Cinnabar sky was no longer dark; it was a grid of flickering red and blue. Above the volcanic rim, three League Heavy-Lifters hovered, their massive belly-mounted searchlights carving the island into geometric slices.
"Target sighted in the Deep-Core," a mechanical voice boomed over the long-range speakers. "Anomaly-0092, power down your Aura and recall your specimens. You are surrounded by the Elite-Response Unit."
Zeth stood at the mouth of the volcanic vent, the hot ash swirling around his boots. Behind him, the two new knights stood like statues. The Ceruledge was a shadow given form, its violet-flame blades hissing as they licked the humid air. The Armarouge stood broad-shouldered, its golden plates humming with a low-frequency psychic vibration that made the gravel at its feet hover in mid-air.
"They aren't specimens," Zeth whispered, his eyes flashing emerald. "And they aren't powering down. Armarouge, clear the sky. Ceruledge, cut the tether."
From the Heavy-Lifters, a swarm of Magnemite and Skarmory dived, acting as a metal net to suppress the escape.
Armarouge stepped forward. It didn't move its legs; it simply shifted its weight. The massive brass-colored pauldrons on its shoulders slid together, locking into a singular, wide-bore cannon at the center of its chest.
"Armor Cannon!"
A blast of concentrated psychic-fire erupted—not as a stream, but as a compressed slug of incandescent light. The projectile hit the lead Skarmory mid-air, the psychic shockwave expanding on impact and short-circuiting the electronics of the Magnemite swarm in a fifty-foot radius. Metal rained from the sky.
"Target has long-range artillery!" a pilot screamed over the radio. "Steelix teams, deploy! Ground the dragon!"
Four Steelix erupted from the black sand at the base of the vent, their silver bodies coiling to crush the exit.
Ceruledge didn't wait for a command. It vanished.
It didn't run; it dissolved into a streak of indigo smoke, reappearing instantly on the head of the lead Steelix. Its twin blades, burning with a cold, spectral fire, slashed in a cross-pattern.
"Bitter Blade!"
The strikes didn't just cut the metal; they bit into the Steelix's life-force. Zeth watched as the massive snake Pokémon visibly shriveled, its physical energy being siphoned directly into Ceruledge's armor. The knight flickered again—zip, zip, zip—appearing behind each Steelix in a blur of violet light. Within seconds, all four giants collapsed, their metallic hides untouched but their spirits temporarily drained.
"He's bypassing physical defense!" an Enforcer shouted, scrambling his Alakazam. "Use Psychic-Net!"
Two Alakazam converged, their spoons crossing to create a shimmering purple cage around the vent. The gravity within the cage spiked, intended to pin Zeth to the floor.
"My turn," Zeth growled. He slammed his hand against the ground, his Aura surging into the stone. "Armarouge, Expanding Force!"
The Golden Knight slammed its palms into the dirt. A dome of psychic energy exploded outward, meeting the Alakazam's cage. Because of the Zenith Catalyst Zeth had used, the pressure was overwhelming. The "Cage" didn't just break; it shattered, the feedback sending the League's Alakazam reeling back with hands over their heads.
"Charizard, NOW!"
The Lunar Charizard roared, diving from the high ridges. It snatched Zeth in its claws and banked hard toward the open ocean.
"Intercept! Use Hyper Beam!"
Three Gyarados surfaced in the bay, their mouths glowing with destructive orange energy. A wall of beams converged on the ivory dragon.
"Ceruledge, Phantom Force! Armarouge, Wide Guard!"
Armarouge stood on the Charizard's tail, its hands glowing with a massive, shimmering gold barrier that caught the brunt of the beams, the psychic energy refracting the heat away. Simultaneously, Ceruledge dove through the air, disappearing into the shadows cast by the beams and reappearing directly in front of the Gyarados.
In one fluid motion, the Ghost-Knight spun, a whirlwind of violet blades cutting through the air. The Gyarados flinched, the spectral chill of the blades freezing the water around them and stalling their attack.
By the time the smoke cleared, the sky over Cinnabar was empty. The "ivory ghost" and its two new guardians had vanished into the mist of the Great Sea.
Zeth looked back at the fading lights of the island. He wasn't a fugitive anymore. With a Ghost-blade and a Psychic-cannon at his side, he was a sovereign power.
"Next stop," Zeth said, patting the Charizard's neck. "We find the man who sold us out. We're going to Saffron."
Saffron City didn't sleep; it hummed with a sterile, electric anxiety. The skyline was dominated by the Saffron Heritage Foundation spire, a needle of glass and reinforced steel that sat just three blocks away from the Silph Co. headquarters.
