FSE

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Back in Cerulean City on a clear early afternoon, Detective Corck was peering over his friend and superior Hoffman's shoulder, looking over the few monitors that had various seemingly-useless technobabble lining out across their screens. Beside John, sitting at his desk, was a laptop connected via cable to his own larger computer, as James asked: "Have you gotten anything out of that computer yet?" "Just about," said Hoffman, "the decryption's almost done and we should be getting something left in all this data. Not a lot actually in it surprisingly, whoever had this didn't use it much." "Maybe it was recently bought." "Nnnnooo I don't think so...how did Fuchsia City go?" "Another raid, a wounded kangaskhan, two suspects I've been wanting for a long time and a junior ranger who suddenly grew a pair." "Hah, and it's not even your birthday." "Indeed. I'm gonna check with Martin after this about those tazers the Pearls had, maybe I can find out where they were manufactured." "Sounds good...oh, here we go, decryption's done. Seems like this laptop was piggybacking off of a Game Freak company server, using it to connect out towards the Pal Park security system." "Well that's unusual. Explains why they bought the room directly across from the Game Freak offices though, but they didn't shut down anything in the park itself." "No...but the park's system DOES have tags on all the pokemon in the park itself, meaning they can target and locate any specific pokemon without rooting around the grass for them like everybody else." "That explains how they found the kangaskhan so quickly, but wouldn't they have a tracker for it?" "We did find one but we weren't sure what it was until now during the first raid of the park. Weirdly, somebody marked where it was with a huge R in the dirt, like scraped around it." "Really?" said Corck astonished. "...that's...even for Team Rocket that's pretty stupid." "Yeah, but it WAS what tipped me off about how they were tracking things, and when you had that one guy tell you about someone in Celadon, that gave me ideas to send you out." "Good. I'm gonna go check on Martin, jus-" Suddenly his cellphone rang in his longcoat pocket, slightly irritating him as he briefly excused himself before heading back to his own office for privacy. He leaned on his desk answering: "Corck here." "I know who did it."

The voice at the other end of the phone he recognised immediately. Corck stood up more firmly from his desk to hear James Campbell more from the speaker. "What?" "I know who killed Mother Marowak. It's the guy who owns the delivery company, Nicholas Swift." "...hhhhh James, I told you before, you can't go accusing people of things withou-" "I have evidence. I went to Cinnabar Island and found the old Pokemon Mansion, the one where Team Rocket did those experiments?" "...I'm listening." "There's some files that were hidden away in the wreckage, dating back before Mother Marowak was murdered. An essay on pokemon neurology about cubones, marowaks and kangaskhans all sharing some kinda...special connection, some sorta maternal bond that gives them some insane kind of power." "...that IS rather coincidental but that's not enough." "What about those numbers I gave you?" "What about them?" "They're an access number, for a ticket that grants you access to Chrono Island. I have a copy of his visa here, dated also before Mother Marowak was killed. It's the same fucking number." "...Sevii Islands." "Yeah, exactly." "But there's nothing on Chrono Island...except an old warehouse formerly owned by Team Rocket." "You sure it's not owned now?" said FG. "How do you know it's not still in use?" "The port authorities checked them...the ones in Vermillion City. Where are you?" "I'm heading out towards the Sevii Islands." "What?!" "I got a Rainbow Pass that lets me through, I'll arrive there in approximately two hours. I'm giving you a heads up now because I'd actually like you to be there when the fireworks go off." Corck stiffened up at hearing this, eyes steeling themselves towards the wall as he envisioned trying to force Campbell to stand down by sheer authority. "James, you are playing a dangerous game. I want you to turn back, and let the police handle thi-" "I don't fucking care," said FG bluntly. "I'm not one of your police officers, and I am beyond caring about anything. All I want is revenge." "Revenge?" "...for her." "James, we swore not to hinder each other's operations." "And I'm not hindering it. If I find him there, I promise I'll leave him alive and ready to be arrested, as well as all his other goons. But the quicker you get here, the more credit you can get for taking down a few yourself. See you soon, officer Corck." "James!? JAMES!"

The line went dead, as Corck put his phone back into his pocket before rushing out back towards John's office, bursting in with a newfound frenzy. "WOAH, that was quick, what did Martin say-" "Who checked the Chrono Island warehouse?" "Wh-what?" "The warehouse, Chrono Island, old Rocket place, who checked the place out?" "Uhhhh...Vermillion port authority, you know that, why?" "Do you have the papers they gave us?" "Uuuuummm yeah, hold on." Hoffman went over to the filing cabinets and swiftly flicked through various reports before finding the one Corck wanted, handing it over to him. The report was a comprehensive scan of Chrono Island, investigating a warehouse that had been recently abandoned by Team Rocket as well as an inventory of things that were confiscated. A curious note however was made in the appendix of the report. The clean-up operation for the warehouse afterwards was a security firm from Canalave City. Pearl Guard Industries. "...fucking DAMMIT!" Corck slammed the report down on his desk and stormed out of Hoffman's office, forcing John to follow after with panic at his friend. "Woah woah what the heck's going on James?!" "The Rocket Warehouse is still occupied!" "WHAT!?" "It all makes sense now, it should have been obvious from the beginning, the salt water, the shipping code, the Pearls supervising things at Vermillion City, everything! They were the ones who handle clean-up operations, they were the ones who were hired by the port authorities to clean up the damn warehouse! THEY DIDN'T CLEAN IT UP, THEY JUST OCCUPIED IT FOR THEMSELVES AFTER THE AUTHORITIES LEFT!" "Wow, okay, calm down, I know you feel a li'l bamboozled but-" "THE ONE WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR IS LAUGHING AT US A HUNDRED MILES AWAY OFF THE COAST, WHILE WE WERE RUNNING AROUND LIKE HEADLESS DODUOS, ALL BECAUSE OF-" "CALM. Down." John forced his hands upon Corck's shoulders, planting them squarely and forcing him to look into his eyes with a stern voice. "Just stop talking...and calm down. That's an order. Now...deep breath." James allowed his thoughts to become broken as he sighed deeply, breathing in and out at his superior's behest. After a few breaths, his mind taking things in calmly with his heart beating slowly, he nodded at Hoffman who smiled saying: "There. Feel better now?" "...a little." "Well, you at least not angry anymore?" "...less." "Well...that's good. Now, what should we do? Let's take this step by step." "...John." "Yes?" "Gather your equipment and head down with me to the docks at Vermillion. I'm gonna need mapping images, blueprints and radio scanners, okay?" "Alrighty." John headed off to gather his equipment, as James headed back to his office in order to call Martin downstairs. On the way he met Victoria, the black-haired woman passing through as he said: "Victoria." "Yes?" "Get the horn on our boys from Johto, we got a lead." "Wha-really?!" "Yep, time to call it in, we're gonna head out to Chrono Island and I want all of us to meet up at the Vermillion City docks. Requisition us some Seagallops and we'll head on out." "W-what's going on, you sound like you're heading out to invade an island!" "I'll explain on the way, just tell them that we've got a new lead on a smuggler's den where the big boss might be hanging out." "Yes sir." The detective quickly called up the downstairs area where Martin would be working, using the office phone to call internally. The forensics analyst however was just as excited about something. "James, was about to call you!" "Good, whatcha find?" "This paper, I know where it was printed! There's an issuing number inlaid at the top, barely seen but it's there!" "Where does it come from?" "...Resort Gorgeous...on Chrono Island." "...I knew it. Martin, pack your forensics, we're taking a trip." "Wha-what?!" "John and Victoria are coming too, grab everything you need and we'll head out to the docks at Vermillion City, that clear?" "Alright, alright, I'll uh...I'll be there."

