Flannery knew something was wrong when Looker made a sudden return alone. Looker did not waste any time and got straight to the point.
"Vel's absol had suddenly acted up. Something will happen."
The bad feeling that had been pooling at the depths of Flannery's guts suddenly felt heavier. As a Hoenn native she's all too familiar with the absol species and the accuracy of their predictions. She's well aware of the implications that followed when an absol "suddenly acted up".
She has her own opinion on how they should continue going forward. However, she's not the person leading this operation.
"Drayden, your call?"
The muscled old man fell deep in thought, his dilemma clear in his eyes. The crux of the problem lies in the fact that nobody has any idea of just what the calamity Velda's absol had sensed may be. Will it be within the Team Plasma stronghold that they were about to storm, Opelucid City itself, or somewhere else?
"My greatest concern right now would be that this stronghold is simply a lure to draw us away from the city," Drayden admitted and Flannery could understand where the aged Gym Leader was coming from. "I'm thinking that we should perhaps split into two groups, where one of us would head back to Opelucid to guard the city just in case."
"It sounds like the safest option," Flannery agreed, also thinking that this course of action would be one that would most likely cover all their bases. In the end, Flannery was the one sent back to Opelucid City together with a team of Unova Elite trainers. As luck would have it, they actually found a few small groups of Team Plasma hiding on the outskirts of the city. Their presence only solidified their unspoken acceptance for the worst to possibly happen anytime, anywhere.
"Just what are they planning?" Flannery muttered to herself as she easily defeated another group of Team Plasma grunts. No matter how the trainers under her lead had tried interrogating the captured Team Plasma members none of them breathed a word of what would come next. It's not that they were zealously loyal to Team Plasma's cause but rather, even they weren't let in on what the higher echelons were planning to do to the city.
All Flannery knew was that whatever that may be, if it could get an absol to "act up" then it couldn't be anything good. She doesn't like the feeling of this, the sense of the calm before the storm.
Vel better be alright, Flannery found herself having those thoughts but on second thought, her boyfriend's sister should be alright. Her absol would naturally lead her away from the calamity and Vel still hadn't exited the stronghold she infiltrated into as far as she's aware. Does that mean that right now, the Team Plasma Opelucid stronghold is in fact, the safest place to be?
Going by that logic, would it mean that the "calamity" that her absol sensed should most likely be at Opelucid City instead?
"Drayden."
Flannery immediately radioed for Drayden and immediately told him of her conjecture. Drayden listened patiently, weighing his options based on what they learnt.
"Looker and I are about to wrap up the battle here on our end," Drayden informed Flannery as his haxorus easily fling its enemies backwards with a sweep of its thick tail. "I can take over things from here, so I will send Looker to your side just in case. I will join as soon as I can."
"Is Vel okay?"
"We haven't seen her and radio is still silent, our guess is that she's probably waiting for us to clean up the mess here before she leads the hostages out from the stronghold."
"Alright, keep me posted if there's any updates," Flannery forced herself to calm down and ended the call. She needs to get herself together, she's a Gym Leader too. Over worrying is not a behaviour that she should be exhibiting right now when she has people looking up to her for instructions and support.
Flannery conducted another swift sweep of the city with help of the local Opelucid Police, taking down any Team Plasma grunts which they managed to locate. Many of them were trying to flee the city on orders from their higher-ups which they only just received. Flannery surmised that Team Plasma were probably trying to cut their losses when they caught wind that the Unova League had discovered their secret stronghold at the outskirts of the city, preventing as many of their members from being caught as possible.
But was it really just that? For some reason, Flannery felt as if there's a much sinister underlying reason why the leaders of Team Plasma gave the orders to those in Opelucid city to evacuate as soon as possible.
Her radio suddenly crackled to life.
"Flannery! Emergency! Get the police to evacuate the city as fast as you can!"
It was Drayden's voice. His voice was a panicked one, a far cry from his usual steadfast and unwavering image. To evacuate an entire city is not a decision any Gym Leader will make lightly and Flannery immediately assumed the worst.
"What's the situation?!" Flannery shouted back into the radio and immediately passed on the message to the local law enforcement. They would be more familiar with the city's evacuation procedures than she is. She would stay here to ensure their safety until the city has been evacuated, it's the only thing that she can do now.
"I've run into Zinzolin, one of Team Plasma sages! I'm currently in a battle with him and unable to come over!" Drayden quickly summarised the drastic turn in events that happened as he continued to command his team to battle against Zinzolin, who was surprisingly a powerful trainer in his own right with a plethora of ice type pokemon under his command. They've come prepared, knowing that ice types are the natural nemesis of the dragon types which Drayden led.
"Looker is on the way to assist you! Keep a lookout for the skies!" Drayden tried his best to convey what he just learnt to the Lavaridge Gym Leader while keeping his focus on the vicious battle taking place between him and Zinzolin. Already, he was almost frozen into an ice statue by a stray Ice Beam from Zinzolin's weavile. He cannot afford to remain distracted any longer.
"An aerial attack?!" Flannery asked but radio communication between them was cut to a halt at that exact moment. Flannery clicked her tongue in frustration, knowing that some sort of interference must be at play here. She looked up into the sky, still unable to spot anything out of the ordinary.
Better to be safe than sorry.
Flannery released her entire team of pokemon and her charizard immediately took flight. She stood guard as the Opelucid Police Force swiftly carried out the evacuation order given by their city's protector and Gym Leader. It will still take a while for the city to be evacuated and she could only pray that nothing will happen in this period of time.
But of course, things were never easy.
"You freaks kept me waiting," Flannery gritted out to herself when she spotted the Team Plasma army marching in from the other side of the town. She signalled for the inspector beside her to hurry with the evacuation efforts as she jumped onto her charizard's back, commanding her pokemon to run ahead and meet the evildoers in battle. The reinforcements that the Opelucid Police Force can spare her are limited; they were already spread very thin from the sudden unforeseen city-wide evacuation. She's largely on her own for the moment until Looker returns.
"Let's show 'em what we Hoennians are made of!" Flannery roared as her pokemon lit themselves up in a blaze of fire one after the other, preparing to unleash their signature move. Now that Team Plasma had finally made their move and she had sprung into action, she's suddenly not feeling all that jittery any more.
"Overheat!"
"Once more, Hyper Voice!"
Up ahead, a rampaging dragon with blood-soaked crescent wings unleashed a devastating sonic attack, the power behind Hyper Voice transformed and empowered by its newfound Aerilate ability that came from its Mega Evolution.
Three minute fifty-five, fifty-six, fifty-seven-
Vance Vera continued to keep a mental count of the duration which he managed to sustain his salamence's Mega Evolution. In front of his salamence were his sceptile, magmortar, and metagross, engaged in combat with the rampaging dragon of their team.
-Four minute thirty-two…
Mega Salamence's brutality swiftly rose as the seconds ticked by and Vance recognised that his dragon was too far gone to be taking any orders from him when it started to attack him instead. He immediately severed the link between him and salamence, forcing it to revert back to its original state and thereby returning some clarity to its mind.
