Hard Enough - Chapter 123 - Look to your Elders

Leaves danced through the forest. Shadows danced under the canopy as the trees rustled. The branches swayed.

Koga stood atop such a branch, moving in tune with the forest. A part of it. This position met his needs. It allowed him to assess the area without compromising himself or casting his body into profile. The work of a ninja was ever evolving with security measures changing. From his position, any long-range observers or cameras wouldn’t be able to see him, nor would any aerial observers.

He dropped and darted further into the trees. He’d stayed in one position long enough to get what he needed, and now he needed to move on. He moved eight trees to the south before reassessing his surroundings.

Wind swept through the forest, and Koga paused as the shadows shifted. Pokemon moved about, unaware of his presence. Koga observed them carefully. None were acting oddly, acting or otherwise. They were as they appeared, merely young Pidgey, Rattata, Spearow, and the occasional Hoothoot poking their heads out from hidden alcoves.

Koga moved on, unseen by the denizens of the forest.

After another three sites and observations, he returned to his starting position.

“There is a null zone of roughly four hundred metres around the base,” Koga said to the shadows.

“Hmph! Amateurs!” sniffed the shadows before Agatha stepped through them. She paused on the edge of the branch and sighed. “Urgh, getting old is a terrible curse, wouldn’t you agree?”

“It comes with knowledge and experience,” Koga said as he bounced low from a branch before kicking off another to land with only the smallest rustle of leaves. If anyone had been around to see it, they would have assumed it was a Sentret darting through the trees and not a man.

Agatha sighed forlornly before stepping back to allow the shadows to devour her. Then the shadows ghosted down to the ground, and Agatha stepped out of them without a hair out of place. “You know, I think I like having experience!” cackled Agatha.

“When you were younger, you were more careful with your life than you are now,” Koga commented as he squatted down.

“I made the most of my youth, now I’m making the most of my age and not letting it stop me!” she said primly.

Koga nodded before gesturing towards the base that was just out of sight. “Did you ever spend any time out of the Viridian base?”

Agatha sniffed. “No, I spent time in the western Pallet Town base and the Northern Pewter base but not Viridian. The Viridian base was a supply depot or a fallback position if we lost the front-line bases.”

Koga inclined his head. “I pulled the records, and the base was listed as a standard setup.” Koga shifted. “Blaine was never the commander either, so it should have remained that way as none of his…” He considered his options for a moment before continuing, “Quirks of changing up the layout or traps should have occurred.”

“He has been in cahoots with Giovanni however…” Agatha said.

In truth, they’d had this conversation a number of times, but well-trained habits that were used in the field didn’t die with their practitioner because they didn’t die.

Most of the time.

“Assume nothing,” Agatha said before nodding to Koga as he shut his eyes and knelt on his heels, and inhaled. When he opened them, his eyes were mild, and Agatha found herself almost overlooking the man before her. It was a clever trick that she had some theories about but wasn’t ever going to ask about.

Let the man have his mysteries.

By their age, you were bound to have a few built up after all. Her shadow rose up and peered at the man curiously. “He’s still there, Gengy, calm yourself.” Her shadow retreated back to the ground, eying the… ah, he’d moved. Agatha tilted forward. To another, it would look like she’d gone tottering over. She didn’t fall to the ground though.

Instead, she fell into her shadow once more.

The world became a confusing mess of darkness and sensations as she felt a vague sensation of movement occurring. Hands brushed along her, imploring her and entreating her all at once. All she had to do to join them was shut her eyes and… let go. She didn't, and they laughed madly like they always did. They loved her, truly, they did. They would never part with her if they had their way.

The world continued to shift as ghostly echoes of laughter tickled her ears, and hands held her steady while she journeyed and remained still at the same time.

And then, without any warning, she was spat out at the edge of a long metal corridor. Agatha looked down the tunnel, with its corroded metal grills and dripping water. The air barely stirred, and a fetid smell hung about the room.

Agatha approved. It was the perfect entry point for a Ghost mistress. "Come, my pretties, come, my darlings, we have a hunt to begin,” she crooned seemingly to herself.

The tunnel continued to drip a moment longer before her hair stirred against the wind and her shadow stretched hugely, dwarfing her.

