Chapter 35: Choices

“Ngh!” 

“Oof!”

John and Claire fell out of a sac and dropped into some kind of glass container for each. Before both of them had a chance to escape from above, a metallic lid with small air holes was put above the glass and locked with a padlock. 

The duo of spider and fox recovered from the fall, their mind racing with thoughts as they looked around. However, one thought lingered in their head, making the spider voice it. “Where… where are we…?”

“I… don’t know…” Claire responded a bit nervous.

The room was dimly lit, only having a single lightbulb above their enclosures. A faint scent of dust and rust filled the place, assaulting the two Pokémon’s smelling senses. They couldn’t see beyond what the lightbulb provided, it was pitch-black darkness beyond that point.

The Vulpix shot a fireball at her glass cage, sadly doing nothing to it besides leaving a black mark on it. She then coated herself with a white aura and charged at the glass, proving to be another futile effort as she only hurt her head. “Dammit, reinforced glass…”

John slammed his pointy nub at the glass, only making thumping sounds on the glass. “Fuck, is there really no way out?”

“That’s right, there is no way out!”

The duo flinched at the different but familiar voice. They turned to the source of the voice which was in the back of the room. The back of the place was still dark, having low visibility everywhere they looked. However, some windows were showing the rainy skies outside, the only other source of light other than the lightbulb. Below the windows, sat a figure they couldn’t figure out who it was, they could only see two red eyes glowing in the dark of the obscured form. “Welcome, John and Claire!”

Suddenly, a lightning bolt outside flashed the entire room alight, revealing who the figure was for a brief second. It was none other than Alice Mishima, sitting in a throne-like chair that was made of metal. In the corners of their vision, they saw two other Pokémon standing stationary still, however, they couldn’t make out their appearance for the flash not staying for long. Although, from what they gathered, they were pretty shocked. “A-Alice!?” 

“Surprised aren’t you-?”

“I knew it! I fucking knew you were up to some dubious shit!” John shouted while pointing, interrupting Alice. 

“How… how do you know our names?” Claire asked a little confused.

A slow chuckle came out of the Meowscarada. “Well, let’s say… I was spying a little bit on you two.” The Joltik and the Vulpix flinched. “You should’ve known that making such a big scene in the human world would cause commotion. And as you probably know, I keep up with the news in that place.”

“For real…?” John asked, mostly to himself.

“But that still doesn’t explain how you were able to specifically identify who we are!” Claire argued, getting a bit heated up.

From the movements of her glowing eyes (seriously, how are they glowing?), she seemed to tilt her head. “Let’s just say I got lucky. A certain glitchy duck went to Asuri’s headquarters, wanting to be fixed. And I made a few… small adjustments to him and sent him back to your school.”

John’s eyes widened in realization. Holy shit, his bad feeling about Mr. Zeta acting a bit off was right… “No way… you used him as a spy?”

“Correct! I needed to know if I was spying on the right group of Pokémon or not! And, with a stroke of luck, I was!”

Claire folded her hind legs and sat, looking at the ground. “But… why?” She looked back to the figure in the darkness. “What are you doing behind everyone’s back to go through all this effort to find some random kids?”

Alice giggled. “Oh little Vulpix, I’m not as stupid as you think. I knew there was a single Pokémon in your little group of friends that would see through my illusion and try to stop my plans. And that Pokémon is none other than John, a human.”

John’s heart skipped a beat as she said that, Claire’s eyes widening as she heard that as well. “What…? How did you-”

Alice interrupted the Joltik. “Oh please, it was pretty obvious from an outsider’s perspective that you were one. And the fact that you somehow went back to the human world only makes it easier to identify you as a human.” 

John looked away, feeling disappointed in himself for being so goddamn stupid. He should’ve just stayed in Claire’s home and never left… but now, here he was, with a tech thief and leader of the richest company in the Pokémon world. Since he was already there, he should just ask. “So why did you even want to capture humans? To stop them from exposing you to the whole world for being a fake and a fraud? That you can’t create pieces of technology by yourself and have to steal just to make a profit? What’s your big money plan here?”

A laugh escaped the Meowscarada’s mouth, being the only sound filling the room accompanied by the rain outside. “Oh, John…” She chuckled a bit more. “You’re a funny guy, did you know that? Well, you probably do. However, I hate to inform you that your claim is completely wrong.”

Claire snorted some flames from her snout. “What do you mean completely wrong ?”

“You see… the reason this company exists is not what you think. I couldn’t care less about money. It’s only a tool to make my plans go smoothly. The reason why I don’t want a human meddling with my plans is because of something else that also involves their world.”

“And that is what? Expanding your business?” John asked, a bit nervous.

“Far from it. The reason for Asuri’s actions is something beyond profit or business.” Alice got up from her chair and walked a bit forward to the light, a bit more of her body being revealed, but still obscuring the majority of her face. “Asuri’s true purpose is to save humanity!” She declared as she opened her arms.

The Joltik and Vulpix looked at Alice in confusion before John tilted his head. “What…?”

“It’s just as you heard, John. I plan to save humanity!” She folded her arms behind her back as she started pacing left and right. “You know the state of the human world, right? But of course you do.” She started motioning a paw. “Global warming is increasing, deforestation is accelerating, constant conflicts keep happening for territorial or religious reasons, and crime rate is off the charts in a majority of the planet. And yet, despite all these issues and more…” She looked back at the Joltik. “The humans don’t seem to care, do they?”

Claire grimaced after hearing all about that before asking. “How do you even know about all of this?”

“I’ve been in that world for a long time to know what it’s like. I know the suffering and constant struggles that majority of the humans go through…” 

John started speaking. “Hold up a moment. You’re speaking like you’ve been in that situation before in that world. Unless…” John’s eyes widened in realization. “No way… you… you can’t be…”

Claire looked at John in confusion, her expression shifting to a thoughtful one before the same realization dawned on her. She looked back at Alice in shock. “Wait, you’re a-…”

The masked feline chuckled. “If you two had the same thought that I expect you have, then you’re completely right!” She then looked at the Vulpix. “Claire, are you perhaps familiar with the name… Alisson Niijima?”

The Vulpix’s ears dropped along with her fan of tails. “No way… you’re… Niijima-san? THE Niijima-san!?”

“Indeed! Or I was…” She said, her grin being visible in the darkness.

John overcame his shocked state of disbelief as he looked at Claire in confusion and disbelief. “Niijima-san? What do you mean by that…?”

The six-tailed fox looked at the Joltik and exclaimed. “John… she’s the human that saved our world from Necrozma!”

“HUH!?!?”

Claire then looked back at Alice as a thought crossed her mind. “But… how are you here…? I thought you sacrificed yourself to push Necrozma into their own rift…”

“Well, that’s what happened… to the public’s eyes.” She looked to the side, another thunder striking the background and flashing the entire room again. With that flash, John felt like he was tripping a bit when he saw the cat’s sclera being fully black. “To understand what truly happened, I shall tell a tale… about a human girl named Alisson Niijima.”

The Meowscarada started pacing around the room again. “Long ago, an American girl with Japanese origins named Alisson was born.” She started motioning with her paws. “Unlike many other children, she despised her life. Her parents neglected her, no matter what she did, they would just not love her. She grew up, without anyone who loved her, no true friends, nothing. However, despite all of that, she had a good heart. She wanted to help people in the same situation as her, or going through something worse. But, just like her parents, the world neglected her. They rejected her ideas of making the world a better place. She had nothing to live for anymore, it was clear that the world didn’t want her there. So then… she decided to just end her suffering.”

John looked away, feeling a bit of sympathy for Alice (or Alisson?). She went through almost the same thing as him, but unlike him, nobody was there for her…

Alice continued. “However, before she could fully do it, it seemed the universe had other plans for her. She had been summoned to another world to help one of the deities stop the distortions that this world had, however, she had lost her memories in the process. It was during her journey that she found a creature that had the power to open portals to their will, that creature being Necrozma. However, it was when she met the being that she started hearing voices in her head, telling her that they would recover her lost memories if they followed some steps, and reluctantly, she agreed.”

She turned away from them while continuing with her story. “All she needed to do was reach a dimension only accessible with Necrozma’s help and then she would meet the being…” She then looked behind her, her red eyes staring at John and Claire through the darkness. “You probably know where this led to, right?”

John looked down, recalling what he heard from Izo during that one time after applying to Obelisk High. 

“So… to summarize… a god of light from another world was left stranded on this world. They, for some reason, lost all of their light. However, a human-turned-Pokémon helped them to regain the light that they lost, but… it made them lose control after staying without it for so long. So as a result, it summoned portals everywhere from other worlds, bringing the Ultra Beasts into this world.” “That human, if I remember correctly was a female Pokémon, pushed that light deity into one of those portals they created, sacrificing herself to save the world. Both the light deity and the woman were never seen again.”

The Joltik looked back at Alice. “You sent Necrozma back through their portal along with you… on purpose?”

“Precisely!” She fully turned back to them, her body being a bit less covered in the shadows. “But you must be wondering to yourself… if that was my plan all along to fake my death, how would I have predicted Necrozma going mad? Well… let’s say… it was all thanks to a certain being that was the source behind the voices in my head, who had a plan ready…”

“Who… who was that being…?” Claire asked, not liking the direction where this was going.

Alice grinned. “Dark Matter…”

---

“aLisSON…” 

The Meowscarada turned to the source of the strange voice(s?) and saw a strange sight for a being. It was some kind of red orb encased in thorny black branches resembling a sphere. The black substance that came out of Necrozma flowed directly to the being, filling the gaps that the thorns left and transforming into a fully black orb with a faint red glow on some cracks. 

