Crimson breathed a sigh of relief when they said they were heading back. Fights always excited him, but only when he was fighting animosity, not creating it.
The brunette didn't seem very accepting about the boy's Legendary, but he didn't mind. Looking in hindsight, it may have been worth it just to see how far he would get to beating the flying dragon type, but he also felt a sense of foreboding...he would get his chance.
He waved a hearty goodbye towards Cinder mostly, but a little bit towards Seraphine as well. They had their hearts in the right place. They would do fine at their academy.
And just like that, the tension faded as the three left, leaving most of TeaM PerSisTenCe with hunched shoulders and drooped arms...well those that had arms to droop.
"Alright...that's enough excitement for one day," Sarik started walking towards the beds, "I'm going to nap now!"
"Hold on," Crimson stopped him, "We still need to find out why Domingo acted the way he did."
With a groan, Sarik redirected his walking path from the bed to the tied up Samurott. "Go take a break, he said," Sarik muttered under his breath, "I got this, he said."
And while Crimson felt bad for going against what he'd asked Sarik to do earlier, he needed him. There were just some things that Sarik was better at than Crimson.
"I'll be scout!" Tag called and bolted out the east entrance to make his way up the mountain.
"Okay, Pert, Meryl, come here," he motioned towards the two who were talking in the corner. They bounded towards him.
"Yeah?" Pert said.
"I'll need you guys as standby. If anything goes wrong and Samurott starts attacking us, zap him with something. Your attacks are stronger against him."
"We know that!" Meryl waved her hand at him.
"Don't worry, we got this," Pert added.
"Alright, just be careful," Crimson cautioned, "This could get dicey."
When Crimson, Pert, and Meryl walked over, Sarik was already studying Domingo, looking for oddities. Dobro was leaning against the wall, seemingly upset. It was difficult to see such a fighter taken to this level of despair.
"What's up, Dobro?" Crimson had to ask.
"I'm just worried," Dobro waved them off, "That's all."
Crimson nodded and moved on. He had every right to be. It was like a role reversal for him. When Domingo was just an Oshawott and Dobro was just a Pancham, they were the best of friends. That was before the Psychic Rebellion. When the Psychic types started to see themselves as superior to the other Pokemon, they started doing terrible things...one of those things that the Psychic Rebellion did that was personal to Domingo was kidnapping Dobro. It was the thing that spurred Domingo to become an Isle Defender as well as one of the best Isle Defenders. It was one of those things Crimson noticed in Domingo when Crimson joined the guild later...the overpowering sense of determination in the Samurott. It was his insignia and his very style of life.
A few months before the final battle between the Psychic Rebellion and the Isle Defenders, Domingo found Dobro in one of their work camps. Dobro was completely brainwashed by the Psychic Rebellion, much like how Domingo was now. It took a lot of effort, but Dobro eventually came to remember Domingo after Domingo relayed the memories they shared together when they were kids. It came with a price, however. He ended up losing his other partner, Genus the Bearctic, to the Psychic rebellion.
Yeah, that day was a rough one for a lot of reasons, especially for Crimson who was put out of commission for a while on that day. But finding Dobro had been one of the bright spots.
Now, it was clear that Dobro had tried to get in touch with Domingo through the same method, but it didn't work. Crimson felt sorry for him. The two brutes were inseparable now. Watching their teamwork as they did their job was something to marvel at. Not to mention the fact that their two could almost completely measure up to his five member team...it was something powerful.
Crimson promised that he would bring them back to that no matter what.
"Sarik, got anything?" he wondered, looking over the Squirtle's shoulder.
"Well...he looks completely fine except for these black rings around his eyes." Sarik commented, turning around to face Crimson, "He very well may be under influence of a Dark-Type."
"A Dark-Type?" Crimson repeated, "What Dark-Types have the ability to control other Pokemon?"
"None that I know of," Sarik admitted, "It could be Tech doing this?"
"Could it?" Crimson questioned, "Dr. Eckels isn't here. He may know how to do that, but he wouldn't try to create such a thing for fear of it falling into the wrong hands. Besides, how could anyone else with his Tech even get here? It was us, Team Justice, and Team RedEye that went through that portal."
Sarik shrugged, "We haven't run into Team RedEye so far. Shot in the dark, maybe it's them?"
"No," Crimson refuted, "They have their own agenda. They were only bad when Zane led them."
"Maybe Zane is with them?"
"How could Zane have sneaked through the portal?"
"I don't know. He's crafty. We both know that."
Crimson thought over this for a few moments, then sighed, "It's possible. We'll look for Team RedEye when we get a chance. In the meantime, any way to reverse it?"
