SS Libre Bow Section, Orrean Desert - 0334 hours local time - Day 141 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey
Preparing for a desert crossing was neither fun nor easy. Michael Ryuto had a motorized bike which he upgraded later on for fast, daily runs across the unholy deserts of this godforsaken region. Wes Leo had an overengineered gashog of a hoverbike that was… cool to look at, but not exactly fuel budget-friendly.
And Ash wasn't going to be travelling the region by hoverbike. Cipher monopolized that sort of thing. And most of those came from Ferrum and absolutely no one with a brain cell in Orre trusted those insane communist bastards as far as they could bury them.
And this was Orre, a region filled with mine shafts and pits. If the coward ever came to Orre, Robin was pretty sure Sun Xuefeng, the Supreme Leader of that nest of insanity, would become VERY familiar with the bottom of one.
No, they were going to have to do this the hard way. Robin did not like the hard way. It would get her charge killed and that was the last thing she wanted. She still hadn't figured out what Ash was about.
And he'd been here for almost two weeks. He was a puzzle. Open, but shut. And these feelings were still confusing her and she would seriously like them to either make themselves clear or JUST FUCK RIGHT THE HELL OFF!
…What was WRONG with her?
"This is a bad idea," she said as Ash flicked through the options on his Pokedex. "Tranquill are not native to Orre, they don't even leave Unova!"
"Tell that to mine." Ash replied as he transferred Gligar back to the Ranch for now, intending to transfer him right back when she was done. "She'll fly to Pyrite, drop Natu off and she'll get sent back. Natu teleports us to Pyrite."
"Meanwhile, I'm going to what's left of Agate Village." Pernon said, partially suited up in his armor. The businessman moonlighted as a wanna-be superhero. Who knew. "Your reports say they're up to something there for some reason. I want to find out."
"Agate was hit with a 20-kiloton nuclear bomb." Robin said. "Not only that, a very dirty nuclear bomb. Not the clean hydrogen nukes you're used to. The damn thing laced with enough polonium to make it impossible for anything short of Xerneas or Lord Arceus to make livable again. It's still radioactive."
Pernon smirked. "The suit can keep it out," he said. "I could walk on the surface of Venus and be fine."
"Venus is absurdly hot, not radioactive." the redheaded bimbo said. Robin knew she didn't like being called that, but those things on her chest were a bit...excessively sized. "A better comparison would be near Saturn or Jupiter. THOSE are massive radiation sinks. And the suit wouldn't be able to handle THAT much radiation. You're lucky Agate isn't as radioactive as them."
Robin glared at her. "If he takes that suit off, he dies. Even today, the radiation levels are so high, people die in minutes." she snapped. "But better him then Ash. Unlike your boss, Ash isn't expendable." Where in the name of Xerneas did THAT come from?
"Expenda-" Rin started before Ash got between them and stopped the fight.
"Let's just focus on ending this as fast as we can, ok?" he said diplomatically. "You guys can go to Agate. You have the right gear. Robin and I will go to Pyrite and meet up with the local resistance cell."
"If they're still alive." the white-haired Orrean said before heading for the upper decks.
She didn't know what was happening to her. She was a soldier, war was her art and all she knew. So why did her heart beat faster in Ash's presence, why did he seemingly dominate her every thought?
What the hell was happening to her?!
"Riolu." 'I did not expect it to happen THAT fast,' Riolu said as he watched Robin struggle with her feelings. "Rio." 'I mean, she probably had a crush on you at first sight, given you were brave enough to storm a resistance stronghold-'
Ash growled. He didn't want to hear it. He already had a good idea what was happening, he didn't need the gritty details.
Because his aura was just so much more powerful, it was… kinda messing with her mind. Misty and the others probably wouldn't notice, given they weren't Aura adepts. His aura wouldn't effect them. Robin was a latent Aura adept and far, FAR weaker then Ash in that department.
In short, his aura was, unwittingly, turning her into something like Janine, only far more confused and probably a lot more compliant with whatever he thought of. Most men would kill for something like this.
Ash was not most men. And he was as happy with it as a Gyarados was about getting electrocuted by Zekrom.
"I would like to know why this is happening. It didn't happen to any of the others," Ash groused. "And I do not want to turn her into-"
"Pika?" 'A more bed-oriented Janine?' Pikachu asked slyly. He still wanted his Ashlings, after all. Sabrina didn't count.
"I'm not a perverted old man." he said, as Tranquill and Natu were sent off, Tranquill's ball in Natu's talons.
Unfortunately for Ash, there was a perverted old man inside his head. And he found a loophole.
Arceus was the Creator, but the creator was not perfect. It would not be possible to overthrow the god llama if it were so. The King of Pokelantis winced as he prepared himself for the Hands of God to bitchslap him. Repeatedly.
Arceus may not have wanted worship, but the Creator still didn't like the heresy of any non-Pokemon thinking of overthrowing her.
Sabrina just watched as the Thousand Hands bitchslapped the man that raped her for almost four months until he got bored with some enjoyment. "You are a perverted lech," she said as the King was smacked once by each hand. "Turning me in for the newer model?"
WHACK! The man was sent flying into a wall, Sabrina feeling no pity for the fool.
