[Pokémon] Four Friends [Rater T]

Chapter 18​
A few minutes ago, inside a hidden base in a hidden location a distance away from the ruins...

"I can't believe I have to do everything by myself again!" a top Rocket executive grumbled as he walked through the long hallway, his glaring eyes fixated on the hall up ahead. His eye twitched as he hissed through clenched teeth. "He should be taking these things seriously!" he muttered, ignoring a Rocket grunt who awkwardly greeted him as he passed him by. "He's our leader for crying out loud! Grr!"

The fuming executive finally walked out of the hallway and was now in a large hall-like office where the many members of Team Rocket busied themselves with computers and paperwork. The room was large yet dim, the only light source, aside from the small lamps on tables, were from the walls up ahead, on the left and on the right, where each had large and wide monitor screens that displayed various walls of texts, images, videos, and a small window of pong.

The room was filled with tables and work desks, where some members of the group sitting in front of computer screens wore headphones, talking to the small microphone while others call the attention of others to ask what to say to the ones on the other line.

A small number of Pokémon littered the area, cleaning or delivering food or papers to the busy-working humans.

"Status report!" the executive said, furiously eyeing the three large monitors.

"Sir," a bored-looking woman approached him, carrying a clipboard. She read the contents on the clipboard before looking back at the higher-ranking member of the team. "The team handling 'Operation Species: The Created' are still havi—"

"I don't need to hear that," he cut her off with a glare. "The boss said that he'll handle that one on his own. Whatever he meant by that, I wouldn't know."

The secretary nodded nonchalantly. "They are currently having a hard time holding their position, sir. May I suggest that—"

"Yes, yes," he said, sighing as he rubbed his aching forehead. "Ask them to pull back, but keep an eye on the target." He blinked. "Wait... I thought I told you that I wouldn't want to hear that?!"

The secretary appeared to have not heard him. She brought her hand to her ear, pressing an earpiece on it as she tore her gaze from the executive. "Mm... Tell them to pull back but to keep a watchful eye on the target. Mm... Yes, that is all. Ask them to wait for further instructions." She released the button from her earpiece and returned her hand on her clipboard. She read the contents again and wrote something with her other hand that held a pen. After she was done, she held the clipboard with both hands before turning her bored look back to the executive. "The team handling Operation Gold reported back, sir."

"Let me guess...bad news?" He received a nod, and he sighed in frustration. "Damn it."

"It would appear that the target is capable of defending himself, knocking all but one of the members of the group." She blinked, rereading the content. She blinked again. "He reported that, somehow, the target was able to use these 'floating letter-shaped' Pokémon to hold off our men."

"Those must be the Unowns," the executive said. "Although, how the target used them against us is a mystery." He looked at the bored-looking secretary. "How did he manage to escape?"

She blinked. "By using these so-called Unowns, sir."

"I meant our men. Or one of our men, at least..."

She brought her gaze back on her clipboard, flipping a page and reading the contents on the next paper. "...He was ordered to enter one of the available capillaries of the ruins while the others engaged the target in battle. It was a dead end, and these Unowns came after him. He managed to fend them off and after he got out, he found his teammates...suspended in the air, caged by the energy balls the Unowns created."

"What?" he blinked. He furrowed his brows as he snatched the clipboard from her hold. "Let me see that."

As he read the report, the secretary calmly fixed herself before she nonchalantly watched the higher ranking officer.

"Team Alpha are outside the ruins?" he asked, more to himself. He returned the clipboard back. "Why can't they go inside the ruins if Team Gold were able to?"

The secretary flipped a few pages. She blinked and read the contents on it. "...The walls seemed to have moved after the target did something."

"Then tell them to break that damn wall and capture the target. Both targets if possible."

"But sir," the secretary said, blinking lazily. "Wouldn't that—"

"I don't care. It's almost nightfall so there will be little to no eyewitnesses around that area."

She nodded. "Very well, sir. I'll let them know." She brought a hand to her ear, pressed her earpiece, and she began talking to whoever was on the other line.

Meanwhile, the executive sighed as he returned his gaze on the large monitor screens.

---

In the present time, back inside the ruins...

"Grrrrkkk—!"

Despite being electrocuted, Fay tried her best to cut the net with her fangs but to no avail. As the electric net she, Bill and the human's three Pokémon were in dragged them away and away from the previous chamber, Fay saw the faint silhouette of Saur a few paces behind yet trying his best to catch up.

Gritting his teeth, Saur threw two razor-sharp leaves as he continued running through the dark passageway. The twin leaves spun and flew faster than the Bulbasaur, heading straight towards the net. Seconds later, the two razor leaves struck the net, but it didn't even scratched the bindings and soon the leaves got electrocuted as well, and in a blink, they became brown and broke down.

The grass-type's eye twitched as he saw the net had already reached the large dome-like area where they first encountered Team Rocket in the ruins. He didn't care about the loud and chaotic otherworldly noises that echoed all around nor did he care about the random flashes of light that filled the dome. All he cared about was rescuing his dear friend from her seven black-uniformed captors who stood in the middle of the dome-like area.

Three Team Rocket members grabbed the net with rubber gloves while the other two ran behind and grabbed the other end of their captives' net. As the five Rocket members ran towards the other passageway leading to the outside world, the other two were about to run towards the opposite direction but instead summoned one Pokémon each after they saw Saur running out of the passageway.

With eyes burning wild, the little grass-type unleashed a storm of sharp leaves as he madly whipped his two vines at the Charmeleon and the Machoke. The two opposing Pokémon crossed their arms in front of them to shield themselves from the onslaught of attacks. The attacks lasted for a few seconds and it ended as soon as Saur ran in between the two. Blinking, they quickly turned around in time to hear their trainers' yelps as Saur wrapped each vine on one of their legs. The two Pokémon were about to rescue their trainers when they suddenly felt too tired to move. The Machoke fell on the ground, creating a small cloud of dust that covered him and the kneeling fire-type. One of the grunts broke the cloud as he flew towards the Charmeleon, knocking the two of them down.

Saur spun the other grunt in the air for a few turns before he slammed him down on the snoozing Machoke, knocking the air out of his lungs.

As a number of Unowns flew down and spun around the unconscious pile of bodies, Saur turned around and ran towards the passageway where the other grunts took his friend.

---

The setting sun created a golden hue of light in the dimming sky. Unfortunately, the golden orb's masterpiece was completely ignored by a group of black-uniformed men who were anxiously waiting outside the mouth of the ruins. Close by, a black-coated truck stood, shaking quietly from the vibrations of its active engines.

"Incoming!" one of the four grunts exclaimed, startling his comrades and making them pull out their Pokéballs. "Er... I meant our team from inside are inco—er...a-approaching..." A fist struck his head.

"You idiot!" another grunt exclaimed, pulling his fist back while the others rushed to the vehicle, opening the large doors behind. "I almost shit my pants!"

"S-sorry..."

"Just move out of the way!"

The two of them ran to the side seconds before another group of grunts—carrying a large number of bodies inside an electric net—came out from the mouth of the ruins. They ran towards the open doors behind the truck and threw their captives inside.

As they panted to catch their breath, one of the grunts who opened the door went inside and approached a control panel on one of the walls of the vehicle. Pushing a few combination of buttons, a vrr-ing noise echoed as thick iron bars appeared and caged the captives inside. He pressed another combination of buttons once again, and the cage glowed slightly, releasing an electrical humming noise as the electricity from the net died down.

"Target is secured!"

A grunt outside pressed an earpiece on his ear. "Target is secured!" He listened... "...Roger!" He pulled his hand back and nodded at the grunt inside the vehicle.

He nodded back and jumped out, landing on the ground. He and another one pushed the large doors closed.

"Wa-wait—!" Bill exclaimed after catching enough breath.

FWOMPH! The large, metallic doors closed.

"I-incoming!"

A grunt turned to glare at the other. "Oh, you're not getting me the seco—!"

A green vine shot out of the ruin's mouth—WHIP!—and looped around the neck of the grunt. He was hoisted up in the air as his team gasped at the sight.

With an angry growl, a Bulbasaur emerged from the shadows of the ruin's entrance, slamming the grunt on another as he whipped his other vine at the rest of them.

POP! POP! SWIIIIIIISH! Two large Pokémon materialized, their glaring eyes locked on the angry grass-type.

"Get rid of that weed!" a grunt ordered.

A Magmar roared before firing a fierce torrent of flames at the Bulbasaur. Saur swiftly jumped to the side, but then a Dodrio quickly appeared right in front of him, headbutting him hard just before he touched the earth. He ricocheted off the edge of the mouth of the entrance, landing on the ground with a thud. Wincing, he opened his eyes, gasped and jumped out of the way before the hot torrent of fire hit him.

The fast Dodrio was suddenly standing beside him, stabbing and stabbing him with its three sharp beaks.

Bleeding, Saur blindly shot his two vines to the heavens. One vine uppercutted one head while the other wrapped around the neck of the other.

The wrapped head blinked and then let out a surprised gasped when the vine pulled it down, and right in front of a torrent of hot fire. The other two heads screeched in pain, startling the Magmar to stop its attack.

Saur quickly tossed the one-third-unconscious bird out of the way and fired a thin ray of solar light towards the surprised fire-type, knocking it back a few feet.

Its body leaning back from the attack, the Magmar angrily pulled his body back and yelped when a vine coiled around its feet, lifted it up in the air and slammed it down on the yelping ostrich.

"This... This is insane!" one of the grunts said, stepping back. When he received the bloody and angry gaze of the panting Bulbasaur, his entire body shook, and he quickly turned around and made a dash towards the truck. "I'm outta here!"

Saur kicked his feet, chasing after him as he whipped his vines around, knocking the other grunts in his way.

The escaping grunt threw the door to the driver's seat open, threw himself inside, and slammed the door shut. He kicked his feet on the gas, the exhaust pipe vomitting a thick and black cloud of smoke right in front of Saur, causing him to cough and wheeze...and lose sight of the escaping vehicle.

"FAY!"

---

"Mrrrff...! Grrrkk...!"

Shock grunted as he slowly inched his way away from the bright chamber behind him as he carried an unconscious Vulpix on his shoulder. He wheezed, his strength and his consiousness slipping away from him, but he held on. He had to.

He suddenly felt a warm and thick drop of...liquid on his foot. Blinking, he stopped and looked down...and held his breath as he felt his pupils shrank. A splatter of red was on his foot's yellow fur. A cold breath left his nostrils as he slowly turned his gaze on his friend's unconscious body, and despite the darkness, he saw a slow torrent of blood coming out from his friend's open mouth.

"Vi...Vixie...?"

He felt her heartbeat against his fur, slow and weak as before, but...

His eyes started to water, and he gritted his teeth as he continued working his way towards the exit of the ruins.

---

Minutes flew by... Or maybe hours? Days? Sky couldn't tell, and he didn't want to know...but he secretly hoped that it hadn't been a day or more already... He wanted to move, he wanted to stand up and move as soon as he felt himself grasping his consciousness, but at the same time, he didn't want to move. He didn't even want to breathe anymore.

"What...wh-what have I done?" he whispered quietly to himself, his ears slowly registering the strange humming noise around him. A bright light pierced through his close eyelids as the memories of what he did played and played again in his mind in a loop. No matter how much he wanted to think of something else...anything else...his own mind betrayed him...punished him even.

All he ever wanted was to pay his brother back by bringing his 'friends' back with him to their world... But that goal made him blind of the consequences of his actions. It made him disregard the issues, thinking that, with the power he had, his plan...his goal...his mission would have been easy enough to do.

"Th-then again..."

Then again, as he thought about it, it was indeed easy enough to do. He made it this far—

"B-but I blew it..."

He blew it in the end.

"B...B-because of how stupid I was... Grrkt... St-still am...I think..."

"Is that a fact?" a calm yet powerful voice echoed quietly...above him.

Sky tried biting his beak, wishing he had lips so he could bite on them. "...I-it's the...truth," he said, choking on the last word.

"Hm..." A pause. "...Do you need help?"

"Nnnggg...no..." but Sky wanted to say yes. "I... You he-helped me a lot already... I..."

"Do you need more help then?"

"Nnno..." he slowly and angrily opened his eyes, realizing that he was lying on his side, with a whitish pointed leg with a gold streak standing a feet or two away from his beak. "It's... I..." He slowly closed his eyes again as he sighed. "It's... It would be...too selfish of me."

Silence.

The Taillow then hear him say: "I never expected to hear you say those words, with how...cheerful and colorful you were during our first meeting..."

Silence...

"Very well, then. If you insist...Sky."

The Taillow exhaled quietly as he slowly opened his eyes again. The white leg was no longer there. "...w-wait..."

Silence... Sky winced, thinking that he already left. He was startled when he heard a response.

"Yes?"

"I, ah uh..." he gulped. "T...ta-take your plates back..."

A pause.

Sky closed his eyes. "...pl-please?"

"I cannot do that. And you are aware of that."

"..." The Taillow took a breath. "...le-leave me the Sky Plate then...but take the others... I..." he took another breath. "Me having one plate is-is enough for me to...to..."

Silence.

"I can't pretend to understand what you're trying to do," Sky hear him say. "But if that is what you wish."

Sky slowly nodded as he heard the plates began to float in the air. "...It's...for the best."

He hoped.
 
Chapter 19​
DING!

An elevator's double metallic doors slid open. Meters in front of the elevator, two guards stood in front of a large and elegant-looking double door on the opposite wall. The guards blinked at the empty elevator, its doors closing after a few seconds.

"...That's new," one of the guards said.

The other turned his head to look at him. "Reckon it was a bored kid who pressed the button to this floor before he got out.

The other shrugged. "You don't need to explain everything, you know.

"I know, I know..." the other said, sighing. "I'm just bored, is'all," he said, scratching his scalp under his guard hat.

Thud!

The guard blinked and turned to look at the other, who was now lying unconscious on the floor. He blinked. "Uhh—" he was cut off with a powerful blow on the side of his neck that knocked him cold as he collapsed on the floor with a thud.

