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Big Stadium: Ruined Stage

Just after most of Pachi’s lieutenants returned to the inside of the stadium, two blurs rocketed down from the sky to the center of the ruined stage, one bright blue and the other a blurry black.

Cassandra emerged from the dust cloud, panting as she walked to her comrades. “Ready….when you are…Pachi,” she told her commander, out of breath.

The dust settled and Jump stood in the center, hands on his knees and out of breath as well. “Oh…my god…fast as the wind…I won that race…skank…”

The Interpol Agent coughed as he stood up, still panting. He looked over the scene, at Pachi’s assembled cell and at the defeated Legends Crew. Then his focus centered on Pachi. “You the leader? Crazy tribal lady?”

He rolled up his sleeves as he walked towards her, Sal and Wayne with a grin. “Gimme some space, kids. I don’t wanna splash you when I open up a can of whoop-“

A portal formed in front of Jump and he walked right into it. The portal closed. Jump was gone.
Harmony’s voice crackled into Pachi’s earpiece. “We’re here. Decelerating now, you have twenty seconds for the drop.”
“Roger. Now quiet. I have to concentrate.”

Portals opened up all over the stadium, underneath the bodies of every FLF fighter in sight. One by one, they were swallowed by the darkness, leaving behind confused soldiers from The Bullet. This process carried over to the lieutenants and Stacy, who were absorbed into portals at their feet that disappeared as they did.

The giant blue atop Liuye Dao, unmoving despite the effort of three TKs, rose up and disappeared, as did the other. Pachi closed all remaining portals and let Salieri go.

The Battle Girl stumbled forward to her Pawniard, dropping to her knees in his blood. His armor was cracked all over, as if he was covered in spider webs. She couldn’t see his eyes behind his helmet, only blackness. His chest rose up and down slowly with tiny, wheezing breaths.

A portal formed next to Pachi, and she took a step inside.

“You really…shouldn’t have done that.”

The Native Unovan woman stopped and looked over her shoulder. Salieri did not face her. She still looked down at her pokemon, her eyes shadowed over. But there was no mistaking that steady, quiet, angry voice for anybody else’s. “…there isn’t a force in this world or any other that will save you from me now…You’ll pay a hundred times over for what you’ve done.”

Pachi lowered her bandanna to her neck, revealing her mouth to the Legends Crew. There was no secret smug smiling anymore. Only a sad frown. “In time, you’ll learn about this world. And you’ll come to understand me.” She turned away. “Sorry it had to like this.”

She stepped into the portal and disappeared along with it. And just like that, the FLF were gone.

Salieri reached into her bet bag and pulled out a potion. She had never been one to stock up on healing items, something she dearly regretted now as she applied the medicine to Liuye Dao. If it was taking effect, it didn’t look like it.

“It’s okay, Liuye. It’s okay, I’m here.” Sal gulped and blinked rapidly as she tossed the empty potion behind her and applied a second one. “I’m here, Liuye. Stay with me, okay? Just stay with me.”

Big Stadium: Subway Stop

Harmony’s hijacked subway never stopped, only slowing down as it went underneath the Big Stadium. Portals popped up in every car, sloppily dumping out members of the FLF as it happened.

The lieutenants and Pachi were all dumped into the same car, the last one. As soon as every member of Pachi’s cell was onboard, the subway returned to full speed.

Harmony helped her commander to her feet. Pachi rose her bandanna up again to cover her mouth and held out a hand in front of Sintre.

“Sintre. The detonator.”

After there failed attempt to rescue the Pawniard the three Tk's grouped together just off to Sal's Side. After she snapped at N the walked off, hopefully to the makeshift Pokemon center, the two Tk Clone's disappeared in a spout of smoke.

"Yea, we should really get goin-" With out time to react the remaining and original Tk was hit by a sudden wave of fatigue. He let out a small sickly cry before stumbling forward, grasping onto N's upper arm for support.

the room felt like it was spinning, so he snapped his eyes closed to avoide vomiting. After a few moments he Regained his composure, though he still had a decent sized headache. After however, he realized the small trickle of blood running off from his nose.

"c-crap" he quickly let go and turned away from N and the rest of the legends crew. If he was asked about his condition he'd mumbled something like "Im fine im fine." or "Just tired.."

