Re: Pokemon Unsustainable RP

Chapter 2

Shelby’s heart began to race; maternal instincts were kicking into overdrive. “Got to protect Emil!” Shelby gasped as she spread her large wings and allowed the hot air currents to lift her off of the tower; she looked down at Draconic longingly. She wished she had more time at that moment to continue their reunion but whatever was coming was dangerous and Emil would need her protection. “It is times like this that I wonder how Monroe is doing with our children…” Shelby sighed aloud. She kicked off of the tower and soared into the sky with great speed until her silhouette was framed by the moon. She dove down sharply and smelled out for Emil, he seemed to be in the Southern part of the castle…

Meanwhile in the Southern gardens…

Emil had walked with Ariel back to the throne room where the rest of the group was, he shook his head at Ariel, “Don’t worry about the radiation, I may have a way to bend it around us… you’ll see.” Emil said full of confidence. Emil turned to go out of the wide double doors that he and Shelby had kicked open when they had arrived. Emil walked a few paces out into the hall and sent out a Dusk Ball, a very average looking Claydol blinked blearily as if it had been woken from sleep.

‘What is it Emil?’ a very posh sounding voice inquired.
“Do a quick 3 mile scan with Trick Room and you tell me.” Emil retorted back almost impatiently.
The Claydol closed its many eyes and a wave of white energy spread outward on the ground below the floating Pokemon. It was circular to start out with then it was split into 4 quadrants after 2 feet, then after another 2 feet it divided into 8, then 16, then 32, then 64 and so on and so on till it covered all the ground in the hallway, castle, city and wastes around the city. Above it looked like a massive Spinarak web had been crossed with a diagram of a compass; it had literally covered the city and the surrounding areas in a web of faint white glowing lines. And as quick as if had appeared it faded till it was no longer visible.

‘Oh, I see now.’ The Claydol replied, 'Right, would you like a look out who can plan for you mid-battle?'
“That’d be nice Solomon, meet up with us as soon as you are able.” Emil said in response.

Solomon blinked away the last of the sleep from his eyes and teleported to the very center of the main castle at the very top of the spire. Solomon looked all around and took in the view, 'Such a nice dream I was having too…' Solomon sighed before ribbons of bright blue waves, like an aurora, spread across the city. 'This may not offer much coverage-' Solomon said to himself, '-but it may help if the battle gets rough.' Solomon had erected a giant Trick Room space around the city, blue panels of energy slowly began to rotate around the city. Solomon glanced around again and teleported back to where Emil was in the throne room.


Time was short.

Just a mile away…

“After all thisss time…” a sinister voice rumbled, it sounded like a cross between the sinuous hiss of a snake and rolling thunder. “-You don’t even try to hide from me? For shame Becksss, for shame…” The long body of a Seviper coiled for a moment into a tight pile of contracting muscle fibers and sinews. Pieces of its armor were cracked here and there but for the most part the snake showed no signs of age. Somehow the blast had revived, renewed, and was healing the Seviper. Its body took in the radiation around it, healing it, causing it to shed its skin, making it grow bigger, longer and stronger. It was well over half a mile long and its bladed tail was about 26 feet in length, dripping with poison. Whatever the leaking poison fell on instantly began to bubble, hiss, melt and putrefy. The radiation was enhancing and enriching his already lethal poison.

“You should have ssstayed in the North where he left you and Follow… Onccce I extract my vengeanccce on you, he will be next. I ssstill sssenssse he is here sssomewhere, sssomehow… you placcced a charm on him didn’t you…” The giant Seviper grumbled. It thought briefly about the man who had abandoned him all those years ago… He would pay too. But he knew how to hide a lot better than Beckon ever did. The Seviper uncoiled and began to edge closer and closer to the faintly glowing light he had seen when Beckon had first crossed into his territory.

No matter how far she was that light shined out to him above the rest. It seemed to illuminate the blindness that had long ago begun to plague Wander’s eyes. The light coming from Beckon was like a floodlight that illuminated everything that was previously un-seeable to Wander. Without her presence he was literally blind, that is until someone attacked him, powerful attacks had the same effect for Wander’s eyes that Beckon had just being outside of her Pokeball. Like flashes from a strobe light in a pitch black room.

((Mine! Sorry! I just got back from vacation and didn't have much time to write out my part))


Everything was happening so fast. Just a second ago Remi had entered the throne room and gone up to two men and now she was suddenly being nominated by Bradey, who she hadn’t seen or talked to in ages, to stop some giant Seviper zombie? It was all a blur to her really. Although it was a kind gesture for Ariel to give Remi her cloak that didn’t stop Remi from being a little annoyed about this whole situation.


A little peeved off, Remi marched up to Bradey, grabbed his shoulder and turned him around to make sure he was facing her, “Hold up! I never agreed to any of this, pal.”


Lyla became increasingly nervous while underneath Ariel’s cloak. She knew Remi was going to be in trouble for this one..


“We may have had some good times back then but that does NOT mean I’m gonna help you out with your grunt work. And don’t even think of pulling the ‘Well I didn’t throw you in jail when you got here. I gave you a nice room to stay in’ (Remi’s best impersonation of Bradey >v>; card, because that is soooo NOT gonna cut it here! It was kind of you to do that but that is not an equal trade.” Remi grew increasingly more angry as she went on.


“Now I could be wrong, but I really REALLY doubt that that guy--” She pointed at Dutch, “wants to be any part of this either.”


“What’s in it for us, huh? I’m really not interested in doing this for the sake of humanity or this city or region, whatever. I’m not interested in doing it for an old friend either, Your Majesty~” Remi said quite sarcastically. “Give me something worth my time in return and I’ll think about helping you out, but as of right now I’m out.”


