Act 3: Chapter 10
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Fuggmann
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"I take it you can't disclose the source of your intel on what might be happening at the Weather Institute?"
Steven's voice isn't harsh, nor is it accusing, but Lee winces all the same. "Ah… I was planning on discussing that with you tomorrow in Fortree, actually. I hope this doesn't undermine the matter at hand."
The phone in Lee's hand is silent for a moment, then the Champion's voice filters through it again. "No, no it doesn't. This storm really isn't natural now that I'm looking at it with more scrutiny, so if you're worried about me not treating this seriously, then don't be."
Lee lets out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. 'Bullet dodged.'
"I need to make a few calls," Steven continues, either not hearing the blustery exhale or not caring. "If it is Aqua, then we need all hands on deck. Rangers to keep wild pokemon out of the way, League Aces for local damage control, and boots on the ground at the Institute itself. Do you know who is there?"
"I don't know for certain, but…" Lee grimaces, the action tugging at the tight skin on the left of his face. "The leader, Archie Aogiri, and likely his team admins are there. The admins are just under Elite in terms of danger, and Archie himself is Elite at absolute minimum. It'll probably be safer to assume he and his pokemon are better than that," Lee says, throwing a look over his shoulder.
As he's been talking with Steven, Brendan hasn't been idle. His things are packed away and his pokemon are in their balls with the exception of Latias, who hovers nervously at his side. On Latias' back, her saddle is freshly affixed, with a few downy feathers out of place from the haste at which it was donned.
On Brendan's face?
Picture perfect determination.
Lee turns the phone in his hand away, receiver toward the wall, and gestures sharply at Latias with his fingers splayed, mouthing Absolutely fucking not!
The younger trainer's brows meet in a scowl.
"Concerning…"
Turning his head and resolving to deal with Brendan in a moment, Lee gives the phone his attention again. "My thoughts exactly."
The sound of a hand carelessly impacting something wooden amid the squeak of hinges comes through the line, broken by rumbly thunder that makes the lights overhead flicker. "We really don't have any time, Lee, and from what I can see, you're the closest trainer with any kind of means of slowing this down. I don't want to ask this, not after your ordeal with Mt Chimney, but I need you to be the tip of the spear on this little operation. Can you get there?"
'Shit…' Lee winces. 'I knew this was going to happen.'
Beside him, Ninetales noses his hip, slipping him a telepathic thread of comfort. 'Worry not, Lee. Remember what I said on the route to Petalburg; we've trained hard these last few months. The sweat and tears soaked into the training ground shall stymie any shed blood in battle. Few are our equals, now.'
'Thinking like that is a good way to end up force-fed some humble pie,' Lee sends back, though the reminder does slacken his tense shoulders a tad. 'We are not coming back half alive this time. We're taking everything seriously from the start, no half-measures.'
'No half-measures,' the vixen agrees.
Licking his dry lips, Lee speaks up again before too much time can pass. "We can."
"Good. You don't need to do everything yourself, or even stop them, just stall them long enough for help to arrive," Steven tells him, his words interspersed with the sound of fingers on a keyboard. "Don't take unnecessary risks."
"Believe me, I wasn't planning to."
"Good. Fly quick, Lee. I'm reaching out to everyone I can to be there ASAP."
With that, the line goes dead.
Lee lowers his phone and pockets it, turning to face the room properly.
Brendan hasn't moved, his jaw set and eyes hard. Latias hovers at his shoulder, her golden eyes flicking between the two trainers with obvious anxiety.
"Lee, I'm coming with you."
"No, you're not."
"I wasn't asking." Brendan's voice doesn't waver. "Swampert just evolved. He's stronger than ever. And Latias can get me there faster than Corviknight."
"Brendan." Lee pinches the bridge of his nose. "This isn't a gym battle. Magma tried to erupt a volcano, and Aqua is pulling the same shit with this storm. You remember how Magma nearly killed us, how they nearly killed you, right? Aqua will do the same!"
"I know! I was there!" The boy's hands ball into fists at his sides. "That's exactly why I should go. You think I'm just gonna sit here while you fly off to fight a bunch of psychos alone? The more firepower, the better!"
Lee exhales through his nose. "Brendan, listen to me. This isn't some full-on assault. If things go sideways, I need to be able to move without worrying about covering someone else."
"Then don't cover me. I can handle myself."
"You're not going!
"Why not?!"
"Because you're a child, Brendan!"
The words come out sharper than Lee intended, and when Brendan recoils like he's been slapped, Lee knows his protest landed wrong and promptly broke an ankle.
In a world where many children spend their formative years on a journey of self-discovery, trusted to be mature, being called a child in such a manner stings.
For a moment, the only sound is the rain battering the windows and the low rumble of thunder.
From the couch, Zinnia unfolds herself with a grunt, stretching her arms over her head. "Much as I hate to interrupt this little pissing match," she drawls, "the squirt's got a point about one thing. That asshole Maxie and his pokemon were crazy, and even three-on-one, we only got out of that mess because he underestimated us. If Archie's pokemon are even half as strong, ganging up on him sounds like a good plan."
Lee rounds on her with a frown. "You're not helping."
"Wasn't trying to." The dragon tamer shrugs, but her easy posture belies the sharp glint in her eyes. "I'm coming too, by the way. Don't bother arguing."
"Zinnia..."
"Dolittle, I've been watching and fighting Magma and Aqua since before you picked up your first pokeball." She taps the lead ball on her belt, and something flickers across her face. "Being Lorekeeper demands I try and nip world-ending shit in the bud, and you already know Aqua falls under that umbrella. And before you say it, yeah, I remember what happened yesterday. Doesn't change anything."
Lee studies her for a long moment, reading the tension in her shoulders, the way her fingers linger on Salamence's ball. She's afraid, he realizes. Not of the fight, but of what happened during the Mega Evolution, and what might happen if they have to do it again, yet she meets his eyes all the same.
"Fine." Lee holds up a hand before Brendan can start celebrating. "Zinnia comes. Brendan, you stay here with Lokoko."
"What?! That's not fair!"
"Life isn't fair." Lee meets the boy's furious gaze without flinching. "Someone needs to stay behind in case this goes wrong. If Zinnia and I don't come back, someone needs to tell your father what happened, and someone needs to warn the League that things have gone even further sideways than expected."
Brendan's face cycles through anger, denial, and finally settles on something that looks uncomfortably close to grief. "That's a cop-out and you know it."
"Maybe." Lee steps closer, lowering his voice. "But I promised your father I'd keep you safe, Brendan. You're not going to make me into a liar, are you?"
The boy flinches.
It's a low blow, attacking Brendan's good nature like that, and Lee knows it, but he doesn't take it back.
'I'm sorry, Brendan. Some things are more important than playing fair.'
Latias lets out a soft, mournful croon, pressing her head against Brendan's shoulder. The younger trainer reaches up automatically to stroke her neck, his eyes fixed on the floor.
