Story Notes:
It was a quiet night when Deoxys descended from the heavens.
Believed to not be of this world, it went on a rampage, leaving death and destruction in its wake.
Finally defeated by an unknown force, the tragedy of unparalleled magnitude it created remains in the heart of every human.
To make sure that something like this will never happen again, every wild Pokèmon powerful enough to cause such mayhem must be captured, controlled or killed.
Needless to say, this year has been a bad year for Legendaries. This year has also been a bad year for Champion Trainers.
But my year... Has been... THE WORST!
Unique Revolutionist Zoroark
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"I trust there are no objections?" the dark one calling itself Zoroark asked with a cocky tone. It was a wolf-like humanoid who reminded Lucario a lot of himself. It had a sleek snout accompanied by beady, sharp eyes in emerald color. In contrast to Lucario's blue hairy fur it had a finer black coat, with a gigantic wild bush of red hair sticking out of its head, darkening into black by the edges. The hairdo was almost as big as the rest of its thin body, and definitively thicker. It had claws in the shape of several red spikes, not as long or intimidating as Zerobi's but seemingly more flexible and probably more dangerous.
"Poor predictable humans, always using steel..." Zoroark sighed while shaking his head and pointing to the chain holding Lucario in place, "Connor, take care of it." In response to this, the brutish one started moving with slow, heavy steps. It also had a humanoid form, but was much larger with bulging muscles and visible veins covering its body. It also had short grey beard, making it look like a peculiar mixture between a grouchy old man and a bodybuilder currently dabbling with steroids.
"If you can't walk, Connor here will carry you," Zoroark said while waving his hand towards his big partner, "... Although, I believe it would be a boon to the both of you if you could." Lucario's eyes were fastened upon Connor's hulking form as he reached out his long arms and clenched them around the chain keeping his left arm suspended. The veins over Connor's arms started pumping wildly as he grunted, the steel crumbling in his hands with a low cracking noise.
"Oh shit!" Lucario shouted, shocked by this display of power.
"Oh hey," Zoroark exclaimed with an amused tone, "He talks!"
"Of course, I..." Lucario replied before more pressing questions leapt to his mind, "... How'd you get here? Why are you helping me?"
"Tell me, have you heard anything about the revolution?" Zoroark asked with a subtle smile forming on his face.
"Probably not..." Lucario sighed, very rarely getting the chance of sounding like he was up to date on current events.
"... Well, I'll fill you in on it later..." Zoroark muttered disappointedly, "For now, let's just get out of here."
A piece of the second linked chain disappeared into Connor's hungry palms as Lucario fell to the ground, using his arms to support himself. He had expected both his arms and legs to be weaker, but he was able to stand up just fine with no unexpected effects besides a relieving feeling in his arms. His wrists were still aching though, and looking down he saw that about half a foot of chains were still dangling under his arms like a broken pair of handcuffs.
"We'll need precision work to take care of that," Zoroark said while looking at the chains, "Trust me, you do NOT want this guy operating on you."
"Wow, thanks! I owe you a handshake!" Lucario said as he saw remnants of the crumbled chains still on Connor's hand, "Let me just grab a diamond glove from somewhere..."
"You'll have to do better than that," Zoroark said with a shrug, "Nothing ever leaves Connor's grip intact, no excepti-"
"GET THEM!" a voice suddenly echoed from the open door, making the three of them cease their conversation and turn towards it.
Sharing the room with them now was two new Pokèmon, both fairly small. One of them stood on four legs and had a red color to its skin, with several wine red tails perking up behind it. The other was a plant using its own thin roots as legs, supporting a big head shaped like a bell.
Standing directly outside the room was a human, shrouded by a veil of darkness.
"Stop!" the red fox screamed, "We'll fight you!"
"Why!?" Zoroark shouted back while pointing dramatically at it, "We have no intention of harming anyone, we only wish to free our brethren!" The fox flinched visibly and lacked anything resembling a comeback.
"Vulpix, use Flamethrower!" the trainer yelled and growled threateningly at them.
"Remember your heritage! Pokèmon should not fight at the behest of humans!" Zoroark continued before taking a determined step forward, "We have simply chosen the wilderness! If you will not stand beside us, at the very least stand aside!"
"Vulpix, you useless sack of shit! ATTACK!" the trainer bellowed, making the Vulpix look between him and Zoroark in confusion.
"Have it your way!" the trainer kept going before looking at the thin plant, "Bellsprout! Razor Leaf, NOW!" The Bellsprout and Vulpix both exchanged a panicked look for a moment, silently asking each other what to do.
"And you... I can see it in your eyes... What you crave most of all..." Zoroark told the grass-type as a charming smile appeared on his face, "Freedom."
"I-I..." the Bellsprout stammered with a soft voice and worried look on its face as it began fidgeting around, "How can I take the risk...?"
"Take the risk?" Zoroark sighed before shaking his head, "Sweetie... It's the chance of a lifetime!"
"Not you too!" the trainer shouted as he suddenly pulled out two Pokeballs that he recalled both the Vulpix and Bellsprout into, "Fucking idiots!"
The instant the red beam struck the two Pokèmon, Zoroark made his move. Launching across the room like a ray of darkness, he extracted a small vial containing a yellow powder from the bushy red fur on his head. The trainer barely reacted as Zoroark coated his own claws with the powder and used them to lightly pierce the skin of the human's neck, just barely drawing blood.
The trainer took a surprised step backwards with a shocked expression, before suddenly falling down.
"Stun Spore," Zoroark said confidently before putting the vial back where he had extracted it from and looking at Lucario, whose expression was comparable to that of the stunned trainer, "Don't worry, he's just temporarily paralyzed."
"H-Holy shit..." Lucario stuttered astonished. Between Zoroark's ability to convince both enemies to stand down and his amazing speed, he was unsure as to what had surprised him the most. He stood frozen as he saw Zoroark bend over and pick up the Pokeballs from the stunned trainer.
"Two more," Zoroark said calmly, throwing the two Pokeballs to Connor who caught one in each hand. A shudder ran through Lucario as he imagined Connor crushing the balls with blood seeping out of them, but instead he put them into the backpack.
"Let's go, time's wasting..." Zoroark muttered before signaling for Lucario to follow him.
"Wait... How did you do that?" Lucario asked, still flabbergasted.
