Chapter 118:

Killroom

Pokémon List:

Luna (Kirlia)

Fay (Riolu)

Midna (Zorua)

Something's underground. I looked at the linoleum flooring. It looked impeccably clean. But there was something down there. Someone with answers.

"Only one person?" I asked Luna. "A human?"

{I only sense one person. He feels human, but I can't say for sure,} Luna confirmed. She frowned. {It's hard to sense anything at all.}

"Why?" I looked over the walls of the supply closset, searching for anything out of place.

Behind me, the door was firmly blocked by a piece of cloth I had tied around the handle. To prevent curious people from interrupting my business.

I could still hear the muffled sounds of the dinning area and the kitchen from behind the door so I kept my voice low. "Explain, what exactly do you sense?"

{I only found it because I was looking for it. Something down there is actively muting my power. But I can vaguely sense what's around it. And if I concentrate really hard, I can sense a person.}

Luna sat on top of a box containing plastic cups like a lady, high and mighty with a smug look on her face as she watched me scour every inch of this place.

"How big is the place?" The size of a room, or an entire house? It couldn't be too big, right? After all, Alamos Town wasn't Eterna Forest, where you could easily start a construction project without anyone in a mile radius even hearing you. Doing anything in Alamos Town should be much harder.

{...Smaller than this place.} The glow in Luna's eyes dissipated. She shook her head and scratched the horns on her head. {Sorry, I can't get anything more accurate.}

"Don't worry. We got this." I reassured her.

I aimed my focus on the room right here. There had to be something in the supply closet.

If I had a hidden home underneath a restaurant, where would I place the entrance?

Personally, I would prefer teleporting. I would have one of my Pokémon see the place, and from that point on, I could teleport in and out whenever I wanted. No need to bother with hiding the entrance.

But because the dead guy didn't carry any Pokémon on him, that was unlikely to be the case. There had to be a physical entrance to the hidden area. One that was easily accessible, yet hidden well enough to keep anyone from stumbling upon it by accident. That left out the kitchen, dining area or the employees' lounge.

What I was left with were the toilets and the supply closet, which were located all the way in the back. And although the sign for the supply closet read employees only, it was still left unlocked.

The room I found myself in was small enough for me to move around, and filled with lots of cardboard boxes, event merchandise and other boring supplies one would expect to find. Nothing that indicated anything special about this place.

I gave up on trying to figure out the hidden meaning behind the alignment of the boxes and turned my gaze on the cables running alongside the wall, where I could see a pair running from the lightswitch to the bulb on the ceiling. There, I also spotted a second pair of wires, painted the same white color as the rest of the wall, and barely noticeable as a result.

I followed the path one of them took. Like a snake, the cable went and turned corners, until it eventually disappeared behind a set of lockers placed against the wall. The lockers themselves looked old and had names and faces drawn on its side. Seeing the faded posters and the poor state it was in, this had been their only purpose for a long time.

I moved to the side of them and found that there was a little space between the cabinet and the wall. The wire continued down until it connected with what looked like a flat lightswitch. It was hidden behind the locker, but I could still reach it.

"Interesting," I said aloud.

{You found something?}

"Maybe."

I gave the switch a light tap, causing it to flip over.

Behind me, in a corner all the way at the back, covered by company cardboard cutouts and boxes, a section of the right wall suddenly started shimmering. It rippled like water, or a phone whose battery was just about to die.

{Uh.} Luna said.

Suddenly, the wall disappeared completely, fizzling out of existence like an illusion. In its place, I was greeted with a set of steel elevator doors.

"Yeah," I clarified, very much aware of the fact my heart was slamming inside my chest. "I think I found something."

Warily, I approached the door that had appeared.

Luna got up from her place and approached the door, fascinated but also careful.

The doors looked a lot like the entrance to A2– silver, sterile, and cold. There was no further information about the elevator or its destination.

When I got closer and knelt where there had just been a wall, I found small devices that were attached to the front of the doors of the elevator. Each was the size of an apple and had a big lens embedded in the front, as if they were cameras. But instead of facing the room, they faced each other.

I got closer and studied one of them. Devon Tech Hard Light Projector.

That explained a lot. Maybe it was the same kind of technology that Hunter J used to hide her fleet's present in the desert?

I disregarded the projector and turned my eyes upon the elevator.

Now that I saw it up front, I could definitely tell it was smaller than the one I had found in A2. It barely even took up any space. The way it had been placed inside the wall made it look like it could have been another store closet. Yet it still held the same threatening presence as the last. I couldn't look at it without imagining it being some kind of monstrous mouth ready to swallow me whole.

{So…}

"Same plan as before," I instructed her. "Incapacitate anyone or anything we find as soon as possible. Shoot first, ask questions later." Besides, it's just one person, right?

