Chapter 58: City Slicking

I’d say I’m pretty new to this journaling thing. Don’t even remember who suggested it. The group leader? Maybe one of the Diyems? Guess my memory is getting fuzzier, but when you were once mortal, some things stick. I bet some gods have every memory filed away neatly like papers in a cabinet.

I start my “assignment” tomorrow. It’s not that strict or well-defined, really. I’m traveling to other worlds and cataloging them. Like the people watching I’d sometimes do when I visited my grandparents in the Big Apple. When I go to another world, I’ll be bound by whatever rules govern it, so I won’t be nearly as powerful. It’s kind of relieving to hear that, to be honest. Even though I’ve had plenty of time to practice with my powers, I’m always worried about overdoing it. Especially now that I’ve got a new body for my core.

I’m glad that, if I find spirits I need to guide or encounter something serious, there are people I can reach out to for advice. I’ve done enough “leading.” I’m content to watch the days go by.

After realizing this wasn’t the city the team expected to find, no one protested Gene’s decision to quickly land the ship on the outskirts. Apparently, it had something called a “cloaking device,” that would keep it hidden. The mewtwo parked it on a large grassy knoll overlooking the city and its strange buildings with roofs of wavy tiles. Like an ocean of tiles if oceans were brown instead of blue.

The moment Yuna floated out of the ship, her body shriveled. Sirens blared. People’s cries and the rhythmic thumping of footsteps on gravel filled the air. So did a rainbow assortment of different flying pokémon. The drakloak spotted a flygon carrying what must have been a human family, while multiple pelipper held several tiny humans — children, probably — in their giant orange beaks. They kept stealing glances at the lava suspended overhead. No doubt fearful the time freeze would stop.

But some of the flying pokémon weren’t heading toward the ocean in the distance. Yuna spotted magnezone and metang ridden by humans in blue uniforms. It reminded her a bit of what Seifer wore before he got fired. She glanced at the keldeo who himself was looking at his flanks with a wistful longing in his eyes.

“It looks like there’s a police force trying to lead an evacuation,” Seifer said, sighing.

“This isn’t the time to get nostalgic!” Widget’s cheek bolts revved up in their sockets. “This is the time to take action! To save people!”

Yuna squinted. She thought Widget’s behavior was a bit silly, but he had a point. They couldn’t sit around.

“Hey, Mom?”

Leo poked his fake dreepy head into Yuna’s line of sight. “Do you think any of these people are from our dimension?”

That was what she originally assumed. Since the city name didn’t match what the team expected, however, all bets were off. The drakloak shrugged and nudged Leo’s head. “Whatever the case, I think we need to help.”

“Help how?” Nikki scratched her head. “I’ve never talked to a human. Would they even understand us?”

“Well, you do have a super powerful, telepathy-equipped psychic on your side.” Gene swam on his back through midair, tapping his temple. “If anyone can get the message across, it’s me.”

“Then why not find someone who looks like they’re in charge so we can get to the bottom of this?” Seifer said, squinting at the mewtwo.

Gene stopped swimming and winked at Seifer. “Of course. Shouldn’t be too hard.” He jerked his head behind him. “One of those officers has to be calling the shots. I’ll pick ’em out quick as a flash.”

He took off for the nearest metang-riding policewoman, leaving the rest of Team Bastion behind. “What do we do in the meantime?” Widget paced around, his starcloud swirling around his neck. “Maybe get a better sense of what’s going on with the volcano?”

“You wanna walk up to a bunch of lava suspended in midair?” Nikki slowly bowed. “Sure thing, be my guest. It’s your funeral.”

“We shouldn’t stand around waiting for Gene,” the cosmic type: full countered. “Not when a whole city’s in danger!”

“A volcano’s too much for some of us to handle.” The toxtricity crossed her arms. “I bet the heat alone will fry your circuits or some shit.”

Widget opened his beak, then closed it. He shuffled away from Nikki, brushing his gold forelegs together and looking around nervously. “What about Drakloak?” Widget looked at Yuna. “You said something about that chocolate noodle that burst out of your pendant earlier.”

