Honestly, Felis should have guessed things were going down when he saw that he wasn’t scheduled for a shift on Monday…or the rest of the week for that matter.
Since his usual 10 hour shift was scrapped out the window, he decided to hit the gym facility after a hearty breakfast of dried chicken, rice, and steamed vegetables. The others had looked at him crazy, but he was not eating Pokémon, and also everything tasted good when you lived in an apocalypse. Light cardio that did not involve going full sprint on a treadmill and some basic weights later, he let himself relax on one of the benches watching Aken as he tore apart a training dummy.
Tore apart was too strong a phrase though, it was more like “Stabbed repeatedly”. It looked like his buddy was still upset over the loss, Felis approved. That frustration and negativity were feelings Pranav was intimately familiar with, both before the bombs and after. Negativity like this didn’t need to be cooled, it needed to grow, like wildfire until it was an obsession.
He always believed the capacity to change was humanity’s (And in this case, Pokémon's) greatest asset. Stagnation was an ugly thing, stagnation meant you weren’t living, weren’t growing. He’d always held a slight disgust towards people who refused to change, comfortable in their little bubbles and moaning about how hard life was. Of course life was hard, but did it compare to what every other living thing on Earth experienced? Waking up every morning knowing it might be the day they were hunted down and killed, that it may be the day where they’d get sick and collapse, or they’d grow old and be overthrown.
Every living being on Earth fought for their right to live, and if they did not adapt, they were left behind. Stagnation was the greatest enemy, he’d take another dose of Hypnosis before he saw himself plateau. Falling off was a better alternative, when you lost you gained wisdom, you gained envy. Both of which could be used to fuel your growth once more.
So he wouldn’t stop the negativity Aken felt, no, he’d entice it, feed it, let it grow. But he wouldn’t let it be aimless either. Felis stopped by the library on his way back after the daytage, having deposited a number of books before taking out a couple more on Ghost types and battling. He needed information, techniques, and strategies. Rather than building his own he’d refer to the hundreds of Ghost masters who’d come before him. Of course, better techniques and strategies were locked behind some families, but that would be a problem for later.
He flipped through the most promising of them, a biography of Fantina, talking about her journey into becoming Sinnoh’s Ghost type leader, as well as becoming a leading Coordinator alongside another woman named Johanna. There were some nice little tidbits and history that Felis skimmed through, like the section dedicated to Fantina’s “rebranding” of the Ghost-Type image.
Gone were the days of scary ghosts that swept up children in the night (Though that still happened sometimes apparently). As of now, Ghosts were more seen for their usefulness in and outside of battle instead of the whole ‘fear of the unknown’ agenda that old Gym Leaders liked to push. Some of the old families that specialized in Ghost types were very angry at this change, as it meant more acceptance of the type in general society, thus cutting at their niche playstyle.
Their complaints went nowhere though, not when Fantina showed up to their doorstep and wiped the floor with them.
“Gym Leaders are something else.” Felis thought, flipping through more pages. But that raised another question, where was Veilstone’s leader? He was certain there was a Gym here, was it the fighting type one? The Pink haired girl came to mind, he didn’t remember battling her at all, maybe Arun did? He did remember the Lucario vs. Buizel fight in the anime though, which had him immediately opening the game to catch a certain water type.
It also had him overestimate water pulse. Still a good move, but he imagined water Rasengan, not a ring of water that slapped the enemy.
Focusing back on the book he looked into detail about her “variation techniques”. Moves akin to Leland’s Confusion: Sporadic Burst attack.
There were a lot of techniques that Felis thought were cool, but at the moment most of them felt like they were out of his reach. That was fine, he’d already read up on Shuppet’s capabilities as a Pokémon. Weak, as far as ghost types went, but many agreed its potential for disruption in a fight was a big one.
There were two weaknesses Aken needed to cover in order to go round for round with Valor or any other Pokémon that wanted to step up to them. The first was Shuppet’s inability to fight at close range. Close range, especially without having arms to fight back with, meant disaster anytime anything came close. The second was to increase the output of power of his long range moves, or at least have greater variety in techniques to cover for general weakness.
