Chapter Text
If there's something Luce understands by now, it's that no matter what he does, he'll inevitably end up clashing with Team Galactic everywhere he goes in Sinnoh.
But in this case... he honestly didn't expect this.
He thought back to Valley WIndworks— it was exactly what happened according to Cece's memory of the game— Mars in the Windsworks, Jupiter at Eterna City's statue, and Saturn for Veilstone.
If Cece's memory was right, then Cyrus would be at Celestic— and that was it, until the lakes explode and Mount Coronet's final confrontation happened.
But then, Mars had also been at Ramanas Park, and Saturn had been at the Pokemon Mansion. Clearly, there were more targets. Celestic was blown up way ahead of schedule, and now, certain parts of the region were out of commission. Of course, there was also the entry of so many other elements to worry about...
Unfortunately, Cece's knowledge of the games was no longer a reliable source for the happenings of the future, and Luce didn't know if he liked that or not.
At the very least, he hoped that as it gets worse, he wouldn't always be the one in charge of fixing things. Surely, Maylene didn't just send him out here to save the day again... right?
Luce blows the whistle in a violent rhythm at Dawn.
By his side, Monferno is holding Luce's hand, while cradling Togepi around his other arm. They're both staring judgmentally at the girl with her upper body in the bushes.
"Oh come on, just one more!" she whines, hugging a Kricketot to her chest. It's asleep, but if it wasn't, it'd have been an utter noise violation. "See? It's not waking up. That means its ability isn't Shed Skin!"
Luce sighs. She's been hyper analyzing the Pokedex's entries the whole trip. They're ahead of time, since they joyride through the paths, but this was still slowing them down.
It's honestly a little awkward for Luce. They're all sent on this journey with a Pokedex, but only Dawn's really filling them up and using them to its fullest. It's been useful for training and identifying Pokemon, but Dawn's actually setting out to find flaws in the technology and help improve on the current research of Pokemon.
Which... makes sense. Her father's a Professor's Assistant, and she wants to write a thesis of her own to get a star on her Trainer ID.
(Each day, Luce is reminded that he has no idea what he wants to do to finish his pilgrimage.)
"I don't know what its real ability could be, but... oh!" Dawn finds Duskull floating by her and giggles, "thanks for helping me catch it, Rascal! I don't know why Luce named you that, you're a blessing."
Duskull spins, a bubble of what must be huffy laughter echoing from inside.
"Oh! You have Mean Look!" Dawn beams into her Pokedex. "Come to think of it, the others all stood by, only this one continued to run... Had to catch this one with Kazza's Hypnosis."
Luce considers that. "[Maybe its Hidden Ability is Run Away?]"
Dawn's head tilts in confusion. "I don't think I understand that one, what do you mean 'Hidden... characteristic'?"
Luce pauses.
Then checks his Pokedex.
How did he never realize Hidden Abilities were never recorded in these?
Crap, is this something like the Fairy Typing? It's not been discovered yet? Luce just let something very weird slip out in the presence of someone who will never understand why he knows things.
"Come to think of it, Luce," Dawn catches the Kricketot and stuffs it in her pocket with the rest of her new collection to be sent back to the lab, "you only use basic attack moves, right? Is it difficult to coordinate field moves with sign language?"
Luce's not sure how to answer that. They continue on their way as he thinks.
It's not as if he can't use moves like Mean Look, or Growl, or status moves or even Weather moves— just with his harried style of battling, it made more sense to limit his signs to a basic attack in either a Physical or Special, and then any Defensive moves meant to either Protect or Stall so Barry can do what he wants.
The Pokemon themselves determine what to use according to those instructions. Whether they interpret it as Mach Punch, or Low Kick, or maybe just a Tackle, it's completely up to them.
(Plus, Cece was kind of a button masher when it came to the games. Luce's not the person to ask when it comes to competitive tactics.)
"[All you need is to either attack or defend,]" he divulges.
"What, noooo," Dawn pouts, "see? Rascal has Mean Look! He's one of maybe eight currently-recognized evolution lines that can learn it naturally!"
