgeotto approaching me from the trees. Swift! I hadn’t seen him all day. Earlier I’d been wondering where he’d flown off to, but had forgotten about it with the events of the day.

The Pidgeotto landed on the ground (he was much too big to land on my arm like he used to as a Pidgey) and glanced up at me with an inquisitive look. “Can you help me with something?

I tilted my head, bemused. “Sure?”

He glanced down and shifted his wings a bit, unsure of how to follow through with his request. “There’s writing on the walls of the quiet place that I like. Can you read it to me?

Was that all? Well, that was no big deal. “Sure, I guess? Is it in town?”

The tawny bird shook his head. “It’s in the forest.

What? A walled place with writing in the forest? Why was there…?

Swift hesitated upon seeing my change in expression. “It’s fine if you don’t want to—” he started.

“No, you’ve got me curious now. Let’s go see it,” I said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The crisp autumn air swept through the trees, scattering multicolored leaves that blanketed the forest floor, resulting in a hearty crunch with each step I took. I was walking too slow for Swift to keep pace with me in the air without making constant circles, so the Pidgeotto glided from tree to tree, landing on the lowest and barest branch of each one. I hadn’t asked how far away his quiet place was, but he was leading me deep into the heart of the island, in a completely different direction than the Rebellion’s usual training path.

“So you fly out here often?” I asked him.

Sometimes,” the bird replied. “I like having a quiet spot to think. And it’s an interesting place.

I still wasn’t quite sure what could possibly be so interesting way out here in the forest, but that’s why I was going with him in the first place.

Every so often, various wild Pokémon took notice of Swift and leaped out of the brush to challenge us. The wilds around here knew the local trainers were always up for a battle. And Swift was happy to oblige, striking his opponents down with his wings, dazzling them with his speed, and stirring up impressive whirlwinds with only a few flaps. After his third opponent, an energetic Raticate, was sent running with a rapid combination of Aerial Ace and Quick Attack, I couldn’t help feeling my heart swell a bit with pride. Just two months ago, he’d been a tiny Pidgey, and now…

“You’re getting pretty strong, you know that?” I said, unable to keep that pride out of my voice.

We all are,” Swift replied matter-of-factly.

It seemed silly to include me in that statement, but in a weird way, I still appreciated it. Compared to the others my strategies still felt… really basic. And I took too long to come up with orders on the spot. Still, I couldn’t deny that I had gotten better. My mind wandered back to the downright laughable first battle I’d had with Darren, the day that we’d all arrived on Midnight Island. The way that I’d just stared blankly at Swift, unable to come up with any orders. Anything was better than that.

Strength is nice, but it’s not everything,” Swift said, with an airy, offhand tone like he was thinking aloud. “Training here has let me learn so many things. I want to know how everything works.” He paused, looking down. “It’s not something Pokémon are supposed to think about, though.

I tilted my head. “Why do you say that?”

For several seconds, he didn’t acknowledge that I’d said anything. Finally, in a soft voice, he replied, “They said I asked too many strange questions.

Now that was hard to imagine, Swift asking too many questions. He’d barely ever talked at all until we’d started this journey together. But then… maybe that was because of the way his fellow Pokémon had reacted.

“That was before I found you, right?” I asked.

The Pidgeotto nodded. “I do not remember much from that time, though.

He had been only a few months old when I’d found him. It was around six years ago, but the details of it still shone just as brightly in my memory as the day it had happened. Seeing the small, crumpled form of a Pidgey lying alone in the grass after what had probably been his first time flying far from home. Frantically biking home with one arm curled around a warm, trembling body. Getting told to drop him off at the Pokécenter, but staying there the entire time he was being treated. Releasing him the next day, only for him to return to my house every day after that, following me everywhere I went.

“You know… the last time I asked you why you came back, I couldn’t understand you that much. Why did you?”

Swift paused to consider the question. “I’d been curious about humans for a while,” he said finally. “Humans make so many interesting things. Humans do so many interesting things. I felt ready to join that world.

I stared at the ground sheepishly. “I guess you couldn’t have asked me much about how things work back when I lived at home. I was too bad at Pokéspeech.”

Swift’s eyes brightened. “I was glad when you started to learn Pokéspeech, even if it took a long time.

It was weird… it seemed like just yesterday that I had to focus all my effort into catching a few words out of Swift’s chirps. And now we were conversing like nothing was more natural.

“I’m glad too.”

The two of us continued on through the forest as the afternoon stretched on. After some time, I couldn’t help noticing a gap in the trees ahead of us.

This is it,” Swift announced after landing in a tree far ahead of me.

I jogged a bit to catch up with him and then the two of us emerged into a large clearing—one that was far from empty. In front of me stood a massive stone structure comprised of a wide, flat platform ringed by rectangular pillars twice my height. Crumbled chunks of moss-covered stone surrounded each pillar, like they’d once been supporting something even larger that had collapsed with age. All of the stone had a weathered and worn look that made the whole place feel downright ancient.

“Holy crap… this has been here the whole time? I had no idea…”

Movement, out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head to the left and caught sight of a violet gas ball drifting lazily amongst the trees before crossing the clearing and vanishing through a pillar.

A Gastly.

Then again, that wasn’t too surprising. The island was full of wild ghost-types (something about being close to Lavender Town). But we never saw ‘em during the day. This was… weirdly early to see one out and about.

Swift must have noticed my bewildered expression because he piped up with, “They come out early here. It’s normal.” I guess they couldn’t have been too troublesome if he’d been coming here alone all this time, no problem.

The Pidgeotto flapped forward to perch on the closest pillar as I walked up the stone steps that led inside the ruins. Though the outside had been worn, the inside was practically untouched—not even any dirt or leaves littered the stone floor. The inward-facing sides of the pillars each featured a single, intricate symbol carved into their surface. But that was nothing compared to the far wall, which was completely covered with carvings in dozens of different scripts. Some of them vaguely familiar, most of them totally foreign. This had to be the writing Swift had been curious about. But even the familiar scripts were from languages that no one had spoken in, what, a few hundred years? Just how old were these ruins?

“I, uh… don’t think I’m gonna be able to read any of this stuff. It’s gotta be hundreds of years old, maybe more, and—”

I blinked. On one of the slabs was some writing I could actually read. At first, I was sure my eyes were just playing tricks on me, but there it was—words written in the Tohjoan alphabet. But there was no way that I’d be able to understand it; it’d likely be some ancient language that just happened to use the same—

It wasn’t. It was actual, honest-to-god, Tohjoan.

This shrine stands here to honor those among the Order of the Legends who have fought to protect the balance of the world as an extension of the original purpose bestowed upon them. Yet even as the fires of war subside, the balance that they fought so hard to preserve is already on the inevitable path to being torn apart once again. Seven among the Order—the ones who dedicated both mind, body, and spirit toward ending the war—shall be empowered to forge an alliance with humankind so that both might endure. The seven are bound by their duty to seek out the interlopers to protect the balance of power in the coming era. For though none may prevail, what is set into motion shall be much greater indeed.

Legendary Pokémon. It was a message about Legendary Pokémon. But it wasn’t written like a story… it was written like it was something that had actually happened. Something that would happen again. A war involving Legendary Pokémon that had happened once before and was going to happen again.

A prophecy, in other words.

What does it say?” Swift asked.

I read the inscription out loud to him. The words sank deeper into my mind upon reading it a second time, and it was impossible not to wonder if it was more than just a legend.

Do you believe there is any truth to it?” He’d said the words I’d been thinking.

“I… don’t know.” A great disaster that would force an alliance between humans and Legendaries… the idea sent an uncomfortable shudder running through me.

But… it couldn’t really be a prophecy. Could it?

I shivered and started rubbing my arms as a chill swept through the ruins. The sky was reddening into dusk. And the ghost-types had grown more numerous, their gaseous bodies floating in and out of the shadows cast by the ruin pillars in the light of the setting sun. I wasn’t too worried about them—Swift was strong enough to take on almost any wild Pokémon on the island, and most of the ghosts’ moves couldn’t even touch him. But there was no denying the chilling atmosphere they brought with them, or the way every hair on my body now stood on end. Right about now, the other kids were probably winding down for the night. Returning to the warmth of the stadium and curling up in the lounge to watch famous League battles with the rest of my teammates sounded particularly appealing at the moment.

I motioned to Swift. “Let’s head back now.” The Pidgeotto spread his wings and took off for the trees, and I hastened to follow him. There was something weird about that place. Something I couldn’t quite pin down. And it wasn’t going to stop bothering me until I got a chance to ask Stalker about it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I didn’t have to go out of my way to find Stalker to ask him about the ruins. In fact, he was the one who approached me the following day, flagging me down in the stadium as Rudy, Darren, and I returned from grabbing breakfast in town. I told the other two I’d catch up with them in a bit before making my way to the audience stands, where he was watching the rebels train.

“I’ve got an update regarding your last mission,” Stalker said as I approached him.

I couldn’t help flinching. Right, I’d almost forgotten. It had always been too much to hope that my little misadventure in Celadon wouldn’t have any consequences.

“While your Rocket ID was never officially flagged for suspicion, it’s likely they left it alone in the hopes that you’d use it to get into another base and be an easy target.”

Of course. Why reject my ID at the door when they could just let me think everything was perfectly fine only to walk right into an ambush?

“I can always get you a new ID and bypass the background checks like I did with everyone originally, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re more likely to be recognized now. So any missions where you’d interact with Rockets as one of them, those are all off the table now. You’ll be limited to stealth missions.”

Honestly… I was kind of okay with that. The idea of going back to Cerulean now and going about my grunt business like nothing had ever happened… wasn’t very appealing.

“And I want a teleporter with you at all times in case things go south. One of your partners has a teleporter, right?”

“Yeah, Darren’s Abra is a Kadabra now and they’ve started practicing long-range jumps,” I said. “But I thought all the Rocket bases had teleport blockers?”

“They do, but it’s still useful for making a getaway once you’re outside.”

I paused. Something was starting to feel a bit weird about all of this. It almost sounded like he’d be needing me to visit a Rocket base soon.

“Why bring this up now?” I asked. “Is there a big mission coming up?”

Stalker folded his arms. “I have a few suspicions. That’s why I needed to figure out a way to continue to use you.”

“…Specifically me?”

“You have the single strongest Pokémon on the Rebellion now,” he replied simply.

I blinked. I… kind of did, didn’t I? It seemed obvious now that he’d pointed it out, but I never would’ve made that realization otherwise.

“I’ll let everyone know once I have more details. For now, keep training, and be ready for the next mission… it could be a big one,” he said, turning to leave.

Hang on, I still needed to ask him about the ruins. “Wait. Before you go, I was wanting to ask something,” I said quickly. Stalker turned back to face me, a curious look on his face. I honestly wasn’t sure what the odds were that he’d know any more than I did. But it was worth a shot.

“I was taking a walk through the forest, and I… found something. Some kind of ruins.”

At once, Stalker’s eyes lit up with interest, and for a second it was like his calm, guarded air had just vanished. “What did you think of them?” he asked, the slightest edge of a grin crossing his face.

I blinked. That wasn’t the response I’d been expecting. “You knew about them?”

“Of course,” he replied. No explanation. Why wouldn’t he know about them?

“How come you never mentioned them?” I asked.

“I didn’t want everyone going there all at once, disturbing them,” he said offhandedly. “I figured a few of you would stumble across it eventually though.”

Huh. Well, I guess he was right about that.

“Those ruins are the reason I chose Midnight Island as the base location,” he continued. “I’m fascinated by Legendaries and everything to do with them.”

A glimmer of excitement was starting to build within me. “What did you think of the legend carved there?”

Stalker paused, considering the question carefully. “I believe it refers to the wars that tore through multiple regions 3000 years ago.”

My eyes widened. “What, you mean the cataclysmic era?” I hadn’t realized the legend could be referring to that. It was kind of a big deal—the only time in history that basically the entire world was caught up in wars. It was the start of our calendar and everything.

“You know about it?” Stalker asked, looking intrigued.

“Well yeah. I mean, I’m not an expert on it, but pretty much everyone’s heard of it, right?” I paused, as the implications of that knowledge suddenly hit me. “Wait, hang on… if that legend was talking about something that actually happened… then what was with the ending?”

Stalker didn’t respond for quite some time. Finally, in a low tone of voice, he said, “The writer obviously believed that history repeats itself.”

Well that was unnerving. At least the odds of someone managing to accurately predict the state of the world 3000 years in the future was pretty ridiculous. Unless it really was a prophecy. Which it probably wasn’t. Hopefully.

“Now it’s my turn to ask you something,” Stalker said.

I tilted my head. I hadn’t been expecting that, but I nodded for him to go ahead.

“Why did you join the Rebellion?”

I raised an eyebrow. “What? That’s a… weird question.”

“Everyone joined this team for their own reasons. I want to know yours,” he said matter-of-factly.

I immediately opened my mouth to respond, but then stopped. Why had I joined the Rebellion? I’d been vaguely in favor of the idea when I first met Stalker in the forest the day that Entei was captured. But it wasn’t until after the plane incident that I’d really started to consider it for real. I’d told myself it was about protecting the Legendaries, but… that wasn’t it, was it?

“To be honest… it was for entirely selfish reasons,” I said slowly, more thinking aloud than really answering. “I wanted to get stronger. I heard about the fight and wanted to make a difference. I wanted to feel… important.”

“And do you?”

I glanced up at him. “Huh?”

“Do you feel important now?” Stalker asked, gazing at me intently.

I stared at the ground, mentally repeating his words to myself. “I… I guess so?” I mean, I hadn’t helped any Legendaries yet, but I’d freed the experiments. That had to count for something, right?

“Good. Now’s the time for morale to be high,” he said, walking past me. “We’re doing something important here. I don’t want anyone forgetting that.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Throughout the following week, my mind kept straying back to the ruins. Talking to Stalker really hadn’t helped me stop thinking about them. In fact, it seemed to have the opposite effect. Especially considering that I had a strong suspicion that Stalker knew more about the ruins than he was letting on. He certainly had a way of answering questions without actually providing any info.

That said, I felt really, really stupid as I trudged through the woods in the direction I remembered Swift taking me. I mean, really… what was I doing? I had already read the legend. I remembered what it said. I just… couldn’t stop thinking about it. Seven Legendaries had ended the cataclysmic era 3000 years ago, and now it was supposedly going to happen again, and if that was true, then wasn’t it the sort of thing people should know about?

I had no idea what returning to the ruins was supposed to accomplish, but if going back there would help my brain shut up, then it was worth it.

I stepped into the clearing and was greeted with the familiar sight of the ancient stone structure. And just like last time, the place was crawling with ghost-types. Orblike Gastly weaved in and out of the pillars, flicking their long tongues and leaving trails of purple mist in their wake. It was still weird seeing them out this early, even if Swift said it was normal. I couldn’t help keeping one hand on Firestorm’s Pokéball as I approached the ruins, just in case any of the ghosts decided I looked like a target. But at the sound of my footsteps, they all scattered to the trees.

Something felt off about the place. More than the last time I was here, with Swift. I couldn’t explain why, but an air of unease settled in as I walked up the stone steps into the center of the ruins. The great wall covered in writing loomed ahead of me. And then my eyes fell on the gaping hole currently in the middle of it.

What? That wasn’t there last time.

My legs carried me closer to the opening without me telling them to. A thick groove was set into the stone floor where the wall segment had slid out of view. I leaned forward, peering down the passageway.

Stairs. Leading downward.

The urge to turn around and pretend I hadn’t come back here suddenly struck. But part of me had to know what was down there. Especially if it offered more insight into everything that was written up here. And especially if Stalker didn’t know this was here. Maybe he did… but the fact that he might not was what drove me to take the first step into the passageway. And then another. I shivered. The air in the stairway was drastically colder than the outside, making the hair on my arms stand on end. But soon I couldn’t see them any more as the light from outside faded, leaving me in near total darkness. I braced my hands against the wall and took it one step at a time. Slowly, my eyes started to adjust, and I caught sight of a glow ahead of me. Just a few more steps now.

I emerged into a small, dimly lit stone chamber. The walls were absolutely covered in writings. And in the center of the room sat a waist-high pedestal. A jagged, crystalline stone sat atop the pedestal, giving off an eerie sheen.

I exhaled slowly, then coughed as I tried to breathe in the stale air down here. Just how old was this chamber? And that stone… had it been here since the ruins were built? Slowly, I stepped forward into the center of the room, turning around in a circle to look at all of the writing on the walls. And just like last time, my eyes fell on a portion of text that I could read. What in the world was modern Tohjoan doing in a place like this?

For several seconds, I didn’t move. But curiosity won out in the end. I leaned forward, squinted at the writing in the dim light, and read:

Only one who is marked may remove this orb from its resting place, for none should have their fate bound that have not already chosen it for themselves. Three orbs were forged from the birth of this realm, and each has been sealed away so that the realms might remain separate forevermore. They lie in wait, sensing only the essence of those who would seek to restore balance to that which was never meant to exist. Though the seven patrons have been tasked with forging an alliance with humankind, they cannot prevent the fires of the Revolution from swallowing the land. When they have made their stand, joining the orbs together will be the only means to light a path to the truth that was hidden from this world.

A chill swept over me. Another legend. And this one didn’t sound so pleasant—whoever wrote this one sure wasn’t very optimistic about the future. It basically just made it sound like everything written upstairs was dead wrong. An alliance between humans and Legendaries? Nope, the world is screwed either way.

Then again, if Stalker was right, and it was written after the major multi-region wars that restarted the calendar, it was probably hard for anyone to be optimistic at the time.

As for the… orb? (It looked more like a stone to me. It wasn’t round enough to be an orb.) It was impossible not to get the feeling that it was important, though. Sealed away in a secret chamber underneath ancient ruins with a foreboding message. Come on, that was the epitome of suspicious. But how was it still here? How come no one had found it and taken it after all this time?

‘Only one who is marked may remove this orb…’

Well that was fine. It wasn’t like I had any reason to steal a random artifact that I’d just stumbled across. Still, it’d be interesting to ask Stalker about it.

I turned to look away from it… but my eyes didn’t want to leave. I blinked a few times, nonplussed. Okay, yeah, it was interesting, but there was nothing else to see here. I had to leave.

My body didn’t move. I wasn’t really going to just leave, was I? Not without investigating it closer. Even if the writings were just a myth, there was no denying that the orb, right here in front of me, was real. My legs carried me closer to the pedestal, and I leaned forward to stare at it closely. The orb’s amber, crystalline surface caught the light shining down through the entryway, glinting with an oddly silvery sheen. Without entirely knowing why, I reached my hand out to run my fingers along it. The orb was cool to the touch, and it left an airy, tingly feeling in my fingertips.

I wanted it.

The writings? I wasn’t sure what to think of them. But the orb? The orb was important. Somehow, nothing was truer than that.

My fingers slowly traced the edges of the orb. Encircling it. Clasping it. Lifting it. It took more effort than I expected. Like it was actually made of dense metal. Yet part of my brain expected it to slip right through my fingers like gas.

Wait.

Okay, no, what was I doing? Grabbing some random artifact from a cave and taking it? Yeah, that was a good idea—no way could anything bad ever come from that. In fact, even just being here felt like a bad idea. I still had no idea why the chamber had opened up (by itself?), and something told me I wouldn’t like the answer. I was going to leave now.

Also the orb was still firmly clenched in my right hand. So I was going to set it down, then leave.

…Any second now.

No. I couldn’t. I needed it.

Somehow, I was outside now. I hadn’t noticed myself leave the chamber. And the orb, where was the—it was in my pocket now. Why had I taken it again? I couldn’t remember. There was definitely a reason—an important reason—but…

Exasperation prodded at the back of my mind. Who really cared if I took the orb? It had been sitting down there for who knows how long, and if I wasn’t supposed to have it, then the chamber shouldn’t have opened in the first place.

The sun had already slipped out of view. Streaks of red and gold painted the clouds overhead, and the tiniest sliver of a crescent moon had appeared on the horizon. How long was I down there? I glanced back at the passage I’d apparently just exited, now feeling a tingle of unease. The stone entryway had already shut itself behind me.

“I… really need to show this to Stalker,” I muttered to myself, reaching into my pocket to run my fingers along the orb’s surface. But even as I said it, I knew I wouldn’t. I couldn’t show him. I couldn’t show anyone. No one could know that I had it.

A sudden chill fell over the surrounding. I barely had a chance to register it before an icy gale swept through the ruins, throwing my hair in my face and chilling every inch of exposed skin.

“Explain your presence here, human.”

I froze. The words were ice. They gripped my senses and resounded in my ears long after they had been spoken. Even stranger, the speaker was absolutely not human… but the words were not Pokéspeech.

Behind me. That’s where the voice had come from. I’d have to look sooner or later. No matter how much I didn’t want to. My movements dragged like mud as I forced myself to turn around. My eyes fell on the speaker. And my heart instantly jumped into my throat.

A slender beast stood atop the stone archway at the entrance to the ruins. Diamond-spotted cobalt fur covered a lithe frame with muscles poised to strike at any moment. Twilight glinted through crystalline antlers, casting sea-green highlights across the stone floor and making the ruins feel even more unearthly. But the weirdest thing was how its violet mane and ribbon-like tails constantly billowed through the air… like it was surrounded by its own personal whirlwind.

I’d only ever seen pictures… but it was unmistakably Suicune. The Legendary Beast of the North Wind.

It felt as though the air had gone from my lungs. I wasn’t sure it hadn’t really happened. Suicune. Right here, right now. Not across a clearing, being hunted by Rockets. Standing right in front of me, focusing on me and only me. Why was a Legendary focusing on me? I was nobody.

Except I was a nobody who happened to be standing here right at this moment, in a place I obviously wasn’t supposed to be. What could I possibly say against that?

The beast spoke. “How did you get into that chamber?”

“I… what?” I stuttered, feeling my stomach dissolve. The chamber. If the ruins weren’t off-limits, the chamber definitely was. And the orb. Oh god, I’d stolen the orb.

“How did you get into that chamber?” it repeated.

I had to tell it something. I swallowed hard and, with every effort to keep my voice from trembling, said, “I… I don’t know.”

“Do you honestly believe you can lie to me?” the cobalt beast replied icily.

My heart was pounding. “I’m not lying! It—it opened by itself.”

Piercing crimson eyes bored into me. But then their owner tilted its head ever so slightly, and for just a second, it looked somewhat intrigued. “What was down there?”

I couldn’t tell it about the orb. Wait, what? Why not? It was a Legendary Pokémon. Ancient treasures and prophecies and the like were supposed to be their area of expertise. At least, that’s how all the stories went…

The North Wind continued to stare at me expectantly. Right, I hadn’t answered its question yet. What was down there?

“More writings. Like the ones up here,” I finally said.

“What did they say?”

I opened my mouth to speak… and found all memory of the legend completely gone.

“I… don’t remember.”

Anger flashed through the beast’s eyes, and the air around it whipped into a frenzy. Oh god I’d done it now, angering a Legendary right to its face. I screwed my eyes shut, half expecting a frigid burst of wind to freeze me to the spot.

“Leave now. Do not return,” the Legendary barked.

My eyes snapped open, and I stared at the beast in disbelief. I was so stunned that it took several seconds for my brain to register that I was going to be okay, I just had to leave immediately. Slowly, shakily, I took one step back. Then another. Then my legs finally got the message and I found myself bolting in the opposite direction as fast as they could carry me.

I reached the trees and ducked behind one, doubled over from the sudden rush of panic and my heart beating painfully fast. It wasn’t following me, was it? I glanced over my shoulder to see that Suicune had leaped down from its perch and was now investigating the stone wall that had opened for me.

I sank back against the tree and let out a huge sigh of relief. I was in the clear. Unbelievable. Part of me had been so convinced that it was going to attack. I closed my eyes and focused on calming down and regaining control of my breathing.

Four. I’d seen four Legendary Pokémon so far. Entei, Raikou, Mewtwo, and Suicune. All four of them had the same overwhelming presence. All four gave off the same impression of pure power.

And then it properly hit me for the first time—for as amazing as the Legendary Pokémon were… they were absolutely terrifying.






End Chapter 17
LC is a Chosen One fic. After what you just read, this is hardly a spoiler. It’s been a Chosen One fic since Revision 2. The Prologue references it. All my advertisements reference it.

Chosen One fics come with a unique set of pitfalls, and I know readers might be concerned that this fic is about to plunge into several. LC is intended to be a hardcore deconstruction of the Chosen One Pokéfic genre, and as such, I’ve taken care to address a lot of the common issues that plague a lot of other Chosen fics:
  • None of the Chosen are predestined.
  • The legend was written by a specific character who will be identified later.
  • Said character has a logical reason for knowing what they know.
  • The majority of the legend is things they want to bring about, not things that are fated to happen.
  • The Chosen are not fated to succeed because destiny.
  • The orb has a non-arbitrary reason for existing. (I’m sure you all already know what it is anyway. I wasn’t subtle about it.)
  • There is a concrete explanation for why Jade was able to pick up the orb.
  • The Legendaries have a clear motivation for wanting to take on a Chosen and arguably benefit more from the partnership than the humans do.
  • No characters currently alive in the fic’s universe fully understand the legend (i.e. no one is withholding information for the sake of drama.)
That said, this is the chapter where speculation becomes possible! Friendly reminder that I love speculation of all kinds. Give me all your speculation.
 
I thought this was a multi battle?”

Nah it’s a Battle Royale before that was actually invented.

--

So, despite this being the chapter with ‘ALL THE PLOT’ I’d argue it was more focused near the end than anything, since, once again, we have more training/battling going on. Now, I’ll admit that we’ve got a small milestone ahead this time where Jade actually won in a sparring match after getting a bit clever and so on, though I did wonder for the bulk of the start of the fight what the point was of having yet another sparring session.

The vines slackened for just a second—enough for the fire lizard to untangle himself. But not before a blast of water struck him head on. The fire-type reeled backward, coughing and sputtering.

I’m not sure if I’m noticing it now, or if it was a new development, but what’s with all the epithets? This battle in particular kept switching between them like crazy and it was kinda starting to get distracting, aha…

“Alright Wartortle, use Rapid Spin to dodge the leaves and then Water Pulse right in Charmeleon’s face, before he can Protect again!” Rudy yelled.

Hmm, I do wonder if it’s possible to say such a long command in the heat of battle.

He had been only a few months old when I’d found him.

Ahh, here’s our Swift development. I wonder if this sort of thing could have come up earlier in little fragment snow and then, but I guess now is a good a time as any.

A prophecy, in other words

Booooo.

Okay but in all seriousness, I like what you plan to do with it based on your author’s notes at the end, but I do have some qualms about stating things you plan to do in notes rather than making it more clear in narrative or something along those lines. As of now, just immediately going into ‘prophecy’ mode sort of raises a lot of question flags. That doubles down on the Chosen One stuff that you also acknowledged.

Like, if you need author’s notes to try to justify something that comes up… maybe you should find ways to justify it in-universe instead? I know that probably requires extraordinary restructuring of the story to do, so it’s not feasible, but I certainly would encourage keeping that sort of thing in mind for future developments. The less “author explanation” required, the better.

Well that was unnerving.

Quick comment: You seem to be missing commas after introductory phrases fairly often. I get that you’re trying to go for a no-pause tone, but it might be good to include them regardless. Commas don’t always indicate pause.

What in the world was modern Tohjoan doing in a place like this?

It’s probably not modern… right? Either she can read it for some reason (Chosen) or some old schmuck keeps translating it every few centuries.

It basically just made it sound like everything written upstairs was dead wrong.

Huh, the dark prophesy and the light prophesy, eh? Kinda defeats the purpose of a prophesy if they contradict each other…
 
Chapter 18: The Titans of the Elements
Thanks for the review, Namo! And now, time to kick off the next Legendary mission!



Chapter 18: The Titans of the Elements

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Viridian base. The primary headquarters for all of Team Rocket, and the one which all other branches reported to. Where all the highest-ranking agents worked. Where Giovanni himself worked.

It was also the base that Darren and I were currently infiltrating.

“Right, so… no problems so far. You sure you’re bad luck, Jade? The way you were talking earlier, I was expecting to get jumped the second we set foot in the place.”

I gave him an unamused stare. “Look, it always starts off fine, okay? Then before you know it, you’re running for your life and you don’t even know why.”

The last time I’d been to a Rocket base, it had been nearly deserted. This time couldn’t have been more different. All around us, Rockets of all divisions and ranks rushed about, followed by Pokémon carrying assets for them. Almost all of them had combat unit patches on their uniform. After all, Viridian base did have the largest combat unit on the force. Normally this would have been the worst time to sneak around a base, but with how crucial it was that we be here right now, we didn’t have much of a choice.

Like Stalker had feared, there was indeed a big combat unit mission coming up. The only problem was, we had absolutely no idea what it was. None of the infiltration teams had been able to gather anything. None of Stalker’s allies had gotten anything. We were flying blind.

Well, except for two things.

Mewtwo had been transferred to Viridian yesterday. That would have been a red flag all by itself, but then Entei had been transferred as well. The Kanto force borrowing assets from Johto was apparently unheard of, and Stalker had been particularly concerned about it. The second thing was that Saffron had reported huge amounts of money being poured into tech development. Way more than normal. That, combined with tons of shipments of… something coming from Cerulean, had to mean they were building something.

And that’s why we were here. To figure out what the hell was going on, before it was too late. Not that that was a hopelessly vague mission or anything.

“Right, so… Group 2 found the room where Mewtwo was being held. Key word: was,” Darren said, reading the rebels’ group chat.

Great, we still didn’t have a read on Mewtwo. Finding him would’ve solved a lot of mysteries at once, plus we could’ve waited and seen what they were doing if they moved him again. But if he’d already been moved… did that mean we were too late?

Darren nudged my side. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but almost everyone’s been coming and going from that same hallway.”

The Viridian base was one floor and all sprawl, with a central area connecting eight hallways branching off in all directions. Railways and moving walkways sped up transport between each division of the base. The primary entrance had been a nondescript warehouse on the outskirts of Viridian, but there were other entrances scattered all over northeast Viridian, including the official gym itself—although that one was only for the boss’s inner circle.

The two of us had been sitting at a table in the mess hall part of the commons, which wasn’t a separate room like in Cerulean. That way we had a clear view of the goings on in the base without being in the way or looking suspicious. The hallway Darren had pointed out was the largest of the eight, with the most railways going in and out from it.

I brought up a map of the base on my R-com. “That’s the transport wing. Think we should check it out?”

“No one else has checked it out yet, so we might as well. Who knows, maybe we’ll find the new tech before anyone else—that’d be cool.”

The two of us left our watch post in the mess hall and sauntered in the direction of the eighth hallway, avoiding eye contact with any other Rockets and trying to give off an air like we knew what we were doing. Not that there was much chance of us standing out with how many Rockets were busy with their own thing at the moment. Unfortunately, we soon found out why none of the other groups had investigated the transport wing—namely, the guards posted out front.

“Right, they’re checking ID at the entrance. Something tells me they’re not gonna accept my admin rights as easily as the card scanners,” Darren said sheepishly.

Which meant we’d need another way into the transport wing. Yeah, there was the forest entrance near the runway, but that’d be… more than a little conspicuous.

Wait. Spread out as the base was, there were connections between divisions. And the transport wing was so large that it ran alongside the adjacent wings. Which ones were they…? I grabbed my R-com to check the map again. The storage wing and the office wing. My eyes widened. I knew for a fact that there was a connection between the office wing and the transport wing. I’d seen it the day I was kidnapped and brought into the Viridian base so long ago.

“I think I know another way in,” I said slowly as the realization hit me. “We have to get into the office division.”

“Even if we make it in, I think they might notice two random grunts wandering around looking lost,” Darren pointed out.

Hm. He did have a point there. Unless…

“Not if we look like officers.” The idea had struck out of nowhere, and to be honest, I was rather proud of it.

“Won’t we, uh… look a little young for officers?”

I shrugged. “I’m only a month away from being old enough, and I’m tall, so from a distance I could pass. If you stick with me, you’ll just look like a member of my squad or something.”

“What, so I get to be your subordinate?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I snorted. “Sure, if you put it that way.”

Five minutes later, we’d tracked down and unlocked a supply closet with spare uniforms, and I’d swapped out my boots and gloves for the white with red stripes that signified officer rank at a glance. With that, we set off for the seventh hallway. The office division wasn’t nearly as busy as the rest of the base. It was still early enough that the lights were dimmed, and aside from the occasional executive sipping coffee, we didn’t see many Rockets still around. Which was good for me, because I kept having to stare down at my R-com to not get lost in the maze of hallways.

“Hey Jade, you’re, uh… about to hit a wall,” Darren whispered.

I glanced up just in time to freeze with my face inches away from what would have been embarrassing at best and cover-blowing at worst.

“Er… right,” I said sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head.

In any case, I was pretty sure we were close. All of the offices in the asset management and transport coordination departments had access to the transport wing. I glanced around, my eyes tracing the titles of each door one after the other… hang on, there it was—the asset management department. And sure enough, amidst the various office doorways, I spotted a larger metal door with a card scanner.

“Right here,” I said pointing it out. He’d have to be the one to open it since my old account—the one with admin rights—had been compromised.

“What kind of officer need a grunt’s help to get through a door?” Darren asked wryly.

I only barely managed to stop myself from snorting out loud. After a quick scan of the area to make sure no one was nearby, I turned and said, “You expect an officer to lower themselves to opening a door when there are grunts around to take care of it?”

“Oh man. Got me there. Right away, officer.” With an exaggerated look of defeat, Darren pulled out his ID and held it to the scanner. The door slid open, revealing a massive concrete room. And then a powerful wave of déjà vu hit me in the face. This was where I’d been taken the day that I met Stalker in the woods. The day that I’d seen Entei under attack. The day it all began. Last time I’d been here, I’d been a helpless captive of the Rockets. This time I was here to find a way to ruin them. That realization was… undeniably empowering.

The transportation hangar was a lot fuller than the last time I’d been here. It didn’t have any aircraft this time, but the space was full of a dozen or more semi-trucks. Most of the Rockets stood clustered around the loading bay, which connected to the storage wing on the far side of the hangar. Darren and I made our way over to the trucks, moving as quickly as possible without looking totally suspicious. Just had to make it out of sight without anyone getting the wrong idea. Nothing strange about an officer and a grunt walking towards the trucks that weren’t currently being loaded. And no one was close enough to see that we didn’t have combat unit patches. No reason for anyone to raise the alarm.

After what felt like an eternity, we slipped out of view behind the closest truck, and I let out a huge breath that I didn’t realize I’d been holding. It took me several seconds to realize that we now had a perfect view of the truck’s contents. And all I could do was stare.

Inside the truck was a hulking black machine—sleek, shiny, and covered in armor. Its wide flat base was supported by four splayed-out legs currently folded up away from the floor. The midsection gave way to a swivel joint topped by a long, cannon-shaped section, flanked by twin shields supporting six folded up antennae on either side. The entire machine was held in place by thick wood blocks spanning the walls of the trailer.

“What… is… this…?” I muttered.

“Whatever it is, I think Stalker’s gonna want to see it,” Darren said, climbing into the trailer.

I climbed in after him, taking care to step lightly so I didn’t alert the Rockets. Meanwhile, my teammate had pulled out his R-com and started snapping photos of the mechanism. Whatever it was, it looked like a weapon. But for what?

Voices nearby. I froze, throwing a wide-eyed look of panic toward Darren. He hadn’t noticed—he was still focused on taking pictures. I couldn’t say anything—not with Rockets approaching. But I had to do something, and fast. Which meant awkwardly tiptoeing over to him, now very aware of the sound each footstep made against the metal trailer floor, and waving a hand in front of his face. Darren blinked a few times at my behavior and tilted his head in total confusion. I gestured wildly out the opening, feeling like an idiot until his eyes widened slightly and he mouthed the word “oh.” Finally!

We had to hide. But the only cover available to us was the giant machine itself. Which meant climbing up onto its flat base, crouching low behind the cannon and desperately praying that we were out of sight. I strained my ears to hear the voices I’d caught earlier. Were they still approaching? What if the only reason they headed over here in the first place was because they’d noticed us?

Oh man, the voices were getting louder. I screwed my eyes shut and clenched my fists. Come on. Leave. Each second dragged on like an eternity. I had no idea how long it’d been. Long enough that my legs had gone numb from kneeling. But I didn’t dare shift my weight to regain feeling. Not until they were gone.