Before Yuna could respond, her Soul Dew glistened. Rayquaza’s small, black head poked out of it. “Now, see here! Tis Sir Noodle!” He blinked several times. “No, wait, I meant Rayquaza! At least have the decency to address me by name.”

“Okay, Sir Noodle Rayquaza.” Widget stepped toward Yuna. “Isn’t there some way you can help?”

“I said my piece back on the ship.” Rayquaza looked down glumly. “Mayhaps my mega evolution could allow it, but I doth not know if I can achieve it anymore.”

Widget’s ears and head crest drooped. Yuna believe Rayquaza, but could tell Widget wouldn’t except that answer.

“Look, Widget—”

“Yo.”

“Meep!”

Yuna shriveled up at Gene’s surprise return, inadvertently sucking Rayquaza back into the Soul Dew. “Cripes! A little warning next time!” she hissed over Leo’s giggling.

“I love it when your body does that,” the fake dreepy chirped, clapping his hands.

Gene landed on the grass, smirking. “That was the warning.” He snapped his fingers and pointed his right hand up. “Meet Lieutenant Molayne.”

A particularly pale human rode toward them on a magnezone. His blue helmet didn’t fully hide his blonde hair and, even though he wore goggles over his eyes, Yuna spotted bags. Given the circumstances, she didn’t blame the guy for being exhausted.

“This is your vaunted team?” Molyane sounded as tired as Yuna thought he looked. “Good grief. First Lanakila Volcano and now Mewtwo shows up out of the blue with some random pack of kiddos?” He practically leaned over the strange guard rail surrounding Magnezone’s head. “I’d tell Magnezone to give me a jolt to make sure I’m not dreaming, but I did that already.”

“Oi, who you calling a kid?” Nikki’s mohawk sparked.

“Bulu’s horns!” Molayne tightly gripped Magnezone’s guardrail. “She can talk?!”

“I can do a lot more than that.” Nikki cracked her knuckles. “We’re here to fix stuff, so give us stuff that needs fixing!”

Yuna glanced at Gene, who appeared just as surprised as Molayne. She figured he used his psychic powers to translate. Guess not. Weird.

“Is it?” Reshiram hummed in her mind. “We could all read that emergency sign before, right? Why wouldn’t we be able to understand the people here?

It’s the “why” I’m concerned with. Though Yuna knew Reshiram wouldn’t have an explanation. She’d have to keep this thought in mind for later.

Molayne pinched his brow, nearling cupping a finger underneath his goggles. “This has gotta be some sort of Plasma Society shenanigans. I mean, Team Plasma made Mewtwo. There’s a dozen movies and counting on it. Why wouldn’t that N guy come up with pokémon-to-human translators?”

“No idea what the hell a Team Plasma is,” Gene said, nonchalantly waving Molayne off. “Did I not mention we’re from another dimension? Because we’re from another dimension.”

Silence. Molayne rubbed his temples, groaning. “You could’ve led with that.”

“Wait, you’re not surprised?” Yuna raised a brow.

Something on Molayne’s right chest crackled to life. A radio, if Yuna had to guess. He grabbed the black square and pressed the button. “What’s the situation?”

“It’s terrible, sir! Turtonator stampede!” a panicked female voice cried.

“What?”

Yuna didn’t think a single word could sound that exhausting. How sleep deprived was this guy?

“Turtonator don’t stampede,” Molayne said.

“They do when a rock slide’s carrying them right in the direction of one of our city evacuation paths!”

“Perfect.” Gene snapped his fingers. “I can handle a rock-and-turtonator slide no problem. And it’ll give us a closer look at the volcano.”

“I can’t just have civilians throwing themselves in like that—” Molayne stopped himself. “Wait, what am I saying? This isn’t the time for semantics.” He tapped Magnezone with his right foot. “Gimme the keldeo. People see a Sword of Justice helping with evacuation and maybe it’ll ease some of the panic.”

“You can have him and the bird.” Gene jerked his head in Jade’s direction.