“WE hAvE fINalLY met. YoU havE COMplEted yOUR TasK, anD As prOMIsed WE shaLL uNloCK your MemORiES.”

Alisson floated closer to the strange orb as she asked. “How… how are you gonna do it…?”

“tO fULLy aCCess yOUR mEmOriEs, I shaLL neEd to EnteR youR bOdY. COme CLoSER, dO NOT be AFRaid…”

Skeptically, Alisson floated closer to the black orb that was half of her size. She extended her paw, reaching out to the orb. For a split second, she almost imagined seeing an eye opening on the shell of the being before it turned into a black tar-like substance and flowed directly to her paw, disappearing in her paw pads. As the being fully entered her arm, she saw some black veins appear on her arm for a second before it spread throughout her entire body. “Woah…” She then put her paws on her side. “So, when are you gonna-”

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot into her head, forcing her to clutch it with her paws as she screamed in agony. In a flash, memories of her human life started surfacing from the foggy depths of her mind, almost causing her a seizure overload. 

After some seconds, it was done. She remembered. She remembered everything… she remembered the way her parents treated her like a tool, she remembered being betrayed by her fake best friend, she remembered her plans of helping people being rejected, and she remembered falling to her death, one by one…

Alisson’s arms limped as she took a moment to process everything that came back to her while the voice spoke in the background of her mind. “Yes… this sadness, this hopelessness, this despair… this hate… you are just the vessel we need for our plan.”

Alisson slowly recovered, her expression changing into a more serious and emotionless expression. “Who are you…?”

“We are Dark Matter. Alisson Niijima, you have been chosen to be our vessel that will aid us in the destruction of the Pokémon world.” A dark aura started surrounding the masked feline. “You cannot resist our influence, your body has already accepted us…”

The green-furred cat just became a bit numb, not caring what Dark Matter was saying. After all, an interesting thought crossed her mind. She looked back at what she had done so far in the Pokémon world, seeing the friendships she made, the tasks she accomplished, the power she gained. She… she could use this. She has a chance to make her dream come true! Who cared what this Kirby final boss rip-off wanted? She had one goal in her mind and nobody would dare change her mind!

Alisson snickered before she slowly started chuckling. “My body has accepted your influence?” She started giggling. “Oh, I think you’re mistaken.”

“Hm? What do you mean by-” Suddenly, the dark aura around Alisson’s body disappeared completely. “What!?”

“Who said you were the one in control?” The Meowscarada raised her body as a grin formed on her face. “This is my body, my will. If you think you’re gonna be controlling me like a puppet on a string, you’re far from right.” She put a paw over her chest. “Instead, how about this? I will be the one controlling you now…”

“But that is impossible! No being resisted my influence until now!”

“Oh, but I can assure you… I’m very different from others.” Before Dark Matter spoke again, Alisson simply shoved it and locked it in the back of her mind where it couldn’t speak with her. She then looked at her paw and saw it being covered by the black substance. “I can tell you’re gonna be very useful for later.” 

The Meowscarada looked away from her hand before looking around, finding the still unconscious light dragon floating aimlessly in the void of Ultra Space. “And there’s my ticket out of here…”

---

John and Claire were left flabbergasted by the information they just received, having difficulties trying to get words out of their mouth. One single sentence floated through the Joltik’s mind at the moment.

What in the actual fuck?

Since no one was speaking up about it, Alice continued. “After getting out of Ultra Space, Alisson had a wonderful idea of working in the shadows. And this where the part where I come in. She became me, she pretended to be dead in the eyes of the masses. She needed her plan to work after all, without interruptions from old friends or foes. And if anyone actually managed to make a connection… those Pokémon suddenly disappeared.”

It was then that John finally mustered up the will to ask. “… why? Why go through all of that?”

“It’s because my methods wouldn’t sit right with some people, and the power of good would never allow me to do it. So… I had to choose the power of evil for the right things.” She put a paw on her chin. “But you must be asking yourself, “Ms. Alice! What kind of methods are so illegal that anyone would try to stop you?” Glad you asked, students!” She folded her arms behind her back. “The plan was simple, ask a certain portal maker to allow direct access to the human world, build a company to mask our true plans, and then work from there.” 

The Meowscarada looked down. “Humans are a plague, not only to the world around them but to themselves as well. It was clear that they would destroy the planet slowly but surely, not caring about future generations. I thought there was no hope for them when I was a human… however, when I came to this world, a brilliant idea came to me.” She opened her arms as she looked at the ceiling. “This world is just what humans need to make a better version of themselves! Pokémon are the key to solving every problem on Earth! If I could only make humans and Pokémon coexist together, humanity would thrive along with Pokémon, correcting each other’s mistakes!” 

John slammed a nub on the glass below him. “And how the fuck do you think that would end!? You know what would happen the moment Pokémon step into Earth!”

“Yeah, wouldn’t we scare them when we reveal we’re not fictional creatures to them?” Claire asked with a nervous frown.

Alice chuckled. “You both have good points. After all, humans would definitely start blasting when Pokémon enter the human world. And that’s where Asuri comes in the story. The real reason why I wanted to bring technology to this world was so that Pokémon started interacting with humans beforehand.” 

John made a scowl. “So… the internet connecting between worlds was intentional?”

“But of course it was! We slowly but surely upgraded technology in this world to be on par with humans, to have more chances of connecting to the other world! However… some things would definitely be an issue when Pokémon started using the internet.” She crossed her arms, looking away. “Pokémon don’t have the same language as humans, so for them, we would sound different to them, even in writing and vice-versa. And then there was the case of servers not being interdimensional.”

“Wait… if we can understand humans and they can understand us… along with the fact that you actually connected with the other world…” Claire mused before a grimace appeared on her face. “What did you do…?”

“Glad you asked.” Alice raised a paw. “You might be familiar with the name Palkia, right?” John and Claire’s eyes widened. “I’ll take it as a yes.” Alice grinned before explaining. “With the power of Dark Matter in my paws, I was stronger than ever before… allowing me to be on par with the deities of this world, including the ones who have complete control over reality. I went to Palkia’s domain and overwhelmed them, subjugating them to my will. After that, I planted the server computer in there, allowing the internet to connect to the other side due to the connection that place has with other worlds. And just recently, more than two weeks ago, I forced Palkia to alter reality to my will, making it so that everything related to language in this world turned into English!”

John was in a state of shock. Did she literally go to a space god’s domain to just put her server computer there and also literally bend reality to her will? Now that she said it… it made a bit of sense and something that he noticed earlier this day was not a piece of his imagination.

Chalking it up to just imagination, John and the other students left the courtyard. On the way to the outside of the building, John glanced at a certain door beside Claire’s locker. He didn’t know if he was tripping or not, but he vaguely remembered the sign on that door being unreadable when he first arrived at this school. Now it was written in English, spelling out “SUPPLY CLOSET” in capital letters.

She had everything planned, didn’t she?

“It was a bit later than expected, but it came out just fine…” Alice said with a shrug before grinning. “And then comes the second reason for the internet to connect to both worlds. Since humans will think that Pokémon are alien invaders, they would think that they are a threat. And, I figured that there wouldn’t be a lot of space for two types of creatures to be on one medium-sized planet. After all, we’re speaking of more than eight billion humans and two billion Pokémon or even more due to so many of them hiding in the shadows. That’s why I had the wonderful idea of fusing both worlds into one! And as we speak, their complete fusion is in process!”

John watched the cat explaining, only managing to mutter one thing as he shook his head. “You’re insane…”

“Oh no, far from it! I’m a revolutionary. If someone doesn’t change the world for the better immediately, who will?” She opened her arms. “Can’t you see John? I’m healing the world, I’m creating a paradise. I’m making Wonderland… real!”

Claire slammed a paw on the glass. “You’re clearly out of your mind! What if the human world doesn’t want that to happen!? John said that humans fear the unknown!”

The Meowscarada shook her head. “Oh little Vulpix, you clearly don’t understand humans. They fear the unknown because they are too used to the cycles of their normal lives. But the thing is, they are so trapped in their own bubble that they almost see those issues with Earth as something normal. But some individuals can see that the world is in flames now, meaning they’re worthy of the paradise I will create.” Her smile then shifted into a severe look. “And those who try to stop its creation will be dealt with…”

John took a small step back, a nervous grimace appearing on his face. “Dealt with how…?”

Alice stepped a bit further into the light, shadows obscuring the top part of her face. She lifted a paw as a ball made of black tar substance appeared floating above it. “Dark Matter has a unique and useful power of turning anything alive into stone… and those that get in my way and are not useful to me, have that as their outcome. Elon suffered the same fate once I was done with his services.” She giggled.

John and Claire’s hearts started getting filled with dread. Claire stuttered out, trembling a little. “You’re… y-you’re not g-gonna do the same thing to us… r-right?”

Alice laughed as she dispersed the dark matter ball with a flicker of her paw. “But of course not, dear! The only ones deserving of such fate are people with evil hearts. I can see that you have a good heart, after all, it takes evil to recognize evil. Most Pokémon have good hearts after all!” She then looked at John. “However… I can’t say the same for humans…” She took some steps towards the Joltik’s enclosure, making him step back a bit. “Thank you for enduring my semi-monologue John. I just wanted you to see where I was coming from so I could ask you one simple question.”

“W-what… what’s the… question?” John asked nervously before another clap of thunder could be seen in the background.

“Simply put… would you like to join in my mission to build Wonderland?” John tilted his head at that question. “Since you were one of the few humans that avoided my sight for longer, I wanted to make a deal with you. You’ll be helping me administrate the new world, once Wonderland is formed, being my advisor while I am the queen. What do you say to that, John?” She extended a paw forward. “Do you accept the deal?”

