The turbines roared, and Blanche felt the airship rise. The harbour dwindled in size as the ship arced gracefully into the air and turned its nose out to sea. They breathed in, feeling the familiar presence of their pokémon team… and an interloper.
"Sup," said Spark.
Blanche sighed. "If you try to surprise me, Candela, they won't find your body."
"So unkind," Candela said smoothly, coming to stand at the rail like the other two.
"And what are you doing on my private flight?"
"I got an exclusive invitation to a new pokémon research facility," said Spark smugly.
"I got an exclusive invitation to a new pokémon research facility."
They both looked at Candela.
"You guessed it," she said.
"Not so exclusive I guess, huh?" Spark said. "We're team leaders though, that's a pretty select group."
Blanche scanned the cabin. "Is there anyone else aboard?"
Candela shook her head. "Just the crew, from what I've noticed."
"This will be an interesting meeting," Blanche said, turning to watch the water far below. "The Torello Group… I hadn't heard of it until now."
"There's a lot of neat pokémon breeding happening lately!" Spark said. "A poliwrath-golduck cross threw a transparent eggshell trait and people are mad for it, they want to try to pass it on to other egg groups, I'll draw you the pedigree—"
"Thank you, Spark."
x.x.x.x.x
The Nanashiman Islands were off Kanto's south coast, seven islands made in seven days—actually, there are more than seven of them, and they took tens of millions of years to form—thank you, Blanche—an arc of islands tracing the slow movement of the earth over a volcanic hotspot. Nanashima One was the usual first stop, but they headed east, to another island often left off of maps.
A woman in a neat monogrammed lab coat met them at the airship dock, bespectacled with a long fall of black hair.
"Welcome to Nanashima Zero! It's my pleasure to welcome three of Kanto's most famous team leaders to the Torello Group's private breeding and research facility. I'm Dr. Okada. If you'll follow me?"
The facilities were pristine, barely used—everything had that office-supplies-center new-merchandise smell, and there were machines with the plastic still on the control panels. Here and there construction workers and electricians went by, but there were no technical or support staff.
"This island is leased from the Kantoan government—it's uninhabited by humans and with only a few native pokémon. Flying-types, and of course many water-type pokémon in the surrounding reefs, so we've taken care to ensure that development has avoided disturbing them or important nesting sites."
The guide whisked them through a long hallway with glass display cases on one side and windows on the other. The windows looked onto the rocky promontory on the north side of the island, while the cases were filled with rock samples culminating in impressive reproductions of pokémon fossils.
Through a set of double doors were the labs, with windows to watch the scientists and technicians at work as if they were taffy-pullers at a carnival—but there was no one in the labs, and the benches were completely untouched.
"And what, exactly, do you have to show us when no one is working?" said Blanche. "These labs have never been used. Half the equipment isn't even plugged in."
Dr. Okada smiled. "These labs are not yet operational, as you've correctly deduced. We're on our way to the closed labs."
They swept through more and more doors and hallways and took an elevator down, and at the bottom were security guards in black with bullpup rifles, and tear gas and ultra balls on their belts.
"Whoa-hoh, this is a little bit more serious than I was expecting," Spark said, holding up his hands, placating.
Candela smiled, casual, but with her hands on her trainer's belt.
"Please don't worry," Dr. Okada said. "The work we're doing here is extremely valuable, and so it requires commensurate security measures."
They were assigned guest IDs and warned sternly to remain with the guide, and to refrain from releasing their pokémon.
More doors, security locks, fingerprint scanners, retinal scanners—
The final room was hot and close and poorly lit, and ahead of them under dull reddish light were tanks, huge ones filled with bubbling liquid. There were things in them, floating, studded with wires and monitors.
Candela reached for her alakazam's pokéball involuntarily and then dropped her hand, remembering the guards.
Blanche strode forward, the light from the hallway making their shadow long. "…What am I looking at?"
"You'll see," Dr. Okada said.
They retreated, gratefully, from that body-hot room, and they were taken next to an enclosure, high-ceilinged and filled with jungle plants. There were huge wooden posts and perches scarred by pickaxe claws. A technician—at last, someone else did appear to work here—in pokémon ranger fatigues with the insignia ripped out stepped into the room and whistled.
Something enormous dropped off the ceiling netting, flapping to land on a huge wooden perch beside the technician, who threw it an entire dead chicken.
"That's an aerodactyl!" Candela said.
Spark watched it, puzzled. "Is it a shiny?"
It had an aerodactyl's silhouette, more or less, but it had a pale gray-blue underside and a dark, mottled dorsal coloration. There were more spikes and growths on its spine and eye ridges.
Blanche flipped open their pokédex.
"Record unknown. Aura analysis: Dragon type, Flying type. Statistical weights—"
"What is that?" Blanche asked Dr. Okada quietly.
"That is the original aerodactyl—the restored version. This is what it looked like before it was fossilized." She grinned at them. "We have a restored specimen for every fossil pokémon sample we've obtained."
x.x.x.x.x
Blanche yelled at Dr. Okada the entire way back through the closed labs, oblivious to the security guards dropping their hands toward their pokéball belts, but the guide continued on serenely.
"Where is the prior art for this achievement?" Blanche demanded. "We're struggling to create stable pokémon cell lines and you come out of nowhere with fully cloned pokémon? This is—this is not how science is done!"
She finally rounded on them. "Our scientists are geniuses," Dr. Okada said. "We have left Kanto and its plodding PhDs in the dust." She straightened the lapels of her pristine lab coat, regaining her composure. "This concludes the tour—if you have any other questions—"
"Uh, so, when do we get to catch pokémon?" Candela asked, tossing a pokéball from hand to hand.
"There will be no captures of our research specimens, of course, but if you have the appropriate licensing security can accompany you to the reefs—"
Candela stared at her. "Um, it said very clearly on my invitation that this is a Pokémon Safari—"
"This is a research institute—"
Spark put up his hand.
Candela looked at him impatiently. "Spark, you can just ask questions—"
He glanced at her and said, "I heard there were going to be pokémon eggs?"
"I'm afraid you're mistaken. Our breeding facilities are not open to the public. This is the end of the tour—you've seen the facilities and grounds and our clones, and you'll have a chance to meet our president and network tomorrow. I'll show you toward our accommodations for visitors."
Spark frowned and dug a dog-eared card out of his pocket and started to read it, his mouth moving along with the words.
"…Please excuse my outburst," Blanche said after a moment. "I'm just very surprised. This is an incredible achievement. Can you tell me more about your methods? How you initiate elemental exposure? We can't prevent cell death—"
"The growth medium is—"
Candela definitely understood most of the words Blanche and Dr. Okada were shooting back and forth, but she found her attention wandering to the security guards as they passed out of the more tightly controlled areas of the lab. The guards relaxed as their group exited; she kept her pokédex on in her hand as they passed them, and looked at it once they were alone in the bare white hallways again.
