Watcher of Arceus

Author Notes:

-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

'Character Thought'

(Pokemon speech)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine.

Co-author: Catsithx

xXx

Chapter 20

Xent was wandering around Opelucid City, calling in some old favors around the area to try and learn more about this device that he had seen in use right before he confronted Thomas about what he was. He growled a bit once more thinking about how easily he had been fooled like he was as he tries to follow up on one of his leads.

As he was wandering around though, he looked up just in time for to see someone waving him down from the top of the flower shop. He quickly went to join the person calling out for him, but still took a chance to check out the plants. He worked his way up to the top of the flower shop, nodding to the owner as they watered the plants on the roof.

"Well, what's so important, Verna? I thought I asked you to keep watch over James." Xent asked as he took a seat on a bench, next to a shiny gardevoir, who just pointed over to a small child in the corner of the roof top garden. Xent just sighed a bit, but still smiled at the kid who was busy inspecting a deerling.

"Is that it?" He asked just in time for the gardevoir to hand him a letter. Xent quickly opened it up and looked over the note inside it. "Great, as if things weren't bad enough." He sighed again. He quickly turned to see who was behind him though just as he finished reading. "Oh, hello." He said and nodded his head to the lady behind him.

"Thanks again for letting me borrow Verna. James does seem to enjoy having her baby-sit when you're in town." The lady smiled as she handed him the great ball that was paired with Verna.

"You know you can always count on me when I'm around." Xent stated as the lady went to get her son. As soon as they were gone though, Xent looked back to Verna. "Okay, what else is there?" He asked knowing that she was holding something back.

Verna smiled as she sent him a very clear image of someone and he just smirked. "Where?" He asked and Verna stood up and walked over to the railing. She pointed down to the streets to where the person was.

--

Down in the streets, Thomas and Radara were busy trying to find any clues they might have missed about other possible devices. They failed to notice that they were being followed since they were so busy looking for clues. It was already late in the day though and Thomas decided that they were going to call it a night for now.

After grabbing a few last minute items, they started back for the sanctuary. Xent made sure to hang back a ways, not wanting to lose them again, but at the same time, he wanted to make sure they were alone.

Once they were out of town, Xent called out Zai again and used her nose like last time. Zai knew soon enough who she was supposed to track down and gave him a questioning, slightly worried look. "I don't know who they are, but they aren't normal. Some of our friends also say that they have been looking into this... this thing that made all those pokemon go mad. Either way, they are involved and I want some answers." Xent stated. Zai knew all too well just how stubborn he was and knew that he wouldn't drop the subject despite her own objections. Still, she also knew that it would be best to get this out of the way now and hope for the best outcome.

An hour passed before Zai led them to the large rock face, before their trail suddenly vanished. Their scent, their footsteps, all signs of them just vanished entirely.

Zai quickly turned to her trainer and gave him a very confused look, pointing out the tracks to him, and right to where they vanished, them leaned down a bit to show that she tried to find their scent, only to shake her head and give a thumbs down.

"What do you mean it vanished? How do people just vanish into thin air? They can't all be ghost types." Xent argued.

He looked over the tracks himself, literally running his hands gently over each one several steps back noticing a small wet spot in each of them from where one of them had stepped in some water. He then started to search the ground to find anything that might have covered them where they seemed to just vanish, hoping that the wet spot would reveal them. "You're sure there is nothing here?" He grumbled a bit.

Zai nodded and ran down the path a bit to where the tracks still were and once again tried to follow them.

"Maybe its some sort of illusion?" Xent asked. Zai looked around, trying to find any signs that what was around them might not be real, but there were no signs at all, everything was very real. To test this, she even began to check the face of the cliffside in both directions for a short ways, as well as even testing the trees while Xent did the same.

Being as stubborn as he was though, Xent downright refused to give up. He continued to look things over for a while before he growled, taking a seat next on the wall next to Zai. He called out Verna who smiled as she looked around, waiting for her master to ask for her assistance. "Verna, do you sense anyone else around here?" He asked.

Verna looked around, at first sensing nothing, then turning and pointing down the path. A few seconds later though, she quickly backed up to him, a small angry scowl on her face as a few people approached.

Xent looked back at the three men approaching. "You get out of here, you don't need to be here." One of them stated as they pulled out a map, a brief glance of a gun just barely visible from inside their coats.