Seconds of silence flew by until suddenly, the large double doors slowly began to open outward. As soon as a crack was opened, the mighty double doors was violently pushed open by a powerful beam of light, hitting the closed metallic double doors of the elevator. The beam lasted for only a second or two before it exploded in front of the elevator, thick black smoke covering the entire thing. After the smoke had cleared, seemingly out of nowhere, a man in a black suit appeared against the elevator doors, unconscious. Gravity then pulled him down, and he collapsed on the floor along with a small, gray and unconscious fox-like Pokémon.

A part of the hallway shifted, revealing a grinning man who stood away from the double doors and was looking at the black-uniformed man.

"Nice try," said a well-suited man in a large room beyond the elegant double doors. He stood behind his desk, his glare fixated on the black-suited man lying on the floor outside his office.

Beside him was a pale green, four-legged, sauropod-like Pokémon that has two stamen-like protrusions sprouting from the top of its nose and has leaves around its neck that seem to have sprouted into a large pink flower.

"You should know from long ago," the man continued to speak, "that you cannot sneak up on me. Ever."

"Nice to see you, too," the other black-suited man walked out from the safety of the walls and stood in front of the wide open doors, smiling at the man inside the room. "...old friend."

"Nnnium...!" the pale green Pokémon glared, her flower-like leaves slightly glowing.

Her trainer also glared at the man. "You dare call me your friend?"

"Aw, come on, Rolf. Don't be like that—"

He slammed a fist on his table. "After what you did to me?! To us?!"

The black-suited man raised both arms in front of him. "Whoa whoa whoa there... Calm down—"

"And after what you did to Kanto and to our region?!" Rolf, the president of the Modern Silver Productions, snarled. "You have some nerve to even show yourself to me, Red!"

Redanato smirked. "All right. You still have a great memory! I get it."

"If you're here to joke around, I suggest you turn around and leave before the authorities arrive."

Redanato blinked, his smirk fading. "Aw... You already called the cops?" he asked with a pout, which was very unfitting for a fit man in his late twenties. "And here I was hoping we could chat and try to catch up."

"Nium!" Rolf's Meganium fired a thin beam of light towards Redanato, who easily dodged the attack by taking a small step to the side. The beam struck the elevator doors again, exploding upon impact.

"Nice to see you, too, Cook," the black-suited man said, smirking at the grass-type. "And wow, have you grown since the last time I've seen you!"

"Red," Rolf said quietly, leaning back as faint siren noises reached the room from way down below. "You have a minute to leave before the police gets here."

"More than that, actually," Redanato said with a calm smile. "They'll be taking the stairs, but those who'll take the elevator will get here first. If..." he turned to look at the damaged elevator doors, "...they can open that."

Rolf's eye twitched.

Redanato turned back to him with a smirk. "Although they'll arrive faster if they took a chopper or if some of them flew with their Poké—"

"I don't need to hear any of that," Rolf growled. "Why are you here and what do you want?! Besides annoying me!"

"To annoy you," Redanato shrugged. He blinked. "Oh! That, and to ask you if you'll let me borrow a Master Ball."

Rolf arched an eyebrow. "A Master what now?"

Redanato spread his arms to the side. "Hey! Don't act dumb all of a sudden. It doesn't suit you!" He smirked. "I know for a fact that your lovely little company is flinging with Silph's Corporation in Kanto!" He blinked. "...Or whatever the correct term it is in the business world." He shrugged. "So yeah! I just wanna borrow a Master Ball, and I'll be out of your hair! Or floor? Room?"

Rolf's eye twitched again. "And what makes you think I have such a device in my company?"

Redanato rolled his eyes. "Really, Rolf?" He pointed at the many glass-cased items lining on a long table behind the president. More specifically, he pointed at a glass case where inside was a purple-colored Pokéball with a white letter "M" on the front and with a pink circle on either side. "First, you act dumb, and now you're stalling?" He shook his head, dropping his hand to his side. "It doesn't really suit you."

"Right. It suits more to a criminal such as yourself."

The black-uniformed man suddenly clutched his left chest, feigning pain. "Ugh... Your words struck my poor, little heart—" He quickly took a step to the side to avoid another beam of light, exploding behind him. He blinked at the president. "Wow... Did you just now tried to sucker punch me?"

Rolf and his Pokémon glared daggers at him. "Leave my company, or else...!"

Redanato blinked, stood straight up and sighed. "Wow, Rolf... You've changed." He looked aside, staring at the setting sun in the distance through the large windows. "I sure hope little Billie didn't change as much as you have."

"Billie?" Rolf echoed. He slammed his fist on his table. "You...! What did you do to Bill?!"

"Nothing!" Redanato quickly replied in panic. That panic then morphed into a grin. "...yet." He shrugged. "I won't do anything to him as long as he cooperates." He then smirked at the president, but his eyes shone dangerously. "...the same I could say to you, actually..."

The two stood in silence.

The Meganium took a side-glance at her trainer, and returned her gaze back at their former friend at the doors.

Finally, Rolf broke the silence: "Leave."

Redanato arched an eyebrow, lips still curved in a smirk. "Not until you let me borrow what I came here for—"

"Cook!"

"Ganium!" Cook, the Meganium, glowed brightly in a blink, and fired a large beam of light as quickly as she glowed.

Redanato smirked at the blindingly fast beam heading his way. The beam exploded upon impact that shook the entire floor, covering him in thick black smoke.

Rolf and his Meganium stood in silence, glaring. Seconds passed, and he and his Pokémon both sighed in relief. "Good riddance..."

"Wow!" Redanato's voice echoed in the room, startling the two occupants inside. The smoke had cleared somewhat, revealing the black-suited—and unharmed—man's smirking face behind a thick wall of fire. "So you two have finally perfected that move, huh?!" He brought a hand on his chin, looking elsewhere as the firewall disappeared. "Hm... What did you two call it again? The 'Quick CookBoss Beam' or something?"

"H-h-..." Rolf stammered, staring at him in disbelief. "H-how did...?"

"Hm?" Redanato blinked at him.

The smoke cleared some more, revealing a tall and quadruped badger-like Pokémon who stood on its two hind legs, with a short snout and small eyes and ears with a cream-colored fur on its underside and dark-blue fur on its back.

"Oh, right!" Redanato turned his head and stared proudly at his Pokémon. "You weren't there when Hero evolved into an awesome Typhlosion!" He looked back at the two figures inside the room. "Let me reintroduce you guys to my beloved partner, Hero!" He turned back to his partner. "Hero, you've met Rolf and his partner, Cook, before, right?"

With the setting sun's rays reflecting on his glaring eyes like flames, Hero threw a menacing smirk at the Meganium's way.

Cook shivered with a cold sweat that ran down her face.

"Right..." Redanato yawned. "I only got a few minutes left before the cops get here, so yeah," he extended a hand forward. "May I borrow a Master Ball, pretty please?" he asked with a smirk and with a cold glint in his eyes.

---

Wishing he had teeth to grit them, Sky flew through the long and dark tunnel in a slow pace, his entire body glowing with a faint white aura, giving him enough light to see three feet or so ahead of him. He flew low, taking little comfort from seeing the illuminated dusty floor that slowly blurred beneath him.

No sooner than two minutes from flying, the little bird saw light up ahead, but it was too small to be the other end of the underground ruins.

"Shock..." He gulped, slowing his already-slow flight as his ears registered the faint noises of sparks that echoed from the walls of the tunnel. He took deep breaths to calm himself down and to compose himself. Eyeing the Pikachu—and the Vulpix he was carrying—Sky guessed that the electric rodent hadn't noticed him yet. "D-damn..." he muttered under his breath, "...I...don't know what to do... How shocking."

Silence...

He sighed. "I can't even chuckle at my own stupid jokes..." He hung his head, flapping his wings to hover on the spot. "...Because I've been stupid..."

The Taillow hovered there, eyeing the retreating Pikachu with sad eyes as the electric rodent took small, careful steps forward, unknowingly increasing the distance between them as the minutes flew by.

---

A few Sentrets roam around an earthern path, scurrying from bush to bush and from tree to tree to grab a berry or two. The darkening sky already pushed out most of the golden bands of the setting sun. It'll be dark soon, and the predators of the night would wake up and hunt the scurrying mammals if they won't hurry.

They suddenly stopped, their ears twitching as they heard a screeching noise that accompanied the slight shaking of earth and tree branches against their feet. Suddenly—

VROOOOOOOM—!

—a black-armored van flew in the air, dust and smoke trailing behind it. Gravity soon grabbed it back down, slamming its four spinning tires against the uneven earthern path, and the vehicle continued running forward in illegally fast speeds.

Sentrets jumped out of the way, some barely escaping the vehicle's path before it could turn any of them into roadkill. The retreating vehicle left a cloud of dust and smoke, making the Pokémon close to the path to cough and wheeze.

As the smoke and dust cleared, the Sentrets decided to retreat back to their dens, ignoring a bleeding and exhausted Bulbasaur who was struggling to keep up its sluggishly running pace. He gritted his teeth, his tired yet glaring eyes locked on the retreating vehicle that became smaller and smaller as the seconds passed. He slipped, making him roll and tumble down the sloping earth and he stopped with a groan where the slope ended.

Gritting his teeth, he tried but failed to push himself back up on all four paws. His vision dimmed, or maybe it was the night's growing darkness? Saur wasn't sure, but he started to feel cold and lightheaded. He mentally cursed as he tried to push himself up again, but his paws didn't have the strength to do so. He mentally panicked, making him dizzier. "N-nnn..."

It was too dark now. Too dark to see anything. He was losing his strength to move, to even shiver from the stabbing cold night air that pierced through his skin.

"F..." he breathed out through his tired lips. "...F..."

He felt his heavy eyelids closed. He felt his heart beating weaker and weaker... He felt—

"...Faaay..."

---

Yellow ears twitched in the dark tunnel. Tired and glaring eyes twitched as Shock heard the unmistakable sounds of flapping wings through the sounds of sparks from his cheek pouches. He gritted his teeth and moved on, hoping against all hope that whoever was flying wouldn't be—

A familiar bird suddenly flew overhead, making a u-turn and slowly landing on the Pikachu's path. As the Taillow landed, he looked up and winced at the sight before him.

Tired as he was, Shock gave him the glare of all glares as he continued moving towards him, carrying Vixie on his shoulder.

"G-get...out..." he hissed through gritted teeth. "...of...my...w-way...!"

Sky opened his beak to say something, anything, but no words came out. His eye twitched as he closed his beak. He threw his gaze to the side, too ashamed to stare at the two approaching figures any longer. After he saw the Pikachu closing in on him from the corner of his eyes, he reluctantly stepped aside to give way.

Sky took a glance or two as Shock slowly walked past him. "S...Shock, I—" he chocked on his own words. He took a breath to compose himself. "I...I-I..." He slowly turned around and stared at the two's retreating forms. "I'm...sorry..."

There was no response.

Sky winced. He didn't like being ignored, so he did his very best to at least be lively and likeable, both back home and in this world. Being ignored meant that he did something terribly wrong that no simple words of apology could ever fix.

"S-Shock...?" he tried again, but he didn't receive a reply. "Please, I ah..." he took a step towards them, but he winced, looking down at the talon that took the step. "I..." He hung his head as he pulled his talon back. "I'm...so, so sorry..." He clenched his eyes shut to stop his eyes from watering. He hated crying. "I'm...so sorry..."

Silence...

He can't be forgiven. He didn't like that, but he couldn't do anything about it, not after what he did to his...no, to his brother's friends. He wasn't their friend, so what right did he have to call them his friends?

He took another breath so he could calm himself enough to accept that fact. He sighed a heavy sigh before he looked up at the retreating forms of Shock and Vixie.

"Shock..." he said as he flapped his wings and took flight. He flew and landed a few paces in front of the Pikachu. He took a steeling breath before he turned around to fully face him...to fully face them. "Please, listen to me..."

"Get...out..." Shock's angry hiss echoed around the walls of the tunnel. "...of...my...way..."

Sky nodded and took a step aside, but he willed himself to maintain his gaze on them. "Please, Shock. I'm so sorry for what I did back there. I...I know you can't forgive me that easily. None of you can. I doubt you guys could ever forgive me anyway..."

"Y-you're right...on that last part...at least," Shock hissed as he slowly walked past him.

Sky winced once again, but nevertheless pressed on. "I didn't...mean for any of this to happen. I was...just...excited...to get you guys to my bro...and..." he looked away. "...it made me stupid..." He took a breath before he turned back to the two retreating figures. "But...please Shock... Please... Allow me to do at least one right thing."

"G-go kill yourself in a hole..." came Shock's harsh reply.

"I...I might just do that, but," Sky persisted as he took a few bold steps after them. "Please Shock... Please let me help you."

"You've...done enough..." Shock hissed. A second or two later, a Taillow landed right in front of him, making him stop and making his already boiling blood to boil even more. "Get...out..."

Sky held his ground as he slowly shook his head. "No, Shock." He frowned a concerned frown at him. "I...can't do that."

"You didn't have...problems doing that...earlier."

Sky sighed. "Shock... Please..." He guiltily stared at Vixie's unconscious form. "...Let me help you..."

"I don't...need your help," Shock replied with a twitching eye. "Now get out...of my way...!"

Sky frowned at him, but nodded anyway. "All right... I understand you don't want anything to do with me any more, but..." he slowly shifted his gaze over to the fire-type. "Please let me correct the wrongs I've done to you and especially to..." He hung his head. "...to Vixie..."

A thin bolt of electricity struck him, jolting him back. Shock panted heavily after the attack, losing his strength on his feet and dropping himself—and Vixie—on the dusty floor. "Oof!"

"Shock!" Sky yelped as he pushed himself up on his talons. "A-are you—"

Shock shot him a venomous glare, making the bird to stop his approach. "D-don't even pretend to care, you, you..." He felt an annoying stinging sensation around his eyes as he looked at his unconscious friend lying beside him. "...Y-you were trying to kill her..." He sobbed, leaning his forehead on the dusty old floor.

Sky hung his head in shame.

Seconds passed, the silence occasionally broken by Shock's quiet sobs.

"Shock...please—"

"No!" Shock yelled, glaring at the floor's grains of dust close to his face. "Just l-leave us alone! Go back to your s-stupid world a-and never come back!"