As Corck was preparing his team to clear out soon as possible, James Campbell was leaving the island of Kanto upon the Seagallop Ferry after making the call from a paybooth. A prodigious speedy craft able to zip between islands in record-breaking speed, normally it was reserved for only the most elite of trainers. But with the mysterious pass in hand, no one questioned him as he hopped on board and sped off towards Chrono Island. The Sevii Islands were a chain of several islands all upon the outer rim of the sea between the regions of Kanto and Hoenn. Supposedly there were nine islands, but only seven were truly inhabited by people. For the past two days, James had spoken very little since Cinnabar, barely even talking to Kirie in order to build up his words for the phone call with Corck. Kirie did not force him to speak, allowing him his silence while he thumbed at the small bell hidden within his satchel. A part of him wanted to wear it, but the very notion of such was sacrilegious to him, believing he did not deserve to wear such a sentimental item that was not even his. His eyes burned into the sky-blue horizon. Right now, all he wanted to do was to wreak chaos unto another, his fury restrained within. Occasionally he had moments of weakness when the darkness inside of him burned ever deeper into his heart, but he struggled through always. Soon, they landed on Chrono Island two hours later as predicted. Beyond a small cluster of three houses was a warehouse hidden within a large meadow of trees, walled off on most sides by the cliffs of the small island itself. Taking his lapras out, the raptor smoothly hugged along the walls of the cliffs before arriving beneath a large metal pipe connecting under the warehouse itself. Kirie reconned the area, using her spiritual illusions to make sure none could see her before returning back to James and his group, all of whom were either standing or flying above Sarah while moored.

Once the spirit returned, she gave her report. It is definitely occupied, and by the same group that we have encountered before. There is a large ventilation shaft on top of the warehouse that one could open and sneak into. The warehouse itself also has two floors, which I can tell is a recent addition upon developing from the original foundations. "Alright good, now listen up. This is our final challenge, I don't want any screw-ups, I want this to be a full tactical operation. There's a whole buncha guys in there, probably armed to the teeth with pokemon and tazers and shit, but we're ready for 'em. Everything I taught you guys about before, everything we learned, now is the time to use it. Spike, you and Shin fly up to the ventilation shaft and climb your way in. Red, Kirie, you're with me while we go climb up through the pipe. Sarah, you're on watch and you alert us when the cops arrive." hat are your orders? "Once we get inside, fuck them up. Non-lethally. I want you to paralyse, I want you to burn, I want you to knock their heads against the wall and take down as many as possible without killing any. IF you have no other choice, fine, kill as a last resort, but if you see ANYONE who could be Mr. Swift, real important guys, play it safe always. Shin, you and Spike are first in so you have to cause havoc on the second floor, don't let anyone get a chance to use their pokemon. If they do, knock 'em out or play dirty." "Bzzzt." "Scy-ther." "Red, Kirie, you're with me and we're gonna brute-force this, slam them into walls, burn doors until they break, terrify the shit out of them. We wanna make sure that they're so frightened and confused that they don't know what to do, and that'll give us all we need to go find Swift. Sarah, you have to hang out here, but when you see the cops arrive, sing through this pipe and then hide. If you need to tell us anything, call on Kirie through the pipe, she'll hear you." Sarah nodded resolutely as Red did the same, returning to his pokeball in order to be taken through the human-sized pipeway for sake of ease. With their plan set, the six of them readily went to their duty, the raptor heading inside and no longer bothering with the disguise of illusion. Kirie floated ahead of him to make sure the way was clear, as they crawled through the pipe before it bent slowly upwards. Spike and Shin had flown their way to the top, tearing open the ventilation shaft with bladed wings before crawling inside.