"[Why would I ever want a Pokemon to not leave me alone?]"
Dawn pauses, then, "when you're trying to catch them?"
"[I tried catching something once. I broke my arm and never tried again.]"
"...right. The Abra incident."
Luce grimaces. He still remembered how the Return Technical Machine sounded when it shattered. Man, that was a dark time... it feels like so long ago, but it really isn't.
"Speaking of that...
Usually Luce sticks to Disable, Protect, and maybe status conditions moves. Ah, and Lopunny's Switcheroo is good for Contests.
"But I'm sure there are other useful moves too that aren't a status condition or protection!" Dawn insists, taking out her Pokedex, "see, let's check baby Braver!" she turns to grin at Togepi, who stares back in bewilderment, "you can't really fight like the others, but you learn a lot of interesting moves. Like Encore, After You, and Follo—"
Luce freezes in his steps, holding out an arm to keep her back.
"—wha...? Hey, isn't that the Valor Lakefront?"
The lakefront was barricaded with a wooden fence that read keep out.
Monferno and Lopunny stepped up quickly, only to report back moments later with a shake of the head. There was nothing of interest inside.
Which meant that whatever's happening, it's ahead of them.
Luce cradles the Manaphy Egg with the incubator around his chest.
They trekked the home stretch to Hotel Grand Lake. They could smell the sea already, the fresh waft of a pool and a beach. There seemed to usually be a few street stalls, but none of them were open. Everywhere was quiet despite the place being a tourist attraction.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Dawn states the obvious.
By their feet, Grotle is ferrying Cleffa and Shellos. Monferno has Togepi hugged close, looking around warily. Lopunny is scouting out the areas, jumping from spot to spot over stairs, cliffs, and sometimes roofs.
It was hard to look around, with the way the path went up and down at varying points.
This place was built in a valley, so they had a lot of inclines to work with. Buildings were built on slanted ground, creating a rather cosy space where when you looked up, to the left, you'd see a picnic table on a higher platform, and when you looked the other way, there was some cafe's second floor window.
"Luce, there!"
The Hotel Grand Lake stands near the further end, taking up the entire walkway and it was definitely a checkpoint for passing by. It's one of the region's most well-known rest stops, not just to stop and recover, or bed-and-breakfast, but also because of all the huge vacation homes out for rent around.
That's where everyone in the area gathered now.
Ah, this situation felt familiar. Luce drags Dawn back immediately, ducking down before they step up the stairs. There was another set of down-steps later, so right now, they were still vaguely out of sight.
Lopunny signalled a big X from the other corner to the right, staying obscured behind a tree. Monferno worked to tuck the Manaphy egg into Luce's back, and then let Golduck out of her Poke Ball.
A few hand signs that were instructions to scout the location later, Kadabra came out of his ball, too, tucking Cleffa into Dawn's bag like it's common practice.
It took another moment for Monfernoo to peek his upper body out from the side of the building with a dramatic enactment of sign language, "[WARNING UGLY. UNSUITABLE FOR CONSUMPTION.]"
Who taught him that? Actually Luce doesn't want to know.
"What... does that mean?" Dawn looks like she's reconsidering the validity of her sign language textbooks.
Luce miserably writes on his notepad, [Team Galactic.]
"...Luce, that's not what that means."
Luce taps on the words twice more and refuses to elaborate.
Time for Hostage busting raid, Round #2.
With a deep grimace, Dawn gestures at Togepi, "you're not keeping him in a ball? I know Clifford cries when things are a little too intense."
Luce's eyes meet with Togepi's in his arms as Kadabra works to put the incubator in his bag. Togepi simply stares back, blank and curious.
"[No,]" now that he truly thought about it, "[Braver doesn't cry much.]"
Dawn huffs at that. She zips up the bag where the incubator rests with the blue Egg— and chuckles.
"You know, Luce," Dawn sighs, "this egg's gonna have the wildest bedtime stories ever."
