Fandom Pokémon || Team Nova [OPEN]

[OverconfidentMagi]

Goldenrod City, Johto

"He's just one person, take him down! Admin Rayne is currently fighting against the Resistance's leader alone. If we break through here we can surround him! The Resistance will have to stop fighting if they don't have their leader!" The Team Nova grunts all agreed with what the loudest grunt was yelling, but getting to where Blue was fighting the admin was easier said than done. A single man kept blocking them no matter which route they approached from. A tall man with spiky blue hair, wearing a formal butler getup. The butler's ruby red eyes found the group of Nova grunts attempting to sneak past the area he was guarding. There was no emotion in those eyes, but the grunts still flinched.

They pulled out their weapons and fired at the butler, but bullets and StarBurst both seemed ineffective against him. He moved between the shots with inhuman speed and elegance, grabbed the first Nova grunt, and threw him backwards two dozen feet like it was nothing. The other grunts took aim at the butler again, feeling confident that they could hit a target standing in their midst at least. The butler brought his hands together, and a flash of light blinded the Nova grunts as they were thrown back against the walls of the alley. He sent the whole group back the way they came with a final blast of Psychic power.

The ground shook as the conflict Latios was preventing from being interrupted escalated. After sending another group of Nova grunts flying, he looked back at the battlefield where Blue and the Nova Admin fought. At least they should have been. Blue was standing over the still form of the admin, holding the man's own gun. But something wasn't right with that scene. Latios could still sense the Nova Admin right there, even though he should be... A woman appeared in front of Blue. She wasn't there one moment and then she was. Latios could still sense the "dead" admin, but he couldn't sense the woman standing right there at all.

This was the first time Latios had witnessed Ava for himself. Mewtwo had said that Ava was the only real threat when dealing with the least important Nova Admin, and Latios found himself fully agreeing with that. Blue could easily deal with the admin solo, but this monster showing up flipped the scales entirely. Latios wasn't confident that they'd be able to beat her even if he and Blue worked together. Normally he'd be able to sense if an enemy was a threat or not, but he couldn't sense anything at all from the pink-haired woman. If he wasn't looking directly at her he wouldn't even be able to tell she was there. It was extremely unsettling, seeing something where there shouldn't be anything.

Blue made the wise decision to retreat, the woman showing no desire to chase after the fleeing Resistance leader. As soon as Blue had gone, Latios witnessed the Nova Admin's dead body fade away and reveal the very much still living admin. But not all of the blood disappeared with the illusion. Jay was on the ground clutching his shoulder. Ava's illusion had tricked Blue into missing a kill shot, but the bullet had still grazed the top of Jay's left shoulder. Between the poison filling his body and the amount of blood he had lost and continued to lose by the second, there was no way he'd be recovering any time soon.

Even Ava who loved to taunt Jay at every opportunity, refrained from doing so now. She could tell he was actually close to death. "Sol! Heal him!" The Gardevoir chimed weakly from where it had come to rest on the ground. The last attack Sol had taken had not only left her near fainting herself, it had also broken the button she wore around her neck that let her teleport within the city. Ava walked over to Sol and picked her up to bring the healer to the patient. Solitaire put both hands on Jay's back and concentrated all of her remaining power into healing him.

Latios recognized what the Gardevoir was doing. It was a last-resort move his sister was capable of using: Healing Wish. Gardevoir would use up every drop of her power to fully heal the Nova Admin. After everything the Resistance members and Blue had done to beat him, Latios couldn't just stand back and watch as he was healed right in front of his face! The butler rushed in to take out the Gardevoir before it could save the Nova Admin. Latios was fast, its human form's feet not even pretending to touch the ground as it flew forward, but the pink-haired monster was faster. A pink-haired woman appeared out of nowhere in Latios' path, forcing the butler to stop. She was right in front of him, but she was also still kneeling beside the Gardevoir and the Nova Admin. There were two of her. "Leave," the Ava in front of him said coldly, "This battle is over. Go home." A black sphere gathered on her fingertip to further convince the butler. The two fakes stood opposite each other, Latios glaring at the woman and at the defeated admin behind her. This was the best chance to take down one of Nova's leaders, but the woman in front of him may as well be an impenetrable wall.


Inside Nova HQ, Goldenrod City, Johto

"Miss Platinum, Blue is fighting the Nova Admin outside," the red-haired maid informed Platinum. Except she was no longer a maid. Latias had changed her appearance to that of a Team Nova grunt. With Green also disguised as a grunt, only Platinum was left underdressed.

"Which one?" Green asked.

"Admin Rayne."

"His girl too?"

"My brother hasn't seen her yet."

Green narrowed her eyes. "That's ominous but also means Blue can handle it himself. Have Latios stay close and on guard for Ava fuckery just in case. I doubt she'll stay hidden if Rayne is about to lose." Latias nodded and silently communicated Green's instructions to Latios outside. Green checked the time. Still a few minutes left, but with Blue having shown himself that deadline went out the window. "We need to leave. Now."

Platinum recalled her Pachirisu and looked down the hallway. Latias had confirmed that no Nova grunts were present, but Platinum still felt something ominous about being inside this place. The sooner she could leave, with Sapphire and Ruby, the better. Speak of the devil... Platinum's Lopunny ran down the hall towards its trainer, leading another pokemon and their trainer, and on Sapphire's back was an unconscious Ruby. Platinum felt relief wash over her. He was okay. They hadn't come all this way for nothing.