"I've got my way with Pokèmon," Zoroark answered, not realizing that Lucario was more curious as to how he had kept a vial in his hair, "They were all captured at some point. More often than not, you'll find most of 'em still prefer the wilderness!"
They ran out of the room, Lucario getting a prickly feeling from finally getting to use his legs again. Outside the door he had seen so many come and go through was nothing but a long, dreary corridor with black walls and a ceiling not very far above their heads. The only thing remarkable about this area was that three more Pokèmon and trainers were standing in the middle of it.
"... Then again, the exception's fairly common, as well..." Zoroark muttered as all the trainers started shouting commands to their respective Pokèmon.
"Pretty tight spot," Lucario mumbled with disdain. He sensed no intimidating aura from the Pokèmon, but knew that the trainers probably possess more of them.
"Leave them to me," Zoroark said confidently with a sinister smile as he flexed his arms, "Unless, of course, you want to join in?"
"You sure?" Lucario asked, cracking his knuckles, "They might be harder to convert when they're unconscious."
"Be my guest," Zoroark answered before shrugging, "I want to see what you can do."
The two of them became quiet as the first Pokèmon, a large bird holding on to a leek with one of its wings flew at Lucario, quickly slapping him in the face with it. He responded by punching the avian straight on the beak.
"A-A fucking leek!?" he shouted in surprise as the bird hunched over and covered its damaged beak, "Are you kidding me!? Finding a stick too much of a hassle, or what!?" A tiny ball of fire suddenly flew past him, lighting up the corridor as a red lizard quickly followed it and smashed into Connor's outstretched fist.
"You up for this?" Zoroark asked, throwing a quick glance to Lucario before dashing towards the third Pokèmon.
"... Sure!" Lucario responded as he saw a small round object come flying at him. The vision of an aggressive Mienfoo passed through his mind as he jumped straight up and hit the ceiling. Using his arms to push away from it, he went flying down like a rocket aided by gravity and delivered a mighty stomp to the Pokèmon that had been sent his way, immediately knocking it out. Stepping off the unconscious creature, he saw that it was something like a pink ball with ears and the marks of two large paws imprinted on its back.
"Not bad! Not bad at all!" Zoroark laughed after watching the whole spectacle as the large weight of Connor's fist came down upon the bird Pokèmon like a hammer and knocked it out, "I'm starting to like you already!"
"Uh..." Lucario mumbled while looking at the trainers, all of which had now shared the fate of the previous one, "Did you really have to paralyze them?"
"No... I could kill them, if you'd prefer that," Zoroark huffed before hunching over and beginning to pluck Pokeballs from the defeated trainers, "Help me out, we can't have this take too long."
Lucario helped him extract Pokeballs from the immobile humans, enjoying the irony of the reverse capturing they were committing. The moment he held one of the Pokeballs in a firm grip, a pleasant sensation spread through him. A sense of adventure and accomplishment, and for a short moment he mused over the idea of saving a few Pokeballs for later, building his own personal army to keep in his pocket.
"... Heh, nah..." he snickered to himself before throwing the Pokeball to Connor. After they were finished looting Pokeballs, they started running down the long corridor again. A quick look at Zoroark told Lucario that he was glad, for some reason.
"We can't save 'em all, or we'll lose 'em all," Zoroark said while trying his best to sound serious, "The majority of their forces are away, looking for Mew. They'll be back soon, so the faster we get out of here, the better!"
"Looking for Mew?" Lucario repeated before getting hit by a memory flash, "Heh... Maybe I should join up with them?"
"Dream on!" Zoroark chuckled, "It's just a trick of mine! Like the actual Mew would really show itself!"
"Wait, so you used tricks before breaking in here with brute force..." Lucario said with a questioning voice, "Wouldn't it have been easier to use stealth to break out?"
"Not while carrying you on back. I thought you'd be out cold..." Zoroark explained while looking over Lucario, "... But you're completely fine! Hell, did you even need a rescue!?"
"Heh, like you wouldn't believe..." Lucario replied with a smile.
The strenuous movement from the earlier battle had made itself known in his arms and legs, but Lucario still felt ready for more. His energy had spiked due to the introduction of food in his system after such a long period of starvation. For half an instant he felt grateful to Brendan, deciding to minimize his gloating after his eventual victory over the insane trainer.
"Hey, listen..." Lucario said as the small penguin's fate returned to him once more, "Thanks for rescuing me, but there's a REAL troublesome guy after m-"
It was then he noticed that a very loud rumbling noise was coming from behind. Turning around in shock, he saw that it was in fact Connor, using his arms to throw himself forward to keep the same speed as the two wolves. His hands crushed the ground beneath him, making the corridor they just passed through look like a cluster bomb had been ignited.
"Hey, what kind of Pokèmon is he?" Lucario asked as they turned around a corner.
"A Conkeldurr," Zoroark replied, able to cut the corner with more mobility than Lucario and slowed down a bit on purpose.
"Durr!?" Lucario repeated before getting a snide tone to his voice, "... Name fits."
"So does your head in his palms," Zoroark said with a sinister smile, "Personally, I'd keep the mocking to a minimum." Connor smashed harshly into the wall of the corner, using his own velocity to bounce back on track.
As they turned the corner and were finally out of the first corridor, Lucario groaned when he saw that yet another corridor awaiting them. His first thought of escape had been to jump out of a window, but each passageway had brought nothing but solid walls on every side.
Suddenly, Lucario and Zoroark split off from each other by sidestepping as a small rock flew at them. It went past and struck Connor's face, who headbutted it in return and caused it to split into two. Lucario saw two larger rocks ahead of them with long arms, but did not have time to examine them more carefully as Zoroark leaped over them.
"Slowpokes!" he laughed and kept on running.
"Great stepping stones!" Lucario chimed in, using one of them as a foothold as he also ran past them. The two rocks with arms turned around to follow the two, not noticing the Conkeldurr coming up behind them, picking them up and smashing them together with brutal force.
"Here!" Zoroark told Lucario, suddenly running into the wall on his right. At first he thought the Pokèmon had gone mad, but Lucario saw that there was in fact a large hole in the wall, obscured by the darkness. They all ran into it, Zoroark carefully moving a thin metal cover out of the way as they ended up in a larger room.
The room was brightly lit and filled with technological equipment, working in complete contrast to the corridor that now connected them through an improvised passageway. Even so, the roof had remained at the same low altitude as in the passageways preceding it.
