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Top Of The Tower

Their weapon isn't working. You have less than ten minutes to help us stop them!

Écarlate and Helena heard Manny's message loud and clear. They needed to take the enemy down and then head for the airship. So it was no surprise, as Helena and Écarlate made it up the stairs that the first thing Écarlate did was Bullet Punch straight at Nowell. With the priority speed and power of the blow it was likely to shatter the man's ribs and smash him into the vault doors while holding back enough power to avoid collapsing his lungs - assuming it hit.

Sorry, no time for pleasantries.

Helena wasted no time herself. Three pokeballs strated out in their micro states, growing as she flung them at the priates. The three Pokemon emerged in a large collective flash.

Feather, Metric, and her Pancham appeared, each of them attacking the remaining pirates. Feather with a vine whip toward the head of one pirate, and Metric and Pancham with a headbutt to the chest of one and an arm thrust into the stomach of another. If all of the blows went through it would give Helena an immediate edge on her opponents.

Francis's Downtime

The mental connection was faint, but there, and as Francis made his way towards the tower, he would fly towards his friends. Agility would be used along the way to make the trip easier, any time it was possible until he would either arrive, or be max speed.

******
The Pirate and the "Hero"
Manny immediately replaced Reflect once defog removed it, the priority-used move giving room for him to do so. Given his focus on the reflect, and on his allies, he didn't see the Entrainment and so wouldn't be compelled to dance at all. Though Ben's mind immediately told him he wouldn't be able to just sit on the side lines, since others were targeting him.

"I don't think you know how luck works." Ben replied, sarcasm punctuated by a grin.

The trap card went out, and Ben recognized the thing from earlier, when the guy had dropped it.

"Luck swings as it wills, doesn't matter where it seems to be sitting at first, it's fickle like that."

With her evasion shut down a little bit, Essence would have a harder time dodging the flame. Instead, she took a page from the sniper's book, and a leaf with the power of cut would fly out, path skimming near the trap card and striking it just enough to activate it. If her power hadn't been boosted, of course, that would be the end of it and she'd be making her way through the space the fire pillar had been just as it cleared.

She would still do that, of course, but the cut, with its enhanced strength from the earlier psych-up, would spin through the flames towards the proper target, the collar around the Lopunny's neck. Given the glowy stone and all, it seemed important.

If the tactic worked, Psychic would strike from behind, aming to blast the collar away from them and towards Ben.

Manny, during this time, would have been repositioning, legs carrying him as the Foul Play came to attack, the dark move intent on clashing with him. The jumping knee strike would miss as he threw himself down, into a roll, and would come up with the psychic, given the position he'd been in before, he was in a good place now to strike from behind.

Once that was done, he would turn his attention back to the flying type that had decided to pick a fight with him.

Well, flying dark.

He didn't really have a strategy for that, actually. If the Foul Play continued to be a problem, with the flying type focusing it, he would engage it with a Force Palm, aiming to parry its next strike before another would strike to dissipate it.

If it was not a problem, he would use his Hidden Power to attack the dark type.

Meanwhile on Essence's side, if the plan worked, she would play gatekeeper to the collar, solar beam charging as she waited. Otherwise, she would charge forward with a poison sting, ready to bring the fight to the mega evolution however she could.
*******
Secret Agent Mouse and his partner, The Shadow

Caboose hid in the moment that the pirate looked out the window, just in time to avoid being spotted. When his new friend opened the window for him, he realized why it was a bad idea along with them. Thunder wave would strike the window frame as he made his way past it, strike charging the frame to magnetically help him propell himself inside with his Magnet Rise, and he would pull free of the air enough to land safely as the Cloyster arrived. Thunder Bolt would go out, striking three of the icicles from the sky with its path, but angled just enough not to be dissipated completely by the next two. Given his position, he would take the two icicles coming himself, and if the thunderbolt hit, he would activate Magnet rise with that electrical energy.

In short, Cloyster would become magnetically charged if all went well, and that charge would be used to lift them with Magnet Rise, since Caboose would have control of the Magnet Rise in question, he would have a bit of leverage. And then he would use the window's charge, and the Cloyster's charge together to throw the pokemon at the window frame and use the pokemon to stop the airflow from dragging Hazard and the unconscious pirate outside. This would be maintained as long as both of them held a significant enough magnetic charge, which admittedly wouldn't be long.

If all this went well, he would start on his way out of that room with a quick attack, hoping for Hazard to follow behind. All he had to do was search for... A cannon. [Now we just have to find the weapon we don't know anything about.] He would say, mostly to himself but also to Hazard if the pokemon was nearby.


If things did not go to plan, he would probably do something else.

Tower Vault

"Roar," Helena said as she released her last Pokemon. Four Pokemon, four humans, but her biggest concern would be with restraining Tyrant. She merely wanted to subdue them, but if he got loose? They'd all end up dead.

Tyrant's roar came as he materialized, only moments after the next round of conflict would play out.

