Chapter Up!
And here's the chapter! I quite enjoyed writing this one in particular and think it came out well, but I'll let you be the judges of that. =p
Thanks again to Chris the Com for beta reading this.
Chapter 24 - Gonna Battle Like It’s 1999
Nascour yawned as he walked into the reception area and began welcoming people into the Realgam Tower Colosseum for its grand opening. He hadn’t gotten as much sleep as he had planned, no thanks to the troubling dreams he had had. He didn’t recall much, but it had involved being arrested, only to run away and jump off the tower for some stupid reason, only for his leg to be somehow tied to a bungee rope, followed by flying over a swamp and being worried about his shoes falling off.
He hated how nonsensical dreams could get at times and yet how they still worried you long after waking up, nagging at your mind more obnoxiously than a disagreeable aunt eager to watch you eat that last badly cooked slice of chocolate brownie.
Beforehand he had another meeting with the mayor to decide when it might be possible to show off a Shadow Pokémon in one of the exhibition battles. The mayor naturally wanted it sooner rather than later lest interest in his venture drop off, but Nascour was not keen on making that risk just to appease some customers, even if they were rich.
It was certain that there were some of those here – some of the hotel rooms offered that featured strange gimmicks like water beds filled with raspberry jelly had already been booked, and a few of the arrivals had already headed straight for the tower’s Game Corner, complaining loudly about how they hadn’t been able to use slot machines in Johto anymore. But a lot of the people coming in today were curious citizens of Orre, which was only to be expected for opening day.
Every single one of them that had the ability to talk seemed keen to tell their life story to Nascour however, and so he had for the last half an hour been treated to amazing tales such as how someone had found a quarter in his shoe, or when another had bought a pumpkin that had a black spot upon it. The ones who were incapable of stringing two simple sentences together were arguably worse as their speech was either completely incomprehensible, or they resorted to either making butchered attempts at sign language or simply smiling oddly at him.
Somehow though the worst part of the day thus far was the decision for him to go under a false name, in case someone knew Nascour was part of Cipher. And Nascour disliked the name of Jakira – it just sounded silly. Nobody else seemed to notice given the standard name of the Orre citizen was weird to begin with, but he liked his name and maintaining the respect from others when it was mentioned.
Sighing, he moved away from the main door as a short lull occurred in the stream of people coming in, and decided to check on the rooms adjacent to the reception area. They didn’t have the problem of everyone coming in through the doors as the initial entrance was a good half-kilometre away – people had to travel by a small train through a series of glass tunnels to get to the reception area.
Nascour moved to open a side door only to stumble backwards as it flew open.
“Wah!” a large bodybuilder shouted.
“Why did you do that?” Nascour bellowed back quickly, glaring angrily at the man.
“I gave you a good jolt, eh? Wahahah! I've been waiting behind the door for you to come along!” the man boasted. “Been waiting a looong time! Next, I'll shock you even more with my-”
“I haven’t time for you,” Nascour said quietly, deciding that greeting people was a better idea after all.
“Hey!” the man shouted at Nascour. “Do you know how hard it is to just wait and wait and wait without moving!?” Noticing that Nascour was ignoring him he gave up and grumbled as he moved back behind the door. “Back to standing still I guess...”
As he returned to the entrance he noticed that a man was now standing in his original place and greeting people, declaring each one to be the thousandth guest to enter the ‘REALGAM TOWER’. He placed a strange amount of emphasis and volume into the name of the place despite the number of people ignoring him after realising that he had no prize, and the man admitting to each person that it wasn’t the case anyway.
Nascour tapped the man on the shoulder and put on his best glare. “Excuse me, but could you please cease playing your incredibly witty prank on everyone here?” Nascour asked.
“Uh...congratulations! You are the thousandth guest!” the person replied with a sneer.
“Don’t worry, Jahati man,” Dakim said as he wandered in excitedly. “I’ll deal with him.” And before Nascour could object to the action or the fact that he had said his false name incorrectly Dakim had picked up the troublemaker, opened the door and flung him down the tunnel past a cluster of arrivals. He then grinned at the group who uneasily smiled back and wondered if it was a good idea for them to come here in the first place.
“Okay, come here,” Nascour said, urging Dakim to follow him back from where he came from. Dakim happily followed his boss into a room.
“Look, you can’t go and show yourself to the public!” Nascour chided. “Never mind pick them up and throw them away! We
want visitors to come, not scare them off.”
“...Oh yeah, man,” Dakim said.
“Please remember next time – I can deal with trouble makers myself easily enough without throwing them.” Nascour then looked at Dakim’s clothing.
“But where’s the fun in that, man?” Dakim asked, but Nascour ignored the man.
“Well, at least you got out of your usual martial art gear for a change so that defining feature of you isn’t there to be noticed. Besides your height and size I guess,” he added.
“Well of course!” Dakim boomed. “I couldn’t get paint on my gi after all!”
“Anyways, stay put here please,” Nascour said as he walked back out. Dakim fiddled with his fingers before observing the room to see if there was enough space for him to practise some fighting drills, before Nascour walked back in.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t get that – what do you mean by that?” he asked with a tinge of worry in his voice.
“You know! A gi is what you call the clothing martial artists wear!” Dakim explained, shaking his head. “I thought even you would-”
“Not that,” Nascour snapped, “I meant what did you mean by getting paint on your gi?”