"You… are an idiot." the man-Ash said as he got back up. "The Creator can't stop us from manipulating his Aura. So I decided to-"
"Turn the white haired brat into your next concubine?" the psionic parasite said, leaning back on a Kalosian couch. "She doesn't exactly have the assets you would want." she gestured to her own sizable assets, which the king...enjoyed a bit too much for her liking.
The megalomaniac waved it off. "With Aura, I can do anything. If I want the bitch to have bigger tits, she will." she said. "And I am twisting her to my will."
Sabrina scoffed. "Ash's will, you mean. You might be fucking with her mind, but her loyalty is to Ash, not you." she said, getting up and walking around the subconscious landscape. "And the only thing you're doing is turning her into Ash's doting, loving bodyguard. Not that she had much problem with that to begin with: it was basically love at first sight with her, you're just making it worse."
The King chuckled. "The perfect bodyguard. Protecting me day and night, in and out of bed." he said, smirking. "Just need to take Ash's place."
Sabrina snorted in disgust.
Pallet Town, Kanto Region - 0725 hours local time
Five voices all shouted at once inside a blonde's head.
'I'MA KILL EM!' yelled Rey, Asuka, Jade, the Princess and Yuno screamed as soon as Serena woke up.
"Please don't yell, my head hurts…" the baroness/future queen asked the personalities in her head, getting a look from Janine.
"I have not said anything." the kunoichi said as she closed her book. "How do you feel?"
'How do I feel?!' Yuno demanded, making Serena's head hurt more. 'I'll show you how I feel, you-ULP!'
'Shut up.' Rey demanded as she gave the contender for the most troublesome personality in Serena's equally messed up head a nice dose of chloroform. 'We have been unconscious for the last month. Serena must regain her strength, not deal with your yelling.'
Serena gestured to her head, Janine sighing. "You have problems." she said.
"And you're talking more." the noblewoman said as she noticed she was rather… nude. "Who took off my clothes?"
"The doctors. I… insisted they only let women deal with you." the ninja said. "I presume you would have sworn bloody vengeance against any man not Ash if they did anything while you were unconscious." the kunoichi got out of her chair, walking towards Serena. "As for my talking more… I was silent because I had nothing to add and was still sorting out my own thoughts after my father's death."
Serena blinked. Ninja were always weird. Then again, she had five voices in her head, so who was she to talk?
"Why am I naked?" she asked. She'd hit them with a mallet later. After borrowing it from Misty.
"You DID need to bathe. They sponged you once a day to keep you from… well, needing a Bounsweet to remove the smell," the kunoichi answered.
Forget the doctors. Janine was getting the mallet.
"Might I suggest you deal with your Pokemon?" the ninja asked. "Your Braixen is trying to outperform Ash's Charizard in terms of raw firepower. Literally."
Serena blinked and forgot about mallets. "Braixen?" she asked. "I only have a Fennekin."
"Then you are incorrect." the kunoichi quipped before Anabel suddenly sat upright and banged her head off a low hanging lamp, sending her head back to the pillow.
It happened a week ago. All the fox could think about was torching something. The Squirtle belonging to her trainer's mate was a convenient target. Then the Pidgeotto. And then there was the strange evolving/devolving Gible that had that damn tune play whenever he was in the dirt with his fin poking out. She was a psychic and she couldn't figure out how that worked.
The Gible then turned into a Garchomp and turned it into a game. THEN the Dratini joined in, which drew in the Dragonite and snowballed from there.
"Swad." 'At least I didn't get torched.' said a bug that looked like it was covered by a hood. Ash's Swaddle had evolved into Swadloon during that furball.
And so had she. She was used to walking on four legs. Getting used to bipedalism was a pain in the ass. And she had a stick stuck in her tail until she pulled it out. She tried getting rid of it, but the damn thing just came back and stuck to her tail.
Repeatedly. It was actually annoying as hell that that Spearow Ash caught thought it was hilarious, but then he'd been more focused on avoiding the bug bus from Alola. Bug/electric-types. Strange. The damn thing evolved a few days ago and it was...annoyed at Spearow for some reason.
"Spear!" 'For Arceus' sake, you stupid bug, I'm not interested in eating you!' Spearow said before a Spark missed his head, making the bird fly off.
"Charg!" 'Get back here, you grub-eating bastard!' said the bus-like Alolan Chargabug as it slowly chased after Spearow.
Braixen shook her head before seeing her fellow Kalosian starter, meditating. Ivysaur insisted this be his day off, therefore he listened. Even Charizard listened to him.
Charizard… Ash's fire dragon. Her trainer's mate's fire-breathing powerhouse. They both had the same potential, too. Speaking of which, she wanted to see how she compared.
The dragon was currently napping, with Rowlet and Litten training near him, but not bothering him. Quilava and Phanpy were making sure no one got close without clearance.
"Bra." 'May I speak to Charizard?'she asked respectfully, curtseying slightly to show respect. She was more of a performer. These were beings of power. They may have preferred to be fast, but she would never reach their level of power. Phanpy was on the verge of evolving and Quilava… her Johtoan counterpart was faster, more canny and dangerous, not to mention experienced.