Remi began to back-off for a moment but then rushed right back in for one last stab at Bradey. She grabbed onto his collar cape thingy and pulled him in close to her face with her right arm. “I think it’s about time you handed over my Pokemon too..Thanks for keeping them warm, but it’s really time for me to take my leave.” Her eyes were piercing.. She never once broke eye contact with Bradey. She could definitely intimidate people if need be.

There was a bit of silence in the room after her speech. She clenched unto Bradey’s cape making sure not to let go until she had her Pokemon back.

Emil looked down at his gloves, it was a hard decision. Part with his gloves and allow all of New Opelucid out but risk the keys that had been given to him to come and go as he pleased being lost. Without them, Emil and the rest of Unova would be stuck inside. Then the thought occurred to him, while Remi berated Bradey Emil turned away from the group for a moment to contact someone on his Xtransceiver.

Not too far off in the Northern Frontier

Ophelia had been peacefully sleeping, it was the first good night’s sleep she had had in a long time, and things seemed to be going right for once. Suddenly she heard her Xtransceiver vibrate on the night stand next to her, she got up after it rang for the second time. Scarlett was still sound asleep as Ophelia looked over to see if she had woken too. Ophelia reached over to pick up the Xtransceiver call that was coming through, it read that it was from Emil. ‘Strange…’ Ophelia thought as she lowered he thumb to press the “accept” command, “-I wouldn’t think he’d call this late…”

As she answered a loud static filled the air, the screen was static-filled so that no image could be seen from the other side.

Suddenly a voice called out over the garbled sound of an alarm in the background. “Sweetie?” Emil’s distinct voice inquired.

“~Yes darling?” Ophelia’s tired voice chimed.

“I have a bit of news…” Emil said through the static.

“I know! You found Ariel and Bradey, I was so happy when Scarlett here told me!” Ophelia interjected enthusiastically.

“Yes, there is that but there is something else…” Emil said as his voice went in and out.

“They want to come over already?” Ophelia said in a lively manner. She was fully awake and had woken Scarlett up at this point too.

‘What’s… going on?’ Scarlett’s quiet telepathic voice asked groggily.

“Ariel and Bradey are coming!” Ophelia giggled with excitement.

“…Sweetie? Are you still there?” Emil called through the poor reception. “Not exactly, there is more-” Emil’s voice called out. “Ariel is coming with a large exodus of survivors from New Opelucid. I need you to meet them at the barrier, pull them in! Make sure they are all connected somehow so that when you pull the first in the rest can follow right after-” Emil said as a loud boom was clearly heard on his side of the line.

“Emil? What was that noise?” Ophelia asked, her heart had skipped a beat when she heard that noise. It suddenly sounded like a war zone on Emil’s side.

“Pr__ise _e!” Emil’s voice echoed on the line as his voice was becoming choppy and cut off.

“Okay. Tell them I’ll meet them where you went in. I’ll be there in an instant.” Ophelia said as she tossed the covers off, nearly giving Scarlett and early burial, and pulled up her favorite yoga pants, laced up her snow boots and pulled on a heavy fur lined jacket all in a matter of seconds. As she headed out the door she was flanked by a Skuntank and an Ursaring, all three jogging in tandem with the other.

“_ love ___!”, was all that was heard before the call was dropped on the Xtransceiver.

“Love you too dear…” Ophelia said as she began to barrel down the snow covered path that led out of town and towards the mountains that created the border between the Northern Frontier and Old Unova. Ophelia whistled a loud and shrill call into the night sky when she was a safe distance from the settlement. The sound of pounding leathery wings could be heard somewhere in the darkness of the night sky. Whatever was out there was big, very very very big.

Back at the castle

Rock, steel, sand, concrete and other materials that had been used to build the wall erupted high into the sky. Emil looked up and saw a huge piece of steel and concrete fall from one of the tallest bastions on the wall… and ran up to shove Remi out of the way as it was about to land on her. “There-!” Emil called out as he grabbed her scattered pokeballs from off the ground that had fallen from a rip in Bradey’s coat and handed them gingerly. “…now you owe me! Get your ass in gear!!!” Emil shouted as he grabbed Remi by the collar of her jacket and turned her to face the massive Seviper that was now literally looming over them at full height.

“I love you!” Emil yelled at his Xtransceiver as it went dead, the battery was empty. “Damnit” Emil cursed under his breath. He closed the device and pulled a cord from a large yellow battery shaped canister hanging on the back of his waist, he plugged it in to the Xtransceiver and the battery status went full almost immediately. Emil tossed his Xtransceiver and gloves to Ariel.

“Take those and run with the citizens, the keys are powered by the presence of my Xtransceiver. Without my Xtransceiver they are useless. I left a map running on one of my Apps, select ‘Backtrack’ and follow the path it says to go. Ophelia will meet you where it ends, she will help pull everyone out. Make sure everyone holds onto someone or something else that is touching another person, if they don’t they won’t be let out.” Emil warned. “It is important that everyone stays together-” Emil said before being cut off by a booming yet smooth sounding voice.

“You thought you were clever! He thought he wasss clever! But here I am about to destroy all that you hold dear and you can only watch. Where isss he when you need him Beckon? Where isss he?” The snake mocked as it raised its long bladed tail into the air and began to pull back to make a clean swipe through everything in front of it. It began to strike with it’s blade but time and space seemed to warp around it’s tail. As if some invisible fabric were slowing it down and pushing back, it wasn’t stopping it from moving but it was making the tail travel a lot slower. “What magic isss thisss?” the Seviper hissed in disgust.

