The New Normal - 19-12

The New Normal – 19-12 – Toxic Influence

After hearing that emergency report from the Jenny, we quickly rushed back to Mossui Town on our mounts as soon as we could, our hearts already fearing the worst.

On the way over, we received further reports about what was going on. Apparently, many of the villagers, as well as several Jennys and Rangers, had been shackled by this purple chain that had wrapped itself around their necks, and this chain would cause the victims to lose all control of their body as their minds were shackled to a foreign entity’s will.

So from what the scattered reports had said, these victims had become mindless and unthinking. Almost zombie-like. And what was worse was that the amount of affected people were spreading, as the purple chain would wrap around every and all nearby entities – people and Pokémon alike.

Fortunately, thanks to some aerial shots that were taken of those afflicted, it was immediately obvious to everyone that this chain contained many similarities with the chains that had also wrapped themselves around the Loyal Three.

No one missed the implications of that – as it meant that it was extremely likely that the Loyal Three’s actions were not their own, and that, much like the affected people and Pokémon, they were bound to the will of something else’s.

Granted, based on what I knew from my metaknowledge, I really didn’t think that was the case. I was pretty confident that the Loyal Three were just naturally that greedy on their own and had acted on their own free will.

Nevertheless, that wasn’t an important distinction for now, as this was where I pulled Cynthia to the side and revealed to her in private that this might have been caused by the Pokémon Pecharunt. Since she already knew that I had visions ‘received from Legendaries’, she didn’t question my statement at all and just asked me what I think should be done in this scenario.

“This entire crisis would be solved if we can locate and take down Pecharunt.” I said to her, “And from what I know, it isn’t a Pokémon that is particularly strong on its own.”

“Is it as strong as the Loyal Three?” She asked.

“I don’t know. But even if it was, I doubt it’d be significantly stronger.” I replied, “Which is also why I believe that this isn’t a threat that Regigigas needs to be called in to deal with either. Not only should we be able to take care of Pecharunt for ourselves, but more importantly, this situation requires a much more… gentler touch. Something that Regigigas would not have.”

“Agreed. The hostages make this a problem.” Cynthia nodded with a frown.

That was the main source of difficulty with this situation. As a threat, I knew that Pecharunt wasn’t all that difficult to deal with. Especially with the sheer numbers arrayed against it, we should be able to take it out without breaking a sweat much like we did with the Loyal Three.

However, it was a completely different story when it had taken hostages like this. Every single one of its mind-controlled victims needed to be handled and restrained gently, and the fact that Pecharunt was very likely hiding somewhere within Mossui Town meant that we had to be quite careful about collateral damage since it would be best if we didn’t destroy the village in the process.

Of course, the safety of the people and the Pokémon were more of a priority, but unnecessary collateral damage was definitely frowned upon.

Because of these issues, we couldn’t just charge in like we normally would. We had to think of a way of knocking out the mind-controlled victims without also exposing our own Pokémon to the threat, or otherwise, they would be shackled and controlled as well.

Unfortunately, the ‘easy’ solution of just bombarding everything from the skies wasn’t an option either. Because that would mean causing indiscriminate casualties, something that all of us would never allow.

So we were going to have to do this the very hard way.

For the time being, we undertook a few preliminary actions. First of all, the fallen forms of the Loyal Three were quickly moved to the top of Oni Mountain, where they would be safe from Pecharunt (as we likely suspected that it might be going after its fallen vassals). Secondly, an enormous perimeter was formed around the outskirts of Mossui Town, where we ensured that no Pokémon were allowed in or out, whether by land or sky.

That perimeter was triply reinforced as much as possible, as we tried to cover any and all avenues of escape. We even had multiple Ground Pokémon scattered across the entire perimeter to make sure that they could detect any underground movement.

Then we hosted a discussion about how were we meant to subdue the mind-controlled Pokémon and humans. And fortunately, one of the Rangers came up with a very reasonable suggestion.