From her hair, a pair of Misdreavous appeared, while a Mismagius shimmered into being at her crown. They giggled at her as her shadow split and formed into three Haunters that all eyed each other ravenously.

Two Gengar appeared and nodded back at her shadow which eyed the other ghosts lazily before shutting its eyes. As the ghosts swirled around her, Agatha counted in her head. Koga and her had run through enough bases in the past to know how long it would take each other to reach a security checkpoint. Thankfully, they didn’t just have to rely on precise timing alone anymore. A click on her transceiver told her it was time to act.

Agatha stretched out her hand and accepted Banette’s help as she strode down the tunnels. “You know your games! Be about them! Slash their eyes and break their voices!” Agatha snapped her fingers and pointed to one of her pokemon. “Gengar, seek out the secondary security site that should be in that direction!” She pointed a boney hand where she wanted Gengar to look. “Take out the guard!” she ordered coldly.

Gengar’s grin split its face and its eyes glowed malevolently before it threw itself through the wall. Agatha knew that Koga would see to the other site. Both would need to be taken out within a certain time of each other lest the guards send out a warning. She sent back a ‘poke’ to Koga through the ‘messenger app’ that she’d had installed as she continued to walk along.

Technology was a wonderful thing… when it worked properly!

At her side, a Froslass hovered subserviently, ready to assist should Agatha require it.

Agatha had laughed long and hard when she’d discovered Pryce’s little problem in his hometown. It felt so good to have one of these little beauties, like she was young and thumbing her nose at the man all over again. The damn fool had no idea such pokemon were even possible, much less under his nose! Oh, when he learnt about the Ghost-ice type haunting his mountains she was looking forward to floating her own Froslass past him!

She cackled to herself as she moved. Overhead, the lights flickered, and the tunnels shuddered. A faint scream echoed ahead of her.

Ah, her dears were enjoying themselves.

One of the Misdreavus floated in front of Agatha in a zigzag pattern. It would occasionally pause at a seemingly innocent patch of wall. Then its eyes would glow, and a slow pulse of Hypnosis would shoot into the wall.

This was repeated a few more times along Agatha’s walk down the tunnel.

Agatha knew these to be the points in the tunnel where Voltorb and Electrode could be stored. If Agatha was careless in her entry or if the alarms sounded out, the walls would come alive with furious pokemon that were more than ready to blow themselves up.

This had been one of the features that Agatha and Koga had been waiting to have dialled back. A sensitive Voltorb was bad enough. Electrode, if you didn’t neutralise them, were known to roll after you and with their speed, that was a significant threat. Still, even if one of them did wake up and seek to explode, Agatha had answers to that threat.

At her back, another pokemon hovered.

It remained an exact distance from her at all times while rotating like a sentry. Shedninja were strange pokemon that she knew Oak had spent an entire month examining, only to toss his hands up and declare them the product of ghost energies. Agatha stared into the dull eyes of the pokemon and saw the multitude of shadows move within.

She’d never spoken up about what was actually at work with this particular pokemon… but then again, every old person had their secrets.

When she came to the end of the tunnel, a number of cameras were damaged and the doors leading into the facility were cracked open. A shame that the cameras couldn’t be left operational. Agatha did so love looking straight into them and smiling. Instead, she contented herself with looking over the shivering and broken forms of the Rocket grunts that had been acting as the security detail for this particular entrance.

One of them tried to muster up the strength to glare at her. “Y-you w-won’t get aw-away with th-th-this!” They stuttered through shivering lips.

“I think you’ll find I already have dearie,” She pointed at them. “Hypnosis.” Her Haunter’s eyes glowed and waves of psychic energy radiated out causing the man to slumber. “No more Dram eater on this one dears, we’ll put him to Sabrina to see if has any information for us about other facilities.”

Agatha ran a hand over the wall as she walked into the base proper. It was a large cavernous building with plenty of room for troops. A glance to the side saw two guards that were surging to their feet as they realised that Agatha did not belong here. Hands swept out of the walls and wrapped around their mouths, dragging them back and silencing them. Other hands plucked pokeballs from their belts to stop them from releasing them.

Their eyes bulged as a Gengar formed up in front of them and held a finger to its mouth in mockery. “Gen-gar!” it cried as its mouth split open and loomed, causing them to scream into the hands holding them only for Gengar to snap its mouth shut in their faces.