"Please, Shock..." Sky pleaded as his entire body glows a soft white light. "A-at least let me take you two to a Pokémon Center..." He tried to smile a small smile. What came out was a wince. "T-the nurses there can help her... So please..."

Shock closed his eyes in irritation, but he desperately needed to get Vixie out of the ruins, and then he needed to get her healed, but where? As frustrating as it sounded, Sky was right... The stupid bird could take her to the closest Pokémon Center. He can get out of here on his own, he hoped, but Vixie...

He sighed in resignation as he opened his eyes. He blinked in surprised when he noticed that the floor around him was struck by a bright white glow. He slowly pulled his head up, and he immediately glared daggers at the shining Taillow with that mysterious plate-like...thing emerging from his body.

Tiny sparks flew out from his cheeks as he tried to stand back up on his hind legs, but he was too weak to do so. "Y-you still want...to take her?!" Shock weakly snarled as he pushed himself up on all four paws. "A-after what you've done—"

The bluish-white plate clanged on the floor, creating a small cloud of dust around as the Taillow took a few painful steps back, clenching his head with shivering wings, the white glow around him dimming. "Grrrkt..." Sky tried taking deep breaths to ease the pain he was feeling, his entire body slowly becoming translucent.

Shock blinked a confused blink. "W-what are you—"

"J-just...!" Sky teetered, his colors turning solid and then transparent and back. "Ack...! J-just get on th-the plate..."

Shock, anger replaced by confusion and uncertainty, nervously eyed the flat and metallic plate a few paws before him.

"C-can't..." Sky panted, eyes still screwed shut as he slightly teetered from where he stood. "...c-carry you b-both, so...get on...g-get on the damn plate...!"

Shock stared at the Taillow, unsure of what he was doing, or what was even happening to him this time. He shifted his gaze to the bluish-white plate, and then to his unconscious friend. He gritted his teeth as a few more tears ran down his face.

---

Far, far away from the land of Johto, a large, avian Pokémon with orange plumage was perched on a tall rock pillar, its long and flaming head crest and tail flowed behind the massive bird as it turned its straight, brown and pointed beak at the last golden strands of the sunken sun on the horizon.

Wishing the burning orb goodnight, the large bird stretched its wings which were shrouded in fiery plumage. It slowly flapped its long wings up and down, and soon, the bird jumped off of the rock pillar, taking flight.

The fiery bird tilted its body, turning its flight around and around its large mountain-island home. A small group of smaller flying-type Pokémon greeted the large bird as they returned to the island after a long day's flight from...wherever they went.

The fiery bird was thankful for its fiery coloration, for it was good enough to hide the blush on its cheeks after a few good-looking flying-types greeted it. The Pokémon living in the island kept their distance in respect for the legendary fire bird, and would often greet it when they get the chance to fly close enough. In truth, the fire bird was a shy little sparrow, wishing every night to gain enough courage to be able to mingle with other Pokémon, and perhaps be able to get a mate to spend the cold nights—

The fire bird violently shook its head to get rid of the naughty thought. Blushing furiously, the large bird decided that it was probably time to go back to its nest and roost.

As it gracefully turned in the air, it heard a faint boom-like sound. Blinking, it turned its head up to look at the sky. Aside from the large, hulking and floating metal...thing floating high above the sky that seemingly appeared from out of nowhere, no clouds were in sight, so whatever it was that it heard, it wasn't thunder. Suddenly, it heard faint swishing noises, getting louder and louder pretty fast. The noises were coming from behind the fire bird.

Blinking in confusion, it flapped its fiery wings to hover in place as it turned its neck to look at whatever it was that was approaching. Four large and square metallic frames spun and flew towards the fire bird in a very fast pace. It yelped, but as soon as it tried to flap its fiery wings to fly away, the metallic frames reached it, attaching themselves on each other and formed a cube-like cage, trapping the startled bird inside. Suddenly, the framed cage released bolts of electricity, making the fire bird cry in pain as the cage floated back up, up and up, leaving the small flying-types who wanted to help behind.
 
Chapter 20​
"Grr—!" Lyore, a Feraligatr, disregarded the electric shocks she received from biting and pulling the iron bars that held her and her team captive. "Gah—!" she finally let go, wincing from the tiny explosive sparks that flew in between her jaws and the bars. Her whole body shivered, tiny electric sparks dancing around her.

Meanwhile—

Thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk—!

—Lais, a Honchkrow, rapidly pecked a sparking iron bar, shaking their small prison from each powerful peck.

"Nnngggh—!" Perla, an Alakazam, sweated furiously with her eyes closed as she tried but failed to bend the bars with her powerful telekinetic powers.

Their prison suddenly jolted, unceremoniously throwing them to one side of their prison, shocking them for a second or two before they managed to pull themselves away.

"Grrr—this is hopeless!" Lyore growled. She suddenly slashed the bars with her glowing claw, eliciting a loud electric spark, jolting her claw back. "Augh!"

Bill looked around once again, observing the surroundings they were in once more.

He and his Pokémon are held inside a jail-like electrified cell inside a dimly-lit moving van. Outside the bars were the four iron walls of the van itself, and the computer machine that control their cell, which is located by the closed double doors of the vehicle.

"If only we have any means of reaching that..." Bill murmured, furrowing his eyes as he gazed at the mechanical instrument. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, the Alakazam's telekinesis wouldn't work on the computer for some strange reason.

Thud! Skrrt! Thud! Pop!

Blinking, Bill looked down and saw the Rattata slamming her glowing tail against the iron bars. The rat could easily slip through the gaps, but invisible electric fields shocked and prevented her from going through.

Clenching her teeth, Fay spun and slammed her glowing tail against the bars once more. Sparks flew from the impact, but escape is yet to be achieved by her or by any of them. She hissed, shaking the exhaustion off of her. Glaring at the iron bars, she spun once again—and slipped when her tiny paws stepped on the thick and dormant net on the floor.

Bill blinked once more, and again. Suddenly, his lips cracked a small grin. He knelt down, picked Fay up and placed her on another side. He ignored the curious blinks he got from his Pokémon as he sat down and grabbed the net with his two hands.

---

"—fire fighters are still fighting the blaze in the Modern Silver Productions' top floor, but it seems that the fire itself has a life of its own, pushing the fire fighters away. It is feared that the president of the company, Mister Rolf, is still inside the floor, where—"

The scene on the television switched from the female reporter inside a studio to the fiery evening scene in Goldenrod City. Bright flames burst out from the broken windows of the entire top floor of the tall building, surrounded by helicopters and flying Pokémon both pumping blasts of water at the inferno.

The television's volume lowered until no sound came from the machine. A heavy sigh echoed around the dark room, the owner of the sigh's frame barely visible from the little light that came from the screen.

A sniffing sound. The silhouette of the man's head turned, looking at the faint frame of a tall and curious badger-like Pokémon, its nose sniffing the metallic purple ball laying on the man's desk. Ears twitching, the Typhlosion pulled his head back, blinking at the door on the wall.

A few seconds later, the knob was twisted from the other side, and the door was pushed open. "Sir?" a top Rocket executive said, standing by the door. "You summoned me?" he asked, his voice wavering a bit.

"Relax, Marco," the man inside the room said. "Sheesh... Don't blame me if you'll catch polio or some random disease if you keep that stiff and strict and boring act of yours."

Marco blinked. "...Sir?"

Redanato sighed once more. "One of these days, I'm going to hire a cheerful and disrespecting grunt to replace you." He leaned forward, grabbed the metallic orb on his desk and nonchalantly threw it towards the executive by the door. "Go crazy with it," he said after Marco caught the item with his gloved hands.

"This... Th-this is..." he stammered, not believing what he was seeing before his eyes.

Redanato waved a hand, shooing him away. "Drool all over it outside of my office, Marco Polio." He paused. He chuckled. "Hey, I just figured out a codename for you."

Marco unconsciously opened and closed his lips a few times, his mind failed to register what his boss just said.

"You know..." the boss of Team Rocket said, leaning back on his recliner. "You'll make a good coat rack if you keep on standing there, to be honest."

"Sir... This... This..." He took a breath to compose himself. With that done, he looked at his leader with a proud and confident smile. "With this, we can finally capture the Created One! And once we have that, we can finally—"

"Hush, Marcee. Sheesh." His rolling eyes was barely visible from the little light. Though his frown was completely visible. "Spoilers much?"

Marco blinked in confusion.

Hero, the Typhlosion, snickered.

Redanato waved a hand. "Just go and be stiff somewhere else already. Sheesh, Marco."

Marco stood proud and saluted at his leader, smiling a proud smile. "Sir! Yes, sir!"

A smelly shoe sailed through the air and smacked the executive squarely in the face. But that didn't broke the smile on the executive as he closed the door, turned and marched towards the control room.

'I can't believe it,' Marco thought, tightening his hold on the purple ball on his hands. 'I can't believe I doubted him... I was a fool for doubting him...' He shook his head, and once again ignored the random grunt who greeted him in the hallway. 'I thought he was a useless piece of ****, unfit for the role of leading our group to rise once again. I thought wrong...' He looked ahead, determination written on his face as he marched on. 'He may act weird at times, but behind his childish ways lies a devil that will make Team Rocket rule Johto, and then Kanto, and then...'

Entering the large control room, a bored-looking secretary turned around and started flipping the papers on her clipboard as he approached her.

"...the world," he mumbled

"Sir..." she said, reading the contents as she ignored what the executive just said. He was probably monologuing again. "We have secured the target for Operation Gold. The team is now en route to base as we speak." She flipped a paper. "The team handling Operation Species: The Created have retreated after the target started pursuing them, probably only scaring them out of—"

The executive grabbed her clipboard, pulled it down and placed the purple metallic sphere on it. He smirked at her.

She blinked nonchalantly at the sphere. "...That's an odd-colored Pokéball, sir." She looked up at him with the same bored look. "Are we going to sell shiny versions of Pokéballs to fix our stagnant flow of money, sir?"

The executive frowned. "I can't really tell if you're being sarcastic or not...." He shook his head. "But whatever." He pressed the button on the sphere, shrinking it in size. "Have this delivered to the team handling the Created One. Tell them to catch the target with this."

She blinked, looked at the ball, and nonchalantly took it with her hand. She stared at it for a while before looking back at him, her bored look still on her bored face. "...Sir, if I may speak freely." She received a shrug before the executive turned to look at the three large monitors on each wall of the room. "You talked to our leader, yes? He summoned you as soon as he arrived from..." she trailed off. "...Has something happened?"

"Oh, baby," he smirked at her, his eyes shining dangerously. "You have no idea how wrong I was about him."

---

Voices and sounds of fighting echoed in the small clearing, being lit by a small camp fire in front of a small, simple tent. Shadows of two fighting creatures danced on the bushes and on tree trunks, their movements ripping the stillness and quietness of the evening forest.

A glowing tail swished through the air.

"Grrrk!" a small Pokémon gritted his teeth as he jumped back, evading the glowy attack from hitting him. He landed on all four, his bluish fur standing on end as he hissed.

"Come on, Ellise!" shouted the young female trainer who stood a few meters behind a panting Sentret. She gripped her scarf in annoyance as she glared daggers at her brown-furred Pokémon. "Concentrate! I know you can do better than that!"

"Huff... Puff..." the Sentret wheezed for breath, sweating furiously as she tried to ignore her tired and screaming muscles. Her tired eyes glared at the Cyndaquil in front of her. "E-easy for you to say..."

"Okay!" the young trainer nodded, thinking that her Sentret said that she was ready. She threw a hand forward, to add more power to her command: "Try a quick attack! Quick!"

"...That's why it's called a quick attack," the Sentret muttered, fighting the urge to roll her eyes, but nevertheless kicked her legs as powerful as her tired body could. She stumbled, and with a yelp, she slid and rolled on the ground.

Clawless forelimbs blocked her rolling body, stopping her rolling agony. "Ellise?" the Cyndaquil called, concerned. Through his closed eyes, he stared at his friend's swirling eyes. "Um... You okay?" he asked, feeling silly for asking a silly question.

"Ellise!" the trainer was suddenly by the two Pokémon. She knelt down and grabbed the normal-type to her embrace. "You were a-already tired?" she asked with misty eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"

The Sentret deadpanned. "...I did... Half an hour ago..."

"Ooohhh..." she hugged her, barely understanding what her Pokémon just said. "I didn't know... Why didn't I notice?" A tear rolled down her face, making the hugged Sentret to roll her eyes again. "I'm such a bad trainer... Not even realizing how tired my own Pokémon are!"

"...At least you figured out I couldn't fight after that crazy cow crushed me like stepping on a dried leaf on a hot desert."

"Don't talk long sentences," the Cyndaquil said, catching their trainer's attention. "She's still learning to understand us."

"Meh..." the Sentret meh'd.

"Tell you what," the trainer said, standing up. "As thanks for keeping up with me, I'll cook your favorite meal!"

The Sentret's ears twitched. The Sentret's eyes twinkled. The Sentret's mouth drooled. "...I suddenly remembered why I love you, Mades."

The Cyndaquil chuckled as he stared at his trainer, who was heading towards the tent. He watched her sit inside her tent, carefully placed the tired Sentret on a pillow before she rummaged through her giant bag. His gaze slowly drifted to their camp fire, encircled by rocks to prevent the fire from spreading. He took a breath, letting the cool air soothe his hot lungs.

...A weird smell struck his nostrils. Blinking, he lifted his head up, his long nose sniffing the air. It was a weird smell indeed, a smell foreign to him. He started walking and turning, slowly following where that smell was coming from.

He found himself walking out of the clearing. He stopped and looked back. His trainer was now holding a frying pan over the fire. After a second, she blinked, and started looking around until her eyes landed on him.

"Oh. Don't go too far, okay?" she said, smiling an awkward smile.

The Cyndaquil nodded his head with a smile. Turning towards the trees and bushes, he continued to follow that weird scent all the while telling him to stop and turn back if he walked too far from camp.

Seconds later, he emerged from the trees and found himself on an earthy path. Blinking, he looked around. The smell was stronger here, but more spread apart. It would take him time to pinpoint where the smell is coming from.

Frowning, he took a step, turned his head, and gasped.

There was a bleeding and hopefully just unconscious Bulbasaur on the road.

---

Beep...

...

Beep...

