Pokemon Godin Region

Nix began to pull apart the ropes, as Catherine struggled, spluttering into the gag, trying to speak.

"One sec, Catherine, if you hold still I'll get this knot." Nix spoke calmly, hoping Hillary and Saleme had this under control.

Xiomara regarded Saleme coolly. "You must be Saleme, of course. I'm impressed you know about Alola- you'd be surprised how many people here have little to no idea about my little backwater region. Zsa Zsa, you know what to do."

The Tsareena stayed still, looking regally calm as the purple fire and the Lucario's blazing foot made their way towards her.

In a flash, splurts of water from the nearby fountain put out the Will-O-Wisp and put out the flames on Puppy's foot. Zsa Zsa the Tsareena took this moment to step back and away from the Lucario's vanilla kick, regarding him coolly, before tossing the plant tendrils that resembled hair.

"What-" Hilary began, looking at the fountain. Nix stopped untying Catherine for a moment in shock, which made Catherine squirm and try to speak, more.

A small, shy-looking white fish Pokemon poked its head out from the fountain water.

"Alolan Pokemon Quiz, Saleme! Do you know this Pokemon, too?" Xiomara beamed. "Also, did you know that this particular hotel pumps the local seawater through that fountain- that's how they boast the 'fresh, sea-scented air in the graciously large lobbies'- it's literally got the seawater in the lobby! Pretty gross, if you ask me, but you aren't. Any clues on the Pokemon? Oh, I'll just tell you. This here is my little WishiWashi."

The ground began to rumble a little. Nix redoubled her efforts on Catherine's bonds, and Hillary looked around urgently at the quake.

"What....what is that?" She queried.

The fountain began to shudder and shake violently. Something with a lot of force was underneath them, that was for sure.

Nix managed to finally untie Catherine's arms from the chair, and Catherine grabbed her gag and pulled it out of her mouth, coughed a few times, and looked straight at Saleme.

"She...she doesn't want information from us any more, Sally! She's trying to kill us!" She screamed hoarsely, in the eerily quiet, empty hotel lobby.

Xiomara tutted and shook her head, and smiled softly. "Oh, darn. You got me."

At that moment, the fountain exploded, sending chunks of rock towards Puppy, Woof, Betty, Saleme, Hillary and the others. Huge amounts of seawater washed into the lobby, sending waves across the marble surface, picking up and pushing furniture. A wave separated Nix from Catherine, and Catherine disappeared under the water, her legs still tied to the chair. Chuck's unconcious body was pushed further away from the group, and he was soon tangled in a collection of partially floating furniture pieces.

The water was thigh level already, and Hillary, being closest to the door, ran to open it. She slammed into it; it didn't budge an inch.

"She....she's barred the doors and windows!" Hillary shouted to the others, failing to keep the panic from her voice.

"I did tell you I was the one they called when things got bad." Xiomara's voice sounded from above. In all the action she must have used one of her Pokemon to fly higher, to safety. "You all poked the Vespiquen nest, and this is a warning to you all. For some of you, it may be the last warning you ever get. The walls are well insulated. You can tread water, but once the water hits the screens that your beloved Barry and Evangeline speak through, you'll all be fried. I must bid you all farewell for now, but I haven't left you entirely alone. A hui hou!"

As her voice vanished, Nix was searching fruitlessly for Catherine until she saw something big near where the fountain had been. With another tremor, a huge, blue, partially glowing beast fired itself into the air, and the sea water began to fill the room even faster. The Wishiwashi school eyed the trainers from the air, and it landed into the rising seawater, sending waves across it's surface. 

Nix saw the lights beneath the surface as the beast made its way towards them. The water was already up to her chest, and she couldn't find Catherine anywhere. She looked over to the others, in time to see Hillary grit her teeth, return a protesting Betty who wanted to help to her Pokeball, and throw herself forward in a strong breaststroke towards Chuck's body, which was starting to slip below the surface.

"Sa-Saleme, I can't...can't find Catherine!" Nix yelled, backing away from the rapidly approaching Wishiwashi.