Instinctually everyone, Emil included, braced themselves for the end but looked up when the end seemed to be taking a while. Emil was suddenly scooped up and carried into the air, Emil looked and he was suddenly on Shelby’s back. “Thought you could use a lift!” Shelby’s voice said as it seemed to echo in Emil’s mind. Emil looked to his shadow; Beckons’ face could be seen smiling sheepishly from its depths.

“Let’s do some distraction work!!!” Emil called to Shelby. Shelby opened her wide maw and a massive orb of purple-ish light erupted into display. The orb was launched at the Seviper’s tail and made contact. The Draco Meteor attack exploded like a massive display of fireworks and pyrotechnics. The sheer force of the blast sent the tail flying back and caused the Pokémon it was attached to follow after it. The massive snake recovered quickly and reared its head back to where Beckon was, its eyes seemed to follow to wherever Beckon was.

“Don’t you get it? I can ssstill sssee you! You may have put yourssself into hisss shadow but you ssstill shine brightly to me!!!” Wander shouted as he charged up a Dark Pulse within it’s maw. This was met by a few attacks to Wander’s mouth that caused the Dark Pulse to explode before it could fully form. Wander looked back to where the unknown attacks had originated. When the dust from below began to clear the forms of Bradey and Dutch began to appear, but a new form was seen right by Bradey.

Emil flew down to where Ariel was at the edge of town where the main gate was. People were already filing out in a panicked rush. “Tell Ophelia to have Scarlett find me and teleport me back my Xtransceiver and the gloves. Tell her that we will be fine!!!” Emil said as Ariel pointed back to Wander in panic. Emil turned Shelby around and had her use Protect as a massive stream of toxic sludge was hurled in Emil, Ariel and the citizen’s direction. A huge flat disk like shield was erected and blocked all the sludge from harming anyone. Shelby then immediately countered with a concentrated stream of Flamethrower back to Wander who blocked the fire and a couple of other attacks from below him with his long bladed tail.

At the barrier

Ophelia landed gently on the ground as she held onto a scaly leg and had her feet firmly planted on a set of sharp clawed feet. She leapt off and touched the ground lithely on the balls of her feet. She looked up at the massive dragon that was casting an even larger shadow on her and the barrier. “Thanks for the lift Follow; I’ll call you when I need you again.” The massive dragon made no sign of acknowledgement beyond lifting off of the ground again and flying high into the sky once again merging into the darkness of the night. Just then two Pokémon burst out of the trees behind Ophelia. Ophelia turned and scowled lightly “Come on you two, hustle!” Ophelia said to the Ursaring and the Skuntank that were wheezing heavily as if they had made a mad dash to catch up with Ophelia after she had hitched a ride on a dragon.

“Hobbs, Flash…” Ophelia said to the Ursaring and Skuntank respectively, “We are going to get a bunch of new citizens, behave. They are all friends. Especially Ariel, you two remember her, right?” Ophelia said cheerfully. The two Pokémon sagged their shoulders, where there was Ariel… Delilah was usually around as well.

Dutch was not particularly moved by Bradey's speech. He was not the kind of man that expected others to help him when there was nothing in it for them and he didn't feel it should be expected of him either. He WAS however the kind of man that didn't like being squashed by absurdly sized snakes from beyond the grave. As Bradey flew off Dutch looked for an exit only to find that the Seviper's body had slowly been wrapping itself around the area, closing them off from any non-aerial escapes. Seeing as none of the members on his team could fly, he'd have to stay and fight.

He didn't like this thought. Never an overly clever man, he'd had always relied on brute strength to get the job done, but this seemed like one fight he couldn't just force his way through. They needed a plan.

While still trying to figure out what to do, Olympus was keeping the problem ever so annoyed with his Tri-Attacks and making the beast increasingly hostile. In an attempt to silence the hyrdreigon, the snake let out another dark pulse from it's maw. Olympus dodged it, allowing the stray energy mass to head straight for where Dutch and Remi were standing. Thinking quickly, Remi had Lyla teleport her out of harm's way.

But as it's been said, Dutch does not think that fast.

Before impact, Presley burst from his ball to shield Dutch by wrapping his body around him. The dark pulse hit the nidoking square on his back, knocking them to the ground.

"AauUGGH!" Dutch yelled in pain as the smoke cleared around them, "Ya stuck me ya bunglin' oaf!"

Sure enough, as Presley lifted himself off his trainer two of the larger spikes that covered his body had punctured through Dutch's left shoulder and right thigh. Dutch groaned as his nidoking pulled away. There wasn't too much bleeding from the wounds as they had missed any major blood vessels. Still they had torn their fair share of tendon and muscle that would make it difficult to move around on his own.

"Sorry boss," Presley uttered, seeming pained.

"It gotcha good, didn'it?" Dutch asked

"I'm still standing," the nidoking half-laughed.

Dutch grinned. He could always rely on Presley to take a beating and keep going. With the help of Duke (who had managed to avoid all the poisonous, prickly parts of the meat shield) Dutch lifted himself back on his feet.

"Good boy," he told Presley, "Y'gave me an idear."

Dutch released Bruce from his ball and crawled onto his back with Duke close behind, "Alright punks, get as close as ya can to that thing for a double quake. Should buy us a little time."

"Rodger boss!" team Ground-Pound shouted in unison. Bruce darted off with Presley following behind.

"Duke, I need ya out of tha way," Dutch addressed the zangoose, still riding on the dragon's back, "Yer not gonna be much use in a fight like this."

"Understood," Duke sighed. He was rarely ever put in his ball and he didn't much care for being called useless. Still, he had to agree and he was zipped away into the bi-valved ball with a flash.

The Seviper was still occupied with Olympus and took no notice of Bruce and Presley as they got into position, closing in on the monster.

"Double-Quake, NOW!" Dutch barked.