Conflict that went something like this;

Écarlate could handle a matter of trading blows with a Muk. Utilizing a second Bullet Punch, he would aim to smash the Muk a second time, taking the Shadow Punch without concern for himself. A little damage didn't matter, not with the difference in power their blows had. Muk grabbing even both of Écarlate's claws didn't scare the Pokemon any.

Pancham would move as Stunky did, in a small arc that would take him out of the line of fire of the Toxic, and he'd arc around toward the Stunky to release another set of Arm Thrusts at the Pokemon's flank.

Metric would be caught by the hypnosis, unable to dodge it at close range.

Feather would push down onto her side of the whip as she was pulled toward the Mightyena, pushing her upwards and over the Poison Fang and giving her the perfect shot to slam her trainer into the wall with a Fairy Wind, assuming the move hit.

If the Pokemon were returned by Roar, Helena's own Pokemon - save Tyrant - wouldn't give them(well, three out of four of them) the chance to send their Pokemon back out. If they merely cowered it would give her an opportunity to take them out anyways. Trainers first, even trained Pokemon without a trainer would be significantly weaker.

Shalour City Pokemon Center

The three girls would be ushered out of the Pokemon center by the police.

"What if she needs help?" Bridgette asked and Azucena frowned.

"She'll be fine," the teen said, unsure herself if the Redgrave girl could come out of the fight alive.

Foot Of The Tower

Loki was faster. It occurred to him then that he hadn't just grown powerful with evolution, he had also grown faster. Jumping away from the constriction, he'd turn to fire a psybeam into the Nightshade.

As the beam ripped through the image of Helena, covered in bruises and gashes, pieces of debris sticking out of her; glass, wood, metal piping. The attack would be destroyed, but it would echo Zack's words into his head.

He shouldn't be here. Zack Redgrave was a man always in over his head, but he was used to it. Loki's mental processing speed let him see all of this at once, opting to teleport as he looked toward the location.

Then it was just two flights of stairs between him and his trainer.

The Tower - Two Floors Below The Vault

Loki would note Tentacruel's presence upon appearing within the Tower. Pulling his foot free of the constrict, as it wasn't a move that held as long as wrap did, he'd stand prepared for the enemy's next attack.

Poison Jab came next and Loki would dodge it as the space around him distorted with the bending of one of his spoons. If Tentacruel didn't find a way to avoid it, their accuracy would diminish and Loki would use his new position, safely to the side of the Poison Jab, to release a Psybeam aimed to launch the Tentacruel out of the nearby window.

The Tower - Vault Doors

En Prise, creating bait for someone who can't see several moves ahead will let them walk themselves into defeat. This leads to....

Pancham would find himself afflicted by the toxic, but also landing his own blows. It wore on him immediately and the little Pokemon grit his teeth as he realized he would need to end the battle soon.

The black smoke of the Smokescreen would flood from the Stunky and Pancham would leap backwards to avoid getting lost in the cloud of it. He couldn't hit Stunky inside of it, not without risking himself, but he could respond to the enemy's attacks from the outside.

Metric had no chance to evading Poliwhirl's Wake-Up Slap. The move would finish putting him into an unconscious state, taking him out of the fight.

The roar came next, and the enemy would respond to Tyrant's presence. Helena stood, unphased by this turn of events. Her Pokemon and the teen were only alive because they had learned to work together. To adapt to each other. The more complicated and dangerous a mess got, the more brutal they could become. Helena was relying on these instincts.

"The name's Ellie Jones," she said at once, thinking a moment later that it sounded like a cool detective's name. There was no way she was giving a bunch of pirates her real name.

Poison Pawn...

Her Pokemon, meanwhile, did not give the pirates a moment to respond to protect themselves from their risky moves.

Écarlate immediately stepped within Nowell's space with a Bullet Punch, putting him too close to the human to be at risk of the Air Cutter hitting him. If the move landed it would slam Nowell into the wall and take the trainer out of the match.

Feather would go after Poliwhirl's trainer while calling for Pancham to go after Stunky's. She would target him with a Fairy Wind from the side, aiming to slam him into another of the four walls of the room.

Pancham, meanwhile, would leap at the remaining trainer, aimed to take him out with a series of Comet Punches to the stomach.

That left the enemy Pokemon and their moves targeting Tyrant. He would leap into the attacks with a Bide, rising above the enemies as their attacks crashed into him, and he'd come down upon the already injured Stunky with the stored up energy of the Bubblebeam and Air Cutter.

And, being so close to Poliwhirl upon landing, if the water type didn't make immediate distance he'd be the victim of a Dragon Tail into the stairwell.

...and check.

The Procession

"Oh." Matheson squinted up and down the procession, looking for Elizabeth. At this point, she was in Antoinette's playhouse limousine. He didn't find her.

We both know you're not a fighter. Matheson knew the words rang true. He used to be, and he could get by, but those days were long behind him. He was still the man who didn't strike at Ratio when he had the chance. Had it been selfish to lose that chance over principle? Math was still unsure about that. But he was sure about this.