Saleme would return Woof as the water hit the group not wanting him to receive damage from something that was his natural enemy Puppy held onto Saleme side not wanting to be separated from his trainer by the wave at first.
“I never did like the people from Alola…” he muttered being yanked up from the water by Puppy “focus on finding Catherin Puppy” he ordered the lucario giving him a nod before rushing through the water to find her.
“Ok everyone calm bloody down she made it clear we aren’t leaving through the door or the windows on this floor so lets go up!” Saleme shouted pointing over at the elevator as Puppy dove out of the water holding Catherine on his shoulders.
“We can use the hatch to get up to a higher floor and then find ourselves a exit from up there it beats frying to death” Saleme adviced trying to keep a level head on his shoulders.

“Kinchai Mfune; Greninja and Blastoise both look pretty tough. Detective Arglye; Blaziken and a recent addition of Garchomp. He’ll be modestly formidable.

"Hm. Those are some pokes worthy of respect.....should be a fun time," Larry smirked before K'oueh continued.



Saleme Speyers; personality wise you might count him out but he’s a stickler for battles and he’ll find a way to win. No matter how tough it seems on him. If you come into contact with Speyers or any of his friends, keep a low profile. They’re pieces of the chess board I haven’t touched yet,” He explained. /before he had time to elaborate, his pokenav buzzed.

“Action baby!” Barry voice rang out as the Emoji pointed up at the two.

“My boys you currently still my assistants and I got a hefty task for the dopey muscled one you know which one you are” Barry voice rang out out of the pokegear as an image of Saleme and Nix appeared on it.

“My boy Sally here developed a Pokémon enhancer which he distributed with the help of Nix to the Pokémon center. I need his notes on it to make sure it’s not allowing Pokémon trainers to cheat in the competition because the enhancers are supposed to only boost immunity to viruses and eliminate any that the Pokémon was suffering with… but you never know. Look at Saleme, he looks like the sneaky, sneaky, kind!” Barry voice rang out.

As an emoji of Larry wearing a butler outfit came on the screen. “Well Koko my boy send Alfred out to get Saleme notebook for me, will ya? Maybe I’ll provide an upgrade to the device in return, hehe.” Barry chuckled before the screen shut off.

“Speak of the devil…” K’oueh said with a grin plastered on his face. “I don’t think Saleme is the type to cheat… I’ve been keeping tabs on him ever since the Schism incident half a year ago. He’s a goody-two shoes. Do retrieve those notes though,” He said, scratching his chin. He gestured toward Kadabra first than back to Larry.

"This client of yours is really trying his hardest to push me," Larry said, shaking his head. "It's working. The moment we no longer need this guy, you let me know. I got some words for him."



‘When you retrieve the notebook, we’ll make a copy before giving it back to Barry. The notes might be useful.’

“I’ll be back at base.”

"Noted. I'll keep you posted," Larry said as he stuck his hands into his pockets and headed off, Gengar chuckling and floating right behind him.

==========

Internally, Zuku groaned. He preferred a straight-up, man-to-man, Blaziken-to-Blaziken brawl. Not many opportunities for those. But, this was also a good opportunity to show the non-combatic utility of their fighting style as well, and spark more interest in the dojo. "Alright, Blaze! Let's keep that drive up!" Both he and Blaze watched as Gen. Tso began powering up. An impressive display. The detective's speech was almost as impressive. An excited grin spread across the duo's faces. This, this is the kind of intimidating excitement that they were in search of.

As Gen. Tso zipped across the sand, Blaze simply waited, biding his time. As he waited, he took deep, centering breaths. With each breath the flames on his wrists flared like the exhaust of a modded car revving its engine. He wasn't going to wait for his opponent to finish setting up and not begin setting up himself. By calming his breathing, he gained a better grip on his sense of balance, allowing him to, in theory, seem lighter. Which in a way, enhanced his speed.