"Potentially with a Dark-Type move. Know any of those?" Sarik couldn't help but smirk.
"Yeah, I think I got a few," Crimson grinned, "Stand back."
As the others backed away Crimson thought about whether he should do this. The Dark-Type had been more functionally useful to him than any of the other types he could change into, but there was a risk accompanied with it. There was a part of him there...a sinister part of him who loved to take control. He had yet to figure it out, but he knew he'd let it take over once and almost let it happen again while he was sleeping. It had been dormant since attempt two, but Crimson was always wary of it.
So long as he didn't tap too far into his Dark-Type powers, he should be fine he decided. But he still didn't know where that line was.
He closed his eyes and pulled the dark essence of himself outward. Immediately, the base shone with light he gave off as he transformed. When the light cleared, Crimson looked different. His fur was black and sleek. His belly and eyes were charcoal grey. He even had a tail now, replacing the ball of fire that had been there before it.
Crimson was now a Dark-Type.
He looked over to Sarik. "If my eyes go red, you'll have to give me the same treatment as Domingo. Be ready for that." When Crimson's eyes turned bright red, that was the telltale sign the dark being inside him was taking over. For now, they stayed grey. But he wanted to be prepared. Sarik nodded, stepping over to where the vines on the wall were.
At this rate, we're going to lose all the decorations...
Crimon looked at Samurott for the first time. To his surprise, the Mind-Control thing was much more noticeable when he was a Dark-Type. Not only were there black rings around Domingo's eyes, but a cloud of black smoke rising from his head. He could even hear whispers.
"You did the right thing,"
"It was the stupid monkey that foiled your plans,"
"End him the next chance you get,"
Yeah, sorry buddy. Not lettin' ya lose any time soon...
Crimson carefully examined the tied up Samurott, taking a couple circles, trying to figure out the solution.
Could he simply pull the cloud off of him?
It was worth a shot. Concentrating hard, Crimson held out his arms and tried extracting the clouds out of Domingo's mind. The clouds, oddly enough, came to his hand easily, hovering over his palms. Samurott started shaking his head as things started coming back to him.
Well, that was easy. But what do I do with this?
He figured if he let it go, it would fly off and control someone else. It may even control him. That wouldn't be good. He'd have to find a way to abolish the cloud.
Suddenly, he got an idea.
"Pert, bring my Power Bat!" he called to the Plusle who immediately set out for it and found it leaning against one of the walls. He tossed it to him and Crimson caught it with one hand, keeping the cloud settled with the other.
"Now, let's try this..." Crimson muttered, holding the Power Bat over the cloud and tried absorbing the dark mind controlling cloud into energy. To his relief, the cloud was sucked up instantaneously, disappearing into the Bat.
"Yeah! I think I got it!"
Crimson dropped the Bat and pulled the fire essence outside. A shift in light, and he was back to being a fire monkey.
"Just in case it didn't do this before..." He knew Dr. Eckels designed the bat to be type variable, meaning that it would convert the energy in the bat to the wielder's type. This was why it worked so well with him.
And when he picked up the bat, he twirled it and unleashed a fireball from it's tip, hitting the rocky side and singeing the surface. "Alright, I think I did it. Untie Domingo now, Sarik,"
Sarik immediately obeyed. "Hey, the black ring around his eyes is gone!" Sarik commented, "I think you actually did do it!"
When the Samurott was untied, Dobro got up from the wall and cautiously walked over to him. "Buddy...you okay?"
Samurott shook his head once more, "Wh-what happened?"
"We think you were controlled by a Dark-Type," Crimson relayed, "Although as for who or what did that, we haven't figured out yet. Do you remember anything?"
Domingo thought for a moment, "I...no, not really,"
"What's the last thing you recall?"
"Falling asleep at our base...which by the way, is way nicer than this dump!"
Crimson laughed,"Yeah? We'll have to see it sometime and compare. The difference is ours isn't finished yet."
Suddenly, without warning, Dobro went in for the hug, completely smothering the Samurott.
"Woah, hey!" Domingo gasped, "What's this for? Come on, y'know I'm not the huggy type!"
"Yeah, I know," Dobro sighed, "I know..."
A few minutes later, things got settled. Crimson asked if Dobro and Domingo wanted to stay the night since it was starting to get dark and they were a ways from their base in the forest. Domingo reluctantly agreed.
Sarik went immediately to bed, where he would probably stay until morning.
Pert and Meryl decided to start the fire, throwing a few twigs on it and then using Spark to ignite it. They joked for the rest of the evening that they were Fire-Types and they had developed Crimson's abilities.
Crimson walked up to the top of the mountain to talk with Tag, who was clearly enjoying the view.
