Tag the Turtwig's Story

"GAH!" Crimson stumbled backwards, but stayed on his feet as the flash enveloped his surroundings and his vision went white. The ringing in his ears was undeniable and Crimson couldn't help but feel the wave of apprehension rocking through him in one fluid motion. Of course, in another, there was the realization of what this was comparable to.

It may be brighter, but it was definitely a form of Confusion he was dealing with here.

And with that realization came the understanding of what he was to do in this situation. He exhaled smoothly, shutting his eyes even though it did nothing to clear his vision immediately. But it narrowed his concentration. He focused less on seeing things and more on trying to hear over the ringing in his ears. He tried to feel the very air around him. He held his bat diagonally in front of him, his stance stable and secure. And he looked down to the ground as an idea began to form in the back of his mind.

---

"Peggy! Edal!" Sarik called from the ground as he waved to get their attention. "They're flying in from above!"

The two Sunrise Brigade leaders glanced to the sky as they saw small black dots growing bigger and bigger. These crude-looking ships were getting closer and closer to their current position, carrying an untold number of Orks inside. They couldn't be allowed to touch the surface.

"We got this!" Peggy said reassuringly to the Honchkrow before taking the lead in the sky, "SUNRISE BRIGADE! Perform the Hurricane Maneuver!"

The Sunrise Brigade regrouped in such a way, it humored the idea that they never split off when the siege on the Power Plant was made. Wings spread, the many members of the Flying-Type specialty group hovered in a large circle above the desert, high enough so that they would disrupt anything on the ground. Then, they began to unleash their Hurricanes, pushing the attack to the center of the circle they created. Before any of them knew it, they'd all conjured a massive gust of wind criss-crossing in the air around them, so potent and deadly that it could be seen compiling in the air. What was masterful was how contained this ball of wind truly was. A single Pokemon knowing Hurricane has the potential to deal some hefty damage at the price of potentially missing it's opponent. But when twenty or so Flying-Types were directing their cumulative Hurricanes towards one general direction...

It was accurate AND dangerous.

Together, the Sunrise Brigade lifted the ball of air and blasted it towards the sky like a widespread Hyper Beam. The gust of winds that would be launched towards the recon ships were torrential and virtually unavoidable, like a solid wall of wind-based mass hurtling towards them. When it struck the ships, a whipping wind would cut through some of the more crudely designed ships, tearing them apart like paper. For the better designed ships, the damage wouldn't be so massive. But what made this attack worthwhile was the stopping power the wind provided. Even at terminal velocity, there was so much wind being blown at them that it would throw off trajectories and cause many malfunctions in the landing procedures of these ships. Those that weren't destroyed were definitely in danger of a crash landing, likely with explosions and fireballs pluming afterwards. And as for the Orks inside...

Those that were cut open from the weak pods were most likely to die from the fiery inferno of them entering the atmosphere. Those that were in the ships of the tougher pods were most likely to die on impact from the blazing explosions that would transpire from such a crudely built machine, as was the standard for Orks. Maybe one or two ships would get lucky enough to breach through the Hurricane Maneuver and land on the planet safely, but they wouldn't have enough reinforcements to provide any kind of support for their falling comrades. And when the bastion of destruction would come raining down, Sarik, Peggy, Edal, and the rest of the Sunrise Brigade would be thankful for one thing...

Thank Arceus they were doing this in a desert!

There was an ear-splitting crash in the sky as a blur streak broke the sound barrier in a hurry, hurtling through the air towards the battlezone drawn by the chaotic psionic noise that could be heard from a great distance. It was hard for the pokemon to figure out what was going on below as he coasted beneath the mighty hurricane overhead, but he had a pretty good idea of who was responsible and what he could do to intervene.

His speed was redirected in a split second, suddenly arcing down into the back end of the ground forces, while still aiming to be in the thick of it. All the psychic energy that had been built up at Zee's front to shield him from the natural forces of going super sonic speeds were suddenly slammed into the ground into a massive meteorite explosion, energy bursting out in all directions to send Orkz hurtling into the air, a fresh barrier rising up around him a moment later. The blue glow of his eyes pierced the shroud of dust left by the collision, then his body leveled out towards the front line of the Orkz as again he took off, intending to drive a wedge between the army.

Zee had been around guns in the past and knew it was dangerous, if not outright stupid, to remain still. But there was something still lingering in the back of his mind, a certain restraint holding him back. His attack, while devastating to those directly beneath him, would not be nearly as fatal to those around, intending to frighten and dissuade action rather than kill.

Questions could come later.

The sky was soon raining with fallen scrap all across the landscape. Flaming scrap began to rain below and surviving orkz began to pour out in the hundreds. Of course more orks continued to drop from orbit. However those on the ground inside the 'drop pods' that they landed in, Mekboys inside began to rig up Tellyporta Pads inside the landers to get more reinforcements to arrive.

Of course the orks on the surface had scrap raining down from above so as some scrap fell next to them they gleefully stopped their rampant running around to upgrade their kits.

Of course with the arrival of the Psychic Pokémon, the orks understood psychic being. "Its a weirdun'! 'Un its doin' sumfin'!" An ork boy shouted. Of course the Pokémon were not the only ones with psychic beings. Soon an ork with a crude looking staff hobbled his way out of the fiery wreck that was his lander. "'Fings jus' got a 'ole lot weirder..." The Ork spoke as he looked in the sky at the floating Pokémon. The ork raised its staff and launch a ball of psychic WAAAGH! energy at the Mewtwo. He was channeling the power of all the orkz around him so it would indeed be effective against most Pokémon.

The Ork commando even though its ears were ringing could still see. It was time to stikk the hairy ape now. Rasing his knife the Kommando would go in for a kill stab, an overhead swing to bring its knife down on the chimps head. "Time 'ta die you'zze git!"

The ringing in Crimson's ears had faded slightly, his vision remaining bright. As his mind raced, he would be looking down towards the earth beneath them. In the back of his mind, he reached for one of the many presences his body possessed...a sturdy and solid side of himself. There was a twinge of a smile registering across the Chimchar's face as he pulled the essence outward, letting it envelope his whole body. The flame on his rear began to die down. He began to feel the area around him shift as he continued to divulge his attention towards the air and how it moved...

As this was going on, the Ork Commander was readying what he believed to be the final strike. Crimson's hearing problem had faded just barely enough for him to make out the words Nog was saying to him: "Time 'ta die you'zze git!"

And then he felt it. He felt the wind shift around him, pulling back as it got behind the massive Ork's fist to unleash an attack of some sort. And that was all Crimson needed to act.

Before the Ork Commander could even register what had happened, the Chimchar sank into the ground, disappearing from view with nothing but a small plume of soft soil in his place...a spot the knife would easily plunge into due to the heaviness of Nog's downward vertical strike. But the nature and direction the Ork elected to take it's execution would prove to be his downfall.

Above ground, where vision was a must and light was a key component of that, Crimson was blind from the flash bomb. But below ground was a different story. Vision down here was based on sound waves and tremors, the movement of others around him or even above him giving an internal insight as to where things were. Living things, like the Ork standing above ground, or even non-living things, like the weird knife that dug into the earth a few inches above his head, but stopped there. And a glorious opportunity emerged.

Not even thinking about it, Crimson impulsively kicked his feet out above ground and wrapped around the hilt of the knife blade Commander Nog wielded. Using the Earth around him, his own strength and speed, and the surprise that would slowly register on the lower intelligence being, the knife would be yanked from his grasp, disappearing beneath the surface. Even with the advantage in strength, an Ork would never see such a move coming. Shock and confusion would be the primary candidates for reasons why he lost hold of the blade.

And the Crimson emerged, facing the Ork's back. An Ork wouldn't understand what had happened and most Pokemon in the area would barely understand it either, since it was described as an impossible trait for a Chimchar to carry. But as others glancing his direction would see, the flame on his rear was no longer present. His fur had changed color from orange to brown and his eyes were matching, a steady gaze appearing from them that signified he'd regained his eyesight while underground. He was standing on a small pillar of earth formed beneath him to meet eye level with the Ork. In his hands would be a makeshift akimbo he had acquired due to the tactical blunder made on Commander Nog's part: The Power Bat held on his right with the weird atom-shifting knife in his left. Due to the size of Orks, a knife might as well have been a sword in Crimson's grasp as it matched the size of the Power Bat. It was indeed heavier than most weapons he'd held, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

He could switch types after all.

"I'm going to give you one last chance," Crimson said, twirling the Power Bat behind him while holding Nog's knife out in front of him, "If you surrender now, we'll let you leave with the promise that you never come back. If not...I'm not afraid to take the life of those that will destroy our world as we know it."

And for all intensive purposes, the battle between them could've been won there. Crimson knew where the Ork was from underground. He could've easily plunged the knife into him from below, or even tossed the knife into his head when he re-emerged. He was giving them a single chance.

And if the Ork Commander didn't take it...well, let's hope the WarBoss could do business without him.

---

In the overall picture of the fight brewing, the Orks were trying to turn the tide in their favor via numbers. The Sunrise Brigade's strike on the drop ships killed thousands, but left hundreds to land somewhat unsafely and send themselves into the fray. The number was slowly increasing in their favor, a good three Orks for one Pokemon present on the battlefield. Things from an exterior standpoint weren't looking too good for the home team.

And yet...everything seemed to be going their way.

In the spectrum of battle, it was equivalent to bringing lambs to the butcher's house. Ork would charge out to only be mowed down by a barrage of attacks like Air Slash and Ice Shard and Bullet Seed or even the more effective ones like Thunderbolt and Flare Blitz. They could hit 'em with range strikes that could incinerate one to ten Orks at a time while the return fire was vastly inferior. The bullets pinged across Pokemon at random, having a varying effect dependent on which ones they hit. Those that were Ice-Types, Rock-Types, and Fairy-Types had the worst go of it, a few good hits of these bullets taking them down. But even then, they ricocheted off the creatures like they were an inferior technology to behold. And none of these creatures actually died...they simply fell to the ground unconscious. Now the Fire-Types, Water-Types, Electric-Types, and Steel-Types...they might as well have been firing pea shooters at tanks since it did virtually nothing to them. Meanwhile, their own flames casting down upon the large creatures were slaying through them at an accelerated rate. And those that couldn't do much in attacking the Orks were serving as the support. Most of the Grass-Types and Fairy-Types were acting as healers while others were boosting their allies's abilities and lowering their opponents. A tactical advantage was slowly making the Pokemon much, much stronger than the Orks and they just couldn't keep up.

In fact, Sarik, Pert, and Meryl were more nervous about the newer Pokemon arrival breaching the surface than they were about the actual problem at hand.

"Is that...Mewtwo?" Pert's eyes quivered in awe and terror, "I've heard bad things about that one!"

"Again, we're in a different universe," Sarik reminded him, "The Mewtwo we've fought is not the same as the Mewtwo here. So far, he's only taking out the Ork creatures. So maybe he's a good guy."

"I dunno..." Meryl voiced her own opposition, "From what we've seen so far, they may have different personalities, but there's always some sort of element of similarity that applies between the Pokemon we know from Mohka and the Pokemon we've met on Ruula. I'm not so sure he's a good guy with pure intentions."

"Well, it's an ally on our side at the moment," Sarik rationalized, "So we can take that as it is for right now. If worst comes to worst, we can take him. We've beaten Mewtwo before."

Three curt nods followed as they all charged into the fight.

At the sight of the dreaded Mewtwo, most of the civilians who knew the stories started running in fear in the opposite direction. The walls of the city wouldn't save them from that kind of power should it be turned against them, but maybe it would buy them and their precious companions a few extra seconds. Terrance, of course, was completely clueless, but his skater friend advised him one more time.

"It's Mewtwo! I thought it was just a legend! Run for your life, Terran!"

Fuck no. There was a battle to be won, even if he had to do it all by himself. Well, not really, given all the wildlings that seemed to be pitching in and coordinating remarkably well. And so he trekked out across the badlands towards the Power Plant, combat knife and tactical flashlight in his hands as he approached the objective deliberately. Without his ANDEE suit, he was just another piece of meat out here. One wrong move could be his last. He was NOT getting repatriated in a casket, damn it.

Skulking up to the blasted entrance to the plant, Terrance frowned at the straightaway. If there were any guards, that corridor was a kill zone. However, the sounds of battle emboldened him to continue, trying to move quietly and only flashing the beam around when he had to.

One final bottleneck after what felt like a few miles of hallway...the counter at the entrance. This he could use for some quick cover as the dakka of Ork machine guns mixed with roaring fires and shrill cries of effort and anguish from both sides. Tch. This dinky little piece of metal wouldn't do any good against armor like that...not even his few boomers from home would do much. They were just bigger, faster, stronger and tougher than he was right now.

He had to do something to help in order to get his ass back to Terra. But what could he do?

Belana had had enough of the defensive. Her wings flapped harder, sending the hurricane into a full on gale as she ducked, arced and weaved through the Warboss's rapid fire shells. She moved herself into such a position that she could be set up for a direct charge. Focusing all of her remaining might into a frontal psychic barrier she rushed forward towards the warboss as his rounds pinged off of her shield. It held but just long enough that she got her jaws around the Ork's head and upper torso. With him secured, she flew straight up right for all of the boyz to see down below and began to crunch the Ork's body in her grasp.

Higher and higher she soared into the sky while tossing the ork high into the air and simply let him go down to the ground. With a massive roar and shriek of power she gathered up what strength she could muster and unleashed the most powerful Aeroblast she could manage with her remaining strength. The blast nailed the ork square in the back and immediately rocketed his acceleration towards the ground. Now at terminal velocity, Belana charged after him. Upon his landing, which subsequently caused a crater, she added injury by landing on him and forcing him deep under the ground, effectively knocking him out of the fight.

Another massive shriek of power as she let out a sign of her indomitable might and took to the skies once more. With the Warboss down, she summoned up a few hydro pumps to cut down the drop pods and destroyed the Tellyportas inside. But this...was all she could muster. Her eyes drooped and her wing beats grew erratic in their beating and soon, the massive Legendary pokemon plummeted to the ground near the defenders, landing hard on the earth and simply remained there. She was too tired to move, too weak to stand or even flap her wings. Now she had to try and rest. She was exposed but hopefully the defenders would have enough power to hold them back long enough for her to fully recover.

Her body glowed as she began to draw power from the rain above her and the earth below her. She had begun regenerating.

With the death of the warboss, along with their means of escape. One ork, one Nob in particular took it upon itself to do what orkz did best. The Ork laughed as he was disarmed. "I'z still don't undeestand you'ze stupid git! But if you'ze 'fink we'ze gonna be done 'fer 'fink again!" The ork roared as he removed his armor to reveal what was under all that heavy armor...His body was a massive bomb.

"I'z rigged 'da plant 'ta go boom! Along with all 'da scrap that has fallen all around 'da place! We'ze orks 'ave 'nuff juice 'ta blow the 'ole place and everywhere around 'dis place to 'da ground! 'DA BOSS MAY 'AVE GOT KRUMPED! BUT I'Z MAKE SURE YOU'ZE GITZ ALL DIE! WAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" The ork gave one last roar as he prepared to blow himself and the whole place up with him.

Every other ork, that still managed to survive inside their drop pods already landed, or the scrap rigged up every little thing to make sure it exploded in a very large area. The Ork ship in orbit began to actualy aim itself to the city below. "I'Z GUNNA PRESS 'DA RED BUTTON! WAGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" The Ork pilot pressed a button as the massive ship a few kilometers in length armed with heavy shields and armor began to rush to the surface of the planet in a final kamizaze move. Guns firing wildy at the surface.

The Orks on the ground also prepared to go out in an explosive end. The Ork Kommando laughing at Crimson. "WE 'DA ORKZ! WE'ZE GONNA KRUMP YOU'ZE GITZ!"

Crimson's eyes widened as the Commander made his big reveal...the huge hulking bomb that was somehow hidden underneath the armor already protecting him. In the back of his mind, it made him wonder exactly what would've happened had he done enough to drill through the armor in the first place. But his mind snapped back to reality as he took in the scope of the situation. The power plant was rigged to blow. And he was rigged to blow. And that kamikaze spaceship was flying towards the city at an incredibly fast rate...and probably rigged to blow.

What could he do?

The Ground-Type Chimchar's mind raced as he glanced around, getting ideas and formulating a plan. Luckily, the stupid Ork had given him enough time in his monologue to effectively do so. His glance shot to the Power Plant first, noticing the lack of Orks (since they either left or were slain). Luckily, there weren't many Pokemon there either, but he could think of a couple that would be in there. Team Vitality mainly.

To the left of them was a very exhausted Lugia, having defeated her opponent in impeccable fashion. Kind of anticlimactic for who was supposedly the biggest and baddest of the Orks in the first place. All he saw him do was rain useless bullets on them. In fact, it made him feel much better about the lack of strength this Commander had demonstrated so far. But as for the Lugia, she was out of commission for what would likely be the rest of this fight if Crimson played his cards right.

To the right was the main battle raging, a fight the Pokemon were clearly winning. The number of Orks were once again downgraded to double digits, so it was really a last ditch effort for them. But only now was Crimson noticing the approach the Orks were taking, surprisingly being sneaky at their approach to lace bombs in the debris around them. Not only would the power plant go out in fire, but likely many parts of this desert, causing craters abound. Nothing permanent in damage, but it still was a risk for the combatants on their side as they could have a number of fainting Pokemon resulting from this...a number that could shift the tide of the battle in the Ork's favor if it was large enough. What was worse, the reconnaissance they got from that mysterious Pokemon (who was clearly Mewtwo) hadn't taken much action other than the initial impact.

And behind his main opponent...the massive ship that seemed destined to collide with Lumiose City. That was the biggest problem to deal with. If they didn't redirect the course of that hulking hunk of metal...well, a lot of people were going to be killed, simple as that. He couldn't allow such devastation to occur. These people didn't deserve that.

And that was what he did know. He didn't know if all the bombs were going to trigger on the command of the numnutz gloating in front of him or on the individual command of the many Orks around him. He didn't know whether Tag, Pert, or Meryl were or if Sarik had arrived yet. He had to work with the pieces he knew about. But he did have an idea on how to reach the pieces he didn't. He sent a mental message to the only individual he knew would receive it and transmit it to the rest of the Guild. And finally...

He stared at Commander Nog with fiery confidence as the Ork spat it's premature celebration. His gaze rested to resolution as he took action.

"You're so stupid," Crimson said as he tossed the Ork's knife in the air and snapped his fingers.

Almost immediately, the ground beneath Nog exploded outward. Had this been a regular Pokemon with standard strength, the blast of Earth Power would probably be enough to propel the big, fat Ork a couple yards in the air. But Crimson was slightly more powerful than the standard. Slightly being that the Ork would be practically launched out of a cannon from the force of the strike. As Commander Nog was sent into the air a thousand feet or so, Crimson used his leveraged advantage to launch himself into the air and meet him halfway, catching the knife he'd let go so that he could use Earth Power on the way. Their gazes met a good fifty feet from one another in mid-air.

"Bye!"

There was charisma still in the slight twinkle in his eyes and the slight wave with his left hand, despite holding the Power Bat in it. The left hand had already launched it's projectile towards the Commander, the very knife he had wielded against the Chimchar previously, aimed straight and true towards the neck of the brute. If Crimson could recall from the previous bits of fighting, these Orks weren't exactly known for their reflexes, especially after being disoriented from having the ground blow up beneath it and sent spiraling in the air. Nor were they the most agile creatures, especially being in the air with their blubbery build. Crimson had thrown objects much cruder with as much accuracy as he had in this toss and there was nowhere for Commander Nog to maneuver in the air except for down towards his fate. It wasn't a matter of battling strengths to Crimson...it was a matter of exploiting weaknesses.

And all he would possibly have time to do before the knife sliced through his neck, separating atoms in the process, and ended his life, would be to push that button.

---

And even if Commander Nog had the mental willpower (which all Orks had) and the durability to maintain possession of that massive red button he needed to blow up the Power Plant and possibly all the scraps of metal set to make craters out of the desert, the Crimson Guild would be prepped for it.

It all began with a Dedenne named Dee, who had just revitalized her body with a couple Leppa Berries when her whiskers vibrated and she heard the voice of her leader in her head.

"Dee, I need your help. The Power Plant is gonna blow up, the Orks are about to see the other Members off with a bang, and there's a massive ship on course for colliding with the city. Think you can do a thing or two about that?"

Dee almost snorted at the calmness of tone Crimson had used to send her an update. She would have if it weren't for the gravity of the situation, literally in one case.

"On it!" she shot him a reply before upping her output range to that of everyone in the Crimson Guild, to include the Mewtwo, the Lugia, and even Terrance. "To anyone that can hear me, Crimson needs out help! We need to evacuate everybody from the Power Plant before the Orks blow it up. Team Vitality is already on the move out of there, but this is a warning for those still inside. Make your exit any way you can!"

