Side-Arc 2: The Alola Arc

GF-USUM-27
Malie Garden was usually a peaceful place, much like the region that it belonged to; the famed and popular Alola region, which people loved to tour and occupy due to the wonderful weather (in most towns), special and rare Pokémon, and most importantly, the romantic views there were to be seen.

...but in all seriousness, people mostly came for the Pokémon. Pokémon in general seemed to have an easier time development connections among each other and with humans in the tropical region, certainly a sight to be seen. However, not everything in the Alola region was perfect. Baddies laid low (but not too low) among the crowds, scanning, always looking for a perfect moment to strike… and those baddies went by only one name, Team Skull!

Said baddies were currently stationed in Malie Garden, wearing plastic Team Skull chains and other accessories, standing in front of the bridges the garden had to offer in order to prevent other people from going deeper in, where a sort of conflict seemed to be brewing.

A tall man stood in the center of the garden, a wide grin on his face. His eyes had a mildly crazed look in them, and his sunglasses were a bit strange, one lens being slightly slanted near the top. Said glasses were positioned above his eyes, set into his shaggy white hair, which may have been dyed, if one took a close look. His arms were folded, a tall Scolipede standing beside him, glaring down at its prey. This was the one and old, baddest cat on the block, Guzma! Guzma also had his eyes locked onto the same target that Scolipede did.

The target was a man who looked like a hiker, a bushy brown beard and shaggy eyebrows decorating his round, chubby, baby-like face. He was carrying what appeared to be at least fifty pounds of climbing gear, and his glare toward Guzma seemed to indicate that this wasn’t a friendly interaction.

“Well, well, well, look what the roaches dragged in!” the Team Skull Boss laughed aloud, standing up straight so he could stare the hiker down. “You wanna know what destruction looks like, fool? Well, here it is in hu-man form! It’s ya boi, Guzma! Hand over the Buginium-Z, and I won’t squash you like a grape on the sidewalk!”

“How did you even know I have a Buginium Z?! There’s no trial for it in the region! I had to work for this crystal!” the hiker refused, a green gem-like object clutched in his hand. At the hiker’s side was a Geodude- not the strongest Pokémon by any means.

“You wanna play keep away with big bad Guzma, eh?! I’m into that, just gives me an opportunity to clean your newbie clock!” Guzma’s maniacal grin only widened. Scolipede barreled into action without receiving a command, and with one rapid swing of its body, hit the Geodude with a mighty Steamroller attack. It wasn’t very effective against a Rock-type, but there was an obvious difference in power. It didn’t seem that the poor Geodude had Sturdy as its ability either, because it went tumbling a few yards away, looking dazed and down for the count.

“Too eaaaasy!” Guzma laughed once again, looking smug. The hiker only shivered at the might of the Scolipede- practically everyonein the region knew that Team Skull had gone through a rough patch after that boy with the Aether Foundation, Gladion, had left. But the word- alongside an out-of-region billionaire visiting the place- was that Team Skull had recently hired a replacement, and were slowly growing more powerful.
And those rumors now appeared to be true.

“That’s right, people of Alola! Big bad Guzma will take every piece of this wacky little crystal in the region, then what?!” Guzma announced to the surprised looking bystanders. He extended a hand, and this time, looking defeated, the Hiker tossed over his piece of Buginium Z.

“Nice,” Guzma looked satisfied. The grunts were already preparing to leave, which the Boss had no qualms with. It was time to return to Po town. In a quick exchange, Scolipede had returned to its Pokeball, and was quickly replaced with a Volcorona. The grunts of Team Skull began to send out some Fly-Pokémon of their own, including a Dodrio, which just flailed its necks around wildly and somehow took flight with its trainer on its back. People watched nervously as Guzma and his lackeys took off atop their Pokémon’s backs, getting away with the rare Bug-type Z Crystal.

...It was only a matter of time before someone took them down again, right? At least, that’s what the people of Alola hoped...

"What's the big deal with this Buginium Z crap anyway?" Tiffany Fox stood behind a chair, hands on the back of it, staring at the image of Guzma's face, grinning smugly as he made his exit with his stolen good. Her frizzy black hair was pulled back into a frayed pony tail. She wore an armored stealth suit, complete with a cape. A cowl sat nearby, with wide eye-holes covered by a white lens. Beside the cowl was a larger one, with smaller eyes and sharper, more sinister features. The owner of larger cowl sat at the chair Tiffany, or Batgirl, stood behind.
Bruce Wayne stared at Guzma's face before it disappeared from view, revealing that this was live footage he was viewing. He narrowed his dull blue eyes, before, tapping something at a keyboard in front of him, and the screen flashed to a blank desktop.

The cave they were in was rather small. It was also a dead-end, the only way in or out was through an underwater tunnel to the beaches of Alola. It had been several months since both he and Tiffany had found themselves in this strange new world, and thankfully, Bruce had a lot of resources intact when they'd arrived through a strange portal. While his money wasn't the currency here, he'd found a way to transfer for what was simply called 'Pokemon Dollars'. He'd even had to print some of his own in order to gather up resources, as well as a persona. He was an out of town visitor to the island, from the region of Gotham, a far away place that mostly kept to itself. That was the story at least. Tiffany here acted as his assistant, which she really already was, anyway. Nobody had linked his arrival to the caped crusaders that had simultaneously shown up. The Batman and the Batgirl. Tiffany had originally tried to go with 'Batwoman' but the former stuck, and it grew on her.

Appearances of the Bats were few and far between. They came in the night, and were gone with very little witnesses, quickly becoming a popular urban legend to most. Criminals and whatnot had been stopped, and the police on Alola quickly became familiar with the urban legend that was all too real for them. Those that had suffered the most since the arrival of the Bats had been Team Skull. At least half their force had been imprisoned, while half of that had been broken out. This world didn't seem all too concerned with security or prisons, which Bruce Wayne had decided to change, quickly making his presence known.
Wayne Enterprises had several buildings under construction, and a sway in the region that rivaled the Aether Foundation, which had quickly selected Wayne as a business rival. He had an office building under construction, a home, and a prison. He had no idea how long he'd be here, but he assumed it would be best to get comfortable and get this place under some kind of control.