It was odd. They were the same age. Why was she stronger?
Quilava looked at Charizard. "Qui!" 'Charizard, Braixen wants to talk to you!' said the fire badger, getting Charizard to open his eyes, then yawn.
"Char." 'Alright. Let's take this somewhere else. I have to take a flight today to Johto.' he said, slowly getting to his feet before finding Dratini approaching. "Zarrr." 'Come along, little one. I want to help teach you dragon Rage. Gible's…' Charizard looked to the forest, seeing a fin chasing Swellow and Staravia. Or chasing Staravia with Swellow helping. This was Gible: he was unpredictable.
"Dra!" 'Ok! Dragonite's coming though.' said the little dragon, looking at the mountains where that unholy monster belonging to Oak lived with Madam Delia's team.
"Char." 'I'm not joining in the brawl today. It's my rest day. And I am NOT pissing off Ivysaur.' Charizard said, chuckling at the idea of being afraid of a second-stage grass-type.
Braixen was less amused. That thing was TERRIFYING.
Still, the unlikely trio walked away from the battlegrounds that were the ranch for a more remote location, where the grass faded in favor of rocks and bare earth, finding someone else there as well.
The oversized tree lizard, Sceptile, who was deep in thought.
Charizard roared, getting the fellow starter's attention, making him turn his head to look at Charizard. "Sceptile." 'Charizard. I hope you're not here for a rematch.' he said, Braixen sensing something unsaid.
"Char." 'Nope. You pulled that just to evolve. Just don't do it again.' the dragon said. "Zard." 'My mate is a sore spot.'
Mate? Oh… That was disappointing. They might not have shared an egg group, but she would have liked to be mated to such a strong Pokemon.
"Tile." 'I am trying to master Frenzy Plant,' he replied. "Sceptile-ile." 'Not exactly easy. It's… different.'
Charizard laughed. "Char!" 'I remember Blaine saying it was freaking nuts!' he said before grinning. "Charizard!" 'Why don't you show us?'
Sceptile's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets."Sceptile?!" 'No! No no no, I am NOT pissing off Ivysaur again! Once was enough!' the archosaurian yelped, waving his arms in a panic.
Braixen then stepped forward. "Brax." 'Then do it to me. I think I can burn grass.' she said, smugly thinking type would win out.
Sceptile looked at her, then Charizard. "Tile." 'Back her up, please.' he asked.
Charizard gently got Dratini into his arms, flying to a safe distance and dropping the little guy off before returning. "Char." 'Ready.' he said.
Sceptile closed his eyes, channeling energy into his tail as Braixen ran in front of him, intending to take whatever this was head on.
Mistake number one.
Sceptile then spat out a massive seed that went into the ground, literally drilling deep under the hardened soil.
Kaiju fans may get a kick out of this. (WHACK!)
The ground rumbled, Braixen beginning to think she made a massive mistake. She was right as tendrils came out of the ground, tipped with what looked like the heads of Carnivine without the eyes as a massive rose-like plant came out of the ground.
(BGM: Godzilla vs Biollante - Godzilla 1989)
"BRAIXEN?!" 'WHAT IN THE HOLY NAME OF XERNEAS IS THAT FUCKING THING?!' she yelled as the inside of the rose had TEETH.
It moaned loudly before the tendrils were sent after her, the fox using Flamethrower to torch the things, but they did not burn easily. They also kept coming.
This was Frenzy Plant, the starter glass-type version of Hyper Beam. Instead of being grass energy in a Hyper Beam, it created a being to assist the summoner. Grass was the type of life, after all.
Braixen was not thinking about that as she tried to avoid the mouthed tentacles, using Fire Blast to finally destroy the tips and allow her to gain breathing room, having had to jump and back flip just to avoid getting trapped.
She charged another fire Blast, using her stick to give it a psionic boost to torch the body of the plant, setting the rose petals on fire and making the plant scream in pain.
"Bra!" 'Fuck you, you oversized weed!' the fire fox witch said, thinking she killed it.
This is Frenzy Plant. Only Blast Burn could truly finish it off.
The plant roared before it began mutating, the petals falling away, the jaws lengthening and turning more like a sandile's, complete with livid eyes as the body grew, forming roots as it began to move, rushing at her.
Fast.
Braixen's face would have lost all color if she was human. Her jaw was dropped and her eyes widened as far as they could get instead, before she began blasting away with every fire attack she knew, Fire Blasts slamming into the 'chest' of this monster, flamethrowers doing nothing but pissing it off.
The plant beast opened its' maw, spewing acidic sap out of the mouth, Braixen running as soon as she saw it happen.
"BRAX!" 'Me and my big fucking mouth!' she yelled as the monster chased her, sending snapping vines after her before it spewed out an energy Ball, missing her by inches. "BRAIXEN!" 'CHARIZARD! HELP!'
A super-heated beam of plasma slammed into the plant, making it roar in pain as it was roasted from the inside out, the sap inside exploding out of the plant's skin before it finally died, Charizard having taken to the air and using Blast Burn on it from above.
"Dra! Dra! Dra!" 'That was awesome! I wanna learn to do that!' Dratini cheered, jumping up and down excitedly.