"I hate this," the boy mutters.
"I know. I'm sorry, Brendan," Lee murmurs.
From behind them, Lokoko's voice cuts through the tension like a razor through silk. "If I may offer an observation?"
Lee turns. He'd almost forgotten she was there, which is an unsettling realization in its own right. The woman sits on the edge of her bunk, hands folded in her lap, watching the proceedings with an expression Lee can't quite read.
"The young one's Latias," Lokoko continues, her dark eyes moving to the dragon, "possesses capabilities that may prove invaluable. Eon pokemon are not merely swift. They can render themselves and their passengers invisible to the naked eye, can they not?"
Latias perks up, chirping an affirmative.
Lee's brow furrows. "You're suggesting..."
"I am suggesting nothing." Lokoko's lips curve into something that isn't quite a smile. "Merely stating facts. What you do with those facts is your own affair, Mister Henson."
'She's not wrong,' Ninetales sends reluctantly. 'An invisible scout could prove useful for reconnaissance.'
'And if Aqua has countermeasures? If they can detect psychic signatures?'
'Then they would detect us regardless. At least Latias could flee faster than we could.'
Lee scrubs a hand down his face, feeling the familiar ridges of scar tissue under his palm. The clock is ticking. Every second they spend arguing is another second Aqua has to do whatever the hell they're planning.
"Brendan."
The boy's head snaps up.
"If... and I mean if... you come with us, you stay in the air. You and Latias are recon only. You do not engage. You do not land. You keep your distance and you report what you see. The moment things look bad, you turn around and fly back here as fast as Latias can carry you." Lee holds up a finger. "And if I tell you to run, you run. No arguments, no heroics. Deal?"
Brendan's eyes go wide. "You mean it?"
"I mean it. But if you break any of those conditions, even once, I'm dragging you back to Littleroot and you're answering to your father face-to-face. Are we clear?"
The younger trainer nods so fast Lee worries he might give himself whiplash. "Crystal clear. I promise."
'You feel as if you're too soft on him,' Nine observes, though there's fondness beneath the exasperation.
'Probably, but he was going to follow us anyway. At least this way I can keep an eye on him.'
Lee turns to address the room at large. "Alright. We move in five minutes. Zinnia, you're on Noivern?"
The dragon tamer hesitates, her hand still on Salamence's ball. For a moment, Lee thinks she might argue and insist on riding her ace despite everything.
Then her shoulders drop, and she nods. "Yeah. Noivern. I'm keeping Salamence rested."
"Good. Brendan, Latias takes point. Stay high, stay invisible, and for the love of Arceus, stay safe."
"Got it!"
Lee reaches for Corviknight's ball, then pauses, glancing at Lokoko. The woman hasn't moved from her seat, still watching them with those unreadable eyes.
"Miss Lokoko... I'm sorry to leave you here alone."
"Think nothing of it, Mister Henson." She waves a delicate hand. "I am quite capable of entertaining myself for an evening. Besides..." Her gaze drifts to the storm-lashed window. "I suspect I would only be in the way."
There's something in her tone that Lee can't quite parse, but there's no time to dig into it.
"We'll be back," he says, and hopes it isn't a lie.
Flying through a raging storm is an experience Lee never wants to repeat.
Even with Corviknight's broad wings slicing through the gale and a shimmering dome of Protect keeping the worst of the wind and rain at bay, every gust feels like a physical blow. The barrier flickers green-gold each time a particularly vicious crosswind slams into them, and Lee has to grip the handles of Corvi's saddle until his knuckles ache.
To his left, Zinnia hunches low over Noivern's back, her dragon maintaining a similar shield. The bat-like pokemon's massive ears twitch constantly, reading the air currents and adjusting her flight path with each shift in the wind. Even so, she's clearly struggling, her wingbeats labored in a way Lee has never seen from the usually graceful flier.
Somewhere ahead, invisible against the roiling clouds, Brendan and Latias cut through the storm like it isn't even there.
'Can you hear me?'
The mental voice makes Lee jolt in his saddle, his hand going to his chest before he can stop himself.
It's Latias, her telepathic touch light and tentative, nothing like the deep, constant thrum of Ninetales.
'Loud and clear,' Lee sends back, still unsettled by how off it feels to have someone else's thoughts brushing against his own. Latias's mental voice is high and clear, almost musical, where Nine's is rich and smokey. The contrast is still jarring even with Latias' increasing willingness to 'talk' to people other than Brendan.
'I hear you too,' Zinnia's thoughts cut in, rough around the edges like she's shouting through a door. 'Feels weird as hell, though.'
'You get used to it,' Brendan adds, and Lee can practically hear the grin in his mental voice. 'Latias and I talk like this all the time.'
'With downtime disconnected, right?' Lee prods.
'Yeah, duh.'
Ninetales, pressed warm against Lee's awareness as always, huffs in amusement. 'The young dragon does good work. Maintaining a four-way link while flying and cloaking is no small feat.'
'Latias is sweet, don't ruin her with a big head,' Lee sends back privately, then opens his thoughts to the group again. 'How far out are we?'
'Close,' Latias answers. 'I can see the Institute. It's... there's a lot of water around it. The river on the west side is very high.'
'Flooding from the storm?'
'I don't think so… It looks intentional.'
Lee's jaw tightens. Of course Aqua would flood the surrounding area. Water-types thrive in those conditions, and it limits approach vectors for anyone trying to interfere.
'What else do you see? Any guards?'
A pause. Lee feels the faintest echo of Latias's focus sharpening, her psychic senses sweeping over the building below.
'Two,' she reports. 'By the front door. Umm… They have pokemon out. A Buizel and a... Poliwhirl.'
'Just two?' Zinnia's mental voice carries a note of suspicion. 'That's light for a front entrance.'
'They're probably not expecting company in this weather,' Lee reasons. 'Or the bulk of their forces are inside, keeping the Institute staff in line.'
He chews his lip, running scenarios. A frontal assault would alert everyone inside immediately. Even if they took down the guards fast, someone would notice and raise the alarm. But if they could do this quietly...
'Brendan, Latias, hold position and stay cloaked. Zinnia and I are going to land in the treeline and approach on foot. If we can take out those guards without making a scene, we might be able to get inside before anyone knows we're here. The longer we can keep this quiet, the better.'
'Got it,' Brendan sends back. 'Be careful.'
'Always am.'
He feels Nine's skepticism at that particular claim but elects to ignore it.
Lee keys the radio built into Corvi's saddle to tell the great raven to land, but both he and Corvi flinch from the sudden screech of noisy static. Almost immediately Lee takes his thumb off the button. 'What the hell is that?'
He turns the frequency dials on the radio, but every channel is nothing but violent snapping and popping. 'Don't tell me…' Lee pulls his phone from his pocket, and sees his cell service is totally dead, not even showing a roaming signal. 'The whole area is being radio jammed. No wonder no one at the Institute called for help.'