"Anyone still fighting the Orks in the desert, brace yourselves for an explosion of your own! He said there were bombs scattered across the battlefield. Protect yourselves in any way you can, but don't give up the fighting! You guys can still take them down!"

"Sunrise Brigade, it'll be up to you guys to divert the course of the ship descending on the city. If you have another one of those massive hurricane attacks prepped, use it! We're counting on you!"

The commands were issued. Orders were being directed. Dee hopped on the back of Siena and a fully recovered Gambit zoomed out of the Power Plant and beelined for the crashing Ork vessel. Team Vitality fled the Power Plant with ease.

"Ooooooh, fuck," Skyball let a curse slip out as he took to the back of Rubira, accompanying Lumi, "RIDE, RUBIRA! RIDE!"

"I'm bucking you off of me the moment we're clear," Rubira snapped back as she galloped out one of the many gaping holes in the Power Plant. Team Volt were safe from many massive explosions.

The only ones that were left in the ticking time bomb were the Ground-Types, who made their escape in the only way they knew how...underground. They all knew Dig, so they were safe from the destruction that could potentially rain down on the ground above their heads. One by one, each Ground-Type submerged into the dirt they were more familiar with, spreading outward from the initial location of the Power Plant.

Meanwhile, the fighters in the main battle heeded the warning of the Dedenne and went on with it. Any that knew Protect or Reflect used them respectively and would be completely unscathed from the explosions that could happen around them. Those that flew went straight up to avoid any potential bombs. Fire/Flying-Types were at a supreme advantage here, since they could avoid the bombs and attack the Orks without a hitch. Those that couldn't escape by a defensive means went all out offensively, unleashing the strongest effective moves they had to take care of as many Orks as they could before the bombs struck. And fortunately, they also had healers and boosters scattered among their ranks, buffing up those that chose to continue attacking with health and defensive build to better cope with the destruction.

"I'm going in!" Sarik called out to Pert and Meryl, who were quickly right behind him.

"We got your back!" Pert informed from behind, taking his left flank while Meryl took his right.

It started with Sarik boosting his defenses with Iron Defense while Pert unleashed a Thunder Wave across the battlefield, placing every Ork in Paralysis. The already slow Orks would become much slower as Meryl began unleashing her Sparks across their ranks, the added electricity fueling to her own power as she charred Orks from the inside out. Sarik would follow up with a Hydro Pump to tear through the many ranks with highly pressurized water while Pert accompanied his own efforts with a Discharge that spanned across the other side. Common knowledge: Water and Electricity didn't mix. As such, their combo made a rather deadly spread effect that would decimate through the Orks like cardboard.

And as for the ship...the Sunrise Brigade were already on the scene, unleashing their directional torrent of wind that was the Hurricane Maneuver again. This time, they aimed on the left side of the hull of the ship, trying to force the ship to their immediate right. The force of the incredible gales were enough to shift the shift's direction slightly, but it wouldn't be enough. Peggy and Edal needed some extra power to have it miss the boundaries of the city. They realized this and watched with dismay as the ship began to plummet closer and closer.

"It's not enough!" Peggy was shouting, "Ready another Hurricane Maneuver!"

But a shape zoomed into view, a singular Pokemon ramming towards the falling ship at full speed. Peggy, Edal, and the rest of the Sunrise Brigade looked up as they saw the form of a Togetic approaching.

"I GOOOOOOT THIIIIIIIIS!" came the almost warlike cry from Gambit as his body flashed white at a measured pace...the familiar signs of Metronome. No Pokemon used Metronome as much as Gambit did, but that was because few Pokemon could get lucky as much as Gambit could. He called to the ether of knowledge and pulled a random strike from it's expansive library. And out of all the moves the Togetic could've used against the massive hull of the Ork ship...

He used Heavy Slam.

The trade-off wasn't great. A Togetic wasn't nearly as heavy as a massive ship a few kilometers wide...not even by a long shot. But the force behind a Heavy Slam was enough to do exactly what it needed to...shift the trajectory. The final push was enough to send the hunk of metal away from the capital of the Kalos Region and careening to it's right. It would crash into a grassy plain, completely uninhabited by humans and clear of Pokemon. Aftereffects could be calculated later as it would likely cause incredible damage to the area it landed in as well as some heavy earthquakes in the city. But those were much better than being completely decimated by the hunk of metal.

When opposition had presented itself in the form of a singular psionically charged Ork, Zee had not remained to engage. Getting bogged down in a fight like that, staying still or even in the one area would leave him vulnerable to bullets, explosions and knives. Not to mention the Ork ranks were on the receiving end of a growing amount of firepower from the perceived locals, and standing in the center of that was far from appealing.

His sudden acceleration would have left a gust of air trailing behind him from the force. The barrier of energy that wrapped around him from all sides would bash those he flew near aside, tumbling dozens in a zig-zagging path to cause as much disruption as possible, but then he noticed that something had changed. Metal was raining from the sky. His head craned upwards even on his flight path to see the hulking ship still moving.

They didn't. They wouldn't. They-

No, there was no time for that. It must have just been damaged in the battle and was now on a crash course. Something that large hitting the ground would be absolutely devastating, and Zee couldn't get a safe grounding to try and stop it. There was no time for thinking clearly now, just action. The sooner he intervened the more lives could be potentially saved, and maybe once he was up there he could risk standing still.

Around ground zero, that being the place Zee was at that very moment, would have the unpleasant experience of being turned to paste as a massive psionic force propelled the armoured Mewtwo skyward, cracking the sound barrier to boot. Zee would have plenty of seconds to think about what he was doing as he hurtled upwards into the atmosphere. His barrier switched from all-encompassing to purely frontal, and it charged from a sphere to a sharpened point.

He was a psionic blade, flat and wide to cause as massive a split and penetration as he could muster, only expanding with each second. He passed under the Flying types in the air in moments and continued higher into the air, cutting edge extending hundreds of meters to either side of him. And then, impact.

The battering on his mind was unbearable. Almost immediately the solid, sharp blade he had constructed psionically felt like a blunt knife cutting at wood. Zee could not comprehend all that he experienced in those seconds of him passing through the ship. All around him there was horrendous screeching of metal being ripped and torn. Explosions rocked around him leaving a burning trail in his wake. If not for the armour he wore, hooked into his helmet that helped control the extent of his powers, he probably would have killed himself. It went on for what felt like minutes, but couldn't have been more than a dozen seconds.

Then all resistance stopped and he was met with the wonder of the world beyond, an empty space devoid of anything but blackness and stars. Everything came to a standstill to appreciate the wonder of what lied around. It was peaceful up here. There was no sound, no violence, just nothing. A reluctant sigh came from within the pokemons helmet as he forced his back to it so he could face the destruction he wrought on the ship.

Now in the freedom of space, far from the gunfire and danger from below, he reached out with both hands to force psionic energy into the hole he had left in the ship, pushing outwards to try and split it in two. Technically he was just trying to minimize the total damage it was causing, but by some luck he was working towards the same goal as those on the ground; divert the ship. However he was operating on a slight different scale to them. Once the ship was sufficiently split he took hold, digits curling inwards to grasp one half of the ship, and started to pull. Blood trickled down from his nostrils as psionic powers wrestled against the sheer momentum of something so large, trying to force it to come to a complete halt in space. He had never tried such a blunt and direct action with his powers before and it was rapidly taking its toll. For a second time, it was only the restraints his armour put on him that stopped him from killing himself, but it also stopped him from totally succeeding. Even with the great extent of his power, with all the exertion he spent punching through the ship he was struggling to have a big impact.

But he didn't stop.

He wouldn't.

The Ork Kommando Gobfang, another of the many orks that would perish on the world of Ruula. As the knife drove in the Kommando's neck he would then be flown into the air roaring wildly in mostly anger and less pain. However his end was met by his own knife separating the orkz head from his own body. Not moments afterwards the massive bomb on the brutes chest was ticking. It was not a normal explosive, it was a timed explosive like the ones back in the power plant. The Kommando Nob exploded in a massive ball of fire leaving not even gibs behind, upon his own destruction the rest of the bombs followed suite by detonating all across the power plant as one last gift for anyone still stuck inside the plant. However the destruction was the least of everyone's worries...

The shoddy ork contraption...the ship was on a ramming course to the planet. Everyone knew what would happen if it impacted, it would be a world wide extermination. The air would be ash, the grounds would be lava, the seas would boil away, and life would be at its brink. Knowing this the many Pokémon did their best to slow it down no matter how meager it was. Ramming it, slicing it in half, the ship began to glow hot red as it began to arrive past the atmosphere where all could see the massive flaming wreck about to cause everyone's destruction...

The skeis grew crimson from the heat, the sound of the ship encroaching the planet ready to bring down destruction. Fear...panic...despair...One being could feel it all.

"How irritating...These greenskins surly know how to annoy...As much as this planets destruction would be a nice sight to see...There is an artifact that would allow me to gather much more souls than one single planets death can provide...It can't be helped, I have to save these so called...'pokemon'..." The man who was once inside the Catacombs suddenly appeared from a small chaotic sigil that branded itself on the land as he appeared.

He looked up at the marvelous sight of the crude ship prepared to wipe out nearly all life on the planet. The Pokémon of this world was adorably trying to stop it in such a futile manner. It was funny for him, to watch the weak struggle against destruction. However he was not going to let such a valued prize be destroyed needlessly before he could find it. So he had to regretabbly save this planet for his own goals.

Raising his hand into the air, the unholy powers of Chaos flowed through his body as he began to bend and tear at the fabric's of reality. In front of the ship something was going on, reality was torn asunder as a massive hole opened up as the sorcerer ripped a portal directly to the Warp and watched the fruits of his labor.

The massive and crude ork vessel was being swallowed by the massive tear as it no longer was on an impact course for the surface. It was being dragged into the maws of the Warp slowly but surely. All the beings on the planet who could see this spectacle watched as such unholy power was used to save them.

Soon enough the ship was swallowed hole, of course the thousands of orkz still swarming the planet began to hoof it on mechanical walkers or on foot and they ran as fast as they could go to safety. The Sorcerer darkly laughed to himself as he simply eliminated the threat. "That should do it...Let the rabble deal with the survivors...Rejoice you ignorant masses for your deaths have been averted for now...Now I have an artifact to find..." The man laughed to himself as he vanished in warpfire to return to the Catacombs to continue his search uninterrupted.

At hearing the biggest and strongest Ork shout these dire warnings, Terrance damn near crapped himself.

"FULL RETREAT! THIS PLACE IS GONNA BLOW HARDER THAN MY EX-GIRLFRIEND! GO GO GOOOOOOO!"

There was a gait called the "roadie run" for when soldiers were running to another point of cover. What Terrance was doing was more akin to a terror-fueled sprint, like a certain archaeologist and a rolling boulder he saw in a movie once. A series of terrific explosions started to go off. "I thought I fucking disarmed those things!" cursed the Terran as he continued to run for his life.

The plant was lost...there was no saving it now. But as he promised the random civilian back in the city, if he could save one life today, he was gonna do it. Even if it turned out to be his own. But even that wasn't enough. As he hit the stairs to light and freedom, the loss of horizontal velocity caused a blast of shrapnel to tear into his back. If he had his ANDEE suit, none of this would have been an issue, but such stuff was only allowed to him when he was on duty...which he most definitely wasn't.

With a loud cry of agony, the foreigner bit the dust, just three momentum-fueled steps outside of the smoking field of ruins, lying alongside Belana in pain and exhaustion. He then groaned and spat it out. "Fuck...all the lights in the city are out...everything hurts...I guess that means I'm still alive..."

Crimson felt an inner tension relax as he watched the knife plunge into the neck of Nog and through it before the Ork was literally coated in flames from the bomb strapped to him. He'd played that perfectly, not even allowing a crater in the ground on the Commander's part. In the air was the perfect place to detonate since it was away from just about everyone. And the Chimchar felt satisfied by the results.

As gravity took hold of his momentum and he began falling, he felt the winds of the explosion rushing past him, not even giblets accompanying it. The bomb's strength had been enough to literally obliterate the Commander after he'd been slain. The ground steadily approached, but Crimson was feeling too much relief in one moment to do anything but morph back into his Fire-Type form. He looked like any ordinary Chimchar hitting the ground beneath him at a heightened velocity. But he didn't even care about that. He didn't even care that he nearly blacked out from the impact.

He was just relieved.

---

The battle was basically over. Without the looming threat of the massive ship causing planetary extinction and thousands of Orks disappearing from sight due to a mysterious cause, it was a cake walk. The Orks would try to escape, but most would get cornered and slain by the numerous Pokemon swarming the area. Thousands turned to hundreds, and hundreds to tens. That being said, there were simply too many of them to take them all out. It was easy dealing with the majority that were paralyzed from Pert's Thunder Wave. The ones that ran for the forest were given chase by many of the faster Pokemon akin to rabbits being swarmed by wolves. And even the mechanical walkers were no match to those that had an advantage over it, like a Fighting-Type or a Rock-Type. But there were some that slipped through the cracks undetected. A couple were fortunate enough to be behind a tree at the right time and were skimmed over. A few more fled in a direction few would think to travel and got away without notice. One even had the gall to book it towards the city, where no one would dare think an Ork to go. Despite their heavy toll of life (even for Ork standards), there were still survivors.

But the invaders knew what they were dealing with now. They wouldn't understand the complexities behind it, but they knew the wildlife on this planet were strong...strong enough to take their forces head to head if it came to it. Sturdy enough to withstand many a spray and pray from a rapid fire gun. Capable enough to deal damage back tenfold. Their only advantage was numbers and they no longer had that. They would have to play defensive...or else they were doomed to be a once talked about species.

Their destruction could not be denied, however. Lumiose City may not have fallen to pieces, but it was definitely in a state of disrepair. Fortunately, no major structures or buildings were sent toppling to the ground and it would be minimum a week to fix everything within the walls. On the other hand, the Power Plant that did provide light to the city was in shambles with nothing but a pile of metal remaining. It would be a long time before light would return to the infamous Kalos city once more, an issue that could prove to be disastrous if no back-up solution was found. As for the desert, it was left with a few holes from where bombs went off…nothing nature couldn’t solve.

In said desert, the Crimson Guild was reconvening, gathering fallen allies to revitalize and telling their tales and experiences. Not a single Crimson Guild member was killed in the Ork attack, they quickly discovered. A few had fainted and most were exhausted, but there wasn’t a single casualty on their side of the battle. And for them, that was a victory.

It would be Tag who would find Crimson lying in the sand, eyes closed. A wave of panic set into the Turtwig as he bolted over to the Chimchar.

“Crimson!” he cried, “C’mon, not like this!”

Crimson kept his eyes closed, but chuckled wholeheartedly, “Dude, I’m not hurt. I’m just…relaxing for a change.”

“Oh,” was all Tag said in response as he sat down next to his buddy, “I thought that Ork got to you somehow.”

“Eh…” Crimson recalled the fight he’d undergone, “I think I had it just about handled. Though really I think today was his day to die regardless of what I did. He blew himself up.” He peeked his eyes open, looking up at the late afternoon sun still kind of high in the sky, “They were seeking as much destruction as possible.”

“Well…” Tag surveyed the area around them, “I can’t say they didn’t do that. The Power Plant’s trashed.”

A small frown appeared on the Chimchar’s face as he went into thought about that, “Hmm…that’s not good. We should find a way to bring some temporary power to Lumiose City. Maybe the Electric-Types can do something.”

“Well, you can’t tell them to do anything when you’re napping like this.”

That caused Crimson to chortle, “You’re right. Help me up.”

Tag held out a paw, which Crimson took and pulled against to hoist himself to his feet. Together, they began walking towards the massive crowd of Pokemon that was gathering just outside the pile of metal that was once the Power Plant. Along the way, he took in the environment with his own eyes, noting the bunch of holes, the dozen or so Ork bodies that hadn’t found their way to being burnt to a crisp or electrocuted, but were slain by other means. A small plume of smoke was drifting up over Lumiose City, recalling the initial impact points made by the Orks. They probably had some destruction over there too, Crimson realized as he began planning out what he was going to do.

When the two of them arrived onto the scene, everyone was chattering rapidly and excitedly, talking about the battle they’d just fought.

“It was insane!” a Cubone was telling his Ground-Type buddies, “Friggin’ Butcher over there wanted to plunge headfirst into the Power Plant and he didn’t even notice all the bombs strewn about everywhere. I was like ‘Dude! Pay attention!’”

“I still cannot believe I cracked that ship in half!” Gambit said excitedly to Dee and Siena, “I Heavy Slammed that ship into two pieces…TWO…PIECES!”

“Right, but where did it go?” Dee crossed her arms and twitched her whiskers, skeptical as ever.

Gambit shrugged, “I dunno, but I broke it!”

Siena smirked, trying to hide her laughter.

“What?” Gambit glanced over to the Shaymin, “You know something I don’t?”

Siena said nothing.

A lot of the conversations Crimson was overhearing was about what had happened with the ship on collision course to Ruula. Whether they believed Gambit’s side of the story or whether they watched Mewtwo tear through the ship, it still didn’t explain why it had disappeared all of a sudden. No one could really provide a one hundred percent confident answer to the conundrum. One individual did suggest that maybe Palkia was watching them and stepped in, tearing a hole through space to intercept it. Most people agreed with that theory, but Crimson didn’t entirely buy into it. If that was the case, where was the Legendary now?

Questions could be answered later, he finally thought in resolution. Right now, they had to fix everything.

Crimson held his fist in the air, signifying that he wanted to say something. The ones who did see the small fist quickly shushed the others around them, the murmur that Crimson was about to speak ripping through the crowd of Pokemon before falling silent. He had long garnered the respect from this group he led and that was clear in this moment. He made a quick glance around for Mewtwo and Lugia, but didn’t find them. Tag was by his side. Sarik, Pert, and Meryl had all gathered behind him. He had everyone’s attention.

“Guys…I want to say thank you,” he began, looking around at the Pokemon in the crowd surrounding him, “Thank you for sticking by me and our quest to defend Ruula from those that wish to harm it. Thank you for signing to my cause over the year. And thank you for standing by me today. We all knew what could’ve been at stake and we were willing to risk everything, including our own lives, to preserve our way of life for as long as possible. So thank you.”

The roar of approval that followed those opening words made Crimson smile as he knew how much it meant to them. How much he meant to them. In many ways, he was an invader who brought his problems along for the world of Ruula to deal with. He was grateful for how accepted he truly was among them.

Despite this, he had to harden his words, “But we’re not done yet. Far from it, in fact. There’s still the aftermath to deal with. The Power Plant is in ruins. Lumiose City is in darkness. And even though we took care of as many of those brutes as we could, I get the feeling there might be more out there. So we need to prepare. And we need to prevent anything like this from happening again.”

“We must start with the humans of Lumiose City. They didn’t deserve what happened to them. They were victims to this crime. And we have to help them out in any way we can until they can help themselves. Help bring their city and its way of life to being as normal as possible. There’s a lot that needs power to work there and we have some of the power necessary to charge it.”

He turned to Lumi, Skyball, and Rubira, “Team Volt, you guys will have to lead this charge. You’re some of the best Electric-Type users I know. And speaking of…” he looked over his shoulder towards Pert and Meryl, “You two should also help out.”

“Piece of cake!” Pert flashed Crimson a smile and a voice of confidence, “We’ll do what we can.”

“Sure,” Meryl’s softer reply came after, “But only because of that pun you just made.”

Crimson’s brow raised, “What pun?”

“Having Team Volt lead the chaaarrrge?”

This brought slight bits of laughter from the rest of the Crimson Guild and much louder, squeakier laughs from Lumi and Skyball in particular. Crimson looked towards the ground, failing to keep a smile from crossing his face as he realized he missed that wordplay.

“Y’know…” he said, glancing back up at Meryl with a twinkle in his eye, “I think I know what festival will make you happiest.”

“And what’s that?” Meryl smirked as she shifted her legs to make herself more comfortable.

“A Pun Festival.”

“Oh Arceus no!” Meryl’s genuinely panicked reaction caused a greater stir of laughter from the crowd of Crimson Guild members.

And so the planning continued. The Crimson Guild would provide aid to the Kalos Capital by utilizing half of their able bodies to help clean up the area. Among that half were Pert, Meryl, Lumi, Skyball, and Dee leading the Electric Patrol, the troop of Electric-Types who would go around supplying as much power as they could to the population within the walls. They would be around until the humans could provide power and other support to the people. The others would help clean up the rubble and rebuild the buildings that were damaged in the fight, helping the UPL in those efforts until the city was shiny and new once again. A very small team of Fire-Types, led by Rubira, would take care of the fallen Ork bodies by burning them to ash and scattering their remains to the winds. The Sunrise Brigade would begin searching for any of the surviving Orks and swiftly taking them down so that they could no longer bother the planet or its inhabitants. Crimson, Tag, and Sarik would lend whatever help they would need towards their efforts.