Braxien groaned as she fell on her face. She needed to stop making her moves just look pretty.
"Ivysaur?!" 'What the hell happened here?!' she looked up to see an annoyed flowering toad glaring at Charizard and Sceptile from the top of a hill. "Ivy!" 'I swear, I can't leave either of you alone!'
Braxien now understood why they were scared of him.
Orre/Ferrum border - 1402 hours local time
Lovrina wasn't as gifted with breaking Pokemon as her namesake, but she wasn't in the mood to try. Her conversation in Kanto… broke her.
One conversation and her worldview was gone. So she just went through the motions. Such as now, when their friends in Ferrum had gotten their hands on a shipment of Pokemon from Kalos and Galar. Alola was remaining… problematic. They really liked their minefields to explode on the slightest touch.
'I wonder what he's up to…' she thought, wondering about that guy with the yellow Gible.
"LOOK OUT! IT'S LOOSE!" yelled one of her Peons, snapping her out of her reverie as a Pokemon broke out of its' cage.
And it was 30 pounds of angry avian. Angry, leek-wielding avian.
"FETCH!" yelled the Farfetch'd as it used that oversized leek to cave the helmet of one of her peons in, no doubt crushing his skull in the process. This Farfetch'd was… darker. Angrier. And had a massive freaking leek.
Was it from Galar? She didn't know or care.
The bird looked at her, boring into her very soul before deciding to seek more worthwhile prey. She wasn't going to stop the bird if it wanted to escape.
She had a date in Pyrite. And she didn't want to be late, even as her Peons all dogpiled on the bird and she released her new, normal Altaria.
Pyrite Town - 1624 hours local time
A den of honorable thieves in the days of old. Pyrite was a better place once, after Cipher's two defeats in the old days. No more. The place was a cipher-supporting shithole now. The old chief of police, once an incompetent idiot officer, was assassinated and replaced with a Cipher puppet that turned a blind eye to everything there.
This place was the worst place to be for the resistance. The cell kept collapsing. What was worse, Pyrite was the storage facility for Orre's supply of nuclear bombs. The only thing Cipher lacked for delivery was either ICBMs or bombers.
But a Type-36 airship would do in a pinch. And Ferrum was more than willing to supply as long as they could rebuild with them in charge. After all, out of all the regions post-Cipher War, only Ferrum was untouched. Shows how long they were planning this. But why were they taking so damn long in invading?
Politics were never Robin's strongsuit. Nor was hiding her hair. Being stark white was not exactly conducive to stealth. Ash's more common black hair was better. Maybe…
What was she thinking? Black was better for what?
"You and I will need to talk later." she said as Ash transferred Natu out for Gligar, then looked at her in confusion.
"Talk about what?" he asked, pocketing the ball and Pokedex.
"…Never mind." she said, mildly blushing. "There's a secret elevator leading into the Under, the city under the town. It was sealed off after Cipher was defeated the first time, but reopened during the Subjugation. Cipher's been using it as their base in the northwestern half of Orre. Rumor has it they have torture facilities down there. It's also where most of their Peons come from."
Ash blanched at that, Robin agreeing, but they had done just as bad. The smith was… creative when he wanted information he wanted. Not what the prisoner thought they wanted to hear, what they wanted.
"So… sneak onto the elevator, get into the Under and find the local cell?" he summed up. "Sounds simple enough."
Robin sighed. Her master-where the fuck did THAT come from?-wasn't as smart as she would like. "The elevator is most likely guarded. And the Under is equipped with teleport dampeners, so you cannot simply just use Natu to get you in and out." she said.
"I can improvise." Ash said. Apparently, he'd done this before.
Agate Ruins - 1630 Hours Local Time
The suit's geiger counter was going INSANE. The whitehead was right: this was probably the most radioactive place on the planet.
And he'd been to Navel Rock. That place had been hit with more nuclear bomb tests then anywhere else. There was a REASON no one wanted to go there.
Agate was once home to the largest number of retired trainers in the world: former League Champions like Eagun, whose Pikachu was so badass a young Surge went to study at his feet during the First Cipher Crisis and members of the Elite Four that got too old to do their jobs effectively.
All that experience and wisdom, wiped out in a flash of nuclear fire. All with Cipher patting themselves on the back for getting rid of all those that gave their god the finger, probably.
Pernon snorted as he moved closer, the suit not being conducive to stealth. Power armor was good for combat, as it protected you from everything short of anti-tank weaponry, enhanced your strength and this suit had radiation shielding, but it was noisy. VERY noisy.
"Remind me to install sound dampeners in these things." he muttered.
"Sorry, that would only keep you from hearing it." Rin quipped on the other end, very safely away from the radioactive shithole that was Agate. "You want the heavy things, you need the noisy suit."
Kyril zoomed in on the base from a distance, finding teams in radiation suits with jackhammers and other equipment, all hacking away at the ruins. "Well, they're busy playing radioactive construction worker, so I just need to keep out of sight."
Another disadvantage of the suit: it made him two and a half feet taller then he actually was. Stealth wasn't the point of this thing.
Lack of foresight to bite him in the ass this time around. On the other hand, he wasn't expecting to go to Orre and visit the most radioactive place on the planet.