Sapphire stopped running to lean Ruby against the wall before allowing herself to take a momentary rest. She hadn't stopped running once since picking up Ruby. She wasn't tired just yet - her stamina was enough that running around with another person on her back wasn't anything special - but the unpleasant atmosphere was getting to her the same as it was Platinum. Sapphire's instincts were sharper than most people's, and she'd felt something was off about this place since they'd gotten inside. Platinum would just dismiss the feeling as natural from being surrounded by enemies, but that wasn't all it was. The twisting hallways felt like they wanted to pull Sapphire down into the dark earth below. Down below, deeper than where Ruby was being held... that was where Nova conducted its futuristic research into all kinds of things. What exactly were they trying to accomplish?

Latias stopped looking over Ruby for a moment to glance at Sapphire. The psychic pokemon could tell she was troubled. It was an unusual look on Sapphire, someone who didn't like to think too hard about anything and reacted to every situation with confidence. Ruby being captured had really shaken her. Since Kirly had only slightly healed Ruby's immediate injuries, Latias used Wish to fully heal him now. Even still he didn't wake up. "I could try Healing Wish, but..."

"Save it for after we're out," Green made the decision. Neither Platinum or Sapphire spoke up. It was the correct choice, even if they wanted to heal Ruby now. "Plat, put Ruby on your Rapidash. We're going out the front door."


Nova grunts crowded the lobby, more on guard now that the impenetrable defense of Admin Jay's Vaporeon was gone. It had disappeared shortly after the notice that Jay had made contact with the Resistance leader, meaning it was likely the admin had called his pokemon back to help with that fight. The Resistance had taken advantage of this opening to launch a more fierce attack onto the building, but the Resistance forces were too weakened and scattered by now to push Nova back, even with the door guard away. The morale of the Nova grunts still protecting the lobby was rising now that they felt the Resistance attack weakening. The inexperienced grunts stationed in the safety of Nova HQ had made it through their first actual conflict with the Resistance.

The grunts were at first relieved when mist began to fill the lobby, thinking it was the admin's pokemon returning. Those light feelings lasted right up until a group of women and pokemon burst through the stairway leading to the lower levels. Sapphire's Aggron opened with a Roar and earth-shattering Iron Tail that sent pieces of the floor flying and sent the grunts into a panic. Platinum's Empoleon and Green's Blastoise loosed a pair of Hydro Cannons that scattered the grunts further and completely blew away the front walls of the ground floor. A flaming horse carrying a slumped-over man rushed through the opening before the grunts could even react. By the time a few thought to pull their weapons and fire the trio of women had recalled their respective pokemon and were running through the created hole as well. A human maid and a Mega Gallade blocked the bullets and beams of orange light as the rear guard before also escaping.


"Follow Rapidash! He knows the way!" Platinum yelled to Sapphire and Green, who were both ahead of her. This mission had made Platinum painfully aware of her own physical shortcomings, especially when compared to the physical powerhouse that was Sapphire, but even Green put Platinum's speed and stamina to shame. It was what she got for the comfortable life she'd lived most of her life. Latias grabbed her hand as she caught up and passed the trailing trainer. "Hold on," the maid-turned-grunt said before pulling Platinum closer and dropping her disguise altogether. Platinum struggled to hold on as Latias left the ground and overtook the other trainers and even Rapidash. Latias fired off a Mist Ball at the street they were running down. It would obscure Sapphire and Green's sight yes, but so long as they just followed Rapidash's flames the cover would do more to hide them from enemies than it would hinder them. "Good thinking Latias! Tell Latios to let know Blue know we're out!"

A dark shadow passed over the flying legendary pokemon and trainer on its back.

"What the..." Platinum and Latias shared the same reaction as Latios and Ava and likely everyone else looking up within the city.


Goldenrod City, Johto

Latios lowered its offensive stance before the pink-haired woman slowly. She showed no sign of doing the same, establishing which of them controlled the situation. Latios jumped backwards and turned invisible as it made its swift escape. The second Ava that had been threatening the fake butler disappeared, leaving just the one Ava crouched next to Solitaire and Jay. Her sharp blue eyes had been watching the standoff.

Sol gathered all of her power into the red crest in her chest until it glowed like a star, and then she pushed all of that into her trainer with all of her love and desire for him to be made whole and healthy again. She then collapsed into unconsciousness, her power completely spent.

Ava grabbed Sol's shoulder to keep the Gardevoir from collapsing onto the ground. Healing Wish used up everything, but its potency matched the sacrifice it demanded. The remainder of the wound in Jay's back that Sol had partially healed earlier faded completely, along with the much more fresh ugly wound across his shoulder from Blue's glancing shot. Though not something visible, Jay's blown out eardrum from that same gunshot was also fully healed. Those injuries were serious, but more pressing was the internal damage caused by ignoring the deadly poison that had been ravaging Jay's body. The Nova Admin's complexion returned to something closer to 'alive' than the pallid purple-gray it had shifted into as he lay on the ground.

"Welcome back from the dead," Ava welcomed Jay back as he forced himself to sit up. Lux rubbed her cool face against her trainer in relieve that he was okay. Jay smiled warmly at them both, and at Solitaire as well, but that smile was tinged with sadness. He forced himself to stand up. Contrary to her offensive battle style, the role Solitaire played in his team was the healer, and Healing Wish was Sol's most powerful move. It could heal a pokemon from the brink of death back to perfect health in an instant, and even when used on a human it remained nearly as effective. It had brought Jay back to life on multiple occasions so far and would likely continue to do so in the future. But it wasn't like the move could heal everything. For one, it didn't do anything about fatigue - Jay was still exhausted - and while it removed the poison from his body, it didn't replace all of the blood he'd left on the ground. Despite being fully healed, from fighting and blood loss, Jay was still dead tired.