"I'll go where I like." Xent stated as both Verna and Zai ready to act if needed. Zai making it look like the three of them had moved just enough so that they were where they appeared.

"I said get out of here, your trespassing on private property." The man said again. Xent had already grabbed his crowbars out as he prepared for a fight, looking to Verna who shook her head, telling him the men were lying.

Before either of them could move though, the rock wall behind them began to move and shift, revealing a tunnel.

"Look, we need to find someone who knows about this device, if one of those things are set off in a city, there is no telling how bad the damage will be." Thomas stated as he was talking with Sarah, none of them noticing Xent, his pokemon, or the three men in large coats.

"The demon, get him." One of the men shouted as everyone suddenly looked on to the crowd outside the sanctuary. The men both drew out a set of large knifes going for Thomas, but he merely charged in himself, already telling that they weren't truly trained.

Thomas grumbled as he ducked down under the first one's strike, grabbing his arm, swinging himself around to elbow him in the face, only to grab his shoulder. With a firm grip on both his arm and shoulder, he yanked the man back and spun him around to get the two men to collide into each other. With both of them already stumbling, Thomas finished up by pounding their heads into each other while giving them a heavy dose of electricity knocking them both out.

While he was dealing with the two men though, the third one went after Xent, or the illusion of Xent, only to have his knife slice clean through the fake. Zai let down her illusion as Xent moved in with both crowbars, the man able to dodge one, but took the hit of the other in his left arm. He dropped his knife, but went after his gun, only for his to freeze up. Verna's eyes were glowing as the man was slowly lifted up into the air.

"You have thirty seconds to tell me why you are following me or so help me, I'll erase the past year of your life." Thomas warned, hoping he could just bluff Xent.

"You touch me and you won't get one word about what I know concerning that thing both of us are looking for." Xent countered. "Yea, I know you're looking that thing that made those pokemon go wild to and I also know you don't have a single lead on it." He grinned.

Thomas grumbled as he looked at Xent.

'He is telling the truth, and we will need him there if we want to follow this lead. One of his contacts left him a note.' Radara sighed, Xent, Zai, and Verna all looking around.

"Who... who was that?" Xent asked as Radara took a step forward while Thomas walked over to the man Verna was still holding up into the air. Thomas placed his hand on his side and gave him the usual jolt to knock him out as Radara went to work.

"I would imagine days would be enough for them to forget us ever being here. I doubt we'll stay hidden long with that blasted liepard giving our position away." Thomas grumbled as Radara did as he suggested, wiping the events of men who found them.

"Thomas, how did you drop them so fast?" Sarah asked finally coming out of her bit of shock from seeing how easily Thomas took guard of the men.

"They were rookies, if they real knights they wouldn't have charged so recklessly." Thomas explained.

"Knights? What are talking about?" Xent asked.

"The less you know about me the better. I'm not having any more innocent blood hang over me just because you can't learn when to back off." Thomas stated. "Now, start walking. The sooner we reach this contact of yours, the better."

"Not until I get some answers. If you want my help, you'd better tell me just what the hell you are." Xent stated.

"I don't have time for your stupid questions." Thomas countered, his voice raising just a bit.

'Thomas, calm down.' Radara reminded him feeling his taint starting up.

"I know, I know..." Thomas sighed, taking a few deep breathes. "Look, I don't have time to explain anything to you. Like I said, the less you know the better. Yes, I am the guy from the video you showed me and yes, I'm not exactly normal, but those guys who attacked me that day will stop at nothing to kill me. They have money, they have manpower, and more importantly, they don't seem to care what is in their way anymore. They will hunt you down, make you talk, and then if you're very lucky, they will let you and your pokemon go. If they even begin to think that you know something else, they will move on to your family, your friends, and anyone else they even think you might talk to." Thomas warned him again, but kept himself calm. "Right now, there are bigger things to worry about. Yesterday, one of the men the police arrested tried to set off one of those things in the middle of Opelucid City. If by some means there are more of them, and I for one believe there are, then it means trouble. If we have a way to find out and stop them from being used, then it will save thousands lives and you can be the hero for all I care." Thomas throws up his arms in frustration.

