Luca

  When the fighting started, it was too late to regret her decisions. Luca had insisted on accompanying the cobbled-together strike team because of some sense of justice? She wasn’t entirely sure. Meeting with Sunny had thrown a wrench in her identity, evidence of a past she thought was shut, locked, and hidden from the present. She’d thought it was over, and even if the thought of finding Sunny to apologise had crossed her mind before, she couldn’t see it being anything but painful for all involved. Then they’d collided anyway, and worse, Clair had taken point. It troubled Luca that her friends showed not a shred of guilt or maturity. Okay, maybe a pinpoint; when they were younger, they had been cruel, now Clair had mellowed into merely annoying.

  If meeting with Sunny had disturbed her life, then travelling with her must be some sort of emotional torture. That was an exaggeration. They were talking, after all, and Sunny seemed more than happy to leave the past in the past. At least with Luca. Clair still got the I’m-gonna-pretend-you-don't-exist treatment, which was, admittedly, entirely deserved. The girl harboured animosity towards Sunny that Luca couldn’t find any logical explanation for.

  All in all, lately, Luca found herself more alone than she’d ever been before. Her one true friend was Buzzkill, and he was closer to a child than a partner, very much not the relationship Calla had with her team. She had raised him practically from the egg after all. She was lucky to have him. He was the only shield against the crush of insecurities, disappointments, and guilt she thought she had a decent enough handle on, but were manifesting in frightening, self-sacrificing ways. Like when she saved Sunny from the Parasect at her own expense. Or wanting to go raid a semi-organised criminal den because she just had to do some right, even if nobody asked her to.

  And once the brawl started, it was too late to back out. She called it a brawl, but in actuality, it felt more like a massacre. Elaine’s Slaking was in the mood for a fight, and he was a monster. Every Take Down did exactly what its name said it did; every Body Slam fainted the victim. Slaking fought like a berserker, shrugging off hits like they were nothing. He was the only Pokémon Elaine had out, and he was the only one she needed.

  Baltazar, by contrast, had his whole team out, and they fought with precision and coordination that made Slaking out to be a brute. Even more than he was. Mienshao and Gallade were on defence duty, and nothing got past them. Every attack that came their way was deflected or blocked without them missing a beat. Infernape took care of long-range opponents with her Flamethrowers. Pawmot ran distraction, zipping through enemy lines, tripping or paralysing his foes. Taking advantage of the distraction was Urshifu. The Pokémon lived up to his name; every strike of his was calculated and resulted in a knockout.

  Less domineering, but more impressive than Luca was expecting, was Jade. At the beginning of the incursion, they only encountered one or two bounty hunters at a time as they made their way to the underground entrance beneath the temple. Elaine and Baltazar had been more than enough to take care of them. When they reached the underground, or, more precisely, the first hall after a short corridor, the situation changed.

  The hall was vast, lit by torchlight and stacked with crates and cages. It was the main headquarters of the bounty hunters, according to Elaine, and the sleeping mats and tables were proof enough of a living area, even if the forty-some people there weren’t.

  Chaos broke out as soon as they took a step into the room. Slaking went off doing his own thing while Baltazar and his team took a more strategic location at the entrance. Jade spotted two bounty hunters with a Graveler and a Mightyena next to them. She had called out a challenge they somehow heard above the commotion, and the younger was more than eager to accept. He seemed to be holding a grudge against her. Despite it being one against two, and the older bounty hunter had more experience than the two combined, she was holding her own.

  It made Luca feel out of place and inadequate. Luckily for her, she was growing accustomed to that. Besides, it wasn’t like she wasn’t doing anything. Buzzkill might not yet be up to the level of a straight-up battle against some of the more powerful bounty hunters there, who were, no matter how Elaine and Baltazar were making them look, impressive trainers purely from a strength perspective, but he was more than capable of sneak-attacking them while they were occupied with more devastating opponents. He had grown fond of using Poison Jab, and even if he didn’t one-shot his targets like some of his allies, he landed some crucial hits, leaving them weakened and in some cases poisoned.

  The only reason the battle lasted as long as it did was because there were so many of them, but ultimately, they were routed, escaping through other tunnels, each seeming to have their own escape route. Baltazar said to let them leave; they had no way to capture so many people, and besides, that wasn’t what they came for. They came for irrefutable proof that the bounty hunter system, as it currently was, allowed for criminal activities. There was plenty of that in the caged Pokémon, boxes of illegal substances, and other, more distasteful things, even a cursory investigation of the room revealed.

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  “That felt good,” said Jade, stretching from her tiptoes to the points of her fingers, showing off her enviable figure. Luca glanced away before she was caught staring. She had won her match against her opponents, albeit, with a little bit of spontaneous help from Slaking. She ended her stretch and only then saw the captured Pokémon. Her face dropped. She would have immediately rushed to open every cage had Baltazar not stopped her.

  “Your intentions are commendable, but it would be dangerous to free them all at once. There are lots of hungry and stressed Pokémon and not all of them can tell you’re trying to help,” he said.

  “I’m not leaving them here,” she replied.

  “Of course not. Just make sure to approach them carefully, slowly, and one at a time.”