As the mirrors sprang up, throwing the audience into a suspenseful confusion, Zuku simply smirked. "Very impressive, Detective. You and your partner are truly a sight to behold. I don't know whether I'd be more excited to have you two as allies or opponents. But we're not outta this just yet. You see, your mirrors may have us in your trap. But springing it won't prove to be easy. Blaze! Use your surroundings! Turn their trap back against them!"

At these words, Blaze grunted in understanding as he glanced around quickly, trying to leave a minimal window for him to be caught distracted. The beach.....sand.....water......the glass mirrors. It was risky to try and escape the mirrors and get to the water for the first idea that popped into his head. 'Turn their trap against them.' It was obvious that phrase was coded to try not to tip them off too soon. Blaze then smirked as he spun and his foot sprung ablaze again, as he sent it crashing into the nearest mirror. His next few moves, due to his increased speed, were mostly a blur to the untrained eye, though likely completely obvious to Gen. Tso.

The glass mirror shattered from the impact, and as the broken pieces started falling, Blaze scooped them up with a flurry of kicks, the momentum sending them into the edge of the water, and some even colliding with the water from the resulting splash. A testament to his accuracy. Nonetheless, he repeated the process with the next mirror, and now the area around them seemed to glisten under the midday sun. Any water droplets that strayed too close to the Blaziken was turned into steam from the heat.

Zuku grinned happily, glad that Blaze was able to put the pieces for his idea together. "You know what to do now! Show 'em why we love Thunder Punch!" On cue, the Blaziken thrust his fist into the air, electricity sparking in all directions. The current bounced back and forth against the mirrors by following the mist surrounding them, creating a 'Thunder Net.'

Catherine coughed up water as Puppy pulled her from the water, and managed to smile, despite looking worse for wear.

"Hey there, Puppy. Don't worry, it's not my first time untying my legs underwater. Thanks, Nix, the arms are the hard bit! So, Sally, we're using the elevator shaft? Good plan. I'm going to have Koyuki take out the Wishiwashi. Nix! Nix! Pinpoint the Wishiwashi for me so I can get it!"

- - - - - -

Nix shook her head in relief upon seeing Catherine safe.

"Uh, uh, okay.." She replied.

"This is the second attempt on my life since I've been here, and the umpteenth time I've come close to dying." She whispered to herself, willing herself through the panic attack. She needed her best head on for this, and the stress and worry wasn't motivating her like it used to.

Seeing Saleme make his way towards the elevator made her nod. That was smart. Pokemon could help, but hers..? Her Porygon Z was still an untested glitchy mess. Smirking knowingly at Evanna on the beach seemed so long ago, now.

And that made her snap into action. No way was that aging television wannabe going to silence HER, the media. She'd scream loud for the WORLD to hear.

Knowing none of her other Pokemon would be comfortable in the rising water, she sent out Error404, her unfortunately aptly named Porygon Z, forcibly evolved and glitched out, courtesy of Schism.

The Porygon Z jittered above the water, taking it all in.

"Error....can you...can you search for a lifeform below the water?" Nyx spoke, her head just above the water, now. Soon she would be treading water.

The Porygon nodded, and dutifully scanned the room, and yellow shapes appeared beneath the water. There was a large, yellow shape heading towards her that could only be the dreaded Wishiwashi.

"There....there it is!" She yelled, pointing it out.

Catherine's Froslass was ready to send an Ice Beam towards it to slow it down, but it was gaining upon Nix too quickly. In an instant, she was in the sewer again, hiding from the mutated Arbok. She was being held in the cable car, waiting to drop.

The beast leapt towards her, and she closed her eyes and cowered back. As she did so, Error 404 floated in the way, and with a slight glitch, let loose a powerful Tri Attack, right into the Wishiwashi's mouth, shattering it into thousands of little fish, once more.

"E...Error..." Nix began. Her Porygon Z turned to her. She'd been so wrong. Error hadn't changed. She'd judged it harshly. Before she had time to apologise, the pokemon flew underneath her, and picked her up, over the water, and floated her towards the others.