“Yes, sir.” Jade saluted, but smacked her face with her right wing. “Ow! Stupid big yaoi lugia wings.”

Seifer didn’t acknowledge the order, however. Yuna saw him mouthing “Sword of Justice” to himself repeatedly, until Molayne blew a whistle and he jumped to attention with a whinny.

“Get your acts together and follow me,” Molayne said, turning toward the city atop Magnezone. “The rest of you, get to the northwest on the double.”

He zoomed off. Jade flapped after him with Seifer on her back.

“You heard him.” Gene cracked his knuckles. “I’ll play turtonator wrangler while you guys try and get a closer look at the volcano.”

Yuna glanced at the lava frozen in time. Well, it’s some semblance of a plan…

Noctum assumed sewers were similar to damp caves: dark, cramped, and panic-inducing for pokémon with crippling rock weaknesses like charizard. Instead, Igneous and Valkyrie led Team Bureau into a spacious area with large, arched ceilings of gray and red stone. Heck, Noctum could have flown alongside Yiazmat if he really wanted.

The black charizard stared at the water streaming between two large stone walkways littered with random metal tiles. Some of them had these machines with levers and wheels and colorful buttons that Noctum had to resist the urge to press. He followed tubing to metal sheets in the waterway. Darker water headed toward the metal sheets, and lighter water flowed away from them.

“It’s like magic,” Noctum muttered, scratching his chin while he walked beside Igneous.

“They’re treatment and filtration systems,” Igneous scoffed. “Dirty sewer water goes in, the dirt and grime gets filtered, chemicals purify what’s left, and cleaner water goes out.”

Noctum scrutinized one of the metal sheets. He couldn’t see any of the stuff the grovlazzle described, so as far as the charizard was concerned, it was magic.

“It’s a lot cleaner than I expected,” Valkyrie said. The garchomp kept at the front of the group, eyes darting around. Noctum wondered if she expected some sort of ambush.

The genesect wouldn’t go into the sewers, would they?

“What were you expecting, exactly?” Yiazmat wondered. Unlike the others, the dragapult flew over the water, eyes trained in front of her.

“Muk and grimer,” Valkyrie replied. “There are rainbow-colored ones here in Radiance that can clean up pollution. Thought cities employed them to work in sewers like these.”

“Don’t forget weezing,” Igneous added. “Though I guess they’re better suited for filtering air.”

“If I had to guess, Polaris automated all this stuff. Put those muk and grimer out of jobs,” Valkyrie said.

Noctum didn’t think it was that simple. “Don’t they need someone to, like, check on the equipment?” He figured workers had to be around somewhere. Would they try to chase the team away?

“There are totally some engineers who maintain this stuff,” Cyril chimed in through the X-transceiver. “My guess is they make rounds at specific times and otherwise keep tabs from a more… pleasant location.”

“Wait.” Noctum froze, grabbing his tail and bringing it close to his body. “Does that mean… there are cameras here? Are we being watched?”

“Of course there are cameras. How else are they supposed to keep watch of this place?”

Noctum stiffened and gripped his tail tighter. “W-Why didn’t anyone say so in the first place?!” The black charizard looked around in a panic. “How is this any better than taking our chances with the crowd?”

Igneous silently raised his right hand, producing some sort of rod. It flickered with light not unlike Noctum’s tail flame.

“What does a stick have to do with this?” Noctum said.

“It’s a jammer, you dolt,” Valkyrie scoffed.

Noctum stumbled. His wings unfolded to stop him from taking a plunge into the sewer water. “Jam, like for eating? Are you magically covering the cameras in jam?” He looked down at his armor-covered belly and mumbled, “I could go for some jam. Grape jam and toast.”

Valkyrie facepalmed.

Cyril’s chuckles crackled through Noctum’s X-transceiver. “That rod emits a signal to block nearby cameras. And only cameras. Can’t have the sewer system going offline on us, after all.”

“That still means we can be tracked, doesn’t it?” Yiazmat said, eyes darting left and right as she rounded a corner in the sewer next to Valkyrie. “Whoever’s watching could trace the path of blocked cameras to find us.”

