Shortly after sunrise on the third day after the destruction of Equus a Rapidash was running along a paved road, headed towards a city. The fire horse pokemon was running at its full gallop speed of over one hundred fifty miles per hour. Its hooves barely touched the ground and its flaming mane and tail stretched out behind it sparkling with excess energy.
Riding on this Rapidash's back was a young woman. Her appearance was blurred by the fire flowing around her, but in her arms she held something wrapped in a denim jacket. She clutched it tight to her chest with one arm while she held onto the pokemon with the other.
The pokemon's speed began to drop, and the girl knew that her friend was at his limit. Letting go of him she reached for another pokeball, and called out Zebstrika. The zebra pokemon appeared in almost full gallop alongside them, and the two equines matched their speed. Moving carefully she rose to a crouch on the Fire type's back, and with a graceful maneuver she hopped on the Electric pokemon's back.
As the girl called back her pokemon and continued on with her Zebstrika now running in a full gallop, they passed a trio of travelers. A man, a mawile, and a lucario. The Fairy type watched with raised eyebrows as the girl disappeared from view down the road.
"Wow, she's good." the mawile commented.
The lucario studied the fading aura signature of the small bundle in the girl's arms. It was definitely an aura pokemon, but it was different than any she had seen before. "I'm not sure, but I think she was carrying a riolu." she finally said.
THUNK!
The two female pokemon both looked to see that the source of the sound was their trainer walking head first into a tree as he had kept his face buried in his map. They both stared at him for a moment as the thought of 'Really?' passed through their minds. Then the buzzing started...
All three of them looked up in time to see the Beedrill swarm hovering above the same tree that the man had walked into. They took just enough time to scream before running away as fast as they could.
The girl had noticed nothing and continued on, her Zebstrika going all out. They came into the city fairly quickly and the pokemon slowed down in time to stop at the Pokemon Center. Leaping off of her ride the girl ran inside and called out for help.
"What's wrong?" asked the Nurse Joy who was sitting behind the desk.
"I found this pokemon on my way to town." the said as she placed the bundled up pokemon on the desk for the nurse to see. "I don't know what it is and it looks seriously hurt."
"Let's see here." Nurse Joy carefully unwrapped the jacket. A blue equine head with a mane of rainbow colors was revealed. "Oh my goodness, it doesn't look good. But we'll get this pokemon up and running around again in no time."
Wake up. Xavier told everyone in his monotone telepathy. It is time to move out.
There was quite a bit of grumbling from the others as they were woken up so bluntly. The powerful Psychic had actively brought them out of their sleep. The only ones not complaining about being woken up were the couple of mercenaries who had been on watch, and now had to move out instead of sleeping.
"What's the rush Xavier?" Weiss asked before letting out an impressive yawn.
Joker
The majority of Checkmate had the same reaction of a facepalm. Simon the Excadrill was still laying on his belly and simply buried his head in the ground after saying "Nope." The Gyarados and Noivern members of the group both muttered something about having a snack, which made Gene decide to give them some space.
"So who is this guy?" Gene asked Weiss as he started packing up his camping gear.
"...competition, and we're not going to wait here to find out if he's after you or not." the mercenary told his charge. "Pack it up fast people, we're leaving, now!"
"Is there anything I need to know about this guy?" Gene asked.
"You mean other than him being a complete nut job?" Weiss sighed. "Yeah actually you should know as much as necessary about him."
"...as much as necessary? Not as much as possible?" Gene asked.
"I wish that I knew less about him. So trust me when I say that you don't want to know too much." Weiss warned him.
"Okay..." Gene continued packing.
"I occasionally had to work a few jobs with him." with that said Weiss began a flashback.
A younger Weiss stood at a safe distance from a mine field. He was dressed in a standard combat and recon outfit in all black with lots of straps and pockets to hold his equipment. The day was bright but he still couldn't see where all the mines were. They had been standing there for nearly half an hour, and the longer they waited the more the other man got on his nerves.
"Hey Weiss, look at me!"
Weiss did not look. He continued to study the ground ahead in hopes of determining the best path across.
"Hey Weiss! Hey Weiss! Hey Weiss! Hey Weiss! Weiss. Weiss. Weiss. Weiss. Weissy. Weissy. Weissy. Weissy. Wei. Wei. Wei. Wei. Double u. Double u. Double u. Double u."