Jay touched Sol's cheek and then tapped her pokeball against her to send her back to the relative safety of its confines. He looked around the battlefield. Ace was on the cracked ground there, its body badly beaten. "Thank you," he said as he recalled the bird pokemon into its Luxury Ball where it could at least be comfortable until he could heal it. Ace had saved him multiple times both before and during the contact with the Resistance leader. Invidia was where it had been when the Rhyperior had gotten it. It wasn't unconscious, but it was badly injured. It would have continued to fight if Jay had commanded it to, but that was just what it meant to be a StarBurst pokemon. Without any orders, it just remained where it was more or less doing nothing. Jay said nothing as he recalled it. Gula was easy to find, practically a green hill in the middle of the battlefield. Jay rubbed the large monster's stomach affectionately before recalling him. Superbia and Lux were the only ones still in any condition to fight, and even that was a stretch. Lux had used up most of her moves defending the entrance, and Supes might still be conscious, but the bat dragon was burned and tired from playing aerial tag with Blue's Charizard.

"Looks like you're on protection duty, Ava," Jay called out to the woman.

"Call back Lux and get on Supes. Now!"

Jay was confused by Ava's sudden order, but he knew better than to ignore her when she said to do something. When Ava told him to jump, he didn't ask how high, he just jumped as high as he possibly could. So he recalled Lux and climbed onto his Noivern's back even if the latter was injured. That was when he saw what Ava was looking at.

"Fly!" It wasn't him that gave the order. Ava had yelled it. But the same way he knew to obey her, so did all of his pokemon. Supes might have gone against her if Jay said the opposite, but right then it listened to Ava and forced its tired body to move and take off.


North of Goldenrod City, Johto

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand done! Rocket science, jet science, it's all the same really. Little rewiring and changing the power source and this thing's back to skyworthy in no time!" The Team Nova Admin of Technology stood next to the 'fixed' Resistance jet beaming like a proud parent. In truth the jet was barely functional. She was only able to force it back off the ground by overcompensating with an unreasonable amount of power to the engines courtesy of a Nova-proprietary infinite battery and manually control the wings. But it wasn't like she needed it to fly far.

The Resistance jet lifted off the ground and turned away from the Pokéathlon Dome. It flew south over Route 35 before entering the airspace above Goldenrod City. It was flying low, too low, the Resistance logo marking its wings and sides plainly visible. It swung around the city once, passing so close to the tops of buildings that windows exploded and rained glass down on the streets below. Cel piloted the jet remotely as she took a leisurely stroll back towards the city. On its second pass she released the cargo she's stuck to the bottom of the jet.

Pokeballs rained down onto the city. They hit rooftops and the ground, and whether they landed too hard and broke or not they opened and released the pokemon inside. The pokemon that emerged looked almost identical to the pokeballs they had come from: with a red upper half and a white lower half. Cel didn't even need to give any command, she'd already given the pokemon their order to be carried out as soon as they were released from their pokeball. All across Goldenrod Voltorbs used Self-Destruct or Explosion to destroy everything around them. Buildings and people disappeared within the continuous series of detonating living bombs. To Cel outside the city it sounded like rolling thunder. She was the kind of strange person that liked to stay outside to listen to thunder and see lightning flash, so it sounded quite pleasant to her.

"Living bombs," Cel chuckled as she wondered how the Resistance justified such a creature existing. "It's kind of on the nose don't you think?"

With a precise movement of her metal-gloved fingers she controlled the jet to finish showering the city and make its way towards its next destination. Not too quickly though. She had it take its time circling back around. Give the people time to appreciate all the work she'd put into this whole act. She flicked her hand forward to send the jet flying towards its target: the tower that had once been the Goldenrod City radio tower and now acted as Team Nova HQ.

The Resistance jet crashed into the tower. Miraculously the building looked like it might be able to withstand the initial impact, but that was wishful thinking. The combination of the jet cutting through the side of the building like an axe and then the entire thing exploding from whatever cargo it was loaded with meant the building stood no chance. Team Nova HQ began to fall. Fire, metal, and stone rained down onto the city below. The Resistance members had already begun fleeing, but now Nova grunts and citizens alike joined them in a hopeless rush to get away from the building coming down on top of them.

Cel let out a deep breath. She'd almost messed that up there. She'd forgotten to turn off the last barrier that protected the upper floors of the building just before the jet had made contact. Thankfully it was just a matter of flipping that switch, which she'd had ready, she'd just forgotten to flip it until she'd noticed the initial impact not doing much damage. "Oh well, didn't matter." Even if she was a second late on that, the momentum of the jet still meant it did the job once she did turn off the barrier. "That was fun." Cel put her arms behind her head and hummed a merry tune as she walked the rest of the way back into the city. She could have gotten where she was going quickly, but she wanted to take her time taking in the aftermath.

 

[QuirkyAngel]

Kugasa Karasuna + Alan Rickman

Skies South of Goldenrod City, Johto​

“The smell should be the least of his worries,” Kuga replied to Alexander’s comment to ‘Mr. Vampire’. “Now, move.”

Kuga couldn’t say what it was that prompted her decision to follow the stranger to his jet. Instinct? Curiosity? Not wanting to be rude? A desire to ensure both the new resistance member and the one who helped her made it out of the city alive? It was probably a combination of all of those that led Kugasa to climbing after both Alexander and the stranger as they made their way out of the darkness and into the light. Ninja escapes weren’t always very pretty, but they were effective.

Besides, she’d always thought hands stained by blood were dirtier.

