Breaking and entering, huh? You'd think that after you got that promotion to Rocket Beast, you'd be above petty jobs like this one, but you guess not. In a way, it's kind of comforting: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

That doesn't mean you're happy to be out in the freezing cold at the dead of night, though, especially given that your disguise isn't particularly warm. Maybe you need to spend a little scratch to upgrade it? Like a thicker coat, or gloves with actual insulation, or a mask that doesn't dig into your face quite so much? As you glide from the top of one building to another, you idly scratch the back of your neck. That's a problem for later. After all, it'll be a few weeks until your new-and-improved paychecks start rolling in.

"...So, how about this weather, huh?"

"...Huh?" You blink, before looking up towards Gliscor. Honestly, you were zoned out for the past fifteen minutes, and you completely forgot he was even there. The two of you have just been soaring along, going from roof to roof in complete silence. "Yeah, it's uh... It's definitely weather."

"Haha! Yeah... Yeah."

"...Yeah."

"...So..."

"Are we nearly there?"

"Coming up on it now."

"Good."

Thank Arceus. That was the most awkward bit of chit-chat you've had this week. You really need to hurry up and get around to training up your Rookidee. With any luck, he'll be a better conversationalist than this.

Sure enough, with one big jump and one last swoop, you touchdown upon the top of the towering office building, and proceed to quickly return Gliscor to his Pokeball before he can fumble his way through saying goodbye. With that, you stand up, and immediately lock eyes with the only other person up here. Judging by how they're dressed, there's no prizes for guessing who it is, but you may as well be thorough.

"Oscar Clayton, I presume?"

---

oscar clayton
Shred's Disguise

Oscar jumped a little when a masked man addressed him by name. Oscar had not seen the man glide onto the rooftop, which made his sudden appearance rather shocking. The former beast would recover almost instantaneously, as this guy was either Shred Zeppelin or a freelance street vigilante. Either possibility was great in Oscar's book, but he chose to believe that this was Shred. His dreams of being a arch-nemesis to a masked hero would have to wait.

Oscar grinned, nodding as he took a pure red pokeball off of his belt. "That's me, and you must be Shred. Fuckin' delighted to meet you. I'd shake your hand but we got better things to do than follow bullshit social conventions." Oscar opened his pokeball to release Genesect Prime, his faithful sidekick. The cyborg jumped to attention, waving at Oscar and then to Shred. Oscar waved back before walking toward the stairway access door on the other side of the roof.

"Remind me what we could expect from security Prime." Prime trotted up to walk alongside its master, letting out a serious of melodic beeps in an attempt to communicate. The duo had been working together to form some sort of 'language' that would allow them to converse--unfortunately with mixed results. Oscar nodded when Genesect was finished. "Just as I thought, this is gonna be easy as pie. Practically a walk in the park." Genesect paused, as what its master claimed was the opposite of what it had tried to report. Oh well, maybe its master knew something it did not.

Oscar made it too the stairway access door and waited until Shred and Prime caught up. He folded his arms confidentially, "This is a pretty cut and dry job. Get in, go to the sixth floor, grab the generator core, get out. Simple and clean. Should take less than an hour. There's security but as long as we move carefully they shouldn't be a problem. Any questions? No? Awesome." Oscar turned and grabbed the doorknob, "Let's do this gang." He opened the door...

--One Hour Later--

Oscar awoke with a start, his head thumping like a metronome set to 125BPM. He swung his head in a panic, having no idea where he was or what was happening. His grogginess was forced into submission by the sound of an explosion, which caused him to spring upright with absolute clarity. He was in the backseat of a truck, looking down on the floor he would notice that they had successfully obtained the generator core. It was a heavy looking ring with several ridges along the sides, yet it had a sheen that exemplified its unique power.

Oscar leered at it for a second before another explosion pulled his attention. Oscar eyes darted to the rear view mirror. Through it he saw that Shred was the driver of this truck, and Genesect was sitting in the passenger seat. Every once in a while Genesect would let out a few beeps before sticking its head out of the window, firing off a series of Magnet Bombs. Were those the source of the explosions?

Oscar finally got the urge to look through the back window, and only now did he see how fucked they were. They were being pursued by an army of voltorb, rolling down the road like a red and white tidal wave. Genesect's magnet bombs would land in the center of their mob, causing a good number of them to Explode, but the spherical hoard would just dash through the smoke and keep up the chase. Oscar smacked his head as he tried to remember what happened. Unable to do so, he finally verbalized his confusion.

