CHAPTER 37

Adrenaline pounded in Isabelle's veins and she leapt and pirouetted through the press of clashing humans and pokemon. Aethon whipped by overhead, summoning a scathingly hot gale with his broad orange wings. The shouts of police officers and the roars of enraged pokemon were interspersed with pops of gunfire and the occasional concussive boom.

It rang in Isabelle's ears like a symphony.

She spun her quarterstaff over her head before sweeping it low and taking out three Sin cutters at the knees before switching her grip and jabbing the blunt end into a Scyther's thorax. Aethon's fiery scales rained down around her, setting the pavement ablaze and buying Isabelle a second to catch her breath. She dragged the tip of her staff through the burning scales, igniting a chemical compound on the tip and lashing out with the blazing weapon, driving her foes back. Smoke stung her eyes, but Isabelle hardly noticed as the exhilaration of the fight consumed her.

The Sins had overplayed their hand, trying to attack city hall in broad daylight. The local police precincts had mobilized and were managing to hold the line, but they had been flagging before Isabelle and Aethon had showed up. The sight of Clarus City's interim top hero had put the wind back in their sails, and the police had managed to hold out long enough for Echo and the Phantom to come back her up.

The Phantom appeared at her side, heralded by his Dusknoir's spectral hum. "Fall back," the tuxedoed hero said as Gregor launched shadowy orbs into the fleeing Sin cutters. "We can't over-extend ourselves."

Isabelle wanted to snap back at him, tell him to stop bossing her around, but she knew he was right. They were here to hold the line at city hall, not chase down every bastard that managed to slip away. The Phantom twirled his wooden cane, striking a Ratticate about the snout while a shadowy expanse spread behind Gregor. The ghost type reached out his hand to her, and Isabelle grabbed it.

She felt a tug in the pit of her stomach, and for a disconcerting instant her vision went black as a sulfurous wind blasted her face. And then the darkness receded as quickly as it had appeared, and they were back behind the police line. "Ugh," Isabelle groaned. "I don't know how you can do that all the time. It makes my skin crawl."

"You get used to it." The Phantom signaled to Echo. "We're all clear! Time to go fortissimo!"

Echo stood atop the stairs of city hall, flanked by her Exploud and Loudred. "ALL RIIIIGHT!" she roared, her voice amplified by her pokemon. She raised her fist to the sky and brought it down to strum a chord on her red guitar. Her platinum blonde hair whipped around her face as she bared her teeth in a rictus grin. "Come on, b-boys! FOR-TIS-SI-MOOOOOOO!"

Her pokemon braced themselves on the steps and opened their mouths wide. Isabelle heard the hollow pipes within their bodies whistle as they sucked in a breath, only to expel it an instant later in a tremendous rush of air and sound. The concussive force blasted out over city hall plaza, halting the Sin advance in its tracks. The police in riot gear braced themselves behind their shields, even though the worst of the blast passed over their heads. "Shield w-wall!" Echo shouted. "Shield wall! F-Form up!"

A few officers turned to their sergeant, and the man nodded. "Do it!"

"On m-my mark!" Echo shouted. "Ready? CHARGE!"

"Go, go, go!" the sergeant barked. Isabelle and the Phantom raced just behind the armored officers, crouching behind the protective bulwark of the riot shields. A pack of baying Houndoom and Arcanine loped alongside them, flames pooling in their jaws. When the Sins opened fire, Echo and her pokemon ducked behind the columns that lined the municipal building's façade. "Aethon!" Isabelle screamed, hoping her partner could hear her over the tumult.

A beam of light pierced the smoke, and her Volcarona descended through the clouds, wings ablaze. His arrival threw the Sin forces into chaos just as the police line crashed into their front ranks. As the police broke to the sides to allow their pokemon through, Isabelle jammed the tip of her staff into a crack in the pavement and heaved her weight up, vaulting over the backs of the officers just in front of her and crashing down behind the Sin lines. Edgar appeared at her side, stepping from the shadows as he drew the concealed blade from his cane. Riot squad officers set on the Sins with their clubs, closing in to make the Sins armed with firearms reluctant to shoot at the risk of hitting their pokemon or comrades in arms. Sin forces armed with machetes, metal pipes or other melee weapons were hammered hard by the police, battered with shields and clubs while the police pokemon set upon those commanded by the Sins, keeping them from aiding their human partners.

"Reinforcements incoming," the Phantom said as he sidestepped a Sin cutter and slashed his blade along the man's hamstrings. The Sin fell to the ground where one of the Phantom's Haunter fell on him.