Valkyrie clapped her arm fins together. “Which is why we need to stop dawdling to answer questions from dense charizard and start picking up the pace.” The garchomp leaned forward, walking faster over the stone and metal corridor. Igneous jogged after her.

Noctum’s tail flame shrank slightly. With weak flaps of his wings, he took to the air to avoid holding up the group with his stubbier legs.

“Do you always get like this on your assignments?” he wondered.

“No. Because I usually work alone.” Valkyrie stopped at a sewer intersection. “And I don’t have to go very far to take out a target. We done playing twenty questions?”

Noctum’s shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry. Still not up to speed on all this stuff.”

“Neither is your queen, but she’s kept quiet,” Valkyrie huffed.

Yiazmat tapped her index fingers together. “Admittedly I have more experience from prior trips here.”

And correspondence with Sakaki, Noctum silently added.

“Okay, head right and then the third corridor on the right side should get you into the station,” Cyril instructed.

With a running start, Valkyrie glided over the sewer water onto the opposite metal platform so she could proceed. Igneous followed after her, manifesting fiery volcarona wings to cross the gap. Noctum and Yiazmat exchanged a look, then flew after them.

“You fly well for someone meant to be grounded,” Yiazmat said to Igneous. The grovlazzle didn’t respond, but the slight wince told Noctum he wasn’t pleased with the compliment.

“Found the spot.” Valkyrie waved the others over while pointing at the wall with her other arm.

When Noctum reached the garchomp, he saw the metal corridor that gave way to a grated ramp ending at a cold, gray door with both a Polaris logo and an icon of a train car. Plainly obvious, but the strange black square on the right side of the door gave Noctum pause.

“Wait.” The black charizard crossed his arms and squinted. “This door is locked, isn’t it?”

“Yup.” Valkyrie walked toward it anyway.

Eyes widening, Noctum flew after her. “Hang on. You’re not about to try and bust it down, are you?”

Valkyrie paused to smirk at Noctum. “Please. We have better ways of dealing with that.”

Noctum blinked. “We do?”

“Well, I do.” Cyril chuckled through the X-transceiver.

A few seconds passed and the black box suddenly lit up green. Hisses and whirrs echoed down the corridor as the floor magically swallowed up the steel door.

“… oh,” Noctum whispered. Cyril must have used some of his magical machine hacking.

“You coming or not?” Valkyrie called, already halfway up the ramp alongside Igneous and Yiazmat.

“Yeah!” Noctum flapped his wings, but stopped short when loud rumbling filled his ears. He looked down. Definitely not my belly.

The rumbling got louder, accompanied by the whining of metal grinding against metal. Instinctual fear of a cave in gripped Noctum. His tail flame shrank. His heart thundered in his chest. “What’s going on?” His pupils narrowed. “We have to get out of here!”

“Relax.” Valkyrie held up her arms and waved them. “The train’s leaving. Don’t you remember the noise from when you went to Herbrides?”

Noctum’s heart rate steadied. “It’s… much different underground.” He tapped his claws together nervously.

“Wait, but we’re trying to catch that train, are we not?” Yiazmat said. The dragapult shot toward the door. “Quickly!”

Igneous and Valkyrie exchanged concerned looks, then dashed after her. Noctum again brought up the rear, entering a red and brown stairwell with a visible elevator shaft next to it. The elevator platform was on the ground level, so the black charizard chose to fly up and make up ground with the others.

“Oi, Cyril, what gives?” Valkyrie growled, taking the stairs two or three at a time. “I thought you said the train was scheduled to leave in forty minutes. We couldn’t have been down there that long.”

“Yeah, I know,” the cosmic zoroark responded. “They must’ve given an incorrect departure time. Whatever’s on that train, they really don’t want anyone finding out about it.”

“Well, it’s a freight train,” Igneous said. He was the first to reach the top of the staircase, with Noctum emerging through a gap in the elevator shaft not long after. The brown door in front of the grovlazzle didn’t have a lock. “It can’t move that fast, but I have no idea how we’d catch it.”

