“It’s the downside of being famous.” Famous. That word tastes strange on his tongue. Were he alone, he’d repeat it a few times. Enunciate the word, sound it out, tease every syllable. They’ve put him in front of television screens, written tabloids about what he was doing with Melody, deemed him the hero of the hour.[break][break]
All it really does is get in the way of his job.[break][break]
“Guy probably saw me from a distance. Knew he didn’t have time to get out. Now, he’s hiding in here somewhere.” The Ultra Sea is, after all, a sea. It rises high above them. The seafloor is dotted with little caverns and grottos.[break][break]
“Rocket comes here sometimes, try as I might to stop ‘em. They’ve got little hidey holes all over. Hell, I think a few of them have used my base.” Were this anywhere else, he’d sound bitter about that. Even if his worst enemy, the faceless Rocket who killed his brother, were to arrive at his base, Navy would offer them shelter. No one deserves to die here. No one.[break][break]
“Point is…he’s probably hoping we’ll just miss the right hole.” Voyager barks up ahead. Vortigern’s face lifts. The great land shark smells blood in the water. He takes off, quick as lightning and love at first sight.[break][break]
He moves faster than anything that large should. Vortigern should be a slow, ponderous beast, but he’s fast. Navy senses the thrill running through Vortigern’s soul. It thrills him, too. Battle, hunts, being here with Isaac on an adventure. This place no longer scares him.[break][break]
Ahead, an angel stands in defense of a cave. Dead things fight it. Sightless ghosts of Pokemon killed in the last battle stand here as testament to the folly of mankind. A towering Tyrantrum, once some trainer’s pride and joy, opens its jaws to bite.[break][break]
Vortigern takes out its great leg in one bite, ripping the limb like he’s taking a toy from a child. The other Pokemon accompanying the great beast turn to face Isaac and Navy, unnaturally smooth. Their movements are silk. They float towards Isaac, the tamed and fallen angel forgotten. They promise him the same thing Eternatus gave them, a home in him.[break][break]
“Showtime.” The Sheriff says, unmoved.

[break][break]

+ Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

This place and its monsters dwell outside of common sense. Survival would dictate they scatter. Dead things and angels in loyal service alike could better serve their lord elsewhere. Instead, they choose to serve him in whatever passes for true death under the sea. A tentacled stinger slaps Vortigern across the cheek. Navy winces as he, too feels the pain. Sygna suits are cursed like that. People always focus on the good, never the bad. Never shared hunger, pain, loss, lust, resentment.[break][break]
All Vortigern feels when he turns to look at the Nihilego is joy. Joy that he can slaughter without reproach. He too is a creature that defies common sense, just as he defies another injury as the earthquake hits him. His powerful jaws break clean through the outer shell of the Nihilego. He sups upon its innards, tosses them away. Dead things jump upon his back. He rips them off, throws them at Rampage with intent to impale his foe upon the Pokemon’s nose.[break][break]
Rip. Tear. Kill. Assert. Kill, kill, kill.[break][break]
Vortigern is not a being for higher thought. Higher thought is beneath a dragon. Techniques are beneath him. What use are techniques for the strong? He crushes these agents of a false god, as is his right.[break][break]
“Looks like our man’s trying to get away.” The man they are after, as a creature of common sense, senses the writing on the wall. More creatures are coming. They’ve alerted the angels and they hum their songs. Dead things will swarm them. Maybe, he prays, Isaac and Navy will be overwhelmed. He can sneak out the back.[break][break]
Fat chance.[break][break]
“I say we leave some guys outside to hold off the horde and march in with our sygna Pokemon.”[break][break]


[break][break]

+ Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“When your hearts sink up with something, a bit of them becomes yours. They get part of you that you’ll never get back.” Grim words, softened by an impassive tone. There are worse fates than this, or so the suit has taught him. “Not really a problem if you pick the right ‘mon. I’m sure you picked well.” He could sync with any of Vortigern’s brood, he reflects. There are softer creatures among the horde. Navy need look no further than the grinning creature Isaac has summoned.[break][break]
Vortigern dismisses his fellow Garchomp with disdain, turning away to skulk along through the cave. A low ceiling demands he hunch, not that the dragon minds. Navy calls out Roland, his Iron Valiant, along with Voyager the Arcanine and Shuwen the Urshifu. Together with Isaac’s troupe, they’ll make for an excellent defensive line.[break][break]
“See what I’ve been dealing with?” He asks his partner in crime as they venture forth into the cave. It’s dark, but nothing that a flare won’t fix. Great thing about Pokemon battling, you have free hands.[break][break]
A dead thing jumps out at him from the dark. Navy doesn’t know which him it is at first, the human or the black dragon. Vortigern and his trainer slash through the darkness to their right in a perfect mirror of one another. Old, dry blood explodes along Vortigern’s fist, revealing the truth of who was attacked.[break][break]
“It’s like this all over the place. Until League decided--- well, until just recent, it was even worse.” There’s probably no harm in spilling the beans to Isaac over the average civilian. He’s been through hell. He’s helping here. He deserves the truth.[break][break]
“Still say Dewford’s the best place to live in Hoenn.” The quip numbs the older words in his mind. Reminds him there’s good things living in the light above. They just have to press on, find their informant, deal with a real threat.[break][break]
“Sounds like the Nihilego our guy’s got isn’t a baby, to hear the grifter tell it.” A small warning to be prepared. This cave can only be so deep.