"How many?" Isabelle asked as she swung out with her quarterstaff, knocking the cutter's Mightyena about the muzzle and sending the canine running with its tail between its legs.

"Enough to be a pain in the ass."

Isabelle ground her teeth and spat out a curse. "Does Echo—"

"She knows. If things look bad, she'll sound the order to retreat."

"If you think I'm going to run away from a fight like this, you're stupider than you look!"

The Phantom smirked. "I figured. The retreat is to get the police out of our way so we can take them down our way, without worrying about anyone else getting caught in our crossfire."

Isabelle tossed her quarterstaff up, snatched two flash grenades from her utility belt, and hurled them into the crowd of Sin enforcers. The blast dazzled the criminals and gave the Phantom's army of ghosts an opening to sweep in and hold them long enough for the police to intervene. "Damn right," Isabelle growled, catching her staff as it fell. "We've got to show them that heroes like us aren't going to back down. Especially now, Clarus City needs to know that it can still bet on the heroes it has left to fight to the very end!" She pivoted on the tip of her toes and spun around, taking out a quartet of Sin fighters in one move.

A series of pops echoed across the plaza, followed by a rush of air. Forte shot out over the crowd, propelled by his powerful legs and a blast of concentrated air from his pipes. As the Exploud descended towards where the fighting was thickest, Forte unleashed a sonic assault that drove the Sin forces to their knees. As he hit the pavement, he cushioned his fall with a second blast of air that impacted hard enough to splinter the pavement beneath him. As the Sin cutters and their pokemon reeled, Forte drove his right fist into the palm of his left hand and summoned an electric charge. The bristle-like hairs along his arms stood on end as static crackled in the air around him. With another concussive blast pushing him forward, Forte drove into the crowd of Sin fighters, blazing bright as electricity lit up his fists.

As the Exploud forced his way deeper into the crowd, the Sin ranks closed around him, hemming him in. Isabelle was about to signal to Aethon to go to his aid, but a high pitched hiss cut through the sounds of battle as a dark shape plummeted through the air. Crescita spread her wings to pull out of her dive and unleashed a deafening pulse of sound just over Forte's head. The Noivern shrieked as she spiraled through the air, laying down cover for Forte while the Exploud drove the ground forces back.

"Reinforcements incoming!" one of the CCPD officers shouted. More Sin cutters poured in from the surrounding streets, pokemon baying and howling as they joined the fray. The police lines buckled under the renewed assault, and sergeants bellowed orders as the police scrambled to consolidate their lines. Isabelle saw several officers fall as they were mobbed by the Sin forces, and she jumped into the fight with renewed vigor, battering her foes with her staff. The Phantom shouted commands to his ghosts as they swooped and dove around him. Isabelle tried to call out to the tuxedoed hero as a Pignite charged him from behind, but a Haunter burst out from under his cape and grabbed the fire type in its claws, hauling it off while the Phantom didn't even break stride.

As the police scrambled, a piercing guitar chord rang out. "LAAADIES AND GENTLEMENNNNN!" Echo shouted above the din, her words amplified by Mezzo. "WELCOME TO THE DOWNTOWN THROWWWWDOWNNNN!" She played another chord. "THE HEROES OF CLARUS CITY ARE COMING TO YOU LIVE! AND WE'RE NOT BACKING DOWN!"

Mezzo, Forte, and Crescita roared in unison, three thunderclaps that echoed across the plaza and froze the Sin forces where they stood.

"We got a license to rock!

Shake up the whole block!

Make a heavy shock!

BECAAAAAUUUUUUSE…"

Echo's hair whipped around her face as she threw everything she had into playing her guitar, working with Mezzo to generate concussive sound waves that lifted the cutters from their feet and sent them flying through the air.

"WE ARE ROCK TRASH!

WE GOT A LUST FOR LIFE

THESE CRAZY FIGHTS MAKE US FEEL ALIVE!

WE ARE ROCK TRASH!

WE'RE GONNA BASH

WE'RE GONNA SMASH

UNTIL WE CRAAAAASH! YEEEEAAAAH!"

She flashed her teeth in a manic grin. "SO COME ONNN! GET FIRED UP AND KICK! SOME! ASS! LET ME HEAR YOU!"

Several police officers cheered, though they could barely be heard over the din. The Sin advance seemed to have lost some of its forward momentum, and the police had gotten their second wind. The Phantom raced by Isabelle, his sword flashing. "Get a move on, Izzy. Echo's playing her heart out, so we've got to do our part."