"A damn shame." he muttered.
SS Libre bow section - 1634 hours local time
The totem bird was still staring at her. Rin was getting annoyed by it, but the Xatu just kept STARING.
"Will you fuck off, bird?" she demanded, looking back at the Mystic Pokemon with the stupid hat.
The bird seemingly smiled with its' eyes and stared back. "Xatu." said the bird.
This was dangerous. Agate was beyond radioactive. If only her own suit was as heavily shielded, she would've gone with him. But the Defender unit was slimmer and lighter, not as thickly plated as the Marauder suit. She would cook like an egg in that radiation.
And she didn't want to lose him. Despite everything, she loved that moron. He was willing to fight to stop the Teams and was willing to take any blame for it.
He'd better come back. She'd kill him if he didn't.
Cinnabar Island - 0409 hours local time
In the opinion of all, 4:10am was too damn early to be awake. Unless you were on the night shift, you should be asleep by that time.
Cynthia Shirona was of this opinion, even if she was a tad bit hypocritical, given how many late nights she had during digs in the league off-seasons. But she had to be up. Mainly because if she wasn't, she wouldn't be forcing Lance to give his assurances that Sinnoh would still be in League hands by the time they got back from Orre.
"Cynthia, I know you're worried, but we have it covered." Lance said, tasty from being kept up LONG since his planned time to hit the sack. "Your Elite 4-"
Cynthia growled as she mockingly and angrily drank the absolute last cup of coffee in the building.
Lance was forced to use all the self-control he had NOT to scream and Cynthia was too tired to be mature about it. "This is going to be another rant about Team Galactic, isn't it?" he asked. NO ONE liked her rants about those bastards.
To be honest, she had no idea when it started. …Actually, that was a lie: she knew damn well when it started. It was five years ago, during a dig near Mount Coronet. The bastards just APPEARED out of nowhere. Literally nowhere. One minute, the clearing was empty, the next there were DOZENS of Grunts and that bitch Saturn. Garchomp was more than happy to try and end them.
Fun fact: Garchomps are only aggressive as hell because they can't show their love and affection to their trainers through their bites without accidentally killing them. Cynthia's Garchomp, at that point, had been a Garchomp for almost 13 years. That is a GREAT deal of aggression to work out. And why she wanted that clip. A happy Garchomp was a chomping Gible, as the old Sinnohan saying went.
At the end, there were a number of dead grunts and one still exceedingly pissed off Garchomp chasing after Saturn, who just vanished afterward. And it kept happening. Now that new girl, Mars, was at it. And she was LIVID. This was with them having next-to-no presence on the mainland. What if they infested her region?
Team Rocket wasn't as bad: they took over the criminal underworld, but they seemed content with that. The days of Madam Boss and her terror wars were long over. Aqua and Magma...religious zealots for Kyogre and Groudon respectively. Not as bad as Cipher and Yveltal, but bad enough.
"I'll spare you the rant this time, Goji fanboy," Cynthia said, hitting Lance's biggest weakpoint. The URN once produced a monster movie series named Gojira. The Galaran and Unovan name was 'Godzilla', but close enough. Groudon would've been flattered. Probably was. You never know with legendaries.
And Lance had some of the few film reels left of the Gojira series. And in his earlier days, he was always talking about one film or another.
"Speaking of which…" Lance said grinning. "Clair sent over a copy of her favorite one. I'm planning on a movie night on the Azelf's Will if you don't have any objections."
She knew the real reason: everyone was stressed and there was nothing like a monster film to get their minds off the war to come.
Pallet Town - 0738 hours local time - Day 142
Goodra was a supporter of a polygamous relationship between his trainer and those girls he traveled with. Everyone knew this. Everyone also assumed it was because his own line tended to have polygamous relationships, with males AND females in harems.
Goomy were a strange lot, Goodra would admit.
But no. While a reason, the main reason was Ash had suffered a great deal.
New Island. Greenfield. Altomere. The Temple of the Sea. New Tork. Those and more brought their trainer to the edge of madness. He hid it well. Very well.
But Goodra could see it. Ash was on the cusp of going insane. Holding in his romantic desires and natural urges combined with the almost 20 incidents that were stressful and mentally exhausting was driving him into the realm of the Malamar.
His strong will kept him on the right side of sanity. But only just. Even the will of Arceus' Chosen would break eventually.
"Ape." 'There you are.' Goodra opened an eye and ceased his musing to look at Primeape, who looked battered, bruised and bloody. What the hell happened to him?
"Goodra." 'Primeape. Is there something I can help you with?' he asked as he stood up. "Goo?" 'and why do you look like you ran into a tank?'
Primeape eyesmiled, as if he was happy he looked like he went twenty rounds with a female Garchomp. "Ape!" 'Fought Salamence, actually. The burns are mostly gone, but the dragon got off worse!' the fighting-type replied.
Ah, yes, Hunter J's Salamence. Ash took a risk releasing him. Charizard was lucky he was used to fighting enemies that were stronger then he was and training to beat them in spite of it.
