Chapter 45: Trouble at Noctis' House!

BAMF!

Ramon, Merlin, Noctis, Delia, X, Ace, Tress, and Jewel appear in front of the teleportation statue, landing down with grace. Ramon touches and caresses himself at a frantic pace, confusion and interest painting his face. It's bizarre how he doesn't feel anything funky inside of him despite the fuzziness of the teleportation.

Meanwhile, Merlin strokes his knees and pants like crazy, sweat dripping his forehead. "Wowie. That…was a lot of energy I had to do." The orb statue dims itself, Merlin wiping away the sweats.

"Huh…I didn't feel any pain from the teleportation." Ramon tilts his head. "I thought I was going to."

"You're not supposed to," Merlin states as he and others stop glowing. "Although, teleportation makes the person feel exhausted depending on how many people they bring with them." He looks at the statue. "Not to mention the statue itself will need to recharge after being used. May even take longer due to many others teleporting with me."

"Huh. I guess Justin and Ada forgot to tell me about that info on teleportation statues."

"AGH!"

Serene's screams catch everyone's attention, all staring ahead at the middle road: A large group huddling around Noctis' house a few feet away. Some civilians run away, cars making u-turns to get out. Everyone nods at each other before dashing forward, Merlin staying behind panting.

"I'll catch up with you all in just a second!" Merlin shouts, taking deep breaths. He then rests on the teleportation statue, stroking it. "...On second thought, maybe more than just a second." He sighs with embarrassment.

. . .

Dashing forward, the group reach the Charizard's house: Fences broken, trash and dirt painting the windows and doors. There's a lot of crooks throwing and punching and overall thrashing the house. Some are Pokémon while others are humans. Regardless of their species: The crooks are igniting the house with their mayhem, some being on top of the roof hitting the sides with their magical hammer.

In between Ramon's group and the destructive house are the two Eeveelutions, both held hostage by two men with magical knives. Serene groans while Ethan whines, the knives poking their cheeks.

X frowns, gritting his teeth. "Serene! Ethan!"

The two knife wielding crooks look at the group, the other goons following along. Their eyes are specifically on Noctis, the Charizard staring back with flames ushering from his gnashing teeth. The crooks snort, smiling.

"Well ain't it our favorite orange fella, the Flaming Vortex!" the first crook says in a southern accent. "Took ya long enough to get 'ere, heh heh."

Flaming Vortex? Ramon thinks as he, X, and Delia look at each other in confusion.

"WHEN WILL YOU SHITHEADS STOP!?" Noctis shouts. "I've given you everything I've ever won from the All Star Tournament. What more do you thugs want!?" He forms a fist. "My life is already shit enough."

The first goon tilts his head, thinking. "Hmm, that there is true. I do mighty appreciate those golden trophies of yers' being inside my trucky." He shakes his head, smacking his lips. "But I'mma need more of yer belongings." Grins. "I need yer behind to be as homeless as possible, sealin' yer downfall as the famous Flaming Vortex."

"You lowlife FUCKS!" Noctis snarls.

The second goon laughs, pressing his knife further against Ethan. The Flareon whimpers, the tip seeping blood from the side of his cheek. "Hell, we might even take these two away from ya out of spite!" He looks at the first goon as the rest of the crooks laugh and grin along. "Hey, maybe we should sell them off to some Pokémon Hunters. 'Talking' Pokémon be makin' folks bucks in the black market. And besides…Pokémon shouldn't have rights, anyways!"

"Heh," the first crook tilts Serene's head, the Leafeon grunting in discomfort while gritting her teeth. "That a good ol' point there."

X widens his eyes, the laughter from the goons ringing throughout his mind along with the words 'Pokémon Hunters'. Fire and water cast upon the Buizel's paws before he fires them, hitting the two goons.

"GAH!" the two scream as they jolt back, dropping Serene and Ethan. The Intellicates scatter towards Ramon's group, sticking behind them while Ethan clings close to Serene.