"Hey buddy," Crimson called up to the Turtwig as he approached.
"Hey," was the response, "Did you manage to get Domingo all fixed up?"
"Yeah, it just took a little bit of dark-type things. He's good as new."
"Good," Tag shifted positions as he stared at the sunset stretching across the water.
"Y'know, Domingo thinks his base looks nicer," Crimson teased.
"He can say what he want. He still can't beat this view."
"Yeah, that's the truth," Crimson sat down next to him, watching the sky change colors. "Man, I didn't exactly expect anything too big to happen today."
"Y'know I was thinking about what happened today."
Crimson stared quizzically at Tag, "What about it?"
Tag looked up, searching for the words, "I mean, I know you've encountered them before, but..." he faced Crimson, "...you didn't seemed fazed by encountering your own kind."
Crimson raised a brow at this. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you were human once. And although you remember nothing about it, I'd figured you would beeline for them the moment you saw them...y'know ask for help or something like that. But, you seemed to not even consider yourself as human. It's like you've completely disowned that part of yourself."
Crimson thought about this. What Tag was saying was true. He hadn't even considered he was one of the humans when he'd met the three today. He saw himself as a Pokemon.
Had he truly disowned who he was before?
"Huh, never really thought of it that way," Crimson admitted as he stared at the sun. "I mean, I like being a Pokemon. I like hanging out with you and Sark and Pert and Meryl and everyone else."
"Hm," Tag seemed deep in thought, "Tell me something."
"Sure."
"Was there ever a point where you wished to be a human again?"
Now Crimson had to think long and hard about this one before answering. "Honestly...yeah, in the very beginning. When I woke up on that beach, confused by the world around me. It was one of the scariest experiences I've ever had. I wished for everything to make sense. I believed being a human again would somehow bring things back to normal."
"Then I met you, Tag. You helped me see the world as it was and helped me adapt to it. I'll admit, I may have reconstructed the design to fit my personal quota, but you were always there, telling me when I was going too far. You are a big part of who I am today, you know?"
"If you were given the opportunity to turn back into a human, would you take it?"
Crimson looked over at Tag, wondering where all this was coming from. "I've already had that opportunity. I've already declined it. Why would I accept it now?"
"I don't know..." Tag mumbled, "Maybe because things are different now. Maybe because we're not at home and more possibilities like this will arise. Maybe, you're tired of viewing the world from this new angle."
"Tag!" Crimson stood up out of confusion, "I'll never be tired of viewing this world from this angle. I have everything here. Why would I want that?"
There was a silence. The sun drifted lower to the sea.
Crimson sighed and sat down again. "How long have you been feeling this way?"
"Since we got here and we've encountered more humans than Pokemon."
"That's true, but Tag," Crimson grabbed his friend, who turned to look at him in the eyes. "I'm not going anywhere. You can bet on that."
Tag stopped for a moment, then started laughing. "I guess it was a dumb concern. Sorry for worrying you like that."
Crimson, for what must have been the thousandth time that day, sighed in relief. "Not a biggie. You have worries that you want to take off your chest. I can respect that. Just know that you'll always be my friend, no matter what."
"Alright," Tag and Crimson stared at the sunset in quiet tranquility for a few moments. It was just hitting the sea water. "Y'know, I still wished you would've fought that Legendary, just to see if you could beat him." Tag lamented
Crimson thought for a moment. "Nah, I don't think I would've."
"I think you would've...if you used your super ultimate form."
"Tag, you ended up dying for me to reach that form, remember? I don't think I could go through that turmoil again simply to reach a form where I could beat a legendary."
"What if you could reach that form without something traumatic happening?"
"Well, I'd need a lot of power from somewhere-"
"No, I think you have the power to do it by yourself," Tag interrupted, "You've done it before. You can do it again."
"Once. And it took-"
"Your own adrenaline and determination that came from when I...well you know," Tag continued, "That means you have the power. You just have to tap into it. Sarik believes you can do it."
Crimson smiled when Tag said that, "What else do you two talk about when you talk about me?"
"Ah, that is for our ears only," Tag grinned mischievously, "But you have the strength to do this. You just have to train your body how, like with your other forms."
Crimson watched the last bit of sun disappear behind the horizon before sighing in defeat, getting up off the ground. "Alright...I'll start training myself to try and reach that form. But we still have to find Team RedEye and see if they're involved with the Domingo thing."
Tag perked up, "You think they are?"
"It's possible," Crimson said, "We'll find out when we find them. For now, let's just go down. Pert and Meryl started the fire, I think."
The two buddies walked off the top of the mountainside together as the sky shifted colors, closing an exciting day for them.