"It's not about being a hero, it's about doing what is right. You may run from those fools, but you can't run from what you know is right. Otherwise you wouldn't be so concerned about stopping this next attack. Yet, I do wonder, what you seem to do best seems to be hiding, so maybe you are a coward. I don't see why you have such a loyal pokemon or even why she follows you." Xent jabbed a finger over towards Sarah who was just about to speak up.

Thomas reacted first however. In a single solid blow across Xent's jaw has him stagger a bit,before he can recover and draw his crowbar. Thomas grabs him and has pinned Xent back against the tree hard, the tree shakes from the impact. Xent can hardly believe how fast it had happened, much less how much power was put into the single blow. He had had his breath knocked out him, and he could feel the power flowing from Thomas's grip on him, strong, but not enough to knock him out. Still it hurt like hell. It has been a while since someone has really pounded him like this.

He was trying to catch his breath even as Thomas held him against the tree, where he finally had a clear look into Thomas's eyes. From what Xent could tell from before, Thomas always seemed a bit detached from when they battled a few days ago, and even just now when he took down the three men. Looking now though, he could easily see something in Thomas's eyes, years that shouldn't be there for someone who looked his age. He has seen eyes like that a few times, but always from much older people, yet to see Thomas's eyes glare at him with sorrow, he knew he had hit a major nerve.

Zai goes to defend her master as Rebecca moves to intercept. For a brief second, both look ready to fight as Zai seems to flicker a bit, fading from sight. Rebecca goes to counter the illusion, her dreadlocks quickly raising up on the back of her head as she started to use her aura to find Zai.

Radara is a bit undecided as to who she should help, splitting her attention between Thomas and Rebecca, unable to decide who needs her help more. Sarah goes her for pokeballs though, thinking that her help may be needed as well. Xent makes the next move though, motioning for Zai to back off as he still tries to break free of Thomas's grip.

"You know NOTHING!" Thomas shouts at Xent, pushing him back a bit harder into the tree. "You fucking little fool, I am trying to save EVERYONE! Why is it so hard for everyone to understand that, I am only doing what I need to save all of you." His voice echo's loudly though the forest as some pidove fly off scared.

Xent looks right back at him with a somewhat blank stare at first, but it quickly changes to a definitive look in his eyes. "Then why are you so afraid of the question then. What are you scared of?!" Xent shouts right back at him as best he can. "You seem powerful to do whatever you want. I can't stop you, I can tell that. Strike me down and run the like COWARD you are!"

"I'm not afraid of anything." Thomas quickly states, only to back down a bit as he realizes what he is doing. He shakes a just a bit as he realizes deep down that it's not the taint to blame for his actions, it was himself. His own doubts have taken a serious hold, feeding the taint inside him as he acted on them. He can hear it laughing in his head, mocking him knowing that it doesn't even need to do anything, Thomas was doing everything for it.

Thomas drops Xent as he turns away. "I am no hero, I...." He says at last turning away.

Xent looks on at him and how quickly Thomas mood has changed, actually feeling bad for what he did in a small way. "I'm not asking you to be a hero, I'm asking you to stand up for something. You may not want to be that person to lead, but you must that person to inspire. That video of you has lots of people questioning things, yet if you keep running and hiding, then what are people suppose to think. To be honest, I don't care what others think, but how are you suppose to help anyone if you just run and hide. People will start to think that those fools you call the knights are telling the truth, that you are some sort of demon and then what. I don't care what you are, but you obviously know something about that device and we can work together to make sure it doesn't go off."

Thomas sighs as he just nods and picks up his stuff waiting for Xent to show him the way. Before he can respond though, he gets a rather large surprise as a voice very clearly enters his head.

'I am sorry dear, but I don't like waiting for vocal answers, it takes to long sometimes. A link like this makes it easier to convey things. By the way, my name is Radara.' Radara slowly steps forward as Xent and his pokemon look on.

Xent quickly looks to Verna, surprised that she had never spoken to him even though she was a psychic type as well. One look at Verna though clearly shows that she is just as surprised as he is. 'Don't worry dear, you can do this one day as well. You just need to practice is all.' Radara explains.

"Just how strong is she?" Xent whispers to Sarah as Radara starts to lead the way, having found out where they need to go already, Thomas quickly moving to join her as he gets his bag and starts walking to move beside her.