The guards had big pokémon, bruisers, intimidating and powerful ones, pokémon that could subdue and neutralize opponents—arcanine, persian, arbok, pidgeot, blastoise, magneton—
It made sense—lots of trainers were abandoning the Red Queen's race of the tournaments and choosing careers as they grew into adulthood, ones where their pokémon's power would be appreciated and not subjected to micro-measurements of comparison against others. It was a useful job at an important facility with a billions of pokéyen on the line.
She found herself contemplating strategy anyway.
It had been a little gray when they arrived, and now the rain was quite heavy indeed, a tropical downpour. It grew wilder even as they walked toward the guest rooms, the light fading as thunder rolled and lightning flashed, blinding, and backing them with hard-edged shadows. With a deafening rumble, all the lights in the building went out.
Candela had her charizard out in a flash of red, its tail casting a spectral glow on the walls that was joined after a few seconds by the backup power humming to life and low-power LEDs winking on.
"Oh dear…" Dr. Okada was looking at her phone, its projected UI casting a blue glow on her face as she tapped at the air.
"What's the news, doc?" Spark asked.
"It looks like the storm might have taken out our power, I'm trying to get a hold of the generator station to see if it's us or them…" She shook her head. "There's no reason for you all to stand around in the dark with me. Come with me and I'll have security lead you the rest of the way."
Guards turned up with flashlights and a charmander that raced up to Spark, lighting the way and giggling, and he fawned on it as they were escorted to their guest rooms. The security left them with room keys and the number for the concierge and room service, and the three of them chatted in the hallway as the guards left. Spark waved goodbye to the pokémon.
"So," Candela said, when they were unobserved, "are we really going back to our rooms alone? If the power is out there's no TV or internet. I'll be bouncing off the walls and he'll try to hotbox his room."
"Um, you can't take herb on an airship, duh Candela," Spark scoffed.
"Sure, but I bet you have some anyway."
"…No."
"Candela, your invitation said that there would be opportunities to catch pokémon?" Blanche asked.
"Yeah! Yeah, I'm sure it did."
"Do you still have it?"
"Sure don't, I threw it away."
"I still have mine!" Spark said. He dug out the paper invitation again. "It says they were going to show me the hatchery, right there."
Blanche drew out their tablet from an inner pocket, and displayed an image of their invitation.
"Mine promised a demonstration of their entire cloning procedure—development and growth chambers, metamorphogenic induction and suppression, ability and type heritability—"
The other two were looking at them blankly.
"—biology stuff."
"Oh yeah, I knew that," Spark said. "I was, uh, testing you."
"What does 'metamorphogenesis' mean?" Candela asked him slyly.
"What do you think it means?"
"The point—the point being," said Blanche, "that each of us was invited to come here with a slightly different offer tailored to our particular interests, and then given a superficial tour and a denial. My question is: why are we here?"
They stood in the dark hallway, the rain a muffled hammering on the windows of the closed rooms around them.
"They wanted to get all of us in the same place?" Candela asked. "For what? A bunch of punks like us?"
"As humble as our beginnings were, we left behind being just gang leaders three legendary birds ago," Blanche said.
"I was being sarcastic, we're hot shit and of course everybody wants a piece of this," Candela said, pretending to box with the shadows.
"And now they want us to split up to our respective rooms," Blanche said, musing.
Candela watched them. "So, safety in numbers, or split up so they can't take out all three of us at once?"
"I think we should stick together," Spark said.
Blanche nodded, and Spark smiled and keyed his room.
"…The other way, Spark."
"Just testing you."
x.x.x.x.x
"Metamorphogenesis is the process by which evolving pokémon alter their physical bodies."
"You looked that up on your pokédex."
"…No."
x.x.x.x.x
They were contacted quickly by the concierge—Blanche cast their gaze around the room and contemplated releasing their magneton—who offered to have room service sent up to them. Blanche declined.
"Blanche. No," Spark begged.
"There is an en-suite kitchen," Blanche said to the concierge, shaking off Spark's desperate grasp. "We would like to cook for ourselves."
As they ended the call, Candela drew close and covered her mouth, as the two of them had done in the old days in bugged triad HQs. "You think they might poison us?" she said in an undertone.
"It is a possibility."
"What if the food from the kitchens is poisoned?"
"Also a possibility, but this way it will take time for them to have the ingredients sent up to us. In the meantime, we need to test their intentions and, if necessary, prepare to—"
—booted steps in the hallway, pokéball release mechanisms sounding, a machamp's grunt, a buzzing—
"—leave."
A voice came in on a PA system. "Team leaders! Welcome to Nanashima Zero. We are currently experiencing difficulty with our power supply and containment. If you could lend your legendary bird pokémon to us briefly it would be a great help and ensure your continued safety."
Candela scoffed. "Are you fucking kidding—"
"I fail to see how your issue is related to our pokémon," Blanche said, searching for the speakers. "We would be quite happy to demonstrate our powers in a neutral environment, but your behavior has been altogether bizarre and threatening. We will depart at once."
"The request has been altered; it is no longer a request. Surrender the legendary birds, or they will be taken from you."
Candela smiled thinly, her eyes glowing red. "You can try, certainly."
The window exploded, showering them with glass and concrete particles; a human figure appeared in the ruined window, briefly haloed by a white, flapping shape.
"Team leaders!" she said, pulling a scarf down from over her mouth and nose. "You are in terrible danger. Do not summon your birds unless you want to lose them."
"Who the fuck are you?" Candela yelled, with an accompanying roar from her charizard.
"Call me Kazue," the woman said. "I lead Team Harmony."
x.x.x.x.x
"You were brought here for one reason, guardians," Kazue said, "and you're about to lose your power. Come with me."
Shouting voices; a scyther's scythe cut through wood and drywall like butter. Spark leapt forward and joined Kazue on the windowsill, and then dropped. She followed him.
"Spark!" Candela ran forward and looked down as the room's door started splintering, a machamp's eager bellow sounding. The mist, rain and darkness made it impossible to see if there was a pokémon or transport there or sharp rocks. She looked back at Blanche. "Are we going to follow him?"
Blanche strode forward serenely, ignoring the groaning of the door, and they cleared broken glass out of the frame with the ruined curtains. They sighed. "He has the best instincts. It's his 'thing'," they said. They jumped.
"Fucking Valor last person to jump," Candela muttered, recalling her charizard. "Get it together Candela."
Behind her, the door hit the ugly carpet, and there was the tooth-rattling sound of a confuse ray starting up.
She jumped, landing after a few breathless seconds on something springy—and sticky.
"What the hell is this?" Candela peeled her arm off the web with some effort.