Luce, cradling Togepi, warmly wishes Manaphy will be born in safe conditions this time. Honestly maybe when everything's over— maybe when whatever Team Galactic's planned has come and gone, then finally...
...that would be best. Mythical and Legendary eggs take longer to hatch, even in the games. It's impossible to know how long that translates to in real time.
So until then, he'll carry this egg on the rest of the journey. Manaphy will come out when she wants to.
Inside Hotel Grand Lake, there's been a bit of a commotion. And that's putting it all lightly.
"We're completely taken over by those Team Galactic goons," a veteran sighs, sitting on the couch by the lobby, where all the other guests were gathered, surrounded on all sides and blocked from all exits by grunts.
The windows were drawn and bolted, and only one door was open, where a single man—clearly the one in charge— stood.
"That's the Admin, I guess?" a martial Artist says. "Seems like the smart type."
"Awh, shucks," a golfer girl pouts, "if it was the ne'er-do-wells back home, I'd bribe one of the grunts and get this over with, but alas. The grunts are robots, but robots are competent in a different way from humans."
"Honestly, those grunts are creepy. Never thought I'd prefer the ones at my place. At least they're actually like a cult. This is some kind of factory."
"Hey, doesn't Sinnoh have an ironworks somewhere?"
"Oh hell no, not the evil team taking over the goddamn power plant again. I've had enough of that in Kanto."
"Has anyone called Shirona yet?"
"I think the Joy tried, but she was absent. I'm sure there's a Supermaniac somewhere in this hall that got through to Pastoria or Veilstone, at least."
"Close! He reached Sunyshore. That's the only place with enough reception to bypass all this magnetic interference."
"Darn. We're never getting help then."
"If that punk didn't put up bombs all over the route, I'd just knock him out," sighs a Pokemon Breeder. "I have babies sleeping in the villa I rented! I'd rather not."
"Good point, but my valuables are still in the restaurant," says a Rich Boy. "I don't mind losing them since they can be replaced, but one of them's important research notes for my niece's thesis, I can't lose that."
"I'm more concerned about my Pokemon," says one senior Ace Trainer, "they're kind of protective of me. I don't think they'll stay quiet in that box for long enough, even if I willingly surrendered them over."
A Ranger huffs, "if I could go out I'd get us a group to help track the bombs down, but that'll take too long and alert the blue guy. The wild Pokemon are going to be furious."
"Must be hard being in the League of a region under attack. I can't imagine how thin they're being run right now, Sinnoh's such a big region too."
"Oh imagine being in Unova two years back," one man groans, "the Dexholder at the time got pulled so thin he up and left the region in protest."
"What, they're still doing that thing of leaving it all up to the Dexholder? I thought we banned that after the Kanto kid ran up a mountain and refused to come down."
"It's complicated in Sinnoh, okay? Aaron and Thorton happened, and then Gardenia and Roark came charging in. And then Maylene got kicked out of Kalos! We don't want our League Board Members' age average to go down, but does it look like we have anything in control— argh, it's complicated! Okay?"
"Well I better darn hope those 'complications' sort itself out after the next explosion or I damn well will 'complicate' that screw in Shirona's brain myself!"
"Calm down."
"You gotta admit, it's fun to give the young'uns a trial sometimes."
"Shut up, your Dexholders are only okay because they're battle junkies!"
"...yeah, it's so tough to get them home for league invitations... they're chasing that Battle Tower in Hoenn last I heard..."
"Moderation is key."
It's the tourist centrepoint in all of Sinnoh, after all, so of course, this place was filled to the brim with tourists— and yet, to the Galactic Admin's behest, no one seems at all concerned or intimidated. Yes, they were compliant to orders, especially after Saturn told them there were bombs planted around the hotels not dissimilar to the one that blew up Celestic, but they weren't at all afraid of the evil team.
It's quite simple, actually.
"Oh so that's why Maylene sent us this way despite knowing it's probably been taken over," Dawn dryly recognizes.
