After the incident with the power plant, I volunteered to be point guard with Jerome. He took things seriously, even the most boring of roles, to the degree he even updated our security check-in procedures. Shorter check-in intervals, dual call-signs, each of us checking in with a challenge response pair– a list which was horrendously annoying to memorize, but damn effective– and plans for how to respond if we went dark. [FAIRY] the radio buzzed, as we both thumbed the buttons for our own.

  “Steel” / “Dragon” we said in near unison, as the radio beeped twice in confirmation. Returning to silence, I was thankful this job was a short one. We just needed to grab one thing and we could bail, rather than try to stick around and protect the place. Or at least, I was thankful, until the whispers on the wind began to burn my ears. Jerome had already summoned his Houndoom and a Toxicroak. I grabbed each of my pokeballs in one hand and brought forth my Mightyena and Golbat, taking no chances.

  “I hope you’re ready, Blaise. They’re here…” Jerome commented, as I thumbed my radio to report in. The same piano music from last time was building, as that woman– no, the harbinger of pain– approached from the distance. Somehow with even more dragons in tow beside her, as a few began to rush ahead.

  “Front Desk to Tower; the VIP has arrived.”

  As the smoke cleared, Dragonair let loose a roar of rage, as the two Team Flare grunts had vanished and taken their fainted pokemon with them. “Damned Escape Ropes are a nuisance! No wonder they keep escaping the cops.” The noodle growled, as Fraxure provided a reassuring pat on the back.

  “Don’t worry boss, they weren’t the goal anyway, just the first hurdle.” The mid-sized dragon reassured, marching onward towards the front door. As the squad continued, both Gaston and their newest member Deino pulled up the rear. Gaston gave Dragonair a worried look as he went past, leaving the issue for The Lady to deal with.

  Wearing her iconic hat and sundress, she crouched down to have her head level with her Actor’s. “Dear, I thought we discussed this. You need to relax more and enjoy this story for what it offers. The more serious you take it, the more skilled and coordinated they will be.” She lectured, gently forcing them to look her in the eyes.

  “I know, I know, I’m sorry I just– I’ll be fine. Maybe take a back-seat on this one.” Dragonair relinquished, admitting they were still having trouble letting go.

  “Sometimes, that’s the best choice one can make. Now c’mon, why don’t we enjoy watching your friends enjoy the party?” She suggested, standing up fully and walking forward. Dragonair lightly sighed and followed after her. Up ahead, the rest of the group were waiting at the door, motioning for their team leader to hurry up. With a faint smile, Dragonair gestured for them to continue inside, spurring the young dragons to excitedly invade the facility.

  “I hope you’re right. The Master Ball is a dangerous thing, especially in the hands of humans like them…”

  We heard the call on the radio, as both Raphael and I ran to join Elise in the lobby. We just had to buy some time for Bryony and Celosia to work their magic in the back room, each of us holding our Escape Ropes tightly after releasing our pokemon. He called out his Golbat, while I held onto my Swallot until we regrouped. We had barely made it to the lobby in time before they waltzed through the front door. Elise’s Croagunk was out and ready, as Raphael’s Golbat joined them and I tossed Swallot into the fray.

  “I’m getting really sick of that bitch,” Elise commented, calling out her Liepard beside her. Following her lead, I released my personal Murkrow, as Raphael pulled out an Arbok.

  “I count 7 of them,” Raphael commented, concerned by the numbers present. “6 on 7 is already going to be messy, but I’m not confident in our coordination.”

  “Just follow the plan; we don’t need to win this one.” I reminded the two of them, eyeing our opponents and trying to pick targets. Murkrow wasn’t going to be a play-maker for this one, best to keep them on air support. Same story for Swallot, this was going to be tough.

  I don’t know who moved first, or gave the opening command. All I remember is how we went from a stand-off, to a chaotic melee in the blink of an eye. It was a mess, I gave whatever commands I could, but there was so little I could contribute, Swallot was basically on their own. Noticing the tiny seaweed one shooting poison and water balls at Golbat, I ordered Murkrow to focus on taking them out first with ranged moves.

  I could swear the world went into slow-motion as a tiny brown dinosaur flew through the air, like it had been catapulted or launched, bearing down on Murkrow. I thought Murkrow could see it, could dodge in time, but they were so fixated on the tiny anti-air duo they missed the incoming– Wait, was it holding onto a giant rock like a club?