Bruce and Presley both knew the tactic well. They simultaneously initiated their own earthquake attacks. The result was an amplified quake far stronger than either could produce on their own. The tremor shook the poison snake violently, causing it to topple. Dutch knew it would only be temporary. Should buy the others some time, he thought. Realizing when the beast did get up his team was terrifyingly close to it, he ordered Bruce to dart away returning Presley to his ball as they did so.

Unable to fly upward, he shouted to Emil and Bradey, "HEY! NOW WHAT?"

Ophelia watched in utter marvel as the barrier seemed to open its mouth and as people and pokemon filed out of it. Many were destitute, dirty or looked as if they hadn’t had a decent, hardy meal in a long time. Inside Ophelia both wept and leapt for joy, sad because of the hardships that they had to face but rejoicing at the fact that the Northern Frontier had more than enough faculties and supplies to house half of Unova. Ophelia had Flash lead the refugees to town and had Hobbs bring up the rear and help out people who needed some additional support. The air was cold and frigid, they sky was nearly cloudless and the settlement made of concrete was just below in a small valley that had a river that encircled it. Tall evergreens could be seen further North of the settlement and mountains all around the valley. As Ariel allowed the last person through Ophelia raced up to Ariel and threw a big furry blanket around her. “Welcome. Welcome to the Northern Frontier old friend!” Ophelia said as she and Ariel began to walk side by side following a few meters behind Hobbs.

As they walked down the wooded path to the town Scarlett appeared in a display of shimmering bluish-white lights. ‘The council has been notified, the city awoken, preparations are underway and almost complete, and the quartermasters have prepared care packs for each of the 567- sorry, Ariel included - 568 refugees. Everyone will have a fur sleeping bag, ground pad, canteen of spring water and a small snack. Come breakfast tomorrow everyone will receive more permanent dwellings as housing assignments are finalized. Klaus has alerted me that we should have everything squared away by tomorrow afternoon, that nigh we will celebrate. The day after we must start re-stockpiling so we can pull through winter, Faust has forecasted with the local Castform that a blizzard aided by a group of migrating Abomasnow will cause an early winter. It is forecasted to come in the next week. We have ample time to prepare now that we have additional help.’ Scarlett said in a soft but intelligent voice.

For an ordinary person this would have been a bit much to process but Ophelia nodded and simply replied, “Thanks Scarlett, duly noted. Make sure all of the rest of mine and Emil’s team are notified too so they can help out as well. Also have Faust print out a memo to all of the town tomorrow evening after the festivities.” Ophelia had become sort of the go to gal when it came to the affairs of the NF. She could listen to 6 different people talking all at once and mediate between them and the rest of the settlement. That was sort of her unofficial job, to mediate and delegate.

Scarlett merely nodded and was about to teleport away when she saw that Ariel had the gloves Emil had left with, she audibly gasped in shock. ‘You… but… he… He needs those!’ Scarlett pointed while protesting, even if very meekly when she saw Ariel’s team right behind her. Scarlett quickly teleported and hid behind Ophelia to avoid the gazes of others.

“Relax, Scar… you can send them back. Right?” Ophelia asked Scarlett.

‘Yes… but I’ll need Solomon to help guide me there…’ Scarlett retorted in a cute sort of frustration. ‘I hate being weak…’ Scarlett said as a small tear formed, she quickly rubbed it into Ophelia’s fur coat so that the others wouldn’t see.

Over at New Opelucid

Emil drew in close while on Shelby’s back to Bradey. “I’m… I’m not sure. All our attacks don’t seem to do anything to it. It keeps regenerating and it recovers from our attacks before we can think of a better way to stop it.” Emil said. Down below he heard Dutch ask what they should do, Emil was about to say ‘working on it’ when he also saw Wander begin to coil, strike and then attempt to swallow Bradey and him whole. So instead all that was heard from Emil was "Oh shiiii-!!!"

A green flash, a slight if painful tugging on Emil’s arm and another green flash later both Emil and Bradey were knocked on their butts like a lineman had tackled them at full force. Emil gasped to regain his breath, he had always hated teleporting. When Emil was in Saffron city the Silph Co. building always had a trash can with bits of Emil’s last meal in it on each floor. Emil had since become more accustomed to it but he still didn’t like it. Flying was better, much better. Emil got up as quickly as he could muster, he wanted to thank Remi for the save but he needed a small break to regain his thoughts.

Emil returned Shelby to her Dusk Ball, she a long with Draconic were in a tangled, upturned mess of wings, tails, limbs and necks. Emil then sent out a new pokemon. It was massive, muscular and looked as if it could take on an entire army by the steely glint in its eyes. The muscled pokemon turned slightly as if waiting for a command after it had looked up to see his Seviper opponent after Remi and Ditti had begun to square off with the beast. Never once did the pokemon’s face change from the seriousness that it had had since coming out.

Emil watched as both Wander and Ditti began to coil, strike, throw attacks and attempt to gain leverage over the other. Emil had come up with a plan, “Switch it up and attack as hard and fast as you can, we need to help bring that thing down. Beckon and I will be right back. Come on Greconian, you got some Mach Punches to deal out.” Emil said as he ran recklessly toward the action, his shadow beginning to spread over his body, he was starting to take on ghostly like features. Greconian shrugged and aimed both of his fists at the ground, what came after could only be recognized as a sort of rocket aided jump into the air after Emil as a loud sound akin to canon fire was heard and two fist shaped craters were imprinted into the concrete.