"Strong enough to....and for the love of Arceus, please stop doing that with those images. I am not in ... just stop it already!!!" Sarah states rather annoyed as she goes to join the others who have already started walking. Rebecca just giggles lightly at the discomfort on Sarah's face knowing exactly what was going on, but keeps it to herself.

Xent quickly moves to catch up as the rest of the group quickly move to catch up to Thomas and Radara as they lead the way.

"So aside from traveling with hooligans, what do you aspire to be Xent? A world class trainer, a pokemon show stopper?" Sarah asks after a few, starting up her own conversation to try and block all the thoughts she keeps getting from Radara.

Now it was Xent's turn for a bit of discomfort as Zia and Verna talk with each other, giggling themselves at his reactions. "I don't aspire to be anything." He grumbles lightly, a bit tired of always hearing that same question. "I just want to travel, without anything to tie me down, the wind on my back and no set course, I just go where ever the lets me go." He explains. "And what about you? Do you have some sort of set course, or do you just blindly follow him around?" He jabs a finger at Thomas who is leading with Radara and Rebecca now, Rebecca holding onto him a bit to help him relax some. "Do you even care what he is, he seems so secretive about everything."

Sarah just gives him a small smile at his words. "Knowing the truth about him makes things look small in comparison. Trust me Xent and listen to Thomas. When this is over and we destroy this machine permanently, leave. Don't ask the questions you want to ask him, because he might just tell you the truth and then you'll wish you never knew. Ignorance is bliss, knowing the truth will just make you wish you were back to being blind to the world at times." Sarah says, having wished for that exact thing at times, still not use to certain things herself, even after a year of traveling like she had with him. She picks up the pace a bit though and her mienshao quickly following behind her and giving Xent a slightly dirty look.

Sarah's words left Xent very confused, wondering what she meant. Many thoughts float around his head as he tries to figure out what all Sarah could possibly mean by 'ignorance is bliss'. He starts to wonder if maybe she was crazy as he looks at them all now, finally noticing how attached Thomas's lucario was to his arm. More thoughts continue to enter his head, as well as some words.

'Now now child, calm yourself. We still have some time to get there, just breath and put those thoughts out of your head, you might run into something-'

Before Radara could finish her warning though, Xent's foot snags on a tree root and he quickly ends up face first in the dirt with Verna and Zia laughing at him.

'Or trip...' Radara says a bit amused herself as she turns to let the others know to hold on for a second as Xent's pokemon help him up.

xXx

In a small empty park area not far from Opelucid City, a few men being to move a large device as a liepard watches them from the darkness of a pavilion, the shadows thick around her, obviously not entirely natural, her eyes though still showing exactly where she was. A few new men show up quickly enough though, different from all the others in work clothing. There trench coats concealing their true nature

"You said that the demon would be easy to kill. I sent three of my men in to keep him busy only to have them call back unable to even remember why they were in the woods at all." The lead man of the three men shout out as he nears the pavilion. The liepard doesn't even bother looking at him, which only serves to anger the man as he draws his colt, already cocked and ready to fire.

'Please, I don't need to know you have a small cock since you need to brandish your larger weapon.' The liepard states hardly even paying attention to the man as he shakes with rage, as his hand shakes as he tries to not shoot at the insolent liepard.

The two men with the third guy laugh a bit as their comrade's face goes a bit red. The other workers in the area quickly start to speed up, knowing full well that something is about to happen. The man quickly responds to the liepard's insult with his own actions, quickly firing at the dark shadowy form hidden in the pavilion. "Well, that's one way to get your gun off." One of the men joke a bit as the shadowy form falls over bleeding, but quickly losing its dark cloak revealing that the man had shot a different pokemon all together, the sawk gasping out for its last few breaths before it finally dies. The men all around for the liepard as one of the workers makes a very scared comment. "Now you've done it." All at once, the workers double their speed again hoping not to get caught up in the upcoming event.

The three men continue to look around, only to have something jump out from the ground at the man who had fired the colt. He clearly feels a body jump onto his back right before the liepard's mouth goes for his neck, not even bothering to be subtle, just tearing a huge chunk right out of the body. The man falls just as fast as the sawk did, but the liepard only continues to tear into him for a few. She seems to be feasting on the twitching body as she finally has her fill and spats some blood from her mouth. Then turns to look at the other knights with a rage in her eyes.

