Pokémon: Dangerous Fusion (PG-13)

[Tundra_Wolfmane]

Pokémon: Dangerous Fusion (PG-13)

Pokemon: Dangerous Fusion
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Current Party Location: PSci-Corp Headquarters, Castelia Outskirts, Route 4

PSci-Corp a.k.a. Pokémon and Sciences Corporation. It was an odd company. The people there studied, created and invented various things for the sake of both Pokémon and technological advancements. It was also the kind of company that produced items such as Pokéballs and Technical Machines and other such merchandise, although it was a minor company compared to massive businesses such as Silph Co. and Devon Corporation. It was also an oddity in terms of location: it’s unusual for one to have a facility that wasn’t inside the vicinity of a city or town, although employees say that it’s much easier to get work and research done without the troubles or ruckus that usually accompanies an urban life.

The headquarters was divided into three buildings: the research center, the factory, and the housing areas. The three structures were placed in a triangular manner, with a mini-plaza of sorts at the center. The plaza itself looked like a small park, with trees and shrubs and even a fountain in the center, but it was adequate enough for employees who were not on duty to do various leisure activities, with or without their Pokémon. Surrounding the headquarters with a triangular pattern was a steel wall tall enough to keep most unwelcome visitors and Pokémon from entering. At each side of the triangle were the three buildings, equidistant from each other. From largest to smallest, it was the factory on the northern end, the research facility on the eastern end, and the housing area on the western end. There were only three gates at each point of the triangle, and each gate and was large enough to allow at least a large truck to enter. A few guards were stationed at each gate, as well as in certain areas of the facility, but most employees agreed that most of the time, the extra security wasn’t really necessary.

Perhaps that was why security tended to be lax. They were never as attentive as they should have been. They could have at least tried to do their job better, to carefully scope out the surrounding area, to make sure that everything didn’t look off or different.

Then maybe the day would have turned out better. Or at least not as bad as it did.

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Piper Esperanza couldn’t shake off the bad feeling at the back of her mind.

Sitting on a chair in a large room that could accommodate probably a hundred people, the international investigator was looking as a shaggy haired man in a lab coat paced at a stage in front of her. He was also fiddling with a Rubix cube, constantly solving then redoing it all over again. Also with him on the stage were a podium on the right side, a desk in the left side, and a large white wall made for projector screenings. Surrounded by dozens of empty chairs, Piper also felt like she was back in police academy. Almost. The image was broken by a Ditto that seemed incessant following the man’s feet.

She made a quick glance around. There were a few people with them. A tall, pale girl was sitting at the back, a Crobat hanging around her. That was someone she felt she had to watch her back around. Another girl, closer to the stage, with scarf-wearing Pikachu and a metal pole for an arm was also there. She looked familiar, although Piper couldn’t place from where. Then there were also five or six more others, a few she thought also looked familiar. They were all in the same room, but they didn’t look like they had anything in common, really.

Well, other than the piece machinery they were all wearing on their hands. FiST.

Piper sighed. All she - all of them that wasn’t the pacing man, actually - knew nothing other than there was something important that they all needed to know. And really, the way the message was worded didn’t make it sound like it was good news.

It put her on edge. She needed answers. Now.

She stood up. “Hey, Peter, stop worrying for a second,” she called out.

The pacing man stopped and turned to her, the Ditto running into his feet. Instead of rebounding off, it seemed to mold around them instead, a sound akin to giggling coming from it. “Ah, miss Piper, er…what is it?” he replied with an uncertain smile.

“How much longer do we have to wait? I’ve been here since six in the morning, and you haven’t told me a single thing,” she told him, arms folded in slight annoyance. She wished she had some coffee right now.

“Um, well,” Peter said, looking around at the rather empty room. “The others still haven’t arrived yet, so…”

“I’m getting tired of waiting,” she told him, stepping away from her chair and walking towards him. “I think the others are too.”

“Just wait a little longer, please,” he said, raising his hands in front of him, one still holding a now finished Rubix cube. “William will be here with the others soon, and then we can start,” he said, stepping back a bit.

Piper stopped just in front of the stage, right before getting on top of it. She gestured for him to get closer, giving him a look that gave no room for arguments. Peter hesitated a bit before doing so, unsticking the Ditto from his foot. She then looked into his gray eyes seriously and spoke to him with a lower tone, so the others would have a more difficult time hearing. “Look, just answer me this one question: are we or are we not in danger?”

The scientist opened his mouth a bit and closed it again uncertainly. And then he sighed. “Well…maybe,” he replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s very…likely.”

“And it’s involved with FiST?” she prodded, although she was sure of the answer by now. There could be no other reason.

Peter could only nod in affirmation. He didn’t know what else to say. William was supposed to be the one to do the talking, not him. He wasn’t good with talking in front of more than five people unless it involved genetics or his inventions.

“Great,” Piper said, sighing and rubbing her temple. “Just great.”

Peter rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the others. "Um...maybe you can introduce yourself to the others?" he suggested, loud enough for the others to hear.

Piper looked behind her and at the rest. She didn't really think she had to; she didn't think she would be with them for long. But if it could pass the time faster, well, there could be worse things to do.

 

[Huntress Wizard]

Roxxy had taken a seat in the very back of the room she'd been directed towards. Currently she was sprawled over three seats. Most of her body was in one seat, but her right leg stretched over another seat, and her arm looped over the back of a third. Her bag slumped on the floor in front of her, containing within in Atlantis, Burnout, and the Absol's pokeballs along with a few other amenities. She glanced around the room: boring, neutral colors, with not even a quarter of the seats filled. Some "important meeting" this was turning out to be. If she had gum, she would be smacking it, loudly.

"Arceus, what I wouldn't give for a cigarette," she muttered.

"Cro!" Her Crobat, Epsilon, smacked her head lightly with his wing. She rubbed her head and looked back at him. He was hovering behind her, looking concerned and angry.

"Kidding, Epsy," she said. "This place is non-smoking anyway...Bruce made that pretty clear."

Satisfied, Epsilon settled back down to where he had been before his trainer threatened damage to her lungs: hanging upside-down on the back of her chair. Roxxy settled back once again. The fingers of her right hand flexed and relaxed where they were curled in her lap. It would take some time to get used to the extra weight of this FiST thing. Hopefully this would pay off. At least there was on-sight accommodations: no more sleeping on park benches for her and Epsy, not for now at least.

In the front of the room, a nervous-looking man and his Ditto paced relentlessly. She recognized him, vaguely, from when she'd first received the FiST. He was the inventor. His name started with a P...Percy? Paul? Pete? Peter, that was it. Peter something-or-other. Labcoat, she'd called him in her head before he introduced himself. She shifted in her seat, making the chair scrap against the ground with a metallic screech. The person sitting a few rows in front of her turned and glared. She tossed her chin and made a rude hand gesture with her right hand. The person huffed and turned back around.

“Hey, Peter, stop worrying for a second," someone called. Roxxy perked up. It appeared that the speaker was a woman with dirty blonde hair in a long sleeve shirt and a vest who had just stood up. The man stopped his pacing and addressed her (he called her "miss Piper"; Roxxy filed that name away). His Ditto wrapped itself around his ankle like a slimy purple puppy. Roxxy curled her lip. The woman spoke as she walked towards the stage, complaining that she'd been there since six in the morning.

"Amateur," Roxxy muttered. "We've been up since five." Behind her, she heard Epsilon chuckle.

“I’m getting tired of waiting. I think the others are too," the woman, Piper, said, now standing right in front of the raised platform on which Peter was standing. Damn right I am, she thought. Maybe this Piper wasn't all bad.

He held up his hands. “Just wait a little longer, please," he said, though he sounded like a whipped Houndour. He took a step back. "William will be here with the others soon, and then we can start."

The woman clambered onto the stage in one fluid motion, and Roxxy raised an eyebrow, unwinding herself and leaning forward. Seemed like she had a competitor for the title of Least Likely To Adhere to Social Contracts. She and the man exchanged a few sentences in hushed tones: the woman angry, Peter hesitant. But the specific words of the conversation were lost to her, and she twisted to look at her Crobat. "You catch any of that?" she asked.

"Bat," he said with a shrug. "Crobat crororo, batcro."

"Right. Me neither."

"Maybe you can introduce yourself to the others?" Peter said from the stage.

"We're not a bunch of second graders labcoat!" Roxxy yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth. "I ain't playing no name games, alright? Name's Roxxy, let's leave it at that! Now why don't you skip to the part where you tell us what the hell is going on?" She sat back and put her arms on both armrests and picked idly at a stray thread on her jeans, staring at the stage.

 

[Tundra_Wolfmane]

GM Note: Mogar placed in the inactive party. In order to be placed back in the active party, please refer to Inactive Party in the Discussion Thread. Also, introduction of new Fusions, please refer to Fusion Index.

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"We're not a bunch of second graders labcoat! I ain't playing no name games, alright? Name's Roxxy, let's leave it at that! Now why don't you skip to the part where you tell us what the hell is going on?"

Piper rolled her eyes, but she related to how she felt. She turned to Peter, giving him a look that made him cringe back in intimidation. “You should really tell us,” she said. “Because I think her shouting that just made the others curious too.”

Gulping, Peter looked around. Indeed, it seemed like all the attention was now on them. He hated being the center of attention, especially in this kind of situation.

“W-w-well,” he stuttered out, his hands quickly going back to the Rubix cube. “M-maybe, I could-“

He was cut off by a sudden, moderate rumbling of the building, causing the room to rock and for many of its occupants to stand up in shock. Those that were already up had to find a nearby object just to keep from falling.

Almost instantly, the room was filled with loud, nervous voices.

“What was that?”

“Was that an earthquake?”

“We should get out of here!”

Before Peter could tell them to leave the room properly, or before Piper could shout to everyone to quiet and calm down, the room rattled once more, along with the sound of blast that was frighteningly close by. This time, a few people fell on the floor. Even Jelly the Ditto, who was usually curious and interested, forced himself back into his Pokeball in fright.

“Th-that doesn’t sound good!” Peter then called out, having held onto the desk on the podium along with Piper.

“You’re damn right, it doesn’t sound good!” the blonde investigator exclaimed, just as she was taking out a Pokeball. “We need to-“

She was then cut off, once more, by an explosion. This time, however, not only was the room rocked, but part of the wall suddenly burst forth, sending pieces of debris to rain on the occupants of the room. To Piper’s chagrin, her trained eye saw that it caused three or four of the other people, who had been closer to the wall than she and Peter, were knocked on conscious. The few others were either on the ground, protecting themselves, or staring at the wall in shock.

Letting her instinct act before her mind, Piper immediately tapped the button of her Pokeball and released her Arcanine, Jeanette. There was no doubt about it: the facility was being attacked!

“We’ve reached the room,” a deep voice called out from the dusty cloud that was created by the blast. “Confirming visual now,” the voice added as a figure entered the room.

The man that came out was tall but surprisingly slender. He had short, spiky green hair and a widow’s peak. His face looked sharp, from the cheekbones to his chin. Along with a stern, steely gaze that surveyed the room with dark emerald-colored eyes.

What was odd was his choice of clothing. He had black boots that pointed forward. The body of the shoe was long, reaching up to his knee with two sharp points at each side, creating a V-shaped rim on both sides, the front side seeming to cradle his knee cap. His pants were light green with dark stripes on the side, running down along the side of his legs. It was also kept up by a black belt with a buckle that looked like a curved E shape. He also wore a long-sleeved light green shirt, a stripe of cloth at the middle front that looked like it was hiding either a set of buttons or a zipper. The ends of the sleeves had black cuffs that, much like the boots, extended upwards towards the shoulder and ended with V-shaped hems. Around his shoulders was a cape, clasped at the front by an emblem that’s reminiscent of his buckle. The cape itself was bright orange and looked to form two vaguely leaf-like shapes, resembling more like insect wings than a true cape, and it hid his right arm from everyone’s view. The back of the cape also had oddly placed lines, enhancing the insect-look even more. Finally, he seemed to have a dark green headband around his forehead, complete with two metallic rods that pointed straight upwards. Also adjacent to the rods was a device attached to his ear and a small projection from it towards his mouth, like a microphone and speaker.