"Don't feel bad buddy, you managed to increase the duration of Mega Evolution by thirteen seconds this time," Vance comforted the dejected looking dragon who looked very guilty after it realised it had nearly maimed its trainer in its blind rage. Vance was well aware of the risks of trying to Mega Evolve a salamence, which includes dying a gory death under its claws should it prove to be uncontrollable from the sudden surge in power. Thankfully, nothing of the sort had happened so far.
Sceptile landed beside them with a simple leap, looking a little banged up but still came out of this training only slightly worse for wear. Unlike salamence, sceptile had already mastered Mega Evolution with its trainer. This training was to assist salamence to master Mega Evolution and they are making good progress in spite of the occasional hiccups.
Vance took a glance back at the destroyed training ground hidden deep within his family's private land. The destruction a Mega Salamence can bring is truly a terrifying sight to behold. However, he needs to be able to pull this off with salamence. This is his duty and responsibility as the heir of the Vera family. He needs to be better, to be a qualified successor so that his dear little sister can live a carefree life doing whatever she likes to do without needing to worry about the responsibilities that comes from being a Vera.
If he had his way his little sister would be living comfortably at home, enjoying luxuries and riches as he pampered her with millions of dollars of monthly pocket money. None of that risky beat-the-bad-guys-to-save-the-world interpol stuff that puts her in danger every single time. Is it bad for him to actually secretly wish that the interpol initiative would fail? Because like this, his dear little sister would come home where he can keep her safe.
Now, even his girlfriend has embarked on a trip to Unova. Vance knows she had volunteered herself for the trip because it would allow him and his parents to rest a little easier knowing that a familiar and trusted adult would be there for Velda should she need it. For that, he's thankful that he has such a wonderful girlfriend.
Even if it may get a little lonely sometimes now that it's just him alone in Hoenn…
"Let's go back, we still have work to do at the Battle Frontier in the afternoon and we have to make a trip to the company at Rustboro later in the evening," Vance softly sighed as he mentally braced himself for the work that has been piling in his office. He would not accept anything less than perfect from himself as the successor and heir of his family. Be it in terms of pokemon battle, raising them, being a breeder, managing his family's business empire… everything that he needed to learn and do as the heir of the Vera family, he made it a point to excel in them ever since he was old enough to understand the weight resting on his shoulders.
He could still remember back when he was young, the only time where he felt like he could be himself without all the worries and pressure that comes with the title of the heir of the Vera family was when he was with his little sister. Whenever he spends time with her all the hardship that he had to endure suddenly felt like it was worth it. If taking on such harsh lessons would mean that his sister could be spared from it, then the lessons suddenly didn't feel too unbearable anymore.
Although that might be a needless worry seeing as how his parents dote on his little sister more than he does. Their father could never really bear to subject Velda to the truly harsh lessons that Vance had to undergo under their father's tutelage, especially when it comes to pokemon battles. Velda seemed to be a natural in that field, which surprised them but at the same time, not really a surprise either. She is a Vera and the Vera blood runs through her veins as well.
"Hope they are doing fine…" Vance mumbled under his breath as his right eyebrow twitched for what seemed like the umpteenth time that day. He's not a superstitious person, but his right eyebrow had been twitching uncontrollably ever since he woke up this morning. If only he could go to their side in an instant.
Maybe he should give Sebastian a call later just to check in on his trouble-prone sister.
"Haze, then Overheat!"
Chandelure released a dense cloud of hazy fog that obscured their foes' vision of them while cancelling the negative side effect of Overheat at the same time. Flannery's torkoal unleashed another Overheat that cremated the Team Plasma members that tried to kill them in the next instant.
Flannery's presence alone was able to stall and blockade the Team Plasma army from advancing too far inwards into Opelucid City to cause harm. She acknowledged that she's young and compared to her fellow Hoenn Pillars, she's probably on the lower end of the power spectrum. She may be a relatively inexperienced Gym Leader but she's by no means a pushover.
What she lacks in skill and experience, she can make up for it in sheer firepower.
"Heat Wave!"
Her charizard released a blast of scorching air that forced the Plasmas to temporarily retreat lest they wish to suffer a nasty death. She could see shadows dancing about the edge of her vision, an indication that Looker was also assisting in the city's evacuation efforts with the help of his ghost types. The faster they evacuate the city, the faster she could unleash her full strength without needing to worry about friendly fire.
Is Drayden not back yet? Flannery thought and suddenly, Zinzolin's threat level started to rise in her mind. If Zinzolin could stall Drayden for so long it would mean that he's a very accomplished trainer as well. Drayden is recognised as the most powerful Gym Leader of Unova, someone of equal stature with the likes of Norman, Giovanni, and Volkner in their respective regions.
It's just bad news one after the other.
"Flannery, we received reports of an unknown bogey coming in hot from the southeastern side of the city's airspace! Whatever it is, it's carrying a dangerous amount of energy! Shoot it down before it reaches the city!"
"I'd like to, but I cannot even spare the effort to catch my breath with so many Plasmas here!" Flannery yelled back into the comms as she commanded her infernape to torch a sawks with a Flamethrower. She's able to hold the fort thus far but it still did not change the fact that she's being severely outnumbered. How is she supposed to spare a pokemon to shoot down a flying unknown bogey with how chaotic things are?
The first solution that she came up with was, unfortunately, to somehow burn down the entire Team Plasma army before that unknown bogey arrived. That's the only answer that she could think of to address this sticky situation.
"Flame-"
Her next command never left her mouth because to her disbelief, Team Plasma suddenly beat a hasty retreat for no discernible reason. Flannery decided not to give chase because it could very well be a trap and however strong she may be, she's still only one person against an entire terrorist organisation that had terrorised an entire region.
Her priority now is to ensure that the city's evacuation efforts goes on smoothly without a hitch, not to battle. Besides, now that she's not preoccupied with defending the city from Team Plasma she can now direct her attention elsewhere.
"Fly!"
She commanded her charizard to fly up even higher so that she could take a better look at the unknown bogey which was said to be flying in from the southeastern direction. It should be in sight anytime now and true enough, she spotted it rather easily.
A flying airship? Now she had really seen it all.
"Flamethrower!"
Charizard blew a scorching cone of flames at the flying airship but to her surprise, the attack bounced off harmlessly as an unknown protective barrier which surrounded the airship from all sides shimmered into view. She tried again, this time commanding all her pokemon to focus their firepower on the airship which had now approached dangerously close to the city. It was stated that a tremendous amount of energy was being detected on that airship. She needs to shoot it down before the obviously weaponised airship could utilise that energy to wrought devastation on Opelucid City.
"This is Flannery! The airship is being protected by some sort of barrier, I'm not sure if I can break through it!" Flannery reported through the comms as her charizard flew closer to the airship while continuing to spew blazing cones of fire out of its mouth. The temperature around them was getting colder and colder the closer she flew to the airship and at this point she's certain that this wasn't her imagination.
"Stall it! We are still not done with the evacuation!" Looker replied through the comms as shadows started to envelop the city, causing people to disappear wherever the darkness passed. It's evident that Looker really is trying his darnest best to get everyone out of danger before the weaponised flying airship starts to lay waste to Opelucid but there's really no time left.
Flannery took a quick look at the situation down below on the ground. Only her charizard is capable of flight among her team. If she wants to focus her entire team's firepower onto a single spot, doing it from below where most of them were at would be optimal.
