{The Abby Show}
"[AND THUS, the heavens have answered my call for a new co-host!]" Abby declared dramatically, standing on top of a table.
Alakazam pinched the bridge of his nose, "[I don't like where this is going.]"
Hypno didn't even look up, "[I never like where this is going.]"
There was a metallic clang as something floated in through the doorway. A shiny Metang. It hovered in place. Completely still.
"[HELLO. I AM METANG. I HAVE BEEN SELECTED FOR CONTENT PRODUCTION.]"
Alakazam slowly turned, "[No we are not doing AI now]"
"[Junior siblings!]" Abby spread her arms wide, "[Behold! The Sect's new strategist, Junior Brother Metang!]"
"[CORRECTION: I AM NOT YOUR BROTHER. I HAVE NO GENDER]"
Metang rotated slightly.
"[I HAVE ANALYZED THE CURRENT GROUP DYNAMIC. CONCLUSION: THIS ENVIRONMENT IS SUBOPTIMAL.]"
"[You can say that again,]" Alakazam muttered.
"[THIS ENVIRONMENT IS SUBOPTIMAL.]"
"[...I regret everything.]"
From the corner, Psyduck raised a hand.
"Psyduck has a question."
Alakazam looked down at him, "[You can talk normally again i thought you still had brain damage form when Abby hit you with that van?]"
"[Psyduck doesn't remember]," Psyduck said, scratching his head, "[But Psyduck thinks this is a cult]."
"[IT IS NOT A CULT!]" Abby snapped instantly, "[It is a cultivation sect!]"
"[Same thing]," Hypno said.
"[BLASPHEMY! Your courting Death junior brother!]" Abby said dramatically but no one took her seriously
Metang hovered closer to Psyduck.
"[SCANNING SUBJECT: 'PSYDUCK.']
[RESULT: MEMORY LOSS DETECTED. INTELLIGENCE LEVEL: UNCHANGED.]"
Abby clapped her hands loudly, "[Enough! It is time to begin today's lesson!]"
Hypno groaned, "[Here we go.]"
"[Today's topic: Ascension Through Rivalry!]" Abby pointed dramatically at Metang, "[Junior Brother Metang will demonstrate the path of cold, unfeeling logic!]"
Metang paused.
"[PROCESSING REQUEST.]
[ERROR: 'ASCENSION' NOT FOUND IN DATABASE.]"
"[You must feel it!]" Abby insisted.
"[FEELING IS INEFFICIENT.]"
"[I like him]," Alakazam said quietly.
"[TRAITOR!]" Abby pointed at him.
[NEGATIVE, I SIMPLY WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN MAKE BELIEVE]
Hypno immediately nodded, "[See? Even the robot gets it.]"
"[I AM NOT A ROBOT.]"
"Close enough," Alakazam said.
Abby grabbed Metang and pulled it closer.
"[Listen well, Junior Brother! Together, we will reach the heavens!]"
Metang did not react.
"[I HAVE CALCULATED THE PROBABILITY OF THAT OUTCOME.]
[RESULT: 0.0003%.]"
"[…So you're saying there's a chance]," Abby said, completely serious.
Alakazam turned to Hypno.
"[…Do you think Psyduck can forget again?]"
Hypno nodded, "[We can only hope.]"
Psyduck raised his hand again.
"Psyduck thinks he had a girlfriend."
Hypno and Alakazam froze and looked at each other, "[Oh god she's going to kill us]"
Hypno put his hands on Psyduck's shoulder, "[Psyduck you need to remember quick for our sake]"
"[Psyduck is…"] Psyduck said slowly, before holding his head in pain, "[Confused]"
Gardevoir meanwhile finally walked in from the side room, and took a seat, "[Um, shouldn't we talk about actual things, like isn't there a entire incident going on in LaRousse city?]"
"[There are more important things]" Hypno said quickly looking out to where Abratwo was sitting at the controls, "[Lets end the episode we have to get Psyduck's memories back before Clementine finds out and kills us,]"
Abby looked up, "[But senior brother we haven't even talked about today's sponsor-]"
"[You shut up, were in this mess because of you,]" Alakazam cut her off, "[Alright thats the end of the episode]"
----
Ash was running through the street, and as he finally reached the front of the hospital, he was out of breath, but he reached for the handle. Then suddenly, he heard an explosion.