...

Beep...

That was the only sound that could be heard inside a small and dimly-lit room. The heart monitor stood coldly on the tiled floor, standing a few feet beside a small bed where a small, quadruped, and unconscious fox-like Pokémon lay on her back, her cream-colored furred chest slowly rising and falling each weak breath she took.

...

Beep...

...

Beep...

Sitting on the end of the small bed was a yellow-furred rodent Pokémon with a few bandages wrapped around his body, his dull and tired eyes lingered on his friend's unconscious form.

...

Beep...

...

Beep...

...

Beep...

It had been hours ever since they were brought inside the Pokémon Center, and the nurses immediately treated their wounds as soon as the heavily-panting Taillow broke through the glass doors.

...

Beep...

...

Beep...

He didn't know where that bird had went. He didn't care, anyway. He didn't care about anything anymore other than seeing his friend recover, to be able to open her eyes again, to be able to hear her voice again...

...

Beep...

...

Beep...

...

To be able to see her smile again.

...

Beep...

...

Beep...

...

Beep...

...

Beep...
 
Chapter 21​
"Huff... Puff..." Lyore wheezed, her piercing, reptilian eyes glaring tiredly at the sparking iron bars that held her and her friends within their claustrophobic cell. "What are these things even made of?!"

Lais paused from preening her wings long enough to reply, "Metal, I presume," and she then went back to her task, having long given up on trying to break free half an hour ago.

Eyes twitching, the Feraligatr turned to growl at the dark-blue bird, but as she did so, she caught and—by impulse—caught a collapsing Alakazam. "Whoa there, whiskers," she gasped, helping the exhausted psychic-type in sitting down on the shaking iron floor. She blinked, and stared down at her feet. "...Huh."

"Eureka!" Bill suddenly exclaimed, beaming at the metallic ropes on his grasp. "Electricity runs from a positive terminal to the negative terminal," he said, scooping the tired and panting Rattata in front of him and placed her beside the Honchkrow. "So..." With the metallic ropes in hand, he scooted closer to the sparking bars and aimed the two ends of exposed wirings of the rope at the bases of two bars. "If my theory is correct—"

SCREEEEEEEEECH!!!

Bill stumbled back, surprised and lost his grip on the ropes. He bumped into Perla as the van they were in screeched to a stop.

"That's not a good sign," Lais pointed out as she stood back up on her talons before helping the groaning rat up to her four paws.

"You think?" Lyore growled. She then shoved her previous trainer towards the bars. "Whatever it was you were about to do, you do it now, toothpick!"

"R-right," Bill gulped, nodding. Grabbing the two ends of the rope with each hand once again, he stared at the base of the bars on the floor and poked two of them with the rope.

---

Outside, the Team Rocket driver shakily went out from the driver's seat as a thick curtain of metal rolled down to block the entryway where he drove the vehicle in. With a loud, metallic and echoing thud, the starry outside world was shut out.

The cavern was lit by hanging, dangling lights on the earthy ceiling. Echoes of footsteps and voices resonated all around, accompanied by the quiet hum of running electricity powering the many machines leaning on the walls of the cave that were being operated by some of the members of Team Rocket who weren't busy walking to and fro.

A loud clank echoed all around. The driver turned towards the source and saw a group of grunts pushing a large flat cart towards him, being led by a bored-looking woman whose eyes were lazily scanning the papers on her clipboard.

The secretary stopped in front of the nervous driver. After a minute or two, she finally looked up at him, blinked, and looked behind and around him. Seeing no one else with him, she returned her bored look at him. "...Where are the others?"

"They're ah uh..." he stammered, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "...They..."

"Spit it out," she said in a monotone.

He winced. "W-we were attacked, ma'am," he breathed out.

She blinked, ignoring the whispers and murmurs from the group of grunts behind her. "...By whom?" She looked down at her clipboard and flipped a few pages. "Why wasn't that reported to us?"

"The...um... Our team leader was...knocked out by a Bulbasaur, ma'am."

More whispers and murmurs.

The secretary wrote something on her clipboard. "...So you're saying that your entire squad was attacked by...how many trainers, exactly?"

"N-none, ma'am."

She nodded, and wrote. "I see. Wild Pokémon, then? I'm guessing the nocturnal Pokémon woke up early because of the commotion?"

"No, ma'am." He fidgeted. "Um... J-just a Bulbasaur, ma'am."

She blinked, her pen pausing from movement as she eyed him. "...One Bulbasaur?"

He suddenly found how difficult it was to nod. "...Y-yes, ma'am."

"..." She blinked at him once again. "...So, you're telling me...that your entire squad was taken out by one, small Bulbasaur."

Whispers and murmurs. Louder this time.

He fidgeted some more. "Y-yes...ma'am."

She blinked, blinked once more, and moved her bored gaze back to the papers, scribbling. "...Interesting."

He winced. He knew that wasn't a good thing.

"The target is at least secured, yes?"

That pushed his nervousness aside, if only slightly. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good." She turned and nodded at the group behind her. "Take him to the 'room.'"

"Yes, ma'am," they answered back as they pushed the heavy cart towards the rear of the van.

---

"Any time now, toothpick," Lyore growled, glaring at the human who kept on poking the two bars with two ends of the rope.

"I... I don't get it," Bill said in disbelief, sweating as he repeatedly poked the bars. "...T-this should have worked...! It should have worked!"

"Well, clearly it didn't!" the bipedal reptile hissed.

They heard a sound of something heavy and metallic from outside. Seconds later, they heard a metallic thud from the closed exit and felt little vibrations on the metallic floor.

"It's... It's..." Fay squeaked, hiding herself under Lais' dark-blue feathers. "It's Team Rocket...!" she heaved, too tired to be angry yet enough to be scared.

"Grrk...!" Perla forced her muscles to stand up.

Lais was still nonchalantly preening her wings.

And Bill was still lost in disbelief.

With a low growl, Lyore threw her glare down on her feet. Under her feet. "..." She grabbed Perla with one, mighty claw and Bill with the other, and shoved the two of them towards Lais, and continued shoving them to a corner.

"H-hey!" Lais squawked.

"Gah! Y-you stupid alligator!" Perla hissed, throwing the retreating crocodilian Pokémon a tired glare.

Lyore pushed Fay aside with a simple tail shove and—KA-CHIIING!—raised her razor-sharp claws up.

"Uuuhhh..." Bill uh'ed, blinking.

"I sometimes wonder why smart humans are dumb at the same time," Lyore grumbled.

---

Two grunts grabbed the handles of the double doors of the vehicle. Nodding to each other, they—

The van suddenly shook violently, making the grunts yelp and let go of the handles. Loud scraping noises erupted in the cavern, making everyone stop what they were doing to turn their attention at the 'dancing' vehicle.

"W-what's going o—"

A much louder explosion of broken metal erupted, making everyone flinch from the noise.

...And a few seconds later, silence reigned, broken only by a bored sigh not a few moments later.

The secretary shook her head as she began writing something on the papers of her clipboard. "...Operation Gold. Target's status..." She lifted her gaze just in time for the two grunts to open the doors.

Inside, instead of Bill and four Pokémon, a large hole behind the sparking bars greeted them, bordered by violently stripped metal bars, wires, and flooring.

Grunts hurriedly went inside to see that there was another hole on the cavern's floor, the darkness stopping them from seeing beyond.

"...Escaped."
 
Last edited:
Chapter 22​
The lit hallways of the underground base were littered with Rocket grunts—and some Pokémon—going to and fro their destinations, stopping only to bow and greet the group's leader who in turn greeted each of them back with a genuine smile and the occasional wave of his hand, while the tall Pokémon following behind him ignored each one of them.

Redanato looked over his shoulder and threw a smile at his Pokémon as they walked down the hallway, passing by open and closed doors leading towards various parts and functions of their secret base. He received an impatient eye roll from Hero. He rolled his eyes in reply before he returned his attention to the direction he was heading.

---

The soft rays of the crescent moon highlighted the edges of the sleeping leafy blades of trees, bordering the starry, cloudless night above. A quiet Noctowl's hoots occasionally broke the steady silence, rattling the quiet nocturnal rodents hiding behind the darkness.

Seeing an easy prey, a Noctowl quietly turned its whole body towards the direction of food. Eyes locked on its target, it leaned forward, preparing to jump and glide towards its first meal of the night.

Quiet footsteps echoing in the forest sounded like thunder to the nocturnal bird. After it saw its prey scampered away—probably hearing the quiet roar of thudding noises—the Noctowl turned its head towards the direction where the sound was coming from.

A young, female human was sweating and panting furiously as she ran down the forest path, ignoring her tired and screaming muscles.

Two small and equally tired Pokémon were trying to catch up to her, yelling tiredly for her to stop or slow down.

With a curious blink, the Noctowl studied the human girl. On her arms, she carried a scarf, or something wrapped around the scarf.

The Noctowl stared at the trio of noise-makers as they continued on their way, running down a gentle slope until the earth and trees hid them from the owl's sight.

The silence returned, and so did the owl in looking for prey. Turning its head left, right and around, it finally spotted a potential prey hiding under a bush.

Silently, it extended its mighty wings and leapt off the branch. Quiet as the night, the owl glided down, talons at the ready, as it smelled the cold, night air that oddly carried a strong scent of blood.

---

Beyond the darkness and silence of one's own mind, hope lingered, to be noticed and to be grabbed ahold on.

Time heals all wounds, they said, and it accompanied change, to every single creature and object in the universe.

But if one mix hope with time...

Beeping noises echoed in the small, dimly lit room. Yellow, pointed ears slightly twitched in the darkness. Dull, tired and lifeless eyes stared at the gentle rise and fall of soft white fur.

...it aches one's heart even more, and despite what others may say, the tiny light of hope in every darkness will eventually fade and disappear, in time.

---

Four uniformed grunts stood in front of a metallic door, chatting with one another to pass the time and ignoring the other grunts and a few Pokémon passing in front of them. One of them heard a few 'sirs', and with a curious look, he jumped and elbowed the others.

The other three, annoyed that their conversation was interrupted, asked him what was up until their eyes landed on their approaching leader. They immediately scrambled to stand straight, and seconds later, the head of their organization stood before them with a calm smile.

"I hope none of you were slouching too much," Redanato said with a smirk as his Typhlosion stood behind him.

The four fidgeted, if only slightly.

"Relax," he said with a casual shrug. "But not too much."

"Y-yes, sir," one of the grunts nervously said.

Redanato shooed them with a hand, and the grunts made way for him to approach the door they were guarding. Gripping and turning the handle, he pushed the door open and stepped inside the room. "No one enters this room, you hear?" he said as his fire Pokémon stepped inside as well.

"Yes, sir," the four grunts replied.

Their leader smiled at them, and soon, the door closed with a cold click. Turning, he looked around.

The room was small and well lit, the lights reflecting the tiled walls and the carpeted floor. Simple furnitures of tables, chairs and sofas were arranged neatly, and framed pictures of different images hung on the walls, making the little room feel homey.

An angry-looking suited man sat on one of the sofas, aiming his glare at the newcomer who stood by the door. Beside him, an injured Meganium snored quietly, sleeping the pain away.

"Oh hai thar, Rolf," Redanato greeted the man as he approached a chair. "I hope room service was okay?" he asked as he eyed a tray on the table in front of the sofa, the edible contents on the plates were left untouched.

"One of these days," Rolf quietly said, his glare still locked on his former friend who now made himself comfortable on a chair opposite of him, the table sitting in between them. "...I'm gonna punch that smug smile off of your face."

"Oh?" Redanato blinked as he leaned forward, his Typhlosion making itself comfortable on the carpeted floor behind him. "What was it you always told me when we were young, innocent and stupid kids? 'Don't let your dreams be just dreams' or something? Eh..." He shrugged, leaning back. "So how are you?"

"What do you want, Red?"

Redanato rolled his eyes. "Sheesh. I always hate it when you go straight to the point." He shook his head. "You do realize that makes you boring, right?"

"What do you want, Red?" Rolf asked again, almost hissing.

"Oooh, nothing, really," Redanato smirked, turning his gaze on another sofa on the other side of the room. "I just wanted to catch up with you, since, you know..." he shrugged, "it's been a while since the three of us hung out."

Rolf blinked, his confusion almost overtaking his anger. "...Three of—" he stopped when he heard something from above.

"Ahh." Redanato clapped his hands. "Right on time. Well...no, not really." He shook his head as noises echoed in the room from above. "He's always late, but hey, I suppose that's one of the charms of him being him, right?"

Seconds later, part of the ceiling broke as—"whaaaa—!"—bodies fell down and landed on the sofa—"Oof!"—jolting the Meganium awake. Rocks and dust rained down on the four large bodies piled on top of each other on the dirtied sofa, their weak and pained groans echoing in the small room.

"Hey there, Bill!" Redanato greeted the dazed newcomers. "Glad you could...drop in." He laughed at his own joke, his Typhlosion rolling its eyes as it stood up.

Up above, a Rattata dangled in the air, gripping one of the cut cables attached on the ceiling with her jaws.

---

"Nnnggghhh...!"

A tiny blue bird shivered from the cold night air. Perched on a branch and hidden behind the darkness and the veil of leaves, Sky grunted as he relaxed his aching muscles.

"Brr...!"

He shivered once more, feeling his feathers standing on end. Frowning an annoyed frown, he pushed his feathers back down with his wings. In doing so, he caught a glimpse of a faint yellow color on the corner of his eye. His hardened frown softened as he slowly trailed his gaze towards the window of the Pokémon Center a few meters away.

Despite the poor lighting in that small room, he saw the tiny yellow frames of a Pikachu's silhouette, still sitting on the end of a small bed, facing a familiar shape of brown and red.

Wincing, Sky tore his gaze away from the building, and settled on staring the dark silhouettes of the tall mountains. A sad sigh threatened to escape his beak, but he swallowed it, painful though it was.

He looked up, staring at the crescent moon barely visible from the sea of dark leaves.

"..." He inhaled, closed his eyes, and finally released a sad, heavy sigh as he hung his head. "...I screwed up..." He wanted to stare at his brother's two friends, but stopped himself. "...I screwed up big time..." he whispered to himself. With slow movements, he put his back on the building so he wouldn't be able to see it, either by accident or not. "...I broke them apart..." He hung his head, glaring at his talons.