Emil was running fast, faster than what would be humanly possible for a sprinter, shadowy trails of darkness started to fall away from Emil’s form as he continued to pick up speed. Every inch of him, save his face, was covered in a black mass of shadow that formed perfectly around his clothes, hair and skin. “Beckon, prepare for attacks when I call for them…” Emil said mentally. ‘Roger.’ Could be heard echoed back in his mind. Emil ran parkour across the crumbling city with the agility and speed of a Weavile. Emil ran at full speed up an arch that Wander had been cornered into. Emil began to literally run up and around the wall and ceiling of the archway and leapt so that he was over Wander. After that time began to slow for both he and Wander, trick room was taking effect on them both. Emil aimed with the palm of his right hand and held on to his right arm with his left hand and took aim. “MAX PSYCHIC!” A burst of bright purple energy erupted from Emil’s hand and slammed Wander’s head into the ground. Wander could be heard roaring in pain as his head traveled the long distance down, Emil used that time wisely. Emil took careful aim at Wander’s tail that was at a weird vertical angle against the thickest part of the archway. “MAX POWER GEM!” Another burst of light issued from Emil’s hand but it was tiny like a small glowing rock. It collided with Wander’s tail and covered it and part of the archway in a growing, electric blue crystal, that single rock was followed by several others till Emil had reached the ground again. The entire blade and several dozen yards of Wander’s tail had been grafted to the arch. Wander tried to pull free but was unable.

Greconian then leapt into the air from out of nowhere and began to pelt Wander’s poor head with even more Mach Punches, further burying it into the ground. Each punch sending shockwaves that rocked the entire city. The archway and the crystallized section of it seemed to take no damage from these shockwaves while the rest of the city seemed to continue to fall apart. Emil left Greconian to work on Wander and walked casually back over to the group, the shadows shuffling off Emil and merging back into place on the ground beneath him. Emil took some of the wrapping from around his mid-section and proceeded to wrap up a tourniquet on Dutch’s wounds while Bradey moved in to help aid Remi finish take down Wander. “Dutch tested that beast to it's limits, I managed to only slow him down, Remi is keeping him at bay, you need to take him down. And make him stay down.” Emil said in a grave tone as Bradey walked closer to the battle. “Can the ‘Demon’ do that?” Emil asked, but it wasn't as much asking as it was a serious consideration.

The shock wave from Titan's hyper beam shook Shelby and her riders. Dutch held on tight to keep from falling off, but in the corner of his eye Remi was having a more difficult time. With only one arm to hold on with, the wave threw her off the dragon's back and she cried out for help. Instinctively Dutch grabbed her hand, forgetting about the puncture wound in his shoulder. The sudden weight pulled on his torso, causing a splitting pain to run through his shoulders. He grit his teeth through the pain, but managed to hold on to both Remi and Shelby. Before he could pull her back up, Dutch looked upon the destroyed city as though he had never seen it. The once formidable wall lay crumbled, and the castle where they had been only moments ago seemed to have just vanished. He could only stare in awe.

"Will you pull me up already?" Remi called up to Dutch, with an understandable duress.

"Er, sorry miss," he said, the pain shooting through his shoulder once again as he pulled her back onto the dragon's back. As soon as she stable enough to get herself situated, Dutch's gaze returned to the city. He couldn't see the monstrous snake anymore, though there seemed to be some electricity running through the dust clouds.

"Should... should we go back?" Dutch asked, looking to Emil and somewhat afraid of the answer.

((This is a bit of a long post, read carefully!))

Emil looked downward slightly when Remi began to interrogate him for answers. His mind seemed to be in seven places at once. Part of him wanted to be back with Ophelia, another wanted to be altruistic and save the region, another to focus on helping continue to build up Northern Frontier. Still others were on who Beckon was always mentioning – he seemed to be linked with the giant Seviper and Beckon, possibly Follow (Ophelia’s gigantic Hydreigon) as well. But the biggest one was dead focused about Bradey’s safety; Titan was mentally unstable from what Ophelia had told Emil in the gardens. He shouldn’t have suggested it to Bradey at all, he should’ve thought of a different idea. But Titan had done exactly what Emil expected him to do in the beginning… now though… As the continued to fly in the sky Emil heard the unmistakable sound of a thunderclap. Emil looked out to the west, a massive super cell was forming.

‘Acid rain…’ Beckons’ voice echoed from Emil’s shadow, ‘-we can’t fly in that, we’d be fried crispy and then dissolved.’

Emil nodded, he steered Shelby toward the only landmark around. Village Bridge. “My first priority is to get everyone to a safe shelter, see those clouds?” Emil said over the oncoming wind as Shelby began her decent towards the bridge. “We fly into those or stay out in the open and we will die a more excruciating death than what Titan could ever think of doing to us. Shelter first.” Emil said as Shelby circled the debilitated bridge. The bridge was a shadow of its former glory. A single section of it had caved in from lack maintenance. Shelby flew inside the part that was intact and landed. As soon as everyone had filed off of Shelby Emil returned both her and Beckon. Suddenly Solomon appeared just inside the entrance of the bridge. “Status report.” Emil said flatly.

“The city has been leveled, nothing stands any more. I suspect looters will have a field day after the rain ends.” Solomon said jovially.

Emil rolled his eyes at Solomon, even in the worst of times Solomon always seemed to be happy. “And the Seviper?” Emil inquired.

“As good as nonexistent. It simply vanished after it was hit by that Tyranitar’s Hyper Beam. I suspect it was atomized. The blast shattered my Trick Room and I was forced to teleport away, good thing I kept tabs on where you were.” Solomon concluded.

“So… what about Bradey?” Emil asked, he was trying not to sound too concerned, give some credit to how skilled Bradey was as a man and as a trainer.

“He was there before I teleported away, after that I cannot say. The energy reading I am getting from that demon is making it difficult to make heads or tails of where he is and in what condition..” Solomon replied.