"Buginium Z is a Z-Crystal." Bruce answered Tiffany. "They're rare and can boost Pokemon's attacks exponentially. Buginium Z is for Bug-type Pokemon. It can upgrade Bug-type moves to Z-Moves."
"I played Pokemon when I was a kid, and there was none of this stuff in it." Tiffany replied. To be completely honest, she still hadn't gotten over the whole 'living in a video game' concept just yet. This was all still fictional to her, despite being so real.
"Fortunately for us..." Bruce continued, standing up from the seat and turning to his prodigy. "One of our mining operations just managed to hit a Z-Crystal deposit. Plenty of Buginium in there too." Tiffany smirked. "And I'm guessing we're using that to lure out Team Skull?"
"Hopefully Guzma, too." Bruce replied, striding past her. Like Tiffany, he was wearing an armored black suit, a complex design full of tools, pockets, gadgets, and all sorts of things. He too had a black cape, and the symbol of a black bat sat on his chest.

The two had just gotten back from a recon mission. They were trying to find Guzma's latest recruit, one that had been heavily rumored to be bringing Team Skull out of their 'Great Depression' as one of the terrified Grunts had called it when Batman had interrogated him. The mission had yielded no results. They'd only gotten a name out of it.
'Demeter'. Bruce wasn't sure if it was an alias or not. Demeter had been a Greek Goddess, the Goddess of agriculture, which fit into Team Skull's return a little fittingly, in a strange way. Aside from that, no leads just yet.

"Call back the drone." Bruce instructed Tiffany. "The CEO of Wayne Enterprises is about to tell the region I have a deposit of Buginium Z being delivered by truck to my warehouses."
"Okay, Expositionman." Tiffany replied.

GF-USUM-27
Po Town
Guzma & Grunts

When Guzma and his team landed, it was in the center of a nice looking town. Just a few months prior, Po Town had actually been a complete mess, covered from top to bottom in graffiti, busted furniture, dead grass, and everything in between. But now, it was the complete opposite- even the weather had become a bit better, albeit it was still quite gloomy. The grass of Po Town was now lush and green, and grunts actually stayed in the houses rather than pointlessly destroying them. The graffiti had been cleaned up, and things were… better in general. This was the doing of Team Skull’s latest recruit, who had quickly established authority in the group and gotten them to tidy up their base of operations.

“Alright, boys, take the rest of the day off! Ya boy’s got to go make a deposit!” Guzma announced to his grunts, still pinching the rare Buginium Z between his thumb and index finger. The grunts seemed alright with this, returning their Pokémon- which, oddly enough, seemed way too powerful for grunts to be using. One even had a Dragonite. This was, in fact, another result of Team Skull’s newest recruit’s efforts- she’d been training the grunts personally, and they were now capable of getting things done without assistance from Guzma or Plumeria, which made Team Skull as a whole a bit more formidable.

Guzma, hands at his sides, began to make his way toward the large house at the back of Po Town while his grunts dispersed, most of them heading toward the Pokémon center to heal up after the battles they’d been through back at Malie Garden. The Team Skull Boss was very pleased with how the mission had turned out. He was one step closer to gathering every last Bug Z-Crystal in the whole entire Alola region. As he stepped into the mansion, he took a long, deep breath.

“Boss!” a voice called out. Guzma’s head rotated, his gaze falling on a trio of Team Skull grunts. “Did you get it?! Did you get it, boss?!”

“Of course I got it! Big bad Guzma doesn’t take no for an answer!” the boss laughed, prompting the grunts to cheer in triumph at their leader’s success. Said leader felt quite proud because of this, and promptly began making his way up a flight of freshly vacuumed stairs. He soon made it up to a wooden door with a black and white skull and crossbones badly spray painted on it- the only graffiti in the town that he refused to erase. With a gentle push, the door creaked open, revealing Guzma’s throne room.

In the center of the room was the ‘throne’ which he’d actually just found one day in the backyard, and wasn’t sure if it was just a big chair or not. All around the room were chests and crates, loaded to the brim with Z-Crystals identical to the one Guzma had in his hand. With a flick of the wrist, he tossed the crystal into one of the piles, and it landed with a calm clink.

The boss approached the throne, getting into a comfortable sitting position and letting out a sigh of relaxation, picking up a small black remote and turning on a television screen that was positioned in the corner of the room.

In the heart of Heahea was where Wayne Enterprises had set-up shop. Made a capital for itself. The main base of operations for the company. Here he stood on a platform with a microphone before him, about to deliver a short and sweet speech. A crowd of Heahea's residents stood before him, some with cameras. Bruce had become somewhat of a celebrity since his arrival, and thus far, barely anybody had questioned it. All he had to do was do what he did best. Be a rich kid with a heart by day, and a brutal vigilante by night.

"Thank you for meeting me here today, everybody." Bruce began, flashing a brilliant smile at the crowd. "I'm proud to announce that an excavation team has uncovered a massive deposit of Z-Crystals in a mine located near Resolution Cave. We're having it shipped straight here to Heahea, and the new Wayne-endorsed PokeMarts will begin selling them by the end of this week. There will be enough Z-Crystals for every trainer in Alola to indulge in, and then some!"
He paused, allowing a few cameras to flash, a bit of applause and cheers from the onlookers, before he continued. "I know Team Skull has become bold in their attempts to steal Buginium, and this will be a major concern among all who wish to profit from this deposit. But I assure you. Guzma and his cronies won't be getting this supply. I promise. With new, state-of-the-art defenses and trained escorts with powerful, trained Pokemon, Team Skull will have little choice but to back down."

Another pause for cheering and applause, this one louder than before. Team Skull's rise in power had resulted in a lot of unhappy people throughout the region. Thievery had become commonplace, and not just of Buginium Z. Team Skull stole whatever they pleased, and as far as Bruce knew, they either sold their stolen goods, or decorated Po Town with them.