Frowning, Lee squeezes the silent controls on the saddle, and Corvi banks without a sound, his dark form melting into the storm as he descends. Beside them, Noivern follows suit with a pair of leathery flaps.
They touch down in a small clearing, the trees around them thrashing in the gale but providing at least some cover from the worst of it. Lee slides from the saddle, his boots squelching in the muddy earth, and immediately recalls Corviknight in a flash of red light. Almost instantly, he wishes he didn't have to, as even with the tree cover, the storm buffets them with gales and sideways rain. Zinnia does the same with Noivern a moment later.
"Sliggoo," Zinnia murmurs, releasing her Dragon-type. The purple slug materializes in the underbrush, his eyeless face turning toward her with unsettling accuracy. "You ready for this, little booger?"
Sliggoo burbles an affirmative, his stubby snail tail wagging.
Lee eyes the young dragon for a moment. He knows Sliggoo lost his vision when he evolved from Goomy, his eyes sacrificing themselves to fuel his body's transformation until his final evolution restores them. It's a rough trade, even if the Goodra line's other senses more than compensate.
"You sure he's good to go?" Lee asks quietly, reaching for Octillery's ball. "Fighting blind in unfamiliar terrain isn't easy."
"He's been training his ass off," Zinnia assures him, reaching down to pat Sliggoo's gooey head. "His hearing and that vibration sensing thing he does are sharp as hell now. Trust me, Dolittle. My little booger won't let us down."
Sliggoo nods firmly, his little antennae bouncing in the whipping wind.
'His evolution came with quite the confidence boost. Good. The little guy needed it.' Lee nods and releases Octillery, who materializes with a wet splat and immediately orients on his trainer, tentacles curling in anticipation. "You're up, buddy. We need quiet takedowns. Think you can keep Ink Spear one notch under supersonic?"
Octillery's eyes narrow, and one tentacle taps the side of his bulbous head in a salute.
"That's what I like to hear."
They creep through the underbrush, Lee wincing at every snapped twig and rustled leaf despite knowing the howling wind drowns out any noise they make. A phantom of Ninetales practically pads beside him in her ball, her senses extended through his own, watching for any sign they've been spotted.
The treeline thins, and through the sheets of rain, Lee can make out the Weather Institute's front entrance. Two figures in blue stand hunched by the doors, their pokemon huddled close. The Buizel looks miserable, its normally sleek, hydrophobic fur plastered flat against its body as the beating rain bashes its way into its undercoat. The Poliwhirl seems more at ease in the downpour, but even it shifts restlessly, clearly finding the intensity of the storm unsettling.
Lee holds up a hand, and everyone stops. Squinting through the rain, he zeros in on the belts of the men, finding no radios or walkie-talkies on them. 'Definitely jamming, then, if the guards don't have radios.'
"Octillery, start us off."
Octillery's body gurgles and swells, then a rail-thin lance of black ink, just a hair under sonic speed, rips out of his mouth and across the distance faster than the eye can follow.
The Buizel doesn't even have time to squeak before the Ink Spear takes it dead center, the impact lifting the small pokemon off its feet and sending it tumbling across the wet concrete in a limp heap.
"Sliggoo, Dragon Pulse!" Zinnia isn't far behind.
Sliggoo burbles, and from his sticky maw erupts a roiling sphere of blue energy.
The Dragon Pulse crosses the gap in a heartbeat, catching the Poliwhirl mid-turn and detonating against its rubbery hide with a muffled whump. The Water-type crumples, twitching once before going still.
Both grunts stand frozen, their pokemon down, and their brains clearly struggling to process what just happened.
Of course, they turn and bolt for the door.
"Octillery!"
Purple light flares around both men, yanking them off their feet and dragging them backward through the air. Their screams are swallowed by the wind as Octillery hauls them into the treeline, depositing them in a heap at Lee and Zinnia's feet.
"Evening, boys," Zinnia grins down at them, already producing lengths of rope from her pack. "Don't mind us. You're just under arrest is all."
The grunts' panicked protests are cut short as she gags them with strips of cloth, her movements efficient and practiced in a way that makes Lee wonder exactly how many times she's done this before.
He puts the thought aside and crouches beside the bound men, fingers working quickly to strip them of their pokeballs. He recalls the unconscious Buizel and Poliwhirl into their respective balls, then thumbs the buttons three times, rendering them inert until manually reset.
"There." He tucks the balls into his bag. "Sorry, you two. I'll ask the local Officer Jenny to push you two to the front of the adoption line."
'Brendan, Latias,' he sends through their link after pulling his bag back on. 'Did anyone inside notice?'
A moment's pause, then Latias's voice filters back. 'I don't think so. No one's moving toward the entrance.'
'Good. What else can you see?'
'We did a few fly-bys past the windows,' Brendan chimes in. 'There are about ten more Aqua members on the lower floors. Looks like they've got the staff herded into the lobby.'
'Hostages,' Lee grimaces. 'What about leadership?'
'Third floor,' Latias reports, her girlish voice carrying a note of unease. 'There's a lady with really long hair, and a... a really big guy. Muscles on his muscles. They have a few of the staff there, doing something with a big machine.'
'The weather control device…' Lee frowns, both inward and outwardly. 'Anyone else?'
'Yeah, one more,' Brendan adds. 'Dark blue suit, anchor necklace. He's standing by the windows, just... watching the storm.'
Lee's stomach tightens.
Archie.
He shares a look with Zinnia, and from the hard set of her jaw, she's reached the same conclusion.
"The gang's all here," she mutters.
"Looks like it." Lee straightens, his mind already racing through possibilities. "Ten grunts, two admins, and the boss himself. Not ideal."
'Latias, Brendan, does Archie have a mega keystone in that necklace?'
'No, it doesn't look like it,' Brendan reports.
Phew. Small mercies.
"So what's the play?" Zinnia asks, keeping her voice low despite the wind. "We can't exactly waltz in through the front door looking like this."
Lee frowns, running through options. The guards' wide-eyed forms lie bound at their feet, rain soaking through their blue uniforms. "We could try a side entrance, but if they've got people patrolling..."
"I've got a better idea." Zinnia's grin turns sharp. "Help me strip these two."
Lee blinks. "What?"
"Their uniforms, Dolittle. We put on the grunt getup, walk right in like we belong." She's already crouching beside one of the bound men, fingers working at his jacket buttons. "It's not rocket science."
"That's..." Lee's nose wrinkles. "Have you done this before?"
"Couple times." Zinnia doesn't look up from her work. "You do what you gotta do when you're tailing these assholes solo. A girl learns to improvise."
The mental image of wearing some stranger's rain-soaked, sweaty clothes... Ew…
'Beloved, I have a better solution.'
Lee pauses. 'I'm all ears.'
'Why steal their garments when I can simply make you appear to be wearing them?'
He almost kicks himself.
Of course. Of course. The pokemon bound to his very soul is, for all intents and purposes, a real kitsune. Why didn't he think of that?