Agatha walked past them, unbothered by the smell of liquid now trickling down onto the floor as her pokemon knocked them out. A girl rounded the corner and hissed in surprise.

Hands shot from the ground to grasp her, only for the girl to have good instincts.

She dodged to the side and swiped her hand across her pokebelt.

“Arbok! Zubat! Raticate! Out and figh—” said the girl as the pokemon emerged only for Froslass to shoot forth and sweep a dainty arm forward. Icy Wind swept forward, and the various pokemon hunkered down in the face of the arctic assault.

“Bok!?” cried the Arbok as it took a face full of chilling wind. It stiffened and began to become iced over while the Zubat countered with a Whirlwind of its own that made Agatha raise an eyebrow.

It was interesting to see a pokemon fight on despite not being ordered. Was it a well-trained pokemon, or disobedience? The freeze that occurred on Arbok was unfortunate for the girl, though and should make this easier for Agatha.

Raticate inhaled only to exhale a gout of fire that had Agatha nodding in approval. It seemed this particular girl was skilled, or had skilled pokemon.

“Block it,” Agatha ordered, causing a pair of Haunter to appear before her with their hands held up as though to ward off the oncoming firestorm. The firestorm charged them down, only to slow to a stop in front of them.

The wall of flame split into two balls that each Haunter held above their heads. The girl and her pokemon blanched in fear at the use of Psychic.

“I believe this is yours, dearie!” said Agatha in a matronly way. Both Haunters hurled the attacks straight back.

“PROTECT!” screamed the girl causing her Raticate to leap to the front and for hexagons to form up. Agatha nodded. A good move if this was simply three-on-three or even standard match.

“Zubat use Super—” her pokemon screeched as Gengar shot out of the roof and bit down on the flying pokemon. Then another materialised behind the girl. Froslass floated up to the Raticate and when the Protect shell faded she leaned in like she was going to kiss Raticate only to open her mouth and bite with down with Ice Fang.

The girl whipped her head around and swallowed. “I-I I surrender?” said the girl.

Agatha snorted and walked up to her. “Were this a different time I would say it’s too late for that dearie… but then again, I’ve learnt to be surprised from what one might learn from an observant young woman.”

“I am so observant!” said the girl immediately, instantly understanding what Agatha meant.

Agatha nodded in approval. “Good. For now, sleep.” She tapped the girl on the head, and instantly the girl crumbled to the ground. The Arbok, which had been thawing out, suddenly twitched violently, showering the space around it in ice as it lunged for Agatha with a screech of rage.

“Foolish,” Agatha said as her shadow opened a singe eye before launching a fist up into the striking snake’s jaw, sending it careening away. “Utterly foolish.” The snake reared back and Glared at her shadow and her, causing Gengy to rise up and smirk at the Arbok.

“The girl is fine, young snake, merely knocked out. Return yourself to your pokeball and we will return to question her soon. She will not come under harm in our care. This I promise you as Agatha of Lavender Town.” She made sure to feed her energy into her voice so the pokemon could hear the intent in her words.

The Arbok calmed, but didn’t return itself to its pokeball. Instead, it slithered up to the downed girl to curl itself around her. Agatha raised a brow but didn’t comment. Sometimes you found the strangest things in the strangest places.

She gave the girl and her pokemon a lingering look before continuing onward into the facility. When she reached an intersection she turned right. If things were as they should have been then this… She opened a door and smiled at the knocked-out people in the security room.

Two of her Gengar smiled back at her. She looked at the console and noticed that the alarm switch hadn’t been activated. In front of her, a wall of screens depicted the base. She could see the guards she’d knocked out, along with a few other areas that were occupied currently with Rocket grunts.

The mess hall had the most, with people lingering there and talking but there also appeared to be a few researchers tapping away at computers or working on samples in their labs.

Agatha always assigned them a higher threat rating than the normal Grunts. She’d spent too long around men such as Blaine and Samuel to ever think lesser of men that used their minds.

She nodded at her pokemon. “Seal the room and make sure none wake up until we’re ready to detain them.” The single Gengar that remained in the room nodded seriously before plopping down in the guards chair and kicking up its feet onto the table.