"I disagree." He immediately regretted that choice of words and blushed, bowing to Elliot. "I'm sorry! But I disagree! If there's something I can do, I won't sit by and watch. The best way I can honor Gabriel is by trying to save Shalour City. It's my duty as a member of this Court...and...there are people I like there, too." He was blushing harder now. "I have to make sure they're okay."

"I will bring him home safe, Elliot." Juliet came up behind Matheson and put a hand on his shoulder. "You have my word. There won't be another funeral for a Leroux."
Math lit up. Positive reinforcement worked wonders on him. Juliet felt warmer seeing his smile. "Yes. And also no funerals for Nostrads. No funerals in general, if we can help it-"
"Shush." Juliet patted his back like a pet. "You're ruining it."

Fishbone Bridge

“If she’s trapped in the mess hall, who the hell’s the other intruder on my ship?” Erin proposed to the two other pirates in the bridge. She grumbled as she slowly got up, her only arm bracing her very pregnant belly. It was a strain she would never be fully used to. Wouldn't be much longer until it was gone, either.
“Whoa whoa, sit down, Erin!” Pirate A told her as Pirate B helped her back into the chair.
“You can’t be takin’ the fight to them! Think of Erin Junior!” Pirate B added.
“The name’s not catchin’ on,” Erin groaned, sitting down. In her heyday she would’ve been the first one on the battlefield, leading the fight with her soulmate. Even when that attitude cost her a limb, she hadn’t regretted it. But now she was living for two. Expecting was a wondrous feeling, but sometimes it was a chain.

“Then you two. Go inspect the lower deck.”
The pirates looked at each other, hesitant. “Captain told us to stay with you no matter what, boss.”
“If my punk husband gives you lip later blame it on me,” Erin assured them, trying to wave them off. “Go. I’ve got the bridge covered.”

The pirates were still reluctant to leave, but they relented to the command. “Holler if you need us.”

They left Erin and her Pokémon alone in the bridge. Erin wheeled her chair over to a shelf, where she took out a dusty wooden box. Blowing off the dust, she removed the contents: a skeletal prosthetic arm, fitted just for her. She and Skarada could never afford a better prosthetic, which was fine by her because she had grown familiar to the phantom pain.

But this one was different. It was meant for combat. Embedded in the palm was a Keystone, not unlike Skarada’s Mega Eye. Erin grit her teeth as she attached the prosthetic, which painfully wired itself to the nerve endings where her arm used to be. She flexed the metal fingers, testing them to make sure she was in control.

She was in control.

An incoming transmission sounded off on the computer. Her Sableye answered the call. “Kehhhh?”
“Erin!” Static and background noise clashed with the interference. Erin used both hands, which was still a strange feeling, to put her headset on over her ears. “Erin’s, she’s….KSSSSSH…everyone KSSSSSH!”
“Hey, I’m here,” Erin said with a soothing tone that surprised even her. “What’s going?”
“KSSSHHHH beating….out of….everyone-”
“Who? Who are you talking about?”
“Salieri! Salieri is beating the crap out of everyone!”

Fishbone Mess Hall

The pirate calling for distress received a sneaker to his face for the trouble. As he was reeling back, about to recover, Salieri socked him in the face with her Psybracer, flinging the pirate ten feet up in the air. He was unconscious before he fell into the garbage bin.

Sal caught the radio midair and crushed it in her hand. “Connard,” she spat at his body. She had been trying to be quiet, but that last takedown was noisy. It didn't look like anyone had caught on yet. Still, she pressed herself down against the sink she was next to.

She put a hand on the sticky warm blood seeping from her side. More blood was spattered on her arms and knuckles. But that blood was not hers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just a minute ago, Banksy started off the battle by laying down a thick Smokescreen at Salieri’s command. She was sure she could pry the doors open with her Pokémon to escape the mess hall, but the pirates would never give her enough time. This was the best time to remove as many distractions as possible. Salieri and Banksy split up and the pirates did the same, stalking each other through the smoke while it was still thick.

In the past minute, Salieri crept up to a pirate who was sticking to the walls with her Quagsire (32). She snuck behind the Quagsire, covered the Pokémon’s mouth, and with a mighty heave, lifted them up and at the wall. Her Pokégear shined, shooting pixels of light in the shape of a simple arrow down Salieri’s hand and into Quagsire’s body with a click. The Pokémon became partially transparent and absolutely silent despite trying to cry as Salieri let go.

Half shifted into another dimension until the painful snap back to their own, the Quagsire harmlessly phased right through the wall and out of the room without anyone else catching on. Salieri didn’t know how long the phasing effect on Ivan’s Alternate technique would last. If it was long enough, the Pokémon could’ve gone right through the ship. At least it can swim. What a crazy move.

When the Quagsire’s trainer turned around, she was greeted with a chop to the throat, a sweep of the legs, and an elbow to the face while he was down. The combo took her out.