As for the rest of them, it was business as usual. Try to find the Psychic Rebellion and thwart their plans by any means necessary. Help other Pokemon along the way. Find new places to explore and new adventures to go on. To Help, To Explore, To Protect…that was the Crimson Guild motto…that was the Crimson Guild way.

For now, they were fine. They had problems to contend with, but it could’ve been much worse.

Unlike most of the Crimson Guild HQ, Crimson's office was quite plain. A wooden desk sat in the center with a chair on each side, both furnished the exact same way. Bookshelves were lined up against each wall, filled with books of many different genres and varieties gathered across Ruula. In the far right corner were personal notes the office owner had written down, maps rolled up and placed neatly in a row, and a few odd drawings scribbled onto papers and stuck to the back wall. The circular window overlooked the entire room, both providing light and giving a fantastic view to the forest below. In the distance, an observer could easily see the tower in the center of Lumiose City sticking out over the treetops. Other than that, nothing was truly extravagant looking other than a mounted Power Bat on the right wall.

Back to the desk, two beings were glancing over it presently. The one on the left was on his hind legs, his front legs resting on the desk top. His large green head, beady eyes, and twig growing out of his head were a perfect contrast to the form on his right, who had blue eyes and red fur that seemed to twirl on top of his head. The one on the right was pointing at another such map sprawled out in front of him...a map of the Kalos Region with many markings made on it, particularly around the capital.

"See what I mean?" Tag was saying, "It's one of the only spots they could've run off to that we haven't checked yet."

"Mmm," Crimson nodded, "Anywhere else?"

"Well, it's possible a couple could've run off...this way," the Turtwig rested his paw on the forest north of the desert outside Lumiose, "And then peeled off into Coumarine City."

"How would they hide in a port town?" Crimson seemed puzzled, "It wouldn't make sense for them to run towards civilization, where they could be spotted so quickly."

"A couple reasons. A) We figure these Orks to be pretty stupid. And B) They're probably looking to get as far away from us as they can-"

"Which they can do by sea," Crimson concluded, nodding his head again in understanding, "It's be pretty hard for them to sneak onto a boat, though. Or make their way through the city."

"Have you been to Coumarine City?" Tag asked, raising a brow.

"No, have you?"

"I went with Team Razor when they showed me around the region. It's made up of two parts: the mountain part and the port part of the city. There's a tunnel that connects them, but the surrounding area is mostly forest and cliffs. Pretty easy for a couple lumbering beasts to sneak their way through."

"And how they would get on a boat?"

"Same way we stow away on boats sometimes. Same way we did that one time to get to the PTA. Also, you're being really skeptical about this." Tag's brow lifted as he pointed that out.

"Well, I don't want to send a team out there on a wild goose chase if we don't have solid proof that an Ork could hide in a city like that," Crimson reasoned, scratching his head, "We're stretched thin enough as it is."

"Okay, fair point," Tag shrugged, "But you do want to clean up this mess so we can get our focus back on the Psychic Rebellion, right? The only areas we haven't explored yet are the local towns and cities."

Crimson thought for a moment, then exhaled deeply, "Alright, then we can send-"

But before he could finish, the office door swung open. Both Crimson and Tag glanced up to see five Pokemon enter, three of which they recognized. The Chimchar smiled warmly at the appearance of the up and coming, pink bandana wearing Team Slowpoke: A Litleo named Booker, a Skiddo named Gunner, and a Slowpoke named Sally. Meanwhile, Tag glanced curiously towards the new arrivals: two Pokemon he had yet to lay eyes on.

"Hey," Crimson waved to them, "Welcome back."

Booker, the leader of the team, stepped forward and saluted, "Good to be back, sir."

"Alright, ya know what?" the Chimchar stepped out from behind his desk, "You guys seriously don't have to salute me. I promise, I won't take offense to it if you don't. I'd actually prefer it."

The Litleo stepped back, putting his paw down, "Oh...sorry, sir."

"No need to apologize," Crimson reassured, "It just makes me feel weird every time you guys do that. Not just you, but everyone in the guild."

"Took ya two years to work up the gall to say that," Tag commented behind him, muffling a smirk.

"You try this whole 'leading an entire squad of 200 something odd Pokemon' thing and see how it works out for you," Crimson shot back, more amused than annoyed.

"I fill in for you a few times. I think that qualifies."

Crimson scoffed before turning back to Team Slowpoke, "So, how was Alola?"

"Seemed fine," Booker answered, "Nothing was really damaged or destroyed when we got there."

"So then the report was a fake?"

"Nope," Gunner stepped forward next, "The locals said the plume of green fire was over the ocean. It never made it to the island, though."

"I see," Crimson turned to the Skiddo, "Did they know what it was?

"Yes, actually." At this point, Booker and Gunner turned toward the two others in the room, "This is Smoky and Barb. They're the local experts we brought in to talk to you about the stuff going on in that report."

Crimson blinked, taking a step forward and extending a paw to shake, "Good to meet you guys. I'm Crimson."

"Pleasure ta meet ya, sir!" Barb shook his hand enthusiastically, "I've heard many great things about you!"

The Skiddo glanced in the Togedemaru's direction, but said nothing.

The Marshadow was a little hesitant to shake the Chimchar's hand, but finally managed a flimsy handshake, "H-Hi..." was all she said.

Crimson caught on to her nervousness quickly, "Hey, it's okay. You're in good company here. I promise."

Smoky's shoulder's relaxed a little at his softer tone and a weak smile managed to slip out.

Crimson went on, "So, what was that green light."

From there, Barb took over, explaining the legend of Bretomart, more commonly known as Demonbreath, and how he used to ravage Akala Island, killing as many wildings and humans as he could. He told Crimson what happened the night Demonbreath was slain, the flashes of sickly green, fiery red, and icy blue that lit up the night sky and ended with a final blast of red on Ula'ula. The rumor that a young Fletchling had slain the terrifying beast and earned the nickname "Demonslayer". Crimson's eyes lit up at that, relishing in thought for a moment before focusing back on Barb, who explained the more recent occurrence, how the green plume of fire rose up in the sea and how the red fire was there to meet it. He then explained the aftermath, how both fires extinguished and how there were no signs of Demonbreath or Demonslayer after that night.

"Interesting," Crimson stated after Barb was finished, "That gives us a better understanding of what's going on over there." He turned to Tag, "We really need to set up a small camp over there so we don't have to try and bring locals across oceans to meet up with us for information."

"About that," Booker interjected before walking up to Crimson, "It wasn't so easy to get these two over here."

"What do you mean?" the Chimchar looked puzzled and a bit worried.

"They requested payment for their information."

"Oh, that's all?" Crimson snorted, "Then that's okay. Have them pick out anything from one of the shops to take back with them. Tell the owner I'll reimburse them for whatever they choose."

But Barb cut in, "Excuse me, sir?"

Crimson's brow furrowed, a small note of disdain in his expression, "Yes?"

The Togedemaru put on his best pleading face, "We did come an awfully long way to help you guys out. Would it be possible for you to give up two trinkets?"

"Barb..." Smoky protested under her breath, but didn't say anything aloud.

"I...guess I don't see a problem with that," Crimson seemed hesitant, his tone underlying his word choice was careful. But then his eyes lit up again and he added, "If you do one thing for me."

Now it was Barb's turn to feel slightly uncomfortable, "And that is?"

"Can you be my eyes and ears for the Alolan Region? Relay anything important that's going on there? It's the only place we haven't established communications with since we've set up shop and I'd like to get that started. You do that for me, and I'll make sure you get all the trinkets you desire."

Barb's eyes lifted with the promise of desired objects, "I can do that, no prob! Ya got yerself a deal!"

"Awesome," Crimson smiled cheerfully, "In that case..."

He reached across his desk and tossed a square pouch over to Barb. Catching it, Barb examined it, a little disappointed in what he thought it was. "A cloth?"

"A flag," Crimson corrected, "Place that flag in a noticeable spot wherever you live. I'll have the Pelipper Delivery Service stop by and ask for reports from your region. Anything you see, hear, or notice, you let them know and they'll let us know."

"And how will I get trinkets?" Barb asked curtly.

"The same system," Crimson replied, "They can drop off things as well."

"In that case, I'm all over it!" the enthusiasm returned to the Togedemaru's voice, "I'll set it up as soon as I get back."

"Then that works then," the Chimchar walked behind his desk once more, Tag joining his side, "You guys can go if you want. Sally, you and Gunner go ahead and take them to the shop. Booker, stay behind for a second."

"Yyyeeeeeessssssss sssssssiiiiirrr!" the Slowpoke slurred as she started to lead the two visitors towards the office exit.

"Actually, wait a second," Crimson's urgent tone caused everyone in the room to freeze. Sally stopped, as did Smoky and Barb, and all three turned around simultaneously to face the Chimchar.

"One more question. May seem a bit off topic. Have either of you seen a particular human walking around? He's got long black hair that forms into these thick circular strands, typically wears a blue baseball cap. He's got scars all over his hands and arms. Name's Radegast. Any of that ringing a bell?"

Smoky turned to Barb, her eyes wide, "Wasn't that the friendly human we met a couple months back? In the garden? I remember the scars..."

Barb nodded his head thoughtfully, "Yeah, yeah, now that ya mention it. What an asshole! Ended up swiping my food I worked my tail off to get."

"I thought you hated that sushi," Smoky reminded him.

"It was still mine!" Barb retorted.

Crimson had to cut in, "Any time after that?"

"Nnnnnnnnope!" Barb said after thinking about it, "Don't think so."

"Alright," Crimson looked a bit deflated, "Thanks anyway. You're free to go."

As the other four left the room, Booker stepped towards the desk, a bit confused, "You wanted to see me?"

"Anything else you noticed?" Crimson had to glance up slightly to meet Booker's eyes. The Litleo stood a couple inches taller than he did. "Anything at all?"

"Nothing much. Like I said, all was pretty quiet when I got there. There were some comments about shifted rock on the smallest island, but the locals say that was a wilding battle. Other than that, no sign of that Demonbreath. A lot of scared Pokemon though."

"Scared?"

"Apparently this Dragonite was something to be feared," the Litleo shrugged, "Anyway, I think that's it...OH! I almost forgot!" the Litleo's expression shifted to excitement, "Their Champion's missing!"

"The Alolan Champion?" Crimson frowned, "That's not good."

"From what I heard, he disappeared the same night the green light emerged in the sea," Booker went on, "They had an interim step in until someone else took the title from them."

"So they have a Champion in place then?" Crimson asked, clasping his fingers together.

"I think so," Booker began to look determined, "But if you'll let us, Team Slowpoke can go searching for him-"

To Booker's surprise, Crimson shook his head, "Absolutely not."

"What? Why?" the Litleo went from shocked to confused, "Isn't it our job to help the inhabitants of Ruula?"

"It is," Crimson sighed, turning around to glance out the window towards the Prism Tower in the distance, "But it's a bit more complicated than that."

"I'm still confused," the Litleo said, "How is it complicated?"

"We have a duty to protect others from wilding attacks and handle things outside the human jurisdiction," Crimson explained, "But we don't interfere with the human activities. Mostly because they have their own way of doing things and they probably don't want our help."

Booker stopped him there, "How are you so sure?"

Another sigh slid through the Chimchar's nostrils, "It's hard to convince someone who already thinks lowly of someone that they are worth something more. They would take it as an insult. And besides, I'd rather keep our guild a secret from them."

"Why is that?"

"If they knew a group of 200 something Pokemon were working together acting as a group to defend the world against evildoers, then there'd be so much publicity about us. None of our actions can fly under the radar. We'd have to be completely transparent, something the Psychic Rebellion or any of our enemies can exploit. And then we'd have to worry about servicing the human community as well as the Pokemon community, which we don't have the numbers to do. It'd be better to not put ourselves in that situation."

"So what happens when a huge problem comes up and the humans can't handle it?" Booker asked as he shifted his feet, "Like when the Orks invaded?"

"We do what we did then," Crimson answered simply, glancing back over towards the map at the table, "If the problem is world-threatening, we help deal with it then. But we don't publicly announce ourselves as an organization of Pokemon who deal with these threats. We act as a random group of local wildings banding together to defeat a home invader."

"But what's the difference between the two?" Booker asked curiously, "Aren't they the same thing?"

"One has our name on it. The other doesn't." Crimson turned around, his eyes soft and wise.

Booker looked down, a bit saddened, "So you're saying I can't help the humans at all?"

"I didn't say that either."

Booker looked up as Crimson continued, "I can't devote time to trying to help the humans. There's too much happening on our end as it is, with all our Electric-Types helping out in Lumiose City while they rebuild their Power Plant. The only reason we're helping there is because it's partially our fault it got blown up in the first place. But there's too much we're worried out with the Psychic Rebellion to send teams out doing human related missions."

"However, if you do happen to stumble upon a human in distress along the way, I would stop and help them. It's a great way to make allies and build that relationship between humans and Pokemon...to have them see us less as tools and more as thinking creatures of our own. And it's the right thing to do. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir!" Booker shot straight up.

"Alright," Crimson smiled back, calmly stepping towards the map, "Go ahead and catch up with your team."

The Chimchar waited for Booker to leave the room before turning to Tag, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"About?" Tag had been waiting the entire time, letting Crimson cover all the important topics.

"About Radegast," Crimson said, "Our last reported location of him was Alola. This report of the green flames appearing in the sky seems a little convenient, don't you think?"

"In what way?" Tag was confused as to where he was going with this.

"So our two guests, Barb and Smoky, confirmed for us that Radegast was, or maybe still is, in the Alola Region. At the same time, they tell us a lot of useful information about this green fire's cause...this 'Demonbreath'."

"Okay..."

Crimson continued, "And they said that the one who slayed this Demonbreath was..." he gestured towards Tag to have him complete the thought.

Which he had no problem doing, "A Fletchling that earned the title 'Demonslayer'."

"Right," Crimson smiled coyly, "Now, who in particular is on Radegast's team that could fit that description?"

Tag jaw dropped open as he finally put two and two together, "The Fletchinder? Suros? Do you think?"

"I was confused for a while how that bird could do so much damage that day at the PTA," Crimson nodded thoughtfully, "If Suros is in fact this Demonslayer, that would make a lot of sense."

"Okay, I can see that," Tag agreed with a smile, "But what do we do with this information?"

Crimson stood there for a moment, eyes deep in thought as he calculated his next move. Finally, he walked over to the stack of maps and picked out the one that read "Alola" on the back side. Heading back to his desk, he unrolled it and placed it flat on his desk, covering up the Kalos Region map beneath it.

"We find Radegast," Crimson answered, "And we ask him what he knows."

"Gambit! GAAAAAAMMMBIIIIIT!"

The Shaymin was flying above the Crimson Guild Headquarters, looking for any signs of a Togetic meandering below. But among the numerous Pokemon below, Siena couldn't find any trace of the one it was looking for.

"Dangit Gambit," the Shaymin muttered to itself, "Where'd you run off to?"

Fly was probably the grammatically correct term in that sentence, but Siena wasn't worried about that as it swooped down next to one of the markets lining up the pathway and began to address the Keckleon behind the counter, "Hey, have either of you two seen Gambit stop in?"

They turned to look at each other and simultaneously shook their heads. Siena nodded it's head at them in understanding, "Good to know. Thanks anyway!"

"Siena!"

Right before it took to the skies again, the Shaymin heard the sound of her name being called by someone it recognized. Looking down, Siena's eyes lit up and it practically leaped in the air as it noticed one of it's team members bounding towards it.

"Dee! Hey!" it called out, a wide grin spreading across her face.

The Dedenne, usually a professional and systematic rationalist, couldn't hide her own pleasure in seeing her teammate as she embraced the Shaymin in a hug, "Siena. Always good to see your bright, smiling face."

Siena stepped back, an expression of elation and a bit of confusion on it's face, "Isn't it a little early for you weekly report?"

Dee gave Siena the thumbs up, "We're good now. The Power Plant is fixed."

The Shaymin's eyes widened, "It is? That's fantastic! Eight months ahead of schedule."

Dee nodded in agreement, "Yep. Their Gym Leader was evidently prepared for such a catastrophe and had a plan to rebuild the Power Plant from metal scraps. That or he's just able to work really well on the fly. I dunno. But, needless to say, the rest of the Electric-Types are on their way back now."

Siena snorted, "How did you get here so quickly?"

"I know the fastest route."

"Of course you do..." the Shaymin glanced towards the woods to their right before continuing, "So you're going to report to Crimson now?"

"Affirmative," Dee said, "I'll let him know he's getting a lot of Guild Members back."

"Oh, am I?" the Chimchar casually sauntered up, a warm smile on his face as he stared at the Dedenne, "That'll be good to hear."

Dee stood up straighter, "Good afternoon, sir! I have come to let you know-"

"I know," Crimson replied, amused, "I've been listening in on your conversation. Not to mention you wouldn't be here right now unless they were in trouble or they were done."

Dee snorted, "A little rude to be eavesdropping, isn't it?"

"Tactical is a better description. But-"

"Crimson!"

The Chimchar turned with a frown as he heard the urgency behind Tag's tone, "What's up?" he called back.

The Turtwig closed the distance in a matter of a second, "There's been another Master Blaster sighting. Just outside Fuchsia City. Just reached word of it through the grape vine."

Crimson turned towards Dee and Siena, "Then we need to hurry before the trail grows cold. Dee, Siena, you both head to Fuchsia City to check it out. Use Unix if ya have to."

"Team Vitality's on it!" Siena nodded, a twinkle in it's eye, "We just need to find Gambit."

"Do what you have to," Crimson stated and started to walk away, "But the longer we wait, the less likely we're going to find anyone lingering around. So do your best to find him quick."

"Right!" Dee faced Siena, "I'll get Unix. You find Gambit and meet me in the clearing."

"Okay," the Shaymin took to the skies once more, continuing it's search for their Togetic.

Crimson and Tag continued to walk towards the entrance of the Crimson Guild HQ.

"It's good we're getting a good lot of our members back," the Chimchar was relaying, "That means we can spend more time focusing on the Psychic Rebellion."

"Yes," Tag agreed, "And finding Radegast."

"Still no word from Team Slowpoke? Or Team Skull?"

"Not yet. They're not in trouble or anything, but they're having a hard time understanding exactly who they're looking for. Like finding a needle in a haystack, only they don't know what needles look like."

"It's a bit hard to give descriptions when the source doesn't give me much to go off of," Crimson took to griping for once, "I mean, I knew what he looked like before, but telling Sarik that he changed? It doesn't make things any clearer. Especially when they don't say how or why."

"Hey," Tag reassured him, "We'll find a way. We always have. They only said Radegast changed. His team is probably the same."

Crimson thought for a second before nodding, "I suppose so."

"Crimson..."

The Chimchar sucked in his breath to avoid spilling his frustration over his name being called again before turning to the sound of the voice. Only instead of a practiced greeting coming out, a small flourish of his eyebrows revealed that he did, in fact, know this Greninja approaching. His smile was warmer after that, "Hey, Gova. Ya pop in for a visit?"

"We need to talk," her words were cool and straight to the point, "Now."

It was a cloudy day when they finally entered the Kalos Region, restricting the view from above over the continent by encompassing the land features underneath. There were still a few landmarks that stuck through the white swirling mass, like the top of the tower in the center of Lumiose City and the tall mountain in the northeastern portion of the region. The wind whipped past them and, with the combination of the higher altitude, made for a rather cold experience in the skies. At least the early morning sun was shining on them, but that would change when they dipped below the clouds.

"We're almost there!" called Glycon back to Radegast and Elder, waking them up from their slumber. Radegast, groggy, noticed that he had fallen asleep while playing his guitar. After slipping his first pick back into the leg satchel, he folded the guitar into the convenient cylindrical form once more.

Indeed, they were starting to swoop lower and lower. Gambit was now in front, guiding the two Dragonites in towards a specific spot in the clouds. Dee and Siena were up as well, riding on the back of Agave as they watched, their minds in further places. The temperature grew warmer as they slowly flew in and eventually through the cloud barrier, revealing everything underneath. The forest was the first thing they would see, a deep and dark shade of green that seemed to stretch for miles. The sea of canopy seemed to roll on forever in every direction, occasionally rising and falling with the natural lay of the land. But they couldn't see anything identifying that could signify a massive base or headquarters.

Radegast was reminded of the many forests he and his friends had trekked through during their travels, but nothing compared in terms of scale. To get a clearer look at the environment, Radegast removed his helmet and maintained a firm grip.