The first of Fantina’s techniques that stood out was an entirely new technique called “Grudge Armor”, but since that looked way too complex, he settled on the inspiration of the technique, “Shadow Claw: Protrusion”. Instead of the claws manifesting along the users arms, the shadows erupted from within the body, scarring any who tried to land a physical blow.
Aken didn’t have Shadow claw yet, but he did have Shadow Sneak, he wondered if he could create a lesser version of the move.
The second technique was “Night Shade: Spirit Dance”. Night Shade worked better on stronger opponents, the stronger the foe, the more damage it did. Spirit Dance turned Night Shade into a multi hit move, each iteration of the attack doing a third of what the original did. It wasn’t the best of what was available, but again, it was a start. It also let Aken put pressure on his opponent to open them up for better attacks.
Right now Aken was working his Shadow Sneak, mastery over that move would be perfect. It was the quick attack of ghost type moves, but Felis wondered if he could do more with it. Could the shapes change? Where did the Shadows come from? How many could he make at once?
At the moment shapes wobbled, but still remained as spikes. Shadows had to be generated from a dark area, and Aken could almost make two at once. Progress.
Unfortunately before he and Aken could go back to training, someone poked their head in to call.
Fortunately, it was a familiar face.
“Winton!”
“...Pranav.” Winton said, narrowing his eyes.
Being the one to issue their IDs way back when, Winton was one of few who actually knew their real names. It would be worrying, save for the fact that Felis had asked around, Winton only talked to three people. The brothers and a certain nurse who was a delight to be around.
“Wow, not excited to see me?”
“No.”
Felis laughed, “This is why I like you Winton, what’s up?”
“Big boss is calling you and some others into the main auditorium. We’re moving.”
He sobered up immediately, wiping himself down and calling Aken to his side. “Who are the others? Is Sirius there?”
Winton shrugged, “Not too sure about the others, but Arun will be there too.”
“Code names Winton, come on.”
“Sirius will be there.” The scientist said, rolling his eyes, “Now put on some deodorant and let’s go.”
Felis did just that before following along, he hated smelling bad, reminded him of bad times. As they walked he noticed that Winton had even baggier eyes than before, did Charon’s discoveries have the man working overtime?
“What have you been up to?” Felis asked, opening a capsule full of berries. He tossed a few to Aken before munching down on some others.
“Working.”
“Oh come on man, I was down there. Weren’t you moved to Charon’s division earlier? You must be looking at something interesting.”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Winton was quiet for a few moments, before he asked softly, “Are you…actually interested?”
“Well yeah,” Felis grinned, “This is lost ancient technology that I risked my life for. I want to know what the smart scientist man has to say about it.”
“Well…I can’t tell you everything, but I can talk a little bit.”
“Shoot, I’m listening.”
He was launched into an explanation about Winton’s current project on upgrading the material on Galactic’s Uniforms. At the moment, Galactic uniforms were comfortable with a number of features on the suit, namely temperature control and terrain adaptation. What Winton was looking into was something called Nano-weave, a type of fabric that was both self repairing and even more adaptive than what they currently had.
“Temperature control is manual right now,” He said excitedly, “we could never get the suit to both recognize outside and internal temperatures while also maintaining a good balance. The suit’s processors would fry itself managing everything, which would overheat the internals and fry the person inside.”
Felis winced as he imagined it, absentmindedly clutching his chest. Even Aken scowled as the Pokémon imagined burns ruining his perfectly silky fabric.
“Exactly.” Winton nodded, seeing their reaction, “But nano-weave won’t have that issue because it’s made up of tiny little robots that act as a hivemind. So not only do we get better internal regulation, we’re getting self-repairing material, stuff that might actually be able to handle taking hits from Pokémon too.”
“Damn.” Felis nodded, impressed. “So does that mean we’re getting new uniforms soon? Or did Galactic decide to patent the technology? I can see this making money.”