Agatha proceeded to move on. As she did, she swept through the facility, detaining men and women as she encountered them. The labs only saw one hiccup when one of the researchers flicked out a Voltorb. “Explosi—hrk!” he started to shout, only for Koga to appear and chop him in the windpipe.

“I have detained seventeen so far,” Koga reported stoically.

“Thirteen by my count. Executives, or shall we proceed to the mess?”

“... The mess. The security around the executives’ rooms are significant.” Agatha raised an eyebrow at that.

So, Koga had already probed the area? Koga nodded at the unasked question. “Standard method,” Koga said before he vanished.

Agatha nodded to herself and walked towards the large mess hall that every old base had. It was invariably where people would congregate unless kept busy. The lure of food, conversation, and more importantly, coffee, making it the place to spend time in old war bases such as this.

In Agatha’s time, there used to be a sergeant that would be assigned to keep people rotating through or busy enough that they couldn’t linger. But then again, this was a criminal organisation. If they wanted to make it easier to take themselves down by grouping up, that worked for her.

She walked into the room. She wasn’t immediately noticed, which made her click her tongue in annoyance.

Sloppy.

All that work they must have put in to claim this site and keep it hidden, and they were going to lose it thanks to sloppiness. It grated Agatha’s senses for such incompetence to be present in a war base.

It didn’t matter that she’d had nothing to do with this war base! It was the principle of the thing.

She made her way to the coffee machine and inspected their selection. “Oh, these are quite nice!” she said aloud as she made one for herself.

“I know right! I’m glad the…” The closest grunt started to say, only to pause as they recognised that Agatha didn’t belong. He was up and reaching for his pokeball a moment later.

Agatha raised her mug and smiled as the room exploded into chaos. People were all turning towards her. Her pokemon were already forming up and Licking, or snatching trainers up and throwing them about to sow more chaos. Crazed laughter rang out, and the fastest on the draw had pokemon out of their pokeballs to defend themselves.

Agatha grinned at the room filling up with pokemon such as Houndoom, Growlithe, Golbat, Arbok, Venomoth and even a Rhydon to face off against her. Her shadow stretched large behind her and Gengy emerged fully. This was enough to wake him up and get him moving.

“GEN!” he shouted in glee before the air in front of his distorted.

Agatha swept her hand out. “Misdreavus! Sweep through them! Mismagius! Disable! Haunter! Continue to Lick! Froslass! Sing your song!”

The groups of pokemon found themselves twisted and turned as no true battle line formed. Instead, they were turned about and had to scuffle, occasionally they tripped over themselves, or some pokemon even struck others.

A Weezing, Charmeleon, Machop, and a Muk joined the fray, and more pokemon were taken out in ‘friendly fire’.

The ones closest to Agatha turned and directed their pokemon against her, seeing her as a safer target.

“Gunk Shot!” shouted one trainer only for Gengy to inhale and swallow the attack before spitting it back out twice as hard.

“Use Flamethrower!” shouted another only for Gengy to catch it with Psychic and throw it back. This time, he did so by weakening the attack and spreading it out so that it splashed across a host of people. They threw themselves to the ground and rolled as parts of their uniforms caught alight.

“Ah! I’m on fire! Help me!” shouted one man as he ran about, panicking instead of stopping and rolling. Agatha left him to run around. He made for a wonderful distraction as a Venomoth knocked out a Golbat.

Froslass continued to sing, and one of the trainers gasped. “Is that Perish Song? Quick, stop that pokemon!” But only a few pokemon reacted.

Others hurriedly shouted at others to change their targets. Agatha grinned as more and more trainers stared around helplessly. Fights broke out as trainers got in each other's faces over the amount of friendly fire incidents. Soon only the Weezing, Muk, Venomoth, Arbok, Machop, and a Charmeleon were still up and scowling amoung themselves.

“Eh? Who’s Arbok is that?” shouted one of the Grunts.

“Who cares? Most of them are shared pokemon anyway! Arbok use—”

The Arbok turned and Glared at the man while the Charmeleon sauntered up to the Machop before suddenly punching it in the gut. The Rocket Grunts all turned in shock. “Eh? Hey! That Charmeleon? Who’s is that one?”

