Cherreads

Chapter 15 - Chapter 14: Silver Town I

Mt. Silver – Base | Miasma Storm Level: LOWERING 

Gazei woke up face-down in a crater. Again. 

"If I had a credit for every time I've been unconscious in some floating hole in the middle of hell..." he muttered, spitting dirt. His voice rasped out dry, like he'd swallowed a fistful of static. His ears rang. Everything smelled like burnt ozone and ego. 

A pebble bounced off his head. 

"Oi. Ya dead or just bein' dramatic?" Zeus crouched on a ledge above him, singed and sparking like a busted fusebox. One of his ears twitched. "If you're dead, I call dibs on your jacket." 

"I'm alive," Gazei groaned, rolling onto his back. "And if you touch my jacket, I'm putting you back in the egg." 

Also, this outfit-changing bullshit was getting old. Just how many damn conditions had his wife swindled out of the gods of reincarnation? 

"Kinky," Zeus muttered with a smirk. 

Gazei sat up with a wince. The sky was still torn—black and red—but calmer now. Instead of chaos, it pulsed like a wound trying to scab over. 

Maggie limped into view, arms crossed, tail burning low. Her horn was cracked. She looked like someone itching to throw another punch just to feel something. 

"Don't ever let me divebomb a preacher again," she grumbled in her rough Outback tone. "I think I dislocated... everythin'." 

Gazei chuckled, dry and raspy, as he pushed himself upright. "Yeah. 'No kamikaze lizard tactics' is going on the permanent ban list." 

Dharak slithered in from the rubble, dragging a chunk of corrupted armor behind him. His fangs dripped with... Something. The Neo Deino didn't speak, but everything about his body language screamed I'm still hungry. 

"Jack?" Gazei asked, brushing ash from his shoulder. 

"Smoked," Maggie muttered, casually popping a cracked scale off her tail. "Pretty sure I turned his spine into jelly." 

Zeus landed beside them with a bounce, scanning the scene. "So that's it? Big cult tantrum, apocalyptic beasties, creepy preacher extra-dead, and we're still breathin'?" 

Gazei didn't answer. Didn't care. If Jack or his edge-lord cult buddies—minus the cute one—were still breathing, that was the League's headache now. 

He was so over this arc. 

At least the miasma Pokémon had vanished. Whatever the hell those were. 

"How long was I out?" he muttered, voice low. 

"Five days, mate," answered a clipped, smug voice from inside his jacket. British. Smug. Already annoyed. 

The screen on his coat flickered to life. 

Computer. 

Gazei sighed. Of course, the AI had been fighting firewalls this whole time. He jabbed a thumb toward the ground, looking down with a resigned breath. 

Zeus, Maggie, and Dharak didn't wait—they immediately activated their aura shields. Experience told them what was coming. 

Gazei unleashed a roar laced with pure aura. 

"HEY YO! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU UNDERGROUND?! THE REST OF THE CREW HEALED UP ALREADY OR WHAT?!" 

The force behind it wasn't just volume—it was power. The ground shuddered. Trees trembled. Leaves tore from branches. The sonic pressure alone scattered loose stones and sent dust spiraling. 

The earth grumbled in response. 

"I was healed... For a couple days... And durin' that time... The Dragon Crew's ready to go... But the other squads... they're still sleepin' off the beatin'... Oh yeah," came the slow, honeyed Southern hum of Dovah's voice from beneath the cracked surface. 

Gazei nodded. If Dovah was talking, then Rescue—the tiny but terrifying Happiny healer in charge of healing the dragon types—was already back in motion with her team, snapping orders and patching up bodies like a field medic on a caffeine binge. 

The sibling healing squads would be on their feet soon, too. They'd adapted fast. Too fast. That's what near-constant death pressure exp farms will do to you. 

The Dragon Crew? Still behind the curve. Their aura control was trash. But they survived. 

And that was worth something. 

Gazei was still turning that over when Dovah's voice cut in again: 

"I smell somethin' amazin'... 300 kilometers southwest... Oh yeah." 

Gazei raised a brow. Dovah wouldn't eat just anything—if it weren't gourmet-level, dimension-soaked flavor that could challenge a Toriko chef, the Neo Gible wouldn't even taste it. 

He had no regrets about Toriko food but man, it made everything else taste like wet cardboard.

And yet, there it was—a new lead. 

"Alright then. Lead the way, man." 

He glanced at his coat—time for the next predictable headache. 

"Computer, try again to bypass your wives' firewall clusterfuck and reconnect to the net. I swear by all that's holy, F.R.I.D.A.Y is updating the walls every you try just to spite you." 

"Oh yeah, like I haven't been doing that every bloody minute for the past two months, you dense twat!" Computer snapped. "Why do my wives' firewalls—all—have separate encryption matrices?! It's like trying to solve Rubik's cubes that scream insults!" 