Isabelle scowled and sprinted after him. "Like I haven't been carrying you the whole damn battle!" They fell in together, driving a wedge straight into the heart of where the Sin forces were thickest. Aethon, Gregor, and the rest of the Phantom's ghosts buzzed around them, picking off cutters and pokemon that were out of the heroes' reach. Isabelle felt the thrill of battle rise up in her, and adrenaline pounded in her ears in time with Echo's music. Her heart sang as she let her body flow into the rhythm of combat, striking down foes left and right.

In battle, she was free from all of the uncertainty that had plagued her since Johannes's death. Here and now, she could prove to herself that she was Clarus City's greatest hero, its mightiest protector, the one who could vanquish all of its enemies.

Isabelle heard a rush of wind and felt the ground tremble as Forte crashed down behind them. The Exploud gave them a toothy grin as he generated more electricity around his fists, and Isabelle felt her hair stand on end as the air began to reek of ozone. Gregor appeared between Isabelle and the Phantom, and the atonal humming that always accompanied the Dusknoir grew in intensity. The ghost inclined his head to Forte, tacitly signaling that the humans were protected from his sonic blasts by the Dusknoir's brown note.

"Phantom!" someone shouted from the press. "I've been looking for you!" A man with a Doublade wrapped around his arms shoved through the Sin cutters and fell on the Phantom with a roar. "This time, I'll defeat you!"

The Phantom brought up his blade and pushed back against the swordsman's attack. His sword and the Doublade clanged together as the Phantom and the swordsman engaged and disengaged, each one plying his opponent to try and find an opening. "This time? Have we fought before?"

"Have we…" the swordsman spluttered. "How do you not remember? You put me in Redstone!"

"I've put a lot of people in Redstone," the Phantom glibly replied. "So I'm afraid you'll have to be a bit more specific."

"I'll make sure you never forget the name of Gian Genovese again!" the swordsman roared. His Doublade buzzed as the tassels around his arm tightened. Isabelle saw the veins on Genovese's hands turn black as he and his pokemon melded their minds, but she didn't have time to dwell on it as a pair of vines shot out at her. She jumped back and batted them away with her quarterstaff as the swordsman's backup approached. An Electivire barreled at Forte, and the Exploud grappled it to a standstill. The electric current around Forte's hands crackled as he made contact with the Electivire, the sparks making the electric type's fur glow.

"Yes, Tolya!" a hulking, tattooed man shouted. "Drink it all in!"

The Electivire smirked as he absorbed Forte's power, pushing back harder on the Exploud. Forte dug in his heels and took a deep breath, making his pipes whistle. The Electivire had just long enough to realize its mistake before Forte unleashed a point-blank sonic boom that sent the Electivire flying back into its trainer, pinning the tattooed brute beneath its furred bulk.

A nearby police officer went down as a woman with multi-colored hair slammed the blade of a knife up through his armpit. She cackled as her Carnivine savaged one of the police Machoke and strangled a Kadabra with its vines. Isabelle growled and hurled a flashbang at the grass type, blinding it long enough for the Kadabra to free itself and hurl a weak psychic pulse at the Carnivine before teleporting away. The Carnivine released the Machoke, but Isabelle could see she had been too late for the fighting type.

With a flick of her staff, she sent the woman's knife clattering away and whistled to Aethon. "Let 'em have it!" The Volcarona descended and unleashed a column of blistering hot air on the cutter and her pokemon. The woman's cheap formaldehyde jacket began to smolder as the Carnivine visibly wilted under the assault, but before Aethon could finish them off, a Skarmory dove down and tackled the Volcarona, battering him with rattling wings.

Isabelle snapped her fingers at one of the Phantom's Haunter. "Hey you! Get me up there!" She extended her hand, and the ghost type seized her wrist, dragging her aloft. As they passed the Skarmory, she extricated herself from the Haunter's grip and dropped onto the steel type's back, making it lose significant altitude. "Don't mess with my partner!" Isabelle snapped as she wrestled with the bird, trying to force it to the ground.

The Skarmory crashed, and Isabelle jumped away. A cutter ran to the Skarmory's side and drew a gun from beneath his coat. "Vito, get up!" he ordered as he lined up his shot. Aethon swept down and unleashed a spray of blazing scales from his wings, distracting the man while Isabelle closed the distance and wrestled away his gun.