[break][break]

+ Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“I liked my steaks a little less raw.” He jokes, although the thought of a red steak does make him lick his lips. “I’m so damn mad all the time ever since I put this suit on. Mad at the League, mad at Rocket. It’s like no matter how hard I hit my fists against things, it’s never good enough.” He lets his guard down under the watchful eyes of the dragon. Vortigern avails himself of a choice dead morsel, freshly killed twice by his fangs.[break][break]
“I used to be able to live with it.” A second admission, although he wonders how much of that is the dragon and how much is himself. Being here changes you. He tells people that constantly. Living in Hoenn is to see the extraordinary made plain. Everyone has teams of monsters that are the envy of young trainers everywhere. Legends walk the earth.[break][break]
“Now I feel like I never do enough.” And there’s always so much more to do. Every day’s a new fight. Moments of peace, like the fair, are rare. Even if the world isn’t ending, there’s still so many micro problems that the big ticket fights seem almost a break.[break][break]
Vortigern grunts, signaling Navy. They find their man cowering behind his Nihilego. Navy wonders how confident he must have looked to the man up top, confident and pawning off eggs. There’s none of that here. Instead, his Nihilego sends back a wave of monsters with a blast of poisoned energy.[break][break]
“Alright, bud. By the power invested in me, you’re under arrest.” Navy gets back into character. The stranger’s eyes turn to regard him and the blonde beside him.[break][break]
“I ain’t coming easy.” He says, as if one Nihilego will be enough. His confidence proves to be at least a little more than hot air. Holding up a tera orb, the Nihilego soon dons a poisoned crown.[break][break]
“Not much room to throw out Pokemon and overwhelm him, Isaac.” The sheriff ruminates, stalking around the room like Vortigern, scanning for exits and calculating their man’s escape plans.[break][break]
“Two on one’s still good odds. Come on.”[break][break]
Vortigern doesn’t need more permission than that. His claws have already hooked around the crowned angel, dancing with them across the floor. The dragon’s tail swings around like a deadly mace, almost turning their man into red mist.[break][break]
“Well…if you can find an opening.”




[break][break]

+ Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Holy shit.” The sheriff gives voice to the wordless wonder plain in Vortigern’s eyes. His dragon pauses for a moment in the midst of his tumbling battle with the poisoned monarch. Turning, his golden eyes watch the aron grow, evolve, push itself beyond its limits. Perhaps it is a sign of what his own trainer always says: together with humans, man and pokemon can become something greater.[break][break]
He can’t imagine the high. Looking at Isaac, Navy’s reminded of pill junkies, heroin addicts, and avatars. The high he must feel right now thanks to the shared link between him and his bonded partner must be incredible.[break][break]
Saying a quiet prayer to Arceus that Vortigern was already evolved when they first bonded their souls, he turns back to the battle. Vortigern dances around the monster, lightning spilling from his maw. His thunder fang would have found little purchase against the rocky body of the Nihilego, were it not for the poisoned crown.[break][break]
That, too, is a message passed through the link: some powers come with a price. For Nihilego to don this crown, it must lose the blessing of the earth. Vortigern is pushed back in a great wave of sludge. Doubtless it is meant to stop the freshly evolved Pokemon from finding purchase in the fight.[break][break]
Neo’s heavy slam sends it flying into a wall. Vortigern is upon it. Through the venoshocks, through the sludge bombs, through every trick it pulls. Navy winces in pain, clenching at his chest. He didn’t know how much Vortigern hurt until he put this suit on. Every blow is a scar, every battle a story. He simple does not care. Fury holds him aloft in this sea of pain.[break][break]
Gripping the monster with his hefty dragon claws, he starts to tumble around in a circle. His tail is wide enough to sweep through much of the chamber, making Navy duck and weave. He does so with a dancer’s grace thanks to the links they both share.[break][break]
“Watch out!” He says out loud, more for Isaac and his twin steel pokemon than his own benefit.[break][break]
It’s sent flying. Their perp, edging towards one of the paths leading into darkness, raises his hands at the sight of Isaac.[break][break]
“Come on, man. You can just let me go.” He begs Isaac, like those words alone will save him. “I’ll give you an egg. It’ll hatch into a legend, man. A legend.”



[break][break]

+ Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

The sole solace this peddler of would-be legends can take is that he will not feel that zen headbutt for a while. A hit like that’ll keep him out for a few hours, minimum. Revenge is served piping hot to the man who will wake up with a terrible concussion in the hospital ward of Dewford’s prison.[break][break]
Vortigern grunts, the closest the black dragon can offer to a thank you. For a dragon unaccustomed to playing nice, he adjusts to the rhythm of this lairon well enough. Must be the influence of the human rubbing off on him.[break][break]
He takes the Nihilego and smashes it against the floor. Again and again, with the savage fury of a dragon. The granite beneath them smashes, giving way to the flesh beneath. Blood darts the ground. Whether it is the nihilego’s blood or Eternatus’s, Navy can’t tell. He rides that high – that rage. It’s everything he’s ever bottled up, all the anger at the injustice around him.[break][break]
Some part of him knows he must stop Vortigern. The rest does not. He hates these nihilego for what they’ve done to this town, to Tsubaki, to all the innocent Pokemon left dead in the deep. Why should they deserve mercy?[break][break]
Only one man and his twin metal Pokemon have the power to stop this, and it is entirely his choice whether to do so.




[break][break]

+ Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","pokeclass"]