Emil’s head fell slightly, “Thanks anyway Solomon. You can return.” Emil said as Solomon returned himself without a moment of hesitation. Emil walked a few paces away from the group in silence to the mouth of the bridge that they stood under. Here were the facts. Bradey was back at New Opelucid, Emil and the group were here inside Village Bridge, Ariel had taken the entire city of New Opelucid with her to the Northern Frontier. With her was the only key to getting in and out of the barrier as well as his only form of communication with the outside. Emil suddenly felt very alone. Emil leaned himself against the curved wall of the bridge to keep himself from falling from lack of strength and lack of will to push on. It was everything Emil had to keep from breaking down. Suddenly a flash of light illuminated the center of the bridge just beyond Dutch, who was sitting on the ground and resting from the excitement, and Remi who had followed Emil’s every step to where he currently was until she had the answers she wanted out of him. Emil, Remi and Dutch all squinted their eyes till the light began to take shape into two, possibly three forms.

A few minutes prior to Titan turning on Bradey

Ophelia received the gloves from Ariel and knelt down to Scarlett’s level. Ophelia smiled and gingerly handed them to Scarlett “Remember how you practiced? Just focus on the place you want to go and let it bring you there…” Ophelia said. Scarlett did so; the last thing she saw before teleporting was Ophelia’s smiling face giving Scarlett the strength to over come her fears. A jolt of bluish-white shimmering light was seen for a moment and the next Scarlett was gone.

Ophelia hugged Ariel once more after she stood up from kneeling. “It is no problem, the Northern Frontier, or NF as we call it, was built for this. We are only happy we could continue to receive more refugees after the barrier closed you off.” Ophelia said. Ophelia looked at the crown and smiled, “I know exactly where that can go!” Ophelia said with a small smirk as she led Ariel, arm-in-arm, to Ophelia and Emil’s house. It was of a standard design that looked something like this >>http://archinspire.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/open-plan-concept-dark-exterior-modern-house-design3-500x307.jpg<<. The inside looked rustic; fur, wood, stone and antlers were everywhere. There was a certain level of aesthetic beauty to it, it wasn’t what most people would like but under the current circumstances and with the limited resources available most people had to make due. Ophelia had done her best. “As you’ll notice there is not one article of clothing, furniture or piece of artwork that came from a Pokémon in here. All of it came from wild animals, up here there seems to be a certain lack of Pokémon wildlife here, we can’t quite explain it. The only Pokémon we ever seem to see are of the migrating kind, like Castform, Drifblims, Beartics, Abomasnows, Sawsbucks and such. Occasionally a pack of Weavile but other than that…” Ophelia said as she placed Ariel’s crown on the fireplace’s hearth, atop a pair of antlers that came from the first kill during the NF’s first hunting season. Ophelia looked into the crackling fire before talking to Ariel. "-But we hardly ever see pokemon, I think they aren't used to humans so they tend to keep a wide distance."

Ophelia looked up from the fire and over to Ariel, “We are in trouble too… the company that put up the barrier keep on giving us trouble. Or I should say the men that work as the guards for the men that run the company. Emil was lucky to get the keys to the barrier from that scientist, too bad we never saw that nice man again afterward…” Ophelia said as the reflected fire danced in her tired eyes. “They are constantly causing trouble within the NF. Taking things that don’t belong to them, damaging property, beating up civilians and the Pokémon that help us. It is horrible… that and…” Ophelia was holding a torn open letter in her hand; she was holding it close to her chest. “But it’s nothing we need to worry about right now!” Ophelia said suddenly jovial. Ophelia set the letter down in a oak drawer, closed it and walked into the guest bedroom. Ophelia could be heard humming a tune while she set up a bed for Ariel. Ariel meanwhile peered into the drawer and looked the letter over. It was from the doctor’s office, it was a test result for Ophelia. In bold letters next to where it said “Pregnancy Test” read the word “Unable”. A flash startled Ariel and Ophelia when Scarlett returned. Scarlett had telported in the doorway of the room where Ophelia was and looked at both Ariel and Ophelia. Wordlessly Scarlett walked to Ophelia's room and psychically threw the covers over her head.

A couple of minutes previous

Scarlett blinked and saw a torn down city, there was smoke and debris everywhere. A loud roar was heard. She shuddered in fear. ‘No… got to get these to Emil…’ Scarlett told herself internally. She looked around; the fires and smoke were affecting her vision. She did sense that someone was very afraid, terrified even. She looked behind her and saw a tall, well built man he was on his back looking up in fear at a monstrous looking Tyranitar. At that moment Scarlett acted without thinking, she teleported to the man, gave him a squeezing hug. She looked deep into the monster’s eyes and said as powerfully as she could muster her telepathy to be “NO!” and began to teleport both him and herself to anywhere but there. She had sensed that this man was a friend. But before she could even finish Titan began to lunge towards them at unbelievable speed. But a fist shaped shockwave pounded into him knocking him off balance for a fraction of a second. Suddenly Scarlett saw Greconian, she pulled him towards her and reached out to touch him. The next moment the Tyranitar was all alone. Titan roared in bitter rage the ground beneath him cracking under the pressure he was exerting on his surroundings.

Back at Village Bridge

The light faded and the forms of Scarlett, Greconian and Bradey could be seen. Emil blinked in disbelief. He wasn’t sure what to say or do now. Scarlett let go of Bradey walked silently to Emil, handed over his Xtransceiver and gloves, bowed and teleported away.

Emil was unsure about what had just happened but decided to go with it, he put back on the gloves and his Xtransceiver. Emil knelt down and took off his back pack, after opening the top flap a small Skorupi jumped up and crawled on to Emil's head like Lila does with Remi. "Raj? Can you help aid our friend Dutch with his wounds? Drain the poison and ease some of the pain?" Emil asked to the scorpion on his head. It clambered down and hopped over to where Dutch was sitting on the ground. Raj's claws began to glow a pale yellow as he grew closer to Dutch's wounds. "Don't worry, his Acupressure does wonders!" Emil called over to Dutch who looked a bit nervous of the poison type. Emil slowly but deliberately began to walk over to Bradey and Greconian, "Lets stick together next time? Promise?" Emil said to both Bradey and Greconian.