Directly in the middle of the room was yet another creature that looked like a large boulder, although this one had no arms and instead several hollow red appendages sticking out of it. It was completely immobile and lacked eyes, so Lucario didn't know whether it was awake or even alive.
There were several exits in the room, but apparently Zoroark knew what he was doing. He moved quickly past the strange Pokèmon without making a sound, signaling for the rest to follow him.
"Haha! Eat my dust!" Lucario exclaimed cheerfully to follow up his remarks to the other rock Pokèmon, accidentally alerting the Pokèmon to his presence. Instantly it launched out a cache of triangular spikes at Lucario, who saw no way to dodge the attack and covered his face instinctively. Strangely enough, the few spikes that hit him seemed to just bounce off him without doing any damage, but the hasty movement of his hands had caused the chains around them to slap him on the head.
"Tread carefully," Zoroark said with a bored tone, having stopped in his tracks to wait for his team. Lucario looked beneath him and saw that the triangular shape of the spikes had caused them to stand upright, creating a field of spikes on the floor.
"Not a problem..." Lucario mumbled, taking a slow step and safety placing his foot in an open space between three of the spikes.
That's when the boulder-like Pokèmon started attacking. Large spikes launched from the pipes protruding from it, heading for them. Lucario just barely managed to knock a spike away right before impact while Zoroark ducked to avoid his, but Connor was hit by one of them as it pierced his chest.
"Never mind, jump!" Zoroark commanded, "I'll make a landing!" He started kicking away the spikes surrounding the exit, Lucario quickly catching on and jumping towards him. While in midair he saw the sea of spikes he was heading toward and worried that he had jumped a bit too early, but Zoroark moved at inhuman speeds to clear away the spikes.
Lucario landed safely as the Conkeldurr landed just beside him, creating heavy shockwaves and making him stumble a bit. They exchanged a quick look before dashing through the door into safety.
"Whoa, are you OK!?" Lucario asked Connor with worry, to which he simply flexed his muscles and caused the spike to pop right of him.
"No pressure, but further failure on your part will disqualify you from many good things, including freedom..." Zoroark told Lucario with a disappointed and dark voice.
"Hey, I've been starved for weeks!" Lucario replied with an insulted tone, "Weren't you the one expecting to carry me out of here?"
"I couldn't care less about your current state," Zoroark muttered as they resumed their running, "The only thing interesting me is your potential."
Lucario had no time to inquire about this as they had entered yet another featureless corridor. Although this one seemed shorter than the previous ones, it had a confident Pokèmon blocking their way...
For a moment, Lucario thought that he was seeing a human, but as his eyes adjusted to the darkness of their new area he saw that it was more of a hulking beast. It had steel-colored muscles, massive enough to give the Conkeldurr a run for his money. The most prominent feature of the fearsome warrior was the fact that it had four large arms, all seemingly eager to crush and tear anyone stupid enough to challenge it.
"Now... You face me...!" the Machamp growled intimidatingly, cracking his many knuckles against each other.
Lucario and Zoroark split off in two directions, and in an instant the Machamp's head became crushed between Lucario's elbow and Zoroark's knee.
"Empathize the 'face' part!" Lucario exclaimed gleefully.
"Maybe next time..." Zoroark muttered as the two of them moved past the Machamp, who kneeled over from the powerful attack. The Conkeldurr followed shortly after, stepping on his fellow muscle head as he made a squeaking sound, making Lucario and Zoroark look at each other with boyish smiles.
Their smiles quickly faded as they reached the end of the corridor and came upon what appeared to be a lobby, with desks and lamps everywhere. There was only one exit from this room, which was on the other side. Unfortunately, the room was absolutely PACKED with various humans and Pokèmon, all staring at them with hostile intent.
"Roadblock!" Lucario shouted.
"There're too many of 'em to play around. Let me handle this alone..." Zoroark said confidently while taking a few calm steps forward, "You should probably stay back." Lucario was about to interject when he sensed an aura approaching from behind. Turning around, he saw the shamed Machamp from earlier come furiously running at them.
"Aw great, thick skull's back for more..." Lucario sighed before moving in the opposite direction of Zoroark, "Fine, but when I'm turning back around, you'd better not have been defeated!"
"Same to you..." Zoroark replied with a smile as they broke off, ready to engage their enemies.
"Foolish Lucario! You thought you had me defeated!?" the Machamp bellowed with all his fists clenched, "I'm a fighting-type with four arms! You're going down!" It stretched out its appendages, striking at both sides of Lucario's head with its two lower arms. Lucario blocked them with his elbows as a glint passed through the Machamp's eyes, getting ready to bash him down with the two remaining arms from above. However, his attack only passed through air as Lucario ducked while releasing his block, causing the four arms to all collide with each other.
"Four arms? I've beaten four ENEMIES at once!" Lucario said triumphantly before stepping down on his opponent's left foot, "That's EIGHT fucking arms, and EIGHT fucking legs. My only regret..." He then started pummeling away at the Machamp's exposed stomach, who tried to move back but was unable due to Lucario standing on his foot.
"... Is that you only have one head..." Lucario kept going between punches as the chains around his hands whipped around and the Machamp lowered all four of his arms to defend himself, "... For me to kick!" Lucario saw his opening and took a step back, returning with a powerful jumping kick directly to the Machamp's unprotected skull.
The room shook as Lucario spun around, seeing the roadblock unclog as Pokèmon flew away in every direction. An explosion of darkness was at the epicenter of it all, reminding Lucario of the attack the Tyranitar had used earlier.
"Path's clear," Zoroark said with a confident smile, not a single movement coming from the enemies on his side of the room.
"Same here..." Lucario mumbled while looking down at the unconscious Machamp, "You know, if you need to go back for something." He moved to rejoin Zoroark at the end of the room, and ran past the silent Conkeldurr on the way.
"Bad time to turn pacifistic," Lucario muttered at him.
"He was standing by in case you needed assistance,"
"... He's not that chatty, is he?" Lucario asked, thinking back to the bug he had shared a cell with not too long ago and involuntarily remembering the Dragonair at the same time. His train of thoughts was interrupted as a Pokèmon suddenly came running at them from behind. It was not the kind of thing that would have surprised him at this point, if not for its appearance.
"... Zerobi!?" Lucario exclaimed as he became frozen, instantly recognizing the black creature with the long claws. Even so, something seemed different. As she got nearer he noticed that she had sleeker look around her chest than usual, and looking down between the legs of the approaching Weavile he saw that something was indeed different.