I jumped at a sudden metallic scraping sound. What was that?! Wait… it was the trailer door. They were shutting it?! We’d be trapped!

We were frozen. We couldn’t move without giving ourselves away, but I couldn’t just let this happen!

Darkness enveloped the trailer. Aside from a few pinpricks of light from the seams, I couldn’t see anything at all. And man was it unnerving. I wanted out, immediately. But if we forced open the trailer door… we had no way of knowing who would see or hear us. That was not a gamble we could afford to take.

Darren sighed. “Yeeahh, I guess we’re stuck here now.”

No. No, no, no.

“Just once I wanted to get through a mission without something going wrong,” I muttered through clenched teeth, holding back the urge to slam a fist against the wall.

“It’s not that bad. Not like they discovered us or anything.”

I whirled around to face him incredulously. “You’re not scared?”

Darren laughed. “No, I’m totally scared. But there’s nothing I can do about that right now. So I might as well try not to let it get to me.”

I opened my mouth to say something… but then found that I couldn’t think of anything to counter his point. It just seemed ridiculous not to worry. Not when there was so much that could go wrong.

“I guess that wasn’t very convincing, huh?” Darren asked.

I took a deep breath. “No… you’re right. They haven’t found us yet.”

Darren nudged my shoulder. “Yeah. Now come on. What do you think we should do?”

He was asking me? How should I know?

“Well, for starters, I hate not being able to see,” I said, pulling out Chibi’s Pokéball and opening it. The flash of light briefly highlighted Darren and the machine, but the moment it took on the spiky-furred Pikachu’s shape, the trailer was plunged into darkness once more.

It’s dark… where are we?” the hybrid asked.

“In a Rocket truck. Can you light it up with Flash?”

At once, I had to screw my eyes shut as I found myself staring directly at the piercing glow emanating from the electric-type’s body. I blinked a few times, willing my eyes to adjust until I could make out the silhouettes of Darren and Chibi, highlighted against the blackness.

Darren nodded approvingly. “Alright, what next?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Why are you asking me?”

“No reason,” he said innocently. A little bit too innocently.

“You’re just trying to get me to focus on making a plan instead of panicking,” I said as the realization hit me.

“Well yeah. Is it working?”

I paused. It… kind of was, wasn’t it? Just having Chibi out and being able to see already made the situation feel a lot brighter. Even if nothing else had changed. Not that I felt like admitting that his plan had worked. Although I didn’t really need to—from the smug look on his face, he’d already noticed.

“Right, so… we need to know when the coast is clear outside,” I said quickly, hoping to change the topic. “Chibi, you’ve got the best hearing out of us. We’ll need you to listen for sounds from the outside.”

The Pikachu nodded and hopped over to the trailer door, pressing one long ear against it and closing his eyes in concentration. “There’s voices outside. Distant, but a lot of them,” he said. That made sense—most of the Rockets had been on the other side of the hangar. But would they hear us if we tried to force open the trailer door now?

“Ugh, if only we could teleport out,” I muttered.

“Believe me, I’ve been wishing that same thing,” Darren said.

What were our options? We had a couple of Pokémon that could easily cut through the thin trailer walls—Firestorm and Sneasel came to mind. Of course, if anyone saw the hole, it’d be an automatic giveaway that there were rebels in the base, but if we got outside before everything was put on lockdown…?

There’s something else,” Chibi spoke up suddenly. “A smaller sound, nearby. I’m getting movement from it too.” He paused tilting his head in confusion. “Hang on… is someone in the cab?

A low rumble suddenly spread throughout the floor. All three of us went rigid as the truck slowly began to creak forward, drawing a low metallic groan from the machine as its weight pushed against the restraints holding it in place. Slowly at first, then more quickly, our ride started to accelerate. This was followed by the distinct feeling of everything leaning backward as the truck travelled up the huge ramp leading outside.

The truck was leaving the base.

“Well, scratch everything. I guess we’re calling Stalker now,” Darren said, pulling out his R-com.

“No kidding,” I muttered. Our simple recon mission had suddenly become a lot less simple.

Darren held his R-com out in front of him so we could all see when Stalker’s face appeared on the screen. “We’ve got an update. Um…”—he glanced back at me awkwardly—“we’re trapped.”

Stalker gave a small chuckle at the bluntness of Darren’s report. “I see. Where are you right now?”

“The back of a truck headed who-knows-where,” I answered.

“The good news is you wanted us to find what they’ve been building, and, well…”—Darren rotated the R-com so that the machine was visible behind us—“here it is.”

Stalker nodded. “I’ve been studying the photos you sent. It’s some kind of barrier, like the Thunder Field. What concerns me is the top—it doesn’t just look like it projects an energy field… it looks like can fire a concentrated beam.”

“What? Wouldn’t that take a crazy amount of power?” I asked.

Stalker nodded. “They’d have to get it from somewhere.”

But that meant… they’d have to be able to absorb and store energy from Pokémon attacks, not just deflect it like most energy shields. That… wasn’t possible… was it? They’d already done it with electric attacks, but that was easy.

“So you’re saying… this thing can absorb any element of Pokémon energy? Not just electric?”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he said darkly. “It looks like anti-Legendary tech.” His expression had gone cold with a subdued fury I’d never seen from him before. “I should have known about this,” he whispered to himself. “Why didn’t I know about this?”

An awkward silence fell over us as Darren and I traded uncertain looks. If we were trapped in a truck that was transporting anti-Legendary tech… did that mean that a Legendary mission was going on right now?

Darren took a deep breath. “Not that this isn’t fantastic news, but shouldn’t we be finding a way out of here or something?”

Stalker closed his eyes and exhaled slowly before shaking his head. “No. This is the easiest way of following them. Message me your coordinates every five minutes. I’ll track your trajectory from each one and figure out the most likely destination while I get everyone else ready to go.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two incredibly tense hours later, the truck finally started to slow down. By that point I was thoroughly sore from sitting on the rickety metal floor, and desperate to get out. The trailer wasn’t exactly small, but something about being trapped in that space with the huge Rocket machine had long since turned claustrophobic. So I couldn’t help feeling a massive wave of relief the moment the truck finally ground to a halt.

“Just sent the coordinates to Stalker and everyone else,” Darren said. “I’m just trying to imagine the look on Rudy’s face when he finds out our ‘boring, stupid’ intel mission turned into a Legendary mission.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, we’re gonna get an earful.” It would’ve been nice if that was the only thing we had to worry about. “So now we’ve just gotta get out of here. We can teleport out now, right?”

“Yeah, but Kadabra can only teleport places he’s been before, or places he can see.”

I clenched my teeth. Teleporting back to one of his memorized locations would leave us with no way of returning to the mission site. “So we’ve gotta wait for them to open the door.” It was that or run the risk of calling too much attention to ourselves before the others get here. The last thing we needed was for the Rockets to be on guard before the mission even started.

My ears caught the muffled sound of the truck door opening and footsteps circling around to the back. Darren let out his Kadabra, and Chibi leaped up onto my shoulder, cutting the Flash in the process and leaving us surrounded by darkness once more. We waited with bated breath for the moment that would either save us or completely screw us over. It couldn’t be much longer.

There! Sunlight pierced through a crack at the bottom of the trailer door. Kadabra squinted at the brightness, trying to make out a target location. Just a bit more… the door slid open higher and—there it was, trees behind the Rocket and a space beyond them, now within our reach! In the blink of an eye, our surroundings melted into light and just as suddenly reformed into the spot between the trees that we had glimpsed. I whirled around to see the Rocket climbing into the truck, giving no indication that he’d seen anything out of the ordinary.

“Come on, I need the team assigned to this ALR to move it,” he called out.

We’d done it—we’d escaped. Just in time. I ducked back behind the closest tree and sank to the ground, arms and legs trembling.

“We made it,” I gasped, feeling a sudden rush of exhilaration. We’d actually made it. I couldn’t help grinning wildly.

“Told you,” Darren said matter-of-factly.

I raised an eyebrow. “No, actually, I don’t think you ever did.”

He paused, furrowing his brow. “Hm. Well I was thinking it.”

“That doesn’t count!” I scoffed, shoving him lightly.

Details aside, we’d gotten out. And now we had front-row seats to the Rockets’ latest mission. The sinister-looking ALR machine had been loaded onto some kind of wheeled transport cart and was currently being moved into position. With the flip of a switch, its legs folded down and dug into the earth, supporting the machine as the cart was removed. At least a dozen other ALRs had been unloaded from the caravan. They weren’t being positioned within the clearing, though—they’d been set up around it, scattered amongst the trees with camouflaged sheets thrown over them. At a glance, it was actually a bit hard to spot them.

The trucks were now leaving the clearing, following the same path we’d taken to get here, seeing as it was the only way out of the forest within sight (and judging by the dark, uneven earth, it must’ve been stripped of trees recently). Only a large van remained, and it currently had a group of executives clustered around it. I motioned to Darren, and the two of us crept around, hoping to get a better look at what the commotion was all about. The back of the van opened. I squinted, trying to make out what was inside.

And then a huge auburn beast jumped down from the back of the van. There was no mistaking it. That vibrant, crested face. The jagged spikes down the back. The smoky tail, billowing constantly.

My chest tightened. I hadn’t seen Entei since that fateful day west of Viridian. The day the Rockets had captured their first Legendary Pokémon. The day I’d vowed to make sure it wouldn’t happen again. And its eyes were completely blank. Just like when I’d first seen Razors. Exactly like that.

I was so focused on Entei, I almost didn’t notice the second Pokémon to exit the truck. Then my eyes snapped back to it and holy crap, it was Mewtwo. The tall, humanoid feline floated lightly over the ground, his thick violet tail twisting and turning in the air. His eyes were wide, unblinking, and blank, just like Entei’s.

An executive was now leading Entei to the center of the clearing while Mewtwo remained behind with the van. The man said something to Entei before returning to the rest of the group. And then the Rockets dispersed, breaking off into squads stationed by each of the ALRs. I tensed up. This was it, wasn’t it? It was starting now. Team Rocket was about to target another Legendary, and Darren and I were the only ones to see it. Where was everyone? Why weren’t they here yet? Were the Rockets chasing the target? How were they going to herd it here? What even was the target? And what were we supposed to do about this kind of opposition? Even if we got the entire Rebellion here, we couldn’t stop Mewtwo.

The entire area fell deathly silent. All eyes were on Entei. The beast inhaled deeply, then unleashed a deep, reverberating roar that shook my entire body. It seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. It… almost felt like Pokéspeech. But at the same time… not. It felt like a cry for help. A cry directed at someone in particular. But who?

Suicune.

The answer suddenly snapped into my mind, clear as day. Suicune was the target. The third and final Johto beast the Rockets had yet to go after. Entei was just the bait. It would probably lose to Suicune in a fair fight, but Mewtwo was the real muscle here.

An unnerving silence fell over the area as the roar faded from the air. We didn’t dare make a move—not until the rest of the Rebellion showed up. All we could do was wait. I was practically bouncing up and down with anxiety.

After several minutes, a distant sound finally pricked at my ears. It sounded like… wing beats. Heavy wing beats. Something huge was flying towards us. No wait… multiple huge somethings were flying toward us and rapidly getting closer.

And then my heart jumped into my throat when I laid eyes on them.

Three enormous birds soared into view, instantly grabbing the attention of everyone in the area. The first, a dazzling phoenix, spiraled down toward the clearing, each flap of its wings scattering red-hot embers through the air. The second, a graceful falcon, folded back its narrow wings and dove after the first, swirls of snow trailing behind its long, ribbon-like tail feathers. And the third, soaring high on short, broad wings, was a golden heron, its jagged plumage coursing with strings of lightning.

Chibi’s eyes widened with shock. “Is that it? Is that… Zapdos?” He stared at the thunderbird, slowly running a paw through his own pointed head feathers.

It had to be—there was no mistaking it. Which meant the other two birds were Articuno and Moltres.

The Legendary Birds of Kanto had arrived.

All three of Kanto’s guardians?!” one the Rockets guarding the nearest ALR muttered incredulously.

“Calm down, we knew something like this might happen,” his partner said.

Wait what? They knew? Could Mewtwo really defeat three Legendary Pokémon at once? Maybe, just maybe, the Rockets were in over their heads?

But even if he couldn’t… they did have Entei. And the ALRs. This was way more one-sided than it appeared.

The birds touched down around Entei with Zapdos in front, Articuno to the left and Moltres to the right, each folding their wings and gazing at the beast intently.

It really is you?” Articuno cried out, its voice high-pitched and melodious, like the whistling of wind. “It is so good to see you again!” The falcon’s scarlet eyes were wide with relief.

So it’s true? You really have escaped?” Zapdos asked, its tone much more reserved than the ice-type. But it too had relaxed considerably upon seeing the beast seemingly alive and well. “Suicune refused to believe it—they asked us to come in their stead.

Guardians of Kanto and all that,” Moltres said, waving a wing dismissively. The firebird then tilted its head at Entei, frowning. “What are you doing in Kanto anyway?

Don’t pressure them,” Zapdos cut in harshly, its words echoing like thunder. The golden heron turned back to face Entei. “Are you well?

But the volcano beast didn’t respond. It hadn’t moved an inch since the Rockets had given it that order to call for them in the first place. Zapdos’s face slowly fell. It craned its neck forward and gave Entei a gentle tap with its long, pointed beak. The lion remained motionless.

I don’t understand…” the thunderbird said, its voice falling.

Moltres’s sapphire eyes narrowed with suspicion as it glanced around. “Something’s wrong,” the phoenix snapped.

The trap was set. All three birds were now eyeing Entei uneasily. The attack would begin any second now. Where was the Rebellion?!

“Now!” a Rocket yelled.

At once, the covers flew off the ALRs and Mewtwo shot forward like a bullet. The three birds leaped into the air right as waves of yellow energy shot out from the sides of the ALRs, linking all of the machines together before spreading out to form a massive web around the clearing. Flames erupted from the ground around Entei, enveloping everything within the ALR circle in a raging fireball and making the energy field glow even brighter as it absorbed the attack. The flames cleared, revealing a scorched clearing filled with the charred remains of tree trunks. The three birds circled the air inside the web, facing down Mewtwo and Entei, varying degrees of hurt, anger, and betrayal crossing their faces.

“I knew it! A human trick! Of all the cowardly moves—come at us with your own strength, if you have any!” Moltres called out poisonously.

Mewtwo’s eyes glowed, and it fired a violet pulse of psychic energy at the firebird, sending it crashing into the barrier with a wave of sparks. Moltres flapped its wings wildly to regain itself, throwing a wide-eyed glance between Mewtwo and the barrier. It then let a wave of fire dance across its entire body before shooting forward like a missile, striking the barrier furiously. But within seconds, a wave of yellow energy rippled outward from the nearest ALRs, knocking the firebird back with a violent shock wave.

Lightning coursing through its wings, Zapdos fired a massive bolt right at one the ALRs maintaining the barrier. The ray sparked, absorbing the energy and channeling it across the web to the others until finally, it shot back a beam that struck the thunderbird right in the stomach. It recoiled back, wincing in pain right as Articuno was struck by Mewtwo’s psychic blast. The falcon retaliated with a piercingly blue beam of icy energy, but then Entei leapt into its path and countered with an overwhelming rush of flames.

The trio couldn’t fly away. They couldn’t hurt the Rockets. They couldn’t do anything but desperately attempt to evade Mewtwo’s psychic blasts. Panic was quickly settling into the birds’ movements. And we couldn’t do anything about it. Not alone.

As if on cue, a brilliant Flamethrower tore through the sky, striking the ALR barrier right at its apex. The Rockets immediately glanced up in the direction the attack had come from. I tilted my head, trying to spot it through the trees. Where had it come from?

A sudden flash of orange! A flying Pokémon? It slowed down as it approached the space directly above the Legendary battle, and—yes, it was a Charizard! Stalker’s? But the rider wasn’t Stalker. In fact, the fire lizard was carrying two riders. Two girls, from the look of it—one dark-skinned, the other light.

Wait… it was the rebels of Group 1, Mai and Sasha!

A single combat unit squad mounted their flying Pokémon and took flight after them. Charizard bolted the instant they got close enough to start launching attacks. Was it… trying to draw them off? But not very many Rockets had taken the bait. We still had plenty of opposition standing guard on the ground.

“Hey! Group 12, right?” a voice behind us said. A familiar voice, no less.

I whirled around. Standing behind us was none other than the leader of Group 1, and the person in charge of missions in Stalker’s absence—Ray.

“You’re finally here!” I exclaimed.

He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “We’ve got a rendezvous point set up east of the battlefield. Your third teammate is there.”

We followed him through the trees, giving the ALR circle and the Rockets a wide berth before coming to a section of the forest with about half the Rebellion scattered throughout. Every so often, another rebel would appear via teleporter or descend from above the canopy on the back of a flyer. Darren and I barely had a chance to look around and take stock of who all was here—I noticed our partners from the Raikou mission, Groups 5 and 16—before we were accosted by our third teammate, who was… not exactly happy with us.

“Why didn’t you guys tell me you were going to a Legendary mission!” Rudy shouted indignantly the second he found us.

“Right on cue,” Darren whispered.

“What, you think we knew?” I countered, rolling my eyes. But then a certain Absol and Flygon standing behind him caught my eye, and any qualms that Rudy had with us completely left my mind.

“Aros? Stygian? You two also came to help us?” I blurted out.

Stygian scoffed. “Don’t think you’re special.

We agreed to join the fight when we stayed on the island. It’s as simple as that,” Aros added in as disinterested a tone as possible, just in case I got the idea he cared or anything. Whatever, the reason didn’t matter. Either way, them being here was going to be a huge help that I hadn’t been counting on.

Chibi glanced between the two clones, tilting his head slightly. “Where’s Razors?

Aros shrugged. “He didn’t want to come.

The Pikachu gaped at him. “What…?” He shook his head disbelievingly. “What do you mean he ‘didn’t want to come’? What does that even mean?” he said in a heated voice.

The Flygon huffed. “How should I know? I didn’t ask.

Chibi’s ears drooped, and he stared at the ground in total shock. I had no idea how to comfort him. I didn’t even really know why he was so upset to learn that Razors wasn’t taking part in the mission. At the very least, it meant he was safe, right?

With a flash of light in my peripheral vision, Sasha had suddenly appeared alongside her Kadabra, the golden coils of her hair thoroughly windswept. “Hey guys. Mai’s keeping ‘em busy—Charizard’s got enough X Speed to last awhile. So what’s the plan?”

“We can make one now that you’re here,” Ray said simply.

She rolled her eyes. “Ha ha. I get it, you’re useless without me.”

“Stalker told us those machines are bad news. How bad are we talking?” Ray asked. It took me several seconds to realize that the second part was directed at me and Darren.

“They’re rebounding all the Legendaries’ attacks back at them. And that barrier is fueled by their power,” I said.

“Plus the barrier protects the machines from the Legendaries’ attacks, so it’s not like they can just destroy the machines from in there, cool as that would be,” Darren added.

Already I could see the gears turning in Sasha’s head. “What about from the outside? We could attack the machines from the other side of the barrier, yeah?”

I paused. That was a distinct possibility. But then… there was an obvious problem with that plan.

“How do we do that if the machines are all guarded by the combat unit?” a girl asked.

“We take ‘em down, obviously,” Rudy answered as though nothing were more obvious.

A heavy silence fell over the group. “Are we really strong enough to fight the combat unit head on?” a kid slowly asked.

Ray paused, taken aback. It was written all over his face that he didn’t think so. Try as he might, he hadn’t mastered Stalker’s ability to hide what he was thinking.

“We’re not going to fight them head on!” a voice suddenly called out. I whirled around to see Group 5’s Zoe giving everyone a determined stare. “They’re stuck out in the open guarding the machines—we’re not. And we’ve got a lot of tricks. Stick to the trees, stay out of the line of fire, draw their attention, then strike from behind… use every sneak attack we’ve ever learned.” Once again, she’d taken on the role of motivator, just like she had in Cerulean.

“Stalker had us all learn Protect, yeah? Well now we’re using it,” her teammate Liam added. “Have Pokémon out in front of you at all times that can alternate using Protect while the others attack from behind. Everyone else… attack those machines.”

Slowly, the fear and uncertainty streaking the rebels’ faces had started to melt away from all the encouragement. We were stronger now. We had more Pokémon, more allies, and more skills than we did before. We were going to do this.

Sasha grinned a bit to see someone other than her making the plans for once. “If you have any Pokémon big enough to ride, get on them so you can escape quicker,” she added. “Protect each other. And for the love of crap don’t get killed, got it?”

“Got it!” the rebel nearest to her called out. And with that, the rebels began splitting off into ground teams and sky teams, deciding who would take on which ALR.

Jade,” said a voice near my feet. I glanced down to see Chibi. Any distress from earlier had vanished, and his expression had turned darkly serious. “You’ll need mobility for this. Ride on Aros.

I stared at him. “What about you?”

I’ll be most useful protecting everyone on the ground,” the hybrid said firmly. “But we need as many rebels in the air as we can get.

I gave Aros a sideways glance. He… really hadn’t been keen on letting a human on his back during my last mission.

“Are… you okay with that?” I asked, wincing.

The Flygon turned his back to me. “Just get on,” he said flatly. “We’ve got to hurry.

I took a deep breath and climbed onto the bug-dragon’s back, gripping his sides tightly with my knees and clasping my arms around his neck. Alongside me, Rudy had let out his Fearow and was now mounting the tall, shaggy bird.

“I’ll stay here,” Darren said. “I don’t have a flier, but I do have a teleporter, so I can always help with the hit-and-run attacks.” Kadabra raised his spoon like he was giving a thumbs up.

Stygian glanced between the rebels, pawing the ground with a bit of a pensive look. “I’ll stick with the main group. They’ll need my strength.” Her gaze hardened, and I wasn’t sure if it was directed at Aros or me. “Don’t do anything stupid.

Got it, got it,” Aros said, waving a claw dismissively.

I shot a glance at Rudy to make sure we were both ready, then Aros and Fearow took off, shooting up above the canopy and sticking low over the trees so we didn’t attract too much unwanted attention. This gave us a pretty good view of the Legendary battle and… it had gotten a lot worse. The birds were reluctant to harm Entei, but that just made it even harder for them to fight Mewtwo while having dodge the lion’s flames. Zapdos covered its body in strings of electricity before loosing a wave of sparks all over the volcano beast. Entei recoiled backward, its muscles twitching with paralysis, but then Mewtwo appeared out of nowhere and knocked the thunderbird into the ALR barrier.

Articuno let out a cry and flapped its wings furiously, stirring up a violent blizzard in the air. Ice crystals formed on Mewtwo’s bony arms, but he silenced the storm and shattered the ice into shards with a wave of psychic power from a single hand. Just seconds later, Entei breathed out a white-hot pillar of flames, striking the falcon dead-on. With an enraged screech, Moltres shot forward like a bullet, knocking the beast to the ground and slashing wildly with its talons, giving Articuno a chance to escape. Azure feathers charred black, the ice bird retreated to the side, desperately firing frigid beams at its opposition.

I clenched my teeth and looked away. That wasn’t something we needed to worry about right now. The battle didn’t matter so long as the barrier was still up. Taking down the barrier was our absolute priority. I scanned the ground around the closest ALR—the Rocket squad guarding it had noticed the commotion going on elsewhere and turned to see what was going on. Three Rockets—all of them armed. Four Pokémon—Arbok, Pinsir, Magneton, Poliwrath. We were going to be in the line of fire whether we liked it or not.

“Alright, disarming tactics, what do we got?” I asked.

“Pikachu can paralyze them with Thunder Wave,” Rudy offered.

I nodded. “I don’t have much, but both my Pokémon can cut visibility. We’ll distract them with ourselves while our Pokémon approach from behind. Swift can fly Pikachu up close to paralyze them and then we can set our entire team against the Pokémon.” Between us we had nine Pokémon, counting Aros. Nine against four.

I took a deep breath. “They’re gonna be shooting at us. Be ready.” In a way, it was more directed at myself than anyone else, but Aros replied, “No problem.

Two Pokéballs opened, and Pikachu was now riding on Swift. Rudy relayed the plan to them and the electric-type grinned mischievously (part of me suspected that she’d been looking forward to something like this). Swift dove down through the trees so he’d have cover when approaching them, and then the rest was on us.

Aros and Fearow dove forward together, putting us right in the Rockets’ line of sight. Within seconds, they’d pulled out their firearms and began shooting. I flinched, clutching Aros’s neck tightly, but the Flygon was ready. A dark aura wreathed our bodies, and suddenly it was like we had become shadow. This was what Feint Attack looked like from the inside, wasn’t it? Suddenly it was like they weren’t even aiming at us at all—we were a shadow tracing the ground, and then we were behind them. The bug-dragon swung his tail at the Rockets, knocking them all clean off their feet right before their Pokémon lunged at us. Aros raised a Protect barrier at the last second just as Swift used their distraction to break through the trees. Without wasting a second, Pikachu leaped off of Swift’s back right into the center of the fallen Rockets, unleashing strings of electricity all over them. The Rockets cried out in pain as the attack coursed through them, then fell silent.

That wasn’t Thunder Wave… that was Thundershock. She hadn’t paralyzed them, she’d straight-up knocked them out. Swift took that opportunity to whip up a swirling dust storm around himself, blinding the Rockets’ Pokémon before they could retaliate. I whipped out a Pokéball and let out Firestorm. Rudy let out Ebony, Wartortle, Nidorino, and Larvitar to stand alongside Fearow and Pikachu and holy crap I’d never seen them all out and facing down the same opponent at once. Seeing his full team of six ready to go was actually intimidating.

“Let’s go, everyone!” he shouted, pointing forward at the Rockets’ Pokémon. Their trainers were unconscious, they’d been blinded by sand, and we outnumbered them two to one. This was what Stalker had meant when he’d talked about getting an advantage against opponents who were far stronger than you, wasn’t it?

Firestorm and Ebony tag-teamed Magneton, pelting the steel-type with fireballs and flaming fists. The magnet trio struck back with a flood of lightning launched from all three of its units, but its attack was just met with more flames, and its metallic shell was already starting to glow from the heat. Pinsir lunged forward, snapping its mighty jaws at our Pokémon and catching Wartortle in them. But the turtle managed to duck into his shell in time, leaving the bug-type struggling to damage him. Suddenly a half-dozen boulders struck it in the face and knocked it to the ground, thanks to Larvitar. Her first Rocket battle and the little green dinosaur still looked bored with it all, hurling rocks one after another like it took no effort. And then Fearow descended upon the stag beetle, tearing into it with frenzied talon slashes and spearing strikes from her beak.

Arbok crept along the ground into the center of our lineup and lashed out, catching Nidorino in its coils. But he just stood his ground and let all his spikes stand on end, forcing the serpent to release him right before it got nailed with a burst of water to the face, and then a rush of flames as the fire-types had already managed to finish off Magneton. In the midst of it all, Poliwrath stood its ground, weathering the blades of wind that Swift launched at it and the bolts of lightning from Pikachu. The frog braced itself and fired off high-pressure blasts of water that knocked a few of our Pokémon off their feet. But then, without warning, Aros shot forward, catching the water-type’s arm in his claws. What the hell?! I clung tightly to his back as he swung his arms in a wide circle, releasing his hold at the last second and letting Poliwrath go flying into the ALR barrier. The frog struck the barrier with a hail of sparks, spasming wildly as the energy surged through it until it finally cried out and fell limply to the ground.

I stared at Aros. “I… never would have thought of that.”

What? It’s fast and effective,” the Flygon snorted. I couldn’t really argue with that.

I snapped my attention back to the battle, but… there was no more battle. With Aros’s finishing move, all four of the squad’s Pokémon had been utterly defeated. We’d done it?

Rudy turned toward me, his eyes wider than I’d ever seen. “Holy crap that was badass,” he said, his tone dead serious. I honestly wasn’t sure if that was directed at himself, his Pokémon, or all of us, but it honestly didn’t matter. I climbed down from Aros’s back while Rudy dismounted his Fearow and gave the bird a pat.

“Alright, we’ve gotta be quick before more of them show up,” I said warily, pointing upward. More combat unit squads had taken to the air now—way too many for Stalker’s Charizard to distract. Several teams of rebels had joined her, launching attacks at the Rockets any time they approached the ground, basically forcing them to prioritize the aerial threats so those of us on the ground could continue uninterrupted. Chibi was aiding them by calling down wicked bouts of Thunder from the sky, dropping the Rockets’ Pokémon left and right.

“Aros, stay in the air and keep the Rockets far away from us. Stick to ranged moves,” I said.

“Pikachu, go with him and spam Discharge,” Rudy added. With a devious glint in her eyes, the electric mouse leaped onto Aros’s back, and the Flygon vibrated his wings to take off.

Rudy spun around to face the ALR. “All right! Time to take down these machines!” he exclaimed with a huge grin. “Ebony, use Inferno! Nidorino, Sludge Bomb; Larvitar, Rock Slide; Wartortle, Water Pulse!!”

“Swift, use Air Cutter. And Firestorm…” I took a deep breath. “Well, we’ve got a giant target and nothing nearby to worry about… use Fire Blast.”

The Charmeleon grinned wildly, planted his feet, and took a deep breath. And then he blasted out a thick column of blazing flame. Halfway to its target, the blaze split off into five points, half of them spiraling off into the air uncontrollably. But at this point, it didn’t even matter—the sheer amount of fire striking on-target was nothing to scoff at. Blazing flames, blades of wind, bolts of lightning, avalanches of rocks, bursts of water, and balls of toxic sludge all bombarded the machine relentlessly, all of them colliding with the energy field surrounding it. So the ALRs were protected from the outside too? But we’d come too far to give up now.

“Keep going! If we all attack it at once we might be able to overload them!” I yelled.

All around the ALR circle, other groups of rebels were launching attacks at the machines at once. There was no way it could possibly handle all of us, right?!

Articuno, Moltres, Zapdos! Attack the barrier with all your power!” a voice cried out in desperation. I whirled around to see Chibi, who had stopped attacking the Rockets and was now unleashing the rest of his power at the ALR barrier. Zapdos snapped its head in Chibi’s direction, gazing at the hybrid with a perplexed look. But then the thunderbird let out a cry and unleashed a wave of lightning from all over its body. Articuno and Moltres did the same, letting loose a torrent of flames and a raging flurry of snow, respectively. Mewtwo and Entei flew backward from the force, the former putting up a psychic barrier to protect them. Sparks flew as the ALR barrier strained to contain the Legendaries’ attacks, but this time there was nowhere for the power to go. Every single ALR was absorbing power from both sides and attempting to distribute it amongst the rest, but they all were trying to do it at once. Without warning, the machines starting discharging energy into the sky, turning the airspace over the clearing into hail of thunderbolts.

Was it working? I couldn’t tell. We were giving it everything we had! It had to work!

Suddenly, the Fire Blast within the barrier faded as Moltres stopped attacking and took to the air, letting flames burn across its entire body as it made a beeline for the barrier’s apex. The phoenix struck it with full force but refused to yield, flapping its wings frantically as it pushed against the overloaded energy field. The effort didn’t do anything at first. But then, amazingly, the firebird’s beak started to pierce the barrier. Its head slipped through. Then its neck. And then it let out a reverberating cry to the heavens, just like how Entei had lured them here in the first place. A plea for help.

Out of nowhere, a blue aura surrounded Moltres, violently wrenching it back inside the barrier. Mewtwo’s arm was outstretched, wreathed in the same aura, fingers slowly clenching, digging the psychic energy into the firebird’s body. Then the clone flicked his wrist, sending Moltres plummeting into the ground with a sickening crack.

“Moltres!” Zapdos cried, diving forward to land alongside the phoenix and flaring its jagged wings defensively. Entei had already started advancing on them, flames licking the sides of its muzzle.

“It didn’t work,” I muttered blankly. “They’re still trapped.”

But then, out of nowhere, a burst of shimmering light appeared above the ALR barrier, quickly fading to reveal a small, feline Pokémon. It spread its short forelimbs, eyes glowing blue with psychic energy before it shot forward like a bullet and pierced the ALR barrier. Shock waves radiated outward from the collision point, intensifying until the cat was nothing more than a brilliant white blur, slowly but surely penetrating the energy field. Finally, with a whip of its long, thin tail, the psychic cat slipped through the barrier and into the battle zone. Spreading its forelimbs outward, the newcomer’s eyes glowed a fierce blue as it unleashed an incredible wave of power from its tiny body. All five Legendaries whirled around in surprise.

Mew was here?!






End Chapter 18
The mission isn't even close to being over. In fact, it's only just beginning. And if it seemed too easy in this chapter… it's about to get a lot, LOT harder.
 
This was an exciting chapter that didn't take time to dillydally with any training shenanigans this time. Great! And it in general hit a lot of good beats, showed that the team was getting more and more competent with taking and disrupting the Rockets... Yeah. I like where this is all going, and the ending! This was probably the best cliffhanger you've had so far, and it looks like you'll be opening your Mew with a bang this time around, heh.

I don't have much else to comment on aside from little snide remarks about tsundere Flygon, the smirk I got at the concept of "spamming" Discharge, and in general showing a lot less helplessness this time around. I like the shift. Seems they're prepared for the scope of this story to get just a bit broader...

Anyway, quick remarks:

Guardians of Kanto and all that,” Moltres said, waving a wing dismissively.

Alright, this I liked. It's a small thing, but I think you put this here intentionally--gods interacting with each other casually like teachers in a break room. I was hoping to see something like this soon to confirm they aren't all holy thou-thee types.

At once, the covers flew off the ALRs and Mewtwo shot forward like a bullet.

Small thing, but you used "like a bullet" three times in this chapter. Twice was already something I noticed, so three was downright excessive!
 
Chapter 19: Fury and Lightning
The Legendary birds mission continues! This is my fourth favorite chapter in Book 1 and I love how it turned out. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.



Chapter 19: Fury and Lightning

ch19art_by_chibi_pika-db2rmfd.png

Mew. It was seriously Mew. Right here, right in front of my eyes. Never, in a million years, did I think I’d get such a clear view of the living myth itself. Seeing Legendaries in person was one thing but Mew? The mother of all Pokémon? The pale rose cat hovered over to the birds, raising a large, pink bubble around them and allowing them the chance to rest. The trio landed on the ground, folding their wings tightly as a healing glow washed over their bodies. Mew, on the other hand, was now staring at Mewtwo, head tilted ever so slightly with a sort of… perplexed curiosity on her face.

<Who is this one?> the cat asked softly, her telepathic words reverberating through the air, cool and clear.

You tell us!” Moltres shot back. “They have your power!

Mew tilted her head the other way, looking even more intrigued. <And Entei?>

Their mind is not their own,” Articuno said in a low voice. “The humans have done something to them.

Mewtwo gave no reaction to Mew’s arrival. He couldn’t. All he could do was stare back, eyes glowing a mindless blue, waiting for the order that would designate the new arrival as either friend or foe.

“Mewtwo, neutralize Mew! Entei, don’t let the birds heal!”

Mew turned her head in the direction of the voice, observing the Rockets with a mixture of sadness and pity. <So humans have become our enemy once again. But I wonder… are you really prepared for that?>

The squealing of tires and roar of engines assaulted my ears out of nowhere. I snapped my head in their direction to see a pair of jeeps rumbling towards us through the trees, traversing the uneven, root-covered terrain like it was nothing. The passengers whipped out their firearms and pointed them right at us, and it was like my brain just shut down. I had no idea what to do. There was nowhere to run!

With the flapping of wings and a flash of shimmering light, Fearow shot forward from behind us and put up a Protect just a split second before the sound of gunfire rang out and bullets pinged off the shield. Stupid! How could I have forgotten the plan?!

“Aros, we need you!” I yelled.

On it!” the Flygon called out.

I threw a hurried glance upward to see the dragon streaking away from the aerial battle, his wings a blur. Fearow’s Protect started to flicker. Without wasting a second, Firestorm and Wartortle jumped in front, putting up shields of their own as the tall, shaggy bird leaped back and leaned down for Rudy to climb on her back. Aros swooped down alongside me and in one smooth motion I threw a leg over his back and clung to his neck. Time for one last Protect, and this time it was up to Aros since Fearow hadn’t yet recovered from the last one. That gave Rudy and I the chance we needed to recall our nonflying Pokémon and then finally get out of the line of fire holy crap.