“Ah.” Dakim paused. “Well man, I wanted it to be a surprise...” He then turned around and shouted down an adjacent corridor. “Get over here!” A moment later Nascour gasped as a man came into the room, nervously closing the door behind him. His Cipher uniform was no longer its usual black but now a deep blue too uncomfortably akin to Wes’ outfit. His hair had also been dyed and a pair of poorly made glasses (made of two sticks duct-taped together with some cellophane) and some streaks of sunscreen on his face gave him the general appearance of Wes.
“Dakim,” Nascour said slowly, “I thought I said it was a stupid idea.”
“But he looks like Wes!” Dakim protested. “You can’t deny that!”
“He does somewhat, but it’s still stupid.” He then examined the clothing and only then noticed the unmistakeable sharp smell of paint. “And you... instead of finding some replica clothing you
painted his clothes!?”
“Yep!” Dakim said happily. Nascour facepalmed before facing the Cipher peon.
“And what is your name, and why, oh why did you encourage this big oaf?”
“F-F-Fein,” the grunt mumbled, before glancing quickly at Dakim, his bottom lip trembling. “He s-s-said he wa-was going to pu-pu-punch me if I didn’t st-stay still...”
“He kept shaking,” Dakim complained.
“Oh. That’s fair enough then,” Nascour said, as he petted the peon on the head. He then observed his hand which was now silver and wet.
“Yeah man, I painted his hair too!” Dakim said.
At that moment the mayor hurriedly ran inside the room and looked in, only to slam the door shut loudly and jump. “Why, you- hang on, you’re not...” he said to Fein.
“No, he’s not. Blame him,” Nascour said, motioning to Dakim.
“Well... never mind that. Change of plans. The police are here.”
“What?” Nascour breathed.
“Sighted from the top of the tower in force, and I suspect that they’re not here for a picnic,” Es Cade growled. “So we need to buy some time. Dakim, instead of doing...whatever it was you were doing, would you rather punch people at the entrance?”
“Yes!” Dakim exclaimed, running out of the room quickly as he dragged Fein along with him who yelped in surprise.
“Wait, why are we meeting them head-on?” Nascour frowned.
“I’ll tell you as we head up,” the mayor replied as he walked off. Sighing yet again Nascour reluctantly followed.
***
“I see movement,” Sherles said, peering through binoculars a few hundred metres away from the main entrance of the imposing tower, as the wind howled past them and sent another layer of sand from the desert flying with it. “I think Cipher has spotted us.”
“So how do we do this?” Wes asked anxiously, standing by his Zoomer with Rui next to him, and Andrew and Johnson next to Sherles. He was still annoyed by the deal he had with Andrew that Johnson was to travel with him on the Zoomer, and was now at the point of considering turning the radio’s volume up again to drown out Johnson’s inane chatter at the risk of having the advertisement jingles stuck in his head for days. He then briefly had the horrible thought of Johnson being on the radio and involuntarily shivered. “You said that Silva managed to contact us and said that the tower’s open to the public...”
“Luckily we also know it’s likely that the mayor would not wish to endanger his investment. He put a lot of money into this, as we know, and is interested in protecting his own position and reputation – I doubt he’ll suddenly start taking hostages. It complicates matters that they are here, yes, but not in that manner. Remember, I know the mayor’s personality well enough. He’s more likely to just try to escape.”
“Fair enough,” he said, looking at the tower. Long tunnels were situated behind the building that made up the entrance, connecting it to the base of the tower. It seemed a far cry to what it had looked like only a few weeks ago; the construction workers must have done their jobs exceedingly quickly to transform the dusty and dirty area into a polished black-and-white tiled floor, with holographic crystal beams around the perimeter of the building and two Sudowoodo statues standing above small fountains.
“A criminal waste of water, just like what he did with Phenac,” Sherles muttered. “If it comes to a brawl as well we needn’t worry about the tower itself. It’s been made to withstand a high standard of colosseum battles after all, and if we damage anything... well, the mayor can foot the bill himself,” he added, allowing himself a smile. “Priority is to get in and arrest those in charge of Cipher, and anyone working for them as well.”
“They’re here, all right,” Andrew confirmed as a wave of grunts suddenly spewed out from the entrance, yelling and throwing out Poké Balls. “Right, men!” he yelled at his fellow policemen. “If we clean up this bunch now then we can go back home!”
“Let’s take them!” another yelled, and the police team coupled with their army of Growlithe charged forward. Wes readied his Poké Balls as well but remained where he was as planned – he was to snag from a distance and come in only if needed. The police squad, although smaller in numbers, still matched the cipher gang, so it didn’t seem that he would be needed anyway.
Until, that was, Dakim walked through the door, grinning from ear to ear and waved at the police team who visibly slowed down. He then strode up to one of the glass Sudowoodo statues and ripped it from the fountain, spinning it in his large hands before priming it behind his shoulders, clearly ready to take on the team.
“This’ll be easy!” he said, stepping forward and swinging the statue, only narrowly missing a Growlithe who had strayed too far forward, but managing instead to collect a Cipher grunt behind him. “Oh, sorry man,” he said absentmindedly. Despite that though the rest of the Cipher agents began to attack as well, and the police quickly rearranged themselves into a more defensive structure.
“But...why are they taking off their shoes?” Rui asked, confused, as some of the cipher people began to hop around awkwardly and do just that, as well as fling their socks away which quickly latched on to the wind and carried into the distance.