Across the room, Salieri saw a Heat Wave start and die, roasting the briefly illuminated silhouettes of a Cacturne, Dodrio and two pirates that all fell to the ground. “At the buffet!” shouted a pirate hidden in the smoke ahead of Salieri, revealing his position to her.

The pirate and his Beedrill (33) walked and hovered towards where Banksy just was, the kitchen area of the mess hall preceded by a buffet line. Salieri pounced onto the table next to the pirate silently and then dropped on the Orrean man, instantly putting him into a chokehold and dropping both of them to the floor.

Beedrill spun around and rushed at the humans, pointing a Fell Stinger hand forward. Sal stared down the Beedrill and punched the trainer in the face to finish the knock out. She got up to dodge, jumping to the side as Beedrill passed her. The Fell Stinger glanced the side of her stomach, tearing right into it. Sal clenched her teeth. The attack lived up to the name. The latter half of it, anyway.

The Beedrill came back around for another pass, but as soon as they had fully turned they received a Psybeam to the chest from Sal’s Pokégear. The Bug crashed into a table, flipping it over on landing.

Salieri looked back to the buffet, where a pirate and his Ledian (31) had seen that skirmish. He reached for his walkie talkie, but Sal was across the way before he could even switch it on. She tackled him at the midsection, flipping him over the buffet line and into the kitchen.

They landed on the floor, scrambling against each other to gain footing. Now both kneeling, they were ready to strike each other. The pirate’s Ledian flew overhead and lifted their tiny fists up for a flurry of punches. Sal shot the Ledian down with a close range Zap Cannon punch first, and while she wasn’t looking, the pirate grabbed an iron skillet and smacked her upside the head.

Sal fell flat on her back while the pirate fumbled with his radio. “Erin!” the pirate hissed. Dizzy, Sal sat up and punched her fist into the ground. The Psyshock emanted up from her Pokégear again, sticking to her entire arm like a skintight glove. “Erin!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And so in that past minute, between the three of them, Salieri, Banksy and Ivan had taken out five pirates. As her Psybracer dissipated, the strain of tackling the pirate over the buffet line doubled down the pain of Sal’s Fell Stinger wound. She sat slumped against the sink and released Oberon. “Hi,” she groaned, still groggy from her concussion. She gestured to the gash on her stomach, where she pressed against the flow of blood with her hand. “I need a heal.”

Her Cleffa nodded, rubbed her hands together, and sent a Heal Pulse Salieri’s way. The rebel breathed deep at the soothing action. “Ivan, I take back half the times I said you were useless.”
“Beepboop thank you.”
“How do you learn moves?” Sal asked. They were running low on power points for half of his offensive attacks. “Tell me you can have one of those mid battle epiphanies.”
“I cannot,” Ivan replied merrily. “I download moves as programs.”
“Huh. Can you download Ice Beam?”
“Beginning download…one, percent…”

A whirring sound came from above her. Sal looked at the air ducts, then down at where her wound had been. All that remained was a tear in her shirt. “Nice.” She had meant to keep Oberon out of the fight, but the Cleffa didn’t seem scared of his environment at all, even with the crackling booms coming from Banksy's explosions in the dining area. In fact, she looked very at home next to the bloody Ledian on the floor. I hope she doesn't internalize all this violence. "Oberon, don't poke them."

“Two, percent…”

When the whirring grew louder, Sal stood up slowly, and understood what was going on. Someone had turned on the ceiling fans, which cleared the Smokescreen in quick order. Now everyone’s positions were revealed.

It turned out that Security Officer Eileen was on the far end of the room, next to the reinforced observation windows that lined one side of the mess hall and showed the beautiful Kalos skyline. In her arms she held her Seadra (39) like a rifle, something that would make Salieri nostalgic for Veillantif any other time.

One of the pirates was near the master light switch at the doors, where the fan switch was located as well. Two more pirates were on tables, having been patrolling the dining area hall with their Pokémon.

And the last pirate and his Jumpluff (32) were in the kitchen with Sal, only a few feet away. Banksy was right behind them.

“Three, percent.”

They all took a second to register this turn of events. Then Eileen fired.

An Octazooka crossed the mess hall to the kitchen. Salieri, annoyed she had to dodge Octazookas for the second time this week, sloppily ducked as it splattered against the pantry behind her. Banksy took out the Jumpluff with a precise Flamethrower as the burly pirate in the kitchen ran at Salieri with a haymaker.

Salieri expected Ivan to assist her, but the AI did not come to her aid. Instead of blocking with her Psybracer, she blocked with a normal one not properly braced, internally cursing at falling into new bad habits. The pirate capitalized on the pressure and continued a string of heavy punches, which Salieri had to deflect or block while stumbling backwards. “Ivan!”

Cornered at the sink, Sal’s foot accidentally activated the garbage disposal switch as the pirate leveraged his mass against hers, pushing her by the neck towards the now active drain. Her ponytail was getting closer to getting caught. “Ivan,” she gagged.
“Hold her still, Chester!” Eileen said across the mess hall, trying to take aim.
“Who’re you talking to, mate?” Chester asked Sal, struggling to keep her in place.
“Two, percent.”
“You just said…forget it, cancel download,” Sal wheezed. “Cancel!”