“Ha! We made it out! Take that!” Rudy called out behind us as Aros and Fearow shot into the air. My breathing was shallow and it felt like my heart was going at a million miles an hour, but we’d made it. We’d been ambushed by two squads of Rockets and made it out unharmed. It was insane!

Just as soon as I had that thought, a hail of noxious sludge started raining down from above, forcing Aros to suddenly barrel to the right to avoid it. I threw a frantic glance over my shoulder to see a swarm of Golbat and Weezing belting out Sludge Bomb non-stop. Rudy pointed them out to his Fearow, and the pair of them looped around and shot toward the poison-types.

“What was that move you used in Celadon? The one with the purple dragonfire?” I asked Aros.

Dragon Pulse?

“Yes, that! Do it now!” I cried as three of the Golbat rushed us at once, their wings glowing in preparation for Aerial Ace.

Aros opened his jaws wide, allowing a ball of violet energy to gather in his mouth before unleashing it in the form of a pulsing shockwave. The draconic energy knocked two of the bats out of the air, but the third managed to skillfully loop around it and shoot right at us. Or rather—right at me.

I flattened myself against Aros’s back, screwing my eyes shut and clinging to him for dear life. Seconds later, I felt a sudden wave of heat from that direction. I opened my eyes a crack, and… the Golbat was gone? What? A flash of orange caught my eye, and I whirled around to see Stalker’s Charizard shooting past, flames licking the sides of her mouth.

Stop holding so tight,” Aros muttered.

Er, right, I still had my arms clenched around his neck, even after the danger had passed. I relaxed a bit, then said, “Come on, we should meet up with the others.” The Flygon gave a slight huff, but then swooped back down toward the clearing.

My heart sank—the outer perimeter of the ALR circle was now swarming with combat unit jeeps. Holy crap the Rockets were attacking the ground team rebels with full force, and suddenly they outnumbered us two to one and any hopes of taking them on with sneak attacks and mob tactics were utterly dead. The rebels had been forced to regroup in order to defend each other. An outer perimeter of Pokémon alternated using Protect to block the gunfire while teleporters blinked in and out of the crowd, escaping with a few rebels each time. Chibi raced around the fray, launching Thunderbolts with a frightening level of precision and dropping the Rockets left and right. But… how on earth was he doing that? With his undersized power capacity, he should have been out after we all launched our simultaneous attack on the ALRs. Wait… the ALRs! They’d been forced to discharge insane amounts of power into the air to avoid being overloaded. Had he been able to absorb some of it with his Lightning Rod ability?

But even with the rebels putting up an impressive defense, the Rockets were still closing in. And the more of them escaped from the ambush, the fewer Pokémon were available to use Protect.

What do we do?! They need help!” Aros yelled.

“I don’t know, let me think! And since when do you care so much about the rebels?”

Idiot! Stygian is down there!

What? I scanned the ground frantically. Sure enough, down in the middle of the fray, I caught sight of an Absol, cloaked in the dark aura of Feint Attack, jumping in and out of shadows—and with a with a rider on her back, too! Wait a second… it was Darren!

“Why doesn’t he just teleport out of there…?” I muttered, but then the answer hit me the moment the words left my mouth. Stygian was a dark-type—she was immune to psychic skills like Teleport.

Had to focus. Had to think of something. Attack the jeeps? That was the only thing I could think of. The Rockets didn’t even have Pokémon out! Not with all the gunfire.

“Use Dragon Pulse!” I yelled, pointing downward. Aros immediately responded with another burst of sparkling dragonfire aimed right at the closest jeep, only for it to strike something invisible in midair and go hurtling off. What? They had rebound shields?! Of course they did—the combat unit jeeps at the Entei mission did—why would these be any different? They didn’t do much beyond deflecting special attacks—nothing like the crazy absorbing trick the ALRs could pull. Except getting in close for a physical attack meant being in perfect range to get shot.

We had to do something, and fast. But what?!

I had just pulled out Swift’s Pokéball—maybe a dust storm would give the rebels the cover they needed?—when an icy gale swept through out of nowhere, and a distant, unearthly howl reverberated throughout the trees. I knew that sound.

“Holy crap… that’s—that’s Suicune!” I exclaimed.

“Suicune—seriously?!” I turned to see Rudy flying alongside us once again, now gaping at me. “Where is it?! And wait, how do you know that?!”

“I’ve heard it before!” I yelled over the sound of the wind.

“You’ve heard it?” Rudy gasped. “What—how…?”

I didn’t get a chance to respond. Right that second, a massive cobalt beast shot through the trees, snarling as it raced for the crowd of Rockets. And then the entire battleground dissolved into pandemonium. The jeeps immediately broke off from pursuing the rebels, splitting into two groups to attack the water-type from both sides. A dozen flashes of light appeared as the Rockets’ Pokémon took form around the Johto beast. Nothing compared to the forces that had cornered Raikou. Without hesitation, Suicune fired a volley of multicolored beam attacks at the opposing Pokémon without even slowing down. The lineup crumbled instantly; the beast shot past them, setting its sights on the jeeps and firing at the closest one, only for its beam to rebound wildly off the vehicle’s energy shield.

But rebound shields were nothing compared to the ALRs. And there was nothing to stop the beast from leaping up onto the jeep and attacking from within the shield’s radius.

“How dare you use my sibling for your sick goals!!” Suicune snarled, smashing the windshield and unleashing a torrential waterspout into the vehicle. The doors flew open and a flood of water gushed out, followed by the panicked Rockets scrambling to abandon the vehicle. Suicune didn’t waste a second before it started picking them off with rapid-fire volleys of Bubblebeam.

“You’re all pathetic!! Stealing our power and using it against us, pretending you have any real strength at all! Cowards! Thieves! You are nothing!”

Bullets pelted its hide, but it didn’t even seem to care. It wasn’t even slowed down. One after the other, it sent jeeps flying with high-pressure water blasts, stamping the escaping Rockets into the dirt, catching them in its jaws and hurling them into the ALR barrier with a—

Okay, no, I couldn’t watch that anymore. The point was, Suicune was keeping them busy which meant that the rebels were safe, for now. I threw a glance back at the fight within the ALR barrier, and… Mew’s arrival had actually evened the odds. The nimble feline zipped around the battlefield, pelting Mewtwo with shadowy orbs of black energy, distracting him just long enough for Articuno to land a series of rapid-fire Ice Beams, freezing the larger psychic in a shell of ice. His eyes glowed, and the ice shattered, but that gave Mew the opportunity to strike him dead on with an even larger burst of dark energy.

On the fringes of the battlefield, Entei raced around in a blazing fireball, launching vicious Flamethrowers into the fray—only for Moltres to intercept it at every turn, using its own fire affinity to endure the flames and get close enough to rake its talons across the beast’s face. Wicked Thunderbolts lanced across the battle zone, striking both of the Rockets’ Legendaries relentlessly.

Had the Rebellion really done its job? We’d given Moltres the opportunity to call for reinforcements and now the Rockets were scrambling trying to keep up with the new arrivals. But with the barrier still up, how would the Legendaries inside manage to get free, even if Mewtwo was defeated?

“Switch the Anti-Legend Rays to offense mode, now!” a voice called out.

I whirled around to see a handful of the jeeps that had fled from Suicune’s assault clustered off to one side of the ALR circle. And then, in an instant, the force field encircling the Legendary battle just vanished. What? Why would they drop the shield? The Legendaries could escape now!

Without warning, the ALR closest to them retracted its antennae and swiveled its upper half downward, forming a cannon that shot out a blindingly bright yellow beam, striking Moltres right in the stomach. The firebird recoiled backward, screeching in pain as the beam scorched its feathers black. Mew shot forward instantly, putting up a barrier to protect the fire legend, but then two, then three more ALRs fired the same beams at her, shattering the barrier with a crash. I whirled around to look at the ALR nearest us, but it too had folded up its shield projectors and had switched over to firing its stored power. Stalker was right—the ALRs didn’t just absorb power, they could fire it back too. Not only that, but the Rockets could control them all remotely too?

“Now!” an executive called out.

Now? Now what??

Violet Pokéballs flew through the air, and the three birds’ eyes went wide with panic. In an instant, they each let loose massive blasts of fire, ice, and lightning, struggling to break free of the ALR beams.

That’s why the Rockets dropped the shield?! To throw Master Balls?!

Suicune raced forward, accompanied by a violent gust of wind that swept half the Master Balls off into trees. Mew dove in front, readying a shield, but was knocked flying by a sudden psychic blast from her clone.

A flash of red out of the corner of my eye! I whirled around to see a red beam being sucked into one of the balls—a Pokémon was being captured?! My eyes frantically darted from one Legendary to the next. Mew, Mewtwo, Entei, Zapdos, Articuno… Moltres, there was no Moltres—Moltres was caught?!

“No way…” I muttered, staring in disbelief like a bucket of ice had just been dumped on my head.

Zapdos folded its wings back and dove forward, talons outstretched, clearly reaching for the ball that had just taken the firebird, but then a second group of Rockets hurled more violet spheres into the fray.

No!” Articuno cried, folding its wings back and diving. The ice bird knocked Zapdos out of the way, sending the latter reeling. Mew shot down after them, again trying to shield the birds with a protective bubble, but then a blue aura formed around her as Mewtwo grabbed hold of her telekinetically. And in the moment the smaller cat had to spend wrenching herself free from Mewtwo’s grip, an ALR rotated and fired on her.

A third round of Master Balls flew through the air, and this time Articuno was hit—struck on the back by the infallible capture device. With a horrified screech, the falcon’s body dissolved into red energy and was sucked into the ball. I gaped in horror. A second capture?

Mew had taken to blinking in and out of view around the battlefield, teleporting non-stop, pressing buttons on the fallen Master Balls and trying to open as many of them as possible. But then a blue aura appeared around all of them, and they flew out of her reach, pulled by Mewtwo’s telekinesis.

With a painful and terrifying wail, Zapdos let loose another wave of lightning from its body, shaking itself free of the ALR beam before bolting upward, frantically dodging more beams. Except the thunderbird wasn’t trying to escape. It took that opportunity to spread its wings high above the battlefield and let a hail of Thunderbolts rain down on the Rockets. The first few bolts lanced off the jeeps’ shields. But the lightning just kept coming without pause, eventually shattering the shields and striking two of the jeeps, causing them to erupt into flames. I flinched as the Rockets’ screams assaulted my ears.

“You think you can challenge the legends without facing the consequences?!” Suicune exclaimed, staring at the events with cold fury in its eyes. But then one of the ALRs nearest it rotated and fired, knocking the water beast off its feet. At that point, Mewtwo finally managed to intercept Zapdos, knocking it out of the sky with a psychic blast, while the Rockets on the ground scrambled to get out of its range. Two more machines fired on the thunderbird the moment it crashed to the ground.

Wait a minute. The ALRs couldn’t run the barrier and the ray at the same time. Now that the shield was down, the machines wouldn’t be absorbing any attacks thrown at them. Which meant that without having to overwhelm the entire network at once, we could target them individually!

“Hey Jade!” a voice called out. I spun around to see Rudy and Darren approaching, both still riding on Fearow and Stygian, respectively.

“Ray gave the order to retreat—there’s not much else any of us can do here!” Rudy yelled, grimacing like he hated every word.

“Are you kidding?! Of course we can do something! We can stop the ALRs!” I countered. The two of them paused, looking taken aback.

“I dunno if you forgot, but we already tried that,” Darren said, tilting his head in confusion.

“Oh yeah?! Watch!” I pointed at the nearest ALR and said, “Aros, use your strongest move, now!” The Flygon turned his neck back to give me an incredulous scowl. “Please, just trust me,” I added quietly. Several seconds passed. Finally, his gaze hardened into determination, and he nodded before turning back to face the Anti-Legendary Ray. The Flygon brandished both sets of claws, letting them glow with a writhing green aura before slashing wildly. Claw marks appeared in the machine’s outer armor, shallow at first, but deepening with each strike.

“Holy crap, that’s actually working,” Rudy gasped, pulling out a Pokéball to release Ebony. “Use Inferno, now!” The Houndoom’s eyes lit up, and she breathed out a massive wave of white-hot flame. Without a word, Stygian rushed around to the other side of the machine, the blade on her head glowing purple. She aimed a few strategically-placed slashes, cleaving off the shields on the upper part of the cannon, allowing Ebony’s flames to penetrate the inner mechanisms. Finally, the beam started to sputter, giving way to a wave of sparks before the entire top half of the machine collapsed in on itself, half-melted.

We’d done it. We’d actually done it! The ALRs weren’t unstoppable. The Legendaries didn’t know that they could be destroying the ALRs, right now! They needed to know! If they joined in, we’d be able to take care of them all in no time! Suicune had seen me before—if it recognized me, I could use that opportunity to pass on the message to it. And if not, well… Aros was fast, right?

“Let the others know that we’ve got to start destroying the ALRs—there’s something I’ve gotta do!” I announced. And then to Aros, I added, “Circle the battlefield real quick, I know a way we can end this.”

You what? …Oh, whatever, I’m not even gonna question it at this point,” the Flygon muttered under his breath before taking off. We shot around the ALR circle in a wide arc, my eyes rapidly scanning the ground ahead of us. Finally, I spotted Suicune weaving in and out of the trees, struggling to get closer to a group of Rockets that had gathered between two ALRs for protection and were firing beams at the beast any time it got too close.

“Suicune!” I called out. Suicune whipped its head around to face us, its crimson eyes boring a hole right through me. And for a split second my heart stopped as I saw the beast charging a shimmering beam of light in its mouth until its eyes went wide and it froze.

“You! You’re an interloper, aren’t you?!” Suicune barked.

“A what?” But the beast didn’t explain. I shook my head and went on, “Listen to me! Those machines aren’t indestructible, and they can’t absorb your attacks when they’re in offense mode!”

Suicune paused, blinking in surprise. It then glanced between me and the ALR circle a few times before sprinting off without a word.

Aros threw a glance back at me like I was insane. “The hell was that?

“It was stupid, but it’s gonna turn the tide of the fight,” I said firmly. Across the clearing, Suicune had already started bombarding one of the ALRs with multicolored beam attacks. Not too far from it, the rebels were doing the same. Zapdos was still desperately attempting to strike back at the Rockets, so blind with rage that it didn’t even notice the ground glowing white until a pillar of swirling blue flame erupted from below, called forth by Entei. Zapdos screeched in anguish as the flames enveloped it. But then, without warning, Mew teleported to Entei’s side, grabbed hold of the beast, and then teleported again. An agonized howl rang out as the fire legend reappeared within one of the ALR beams that had been aiming at Zapdos. Its body spasmed wildly as the energy dug into it, then finally collapsed to the ground, motionless.

It was down. Entei had finally been brought down. I didn’t know whether to be glad that the free Legendaries had one less enemy, or feel bad that they’d even had to do that to one of their own in the first place.

Mew stared at the fainted beast for several seconds. Then out of nowhere, her eyes widened like she had just realized something. The cat disappeared from view again, then reappeared alongside Entei, grabbed hold of its mane, and—

A blue aura formed around her and she froze right as the glow of a teleport had started to form. Clenching his paws together, Mewtwo wrenched Mew away from the fallen beast before a narrow beam shot out of nowhere, dissolving its body into red energy.

The Rockets had recalled Entei. That meant its Pokéball was here, at the mission site. And I’d seen where the Pokéball beam had come from—it was the van that had transported Entei and Mewtwo here in the first place, still hiding amongst the trees, covered in a camouflaged sheet. Entei’s Pokéball was in there. Right there, right now! I could steal it. And Mewtwo! And then nothing could stop Zapdos from freeing the other two birds! Our mission didn’t have to end in failure!

I had to do it.

“Aros, the van, over there. Entei’s in there,” I said.

I saw.

“We’re going to steal it.”

For about the millionth time that day, Aros turned his neck to gape at me like I’d just said the craziest thing he’d ever heard. “What?

“I’ve already got a plan on how to do it.” My brain felt like it was on fire from racing so fast.

Aros opened his mouth to say something, but then shook his head and turned around, saying “I never knew humans were so… this,” before flying over as quickly as he could, touching down alongside the passenger door. I grabbed both my Pokéballs, releasing Firestorm and Swift. The van had to be occupied. I wasn’t taking any chances this time.

“Firestorm, fill the back of the van with a Smokescreen so the Rockets can’t aim at us. Swift, use your Keen Eye to see how many are in there. Then Aros, you grab them and throw ‘em out. If they drop their guns, hurry and grab ‘em. If not, get back to us and use Protect,” I said. If any of them were caught off guard by the sudden instructions out of nowhere, they didn’t show it.

Firestorm stuck by my side as I crept around to the back door of the van. I took a deep breath—no turning back now. I threw open the door and Firestorm immediately jumped forward to spew a thick cloud of smoke inside. Swift circled around in the air and called out, “Only two of them!

No gunfire yet. Aros shot through the smoke, and a couple of panicked yelps reached my ears right before he emerged, carrying two flailing Rockets in lab coats.

Just a pair of scientists. They weren’t even armed. The Flygon hurled them off into the trees unceremoniously.

“Make sure they don’t bother us,” I told Aros. Then, to Swift, “I need you to clear out the smoke.”

The Pidgeotto nodded and whipped up a gust of wind, sweeping the van clear within seconds. I climbed inside, followed by both of my Pokémon, and we were met with a wall of computer consoles and softly flickering lights. Alright, where would Entei’s Pokéball be? I couldn’t see it out in the open. Maybe it had been stashed somewhere for safekeeping? I frantically started throwing open every drawer and compartment I could find… but I couldn’t find any Pokéballs. Or anything resembling a Pokéball, for that matter. That didn’t make any sense. It should have been here.

“It has to be here,” I reassured myself, double-checking all the places I’d already looked. I must have missed it. That was the only answer. It had to be here!

Hey, we’ve got trouble,” Aros said.

I groaned. “What kind of trouble?”

“And just what do we have here?” a chilling voice behind me asked. My blood instantly ran cold. Not that voice. Not now. Why now?!

Slowly, I turned to see the executive Astrid approaching the van, sitting atop her Arcanine. Aros spread his wings defensively and brandished his claws, doing everything in his power to look bigger and also hide me from view.

“I know you’re in there,” Astrid called out to me. Damn it. I clenched my fists, mind racing. We’d have to fight the head of the combat unit. That was the last thing we needed right now. Except… unlike our last encounter with her, Aros was actually on my side for real this time. He was strong enough to fight her, right?

I’m not afraid of her. Half her team’s fire-type. Fire doesn’t hurt m—” The Flygon’s words were cut off by a red-hot fireball to the face, knocking him backward. “Oh shit, that’s hot!” he cried, bracing himself against the back door of the van.

“That was a warning shot,” Astrid said poisonously. “Now get out of the way.”

Screw you.

Astrid sighed exaggeratedly and with a very slow, deliberate motion, dismounted her Pokémon. “Arcanine, keep the experiment busy while I deal with this one.” The firedog bared its teeth and lunged. I flinched, screwing my eyes shut the moment it struck, hearing Aros howling in pain. When I opened my eyes, Arcanine had dragged the Flygon away from the back of the van, its jaws locked firmly around one of his arms. Aros flared his wings in a desperate attempt to stabilize himself while drawing back his other arm to slash with. But at the last second, the firedog let go of him and dodged the incoming attack before charging forward, its entire body wreathed in flames.

Astrid was now standing at the back of the van, staring at me with a condescending scowl. Firestorm and Swift took fighting stances in front of me. Her hand hovered over her Pokéball belt, but she hadn’t sent anyone else out yet. She was… waiting for us to make the first move? Why?

Wait… the equipment? There was a ton of sensitive equipment behind us. Of course she didn’t want to run the risk of accidentally destroying it. But… what was so important about it?

The answer snapped into my mind, clear as day. It was controlling Mewtwo. That had to be it. Razors had mentioned that a device had been controlling him. Mewtwo and Entei had been unloaded from the van before the mission. Entei had been recalled into it. This was it! This was the Legendary control tech. I clenched my fists, feeling a spark of confidence rising within me. I actually had way more leverage in this than I thought, didn’t I?

“You can’t hide in there forever,” Astrid snapped.

I gave her a defiant glare. “I think I can. I think these computers are the only thing keeping Mewtwo on your side. What happens if I destroy them?”

“You’ll be in for the worst pain of your life, that’s what,” she spat. But at the same time, there was actually the tiniest sliver of fear in her expression. Mewtwo might have been the Rockets’ greatest weapon, but they were also terrified of him, weren’t they?

Neither of us made a move. Behind her, Arcanine had knocked Aros to the ground, pummeling the dragon repeatedly with a series of rapid-fire blows. My chest tightened—Aros was faring much worse than I’d expected. I had to find a way out of this, and fast. But I couldn’t actually destroy the computers with her standing there. It’d be a death sentence. At the same time, she couldn’t start a battle without running the risk of destroying them herself—that was a death sentence as well. And she couldn’t just pull me out herself while I had Firestorm and Swift here. We were stuck. And from the look on her face, she knew it just as well as I did.

Without warning, Firestorm spat a fireball right at Astrid. Her eyes went wide, and she lunged out of the way, dodging it at the last second.

“You’re going to regret that!” she snarled.

And then a sudden bolt of lightning struck her from nowhere, knocking her to the ground instantly. What the hell? How—where had that come from?! My question was answered when a spiky Pikachu shot into our field of view, stopping in its tracks right in front of the van.

Chibi!

Arcanine immediately bolted away from Aros, snarling furiously as it threw itself between its fallen trainer and Chibi. But then its eyes darted between me, Chibi, and Aros as it slowly stepped backward, ears pinned and tail low. The firedog let out low growl, then nudged its nose under its trainer and rolled her limp body onto its back before racing off.

I sank to my knees, letting out a huge sigh of relief. I didn’t have much chance to relax before Chibi rounded on me. “What are you doing facing down the head of the combat unit alone?! I’d expect that kind of overconfidence from Aros, but not you, Jade.

Hey,” Aros growled, hobbling over to us.

“I didn’t mean to! It kind of just happened,” I muttered lamely, feeling my cheeks go red.

Chibi closed his eyes and shook his head. “Stay out of trouble, damn it,” he said before racing off.

“Since when has he been so protective?” I muttered under my breath. I leaned outside the van to get a good look at where he was heading and saw that the rebels’ sabotage hadn’t gone unnoticed. With Suicune focusing its efforts on the ALRs and Mew and Zapdos banding together to fight Mewtwo, the Rockets had opted to stay out of the Legendaries’ way, which put them in another direct clash with the Rebellion.

I took a deep breath. The others would be okay. The Rockets’ forces had already been decimated by Suicune. And Chibi was going to help protect them. I had to focus on what I was doing. I turned back to see how Aros had fared and—

“Oh geez… are you okay?”

What’s it look like?” Aros said in a low voice, looking away. The bug-dragon’s scales were covered in nasty red blisters and vicious gashes in jagged, tearing patterns that looked like bite wounds, bleeding freely. I hopped down from the van and approached him carefully—the last thing I wanted was to catch him off-guard in such a vulnerable state.

“At least take these,” I said, reaching into my belt pouch and holding out a fistful of oran and rawst berries. The Flygon scarfed them down instantly.

Not nearly enough, but it’ll do,” he muttered.

I climbed back inside the van, a feeling of hopelessness starting to settle in. No matter how hard I looked, I hadn’t been able to find Mewtwo and Entei’s Pokéballs. Was there any point in spending more time looking? But if not, what was I supposed to do now?

The answer hit me like lightning. The threat I’d made to Astrid… to destroy the Legendary control tech… now that she was gone, I could actually do that.

“Firestorm, time to trash that console.” The Charmeleon looked like he’d just been told it was his birthday. Blowing out a huge fireball onto his claws, he drew back a fist and swung it with all his might. We’d been attacking heavily armored weaponry all day, it was actually kind of funny seeing his Fire Punch tear through ordinary computers. But the real question was: had that broken the Rockets’ control over Mewtwo? I leaned outside the back of the van to get a better look at the Legendary battle and—

I stared. Mewtwo lay sprawled out in the dirt, motionless. They’d finally managed to take him down. If I’d been just a little bit faster…

Zapdos’s feathers were charred black, its wings straining just to stay aloft. And yet it still was bearing down on the Rocket’s forces with an unyielding fury, despite the fact that its bolts had weakened to the point that they couldn’t even break the vehicles’ shields. Master Balls flew through the air, forcing the electric-type to dive out of the way in an awkward move that almost sent it crashing to the ground.

<Zapdos, we must leave!> Mew pleaded.

No!! I’m not leaving without them!

<It will do us no good if you’re captured as well!>

I can’t leave them!!” the thunderbird cried, eyes wide with desperation.

Mew glanced frantically between Zapdos and the Rockets, her eyes widening in horror as a Master Ball flew right at the former. And then, in the blink of an eye, she teleported to Zapdos’s side, and the two of them vanished together. This time they didn’t reappear. Mew had taken them far from here.

They’d escaped. But it also meant they’d had to give up on rescuing Articuno and Moltres.

The squeal of tires suddenly rang out, alarmingly close to us this time. Had the Rockets realized I was here? How?!

Astrid’s Arcanine. Like it wouldn’t have led them back to me? Especially now that the Legendaries were gone? My train of thought was rudely interrupted by Aros clambering inside the van, shoving me, Firestorm, and Swift into a corner in the process.

“Aros, what the hell.”

The Rockets are all heading this way. Excuse me if I didn’t want to be in the line of fire,” Aros grumbled.

“You couldn’t just fly away?”

How the hell would you have gotten out then, huh?

I raised an eyebrow. “Is that concern?”

Aros scoffed. “Tch. As if. Chibi would never let me hear the end of it if I got you killed.

Well alright then. Either way, we had to get out of here, now. “Can you still fly?”

Don’t have much of a choice if we wanna get out of here,” the Flygon grunted.

I recalled Firestorm and Swift, then slowly clambered onto his back, taking care to avoid the worst of the burns.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

Aros bolted out of the van and then everything dissolved into chaos. Gunfire rang out, so close it nearly split my ears. And then out of nowhere, Aros barreled to the left and my arms slipped from his neck and for a single, heart-stopping moment I was clutching at thin air before my hands found his tail fan and I clung to it for dear life. His every move sent whiplash running through my lower body, but there was no chance for him to slow down—I had no choice but to ride it out. The dark aura of Feint Attack slowly crept across the both of us as we shot across the ground, nothing more than a shadow. More Rockets in this direction—more gunfire! Nowhere was safe! Our shadowy aura faded, but the bug-dragon immediately focused all his energy into flaring it up again, just in time to misdirect a second Rocket squad’s gunfire, right before bolting for the empty airspace between two jeeps.

Dammit this is hard—I’ve never used Feint Attack this much in such a short time,” Aros grunted.

He was running low on energy. Everyone was. What would we do if he ran out entirely? I just had to hold on. We were going to make it, I just had to hold on! They couldn’t hit us; we were moving too fast. I just had to keep telling myself that. We were moving too—

A sudden, sharp pain tore through my arm and I was falling. My surroundings spiraled past me in a dizzying whirlwind, and the only thing I could make out was the ground rushing toward me and my voice as I screamed, and I screwed my eyes shut right before I struck the ground and kept going, tumbling over and over before finally skidding to a stop in a crumpled heap, every inch of my body racked with pain.

I clutched my left arm to my chest and immediately felt my right hand soaked with something warm and sticky. What…? Slowly, shakily, I peeled my fingers away, revealing a deep gash that carved through—okay no, I shouldn’t have looked. I clutched it even tighter, wincing as the dirt from my hand stung the wound and blood continued to seep through my fingers. Damn it, why was there so much blood?! My right arm was an awful, scraped-up mess, but at least it wasn’t bleeding all over the place like—

Like I’d been shot. No way… I’d been shot?

I clenched my teeth and struggled to regain control of my breathing as tears stung the corners of my eyes. They were still after me, weren’t they? I had to get up. I had to run! But my body didn’t want to move.

I craned my neck to look up at my surroundings and saw the Rockets that had cornered us earlier now closing in. Saw their Pokémon launching attacks at Aros as he made repeated attempts to swoop down towards me. Saw the familiar form of an Arcanine bounding towards me in the distance and felt my blood run cold. I swallowed hard and poured every ounce of effort into pulling my legs underneath my body, then somehow managed to put my weight on one leg and lift myself from the ground, still clutching my bloodied arm. Had to keep moving. Had to—

A sudden bolt flew out of nowhere and I was on the ground again, crying out in agony as a surge of lightning tore through me.

That was it. I didn’t have any strength left. My body was paralyzed, my limbs twitching uncontrollably. I could barely make out the heavy thud of paws striking the ground near me, followed by the scraping of boots against the dirt.

Had to… do something. But my thoughts didn’t want to flow straight. Everything felt hazy and distant, even the pain.

The last thing I saw was Astrid staring down at me, her face devoid of any emotion. Then everything went dark.






End Chapter 19
 
So humans have become our enemy once again. But I wonder… are you really prepared for that?

Ah, this is an interesting take on Mew. A far cry from the cheerful, playful depiction of most iterations of the species.

--

This was a very exciting chapter! All action, with a lot of introspection in the middle for what to do next. Jade was definitely thinking in bullet-time for a lot of these parts, and I think that's a little overdone sometimes. I'll cover some of those in detail shortly, but first, I want to focus on the positive. I think you depicted the struggle between the Legends and the Rockets very well--a sort of batman versus superman thing going on, with highly-prepared tech versus a massive collection of raw power. Granted, Batman had the advantage of another bit of superpowers in the form of Mewtwo, but you get my point. With all the moving parts, I think you, for the most part, did a good job at prioritizing what was happening when, and this is probably an instance where the first person perspective played to your advantage. I'm curious to see where Jade will wind up from here.

But that aside, let's move on to quotes for specific commentary.

But… how on earth was he doing that? With his undersized power capacity, he should have been out after we all launched our simultaneous attack on the ALRs. Wait… the ALRs! They’d been forced to discharge insane amounts of power into the air to avoid being overloaded. Had he been able to absorb some of it with his Lightning Rod ability?

This is something that I saw a lot in this chapter. Something happens, and then Jade hits the pause button to give us footnotes at the bottom of the scene. Perhaps you could have shown this instead of had Jade theorizing it, perhaps a stray arc of electricity from one of the overdrive ALRs siphoning into Chibi? Then you could probably get rid of most of this paragraph.

Okay, no, I couldn’t watch that anymore. The point was, Suicune was keeping them busy which meant that the rebels were safe, for now.

I feel like this is a smidge too conversational for the scene at hand.

The firebird recoiled backward, screeching in pain as the beam scorched its feathers black.

This still throws me off. Even more egregious because Moltres is literally on fire.

Wait a minute. The ALRs couldn’t run the barrier and the ray at the same time. Now that the shield was down, the machines wouldn’t be absorbing any attacks thrown at them. Which meant that without having to overwhelm the entire network at once, we could target them individually!

“Hey Jade!” a voice called out. I spun around to see Rudy and Darren approaching, both still riding on Fearow and Stygian, respectively.

“Ray gave the order to retreat—there’s not much else any of us can do here!” Rudy yelled, grimacing like he hated every word.

“Are you kidding?! Of course we can do something! We can stop the ALRs!” I countered. The two of them paused, looking taken aback.

This is an instance similar to the above, but the first paragraph and the final line of dialogue make each other redundant.

“Firestorm, fill the back of the van with a Smokescreen so the Rockets can’t aim at us. Swift, use your Keen Eye to see how many are in there. Then Aros, you grab them and throw ‘em out. If they drop their guns, hurry and grab ‘em. If not, get back to us and use Protect,” I said.

Kinda weird to have "I said" at the end of such a long string of dialogue.

She was… waiting for us to make the first move? Why?

Wait… the equipment? There was a ton of sensitive equipment behind us. Of course she didn’t want to run the risk of accidentally destroying it. But… what was so important about it?

The answer snapped into my mind, clear as day.

All of this bullet-time thinking makes it a bit hard to believe Jade could do all that snap theorizing, especially when...

Was there any point in spending more time looking? But if not, what was I supposed to do now?

The answer hit me like lightning. The threat I’d made to Astrid… to destroy the Legendary control tech… now that she was gone, I could actually do that.

...she also hesitates to remember something so obvious just a bit later.

“Firestorm, time to trash that console.” The Charmeleon looked like he’d just been told it was his birthday.

I liked this line.

This time they didn’t reappear. Mew had taken them far from here.

They’d escaped. But it also meant they’d had to give up on rescuing Articuno and Moltres.

All four of these sentences could be conveyed in one and with less repetition.

felt my blood run cold

I'm not sure how often it's used, but it feels like various phrases involving blood running cold was used... perhaps twice in this chapter, and more before? Or maybe it's just a stock phrase that I find used a lot in other places. Either way, any colder and Jade's an Ice Type.
 
Chapter 20: Ultimatum
This chapter contains a detailed portrayal of trauma and PTSD. The majority of the narration was directly inspired by anecdotes written by trauma survivors.

Disclaimer: I am not a trauma survivor. I appreciate any and all feedback on the accuracy of the portrayal in this chapter.



Chapter 20: Ultimatum

ch20art_by_chibi_pika-db4765e.png

My eyes blinked, and a dim surrounding gradually came into focus. Where was I? I couldn’t remember, but this didn’t seem like the last place I’d been conscious. I’d been… in the forest, right? We were trying to escape, and… this would be a lot easier to process if my head didn’t hurt so damn much. My thoughts dragged like mud.

I blinked a few more times, willing my eyes to focus. I was horizontal, staring up at a ceiling. Alright, that was a start. I tried to sit up and—pain, everywhere, I should have known. A dull aching throb was the only sensation my body felt like giving me. But by this point frustration was starting to win out. I forced myself into an upright sitting position… and found myself on a bench in a dimly lit concrete room. Its only features were a tiny sink, a toilet that I wanted to stay as far from as possible, and the metal bars comprising the front wall. Wait… bars?

A cell. I was in a cell. A half dozen similar cells filled out the rest of the room. Near the entrance to the room, a Rocket officer sat reclining at a desk, reading something on a tablet.

My heart sank through the floor. I’d been captured. And now I was imprisoned and waiting for who knows what. I sank back against the wall, the weight of the situation crushing down on me. And then the memories of the mission itself came rushing back.

We’d failed.

No, we hadn’t.

Articuno and Moltres had been caught.

All of them would have been caught if it hadn’t been for us. I actually helped, damn it. I mattered.

And look where it’d gotten me.

I buried my face in my hands, my mind a swirling mess of conflicting emotions. Out of nowhere, a stabbing pain shot through my left arm. I went to grab it with my right… and then froze. My arm was crudely wrapped in medical tape. Oh crap, I’d been shot, too. I held my breath, gingerly running my fingers across the tape, feeling the shape of the wound. The tape was probably only to keep it from bleeding all over whatever vehicle I’d been transported in. Blood had caked all over the edges and formed an ugly scab. Removing the tape was gonna suck. But that was a problem for later. For now, I had to figure out more about my situation. What time was it? How long had I been here? I glanced at my watch, and… right, my watch was dead. This was the second watch that Raichu had killed. If I ever got out of here, my next one was gonna be a wind-up.

I was seriously making plans around the inevitable next time I’d be electrocuted. What the hell?

A sudden creaking rang throughout the cell block, and I glanced up to see the entrance door swinging open. And then a wave of cold dread crashed down on me. Astrid stepped through the doorway, her expression cold and disapproving, like she’d rather have been anywhere else. Astrid, who I’d escaped from twice, both times knocking her out with Chibi’s lightning. Except this time there was no way out—I’d be at her mercy.

“You’re awake. Good. That’ll make this easier.” She turned to the guard at the desk and said, “Leave us.”

At first, the Rocket didn’t notice that she’d addressed him. Several seconds later, his eyes suddenly widened, and he jerked forward in his seat, nearly dropping his tablet. “Oh! Uh, right away!” He quickly gathered up his belongings off the desk and hurried out of the cell block, looking almost as flustered as I felt.

I was alone… alone with the head combat executive. No Pokémon. No allies. Not even any Rocket bystanders would know what happened to me. With slow, deliberate steps, Astrid walked forward toward my cell. The sound of her heavy boots echoed off the walls, each footfall digging into me like a shock wave. I had to stay calm. I couldn’t let her know how terrified I was—not when she hadn’t even done anything yet.

“Why am I here?” I asked, forcing my words to sound calm and collected.

“I think you know why,” she replied, tapping her ID to the scanner on my cell door.