The warehouse interior was far more refurbished than a normal warehouse would be. The second floor consisted of small accounting offices with rows of computers, a break room for staff and several important offices for higher ups. The first floor was the actual warehouse itself, the main factory floor taking up 2/3 with its storage, with the rest of the floor reserved for meeting rooms and technical management. Two grunts were monitoring security, looking at a machine of several monitors above one large console while chatting aimlessly. "You see that match last night on TV?" "Yeah, what a dumbass that kid was, who the hell uses a Sandile against a Sigilyph?" "Hey, dark-type versus psychic, it works!" "Yeah but ground versus flying did him in, stupid kid forgot about that brutal Air Cutter attack. I hate Unovan pokemon." "This again, come on Jerry." "I don't care, fuck Unova." "Oh what, so you had a bad time there, now you hate every pokemon there?" "I got stuck in that desert for THREE HOURS, do you know how many Maractus and Sandiles I had to beat the shit out of just to get out of there?!" "No and I don't care, you always bring this up, I wonder how the hell you feel about Kalros if you're like this." "Pfft whatever, not like we were ever gonna get footing there anyway, not with those Plasma guys." "Yeah, seriously, what was up with those fuckers, some kinda cult?" "Hold up...I think I see something." "What?!" "Looks like a-SHIT, FUCK!" Something tore past one of the screens followed by a sudden scraping tear of steel from above. Screams of surprise came soon after to accompany the images of scientists and grunts running with panic at the unexpected attack of what appeared to be a scyther and a beedrill, running amok and chasing after people to brutally knock them down. "S-SOUND THE ALARM!" "THE FUCK HAPPENED, DID SOMETHING ESCAPE?!" "I DUNNO, I DON'T CHECK THE DAMN MANIFESTS, JUS-WHAT THE FUCK!?" As they sounded the alarm, which began screeching the place down with red alerts along the walls and steel corridors, something had burst out of the water purification tank on the first floor. A tearing groan of metal soon accompanied a rushing tsunami, throwing people against the walls and floor with the force of raging fresh water. Standing before them in front of the burst-open tank, was a tall brown-scaled velociraptor, with some sort of rusted handle upon his back and a satchel attached to his lower leggings. "...what in the name of-GUUH!" Before either security goon could react, the raptor had rushed forwards with a sudden speed, a gust of wind summoned from his very claws that allowed him to sucker punch the guard unconscious. His friend followed after with a crack to the jaw once the creature slammed his head fast into the table, before throwing out a pokeball to his side. "RED, GO TIME, MAKE SOME STEAM!"

Bursting forth from his pokeball, the charizard roared and blasted his mighty flame across the river-sized puddle that went throughout the warehouse. Steam rose from the super-heated water, scalding any unfortunate enough to be caught in the haze as they quickly tried to evade it by running to the upper floor. James cleared the way for himself by blasting another gust of wind throughout the corridor, blasting the steam to outside through the front door with enough force to make it rattle, as the raptor said: "Phase 1 of Operation Chaos is complete. Red, mind hacking this computer for me?" The charizard cracked his knuckles with a grin of pleasure, gently tenting his clawed fingers as he pondered on how to deal with this machine. He soon decided to slam his fist straight into the guts of the mainframe, tearing apart a hole before blasting a mighty flame deep inside the heart of the console. The monitors soon deactivated, fizzing out as their power circuits were charred to beyond repairing as the raptor's team headed towards the main warehouse floor. Shin and Spike were easily causing chaos on the upper floor, which now had to contend with the glut of panicking screaming workers coming up from the floor below, desperate to escape the scalding steam. Shin was knocking down enemies left and right with the flat of his bladed arms, his False Swipe attack proving wonders for incapacitating enemies. Spike however was much more cruel, stinging them with vicious insectoid stingers to take them down and weaken their strength. Almost none of the humans were able to bring out their pokemon quick enough to fight against the vicious assault of both scyther and beedrill. The same could be said for the remaining workers down below, busily dealing with various crates of all shapes and sizes on the main factory floor. Within the maze of both wooden and metal crates sealed up for delivery, both legal and illegal supplies within, James was making short work of the guards through a mixture of brute strength and distractive maneuvers. Red was the brute strength accompanying him, slamming crates forwards with a good shoulder charge in order to knock down any unsuspecting workers. Kirie was the distraction, using her manipulative ways to seduce and deceive their visions. Sometimes she would cloak James in an invisible veil, allowing him to strike close enough with a powerful beatdown. Other times she would put on a most horrifying illusion of screaming red eyes and an infinite blackness that poured forth from them. With these tactics combined of both fear and strength, almost none of the guards were able to fight back at such a sudden invasion. One or two of them were smart enough, as well as being well-armed with either tazers or cattle prods to try and fight back. But the raptor's swordplay was far superior to a criminal grunt, striking their weapons away at the cost of wounding their arms, before striking them down with the flat of his blades. Between the screaming alarms and horrified cries of the Rocket Warehouse workers, chaos reigned supreme for the next hour as James' group made their way from room to room. Interrogations were made by the raptor, accompanied by fearful illusions from Kirie in order to terrify any he would question. All confessions pointed upwards, but James had to make certain the first floor was cleared of all threats before anything else. Then he heard a song, crying out from the pipes below. Kirie looked to him. They're here. "Right on time," said FG. "Kirie, go help Spike and Shin in case the guys above got smart enough by now, me and Red'll handle the first floor." Alright. As Kirie flittered through the ceiling towards the second floor, she headed off towards one room in particular, not meeting with Shin and Spike just yet. She had only one chance within the madness of the invasion to do something. Better you do not know of this James... Phasing through a door at the back of the warehouse, she saw one particular guard who, upon hearing her voice beamed directly into his mind, turned round to face her with surprise. So we meet again...my old "friend". "WH-WHAT THE-...y-y-you...is it really...you?" Yes. I warned you this day would come traitor, and in this chaos no one shall ever hear you. ...it's time to say goodbye,"master"...since you never said it to me. "N-no...y-you can't, I didn't mean to-I-G-GET AWAY! GET AWAY FROM MEEEEEE!"