“Strange people,” Johnson remarked. Wes raised an eyebrow – if Johnson recognised how weird something was correctly then either he was getting smarter or it truly was odd. Suddenly a stray shoe came flying in their direction and although Wes easily sidestepped it, it landed in the Zoomer and struck one of the controls.
“DELICIOUS GARDENING TOOLS NOW AT TWENTY-SEVENTHS OF FORTY-ONETH OF A WATERMELON PRICE!” the vehicle roared suddenly, its radio coming to life. Alarmed, the group then noticed the Zoomer take off by itself towards the tower, distracting a few of the policemen and cipher grunts alike with its advertisements.
“BATHTIME FUN WITH NOVELTY-SIZED RUBBER DUCKS! NOW WITH LAZERS!”
“I hate that thing, I really do,” Wes muttered.
“I think you and Rui should go see where it ends up, it might crash into something,” Sherles said gruffly. “But maybe first you could lend a Pokémon to help out with Dakim...” he added, looking back to the battle and Dakim who was currently swinging a policeman around his head in one hand and the Sudowoodo statue with the other.
“Good idea... Come on out, Hariyama!” Wes said, throwing out his Poké Ball. The Fighting type stomped as he was sent out and grinned at the prospect of another battle.
“Go for Dakim and stop him hurting any more policemen,” Wes instructed. “Or Growlithe,” he added as a sharp yelp sounded.
“Hari!”
(Certainly!) Hariyama boomed as it walked towards the scene.
“Right, let’s go around,” Rui suggested, and as Wes nodded his agreement the two followed the yelling Zoomer, making sure to keep their distance from the brawl. They kept pace with the Zoomer, but weren’t quite able to gain on it as it lumbered across the desert.
“At least it’s... not going very...fast...” Wes panted. He then cringed as despite this fact the vehicle went straight through one of the glass tunnels, sending sharp pieces of glass across the ground. It stopped the Zoomer dead in its tracks, but not the noise it was making.
“Stupid thing,” Wes said, covering his ears somewhat as he stepped into it and turned off the engine, and then removed the shoe. “The heck... there’s some strange powder in this shoe.”
“Maybe that’s why they took them off?” Rui said, scratching her head. They paused in thought before Wes sat upright and slapped his head lightly.
“Hang on, we just got in, didn’t we? Bypassed the whole fight!” he said. “That was...easier than expected.”
“You’re right!” Rui said happily, before turning around. “Although I think a couple of them noticed,” she added, remarking at two Cipher grunts who had followed them and were quickly converging, making grunts of pain as their bare feet burned on the hot sandy ground.
“Hmm. I think we should cool them down first then!” Wes said with a grin as he pulled out a Poké Ball.
***
“No,” Nascour said flatly as he and the mayor looked down on the battle below them as they ascended to the top of the tower by elevator. Like the train tunnels, they were also made of reinforced glass and so they had a clear view of the battlefield. Dakim was swinging about his Sudowoodo statue haphazardly (to the mayor’s dismay – he had paid good money on those fountain decorations) and the battle between the police and Cipher was currently even, but they hadn’t failed to notice the two teenagers who had started all their problems crash their vehicle into the tunnel. And the few cipher agents who had followed them had just been sent flying back across the desert by the boy’s Feraligatr blasting water from range into the pair. Nascour shivered, as if he had been hit by the attacks himself.
“Why didn’t they bring their Pokémon with them?” the mayor fumed silently.
“Never mind that – why did you order the attack?” Nascour said. “Maybe they hadn’t known that we were here!”
“I doubt that,” the mayor replied. “They came in numbers, prepared for a showdown. When I saw them I decided to call my office and check my answering machine for any messages, and figured out that they know of my input here.”
“Ah,” Nascour said, pausing in thought for a moment. “So we’re screwed then, right?” The man buried his face in one hand and sighed deeply. “No,” he mumbled into his hand a moment later.
“Well, that depends by what you mean by ‘we’,” the mayor said slowly. “If you mean Cipher in general as a group, then yes and no. I’ve taken care of the papers in the office here and passed it on to the other party we have, so if they are careful, Cipher may yet remain. If you mean Cipher’s current employees though, especially the ones stationed here, I am sceptical of their current career lasting beyond tonight. And if you mean my career as mayor, that’s quite possibly over as well, sadly.
“And by we as in the two of us....” The mayor then paused. Nascour looked to Es Cade, and noticed a small glint in his eye. “We’ll open the Colosseum to the public right now, let those peons we planned to open proceedings have their small competition opening to appease and distract the masses watching, and then escape. I have a few helicopters positioned on the top of the tower, luckily. That’s why I ordered our attack – anything to hold back the police for an extra minute will be to our benefit.”
“Alright,” Nascour said. “Pity our defences have been breached by those two scoundrels, but when we get to the top I’ll contact Miror B first thing and get him to hold them. He should still be down there so if anyone gets through, I’m sure he can hold them up.”
“Excellent thinking,” the mayor replied, before pausing and looking down below again. “And do humour me, Nascour, but is that what I think I see?”
“What?” Nascour asked, following the mayor’s gaze. Another small group of people were approaching the tower from the opposite side, clad in a familiar red uniform.
“Team Snagem!” Nascour said after a moment. “Interesting... maybe, just maybe, if they can help our group defeat the police right here and now, we could sweep the region in one fell swoop!”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves... but we have help, most certainly. And if not, we’ll still have our escape plan. Best case scenario – we defeat the police and so can push to regain control of the region. I’m still mayor after all so if the police are defeated...well! And if not, we lose our power, but escape ourselves, and Cipher may yet remain, ready for its rebirth when things cool down.”
