Pokemon Umbral: Renny's Sidequest Part 2

[Astral Harmony]

Front Lawn Battle (Ally Phase)
- Shaymin (Renny's): Shaymin has awoken. Shaymin is fully healed.
- New Rule!: Grass type Pokemon automatically awaken from sleep at the end of the turn during natural daylight or Sunny Day. When it's dark, Grass types must be awakened or they will remain asleep indefinitely.
- Latias (Dominic's): Uses Testament Drive. The Dark has taken severe damage. Latias has been defeated.
- Entei (Kirie's): Ninjask has been defeated.
- Umbreon (Renny's): Helping Hand is used on Kirie.
- Whitney (Mismagius): Whitney is fully healed. Whitney rebuilds stamina.
- Lanturn (Moon's): Armaldo has taken good damage. Ludicolo has taken severe damage. Lambdavolt is fully healed.
- Lambdavolt (Evangaleen's Jolteon): Spiritomb has taken good damage. Ludicolo has been defeated. Lanturn is fully healed.
- Harliette: Spiritomb has been defeated.
- Shannon: Shannon has left combat.
- Kirie: Uses Arsenal Assault. Armaldo has been defeated. The Dark has been defeated.

Shaymin easily woke up and embraced the daylight, then used Synthesis as Renny commanded. The Dark frowned. "How in the hell did it wake up so quickly!?"
Harliette pointed up. "See that?"
"I don't see anything, wench."
"You can see the daylight from Sunny Day, right?"
"Who can't? What's your point, wench?"
"My point is this: because plants are usually photosynthetic, they absorb energy from the sun. It fills them full of energy, so when the sun is out or when Sunny Day is in effect, Grass type Pokemon automatically wake up at the end of turn."

...

"I didn't know that," Shannon admitted.
"Me, neither." The Light said, then looked at Ludicolo. "Ludicolo, you're a Grass type. Did you know this?"
Ludicolo shrugged.
"Just be careful," Harliette warned her allies. "If a Grass type is put to sleep in darkness, don't expect it to wake up on its own. You're going to have to awaken it manually. Keep that in mind."
"You're pretty smart, Harliette." Shannon said. "I could learn a thing or two from you. Wanna be my friend?"
Harliette shrugged. "Eh. Couldn't hurt to build my crew."

Then Latias spun out of control and ripped right into The Dark, sending him reeling. Several serious wounds were left on his body from the dual type Dragon and Flying assault.

Everything else unfolded even better than Renny had hoped, then he had to pray. Kirie's Arsenal Assault hit random targets. But how did it do that? Didn't Kirie know what she was hitting?

Then Renny saw how when he looked at her. Kirie's body was burning like a Dragon Ball Z character. Blind rage was taking control of her. Then Kirie's massive blade transformed into a trident and she shot out like an angel of vengeance. Armaldo was skewered twice in quick succession, and hadn't even fallen over before Kirie was airborne, coming down onto-
"No! Save me! Arrrrrrrgh!"
Kirie, her weapon now transformed into some kind of heavy arm weapon that encased her entire right arm, fell down on The Dark with all the wrath of a freak volcanic eruption. Before The Light's stunned body, Kirie smashed The Dark's face in with two barbaric blows, then retreated back into formation. She morphed her weapon back into a large blade, the morphing process squeezing out the blood and skull fragments onto the lawn like a rag.
The Dark's body was on its back, the feet pointed towards the allies, which saved Renny the horror of having to see what Kirie had done to The Dark's obliterated head.

What the hell kind of angel was Kirie, an angel of death? Shannon whistled. "And I thought Charlotte was frightening when pissed," Shannon breathed.

-----
Front Lawn Battle (Enemy Phase)
- Volbeat, Shedinja, Ledian and Fathocanth have been deployed.
- The Light (Act 1): Paradigm Shift. Uses SyncTech "Dream Gluttony". All enemies are now asleep. The Light automatically uses Dream Eater on all targets. Shaymin has taken good damage. Whitney had taken good damage. Kirie has taken good damage. Entei has taken good damage. Umbreon has taken no damage. Lanturn has taken good damage. Lambdavolt has taken good damage. Harliette has taken good damage.
- The Light (Act 2): Uses Extreme Upgrade on Fathocanth. All statistics have increases by three levels.
- Volbeat (Rogue): Umbreon has taken great damage.
- Shedinja (Rogue): Umbreon has taken critical damage.
- Ledian (Rogue): Umbreon has been defeated.
- Lumineon (The Light's): Shaymin has taken great damage.
- Fathocanth (The Light's): Shaymin has taken critical damage.
- Arbok Pokebrid: Shaymin has been defeated. Arbok's Paradigm Shift is over.
- Shaymin (Renny's): Please aim the Testament Drive. Available targets are The Light, Fathocanth and Lumineon.
- Sableye Pokebrid: Whitney has taken great damage.
- Claydol Pokebrid: Whitney has taken severe damage.
- Espeon (Claydol's): Whitney has been defeated.