Emil turned and sat on a flat stone that was about 2 feet tall and mostly cube shaped, Greconian walked over and stood next to Emil and took up the position that a bouncer would at a club, arms crossed and looking very intimidating. Emil then addressed Remi's question now that everyone was accounted for. “We need to find any clues as to how this all began and whatever is left of Nimbasa has to have at least a few clues. That couldn’t have been an ordinary bomb, ever since the Johto/Kanto civil war when Mew permanently made it so all conventional weapons couldn’t work, we have used Pokémon battles as a way to settle disputes. That means that this bomb wasn’t any old nuclear device…” Emil paused as he tried to find the right words to say. “This weapon had to be powered by a Pokémon. A really powerful one, one with limitless potential. But small enough that it could be smuggled into Unova without alerting the officials. And it would've had to have been disguised or in a different form to fool people into thinking it was an ordinary object.” Emil concluded.

"Now I'm sure you are all aware of what has happened since the incident. Unova was evac'd, the majority of the region closed off and the threat of world-wide radioactive contamination averted. I also know that the officials claim that you, Remi, are the "master mind" of the century. No offence but you don't strike me as the kind of person who has the time, resources or (and here is the insulting part) brains to have done something this heinous. I also know this - I have had to create a colony for the refugees to live in after the incident and have helped to govern it on the city's tribunal for the past 4 years or so. Bradey has been in charge of maintaining and protecting a city that served as a safe haven for survivors and has gathered enough info about what was outside his walls to know better than to try to rough it for too long out here in the badlands." Emil said as he motioned to himself and to Bradey.

"You and Dutch I don't know much about or know much about any more. Care to enlighten us on what you two have been doing for the past 5 years? I figure we get all this out of the way right now before we continue too far forward. You may as well clear the air now while we wait out the storm..." Emil said as he leaned forward to see what the other two had to say. The thunderstorm by this point had met up with them and was pouring acidic rain outside the mouth of the bridge. "I highly doubt you'd want to get wet..." Emil said with a small smirk. In the dim light of the blue hour ((Just before dawn, upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Dawn_Xepon_Laos.jpg )) Emil looked over to Bradey, he looked like he had seen and experienced hell. Emil noticed that Bradey was down one Heavy ball on his belt... Emil now knew what had happened after they left but decided to not alarm the others just yet.

((Shameless reference to the End Run OCT's plot >>http://end-run--pokemon-oct.deviantart.com/journal/End-Run-Plot-267316718<<, best I had to work with at the time))

Moments before Scarlett's appearance...

Bradey stumbled backwards as Titan took a menacing step forward. The Tyranitar stared at him hungrily as he poised to strike down his former master.

"Titan...!" Bradey took another step backwards but ended up tripping over a stone. He hit the ground with a loud thud that echoed across the remains of the settlement.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!

As Bradey began fumbling backwards, his whole life flashed before his eyes. His childhood. His football career. Meeting Buck. Meeting Marty. His stay on the Ohana Islands. His college years. Beta Alpha Mu.

Ariel...

Bradey closed his eyes firmly as he remembered a sad Larvitar who only wanted to be strong before transitioning to thoughts of his wife and how he would never see her again. He heard Titan roar savagely before he lunged forward - then the next moment he found himself teleported a short distance away from the Pokemon. A Kirlia stood next to him clearly shaking with fear.

Out of nowhere Bradey noticed Emil's Conkeldurr strike at Titan from the debris field with speed he wasn't aware they could posses. The Tyranitar was hit head on, but moved only slightly from his position. The beast glared ferociously at the group as it flung a bolt of electricity in their direction, missing again when Scarlett teleported them again.

Alone in the remains of New Opelucid, Titan roared to the sky. A deafening cry that shook the surroundings and cracked the ground beneath him. Furious his prey had gotten away the beast began attacking everything around him in frustration.

___________________________________________________


Ariel admired the traditional decor of Ophelia's home. It actually looked cozy - something she hadn't been remotely around in a long time. She ran her hand gently over one of the furs, taking in the softness.

But the rustic comfort of the home felt far off. In the back of her mind Ariel imagined her husband, Emil, Remi, and Dutch in peril against the monster Seviper. Not to mention the mushroom cloud she saw.
That could only mean Bradey brought out Titan...

"Ophelia... your home is beautiful." Ariel commented as she hung her cloak near the door before taking a seat. "But who's in charge of this place? Why doesn't anybody stick up to those guys?"
Ariel briefly took a moment to remember the harsh judgement inflicted on those who refused to cooperate in the settlement.

Her thoughts sidetracked again when she decided to be nosy and glace at the letter Ophelia had put away. Her eyes widened and her hand flung to her mouth.
She can't have kids!?
Ariel thought back to a past conversation with Bradey. They had come to a consensus that they would refrain from having a child while in New Opelucid. The last thing they wanted to do was bring a child into that...
She shoved the letter back in the drawer before she saw Scarlett reappear and scurry away as if depressed. Ariel couldn't help but feel sorry for the Pokemon before wondering out loud "Do you think Bradey and the others are okay?"

__________________________________________________


Bradey lie on the cold hard ground, breathing heavily. I'm alive? Oh thank Arceus above, I'm alive. He sat up slowly to see the rest of their group huddled under an old bridge. In the periphery of his vision he could see it was raining - hard. Acid rain like this was notorious for wiping out whole farming plots in New Opelucid.
He noticed Scarlett had disappeared before he got a chance to thank her for saving his life.

