//------------------------------// // Second Move // Story: A New World - A New Game // by V-Oblivion //------------------------------// Second Move Old memories, new lands Johto region City of Alto Mare Years ago The water maze of a city that is Alto Mare was never a place to find mercenaries amok, since it was mostly for tourists looking to relax and spend some time close to the sea while surrounded by exquisite pieces of art and culture, and thus there were hardly any important jobs at such places. But that all came to a sudden end when a monstrous tidal wave from out of nowhere almost leveled the city. The story of what really happened was blurred by gossips and deformed by exaggerations as some said it was caused by the legendary Kyogre, others claimed it was Arceus itself ready to wipe out the filth of the world while there even was a theory saying it was the works of a new evil team and so on and on. However, when the ‘how it was stopped?’ question appeared, people seemed to become ignorant and silent at the spot, only saying things like ‘it was all too fast’ or ‘I was asleep’ but most commonly ‘I can’t remember’. Not only did the citizens never seem to remember what happen, but they downright preferred to ignore how such a cataclysmic event was banished in the blink of an eye, leaving them miraculously unscratched. Long story short: Alto Mare was hiding something. That was as hard to see as the fear Fairy-types bring to Dragon-types (not difficult at all), thus many private parties went off to find out the truth behind it and learn just what was the cause of the events as well as what managed to stop it so abruptly, but more importantly: if it could be repeated, replicated and taken advantage of. And so the once calm city was soon filled to the brim with a new kind of tourists which cared not about the beauty of the sea or the grace of their culture but rather the secrets so nonchalantly admitted to have existed due to their lies. Some of these visitors were well known researchers and philanthropists such as renowned inventor Bill and most of the pokemon professors like Kanto’s Oak and Unova’s Juniper. As well of less known shady characters like team Rocket leader, Giovanni, or even the then unknown leader of Team Flare, Lysandre. They all were part of a colossal treasure hunt, and as such, Checkmate couldn’t stay out of it. Because of the sudden overpopulation on the city, Weiss arrived in Alto Mare with only three members; Xavier, Ganger and the team’s newest addition: Froakie “The city’s layout will become a problem for the recruit,” pointed out Xavier in his deep voice over the mind-link, which had some interference due to that all over the city a large amount of psychic-types mind-linked their respective teams as well, although Xavier would never say he had difficulties over such a ‘trivial matter’ As soon as Weiss arrived, he headed to the town’s library and looked for information, a rather general idea as he soon found out, meanwhile, he mentally appraised the water-type. “I don’t know, he sure shows some sneaking skills,” said the mercenary as he retrieved the latest report from said recruit: a piece of paper that ‘spontaneously’ appeared in his pocket “Hiding in plain sight. I definitely like this guy” “If you say so. I on the other hand see his excess of isolation disturbing,” replied Xavier dryly. Although promising, Froakie hardly said a word, not even on the mind link. Pancha, Rouge and Roll often wonder if he had a tongue to begin with and constantly ended up joking at the idea of a tongueless Greninja. “He has his awkwardness. What about it? I am sure I can make an oddity list from each of us long enough to get back home,” joked the leader as he finished his reading, sharing the information to the team’s tactician. “Just there?” Xavier jokingly replied with his deadpanned voice as he examined the information Weiss received, meanwhile, the human left the library. “I see your train of thought,” pointed Xavier, “but what makes you believe those will tell us anything? They certainly see us as foes since the last time we crossed paths” remembering what a troublesome duo those two thieves where. “Is not our fault we were hired to take back what they stole. Besides, they seemed to enjoy the game of chase!” bragged Weiss happily, although he clearly avoided the part when the game ended with the bandits winning “They will talk with the proper words, they are professionals after all” Replied back Weiss with a calm tone as he reached a building as artistic and elegant as the rest on the city, albeit not as visited: the prison, for which he would pay a visit to his oh so dear ‘siblings’ Annie and Oakley. An hour later “You know I could have taken the information out of their heads,” said an annoyed Xavier. It took quite some talk to get the captured thieves speaking, and even what little they said wasn’t pointing anywhere. “And get my mind