She's looking through the Vs Recorder as Duskull brought it back, looking through the assortment of hostages.
The hostages are chilling and having tea. Caitlyn is sleeping somewhere in between the adults, surrounded by plush toys with a 'do not disturb' sign in front of her. Darach's nowhere to be seen. There's a whole trope of utterly beautiful ladies that Luce feels it's better not to put any names to.
"...Luce," Dawn begins, and Luce doesn't want to hear it. She's bursting with excitement, shaking his arm, "I've seen her in magazines! Do you think all of them will give me their autographs? Arceus above, thank you for this day..."
Luce doesn't want to hear it. If the Galactic grunts were more than robots, they'd recognize who they took as hostages.
One of the hostages even winked Duskull's way, as if they knew exactly what the Pokemon was, and that's why they spoke so well about the situation in their very casual conversation, too. He doesn't see which Admin is there, but he hopes it's not Saturn.
Dammit. Maylene and all these people, they just want their part in giving the new generation a fun trial to overcome. This is a test. Luce sighs, because Maylene is really putting him through the wringer for that gym badge, isn't she?
"[Scout, Find, Disarm,]" Luce signs out quickly, looking away. With a glance at Kadabra and Golduck, they turn toward the valley to meet up with Monferno and Luxio. He trusts the psychic Pokemon will convey that to the rest of their team.
The hotel and people are secured— so they're on bomb duty.
"Hey Luce," Dawn trails after her, still staring at the Vs Recorder, "do you think they'll let me see their Pokemon if I ask? I've never seen so many celebrities in one place before."
Luce glances at the Recorder again and tries not to die of exasperation.
Fine. Guess they can't disappoint their audience now.
The hostages don't have their Pokemon with them. They probably only brought one or two with them through customs, and those are currently held under the guard of the Galactic Grunts.
"Lu, did we find one?"
The bombs planted around look like a Poke Ball. Specifically, a Heavy Ball. it's just a little bigger than Luce's palm and thus it's not hard to tell them apart from the real thing once they got close enough.
Kadabra had found it, but Monferno had told it to call Luce and Dawn first, rather than move it themselves. Now the issue was disarming it— there's no telling if this would just blow if he touched or picked it up.
"It should be fine."
Luce nearly had a heart attack when Dawn just pressed the middle button and opened the capsule, revealing the time bomb and its internal mechanisms.
"Ah, there we go, wire-looking things."
Luce wants to hit her over the head. What if that button had been the explosion button?
Seeing his distress she chuckles, "oh chill, Luce. The Admin couldn't have put all of them out by himself, so he must have left this planting job to grunts or Pokemon. That means some handling is fair game. Or there would be many more incidents before they even got set up."
...she had a point.
"I'll just connect this to the Vs Recorder, it'll probably pick up some data... there we go," Dawn turns the device's screen into a line of indecipherable digital jargon. Dawn exasperatedly turns to Luce, who looks flabbergasted. "Don't look at me like that. I've been helping my Papa and Professor Rowan in the lab since I was a baby. I know how to go into a line of code and erase everything and make this thing stop working. Okay?"
Luce understood nothing.
But he got up and left the scene immediately, signing for Monferno and Grotle to stay and guard her. Dawn got to work, and Luce understood. If she's disarming them, his job is to locate and secure them.
It was hilarious, honestly, seeing Monferno and Lopunny sneak about and ambush grunts that were standing guard. They were even teaching Luxio how to do it. Duskull and Kadabra located the next bomb to disarm, and Snover was doing his own thing, bringing back a new bomb sourced from who-knows-where every few minutes.
Luce, holding Togepi, kept watch as Golduck dove underwater to find one hidden in the pool.
He hisses in surprise, realizing the grunt he'd knocked out was now rousing. He didn't have the rest of his team with him, and it would be bad if this one called for help— and he didn't want to alarm Golduck and accidentally set the bomb off.
The grunt also looked alarmed, noticing what was happening. He reaches for his Poke Balls, but Luce's taken them away. Instead, he steps forward, "battle options compromised," he reported, "initiating immediate pacification measures."