During their final weeks in the Meteorfall Crater, Ninetales had thrown herself into exploring that aspect of her heritage with a fervor that surprised even him. Double Team provided the foundation, teaching her how to bend light and craft convincing shells of Normal TE. From there, she'd branched out into proper illusions: disguising herself as other pokemon, turning a stick into an Ekans, even managing an, uh, exaggerated human form on one memorable occasion that had left Lee wigged out, Brendan confused, and Zinnia in tears of laughter.
But maintaining multiple complex illusions on moving targets in a high-stress situation? That's a different beast entirely.
'Nine, can you keep up a bunch of realistic disguises long enough for us to get inside and free those hostages?' Lee asks carefully. 'If we can get them out of the crossfire, we won't have to worry about collateral nearly as much.'
The response comes with an almost audible scoff. 'I would not have suggested it if I lacked confidence in my abilities, Beloved. Have some faith.'
Her pokeball pops open of its own accord, and Ninetales materializes beside him in a flash of light. The moment she does, she flinches, her ears pinning flat as the driving rain soaks through her golden fur in seconds. The sensation of being cold and wet though two separate bodies forces a shiver down Lee's spine.
'Ugh.' Her tails curl around herself protectively. 'Wretched, awful weather. This cannot be over soon enough.'
"Change of plans," Lee tells Zinnia, who pauses with the grunt's jacket halfway off. "Nine's going to handle the disguises."
The dragon tamer's eyebrows rise, but she drops the wriggling man she was trying to disrobe, who splashes down in the mud with a muffed grunt. "Illusions? Can she do that for all of us?"
"She says she can, so I believe her."
Ninetales shakes herself, sending droplets flying, then fixes her gaze on the bound grunts. Her ruby eyes narrow, drinking in every detail: the cut of their uniforms, the way the fabric hangs, the bandanas around their heads, the exact shade of blue, everything.
Then she turns that focus on him.
The sensation is bizarre, like being wrapped in cool silk that isn't there. Lee watches his hands shimmer, blur, and reform into something unfamiliar. Broader fingers, rougher skin, a different skintone entirely. He touches a fingertip to his palm, marveling at how utterly real it looks, even though he can feel his own familiar calluses beneath the false image.
Zinnia lets out a low whistle, examining her own transformed hands. "Damn, foxy. That's impressive."
Beside them, Octillery and Sliggoo undergo similar transformations. The octopus's red bulk ripples and shrinks, resolving into the squat blue form of a Poliwhirl, while Sliggoo's purple mass lightens and compacts into an orange-furred Buizel. Both pokemon look down at themselves with varying degrees of confusion… Or at least Sliggoo does. The fake Poliwhirl has a gleam to his eye.
Ninetales, meanwhile, simply... vanishes. Lee can still feel her presence, warm and solid in his mind, but his eyes insist there's nothing there but empty air and rain-slicked mud.
'Feint Attack,' she supplies. 'It wouldn't do for anyone inside to notice an extra pokemon amongst our little band of frauds.'
'Four illusions and a cloak? Can you hold that indefinitely?'
A pause. When Nine responds, her mental voice is carefully even. 'We should make haste. If Aqua has any sense, they will send someone to contact their sentries at regular intervals. Our window may be limited.'
She didn't answer the question, Lee notes, which would have given her away if he couldn't already feel a dull, secondhand throb behind his eyes.
"Let's move," he says aloud. "Stay casual, don't draw attention. Zinnia, you take point. You've got more experience with this cloak and dagger stuff than I do."
"Finally, some recognition." She flashes him a grin that looks deeply unsettling on the unfamiliar face she's wearing. "Try to keep up, rookie."
They cross the open ground between the treeline and the Institute's front entrance at an unhurried pace, fighting every instinct that screams at them to run. The door is unlocked, and Zinnia pushes through without hesitation, Lee and their disguised pokemon following close behind.
The lobby is bright after the darkness of the storm, and Lee has to blink away spots as his eyes adjust. When they clear, his stomach sinks.
Two dozen people, maybe more, are huddled in the far corner of the room. Men and women in lab coats and business casual, their faces pale and drawn with fear. A few have visible bruises. One woman is quietly sobbing into another's shoulder, the sound almost lost beneath the rattle of rain against the windows.
Milling about the rest of the lobby are the Aqua grunts. Ten of them, just as Brendan reported, lounging on furniture and leaning against walls with the bored arrogance of people who think they've already won. Most bear the gang's white-blue colors, and all of them have the Aqua bandana. Their pokemon, a motley assortment of Water-types ranging from a Carvanha on a little cushion of floating water to a Corphish boredly crunching an office chair in his claws, prowl the space between the hostages and the exits.
One grunt, a heavyset man perched on the reception desk with a Tentacool draped over his shoulder, looks up as they enter.
"Oi. What are you two doing in here?" He jerks his chin toward the door. "You're supposed to be on watch."
Lee's throat tightens, and beside him, 'Poliwhirl' tenses.
Before he can fumble for a response, Zinnia steps forward with a lazy shrug.
"It's storming like crazy out there, man." Her voice comes out completely wrong, a masculine baritone that doesn't match her frame at all but fits the illusion perfectly. "Nobody's coming out here in this mess. Why should we freeze our asses off when we could be inside where it's dry?"
Lee has to fight to keep his expression neutral. Through their bond, he feels Ninetales' own flicker of surprise. Zinnia sounds exactly like a man in his thirties, complete with a faint regional drawl that Lee can't quite place.
'If being Lorekeeper doesn't work out,' he sends privately to Nine, 'she could make a killing as a voice actor. Maybe land a role in a Mystery Dungeon movie.'
'Focus, Beloved,' Ninetales chides, but there's a thread of amusement beneath the admonishment.
The grunt on the desk studies them for a long moment, then snorts and waves a dismissive hand. "Whatever. It's not my head Shelly's gonna bite off when she finds out you abandoned your post."
"We'll take our chances," Zinnia drawls, already moving deeper into the lobby.
Lee follows, hyper-aware of every eye in the room, every grunt who might look too closely and see through the illusion. But no one gives them a second glance. They're just two more goons in a building full of them, beneath notice and beneath suspicion.
Now they just need to figure out how to spring their attack, get the hostages out of harm's way, and prepare for a throwdown with a man who wants to drown the globe.
No pressure…
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"I take it you can't disclose the source of your intel on what might be happening at the Weather Institute?"
Steven's voice isn't harsh, nor is it accusing, but Lee winces all the same. "Ah… I was planning on discussing that with you tomorrow in Fortree, actually. I hope this doesn't undermine the matter at hand."
The phone in Lee's hand is silent for a moment, then the Champion's voice filters through it again. "No, no it doesn't. This storm really isn't natural now that I'm looking at it with more scrutiny, so if you're worried about me not treating this seriously, then don't be."
Lee lets out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. 'Bullet dodged.'