scrambled in the process like last time? No thank you. I know you are strong and all but you shouldn’t use other people’s head as relay stations, I couldn’t discern my memories for a week!” replied Weiss as he remembered the incident and how he swore he thought he was a Nurse Joy back then. “And they did tell us where to go.” “… correct me if I am wrong but when was such information given?” asked the Psychic-type curiously. “It wasn’t what they said, but what they didn’t. They mention how they ‘would have gotten away with it…’ ” started Weiss. “ ’If it weren’t for those meddling kids’ yes I heard that too, but what is your point?” finished Xavier “Simple, this place is filled to the brim with museums, galleries, libraries and theaters right?” Xavier gave a psychic nod “so which of those is the only one in the entire city that has a wing closed with no explanation and a whole new security crew?” Xavier didn’t need to think hard and let Weiss continue, “so whatever they almost ‘got’ must come from here” Alto Mare’s Museum of Art & History “I acknowledge your reasoning but… wait!” exclaimed Xavier with a flat tone that, to Weiss, sounded like whispering. “someone is spying on us…!” deadpanned the Psychic, its voice colder than usual. This was something new, and for a mercenary, ‘new’ and ‘unexpected’ never came as good things. “someone is capable of ‘hacking’ into your link?!” asked nervously the human, carefully looking all over the sea of people surrounding him, scanning for anyone as suspicious as himself. “Unprovable, but …” -Xavier wore a hint of what seemed to be confusion, making Weiss a bit more neurotic- “I did sense a presence in the link. it was only for an instant, but it was definitely here… Let me run some diagnostics.” And so the mental-link was flooded with the noises a very antique computer would make when connecting to the net, something Weiss definitely didn’t like to hear; however, the link had to keep online in order to find what or who had alarmed his tactician so much. After a few agonizing seconds against a real and figurative wall, Weiss heard the link going silent. “did you find anything?” asked the stressed mercenary, not sure who to trust among all the faces on the crowd, expecting an ambush at any second. “… no… I didn’t find anything,” said Xavier, not too convinced though. “That should be a good thing, right?” asked back Weiss, noticing the slightlytill different tone yet relaxing a bit more while resuming his way. “That’s the problem,” explained Xavier emotionlessly, “I expected another mental-link to cross mine by mistake or someone attacking, anything like that. But I find none of those, only the link as it was. Whoever broke in, it made little to no effort to do so while leaving no trace behind” Weiss took a second to think the possibilities; It could have been someone trying to hear into their link in the pursuit of information, which was like gold in their situation, or an overload caused by the saturation on the airspace, the place was boiling with psychics after all “…” but experience had also taught Weiss to never go with the simple explanation of ‘who’s there…?! Meh, probably just a cat’ that some idiotic guards had “did you feel any aggressive intent from it?” Finally asked Weiss “It was only an instant, I can’t give an accurate report.” That said, Xavier used all of his mental power to analyze the fraction of second that he had felt the presence. “Negative… I feel no ill intention… nothing close to be considered aggression” “We will have to go with that then…” said the leader of Checkmate while thinking ‘gambits are yet another part of the job’ as he entered the museum, completely unaware of the translucent body that was following him. Finding the most ‘attractive’ sight on the museum closed with nothing more than a sign saying ‘under renovations’ and a guard keeping people as far away of the entrance as possible was enough to tell Weiss he had found the place Annie and Oakley visited. “This was easy…!” exclaimed the human with a bit of disappointment as he looked for a way to enter. “You do know that 78% of the times those words are said something happens,” said Xavier dryly. “Sorry, my bad,” replied Weiss with a scolded tone as he patted his head, “your turn buddy.” And at these words, a Joltik came out of Weiss’ hair, a decisive look of ‘bring it’ on its tiny eyes as it jumped off its hiding spot and quickly made it over one of the many displays nearby, With an electric-ñoming sound, the alarm guarding it was triggered and the general attention aimed towards it, distracting the guard long enough for the mercenaries to enter the guarded chamber. Inside lied a huge machine that looked like a planetarium crossed with a desk lamp: the fabled Defense Mechanism of Alto Mare, or DMA for short -the main attraction of the museum which legend claimed to be a real defensive mechanism of sorts- lied inside the room