“Ok troops!” Pranav said, at mock attention “Here is the situation.”

He paced up and down the line, a number of confused Pokémon looked back at him. It appeared the first crate had mostly been made up of Hoenn Pokémon, a number of other Shuppet’s, Poocheyna’s, Lotad’s and other Hoenn-specific mons had been the contents of their initial broken crate. Kanto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh, all in all about a few hundred small and medium sized Pokémon filled the room around them.

Arun and his Seedot companion were still hard at work, breaking other crates and releasing as many as they could. The Golbats had stopped throwing themselves at the door, and Pranav suspected the Grunts finally wizened up and called for reinforcements.

“There is only one way out. And the only thing between you and freedom is Team Galactic.” A chorus of hisses and angry retorts filled the room around him, and Pranav raised his hands in an attempt to calm them down. “Peace, my friends, peace! Yes, those ass hats have kidnapped you, stolen you away from your homes and left you to rot in a filthy storeroom like this. But no more! We shall take back our freedom, we will fight!” This time, triumphant cries of the various Pokémon washed over him, and Pranav let it hang for a little bit. When the cries died down, he spoke once more. “The biggest and strongest of you will take the front, you must protect the young ones-no complaints! You’re older and wiser, they’re babies, you protect them, that's the law, clear? Cool. So, Big ones, you all get Oran berries, yay! Memorise the map on the floor, follow the path, young ones you’re going to provide backup fire and be a nuisance. Any questions?”

A Ponyta stepped up, its flaming mane flickering back and forth between anger and determination. And what will you be doing? It intoned.

“The 4 of us.” Pranav said, “Are going to micromanage the field a little bit so you guys can get out safely. We found a stack of empty pokeballs-”

“I found a crate of empty pokeballs” His brother interrupted, while fiddling with another one of the devices.

“That’s what I said. Anyways, any of you fall in battle we’ll be there to pick you up, can’t have you getting captured again.”

You will…capture us…so we don’t get captured? The Ponyta asked, nostrils flaring slightly.

“Only temporarily,” Pranav replied with a smile “There’s a professional we know who can heal you up in no time, and then you’re free.”

And what is stopping you from simply…taking us?

“Woah, hey.” Pranav said, his smile dropping for a more serious look, “The last thing I want is to hold someone against their will. You’re all sentient beings, what these guys are doing is criminal. You deserve freedom, it’s your right.”

“If it helps.” Arun said, as he fed an Oran to a recently-freed Dustox, “Even if we did decide to hold you against your will, we don’t have the means to take care of you. At most we’ll be able to afford maybe 1 or 2 Pokémon once the job is done.”

The Ponyta stared for a moment, a calculated look on its face as it paced slowly in a circle. Then, after a minute of tense silence, it nodded.

Very well, I may not speak for us all, but you have my trust.

Pranav allowed himself to smile softly once more, “You won’t regret it, friend. Trust us.”

Having released the last of the Pokémon, Pranav and Shuppet got to handing out berries, the entire room was tense, ready to move on command.

“Right before we go.” Arun said, looking at the Seedot perched on his shoulder, “Mind showing me what you can do little buddy?”

The Seedot hopped down, looking up at its new companion. Furrowing its eyes in sheer concentration, Pranav couldn’t help but lean in closer as Seedot’s body began to tense, muscles flexed underneath its shell-like exterior, and it looked up at Arun in triumph.

“What’s it saying?” Pranav asked, as Arun began to smile.

“He.” His brother said pointedly, “And he’s feeling determined, like he can’t be hurt.” Arun flicked the tiny pokemon’s body as demonstration, a metallic twang resounding from the impact.

It displayed all of the moves it could. Between the two of them, they identified Harden, Tackle, Absorb, Rollout, Bullet Seeds, and maybe Swords Dance? The dance was a frantic hopping from one foot to another, and Seedot didn’t really know what the move was called, and it wasn’t even certain about what it did. Just stated it felt “Sharper” after doing so.

There were some other moves they couldn’t Identify as well, at one point the little Seedot just screamed at them, which was a little alarming but didn’t really do much. There was one move especially that the two didn’t really understand much, but the Pokémon insisted on doing it.