Luna stretched her arm. {Shoot first. Got it.}

I petted her on the head before directing my attention on the elevator. With one press of the button, the doors slid open. "Let's do this."

There were many things going through my mind as I saw the elevator. But I pushed all the thoughts aside and stepped into the shiny chamber, followed by my Kirlia. She seemed nowhere near as bothered as I felt.

With a nasty grin on her face, she braced her knuckles and stretched her limbs. If I didn't know any better, I would say she was looking forward to it.

I kind of felt the same, but a small part of me still wondered if I really should be doing this?

Too late.

My finger pressed against the button on the wall and the doors fell closed.

The lack of elevator music forced us to take the ride in silence. That irked me somehow. I could hear the slow buzz as the elevator descended into the ground, the sound somewhere between a grind and a woosh.

I inspected the weapon I picked. I really didn't want to set off any loud noises, but if I had to, the anti-aura revolver should be able to take down even a ramped up Pokémon. A knife was ready and tugged behind my back, in case I would have to take things up close and personal.

Although, truth to be told, I didn't really expect much of a fight. The plan was simply to overwhelm whoever was inside, scare them to death a little, and get some answers.

I expected the ride to be quite long, but to my surprise, the elevator stopped moving rather quickly.

Luna gave me a questioning look, clearly sharing the same thought I had. I didn't really have answers, so I decided to turn my eyes to the doors as the elevator crawled to a standstill.

A soft ding came from the speakers, and I could hear the plates within the door move and hiss as the doors opened

A2 really surprised me back then. Somehow, they had managed to build an entire facility deep underground, without the League gaining any knowledge of its existence.

Again, I was surprised, but this time it was different. I was not awed, just experiencing a short moment of uncanny derealization.

It was as if someone had teleported a student's dorm several layers down. There were 2 beds, one to each wall. There was a desk against one side with a TV and some game consoles. A fridge stood in the corner while dirty laundry and plastic wrappings were littered all over the floor.

There were no windows, and for some reason, the entire surfaces of the walls, ceiling, and floor were covered in metal plating. If it wasn't for that, this could have been any shut-in's room. Just buried beneath a fast-food restaurant.

What the fuck?

Before I could process the thought, something moved in our peripheral vision.

Too late.

A sharp pain hit my wrist, and I was forced to drop my weapon. I let out a curse as the skin on my hands burned with pain. Panicked, I tried to find what the hell just hit me.

A blur moved from my right and I saw an arm swing towards me.

Just in time I leaned away.

What the fuck is Luna doing? I wondered.
I learned the answer right after.

Through a combination of stumbling back into the elevator cab, leaning to the left, and Luna shooting out from behind me, I managed to dodge the assault.

Luna exploded into the room. Her fist was glowing, aimed at the blur that was our attacker. She was right on target, but her target wasn't there anymore. Too fast for me to see, the target moved out of the way and kicked her in the back with a sticky leg attached to a webbed foot.

She crashed against the wall, hitting planks as she fell down. Pottery and photos showered her until she was lying in a pile of junk on the floor.

With Luna down and me unarmed, our attacker took a moment to appreciate his work. I could finally see who the person was that did this.

To my surprise, however, it wasn't a person at all.

A Greninja stood in the room, looming over the downed Kirlia.

It was the same size as I was, with sticky frog-like limbs and visible arteries running across its body. A big tongue wrapped around its neck like a wet scarf, dripping a silky liquid onto the floor.

It was gross to look at, but at least it wasn't looking in my direction. Instead, it was looking at Luna.

Dark energy spheres began to fume between its webbed fingers, crackling with energy.

"Attack it!" I spat, wondering why Luna wasn't on the offensive.

Why didn't Luna teleport? Because she is unable to?

{No room! Ineffective!} Luna's telepathic connection told me.

She fired an attack. A small laser erupted from between her horns and hit Greninja right in his body.

He didn't even flinch.

It all clicked. All the pieces fell in place. Why it was so hard for Luna to sense anything, even mistaking it for a human. Why she hadn't fucked it up with a Disarming Voice. It was Dark type, a hard counter to her Psychic tricks. And Luna's only useful attack in this match up, Disarming Voice, would tear up at least half of the room when fired like this.

Greninja's Dark Pulse began to crackle.

"Hey fucker!" I yelled.

The Greninja turned around to gaze at me with a dismissive neutral expression. A knife was soaring towards its face as it raised an eyebrow. The crackling energy bolts disappeared.

My knife didn't do any good, since it was easily deflected by the scarf around its neck. With only a flick of the tongue, Greninja redirected the trajectory, pinning the knife on the wall.

Taking a deep breath, I stood straight and drew a second knife. Keeping my eyes locked with Greninja, I flipped the knife in my hand. His eyes followed the knife with great interest.

Almost all Pokémon are the same. Can't leave a challenge unanswered.