"Dissolve it, Ariados," came Kazue's voice.
Something skittered past, making the web vibrate, and suddenly Candela was dropped a few more feet onto the ground. She landed competently despite the scare.
"Follow me!" Kazue said, gesturing at them, and they followed her into the rain.
"What's an ariados?" Spark asked.
It was torrential, and they were all soaked to the skin in minutes, slipping on the dirt path as they followed Kazue's white-and-black-suited form through the dimness.
She got away from them, and Blanche and Candela stopped when Spark did, his jolteon's pokéball in his hand. "There're more people ahead," he said quietly, over the rain drumming the rock and scrubby forest.
Candela selected pokéballs. "Let's see if this is Team Harmony."
They all crept forward and came to a clearing with more people in white suits and tough, martial-looking pokémon. Kazue stood among them and nodded to the three of them as they approached.
"I need an explanation, fast," Candela said, commanding.
Kazue sized her up, taking her time in front of her team members. "What did you all see inside?"
"Explanations first, intel second," Blanche said coldly. "Begin."
"The Torello Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ignis PokéBioTech, Cora Matsumoto's pet project after she split from Silph Co. She's funded by an organization you may be aware of called Team Rocket. You saw the revived fossil pokémon inside?"
"More than fossils," Blanche said. "They were restored to what was ostensibly their original typing."
Kazue smiled, grim. "Those types are a guess. They are doing much more than just reviving fossil pokémon in there—they are altering types, making splices. Better pokémon. Weapons."
"Pokémon are already weapons," Blanche replied. "What more do they want?"
"There is so much further for them to go," Kazue said. "The three of you should know that, summoners of legendaries."
"So what's next?" Spark said, grinning. "We gonna blow up the lab? Jailbreak the pokémon?"
"If you wanna get shot, sure," said one of Kazue's juniors.
"Can't get shot if the bullets are all vapor," Candela said, a spirit flame hovering in her upraised hand.
The Team Harmony members all drew back a fraction, hands on pokéballs, but Kazue was unmoved.
"He's right, we wouldn't survive an all-out assault," the leader said, "but I hoped that you would help me set a pokémon free."
"Which pokémon?"
"You'll see," said Kazue, a ripple of light like water flashing through her.
x.x.x.x.x
The explosion by the docks was their signal to move in, flying low and fast on their dragonite, charizard, and pidgeot. Two guards remained by the Torello president's tower and they began firing as they came into range. Blanche's magneton manipulated the metal—only a tiny amount of deviation was really necessary—its eyespots frowning in concentration as it worked to capture every round.
The three of them landed, throwing down a handful of pokéballs each.
The guards released their own pokémon, a blastoise and weezing appearing first, and soon the team leaders' pokémon were firing attacks blindly into a smokescreen that periodically vented hydro pump attacks and caustic sludge. Razor leaf attacks and aurora beams followed.
Bullets cracked off of Spark's onix's stone hide as it threw up a hasty barrier of earth in front of them, and the three team leaders crouched behind it as their flying pokémon attempted to clear the thick smokescreen with whirlwind attacks.
Candela's ninetales joined her charizard and they ignited the weezing's gas—a risky maneuver. There was a deafening explosion as it reacted with the flame, blasting dirt and concrete high into the air and leaving behind a noxious, sulfurous smell.
When the smoke cleared there was only the withdrawn blastoise and a golem using defense curl.
"Behind us!" Spark yelled.
His jolteon and raichu caught several guards in a thunder wave that sent them sprawling and twitching painfully. A hypno whined, angry, and started a hypnosis attack; another guard was further away and dropped to one knee to aim with her rifle; an arcanine charged up a five-pointed fire blast.
The charizard, dragonite, and pidgeot screamed out hyper beam attacks, multi-colored energy vaporizing bullets and rock and scrub indiscriminately as the security and their pokémon dove for cover.
"Freeze them, Lapras," Blanche said, their lapras curving its ice beam to hit behind rises.
Candela sent her ninetales forward, its confuse ray making the air weird and shimmery, and Spark's muk vomited up a sludge barrier that gave off a choking, hideous smell that wilted plants in a wide range.
"I don't think that hyper beam was enough for them," Candela murmured, watching the action from behind the earthen barrier.
A dugtrio and sandslash started churning up the sludge-soaked soil and pushing it back toward the three of them.
"I always liked that move we used to do with our eeveelutions," Spark said cheerfully as bullets whined overhead and Candela's alakazam did its best to reflect them. "Jolty, get over here!"
Their eon pokémon stood together, sleek vaporeon, lofty flareon, and jolteon crackling with electricity, and they growled low, facing their opponents. Power exploded off of them, joining together for a spiraling combination attack: water, fire, and lightning roared toward the enemy pokémon, color kaleidoscoping down the hill, frying and boiling them at once, and blasting the remaining guards down the hill as it collapsed under the assault.
Their flying pokémon shrieked a victory cry above them as a few straggler security personnel and their pokémon retreated.
"Damn, we look good together," Candela said, clapping Blanche on the shoulder, and they actually smiled a fraction. Debatably.
"Boss battle time," Spark murmured, turning.
At the foot of the president's tower was Dr. Okada. She had a mr. mime with her, her hair and lab coat billowing in the breeze.
"Stop this!" she called out to them. "Team leaders, this is quite illegal!"
"Remember how you tried to steal our pokémon?" Candela shouted back. "This is what happens when you fuck with Team Valor!"
"And Team Instinct."
"Whoever."
"Team Harmony has quite the case against your company," Blanche said, their voice carrying. "I hope you have lawyers. Lots of them."
Dr. Okada's face grew quite ghastly at the mention of Team Harmony. "That bird should have been mine, and now it is," she said, hard to hear over the battle noises and gunshots from elsewhere in the complex.
She removed her glasses, tucking them into her breast pocket, and flung out her arm. A wave of dark energy slammed into the three of them, and they and their pokémon went sprawling.
"What the hell was that!?" Candela yelled as the three of them dove for cover, their pokémon firing off beam attacks that weakened on the mr. mime's barriers.
"Interesting. We haven't seriously faced another summoner before," Blanche muttered.
"Is that so? Fair's fair, then," Candela said, grinning. She rose, wreathed in fire, the pointed mask of flame forming over her face, and the moltres' spirit screamed at its opponent.
She breathed a flamethrower that melted the asphalt and obliterated the decorative plants on the walkway, and the mr. mime was just visible, straining to hold its barriers. It gave up and dove to the side, fleeing for safety at a dead run.
"Surrender, doctor," Candela said in a voice that rippled with forest-fire undertones.
Dr. Okada's eyes were hellfire red and shadows swirled around her, and she raised a hand as the moltres prepared a fire blast. "Earthquake, Rhydon," she said.