"Thank you for your time. I won't be taking any questions. If you have any, you can speak to my representative, Morgan Burkes." With that, Bruce stepped away from the stage, letting a dark-skinned man with dreadlocks, wearing as nice of a suit as the billionaire, take the stage and begin accepting questions.

"Tiffany." Bruce immediately had his phone to his ear. "Are you in position?"
"Yup." Came the young woman's reply. "Ready to begin the delivery of Z-Crystals to our ship docked at Poni Coast."
"I'll see you in Konikoni City." With that, Bruce hung up. The plan was in motion, and tonight was possibly the night where Team Skull would fall.

GF-USUM-27
Po Town (Guzma’s Throne Room)
Guzma

Guzma’s jaw dropped- well, it had been dropped pretty much since the beginning of the stupid TV interview. He hadn’t been too concerned about this new billionaire that had popped into the region out of nowhere recently, but this? This was *outrageous.* Selling Z-Crystals, he didn’t really care much about, even though it was completely stupid and ruined the entire point of Alola’s trial system- but Buginium Z in particular really rubbed him the wrong way. All this time, he’d been working to gather that stuff so hard... only for *this* to happen?

Well, he wouldn’t *let* that happen! The man had claimed that there were powerful escorts with highly trained Pokémon, but he highly doubted it was anything he couldn’t handle. Unfortunately, Plumeria was currently off travelling Kanto, so she wouldn’t be able to help him coordinate an attack.

...but there was one person he *could* go to. Team Skull’s new recruit, of course. Guzma pulled a somewhat new-looking phone out of his pocket, about to send her a message, but before he could even begin typing, he received one.
*’I’m already waiting at the entrance,”* the message read, much to the Team Skull Boss’s satisfaction. Quickly pushing himself off of the throne, he hurried out of the Buginium-filled room and down the stairs of the big house, and as expected, at the door stood the newest member of Team Skull.

She stood at around 5’6”, and had a relatively slim, and not super curvy build, but it was difficult to tell due to her choice in clothing- a baggy white shirt that was tightly pulled backwards in the middle and tied in a knot, tugged upwards slightly. She also wore a partially-zipped, black leather jacket, which had the Team Skull logo hot glued onto it. Also made of black leather were her pants, which had a few white markings on them, along with another hot-glued Team Skull logo.

She had straight, sunset-red hair that was currently tied back in a ponytail, reaching to about a foot below her neck. She wore a simple black mask with a monotone expression on its face, the only thing visible through it being her cold, calculating eyes, which were easily enough to send shivers down one’s spine; though, it was hard to tell if that was the intention.

“Glad you could make it, Demi,” Guzma gave a shit-eating grin, folding his arms with a satisfied look in his eyes. “I take it you saw the little news broadcast?”

“Why else would I have messaged you?” Demeter answered his question with a question. “...Guzma, you do know you’re about to try and tangle with a billionaire?“

“Of course I know!! That’s why I called you! I need a perfect plan, and you’re a helluva lot smarter when it comes to this stuff than I am!” he insisted.

Demeter stared at him for a few seconds with her piercing gaze, before letting out a gentle sigh. “Come on, then. We should get to work.”

The dune-ish and unpopulated area known as Poni Coast had been one of Wayne Enterprise's first investments. First, the land had been bought for a comfortable sum of money, then, a small shipyard had been established. The docks were sturdy and built of metals. On the other three islands, Wayne Enterprise had established other docks. Business was booming, and while Bruce was using the Z-Crystals as a ploy to get Team Skull where he wanted them, they would certainly be very profitable.
Finding the crystals hadn't been much of a coincidence, either. Tiffany and Bruce put their heads together and managed to develop a subterranean scanner tracking the unique energy signatures of Z-Crystals with the assistance of a single Z-Crystal.
It had proven successful, and Bruce had sent an excavation team to extract the crystals.

Now, the Batgirl sat perched on a lamp post overlooking the docks, cloaked in the dead of night. With her night vision goggles, she could see the non-lit screen on her forearm controlling the Batdrone, which hovered silently overhead, getting a view of the docks from another angle with thermal vision.
At the moment, no Skullies had arrived, but she had a feeling it was getting close. This was her first solo operation since she'd joined the caped crusader, and she planned to make the most of it and show her mentor just how far she'd come.
Silently, she pulled a Pokeball off of her utility belt, rubbing a thumb over its smooth surface. Bruce had told her they didn't need Pokemon to battle with, but she wasn't sure he understood how absolutely brutal some Pokemon were. So she'd captured one of her own. He was a cute little fella, and hey! Bat-themed! He was just perfect.

But he wasn't ready for an op like this, so she slid the Pokeball back onto her utility belt, looking at the monitor display on her forearm, showing the Batdrone's visual feed. Aside from the dock workers and transfer thugs hired to guard to the Z-Crystals, a few more blobs of orange, yellow, and reds began to appear, stalking onto Poni Coast, making a somewhat stealthy trajectory for the docks, before suddenly, they began to vanish, disappearing from sight altogether. "Uh... the hell?" Tiffany muttered to herself.

GF-USUM-27
Poni Coast
???

As the dots began to disappear from her radar, Tiffany could feel a horrible chill shoot down her spine. It felt like she was being watched, but... was that possible? It was as if all the people coming toward her had vanished into thin air, which was... troubling, especially because it was unlikely that they’d stay gone for long.

With a quiet ‘beep’ one of the dots reappeared on the monitor, a red one. The drone was picking up a thermal signature from someone sitting atop a rock, the kind that Tauros commonly charged through in order to get through to other parts of the area. The figure was female, with a sunset red ponytail and a mask. The same woman who’d spoken to Guzma earlier; not that Tiffany knew that.

Her posture was quite relaxed, and she appeared to be leaning back and watching the Z-Crystal shipment intently. Her clothing was definitely a sign of her being part of Team Skull, but she certainly didn’t appear to be of the grunt status.