Seconds passed.

Minutes...

He didn't count them, but he closed his eyes and sighed a quiet sigh after he got tired of glaring at his own talon.

"...Jay..."

A gentle breeze flew by, eliciting a quite rustling noise from the sleepy leaves, and a cold shiver from the sad, blue bird.

"...I could really use some advice right about now..."

He listened... And listened...

But he didn't hear anything except for his own tired breaths.
 
Chapter 23​
Fay tried but failed to calm her rapidly-beating heart as she dangled on a loose cable attached to the newly-formed hole on the ceiling of a well-lit underground room.

Her mind constantly shouted one line to her over and over again: get out of here. As she tried to grip the cable with her paws, flashes of memories she'd rather not want to see again were almost blinding her. Her breaths became shallower as her heart continued beating faster.

Suddenly, she noticed the corners of her vision were starting to grow dark, and it was slowly growing, threatening to fill her entire sight with darkness.

She flailed her limbs in panic, her mouth's grip on the cable tightening.

She felt something on her paw, but she didn't know what, and then her other paw felt it, but she still was clueless as to what they were. Her panicking mind didn't care anyway. She just want to get out of the place.

Her mind registered too late that her paws her moving on their own, and when she realized it, a startled gasp escaped her mouth and—

"Oof—!"

She flopped down, belly-first, on something rough, dusty and solid, her limbs splayed all over. As her heart and her breath start to calm, the darkness in her eyes start to fade, and with a tired blink, the darkness was finally gone as she saw...

...even more darkness.

Blinking a confused blink, she slowly stood up on all four and looked around, finding herself inside a tunnel of some sort. Noticing the uneven ground she was standing on, she looked down and saw that she was standing on piles of wires.

"—now now, there's no need to be so hostile."

Her ears twitched, finally registering sound other than her noisy heartbeat a few seconds ago. She looked back and saw a huge hole on the ground, swaths of light emanating from it.

"...Huh," she breathed out, blinking. "Who knew being a panicky little mousey can make a panicky little mousey fly..." She chuckled a tired chuckle. The small smile eventually turned into a frown as she heard various voices from the hole.

An angry bubble formed in her heart. And then another, and another.

She quickly closed her eyes and shook her head, mentally popping those bubbles.

"I need to get out of here," she whispered to herself as she looked around once more. "I sure hope Saury's—" she cut herself off, her pupils shrinking as she suddenly felt dread all over. "Oh no..."
 
Chapter 24​
"Hey there, Bill!" Redanato greeted the dazed newcomers. "Glad you could...drop in."

As Redanato laughed at his own joke, his Typhlosion stood with rolling eyes. Bill and his three large Pokémon groaned tiredly on the sofa they landed on.

Rolf, meanwhile, stared at them with his mouth ajar. His Meganium winced, still feeling hurt all over, and the settling noise wasn't helping its aching head.

The Feraligatr's nostrils flared, sniffing the air. Its eyes shot open when it smelled familiar scents around them. Pulling itself out of the pile, the bipedal aligator stood behind the sofa, its surprised look quickly morphed into a scowl as it glared at the smirking fire-type.

"A-ahem," Redanato composes himself, smiling. "Hey there, Lyore," he says, nonchalantly waving a hand at the glaring Feraligatr. "Long time, no see! You remember Hero, right?"

A torrent of water suddenly flew towards the fire-type, who simply tilted its head sideways to dodge the attack.

"Eh," Redanato shrugged before standing up. "I'll take that as a 'yes.'"

The Feraligatr growled lowly.

Redanato smirked, looking at his former friend who's being helped by the Alakazam. His gaze slowly moved to the Honchkrow, who's busily preening its wing.

"Ow..." Bill winced, now on his feet, one hand rubbing his head as he threw a glance at the Rocket leader. "...Red?" He blinks, then turning to the other man. "...Rolf? What's going on here?"

Rolf sighed. "Clueless as ever, I see."

Redanato chuckled. He clapped his hand to catch everyone's attention. "Right! Now that we're all here, it's time for a grand tour of our lovely underground base!" He gestured towards the door. "Shall we?"

Rolf glared at him. "If you think for one second that Bill and I will cooperate to you..."

"Oh, you will," Redanato smiled at him with a cold glint in his eyes. "I mean, it's not like you got any other choice in the matter."

"I still don't understand what's going on," Bill said, looking at his two friends. "Were you guys captured by Team Rocket, too?"

Redanato blinked at him. Another blink. And then another. "Ahh...! Right, right," he said as he approached Bill. "You stopped caring about the world after you became a shut-in-ventor. Excuse me, fair Perla." After the Alakazam took a step aside, he swung a hand around the clueless man and gestured at Rolf with his other hand. "Tell me who that businessman is."

Bill blinked at him. "Er...our friend Rolf?"

"Bingo!"

Rolf glared at them both. "We're no longer friends, for your information, Bill."

His Meganium slowly nodded with a glare.

"Aww..." Redanato pouted. "Did you hear that, Bill? Rolfie here's the same old uptight stick-in-the-mud guy! Oh, and boring, too."

Bill chuckled a nervous chuckle.

"And you, Bill, my friend—" he cut himself off. "...We're still friends, right?"

Bill blinked a curious blink at him. "...Er, yes?" A pause. "...Can you give me my space back, please?"

Redanato rolled his eyes as he removed his arm around him. "Same old awkward Bill. Sheesh..." He walked and stopped beside his Typhlosion. Turning around, he then gestured at himself. "And me, your cheery happy-go-lucky friend, Red!" He brought his hands inside his pocket. "The three of us, together again! Isn't that great?!"

"I'll ask again, for Bill's sake, Red," Rolf said, glaring. "What do you want from us?"

Bill blinked at him. "...Wait, Rolf." He caught his friend's attention, if only a little bit. "Am I missing something here? You look like you're really angry at Red."

Before his friend could say anything, the Honchkrow squaked a series of low squawks. Bill gave the large bird a disbelieving look.

Red rolled his eyes with an amused smirk. "The same old awkward, bird-talking Bill."

"Red, leader of Team Rocket?" Bill asked.

The tall bird shrugged its wings.

"Pfft," Bill pfft'ed. "Lais, I know you're a silly little bird, but that's probably the silliest thing you've ever said!"

"Maybe the craziest!" Redanato added.

Bill nodded in agreement.

Rolf sighed. "Probably because it's true..."

Bill turned to him, his brows furrowed in confusion. "What? Come on, Rolf. That's impossible, and you know that!"

Rolf sighed once more. "Unfortunately..."

Bill blinked.

Redanato raised a finger. "Oh, have you forgotten, Bill?" His smirk grew wider when he caught the inventor's attention. "Rolf's a bad liar. And we can tell he's lying when he does." His grin grew a little more wider. "...Remember?"

Bill blinked. He suddenly felt cold when he realized what was going on. His three Pokémon sensed their trainer's fear, and they tensed up, their glaring eyes now aimed at Redanato.

"Im...im..." Bill muttered. "...p-possible."

Redanato simply shrugged as he pulled something from his pocket. "Eh, well. I'm just glad you're finally on the same page as Rolf." He brought the item towards his mouth. "Clean up, gang! We've got guests and I'm going to give them a tour."

"I'm going to say it once again, Red," Rolf said, almost hissing. "If you think for one second that Bill and I will cooperate..."

Redanato threw a cold smirk his way. "...I think I've already replied to that, Rolfie."

"B-bu-but..." Bill muttered, still not believing. "...b-but you were..."

Redanato waved a hand at him. "Ah, Bill. The past is in the past. Things change, you know," he said before smiling coldly at him. "...people, too." A cold glint in his eyes. "...and so will the two of you."

Bill's three Pokémon attacked the Rocket's leader.
 
Last edited:
Chapter 25​
"Shock..." Sky whispered.

The little blue bird was perched on the small room's window sill, his tired and sad eyes staring at the silent Pikachu who sat on the end of the small bed. He bit his beak ... if only he could. He closed his eyes instead and sighed a trembling sigh.

"I'm so, so sorry..." He slowly reopened his eyes as he continued: "I... I didn't mean for this to happen... I just... I just wanted..."

Beeping noises.

A quiet hoot echoed from the distance.

Gentle rustles of leaves.

A broken heartbeat.

Sky gulped and slowly turned around. Bravely, or at least he thought so, he stared at the quiet moon up in the sky. "I'll fix this... Don't you worry."

Wincing, he spread his wings, jumped off of the window, and quietly flew through the night air.

Minutes passed, the silence of the room being broken by the cold beeping noise.

More minutes passed. It felt like an eternity. A forever.

An unwanted one.

Suddenly, the Pikachu's ears twitched, if only slightly. Cold, dead eyes slowly turned toward the open window, a tiny glimmer of curiousity reflecting on them.

"..." The Pikachu took a slightly uneven breath...

"...Jay?"

"!!!"

That voice sounded like glass shattering on tiled floor.

The Pikachu quickly whipped his gaze toward his unconscious friend, only to be greeted by the same scene he was staring for hours. The beepings pierced his ears, but they hardly were registered to the yellow rodent's thoughts.

It was her voice. He knew it was. There was no denying it, and he didn't imagine it.

An ear twitched. It wasn't his.

But it was the most wonderful ear twitch he had ever seen.

A crack of a smile formed on his lips. It felt painful, yet he didn't care.

It felt like forever finally had enough and stopped being a forever.

A heavy sigh escaped the rodent's mouth, and he was finally able to close his tired and heavy eyes...

...and finally allowed sleep to embrace him.

---

"Where should I go?"

A purple rodent kept muttering the exact same line for almost an hour now as she slowly and quietly wormed her way through the underground base's wiring system. In that hour, she saw small openings leading to hallways and rooms, but were full of humans wearing a sickly color that she kept on burying in her mind yet kept crawling back out. It most-likely didn't help that she was in the very same location of the past she had buried a long time ago.

A past too painful for her to relive, yet she was reliving it once again.

...At least she wasn't being poked and sliced around and watching her friends and family getting—

Oh hey! Another opening! Goodbye painful thoughts for now!

Nope. Team Rocket are still there. Moving on.

Maybe a song could help her mind stop thinking about her sad past? Maybe it would help her find a way to get out of where she was right now?

She was feeling a bit better. As long as she doesn't make a scene, like singing, no one would notice her being here in the first place. And if she kept on moving, maybe she would find an exit eventually!

Positive thinking! Such a wonderful thing to have!

Fay smiled a bright smile, barely stopping herself from humming a quiet tune as she crawled along the tiny tunnel-like confirnes carpetted with wires, wires and more wires.

A bright light. Another opening? Maybe this is it?

She slowly approached it.

---

A young trainer sat on one of the many waiting chairs in the Pokémon Center's hall, barely winning the fight against sleep. Her two Pokémon gave up long ago and were peacefully enjoying a good night's sleep beside her.

Heavy eyelids were threatening her blurry vision into the darkness of sleep. It was a battle she couldn't win. She knew, yet she struggled to fight back. She didn't know why, but she felt the need to—

A loud snore escaped her mouth as her sleepy head slowly turned to the wall behind her. She mumbled something, and then continued to snore.

In front of her was a closed door, and above it, a red light turned green, and the door quietly opened. A tired but smiling nurse slowly emerged from the dimly-lit room. She gently closed the door behind her, sighed in relief, and turned to the waiting trainer. She blinked and giggled after seeing her sleeping, snoring form.

Shaking her head, she quietly walked away, and minutes later, returned and placed a blanket on the sleeping trainer. A Chansey followed her and placed smaller blankets on the trainer's two sleeping Pokémon. The nurse smiled, gently patted the trainer's head, and left her alone, the Chansey following close behind.

A frown appeared on her tired face. If that trainer came a little later than she did, the Bulbasaur would have—

She shook her head. No point in thinking about it now. She was just glad that the Bulbasaur was alright. The poor thing would have to face many long days of recovery, but she would work hard to help it, as well as the other Pokémon here.

The Chansey patted the nurse's hand, catching her attention. She gave her a big and reassuring smile, earning herself a smile and a pat on the head.
 
Chapter 26​
Light.

Darkness.

White.

Black.

Two colors zooming in and out as fast as the eyes could see.

Voices of many echoed and faded, all at once, barely understandable, difficult to distinguish.

Finally, up ahead, a hole appeared in the chaotic void. It showed a scene.

A scene he had seen before.

Finally, the chaos vanished, the noises died down, and the scene replaced everything.

---

A Taillow winced as he watched an embarrassed Pidgey took flight, the warm afternoon air brushing against his blue feathers.

"Good job, good looking," a Pikachu said as he rolled his eyes.

"Quick!" a Rattata exclaimed as she ran towards the blue bird. "Chase after her!"

"Nah," the Taillow said, turning to smile at the dumbstruck purple rodent. "I'm sure she'll be fine. And besides!" He stretched his wings and flapped them awkwardly. "...I still don't know how to fly."

"Hate to say it," the Pikachu said, crossing his arms. "But the damn bird has a point."

A Vulpix sighed. "I really still am clueless why we're here."

"All will be revealed in due time, girl," the Taillow said, winking at her, earning him a hearty chuckle from the Bulbasaur, a frustrated sigh from the Vulpix, and an annoyed look from the Pikachu.

The Rattata frowned at the blue bird, and sighed, her ears drooping.

---

"How many more?"

---

A worn-out Pikachu was thrown inside a cage alongside his other bruised friends. A police officer closed the backdoor and radio'd back to headquarters. Minutes passed and the officer finally went to the driver's seat, started the car, and drove away from the scene.

A tiny blue bird's head poked out from a bush. The Taillow blinked a stray leaf out of his eyelid and watched the car go.

A frown broke through his features as he turned his gaze towards one particular building nearby, blocked off from the public by police tape.

From his point of view, he could see the front door was ajar. Ignoring the many thoughts he had for the time being, and the number of nosy humans standing and watching, he hopped out of the bush and awkwardly walked towards the closed-off building.

Under the late morning sun.

In clear view of human eyes.

The silence in the air was immediately broken by excited shouts and cheers, and a few flying Pokéballs.

---

"How many more?"