I smiled cockily at Greninja.

Almost all of Luna's moves were ineffective against this thing. Worse, it was fast as fuck. None of this would have been a huge issue if we weren't in a small enclosed space that was quickly beginning to feel like a coffin.

This was a horrible situation to be in.

Yet I felt incredible.

I flipped the knife again, challenging the frog thing.

It narrowed its eyes and stood straight before extending one of his webbed hands. Water sprayed out between his fingers and compressed itself into a set of Japanese looking blades. There were three of them in total, and despite being made out of water, I doubted they would just make me wet.

I pinched the tip of the blade and retracted my arm. The Greninja mirrored the motions.

"Now Luna!" I yelled before throwing the knife and dropping to the floor right after.

Greninja was not stupid. With one fluid motion, it threw two water blades in my direction and another one at Luna.

The first intercepted my own. The second knife flew right over my head and impaled itself on the elevator's control panel before turning into a puddle of water.

Luna's knife hit home and impaled her right through the stomach. The clone fizzled out of existence like a puff of smoke.

Greninja's eyes widened.

Double Team is a bitch.

Luna reappeared next to Greninja and opened her mouth.

I pressed my hands against my ears just as Luna released her breath alongside a tortured cry. The room shook and I felt the metal plates on the floor vibrate while Greninja took the brunt of the impact, smashing into the wall.

A barrage of other attacks followed, taking full advantage of the opening we created. Every attack Luna fired was on point, being absorbed by Greninja instead of bouncing off the steel plating around it.

I picked up my gun and got up.

Greninja had broken through a bed and was currently pinned against the wall alongside a dozen household items and tools. The metal plating of the wall was torn and bent where it collapsed. The Greninja kept croaking and screeching as Luna's Disarming Voice kept it stunlocked.

I carefully made sure not to get within her range, something that was half the room at this point.

Luna didn't stop firing at it until Greninja slumped over and dropped to the ground, unconscious

I gave it a soft kick in the stomach; it didn't react.

I felt the sudden quietness of the night return. Only our own heavy breathing and the soft whirl of machinery were making any noise.

I leaned over, placing my hands against my thighs and releasing my breath.

"I told you," I said, unable to help myself. "The knife was useful."

{Bullshit,} said Luna, her face red from exhaustion. {Could have taken him–} She cut herself off to take another breather. {If I didn't have to worry about hitting you.}

"At least I won the duel," I muttered quietly. I took one look at the unconscious Greninja, wondering what the heck I could do about it. Where was its Pokéball?

The room, which had been a mess beforehand, was now a disaster area. The desk was ripped apart, and the fridge door had been forcefully removed. Said door was now lying in a heap of trash atop Greninja.

I shivered. Luckily, only one half of the room got torn up; the other half still looked decent.

There were two beds. I assumed that one belonged to the dead guy. The second bed still puzzled me. Maybe it belonged to the Greninja?

I got closer to inspect the bed. There was a laptop lying on top of it. I immediately took it and put it in my backpack before kneeling on the floor. Underneath the bed, I found a heavy metal box, from which a soft glow was being emitted. A red warning label informed me of dangerous unknown materials within it.

I scratched my head, pushing my hair back.

{What are you looking for?} Luna asked.

"Greninja's Pokéball. We need to get him out of here asap."

What the fuck was a Greninja even doing here?

Clearly, it either didn't like us, or it was told to ward off strangers. Did it belong to the murder victim? Were they friends? Close to each other?

I pulled out an empty Pokéball of my own and aimed the beam at Greninja. The red light briefly touched the Greninja before the laser died, failing to even register the Greninja.

"We need to find its Pokéball before doing anything else."

At least the room was small, so finding it shouldn't take too lo–

{He's conscious!} Luna's voice screamed right into my mind.

Ah, so he's male.

The Greninja opened his eyes. I couldn't help but feel my skin crawl as red eyes lashed out at the world with pure rage.

Before Luna's laser could hit, he had vanished from his position. I felt the air behind me change, but didn't have a chance to react. I barely even registered that he was behind me before I felt the weight of a truck slamming into me and flinging me towards the wall.

I saw lights flashing in front of my eyes as I hit the wall. A metallic tasting liquid dripped down my lips. Dazed, I rubbed the sweat of my forehead, only to find my hand red with blood.

I was bleeding.

I groaned, trying to make sense of my situation. How I just got here, slumped on a mattress, instead of where I had been, seconds ago.

I tried to focus on the noise and light in front of me.

Luna and Greninja were fighting in the small space as best as they could. It was hard to make any sense of it. They were moving from corner to corner, flinging attacks at each other. Luna teleported away each time, and Greninja became a shadow every time she came close. Luna's lasers bounced off the walls and shot in all directions while Greninja's hands were spraying water everywhere.