The first crook gnashes his teeth, standing up at a sluggish pace. "Get their asses!" he shouts, enlarging his knife. He and the second goon charge towards the group along with the other chaotic criminals, some hopping off from the roof before dashing.

Ace takes out his poke and great balls from his waist, clicking the middle button to enlarge them. "Brace yourselves." He throws his balls, red light casting a blue rabbit and a black hair-filled goblin to the field. "Ariel, Blackburn: We got troublemakers to deal with." The Azumarill and Grimmsnarl waste no time preparing themselves, both frowning. Tress and Jewel nod at each other, getting in a stance as well.

A fight breaks loose between the groups: Ramon and X shoving against two grunts before punching the third, Ace's Pokémon take care of four grunts while Ace fires two pink waves towards the fifth, and Delia and Noctis defend themselves against the other four.

The grunts don't always stay fighting the same opponent as they rotate around, flinging their Mystical Projectiles, Vine Whips, and Hydro Pumps at Ramon's group. Serene and Ethan do their best to dodge the attacks, Ethan tearing up along the way.

X rams against an Intellicate Azumarill with Quick Attack before slapping them with his tails, Ariel punching the Azumarill afterwards. One goon jolts towards X with her red magical sword but Ramon punches her face, the woman flailing across the ground. Ramon whimpers, lowering his ears.

"D-Didn't mean to punch that hard…"

A Venusaur's vines are about to hit the fox until X counters them with his Dark Tendrils, pushing the large amphibian away. "Nah, it's fine. She had it coming for raiding Noctis' home," X says, jumping and twirling himself around, hitting two more goons with his spinning tentacles.

Ramon blinks at the Buizel, realizing how quick and effective he is at using his Rune. "Wow…"

Once X lands, he coughs out purple blood, grunting. "Okay, maybe I should use that 'Rune' less. Jeez, that hurts."

Ramon sighs. "Yeah, I meant to tell you about that earlier." Then he and X keep fighting, the previous crooks recovering from the attack.

Ace ducks and dodges a man's Mystical Projectiles, Tress charging a pink orb in front of him and firing his Moonblast. Once the goon is hit, Jewel jumps in front of him and screams with all his might, slamming the goon with Hyper Voice. The impact causes the Azumarill and Venusaur grunt to fly towards the side, both rolling around.

Ace smirks at the two, giving them a thumbs-up. "Thanks."

The Gym Leader gazes at his other two Pokémon: Blackburn colliding his brightly lit body against the lady goon's magical sword while Ariel jumps on top of one guy's head, pushing him down. The Azumarill drags one grunt behind the previous into her Play Rough frenzies, both grunts screaming.

Ace nods, casting two of his pink Wiz Waves. "Good job, you four! Give them all you got!" Just after he says that, a goon shoots his blue lasers at him. Ace smirks, countering with his waves.

A brief smoke emanates from the collision, the goon being left confused. "Huh?" Then out comes a feeler smacking his face, Tress leaping forward and shooting a whirlwind of flames. The goon jumps back from the Mystical Fire, grunting while shielding himself.

. . .

Noctis finishes slashing one goon with his Dragon Claw before punching an Intellicate Crawdaunt. He then pushes the crawfish back with his large stream of flames, increasing the Flamethrower size. This leads to two goons jumping to the side.

Delia blocks two Gallades' fists before ducking the two's Psycho Cuts. The woman then kicks the first Gallade goon away while grabbing the other's arm, throwing him towards the first. The green humanoid jumps over his comrade and jolts towards Delia. The woman smirks, jumping backwards and dodging his kick. The Gallade then speeds behind her, he and the other Gallade preparing their Psycho Cuts.

"Hmph!" The woman ducks and swings her leg, tripping the Gallade behind her.

"EH!?" the Gallade goon yells, firing his Psycho Cut upwards as he gets hit by the other Gallade's move. "ARGH!" He flies off, crashing and rolling all over.