---

Light and darkness.

White and black.

Two colors almost clashing against one another as they blur by in incredible speeds. Voices of many echoed and died off, mixed and separated.

A scene appeared up ahead. The very same scene he'd see once again.

Everything vanished and returned at the same time.

The Taillow winced as he watched the Pidgey took off and flew through the warm afternoon air.

"Good job, good looking," he heard the Pikachu said from behind him.

"Quick!"

The blue bird turned around and smiled at the fast-approaching Rattata.

"Chase after her!"

The Taillow blinked and considered it. He doesn't want to see that many Pokéballs flying towards him ever again. He nodded with a smile. "Alright."

The Rattata's eyes twinkled with glee.

The Taillow chuckled as he rubbed his feathery head with a feathery wing. "But we'd have to do it on foot."

The Rattata's eyes dimmed. "...Oh. I forgot you can't fly yet."

A vine gently patted the sad rodent's shoulder.

The Taillow turned to the approaching Bulbasaur. "Or I could just ride—"

The Bulbasaur frowned at him. "No."

"Please?" The Taillow ... pouted?

The Bulbasaur's frown went further down, earning him a chuckle from the Rattata.

"Do we really have to get her?" the Pikachu asked, fighting the urge to sigh.

"Well," the Vulpix turned to him. "Sky needs a teacher, so maybe we should?"

"Can't we just pick another bird nearby to teach him instead?"

---

"How many more?"

"S-shut up..."

---

"I still think we're wasting time," the Piakchu complained for the umpteenth time.

He and his other friends sat under the shade of one of the many trees in the forest, watching a brown bird teaching a blue bird on how to fly.

The Pikachu sighed. "I'm starting to think he's just wasting all of our time."

"Better here than where Lithe is," the Vulpix said nonchalantly.

The Pikachu scratched his head in annoyance. "Point."

The Bulbasaur chuckled.

The Pikachu sighed once more. "But really, it's been how many moons now and we still don't have any prog—"

The Rattata gasped and jumped on the spot. "Look! Look!"

The Taillow was flapping his wings, his eyes clenched shut and his beak threatening to break. "A-am I flying yet?" he mumbled through closed beak. His hanging talons twitched, if only slightly.

The Pidgey breathed out proudly, her eyes twinkling as she marvelled at how wonderful he looked. "Yes. You're—"

The Taillow's wing muscles cramped, and he yelped as he fell back on the ground. "Oof!" He panted as he slowly rose back up on his talons, wincing at how painful his wings were. "Ow..."

The Pidgey quickly grabbed ahold of one of his wings and examined it. "It doesn't look back."

"Gee, really?" The Taillow said with a pained glare. "Since when did you become a doctor?"

The Pidgey sighed as she let go of his wing. She got a little used to him now, which made her feel a little easier to be around him. She smiled. "But you flew."

The Taillow blinked. And blinked once more. His eyes grow wide. "Whoa...! Really?! You're not shitting me right now, right?"

"Pffft," the Rattata pffft'ed.

"Horay for progress," the Pikachu said, and sighed, sparks coming out from his cheeks. He blinked in confusion. "...huh?"

"Shock?" the Vulpix asked, blinking at him. "What are you doing?"

Shock carefully touched his sparking cheeks as the others' attentions were now on him. "I'm...not really sure."

A loud boom of thunder could be heard from the distance.

Everyone blinked and looked at the sky up above.

A chaotic swirl of dark and thunderous clouds quickly covered the entire blue sky. An explosion could be heard from a distance.

A whole lot of explosions.

"I..." the Rattata shivered, and so were the rest of them. "I don't know what's going on," she said, eyeing her sparking friend. "A-and I don't like it."

Strong gusts of wind whistled up above. The treetops started to rattle.

The sparks were getting intense. Shock gritted his teeth as his cheeks were starting to hurt him. "Grr...!" He glared at his friends. "G-get away from me!"

"Eep!" the Pidgey winced when a stray spark of electricity almost struck her. She immediately turned tail and flew away, barely able to fly properly through the strong winds.

The Bulbasaur grabbed his two female friends and pulled them away from their sparking friend.

Another boom of thunder. Panicked voices started to echo all around the forest. The Taillow looked up and—through the gaps of the violent rustling leaves—saw a large flock of birds flying away from a black and shiny alien-like aircraft hovering in the sky.

"Graaaaaaaaaaah—!"

The Taillow's attention returned to the Pikachu, who was writhing in pain now as his entire body is now engulfed in violent electricity, getting even more intense and bright.

The two females cried out his name. He could barely hear nor see them now. It was all too sudden and too painful to bear. It felt like... It felt like...

It felt like he was about to explode.

---

"How many more?"

---

Light and darkness. White and black. Chaotic swirls of two colors mixing and separating. Voices echo and fade. A scene. Everything became nothing...

...and nothing became everything.

A Taillow winced as he watched a Pidgey in front of him fly away into the warm afternoon air.

"Good job, good looking," he heard the Pikachu said from behind him.

The Taillow sighed and ignored everything for a short moment, until the moment got long enough for an impatient Rattata to poke him.

"This is getting ridiculous," the Taillow whispered to himself, rubbing his aching head.

The Rattata blinked. "Huh?"

The Taillow fully faced her with a weak smile. "I...can't fly yet."

The Rattata blinked once more. "...oh, right."

The Taillow chuckled and rubbed the sad rodent's head. "But never you mind! I'll keep practicing as we head over to Cheese City!"

The Vulpix blinked at the duo. "...didn't I suggest that earlier?"

---

"How many more?"

"Z-zip it...!"

---

"Gliding feels really nice," the Taillow comments as he glides through the air under the sea of leaves.

"Good for you," Shock said, rolling his eyes.

He and his other friends are walking through the forest, with the blue bird gliding ahead, back, and around, practicing his flight.

Shock's ears twitched, and so did the Vulpix's and the Rattata's. They all stopped, with Saur extending both vines to grab the blue bird gliding by, and shut his beak up for good measure.

Ignoring the struggling bird, the group hid behind the bushes and took a peak.

There was a battle. A trainer battle. A young kid with her Sentret against another with his Spinarak.

Shock took a step back and shrugged. "Doesn't look like they'll be bothering us."

The others agreed and resumed their journey, careful not to be seen nor to catch the attention of the trainers and their battling Pokémon.

"Trainer battles look so cool in real life than in the games," the Taillow commented, gliding above his earthbound friends as he stared at the ongoing battle. He winced. "Whew... That Sentret seriously got bitten by that spooder."

"Hey, look!" an unknown voice shouted.

The group froze as a group of young and excited trainers suddenly appeared in front of them from out of the blue.

"A Bulbasaur!"

"Is that a Pikachu?!"

"Eewww, a Rattata..."

"That Vulpix looks so cute!"

"What's that blue bird thing?"

---

"How many more?"

"Shut up! Shut up! Just...! Just shut up!"

---

"You didn't have to kill, Shock!" the Taillow shouted, trembling.

Shock glared at the bruised blue bird. "I don't want to hear anything from you, you useless piece of feathers!"

"Calm down, you two," the Bulbasaur said in a calm manner, despite the painful bruises he was enduring.

Shock glared at the grass-type. "Stay out of this, Saur." His glare intensifies. "I mean it."

Saur sighed and shook his head.

Shock immediately whipped his glare back at the wincing Taillow. "They could have caught us! Enslave us!" he yelled, sparks flying out of his cheeks.

"I..."

"You what?!" the electric rodent snarled. "You did nothing but getting in our way, and now Vixie and Fay were caught by them! If I didn't do anything like you did, the rest of us would have been caught, too!"

"I-I-I can fix this...!" the Taillow yelps.

"You can fix this?!" Shock growled. "You put us into this mess!"

"I..."

---

"How many more?"

"Grr...!"

---

Light and darkness...

Chaos and voices...

Pidgey and Rattata...

Lies and flight...

Pikachu and Bulbasaur...

Forest and gliding...

Another direction...

Different from the previous one...

---

"How many more?"

"I will fix this!"

---

"Fay!"

The group woke up with a start. With bleary eyes, they slowly woke up to the shouts of Saur calling our their friend's name.

"W-what's going on?" Shock asked, rubbing his eye with a paw.

"Fay! Where are you?!" Saur shouted in a panic, looking at each and every direction, circling around a reddish spot on the grassy ground.

"Fay?" the Taillow asked, yawning. "Mmm... Who cares about her anyway?"

A violent vine whipped him, throwing him away.

"Gah—!" the Taillow gasped as he rolled and rolled and stopped. His body hurting, he grunted as he slowly rose to his talons. Dusting himself off, he glared at the Bulbasaur, but it only lasted for a fraction of a second.

Shock winced and could barely even look at this grass-type friend, even though he wasn't the receipient of Saur's intense glare.

"Fay?" Vixie asked, looking around. "She's...?"

Saur sighed and sat down on the ground. "She's gone..."

"Gone?" the fire fox asked, noticing the small red marks on the blades of grass behind the Bulbasaur.

Her breath left her.

---

"How many more?"

"I have to fix this!"

---

A blur of two colors.

Hints of echoing voices.

A scene of brown and purple.

An area of brown and green.

A change of destination.

"Where are going where?"

"To a cave!"

"What cave?"

"Just follow me! I think I know where it is!"

"You...think?"

"Yep! So let's go!"

"What was the point of climbing up that mountain then?!"

"Forget that! Onwards to adventure!"

"And you said you think you know where to go?"

"Yep yep!"

"That's not good enough!"

"Shock, my friend. Just believe in me. Have I let you down before?"

"It hasn't even been a day since we met you!"

"Not to me! But that's not important now, is it? Anyway, onwards!"

"...what?!"

---

"How many more?"

"I... I need to fix this!"

---

A giant rocky serpent...

A chaotic battle...

A splash of blood...

...

Light and darkness...

Voices and headaches...

Flight and lies...

Smiles and words...

A change of pathways...

Another roadblock...

...

Light and darkness...

Echoing voices...

Afternoon and evening...

Digletts...

...

Light and darkness...

Mixing voices...

Yellow and green...

Morning sunlight...

Evening sorrow...

...

Light and darkness...

Fading voices...

Purple and red...

Forest leaves...

Grassy ground...

Unconsciousness...
 
Chapter 27​
Author's Note...

I'm going to return to using present-tense, as I got used to it when I was writing Four Hooves.

---

Stars twinkle peacefully in the quiet evening sky. Down below, the earth is awash with the sleepy light of the moon.

Except for a large golden city, its many lights combined looking brighter than the moon itself. Despite the late hour, so many humans and Pokémon still roam around the city streets. Voices and other sounds echo through the air, but are ignored by a tiny blue bird as he flies by the city, gliding through the chilly night air, heading towards a direction.

Sky shivers violently, more from the coldness than from his injuries. Gulping, he presses on, flapping his wings occassionally to steady is glide.

Many thoughts threaten to break through his toughts, yet he keeps pushing them aside. He didn't need to deal with them at the moment.

Besides, he isn't going to be dealing with them once he reaches his destination.

Like he did a number of times before.

He frowned. The plan used to bring a smile to his face, but this time, it didn't.

He didn't bother to figure out why. He didn't care anyway.

He's getting closer, so there's no point to wonder.

With a nod, he glides lower, until he is a foot or two above the sea of blurring leaves. He shivers once more. He presses on. He flaps his wings.

A hoot or two breaks the cold silence. He ignores it as he starts to slow down, until he is hovering above the edge of a large clearing, where a large lake sits on the very middle, its calm surface reflecting the gentle moon and its twinkling stars up above...

...and a glowing being who is slowly gliding above the lake.

Sky takes a breath, sighs, and glides toward it.

The shiny thing takes notice. "Huh?" She stops and looks at the approaching bird, her crystal-blue eyes blinking. She smiles. "Well, hello there. Good evening."

Sky lands on the edge of the lake and winces. "Ow..."

The green and glowing fairy gasps and quickly hovers toward him. "Are you hurt badly?" she asks, landing beside him. She wants to touch him, yet stops herself as she might hurt him even more. "You poor dear! Who did this to you?"

Sky chuckles, earning himself a confused look from the fairy. "Don't worry about it, cutie pie," he reassures her, winking. "This was my bad. Still is." He winces. "Ow..."

The fairy blinks a clueless blink.

Sky carefully shakes his head. "Never mind about it, Bi." He turns to fully face the grass-type legendary. "I want you to send me back to the past."

Another curious blink. "...what?"

Sky nods, smiling. He shrugs. "Or at least my consciousness." He chuckles. "I don't think this world can handle having two me's. Don't wanna press my luck on that one."

Celebi narrows her eyes. "...and why should I send you back?"

Sky sighs. "Not this conversation again..."

A curious yet suspiscious blink. "Again?" She shakes her head. "Who are you?"

Sky slowly extends one glowing wing. Suddenly, a shiny blue plate starts to emerge from it. Sky turns to the stunned legendary and chuckles. "That face is always funny every time I see it."

"You're..." Bi breathes out, staring at her reflection on the shiny plate as it begins to submerge back. Once the plate and the glow are gone, she slowly turns her gaze back at the smiling bird. "You're...?"

Sky shrugs. "Yep." He slowly ruffles his feathers. "So yeah. With the power that Arceus granted in me, I hereby order you to send me back to the past." He winks at her. "It's for me to save your four friends, after all."

Bi blinks. "Save...my friends?" She gasps, earning a sigh from the blue bird. "Shock, Fay, Saur and Vixie?! W-what happened to them?!"

Sky flinches. "Sheesh. It always surprises me how no other Pokémon around wakes up from that screech of yours."

Bi claps her hands, and slowly separates them, a shiny orb forming in between. "Then there's no time to waste!"

Sky smiles and nods. "Yep."

An otherwordly aura surrounds the both of them as the orb grows and encases them. Eyes glowing white, Celebi concentrates her psychic energy to find a good spot in time to send his consciousness back without tampering with time too much.

Sky already knows where she'll send him, so he waits with a smile as he tries to ignore the 'time bubbles' that shows different scenarios and events in time. His smile grows a little wider as he—

Ah, there it is. The static, or at least, that is what he decided to call it back then. A split-second disruption of Celebi's time spell as she realizes something.