"You fucking bitch! I'll kill you for this!" The Light screamed at Kirie, her eyes starting to tear up.
Kirie grinned wolfishly. "Bring it on, cunt. I'll rip out your spine and use it as a tampon."

Ho-oly shit...

The Light realized that she wasn't going to intimidate Kirie. Just them, the other three of The Dark's Pokemon came out. The other three came out as well, but since they were already defeated, they were in no condition to avenge their master's death.

- Volbeat (Bug) [The Dark Pokemon 4 of 6]
Moves: Bug Buzz / Zen Headbutt / Helping Hand / Silver Wind
Ability: Swarm
- Shedinja (Bug/Ghost) [The Dark Pokemon 5 of 6]
Moves: Shadow Ball / Heal Block / X-Scissor / Confuse Ray
Ability: Wonder Guard
- Ledian (Bug/Flying) [The Dark Pokemon 6 of 6]
Moves: Bug Buzz / Silver Wind / Focus Punch / Aerial Ace
Ability: Swarm
- Fathocanth (Rock/Water) [The Light Pokemon 5 of 6]
Moves: Head Smash / Hydro Pump / Rest / Dive
Ability: Rock Head

Whitney suddenly had an idea. "Pokeballs, go!" she shouted, and then captured Ninjask, Masquerain and Armaldo.
"Whitney?" Harliette called her.
"I lost my other Pokemon to Phantomere," Whitney said coldly. "But if these Pokemon remain on the field, they'll just die from their wounds. I'll save them. I'll save them and make them my own."
Harliette understood. "You heard the girl. The Dark's Pokemon no longer have a master. Put 'em down and Whitney'll capture them. She'll be even more unstoppable with a half-dozen Bug Pokemon Alphas at her command."

"Heh. Take The Light's Water Pokemon Alphas when you kick her ass," Shannon suggested. "Moon could start an aquarium by that point."
"Or at the very least, we can rehabilitate them," Moon said. "As they are, they're just mindless killing machines forged through training and drugs. We should try to save them if possible."
"Good idea, Moon! That's why I love you!"
"Whah!? I...uhhh..." Moon faltered, blushing.
Evangaleen smiled. "Dude. You are dead."

"Hey, what's that Pokemon?" Whitney asked suddenly, pointed at the large fish Pokemon that the scouter identified as a Fathocanth. "I've never seen it before."
"It's a Fathocanth," Moon answered. "The evolved form of Relicanth. They were discovered fairly recently so it's not surprising you don't know them. Because you can only find them in the deepest oceanic trenches, they're very difficult to get a hold of. This is great opportunity for me to catch one if we're going to kill The Light."

The Fathocanth didn't look much different from a Relicanth, except for size. A Fathocanth was pretty damn large, and its rock armor was more stylized, like someone took it and forged it into ancient armor.

The counterattack was pretty good. Renny lost both Umbreon and Shaymin. Now he had a Testament Drive to aim.

Whitney fell to her knees from the ghost attacks used against her. "Sorry, Mr. Renny. I...can't keep this up."

-----
Back Lawn Battle (Ally Phase)
- All Y'all Fuckers: Recoilless Cannon (Port) has taken severe damage.
- Lexhur's Heat Level has increased by 6%.

A concentrated assault left the cannon seriously damaged, but still functional. The scouters tracked the heat level just like it checked Morale Integrity.
"Looks like dealing damage, even without destroying something, will put the heat on Lexhur," Rayleen said. She was pretty good at saying obvious things. "Pay attention and we may find other ways to light his fire."

-----
Back Lawn Battle (Enemy Phase)
- Port Recoilless Cannon (Fighting): Missed.
- Starboard Recoilless Cannon (Steel): Nagarai has taken great damage
- Port Missile Rack (Poison): Impact has taken great damage. Nagarai has taken severe damage.
- Starboard Missile Rack (Ground): Impact has taken severe damage. Nagarai has been defeated.
- Topside Artillery Cannon (Rock): Regigigas has taken critical damage. Allegion has been defeated. Registeel has taken critical damage.
- Allegion (Shizuka's): Designate a Testament Drive target.
- Topside Flamethrower (Fire): Registeel has been defeated.
- Registeel (Rachel's): Designate a Testament Drive target.
- Bow Mine Layer (Normal): Mines are laid out. Chance of setting off mines is very high for those who use close range attacks. Use long range attacks on mines to safely detonate them and permit melee close range attacks again. There are currently 8 mines.
- Lexhur (Act 1): Uses Mine Launcher. Buck has taken great damage. There are 7 mines remaining.
- Lexhur (Act 2): Uses Auto Repair. Port Recoilless Cannon has recovered some health.
- Lexhur (Act 3): Mechanical sounds are being heard from within.
- Lexhur's Ability: A Type Absorber is being constructed. By the way, that's not the mechanical sound you're hearing.
- Lexhur's Heat Index has decreased to 0%.