"GAH! WHAT THE FUCK!?" Lucario exclaimed in utter horror as his heart almost stopped at the sight of the Pokèmon's apparent gender.
"Zerobi...?" Zoroark repeated slowly, not sure on whether to attack or not, "Lucario, you know this Weavile?"
"Weavile...?" Lucario responded weakly as he remembered the name of the species of his old friend, "No, uh, I was thinking about some other Weavile!"
"Hah! Think fast!" the Weavile shouted with a deep, dark voice as he lounged at Lucario, who ducked. Zoroark became pleased when he saw that Lucario now had the perfect opportunity to counter attack, but his jaw almost dropped as Lucario instead scrambled backwards.
"Look out!" Lucario shouted with terror, "Don't get any blood on him!"
"Oh, for crying out loud..." Zoroark muttered, "Connor. You're up."
Zoroark ran up to the Weavile who tried to jump to the side, but Zoroark was able to easily match his speed. He picked him up and threw him at the Conkeldurr who once again nonchalantly held out his fist and let the Weavile crash into it.
"Bad time to lose it, my friend..." Zoroark whispered calmly while grabbing a hold of Lucario's arm, pulling him to his feet.
"Uhh..." Lucario stuttered as his brain slowly unscrambled from the horrifying vision, "Sorry. Wasn't expecting that."
"We're almost out of here," Zoroark said with venom in his voice before moving toward the exit, "Come on, and try not to stumble on the way."
"You know, you go from excited to calm pretty quickly," Lucario pointed out in the hopes of getting a quick jab in, "... But you saved me, so I guess it's cool." Zoroark responded with nothing but silence, and was relieved that no one noticed the faint twitch in his face he was unable to hold back.
Another exit brought with it another room, this one far more interesting than what they had encountered so far. The ceiling was still as low as ever, but colorful tapestry and carpeting made everything appear a lot classier.
"Man, running AND kicking things is taking a toll on my legs..." Lucario complained as his feet felt nice against the soft floor, "I think I'll punch whatever comes next."
"Hold that thought..." Zoroark said as they saw two Pokèmon in the middle of the room, locked in combat. One of them was suspended in midair, looking like a giant bee with huge stingers at the end of each arm. The other one was very short and had a black cloak covering its body. The cloak was battered and torn in several places, something grey and oddly familiar lying underneath.
The large insect swooped down towards the being in the cloak, who narrowly avoided the giant spikes on its hand and somehow managed to trip on the matting. Suddenly, Zoroark leapt into action as he moved swiftly across the room and grabbed a hold of the peculiar bee's throat before throwing it into a nearby wall.
"Oh! Zoroark!" the cloaked Pokèmon exclaimed with a fairly feminine voice as it got up, "I-I tried to follow, b-but there w-was a W-Weavile-"
"Mission's complete," Zoroark said flatly before turning his head to the room's exit, "We're retreating."
"... Oh!" the creature exclaimed once more before nodding its head wildly, "Right!"
As quickly as they had stopped, they had started running again. Lucario was taken aback by the abruptness of it all, and eagerly eyed the new addition to their team while trying to catch a glimpse of what the hell was running beside him. From the way it moved, he could tell that it had four legs.
"... You're Lucario, right?" the new Pokèmon asked, his gazes not having gone unnoticed, "I'm Astrid! Let's be friends!"
"Uh..." Lucario muttered with surprise followed quickly by blandness, "Let's not."
"W-Why!?" it stammered in response, the eyes beyond the veil of the cloak looking as if they were about to start crying.
"... Are you serious? That's not how it works!" Lucario said loudly as an image of Zerobi flashed through his mind, "Friendship built on a request is nothing but an act!"
"Astrid, befriend him on your own time," Zoroark said in the same bored tone he had taken a liking to not long ago, before replacing it with a more excited one in a heartbeat, "We're finally here!"
Looking ahead, they saw a large staircase leading up into the ceiling, covered by the beautiful sight of daylight. Lucario wanted to jump for joy, his body's cries for vitamin D about to be settled, when suddenly a Pokèmon came tumbling down the stairs. It was a green a mish-mash of various flower appendages, having a bulb as a lower body and leaves instead of arms. On its head it was donning the petals of a red flower, looking like a mixture between a hat and a crown.
Even though Lucario was unable to make heads or tails out of this Pokèmon, a very old memory within him sparked at the sight of it. Time stopped as he thought back to simpler times when he was able to take a break and relax instead of getting chased down every minute. The Pokèmon in his mind danced around in the bright daylight, moving its body rhythmically and spreading beauty and joy in every direction.
The current Pokèmon was showing a more twisted display, bending itself in strange ways as it rolled down the staircase.
"LILLIGANT!" Zoroark screamed, completely dropping his calm demeanor and running up to the fallen grass-type as Lucario snapped out of his reminiscence, "What happened!?"
"Z-Zoroark!" the broken flower stammered frightfully, "RUN! Y-You must flee!"
"Calm down!" Zoroark said as he tried to follow his own advice, "What's going on?"
"T-That Alakazam...!" the Lilligant stuttered with eyes widened in fear, "I-It'll kill us all!"
What followed was complete silence. The atmosphere in the room turned heavy as not one of them dared to make a move.
Clack.
A footstep was heard from the top of the stairs. Lucario had no idea what was causing this darkening of their world, but the frozen form of Astrid at his side told him that he was not alone in this. It impacted him in the direct opposite of what being near Celebi would.
Clack. Clack.
He saw a familiar human go down the staircase. It was the same scientist that had taken away the Dragonair and tried to capture him using an odd machine. His hands were in the pocket of his robes, descending from above like an angel. However, the current atmosphere made him more akin to an angel of death.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Floating next to him was another creature that seemed familiar somehow. Lucario's first impression was that it was a very old being, with a rugged appearance and extremely long beard. It was a humanoid with yellow and brown skin, and even though it was larger than the scientist it had a more frail appearance. A reflection in the sunlight told Lucario that it was holding some kind of utensil in each hand, momentarily reminding him of the leek-wielder from earlier.
