Team Nova - Episode 13: Rebirth

"Evillivied?" said Riley. "Sounds a hell of a lot like she made Suicune into a shadow Pokemon. I've seen such things once before, with both 'regular' Pokemon and Lugia, a legendary. Once of Duncan's tricks, apparently. The good news, from what I understand, is that the process is curable, so the victims affected by it are not lost like Starbursted Pokemon are. Suicune can be brought back."

"If there's anything to bring back." Eusine muttered. "Yeah, I heard of Shadow pokemon...Wes was a hell of a guy. So, ya done making me feel like...feeling? I've got a past to never live down and an idol obsession to stalk."

---

Molly was flipping between websites. Her attention was...but then something else occurred to her. There was a girl that looked about her age sitting next to her, so she decided to ask.

"Hi. Um. Is there anything to eat around here that isn't hospital food? I want to feed a certain grumpy someone a hot dog."

---

Location: Outside Goldenrod

Saturn was surrounded, but he wasn't too concerned. His arms were getting kind of tired form keeping his hands up.

"Of course I've taken defensive precautions Karl," he said directly to one of the Nova soldiers, "But I'm not going to tell you what they are. Contrary to what you might be thinking I don't want to die. I'm unarmed. You can check."

Nobody moved.

"Is Lucas coming out? I know what he looks like. I can also see through all of your riot helmets to check your faces to know that he isn't here. Oh, did I not tell you? I have contact lenses for that. you're even visible to the audience at home. Smile!"

There was uncomfortable shifting.

"Oh, and those kids trying to sneak in through the gate right now aren't related to me at all. Please round them up and bring them here. I'll see to it that they make better life choices in the future."

It was getting very difficult to keep their eyes trained on him.

"Alright look. You only need five to keep me covered at all angles. Rob, Martin, Lorenzo, Nlson, aaaand Phillip, you can all go check the gate. You can leave your current positions without leaving defensive holes in your formation. Offensively you'll be weaker, but you aren't going to have to fight me and if you're worried abotu an ambush you can still cover yourselves. Sound good?"

Phillip (who was near the back) stole a glance towards the gate and saw nothing.

"You better go," Saturn insisted. "They're armed. Much more of a threat than me. Seriously, I train my recruits better than you lot. Just don't hurt them. They're kids. They make mistakes."

"So that's what it is, then?" asked Riley, raising his voice juuuuust a little. "Your comra-- no, friend's in trouble and you're just going to wallow in self-pity and chase after the skirt of a pretty girl?"

"A Squirtle actually, not a Primape," she said, not once breaking from her gloomy and serious expression.

"Are you out of your Arceusdamn mind?!" yelled Riley, among the rare times he's done so. "You're just going to abandon Suicune and sexually harass my subordinate just because of some dark and troubled past?! You're not the only one with problems, but you're the only one I know who's giving up everything they stand for because of it, even when a comrade and an idol they used to look up to is in danger! Let me tell you about some of these people I know. One of them were captured by Nova for Arceus-knows-how-long and tortured so badly that they still haven't fully healed after months of recovery; I can say firsthand that only being Gracidea'd would be considered a mercy! Another was blackmailed to sell out their home base -- my home base -- for the tortured person's safety; had their emotions exploited by Nova, and was perfectly willing to accept the death penalty for treason if Mewtwo hadn't thought otherwise. Another experienced something so traumatizing that it still afflicts them years after the fact, and this was used by Yveltal to perform deplorable acts they regret on that thing's behalf. That fifteen-year-old I mentioned earlier? Not only was he Gracidea'd, but he saw his own parents die by Duncan's hands in front of him, and that's not even getting into how he sacrificed himself for the Seviis. And you know what all of them have in common? They're still fighting. They have something to fight for, because they have friends and loved ones that they are willing to give their lives to protect. They would never abandon them no matter what happened to them!

So listen good, Eusine; take your damn Gracidea medicine, and either you pull yourself together, put on your big-boy pants, and do something about your friend -- who maybe even got into that mess because of you -- or get the hell out of this building and open up that cot for someone more deserving of medical help. I don't even give a damn what you do if you take the coward's way out, but if ever see you stalking nurses by then, I'll be more than willing to beat you within an inch of your life and throw you to the desert myself. Got it? Good. I'm out of here."