Outside the warehouse, Corck was standing upon the eastern side of the warehouse itself, surprised at how much bigger it was now compared to before. An entire group of armed policemen stood behind him, wearing the insignia of Johto's police forces, armed with both batons and protective face coverings. Alongside them was an equally large force of pokemon consisting of fire-fluffed puppy-sized Growlithes, their evolved forms the majestic Arcanines, attentive stern owls known only as Hoothoots, and lastly Machops as well as Machokes. Corck had his own Houndoom and Electabuzz out for now, ready to assess the situation as John set up his laptop nearby. His Pidgeot flew high above him, wearing a device around his chest like a harness that fed topographical data into the laptop, scanning the warehouse carefully. Victoria had her Eevee out and ready alongside Corck, while Martin sat back simply observing until he was needed with his forensics. "What's the layout like?" said Corck. "Large storage area on the first floor," said John, "several tech-specialised areas around it as well as a security area. Second floor is all offices and staff rooms." "Anything on radio frequencies?" "Pidgeot! Scan radio!" The large bird above nodded and tapped a button on his harness-covered chest, changing to an electromagnetic scanner which Hoffman soon registered. "...that's strange." "What?" "Nothing's coming up on the radio frequency, the security console's dead!" "Someone deactivated it maybe?" "Well whatever the case, the security's down for certain so get your team ready." "Alright. Victoria, let's go." "Let's go people!" ordered Victoria, "stay in formation, double lines, make sure all your radios are working!" The group headed up towards the front door, which they noticed was a little weakened and pushed outwards as they readied themselves to head on in as Victoria ordered one officer: "Ramirez, get your machoke up to punch through that door. Once it's knocked down, Corck will put up a Smokescreen. From there, follow my lead." "Yes ma'am." She put up her own face covering, masking her mouth with a protective thick shroud as well as goggles, waiting for the right moment. "Now!"

The door crushed inwards with a mighty punch, torn off its hinges as it flew off down the hallway followed by a vile black smoke fogging up the place. A group of researchers and guards were already suffering its effects, trying to either escape, call out their pokemon, or just plain charge at the attacking force. The former were most successful, whilst their more aggressive companions suffered the price of arrogance with either disabling attacks, strikes from a baton or being rammed down by a fierce wall of pokemon muscle. Victoria went in first alongside her squadron, her Eevee right at the front immediately using a Take Down on one grunt before he had a chance to strike back, straight in the gut. She was quick on her feet to neutralise him, binding his arms with restraints before peering through the smoke for any more before commanding: "Gold team, check the west side of this floor! Silver team, go north and check what's going on with their security! Once you've sweeped this floor, reconvene back at the stairs let's go!" In the midst of the now-growing discord occurring within the first floor alone of the Team Rocket Warehouse, James found himself hiding in a small corner room waiting for a chance to sneak by. He was more worried by his large charizard, who while was the same height as him, had also his wingspan to consider. Eventually Kirie returned back to him, checking up on things. Shin and Spike are still neutralising the enemy forces, a few quicker opponents had their pokemon out and fighting them, but I've neutralised them. "Good, we gotta try and sneak past this lot here without engaging any of them." I will give you cover, but what about Red? "He'll have to get back in his pokeball for now until we're clear. Red, return." The charizard nodded and allowed himself to go back into his pokeball, as James covered himself with Kirie's veil of illusion while sneaking through undetected. The spirit's honed senses helped guided him throughout the smoke, criminals left and right engaging with police forces who went through rooms one by one. Practically invisible to their eyes, he found himself at the bottom of the stairs five minutes later, ready to ascend it. In the briefest of instants, Corck felt someone rush by him, swiftly pulling out his arm in order to clothesline the suspect, knocking him down by the neck. But in the thickest part of the smokescreen, he could not see who it was despite the roar of pain coming from his right. In response, a brown scaled hand suddenly thrust out at him in an attempt to punch him, the detective grabbing the arm hard and sweeping his leg to try and knock down the assailant. But somehow the assaulter dodged over the attack, leaping up briefly before grabbing at Corck's arm with another brown scaled arm, elbowing him swiftly in the face. Corck flinched but did not let go, rushing forwards with a sudden pulling back of his arm to lure the attacker in before solidly ramming his knee straight into the gut. The unknown attacker heaved harshly, gasping for air before a blast of water shot out at Corck's face suddenly. The moment he let go automatically, a fist came flying at his cheek to knock him back before the attacker ran off.

Corck immediately pulled his radio close to his bruised mouth. "Suspect encountered, I repeat, suspect unknown heading towards the stairs to the second floor! Possibly pokemon, fighting-type with water attacks, take caution!" The raptor charged up through the stairs as he limped heavily towards a small sideroom left untouched by the assault, heaving as he recovered his breath. "F-fucking cop...hhhhh..." Are you alright? "Y-yeah yeah I'm fine, christ he's good at this." Indeed, I never thought he could see us. "He didn't, I heard him say suspect unknown, he just felt me nearby. ...okay, let's keep going, where's Shin and Spike gone?" They're over in the southeast part of the warehouse, come on. "Hold on, Red come out." Pulling his charizard back out into action, the raptor looked towards the stairway and ordered: "Rock Tomb. Close the damn place off." Red nodded with a cruel grin as he slammed down onto the ground hard, using his fist with the focus of pure strength causing cracks to form in the stairwell. But his true intentions were forming alongside the wall to their left, as the eastern wall started to crumble specifically above the stairs. Despite being in a warehouse made of steel, his strength applied the same dynamic of breaking the metal wall with a creaking groan, forcing it to cave in onto the stairs and shutting off access, amidst the sounds of surprise and shock coming from downstairs. "That should hold them for a while," said FG. "Anyone hurt down there?" No, nobody was near the stairs. "Good, let's go." "CORCK!" cried out John on the radio. "VICTORIA, YOU ALRIGHT?!" "We're fine!" said Corck from inside the doorway, "the stairway's collapsed, someone upstairs must have blocked us off! How's the outside looking?" "The upper east wall has collapsed, you could probably break through it with enough force and get up to the second floor." "Alright. Victoria, come in!" "I'm here," she replied, "what is it?" "The stairway's blocked off, but the east wall has a weak point we're gonna break through, you got everyone down there?" "Yep, everyone's been neutralised. Some people were knocked out already through, pretty hard as well." "Alright, get Gold team to pull everyone out, you and Silver team head outside and follow John's orders." "Yes sir!" Relaying orders to her teams, Victoria headed back outside with only half her squadron in order to find another way in. The upper floor however they all clearly heard being racked by the sounds of chaos and fury, wondering what could be happening.