He knew once they entered the stadium he'd be limited to only one more clone. Yet right there at the end he pushed it further by creating a second clone, surprising himself by doing so. this was just like back at the Castelia city gym, but only then it wasn't anything more than a headache.

He quickly tore of a piece of his ripped sleeve, cramming it against his nose to catch the trickle.

((Sorry, had a case of the end of the years blues.))

The Victors

Sintre handed it over without a word. Not a person had opened their mouth to ask about the girl, Stacy, that Sintre had taken with her. She'd been told these people enjoyed talking but it appeared that this was separate from curiosity.

Goldberg, having removed his helmet, let out a big sigh - and he had big lungs. "That was crap," he said as he pulled out a cigar. His eyes fell on Pachi, puff... puff... lit cigar.

"Know two of the kids back there, they're just that."

The Bullet

"Is the bridge up yet?" Roy asked in a solemn voice. While the police were baffled, while people were being taken on to the bridge of the bullet, people returned there, Roy was making preparations to make sure the terrorists were in the city.

"Raising the bridge now, sir." These words meant that it was locked down. Basically nobody was getting in or out of Nimbasa city for a few days

"Redgrave on deck, sir."

Roy looked over at Zack. Damn, he hated this job. He was definitely going to die. s**t.

"Zack, your father went after Jean-Pierre, his signal disappeared soon after. He's MIA, possibly KIA."

That probably only made him angrier. Roy gulped.

The Lost Souls

It was a hard thing to look. Henrietta had nothing to say, nothing she could do. Even if she did, she wasn't the one who should say it. "Can you make us invisible?" she asked Zero.

Wayne had recalled his Pokemon and was with the group. He didn't have anything to say. It was surprising that any of them did. It wasn't the taste of failure - they'd technically won the moment they destroyed the stage. Pachi had lost, and yet, they'd still fought her. They could've left then, left the miserable woman to a miserable defeat, but they'd kept fighting.

Like stupid damn heroes.

And now someone was dead, and Salieri looked like she wanted to tear someone's head off. And she probably could, too, now that Wayne thought about it. So at the suggestion of leaving before any government types decided to ask them questions, Wayne agreed. He, after all, had a get out of jail free card if they did get caught. He just needed to mention his father.

With that, Henrietta would step over to Takamaru, offering him a shoulder to support himself on, even if she looked pretty worse for wear. And the group would probably leave, yes?

((Nothing cures end of the year blues like the beginning of a year. Since it's not the end and all))

Subway

Pachi's eyes didn't meet Goldberg's: they fell on his cigar. She lifted her bandanna back up to cover the bottom half of her face and grabbed the detonator from Sintre.

On an xtransceiver tablet, Odin watched the news feed from outside the stadium. Because Pachi's jamming was over, more news teams were arriving to cover the story. And now he could watch their plans come into fruition.

"They knew the risks as soon as they walked inside," Pachi mumbled as she clicked the detonator.

“…”

Odin’s eyes narrowed at the tablet. The stadium was still intact. “Hmph.”

Pachi leaned over his shoulder to watch the screen. She tilted her head and clicked the detonator again. And again. And again.

She tried to think back, to try and figure out why the detonation had failed. The only reason she could think of came during her initial confrontation with those children. When one of them managed to punch her in the face, she had fallen into a pile of instruments. The noisy collapse had broken her concentration, if only for a moment.

And in that moment, the World Government somehow managed to diffuse the Electrode bombs.

The FLF commander pinched the bridge of her nose. "Ugh." Her gaze quickly shifted to the side. “No, it’s not a big deal…no, it’s more like…failing to beat the record…”

Gauging by the way that she was mumbling

Pachi looked over at the Mayor, bound and gagged. She shrugged and slowly walked over to the terrified prisoner. He shrunk away in his seat when she leaned over him.

“And still winning the race.”

Interpol Island: Commander Tsubasa’s Office

“Word from The Bullet is that the quarantine of Nimbasa City is now under effect, Tackey,” said Agent Nana as she walked into the office and stopped at her boss’s desk.

Interpol’s Commander leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on his desk. A cigarette hung from his lips, burning away and drifting smoke up to the ceiling.

The FLF were a complete joke before this event. There had never been a hint that they had the ability to back up their threats until now. Thanks to a live feed of the stadium’s insides streaming on his computer, Tackey had witnessed most of that ability with his own, tired eyes.