Before an answer could be gained, all the still-conscious pokemon formed a line and locked eyes on the humans.

“Eh? Traitor pokemon?” said one man.

“Spy pokemon?!” said another.

Agatha cackled as her pokemon proceeded to knock out everyone, leaving the Grunts guessing. She then turned her head. “I wasn’t aware you had a Charmeleon.”

Koga stepped out from behind his Arbok. “I keep him around. He has proven to be an adapt hand at learning the shinobi way.” The Charmeleon bowed towards Koga before it began to frisk the humans for any pokeballs. Koga frowned before snapping his head around to the side.

A click of heels preceded the emergence of what could only be a pair of Executive Rockets. “Like I said Ariana, I knew I detected that something was wrong,” said a pale-haired girl with her hair pulled into a number of spikey pigtails. With how chalky her skin was, it looked like she hadn’t seen the sun and should have been sickly, but despite this, there was a coiled strength in her frame that only required you to look at her to know she was dangerous.

At her side, a much softer-looking woman sighed and nodded in concession. “So you were Sird, so you were. I didn’t think we’d have warranted a trip from a retiring Elite Four and soon-to-be Elite Four member though.” Ariana tilted her head and a playful smirk flitted across her lips. “Does that make you a single Elite Four between you both?”

From both of their belts a trio of pokemon emerged. Sird had a Persian, Starmie, and Banette which were all in good condition with glints in their eyes. They all shared a look with their owner as though they relished the upcoming violence.

On Ariana’s side she had an Arbok, Vileplume, and a Honchkrow.

Agatha snorted. “And what do you hope to do with those pathetic pokemon?”

Ariana opened her mouth, only for Sird to raise a hand. “They are baiting you Ariana.”

Ariana’s mouth clicked shut, and she huffed. “I knew that!”

Agatha cackled. “Oh you think it will make a difference! Go Misdreavus, Froslass, and Haunter! Go!”

Agatha’s pokemon soared forward. Ariana swept her hand only for Sird to once more hold up a hand in warning. “Keep your Arbok close.” Instead of watching the upcoming fight, Sird was glancing about her eyes questing for where Koga had vanished to.

Agatha almost whistled. The girl had noticed Koga slipping away?

Observant, as well as potentially dangerous. Sird flicked a single finger in front of herself and her Persian lopped forward with ghostly energy on its claws. “Watch the Shadow Claw!” Agatha cried out to her pokemon who nodded and started to spit fire at the Normal type pokemon.

Agatha turned her attention back to Sird only to narrow her eyes. Where had the Starmie gone? The Banette was firing off Shadow Balls to keep distance from Koga’s Arbok and Venomoth.

A flicker of movement had Agatha snapping her head to the side to discover two Hydro Pumps blasts barreling towards her. The Starmie was revealed in that moment by the shimmer of light over its form before it blended into its surroundings.

“Tch! Camouflage?” Agatha said, turning her head to give Sird a nod.

Sird grinned as the Hydro Pumps continued on only for Gengy to appear in front of Agatha and slash his arms through them and knock them away. “Good work Gengy.”

“Tch!” said Sird. She then stiffened as Arbok broke off fighting Banette to disgorge a cloud of poisonous fumes that revealed Starmie as it writhed in pain.

“Rapid spin out of ther—” Sird began to shout, only for Venomoth to suddenly appear behind it. Its wings swept forward and slashed at the Starmie to put it down. Sird clicked her tongue and raised a pokeball to return her pokemon, stepping back as she did. Her eyes continued to search for Koga.

“We need to back up Ariana!” she called.

Ariana nodded and whistled sharply, causing her pokemon to leap backwards only for the Honchkrow to be blasted from the air by a Thunder. Arianna recalled it and Agatha advanced.

“I think it is time for you to concede,” said Koga from further behind them.

Sird and Ariana whirled around but couldn’t see him. Both cursed as the Arbok scented the air and Glared into the passageway.

Agatha stood still, not squinting, and joined the women in their search for Koga. Agatha held in a derisive snort.

Even odds were he wasn’t actually in the passageway but was instead throwing his voice and tricking them all.

“Do not think of teleporting out. We will stop you.” Koga appeared in the passageway with his arms crossed and his scarf blowing theatrically.