Shin found himself clashing with one individual well-armed with an electric prod, his bladed arms striking against the long handle like it were a sword. Despite the guard having managed to hold well against the scyther, he was not going to last any longer when he broke through the guard and tried to swing a huge blow. Shin readily flew above with a sudden flitter of his wings, before spinning down hard with the flat of his blades smack across the guard's face. With one more guard down, he soon joined FG in the middle of the top floor. The five of them now stood in the staff room area, couches and chairs overturned with burn marks and scratches all over the walls as a result of furious battles continuing across the second floor. Almost all of the guards had been dealt with, except for the northwest quadrant which they knew now were the head offices. Two guards standing in front of a large important-looking double set of doors already had Arboks out, the huge serpents dwarfing James' crew as they all attacked at once. The raptor did not relent with his scissors, striking hard across the toughened scales of the cobras along with Red's deep-burning Flamethrower, Shin's vicious Slash attacks, Spike's Pin Missile and Kirie's Night Shade. When all five of them attacked, not even battle-hardened Arboks were able to resist, shrieking a hiss of defeat together as their trainers were dealt with in turn, brutally knocked unconscious. James kicked open the double doors, but the moment he did a familiar sound came punching through the air. A gunshot, followed by a roar of pain from his charizard who collapsed onto one knee, clutching his leg as it quivered with intense agony. "RED!" "DON'T MOVE!" The room they were now in appeared to be a gigantic office, the size of a medium-sized store room with a long table for meetings set in the middle of it. At the opposite end of the room was a series of bookshelves, computers and one central mahogany desk where a man with strikingly short black hair stood, wearing a labcoat and flatcap. In his hand was what looked like an assault rifle, blocky and small enough to be carried in one hand like a submachine gun, with a bullpup nub at the end of it. The man commanded: "Whoever you are, make one more move and your charizard's gonna die with ice-cold water in his veins." "...you're Nick Swift?" asked FG. "It's Nicholas. And yes. I hate to hear that my reputation precedes me now." Kirie quickly used a potion from James' satchel to try and heal Red, but then noticed something unusual about the bullet wound. It was icy-cold, and bleeding something other than blood. James, Red is...his wound is bleeding...w-water? "...he has a gun." What? "He has a fucking gun...in a world like this. I didn't even know they existed in this world." ...so that's what they're called. I've-uh...never seen one before. They're extremely rare...and very illegal. "You like it?" said Swift. "Team Rocket always finds a new way to get around a situation. This one's my special baby, personally engineered by myself a few years ago...yanno what this does?"

He cocked it slowly to reveal a colour-changing stripe on the side of the rifle. First it was blue, then it was yellow. "Why have only one type when you can have all of them? Special bullets charged with different elements to take down ANY pokemon that tries to fight me. You bring out a fire-type, bang, water-type weapon, dead. Bring me a flying-type, boom, thunder, dead. I still got a few types left I have to put in this thing but...kinda hard to find the physical form of ghost or dark being as they are not physical. What the hell are you, some kinda pokemon?" "I'm here to bring you to justice," said FG, "and if I won't, the cops outside will." "Justice? For what?" "Killing the Mother Marowak. I know it was you." "Hmhmhmhm...now why would you think I have anything to do with that old case?" "Because I'm a fan of your work. Nice essay you got on maternal bonds between cubones and kangaskhans or whatever. And you dropped some numbers that let me know where I could find you. You're the one behind all of this, even the cops know that now, it all connects a little too much for it to be just a coincidence, Swift." "Well aren't YOU a clever creature, maybe I should study YOU instead. But I can't help but take credit. Yes, I did write that essay. And yes, I did go to Lavender Tower in order to retrieve cubone skulls for my personal research." "So why the fuck you doing all this?! You responsible for those lapras down at the warehouse, the kangaskhan at the park too?!" "Warehouse? ...heh, you must be the one that ruined that operation, the kid with the haunter. I didn't expect you to not be human though. As for the park, well...I think this is all a bit too complex for you." "I read your fucking paper. Try me." "...alright." Nicholas tapped a button on his desk which pulled down the long meeting table into the floor, watching it disappear in order to give a much wider impression of the room, free of space. Another button shut off the doors behind FG, closing them shut with a steel barricade as Swift walked out from behind the desk fully, gun still pointed at the intruders. "Just so nobody'll bother us," said Swift. "I'm impressed really, nobody managed to figure this out for the past five years, but then the greatest discoveries have always been ignored throughout history." "Spare me the fucking acceptance speech, just gloat about your plan and shoot me." "Hah, that eager to die? Alright then. You read about how I made the correlation about how both kangaskhan and marowak deal with both life and death respectively, two sides of the coin of the influence a mother has on her children, right?" "Yeah." "Well...when I meant two sides of the coin, I meant that a lot closer than you think. A kangaskhan will go through life protecting her child and will readily give her own life in order to protect it. Whenever her child cries in distress, she attacks any enemy relentlessly until her very last breath. In oppose to this, a marowak will die from whatever cause of life and her child will take her skull in order to carry her alongside it forever, molding the skull into its own once they evolve, lamenting her with its natural acoustic design. ...see where I'm going with this?" "...I'm not sure, but I still don't get the why. Is there some big whiny backstory to this?" "Whiny?! I'm simply finding a more preferable solution to my own incapability!" "And what's that?"