“Yes... maybe we’re not so screwed after all, Es Cade,” Nascour said softly, thinking deeply. Just then the elevator reached the top part of the tower and so their vision of the land below disappeared with the replacement of the glass – although the middle of the tower’s stalk was made of glass, the topmost section was not.
“Please,” the mayor said with a smile. “We might as well get better acquainted. Call me Evice.”
***
“Ha, this is a fight worthy of myself, man!” Dakim shouted as he ran forward at Hariyama once again, ignoring the buffeting wind or the other struggles around him between police and fellow cipher peon, recognising the threat the oversized fighting type posed to them. The Pokémon grunted as he raised his large arms to block the incoming statue that Dakim had swung swiftly, and quickly stepped closer and tried to grab the man’s clothing. Dakim was ready however and shifted his body out of reach before he attempted to hit the Fighting type on the other side with his improvised bat. This time Hariyama took the hit but grabbed at the statue as it struck, and ignoring the throbbing pain on the right side of his chest, squeezed, crushing the glass object into pieces. Dakim frowned and then quickly darted to the left as Hariyama threw what remained at him, only for the remains to harmlessly land on the tiled ground. Dakim meanwhile moved to another fountain and uprooted its statue, ignoring the water spurting out of the glass structure that soaked the lower part of his pants.
“Hari!”
(I can do that too!) Hariyama shouted as he grabbed at an object that he noticed from the corner of his eye and wielded it, only for it to squirm in his grip and shout.
“Let go of me!” Andrew shouted, brandishing his policeman’s hat at Hariyama.
“Hariyama! Ya!”
(Stop shouting and keep still! I want to attack!) Hariyama bellowed back. Andrew shuddered as his ears rang from the yell of the Pokémon, guessing that he wasn’t going to let go of him. He then looked at Dakim regard this development, yet maintain his grinning expression and gulped, as the colour quickly drained away from his face.
“Hey, Team Snagem are here!” a Cipher peon yelled. Both Dakim and Hariyama looked and noticed a large group of grunts charge towards the brawl, with Gonzap leading the charge, dust flying up from the ground behind them as the thundering of their running grew louder.
“Aha, more help!” Dakim said, his grin growing wider as he kept an eye on the Hariyama. “Your police have more trouble now, man! Hello, angry man!” he shouted to Gonzap, waving an arm at him.
But why is he frowning at me? Dakim mused, now frowning slightly as he also noticed the police seemingly disregard their arrival – in fact, they didn’t even try to move out of the way. A moment later Gonzap reached the battle but didn’t slow down, instead running right past a police officer.
“Welcome, Sir Gonzap-” a Cipher grunt started with a salute.
“For Snagem!” Gonzap shouted, as he threw a straight punch at the welcoming Cipher agent. The man staggered for a moment before his legs gave way and collapsed.
“Hey, man! That’s mean!” Dakim spluttered, completely thrown off by this action. “Oof!” he added inadvertently as Hariyama took advantage of the distraction and struck the man with a large open fist directly in the solar plexus, winding the human giant. As Dakim wheezed for breath the Pokémon then swung the yelling Andrew around into his temple, bringing both the unfortunate policeman and Dakim into the land of unconsciousness. Satisfied with a job well done, Hariyama shouted loudly and then looked around for another victim.
“Wh-why are you...attacking us?” the victim of Gonzap’s first punch gasped. “I thought Snagem were Cipher’s ally...”
Gonzap merely looked down and smiled. “You’ll do well to learn that friends are just enemies who don’t have the guts to kill you.” He then kicked the man and gazed around as the Cipher grunt groaned.
“You kicked me!” he screamed.
“Shut up,” Gonzap ordered, kicking him again before something caught his eye. “You!” Gonzap shouted and pointed as the rest of the Team Snagem members joined the fray with their Pokémon. He then swung his other fist and connected with the new victim, knocking him out cold.
“Take that, Wes...wait,” he said as he regarded his hand, which had collected some blue markings. He sniffed his hand and smelt that it was paint, and then looked down and examined the man, and realised that he was clearly not Wes, despite his appearance.
“The heck...?” he grumbled, before frowning. “Is this some sort of joke of Cipher’s?” he growled, grabbing a Poké Ball and throwing it in front of him. “I’ll show them with an object of their own creation! Skarmory, destroy your opponents! A widespread Whirlwind!”
“Skaaarr!”
(Flowers!) the bird shrilled loudly. He flew around in circles above Gonzap for a moment and surveyed the field, before spotting the unmistakable body of a Cipher peon’s Pokémon in Sunflora. Screeching suddenly he flew down and proceeded to stamp weirdly on the grass type.
“No, don’t focus on...never mind, I’ll come back for you later,” Gonzap spat as he walked into the building, palming a cipher peon that made the mistake of trying to stop him out of the way. He didn’t care for talking to this Sherles fellow just now, nor with helping him out in beating some no-name Cipher agents after all, nor what happened to that joke of a Shadow Pokémon of his. Clearly he had been jibbed by Cipher and given some poor excuse, some prototype to what they, especially Nascour, had claimed would be one of the ultimate fighting machines.
And now he had a score to settle.