"What the fuck happened?"

Shred

"Fuck, fuck, fuck...!"

This is a mess. You've got the pedal to the metal, but this shitter of a truck just isn't fast enough to lose the heat. You glance at at the door mirrors, and catch a glimpse of the horde of furious Voltorb tailing behind you. Argh, don't these bastards know when to quit? They're even worse than the cops!

It's around this time that Oscar comes to, asking what the fuck happened. That was a good question. What the fuck happened?

Well, it had all started the moment you opened the door. That had triggered an alarm, which put a real time crunch on your little heist. It also meant that stealth was out the window, so you had no choice to go loud. You ended up getting stuck fighting the security guards for far too long, and that meant you didn't have much time before the pigs showed up. So, you didn't have much choice but to rip the generator out of the machine it had been powering, which turned out to be a highly advanced prototype PC, which ended up spitting out all of its Pokemon at once. Needless to say, they weren't very happy to see you. After that...

"You got hit by a Spore. Or maybe a Hypnosis?" You explain, refusing to take your eyes off the road for even a second. "I wasn't really paying attention. I was too busy lugging along that generator while I ran for my life. But, your robot carried you out, so alls well that ends well, huh?"

Arceus, you need a cigarette. Or two. Or seven. Once this is all said and done, you're going to be smoking so many cigarettes that you look like a human chimney. Until then? You've just got to keep on surviving, but considering your enemy, that's easier said than done.

"Alright, smart guy, what's the plan? Because I've been driving for the last fifteen minutes straight, and these bomb cunts aren't showing any signs of slowing down!"

---

oscar clayton

As his memories returned, Oscar was not sure he deserved the moniker of 'smart guy'--even sarcastically. He thought he was being so careful, but clearly his own confidence blinded him to the true difficulty of this heist. Well at least what to do next was crystal clear.

"Prime, use Techno Blast!" Genesect looked to the backseat and let out a series of beeps. Oscar groaned, "Let me worry about collateral just do it!" Genesect saluted before once more sticking its upper body out of the window. It charged the cannon on its head, keeping itself stable by shoving its claws into the body of the truck. When maximum power was reached, Genesect let out an incredible blast of energy into the mob of voltorbs. The resulting impact caused a chain of explosion that not only cleared out the mob, but shook the ground for several blocks in every direction.

As genesect pulled itself back into the shaking truck, Oscar held onto the headrests of the front seat--hoping that his destructive gambit would allow them to escape.

--One Hour Later--

The trio were trapped inside of a ludicolo themed taco joint. They had decided to ditch the truck and try to sneak through the city on foot, but this proved to be difficult due to a heightened police presence. Of course their were more cops out, there was a fuckin' gigantic explosion in the middle of Mauville's tech district. With few other options, they elected to break into this here taco restaurant and hide behind the cashier counter until the heat died down. Oscar had spent a lot of the time longingly examining his prize, the small generator core that had caused all of this trouble. This little bastard better be worth it, the effort to steal it was already more than Oscar had bargained for.

Genesect's task was to take out all of the restaurant's security cameras with Electro Webs. When that was done, it kept itself busy by covertly making torchic tacos behind the counter. When Oscar realized what it was doing, he would crack his first smile in hours. "When did you learn how to make tacos?" Genesect beeped as it carefully balanced ingredients on its claws. Oscar nodded, having missed what Genesect had actually said. It was crazy how it already made five tacos without any opposable fingers. Oscar looked to Shred and addressed him directly for the first time in a while, "Hey do you want a taco?"

Shred

"No. I don't want a taco. I want to get out of here."

Arceus, what a mess. You've spent the past half hour hammering your contacts trying to get any help out here, and you've gotten nothing but excuses back. howard slayte? Isn't answering. Grigori Sokolov? Stuck with bodyguard duty in Sootopolis. Kouji Matsubara? Apparently, he's too busy messing around with some kind of Time-Space Disruption to come help his boss. So, you're stuck here, squatting in this cramped truck with the world's dumbest genius and his robot sidekick. A real fairytale of Mauville you've got going on here. Fucking hell...

"...But if they have any nachos, I'll take them."

Well, no point lingering on it. You've just got to hunker down and wait it out. After all, this IS the police you're dealing with. Lazy, arrogant, short-tempered cops who've been dragged out of bed to scour the streets in the dead of night. You just have to wait for them to lose their patience, wait for them to give up and go home, and then quickly scatter before the morning comes and they try again.

