By the time we reached Pier Nineteen, the rain had swallowed the streetlights. The warehouse loomed like a carcass, walls blackened with soot, its sign hanging crooked above a chain-link gate:
NP HOLDINGS – AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
Looks inviting, Zoey muttered dryly.
We squeezed through a gap in the gate, my boots crunching on scattered glass. Inside, the silence was thick enough to feel.
Rows of shattered cryo pods lined the floor, their glass panels fractured like ice. Vapor drifted from the open ones, curling around our boots.
Trilla hovered silently, her psychic light painting the frost a sickly green. This place hurts, she whispered in my mind. Like it remembers screaming.
One of the nearest tanks was labeled Specimen 09-C. A Magmar was slumped against the glass. Its flame sack extinguished, and its skin looked blistered and gray. Dried blood trailed from its eyes and nose down the glass.
The next tank contained the half-melted remains of a Vaporeon, its fins fused together as the coolant bubbled faintly beneath it.
Zoey stepped closer, ears pinned flat. They were experimenting on them.
At the far end of the room, a cryo pod lay shattered outward. Thick claw marks raked the metal interior, and a smear of dark, dried fluid led away toward the catwalks above.
Zoey's mane lifted, static prickling along her fur. We're not alone.
A metallic creak echoed overhead.
Before I could react, a red blur dropped from the rafters with a deafening clang.
Scizor hit the ground like a meteor, punching a crater into the concrete. It was badly damaged. One of its wings hung at an angle, the steel plating blackened around the edges. Its eyes flickered with a mechanical red pulse, not rage, not confusion, but programming. A collar around its neck blinked in rhythm.
Zoey barely rolled aside as his claw carved through the air where her head had been. The strike split a steel drum clean in half.
"Holy-!" she spat, leaping backward.
He spun with terrifying precision, locking onto me next.
Trilla raised her hands, psychic light crackling between her fingers. He's not in control, Atrea!
"Hold your fire! Just hold it!"
The ground blurred under him, one heartbeat, he was ten feet away, the next, his fist was an inch from my face.
ATREA! Zoey shouted.
Trilla's Protect flared to life just in time.
Scizor's pincer slammed into the invisible barrier with a metallic thunderclap, sparks scattering through the air. The psychic shield spiderwebbed under the impact, the entire floor vibrating from the force.
Trilla's eyes glowed fiercely as she strained to hold it. He's too strong!
I stumbled back, heart hammering. The control collar around his neck flashed red, syncing with each convulsion of his body. Whoever had done this had turned him into a weapon that couldn't stop swinging.
Trilla, hit the collar now!
She refocused, dropped the shield, and sent him sprawling back with a pulse of psychic energy to make distance. Just as he recovered, she launched a precise psychic burst that sliced through the smoke and struck the collar. It sparked violently, the red light flaring once before the device cracked apart and fell, hissing, to the ground.
Scizor staggered back, panting in short mechanical gasps, the glow in his eyes dimming to gold.
He looked between us, confused, trembling, half-expecting another order that never came.
I lowered my voice. "It's over. You're free now."
He didn't move. His claws trembled, half-lowered. There was no telepathic reply, no sound, just a broken machine breathing like it was alive again.
Then the roar of engines cut through the rain outside.
Zoey's ears flicked. Visitors. Three trucks, closing fast.
The main doors slammed open, slashing white light across the dark. Six armored figures stormed in wearing black-and-blue tactical suits with helmets that reflected the rain.
The lead one barked through a distorted comm. "Target C-13 located. Retrieve the asset. Terminate the witnesses."
I froze. C-13, the same number scrawled across Scizor's broken pod.
Zoey, Smoke Screen now!
The room erupted in black haze as Zoey released a rolling cloud of dark mist. The soldiers opened fire blindly, bullets ripping through the shadows and machinery.
Trilla hurled a Psychic wave that blasted one into a crate. Scizor snapped his claws together with a shriek of metal and launched himself at the nearest grunt. His fist hit like a hammer, folding the man's armor inward.
"MOVE!" I shouted.