"Because they're Rin's AIs," Gazei muttered. "And they love to torture you. Just like their owner does to me."

"Correct. Also, you're lucky you're pretty, mate." 

Gazei rolled his eyes. "Zeus. Maggie. Dharak. Saddle up. 

Dovah—lead. We've got a scent trail and, hopefully, a fuckin' town. I miss beds." 

Zeus flexed, sparks leaping between his cheeks. "I call front seat. And if this 'amazing smell' turns out to be barbecue again, someone's getting tasered." 

"If it's edible, I'm eatin' it," Maggie barked, tail snapping with heat. "And if it's another bloody mutant mushroom, I'm torchin' the whole forest." 

Dovah emerged from the dust, shimmering with aura, humming as if nothing had happened. 

"I'll only eat... if it sings to me... oh yeah." 

Dharak said nothing. Just a low nod. Cold eyes. Silent promise. 

And like that, they moved. 

Together. 

[XxX] 

Pallet Town – Professor Oak's Lab 

The camera feed flickered for a second before stabilizing. Professor Oak, seated at his old wooden desk cluttered with half-disassembled Pokétech and notes, leaned closer to the screen. His white lab coat was wrinkled, and his coffee mug read: "I was into Pokémon before it was mainstream." 

On the other side of the call, two young women appeared side by side. One wore a flame-patterned hoodie with a smudge of ash on her cheek, the other in a high-tech violet jacket that shimmered slightly with subtle data projections. 

"Hi gramps! Did you see our match!"  

Oak immediately leaned forward, face set in an intense scowl resisting the urge to yell at this pseudo granddaughters. He is very proud with the exception of Gazei every one of the Pallet Rookies have earned the Boulder Badge and all of them on their first try. Rin is still in trouble. 

Rin smiled to herself. She already has a plan prepared. "If you lecture about my Pokémon modifications and not worry about it. I will send all my findings to you. Plus, the new evolutions my wonderful hubby has founded. He even dragon eeveeultions. It totes sweet. Also, maybe Blue would like to know about certain— 

Oak wished for all his heart that he wasn't at least a bit surprised by this. 

"Also did you get read on that energy signature? It matches an abyss energy signature." 

 "They Abyss? What moron would want to do that?" Ashlyn asked seriously. 

The old man looked utterly exhausted and worn out. They weren't supposed to know this until they ACE trainers. 

Oak leaned back, wishing that he could drink his troubles away., "The chairmen is already on the chase. As you know the cultist are running rampet acorsss the world. It was matter of time before they started messing with the Void and Abyass. The old bat was at Lavender Town when it happened, and the entire tower glowed with power. There even have reports from Hoenn and Unova of wild pokémon going feral before getting put down." 

"Groddy..." Rin knew the culits of whatever are causing problems but to risk the world by opending the door to the Outer Beings is plain dumb. "My labs in the other regions have reported about the strange energy."

Oak eyes twicthed. Did she just say labs. "What?" 

"Oh yes. I got multiple labs in other regions silly." Rin said happly. Oak forgot that Kanto has over a 150,000 Pokemon scieents each reseraching different feilds. Her labs research anything that included in the Battle, Contest, and Showcase circurts. So Pen-Hunter labs have multiple padents in Pokemon held items and energy power sourse. 

"Rin..." Ashlyn pouted. Why can't her bestie tell her anything. 

"Honey hush. If you want to talk to Gazei let momma work." 

"I DON"T WANT TO TALK TO THAT BASTARD!" Ashlyn blushed as she resisted to choke her best friend on the loaction of the dragon obbessed boy. 

"Girls!" 

The two flicked as theri pusedo grandfather gave them looks of dissapoment. 

"Sorry gramps." The girls said lowering their heads. Rin proceed to read the reprots. She has nail appoiment and that she won't miss. 

"The Hoennn branch has werid energies singatures similar that of mega evoultion. The Unova branch pokemon are restless not ramapging at the momment. Kolas has cases of some pokemon mega evovling. Hell in Johto where my hubbby is there are cases of courrpted Pokemon they are currently far from any human settlements." 

"THAT WHERE GAZEI IS. IMA GOING TO KILL THAT BASTARD! DOESN"T HE HAVE A PHONE OR SOMEHTING!" 

Oak watched with little suprise and gave a deadpanned stare. Rin is smirking while her best friend rants about Gazei not calling her, explaing why he left, why he didn't told her about marrage to Rin, and many more. 

Rin turned to the unsuprised Oak. "The wave of erengy passed for a few hours now. The pokémon are frozen in fear. It such a distater. Also i sent you lab some moeny because your scanners are mega nasty bad."

Oak pinched his brow as his wonderful and bratty diva off like a psyched-up Rattata and a slight heart attack at the number he was given. Oak made a note to get Gazei back here pronto and have Rin energy on him instead himself.