The treetops grew closer and closer with each passing second as they slowly descended. The Dragonites seemed to have a destination in mind as prevalent by Gambit swooping back with the crowd. Soon enough, a small clearing was visible to them and was determined to be their landing point. At the same time, there was still no sign of a big building or even any kind of building. All they could see before they finally landed in the clearing was a small plateau with a lot of foliage growing on it.

Glycon and Agave, their feet finally touching the ground, came to a halt. Dee deboarded quickly, immediately darting off into the woods. Siena stopped in front of the two Dragonites.

"Thank you both for helping us get here quickly," Siena said with a warm smile, "I hope you both get to rest after this flight."

"Oh, for sure," Agave nodded, "We'll have the rest of the day off since the flight was so long."

"Good," Siena commented, "You both deserve it."

"Thanks for the ride, guys," Radegast smiled as he waved with his free hand.

"Not a problem," Glycon waved back, "Nice meeting you!"

"Must be a well-hidden base," Elder commented as he scanned their innocent-looking surroundings, "I approve."

"Follow me," Siena called to them and started walking the direction Dee had gone, "It's this way."

Siena led the way for Radegast and Elder to follow, Gambit taking up the rear to help guide them through. There was no clear labeled path on the forest floor or carved through the trees, most likely by design. So Radegast followed closely behind the Shaymin, not wanting to lose his way. As they walked, Radegast felt unnerved. He had no proof, but he had the surreal feeling that he treaded on ground that no human had ever seen. He slipped the helmet back on so he could free up both hands.

In front of them, the sound of activity was growing louder as many voices were heard. It was already warm and damp outside, but somehow it managed to feel warmer. Gambit looked towards Siena and visibly concentrated. Siena nodded.

"Good thinking, actually," the Shaymin said aloud and stopped to face the Gallade once more, "Hey Radegast, we should probably have your friends outside the PokeBalls when we enter. Some of the Pokemon here don't really like the sight of them and it puts them on edge."

"Good idea," Radegast agreed as he tapped every ball.

However, as he reached for the wood-finish ball, Reggie's voice echoed from the ball to everyone around. "It would be best if I remain in my scabbard, where my aura isn't so commanding."

Siena glanced over Reggie's PokeBall, "Are you sure? I don't think something like that will be a problem here. Legendaries stop by sometimes. It's not like the Pokemon Village hasn't experienced that before."

"I have also been the Reginald Coat of Arms for generations. While some may not notice, those with especially keen senses for this sort of thing would smell the things I've done."

"Trying to weigh the pros against the cons, huh?" Radegast asked, "I guess it should be fine. We're in a safe location, so we wouldn't be fighting."

The Shaymin shrugged, "As you wish, then. Just be careful if you do elect to come out. Try to find a secluded spot if you change your mind."

And with that, the group pushed beyond the forest and into another clearing, this one being much bigger. Almost acting as a small town itself, the area was shaped into a semi-circle with winding paths carved around the structures to guide travelers to specific destinations. The one they were walking on led to a small circular area with a detailed pattern made out of stone and buried to stay level with the surrounding ground. The grass was neatly trimmed and evidently cared for and the streams that swirled around the place were crystal clear, despite the murky clouds above them. There were natural plateaus jutting out across their landscape, but there were many sets of wooden stairs that led to many different levels, adding to the complexity and intricate design of the area. They had carved a home base out of the environment.

Surrounding the circular area were a few shops that sold items like seeds and orbs to those that approached. Some even had Training Machines (TMs) in stock. The Pokemon in the stands, the lines, just walking around...they were the most diverse conglomeration of Pokemon in one location, all converging from every region. All for one cause. Radegast took quick notice of the bandannas most of the Pokemon wore, all of varying colors and designs, but those wearing similar designs were usually walking and talking with each other. Glancing back towards Siena, he noticed that even she was now wearing one around her neck, a sage green one with a heart shape woven in the cloth. Gambit was wearing one too; his was tied around his right foot.

Radegast followed close behind, with Suros roosting on his shoulder. The Operative rode on Elder's head while the Gengar clung to Radegast's side. Rage, Crystal, and Chrome covered the other flanks. While they kept close to the team that brought them here, everyone tried to look at everything.

"RESCUE TEAMS!" Rage shouted, "I HAD HEARD ABOUT THESE! SOME OFTEN BUTTED HEADS WITH MY OLD CLAN WHEN WHELPS TRESPASSED ON OUR TURF!"

"Is that something you should be admitting aloud?" Crystal asked.

"REMEMBER THAT I BEAT STEELFIST AND GOT BANISHED, YOU CUR!"

"Sir!" The Operative chimed to Radegast, "What are the Rescue Teams?"

Radegast honestly had no idea, even though he had met Crimson and others before. "You're better off asking them, buddy."

"Yes sir!" The Operative saluted to the Shaymin. "Sir! What are the Rescue Teams?"

Siena chuckled at the formal actions Operative was taking, "You and Dee will get along great. The Rescue Teams...well, we call them Guild Members...they are the ones that go out in the world and help any of the wild Pokemon in need. Basically, we have a messaging service that's spread out across Ruula that allows Pokemon to reach us any time they're in distress. From there, we assign and send a team out to help them." Siena did turn to the Primeape in confusion, "I'm not sure which rescue teams you remember, but it probably wasn't ours. We haven't been here but for a year or so." She then dipped her head, staring down in thought, "Although it's interesting that you say that. It means there's more than us out there trying to help the world."

"That kinda sounds like what we did," Elder chimed as he looked to Radegast, "Helping Pokemon in need."

Radegast smirked, but it was a bittersweet smirk. The King of Depths was one of those Pokemon in need. He wondered what the Seven Clans were doing. He remembered hearing about something called the Trials.

The Shaymin sensed the tone of sadness in the look and gave Radegast a warm smile, "Hey. I do know of Depths and the Seven Clans. He wouldn't have made that sacrifice if he didn't see you as important. And also a good friend."

"A good friend," Radegast repeated, ignoring the untrue idea that he was in any way important. "Kinda wish I got to hang out with him more."

"He always did have someone in the waters nearby. Kinda like keeping an eye on us."

"Who knows," Siena grinned optimistically, "Maybe you still can."

"Impossible," Reggie's voice echoed, but only enough for them to hear. "Given what has happened, Depths is no more, only DNA and raw energy remain. Even I don't have the memories of the Reginalds- but that doesn't matter as much because I was always with them to experience the same things. After all, you can't remember the bottom of the ocean, can you, Young Master?"

Radegast admitted, he had no memory of ever swimming to the bottom of the ocean. For that matter, he had no memory befitting a Gallade, or a Kirilia, or even a Raltz.

Siena let him finish, before turning back to them, "If there's anything this line of work has taught me, it's this: If there's a will, there's a way. Nothing's impossible if you want it bad enough, strive for it hard enough. Fate, destiny, anything that seems final...it can all be bypassed by the force of free will."

"Amen to that," Radegast returned.

She smiled encouragingly towards the group, "Now c'mon. There's someone you gotta meet."

Their walk was reaching it's end, it's destination being one of the plateaus as Radegast saw earlier. Now that they were closer, Radegast could see that the actual headquarters had been built into one of the cliff faces. The smooth stone walls looked natural apart from the foliage awnings jutting out of it or the windows carved into it. He glanced up and noticed the crimson-colored flag at the top, billowing slightly in what little breeze caught it. It was a bit hard to tell, but judging from how the windows were stacked, he could count three stories. It was the largest building in the area, by far.

"Now this is just too obvious," Elder criticized.

"And yet, did you see it coming in?" Siena countered.

"I bet I could've..." Elder's voice trailed off.

Gambit laughed, "It's actually a really cool trick a few Psychic-Types know how to do to change what other creatures see when looking this way. Up close, it's non-existent, but from far away, it's actually pretty effective. Remind me to show you how it works later."

"Oh! So I just need to apply some of my ghost vision to look past a prism effect," Elder grinned, "Clever girl."

They walked through the main entrance and into the main hub of the Crimson Guild HQ. Despite the dreary day, the interior was bright and very lively. Gray light from the outdoors cast through the many windows, illuminating the room with a surprisingly warm, yellow glow thanks to the wooden floor. Billboards were plastered on both sides of the wall, papers covering each and every one. As Radegast gandered closer, he realized that they were assignments, all of many different requests and tasks, scattered all across many locations in Ruula. In the center of one of these boards, Gambit was staring very intently. His expression was one of disappointment.

"Aw, what?!" he cried, "We're in third?"

Radegast peeked over his shoulder to examine what looked like a list of names ranked in some way. He was too far away to read the names written in smaller print, but he culd clearly see the top five with the heading of "Elite Teams" etched above them.



"No worries man, you just gotta work harder, is all." Radegast encouraged, "You'll get it."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Siena chuckled.

"Well we've been back and forth with Team Madness for a while, but why is Team Volt ahead of us?" the Togetic continued to gripe, "All they do is joke around and ride around on Rubira all the time!"

"They do more than that," Siena raised an amused brow, "You do realize they coordinated the Electric-Types and brought power to all of Lumiose City while they were without power for a year, right? I'm surprised they're not first right now."

"I wonder what Team Madness is doing that's keeping themselves at the top of the list?" Gambit said curiously, having calmed down some.

"I can check with them later if you'd like."

All eyes turned right at the sight of a Minun staring at them. Gambit stared at the ground and shuffled his feet as he hovered in the air. Siena approached with all smiles, as Radegast was starting to notice that's what she did with everyone.

"Hey, Meryl," the Shaymin greeted, "Where's Pert?"

"He's in the office, talking with Crimson," she replied, turning towards the Gallade, "Hey Radegast. How was the trip over?"

"It was alright," Radegast responded, "I don't think I'll ever get used to riding Pokemon."

"He kinda prefers to get places with his own two feet," Elder elaborated.

"Plus getting from Kanto to Kalos on a bike isn't exactly... well... possible." Radegast shrugged.

"I see..." Meryl nodded understandingly, "Well, just know that riding Pokemon here isn't like when other humans using their Pokemon to fly around. The Pokemon here do it because they want to. Does that make it better?"

"If I had a Pokke for every time I heard that reasoning," Radegast smiled under the mask, "I'd have... three Pokke."

"Five, actually," Elder corrected.

"No, three. Those first two didn't count because we overheard it said to other people."

"You still heard that reasoning," Elder insisted, "And you said specifically 'every time I heard that reasoning'. Don't you try to-" The two of them broke down laughing. The rest of the team found it contagious, even Gambit and Siena.

Only Meryl was left unamused, more confused even, "I...guess I'll show you all to Crimson's office. He's waiting for you."

The group walked past the small groups of people collected every which way around. Some gave the group a weird look as they passed, making Radegast aware of how odd they all must've looked. He was wearing armor. He had a Talonflame perched on his shoulder, despite all laws of logic. Rage was staring down everyone he walked by, sizing them up to determine which among them was worthy of combat. And, of course, the shiny Metang was always a glorious sight to see. But all they received were weird looks and curious glances, most of them mild, actually. The group reached a spiral staircase, ascended it, and made an immediate right at the crossroads in front of them. The first door on the right was the one they stopped at and Meryl opened the door for them.

Unlike most of the Crimson Guild HQ, Crimson's office was quite plain. A wooden desk sat in the center with a chair on each side, both furnished the exact same way. Bookshelves were lined up against each wall, filled with books of many different genres and varieties gathered across Ruula. In the far right corner were personal notes the office owner had written down, maps rolled up and placed neatly in a row, and a few odd drawings scribbled onto papers and stuck to the back wall. The circular window overlooked the entire room, both providing light and giving a fantastic view to the forest below. On the right wall was the only wall decoration, a mount of what looked like a metal bat.

In the room were quite a few Pokemon. In front of the desk and to it's right stood a Plusle, a very energetic and overall positive personality easily prevalent on his face. He was talking with Dee excitedly about something. Glancing over the books was a face they were very familiar with, the green blur with a large green head, beady eyes, and a twig growing out of his head. And standing behind the desk was the blue eys, orange furred Chimp Pokemon...the one Radegast knew was Crimson.

The Chimchar's eyes were the first one to lay eyes on Radegast, everyone else's gaze following his own to see the group fill into the room. Everyone else froze, unsure of how to respond to this new presence. But Crimson's gaze was relaxed, friendly, and inviting as he waved him over.

"Radegast," he called, "How's it going?"

As he approached, Radegast pulled off his helmet. "Crimson," He spoke, "Long time no see, eh?"

A lot of audible gasps tore through the room as they realized they were looking at a Gallade. Siena, Dee, and Gambit already knew he was a Pokemon due to their interaction with Radegast earlier, so their response was muted. Everyone else was frozen, like a deer in headlights. They weren't sure if what they were looking at was real.

Pert walked over to the Turtwig, "Didn't you say he was human?"

"He was," Tag whispered back, "But how-"

"It's just like..." Meryl's voice trailed off.

Crimson, however, was unaffected by the reveal. In fact, his grin grew wider, "Yeah...it has been a while. Glad to see you were allowed to keep your dreads. They kind of define you."

Dee turned to look at Crimson, shocked, "You knew what happened? But I didn't tell you he changed."

The Chimchar shrugged before turning back to Radegast, "I just kind of felt it. I had a small hunch for a while, but I wasn't sure until you landed nearby and I felt it.

"The aura," Reggie noted, "I felt it as well. We are a rare occurance."

"I don't think I know how to feel that sorta thing yet," Radegast scratched his head with his Limiter-clad hand, as he carried the helmet under his other arm.

Crimson nodded, "You'll learn. It's like...reading the atmosphere, if you will. Getting a feel for the one in front of you, but instead you...well, we can come back to that." His gaze rested on the crew accompanying him, "Sup guys? Been a bit."

"Indeed," Elder nodded, "Lot of improvement since that thing with the big laser and all. We're looking for Dawn Stones now."

"Dawn Stones?" Crimson flared his brow, "What for?" He glanced at Radegast curiously, rubbing his chin, his mind clearing racing.

"In theory, it's to help him get stronger," Elder replied as he pointed to Radegast, "We're all trying to get stronger, so we can accomplish our new goals."

"I'm not sure if you guys get involved in human affairs, but the Regicide Crew has taken Lukas," Radegast elaborated, "And also Demonbreath, and a Necrozma. We mean to free them."

Crimson paused, glancing around the room, contemplating something. After a moment, he faced Radegast again, a crisp, blue stare boring into him, "Do you mind if we take a walk? Just you and I?"

"Not leaving him this time," Reggie insisted. Radegast, however, looked to Elder and the others.

"We'll get a bite to eat," Elder told Radegast.

The Gallade nodded, "Get me something, eh?"

"No promises, Lord-Regent!" Elder joked as Radegast left with Crimson.

---

The sky couldn't hold back the rain any longer and when Crimson and Radegast stepped outside, a light drizzle had already began to fall. The Chimchar took this like a grain of salt, however, and casually sauntered out into the misty downpour. There was a small sizzle as his engulfed rear reacted to the water, but remained ignited. Radegast walked beside him, and the two began their walk.

"Are you okay?" Crimson asked when they were far enough.

"It helps to focus," Radegast replied simply.

"I get that," he agreed, "But it can also be what you focus on that can affect you...who you are and what you want to be. You're different...more driven than before."

"It's not right, what's happening to them," Radegast replied, "When we last met, I've never met people like the Marine, or Zane, or..." He sighed. Lucy was still family- disowned, and a complete stranger, but she did have that look.

"You were also human when we last met."

"I take it you were too?"

Crimson nodded, "I'm a bit different, though, cause I don't remember anything of my past life...my life before this one. But it's more or less an awakening of perspective. I've been in your shoes."

He scratched his head as he continued, "Your Marine and Zane was my Neeko and Dr. Benson. They were the ones who started the Psychic Rebellion, back before they were on Ruula. And coming into that world...having to learn how to fight that fight...it's tough. You say you'll be the same, that you won't let things change you, but they find a way to anyway. Everyone we meet changes out outlook on the world and opens up so many new perspectives that it's easy to be changed. They changed me. You changed me, too. I'm not sure we would be here without your help early on."

"I guess the thing we can control is how we let the change affect us...either for better or for worse. I'm not saying this is you, but I reckon you want vengeance...revenge...some kind of counter, right?"

"Vengeance... maybe..." Radegast sighed. The idea didn't sit well in his stomach, "More than that, I wanna help them. It's my fault they're in trouble, and Demonbreath shouldn't be alive anymore." He stopped and faced Crimson. "Dawn stones, are they easy to acquire?"

"Where I come from...no," Crimson admitted, "But on Ruula...I'm not sure. I've only found one evolution stone since I've been here and it was an Ice Stone. I'll help you look, of course. But we're gonna have to start from scratch."

"And one more thing," Radegast continued, "Galladite."

"Welp...I know you're in the right region for it. Mega Evolution Stones are a Kalos staple from what I hear. I can help you out there, too." He paused to think about it, "That might be easier to find, actually. We don't have to walk as far."

"I appreciate it," Radegast smiled.

"Not a problem," Crimson flashed him a thumbs up as they started walking once more, "Now how much training have you had?"

"Between six years of conditioning and hiking, I've already got a tough body. Recently, I did a month of ninja training back home. Reggie and I have been practicing our fusion for a while, and I can feel a change in output. I think Dawn Stones will help us bring out my potential."

"What about controlling your abilities? All that power is going to be wild and uncontrollable."

"My buddy taught me how to get a handle on psychic power, but I still need to practice. I can control my hands perfectly now, and I can talk again. I can also project Psycho Cuts, but that takes a lot out of me.

"That's to be expected," the Chimchar nodded understandingly, "Using your abilities and controlling them are two very different things. You can lash out again an opponent or you can lash out accurately against an opponent...throw 'em exactly where you want them.

"Thing is, it's like I'm covering the developing years of an infant psychic-type over the course of a few weeks," Radegast replied, "If I wanna catch up in that sense, I think- again- Dawn Stones would help."

"Dawn Stones will help you add to the power, but it doesn't help you control it automatically. Believe me, I've been there before. If anything, it's harder."

Crimson's eyes brightened, an idea forming in his mind, "Show me what you can do tomorrow, and we can make a judgement from there. I don't doubt your abilities or your quick learning ability. Don't get me wrong. But I know what ambition can do and what happens when you move too fast.

"I agree on that, but neither time nor my enemies will wait for me to get stronger," Radegast replied, "But I'll be here tomorrow. Count on it."

"We'll get you there as fast as we can...without hurting you in the process," he glanced up, staring at the droplets that collected in the leaves and fell in bigger drops around them. "I'm sure your family doesn't want anything bad to happen to you."

"I dunno where they are now," Radegast replied. He remembered, Crimson probably didn't know. "The Estate was destroyed."

"I heard," Crimson looked down, "But they're still out there, right?"

"Yeah. Palkia got them out with a portal, but Uncle didn't make it..." Radegast paused as he remembered Tarma. His life force was with Reggie now, but not memory, nor consciousness. "Do you know what happened?"

"I know one side of the story...I don't know things from your perspective...or his perpsective," he pointed at the wooden PokeBall.

"The Rebellion could not possibly defeat the Reginalds," Reggie spoke up, "They had an unexpected ally join in...Lucy Reginald."

"My cousin," Radegast added.

"Disowned," Reggie corrected.

"I almost came across her on the way here... I haven't felt a pressure like that... ever." Not even in the face of Marcus' Palkia, or Margriet's Raikou.

"Hmm...I imagine she's powerful..." Crimson lamented.

"Too powerful," Reggie interjected, "And she's trying to get more. If she could stop a full-powered fusion..."

"We'll stop her as well," Radegast vowed.

"It's what we do," Crimson agreed.

Radegast shook awake, as his body had grown accustomed to waking up early in the morning. The embers of the camp fire had gone out long ago, leaving the only light the slowly brightening sky above the black forest. Suros was curled up next to him. Her body and nature kept the two of them warm on the particularly cold night. Reggie, on the other hand, hovered in place, a silent sentinel as he always has been.

"Good morning," Reggie spoke low as he saw that both Radegast and Suros woke up.

"Morning, Reggie," Radegast smiled. He had slept in the armour, which was surprisingly comfortable provided you laid down right. He removed his helmet and rubbed his eyes. The leftover dinner of fried nuts and wild fruits still remained on the stone slab Radegast had used as cookware. Nothing touched it, not while the imposing aura of the Aegislash was around. Radegast and Suros divvied the rest, before the Gallade kicked the remains of the campfire all around to be reclaimed by nature.

Radegast and Reggie fused once more, and their journey continued. As they moved, Radegast produced a metal canteen- a recent acquire, from a dealer near the Guild. It was technically an abandoned human object that was missing the strap. The Operative weaved together a much stronger replacement. Radegast had refilled it with fresh water from a river a kilometer back, which was then boiled by Suros.