The ground lurched; the fire blast went off askew. Candela stood, outraged, as the slab of rock she stood on teetered and plunged over the cliff.
"Candela!"
Spark was already running. "I've got her!" he yelled, jagged yellow wings forming as he dove after her, closely followed by his pidgeot and Candela's charizard.
The hidden rhydon hurled boulders that crunched on Lapras's shell, and it cried out and fired a hydro pump back that went wild. Dragonite flew overhead, strafing with a dragonbreath attack, and Dr. Okada turned her head and fired off a beam of dark energy that hit it squarely, and it came down, skidding to a stop on the dirt.
"Magneton, thunder wave, Vaporeon, hydro pump—"
A dark mask formed over Okada's face, red-eyed with a crest and occipital plumes, and it roared, a sound that shook the bones, and Blanche's pokémon staggered. The dark guardian followed up with a spiraling wind of shadow energy that hurled them all to the ground.
"You can't imagine what we've done here," Dr. Okada said. "You can't imagine what we've found. Don't you want to know, Blanche?"
"I do," Blanche said, rising slowly. They recalled their pokémon. "I hope they let you have visitors, where you're going," they said, a wave of frost pulsing outward from their body.
A line of fire flared at Dr. Okada's feet, and it exploded upward, searing, a tornado of fire enveloping her. A pillar of lightning cracked out of the whirling sky. Blue wings and a three-pointed crest flashed above Blanche, whipping up a blizzard attack filled with knife-sharp shards of ice.
The air cleared, and a teal-colored shield fell away, shimmering, the sand around it cooked to glass. Dr. Okada was surrounded by something, black-purple and ugly, like a bruise on the air, and it flapped its wings and bore her away.
"Just in time," Blanche said, breathing hard, as Spark and Candela rejoined them.
Spark grinned. "It's what I do."
The three of them ran up the tower stairs, ignoring their wounds and aches as best they could, and Candela's hitmonlee kicked the thick, alarmed door and its frame right out of the wall.
Inside was an opulent office with plush carpet, bookshelves on the walls, potted plants; there was a rich odor of leather and old books. A figure sat in shadow at the desk.
Blanche strode forward. "President Torello, are you aware your subordinate is—"
"That's fantastic!"
"—what?"
"Oh, do you think so?"
The three of them stood in the office listening to him repeat phrases like a cheap AI. When they approached him with their pokémon, he squeaked and started to transform.
A pink blob with rudimentary eyes looked up at them, and it wriggled away toward one wall. Spark's jolteon followed it, nose to the ground, and yipped when it reached the bookshelf.
"What did you find, boy?" Spark asked eagerly. "Oh shit!"
On oiled hinges, the entire panel swung forward.
Kazue's white stone was on a bench, almost forgotten among dozens of other artifacts: evolution stones, rare candy, gemstones and metal nodules, carved amulets and skulls and bells.
Shed feathers glittering with elemental power were behind glass. Candela breathed in, the breath sharp with longing and loneliness as she watched the feather burn, eternal. She turned it into a cough and swiped the rare candy and evo stones.
Blanche pocketed the white stone as Spark's jolteon yipped at something and whimpered.
In the room beyond were computers, powerful ones—and something in another tank, grub-pale and vaguely humanoid. Blanche's fingers tingled, and they had their porygon's pokéball in their hands, almost unconsciously, but explosions and the whanging of beam attacks and yelled commands were drawing closer to the three of them.
"Blanche!" Spark called. "We have to go."
In the courtyard Team Harmony was being driven back. They'd taken the security by surprise, but didn't have the numbers and had failed to hold for more than a few minutes. They were a diversion—they were never here to conquer the island—against dozens of powerful pokémon filling out the ranks of rifle-wielding guards and guard-trainers. Team Harmony's psychics were flagging, and when their barriers went down snipers would start picking them off.
"We're out," Blanche said into the communicator as the three of them prepared to leave on their flying pokémon. "We have the target."
"Acknowledged."
The psychic pokémon broke off as they regrouped on the beach, and soon the rifles were cracking between bursts of automatic fire.
"I believe this is yours," Blanche said to Kazue, passing her the white egg-shaped stone.
She accepted it, cradling it reverently. "Only one?" Kazue asked softly, before hiding it in a pocket above her heart.
"What now, genius?" Candela shouted to Kazue. "Where's our pickup?" She gestured at the empty ocean.
Kazue grinned at her. "Everyone hold hands, now!"
They stared in disbelief, but the Team Harmony members were linking hands in a big circle—and the circle included the hands and paws of the alakazam, hypno, and mr. mime the group had brought. They clutched at one another, and Candela grabbed Kazue's hand and Spark grabbed a mr. mime's—
"Hold on tight," Kazue said.
The world dropped, or maybe they rose, the wind smashing them like a giant's hands, squeezing them so they couldn't breathe, and all around color whirled and stars burst in front of their eyes—
They landed, gasping, on sand—white sand, not the harsh volcanic stones of Nanashima Zero. The three of them stood, embarrassed—the Team Harmony members looked wobbly, but they seemed to have kept it together better.
Kazue laughed. "Teleport takes you rough the first time, eh?"
"We need to move," one of Kazue's seconds said to her.
"We're not that far away from the lab," Kazue said, "teleport has a limit. But this is where we stashed the boats."
There were several boats of different sizes, and the Team Harmony members split up and began to pilot them in different directions in a staggered departure.
"You three should split up as well," Kazue said to the team leaders.
Blanche made the barest smile. "We do better together, for all our differences," they said.
"Can you take us back to the mainland?" Candela asked.
"Certainly." Kazue nodded to a couple of subordinates in what looked like a salvaged sport fishing boat that they could only hope was seaworthy.
"Aren't you getting on board?"
"I'm getting a lift from a friend," Kazue said, and she strode into the water.
Light pulsed, and the waves glittered like a perfect day under tropical sunshine, and something white and winged and shining burst out of the water and bore her away toward the horizon.
"Show-off," Candela muttered.
x.x.x.x.x
A/N: Credit to surfacage's popular interpretation of the Pokemon Go team leaders for inspiring this one. Posted with some rage because I can't play PoGo on my rooted phone anymore. :')
There are some other Team Harmony leader OCs out there but this one is mine. According to popular fanon stemming from the second pokemon anime movie, Team Harmony is the "white ranger" team to Team Valor, Mystic, and Instinct. Its legendary bird is Lugia. Credit to whoever made that picture on google images of a Team logo with Shadow Lugia, it really punched up this work.
Nanashima is the Japanese name for the Sevii Islands from FRLG because I dislike the English name (it's a weak pun) and I'm a huge weeb.
Unfortunately the police system in the pokemon world is consistently shown to be less effective than 11-year-olds with monsters, so the Torello Group's island hideout will probably be cleared of any wrongdoing. I wonder what they were working on in those tanks, anyway?