The emblem was most peculiar. It was a circle with a curved E shape inside. The upper and lower portions of the E seemed to have formed something like wings, the middle line forming a segmented body, while antennae like lines projected from the curved right side.

Now, the image of the imposing looking man would have been enough to cause Piper to take out her gun, which she did, but the image of the man was followed by strange shapes that were floating behind him stopped her. And then the man’s gaze landed on Peter.

“Visual confirmed. Main target is present, along with a number of FiSTs,” he said, just as the dust cloud cleared. Behind him were a number of Pinecos. The difference was just one difference on all of them.

“Those Pinecos!” Peter shouted in fright. “Th-they- They have-“

“Zubat wings,” Piper finished for him, grinding her teeth. “Is this what you were about to warn us about?” she asked as she kept her aim on the man. The man looked unperturbed by her firearm, however.

“I-I-I-“ Peter started, but he could barely get a word out before more people came from the hole that was blasted in the wall. They all wore the same outfit as the man, but they lacked the cape and the ear-mouth-piece combo that the caped man had. On the other hand, they each had a FiST on their arm. In total, Piper counted eight, including the caped man.

“Okay, men,” the caped man said, staring at Peter. “Capture the scientist and the FiSTs! Knock everyone out!” he commanded, pushing forward his right arm, revealing his own FiST.

“Sir, yes sir!” the man cried. In one way or another, all the men ordered the Zucos to use one attack. “Self-Destruct!”

Piper had to act fast. “Jeanette, help us evade!” she yelled, grabbing onto Peter roughly.

As per order, the Arcanine turned back and dashed, allowing Piper to grab hold of her neck before speeding off to the corner of the room. Just in time, too, for a Zuco was just about ram itself on the floor right nearby them before bursting with its powerful attack. All around them, the Zucos were bursting and exploding, sending the occupants of the room running, unable to bring out their Pokemon in time to help defend themselves.

Jeanette stopped at the corner of the room farthest away from their new adversaries. Fortunately for them, it was also the corner with one of the two doors that led to the hallway.

“Peter, get out of here!” Piper ordered the lab coated men. “He called you the main target; they’re after you!”

Peter looked at her in fright. “B-b-but-“

“No buts! Right now, you’re the most important person here! Now scram!” she yelled at him, looking around. “You, with the metal rod for an arm!” she called out to a girl, who was the closest to them. Normally, she would have some tact, but they didn’t have the time. “Go with him!”

Perhaps it was the sound of her voice. Or perhaps it was her innate nature showing itself. Or maybe the situation was just too dire for anyone to question the orders of someone who still seemed to have a level-head. In any case, both Peter and the one-armed girl ran out of the room. Boy, she was thankful that she had been in a lot of situations like this, or she would probably part of those few who were cowering to protect themselves.

“I’ll catch up somehow!” she yelled out as she turned back to the intruders. All the Zucos had already self-destructed and were all being called by a laser she herself was already familiar with. It also reminded her to place two pokeballs into the slots on her own FiST.

She realized she was outnumbered. She realized she was cornered. Already, the other men were taking out Pokeballs, although they didn’t place them in their FiST. Instead, the caped man was placing some on his own, and it made a chill run down her spine.

At the side of her vision, she could see that she wasn’t alone on that side of the room. It seemed that Roxxy had also avoided the brunt of the blast and the barrage of exploding winged pinecones. It was a slight tip in their odds, but the odds were still not good.

It was better than nothing though.

“Hey, Roxxy, was it!?” she called out, although she didn’t look at her. “You better get over here in case things get bad! Right, Trinidad!?” she yelled as she sent out the combination that was her Braviary and Reuniclus.

The caped man didn’t even look intimidated at all. Instead, he pointed the FiST at the ground before him. “Take care of them, Syrinx!”

What came out in front of Piper was something she had never seen before. It was expected. She had never seen an armored Machamp before, although she could tell, inferring from some of the familiar features, that it was a cross between the four-armed Pokemon and an Escavalier. And it looked anything but weak.

One word escaped from Piper’s mouth.

“Shit.”

 

[Huntress Wizard]

Roxxy's shouting triggered another few stares, plus some "tut tut"s from the person a few rows in front of her. She just grinned. She could practically live off the attention she got from speaking and acting out. And, added benefit, once people stopped looking at her they started looking at the nervous guy in a lab coat instead. A few even followed her example, with shouts of "yeah!" and "she's right!" Roxxy’s Purrloin-who-ate-the-Chatot grin grew. She adored being right. Possibly even more than she enjoyed being warm and full. Piper, still on the stage up front, seemed a bit pissed, but turned to Peter anyway. Roxxy watched, impressed, as the man cowered under what she assumed to be a stare like a thousand daggers.

“You should really tell us,” Piper said. “Because I think her shouting that just made the others curious too.”

Damn straight, Roxxy thought. She reached back and tapped Epsilon’s back wing. He shook himself awake and maneuvered himself to hook onto her shoulders, head poking over her shoulder so he could see the stage. Roxxy leaned forward and stroked his claws where they dug into the muscle on her shoulder. When her Crobat had first gotten into the habit of hitching a ride on her (he really was kind of lazy, now that she thought about it; then again he was also a bit of a runt for his species), it had hurt. Now it was just a pressing sensation, with no pain attached.

Something twitched against her foot and she glanced down. Her bag had moved, knocking into her shoe. She bent down, mindful of Epsilon, and dug through it to pull out the Absol’s Pokeball. The ball itself was almost in factory condition, unlike Atlantis’s scuffed Great Ball and Burnout’s deeply gouged Ultra Ball. Evidently the Absol had not been caught long before she found her on the coffee table in the apartment. The ball - or rather, the pokemon within the ball - was shaking like a dry leaf. Every few seconds the ball twitched violently. Roxxy gripped it harder.

Someone, a long time ago, had told her Absol were called the Disaster pokemon sometimes. This was because one or a group always appeared before a natural disaster, like a flood or a hurricane. People used to blame the pokemon for causing the disaster, and as a result they became endangered. But then a bunch of scientists figured out that Absol could sense the disasters coming, and were appearing to try and warn towns. In her native Hoenn, Roxxy recalled that the Weather Institute now employed several Absol alongside their Castform to predict storms ahead of time.

She wondered what was about to happen.

A tremor shook through the building, and she stuffed the ball back into the bag and stood up, swinging it over one shoulder. A few others stood with her; some grabbed onto nearby objects to keep them from falling over. Murmurs swept through the crowd.

“Ro?”

“We’re fine, Epsy. Just-”

Another quake, larger this time. Roxxy braced herself. Peter’s little jelly blob masquerading as a pokemon crawled back into its pokeball. A few people fell or threw themselves to the ground. She eyed the wall to her left: something in her gut told her that shaking was no natural disaster. Her suspicion was confirmed when Piper shouted that the shaking didn’t sound good, right before the wall to Roxxy’s left exploded. The shockwave knocked Roxxy back, causing her to trip over her chair. Epsilon threw his back wings out and flapped hard, preventing her from toppling over completely. She caught her breath.

The click of a pokeball drew Roxxy’s attention back to the stage, where Piper had just released her Arcanine. Roxxy probably should have been more concerned with the explosion and getting out of the room, but she stood agape. The sight of the majestic pokemon, fur and mane perfectly groomed, made her heart skip a beat or three. Duncan’s Arcanine had looked nearly identical, except some differences in the black stripes. That gun she’d pulled out was just the final piece of evidence she needed.

This Piper was a cop.

Epsilon dug his claws a little more into her shoulder. She snapped back. Her lungs protested, reminding her that the room had just exploded. She pressed her nose and mouth into the crook of her elbow, narrowing her eyes. Through the smoke and rubble, she spotted a tall angular man in a cape (who the hell wears capes!? was her only coherent thought) commanding a few other grunts. Then she heard Peter shout something about Pinecos.

“Okay, men,” said the man in the wall. “Capture the scientist and the FiSTs! Knock everyone out!”

Good f*cking luck, Roxxy thought. She crouched low: the man’s attention seemed to have been diverted by Peter, and if she was lucky, she could creep to a door and get the hell out of this place before anyone knew she was missing. Then it was just a short sprint to Castelia, a ferry, and a mad dash to the next region. Kalos was nice this time of year, she had heard. The door was within sight when the grunts ordered their Pinecos - with large blue and purple wings not unlike Zubats - to use Self-Destruct.

Roxxy swore again. The little bastards damn near killed her and Epsilon when they’d visited Johto and been caught unawares in Ilex Forest. She stopped crawling under and over folding chairs once she’d reached the wall opposite the one with a new hole and dug frantically through her bag. All around her the Pineco-Zubat hybrids were obeying the order for the kamikaze attack, sending up plumes of floor tiling and dust wherever they landed.

Just as she found what she’d been looking for, one landed right next to her. Roxxy kicked it away and it exploded harmlessly - relative to the alternative - a few meters away from her. She stood up again, coughing, and pressed her back to the undamaged wall. As she pressed the Great Ball and Ultra Ball into the clunky gauntlet encircling her right arm, Piper called out to her from a few feet away.

“Hey, Roxxy, was it!? You better get over here in case things get bad!” the woman shouted.

“Fine, but I don’t normally take order from cops!” Roxxy shouted back, spitting as much venom into the last word as possible. From Piper’s FiST burst forth a red, white, and blue bird pokemon with green armor on its chest. Two arms emerged from the breastplate, and for a moment Roxxy was taken aback. The bird was obviously a Braviary, but what was with the armor? It looked like Jell-O. Couldn’t be a Ditto; normal ones were purple, and shiny ones were blue. Besides, Ditto’s didn’t have...stuff floating in them.

The sound of something huge hitting the ground made her look up just as she wrangled Burnout’s pokeball into the device. She swallowed her fear, stared at the armored Machamp for a heartbeat, then sent out her own fusion. Crash burst forth from the red beam of light, wings beating away the dust below him. He looked around, spotted the Machamp, and bared his teeth in a snarl. The wings on his tail kicked up a notch. His snarl turned into hissing and clicking. Roxxy sensed a Bug Buzz about to be unleashed, and called out a command for a stronger move that the Machamp wouldn’t resist.

“Hydro Pump!” Roxxy shouted. “Aim for the face!” The hybrid happily obliged. He opened his mouth as wide as he could, and from his body burst forth a huge stream of water aimed directly at his opponent’s face. If nothing else, it would knock it back and give Piper’s pokemon an opening to attack. And if she was really lucky, Crash could get an Air Slash between the plates of armor on the Machamp.

What Roxxy wouldn’t give for a Fire-type pokemon right about now.

 

[Tundra_Wolfmane]

GM Note: For introduction of the new Fusion, please refer to the Fusion Index.

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Piper watched as Roxy’s fusion - a Vaporeon with bug-like wings from a bug Pokémon she couldn’t place - shot a blast of pressurized water towards the armored Pokémon. It looked strong, but before it could hit it, the caped man shouted out a technique, and Syrinx the Eschachamp placed his two unarmed hands in front of him, creating a green barrier and completely nullifying Crash’s attack.

“Damn, it knows Protect,” Piper muttered as she looked at her two Pokémon. “But it’s still three-on-one, so let’s not mess this up, missy!” she told Roxxy as she pointed at her their opponent. “Trinidad! Charge it with a Dizzy Punch! Jeanette, get behind him and blast it with a Flamethrower - it shouldn’t be able to block from both sides!”

Both Pokémon let out their respective calls of confirmation as they sped into action, Jeanette running around the armored Pokémon while Trinidad simply dashed forward, one of his fists glowing with a rainbow-colored aura.

To Piper’s surprise, Syrinx reached out and grabbed Trinidad’s fist with an armored palm before it could land, although the Pokémon was pushed back a few inches. More angered than surprised, Trinidad let out a screech and used his other arm, only for it to be caught in the same way. This left Trinidad vulnerable enough for Syrinx to throw Trinidad right in Crash’s direction, sending both fusions crashing onto the floor.