"I need to make a few calls," Steven continues, either not hearing the blustery exhale or not caring. "If it is Aqua, then we need all hands on deck. Rangers to keep wild pokemon out of the way, League Aces for local damage control, and boots on the ground at the Institute itself. Do you know who is there?"
"I don't know for certain, but…" Lee grimaces, the action tugging at the tight skin on the left of his face. "The leader, Archie Aogiri, and likely his team admins are there. The admins are just under Elite in terms of danger, and Archie himself is Elite at absolute minimum. It'll probably be safer to assume he and his pokemon are better than that," Lee says, throwing a look over his shoulder.
As he's been talking with Steven, Brendan hasn't been idle. His things are packed away and his pokemon are in their balls with the exception of Latias, who hovers nervously at his side. On Latias' back, her saddle is freshly affixed, with a few downy feathers out of place from the haste at which it was donned.
On Brendan's face?
Picture perfect determination.
Lee turns the phone in his hand away, receiver toward the wall, and gestures sharply at Latias with his fingers splayed, mouthing Absolutely fucking not!
The younger trainer's brows meet in a scowl.
"Concerning…"
Turning his head and resolving to deal with Brendan in a moment, Lee gives the phone his attention again. "My thoughts exactly."
The sound of a hand carelessly impacting something wooden amid the squeak of hinges comes through the line, broken by rumbly thunder that makes the lights overhead flicker. "We really don't have any time, Lee, and from what I can see, you're the closest trainer with any kind of means of slowing this down. I don't want to ask this, not after your ordeal with Mt Chimney, but I need you to be the tip of the spear on this little operation. Can you get there?"
'Shit…' Lee winces. 'I knew this was going to happen.'
Beside him, Ninetales noses his hip, slipping him a telepathic thread of comfort. 'Worry not, Lee. Remember what I said on the route to Petalburg; we've trained hard these last few months. The sweat and tears soaked into the training ground shall stymie any shed blood in battle. Few are our equals, now.'
'Thinking like that is a good way to end up force-fed some humble pie,' Lee sends back, though the reminder does slacken his tense shoulders a tad. 'We are not coming back half alive this time. We're taking everything seriously from the start, no half-measures.'
'No half-measures,' the vixen agrees.
Licking his dry lips, Lee speaks up again before too much time can pass. "We can."
"Good. You don't need to do everything yourself, or even stop them, just stall them long enough for help to arrive," Steven tells him, his words interspersed with the sound of fingers on a keyboard. "Don't take unnecessary risks."
"Believe me, I wasn't planning to."
"Good. Fly quick, Lee. I'm reaching out to everyone I can to be there ASAP."
With that, the line goes dead.
Lee lowers his phone and pockets it, turning to face the room properly.
Brendan hasn't moved, his jaw set and eyes hard. Latias hovers at his shoulder, her golden eyes flicking between the two trainers with obvious anxiety.
"Lee, I'm coming with you."
"No, you're not."
"I wasn't asking." Brendan's voice doesn't waver. "Swampert just evolved. He's stronger than ever. And Latias can get me there faster than Corviknight."
"Brendan." Lee pinches the bridge of his nose. "This isn't a gym battle. Magma tried to erupt a volcano, and Aqua is pulling the same shit with this storm. You remember how Magma nearly killed us, how they nearly killed you, right? Aqua will do the same!"
"I know! I was there!" The boy's hands ball into fists at his sides. "That's exactly why I should go. You think I'm just gonna sit here while you fly off to fight a bunch of psychos alone? The more firepower, the better!"
Lee exhales through his nose. "Brendan, listen to me. This isn't some full-on assault. If things go sideways, I need to be able to move without worrying about covering someone else."
"Then don't cover me. I can handle myself."
"You're not going!
"Why not?!"
"Because you're a child, Brendan!"
The words come out sharper than Lee intended, and when Brendan recoils like he's been slapped, Lee knows his protest landed wrong and promptly broke an ankle.
In a world where many children spend their formative years on a journey of self-discovery, trusted to be mature, being called a child in such a manner stings.
For a moment, the only sound is the rain battering the windows and the low rumble of thunder.
From the couch, Zinnia unfolds herself with a grunt, stretching her arms over her head. "Much as I hate to interrupt this little pissing match," she drawls, "the squirt's got a point about one thing. That asshole Maxie and his pokemon were crazy, and even three-on-one, we only got out of that mess because he underestimated us. If Archie's pokemon are even half as strong, ganging up on him sounds like a good plan."
Lee rounds on her with a frown. "You're not helping."
"Wasn't trying to." The dragon tamer shrugs, but her easy posture belies the sharp glint in her eyes. "I'm coming too, by the way. Don't bother arguing."
"Zinnia..."
"Dolittle, I've been watching and fighting Magma and Aqua since before you picked up your first pokeball." She taps the lead ball on her belt, and something flickers across her face. "Being Lorekeeper demands I try and nip world-ending shit in the bud, and you already know Aqua falls under that umbrella. And before you say it, yeah, I remember what happened yesterday. Doesn't change anything."
Lee studies her for a long moment, reading the tension in her shoulders, the way her fingers linger on Salamence's ball. She's afraid, he realizes. Not of the fight, but of what happened during the Mega Evolution, and what might happen if they have to do it again, yet she meets his eyes all the same.
"Fine." Lee holds up a hand before Brendan can start celebrating. "Zinnia comes. Brendan, you stay here with Lokoko."
"What?! That's not fair!"
"Life isn't fair." Lee meets the boy's furious gaze without flinching. "Someone needs to stay behind in case this goes wrong. If Zinnia and I don't come back, someone needs to tell your father what happened, and someone needs to warn the League that things have gone even further sideways than expected."
Brendan's face cycles through anger, denial, and finally settles on something that looks uncomfortably close to grief. "That's a cop-out and you know it."
"Maybe." Lee steps closer, lowering his voice. "But I promised your father I'd keep you safe, Brendan. You're not going to make me into a liar, are you?"
The boy flinches.
It's a low blow, attacking Brendan's good nature like that, and Lee knows it, but he doesn't take it back.
'I'm sorry, Brendan. Some things are more important than playing fair.'
Latias lets out a soft, mournful croon, pressing her head against Brendan's shoulder. The younger trainer reaches up automatically to stroke her neck, his eyes fixed on the floor.
"I hate this," the boy mutters.
"I know. I'm sorry, Brendan," Lee murmurs.
From behind them, Lokoko's voice cuts through the tension like a razor through silk. "If I may offer an observation?"
Lee turns. He'd almost forgotten she was there, which is an unsettling realization in its own right. The woman sits on the edge of her bunk, hands folded in her lap, watching the proceedings with an expression Lee can't quite read.
"The young one's Latias," Lokoko continues, her dark eyes moving to the dragon, "possesses capabilities that may prove invaluable. Eon pokemon are not merely swift. They can render themselves and their passengers invisible to the naked eye, can they not?"