After the attack on the Port Recoilless Cannon, it didn't seem to function right. The shell flew wide and hit nothing but cold ground. "Damaging parts of Lexhur's part will cause them to malfunction, missing us more often," Rayleen guessed. "We can use this to take the heat off of us quicker, but we won't be putting the heat on him unless we destroy those parts."

Lexhur then proceeded to unleash all kinds of hell on them, which what somewhat to their benefit. Registeel was defeated, Allegion was defeated, Regigigas was almost down. A lot of Testament Drives were coming their way. But there was definitely kudos to be given to Lexhur. That british bastard packed a lot of power in a versatile package.

[Dracorion]

"Nagarai!" Pierce called as she returned to her pokeball. With a worried look on his face, he immediately applied a Max Revive and she re-emerged. "Master, you saved me!" She cried, embracing him lovingly. "Now's not the time." He said, pushing her off him softly.

Pierce looked at the battlefield. Lexhur had a lot of weapons. Far too many. Then he saw the Absorbers, and was struck by an idea. The Absorbers were electrical devices. Apply too much electricity, they'd short or malfunction. "Nagarai, Thunder on the Fire Absorber!"
"Right away Master! Thunder!" She cried. There was the crack of thunder, and from the heavens a single bolt of lighting crashed down on the Absorber.

For himself, Pierce considered what to do. If he attacked Lexhur, there was a good chance he'd trip one of the mines. Then again, there wasn't much else he could do. So, throwing self-preservation to hell, he rushed at the starboard missile rack. "Master, what are you doing?"

If this kills me, I swear to God, I am going to be pissed.

[Menarker]

Renny mental state partly shut down from shock as Kirie casually spouted a barrage of expletives as if they were pronouns and cut down the Dark with a brutal onslaught, which he was glad he couldn't fully see. The conversation between the other members however was encouraging as he himself didn't want to see the pokemons perish and that their plan to rehabilitate them was heartwarming. He even smiled broadly as Shannon practically blurted out her affection for Moon.

Then the onslaught came. Everyone but the trainers themselves slumped to the ground with a thud asleep, as the opponent's ganged up on Shaymin, Umbreon and Whitney mercilessly, knocking them all into unconsciousness. Shaymin's tiny body however glowed outrageously as natural energy shot from its body toward the sky before descending from above to bomb the crescent pokemon below.

"Oh no... This situation is perhaps the worst that can happen... We're practically out of items, almost everyone is asleep and those guys seem to be building momentum." Well, I guess I gotta count on you, Magnezone!

As he tried to grab his pokeball on one side of this belt, a beam of light shot out suddenly from the other side, and within seconds, there was a bright glittery sight as the large blue colored turtle styled stone armored tentacle-sprouting pokemon, Mollesk, appeared. Its tentacles kinda squirmed in and out out of the various holes as it slowly looked side to side toward all the new faces. It still looked pretty spaced out, but for some reason, it glared at all their foes as if he instinctively knew they were trouble.

"MOLL!"
It tried to appear intimidating, but it succeded at only being moderately unusual looking and cute especially when it was all shiny and sparkly. Renny was dismayed and frantic at the ill-timed arrival.

"Mollesk, get back in! This isn't a battle for you! There are too many for you to handle with your shell alone and you aren't ready for combat!"
Renny tried to recall the Mollesk, but it remained on the field regardless of the beam that impacted it.

"MOLLLLL-ESK!"

Despite being worried sick about his pokemon, it was at least conscious and could defend himself... marginally at least. Everyone else sleeping however had no such chance. Renny couldn't waste time trying to recall the errant pokemon when his pokeball wouldn't work for some reason. He needed to get everyone back up before they would be murdered in their sleep. The panic was starting to intensify.

"Lola, we all need your help at least once more, please!" Renny ran to her side, carefully spraying her with his last Full Restore. "Mom, use that last item on Whitney! Hurry!"

"Alright dear..."