"Sarah, regroup," Flannery told her charizard and the draconic fire type turned around to make its landing where its companions were at. Now that Flannery's back on the ground, she could see that the bottom of the airship had opened up to reveal a huge cannon, the barrel of the weapon aiming at the Opelucid Pokemon Centre.
Crap, not good.
"Its target is the Pokemon Centre! All personnel evacuate from the area immediately!" Flannery ordered with a shout as she ran ahead with her pokemon to get a better angle for their final shot. Right now, the orders to her by her Champion were thrown to the back of her mind.
"Hoenn cannot afford to lose two Gym Leaders in a diplomatic exchange, especially Gym Leaders of your calibre. If the situation spirals out of control to the point that your lives are in danger, you have my permission to pull out of it immediately."
The barrel of the cannon started to glow in an eerily bluish-white. Even at this distance she could feel the tremendous amount of power being packed into the shot that the cannon is charging up. The energy that's being accumulated is most likely ice-natured seeing as how low the surrounding temperature has dipped. She has no idea what that cannon is but she knew instinctively that it has to be a tactical level weapon. She could not in good conscience watch as that weapon of mass destruction fired its shot and wiped an entire city off the map in her presence. That's not like her, because she's Flannery.
Her thoughts briefly flitted back to her parents that she had lost a long time ago and which she had also resented for a large part of her youth growing up. They never had time for her because they were the best Rangers Hoenn had to offer and she remembered just how much she resented them for always leaving her alone. She barely remembered them because she lost them when she was only eight.
But now, suddenly, she found herself wondering if her parents were having the same thoughts as she did when they went on their last mission, that she has to do something to buy time for people to escape before things spiral out of their control. She couldn't help it, her body simply acted before she could think things through.
Because Unova being a foreign region or not, she's a Gym Leader, a Pillar, a bastion and representation of her region's strength. Protecting the people behind her back is her responsibility and is something that is second nature to her. She simply cannot stand by and watch as a massacre takes place before her eyes.
The cannon took aim as her pokemon took theirs. Flannery whipped out her Key Stone as her camerupt let loose a determined bellow. The mystical colours of the rainbow covered her camerupt as it Mega Evolved and Flannery gave her orders to her pokemon.
"Aim for the cannon! Give everything we got!"
There are still people and pokemon who are still trying to escape the vicinity of the Opelucid Pokemon Centre. They wouldn't be fast enough. By hook or by crook, she has to find a way to prevent the cannon from finding its mark.
The cannon of the airship fired its shot in a deafening boom as Flannery's pokemon retaliated with their hottest flames. What followed after was an explosive clash of fire and ice that created a dense white fog that surrounded the entire area. The temperature of the vicinity turned freezing cold and it was with some difficulty that Flannery opened her eyes while trying her best not to shiver with her teeth jittering.
"M-Mark…?"
The Mega Evolution of her camerupt had receded. It was obvious that her camerupt had opted to take the brunt of the blow for the team as it lay unconscious within a crater in front of them with cold white frost covering its entire body. That's not possible. Her camerupt could not possibly be frozen by ice type techniques due to its Magma Armour ability and yet…
"R-Return," Flannery swiftly recalled her camerupt when it was obvious that it could no longer continue to battle. It's not just her camerupt. Magcargo, infernape, houndoom, chandelure; they are all unable to continue to battle. Just one shot of the cannon from Team Plasma's airship had taken out more than half of a Gym Leader's main team. Flannery shivered uncontrollably, but whether the cause of it was from the cold or the realisation of what this meant was lost to her. She felt so cold to the point that she's unable to even stand, only managing to weakly support her body weight with one knee on the ground.
The only good news was that they had somehow managed to knock off the trajectory of the cannon with their previous attack. The shot fired by the cannon had missed the Pokemon Centre entirely, being deflected off course to a secluded area far out of the city instead and it doesn't seem like the cannon would be able to fire a second shot anytime soon. Her camerupt had managed to dent the cannon enough with its final attack such that a second shot wouldn't be possible.
The front of the airship's hull began to open and Flannery's eyes widened in shock and disbelief as a second cannon emerged from it. The same glow of bluish-white light was manifesting at the barrel of the cannon once again.
This gotta be a very sick joke
Her torkoal, her starter, immediately put itself in front of her and defiantly let loose its roaring flames in the direction of the cannon. The same unknown barrier made its presence known again and Flannery understood that this time, there's no way they will be able to break through the airship's defence, not with more than half her team down.
"D-Don't b-bother yourself with me, j-just go… run!" Flannery gritted out through chattering teeth. She's already unable to feel anything from her legs and her fingers thanks to the biting cold. She couldn't even properly hold a pokeball nor could she stand in her current state. If she could she would have returned her pokemon back to their pokeballs so that they could at least have a chance to survive this ordeal, but that just seemed like an impossible wish now that her fingers were almost entirely frozen.
As of now, she's nothing but a liability to her pokemon. They will die if they continue to stick around her.
Torkoal stubbornly stuck close to Flannery, using its body heat to keep her warm as it continuously emitted clouds of white smoke. Arcanine, flareon, and charizard were the same as well. Charizard's wings were even partially frozen and it's still trying to thaw out its wings, but the fierce determination in its eyes to make its last stand together with their trainer had never been clearer.
"You idiots…" Flannery had no idea if she should laugh or cry at the idiocy of her pokemon but she did feel warm at this very moment. Her parents barely gave her any love, but her grandfather and her pokemon filled the missing warmth in her heart which she never felt from her parents.
And her goofy boyfriend too, couldn't forget about him.
Grandpa, Vance, Vel… Sorry
Her remaining pokemon unleashed their final Overheat as the cannon of Team Plasma's airship fired its second shot. If she has to go down, it will be in a blaze of fire.
She's Flannery, the Gym Leader of Lavaridge.
She's the fire that cleanses evil.
96
Far ahead, the Team Plasma airship was about to fire its second shot.
"Heh, see that, Yasu? How does it feel to see a young ember going up against such odds? Feel proud of your homeland yet?"
"Shut up," the other half of the duo dismissed his partner's words, but his eyes were still fixated on the lass with fiery red hair. Right beside him was a castform, leisurely floating in the air beside its trainer. They were observing the city from a nearby mountain top and imagine their surprise when they saw a flying airship of all things laying waste to an entire city.
"I wonder if she made us come here because this was within the scope of her predictions?" The large and muscled man known as Aaron Luzel stroked his chin in thought as they continued to observe the current Lavaridge Gym Leader putting up her last fight against the airship. He turned back to his companion.
"Hey, are you really not going to do anything about that?"
"What for?" Yasuhira replied with a scoff, taking a sip of his tea from the flask in his hand and acting like this was none of his business. He could have fooled everyone else but he couldn't fool Aaron. They had been partners for centuries.
"You are really not going to interfere? She's a Hoennian."
"The dragonslaying boy is there. She will be fine," Yasuhira callously dismissed Aaron's words but his gaze had never once left the scene of the battle. Aaron smirked, a certain tea-loving maniac could certainly afford to be more honest with himself.
"She's not going to make it," Aaron decided to continue to poke and push all of his partner's wrong buttons as he continued to narrate the scene in front of them with an exaggerated tone. "Legs frozen, fingers probably suffering from a frostbite, her strongest fighters out of the count, and a flying warship with enough power to compete against legendaries aiming its cannon at her-"
"Can you please shut up?"