as the only exhibition alongside a couple of fossils on the ground. The first thing Weiss noticed was how different the machine looked from the promotional pamphlets and said “so many pictures of this machine all over the city makes that change hard to miss” while inspecting the machine. He could find what appeared to be a cockpit. “Why would a planetarium need one of these?” It seemed out of energy. “What do you see, Xavier?” “Besides what people call ‘modern art’? Nothing,” came the reply from the Psychic. “I am not there, so you need to be a ‘relay station’ if you want me to find something” “… did you just act on a grudge?” asked Weiss, a bit shocked by the sudden emotional show his regularly cold tactician made. “Will you or will you not?” pressed Xavier. “Do I have any other choice?” he conceded, although he didn’t mind it this time, since he wasn’t going to enter someone else’s mind. “Whenever you are ready.” Xavier concentrated a portion of his mind on Weiss’ being, causing the human’s eyes to shine blue. “Mental upload completed, beginning analysis,” stated a mix of human and mechanic voices coming out of Weiss’ mouth as the two started to inspect the DMA. “The energy levels this machine needs to operate are nothing I have seen before.” Some remnants of said energy glowed all over the controls, making the machine seem alive once more “however there seems to be not much remaining of it” “So you are saying it’s out of juice then?” asked Weiss from within his own consciousness. “In a way, yes” answered Xavier from Weiss’ mouth, “it is strange though…” Without explaining what he meant with that, Xavier made Weiss move around the machine, tracing down the energy until they found what appeared to be where its power source was supposed to go: a little base for some sort of sphere. “The trace starts here but … this is inconceivable” remarked Xavier with some interest. “What is?” asked again the human. “The size of the energy source is minuscule in comparison with the output. Either the designer knew a way to generate this much energy out of a battery, or whatever lied here is the equivalent of a hyper-micro reactor” “Okay… now in a language we mortals can understand” requested Weiss -Ganger and Froakie mentally nodding in agreement. “Think having the energy for Castelia city in the palm of your hand” the Psychic dryly rephrased, no stranger to such situations. “So you are implying the battery is more important than the machine then?” concluded Weiss as he regained control over his body “you know what this means, right?” “Technology is about to forever change and leap at least ten years of development?” ventured Xavier, although he knew this wasn’t what his leader was thinking about. “That too” lied Weiss “but it also means we hit the jackpot here! And before anyone else to top it” As this little party of one happened, the tactician notices something again “Weiss… it’s back” At these words, Weiss’ demeanor returned to its cold, professional self. “Can you track it back to its source?” “That’s unnecessary…” replied Xavier with a hint of defeat. “Why is that?” asked Weiss, ready to burst into a dash, being worried for its tactician “Is it heading to your position?!” Calmly the psychic-type replied “Negative, it’s already at yours.” And so, the mercenary was left with a cold sweat as he slowly turned to face the one capable of not only meddling into Xavier’s mental link as if it were nothing, but also capable of sneaking behind him without being noticed “…” needless to say, Weiss was beyond perplexion once he saw her. He found a simple looking young girl wearing a simple looking green shirt, a simple looking white skirt and a broad smile which she used to say one simple word, “Hi” Location unknown Present time Weiss started to return from his memories as his eyes opened slowly and looked at the blue sky “… odd… since when was route 14 so shiny…?” his head was killing him and the bright light didn’t help at the slightest, so he slowly turned to his side in order to avoid it and found the weirdest creature he had ever encountered in his entire life: a squirrel. For Weiss, it was a brown-furred and puffy-tailed creature looking directly at him with perhaps the same perplexed expression “…” After some time he finally muttered “you are not a Ratata!” which seemed to startle the ‘creature’ away. Weiss followed the squirrel with his gaze and found what seemed to be a white cottonless Buneary trying to smell the air around him. After yet another staring contest between him and the bunny, Weiss got to the next conclusion “… another eccentric contractor!” exclaimed the ‘human’ as he returned his gaze to the ground with a scowl. From time to time he would suddenly awake in the middle of an unknown region with nothing more than some gear and instructions for some suicidal mission, those where normally pretty annoying, as they expect him to act as Klinklang without