The dragon was pushing his luck. The majority of the poke-family were likely to gang up on him like they did Jigglypuff. Of course, the puffball deserved some of it for doodling on their faces because they fell asleep after she used Sing, even if she didn't know it. It was funny the first time.
The next twenty were ANOTHER story.
The dragon, though, only obeyed because Charizard put the fear of Arceus into him. His trainer was still alive. And unless the bitch suddenly kicked the bucket in the next year, he would continue to be an issue.
"Goo?" 'And WHY did you pick a fight with the most reluctantly kept Pokemon at the ranch?' he asked, attempting to emulate an eyebrow rise.
"Primeape!" 'To train! I needed someone willing to hand me my own ass!' the monkey answered. "Ape-ape-ape." 'No one else is willing to push me to my limits. Besides, I heard there's a Darkrai we owe vengeance towards. And he's weak to me.'
Goodra didn't see the point in wanting revenge against a mythical Pokemon. …Oh wait, this was about that asshole Tobias, wasn't it. He heard of the prick using legendaries against Ash.
A Latios, too. …Well, who were they to be denied revenge against someone abusing the might of gods, lesser or otherwise?
"Goo." 'True enough. This Tobias is without any form of honor if he uses legendaries in a tournament meant more to show the abilities of those who work for it.' the dragon said. "Dra." 'Don't get yourself killed. You just got back to Ash.'
Primeape laughed. "Ape!" 'Like he'll succeed!' the monkey said before running to find that Chansey. She was a messed up one, that medical Pokemon. Then again, all of Ash's Pokemon were messed up.
Pyrite Town - 0326 hours local time
Ash loathed staying up all night. But that's what it took to get into the Under. The lift was guarded almost all the time, with only one hour of time it wasn't being watched like a rare candy. But Ash was good at climbing. And the lift's top was enclosed, allowing him to get on top of it and once the guards took it down...so too did he go down.
"Pika." 'Thank Arceus for that ninja training you got from Aya.' Pikachu said quietly as the lift entered the cavernous Under.
Well, sleep-deprived or not, he could see WHY it was called that. The place looked like the gateway to hell itself, with a massive cave system filled with buildings, all lit up like Neon Town back in the old timeline. But as the Distortion World was both heaven and hell, depending on what you did in life, he wasn't sure it would fit after knowing that.
"I need to find a place to sleep." he muttered. He'd been up for almost 24 hours and while he could stay up longer, it was not a good idea.
Pikachu had the wisdom to point at an unlit building, falling apart with the old pokeball symbol on it. Apparently, Cipher didn't like Pokemon Centers. "Pipika." 'We can stay there for now, then we can head to the Cipher base, wherever that is,' he said.
Ash nodded tiredly. He didn't know how people did this sort of thing regularly.
Lovrina walked around the base, seeing all sorts of new Peons.
And for the first time, sbe was sick to her stomach seeing them instead of proud.
Instead of brave soldiers willing to fight for Orre, she saw pawns willing to die for no other reason then to die in the name of Yveltal, an uncaring god that probably didn't even know what they were.
Something changed her in Kanto. One conversation and that young man with the yellow Gible broke her.
There was just no sense to anything Cipher did anymore. That attack in Kanto was a statement. It had no real purpose. Nothing made sense anymore.
"Chan…" said a Chansey in the medical wing, a faint green glow coming out of it as Lovrina approached it. Normally, she would walk right past without a second thought.
Now… she looked in and saw Miror B, his body covered with an overcharged Heal Pulse. The old man was getting another deaging procedure. Apparently, he saw his defeat at Ash Ketchum's hands a humiliation he wanted to avenge.
The Chansey was being pushed to the limit, forced to by an implant mounted in the back of her head. Even if she wanted to stop, it would make her keep going.
She had an empty stomach, but now she wanted to vomit. This didn't bother her before.
Why did it bother her now?
The poor thing finally dropped to the floor, unmoving, not even breathing. The aide of medical professionals everywhere was dead. And an event that Lovrina had seen dozens of times to Dakim, Mirror B, Venus and Nascour somehow disturbed her to her core.
"Git tha' Chansey to the morgue an' that implant out o' it!' Miror B ordered, two peons dragging the dead Chansey out of the room, Lovrina's face almost sickeningly green as the impact of what happened hit her.
This was an innocent being… and they murdered it.
What was she, to help these…
"Ah, Lovrina!" Miror B's voice shocked her back into focus. "You go' news on tha' princy bastard?" the poke-fro'ed man then began to dance, disco style. "I ca' wait ta cut his throat 'pen!"
She shook her head. "N-Nothing." she said. "I think he's still in Kanto."
The man stopped dancing, glaring at her. "Th' fuck you say!" he yelled. "Yer in charg' o' intelligence, ain't ya?!"
She put her hands on her hips, glaring at him like her grandmother did Michael Ryuto in days gone by. "In case you haven't noticed, I've been busy doing YOUR job!" she snapped. "Aren't you in charge of new Pokemon training?!"
"Eh, point." he replied before disco dancing to the door. "See ya lat'r, girly!" with that, he left her in the room.
She was in a den of madness. And only now had she awoken to realize she was now the only one sane.