"Hey, this is the modern era. Freedom of speech is a thing here!"
Ignoring his childish partner, Yasuhira took a few steps forward to get a better view of the situation. Within the merciless field of ice lies a burning ember, still stubbornly burning bright and strong. So that girl is this generation's Lavaridge Gym Leader? Oshin would be proud.
"My dream? My dream, Yasuhira, is for Hoenn to be a place where our fathers and brothers can grow up not needing to join any army against their will, where our mothers and sisters would not need to worry about being somebody else's property should their clan lose a battle, where our children can live long enough to be able to grow up and learn the taste of alcohol, where our pokemon can live harmoniously alongside us rather than being used as instruments of war."
Are you seeing this, Oshin? Hoenn is in good hands.
"Guard Ever Grande for me in my absence, old friend. I won't be long."
'Liar', Yasuhira bitterly thought to himself, 'I ended up guarding Hoenn for more than five centuries, no thanks to you.'
The airship's cannon fired its second shot. Even then, Yasuhira was calm. He had faced worse before.
"Castform."
The castform beside Yasuhira let out a cry and the entire city fell silent just right before the merciless beam of ice struck the city once more. Aaron whistled in appreciation at the sight because it's not everyday he gets to see his lazy partner actually tapping into a fraction of his power. Where the streets of the city were previously filled with people running for their lives, it's now entirely empty. To be more accurate, the entire city is now an empty city.
On the streets, within the buildings and even the underground shelters; every single living being has been safely transported away by Yasuhira's castform with just one move. That's how powerful a true master of Secret Power can be. Team Plasma had just effectively wasted all of their efforts to freeze an empty city. Aaron can already imagine how hopping mad the leaders of Team Plasma would be if they learnt of this.
"Pfft, you talk so big, and you still ended up saving the girl anyway."
"I blame the dragonslaying boy for his ineptitude to have forced my hand," Yasuhira replied coldly. Just then, people started to seemingly randomly appear at a safe area in the western side of the outskirts of Opelucid City, far away from the danger.
The only exception would be the unconscious red-headed girl with a stubborn streak lying on the ground not too far from them. Her torkoal was barely managing to stand, its body covered in a layer of frost, but still loyally standing guard by its trainer's side to defend her.
Guess Yasuhira is feeling sentimental today.
"Relax, I'm not your enemy," Yasuhira slowly walked up to kneel down beside the unconscious girl in order to get a better look. The girl's torkoal still looked very distrustful, but a light poke from Yasuhira's finger sent it collapsing onto the ground in exhaustion, unable to even stand up again. The torkoal was forcing itself to stand by sheer willpower alone, already so weakened that a single poke of a finger was enough to topple it on its feet. It had long since lost the ability to continue battling with how injured it is.
What a beautiful bond between human and pokemon.
"Aaron."
"I can't hear you~" Aaron obnoxiously replied and was promptly rewarded with a punch to his face from Yasuhira that sent him sprawling to the ground.
"Fine, fine," Aaron eventually conceded and released his lucario, who healed the girl's wounds with a mysterious water type move that they picked up during their stay in a land faraway from the seven regions that made up the PWL. Even torkoal's wounds were starting to heal under its effect.
"She will be alright now," Aaron stated and Yasuhira acknowledged with a nod of his head. Yasuhira's sharp eyes had managed to catch a glimpse of what happened in the short moment before Secret Power took effect. Despite having her fingers frozen to the point where they were almost unusable, the girl had still managed to force herself to recall her pokemon back into their pokeballs for their safety through sheer determination at the very last moment. Torkoal remained outside simply because she wasn't fast enough to recall it back into its pokeball. She really loves her pokemon.
This generation of Hoenn's Pillars looks promising, especially the up and coming new Champion, Steven Stone. A member of the Stone family… It sure brings back fond memories.
Yasuhira stood up and straightened his back. The airship hovering high above Opelucid City was still indiscriminately firing its shots to destroy the city now that there's nobody left to stop them. This is no longer his problem since the only reason which he was here for is now safe and sound.
"Leaving already?"
"What else are you staying here for? Waiting for the troublesome dragonslaying boy to come and find us?" Yasuhira scoffed as he slowly made his way down from the mountain top. The girl will be fine, she still has a charizard that is still battle-ready within her pokeball, not to mention that Aaron's lucario had personally healed her wounds. She will be right as rain in a matter of minutes.
He took a glance back at the flying airship, then back at the girl. Memories from a time long past flashed past as the blurry visage of a man who once wielded the power of flames and fought alongside him during the warring era slowly became clearer within his mind. The man who commanded the flames, the Protector of Lilycove, and evildoers' worst punisher that purifies the sins of their homeland with unrelenting fire by his side.
That girl does remind me of you, Barnett.
For all he knows that girl might even be his descendent but that's unlikely, the Geist Family had officially gone extinct just a few decades earlier. Now only three of the original families are left; the Draconids, the Stones, and the Veras. It eases his mind a little that these families are still diligently fulfilling their duties to the region as per the wishes of their ancestors.
"I know I can leave Ever Grande to you, Yasuhira! Hah, I may be the Champion, but you might as well be Ever Grande's hero!"
Yasuhira released a near unnoticeable scoff of disagreement at that memory. Hero… There are no heroes in this world, only losers.
The Uncrowned Hero of Ever Grande… What a mocking and stupid title it is.
She expected to be in heaven, hell, or just not able to open her eyes ever again.
"C-Charlie…?"
Her torkoal excitedly nudged its head at her, the joy at seeing its trainer alright evident from its body language. Flannery slowly sat up and observed her body. She's no longer in pain, the frostbite that she felt had disappeared entirely. She felt… okay. Even Charlie, who was supposed to be injured, looked as if it never suffered a scratch.
What on earth happened?
She soon came to the conclusion that somebody must have saved her. She quickly stood up on her feet but spotted nobody around her as far as she could see. Her last memories were of her trying to recall her pokemon at the very last second before she blacked out from the intense cold. She's supposed to be in the middle of Opelucid City but she now somehow found herself at the top of a nearby mountain just outside it.
Just who on earth saved her? Why?
She looked back at the city. The airship was starting to take its leave. The entire city was now almost entirely covered in ice with gigantic icebergs jutting out from various parts of the city. Her heart dropped when she realised what this would have meant. The innocent people…
She calmed down a little when she noticed that somehow, she could not spot anyone being frozen in ice. It's truly a miracle that nobody was killed by that second blast.
Or was it truly a miracle?
She had no answers so she decided not to dwell on that question any longer. She called out her charizard once more. The city and its people seemed to be safe, at least for now. Looker can take charge of the situation there. However, she still needs to verify the safety of the girl which she views as her own little sister, her boyfriend's little sister.
She flew back in the direction of the hideout which they were originally supposed to raid with her charizard's help. Now, the entire place had collapsed and what's left of it was simply rubble. She panicked for a moment when she thought that the girl might have been buried underneath the wreckage until she spotted the violent waves of shifting sands up ahead.
That's definitely Velda's tyranitar.