Colress’ Machine – The Pokémon Stabilizer.

Thanks to their ability to forcibly put Pokémon to sleep without inflicting any damage onto the Pokémon, this made them perfect for helping to subdue these Pokémon. Especially since it is very likely that the Pokémon’s willpower would be reduced since they were being mind-controlled.

Of course, we wouldn’t be reliant on the device alone, and we would supplement it with good old fashioned violence.

Still, that didn’t help with the fact that our Pokémon were also at risk of being shackled and mind-controlled as well. However, thanks to a few videos that were once again taken from the skies, we had a better idea of how the chain spread from one entity to another.

Basically, the range that the chain could spread was about the length of an arm. Meaning that so long as our Pokémon didn’t make use of physical attacks, they should be able to stay out of range in theory.

Of course, that was much easier said than done. And when there were likely over a hundred or so humans and even more Pokémon currently inside Mossui Town, it wouldn’t be easy making sure that NONE of them reached our defensive line.

And worse, if any one of our Pokémon got shackled, it might cause a chain reaction that would lead to even more of our Pokémon being mind-controlled as well. Likewise, we couldn’t confirm what happened when a mind-controlled Pokémon was knocked out. Did that mean they were free from the influence? Or would the purple chain still spread even after a host was knocked out?

None of us were comfortable with how many unknown details there were.

However, we did have one trump card – Ogerpon. According to herself, she promised and guaranteed that she would be immune to the mind-controlling effects, which meant that she was free to get in up-close and personal without any risk. She couldn’t guarantee that she could free others from the effects, but this was still a huge boon regardless.

Ideally, we would have loved to have more time to think about our approach here, but time was of the essence. The longer we waited, the worse the situation would get. So that meant that we couldn’t just wait for all of the reinforcements from mainland Sinnoh to arrive – though at least Flint was already here and ready to help out.

The discussion went on for a little longer, but we all eventually realised that we were just talking in circles. There were no further preparations that could be made – we just had to go for it.

And that was what we did. We split up into several large teams, where each team would be formed with a powerful trainer at the core. So that meant myself, Flint, Drake, and Cynthia were all split up into our own groups.

“We really shouldn’t be splitting up like this.” Flint had argued, “We need to stick together and maximise our firepower.”

“No, splitting up would be better.” Drake countered, “If this was a normal fight then I’d agree with you. But with the very limited space that we have, if our Pokémon are too bunched up together, then we just increase the risk of friendly fire. Not only that, but our Pokémon would also have much less fucking space to move around.”

“I agree. We should split into groups – and just trust that each other has the capabilities to handle the situation.” Cynthia said before glancing at her watch, “We strike at sundown. That gives everyone just under an hour to discuss things with their groups. Make sure you’re all ready and able to work with each other. Remember, only Special Attackers. And any person or Pokémon you defeat must be marked with a flare and treated as a hazard – DO NOT go close to them until we can properly confirm if the mind-control effect still spreads from their unconscious forms.”

We all nodded at that, and without wasting any more time, we got to work with the final round of preparations. Our attack would come in four different angles – one from the North, East, South, and West respectively.

But just as we were about to set off, Drake pulled me, Flint, and Cynthia aside as he had something to tell us in private.

“No matter what happens today. Put the blame on me.” He said seriously, “I know you’re supposed to be our ‘representatives’ in the League and you’re not supposed to do anything that would hurt our image. I get it. But this mission is not going to be easy, not one fucking bit. Having to hold back in a situation like this is fucking dangerous. So if you need to use a bit more force than usual in order to ensure your own safety and to continue the mission – then do so. And tell yourself that you did it because I told you to, okay? I don’t want you doubting yourself while you’re in the middle of a fight, so just act first, and blame me for any consequences.”

I tried to stop him, “You don’t have to do this for us, Drake—”

“No. Trust this old man.” He cut me off, “You guys are good people. Sometimes, too good. You care too much. And as much as I care about these locals like you lot do, I know that the world doesn’t always allow us to go for the gentler option. So do as you must. I’ll help shoulder the burden later.”