Abandoned Under Pokemon Center - 0842 hours local time
Ash was used to sleeping on hard surfaces. Rocks, dirt, boat decks, you name it, he slept on it for nearly six years prior to Alola and staying at Kukui's lab.
But never in his life did he sleep on anyone more uncomfortable then the floor of the long-abandoned Under PMC. Even with a sleeping roll as a barrier between him and the millions of tiny rocks, his back still felt like it was covered in cactus needles.
"Pika." 'I hate this place.' Pikachu said as he picked rocks out of his fur. "Pikapika." 'I'm going to have bruises for WEEKS.'
"Join the club." Ash muttered as Gligar happily hung from the roof, in shadow. Scorpion-bat was probably over the moon.
"Rio." 'this place reeks of corruption and evil.' Riolu said, using Aura to keep his paws off the rocks. Pikachu wanted to zap him for this. "Riolu-ri." 'I would not be sad if it died.'
Ash looked at Gligar, who flew down to Ash, who extended his left arm so he could hang from it. "Look, I'd rather not do something like that if I can avoid it." he said. "There's necessary, then there's overkill."
"Gli?" 'Wasn't there some comic about 'there is no overkill, only I'm out of ammo' or something?' the bat-scorpion asked.
Ash gave him a look. "If Pikachu used an electric Z-Move on Charizard, THAT would be overkill." he deadpanned. "Nuking Agate Village was overkill. Cipher seems obsessed with overkill, now that I think about it."
"Rio." 'Let's just find the base.' the jackal said. "Lu." 'I can't feel anyone here and Robin said the cell would be here before we came down here.'
The fact they didn't find anyone was worrying enough. There was something else… in his head…
And he was experienced enough to know what it was.
"I think the cell is at the base. There's some psychic message bouncing around down here," he said. Mewtwo did it, Sabrina did it, he was pretty sure Hoopa did it, too and he was REALLY getting sick and tired of people screwing with his mind.
"I'm almost in agreement with you, Riolu," Ash said. "If only to get that repeating message 'praise Yveltal' out of my head."
Agate ruins - 0900 hours
Stealth sucked, Pernon realized. He didn't want them to know what was happening until it was too late.
But now that he was inside, there was no stopping him from getting to the base… or seeing the destruction caused by the nuke.
It was a ghost town. Homes bombed out, long since burned away. And Cipher had set up shop in what was once the most sacred space in Agate.
The contaminated stream led to the legendary Relic Stone, the only thing that could purify Shadow Pokemon in Orre. The stone was gone, having been at Ground Zero of the explosion, vaporized by a gleeful Cipher.
The Time Flute, a Johto artifact, was something else that could purify them. Cipher destroyed it, too, cutting it apart and melting it.
And the stones of the Ranger Union were gone, too. He didn't know anything about them, save they had the ability to sooth the souls of any Pokemon. Half the reason Cipher unleashed their plague on them, the other half being that they revered Xerneas, the polar opposite of Yveltal.
Religious zealotry at its' worst.
Back on topic, Pernon decided to get a bit of payback for what they did nearly a century ago.
In the words of a great knight of Galar, he would leave none alive.
With that, he withdrew the 12.7mm rifle from his back and racked the bolt. The Peons outside would know what was coming. But there was one problem as Pernon readied the weapon.
They wouldn't be able to do a godsdamn thing about it.
SS Libre - same time
"Looks like your boytoy finally decided to cut loose." Surge quipped as he heard the distinctive bark of a weapon chambered in 50 caliber going off in rapid succession.
"He's in the place the Cipher War truly began. What did you expect?" Rin retorted as Kyril began taking out the Peons. "We don't know what happens in places like those. For all we know, Giratina's feeling vengeful and using him as a conduit for his wrath or something."
Surge gave her a look. "You don't know anything about that ghost dragon, do you?" he asked. "Giratina's not a god of rage. He's a god of sorrow."
The commlink then clicked open. "Uh, Rin?" he asked. "I've got a few hard drives here. Looks like they were using this place as a backup research area."
Surge scowled at that. "The dead were disrespected enough." he spat. Rin ignored him.
"Link the drives to your comms system; I'll rip everything from them and see what they were up to." the redhead said as she felt something on her head.
"Natu." said the something as the parrot made a nest out of her hair.
"…Get. Off. My. Head." she ground out, glaring at the bird.
The bird just got comfortable. "Na. Tu." said the parrot.
The Under - 0913 hours local time
Ash followed a pair of Cipher Peons as quietly as he could, heading for the building that had looked far newer, which screamed 'evil headquarters'.
There was no other way in than a single door, which had two Peons standing watch.
"Pika." 'Can't see any electrical lines leading to a camera.' Pikachu said, looking at the building and using his electrical senses to see if there were any sensors that would make their lives hell. "Pikapi?" 'Any ideas, Ash?'
Ash narrowed his eyes, looking at the guards. "Can you electrocute them, knock them out without killing them?" he asked. They might be mooks, but he'd rather knock them out if he could avoid it.
"Pika." 'Done, even if I don't see the point.' the mouse said before jumping out of cover and hitting both Peons with a chained Thunderbolt, making them twitch like dying frogs before they fell backwards on the outside of the building.