Her Psybracer came back online, and she shifted the pirate’s arm away with renewed strength. Oberon, now standing on the faucet, saw the pirate’s arm, then looked down at the grinding metal teeth spinning inside the drain. She looked at the arm, then down. The arm, then down. She licked her lips. She used Gravity.

A localized Gravity pressed the pirate’s arm into the active garbage disposal below. The pirate howled and Salieri’s eyes bugged out wide alongside the sounds of crunching bones. “Whoa!” she exclaimed at the surprise brutality.

She ducked another Octazooka while grabbing her Cleffa like a squeaky toy, turning off the disposal as she was squatting. Poor Chester was now just trying to remove his mangled arm from the drain. Salieri looked Oberon in the eyes. The Cleffa remained entirely unfazed, to an unsettling degree. Violence internalized.

Sal put Oberon on her shoulder, where the Cleffa could cling to her intact ponytail. She sidled against the sink back out to the mess hall, where Banksy had taken out two more pirates and their Pokémon, all charred next to a pile of chairs. The Torkoal was flying by a row of tables, flipping them over for cover and trailing smoke as Eileen and the last pirate attacked her.

The last pirate was using a Pelipper (33) to take shots with Scald from above. Meanwhile Eileen released her second Pokémon, a Golbat (32) carrying their trainer‘s shoulders by the talons. Eileen was now in the air above the tables, blasting away at Banksy’s cover with Seadra’s Hydro Pump.

“Avast!” Salieri called out to them to get their attention. Eileen didn’t fall for the tactic, keeping up her assault on Banksy’s cover, but the other pirate did. He directed his Pelipper at Salieri, and the bird belched a Scald at her.

Salieri sprinted and dropped into a slide to avoid the Scald behind a plastic cafeteria table. Ivan switched the Psybracer back on and Sal uppercutted the table up at the Pelipper. It rammed into the pelican, breaking apart into chunks and dazing Pelipper in the air while Salieri ran at and clotheslined the pirate. “Recycle!”

Oberon waved her tiny hands above her head. Green arrows circled around the debris of the table as it fell, bringing it back together around the Pelipper. It melded together and took on a new shape, that of a clunky cage. The legs and chunks of plastic trapped the Pokémon inside, pinning Pelipper’s wings to their side as the cage dropped with a thud. Pelipper struggled to break free, but without room to open their mouth and shoot attacks, they didn’t have the power to escape.

The fallen pirate raised a hand in protest. Sal stomped his head to the floor and looked up at Eileen. The Security Officer was on her own now, gritting her teeth in frustration. "I'm sick of this chase garbage. Get Prou back here, Eileen." Sal's eyes shined so bright they practically glowed. "
“Prou? The Gardevoir?” Eileen closed one eye and aimed Seadra’s snout down at Sal. “Who cares? I’m right here, b***h!”

Seadra shot forth a Hydro Pump. Ivan blasted a Psybeam right back, causing a clash that burst into a spray of water inches from Sal’s face. The shockwave knocked Salieri into the shads of a broken chair opening new wounds on her back. Oberon activated another short lived localized Gravity over Eileen before the Security Officer could take a second shot, forcing her and her Pokémon to the floor.

Banksy took the opportunity to shatter through a table and Body Slam Golbat across the room while Salieri got up. Teeth clenched, she pulled a huge wooden splinter out of her back, then advanced on the grounded Eileen. Rapidly scampering backwards, Eileen ordered Seadra to shoot.

Salieri punched away another Hydro Pump with a Psybeam, quicker than before to avoid what happened last time. Sal unleashed a Zap Cannon with lunging punch at Seadra. Seadra jumped up to make sure they took the shot for their trainer, getting fried. The Water type convulsed back into Eileen’s hands, then closed their eyes.

Sal ended her dash by dropping a knee into Eileen’s gut and grabbing the pirate by the collar. “I will tear this ship apart!” Salieri yelled in her face.

Banksy had Golbat pinned under one foot and was finishing off the bat with a Flamethrower. All the pirates and their Pokémon were, more or less, out of commission. The mess hall was in complete and utter shambles.

Eileen breathed heavily, glaring up at the Kalosian with proud disdain.
“Oooo. Tough girl now, huh? Strong or not, you’re still the same piece of s**t.”
Eileen spat in Sal’s face. Sal wiped away the spit, then punched Eileen in the face.
“Where is she?” Sal repeated.
“241 was waitin’…we wanted to butter you up for her.”
“Yeah? How’d that work out for you?”
Eileen grinned. “You tell me.”

Salieri felt an invisible, intangible force grab her by the chest and toss her across the room into a table. Disoriented and throbbing with pain, she got up and saw that in the center of room, looking right at her behind the helmet’s visor, was 241.