In one moment, all eyes in the room were focused on the greenish spider. John looked down in thought as he argued with himself what would the best answer be. After a long moment, he began… “I… I…”

Alice began to grin a bit wider.

“I accept… MY ASS!” Claire was a bit taken aback by the answer while Alice’s grin dropped. “This Wonderland you’re speaking about is complete bullshit! You’re literally forcing two worlds to coexist with each other without their consent! Then there’s the fact you’re only seeing people as tools and if someone gets in your way, you take them out of the picture! You’re the spitting image of what totalitarianism is! Be a queen? Seriously? Hell no, I’m not living in a world where someone like YOU governs an entire planet. If you think I’m agreeing to something as outrageous as that…” John shook his head as some electrical sparks came out of him. “Kiss my spider ASS!”

The room was left in silence for a moment, only the sound of rain hitting the windows being a filter to the silence. However, Claire eventually managed to mutter out. “John…”

Alice made a scowl before walking in silence back to her chair and sitting on it. She looked back at the duo, only her red eyes being seen. “Gabriel, hold him for me.”

Suddenly, one of the shadowy figures to the side of the room started moving before another clap of thunder lit up the room. It was then that John and Claire realized that the figure was none other than the water Typhlosion from before, making them flinch in shock. “What!?”

The Corrupted Pokémon grabbed a key and unlocked the padlock on the lid. He then threw the lid away and immediately grabbed the Joltik with a watery hand from his water collar. John struggled, trying to shoot out a web and even bite, however, the hand covered his mouth completely. “JOHN!!!” Claire screamed as she tried to headbutt the glass again, her body heating up as she tried shooting flames everywhere on the glass, however, nothing worked. “NO!”

Alice sighed. “Oh John, I thought you’d be unlike the others, able to understand my vision. But it seems that isn’t the case…” She got up from her chair and pulled out something from behind her back. She approached the light where the Typhlosion was standing with John in his grasp. It was then revealed that the object in the Meowscarada’s paws was a syringe with a black tar-like substance inside of it. “Wanna know another fun fact about Dark Matter? Since I’m in total control over it, I can pass a little bit of its influence to others as well. Unfortunately, normal Pokémon don’t react well to it. They turn berserk, destroying everything in their path with no remorse.” She twirled the syringe. “But if applied to a human-turned-Pokémon…” She grinned as her sclera turned fully black. “They obey me like obedient dogs. And, after all, I need an army in case a group of humans tries to defy me.”

John started struggling even more, thrashing his limbs around in panic. He couldn’t scream, or else water would fill his lungs.

The masked feline looked at the Corrupted Pokémon. “Hold him tight, but release his mouth.” The Typhlosion nodded and obeyed. He then opened and shifted his hold on the Joltik, grasping him in his actual hands, constricting him. Alice tilted her body down and smiled. “Any last words before you do everything as I say without questioning anything?”

“NO!” Claire screamed, her eyes turning fully purple as she screamed, flames floating all around her. “ RELEASE HIM NOW!”

Alice ignored the Vulpix as she tilted her head. “So?”

John stayed in silence for a moment and tilted his head down, muttering something almost inaudible for the Meowscarada to hear. “MissingNo…”

“Hm? What was that?”

John spoke a bit louder. “MissingNo…”

Alice tilted her head. “Huh? Why you’re talking about that dumb glitch of the old games-”

John shouted as he looked back at Alice, his eyes filling with static again. “WAKE UP MISSINGNO.!!!!” 

Alice recoiled and took a step back. “What the!?”

Suddenly, John’s body started being enveloped in static before being covered by a white light surrounding him. The Typhlosion released him and took some steps back, shielding his eyes from the light. The Joltik started floating as the white light lingered.

Claire’s purple eyes disappeared along with the fire around her as she looked at the Joltik. “John!?”

The white light faded, leaving behind a single monochrome egg bigger than the Joltik. Suddenly, a small little jingle could be heard coming from it before an X mark appeared floating in front of the egg. Static then covered the area for a split second before disappearing and revealing two eggs floating beside one another. Static started flicking around the eggs as they began hatching, the cracks on them getting bigger and bigger. And then…

CRACK

The eggs completely broke, leaving two masses of static in their wake before they morphed into one form of moderate size and the other a big form that even reached the ceiling. Six blue lights could be seen coming from the smaller form and many red lights could be seen coming from the bigger one.

Alice took a step back, gritting her teeth. “How is this possible… this can’t be.”

The static slowly fizzled out of existence, revealing the two forms. One form was MissingNo. with their usual ghostly appearance with their horns and spikes on their side, the puddle of static below them with many Pokémon limbs coming out of it, their many eyes, and their creepy wide smile.

The other form was… John…? 

He was now a Galvantula, however, with some major differences. His fur color was now black and white, his pedipalps ended in a single black fang, the top of his head sprouted two black horns similar to MissingNo.’s, and his two main eyes gained a black sclera while still retaining his blue irises. His abdomen gained three spikes on the top of it, and on the back of it, came out two white limbs that ended in black hands similar to the glitch Pokémon’s.

John looked down, feeling his body way different than before. He looked down, seeing his large pedipalps, and his large spider legs that he couldn’t see well before. “W-what…? Did I just…”

“It worked… hehehe, I’m free!” MissingNo. looked at John and chuckled. “Oh my. It seems that I had a little influence on your evolution. You bear a close resemblance to me now.”

John looked at the glitch Pokémon. “What!?”

Claire raised a paw in happiness. “No way… you evolved John!” 

“I what now!?” John moved his many limbs, trying to grasp some functionalities of his body. “Just what is going on with me!?”

“Tch…” The three Pokémon looked back at Alice who looked a bit annoyed. “Seriously, getting one of those bullshit power-ups the moment I’m about to change you while also summoning a literal glitch out of your ass? What are you? Some kind of anime protagonist?”

“If I was some kind of anime protagonist, I’d probably be reborn as a cooler Pokémon rather than a damn spider monster!” John argued while slamming one of his backhands on the ground as a bit of static was released from it. He looked back and saw the dent made on the actual concrete . “What the fuck…?”

“See? Anime power up.” Alice said as she motioned with a paw. “But anyways…” Her paw started releasing a dark mist that condensed into the shape of a scythe. “Since you’re not joining my side willingly… then maybe a bit of force might change your head…”

John shuddered as he saw a damn scythe made out of darkness appearing on the Meowscarada’s paw. John took a few steps back before MissingNo. crawled a bit in front of the Galvantula, their six disembodied hands appearing beside them. “Don’t worry John. I’ll take care of her, you two should just get out of here.” He said before the Typhlosion got into battle position and a certain three-headed canine appeared from the darkness while growling.

The Galvantula looked at the glitch Pokémon with a bit of panic. “Wait, don’t! You don’t know what she’s capable of-”

Suddenly, one of MissingNo.s hands floated to Claire’s enclosure and crushed the padlock by clenching their hand. “Hurry up. I can’t hold her forever.”

Claire jumped and pushed the lid away from her, leaving the enclosure. John took some steps back to the door behind him. “Come on John, we gotta go!” Claire shouted before pushing the Galvantula’s abdomen to the door. 

“Alright, I’m going, I’m going!” The tarantula said as he tried walking forward, immediately falling on his belly after losing balance. “Ngh… long legs!”

Claire continued pushing the Galvantula again. “I’ll help you! We need to hurry!” 

With that, the tarantula and the fox got out of the room, leaving Alice, MissingNo., and two other Corrupted Pokémon in the room. MissingNo. smiled and readied their hands for combat. “My awakening was a bit sudden. I didn’t expect to wake up to fight… might as well tell me who you might be?”

Alice entered her Dark Matter form, getting slightly taller and more menacing. “It’s none of your business…” She then leaped at MissingNo., her scythe ready to reap.

---

Amy and Taro were idling around in a mostly silent area of the museum, a grimace plastered on their faces. 

The Togedemaru looked at the grass hedgehog and asked. “Do you think they found them?”

Amy sighed and looked aside. “Hopefully…”

Suddenly, in front of them, Popo and Nana appeared from the shadows, their expression the same as usual. Taro got up from his sitting position and tilted his head. “Any luck on finding them?”

The Tandemaus shook their heads. “Negative.” “We have failed to find them.”

The Shaymin grimaced and said. “I don’t get it. Where did they go? How could they just disappear like that? We were supposed to meet here more than twenty minutes ago.”

The mice twins raised a hand each. “We have two possible theories.” “The first theory is that friend found more evidence than he was expecting.” “The other theory is more unpleasant.” “They have been spotted and captured by the enemy.”

Taro frowned. “That can’t be it, right? We had everything planned in case stuff went south. How did they get spotted so easily?”

“I don’t know, something is amiss here…” Amy said in a thoughtful expression.

Suddenly, Team Net was caught off guard when a portal with a ring outline appeared in front of them, Taro even fell on his back. Popo and Nana immediately got their Shadow Claw ready in case of a Pokémon coming out to attack them.

From the portal, a familiar horned figure with disembodied hands came out of it, looking at them with an expression of worry. Amy’s eyes went wide as she exclaimed. “Hoopa!?”

“So you’re familiar with me. Good, this will be quick.” The portal-maker looked around before asking. “Where’s the rest of your group?” 

Taro sat up and tilted his head. “Hold up, what do you mean by that? And why did you appear to us?”

Hoopa clasped their hands together before sighing. “I’m looking for John. I need to find him fast!”

Popo and Nana raised their claws at the genie. “Why are you looking for friend? State your plans.”

The portal-maker sighed again and just confessed. “I need to help him before it’s too late.”

---

Claire pushed John along the halls of the unfamiliar building they’d appeared in, the Galvantula taking slow steps as he tried to get used to his new legs. “H-hold on, let me try walking now!” John requested.