Riley stormed away from Eusine's cot, not even bothering to shut the curtains behind him. He only gave a brief nod of acknowledgement to Molly and the commander who showed up at some point.

"Hero? So that's how they marketed it. I'm not influential enough to be a hero. Rebel sacrificial lamb is far more accurate. Anyway... What should I call you?" Meridia asked.

"Sorry, give me a moment."
 
Molly walked over to the curtains and peeked inside. Eusine was lying motionless, eyes rolled back, face pained as if attempting to foam at the mouth. She walked over to some equipment at the bedside and pulled out a breathing mask to strap to his face. There was very little resistance as she once again strapped his limbs and head down, and put the respirator on him to make sure he didn't actually have a seizure. The mild tranquilizer would help him sleep for a while too.

She set the restraints to release after an hour, and placed the boxes of food somewhere accessible. He'd be very hungry later. Then she popped out and drew the curtains, walking back to Meridia.

"Molly Hale" she said. "Pleasure to meet you. And don't worry about the press. Real heroes never feel like heroes."

---

Location: Outside Goldenrod

Saturn saw the two kids approach. 

"She's right you know. So far this stream is rated PG. Oh sorry, PG-13 for your brief instances of crude language."

This is very unlikely to be a Nova ruse to knock me off balance. Therefore, this is a shock to everyone present, and as they were already off balance by my appearance, this is nothing more than an opportunity I have to take advantage of.

"I'd offer to take them prisoner. But something tells me you'd rather have that luxury. I do hope your prison here is more humane than the others. Gracidea treatments. Disgusting. I'm positive none of you good men were directly involved with that, right?"

A few of them (looking at you Phillip) barely stopped themselves from nodding. But by this point someone in charge (Lucas, no doubt), followed by a StarBurst Luxray.

"Take 'em all in already. If he's a diversion we can't shoot then it's best just to get it over with."

"I'm right here Lukey."

Saturn grinned, but the Captain paid him no attention whatsoever. Instead, he was prodded by guns to walk towards the gate with his hands up. The group did the same with Austin and Jacquelyn.

"Assuming I have the right to stay silent, I am opting to temporarily forsake it for the audience at home." Saturn spoke to himself, not loudly enough to be obnoxious, but more in the vein of a documentary commentator.

"You might be asking, why haven't I been searched? Why haven't my partners here been disarmed? Well, for one thing that Luxray there X-ray scan us and would have already mauled me to death if there was anything too offensive on my body. They rest will be taken care of by the first room of the gate. A combined EMP-Embargo pulse will basically destroy anything more sophisticated than a stethoscope, and then the entire room will be StarBurst to eliminate any Pokemon we might have on us. And yes, this means that I'll lose contact with you for a while, but with any luck, I'll find some way of keeping you updated. I suspect that the moment I lose contact they'll try to kill me, but seeing as these good men haven't done so yet, I have my hopes up."

There were lots of glares at him.

"And I promise not to kill any of you in return. I swear on my life."

Location: Over the Ocean

"Bugger!"

A big ol' death turkey felt a sharp annoying nibbling coming the a spot between her wings. And whatever it was, spinning through the air wasn't getting it off. This would need her claws, er, wings.

Yveltal used Phantom Force to warp high into the air. She plummeted in exactly the way a giant mass of feathers strapped to an avatar of death would, but this didn't worry her. She twisted around, trying to reach that one tiny part of her back she couldn't scratch, and continually reaffirmed that she, in fact, could not scratch it. Before she hit the water, she made another portal and began her descent again, but after the second round, she spread her wings into a hover and decided to be more practical. One portal at her back, the other one for her to peer through.

"How did I not notice that!?"

There was a small mite of an electronic tracker nestled in the feathers. It was completely dormant until a few moments ago, when someone out there had pushed a button,

---

Location: The Distortion World

A single man was surrounded by shining chains of red light. He floated in the abyss, because gravity didn't make sense here. He thrust out his hand, and a ball of white light joined the red. It was followed by many others, and they began to arc trails through the air. It would be cliche at this point for him to be grinning manically, so he went a step past than that and contorted his face into something that would cause small children to question reality.