With the fusion-boosted running speed, Radegast dashed through forest and across planes. Suros even spread her wings and flew above and alongside him. They didn't need to say anything. There was the wind rushing past them as they made time and saw the sights.

By the time night came around, Radegast had passed Luminose City. He did spot an unusual sight: an object of some kind tumbling into the center of the city. Unfortunately, Radegast was too far, and too preoccupied to investigate. The Gallade continued on for another few hours before stopping to camp.

The next morning, he finally arrived at Shalour City's gates. Thick-grown trees covered the cliffs near the seaside. Between the natural forms,a not-insignificant number of buildings were clustered within the area. A great tower loomed over everything with an imposing mysticism from atop an island. This city, while not Luminose, was a populous location in its own right.

Radegast stuck to the trees, while Suros continued roosting on his shoulder. The Gallade's glowing blue eyes scanned his surroundings as he moved. As he got stronger, he could utilize Reggie's power to "feel" nearby auras. However, he could only sense vague suggestions in a general direction as they remained fused. Despite that, Radegast did avoid human contact thanks to Janine's training.

With the blade and shield strapped to his back, Radegast slipped over the edge of a bridge and climbed underneath. Out of prying eyes, Radegast took a much-needed break and considered his options. Despite being normally lazy, Suros would do anything for Radegast. Even though he never asked, the Talonflame flew out like a normal wildling, where she scanned all sides of the tower for any non-standard method of access.

When she returned and relayed what she saw, Radegast figured the best path. With Suros back in her pokeball, Radegast began climbing up the walls, using his phantom fingers to get a grip on even the smallest of indentations within the brickwork. Soon, he was up the East-side wall, hidden amongst the trees. From there, Radegast darted toward the tower. With some more climbing, Radegast swing himself into one of the openings within the stone walls.

Radegast found himself within a library. While the tower itself had large open floors for training, there were side rooms dedicated to storage such as this one. Even old martial academies in Kanto had side rooms where the masters kept old texts for teaching and mastery. The room Radegast happened upon was one such room. There were not as many bookshelves as a typical library, but the number was not insignificant. They may not actually find anything useful after all, but any knowledge is better than nothing.

To avoid their aura from being so imposing as to be noticeable, Radegast remained fused with Reggie as he looked through the small selection of books. Suros roosted on top of a bookshelf in order to keep watch with her sharp eyes.

---

"Crimson, can I ask you something?"

The Chimchar's eyes glanced up at the plan he was looking over to Tag, who's own face was buried in papers, "Sure, buddy. Wassup?"

"The entire time we've been together, you've taught up to push past our limits, to find our advantages in ourselves and break the mold of tradition in every possible way we could. It's why we've grown the way we have and why we've worked so well as a team. There is no ceiling, right?"

Crimson nodded, "Yeah."

"So why do you take it so easy on Radegast?"

Crimson flared up an eyebrow, "I'm not sure what you mean."

"I've seen you train with him. You're not as...hard on him as you were training with us...when we were rolling with the punches. You don't retaliate when he strikes...just block. You also haven't really taught him much of anything that makes you so...unique. I figure if anyone best fits your style, it'd be him. So why are you moving so slow while training him?"

Crimson curled his lip in thought, "I...I mean Radegast is different. I'm still trying to get a gauge on what he can do. I don't exactly know what to teach him yet."

Tag snorted, "What does that even mean? Teach him your style."

"I'm easing him into it-"

"Crimson," Tag cut him short, "From one friend to another, don't ease him into it. He's harnessed his skill enough. Teach him already. That's what worked for us when we were adventuring. That's what's working for everybody who's a member of the Guild. That's what will work for Radegast. Otherwise, what's separating him from any other combatant?"

Crimson clenched his fists, "His ability to fuse with the Aegislash. His own band of friends who use their own strategies. His own outlook on life and how he believes things should be done."

"And you can change types and reach a form that brings people back to life and transforms people into Pokemon and purges shadow energy and Arceus know what else. And you still adopt these skills. You gain every advantage you can. Why is he different from that?"

The door to Crimson's office swung open and Pert strolled in, "Hey Crimson!"

Crimson greeted him with a polite smile, "Hey Pert. What's up?"

"Team Levity came back," Pert continued, "No sign of the Regicide Crew though. They'll be back at it tomorrow. Thought I'd let you know, in case you asked."

"Appreciated. Thanks."

Pert closed the door and there was a moment of silence. Finally, Crimson took a deep breath. His grip had been heavy on the table and he relinquished it, "It's not the skills he learns but what he plans to do with them that makes me hesitant."

"What do you mean?" Tag inquired.

"He's got vengeance in his heart. He wants payback for everything that's happened to him. His quest to get stronger, from the moment he transformed to every action shaping him right now. I mean, you've seen him in action. He's definitely not the carefree soul we ran into back on the island."

"So you're worried that if he gains so much strength-"

"He'll become so absorbed in his capabilities that his only thought will be to vanquish his enemies and conquest. He'll lose that unique perspective of his that make him capable of understanding both the good guys and the bad guys and become a conqueror over both."

"C'mon, Crimson," Tag reassured, nudging him in the shoulder, "Radegast won't be like that. I remember that argument you told me about the first day he arrived and it sounded like he had that mentality in check with how he was defending the Psychic Rebellion and their existence."

The Chimchar sighed, "It's still there, but it's warped. Right now, he sees no difference between us and them, but instead of seeing a possible avenue of neutrality in their doings, he's making our actions out to be as bad as theirs. But even then, that's not nearly as bad as the fact that he puts more blame on himself than anyone else."

Crimson glanced out the window towards the early afternoon sun, "Just like a few days ago, when that Gallade came charging through here. Yes, his action was selfish and yes it was wrong, but it was also wrong for that Gallade to come in here and start trying to pick a fight with the one responsible. They both had justified reasons for their missteps. But unlike the Gallade who took his anger out on Radegast, Radegast went self-destructive...almost like he was trying to prove his point. And if he has so much negative persuasion around him...I'm scared he might succumb to it."

"So remind him what's important," Tag said decisively. Crimson looked over to him as he went on, "It's not who you need to stop but why you need to stop them. In this case, he shouldn't be focused on exacting revenge on the Marine but saving the ones he lost: the Champion and the Necrozma. And I think once he's done those things, he probably won't takes things to the extreme of exacting revenge."

Crimson's gaze turned hopeful, "Are you sure?"

"Well, no one's sure of anything," Tag shrugged, "But I can say I had those same fears about you when Neeko nearly killed you and you seemed to turn out alright. Radegast may have a different cast of friends by his side, but I'd trust him as much as I trusted you."

Crimson nodded in agreement, "Fair enough."

---

"Young master," Reggie suddenly spoke quickly, "She is here."

"Wh-" Radegast was about to ask who, but he knew immediately. He felt it before, his instincts screamed at him as an aura more imposing and terrible than even Reggie's flooded the room- possibly the tower. For most, they'd be petrified at the natural energies that carried an evil bite over the air currents. Beyond the library door, Radegast heard no echoing footsteps, but he could sense a graceful movement.

That feminine voice echoed in the larger halls. "I've been told there was some Gardevoirite in storage here. I'd like to purchase it."

Radegast heard some Lucario bark. Since he could understand them, he could tell they were shouting "Stay back", with an obvious fear in their voices. While most Pokemon wouldn't sense the bubbling madness within Lucy Reginald, Lucario would understand an aura like this the most.

"I don't think the Lucario here take kindly to you," An old man's voice was wary, though he couldn't sense what the Lucario sense. "What sort of woman are you?"

"Not your daughter," Lucy replied. Apparently the old man made a face, which instilled the added response. "I've done nothing to her. She is a famous girl. Her status is common knowledge in Kalos, after all. No. I'm just here for the Gardevoirite."

Doesn't she have one already? Radegast thought to himself as he slowly gripped the blade and shield of the Aegislash. He was hiding at the far end of a book shelf, where he kept one eye on the only door. However, his eye caught something glinting as he shuffled slightly. Covered in a glass, Radegast spotted what he initially thought was Galladite. No, he shook his head. The color was slightly different

"There isn't any here." The old man lied, though he did sound convincing.

Lucy giggled, "You sound convincing, but your Lucario already knew it'll take more than sound to convince me."

An ordr was half-barked, but a blast of energy erupted, flooding the area with the sound of crackling and hums. Dull thuds and cracking stone indicated that the Lucario were being outmatched in an instant.

For a split second, Radegast looked to the window. Could he make it? Lucy seemed preoccupied with the Master, but she did detect Elder from through a wall- the distance was comparable last time too. If she could sense Radegast, she made no indication that she could. If he tried to run, would she give chas-

Another thud, and the old man groaned in pain, as well as another Lucario.

The door flung open as Radegast burst through. He concentrated psychic energy into his legs and closed the distance in a moment. As he entered the larger hall, for the first time, Radegast saw her with his own eyes.

She looked like Margriet; beautiful, though fittingly older. However, Lucy strangely also resembled Glade's mother. Her hair- swept to one side- rose with the radiating psychic energy, revealing the prosthetic eye that housed her personal Gardevoirite.

The blade was a mere inch away, but was stopped completely. Radegast and Lucy locked eyes. Her eye was cold, but held a willpower behind them that could not be budged.

"Should've stayed down like the rest of these dogs," She smiled as she spoke with a terrible voice.as graceful as her lithe figure. Without a single movement, she flung Radegast away. "Now then I-," She continued, only to pause entirely.

Radegast's helmet had fallen off as he rolled against the hall floor. Radegast looked back with a Gallade's glare as he scrambled back to his feet.

"Now wait just one minute," Her eyes lit up with familiarity. "The Coat of Arms? I didn't think it was you when I sensed... but that means..." She eyed up Radegast. "My cousin... Little Margie? No- Little Raddy...?" Her eyes widened as her mind whirled. Radegast could tell because her mere wayward thoughts caused ripples of Psychic energy that created small gusts inside the tower. "Whoa... now this..." She strode toward him until she was just outside stabbing distance. She looked over Radegast's exposed face as if it were a work of art.

"Radegast... Little Radegast. You're perfect!" Lucy's eye began to tear up, as if she bore witness to the most beautiful work of art ever created. "My goodness, Why would the Rebellion want to kill you? You're everything they've dreamed of being!"

Radegast kept his mind shut tight, as he felt multiple probes trying to peel away his psyche. He couldn't even think to lunge forward. As he felt her imposing power push against him, he couldn't do anything save for shutting himself off entirely. He didn't even have time to process what the heck Lucy was saying.

"How did you get this body? I must know!" She motioned a finger, and Radegast felt his whole body constricted by Psychic energy. "Come, we've got so much to do! The Vandal is a great first step, but seeing an Apex like this!" Her excitement bubbled into reality as more ripples formed in the air. "Oh Sonya's going to love thi-" Her excitement evidently had fully distracted her. Lucy Reginald should have easily seen the orange blur coming. Her shriek and the subsequent gust of prickling wind made way for the stench of burning flesh and metal. Suros had unleashed an Aerial Ace on Lucy Reginald's grafted cybernetic spine. As sparks flew and the burns from Suros' flame body began to sink in, the woman dropped to one knee. Radegast felt the force gripping him vanish entirely.

Lucy's voice, once graceful and deceptively lovely, was now harsh and venomous. "How DARE you!" The shrill shriek of hate made way for a surge of energy. Radegast moved quickly and raised his shield as a terrible Psybeam emitted, poised to strike Suros in mid-air. The beam exploded against the shield, launching Radegast back a few meters down the hall.

He barely maintained his stance. "Suros!" Radegast called. The Talonflame spat a stream of fire at Lucy Reginald. While her cybernetic spine was heavily damaged, Lucy managed to dodge.

"You can't escape our destiny, Reginald Blood," Lucy bared her teeth as she hovered. Her legs dangled- disconnected- as she flew into the room Radegast had just attacked from. Radegast gave chase, but there was a shatter of glass, Suros was about to fly in to give chase, but Radegast recalled her into her PokeBall- saved the Talonflame just as a hail of glass shards flew out the door. Radegast bounded through the door after the dodged ambush, only to find that she was gone. The Gardevoirite was gone with her.

Radegast collapsed to his padded knees as his adrenaline faded along with Lucy's aura. "Oh fuck... Ooooh my Arceus... Holy shit..." He could barely move. This whole encounter was pure luck. If Lucy Reginald wasn't so distracted at that exact moment, then Suros... Radegast released the blade and the shield, which moved to his back. Radegast rubbed his temples; they both throbbed with pain. Most of Radegast was in pain. Even with the shield, that Psybeam did a number on the Gallade himself. Would Suros have survived a direct hit from such power?

Suros burst from her PokeBall again, flapping in place and darting around to search for her quarry. After seeing Radegast on his knees, the Talonflame retrieved hiss helmet. As strength returned to his legs, Radegast put his helmet back on, stumbled to his feet and moved to check on the Lucario and the old man. "Are you alright, sir?".

The response was minimal. The elderly man was still alive, albeit in rough shape. Radegast reached for his own bag, but remembered he didn't have what he was looking for. Instead, he looked to the Lucario that were present. Two in total, both sprawled, completely knocked out when they were flung into the solid stone walls. Radegast spotted a leg satchel on the old man's hip. A quick search resulted in two revives, which Radegast used to heal the Lucario. "C'mon, I need your help," Radegast said as the two Pokemon were restored, "We gotta get the old dude to a hospital."

The Lucario were understandably wary, but any aura was more welcoming when compared to Lucy Reginald's. They were careful and ginger when picking up the old man, grabbing his appendages and lifting him with little effort.

"What even happened?" One of the Lucario rubbed his head, as if he was trying to jog his memory, "It was like...we got this bad feeling, then she started acting really crazy and then...we were just out."

"That woman stole the Gardevoirite," Radegast replied, "I couldn't stop her, but Suros..." The Talonflame swooped to his shoulder. Radegast couldn't help but smile. "She at least prevented anything worse from happening."

"Hmm..." the other Lucario grunted, rolling his shoulder as if to work out the aches and pains that remained, "I guess we owe you two a thanks then. If for nothing else, then at least for reviving us."

"Not just that," Radegast continued as he assumed a meditative stance close by the old man. He held his arms up and began a breathing exercise. In a few seconds, a wash of energy emitted. The Heal Pulse began to take effect on the Lucario. However, it was difficult to tell if the same could be said with the unconscious old man. "I hope that helped, but we should get him to the hospital just in case."

They proceeded out the front door and began making their way towards the Pokemon Center. A few people had actually heard the commotion going on and were watching from the outside, waiting to see how things would develop. Those that stuck around did see the unconscious old man being carried by two Lucario and knew someone got hurt.

"Quickly! Get the Nurse!" a middle-aged man told his son and pointed in the direction of the Pokemon Center. The boy took off in a sprint.

Radegast and Suros followed soon after and a few other folks were curious enough to ask some questions.

"Uh...excuse me, uh...person!" A woman called out to him, "What happened to Gurkinn? Is he gonna be alright?"

"I hope so," Radegast replied. "Did you see a woman walk into the tower? Flowing dress? Hair parted to one side?" He thought for a moment, "Icky aura?"

"No, I don't think so," she shrugged, "I was just walking outside when I heard all the noise. By the time I got here, it had stopped and...here we are."

Radegast nodded. "She must've teleported then." He sighed. This didn't bode well. Lucy had his number, as well as his general location. He needed to move quickly after retrieving what he came to Shalour to do, only his reason for coming here was currently being sent to the hospital. Just my luck... he thought bitterly.

"What is the next step, young master?" the voice of Reggie echoed in the back of his mind. The young boy was running back, the nurse right behind him.

As Radegast waited on standby, Radegast produced the Galladite to look at it. The old man wasn't going to be much help until he recovered, and staying too long would garner unwanted attention from civilians. Lucy Reginald got away, and she seemed to know what Radegast had become... Radegast grit his teeth, realizing his one advantage in hiding was now completely lost. He couldn't stay long at all.

"Perhaps the Lucario might know something?" Reggie asked, "They are probably as well-learned about Mega Evolution as the master."

Radegast didn't see any fault in the logic. There was only one way to find out either way. "Excuse me," Radegast spoke to the Lucario directly, "I actually came here to learn how to use this," He held up the Galladite.

"We shall get our master the help he needs," he replied, "Then, we can talk."

---

About an hour had passed since the attack at the library. The nurse had brought the elderly man to the Pokemon Center and ran a diagnostic test on his body to try and figure out the problem. Apart from a few broken ribs, a concussion, and many bruises, he would be fine. He would just need a day to rest. The two Lucarios were more than good, particularly from Radegast's Heal Pulse, but the nurse insisted on checking up on them and ensuring they were good to go. The townspeople had all but gone about their business, the rumor mill spreading like wildfire across the city about what they heard, what they saw, and what they believed. Fortunately, no one seemed to blame Radegast for the events.

One of the Lucario stood by Gurkinn's bedside, keeping a watchful eye over his master. Meanwhile, the other one had motioned for Radegast to follow him. They traveled outside the Pokemon Center and then behind it, walking through the woods. They stopped when they were out of sight of the city and it's inhabitants.

"Now then," the Lucario gazed back the way they came, ensuring that no one had followed before he continued, "Why do you need to know how to unlock the power of Mega Evolution, Gallade?"

"Simply put," Radegast removed his helmet, "There's someone in trouble, and I want to save them. There's also the woman that attacked you guys. I want to stop her too."

"Your aura..." the Lucario put his paw out, feeling the air around Radegast, "I sense a strand of similarity between you and that woman. A blood relationship. Do you know her?"

"My cousin," Radegast replied somberly, "One I didn't know I had. I was too young."

"Hmm..." the Lucario seemed to be studying him, examining him and his armor. He even sniffed the air around him. All the while, his hand remained raised, as if his aura sensing capabilities were doing the same thing, "Interesting. I sense more than that, though. You don't seem to be tricking me, but you've got three souls occupying this one body."

"If the other two could talk, I've yet to hear them, man." Radegast shrugged before producing the Galladite. He was being honest because to not be honest would end up wasting time with one who can sense auras and easily detect lies. "Is there a way for me to use this?"

"Well, that depends. Do you have a Trainer?"

"I guess technically I am?"

"The Mega Evolution is achieved through a strong bond between a Trainer and their Pokemon. The Galladite is merely a catalyst...a spark to ignite the flame. Without all the components, you won't be able to reach the Mega Form you seek. Not in the traditional way."

Radegast nodded, though he felt a pit form in his stomach. If Fusion could do it, he'd already feel the sensation of Mega Evolution by simply carrying the Galladite. "So I can't use this," The conclusion seemed pretty clear to him. He started making a mental note to drop the Galladite off back at Glade's place... or ask Suros to drop it off in his stead, since Glade's father didn't want him around anymore.

The Lucario's gaze didn't waver, but he did turn to stare Radegast, "But maybe there is another way. As the perception goes, many people believe that we were the first Pokemon to discover Mega Evolution. In fact, we were the first ones to do it by the power of the Mega Stones. There is a Pokemon who is able to achieve the Mega Evolution form by itself, without the need of one of those."

Come to think of it, Lucy Reginald could utilize that eye implant. Radegast saw it clear as day- unmistakably Gardevoirite. It did make him wonder why she needed a second one, however. "What Pokemon was that?" Radegast rose a brow as he shifted his stance.

"Rayquaza," he answered, "The Sky Legendary."

There was a deathly silence from the reveal. Radegast nodded slowly, but it was Reggie who spoke up. "Where can we find Rayquaza nowadays?"

"I dunno it's a matter of where and more a matter of can." Radegast replied with a smirk. Seriously, though. How in the world can they find Rayquaza?

"The Rayquaza is never stationary," the Lucario said, glancing up towards the sky, "It is constantly travelling around Ruula, protecting the planet from above. All I know for sure is the last seen location, which was Anistar City. And that was a year ago. Your best bet would be to travel as many mountain peaks as you can and hope you get lucky."

The Lucario's own brow raised as he crossed his arms, "But I thought you said your souls couldn't talk. Who was that I just heard in my head?"

"Oh, that," Radegast put a Limiter-clad hand on the pommel of the sword on his back, and the two of them de-fused. "This is Reggie," He introduced the Aegislash, which reformed into the Shield Forme and hovered in place. Without the Limiter doing what it does to Reggie's natural strength, the imposing full power of the Aegislash could be felt once more. However, it didn't quite match the aura of raw strength that Lucy Reginald exuded.

"An old soul..." the Lucario noted, putting his paw in front of Reggie and closing his eyes, "A truly old soul, in fact. I can sense you have lived well beyond your years."