Or not, thought Agatha. At his side, Charmeleon appeared from his pokeball snorting with his fists raised. Muk, likewise appeared and blocked the women’s escape.

Sird scowled. “You’re Koga and Agatha of the old guard… Have you ever come to this base before?”

Koga raised a singularly unimpressed eyebrow.

Ariana swallowed and looked at Sird. “Think we kept them busy for long enough yet?”

As though answering Ariana, a wind blew through the passageway and everyone but Agatha had to brace themselves. Gengy took the burst of wind and stood stoically in front of Agatha allowing her to remain standing.

Debris that had littered the old base was swept past, and Agatha squinted. What had caused this sudden rush of wind? The base was underground! The only reason there could be wind was if something had exploded further back in the base… or something had just broken into the base. She felt more than saw two flashes of light fill the room.

When the wind died down, she leaned around Gengy’s sizeable form to see what had happened.

The first thing she noticed was that both her Misdreavus had been knocked out, they oozed out of the craters from where they’d impacted. Agatha returned them and turned her attention to what had caused them to be knocked out with seemingly barely any effort.

Something new had appeared behind Koga.

If it had been standing, it would have been as tall as a man, except it levitated slightly, making it look down on everyone. The metal visor glinted as it surveyed them.

Koga had retreated back to the wall and was eying the arrival carefully.

The newcomer was armoured so much that Agatha wasn’t sure what it was. Was this a failed experiment? Armour had been tried on pokemon in the early days of the war, but it had been deemed a waste. Most pokemon naturally had strong enough defences to not need it, otherwise, they needed to be unfettered.

What did it say then about this pokemon?

The psychic pressure she could feel emanating from it let her know it was powerful. A long bulbous tail languidly flicked from side to side as the helmeted head inspected the tableau before it.

It did so with a slow sweep of its head before coming to rest on the Rocket Executives.

“You are to withdraw immediately,” said an echoing tone.

If Agatha wasn’t so familiar with Psychic types and their tricks, she wouldn’t have picked up that it had spoken telepathically.

Ariana and Sird nodded before walking to an innocuous section of the wall and laying their hands against it to reveal another room that had never been included in the original layouts of the bases. All of their pokemon were returned as they stepped into a different pod.

Agatha clicked her tongue as Ariana shot her a wink. “Till next time, we’re blasting off,” she said as the door shut and a deep whoomp shook the ground.

Escape pods built into the facility? That was new.

Agatha, much like Koga, didn’t move to stop either woman. Or rather, they couldn’t. They knew that moving would draw the being’s attention. Agatha narrowed her eyes.

“What are you?” she asked.

The helmeted head rose to look straight at her, and Gengy raised a hand as psychic energy spiked from the being’s mere attention. Koga chose that moment to make a move.

“Evasion!” he hissed to his Charmeleon, causing it to spew out a Smokescreen that would obstruct the new pokemon’s vision. The pokemon merely tilted its head as smoke filled the passageway. Koga appeared across from Agatha, maintaining a distance.

“That thing is powerful Agatha!” he shouted. She merely nodded.

A flicker of light was all the warning they got before a ball of heavily condensed psychic energy blew through the air and slammed into the wall behind them. Agatha stumbled even as her Shedninja raised a Barrier.

Agatha shot the Rocket members that had been piled up near that wall a look. That attack just no apparently hadn’t been for Koga or herself.

She turned her head away from the corpses, her face tight with displeasure. It seemed they were done with the baby gloves.

Agatha glowered. “Limits off team! Match it with Shadow Ball!” All of her pokemon charged up and fired off a barrage of Shadow Balls between those and the Psychic attack the Smokescreen was ripped apart to reveal Agatha, Koga, and their foe.

In response to the attacks, it raised a three-fingered hand that opened and shut to take control of the Shadow Balls and send them back.

“Dodge!” shouted to her team. “Gengy! Catch one and send it back!”

Her starter shot into the air, eyes gleaming with focus as it caught one of the stray Shadow Balls. Then it channelled more power into it before unleashing it straight back at the other pokemon.

This time the armoured pokemon had to use two hands to catch the attack. It locked eyes with Gengy and then fired the attack straight back. It came on so fast that the air screamed. Gengy was still caught in the throwing action and stunned by the speed of the reply.