"Sup," said Spark.
Blanche sighed. "If you try to surprise me, Candela, they won't find your body."
"So unkind," Candela said smoothly, coming to stand at the rail like the other two.
"And what are you doing on my private flight?"
"I got an exclusive invitation to a new pokémon research facility," said Spark smugly.
"I got an exclusive invitation to a new pokémon research facility."
They both looked at Candela.
"You guessed it," she said.
"Not so exclusive I guess, huh?" Spark said. "We're team leaders though, that's a pretty select group."
Blanche scanned the cabin. "Is there anyone else aboard?"
Candela shook her head. "Just the crew, from what I've noticed."
"This will be an interesting meeting," Blanche said, turning to watch the water far below. "The Torello Group… I hadn't heard of it until now."
"There's a lot of neat pokémon breeding happening lately!" Spark said. "A poliwrath-golduck cross threw a transparent eggshell trait and people are mad for it, they want to try to pass it on to other egg groups, I'll draw you the pedigree—"
"Thank you, Spark."
x.x.x.x.x
The Nanashiman Islands were off Kanto's south coast, seven islands made in seven days—actually, there are more than seven of them, and they took tens of millions of years to form—thank you, Blanche—an arc of islands tracing the slow movement of the earth over a volcanic hotspot. Nanashima One was the usual first stop, but they headed east, to another island often left off of maps.
A woman in a neat monogrammed lab coat met them at the airship dock, bespectacled with a long fall of black hair.
"Welcome to Nanashima Zero! It's my pleasure to welcome three of Kanto's most famous team leaders to the Torello Group's private breeding and research facility. I'm Dr. Okada. If you'll follow me?"
The facilities were pristine, barely used—everything had that office-supplies-center new-merchandise smell, and there were machines with the plastic still on the control panels. Here and there construction workers and electricians went by, but there were no technical or support staff.
"This island is leased from the Kantoan government—it's uninhabited by humans and with only a few native pokémon. Flying-types, and of course many water-type pokémon in the surrounding reefs, so we've taken care to ensure that development has avoided disturbing them or important nesting sites."
The guide whisked them through a long hallway with glass display cases on one side and windows on the other. The windows looked onto the rocky promontory on the north side of the island, while the cases were filled with rock samples culminating in impressive reproductions of pokémon fossils.
Through a set of double doors were the labs, with windows to watch the scientists and technicians at work as if they were taffy-pullers at a carnival—but there was no one in the labs, and the benches were completely untouched.
"And what, exactly, do you have to show us when no one is working?" said Blanche. "These labs have never been used. Half the equipment isn't even plugged in."
Dr. Okada smiled. "These labs are not yet operational, as you've correctly deduced. We're on our way to the closed labs."
They swept through more and more doors and hallways and took an elevator down, and at the bottom were security guards in black with bullpup rifles, and tear gas and ultra balls on their belts.
"Whoa-hoh, this is a little bit more serious than I was expecting," Spark said, holding up his hands, placating.
Candela smiled, casual, but with her hands on her trainer's belt.
"Please don't worry," Dr. Okada said. "The work we're doing here is extremely valuable, and so it requires commensurate security measures."
They were assigned guest IDs and warned sternly to remain with the guide, and to refrain from releasing their pokémon.
More doors, security locks, fingerprint scanners, retinal scanners—
The final room was hot and close and poorly lit, and ahead of them under dull reddish light were tanks, huge ones filled with bubbling liquid. There were things in them, floating, studded with wires and monitors.
Candela reached for her alakazam's pokéball involuntarily and then dropped her hand, remembering the guards.
Blanche strode forward, the light from the hallway making their shadow long. "…What am I looking at?"
"You'll see," Dr. Okada said.
They retreated, gratefully, from that body-hot room, and they were taken next to an enclosure, high-ceilinged and filled with jungle plants. There were huge wooden posts and perches scarred by pickaxe claws. A technician—at last, someone else did appear to work here—in pokémon ranger fatigues with the insignia ripped out stepped into the room and whistled.
Something enormous dropped off the ceiling netting, flapping to land on a huge wooden perch beside the technician, who threw it an entire dead chicken.
"That's an aerodactyl!" Candela said.
Spark watched it, puzzled. "Is it a shiny?"
It had an aerodactyl's silhouette, more or less, but it had a pale gray-blue underside and a dark, mottled dorsal coloration. There were more spikes and growths on its spine and eye ridges.
Blanche flipped open their pokédex.
"Record unknown. Aura analysis: Dragon type, Flying type. Statistical weights—"
"What is that?" Blanche asked Dr. Okada quietly.
"That is the original aerodactyl—the restored version. This is what it looked like before it was fossilized." She grinned at them. "We have a restored specimen for every fossil pokémon sample we've obtained."
x.x.x.x.x
Blanche yelled at Dr. Okada the entire way back through the closed labs, oblivious to the security guards dropping their hands toward their pokéball belts, but the guide continued on serenely.
"Where is the prior art for this achievement?" Blanche demanded. "We're struggling to create stable pokémon cell lines and you come out of nowhere with fully cloned pokémon? This is—this is not how science is done!"
She finally rounded on them. "Our scientists are geniuses," Dr. Okada said. "We have left Kanto and its plodding PhDs in the dust." She straightened the lapels of her pristine lab coat, regaining her composure. "This concludes the tour—if you have any other questions—"
"Uh, so, when do we get to catch pokémon?" Candela asked, tossing a pokéball from hand to hand.
"There will be no captures of our research specimens, of course, but if you have the appropriate licensing security can accompany you to the reefs—"
Candela stared at her. "Um, it said very clearly on my invitation that this is a Pokémon Safari—"
"This is a research institute—"
Spark put up his hand.
Candela looked at him impatiently. "Spark, you can just ask questions—"
He glanced at her and said, "I heard there were going to be pokémon eggs?"
"I'm afraid you're mistaken. Our breeding facilities are not open to the public. This is the end of the tour—you've seen the facilities and grounds and our clones, and you'll have a chance to meet our president and network tomorrow. I'll show you toward our accommodations for visitors."
Spark frowned and dug a dog-eared card out of his pocket and started to read it, his mouth moving along with the words.
"…Please excuse my outburst," Blanche said after a moment. "I'm just very surprised. This is an incredible achievement. Can you tell me more about your methods? How you initiate elemental exposure? We can't prevent cell death—"
"The growth medium is—"
Candela definitely understood most of the words Blanche and Dr. Okada were shooting back and forth, but she found her attention wandering to the security guards as they passed out of the more tightly controlled areas of the lab. The guards relaxed as their group exited; she kept her pokédex on in her hand as they passed them, and looked at it once they were alone in the bare white hallways again.