Latias perks up, chirping an affirmative.
Lee's brow furrows. "You're suggesting..."
"I am suggesting nothing." Lokoko's lips curve into something that isn't quite a smile. "Merely stating facts. What you do with those facts is your own affair, Mister Henson."
'She's not wrong,' Ninetales sends reluctantly. 'An invisible scout could prove useful for reconnaissance.'
'And if Aqua has countermeasures? If they can detect psychic signatures?'
'Then they would detect us regardless. At least Latias could flee faster than we could.'
Lee scrubs a hand down his face, feeling the familiar ridges of scar tissue under his palm. The clock is ticking. Every second they spend arguing is another second Aqua has to do whatever the hell they're planning.
"Brendan."
The boy's head snaps up.
"If... and I mean if... you come with us, you stay in the air. You and Latias are recon only. You do not engage. You do not land. You keep your distance and you report what you see. The moment things look bad, you turn around and fly back here as fast as Latias can carry you." Lee holds up a finger. "And if I tell you to run, you run. No arguments, no heroics. Deal?"
Brendan's eyes go wide. "You mean it?"
"I mean it. But if you break any of those conditions, even once, I'm dragging you back to Littleroot and you're answering to your father face-to-face. Are we clear?"
The younger trainer nods so fast Lee worries he might give himself whiplash. "Crystal clear. I promise."
'You feel as if you're too soft on him,' Nine observes, though there's fondness beneath the exasperation.
'Probably, but he was going to follow us anyway. At least this way I can keep an eye on him.'
Lee turns to address the room at large. "Alright. We move in five minutes. Zinnia, you're on Noivern?"
The dragon tamer hesitates, her hand still on Salamence's ball. For a moment, Lee thinks she might argue and insist on riding her ace despite everything.
Then her shoulders drop, and she nods. "Yeah. Noivern. I'm keeping Salamence rested."
"Good. Brendan, Latias takes point. Stay high, stay invisible, and for the love of Arceus, stay safe."
"Got it!"
Lee reaches for Corviknight's ball, then pauses, glancing at Lokoko. The woman hasn't moved from her seat, still watching them with those unreadable eyes.
"Miss Lokoko... I'm sorry to leave you here alone."
"Think nothing of it, Mister Henson." She waves a delicate hand. "I am quite capable of entertaining myself for an evening. Besides..." Her gaze drifts to the storm-lashed window. "I suspect I would only be in the way."
There's something in her tone that Lee can't quite parse, but there's no time to dig into it.
"We'll be back," he says, and hopes it isn't a lie.
Flying through a raging storm is an experience Lee never wants to repeat.
Even with Corviknight's broad wings slicing through the gale and a shimmering dome of Protect keeping the worst of the wind and rain at bay, every gust feels like a physical blow. The barrier flickers green-gold each time a particularly vicious crosswind slams into them, and Lee has to grip the handles of Corvi's saddle until his knuckles ache.
To his left, Zinnia hunches low over Noivern's back, her dragon maintaining a similar shield. The bat-like pokemon's massive ears twitch constantly, reading the air currents and adjusting her flight path with each shift in the wind. Even so, she's clearly struggling, her wingbeats labored in a way Lee has never seen from the usually graceful flier.
Somewhere ahead, invisible against the roiling clouds, Brendan and Latias cut through the storm like it isn't even there.
'Can you hear me?'
The mental voice makes Lee jolt in his saddle, his hand going to his chest before he can stop himself.
It's Latias, her telepathic touch light and tentative, nothing like the deep, constant thrum of Ninetales.
'Loud and clear,' Lee sends back, still unsettled by how off it feels to have someone else's thoughts brushing against his own. Latias's mental voice is high and clear, almost musical, where Nine's is rich and smokey. The contrast is still jarring even with Latias' increasing willingness to 'talk' to people other than Brendan.
'I hear you too,' Zinnia's thoughts cut in, rough around the edges like she's shouting through a door. 'Feels weird as hell, though.'
'You get used to it,' Brendan adds, and Lee can practically hear the grin in his mental voice. 'Latias and I talk like this all the time.'
'With downtime disconnected, right?' Lee prods.
'Yeah, duh.'
Ninetales, pressed warm against Lee's awareness as always, huffs in amusement. 'The young dragon does good work. Maintaining a four-way link while flying and cloaking is no small feat.'
'Latias is sweet, don't ruin her with a big head,' Lee sends back privately, then opens his thoughts to the group again. 'How far out are we?'
'Close,' Latias answers. 'I can see the Institute. It's... there's a lot of water around it. The river on the west side is very high.'
'Flooding from the storm?'
'I don't think so… It looks intentional.'
Lee's jaw tightens. Of course Aqua would flood the surrounding area. Water-types thrive in those conditions, and it limits approach vectors for anyone trying to interfere.
'What else do you see? Any guards?'
A pause. Lee feels the faintest echo of Latias's focus sharpening, her psychic senses sweeping over the building below.
'Two,' she reports. 'By the front door. Umm… They have pokemon out. A Buizel and a... Poliwhirl.'
'Just two?' Zinnia's mental voice carries a note of suspicion. 'That's light for a front entrance.'
'They're probably not expecting company in this weather,' Lee reasons. 'Or the bulk of their forces are inside, keeping the Institute staff in line.'
He chews his lip, running scenarios. A frontal assault would alert everyone inside immediately. Even if they took down the guards fast, someone would notice and raise the alarm. But if they could do this quietly...
'Brendan, Latias, hold position and stay cloaked. Zinnia and I are going to land in the treeline and approach on foot. If we can take out those guards without making a scene, we might be able to get inside before anyone knows we're here. The longer we can keep this quiet, the better.'
'Got it,' Brendan sends back. 'Be careful.'
'Always am.'
He feels Nine's skepticism at that particular claim but elects to ignore it.
Lee keys the radio built into Corvi's saddle to tell the great raven to land, but both he and Corvi flinch from the sudden screech of noisy static. Almost immediately Lee takes his thumb off the button. 'What the hell is that?'
He turns the frequency dials on the radio, but every channel is nothing but violent snapping and popping. 'Don't tell me…' Lee pulls his phone from his pocket, and sees his cell service is totally dead, not even showing a roaming signal. 'The whole area is being radio jammed. No wonder no one at the Institute called for help.'
Frowning, Lee squeezes the silent controls on the saddle, and Corvi banks without a sound, his dark form melting into the storm as he descends. Beside them, Noivern follows suit with a pair of leathery flaps.
They touch down in a small clearing, the trees around them thrashing in the gale but providing at least some cover from the worst of it. Lee slides from the saddle, his boots squelching in the muddy earth, and immediately recalls Corviknight in a flash of red light. Almost instantly, he wishes he didn't have to, as even with the tree cover, the storm buffets them with gales and sideways rain. Zinnia does the same with Noivern a moment later.