It was a smooth move towards route 34 and the jet afterwards. No one stopped them, distracted by chaos near the Department Store (and at Nova Headquarters). She thought Nova would have at least blockaded all the roads out of Goldenrod, but that didn’t seem to be the case at all. A minute or two walk out of Route 34 was all it took for them to be in the air, carried by the jet that ‘Mr. Vampire’ really had just docked right outside the city.

Naturally, the piloting of the jet was left in the owner’s hands.

Safely aboard the plane, Kuga returned Toxtricity to its pokeball, ending the [Magnetic Flux] effect. She didn’t intend to impose upon the ‘civilian’ for too long as being involved with a resistance member only put him in greater danger. Kuga had chosen to follow Janine into the fight against Nova. The civilian hadn’t. He’d only wanted to help ‘Sapphire Birch’…for whatever reason. Was he hoping to get in touch with the Resistance? Kuga tilted her head as she glanced consideringly in the direction of the cockpit. She didn’t even know the stranger’s name. Or anything about him, really. All she knew was that he was a man with a lot of weapons. While she was curious, she was also the unintrusive sort, and would dial the code for one of the resistance’s teleporting pokemon once they got far enough away from Goldenrod. It would only be sent once her identity as resistance member was confirmed. Kuga wasn’t going to pretend to have the technological knowledge to understand how such procedures worked, but she knew such security measures were put in place to keep potential Nova spies from entering Resistance Headquarters.

The Resistance’s Teleport Team of psychics were also trained to make their own calls (at least Janine’s venomoth did)…and Kuga doubted they would let a Nova spy into base anymore than Mewtwo would. The legendary pokemon only seemed to trust Blue and Yellow, the leader and healer of the resistance respectively, as far as she was aware. Remembering that she also owed a debt to the former Viridian Gym Leader for taking Admin Jay off their backs, Kuga glanced out the jet’s window, back at the city…to see explosions. Lots of explosions as voltorbs and electrodes rained from the resistance jet, flying in from the North and escalating the scale of the battle. Buildings blew up. Civilians—probably Team Nova Grunts and Resistance members as well—scurried around and died like ants. Kuga’s grip tightened around her sheath. Such atrocities were to be expected of war…but, still, it wasn’t like the cautious Blue at all. Had he gone mad?

Kuga’s cell rang and she picked it up, holding the device over her ear.

“Ah, good! Finally got a hold of you!” Pause. “This is Kugasa Karasuna I’m speaking to, right? You’re not a Nova Admin or anything, are you? Not that I’d mind if you were, but—”

“It’s me,” Kuga didn’t look away from the scene of destruction. “Has Blue lost it?”

“Wha—ah, no. No he hasn’t. The resistance jet was hijacked by Admin Celene. Saw it myself. That lady has some crazy tech skills.”

The jet crashed into Team Nova Headquarters. “…She’s gone insane then.”

“I doubt it’s insanity as much as a public manipulation maneuver. You know how Team Nova operates. Headlines will be hating on us tonight~”

“…”

“But of course, it’s only the dumb that believe everything they hear on the news—hence why I’ve joined the resistance~”

Kuga could hear a coughing sound from the other end. In her mind, it was still crazy to bomb one's own city just for that. The cost of repairs. The cost of lives. Team Nova must have quite the rich backer to pull a stunt like that. Not to mention it further weakened the city for future assault. Was Goldenrod City a sacrifice? Did they intend to change the location of their Headquarters to elsewhere?

“Anyway, let’s meet up when we return to Headquarters. There’s a ton of stuff to review from this mission.”

“…aren’t you in headquarters?”

“Haha, look out the window on your other side.”

Kuga did and saw a flygon flying sidelong with the stranger’s jet. Alan Rickman waved at her from atop the his pokemon. He had gengar and two of his drones with him as well. She could feel the tension in her shoulders—which hadn’t noticed existed up until now—ease at the sight of her ghost pokemon. Seemed she'd been more worried about her teammate than she expected.

“I’m your partner. Did you think I’d leave completely on your own when you’re going into a battlefield~? Besides, while I appreciate your estimation of my technical skills, my baby hacker drones still have a range limit when I’m manually operating them instead of leaving them on autopilot.”

“Very ninja-like of you.” From Kuga (the ninja-weeb), it was a compliment. “Do you know if Sapphire and Platinum manage to save Ruby?”

“Pfft, if you wanted to find that out, you should’ve escaped with the other resistance members.” She could hear the amusement in Alan’s tone. “But I guess we’ll find out once we head back to Realgam Tower—assuming they make out of that death trap alive of course. I sure hope they do. That actor was a funny guy--”

Nodding, Kuga hung up the phone and slipped it back into the pockets of her dark coat. If the leader of the resistance died in Goldenrod after leading them all into a foolhardy mission, then that was all he amounted to…though she doubted Mewtwo would let that happen. Even if he did, it wasn't like the Resistance would die with him. Another--probably Green or Yellow-- would simply grab the mantle of leadership. The flame of 'resistance' would live so long as there were those that survived willing to fight Nova. She was Janine’s shadow. After Master Koga’s death, Kuga swore to herself that she wouldn’t let the younger girl die like her father. It was time she returned to her true mistress’s side.