Not only did the FLF have Pachi, but a few of her other soldiers held a respectable amount of power on their own as well. And the Leader was something else entirely, something more. Interpol had been scanning the collective World Government archives for a registered Aura user with that sort of regenerative ability with no luck.

He yawned, feeling an inevitable sleep spell coming on. Not now, he calmly commanded himself. Hold it off. “Well, we avoided another massive explosion yet again. Mayor Ruxpin sure took his time ordering the drawbridge up.”

Agent Nana scratched her freckle spotted cheek and looked away. “Uh, we still haven’t gotten contact with the Mayor since he got to the emergency subway line, actually. Roy took charge of the quarantine.”

Tackey ran a hand through his messy purple hair. “Don’t they have an emergency phone on the emergency subway? Did we, like, call that at anytime? Cause this does qualify as an emergency.”

“Of course!” she stammered. “A lot! We called a lot! But no one picked up. The subway got to the checkpoint with no one inside.”

A soldier burst in through the doorway, out of breath. “Sir, we’ve just received this from Pachi.”

He walked past Nana and handed Tackey a disc with his name labeled on it. Tackey immediately put the disc into his computer, and Nana circled around the desk to watch. The screen lit up and a video played.

As the video went on, their eyes widened. “Oh no,” Nana whispered. Tackey put out his cigarette and closed his eyes.

“Forward this to The Bullet and get me a line to Agent Looker.”

Big Stadium: Inside

Zero entertained the idea of just hiding herself and N to allow the Legends Crew to take the heat. But it wasn’t worth arguing with N now. With a grumble, she cast another Illusion around them, making them invisible by refracting light.

And they would all leave the Big Stadium right out the front entrance.

Big Stadium: Outside

“Damnit.”

Jump slapped the side of his camera. The image on the screen was black. He had left it on and attached to his belt in hopes of catching cool footage of his race against Cassandra.

The electromagnetism she was giving off had not only erased all of his footage including what he had taped earlier in the day at the P2 lab, but also fried it’s circuits. Jump didn’t have the technical savvy to figure this out on his own. He concluded that he must have dropped it.

“There are more important things to worry about than your camera,” Hexum told him. The blind Lucario could feel the emotions of everyone on the lawn. It was mass distress. Fear, anger, sadness.

“I know, I know.” The Interpol Agent sighed and tossed the camera into the trash. “Just thought I’d lighten things up a bit.”
“For who?”
“For me.”

They stood in silence for a few more seconds. Hexum was growing anxious. The emotional output of everyone was weighing down on him. Jump checked his xtransceiver.

“Is it working again?”
“Yeah. I’m gonna call Zack and Jackie, see if we can regroup.” His signature grin was gone, replaced by a flat face. “I forgot that having and adventure like the old days meant that it would be like this.”

Battle Institute

The emergency medical center that had been set up in the Battle Institute was jam packed. The facility didn’t have enough equipment to deal with the flow of patients like a normal Pokemon Center did, and the equipment they did have wasn’t at the same level.

Fortunately, when Salieri arrived and signed in Liuye Dao, he was rushed to one of the few emergency rooms for immediate treatment. The Battle Girl had followed the doctors behind the closed doors. The rest of her pokemon waited in the hallway.

Salem shut her eyes tightly. Since she had been evolved by Sal’s kindness, there was a residual connection between them. It wasn’t as strong as full Synchronization, but the Espeon could still feel a part of the girl’s feelings. Right now, it was giving her a massive headache.

She rested her head on Chen Zhen’s lap. The Pansage pet her head in an attempt to calm her down. Sitting next to them on the bench was Wukong, while Haizhe was in his pokeball: Salieri hadn’t felt that leaving him free to roam around the Battle Institute would be helpful.

Wukong broke his silence with a “Heh.” [So if he…you know, would he turn into a Ghost type?]

Chen Zhen turned to his head to the Monferno slowly with his eyebrows up. Half of him couldn’t believe what had been said, and the other half wondered what the answer was. [I don’t know.]

[I think he’d make a good Ghost type. Cause he never says anything, so it would be easy for him to haunt people.]

Salem smirked and Chen Zhen shook his head. [No, but he wouldn’t haunt people. He’d be a friendly ghost.]
[Yeah, you’re right. Not like Haizhe.]