"What!? What do you want Joker!?" he finally yelled at the other man.
"Hi." he said with a small wave. "I forgot what I was going to say."
"... Why are you dressed like that?" Weiss asked when he noticed that Joker was wearing a white tutu, with a matching top, short baggy striped shorts, and shoes made for playing football.
"Comedic effect."
Having learned not to question the things Joker does already Weiss decided to ignore the odd choice in clothing and return to the task at hand. He suddenly found himself with an idea.
"Hey Joker, I'll bet you five dollars that you can't get through this mine field without setting off any explosions."
Joker looked Weiss in the eye with a completely serious expression. "Did you just bet five dollars on whether or not I die crossing a minefield?" he asked. "Is that really how much you think my life is worth?"
"... Yeah." Weiss confirmed with a nod.
"... Prepare to lose your lunch money!" Joker said. He then proceeded to prance across the minefield in a dance like fashion reminiscent of a very crude ballet that included quite a few too many pelvic thrusts. He then reached the other side completely unharmed and spiked an imaginary football into the ground. "You totally owe me five bucks!"
Weiss took a moment to process what he had just seen. After his moment he calmly walked across the minefield, being careful to step only where the other man had, and made his way to the other side unharmed. He then gave his wallet, which contained at least five hundred dollars to Joker. "Keep the change, I'm starting a tab."
"You're kidding, right?" Gene asked as they stepped out of the trees and on to the road. "That actually happened?"
"Yes." was Weiss' simple answer.
"I'm not sure I want to know anything else about him." the younger man said as he shook his head in an effort to clear away the unusual image that now existed in his mind.
"Fare enough." Weiss couldn't blame him for that. "If he is after you, you're going to get told to run. Some of us will stay with you, but just worry about running."
"Is he really that dangerous?"
"He once stole a contract from me that would have taken at least six of us to complete, by himself." Weiss deadpanned. "Guy doesn't really have the skills, but he can...do things."
Weiss was sneaking through a warehouse under the cover of darkness. In the classic black trench coat, combat boots, shirt, and pants of a stealth operative he blended in with the shadows. With him were Pancha, Rouge, Titania, and the Ghost Burton. Greninja was elsewhere in the building as backup.
The job was simple. Get in, get the item, get out, and remove anything that got in the way. The item in question was a set of documents that in the right hands would give that person control of a manufacturing company.
He came to the door of the office that his information said the documents we're held in. With his pokemon he slowly opened the door after picking the lock. What they found was not what they expected. "Joker?"
"Sup dawg!" Joker greeted them before he returned to rummaging through the cabinets for the documents.
"... Why are you here?" Weiss asked him.
"I'm working for the guy who is trying to take control of the company from the guy that you're working for." the other mercenary answered honestly and completely unconcerned about his competition knowing his business. "Hey you up for pizza later?"
"No I don't want any pizza." Weiss told him. He then walked up behind Joker and hit a nerve cluster in his neck to leave him unconscious. "Idiot."
As Weiss was going through the same cabinet his teammates started on the others. After a minute of searching he found it. "I've got the item, let's go."
"BRAAAIINNNSSSS!" yelled Joker as he leaped from the floor and grabbed Weiss in a headlock from behind. "BRAAINSS!"
"GAH!" Weiss stumbled backwards into the wall. The other man was still on his back and acting like a zombie. "The Hell Joker!? Get off!"
"Brains." Joker said as he reached for the documents.
"No!" Weiss yelled in defiance and held the documents away as he tried to get the other arm off of his neck.
"Brains!" Joker yelled back. He climbed up on Weiss piggyback style and reached for the documents again.
Weiss began running around the office and banging Joker into anything he could in an effort to dislodge him. "Get off! Get off! Get off!" he yelled each time he smacked into something.
"Brain!" Joker leaned over and licked the side of Weiss' face.
"Ahh!" Weiss exclaimed in disgust and threw his arms up to cover his head.
"Brains!" Joker shouted in victory as he grabbed the documents from Weiss' hand. He then jumped off of him and flipped in the air to land in a perfect two point dismount. "Yay!"
His victory was short lived as Weiss tackled him and pushed him out the window, being sure to grab the documents too.
"I HATE YOU!" Weiss yelled out the window. He turned accusingly to his teammates. "And where were the four of you?"
"We were here laughing." Pancha told him with a thumbs up.