Pulling out a jar of pokeblock from the sack of things she’d purchased from Goldenrod’s Department Store, Kuga fed spinarak while she waited for the jet to take them out of Johto’s airspace…or at least far enough from Goldenrod where she could contact a Resistance teleporter back to Orre. Flying directly there posed too great a risk...least of all on an unknown jet. Given how tight the Reistance's security around their main city was, Kuga wouldn't be surprised if Rayquaza shot them out of the sky thinking they might be Nova. That was probably why Blue had them meet at Mistralton Airport. Resistance security. There were still many things she was curious about—the identity of the jet-owner first and foremost. However, if they didn’t want to tell her, that was fine too. Remaining strangers was probably the safer option overall. She didn't dislike silence either...and yet...

Kuga spoke without looking at Alexander. "Where do you intend to go now that the mission is over?"

IDKnuggets RageFactorXIII
(mentioned: OverconfidentMagi Phayne )

 

[Phayne]

"What.... what the fuck...?" mumbled Fitz; his face ghostly pale as his brain desperately tried to make sense of what he had just witnessed; the death of porygon2 being hard for him to process. Despite being the only one out of the group still standing, his façade of standing strong was only being maintained by his clear naivety towards the actual seriousness of their situation. Those with him had already grasped their predicament, the deceased pokemon having been the one tasked with guarding the jet meant for their departure. With its frantic attempt of escape and eventual demise being clear to see, it could only mean that their route of escape had been compromised and considering the barbaric manner of Porygon2's death, it was quite evident that the source of its downfall was someone or something not to be trifled with.

Tears streaming down her face, Mia had her face buried into the chest of Mort; the blood curdling screams still haunting her as her body shook violently; the scene they had just witnessed more than likely leaving a lasting trauma within the shaken resistance fighter. Chevron too was visibly affected, the man covered in cold sweat as he knelt, eyes fixated upon the crater where Porygon2's body had dematerialized into nothingness. It was evident to even the blindess of people that their resolve had been broken; the sight of Blue's pokemon being snuffed out so easily before their very eyes being enough to show how powerless they really were. They had escaped the chaos of the city only to be led directly towards the beast's hunting grounds, for what else besides a beast could so easily dispatch of one of Blue's trusted companions.

Seeing his new companions so shaken had left Fitz speechless and on the brink of breaking down himself. Whilst still struggling to grasp the full situation they presently found themselves in, Fitz was still able to comprehend just how foolish it would be to continue marching forward towards the escape Jet. He was a coward, not an idiot and everything right now was telling him that the Jet was probably the second if not worst place to be right now. Despite his bravado and showmanship in front of the other fighters, even he could not bullshit his way out of whatever was awaiting them at the jet, nor did he wield the strength and power to force his way through that obstacle. Yet, what options did that leave them?, What other route of escape would make itself available for them if the Jet was completely written off?

Mia was in shambles and both Mort and Chevron were already physically exhausted from having to carry Ludwig around with them. They were in no shape to fight and in no shape to make a mad dash for whatever other escape route was available. Fitz's thoughts immediately went towards self preservation, his mind abandoning the idea of escaping with the others and solely focusing on how best to get himself out of this shithole. Abandoning them was an option, the other four were now more deadweight than protection and would only slow him down as he made a run for it and if he did stick with them and they were caught, their resistance attire would almost certainly lead to their deaths, Fitz included. If he were to be caught alone, well he didn't exactly match the stereotypical Resistance image.. it could work.

Fitz was shaken out of his dark thoughts as he felt a hand grasp him around the ankle; his eyes glancing down to see the broken man that was Chevron grovelling before him, his head hung low and his body on the verge of collapse as his remaining strength was used to grab Fitz. Had he been looking up at Fitz, Chevron would have seen Fitz's expression contorted into one of disgust, as if something unwanted had placed its hand upon him and in a sense, something did. The cowardly Fitz had almost steeled himself to run, to abandon the deadweight shackles that hindered him. He didn't plan to fight whatever monster lurked beyond the tree's separating them from the plane, nor did he want to be dragged to his demise by four others whom had clearly lost the will to fight -in his place-

"H..hey... Y,.. you're strong right...?" mumbled Chevron meekly, ".. y.. you said... you could rival blue right...?" Chevron continud, causing Fitz to try and step backwards, though his progress was hindered by Chevron's grip. "I... I overheard you... on the plane..." Chevron began to shake and Fitz could begin to feel his grip weaken. "Ughh.. what.. I...I... Nev..sai...G.. get...o..f...f" attempted Fitz to interject, though the words struggled to form in his mouth. "F...fitz... please... I... W..we... don..t want... to die..." Chevron's hand slipped off of Fitz's ankle as he brought it to his face, the grown man now sobbing uncontrollably as the realization of potential death overpowered him.

Fitz was at a loss for what to do. Everything inside of him was telling him to run, to survive on his own, even at the pricey cost of abandoning the rest. He was scared; from the very beginning and probably until the very end he would be afraid and all he could ever do to mask this cowardice was to wear a mask. To play the role of someone; anyone other than his trueself, to hide behind the charicature of what society deemed to be heroic, brave and ideal... yet that was all it ever was.. a flimsy charade created by someone else. A role handed to him. "I.. I.. Ca..n..t" Fitz mouthed, though no sound came out of his mouth as his body began to sweat; cold sweat that was quickly drenching his inner shirt.

"I.. I'.m... sor.." he again attempted to speak, though this time he was cut off as he was shoved to the ground from behind; Vinci's hands grasped around either side of his waist as the smeargle grasped Fitz's two other pokeballs, the artisan upon grabbing them throwing both towards the ground as a flash of red appeared on either side of the quartet. A galarian Zigzagoon and a Mr. Mime appearing. A quick cry from the painter pokemon and both the newcomers quickly sprung into action, the trio each erecting a 'Protect' barrier over the whole group; a triple layered dome covering them just in time as a sudden gust of dust and debris washed over them; the roar of a jet engine coming to life loud enough for all of them to hear even within this triple tiered shell that encased them.