knowing what the hell this was all about. He looked around for Shredder or Anzu of which neither seemed to be around. “Shred must be somewhere else,” he thought out loud, “and Anzu is too famous a gym leader, they wouldn’t dare mix her in this, so I am on my own for now.” “What a big pile…” said Weiss with little excitement as he returned his gaze to the sky while waiting for someone to contact him. “Sooner or later they will come and try to make me move my sorry ass,” he said to himself with annoyance while attributing the weird sensation over his body to the gear he was given. He then opted to think about the memories he had on the way there. “Haven’t thought of her like this in a while… I wonder how she is doing,” he said out loud. “It must be because of the anniversary. It is coming soon, after all. Must tell Rouge to get her best roses ready for it…” His mind drifted on preparations for the anniversary as he waited for someone to arrive. Needless to say he would be doing so for a while. Ancient Griffin ruins Daring’s location Daring Do almost forgot the situation she was in as she closely inspected the sort of metallic golem before her. It appeared to be able to talk and had been mumbling for some seconds, which itself told her it was a feminine golem, and she seemed to be coming back into her senses. Normally Daring would have left it there and ran for the exit, finding some more of these golems trying to stop her along the way out, yet something told her this was something unique -similar to the time one of the princess and her friends showed up and turned one of her adventures into one hell of a ride, a ride she was happy to be part of nevertheless. So, trusting her guts, she started to poke at the metallic golem waking up. “Hey…!” -poke- “Are you okay…?” -poke- “You hurt or something?” -poke- “Do you need help-gah!” Her hoof was suddenly grabbed by the golem’s cold hand, which in turn replied with a very annoyed voice. “Enough with that meddling!” the golem’s voice seemed similar to somepony who just woke up after a Buffalo celebration with lots of shrooms “Just where are we anyway…?” asked the metallic being while looking at her surroundings in confusion, not letting go of Daring’s hoof. “Slow start and ignorant of the job huh? This place’s security is cheaper than I thought,” joked Daring while trying to get loose from the golem’s hand. It didn’t budge an inch. “Huh, is that so…” replied dryly the golem, ignorant of what she meant, “but one more thing.” Faster than Daring Do could react, she was now the one lying on the ground with her hoof been tightly pressed against her back while her new captor interrogated, “Who are you, Ponyta, and where is my team?” “Okay! I take back what I said about the lousy security!” exclaimed Do as she tried once again to break loose, “and what are talking about? Don’t you work for those dogs out there? Or the guys who made this temple in the first place? And what the hay is a Ponyta?” Ignoring the last part, the golem faced towards an unfamiliar noise coming from the distance: the Diamond Dogs -automatically deeming them non-friendly. “Just what are those…?” Then she looked at Daring more closely. “And what are you?” She asked, letting go of her. ‘Oh this is going to be one of those long days alright,’ thought Daring as she regained the mobility of her hoof and glared at the metallic creature. “You’re telling me you don’t remember your purpose here?” she was about to joke about the place’s security once more but opted to keep her arm free “You are a golem, and you are supposed to be guarding these ruins,” said the adventurer mare slowly, almost as if she were talking to a ‘special’ pony, a motion pointing at the whole place as extra input. “I see that hardly possible since I am not a Golurk but a Bisharp, neither have I ever accepted the mission you speak off,” replied the Bisharp with a suspicious expression towards Daring’s motions, thinking in return if she was a ‘special’ Ponyta. “A Bishop? Excuse me ma’am but you don’t seem the religious-type at all, unless you are from one of those sects who loves sharp stuff…” said Daring while eyeing the armor more closely. “I know a lost cult or two whom would like to get the name of your tailor.” “Bi-Sharp.” Now was the turn for the metallic creature to talk slowly, “you know, the sword blade pokemon? And I am not a religious-type; I am dark-type” “Poke—what now!?” Replied Daring with a frown. “… you are kidding right?” deadpanned the Bisharp, to which Daring simply denied. “You don’t know what a pokemon is…” she continued with disbelief, “how can you not know what a pokemon is? We are literally all over the planet!?” though her tone of voice was still adamant, the look on her face clearly showed the amount of stress her head was going through. “Is this some sort of bad joke Ponyta…!” Daring had to accept that the level of expression this Bisharp creature had on