Chen Zhen sighed. [Yeah, not at all. He might freak out Salieri though.]
[Ha, if she saw him she’d probably pass out.]
[Why’s she such a wuss around Ghosts?] Salem chimed in.
Wukong grinned. [Probably cause she can’t hit ‘em.]

The three of them chuckled softly for a moment before the door to Liuye’s room down the hall flew open. That quelled their laughter instantly, and she watched as Salieri was pushed out by two of the nurses.

“We need everyone but the staff out right now ma’am, please wait outside.”
“W-what? No, you have to let me back in.”

The door closed. Sal saw them lock it and go back to crowding around an operating table with other medical personnel. The Battle Girl eyes bore a hole through everything ahead of her and she ran at the door and knocked at the cold steel. “Hey, don’t ignore me! Let me back in!”

Her fist slowed to stop, planting into the door as she leaned against it, watching everything she could through the window with her head hung low.

Salem quivered and shut her eyes tightly once more. She buried her face in Chen Zhen’s chest. Wukong looked down at the ground.

[Except that’s not how it goes.]

Chen Zhen opened his mouth to respond, but found that he had nothing to say. He looked away.

Nimbasa City

After a few hours of staying in the make shift emergency center he thought it would be best that he wasn't there anymore there wasn't much else he could do at this point and being around this many injured wasn't making him feel any easier. He soon found his way outside the center and looked around seeing some of the destruction that had occurred through the city. "Hmm I wonder how much longer this place is going to be on lock down? I would love to help but there isn't anything I can do here."

He rubs the top of his head as he looks up at the sky contemplating.

"Ill... meet up with you guys later. I need some fresh air before i go to the makeshift Center." His Pokemon where fine. None of them revived any blows that he couldn't take care of himself. probably better than the nurses at the Pokemon center. He knew plenty about caring for steel type Pokemon. And since lancer, his only none steel type didn't battle, they'd be in good hands.

So with out waiting for a response, Tk removed himself from Henrietta's side. "Ya know how to reach me." he raised his wrist that held his xtranseiver before walking off, parallel to the big stadium. He'd be lying if he wasn't curious what the government was making of this whole thing. but mostly he just wanted to wallow in defeat. Again.

What was this. the Third time?

He shook his head to clear it. he was out of sight of the legends crew by now. 'FLF make's plasma look like the good guys'

The thought brought him up short. Thinking about plasma being decent in anyway was wrong. Wasn't it? Plasma fought for Pokemon liberation, killing Pokemon and ecosystems alike. FLF fought for human right's or something like that. killing whole slew's of humans and Pokemon alike.

Tk didn't know what do think about either group aside from labeling them as Bad. but somehow, plasma paled in comparison with FlF in terms of wrong doings.

Lost in his thoughts Tk wound up back up near the east entrance. his clothing tatter'd his arms littered with already healing cuts from Odin. all around looking worse for wear. Ripe for questioning.

'Crap' he thought as he heard someone approaching him from his left. Without turning to see who it was he turn'd and started walking in the opposet direction. Hoping to looks as inconspicuously as possible.

Big Stadium: Outside

When TK turned, he came face to face with Jump, who had Aura powered his way to TK's other side in blink of an eye. He rubbed his chin and sized up the silver haired youth.

"Hey, you know Wayne, right? And that Sally girl? You were on stage with them...which means you were fighting that crazy lady too."

The Interpol Agent snapped his fingers with a grin. "Yeah, yeah! There were like three of you, I couldn't forget that! Man, it is such a relief to find somebody I can question! Everybody always bails at this time...can't say I blame 'em, this part sucks..."

Jump pointed at the bench behind TK. "Alright kid, can ya sit down for like two minutes real quick? I gotta make a report to send in or whatever-oh yeah, Agent Einatz of Interpol, at your service."

He flashed TK his badge, probably too quickly.

Nuvema Town: Del Forrest House, Two Years Ago

“Seeeee~Saaaaaal, come downstairs! I have a surprise for you!”

Fourteen year old Salieri dashed down the stairs, practically falling at her mom’s feet when she stopped at the bottom. “A surprise! What is it what is it what is it-“

Sophie held up a hand for her daughter to calm down. Sal shut her mouth, but it only bottled up her excitement as she transitioned to bouncing on her heels. After all, she already knew what it was, mostly.