“Prou.” Salieri’s hostility melted away, replaced with exhausted and desperate longing in just a second. The distance to the center of the room seemed so far away. “Hey, it’s me. It’s your friend. Your Salieri.”

The Gardevoir was absolutely still. Oberon, not reading the room correctly, formed a Magical Leaf in her palm. She threw it in an arc at 241.

Sal aimed Ivan at the leaf and used a Psybeam to shoot it down without hesitation. The Magical Leaf crumbled, and Salieri gave Oberon a stern, menacing glare. Oberon could not understand why Salieri did not want to annihilate their last enemy. It must have been a strange Earth custom.

“I’m not here to fight you…I won’t. I came to take you off this ship. Take you home.” Salieri stepped forward slowly and spoke at a similar pace. "Gotengo, do you remember it? Lumiose City?...Moze?"

[You really don’t remember us?] The armored Gardevoir looked over her shoulder at a familiar Torkoal, whose dried up blood caked parts of her forehead. A hot tear rolled down Banksy’s withered face. Her bottom lip trembled. Salieri had told her what had become of Prou, but she didn't want it to be true. [You don’t remember me?]
“You aren’t supposed to be stone cold hardcore. You are not 241. This isn’t you.”

241 looked down at her hands. With the gauntlets on, she didn’t know what they looked like. What did they look like? Were they just steel after all? Thinking gave her a headache.

“Show me you know that, I know you know that.” Sal held out a hand, trying to bridge the distance between them. She was shaking. "Please. Please."

241 clenched her hands into fists, and looked at the intruding human again. The power of the moon gathered in her palms.

“I advise against this. She will attack you.”
Sal nodded. She knew that. “I won’t fight her.”
“Salieri, she will KILL you.”

241 attacked.

Chateau Nostrad - Fourteen Years Ago

For only a moment Ratio's perception of time would return to normal.

His face was splattered in blood from the wound that had cut him down. His hand grabbed out instantly as he came to life, as if by priority speed, to grab Ratio's arm by the wrist and, in one strong motion, he'd throw the assassin across the room - assuming the sneak attack hit.

To Ratio, this was one of the three men he'd cut down just moments before. No, as his face changed and melded into the other two, it was clear that he was simultaneously all three men.

To anyone else, it merely appeared to be the dark shadow of Shadow Sneak.

Folie Monde Ombre (Shadow World Madness)

In that same moment the door would open with a chunk the lock breaking in one smooth motion. Jean-Pierre entered the room, the handle and guard of a sword in his hand and the blade folding out in pieces, each one locking into place before the other did. The tip of the blade came last of the four sections of the sword, biting into the ground.

This came as Jean crossed the room to put himself between Lord Nostrad and Ratio. Ira, his Dusknoir, moved into the room, eery and silent as her Pressure began again.

Mort Homme's Temps(Dead Man's Time).

A technique that would mess with one's perception of time, making the seconds pass by slower. "Lord Nostrad," Jean-Pierre spoke, not looking back at the man, "fuyez. (Run away)" His eyes were locked on Ratio and a smile played itself across his lips.

If the assassin tried to penetrate Jean's thoughts he'd only find what Jean wanted him to. A singular desire.

I want to take you apart. It was not malicious, it was not full of rage. The intention felt almost lustful.

The Pirate and the "Hero": Tower Canteen

Ben breathed in deep. Ska was better at this than him, and was using those cards. He wasn't doing this for sport, he'd already threatened to kill everyone...

Essence's strike was parried, but given the method she was able to throw herself opposite the parry, her thought process being that he would likely expect her to dodge that smarter direction, in time to avoid the fire punch, though it was a very close thing. She wasn't as evasive as before, she knew. She couldn't keep picking fights with whatever-the-hell-this-was. Not a direct one, anyway.

Essence rolled to her feet, magical leaf flying out as she did. Not towards the Mega Lopunny, but towards the flying type and their newly-caught trap card. She would be prepared to move away from the mega if given any opporunity to do so, of course. But not in a way that would leave her completely open.

Manny, meanwhile, would motionlessly launch a psychic towards the mega pokemon, who was likely not paying as much attention. And what attention his trainer was paying might be lost, considering there were no gestures as to the direction of his attack.

*****

Francis's Downtime

Francis was in sight of the enemy, and so they were in sight of him. With a deep breath, the pokemon used agility and got ready for the final stretch.

****

Secret Agent Mouse and The Shadow: The Fishbone - Lower Deck

Fortunately for the duo, the gambit had worked and they were able to get a decent distance away without being seen by any humans. Apparently, at least.

Hazard's suggestion was a good one, honestly. Even if that ghostly whisper made his fur stand on end a bit. [That's a good plan, Shadow. Think you can hypnosis one of them into telling it to us?] He would lead the way down the hall, hoping that Hazard would continue to follow, and would make his way towards the hangar, given he wasn't so keen on going up.

He only needed a sniff of the rancid socks to ignore the lockers and start his way towards something else. If Hazard felt like looking, he might spare a moment for the pokemon to look, though.