Two flashes of light materialized across the plaza and resolved themselves into a pair of towering Steelix. One of them lashed out with its tail and struck a nearby office building, crashing through the structure and making it list dangerously towards the street. With a shriek of rending steel and crumbling stone, the top half of the building slanted at a sharp angle before collapsing. CCPD and Sin alike vanished in the rubble as the crash reverberated throughout the plaza.

Even Echo and her pokemon were momentarily silenced as Steelix bellowed and began to thrash again.

"Oh hell no," Isabelle growled. "Phantom, can you handle these clowns on your own? I've got to stop those two from rampaging."

The Phantom disengaged from Genovese and kicked out his opponents kneecap. "Go for the one on the right. I'll have Felix and Farrah contain the one on the left for now." He signaled to a Chandelure and Lampent that were creating a fiery cordon around a group of cutters, and at his command, the two spectral pokemon whisked themselves away towards one of the Steelix.

Isabelle jumped onto Aethon's back, and the Volcarona shot into the air, winging his way towards the Steelix on the right. Isabelle clenched her teeth as Aethon looped around the serpent's head, its beady eyes lazily tracking their movements.

"Hey, big ugly!" Isabelle shouted. "Ready or not, here I come!"

She jumped from her pokemon's back and hurled a pair of flashbangs into its eyes as Aethon summoned a cyclone of flame before dipping down to catch Isabelle as she fell. The Steelix roared, and the fires dissipated. Its tail lashed back and forth, sending the cutters behind it running for cover. "Again!" Isabelle said. "I'm gonna stop that thing in its tracks! They're all counting on me!" She could do it. She could save everyone, stop the attack, be the hero the city needed. If she could just figure out how to take this thing down, she could—

Isabelle whipped her head around as she saw two shapes moving in her peripheral vision. They impacted with the Steelix's head one after the other, making it reel from the hits. One of them, moving too quickly for Isabelle to get a bead on it, jumped from the Steelix to the ground in a series of agile leaps and made a beeline towards a particular cutter. The second figure stood atop the Steelix's head and flexed the fingers on its right hand before slamming its palm down on the armored carapace.

A brilliant pulse of light and heat flashed once, twice, three times, each flash followed by a thunderous boom. The Steelix groaned as it collapsed, and the armored figure atop it jumped clear of the crashing behemoth. Two gouts of flame issued forth from the figure's feet, providing a burst of speed and maneuverability as it careened towards the ground. As the figure passed by, Isabelle caught a glimpse of a red beaked helmet.

"Arceus," she gasped. "He's back."

Isabelle heard a screech, and the Skarmory from before shot up from the melee below and slammed its bulk into Aethon. The Volcarona reeled through the air, furiously beating his wings to right himself. Isabelle clutched the leather flying harness as tightly as she could, not having had time to secure herself with a carabineer. "Aethon!" she shouted as the Skarmory executed a tight turn for another pass. "Get to the ground! I'm just going to get in your way if you have to fight with me on your back!"

Aethon promptly stooped into a dive, and Isabelle held her breath as the ground rushed up below them. When she judged they had come in close, she braced herself against her partner's back and pushed away, releasing her hold on the harness. She landed lightly on her feet and glanced up at the Volcarona. "Lead that metal bastard away and try to do something about the other Steelix! I can take care of myself here!" Aethon buzzed and shot off into the sky, unleashing a fiery gale on the Skarmory as it closed in.

Isabelle tore her eyes from Aethon and drew her quarterstaff as the fighting surged around her. "There you are," someone said behind her. Isabelle spun and saw the Skarmory's trainer force his way through the crowd, followed by the knife-wielding woman and her Carnivine, with the hulking brute bringing up the rear.

"Damn it, Eddie," Isabelle muttered. "You said you could handle them."

The Skarmory's trainer drew a small firearm from under his coat, and Isabelle grabbed a flash grenade, ready to stun him before he could fire off a shot. But much to her surprise, the man just pointed the gun skyward and fired off a flare round that arced over the plaza and rained down iridescent sparks.

The brute smirked. "We just split Petrovna's reward three ways now, Sal? Gian wasn't here to get the girl."

"Don't count your Torchic before they hatch, Viktor," the leader admonished. "We have to keep her busy until she gets here. Can't split the bounty if we never get it in the first place."

"Keeping her here isn't a problem!" the woman growled as she gestured to her Carnivine. The grass type's lower half contorted as thick vines shot out from beneath it, weaving and snaking through the air in an attempt to tangle Isabelle's limbs. Isabelle drew her staff and batted the questing vines away and hurled the flashbang into the Carnivine's fanged maw, momentarily stunning the grass type.