Zoey tackled me sideways as a burst of gunfire struck a support beam behind us.
Scizor turned toward the shooters again, raw fury radiating off him. One bullet clipped his leg, making him stumble. I could see it, the doubt flickering behind his eyes. He didn't know whether we were friend or foe.
I grabbed his arm, ignoring the heat of the metal under the rain. "They're coming to cage you again! Run with us or die here!"
For a moment, he just stared, frozen between instinct and terror. Then he glared, not at me, but at them, and swung his claws wide, slicing through a fallen beam to block their line of sight.
I thumbed open my phone and hit the PAP emergency override. The screen flared red:
"Law Enforcement Signal Received. Response Imminent."
The ceiling exploded as a PAP PokéBot crashed through the skylight, landing hard enough to rattle the walls. Its voice boomed, deep and mechanical:
"Authorization verified. Hostile activity confirmed. Deploying suppression assets."
Two Poké Balls shot from its shoulders in streaks of light.
A Tyranitar materialized first, slamming its fists into the floor with a roar that shook the building. An Aggron followed, tearing through a stack of crates, armor gleaming like gunmetal in the firelight.
The gunmen froze, then scrambled for cover.
"Targets confirmed," the PokéBot droned. "Neutralization in progress."
Tyranitar's Stone Edge burst through the floor, forcing the soldiers to scatter as Aggron plowed into another, hurling him across the room like a rag doll.
"Zoey! Trilla! Out!" I yelled.
We bolted for the side exit, the storm swallowing us as the warehouse behind erupted in chaos. Tyranitar's roar echoed through the night, followed by the screech of bending steel.
Scizor followed close behind, limping but fast.
One of the soldiers burst through the smoke behind us. He leveled his rifle and fired. Before I could react, Scizor shoved me aside and took the hit across his armored shoulder, sparks flaring. He didn't stop.
He grabbed my arm and yanked me forward, practically dragging me down the pier.
The warehouse behind us collapsed in a plume of flame and smoke.
Halfway down the boardwalk, I stumbled, dropping the Poké Ball in my hand. It rolled to a stop beside Scizor's foot. He looked at it, the rain beading on the polished surface, the firelight reflected in his eyes.
For a heartbeat, he hesitated. Then he reached down and touched it.
The ball flashed red. He vanished inside.
The capture clicked clean, no resistance. Just quiet, final acceptance.
Zoey exhaled beside me. Well… that's one way to say thank you.
Trilla floated closer, her telepathic voice softer. He didn't trust your words, Atrea. He trusted what you did.
I nodded, breath still shaking. "That's all I could ask for."
The PokéBot's voice echoed faintly from the ruins behind us:
"Hostile forces subdued. Awaiting retrieval."
I stared back at the rising smoke curling against the rain. "They're not gone. Not really. Whatever Biotechnica was, it's still out there."
Zoey rested a clawed hand on my shoulder. Then we'll burn every piece of it to the ground.
The bus hummed steadily beneath me, rocking just enough to lull half the passengers to sleep. I wasn't one of them. The rain had faded somewhere past Olympia, leaving streaks of light on the window as the sunrise bled through the clouds.
Zoey was slouched across the aisle, disguised as a girl in a hoodie with her legs kicked up. The illusion flickered whenever the light shifted, revealing flashes of her fur beneath.
Trilla sat beside me, hands folded neatly in her lap. Her eyes were open but distant, staring out the window. I could feel her thoughts brushing against mine, faint as the hum of the bus tires.
You didn't sleep at all, she murmured in my mind.
Didn't feel like it.
You're still thinking about him.
I glanced at the Poké Ball clipped to my belt, the one Scizor had chosen himself. The metal gleamed faintly in the morning light.
He nearly punched a hole through my chest, Trilla. You'd be thinking about him, too.
Zoey stirred, one eye opening. He almost skewered you. And now you've got him on your team. You really know how to pick 'em.
I smirked tiredly. You say that like it's a bad thing.
I say that like I'm investing in hazard pay.
Trilla gave her a patient look. He's frightened, not cruel. There's a difference.
