The door to the warehouse swung open just a little bit too easily. That was a mixed bag. Sometimes, it meant the locks to the door had worn down; no eyes on the property, no security, and plenty of loot ripe for the taking. At other times, it meant someone was squatting in the building, and that could range from awkward to major trouble. What would today be?

Not even three steps in, a rush of air blasted past Isaac. He instinctively flinched, throwing up his arms as a guard, but the feeling vanished as quickly as it came. When Isaac squeezed his eyes opened and looked up, he noticed that the doorframe above him had a massive gash through it. Of course. Of all the options, it had to be major trouble, huh?

Okay. Not a great position to be in. But he was right by the door, so it was fine. All he had to do was take a few steps back and he'd be right out again. Staring down the room like a Fearow trying to solve a Where's Waldo, he took the first step back. Then the second. And then the thi-

". . . Hey, Kiryu? Please tell me you got behind me somehow."

The grinding, almost mechanical laugh coming from behind Isaac was all the sign he needed to know this wasn't the case. It was also the only cue Isaac had to fling himself to the ground before it was too late. A Night Slash sailed over his head in a graceful, flowing arc, so close that he could feel it slice through the top of his hair.

There was no time to waste. Isaac grabbed the first Pokeball he could reach off of his belt and flung it right into his assailant's face. It was a Bisharp; taller than most, with scratches all across its armored body and a single scarred eye. As if recognizing what Isaac was trying to do, it just stood there with its hands on its hips, amused by such a desperate attempt at capturing it.

"NOW!"

A shame for the Bisharp that this wasn't Isaac's plan. This Pokeball was already occupied, Duster emerging from the ball in a shower of light. The Cubone flung its bone right at the Bisharp, bashing it down to one knee from the force of its point-blank attack. However, as the bone curved back towards the Bisharp for a second strike, its eyes flashed maliciously. A single twist of its arm was enough to deflect the bone off course, sending it right towards what little light illuminated the warehouse.

In a brilliant puff of glass and neon, the warehouse was plunged into darkness.

Needless to say, being unarmed, blinded, and stuck in enemy territory was a really bad place to be. It was even worse when said enemy could cloak their gleaming blades in shadow. Isaac scooped Duster up, turned tail, and ran as fast as he could.

The Cubone squirmed in agitation in his arms, but Isaac wasn't having any of it today. "Oh no you don't! Not without your bone," he said. "And if we stop for even a second, we'll be-" Another blade was brought down, this one a near miss that punched straight through the warehouse's metal floor. Isaac promptly shut up and got back to running, the sound of blades wrecking through wood and slicing through steel chasing him all the while.

No light. No time. Nothing to work with. All he could do was blindly run through a maze of shelves, one arm outstretched to make sure he didn't slam facefirst into a shelf of who-even-knows. Whenever they passed a shelf, Duster reached forward, grabbing whatever it could get its hands on and flinging it aimlessly into the darkness. For every successful impact that Isaac heard, there were at least five desperate attempts sliced in half. Isaac would've flicked his phone out of his pocket to try its flashlight, but at this rate he was pretty sure the Bisharp would have it torn to ribbons. It was fast, precise, and constantly on his tail. Frankly, it should've caught him by now. Unless . . .

Did it even want to catch Isaac? Or was it enjoying his fear way too much?

Inspiration hit. As he ran, Isaac set Duster down and smacked his palm onto his bony helmet. "Fuck!" he shouted, ignoring the confused Cubone's glare and tumbling gracelessly to the ground. The slashing stopped, and in its place came footsteps. Heavy ones. Instead of getting up and running, Isaac clutched his ankle. "Arceus, damnit, not like this . . ." he muttered, just loud enough for the Bisharp to hear him. The footsteps got heavier. Slower. At this point, the thing was drinking in his fear. And who was more fearful than the guy that tripped and busted his ankle in the middle of a chase?

To think his father said he'd never be an actor.