"Lola, if you can hear me, we need another Heal Bell. I'm sorry, but we need to get people back on their feet before they're done for! Help Kirie and Harriette."

Renny then turned to see Whitney reacting to Maria's treatment. "Whitney, I'm so sorry, but I need your help one more time. Whitney, could you possibly manage to use that black hole thing on Cresselia?"

Renny looked towards the members of the Eevee Enthuasists. Jolteon and Lanturn could still be valuable as a team if they could only get the chance to wake up.

"Moon, Evangaleen, if Harriette manages to get up, take Lanturn and Jolteon aside and see if you can't wake them up! She still has quite a few pokemons, so she'll take over in the meantime." Renny said this with a dry throat, as he had no idea if she would even wake up before it was too late.

"Butterfree, it's your turn!"
Dominic called out another pokemon to replace the fallen Umbreon as well as to ensure that Mollesk wasn't the only pokemon on the field. It fluttered in the air, somewhat disconcerted by the large numbers of foes.

"Use Shadow Ball on that Shedninja. It'll go down in one hit!"
"FREEEE! The feelers from its head glowed dark and jolted with dark ghostly energy that fed into a concentrated orb that spun wildly in an erratic orbit as the butterfly pokemon unerringly used its powerful eyes to accurately send it straight into the heart of the undead bug carcass.

Renny looked at the foes hard, frustrated and worried that even putting up a great fight, they were probably at the end of the line. If Kirie was awake, he could tell her she could hit that Fathocanth so hard that its upgrades would have been nothing. If Harriette was there, he could let her summon her pokemons and shoot electric bullets at the Lumineon. It frustrated him that there were pokemons as strong as these Alphas were, but even more so, that it was achieved by experimentation and base motives that he refused to accept. That and all his companionship, hard work and training didn't seem to add up to enough to save everyone.

"Matthias, I have to admit, I'm feeling a bit stuck here. If you got any ideas, that would be great, otherwise I think it would be a good idea if you could get that Arbok out of the way, somehow."

Mollesk started to move, its tentacles outdrawn when Renny caught sight of its initiative and grabbed it by the hand... or the tentacle's equal of one.

"No! Mollesk, it's too dangerous and you haven't recovered. You can't fight, you can only take so much punishment, they outnumber you, they got pokemons with types strong against you and you want to go in with a handicap? Why are you are so insistant?"

"Moll... MOLL!"
For a moment, the air between them was dead and silence, before it gazed calmly and pointed with limp noodle arms at the others with their frustration and their injuries and it looked back at Renny. It wrapped one of its tendrils around Renny's arm and tugged as if pleading.

"... you want to help despite all that... Alright. Show me the reason why you're so confident! Prove me wrong! I'll watch... and pray for your success."

"MOLLESK!" Its shell glowed purple and shimmered as if with all the cosmic marvels of the universe in its stone armor that sparkled crisply while the turtle braced itself.

----------------------
Results!

Shaymin hits Cresselia with Testament Drive.

Renny uses Full Restore on Lola to wake her up as well as heal her. (No more items on Renny). Lola uses Heal Bell on Harriette and Kirie. (Matthias had prepared Chesto Berry earlier, the clever guy.)

Renny's Mollesk gets Forced-Summoned!

Moon and Evangaleen recall their pokemons, give them a breather, perhaps try to wake them up manually. *SHAKE THEM REAL HARD!* Harriette summons Kangaskhan and Vespiquen to take their place. (Now, Shannon, Moon and Evangaleen aren't fighting)

Maria uses last group item to revive Whitney! Paradigm Shift! Black Hole Cresselia! Heavy damage, she disappears (hopefully) and she won't be able to summon any pokemon if they get knocked out (especially if she would be knocked out by this point, they can't go rogue until she comes back from the black hole next turn if she does disappear.)

Kirie uses Endless Waltz with grass typed weapon on Fathocanth. Either the super powered Quad damage or the OHKO will knock it out. (Or so I hope)
Endless Waltz: Kirie focuses all of her attention on a single opponent, something that said opponent would never wish for. More like a modification of Tsubasa's Wicked Dance using Weapon Shift, Endless Waltz has pretty much the same effects.

Dominic summons Butterfree. Butterfree uses Shadow Ball on Shedninja. ONE HIT KO! (Shedninja is fixed at 1 hitpoint and ghost type is one of the un-guarded weakpoints of the WonderGuard). Helps that Butterfree has an accuracy boost due to its ability.

Kangaskhan use Crunch on Espeon. Super Effective! 10% chance of lowering defence stat 1 stage.

Vespiquen use Attack Order on Espeon. STAB Super Effective. High Critical Hit chance!