"Is that the best you got?" Isabelle taunted as she raced towards the leader, the one the brute had called Sal. "You should really know better than to clue me into your plans, morons!" She pivoted on her heel and drove her fist into the side of Sal's face, bowling him over. When the woman rushed her, knife at the ready, Isabelle thrust out with her staff and with a contemptuous flick of her wrist knocked the blade from the woman's hand and followed up with a pair of spinning roundhouse kicks that caught her across the abdomen. She landed and used her momentum to pivot towards the brute. "Think you got what it takes, big guy?"

The brute shrugged. "Not me, no." Too late, Isabelle realized that static electricity was crackling in her hair, and she had just enough time to think Oh crap, before three hundred pounds of muscle and yellow fur tackled her. "Well done, Tolya!" the brute roared as the Electivire stood over her, electricity crackling around its fists. Isabelle tried to rise, but the electric type placed a heavy foot on her ribcage and pressed down.

"You bastard," Isabelle hissed. "I'm not going down like this!" She reached for her belt grabbed her last three flashbangs. With a roar, she pulled the pins and hurled them upwards before averting her eyes. As soon as she felt the Electivire's foot move, she rolled out from underneath it and sprang forward on the balls of her feet, throwing all of her mass behind a punch to the middle of the electric type's face. The flash grenades and the unexpected strike were enough to knock the Electivire on its rump, and Isabelle let a defiant roar force its way out of her chest.

"When are you bastards going to learn?"

"Not bad, little girl," someone said from behind her. "But you will not beat us."

Isabelle spun and scowled. "Greed."

Anya Petrovna leered down from atop a pile of rubble, and her Ursaring crouched just below her. With a click of Petrovna's tongue, the Ursaring jumped down to the ruined floor of the plaza and growled. "Tear her limb from limb, Stepa!" Petrovna roared. "Squash her like the insect she is!"

"Like hell you will!" Isabelle roared. As she raced forward, she grabbed her fallen quarterstaff and spun it around her head. "How many times do I have to tell you clowns? I'm Volcarona Mask, bitch! You can't even touch me!" The Ursaring swung out, his claws glinting in the flat, dusty light. Isabelle dropped her weight and slid underneath the furry, muscle-bound arm and drove the butt of her staff into the center of the golden circle of fur on the Ursaring's chest. The pokemon whimpered as the wind was driven from his lungs, but before he could retaliate, Isabelle had ducked under his arms again and had vaulted onto his back, and as the Ursaring reared up, she jumped to Greed's perch, her fist raised and ready to strike.

Petrovna saw it coming, and was ready for it. As Isabelle drew level with her, she swung out with a steel-toed combat boot and caught Isabelle in the chest. Isabelle coughed out a breath as she lost her jump and plummeted to the ground, landing hard and with none of her usual grace. Petrovna drew her sidearm and took aim. "I'm going to enjoy this. I have been waiting for a very long time."

"Then keep waiting!" A flash of crimson and white collided with Greed, knocking her from the rubble and sending her crashing down beside Isabelle. The new fighter spread their arms wide, and two sails of shimmering fabric beneath their sleeves snapped out to catch the wind, slowing their descent and allowing them to alight gracefully atop Greed's old perch. When Petrovna stirred, the figure in red jumped again and delivered a kick to her ribs, sending her down. They drew a pair of batons from a belt around their waist and spun them experimentally while bouncing on the balls of their feet. "Who's next?"

"No way," Sal muttered as he got shakily to his feet. "They said you were out of the game. But you… you're…"

"The amazing Hawlucha Man!" Alex said with a grin. "Did you miss me?"

"You!" the brute snarled. "Because of you, we all went to Redstone!" He pulled a knife from under his coat and charged, but Alex casually turned and hurled one of his batons overhand. The metal rod hummed as it spun end-over-end, and when it collided with the brute, he crumpled as he was shocked by an electric current. When Alex's back was turned, the Carnivine trainer reclaimed her knife and ran in for a chance to strike, but Alex nimbly sidestepped and tapped his remaining baton against her side, and she fell with a shriek. Alex held out his hand to Isabelle and pulled her to her feet.

"About time you showed up, birdbrain," she said. "Where's your partner?"

"Still on medical leave."

"Ugh. If I have to be saved by one of you, I'd rather it be the competent one."