It's not a particularly complex plan, but frankly, that's more than fine with you. After the last botch-job, simple is probably better here. It's just waiting then running. Wait, then run. There's no way you can screw that up.

---

oscar clayton

Shred's irritation was fair. Oscar brought him on to make a supposedly easy job easier. He felt bad to have dragged him into this mess, but at least Shred has not abandoned Oscar yet. That was probably a good sign right? At the request for nachos, Oscar would look to Genesect. Genesect looked around before producing a fresh batch of steamy nachos seemingly out of thin air. Oscar was aghast.

"Did--did you prepare those ahead of time?" Genesect made several beeping noises that roughly translated to 'They were for me but I don't mind sharing.' Oscar furrowed his brows, "How were you going to eat those? You have no mouth. Or stomach." Genesect let out a long, sad beep. It just wanted to pretend, it was a really hard night and it deserved to have a fantasy. Oscar patted the head of his machine as he grabbed a taco. "There there, I'll figure something out some day. You'll have your nachos."

The taco was grand, perhaps solely because of how terrible tonight had been. As he felt the spicy torchic meat warming his belly, Oscar suddenly felt positive about their situation. "You know, I think we're on the upturn. The worst is behind us, and before long we will all be home trying to forget that this night ever happened." Oscar lifted his taco toward Shred and Genesect as a sort of 'cheers' before happily taking another bite. Yes indeed, he finally felt that everything was going to be alright.

Then the street lights outside went out. Unbeknownst to Oscar, Zapdos was having an bad night as well. Its dreams were being plagued by strange nightmares, cursing it with a restless slumber. As it awoke from one of these nightmares, resting upon the Mauville Powerplant where it recieved a steady diet of energy, Zapdos decided to cope as many do when faced with a rough night's sleep: with a midnight snack. Its excessive gorging on electricity caused a power surge within the plant, resulting in a total blackout across the city.

Oscar gulped as the taco shop went totally black and the few pieces of equipment that were still on abruptly going silent. He chuckled nervously and shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, this isn't technically a bad thing. Maybe this could work out in our favor?" Oscar gingerly stepped out from behind the counter and walked up to the glass entrance of the shop. No one was outside from what he could tell, causing the gears in his brain to turn. "Yeah yeah, maybe we could use the dark to sneak away to safety! Finally some fuckin' good luck."

--One Hour Later--

They were not sneaking, they were running. They lasted ten minutes in the darkness before hell broke loose. The ground had begun to rumble before exploding with magma as a family of Heatran began clawing their way to the surface. Apparently they had been using subterranean power cables to feel comfortably warm. When the power went out--well you can get the gist.

Now they were rampaging through the city, with a particularly fat one chasing after Oscar, Shred, and Genesect not too far from the taco shop. Oscar had this to say as the trio ran for their lives: "Well--at least we don't have to worry about the police anymore!"

Shred

It keeps getting worse. How does it keep getting worse? How have you gone from being chased down by Voltorbs to being chased down by Heatran in a single night? This is insane.

"Guh... Huh... Huh..." You pant between laboured breaths. Your poor, poor lungs, man... They weren't built for this kind of strenuous physical activity! They were meant to choke on smoke and aspirate booze, not flee from rampaging monsters! And you legs, by Arceus, you can practically feel your legs disintergrating with every step. If you have to run for even a few minutes longer, you're going to collapse into a heap and crumble into dust. You've got to shake this big bastard, and you've got to shake them now.

You throw a random Pokeball from your belt, and out from it leaps your Greninja. Perfect! All it'll take is one well-aimed Water Shuriken to stop this Heatran in their tracks, and then you can make a clean getaway while it's still reeling from the hit.

"Greninja...!"

"Yes, Master! What do you need of-- KYAHH!"

That plan immediately falls apart as soon as the shinobi lays eyes upon the hulking beast, as she immediately turns tail and begins running, too. Well, this has backfired, hasn't it? What a pain. You'd complain about it, if you weren't so out of breath.

"Please attack... The Heatran...!"

"Nope! No! No no no! That thing's too big and too scary! I won't do it! You CAN'T make me!"

Doubtlessly, Oscar and his Genesect are giving you funny looks right now. "Why is this psychopath talking to his frog?", they're wondering. But for better or for worse, you're a little too preoccupied to be worrying about that right now.

"Then can you... AT LEAST... use Smokescreen?!"

"Smokescreen... Y-yeah! Okay! I can do that!"