Vision obscured by the dust and debris washing over them, the roar of the planes engines and the rumble of the ground was enough for even the slow witted Fitz to realise that the plane had taken off and it was only once the roar of its jets had begun to quieten down that the barriers were dropped; the plane now visible in the sky and heading in the direction of Goldenrod city.

Though that too was cause for confusion. Why was the jet flying towards Goldenrod? What happened to Porygon2's killer? Had they been defeated? Had whoever defeated flown the jet away without waiting for Fitz and the others? Had they been spared?

Fitz didn't know what to think at this point, was this a ray of hope for their survival? Or was this karma and they had been abandoned as punishment for his own willingness to do the same?

The sounds of distant explosions coming from Goldenrod city was the final nail in the coffin and Fitz soon found himself collapsing onto his own knee's, mirroring Chevron's defeated posture.
"S.. seriously... what... what the actual fuck is going on...?"

By this point Mr. Mime had too fallen upon his own knee's as the overly cheerful Zigzagoon got to work apprehending its own tail. Vinci however had taken it upon himself to try and signal for help; the sight of a second plane flying away from the city catching its eye. Not waiting for its trainer's command, Vinci's tail had soon began to flash at regular intervals, the pokemon using the HM move to try and get the plane's attention.

 

[QuirkyAngel]

Alan Rickman

Skies North of Goldenrod City, Johto ​

Alan Rickman sighed resignedly as Kuga hung up on him, the drone that had been transmitting her voice going silent. His partner could really be quite curt sometimes. And after all the effort he’d went to in order to find her and make sure she was safe too…not that it’d been too difficult after her signal returned. Fortunately, there had been no need for him to step foot into the city to look for her. While Alan did undergo some ninja training at Janine’s gym in Orre, he was still nowhere good enough to keep up with Kuga on the field and would only slow her down in the midst of battle. That was why he typically operated as her tech support from a distance…but there only so much that could be done from afar.

There were times that he, the support, had to make the call to step in as well.

Hand touching his eyepatch, Alan sent his drones floating about to scout their surroundings while his other hand typed away, reviewing the images that had been downloaded to his laptop. Even with the winds whipping his hair, and a hum similar to a woman’s singing in his ear, he trusted that flygon wouldn’t let him fall. After catching up to the jet Kuga boarded, the “Desert Spirit” settled at a cruising speed, allowing her trainer to do his work…at least until he caught a flash of light from one of his drone’s cameras. Curiosity caused him to zoom in and he counted one, two, three, four, and five resistance members not too far from where Admin Celene fixed Blue’s jet. Among them, the injured and the actor that claimed to be as good as Blue.

Circling around, Alan pulled out his rotom phone. “Can you hijack that jet for me?”

“Affirmative,” the device answered before a ghost shaped like a lightning rod phased out the phone and flew into the Emperor’s jet.

“Gar?”

“We’re going to pick up more passengers.”

Flying north above Goldenrod, Alan spared only a glance to the destruction below before urging flygon faster. With the resistance jet having already taken down Team Nova Headquarters, the explosions ended, but the flames continued. Dead bodies. Knocked out voltorbs. Knocked out electrodes. The only bright side to Celene bombing the city was that no orange beams of Starburst came at them as Nova Grunts scrambled either maintain order or escape the city. One or the other.

“Man, if I knew this was going to happen, I would’ve spent more time touring Goldenrod.”

Or rather, have his drone do so. Stepping into a battle zone wasn't exactly his style.

Above the trees, Alan could now see the distress signal with his naked eye, but if he could, it was likely the enemy could as well. Closing his laptop, he fished for a pair of googles from his many pockets. “Make a sandstorm, Flygon.”

Wings beat faster as a tornado of sand formed around them and the area of the distress signal, obscuring both him and the stranded resistance members from sight. However, Alan and his flygon could see the flash from smeargle’s tale just fine. Heedless of the whirls of sands, the insectoid dragon swooped in, catching Fitzroy and Chevron by their collars with its two arms. Mort with its tail. Kuga’s Gengar, not really needing to be told what to do, used [Psychic] to safely lift Mia and the injured Ludwig on the dragon’s back as they exited the storm of sand; Any pokemon not clinging on its trainer as well. Hopefully, the actor had the sense to return his pokemon to his pokeballs because the added weight(s) were not helping flygon fly any faster. Alan petted his first pokemon’s neck. “You’re doing good, girl.”

Fortunately, rotom brought the Emperor’s jet around not long after. Seeing the plane’s hatch door open and an annoyed Kuga at the entryway, Alan grinned and mouthed ‘I brought you the guy that's as good as Blue’, knowing full well that his ninja partner could read lips.

Phayne RageFactorXIII IDKnuggets

 

[OverconfidentMagi]

Goldenrod City, Johto

Green, Sapphire, Platinum, and the unconscious Ruby fled the city as fast as their bodies or the pokemon they rode could move, but their haste was almost unnecessary. The Resistance jet didn't pass overhead with its deadly rain of bombs. They'd already gotten far enough from the center of the city, towards where the boat they would leave on was docked. If anything the explosions and carnage distracted the Nova grunts that would have given chase, leaving their escape path clear. Even grunts standing in the road as they ran past simply stared dumbstruck at what was happening to their city. There was no way they could hear anything over the explosions filling the air, but Green could already fill in the words they would soon say: "Damn those Resistance bastards! I'll never forgive them for this! I'll kill them!" This whole thing had been a trap. They'd known as much, but their imagination was too weak to have possibly grasped the scale of this trap. It wasn't a trap meant to lure in one or two Resistance members and snap their necks, the entire Resistance had been caught in this trap.