Zoey stretched, cracking her knuckles. Let's hope your therapy sessions cover confusion-induced homicide.
I tuned them both out after that, watching the palm trees replace the pines. The smell of salt grew stronger as the bus pulled into the terminal in Santa Monica. Skyla was next on the list, and I couldn't have been more excited.
The warmth hit the second I stepped off. The sun here wasn't gentle; it burned through the last of the morning haze, catching on wet pavement and glass. Santa Monica was alive, humming with the sound of Wingulls and waves and far-off traffic.
Zoey whistled low. Not bad. Might actually dry out for once.
I found a quiet stretch of park near the boardwalk, far from the joggers and food stalls, and dropped my bag beside a concrete bench.
"Alright," I said, pulling out my phone. "Let's see what we're working with."
The PAP app chirped when I activated the Field Operations mode. A small silver-blue PokéBot split the clouds before slowing and hovering down until it floated at chest level. Its lens flickered to life in a pale circle of light.
"Request acknowledged. Virtual combat field: analysis mode. Please specify parameters."
"Single-Pokémon assessment. Combat type: observation only. Deploy cluster targets."
"Confirmed."
The grass shimmered as half a dozen hard-light training dummies materialized in a semicircle, each with a faint energy core at its center.
I reached for the Poké Ball on my belt, the one Scizor had chosen himself. "Alright, big guy. Let's see what you can do."
The ball clicked open, releasing a flash of red light.
Scizor emerged in a crouch, claws half-raised, wings twitching. His gaze darted between me, the sky, the drone, and the holograms, assessing everything like a cornered animal.
"It's okay," I said gently. "No one's here to hurt you. This is just training."
He said nothing and just stood there, tension coiled like a spring.
The PokéBot chimed. "Assessment ready. Subject will engage holographic opponents. Motion and energy output will be analyzed in real time. Begin when ready."
I nodded. "Scizor, whenever you're rea-"
He shot forward faster than I could track, his claw glowing silver as it tore through the first dummy's core. The impact shattered the hologram into shards of light.
The drone's voice registered immediately:
"Identified move: Bullet Punch."
Scizor pivoted sharply, wings flaring as he spun into the air, twisting midflight before driving both legs into another target.
"Identified move: Acrobatics."
Two more projections advanced, their energy readings spiking. Scizor met them head-on, claws snapping open. He moved with brutal precision, strikes blurring together until an uppercut finisher cracked the air like thunder.
"Identified move: Close Combat."
He landed in a crouch, crossing his claws in a gleaming red X. I had expected him to run toward the remaining dummy, but instead, the armor plates on his shoulders split, and a glow quickly built up in the cracks. Twin jets of flame erupted behind him and launched his body forward. The connection was catastrophic for the dummy, which exploded in a violent display of hardlight.
"Identified move: X-Scissor."
The field went silent. Scizor stood at the center, breathing hard, steam curling from his armor as the plates shifted back.
Zoey looked at me, shocked.
I didn't know they could do that
My heart raced
"Neither did I. It seems like Noctis' experiment was successful."
The PokéBot hummed as it compiled data, displaying the readout on my phone:
Subject: Scizor
Move Set Identified: Bullet Punch, Acrobatics, X-Scissor, Close Combat
Estimated Combat Efficiency: 96%
Emotional Regulation: Unstable
Recommended: Rest, monitored exposure to battle conditions.
I lowered the phone, still catching my breath. "You're… incredible."
Scizor didn't look at me. He turned slightly, scanning the empty field like he was waiting for something else to attack.
Trilla stepped forward, her telepathic voice gentle. He's still fighting ghosts.
The PokéBot folded its appendages and hovered back toward standby mode. "Analysis complete. Have a safe and compliant day."
I clipped Scizor's ball back to my belt, squinting toward the coastline. The waves were glittering gold now under the afternoon sun, tourists beginning to spill across the sand.
It should've felt peaceful, but it didn't.
Somewhere behind that calm horizon, I knew the people who'd built the warehouse were still watching. And if they wanted their weapon back, they'd have to take him from me.