'Let me get this through your thick skulls. I didn't call you here to give me grief, just to give the watcher trouble. I don't care about your so called cause or anything. You are in MY LAND, MY TERRIROTY!' She snaps at the other two. 'You are here at my whim. As you can see, I can kill you all at anytime. You are my tools and can be replaced at any time I so please. You fucking knights and your foolish religion. Before you finish that thought knight, I want you to know this, I know what you all represent, or rather what you all think you believe in. You have no chance of winning here. So think twice before you go for your weapons. The Watcher may let you get away with being assholes, but hold no qualms about what I will do. You're lucky I even let you remain in this land after what did you to her.' She growls loudly as the workers take a few extra steps back wanting to avoid her, knowing that she has killed others for much less. Walking towards the workers ignoring the knights once more.

The two remaining knights look on at her, clearly having second thoughts. "We knights are on a sacred mission to rid the lands of the dark demon. I don't care how powerful you think you are, but we warn you that you are only tolerated because you agreed to help us. Once the demon is dealt with, you will be put in your place like the rabid animal you are."

A mocking laughter rings out after the knight is done talking. 'You truly are delusional you know that fool?' She turns to them and waves her forepaw in front of the knights as her eyes glow and the knights seem to stiffen up a bit. 'You poor fools, you're my tools and you will do as I ask. Now go out there and cause some trouble for the watcher. I have work that needs to be done and he will be here soon. Go and greet him and kill all with him. Except his pokemon and the lucario... I want you to hurt her, but not kill her. That honor belongs to me.'

She smiles as they nod and take off without another word as a worker comes over and kneels before her. "Mistress, we have loaded the device onto the truck and we are ready now. Where do you wish for us to deploy it." He asks, keeping his head down hoping that she won't kill him.

A few seconds pass and in the silence, the worker only grows more worried until at last, he feels her licking his face gently. Still, he flinches a bit, not sure at all what to do. 'I won't bite much, unless you want me to. Tell them to go to town, there is an event happening tomorrow. Many trainers, breeders, and their pokemon will be there and well, it will be fun. You will ... help me with something. I will not take no for an answer, understand?' She informs him, only talking to him this time.

He looks at her, scared to death knowing what telling her no would mean. And from how mad she was just a few moments ago. He knew that just as she would kill him as the crazy knight fellow, she would take her time with him. He quickly nods at her command. "I will do as you say. I will make you as happy as I can." He swallows hard as he turns to tell the others what to do as she is rubbing lightly against his leg, purring some.

'Don't worry, as long as you last longer then that last fool, you will live. Trust me, you will love it.' Her voice sends chills down his spine as he nods again.

xXx

Thomas has out his miniature set of binoculars trying to figure out what they have stumbled upon. "I thought you said you were meeting a contact here?" He says quietly as he observes the workers all loading up the last of their things onto a large truck.

"I was, they should have been here." Xent growled, tapping his foot as he nods to Verna, who shrugs, just as worried as he is.

"What do they look like?" Thomas sighs as he finally sees a body, quickly looking around, he notices a few others. "She's been busy." Thomas hands him the binoculars and points out the four bodies, Xent growling, but thankfully none of them were the person he was supposed to meet with.

"Hey, that one with the large coat has a knife like those other guys?" Xent stated passing the binoculars back to Thomas who quickly went to look at it.

"What are the knights doing here?" He questioned more annyoned then anything else, but quickly passed on it for a better question. "So, how do we get into that mess?"

He closes his eyes for a few before Radara interrupts him. 'Thomas, he is thinking about Sarah, his zoroark, and what the hell you are all at once, even thinking over various ideas of how to enter the park. If only I could get you to multitask so well, we'd be able to get so much more done.'

Thomas growls as he turns to look at her, wondering of Radara was so ready to let Xent join them just to annoy him. He looks up again towards the device on the back of the largest truck and finally sees a pair of men like the dead one with the trench coat, this time easily identifying them as knights. He sighs a bit wondering just how much trouble they are going to cause him today. Still, despite them being there, he has to get to that device. Just looking at it, he could already tell that between its size and the dark power it held, it would be too much for Radara to simply teleport out of there.

With no other choice, Thomas decides that they will have to attack the compound as he gets out his blade, Sarah pulling out parts for a collapible compound bow Thomas had convinced her to pick up shortly after they arrived in Unova. Xent becomes very impressed with how well armed they are. Yet at the same time he feels a bit outclassed as he only has a crowbar as a weapon.