Harriette uses Electric type Bullets on Lumineon. Super Effective!

Advised Matthias to do something to stop that Arbok. (I encourage Dante to pokeshift and use your Venomoth's special ability.)

Mollesk uses Cosmic Power! Its defence and special defence is doubled to over 500 if not more!

Entei is asleep. If it wakes up (Doubt it), it'll use focused Lava Plume on Volbeat. STAB Super Effective.

[Geminex]

((Kay, placeholder and orders. The order in which this is written is the order in which the characters should act.

Both testament drives: Hit Mine Layer
Rachel: Retreat
Dormond: Retreat.
Pierce's Nagrai: Thunder on Fire absorber
Charlotte: Shotgun on mines
Mika's Mewthree: Use psycho cut on artillery. Should trigger some mines, but Wonder Guard prevents damage.
Kiyomi's Regigigas: Giga Impact on Mine layer.
Shizuka's Ho-Oh: Sacred Fire on Artillery
Impact: Full restore, attack Artillery
Shizuka personal: Use Signature Technique, Apple... Cutter? The single-target high-damage one, but not applesauce. The weaker one. On Artillery.
Pierce Personal: Hit Starboard Missile Rack
Kiyomi: Use Raging Raider, to hit Artillery, Mine Layer and Port cannon.
Rayleen: Have Rayquaza hit the starboard missile rack
Charlotte: Have Buck hit the starboard missile rack

If anything dies, have any remaining attacks against that target hit the starboard missile rack.))

[DanteFalcon]

As he felt the sleep starting to take hold Matthias bit into the berry, letting the natural remedy fight off the attack and examining the remains of the team. Most were out of the fight from sleep or the after-effect of the massive attack. It seemed of the fighters he was one of the few still standing. And there were a lot of enemies. This would be painful.

On the other hand his target was that irritating Arbok pokebrid who's paradigm shift had just worn off. And given the weather effect he believed he could do some serious damage to the snake.

Pokeshift, Castform. His body shifted into its castform body which immediately adapted to the weather. He drew a star in the air with a hand, a small fireball shooting from his fingertip at each tip before they connected and shot towards the serpentine pokebrid.

Fire Blast.

-----

Switched to Castform and used Fire Blast on Arbok.

STAB bonus from Castform's current fire element and increased power from Sunny Day.

[Bard The 5th LW]

It was raining. That wasn't good. Buck tried desperately to shake the water off his fur, but it was pointless due to the continuing rain. He let out a whine, rain was no good for a fire-type. "Come on back boy," Charlotte sighed as she returned him to his pokeball. He had been out for a while anyways. She fished around in her coat pocket briefly before pulling deploying Pike. He hadn't done anything to recently.

"Pike, use thunder on the starboard missile rack," she commanded, pointing it out for him. The Manetric paused for a moment took a moment to take it all in. Seriously. A fucking train? Pike yearned for the old days when he actually fought other Pokemon. Meanwhile, Charlotte loaded the shotgun and fired at the mines. How was that thing working in the rain?

"Pike, any day now," Charlotte said losing her patience. Pike jumped a little at her voice. After regaining his composure Pike focused at Charlottes selected target. "Manetric," it cried, as it released the thunder onto Lexhur. What with the rain and lightning and metal, it will be a miracle if Pierce survives.

[Astral Harmony]

Front Lawn Battle (Ally Phase)
- The Light has taken great damage.
- Lola is fully healed and awakened.
- Harliette and Kirie are awakened.
- Whitney has been revived.
- The Light is out of play and has taken severe damage.
- Moon and Evangaleen are out of play.
- Fathocanth has been defeated.
- Shedinja has been defeated.
- Whitney has captured Shedinja.
- Espeon has been defeated.
- Lumineon has taken severe damage.
- Arbok Pokebrid has taken severe damage.
- Mollesk's DEF and SPDEF are doubled.
- Entei is still asleep.

Renny's orders unfolded more or less how he planned. There were some interesting things to see happen, though.

Whitney's transformation into Gardevoir was shiny and distracting, then she transformed again into a true Gardevoir. Renny's attention then turned to a large hole opening up behind The Light and swallowing the bitch. The hole closed. "Have a nice ride...wait, I meant 'Garde-gardevoir,'" Whitney said.
"For the last time, stop talking like that," Harliette said. "It doesn't make you cute like you think it does."
"I'm sorry but I can't hear you over the sound of how cute I am," Whitney replied.