Greed's Ursaring snarled as it lumbered to its feet and charged at the two heroes. "I think we may need to work together on this one," Alex said. "I'll set him up, you knock him down."

"That's what I do best!"

They ran in together, and Alex hurled his second baton at the Ursaring's face. Unlike the first throw, which had tumbled through the air, this one flew straight and true like a javelin, striking the Ursaring on its snout and delivering a powerful jolt through its body. Isabelle switched her grip on her quarterstaff and drove it into the normal type's stomach. It worked just as well the second time as it had the first, forcing all the wind from the Ursaring's lungs as it reared back. Isabelle gritted her teeth as she bounced on the balls of her feet and sprang up, delivering an uppercut to the Ursaring's chin and making its mouth snap shut. The normal type whimpered, but didn't go down.

Isabelle cursed as Alex shook his head. "You sure this is what you do best?"

Greed heaved herself up. "Stepa won't be beat by the likes of you!" She reclaimed her gun and ejected a jammed bullet. "Your return is short-lived, Hawlucha Man! You have thrown away your weapons, and you're as good as defenseless!"

"Think so, huh?" Alex replied. He flexed the fingers of his left hand. "Don't you know that any hero worth his salt always has a few tricks up his sleeve?"

There was a thunk as something collided with the back of Petrovna's head, knocking the Sin commander off balance. The object hurtled past her, and Alex raised his hand to catch his humming baton. He stretched out his right hand, and the other baton sailed towards him as well. "I brought more than just a new suit! Check out my baton-arangs!"

"Nope," Isabelle said. "No way. That's got to be the dumbest name I've ever heard."

Alex tossed his batons and caught them as the Sin forces marshaled themselves for another attack. "You're just jealous."

Isabelle split her quarterstaff in two. "Not even! Anyway, mine are still bigger."

"My ex used to say it's not the size that matters, it's how you use it."

"Keep telling yourself that, birdbrain."

"Kill them!" Greed roared. "Fifty thousand to whoever brings me their heads!"

Alex and Isabelle sprang into action as the Sin forces raced in. "These bastards just don't know when to quit," Isabelle grumbled. "Knock down one, and ten more come back!"

A cutter swung out with a metal bat, only to be stopped by a solid wooden cane. "Looks like you might need an army of your own then," the Phantom said as he disarmed the cutter and drew his hidden blade. He had discarded his tuxedo jacket, and with a deft flick of his fingers, he removed his cufflinks and rolled up the right sleeve of his dress shirt before tossing his sword to his left hand to repeat the motion. Using his left hand, he fenced a Scyther to a standstill, bypassed its guard and used the base of his sword to knock in on the head and stun it long enough for a Mismagius to materialize behind him and zap it with a psychokinetic pulse.

Gregor appeared behind the masked hero, accompanied by an atonal hum. The Dusknoir's chest contorted and then bulged, and the spectral mouth on his abdomen split open as a Golurk burst out from inside on a plume of fire, launching itself at Greed's Ursaring and grappling with the normal type. Once it had stopped the Ursaring's charge, it extricated its right fist from the Ursaring's claw and slammed a rocket-powered punch into the beast's chest, lifting it off its feet and launching it into the air.

"Not bad," Isabelle said. "But don't think you can just show up and be all heroic when you couldn't even handle the mooks from before!"

The Phantom locked blades with a Bisharp, and after a quick exchange of blows and parries, he threw off the steel type's balance long enough to allow Gregor to appear knock it out with a swift punch. "The CCPD sergeant was killed by a Nidoking, and his unit was in disarray. I had to intervene and bring things under control. Speaking of which…" He flicked his sword out in a fencer's salute. "Here they come!"

A squadron of CCPD officers in full riot gear charged out from behind the Sin ranks, driving a wedge in the cutters and disrupting the attack. They fell upon the Sin forces that were menacing Alex and Isabelle and drove them back with batons and metal shields, corralling pokemon and subduing trainers. A woman with a Staravia perched on her shoulder snapped off a salute, and the Golurk that had dispatched Greed's Ursaring mimicked the motion. "Phantom! We've started to rout the Sin forces, and the remaining Steelix is contained for now. But before, when the first one went down, was it really—"

"Hold that thought, lieutenant," the Phantom said. "You might want to cover your ears. Our heavy artillery has just arrived to help mop things up."