Thomas quickly went to make the point that he and Radara would head the attack, serving to distract everyone else while the rest of them went for device. Xent quickly argued the point, saying that he was a much better choice rather then the pink puff ball to distract the guards, only to have Radara prove her point by easily lifting him into the air for a few as she glared at him. Sarah quickly explains a few things to Xent for both Thomas and Radara's sake to which Xent finally agrees to let them be the distraction. Radara then lets gravity show Xent the error of calling her by that name as he falls hard to the ground. He glares at her as she just smiles. It was also decided that Juno would look for his friend, Radara doing a good job of sharing the image of Xent's contact with her and the note that she always smelled of ginger snaps which annoyed Xent from time to time.

--

At last, they are ready as Sarah and Xent get into position with their chosen pokemon. It was decided that they would only use a few pokemon each to help keep things under some level of control while they attacked, not hoping to kill everyone, their target was strictly the device after all. Though Xent seem to think the world would be better off with out these fools who would act in such a manner towards people and pokemon.

A new voice enters Xent's head just before he pulls out his crowbar. 'Xent, can you hear my... thoughts?' A voice asks as Xent quickly looks around, seeing Verna concentrating hard.

"Verna, how did you, you never did this before?" He questions.

'The espeon, she told me that I could do this too, if I try hard enough and practice a lot.' Verna says slowly, her voice a bit fuzzy, but still clear enough to speak. 'She said that if I keep practicing, I can do just as easily as I can float around.' She explained.

"Look, only use this if we need information fast. Otherwise, just send me images like you normally do, you're pretty good at getting your point across with that method." Xent says as Zai starts to grumble a bit.

(Yeah yeah, now you can chat with Xent. Big deal!) Zai turns away from the group a bit as she stretches her muscles waiting for the fight.

Verna quickly moves over to Zai at her words. (Zai, it took more then I thought to do that. I won't be able to do that much for a long time at all. For that espeon to do that so easily and have three separate conversations going at once shows how powerful she is.) Verna explains panting just bit as she recovers from talking with just her mind. Zai growls a bit at those words none the less though, quickly clenching her fists. (Don't even think about challenging her Zai. Even with your type advantage, she is much stronger then you, you would lose.) Verna said rather worried knowing that Zai had a partial temper, nothing like Xent's, but still it was enough for Verna to be worried.

Zai's claws suddenly grew a bit longer with the power of a dark claw attack and she quickly charged in before Thomas was ready. Sarah gave a worried look as Xent was annoyed, but he still charged in after the zoroark. Thomas sighed as he finally said charge unenthusiastically. Everyone else charged in as well.

Upon seeing Thomas though, both of the remaining knights quickly charged after him leaving the rest of the workers and their pokemon to deal with Sarah and the others.

Thomas was quickly to move in, firing a blast of electricity at the first knight to distract him as he parried the second's blade. While he was at it, he was able to grab the belt off one of the knights and throw it into the woods before the knight could respond and call out his pokemon. Radara quickly deals with as many of the other pokeballs as she can as well, to great success, only a small number of the workers have time to call out there pokemon.

Thomas once again blasts another wave of electricity at one knight while trying to make a grab for the others head band so that Radara can knock him out with ease, since these knights are much better then the three previous ones he had dealt with at the sanctuary.

Still, that hardly slows him down, even if he can't land many hits, ducking under the one's sword, using the broadside of his blade to catch the other one in the side. He's quick to jump back, blasting them both with a good wave of power, but not enough to knock them out as he quickly dashes right back in.

--

Sarah and Xent were both quickly going for the device that was their objective, no one was sure what direct effect it would have on their pokemon as they tried to close in. Sarah was a decent shot when she took her time, but trying to hit a truck's wheel as it was turning was another story. Thankfully she did get one lucky shot rather quickly, hitting the driver side window and catching the driver. It didn't do much to him, but still slowed the truck down long enough to Xent to run up and try to get inside with his crowbars.

Zai and Verna made sure to keep any pokemon around him busy as he rushed in, Zai even lucky enough to tear part of the back gate off the truck. A small group of pokemon rushed them, before Zai could do much more, an amoonguss trying to hit her with a spore attack to put her to sleep, but she jumped back to avoid it only to get hit by a jolteon, but Verna quickly helped pull it off, forced to throw it into the woods for now.