"Thank you," The Aegislash apparently took it as a compliment.

"But it has been through the expense of others," the Lucario wasn't done, "Those absorbed souls that now possess your body and provide your significant power...they are what keep you going. Your aura is far more complicated than the Gallade's, which is a feat in it of itself." His eyes shot open. "How have you done this?"

"I do not deny this," Reggie replied, "However, it was their decision, in order to hold off the very same woman that attacked you. As for the process..." The great aura grew somber. "It is a curse, one the young master and I are working hard to cure."

"Hmm..." the Lucario grunted, finally lowering his paw, "Well, I have told you both everything I can. Do you have anything else?"

Radegast thought for a moment, "Mega Evolution usually involves bracelets and stuff, right?" He asked, remembering some vague entries in a school textbook. "Where can I get some of the ore used in those?"

"There's no clear deposit for the special ore you're looking for," the Lucario pointed east, "But many of the locals have found their ore in the mountains due east from here."

"Got it," Radegast slipped his helmet back on. "Thank you so much for your help," He gave the sun & moon gesture as Reggie fused once more. "We'll be taking our leave if that's alright."

The Lucario wasn't sure of the gesture he was making, but returned with a traditional bow, "Take care, complicated Gallade. May safe travels be with you."

"Oh, and before I go," Radegast quickly rooted through his leg satchel and produced his wallet. Out of the 8,320 Poke on his person, Radegast separated 3000. "I had to use your master's Revives. I owe this to him." He wouldn't take no for an answer.

The Lucario sighed before accepting the money, "Your kindness is appreciated, then. Be safe on your adventures."

---

The laboratory was nothing like her old setup back in the Lavaridge base. While Lucy had managed to clear out with the most incriminating equipment, the Hoenn police managed to get her surgery table- which held the automated machines that grafted her cybernetics. Her systems were well-designed, and maintenance could be done in the wild by-hand. Lucy made a mental note to track down her surgery table. While she doesn't have a proper power situation sorted out, it would be nice to have it back.

Not even Lucy could've accounted for a single bird getting the drop on her. Next time she sees that bird, it's dead.

Thanks to a quick patch, her legs could respond again. However, it's only thanks to leaving the Gardevoirite activated that she could tap into her Psychic potential without the functioning cybernetics. With a wave of the hand, Lucy Reginald moved two mirrors into place around a stool. Her toned shoulders pressed together as she used what power she had left to move the tools she needed around to begin tinkering.

The tools dropped, however. The Galladite system had just shut off from its daily limit. Lucy Reginald smirked. In truth, while she was pissed off at that Talonflame, she didn't even care. For one: she had all the time in the world. For two: she had proof that she was right, all along.

An Apex. its power was untapped, but it was an Apex nonetheless. Of course it happened to be a Reginald. Only people like the blood Reginalds could become an Apex. It's part of that Pokemon DNA within them.

"You got destroyed."

Turning around, Lucy would notice that it was only the Meowstic she had grown accustomed to meeting. Her own smirk was on her face as she casually walked into the room, toolkit in her hand. She knew that unlike her own self, Sonya had an arrogance to her nature, dripping out of that powerful gait and condescending stare. It wasn't hard to see that her hatred was a cool, focused blade that loved to slice through skin slowly and methodically, taking in every iron-filled scent until she was done playing with her food. And that expanded to most everybody...and everything.

"Just an inconvenience. I can fix it myself tomorrow." Lucy smiled warmly as she rolled a shoulder casually. "I've just had the most wonderful encounter, Sonya."

"Oh?" she set the toolkit on the ground and popped it open, sifting through it's contents, "I bet they didn't see it that way. With whom?"

"My dear cousin, Radegast."

The sound of contents moving through the metal box stopped abruptly. Sonya whipped right around, her eyes filling with both excitement and pure hatred, "Where?"

"Shalour City, though I imagine he'd be on the move by now. His little bird friend did this." Despite the damage, Lucy's excitement was absolutely noticeable. "I'm sure you can find him if you use any of your contacts in Kalos."

Sonya giggled darkly, "Oh, we've got more than the numbers need to find him. He's proven himself to be a little more slick than that though. How did you find him?"

"Well," She spoke as if she was going to tell a most interesting tale. She explained that she was heading to the Tower to buy some Gardevoirite- though she was planning to take it anyway, she wasn't going to stoop to the level of a savage thief. But then Radegast jumped out of the blue and tried to save the old man. "As if that geezer were in any danger." Lucy giggled. "Anyway, when you do find him, would you mind taking him alive?"

"That's the plan," she replied, turning back to the box, "Zane wants to have a few choice words with him for giving him a headache over the past year. After that...I'm sure he won't mind giving custody over to Radegast's older cousin."

She pulled out a notepad and a pencil and glanced back at Lucy, "Mind if I give your broken parts a look over?"

She didn't wait for a response, but rather walked closer and began inspecting her synthetic parts, "So, I take it he went after you, and then that...bird...did some damage to protect him?" It was clear in her voice that she held some special zone of hatred for Radegast's friends...at least for Suros.

"I know, embarrassing, right?" Lucy giggled, "I let my guard down- I was just so excited. Something wonderful has happened to Radegast."

"What, did you impale him through something sharp?"

"By goodness, no!" Lucy looked shocked- if only for a moment. "He's become an Apex!"

"An Apex?" Sonya repeated the term, unfamiliar with it.

"A true hybrid, proof of Mother's work, proof of my work. Not just a bonding of souls, but a bonding of DNA. The will of a human with the power of a Pokemon. Oh, if only I knew how Little Raddy did it!"

The Meowstic looked up at Lucy, her lips curled, "Wait, so you're telling me that Radegast is a Pokemon now?"

"A Gallade, just like our ancestor," Lucy nodded, "He's wearing a suit of armor, and he's got the Coat of Arms as well."

Sonya growled at the mention of Reggie, scribbling something on her notepad, "Another name I wish I could forget. But...that does make him easy to identify. As far as I know, there's only one other... well, Apex as you called 'em, running around on Ruula. Or are there more of them? They sound like a less than uncommon species if they've got a term for them."

"It was a theory my mother and I used," Lucy explained, "To describe the pinnacle of Ruulan evolution. Something far, far greater than Arceus could dream to be."

Sonya tched, but didn't seem to dismiss the theory entirely, "Yeah, tell me about it." Her eyes analyzed the back, studying the wires that ran up to her arm.

"Indeed," Lucy nodded as her excitement mellowed out a little. There was a silence as Sonya worked on the repairs. Lucy pointed out some steps, using the mirrors to allow her to see. "You know what I mean, don't you?" Lucy suddenly asked, "There is another Apex?"

"There is," Sonya said, walking back to her toolkit. She glanced to the side, staring at Lucy from the corner of her eye, "Crimson, the leader of the Crimson Guild."

"Sounds like another fun autopsy," Lucy grinned.

"That's a good word for it," Sonya agreed, walking back to Lucy with something in her hand, "But it's not that simple, unfortunately. You've seen the destructive power of the Master Blaster before your own eyes, but even then, Zane's still not completely confident he can beat him with it. Hold still for a second. This might hurt."

"I know," Lucy winced, "I designed it." It's the closest she's gotten to becoming an Apex, but the machine did have its limits- this repair session was proof of its limits. "On the plus side," She looked to the Gardevoirite she had left sitting on the casket in the corner, "I've got some other ideas."

"Oop," She spoke up as a piece Sonya adjusted snapped into place. Lucy's powerful psychic ripple returned almost instantly. "Ah, perfect. Thank you so much, Sonya."

"I threw in something extra," Sonya told her as she started to make the cosmetic touch-ups, "It should be linked to your cybernetics. See if you can feel it."

She did so, of course. Her psychic probe found a storage box containing some sort of substance. She pulled it out, and a glowing pink semi-fluid floated with her probe. This was Barrier material. "How much can this handle?" She asked, recognizing its function immediately as she spread it out into a floating round shield of pink light.

"More than what the Talonflame can dish out," she answered with a sneer, "It took a combined effort for them to be able to break it last time. It can easily handle a single opponent. And it should protect you from those pesky sneak attacks. It's got a proximity sensor that will unleash the Barrier when anything projectile-based gets a little too close."

"Similar to a design I couldn't quite figure out." Lucy smiled surprisingly warmly, "Pokemon really are amazing." She then looked to the Meowstic, "What say we exchange ideas, and make something greater?"

The Meowstic thought about it, but not for very long as she gave a smile...a genuine smile...of her own, "I think...that sounds like fun."

As Radegast left Terminus Cave, the white pokeball on his belt snapped open. Suros emerged, her talons gripping not too tightly on his shoulder. "Where've you been?" Radegast asked.

"Asleep," Suros coo'd in a way that seemed more like yawning.

"I was wondering why you didn't emerge when I got the crap slammed out of me," Radegast smirked, "You sleep like a log, doncha?"

Suros shrugged, "I wish I was there to turn whoever did it to ashes."

"It was a Pokemon battle," Radegast explained, "We played by their rules to get'em to leave without incident."

"As opposed to burning them," Suros flapped one wing to stabilize herself, as Radegast stepped down some uneven terrain, "That would've made them leave without incident."

"Where's Titania, anyway?" Radegast hadn't spotted her. Maybe she had things to do. A trainer like her was bound to have a Pokemon who know how to transport humans easily.

"I do not feel her presence," Reggie hummed.

"Must've left then," Radegast checked the key stone in the lowering daylight, then slipped it into his leg satchel. "We should get back." Lucy Reginald wouldn't not report his presence in Kalos. The sooner he got back to the Guild, the better. With Reggie still fused, but on his back, Radegast jogged through trees and plains, with Suros keeping watch overhead.

The Talonflame's sharp eyes allowed her to see anything coming. Combine that with Reggie's aura detection, and the three of them were virtually impervious to ambush. As always, the three of them were cautious, yet swift. They avoided cities and well-treaded roads, as well as concentrations of wild Pokemon. During the night, Reggie hovered silently as the ever-present sentinel, as ancient, if not more ancient than the trees that sheltered them.

Radegast poured some water into the air, where he barely caught it with his psychic power. He offered it to Suros as he drank more directly from the canteen. The Talonflame happily gulped down the water, which steamed as it made contact with her body.

"Almost there," Radegast laid back on the soft patch of wild turf he had used as bedding for the past night.

Reggie's lone eye scanned, unblinking, at the surrounding area, while Suros ruffled her feathers.

"Kinda wish the others were here," Radegast noted, "I'll have to remember this place." He produced his phone and jotted down in a note labelled "Places to hang out."

Radegast's phone had no SIM card, nor did it have a functioning GPS. For all intents and purposes, it was simply untracable- a tiny computer cut off from any network. This didn't matter to a wildling like him- he rarely came to cities even when he was still human.

Would Necrozma like this place? He wondered.

"I sense presences," Reggie spoke quickly as his steady form inched toward the Lord-Regent. "Coming this way."

"Plural," Radegast snapped to his feet and the two of them fused. Radegast focused psychic power in his legs, ready to run. Suros unfurled her wings and took to the air. "C'mon,"

He and Suros bolted into the forest. It was a detour from their path back to the Guild, but Radegast wasn't about to let his presence be known to any more strangers. "How many are there, exactly?"

"Three," Reggie returned, "And they're gaining."

Radegast's legs erupted with power, but a ten-percent boost to his running speed can only do so much in the wake of creatures that move as fast as Suros could fly. Giving up, Radegast found a solid patch of terrain and steeled himself. "Three on three," Radegast muttered, "At least, I hope this won't be a fight."

They would hear a rustle of trees and grass, the sound of leaves crumbling underneath rapid footsteps. First it was faint, but as Reggie pointed out, they were gaining ground very quickly. Three seconds...two...one...

A Rapidash burst through the bush growth due northwest of the way they were facing. Spotting the Gallade, there was a quick scrambling of footsteps as it tried to halt all of it's momentum at once.

"WOOOAAAAH!" the Pachirisu on the back hollered as they skidded past them, "STOPSTOPSTOP!!!"

But onward they went, slipping on the not so stable grass and careening into another bush growth to their immediate right. Radegast would hear the tumbling continue for a second more before it presumably came to an end and silence surrounded the jungle once more.

"Uhh..." Radegast lowered the sword, but kept the shield somewhat up. "You alright, guys?" The armoured Gallade called.

"We're ladies, actually!" the Pachirisu's squeaky voice called haphazardly, "But thanks for assuming!"

"Sorry," Radegast shifted his stance as Suros swooped down to land on his shoulder. "Verbal habit."

"He calls everyone dude or man," Suros added with a wry smile- or whatever a Talonflame's equivalent of one was.

Another Pokemon swooped down from the skies as well, skipping off the tree branch before landing with a tuck and roll on the ground next to them. A black and white, yellow-cheeked, flying squirrel Pokemon started brushing the grass off it's knees as it stood up next to them. Radegast would instantly recognize it as two things: An Emolga from his encounter with Elesa in Nimbasa City and an ally due to the recognizable Crimson Guild Neckerchief it wore.

"And y'all said I couldn't scout..." a male voice chortled as he took a look around, "I told you I'm the best-...where'd you guys go?"

His eyes grew wide with amazement as he saw the huge parting of the bush the Rapidash had tore through, realizing what had happened. His laughter was infectious as he rolled onto his back.

"Shut up!" the Pachirisu voiced angrily from the distance, "You would've done the same!"

"Maybe...*snort*...but that's why you tell me to scout."

"We only tell you to scout because you take too long to arrive anywhere!" the Pachirisu's voice shot back as she stepped through the clearing. For the most part, she looked alright, barring a couple minor bumps. She winced as she rubbed her head, "But yeah, good job on that, I guess..."

Emolga snorted, "I guess? What does that mean?"

"I probably could've done it better."

A hard laugh, "Yeah? And what happened to you there, slick? You put a little too much petal to that metal?"

"And so what if I did?! I fail spectacularly!"

"So uhh... why were you g- Why were you ladies- and guy- chasing us?" Radegast asked awkwardly.

The attention between the Pachirisu and Emolga immediately turned to the Gallade. Emolga started giggling again, a rapid, high-pitched giggle, "Aw, he so awkward! What'd you say to him, Lumi?"

The Pachirisu scoffed, "Oh you wouldn't have helped if he would've just said 'ladies'. You would've probably made it worse."

"I'm fine, by the way," a lower-toned female voice broke through as the Rapidash trotted towards them, shaking off the blow. "And we need to hurry. No time for your banter right now."

"Pffff...no time for it?" the Emolga grinned wickedly, "Ruby, you've known us for so long, you should know we always make time for it."

The Rapidash ignored him and turned to Radegast, "I'm Rubira. That's Skyball." She pointed at the Emolga, and then the Pachirisu, "And that's Lumi. We-"

"Are you guys from the Guild?" Radegast interrupted. Reggie's blade and shield moved to his back, seeing as a fight was not going to occur, "What's happening?"

Rubira nodded, "Indeed. Something's going on. We'll fill you in on the way back, but Crimson sent us and a few dozen other teams to find you."

While she talked, Lumi's whiskers seemed to twitch, as if searching for something. Then...

"Dee? Can ya hear me?" she spoke. A pause. "Yeah, we found him. We're bringing him back now. Tell the other teams to fall back." A pause. "Yes, I know you know to do that. Just sayin'." Pause. "No, I'm not gonna say 'over' after every sentence." Her ear twitched as she stared back to them. "Good to go!"

"Jeez, sounds serious," Radegast clapped his hands together. "No time like the present, eh?" His legs began to glow that faint ripple as he focused energy into his legs once more. He was ready to double-time it back to the Guild.

---

As they went, Rubira ran alongside and explained the situation. Through the Wilding Network, they received a report on strange environmental activity coming from the Grand Ruula Stadium. A few scouts answered the call from a lookout base established in Nimbasa City and proceeded to check out the area. What awaited them was a fully-fledged Diancie, Mega Evolved and weilding an absurd amount of power, controlled by a mad scientist. They arrived as they discovered the elite trainer, Emiko Touko, falling in defeat underneath the mighty beast. Before they could step in and do anything, the three combatants were suddenly whisked away to an undetermined location with no chance of pursuit from the scouts.

Touko, Radegast recalled the time she assisted in taking on the Psychic Rebellion back on the island. If there was someone he felt would be a huge asset in fighting the Rebellion, it was Touko. "Was anyone badly hurt?" Radegast asked.

"We don't know," Rubira replied grimly, "The most recent report came just a couple hours ago. There is a resurgence of this strange power in the heart of Castelia City and it has spread across most of the Unova Region, getting larger by the second. Our scouts are hunkered down in Nimbasa City, but we've yet to hear from them. Dee can't make contact with them."

"Ooo! Ask Dee if she's tried turning her whiskers off and on again!" Skyball interjected, talking to Lumi.

She muffled her laughter as she replied with reason, "Sky, this is serious though! We'd stress her out."

"Yeah, and?" Skyball countered with a shrug, "Sounds like another day at the office."

"So what can we do?" Radegast didn't feel ready, but then again, he hadn't tried Mega Evolution yet, let alone know if it was a real game-changer in his fighting strength.

"That's what Crimson's figuring out now," Rubira said, "Right now, he'd just called all Crimson Guild Members back and asked us to come search for you."

Radegast nodded. He had half a mind to report Lucy's presence in Kalos, but this Diancie situation appeared to take priority. There was still time to deal with this matter about the "Apex", but if what was said was accurate, Unova was in immediate trouble.

As they bolted onward toward the hiding place of the Guild, Radegast's thoughts moved to Mega Evolution. He planned out how he would equip the two stones. He needed something to hold each of them in, so they wouldn't have to be carried around everywhere with the risk of losing them. His gaze went down to the Limiter. Maybe he could find a way to fit it in there...he thought. Still, he had no idea if he could even use the power of Mega Evolution. He still had to figure out how all the pieces fit together...how he could tap into the power inside. Regardless, he had to try. If he was to contribute to solving this problem, he'd need as much of an edge he can get. After all, if he couldn't help with this Diancie character, what hope did he have against something like Lucy?

As he thought about the different stresses that came into his life, he had a brainwave. However, he couldn't try what he was thinking until he got back to his room. The armored Gallade focused more energy into his legs and picked up the pace. If not for him keeping close to the ground, he was almost flying across the fields.

It would be midday when they arrived back on the grounds of the Crimson Guild HQ. The first thing Radegast would notice is the lack of activity going on in the marketplace that was usually hustling and bustling. Pokemon were about, but there were more merchants that buyers, none of which wore the same symbol that Rubira, Lumi, and Skyball did. But he remembered what Rubira had said about all the Guildies converging. They were probably in the guild, he rationalized.

Sure enough, as they entered the Headquarters, he saw the mass of Pokemon gathered in the main lobby. They were all talking amongst each other, some in high spirits, some in low. But all seemed to be standing around, waiting for the presence of their leader. The volume died down a little as Radegast and company entered, but they were used to the knightly-clad Gallade's presence nowadays, so there was no awkward silence.

Elder and the others stood by the sidelines of the meeting, but they were the first- or rather, only- ones to approach. Chrome looked to Radegast as the Gallade removed his helmet. The Metagross was about to say something, but looked to Suros. "Is everything alright?" Chrome asked.

Radegast figured that the fresh memory was already registered by Chrome. "Yeah," Radegast smiled, "'Sides, there's something more immediate goin' on."

Elder noted that Radegast was more talking to everyone else besides Chrome. The Gengar simply nodded with a grin, and everyone returned their attention towards one another, keeping a wary eye on that staircase. Radegast sat down against the wall, his legs ached from the morning's sprint, and he looked to Reggie. "Gonna need to unfuse for a bit," He said.

Reggie complied, and hovered away, but close enough not unlike a bodyguard. Radegast then held up his right hand and removed the Limiter.

If it's anything like his body... Radegast focused psychic power, and he felt the glass-like substance that comprised the gauntlet get pushed in, not unlike a piece of wet clay. He then produced the Galladite and pressed it into the intent he made in the back plate of the gauntlet. Radegast then shifted the prismatic material to permanently set the Galladite inside. That's one, he figured. Radegast wouldn't know if this would work until he tried it later.

Radegast then produced the keystone in his other hand. He clenched the keystone tight, and held it over the back of the Limitar-clad hand. This time, he felt something.

Reggie noticed, as did Elder and the others. Radegast smirked. This was a good sign. Despite himself, Radegast tried focusing his energy on that tingling sensation he felt between the stones...

... Nothing happened.

Radegast blinked, lightly tapped the keystone onto the Galladite, then exhaled, before slipping the key stone back into his leg satchel. The spark was there... just how can I turn it into a flame? Radegast clenched and unclenched his jaw. Before he could think further about it, the room fell into silence. As he glanced up from his interior thoughts, he saw that everyone had their hand raised in a two-finger salute pointed towards the staircase. And sure enough, standing at the top of the stairs, returning the salute back to them, was Crimson. Tag, Pert, and Meryl were also there, standing behind him with serious, determined looks on their faces. The Chimchar's gaze, in contrast, was surprisingly calm and steady.