Draconic and Olympus were quick to be upon their master as they looked him over. He noticed Emil looking at him too - more specifically his belt.

"I don't think I need to explain in-depth that we may have another serious problem on our hands." He breathed. "Titan went berserk after he took down that Seviper." Bradey sat up against a rock before he returned Olympus and Draconic to their balls.

__________________________________________________

Titan breathed as he stood silently in the acid rainstorm. His ragged breathing was the only thing that could be heard over the falling rain. A sandstorm began to churn around him in addition to the thunderstorm.

As a bolt of thunder arced across the sky, Titan let out a primal roar to the heavens as if he was letting the region know he was free to do as he pleased.

__________________________________________________


At the bridge, Bradey froze when he heard Titan's all-too-familiar cry. A shiver went down his spine as he gazed off in the direction where New Opelucid once stood.

__________________________________________________


Outside Ophelia's home, Delilah stood watch as if expecting something to go wrong. She hadn't been out of the habit on being on her guard for years.
The Garchomp seized up when she heard a faint echo in the direction of the barrier. She recognized Titan's mournful roar from miles away. Possibly the one thing on this earth that Delilah feared was that Tyranitar.

“They’re fine, Scarlett would’ve been longer if they weren’t. Right Scar?” Ophelia called out. Scarlett was telepathically heard muttering how she never wanted to teleport again.

“Bed is all made… but feel more than welcome to sleep there if you like.” Ophelia giggled as she saw Ariel strewn out on the furry comforter that covered the entire couch Ariel was spread out on. “But the bed feels a lot better~” Ophelia teased. When Ariel got up and walked into the small guest room there seemed to be an air of warmth and love in the room. Something akin to the closest thing to “Home” as anything could get at that point. “Those soldiers are just punks. When they have nothing better to do they like to cause trouble. We can’t do anything without having legal troubles with the Pro-tech’d corporation. We have to remain diplomatic for now…” Ophelia said softly as she smoothed out the bedding. The bed was king sized and practically took up half the room; it was covered with fur blankets, down filled comforters and lots of pillows. It looked as if it could swallow the person who laid on it in its levels of warmth and softness. The rest of the room had a small circle cut rug of soft leather, an old transistor radio, a dresser, a wardrobe and another door that led to a walk in bathroom. “It isn’t much, but it is all we got.” Ophelia said as she watched Ariel turn slowly as she took in the room. “I’m glad you’re here, I’m glad you weren’t really dead…” Ophelia said to her long lost friend on the verge of tears.

Back at Village Bridge

Emil watched as Remi left, he had half a mind to let her go and rough it on her own. But shook that thought away after a minute or two and grabbed the cloak that she had thrown at Bradey, pulled on his hood and walked after her into the rain. “Hold tight till I get back…” Emil said as he turned to look back at Bradey and Dutch who were still under the bridge. As Emil walked briskly in the rain he noticed that the droplets were starting to irritate his skin more and more. Emil’s scars that had long since faded were beginning to show more vividly again. The rain was getting more caustic as it rained harder. Emil sent out a Dusk ball and from it came a Magnezone, it turned curiously this way and that as if unsure where it was, Emil noticed that the acidic rain wasn’t effecting MK-Ultra at all. If anything it seemed to clean all the impurities from his exterior. “MK-Ultra, Lock-on to where that is any movement aside from the rain.” Emil requested. The Magnezone began to rotate a full 360° and locked onto a set of footprints in the mud. Emil grabbed onto one of the magnets on the underside of MK-Ultra and the two hovered in the direction of the tracks. They floated a short distance before finding Remi passed out under a cliff side that was blocking the rain from falling on her. Emil got off of MK-Ultra and tossed the cloak onto Remi, Lyla could be seen cuddling under Remi’s hair for warmth. Emil without hesitation picked up Remi and began to carry her back to the bridge in his arms. Lyla fluttered into Emil’s hood and snuggled next to Emil’s warm neck. “You’ve been on your own for too long. Whether you know it or not you need us...” Emil walked under MK-Ultra till the mad it back to the underside of the bridge. “Don’t worry Lyla; we will take care of each other. Our survival out here depends on it.”

Emil set Remi down on a small patch of hay that was lying on the ground and spread the cloak on her to better keep her warm, Lyla instantly fluttered back to the warmth of Remi’s unkempt hair. Emil looked back over to where Bradey and Dutch had fallen asleep; Greconian was standing watch as the other two slept. “You need some rest too big guy.” Emil said as he returned Greconian. Emil sat on a rock between the unconscious Remi and the exit to the outside, Emil was alone now to his thoughts. For the next few hours his mind drifted around the recent happenings as he looked out into the rain till Remi stirred and awoke. Emil, not looking away from the rain addressed Remi who was very groggy. “You can’t last out there forever on your won Remi. I want to help you clear your name; I never trusted what they said on the airwaves. I knew you before then, you aren’t that kind of person. You aren’t a heartless bastard that would kill millions, injure thousands more and displace an entire region. Sure you can be a piece of work to get along with and sarcastic as hell but you aren’t a monster…” Emil said quietly as to not wake anyone else up. Emil turned to look Remi in the eye they locked eyes for a flash of a moment but the connection had been made, Emil saw her aura. She was a lot of things but she wasn’t the one who shook the world. It would be a couple more hours till the rain would stop and they could find food to eat and supplies to gather for the trek to Nimbasa so Emil brought out his MP3 player and speakers and pressed play on a song that sounded like this... >> www.youtube.com/watch?v=-onQcF95pfs<< The soft music filled the air inside the tunnel but was muffled by the rain when it exited the underside of the bridge.