The guards had big pokémon, bruisers, intimidating and powerful ones, pokémon that could subdue and neutralize opponents—arcanine, persian, arbok, pidgeot, blastoise, magneton—
It made sense—lots of trainers were abandoning the Red Queen's race of the tournaments and choosing careers as they grew into adulthood, ones where their pokémon's power would be appreciated and not subjected to micro-measurements of comparison against others. It was a useful job at an important facility with a billions of pokéyen on the line.
She found herself contemplating strategy anyway.
It had been a little gray when they arrived, and now the rain was quite heavy indeed, a tropical downpour. It grew wilder even as they walked toward the guest rooms, the light fading as thunder rolled and lightning flashed, blinding, and backing them with hard-edged shadows. With a deafening rumble, all the lights in the building went out.
Candela had her charizard out in a flash of red, its tail casting a spectral glow on the walls that was joined after a few seconds by the backup power humming to life and low-power LEDs winking on.
"Oh dear…" Dr. Okada was looking at her phone, its projected UI casting a blue glow on her face as she tapped at the air.
"What's the news, doc?" Spark asked.
"It looks like the storm might have taken out our power, I'm trying to get a hold of the generator station to see if it's us or them…" She shook her head. "There's no reason for you all to stand around in the dark with me. Come with me and I'll have security lead you the rest of the way."
Guards turned up with flashlights and a charmander that raced up to Spark, lighting the way and giggling, and he fawned on it as they were escorted to their guest rooms. The security left them with room keys and the number for the concierge and room service, and the three of them chatted in the hallway as the guards left. Spark waved goodbye to the pokémon.
"So," Candela said, when they were unobserved, "are we really going back to our rooms alone? If the power is out there's no TV or internet. I'll be bouncing off the walls and he'll try to hotbox his room."
"Um, you can't take herb on an airship, duh Candela," Spark scoffed.
"Sure, but I bet you have some anyway."
"…No."
"Candela, your invitation said that there would be opportunities to catch pokémon?" Blanche asked.
"Yeah! Yeah, I'm sure it did."
"Do you still have it?"
"Sure don't, I threw it away."
"I still have mine!" Spark said. He dug out the paper invitation again. "It says they were going to show me the hatchery, right there."
Blanche drew out their tablet from an inner pocket, and displayed an image of their invitation.
"Mine promised a demonstration of their entire cloning procedure—development and growth chambers, metamorphogenic induction and suppression, ability and type heritability—"
The other two were looking at them blankly.
"—biology stuff."
"Oh yeah, I knew that," Spark said. "I was, uh, testing you."
"What does 'metamorphogenesis' mean?" Candela asked him slyly.
"What do you think it means?"
"The point—the point being," said Blanche, "that each of us was invited to come here with a slightly different offer tailored to our particular interests, and then given a superficial tour and a denial. My question is: why are we here?"
They stood in the dark hallway, the rain a muffled hammering on the windows of the closed rooms around them.
"They wanted to get all of us in the same place?" Candela asked. "For what? A bunch of punks like us?"
"As humble as our beginnings were, we left behind being just gang leaders three legendary birds ago," Blanche said.
"I was being sarcastic, we're hot shit and of course everybody wants a piece of this," Candela said, pretending to box with the shadows.
"And now they want us to split up to our respective rooms," Blanche said, musing.
Candela watched them. "So, safety in numbers, or split up so they can't take out all three of us at once?"
"I think we should stick together," Spark said.
Blanche nodded, and Spark smiled and keyed his room.
"…The other way, Spark."
"Just testing you."
x.x.x.x.x
"Metamorphogenesis is the process by which evolving pokémon alter their physical bodies."
"You looked that up on your pokédex."
"…No."
x.x.x.x.x
They were contacted quickly by the concierge—Blanche cast their gaze around the room and contemplated releasing their magneton—who offered to have room service sent up to them. Blanche declined.
"Blanche. No," Spark begged.
"There is an en-suite kitchen," Blanche said to the concierge, shaking off Spark's desperate grasp. "We would like to cook for ourselves."
As they ended the call, Candela drew close and covered her mouth, as the two of them had done in the old days in bugged triad HQs. "You think they might poison us?" she said in an undertone.
"It is a possibility."
"What if the food from the kitchens is poisoned?"
"Also a possibility, but this way it will take time for them to have the ingredients sent up to us. In the meantime, we need to test their intentions and, if necessary, prepare to—"
—booted steps in the hallway, pokéball release mechanisms sounding, a machamp's grunt, a buzzing—
"—leave."
A voice came in on a PA system. "Team leaders! Welcome to Nanashima Zero. We are currently experiencing difficulty with our power supply and containment. If you could lend your legendary bird pokémon to us briefly it would be a great help and ensure your continued safety."
Candela scoffed. "Are you fucking kidding—"
"I fail to see how your issue is related to our pokémon," Blanche said, searching for the speakers. "We would be quite happy to demonstrate our powers in a neutral environment, but your behavior has been altogether bizarre and threatening. We will depart at once."
"The request has been altered; it is no longer a request. Surrender the legendary birds, or they will be taken from you."
Candela smiled thinly, her eyes glowing red. "You can try, certainly."
The window exploded, showering them with glass and concrete particles; a human figure appeared in the ruined window, briefly haloed by a white, flapping shape.
"Team leaders!" she said, pulling a scarf down from over her mouth and nose. "You are in terrible danger. Do not summon your birds unless you want to lose them."
"Who the fuck are you?" Candela yelled, with an accompanying roar from her charizard.
"Call me Kazue," the woman said. "I lead Team Harmony."
x.x.x.x.x
"You were brought here for one reason, guardians," Kazue said, "and you're about to lose your power. Come with me."
Shouting voices; a scyther's scythe cut through wood and drywall like butter. Spark leapt forward and joined Kazue on the windowsill, and then dropped. She followed him.
"Spark!" Candela ran forward and looked down as the room's door started splintering, a machamp's eager bellow sounding. The mist, rain and darkness made it impossible to see if there was a pokémon or transport there or sharp rocks. She looked back at Blanche. "Are we going to follow him?"
Blanche strode forward serenely, ignoring the groaning of the door, and they cleared broken glass out of the frame with the ruined curtains. They sighed. "He has the best instincts. It's his 'thing'," they said. They jumped.
"Fucking Valor last person to jump," Candela muttered, recalling her charizard. "Get it together Candela."
Behind her, the door hit the ugly carpet, and there was the tooth-rattling sound of a confuse ray starting up.
She jumped, landing after a few breathless seconds on something springy—and sticky.
"What the hell is this?" Candela peeled her arm off the web with some effort.
"Dissolve it, Ariados," came Kazue's voice.