“It took a few days to get him here, but he’s finally arrived. Say hello to your first pokemon.”

The blind woman stepped aside to reveal the Pawniard behind her. The little pokemon stood up straight as an arrow with his hands behind his back.

Sal’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Wow! You’re a Pawniard! So cool!” She jumped forward and spun around her new pokemon. Her poking and prodding didn’t shake his composure. “Like a living sword! I wonder how sharp you-yowch!”

The Battle Girl lifted up her finger and saw a shallow cut bleeding freshly. With a careless stroke, she had sliced herself on his chest blade. The Pawniard took a step back, his eyes wide with terror.

“Pretty sharp, I’d say. That’s so cool-hey!”

The Pawniard was on his hands and knees, bowing at her feet for forgiveness. Sal sighed. “No need to be sorry, it was my mistake. Don’t worry about it.”

He shook his head, causing Sal to put a hand on her hip and pout. “Seriously? Come on! Get up and stand as tall as you can!”

He did as he was told. Like a good little soldier does. “You really feel that bad about a little cut? Fine. If you want to make it up to me, then be still.”

Again, he did as he was told. Sal traced an S on his forehead with her blood and stood back to admire her handiwork. “There. Now you have my blood too. You’re more than just a part of my team now. We have a bond thicker than water.”

The Pawniard reached up to tap his forehead. “You and I can become legendary together. We’ll get some cuts and bruises along the way, but that’s what hard work is about!” She extended a hand at him. “So? Will you accept the name Liuye Dao and see if we’ve got what it takes? If you come with me I guarantee you a journey unlike any other.”

He stared at the hand for a moment. Slowly and cautiously, he reached for it with his own and tapped the side of his blade on her palm. The instant he did, she slid her hand away to fist pump into the air. “YES! We’re gonna do great things, Liuye, I promise you that!”

She spun around and practically tackled Sophie with a massive hug. “Thank you, Mom, thank you!” And she spun again, to grab Liuye by the wrist and run out the door. “C’mon, Liuye! I’ll take you to meet my archenemy!”

Even as he was being yanked through the air, his stoicism remained. But for a second, he smiled at Sophie as the woman waved after their departure.

Battle Institute, Present Day

Liuye could barely feel anything. What he did feel was a dull pain, held back by numerous pain killers. He struggled to lift his neck to see what was going on.

The Pawniard’s body was covered in bandage wraps, head to toe. He was connected to a steadily beeping heart monitor in a small cot.

“You’re finally up.”

His eyes shifted to the side of his bed. Salieri sat next to it with a faint smile on her lips. Her eyes looked tired.

“The pokemon center was damaged in the fighting, so we’re in the Battle Institute. I couldn’t go to the next town over because Nimbasa is in lockdown. The medical equipment here isn’t top notch, but they did a good job on you.”

She rose a hand to touch him, but decided against it. Right now, he reminded her more of glass than of steel. “Your armor was splintered all over, and one of your rib blades punctured a lung…but they fixed you all up. You’re on the road to recovery.”

She smiled again, and now Liuye could see that it was forced. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get you to somewhere better. I’m sorry I had to get you involved at all. It wasn’t your fight, or mine. We had no place being there, did we?”

He wanted to reach out and pat her arm, to reassure her that it wasn’t her fault. But he felt too heavy to move.

Against her better judgement, Salieri lightly put a finger on Liuye’s forehead. Even though it produced some pain, Liuye closed his eyes and embraced the familiar touch. “But you were so brave. I could not be prouder of you, Liuye Dao. You are a soldier like no other. And you deserve much more than this. More than what I can give you now, here.”

The sole sound in the room was that of his heart monitor until she got up and turned to leave. “Which is why, in an hour you’ll be sent to my parents. They’ll take you to Accumula Town and you can finish your treatment there…you should be back to normal in a week, maybe a little more.”

She gulped and partially looked over her shoulder, avoiding eye contact for a general glance. “When this lockdown is over, I’ll be moving on. The pokemon league only gets harder from here. And I can’t…I won’t ever let you get hurt like that again.”

Salieri walked to the door. “So until you can catch up, I can’t take you with me anymore…I’m sorry. Liuye…I’ll see you later. Take care.”

The door swung open, and with that she was gone.

The heart monitor’s beeps slowed down. Liuye felt heavier than before.