Her glowing eyes twitch. She opens and closes her mouth, as if hesitating to say something.

Sky chuckles. "Go on, say it." He shakes his head. "Even if we both know that you've said it countless times before."

Otherwordly silence.

And then...

"How many?"

Sky sighs a tired sigh. "There it is." He looks back at her with a weak smile. "Do we have to repeat this conversation?"

"How many timelines have you created?"

Sky shrugs. "I've honestly lost count. I don't really care anyw—"

"How many timelines have you destroyed?"

The bird shrugs once again. "Technically, they're not destroyed if they never happened."

A furrowing of eyebrows. "...How many times have you senselessly done this?"

Sky opens his mouth to reply, but he has no words to say. He blinks. "Huh... This is new."

Otherworldly silence.

SKy blinks, fidgetting awkwardly. He decides to look around, but not focusing on any of the bubbles passing by.

Seconds fly by.

Minutes.

He doesn't want it to become hours. He glares at the legendary in front of him. "Hello? Do you or do you not want your friends be saved?"

"By whom?"

Sky arches an eyebrow. "By whom? Well, duh!" He rolls his eyes. "Me, of course!"

Cosmic silence.

Sky's eye twitches. "Bi, excuse the pun, but I seriously have no time for this. Just send me back already."

"So you could hurt them once again?"

"What?!" Sky's glare intensifies. "I just told you I'm going to save them!" He shakes his head. "It's not my fault that a stupid storm made Shock explode! Or those Digletts ganging up on us! Or those trainers catching us!"

Celebi's glowing glare counters his own. "But they are."

"Excuse me?!" Despite the pain, he quickly uses a wing to gesture at himself. "I only want to bring them to Arceus' chamber! Nothing more!" He angrily extends both glowing wings out, a lone plate quickly appearing above him. "Now either you bring me back or I'll—"

The words freeze in his throat as a bubble suddenly appears in front of him. He clenches his eyes shut and waves a glowing wing in front if it, making it burst soundlessly.

Sky reopens his eyes and glares at her. "Do that again, and I swear to ****ing god I'll—"

A bubble appears in front of him once again, showing a scene from a time that happened and didn't.

Sky angrily bursts it. Eyes flashing with anger, he swings the plate at the legendary, only for it to be blocked effortlessly by a psychic barrier. He swings it towards her once again as a bubble is shoved in front of him. He bursts it and swings the plate once more.

Another bubble.

Another burst.

Another swing.

And another.

And another.

And another.

Sky pants agrily, glaring through the bubble in front of him. "You dare... defy... Arceus'... grrk...!" He weakly swings a wing. He looses his balance and falls down on the cool, grassy earth. "Oof—!"

The bird pants and pants, his angry gaze on the dark trees that border the clearing, the dormant plate lying lifelessly beside him.

"How many?" Bi asks, her glaring eyes starting to water.

Sky's eye twitches. He grunts as he slowly tries to get back on his talons, the glowing plate slowly returning to him.

"How many, Sky?" Bi asks once again, a tear rolling her face.

The plate now within him, he finally has enough strength to stand back up. "S-shut up!" Sky snarls weakly as he stands, glaring at her.

His glare quickly dies down after seeing the streams of tears on her dimming face.

The bird flinches. "I... I mean..."

Bi sniffs and tries but fails to wipe the tears off of her face. "H-how many times will you turn your back on m-my friends?"

"I, but I... If we could just—"

"Countless times you've told yourself that they're your friends too..."

"T-they are! That's why—"

"A friend doesn't turn their backs on them when they needed them the m-most!" Celebi barely shouts back at him.

"Bi, I couldn't... I mean... If I could just go back...!"

"And turn your back on them once things don't go your way once again?!"

"I-it's not like that!"

"You can't keep running away from your problems!"

Sky freezes in place. For a moment, he saw a very familiar and dear human instead of Celebi. He furiously shakes his head. When he reopens his eyes, he sees the legendary on her knees, both hands holding her head, hyperventilating.

"S-Shock died... Fay died... Saur died..."

"Hey hey..." Sky starts, but flinches.

Celebi starts shaking. "V-Vixie died... C-countless times... Over, and over, and over, and over—"

"Hey hey hey!" Sky grabs the legendary and tries but fails to snap her back. "Bi! Get a grip!"

Celebi's unfocused eyes suddenly focused on him, making him freeze. She sniffs, crying once again, as she weakly struggles to get away from him. "Murderer!"

Sky tries to hold her, and finally hugs her. "I'm sorry!"

She squirms. She's too emotionally weak to get away.

"I didn't mean for all of that to happen!" Sky tightens his hold on her, his eyes shut. "I'm sorry...!"

She struggles to set herself free. "G-get away from me...!"

"I didn't know what to do—"

"Let me go—"

"It was too big of a responsibility—"

"Ggg-go away—"

"S-so I thought that maybe you could—"

"I'm not gonna help you—"

"B-but I kept on failing and—"

"Let go—"

"I'm a coward!"

Silence. Broken by sobs.

Not Celebi's.

She slowly grabs the sobbing bird's shoulders and pull him off of her.

To have a better look at him.

Sky turns his head away as tears run down his feathery face. "I'm not Jay... I-I don't..." He sniffs. He coughs. "I mess things up. I always do. B-but Jay's always been there and—!"

A sniff.

A traffic light.

A car.

A shout.

"I always mess things up, for myself, for my mom and dad, and for my big bro..."

A face...

A hand...

A push...

"B-but on that split-of-a-second moment, I realized that I'm going to mess things up again. Big time. S-so..."

Another hand...

Grabbing another...

"It was my fault anyway. He didn't need to save me back then, so..."

A crash.

Sky chuckles, and sniffs. He weakly shakes his head, reopens his eyes, and slowly looks up at the moon. "...so I took it." He flinches. "And boy, did it hurt like hell."

Celebi is looking at the moon as well, listening.

Sky sighs. "I'm sorry."

The legendary sighs as well. "I really find that hard to believe."

Sky blinks and looks at her. "What? Me being human? Me as Arceus'—?"

Celebi glares at her. "You being sorry."

Sky's features droop.

Celebi shakes her head. "I'm not sending you back. Not anymore."

Sky sighs. "Yeah, I got the memo a few minutes ago." He looks back up at the moon. "But I have a very limited time if you want me to go and save them." He shakes his head. "I still have no idea what that weird UFO was back then. It made Shock..." he trails off, wincing.

"I got a glimpse of it," Celebi says quietly, still staring at the moon. "I think I have an idea of what caused that storm." Aura surrounding her, she floats forward, stops, turns and glares at him. "I'm gonna see if it really is what I think it is." Her glare intensifies, making the bird flinch. "In the mean time, you will save my friends."

"Yes, ma'am."

She nods her head. "You better." She turns around and flies away, leaving the bird alone by the lake.

Sky sighs and stares at his reflection on the calm surface of the lake. "...she didn't even heal me." He glares at his reflection. "What a b*tch." He smiles. "I like her."
 
Last edited:
Chapter 28​
Wires, darkness, and more wires.

A little Rattata has been crawling through the many wires for who knows how long now. Luckily, she has no problems seeing through the darkness. Unluckily, she can barely continue moving forward in the very claustrophobic underground tunnel she is in, and she has been at it for a while now.

It surprises her that none of the humans nor other Pokémon has taken notice of her yet, despite her very loud panting and wheezing.

But the Rattata presses on, ignoring her tired and screaming muscles as she slowly inch her way towards a small light source up ahead.

Another opening.

Maybe, just maybe, that is her way out of here—

"—and I gotta admit, your Pokémon sure are stronger than I thought they would be, Bill."

—or maybe she can just continue on and find another way out.

A chuckle echoes through the tunnel, making her ears twitch.

"Well, anyway, don't worry about them. We have our very own doctors here who can heal them up in no time! So no sweat!"

"By 'doctors', you mean your goddamn crazy scientists, yes?"

A roar of laughter. The Rattata stops and flinches, the loud and echoing noise piercing through her ears.

"Oooh, Rolf. You barely joke, but when you do, boy are they funny."

"I don't think he was joking, Red."

A sigh. "Bill, as always, your obvious detector is as impressive as ever."

A chuckle. "Whew, have I missed us three being together like this."

With a grunt, the Rattata finally reaches the light source. Another set of opening strips on the ground, the cool air soothing her aching face.

An air vent of some sort. But for wires. A wire vent? It's the best she can describe it.

With a small smile, she looks down and blinks at the trio of talking humans who are surrounded by so many other humans in a sickly-familiar black uniform. Her smile fades.

They are walking in a slow pace, and sometimes stop for a long while before they resume.

She closes her eyes, shakes her head and presses on. There's another opening up ahead, but the light there looks dimmer. It's the dimmest light she has seen in this tunnel yet. Maybe that's her way out?

"—and thanks to Rolf's donation, we can finally capture that elusive Mewtwo in Cerulean Cave."

"M-Mewtwo?!"

"Yep yep! Hahah! I knew you would be interested, Bill!"

"I-I thought we swore never to bother the thing!"

"We did, Bill, but you seem to be constantly forgetting that Redanato's the goddamn leader of Team Rocket."

"I-I still can't quite believe that, by the way..."

A sigh.

"Oh ho ho, miss sexy's approaching. Let me introduce you boys to the lovely lady—"

"Sir," a female's voice interrupts him. Monotone. "Operation Gold's target has..." A long pause. "...oh. Nevermind then, sir."

Footsteps, getting fainter and fainter.

A pause.

A quiet chuckle. "Well, er, she's too busy for introductions, it seems."

The Rattata's hind foot slips and gets tangled with the wires behind her. She sighs. Not the first time it has happened to her. With no room to turn around, she grunts and tries to set her foot free.

"—you still haven't answered my question. Why are we here, Red?"

"Patience, my dear friend! All will be revealed in the destination we are heading!"

"You already got the Master Ball from me. What more do you want?"

"Ahh, Rolf. As impatient as ever."

"I still don't know why I'm even here."

"Bill, you're not being helpful at the moment."

"Hey, to be fair, his team put up a better fight that yours did."

"I only had Cook while he had three, you bastard."

"I see no difference."

Her foot finally free, the Rattata sighs in relief and continues on, trying her best to zone the voices out and focus on her next destination up ahead.

A very slow pace, but she will get there eventually.

As she continues on, the voices coming from the opening behind her is getting quieter and quieter...

...until she no longer hears them.

She hears no sound, behind and in front of her.

She blinks, finding it odd that she hears nothing from that dim light up ahead.

Minutes of tiresome struggle later, and she finally manages to pull herself over the openings, the cool air brushing against her face.

She sees boxes. Metal boxes, maybe? And lots of them. Rows and rows, one on top of another.

A storage room, perhaps?

She takes a breath and focuses on her hearing.

She frowns, hearing nothing but her own panting. She takes a moment to catch her breath.

A minute or two later, she takes a deep breath, exhales, and listens.

She hears echoes of snoring. Lots of them. Maybe some of the humans sneaked in here to sleep?

She looks ahead and frowns at the darkness. No light up ahead. Either the tunnel turns or its a dead end.

Her gaze returns to the dim room of metallic boxes below her. A sigh escapes her mouth. "Welp," she whispers to herself. "Could be worse."

She opens her mouth wide to start chewing on the metal grates—

"Huh?" A quiet voice reaches her ears, making her freeze in place.

Oh no... Someone heard her!

"I-is someone there?" the voice continues to whisper, sounding like it's from the room below her.

She rolls her eyes. Where else would it come from? At least the voice doesn't sound threatening.

She's just not sure if she should answer or not.

"Keep quiet," another voice whispers, quieter than the first one. "Or they'll hurt you again."

Hurt them? That doesn't sound good.

Eyes narrowing, she studies the metallic boxes in the dim room.

They aren't boxes, but cages.

Painful memories suddenly flash in her mind, and she tries her very best to push them away.

She doesn't want to deal with them right now.

Her head aches so much. A painful grunt escapes her mouth.

"D-did you hear that?"

"Shhh!"

"I could have sworn that—"

"We're not the only ones here, you know. Someone is probably just having a bad dream."

"T-this is already a bad dream, and I-I want to wake up—"

"Shut. Up!" the second voice hisses.

A series of annoyed sounds quietly echo in the entire room.

BANG BANG BANG!!!

"Quiet!" a loud voice from somewhere echo loudly in the room. "Or else!"

And then the room falls quiet.

Gritting her teeth, the Rattata shakes and shakes her head, the loud bang and the loud shout hurt her ears and head.

Recovering a bit, the purple rodent blinks and looks at the room below her. It doesn't seem to be her way out. Sighing a heavy and quiet sigh, she slowly resumes her crawl onward.

And then she stops after a random idea randomly shows up in her thoughts. Slowly, her mouth curves into a smile.

A mischievous one.

She looks down and her smile is gone.

Shaking her head, she slowly opens her mouth and starts to chew on the metal grates...

...as quietly as she can.

Which is pretty loud in a quiet room such as the one below her.

Nothing she can do about it now. She already started, so she might as well finish it.

She ignores the voices as she continues on her work. It's not like she can understand them anyway as her ears are filled with the noise of teeth against metal.

And finally, the metal grate swings open downward, the purple rodent falling down, but easily stops her fall with her tail curling on some of the wires.

"Booyah!" she whispers in victory, a big smile on her face. She looks around and sees a huge and angry face mere inches from her. Her smile trembles. "Eh heh heh heh... Um... Hi?"

The large, muscular and four-armed humanoid creature swings its two mighty arms behind him...

...and throws a powerful double punch at the hanging purple pinata.
 
Chapter 29​
With a yelp, the Rattata immediately releases her grip on the wires above with her tail, avoiding the two mighty punches by a fraction of a second.

Two other sets of hands appear before her falling form, about to grab her.

Tail immediately glowing, and still in mid-air, Fay quickly spins around and slaps her glowing tail at the two large hands, the impact pushing her away from her grunting foe.

She lands with a tired grunt and slides on the cold floor, stopping after her furry bum bumps on cold iron bars.

"Nice shot," says a voice from the other side of the bars. A low whistle. "Nice rear."

Fay looks back and winks at her admirer. "Thanks!"