Of course. The Rockets wouldn’t have bothered to bring me back alive if I didn’t have something they wanted. And that something was information.

The cell door shut behind her with a metallic clang. I did my best to avoid eye contact, but she was right there. Right in front of me, staring down at me like I was nothing, no doubt thinking up the best ways to force me to talk.

Astrid raised an eyebrow. “What’s that look for? You should be happy I’m the one interrogating you. The others aren’t quite as… understanding as I am.”

I highly, highly doubted that. But was the dread on my face really that obvious? I quickly tried to rearrange my expression into something more neutral, but even my facial muscles felt distant and unresponsive.

“There are a lot of things I want to know about your little team,” Astrid continued, her tone casual, like this was a perfectly ordinary conversation between two people who weren’t mortal enemies.

“…And if I don’t feel like telling you?” It was a stupid question. I already knew the answer, and I didn’t even want to hear it.

Astrid delicately plucked a Pokéball off her belt and opened it, releasing a burst of white light that condensed into the form of her Raichu. That Raichu. The orange mouse gave a swish of its long, inky-black tail, sparks leaping off its cheeks. Just looking at it sent a jolt of nausea through my stomach.

“Use your imagination,” she said.

I clenched my teeth, trying my hardest to give her my most defiant glare possible. It didn’t feel very convincing.

“Let’s start with where that rebel base of yours is.”

Alright… I had to know she was gonna ask that. What was somewhere far away from Midnight Island, but still close enough for us to go on missions? Fuchsia? The S.S. Anne had sailed past there. It made sense.

“I’m going to assume you didn’t hear me,” she said icily. “Where is the rebel base?”

Then again… if I told her too readily, she’d immediately know I was lying. Why would I just immediately give away the rest of my team without any force? I wouldn’t. Which meant—my insides melted away just thinking about it—that I had no choice but to take the first attack.

“Time’s up.”

She snapped her fingers, and Raichu let a string of lightning fly. The sudden burst of gut-wrenching pain gripped my whole body, tearing through every nerve like wildfire. I clenched my teeth, desperately trying to keep myself from crying out in agony. Had to endure it. Couldn’t let her get to me. But the pain—! It consumed every inch of me, threatening to tear me apart.

Finally, it stopped. I gasped for breath and coughed hard, my arms and legs trembling uncontrollably while Astrid stared down at me with her usual condescending face. Breathing heavily, I glared back at her—part of me actually wanted her to know I’d taken the attack on purpose. It meant I had control over something, at least.

“Maybe that question was too hard?” she said mockingly. “Let’s try a different one. Who’s your leader?”

I let out a breath. I could actually answer this one. Except… she almost definitely wasn’t going to like the answer.

“You already know our leader’s called Stalker,” I said in a low voice.

She glared. “That’s completely useless and you know it.” Of course.

I closed my eyes. “I don’t know his real name. You think he’d have told us?”

A long pause followed. “Is he a former Rocket? Is he a former executive?”

“I don’t know,” I said, my words as slow and deliberate as possible. “I know he has contacts on Team Rocket, but that’s it.”

A sudden jolt out of nowhere left me doubled over, clutching my stomach as another wave of pain wormed through my insides. It was short, but it caught me off-guard and left a pit of nausea in its wake.

“You’re not telling me the full truth,” Astrid hissed. “Was he a part of the revolt? Is he the former commander?”

“I… what? I don’t know anything about the revolt!” I really didn’t! What was I supposed to say?! I didn’t even know enough to be able to make up random crap.

Astrid’s face lit up with rage, and she drew back a fist. I braced myself for the punch… but then she froze, staring at me wide-eyed, like she couldn’t believe she’d almost lost control. Seconds passed; neither of us moved a muscle. Then her expression hardened, and she snapped her fingers.

A blinding flash and another flood of lightning. I screamed as the pain burned through every inch of me, drowning out every other sensation. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. I was on fire, and it just kept going, with no sign of ending. Why wouldn’t it end?!

It took me several seconds to notice when it finally stopped. The pain was gone, and I was… on the floor? I blinked slowly, my thoughts struggling to flow again. I must have fallen off the bench at some point. My stomach clenched painfully, and the stinging taste of acid filled my mouth. Muscles trembling, my limbs tried to maneuver under my body so I could lift myself off the filthy concrete. But then… what was the point? She was just going to shock me again.

Astrid kneeled down next to me and brushed the hair back from my face. “You know… I don’t actually like torturing people,” she said, her voice cold and quiet.

“You’ve sure showed it,” I muttered dully, not looking up at her.

A fist locked around my shirt collar instantly, dragging my body off the floor. My limbs flailed, struggling for balance, but it didn’t even matter—she lifted me up to her level and stared me dead in the eyes.

“You listen to me very carefully,” Astrid said, her voice low and dangerous. “The only reason you are alive right now is because you’re useful to us. Which means the only way you are leaving this base alive is if you prove it wasn’t a waste of time to bring you here. So if you tell me where the rebel base is, I might just be so happy that I’d convince the boss to let you go.”

Somehow, I couldn’t imagine her being happy with anything. But at that moment, it was a really, really appealing lie. Astrid stared at me expectantly, her eyes scanning my face, searching for anything she could latch onto.

“Did you hear me? I’m giving you the chance to live if you cooperate. You should be grateful,” she spat.

The chance to live… it just meant selling out everyone else on the Rebellion. I willed myself to ignore it, but her words cut through me like a knife. I had to say something. Something that would satisfy her without killing my teammates. But my mind had gone completely blank. Come on, I had to say something!

“Answer me, damn it!” she yelled, throwing me to the ground. I barely had a chance to register the pain shooting through my left side before my senses dissolved in a wave of lightning. It tore through me, scrambling my insides, numbing my limbs, setting every nerve ablaze with agony.

A pause. The lightning stopped for a single, sweet instant. Just long enough for me to get my senses back. Then it returned, somehow worse. Alternating between pain and relief, my body twitching uncontrollably the entire time. Couldn’t brace myself. Couldn’t endure it. Not like this.

She was saying more things now. Asking—no, demanding more answers, and it took my brain far too long to piece together the words: “What Pokémon does your leader use?”

How was I supposed to know that? A small voice urgently prodded at the back of my mind. I… did know the answer to that? What was I supposed to do about it?

“Charizard,” my voice said.

“I already know that,” came a reply full of exasperation. Another blast of electricity shot through my body.

The next question: “How many members are on your team?” I knew that one. It was… a number? What number? My brain wouldn’t stop counting the seconds it had been since the last shock. Six… seven… eight…

“Eight,” my voice mumbled. What was the question? That… wasn’t the answer, was it? Another burst of gut-wrenching pain gave me my answer.

Nothing meant anything anymore. I couldn’t move or talk or do anything but lie there and listen to words I couldn’t understand and wait for the next shock because there was always another shock.

I was powerless. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. My body didn’t exist anymore, just a swirling torrent of pain, and I was drowning in it. Why? Why was this happening? I couldn’t process it anymore. Couldn’t think. Nothing existed but pain.

“Why can’t you just cooperate?!”

Anything to make it stop. Anything. Why couldn’t I do anything? There had to be something. My brain scrambled to find an answer, clawing through a sea of static, searching for any two thoughts to piece together. I felt my voice, and then somehow became aware that it was my voice. It definitely existed. I could use it. I could end this!

Screaming. I’d been screaming. The past few minutes suddenly flashed through my brain, clear as day. Lying down, taking the pain, useless, unable to do anything, hovering at the edge of consciousness because there was no way she’d give me the relief of slipping over that edge.

“I’ll tell you!”

“What?” Astrid demanded, taken aback.

“I said I’ll tell you, I just… I need more time. I need… I need to think about it first. Please…” God, I sounded pathetic.

I couldn’t see her face. I had no idea what her reaction was. I could only see the concrete floor and my arms stretched out uselessly in front of my face. Seconds passed. Glorious, pain-free seconds. The ache in my body was nothing so long as the shocks stopped.

My senses gradually started returning. I could feel the cold, rough surface of the concrete scraping against my face. The sting of the bullet wound in my arm. The warm, wet feeling spreading across my lower body.

Slowly and deliberately, Astrid’s boots stepped into my field of view. My ears caught the sound of her leaning down, right in front of me. And then finally, in a dangerous whisper, inches from my ear, she said, “You have one hour.”

I let out a long, slow breath. It had worked. I honestly couldn’t believe it had worked. How much of my pathetic display had been acting and how much of it hadn’t been? I had no idea. Astrid recalled her Raichu, then turned around and strode out the cell, stopping just long enough to shut the door.

I was alone. Frozen on the floor, body unresponsive. Each breath came slow and deliberate, like I couldn’t remember how to do it automatically. Eyelids closed and opened, like I was controlling them for the first time. The opposite end of the cell slowly came into focus, and it took my brain a few seconds to realize that I could look at things and see them. That my actions and senses were connected. Something about the idea just didn’t make sense.

Movement, in my fingertips. I was moving them. It took far too much effort, though, and I stopped. That was fine; I didn’t want to move anyway. I didn’t want to do anything. Did feeling things count as doing something? Some part of my brain remained convinced that none of these senses were mine anyway. That I was seeing through the eyes of a stranger and feeling pain that definitely had to be someone else’s because there was no way that all of that had really happened to me. It couldn’t have been real.

Time had no meaning anymore. My eyes slid to my right-hand wrist, but the watch remained dead. I had no idea how long I’d been lying there. This fact was alarming, for some reason.

My eyes snapped open. I only had an hour. One hour to figure out some way—any way—to not go through that again. Breath—my breath—seized in my chest, and fingers clutched at the concrete until skin started to scrape off.

I wasn’t really going to give in… was I? I could come up with all kinds of logical-sounding cover stories now that I had a chance to think. The problem was… there was no way she’d ever let me go until she got a chance to confirm if I was telling the truth. And when she found out I was lying—because of course she was going to find out…

I knew she wasn’t going to kill me. Some part of me just knew. She needed me here, so I could feel the punishment and know that I was powerless to stop it and that the only way she’d let it end was if I gave her what she wanted. A shiver ran through me. That was it, wasn’t it? The only way it was going to end. If I didn’t sell out the rest of the Rebellion, I was stuck in here with no end in sight. How long would I be able to take that until I gave in? I didn’t want to know. Just thinking it about it hurt.

A sound pricked at my ears suddenly. Footsteps echoing softly down the hallway outside the cell block. And it was like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on my head. It couldn’t have been an hour already. No way. No way. I wasn’t ready. I couldn’t go through that again.

The entrance to the cell block swung open and my entire body went numb. Please, no.

“Hey, kid!” a hushed voice called out. Definitely not Astrid’s voice.

My eyes snapped open. Slowly, painfully, my arms lifted my torso from the floor. My head turned toward the cell block entrance. And then I blinked, unable to process the sight. A familiar face, framed by curly blonde locks. Icy blue eyes. A devilish grin that faltered slightly once she got a good look at me.

The girl—Stracion—spoke. “Wow, you’re a mess.”

“Thanks,” I muttered dully.

“Anyway, I can’t exactly come in there, so we’ll have to talk across the room… cameras and all that,” she said, pointing to the security cameras in the corners, facing the cells. “Can’t be seen talking to a rebel who’s about to escape.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Aw, come on. I thought we were friends.” But then, for whatever reason, my brain finally managed to work through the implications of what she’d said.

“Wait, what do you mean, ‘about to escape’?”

“Slow on the uptake right now, arent’cha? That’s okay, maybe these will help.” She produced a handful of minimized Pokéballs and rolled them across the floor into the cell, where they bumped into my side. I stared at them, confused. My head was starting to hurt from trying to process all of this.

“How did you get those?” I asked.

“Your leader messaged me; said one of your teammates would be teleporting ‘em over, so I just had to be in the right place at the right time,” she said, twirling a lock of hair around her finger.

I could practically feel the context trying to piece itself together in my brain. A teammate had teleported two Pokéballs to Stracion, and she was giving them to me…

“Wait. These are my Pokémon?”

“Nah. I think your Pokémon are over there, actually,” she said, gesturing to the desk where the guard had previously been stationed. A Pokéball Containment Unit sat on a shelf behind it, along with a belt pouch.

Right… I’d had my Pokéballs with me when I was captured. But then whose were these?

“So, I’ve done my part—the rest is on you, yeah? Better get on that, ‘cause I’d bet you only got a minute or two before someone notices something on the security feed. Toodles!” She winked before disappearing out the doorway

I stared at the place where she’d left, blinking in confusion. Had that… really just happened? My eyes slid back to the Pokéballs at my side. Someone had given her two Pokémon to give to me that weren’t mine? That… that didn’t make any sense. Not that anything made any sense with how badly everything still hurt. I didn’t want to think right now, I just wanted to curl into a ball and forget everything.

But I couldn’t ignore this opportunity. Slowly, my right hand slid down until it reached the Pokéballs. It took several second of fumbling for my fingers to find the buttons that opened them. Twin bursts of light suddenly appeared alongside me. And when they took shape, all I could do was stare.

“Aros? Stygian?” I blurted out. “What are you two doing here?”

The clones’ eyes flicked back and forth, taking in the pathetic sight of me. I screwed my eyes shut, like that somehow made it better. I couldn’t even describe how I felt to see them.

Stalker sent us. Said it was important to get you out of the enemy’s hands as soon as possible,” Aros said, his words a bit… off, like he couldn’t figure out what to make of me.

“How are we getting out?” I mumbled.

Stygian turned around and began investigating the cell bars, pawing at them for a few seconds before scoffing. “These bars aren’t meant to hold Pokémon at all.” The Absol drew herself back, then lunged, swinging her head so the blade cleaved through the bars repeatedly. After the third swing, the cell door clattered to the ground in pieces.

She looked back at me expectantly. “We need to move.

Move. I had to move? Just breathing was hard enough right now. How the hell was I supposed to stand up, let alone make it outside the base? I could practically feel their eyes burning into me as I propped myself up on my elbows, wincing as a jolt shot through my left arm. Okay, that arm was useless; just the other one, then. I grit my teeth and forced a leg forward so I could put weight on it, willing myself to push through the pain. Everything was slow. Maddeningly slow. Why did my legs feel like dead, useless stumps. Why had I let myself get into this situation in the first place. Why.

Somehow, I managed to stand, and it was like my legs had switched from lead to jelly, wobbling unsteadily as I braced myself against the wall. Aros looked me up and down once more and grimaced before turning his back to me. “Get on. It’ll be faster.

I felt my cheeks go red. Why did anyone have to see me like this. Why. “Are you… sure?”

He closed his eyes. “Just do it.

I reached out an arm to grab the dragon’s side, then slowly maneuvered a leg over his back. His scales were crossed with the scabbed marks of where his wounds from the last battle had been hastily healed.

“Why are you risking yourselves for me?” I mumbled.

You freed us from our confinement. It’s a simple matter of returning the favor,” Stygian said with a tone that made it quite clear she didn’t want to hear anything else about it.

I crossed my arms around Aros’s neck and then kind of just… collapsed onto his back as every muscle gave out at once. The Flygon shifted a bit to make sure I wouldn’t fall off the moment he started moving, then carefully stepped over the broken door pieces and ambled towards the cell block entrance.

“Wait. Are… are my Pokémon really in there?” I said, weakly pointing at the Pokéball Containment Unit on the shelf over the guard station. Aros tilted his head at it, then reached forward and undid the latches on the case, opening it. Two Pokéballs and a black hybrid ball—they had to be mine. My heart skipped a beat—the Rockets had almost gotten their hands on Chibi again. Except, wait… he hadn’t even been with me when I was captured.

Ha, I bet they were pissed when they found out Chibi isn’t in there,” Aros said with a chuckle. “Wish I could’ve seen that.

I slowly extended a shaking arm to grab the three minimized balls before stuffing them in my pocket with the other two. Something about having five Pokéballs felt really weird. The belt pouch was too far for me to reach, so Aros just grabbed it and slipped it around his neck before exiting the cell block.

“I don’t know where we are. I don’t know how to get out of here. I can’t…”

It’s Celadon,” Stygian cut me off. “We know this base by heart. Just be quiet.

Just be quiet. I could do that. Aros’s wings buzzed on either side of me, and we were airborne, shooting down a deserted corridor. I caught sight of Stygian racing ahead of us, a white blur in my fuzzy vision. Second later—or minutes, I couldn’t really tell—blaring sirens split the air, and flashing red lights dug into my eyes. I buried my face in Aros’s neck and thought about being anywhere else.

They’ll be on us soon. I’ll stay in front and use Protect.

Gunshots fired and Aros changed direction suddenly and all my senses dissolved into an onslaught of lights and sounds and motion and chaos. Every so often I caught shreds of what was going on: the sparkling white light of Protect. The prickling sensation of Feint Attack’s dark aura. The writhing nausea caused by our constantly changing flight path as the two clones pushed on, dodging the Rockets’ deadly force at every turn.

On your left, watch it!

I couldn’t help them. I couldn’t do anything but keep my head down and pour every ounce of effort into holding fast to Aros’s neck with hands that barely seemed to work while every sense was overloaded at once.

Our flight path zigged and zagged and spiraled tightly upward. I dared to open my eyes a crack and was met with a view of the same stairwell that I’d once crept up under vastly different circumstances. At some point Aros spun around, and I felt a burst of heat as the dragon launched some kind of fire breath down the stairs. Not long afterward, the metallic clang of blades on metal rang out and then cold air pierced every inch of exposed skin like needles.

We’re outside. You need to recall me.” a voice urgently prodded at my ears.

What? Oh, right, Stygian couldn’t fly. I grabbed a Pokéball, pointed it vaguely in her direction, and pressed the button. Nothing happened. What? Why didn’t…?

Hurry!!

Idiot. It was the wrong Pokéball. I fumbled with a few more before finding the right one and recalling the Absol in a beam of red. And then Aros’s wings powered us rapidly upward, sending a rush of wind and tangled hair into my face.

Which way?

Dammit. How was I supposed to answer that now? Slowly, I peeled open my eyelids and was met with the orange glow of sunset… or was it sunrise? Midnight was… east of Celadon, so…

“Head… head away from the sun,” I said. God, I hoped it was the sunset. “Make sure you’re not followed.”

I know.

The twilight gave way to a dark, moonless night. The flight stopped feeling like flight after a while as everything gradually went numb. I was floating in a void, some part of my brain refusing to accept that we’d actually escaped. Somehow, I was still in the cell, but also out here at the same time. Lost in the abyss of dread, waiting for Astrid to resume the interrogation, and also numb from the autumn night sapping the heat from my body. Both somehow real and not real.

I had no idea how long it continued like that. There were times I was certain I was dreaming. That I’d fallen asleep at some point and lost my grip on Aros, slipped from the Flygon’s back and been dashed to pieces on the ground below. But my hands—numb as they were—were locked tightly around the clone’s neck. I didn’t think I could have moved them if I wanted to.

Eons later, I heard Aros’s voice telling me, “We’ve landed.

Slowly, my eyes opened. The ground was right below us. I exhaled slowly, feeling a rush of… something. I wasn’t quite sure what. Relief that we’d made it home in one piece? I didn’t feel like one piece.

My hands trembled as they slowly unclasped from one another. Aros straightened himself so that when I slid off his back, I was standing upright as opposed to toppling over. I wasn’t totally convinced my legs were going to support my weight, but they did.

That’s when I realized we weren’t alone. A crowd of Rebellion members had gathered outside the front entrance to the stadium, glancing uncertainly amongst each other. A hot wave of embarrassment washed over me as I became all too aware of the dozens of eyes running up and down the pathetic sight of me. The hushed voices whispering and wondering. Everyone knew I’d been captured. Everyone could look at me and see that I was the first one to screw up so badly.

I could feel the fires of humiliation burning every inch of exposed skin. The sounds of the whispers and the murmurs and even the genuine questions that my brain didn’t feel like parsing because it had all blended together into a flurry of needles assaulting my ears. I couldn’t take it. I wanted to be as far from here as possible. Preferably in my room, alone, where no one could see me, and I could forget everything.

A finger tapped my shoulder, and I almost melted into a puddle right then and there. I spun around to see Stalker standing behind me, motioning for me to follow him away from the crowd. The last thing I needed was everyone staring at me in this state. Something told me he knew that. I followed him away from the stadium, where there were no longer a million things demanding my attention and assaulting my senses. It helped… kind of.

Stalker turned to face me, and he didn’t mince words. “Were you interrogated?”

His question felt like a knife plunging straight through my chest. But I nodded.

Stalker paused to consider me carefully for some time. No doubt mulling over just how badly I’d screwed up. How likely it was that I’d screwed over the rest of the team. Finally, he turned around and said, “Go get cleaned up. We’ll meet in my office to talk privately about what happened.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The water was too cold. I cranked the shower handle as far as it would go, but it still felt too cold. Even when the room filled with steam and my skin turned bright red and I knew it was burning, but I couldn’t feel it. Nothing felt like anything. I was going to wake up and realize it’d all been a dream any second now.

I didn’t bother trying to unwrap my wound and redress it properly. I’d deal with that bloody mess later. Hopefully much later. Maybe if I waited long enough, I wouldn’t have to do it at all.

The clothes I’d been wearing previously were still lying in an ugly heap on the bathroom floor. Just looking at them made me feel sick, so I avoided doing that, but at the same time it was hard to ignore them. Trying to think about what to do was too much effort, though. Maybe I’d have Firestorm burn them or something, hell if I knew.

After what felt like an eternity, I found myself sitting at the end of the bed wearing clean clothes and not really sure how I’d gotten there because everything after a certain point was all a blur. I wanted nothing more than to just fall backwards and pretend no one else existed. But Stalker was waiting for me downstairs. Somehow that fact alone was powerful enough to get me out of my room and awkwardly traversing the stairs down to the main floor. It wasn’t that I was afraid of what he’d say or do if I didn’t. It was just… I couldn’t disappoint him more than I already had.

I realized about halfway down that I should have taken the elevator.

True to his word, Stalker was waiting for me in his office. I didn’t say anything when I entered; I just set Aros and Stygian’s Pokéballs on his desk and then eased myself into the chair facing him. My eyes wandered around the room, not focusing on anything in particular, just avoiding his gaze.

“I need to know everything that was said during your interrogation. As word-for-word as possible,” he said.

I winced. Ever since I’d left that cell, my brain had been furiously working to erase all of it. Like the images and sounds and thoughts and feelings were all some diseased part of my memory that had to be eliminated as soon as possible.

But it was still there. All of it.

My words tasted like the salt of sweat and the sting of lightning as I recounted every detail I could. It felt unreal. Like something that had to have happened to someone else. My voice echoed dully in my ears, and some part of my brain remained convinced that it wasn’t my voice.

Stalker sat there and listened the entire time. Calmly. Patiently. But there was a slight edge to his expressions. And I knew the only reason he was having me relay this was because he knew how likely it was that I’d given away some piece of crucial information that’d doom the Rebellion. He didn’t comment on anything, just offered prompting questions whenever my voice died for more than a few seconds. I kept expecting him to ask if I had really meant it when I said I would tell her the base’s location. And yet… he didn’t.

“So overall, what you’re saying is… you didn’t actually give away anything.”

I blinked. My brain was such a hazy mess of shame and humiliation that it took several seconds for his words to register. I really… hadn’t given anything away… had I? Not yet, anyway—I’d been rescued before I’d gotten a chance to. But… was I going to? I didn’t know. I hated that.

“What do I do now?” I said, my voice raw.

Stalker paused, closing his eyes. He was silent for what felt like forever. Finally he said, “Take some time to recover. You’re exempt from training and missions for now.”

I let out a breath as a rush of… something hit me in the chest. Relief? I wouldn’t have to endure anything like that ever again. Shame? I’d failed so badly I wasn’t getting another chance. Anger? He was basically saying that I was no use to the team anymore.

I didn’t want to go on any missions—so then why did his words feel like a punch to the gut?

I muttered something in response and then left before I made the mistake of sharing how I felt. I was hoping I could make it back to my room without anyone seeing me. But Rudy approached me as I exited the elevator on my floor. He fidgeted uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact, like he knew I didn’t want to see anyone right now.

“Hey Jade, uh… wanna hang out and watch League tournaments? I downloaded the ‘96 Kanto top cut—I heard it was pretty awesome.”

I just wanted to fall asleep and forget the entire day.

“No thanks.”

I walked past him so I didn’t have to see the look of disappointment on his face. Something told me it would’ve hurt as much as… well, as much as everything else did. My actions were on autopilot as I scanned my room key and shuffled inside, my mind a swirling mess of conflicting emotions that I didn’t want to sort through. Instead, I walked straight to my bed and collapsed face-down onto it.

I should’ve let my Pokémon out for the night. That’s what I always did. But then I’d have to explain to them, and that… really didn’t sound appealing. Not right now. Maybe later. Or never.

At some point, I managed to kick off my shoes and worm my way under the covers, although I wasn’t entirely sure when. The blankets felt soft and warm against my skin. Nothing like the cold, hard concrete floor of the cell. But there were moments where I could have sworn I was back there. Like I’d just imagined the escape, and any second I’d feel Astrid standing over me telling me my time was up. I kept seeing flashes of light in my peripheral vision. Flinching, expecting another burst of lightning.

It was stupid. I was home, I was safe… why was it still affecting me? There was absolutely no chance I’d be attacked here. But my thoughts kept straying back to the detention cell, no matter how badly I wanted them to stop. That feeling of being useless, unable to fight back, completely at her mercy, knowing that when push came to shove, I’d betray everyone.

The feeling burned. I clenched my fists, swallowing hard. I had to ignore it. I had to forget it. It didn’t matter. I’d escaped. I was never going back there. She couldn’t hurt me anymore.

I closed my eyes slowly, digging my nails into my palms as hot tears streamed down my face.

It wasn’t real. It didn’t happen.

In my dreams, I saw nothing but lightning.






End Chapter 20
 
A cell. I was in a cell. A half dozen similar cells filled out the rest of the room. Near the entrance to the room,

Cell, cell, cells, room, room...

--

Now this was an intense chapter, but in a quieter way than they usually go. This is another instance where first person plays in your favor, because for things that are more difficult to accurately describe, or for things that are more descriptive the less you describe it, first person is just what you need. In particular, the scenes of Jade getting a bit of shock therapy were where I saw this play in your favor the most.

Jade's miraculous rescue from people on the inside couldn't have come at a better time, narratively speaking. It's almost too convenient. Jade gets a lot of torture, and then she gets to escape afterward, basically having your cake and eating it, too. But I think it'd be too big of a nitpick to complain about that this time around. I am curious about Stalker again, though. I think him being the former admin or a defector or something like that is too obvious. Planting that piece of info feels like a red herring, like there's another admin wandering around that isn't Stalker... Or it could just be straightforward. I'm keeping both possibilities open for now.

Anyway, onto quotes...

My heart sank through the floor. I’d been captured. And now I was imprisoned and waiting for who knows what. I sank back against the wall, the weight of the situation crushing down on me.

I feel like this is another instance where half the words could be used to convey the same thing.

It took several second of fumbling
Second later—or minutes

Odd to see the same typo twice.

I was floating in a void, some part of my brain refusing to accept that we’d actually escaped.

Found another instance of common stock phrases leaned on -- it's one of the most passive forms of speech in first person, and I think it's being overused particularly badly here. Any time Jade refers to herself in indirect first person by saying "my brain did this" and so on. There are three instances of "part of my brain" in this chapter alone, so my theory about Jade being ice cold is only half-true -- maybe she's a cold, cold zombie!
 
Chapter 21: Scars
Chapter 21: Scars

ch21art_by_chibi_pika-db6ft1s.png

“Char. Chaaar? Meleon’charr? Chaar, meeleon char’charmeeleon.”

My hazy, sleep-addled brain only barely registered the Pokéspeech in my ear or the claw poking my shoulder. I pulled the covers over my head, but that didn’t stop either of the two intrusions.

“What is it?” I grumbled, emerging from under the covers to find the Charmeleon eye level with me. This had better be good. Though judging by the last few times he’d woken me up, it probably wasn’t.

I finally worked up the nerve to talk to Charizard.

Part of me vaguely registered that I had wanted to see that. It had probably been amusing.

She’s, uh… got a thing with Dragonite…” he continued, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “But she did teach me how to use Flame Burst.

“That’s good,” I replied dully.

It’s better than good. My fireballs always went out before. Now they go, like… clear across the battlefield and explode.

Alright, yes, that was pretty impressive. I wasn’t sure what kind of response he was hoping for, though.

You should come train me. I think I’m close to evolving.” It was painfully obvious in his voice that he was just saying it to get me out of bed. I didn’t doubt that he legitimately wanted to train, it just clearly wasn’t the main motivation.

“I’m not feeling it right now,” I said, covering my face with a pillow so I didn’t have to look at him.

Firestorm groaned. “That’s what you said yesterday.

“It just doesn’t sound appealing, okay?”

Then what does?

I didn’t want to answer that. Because the truth was, I didn’t really want to do anything right now. Eating and showering mostly just felt like a chore. Sleeping was nice, I guess. Even if it was impossible to get comfortable and my left arm wouldn’t stop throbbing ever since I’d changed out the bandages and smothered it with every disinfectant I could get my hands on (only because Swift had sat next to my bed and calmly stared at me until I did).

Firestorm had stolen the card key to my room so he could come in whenever he felt like it, which was often. Bragging about victories. Complaining about losses. Relaying every single thing Stalker had ever said about his progress—including reminding me how close he was to evolving about five times a day. And it wasn’t that I didn’t want to see any of those things—heck, I’d never forgive myself if I missed his evolution. But… I just… I couldn’t bring myself to face everyone. I couldn’t even explain why—the idea was just so completely and utterly uncomfortable on every level that it was just easier to stay in my room until the feeling passed. Whenever that was.

“You can train without me, you know that, right?” I said quietly, lifting the pillow a bit to look at him.

The fire lizard gave an unimpressed snort. “Obviously. I used to train by myself, remember?” When I didn’t respond, he added, “That doesn’t change the fact that you’re my trainer, and you’re supposed to train me. So you have to do it.

He was still trying to pretend he wasn’t worried about me. In a way, that was worse than if he’d come right out and said it. I should have been able to bounce back from this. I knew how ridiculous it was that I’d lost the will to do anything and that the idea of facing anyone who knew what had happened was nauseating. I’d already spent countless hours mentally kicking myself over it, but the feeling refused to subside.

When I didn’t say anything, Firestorm glowered and plopped down on the floor like he was going to wait it out. But he’d get bored and leave eventually—that much I knew. And then I wouldn’t have to think about the fact that he had a point.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I could count on hearing someone knock on my door several times a day. Usually they went away when I didn’t respond. Rudy would sometimes hold entire conversations with the door, though. This was one of those times.

“Hey Jade! Get this—Darren’s Ivysaur evolved. I can’t believe he got his starter to its final form before we did.”

I could. With how little he cared about training Wartortle.

“So I asked Stalker, and he said that Ivysaur usually evolves before Wartortle or Charmeleon. What’s up with that?”

Hopefully that meant that Firestorm wasn’t going to evolve quite yet. He’d been keeping pace with Ivysaur for some time now. Although I had no idea how much he’d been training for the past few days.

“So yeah, you gotta get out here and help me train, ‘cause I really want a Blastoise—it’s just so much cooler than Wartortle.”

He could train with literally anyone. He didn’t need to ask me. And there was a strange sort of desperation in his voice that I couldn’t quite place. I screwed my eyes shut and willed him to leave as hard as I could. I didn’t want to think about how disappointed he was that I wasn’t up to training with anyone. I should have been up to it. I shouldn’t have felt like this.

Rudy rambled at the door for a few more minutes before finally leaving. I thought I’d feel better after he left, but I didn’t. The anxiety had just evolved into a sickly emptiness.

Yep, this sure was easier than just going outside and seeing everyone.

I grabbed the remote and flipped the TV on, willing myself to stop thinking about it. Normally the competitive battling channels were the easiest way to distract the mind and keep unpleasant thoughts at bay. I quickly found that there was nothing good on, though. Not in October, with the regional league over, and all the master trainers biding their time for the championship circuit that would eventually lead into next year’s Worlds. The kind of matches involving trainers who’d gotten multiple badge sets from multiple regions.

I flipped through the channels idly, passing by everything from boring amateur single battles with no strategy to Kalos matches that could easily be mistaken for super contests with all the stylish outfits and flashy transformations. I kind of wanted to find a Unova tournament or something—battles with a lot of Pokémon on the field just felt right after all of Stalker’s multi battle training. Couldn’t find one, though. Figures.

I finally settled on some kind of weird monotype tournament, with Pokémon teams limited to a single type. The fire-type trainer was absolutely dominating with a Talonflame, just tearing through the opposing fighting-type trainer. There was hardly any question of who was going to win, which kind of diminished the entertainment value. In any case, competitive battling was more fun to watch with Rudy—he always had interesting commentary, regardless of how close the matches turned out to be.

Maybe I shouldn’t have ignored him.

A light fluttering to my left caught my attention, and I turned to see Swift gliding in through the open window, clasping a grocery bag in his talons. He dropped it on the bed and then landed alongside it. I stared at the bag for a few seconds before unfolding it to reveal a boxed lunch.

“How’d you buy this?” I asked. He hadn’t borrowed my wallet—it was still sitting on the bedside table like normal.

Stalker gave me money,” the Pidgeotto replied.

Great, now I had that to worry about. I wasn’t sure why that was worrisome, it just was.

I didn’t have much of an appetite, but I knew from experience that Swift wasn’t going to back down until I took care of myself, and that he had way more patience than I did. So, fighting back every impulse that said food was completely unappealing right now, I opened the box. It was the ‘trainer’s special’ containing an assortment of rice balls and dumplings—I’d gotten it a few times before. He must have noticed.

Swift perched on the end of the bed, preening a few unruly feathers and pretending he wasn’t waiting for me to actually eat the lunch he’d bought.

“You can leave now,” I said. I already knew he wasn’t going to.

The tawny bird shuffled his talons a bit, looking down. “You shouldn’t push everyone away,” he said quietly.

I bristled, then immediately tried to rearrange my expression into something neutral. “I know what I’m doing.”

Are you sure?

No, I wasn’t. Every hour since that night, I’d been doubting myself on literally everything. This was no different.

The others knew I’d been captured, and that it had been miserable in one way or another. But I hadn’t told them what, specifically, had taken place. I couldn’t… except for Swift. Even when I’d told him to leave just like I’d told everyone else, he’d sat there quietly, sometimes not saying a word for hours on end. He’d figured out how to unlock the window so he could leave and come back without relying on Firestorm opening the door, and he’d scarcely left me alone since then.

You’re hurt,” the Pidgeotto said, striding across the bed to sit next to me.

“I’m aware,” I said, clutching my arm.

I meant here,” he said, gently pressing his beak against my heart.

I swallowed hard and looked away. I had no right to be making such a big deal out of what happened. It wasn’t that bad. I was being ridiculous. We’d been through plenty of rough situations by now. Why was this any different? Why was this ruining me?

Weak. That’s what I was being. That’s what I’d always been.

“What am I doing here?” I announced randomly. “I’m not the kind of person who can fight Rockets and protect Legendary Pokémon. Who was I trying to kid? I’m not strong enough for something like that. I never was.”

But you did it anyway,” Swift said with a matter-of-fact tone.

“I… what? That doesn’t matter.”

The Pidgeotto tilted his head. “Why not?

I opened my mouth to speak, but I didn’t really know how to respond to that, so I just took a large bite of rice ball—too large, my eyes started watering.

It was hard from the start. But you kept going, even when you were outmatched. Why?

I forced myself to swallow the bite I’d taken and then said, “I don’t know. Because I thought it was important? Because I thought it’d make me important?” This was a pointless conversation. It was the same thing Stalker had asked me a few weeks ago.

Swift didn’t say anything. He just fluffed out his feathers and settled into a relaxed position alongside me, making it clear he wasn’t going anywhere. He didn’t understand. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go outside, I just… couldn’t. They’d all seen me that night. They all knew. Everyone knew. Why did that bother me so much?

“They all know I failed. I don’t know how to face that kind of humiliation,” I finally said.

They don’t think that about you,” the Pidgeotto said calmly.

A pause. “…Yeah, but I do,” I whispered, more to myself than to him.

I don’t.

I screwed my eyes shut. Damn it, why’d he have to be all matter-of-fact like that. It was impossible to argue with.