With that, the Greninja throws down a dark-looking bubble, and a cloud of smoke explodes out all around you. With that distraction, you find yourself able to throw yourself into a side alley, out of the path of the Heatran and into relative safety. Greninja ducks in shortly thereafter, and Oscar and Genesect do, too.

...Well, they probably do. You haven't checked. You're far too busy gasping for air to look behind you.

---

oscar clayton

The running of the Heatran was not something Oscar had planned to participate in, yet if it was one thing he learned tonight it was that life did not give a shit about his plans. Oscar's lungs were starting to feel as if they would cave in at any moment, yet the sizzling heat behind him kept his legs moving. Genesect meanwhile had no problem outrunning the Heatran, and in fact could probably outpace the entire party if it wanted. It only remained next to Oscar out of a sense of loyalty, unwilling to abandon its master in a time of crisis.

Luckily for both of them, Shred had his own plan for losing the charging monstrosity. Shred let out his Greninja, and began convincing it to help. Being too busy running for his life, Oscar had thought that Shred was actually talking to him. "What?--Speak up, I can't hear you--over the sound of my organs failing!" Shred's Greninja eventually threw down a Smokescreen, allowing all of them an opening to escape. They all dove into a nearby alleyway, leaving the Heatran to charge forward none the wiser.

Oscar had landed on the ground during his dive, and he would remain there as he tried to catch his breath. Genesect stomped over to help its master to his feet, sliding its claws under Oscar's arms and lifting him up. Oscar patted Genesect on the head once he was standing, "Thanks bud--you're a real one." Oscar hobbled forward, veering sideways and propping himself against the alley wall. Oscar was quiet for a bit as the party recovered, but it did not take too long for him to break the silence. "Hey guys--things got a little heated back there--sorry about the complications." Oscar raised the generator core, which still remained in his hand. "But I think we're finally in the clear. I can really feel it, from here it's only up--"

Genesect elbowed its master in the stomach, stopping Oscar from cursing them once more with his optimism. Oscar let out a pained puff of air, clutching his abdomen as he fell to his knees. "Pfffff--why?--ach..."

They really would be in the clear this time though, as their journey back to Mauville's borders would be uneventful. Law enforcement was too busy herding the Heatran back underground, so the party would make it out of the city unnoticed. Once they were in Route 110, it was time to part ways. Oscar pulled a business card out of his pocket and pushed it towards Shred. "Hey man, I appreciate what you did tonight. Sorry it got a little--fucked up. But hey, take my card and call me if you ever need a favor. It's the least I can do."

Shred

And at last, the most obnoxious three hours of your life finally came to an end. And honestly? Thank fuck for that.

As you clamber back up to your feet, you take a deep, gasping breath. Then another, then another, and so on, and so on. Every gulp of air is like drinking water from a crystal clear oasis in the midst of an endless desert. Oh, sweet blessed oxygen! You promise you'll never take this gift of life for granted ever again--

THWACK! You're interrupted by a slippery, amphibious hand smacking you over the head.

"Ack!"

"YOU JERK! Why'd ya hafta send me out?!" Greninja whines, crossing her arms as her foot expectantly taps against the concrete. "What the hell were ya thinking? That big lava monster was super scary! It coulda KILLED me!"

"Well it was actively trying to kill me! And why are you even complaining? You're a Water type! Even if a Heatran caught you, you would've been fine! All you had to do was hit the damn things with a--"

THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! Wrong answer.

"You're not supposed to makes excuses, idiot! You're supposed to apologise for being so mean!"

"Wh... No! Why would I apologise for asking you to do your fuckin' job? YOU should apologise to me, you useless frog!"

"...What'd you just call me?"

--One Hour Later--

As you step outside of the jurisdiction of the Mauville Police Department and onto the soft grass of Route 110, you let out a long, weary sigh. Despite everything, Oscar still got the sci-fi gizmo he wanted, so you suppose this mission was technically a success. So, it's time to wrap things up, say goodbye, and head back home as soon as possible so you can change into a dry set of clothes.

"Yeah, yeah, you're welcome." You reply to Oscar, taking his business card and stashing it in one of your few dry pockets. Sure, being owed a favour is nice, but, well, you don't really have much going on. No big projects or missions or anything like that. Still, what're you gonna tell him? "No, you don't owe me anything, helping you was my pleasure?". Fuck no. He does, and it wasn't. "If I think of something, I'll call you, alright?"

With that, you reach towards Gliscor's Pokeball, and... Hm, no, actually, you don't. You think you'd rather just quielty walk by yourself. That seems like it'd be for the best.

"See you around."

---

oscar clayton