"Grrr!" The floor shakes as the four-armed mass of muscles rushes at the rodent. "You'll regret that, you little shrimp!"

Ignoring her tired muscles, the Rattata scampers away, leaving the blushing captive behind.

The bipedal Pokémon slides and bumps on the rows of iron crates, scaring and startling the imprisoned Pokémon inside.

As she runs and turns and runs and turns, she looks left and right, trying but failing to find an exit. This is a room, right? There should be a door somewhere!

A yell from behind her, getting louder and louder until—

CRASH!

A crate crashes mere inches in front of her. She yelps and bumps on the roadblock hard, the dizzy Pokémon inside collapsing.

Fay takes a step or two back and shakes her head, recollecting herself.

And then she feels the ground shaking once more, and a huge shadow looming over her.

"Got'cha!" Four mighty hands slap nothing but air. Eyes twitching, the bipedal Pokémon turns to the sound of crashing.

Fay shakes and shakes her painful head. That's the last time I'm using a quick attack without knowing where to go, she thinks to herself.

"Watch out!" a Pokémon from inside the crate yells at her. "Run run!!!"

"Grrrk...!" Vision blurry and head throbbing, she kicks her paws on the floor and unknowingly runs under the Machamp, almost getting herself stepped on.

The Machamp grabs the crates on each side to quickly stop himself. He turns and immediately gives chase, ignoring the chorus of voices echoing around the room.

He turns and sees the purple rodent scampering towards a wall. He grabs multiple crates, ignoring the yelping and crying Pokémon within, and throws them at the rodent.

"Incoming!" one of the captive Pokémon shouts at the rodent running by.

Her ears twitch, her head still throbbing, and her entire body still screaming how tired they are. She barely noticed the shadows of crates flying towards her. The wall is up ahead. Blurry eyes narrowing, she quickens her pace, jumps and runs up on the wall, the four crates crashing loudly below her.

"Ha!" Fay cheers. "You missed—"

Two mighty punches hit her back, pushing her on and through the wall. Cracks form and dust clouds cover the area.

Grunting, the Machamp pulls his two arms with a bloody rodent on his grip. He turns around and shows it at the captives.

"Anyone else?"

The room is dead quiet.

The Machamp grunts and walks toward the door. "Didn't think so." He stops by a small panel beside the door. He inputs a code, and the door in front of him slides open.

The bipedal Pokémon steps out, the door sliding behind him.

A Rocket grunt stops walking and blinks at the bipedal Pokémon. "...The hell happened?"

The Machamp shrugs and walks to the other direction.

The Rocket grunt watches the Pokémon leave. He shakes his head and resumes walking towards his destination.

Inside, some of the younger prisoners start to cry. Their neighboring adults try to calm them down.

As the remaining dust cloud start to settle, a weak cough echo from the mighty hole on the wall, startling the nearby Pokémon.

A not-so-bloody purple rodent's head slowly pops out from the hole, coughing. "Ugh..."

"H-how'd?" one of the nearby Pokémon stammers, bewildered. "How'd you...?"

A bloody cough. And another. "Bleahk..." Fay spits a drool of blood. She slowly looks around, a weak smile forming on her face. "A-any of you saw what that big meanie did to open the door?"

A few captured Pokémon who are on top of the piles slowly nod their heads.

Fay weakly nods her head as well. "G-good. Good..." She slips, falls and drops on the pile of rubble, small dust clouds forming upon impact. "Ow..." She coughs weakly. She chuckles weakly. "L-let's do a prison break..." She wheezes, her consciousness slipping from her. "B-but let me sleep for a b-bit..." A quiet cough. "T-that sub took a l-lot—"

And she's out like a light.
 
Chapter Break - Racing The Storm​
The chilly night air pelts her grassy and sensitive skin. She ignores this and continue flying under the night sky.

She didn't want to risk being spotted by using her psychic shield to protect her from the elements such as this one.

The minutes soon turn into hours, and the air has grown a little warmer now. Morning will be here soon.

She sees an island on the horizon, with a large mountain on the very middle.

With a determined nod, she quickens her flight towards it. As she nears the island, her eyes glow in purplish light, using her psychic powers to sense the presence of the creatures living there.

She senses them, all but one, the one she is looking for. Her eyes return to normal as she hovers, staring at the tall rock pillar. She turns left, right and around, but she cannot see any hints of fire anywhere.

She curses under her breath.

Shaking her head, she turns to a direction and quickly flies toward the horizon.

---

A loud and painful squawk rips through the waking sky.

The green sprite hovers in shock, her eyes reflecting a large yellow bird encased by a cubic cage. Yellow and blue sparks of lightning erupts from the cage as it slowly flies up towards the giant metal ship of some kind.

Another painful squawk. The spiky yellow bird discharges powerful bolts of lightning, trying but failing to set itself free.

Blue bolts of lightning from the metallic cage strikes the avian, shocking and weakening it.

Slowly and angrily, the bird tries to open one eye, its sharp gaze landing on the helpless green sprite hovering above its roosting ground.

With a tired and painful grunt, the mighty bird squawks one last time, and discharges a lightning-fast bolt of lightning, striking the green fairy by the forehead.

The cage floats inside, and the large ship's metallic doors finally closes shut.

Down below, the green sprite rises up into a sitting position and rubs her burned head. She angrily looks up at the ship as it slowly flies towards a direction.

She never liked that method of communication from the lightning bird, but she at least got the message.

Surrounding herself with her psychic energy, she quickly floats and flies towards her next destination, faster than the giant ship up in the morning, stormy sky.
 
Chapter 30​
The waking sun's soft golden rays caress the treetops, the morning dew on leaves twinkling like diamonds, with a few of them dropping to the crisp green grass on the forest floor as birds fly and land from branch to branch.

To the human ears, the birds' melodious chirps bring a soothing feeling as they continue on with their own journeys in life.

To the Pokémon ears however...

"What do you MEAN we don't have berries anymore?!" a Pidgey yells at another, its sharp and glaring eyes burning holes on the other's head.

The other Pidgey winces, tree branch shaking. "I-I don't know! I checked our trees at the break of dawn and our berry trees are, well, non-berry trees anym—"

"Gah!" The angry bird spreads his wings and hops off the branch. "Arceus-damn those berry-stealing pieces of—"

And he and a few of his followers are out of earshot.

A little blue bird stirs from where he sleeps. "Uuungh, such loud-mouths..." he mumbles as he tries to go back to sleep.

A nervous chuckle erupts close by. Very close, in fact. "You're the one to talk," a Pidgey says in a quiet voice as she adjusts her tiny black hat on her head.

"Hush you," Sky mumbles back with a smile as he gets himself comfortable on the nest. "I'm a hypocrite and—" His eyes shot wide open. "Wait. Where am I?" He turns his head to the female voice and blinks. "Hey! That's my hat!"

Innotui blinks. "B-but you gave this to me..."

Sky blinks. And blinks once more. "...Oh, right. I did give it to you." Chuckling to himself, he tries to rise on his talons, only to wince, groan and collapse back on the nest. "Ow ow ow..."

Innotui is quick to his side, trying her best to help him, even though she's a nervous wreck and barely doing anything to help him.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Sky groans. "Whew... Now I know what it feels like to be feather-dusted."

The Pidgey takes a deep breath to calm herself down. She then helps him up on his talons. "I-I don't think you should be moving yet," she mumbles as she gives the wincing Taillow a concerned look.

Sky waves her off. "I'm fine, really."

Innotui's frown goes further down.

Sky winces and looks away. "I, ah, at least I'd like to think so."

"W-well I think you're not fine." Ignoring his sigh, she turns around and grabs a berry with her beak. Turning back to him, she places it in between them. "Here. I picked these up for you."

Sky blinks at the shiny blue berry. He then looks back at the slightly-blushing bird. "...You were the berry thief?"

Innotui blinks back at him. "Uh, no? Well..." She looks elsewhere. "Mmmaybe I picked two or three berries?" She quickly shakes her head. "B-but I didn't steal them! They were lying on the ground a-and—"

Sky chuckles, making the Pidgey stop. "Whew, hot-damn girl. I didn't know you had it in you."

The Pidgey turns her back on him as she tries to calm herself down. She wonders if helping him get better is a bad idea, seeing as he always makes her feel nervous and weird.

Recalling how the birds back home eat berries, Sky picks up the blue berry with his beak, turns his head up, and drops the berry down to his throat, hoping against all hope he won't choke.

Thankfully, he didn't.

"Whew." He wipes off a non-existent sweat on his forehead with a chuckle. "That was scary."

"Huh?" Innotui looks back at him. "What was?"

Sky shrugs. "Never you mind, my cute birb friend," he says with a wink, and he smirks after seeing her blush. He then looks around, noticing that they're both surrounded by tree branches and leaves. "Whew... I don't remember flying up here last night."

"Well," Innotui says, "you didn't." She shakes her head. "I saw you by the lake." She frowns at him. "Despite your feathers, you were cold and shivering, so I, ah, took you here with me." She blushes and looks elsewhere.

Sky blinks. Sky smirks. "And then magic happened, right?" he asks, wagging his non-existent eyelashes.

"Huh?"

Sky frowns and sighs. "Welp, joke ruined..." He takes a breath, holds it in for a second or two, and releases it. He then smiles a small smile at the brown bird. "...Thanks."

Innotui blinks. "Oh, um, y-you're welcome?"

Sky shakes his head. "Really. Thank you."

He turns and stares at the golden rays of the sun, twinkling like stars as it pokes through the gaps between the dancing leaves.

"I've been a pain in the ass ever since I got here. I should have done things properly, but instead I've made things worse, because of my selfishness..."

He frowns and sighs.

"But I'm gonna fix things. I'm gonna try and fix the things I've broken."

He shakes his head.

"I'm not sure how I'm gonna do it. Hell, I'm not even sure if I can, but..."

He turns back to the Pidgey, who's giving him a very clueless look.

Sky smiles at her. "...I'm going to try my best. For my bro, and for his friends, and for their happiness."

Innotui blinks a blank blink. "...Um... I-I have no idea what you were saying just now."

Sky chuckles, takes her hat off and pats her head. "Don't you worry your silly little brown head about it, my silly little birb friend." He places her hat back on and nods.

A frown once again returns to his face as he looks back at the twinkling sunrays.

"...I just hope both Saur and Fay are doing alright."

Innotui blinks, her nervousness quickly forgotten. "Huh? Saur and Fay?"

Sky shakes his head. "And today's the day that storm appears and makes Shock go all ka-blooey." His frown deepens. "I just hope Celebi knows what she's doing."

Innotui frowns a concerned frown. "I... I think I've missed a lot ever since you left me with that pink nursing human."

The two birds eat a few more berries as Sky tells her a recap of the events that have happened.

Meanwhile, in an underground facility far away from Ilex Forest, a trio of humans are inside a room.

"—and after I take over the Kanto's Elite Four, I'll take over the neighboring regions next." Redanato explains with a smile. He looks away from his projected powerpoint presentation and smiles at his two seated guests.

His two, sleepy, barely-conscious guests.

Redanato blinks and chuckles to himself. "Huh... Have I been talking to you guys that long?" He turns to his trusted partner, and frowns at the Typhlosion sleeping on the floor by the projector. He scratches his head. "I guess I really was."

The door of his office suddenly swings open, slamming on the wall and the resounding noise startling both his guests and his Pokémon awake with a start.

Flames erupt from the Typhlosion's back as it roars, startling the newcomers into a halt.

"Easy, boy," Redanato says as he calms Hero, his Typhlosion, down. He then arches an eyebrow at the two panting members of Team Rocket. "You two look like you've seen someone's head explode."

The two stammer a quiet reply.

Redanato grabs a remote from his desk, aims it at the nervous duo, and holds down the volumn up button. "There. Volumn max." He chuckles. "Now try again."

They are about to talk when a woman behind them clears her throat. They step aside and allow her entry.

She nonchalantly enters the office, clipboard on hand and a purplish pokéball on another. "Project Creation has been successful," she says lifelessly as she places the ball on the desk. She blinks and looks back at the other two guests in the room. "Oh. I didn't know you were in the middle of something." She looks back at the head of Team Rocket and bows her head. "Apologies."

Redanato scratches his head. "I really need to fix your boring tone, girl." He smirks at her. "I've got a hotdog that I would love to put in your bun."

She blinks a blank blink at him. "...I don't really like hotdogs, sir."

A palm hits a face. "That's not what I mea—"

"So you captured it," Rolf says, glaring at the Master Ball sitting on the desk.

"Captured what?" Bill asks, blinking. "Wait, no... Mewtwo?!"

Redanato chuckles as Rolf turns to the door, glaring at the two nervous grunts. "You could have used that powerful Pokémon for yourselves."

Hearing this, Redanato starts to laugh.

"W-we don't want our heads blown off," one of the grunts nervously stammer.

"What?" Rolf asks.

"Oh, Rolfie, such a jokester you are." Redanato approaches him and pets the glaring man's head. "One of them did plan to do such that, but well," he waves a hand at the two grunts. "They have told you what happened to whoever it was who was stupid enough to turn against me."

The secretary by the desk shows everyone a small remote on her hand, with a large red button on it. "Boom," she mumbles lifelessly as she puts it back in her pocket.

"You're sick," Rolf says, ignoring Bill trying his best to hold the contents of his stomach.

"Perhaps," Redanato says. He chuckles as he walks out of the room. "Follow me, gentlemen." He says as the two grunts force both Rolf and Bill to follow him, his secretary and his Typhlosion following them close behind. "I'm sure you both are curious of how powerful Mewtwo is." He looks back at them with a smile. "You are, after all, still trainers at heart."

"The only thing I'm curious of is if Mewtwo will remove that sickening head of yours," Rolf replies icily.

"Scary," Redanato says with a chuckle.

Soon, the group arrives in front of a door, guarded by a large and muscular Machamp.

"No escapees, I hope?" Redanato asks, smiling.

The Machamp smirks and gives him two thumbs up. He steps aside and pushes a button, making the door slide open.

"Very good," Redanato says. "I'll make sure they'll give you a—" He stops and blinks.

Many, many sets of eyes blink back.

On top of the nearest stack of cages, a Rattata turns around, blinks at the newcomers...

...and smirks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top