Igneous gestured to the door and Valkyrie rammed her shoulder against it, opening it. A dimly lit hallway stretched out in front of Team Bureau. Yellow lights lined the ceiling and floor, some shaped like arrows pointing in different directions.

“Which way to the tracks?” Yiazmat wondered, hovering into the hallway. Noctum could barely see her under the lights. “Perhaps they left some loading equipment around that we can use to get a better idea of what happened.”

“Head for the fourth intersection, go left, and take that hallway to the second door,” Cyril responded. “That’ll put you at the track the train left from. I’ve got the camera footage.”

“Got it.” Yiazmat nodded to the others. “Let’s work in teams of two. Igneous, you’re with me. Valkyrie and Noctum, bring up the rear.”

The garchomp looked ready to protest, but Yiazmat appeared in the doorway, grabbed a startled igneous, and shot off down the hallway.

“Fine.” Valkyrie licked her lips. “Keep up with me, dork.” Then she took off running.

Sighing, Noctum flew after her, wings beating hard to keep pace. The black charizard had no idea why they were rushing if the train had already left. They had lost the point of coming to the station in the first place. Why skulk around and risk getting caught by Radiant Guard just for a chance at finding some boxes or machinery?

“We’re almost at the railyard door,” Igneous announced. “Cyril, are you looking at the video footage at all?”

Noctum flapped his wings faster. Even with a passenger, Yiazmat was as fast as ever. He and Valkyrie had only passed the third intersection, with nothing but red and brown stones and tiny yellow lights surrounding them. Noctum wasn’t surprised no one was around. There was nothing here worth guarding, from what he could tell.

“Yeah. The genesect follow the train as it leaves the station,” Cyril reported. “I guess they did show up to offer an armored escort and— wait, hold on. The hell is that yellow cloud by the middle car?”

Valkyrie tucked her head down, increasing her speed. Noctum’s tail flame flickered. Though he kept flapping his wings, Valkyrie was faster on the ground than he was in the air. He had a pretty good idea of why she was running faster, though.

“Is the cloud still there?” Noctum asked.

“No. It went inside the train,” Cyril said. “Nobody even seemed to notice it. Let me change to a different cam—”

“Xeromus!”

Noctum sucked in a sharp breath. Of all the things Cid could have blurted out through the X-transceiver, that was arguably the worst option. A metallic slam sounded ahead of the black charizard. He guessed Igneous or Yiazmat had opened the door into the railyard. He still had sight of Valkyrie after making the turn at the fourth intersection.

“How can you be sure of that?” Cyril asked. “The footage isn’t that great.”

“I recognize the cloak of the monster who’s attacked me multiple times,” Cid responded.

Valkyrie went through the railyard door. Noctum reached it before it fully shut and thrust it open with his right arm. Bright daylight forced him to throw an arm up to shield his face. He landed on cold, stone ground, blinking rapidly until he finally adjusted to the daylight.

If the sewer’s ceilings had high arches, the railyard’s were massive. Large red arches with glass panels in between that tinted the daylight slightly orange. Red train tracks ran in neat parallel lines, alternating with red brick platforms for passengers to board.

In fact, red was the dominant theme. Red benches. Red railings. Red ramps and stairs leading down to the boarding platforms. Blank screens with red borders that probably showed rail schedules under normal circumstances. Even the garbage cans were red!

It was a bit much, in Noctum’s opinion. But this wasn’t the time to critique the interior design. “Anyone see Xeromus?” The black charizard looked around, but outside of his teammates he didn’t see anyone in the railyard.

“No.” Igneous hovered in the air with his fiery wings, Leaf Blades at the ready. “We must have missed him.

“So what are those things flying in the distance, then?” Yiazmat wondered, hovering back and forth the closest to where the railyard opened to the outside, with train tracks running in different directions to exit the city. “They remind me of metallic beheeyem.”