"Ever since I was a boy, I've always wanted to command my own team of pokemon, much like you do now. But unlike you, somehow even though you're not even human, I was never able to command one. No pokemon would ever respect me, obey me, even come near me in some cases. I never understood why, I did everything by the book, I would try to catch them, strengthen them, I tried everything! And yet they never even tried to respect me. I could never earn their respect." "Gee I wonder why," said FG sarcastically, "I bet you were the kinda kid who burnt ants under a magnifying glass." "Well...I was a little stern with my pokemon, discipline IS necessary towards healthy development. Yet strangely pokemon did not listen to THAT well either. I tried to gain their respect, by punishment, by discipline, by showing I was above them. But no, that did not work either. Which brings me to my plan now. If I cannot make them obey me willingly...then I have to make them do so another way." Pressing another button on the desk, three square holes began to open up in the office room floor. Reaching from his pocket, he pulled out a remote control and waited patiently as three saurian heads emerged. James recognised them to be kangaskhans, dome-headed beasts with brown bodies and darker-brown tops, each one having a smaller purple-skinned child within a pouch on their belly. They appeared to be asleep. The children however were wearing skulls. Cubone skulls. "...what the fuck is this?" asked FG. "SCY!" cried out Shin. "Huh?!" "SCY-SCYTHER! He says those are the kangaskhan from the Pal Park, the ones that were kidnapped a week ago! "What?!" "I became a neurologist specifically to find a way to control pokemon. And after many years of research, I finally found it. Take the synaptic response of a kangaskhan's bond to her child's distress, and combine it with the acoustic qualities of a cubone's skull...what do you get?" "...I don't-" "You amplify the call of distress. And the greater the sound of distress...the stronger the mother's bond." One click of his remote control and one child woke up, his head encased in skull lifting up as a surge of electricity riveted through him. The kangaskhan child screamed from a sudden agonising pain, as the cubone's skull made it resonate piercingly across the scream, hard enough to make James' knees turn weak. He barely had time to dodge before the kangaskhan mother suddenly woke up with a blinding fury, roaring with pierced eyes as she suddenly hurled forwards to slam a fist into the wall behind James, crushing a dent through plated steel. "HOLY SHIT!" The Kangaskhan are going insane, they think their children are being harmed by us! "WH-WHAT?!" Unless we stop him from hurting those children with his device, either the kangaskhan will destroy us, or they will die from fighting to exhaustion! "Impressive, isn't it?!" taunted Swift. "I got plenty more time to show you a demonstration before I can take my leave." "...you...fucking asshole. Why the hell are you doing this?!" "Because if I can't make pokemon love me, then I will teach them to fear me instead. Now...which of your pokemon wants to die first?"

Nicholas raised his compact assault rifle towards James' team, the remote in his other hand slowly being thumbed at to activate further commands to the kangaskhan trio. James wielded his scissors with a piercing stare, looking at his team and trying to figure out what to do. "...okay. This is the big battle here guys, I want you all at your best. Spike, Shin, fight the one on the left." Wh-what?! But we can't fight them, we shouldn't, we- "If we don't fight, then we'll be dead, I'm not asking you to kill, I'm asking you to win. Red, deal with the one on the right. Hold back those things, don't hurt them, just stun and deter! I'll go after the fucker himself after I get past the middle one." And I will help you, what do you need? "Kirie, you need to keep up some illusions so he won't get a clear shot. I'm not gonna let anyone else die...not even Swift. Ready?" They nodded in unison, bracing themselves for the big battle. "Alright...let's do this!" "You're not even gonna command them?!" roared Swift. "You can't just send these fools into a battle without knowing what to do!" "They know what they're doing, they can think for themselves because they're not tools, they're my fucking FRIENDS!" "You can't possibly think that a bunch of beasts will know what to do without someone standing behind them! That's why we're above them, that's why we're trainers!" "NO!" roared FG. "You're not a trainer, that's why you fucking FAILED! They've trained with me long enough through thick and thin, and every battle we've been through together was only because we trusted each other! We may not have won every battle, but we damn well survived everything! I brought them together, I made them strong so we could endure anything TOGETHER! I'm not their master, and I'm not their trainer, I'M THEIR FRIEND YOU SON OF A BITCH! POKEMON, GO!" The raptor's group readily charged into the coming battle, the scyther and the beedrill joining up once again to evade their new foe. Nicholas Swift in turn activated all three of the kangaskhans, their children's screams resonating throughout the hall before being joined by their mothers' fury. Skulls upon the little ones' heads lit up with a vile electrifying agony, as the trio blindly rushed towards their perceived opponents. Shin and Spike combined both speed and attack power, the wasp focusing a latent energy he had only learnt a few days ago with a brand new move. Focusing his Agility into his very being, his perception sharpened to that of Shin's bladed arms. The perfect thing to dodge the oncoming onslaught of enormous scaled fists, incensed by maternal Rage. Shin in turn had his own new ability, wanting to do as little as possible in actually fighting back at the kangaskhans themselves. Swinging out his blades into a ballet-like pose, he spun upon one foot with intense swiftness before he felt his arms sharpen from the sheer slicing of wind itself. A Sword Dance, to hone both mind and blade with perfect lethality. Yet despite the purpose of this move, he was only buying time in order to antagonise the kangaskhan to attack him. His opponent was readily attacking Spike, whose increased agility was making it much more difficult for anything to hit him. Yet despite the swiftest of wings, flitting back and forth like a hummingbird with the occasional warning jab of his Twineedle to force the beast to back off, the kangaskhan managed to trick him with a Fake out. Clapping her hands hard on both sides of his sting-tipped arms, the poison barbs dug into her flesh. But her eyes were piercing flecks of anger, as her child screamed from beneath her. Spike flinched in instinctive panic, before a Mega Punch came hurtling towards his compact eyes like a train.