  Louis’ Murkrow got chunked by the flying tyke, forcing me to divert Liepard to assist. “How did you get hit in the air by a pokemon that can’t even fly?!” I shouted at him, realizing that I was once again the best trainer in the group. “Liepard, shut down that shrimp! Croagunk, keep stalling!”

  The Fraxure was being a pain, teaming up with that Gabite for the worst tag-team I could be up against. How the hell did these seven seem to coordinate so damn well? A glance at the door brought every thought to a screeching halt; she was just standing there, and that damn snake dragon wasn’t even participating. I could vividly remember both times it had slammed my head so hard I blacked out. Hell, I should’ve been DEAD!

  I was about to reach for my taser when I remembered that we had planned for this. As long as we got the Master Ball, we won. “Raphael, swap! Croagunk, poison the two fighting Arbok!” I heard him give the matching call as our pokemon traded dance partners. If I could keep four of them poisoned, that should wear ‘em down enough to buy more time.

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  As much as I hated Elise, she was on-point with the call. Having Arbok stall and apply status conditions to her already-poisoned two opponents was a good way to shake up the field. Though Golbat seemed to be having trouble with their single flier. My Golbat was faster, bigger, and hopefully stronger than the tiny wisp of a pink Noibat. And yet it was dodging every single attack we made. But it wasn’t attacking or using any moves despite ample opportunities, just dodging…

  Looking back towards the ground, I noticed the artillery duo were focused on Swallot, using water attacks to keep the poison contained. Clever, but it meant their Noibat was the only one who–

  “GOL!” I heard a shout, seeing Golbat lose altitude and struggle to recover. Had the little guy finally struck, or was it–

  Golbat flapped its wings hard to climb, barely avoiding a rapid projectile from the ground. It almost looked like a pebble? Following the arc, the brown dinosaur from earlier was standing apart from the group, seemingly letting the other dragon try to hold down Croagunk on its own. Orbiting it were two rings of tiny pebbles, almost like tiny asteroids…

  I saw one of the pebbles shoot out from the ring, barely grazing Golbat’s foot. “Elise, they got another artillery in the back!” I shouted, right before hearing a cry as my Arbok fainted. Recalling them, I clipped their ball back on my belt, gripping Golbat’s and making ready for our exit. “Just a little more…”

  “They seem exceptionally well coordinated, beyond what I was anticipating.” Dragonair commented, watching the battle unfold from the rear. The two newbies were holding their own and meshing with the existing squad almost seamlessly. “Maybe it was dumb of me to worry after all.”

  The Lady petted their head affectionately, enjoying the spectacle of a team battle. “See? Everything can be fine if you just go with the flow.” The two continued to watch as the Team Flare side continued to fall like dominoes, until the final pokemon (a rather tough Swallot) was returned. Dragonair didn’t even try to apprehend them, watching as the three activated their Escape Ropes and vanished in a cloud of smoke.

  “Now, onward! To the President’s office!” The Lady commanded, as the group of young dragons cheered, then stood in place expectantly. There was a momentary pause, until she finally asked: “You don’t know where it is, do you?”

  “We always just followed Dragonair; they knew the way.” Noibat chirped, getting a supportive ‘yea!’ from the others.

  “In my defense, the other times were just a single path; you couldn’t get lost. But sure, I’ll lead the way.” Dragonair volunteered, taking the point position as the group went deeper into the factory.

  Gaston had to admit, things were going fairly smoothly. Nobody in the team was attempting to prank the other members, there wasn’t any infighting (yet), and the others were exceptionally friendly. Was this what it was like to be on a normal team?

  “So what’s your story?” He heard from his left, the other new member Deino asked while matching his pace. It was rather odd how Dragonair simply happened across these other powerful pokemon while traveling and they would just join up.

  “I was holding my team back, so The Lady brought me along for a power boost.” He responded, as it was the truth in part. Nobody wanted to be the weakest link, especially if the others wouldn’t admit you were. “What about you?”

  The dark type seemed to focus on Dragonair, like they were some great mystery to be solved. “My gut said that if I joined you guys, I’d become the strongest Hydreigon in the region. And after barely a few hours I’m already a full neck ahead of my hatch-mates.”

  “Yea, barely one battle and it feels like I’m overflowing with energy. At this rate I might even evolve sooner than I planned…” The metal cross-hatch walkway clanked and clicked as their talons each made contact, forcing the group into a double-file column as their leader seemingly knew exactly which way to go. Noticing their patron was nearby in her human guise, he attempted to ask the question discreetly. “Dragonair is just like Chad, aren’t they?”