***
“What happened here?” Rui said to Wes curiously as they walked past a man groaning in the middle of the tunnel. He mumbled something that sounded like a congratulations for being a visitor to the tower, but Wes ignored him and walked on the rails towards the main base of the tower. Feraligatr had easily accounted for the few Cipher guards that had followed them, so Wes had returned him to his Poké Ball. He kept his hand near it though, glancing side to side from time to time as he quickened his pace.
“Maybe he got knocked down by the Cipher guards that came out to battle us,” he said as he pocketed his P*DA as well. “Just sent a message to Sherles. He says to go in and try to find the mayor and Nascour quickly, so we’ll let the police tend to this guy when they’re finished.”
“Fair enough,” Rui said.
“Sherles also says that Team Snagem are a few minutes from arriving. Bet that’ll be a nice surprise for those Cipher grunts they’re battling...You got your Pokémon secured?” Wes asked.
“Yes,” Rui replied with a grin, touching the few Poké Balls she has secured to her skirt.
“Good. I don’t think Sherles would want you to lose any of them, particularly that one,” Wes said. Besides Quagsire and a few other Shadow Pokémon, Rui had one more Pokémon in her possession this time; Sherles had decided to loan the police’s Suicune to her, reasoning that although the legendary Shadow Pokémon were hard to control it was silly to pass up having such a force on their side, should things turn tough. And although he hadn’t intended for her and Wes to find themselves within the building so quickly, he had been clear that they should take advantage of their position.
“We should also keep an eye out for Silva and Miror B,” Wes continued. “I’m a bit sceptical of the news that Silva managed to send to us last night, that Miror B is on our side, but it makes sense given what happened at the lab.
“Mmm,” Rui hummed in agreement. “He did seem the least...mean of the admins you’ve battled after all.”
“And the weirdest,” Wes added.
A few moments of walking later they walked into the reception area. Rui quickly marvelled at the place – a checkerboard style of tiling greeted them, followed with more lavish fountains and lamps. A moat surrounded the room. A few people regarded the two’s entry but ignored them.
“Must be part of the general public,” Wes mumbled, glancing around. He then looked up and noticed a man clad in gray Cipher gear descending to the ground floor in the elevator front of them. “He, however...” he whispered, reaching down for his Poké Balls.
“Aha, the blue man again!” shouted another as he sprang from another room. Wes turned and vaguely recalled the man from Phenac City who had owned Feraligatr initially as a Croconaw.
“Yes, you are the one who defeated me long ago, Wes!” Bluno continued, shouting as he waved his hands about wildly and walked towards him. “But today I will-” His speech was abruptly ended as a door he had passed suddenly flew open and sent him flying with a loud splash into the moat.
“WAH!” shouted a bodybuilder that stepped out from behind the door. “I stood still again and waited a looooong time for this! I bet I surprised you all by jumping....out...like that...” he began, before trailing off as he noticed Bluno flail about in the water.
“Yes, you did,” Wes said, blinking at this event.
“Help! I can’t swim!” Bluno yelled, despite the fact that the moat was rather shallow, to the point that had he been lying on his back he still would not be submerged.
“You didn’t see anything!” the other man shouted as he ran back inside the room he had come from and slammed the door shut behind him. Unfortunately the door had been moved so quickly that it fell off the hinges, revealing that the bodybuilder had moved behind it again. He ignored it and continued standing perfectly still.
“What just happened...?” Rui said weakly.
“I don’t know, but I think my brain is melting,” Wes replied. At that point the elevator doors opened as a soft
ding sounded from the lift.
“We meet again, Wes!” Skrub said loudly. “I’m sure you remember me!”
“I’m sorry...I think I remember the face but...” Wes admitted.
“Oh.” Skrub paused and seemed a bit upset by this, before he looked over at Bluno. “Oi, get up you stupid oaf!”
“I’M DROWNING!” Bluno continued to wail, splashing around stupidly. Skrub sighed.
“I’m Skrub.”
“Oh... Silva mentioned you – you’re not on Cipher’s side anymore, are you?” Wes asked slowly, still trying to remember this one grunt.
“Wasn’t he the guy at the Relic Stone?” Rui whispered to Wes.
Wes’ eyes lit up as he recalled the event and nodded. “Yes, I think you’re right...”
“Ahem! You are right – I’ve betrayed Cipher,” Skrub said, “but I’ve got a qualm with you still. You’re the one responsible for me getting demoted, and-”
“...Okay, and?” Wes asked, frowning. “So what? If you’re quitting anyway-”
“But nothing!” Skrub screeched, pulling out two Poké Balls. “I need to settle this score for myself, or at least try to. Consider this a personal matter.” He then threw the two capsules in front of the pair, as Wes pulled out his own and quickly tossed them too.
“And you’re holding us up from finding the mayor!” Rui shouted, as Feraligatr and Umbreon came out to greet Skrub’s Clamperl and Medicham. “Where are they? Or Miror B?”
“So if you’re good enough, you’ll be able to beat me and still find them,” Skrub drawled. “As for those people, I do not know. Somewhere in this tower is all I can say. But now...I remember you took my Hitmontop, but this Medicham I claimed as my replacement, so let’s see what it can do! Hi-Jump Kick on the Umbreon, and Clamperl, attack that Feraligatr with Clamp!”
“Clamperl!”
(Chompy time!) the water type snapped as it hopped towards its foe.