“You…grew a leaf?” Arun asked the first time it happened. Seedot harrumphed and did it again, this time the leaf was slightly bigger.

“Y-yay? You…you did it! Right? Good job?”

After growing 4 more leaves and triumphantly displaying them to the two confused trainers, they decided to just say ‘fuck it’ and clapped along, which pleased the Pokémon.

Shuppet was no easier to understand. Pranav still couldn’t properly translate its intentions just yet, he assumed it was a trust thing, which kinda stung, but oh well, can’t rush a relationship. They identified Screech, Night Shade, and Confuse Ray. Rather, Arun did, Pranav mostly spent time complaining about how they didn’t get isekai’d with pokedex’s.

“You never even finished yours.” Arun rebuffed, as Shuppet nodded along eagerly at the successful identification of Confuse Ray.

“Because it took so long. Why do I need to kidnap Pokémon from all across the continent just so some dumbass professor can log it on his Wikipedia page. They’ve been around for centuries, they probably already know everything they need to.”

Pranav stopped, gasping in sheer disbelief which caused the whole room to stop and stare at him. “It couldn’t be…” He whispered.

“What?” His brother replied, worry creeping into his voice.

“The Professor is doing this not for research, no…but for his own sick and twisted pleasures!”

Arun scoffed, placing the Seedot back onto his shoulder. The rest of the pokemon stared in confusion, save Shuppet who cackled and continued floating around the room.

“Shuppet agrees with me.” Pranav said “Anyways! Positions, folks! We’ve got a score to settle.”

A burst of movement as all the Pokémon got into position, awaiting the signal.

“All right.” Pranav said, licking his lips “Ready…GO!”

The door exploded outwards. And Pranav could almost taste the payback.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’m really sorry Boss, but this seemed like something important.”

“Forgiven, give me details.” The man said, walking swiftly down the corridor.

A man in his later 20’s, Cyrus to his subordinates was often described as cold yet just. It was an image he cultivated of course, to lead a group like Galactic you couldn’t afford to be anything else. Despite the calm demeanor he wore, his mind was racing. How did they know about the stolen Pokémon? No, more importantly, who else knew? Could they be Chronos’s operatives? No, if that were the case they wouldn’t bother with freeing them, the knowledge itself would be more than enough to start an investigation.

“Two operatives, no known allegiances. Came through wearing our uniforms, supposedly from Grunts Quinn and Leland who were the only ones to leave tonight in uniform, and remained unaccosted until they reached the storage room. At which point Grunts Wilbur and Tyler stopped them on clear orders from you. The Operatives seemed to have already known you, sir, as they mentioned your name. Wilbur was still suspicious, and upon attempting to have you contacted, they were attacked.”

“Their Pokémon?” Cyrus said, a frown growing on his face.

“No sir, no Pokémon.”

The Galactic boss’s step paused for a brief moment, before redoubling his steps. “Continue.” He said, as more and more Grunts began flocking to him.

“They seemed…experienced in these forms of conflict. Wilbur was pinned almost immediately, and used as a hostage against his Golbat. Tyler was also taken prisoner, but after a few minutes managed to break free, and the Operative went down after being hit near point-blank with an air-cutter. Wilbur was rendered immoble after being struck by the bulkier Operative, and the two then retreated into Storage Room B…where, you know…”

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“I know. And what is the situation now?”

“Tyler attempted to break through the door with his Golbat, but the new doors we’ve installed are working as intended. Anything short of a Steelix charging through barely leaves a dent in the thing. So we’ve stuck to building a perimeter. It won’t be long before they’re forced to leave.”

This time Cyrus really did stop. His eyes twitched in just a fraction of alarm. “These Operatives…did they have any Pokémon on their person?”

“I…no sir I don’t believe they did.”

“Form ranks!” His voice snapped, causing some of the Grunts to flinch “Formation A, no matter what comes through, you will hold. Understood?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, instead breaking into a sprint down the basement halls as his Grunts scrambled to form ranks behind him, looks of confusion painted on their faces. His eyes briefly clocked a strange substance hovering in the teleporter pad, but decided to ignore it, instead focusing on the task at hand.

“Boss!” Grunt Tyler said, a look of clear relief on his face, “We’ve been wai-”

“Get away from the door, now!”