Maybe if I could just… tell myself that his opinion of me mattered more than my own. Mattered more than everyone else’s opinion. Though in a way, it already did, and that was the weird thing. I wasn’t afraid of Swift judging me over any of this. He hadn’t gotten frustrated, hadn’t been disappointed, hadn’t tried to push me to do anything… just sat by my side and… was there. If I could focus more on that than what I was feeling… then maybe…

I took a deep breath. “I guess it’s probably time I went outside, yeah. You’ll come with me, right?”

Swift beamed. “Of course.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every inch of me protested as I slowly made my way down the stairs with legs I’d barely used at all the past few days. But I didn’t want to use the elevator. If I was going to the effort of even going outside in the first place, there was no point in taking shortcuts. Swift followed me down, flap-hopping a few steps at a time. Part of me wished he was still a Pidgey so he could sit on my shoulder like he used to.

Cold air washed over me the moment I stepped outside the stadium. But I kind of appreciated the cold weather—it meant that I could wear a jacket and hide the bandages on my left arm and the scabbed-up scraping all over the right. The last thing I needed was people staring at them.

I wasn’t too keen on running into Rudy or Darren right away—not after the way I’d been ignoring them. Maybe later, but not now. So I avoided our group’s preferred training field in favor of one on the other side of the stadium. Even there, I skirted along the outer edge of the clearing to avoid catching anyone’s eye before sitting down on a log that served as seating. Swift landed alongside me, clutching the bark with his talons.

A dispute had broken out between the rebels of Group 1 and Group 16, and Reed, loudmouth as always, had challenged Sasha to a battle. Sasha… the Rebellion’s primary strategist. There was no way this was going to go well for him, but at least it would be amusing to watch. They’d started a double battle—Reed’s Electrode and Persian fighting Sasha’s Pachirisu and Farfetch’d (I’d long since learned not to judge Sasha’s weird Pokémon choices). The electric squirrel had immediately launched into a weird dance, waving its paws around obnoxiously. In the background, Farfetch’d was swinging its leek around like a weapon in a complex series of forms. Both of Reed’s Pokémon immediately went after Pachirisu, much to his displeasure, seeing as he’d ordered Electrode to go for Farfetch’d. I wasn’t totally sure what was going on, but I was pretty sure it was gonna spell Reed’s downfall.

For the rest of the Rebellion, life had gone on after the previous Legendary mission. While there had been a fair number of injuries for both rebel and Pokémon alike, everyone had made it back—Rudy had mentioned that at some point during one of his many conversations with my door. In other words, no one else had been captured. It was probably unfair for me to assume the others had been unaffected by what they’d gone through. I mean… being in the line of fire was always terrifying. That kind of terror wasn’t just going to go away once the danger had passed. And yet, I’d have taken it in a heartbeat over… that.

Pachirisu’s dance continued—Reed’s Pokémon were still ignoring Farfetch’d. The leek duck continued its forms, repeating them twice, three times. Something was about to happen. No sooner had I thought it than Farfetch’d rushed forward, brandishing its leek like a sword. A single strike and Electrode was sent rolling backward, sparks shooting out of it. Persian barely had a chance to register that its partner was down before it too was rushed by the ninja duck—one leek smack to the head, and the cat went down.

A roar of laughter burst out from Reed’s teammate Kris as the former gaped at both of his unconscious Pokémon before recalling them and storming over to his opponent.

“Okay seriously, I know you cheated!” he shouted indignantly.

“Not my fault you don’t know how Follow Me works,” Sasha replied with a giggle.

I snorted. Alright, that was kind of funny.

Swift had huddled close to me, fluffing his feathers for warmth. I gave him a few scritches under his long red crest and said, “Alright, this isn’t so bad. Better than the competitive battling channels, in any case.” Swift gave a contented nod.

Movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I turned to see Chibi approaching us pensively. I’d known that he’d made it back from the mission safely, but it was still a bit surreal that this was the first I’d seen or heard from him since then. Not that that was anyone’s fault but my own.

Whatever small bit of happiness I’d felt upon seeing him quickly faded once I realized how troubled he looked. Swift glanced between me and Chibi a few times, then flapped his wings and took off for a tree behind us. Giving us privacy, was he? It did look like the hybrid wanted to tell me something.

Razors wasn’t at the last mission,” Chibi announced all of a sudden.

I turned toward him. The Pikachu was staring at the ground with such intensity that I half expected the patch of dead grass in front of him to burst into flames.

“I remember,” I said slowly, not sure why he was bringing this up now.

We were all fighting for our lives. Even Aros of all Pokémon tried to save you.

Oh… that was it. He was forcing me to think about his problems so I wouldn’t think about my own. Honestly… in a weird way, I kind of appreciated that.

I asked him why. Do you know what he said?

I shook my head.

He said he was afraid to fight them,” the hybrid said disgustedly.

I stared. That… did make sense, from just the short amount of time I’d spent with Razors in Celadon base. He’d insisted on having Aros and Stygian do the bulk of the fighting. And he’d refused to spar with anyone ever since arriving here.

He was always willing to fight,” Chibi went on. “It was always the two of us against the world… or at least, against our world. Back then… that was what we lived for. That’s why I fight. For what they did to him. For what they did to me. For what they’re going to do. How can he just ignore that?

I clenched my teeth. I was starting to get a better idea of what was going on here. Razors had been fighting so long that he didn’t have any fight left in him. And honestly… I couldn’t help relating to that. It’s what I was feeling, too.

I just… don’t understand,” Chibi finished brokenly, all anger gone from his voice.

“Why don’t you talk to him about it?” I asked. It was probably a stupid question, but I didn’t know what else to say.

The Pikachu closed his eyes. “I don’t know how… not anymore. It’s like most of him is just… gone.

A cool breeze had started to blow, ruffling my sleeves and the hybrid’s pointed head feathers. We sat there in silence for some time, listening to the wind through the trees and watching the few remaining leaves fall to the ground.

I always looked up to him, you know,” Chibi went on suddenly. “No matter what they did to us, no matter how hard we were punished… he always had this way of keeping the rest of us optimistic.” His words had a hollow air, like he’d been holding onto them for far too long.

I was the one who always pushed for us to escape. Razors didn’t need to be a part of it—our handler liked him best. But he went through with it for my sake.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “There was one escape attempt that went bad… worse than the others. Our handler was fed up. He’d always hated me most out of the hybrids. He was going to kill me, but… Razors stepped in. Took the attack that was meant for me, and scarred up the handler pretty badly.

Chibi lifted his head to stare at the sky. “That was the last straw. They started testing mind control tech on all the hybrids after that. I was the only one that was immune,” he said with a bitter laugh. “It’s my fault that it even happened to him in the first place. And now I can’t handle what it’s done to him. I’m pathetic.” He buried his face in his paws, muttering “pathetic” over and over.

“Do you want me to talk to him?” I said, without even really thinking about it.

The Pikachu’s eyes snapped open, and he fixed me with an incredulous glare. The sort of expression that I would have flinched at when I’d first met him, but I was far too used to seeing it by now.

“I didn’t know him before, so it won’t hurt as much for me to talk to him,” I added.

Chibi blinked a few times, his eyes shifting back and forth. Finally, he took a deep breath and said, “If that’s what you want, then sure.

The hybrid stood up and slowly shuffled away. But once he’d taken a dozen or so steps, he paused and said, “Thanks,” before leaving.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn’t that hard to find Razors. He never battled with any of the rebels, but he could usually be found quietly watching Aros and Stygian train. I didn’t say anything as I sat down on the grass next to the Scyther, and he didn’t acknowledge that he’d seen me.

I sat there for several minutes mulling over what to say. Telling Chibi that I’d talk to Razors was a lot easier than actually going and doing that. If the Pokémon that had basically grown up with him couldn’t relate to him anymore, then what chance did I have? Even though that was kind of the whole reason I was talking with him to begin with.

I ran my fingers through my hair, ruling out a half dozen different ways to open the conversation. Eventually realizing that nothing was going to sound right and just going ahead and saying, “I noticed you and Chibi haven’t seen eye-to-eye since you came to the island.”

Razors turned his head toward me sharply, like he hadn’t been expecting me to bring that up. But then, slowly, he closed his eyes and nodded.

“Is… is it alright if I ask why?” I asked cautiously.

For the longest time, the Scyther didn’t answer. He just surveyed me closely with eyes that didn’t betray a hint of emotion.

It’s like we hardly know each other now,” Razors said quietly. “He’s become so bitter, and I’ve become so… empty. He wants vengeance for what they did to him, for what they’re going to do to the Legendaries. I want… nothing.

The Scyther stared off into the distance, something shifting in his eyes, though it was hard to tell what. “I’ve forgotten how to feel things. He feels everything, all the time.” In that moment, for whatever reason, it finally hit me—there was almost something nostalgic about his words. A longing for something in the past.

“You wish things could go back to the way they were before?” I asked slowly.

The mantis screwed his eyes shut, like he hated just thinking about it. “We weren’t happy, but we had each other. Now I should be happy. The nightmare is over. He’s safe. But… I’m not happy.

Razors glanced down at my expression and chuckled softly. It had a hollow, empty feel. “It’s all right. I thought it might be like this. He desperately needs to be a part of the fight. I think I need to be away from it. I can’t even fight the Rockets. Not without being terrified of what might happen.

Right. He was still worried that they might be able to take control of him again. And I didn’t know enough about the experiment control to reassure him that wasn’t the case. For all I knew, it could have been.

The Scyther shook his head. “I shouldn’t be telling you any of this. I know you’ve endured hardships of your own.

“It’s fine,” I said quickly. “It helps keep my mind off… things.” So even he knew what had happened to me. I should have figured… it wasn’t like Aros or Stygian had any reason to hide it. “So if fighting the Rockets is out… what about training? It’s how Chibi keeps his mind off bad things.”

Razors looked away. “No one should want to spar with me. I was a killing machine for the Rockets. I’ve never learned how to hold back. I don’t know if I…

I exhaled deeply and stood to my feet. “Look. Everyone and their mom has been asking me to battle all week, and right now I’m finally in the mood to do it. I think it’ll do me some good to have a bit of adrenaline, and I think it’ll do you good too.”

The Scyther blinked several times in surprise. “Are you sure?

“No, but let’s do it anyway before I change my mind,” I said, walking off to find one of my Pokémon. A few moments passed, but sure enough, I heard the crunching of leaves behind me as he followed. I honestly had no idea where the sudden burst of motivation had come from, but something about being able to focus on someone other than myself was definitely helping. And I wasn’t in the mindset to question why.

I wound up locating Firestorm before Swift, which was just as well, because he was the one I had in mind for the battle.

“We’re fighting Razors,” I announced without warning as we walked up to him.

The fire lizard gave me the most incredulous double-take I’d ever seen. “Seriously?” I nodded firmly, and a wide grin formed across his snout. “Okay!” he exclaimed, taking a fighting stance.

I turned to face Razors. “I know you’re way stronger than Firestorm, so we don’t have to go until the knockout—we can call the match at first blood.”

The mantis glanced between me and Firestorm with the sort of deadpan stare that I’d taken to mean he was severely skeptical of this arrangement. But he was hardly the only Pokémon on the island with dangerous weaponry. Darren’s Sneasel had caused her fair share of heavy bleeding in a few matches. It was nothing to get too worried about unless you didn’t have a Pokéball.

“Would it make you feel better if I keep his Pokéball in my hand the whole time?” I added. “At the slightest sign of trouble, I can recall him instantly.”

Razors considered my words carefully, regarding me with an intense stare. Finally, after several seconds, he gave a short, slow nod.

“And that’s okay with you, right?” I asked, turning to Firestorm.

The Charmeleon puffed out his chest. “I’m not scared.

We took our positions at opposite ends of one of the dirt training grounds surrounding Midnight Stadium. Firestorm bounced lightly on the soles of his feet, lashing his flame-tail back and forth. Razors, on the other hand, kept glancing uneasily at his scythes. Any onlookers who knew nothing about the two would probably assume that Firestorm was the higher-level combatant.

And then it was like all the energy I didn’t have over the past week hit me all at once, and I called out, “Alright Firestorm, show me that new Flame Burst!”

The Charmeleon planted his feet and took a deep breath, embers already starting to gather in his mouth. He then shot out a brilliant orange fireball that kept its size even as it flew across the battlefield. My eyes lit up—he’d really done it. But Razors wasn’t fazed. In one smooth motion, the mantis leaped aside, allowing the fireball to sail past him, striking the dirt with such force that it exploded into a spray of embers.

I hadn’t really been intending for it to hit, though—it was mostly to get Razors moving. The bug-type was now watching us carefully, body tensed and ready to dodge again, but making no apparent effort to attack.

“Another one!” I ordered.

A second fireball shot toward the mantis, this time striking much closer to him and catching his leg in the spray from the explosion.

“Alright, now—”

Something shifted in Razors’s eyes, and he lunged forward, closing the gap between himself and Firestorm almost instantly.

“—Metal Claw!”

The slightest trace of a grin crossed Firestorm’s face—he knew why I’d ordered that. While Razors’s dash had been lightning quick, the follow-up slash was telegraphed. Firestorm had plenty of time to raise his hardened claws and block the mantis’s scythe with a metallic clang. We’d used that same tactic against Sneasel a few times, and it had worked just as well here.

Razors paused slightly before jumping back from the clash and darting in again, this time from the side. Another slash, and the Charmeleon blocked this one just as easily. The bug-type’s darts and dashes were impossibly quick, but the slashes themselves were… not. It was almost like he had to come to a full stop before swinging his arms.

Razors was holding back, but not the normal way by dampening attacks. Instead, all his moves were slow and uncoordinated, like this was his first time battling. Well, even if it was a quick match, at least a victory would boost Firestorm’s mood and prove that not everything Razors touched died.

“Time for a Slash!” I yelled.

Firestorm’s claws lengthened, sharpening within the attack’s glow. He drew back an arm and swung it at Razors’s chest, but his claws just bounced off the mantis’s chest plates. Shoot, I’d forgotten. Razors’s exoskeleton wasn’t normal. What was it made of? I’d seen him tank fire moves effortlessly, so… rock? Wait—that just meant that Metal Claw was our best option for both defense and offense.

All of a sudden, Firestorm leapt back to avoid a slash that had come out of nowhere. Razors was on him in an instant, flowing from dash to attack in one fluid motion. The fire lizard swung his arms wildly, knocking away two more slashes, but with a lot less room to spare this time. My pulse quickened. So Razors was finally getting into the swing of it?

“Stick to Metal Claw, try to break his guard and land a hit!”

The Charmeleon responded by hardening his claws once again and deflecting two more slashes with an echoing clang. Razors’s moves quickened, his breathing grew heavier. Firestorm swung his tail, trying to knock his opponent off-balance, but the Scyther was too quick for that and leaped over it easily. The Charmeleon darted forward while the mantis’s guard was down, ready for the final blow!

But Razors was faster—while Firestorm was focused on attacking, the Scyther caught him with a clean slice across his left thigh.

“Alright, that’s the match!” I called out, raising both arms.

Firestorm reeled backward, clutching his wound and scowling. “Ugh. Thought I had that,” he said before I recalled him.

My heart was pounding, my mind flooded with exhilaration. More surprising than the fact that Razors had gotten into the battle was the fact that I’d gotten into it. That was actually fun. A couple rebels were sitting off to the side, watching our battle. That fact didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.

Razors paused to wipe his scythe in the dirt before approaching me. “You were right… that was nice.

“Told you,” I said, chuckling a bit. But part of that was directed at myself.

The Scyther fixed me with an odd stare, and I couldn’t really tell what he was thinking until he said, “I have to thank you, you know.

“For the battle?”

For how much you’ve done for Chibi. You’ve helped him in ways I never could.

I frowned. “I… come on, that’s not your fault. You weren’t yourself for the longest time.”

I know that,” Razors said simply. “But that doesn’t change the reality of it. The things I did while under their control still happened. I know how close I came to killing him. I know how close he came to killing me.” He paused. “I’m glad he didn’t succeed, though. That would have ruined him.

The tiniest bit of unease flickered in the back of my mind at his words. He didn’t mean… the only reason he was glad Chibi hadn’t killed him was because of how it would have affected Chibi… right?

Razors caught sight of my sudden change in expression and seemed to realize what I was thinking, because he quickly added, “You don’t have to worry about me.

I tilted my head, nonplussed.

If I didn’t think there was a reason for me to be here, I wouldn’t still be looking for one, would I?” he clarified. So he did know what I was thinking.

Besides… if I give into despair, I’ll have let them take everything from me. I can’t have that.” His eyes relaxed in a way that almost felt like a smile… or his equivalent of one. I smiled back. There was something oddly comforting in his words that kept resonating in my mind after he’d said them.

The crunching of leaves signaled that someone was approaching us. I glanced over my shoulder to see Stalker sauntering over, his hands in his coat pockets.

“Mind if I have a word?” he asked once he was a few steps away.

I bristled. This was the first time he’d seen me in days, and I had a suspicious feeling I knew what he was going to talk to me about. Still, I found myself nodding cautiously, and he motioned for me to follow him away from the training area. Neither of us said anything at first; the anxiety of what was coming hung over me like a thick fog.

“Let’s talk your interrogation. You glossed over your torture, but I know it happened.”

I exhaled slowly. There it was. But he was right. I kept trying to ignore it because it didn’t happen, except it did happen.

“What do you want to know?” I mumbled.

“How are you feeling?”

I blinked. If I’d been expecting anything, it hadn’t been that. I raised an eyebrow at him, but he continued to regard me with the same calm, unyielding expression.

“I… just had a Pokémon battle,” I said, as though that somehow answered his question.

Stalker chuckled a bit. “I suppose that’s good. The others have been worried about you.”

I clenched my teeth and looked away. “Yeah, I know.” Only about half of me wanted to evaporate away from the conversation, so that was progress at least.

“I knew, when starting the Rebellion, that something like this would happen eventually,” he said. “It comes with the territory. I didn’t expect how unprepared I was to handle it.” I glanced back at him, honestly a bit bewildered by the idea that he could be unprepared for anything.

“So I want you to stop holding it in. Let it all out. What are you feeling?”

I scowled, rolling my hands into fists. “I don’t know, a lot of things. I hate that I can’t stop thinking about what happened. I hate how badly it’s affecting me.” My words sped up; my volume increased. “I hate that I can’t do anything, I hate feeling so useless, I hate that everyone knows I failed, I hate that you know I failed.” I was breathing hard, a swirling mess of emotions clouding my head. But in the midst of them all, I couldn’t help feeling a glimmer of… relief?

“I took you off missions for your sake, not because you’d failed,” Stalker said calmly. “You did not fail. From what the experiments told me, that mission would have gone a lot worse if it hadn’t been for you.” I knew that. I’d known that all along. For some reason I’d still managed to convince myself that wasn’t the case, though. Because I felt like I’d failed. And rather than face that, it was easier to convince myself that everyone else thought so too.

“I know that,” I said slowly, fighting every word. “I… think it’ll take a while for the rest of me to accept that, though.”

“That’s fine. No need to rush it,” Stalker said. “I should probably mention the real reason I took you aside, though.” I tilted my head, a bit taken aback, and he went on, “Yesterday I announced what the Rebellion’s next mission is going to be.”

Right, I vaguely recalled Darren knocking on my door and saying something about me missing an important meeting.

“We’re going to free Mewtwo.”

My jaw dropped. “Seriously?”

He nodded. “We won’t be able to do anything to oppose the Rockets so long as they have Mewtwo. We’ve seen it in action. Now we need to take it away from them.”

I swallowed, feeling utterly torn. On the one hand, freeing Mewtwo, but on the other hand…

“I… still don’t know if I’ll be able to…” I began slowly.

“I’m not asking you to be a part of the mission,” Stalker cut in. “But you’re a member of the team, and you deserve to know. And it’s not as though you’ll have had no contribution—that data you recovered also contained info on how they’re controlling Mewtwo. It will prove invaluable to our efforts.”

My mind flashed back to the conversation I’d had with Mewtwo in the Celadon base. The last thing I’d said to him… that promise that I’d free him someday. It was such an insanely lofty goal. But Stalker had said it with unflinching confidence. Like there was absolutely no doubt in his mind that our team would be able to steal Team Rocket’s greatest superweapon.

No wonder the Rockets were afraid of him.

Something else was prodding at the back of my mind now. Something I’d been meaning to ask him when I saw him again. One tiny detail from the interrogation that I hadn’t buried away.

“Can… I ask you a random question?” I asked.

“Certainly.”

“Are you the former Kanto commander? I keep hearing all sorts of rumors about him.”

Stalker raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Is that who the Rockets think I am?”

I shrugged. “They’re not sure if that’s who you are. I think it’s their main theory.”

“That’s interesting,” he said, rubbing his chin. “Well, it’s always good to keep them guessing.”

I stared. He… really hadn’t answered my question at all. “So… are you?”

Stalker gave me a pointed look. “Do you think I am?”

“I don’t know anything at all about the former commander, so I have no idea.”

“I see. Well you wouldn’t have heard much from any Rockets. They don’t like talking about what happened.” More redirecting. He obviously wasn’t going to tell me. I’d learned by now that pushing Stalker to explain something he didn’t intend to was a lost cause.

“Holy crap Jade, you’re out here?!” a voice called out all of a sudden, followed by hurried footsteps behind me.

Oh geez. Even if I was feeling a little better, I wasn’t sure how easy it’d be to handle Rudy levels of enthusiasm.

“Jade! Darren’s beaten me twice in a row, you gotta come kick his butt,” Rudy said breathlessly once he’d reached me. Oh, for the love of—that’s what he was opening with? I shot a pleading look at Stalker, but he just smirked and gave a small wave before walking off. Damn it—now I really wasn’t going to get any answers from him.

I turned back to see Rudy staring up at me way too eagerly. I sighed, rolled my eyes, and said, “Alright,” before following Rudy back to the training grounds. Maybe a few more battles wouldn’t be so bad.






End Chapter 21

I’d like to apologize in advance for Chapter 22.
 
Opening with Firestorm being shot down. What a shame, though hey, at least he’s getting a lot stronger. It’s interesting to see Swift being the most level-headed one of the bunch. Considering what I know about him, with how he’s generally the most academic and upstanding in terms of doing more human things—I’m not surprised at all he left to get groceries and so on—but it was an interesting, calm chapter after everything else. I actually appreciate that we didn’t go off and see more training and battle montages after everything that had happened.

Though I do have to comment on how long the beginning few scenes dragged on for. I get that it was depression and the trauma, but it really dragged on for a while with the repetitive prose and scene beats. But after Chibi showed up, the pace started getting less droning, and I liked where that went. Razors has always been an interesting character.

I’m getting some bad vibes from Razors, though. Showing a lot of bad psyche signs.

But the fight was nice, and it was more or less the equivalent of two depressed people climbing out together, as far as I can tell. And unlike the other fights that I’ve seen happen, this is one of the fights that I wouldn’t have asked to be shortened or cut in any way—it showed Razors in a sparring match, how he actually fought. It was a way to show his character, and for that, kudos.

Despite how much the first half dragged, I feel like Razors suddenly thanking Judy, and later on, Judy confessing to Stalker how she was really feeling, came too quickly. I can’t really place precisely why, but if I had to take a guess, it was because there were too few words between the exchange right before and the words right after. The narrative pause, so to speak—since we don’t really have a video or cinematics to indicate silence, or the wind blowing, or things like that to indicate a tense moment, we need extra padding in the form of sentences to give that “pause” you’d see in cinema instead. And I felt that it was lacking for those moments.

Overall, though, I’m always appreciative of these breather chapters. As usual I’m not really going to acknowledge ominous author’s notes. Just gonna wait for the actual next chapter.
 
Chapter 22: Desperate Hour
This chapter contains an elevated level of graphic violence compared to the average chapter, as well as one or more of the triggering themes listed in the thread's opening post.



CHAPTER 22: DESPERATE HOUR

ch22art_by_chibi_pika-db6ftdn.png

A distant rumble reverberated throughout the air, dragging me out of a deep sleep. What was that? Don’t tell me someone was battling at this hour? I sat up, blinking slowly in the darkness. My eyes caught the faint hint of movement—Swift or Firestorm waking up and looking around, most likely.

“Did you guys… hear that?” I asked.

Then the alarm sounded. An earsplitting siren, assaulting my senses out of nowhere. What the hell? Why was the fire alarm going off? I threw my hands over my ears, desperately trying to block out the awful noise, but there was no stopping it. A bright red light flashed in the corner of the room, highlighting both Firestorm and Swift as they glanced around apprehensively. Firestorm was saying something, but it was impossible to tell what with all the noise.

What on earth was going on?

I stumbled my way out of bed and rushed to the door as quickly as I could, throwing it open. A half dozen kids had already emerged from their rooms and were running down the hallway, a few of them still in pajamas. My dazed brain was still trying to process what the heck was going on when my nose caught the scent of… smoke? There was actually smoke in the air. This wasn’t a drill, this was a legit emergency, holy crap. It took several seconds for the reality of that to properly sink in. And when it did, everything went into overdrive at once as I bolted back inside.

“We’re evacuating!” I announced, grabbing my bag and shoving things into it randomly.

What?!

But I just grabbed their Pokéballs and recalled the two without saying anything else. It’d be faster getting out if it was just me. And… they’d be safer in their balls. I threw on my shoes and rushed out the door, pulling my arms through the sleeves of my jacket as I fled down the stairs, jumping two or three steps at a time.

Damn, there was a lot more smoke down here. I pulled my shirt over my mouth as I pressed on, following the arcing hallway to the stadium lobby. Was this where the fire was? I didn’t want to run straight into it, but at the same time, this was the fastest way out of the building. I rounded the corner into the lobby and completely ground to a halt, gaping in disbelief.

The entire front entrance had been demolished, chunks of concrete and glass scattered throughout the lobby. I strained my eyes to try catching a glimpse of what had caused this, but with half the lights blown out and all the dust in the air, it was impossible to tell. A couple of kids bumped into me as they bolted past and disappeared into the dust cloud that had once been the entrance.

And then my blood ran cold as gunshots tore the air.

What? We were under attack?! I dropped to the floor and ducked behind the wall, my heart pounding furiously in my chest as my mind raced. Deep breaths… I had to calm myself and figure out something to do. There had to be some way out of here… deep breaths.

A sudden thud to my left. I whirled around to see what it was and—oh god, what. Reed had crumpled to the ground in an awkward heap, his eyes wide and staring and a bullet hole in his head. I blinked stupidly at the sight, unable to process it until the blood started to pool on the ground around him.

What. This couldn’t happen. In all the times… There was always danger, but… no one had ever… How many kids had just run outside? They didn’t have Pokémon out, they couldn’t use Protect, oh god.

Another group was approaching the lobby from the opposite hallway. I couldn’t see them clearly, just their silhouettes through the dust cloud.

“Don’t go outside! There’s Rockets out there!” a voice called out behind me.

“What do we do?!” one of the kids across the lobby yelled. A girl’s voice… Kris? Oh god, her teammate was dead next to me and she couldn’t see him, oh god.

“I don’t know, just don’t go that way!”

I turned around to see a half dozen or so rebels gathering in the hallway behind me, almost all of them from different mission groups, which meant they were missing teammates. I recognized Liam and Zoe, although their third teammate, Alec, was nowhere to be seen.

Where were Ray, Mai, and Sasha? They’d be able to figure out a plan. Where was Stalker? He’d be able to fight the Rockets off. Where were Rudy and Darren, oh god, why hadn’t I wondered that yet, where were they?

I forced several deep breaths to steady myself. Had to focus. Couldn’t lose myself now. I’d done this before. I’d been in the line of fire before. I could handle this. This wasn’t like being trapped in the detention cell. I had options. I had Pokémon. I couldn’t lose myself.

My eyes snapped open, and I whipped out a Pokéball to release Chibi. As soon as the Pikachu materialized, he glanced around in alarm, folding his ears back from the noise. “Shit, what’s going on?

“We’re under attack,” I said. “The Rockets have us cornered—our main exit is a death trap.”

“What about the fire escape?” Zoe piped up.

“They’ll definitely have agents back there too,” Liam replied.

Chibi glanced between me and the other rebels, then closed his eyes in concentration, flattening his ears with his paws. After a few agonizingly long seconds, he said, “Our best bet is busting through a side wall. They won’t be expecting that; it might buy us some time.

Zoe nodded before putting her hands on the sides of her mouth and calling out, “Tell everyone you meet to avoid the exits and break through a side wall. We’ll meet up in the forest outside!”

“Okay!” one of the rebels on the other side yelled back.

Alright, let’s go!” Chibi barked, taking off down the hallway.

I jumped to my feet and raced after him, followed by the rest of the rebels in our group. All the while the blaring alarm and flashing lights served as a constant reminder of just how wrong all of this was. How many rebels had run out the front entrance and been gunned down? I didn’t even know if Rudy or Darren was among them, and the only thing I could do was push on with the others and desperately hope that we’d be able to find a way out.

The smoke was thicker in this direction. The fire had to be at the back of the building, which meant they’d definitely been trying to drive all the rebels in the direction of the main entrance. I held my shirt over my mouth and squinted as the smoke stung my eyes and it got harder to breathe. We’d be out of here soon. I just had to keep telling myself that.

Right here!” Chibi shouted, waving at a portion of wall far ahead of us. Strings of electricity leaped off his fur as he gathered energy. Then, with a flash of light and a crash that was somehow even louder than the alarm, he fired a lightning bolt clear through the wall, shattering it into chunks of concrete and drywall.

“We’ve gotta make a break for it. Don’t stop to use Protect—our best chance is to keep moving,” Liam said.

I’ll attack all the Rockets I can,” Chibi added. “Anyone with priority attackers should send them with me, they’ll be too fast to get shot.” Not a second after he’d said it, a half dozen flashes of light appeared all around us as the rebels released Pokémon to join him.

Now go!

With every inch of me screaming not to, I followed the others through the gaping hole in the wall and out into the cold nighttime air. I coughed hard, forcing deeper breaths now that we’d left the smoke and pouring all my focus and effort into running as fast as possible. Chibi’s makeshift exit had put us facing the outdoor training grounds, with scattered bits of forest in the distance across the battlefields. Completely open and exposed—no cover until we made it to the trees.

I flinched as gunshots rang out, clenching my teeth and forcing my legs to run faster. On either side of me, Pokémon darted around, so fast they were a blur as they struck down targets that were nearly invisible in the pitch-black night. Just had to keep running and let them handle it. Just had to keep running. We’d made it out of the stadium, we were going to be alright, just had to make it across the battlefield and—

A high-pitched screech tore the air. I whirled around just in time to catch a blinding flash and somehow my legs skidded to a stop right before a Hyper Beam struck the ground dead ahead of me. The shockwave knocked me off my feet, sending a jolt of pain running up my spine when I landed flat on my back. Dazed, winded, and ears ringing, I slowly picked myself up from the ground only to stare openmouthed at the smoking crater just five feet in front of me as clumps of dirt and grass rained down from the impact.

Holy crap that was too close. Damn it—humans were easy enough to knock down with a Quick Attack or two, but Pokémon? With all the bullets flying around, it hadn’t occurred to me that the Rockets’ Pokémon were more dangerous in this situation. Chibi was the only one that could knock them out fast enough.

“Over here!” a voice called out. I snapped my head in its direction and caught sight of a human silhouette waving to us from within the trees. Every few seconds, the shimmering flash of a Protect barrier gave enough light to reveal several other kids standing in the area, and an assortment of Pokémon clustered around them defensively.

We weren’t the only group to make it out. There were others!

“Jade!” Rudy’s voice. Rudy was alive. Holy crap, thank god.

I jumped to my feet and sprinted over as fast as my legs would carry me before ducking around one of the Protect users and slipping inside the circle. I was immediately met with paws on my shoulder and dog breath in my face as Ebony reared up on her hind legs to greet me.

“You’re okay!” I exclaimed breathlessly, avoiding the Houndoom’s tongue and flashing Rudy a relieved smile.

“Heck yeah, I’m not going down that easily,” he said, forcing a grin.

My face fell. Had… had he not heard what had happened to the rebels that ran outside the front entrance? Should I tell him?

Ebony hopped down from my shoulder and happily barked out a small wisp of flame before joining the rest of the Pokémon defending our group. She took position alongside Wartortle, who had just finished surrounding himself with Protect and was now panting from exhaustion, glancing back at Rudy with an anxious look on his face.

I scanned the rest of the group, an uneasy feeling creeping over me. “Where’s Darren?”

Rudy’s face fell. “Haven’t seen him yet. I thought he’d be with you.”

Crap. We couldn’t just leave without Darren. Not to mention all the other rebels that might still be trapped inside the stadium.

I flinched from the ping of bullets against Protect and instinctively ducked down to put more of myself safely within the circle of rebels as the Pokémon all around us alternated between shielding the group and attacking the enemy. By the light of Ebony’s flames, I caught a glimpse of several squads of Rockets, nearly invisible amongst the trees. Even harder to spot was the shadowy mist that formed behind two of the squads right before two large somethings appeared from the darkness and knocked them to the ground. I barely caught a glimpse of the culprits—a flash of green and red wings here, a white, four-legged blur there—before they vanished into the shadows once more.

By this point, another group of kids had escaped through the hole in the stadium and was now racing toward us. Chibi bolted all around them, unleashing wicked thunderbolts at the Rockets’ forces while the rebels’ Pokémon kept them distracted with blindingly fast maneuvers. The moment the kids reached the treeline and ducked inside the Pokémon circle with the rest of us, a wave of frantic shouting ensued.

“What are we gonna do?!”

“My friends are still trapped inside!”

“What was wrong with the main entrance? My teammates ran through there!”

“Listen to me, everyone! If you can fly or teleport out of here, then do it!” a voice called out, grabbing everyone’s attention instantly. I whirled around to see that Ray’s team had suddenly appeared right outside our defensive lineup. So they had made it out. But that left one huge question—where was Stalker?

“Where should we go?”

“Somewhere safe, like a Pokémon Center,” Ray said, and in that moment, for the first time, he looked just as lost and scared as the rest of us. “Anyone who’s still missing teammates, stay here and keep our defenses up.”

“I’ll teleport back inside and see if I can find any stragglers,” Sasha added, motioning to her Alakazam before the two of them disappeared.

Darren had a teleporter. He couldn’t possibly be trapped inside. Right?

An unearthly screech filled the air, freezing everyone in an instant. A scarily bright orange glow lit the night sky, and then the brilliant form of a blazing phoenix soared into view overhead. My stomach tied itself into knots just looking at it. Moltres. They’d brought Moltres with them? We couldn’t fight Moltres!

With another terrifying screech, the firebird craned its neck back before unleashing a massive fireball right at Midnight Stadium, engulfing the entire rear wall. In the light of the flames, I saw several flying Pokémon fleeing the building through open windows, carrying riders on their backs. Time slowed as Moltres snapped its attention to them. It drew itself back, inhaling deeply—no, no, no, this couldn’t be happening—and shot out a vicious stream of fire, completely incinerating two of the fleeing Pokémon and their riders.

I gaped in horror, jaw hanging open. What were we supposed to do if a Legendary Pokémon was targeting us? We’d never faced anything like this! How could we possibly make it out of here?

A pulsating burst of violet dragonfire shot out of nowhere, striking the phoenix right in the heart. Moltres reeled backward, more stunned than hurt, whirling its head around wildly to locate its attacker. And then a thunderous roar echoed across the island, and an orange dragon soared into view from the forests to the east. On its back was a trainer wearing a long, black, hooded cloak that concealed nearly all of their body from view. But there was no mistaking who it was. The firebird fixed its blank, emotionless eyes on the newcomers, watching them closely. Charizard flared her wings outward to slow her flight, staring down the Legendary in return.

And then it hit me—Stalker was challenging it. The Legendary Bird of Fire was here, and he was going to fight it. What the hell was he thinking?

Without warning, Moltres shot out a blazing Flamethrower at the opposing fire-type, who nimbly ducked out the way and launched into a high-speed loop around the firebird. I’d seen Charizard fly—she was fast, but I’d never seen her fly this fast. The dragon was practically a blur, streaking around, spitting more violet flares at her opponent, but the Legendary wasn’t remotely fazed by any of it. I held my breath as Charizard only barely managed to swerve away from another burst of flames. Her flight path zigged and zagged through the sky, almost like Stalker was trying to force Moltres to pay attention to them.

But… why? They couldn’t possibly hope to put a scratch on the Legendary. And if they got hit by even a single one of its attacks, they’d be done for.