"Your escape ends here," the scientist said out loud, but Lucario could barely hear it over the violent beating of his heart. Sensing the aura of the aged monster in front of him, he felt a power beyond that of Suicune, Raikou and Rayquaza all put together...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"I trust there are no objections?" the dark one calling itself Zoroark asked with a cocky tone. It was a wolf-like humanoid who reminded Lucario a lot of himself. It had a sleek snout accompanied by beady, sharp eyes in emerald color. In contrast to Lucario's blue hairy fur it had a finer black coat, with a gigantic wild bush of red hair sticking out of its head, darkening into black by the edges. The hairdo was almost as big as the rest of its thin body, and definitively thicker. It had claws in the shape of several red spikes, not as long or intimidating as Zerobi's but seemingly more flexible and probably more dangerous.
"Poor predictable humans, always using steel..." Zoroark sighed while shaking his head and pointing to the chain holding Lucario in place, "Connor, take care of it." In response to this, the brutish one started moving with slow, heavy steps. It also had a humanoid form, but was much larger with bulging muscles and visible veins covering its body. It also had short grey beard, making it look like a peculiar mixture between a grouchy old man and a bodybuilder currently dabbling with steroids.
"If you can't walk, Connor here will carry you," Zoroark said while waving his hand towards his big partner, "... Although, I believe it would be a boon to the both of you if you could." Lucario's eyes were fastened upon Connor's hulking form as he reached out his long arms and clenched them around the chain keeping his left arm suspended. The veins over Connor's arms started pumping wildly as he grunted, the steel crumbling in his hands with a low cracking noise.
"Oh shit!" Lucario shouted, shocked by this display of power.
"Oh hey," Zoroark exclaimed with an amused tone, "He talks!"
"Of course, I..." Lucario replied before more pressing questions leapt to his mind, "... How'd you get here? Why are you helping me?"
"Tell me, have you heard anything about the revolution?" Zoroark asked with a subtle smile forming on his face.
"Probably not..." Lucario sighed, very rarely getting the chance of sounding like he was up to date on current events.
"... Well, I'll fill you in on it later..." Zoroark muttered disappointedly, "For now, let's just get out of here."
A piece of the second linked chain disappeared into Connor's hungry palms as Lucario fell to the ground, using his arms to support himself. He had expected both his arms and legs to be weaker, but he was able to stand up just fine with no unexpected effects besides a relieving feeling in his arms. His wrists were still aching though, and looking down he saw that about half a foot of chains were still dangling under his arms like a broken pair of handcuffs.
"We'll need precision work to take care of that," Zoroark said while looking at the chains, "Trust me, you do NOT want this guy operating on you."
"Wow, thanks! I owe you a handshake!" Lucario said as he saw remnants of the crumbled chains still on Connor's hand, "Let me just grab a diamond glove from somewhere..."
"You'll have to do better than that," Zoroark said with a shrug, "Nothing ever leaves Connor's grip intact, no excepti-"
"GET THEM!" a voice suddenly echoed from the open door, making the three of them cease their conversation and turn towards it.
Sharing the room with them now was two new Pokèmon, both fairly small. One of them stood on four legs and had a red color to its skin, with several wine red tails perking up behind it. The other was a plant using its own thin roots as legs, supporting a big head shaped like a bell.
Standing directly outside the room was a human, shrouded by a veil of darkness.
"Stop!" the red fox screamed, "We'll fight you!"
"Why!?" Zoroark shouted back while pointing dramatically at it, "We have no intention of harming anyone, we only wish to free our brethren!" The fox flinched visibly and lacked anything resembling a comeback.
"Vulpix, use Flamethrower!" the trainer yelled and growled threateningly at them.
"Remember your heritage! Pokèmon should not fight at the behest of humans!" Zoroark continued before taking a determined step forward, "We have simply chosen the wilderness! If you will not stand beside us, at the very least stand aside!"
"Vulpix, you useless sack of shit! ATTACK!" the trainer bellowed, making the Vulpix look between him and Zoroark in confusion.
"Have it your way!" the trainer kept going before looking at the thin plant, "Bellsprout! Razor Leaf, NOW!" The Bellsprout and Vulpix both exchanged a panicked look for a moment, silently asking each other what to do.
"And you... I can see it in your eyes... What you crave most of all..." Zoroark told the grass-type as a charming smile appeared on his face, "Freedom."
"I-I..." the Bellsprout stammered with a soft voice and worried look on its face as it began fidgeting around, "How can I take the risk...?"
"Take the risk?" Zoroark sighed before shaking his head, "Sweetie... It's the chance of a lifetime!"
"Not you too!" the trainer shouted as he suddenly pulled out two Pokeballs that he recalled both the Vulpix and Bellsprout into, "Fucking idiots!"
The instant the red beam struck the two Pokèmon, Zoroark made his move. Launching across the room like a ray of darkness, he extracted a small vial containing a yellow powder from the bushy red fur on his head. The trainer barely reacted as Zoroark coated his own claws with the powder and used them to lightly pierce the skin of the human's neck, just barely drawing blood.
The trainer took a surprised step backwards with a shocked expression, before suddenly falling down.
"Stun Spore," Zoroark said confidently before putting the vial back where he had extracted it from and looking at Lucario, whose expression was comparable to that of the stunned trainer, "Don't worry, he's just temporarily paralyzed."
"H-Holy shit..." Lucario stuttered astonished. Between Zoroark's ability to convince both enemies to stand down and his amazing speed, he was unsure as to what had surprised him the most. He stood frozen as he saw Zoroark bend over and pick up the Pokeballs from the stunned trainer.
"Two more," Zoroark said calmly, throwing the two Pokeballs to Connor who caught one in each hand. A shudder ran through Lucario as he imagined Connor crushing the balls with blood seeping out of them, but instead he put them into the backpack.
"Let's go, time's wasting..." Zoroark muttered before signaling for Lucario to follow him.
"Wait... How did you do that?" Lucario asked, still flabbergasted.
"I've got my way with Pokèmon," Zoroark answered, not realizing that Lucario was more curious as to how he had kept a vial in his hair, "They were all captured at some point. More often than not, you'll find most of 'em still prefer the wilderness!"
They ran out of the room, Lucario getting a prickly feeling from finally getting to use his legs again. Outside the door he had seen so many come and go through was nothing but a long, dreary corridor with black walls and a ceiling not very far above their heads. The only thing remarkable about this area was that three more Pokèmon and trainers were standing in the middle of it.
"... Then again, the exception's fairly common, as well..." Zoroark muttered as all the trainers started shouting commands to their respective Pokèmon.