To his pride, his followers followed suit almost immediately, scrambling away from their positions, but it was too late.

The door crashed open, and a flood of Pokémon streamed through, screaming in fury.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amidst the screaming Pokémon and the panicked Grunts, Pran and Arun tore through the hall, their heavy steps carefully maneuvering through the masses, as to not step on any of the smaller critters running alongside them. Arun’s whole body felt as if it was bursting with energy, the large mix of angry Pokémon radiating intense emotion fueling every step he took. The perimeter Galactic had set up had not been prepared to handle a threat of this size, and had fallen almost immediately.

The Golbats that had survived the initial onslaught had taken to the air, harrying their herd with Air Slash’s and Bites that took some of the smaller Pokémon out of commission. Arun immediately went to their aid, scooping them up and placing them in empty pokeballs that the two had managed to scrounge up just before charging out.

“We’re taking out those Golbats!” Pran shouted to him, an injured Pachirisu hanging limply on his arm. Arun noticed that Shuppet also seemed to be fueled by the emotions radiating around them, as it bobbed and weaved around the air with anticipation.

“Our Pokémon aren’t strong enough!” He shouted back. His Pokémon. Despite the situation around him, Arun couldn't help but feel slightly giddy. In all fairness, he didn’t even know if Seedot wanted to be caught, they never had any time to ask. After the mission was all said and done, there was a good chance he would ask to be released, and they would do so if asked. Hell, they could already have their own trainers, they honestly should have thought of these things before starting the stampede, but hey, they were under pressure.

“We don’t stop them, they’ll hurt more of the little guys!” His brother argued, before throwing himself out of the way as more Air scythes came crashing down beside him.

“Fuck it, you ready?” He asked, eyes turning to little acorn on his shoulder. Seedot nodded, and Arun scooped him up, before hurling him towards one of the injured Golbats.

“[Bullet Seed!]” He called out, feeling a strange pressure enter his voice.

Seedot righted itself in the air, slamming itself into the Golbat, and as it turned its massive maw towards the little figure, Seedot unleashed a series of bullet seeds that filled the room with the sound of ba-ba-ba-bang!

Arun deftly caught Seedot as he fell, grinning wildly as the Golbat choked and sputtered, desperately trying to keep itself afloat. It sank low however, giving opportunity for the smaller Pokémon to rush it, tackling it out of the air and into the crazed mob below.

“That’s what I’m fucking talking about!” Pran hollered, and Arun sent a wave of gratitude over to his little friend, who chirped happily in response.

Thundering down the hallway, the herd continued, though now it was met with fierce resistance. Golbats, Stunkys, and Croagunks began harrying the herd from the sides, slowing them down and taking out a number of them.

Amidst the chaos, Arun and Pran weaved their way through the masses, body checking and tackling Grunts wherever they could, before forcing their Pokémon back into their balls, and away from the fight.

“Get the intruders Golbat, [Air Slash!]” a Grunt shouted. The Golbat beat its wings, sending it higher and higher as the room was showered in long slash-shaped attacks.

Arun dove, grimacing as the tail end of the attack cut into his flesh. He could make out the sounds of a scuffle as Pran tackled the Grunt, wrestling him onto the floor, causing the Golbat to circle back to its trainer.

Worry pinged from his little friend. Ok? Hurt?

Assurance. I’m ok, did hurt.

Anger. We fight. They hurt too much.

Uncertainty. They are experienced, we are not.

Determination. You are strong, I am strong, We are strong.

Arun thought for a moment, as he hopped back up onto his feet. Pran had been thrown off by the Grunt, and was now weaving through the crowd as the angry Golbat attempted to take bites out of him. His Shuppet said something Arun could only guess was a stream of curses at his little brother, and Pran smacked himself in the forehead, before shouting “[Confuse Ray!]”

Shuppet huffed, and a mote of yellow light swam into the Golbat’s eyes. It only grew more furious, diving straight at his brother, only to veer off to the right at the last second and crash face first into a wall.

Ok. They didn’t have to win their battles, they just had to make sure they didn’t lose. That was something they could do, even if they weren’t professionals. He sent a wave of assurance to Seedot, and the acorn puffed up its chest in anticipation, another leaf growing out of its stem.