“We can’t… take… any risks, let me support you!” Claire said between pushes. 

John groaned in annoyance. “Man, why couldn’t this be just a normal trip where we would just do a simple investigation-” 

Suddenly, two Pokémon emerged from the corner of a hall, one being a pink, muscular, and bipedal pitbull and the other being a bipedal cactus with a hat attached to their body. The pitbull noticed the duo and pointed at them. “Wait, are those-”

John yelped along with Claire who tried to back away. However, when the two security guards started sprinting towards them, John flinched and a wall of static covered the monochrome tarantula and the orange fox. In a blink, the duo disappeared and reappeared outside of the building, the static uncovering their bodies and leaving them exposed to the rain.

The Galvantula and the Vulpix were both left staring at nothing in silence, trying to process what just had happened. “What. The. Fuck?” They both eventually said in unison.

John simply laid down on his underside, letting his limbs spread out as he stayed silent for a few more seconds. Suddenly, he released a groan that slowly turned into a scream, air distorting around him as he released his frustrations. “I’m… I’m at my breaking point. I’m so close, so fucking close , to have a damn breakdown!”

Claire leaned on the Galvantula’s abdomen, John flinching at the sensitiveness of it. Guess he had a new weak point, huh? “You think I’m not at my breaking point as well? I almost lost you, John…” The Vulpix said with a grimace.

“Look, I’m having it way worse here! We not only walk into the literal enemy base, and find out that they’re the guys that are turning humans into Corrupted Pokémon, but I almost get TURNED into one, and to save myself, I have to take MissingNo. out of my body, turning me into whatever this freak of nature is!” John explained as some of his body glitched a little before turning to normal, Claire jerking away from him as the Galvantula didn’t notice. Some tears leaked out of his main eyes. “Everything is just going too fast, dude…”

Claire frowned and approached John, licking the side of his head. The tarantula looked at the fox with a somber look on his face, the smell of wet dog assaulting his olfactory senses. “John, even if all of that happened, we need to keep moving forward. We managed to escape and we got a lot of info from that, we have enough evidence to expose Asuri!”

John had an expression of thought flash through his face. “You’re… you’re right.” It was at that moment that a bit of hope flashed in the Galvantula’s eyes. He got up slowly, adjusting to his new legs as his eyes flashed in static for a split second. Once he was up, he realized something now that his mind wasn’t in rush mode. He was a bit bigger than Claire now, in fact, the world around him seemed like it decreased in size a little. 

He would thank the universe for growing bigger later.

“We need to tell that to the cops, then they might warrant an actual investigation on Asuri-” Before John could complete his sentence, the sound of an explosion could be heard above him and Claire. They both looked up and could see that a part of the building they were in front of had a smoking crater on one of the higher floors. John could even feel a familiar sense of glitch energy coming from the crater before him and Claire shielded their faces from falling glass pieces. “Is that where we were?”

“If that’s the case, then we need to get out of here before Alice sends one of her goons to find us!” The Vulpix suggested.

John nodded. “Right!”

The duo walked into the deserted gravel street, the glitchy Galvantula starting to take slow steps before getting the hang of walking with longer legs. However, before they could cross the street, they heard the sounds of gravel being kicked into the air. They looked to the source of it and saw a robot bike lizard, what???  

John shoved the absurdity of it to the side once he saw Reino riding the dragon. The Miraidon screeched to a stop, kicking some gravel up as they hit the brake. Reino looked at Claire and John and tilted his head. “John…? Is… is that you? What the heck happened to you? And what are you two doing out here? Just heard an explosion-”

“Reino! Just who we needed to see!” The Galavantula exclaimed as he crawled to Raiden and Reino. “There’s no time, we need to get out of here!”

“Yeah, we found out really important things and we’ll explain everything on the way!” Claire added. “Please, take us out of here!”

Reino stared at them silently for a moment before asking. “You didn’t become a Corrupted Pokémon, right John-?”

“Of course not! Or else I wouldn’t remember you!” The tarantula replied hastily, his body blinking out of existence for a split second.

Reino tilted his head and stared for a moment. He then sighed. “Alright, hop on in. You owe me a good explanation of what in Arceus’ name is going on.”

John crawled on Raiden while Claire hopped on it. John stayed between the Scizor and the Vulpix with his abdomen bent to the side and standing on two legs, his back hands wrapping around Claire. Gosh, was it weird having eight fucking different limbs to control along with six eyes, he was feeling like an actual tarantula at that point.

With that, Raiden started moving again, his jet boosters making him go faster. However, from an alley they weren’t looking at, a metallic figure with red and green eyes and a manic red grin came out of it. “Hehehe, it’s time for the hunt!” 

Cass’ back opened up.

---

On the stormy streets of Xander Cage city, Raiden rode through it with two species of bugs and a fire fox on his back. The Scizor sighed before he monotonously said. “Start explaining.”

John groaned before he spilled his beans. “Okay so… investigation was going fine until they spotted us and brought us to the CEO. And uh… we found out she’s a complete nutcase!”

Claire added up to the claim. “Yeah! She’s planning to fuse both Pokémon and the human world with the internet and is making an army of Corrupted Pokémon!”

Reino flinched before looking back at the duo. “Wait a second, she’s what!? ”

“Yeah! Her whole plan was to use the internet to fuse both worlds and become the leader of it while also having an actual army on her side! She just wants to become a damn dictator-” Suddenly, outside of the smells of the rain and wet dog smell from Claire, something else came up to his olfactory senses, leaving his fur a bit up. “Wait… are you guys smelling that?”

Claire tilted her head as she sniffed the air. “Smell what? … smoke?”

“Target spotted !”

The three Pokémon looked behind while Raiden kept looking forward, paying attention to the streets. The trio saw a figure flying towards them at the same pace as Raiden. What they saw shocked them. “Cass!?” John and Claire said in shock.

They saw the robot Weavile literally fly to them with a booster coming out of his back, releasing a burst of flames that boosted him forward while airborne. “We meet again, idiots! Sorry spider Bugsy, but the boss lady wants ya and I can’t disappoint her! Hehahahahaha!!!”

The Scizor gritted his mandibles and shouted to Raiden. “Raiden, full throttle, go!” 

After turning a corner, the Miraidon nodded and went faster, the blue flames coming from his jets burning brighter. Cass giggled. “Oh, wanna race, huh?” His expression became a bit more crazy, even with a metal face. “Let’s see if you can handle MY speed!” Cass curled as the flames coming from his back burned brighter. He uncurled and flew faster, chasing after the four of them.

Claire, who was looking behind, saw Cass getting closer to them, while a clap of thunder from the storm struck behind him, highlighting his manic face. “Shit, he’s getting to us!”

“WHAT!?” John asked in shock as he looked back to watch in shock.

After getting a bit close to them, Cass asked. “Y’all seem a bit hungry, how about a taste of my Flash Bullets!!!” Suddenly, the fingers of his claws opened and his wrists started spinning. 

Reino ordered. “Raiden, zigzag manuever!” 

“Right!” The Miraidon said before he started turning left and right as Cass started shooting out glowing white pellets from his claws, sounding like an assault rifle. The pellets impacted the street, kicking up gravel as Raiden dodged the bullets. 

“This isn’t the kind of action movie I fucking signed up for!!!” The Galvantula complained with a panicked expression on his face.

The Scizor looked back and looked at the Vulpix. “Claire! Try hitting him with one of your moves!”

Claire shouted. “Alright!” She looked at the big white hands wrapped around her and thought of an idea. “John, lift me with your hands!”

John looked back at the Vulpix in disbelief. “What!? Are you crazy!? I’m still trying to wrap my head around having those things! What if I drop you-?”

“Just do it!” Claire shouted. 

John groaned before tightening the grip on the Vulpix and lifting her up. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

Claire turned to the Corrupted Pokémon who aimed at her. However, Claire was fast, shooting a barrage of fireballs right at the white pellets, making small explosions when colliding with the bullets. “Want to play who shoots the fastest!? Alright, let’s play!” Cass said before his wrists started spinning faster.

Claire flinched before steeling up again. She formed a Will-O-Shield in front of her, however, the rain made it a bit smaller than she intended it to be. Some bullets impacted the shield, kicking up a cloud of smoke and steam. Raiden then turned to another street on the left as Cass continued forward.  “Did we get away from him?” Claire asked as she was placed back on Raiden’s back.

“I sure hope so!” John said as he started distorting a little.

“If we didn’t, we need to make a plan to make sure he loses track of us.” Reino said, feeling the rush of the moment coursing through his body.

“I have an idea.” Raiden spoke out. “You guys can use me as bait. Since he’s expecting you guys to ride me, he’ll be after the speeding target.” He took a turn to the right and continued speaking. “Reino, once they separate, you should go with them in case he figures out the bait.”

Reino nodded as his antennas twitched. “Seems like a solid plan, alright let’s do-”

“Bullets rain from above!”

A voice that came above them startled the group and made them look up. They saw Cass flying above them while aiming his finger guns at them. “Shit!” John shouted as a myriad of unavoidable pellets rained down on them. They braced for impact as John’s body started distorting again.

However, before any of the bullets could hit any of them, static appeared out of nowhere and covered their general area for a split second before disappearing from Cass’ sight. The Corrupted Pokémon tilted his head. “What the?”

The group appeared in another street, Raiden continuing to wheel at the same speed as before. However, unfortunately for them, they were heading straight to a wall. “Shit!” The Scizor steered Raiden’s handles as the Miraidon skidded to a stop, centimenters away from the wall. All of them stayed silent for a moment before Reino silently asked. “John… what the fuck was that?”

“Uh… would you believe me that during that time with Alice I suddenly evolved and awakened powers from a forgotten eldritch being and took out the same eldritch being from my body?” The Galvantula asked as his six eyes blinked.