  It was heartbreaking work, freeing them. Some were barely able to move and needed immediate attention, food, and water. Others were in much better shape, though they were the more dangerous and hostile because of it. A Doublade with a cracked sword appeared to be almost immobile, but when Luca went to help, it sliced at her so swiftly, it could have been real bad had Buzzkill not pulled her back. With a little help from Elaine’s Sableye, they got it under control. Elaine had switched him out for Slaking. Her Slaking, once the fight was over, had lain down on the spot and gone directly to sleep. She said there wasn’t a hope she could get him to do anything for at least a couple of days.

  It was a long labour, but in the end, they had freed every one of them. The healthier Pokémon left quickly, and the weaker ones huddled in a corner of the room, fear still in their eyes. While they did that, Baltazar had sent Mienshao and Pawmot to scout out the rest of the tunnels. Most were either dead ends or led to the outside. One, however, had a person calmly sitting in the middle of the passage, unconcerned with the commotion he must have heard. Jade stayed behind to take care of the hurt, and Luca went with Elaine and Baltazar to find the stranger.

  He was a big man; even sitting on the ground as he was, he must have reached Luca’s chest. He had a long blond ponytail and violet eyes. He didn’t say a word as they came closer. He stared at them without blinking.

  “What’s further down that way?” asked Baltazar, nodding to where the passage continued behind the man.

  No answer.

  “If you don’t mind, then I’m going to take a look.”

  No answer.

  Baltazar walked forwards. Five paces from the man, he was lifted by an invisible force and thrown the way he came. A Metagross, cold and cruel, appeared next to the man, blocking the way.

  Elaine got ready for battle but Baltazar stopped her.

  “Against a single opponent, I’m enough,” he said, picking himself off the ground. “Urshifu, you’re up. You two, go up ahead. I’ll keep him busy.”

  “We’ll leave him to you,” said Elaine.

  They scurried past as a Hammer Arm from Metagross was intercepted with a Sucker Punch. The man let them pass, perhaps sensing that he had his hands full with Baltazar.

  The tunnel didn’t continue much longer. It led to the strangest room Luca had ever been in. A man it took a second for her to recognise as the ex-champion, a Mega Alakazam maintaining a barrier, and what could only be a Meloetta trapped inside. Worryingly, the research group, including Sunny, were on the other side of the barrier on the other side of what looked to be a hole in the wall.

  “More intruders,” said Killian. “I wonder what I pay Hans for.”

  “Are you the leader of all this?” asked Elaine with a growl in her voice. She clenched a pokeball in her fist. Her Sableye leered at Killian from behind his trainer's legs.

  “I’m not a leader of anything,” said Killian. “I pay a few people to bring me food and guard the entrance. What they do there has nothing to do with me. What happened to them? Don’t reply, I don’t care. Sleepy, please clear the room.”

  “He wants Meloetta against her will!” shouted Sunny from the other side of the barrier. Killian tossed a pokeball towards Elaine and Luca, and his Snorlax materialised in a flash of red. Luca had seen Snorlax before, and they lived up to their reputation of being fat and lazy. The one before them was pure muscle rippling beneath his green and beige pelt. He stood towering above everyone else in the room, eyes focused on them. Elaine threw her own pokeball, summoning Mawhile. Sableye stopped hiding behind her and stood beside his partner.

  “You think you can fight me, girl?” said Killian.

  “Of course I can. I’ve wanted to fight you since you forfeited our match, though I wish it had been in friendlier terms.”

  “I forfeited? Ah, I see, you must be the new champion. Are you having fun with the title? Sleepy, Flamethrower.”

  A torrent of flames spewed towards them, blocked in the last moment by a Protect from Mawhile. Elaine clutched at her necklace, a bulky, circular stone, each side a different colour. In a blue glow that lasted a couple of seconds, both of her Pokémon had mega-evolved.

  “Two at once,” said Killian. “Somewhat impressive.”

  “Mawhile, Taunt,” said Elaine.

  Mawhile giggled; her massive jaws grinned at Sleepy. The Snorlax fell for it and advanced with a Mega Punch. Mawhile was ready, a Protect in place. At the last moment, Sleepy’s Mega Punch switched to a Brick Break powerful enough that it broke through Protect. Mawhile jumped out of the way, barely dodging while the move passed harmlessly through Sableye. They countered with Play Rough and Foul Play respectively, landing hits on the giant before them. Sleepy groaned, but seemed otherwise unperturbed. He crashed into Mawhile with what Luca guessed was a High Horsepower and caught Sableye with Bite. For a creature so large, he moved terrifyingly fast. Mawhile landed her own Brick Break, using her right steel jaw as a club. It let Sableye free himself from Bite and retaliate with a Low Kick.

  They continued trading blows, the mutual type immunities between Sleepy and Sableye dragging the battle out. Mawhile kept Taunt up, not allowing Sleepy to use either Belly Drum or Rest, two moves which had won Killian many Championships. Sableye periodically set up Reflects and Light Screens, forcing Sleepy to use Brick Breaks, which, after the first surprising one, were predictable and not difficult to deal with. Despite that, they couldn’t seem to wear him down.