She regrouped with Velda's pokemon easily enough, who were all on a rampage trying to make a break for it and forcefully carve a way out of Opelucid City through another Team Plasma army who had probably just arrived after their airship had finished laying waste to the city. Flannery immediately released her remaining pokemon who could still do battle as her charizard flew her down to reunite with an unconscious Velda who was being safely held in her pangoro's arms.
"Vel, Vel!" Flannery easily took over the girl from the pangoro's arms. Velda still felt so light, but what scares Flannery more was how eerily cold the girl's body seemed to be. Was it the ice?
"C'mon, please wake up, this is not funny. Oh please," Flannery muttered under her breath as she lightly shook Velda in an attempt to wake her up. It did not work. She's so cold to the touch and Flannery would have thought that she might already be dead if it wasn't for the slow rise and fall of Velda's chest which indicated that she's still breathing.
"Serene! Come here!" Flannery called her flareon over. Her flareon understood her intentions immediately, instantly trying to use its body heat to warm Velda up. But when Velda's body remained chilling to the touch Flannery started to realise that something was off. Her low body temperature didn't seem to be a result of the large field of ice created by the Team Plasma airship.
Another factor is at play here and Flannery has no idea what it is. She needs to get Velda to a doctor immediately. She could never face her boyfriend again if anything were to happen to Velda under her watch.
But first, she has to get rid of the blasted Team Plasma members who were in their way. Her patience is at its end, she's feeling angry today.
"Sarah! Go Mega!" She shouted for her charizard as she took out her Key Stone once more. The Hoenn League had loaned her another Mega Stone for this operation for extra insurance and she's glad that she took up on that offer. Now, she needs the power of her Charizard Y to obliterate their enemies as soon as she can.
Charizard Y emerged from the rainbow glow covering it with a vicious roar, the gloomy grey clouds covering the city earlier parting to allow the sun's rays to shine down upon the city once again as its Drought ability activated at full blast. In this weather, her fire types are able to fight at an even greater power.
"Melt the ice, burn them down! Inferno!"
The flames roared and engulfed their enemies with prejudice, cremating the evil which had frozen the city in their greed. She was unable to protect the city and would have died if it wasn't for the interference of an unknown benefactor, but she would be damned if she couldn't even protect her boyfriend's little sister.
"Rapidash, give me a ride!" Flannery called for Velda's rapidash who very cooperatively lent her its aid. Flannery easily climbed up onto its back with a jump, still hugging Velda protectively close to her chest. Taking on this Plasma army is child's play to her even with only four pokemon left now that she does not have to worry about protecting an entire city but instead, making a run for it.
She's a Gym Leader.
"Leave the fighting to Sarah! She will cover our backs! Everyone else, charge through! Tyranitar, Hyper Beam!"
Thankfully, Velda's tyranitar was not picky in who it was taking orders from at that moment, probably because it understood that its trainer's well-being was now its first priority. Tyranitar's Hyper Beam succeeded in clearing a way forward to allow them to break through the large horde of Team Plasma army. Anything that it missed out could easily be dealt with by Flannery's pokemon. Her Charizard Y excels at large scale combat where the powers of its flames can spread without limits.
With a final Blast Burn, Flannery's Charizard Y was able to decimate the entire Team Plasma army on its own once it did not have to worry about accidentally injuring its allies from collateral damage. Flannery halted the influence of Mega Evolution thereafter, knowing that this is a forbidden power that shouldn't be used for long and especially so when she had already used it a second time today.
"This is Flannery, Velda is down. I'm taking her out of the battlefield," Flannery spoke into her comms, not even caring if anybody heard her or not. She's speaking into her comms for formality's sake at this point because after all, she still has her Champion to rely on if there's any fallout that resulted from her sudden retreat. Hoenn is not obliged to be so heavily invested into solving Unova's problems at the cost of their own interests.
Her close relationship with the girl aside, Velda is the heiress of her family, one of the two remaining members of her generation. A riot from Hoenn's citizens is the least of Unova's worries if word gets out that Velda had come to harm on Unova's soil due to how respected the Vera family is in Hoenn.
If only Velda is aware of just how significant her status is as the heiress of her family, maybe she wouldn't be taking so many risks when she had no need to.
Velda's body temperature seemed to only drop further even when the surrounding ice around them was starting to melt from her fire type's power. Flannery's worry and anxiety grew the colder Velda's body felt. Just what on earth had happened to her in the short amount of time they were separated? Just what is the cause of the abnormal change to Velda's body temperature?
"I'm going to get Vance to ground you if you don't wake up. You know your siscon brother is capable of doing something ridiculous like that when it comes to you," Flannery pleaded, hoping that the girl can hear her as she continues to command her pokemon and Velda's as they make a swift run out of Opelucid. She quickly called for the Vera Family's butler stationed at Unova through the assistance of Velda's porygon-z once she's sure that they were safe.
"Sebastian, is your claydol able to teleport to Opelucid?... Right, I will send you my coordinates shortly. Please hurry, Vel isn't looking too good and she needs immediate medical treatment."
Flannery kept praying for the safety of the girl in her arms as she waited for Sebastian to pick them up. She shouldn't have agreed to let Velda work independently away from her sights, it was a mistake to begin with. This could have been avoided if she insisted for Velda to stick by her side for the entirety of this operation or be stationed somewhere safer.
She will never forgive herself if anything happens to her.
97
His destiny with the Vera family started out from a tragedy.
"He couldn't have gone far! Find him! I want to skin him alive!"
He was one of the most notorious hitmen in Hoenn's underworld, having numerous enemies for a variety of reasons was par for the course. Still, there came a day when even he had to flee in the face of superior numbers and strength.
He could remember clenching his fist in hatred as he hid and laid low within the dense foliage of Petalburg Woods. He could still remember the screams of his wife and the cries of his daughter as he witnessed how they were murdered before his very eyes. It was the work of his enemies.
They did all of that for a very laughable reason. They just wanted to replace his position as one of the top hitmen currently listed in the rankings of Hoenn's underworld. The entire affair felt like one big joke, because he was already making plans to retire for good and to spend the rest of his life as just another ordinary man. All he wanted was to leave the underworld for good and be a good husband and father.
Now, even that one simple wish was robbed from him.
He had fought desperately to escape the ambush. Now, he only has three pokemon left: zangoose, claydol, and medicham. He remembered clenching his teeth in burning vengeance, swearing to himself as he hid within a huge thick bush to escape the notice of his pursuers.
He has to make it out alive. It will never be too late to get his revenge as long as he lives. For his wife, his daughter, and his pokemon companions who sacrificed themselves to allow him to escape. He will eradicate them from the face of the earth and pay back to them tenfold, a hundredfold, a thousand times more than what they had inflicted to his family and him.
"There he is! Get him!"
Unfortunately, his hiding spot was ultimately found by his enemies. He dragged his injured and beaten body and continued to run. He had promised to enact vengeance for his family but for that to happen he has to first escape and survive, then get stronger to make that plan a reality. As it is, he couldn't even put up a decent fight against his pursuers even if he could easily do so under normal circumstances.