“Build up your speed,” He said “don’t hit anybody until we need to, yea? [Rollout!]” Seedot dove off his shoulder, spinning sideways and somehow keeping pace with him. After a few moments Seedots form was a blur, rolling around the hall at such a speed Arun could barely keep track of the little guy.

The herd turned their final corner, the way out in sight. Blocking them now was a line of Croagunks, Beautiflys and Stunkys, all preparing attacks. The Beautiflys went first, flying over the masses and letting loose a thick coat of dust, which caused some of the Pokémon to tense up and collapse over themselves, twitching in paralysis. Attacks immediately turned to the Beautiflies, who made their way swiftly back to their trainers. The Croagunks then dove in, fists alight with sickly purple energy as they began jabbing at whoever they could. The charge of the stampede finally broke as the Stunkey’s released noxious gas onto the field, leaving the bigger mons up front wheezing and sick.

It had turned into pockets of fighting now, groups of the escaped Pokémon fighting against their captors. The Grunts were outnumbered, 10 to one, but their Pokémon were strong, their trainers coordinated, and experienced. They were there to buy time, Arun knew, and if the fighting continued at the pace they were going, Galactic would soon have more than enough time to mount an organized defense.

Unless of course, they stepped in.

“Seedot! Use [Rollout] to get behind their lines! Take care of the Beautifly on the right!”

Seedot, now little more than a tiny blur, shot through the battlefield, ricocheting off a Croagunk, with an audible crack that caused him to wince a little bit. Sailing through the air the poor Beautifly had no time to react as another, this time more crunchy sounding, crack slammed into it, leaving an ugly dent in the side of its body as it careened downwards, crashing into the floor twitching.

Arun was no stranger to violence, the past few years of his life had been full of fights and scuffles. He’d beaten his fair share of people, and had been stomped out enough to know just how ugly a fight could get in an unchecked setting. This though…Arun winced. Seeing pokemon with dents in their body, twitching on the floor broken and injured, crying out for help. It was a battlefield, a battlefield these Pokémon should never have been in.

It’s our fault they’re here. He thought, as more empty pokeballs flew out, catching the injured and the ones that could not fight anymore. A feeling of dread began to grow within him as he realised they would run out soon, and that would mean leaving the injured behind. Leaving them behind like Pr-

An ear splitting shriek caused him to snap out of his thoughts, his head snapped in the direction the sound came from, seeing a group of Shuppets led by Pranav’s surround another Croagunk, and release a second ear splitting screech. The Croagunk wobbled, covering its ears as it did so, before getting rammed in the side by a Nidorino, crashing into the wall with a heavy thud.

“You know the drill boys and girls!” Arun heard his brother say over the chaos “One at a time get rid of the fighters!”

“Pran!” he called out “The Stunky’s, they keep up with the poison we lose everything. Get rid of them!”

Pran nodded, “Shuppet! Stunky’s only, start with [Confuse Ray!]”

"Seedot, I need you to play it safe, alright?" He said, as the tide began to turn, "[Bullet Seed], support the ones looking like they need some help, alright?"

A wave of determination from Seedot, and the little Pokémon disappeared into the crowd, peaking out occasionally to release a barrage of seeds at unsuspecting Pokémon. Arun nodded at the result, then hardened his gaze as he looked about the battlefield. He'd have to get rid of the trainers in order to truly break the formation, but how? Running through would mean accidentally inhaling the toxic fumes, that was a no go, he needed an opening.

"Arun!" Pran called, gesturing over to a Staravia who looked a little worse for wear. "Go for it!"

He grinned, exactly what he needed. He nodded to the bird pokemon, who sent back steely assurance. He ran, leaping up and extending his hand, the Staravia swooped down, clutching his arm with its talons. Arun expected to drag down the bird a little bit, after all, it was about the size of a small eagle, but to his surprise it carried him like a feather, up above the chaos of the battlefield below, straight to the Grunts who hadn't noticed his arrival yet.

"Now!" He thundered, and the Staravia let go. He flew through the air, as the Grunts finally noticed him, pointing and shouting, trying to redirect their Pokémon to attack him.

Too late.

He landed atop the nearest one with a thud, the two tumbling to the ground in a mess of limbs. Arun ended up on top, his fists hammering into the Grunts face, knocking him out. He grabbed the man's belt, forcefully calling back his Pokémon into their devices.