Neither of us knew what to say to that, but Drake simply nodded as if he had expected this silence before patting us all on the shoulder as he left us alone to stew with our thoughts.

I remained thoughtfully silent for a moment as well as I processed Drake’s words, and when I looked back up, I saw it in Cynthia’s eyes that she must have came to the same conclusion as I did.

We agreed with Drake.

And with that last piece of reassurance, just as the sun began to set, we finally began our assault.

===============

“On the right! That Corphish!” A Jenny shouted out from the right, her voice barely audible through the sounds of the battle. Fortunately, we all had headsets on, and a quick Thunderbolt took out that Corphish before it even got close.

“Pair of Yanma! In the air! Approaching quickly—” Another Ranger shouted out but was cut off as a sweeping Ice Beam from Pixel took out both Yanma and froze them right out of the sky. Then before their frozen bodies could even fall down, they were blasted away by a Psychic from Klaus so that we wouldn’t be anywhere near their fallen bodies.

“2 Poliwrath! From the front!” I turned and saw the two Poliwrath charging right at us with their glassy eyes and their fists glowing brightly. But they didn’t make it far at all as a Pixilated Hyper Voice blasted them backwards before the ground erupted out from below them as a Stone Edge kept them pinned in place. Seconds later, a Thunderbolt finished them right off.

“Controlled civilian! Left!” Two civilians had literally broke out into a sprint as they ran towards us, only for them to be tripped up by a pair of Grass Knots from the Jennys’ Tangela, sending them sprawling to the ground. Before they could pick themselves up from the ground, a Staraptor gently blew them away with a Gust, pushing them into a nearby tree as a Claydol Hypnotised them to sleep.

…As we expected, the battlefield was an absolute clusterfuck.

At the beginning of the fight, I had split up my own Pokémon into two separate rows. The first row consisted of my most powerful Special Attackers, like Pixel, Klaus, Euphie, and Wraith, with Zephyr also supporting from the skies (he wasn’t Mega Evolved, as power was not what we needed right now). Then in the second row, I had everyone else, with my mainly physical attackers relying more on attacks like Stone Edge or Focus Blast to be able to contribute while also keeping their distance. Naturally, my healers were also there, making sure everyone was buffed up and topped up whenever possible.

My Pokémon were placed in the very centre and front of the formation, and we were in charge of taking the lead and clearing out the area first. Meanwhile, the Rangers and Jennys would be in charge of covering the flanks and our rear, to make sure no one snuck up on us.

Unfortunately, in the chaos of the battlefield, our formation broke down very quickly. Not because we were undisciplined, but because as we knocked out more Pokémon and people, their fallen bodies would create another physical hazard that we had to avoid getting close to in order to avoid the risk of getting mind-controlled.

Therefore, we would have to change our pathing and break our formation in order to steer clear of these hazards. Or we would have to waste time to relocate some of the fallen into a neat pile somewhere to the side so that they wouldn’t get in the away – and more importantly, wouldn’t get hurt by a stray attack.

And things only got worse from there, as minutes into the battle, several of our Pokémon were shackled by the mind-controlling chains. It was inevitable when you had extremely speedy Pokémon like Staraptor dive-bombing from the air – moving too quickly to properly react to. This surprise attack costed us a few Pokémon, and they had to be immediately blasted away from our lines before the shackles could spread to the others.

Though there was a small silver lining, which was the fact that the purple chain did not spread instantly. It took a few seconds for the connection to be made – probably only like two or three seconds, but it was still better than it being instant. Sadly, we also quickly found out that unconscious or not, any person/Pokémon with the chain could still spread it – likely because the connection to Pecharunt still persisted.

So we would have to do things the hard way.

Because of all these issues, even after what felt like at least an hour into the fight (though it was probably nowhere near that), we had barely made any progress moving into Mossui Town. And from the reports that we received from the other squads, they were doing as well as we were – which was not very well at all.