Something skittered past, making the web vibrate, and suddenly Candela was dropped a few more feet onto the ground. She landed competently despite the scare.
"Follow me!" Kazue said, gesturing at them, and they followed her into the rain.
"What's an ariados?" Spark asked.
It was torrential, and they were all soaked to the skin in minutes, slipping on the dirt path as they followed Kazue's white-and-black-suited form through the dimness.
She got away from them, and Blanche and Candela stopped when Spark did, his jolteon's pokéball in his hand. "There're more people ahead," he said quietly, over the rain drumming the rock and scrubby forest.
Candela selected pokéballs. "Let's see if this is Team Harmony."
They all crept forward and came to a clearing with more people in white suits and tough, martial-looking pokémon. Kazue stood among them and nodded to the three of them as they approached.
"I need an explanation, fast," Candela said, commanding.
Kazue sized her up, taking her time in front of her team members. "What did you all see inside?"
"Explanations first, intel second," Blanche said coldly. "Begin."
"The Torello Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ignis PokéBioTech, Cora Matsumoto's pet project after she split from Silph Co. She's funded by an organization you may be aware of called Team Rocket. You saw the revived fossil pokémon inside?"
"More than fossils," Blanche said. "They were restored to what was ostensibly their original typing."
Kazue smiled, grim. "Those types are a guess. They are doing much more than just reviving fossil pokémon in there—they are altering types, making splices. Better pokémon. Weapons."
"Pokémon are already weapons," Blanche replied. "What more do they want?"
"There is so much further for them to go," Kazue said. "The three of you should know that, summoners of legendaries."
"So what's next?" Spark said, grinning. "We gonna blow up the lab? Jailbreak the pokémon?"
"If you wanna get shot, sure," said one of Kazue's juniors.
"Can't get shot if the bullets are all vapor," Candela said, a spirit flame hovering in her upraised hand.
The Team Harmony members all drew back a fraction, hands on pokéballs, but Kazue was unmoved.
"He's right, we wouldn't survive an all-out assault," the leader said, "but I hoped that you would help me set a pokémon free."
"Which pokémon?"
"You'll see," said Kazue, a ripple of light like water flashing through her.
x.x.x.x.x
The explosion by the docks was their signal to move in, flying low and fast on their dragonite, charizard, and pidgeot. Two guards remained by the Torello president's tower and they began firing as they came into range. Blanche's magneton manipulated the metal—only a tiny amount of deviation was really necessary—its eyespots frowning in concentration as it worked to capture every round.
The three of them landed, throwing down a handful of pokéballs each.
The guards released their own pokémon, a blastoise and weezing appearing first, and soon the team leaders' pokémon were firing attacks blindly into a smokescreen that periodically vented hydro pump attacks and caustic sludge. Razor leaf attacks and aurora beams followed.
Bullets cracked off of Spark's onix's stone hide as it threw up a hasty barrier of earth in front of them, and the three team leaders crouched behind it as their flying pokémon attempted to clear the thick smokescreen with whirlwind attacks.
Candela's ninetales joined her charizard and they ignited the weezing's gas—a risky maneuver. There was a deafening explosion as it reacted with the flame, blasting dirt and concrete high into the air and leaving behind a noxious, sulfurous smell.
When the smoke cleared there was only the withdrawn blastoise and a golem using defense curl.
"Behind us!" Spark yelled.
His jolteon and raichu caught several guards in a thunder wave that sent them sprawling and twitching painfully. A hypno whined, angry, and started a hypnosis attack; another guard was further away and dropped to one knee to aim with her rifle; an arcanine charged up a five-pointed fire blast.
The charizard, dragonite, and pidgeot screamed out hyper beam attacks, multi-colored energy vaporizing bullets and rock and scrub indiscriminately as the security and their pokémon dove for cover.
"Freeze them, Lapras," Blanche said, their lapras curving its ice beam to hit behind rises.
Candela sent her ninetales forward, its confuse ray making the air weird and shimmery, and Spark's muk vomited up a sludge barrier that gave off a choking, hideous smell that wilted plants in a wide range.
"I don't think that hyper beam was enough for them," Candela murmured, watching the action from behind the earthen barrier.
A dugtrio and sandslash started churning up the sludge-soaked soil and pushing it back toward the three of them.
"I always liked that move we used to do with our eeveelutions," Spark said cheerfully as bullets whined overhead and Candela's alakazam did its best to reflect them. "Jolty, get over here!"
Their eon pokémon stood together, sleek vaporeon, lofty flareon, and jolteon crackling with electricity, and they growled low, facing their opponents. Power exploded off of them, joining together for a spiraling combination attack: water, fire, and lightning roared toward the enemy pokémon, color kaleidoscoping down the hill, frying and boiling them at once, and blasting the remaining guards down the hill as it collapsed under the assault.
Their flying pokémon shrieked a victory cry above them as a few straggler security personnel and their pokémon retreated.
"Damn, we look good together," Candela said, clapping Blanche on the shoulder, and they actually smiled a fraction. Debatably.
"Boss battle time," Spark murmured, turning.
At the foot of the president's tower was Dr. Okada. She had a mr. mime with her, her hair and lab coat billowing in the breeze.
"Stop this!" she called out to them. "Team leaders, this is quite illegal!"
"Remember how you tried to steal our pokémon?" Candela shouted back. "This is what happens when you fuck with Team Valor!"
"And Team Instinct."
"Whoever."
"Team Harmony has quite the case against your company," Blanche said, their voice carrying. "I hope you have lawyers. Lots of them."
Dr. Okada's face grew quite ghastly at the mention of Team Harmony. "That bird should have been mine, and now it is," she said, hard to hear over the battle noises and gunshots from elsewhere in the complex.
She removed her glasses, tucking them into her breast pocket, and flung out her arm. A wave of dark energy slammed into the three of them, and they and their pokémon went sprawling.
"What the hell was that!?" Candela yelled as the three of them dove for cover, their pokémon firing off beam attacks that weakened on the mr. mime's barriers.
"Interesting. We haven't seriously faced another summoner before," Blanche muttered.
"Is that so? Fair's fair, then," Candela said, grinning. She rose, wreathed in fire, the pointed mask of flame forming over her face, and the moltres' spirit screamed at its opponent.
She breathed a flamethrower that melted the asphalt and obliterated the decorative plants on the walkway, and the mr. mime was just visible, straining to hold its barriers. It gave up and dove to the side, fleeing for safety at a dead run.
"Surrender, doctor," Candela said in a voice that rippled with forest-fire undertones.
Dr. Okada's eyes were hellfire red and shadows swirled around her, and she raised a hand as the moltres prepared a fire blast. "Earthquake, Rhydon," she said.
The ground lurched; the fire blast went off askew. Candela stood, outraged, as the slab of rock she stood on teetered and plunged over the cliff.