The other grunts stared at him in shock, and he couldn't stop the feral grin that grew on his face. He shot forward towards the next Grunt, and the man yelped, scrambling backwards and throwing an awkward punch at him. Arun's right arm shoved the feeble attack out of the way, before throwing a left hook into the man's liver. The Grunt crumpled, Arun finishing him with a kick to the face, before turning to the rest of them.

"Well?" He said, raising his fists, looking at the dozen or so trainers that stared at him in horror, "You wanna keep standing there or you gonna actually put up a fight?"

An angry chorus of shouts erupted from the first few grunts, and they rushed him, fists flying from all directions. In a normal fight, Arun would have put himself in a corner, or at least some space where he couldn't be surrounded. He didn't have that luxury here, he raised his guard, as they pummeled and grappled at him, trying to reach his vulnerable spots. Pain bloomed from all directions, but it didn't dilute his thinking, he was used to this pain.

His arm shot forward, grabbing the man in front of him, his fist rocketing into his kidney, once, twice, three times in rapid succession, before spinning around, grabbing the arms of the man behind him, and shoving him to the wall. A fist cracked against the side of his face, and his vision wobbled for a second. Fuck these guys were stronger than he thought. More Grunts joined the fray, punching kicking, grabbing at him. With a roar he grabbed the hem of the nearest one, slamming his forehead into his face, the man falling backward in a small spray of blood. His elbow then shot behind him, cracking against the face of another, before tackling two more to the ground, pummeling their faces until they stopped moving.

He looked up at the remaining Trainers, his grin replaced with a feral hunger, "Well?" He growled, "Who's next?"

"Get the fuck away from us!" One of them cried "Croagunk, [Poison Jab!]"

Arun threw himself out of the way, spinning around to meet his opponent, but to his relief, no Pokémon answered the Grunt's call.

Instead he looked at the herd, the fighting had died down tremendously. Without the Grunts coordinating the battlefield, Seedot's support fire and Pran’s ambush tactics had finally broken their ranks, the few remaining Galactic Pokémon having fled.

He turned back to the remaining Grunts, who looked on in disbelief. When he stepped forward they finally got the memo, running back out towards the dock.

"Man." His brother whistled, as the last of them disappeared from sight. "I missed seeing you do that."

"I don't," Arun groaned, as the adrenaline wore off. "Everything hurts now."

"Think you can keep moving?"

"Yea...yea, just, no more fights like that."

The brothers collected the injured Pokémon, placing them into empty pokeballs. 73 unable to fight, out of approximately 300 Pokémon. Not bad, though the ones that remained looked haggard and on their last legs, not to mention a majority were small, Pichus and Pidgeys and Wurmples that wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for the sheer number of the herd.

Arun kneeled, sending a wave of empathy and pride towards them, to which they replied in kind. “Once you’re outside.” He began “You’re going to make a direct run to the right of your exit, there’ll be a little square house, once you’re past there you’ll see a forest. That’s going to be your safe space. Once you’re free, it’s up to you how you want to live. If any of you were trainer Pokémon, and want to return, meet us at the edge of the forest in 2 days, by then we’ll figure something out.”

The Ponyta that his brother had spoken to before, stood before him. Though marred with cuts and bruises, held itself with pride.

Gratitude. We earned freedom thanks to you. We are grateful.

Arun stood, sending a hint of worry back. Will you be alright?

Pride. They will burn before they ever catch me again.

Comfort. You all did well, be free.

The Ponyta reared, bellowing out in victory. The rest of the herd answered the call, howling out as they charged out the gate, and into the open.

They watched for a moment, before finally turning and heading back down the hall.

“So?” Arun asked, his face settling into a hard stare as they walked down scorched halls. “What’s the plan now?”

“Another teleporter, down the hall. We find our escape route from there.” His brother replied in a casual tone, one that Arun knew he forced when he felt nervous.

“Any reason you don’t want to go with the Pokémon?”

“Scouted it earlier, there are cameras. If that footage gets leaked to anybody we get faced with questions that we’re not ready for.”

He nodded slowly, his hand absentmindedly stroking Seedots forehead. “Alright. Final stretch.”

How bad could it be?