"....let's just go get paid." he said.
Suddenly the door was kicked open by Joker who was wearing a jumpsuit and had a vacuum cleaner strapped to his back. "Who ya gonna call?" he shouted. Aiming his vacuum at Burton he flipped the switch to on, and a tornado like force sucked the Ghost into the machine. He then threw a jar of bugs at the floor in front of Rouge causing the Grass type to run away before they could get an appetite. He then pointed an aerosol can at Pancha and Titania, and sprayed them with the canned Stun Spore paralyzing them. He then took the vacuum cleaner off and threw it at Weiss who caught it with his chest.
Joker picked up the documents and walked out saying "You guys are fun you know that? We should do this more often."
A few hours later the Checkmate mercenaries were doing the walk of shame through town. They heard someone calling them and looked at the nearby pizza place. Joker was waving at them and pointing at an extra large pizza on his table.
"Ok you are either screwing with me, or completely serious. Either way I don't want to hear anymore about this guy." Gene told Weiss.
"I don't blame you." Weiss watched as his paycheck walked off to be beside Belle.
Gene held hands with Belle as she levitated Scootaloo through the air like she was flying. Weiss started to think about the little pegasus and what could happen to the mission while she was with them. He didn't like what he pictured.
Xavier, one to Roll, he requested via telepathy. Roll, the kid is going to put the mission in jeopardy. First chance you get drop her off at a Pokemon Center.
Affirmative, the Lopunny thought back.
That is ill advised, Xavier warned them. The Gardevoir and the young one have imprinted on each other as mother and child. So unless you want an angry mother Psychic type whose species is known for its reputation for seeking out those who hurt their family and taking vengeance, I advise against this course of action.
Oh please, how strong do you think she is? I could beat her easy if I wasn't holding back., Roll bragged.
Xavier sighed mentally. Roll, you do realize that if it was actually a true one on one battle without me to keep your mind shielded she would make you her puppet.
...yeah well she looks like a floozy, she thought back to Xavier only to get no response. Thinking that she had somehow won the argument Roll continued on walking with a smug look on her face.
"What are you so happy about?" Weiss asked her. He did not understand her answer because it only came in pokemon speak. "Xavier, you ok up there? We lost our mental link."
"NOIVERN!" the Dragoness Edge roared as she swept in low to smack her teammates out of the way. Roll and Weiss took a tumble across the ground, and Edge got slammed into the ground as Xavier fell onto her, thankfully upside down so she didn't get the spikes.
"Xavier! Edge!" the human mercenary ran to them. "What happened? What's your status?"
Apologies. I am under the effect of Gravity, and it was all I could do to slow my descent. Are you injured Edge?, the massive Steel type asked after re-establishing the Psychic link.
"Not injured, but I'd appreciate it If you would get off." she told him.
"What happened Xavier?" Weiss asked as several other pokemon, Bell included, carefully moved him off of her.
"That happened." he pointed one claw at a rapidly spinning purple object.
The purple object landed to reveal itself as a Starmie when it stopped in front of three other Psychic types, Beyheem, Solrock, and Lunatone. Team Diamond of the Royal Flush mercenaries.
An eerie feeling on the back of Weiss's neck told him they were being watched. He turned to find four Dark types blocking the road from that direction. The Scrafty, Liepard, Krookodile, and Weavile made up the team known as Spade.
A crashing sound was heard from both the left and right, trees were being knocked loose from the ground and left to tilt sideways. Finally from out of the trees stepped eight pokemon, four on either side of the road. The Venusaur, Gogoat, Breloom, and Whimsicott were team Clover. The Farfetched, Miltank, Snorlax, and Porygon Z were the final team, Heart.
Several of the mercenaries from either guild were glaring at each other, clearly having spotted their rivals. Weiss couldn't think of a way that this could be any worse, though he didn't voice his opinion because of Murphy's law. He knew that Joker usually worked alone and sent his pokemon on their own jobs, unless it was a very high profile target that he was after. So to see all of the Royal Flush mercenary guild in one place on one job, he knew that Joker wasn't far away.
"Alright, where are you you idiot?" Weiss asked. He received a handful of popcorn to the back of his head in answer. A look over his shoulder revealed that the man himself was standing in the middle of all of Checkmate, eating popcorn, and standing right beside Gene.