Scrambling back with his hands and feet, Isaac crawled until he'd hit one of the warehouse's nearby shelves. His eyes widened with urgency, and his hands fumbled for anything to pull himself up with. His eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness, not enough to see where he was but just enough to make out the shape of the Bisharp striding towards him. It tilted its head, drew back its hand, and plunged it down towards Isaac quickly, quickly-

Not quickly enough. Isaac smashed another Pokeball on the ground, this one containing Kiryu. The Aggron took the Bisharp's attack like a champ, leaning into the blow just so the blade could sink deeper into her chest. And then she started to glow. "Let's light this place up! Metal Burst!" Isaac practically cheered.

The Bisharp recoiled back, more from the sudden flash of light in its face than from any actual damage. However, that light was exactly what Isaac wanted. As he flinched away from the flash, he was able to make out a thin, white bone lying deeper into the room. He didn't even need to say anything; Duster was already charging after its precious. As the light faded, Isaac could make out the Bisharp shouldering past Kiryu and charging after him. He could only hope Duster made it there first . . .

But who needed hope when you had an Aggron? The shelf behind Isaac toppled over with an explosive crash, and as Isaac turned he could see Kiryu pinning the Bisharp against it with her helmet. Every once in a while she reared back, smashing her skull against the Bisharp's midsection to put on the pain. It was a steel-on-steel wrestling match, and Bisharp had made the mistake of getting grappled by a heavyweight champ.

Or had it? The mechanical laughter, this time a touch raspier, echoed through the warehouse once more. As Kiryu pulled back for another hit, her foe ducked down and pulled his arm blade up to parry. The headbutt went wild, allowing the Bisharp to slip under her arms and slash at her leg in a twirling flourish. Years of battle had left that leg weaker than most Aggrons; had the Bisharp seen it in her stance? Kiryu let out a mournful howl as she fell to one knee, her best attempts at rising ending in a tremble and a slump.

Shit. This wasn't good. Kiryu was the only member of his team strong enough to knock these shelves around. The warehouse was manageable near the entrance, but now he was basically trapped in a maze of corridors. Running around wasn't going to cut it anymore. If he was going to settle this, he'd need to face Bisharp down the old fashioned way.

One last Pokeball hit the ground. This time it was Isaac's starter, Watson. The Totodile jumped up excitedly, but froze as soon as it saw the injured Kiryu slumped on the floor. "She protected us. We're returning the favor," Isaac said, and that was all Watson needed to hear.

The Totodile opened its mouth, a torrential Hydro Pump crashing down the corridor. By all accounts, that should have left the Bisharp up shit creek without a paddle. Despite this, Isaac didn't hear any impact. What gives? The only places the Bisharp could've gone were forward and back. Unless-

Isaac looked up, just in time to see the Bisharp running across the shelves. Frankly, Isaac couldn't even bring himself to be surprised by this point. He'd basically picked a fight with a robot ninja, and it was doing robot ninja things. "Damnit, look out, it's coming-!" Isaac warned, but to no avail. Watson had way less time to adjust to the dark, and the Bisharp was hellbent on making that time difference count. It leaped down from the shelf, its halfmoon helmet blade pointed right at poor Watson.

Direct hit. The Totodile didn't stand a chance. It smacked into the shelf and bounced off like a ragdoll. The wheeze of air leaving its lungs left Isaac cringing, but the third party of this fight was a lot more delighted by it. It strode forward, slinking back into predator mode. Stomp. Crash. Stomp. Crash. Stomp. Crash.

Wait. Why were its footsteps out of sync? Did Kiryu pay a leg wound back with a leg wound? Or had that Hydro Pump made a lucky hit after all? No, neither of those made sense. Even with the offbeat sound, the Bisharp seemed to be walking just fine. Isaac looked around, trying to figure out what was going on, only to find a gentle glow to his side.

Kiryu may've been down, but she wasn't out. And she was currently slugging herself across the face. Each hit put a little bit more force back into her. And each force she took in meant a little bit more force that she could put out. Just before the Bisharp could approach Watson, she roared, a self-inflicted Metal Burst exploding all around her.