What.
Well, that's new.
Luce takes a hesitant step back— and the grunt lunges for him. With a sharp hitch of breath, Luce's feet barely guides them toward the water as he's grabbed by the collar. He almost misses it, arm reaching out to snag the grunt by the hair and force them away from the asphalt. He falls to his knees, the grunt plashing into the water— and then he's dragged down by the man's weight, following him right in.
Sorry, Braver, he thinks, as he clutches Togepi to him and they plunge.
It's a force the grunts have never resorted to before.
He squints past the bubbles and the water— and the grunt has already composed himself, kicking off the bottom of the pool, headed right for him.
Luce is shorter than him, with much less control over his body in the water—
—but Golduck gets there first, splitting them apart with a watery wave. It's a fairly shallow pool, the furthest end goes to about two meters. Golduck shoves the grunt up to the surface, bringing Luce down to the pool's bottom by her side, holding him by the waist.
That's when Luce' looks around and notices—one of the pool's lights aren't working. Golduck guides him toward it, clearly wanting him to do something about it—
—Luce works quickly, prying off the bulb— he managed to claw it out of the gap in the wall and finding the Heavy Ball-shaped bomb in place of where wires should be. Great, now they just have to get it out of the pool and send it toward Dawn.
An arm draped over Golduck's shoulder, Luce cradled the Heavy Ball out of the crevice. Knowing how psychic abilities tend to mess with technology, it's better for Golduck not to use any psychic powers to grab it.
He cradled it, and swam upwards.
He surfaced, taking a breath—
—Golduck immediately drags him back down. What comes in after is what appears to be a foldable poolside chair, smashing into the water surface before sinking in beside him. Oh, holy crap. That grunt's lost his marbles.
Golduck maneuvers him out of the way, shifting him into a carry. They swim aside from more falling pool chairs, and then, in comes two Staryu.
Dammit. The grunt found the bag, where he'd gathered up all of the guards' Pokemon.
With the bomb still in his hand, Golduck can't use any psychic moves— and he did take a breath, but he's not completely safe. There were Staryu, Stunky, Zubat, and Glameow in that bag. It's not safe to leave Golduck's side when he doesn't have other Pokemon with him.
Alright, Plan A. Detonate the bomb. Use Protect to survive. Run.
Golduck slaps him over the head as a warning. Togepi whines.
Right. If Saturn heard the bomb go off, he'll just detonate the rest remotely, and Dawn will be ground zero since most of the bombs are with her at the moment. Can't do that.
But they're also catching a lot of attention out here, so they can't delay any longer...
Plan B.
Signing out [murder] to Golduck, specifically of the human context, she understood his meaning very well. He tucks the bomb firmly in his arm and holds onto Golduck. He then signs roll to Togepi.
Golduck deflects the water attacks coming from the Staryu, that are really congregating now— and points, in a certain direction upward. That's all the warning Luce gets before he's jetted out of the water.
Luce then proceeds to chuck Togepi at him.
The grunt's eyes widen, similarly bewildered to suddenly have a thorny egg baby smashing into his nose.
The impact knocks the grunt right off his feet, and he falls flat on his back, unmoving.
Luce did not expect that. He expected that to be a distraction, not the killing blow. Is the guy dead? Did Togepi just kill a man?
Togepi, rolling onto the ground after breaking a man's nose, blinks belarily, coughs, and whines. Luce scrambles to pick him up quickly, checking for injuries. Other than being cold from the water and hating the need to hold his breath, he's fine.
Togepi's pouting, though. Like, really dramatically sulking right now. Luce can't even pretend he doesn't know why.
Golduck peeks out of the water surface, Staryu floating fainted around her.
Well.
"[Braver just won his first battle!]" Luce celebrates quickly, clutching Togepi to his chest with one hand and frantically signing with the other like he didn't just use his baby as a projectile and made him moody. "[Let's go tell everyone!]"
Golduck raises both hands and cheers back.