He fled towards the direction of Petalburg City, hoping to lose his pursuers by blending into the crowd if he managed to reach his destination. That wasn't bound to be, however, as he was eventually surrounded and boxed in from all sides by the very same people who killed his family and pokemon companions right before his very eyes. There was no escape, no hope left in being able to see the sun rise again the very next day, but vengeance still burns strong in his eyes. He is the top hitman of Hoenn and he's not going down without a fight. If he has to die today, he will drag as many people as he can down to hell.
"I was wondering who or what was making the pokemon on my farm so restless. If you guys came here to have a gang fight, I'm afraid that you have come to the wrong place."
The words of an unfamiliar stranger that nobody noticed until he announced his presence had everyone turned their heads towards the source of that voice. It was the first time he met the then leader of the noble Vera Family, Azer Vera.
"Oh fuck off! Get out of here or we will kill you too!"
The man who interrupted the fight merely looked unimpressed at the threat. He pointed to a nearby fence which was already in shambles when some of the pursuers had unknowingly destroyed it earlier during the chase. It seemed that they had perhaps exited the Petalburg Woods without knowing it and stumbled onto some private land at some point. That was confirmed by that man's next words.
"This is the Vera Farm and I am the owner of this place. You wish to kill me on my own land? Think again."
The linoone beside the man hissed threateningly after hearing its master's words. That was enough to signal the start of one huge messy deathmatch and he could remember how he tried to rush to the side of the unknown Vera to assist him, not wanting to further implicate anyone else in his own mess. His family and pokemon were already part of the casualty borne out of his own sins, he doesn't need another life to weigh on his conscience.
"Get them, Whiskers."
The linoone was unexpectedly skilled. It's not a species known to possess incredible power but that linoone was more than capable of dealing with most of the pokemon sent to take it down. Things changed when someone released a salamence and he remembered calling out his zangoose to meet it in battle, not wanting this man who was obviously from the Vera family to come to harm. He had already owed him enough.
"Quick, run away before it's too late! I will hold it back!" He remembered shouting to the man behind him but all he received was an amused chuckle from that man.
"For how long? Ten seconds in your current state?" The man laughed as the linoone skidded back to the man's side, unworried at the huge draconic threat that was just released upon them. "I have no idea who you are but thanks anyway, I can still handle a threat of this level."
The man snapped his fingers once and a green blur burst out of the trees to meet the salamence in battle.
"Blades, Dragon Claw."
That green blur was an unbelievably powerful sceptile. In just a few moments it had brought down the salamence from the skies. In just another few seconds, it had swiftly taken down all of their enemies with one masterful slice of Leaf Blade.
So this is the power of the Vera Family, one of the most ancient and noble families of Hoenn who still guards the region today.
He wasn't able to refuse the man's invitation to his home. To be more exact, he wasn't left with another choice after seeing just how powerful that sceptile was and that Vera wasn't actually giving him an option despite being so awfully polite. The Vera actually brought his bloodied and battered self back to his own home as though he's bringing back another guest.
The Vera lent him a bathroom to wash up and gave him a spare change of clothes to change into. After he was done, Azer introduced him to his family.
"This is my wife, Elena. My son is out for the moment, probably making another trip to the pokemon center again… Now that I think about it, he's been making frequent trips to that place. Maybe he finally found a woman that he's interested in," the man mused and talked to himself as Elena greeted him with a smile. "Wait, I don't think we have yet to introduce ourselves to each other. My name is Azer Vera, yours?"
"Dalton Bekker," he replied truthfully.
"Oh? That sounded awfully similar to one of the top hitmen in the underworld."
"That's me," Dalton admitted honestly. This is the man who saved his life, so he didn't see a need to hide certain things from him.
"Is that so? What's your plan going forward?"
"I…" Dalton hesitated, and it was then he realised he had no idea what he should do for the foreseeable future other than enacting vengeance for his family and pokemon. The people which Azer Vera defeated earlier were just one small group out of a larger one, the organisation which ordered the deaths of his family and pokemon still exists.
"They killed my wife, my daughter, and my pokemon," Dalton replied in silent fury, fists clenched and body tensed. "I will make them pay."
"I don't want to rain on your parade, my man, but if what happened earlier was any indication I don't think it's going to be easy even for you."
"I know! But… But-!"
To this day Dalton remembered very clearly the agitation he felt but at the same time, could also very clearly remember the helplessness permeating his body because Azer was right. How could he take on that entire organisation who murdered his entire family when he was already having trouble dealing with just a fraction of its strength?
Maybe this is karma. He had been a hitman for all his life, killing and working for the highest bidder. Now, it's his turn to experience what the loved ones of his victims had felt.
"Tell you what," Azer broke the silence as he drank a sip of the tea in his cup as Elena excused herself from the room to leave them alone to their discussion. "I can help you, if you don't mind."
"In exchange?" Dalton asked, knowing that nothing in this world is ever for free. However, if this man can really assist him to take revenge on the people who took away from him the people who he loved most, he wouldn't even care if they asked for his soul in exchange.
"Work for me."
A pact was made that day. One week later, Hoenn's underworld was short of another powerful underground group and Dalton's hands were stained red with blood for the very last time. Dalton was content. There's nothing else that he would ask for now that he had his revenge and closure.
Azer introduced him to his son not long after. From what Azer told him, Azer's son was recently forced to retire from ACE from a crippling injury and also left him with only two pokemon left. It's a cruel fate for any trainer to see their pokemon die before their very own eyes, so Dalton understood why Griff was acting so snappy towards anyone and everyone. He's still grieving.
"This is my son, Griff. Griff, this is Sebastian. He will be working for us from today onwards."
Sebastian, that is the new identity Dalton decided to go by after he swore himself to Azer and to the Vera Family. Azer was the one who gave him a new lease of life and the person who granted him his desire for vengeance. For that alone, he pledged to serve the Vera Family and them only until the end of his life.
Picking a new name to signify the start of his new life just seemed like the fitting thing to do.
Griff barely gave Sebastian a glance, but acknowledged him with a dismissive grunt anyway before heading out. Elena called out after her son as he left, reminding him not to be late for dinner that night which Griff promised to be there on time.
"Forgive him, he had been through a little too much as of late. He will recover eventually, he always does," Azer apologised to Sebastian on his son's behalf, but there's no mistaking the proud yet doting look of a parent in his eyes. Azer was right. Once Griff had gotten over his mourning he started to act as the future leader of the Vera Family as he's supposed to be. Sebastian continued to serve the Vera Family as their trusted butler, serving them to the best of his capabilities and witnessing the change in the family as the years passed in the blink of an eye.
Lady Elena passed away, Young Master Griff got married and had a son. Master Azer's hair started to turn whiter and whiter and everything suddenly seemed too soon when Master Azer couldn't even get out of his bed anymore, being too sick to do so. Sebastian wanted to do something, anything, but yet clearly understood that there's nothing he could do to help his master.
"I still cannot bring myself to rest peacefully, Sebastian," Azer lamented with a sigh as Sebastian carefully supported his master to sit up on his bed and lean on the headrest so that he could look outside the window which overlooks the vast land of the Vera Farm outside. "Griff is bright, but he's still not ready. There's still so much that I haven't had the opportunity to teach and pass on to him."
"Master…"
"Can I entrust him to your care?" Master Azer turned to face him with that same smile Sebastian remembered seeing on the very first time they met. "He can be quite a handful, but it seems that being a father has done some good for him and have him learn the meaning of responsibility."