Jeanette, meanwhile, had achieved her objective and was right behind Syrinx. She opened her mouth and was about to fire off a flamethrower before she felt something grab her tail. She let out a yelp as she turned her head back to see another armored Pokémon of red and black clutching at her end-part with sharp pincers that had blade-like projections on the top and four blade-like wings pointing at her. Before she could reach out and bite the offender for hurting her sensitive tail, she was suddenly pulled around in a strong spin and sent flying over Syrinx, crashing on the tiled floor right in front of a flabbergasted Jeanette.

“Good boy, Mantes.” Right as the decidedly female voice was heard, another figure walked from the impromptu entrance and stood beside the green caped man.

The person was obviously female, but she was as tall as the man beside her, and her body was slender and lithe. She had a thin face, her violet eyes accented by her black eye-shadow. She had long, straight black hair that flowed all the way to the middle of her back.

Like the man, she also wore a FiST on her arm. She also wore a similar outfit to the man with some notable differences. Her black boots, while similar in design wherein they formed a V-shape under the knee, were high-heeled, which probably helped with her height. She had the same light-green pants and black belt with the E-shaped buckle, and her llight-green shirt also bore the same black, V-shaped cuffs. However, while the man’s shirt had a straight strip of cloth, her neckline turned into yet another V-shaped collar that showed off the cleavage of her ample bosom. Like the man and unlike the grunts, she also had a cape, although hers was purple in color and was curved rather than straight and triangular, giving it more of a butterfly motif than anything else. Her cape was also clasped by the same kind of emblem.

“You should be more careful, Jean Victoire,” the woman said with a voice that sounded like it was dipped in venom and honey all the same time.

“I didn’t need your help, Duckett,” the man said, giving her a glare, which the woman returned.

“That’s Catherine to you, Audouin,” she replied, returning the gaze.

They held the gaze for a second longer before both turning away at the same time, with the man named Jean placing a hand against the ear-piece in his ear. “Very well, if I have to,” he said, his voice gruding.

“Let’s finish this quick, shall we?” Catherine Duckett said as she stared down at Piper and Roxxy.

Already, Piper hated her. “Trinidad, Jeanette, back up!” Piper ordered, stepping back. It didn’t look good for her and the girl beside her. “Their fusions are stronger than ours,” she told Roxxy, although not looking away from their opponents. “So if you have a plan you’ve been thinking about, you better speak up now!”

As she was speaking, the grunts finally let out their Pokémon.

“Especially since we’re now outnumbered,” Piper hissed, looking at the Butterfree and Venomoth that hovered behind Syrinx and Mantes.

And then right then and there, the room was filled with the sounds of an emergency siren.

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Peter ran down the hallway as fast as he could, the metal-armed girl following behind him. It took him quite a while to remember her name, Suzy Yorke, but it was understandable, considering their situation.

“We need to get to s-safety,” Peter said, although he didn’t look behind him. It didn’t seem like they were being followed yet, but it didn’t stop him from slowing down his pace. “The back exit is right around the corner,” he added. He mentally noted that the back exit would be facing the wall, so they wouldn’t know the state of the plaza until they got around it.

He mentally shivered at the possibility.

“Right here,” he said as he reached a metal door with a large exit sign. He stopped right in front of it and started reaching for the pockets in his lab coats hurriedly. “I need my- here it- gah!” he yelped as he dropped a key card with his face on it.

“S-s-sorry!” he quickly said as he crouched down to grab it. “I’ll get us out soon!” he said as he placed the card against a reader beside the door. Almost instantly, a click was heard.

“We’re out!” Peter said with hope in his voice as he reached for the door and pushed. As soon as the door unclasped, sirens suddenly belted all around them. “G-gah! I forgot about that!” he yelped, rushing out of the hallway and letting Suzy follow after him.

He could vaguely register the younger woman asking him what to do next, and in his panicked state, he could only think of one thing.

“The housing area is where we keep the jeeps,” he said as he started for the corner of the building. “W-we can get one, a-and hopefully Piper will find us,” he added as he stopped right before the edge. He pressed himself against the wall and looked around the corner.

“O-oh…no…”

The plaza was a ghost of its former self. Trees were broken down, craters dotted the park, and the fountain the middle had fallen apart. Security guards and their Pokémon were trying to fend off swarms of Beedrills and Ninjasks and Mothims and all other sorts of winged Bug types.

“H-how are we going to get through all of that?” he whimpered.

‘Piper, where are you!?’

 

[Huntress Wizard]

Before even a drop of water from the Hydro Pump hit the Machamp, the damned thing had Protected itself. Roxxy swore, clenching her fists so tight all the blood rushed out of her knuckles. Protect and Detect were wastes of time, in her opinion, just ways to delay the inevitable: eventually they would fail, and then everything came down to which pokemon was stronger. She was about to call for Crash to try again, harder this time, when Piper called for her Braviary-thing to use Dizzy Punch and her Arcanine to go around and use Flamethrower.

“Way to shout your plan to them!” Roxxy yelled. “Crash! Hydro Pump again!”

“YARREEEEAAA!!” Crash screeched. As Piper’s pokemon engaged the Machamp, he opened his jaw wide again. However before he could unleash it, the armored Machamp hurled Trinidad into Crash, sending them both to the floor. The Yanmega-Vaporeon mix howled as two of his main wings and one leg crumpled under the impact. He immediately turned on the Braviary, clawing its chestplate, biting its wings, and completely ignoring Roxxy screaming at him to leave Piper’s pokemon alone.

She heard the Arcanine yelp and turned just in time to see it get thrown into a heap in front of Piper. A new pokemon, one that vaguely resembled a Scizor but with sharp bladed projections instead of wings, was looking smug behind the Machamp. Roxxy snarled. Epsilon dug his claws into her shoulder again, squeezing his smaller wings around her waist, and she relaxed for a moment. “Not yet,” she muttered. “But be ready for escape plan three.” He relented, easing the pressure. She felt his jaw shift in the small of her back.

“Good boy, Mantes,” said a woman’s voice. Roxxy flicked her eyes over the woman who had just entered. She was just as tall as the man, and wearing a cape too (What is with the goddamn capes!? she thought), but she looked even sharper and crueler than the man. This woman also seemed to be in charge of him, if his deference to her was any indication. The woman and the man, helpfully enough, named each other as Catherine Duckett and Jean Victore Audouin. Crash screamed as the Braviary bit down on his tail.

“Let’s finish this quick, shall we?” Catherine said, wheeling on Roxxy and Piper. Piper called her two pokemon back to her. Roxxy went one step further: she recalled Crash entirely with a flick of her wrist, removing him from his scuffle with the Braviary in a flash of red light. The raised eyebrows this caused did not escape Roxxy’s notice, but she stood her ground. Both Atlantis and Burnout would be out of commission until she could get to a Pokecenter: she was down to her Crobat and her Absol. Piper asked if Roxxy had a plan.

“Do I look like a woman with a plan?” Roxxy hissed back. The two grunts backing Catherine and Jean up released their own pokemon. A Butterfree and a Venomoth: like there weren’t already enough bugs in the room. And now they were outgunned, outclassed, and outnumbered. Great.

“Jacob,” said Catherine. “Be a dear and have your Butterfree use Sleep Powder. We don’t want anyone else getting away.”

“And you, Ginny, get your Venomoth to use Gust,” finished Jean. He and Catherine donned masks handed to them by the grunts, who put on their own.

“Yes ma’am! Butterfree, Sleep Powder the room.” “Yessir! Venomoth, use your Gust to spread the Sleep Powder.”

The two pokemon trilled in the affirmative. The Butterfree beat its wings and glittering green scales drifted off of them, floating gently around it. Even just the sight of the move made her a bit sleepy. The Venomoth flapped its wings and the powder swirled in wider and wider circles. They had little time before the effects of the move became overwhelming. Already she could see people behind the grunts falling where they stood or slumping against a wall, yawning.

“Epsilon, now!” Roxxy called. She ducked and twisted towards Piper at the same time her Crobat pushed off from her back. Now flying on his own, he opened his maw and the thick black smoke he’d been holding in belched out, enveloping the immediate area within a matter of seconds. Most of the powder was pushed away by the move. The Butterfree screeched in frustration. The Venomoth redoubled its efforst, blowing the smoke away nearly as fast as Epsilon could produce it.

Haze. Almost as good as Smokescreen, used in the right-wrong way. She counted two adrenaline-fueled heartbeats, crouched in the smoke as she was, then heard the whistle of three Air Slashes. Two of them would be heading towards the Machamp and the Scizor-thing. Even if they evaded or Protected, it would slow their retaliation enough for them to get away. The third one was either for the two people commanding the fusions or one of the grunt’s pokemon. Whichever was closer.

Roxxy herself, meanwhile, reached out to blindly grab Piper’s forearm in one hand, and then whistled sharply using the fingers of her other. With any luck - and really, she thought she deserved it after a day like today - the Arcanine and the Braviary would follow if they hadn’t fallen asleep. The Arcanine she was more sure of: Duncan’s had been trained to heel to a sharp whistle, and she was assuming it was the same for all police dogs. She could only hope the Braviary was smart enough to respond as well. Under the cover of Epsilon’s Haze, Roxxy dragged the officer through the door and out into the hallway.

They were halfway out of the building when Roxxy felt a familiar weight settle back onto her shoulders, heavier than usual. Her Crobat seemed tired and drained of energy, and it had taken longer than usual for him to catch up: perhaps he’d inhaled too much Sleep Powder. Or perhaps he was just getting too old for this sh*t. Either way, she didn’t want to rely on him again if they needed to evade. The best thing to do right now was to get very far away from this place and never, ever come back. Why on Earth she had thought this gig was a good idea was beyond her at this point.

She pulled Piper out into the courtyard through a closing door, gave a passing thought to the many security guards and their pokemon fighting a large array of bug pokemon, then kept moving. The hum of dozens of wings was white noise to her; hanging around Burnout for so long had stripped her of any sensitivity to the high-pitched whine of paper-thin wings. Still holding her death grip on Piper and ignoring any protests or attempts to tear away by the officer, Roxxy hauled them both along the edge of the greenspace. She spotted the stuttering scientist, Peter, and a girl with a metal rod for an arm just standing around, seemingly in shock from the destruction being wrought upon the facility.

“Get moving!” she barked, ducking to avoid a Ninjask’s stray Fury Cutter. “Or would you rather take your chances with these motherf*ckers!? You, lab coat! How in the name of Rayquaza do we get out!?”

 

[Tundra_Wolfmane]

GM Note: For introduction of new Fusions, please refer to the Fusion Index.

x-x-x-x-x​

“H-hey!”

Piper had to hand it to Roxxy. For a thin and sickly looking girl, the raven-haired Pokémon trainer was strong! Her arm was already aching after being pulled, and the awkward position made her running an even odder side. It was definitely a good idea that she had recalled Trinidad just as the sleep powder was sent their way - Fatali’s persona would overpower Habanero’s and charge into the sleep-inducing cloud. She was pretty sure that they were already half way there.

Thankfully, Jeanette was more cautious and made sure to follow after them, growling a bit at Roxxy’s rude action but also slightly thankful that she pulled her beloved trainer out of danger.

Soon enough, both women were outside at the courtyard where something akin to a warzone was happening. Piper was speechless - how did she not hear all the ruckus going on? Was the attack that nerve-wracking? Or was she losing her touch?

Never mind coffee, she needed a good cold can of beer!

Roxy’s voice broke her out of her reverie. “Get moving! Or would you rather take your chances with these motherf*ckers!? You, lab coat! How in the name of Rayquaza do we get out!?”

That reminded her to roughly pull her arm away from her. “You could have let go by now, thank you very much,” she said, although she was sure to include a small tone of gratitude. “But in any case, she’s right, Peter. Do you have an escape route?”