"Nice Porygon you got there, that Wishiwashi is probably going to be stunned long enough for us to bounce." Catherine smiled, encouragingly, enjoying being carried by Puppy. "How's it looking with that door, Sally? Where's- ah."

Hillary floated towards them, dragging an unconcious, but breathing Chuck behind her. "Let's get out of here, guys..." She huffed.

At that moment, Error404 fired another Tri Attack at the elevator doors, prying them open. Water gushed into the elevator shaft, but it would lead them upwards. As they went up, they found only one floor was accessible. As they staggered into a large, empty conference room, Xiomara turned and smiled, to greet them.

- - - - -

"Welcome to level 2. Gotta admit, the lobby took you a little longer than I thought....and look!" She smiled, noting Hillary delicately placing Chuck on the floor, and making sure he was breathing, and Catherine standing upright and defiant, her hair plastered to her sopping wet skin.

"No fatalities! Weird, really. I was hoping the freak would at least drown out there. Piss off that Redhead. She was so smug when they put her in charge of him...she's a glorified babysitter and she can't even handle that."

Hillary looked up sharply at this. "You....who are you talking about?"

Xiomara jerked her thumb at the muted TV, which showed two Blaziken fighting in spectacular contest style. To the side of the panning camera angle, a familiar streak of red hair was visible, before it went back to the battle.

"Why, the woman who vetted both him and you, Hillary Handie. Your old boss, Evangeline Venus."

Hillary shook at this. "Ev-Evanna was behind this?! That's....that's sick! She...she CHOSE us?"

Xiomara shrugged. "Evanna hasn't had an original idea in years. She chose you, but we planted Chuck. His body type was VERY reactive to the serum. He wasn't supposed to leave the lab alive, but Evanna....she has a problem with younger, prettier women. She hired you to torture you. Did any chai latte you got for her ever satisfy her? Did she ever compliment you?"

Hillary shook in anger. "No. No, of course not. She was the boss from hell- even more so now I know she chose me just to torture me. Who the HELL does that? Poor Chuck. You're all sick!"

"Sick, twisted, blah blah blah. Eggs need to be cracked to make the omelette. All your friends know this. They all know Evangeline was in on it, too- they just didn't say it because they don't trust you." Xiomara spoke softly, savouring this moment.

Nix and Catherine shifted uncomfortably. Hillary shook, her body heaving with silent tears.

"You....you all knew?" She shook, still kneeling over Chuck.

"Hillary..." Nix began.

"Don't! You're just here for a story! You don't care!" Hillary screamed back.

There was a faint "beep" noise. The girls looked up at Xiomara, who was holding a phone.

"Sorry, was just recording that. I've been wanting a new ringtone." Xiomara spoke softly, smiling. "So, with that out of the way, time for your next, and last trial."

She threw several Pokeballs into the air, and in a blur of flashes, the room was full of sparking, Togedemaru. Their iron spikes extended.

"So, you're all wet. These pokemon are spiky, electric, and they want a hug. You work it out. I'll see you again." She winked at them, before running and bombing through the window, sending a shatter of glass out into the street.

The horde of Togedemaru tottered towards them, sparking menacingly. Hillary put herself in front of Chuck, and readied her hands towards her Pokeballs.

"As soon as we're out of here, I'm done with you people."

“Hilary information a vital thing and in Godin it makes you end up like Nix” Saleme explained looking over at Nix.
“No offence dear it just your first for information put you on Schisms list. I and Catherine were just merely in the wrong place at the wrong time” Saleme stated before looking over at Hilary.
“Don’t judge Catherine for not telling you things she super aloof most the time, if you want to be mad at someone pick me I volunteer as tribute” Saleme said rather quick to defend his oldest friend that was in the godin region.

Saleme would grin holding up a pokeball but it wasn’t Woof or Puppys “Now just remember what important and no it not anyone feelings” Saleme grumbled pressing the button on the pokeball after giving such a harsh and sore lecture it was ironic what popped out.
Leia Saleme Chansey burst out of her pokeball “Meet Leia she my gal” Saleme grinned as the chansey hopped over to one of the togedemarus smiling cheerfully before grabbing it and seismic tossing it into the ceiling.