Only Cynthia’s team were making any steady progress, and that was because she had Ogerpon by her side. The fact that Ogerpon was immune to the chain made it so that she could frontline risk-free while the other Pokémon stacked buffs and defenses on her. Sadly, the rest of us didn’t have the same option.

But on a more optimistic note, our aerial observers had pointed out that the numbers from within Mossui Town were thinning. The enemy had no way of replenishing their numbers, so we could slowly but surely thin them out given enough time – so long as more of our own didn’t get shackled and mind controlled, of course.

So we continued pushing deeper into the town, as we had now reached the part of the city that contained all of the houses and buildings.

And immediately, this urban environment made things even more difficult for us because we not only had to be more careful to avoid unnecessary collateral damage to the buildings, but it also significantly reduced our line of sight, making us more vulnerable to ambushes.

As a result, we had to slow down our approach even more as our Pokémon scanned every nook and cranny for any potential attackers, making sure that every area was properly cleared out of any threats before we moved on to the next one. Our Psychic types did help with that, but it was not foolproof as Dark types could fool their senses.

It was a very methodical and slow way of fighting – one that I had not been a part of before. Even though I had plenty of experience in other real battles, those had been more of a search and destroy, where we would be moving fast and hard to surprise, shock, and overwhelm all threats before they became a problem.

Previously, we wouldn’t have to be so careful about checking every corner for threats, because we knew that even if we missed one or two of them, we could rely on our powerful Reflect, Light Screens, and Protect to cover for any mistakes. But it wasn’t the same here, as the mind-controlling shackles ignored all defenses.

And what was worse was that our enemy was changing and adapting to us. At the start of the battle, when we were still fighting on the outskirts of Mossui Town, it had thrown its mind-controlled forces at us recklessly, likely believing that it had the numbers to overwhelm our firepower.

However, after it failed to do so, it had seemingly learned from its mistakes and was now much more conservative with its forces. Instead of attacking us without any sense of strategy, our enemy now hid and waited for the perfect opportunity to strike.

Which just made it all the more tense and nerve-wracking for us. Because while we could hear the sounds of battle coming out from the other groups, there was absolutely nothing happening here.

No Pokémon.

No action.

Nothing.

Just row upon row of seemingly empty buildings, with each one potentially being a threat. Yet we still had to check through all of them so that we wouldn’t get flanked in the future and to continue our search for Pecharunt.

And then, as we entered into a particularly narrow street that was surrounded by all sides by several shops, the dreaded attack finally happened.

The sound of wood shattering signalled the beginning of the ambush as a small horde of Pokémon poured out from the windows. Small but nimble Pokémon like Skorupi and Aipom jumped down from above, while a small group of Ground types burst out from the ground. And from the doorways, both humans and Pokémon alike came charging out as they broke out into a dead sprint towards us.

Due to the narrowness of the street, we couldn’t bring our full numbers to bear. But seeing the forces arrayed against us, our Pokémon immediately tried to unleash their most powerful attacks – collateral damage be damned. And yet it was not enough.

From the corner of my eye, I heard the scream of a Jenny as she was tackled to the ground by one of the locals, while another Ranger’s Arcanine had been Volt Tackled by a Luxio. From next to me, the Ground types that had tried to ambush us all went down to a sweeping Ice Beam, but one of our Luxray failed to spot the Starly that landed next to it and the purple chain was spread to the Electric type. Another friendly Ursaring went down in a similar fashion, and our front-line was rapidly crumbling.

“FALL BACK!” It wasn’t me that shouted that, but I agreed all the same. The situation was fucked.

We had to get back into the open.

In the haze of battle, I didn’t manage to spot who it was, but someone threw up a massive wall of stone that ripped apart several of the buildings, but did a great job at temporarily walling off some of the attackers.

Then a massive wave of Psychic energy ripped apart a small group of hostiles that had been trying to flank around from the side, knocking them all out before they even got close – they didn’t care that that group partially comprised of humans either.