"Gligar!" 'Nice! I'll poison sting them to make sure they don't get back up.' the flying scorpion said before flying towards them. He knew Ash wouldn't like it if he made it lethal, but as long as they were weak and groggy, he wouldn't mind at all.
Ash winced as the pair were stung with the scorpion-like stinger on his tail before the bat-scorpion flew back towards Ash, landing on his back.
"Pika!" 'Come on, we need to get in there before they wake up!' his starter said, gesturing to the door.
"Right…" Ash trailed off, following Pikachu inside.
Aboveground - 0915 hours local time
Robin could not take it. She decked the guard at the entrance and took the lift down into the under.
Something had changed her. And for some reason, she could not bring herself to give a damn as to how. But what she knew was Ash needed to be protected at all costs. And she couldn't do this if he wasn't in her sight.
Robin pulled out her revolver, a Ferrum design with a gas-seal allowing it to use a suppressor. If it was in her way, it was going to die.
SS Libre - 0925 hours local time
Rin thought Cipher purged everything she was seeing a century ago.
She was clearly wrong. Because she was looking at the blueprints for the Purify Chamber.
Thought long lost when Cipher's purge began, the Purify Chamber allowed for the purification of all Shadow Pokemon. It nearly worked on XD-001, too. Nearly.
The only reason it didn't was because it was so corrupted, it took years to undo the process and by that time, Cipher was back, pissed off and furious, killing all who opposed them.
"Ok. WHY does this still exist?" Rin demanded. "I'd think Cipher would purge anything that was a threat to their Shadow army."
Surge scoffed. "Your history sucks. Don't you remember why Cipher kidnapped Professor Krane back then?" he rumbled. "To improve their corruption process. That's why this still exists. In case they need this to find some way to… fuck, corrupt Arceus or something."
Rin and the Natus all looked at Surge in horror. "Thank you for that bit of nightmare fuel, Lieutenant." spoke the redhead for herself and the flock.
"No shit!" Pernon said over the comms. "Last thing anyone needs is a Shadow Arceus! Please tell me we can keep that from happening now, Rin."
Rin looked over the files, seeing a number of files, but some were missing. The schematics were missing dozens of small parts. "No. The file's incomplete." she answered. "But maybe their headquarters has the missing files."
"Well, it's that or trial and error." Pernon said. "I'm on my way back."
"Like hell you are! That suit's contaminated!" Surge yelled into the mic. "You're not coming anywhere near this place without serious decon!"
A full four and a half days worth, at that. That suit needed to be cleaned or scrapped and the parts buried or smelted down.
He was not going to enjoy that.
Cipher Under Base - 0920 hours local time
Pikachu could feel the electric impulses in the room. He thought it was Cipher being Cipher, torturing electric types for the sake of it.
He could not be more wrong as Ash opened the door.
"Pikachu." 'What in the holy name of the Creator and His Children.' Pikachu stated as he took in the sight.
His trainer took this opportunity to ask more strongly. "What in the FUCK." he said, shocked at the sight of over fifty people, all attached to what could only be called torture racks, all of them with some kind of helmet on, Pikachu seeing low voltage electrical impulses get passed through their brains, combined with a powerful magnetic field.
As an expert in all things electric, Pikachu knew what Cipher was doing.
Erasing the moral center of the brain and brainwashing them into Peons. No wonder they didn't seem to give a damn about their lives. They literally DIDN'T give a damn about their lives.
"How many people…?" Ash asked as he looked at the sight, wincing as one of the 'subjects' stopped moving, the EKG flatlining as he died. "No, that's a stupid question. TOO many."
"Riolu…" 'Ash… this is obscene.' Riolu said, disgusted and horrified. "Riolu-ri…" 'We can't let them suffer like this…'
Ash winced, knowing what they were going to suggest. "Just… make it painless." he requested. "They deserve that much."
Pikachu nodded. He might've wanted to kill anyone threatening his trainer and brother in all but blood… but this was wrong. How many of these people were in the Under cell?
It didn't matter. They were all dead men anyways.
So Pikachu traced the wiring to its' source, finding a massive power cable splitting into all the racks. And with sorrow in his somewhat corrupted heart… he used Thunderbolt.
Ash looked away and closed his eyes at the sight. But that didn't stop the mass of flatlines from ringing in his ears.
This place needed to burn.
"Pikapi." 'Ash, this place needs to be destroyed.' Pikachu said as he made his way back. "Pika!" 'I don't care if everyone in the Under has to die, but this place NEEDS to be destroyed, no matter what!'
Riolu nodded with his counterpart. "Rio." 'I agree. This place is an icon of sin and must be destroyed.' he said, disgust in his voice.
Ash choked back a sob. They were right. "Ok. How? We've been lucky: there's no security inside the base so far, but once we start blowing things up…" he trailed off before finding something...useful to the goal.
A Cipher Peon uniform, complete with helmet, neatly placed on a console near the door.
"Pika." 'That helmet will brainwash you if you put that thing on.' Pikachu warned.
Ash walked over, grabbing the outfit and the cursed piece of headgear. "Can you disable the brainwashing?" he asked, offering Pikachu the helmet.
The electric mouse resisted grinning. After all, that would disrespect the dead.