"I will do my very best," Sebastian promised as he forced himself to not show his tears, his resolve already made a long time ago when he had sworn his allegiance to this man and his family. "Young Master Griff, Young Lady Hanna, Young Master Vance; I will lay down my life for them."
"Thank you, Sebastian. No words can express how grateful I am to have met you."
"Those are my words, Master Azer."
Master Azer passed away a few months later, but not before laying out what needed to be done and leaving behind the secrets that Young Master Griff needed to know before he could become a qualified leader of the Vera Family like his father was. Young Master Griff then became Master Griff and once he was finally a splendid successor that his father knew he would be, Sebastian knew that the final job Master Azer entrusted him to complete was done.
Sebastian then chose to leave Petalburg and contribute to serving the Vera Family as their representative in Master Griff's place. One day, he received a call from Master Griff.
"A baby girl?"
The excitement and joy in Master Griff's voice was tangible even through the phone. Lady Hanna was pregnant with a second child and this time, it seemed to be a girl. However, fate had apparently decided to play a cruel joke on the young lady when she finally came into this world.
"Were you able to find any other doctors who might… Dr Warf? Alright, it's worth a shot."
Young Lady Velda was born with such a sickly body that it was a miracle she wasn't a stillborn. In the years that followed Master Griff and Lady Hanna had seeked out every renowned doctor in the region who they could possibly find but their diagnosis were all the same. Young Lady Velda wouldn't live past fifteen years of age, and that was the most optimistic estimate being given. She could easily die at any time for the smallest of reasons.
Sebastian had seen his young lady in secret during the few visits he made to Petalburg over the years, staying out of sight and out of detection. She looked a lot like her mother, she's blessed with almost everything one could ask for but the only thing that she wasn't blessed with was a healthy body. She had everything yet nothing at the same time, because the things that she was blessed with since birth would easily disappear if her illness suddenly acted up and took her life.
It's a very cruel fate for a girl so young.
Still, life goes on and the world continues to spin on its axis. Things started to get better for the Vera Family. Even the young lady had finally grown healthy enough to be able to go on her own journey as a pokemon trainer and would you look at it, she even managed to emerge as the runner-up in her Ever Grande Conference.
Master Azer would be so proud if he could see this. Knowing him, he would have probably spoiled his granddaughter rotten if he had lived long enough to witness Velda's birth.
"I need you to slowly start handing your work to somebody else. I need you back for something that I can trust only you to do."
Master Griff called him over back to Petalburg one fine day. Over these years Sebastian had diligently worked as the face of the Vera Family so that Master Griff could spare the time and attention in raising his children, especially during the years when Young Lady Velda's health was at its worst. Now that the young master and young lady had finally grown up and were starting to leave the protection of their parents to walk their own individual paths, it seemed that Master Griff had finally decided to take a more active role in managing the family's business. It's a change that Sebastian welcomed.
"You know, I wish that I could keep my girl by my side forever. She's so prone to getting herself into trouble of epic proportions and sometimes I just wish that I could just let her continue to be ignorant of the family's business and dealings, but she values her freedom too much. Restricting her freedom would only just make her hate me. Can't let that happen now, can I?"
"You mean…?"
"She has made her choice and as her father, the only thing I can do is to support her the best I can. But Hanna has a point, we are starting to get really sick of learning how our girl had almost come to harm or nearly died or something along those lines. I need someone that I can trust to watch her and be by her side where Hanna and I cannot, and I also need someone to teach her the things she will need to eventually learn as a member of the family. There are things that she can no longer afford to be ignorant about now that she has decided to be more involved with the family's affairs."
"It will be done," Sebastian promised with a bow, having understood the new assignment that Master Griff just gave him. It will be a nice change of pace, to finally be able to personally serve a member of the Vera Family once more just like how he had served by Master Azer's side a long time ago.
"And let me know if any boys get too close to her or if she takes a shine to anyone. No matter what Hanna says, my little girl is too young to be dating just yet."
Sebastian wisely chose not to comment on Master Griff's overprotective tendencies whenever it concerns his daughter.
He accompanied Young Master Vance to Unova and he finally had the chance to interact with the young lady. She impressed him in many ways, having overcome difficulties that would have made any lesser person losing hope in life. She's a fast learner, a diligent student, a caring trainer, and had all the qualities needed to be a qualified successor as well should she ever decide to try becoming one. She's overly independent and seems to dislike being over reliant on anybody else, something which he attributed to her unpleasant experience of being confined to a sickbed in her younger years and had no choice but to have someone assist her in almost everything. Like her father had said, she values her freedom highly, and so as a professional butler he made an effort to give her the space and freedom she needs.
Although he only finally understood what Master Griff meant when he said that the young lady was very prone to getting herself into trouble of epic proportions. Being attacked not even a month into arriving at Unova, the encounter with an ancient volcarona which would have meant certain demise were she any less skilled as a trainer; such encounters were rare to be on the receiving end of to begin with and yet she had already experienced it all. He wasn't even including the list of things she had already experienced in Hoenn and in Indigo.
Now, it seemed that she had gotten herself into trouble again.
Low body temperature but increased heart rate, unresponsive to external stimuli but high brain activity detected. Her breathing was so slow yet it seemed that she was able to take in a much greater quantity of oxygen with each breath as compared to before. She's constantly breaking out into a cold sweat as if in extreme discomfort no matter how much Flannery helped to wipe her down. Sebastian had witnessed quite a number of unexplainable things before but none of it could quite explain just what had happened to her.
He had immediately teleported to Opelucid City when Young Master Vance's girlfriend had requested his aid. They had managed to get Velda medical treatment in time but the symptoms which she was showing baffled even the doctors. Nobody had ever seen such a drastic change in the human body in such a short timeframe.
Furthermore, whatever operation the interpol and the Unova League had planned to reduce Team Plasma to size seemed to have backfired in the worst way possible, because from what he currently knows the Unova League had suffered great losses in each of the four cities which they had originally planned to destroy the Team Plasma bases. Opelucid was frozen over, the Unova League lost a Gym Leader and one entire legion of their elite forces at Icirrus, they also lost Gym Leaders at Striaton and Nacrene when Team Plasma revealed just how many Ability Holders they possess in their army, with each of them capable of utilising Resonance. It may be a very crude and unrefined manner of using Resonance, but Team Plasma has massive armies of such people. The threat that they posed is not something that anyone can possibly ignore.
Maybe it would be best to immediately send the young lady back home as soon as possible. She's not in a state where she could contribute any further to the interpol's cause and the situation in Unova had taken a turn for the very worst in the short span of a single day. Flannery is also still beating herself up for not being there to protect Velda from whatever had caused her to turn out like this.
In fact, he was so close to making a call to Master Griff back in Hoenn to update him about this situation and also to inform him about his opinion, that it would be best to send Young Lady Vera back to Hoenn with immediate haste. Unova is currently too unsafe for her, or just anyone in general. They just lost three Gym Leaders to those religious fanatics. To put it even more bluntly, even he is starting to doubt if the Unova League could continue to exist beyond the end of the month, as unbelievable as that sounded. Just the presence of the powerful tactical weapon that froze Opelucid over, now known as the Plasma Frigate, is a threat so powerful that it could easily neutralise Gym Leaders with a single blast of its cannon. It was a miracle that Flannery returned back alive at all.