But then that stone wall broke apart as I watched as a trio consisting of the Arcanine, Luxray, and Ursaring – Pokémon that were formerly our allies – break through the wall and rush towards us. Worse, their better training meant that they didn’t go down as easily as the other Pokémon, and so whether through their unnatural willpower or otherwise, they managed to endure through the first wave of Psychic that had tried to blast them back.

It then took another Moonblast from Pixel before a massive Stone Edge from Vordt finally put a stop to their assault.

Unfortunately, that small delay in taking them down had bought the enemy time and space, and before I could do anything to stop it, I saw an Ambipom rush towards me and tackle me to the ground.

I let out a coughing gasp as I felt the breath forcefully leaving my lungs, and I desperately tried to kick it off of me. But it was no use, and I watched with mounting horror as I saw the purple chains around its neck spread across to mine.

And just as the Ambipom was blasted away by one of our Pokémon, I heard the sound of the signature ‘snap’ quietly echo in my ears. The chain had snapped in place.

I immediately lost control of my body. My arms and legs refused to move, no matter how much my mind commanded them to. My head felt like it was turning to mush as a growing feeling of nausea rose up from within me.

My vision turned blurrier and blurrier, even though my eyes remained open, until I could see nothing but a tint of hazy purple.

It was over.

…

…

…

Until it wasn’t.

Because, somehow, even though all of my senses were denied to me, there was something that I still felt. Something that the toxic chains of Pecharunt failed to override. Something that it wasn’t able to rip away from me. Something that refused to be suppressed by Pecharunt’s power.

And even through the chains of my shackled mind, I recognised what it was. For it was my one connection to something that Pecharunt could never hold sway over.

Something that was so far beyond its power of domination.

It was Regigigas, and now Pecharunt had dared to try and trample over its bond with me.

It would NOT allow that to happen.

So in the midst of my own shackled mind, I felt something suddenly bursting with power as my bond with Regigigas flared to life, and a single word echoed throughout my soul – a roar that represented the natural order of the world.

“REGI!!!”

And instantly, I was free. The shackles of Pecharunt were all burned away by Regigigas’ power, and I felt my sight rapidly returning to me.

Yet, when I picked myself up from the ground to the shock and surprise of my peers and Pokémon, I realised that Regigigas had done more than just free me from Pecharunt’s influence. Because now, in the depths of my own mind, I could feel my bond with Regigigas pulsing with more life than ever.

It was a burning feeling, deep in my soul.

What did this mean for me? I had no fucking clue right now. All I knew, with full certainty, was that Pecharunt’s chains couldn’t affect me again.

And I didn’t have time to think about anything else, because I had a battle to return to.

A.N. Luckily I had most of this pre-written and pre-edited, so I just had to make some finishing touches in order to upload this. Though just to reiterate, I am not sure if I can get Wednesday’s chapter out in time, or Friday’s. But so long as it wouldn’t be too taxing for me, I will do my best to do so, or will at least upload as soon as I can. Also the next chapter will not be an Interlude. Instead, we’ll have the next full chapter on Wednesday and the interlude chapter will be moved to Friday instead (or whenever those two chapters come out).

Like I had promised, I wanted to write a very different battle to what we usually see John in, and I hoped this battle (though it isn’t over yet) lived up to the expectations. I know this isn’t what Pecharunt’s fight is like in the games, but then again, that fight was quite disappointing and lacklustre. I wanted to really imagine and come up with what a realistic fight against a hostile Pecharunt would be like, and I hope you liked this. I would have loved to have finished this battle in one chapter, but I simply didn’t have time for it and didn’t want to half-ass it.

Also, I only felt that it was right for Regigigas to make an ‘appearance’ in this fight, even if its not a physical one. And what better way than for it to overpower the mind-controlling shackles of Pecharunt? Hope you enjoyed! And I very much appreciate all the well-wishes. I do indeed hope I can recover soon as well! :)