He looked up and saw that, on the top floor, a piece of wall was falling directly toward him. He looked at it and simply took two steps to the left, avoiding it. No need to do anything unnecessary. But through the hole, Ash saw a red figure fly out of the hospital.
Ash cursed. He was too late. It looked like it was the incident in Insurgence. He went back to his belt and pushed the button again, trying to get it to open, but still no good; the system hadn't reset.
But as he did that, he heard a second explosion, and he looked up in the direction of the lab. He saw black smoke rising up, and what was worse, he saw the first red figure heading over there too.
Ash cursed, his stomach dropping, "Of course...life, why do you hate me?"
He spun around on his heel and started running again. At least this time he could run along the moving platforms to go a little faster, but it would still take a bit, because even with Aura enhancement, Ash did not have super speed. It was times like this that he wished he had some psychic powers right about now.
As he turned and ran up a pole to jump over a ledge, he could see the first figure, and also a second one flying in the air. Since that one wasn't moving, Ash could tell that it was Deoxys.
"Are you kidding me? Both of them?!"
Pikachu let out a sharp, alarmed cry from his shoulder.
"Yeah, I see it too," Ash said quickly, not slowing down, "This just went from bad to worse."
So Ash braced his legs and shot off, running as fast as he could. As he did, he pulled his phone out and tried calling people.
—
{Meanwhile}
With Damian and Nora, as they ran toward the lab, they reached the glass dome, but at that point they felt an explosion, and the glass around the lab shattered as it fell to the ground. Black smoke rose from below, and then they saw the red creature fly high into the sky and just stay there.
It didn't seem like it was about to attack anyone. It just looked like it was looking around, even if they didn't know what it was. But as Damian and Nora looked up, from one of the buildings where people were hiding, a boy with blue hair and a Plusle and Minun ran by them yelling.
"Dad! Everyone! They're still down there!" Tory shouted as he ran past them and started pushing rubble away from the debris.
Damian and Nora quickly blinked out of their stupor and decided to help. They tried to call out Pokémon, but the electromagnetic lock hadn't reset yet, so they had to start moving the debris themselves. Eventually, people around them started coming out to help as well, although they cautiously kept looking up at where the Deoxys was hovering.
But just as they started getting the first researchers out of the rubble, Malde got close enough for them to finally see each other.
Deoxys looked at him, and he looked at Deoxys, but Malde didn't stop flying. He actually got closer and closer, then at the last moment he raised his arm and swiped downward with a [Knock Off]. But Deoxys was ready. It shifted into Defense Forme and raised an arm to block it.
The impact blasted the clouds away around them as the two stared at each other silently.
You see, because they were technically made from the same DNA, with Deoxys being the original and Malde being mutated with that same DNA, they both believed they were Deoxys 1. And currently, the thing Deoxys 1 wanted most was to find its homie, Deoxys 2. Since both of them believed they were the real one, that meant they both thought the other was fake.
Therefore, they hated each other.
And they both wanted to rip the other apart to get rid of the fake.
Malde's arm lashed forward again, the twin tendrils snapping through the air like whips. Deoxys twisted, its body shifting into Speed Forme and dodging easily.
Deoxys countered instantly. Its arm sharpened into a spear-like limb and thrust forward, aiming straight for Malde's chest, where it assumed his core was, but Malde moved at the last second since he also thought that was where his own core should be.
While they fought in the air, below them Damian froze for half a second.
"…That's not normal."
"No kidding!" Nora snapped, shielding her eyes as another burst of force rippled downward.
"At least they're not bothering us!" Sid, one of the people who had come over to help, said.
"Let's keep it that way and move quick," another person, Rafe, replied as he helped guide one of the researchers out of the rubble.
"Yeah, okay," Nora nodded quickly as she looked back toward the hospital with a conflicted expression, but she shook her head and kept working, trying to help people get out. She pressed the button again, but nothing happened, so they were on their own.
—
{Meanwhile}
Io stepped off the boat she had ridden all the way from Sinnoh. She was a tall woman with long black hair that covered one of her eyes. She didn't even bother trying to disguise herself since she didn't plan to stay in Hoenn any longer than necessary.