A piercing whistle overhead heralded Forte's arrival, and the Exploud crashed down with a roar that rattled Isabelle's bones. Greed leveled her gun, but Forte's right hand shot out and wrenched it from her grasp before blasting her with a sonic onslaught that made Petrovna's eyes roll back in her head and her ears begin to bleed. Forte tossed the firearm contemptuously over his shoulder and sucked in a deep breath.

The Phantom glanced over his shoulder. "Gregor, if you would." The Dusknoir inclined his head, and the humming that accompanied the ghost type grew in volume and intensity. Isabelle's skin crawled when she heard the brown note, but knew that it was preferable to having her eardrums blown out by Forte.

The Exploud released his Boomburst, splintering the pavement around him and creating a small impact crater with the force of the air he expelled from his pipes. The riot squad cheered as the Sin cutters dropped to their knees, but the sound was oddly distorted by Gregor's influence. When Forte ran out of steam, the Phantom turned to the unit. "I trust you can wrap things up here. Hawlucha Man, Volcarona Mask, it's time we put a stop to that Steelix."

A fiery explosion lit up the sky some ways distant. Isabelle and the Phantom whirled, but Alex merely shook his head. "I can't believe he's still showing off." He tapped his ear, and Isabelle saw a small earpiece light up underneath his cowl. "Hey, quit goofing around! We've still got work to do!"

The voice coming through the earpiece was too faint for Isabelle to hear, but she saw Alex grin. "Yeah, get on it." He turned to the Phantom. "Don't worry about the Steelix. It's under control."

"Was that our armored friend?" Isabelle asked.

"Oh yeah. Just watch, this is going to be awesome." He whooped and raised his fist. "Let's go, Blaziken Man! Show 'em how it's done!"

Blaziken Man and Masakado shot into the sky on columns of fire, and as they bounded across the plaza with a series of impossibly long leaps, Aethon and Crescita soared to join them. The Steelix turned its massive head towards them, only to be stunned by a sonic blast from Echo's Noivern. Aethon shot higher into the air, spiraling up above the Steelix and unleashing a blast of scorching air from above. Masakado and Jiro alighted atop the roof of a nearby building to prepare for one final leap that carried them high into the air. At the apex of their jump, the pair of them spun in the air and shot fire from their feet to descend at incredible speed. Flames cloaked their fists, and the smashed into the Steelix with twin explosions that echoed across all of downtown.

The Steelix groaned as it listed to the side, and when the smoke around its head cleared, Isabelle saw the armored plating had two deep impact craters. The armored figure and his Blaziken leapt off the collapsing behemoth, jumping off the sides of buildings to deliver more fiery strikes to direct the beast's fall, ensuring that it collapsed in the middle of the street and didn't bring any more infrastructure down with it.

When the Steelix finally fell to the concrete, the CCPD cheered. The Phantom tapped a communicator in his ear. "Hey Echo, let's wrap this up." From across the plaza, Isabelle heard Mezzo bellow, and the pavement beneath her feet rumbled. Forte threw back his head and roared, and his fists sparked with electrical power. The Phantom turned to his unit of police officers and nodded briskly. "You've had my back so far. You ready for one last push?"

"Yes sir!" the lieutenant barked.

"Count us in too," Alex said.

"Good to have you back, birdbrain," the Phantom replied. "What about you, hotshot?"

Isabelle cracked her knuckles. "Volcarona Mask doesn't do anything halfway. Let's end this."

"Damn heroes," Greed hissed as she struggled to her feet. "Retreat is nothing. We'll live to fight another day." She raised her hands to the sky, and Sal's Skarmory swooped down from where it had perched above the plaza, seizing her hands in its talons and hoisting the Sin commander into the air.

"You slippery bitch." Isabelle whistled for Aethon, but she had no idea if the Volcarona could hear her. She started to give pursuit, but froze in her tracks as a scream cut across the plaza, magnified by microphones rigged into a bodysuit.

"Ingrid!" the Phantom cried. Forte whirled and began to charge forward, the heroes hot on his heels.

"Stay still," a new voice said, amplified by Echo's suit. "If all of you remain calm, nothing will happen to the girl. Echo, please tell your Loudred to stand down." The voice was coolly polite and devoid of any accent or inflection, and vaguely familiar to Isabelle. There was a grunt, the sound of a scuffle, and a crackle of feedback on the speakers.

"Don't listen!" Echo shouted. "All he has is a knife! I can handle myself just—"

"Don't be foolish." Echo gasped in pain, and there was a thud of impact on flesh.

"We won't make it in time to help," Alex said. "But Jiro can." He tapped his earpiece. "You have to help her! Time to overclock it!" He paused. "It doesn't matter! Now's as good a test as any! We can't lose anyone else!"