Kirie was just amazing once again. With a powerful flap of her angel wings, Kirie was at the Fathocanth in an instantly, striking it quickly and repeatedly with a whip. Apparently, she could alter her sword to become something flexible as well. When Kirie was finished, the Fathocanth flopped to the ground. On impulse, Moon stepped forward and hurled a Pokeball, but it didn't work. "Damn it. It can't return to its Pokeball but it's still a Pokemon with a master. I can't get it this way."
"It shouldn't die in a couple of turns. I'm sure it'll return once that black hole spits the bitch back out."
"I hope so. If it dies..." Moon left it hanging. He didn't want to think about it anymore.
Meanwhile, Shannon was enjoying Moon's serious profile.

-----
Back Lawn Battle (Ally Phase)
- Mine Layer has been destroyed.
- Rachel and Dormond are out of play.
- Fire Absorber has taken great damage.
- One of Five Mines has been destroyed.
- Regigigas has been defeated.
- Impact is fully healed and has taken good damage.
- Artillery has been defeated.
- Starboard Missile Rack has been defeated.
- Port Recoilless Cannon has been defeated.

The battle continued to unfold better than Impact had hoped. Those Kimonos were damn deadly and Lexhur's weapons were being annihilated. It wasn't long before Lexhur asked for a ceasefire. He congratulated the group on their individual strength as well as that of their combined force. To say that the group was disappointed with their victory was an understatement. Maybe if they could fight Lexhur later, without the Kimonos?

-----
Mission Complete!

The grueling combat finally saw a conclusion. Everyone was exhausted. The Rogue Pokemon were all successfully taken from The Dark and The Light by Whitney and Moon.

Rayleen felt like real shit. "I'm so terribly sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Tresserhorn. I certainly didn't mean for this to happen. Getting you involved and all. I mean, I know you fought for your son's sake and all, but it still wasn't a good thing to involve innocents."

The Kimonos who were at the party when it started met up with Kirie.
"You weren't supposed to report to PATCA until tomorrow, you know." Shizuka said.
Kirie looked a little apologetic. But only a little. "Well...I mean, look. You guys were talking about helping these guys stop those Ruin Generals and whatnot and I-"
"All you wanted was to soak your blade and body in the entrails of your foes," Shizuka interrupted her. "C'mon, Kirie. We've known each other long enough that I think neither of us are capable of a lie the other would believe."
Kirie lowered her head. "I'm sorry."

Shizuka sighed. "Kirie, please remember that even though we are friends, I am the leader of the Kimonos. How can I guarantee the safety of my girls when you disobey orders?"
Kirie didn't say anything.
Shizuka then embraced Kirie in a hug. "But I am glad that you came when you did. Thank you for your help."
Kirie's cheeks were rosy when they parted.
"Incidentally, Kirie. We need to talk about a change in plans."
"Change in plans? Aww, man! Don't tell me I don't get to fight with them after all."
Shizuka shook her head. "You get to stay with PATCA, but since Lexhur, the Ruin General of Steel, knows a lot about what we been wasting several weeks trying to decipher, then it'll help us more if Mika also stay with PATCA."
Mika's eyes twinkled. "Awesome! I'll get to hear about this world's history from Lexhur himself."
"And Chizuru as well," Shizuka said. "As you discover more, Chizuru can report back to me. She's an superb messenger with very legible handwriting, great artistic skill, and a natural stealth ability despite the fact that her breasts and ass are a little too large for that last task."
"Will you be all right, Lady Shizuka?" Mika asked her master.
"Don't worry," Shizuka assured Mika. "The military isn't attacking in any sizeable force yet. Besides, I've got Tsubasa, Rio, Kiyomi, Nyoka and on very lucky days even Fujiko might help me out. We'll be just fine."

Mika shook her head. "I mean about missing out on Chizuru's cooking."
Shizuka blinked. "Fuck. I forgot about that part."
Mika laughed. "Don't worry, Lady Shizuka. I'll ask Chizuru to have a meal for you everytime she goes to the ruins to report in, which should be fairly often. With Lexhur and us joining PATCA, information should smack us like a tidal wave."
"I appreciate it."
Kirie moved to introduce herself to the rest of the group and give them the good news.

Lexhur had surrendered and remained in the backyard under guard from the Kimonos in shifts. Shizuka took the first watch despite the fact that the night was still young. However, Lexhur was a Ruin General true to his words, and remained stationary and harmless, and more than willing to talk to anyone who talked to him.

[Dracorion]

Pierce was slightly dissappointed when Lexhur ended the battle abruptly: it was just getting to the fun part. I mean, he didn't even fire his giant cannon! Still, Pierce accepted it and recalled Tyranitar.