“Oh, please,” Wes said, quickly tugging Rui slightly to the side so their backs faced part of the moat not containing the flailing Bluno in it instead of the tunnel they had come through. “Feraligatr, just keep your distance. Umbreon, position yourself in front of the doorway!”
The large alligator obliged and punched the shell Pokémon away when it leapt in the air with its mouth open wide, while Umbreon tensed his muscles and positioned himself. As the Fighting type launched itself at him with a foot aimed at its head, Umbreon quickly flopped down and hugged his body to the ground, letting the Medicham fly over him and through the door. Wes observed the Pokémon turn its head and watch its intended target wave a paw at him as it continued to fly perfectly parallel to the ground down the tunnel. He then nodded to Feraligatr who quickly moved to the door and slammed it shut.
“Urrgh, I
really hate it when that attack misses,” Skrub muttered.
***
“Bunch of weaklings,” Gonzap muttered as he continued down one of the tunnels, passing by one of the trains and wiping some sweat from his face. He ignored the groans of pain emitted from the couple of Cipher grunts he had left behind in the last room who had foolishly tried to stop him – he had knocked those down before they even had a chance to send out their Pokémon.
“The heck is with the design of this place though? It’s like they’re not yet finished with this part...whatever,” he said to himself. He kept making the wrong turn to his annoyance, ending up in a dead end every so often that had usually been covered in hundreds of paintings of Pokémon, usually of Ludicolo. He had a feeling that this was the right way though, as the base of the tower seemed rather close now as the train reached the end of the current passageway.
One more turn and tunnel to travel through, he thought,
and I can-
The large man suddenly jumped as a Medicham crashed through another doorway and kept flying through the room he had just entered, landing with a loud clunk. Gonzap frowned and took out one of his Poké Balls and let it bounce on the ground.
“Think you could surprise me, huh?” he demanded. “Like those stupid Cipher agents dropping in from the ceiling, huh?”
The dazed Medicham groaned and looked up, and then edged away slowly from the Gyarados that glared at the Pokémon.
“Oh, there’s no escaping my wrath,” Gonzap said coldly. Then to his Pokémon, he added, “Finish him!”
***
“Right, I’ll try this one until he comes back!” Skrub continued, sending out another Pokémon. This time a Wobbuffet appeared and saluted all in the room.
“Wobbuffet!”
(Wobba!) it said gruffly. It then opened a tube of lipstick it had been holding and then applied it to its lips with utmost focus.
“Why does it...” Rui begun.
“Shut up,” Skrub said quickly. “But just you try to take this one on, seeing she’s now far stronger than her previous Wynaut form!”
“Oh come on, that’s the best you got?” Wes taunted. “Sure, it’s dangerous if I attack it, but seeing I
don’t have to attack it right now as it doesn’t know any attacking moves, I’d say it’s none of my concern! Umbreon and Feraligatr, focus your attacks on the Clamperl!”
“What? No, that’s not fair!” Skrub cried as the two Pokémon leapt on the shell Pokémon and unleashed a flurry of attacks. “Stop them!” he ordered his Wobbuffet, but the tall blue Pokémon merely continued applying lipstick. Realising that her lips had now been done, she then moved to the rest of her face, scrawling scribbles of pink on the back of her head.
“Stop that!” Skrub shouted.
“Clamp!”
(Help me!) the Clamperl shouted as it tried desperately to snap at one of its opponents, but a moment later its mouth became still as it fainted.
“Bah!” Skrub, said, recalling it and sending out another Pokémon quickly. “This one which also evolved recently might do more!” A Graveler appeared as Skrub shouted, “Use Rock Blast!” at it.
“Umbre!”
(Ah, one of those things!) Umbreon yelled, recalling the one he had battled on Mt Battle.
“Feraligatr, Water Gun please,” Wes commanded. Startled, the Graveler decided against its attack and instead leapt behind the Wobbuffet, narrowly escaping the attack which struck the Psychic type instead, knocking the lipstick out of its arm. It frowned and picked up the tube, and then glowed a bright white colour and sent what remained of the burst of water back at Feraligatr at twice the speed it had been fired, successfully striking the large Pokémon who grimaced as he was hit. Noticing this, the Graveler smirked as glowing rocks began to surround it and grow in size. They then flew at the two Pokémon who retreated, Feraligatr behind a pillar and Umbreon a desk.
“Umbreon...”
(At least it’s not throwing its arm...) Umbreon muttered.
“Hmm, good thing I ordered a light attack then,” Wes muttered. “But let’s play your game then! Feraligatr, use that part of the moat for a Surf! Umbreon, Quick Attack your way at the Wobbuffet!”
Nodding, the Umbreon suddenly dashed around the room at rapid pace, easily avoiding the barrage of rocks that rattled against the tiled floor. Meanwhile Feraligatr grinned and raised his arms, sending the water by the side of the room into the air and rushing at Skrub’s side, bringing with it a hapless and crying Bluno. Skrub swore darkly and jumped to higher ground as Umbreon then bumped into the Punching Bag Pokémon before bouncing off of it just as the wave struck the Wobbuffet. The timing proved successful as the Wobbuffet tried to retaliate to the physical attack and not the special one. The Graveler leapt onto a chandelier and hung on, looking down at the water, but was instantly knocked off by Feraligatr’s following Water Gun attack and landed with a
plop into the water, as the chandelier snapped off and followed suit.
“Well...I still have the Wobbuffet!” Skrub shouted desperately, ignoring the splatter of glass remaining as he recalled his Graveler.