"Pretty tight spot," Lucario mumbled with disdain. He sensed no intimidating aura from the Pokèmon, but knew that the trainers probably possess more of them.
"Leave them to me," Zoroark said confidently with a sinister smile as he flexed his arms, "Unless, of course, you want to join in?"
"You sure?" Lucario asked, cracking his knuckles, "They might be harder to convert when they're unconscious."
"Be my guest," Zoroark answered before shrugging, "I want to see what you can do."
The two of them became quiet as the first Pokèmon, a large bird holding on to a leek with one of its wings flew at Lucario, quickly slapping him in the face with it. He responded by punching the avian straight on the beak.
"A-A fucking leek!?" he shouted in surprise as the bird hunched over and covered its damaged beak, "Are you kidding me!? Finding a stick too much of a hassle, or what!?" A tiny ball of fire suddenly flew past him, lighting up the corridor as a red lizard quickly followed it and smashed into Connor's outstretched fist.
"You up for this?" Zoroark asked, throwing a quick glance to Lucario before dashing towards the third Pokèmon.
"... Sure!" Lucario responded as he saw a small round object come flying at him. The vision of an aggressive Mienfoo passed through his mind as he jumped straight up and hit the ceiling. Using his arms to push away from it, he went flying down like a rocket aided by gravity and delivered a mighty stomp to the Pokèmon that had been sent his way, immediately knocking it out. Stepping off the unconscious creature, he saw that it was something like a pink ball with ears and the marks of two large paws imprinted on its back.
"Not bad! Not bad at all!" Zoroark laughed after watching the whole spectacle as the large weight of Connor's fist came down upon the bird Pokèmon like a hammer and knocked it out, "I'm starting to like you already!"
"Uh..." Lucario mumbled while looking at the trainers, all of which had now shared the fate of the previous one, "Did you really have to paralyze them?"
"No... I could kill them, if you'd prefer that," Zoroark huffed before hunching over and beginning to pluck Pokeballs from the defeated trainers, "Help me out, we can't have this take too long."
Lucario helped him extract Pokeballs from the immobile humans, enjoying the irony of the reverse capturing they were committing. The moment he held one of the Pokeballs in a firm grip, a pleasant sensation spread through him. A sense of adventure and accomplishment, and for a short moment he mused over the idea of saving a few Pokeballs for later, building his own personal army to keep in his pocket.
"... Heh, nah..." he snickered to himself before throwing the Pokeball to Connor. After they were finished looting Pokeballs, they started running down the long corridor again. A quick look at Zoroark told Lucario that he was glad, for some reason.
"We can't save 'em all, or we'll lose 'em all," Zoroark said while trying his best to sound serious, "The majority of their forces are away, looking for Mew. They'll be back soon, so the faster we get out of here, the better!"
"Looking for Mew?" Lucario repeated before getting hit by a memory flash, "Heh... Maybe I should join up with them?"
"Dream on!" Zoroark chuckled, "It's just a trick of mine! Like the actual Mew would really show itself!"
"Wait, so you used tricks before breaking in here with brute force..." Lucario said with a questioning voice, "Wouldn't it have been easier to use stealth to break out?"
"Not while carrying you on back. I thought you'd be out cold..." Zoroark explained while looking over Lucario, "... But you're completely fine! Hell, did you even need a rescue!?"
"Heh, like you wouldn't believe..." Lucario replied with a smile.
The strenuous movement from the earlier battle had made itself known in his arms and legs, but Lucario still felt ready for more. His energy had spiked due to the introduction of food in his system after such a long period of starvation. For half an instant he felt grateful to Brendan, deciding to minimize his gloating after his eventual victory over the insane trainer.
"Hey, listen..." Lucario said as the small penguin's fate returned to him once more, "Thanks for rescuing me, but there's a REAL troublesome guy after m-"
It was then he noticed that a very loud rumbling noise was coming from behind. Turning around in shock, he saw that it was in fact Connor, using his arms to throw himself forward to keep the same speed as the two wolves. His hands crushed the ground beneath him, making the corridor they just passed through look like a cluster bomb had been ignited.
"Hey, what kind of Pokèmon is he?" Lucario asked as they turned around a corner.
"A Conkeldurr," Zoroark replied, able to cut the corner with more mobility than Lucario and slowed down a bit on purpose.
"Durr!?" Lucario repeated before getting a snide tone to his voice, "... Name fits."
"So does your head in his palms," Zoroark said with a sinister smile, "Personally, I'd keep the mocking to a minimum." Connor smashed harshly into the wall of the corner, using his own velocity to bounce back on track.
As they turned the corner and were finally out of the first corridor, Lucario groaned when he saw that yet another corridor awaiting them. His first thought of escape had been to jump out of a window, but each passageway had brought nothing but solid walls on every side.
Suddenly, Lucario and Zoroark split off from each other by sidestepping as a small rock flew at them. It went past and struck Connor's face, who headbutted it in return and caused it to split into two. Lucario saw two larger rocks ahead of them with long arms, but did not have time to examine them more carefully as Zoroark leaped over them.
"Slowpokes!" he laughed and kept on running.
"Great stepping stones!" Lucario chimed in, using one of them as a foothold as he also ran past them. The two rocks with arms turned around to follow the two, not noticing the Conkeldurr coming up behind them, picking them up and smashing them together with brutal force.
"Here!" Zoroark told Lucario, suddenly running into the wall on his right. At first he thought the Pokèmon had gone mad, but Lucario saw that there was in fact a large hole in the wall, obscured by the darkness. They all ran into it, Zoroark carefully moving a thin metal cover out of the way as they ended up in a larger room.
The room was brightly lit and filled with technological equipment, working in complete contrast to the corridor that now connected them through an improvised passageway. Even so, the roof had remained at the same low altitude as in the passageways preceding it.
Directly in the middle of the room was yet another creature that looked like a large boulder, although this one had no arms and instead several hollow red appendages sticking out of it. It was completely immobile and lacked eyes, so Lucario didn't know whether it was awake or even alive.
There were several exits in the room, but apparently Zoroark knew what he was doing. He moved quickly past the strange Pokèmon without making a sound, signaling for the rest to follow him.
"Haha! Eat my dust!" Lucario exclaimed cheerfully to follow up his remarks to the other rock Pokèmon, accidentally alerting the Pokèmon to his presence. Instantly it launched out a cache of triangular spikes at Lucario, who saw no way to dodge the attack and covered his face instinctively. Strangely enough, the few spikes that hit him seemed to just bounce off him without doing any damage, but the hasty movement of his hands had caused the chains around them to slap him on the head.