Except if Moltres was focusing on him, that meant it wasn’t focusing on us. That’s what he was banking on! The light of the flames now consuming the stadium clearly illuminated the silhouettes of several flying Pokémon taking to the air.

I obviously wasn’t the only person to notice this, because Ray spoke up saying, “If you’re gonna fly away from here, now’s the time to do it. Send your Pokémon back once you reach a safe distance away—we’ll need all the help we can get.”

I caught the sound of wings buzzing behind me and turned to see Aros flying over to join us, closely followed by Stygian.

Take it I’ll need to fly some of you out of here?” the Flygon asked. The same Flygon that had once made such a fuss over letting me on his back.

“I’m… honestly surprised to see you volunteering like this,” I blurted out without thinking.

Aros scowled. “This place is our home too. And it’s under attack. Why wouldn’t we be involved?

This place was their home. I’d always thought the experiments merely tolerated us, but they actually liked it here, didn’t they?

A yellow blur slowed to a stop in front of me, revealing itself to be Chibi, panting and out of breath from dashing around and knocking out so many of the Rockets’ Pokémon. Sparks leaped off his fur at random—so he was already nearly drained? The Pikachu shook his head to get his bearings, then stood up and glanced between the two clones, his face falling. “Where’s Razors?” he demanded.

Aros frowned. “Haven’t seen him.

What?” The hybrid’s eyes went wide, and he glanced around frantically. “No way… I have to find him!” he yelled, racing off.

“Wait, come back!” I cried, but the hybrid didn’t stop. Damn it, why’d he have to do this now? There was no telling what’d happen if I lost sight of him—especially with him being so low on power already.

“Find Darren and I’ll meet up with you two later!” I yelled to Rudy before sprinting after Chibi. I heard paws strike the ground behind me, then saw Stygian in my peripheral vision, running at my side. She was coming with me? Whatever, I wasn’t about to question that now.

Wait, what should I do?!” Aros called after us.

“Just help evacuate everyone! We’ll meet up with you later!” I called out over my shoulder.

The roar of flames filled the air as we sprinted along the treeline. I scanned the training grounds and the forests to our left—it wasn’t nearly as hard to see anymore with the all the firelight—but he’d run off so fast that I’d already lost him. Had to keep my eyes out for lightning. That would be my best indicator. Unless he ran out, which was a very real possibility. Damn it, where’d he run off to?!

Stygian and I were nearing the front of the stadium now. I slowed down, creeping close to the trees to avoid catching the attention of the Rocket squads that still remained in the area. I didn’t like being here, but this was the most likely spot for Chibi to have run. Still, there was no sign of lightning, and these Rockets likely wouldn’t be standing if he’d been through here.

Overhead, the battle between Stalker and Moltres continued, although it wasn’t so much a battle as a game of cat and mouse, with his Charizard ducking and weaving around nonstop torrents of flame. The firebird wasn’t the only enemy after him now. Dozens of mounted Rockets had taken to the air, sticking close to the Legendary and launching their own attacks at him. I watched with bated breath as Charizard only barely managed to avoid getting zapped by a lightning bolt, right before a jet of water clipped her wing.

My jaw hung open as the dragon spiraled downward uncontrollably, struggling to regain control of her flight. At the last second, the fire-type straightened her wings, and the two of them pulled out of the dive right above the ground, shooting out in a straight line right past me, closely followed by a squad of combat unit executives. This was bad. Avoiding Moltres was one thing, but that was just one thing to avoid, not a dozen executives.

Charizard put on a burst of speed, shooting off into the night sky. But she didn’t turn around. Her orange tail flame grew smaller and smaller as she put more distance between herself and the island. Moltres let out a cry and tore after the dragon, followed by all the mounted Rockets.

My heart sank through the ground. No way. Stalker was leaving us?

No—he was leading the Rockets away. He’d only confronted Moltres because that was the most conspicuous thing possible, and the perfect way to get everyone’s attention. Of course the Rockets were mostly after him. The rest of us were just an added bonus—that’s all we’d ever been.

And then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw her. There, sitting atop her Arcanine, silhouetted by the flames engulfing the stadium, was the head of the combat unit. My legs froze up instantly and my whole body went numb. No. Not her. Anyone but her. Not right now. Not like this.

Almost like she’d felt me staring at her, Astrid turned and laid eyes on me, and my stomach curled in on itself. Oh god no, why did she have to notice me, why.

For several seconds, neither of us moved. She just stared at me. Something in her face looked downright exhausted. “I am really tired of you, you know that?” Astrid said. And then she hopped off her Arcanine and started walking towards me.

I was paralyzed, terror shooting through my veins like ice. I couldn’t breathe. I was back in the detention cell with her standing over me like I was nothing, drowning in an endless torrent of agony with no end in sight. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t fight back. Couldn’t do anything.

“Stay away from me!!” I screamed.

And for just a second she actually paused, staring at me wide-eyed with an expression I couldn’t place. It was only for an instant—then her gaze hardened and she advanced toward us once more.

We need to move!” Stygian hissed, shoving against me.

Her words barely registered. My brain was caught in a loop, replaying everything that had happened that night, over and over. She was in front of me, but also somehow standing over me, staring down at me. The heat of the flames melted into an endless barrage of lightning. Not again. I couldn’t handle that. Couldn’t handle being trapped, useless, unable to move, unable to fight back, unable to—

Come. On!!” Stygian growled, throwing her body against my knees so that I toppled over onto her back. I barely had a chance to process what was going on and throw my hands out to catch hold of white fur before the Absol was sprinting away at high speed, half-dragging me behind her. My heart was pounding so fast it hurt, my breathing shallow and irregular, and the only thing I could think about was keeping hold of Stygian’s mane as she bolted in the opposite direction. Each footfall thundered through my whole body and my feet dragged against the dirt and I had no idea how far Stygian had run, but none of that mattered so long as she took us anywhere but there.

Eventually the dark-type slowed to a stop. I relaxed my grip and let myself slide off her back, only barely managing to catch myself from faceplanting into the dirt.

Ugh. I’m not doing that again. That was hard,” Stygian muttered in between heavy panting.

“Is she gone?” I said breathlessly, picking myself up from the ground.

The Absol rounded on me with an unimpressed scowl. “What was that? She didn’t even attack us and we had a clear escape route. Why did you stop?

Why did I stop. Why did I shut down. Why was just the sight of her enough to send me reeling back to that night? What was wrong with me?

Focus,” Stygian growled, staring me dead in the eyes with her face just inches from mine. I swallowed hard and forced myself to stare back at her ruby-red irises, focusing on nothing else. Not Astrid, not the other Rockets, nothing. I wasn’t in the detention cell, I was here. I was nowhere else but here.

Footsteps crunched the leaves behind us. I bristled, throwing a glance over my shoulder. Was it her?! No, it was a squad of Rockets half-hidden amongst the trees. Wait—that was actually worse.

Oh shit,” Stygian muttered, her fur standing on end. The Absol jumped in front of me and covered herself in the white light of Protect.

Nowhere to run. Too many for Stygian to fight on her own. The moment her Protect faltered, we’d be sitting ducks.

The buzzing of insect wings was the only warning. A green blur shot out of nowhere, striking all four Rockets with such speed and precision that by the time I had finished blinking, all of them had staggered backward, unconscious before they even hit the ground.

“What the hell,” I said, too stunned to think.

The green blur stopped abruptly in front of us, revealing itself to be a tall, armored mantis. I blinked several times, trying to process what I was seeing. It was Razors.

“You saved us?” I said, still reeling from what had just happened.

Sure took your time. The rest of us have been fighting since the attack began,” Stygian said flatly.

The Scyther looked down and said nothing.

Razors!” a voice cried. I whirled around to see Chibi bolting towards us from deeper in the forest. Oh sure, now he showed up. We wouldn’t have been in this situation if not for him running off like that.

You’re here!” the Pikachu exclaimed one he’d reached us.

I’m here,” Razors said. “And I’m not running away. Not until everyone is safe.” He gave the Pikachu a pointed look.

Chibi stared at him in disbelief. But then his eyes lit up and his mouth hung open ever so slightly in a relieved smile.

“Can we get back to the others now, please?” I snapped. Yes, I was glad to see that Razors was alright, but none of this would have been necessary if Chibi hadn’t run off in the first place.

I just barely had the chance to register a faint rumble under my feet right before pointed stones erupted from the ground all around us, uprooting trees and scattering chunks of dirt through the air. I recoiled backward, throwing a frantic glance in every direction as the stones rose higher and higher out of the earth, surrounding us on three sides.

“What now?!” I yelled. Just when I thought the worst was behind us—suddenly this?! What even was this? Rock Tomb? Stone Edge?

“Well, look at what we have here. I never imagined I’d be lucky enough to find three of our experiments all in one spot.”

What? I knew that voice from somewhere… but where? Razors had gone rigid, eyes wide and unblinking. I followed his gaze in the opposite direction to see a burly, dark-haired combat unit officer standing alongside a Rhydon and a Raticate at the entrance to the stone circle.

I stared, feeling a chill run down my spine. I recognized him. The lead experiment handler. Razors’s old trainer—Tyson. What the hell was he doing here? Sure, he was on the combat unit, but… why here? Why now?! We hadn’t run into him in months! Unless… unless he knew that a raid on the rebel base would give him an opportunity to recapture the experiments?

As if he’d noticed my staring, Tyson narrowed his eyes at me and said, “Yeah, don’t think I’ve forgotten about that shit you and your friends pulled last time we met. But I’m not here for you.” He held up a small, black computerized device.

No!!” Chibi cried, unleashing a vicious torrent of lightning. The electricity swerved to the right, missing Tyson completely and zeroing in on the Rhydon’s nose horn. The Pikachu took a step back, momentarily dumbstruck, but then let out another cry and rushed straight at Tyson. Rhydon stepped forward to block him, moving way faster than it should have and taking the brunt of a Quick Attack like it was nothing. Seeing this, Stygian leveled her blade at the experiment handler and dashed forward, but before she’d cleared half the distance, the Raticate—a hybrid?—tackled her away from its trainer.

Chibi let out a pained cry, snapping my attention back to him in time to see that the Rhydon had grabbed hold of him with its giant foreclaws, squeezing him tightly while he swung his tail like a glowing blade. With an unimpressed grunt, the rock-type smashed him into the dirt. Once, twice, three times—it kept going. I stared helplessly. It hurt just to watch—each blow felt like a shockwave through my heart. After what felt like ages of that, the Rhydon finally stopped swinging Chibi around and pinned him under its fist, where the Pikachu continued to struggle against its hold.

“I don’t have any patience for you today, number nine. You used that up a long time ago.” Tyson leered at Razors. “On the other hand, you’re the real prize here.”

Razors was trembling all over, eyes screwed shut, shaking his head repeatedly as he dug his scythes into the dirt.

Let him go! I’ll kill you!!” Chibi snarled, clawing at the dirt and swinging his Iron Tail wildly, to no avail. Each swing had less force than the previous one as he succumbed to the pain and exhaustion.

Had to do something. I could have my Pokémon attack him? Steal the device controlling Razors? Something?!

“Might want to think twice about bringing out any more Pokémon,” Tyson said, pointing his handgun at me before I even managed to reach my belt. I froze, swallowing hard. Protect wouldn’t do me any good if I couldn’t even let them out without getting shot.

“So here’s what we’re gonna do,” he said to Razors. “You’re gonna listen to me like you’re supposed to, you’re gonna slice the rest of them to ribbons, including that damned rat, and then I am going to feel infinitely better about things.”

Come on, think! I had to do something. Couldn’t let out Firestorm or Swift without getting them shot. Couldn’t recall Razors without his Pokéball. What to do. What to do?! Recall Chibi and make a break for it (and somehow not get shot in the process)? And leave Razors behind? No way—Chibi would never allow that. He’d just break out of his Pokéball and go back for him. But if he refused to fight Razors, and Tyson got full control of him, then…?

There had to be something! Come on, think!

Razors’s frantic struggling gradually faded. The Scyther’s eyes glazed over, dull and mindless as his movements slowed to a stop. He then turned to face the experiment handler, calmly awaiting orders.

A satisfied sneer spread across Tyson’s face. “Good. Now kill the rat first. That little shit’s given me enough headaches to last a lifetime.”

Rhydon stepped backward, leaving the bruised, battered, and drained Pikachu lying in a crumpled heap on the ground.

“Chibi!” I shouted.

Razors bolted forward like lightning, blades outstretched. Time slowed to a crawl. I saw Chibi lift his head to stare brokenly at his friend, all fight gone from his eyes. Saw the exact moment he accepted that Razors was going to kill him.

And then the Scyther froze with his blade mere inches from Chibi’s face. He blinked, his eyes flickering between mindless and frantic. Numb and in pain. Dead and alive. Every part of his body trembled.

“What are you doing?!” Tyson roared.

Razors locked eyes with Chibi. With a gargantuan effort, he wrenched his face into a forced smile.

I’m sorry.

In one swift motion, he raised an arm and drew a scythe across his own throat. Dark blood sprayed as his body jerked suddenly, then his legs gave out and his body fell to the ground with a dull thud.

“No!!” Tyson shouted, his face instantly going white.

It felt like all the air had been sucked from my lungs. No way. No way. That had not just happened. No way. I stared stupidly at the sight, unable to process it. In an instant, he was gone. Just like that?

Chibi’s mouth hung open, eyes wide with horror and Razors’s blood splattered across his face. For several seconds, he didn’t move—just stared unblinking at the Scyther’s dying body, making an awful sort of choking noise. Slowly, shakily, he turned his gaze upward to focus on Tyson.

I’ll fucking kill you!!

The Pikachu shot forward, all exhaustion instantly turned into unbridled fury. Rhydon’s eyes went wide, and it held its arms out to shield its trainer from the electric-type, but Chibi already had an Iron Tail ready and sent the armored beast reeling backward with a strike right between the eyes. It crashed onto its back, dazed and clutching its face in pain. And then Chibi turned his attention to Tyson, who blanched and recalled the rock-type before taking off running. He barely made it ten yards before the Pikachu caught him with a metallic blow to the leg, instantly snapping it sideways at a grotesque angle.

Tyson screamed. Chibi hadn’t stopped screaming since it happened. And he continued screaming the entire time he stabbed the Rocket over and over with his tail as the blood stained his fur and his voice grew hoarse and his movements slowed until his eyes rolled back and he finally succumbed to exhaustion and collapsed.

It was like time had stopped. I stood frozen on the spot, staring blankly with my mouth open, the past few minutes a blur. I had to have imagined it. I had to. I blinked repeatedly, each time willing my surroundings to change. But the scene lay in front of me, the same as it had before.

At some point Stygian trotted over to my side, though I wasn’t sure when. My attention snapped over to her, and for a sickening moment, my breath caught in my chest—the Absol was dripping with blood. But then some part of my brain managed to notice how the blood mostly ran down her right side. The side with the blade. The blade itself was covered—it wasn’t her blood. My eyes slid behind her, where the experimental Raticate lay motionless aside from its matted fur rising and falling with each shuddering breath.

I flinched. Whatever, couldn’t think about that now, had to focus on—I glanced back at where Chibi had fallen, but ended up catching another glimpse of Razors lying face-down in a pool of dark blood, and for a moment it was like that image was burned into my eyes and it was the only thing I was ever going to see again. Fighting back daggers of nausea tearing at my insides, I forced myself to look at anything else as I held out Chibi’s Pokéball and recalled him.

You have him. There’s no reason to linger here,” Stygian said. Her words held a strange heaviness, and she didn’t look me in the eye.

I exhaled slowly. She was right. And yet, for some reason it felt like I’d never be able to move from this spot. Because Razors was here, and we weren’t leaving without him, but he was never moving again, so neither could I, and it didn’t make any sense, but that was the loop my brain was stuck in.

I felt a nudge at my side, and my legs started walking of their own accord. I reached out an arm to steady myself and loosely grabbed a handful of fur. The Absol squinted at my hand, but didn’t say anything.

The roar of the raging fire and the call of emergency sirens filled the air as we wandered in the direction that I’d last seen the rebels make their defense. Neither any Rockets nor rebels remained. I could only hope that meant the latter had escaped, and that the few Rockets that hadn’t pursued Stalker had withdrawn after their targets had fled. But I knew better than to hope for the best. Not after everything that had happened so far.

And then Darren appeared in front of us in a burst of shimmering light. His expression was frazzled and anxious, but he was unharmed.

“You’re okay?” I asked, taking a step backwards. But then I realized who wasn’t with him. “Wait, where’s Rudy?”

“He’s alive, now come on,” Darren said, outstretching a hand. I stared at it blankly until I realized that his other hand was holding his Kadabra’s.

“Wait—Stygian can’t be teleported and I don’t have her Pokéball.”

He frowned. “Where is it?”

I threw a useless glance back in the direction of the stadium. If it was still in Stalker’s office, then it was long since melted. But wait! Could I put her in a new one?

“Tell me you have an empty Pokéball,” I pleaded.

Darren nodded before quickly retrieving one from his backpack and handing it to me. I tapped it to Stygian’s shoulder, and her form dissolved into it. Then Darren grabbed my hand and our surroundings melted into distorted light before re-forming into somewhere completely different. We were standing in the middle of the street in a small town. The polished red roof of a Pokémon Center stood out against a scattering of old wooden buildings, and the oppressive heat of the stadium fire had become a cool, salty breeze.

“This isn’t… where are we?” I asked.

“Lavender Town Pokémon Center,” Darren replied. “Sasha wasn’t sure the Midnight one would be safe.” I wasn’t sure here was that much safer. But right now, anywhere was better than the stadium.

Cop cars and ambulances practically lined the street. A large crowd had gathered in front of the Pokécenter—rebels, Pokémon, police, nurses, bystanders. A handful of medical Blissey could be seen bobbing in and out of the crowd, gathering Pokéballs from some of the rebels. Panicked and crying kids were led inside the center by police Growlithe.

This was all too much. I closed my eyes, trying to block out the details while my brain struggled to process everything. A sickly nausea had wormed its way through my insides and didn’t feel like leaving. I suddenly wanted to be anywhere else.

“I think Ray’s group told them we evacuated from the fire on Midnight Island,” Darren said quietly. “He didn’t mention anything about us being targeted by Team Rocket.”

I honestly couldn’t tell if I agreed with that decision. My brain felt like it had slowed to a crawl, and each thought was like trudging through a mile of mud.

The sound of buzzing wings approached, and for a single, heart-stopping second, my brain latched onto the hope that Razors had come back. But no. That fantasy was dashed the moment I opened my eyes to see that Aros had landed in front of me.

Where’s Stygian?” the Flygon asked.

Rather than answer, I just pulled out the dark-type’s new Pokéball and let her out. I then wandered toward the Pokécenter, suddenly desperate to get away from the crowd. I couldn’t stand being out here and seeing any of this. I didn’t want to acknowledge any of it. This was all wrong.

Inside the center was worse. Rebels—kids I’d lived with and battled with for four months—occupied all the couches in the small lobby. Crying, consoling each other, hugging their Pokémon tightly. I saw Zoe comforting Liam along with his Bayleef as he doubled over, sobbing. Kris, hugging her Furret, neither of her partners anywhere to be seen. I’d seen one of them die, right in front of me.

There’d been about fifteen kids outside, and another ten or so in here, which meant… My breath seized in my chest—almost two dozen rebels were unaccounted for. Some of them had fled elsewhere, they must have. But… there was no avoiding the sickening truth that most of them had died on Midnight Island. And that wasn’t even counting how many of the survivors had lost Pokémon.

And then, for some reason, I properly realized that both of my partners were still alive.

“You said Rudy made it out?” I asked, turning to face Darren.

“Yeah,” he replied. But there was a slight edge to his voice. Something was wrong. Something other than the attack itself.

“…Where is he?” I asked warily.

Darren’s face fell, and his eyes shifted a bit. But then he pointed at the far end of the lobby. There, seated on a couch, was Rudy, face buried in his hands, shoulders trembling. My stomach curled inward on itself. He was safe at least, but something was definitely wrong. I walked over, my steps slow and cautious. Ebony was lying next to him, resting her head on his leg. The Houndoom glanced up at me with a worried look as I neared.

“Hey. You… you alright?” It was a stupid question. None of us were alright. Not after what had just happened.

“Wartortle’s dead,” Rudy croaked.

It was like the air had been sucked from the room. I must have misheard him. I must have.

“What?” was all I could say.

He took several slow, shaking breaths. “The Rockets were all surrounding us. He’d already used Protect a bunch, but… I didn’t recall him. I thought he could handle it, I didn’t think that… that…”

I sat down on the far end of the couch, staring at the floor in shock. And yet… an insidious voice in the back of my head kept telling me this wasn’t shocking at all.

“I didn’t want him to get hurt, I swear. I just… I wasn’t thinking… I didn’t realize…”

He hadn’t realized. I hadn’t realized. Hadn’t realized that it had been like this the entire time. How many times had I noticed him being careless with Wartortle and just brushed it off? I figured it would all work out in the end, because… well, because why wouldn’t it? Things had always worked out for him before.

I didn’t think anything of it, so I never said anything, and now Wartortle was dead.

The urge to comfort Rudy flared up inside me, but what was there to say? Reassure him that it wasn’t his fault? In other words, lie to his face? Pretend like it wasn’t both inevitable from the way things had been going and also completely avoidable if anyone, including me, had ever stopped to say, “hey, maybe you should appreciate your starter more?” No, I’d rolled my eyes and thought, “ha ha, typical Rudy,” and then ignored it.

Countless opportunities, all wasted. The image of Razors lying in a pool of blood flashed through my mind, distorting into Wartortle.

I couldn’t handle this right now. I didn’t know how to be there for him when I felt ready to collapse at any moment, and if that made me a bad friend, then I almost didn’t even care because I’d already screwed up so many times that this paled in comparison.

“Take care of him, will you?” I said to Ebony, giving her a few half-hearted neck rubs. The firedog glanced in my direction and gave a light whimper. Of course this was hitting her hard—she’d lost a teammate. And on top of that… she was still just a pup, wasn’t she? Even as a Houndoom?

I stood up from the couch and shuffled away. But since I didn’t know where to go, I wound up wandering aimlessly around the lobby, lost in a daze. The scattered voices and crying all around me had blended into a distorted haze of sound that my brain didn’t feel like sorting through. What was I supposed to do now? What were any of us supposed to do now?

It wasn’t until my ears caught a familiar voice in Pokéspeech that I felt myself snap back into reality and turn in the direction of the noise to see Aros and Stygian at the front entrance with a rather confused nurse.

“These two say you’re their trainer?” she asked.

I just said we don’t have a trainer, but we’re with her,” Aros said exasperatedly.

I stared blankly for a few seconds before saying, “Yeah, they’re with me. I guess.” My face probably looked like I was willing to kill someone for a bit of rest. I vaguely wanted to rearrange it into something less hostile, but the message got lost halfway, so I wound up just staring at the floor.

The nurse gave me a sympathetic smile. “You’re welcome to head on back to the trainer’s dorm if you like,” she said gently.

I blinked. “Right. Uh, come with me I guess,” I said, motioning to the two clones.

My legs were on autopilot, shuffling against the carpet as I wandered down the hall, rounding the first corner I came to. I was met with a wide dormitory about the same size as the lobby and filled with a dozen or so bunks. A few kids were back here already. Three. That still left around twenty unaccounted for. I hated knowing that.

I stumbled over to the closest bed and plopped down onto it heavily, sliding my backpack off my shoulders and letting it fall to the floor. Aros and Stygian sat down in front of me, glancing around uncertainly.

So… uh… do we need to go inside a Pokéball to stay indoors?” Aros asked in what sounded like genuine confusion.

“I’d feel safer if you didn’t,” I said immediately. I had no idea what the odds were that we’d be attacked here, but I didn’t want to be without the experiments. Not now.

A sudden vibration from my pocket gave me pause. It took several seconds for me to realize that I hadn’t imagined it—my R-com had just received a text message. Slowly, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the device. I pressed the button on its front to light up the screen.

It was a text message from Stalker.

By the time you all read this, I hopefully will have been able to draw the Rockets away from you. Otherwise, you won’t be reading this.

The biggest danger to any of you right now is being connected to me. For that reason, I will not attempt to approach any of you. It’s safer if they think I’ve abandoned the rebels. Stay in public, and stay together. Don’t give them the opportunity to isolate you or single you out.

The Rebellion is over. But your real names and identities should still be safe—I’ve made sure of that. It’s up to you what you want to do from now on. If I never see you again, thank you for being a part of the fight. Whether it seems like it or not, you made a difference. If you want to continue the fight, come to Johto. I lead the Johto Resistance there. I can offer its protection. You’ve all proven yourselves worthwhile allies. I’d be honored to have you on my side again.


Our identities were safe, he’d said. Not mine. Mine was compromised ever since the day Astrid pieced together who I was. With the Rebellion finished, would I ever be safe anywhere again?

The adrenaline was wearing off, leaving a tidal wave of smothering exhaustion in its wake. I was only dimly aware that I’d unclipped Swift and Firestorm’s Pokéballs and opened them. Both of my Pokémon appeared alongside the bed and glanced around in confusion. Somewhere amidst the torrent of questions from Firestorm, I managed to mumble, “Ask them,” gesturing vaguely in the experiments’ direction. After that, I fell back onto the bed and didn’t get up.






End Chapter 22
The following post contains an extra that goes along with this chapter. In addition, I did write up an author's commentary post when I published this chapter on Serebii, explaining the reasoning for some of the decisions made in this chapter. After the positive response this chapter got over there, I don't think I'll bother with posting it here. But if anyone wants to see it, you can find it [here].
 
I’ve really enjoyed reading this story so far.

The death of Razors seemed quite inevitable, but killing himself to save himself from being enslaved again was really quite sad. I’ll be interested to see how they cope with the decision to move onward to Johto or not, and the fallout from what they just experienced.
 
Reed had crumpled to the ground in an awkward heap, his eyes wide and staring and a bullet hole in his head.

Oh, okay! So that's what we're doing tonight.

--

All things considered, this chapter was definitely a sudden change of pace. I think one thing that's kind of interesting about it is, from a narrative perspective and from a blind reader's perspective, this theoretically could have happened after any mission after or during this one, depending on how many missions you would've wanted to happen before this attack took place. I have some commentary on this at the end regarding your afterword on serebii, but more on that later. For now, I want to comment on the general mechanics and beats of the story.

The main action was frantic and confusing, but not necessarily in a bad way. Limiting it to Jade helped to go over the main parts, and the aftermath near the end helped to "catch up" to the action points that we missed. This chapter could have been twice as long if it was in third person and followed the key characters, to being able to "cheat" through a big scene in this way--which, I'll admit, you sometimes use as a crutch to get through it faster--played to your advantage here.

This is definitely a bit of a turning point, but also more a way forward. At first I thought that this story was going to find itself going in a totally different direction up until Stalker's text message, suggesting we'll just be moving to another region. It's mildly disappointing, if that's the case, but I wouldn't say completely. I'm still interested in that aspect of the plot.

I'll save the afterword for after these quotes...

Oh god, her teammate was dead next to me and she couldn’t see him, oh god.

I liked these little bits of fully conversational / internal narrative that blends with actual thoughts. However, I think the future instances of it in this chapter were... a bit excessive this time around.

I flinched from the ping of bullets against Protect

Y'know, this is actually something I think about sometimes. Typically sounds come from both objects reverberating from being struck. What does something like Protect, which I imagine is forcefield-based, make for a sound? Is it ethereal? Metallic?

My jaw hung open as the dragon spiraled downward uncontrollably

I'm noticing a lot of "[my action] as [actually important action]" clauses in this chapter.

With a gargantuan effort, he wrenched his face into a forced smile.

“I’m sorry.”

As much as I'm disappointed in the big picture of this moment, I'm very impressed at how this scene in and of itself was handled--Razors was, in a sense, able to die as himself and with at least one aspect of it on his own terms. I don't really have much else to say on that, just that I think this scene was handled well for what you were going for.

If you want to continue the fight, come to Johto. I lead the Johto Resistance there. I can offer its protection. You’ve all proven yourselves worthwhile allies. I’d be honored to have you on my side again.

Hm, now that I've already commented on it above, this quote seems redundant for me to take. Still, wondering of Jade takes it up or not.

--

Hokay! Now, I also took the liberty of reading the afterword on serebii, because you felt it was important enough to link back to it. I agree with a lot of what you're going for. You had a bigger story to tell and the Rebellion was more or less meant to be a prologue. I do have to raise my eyebrows on why you're more or less shrugging off why Team Rocket goes to such extreme measures when you yourself acknowledge it's excessive from the top-down, but I can chalk that up to how a criminal organization based around magical creatures can run at times, or something along those lines.

I think I'm more interested in your approach to handling conflict, since you've given us a pretty rare insight into your creative thought process in how you handle story beats in the broad strokes and the smaller details. So, your approach to Wartortle's death was to give Rudy a reason to deconstruct his reckless behavior. You thought that killing Wartortle would give what you wanted "and more," in terms of having him change and learn, but... I do wonder if that's really the case.

One thing that I've noticed is that human-pokemon interactions can sometimes be a bit on the stilted side sometimes, perhaps in part because there's not a lot of it. I'm generally more interested in how the pokemon interact with each other and how they feel about themselves than how they interact with their trainers. The rare exception to this is Swift and Jade. Everyone else, sometimes I get this odd... indifference from the Pokemon when they interact with their trainers--and not just from the hybrids.

I'm rambling a bit, but this ties into my point, and this will lead to Razors next: I think if Wartortle had lived, you could have capitalized on Wartortle mouthing off, rebelling, or otherwise openly questioning Rudy's actions as his trainer from then on, giving a much more direct and lasting conduit to Rudy developing than just the single event of Wartortle's death.

I know I'm a bit biased here. I have a strong focus in general on the theme of how to handle something when you can't just kill off the "problem character." Because--and I'm sure you'll agree, based on your afterword--killing a character is the easy way out. The hard way, which has much more payoff if you can execute it, is having them follow through with those problems and see where that arc actually takes them. And that leads me to...

Razors. As much as I liked the scene of how he went out, reading your afterword gives me a bit of a bitter aftertaste on how disappointing it is you decided to go in this direction. Once again--what to do about characters when you can't get rid of them, and what that means for those involved. Chibi and Razors, once old friends, now completely estranged due to time and experiences, struggling to rekindle and reconcile.

Whether they succeed or not, there is so much potential in that kind of character interaction and storyline, and rather than see it as an opportunity, you saw it as a problem. I suppose the best of two worlds would have been if Razors tried to kill himself, but Chibi loses it, does his thing, and then Razors barely survives (either from being a Pokemon or from being presumably cold blooded--they tend to last longer without most of their blood) and the aftermath of that can lead to a lot of conversations.

Still, that aside, reading your thought process--that they no longer have anything in common, wildly conflicting life philosophies, having to work together on the same team, having once been friends? And you saw that as something you wanted to avoid by killing it off? The real death here is the lost potential in the narrative--not the loss Razors.

Sorry if this wasn't quite what you were hoping to hear. I do like the scene's execution, like I said. But learning about the reasoning behind your direction is definitely something that has me scratching my head. At the very least, I still want to see where this goes and--as you mentioned in the afterword--how the Legendary War ties into it all.
 
@NotAPassenger: Welcome! Glad to have ya on board! Thanks for dropping a comment and hope you enjoy what comes next~


Oh, okay! So that's what we're doing tonight.
Not gonna lie, this reaction is pretty amazing.
This is definitely a bit of a turning point, but also more a way forward. At first I thought that this story was going to find itself going in a totally different direction up until Stalker's text message, suggesting we'll just be moving to another region. It's mildly disappointing, if that's the case, but I wouldn't say completely. I'm still interested in that aspect of the plot.
Mild spoiler but... yeah, the story's gonna be going in a totally different direction from here.
I do have to raise my eyebrows on why you're more or less shrugging off why Team Rocket goes to such extreme measures when you yourself acknowledge it's excessive from the top-down, but I can chalk that up to how a criminal organization based around magical creatures can run at times, or something along those lines.
Ah, if you want to know why that is, well... it's because this fic has gotten bogged down in so many multi-year hiatuses, and my odds of finishing the thing are already so low as it is, that I have a very "just keep swimming" approach when I run into issues that I just can't fathom how to fix without fundamentally restructuring the entire story.
I think I'm more interested in your approach to handling conflict, since you've given us a pretty rare insight into your creative thought process in how you handle story beats in the broad strokes and the smaller details. So, your approach to Wartortle's death was to give Rudy a reason to deconstruct his reckless behavior. You thought that killing Wartortle would give what you wanted "and more," in terms of having him change and learn, but... I do wonder if that's really the case.
Quoting this bit but replying to the whole thing. Forgive the wall of text incoming, but you hit a lot of really interesting stuff!

Let's start with the "and more" part. In this case, that was referring to the emotional impact on the characters. One of my absolute favorite things in fiction is developing how characters react to pain and loss (which I'm sure has been obvious) and that's one thing that you fundamentally can't get from backing out or shying away from loss. The lessons I wanted to develop were ones that required sacrifice in order to have any meaning at all. To me, killing a character hardly removes them from the plot neatly and easily, because then you have deal with developing everyone else in the aftermath. So I'm a bit puzzled that it seems like I chose this to avoid writing an interesting character arc, when all these things happened specifically to facilitate character arcs.

I might have portrayed my motivations poorly in that writeup, because it's not as though I outlined Chibi's arc and went "oh, there's interesting things here, and I don't want to write them." But rather "there's interesting things here, but not anywhere near as interesting (to me) as these things over here." In both cases, I weighed the two options and went with the one that had the most interesting long-term fallout in the narrative. I've cancelled an upcoming character death in Book 2 because I realized that the potential impact on the survivors was not sufficiently interesting to justify it (and it was also redundant with an overlapping arc, and a whole host of other reasons.)

It's a bit like if FMA had decided to pursue a subplot about de-fusing Nina and Alexander, instead of killing them. That certainly could have been a very interesting subplot with a ton of worldbuilding potential, awkward character interactions, ect. I can't even say that I wouldn't have wanted to see that! But... in lieu of that, the series opted to go for setting the tone for the kind of story that it wanted to be, establishing the brothers' feeling of powerlessness and the realization that there were some things that they could not fix, no matter how hard they tried or how much power they gained. Was something lost by going with that? Sure, an entire subplot was closed off forever. But it's not as though nothing was gained.

Now, is all that to say that I don't have any regrets with Chibi and Razors? Oh hell no, as a lot of Serebii readers were quick to point out, I definitely need an extra chapter or two in the middle of book 1 to further develop those two, (in addition to needing to show more of their backstory.) But in book 2 now, I'm still writing the fallout from this chapter and the impact it has on Chibi's character arc in chapter 51 and Rudy's arc in Chapter 59. The ripples from this chapter on the narrative are going last a very long time, and make things much, much more difficult on the characters. I chose it because it was the harder path.

(Also without meaning to, you accidentally hit on what the theme of the next arc is going to be, though I can't quote where because spoilers.)

Well, that was a lot! Hope some of that made sense. Thanks for leaving such in-depth thoughts! It's really interesting to be able to discuss things like this.
 
Chapter 23: Betrayal
So I've often said that this fic has been around for a very, very long time, and this chapter introduces the one subplot in the fic that dates back to the original draft. As a result, it has quite a bit of sentimental value. I've really been looking forward to this one. Hope you enjoy~



Chapter 23: Betrayal

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Sunlight filtered in through a crack in the curtains, falling across my face and slowly dragging me out of a heavy sleep. I blinked several times, putting a hand over my face to keep the sunbeam from stinging my eyes. It felt like I’d been hit by a truck. I honestly wasn’t sure whether I’d slept for five minutes or five days. Hazy memories started bubbling to the surface of my mind, one after another. The stadium engulfed in flames. Gunshots. Moltres. Running for our lives. Razors…

I shivered. That was… one hell of a nightmare.

I sat up and squinted at my surroundings as my eyes adjusted to the light. And then a chill fell over me. This wasn’t my room. I was in a small, cabin-style dormitory filled with beds, half of which were occupied by other members of the Rebellion.

So then… all of that from last night… that all really happened?

I collapsed back against the pillows like a heavy weight had just been dropped on me. All of that had really happened. The Rebellion was over. Nearly half the team was gone. Razors was gone. Stalker had disappeared.

But those of us who had escaped… we were still alive. I was so sure we’d be targeted here, I just hadn’t had the energy to deal with it last night.