A shuriken impaled the wall next to my head, exploding like a water balloon on impact. A cold torrent of water hit me like a whip. It drenched me, but it came as a welcome surprise, helping me push away the pain and the daze.

Water stung in my eyes and I had to blink and rub them a few times to regain my vision.

Greninja wasn't able to hit Luna; she kept teleporting away too fast. Luna's hits landed, but did little damage to Greninja. All the while, deadly attacks were flung across the room, some of which got rather close to me.

But since Luna was avoiding every hit, we were at least still winning.

Greninja seemed to realize the same thing. He started screeching with rage, sounding as if he were ripping his own vocal cords apart. Words I could not understand were thrown at Luna. At the world.

Luna gave me a concerned look, but didn't say anything. She didn't need to.

This stupid monster was utterly insane.

Deciding he had enough from Luna's Teleport bullshit, or realizing he wasn't getting anywhere, he began to aim a beam of water at Luna. Like before, she teleported, but Greninja didn't stop firing this time.

The dance from before continued, with Luna failing to do damage and Greninja failing to hit Luna. Still, it didn't deter him. With what must have been the force of a locomotive, Greninja's water beam chased after Luna.

I got up, managing to lean against the wall as I crawled away. I almost slipped as the water started to flood the room.

Luna tried to keep the fight restricted to her corner of the room, drawing the fire away from me.

One Disarming Voice was fired, and I was tossed back into the water from the impact.

I cursed, but water filled up my mouth as soon as I opened it. I firmly closed my lips and got up.

How did the room fill up so fast?

A headache was slamming a hammer on my brain, as if thinking weren't already hard enough when water was being tossed everywhere. That's when I realized his strategy.

"No!" I wanted to cry and pull my hair out. I couldn't believe this "You fucking stupid braindead frog!" I shouted, but my voice was drowned out by the noise of water crashing against the wall.

The water had gotten higher, much higher than physically possible. Yet Greninja didn't stop his mad barrage.

A low rumbling sound came from below the room. It sounded like a roaring echo that somehow managed to be heard over the noise of Greninja's assault. I could hear the metal inside the walls screech and the floor slowly tilted. The walls continued to scream under the pressure.

Greninja wasn't deterred, kept spouting the beam of water across the room, and the never ending torrent was flooding the room at a rapid pace.

I doubted the bunker was meant to hold this much water.

Greninja grinned as the floor dropped a little again.

My eyes widened when I understood his view.

He's Drowning us. Burying us alive. Himself as well. He's insane. Greninja had a twisted grimace on his face as he traced Luna's Teleports, which were getting slower. Not only that, but she was also forced to cling to walls and atop objects as the water had risen to my middle.

Luna tried to get a punch in. The hit connected and Greninja staggered, yet the cascade of water didn't stop. Feeling victorious, he kept blasting it.

Luna managed to get a Disarming Voice in at point blank range, but it did absolutely nothing. It should have. But the same power that kept Pokémon from fainting with just his willpower was now keeping him in the fight.

The intensity of the beam increased as another raw cry came from Greninja's throat. He turned around and shot right at Luna.

She let out a cry that was quickly muffled when her head dipped below the water's surface.

And that was when Greninja turned to me.

My body felt cold. Water had soaked my clothes and was soaking away body heat, and nearly every part of my body hurt in some way. Worse yet, I could not think of any other way to navigate out of this situation.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. There was no one who could hear me, but I didn't think the apology was meant for anyone in particular.

The onslaught of water was suddenly silenced by the sound of a gunshot. I heaved a deep breath and waited for Greninja to start his rampage again.

He didn't.

The room fell silent as Greninja started to float. His eyes were still turned to the ceiling, but they no longer held the same fury. Instead, he wore a dreamlike gaze as he floated.

The water around him turned red.

A/N And it's me, your favorite fearless author, who laughs in the face of deadlines!

Welcome to 2023. Good to see you are still here.

I finally got to write this chapter. It was once again edited by Atomic, who was a huge help once again. This time there were only about 285 revisions! I am improving.

Also, I created a separate fic called Insane World of Omakes which, right now, has 2 (very short) chapters of Insane World stuff. It's small right now, but my friend Delta promised to work on a chapter so expect a Shakespearian Epic on the second fic any day.

But don't stray too long, after all, there's a whole insane world of Pokémon waiting for you.

-CaptainMoonShine-

(Reviews)

Abyssal The Watcher:

Thanks for the kind words, glad to inspire others.

Flerovium:

After many days of reading I can confidently say, this is the best Pokémon fanfic I've ever read since The Surprising Adventures of a Glaceon in Unova and The Glaceon and the Shadow.

A: Haha, thank you!

shugoy2j:

so ash is stepping down as the pokemon mc, how do you feel about that?

A:I feel like it is both overdue and way to quick.