"Sliggoo," Zinnia murmurs, releasing her Dragon-type. The purple slug materializes in the underbrush, his eyeless face turning toward her with unsettling accuracy. "You ready for this, little booger?"
Sliggoo burbles an affirmative, his stubby snail tail wagging.
Lee eyes the young dragon for a moment. He knows Sliggoo lost his vision when he evolved from Goomy, his eyes sacrificing themselves to fuel his body's transformation until his final evolution restores them. It's a rough trade, even if the Goodra line's other senses more than compensate.
"You sure he's good to go?" Lee asks quietly, reaching for Octillery's ball. "Fighting blind in unfamiliar terrain isn't easy."
"He's been training his ass off," Zinnia assures him, reaching down to pat Sliggoo's gooey head. "His hearing and that vibration sensing thing he does are sharp as hell now. Trust me, Dolittle. My little booger won't let us down."
Sliggoo nods firmly, his little antennae bouncing in the whipping wind.
'His evolution came with quite the confidence boost. Good. The little guy needed it.' Lee nods and releases Octillery, who materializes with a wet splat and immediately orients on his trainer, tentacles curling in anticipation. "You're up, buddy. We need quiet takedowns. Think you can keep Ink Spear one notch under supersonic?"
Octillery's eyes narrow, and one tentacle taps the side of his bulbous head in a salute.
"That's what I like to hear."
They creep through the underbrush, Lee wincing at every snapped twig and rustled leaf despite knowing the howling wind drowns out any noise they make. A phantom of Ninetales practically pads beside him in her ball, her senses extended through his own, watching for any sign they've been spotted.
The treeline thins, and through the sheets of rain, Lee can make out the Weather Institute's front entrance. Two figures in blue stand hunched by the doors, their pokemon huddled close. The Buizel looks miserable, its normally sleek, hydrophobic fur plastered flat against its body as the beating rain bashes its way into its undercoat. The Poliwhirl seems more at ease in the downpour, but even it shifts restlessly, clearly finding the intensity of the storm unsettling.
Lee holds up a hand, and everyone stops. Squinting through the rain, he zeros in on the belts of the men, finding no radios or walkie-talkies on them. 'Definitely jamming, then, if the guards don't have radios.'
"Octillery, start us off."
Octillery's body gurgles and swells, then a rail-thin lance of black ink, just a hair under sonic speed, rips out of his mouth and across the distance faster than the eye can follow.
The Buizel doesn't even have time to squeak before the Ink Spear takes it dead center, the impact lifting the small pokemon off its feet and sending it tumbling across the wet concrete in a limp heap.
"Sliggoo, Dragon Pulse!" Zinnia isn't far behind.
Sliggoo burbles, and from his sticky maw erupts a roiling sphere of blue energy.
The Dragon Pulse crosses the gap in a heartbeat, catching the Poliwhirl mid-turn and detonating against its rubbery hide with a muffled whump. The Water-type crumples, twitching once before going still.
Both grunts stand frozen, their pokemon down, and their brains clearly struggling to process what just happened.
Of course, they turn and bolt for the door.
"Octillery!"
Purple light flares around both men, yanking them off their feet and dragging them backward through the air. Their screams are swallowed by the wind as Octillery hauls them into the treeline, depositing them in a heap at Lee and Zinnia's feet.
"Evening, boys," Zinnia grins down at them, already producing lengths of rope from her pack. "Don't mind us. You're just under arrest is all."
The grunts' panicked protests are cut short as she gags them with strips of cloth, her movements efficient and practiced in a way that makes Lee wonder exactly how many times she's done this before.
He puts the thought aside and crouches beside the bound men, fingers working quickly to strip them of their pokeballs. He recalls the unconscious Buizel and Poliwhirl into their respective balls, then thumbs the buttons three times, rendering them inert until manually reset.
"There." He tucks the balls into his bag. "Sorry, you two. I'll ask the local Officer Jenny to push you two to the front of the adoption line."
'Brendan, Latias,' he sends through their link after pulling his bag back on. 'Did anyone inside notice?'
A moment's pause, then Latias's voice filters back. 'I don't think so. No one's moving toward the entrance.'
'Good. What else can you see?'
'We did a few fly-bys past the windows,' Brendan chimes in. 'There are about ten more Aqua members on the lower floors. Looks like they've got the staff herded into the lobby.'
'Hostages,' Lee grimaces. 'What about leadership?'
'Third floor,' Latias reports, her girlish voice carrying a note of unease. 'There's a lady with really long hair, and a... a really big guy. Muscles on his muscles. They have a few of the staff there, doing something with a big machine.'
'The weather control device…' Lee frowns, both inward and outwardly. 'Anyone else?'
'Yeah, one more,' Brendan adds. 'Dark blue suit, anchor necklace. He's standing by the windows, just... watching the storm.'
Lee's stomach tightens.
Archie.
He shares a look with Zinnia, and from the hard set of her jaw, she's reached the same conclusion.
"The gang's all here," she mutters.
"Looks like it." Lee straightens, his mind already racing through possibilities. "Ten grunts, two admins, and the boss himself. Not ideal."
'Latias, Brendan, does Archie have a mega keystone in that necklace?'
'No, it doesn't look like it,' Brendan reports.
Phew. Small mercies.
"So what's the play?" Zinnia asks, keeping her voice low despite the wind. "We can't exactly waltz in through the front door looking like this."
Lee frowns, running through options. The guards' wide-eyed forms lie bound at their feet, rain soaking through their blue uniforms. "We could try a side entrance, but if they've got people patrolling..."
"I've got a better idea." Zinnia's grin turns sharp. "Help me strip these two."
Lee blinks. "What?"
"Their uniforms, Dolittle. We put on the grunt getup, walk right in like we belong." She's already crouching beside one of the bound men, fingers working at his jacket buttons. "It's not rocket science."
"That's..." Lee's nose wrinkles. "Have you done this before?"
"Couple times." Zinnia doesn't look up from her work. "You do what you gotta do when you're tailing these assholes solo. A girl learns to improvise."
The mental image of wearing some stranger's rain-soaked, sweaty clothes... Ew…
'Beloved, I have a better solution.'
Lee pauses. 'I'm all ears.'
'Why steal their garments when I can simply make you appear to be wearing them?'
He almost kicks himself.
Of course. Of course. The pokemon bound to his very soul is, for all intents and purposes, a real kitsune. Why didn't he think of that?
During their final weeks in the Meteorfall Crater, Ninetales had thrown herself into exploring that aspect of her heritage with a fervor that surprised even him. Double Team provided the foundation, teaching her how to bend light and craft convincing shells of Normal TE. From there, she'd branched out into proper illusions: disguising herself as other pokemon, turning a stick into an Ekans, even managing an, uh, exaggerated human form on one memorable occasion that had left Lee wigged out, Brendan confused, and Zinnia in tears of laughter.
But maintaining multiple complex illusions on moving targets in a high-stress situation? That's a different beast entirely.