Xent saw the attack, distracted for a just long enough for a worker to push him off the truck as it started to take off. Sarah's mienshao was quick to try and jump onto it, but didn't do much as it couldn't stay on the truck as it quickly lost its balance and fall to the ground hard. Zai once again made another attempt to get in, slashing one of the tires before she was once again tackled by the jolteon as it released a electric attack trying to take her down.

Xent and Sarah both quickly closed in again thinking that they had a chance to get to the device, but all the workers quickly left the fight as a second truck pulled up and the lot of them went to work moving it from one truck to the other. It seem that the workers were going to try and use one truck as a shield to have the other truck escape with the device. In turn, most of their pokemon quickly went onto the defensive as well, trying not to let any of them got close

--

Radara and Rebecca were having their own trouble with the knight's pokemon, the dragonite giving Radara a real run for her money, but she wasn't trying to kill it, merely knock it out for now, so she wasn't using her full power. Of course, Rebecca had her own problems as well, an emboar was keeping her on her toes as she tried to knock it out. To make matters worse, a unfezant constantly swapped out attacking the two of them, going after which ever one was more distracted at the moment.

Rebecca had just blocked a blow from the emboar, grabbing its arm to try and throw it into a large steel beam that held up the pavilion when the unfezant made its move, striking her hard in the back with a wing attack, only to back up and blast her with a whirlwind sending her flying. The emboar caught her leg though as she was thrown, only to return the favor of trying to pound her into the pavilion, instead smashing her over one of the picnic tables.

Thomas heard her scream and finally got a good blow on one of the knights, giving him a nasty gash in his arm, then grabbing his face and knocking him out at last with a full blast of electricity, throwing him into the other knight. He dashed towards Rebecca, the unfezant going after Radara, but she was ready this time as she used the unfezant's own wild attack against it. She teleported out of the way at the last second, only to let it hit the tree she was next to. With the unfezant rather dizzy as it tried to get up, Radara got another hit on the dragonite, causing it to fall back onto the unfezant for now.

Thomas made it to the pavilion just in time for the emboar to ready its next attack, using a fire punch that caused Rebecca to cough up some blood, but Thomas counted before it could hit her again. He grabbed the emboar's arm, jumping over it while holding on him, both with his arm and adding a serious psychic boost to the attack. He promptly threw the emboar into the ceiling, not holding back since he know the emboar wouldn't die from the attack. Still, just for measure, as soon as it landed, Thomas jumped up on him pounding the pummel of his blade into the emboar's head, then blasted him with a full force thunder attack. A bit over kill but deep inside he knew it was for his mate he was being a bit more vicious towards his opponent. Thinking how much he would have hurt the emboar if it had hurt Rebecca more.

--

Xent once again tried to get around the group of pokemon protecting the workers as they worked, already having unloaded the device from one truck and already starting to move it onto the next one. Zai landed another dark claw attack into the side of a large thorh, only to get hit again by the jolteon who seemed to have it out for her.

Verna once again threw it off her, but only to have her own problem come up as a fellow psychic type separated her off from the rest of the others for some sort of psychic duel. The gothitelle always going to hit her the second she tried to help the others.

With both of Xent's pokemon distinctly busy though, he had to take on one himself, a darmantian to which he responded by planting one of his crowbars in his face. "These guys are crazy." He shouted out, slamming the darmanitan again to get around it and attack one of the workers. While he got the one enough for the entire group to drop the device, two more workers and one of their pokemon all tried to gang up on him with mixed results.

Xent was easily able to fend off the two workers, it was easy to see that they weren't used to fighting, but the simisage was very quick and hard to hit. Sarah was able to take down another of the workers with her bow, going for another arrow, only to find it empty already, her mienshao jumping up to knock a woobat out of the air for her. She quickly shouldered her bow and once again pulling out her kubotans to defend herself. Thinking this might be in her advantage since the battle seem to be more chaos than an actually battle.

She easily hit the woobat while it was on the ground to try and knock it out as she charged forward, the workers already had the device back off the ground and were loading into the other truck.

Xent turned just in time to see Zai take another hit though, looking around for Verna to see that she was rather busy with the gothitelle who was countering every attack she dealt out. Zai throws the jolteon off once more, only for it land easily enough and jump onto her mane while she was dealing with another pokemon.