its face was impressive, considering it was made out of metal. “I told you I don’t know what a Pokemon or a Ponyta its alre-hey-mmmmnmm!!” before Daring could finish, the Bisharp pushed her into the ground and covered her mouth, her eyes again cold as she looked into the distance. A couple of voices, and sniffs could be heard coming toward their direction, only to change its course in favor of a different hallway. “I think explanations have to wait until we are on a safer ground,” said the Bisharp as she stood back up, helping Daring to do so as well. “You don’t say?” joked Daring as she dusted herself off while taking her hoof-erm-hand, although she too had forgotten about the Diamond Dogs since her ‘talk’ with the pokemon started “so where now, Bisharp?” “How should I know, this place is unknown to me” replied the pokemon solemnly “I’m afraid an alliance is in order for us to leave this place, thus I will be at your mercy for now on.” “Quite the golem you are,” joked Daring yet again “Be sure to stay close then, this place is filled with those pups as well some traps. I am Daring by the way-” she raised her hoof “-Daring Do.” The pokemon took the hoof tightly and said in turn “Shredder, and…” Shredder seemed to fidget for a few seconds, her face turning a dusty shade of pink, as she tried to bend the blade on her hips to cover her rear “Would you happen to have some extra clothes with you?” Unknown Place Weiss’ location “JUST WHAT ARE THEY WAITING FOR??!!” exclaimed the tired mercenary, “I swear to Arceus if this is another sick game of battle royale I am so slicing some necks once I am out of here!” At the mere thought of heads being chopped like apples, Weiss could feel something coming out his forearms “what the fu-” He raised his arm and noticed a sight he had seen many times, albeit from a different perspective: a silver armored arm with a thin, long, sharp blade coming out of it. “… Isn’t this Shred’s arm?” he wondered out loud as he processed the information, taking in the new limb. Weiss decided to look at the rest of his ‘equipment’, noticing it was in fact the armored body of a Bisharp. “Okay… this isn’t Shred’s body” His time with his second in command had taught him how to identify her with ease. “Then is this body mine or some other pokemon’s…?” Being a mercenary, Weiss had heard all sorts of things in his life, from people being spirited away by ghost-types to psychic-types capable of body swapping with unsuspecting travelers -the latter filling the bill- and even some mad scientists hiding all over the world. ”Only one way to find out.” He took his hand to the back of his neck, noticing the familiar sensation within its flesh, or was it metal now? “Okay, this ‘is’ my body -but no clothes- and…” He searched around his neck and noticed with sadness the loss of his necklace, “Gone too, huh?” But he cheered up soon after as he again found that familiar shine up in the sky “It’s okay, family is more than material stuff, right you two?” Weiss proceeded to think about his current situation and the possibilities while looking at the ground, waiting. “Suddenly knocked out cold-” a shadow appeared on the ground around him “-wake up in the middle of nowhere as a pokemon-” the shadow started to enlarge “-So I either got captured by a mad scientist-” the shadow was definitely big “-got pranked by a Ghost or Psychic pokemon-” the shadow was now turning smaller at an accelerated rate “-or I stumbled upon Jirachi while drunk and asked for this to happen… somehow.” laughing about his last option, Weiss stepped out of the shadow just the very instant before it hit the ground. A thunderous ‘Boom’ sounded and a thick cloud of dirt came out of the collision, which Weiss ignored as he greeted his old friend and comrade with a question. “Which one do you like more, Xavier?” From within the dust, a deep mechanical voice raised, “I think wishes don’t work in such a way.” The dirt cloud subsided to reveal a huge, four legged spider-like creature with shining silver skin all over its body, an enormous golden X lying right on the middle of its cold and calculating red eyes, which give Xavier and all of his kind a permanent frown-like expression, however his monotonic voice sounded almost warm and happy as he looked at Weiss. It took Xavier a second to recognise the former human’s mind, and though he too was confused for the change, what he just found out made that seem trivial. “I also suggest you to lie down as I fill you in of what I have found,” said the shiny Metagross as it walked toward Weiss, “and I assure you, it’s not easy to take” “Xavier…” started Weiss “I am a Bisharp, A. BI-SHARP. What can you possibly tell me that surpasses this?” He pointed at the blades on his forearms. “We are in a different world” deadpanned Xavier. “ Oh… that is a good start...” he replied flatly, before the former human took Xavier’s suggestion and slowly sat on the ground.