Zeth stood on a rusted fire escape of a nearby tenement, his hood pulled low. The Lunar Charizard was hidden in the low-hanging smog above the city, its ivory scales blending into the chemical clouds. Beside Zeth, Ceruledge stood as a flicker of indigo shadow, its violet-flame blades retracted into its gauntlets to dampen its heat signature.
"They think they bought my silence with a transit pass," Zeth muttered, his eyes tracing the patrol routes of the Senior-Tier Fearow circling the spire.
"Armarouge, status?"
From the shadows of the alleyway below, a telepathic pulse hit Zeth's mind. Armarouge was using its Psychic-type sensitivity to map the building's internal security grid. It wasn't just "sensing" people; it was feeling the electronic pulses of the biometric locks.
[Clearance Level 4 detected. Eleven human signatures in the lobby. Three Alakazam maintaining a telepathic shroud on the penthouse.]
"Go," Zeth commanded.
Ceruledge didn't make a sound as it stepped off the fire escape. It used Phantom Force, not to attack, but to sink into the shadows of the building's exterior. It moved like a smudge of ink, bypassing the thermal sensors by dropping its internal temperature to a ghostly chill.
Zeth followed, using his Aura to mask his own heartbeat. He wasn't a "trainee" anymore; he moved with the predatory efficiency of a Rocket operative.
They reached the 42nd floor—the Restricted Research Wing. Zeth kicked the titanium door open, the Psychic-Lock already shattered by Armarouge's resonant frequency.
Inside, holographic displays projected his own team's data.
"It's a beautiful blueprint, isn't it?"
Dr. Aris sat in a high-backed leather chair, a glass of wine in her hand. Beside her stood a Gardevoir, its eyes glowing with a cold, Senior-Master intensity. Aris didn't look surprised; she looked hungry.
"You stole the resonance data," Zeth said, his voice dropping into a dangerous, flat tone.
"I'm interested in Gods, Zeth," Aris countered. "The ivory dragon, the knights of shadow and light... you've cracked the code for biological transcendence. I want that code."
Zeth didn't waste words. He felt the shift in the air. "Ceruledge. Armarouge. End this."
As the knights stepped into the light of the lab, their internal status flared in Zeth's mind, a direct link through his Aura.
Pokémon: Ceruledge Level: 31 Potential: Solid Gold Ability: Weak Armor Hidden Ability: Cursed Body (Dual-Unlocked via Zenith Catalyst) Learned Moves: Solar Blade, Bitter Blade, Shadow Sneak, Night Slash, Phantom Force, Will-O-Wisp, Flame Charge. TM Moves: Swords Dance, Shadow Claw, Poison Jab.
Pokémon: Armarouge Level: 31 Potential: Solid Gold Ability: Flash Fire Hidden Ability: Weak Armor (Dual-Unlocked via Zenith Catalyst) Learned Moves: Armor Cannon, Expanding Force, Night Shade, Mystical Fire, Wide Guard, Calm Mind, Psyshock. TM Moves: Aura Sphere, Dragon Pulse, Trick Room.
"Ceruledge, Night Slash! Armarouge, Expanding Force!"
Ceruledge flickered, appearing behind the Gardevoir in a blur of indigo smoke. Its violet blades sang as they cut through the air, the Cursed Body ability humming as it threatened to disable the Gardevoir's next move on contact.
Armarouge slammed its armored palms into the floor. The psychic energy didn't just push—it resonated with the laboratory's equipment, turning the floor itself into a weapon. The Expanding Force sent a shockwave that shattered the glass displays and forced Aris to dive for cover.
"Gardevoir, Moonblast!" Aris screamed.
The pink orb of fairy energy erupted, aimed directly at Zeth's chest.
"Wide Guard!"
Armarouge stood like a golden bulwark, its hands manifesting a massive, shimmering barrier. The Moonblast hit the shield and dispersed into harmless sparks.
"We aren't leaving the data for you to play with, Doctor," Zeth said, pulling a high-density EMP device from his belt. He slammed it into the central terminal.
The screens screamed. The "Anomaly" files—the blueprints for his team—turned into digital ash.
"You've just made yourself a target for every Tier-1 hunter in the world," Aris whispered, her face pale as Ceruledge pinned her Gardevoir to the wall with a spectral blade at its throat.
"Good," Zeth said, turning toward the window. "I was getting bored of the small fry anyway."
He vaulted through the glass, the Lunar Charizard catching him mid-fall. The two knights followed, disappearing into the Saffron night like myths returning to the dark.