“Chansey” She said cheerfully before looking over at the other togedamaru with a rather sinister smirk.
“Oh may have forgot to mention she is a sadist” Saleme said to the togedamaru as Leia was picking her next victim.

“Thunder Punch really would be a wonderful addition to your move set,” Deandre reasoned aloud, his arms folded in quiet awe. “The whole point of this was to learn that move. So, no matter what the prize for winning this, our prize is Thunder Punch. By the end of this match, I want you to slug Blaze with one.” The detective spoke to the entire battlefield, unsure himself of where his own Pokémon hid.

Gen. Tso crouched low behind a mirror. His reflection lay in six separate mirrors masking his true location. The application of electricity to the battle was a splendid move. He looked down at his fist and thought about what his partner said. He nodded lightly before looking back up at the trap Blaze had spread.

“If you touch it, you risk becoming paralyzed. If you touch it, you’ll reveal your true location. If you touch it, you’ll lose points from the Judges,” Deandre spoke quietly, determining the right strategy to take. “Gen. Tso! Disrupt the net!”

Gen. Tso placed his palms on the floor. After a minor tremor, stones began jabbing out of the ground once again piercing through different pieces of the net. This allowed him five points of attack. Five places to lure Blaze to and wail on him. Gen. Tso began dashing between each stone pillar he erected, slightly touching the thunder net on each run through. His game had begun.

As Saleme spoke, Hillary softened, and Nix frowned.

"Thank you, Saleme." Catherine spoke, sending her ghost Pokemon to take out a few of the Togedemaru. They fainted rather easily.

"I get that I'm thirsty for information..." Nix began. "But it's because I want to expose this whole, rancid and corrupt region for the criminal hive it is."

She sent Error to fight some Togedemaru, and knocked them out.

"But that's not all it is, is it, Nix?" Hillary spoke.

"What do you mean?" Nix replied, frowning.

"I saw you at the beach. Making eyes at Evangeline...that insane woman. You KNEW she did this to Chuck, and you're playing some spy fantasy." Hillary spoke, shaking with anger. She gestured to Catherine and Saleme.

"These two have clearly seen worse, done worse. This is par for the course. I'm finding it hard to keep up, knowing that that...that woman CHOSE me to torture. Because of how I looked? They chose Chuck for his 'responsive body to the treatment?' it's sick. And YOU- you think you're a badass because you can look her in the eye across the beach as you LOUNGE there doing NOTHING?!" As Hillary's voice rose and became more emotional, Betty released herself from her Pokeball, assessed the situation, and took out a few of the approaching Togedemaru.

"Guys..." Catherine began. Nix looked down at the ground.

"Did you get a picture of Chuck for your wall, Nix?" Hillary snapped savagely. "He's the one deformed beyond recognition, unconscious on the floor. Shall I pose him for your front page?"

"Hillary..." Catherine spoke, sadly.

"She...she's right." Nix spoke up. She lifted her head, her eyes heavy with tears. "I froze downstairs when it got real. I've...I've let my ego take over. I'm not untouchable, and someone wants us all dead. And Chuck....I'm so, so sorry for Chuck, Hillary."

Her eyes met Hillary's, and Hillary nodded back, sadly.

"The Togedemaru aren't a trial at all." Catherine spoke softly. "The final trial was this. Getting us to look at ourselves. I get it if you girls don't want to be a part of this anymore. It's dangerous, and despite how me and Saleme might appear, our lives are lived in fear. There's never a day off. If you want to go, then fair, but stay in touch. We need to keep each other safe. If they can get me, and trust me, I can go off the grid and be invisible for literal months, then they can get anyone. I think Xiomara is just...toying with us."

The Togedemaru now fainted, Hillary sat back and considered this, looking at Chuck as he began to stir. "Soon he'll wake, then we'll see what his vote is." She said simply. "Expose this region, Nix. Let Chuck be the last casualty."