Peter, under the intimidating and expectant look of the two girls in front of him, nodded his head wildly. “Y-yes! There’s a jeep in the garage beside the housing area,” he said, pointing to a building across from them. Even through the thick of battle and the flurry of flying insect wings, a rectangular building with a large blue gate beside the much larger housing area was visible. “I-it’s armored, so it should protect us from being attacked,” he added, trying to keep his voice loud enough for everyone to hear through the din of buzzing.

“Great, let’s move!” Piper replied, giving the girl who accompanied Peter a small nod. She turned to her Arcanine. “Jeanette, clear us a path!”

The Arcanine let out a bark as a form of roger and was about to speed forward. Then right in front of them, the ground burst forth, sending the group backwards due to a blast of dirt and cement. Everyone was quick to get back on their feet.

“What the hell!?” Piper screamed, covering her face to get a glimpse.

Coming through a large hole that it made in the ground was yet another Pokémon that none of them had seen before. It was definitely insect like, judging from the legs and carapace, but it had a stony quality to its limbs, not to mention spikes with oozing purplish liquid that definitely screamed “DO NOT TOUCH”.

“Oh, Arceus!” Peter yelled out, both in fear and in fascination. “It’s a true fusion! Maybe from a Scolipede and tunneling Pokémon!”

“That’s not helping , Peter!” Piper yelled at him.

“Awww, Chilo, you missed,” a young male voice seemed to call out. “Cousin Catherine is going to scold me again, I just know it…”

It wasn’t obvious at first, but standing right beside the creature was a boy who looked younger than all of them.

He looked only around fifteen or sixteen, maybe even seventeen years old. He had average height and limbs that looked a little too long for his body. He had a thin face, which was also a bit sallow, and he definitely had a little bit of darkness under his eyes. He had ruffled raven black hair that looked like he had just gotten out of bed.

He also had the same outfit that Jean wore, although it seemed like it was still a little too big for him. His light green pants was a little too long, so they folded at the edge of his V-rimmed boots. His belt was skewed around his thin waist. His light green shirt looked a little too big for him, the black cuffs of his sleeves covering most of his hand so that only his fingers were visible. If anyone looked a little closer, he also wore his FiST on the left side, as it bulged through the sleeve. Unlike the grunts, he also had a cape and emblem clasp, which was dark green and had a much more normal uniform shape, billowing behind him. On the back, black shapes that looked like centipedes were sown as design, forming a giant centipede head.

“She’s going to say, Hubert, you had them right where you wanted them! But did you get them, nooooo~ You are in sooo much trouble!” he said in a high pitched and slightly mocking voice, naming himself. “But…we can avoid that if we capture them, right, Chilo?” he then said with a cheered up tone.

Piper had to take her chance. The Pokémon in front of her looked like it was at least a Bug type, which she could use to her advantage. “Jeanette! Flamethrower!”

The Arcanine was quick to act, firing a stream of fire straight at the new Pokémon’s face. It screeched in return, retracting its head and curling it slightly into a small ball on top.

“H-hey, we weren’t ready!” Hubert whined.

“Quick, everyone, run by it! Jeanette, don’t stop!” Piper ordered, already pulling Suzy along. Peter was quick to scramble after her.

“Chilo, stop them!” Hubert commanded, his voice stronger than before. And with yet another screech, despite the flames trying to scorch his face, the fused Pokémon was able to bring its large tail to its side, slamming the ground in front of them before they could pass through.

“Not good, not good!” Peter yelped, stepping backwards.

“Okay, now, Chilo, let’s get rid of the mutt first with Rock Throw!”

Chilo yelled out yet another insect-like screech and raised its body on its hind legs, about to throw itself right on top of Jeanette. Before that could happen, a blast of fire suddenly hit it, causing it to yell in pain as it fell on its side, just barely missing its trainer.

“Chilo!” Hubert called out in worry despite almost being crushed. “Who did that!?” he yelled out, looking around.

Peter saw him first. It was a man wearing green shirt and khaki pants. He was also riding a three-headed, dark-skinned Charizard. Of course, he instantly recognized him as one of the testers. “Victor!” he called out.

“What’s going on here!?” the man named Victor yelled out, looking at the site before him with worry. He was able to recognize Peter at least - he was the man that personally gave him the FiST after all - and knew he had to help him from what looked like trouble.

“Later!” Piper said to him. “We need to get to the garage!” she yelled, pointing to the building. “Can you keep them off our tail!?” she said, pointing at Hubert and his fused Pokémon. At the very least, it looked like she was right that Fire type attacks were effective, and he looked like he had an advantage.

Victor looked at her for a bit, and then he nodded. It didn’t seem like the time to argue. “I’ll try!”

“Good! Catch up with us later!” Piper yelled and then turned to her own Pokémon. “Clear the path, Jeanette!”

Before Hubert could stop them, his Pokémon was once again hit by a blast of fire.

Without the caped boy to stop them, they had little else to worry about other than flying Bug Pokémon trying to get in their way. The combination of Jeanette and Epsilon the Crobat, who was most likely just trying to protect his trainer, kept them from doing any damage to the party. They had reached the garage before they knew it, and in order to save time, Piper had to order Jeanette to bust down the garage door - no time to worry about damages.

Peter ran in first. “There! The jeep!” he said, pointing to a green jeep that definitely looked military grade. There was only one, the others being cars that looked like they belonged to the ones that used the housing area. “The key should be…here!” he said, rummaging at a desk nearby.

“Great! Get in the jeep, and get out of here! I need to help the Victor guy!” she said, getting on top of her Arcanine. “We’ll catch up!” she said, and then she turned to Roxxy. “Protect those two!” she told her before rushing out of the garage.

“W-w-what!?” Peter yelled, looking at her in worry as she ran out. “But I don’t know how to drive!!!” he tried to say, but he was too long, she was already gone.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no no no no,” he whimpered as he looked at the two other girls with him. “Please tell me one of you can drive!”

x-x-x-x-x​

“Hey, you, Victor!” Piper yelled as she approached the man on the fused Charizard. It looked like he was doing fine. His Pokémon’s ability to fly and his type advantage seemed to be in his favor. Still, there was no use trying to fight here; they were vastly outnumbered. The other two more capable-looking villains could come out at any time, and then they would be in bigger trouble.

“We need to get out of here before the others get here!” she yelled.

As if right on cue - to her dumb luck - said two caped man and woman appeared, their fused Pokémon beside them.

“Hubert, what are you doing!?” the one named Catherine shouted.

“I can’t help it!” the caped boy whined. “They can fly! And it’s a Fire type!”

“No excuses!” Catherine reprimanded, laying her eyes on the flying dragon. “Mantes, ready your Razor Wind!”

“Your Pin Missiles as well, Syrinx!” Jean ordered.

Piper grit her teeth. “Come on, let’s scram!” she yelled, already turning back. She hoped Peter and the others got the car out already - it looked they didn’t have any more time.

 

[Huntress Wizard]

Piper finally managed to pull her arm out of Roxxy’s grip. Roxxy flexed her fingers: she'd been holding on so tight that the blood had rushed out of them. On her back, Epsilon shook himself fully awake, bothered by the incessant buzzing. He purred and nuzzled into her back. She absentmindedly patted where his claws were hooked into her shoulder. At least he wasn’t seriously affected by the Sleep Powder: he must have inhaled only a little bit, just enough to make him drowsy. Still, she was down to one pokemon, which was not good. Two if you counted the Absol.

Peter mentioned a jeep, then gestured across the square. If she squinted, Roxxy could make out what looked like a fairly large garage through the chaos currently going on before their eyes. As she was trying to figure out a way to get through without attracting undue attention, a Ninjask spotted them and dove with a screech. She felt the weight on her back lift, heard something whistle through the air, and two halves of a formerly whole Ninjask skidded to a stop in front of her.

Epsilon, grinning, had positioned himself to her left. “Good boy,” she said, patting his head. He closed his eyes and pushed into her hand, grinning wider.

“Jeanette, clear us a path!” Piper shouted. The Arcanine barked in the affirmative and seemed about to rush forward, guns blazing, when the ground directly in front of the group erupted with a spray of concrete and dirt. Roxxy threw her arms up in front of her face, a few stray pieces of debris knocking into them. Today was just getting worse and worse, and quite frankly, she was sick of it. Epsilon hissed at the intrusion.

When Roxxy lowered her arms, it took her a second to figure out what she was looking at. It definitely looked like those many-legged Bug and Poison pokemon she’d seen around - Scolipede, they were called - but also seemed rougher and more solid. Plus, the jaw was all wrong. You’ve got to be f*cking kidding me, she thought. Epsilon’s wing started to glow, but she put out an arm to stop him. If this thing was part Steel or Rock, then Flying moves would not do much damage.

She wanted to strangle the whining boy commanding the Scolipede-like monster, but that would require going near the thing and every cell in her body put on sirens at full volume at that thought. The sickening purple ooze dripping from its spikes was enough to make her feel like throwing up even from this distance. Luckily, before her breakfast made a surprise reappearance, Jeanette the Arcanine blasted it in the face with a Flamethrower at Piper’s command. It screeched in pain and fell back. So probably at least a Bug type, then. Perhaps even Steel if the rusted metal plates on its back were anything to go by.

“H-hey, we weren’t ready!” the boy whined. Arceus he was getting more annoying by the minute.

Piper yelled to run past it, but Roxxy hesitated. Mostly because she was a bit nervous going anywhere near that thing. Her hesitation paid off, as the fused Scolipede nearly crushed the others with its tail when they tried to run past. The boy ordered it to use Rock Throw, and Roxxy’s heart skipped a beat. It resumed its normal rhythm when he ordered it to attack the Arcanine, not her Crobat, who had just sliced a Mothim’s wings off and was currently spewing Toxic at a Scyther. Maybe if she snuck around to the boy’s right, she could get past and into the garage…

Another blast of fire, this one not from the Arcanine, made her look up. A man on a black Charizard with...three heads had flown in and gotten the Scolipede right in the face. He and Piper exchanged a few shouted words - she couldn’t hear them from where she was standing - then she and the other two made a mad dash for the garage. Roxxy joined them with Epsilon watching her six o’clock. Piper’s Arcanine did a lot of the heavy lifting: Epsilon just cleaned up the ones that weren’t quite down for the count.

“Epsy, leave it and come here,” she finally said once the Arcanine had broken a sizable hole in the garage door. He finished off a Leavanny by tearing its throat out then swooped through the hole after her. Inside was a welcome haven from the frenzy outside, and although she could hear the commotion at her back, Roxxy took a minute to breath and glanced around. Most of the cars were nothing much: several minivans, a few of the kind she saw smaller families in, and one muscle car that was practically begging to be broken into. What had everyone else’s attention, however, was the big green jeep in the middle of the floor.

It had to have been the army’s at some point, judging by the sheer amount of plating on it. Roxxy stood up, stretched to get the stitch out of her side, then stepped out of the way as Piper and her Arcanine ran back the way they’d came. It might have been her adrenaline fueled imagination, but she thought she heard the cop shout “Protect those two!” as she ran past. She huffed. Like she was any good at protecting anything but herself.

“But I don’t know how to drive!!!” Peter said. “Oh no, oh no, oh no no no no...Please tell me one of you can drive!”

“I can,” Roxxy said. “Get in.” Never mind that she didn’t actually have a licence, or proper instruction beyond circling a parking lot with Duncan on his off hours. She stalked over and snatched the keys from the scientist, then roughly shoved him towards the back door. Then she yanked the driver’s side door open and hauled herself in. A glance down at the gear shift told her that, yes, this was an automatic. Roxxy twisted the key in the ignition as Epsilon settled himself in her lap, her bag tucked under the seat. The engine roared to life. Roxxy stomped on the gas with all her might.

The car leapt forward, bashing a much bigger hole in the garage door than Jeanette had made. The Leavanny that Epsilon had dealt with splattered across the undercarriage, and she winced. It seemed they’d come out just in time: Piper and the man on the weird Charizard had just been joined by the two assholes from the conference room, sans masks but still with their fusions. Three against two was hardly fair. Roxxy accelerated, then locked the brakes at the last second and twisted the wheel hard to the left. The tires squealed and the massive compensation that was the armored jeep turned 180 degrees so that it was facing the garage again.