"Tread carefully," Zoroark said with a bored tone, having stopped in his tracks to wait for his team. Lucario looked beneath him and saw that the triangular shape of the spikes had caused them to stand upright, creating a field of spikes on the floor.
"Not a problem..." Lucario mumbled, taking a slow step and safety placing his foot in an open space between three of the spikes.
That's when the boulder-like Pokèmon started attacking. Large spikes launched from the pipes protruding from it, heading for them. Lucario just barely managed to knock a spike away right before impact while Zoroark ducked to avoid his, but Connor was hit by one of them as it pierced his chest.
"Never mind, jump!" Zoroark commanded, "I'll make a landing!" He started kicking away the spikes surrounding the exit, Lucario quickly catching on and jumping towards him. While in midair he saw the sea of spikes he was heading toward and worried that he had jumped a bit too early, but Zoroark moved at inhuman speeds to clear away the spikes.
Lucario landed safely as the Conkeldurr landed just beside him, creating heavy shockwaves and making him stumble a bit. They exchanged a quick look before dashing through the door into safety.
"Whoa, are you OK!?" Lucario asked Connor with worry, to which he simply flexed his muscles and caused the spike to pop right of him.
"No pressure, but further failure on your part will disqualify you from many good things, including freedom..." Zoroark told Lucario with a disappointed and dark voice.
"Hey, I've been starved for weeks!" Lucario replied with an insulted tone, "Weren't you the one expecting to carry me out of here?"
"I couldn't care less about your current state," Zoroark muttered as they resumed their running, "The only thing interesting me is your potential."
Lucario had no time to inquire about this as they had entered yet another featureless corridor. Although this one seemed shorter than the previous ones, it had a confident Pokèmon blocking their way...
For a moment, Lucario thought that he was seeing a human, but as his eyes adjusted to the darkness of their new area he saw that it was more of a hulking beast. It had steel-colored muscles, massive enough to give the Conkeldurr a run for his money. The most prominent feature of the fearsome warrior was the fact that it had four large arms, all seemingly eager to crush and tear anyone stupid enough to challenge it.
"Now... You face me...!" the Machamp growled intimidatingly, cracking his many knuckles against each other.
Lucario and Zoroark split off in two directions, and in an instant the Machamp's head became crushed between Lucario's elbow and Zoroark's knee.
"Empathize the 'face' part!" Lucario exclaimed gleefully.
"Maybe next time..." Zoroark muttered as the two of them moved past the Machamp, who kneeled over from the powerful attack. The Conkeldurr followed shortly after, stepping on his fellow muscle head as he made a squeaking sound, making Lucario and Zoroark look at each other with boyish smiles.
Their smiles quickly faded as they reached the end of the corridor and came upon what appeared to be a lobby, with desks and lamps everywhere. There was only one exit from this room, which was on the other side. Unfortunately, the room was absolutely PACKED with various humans and Pokèmon, all staring at them with hostile intent.
"Roadblock!" Lucario shouted.
"There're too many of 'em to play around. Let me handle this alone..." Zoroark said confidently while taking a few calm steps forward, "You should probably stay back." Lucario was about to interject when he sensed an aura approaching from behind. Turning around, he saw the shamed Machamp from earlier come furiously running at them.
"Aw great, thick skull's back for more..." Lucario sighed before moving in the opposite direction of Zoroark, "Fine, but when I'm turning back around, you'd better not have been defeated!"
"Same to you..." Zoroark replied with a smile as they broke off, ready to engage their enemies.
"Foolish Lucario! You thought you had me defeated!?" the Machamp bellowed with all his fists clenched, "I'm a fighting-type with four arms! You're going down!" It stretched out its appendages, striking at both sides of Lucario's head with its two lower arms. Lucario blocked them with his elbows as a glint passed through the Machamp's eyes, getting ready to bash him down with the two remaining arms from above. However, his attack only passed through air as Lucario ducked while releasing his block, causing the four arms to all collide with each other.
"Four arms? I've beaten four ENEMIES at once!" Lucario said triumphantly before stepping down on his opponent's left foot, "That's EIGHT fucking arms, and EIGHT fucking legs. My only regret..." He then started pummeling away at the Machamp's exposed stomach, who tried to move back but was unable due to Lucario standing on his foot.
"... Is that you only have one head..." Lucario kept going between punches as the chains around his hands whipped around and the Machamp lowered all four of his arms to defend himself, "... For me to kick!" Lucario saw his opening and took a step back, returning with a powerful jumping kick directly to the Machamp's unprotected skull.
The room shook as Lucario spun around, seeing the roadblock unclog as Pokèmon flew away in every direction. An explosion of darkness was at the epicenter of it all, reminding Lucario of the attack the Tyranitar had used earlier.
"Path's clear," Zoroark said with a confident smile, not a single movement coming from the enemies on his side of the room.
"Same here..." Lucario mumbled while looking down at the unconscious Machamp, "You know, if you need to go back for something." He moved to rejoin Zoroark at the end of the room, and ran past the silent Conkeldurr on the way.
"Bad time to turn pacifistic," Lucario muttered at him.
"He was standing by in case you needed assistance,"
"... He's not that chatty, is he?" Lucario asked, thinking back to the bug he had shared a cell with not too long ago and involuntarily remembering the Dragonair at the same time. His train of thoughts was interrupted as a Pokèmon suddenly came running at them from behind. It was not the kind of thing that would have surprised him at this point, if not for its appearance.
"... Zerobi!?" Lucario exclaimed as he became frozen, instantly recognizing the black creature with the long claws. Even so, something seemed different. As she got nearer he noticed that she had sleeker look around her chest than usual, and looking down between the legs of the approaching Weavile he saw that something was indeed different.
"GAH! WHAT THE FUCK!?" Lucario exclaimed in utter horror as his heart almost stopped at the sight of the Pokèmon's apparent gender.
"Zerobi...?" Zoroark repeated slowly, not sure on whether to attack or not, "Lucario, you know this Weavile?"
"Weavile...?" Lucario responded weakly as he remembered the name of the species of his old friend, "No, uh, I was thinking about some other Weavile!"