Noctum’s tail sparked. Oh no. He flew toward Yiazmat, following the dragapult’s gaze. Sure enough, he saw Eternatus Gunners flying away from the city. Noctum looked over his shoulder. “Eternatus Troopers! I bet they’re going after the train!”

“Seriously?” Valkyrie jogged toward them. “Okay, there’s got to be something going on with that train. Why send a bunch of troops to attack if it’s just a simple supply run?”

Yiazmat crossed her arms. “To demoralize the enemy, perhaps? It could be seen as a wartime tactic. Deprive civilians of supplies to entice the enemy to surrender.”

Noctum resisted the urge to point out how concerning it was Yiazmat immediately jumped to such a thought. No trains existed in Aeon until after Yiazmat became queen, meaning she must have come up with the idea herself in case the treaty went south.

“Is it worth getting involved, though?” Valkyrie crossed her arms and squinted. “Let the empire and the genesect blast each other apart. Makes our lives easier. Besides, our assignment was to investigate what the genesect are up to. We know they’re not disrupting the protests, so we’re done here.”

The garchomp was right. Plus, they were four pokémon and only Yiazmat had a chance of catching up to the Troopers and genesect. It sounded like the safest thing to do was go back and plan their next move from the safety house.

… At least, Noctum thought that until Igneous abruptly whirled around, Leaf Blades igniting and snarled, “I know you’re there, Xeromus! Show yourself!”

Wheezing laughter emerged behind Noctum. He flew away from it, but spun around in midair and remained on guard. Black, inky tendrils twisted and coiled around one another, settling into the tattered cloak draped over Xeromus’ large body. His gray, beady eyes focused on Igneous.

“Isn’t it funny? How the ether spawns such clashing forces?” Xeromus’ helmeted head swayed from side to side. “It says conflicting things, yet those words all point toward the same truth.”

“Shut up!” Igneous spewed flaming bullet seeds at Xeromus, but he vanished in a puff of dark smoke, reappearing beside Valkyrie.

“Don’t chase them. Retreat,” he rasped. “Because your choices don’t matter.”

Valkyrie tried to slash him with dragon claws, but he again disappeared. Xeromus reappeared upside-down in midair. Noctum wondered if he should try and attack, but thought it useless. Even with that bulky helmet and heavy chains, Xeromus effortlessly teleported circles around them.

“Why are you here?” Noctum growled. At least, keeping him babbling would stop him from attacking… right?

“I was seeing off a friend.” Xeromus sounded jovial. He locked eyes with Igneous again. “I’m sure you’re familiar with him.”

The grovlazzle’s eyes widened. His tails curled up and smoldered. “Damn it! That yellow cloud Cyril saw… it was the monster I saw him summon when I passed out!”

“A monster? I see. So, that is how you would view our savior.” Xeromus shook his head, coughs rattling his helmet. “Then the ether still digs its claws into you. Just as it sends two opposing sides at one another, knowing the only outcome is that of stagnation.”

Noctum had… no idea what Xeromus was talking about, but it got a reaction out of Igneous. Leaf blades fizzling out, he gripped his head and shook it. “You put… a daemon on that train! You want it to attack Venish!”

“A worthless omen like me has no real desires,” Xeromus replied, shaking his head amidst another coughing fit. “This is about Natus offering his Love to those who have suffered enough. Saving them from the ether’s steady march toward stagnation. Turning back,” he glanced at Valkyrie, “is what the ether wants. It continues that march.”

There was one thing Noctum could try. Based on a hunch Yuna had. He clenched his fists. “Why are you doing this, Nova? You still have a real desire! Gene is still here… hoping for your return!”

Xeromus didn’t even acknowledge Noctum. He vanished in another puff of smoke and reappeared where the railyard opened to the outside. “I can’t influence you, because nothing I do matters. Nothing I say matters. The ether will continue marching on its path regardless what happens. Natus will try to fight it through sharing His love, but who he gets to share it with falls on a choice only you can make.” Xeromus looked at Igneous again, before another coughing fit overtook him.