The beedrill was slammed into a wall, buzzing furiously at such a familiar pain before swiftly dodging out of the way of the second punch, just in time for Shin to swing in front of the kangaskhan and clash against her fists. The flat of his blades struck fiercely against the mother, the little one still screaming as electric fury shrieked through its skull-tight bindings. The scyther used nothing but False Swipes to strike back, the dull parts of his scythe-tipped arms striking again and again across the kangaskhan's face to force her back. Red the charizard was forced to go solo, using only his brute strength despite having a wounded leg as he shoved his body weight against his foe. Despite the fact that he was more than a full foot shorter than the monstrous maternal kangaskhan, he readily grabbed at her arms before throwing her back against the wall. Even in the burning rage of her mind, she had the instinct to not fall onto her belly for fear of harming the child, steadying herself on one foot forwards before launching straight towards the charizard. He grabbed at her fists in a tug of war, snarling at each other before another child's scream pierced both of their ears, and one of their minds. The child's mother snarled with frenzied teeth, clamping down on Red's cheek with a vicious Bite. He screeched with a roar before blasting his Flamethrower, burning past her cheek and near her eye to force her to let go, which she did soon enough before trying to Bite once more at his shoulder. But Red knew better, swiftly circling around with a Wing Attack to strike viciously with the force of a gale. Swift however was being cautious with his shots, aiming from behind the desk and trying to gauge out his targets. The scyther and the beedrill were far too fast, but the charizard was big and slow and already wounded. Just when he saw the human-sized dragon ready itself for a slicing strike with its wings, he fired at the back of his head. The bullet infused with sub-zero water found itself clashing against steel. James had kept close to his most easily-targeted ally, the size of his scissors allowing a better chance to defend. He stood back to back from Red, the two smiling at each other briefly before they went for their targets, whilst Kirie streaked across the battlefield to stay beside James. The raptor was soon facing the third kangaskhan, infused by her baby's screaming agony from inside of its skull-covering. Kirie swiftly threw up an illusory cloud, trying to trick and deceive the beast with rope-like tendrils and a blackening purple miasma. But the kangaskhan herself was far too insane with blind fury to even be tricked by such, roaring with a vicious Bite straight for the source. Kirie shrieked as she barely dodged the teeth trying to bite into her semi-coherent existence, the raptor striking hard at the kangaskhan's snout as tooth met steel. The mother did not care, simply biting hard on the rusted scissors to try and rip through them.

James felt a shivering vibration of the force run down his arm, which in turn forced an intense dislike to come from within. The darkness rose within him, a burning insult that pulsated violently from his blades and straight into the kangaskhan's mouth. Scalding dark essence flashed in her throat, her deepened shrieks of pain coming from deep down within her heart. The raptor took this opportunity to build up his burning fist, flowing with fire around his claws before striking upwards hard. The kangaskhan stumbled back from the vicious uppercut, wounded but not severely despite the blurred vision of both pain and maternal rage blending together. In one desperate move, she roared forwards with a magnificent Mega Punch. James swiftly dodged out of the way, watching his opponent's fist bore straight into the wall of the second floor. The metal stood no chance, punched viciously outwards as a crumbling tear revealing the outside world, pure blue sky clouded only by the violence within. But Swift was still looking to aim at someone or something while avoiding his own pokemon. He aimed towards Kirie, a part of him curious to see if ghost-types were affected by it when he changed his setting to an electrically-charged bullet. Then he saw Shin suddenly rush towards him. He swiftly pulled and fired, aiming just above the charging blades to blast through the scyther's shoulder. Shin tore through with screaming vengeance, an agonising electric charge ripping across his insect wings which soon became frayed and crackled. The scyther stood before him, twitching and struggling to resist the static wound sparking in his weakened shoulder. Suddenly a flitter of wings came from Swift's right, turning to see a beedrill come down hard with a vicious stinger plunge straight into his desk. Ripping through the wood as the human dodged, he wasn't eager in taking on two pokemon at once, summoning a kangaskhan to come screaming towards the beedrill for another beatdown. But Spike was a little more fast now, learning from his mistakes and keeping well away from the furious mother, her child shrieking. Begging to her to stop the pain that ripped through its infant mind. In that moment of the wasp forced to move away, Shin quickly began to assist in fighting back. Red threw up a Smokescreen to try and help with the battle, blasting the room to a blackening smog which poured out of the large hole in the wall. James saw his chance and tried to charge straight ahead with a sudden blast of wind to dash forwards with. But Nicholas aimed with his electric rifle and tried to shoot down the raptor. His scissors blocked the shot, but the lightning surged through the metal and shot a spasming pain through him, forcing him to wince and stumble. Kirie however was quick at his side, whirling a darkness around him with veiled illusions of the raptor's shadow multiplied before Swift. He wasted two bullets firing at trickery, giving time for James to back away. The smokescreen would soon prove useless once he heard a great flapping of wings from outside, as a shadow cast itself over the ruined office interior. A white winged beast, tipped in blue, outlined against the southern seas in an almost godlike radiance.