The jolteon puts all of its power into one last attack, an electrical based explosion attack as Xent screams out in worry and anger, smashing in another workers head with his crowbars to try and get to her.

Sarah looks on in defeat , as the truck starts to take off again, only to see something fly past her head, a familiar looking blade. The blade lands hard in the side of the machine, followed up by a bolt of lighting hitting the blade. The entire machine sparks for a few before the entire truck blows up, what few workers weren't on it and their pokemon quickly running, now much more afraid of dying at the hands of the liepard for failing her.

Radara no longer busy with the dragonite has a chance to move in and deal with the few remaining pokemon who didn't run.

Though Sarah feels a bit of sorrow for the driver of the truck knowing he might be dead of the result of the explosion. As Xent's words come to her. " They would kill us with out a second thought. Think of the lives we save if they are not alive." Though they give her little comfort as she checks on her mienshao.

With the last of the pokemon taken care of and the machine destroyed, everyone regroups. "Any signs of Juno?" Thomas asks as he gently carries Rebecca in his arms over to the others, his eyes glowing as his swords floats back over to him.

Radara looks around and nods. 'She has found your friend, and is watching over her. It seems that they tried to interrogate her, but she resisted. Juno is taking good care of her and waiting for us.'

Xent gives a sigh of relief as he looks over Zai, who looks mostly okay, but has been knocked out for now. He calls her back to her pokeball for a long rest, the same with Verna before he moves to Thomas.

"That's how you handle things." He smirked looking at the mess of the machine only to hear someone clapping behind them.

Everyone turns around to find one last worker smiling as he stretches his neck. Next to him, the liepard is just sitting there. 'I should have attacked as well watcher, but lucky for you I found another way to amuse myself. It was fun watching him struggle so much at times thinking he might die in that attack of yours.' She says, covered in blood, but a closer look shows small signs of something else just barely visible between her legs.

Sarah is plainly repulsed by the fact turning away, even Xent is clearly shown annoyed by her smug mood. Thomas and Radara are the only ones who clearly ignore her condition as they prepare for another fight.

'This was fun, but pointless you know. Still, I will wait for your answer watcher till next time. Come my pet, I am tired and need a bath, you will do until I find someone better, so don't disappoint me.' She begins to walk away, starting to melt into the shadows as the worker stops to flip the group off, a bit of a dark aura showing over him before he follows his master.

Thomas quickly returns Rebecca to his ball as he takes a battle stance. "Wait, you lost here, what makes you think I'm just going to let you get away." Thomas growls, feeling some of his dark power start up as well, but he didn't entirely fight it.

The liepard pauses as she smiles turning to face him. Her voice quickly starts to laugh in their heads as she grins 'Why? Did you really think I would have only one of those wonderful toys laying around. I knew you would come here and I let you because I thought it would be amusing. I'll not have fools defile my land much longer, and soon, this entire land will be mine. I'll let their own pokemon destroy them, and watch as they die, the same as they did to her. No watcher, I have another device already in place and before you say anything, did you really think I would be telling you this if I thought you had a chance of changing its outcome. While you were busy fighting here, the device was already set up and should have gone off. I'm sure you'll enjoy trying to clean up the mess though watcher.' She laughs as she quickly sinks into the shadows before they can stop her.

At her words, Xent quickly pulls out his all in one trainer phone and quickly finds the news apps. "Breaking News in Salton City. It is pure chaos as the rangers and the local law enforcement and trainers everyone are unable to stem the tide of wild pokemon that run wild through the streets destroying everything they seem able to get their paws on. Many people try taking cover from the unprovoked attack, but..." The news report is suddenly cut short by several screams and the camera is dropped only have a large thing of blood splash over the lens.

Looking around, Xent quickly points out a large column of smoke starting to rise up.

"Salton City is just a few miles from here." Xent states. "They always hold a major pokemon show a few weeks before the Unova League, its one of the biggest attractions in the area this time of year."

Thomas slams his fist down to the ground making it breaks under his anger as he looks at Radara and Sarah. "Tell Juno to catch up to us as soon as Xent has his friend." Thomas states as Radara quickly relays Juno's location to Xent as Thomas, Radara, and Sarah all take off for the rising smoke.