It was a happy expression though. Too happy, perhaps. And one could question whether you could in fact be "too happy", but in this case the happiness came with the intent to eradicate a couple billion free thinking minds from the planet Earth. So yes, Maurice was a bit too happy to discover he could turn the Distortion World itself into StarBurst.

From something resembling a distance away (space doesn't make sense here either), the God of this world watched his...no, not ally. Companion, perhaps. Tool? Pet. Pet made sense. The God of this world watched his pet play with Eldritch power. It was kind of cute the way his pet thought that those Red Chains left him immune to the Distortion World's effects. Time, Space, Dimension, and Reality changed here on Giratina's whim. The God could go further than changing or deleting a human's physical composition at the sub-atomic level. He could anchor a dimensional thread into him and re-write that person's backstory through the Fabric of Time. But as the theory goes, the Arceus blessed Red Chains enforced continuity in their immediate vicinity; an authorial power impossible for Giratina to match, even in his universe.

But then again, he hadn't really tried yet. You can't really call something impossible until you've tried.

Anyways, Maurice was interrupted by a call on his suit's visor. Only three...no...two people now. Two people could contact him in here. He spoke first.

"Are you dying?"

"Saturn's in town."

"Kill him."

He hung up.

---

Location: Goldenrod - Armour Depot

The visor of Celena's new cyber-armour blacked out with digital displays. It was still a far cry from the old one though. Still, by augmenting the core of the Magma and Aqua suits with Pink Diamond, it was practically impregnable. A bastion of of environmental protection, she could travel into the core of the Earth, the deepest undersea trench, or the vacuum of space. She was trying to convince Maurice to loan her a red chain so she could visit the Distortion World with it too...but she knew that was a long shot. As for more earthly matters, she couldn't think of any weapon save for her own that could give her more than a bruise. It's the pinnacle of defense.

PFFFFFFFT defense. How useless. She'd miss her terraforming wave motion cannon for a while, but at least she still had flight, short range teleport, anti-matter missiles, and her fists.

"Boom-boom time!"

*RING RING RING*

And then an alert came in. Normally some random signal from over the ocean would be ignored, but this one was a priority signal coded to "Yveltal is here."

Celena paused. Given the choice between killing the face the rebellion or the face of death...

"Call Executive Delacour."

Marissa's face popped up on screen.

"Saturn's in town. Kill him for me. I'm taking an early Thanksgiving."

---

Location: Hoenn Seas

Marissa was not fortunate enough to have a suit of armour reconstructed for her. But you know, maybe Eusine was onto something with this whole bareback riding thing. She wore only a protective bio-field catsuit and helmet as she shot across the water on Shadow Suicune's back, and it was pretty exhilarating.

And then a buzzkill rung in.

"Saturn's in town. Kill him for me. I'm taking an early Thanksgiving."

Marissa didn't miss a beat.

"Call Mercury-kun."

Harry's face, pre-disfigurement, popped up on screen.

"Saturn's in Goldenrod. Go get 'im."

---

Location: Goldenrod - Underground Lab

He got the message. Harry's mask whined under the increase in breathing and heart rate. He turned to the cameras watching over him slowly, mustering the menace of a movie monster.

"You hear that? Mistress's orders. Open the door."

The door slid open, and Harry could hear the hasty footsteps of guards he wasn't supposed to know about. He expected them, but didn't care at this point. He chuckled, but the digitization made it sound more like growling.

No armour, no problem. He had better. On his way out he grabbed his Mega-Armor Gauntlet and the prototype for Nova Drive 2.0.

---

Location: Goldenrod - Gate

Saturn appreciated his surroundings, mentally checking off what he had seen in the blueprints and what was changed. His hands were raised the entire time. They took no weapons from him since he had no weapons. The EMP dislodged a few bone staples but not much else. He walked through the StarBurst Chamber without much issue. He had no pokeballs on his body for pokemon to spring from.

As he neared the gate, he continued speaking to his live stream.

"Unfortunately, the moment this last gate closes my psychic connection will cut off. But stay tuned, because this stream isn't going to go dead unless I do. I will not be able to see the men waiting for me on the other side until the connection is closed, so unfortunately, I won't be able to inform you about their families. But everyone up until this point has been extremely cooperative, so please don't hold any grudges just because of their allegiance. Some of them may not have had a choice. Uphold my word that nothing will happen to them or their families. We must always hold the higher moral ground."