“Both. But uniforms first.”
Felis stopped, placing a hand on Winton’s shoulder. The man looked back, surprised by the sudden serious look in his eye.
“W…what?”
“Winton. I need you to listen to me, and listen to me carefully.”
Sweat appeared on the scientist’s brow, “...Okay?”
“I need you to make sure we don’t have to wear the same corny looking uniforms ever again.”
He blinked, “Corny?”
“Yes! Corny!” Pranav gestured to his jumpsuit, “Look at this!”
“It’s not that bad…” Winton muttered. “Once you put on the vest it looks a lot better.”
“I need you to work with me for a second. Close your eyes–don’t give me that look, it's important! Great, now imagine Cyrus wearing this lame ass suit.”
“Pft.” Winton snickered, before his eyes flew open and he brought a hand to his mouth, looking up and down the hall to see if anyone noticed. Thankfully, the hallway was empty.
“See?” Felis asked.
“Shit…” Winton sighed, “I never noticed until you brought it up.”
“Yes! Thank you! Everyone else feels so happy walking around in these lame ass suits! We could look a hundred times better!”
“So what changes should I suggest?”
“I don’t know dude, I’m not in the fashion department.”
Winton shot him a deadpan stare.
“Just make it better, please.”
“Fine, I’ll bring it up.” Winton sighed, just as they neared the auditorium.
The gates hissed open, and Felis could’ve sworn the scientist muttered, “Not in the fashion department, bullshit.”
Na, must’ve been his imagination.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIrius stood in the Auditorium alongside a couple dozen of the “Elite” and a few other individuals dressed in either a lab coat or casual attire. Sirius watched the ones with casual attire with greater interest. Who were they? Were they trainers on Galactic payroll? Did they serve other jobs? Sirius would have asked, but with the way everyone kept to themselves in hushed conversation, he decided against it, leaning against a wall while he waited for something to happen.
After a few minutes the doors slid open, revealing a grumbling Winton and a grinning Felis with a content looking Aken. His younger brother immediately spotted him, giving a wave and walking over. Winton split off to talk to some of the other lab coats, leaving the two brothers relatively alone.
“How’d it go?” Felis asked, his voice low.
“Nice to meet you, Knott.” Sirius grinned, waiting for his brother to complain.
“Ew. What?” Sirius’s grin went wide, “That’s horrible! What’s your name?”
“Vidar.”
“That’s 10x cooler than Knott! Let’s trade.”
“No can do, Knott.” He sighed dramatically, handing him a fresh new Trainer ID that said “Knott Pine”. The picture of an unshaven and unkempt man grinning behind a beard was almost unrecognisable. Joy had taken the photos when the two brothers first asked about IDs, which had her hold onto some old photos of them.
“This is horrible.” Felis complained, before making the card disappear into his sleeve, “Where did you even get these names?”
Sirius shrugged, “Taliah just gave me a list of Unovan names, picked the ones I liked.”
“You’re horrible.”
“Shut up Knott.”
It was always nice to walk the city with Valor and his new Zubat. Zubat was a she, and while he couldn’t think of a name for her, she didn’t seem to mind too much, happily enjoying head scritches and whatever food he tossed her way. Being blind and relying solely on hearing meant it was harder for her to enjoy the louder parts of the city, so for the most part he kept her in a ball.
Picking up the IDs was simple enough, Taliah came through quickly and efficiently, using their old photos before they cleaned themselves up properly. “Knott” still had Pranav’s strange bruise-colored skin over his forehead, but with how much hair was covering his face it was near impossible to tell. Arun on the other hand, was just a chaotic mess of hair and beard.
To simplify, a shower and a shave did wonders for their appearances.
“Did you pick up anything?” Felis asked, once he’d stopped complaining about his new name.
“Bits and pieces. Nobody’s talking much.”
Especially the folks in the all black armor, they stimply stood still like statues, uncaring of the world around them.