“Good for you,” Wes said as his Pokémon resumed battle stances. “But do you think you can get it to counter my attacks successfully when there’s two Pokémon at once?”
“Focus, Wobbuffet!” Skrub said in a strained voice. The fact the Pokémon had resumed decorating itself with lipstick didn’t fill the man with confidence however, nor its questioning gaze upon hearing Skrub’s command.
“Wobb...?”
(You want a go...?) it asked eventually, offering the lipstick.
“Wes,” Rui said suddenly as Wes mused how to begin the attack again. “I think I’ve found Miror B. Or rather, he found us.” She then gestured to the elevator. During the battle neither had noticed that it had ascended again, and now it was returning to earth with the telltale afro clearly visible.
“He better not want a battle as well, despite apparently being on our side!” Wes said in response.
Then the door the two had entered through opened with a loud creak.
“Aha, my Medicham has retur- you’re not Medicham,” Skrub said as a bald man entered the room. He looked at Wes and glared deeply.
“Why...hello, Gonzap,” Wes said uneasily as his Pokémon regarded this new arrival and turned around.
“Umbreon Umbre...“
(I see your eyebrows are starting to grow back...) Umbreon remarked.
“You seem like the real deal then!” Gonzap said. Before Wes could question this statement, Gonzap’s Gyarados arrived by crashing through the wall next to the doorway and snarling at the occupants.
“You’re not Medicham either,” Skrub said quietly.
“Oh, there you are!” Miror B sung as he stepped out of the elevator, his usual salsa music accompanying him, as did Silva.
“Hyper Beam,” Gonzap ordered. Wes quickly ignored the other arrivals, grabbed Rui and dragged her behind a pillar as Umbreon and Feraligatr did likewise. A split second later an almighty beam of energy flew out of Gyarados’ mouth and struck the wall by Miror B, who threw himself to the ground as Silva squeaked and ran behind the elevator. The man of dance then gazed upwards and noticed how close the attack had come to hitting his hair, and the large, black, smouldering mark it had left behind.
“You... you...” Miror B muttered, before picking himself up and the radio he had been carrying. Silence fell on the room as he stopped the music and hastily shuffled through his tapes as he stepped forward.
“Out of the way, Miror B,” Gonzap said slowly. “I’ll deal with you next, as well as the rest of Cipher, but Wes is mine right now. So I suggest-”
“Nobody,” Miror B interjected, “I repeat, nobody,
messes with the hair.” With that, he spun, grabbed Poke Balls from his afro and summoned four Ludicolo who quacked in unison as they appeared.
“My Ludicolo,” he began, as Gonzap grabbed a few more Poké Balls of his own from his pockets, “the man before you dared to mess with the ‘fro. You know what to do.” He then grabbed a bunch of maracas from his hair and threw them to his Pokémon who grabbed them and danced towards the Gyarados.
“The hell is wrong with you?” Gonzap shouted, ready to send out his other Pokémon if he needed them. “”Trying to stop me with your ducks? Gyarados, Aqua Tail!”
“I think we’ll just let him deal with it,” Wes whispered to Rui, who nodded. They quickly moved across the slippery floor to the doorway of a room opposite the one in which the bodybuilder was in and still diligently standing perfectly still in, and motioned to Silva and Wes’ Pokémon to follow. Skrub had taken refuge in the moat with Bluno who had ended up back in it and was still yelling his heart out.
“Stop screaming!” Skrub shouted at the man.
The Gyarados roared and twisted its body so to fling its tail at a Ludicolo, only to roar when it and the four others suddenly jumped and grabbed the tail and then swung it across the room into the forgotten Wobbuffet. The Psychic Pokémon flopped back upon impact before springing back upright and sending the Gyarados flying back into a pillar. Before it had a chance to recover the four dancing pineapples delivered a series of punching attacks to its jaw and body and in mere seconds they had successfully knocked it out.
“That’s—that’s- Arrgh!” Gonzap shouted before he decided he needed his other Pokémon after all, and released a Shiftry, Pinsir and Granbull. “Right, let’s see you take on these three!”
Miror B responded not with a taunt but the insertion of a music tape into his radio. Wes raised an eyebrow when a chill disco song begun playing; he had seemed so angry that he had imagined something like
Ride of the Valkyries would play. His Ludicolo however seemed immensely energised by the tune, clapping their hands in time to the music as their dance changed.
It was then that Miror B begun to sing.
“It's murder on the dance floor,
But you better not kill the groove,
DJ, gonna burn this goddamn house right down!”
At that moment, the Ludicolo clapped loudly and shouted, blasting sound at the three Pokémon and forcing them on the defensive. Gonzap also yelled and covered his ears, and then stared as suddenly the Ludicolo numbered not four, but eight.
“What...? Where did they come from?” he said slowly, as it dawned on him that this would not be a simple move at all.
“Clever,” Wes breathed to Rui. “Uproar to distract, and followed with Double Team. Now he doesn’t know which to hit!”
“Oh, I know I know I know I know I know I know I know,
About your kind,” Miror B sung, clapping as the eight Ludicolo responded and spread across the room.
“Hyper Beam!” Gonzap ordered. All three of his Pokémon obliged and fired their beams but the Ludicolo and their clones merely danced out of the way as the attacks failed to hit anything but pillars and walls.
“Now Gonzap’s too hasty; his Pokémon have to recover from those attacks,” Wes commented. His Pokémon nodded in agreement as they observed.