She looked out over Hoenn and sighed, muttering to herself about there being too much water. Then she looked back, where ten grunts followed behind her.
Did she need that many? No.
But she took them anyway since she didn't want to carry the container herself, and who was going to stop her? Certainly not Cyrus; he was busy with some weird war subplot.
Honestly, she hadn't really paid attention when he explained it. She did not care in the slightest. The only reason she even agreed to come all the way to Hoenn was because all that nonsense sounded like not her problem, and she got a chance to come annoy Sird. Win-win for her.
As the grunts finished marching out, one last person wearing the standard uniform and sporting the usual blue bowl cut ran out after them. But unlike the others, he was actually also a commander.
She didn't remember his name.
Actually, when most grunts joined, they got pretty much brainwashed into forgetting their old names and were given numbers by Cyrus until they ranked up and earned a name.
Is it cult-like? Yes...were you expecting something else?
Anyway, this one went by B-2, and his main personality trait was that he had a big butt...no, I'm not joking, look it up.
Anyway, he and Io were put in charge of this mission: go to the coordinates, collect the Deoxys, then leave and take it back to Cyrus. But Io would be lying if she said she wasn't thinking about betraying everyone and taking it for herself.
Io didn't even bother turning around as B-2 finally caught up, slightly out of breath.
"You're slow," she said flatly.
B-2 straightened immediately, trying to regain some dignity, "I-I was making sure the grunts stayed in formation."
Io glanced over her shoulder for half a second, unimpressed, "They're grunts. If they get lost, that's just natural selection."
The ten grunts behind them stiffened.
"Yes, Commander," one of them muttered robotically.
Io rolled her visible eye and started walking forward again, her boots clicking against the dock.
"Coordinates?"
B-2 quickly pulled out a device, tapping it a few times, "Right, so we just need to go to an abandoned base off the coast,"
Io stopped and raised an eyebrow, "What? Sird said she put it in a warehouse in the woods for us."
"That's what it said before. She sent us a message saying she moved it so it would be easier for us," B-2 said, holding the tablet up to show her.
Io looked at it and saw that, yep, she really had sent that message. But for some reason, she couldn't help feeling like something was fishy.
Io stared at the screen for a few seconds longer than necessary, "'Easier,' huh," she muttered, her voice flat.
B-2 nodded quickly, "Y-Yeah, that's what it says. She moved it offshore to avoid interference."
Io didn't respond right away. Instead, she reached out, took the device from his hands, and scrolled through the message herself.
Same phrasing. Same tone.
But it seemed too convenient.
Her visible eye narrowed slightly, "Sird doesn't make things easier for anyone," Io said finally.
The grunts behind them shifted uncomfortably.
B-2 blinked, "W-Well, maybe the situation changed,"
Io handed the device back to him with a light tap against his chest, "Or maybe she's lying."
Io turned and started walking again without another word, heading toward the exit of the docks. The grunts scrambled to follow, boots thudding in uneven rhythm.
After a few seconds, B-2 hurried to catch up again.
"So...what do we do?"
Io smirked faintly, though it didn't reach her eyes, "We go to the coordinates."
B-2 hesitated, "Even if it's a trap?"
Io finally glanced at him again, her expression almost bored.
"Especially if it's a trap."
Io sent a quick distress message to HQ, but no one received it since everyone was busy.
"There," she said with a shrug, "I sent a distress signal. If something does happen to us, base will know that Sird betrayed us, and if not, I'll just call it a false alarm."
What they didn't know, however, was that this was exactly what D wanted them to do. He had learned how much Sird and Io disliked each other, so he used that to his advantage. He took a gamble. And that gamble paid off.
So the Galactic squad changed direction and went to the new coordinates in almost another town, where they found an old-looking warehouse. Io led the way, and by that, she meant she kicked B-2 in the butt, making him go first.
B-2 stumbled through the door, rubbing his butt, and looked back at her bitterly, "Ow, why'd you do that?"
Io didn't even blink, "If there's a trap, I'd rather it hit you first."
"That's not a reas—"
The moment his foot fully crossed the threshold, a click sound rang out.
B-2 froze, "Did anyone else hear that?" he asked slowly.
Io's eye narrowed, "Yeah," she said flatly, "I did."
For half a second, everything went quiet.
Then the lights snapped on.