The flash of light was all the group needed. "Watson!" Isaac called, voice tinged with desperation. "Spin cycle! Hurry!" The Totodile nodded, smashing the Bisharp right in the hip with an Aqua Tail. As it flinched back, he let the force from his own attack carry him onward, seamlessly transitioning into a Low Sweep to the shins. The spinning kick sent the Bisharp to the floor, at which point Watson leaped up and brought both claws down in a brutal Slash. It was a tried-and-true combo, and if it didn't end most fights it at least brought them into their endgame.

This Bisharp was not most fights, however. In an act of desperate defense it thrust one of its own claws up, parrying back against Watson to the best of its ability. It had size and strength on its size, but Watson had momentum and rage. The two pushed back and forth, sparks flying and neither showing any willingness to yield. Isaac's eyes were locked on the fray . . . and yet, he couldn't help but let his eye wander.

After all, the shelf to his left was teetering up a storm.

"We've got this one in the bag, Watson. Back off!" Isaac said. The Totodile nodded, letting the Bisharp push it back just enough to get him airborne. As he tumbled into the air, he launched off another Hydro Pump just for good measure; through power came extra force, both planting Bisharp firmly in the ground and launching Watson away from whatever-the-heck was going to happen. Isaac ran, leaping up a slight bit to catch the poor thing before it fell. After a weary rasp of gratitude from the Pokemon, the two turned back to enjoy the fireworks.

Smash. Smash! SMASH! A rain of packaging fell on the weary Bisharp before it could find the energy to stand, pinning it down just enough for the shelf's metal frame to finish the job. As the whole thing collapsed around the Bisharp, the source of the whole mess could be seen standing tall and proud; Duster, holding his bone high and letting out a victory howl.

Isaac smiled, walking over to the Cubone. "You really pulled through for us, huh, bud?" Isaac asked. A cold glare was his only response. Either he was still mad about the whole fake bone noise thing, or he just had a case of resting Cubone face. Regardless, he fell in step with Isaac as he turned back to the rest of the group.

With Duster in tow and Watson in his arms, he sat down and slumped against Kiryu. "You all good back there? That looked like a hell of a slice," he asked. A rumble of affirmation left Isaac smiling. "I swear. At this rate, I'm gonna be the one that has to worry about you! But I'll tell ya what. Once we get you patched up at HQ, it's all the best rocks you can eat for the rest of the week." Another rumble came from the Aggron, this one a lot happier sounding.

As the team caught their breath, Isaac returned them to their Pokeballs. The mission may have been a bust, but it was a hell of a fight along the way. Honestly, were he not fearing for his life the whole time, it would've actually been kinda fun. It was funny. Before joining Rocket, battles were never his forte. But now? He was starting to warm up to them quicker than he'd expected.

Was . . . that a good thing?

His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar sound; a grinding, mechanical laughter. Immediately, Isaac's hackles raised, but they dropped as he took a closer listen. It wasn't the triumphant, predatory laughter from earlier. Instead, there was a weariness to it. Hell, there was almost an acceptance of sorts. Against his better judgment, Isaac approached the fallen shelf. Bisharp was still pinned down beneath it, but it had shaken off enough boxes to look Isaac dead in the eye. The malice from earlier was all gone. And it just. Kept. Laughing.

"You're thinking it too, huh?" he asked. It was crazy. This was a wild Pokemon, and one that was debatably trying to kill him earlier. And here he was, talking as if it could read his mind. Yet in a sense, was it really that crazy? The violence, the torment, the fear . . . it was all just a game to this Bisharp. And it had gotten just as much of a rush out of it as Isaac did. In a world where tamers gave their own Pokemon the order to kill, was a fright like this really that bad?

Maybe the two could learn something from one other.

With the deep sigh of a man about to question his life's choices, Isaac lobbed an empty Pokeball at the pinned Bisharp.

3 . . .

2 . . .

1 . . .