In her hand was an Ultra Ball, which appeared to be shaking. With anticipation, perhaps? Fear? Excitement? Regardless of what it was, it was quite unusually for a Pokémon within a ball to do such a thing. The girl raised the ball up to her face, and whispered something, which made it stop shaking.

More of the dots began appearing on Tiffany’s monitor, but they were much closer now, within immediate range of the shipment, in fact. Some of them were appearing over by the set of trucks, and some on the docks. The Team Skull Grunts, no doubt, and the thermal signatures seemed to indicate that they’d either come in pairs, or they had their Pokémon out, though the latter seemed to be more likely.

"Alright. They still don't know we're here. Probably." Batgirl told herself, pursing her lips, before frowning. How the grunts had disappeared, just like that, was bugging her. She had more pressing matter right now, however, and checked to make sure all of her gear was in place.
By the time she was certain she was ready, a large multitude of battles broke out. With Team Skull having the advantage of surprise, many of the hired mercenaries went down without a fuss. But Bruce hadn't been kidding about the guard being well-trained. The men and women were quick to assess the situation, and almost as quickly as mercs had been taken down, Grunts started to fall like flies as well, the much more well-trained mercenaries proving too much for them in a fair fight.

Only two mercs remained by the trucks, five on the docks, and six on the small cargo ship that was nearly fully loaded with the Z-Crystals.
Her eye still lingered on the coppertop. She'd be the clear person to take out, but the sheer number of Grunts was overwhelming the mercs, and they needed her support.
Tiffany Fox didn't have the physical prowess of the Batman, nor the skills in combat. She made up for it with her mind. She was one of the smartest people Bruce had ever met, according to him, and he was up there with some of the biggest brains in history. She was constantly proving her powerful mind as well, always inventing and creating. The Batdrone was a small project of hers she'd made in just about 8 hours. And her suit? Custom-built by her as well, alongside plenty of fancy new gadgets and modifications. One of these modifications was her boots, built to be a type of pressured spring, allowing her for extreme jumps and deadly kicks whenever she desired. An artificial intelligence she'd designed was linked to her neurally, allowing the teen to activate any of her armor's capabilities with a thought.

With the violent flapping of her cape, Batgirl launched into the air, sky-high, rising a good sixty feet or so. "Don't freak out don't freak out." She breathed, looking down at the significant drop, and prepped her boots to absorb the fall as best as they could. The same technology had been applied to her gauntlets, meaning her punches would be devastatingly tough. As for stealth, she'd been redesigning the cloaking tech her father had made for Batman once upon a time, and the new updated version also happened to be at her disposal.
And she was itching for a field test.

With a cushioned but heavy THUMP, Tiffany landed on the hard earth, spraying dirt up into the air all around her. Her arrival had shocked the Grunts she'd just landed in the thick of, and before they even had a chance to react, her body started moving.
Fluidly, leaving emotion out of each swing, each jab, each kick. Easily, she was able to OHKO about a dozen Grunts before the mercs joined in with her.
Sure, some of these punks would have concussions, but they sorta had it coming. As long as nobody died...

With each Grunt that fell, their chosen Pokemon would take their limp body and hurry away. She was quick to notice how high-level these Pokemon were. Team Skull had been training. A lot. As the remaining Grunts by the trucks were now being easily taken on by the remaining two mercs, the girl directed her attention to the red head, only to find she'd disappeared.
With no time to waste, Tiffany turned to the mercs. "Take the rest of the cargo to the ship." She ordered, her voice modifier kicking in and scrambling her tone, making her sound far more lethal, and a bit robotic. It made her feel badass and she loved it.

"Uh... got it." One of the mercs replied, both staring at Batgirl as they stumbled their way to the trucks, an Arcanine and a Golem in tow.
With the Grunts at the trucks handled, she redirected her attention to the docks, where the mercenaries were down two more men, but the Grunts were still falling. Their surprise attack seemed to failing, luckily, despite the surprises.

GF-USUM-27
Poni Coast
Demeter

The red haired girl was now airborne, atop a massive, humanoid Pokémon that was difficult to make out in the darkness of the night. It flew silently and with expert stealth, careful not to alert anyone below.
“Looks like they’re starting to drop,” she whispered to the Pokémon she rode, and it seemed to hear her despite the howl of the wind. “It’s time to intervene. Shadow Ball.”

The Pokémon raised up its large arms, a giant ball of sparkling purple energy manifesting in its hands. Without warning, the orb went flying into the scene of action, slamming down into the ground beside a merc. It caused the man to immediately fall over, the Team Skull Grunt he was battling leaping backwards to avoid what came next. The orb exploded- but not in the stereotypical fiery blast sort of way. Instead, a booming wave of purple energy sparked out, sending the poor merc flying a few feet. He wasn’t dead, luckily, but he was unconscious.

Demeter gave a smile. “Good. Drop me off next to the girl and then continue doing that from the air. You know what to do if they get the upper hand on you, buddy.”

The Pokémon let out an ominous roar, before changing its trajectory and flying downwards rapidly.

Thump.

The noise came from behind Tiffany, the redhead just a few feet away, posture still looking relaxed, in spite of the circumstances. The Pokémon Demeter had ridden quickly found its way back into the sky, firing off another Shadow Ball, eager to even out the battlefield, since the mercs were obviously on the winning side so far.

“Hey there,” Demeter greeted Tiffany, in what almost seemed like a flirtatious tone, but it was probably, if not definitely ingenuine.

"You're new." Tiffany replied immediately, her harsh, robotic tone cold. "I was expecting your better. Where is Guzma, by the way?" She asked, lifting up her arms defensively, gauntlets letting out a hiss as they powered up, ready for any super punches, as she had lovingly named her increased power due to robotics.

This individual was new. Entirely. As far as Tiffany was aware, at least. Obviously the girl meant something to Team Skull, considering her altered attire, attitude, and obviously powerful Pokemon, which was now locked in combat against an Onix and a Metagross. The Pokemon Batgirl had wouldn't be a match for any of the Pokemon about, so Pokemon battles were still out of the question.
Didn't mean she couldn't hold her own, however.