He went back into the house, grabbed a couple of beers, explained to Nagarai that he wanted to ask Lexhur some questions and she should stay with the party, and returned to the backyard to find Shizuka guarding Lexhur. "Thought I'd keep you some company." He said simply, plopping himself down on the ground cross-legged near Shizuka. "Beer?" He asked, holding one up for her.

Pierce drunk from his own beer as he turned to Lexhur. "So, I figure I'll save the really important questions for when everyone's here. But out of curiosity, what are you going to do now? You said you can't go back to your buddies after this. Where will you go?"

Inside the house, Nagarai was watching Pierce sitting near Shizuka from a window.

[Menarker]

Dominic's text

------------

Renny and Dominic's pokemons were all summoned out of their balls, most of them lying on the grass trying to relax and recover, Renny embracing all of them in turn for their assistance, and attending to the battered fighters. Dominic had went to the garden to gather berries to aid in the process while Maria was in the middle of a conversation stemming from Rayleen's apology.

"You can call me Maria. It was for the best anyhow. Those pokebrids were snooping around, and I hate to think what would happen if me or my husband were taken hostage while everyone else was fighting. Plus, it more or less kept the house untouched by the battle..."

"Snorrr...." The large glutton pokemon stratched its head nervously with shame, remembering that he was the one who put a large hole in the wall of the house in his zeal to help Renny.

"Awww, don't worry about it Snorlax. We can always fix it! I'm glad you came when you did." Renny hugged the huge figure whom promptly rubbed his paw messily around the young master's head.

"Moll Moll!" Mollesk slowly dragged its large bulbous blue shell across the yawn, coming close toward Renny.

"Mollesk, thank you for helping out. But I still don't agree with you popping out so suddenly. You weren't feeling well and all."

"...LESK!" The pokemon looked slightly indiginant once the words finally registered in its head. Its tentacles pumped into the air gesturing his limpy limbs as if he was trying to mimic a bodybuilder stance.

"Renny, I know it's not exactly a good idea to encourage pokemon to pop out of their pokeballs unasked, but perhaps Mollesk didn't have a choice."

"I know he was trying to help us..."

"No, aside from that. You told Dominic that legendaries were forced to fight in times likes these..."

Renny blinked with shock from the notion. A common pokemon evolving into a legendary? The unassuming figure possessing power beyond its own understanding was an unexpected idea.

"I never thought of that, mom. I guess I still have lots to learn about my own pokemon. Legendary or not, I'll always worry about them. But I guess I can trust Mollesk to come fight with us for now on."

"MOLLESK!"

"Glad to hear. Anyhow, Mom, Rayleen, if you excuse me, quite a few of us got injuried, so I want to make sure everyone is alright."

Dominic then called out from inside the house.
"Renny, Snorlax can you come over here? Bring Mollesk and Swampert too!"
"Alright father! "

-------------------------
Renny approached from the inside of the house, Snorlax carrying Mollesk and Swampert striding not terribly far from Renny.

"Renny, you know how I raise the various Shuckles around the house to make juice?"

"Yes, they could be used for medicinal purposes and harden into a very healthy candy."

"True, but that's not all."

Dominic pulled out a small blending machine that looked like a Pokeblock machine found in certain pokemon contest halls, abliet a bit modified.

"The juice they make is alcoholic and thus can be made into very nice wine. Tried it a few times. Very nice, although we have to mix it with fresh berries to dilute it. Anyhow, unlike most wines, the juice that Shuckles and assumingly your Mollesk makes is already fermemented. This machine helps finalize the process, although it won't actually turn it into a pokeblock, but keep it liquid."

"That's nice, but do we really need to do this now? I really need to check on my team."

"And you will. But give this to them while you do so. They fought with their lives on the line to help us. We personally don't have much to offer, so I hope this would be a small token of our appreciation."

"That's true... It won't take long, right?"

"Nope. Snorlax, can you fill this up here?"

Snorlax approached slowly as he gently tipped Mollesk to its side so as to let the purple liquid streamed out of the bottom most hole into the machine. It's capacity was filled higher than expected.

"Hmmm, this will require more berries than expected to dilute. Not a problem. I always bring a variety, although I guess this means the wine will have a fruity flavor."
Dominic started to wash the berries in the sink, before tossing in a few Rawst, Lum, Pecha, Oran, Leppa, Pomeg, Aguav and finally a Starf berry all within the device.

"Alright, Renny, you stand on the opposite side of that device, Swampert to your left and Snorlax to your right. Once this machine turns on, it'll activate a light that'll spin around the frame of this machine. Once the light shines right in front of you, press the thick button there and release it as fast and hard as possible. It'll continue to spin around so you'll have to do it repeatably. The better your timing, the better quality the juice will be. It'll be somewhat slow at first, but then it'll speed up and you might have to press just before the light comes up so it'll activate just at the right time. You understand, son?"

