A waft of nostalgia tickled at Nina’s nose when she walked into the diner — that of coffee, grease and syrup.
The establishnt was styled after a Unovan-style greasy spoon which, for all intents and purposes, was the equivalent of a good old fashioned Arican diner in the Pokemon World.
A smile tugged at her face as she scanned the interior to find the back of a horned triangular head peeking out from one of the booths.
“Hey, wtwo. Great find. I didn’t know the island had a place like this…”
“I like being surrounded by the sll of coffee… Though the taste of this establishnt’s brew leaves much to be desired.” The Pokemon replied simply while sipping at his mug. The beverage no doubt tasted like watered down mud water if the diners of Nina’s past life were any indication.
wtwo was no longer in his ga Evolved state — one that he could trigger at will without the aid of a human trainer — but he did look a lot healthier given that his cells were no longer rebelling against his body.
Nina giggled. “Yeah, Espy told about your little shopping trip yesterday. I heard you bought a coffee brewing kit and so beans? You should make so for us at so point.” The girl teased.
wtwo snarled but ultimately just responded with a huff, eliciting a fair bit of mirth from Nina. She had been a little cautious of how wtwo might treat her after their little transaction. But after hearing from Espy, she felt more assured in knowing that wtwo was just a little awkward around people. Which was totally understandable, given his tragic background.
A waitress ca around at this point to take Nina’s order, her eyelashes fluttering bashfully towards the oblivious wtwo.
Nina chuckled, wtwo had excluded her from whatever glamor he was wearing at the mont, but no doubt it must have been quite the handso one to elicit such a reaction.
“Enough dallying! I have waited long enough to act. Giovanni must die! You ntioned you are privy to his whereabouts?”
In response, the girl pulled out a thick stack of folders from her bag and flipped open her Pokedex. “Not his exact location… But with the aid of Celebi and extrapolating from the League’s intel, we did manage to cross reference a general vicinity.”
Nina zood in on her map and slid it over to wtwo. “Sowhere in the Northern Mountain Ranges, which despite how it might look on the map, is quite a sizable bit of real estate to comb through. Any ideas?”
wtwo huffed. “A re trifle. We simply need to go there physically and search for a Dark Spot as you humans call it. Whatever ans of obfuscation Team Rocket is employing, it is almost certain that Dark Type Energy is involved.”
Nina returned with a feeble smile. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, wtwo… There’s a complex network of caves all throughout those mountains. Dark Type Energy is abundant, and Arceus save us if they were underground to boot.”
“Have you tried?” The Psychic rebuked, with an almost accusatory glare.
“Well, no… I was kind of hoping that you would help out here.”
“Then so be it.”
In a blink, the pair vanished, much to the confusion of the waitress who returned to an empty booth with Nina’s orders in hand.
***
“Dammit, wtwo! It’s rude to Teleport people without their consent like that!” Nina exclaid, before scrambling to recover the falling pile of paper and her Pokedex splayed ssily on the ground.
But wtwo was not listening as he fixed his gaze towards the distance, a vicious grin carved into his face. “There you are…”
“Wait, what? Are you saying you found him already? So soon?!”
“I can sense a breach in reality, just as you surmised — widening precariously even as we speak.” wtwo growled. “Not again… You won’t get away from this ti!”
“Wait, wtwo! Hang on! I need to call for backup first— Urgh!”
A burst of wind and a quiet blur as wtwo levitated above the treeline and zood off into the distance, presumably to confront Giovanni in his secret lair.
“Why does nobody ever listen?!” The girl groaned as she hastily picked up her Pokedex to make a call, only to be interrupted yet again by a shrill voice who called out to her.
“Nina? Is that you?!”
“Huh?” The girl froze and looked up to see the familiar visage of a spiky, black-haired young man hovering in the air atop an unfamiliar Dragonite. “Ash? What in the world are you doing here?!”
“Haha! It’s so good to see you again, Nina!” The boy cheered as he hopped down his Dragonite. “You know, I did try to call you but I wasn’t able to get through for so reason. You really had worried for a sec there.”
“Oh… Well I was kinda busy doing stuff the past few days. But wait, you didn’t answer my question! What are you doing here?! I thought you were supposed to be in Pallet Town?!”
The protagonist rubbed at the back of his head sheepishly. “Err… Well, don’t tell mom but I kinda snuck out. I’ve been getting the heebie-jeebies, you know? Like sothing’s calling out to .” Ash frowned. “Like sothing bad is about to happen… Did you feel it too? Is that why you’re here, Nina?”
Nina joined in on the frowning. “Is it the wormhole maybe…?” She mused, but just as quickly dismissed the notion with a shake of her head. This was no ti to be speculating! “Listen to , Ash. You need to go and stop wtwo from assaulting Team Rocket on his own!”
Because no matter how powerful a Legendary he was, wtwo was still just a single Pokemon. Not to ntion, Giovanni has had a history of subjugating wtwo, which ant he must have so sort of secret weapon to use against him.
“wtwo?”