He would really have made that call back home if it wasn't for Looker's unexpected arrival. He took one look at his young lady who was still lying on the bed, put two fingers on her wrist to read her pulse, before stating his diagnosis.
"It's her ability at work. She will wake up eventually."
Flannery, who had been sitting on a nearby chair with her head hung low in guilt, finally raised her head.
"Explain."
"My teacher is also an Ability Holder with a ghost-inclined ability. I had never seen it myself, but she had told me before about something that is unique to ghost-inclined Ability Holders which she referred to as "Devouring". This is exactly what is happening to Vel right now."
"Devouring?"
"When two ghost-inclined Ability Holders are within close vicinity of each other and one of them dies, Devouring will occur. As long as two ghost-inclined Ability Holders are in close proximity to each other it is an automatic process that will happen with or without the Ability Holder's consent once one party is dead. Till this day, nobody knows what triggers this process, how the abilities were devoured, or why this even exists at all. All my teacher was certain of was that this only applies to ghost-inclined Ability Holders, and that the person who devoured the abilities of the deceased will be forced to inherit all of the deceased's abilities. Through this method, theoretically speaking, the party who devoured could possess more than one ability. Low body temperature, extreme discomfort, increased heart rate, unresponsiveness to external stimuli, followed by a high fever; these are all symptoms which my teacher had shared with me and said will occur when a ghost-inclined Ability Holder is in the process of devouring the abilities of another. If things really happen as my teacher described Devouring to be, Velda will be having a very high fever soon. It's the only symptom left that hasn't appeared."
"So she met another ghost-inclined Ability Holder?"
"And most likely, killed him as well," Looker added with a grim nod. "From the looks of it I wouldn't be surprised if the other party had more than one ability, probably through devouring the abilities of his victims. I heard that this process is a painful one and with every ability consumed it will cause the party absorbing it to become more and more "ghost-like", so to speak."
"Will this have any adverse effects on the young lady?" Sebastian asked, to which Looker slowly shook his head in reply.
"I have no idea. I am more inclined to think that there shouldn't be any issue, but we wouldn't know for sure until she wakes up. At the very least, her life is not under threat right now, so rest easy. There will be changes to her body once the Devouring is done. It might be obvious visible changes, it might also be not. However, we should keep in mind that ghosts are a part of the Mind Arts Trio, so do be mentally prepared for the possibility of her behaving out of character and having violent tantrums or irrational bouts of anger after she wakes up. There's no telling if this will or will not have an effect on her mind."
"What kind of effects are we looking at here specifically?" Flannery asked.
"Have you ever seen the worst in ghosts?" Looker replied to her question with another. "That's the worst-case scenario we are looking at. Of course, the chances of the worst-case happening is low, but it will always be a possibility."
"You said that she will be more and more "ghost-like", and by that you meant…?"
"Recklessness, vengefulness, viciousness, callous disregard for life, lack of regard for personal safety, the reluctance to abide by the rules and seeking to overcome them through loopholes, these are just a few out of many common behaviours seen in ghosts. Most likely, one or few of the abovementioned traits will be more pronounced in her when she wakes up. As to whether that will be a permanent or temporary thing, again, I cannot say for sure."
"So you're telling me that the only thing that we can do now is to wait and see?" Flannery asked through gritted teeth, obviously not liking the idea that there's nothing that they can do.
"Unfortunately, yes," Looker said with a sigh as he made his move to exit the room, leaving Sebastian and Flannery to continue to keep a vigil by Velda's bedside. As much as Looker wishes to join, he cannot. There are still many things for him to personally oversee after the unexpected turn in events.
At the end of the day, ignorance was their downfall. Everyone knew that Team Plasma had a huge army, but nobody expected Team Plasma to have such a huge and powerful military force. The Plasma Frigate, the army of pseudo-Ability Holders that turned out to be much more powerful and numerous than their initial estimate, and the revival of five genesects. The only good news that turned out from this was that Volkner and co were able to retrieve the genesects so hopefully, something could be done to get the genesects fighting for their cause instead. Mary is still working on the genesects' reprogramming as he speaks.
The biggest threat, in Looker's opinion, would be the unknown airship referred to as the Plasma Frigate. The existence of that ship was not known to anyone until today.
"How's it?" Looker asked the moment he's back in the meeting room where everyone was busy with helping out in the investigations.
"Not good," Volkner frustratedly combed his fingers through his messy yellow hair. "The castle popping up at the League headquarters is one thing, but that castle cannot possibly hold their entire army. There must be other places that they use to retreat to and hide. Can't pinpoint a plausible location as to where on earth they had disappeared to. It's like they disappeared into thin air."
"Secret Power, maybe?" Norman suggested. "It was what Team Magma and Team Aqua used to evade detection back in Hoenn."
"That's actually… possible," Volkner agreed after some thought. "But the only person who I know has a pokemon who can use that move is now lying on the bed with no idea when she would wake up."
"Velda's pokemon knows how to use Secret Power?" Now it's Norman's turn to be surprised. This was not a tidbit of information that he was let on into.
"Weren't you her teacher- Oh, wait, now I remember, she told me that her knowing Secret Power was supposed to be a secret. Uh… you didn't hear this from me?"
"I think it's too late for that now," Jasmine chastised her husband, "but we may need Velda's pokemon to help us if Secret Power was indeed what Team Plasma used to make their unexplainable getaway."
"I don't want to be that guy, but don't you guys think that things really aren't looking too good? As in, it doesn't feel like the Unova League is going to be able to continue existing now that three of their Gym Leaders are suddenly dead, the strongest one still lying in the ICU together with the Champion," Akamu piped up. His words made the atmosphere in the room turn solemn in an instant.
"Yeah, and let's not forget that they have a freaking flying airship that could easily defeat or even kill a Pillar with one shot and freeze an entire city over in a matter of minutes," Skye muttered darkly.
"Locating and destroying that frigate will be our topmost priority," Looker emphasised. "Nova, any updates?"
"It was last seen flying towards the northern end of the region. Volkner's porygon-z is still working on estimating the routes it could have taken but nothing had come up," Nova shook her head in a negative. "Honestly, there's too little for us to work on."
"Feels like the only thing we can do is to wait for them to make their next move before we can do something about them," Volkner sighed tiredly. "The Resonance thing though, is there a way to bypass that bullshit powerup?"
"Kill the trainer and Resonance will automatically cease, I've verified that in Striaton City when the army of pseudo Ability Holders made their assault," Norman spoke up. "It also seems that not every Ability Holder within their ranks is proficient in it, many of them need time to… "charge up", for the lack of a better word, before they can activate Resonance for their pokemon."
"So as long as we don't give them time to prepare, we can take them down before they activate that Resonance crap?"
"That's the gist of it."
"Wow, wonderful," Volkner remarked sarcastically. "As if they would be stupid enough to "charge up" right in the open for us to stop them."
Nobody had a clue despite their best efforts to identify any new leads that might aid them in their investigations. It's like what Volkner said, the only thing that they can do now is to wait for Team Plasma to make their next move before they can do something.
Unova is in a very precarious position, and only time will tell if it will be able to remain in existence after the huge loss they recently suffered.