Agatha almost tensed up, almost forgot herself. Almost watched her partner die.

But she was made of sterner stuff. “Protect!!” she barked and Gengy reacted. The attack still knocked him back, and when his protective shell hit the ground, it did so like shattered glass. Gengy gingerly got to his feet, and Agatha had to give the new pokemon a higher danger rating.

“Hypnosis!” she shouted, and a beam of energy erupted. The speck slowly reformed into Koga’s Muk. The armoured form curled in on itself as the attacks soared towards it. Then it snapped itself outward, and a shockwave of force blew the attacks away.

Agatha felt her stomach drop as the psychic power the pokemon before her was emitting increased to a level she’d never felt before. She felt a pressure begin to exert itself on her. She grit her teeth and flexed her aura allowing her to move normally.

“Pin Missile!” said Koga from another angle, joining in the attack. “Muk! Hyper Beam!”

From a tiny speck on the ground, Muk blossomed into a huge mess of goop.

Then the pokemon formed another ball, only this time it unleashed an arcing beam that cut through the room.

Agatha fell to the side and let shadowy hands catch her. Froslass and two of the Haunters took hits from thrown debris, causing them to crumble.

Agatha tapped their pokeballs and returned them, even as her Mismagius appeared from the air around the foe and tried peppering him from all sides. Agatha’s Gengars joined the attack, only for the being to sweep a single arm out and the air to ripple with Psychic might.

The wall was dented even as her pokemon were tossed aside, causing more dust to sweep through the room. Agatha lost sight of Koga in the dust as more blasts rang out and the sounds of hissing preceding gurgling noses. Then another arcing Psybeam was unleashed, cutting through the dust and room once more.

Gengy dragged Agatha out of the way with a hiss. Koga’s Arbok returned fire with a Gunk Shot of its own only to be smacked when a section of wall swatted it aside.

The roof groaned, causing Agatha to look up and see that the attacks had caused it to weaken.

Koga appeared at her side, his hands affixing a pair of pokeballs from his downed pokemon as his Venomoth clung to him like wings on his back. Was that how he moved so quickly? “We need to get out of here!” he shouted over the sound of the groaning structure.

They ran out of the now broken mess into the passage they had entered from. The pokemon floated after them.

Agatha and Koga raced through the halls they’d only minutes ago so proudly conquered, dodging away from blasts of Psychic that chased them. They got through three hallways before the pokemon tired of their game. The hallway in front of them bent shut.

It would have bent shut on the girl and the Arbok curled around her protectively if the Arbok hadn’t grabbed the young girl and thrown themselves out of the way.

The Arbok rose, spitting fury and venom, only for the armoured pokemon to flick a hand and dispatch the snake.

Agatha tightened her jaw and flicked her eyes about. They were trapped.

The base would have Dark emitters that would restrict her ability to phase through the walls. Most of the walls were broken now, but she wasn’t game to try that with such a powerful psychic right on top of her. She’d be shredded if she tried.

That, and she didn’t want to abandon Koga.

Koga was likewise searching the walls, only for his eyes to narrow on a section. “Muk! Minimize into that section and open the wall panel for us!” he ordered sharply.

Agatha turned and glared back at the pokemon that had hunted her like a rattata. “Gengar! Use Destiny Bond!” Then she snapped her fingers. “Gengy use Night Shade!” Instantly the room shifted, like it was all part of some horrifying dreamscape. It warped and twisted before snapping together against their foe.

The other pokemon flinched before shaking its head. Then it fired off a Psybeam that one of the Gengar leapt into. It fainted, and Agatha leaned forward intently to see the foe drop. A dark purple energy shot from her Gengar straight into the armoured foe. It stumbled, causing Agatha to lean forward. This might have even turned their fortun—

The pokemon curled up on itself and glowed as it used Recover.

Agatha felt her breath hitch. In all her years, she’d never seen a pokemon heal through a Destiny Bond link. That should have knocked it out. The pokemon straightened after a moment, pristine and ready to continue. Agatha knew then and there she was running out of options.

“All of you! Bring the night!” shouted Agatha. Her pokemon grasped the air in front of them, and the world broke as every ghost in her team attempted to shatter reality. Cracks formed in the air and an ethereal wind that came from nowhere and everywhere swept through the passageway. Agatha leaned forward and stabbed her fingers out, linking her ghost energy into her pokemon to further empower them.