“… maybe…” Reino responded.

“So um… yeah, that happened. And it was the thing that saved me from becoming a Corrupted.” John said while looking aside.

Reino sighed. “You know what? I’m not gonna even ask.” He looked back at Raiden, patting his side before the motorbike lizard continued forward, going back to the street. “Remind me, what sector of the city is this?”

The Miraidon responded. “It’s the Ignis sector. We’re close to the outskirts.”

“Alright, I know where we’re heading.” He pointed a pincer to a random building. “Can you stop there?” 

Raiden nodded before heading close to the sidewalk. He screeched to a stop and the Scizor jumped out of him, followed by the Vulpix and Galvantula. Reino tapped on one of the Miraidon’s handles and spoke. “Okay, hope you can distract him for long enough until we get to the place.”

Raiden smiled. “I’ll try my best. I’ll take the opportunity to search for Mark as well.”

Reino nodded as Raidon had already gone away by himself. Reino turned to Claire and John and motioned as he began hovering with his wings. “Alright follow me, I know a spot where we can hide until he gives up.”

The tarantula and fox started to follow, John beginning to hop but then remembering he didn’t need to anymore because of his new size. So he just needed to get used to running with his new big legs…

While walking, they noticed that some Pokémon stayed on the streets even if there weren’t many, specifically some slimy-looking and rain-attracted ones. John felt that he was being glanced at by some of them. He had to assume what he was now probably wasn’t a common thing. 

After some time of running, the trio stopped in front of a building that was a bit distant from other buildings and surrounded by trees. It seemed like an abandoned warehouse with some broken windows next to the ceiling and two large and rusty metal doors in front of it. While squinting his eyes, John couldn’t even see some moss growing in some parts of the building.

Reino landed on the ground and walked to the side of it, prompting Claire and John to follow him. They both looked at each other before following the steel mantis. They arrived in a backdoor and Reino began twisting the door knob. “At least this place stood strong for the last seven years after being out of commission.”

“What is this place?” Asked Claire while inspecting the place. “Looks abandoned…”

“This was the base of operations for an old criminal group that Mark and I took down a few years ago.” Reino explained as he opened the door. “Illegal items were being shipped here and then sold throughout the city. The reason we didn’t find this place sooner is because they were hiding it behind an illusion wall, making it seem there was no warehouse here.” He entered the building and motioned them inside. “Come on, we should be safe here for some time.”

John and Claire nodded as they entered the warehouse.

---

“Why didn’t she tell me that the human could just teleport with that glitchy stuff!? I totally could’ve prepared for that!” Cass complained as he flew through the streets of Xander Cage City, searching for John and the rest. 

Should he give up and just say to Alice that he lost them? … Nah. There was something about this chase that excited him, prompting him to continue forward until he got his claws on his prey. That’s maybe why most people call it the thrill of the hunt, huh?

Cass continued forward as he passed some Pokémon who screamed as they saw his appearance. Unlike other Corrupted Pokémon, he wouldn’t attack others just for fun, he had orders to follow and someone to catch. He’s an objective ‘mon after all… aside from the usual goofing around he normally does-

On the side of his vision, he saw a blur of violet passing by him on another street. Cass’ expression grew a bit more manic as he did a loop in the air and turned to that same street. “There you are!”

He began following the blur, gaining up on them as they turned from street to street. “Thinking you can juke me like that!?” With a burst of speed, he boosted even faster trying to get beside the blur. Once he was floating above them, he readied his finger guns. “Think again- huh?”

Instead of seeing the three idiots mounted on the bike, he only saw the robot bike riding through the gravel streets alone. He saw the violet serpent look at him before smiling with his robotic muzzle. “I’m sorry, expecting someone else?”

Cass groaned as he closed his guns. “Dammit, I’ve been tricked, fooled, bamboozled even!” He then started rising before roaming above the city. “Don’t worry bug boy, I’ll find ya real quick!”

---

John was a bit nervous as he felt the Scizor stare at him with his arms crossed, sitting on a wooden crate. “So… you gonna tell me everything that you learned or not?”

“Uh… it’s quite a lot though…” John looked aside as he rubbed his pedipalps together. Yeah, that doesn’t feel weird in the slightest…

“We have some time. So come on, what was that about the CEO of the richest company in the world being behind the Corrupted Pokémon case and trying to fuse two worlds into one?” Reino asked as he leaned, tilting his head.

The Galvantula looked back at Reino while his backhands motioned. “So uh… like I said before, the CEO is a complete nutcase behind the scene. She… was a former human and-”

The steel mantis opened his pincers and interrupted John. “Woah, woah, woah, wait… she was a human? Since when?”

Claire tilted her head. “Remember that human that saved the world from colliding against Ultra Space?” Reino nodded. “So uh… that Meowscarada was her.” The Scizor’s eyes widened. “She faked her death so she could meet with Dark Matter and get-”

“Wait, Dark Matter? That Dark Matter from more than a thousand years ago? It’s back?” Reino asked and Claire nodded. “So… it’s controlling her?”

John shook his head. “No dude… she controls it.” Reino’s eyes widened. “Apparently, she puts a portion of Dark Matter into a human and they turn into Corrupted Pokémon so they are under her command.”

Reino put a pincer on his chin and hummed in thought. “But I don’t get it… why would a hero from the past be doing something to this scale?”

The Galvantula frowned, tilting his head down a little. “She said she wants to make a paradise where humans and Pokémon coexist together. But she’s so hellbent on making everything go smoothly that she doesn’t see her methods as a necessary evil…”

“And the reason she makes Corrupted Pokémon is to make an army of them so she becomes unstoppable if humans try to retaliate.” Claire explained before she looked aside. “She’s destroying lives just for her to achieve her ambitions…” Her paw clenched as she gritted her teeth. “I won’t forgive her…”

Reino stared at them in thought for a while before crossing his arms again. “Alright then, we’ve got the witness report. However, I don’t think that’s enough to warrant an investigation on Asuri. Besides, how do we know if she isn’t bribing the officers of the police department? If that’s the case, how are we gonna take her down?”

“I… I don’t know…” The tarantula said with a grimace.

Claire looked at John and forced a smile. “I’m sure we’ll figure something out-”

BANG

The trio was startled by the sudden bang sound coming from the big metal doors of the front of the warehouse. Reino jumped off the box and got into a stance, getting a bit closer but retaining his distance. Claire asked with a fearful grimace. “What was that…?”

Reino extended an arm back. “Stay back, you two, just in case.” He muttered before looking back at the door and shouting. “Raiden? Is that you?”

BANG

The banging on the door started accelerating slowly and, unfortunately for them, a familiar and childish robotic voice could be heard muffled from the other side. “Come out, come out wherever you are! Just kidding, I already found you !” The banging got faster, the doors seemingly being almost broken. “Knock, knock! Guess who~!” With one last bang, the doors burst open from their hinges, being launched forward with a wheeled kick.

John and Claire flinched while Reino tensed when they saw the insane green and red eyes staring at them from the darkness of the storm outside.

With a double front flip, Cass landed inside without even bending his body. “Nice place you got here!” He then pointed at John. “Too bad it’ll be the last place you’ll ever see!” 

John shuddered as he took some steps back, his body distorting a little with some glitches happening around him. Reino looked back at the Galvantula and Vulpix. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle him.”

“Wait, I can help too-!” Claire offered but Reino interrupted.

“I told you to stay out of trouble, remember?” He looked back at the Corrupted Weavile who had one finger raised uncaringly. “I have some unfinished business with him…” 

“But I-” 

Claire interrupted herself when a white hand touched her back. She looked at it and saw John’s backhand touch her back. “Let’s just watch for now. If things go south, you can step in, okay?”

The Vulpix looked down with a scowl on her face before sighing. “Alright…” 

The duo walked behind one of the boxes, leaving Reino and Cass in the middle of the area, ready to fight. “Oh, Bugsy. I sure wish things didn’t come this way.” He extended a claw forward as his fingers bent, revealing barrels. “But could you step aside a little bit? You wouldn’t want to get hurt, would you?”

Reino huffed as blue glowing swords appeared from his pincers. He then pointed his sword at Cass with a smirk. “If you think I’m gonna go away like that, some cogs in your OS must be misplaced then.”

“Welp, too bad!” 

Corrupted Jester Cass

The robot’s wrist started spinning as white glowing pellets started coming out of the holes in his claw. Reino blocked the pellets heading his way with his sword. After deflecting the last bullet, he flew in with his wings buzzing, his swords ready to slash in an X shape. However, Cass jumped away from the X-scissor with a grin. 

The Corrupted Pokémon raised his claw, gleaming with metal polish before coming back down on Reino, ready to slash him. However, the Scizor was fast enough, parrying the Metal Claw with his blade. Sparks flew as metal struck with metal, making a screeching noise as the two steel types tried to get an advantage over each other. 

They jumped back, getting some distance from each other. Cass giggled. “Well, aren’t ya a toughie?” He shrugged. “Guess I gotta step up my game as well!” Suddenly, his right forearm split in half, revealing a canon that was aimed at the Scizor whose eyes widened. “Did I forget to tell you the bullets were just a taste? Oops! My bad, here’s the real course!” 

“Not only he’s Aigis but Megaman as well!?” John commented from behind the box, muttering to himself.

The tip of the canon started glowing gray for a second before it shot a ball of glowing silver at the steel mantis. Reino jumped to the side, dodging the projectile. He then rose off the ground as Cass aimed again, trying to shoot the Scizor that dodged each projectile by twirling his body to the side as he got closer. Once he was close enough, Reino made his swords disappear and coated his pincers in a gray light, punching the robot Weavile multiple times before sending him flying a bit. 