"Hah! Think fast!" the Weavile shouted with a deep, dark voice as he lounged at Lucario, who ducked. Zoroark became pleased when he saw that Lucario now had the perfect opportunity to counter attack, but his jaw almost dropped as Lucario instead scrambled backwards.
"Look out!" Lucario shouted with terror, "Don't get any blood on him!"
"Oh, for crying out loud..." Zoroark muttered, "Connor. You're up."
Zoroark ran up to the Weavile who tried to jump to the side, but Zoroark was able to easily match his speed. He picked him up and threw him at the Conkeldurr who once again nonchalantly held out his fist and let the Weavile crash into it.
"Bad time to lose it, my friend..." Zoroark whispered calmly while grabbing a hold of Lucario's arm, pulling him to his feet.
"Uhh..." Lucario stuttered as his brain slowly unscrambled from the horrifying vision, "Sorry. Wasn't expecting that."
"We're almost out of here," Zoroark said with venom in his voice before moving toward the exit, "Come on, and try not to stumble on the way."
"You know, you go from excited to calm pretty quickly," Lucario pointed out in the hopes of getting a quick jab in, "... But you saved me, so I guess it's cool." Zoroark responded with nothing but silence, and was relieved that no one noticed the faint twitch in his face he was unable to hold back.
Another exit brought with it another room, this one far more interesting than what they had encountered so far. The ceiling was still as low as ever, but colorful tapestry and carpeting made everything appear a lot classier.
"Man, running AND kicking things is taking a toll on my legs..." Lucario complained as his feet felt nice against the soft floor, "I think I'll punch whatever comes next."
"Hold that thought..." Zoroark said as they saw two Pokèmon in the middle of the room, locked in combat. One of them was suspended in midair, looking like a giant bee with huge stingers at the end of each arm. The other one was very short and had a black cloak covering its body. The cloak was battered and torn in several places, something grey and oddly familiar lying underneath.
The large insect swooped down towards the being in the cloak, who narrowly avoided the giant spikes on its hand and somehow managed to trip on the matting. Suddenly, Zoroark leapt into action as he moved swiftly across the room and grabbed a hold of the peculiar bee's throat before throwing it into a nearby wall.
"Oh! Zoroark!" the cloaked Pokèmon exclaimed with a fairly feminine voice as it got up, "I-I tried to follow, b-but there w-was a W-Weavile-"
"Mission's complete," Zoroark said flatly before turning his head to the room's exit, "We're retreating."
"... Oh!" the creature exclaimed once more before nodding its head wildly, "Right!"
As quickly as they had stopped, they had started running again. Lucario was taken aback by the abruptness of it all, and eagerly eyed the new addition to their team while trying to catch a glimpse of what the hell was running beside him. From the way it moved, he could tell that it had four legs.
"... You're Lucario, right?" the new Pokèmon asked, his gazes not having gone unnoticed, "I'm Astrid! Let's be friends!"
"Uh..." Lucario muttered with surprise followed quickly by blandness, "Let's not."
"W-Why!?" it stammered in response, the eyes beyond the veil of the cloak looking as if they were about to start crying.
"... Are you serious? That's not how it works!" Lucario said loudly as an image of Zerobi flashed through his mind, "Friendship built on a request is nothing but an act!"
"Astrid, befriend him on your own time," Zoroark said in the same bored tone he had taken a liking to not long ago, before replacing it with a more excited one in a heartbeat, "We're finally here!"
Looking ahead, they saw a large staircase leading up into the ceiling, covered by the beautiful sight of daylight. Lucario wanted to jump for joy, his body's cries for vitamin D about to be settled, when suddenly a Pokèmon came tumbling down the stairs. It was a green a mish-mash of various flower appendages, having a bulb as a lower body and leaves instead of arms. On its head it was donning the petals of a red flower, looking like a mixture between a hat and a crown.
Even though Lucario was unable to make heads or tails out of this Pokèmon, a very old memory within him sparked at the sight of it. Time stopped as he thought back to simpler times when he was able to take a break and relax instead of getting chased down every minute. The Pokèmon in his mind danced around in the bright daylight, moving its body rhythmically and spreading beauty and joy in every direction.
The current Pokèmon was showing a more twisted display, bending itself in strange ways as it rolled down the staircase.
"LILLIGANT!" Zoroark screamed, completely dropping his calm demeanor and running up to the fallen grass-type as Lucario snapped out of his reminiscence, "What happened!?"
"Z-Zoroark!" the broken flower stammered frightfully, "RUN! Y-You must flee!"
"Calm down!" Zoroark said as he tried to follow his own advice, "What's going on?"
"T-That Alakazam...!" the Lilligant stuttered with eyes widened in fear, "I-It'll kill us all!"
What followed was complete silence. The atmosphere in the room turned heavy as not one of them dared to make a move.
Clack.
A footstep was heard from the top of the stairs. Lucario had no idea what was causing this darkening of their world, but the frozen form of Astrid at his side told him that he was not alone in this. It impacted him in the direct opposite of what being near Celebi would.
Clack. Clack.
He saw a familiar human go down the staircase. It was the same scientist that had taken away the Dragonair and tried to capture him using an odd machine. His hands were in the pocket of his robes, descending from above like an angel. However, the current atmosphere made him more akin to an angel of death.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Floating next to him was another creature that seemed familiar somehow. Lucario's first impression was that it was a very old being, with a rugged appearance and extremely long beard. It was a humanoid with yellow and brown skin, and even though it was larger than the scientist it had a more frail appearance. A reflection in the sunlight told Lucario that it was holding some kind of utensil in each hand, momentarily reminding him of the leek-wielder from earlier.
"Your escape ends here," the scientist said out loud, but Lucario could barely hear it over the violent beating of his heart. Sensing the aura of the aged monster in front of him, he felt a power beyond that of Suicune, Raikou and Rayquaza all put together...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Chapter End Notes:
"Several years passed until we finally found each other, and after hardly spending a month together..."
"So what!? I never asked for a sister! I've lived all my life without one, and I'll continue with that!"
"But... But... Our very existence is nothing short of a miracle! Fate demands that we should be together!"
"Fate kept us apart, and for better reasons than you know...!"
"... Zerobi! You cannot leave like this! I have... All my life I have dreamed of having a sister!"
"Then tell me! Tell me please why I should spend MY life fulfilling someone else's dream!?"
"...!"
"..."
"... Sis..."
"... I must go."
"..."
"Goodbye... Celebi."