"WELCOME!" a voice rang out far too cheerfully.
Before anyone could react, the doors behind them slammed shut with a heavy BANG, locking the grunts inside.
From the shadows above, figures dropped down one after another.
Jay landed first, cracking his knuckles with a grin, "Right on cue."
Helena floated down slowly on Stephen, "You guys took your time."
Domino waved enthusiastically from atop a stack of crates, "Hi~! Sorry about the dramatic entrance, we practiced that!"
Oakley walked down the stairs like a normal person, looking exhausted, "It was Annie's idea," she said, pointing behind her where Annie did a flip before landing on her feet.
"You're no fun, sis. I gave you the best part too," Annie said, sticking her tongue out at Oakley.
As for where Enid was, well, she came out from the side and swung around, kicking the nearest person, which happened to be B-2. She kicked him hard, sending him flying to the side so she could deal with him personally.
That was the cue the rest of them were waiting for, as they all quickly started throwing out their PokéBalls, Team Galactic grunts included. Everyone threw out their Poké Balls except over where Enid and B-2 were fighting.
Jay even threw out all five of his Pokémon this time instead of only three at a time. Do you know what all five of his Pokémon are? Well, if you paid attention, you would know. It was five Meowths named Ruddy, Tuddy, Moody, Rudey, and Todd.
Did you ever notice there were always five of them? If you actually paid attention, you would've known that.
But anyway, that wasn't important right now. As battles erupted all around them, Io watched without throwing out a Poké Ball yet.
"So," she muttered, brushing a strand of hair from her face, "It was a trap."
But then a slow clap echoed from the far end of the warehouse, followed by the sound of heels clicking against stone. Out from the shadows, a figure approached, Sayoko.
Her single visible eye glowed faintly purple as she tilted her head, a small smirk forming, "Well, well," she said smoothly, "You caught on faster than I expected."
Io's expression didn't change, but her hand moved to her Poké Ball belt.
"You're not Sird," Io said.
"No," Sayoko replied, "But I am the one who's going to stop you from leaving."
Io let out a quiet breath through her nose, "Figures."
They both threw out their Poké Balls. Sayoko released her Absol, while Io released a Pokémon Team Galactic had recently acquired over in Sinnoh and bought in bulk, Porygon.
And over in the corner, B-2 was still struggling.
"CAN SOMEONE HELP ME?!" he shouted as Enid casually kept him pinned down with one foot planted squarely on his lower back.
Enid glanced down at him, "Can you be a quiet side character?"
"I'M BEING ASSAULTED!"
"You're being restrained."
"BY MY BUTT!"
"Again, easiest target."
While that nonsense was happening, D was at the real warehouse.
He had sent the fake coordinates so his squad could deal with Team Galactic and capture them for questioning. When he arrived at the actual location, the door was locked, but it was nothing Muk couldn't handle.
Muk pried the metal door open with ease, and after D stepped inside, the Pokémon slipped back into D's sleeve to wait.
D looked around the place. It really didn't have much, just tubes and scattered junk. But at the far end of the warehouse, he saw what he had come for.
The second Deoxys.
However, this one hadn't absorbed enough energy to reform yet, so it remained unconscious.
Good. That made things easier.
As he walked toward the container, D reached into his pocket and pulled out a purple Poké Ball, a Master Ball.
The project was progressing smoothly. Currently, Kurt had managed to make one more Master Ball for him.
Making it wasn't a problem, it just took time, the main problem was the resources.
You see, with the original Master Ball he has and Ash's knowledge, he already knew what was inside one. This was something confirmed in Pokémon Origins where we saw the blueprints for one
A Master Ball was made from a combination of thirteen different elements. Three of them were nickel, rhodium, and iridium. Another five appeared to be copper, lutetium, rhenium, dubnium, and darmstadtium.
The remaining five included three p-block elements and two f-block elements, though their exact identities were unclear because the Pokémon world's periodic table differed slightly from the real world. Of the p-block elements, one seemed to be either boron or carbon, another corresponded to germanium or arsenic, and the third appeared to be selenium or bromine. As for the f-block elements, one resembled dysprosium, holmium, californium, or einsteinium, while the other seemed related to thulium, ytterbium, mendelevium, or nobelium.
And that was just the ingredient list for making a single Master Ball. The fact that Kurt had managed to get him even one was insane.