Both Swift and Firestorm were already awake, the former gazing out the window and the latter idly playing with his tail flame. Aros and Stygian were curled up on the carpet near the doorway in a way that had probably made it difficult for anyone else to enter the room. The Absol’s coat was spotless, and it was impossible to tell that she’d been ashy and bloodstained the previous night. She must’ve spent most of the night cleaning herself.

Swift took that opportunity to push off from the windowsill and glide over to the bed, landing alongside me.

Morning,” he chirped.

“Morning,” I replied automatically, glancing around the room once more. I had apparently set my Pokéballs on one of the tables by the doorway, judging by the fact that there were three of them sitting on the polished wooden surface next to a black hybrid ball. The latter of which was currently open.

“Where’s Chibi?” I asked warily.

At my words, Stygian partially opened a single eye to stare at me before yawning widely and sitting up. “He broke out halfway through the night and ran off,” the Absol said, rubbing a paw against her face.

Honestly, I couldn’t even blame him. Not after the way I’d spent an entire week holed up in my room. I only hoped he wouldn’t get spotted by the wrong people. He was usually pretty careful, but… in his current state…

I can’t pretend to know how he’s feeling,” Aros said, sitting up suddenly with an alertness that made me doubt he’d really been asleep. “The hybrids were always a lot closer with each other than the rest of us. We just gotta give him space.

Give him space… All right. I could do that.

A crushing emptiness had settled into the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t stop seeing it happen, over and over in my mind. Couldn’t stop seeing the look on Chibi’s face when it had happened. It felt like my heart was going to collapse inward on itself.

“I should have done something.”

The experiments tilted their heads in confusion, but Swift seemed to know what I was talking about. He stepped closer to me and gently asked, “What should you have done?

“I don’t know. Something. Razors is dead and I watched it happen and I couldn’t do anything, but I should have figured something out,” I said, burying my face in my hands.

Please don’t blame yourself,” the Pidgeotto said quietly. “Not after everything you’ve been through.

I didn’t have anything to say to that. Not while my gut felt like it’d been punched and my hands were already soaked with tears.

Why didn’t you send us out?” Firestorm murmured. Not this again.

“It wasn’t safe,” I muttered, wiping my eyes. That horrible feeling of paralysis flashed through my memory. Wanting to send someone out and fight back, but knowing I’d just be getting them killed.

But… I could have helped—

“You would have been shot,” I replied in what was probably a harsher tone than necessary, but I wasn’t in the best mindset to be tactful. The Charmeleon froze like he’d been slapped, then looked away and said nothing.

I put a hand to my forehead. “Sorry, sorry, it’s just… I don’t think I could handle losing any of you. Rudy’s going through that right now, and—”

Wait, what?” Firestorm said, looking up suddenly.

“Wartortle,” I replied. The name said it all.

The Charmeleon blinked at me in confusion like I’d just told him the moon was square. “Was he just… not strong enough…?

“Yeah, well maybe it wasn’t his fault he never got any training because no one ever thought he was worth anything, alright?” I snapped, slamming a fist against my knee. Rudy hadn’t thought so, and I hadn’t cared, and now he was dead, and no one could fix that, and I was completely not in the mood to deal with Firestorm’s stupid strength obsession. Even though I was his trainer, it was my job to deal with it, but dammit, not now. Later. I’d deal with it later. I had more pressing concerns. Like figuring out what to do with myself from now on.

I took a deep breath to steady myself and looked over each of my Pokémon, but then my eyes fell on the two clones. Figuring out what I was gonna do was one thing, but what about them?

“I… I’m not sure what you two want to do now,” I said awkwardly. “The Rebellion is over. That kind of rules out staying on Midnight Island.”

Aros folded his arms, throwing a sideways glance out the window. “Might’ve crossed my mind, yeah,” he said. Stygian had suddenly become very interested in licking her already spotless claws.

“I don’t know if there’s anywhere you’ve wanted to go? Both of your species aren’t even from this region, so…”

The Flygon tossed his head indignantly. “You don’t expect us to make a living in the wild, do you? You know there’s nothing wild about us.

I was raised by humans, and I lived in the wild just fine,” Firestorm pointed out.

Yeah, well you weren’t made by humans, were you?” the dragon retorted, pointing a claw at the Charmeleon.

I really didn’t see how that was relevant to anything. “Look, I don’t care if you’re clones, alright? Where do you want to live? We can’t just leave you at the Pokémon Center.”

Aros peered at me through his red eye lenses, his expression hard to place. Finally, he said, “Well then, given our choices, I think we could make do with having a trainer for now.

A heavy pause followed. I blinked at him, mouth agape, while my brain processed the implications of what he’d just said.

“Wait, what?

The Flygon folded his arms. “There’s no place for us in the wild, and I still have business with the Rockets. Sticking with you right now is easiest.” So I was just a means to an end, then.

My eyes traced the floor back and forth as I struggled to think of a response. “I… guess that makes sense?” Aros nodded in a self-satisfied way, like he’d sure showed me. “But seriously, you’re both on board with this?” I asked, throwing a bewildered look at Stygian, who’d been silent the whole time.

The Absol cracked one eye open, glancing at me out of its corner. “As far as humans go, you’re not absolutely terrible,” she offered.

I smiled weakly. “Thanks.” That might have been the nicest thing she’d ever said to me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I couldn’t just spend all day in the trainer’s dorm. Eventually, I had to make my way outside. I recalled all my Pokémon except for Aros, who didn’t have a Pokéball (I would need to get one for him at some point) before wandering toward the hallway to the lobby. On the way, I happened to pass by a floor-length mirror and caught a glimpse of my reflection out of the corner of my eye, which made me stop.

I looked like a mess. Still dressed in the same clothes I’d been sleeping in before the attack—an oversized t-shirt and drawstring pants that were now thoroughly torn on the legs—crumpled under a dirt and ash-covered jacket. A tangled pile of too-long blonde hair hung around my face (why hadn’t I noticed that it needed cutting until now?), and my eyes held a strange heaviness that I hadn’t seen before.

I didn’t look fourteen anymore. And not just because I was turning fifteen in two weeks. There was something else. It felt like I’d lived four years in the past four months, and that fact was plastered all over my face, even though I couldn’t really describe why.

With a long, slow exhale, I forced myself away from the mirror. No sense dwelling on pointless things like that.

The Pokécenter lobby wasn’t quite as packed as it had been last night, though there were still plenty of rebels and Pokémon and cops around. The overwhelming haze of grief and horror from the previous night had mellowed out into a lingering aura of calm, cold despair that hung in the air like a wet blanket. Some of the kids were talking with the police. Others were talking quietly amongst themselves in hushed, scared voices, glancing around frequently. Others sat alone, staring out the window in silence. I noticed Darren in the third category. Well, not quite alone; his Sneasel was next to him, making a game of jumping on and off the couch repeatedly.

Darren glanced up at me as I approached. “How’d you sleep?” he asked.

“I feel like I woke up from a coma and all of this is fake,” I said, unceremoniously flopping onto the couch with my arms hanging over the back.

“Ah… you too?” he replied.

I exhaled through the nose in a rough approximation of a laugh before leaning my head back against the couch cushion and rubbing my temples. Sneasel began idly clawing at the edge of my jacket. I didn’t remotely care enough to tell her to stop.

“Where’s Rudy?” I asked.

Darren nodded over his shoulder in the direction of the hallway I’d come from. “He requested a private room. Hasn’t come out yet.” He paused for a few seconds, then added, “I tried knocking but he didn’t answer.”

I gave a hollow laugh. “Can’t really blame him.” Not after what I did last week.

“He wouldn’t talk to me last night either. I don’t think he likes me much. I mean, that doesn’t bother me, it’s just…” His voice trailed off.

I furrowed my brow, like I was focusing on some hard to make out detail on the ceiling. A couple times I opened my mouth like I was going to say something, but no words came.

“I mean, it’s cool. You two were friends before all this. I get it,” Darren went on, with a tone that sounded like he was talking to no one in particular. Sneasel abandoned my jacket to jump in his lap, and he stroked her ear feathers absently.

“Are all your Pokémon alright?” I blurted out suddenly.

Darren blinked. “They’re fine. Kadabra saved our butts on more than one occasion.”

“Oh. That’s good.”

An awkward silence followed as I struggled to find something, anything to say. Anything we could have normally talked about felt pointless and inane right now, though.

After what felt like ages, Darren broke the silence. “I know it probably seems like I’m taking all this pretty well. Guess I’m not that great at expressing this kind of thing, huh?”

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye without moving my head. He was staring out the window with an expression that was hard to place.

“It’s a lot to take in,” I finally said.

“Part of me’s grateful that my team and I got out of it as well as we did. I know that sounds terrible, but… I can’t help thinking it, y’know?” He paused, frowning. “Hang on, you didn’t lose any Pokémon, right?”

My Pokémon… Razors wasn’t my Pokémon.

“No,” I said, my voice hollow.

Darren let out a breath. “Okay. Just checking. Didn’t wanna say anything like that if you were in the same boat as Rudy.”

And then, in that moment, for whatever reason, I was hit with the crushing realization that everything I’d based my life around had completely and totally fallen apart, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do from now on.

“What are you gonna do now?” I asked, suddenly turning to face him. “I guess… what were you gonna do before the Rebellion? Rudy was always out for the whole ‘win the League, be a competitive battler’ deal, but I don’t think I’ve ever asked you.”

Darren crossed his arms behind his head with a thoughtful look. “I just wanted to get out of Celadon. See the rest of Kanto, maybe travel to other regions. I was tired of living in a town run by Rockets. Probably sounds silly that I joined an anti-Rocket team after wanting to get away from them, but”—the corners of his mouth curled up—“Stalker was pretty persuasive when I met him.”

“You can say that again,” I said with a dry laugh.

“What about you? You’ve never struck me as the competitive battling type.”

I chuckled under my breath. “Definitely not.” Why had I wanted to become a trainer? I could only think of the reasons why I’d decided to become a rebel. But before that… before Team Rocket, before Entei… what were my goals then?

“I only wanted to go on a journey because everyone else was,” I said slowly as the memories came drifting back. “I hated being left behind. All my closest friends were older than me, except for Rudy. So they all left years ago.”

That was it, wasn’t it? That’s all I’d really wanted back then. To meet up with Ajia and Starr and travel around with them. The idea was almost laughable now. Like something out of a fantasy.

I took a deep breath, trying to clear my thoughts. The question of what to do next resurfaced in my mind, and I was again reminded that I had no idea what to do with myself.

“Did you read Stalker’s text?” I asked.

Darren nodded.

“Are you gonna join him?”

He paused to consider the question. “Nah. I think, after all this… I’d kind of like to actually go on that journey. It’s not as exciting as fighting Rockets, but I’ve kind of had enough excitement for a while, y’know?” He made eye contact with me. “What about you?”

After what happened last night? Half my brain was screaming to get out of the fight against Team Rocket and never look back. But what else was I supposed to do? What other options did I have at this point?

I could go home. Leave it all behind. Pretend I’d never met Stalker or joined his team. Pretend I didn’t know that Team Rocket was brainwashing Legendaries in preparation for a regional takeover. But would it really be safe to stay anywhere for extended periods of time from now on? Especially back in Viridian, the heart of the organization? No, no it wouldn’t. If anything, I’d just be a danger to everyone around me.

I couldn’t go home. I couldn’t stay in one spot. I had to keep moving. And I owed it to my Pokémon to continue training—especially the experiments. But where would I go? I couldn’t just wander without any sort of destination. Sure, trainers did that all the time, but I wasn’t a real trainer. I didn’t have much money either.

“I’m… not sure. I haven’t decided yet,” I said, more to myself than to him.

As if he knew what I was thinking, Darren said, “Well, regardless of what you choose, you’re still missing a license, aren’t you? You should probably fix that before anything else.”

If I’d been capable of it, I’d have laughed out loud. “I failed the exam.”

Darren smirked. “You don’t think you’d fail it now, do you?”

I was all set with my usual retort that I’d failed it twice and was never going to get any better… and then I realized how colossally stupid that sounded. I had been training Pokémon for four months under the guidance of an actual master trainer. I barely knew anything about Pokémon when I started, and now?

“I… I guess I wouldn’t,” I said slowly as the implications of that sunk into my head. I could become a trainer. A real trainer. I could actually earn money by doing officially sanctioned battles. I could travel around and stay at any Pokécenter I wanted and not have to worry about getting sent home and having my Pokémon taken. I could head to Johto where the Kanto Rockets were less likely to find me. I could meet up with the Johto Resistance and get their protection.

This fixed everything.

“I’m going to be a real trainer,” I said suddenly, sitting bolt-upright with my eyes wide. “Where’s the closest League office? Probably not here—Saffron, maybe?”

Darren stared at me incredulously. “I honestly wasn’t expecting that kinda one-eighty.”

“Yeah, well, I needed something like this. Makes everything feel less hopeless,” I said, letting out a breath before standing to my feet in a surprisingly smooth motion. Then a thought hit me and I said, “Hey, can I steal another Pokéball off of you?”

“Another one?” Darren asked, raising an eyebrow.

I put a hand to my forehead. “Yeah, uh… the experiments are gonna stick with me.”

“Ha. Called it,” he said, looking rather pleased with himself as he fished through his bag. Sneasel reached in with her claws to ‘help,’ but Darren pulled the bag away from the dark-type before she could tear more holes in it and then retrieved a red and white sphere from inside.

“You owe me,” he said, giving me a wry grin as he handed it over.

“I’ll pay you back after I get my license.”

“Deal.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Much as I would have liked to, I couldn’t go get my license right away. That would have involved taking a trip to Saffron, where the closest League office was located. And while I could probably have made it there and back in the same day, I didn’t exactly want to leave Lavender without Chibi, even if it was only for an afternoon. Plus, it was probably best if Darren and I waited for Rudy to come around before making too many plans.

That said, it seemed risky for any of us to stick around the Pokécenter for too long. Stalker might’ve drawn the Rockets off last night, but any center near Midnight Island was an obvious target if the Rockets decided it was better to finish off the rest of us. Hell, the only reason they hadn’t already was probably because of all the cops around. Not that I felt too great about the cops either. I didn’t really want to risk getting questioned about the Rebellion and revealing that I was an illegal trainer with connections to Rockets. Not to mention the fact that three of my Pokémon were genetic experiments. I could end up losing them.

So I returned to the trainer’s dorm, introduced Aros to his new Pokéball, and took stock of everything I owned in preparation for leaving town, whenever that would be. Turns out, I didn’t have much. I’d pretty much only grabbed my bag and my Pokéballs when I’d fled the stadium. That left me with nothing more than a single spare T-shirt and a Rocket uniform. Well… that and the strange metallic orb I’d found in the ruins. I couldn’t even remember putting it in the bag to begin with, but apparently it had wound up there at some point.

I also still had my R-com. I’d reread Stalker’s final message to the Rebellion about a dozen times. I’d even sent him a response asking where he was in Johto. But I hadn’t received a reply yet. Which was fine—I still hadn’t decided if I was even going to join the Johto Resistance. And there would be plenty of time to decide after I became a Pokémon trainer.

I showered and changed into my spare t-shirt and black Rocket pants. I looked like a dork, but it was better than what I was wearing before. There’d be time to grab a cheap outfit or two from a thrift shop or something. I was sitting on the bed, toweling off my wet hair when a flicker of yellow in my peripheral vision caught my eye.

My heart skipped a beat. It was Chibi.

The Pikachu was seated on the windowsill, looking every bit as disheveled as last night, with fur and feathers sticking out at awkward angles and most of his body covered in scrapes and bruises. His face still bore the bloodstains of when it happened, only now the marks were smudged and matted where the fur had been soaked with tears.

I swallowed hard and said, “You’re back.”

He gazed up at me distantly, eyes bloodshot and half-lidded. I had to force my expression to remain neutral when the sight of him felt like being stabbed in the heart.

“I… I was worried about you,” I said quietly, unsure of whether or not I should have said so.

The hybrid glanced away, staring at the floor with no change in expression.

My voice shook as I went on, “I know you probably want to be alone right now, but… I just… want to make sure you know I’m here for you? If you want me to be.”

Without saying a word, he hopped down from the window and crossed the dormitory on all fours. I held my breath as he walked past me, but he didn’t even glance in my direction. He just hopped up onto the wooden table by the door and tapped the button on his Pokéball, dissolving himself into it.

I let out a deep breath. Yeah, that’d gone about as well as I’d expected. Aros had said to give the hybrid some space… well that’s what was going to happen, whether I liked it or not. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how much he was suffering. At least now that he was back in his Pokéball, I could have one of the center’s staff heal him. The crushing realization hit me that I honestly didn’t even know how badly he was injured. He could have had broken ribs for all I knew. He wouldn’t have let it show, either way.

A faint, lightheaded feeling had suddenly overtaken me. Like I’d been running on overdrive ever since last night but somehow hadn’t noticed until the stress of seeing Chibi again. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that my appetite had suddenly decided to appear out of nowhere, making me painfully aware of just how ravenous I was.

I guess that answered the question of where I was headed first.

Lavender Town only had one trainer’s cafe, and it was tiny. Given Aros and Stygian’s size, we had to eat at one of the outdoor tables, which was less than ideal given the cold wind blowing in from the sea. Everyone argued over who got to sit next to Firestorm, we talked about our upcoming trip to Johto, and for a little while it actually felt like things were normal.

I kept Chibi inside his ball. I wasn’t ready to talk to him yet, and he almost definitely wouldn’t want to come out anyway.

After eating, the walk back from the cafe was considerably less miserable than the walk to it had been. That kind of bothered me. I wasn’t allowed to be feeling kind of alright. Not after what had happened last night. Not after what Rudy was going through. Not after what Chibi was going through. There was no such thing as normal anymore, but it was like all the pain and despair had just melted into background noise that I could barely sense anymore. It was just the way things were. This was life now.

I was lost in thought as I walked down the streets of Lavender Town, not paying attention to anything in particular. Which meant I was completely unprepared for the hand that reached out of nowhere, grabbed hold of my shirt, and dragged me into the nearby alley.

“What the hell?!” I cried, whirling around to face my attacker and—I froze up instantly. It was Astrid. Again. Why was it always her?! What was she doing here?! While I was frozen, she pushed me up against the wall of the nearest building, pinning me completely. Every inch of me wanted to scream, but my voice caught in my throat. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t fight back, I couldn’t do anything. Why not?!

“Quit shaking. I’m not here to kill you,” she muttered.

She wasn’t? But then… that could only mean… My insides melted away just thinking about her Raichu. Not that. Not again.

“Where is your leader?” Astrid demanded.

“H—he’s in Johto!”

Where in Johto?!”

“I don’t know, I swear I don’t know, he didn’t tell us anything, I’m not lying I swear!” I said all in one breath.

Her eyes bored into mine, looking almost… desperate? Now that I was paying attention, I could see the exhaustion covering her face and the dark circles under her eyes. Seconds passed with neither of us making a move. My heart thundered in my chest and sweat dripped down my face and every inch of me hoped and prayed that she’d somehow, miraculously be satisfied with my answer.

After what felt like an eternity, Astrid released her hold on my collar, pushing me away. “Lucky for you I can tell you’re not lying,” she said with a scowl. “If your leader’s really abandoned you, then you’re useless to me now. Your team’s finished. You’re powerless. You’re no threat to Team Rocket on your own. So I suggest you take advantage of my generosity and get the hell out of here.”

I stared at her stupidly, unable to process what had just happened. “What? You’re letting me go?”

She didn’t say anything. She just turned and strode off down the alley with the same intensity she’d approached me with.

What? Why was she doing this? And worse, why did I feel like I should know why?

“W-what kind of game are you trying to pull?” I called after her, my voice shaking. This had to be some kind of trick. It had to be. “Even if I’m not a threat, there’s no way you’d ever just let me go.”

Astrid froze mid-step. With her back to me, she said, “You’re not worth the time it’d take to kill you. It’d be a wasted effort.”

I stared incredulously. “That doesn’t… I know what you’re like. You’ve always enjoyed making me suffer.”

She whirled around, her face lit with fury. “You don’t know a damn thing about me,” she spat, sounding almost offended by my words. She then turned to leave once more.

Nothing about this made any sense. Astrid had always targeted me, right from the start. I’d always thought she had a grudge against me ever since the plane incident—which had only gotten worse with each time I escaped. But the kind of grudge that would lead her to target me without killing me? Because if she was really as dangerous as she acted, then there was no way I should have lived through all my encounters with her.

Unless it really was all an act. Which would make this just another link in a long chain of slip-ups and character breaks that I’d never pieced together before. The exaggerated threats that somehow never led anywhere. The total lack of enjoyment during the interrogation. The pain in her eyes during the raid last night. Too many unexplainable things.

Without thinking, I blurted out, “You—you actually don’t want me dead.”

Astrid spun to face me again, eyes narrowed. “Figured out that much, have you?”

My pulse quickened. I was actually right?

“I just don’t know why,” I went on slowly.

She squinted at me like I’d just said the dumbest thing she’d ever heard. “God, I’m lucky you’re such an idiot.”

A horribly unnerving feeling swept over me. After all the times she’d given me the usual death glare or arrogant smirk, seeing this kind of expression from her felt really weird. There was almost something… familiar about it. The image felt ancient in memory, much older than any of my run-ins with Team Rocket. I was suddenly years younger, with her making that exact face and telling me how stupid I was being. How did I have this memory of her looking at me like that from way before I’d even met her?

Because I’d seen that face before, five years ago.

It hit me like a ton of bricks to the face. Five years. Five years—had it really been that long? Long enough that I’d forgotten what she looked like. How was I even capable of forgetting something like that? But there was no other explanation. It had to be her. That would make her seventeen now? Old enough to be an executive. How did I go this long without realizing?

My mind was racing. Too many thoughts to process all at one—it felt like my head was going to burst. It all made sense now. Everything fit.

Astrid was still looking at me like I was a moron. “Are you even listening to me? What else do I have to do to make you go away??”

“Oh god, it really is you, Starr.”

Astrid froze, like the words were a slap to the face. She stared at me in horror, swearing under her breath.

Five years ago, my best friend had suddenly moved away from Viridian with no explanation whatsoever. Now, she was back in my life again, in the form of the person who’d been haunting my nightmares.

Her expression hardened. “So… what are you going to do now, Jade?”

She wasn’t denying it? Some part of me had still hoped, desperately, irrationally, that I was wrong. But I wasn’t. All this time my worst enemy was actually my childhood best friend. The same person I’d been devastated to lose years ago was the one who’d stalked, terrorized, and outright tortured me now. I stared at her, feeling a horrible chill run down my spine. This couldn’t be real. It had to be some sick joke.

Starr frowned. “You look upset. How do you think I felt when I found out you were involved with that damn rebel team? It was bad enough that Ajia’s involved in rebel matters, but now you too? Do you think I wanted this?”

“I just… I don’t understand… how did you turn into this? What happened after you left?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she said darkly. “My past is my business, and you’d do well to stay out of it.”

I bristled. “Am I just supposed to forget that my old best friend is part of an organization that wants me dead?”

Yes, you are. Damn it Jade, I knew you’d react like this. The fact that we were friends five years ago shouldn’t matter anymore. Things are different now.”

“‘Things are different now’?!” I shouted, my blood starting to boil. “Does that make it okay to be a Rocket? Is that your excuse for everything you’ve done?” I was seething, fists clenched, heart pounding.

“Jade, my situation is a lot more complicated than you’re making it out to be—”

“I don’t care! How could you do all of those things to me?!”

“Damn it Jade, do you have any idea how hard I’ve worked to keep you alive the past few months?!” she shouted. “I knew who you were from the start, and I had to keep every other Rocket from figuring that out! Every damn time you snuck into the base or sabotaged our missions, I had to make sure I found you before anyone else, otherwise you’d have been shot and killed in a second.

“As for that night in the detention cell…” she went on, her voice breaking. “Did it never occur to you that I tortured you because that was the only alternative to killing you that wouldn’t look totally suspicious? Do you think I enjoyed that? I had to make damn sure that I was convincing. And guess what—if I lost my position, I wouldn’t have been able to keep my subordinates from killing you the second I was done interrogating you. You know they all wanted you dead! And if it weren’t for me, you would have been.”

I stared at her, lost for words. “I don’t… I didn’t think—”

“Tch. That much is obvious. Now, look. We are going to forget that any of this ever happened. I don’t even care if you keep doing your rebel crap, just do it somewhere far away from me, got it?”

“Well you’re quite the loyal Rocket,” I muttered as she was about to walk off.

Starr spun around furiously. “Yes. I am a loyal Rocket. And you’d do well to remember that. So stop trying to question my loyalties, got it?! We’re done here!!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Astrid was Starr.

That single, unavoidable fact burned in my thoughts for the rest of the day as I wandered aimlessly down the docks south of town, staring blankly out to sea, occasionally catching glimpses of Midnight Island through the fog.

My old best friend had tortured me. That thought wouldn’t stop echoing in my mind either. Even though we weren’t friends anymore and hadn’t been for years. She should’ve been no different than any other Rocket who’d tried to kill me.

Except she was different. We had been friends. Didn’t that mean anything to her? What had caused her to change so much? What had happened in the last five years? Why did she even join Team Rocket to begin with?

I shook my head. Would knowing really change anything? This was the new Starr. So what if we’d been friends as kids? Those kids were long gone—both of us were different people now. There was no reason for me to care about any of it. I was going to Johto in a few days, and I’d never see her again. An old friend I’d lost contact with years ago suddenly reappearing as a terrible person was really not my problem.

It wasn’t my problem. I didn’t care.



Yeah. Right.

It was so, so stupid, but I had to know, or else it was going to eat away at me forever. I had to talk to her again… get some answers. But the idea was… not exactly a comforting one. Try to talk to the person who’d imprisoned and tortured me? She’d spared my life this time. And apparently several other times. But there was no way I could trust that would always be the case. Her loyalties lay with Team Rocket now. I never wanted to be at her mercy again.

I was going to need backup. Someone who’d be able to defeat her if it came to a fight. Someone more logical than me, who could talk to her without losing their cool. Preferably someone who knew her and had a reason to care about the situation.

My eyes widened. I actually knew someone who fit that description perfectly.






End Chapter 23
Astrid is, and has always been, Starr. As unlikely as it may seem, every single terrible thing Astrid ever did was written through this lens, and I hope that a lot of her weird behavior makes sense now. The encounter in Chapter 15 is probably the only one that didn’t have a lot of foreshadowing in it, because there wasn’t a lot at stake, so she was able to really ham it up. With each subsequent encounter, however, the façade started to slip—rereading some of those scenes with this in mind should cause them to take on a whole new meaning.
 
Chapter 23 Extra: Heartless
Chapter 23 Extra: Heartless

(Chronologically, this extra takes place right after the interrogation in Chapter 20. Do not read this extra until you have read Chapter 23.)
The ideal Rocket is heartless.

That’s what Astrid told herself as she made the long walk back from the detention cell to her personal quarters. Scattered grunts passed by her in the hallway. She ignored them. They wouldn’t speak to her unless spoken to. It was amazing how much control she had over their lives.

And yet she couldn’t control the one damn thing that mattered.

She couldn’t think about that now, though. Not where others could see her. Not where weakness wasn’t tolerated, and was something to be snuffed out, or at the very least buried so deep that no one could ever see it. No one. Not the rebel. Not the other executives who’d been watching her interrogation. Not the boss.

The ideal Rocket does not show weakness.

To those under her, she was the image of perfection. She never hesitated. Never failed. Never showed weakness. Just pure, ruthless precision. They didn’t know any better. They couldn’t see the scars she bore from past failure.

She arrived at her room. The door shut behind her, and she turned the lock with a faint click. Her boots hit the wall with a dull thud when she kicked them off. They were heavy boots. They gave her a commanding presence. It was always good for others to fear you before they’d even seen you. She’d always enjoyed that. Not right now, though. She didn’t feel intimidating right now. She felt small and helpless.

A flash of light and her Raichu appeared from his Pokéball on the bed next to her. She wasn’t sure why she’d let him out, she just knew she didn’t want to be alone right now.

Raichu glanced around, a bit surprised to see that they were back in their room. But then the mouse struck a pose, feeling rather pleased with himself. He’d done a good job, hadn’t he? That rebel was so scared! He was good at acting scary, right? His trainer didn’t respond. She just sat there, staring at the floor, shoulders trembling.

Something was wrong. Normally his trainer always praised him for a job well done. Was this because he hadn’t gotten the rebel to confess? They were going back in an hour, right? He’d definitely succeed then.

The electric mouse hopped closer to his trainer, nose twitching. She didn’t… seem upset with him. What was the problem, then?

“I don’t know what to do,” Astrid whispered.

Raichu cocked his head. “Raiichu’raai?”

Astrid glanced down at her Pokémon. His normally cheerful demeanor had given way to concern. She couldn’t look at him without seeing the fact that she’d used him to do those things.

The ideal Rocket follows orders.

She’d trained him well. His control over his lightning was unreal. He could always dish out the exact amount to cause the most pain without causing lasting damage or letting the target fall unconscious. And he had no reason to think there was anything different about this situation. It was just a game to him. Just another routine torturing of someone who was just an enemy, and whose feelings didn’t really matter.

“I’m not mad at you. You followed orders well.” Raichu perked up at bit at her words, and she gave him a reassuring pat.

I followed orders well,” she added with a bitter laugh.

That’s what all this was, right? Following orders. She was good at following orders. She was so good at it that in time she’d become the one giving the orders. But they’d never truly ceased. They just came from higher up now. From the administrators. From the boss.

If it was just following orders, then why did it hurt so much?

It used to hurt a lot more often. But that was because she was weak then. Inexperienced. Blind to the reality of the world. You couldn’t get through life without hurting others. Anyone who thought otherwise was a fool.

She’d volunteered to go down there, though. She didn’t have to be involved. It was a bit strange for a department head not to delegate something like that. The others were perfectly willing to do it. But if she’d let them, there was no telling what they’d do to the rebel.

So in some way… it must have mattered to her.

What the hell was Jade thinking, becoming a rebel? Why did Astrid have to go through this again? Wasn’t it bad enough that she’d already gone through this last year, with Ajia?

No… that was wrong… she hadn’t gone through this with Ajia. It had never gotten this bad. How had things gotten this bad? She’d thought she’d been able to put a stop to it in the Celadon base. Putting on a show of it. Something that would look good for the others while also scaring the shit out of Jade. And yet she just kept coming back. Why?

It was Jade’s own damn fault if she was so determined to keep getting herself into trouble. If she was too stupid to avoid getting herself killed, then that was her problem. Astrid had already saved her life twice now. Twice, she’d risked everything, and for what? Some stupid, meaningless connection that should have died years ago.

It didn’t mean anything, not anymore. The pain of some no-good rebel meant nothing to her. Neither did the sight of that rebel unconscious and bleeding in the forest…or the sight of her lying on the cell floor, writhing in agony.

Because that’s what she was good at. Causing pain.

Astrid clenched her teeth. The memories twisted into her like a knife no matter how much she told herself they didn’t matter. The screams echoed in her ears no matter how hard she willed them not to.

It was Jade’s fault. It couldn’t have been helped.

At some point she lost the will to keep sitting up and had collapsed sideways onto the bed. Raichu nuzzled her arm fervently, his cries tinged with alarm. She reached out and hugged the electric-type tightly as her tears soaked the pillow.

The ideal Rocket is heartless.

She was the ideal Rocket… wasn’t she?

Then why did it hurt so much?
 
Chapter 24: Old Friends and New Enemies
Just a heads up: this chapter is reaaaally long. I'd probably split it in two if it wouldn't screw up my chapter numbering. So be sure to settle in, cause there's a heck of a lot of ground to cover here~



Chapter 24: Old Friends and New Enemies

ch24art_by_chibi_pika-dbe5d6z.png

My heart wouldn’t stop pounding as I sat down at the Pokécenter video phone and opened my wallet to retrieve the small, wrinkled, water-stained piece of paper that Ajia had written her Pokégear number onto so long ago. I took a few deep breaths to steady myself, then placed a few coins into the console before punching in her number. There was no need to be nervous. I was just calling an old friend. No need to be nervous. Not like I was calling to tell her that a mutual friend was part of Team Rocket’s upper ranks. My feet tapped the floor without me telling them to. I tried to make them stop, but that just made them tap faster. Then Ajia’s face appeared on the screen and my heart jumped into my throat. No going back now.

Her eyes lit up the moment she saw me. “Jade? Hey, how’ve you been? You shoulda called sooner, it’s been ages!”

I forced a smile, though it was only slightly forced—there was something undeniably uplifting about seeing her again after all this time. Something that cut through all the nerves and reminded me why she was the one I was reaching out to right now.

“It’s good to see you,” I said, and I meant it.

“So what’s up?” she asked.

I swallowed hard. There really was no way to open this conversation that wasn’t totally awkward. Why bother trying to find one.

“It’s our old friend Starr,” I said slowly, fighting every word. “I found out that she’s a Rocket executive.”

Ajia’s face fell. “Oh. You… you know about that now?”

My heart crumpled inward on itself. “You knew?”

She paused, eyes glancing away ever so slightly. “It would’ve been better if I’d never found out, honestly.”

Ajia knew. This was yet another thing that Ajia knew. Yet another thing that exposed her history fighting Team Rocket… one that I hadn’t even known about until five months ago. Another reminder that my friends were entangled in a vast conspiracy, and that I’d only started to scratch the surface.

“So that day, at the plane crash… you knew that was her?”

Ajia nodded. “And I’m sure she knew who she was fighting then, too.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, hurt leaking into my voice despite all efforts to keep it out.

She paused, frowning. “I… it had been so many years since we’d seen her. I didn’t think it would do any good to bring up that kind of drama out of nowhere. Things didn’t go so well when I found out.”

I bit my lip and glanced away. “Ugh, I didn’t realize. I wanted to talk to her again… try to get some answers, you know? But… if that’s a bad idea—”

“Well hang on, I never said that,” Ajia cut in, smiling faintly. “Things didn’t go so well the last time I talked to her. But that was just me. She’ll have a lot harder time refusing both of us.” She winked.

I stared at her. Somewhere, deep within all the hurt and confusion and shock that this day had held, it was like the tiniest flame of hope had just been lit inside of me, its warmth gradually radiating outward. Ajia was willing to help. I hadn’t even had to ask.

“Where are you?” she asked.

“I…”—I shook my head to get my bearings—“I’m at the Pokémon center in Lavender Town.” A pause, and I added, “Do you know where that is?”

“I’ve got a Pokégear. I can find it.”

Right. Obviously. “I guess I’ll see you here then?”

“Yup, see you!” She waved once more before hanging up.

I collapsed against the seat cushion, letting out a massive sigh of relief—one that it felt like I’d been holding for hours. I had Ajia on my side in this. I wasn’t alone. Someone else knew what it felt like to discover that their friend was on Team Rocket, and that someone was also an expert trainer who had fought Team Rocket before. That alone was enough to remove a huge weight from my shoulders.

Ajia arrived far more quickly than she had any right to. Sure, her Aerodactyl was fast, but it felt like I’d only been waiting a couple of minutes before I glanced up to see a petite teenaged girl walking in through the front doors to the center with a Pichu perched on her shoulder and an Espeon trotting at her heels. The bright energy in her dark eyes stood out in contrast to the grim atmosphere that hung over everyone I’d seen in the past twelve hours, and I couldn’t help suddenly feeling self-conscious about how exhausted and worn-out I probably looked. Last time she’d seen me, I’d been trying to convince her that I really did want to fight Team Rocket. A fresh wave of embarrassment hit me from how bad an idea that had turned out to be.

I stood up from the couch a little too late and wasn’t ready when Ajia threw out her arms and pulled me into a hug, saying, “It’s good to see you!”

Words failed me, like I’d momentarily forgotten what to do when confronted with such good cheer. In the end I settled on, “Thanks for helping me out,” with what hopefully wasn’t too defeated a tone.

She elbowed me lightly as we separated. “Hey, what are friends for?” But then she cocked her head, gazing at me like she was trying to figure something out. “Are… are you doing alright?”

I closed my eyes, smiling weakly. So it was that obvious, huh? “I’ve been better,” I said, grabbing my bag and slinging it over my shoulder. “Come on, let’s walk outside while we talk.”