GF-USUM-27
Poni Coast
Demeter

“The way you worded that… it’s almost like you actually expect me to answer your question,” Demeter squinted, frowning behind her mask. “Is everything that simple where you’re from?”

The large Pokémon in the sky was firing off Shadow Balls left and right now, the Metagross and Onix firing off many attacks of their own, but few of them struck the airborne Pokémon, which displayed surprising speed for such a large entity. A Gengar leapt into the clash, but was almost immediately sent flying by a Shadow Ball. Once it was back up, the trio continued the battle, the sky-high Pokémon continuing to fire orb after orb, aiming for mercs and their Pokémon alike.

Demeter’s eyes locked onto Tiffany’s gauntlet’s, a hint of a smile appearing on her lips, but the mask, once again, made it hard to tell. “You intend to attack? Can’t say I’m surprised…” her gaze drifted from the gauntlet’s to Tiffany’s eyes. “You could make both our lives easier by forking over the Buginium Z,” she stated firmly, still looking calm, disconnected, and a little bit amused. “But I’m guessing you’re too ‘good-guy’ for that.”

"The way you worded that... it's almost like you actually expect me to just hand it over." Tiffany raised an unseen brow, hidden behind her cowl. "I can tell you're new on the block. Lesson one; you're supposed to surrender. It's the easiest way I don't beat the shit out of you. Lesson two; accept defeat. It's all you'll ever have when you cross paths with me or the Bat. Lesson three; I always intend to attack."

As soon as she said that, several tranq darts were suddenly fired from somewhere overhead, as the girl's Pokemon wasn't the only thing in the air. Said darts were headed for a perfect angle at Demeter's neck.

A swift duck of the head caused the tranq darts to plant themselves in the ground below their feet rather than Demeter’s skin, and she eyed them with mild interest, before looking back at Tiffany.

“I wouldn’t say I’m the new one on the block here,” she told Tiffany, leaning forward a bit. “You’re the new one here, and it’s painfully obvious. But hey, if you don’t want to do things the old-fashioned way, then I can oblige.”
Judging from her change in posture, it seemed she was ready to fight, and not using Pokémon, either.

Tiffany only narrowed her eyes. There was no way this chick could have known those tranqs were coming in. They were silent, non-lethal darts, fired silently from the silent Batdrone. If it wasn't obvious, the entire point of the Batdrone was stealth.
"I'm not super old-fashioned. A bit of a new gen kid, myself. Sorry to disappoint." This time, Tiffany raised her gauntlets, which began to glow an electric blue, a hum emanating from them, before a shock blast fired from them at Demeter.

Demeter gave a gentle sigh under her mask, before yanking out of her jacket what seemed to be a brown crystal- but it wasn’t a Z-Crystal. She tossed it, and it absorbed the shock blast that fired toward Demeter, before landing on the ground, sparking slightly.
“Ground Gem,” she explained, not seeming to care much about giving information to the enemy. “The ground-type element neutralizes electricity. Maybe you knew that- wouldn’t surprise me if you didn’t, though.”
Calmly, she leaned down and picked up the gem, getting no more than a gentle zap to the finger, before beginning to walk toward Tiffany at a steady pace.

Tiffany could feel anger and annoyance. If there was one thing that any Fox child hated, it was being treated like they didn't know something. Having graduated High School two years early, and graduated at MIT top of her class when she was just 20, she felt she had a right to feel pretty knowledgeable. Of course, some of the stuff in this world was nothing like the Pokemon games she'd grown up with.

She stopped thinking about how this lady was pissing her off. Bruce had led her through the numbers plenty of times. Emotions lead to mistakes. Keep a cool head and keep control of the situation.
That was when she got an idea.
"Just a heads up, this shipment doesn't have any of your precious Buginium Z. It's mostly Electrium Z." As she said this, she started to march toward Demeter, an equal pace to her.

Gamefreak-USUM-27
Poni Coast
Demeter

“I’m not exactly going to take your word for it,” Demeter replied, looking around to see that not only all the Team Skull Grunts were defeated, but it seemed the mercs were, as well, several members of both groups strewn about, unconcious. The large humanoid Pokémon belonging to Demeter was still airborne, staring down at the two girls, the Metagross, Onix, and Gengar from before having been KOed.

“If you’re telling the truth, then you’ll have no qualms with me checking out your haul, right?” she cocked her head to the side. Guzma didn’t want Electrium Z, anyways... had this really just been a way for this girl to waste Team Skull’s time?

The two stopped directly in front of each other, and Batgirl folded her arms, smirking. "You seem annoyed. What, did you expect the entire haul consisted of Buginium Z?" She let out a chuckle. "No, I'm not lying. And no, you can't check. You think I'd just let an active criminal stroll up and investigate my shipment?"

“What a waste of time...” Demeter’s eyes narrowed at Batgirl as she leaned forward, staring into her eyes as if to try and detect whether she was lying.
“...so, that means either you’re lying, or Mr. Billionaire did,” she determined, arms hanging loosely at her sides. She obviously didn’t believe Tiffany, and was trying to prove herself right.

"Mr. Billionaire never mentioned Buginium Z, honey. Sorry." The Batgirl shifted on her feet, before glancing around. Only about three or so Grunts remained, but the shipment of Z-Crystals already loaded onto the ship was off the dock headed for Konikoni, all six mercs still on board. "So am I still gonna kick your ass or do you need to run off?"

Demeter continued to stare at Tiffany, before leaning away from her, placing a hand on her hip, clearly unhappy. With a heavy *crash,* the massive Pokémon from the sky landed, its appearance now visible to Tiffany in the moonlight. It was a towering, golem-like Pokémon with unevenly proportioned ‘eyes’ and a blue-yellow color scheme.
“Golurk,” Demeter said, and it seemed to immediately understand her order despite not receiving one. It moved forward gently grabbing her with one of its massive hands.
“Just so you know,” Demeter told Tiffany, “If you are lying to me? It’s gonna bite you in the ass later. Just keep your fingers crossed that no Buginium hits the market soon...”
She looked away. “Or Guz’ll get real ticked.”
The Pokémon’s feet began to spew fire as it hovered back into the air, before rocketing off into the night. The remaining Team Skull Grunts sent out a few weaker flying-types, not fit for battle, but they made for a quick escape.