Victor the Lugia stared down upon Nicholas Swift. Whether it was arrogance, fear or simple fighting instinct, he raised his rifle towards the legendary beast and fired. With lightning speed, the lugia spread his wings fully out and bowed his head as if daring to be shot head on. But the bullet simply shattered against the top of his head. An almost-invisible light blue barrier could be barely seen, suddenly appearing as a flash before Victor. Nicholas started to panic, firing several more shots with a battle roar, each shot pinging off upon the mystical Safeguard. The lugia raised his head as his mouth twitched in a sting of insult. Now, it was his turn. GET DOWN! Kirie's scream rippled through James' and his friends, who quickly backed off from their targets and took cover against the wall and especially away from the hole. First there came a ball of yellow-orange light from his mouth, a deep breath of power as his body shimmered blue like the sea itself. Then came the shattering beams of light that formed into a swirling fury of tornadoes, focused upon the building itself. A howling Aeroblast that splintered wood, crushed walls and even destroyed pipes that were buried deep within the foundations of the building, purely by the intense vibrations of the lugia's awesome power. James and his team hung on for dear life, grabbing at the inside of the office wall and desperately resisting the roaring maelstrom that came pouring within. The kangaskhans, in a brief moment of clarity, had also begun clinging on against the walls as well as each other by sheer instinct against the wind. Nicholas Swift simply tried to grab on his desk, trapped on the floor and unable to fight back. Even when the furious gale had started to cease, he had already lost when a fist had suddenly come down on top of his head, slamming hard enough to break his nose. The raptor kicked the gun away before hurling the remote control, whistling through the air before a scyther's wings came calling, his blades coming forth to slice it in four pieces. The death of the small transmitter within had also meant the release of the kangaskhans' control, the children whimpering within the now-deactivated skulls out of fear and relief. Both raptor and lugia stared at each other, as James stood near the groaning still-conscious form of Nick Swift lying on the floor. The winged legend simply spread his wings, waiting to see what this strange new creature would do. The raptor thought silently as the wind began to clear out the last remnants of smoke from the office walls. Eventually, he placed down some papers on the desk, dragged Nick Swift over towards Victor and propped him up in a sitting position to be taken down for the police. The raptor only had one thing to say before leaving. "You never saw us."

Quickly heading out through the hole in the wall, James, Kirie, Shin, Spike and Red all joined together in a hasty escape, heading down towards the short cliffs below. Sarah had remained waiting, silently escorting them away from Chrono Island towards a quieter cove. The lugia recognised who they were, but knew they were not his objective. He picked up the dazed wounded criminal in his mouth, hanging like a dead fish before carefully placing him back down onto the ground, right in front of Detective James Corck. "Well now," said Corck, "plenty of fish around here but I never seen one like you before." "Uuuuhhhhnnnn...wh-wha...who are you?" "Detective Corck. Olivine City Branch. Are you Nicholas Swift?" "...who wants to know?" "The guy who just had his lugia blast your office into pieces. Are you Nicholas Swift?" "...yes." "Good. I've been wanting to meet you for a long time. You're under arrest for eighteen counts of burglary, thirty-two counts of assault, twenty-five counts of Pokemon abuse and the murder of seventeen Pokemon including those of Lavender Tower. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something which you may later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be used as evidence." "I know...I-i know...just...where did he go?" "Huh?" "The thing. That brown lizard...thing. He came for me...came to avenge that...marowak. That fucking marowak." "...get the medic to have a look at him, then we'll make the arrest official." He handed Swift over to the squadron who began to examine Swift properly, checking for wounds or concussions before safely handcuffing him into custody alongside the rest of his still-living associates. Victoria headed with her group of officers back into the building, using machokes to safely break through the eastern wall as a safer alternative to breaking upwards through the stairwell. The second floor was in just as bad a state as the first. The wounded were attended to be taken to hospital, with one or two dead merely tagged and dragged out. After a clean sweep of the area, they were certain that there was no one else inside other than several abused Pokemon within crates, who were immediately handled by specially trained officers. Martin went in once the coast was clear with his forensics equipment, his porygon joining him as it shifted through walls and mainframes, looking over various fluid spatters and burn marks that had occurred in the battles. They also noticed the sealed office of Nick Swift which was eventually opened up for access using a combined force of growlithes and arcanines, burning through with molten-hot fire joined up as one breath. Victoria was first to break through, where she found an even greater surprise. "James, over here!" The detective rushed over to where she was, finding to his surprise three dazed kangaskhan sitting against the wall, moaning to each other for reassurance. Corck cautiously entered alongside Victoria, noting: "...cubone skulls. Their kids are wearing cubone skulls." "But how?" said Victoria. "What the hell was going on in here? Who attacked them all?" "I don't know...but we need to get these kangaskhan out of here safe and sound." The kangaskhan were safely escorted out of the building, after their wounds were healed and the skulls were safely removed, having apparently been clamped on by a steel strap locking it to the children's heads. Corck brought up Martin into the room, finding it to be curiously full of details he could already note for himself. Smokescreen traces, burn marks, an unusual rifle with shell casings beside the desk, a broken remote control and finally something unblemished upon the desk. A stapled essay, with a note left upon it.

Mother Marowak Has Been Avenged Good Luck, Detective Corck

FG

Corck pondered as he read briefly through the notes of the essay, realising exactly what it was. Martin was kneeling down on the ground nearby, holding a rather odd instrument. A scanner of some sort with two rods sticking out from it, like antennas that would wave up and down on their own, lights flickering in unique patterns. "I'm picking up some strange scans here." "Of what?" asked Corck. "...seems like there was ghost Pokemon." "You sure?" "Positive...lot of it actually, keta-essence all over the walls. Burn marks and smokescreen ashes, the wall punched out from the inside-" "-an essay that connects the dots along with the murder weapon itself. Was wondering where I'd find this thing." "Specially designed too, custom-made." "Aye...what about the few deceased members here?" "Grievous wounds from pokemon attacks," said Martin. "One guy got sliced up, another guy got poisoned badly and just had a bad allergic reaction...but there was one guard that really concerned me." "Yeah?" "One of them got strangled to death. But...I can't find any marks on him at all, and it was deliberate, choked with...I wanna say ropes since the strangulation marks and strength are more consistent to that but...my scanner went insane on his body, had to be some kind of ghost-type that killed him." "That's strange, since none of these people had any ghost pokemon on them far as we checked. None of them were held hostage in those crates either." "Even weirder was the fact that his body was hidden away out of sight, not out in the open like the other two we found dead." "Hmmm...we'll figure this out later, for now grab everything and let's get out of here. The world'll finally see this case put to rest." Corck gently pocketed the note written out to him as he gathered up the evidence with Martin. Far and away, observing upon a lapras' back, was a raptor watching from afar with a spirit nearby, waiting to slip back to Kanto undetected.