Green cursed under her breath and then louder, but the explosions drowned out the sound. She wasn't cursing for the Resistance as a whole, or the members that had given their lives just to spring this trap, not even selfishly for herself. She cursed selfishly for Blue, the man who'd have to shoulder all of the blame for this.


An injured Noivern flew through the rain of falling pokeballs, agile enough to avoid touching the red and white bombs until it got out from under the plane dropping the bombs down onto the city, only stopping its ascent once it and its trainer on its back were high above the city. Jay was screaming for Supes to turn around, to fly back down to where Ava was, a place already engulfed by explosions. He went as far as pointing his StarBurst gauntlet at his own pokemon but couldn't bring himself to use it even if it would force Supes to do what he said. The Noivern finally began to descend once the jet had moved away, nearly landing atop the rubble that now filled the streets, when Superbia suddenly turned its large ears towards something and dove back into the sky. A wave to dust and debris from the collapsing Nova HQ building filled where Superbia and Jay had been about to land. Instead they hung in the air above the second wave of destruction in prime position to view the aftermath.

The Resistance jet had crashed into Nova HQ. The Resistance jet had bombed the city. This was the Resistance's fault, but it was Nova's doing. Jay knew how his fellow admin and the Nova leader thought. This was the kind of warfare only they would be able to come up with. Whatever message this was meant to send to the Resistance, Jay saw in it a message meant for him specifically. He'd given the Resistance too long a leash, and this was Nova pulling it back.

"... defog. Defog!"

Superbia blew away the smoke and dust to land. Jay was already jumping from its back before it touched the ground. "Ava!" Supes turned its head back and forth, but the thick dust all around was blinding even its senses. There was no telling which pained voice among the rubble belonged to her. Ava probably wouldn't have let such an unsightly sound escape her anyway, even if she lay under some rubble dying, but Jay didn't want to think of that. She was strong, she was fine, she wasn't hurt. She'd probably just pop up like a city hadn't blown up and fallen down around her. He just needed to find her.


Ava was not fine. Avoiding falling pokeballs? Easy. Avoiding the Explosions from Self-Destructing Voltorbs that came out of those? Not so easy. Avoiding the falling debris of collapsing buildings? Difficult to the extreme. And the wave of dust and rubble as Nova HQ fell? It slammed into Ava the same as everyone and everything else that had been too close to the building when it went down. It picked her up like a toy and slammed her into and through the side of another structure. Though at that point it was hard to tell what still counted as a structure and what was just a pile of bricks. Ava's face ran out of PP for Rock Smash and she found herself lying, hurt and dazed, against the hard piece of rubble that had finally brought her to a stop.

"Oh, hey Ava!"

She opened her blue eyes slowly. They refused to focus. Who's voice? Who would bother talking to her? Wait, what did she look...

"I almost forgot this is what you really look like," the voice said. "You always have on that bubblegum pink person. Who is she anyway?"

"No one." Ava growled and forced her aching body to move, ignoring the complaints and unhealthy noises that came from it. "And shut up." She pushed herself to her feet and took an unsteady step that send the ground tilting. The speaker grabbed her arm for support, but Ava shook the hand off as soon as she could stand without it. Her eyes finally refocused on the destruction all around. "What a mess. Your doing I assume?"

Nova Admin Celene gave a smile and a shrug. "Maybe. But it isn't really fair to blame a kid for picking up a toy left lying around, is it?"

"You're a grown monster, not a kid."

"Tamato Berry, Tamato Berry. Pot and kettle." Cel brushed aside Ava's insults. "But you know, aside from seeing the real you in like forever, you don't look in the best shape. I can do a med-scan if you want." Cel's suggestion was met by Ava's freezing glare. The Nova admin raised both palms. "I won't touch or heal anything, just scan, promise."

"Fine," Ava gave in. It was better to just go along with whatever Cel wanted. And it wasn't like Cel lied, she did just do a quick medical scan. Broken ribs, arm, face, some teeth. What Ava expected. As soon as the scan was done telling her that she looked like shit, Ava wrapped herself back up in illusion and returned to wearing the face of that pink-haired woman. No pain, no injuries, no signs of weakness. Just the invincible image she'd built for herself. "Jay?"

"Fine. Looking for you in the rubble two blocks that way." Cel pointed into the thick dust. Ava hadn't noticed before now, but there was a space around her and the admin where the dust had been kept out. Small flying machines circled them, pushing the dust back while others that looked like flying spinning fans pulled purified air in. Of course she'd built machines just so she could take a stroll through a city smothered by toxic dust. Was this how she'd expected things to go down, or had she simply planned for anything, meaning she was prepared for this as well as worse scenarios? "Want to go to Jay or get some healing first?" Cel tossed the option out.

Ava glared at the admin. "Healing? For what?" She turned and jumped out of the cleared air and into the choking dust, her movements betraying nothing of the injuries she'd hidden.


"Blue!" "Blue?" "Blue!" "Thank Arceus." "Blue!" "What's going on?" "The jet just-"

Blue dropped from his Charizard onto the deck of the yacht carrying many of the Resistance members that had participated in this suicide mission. Many, but not all, not even most. Many others had found alternative escape routes out of necessity, but many more hadn't and now rested beneath the rubble within Goldenrod City. It would be kind to say their sacrifice had brought down Nova HQ, but Blue wasn't so romantic. "I'll answer your questions later! I know you're confused about what just happened, and I'll give you all answers once I have them. Right now I need to speak with Green."