"Perfectly. Seems like a timing game though. You ok with that Swampert?"

"BERT!" Its thick hands were hovering over the button, ready to start as soon as possible.

"That's a good way to sum up. Snorlax and I have lots of experience with this, so it'll at least be fairly good, as long as you do your part decently well. Swampert might have to rein in his strength just a tiny bit though. Don't wanna wreck the thing. Normally, it's me, mum, Snorlax and Butterfree who operate the device. Anyhow... Start!"

The device crooned with mechanical humming as Dominic pressed his button, then the light slowly traveled along a ring shaped frame, until it approached Snorlax who then pressed his button, which started a pumping motion, then towards Renny who pressed his button, and then Swampert who pressed his with vigor as it continued to pass to Dominic.

"Hehe, you get excited even over the simplest things."
"SwamPERT!"

Gradually, it gotten faster and faster. Once or twice, Swampert and Renny missed a beat due to the unfamiliar pace or due to the machine starting to rock back and forth and they missed the button they aimed to press. Dominic continued to demostrate his experience and Snorlax's mental state seemed honed by the fact he was working on something he could expect to be DELICIOUS. Finally, the pace started to slow down as the crushed and grinded berries seem to have melded almost perfectly with the rest of the juice.

"Hmmm, seems like a 87% rating. Excellent for a first time. Now for a tiny taste..."

He pulled out one of the plastic disposable party cups, poured a tiny sample and examined the quality. The wine was very dark and mostly murky, but Renny saw that once or twice it gleamed exquisitely. Then Dominic streamed about a quarter of it down his throat.

"... you gotta get these to everyone. Never had a vintage quite like this... I wouldn't say its the best, but a very exotic texture and not harsh at all." Dominic seemed to blush a slight. "Excuse me, but I had quite a bit to drink earlier and this one seem to have pushed me over the top."

"That's ok Dad, you can take a rest. I'll pass it on to everyone else."
"Snor!" The large friendly brute gathered a funnel and poured the entire mixture into several empty wine bottles." Renny looked a slight curious about the readily available presence of these tools.
"Dad, have you done this often?"
Dominic smiled broadly.
"A few times, but they have always been memorable moments. Made some wine when your mother and I got married. Made some more when you were born, and basically we'd celebrate every special milestone of our life in this way, creating something with our own hands dedicated to the memory we wish to always remember."

"Ah. I see. Well, thank you for teaching me this! I'll pass it on."

BERT! The marsh pokemon carried a few of the bottles that Snorlax filled up, with Renny carrying a stack of party cups as. Snorlax came along, holding onto some bottles. Mollesk wrapped its tentacle around the large pokemon's torso, letting himself be carried like a backpack. They left shortly after they had their arms filled with the gifts. Dominic watched with a smile on his face.
"Today, I think Renny grew up just a little bit more. Today is a good memory." He smiled to himself, raising the glass in a mock toast and drained every single drop. "Delicious... *HICK*!"

[Geminex]

Impact stuck the dragon slave into the ground, let himself fall backwards. That had been... interesting. Mostly perilous, but interesting also. Each Ruin General had their own style, it seemed... They'd have to outsmart them all. Or would they? Lexhur had shed doubt on their long-term goals. They'd really have to interrogate him... later. Impact shuddered. Not from fear, or cold, but from coming down from his adrenaline high. He was always mentally... disorganized, when that happened. Though really, it wasn't nearly as bad as the stuff they used to use in the military. He half-chuckled. Yeah, those had been the days. Today, he'd need just a minute or two until he'd be in a fit state to interrogate Lexhur. Back then? The squad would need several hours' worth of sleep, and an hour of running before they could report back. But hell, it was worth it. For all the negative side-effects, adrenaline, and whatever they'd been using back then, really, really helped the body and mind.

He shuddered again, sat up. Probably about time to start walking it off... He stood, stretched, looked around. Renny talking to his father, Pierce... sitting with Shizuka? Impact cocked his head, watched them. Shizuka's skills had been impressive, and they were certainly worth studying further, but beer? Pierce was attempting to be... social. How fascinating. Also, rather over-ambitious, Impact felt. But each to their own. Oh, and speaking of Shizuka's skills...

He walked towards Mika, caught her eye. "Shall we interrogate Lexhur? I'm sure you're as curious as I am... Though before we start that... two things: Firstly..." He drew the scythetip from his pocket, showed it to Mika. "I heard you explain the properties of Pierce's staff to him... does the same apply for this? Secondly... Magatamas. How can I obtain one?"