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The other Gallade yelps. "Oh crap, sorry!" He's then met with a punch to the face by Noctis, colliding against several other goons.

Delia giggles, dusting herself off. "I may not have my bow with me, but I can still do a number on you fools, thanks to my karate!"

Her and Noctis' backs press against each other, Noctis grumbling while pushing some grunts away with his fiery flame and Delia ducking some of the physical attacks thrown at her.

"So Noctis," she kicks one guy in the head and then pokes the Crawdaunt from earlier in the eyes, flinching him. "Is it really true that you had to put up with these thieves from time to time?"

Noctis Dragon Claws two goons, sending them flying in different directions. "Yep. Always have to since my All Star Tournament days."

"Oh." Delia kicks another goon in the head before pushing the other back with her hands to their belly. "That explains why you wanted me to return home badly."

"Mhm." He headbutts a Noctowl before punching it away, snarling. "I'll explain it all later. Right now, we gotta weaken these bozos for the law to arrest."

Delia nods. "Right."

Soon, two Mystical Projectiles crash into Delia and Noctis, both flying off and rolling around. Noctis lands on his back while Delia falls on top of him, groaning in pain. The two magical knife crooks retrieve their hands after using their Magic moves, glaring towards Serene and Ethan.

"Ugh, I hate those that fight back!" the first crook states, he and the other one jolting past Ramon's group with their knives out.

After Serene pushes a Blastoise back with her vines, she eyes the two crooks, gasping. Ethan, reeking of tears trailing down, stares at the two in horror and shakes. Serene grinds her teeth, standing in front of her brother. "STAY AWAY!" she yells, multiple leaves casting around her.

Serene fires her Razor Leaf at the two goons, the leaves twirling rapidly. The crooks reach their hands out, forming red shields around them as the leaves bounce off. After the Mystical Shields fade, the first goon kicks Serene towards a nearby house's wall, the Leafeon screeching in pain. A person runs out of the house as Ethan trembles further, clittering his teeth.

"SERENE!" he screams.

"U-Ugh…" Serene tries to stand, but her back is met by the crook's slamming foot, coughing up blood.

"N-NO!" Ethan is then pinned down by the second crook, whimpering and wailing.

Ramon and others turn towards the two Eeveelutions, rushing towards their aid. Blackburn is the first to have two crooks tackle him down before Ariel follows suit from two more, both yelping. Tress jumps over the Blastoise crook before two Minccinos smack the Sylveon's head with their tails, slamming him towards the ground. Tress yelps, leading Ace and Jewel to stop and look at him.

Before the two react, the Azumarill crook smacks them to the side with Aqua Tail. This is where the Venusaur crook wraps them with his vines, picking them up and slamming them. "GAH!" Ace groans, spitting out purple blood.

Ramon and X push and shove each goon heading their way until more start piling on them, both groaning. "Crap!" X yells, he and Ramon being grabbed by the face before two men pins them down, facing towards their helpless friends.

"Ugh," Delia says, attempting to stand before many crooks surround her and Noctis with their Mystical Projectiles, one of them having their purple sparkling auras close to Noctis' head. "Oh crud…"

Noctis glances at the sparkles, then at the green and red canine hostages—his teeth grinds. SHIT!

The two goons chuckle as Ramon's group struggle underneath the barrages of restraints, grunting. The first crook grips his magical knife, smirking at Serene. "Ya know…maybe killin' these two right now ain't so bad. Telling the whole world how hard the Flaming Vortex fell down: Couldn' even protect two kids in front of some baddies."

Noctis snarls, attempting to get up before being grabbed by the neck and slammed down. "Gah!" He groans, the grunt's purple glowing hand being around his neck. "You…fuckers."

"Next time you move, I'mma shoot you in ya fuckin' neck, chump," the grunt in front of him says, laughing.

X spreads his eyes as the first crook continues, "And also, this is for arrestin' one of my pals earlier at the city's middle."