  “Whatever do you mean?” She asked, feigning innocence. She had that same expression Ginette wore when someone caught her doing something she shouldn’t be.

  “They have an aura that seems to attract others to them, to follow them. They know quite a lot, more than anyone else I’ve met so far. And most importantly-” He trailed off, as Dragonair paused before a metal rectangle with human markings before turning right. “They can read the human’s language.”

  She put a finger to her chin, tilting her head in a pantomime of a human deep in thought. “Seems like you already know the answer then. Does it change anything?” He left the conversation at that, because it didn’t change anything.

  At least, not yet.

  Holding the purple and white ball in my hand, I marveled at the sheer power and ingenuity that had gone into this modification. A pokeball capable of capturing even the mightiest of legends. “And how many more can your factory produce, Mr. President?” Bryony inquired, focused on the bonus part of our mission. One was great, but more was always better.

  “I– I don’t know; it’s the first and only one we’ve ever made.” He pleaded, well aware the answer was not ‘none’. My eyes slid over as a reminder that this man was neither young nor beautiful, and likely had no place in our future world. “Please, it took us years to even get the energy containment field stable enough to–”

  ‘THUD’

  Bryony and I both focused on the door, where someone was attempting to break down the lock. We each gripped our Escape Ropes, ready to go at a moment’s notice, but something in me stirred for a little more than a clean escape. We had won, and I felt like I deserved to gloat for a moment. Thus, when there was another ‘THUD’ and the lock gave way, allowing the door to swing outwards, I smiled at the sight; our greatest thorn and nemesis was right here to observe our victory.

  “You were too late,” I informed, holding up the Master Ball for them to see. “Now Team Flare will secure the necessary pokemon of legend to operate The Ultimate Weapon! But do not worry, you won’t be around in our world of the future to regret your decisions.” I pulled the Escape Rope, as I saw the flying bat zoom towards the ball. No matter how fast they were, they couldn’t–

  There was a flash of red, a flash of white, and when the smoke cleared revealing us in the safe zone with our other comrades… the ball gave a cute capture chime. Stunned, I locked eyes with Bryony. “We can re-use pokeballs, right?”

  She, equally stunned, frowned like someone had just claimed responsibility for her proof on a new theorem. “No.”

  Chewing over the ramifications, how the boss might react, I released the pokemon the ball had ‘captured’, seeing the tiny pink bat from earlier appear from the light. It squeaked, seemingly laughing at our predicament. “At least we can interrogate this one, maybe use it as bait to have that snake-dragon power the device.” I suggested, as the bat finally recognized their error.

  Dragonair was frozen in place, still processing what had happened.

  Team Flare had the Master Ball.

  Team Flare had escaped, with the Master Ball.

  Noibat had flung themselves at the Master Ball; and gotten himself captured.

  The Master Ball was worthless now… but Team Flare had Noibat, and were likely very unhappy with his action. The world was spinning, ringing, none of this–

  “Undo it.” Dragonair commanded, turning to face his Storyteller. “Rewind, undo, whatever; just let us try again.”

  The woman’s smile didn’t reach her eyes, which didn't match her expression. “Everyone, why don’t you go make sure the President’s safe while we have a discussion.” She suggested, waiting outside the office with a hand on the door. The other pokemon, unsure what had happened, went inside to make sure the former prisoner was happy and healthy. When it was just The Lady and Dragonair, she shut the door. “We can’t.”

  “What do you mean we can’t? Chad said it himself, he got do-overs all the time!”

  “That’s the Narrator’s main power, the Re-Shoot; not mine.” She clarified, her voice steady and solemn.

  “There has to be something we can do. We can’t just let them take him…” Dragonair’s voice was wavering. “What about the Narrator, I’ll just ask him—“

  “His powers won’t work on you, just as mine won’t work on Chad.”

  “I don’t need them to work on me, just Noibat!” Dragonair shouted, as The Lady wiggled her fingers and a drape of shimmering air surrounded the two of them.

  “I warned you this would happen—“

  “COULD happen, emphasis on the probability part! And I backed off, just like you told me to! Nobody else should have to suffer just because I was the one to lose my cool! Now bring him back!”

  “I told you, I can’t.”

  “Fine,” Dragonair responded before slithering towards the exit. “I know where they’ll be next anyway.”