The Corrupted Pokémon corrected his position in the air and used the jet booster on his back to stop his momentum, falling on the ground again. Some sparks came out of the side of his body. “Tough luck, eh?” His arm returned to normal. “Since you don’t like my text messages, let me confess all the pain to you physically!” He spun around on his rollerblades as he got into a fighting position, his claws ready to strike. “Bring it on!”

“As you wish!” Reino said as he summoned his blades once again from his pincers. He then flew in to close the distance with the robotic Weavile, however, he was caught off guard when Cass’ arm extended and stretched with a spring sound coming out of it. He grabbed Reino’s arm and slammed him down. 

“Caught ya!” He lifted the steel mantis before slamming him down on the ground again. Cass then spun around with his stretched arm and threw Reino to the side, the Scizor colliding with one of the wooden crates and breaking it. 

“Ngh!” 

“Reino!” Claire shouted from a distance, taking a step forward. 

However, before she could take another step, something grabbed her hindleg. She looked back to find John holding her as he shook his head. “Wait, look at Reino.” He said as he pointed a finger with his other backhand.

The Vulpix looked back at the Scizor and saw him slowly getting up. After getting up, he quickly dusted himself. “Damn, impressive strength for a brat.” He said before looking back at Cass with a stern look on his face. “Where did you get that from? Dark Matter?”

“Dunno who that is but yes, I am strong. Are you impressed? Does my strength charm you enough?” Cass said before trying to mimic kissing his bicep, even though he couldn’t change the expression of his mouth nor had any muscle. “Anyway, what part of the dance were we? Oh yeah!” He started dashing at Reino as his arms stretched again. “The part where I beat you!”

Reino got his swords out again and charged in. They clashed once again, more sparks flying out of their blades and claws. However, instead of letting the steel mantis retreat like last time, Cass did a Low Sweep and made Reino lose his footing. “Kngh!” The robot then took the opportunity to grab him again and throw him upwards.

“Up you go!” After almost throwing the Scizor to the ceiling, Cass aimed his canon arm at him and shot another Flash Canon, the projectile going towards Reino. However, as the Reino fell, he thought fast, regaining his composure in the air and blocking the projectile at the right time with his sword. Sparks flew with the clash, Reino gritting his mandibles as he prevented the ball from hitting him. 

With enough effort, he managed to deflect the ball to the ceiling above him, causing an explosion as he fell. He aimed his swords at the robotic Weavile as he descended.

---

As Mark walked around the outskirts of the city, looking for more clues about the chase that just happened throughout Xander Cage City, he took notice of the sound of an explosion muffled a bit by the rain, making his ears flicker a little.

He looked in the direction of where the sound came from and frowned as he saw smoke rising a little. “Oh boy… what now…?”

He started floating in the direction of the smoke. He didn’t know what happened, but he was already starting to have a bad feeling…

---

“Gah!”

Cass screamed as he soared through the air a small tear in his torso that leaked some sparks of electricity. He landed on the ground on his belly as he looked back at Reino, who looked smug, even with the bit of hemolymph leaking out of his arm back. He spat a bit of it on the floor before looking back at the robotic Weavile. “You done?”

Cass stayed silent for a moment before he started giggling. “I’ll give it to ya, Bugsy, you pull out quite the punches! But honestly, that was so much fun! Say, how about now I…” He pulled himself up with a backflip as he grinned even more. “Turn the game a bit, huh?”

Reino got into another battle stance. “With pleasure-”

“Reino?”

The Scizor looked at the familiar voice standing in front of the archway of the broken doors. Mark stood there with a look of confusion. “What’s going on here?”

Reino’s eyes widened. “Mark, I’m in the middle of-!”

“Hah, you snooze you lose, idiot!” Cass shouted as his claw stretched towards the steel mantis.

“Reino watch out!” Claire shouted at Reino.

However, it was too late. Time seemed to slow down when the Scizor’s eyes looked at the approaching claw. Hemolymph went flying, as from one moment to another…

Cass’ claw pierced through the middle of Reino’s torso. 

There was no pained noise coming from the steel mantis, only the sound of gasps coming from behind the clutter of boxes. Mark, meanwhile, just stared with his eyes wide. Cass suddenly spoke amidst the silent moment. “Should’ve listened to me Bugsy, we didn’t want any casualties in this mission…”

The robotic Weavile removed his claw from Reino, making more hemolymph come out of him. Reino stumbled backwards a bit, trying to keep his footing for a bit on shaky legs. However, he limped as he began to fall on his back.

“ REINOOOOOO!!!”

Mark screamed as he ran towards the Scizor and held him before he could hit the floor. “Please, not now Reino ! I still need you, please stay with me!” The Pikachu begged as tears started falling out of his eyes, burying his face on Reino’s neck. John and Claire meanwhile rushed to the scene. 

Reino, still a bit conscious, looked at Mark and put a pincer on his head, brushing his fur slowly. “You’re so cute… when you cry… did you know… that?”

Mark shouted desperately, as more tears streamed down his face. “This isn’t the time for that! Please, don’t give in! We were supposed to be with one another, remember!?”

Reino gave a sad smile. “I know… I’m sorry… I failed you.” Reino coughed a bit of hemolymph. “B-but hey…  that damn case is close to ending… once we take her down… the world will finally be safe… for you…”

“Please don’t tell me this is happening…” Claire said as she looked aside with tears running down her face.

Mark took his head out of Reino’s neck as John said. “Dude, please hang on… for the love of God…”

Reino gave more coughs. “Dunno who that is…” He gave more coughs while Mark continued crying and sobbing a lot, he was almost on his last breath. “Mark… please, just continue living in this world… for me. Remember that… I love you… and I always will…”

That was the last thing he said before the steel mantis slowly lost his grip on his arm and his whole body, staying limp. And with that… Reino closed his eyes…

Mark stayed silent before muttering. “Reino…?” 

No response.

“Reino, no please, wake up!”

Still no response.

“No, no, no, no, nononono, NO!!!” The Pikachu coated his paws with electricity before slamming them down on the Scizor. “Please not like this, fucking WAKE UP!!!” 

“Mark…”

“Shut up! He’ll wake up, he has to!” Mark slammed electricity-coated paws on the steel mantis once again, making his body jerk, but still getting no response.

“Mark!” John shouted a bit louder.

The electric rodent looked at the Pikachu with his face streaming with tears as a discharge of electricity coated his entire body. “WHAT!?”

John looked aside with a sad expression. “There’s nothing you can do… his heart isn’t like humans…”

Mark stared in silence before he looked back at the silent body of the Scizor. “Reino…” He knelt and punched the ground, another cloud clap of thunder in the background adding to Mark’s scream. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!”

After the release of anger, Mark and the others stayed silent for a moment longer before Cass broke the silence suddenly. “So… you done with your grieving? Still gotta capture Spider Boy, you know?”

Claire growled as she looked at the robot Weavile, slamming a paw to the ground. “How could you!? I thought you were fucking better than this!”

“There was no reason for you to kill him!” John shouted as glitch particles started surrounding him.

Cass lifted a finger. “Orders are orders! If he didn’t get in my way and you just accepted her deal, things would’ve gone way differently and he would’ve lived!”

John’s eyes widened at that before he looked aside with a grimace.

Mark slowly got up, his eyes being covered by a tuft of unbrushed fur. “You…” He said with a slow voice, a tinge of a growl being present on his voice. His head slowly tilted to Cass as sparks started to come out of his body. “You…” He fully turned to the Corrupted Pokémon as he took a few steps forward, looking like he was stumbling a little. “You….”

Cass tilted his head. “Me what-?” Suddenly, Cass felt something press against the inside of his torso, wanting to come out. “What is… grief, anger… hate? What does- ARGH!” Cass put his claws on his torso. “What is this!?”

Claire asked as she grimaced. “Uh… what’s happening to him?”

John analyzed the situation and realized something that was about to happen when he connected the dots after remembering something that MissingNo. had told him during one of his dreams when they explained what Dark Matter was. “Wait… negative emotions… shit! Mark, stop-!”

Mark screamed as he began floating. “YOU BASTARD !” He curled up. “I will… I WILL…”

Before the Pikachu could complete his sentence, a pitch-black mist that condensed into liquid came out of Cass’ body, making him grunt and moan in pain. “Gah!!!”

John’s and Claire’s eyes widened as the Dark Matter flew towards Mark. The Pikachu flinched and gritted his teeth once the substance flowed inside his body. Mark grunted and screamed painfully as the Dark Matter coursed through his body. “NghAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHH!!!” Mark’s body began to change before John and Claire’s eyes. 

The Pikachu’s body started being covered in a black viscous substance, not leaving any semblance of his old body behind. On his chest, a white symbol that looked like a snake’s eye appeared, pulsating like a heart. His feet grew black and sharp claws along with some black spikes appearing in his head and trailing down to his back. His tail turned into a Raichu-like tail, however, it looked like a sharp crystalized purple blade. Mark opened his eyes, revealing fully white and glowing eyes. His paws were covered in some kind of purple crystals that were shaped like sharp claws. He extended his right crystal claw to the side, straightening it up to look like a crystalized dagger.

Claire trembled as she took a step back. “You’re… you’re kidding me…”

John was frozen in place, trembling a little bit. “No way… Mark…”

The newly-formed Corrupted Pokémon pointed his dagger claw at the robotic Weavile that stood on one knee, his body completely frozen while looking at the ground. “I will… I WILL DESTROY YOU! ”

Cass looked at Mark for a moment as he got some of his bearings together. “Wh-what? Who is…”

The corrupted Pikachu released a guttural roar from his non-visible mouth before flying directly at Cass with his dagger raised.