"Alright," Crimson said, dropping his hand. The rest of the crowd did the same. "Let's get this cracking."

He stepped down a few steps before taking a seat, just high enough so that he was visible to everyone. "I'm sure you're all wondering why I called you all here. Some of you probably even know or have heard rumors and whispers. Hopefully I set the record straight and make you all aware of what's happening and what we plan to do about it."

"Approximately three hours ago, the Wilding Network reached out to our outpost in Nimbasa City via the Pelipper Delivery Service regarding a strange environmental disturbance happening due north of their position at Ruula Grand Stadium. The reports say the sky had turned an ominous and sinister shade of purple and had a negative effect on the wildlife caught within. No wild Pokemon were reported near the stadium at the time of ocurrence, but a few just outside reported the effect it was having to he domesticated Pokemon in the general area. Evidently, a huge event was going on at the Ruula Grand Stadium today, one that had the entire world tuned in to witness. The witnesses say the effects were so bad that they dropped the event entirely and sent everyone home or to safety. Team Cassanova, which consisted of the members Dante, Lynda, and Fleur, took it upon themselves to investigate the scene and obtain more information."

"Upon arriving at the site of the incident, they discovered three individuals involved. One was a large Diancie, underneath the powers of Mega Evolution and radiating the strange energy that empowered the air. One was a thin scientist, who was believed to be in control of this Diancie and was taking notes. And one was a dear ally of ours, Emiko Touko, former Champion of the Unova Region and aid to our endeavors in taking care of the Psychic Rebellion. She appeared to be combating the Diancie, evidently throwing everything she had at it. But unfortunately, it was reported that she lost the fight."

"Team Cassanova attempted to step in and intervene, to try and attack the Diancie themselves. But before they could get there, the Diancie vanished, disappearing in a flash and taking the scientist and Touko with them. Their theory is that they teleported to a location and concluded their report by saying they would begin the search in the Unova Region and report back with more info. We have yet to hear from them since."

"We received another report from the Wilding Network soon after, this time reaching out directly to our Headquarters. The strange environmental disturbance has swallowed all of Castelia City and has since spread throughout most of the Unova Region. Eyewitnesses report this message being proclaimed throughout the city."

The Chimchar produced an audio recorder, Ruulan-made and likely swiped or reposessed by Pokemon from a PokeMart. Hitting play, the room would hear a bone-chilling message protruding from the device:

'Hear me now! All of Ruula! I, the new Crown-Princess Melaine, of Ruula, demand the total obedience of all Ruulans! As of this moment, Ruula belongs to me, and all of you shall be my subjects! A new age for Ruula begins now! O~hoho-"

Crimson cut the recorder short and set it down. There was a silence...a thick heavy blanket of dread that smothered the entire room. Crimson's gaze was serious, but still calm as he went on.

"That is believed to be the Diancie. She is presumed to have taken full control over the entire planet by defeating the reigning Grand Champion Iris. We have no idea where she is. The same can be said for the scientist and Touko. As of right now, we have no idea what she plans to do or what she wishes to enact upon the people of Ruula."

"It gets worse. The vortex of strange energy that is swallowing Unova as we speak is reportedly growing larger and larger. In two weeks time, it is estimated to cover most of, if not all of Ruula."

There were a few gasps in the crowd, mostly silent ones. Someone managed to voice out, "What does that mean?"

Crimson curled his lip in thought, "To an exact science, we don't know. But we do know that the effect of this energy the cloud produces is negative to humans and Pokemon alike. It also seems to be either a direct result of the Diancie's power or a catalyst to said power. It can even be both. We fear that it will decimate our ecosystem and send this world into ruin if left unchecked for an extended period of time."

"But that begs the question. What are we going to do about it? Well, first we must gather as much information on this new threat as we can. From there, we can create a plan of action...an offensive to bring down the Diancie and whatever wicked power she possesses. But among all else, we must ensure our own safety and the safety of everyone else to the best of our capabilities first. It's the people that matter first."

"We will start off with two teams: a Search and Rescue Squad and an Intel Squad. The Search and Rescue Squad will be headed by Pert and Meryl due to their geographical knowledge of Ruula. Their objectives will be to establish safehouses, find missing Guild Members, and warn the wildings of the incoming threat. The humans will already know what to do as they have worldwide broadcasters echoing the same message to the people, so they will be less of a concern. Of course, if you see someone in trouble, no matter the species, help them out. But know that they will more than likely have the necessary resources to take care of themselves. The wildings may not."

"The Intel Squad will be headed by Tag and myself. Their objectives will be to scout the areas of interest, searching for clues and researching the effects of the strange energy, and coming up with a countermeasure to either slow down or completely destroy the substance. I must warn you all that if you choose this squad, the missions will be extremely dangerous. You may have to embrace tough conditions. You may have to fight tough opponents. You may run the risk of giving your life or being captured. Take these things into consideration as you choose which team you want to join. You can sign up for either team on the large sheet of paper hung up by the board."

All eyes turned towards the board that hosted the jobs and the leaderboards. To the right was the paper, separated into two columns, labeled for each designated team.

Crimson stopped, taking a deep breath, "Guys and gals, what I ask of you is the same thing that I asked of you when you joined this Guild. I ask for your loyalty. I ask for your spirit. I ask of your courage and bravery. And I call upon your devotion to help others...to explore...and to protect from dangerous evildoers. Just because the stakes are higher doesn't change that. This is your home. And we are going to protect it with every ounce of strength we've got. So let's go show this world we mean to save it!"

The Chimchar pumped his fist into the air, prompting the others to do the same, cheering, whooping, clapping, and hollering all the way, their minds filled with optimistic energy and overflowing determination. Everyone began moving around, the ground floor of the HQ becoming a sea of bodies converging on the piece of paper tacked to the wall.

"Alright, so what happened?" Elder immediately asked.

"We ran into Lucy," Radegast replied, "In Shalour City."

Elder's purple form flushed from colour.

"YOU THOUGHT THA-" Rage's mouth was muffled with a Dewgong fin.

"You thought that wasn't as immediate a concern?" Crystal hissed.

"It was thanks to Suros that he avoided capture," Chrome spoke up, with his voice reverberating in the minds of only the group.

"Capture nothing," The Operative chirped, "They definitely know we're in Kalos now."

"It's not like we planned for it," Radegast clenched his jaw. It was indeed concerning, but... "Actually, this is perfect,"

"Whatcha mean, sir?"

"We're getting outta Kalos anyway," Radegast pointed to the sign-up board. "The question is, what do you guys wanna do?"

The group watched the other Pokemon mill about, signing their names on the board. The vast majority of Pokemon were signing up for Search & Rescue, but it wasn't entirely exclusive.

"Whatcha think, Sir?" The Operative hopped onto Elder's head.

"That scientist..." Elder mumbled, he then noticed everyone was staring at him. "Scientists usually have their work recorded somewhere, right?"

"I don't imagine him just starting his research notes with that battle," Radegast nodded.

"So the Lord-Regent would be more suited for the intel-gathering team," Elder prodded the armoured Gallade.

"What about you guys?" The Gallade rose an eyebrow.

"Rest of us will do Search & Rescue as Team Strangers," Elder replied, "Between our respective strengths and the survivalist knowledge we've honed over the years, we'd be a greater asset helping other people. Besides, you got Reggie with you."

Radegast stared at Elder. While he didn't like being separated from his friends yet again... well... it'll all be back to normal once he achieves his goals. Elder seemed to think the same thing. "Hey," Elder placed a hand on Radegast's shoulder, "We want to hang out like the old days too. That's why we're workin' hard and getting stronger too."

Radegast nodded. When the group arrived at the sign-up board, he watched as Elder wrote "Team Strangers" on one side. Radegast looked to the marker he held, and then wrote his name under "Intel Squad". He had been forced to practice his signature at a young age. However, after six years of never using it, his childhood's clean writing was a lot less clean. It was legible, but only just. Maybe I should practice it again...

From the top of the stairs, Crimson and company watched as Radegast signed his name, turning to look towards his own band of friends. Pert smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"Welp! Looks like he's with you guys!" he said, "Meryl and I will start getting the masses organized. Allocating teams to the other Regions."

"Someone will have to go rescue Team Cassanova though," Meryl pointed out, turning to the Chimchar and Turtwig, "Your squad should already be heading into the danger zone. Do you guys wanna take that one?"

Tag nodded, "It'll be easier to manage that way. Besides, they know stuff I bet, so it counts as Intel."

Crimson kept his eyes on the Guild Members down below. When they had signed their team name (or regular name) on the board, they began to form two parties on each side of the room. Most of them were meeting at the far side, gathering together and talking about stuff and things. But a few were gathering near the staircase, Radegast among them. That was a good thing, Crimson noted. They would need more manpower in the Search and Rescue Squad than the Intel Squad since they covered more area. He needed the smart thinkers on his team.

Which included Radegast...

The Chimchar was going to ask him to join the Intel Squad anyway. He provided a unique perspective into the human side of thinking, more so than Crimson ever had. If anyone would know what to search for and how unfamiliar technology worked, it would be him.

"Alright, I think most of the teams have signed up," Crimson glanced towards the board before turning towards the Plusle and Minun, "I leave them to you guys."

"We'll do just fine. Don't you worry," Pert reassured before bounding down the stairs towards the large group of people, Meryl following in a less sporadic manner.

"I know you will," Crimson winked as they left, his gaze finding Tag, "Ready to do this, buddy?"

"Been a while since we've dealt with a planetary threat," Tag chortled in spite of the situation as they started descending the staircase, "How are we gonna deal with it this time?"

"Hopefully as a team," he answered, "Just like we always do."

"Team's gotten a lot bigger. More variables to think of."

"More pieces to move around the board."

"I never thought I'd be a soldier when I was growing up," Radegast muttered to himself as he stepped up to the Intel Squad. He cracked a smile as he watched his friends mingle with the other teams of the Guild. Many of them got odd looks, especially since Gengar now carried Radegast's pokeball belt within a team-issued satchel. Not to mention the team's ecclectic behaviour and inexplicable chemistry. The only ball Radegast held on his person was Reggie's ball, with the wood grain finish along the surface.

"Pff...we're not soldiers!" he felt a jab in his ribs and turned to see Skyball staring up at him with a warm, yet cocky glimmer, "We don't make formations and march everywhere and yell and scream at each other all the time. We're adventurers! We go where the action is! We have more fun that way."

And yet... Radegast smiled, but kept his thoughts to himself. He then spoke up, "So how are we getting to Unova?"

Crimson shot him an confident look, "The quickest method we can. If you're fast on the ground, take Lapras when you reach the sea. If you're fast in the air, take your wings and soar. If you're neither, take Unix's Dragonite Team. That's the easy part. The hard part is what we do when we get there."

"I think the first step would be to find out who that scientist is." Radegast shifted his stance and closed his eyes in thought. His helmet was held under one arm. "If we can find a name, we could figure out where he works, or lives from there. If he's got notes on what that purple stuff is, that's intel."

The Chimchar nodded in agreement, "Good idea. You can join the Castelia Scouting Team. I'm thinking if the Diancie showed up in Castelia City, then both that scientist and Touko are going to be there somewhere, since she took them with her. We'll need Pokemon that are fast and sneaky to avoid any potential dangers that could be there. I feel like she wouldn't be ruling this world alone. She's got a plan."

His gaze shifted to the group, "Alright, we've split the duties into three sections. The first one will be the Scouting Team. This team will be headed by Tag. Your objective will be to dive right into the belly of the beast. Head towards Castelia City and report as much information as you can. What has changed, what hasn't. We ned Pokemon that are fast...Pokemon that are sneaky...Pokemon that won't get caught. There could be dangers lurking. At the same time, I need you all to keep your eyes out for either the scientist or Emiko Touko. If you see Touko, approach. if you see the scientist, stay back and observe. See if you can get a name off of him as well as much information as possible from either of them.

"Finding either of them would be a good start."

"Along with that Scouting Team, there will be an investigation team to head up to the Ruulan Grand Stadium to check out the area and potentially find any clues on what might've gone down there. At the very least, some eye witness testimony on that Diancie and how she fights, what her strengths and weaknesses may be, and just as much information in general as we can get about her. I will be heading up this team."

"There is still one more task that needs to be done, though. I know none of you signed up for Search and Rescue, but as I mentioned previously, Team Cassanova has yet to report in since their previous encounter. I need a band of three to run into Nimbasa City and find our outpost. I have a feeling they might be hunkered down in there."

"We can do that," Lumi raised her hand, "We know the streets of Nimbasa City very well."

Crimson nodded, "Alright then. Team Volt, I leave that to you guys. You can take off whenever you're ready." His gaze rested on the group, "As for you all...people that want to scout, join Tag. People that want to investigate, join me. Crimson Guild..."

"HO!" the group chanted and began to split off in their respective directions. Radegast was about to mimic the chant, but he was late for it, and thought against it after all. He looked to the Turtwig, and began following him. He felt a tug on his arm and turned back to see Lumi waving at him.

"Have fun!" she gave him a thumbs up before taking off out the front door.

"You too, buddy," Radegast replied with a wave. He then brought his helmet back over his head and secured it comfortably. "Reggie?" He called, and the blade and shield moved from the back wall and onto Radegast's back. The eyes behind the visor began to glow once more. "Those clouds would be hazardous for flyers, so a Lapras might be our best option."

"A fair assumption," Reggie responded mechanically. "Where should we land?"

"I'll focus on finding Touko, see if she's alright..." He headed to the room that was provided to him to grab his things. "Are you familiar with Touko- as a Pokemon trainer, I mean." He asked as he slung his backpack and other equipment over his shoulders.

"I do recall visiting Unova while she was Champion," Reggie replied, "Though Tarma never had the chance to meet her proper. There was always something to do at the Garden Sho..." The Aegislash paused, as did Radegast. Tarma's twin daughters, Nadine and Cori. They had to know what happened to Tarma and the Estate by now. In light of this new development, are they alright? After a moment's pause, Reggie continued- although he did speak somewhat faster, "Touko's championship garnered her fame and fortune, and thus her hometown and so-called "favorite places" became public knowledge in tabloids.

"We'll check those spots them," Radegast nodded. He then found himself outside, stretching his legs and ligaments for a focused run to the shores. "I can't imagine being a big champion and getting destroyed like that."

"You can't imagine being a trainer." Reggie corrected, "Or a Champion."

Radegast turned his head to stare at the eye in the qullion block, then smirked, "Yeah..." He then focused energy into his legs, and burst into a sprint, following Tag's lead as they made their way to the western coast. Their destination: Castelia City.

(Co-written between LawoftheLand, NeverEndingFlip, and HolyJunkie)

While riding the Lapras, Radegast set up his folding guitar that he had received from Roxie. Amid the splashes and rumbles of the waves, Radegast's stringwork resonated amongst the group. In his mind, he felt the lyrics come to him as he played a melanchoic, yet calming and inspiring tune. In his mind, he reflected upon how strange and different it all became, though he remained Radegast.

"May I stand unshaken
Amid, amidst a clash of worlds..."

Most of the Pokemon on board with him listened to the song he played, some swayed or nodded to the pace of the music. Some closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep, to save strength and concentration for the task ahead. Tag was going around, checking up on people and making sure spirits were high. Radegast hadn't really interacted much with Crimson's right hand man, but seeing him out here by himself, he got a real optimist vibe out of him. Appearance wise, he looked like any standard Turtwig, standing apart with a single accessory...a set of boots on his feet clad in metal. Radegast had to wonder whether they were purely cosmetic, or if they served a purpose.

Eventually, the Turtwig ended up in front of him, a goofy grin on his face, "Hey. How ya holdin' up?"

The armoured Gallade sat near the side of the Lapras' shell, with his helmet secured to his backpack, as he played on. Reggie remained inside his pokeball throughout the tip. Up ahead, the putrid purple clouds loomed threateningly over their approach to Unova.

While he hadn't figured out how to use it, he did put together a makeshift bracelet for the Keystone using some gnarled wood and the Operative's strong silk. It would have to do until he prepares something better.

"I hope breathing that stuff doesn't cause anything," Radegast smirked.

"Yeah," Tag agreed as he sat down next to him, "It doesn't sound like it's doing anything immediately though, so we at least have that."

Even though the dark, purple clouds loomed in the distance like a bad omen, the weather surrounding the danger zone was surprisingly nice. The water was smooth sailing and there was even a slight breeze flowing from their left. Despite the danger of the mission at hand, those Pokemon that were awake were chatting, goofing around and enjoying each others's company, like friends did. They didn't seem to be too worried by the mysteriously sinister aura ahead of them...or maybe they were and were masking it with jokes and comedy. It was hard to tell.

A great distance away- far from their entry point- a large battle cruiser descended from space. Radegast pursed his lips together as he recalled the last time something like that happened- in Nimbasa City a few months ago. He made a note to avoid tangling with that sort. Extraterrestrial politics were better dealt with by folks skilled in proper diplomacy.

"It's moments like these I stare up and appreciate the sun," Tag commented, glancing to the sky, "It could be the last time in a while we get to see it as it is."

At the mention of missing the sun, Radegast remembered a particular adventure. "There was this one time where it was just Elder, Rage, Suros, and me. Over in Johto, we got lost in the mountains during a series of blizzards. Didn't see the sun for three months."

"Oh dear!" Tag raised his brows, then asked with a sly grin on his face, "D...Did you make it?"

"Nope," Radegast joked.

The two started laughing, enjoying each other's company as they sailed. The clouds grew ever closer. After a moment (and a few jokes), Tag turned to look at him, "Why did you join us, if ya don't mind me asking?"

"A number of reasons, actually," Radegast replied. "First, I had to get out of Kalos. Second, I needed an opportunity to figure out how to use this." He held up the Limiter gauntlet, now modified with the gemstone setting that permanently held the Galladite. "Third... if I can't take this, I can't take the Regicide Crew, nor the Rebellion."

Tag thought for a second, "I get the last two, but why leave Kalos? You were safer there than out here."

"I was spotted," Radegast replied. He didn't really want to elaborate. The last thing the Guild needed was being forced to focus on two things at once. He felt the overwhelming power when she had her grip on him. The worst part about it was that even he could tell that she was holding back. It did beg the question: Who was more powerful, Lucy, or this Diancie?

Radegast kept the question on the back-burner; it didn't matter at the moment.

"Psychic Rebellion?" Tag continued to prod.

Radegast nodded. "If I were them... I'd probably hang back from this, though."

"Oh they're going to, knowing Zane," the Turtwig assured him, "They're gonna hole up somewhere safe and wait for all this to get cleared up...and then they'll strike.

"Know your enemy," Radegast smiled, "Well, that's why we're here, huh?" He then saw that they were getting closer to the storm, and began folding up the guitar into its durable and sealed cylinder form. He then shifted his seat to face more forward and tapped Reggie's pokeball. The Aegislash emerged and fused automatically, with the shield moving to Radegast's arm and the blade to his back.

The water started to shift and stir beneath them. The ride started to get bumpy. Tag watched as the sun started to get dim, hiding behind the haze of purple clouds above them before it was completely blotted out all together. He nodded his head and made his way to the front.

"When Castelia City comes into view, land by the bridge due eat of the city," Tag told the Lapras, "Keep away from the ports and main attractions. We don't want to bring any unwanted attention."

The Lapras nodded and began veering to the right, ever so slightly.

"Alright," Tag turned to everybody else, "We're gonna be in the thick of this, so we may not get a chance to talk with each other when we're out there. Let's come up with a game plan for when we get there."

Several faces nodded and everyone started to gather around. The Turtwig leaned in close, so that everyone could hear him over the slight wind that was slowly picking up and the waves that were starting to crash harder.

"So we can survey the scene and make a precise judgement call when we get there, but I'm thinking we'll cover more ground and be less noticeable if we stay in small groups no larger than two. Castelia City is huge and it's not going to be easy traversing through all of it. We need some people to do general scouting, which is simply keeping your eyes and ears open, looking for and listening to anything that might sound important. That part is simple enough. On top of that, we need people to go searching for the scientist and Touko. Remember, Touko should be friendly, scientist is definitely not."

"I'll focus on finding Touko," Radegast volunteered.

Tag turned to him, "Do you have a clue on where you'll start your search? In case things go south?"

"She's a famous figure, so gossip among people might be common enough. I could ask around here, or in Nimbasa if I don't get any leads." In the report that reached the Guild, Nimbasa was the last known position, but Castelia being the centre of business would likely have information on the technical side of Pokemon Leagues rather than the sheer spectacle.