So now, between the original one he had given Kurt to study and this newly made one, D currently had two Master Balls to work with. And he was planning to use one of them here for Deoxys.
So he didn't waste any time.
He opened the container Deoxys was in and held the ball out, pressing it against the unresponsive Pokémon. Deoxys went in without a fight, the Master Ball closing and locking almost instantly.
He could heal it later, but for now, simply securing it was the priority. The moment he finished, D heard the warehouse door open, like someone had actually entered the correct code. But D didn't panic. He just smiled.
—
Sird was rushing toward the warehouse.
She had managed to slip away from that stupid mission and that stupid Carr. Once they finished taking out all the black-market trainers, Sird excused herself by saying she was going to speak with Matori, leaving the others to deal with cleanup.
Carr barely paid her any attention, still under the delusion that he was the one in charge. Orm, meanwhile, had simply nodded and let her go.
What Sird didn't know was that, right about now, Orm was grabbing Carr and restraining him, finally deciding he'd had enough of Carr and Sird hurting his family.
But Sird wasn't aware of any of that yet. Using her Starmie, she teleported directly to the warehouse, then immediately returned it to its Poké Ball. She wasn't worried about anything.
Why should she be? As long as she had her secret weapon, she wasn't afraid of anyone.
Sird walked up to the door and heard a commotion inside. She assumed it was Io causing problems again.
Rolling her eyes, she opened the door, ready to yell at her before organizing everyone to retrieve Deoxys and leave.
But the moment she stepped inside, she stopped in her tracks.Standing there in the darkness of the warehouse was someone she recognized immediately, D.
The Deoxys capsule was empty. And in D's hand was a purple Poké Ball.
Sird's eyes narrowed almost instantly, but her posture didn't falter. If anything, she straightened, her chin lifting slightly as though she were still the one in control.
"D," she said flatly, "Explain."
Her gaze flicked once toward the empty capsule, then to the Master Ball in his hand, before returning to his face, or rather, the small part of it she could actually see, "You have five seconds to tell me why you're standing here with my asset."
D didn't answer immediately. He just stood there, relaxed and completely still.
Then slowly, his one visible eye curved slightly. Not quite a smile, but close enough to feel wrong, "Your asset?" he repeated mockingly.
He tilted his head slightly, "I think you're a little confused."
Sird's expression hardened, "Oh?" she asked, her voice lowering dangerously, "Then enlighten me."
"No, I don't think I will," D replied as he clipped the Poké Ball onto his belt.
That was when Sird finally noticed his other hand. There was a small device in it with a single button, he raised it just enough for her to see.
"I think it's about time," he said softly, almost casually, "we had a little fun." Then he pressed it.
Sird looked around, nothing happened. She slowly turned her gaze back toward D.
Then, gradually, a smirk spread across her lips, "That's it?" she asked, unimpressed, "A bluff?"
She took a step forward, her confidence returning in full force, "You really thought that would work on me?"
Her hand moved without hesitation, grabbing a Poké Ball from her belt, "If you think I'm just going to stand here and let you walk out with Deoxys,"
She tossed it forward, "Persian, deal with—"
Clack.
The ball hit the ground and rolled, but didn't open. The ball stayed closed.
Sird's expression cracked, "What?" she muttered.
D then started walking toward her slowly, the sound of his boots tapping against the ground echoing out, "What's wrong? I just turned off the lock mechanism on the Poké Balls. I didn't want anyone interfering with our fun~"
Sird took a step back and grabbed another Poké Ball, throwing it out, not wanting to believe it. But when the ball hit the ground, rolled, and didn't open, she finally understood D wasn't bluffing.
D smiled under the mask. This took a lot of parts he stole from the Paradox Pokémon, but it was worth it. Now the only flaw was that he never figured out how to link it with Trainer IDs, so he couldn't turn everyone else's off while leaving his active. But that was fine. He could get around that by already having the Pokémon he wanted out.
And what do you know, there was a Pokémon D always kept on his body literally.
D raised his hand, and from it Muk shot out like a tentacle and slammed right next to where Sird was standing, cracking the wall.
Sird looked at it in fear as she watched D continue to approach, so she did the only sensible thing and turned around to run into the forest.
She ran like this was a horror movie, while D just kept walking after her.