Across the plaza, near the fallen Steelix, a gout of flame shot into the sky, and all of Isabelle's hair stood on end as Blaziken Man shot out over the plaza at impossible speeds, rattling any windows that hadn't already been shattered by Echo's sonic attack. Electricity crackled around the powered suit, and fiery contrails issued forth from the soles of the armor's feet, along with the palms of its hands and vents protruding from the armor's back.

"Forte, boost me!" Alex shouted, and the Exploud cupped his hands together just in time for Alex to jump into the Exploud's palms. The normal type launched the winged hero skyward, and the fabric of his wingsuit gleamed crimson in the fading afternoon light as he plunged towards the steps of city hall.

"Let's go," the Phantom said as he seized Isabelle's arm. "The shadows are all wrong, but Gregor can at least get us close." Isabelle's stomach lurched as the Phantom's Dusknoir loomed up in front of them and crammed the pair of them into the mouth on his chest.

After a blast of blistering hot sulfurous wind and an instant in crushing darkness, they emerged a short distance from the steps where Echo had stood. Blaziken Man crashed down on the steps, his armor venting fire and heated wind.

As soon as Isabelle found her balance, she and the Phantom were sprinting across the ravaged cobblestones as quickly as the destroyed terrain would allow. Blaziken Man ripped off his helmet and flung it to the side. "Look at me!" Jiro Sasaki roared. "I am Blaziken Man! I am Clarus City's greatest defender!" Echo's captor threw her aside and swiped at Jiro, only for his knife to shatter against his armor. Jiro drove a metal fist into the man's abdomen hard enough to lift him off his feet. "I won't let you take another hero down!"

The repulsor on his hand hummed as he charged up a shot, and lightning crackled along his armor, throwing his face into sharp relief. "Stop!" Echo screamed. "You c-can't hurt him, he's the m-m-mayor!" The supersonic hero threw herself between Jiro and her assailant. "He's being c-controlled! If you hurt him, you're p-playing right into Dominion's hands!"

In Jiro's split second of hesitation, Mayor Lynden recovered and charged again, only to be struck by Hawlucha Man descending from the sky. "Sorry Mr. Mayor," Alex quipped as he shoved Lynden into one of the marble columns that lined city hall's entry and pinned him there. "But I voted for the other guy, so I don't feel too guilty."

Isabelle and the Phantom managed to scramble up to where Jiro stood. The fire had ceased issuing from his armor, and all that remained of the electricity that had shrouded him was the reek of ozone. Jiro's face looked pale and drawn, and his armor seemed to be short-circuiting, but he was otherwise unharmed. Echo was breathing heavily, and had a hand pressed to a cut on her shoulder.

The Phantom swept past Jiro and went to the sonic heroine's side. "He hurt you?"

Echo moved her hand away. "It l-looks w-worse than it is. I'll b-be okay."

The Phantom's face darkened, and he shoved Alex away from Lynden before clocking the mayor across the face. "Harcourt Industries will never contribute to your campaign again," he spat. The mayor collapsed to the ground just as the lieutenant with the Golurk arrived with her unit.

"The mayor was apparently being controlled by Dominion," Alex told the lieutenant. "He should be restrained until we can make sure he's free from her influence."

"It d-doesn't m-make sense," Echo said. "Why attack city ha-hall if the m-mayor is already her s-sleeper agent?"

"If I had to guess," Isabelle replied, "the bitch was flexing. She just wanted to prove she could take out the biggest, best protected, and high profile target in Clarus City if she felt like it." She grinned at her comrades in arms. "But that's never gonna happen, not while the heroes of Clarus City are around. Especially now that we've got Blaziken Man back." She almost slapped Jiro's back, but the armor was still glowing red-hot as it vented heat.

"I'm sorry I left all of this for you to deal with," Jiro said. His armor hissed and vented steam. "It won't happen again. I'm back, and I'm not backing down. Dominion can't be allowed to go any further with this." He looked to each of the young heroes in turn. "And I'm going to be relying on all of you to help me. Together, we can put a stop to her, and all the Sins."

"You kn-now it," Echo replied.

"We'll make them pay," the Phantom added.

Hawlucha Man nodded. "Together, there's no way we'll lose!"

"Winning's what we do best," Volcarona Mask said with a grin.

"Clarus City doesn't have a league," Jiro said with a smile, "but so long as you're holding the line, it's got an amazing Elite Four."