Can’t believe that worked, she thought, leaning over and swinging the passenger side door open. Behind her, she heard the girl with one arm open the backseat door on her side as well. “F*cking get the f*ck in!” she shouted. The Machamp fusion unleashed whatever attack it had been charging, sending large sharp pins against the car. Most of them bounced off the metal with hardly a scratch, but a few became embedded in the doors and one cracked a window.

Catherine and Jean seemed less than pleased with her. Both ordered their pokemon to attack the jeep it looked like, but they were too slow. Once Piper and the other man were in, Roxxy flipped the caped assholes off with one hand and turned the wheel back to the center with the other. The boy’s Scolipede appeared to still be shaking off whatever Fire attack that Charizard had used before being recalled, and gave them no trouble. Roxxy silently thanked her home region’s legendaries one after the other for that.

She remembered that there were gates at the points of the triangle, and headed towards the one they were closest to, in the point of the triangle made by the housing area and the factory. There was one of those bars that raised and lowered to let cars in and out: it splintered against the grill of the jeep, adding wooden fragments to the Leavanny juices already painted across it. She skimmed the side of the jeep that had gotten hit by the Machamp against the concrete wall to snap off some of the pins, and then they were out, into Route 4.

Nothing seemed to be following them. Roxxy tried to pay attention to the road ahead, but it was hard to see more than a few feet of the packed dirt road in the sandstorm. Plus this jeep did not seem to have GPS so she was driving blind. Her Crobat shifted on her lap, his top wings brushing against the side of her legs. She patted him on the head with one hand. They drove in silence for a while, Roxxy making random turns to keep Castelia and the other city faint shadows in the distance. They passed a small oasis. They passed a group of wild Daramuka led by a Darmaritan, all of whom shrieked at the top of their lungs. Mostly they just passed sand.

“Does one of you dickbags wanna give me an address or a town or something?” Roxxy finally asked, swerving hard to the right to avoid a group of Sandile. “Sh*t, I’ll take a cardinal direction at this point.”

 

[Tundra_Wolfmane]

The ride was quiet, for most part. Everyone seemed to still be taking in the shock from what had happened. Piper knew she still was, although the rest of her mind was distracted with thinking about the details. Piper wasn’t sure what she would have done if Roxxy hadn’t appeared with the car when she had - Jeanette was fast, but in the state she had been, they wouldn’t have gotten far.

She sighed and looked at the driver beside them.

The blonde didn’t know to make of the raven-haired girl. She definitely seemed like she had been through a lot of dark times, or at least she looked the part. All the dirty glances and the lack of filtering of her words. Roxxy had spoken more curse words in a matter of few hours than Piper would hear in her office in a whole week, and that was saying something. Part of her was still on-guard around her, but at the very least, she could at least believe that she was on their side. For now.

She also made a mental note to speak with the woman at a later date about the rather gruesome way her Crobat - which was still outside its Pokeball despite it being a rather obstruction - dealt with their enemies. Sure, they were in a punch, and she had certainly seen worse over the course of her job, but surely it didn’t have to be so…barbarian about it.

She looked behind her at the rest of their group.

Peter, on the other hand, seemed to have regained his Rubix Cube - Piper wondered where the hell he hid it and how hadn’t he dropped it - and was back on solving and unsolving the cubic puzzle over and over again. His nerves were shot, and it showed. His fingers trembled and occasionally made a mistake. He kept glancing back out behind them in worry.

Then there were the other two. She didn’t know much about the metal-rod-for-an-arm girl. She was able to keep up with them at least. And then there was Victor, who saved their butts less than half-an-hour ago. Which reminded her.

“Thanks,” she said to him, making sure not to let any of her tiredness show in her voice. “For saving us. It would have gotten messy if it weren’t for your appearing,” she added before she turned back to the road.

“Y-yeah,” Peter said, glancing at him. “Victor Pyroca, fire gym leader in Kalos,” he said, as if reading from an information brochure. “One fusion reported so far, Charizard and Hydreigon. A site to behold in person…very strong, from the looks of it,” he said, trying to remember the image of the fused Pokémon while trying to ignore the other one that just tried to smash them into bits on the cold hard ground.

’Huh,’ Piper thought as she looked at the sandy road before them. ’No wonder his Pokémon’s strong.’

Her thoughts were interrupted by Roxxy’s voice. “Does one of you dickbags wanna give me an address or a town or something?” she asked just before swerving. Piper had to hold onto the dashboard, and behind her, she could hear Peter yelping as he got smushed by the combination of intertia and two bodies pressing into him. “Sh*t, I’ll take a cardinal direction at this point.”

“For one thing, it’s ”do”[/d], not does,” Piper retorted, unamused at being called a wienersac. That mouth of hers was going to get her in trouble. “And I thought you knew where you were going? You could have said something earlier,” she said, giving her a narrowed look.

“J-just make sure the sun is our right,” Peter then added, readjusting his wrinkled clothes. He dropped his puzzle. He reached down to get it. “It’s around two hours past noon, so it’s to our west, and so we head north to Nimbasa City,” he added.

Piper hadn’t been in Nimbasa City in a while, but she remembered there was a station there. “Right. I need to find out who those guys are, and I know just the people I need to call,” she said, looking forward. “Which reminds me,” she then added, taking out her PokéNav. It was an old model, nothing compared to the more modern Pokétch and C-Gear, but it had served her well over the years for her to buy a new one. At the very least, she got one of their office geeks to add a texting feature on it.

“Ah! William!” Peter suddenly yelped. “I need to see if they’re safe!” he said as he looked at his own mobile. Unlike Piper, he did have a C-Gear, which was provided to him by the company. He accessed the XTransceiver and made a call. “Oh please…please…”

Piper waited for an answer, glancing over her shoulder. It didn’t come.

“Oh no…oh no no no no,” the scientist mumbled to himself with a nervous look.

“Keep trying,” Piper told him. In truth, she didn’t have any high hopes, but it would give him something else to do.

“R-right! M-m-maybe he’s just busy,” Peter murmured as he tried another call.

 

[TheCharredDragon]

OOC: Note, I am in school and I did not expect such a big workload so apologies in advance for taking a while. Also, Victor is still awake, jusy closing his eyes. But you can make him asleep if you want.

Victor Pyroca
Route 4 -> PSci-Corp HQ -> Route 4

"Please stop your whining Zelda. I have a feeling you'll get your chance to bash something," Victor retorted after Zelda complained once more.

But that didn't satisfy her as she and her two other heads whined, Victor hearing with the words, "Yeah right." from them.

Victor just rolled his eyes, adjusting his right arm's grip on the three necks. This wasn't the time for snark comments and lame puns, especially with that message he received recently. Victor knew something was going to happen. Zelda made it very clear to him that this was a bad idea (if the nips and whines didn't make that clear) and he still went to Unova and accepted. I just can't say no for Marissa, can I? He sighed. He might need to do something about that.

Victor flinched when he heard the roar of Zelda. With his train of thought broken, he looked forward to see what Zelda was roaring about and when he did, he wished he wasn't right. Smoke was ahead and he was pretty sure he'll see trashed buildings.

"Zelda! Speed up!"

Zelda gave off an energized roar and did so, excited to get to fighting but understands the dire situation. As Zelda neared the complex, Victor scanned the area, holding his Delphox's Pokéball at the ready. Zelda flew above the area, nearing the origin of most of the smoke. A few moments later, he saw them: an oddly dressed kid with an odd Pokémon about to squish an Arcanine. Zelda read his mind and took a deep breath before spewing a column of flames. The flamethrower was true to its course as the odd creature gave a screech, leaving it trying to recover and Victor grateful its screech wasn't on ear-splitting levels.

"Chilo!" its owner shouted. "Who did that?!"

Unintentionally on cue, Victor got off of Zelda as she landed. Just as he did, he heard a familiar voice shout his name.

"Victor?!"

Peter. “What’s going on here!?” He mentally facepalned after saying that. He could feel Zelda's thoughts on what he said: Oh yeah, like the fire and explosions aren't obvious at all.

“Later!” a girl near the professor replied. “We need to get to the garage!” she yelled, pointing to the building.

“Can you keep them off our tail!?” she said, then pointing at the boy and his fused Pokémon.

Victor looked at her for a bit, and then he nodded. “I’ll try!”

He immediately turned to his opponent just as "Chilo" recovered from the blast.

She heard the girl shout “Good! Catch up with us later!” then ordered her Arcanine, Jeanette, to clear a path for them. Just as he did that, he threw the Pokéball he had in his hand then shouted.

"Anthea! Help Zelda out!"

The Delphox materialized and quickly ignited her wand. As she did that, Zelda already flew to the bug's face, trying to hit it with her Rock Smash.

"Crunch her, Chilo!"

Chilo gave a screech before attempting to bite Zelda's arms off. Zelda saw this coming and punched the thing right as he came to chomp her. Zelda gave a smirk while Victor just rolled his eyes as they heard the young boy complain. That complaining increased when Chilo was once again hit by flames from Victor's Delphox.

"Ergh! Chilo! Hurry and use Rock Throw!"

Oh shoot! "Zelda! Climb!" Vic shouted as he returned Anthea.

Zelda dodged, as well as Victor, just as the mutant slamned its tail on the ground, sending debris all over the place. Victor skidded to a stop and then looked up. Zelda thought ahead and fired another Flamethrower at the snake-bug, making it screech again.

A familiar voice then shouted, “Hey, you, Victor!”

Victor turned to see the same woman from earlier running to her.

“We need to get out of here before the others get here!”

Just as she said that, another voice came in, shouting as well.

“Hubert, what are you doing!?” she shouted.

“I can’t help it!” the caped boy whined. “They can fly! And it’s a Fire type!”

Victor turned to see a woman as well as a man dressed as weirdly as the boy, except theirs actually fit unlike the boy.

“No excuses!” she reprimanded, laying her eyes on the flying dragon. “Mantes, ready your Razor Wind!”

“Your Pin Missiles as well, Syrinx!” the other ordered.

The woman near Victor gritted her teeth. “Come on, let’s scram!” she yelled, already turning back.

Victor quickly returned Zelda, much to her chargin, and dashed off as well. But as he prepared to release his Sawsbuck, Sterops, a jeep all of a sudden did a classic movie slide in, skidding 180° before stopping right in front of them. The door opened and Victor, along with the woman, went inside, with Victor not hearing her swear at all. Victor thanked the legends that Pin Missile and Razor Wind were pretty slow charging moves as they missed the jeep after the rather sickly woman had the jeep speed off.

Victor didn't keep track of where in the complex they headed to, with the only thing he registered was that they made it out of the HQ and into Route 4. The woman got agitated as she swerved around various Pokémon. The other one was calm. There was a very young woman beside Peter. He couldn't tell what she was thinking or feeling while Peter well...he's being himself..with his Rubix Cube...and all.

“Thanks,” the calm woman said to him. “For saving us. It would have gotten messy if it weren’t for your appearing,” she added before she turned back to the road.

Vic smiled and gave a thumbs-up.

“Y-yeah,” Peter said, glancing at Vic. “Victor Pyroca, fire gym leader in Kalos,” he said, as if reading from an information brochure. “One fusion reported so far, Charizard and Hydreigon. A site to behold in person…very strong, from the looks of it.”

Victor knew Zelda heard that because her Pokéball shook ever so slightly. Victor lightly chuckled at that, but that smile dissapeared when the woman driving talked.

“Does one of you dickbags wanna give me an address or a town or something?” she finally asked, swerving hard to the right to avoid a group of Sandile. “Sh*t, I’ll take a cardinal direction at this point.”

Victor was very tempted to say that swearing wasn't neccessary, but this wasn't the time for that. He was about to answer but...