'Nine, can you keep up a bunch of realistic disguises long enough for us to get inside and free those hostages?' Lee asks carefully. 'If we can get them out of the crossfire, we won't have to worry about collateral nearly as much.'
The response comes with an almost audible scoff. 'I would not have suggested it if I lacked confidence in my abilities, Beloved. Have some faith.'
Her pokeball pops open of its own accord, and Ninetales materializes beside him in a flash of light. The moment she does, she flinches, her ears pinning flat as the driving rain soaks through her golden fur in seconds. The sensation of being cold and wet though two separate bodies forces a shiver down Lee's spine.
'Ugh.' Her tails curl around herself protectively. 'Wretched, awful weather. This cannot be over soon enough.'
"Change of plans," Lee tells Zinnia, who pauses with the grunt's jacket halfway off. "Nine's going to handle the disguises."
The dragon tamer's eyebrows rise, but she drops the wriggling man she was trying to disrobe, who splashes down in the mud with a muffed grunt. "Illusions? Can she do that for all of us?"
"She says she can, so I believe her."
Ninetales shakes herself, sending droplets flying, then fixes her gaze on the bound grunts. Her ruby eyes narrow, drinking in every detail: the cut of their uniforms, the way the fabric hangs, the bandanas around their heads, the exact shade of blue, everything.
Then she turns that focus on him.
The sensation is bizarre, like being wrapped in cool silk that isn't there. Lee watches his hands shimmer, blur, and reform into something unfamiliar. Broader fingers, rougher skin, a different skintone entirely. He touches a fingertip to his palm, marveling at how utterly real it looks, even though he can feel his own familiar calluses beneath the false image.
Zinnia lets out a low whistle, examining her own transformed hands. "Damn, foxy. That's impressive."
Beside them, Octillery and Sliggoo undergo similar transformations. The octopus's red bulk ripples and shrinks, resolving into the squat blue form of a Poliwhirl, while Sliggoo's purple mass lightens and compacts into an orange-furred Buizel. Both pokemon look down at themselves with varying degrees of confusion… Or at least Sliggoo does. The fake Poliwhirl has a gleam to his eye.
Ninetales, meanwhile, simply... vanishes. Lee can still feel her presence, warm and solid in his mind, but his eyes insist there's nothing there but empty air and rain-slicked mud.
'Feint Attack,' she supplies. 'It wouldn't do for anyone inside to notice an extra pokemon amongst our little band of frauds.'
'Four illusions and a cloak? Can you hold that indefinitely?'
A pause. When Nine responds, her mental voice is carefully even. 'We should make haste. If Aqua has any sense, they will send someone to contact their sentries at regular intervals. Our window may be limited.'
She didn't answer the question, Lee notes, which would have given her away if he couldn't already feel a dull, secondhand throb behind his eyes.
"Let's move," he says aloud. "Stay casual, don't draw attention. Zinnia, you take point. You've got more experience with this cloak and dagger stuff than I do."
"Finally, some recognition." She flashes him a grin that looks deeply unsettling on the unfamiliar face she's wearing. "Try to keep up, rookie."
They cross the open ground between the treeline and the Institute's front entrance at an unhurried pace, fighting every instinct that screams at them to run. The door is unlocked, and Zinnia pushes through without hesitation, Lee and their disguised pokemon following close behind.
The lobby is bright after the darkness of the storm, and Lee has to blink away spots as his eyes adjust. When they clear, his stomach sinks.
Two dozen people, maybe more, are huddled in the far corner of the room. Men and women in lab coats and business casual, their faces pale and drawn with fear. A few have visible bruises. One woman is quietly sobbing into another's shoulder, the sound almost lost beneath the rattle of rain against the windows.
Milling about the rest of the lobby are the Aqua grunts. Ten of them, just as Brendan reported, lounging on furniture and leaning against walls with the bored arrogance of people who think they've already won. Most bear the gang's white-blue colors, and all of them have the Aqua bandana. Their pokemon, a motley assortment of Water-types ranging from a Carvanha on a little cushion of floating water to a Corphish boredly crunching an office chair in his claws, prowl the space between the hostages and the exits.
One grunt, a heavyset man perched on the reception desk with a Tentacool draped over his shoulder, looks up as they enter.
"Oi. What are you two doing in here?" He jerks his chin toward the door. "You're supposed to be on watch."
Lee's throat tightens, and beside him, 'Poliwhirl' tenses.
Before he can fumble for a response, Zinnia steps forward with a lazy shrug.
"It's storming like crazy out there, man." Her voice comes out completely wrong, a masculine baritone that doesn't match her frame at all but fits the illusion perfectly. "Nobody's coming out here in this mess. Why should we freeze our asses off when we could be inside where it's dry?"
Lee has to fight to keep his expression neutral. Through their bond, he feels Ninetales' own flicker of surprise. Zinnia sounds exactly like a man in his thirties, complete with a faint regional drawl that Lee can't quite place.
'If being Lorekeeper doesn't work out,' he sends privately to Nine, 'she could make a killing as a voice actor. Maybe land a role in a Mystery Dungeon movie.'
'Focus, Beloved,' Ninetales chides, but there's a thread of amusement beneath the admonishment.
The grunt on the desk studies them for a long moment, then snorts and waves a dismissive hand. "Whatever. It's not my head Shelly's gonna bite off when she finds out you abandoned your post."
"We'll take our chances," Zinnia drawls, already moving deeper into the lobby.
Lee follows, hyper-aware of every eye in the room, every grunt who might look too closely and see through the illusion. But no one gives them a second glance. They're just two more goons in a building full of them, beneath notice and beneath suspicion.
Now they just need to figure out how to spring their attack, get the hostages out of harm's way, and prepare for a throwdown with a man who wants to drown the globe.
No pressure…
Below are the names of some patrons who got to view this chapter early and felt like signing it. A huge thanks to them and everyone else who supports this story and everything else I write.
Planetace, Honin, Spice_King, demonmonkey89, drykeon, Gleipnir, Nithalys, MrPerson0, Dicloniuslord, HolyChomper, Sinnohan, Wing Shot, OmegaEntertainment, GordianVapCat, Rémi C., Moonlit Chaser, speedyzman13, Zany Old Coot, Ray, Latscry, Adean23, Ultra-Anon, Alturial, rizen, Forever21Jeans, Shrimperium, Priam, Fabhar, Grey, GreenPhoenix, Nickerdoodle, AMeek, Sketchbeard, Part-Time Prick, Deathkorpsofkrieg, Ash The Kitsune, Ninjadanimo, Emeraldleafeon, Siphon Rayzar, Ericobard, BrokenOlive, Skylark8756, Aelias, ncskeeter56, Autocharth, Moxie, Berusella, IAmYourKingAndMaster, King Eevee, Meadow, Derpydude9001, Soah1086, Maestro, Luc, Skye Vicknair, 99tls4u, Papito12495, DEGENDRY, Skye Vicknair,