“That’s right! wtwo was the one who brought here and he just ran off on his own. You need to go stop him while I call for reinforcents from the League! This might be our only chance to destroy Team Rocket for good, we can’t risk losing it by alerting them!”
Ash’s gaze hardened. “Got it. Leave it to !” And hopped back onto his Dragonite in pursuit.
“Rember, Ash! Just grab wtwo and get out of there! Don’t be a reckless hero!” Nina shouted, only to groan at her own words. “What am I saying, this is Ash-freaking-Ketchum we’re talking about here. Of course he’s going to be a big dumb hero!” She regretted not holding Ash back and sending Nitey and Espy in his stead.
***
“Milady, an urgent call for you.”
Clair Blackthorn thanked her assistant and grabbed hold of the proffered phone, frowning as she listened to the frantic pleas on the other side.
“I see… send your coordinates and we will be there in approximately ten minutes. Would that be acceptable, Nina?”
“I… I guess.”
“Good. Do not stray too far, my dear. We are about to go to war.”
Clair disconnected then calmly flicked open her Pokedex to send out an ergency alert. Afterwhich, she got up and allowed her assistant to drape her half-cape upon her shoulders, just in ti for Sabrina to Teleport into the room.
“Lady Sabrina, are you certain you are sufficiently hale to partake in this operation?”
The other noblewoman was in quite a state; covered in bandages from head to toe with one of her arms in a sling, still yet to fully recover from her defense against Archer.
Sabrina furrowed her delicate brows. “My Pokemon are healthy and that is all that matters. Giovanni will not get away this ti.” Her tone was terse, voice monotone, yet Clair could feel a weight bearing down on her, the furniture in the room trembling from the Psychic Master’s Aura.
Clair chuckled and extended a hand towards her colleague. “Very well then. Shall we?”
“We shall.” In a blink, the two won vanished and found themselves relocated to a hidden base struck from the League’s records; a completely blank space that was soon filled by flashing lights as Sabrina’s apprentices Teleported Elites and Ace Trainers from all across the region.
“Gahaha! Finally, so action!”
“Bruno.” Clair greeted the brute of a man who materialised with a cadre of brawny trainers led by one of their senior Aces — a woman by the na of Jessica, if her mory held.
Then, the shadows deepened and Karen erged with her cousin, Morty of Ecruteak, and their clan’s clandestine unit of saboteurs by their side. Shortly followed by another series of flashes, revealing Falkner and two of his most trusted lieutenants, as well as Daisy and Lily Mizuhana along with a handful of glamorous looking rmaids, looking distinctly out of tune with the rest of their solemn gathering.
And finally, just as Clair was about to step up and address her people, there was one final flash as a cloaked figure appeared leaning against a far corner. The figure nodded and Clair responded with the sa.
All in all, their forces numbered around 50 trainers — the most competent and trustworthy that the League had to offer. It was the best that Clair could do while ensuring maximum secrecy and expediency. So they would have to make up for the lack of quantity with quality.
“Ladies, gentlen…” Clair intoned, her voice effortlessly filling the space. “The situation as it stands is thus; lina Jones, with the assistance of the enigmatic wtwo, was able to uncover the whereabouts of Giovanni and Team Rocket’s hidden base.”
The air thickened as a series of fiery Auras flared, most of which emanating from Bruno and his contingent of Ace Trainers.
“However, upon discovery of the base, wtwo went rogue and is currently in the midst of conducting a solitary assault against the facility.”
A series of frowns followed, most visibly among the Cerulean rmaids. “Dang it, Nins… Stay outta trouble for once, will ya?”
“Additionally,” Clair continued with a wave, “lina Jones has confird that Giovanni and his ilk were able to tear open an Ultra Wormhole in the area, which would essentially allow them to transcend reality and tamper with ti and space.”
The air chilled and their gazes hardened. Even a mindless fool like Bruno could tell what disastrous implications such a power would bring, even if he was unable to understand it fully.
“Therefore, our objective is simple. The containnt of the wormhole and the subjugation of Giovanni and Team Rocket — deador alive!”
The Ace Trainers stomped their feet and broke out into affirmative salutes.
“And pray tell, where is our Champion?” Falkner chid.
Clair held back a sigh. “He is… aware of our struggles.” But whether or not he cared to show up was a different matter.
Falkner’s gaze sharpened and Clair shut her eyes in vain. Her cousin's days as Champion were numbered. The Tsubasa Clan had always maintained their neutrality even throughout the course of war, providing Pokemon but never trainers.
Now though, it was clear to her that Falkner and his people would no longer stand idly by as their appointed Champion neglected the region’s wellbeing in favor of his own indolent pursuits.
“Now then, if there are no more questions, let us sally forth. Ti is of the essence!”
With that final declaration, Sabrina, her trainers and their Psychic Pokemon saturated the room with purple Type Energy and Teleported them en masse.
***
Author's note:
As ntioned before, I will be releasing Ch 283-290 in bulk.
This will happen on Monday June 1st.
So, there will be no release on Saturday the 30th in exchange.
After that I'll be on a two month break. But I'll go more into detail in the epilogue notes.
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