“For one thing, it’s ”do”, not does,” the authoritive woman retorted, obviously unamused. “And I thought you knew where you were going? You could have said something earlier,”

“J-just make sure the sun is our right,” Peter then added, readjusting his wrinkled clothes. He dropped his puzzle. He reached down to get it. “It’s around two hours past noon, so it’s to our west, and so we head north to Nimbasa City,”

“Right. I need to find out who those guys are, and I know just the people I need to call,” she said, looking forward. “Which reminds me,” she pulled out a PokéNav.

Victor stretched his arms, careful not to hit anyone. Vic said as he put his arms behind his head, leaned against the chair and closed his eyes, not paying attention to the conversation Peter was having.

"If I fall asleep fall asleep so if anybody needs me, just shout 'Zelda's out' and I'll wake up instantly."

 

[Huntress Wizard]

((OOC: Whoever posts next can take us to Nimbasa: I didn't want to bunny again after doing it for the past several posts, lol.))

“For one thing, it’s ”do”, not does,” the cop sitting in the passenger seat said. Roxxy rolled her eyes. “And I thought you knew where you were going? You could have said something earlier,” she continued.

“For one thing,” Roxxy said in a high mocking voice, “do I look like I know jack sh*t about this region? And second of all, I does what I please, so you can take that correction and shove it up your-”

“J-just make sure the sun is to our right,” the scientist interrupted. “It’s around two hours past noon, so it’s to our west, and so we head north to Nimbasa City.”

“Nimbasa.” She furrowed her brow. “That’s the city with the amusement park and fake contest hall and stuff right? Think I read about it somewhere.” Roxxy leaned forward to squint out of the windshield. It was a bit difficult to tell where exactly the sun was because of the raging sandstorm. The rattling of the vehicle over uneven terrain didn’t help either.

“Ro bat cro,” her Crobat said from her lap. He sounded smug.

“Shut up Epsy, I can too find the sun. Look, see, there it is. Smartass.” There was indeed a bright spot directly in front of them that seemed like it should be the sun. She made a hard left to do as the scientist told her. The jeep’s frame tilted, then settled. Ahead of them she could just make out looming shadows of tall buildings, which must have been Nimbasa. Hopefully she could get Burnout, Atlantis, and Epsilon checked out at a Pokecenter there without too much trouble.

“Right,” said Piper. “I need to find out who those guys are, and I know just the people I need to call.” She dug through her bag and pulled out a yellow rounded device as the Ghostbusters theme started playing in Roxxy’s head. Roxxy glanced at it, then gave it her full attention. That was a Pokenav, and not one of the newer ones. So this Piper must have been to Hoenn at some point several years ago. That piqued Roxxy’s interest, and suddenly she wanted to have a chat with the officer.

From the backseat, Peter squealed something about a William. Roxxy glanced in the rear view mirror. He’d pulled out his own communication device - a fancier gadget than the Pokenav, that was for sure - and frantically punched at some buttons. It seemed that the device didn’t give him the response he had been looking for, judging by the “oh no”s he started mumbling.

“Keep trying,” Piper said. Like that would help: if this “William” had been caught in the facility, he was either captured, injured, or dead.

“R-right! M-m-maybe he’s just busy…” Peter said.

“Yeah right,” Roxxy muttered darkly. Then she remembered Bruce.

“Hey, Roxxy!”

Roxxy looked up from leafing through pamphlets on the dock where the ferry had dumped her. A dark-skinned man with glasses in a light green t-shirt and jeans had called to her, hand raised. She put back the brochure she’d been holding (“Nimbasa: the City of Light and Charm!”) and raised a hand in return. Epsilon grumbled, having to shift his grip on her shoulder to not be forced off. The man jogged over to her, pulling her into a hug which she barely tolerated without shoving him off.

“Sorry,” he said after stepping back, keeping his hands on her shoulders. “I heard about Dunc. How are you? What are you doing in Unova?”

“‘M okay I guess. Been better. Needed a change of scenery from f*cking Hoenn and its f*cking oceans. What about you, Bruce? How'd you know I'd be here?"

He ducked his head and grinned. “My sailor friend spotted you and called me. I've been trying to find you for a while. And I, uh, go by Eric now, actually.”

“That Sharpedo on your arm says otherwise.”

Bruce tugged his shirtsleeve down. “I was thinking of getting it removed. If my boss finds out I have a Sharpedo tattoo he’ll have my head.”

“Over my dead body will you remove that tattoo. But you’ve got a job? Where?”

“Here, let me treat you to a coffee and I’ll tell you all about it.”

A few minutes later, Roxxy was sipping a very good, very black coffee while Bruce nursed his mocha caramel decaf machiatto or whatever he’d ordered. It had been complex and she’d lost track after the first few made-up words. When it was time to place her order, she’d said three words: “Coffee. Black. Thanks.”

“So. You got a job,” Roxxy said between sips.

Bruce nodded. “At this fancy laboratory type company. They were interested in my work in the forensic sciences, because they’re looking at figuring out more about pokemon DNA. You know, they’re looking for people to test their new invention. I might be able to put in a good word for you.”

“Really.”

“Really. There’s on-sight housing, free meals, and a fully-functional care center for people and pokemon. All you have to do is help them test this thing called the FiST.”

“You don’t say…”

Bruce frowned. “You have to be clean and sober, though. And I know you...well, you did drop off the face of the planet for a few years. I was trying to contact you but everyone I reached out to said you were gone. Just, poof. What happened?”

She shrugged. “Sh*t happened, Bruce, and I don’t wanna talk about it. I probably drink too much now but I can stop for a while and I ain’t chasing Dragonites no more if that’s what you mean.”

“Good. I’ll see if I can set up an interview. Do you still have your old phone?”

“Yeah but I changed the number. It’ll be easier to just come and find me, I’m gonna camp out in the Pokecenter for a while.”

Roxxy pulled herself back to reality. It would not do any good to space out and lose control in a place like this, not with a sandstorm going and certainly not with two pokemon seriously injured. Her shoulders had hunched to a remarkable degree; she straightened up, stretching her neck to try and work out the knots in it. Epsilon cooed, swishing a wing over her leg. She shook her head again. The man with the Charizard declared his intentions to take a nap.

“Hey, uh, Peter?” she said, looking in the mirror again. All the vitriol and venom had left her voice, making it low and flat. “If...uh, I mean when you get in touch with William, can you ask about a Bruce - sorry, an Eric Campbell? He was a friend of - a friend of a friend, and he helped me get the job at PSci-Corp. I think he was working today but I didn’t see him when we were leaving.”

 

[Tundra_Wolfmane]

Okay, so Roxxy was officially getting on Piper’s nerves. That wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling - she frequently had to work with many people she didn’t particularly liked in order to get a job done. That usually lasted as long as they were tolerable, which varied per person. And then they would get into a fight. She hated fighting with colleagues - the incident report and the ensuing demerits and consequences often made the act more hindrance than benefit, though she could never say that the act wasn’t cathartic. She wondered at the back of her mind how long it would take before she blew up at Roxxy. Hopefully, she and the raven-haired girl wouldn’t spend enough time to find out.

In the meantime, she could vent her frustrations on her PokéNav. “Stupid thing never has the signal to call,” she muttered to herself. “Might as well send a text.”

Punching in a few letters and some minutes later, she pocketed the machine and looked at where they were headed. It would take an hour, at least, to get to Nimbasa City, at the rate they were going. Before she could mention it, Roxanne suddenly spoke.

“Hey, uh, Peter? If...uh, I mean when you get in touch with William, can you ask about a Bruce - sorry, an Eric Campbell? He was a friend of - a friend of a friend, and he helped me get the job at PSci-Corp. I think he was working today but I didn’t see him when we were leaving.”

Piper raised an eyebrow at her words. So she wasn’t a total jerk. At the very least, she somehow had friends. But her attitude still needed a lot of work in her opinion.

“I-I’ll try,” Peter replied as he focused on his gadget. “Will knows everyone’s schedules better…I just hope he and the others didn’t get to the facility when it-!” And Peter let out a happy sound. Piper couldn’t even describe it with words even if she tried, and she only turned her head to look at him. She saw the scientist look intently at the C-Gear.

“William!” he said elatedly.

“Peter, you won’t believe what just happened!” a voice from the machine spoke. Piper raised a surprised brow - looks like they got into contact after all.

“You were there too?” Peter asked worriedly.

“How could I not?” the voice seemed to have replied. “Those caped clowns practically chased us out of the city.”

“Chased?” Peter repeated.

“Yeah, what did you think I meant?”

Piper had to keep herself from interrupting their conversation, but she did tell Peter to ask him to elaborate. She could tell that a misunderstanding was happening from the looks of Peter’s face. It might be that there was a separate event that happened.

The police woman listened from the front seat, their conversation loud enough that she could hear them without having to strain herself. From the gist of it, William and the group of FiST-testers he had collected from the docks of Castelia were also ambushed on the way to the facility. When he described their outfit, it was obvious that they were from the same team that attacked PSci-Corp. It had taken all of Will’s driving skills as well as a couple of fusions from his passengers in order to drive the attackers away. It seemed that they were also on their way to the facility, although they had made a stop first in order to make sure that no one was hurt or anything of their jeep was damaged. Peter had quickly told him that it was a bad idea to go by sharing their own experience.

“Great,” William said with a mild groan. “So what do we do?”

“It’s probably not a good idea to go back to Castelia,” Piper said loudly. “Those caped clowns are probably waiting there in hiding.”

Peter nodded in agreement, his face grim. “Maybe we should meet up in Nimbasa?” he asked, looking back at his C-Gear.

“I thiiiiiink we can do that, sure,” William’s voice said. “We’ll head there in a bit - I think everyone’s waiting for me.”

“Oh!” Peter said before the other man could hang up. “A-also, can you see if you can contact anyone from the facility? To see if anyone else escaped,” he cleared up. He made a quick glance to Roxxy. “One of the tester’s friends - his name is Eric - might have gotten caught up in it too, so…”

“Oh, Campbell, yeah, I know him,” William’s voice spoke. “Sure, I’ll see if I can get him to answer. See you soon. In one piece, I hope,” he then said before hanging up. Peter sighed and slacked his body, a large number of nerves suddenly relieved.

Piper glanced at Roxxy. She doubted that would have helped with her fears.

“Right then,” Piper spoke up before anyone else. “Rox, put a pedal to the metal. By the speed you’re going, it’ll be sundown when we get there.” At that moment, her Nav made a small ringing sound. “And just in time!” Piper said with a grin. “There’s a warehouse we can use when we get there. I’ll give you directions when we enter the city.”

x-x-x-x-x​

They seemed to have arrived at the warehouse just an hour before sundown, as Piper said. It was on the edge of the city, far from the hustle and bustle and the large buildings and attractions and rides. That was how Piper liked it. Plus, there was a mart and a PokéCenter just a few blocks away where she could get Jeanette, Fatali and Habanero healed up.

“Come on,” Piper said as she got out of the jeep, which she told Roxanne to park at the back, hidden from prying eyes. There was a door with an electronic lock on it. She took a look at her Nav and input the code before opening the door. “It’s not much, but it’s a shelter with food and water. We can hide out here until Peter’s friends arrive.”

“They’re not my friends,” Peter muttered, rubbing the back of his neck and stretching his legs. He didn’t question her gesture to go in, though, and he entered the building.

The warehouse looked like it was barely furnished. He entered to see one big room, with stairs to on either side that led to an overhanging path, probably to get an overhead view of the whole warehouse. The whole room was littered with various boxes of size and shape, as well as shelves that lined the walls - it would make a great place to hide-and-seek. Right across him was a large gate, probably used to bring in large trucks with packages and containers in them. In the corner of the room was a lounge room, obvious by the clear glass where he could see some tables and chairs. The door inside was ajar, so he was pretty sure he could get in. He headed there first.

Piper waited until everyone was in before she closed the door behind them. Roxxy was the last to come in. “We’ll probably need to head to the Center in a bit to get our teams healed up,” she said as she followed them to the lounge. She hoped there was coffee in there. And a computer.