Once they saw the group playing cards, he would take a moment to whisper.[I have a plan, Shadow. Wait until my first attack finishes, then you take care of the blue one with the horn.]

He hoped that was enough of an explanation since they didn't know how long they'd have until the pokemon saw them, maybe the shadow pokemon could hypnotize the ground type into giving them what he wanted?

He would rush as quick as could be managed to get between the pirates and pokemon before activating a Magnetic Discharge, with hopes they'd think he was some trainer's extra pokemon or something if they saw him in time. The ability would explode out, similar to a normal discharge, aiming to catch all of the opponents at once, but they would find there was surprisingly little damage if it hit.

And then, for those caught and affected by electric attacks, they would find themselves floating, then smacked together, the Floatzel ideally crammed between the humans, and the humans keeping each-others' mouths from yelling with magnetism as the glue to keep them from getting out of it.

Caboose decided he'd have to rely on his team mate to deal with the blue one, at least for the moment, and would fire a thunder-shock towards the ceiling to launch the magnetic-pile up there and leave them stuck, where if the Floatzel hadn't been crammed between the humans they'd be aimed towards the ceiling and put beneath them to keep them from attacking from above. If Hazard wasn't able to deal with the Nidoqueen, there was a good chance he'd take another hit.

((See? I told you I'd have the rest up later. Keep in mind that Zack's timeline is slightly behind, and the funeral procession is behind further still))

The Procession

Elliot’s quick rejection of Matheson’s plea left the young Leroux flabbergasted. The more Elliot spoke to Juliet, who to her credit remained stoic in the face of the rules dictating her future, the more Matheson flushed with embarrassment and disappointment. As a noble, he was used to getting his way, though less than most of his kind due to his relatively wildcard tendencies. But this wasn’t because he was told ‘no’. It was because he was told ‘no’ when it came to fulfilling his duty as a nobleman, to protect the people of his country. He could not comprehend why there was no compromise in the face of an emergency. The system was rigid in a harmful way. “I…I don’t…I don’t understand-“

“Of course. I understand,” Juliet responded to Elliot with a nod and a bow. “When our families become more closely intertwined, the law will change. For both parties.”

The last part she tacked on in a rather pointed manner, but Math wasn’t paying much attention. He was thinking about how far he could get by sprinting or riding a Pokémon before someone was sent to retrieve him. Or what sort of punishment would await him in the aftermath.

“Matheson.” Juliet held her hand out. “I’ll take the key.”
He stared at her hand. “You would go alone?”
“Yes.”
“…who’s going to have your back?”
“Kalos. If she’s as strong as you believe her to be.”

She sighed. Math bit his bottom lip. Juliet held her hand out further. Hesitant, he pulled Metis out of his grey coat pocket. The Klefki unhooked the Magic Door Key in its sparkly glory, and dropped it in Juliet’s palm.

And then Matheson engulfed Juliet in a bear hug. She almost dropped the key as her eyes went wide and a very un-noble “Eep!” escaped her. He pulled away to hold her by the shoulders and address her directly. “Come back in one piece, okay?”

Juliet nodded rapidly. She was blushing now, for reasons Math didn’t understand. Juliet cleared her throat, regaining control. “I’ll keep in touch,” she told him, before running off the nearby telephone pole.

She released Zaida, her Rotom, and the two of them transmuted in electricity. Math watched them travel up the pole, a cluster of blue sparks, and down the power lines towards the Chateau.

He was alone with Elliot now. “I…um….” Unsure of what to say, Math gave him a quick bow and marched hastily back to his limo, getting inside and closing the door.

Here, he was useless. His Houndoom, Hyperion, yawned and laid his jaw down on Math’s lap as the nobleman buried his face in his hands.

Tower Vault

Two floors below, Tentacruel was disoriented by Loki’s Kinesis. By the time he knew where Loki was, the Alakazam had already shot him. Tentacruel went flying out the window back down to the foot of the Tower, where the fall would finish off the KO.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ellie Jones?”

They were the last words Nowell managed to say into the radio as Écarlate’s steel pincer cracked three of his ribs. Nowell was thrown back into the vault door as another pirate joined him and the third fell to the ground from Pancham’s Comet Punch.

Stunky looked up as Tryant’s huge shadow grew larger around her. The skunk gulped, but stood with pride. The dinosaur’s attack would activate Stunky’s Aftermath, giving the Dark type a sense of closure. [For Orre!] she squeaked proudly before Bide knocked her out, setting off Aftermath.

Or it would have, if Poliwhirl wasn’t Dampening the field.

Poliwhirl, going from excitement over his ultimate combo to panic, dove out of the way from Tyrant before the slow Dragon move came out, looking over to his trainer. He stood in front of his trainer’s passed out body, holding out both arms to protect the pirate from further harm with shaking legs.

Golbat was not so quick to defend Nowell, who could no longer get up despite still being conscious. The bat knew Nowell wouldn’t want it that way. Instead, Golbat, now between Helena and all her Pokémon, swooped at Helena herself, mouth agape to Bite the Unovan’s neck and start draining blood.