A few steps before they entered the city proper Saturn muttered to the kids at his side.

"If the bullets start flying, run. I'll be a distraction. You're both brave kids. If you make it out of this alive, I welcome you to join the Galactic Rebellion."

The last door opened to an empty city view. Nobody in sight. Saturn inhaled sharply, and company took the step over the threshold. The door slammed behind him and he could feel his connection shut down.

---

On the live stream, the video froze but the sound played on.

This is a prerecorded message, which will play until I can reconnect to all of you. By now, Nova agents are probably listening intently, with hopes that I will give something away, but on the bright side this means they wont take the stream down until they have terminated me. Now, I have predicted some of their moves and decided my actions in response. I will tell you some of what I plan on doing, but then again, I could be dead by now. At the very least, I assure you I have taken precautions, and I am not pulling my actions out of thin air.

The hologram dropped and Saturn was immediately surrounded by an execution squad of Nova soldiers pointing their guns his way. At the same time, Saturn exhaled sharply.

"Whew! Not even an interrogation?"

I expect that I will first be ambushed by a squad hidden through hologram, or cloaking devices if Nova has managed to steal that technology from us. Unfortunately, details of how I will escape this will have to remain a mystery.

When Saturn exhaled sharply, a pink mist of sorts escaped his mouth. Not many noticed that. Even fewer noticed the sweet sticky smell the mist gave off...but something did. A certain pokemon did though. A certain amphibian who felt the Imprisonment of Phantom Force lift in a field around his master. From the Ilex Forest, two pokemon disappeared. The next moment, Saturn vanished in a ghostly swirl. 

I don't smell any excessive treachery on the horizon, and should I be ambushed I hope to get a word in edgewise. But I can promise you that if they're packing heat, they should prepare to get burned in return.

Another ghostly swirl, and Saturn was behind the firing squad, Toxicroak and Skuntank at his side. The skunk didn't waste any time unleashing a Flamethrower over the entire squad. Their bio-fields protected them for the most part, but it was very visually distracting.

I myself am partial to energy weapons as opposed to firearms. It is always handy to have a bit of both though, since a shield can only ever protect against one kind of weapon. One might carry two shields, but in that case I hope your weapon is hands free.

Another ghostly swirl, and a pile of weapons dropped to the ground from some hidden store. Bombs, guns, and blades of all kinds poured out of the portal. Saturn took only what he needed, figuring that he'd leave some for the kids.

By this time, if I am not dead then they will not find me. I do still wish to talk to Maurice, and will do everything in my power to arrange such a meeting, peaceful or otherwise. I am only running until I can arrange a suitable stalemate conducive to discussion. But how, might you ask, could a single man alone reach a stalemate against the strongest city in the world?

The secret is simple. I am not alone.

Saturn vanished, leaving the mess at the gate behind. In a back alley, he regrouped and released the rest of his secret weapon from his lungs and stomach: a Gastly grafted with the ability Aroma Veil, released when the StarBurst chamber broke open the pokeball in his stomach. The gas pokemon locally negated the effects of the move Imprison, allowing the use of moves like Teleport and Phantom Force. Toxicroak and Skuntank to the rescue. Of course, Gastly was StarBurst and wasn't obeying Saturn at the moment, but it didn't have to. All of its moves were deleted, save for Nightmare (useless on a conscious target), and a pre-injection of an Antidote warded off the gas pokemon's toxic effects.

And it's not like Saturn could die from lack of oxygen or poison. Thanks Yveltal.

Saturn wasted no time in taking out his Skill Swapper and permanently giving Toxicroak Aroma Veil. The frog had dropped in a number of GS balls in with the other armaments, including one with a Galactic signature Bronzor. Saturn recaptured the Gastly, set the Bronzor on his arm and teleported off, sights set on...wherever they were hiding Diancie.

The door to one of the rooms close to Eusine's cot suddenly flung open. A certain mint-loving receptionist stormed out and yelled into the room holding the drug-addled man, his guest, and some other lady.

"Whoever was yelling, SHUT UP!" she loudly yelled. "We have patients around here who need their sleep!"

The receptionist turned around and stormed away to the other end of the hall.