"Boo!" Joker shouted and threw another handful of popcorn at Weiss. "You never have a strong reaction to anything I do anymore. Oh my gosh that means that you've finally gotten used to me!"
Weiss saved himself from the incoming hug by thrusting his arm out and letting Joker slam face first into his palm. He then realized that he had in fact gotten used to most of Joker's antics, so he shuddered in disgust. Joker then licked his palm and he reeled back, quickly wiped his hand on his shirt, and punched Joker in the face.
Gene, Belle, and Scootaloo all watched as the crazy man rolled on the ground laughing at his own pain. He was dressed in rather unusual clothes for a mercenary. He was wearing a tropical shirt that he left unbuttoned with a white t-shirt underneath it, green pants with canary yellow pinstripes, and shiny black dress shoes. He was a pale pasty white man with brown hair that was swept back in an Elvis style. With a crooked nose from Weiss' punch and a wide toothy smile his laughter was a little disturbing.
Finally stopping his laughing fit Joker flipped himself up from the ground. "Oh man, Weiss it's been so long since we've seen each other. I missed you buddy."
Weiss brushed Joker's hand off of his shoulder. "You're on an important job aren't you?"
"Sure am." the crazy man reached into his tropical shirt where there was no pocket and pulled out a picture. "We're looking for this guy. You seen him?"
Weiss looked at the picture of Gene, with a big mustache drawn on his face. Weiss kept a neutral expression and silently prayed for luck, because if this worked they would be on their way. "Never seen him before."
"Well that sucks...how about you two? Ever seen him before?" Joker asked Gene and Belle. They both looked at the photo and sweatdropped before saying that they had never seen him before. "Dambit."
"Well it was nice seeing you Joker." Weiss said in his best sarcasm voice. He then pushed the other man in the opposite direction that they needed to go.
"Wait a minute!" Joker was suddenly standing in front of Gene. He held the photo up next to Gene's face and studied both of them. "The guy in the picture is uglier than you."
"....uhh, thanks..."
"That was certainly nice of you Joker, now go away." Weiss turned him around and pushed him again.
"...hold on a second." Joker looked at the picture and at Gene again. "Wait just a minute." he looked again. "Something ain't quite right here." he looked again. "Now hold on one moment." Joker suddenly latched onto Gene's head with one hand and had a black magic marker in the other. "Hold still while I stache you!"
After Belle teleported the crazy person away from her mate... Gene had the exact same mustache on his face as his picture. Joker laughed at the situation. "Now I remember! I got bored and put a mustache on his picture. Silly me." he rolled his eyes and smirked at his own foolishness. "Well alrighty then, Royal Flush vs Checkmate, it's going to be a battle, battle, battle of the bands...of mercenary guilds." he then threw a random pokeball that opened and let out a frightened and angry Geodude.
"Geo dude dude geo! Where the hell am I!?" it shouted as it instinctively went into a Rollout attack. Simon the Excadrill effortlessly caught the Rock type in one paw and threw it as far as he could.
Weiss took out two knives and stepped closer to Gene. The other members of Checkmate got ready for the fight, they had fought against Royal Flush on numerous occasions before and knew that they were just as skilled as them, though less likely to stick so strictly to their orders and each team had at least one obvious weakness. Joker reached behind him and pulled on a cowboy style gun holster with a revolver on each hip. "Let's dance!" the nut job said.
"Excuse me. Your pokemon is just fine now." Nurse Joy handed the pokeball to the girl who had been waiting in the lobby.
The young blonde haired girl stopped fussing with her ponytail and turned her green eyes towards the older woman. "Why did you put it in a pokeball? I didn't catch it." She asked in confusion.
"Well we have a Hypno who volunteered to ask her a few questions and answer any that she would have." Nurse Joy explained with a smile. "Long story short she doesn't know where she is, and she could use some help finding her family. She also said that she would like to try and repay you for your kindness when you helped her."
The girl took the pokeball from Nurse Joy and opened it up. After a flash of red light the girl and the mare were looking at each other. Rainbow Dash saw that her helper was a bit of a mix between Rarity and Applejack. Her yellow ponytail and green eyes, her jacket looked tough but was stylized and fashionable, her white pants didn't have a spot of dirt on them while her hiking boots were filthy.
She held out her hand and smiled at Rainbow Dash. "Hello, I'm Melissa Chapman, and I guess I'm your trainer now."