“I noticed. Chronos?”
The lights of the room dimmed, and everyone stood to attention.
“Guess so.” Sirius breathed, the two taking their place.
High up on the stage, a stage light flicked open to reveal Cyrus staring down on them. Arun extended his senses, feeling the emotions of the people around him. It was mostly excitement, but the elites were the biggest problem, it felt as if there was nothing there. A void where there should have been something.
“For over 500 years Galactic has guided Sinnoh,” Cyrus’s voice boomed across the chamber “From the uniting of the ancient clans, to building society as we know it. We have stood by Sinnoh as its protectors, even as the world denied us, even as the old guard attempted to squash us into obscurity, we stood strong.”
There was anger there, simmering beneath the surface. Cyrus was actively trying to hide it, but Sirius could feel the heat, almost see the air displace itself around the large man.
“But when the League came pounding on our door, where were we? When our Champions died, and our so called leaders surrendered, who fought? When our people died by the hundreds, did we surrender? ANSWER ME!”
“NO!” Sirius raised an eyebrow as even Pranav shouted alongside the assembled Grunts, grinning wildly. At least someone was enjoying the speech by the big bad evil guy.
“Did we roll over on our backs and let them have their way with our land?”
“NO!”
“No! We fought! We waged war! We died! And how were we repaid?”
Cyrus sneered as he said the next part, the venom so visible in his voice Sirius didn’t even need his psychic abilities to see it. “Forced to weaken ourselves as concessions for the League. Our businesses crippled, our infrastructure replaced, our positions within the government declared as crimes, and our statuses as trainers meaning nothing.”
Sirius, no, Arun felt…angry? Why? He had no ties to Galactic, no pride towards a war he didn’t fight. He turned to see Pranav’s reaction, recognizing the same confusion and anger. Did Cyrus have the ability to influence their emotions? How?
“But we didn’t complain, we took our dues.” Cyrus’s face and tone were somber, and Sirius felt a deep sadness well up within him, “We bowed out and took our place among the shadows, amidst the wretches as we pulled ourselves back up.”
“And yet we were forced to share that too.”
Anger, again. Sirius wondered if the others noticed, or if they cared. He glanced at Winton, seeing the man’s face enraptured by the spectacle.
“Chronos. Where we were forced into the underworld through bigger powers, they simply faded into obscurity, desperately holding onto their pride. They are parasites that think themselves equal to us.”
A hologram appeared, showing the map of Sinnoh. It zoomed in on a familiar city, just past the Viridian forest, Eterna. Article texts, photos, and short video recordings all appeared on smaller squares, slowly cycling through.
Sirius recognized a few as they went past, the articles talked about the growing restlessness of Pokémon in Viridian Forest, and the Gym leader’s failed efforts to find the source and quell the threat. More photos showed snippets of the familiar uniform of Aurafire Grunts, blurry and pixelated in the background. Grainy recordings showed Pokémon battles, a large gout of fire that had Sirius’s heart beating faster and faster as adrenaline subconsciously kicked in.
“It is finally time. For too long we shared this burden with undesirables, and now it is time we take back our rightful place. Sinnoh no longer needs us to protect them, but we will do as we’ve always done, we will clean out the dirt and the scum, and we will advance our region so that none may dirty us again.”
The holograms faded, until it was just Cyrus again, “They’ve forgotten just who they’re dealing with. Show them, remind them. Everyone here will be deployed to Eterna to assist Admin Mars, ready yourselves, you depart in 2 hours, details will be given on location.”
He turned to leave, before stopping and glancing back, “There will be bonus pay and overtime.”
And then the lights were back on.
“Well…shit.” Felis muttered, absentmindedly massaging his temple, “That was…weird.”
Sirius nodded, before taking his brother by the shoulder and dragging him towards their room, “Let’s go, things are moving and we need to pack.”
He stopped, before wrinkling his face, “Plus, you need a shower.”
"You're so lame." Pranav muttered, following along.
"Shut up Knott."