Corrupted Avenger Mark

Cass screamed as he barely had the window to dodge and roll out of the way. He wheeled some distance away as he looked back at the dark Pikachu. “What’s going on!? What am I doing here? And these…” The robotic Weavile put a claw on his head. “Ngh… these memories…”

John and Claire looked at each other before they said in unison. “Wait… is he?” They looked back at the robotic Weavile before calling out his name. “Cass!”

He looked at them and tilted his head, trying to remember them. “Wait… are those-” As he looked back at Mark, he narrowingly avoided another slash by ducking down. He then avoided a barrage of stabs with the occasional upwards slash by dodging and weaving the strikes as he started slowly backing away. “Woah dude chill, chill!”

“Die, die, DIE!!! ” Mark screamed as he continued to strike.

Cass had enough of dodging, deciding to block one of the strikes with his claw and deflecting it. He then did a backflip to get some distance away from the corrupted Pikachu. “What the hell is going on!?” He looked back at John and Claire before dashing to them, the duo flinching on instinct. “Hey, you two, could you explain what’s going on and why’s there a psycho trying to kill me?”

John looked aside a bit sheepishly. “Uh… it’s a bit of a long and complicated story…”

“Look, we’ll explain later, but first we need to do something about him!” Claire said as she pointed at Mark who raised his claws, pointing all of his fingers at them. “Shit, watch out!”

The crystallized Pikachu shot a barrage of crystal shards at the trio of Pokémon. John screamed and braced before glitch particles covered his body. Suddenly, for a split second, static covered the shards before disappearing, the shards turning into flower petals of many colors that lazily floated by the trio. John and the others opened their eyes to see they weren’t in any danger at all. They looked around to see the petals on the floor. “Uh… the hell happened?” Cass asked as he tilted his head.

John looked down at his pedipalps before looking back at his body. “I… I think I did something? I dunno, my body just kinda felt fuzzy when I closed my eyes…”

Claire looked at John. “Maybe it’s your glitch powers?”

“Glitch powers-?” Cass was interrupted when a screech came out of Mark, making the trio look back at him. “Actually, explain everything, including monster spider form later, we gotta beat him first!”

It felt weird teaming up with the guy who literally killed a Pokémon in front of their eyes just a few minutes ago. But John and Claire knew that Cass wasn’t truly at fault for it, he was being hard controlled by the true perpetrator, but it didn’t make it less weird. “Yeah, we need to get an opening to escape!” Claire called out.

Mark started floating with both of his claws turning into daggers. He flew towards Cass’ direction with both of his claws ready to strike. The robotic Weavile jumped away just in time before the Night Slash hit. Claire took the opportunity to shoot an Incinerate at the Corrupted Pokémon, making him screech once hit and jerk back a little. He looked at Claire in anger before flying towards her.

The Vulpix quickly conjured her Will-O-Shield in front of her, purple ghostly flames appearing in front of her and forming an X-shaped barrier. Once Mark touched it, he began feeling a burning sensation inside him, even without any flames on him. John took the opportunity to grab the Pikachu with his backhand, holding him before launching the corrupted Pikachu away. John then followed it up with a String Shot to constringe the Pikachu since he was bigger now. 

Mark, however, slashed the string away once he corrected himself in the air. Before he had the chance to shoot more crystal shards at the duo, he took notice of Cass flying with his back booster at him, his claw glistening with metal. However, before he had a chance to slash the Corrupted Pokémon, his arm was caught by Mark’s tail, wrapping around it and throwing Cass back to the ground. 

The robotic Weavile impacted the floor with a grunt. After focusing back on Mark, he saw him shooting orbs of darkness all around him before the orbs stopped in place. The black spheres then homed in on Cass as Mark just stared menacingly from above. The robotic Weavile got up and started flying around with his booster. “Ya know what? Being a robot isn’t as bad as I made it up to be as a human…” As he flew around, dodging the homing projectiles that exploded once in contact with the floor and the walls, Cass had a realization. “Wait… I remember… I remember everything again!”

“Yeah, we get it, already! Just focus on the fight!” John shouted to the airborne robot as Mark shot more pursuing orbs at Cass.

Cass turned around and opened his finger guns, shooting the dark orbs with his white pellets. After getting rid of all the orbs Cass transformed his forearm into a canon and shot a Flash Canon at Mark. However, the Pikachu deflected it with just a single slap from his claw, sending it to the ceiling and causing an explosion behind him. Cass lowered his canon arm and commented. “Oh damn, he just did a Dragon Ball.”

Mark roared again and just flew right at Cass. As the two Pokémon traded blows with their claws in the air, Claire turned to John. “We gotta help him somehow, Mark is too strong in that form, I don’t think he’ll be able to win!”

The Galvantula looked at the fox and tilted his head. “And how are we gonna help him?”

“We need to make some sort of trap…” The Vulpix looked around the warehouse and at the two fighting Pokémon as an idea came to her. “I got it!” She looked back at John with a determined face. “John, since you evolved, your webs are more effective! You can still make electric webs, right?”

“Yeah, I still can, this glitch form didn’t remove my electricity. I can still feel it in my core… why do you ask?” He then looked at the ceiling and at the two fighting Corrupted Pokémon which looked a bit like flies in the air. His eyes widened as the realization came to him. “Oh…” The tarantula looked back at Claire. “You sure that I can do all of that…?”

“It’s that or nothing, it might be our only shot at this…” The Vulpix said with a frown. 

John glanced back at the fight before sighing. “Fine… guess we have no other option.” With that, he crawled quickly to a wall before climbing on it. Even with his new legs and weight, he was able to stand on the wall and even run on it. He would have to do this quickly or else Cass would be in serious trouble.

Once he got to the ceiling while avoiding the holes left by the explosions. He stood near the middle and looked down. To think he was used to sticking to walls, it still felt a bit unsettling to him, making a twist on his stomach a little. However, he could handle it. With a sigh, he began to work, shooting electrical webs from his mouth at the wall in various directions as he walked. He then stuck the webs to the ceiling and adjusted them with his sharp pedipalps. 

Once he was done, he looked at Cass. He saw the Weavile knocking Mark away from him and shooting some Flash Bullets at him. “Cass!” John shouted, making the robot look up in confusion. He then saw a massive electrical web covering almost the entire ceiling. “Throw him up here, fast!”

As John zipped away with his backhands tucked around his spiky abdomen, Cass’ grin seemed to grow a bit larger. “Okie dokie!” Cass flew straight at Mark with his claw raised.

Mark reacted by putting his claws in front of him and forming a purple crystal barrier in front of him, ready to block Cass’ attack.

However, instead of attacking, the robot dived down for a moment, confusing the crystal Pikachu a little. However, once he looked down, Mark saw Cass going straight towards him with a foot ready to kick him. “Bamboozled!” Cass kicked Mark square in the chin, sending the Pikachu flying right towards the electrical web. He got stuck on it, getting zapped as the sparks and volts coursed through his body. Cass readied up his canon and charged. “Boom.” He said as he released the shot, the projectile traveling at high speeds at the Corrupted Pokémon. 

Mark’s eyes widened as the shot impacted his chest, a large explosion occurring as it tore the web and broke more of the ceiling. Cass fell to the ground, landing next to Claire. As the smoke spread, Mark fell out of it, rocketing towards a crate. Claire took a few steps forward and saw Mark unconscious.

Claire grimaced a little. “Is… is he gonna be okay?”

“Don’t worry Claire.” John said as he jumped off from a box. “He’ll survive. Something I noticed is that Pokémon are more resistant to damage, except when it’s… fatal…” John scowled as he glanced at where Reino’s body lay. It seemed that a bit of rubble from the ceiling fell on it, only leaving an arm and a pincer visible. He suppressed a tear as he reassured himself mentally. ‘Cass had no blame for this… it’s all because of Alice… fuck her.’ He sighed before looking at the exit. “Let’s get out of here before he wakes up.”

Cass crossed his arms. “I hope you can explain everything to me…”

Claire looked aside as her face darkened a little. “Yeah, we… we will…”

The Weavile tilted his head a little in confusion before he followed Claire and John out of the warehouse. It was still raining a little, but the worst of the storm had passed. Puddles crowded the grassy ground of the outskirts. Since John was a Pokémon and not a small tiny critter that could die suffocated in the water nor a human that wouldn’t like to have wet shoes or feet, he just stepped on them uncaringly. It kinda felt nice having your body submerged in water, he hadn’t dived in a pool in so long…

He could hear someone clearing their throat behind him. He looked behind and saw Cass with his arms crossed and with an unamused grin on his face. “So…?”

“Ah… right…” John looked aside as he thought about his words for a moment. It would be difficult to explain what he had done…  “So erm… firstly, what do you remember before your memory loss?”

Cass tilted his head up as he thought back on his most recent memories. “Well… the last thing I remember was being in a furry’s temporary office. Her name was Alice or something. I dunno, after getting kidnapped and turned into… whatever I am now…” He said as he spun his claw a little. “Kinda all a blur. Heck, I barely remember meeting you guys.”

“When you were in that office… what did Alice say to you?” Claire asked while tilting her head.

“Uh… don’t remember much. I remember her hugging me or something… and then next thing I knew, I was fighting that guy.” He said with a shrug. He then looked back at John. “Wait, you guys were already there, could you tell me what I did in those lost memories?” Claire and John looked away with a pained expression written all over their faces. “What?”

Claire began. “Um… you see…”

“You were kinda controlled and forced to capture me. But don’t worry, we managed to knock some sense into you before you could get me, and then that other guy came in.” The Galvantula spoke a bit hastily, interrupting the fire fox. The Vulpix subtly looked at him with a disappointed scowl as John stared back with a glare, motioning his pedipalps as if saying Later, not now. He could kinda use those things as mini hands for now. Claire sighed and nodded in understanding. “So… all ended well for you and I, I suppose.”