Oak felt sorry boy but he is the only option Oak has left before Rin and Ashlyn drive him insane. Gary is being tourtred by Leaf so he can't curb their tendecides. 

It took a considerable effort to keep his fruestartion to a minimum when he responded, "Thank you Rin. 

 [XxX]

Ashlyn stormed into Rin's room, the automatic doors slamming open with a hiss that startled a flock of Pidgey outside.

Thanks to the Boulder Badge the Pendragon funds were unforzen and with her Rin's proformance during the match many sponsers showed to offer nearly everything to the rising stars. 

Rin didn't even look up from her datapad. She already knew who it was by the angry stomping and aura signature thick enough to choke a Gengar.

"You knew where he was this entire time!" Ashlyn snapped, fists clenched at her sides. "You let me worry, search every goddamn missing person sites, while you said jack shit."

Rin looked up slowly, lips pursed in a way that was almost contrite—if not for the flash of amusement in her eyes that vanished too fast to be real. She rose from her desk, hands raised like a performer mid-curtsy. "Ashlyn, sweetie, I get it. You're mad. But think of the bigger picture! He was safer off-grid. You know how tangled things got with the cults, right? He needed space. And I needed—well, someone emotionally reckless and magically nuclear."

Ashlyn's expression didn't budge. She didn't flinch. Didn't blink. Her stare was ice. Rin swallowed. That wasn't the usual kind of rage. It was the quiet, years-steeped kind.

"I don't give a shit about the cults," Ashlyn said flatly. "I don't care about corrupted Pokémon, or energy signatures, or any of the eldritch monsters that I hope don't exisit. I wanted to know if he was breathing."

That hit a nerve. Rin felt her chest tighten—not from guilt, but from the flicker of fear that Ashlyn, the only person who could go toe-to-toe with Gazei emotionally, might actually hate her now. Still, she kept her voice honeyed. "I sent you updates! I tagged his location in a firewalled sub-net only you could decrypt—don't look at me like that, I know you saw it. Look, I even brought back souvenirs! Want a Pendragon-brand Steel-Stone? I bedazzled it~"

Ashlyn stepped forward, close enough that Rin could see her aura flicker like a blade. "Where. Is. He."

Rin's smile finally cracked. For a second, just one heartbeat, she looked scared. But under it all—under the stress, under the threat, under the burning in her lungs—was a quiet, traitorous relief. 

Ashlyn didn't care about the Pokémon item. Didn't mention any steel types or the casualties in Johto or the dragons in stasis. She just wanted him.

Yeah she may have taken this plan a little too far. 

[XxX]

Pokémon Center Beta, Silver Town

Gazei Hunter Pendragon yawned, stretching his massive arms while Nurse Joy checked over his squad. His Neo Pokémon stood out like a Mecha-Gyarados at a petting zoo. Even without the monsters, he knew he looked out of place—over eight feet tall, covered in jagged scars, and radiating an aura that set motion sensors off.

Still, he was in a good mood. Mostly because the internet confirmed a long-standing theory: Electric Tales of Pikachu was canon, and hot Nurse Joys and Leauge girls were real. Fuck yes.

The nurse had a queer look on her face and was blushing furiously when he handed over his team. Understandable. The dragon Pokémon leaking ambient aura, it was clear these weren't standard issue Pokémon. Gazei had the look of a boss fight. And apparently, no one in this world knew what Neo Pokémon even were.

Thanks to Computer finally hacking through most of his wives cursed firewalls—except for the GPS lock and blocked calls—he now knew the score. Neo Pokémon didn't exist. Rin was back on her world-conquest bullshit. And she'd named her fashion brand after the term he used to call her in their past life. Of course she did.

A cough behind him broke the thought. Gazei turned to see a woman slung over his shoulder, still glaring daggers at him despite being upside down. She had chin-length dark teal hair framing her face, fair skin, and mismatched eyes—one red, one green. She wore a purple cap with a black rim, gold star, red-trimmed uniform, and heels entirely unsuited to being carried around like a handbag.

"Put me down, now!" Officer Joy of Silver Town barked.

"Lady, are you going to arrest me?"

"Fuck yes you dumb fuck!" The woman hissed. Gazei rolled his as keep the woman in place. Mary Ann Jenny. He was quite surprised to see a game character in the Pokemon world.

There better not be any demons. Then he just faced curliest bringing out corrupted monsters only found in soul-like games or in Darksiders so there might be demons.

"Then get comfy babe. You are staying a while until my Pokemon are checked out." Gazei said casually. Mary didn't appertacte his lack of care attitude and went back to striking on his back with his first.