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF FROM HER!" X yells, forming his tentacles and flaming aquatic auras around him. The Blastoise crook slams the Buizel's head, the tentacles and auras fading afterwards. X is knocked out, Ramon staring at the weasel with shaky eyes.

"X!" Serene screams, clenching her teeth.

"Let's just get this gosh darn thang over with!" The first and second crook raise their hand up, Ethan's face drowning with tears. Just as they lower their knives down, the two are hit by red shields, pinning against the neighbor's house. "Gah! What in tarnation!?"

Soon, some purple large sludges hit the goons off from Noctis and Delia, causing them to yelp. Several more shields hit most of the goons afterwards, trapping them as they grunt, Ramon's group being freed.

Ramon and Delia blink, looking at each other. "Where…did those come from?" Ramon asks.

Ace looks to his side, sighing in relief. "Took you long enough to arrive."

Ramon and the others look at Ace's direction, staring at two figures along with a group of cops: One being a plant biped creature with mainly green coloring all over her body and two roses as her hands, the other being a young person with yellow curly hair and a generally feminine look to them. The Roserade has a Poison Barb on her back with a string attached, carrying it like a backpack. And the curly hair individual is wearing a blue jacket that shields their red plain shirt with a dot symbol.

The individual shrugs at Ace, their blue fingernails surrounding in mini red shields, energy sparkling around. "Blame one of the cops for snacking on some donuts earlier," they says, their tone light.

"H-Hey!" one of the cops behind them yells, wiping away the crumb on his cheek.

The Roserade bows her head. "Mes sincères excuses, Mr. Vermilion! Inconveniences such as what Kellie mentioned has gotten in our way," she says in an elegant tone. "I hope I can make it up to you eventually."

Ace laughs in an awkward manner, touching his chest as it glows blue, healing himself. "No need to do that, Nered. At least you're here, regardless of the lateness."

Nered pouts. "But I feel like a failure! A fool! Je should've been more effective at arriving here for yo—Je mean, for moi leadership performance!" She blushes, looking away.

Kellie snickers. "Right."

A few goons outside of the red shields grit their teeth, looking at each other. The cops draw their weapons at them.

"FREEZE!" one officer yells.

"Shit shit SHIT!" one of the crooks says, sweat dripping down their heads along with the rest. "Let's skedaddle!" The goons fall down momentarily before turning around and running off.

The curly hair individual shakes their head, wagging their finger. "Nah." They lean their left hand back, the red shield pulsating. "Not on my watch." Kellie shoots their Mystical Force, the shield enlarging itself and engulfing the goons. They all groan, the shield shrinking in size and locking them in place.

Kellie dusts their hands. "You were all out of luck the moment I arrived." They then look at the cops, tilting their head towards the encaged crooks. The cops nod before rushing towards them.

. . .

The crooks get themselves inside of the cop cars, restraints being around their hands or paws via handcuffs of all sizes. Kellie and Ace aid Ramon's group, Kellie finishing healing Serene before placing their hands onto Delia. Noctis shakes his head at Ace, telling him he can shrug the injuries off.

After healing his four Pokémon companions, Ace receives a tackle hug from them, with Tress being the main one nuzzling him. The Gym Leader chuckles. "I'm glad to be with you four, too! Thanks for the support."

"Of course, Master!" Tress exclaims, even though Ace can't understand him.

"I'll need you all to get off though so that I can heal X over there," Ace states.

After the man's Pokémon frees him, he touches X's head, blue auras vibrating from it. X slowly opens his eyes, grunting. "E-Ergh…" Ace pulls his hand back, X shaking his head afterwards. The weasel caresses it. "Jeez, that literally hurts," he states, chuckling in a soft manner. He is then met by a hug from Serene, the vines and forepaws tangling him. He blinks. "Eh?"

"I'm so glad that you're okay…" Serene sniffles.

X blinks once again, smirking. "Jee wiz, someone's suddenly attached to me. Did I give off a grassy aroma to you or something?"