“The train route to Venish… it crosses a bridge, yes?” he continued, turning his back to the group. “An old, stone bridge over a quaint little lake with a quaint little village beside it.”

Yiazmat blasted fireballs from her horns at Xeromus, but spectral chains emerged from his cloak and strangled them, snuffing out the flames.

“If the ether’s forces clash for too long, they may destroy the bridge. Keh heh…” Wheezing stifled Xeromus’ excitement. “And then the train shall fall. And the quaint little lake with its quaint little village will welcome Natus’ embrace with open arms.

“Or, perhaps, the train makes it across… but the fighting continues into Venish.” Xeromus slowly turned around. “The paths look different, but the ending is the same. Unless, that is, you choose to act.” He looked at Igneous again.

The grovlazzle responded by summoning… a crimson honedge? He hurled it at Xeromus and, for the first time, Noctum saw genuine alarm in the beast’s eyes. He didn’t teleport or parry, but lunged out of the way.

“Keh heh. Such fiery defiance.” Xeromus wheezed heavily. “I’m glad… Natus chose you, to accept His special gift.”

He shuffled away from Team Bureau. “I can’t wait… to see… what you choose. I’m sure… it will be interesting.“

Igneous dove toward the sword, but Xeromus vanished in a cloud of shadowy chains before he could grab it. “Damn it!” Embers smoldered on the grovlazzle’s tail.

“He’s bluffing,” Valkyrie growled. “He has to be, right?”

“He’s not.” Cid tittered in Noctum’s ear frill. “There is a rather long bridge on the route to Venish. It never got renovated because it’s a historical spot for the nearby town.”

Noctum swallowed hard. “Then… do we try and chase after them? Only the queen is fast enough to make up ground.”

“I think Cyril has an idea. He ran off,” Cid said.

“Hell yeah I do.” Cyril’s shout startled Noctum, who nearly pulled off the X-transceiver. “Noctum, open a rift to the entrance of my outpost.”

“Uh… okay.” The black charizard was skeptical, but he figured that Cyril might have had a ship for the team to use. He flew outside and concentrated on the Malice Crystal in his stomach. The jagged purple rift splintered open in front of him. An engine’s roar followed and Noctum had seconds to fly out of the way before a rounded vehicle painted to look like a piplup drifted out of the rift and skidded to a halt on the boundary between the railyard and the outside tracks.

“What the hell?” Valkyrie’s jaw slackened. “Is that… a freaking pizza truck?”

The truck had a piplup head, complete with an orange beak that sported black spokes on either side, and eyes representing windows. One of them rolled down and the cosmic zoroark stuck his head out. He wore a pokebase cap resembling a piplup’s head.

“A modified pizza truck, thank you very much!” Cyril said. “That old clunker hovership we drove around Eterna City in can’t catch up to the train with the head start it has. This baby’s got some… special features. Now, hop in. We’ve got a train to catch.”

The piplup’s torso, which had a picture of a piplup with a comical mustache, chef’s hat, and white apron holding a pizza box reading “Pippino’s Pizza,” opened up on the same side as Cyril. Instead of any sort of oven or kitchen area like a food truck supposedly had, the black charizard saw strange monitors and black leather seats.

He took a step forward, but Cyril thumped his right arm against the side of the truck. “Not you. I need you and the queen covering our six. Got it?”

Noctum spread his wings out and looked skeptically at them. “Are you sure? I’m not nearly as fast a flier.”

“I’m sure,” Cyril said. Igneous and Valkyrie had climbed aboard. Both looked at Noctum and shrugged.

“This better work, Cyril,” the grovlazzle growled.

Cyril smirked. “Trust me. If I can get a pizza across Eterna City in thirty minutes or less, I can catch a train.” He ducked his head back inside and rolled up the window. The rear door also closed as the engine roared to life once again.

“And we’re off!” Cyril declared. The truck weaved into a spot between two sets of train tracks and took off across the dirt.

Startled, Noctum scrambled into the air and flew after the truck. Yiazmat passed him almost immediately.

The black charizard gulped. I sure hope this works.