The helmeted pokemon snapped his hands out and clenched the air in front of itself to counter the attack. Reality reasserted itself, and Agatha stared as her pokemon wilted from the effort of fighting against their foe.

“Muk! Expand!” Koga ordered. His pokemon expanded and the wall panel shrieked as it was popped open to reveal an escape pod like that which the Executive Rockets had used. Not that their foe was going to simply let them leave. It charged up another of its Psychic Bomb attacks.

Her Gengar groaned pathetically as it charged up. “Now! Disable it!” Her Gengar dropped their faked weakness to grin as one sank into the ground before launching up to attack the armoured pokemon. Another flashed with Disable to stop the Psychic attack only for a light to flash off the armoured pokemon. Had that pokemon just… resisted Disable? Impossible!

Sadly, the facts were in front of her.

The ball of psychic energy continued to form, albeit slower than before.  This allowed Gengy to charge and counter with a Shadow Ball of his own with Agatha throwing all of her energy into the single attack.

The attack screamed as it rocketed forward towards their caught off-guard foe. It paused for a moment before matching the attack.

Both attacks slammed into each other, and an explosion rocked the room. Agatha felt her vision darken as she struggled to stay upright. Her hand clasped on something soft, but she couldn’t quite make out what it was. At her back, she felt something speaking to her, tempting her with the void.

To lay down and sleep.

Sleep for the rest of time.

She knew what it was. She’d always known.

“Shedninja… advance,” she said as an understanding of her situation won through her fatigue.

Koga appeared at her side. “We need to go now! Muk! Assist me!” Muk surged under them and carried them into the escape pod. Agatha glanced back in time to see a Psybeam lance out and slam one of her Gengar into the wall where it went limp. Gengy struggled to his feet only for Agatha to recall some of her pokemon.

Koga grunted. Before cursing under his breath. He understood what she’d done, along with the meaning behind it. She certainly wasn’t giving up. “Use my pokemon,” he said.

He released an old, rotten-smelling Weezing. It had sickly pustules leaking out of its body, and the gas it exuded was particularly putrid. Hazy cataracts stood out as it looked out at a world that seemed so dark and full of pain. Its eyes, however, gleamed as it understood what was about to happen.

“Self-Destruct,” Koga choked out as his Weezing’s old eyes looked straight into him and smiled. Agatha stumbled as the void called for Weezing. It resisted, however. It had a final mission for a warrior of old.

Agatha blinked as the Weezing started to glow. Her head turned towards where her final stray pokemon was. “Ally Switch,” she ordered. A moment later the glowing Weezing vanished and Shedninja appeared.

It wilted sadly as Koga turned and slammed his fist onto the eject button. The doors slammed shut as their foe turned on the glowing Weezing with grasping hands to stop it. Then their escape pod was rocketing away from the explosion.

Koga shut his eyes and groaned as aches he’d been ignoring announced themselves. Agatha shuddered, and Koga turned his attention to her. He took her face in his hands and inspected her eyes. He cursed when both pupils contracted and dilated.

“Why did you drag the Rocket Grunt with us?”

“What are you talking about?” Agatha said with a slow blink.

Koga slowly turned her head to let her look at where her hand was. It was still clasping onto the girl that the Arbok had been protecting.

Agatha blinked and wet her lips. Why had she? “Seemed a waste…” she said before passing out.

Tch! Don’t White out on me!” He snapped his fingers under her nose before flicking her on the nose like an unruly child. When that failed to elicit a response, Koga cursed.

“Wonderful. I’m injured, with a wounded teammate, an enemy that would be grief-stricken and angry when they awoke, and to top it off, I am behind enemy lines with a Legendary pokemon possibly hunting us!” He shook his head.

He chuckled as he patted his Muk. He shut his eyes and got ready to move the second the escape pod hit the ground.

“Well, this is just like old times isn’t it?” he said to himself as Agatha felt herself fall into slumber. No ghostly hands caressed and implored her now. It almost felt wrong.

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A.N. Thanks to all my Patreons.

This is currently unbeta’d. Sorry for any errors that seem obvious!