30 Minutes Ago...

Po Town was nearly silent. Most of their force had gone to snag the alleged Buginium Z, leaving just a few hanging around, chatting about, or heading indoors to head to bed, as it was dark out. Little to their knowledge, something was watching them from the shadows, moving nearer and nearer, as black as its surroundings, more silent than a mouse, and with a deadly intention.

"Kinda wish we could still spray paint stuff."
A female Grunt was leaning against a light post, arms folded as she stared at her male partner, who was standing awkwardly nearby, hands in the pockets of his saggy pants. "We gotta keep this place lookin' fresh, yo." He replied, blinking lazily, and getting a shrug from her in reply.
With the quietest clink of metal, something landed at the top of the lamp post, going unnoticed by the two Grunts.
The Batman pulled a batarang out of his utility belt, and chucked it with a skilled arm. The metal bat-shaped boomerang sailed through the air, heading down a row of lamp posts, before returning back to him, slicing just under the bulbs of the lights as it went, taking out an entire row and showering the ground beneath with broken glass.

Before the two Grunts could even react, the dark figure dropped to the ground between them. Wasting no time, he grabbed them both by the back of their heads, and brought them together. Their heads slammed against one another, knocking them out before they could even utter a word. He left their unconscious bodies behind, progressing deeper into the main base of operations belonging to Team Skull. If everything was going according to plan, Guzma should be home.
Still cloaked in the black of night, the Batman stalked his way nearer toward Guzma's home of residence, silencing any and all Grunts that accidentally found themselves in his path.

Gamefreak-USUM-27
Po Town
Guzma

“This is totally lame,” Guzma scoffed, arms folded, leaned up against a wall. He was in the first floor of the house that stood in the back of Po Town, all the lights off, but his eyes had luckily adjusted to the darkness. “I should be out there gatherin’ that Buginium Z, yo! I’m itchin’ for some action!”
“I’m sure it’ll all turn out fine!” a cheerful, upbeat voice insisted, that of a female Team Skull Grunt. She was standing beside a male one, who looked super paranoid, probably afraid of the dark or something of the sort.
“Yeah, yeah, I just wanna get out there, you dig?” Guzma rolled his head to one shoulder, popping his stiff neck a bit.
“I totally dig, boss!” the grunt nodded quickly. “Why did Demi leave you here, anyways?”
“Beats me, just said somethin’ about ‘expecting company.’ But she’s capable… I’m sure she’ll get a truckload of them crystals!”
“Hey, boss? Why do you want those Z-Crystals so bad, anyways? We can’t even use them…”
“Well, I, uh… see, I have this little deal…”
“What kind of deal?” she asked, clearly the curious type. Guzma let out a sigh, before walking over to her, nearly half a foot taller even with his poor posture.
“Now, what I’m about to tell you doesn’t leave this house, got it?”
“Got it!”
“You see, a while ago, I was contacted by this person…”

————

Batman’s eyes narrowed when he arrived at the house, concealed by the shadows. Every window was carefully boarded up, the front door shut, and presumably locked. Getting in without alerting anyone would be a bit tricky, but likely nothing he couldn’t handle. On the other hand, it seemed that Team Skull was preparing for company, so he’d have to be extra careful.

Luckily, most of the grunts outside had been knocked out, the remainder either indoors or out assisting in the robbery. The unconscious men and women were lying all around the town, groaning in their unwelcomed sleep.

Silently, the Dark Knight approached the front door. The interior was dark, but he could hear muffled voices inside. The Batman simply tapped something on the side of his cowl, and his eye holes began to glow a bright white, before shifting to a rather threatening shade of red, casting a faint glow on the house in front of him. Through his own eyes, a layout of the house began to appear in front of him. Lucius Fox, Tiffany's deceased father, had designed this type of equipment for Bruce, which Tiffany had since improved on. The walls turned blue, before he could see through them, seeing small details, like the wires through the walls. Then he saw the heat signatures of three individuals inside the building.

One tall, a few inches taller than Batman himself if he weren't geared up, and two shorter individuals, presumably Grunts. Guzma was hunched over them, his mouth moving, speaking to them. Focusing on it, Batman could then pick up what they were saying, his tech digitally enhancing the audio feed.
“-who knew about my haul of Buginium." Guzma's voice came in. "He’s got a biiiig heap o’ cash he’s gonna gimme once I sell it to him. Might even start that bug-based thing that those weird Kahunas refuse to.”

They clearly weren't discussing anything Bruce cared about. Or rather, he'd just missed some crucial details he'd have liked to hear. Without giving any warning at all, Batman pulled his fist back, and slammed it through one of the wooden planks, shattering through both it and the window behind it, shoving his arm inside, immediately using one of his many grappling hooks- this one on his wrist -to grab hold of the male Grunt, the wire wrapping around him before the other Grunt and Guzma had any idea what was happening.
With a firm tug, the Grunt was flung to the wall, slamming his head against it- hard. It was an OHKO, and the wire loosened to slide back into Batman's gauntlet as he pulled his arm out, using the powered boots he wore to leap up into the air, gaining incredible height, and landing on top of the house, stealth tech activated. He barely even made a sound, and with his Infiltration Vision still activated, he watched Guzma and the Grunt inside react to what he'd just done.

GF-USUM-27
Po Town
Guzma & Grunt(s)

After a few seconds of initial hesitation and shock, the female grunt clung to Guzma’s arm, eyes watering as she stared at the male grunt’s unconscious body. “Is Felix dead?!” she questioned, sounding out of breath. Guzma let out a long sigh, glaring at the window that had been shattered. It seemed Demeter’s ‘feeling’ hadn’t been too far off. Now he understood why she’d left him at Po Town- he was meant to deal with this unwelcome guest. And judging from what had just happened, he highly doubted that this intruder planned to fight fairly.