Tower Canteen

Skarada picked up his radio the moment Nowell tried to reach him. “Nowell? Respond!” Who was Ellie Jones? Was she the sniper that gave Benedict support in Shalour? Something was going wrong with this plan, which meant it was time for that shift in tactics. Time to leave.

At this time, Ben would receive a call from his own: the caller ID on his xtransceiver would indicate it was Mia, calling from Gotengo’s PC. She had put the number into his contacts the day before, when she modified his xtransceiver with upgraded security. If he didn’t answer, she would keep calling.

Sergio’s Fire Punch swung just over Essence’s head. The Mega Lopunny kept up her momentum, turning the swing into a full body spin. With her current speed, boosted more by Keasbey, the act of spinning was almost instant. She was facing forward again.

The harsh telekinetic wave that was Psychic rippled the air in front of Sergio, showing her where it was. While her partner Keasbey had a diverse set of options, Sergio’s usually boiled down to the same thing: hit hard, hit fast. The strategy applied to defense as well.

Sergio kicked at the ground just once, and with her sky high might, dug a hole. The rabbit dropped in and the Psychic passed over her, shattering the wall of a nearby building and revealing the humble kitchen inside. Her Dig had taken her safely underground, and the hole above her was more or less closed up with a quick shoveling from her ears.

Essence’s Magical Leaf spun at Keasbey, and the Murkrow needed a way to stop it. Despite his resistance to the move, taking that attack would hurt, and dodging it would almost guarantee that it came back around for him again. So he dropped the Trap Card from his talons, giving the Magical Leaf an obstacle to run into.

The Leaf cut through and activated the Smoke Trap, blanketing the canteen in a dark cloud that matched the one the airship was masked in. Still, it had power to spare, traveling through the smoke on its way to Keasbey. It was stalled long enough that Keasbey had a chance to flap backwards, dropping with the speed of Tailwind so the Leaf struck a barrel of water in the canteen behind him instead. The barrel ruptured, splashing its contents everywhere.

“TTFN, mate,” came Skarada’s voice from the smoke, which he used to mask that he dropped his Trap Card on the ground in front of him between his party and Ben’s. Then he stepped on the Hurl Trap he had planted behind himself, using it to zip backwards unseen at high speeds. The Hurl Trap would bring him to the edge of the canteen area, out of the smoke and much closer to the Tower.

His Pokémon took that as a sign to leave as well. Keasbey flew after Ska, and Sergio’s silhouette could be seen emerging from underground and running after Skarada shortly after.

The pirate captain wasn’t too proud to run from a fight. He wasn’t sure how it would’ve kept going, but one thing was for sure: Benedict wouldn’t roll over, and had backup on the horizon. Fighting him more would wear down Sergio, Keasbey, and his supply of Traps. Not bad, Kalosian.

Two pirates flying by saw Skarada running for the Tower. “Captain!” they called out. Ska just pointed back at the smoke and kept going. The pirates saw that as a signal to stop whoever was behind the smoky curtain. They folded their wingsuits and landed on the ground, releasing Houndoom (31) and Azumarill (30). They readied themselves for whatever came next.

If Ben or his Pokémon tripped the Trap Ska had left behind, they’d discover it was a Confusion Trap. Anyone who tripped it would be hit with a strange wave to their nerves, mixing up their sense of physical orientation for the next few seconds.

The Fishbone - Above Deck

Seviper swung, and missed, at one of Serene’s illusory copies. The serpent’s momentum carried them past the pair of Pokémon, where she landed at the edge of the deck. Hissing, the Sveiper slithered back towards the intruders.

Durendal’s powered up attack pressed Mantine into the deck, taking the manta ray out in short order. The Pawniard hovered away, as Balestra a la Mode kept him a few inches off the ground. The pirates backed away, unsure of what was coming next.

Not out yet, Shiftry flapped an arm fan and, in a single swipe, summoned a Hurricane. The funnel of wind grew larger, grinding against Lethal’s Ice Beam as a makeshift block.

Dune flew to the top of the Hurricane and spun in place, counterclockwise to the Hurricane. His spin gathered the wind around him, an opposing force to Shiftry’s that unraveled the Flying attack slowly. Without anything in its way, Ice Beam made it through and froze Shiftry solid in a block of ice. The Wickid Pokémon’s frozen face was a picture of contorted rage.

Sal’s Pawniard lowered himself to hover alongside Lethal’s flight path. Seviper was chasing after them now. The closest door to get inside the ship was forced open already. If they went inside, they’d essentially have two paths to choose from.

Following the trail of unconscious pirates and Pokémon Sal left in her wake would inevitably lead them towards the stern, where the mess hall and the crew quarters were located. The bridge was at the very end of the stern, where Erin was holed up in command of the ship.

Going the other direction would lead the Pokémon to the lower deck, towards the bow where the hangar and cargo holds were located. This is where Caboose and Hazard were working on locating the cannon. There were about four pirates in each direction.