"Candela!"
Spark was already running. "I've got her!" he yelled, jagged yellow wings forming as he dove after her, closely followed by his pidgeot and Candela's charizard.
The hidden rhydon hurled boulders that crunched on Lapras's shell, and it cried out and fired a hydro pump back that went wild. Dragonite flew overhead, strafing with a dragonbreath attack, and Dr. Okada turned her head and fired off a beam of dark energy that hit it squarely, and it came down, skidding to a stop on the dirt.
"Magneton, thunder wave, Vaporeon, hydro pump—"
A dark mask formed over Okada's face, red-eyed with a crest and occipital plumes, and it roared, a sound that shook the bones, and Blanche's pokémon staggered. The dark guardian followed up with a spiraling wind of shadow energy that hurled them all to the ground.
"You can't imagine what we've done here," Dr. Okada said. "You can't imagine what we've found. Don't you want to know, Blanche?"
"I do," Blanche said, rising slowly. They recalled their pokémon. "I hope they let you have visitors, where you're going," they said, a wave of frost pulsing outward from their body.
A line of fire flared at Dr. Okada's feet, and it exploded upward, searing, a tornado of fire enveloping her. A pillar of lightning cracked out of the whirling sky. Blue wings and a three-pointed crest flashed above Blanche, whipping up a blizzard attack filled with knife-sharp shards of ice.
The air cleared, and a teal-colored shield fell away, shimmering, the sand around it cooked to glass. Dr. Okada was surrounded by something, black-purple and ugly, like a bruise on the air, and it flapped its wings and bore her away.
"Just in time," Blanche said, breathing hard, as Spark and Candela rejoined them.
Spark grinned. "It's what I do."
The three of them ran up the tower stairs, ignoring their wounds and aches as best they could, and Candela's hitmonlee kicked the thick, alarmed door and its frame right out of the wall.
Inside was an opulent office with plush carpet, bookshelves on the walls, potted plants; there was a rich odor of leather and old books. A figure sat in shadow at the desk.
Blanche strode forward. "President Torello, are you aware your subordinate is—"
"That's fantastic!"
"—what?"
"Oh, do you think so?"
The three of them stood in the office listening to him repeat phrases like a cheap AI. When they approached him with their pokémon, he squeaked and started to transform.
A pink blob with rudimentary eyes looked up at them, and it wriggled away toward one wall. Spark's jolteon followed it, nose to the ground, and yipped when it reached the bookshelf.
"What did you find, boy?" Spark asked eagerly. "Oh shit!"
On oiled hinges, the entire panel swung forward.
Kazue's white stone was on a bench, almost forgotten among dozens of other artifacts: evolution stones, rare candy, gemstones and metal nodules, carved amulets and skulls and bells.
Shed feathers glittering with elemental power were behind glass. Candela breathed in, the breath sharp with longing and loneliness as she watched the feather burn, eternal. She turned it into a cough and swiped the rare candy and evo stones.
Blanche pocketed the white stone as Spark's jolteon yipped at something and whimpered.
In the room beyond were computers, powerful ones—and something in another tank, grub-pale and vaguely humanoid. Blanche's fingers tingled, and they had their porygon's pokéball in their hands, almost unconsciously, but explosions and the whanging of beam attacks and yelled commands were drawing closer to the three of them.
"Blanche!" Spark called. "We have to go."
In the courtyard Team Harmony was being driven back. They'd taken the security by surprise, but didn't have the numbers and had failed to hold for more than a few minutes. They were a diversion—they were never here to conquer the island—against dozens of powerful pokémon filling out the ranks of rifle-wielding guards and guard-trainers. Team Harmony's psychics were flagging, and when their barriers went down snipers would start picking them off.
"We're out," Blanche said into the communicator as the three of them prepared to leave on their flying pokémon. "We have the target."
"Acknowledged."
The psychic pokémon broke off as they regrouped on the beach, and soon the rifles were cracking between bursts of automatic fire.
"I believe this is yours," Blanche said to Kazue, passing her the white egg-shaped stone.
She accepted it, cradling it reverently. "Only one?" Kazue asked softly, before hiding it in a pocket above her heart.
"What now, genius?" Candela shouted to Kazue. "Where's our pickup?" She gestured at the empty ocean.
Kazue grinned at her. "Everyone hold hands, now!"
They stared in disbelief, but the Team Harmony members were linking hands in a big circle—and the circle included the hands and paws of the alakazam, hypno, and mr. mime the group had brought. They clutched at one another, and Candela grabbed Kazue's hand and Spark grabbed a mr. mime's—
"Hold on tight," Kazue said.
The world dropped, or maybe they rose, the wind smashing them like a giant's hands, squeezing them so they couldn't breathe, and all around color whirled and stars burst in front of their eyes—
They landed, gasping, on sand—white sand, not the harsh volcanic stones of Nanashima Zero. The three of them stood, embarrassed—the Team Harmony members looked wobbly, but they seemed to have kept it together better.
Kazue laughed. "Teleport takes you rough the first time, eh?"
"We need to move," one of Kazue's seconds said to her.
"We're not that far away from the lab," Kazue said, "teleport has a limit. But this is where we stashed the boats."
There were several boats of different sizes, and the Team Harmony members split up and began to pilot them in different directions in a staggered departure.
"You three should split up as well," Kazue said to the team leaders.
Blanche made the barest smile. "We do better together, for all our differences," they said.
"Can you take us back to the mainland?" Candela asked.
"Certainly." Kazue nodded to a couple of subordinates in what looked like a salvaged sport fishing boat that they could only hope was seaworthy.
"Aren't you getting on board?"
"I'm getting a lift from a friend," Kazue said, and she strode into the water.
Light pulsed, and the waves glittered like a perfect day under tropical sunshine, and something white and winged and shining burst out of the water and bore her away toward the horizon.
"Show-off," Candela muttered.
x.x.x.x.x
A/N: Credit to surfacage's popular interpretation of the Pokemon Go team leaders for inspiring this one. Posted with some rage because I can't play PoGo on my rooted phone anymore. :')
There are some other Team Harmony leader OCs out there but this one is mine. According to popular fanon stemming from the second pokemon anime movie, Team Harmony is the "white ranger" team to Team Valor, Mystic, and Instinct. Its legendary bird is Lugia. Credit to whoever made that picture on google images of a Team logo with Shadow Lugia, it really punched up this work.
Nanashima is the Japanese name for the Sevii Islands from FRLG because I dislike the English name (it's a weak pun) and I'm a huge weeb.
Unfortunately the police system in the pokemon world is consistently shown to be less effective than 11-year-olds with monsters, so the Torello Group's island hideout will probably be cleared of any wrongdoing. I wonder what they were working on in those tanks, anyway?