The Resistance leader pushed through the gathered crowd, but slowed when he saw the injured Resistance members, many lying or sitting up in the few rooms aboard the relatively small yacht. There were other Resistance members and pokemon tending to them, among the pokemon a Clefable Blue recognized as Green's. Blue let out a worried breath he hadn't been aware he'd been holding. They'd gotten out. Thank Arceus. Paying more attention, he also saw Sapphire's Gallade healing the injured. A man dressed as a butler with spiky blue hair walked up to Blue and touched his arm. Latios indicated that Blue should follow him and led the Resistance leader into one of the more private interior rooms.

"Blue!" It was Platinum that greeted the Resistance leader aloud. The others in the room were more reserved. Green and him shared a pained smile, Latias simply bowed, and Sapphire looked his way without really seeing him there before returning her eyes to Ruby lying on the sole bench the room held. He was still unconscious.

"Thank Arceus," Blue leaned against the wall. "This wasn't all for nothing."

"What happened?" Green asked the important question.

Blue started with overseeing the Resistance members making contact with the enemy, then watching the Nova Admin fight a Resistance member and someone else, stepping in to keep the admin from pursuing when those two fled, how he easily beat the admin, the admin's partner showing up, and finally Porygon2's message. "I assume you're asking about what happened after though. You saw what happened, the jet we flew in on bombed the hell out of the city and then decided to crash right into the damned tower!"

"That's what I'm asking," Green said, "how did that happen?"

"I don't think it was one of ours. Porygon2's message said the plane was compromised. Nothing after that." Blue's jaw tightened. He'd read Porygon2's message. The binary at the end had read 'sos'. As the leader of the Resistance, he had prioritized ensuring the human Resistance members had gotten out of the city over going to save his own pokemon. So much for that ideal of pokemon-human equality. "If I had to take a guess... I think Cel waited for us to leave the jet and then took control of it."

"Blue, I think you should recall Resistance members that are in the field," Green said. "I don't think the support we still have from the public will survive this. Nova will pin the blame for destroying Goldenrod City on the Resistance, and sacrificing their headquarters ensures we can't say otherwise. We completely lost today."

"We didn't lose!" Sapphire suddenly spoke up, her voice angry. "We got Ruby back! I won't-" I won't let you say it wasn't worth it, was what she almost said but stopped herself. No one in the room could say anything either way. Yes they'd saved Ruby, saved a friend, but the price had been steep.


...


Thirty minutes later, the half-destroyed remains of the yacht were teleported into the middle of the Resistance camp below Realgam Tower. A large, perfectly round hole had opened up most of its bottom, as if someone had fired a Hyper Beam from inside the boat. The many injured Resistance members were rushed to the doctors and healer pokemon that Yellow had prepared. Butler-Latios carried his unconscious sister directly to Yellow for healing. Blue and Mewtwo were there for just long enough to see the boat didn't collapse while others were still on it before teleporting away, presumably to the top of the tower. The look of barely controlled anger on Blue's face had kept anyone from approaching in the short moments he'd stuck around.

"Ruby! Sapphire! Are you okay!?" A short man with sandy blond hair and worried green eyes pushed through the crowd towards the small group of Resistance members that hadn't yet moved away from the broken yacht. Sapphire and Platinum were sitting on the ground facing the boat, but Green stood with her back to them facing the crowd, her stance and the growls coming from her Granbull keeping other concerned Resistance members away. Emerald ignored her and her pokemon entirely to rush to his friends' side. Friend's...

Green's arm stopped him. "Not now," she said quietly into his ear. "Be there for her, but not just yet."

"What are you..." Emerald looked at the two kneeling on the ground beside the destroyed boat. A silent Sapphire, empty eyes staring ahead at the remains of the yacht, and Platinum beside her with tears streaming down her face. "What..." Emerald's eyes searched for some sense from the scene before him. "Hey Green, w-where is Ruby?"

Green's eyes fell to the ground. "He's gone," her voice spoke quietly. "We completely lost."




The Resistance members that had been aboard the yacht escaping Goldenrod told stories of the attack, the chaos and fighting, how they'd pushed Nova back, confusing, conflicting stories of some plane bombing the city - many didn't know or refused to acknowledge that it had been the very plane they'd flown into the city on - and then flying into and destroying Nova HQ. This was met by cheers from many Resistance members, but not from the minority that had been there or that stopped to think about what it meant for the innocent citizens still inside the city. Many Resistance members simply grew quiet or scowled as their friends around them cheered for the deaths. So long as Nova bled eh? The feeling was becoming dangerously pervasive... The stories about what had happened got confused when it came to the escape though. They'd used a Resistance yacht - actually it belonged to the Berlitz family, but that wasn't important - to flee the city, but apparently it was Sapphire's Wailord that really deserved credit for getting everyone away from the city. As soon as they'd gotten to open waters a giant whirlpool had opened up beneath the ship, and it had been Lorry that had used its huge body to push the yacht until it escaped the pull. If that wasn't bad enough, a bomb onboard had blown through the bottom of the ship, and a combination of the captain's Tentacruels and Lorry again had been all that kept the ship together and afloat long enough for Mewtwo to arrive and teleport everyone to the safety of the Resistance camp below Realgam Tower. That was as much as most were able to piece together about the whole mess of a mission, and aside from Blue sending out a message to all Resistance members ordering them back from all but the most critical field missions, to return to Resistance HQ immediately, the Resistance leadership went silent as night fell on another day in this endless painfully unfair war.