He hadn't expected a warm welcome. Strolling into Silver Town covered in dried blood after emerging from Mt. Silver's cursed side would always get the cops' attention. Naturally, Gazei resisted arrest—by flooring the guards and kidnapping the Officer Joy he won't have to fight the whole police department. He wasn't proud of it, but hell, he needed data.

Because unlike the Dragon Crew, the rest of the squads can actually use their previous skills. The other squads can use their skills from their preivous live. He wants to know if the 911 have the proficiency they have in the game. Healing skills were one thing in Pokémon World Online. Real-world application? Still up in the air.

"Fucker...!" Mary went to make a sargent blush with her cursing. 

Mary Ann Jenny, if he remembered right. A character from the games—what the hell was she doing in a place this grounded? His luck probably meant demons were next. Or worse: gacha mechanics.

"Hello, stranger," came a voice. Gazei turned to see a man with steel-grey hair and matching eyes, standing far too calm for a civilian.

"Oi. That is William Baines of Vice President of the Milta Tech and head of Dark Realm Command. The personality on this bloke is real nasty mate. Baines is an extremely corrupted, cold and pragmatic politician with a deeply religious agenda; believing that all that happens is according to Arcues. He does hate the culits though." Computer spoke in a frequency that was only audible to him.

Mary Ann Jenny was suprised to see the VP of Milta Tech outside his bunker. The man arrived a few days to take out the culits reported to be on Mout Sliver and caputre One-Jack and brought sixty of his men only for the readings in Mout Sliver to dissapear yesteday. "Sir what are you doing hhere."

Gazei stared as the man idly stared him down. Raising left arm the dark-skinned boy hammer fist the ground bench. 

CRACK!

—or not. There was no crack. Not a splinter. Just the sound, thunderous and unnatural, echoing even beyond the building. Birds took flight outside. The bench, however, remained pristine.

"What—" Baines confused by the action even more so when the strike didn't leave single damge on the wooden frame. The sound alone was loud enough that birds outsite of the building heard it. The wooden bench should have broken from a strike that loud. 

"Give it a second." 

"Fucker—" Pressing the area between her upper ribs and shoulder blade Gazei put a Aura into his fingers cause Mary have her eyes roll to her back of her head and nearly pass out. "I said give it a second." 

Baines' comm link crackled.

"Sir we have a problem." A voice through Baines comm link went on live. " All outer perimeter units—Pokémon and agents—are unconscious. No wounds. No signs of combat. Reinforcements entering the zone are dropping too. We don't know what's causing it."

Now that got Baines' attention.

"Now that peanut gallary is out. Whatchu want Baines?" Gazei getting striaght to the point. Once he get his pokemon back he is going straight a real bed and pass the fuck out for days. 

If the man was supsied he didn't show it.

"Straight to the point. Okay." Baines made a note on the sleek device in his hand, thumbs tapping with clinical detachment. "We're tracking temporal distortions, Hunter-Pendragon. What happened on Mount Silver caused a energy pulse, scrambled our satellites, and . That kind of firepower doesn't go unnoticed."

Gazei cracked his neck. "Cool. Not my problem."

"It became your problem the second you walked out of that mountain with blood on your clothes and corrupted Pokémon at your heels," Baines replied evenly. "And when your name pinged on six different blacklists—including one I wrote personally—you got bumped to the top of a very short list."

What kind of backstory did Rin write for me?

"Let me guess," Gazei said, setting Mary Ann gently down on the bench beside him. She groaned but didn't move—still swimming in the effects of his aura tap. "You want me to work for you. Or explain what happened. Or get on my knees and say sorry for knocking out your goons."

Baines didn't blink. "I want you to stay out of my way."

That surprised him. Gazei raised an eyebrow. "That's it? No threats? No tracker collar? No 'submit or be purged' speech?"

"I'm a realist. If I could control you, I'd have done it already." Baines glanced at Mary, then back to Gazei. "You're not subtle. But you are efficient. I've got my hands full with cultists, corrupted Pokémon, and something howling in the distortion fields that shouldn't exist. So here's the deal: walk away. Stay away. And I'll pretend I didn't see you."

Gazei leaned forward, eyes narrowing. "And if I don't?"

"Then I call in an orbital strike and glass this whole town," Baines replied, smiling with something that didn't reach his eyes. "Don't make me spend that kind of money. You're not worth it."

The air grew colder. Even the unconscious Pokémon around the center twitched in discomfort.

"…I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that," Gazei muttered. "Because I'm too tired for another boss fight."

Nurse Joy stepped into the lobby holding a tray with six Poké Balls. "Mister Pendragon? Your team's stable. That one with the scythe-tipped tail is… uh, very spirited. But they're all healthy."

"Thanks, doll." He stood, towering again, and slung Mary back over his shoulder.

Baines didn't flinch. He simply turned away, tapping once more on his device.

"Sleep well, Hunter Pendragon," he said. "You'll need it."

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