 

[Huntress Wizard]

“I-I’ll try,” said the lab coat in response to Roxxy’s question. “Will knows everyone’s schedules better…I just hope he and the others didn’t get to the facility when it-!” He then made an odd sort of squeal that had Roxxy jerking the wheel to the left in shock. She straightened out the car again and glared at him in the rear-view mirror. He, oblivious, spoke to his friend William for a little while. From what she could gather (the lab coat had his phone volume up way too loud and honestly, if they’d been in public, she would’ve smacked it out of his hand), this William and a few others had been chased out of Castelia itself.

“Maybe we should meet up in Nimbasa?” Peter asked. He listened as William said that was fine. Roxxy was about to yell Eric’s name when Peter seemed to remember her request and ask about her friend: “Oh! A-also, can you see if you can contact anyone from the facility? To see if anyone else escaped. One of the tester’s friends - his name is Eric - might have gotten caught up in it too, so…”

“Oh, Campbell, yeah, I know him,” said the man on the other end of the line. “Sure, I’ll see if I can get him to answer. See you soon. In one piece, I hope.” Then there was only static, and Peter lowered his gadget. Roxxy hunched forward over the steering wheel again. So she had no idea where he was. That was fine. He had his Skuntank and his Mawile: he’d be fine.

“Roo?” said Epsilon from her lap.

“I’m fine,” she bit out automatically.

“Right then,” said Piper. “Rox, put a pedal to the metal. By the speed you’re going, it’ll be sundown when we get there.”

Roxxy frowned. She’d felt the officer’s eyes on her several times during the exchange between William and Peter, and if she was thinking of throwing Roxxy a pity party, then Roxxy was willing to take her chances with the Bug Maniacs. She was about to open her mouth and say what she thought of the cutesy nickname when the Pokenav pinged.

“And just in time!” Piper said. “There’s a warehouse we can use when we get there. I’ll give you directions when we enter the city.”

“It’s Roxxy,” she muttered, deflated somewhat. “Not Rox.”

*****

When the did arrive at the warehouse, Roxxy wasn’t surprised. What with the attack earlier, then the drive across the desert, her life was already turning into an action movie. So it was no shocker that Piper directed them to a safehouse, where they could lie low for a little while and “plot their next move,” so to speak. Piper leapt out of the car as Roxxy shoved Epsilon off her lap. He made an indignant squawking noise, tumbled for a few moments, then righted himself and hovered diligently by the door. She turned the jeep off and got out, locking the doors behind her and pocketing the keys.

As she walked in, she whistled. “This place is huge,” she said, putting her hands behind her head and arching her back. Epsilon zoomed off, diving between ceiling supports and piles of boxes and Kyogre-knew-what-else, happy to be able to stretch his wings again. She turned in a circle, taking in the vast space available. This might make a good place to train, if she ever came through Nimbasa again. Or a good place to hide.

“Never been in a safehouse before,” she said aloud. She followed the others to the lounge, but hesitated in the doorway, leaning against the frame. Epsilon finished his exploration of the place and flew behind her. She turned, raising a hand to rub one of his pointed ears, noting with furrowed brows that he’d gotten slashed on his cheek sometime during the escape. He would have to be left at the center too to get looked at (longer than the others, on account of his Pokeball-less-ness), which meant her only remaining pokemon would be the Absol. And she didn’t want to be alone with it longer than she had to.

“I’m gonna take my ‘mons to the Center,” Roxxy said, turning back to the group in the lounge, “and then I’m gonna find somewhere to drink for a while. Don’t wait up.” She began to walk back the way they came in, Epsilon settling on her shoulders.

*****

The nurse at the Nimbasa Pokecenter was very unhelpful.

“But what do you mean he hasn’t got a pokeball!?” she kept saying of Epsilon.

Roxxy, for what felt like the thousandth time, sighed and tried again. “I lost it. On the ferry from Johto to Kanto.”

“But then how do we know he’s yours?”

B*tch does he look like a stolen pokemon!? Roxxy wanted to say. Instead, she replied, “I don’t think a pokemon that evolves by happiness would stick around its original trainer without being in a pokeball, don’t you?”

The nurse’s ears turned pink. “Fine. But you’ll need to show your ID when you come pick him up.”

“Fine. Epsy, get off my shoulders and follow the nurse.”

“Croro.”

He detached himself from her shoulders and flew after the nurse, who had also taken Atlantis and Burnout to be healed. Roxxy rolled her shoulders, readjusted her pack, and turned away from the counter. Her eyes searched the crowd for any of their little fugitive party. Perhaps if the cop had followed her to the center, they could go drink together and she could ask about the Pokenav. Or maybe she could find out more about the guy with the three-headed Charizard.

 

[Tundra_Wolfmane]

Suffice to say, Piper was quick to follow Roxxy out of the safehouse after telling the others she needed to heal her Pokémon too. She hoped that Habanero and Fatali weren’t too injured - she wasn’t sure how long they could stay in the city. It was pretty obvious that they shouldn’t stay there - or in any one place - for too long. They couldn’t risk getting found out. She wondered if Roxxy knew she was following her.

When they reached the Pokécenter, she went to a separate counter, unwilling to wait for the attention of the nurse Joy that was serving Roxxy. The blonde investigator actually finished before the raven-haired woman did, which Piper felt odd. She also saw that her Crobat - Epsy, she remembered her calling him - was taken in without a pokéball. Piper had to raise her brow at that.

She approached the woman from the side. “No pokéball?” she said loudly, catching her attention. “You’re definitely a unique little thing, aren’t you?”

Piper looked at the door that their nurses went through. She knew from experience that the healing process would take longer than a few minutes, and longer still for the pokéball-less Crobat. “The healing will probably take a while, and I’m off to the Mart to get some stuff. Maybe a couple of drinks too - Arceus knows I need one. How about you come with?” Piper asked, a hand on her hip. It was partly in good terms, and partly so she could keep an eye on her. She at least had Pimento with her, although she didn’t know how much good the child-like Joltik would do.

x-x-x-x-x​

Peter was left alone with both Victor and Suzy. They were all sitting on either of the sofa or the couch inside the lounge room. Behind him, the sound of coffee-maker dripping warm happy liquid into the container filled the room. It was unnerving, being alone with two extremely quiet people. He looked between the two. So far, since they entered, they barely made a sound.

“S-s-so,” he said, as he twiddles his thumbs. “I…I’m s-sorry things turned out the way they did,” he said, looking down. “If I had known this would have happened, maybe it would have been better if we just told everyone without bringing everyone to the headquarters,” he added with a grimace. There were at least six people who had been caught back in conference room.

He didn’t know if he could forgive himself they got badly hurt.

 

[TheCharredDragon]

Victor Pyroca
Route 4 -> Warehouse in Nimbasa

Victor was silent of the rest of the trip. He looked like he was sleeping, but he wasn't. He couldn't sleep, partially from the talking (and almost arguing) between Peter and the two girls (who he thought of as human versions of Zelda), partially from Zelda shaking her Pokéball from wanting to the get out and mostly from thoughts and concerns for his wife, and his idiocy. He told himself already it was a stupid idea--twice plus Zelda--but he still went through. He couldn't stop mentally banging his head. Now he was in danger. If they really wanted the fist, they might resort to using hostages, and he just hoped to the gods that won't happen, he wouldn't forgive himself if it did.

The sound of the engine stopping made him open his eye. Through the windows of the jeep, he found that they were at a warehouse of some kind. A warehouse that PSci-corp owned he guessed, seeing as they went in with no problem whatsoever, only an electronic lock of some kind that already was. Victor exited from the jeep, making sure to close and lock the door. He stayed by the jeep for a little bit as the agent girl (he assumed that from how she looked and acted) explained the place had food and shelter and that this will be their rest spot, for now. He was starting to feel like he was in a movie as he went inside.

The inside basically looked like an airplane hangar only without the airplane and with several boxes stacked here there. The supplies, no doubt. The lounge was a little...out of place, but the couch was very welcoming. He lay on the couch, not bothering to ask the others if they wanted it. He heard the agent girl say something about healing his Pokémon while they still can. Zelda wasn't badly injured and was more along the lines of tired so he decided on not heading for the center. He was about to say his thoughts until the spindly girl said something to do with healing her Pokémon. The exact words escaped Victor since he didn't listen properly.

Then he the agent girl said she needed to heal her 'mons too, but it was obvious it was too follow after the spindly one, as if she was spying on the her. Victor couldn't understand why she distrusted the spindly one. Sure, she looked pretty shady, but it was clear she was against those super villain wannabes and so on their side. Then again, it's not like neither of them knew the girl and she did swear a lot. Swearing is usually considered okay by those who don't mind more...sinister ways of doing things.

He lay there in silence for a while. Reveling in the peace, until Peter spoke up.

"S-s-so..." he started. "I...I'm sorry things turned out the way they did." Victor looked to him and saw he was looking down. "If I had known this would have happened, maybe it would've been better if we just told everyone without bringing everyone to the headquarters..." he added, grimicing as he did.

Victor frowned. Seems like the guy feels really guilty of what has happened, especially considering he invented the very thing that lead them into this situation.

Victor sat up and gave a reassuring smile. "Hey, don't worry about it. People make mistakes. Like you said, if you knew, then you wouldn't have done it, but you didn't and we can't do anything about that. We can change the future though and next time, we'll be prepared, right?" he said, trying to have Peter feel better. He was a young lad to be a world changing scientist after all, so he didn't want him to feel horrible being human.

 

[Huntress Wizard]

So the cop woman had followed Roxxy. Piper sidled up to her and said, “No pokéball? You’re definitely a unique little thing, aren’t you?” She rolled her eyes. A smarmy and sarcastic remark - for which she would have deserved a punch in the mouth at the very least - was about to slip from her lips when the cop added: “The healing will probably take a while, and I’m off to the Mart to get some stuff. Maybe a couple of drinks too - Arceus knows I need one. How about you come with?”

Now there were a couple of sentences she could get behind. But she did have to make one thing clear.

“Look,” she said, turning to the cop. “I’ve clocked people in the jaw for less insulting names than ‘unique little thing.’ But I’m not gonna punch you because a,” she stuck out her thumb, “you’re a cop, b,” she added her index finger, “I’m pretty sure you could hit back harder which is rare, and c,” she added her middle, “you just offered to buy me a drink. So just call me Roxxy from now on and I'll only call you Piper and not any number of stupid nicknames, alright?”

She ran a hand through her hair. “To answer the question you implied, yeah, Epsilon doesn’t have a Pokeball. Like I told the nurse, it fell off when I was on the ferry from Johto to Kanto. He stuck with me though: couldn’t tell you why. Told him a million times he was free to leave if he wanted but he hasn’t yet, so...yeah.”

It felt weird to be standing around with one of her pokemon out. Unnerved as she was by the Absol, having it out might make Roxxy feel a little less like an exposed nerve. She dug through her bag and quickly found her last remaining pokeball, obviously rarely used by the good condition it was in. Pokeballs that got used - at least by her - tended to be dinged and pockmarked from throwing them on the ground, but the surface of this one was basically smooth. She tossed it on the ground of the Pokecenter.

In a burst of light the Absol emerged. Roxxy caught the Pokeball on the rebound and shoved it back in her bag, which she then pushed back onto her shoulder. The Absol glanced around and fixated its gaze on Piper. Roxxy had to snap a few times to get its attention, and it finally dragged its eyes over to its trainer.

“Heel,” she commanded. It trotted over and sat back down again by her calf, looking around at the other patron of the Pokecenter. “My turn to ask a question,” Roxxy said, turning back to Piper. “Where’d you get that old Pokenav?”

 

[Tundra_Wolfmane]

Peter listened to Victor try to comfort him. It didn’t really make him feel any better, but it didn’t make him feel any worse. Still, his kind words only reminded him of how he used to be treated, before he convinced people to help him create physical form to his idea.

‘Don’t worry about it, you’ll have time for your invention later.’ ‘You should focus on the little things first.’ ‘You still have your life ahead of you - relax!’

He felt…small.