Cass shot a glance of suspicion at the duo before looking away. “Alright then… if you say so…” 

They walked a bit more before Cass asked. “So… you gonna explain that weird form of yours? Pretty sure Galvantulas don’t have that fur color, horns and spikes, and those freakish hands. Weren’t you a normal Joltik last time I saw you?”

Claire looked back at Cass. “Long story short, he evolved because a being cast away by Arceus left his body after waking up from their dormant state. Look, he was about to be brainwashed like you so he had to do it.”

Cass stayed silent with his still grin before eventually saying with a flicker of his fingers. “Got it, not questioning that again.”

After a few more minutes, the trio eventually reached the urbanized part of the city. It was still a bit deserted since the rain hadn’t completely cleared. However, once they got to the town, Claire could see some familiar Pokémon in the distance. “Wait… are those…”

John squinted his eyes a little and said. “Yeah, it’s them!” He said before he called the rest of Team Net. “Yo, guys! Over here!”

Taro and the rest of the gang turned to the trio. “Claire!” Taro exclaimed before his look turned into confusion. “And… John…?” His expression then changed to concern. “Cass too!?”

The four of them rushed to John, Claire, and Cass. Amy smiled as she looked at Claire and smiled in relief. “I’m so glad you’re both okay!”

Popo and Nana looked at John and fell to their knees, looking down. “We have failed you, friend.” “We were supposed to guide you to the path of the Great One.” “But now look at you.” “You have strayed from the path towards enlightenment. There is no way for you to redeem your sins now.”

John waved his backhands defensively. “H-hey! I might look a bit different, but I’m still me, okay!?”

Taro looked at John while tilting his head. “What happened to you? And what’s Cass doing with you guys?”

The robotic Weavile put a claw on his side. “Look pipsqueak, firstly, my name actual name is Cassidy. Secondly, don’t worry, I’m one of the good guys now.”

Claire sighed before speaking. “You guys have a lot to catch up on.”

Amy looked aside. “Can kinda guess… but, someone important came to us and-”

“John? Is that you?”

The group turned to the source of the voice, seeing a genie-like Pokémon floating towards them. John immediately recognized the Pokémon after seeing the illustration that Harry had sent to him during their last call. “Hoopa…?”

“Good, you know of me. That saves some time. Listen, I don’t have much time to explain everything so I’ll keep it brief.” They said in a girlish-like voice.

That voice… sounded familiar to the Galvantula, but he couldn’t place a finger where he heard it.

Hoopa sighed and put their hands on the side. “Okay, so first things first, do you remember when you first awoke in this world?” 

John tilted his head. “I… kinda do? I remember after dying, a voice just told me to stop someone or something. I don’t remember much of what that voice said.”

Hoopa smiled. “Thank Arceus, it is you. Looks like it worked after all.” John tilted his head. “Okay so… I was the one that brought you to this world with the help of Palkia.” 

Everyone, except Popo and Nana, shouted a “WHAT!?” in shock. 

The portal maker nodded. “Yep. You see, the reason we summoned you was to stop Alice.”

Taro tilted his head and questioned with a look of disbelief on his face. “Wait, so Alice was actually evil all along?”

He put his hands behind his back and nodded. “Indeed. Palkia and I are forced to help her because… she completely overpowers us both. We knew that if we summoned a human ourselves, they wouldn’t lose their memories because of the world’s summoning system. If a human lost their memories, Alice would take advantage of that and capture that human to turn them into a Corrupted Pokémon for her army.”

Amy flinched. “Wait, she was the one behind the Corrupted Pokémon and she is making an army!? Were the rumors about someone trying to invade the human world with an army of Corrupted Pokémon true?”

“Actually, it’s much worse than that…” Claire said after getting over the initial shock of the news. “She’s planning to fuse both the human world and the Pokémon world into one.”

Gasps ran across Amy and Taro’s mouths. Cassidy crossed his arms. “Wait a sec. How do you know about the furry’s plan?”

John sighed. “During our investigation… we were captured by one of Alice’s goons. They brought us to another building while Alice was waiting for us. She revealed that she was spying on us for a bit and knew about my identity.” He looked aside. “We barely managed to escape with MissingNo’s help.”

“Wait, she already had captured you?!” Hoopa said in shock before muttering to the side. “Dammit, we have less time than expected!” They looked back at the group. “Listen, the real reason I came here is to help you, John. As of right now, there’s no chance you’re able to defeat Alice. She’s just too powerful with her Dark Matter powers. Although… with the new abilities I’m sensing from you… you might have a slight chance of defeating her. But for now…” Hoopa took out one of the rings hanging from their horns. He threw it to the side, growing larger and making a floating portal. “You need to run and hide. At this point, she has control over almost the entire world. No matter where you go, she WILL find you and capture you.”

John looked away and grimaced. Was that all he could truly do for now? Run away and hide? “Where does this portal take us?”

“This portal takes you to your world. Alice can’t send her army there, or else it’d cause chaos and ruin her deal with one of the world leaders there.” Hoopa explained.

“Excuse me, what?” Cassidy tried asking before Hoopa spoke a bit more hastily.

“You gotta hurry, we don’t know when her Corrupted Pokémon will come find us-” Hoopa stopped talking as his eyes widened, looking in a certain direction.

Team Net (and Cassidy) looked in the same direction and had their eyes widened. Walking slowly, Mark approached them with one of his dagger claws ready to strike. “I… I will destroy you…!”

Cassidy spoke hastily. “Welp, that’s my leave! See y’all on the other side!” He wheeled to the portal and jumped to it.

John shouted. “Wait for us, dammit!” John said before he ran and jumped inside along with Claire. On the other side of the portal, John looked back and saw the rest of Team Net ready to jump into the portal. However, they were all trapped in water bubbles, leaving them unable to do anything. 

“Guys!” John and Claire screamed through the ring. From a bit farther away, they could see Gabriel, the water Typhlosion getting closer. 

Hoopa looked back at them with a panicked expression on his face. “Don’t worry, I’ll save them, just do your thing and be safe! John, please, get stronger, for the good of both worlds!”

“NO, WAIT!” John screamed as he tried to jump back to the other side. However, the portal closed and disappeared the moment he tried jumping through it. As he landed, he slammed a nub on the ground along with one of his backhands, glitch particles appearing all around him. “No, fuck!”

“Don’t worry too much, Spider-Boy. They won’t die, Crystal Dude was after MY head after all.” John heard Cassidy say. He looked at him and saw him standing on the edge of the windy hill they were on. John looked at Claire and saw her looking over at the horizon, seeing the setting afternoon sun.

“Wow…” Claire whispered as she watched the sun, the wind lifting her fur a little.

John got up and settled beside Cass, watching the windy horizon with him. In the distance, he saw a massive city with towering buildings in the center part of it and some residential buildings spread around it. “We’re… we’re back… to the human world…”

---

It was another successful mission for Team Dino! Rexio, the Tyrantrum with a green scarf on his neck, and Aureum, the Aurorus with a pink ribbon on her leg, were on their way to leave the Mystery Dungeon they entered to recover a lost item from a rich family. Normally, Team Dino doesn’t get recruited to many missions since Rexio’s appearance kinda scares off the small customers, but hey, the family was desperate so they got recruited anyway.

“So, Aureum, how much do you think that family’s gonna pay us? 100,000 Poké? 200,000 Poké? 500,000 Poké!?” Rexio asked gleefully, imagining the pool of gold they’d be swimming in once they returned the item.

The Aurorus looked aside with a sheepish look. “I’m not sure they’re gonna pay that much… they might be rich, but not that rich, you know?”

“Stop being that pessimistic! Even if we don’t get that much, I have a feeling the payment is gonna be something way bigger than we have received so far!” The Tyrantrum assured with a cheerful demeanor.

Aureum giggled. “If you say so. Maybe you’re onto something and I’m just trying to not get my hopes up by that much.”

The duo finally got to the exit of the dungeon, seeing the huge red door open for them to leave. After going through the door, they looked around and realized that this… uh… this wasn’t the same place they entered from before. 

They were in an open field area, being able to see trees in the distance and some fences around them. They stood on what seemed like black concrete that seemed a bit like gravel streets. On the other side of the fences, they saw some weird creatures. They resembled Miltank, however, they had white and black fur and stood on four legs just like Tauros. The two of them looked behind them and saw that the door they came from was gone. Rexio looked at his Aurorus partner and asked. “Aureum… where’s the door?”

“I dunno…” She looked around again, her long neck swaying from side to side. “Where even are we? And what are those creatures?”

“Like I should know. Never saw weird-looking Miltank like that in my life.” 

Suddenly, the two of them heard a strange sound coming towards them. It sounded like a machine whirring. They looked in the direction of the sound and saw a machine that resembled a car, however, without the Revravroom or Varoom.

The machine stopped in front of them and the side of it opened up, revealing a creature way smaller than them. They were bipedal and had some sort of skin with very little fur coming from their head. They were also wearing clothes throughout most of their body. The creature looked at them and suddenly spoke. “Bro, who the hell is the dumbass that put statues in the middle of the road?”

Rexio looked to the side. “Uh…” He looked back at the creature. “Sorry to inform you, but we ain’t statues.”

“That was a bit rude in my opinion.” Aureum said with her eyes widened. “More importantly, what in Arceus’ name are you?”

The creature seemed to freeze a little bit before taking some steps back, stuttering a little. “W-w-what the fuck…? WHAT THE FUCK!?” He rushed back into their machine and turned it on, immediately turning it away and heading off.

Rexio and Aureum just stared at the weird action before the Tyrantrum eventually said. “Welp uh… that was… weird.”