Sird's breath came out sharp and uneven as branches whipped past her face, her boots slamming against the forest floor in a frantic rhythm. Twigs snapped underfoot, leaves rustled violently in her wake, but behind her she could hear D simply walking after her.
And that made it worse.
Sird gritted her teeth, forcing herself not to look back again. Her hand fumbled into her coat, yanking out her phone. She ran and hid behind a tree, then dialed B-2.
It rang for a bit, but then it connected.
"Finally," Sird snapped, her breath still uneven, "Report—"
What came through the speaker wasn't a report. It was chaos. Explosions. Shouting. The sound of bodies hitting the ground. Someone screaming. A distorted voice yelling commands that cut off mid-sentence.
And then silence.
The call dropped.
Sird slowed for half a step, her expression twisting, "No."
Her fingers tightened around the phone as she immediately switched contacts, dialing another number, Galactic HQ.
It rang.
And rang.
And rang.
No answer.
Nothing.
Sird's steps faltered for just a fraction of a second, "They're busy?" she muttered under her breath, disbelief creeping in, "Now? Of all times,"
But she got cut off when a Muk tendril wrapped around the tree she was hiding behind and literally ripped it out of the ground, throwing it behind them and revealing D still approaching her.
Sird tore her gaze away and ran harder, pushing herself faster, deeper into the forest. She knew this terrain, she had picked it herself.
Her thoughts cut off as she veered sharply, ducking behind a cluster of dense trees and slipping down a narrow, hidden path barely visible unless you knew where to look.
Based on what she saw, that button he pressed must be what was preventing her from opening her Poké Balls, so she figured she was far enough away, at least, that's what she hoped. When she reached the clearing, she reached into a secret compartment in her pocket and pulled out a single Poké Ball.
She quickly started pressing it over and over again, trying to get it to open, "Come on...come on…"
But it didn't open, and at that moment she saw D walk out. Seemingly, he had watched her fumble around until he was sure which Poké Ball was which, and now he had confirmed the Poké Ball in her hands was the one he wanted.
"How," Sird started, her voice cracking despite herself, "How did you find—"
"Wasn't hard," D interrupted calmly, "You were always predictable."
Her grip tightened around the Poké Ball, "Stay back."
"Nah," he said. Then he stretched his arm out, and from his sleeve Muk tendrils shot out, wrapping around Sird's arms, legs, and torso, restraining her. D then walked up while Sird struggled, trying to break free.
He simply snatched the Poké Ball from her hand, "Thank you for delivering this to me. I'll put it to good use."
Once he had it and was sure Sird couldn't reach any of her remaining Poké Balls, he deactivated the lock and pressed the button on the side of the Poké Ball to check what was inside. And indeed, inside this one was Darkrai.
Sird's eyes widened, and just as she was about to say something, a Muk tendril slithered up and covered her mouth.
D put the Poké Ball in his pocket and muttered, "I'll be sure to give these to the Boss for safe keeping."
But of course he was lying. No way in hell was he giving Darkrai or Deoxys to anyone, much less Team Rocket. These were staying in his greedy hands.
He then went to Sird's waist and took the rest of her Poké Balls. After that, he put a finger to his earpiece and spoke into it, "Sird is secured. How is your end?"
On the other side, with Sayoko and the others, the grunts were either defeated or on the ground bruised and tied up beside B-2. Right about now, Sayoko's Absol finished knocking out Io's Porygon, and Oakley moved behind Io, grabbing her arms and forcing her to the ground.
Sayoko flicked her hair and spoke into the earpiece, "Of course everything is under control. Who do you think we are?"
D smiled and replied, "Alright, I'll head to base, and I've got the package." Then he took the earpiece off and turned it off.
Of course, like he said before, he wasn't going to give them the real package. He already had something prepared as a replacement. It was basically a broken machine he found in a Team Magma base, but he had also printed out some basic information on Team Rocket and put it inside. With that, it should be enough to get them off his trail.
The real treasure trove was Sird's phone, which had everything on it. And thanks to D, if all went well, Galactic would just think Sird was a traitor. They would never suspect him. Sure, they might send people after her, but all he needed to do was send fake information about where she went.
All in all, this mission was a complete success. His side was done. Now to see if Ash could finish his part.