A cool sea breeze swept through our hair as we stepped outside the Pokécenter. Espeon dashed ahead of us, zigzagging across the path that led to the boardwalk. Ajia held her arms out to the side while we walked, allowing Pichu to scamper from one end to the other.

“So, you start,” Ajia said. “What have you been up to?”

I gave a dry laugh. No way, I definitely wasn’t going to open with that. “I’d reeeally prefer for you to answer that first.”

She blinked a bit in surprise, but then folded her arms behind her head, which prompted Pichu to jump down and cling to her jacket front. “Ah, you know me, I’ve been traveling. A few odd jobs here, a local tournament there. Spent some time in the Sevii Islands recently, that was fun. It’s still warm there this time of year. And they’ve got tons of novelty tourneys and unofficial gyms—I got to take Lapras through a surf race where the competitors use water attacks to knock trainers off their Pokémon.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but then stopped myself. ‘You know me,’ she had said. But I honestly wouldn’t have been able to guess half of that stuff. Her combat skill went without saying, so I probably could have assumed something related to competitive battling, but other than that… it was like I didn’t know anything about her anymore.

“They’ve got a bunch of cool ruins down there too,” she went on. “Lots of rare Pokémon. Took Ninetales to the fire festival they held on the solstice at Mt. Ember. It’s really popular with the legend-spotting community—they say Moltres has shown up a few times in the past to give its blessing. Didn’t get to see it this year, though.”

I could hardly blame Moltres. The solstice was not long after Entei’s capture—of course it wouldn’t have wanted to go anywhere near humans. Not that it mattered either way, because the firebird had been caught two weeks ago and would never show up at the fire festival there, or anywhere else ever again.

Pichu jumped down from Ajia’s jacket and dashed up one of the wooden posts lining the boardwalk. The electric-type then hopped from one post to the next while Espeon jumped up and tried to catch her in midair.

“Any League stuff?” I asked, looking for any excuse to keep Ajia talking so it wouldn’t have to be my turn.

“Nah, I haven’t done official competitive since the Rocket stuff last year. I try to stay off TV, y’know? Don’t wanna advertise where they need to send a hit squad,” she said with a chuckle. I had a hard time finding humor in that. Then again, she could have been laughing at the fact that Espeon had caught Pichu mid-leap with its telekinesis, and the mouse was now flailing indignantly against the psychic-type’s hold.

“I mean, they’ve got agents scattered across the islands, but nothing large-scale. I took down a smuggling ring while I was there, but they never found out it was me, so…”

Why the hell hadn’t I been traveling with Ajia all this time? Even leaving out the fact that she had the unexplainable ability to fight Team Rocket and actually win, I could have been spending all this time having fun with one of the people I’d most wanted to meet up with when I became a trainer. And I’d had the opportunity after the plane incident, too! Sure, I had been opposed to leaving home without a license, and she’d been opposed to getting me mixed up in Rocket drama. But then I’d gone and done both of those things anyway. Was it just because the Rebellion had seemed important enough to leave home without permission and without a license?

“So… hang on… is that why it’s been ages since you last visited Viridian? Staying off the team’s radar?” I finally asked.

Ajia clicked her tongue in thought. “Part of it. My dad’s work transferred him to Indigo, so there’s also that.” She smiled faintly and gave me an encouraging nudge. “Alright, your turn. What’s it like being on that rebel team?”

My stomach tied itself into a knot. I’d known she was going to ask at some point, but that hadn’t made it any easier to come up with a suitable response.

“Don’t ask how I know this, but it sounds like you guys have really been making a difference,” she added once my pause had lasted more than a few seconds. “I mean… saving Raikou and Zapdos? Not to mention Mew! How many people can say they’ve even seen Mew, let alone saved her?” Her words held a cheerful air, but at the same time there was something… measured about them. She’d seen how worn and ragged I looked. She knew something was up. But she didn’t know what, so she’d focused on lifting the mood before it had the chance to drop.

I swallowed a lump, clutching the wound on my left arm, hidden from view under my jacket sleeve. Nope, I wasn’t ready to explain any more than the bare minimum.

“The rebel team was disbanded not long ago. It was getting too dangerous to continue, so we had to split up.” The sooner I could transition this into talking about Starr, the sooner I could stop thinking about the Rebellion’s fate. “That’s why I’m here, and that’s how Starr found me. You said we were gonna talk to her, right?”

Ajia blinked, obviously caught off-guard by the sudden subject change. “Oh, of course! Want to head to Viridian now?”

Now it was my turn to pause in confusion. “Viridian? I’ve only ever run into her in Celadon.”

“Yeah, it’s not uncommon for combat unit execs to bounce around depending on where they’re needed and what their mission schedule is like,” Ajia explained. “But as far as I know, Starr primarily leads the Viridian combat unit.”

The irony of it—I’d been so disappointed when Starr never returned to Viridian. Turns out she had. Just not the way I’d been expecting or hoping.

Ajia pivoted on her heels and put her hands over her mouth, calling out, “Alright, time to go, you two!”

As some point we had passed her Pokémon, both of whom were now perched atop opposing posts, shooting small, star-shaped bits of energy to knock each other off. Upon hearing Ajia’s call, however, they bolted over to us, neck-and-neck until Ajia held up a Pokéball and the yellow mouse instantly skidded to a halt.

Whaaat,” Pichu said, fixing her trainer with an incredulous frown.

Ajia put her other hand on her hip. “Come on, we’re heading to the Viridian base. Everyone knows you there, I can’t have you out.”

I can hide in your bag,” the electric-type pleaded.

Ajia cracked a smile. “Only if you stay in there,” she said, sliding her backpack from her shoulders. “We don’t need a repeat of the Cerulean incident.”

That was one time,” Pichu mumbled, leaping into the bag the moment her trainer unzipped it.

Ajia shouldered her backpack before turning to face me and saying, “Need to run back and grab anything before we go? Oh, and is this your first time teleporting?”

“No to both of those,” I said, tugging at my own backpack strap for emphasis. But then my brain caught up with her second statement and I added, “Wait, we’re teleporting?”

She gestured to the psychic fox sitting at her heels, who was now fixing me with a curious stare. Well that explained how she’d gotten here so quickly. Ajia put a hand to my shoulder before reaching out her other hand to grab Espeon’s forked tail. Then the foggy surrounding of Lavender town melted into shimmering light.

Espeon took us straight to Viridian in a single jump, which was crazy far—farther than I’d seen any Pokémon do at once. We entered the base through the northwest entrance, located in a discreet warehouse on the edge of town. It was one of the less commonly used entrances, from what Darren and I had seen during the time we’d spent scoping out the base. Probably because it led directly to the storage division. Of course, that just made it easier to track down replacement boots and gloves for my uniform. Ajia already had a Rocket uniform, and a working Rocket ID for that matter. When I asked her how, she just said, “It’s a long story.”

“Well, when this is all done, I’d like to finally hear it,” I replied.

Ajia kept her hat pulled low over her face as she led us into the commons. Viridian HQ didn’t harbor nearly as many bad memories for me as Celadon, but I couldn’t help feeling the grip of anxiety just from being inside a base again. I had told myself I was done. That I was going to Johto to turn a new leaf. And now this.

We made our way toward the private rooms, which were generally reserved for executives, admins, or other important agents who were stationed at the base long-term. Apparently Ajia knew which room to check first, because she walked with a sense of purpose, like someone who didn’t have any doubts as to her destination. She stopped in front of room 160, checked her R-com once (she had an R-com too?), and then knocked three times. My chest tightened—this was it.

Several seconds passed. Then, a muffled voice from the other side of the door: “Oh, for the love of—”

I could hear the clattering of locks being undone before the door swung open to reveal an extremely unimpressed Starr. She was dressed more casually than the full executive getup I’d always seen her in—just a black tank top and gray capris—and was currently fixing me with a particularly disapproving scowl.

“What are you doing here? And what’d you bring her for?” she demanded pointing at Ajia.

“It’s great to see you too,” Ajia said brightly.

Starr put a hand to her forehead, dragging it down her face and pulling at her eyelids exasperatedly. She then leaned out the doorway and shot a couple of furtive glances down the hallway before stepping aside and roughly gesturing inside her room.

While I didn’t fancy being overheard any more than she did, the idea of setting foot in her quarters was… hardly appealing. Then again, it wasn’t as if I was alone—I did have Ajia with me. That made it better, right? My footsteps dragged against the carpet as I walked through the doorway into a narrow entry hall. Once the two of us were inside, Starr slammed the door shut, locked it, and rounded on us.

“You’ve got five seconds to explain what the hell you’re doing here.”

“We’re just here to talk,” Ajia said, holding up her hands defensively.

“I don’t want to talk with the likes of you guys,” Starr spat, putting her hands on her hips. “You’re just a bunch of no-good rebels trying to ruin my position on Team Rocket. Do you think I’ve forgotten the revolt? How many Rockets were totally screwed over because of you?”

Ajia frowned. “Screwed over? Really? That’s a bit harsh. Also, I think you’re giving me too much credit for everything that happened back then.”

What was this revolt they were talking about? I’d lost count of how many times I’d heard people mention it, but no one ever felt like explaining what it was.

Starr glared at Ajia silently for several seconds. Then she caught sight of my confusion before giving Ajia an odd look like she was trying to figure something out. Finally, a slow, satisfied grin made its way across her face, and she quietly said, “You mean Jade doesn’t…?” Starr decided against finishing the sentence, however, and instead threw a few unsettling glances my way, like she knew something I didn’t.

“What? I don’t what?” I asked, scowling at her.

Ajia, on the other hand, seemed to understand what Starr was insinuating, even though I had no idea. She gave her a sort of annoyed stare for a few seconds, but then casually said, “I think we’re getting off-topic. So, do you mind telling us why you’re so loyal to Team Rocket, or do we have to be here all day?”

Starr tilted her head. “What? That’s a stupid question. Why are you loyal to your rebel cause?”

“Simple. I’m against Team Rocket’s goals. I want to prevent them from going through with their plan to use the Legendaries to increase their power and influence. And I don’t want to see any more lives ruined by Team Rocket.” Ajia smiled and said, “Now it’s your turn. Go on, don’t be shy.”

Starr clenched her teeth, looking apprehensive. Her hand hovered over her pocket, where the outline of an R-com was visible through the fabric. I shot a nervous glance at Ajia, but she had a rather amused expression. “Going to turn us in? I’m surprised at you, Starr—I’d think an executive like you would know what would happen if two wanted enemies of Team Rocket were captured. But nah, I guess it’s totally cool if they kill us—no big deal, right?”

Starr continued to scowl at her. “That’s my biggest problem. It would be a lot easier if I could just pretend I hadn’t known you two before I joined Team Rocket.”

Ajia put a hand to her forehead. “Right… So, the only reason you care if the other higher-ups kill us is because we used to be friends. That’s comforting.”

Starr scoffed. “I’m head of the combat unit, what do you expect? Any threat to Team Rocket is the enemy, and I’ve gone through this debate in my head enough times. The past few years I’ve learned to ignore any sympathy, although Jade pretty much owes her life to it.” I glanced away, too embarrassed to look her in the eye.

“The point is… it’s my business why I’m a Rocket,” Starr continued. “Why the hell do you two even care anyway? Why does it matter?”

“Because…” Ajia began, choosing her words carefully, “you can’t be loyal to Team Rocket and help its enemies at the same time. Trust me, it doesn’t work. Sooner or later, you’ll be found out, and you’re gonna have to choose.”

Starr folded her arms. “I’m not a double agent like your allies. Stop making it sound like I’d help rebels.”

“I guess all the times you made sure I wasn’t killed don’t count, then?” I said dryly. “How many times was it?”

Starr’s mouth hung open, like my words were a slap to the face. “Not wanting you dead doesn’t count, alright! I’d never help the rebel cause or anything! And I wouldn’t have any problems if you two didn’t keep showing up in my life trying to test my loyalties.”

“So, what you’re saying is that you’re 100% satisfied with being a Rocket,” Ajia said. “It’s never made you feel uncomfortable at all. You’ve never once regret something you’ve had to do for the team. Ten out of ten, would join Team Rocket again.”

Starr gave her a horrified look, like she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. “What the hell are you trying to say?”

“What I’m saying is—can you really blame me for trying to help the Rockets I met who wanted a way out but didn’t know what to do?”

“I’m not like all of them, alright! You really think someone in my position can just leave?!” Wait—her argument wasn’t that she didn’t want to leave, but that she couldn’t? That was totally different than what she’d implied earlier.

“There have been Rockets higher ranked than you who managed to—”

I can’t do what the commander did!! I won’t!! That was your fault anyway! He actually agreed with all your rebel bullshit. That’s not who I am!”

“Then who are you, Starr? Is serving Team Rocket all that you have?”

Yes!!!” she shouted, her eyes wide with desperation. “I threw away everything from my old life when I joined Team Rocket! Even my name… And I thought that included my friends. But I’ll never be entirely free, will I?” she asked, glaring at us.

I flinched and looked away. She… kind of had a point, much as I hated to admit it. If Starr really wanted nothing to do with us anymore, then what was the point of trying to force her to? It wouldn’t help her. It definitely wouldn’t help me get over what she’d done. Why were we doing this?

“For how loyal you are to the team, I assume they must be loyal to you as well, then?” Ajia asked, her tone casual. “The boss really wouldn’t mind if he knew what you’d done?”

Starr’s eyes widened with shock before immediately narrowing into the fiercest rage I’d ever seen from her. “Get out. NOW.”

I was about to protest, or at the very least try to calm her down, but then Ajia raised both arms and said, “Fine. That’s all I needed to know. It was great talking with you, let’s do it again soon.”

I shot an incredulous glance at Ajia, who gave me a meaningful look but didn’t say anything. Starr took several heavy steps over to the door and threw it open, pointing out. I did my best to avoid eye contact, but still caught sight of the glare she fixed on us the entire time we walked out. The instant I had cleared the doorway, I felt the door slam shut right behind me.

“We’re leaving just like that?” I asked, staring at Ajia in confusion.

A long pause followed. “I wasn’t lying when I said I’d found out everything I needed to know,” she said quietly. “Let’s go to the Pokémon Center for now. I’m starting to get an idea of how we can settle this.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I think we can actually get Starr to quit Team Rocket.”

The announcement came out of nowhere. Ajia had been mostly silent as we’d walked to the north Viridian Pokécenter, where she’d reserved a double bunk room for us. Having the silence broken with such a bold claim was definitely not what I’d been expecting.

“Seriously?”

Ajia nodded, sitting up straight in her chair. “She’s trapped. She’ll never admit it, but it’s obvious there are a ton of things she hates about being a Rocket. She’s just had to ignore all of them in order to stay alive. It really is the same as the other ex-Rockets I’ve known. But even if we were to convince her of that, there’s no way she’d ever follow that path. I gave up trying to convince her to quit when I first found out. But with you being involved, things are different. The things she’s had to do to save you have made her question the things she’d always believed to be true.”

The idea that she wasn’t too far gone… that the person we used to know might still be in there, deep down. It was obviously appealing. But… it didn’t change the things she’d done. Nothing could change that. Trying to be friends with her again was almost more uncomfortable of a thought than just the fact that we were enemies now.

“Are you… sure about this?” I asked slowly.

Ajia nodded again. “But I don’t think we should push her to make a decision. What we should do, is show her what Team Rocket would do if they found out what she’s done.”

I grimaced. “I’m pretty sure she knows. That’s why she doesn’t want to oppose them.”

“Exactly,” Ajia said, eyes shining. “She refuses to betray them, but what if they betray her first? What if we show her that they don’t deserve her loyalty? All we’d have to do is trick her into revealing the fact that she’s helped us.”

I paused. That… did make a bit of sense. I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to do that exactly, seeing as she’d been willing to go so far as to torture me without breaking character. But Ajia didn’t know that. Ajia didn’t know half the stuff Starr had done. And I didn’t exactly feel like going into detail on most of it.

“By the way… how did you find out Starr was on Team Rocket?” Ajia asked.

Friggin’ hell. There was just no getting around it, was there?

I exhaled slowly. “She was on the mission to end the Rebellion. Her subordinates killed half the team. The rest of us only escaped because our leader drew them off. I ran into her the following day in Lavender Town, where she was stalking me.”

A sickly, hollow feeling filled my chest, intensifying with each word. Ajia had gone quiet, listening carefully with worried eyes and tight lips. She brought her hands to her mouth and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees.

“…Seriously?” she just said.

Aside from that one word, the silence in the room was so thick it threatened to crush us. Even Pichu had ceased rummaging through Ajia’s bag and peeked out, glancing between the two of us with drooping ears.

“Looking back, I’m pretty sure she was only there to make sure she found me before the others.” That didn’t make it okay, but it was… something. My hands started trembling, and I clenched them shut to make them stop. “Our next mission was going to be freeing Mewtwo. Now we’ll never get to.” Why was I saying any of this. I’d already answered her question—none of this needed to be said.

“Yeah, I’ve heard of Mewtwo,” Ajia said gravely. “Team Rocket’s ultimate weapon.”

“I… kind of made a promise to him—that I’d figure out a way to free him someday. I know it was naïve and stupid, but I meant it at the time.”

At those words, a sly grin made its way across Ajia’s face, and I could practically see the gears turning in her head. “…Don’t count that idea out just yet.”

I furrowed my brow, staring at her in blank confusion. She couldn’t be serious, could she?

“Alright, I’ll bite. What are you planning now?” I said, bemused.

“Nothing too concrete yet…” Her voice trailed off as she whirled around in the desk chair and grabbed her bag from the floor, prompting Pichu to jump to her shoulder. “I’m gonna talk with some friends, see what I can dig up,” she said, retrieving a tablet from her bag and tapping away at it.

I still wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened. Just when I’d thought things were at their most hopeless, Ajia had suddenly gotten some sort of epiphany that could potentially solve everything? I sat there for a good five minutes before realizing that she was probably gonna be at that for a while. No sense just sitting here waiting.

“Alright, while you’re working on that, I’m gonna go… get some new clothes… or something.” I stood up, grabbed the room’s card key and stepped outside, leaving Ajia and Pichu muttering excitedly to each other.

Wandering down the streets of Viridian after all this time was surreal. Granted, it wasn’t like we were staying in an area I was totally familiar with. I was never supposed to wander around north Viridian, and it wasn’t too hard to see why—the streets and buildings were undoubtedly grimier and more worn-down, both from age and vandalism. The area carried a shifty feel, like it was the sort of place that would have made me feel uncomfortable five months ago. But in spite of that, it still held a tangible air of familiarity. The same sky. The same cool breezes carried down from the highlands to the west. The same shadows cast by the sun slipping behind Mt. Silver.

I could have stopped at home if I wanted to. Even if I’d already decided I couldn’t stay there, and had to keep moving—just to visit… But I couldn’t risk giving away how badly things had gone. And I still hadn’t held up my end of the bargain and gotten a license yet. No matter what, I had to do that first.

I managed to track down a thrift shop and get a pair of jeans and a spare t-shirt for less than 1000 pyen. Even that was pushing it on what I could afford, but with most of my clothes burned up in Midnight Stadium, I didn’t have much of a choice.

Night had fallen by the time I returned to the Pokécenter. I tapped the card key to our door’s scanner and entered the room to see Ajia and Pichu in exactly the same spot I’d last seen them. I’d have guessed that neither of them had moved while I was gone, although a few half-eaten boxes of Hoennese take-out scattered around the room implied otherwise.

“Hey Jade, grab some food if you want, we’re just about done here,” Ajia said without looking up from her tablet.

I dropped my shopping bag to the ground and settled back against one of the beds with a box of noodles. I didn’t have to wait long. No more than five minutes later, Ajia rotated in her chair, facing me with a wide grin.

“Alright. I think we’ve got it,” she said dramatically.

Pichu jumped onto her trainer’s head and spread her paws to the side for emphasis. I sat up straight, setting down the noodles and focusing all my attention on them. Time to finally learn what this was all about.

“Figuring out the part with Starr—that’s easy,” she said, waving a hand to the side. “The hard part is how we set up the trap in our favor, and how to make sure that we’re all able to escape afterward.”

I nodded. “Right.”

“That’s where Mewtwo comes in.”

I put a hand to my face, still feeling embarrassed about bringing that up. I knew it was an unrealistic goal.

“I found out something interesting,” Ajia went on. “Moltres and Articuno are typically managed by a pair of Legendary handlers who are also top combat unit executives. But ever since the last Legendary mission, Mewtwo has belonged to the boss himself. He actually keeps its Pokéball on his person at all times.”

I blinked. “Whoa. Really?”

“The other important thing I found out is how the Legendary control technology works,” Ajia said, grinning slyly. I raised both eyebrows, intrigued. How on earth had she gotten her hands on that info?

“It’s different from what Team Rocket has done with their experiments in the past,” she explained. “The others just had a chip implanted into them which communicated with a device that the experiment handlers kept on them at all times. But the Legendaries’ energy signatures were way too strong for that. Once they figured out how to make a chip that wouldn’t be overloaded, it had to be shielded so much that it could barely communicate with any external devices. They managed to pull it off with some big and powerful machinery, but it wasn’t a long-term solution. Without a perfect resonance with the Legendary’s energy signature, they’d adapt to the signal and become resistant over time.”

Right… that made sense, from what I had seen at the birds mission. But what about the attack on Midnight Island? The Rockets wouldn’t have been able to transport that kind of machinery to the island, would they?

“Wanna know the secret? They modified their Pokéballs to contain the same hardware as the devices that the experiment handlers kept. It’s perfect—the link between a Pokémon and its Pokéball is the only way to get a signal that will perfectly match.”

I raised an eyebrow. “How does that help us?”

“It means that destroying a Legendary’s Pokéball will not only free it from capture… it’ll free its mind, too.”

I gaped at her. No way. That’s all we had to do? Granted, once I’d taken more than a second to think about it, that didn’t seem quite so easy. After all, the boss had personal ownership of Mewtwo. He’d hardly allow us to walk up and take the clone’s Pokéball.

I took a deep breath. “Okay… so we need to get the boss involved in this… that’s the only way we’re getting access to Mewtwo.”

“Right. So combine this with the other idea—we get Starr to reveal that she helped rebels. Now imagine she does it in front of the boss.”

My jaw dropped.

“There’s no way he’d be able to overlook that level of treachery from a head executive, let alone her. Then, in the midst of all the Rocket drama, we steal Mewtwo’s Master Ball, destroy it, and escape with Starr while Mewtwo wreaks havoc.” A wild grin had spread across her face, and her eyes were lit with a level of excitement I’d never seen from her—and that was saying something. In a weird way, her absolute confidence that we could pull this off was almost intimidating.

“So here’s the plan…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My heart pounded as we descended the elevator into the Viridian HQ once more. We’d gone over the plan a dozen times. I’d had all last night and all morning to psyche myself up for what we were about to do. Ajia was 100% confident, and her confidence was downright infectious. But even with all that, I was still an anxious ball of nerves, and nothing could change that.

We emerged from the elevator and set off. Our first goal: wrecking the anti-teleport field surrounding the base. That would be our ticket out of here when our mission was done, plus it was the only way for us to bail early if things got too dicey. To do that, however, we had to get into the primary control room. In other words, the most important room in the entire base, save for maybe the boss’s personal office. This was so far beyond anything I’d done on the Rebellion, and considering the mess I’d caused when I freed Chibi, that was saying something.

Ajia led the way through the commons, down a hallway adjacent to the office division, one that I had never properly explored. I kept my hand on my Pokéball belt the entire time, half expecting every Rocket we walked past to suddenly lunge at us. It felt so incredibly obvious that we were up to no good, and part of me was amazed that half the base hadn’t already felt an aura of intended sabotage from us. But we looked just like any other Rockets, and we had working IDs to match. Nothing would give us away until we did anything.

“This is it,” Ajia whispered, and my heart jumped into my throat. Already? It felt like we’d just left the Pokécenter, and now we were already here?

The two of us stood in front of a large black door with thick metal hinges and a computerized lock. No way to get through something like this without admin rights, which neither of us currently had. We’d have to break in. From this moment on, the base would be on high alert. With a smooth, subtle motion, Ajia retrieved a Pokéball and opened it. The light took the shape of her Umbreon, whose eyes flashed red the moment he appeared.

“Your turn,” she said.

Right—I was the one in charge of getting us through the door. I was the one who had to kick all of this off. One last mission. One last blow against the Kanto force before escaping to Johto. After this, I’d be free.

I released Stygian. The dark-type appeared in a flash of light, glancing around wordlessly and then nodding.

No turning back now.

The Absol drew herself back, the blade on her head glowing before she swung it into the lock with a heavy metallic crunch. Once, twice, three times the blade gouged through computer chips and mechanical parts until finally the latch clattered to the ground. The base alarm instantly started blaring. We’d known that was going to happen—I ignored it and threw open the door, and our group rushed into the control room all at once. We found ourselves inside a massive black-walled space—part server room, with massive computer towers covered in flickering lights and a jungle of cables—and part security station, with an entire wall of monitors displaying video feed of every division in the base. But none of that was important. What was important was the squad of guards at the control panel who had just rotated in their seats to face us, gaping in disbelief.

Ajia didn’t even have to say anything. She just swung her bag down from her shoulder and out leaped Pichu. Time slowed. The Rockets drew their firearms and Stygian dutifully raised a Protect in front of us. And then Pichu shot forward as nothing more than an electric blur, zipping from one Rocket to the next faster than my eye could follow. Flashes of sparks and strings of electricity shot out from each impact, one after the other, followed by garbled cries and bodies slumping to the floor.

Pichu slowed to a stop in an instant, twitching her oversized ears. The mouse then jerked her attention to the right and shot off once more, into the server maze. I caught several more flashes of light before the electric-type rushed back to us.

That’s all of them in here. More are coming down the hall, though.

I couldn’t help staring. I’d seen feats of raw electric power from Chibi, but never anything even remotely close to the speed and precision that Pichu had just displayed. Couldn’t focus on that, though—we didn’t have much time before this room would be swarming with more Rockets than we could ever handle.

“The field generator should be this way,” Ajia said, walking off towards some of the larger machinery and gesturing for me to follow her. She stopped in front of a large device—at least eight feet tall and topped with a glossy black dome surrounded by antennae—before pacing back and forth in front of it, looking it up and down. “I’m pretty sure this is it,” she said, folding her arms.

I raised an eyebrow. “Pretty sure?”

She flashed a grin at me and shrugged. “Well, we won’t know for sure until we take it out, will we?”

Fair enough. In any case, while Pichu could’ve just zapped it, we were better off not doing anything that might cause an explosion with us in the room. Which meant Stygian was up again. The dark-type stepped forward, claws clacking against the floor tiles, and lit her blade once more. She then lunged forward, slicing clean through the wires and cables trailing out of the machine with repeated swings until none were left unsevered.

Ajia paused with a look on her face like she was straining to hear something. Then her eyes lit up, and her face split into an excited grin. “Alright, we did it! The field is down.”

“What, really?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. I couldn’t hear anything over the sound of the full-blast fans on the server towers.

“Yep. Time for phase two.” Ajia shot a quick glance at her Umbreon, and he nodded, eyes flickering red for a second. She then pulled out a Pokéball, and in a shimmering flash, her Espeon appeared in front of her.

Now for the part I was least enthusiastic about. Throwing ourselves headlong into danger was one thing, but relying on the experiments to cause a commotion to draw the team away from us was an entirely different thing. I exhaled deeply, then grabbed Aros’s Pokéball to release the bug-dragon alongside Stygian.

“So you guys know what you’re doing, right?” I asked.

Leading with Double Team and then alternating between Faint Attack and Protect,” Aros replied in a bored tone.

Double Team alone would make them a nightmare to hit, but with the addition of the other two moves, it’d be almost impossible for the Rockets to get them. Probably.

You still haven’t explained how this diversion is going to help you free Mewtwo,” Stygian said bluntly.

I hadn’t told them about the Starr portion of the mission. I’d decided it would be better to open that can of worms after we escaped. If I told them now, the response would definitely be a universal ‘are you insane?’ and it would be easier to refute that after Starr was off Team Rocket.

“It’s complicated,” I said. “Just promise me you’ll watch out for each other.”

The Absol rolled her eyes. “No need to be so sappy.

I kneeled beside Espeon and clipped both clones’ Pokéballs to the makeshift collar around the fox’s neck. When things went bad, which they definitely would, the plan was for Espeon to recall them and teleport back to Ajia. That at least made me feel a little bit better.

Ajia reached into her bag and started pulling out multicolored bottles, handing them to me one after another. Temporary battle enhancements—X Attack, X Speed, and the like. Apparently Ajia had grabbed them from a Rocket storehouse a few months ago. We unscrewed the lids and started holding out pills for the two clones. Taking battle enhancements was hardly a new experience for them—they gulped the pills down without even flinching.

Out of nowhere, Pichu cried, “They’re almost here!

I jolted. “Alright, go now!” I yelled, pointing out the door.

None of them needed telling twice. Aros bolted forward, tearing a good-sized chunk out of the doorway with his claws as he did. Stygian rushed after him, her form already blurring into multiple copies of herself with a Double Team. Espeon wasn’t far behind them. Almost immediately, I heard shouting and firing and attacks crashing against walls and all the chaos one would expect to hear from rogue experiments loose inside a major base.

Ajia stuffed the bottles back into her bag and then held it open for Pichu to jump back inside before pivoting on her heels and motioning to me. “Come on, the experiments won’t be able to distract them forever.” But there was still one Pokémon unaccounted for.

“Wait, what about Umbreon?” I asked, glancing at the dark fox.

“I like to keep him out during missions. For luck,” she said, winking.

I stared. Wouldn’t he be kind of noticeable? Maybe we wouldn’t be the only Rockets with Pokémon out now that the base was on high alert? But still?

Ajia was already heading for the door. Alright then, she’d gotten us this far—I just had to trust her.

Outside the control room, the clones had already torn a hole clear through the wall and detoured into a different hallway. That way the path we’d taken to get to the control room wouldn’t turn into a firing zone. Combat unit agents raced past us, and my stomach twisted into knots. But they completely ignored us. Didn’t even glance our way. Sure, we were in uniform, and the experiments were a little bit more conspicuous, but I’d been expecting at least a few Rockets to notice us or call us out as rebels or attack us or something.

We raced down the hallway back toward the commons, which were now frighteningly empty compared to five minutes ago. Guards remained at their posts, but everyone on the combat unit had taken off to corner the experiments. I couldn’t help feeling like all eyes were on us as we crossed the area, making our way toward the entrance to the transport hangar. But no one confronted us. No one said anything. I shouldn’t have been bothered by the fact that things were going better than expected, but I was. Why were things going so well? What was going on?

Before I knew it, we’d already made it to our destination—we were now standing in the middle of a vast concrete space half-filled with trucks and jeeps. I paused to catch my breath, keeping my eyes glued to the entrance, still half-expecting a squad to burst in and demand to know why we weren’t with the others.

In any case, I knew what my next task was. It hadn’t exactly been hard to locate Starr, or rather Astrid, in the Team Rocket agent directory on my R-com. I brought up her number in my contact list and then, feeling like an idiot, snapped a photo of myself and Ajia standing in the transport hangar. If that didn’t get her to separate from the other Rockets and come running straight to us, nothing would.

“I just messaged the boss,” Ajia said. “I wrote, ‘In five minutes, there will be an incident in the transport division that you’ll want to see. Your head executive is going to betray you.’”

It was almost funny how matter-of-fact that was. She’d just text messaged the leader of Team Rocket. That was a thing you could do.

“Course, that means I won’t be able to use this Rocket ID ever again when this is done, but…”—she smiled distantly—“well, it’s worth it.”

My R-com vibrated suddenly. Well, that sure hadn’t taken long. I tapped the screen and was met with a text reading, “Wtf are you two doing there?!”

“You’ll have to come here to find out,” I typed back. Almost immediately, I received a reply consisting of a near-keyboard mash of incoherent swearing.

I winced and pocketed the device again. “I think I got her attention.”

Now all we had to do was wait for the real mission to begin. Everything else was just setup. This was what it was really about. Confronting Starr. Confronting the boss. Saving Mewtwo. My heart pounded uncomfortably in my chest. Seconds dragged by like minutes. I couldn’t stop glancing at my watch, expecting more time to have passed.

And then Starr appeared at the entrance to the hanger. She froze the instant she saw us, staring with a mixture of rage and disbelief.

“Hey, you made it!” Ajia called out, waving to her. “Come on over, we’ve got a lot to talk about.”

Starr shook her head to regain herself before charging towards us, fists clenched. “Stop acting like you know me! Someone will hear!” she hissed.

“No one’s here, that’s why we sent the rest of the team on a wild experiment chase,” Ajia said, waving a hand dismissively.

“There are still cameras!” she shrieked. “Get out of here now or we’re all dead!”

Ajia folded her arms. “Nah, I think we’re gonna stay right here.”

Starr’s face lit up with fury, and before I knew what was happening, she had whipped out a Pokéball to release her Raichu. I froze. Not the Raichu. She wasn’t seriously going to—? Sparks leaped off its cheeks and I screwed my eyes shut, desperately trying to brace myself for it even as panic shot through my veins. But then I heard paws strike the ground near me and the crash of lightning against lightning. Seconds passed. The pain didn’t come. Slowly, I opened my eyes a crack, then widened them fully when I saw Pichu standing firm with her back to us, cheeks sparking.

“Was that really necessary?” Ajia asked, her voice uncharacteristically harsh.

“Yes, it was,” Starr answered coldly, tilting her head down so that the brim of her hat covered her face. “Now I’m only gonna ask this once. Why are you here?”

“To prove that you can’t play both sides forever,” Ajia said simply.

Starr took a step backward, eyes widening. “…What?”

“You can’t be loyal to Team Rocket and help its enemies at the same time. So if you’re gonna have to choose eventually, why not leave before they find out?”

Starr glowered at us. “I wouldn’t have to choose if you two didn’t keep pulling this rebel crap.”

“Do you expect us to just ignore all the things that you’ve done?” I asked, clenching my fists.

“Do you have any idea how much easier it would’ve been to just tell myself I didn’t know either of you?!” she shouted, her eyes now wide and frantic.

I folded my arms. “You wouldn’t have to do that if you weren’t working for a group that wants to murder us.”

“Stop acting like it’s that simple! Team Rocket is all I have!”

“It wouldn’t have to be,” Ajia said exasperatedly. “You’ve already proven that you haven’t completely changed. So come with us, before they find out you’ve helped us in the past.”

Starr took another step backward. And for the first time throughout all of this, a shadow of doubt had fallen across her face. She clenched her teeth, glancing back and forth uncertainly.

“No…” she said slowly and shakily. “I can’t and I won’t!” Her Raichu nodded fervently and shot out a wave of sparks.

And then a voice rang out over the PA speakers. A deep, commanding voice tinged with cold amusement: “Well this certainly is an interesting turn of events, isn’t it?”

Starr froze in horror and swore repeatedly under her breath. Ajia made eye contact with me, and the tiniest trace of a grin crossed her face. One more thing had gone right. The boss had seen and heard everything.

“Two rebels and a double agent, very interesting indeed. But with such a unique situation as this, I think I know the perfect solution. All combat unit agents will proceed to the transport hangar. Leave the experiments—they were only a diversion.” And with that, the speakers fell silent.

Starr immediately rounded on us with a horrified expression. “You told the boss?!

I flinched. “We… might have done that, yeah.”

“Why?!”

“When I asked if the boss wouldn’t mind if he knew what you’d done,” Ajia said carefully, “I’m guessing the answer is no?”

Starr opened her mouth like she was about to speak, but then suddenly froze with her mouth hanging open. For several seconds, she didn’t say anything; she just stared at us, gears turning in her head. “You were trying to turn them against me,” she said quietly. “That’s the only reason you’re here.”

Ajia smiled weakly. “Aw man… I didn’t think you’d figure it out so soon.”

Starr gaped at the both of us, shaking her head in total disbelief. “I can’t. Believe. I actually cared about you two!” she yelled, pointing forward and signaling for her Raichu to attack. The orange mouse gave an impatient cry and jumped in front of her, yellow cheek pouches already sparking. Without wasting a second, Pichu dashed forward, readying a Thunderbolt of her own and launching it at the same instant Raichu did. The two bolts collided in midair, shooting out waves of sparks and strings of lightning in all directions.

“You want to keep testing my loyalty?!” Starr yelled. “Fine! Then be ready for me to prove you wrong!”






End Chapter 24
Bonus scene in the following post!
 
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