Tag contemplated, "It'll be hard to grab that information. But I trust your ability to do so. You're the only one here besides I that's interacted with her after all. And you've got Reggie, so I'm not worried about you falling to a threat."

He turned to everybody else, "The rest of you, start roaming when we get there. Make yourselves fit in if you can and become invisible if you can't. I'll be searching for their HQ so if anyone finds it, come and get me. We'll meet up back where we will land...underneath the big bridge east of the city. Can't miss it. We should plan to be back before dark falls, so that should give you some time to get in, learn a few things, and get out before we become noticed. Anything else I didn't go over?"

No one spoke up.

"Cool," Tag grinned, turning to face the front, "Hang on tight, then. We're almost there."

Indeed, the warning was necessary as the full effects of the weather started to fall upon them. The once still sea was now a churning cesspool of darkness beneath them. Being the waterborn creature that she was, the Lapras continued to swim through it with little deterrence. Still, that didn't make the ride for everyone else less bumpy. The waters were topsy turvy by the shores and ports of Castelia City, telling them they would've had it rougher if they tried to get closer to the city and land by the docks. As they proceeded east towards the mouth of the river, the ride was a little smoother due to the lack of expansive ocean to churn around in. Soon enough, they were about to slide underneath the massive bridge.

As they passed under the bridge, Radegast looked to the Key stone and the Galladite, and tried bringing them together again. He had attempted it a few times during the ride, but beyond that faint ripple that he could feel, nothing really happened. I know I'm missing something... He had tried several things differently, from rubbing the stones together, to bringing them close and then apart quickly, he even tried submerging them off the side and pushing them together.

It was then that he began to feel a stinging sensation in the parts of his body that were not completely covered by the suit. Radegast looked around to see that he wasn't the only one. While Reggie's paper-like body was completely covered on account of the fusion, Radegast himself did feel his body weaken. With a deep, stinging breath, Radegast unleashed a Heal Pulse over the closest members of the convoy.

Tag began to notice this as well, "Oooo, that's not good! Lilly, hurry!"

Fortunately for them, they were almost at the bridge. A few seconds later, they were underneath it, heading towards the shores. With a quick step, Tag stepped off the Lapras, the others following suit. Everyone glanced up as the stinging sensation stopped. The bridge was providing enough cover to keep the flashing lights from falling on them. For now, they would remain safe underneath the overhang.

"Hmm," Tag thought with a frown, "That complicates things a bit." He turned to the group, "Everyone has at least a few Oran Berries, right?"

Everyone nodded, putting instinctive hands, paws, and other ligaments on their knapsacks. The Turtwig turned to Radegast next, "I know you're prepared. You have some Leppa berries to keep you charged?"

Radegast checked his leg satchel. Since that close fight with that fashionista, Radegast made sure to pack some of every berry in order to account for any status effect. After some fishing, he found two Leppa berries, and then flashed a thumbs-up with the Limiter. "I also have potions," he added. Ideally, we need a way to negate these weird lights... Without any knowledge about what the lights or the dark sky or the strange powers were, they didn't have a good idea on negating it. While the bridge did provide cover, a bridge certainly couldn't be carried.

Radegast looked up to Skyarrow bridge, then to the dark skies beyond, then his gaze moved to the Limiter, with the Galladite embedded. Ideally, yeah right. There was no point worrying about things that can't work yet- not when there was a job to do. No one fighting for their life waits for their foe to get stronger. He needed to make do with what he had, as he'd always had before. Beneath his visor, he smiled. "I'll be back here in a few hours." he saluted, before building up a charge in his legs and catapulted himself up towards the bridge. He caught himself on one of the I-beams, and clambered along the underside of the bridge.

Tag nodded to him as he left, "Be careful!"

The armoured Gallade swung himself over the railing to plant his feet on relatively solid ground. From there, he headed into the checkpoint that stood between him and the city proper,

The interior was sterile blue and white, with checkerboard tiling and plainly trimmed counters on one side, and benches in the middle. Across from the service counters, however, was a feed of news set on repeat.

Could it be...? Radegast waved to the two workers who currently stood at-attention behind the counter. They awkwardly waved back to the figure who kept a sword and shield on his back, before Radegast sat down on a bench to face the screen and scrolling digital text. That easy, huh? Within minutes, the news covered a second-day report on the effects of Touko's loss in the Grand Stadium. The news anchors mentioned something about her hometown being called Nuvema Town. Radegast continued watching the news for a bit as he jumbled the name of Nuvema in his mind.

Satisfied with this information intake, Radegast stood up once more and checked a map of Unova that plastered the wall. After a quick search, he determined the way to go. "Thanks!" his psychic voice echoed within the room, before he stepped out the way he came. The two at the desk exchanged glances, before shrugging and returned to their respective work.

---

Outside on Skyarrow Bridge, Radegast swung back underneath, and used the bridge's cover once more as he climbed along the beams. The bridge above was strikingly barren, likely due to the weather. After several minutes of climbing, Radegast swung back onto the top side and slipped into the forests that stretched ahead. Due to his experience as a wildling himself, Radegast had no trouble finding his way through and coming across a city of warehouses. While the forest trees provided some cover, he did stop for a couple of minutes in order to heal his body. The lights sparking down from the sky stung like electricity, but there was something strange and horrible about them, very unlike electricity. It almost seemed like a sickness incarnate.

At one point, Radegast was forced to stop and rest under a thicket. His breathing became hoarse, which impeded his breathing, so he gulped down a super potion and chewed on one of his Leppa berries. After he felt his strength return, he continued moving, until he finally spotted a humble little sign, "WELCOME TO NUVEMA TOWN." Radegast leaned against the sign, where he fired one more Heal Pulse to top off his health. With a sigh of relief, Radegast stepped into town.

The first place he spotted was what appeared to be a high-tech laboratory. Radegast considered visiting, until remembering he'd be the subject of many an autopsy if he showed his mug there. Emiko Touko... Touko Emiko... he flipped the name around to figure out what house he'd have to find, before he headed south towards a collection of homes.

His throat, like before, slowly began to sting uncomfortably. It wasn't until he was part-way through checking the signs in front of the houses that a random intake of breath became the catalyst for a horrible coughing fit. Radegast fumbled for another Super potion, but his legs collapsed from sheer fatigue. Even the Leppa Berry didn't help the stamina loss only a good rest could give. "Cmon," he wheezed as he got a grip and popped the cap open. He gulped down the second potion to relieve his breathing, and then fired a Heal Pulse. With a gasp in relief, Radegast stood up once more.

"Emiko Residence" one sign read. Radegast's eyes lit up- figuratively, given he was still fused with Reggie. The armoured Gallade stepped gingerly up to the front door and reached for the doorbell.

At that moment, a hand tapped Radegast on the shoulder. A crying brunette in a vomit-stained letter jacket and cutoff denim shorts would be the first thing he saw when he whirled around to assess the potential threat. "Who are you and what business do you have with my mom? Are you here to make sure I'm not bothered by the press?"

"Whoa," Radegast flinched as he whirled around to face her. His instinctive yelp from his mouth registered to the girl as a Gallade's cry. It took him a moment, given her rough shape, but he did realise that the woman who managed to sneak up on him was indeed Touko. At least, he was pretty sure he remembered her right when he first saw her back at the Pokemon Trainer Academy. After clearing his throat, Radegast emitted the Psychic voice he had been mostly using."Touko! Oh thank goodness! I heard about what happened, and I wa-" Radegast rose a hand to cough. The air continued to irritate his throat despite his ability to recover such damage. "I want to help stop this... crappy weather." He paused for a moment, then added, "It's Radegast, by the way. We met on the PTA several months ago, then-" There wasn't much point in keeping his identity a secret from her of all people.

Touko just fell on her ass. "Wait. YOU are Radegast? Oh my god...I thought I'd never see you again when you went to look for that lost kid in Chargestone Cave! Hell of a fashion statement...come on in, I don't want to be out in this any more than you do." And with that, she just opened the door and practically pulled him inside. "Mom? I'm back...and I brought a friend with me." She sniffled again, before feelings got the better of her and she just dove into the taller boy's chest. "Why? Why did I have to lose so badly on national television? To that...that MONSTER!"

"Oh? It's been a while since you had a friend over, dear," said her mom from the kitchen with a hint of wistfulness. "I'll, uh...I'll start making dinner for the three of us."

Radegast stood, stunned, as Touko had her arms around his padded torso. His eyes- glowing slightly from the fusion, moved from right to left. "Uh..." he certainly wasn't expecting this. How did Crystal do it when Operative... he awkwardly pat one glove-covered hand on Touko's head, "There there," he mumbled, "But yeah, I... I did hear about the monster. That's... why I'm here." He had no idea how to break it to Touko that it wasn't just his fashion sense that was totally different.

The blade and shield separated from Radegast's back, "Tarma once said, "Three is a crowd." I did not understand at the time, but I do recognize the context he told me about." The Aegislash then vanished into the wood-finish ball on Radegast's belt.

Radegast nodded slowly, understanding none of that. "So... Nice place you got!" He chimed in. The house was a lot more humble compared to the Estate, but at least the house was still in one piece.

Touko released her hold, and shifted slightly. Her cheeks flushed somewhat, given that she was hugging a boy she hadn't seen in months. "Yeah...thanks. Turns out living a stone's throw away from the regional authority on Pokémon does wonders for property values. Anyway, I was just here to crash for a while, and then I was going to pay Professor Juniper a visit. Can't trust my Xtransceiver in this weather." She then headed to the living room sofa and collapsed onto it. Her slouched posture was definitely body language for a woman who had the weight of the world on her shoulders right now. "But...tell me more about your adventures. I know I'm going to be spending a good amount of time talking about mine once the paparazzi catch up to me." Meanwhile, the overwhelming scent of a Unova style deep dish pizza flooded the room from the oven.

Radegast watched as Touko flopped onto the sofa, before he spotted a lounge chair opposite a humble little coffee table. Radegast sat on the chair, surprised at how weak his legs really felt from that marathon run from Castelia. With a sigh of relief and his throat un-irritated by the corrupting lights, Radegast drummed his gloved hands on his knees. There was a lot to cover.

"Well..." he began, "I was hiding in Alola for a while- Sent there, I mean- for my safety... but I didn't know what happened to Max until..." he sighed, before his hands reached up to remove his helmet. "It's difficult to say, so..." With the helmet off, Touko got a good look at what looked to be the head of a Gallade. While Radegast's jawline and eye colour were retained, it was certainly a Gallade's head, and very different from how he looked before. "Got hurt bad while over there, and a friend saved my life."

"Am...am I seeing things, or are you part Gallade now?" Radegast nodded in confirmation. "I really can't tell, today has been so fucking crazy." Touko rolled over to try to get a good position. "And don't even think about turning on the TV, I'm going to be all over the news."

Radegast clenched his jaw; Touko handled this strangeness surprisingly well. Did she know about humans who became Pokemon as well? Maybe Lucy wasn't so special after all. The idea of it did make him feel better, although he was still concerned about his cousin's terrible power regardless. When Touko told him not to turn on the TV, Radegast also nodded, "Well, no time for that anyway. I'm here to help stop that Diancie," Radegast lightly planted a fist into a palm. "To do that, we gotta find out what it is."

"Weird. That's what I'm here for too. But first, hope you like pizza. No sense trying to solve a problem on an empty stomach."

Radegast was about to object, to argue that there was no time to waste, but his stomach growled. He hadn't eaten since landing, and before then, he didn't have a good rest at the Guild. The only thing he ate during the trip over the sea was a bag of nuts. "I haven't had pizza before," he smirked, though his mouth did not move. He never tried it while on his travels, and his family always had more traditional, higher-class dishes that primarily used rice or noodles. "Is it good?"

"It's as good as any they serve in Castelia. At least, that's what my mom says. It's the kind of stuff I like to eat to calm myself before a big battle. Seeing that castle rise...well, it wasn't my first time seeing something like that. Getting some pretty bad flashbacks, can't have my nerves betraying me."

"Castle?" Radegast asked. He had received a report about the Diancie and her strange corrupting power and the sky, but he didn't catch anything about castles rising. "What about the scientist- the one who was with the Diancie?"

"That's the part I don't want to talk about. But everything else reminds me of when Team Plasma's castle came out of nowhere and dwarfed even the Unova League."

Radegast wondered why Touko didn't want to talk about the scientist. "I take it you don't have that sc-" he then saw that jaded look in her eyes, then thought against it. Something must've happened that the report didn't catch. "Well... there's gotta be someone who knows what that purple-black stuff is all about, right?"

"Pizza first. Research after." She jumped off the couch and sat at the table before chowing down. Radegast followed suit, and looked to the flatbread pizza. Touko's mother had served the circular-shaped food- cut into triangles- on what looked to be a large, square wooden paddle. Radegast removed the Limiter from his right and the suit's gauntlet from the other, and he picked up a slice by the crust with his phantom fingers. The ease of movement implied he had been a Gallade for a good while.

"Wow. You weren't kidding about being part Gallade." Touko nodded and was definitely on one of those depression binges, the kind where you just eat anything and everything to try to fill a void. Massive gulps of Soda Pop and even talking with her mouth full. She was long past the point of no longer caring about how she looked. "You'll, uh...you'll make sure the media don't give us too much of an issue, right? You can even use the extra bed in the couch, I need to go see the Professor in private."

"I have a feeling this Professor would want to dissect me, but we'll keep you covered- just so long as we figure out how to stop this Diancie." Radegast spoke after gulping down a bite. "Mmm! So this is pizza? It's really good!"

Few things calmed a mind like a good pizza. You learn somethin' new every day, Radegast thought. He made a mental note of "things to do once I'm back to normal again."

1-Learn how to make pizza.
2-Bring the secrets of pizza to the Treehouse.
3-Have pizza with friends.

For now, whilst the threat loomed overhead, it was good to have a filled stomach and calm mind- and not just the move.

Unannounced to most of the individuals present in the city, several members of the Crimson Guild were slinking around the city, remaining unseen while remaining underneath cover so as to avoid as much damage from the weather as they could. However, completely avoiding injury was impossible, so every now and then they'd have to pop an Oran Berry to keep going. Thankfully, as individuals, they didn't have to cover much ground. Castelia City was a huge place, but the Crimson Guild knew how to spread their numbers to make up as much ground as possible. There were at least two Crimson Guild Members in every section of the city, paired up with one another of course, covering each other's backs and helping the other out when they needed it.

There was one exception to that rule, of course. The stout little Turtwig was bounding across Castelia by himself, searching for the castle. It didn't take him long to cover ground, oddly enough. He zipped from overhang to overhang in the blink of an eye, covering ground so fast, he may as well have been half the scouting team. He used less resources than his teammates, too, since less of his time was spent exposed to the harsh conditions.

It didn't take him that long to spot the castle in the distance, a creepy, contorted purple structure that seemed to spread across it's own zip code and tower over even some of the skyscrapers. It also didn't take him that long to reach that point, given his absurdly impressive speed. Within a few minutes, he had traversed through most of Castelia City, stopping just at the outskirts of the castle's domain. Taking cover underneath a dumpster, he popped an Oran Berry and started examining the surroundings.

Eerie...Tag thought as he got a decent look of the place, now that he was close up.

It looked like one of those castles he'd seen while in the Kalos Region, only this one was nearly triple it's size. It's immense measure could be enough to enshroud the whole region in it's shadow should the non-existent sun be hanging low enough. The tallest of spires in the center stood taller than all of the buildings. What was more, it seemed to be made entirely out of purple crystal, glistening with the flashing lights of the powerfully nasty aura around them. From his vantage point, he could see that it had two walls that covered this area: An outer and an inner wall. Within these two walls stood the castle.

But his attention wasn't drawn to that. What he saw was the Diancie in full scale. To his credit, he was expecting something a little bigger, but she only appeared to be three times his size. Unlike the Diancie's he'd come across in his days as TeaM PerSisTenCe, this one seemed to be coated in a strange, purple aura that made all her crystals look deep purple and menacing. It was scary in it's own elegant way.

Not as scary as Neeko, but still...

Standing by her was a human bowing before her, sporting black hair, a black jacket, and a greasy smile. Tag remained hidden, watching to see what the Diancie would do.

---

Melaine's Castle : Outer Wall Outskirts

---

Very well. You are amusing enough that I shall let your impasse slide by. Let it be known, however, your own decree as it is, is binding. Now, begone from my sight!

It was clear Allen was being let off, luckily enough for him. However, one of the Trainers there stepped forward to tell Melaine something, something that caught her interest.

An interesting development, my loyal servant! Remain to guard the castle. Also, escort this young and foolish man off of my castle grounds. If he does not comply, his life is forfeit.

Melaine turned and had one of the Trainers go and assemble a group to travel with her to meet the newcomers. It seemed Tag would not see anything special right away about the Diancie as Allen was quickly surrounded by several Sigilyph and Starmie that arrived to escort him out of the area and back into the city.

...

At least not until a Sigilyph flew past Tag in evasive maneuvers as it dueled with an Unfezant being commanded by a man dressed in usual Ace Trainer gear. Tag would be able to witness the battle first hand, with blows being traded and dodged until the Sigilyph, in a display that granted it a purple shadowy aura, whipped up a vicious tornado with the shadowy energy, the tornado itself spawning atop the Unfezant, KOing it outright as what seemed to be sharp blades of wind swiped at it. Furthermore, the tornado continued past the Unfezant, being directed at the Trainer in full.

As the young man shielded himself, his body was whipped mercilessly by the blades of wind, leaving several gashes across his body as he grunted in pain with every further hit. At some point, after what seemed like several excruciating seconds, the man collapsed to the ground, unconscious, completely shredded and torn up. His Poke Balls fell from their belt, showing he only had two with him, one of which presumably belonged to the now KO'd Unfezant.

The Sigilyph had yet to notice Tag but didn't seem to show any remorse or feelings over what it just did. If anything, it seemed to use some form of communication to send out some sort of message, as if contacting someone or something over the Trainer it just badly wounded. It seemed so heartless and cold, in fact, that it casually prepared to resume its usual patrol route, assuming it wasn't approached in any interrupting fashion.

----

---

Castelia City : Prime Pier

---

As the Taiyou soldiers emerged onto the dock, they were met with a grim sight. A mostly empty dock area, abandoned with haste in the middle of business hours judging by remaining equipment and the now scuffed and rocking ships that were anchored there. Several Wingull flew around the area but kept their distance from the soldiers for now. However, it was not long before the soldiers would spot a sizable group approaching the dock.

The group was an impressive group, mostly comprising of what seemed to be the native creatures and some humanoids as well. The standouts were the several flying violet sea-stars with gold centerpieces that housed gemstones, the several spherical flying ornaments of abstract design, the guarded swirl-armored insects with sharp stingers for arms, and the single blue-green floating bell with "arms" at its sides hovering before the main attraction.

Said attraction was a standout figure, smaller in stature, but regal and royal in appearance. She was a dark-purple, sylph-like Pokemon that had a black chest and arms that resembled a dress. She also possessed a headdress, which consisted of purple crystals; the four short ones cresting along the top pointed upwards, and two longer ones on each side of her head, pointed downwards, with an additional heart-cut centerpiece framed by her slim dark-purple ears. A smaller purple crystal was also embedded in the back of her head, from it, two smaller gems grew at the bottom. A red nugget was embedded in her forehead, and she also had two ribbon-like structures that were growing from the two small gems on the back of her head, each tipped by two small floating rhomboid gems for each ribbon. Her eyes were black with pale-purple irises, and a red crescent circled her neck, with the ends of each being joined together by a rhomboid gem. A larger red crescent also circled her torso. Her lower body resembled a dress-like structure made of purple gems and a larger gem with red pieces supporting it.

A dark and beautiful creature whose aesthetic radiated an aura of nobility and stature. Accompanying her as well were several humans as well, similar in size and shape to the Taiyou, though they were all relatively similar dressed; effective and functional diamond based armor and possession of crystalline weapons that used similar crystals as were present on the regal sylph creature that approached them.

With nary a hesitation, the group stopped a distance away from the Taiyou soldiers. It was a safe and formal distance, suitable for an establishment of greetings without combat. The blue-green hovering bell creature floated forward before it let out a resounding gong, the gong itself precluding a temporary halt to the flashing lights in the immediate area, providing a safe arena for the encounter on the pier. It then floated aside as the sylph-like creature floated forward before her group, facing the soldiers.

She was floating in the air as well, hovering high enough for her 3'07" body to hold eye contact with any of them. Then, she waited. It seemed she was aware, somehow, that the soldiers before her were not the ones in charge of their own assembly. The invisible shadow aura she radiated around her exerted a strong Pressure that could be felt to a small degree by the soldiers closest to her.