Peter sighed, but gave Victor a small smile. “Thank you,” he told him. “But things are still very bad. And I would rather not involve you all any more than this, if I could. I…I have a responsibility to make sure my invention isn’t going to be used by any more bad things…”

He looked up at the plain ceiling, his mind full of tormented thoughts. “I just…don’t know how, yet…”

x-x-x-x-x​

Piper had to hand it to Roxxy - she had moxie. That was good, at least. She was going to be a handful, that was for sure. “So just call me Roxxy from now, and I’ll only call you Piper and not any number of stupid nicknames, alright?” the raven haired girl said, ending her tirade.

“Okay then, Roxxy,” the blonde-haired woman replied, putting a hand on her hip. Before she could say anything else, Roxxy spoke again, explaining to her about what happened with her apparently very devoted Crobat. It still struck her as odd. Could it be that she didn’t know…?

Piper gave her a look and a raised eyebrow. “You do know that you can transfer him to a new Pokéball, right?” she asked, folding her arms. “You’re most definitely not the first trainer to lose one, and I’m sure you won’t be the last.” She then looked thoughtful. “But you know what, it’s none of my business,” she added, shrugging.

She then saw the other woman take out an Absol, although it looked like they didn’t have that much of a relationship by how she had to get its attention first. She didn’t see those every day. Actually, she had never seen one in person until now. And they’re an awfully rare bunch too.

“My turn to ask a question. Where’d you get that old PokéNav?”

“Let’s get out of here, and I’ll tell you,” Piper replied as she turned away, walking out of the PokéCenter. She wished she could take out a Pokémon herself, but Pimento was unreliable when she didn’t have any sugar for him - which she was her current situation. While he had learned not to stray too far from her, she’d rather not risk him getting lost in the darkening city.

“So anyway,” Piper started, feeling the night air hit her face. “It’s what the agency gave me when I first started. At the time, it was cutting edge tech. Plus, it’s saved my life a few times - when people are on the edge, a sudden ringing from a place they least expect is all you need to gain an advantage,” she explained, heading towards the Mart. She already knew where it was - she had been in the city before. “Of course, with all these new Gears and Pokétches, it’s obsolete by now. Had to get one of my colleagues to add a texting feature, and that wasn’t easy. Well, it was, but a woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do,” she told Roxxy with a wink.

Piper turned the corner. She could already see the blue light that told her that they were getting close. “As for why I still have it...let’s just say I’m sentimental. Plus, it still works, it can call and text, and I’m not much for games and all that app-stuff the new things are going for,” she added. She gave Roxxy a look. “Do you have one? Any one, at least.”

 

[Huntress Wizard]

Roxxy had, in fact, been unaware that one could transfer pokemon into new Pokeballs. She always though she would have to “catch” him again, and she’d been scared to try. What if Epsilon broke out and was suddenly a wild pokemon again? He was her strongest, and she had no hard counter against him. No, she thought, better to have him in limbo where he was not actually “owned,” but still friendly towards her. But if she could transfer him, she could eliminate the nosy nurses and stop calling him a “service bat” to smuggle him into places.

She was quiet while Piper explained why she had a Pokenav as they walked towards the Pokemart. Apparently Roxxy’s theory about the cop receiving it in Hoenn was incorrect. It had been work issued but was now obsolete because of “Gears” and “Pokétches,” whatever those were, but Piper held on to it. She did have one of her colleagues add a texting feature: apparently it wasn’t easy to upgrade an old piece of hardware.

“Well, it was, but a woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do,” Piper told Roxxy. The wink was lost on her, as she was looking around the city, trying to familiarize herself with it. It was a bit smaller than Castelia, with many of the buildings less than ten stories. She saw a bridge over a body of water leading to several very large buildings, from which roaring could be heard. There was also the aforementioned theme park, with a roller coaster and a Ferris wheel extending over the tops of the buildings.

The Absol nudged Roxxy, pulling her attention away from Nimbasa. Piper had just asked a question, about whether Roxxy had a Pokenav or any other communication device.

“Uh, no,” she said, “I’ve got a flip phone, but it got trampled. And other than that, I’ve just got my ‘Dex.” The first part was only half true. Yes, the phone had been trampled, but it had not been hers when it broke. She flicked her bangs out of her eye. It was hers now, though, so she was technically telling the truth.

They arrived at the Mart. A sign posted in the front window said “No Pokemon over 35 kilograms allowed.” It had been taped up: something must’ve happened recently to make the owners ban large pokemon. Still, the last thing she wanted was to attract attention, so she ordered the Absol to sit outside the door as she and Piper shopped. Roxxy recalled having a bit of cash left over from battling on the ferry to Castelia: not much, mind you, but enough for some potions.

“So,” she said, following Piper down the aisle and picking up a few Hyper Potions, “how would you, uh, transfer a pokemon to a new pokeball? Do the nurses at the Center do it or…?” She trailed off, helpless. Roxxy hated being helpless. To distract herself, she looked at the different kinds of balls in the store.

Epsilon’s original ball had been a Pokeball, but now that she had the Absol, she would either have to buy a different kind or label which one was Epsy’s. Some of the types here were completely new to her. She recognized the dark black and yellow design of the Luxury Ball, but did not know the one sitting next to it, colored dark green and gray with a red seam. The label underneath said Dusk Ball.

Roxxy wondered which Epsy would like best.

 

[Tundra_Wolfmane]

“So, how would you, uh, transfer a pokemon to a new pokeball? Do the nurses at the Center do it or…?

Piper just shrugged, grabbing some snack foods. She especially made sure to pick up some chocolate that she would need in order to keep training Pim. She placed them all in a basket she procured just as they had entered the Mart. “Beats me,” she admitted, grabbing a couple of other useful items - healing potions and battle items like as X Attack. “But I know the people at the PokéCenter do it. It doesn’t happen often, but it happened to one of my colleagues once. Panicked all the way back to HQ before he found out he could just transfer his Dodrio into another ball. I hear it’s almost like trading or something,” she added as she looked at the raven-haired girl, putting her hand on her hips.

“Anyway, come on, pick your drink, let’s get our Pokémon back, and get back- I don’t want to leave Peter and the others alone for too long,” she said as she grabbed a couple of bottles that she was sure Peter wasn’t going to drink. Instead, she got some packs of juice for him and the quiet girl - she hoped they like Oran Juice.

She waited for Roxxy to make her choice before paying them for them all from her own wallet - that wasn’t a pretty sight. She couldn’t wait for the next payday. If she could finish this whole fiasco before it, anyway. ’Well, that’s probably a tall order,’ she thought to herself as she went out of the Mart where Roxanne’s Absol was patiently waiting.

The blonde woman had to raise an eyebrow. The way they interacted, it seemed like they weren’t that close - a far cry from how Roxxy treated the Crobat called Epsilon. Maybe the Absol was new, but as far as Piper knew, they definitely weren’t native anywhere near Castelia or Nimbasa.

Well, she definitely wasn’t going to push. Maybe if she got curious enough, but they had other things to deal with at the moment.

x-x-x-x-x​

(OOC: Sorry for the delay. We’ll be moving on with the plot soon, and I’ll have a lot more time to put into this after I’m done with board exams next week.)

 

[TheCharredDragon]

Victor Pyroca
Warehouse in Nimbasa

Peter sighed, but gave Victor a small smile. "Thank you," he told him. "But things are still very bad. And I would rather not involve you any more than this, if I could. I...I have a responsibility to make sure my invention isn't going to be used by any more bad things..."

It seems he didn't make him feel any better. But Victor couldn't help himself from giving a small smile. Even if Peter's spirits are down, at least one thing was clear: he cared for everyone else's safety, and that was what made Victor gave a sad smile.

"I just...don't know how, yet..." Peter said, looking at the ceiling.

Victor sighed and rubbed his head. "Hey, you're a smart guy. You invented the thing, I'm sure you'll come to a solution eventually."

He leaned into the couch to relax, only to perk up. He looked to the FiST on his left arm and saw a certain Luxury Ball shaking. Victor gave an exasperated sigh and stood up. He walked away from the lounge area, but not too far, holding three of his Pokéballs in his hands. He was about to release their inhabitants, but he figured he would warn Peter on what he's doing. He turned to Peter for a moment.

"Hey, Peter. I'm gonna let my Pokémon stretch their uh...limbs, I guess," he said, remembering not all of his people walked to get around.

He faced away from Peter and then threw the Pokébalss into the air. All three made the signature pong sound and released a ray of white light before materializing into his three Pokémon: Zelda, his Charizard-Hydreigon fusion, Queen Ghidorah, Sterops, his Sawsbuck, and his Delphox, Anthea.

"All right guys. You can roam around, but don't go outside, and no breaking stuff," he looked to Zelda. "Especially you Zelda."

Zelda just rolled her eyes, as if to say, "Yeah, yeah. I know." before flying off, circling near the ceiling and taking the chance to use the steel supports as aerobatic obstacles. Anthea kept on eye on Zelda for a moment before heading off somewhere, wanting to walk around. Sterops watched the two, then looked to Victor. He noticed and so motioned his hand, saying "It's all right." Sterops stared at him for a moment before walking past him. Victor was confused by this until he saw him by the couch he was previously sitting in.

Victor just shook his head with an amused smile. Sterops was always the one who'd stay still and observe. Victor looked back at Zelda. She was doing loop-de-loops around the supports, the space apparently enough for her but then again, she is a dwarf. He watched her for awhile, deep in thought. He reached into his rear pocket and pulled out his PokéGear. Despite the clock being right in front of him, he didn't bother registering it.

Victor was musing on whether or not he should text his wife about his current situation. Mostly because he thought the ones chasing them might be able to track them or something along those lines. Plus, he knew Marissa, she'd want to help Victor and that would mean putting herself in danger. He continued to think. Then he remembered something. Earlier, Peter had called one of his friends and they aren't under attack right now. So, at the very least, it's safe to call others for now. That didn't solve his second problem though.

He sighed. "I'll just try convincing her. She needs to know," he decided as he dialed her number and put the PokéGear by his ear.

A few rings later and a voice on the other end said, "Victor?"

Victor smiled. "Hi dear," he said, forgetting Peter and the other girl could hear him.

He heard his wife sigh with happiness. "I was wondering when you'd call. It's been over a week. How are things?"

Victor frowned and couldn't help but rub the back of his head. "Yeah... Actually, that's what I'm calling for..."

He could feel her frown over the line. "Something's very wrong, isn't it?"

He sighed again. "Remember that FiST project? Well...let's just say it's that Silph Co. incident with Team Rocket all over again. Except I'm in it and it's not Team Rocket."

"Not Team Rocket?"

"I couldn't really tell who they were, but I'm pretty sure they're like them, since they wore silly costumes."

"Where are you now?"

"A warehouse in Nimbasa. But please, don't come. I don't want you kidnapped. I know it's probably from watching too many movies but...they nearly got us. Besides, I don't think the one leading the group would want more people's safety to worry about."

"And you honestly thought that will stop me?"

Victor smiled in amusement. "I thought so. But look, you'd be helping me better if I know you're somewhere safe. I know you have Gekogu with you but... They had Fusions too, and you can help by trying to see if you can send info on a group of criminals who like using Bug-types."

"... ... You're sure about that?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I'll be fine, but I want you safe. I'm sure Gekogu wants that also."

A croak was heard on the PokéGear. Victor blinked. She put it on loud speaker apparently.

There was a minute of silence. Then a defeated sigh. "Okay... But if you don't come back in one piece, Gekogu won't be as forgiving," she joked. He could hear her smile from that.

He couldn't help but smile as well. "Thanks dear. I'll try calling back soon. If not well...that probably means I'm maintaining radio silence."

She chuckled. "All right, secret agent. Good night, I have to wake up early tomorrow."

"Night," he replied before ending the call.

He sighed in relief and put his PokéGear back in his fanny pack. His wife was safe and she wasn't going to put herself in danger, purposely, at least, and can now focus on more important manners, like rest.

He walked back to the couch and sat back there. He just sat there, in silence, occasionally stroking Sterops's antlers (he was in Spring form).

Then he asked Peter, "Do you want something to eat?"

---

OOC: And I finally got it up! Gosh... That took too long...