Guzma, with the female grunt still beside him, approaching Felix, the grunt squirming in his knocked-out state.
“Might be a nasty concussion,” Guzma commented with another heavy sigh. “Gonna have to have Dem take a look when she gets back,” he muttered, barely audible enough for the other grunt to hear.
“Come on, we should get him to the treasure room,” Guzma stated, pulling a pokeball out of his pocket and tossing it. A large centipede-like Pokémon with a magenta body and two razor sharp-looking horns emerged in a flash of red light. Its yellow eyes shone dimly in the darkness, its many feet scuttling on the ground- for something so huge, its movements were shockingly quick.

“Oooh, I get it!” the pink-haired girl nodded, looking relieved that her fellow grunt was still breathing. “Scolipede will be our bodyguard on the way up! So the same thing doesn’t… happen to us…” she gulped.

“Exactly!” Guzma nodded, lifting Felix over his shoulder without too much effort. “Once we set him down, I’ll handle our guest personally. Nobody messed with Team Skull like that and gets away without a thorough beatdown.”

The conscious grunt nodded in agreement, following Guzma up the stairs in the direction of the throne/treasure room, Scolipede scuttling beside them, keeping an eye out for potential threats. They made it up the stairs and to the door without interference- and when the door opened, there didn’t seem to be anything particularly worrying inside. Within a few moments, Felix was set in Guzma’s throne, the female grunt standing beside him, looking very worried.

“Alright. I’m gonna be headin’ off to see if I can’t find out where that fool went. If anything happens, you shout, ya dig? Send a buddy out for good measure, just to be safe.”

“Yes boss!” she nodded quickly, following his advice and plucking a pokeball from her pocket, tapping the button on it, allowing the creature within to emerge. A long and somewhat slender serpent-like Pokémon, with narrow red eyes, and equally red fangs. Its green and yellow body would have seemed quite a bit larger if it wasn’t all huddled up to itself, bending in a zigzag pattern.
“...alright, that should do it,” Guzma nodded in approval.

With that, Guzma stepped out of the room with Scolipede, closing the door behind him as he went, leaving the Grunt with her Seviper. She pursed her lips, glancing about the room. This room was one of the few places in the house that wasn't doused in darkness, as the light was on- but that didn't last. Suddenly, the room grew brighter, the single lightbulb illuminating the room overcharging. Just as quickly as it had grown in brightness, it burst in a shower of glass and sparks.

The grunt squinted in the darkness, taking a few moments for her vision to fully return. While she was mostly fearful, her Seviper seemed more suspicious and cautious, sliding its way around the room, not leaving an inch unchecked. The grunt looked over at Felix, who luckily hadn’t been decapitated while her vision had been compromised. At least she knew this wasn’t a horror movie now.
“Sevy, I’m scared...” she whispered to Seviper, who changed its path, coiling a tail around her leg reassuringly.

Seviper suddenly let out a hiss, turning its attention to the closet door, clearly detecting something. "What is it?" The Grunt asked, her voice a whisper as Seviper slowly slithered its way toward the closed door.
The sound of a click turned their attention to the front door, but just as soon as the door opened, a flash of bright light blinded the pair. What followed was the sound of a bang, a heavy thud, and the sound of rocks hitting the floor, scattering about in all directions.

By the time her vision returned, she found that her best Pokemon was on the ground, unconscious. "Crap." She gasped, reaching for a second Pokeball, only to feel a hand grab the back of her head, and slam her against the wall. With that, everything went black.

The Batman let the Grunt fall to the ground in a heap, and looked about the room. Plenty of Buginium Z lying about in various chests, most of it presumably stolen.

GF-USUM-27
Po Town
Guzma

Guzma stopped dead in his tracks. His patrol of the house’s interior had so far come up without any results. Any good results, at least. He had discovered a half-eaten box of graham crackers and a Dewpider hiding in the bathroom for whatever reason, but no intruder.
It was then that the slam rang through his ears, coming from the upstairs room.
“What...” he blinked, Scolipede scuttling about beside him. In an instant, both of them were rushing up the stairs, quickly arriving at the painted door. The Team Skull Boss opened it the moment he could get a grip on the handle, expecting the worst.

He immediately found his Grunt accomplice lying on the ground, unconscious, and the Seviper nearby, as equally unconscious as her. The ground around them was full of broken shards of glass and bits of rocks, obviously from the move Stealth Rock.

Guzma kneeled before her body, taking a quick inspection. Judging from the obvious blow to the head, she’d been given the same treatment as Felix.
“Sorry, Myra...” he mumbled under his breath, gently picking her up and setting her beside the unconcious Felix. The throne was big enough for both of them, luckily. Seviper had been KOed too... brutal. Now he was *really* itching for revenge.

Behind him, the door slammed closed, and a humming sound filled the air. Scolipede moved protectively close to Guzma, whose eyes could barely penetrate the darkness.

Guzma could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rise to attention. What the hell was that noise? Some sort of imminent attack? It didn’t seem to be growing louder, though... and there were no opponents in sight. That being said? His intruder was on the other side of the door. He moved in, touching the handle.
The instant he made contact, he felt sparks shoot through his body, threatening to make him collapse. It was a miracle he hadn’t wrapped his entire hand around the damn thing, otherwise he’d have definitely blacked out. Scolipede seemed to understand the situation, surging forward and slamming into the door, ripping it right off its hinges and sending it down the stairs, handle and all.
...Guzma would have to repair that later.

On the other side of the door was nothing. Scolipede had already been lightly damaged by the Stealth Rock and the glass, though mostly the former, which was clearly the intruder's intention. The room had been a trap. Now, however, he was out, and the intruder was nowhere to be seen. Not a sound could be heard coming from anywhere but Guzma's own breathing.

Guzma folded his arms. “Tch. Looks like our intruder’s too afraid to face me like a man,” he said to Scolipede, who clicked its horns together, perhaps to express amusement. Guzma could tell he wasn’t alone, and he intended to exterminate this pest.