“And so and so and so and so and so and so and so,
I'll have to play,” he continued, clapping again as eight jets of water hammered into the Pinsir who stumbled backwards into the moat face first. Next a flurry of leaves flew at the large helpless Bug who flailed while each leaf hit before falling still. Gonzap yelled at the rest of his Pokémon but they looked uneasily around the room as they recovered from their previous attacks. Rui felt a little bit sorry for them given they were surrounded by an army of dancing pineapple ducks quacking angrily and a bizarre man singing at them, but she didn’t like the look of the angry Gonzap or the fact he was attacking them, and so silently cheered on Miror B.
“The all-together!” Miror B called suddenly. Both sets of real and fake Ludicolo then joined hands and shouted again at the two remaining Pokémon, forcing them to again recoil at the blast of sound. As they did so they advanced towards them, forming a circle. The Shiftry quickly realised the trap and stumbled forward at one of the Ludicolo despite the waves of sound assaulting it.
“If you think you're getting away,
I will prove you wrong!”
The Shiftry ran straight into the waiting fist of a Ludicolo, which had been coated in freezing ice that quickly spread across the Grass type.
“I'll take you all the way,
Boy, just come along!”
Meanwhile the Granbull had also charged forward, but was surprised when he passed right through one of his foes. At this point the group split into two groups of four and three and spun around to surround the Shiftry and Granbull respectively.
“Hear me when I say, hey!”
And then the Ludicolo unleashed their attacks as one, the Granbull falling victim to another array of water jets and the Shiftry to a collective Drain Punch combo that struck it upon all sides of its head at once. Although three of the attacks had been from Double Team clones, the Ludicolo were so invigorated by the music that Gonzap’s Pokémon stood no chance.
Miror B grinned.
“
It's murder on the dance floor,
But you better not kill the groove,
Hey, hey!”
“How?” Gonzap said, recalling his Pokémon.
“It's murder on the dance floor,
But you better not steal the moves,
DJ, gonna burn this goddamn house right down!”
“Stop singing that!” Gonzap shouted. Miror B instead turned up the volume on his radio as his Ludicolo chimed in with their own quacking. Growling, Gonzap stomped towards the man only for a large hand to strike him in the back of the neck. Crying out loud he fell on the ground and lost consciousness.
“Hariyama!”
(Number eight!) Hariyama boasted.
“Good timing,” Wes said, moving back into the room. Miror B shrugged and recalled his Ludicolo before changing the song to a victory-like jingle, as Hariyama shook Gonzap.
“That was awesome!” Silva exclaimed.
“Hariyama! Hari!?”
(My experience points! Where are they!?) he demanded of the man. But before he could attempt to extract such a thing from Gonzap, Wes had recalled him along with Umbreon and Feraligatr.
“Now, Skrub,” Miror B said, “whyever did you attack our ticket out of here?”
“I’ve got my own reasons,” Skrub said, picking himself out of the moat, water dripping from his suit. “I got demoted because of him, and-”
“Oh, that hardly matters anymore,” Miror B scolded. “You’re quitting anyway, aren’t you?”
“That’s beside the point!”
“So what would you have done had you beaten him anyway?” Rui asked.
“Well, I would... well,” Skrub said, before he pondered the question. “Said ‘ha ha, I beat you’, for starters, and...”
“And nothing,” Miror B concluded with a sigh. Ignoring Skrub’s protests, he continued to Wes, “You sure have a lot of people after you, Wes!”
“I guess I’m not very likable among Cipher and Snagem,” Wes said with a shrug. “Wonder why.” Miror B grinned.
“Yes, that’s certainly true. You’ve been quite the smooth criminal from Cipher’s point of view! So much that I was recently contacted by a higher up to deal with you myself, but instead I think I’ll just tell you that he and our wonderful mayor are at the top of the tower about to address a large audience.”
“So you are on our side then,” Rui said with a soft smile.
“Yes, well... sorry for all the trouble earlier,” Miror B said, sheepishly scratching the side of his head. “Anyway, just take this and the next elevator straight up, and prepare your Pokémon for a fight. I have a feeling they intend to get away, so speed is of the essence!”
“Right,” Wes said, catching his drift and moving into the elevator with Rui. “And what about yourself?”
“I’ll head to the control room,” Miror B said. “I had something set up there but it’s been locked... however I can always try to break in!”
“Alright then. Silva, tell Sherles that they can begin moving in when they can, and where we’re going,” he instructed. Silva nodded eagerly and pulled out his P*DA.
“Good luck!” Rui said as the doors closed behind them and they ascended.
“Do the Wes dance!” Miror B called back. Skrub raised an eyebrow at this form of encouragement. Miror B ignored him, instead smiling at the pair above feeling better about his choice by the minute.
“Help!” Bluno called suddenly.
“Shut
up!” Skrub yelled.
***
I wonder what will happen next!!! =p
Usual 'stuff-in-chapter/game' info IN THE NEXT POST BECAUSE OF CHARACTER LIMITS EXCEEDED BY ONLY 500 CHARACTERS HNNNNNNNG.
Although his oldest Pikachu partner isn’t that much of a threat (the parrot would be too fast for it), the younger ones are… Well, whatever. The cockatoo prefers my grandpa over everyone and is actually a bit shy with strangers. So… whatever… If my grandpa grows a long beard again, it will be a good solution for everyone…