The Leafeon leans back, frowning. "Don't joke, X. Our lives were threatened earlier, so I had every reason to worry about us. Especially for you and…" She looks beside her: Ethan trembling and quaking against her, dried up tears littering the boy's face. "Him."

X stares at the Flareon, his orange irises and black scleras dousing into sorrow. He rubs the back of his head, sighing. "Heh…My bad for saying that, then."

Serene sighs as well. "It's fine." She smiles at the Buizel.

Kellie lifts their thumbs at the cops, nodding. "You all did a great job restraining these crooks."

One of the cops shakes his head. "Nah. We couldn't have done it without your help, Mx. Kellie."

"Thank you. I appreciate that."

"No: Thank YOU." The cop sighs heavily, shoving a Blastoise inside his car. "Most of the Sorcerous cops took a day off today, so we were worried that us Ordina ones would have to deal with criminal groups with the potential of having a Sorcerous in it. Thankfully, your friend contacted you to aid us as well." The cop chuckles, resting his elbow on his vehicle. "It really was our lucky day today."

Kellie giggles. "I see." They then wave at the cops. "You can go now. I'll be fine here with Ace."

The cop nods before he and the others drive off, getting further away from everyone. Noctis then shoots a glare towards Delia.

"Good LORD, Delia!" He snarls, Delia looking away while caressing her knees. "You had one task to do, and somehow screwed it up. If it weren't for that Kellie lady showing up, then we would've died for nothing!"

Kellie points at the Charizard. "'Person', not lady. Correction."

Noctis squints at the individual. "You looked like a woman so I assumed you were one. My bad."

Kellie rolls their eyes, detecting the sarcasm beneath the lizard's breath. "To be fair, I felt like one a few months back. But right now, I'm feeling like a person rather than a woman."

Noctis shrugs. "Right."

Delia strokes her knees. "Sorry." Everyone looks at her. "I'm…sorry. For putting us all in danger earlier." She stares at the concrete. "I know I should've stayed at the house and watched over the two kids. But…" Sighs. "I was curious about the ambulances. And finding out it's about my son just…I don't know, I couldn't help but to forget about the whole situation after knowing he's here." Tears start wailing up. "In this very city I'm in." She sniffles, looking at Noctis. "I've told you before that I've been separated from my son for months now. The Synchronic Village incident affected me so much, to the point where I thought I could never see him again. Never see him grow up and learn and…experience all kinds of things in life."

Delia wipes away the falling tears. "I…hope you understand where I'm coming from there, Noctis."

The Charizard gazes at the woman, eyeing the stroking of the knees and the dreariness of those brown eyes. The more he looks, the less fiery he feels. "Hmm…" The dragon lizard sighs, caressing his head. "...Alright. You have a point there. Sorry for the way I was acting earlier." Noctis shrugs. "Just…be more wary about others too, alright?"

Delia looks down at her hands, nodding. "I'll try."

Soon, Merlin arrives at the group, dread spreading across. "I am so, so very sorry for arriving late!" He whimpers. "That teleportation took a lot out of me, and it was…horrifying to watch what was happening from afar. Without knowing exactly what's happening due to the distance." He shakes his head. "Are you all okay?"

"Yes. We're fine." Delia sighs in relief. "Thankfully this Kellie and Nered person helped us in time after my decision earlier…"

"I see." Merlin sighs as well. "That's good to know."

Nered waves at the two, smiling. "You're very much welcome!"

Kellie then lays their hands on their hips. "Welp. Since we're pretty much done here, I might as well continue my Spell Guardian duty at Gloria Falls." Ramon's ears flicker as he looks at the Sorcerous. "Hopefully I didn't leave my post for too long."

"Same here! I'm already feeling embarrassé for arriving late." Nered huffs. "Don't want to add 'Stolen Spell' to the list, too."

"Um, hey!" Ramon yells.

Kellie and Nered look at the Zoroark, peculiarness spreading across them.

"Hmm?" the two say.