Slowly, with Scolipede taking up the rear, he made his way back down the stairs and into the living room. Finally, he found the intruder. A man in all black, standing in the center of the room, staring coldly back at Guzma.

Guzma cracked his knuckles as they made eye contact, a wild and ruthless look on his face. The Team Skull Boss’s face was split into an insincere grin, having finally found the source of the night’s problems.
And frankly, he wasn’t surprised that it was this weirdo who’d been popping up on the news lately. Scolipede’s many legs clicked against the ground with anticipation.
“Steamroller,” Guzma hissed through grit teeth.

The Scolipede rolled over several more stealth rocks as it went, revealing that the entire room had been well-placed with the attack. While Scolipede was very fast, the Batman proved to match it in speed, leaping up and over it. While in the air, he shot his grappling hook forward, lodging it in the ceiling and propelling himself forward. It detached from the ceiling as he called the line back, hurtling toward Guzma, turning his body about to strike out a heavy kick to the Team Skull Boss.

GF-USUM-27
Po Town
Guzma

The Team Skull Boss had surprisingly quick reflexes, and managed to step his way out of the stranger’s line of trajectory, the intruder managing to make a somewhat graceful landing, rather than crashing into the wall. Guzma stepped his way over a few bothersome rocks that had been left on the ground- yet another thing he would have to clean up later. Scolipede seemed to be adjusting to the unusual terrain, its speed a bit hindered by its attempts to avoid the stones. Said Bug-type began to make its way back up the stairs again, hissing with each stone it passed.

Guzma glared at the intruder, obviously not too happy about all of this. Not only had the nuisance KOed his grunts, but he was trying to get him, now. Well, Guzma wasn’t planning to go down without a fight. Straightening his back a bit, the Team Skull Boss yanked another pokeball from his pocket, Scolipede hissing in delight when it laid eyes on said ball.

"I'm not playing your games."
The armored figure growled, his voice mechanically deep, and disturbing as he tapped his wrist, and suddenly, an electromagnetic pulse ejected out of his suit, lighting up the bat symbol on his chest with an electric blue. As the blast phased through the house, and Guzma's Pokeballs, the balls locked up, temporarily blocking Guzma from opening them.

“I’m not lookin’ to play any games with you,” Guzma stated firmly, tapping the button on his pokeball, finding that it wouldn’t respond. That was annoying, but oh well. Scolipede had now reached the top of the stairs, raring to go. A physical attack, however, would be too risky, so Guzma opted to play it a bit safer.
“Toxic!” he ordered, prompting the colossal insect to spew a deep, purple liquid at the intruder, coming out in rapid shots, likely helped due to the Pokémon’s steadily increasing speed.

The liquid splashed over the Batman, sizzling over him as it went, but it didn't seem to bother him in the slightest as he darted forward, barreling into Guzma and slamming him into the wall with his forearm, bringing the Team Skull leader off the ground by a few inches, arm digging into his throat.
The Dark Knight needn't explain why the poisonous shower hadn't worked. His suit was made from a special kind of steel, which poison, unfortunately, was useless against.

Scolipede didn’t seem to bother awaiting a command this time around, stepping on several Stealth Rocks as it barreled toward the Dark Knight, slamming its head into the intruder’s as hard as it could, before flinging him over to the stairs with a forceful thrash of the neck. Guzma took a deep breath, clearing his throat a bit as he felt the air finally begin to return, his grin no longer pleasant as he regained his footing, arms folded.

The Batman flew through the air, and with grace as before, hit the stairs with his arms, pushing against them with his added momentum to flip once, and land on his feet at the top, crouched, staring down at the pair. His eye holes suddenly illuminated a scarlet color, the brightest thing in the house what with the power being out, and he pulled something out from under his cloak. Wordlessly, the Knight flung two small orbs out and down the stairs, before they let out a hiss and started filling the room with heavy, black smoke. In mere seconds the room was thick with it, and the only thing Guzma or Scolipede could see was a pair of red, glowing eyes out of the corners of their own, disappearing before they had a chance to register it.

Guzma clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, placing a hand on Scolipede to ensure the two wouldn’t get separated by this trickster in the darkness.
“Protect,” Guzma ordered. A flash of bright blue light emitted from Scolipede, and a split second later, a protective barrier surrounded the two. Guzma yanked his phone from his pocket, turning on his flashlight while also noticing a text from Demi.
’On my way.’

As the tar-black smoke clouded their eyes, making the light blue aura of the shield just barely visible, a sudden flash of brilliant purple light flared before them, before striking the shield- and shattering it. It didn't stop there, however, continuing on to strike Scolipede in a head-on collision. The murky figure that had led the attack swooped back into cover, disappearing from sight.
They obviously weren't dealing with your run-of-the-mill trainer. This one knew what he was doing.

Guzma grit his teeth, beyond frustrated. He wasn’t scared- big bad Guzma didn’t fear anything. This was just wildly annoying- he could deal with it, though. Scolipede appeared to be growing just as ticked off as its trainer, legs scuttling against the ground at a rapid pace. “Iron Defense,” Guzma ordered, pulling out a pinkish, plastic spray-like bottle from the pocket of his jacket, and began to spray his partner with it. Scolipede’s body shone brilliantly in the darkness, its body becoming twice as durable, in addition to the pink liquid helping it recover from the damage it had taken.
Whoever this masked ass was, Guzma knew one thing for certain... they were a coward, hiding in the darkness.

Just as Scolipede recovered, it was struck by another, far more powerful move, out of the shadows. They saw it coming all too late, as the smoke around them suddenly lit up brightly with a powerful red glow, and the fiery ball had slammed into the Scolipede, knocking it back into a wall, which broke under its weight, allowing the Pokemon to crash through. The house shook as whatever had sent the Incinerate move began to move forward, a low, guttural sound coming from whatever Pokemon this man had.

Guzma raised an eyebrow. That was brutal. He quickly turned to the destroyed wall, leaping through, far more concerned about Scolipede than he was about the damages. Once he reached the next room, he quickly found himself even more concerned. Scolipede was still standing, raring to go despite its evident injuries.
“Hey, bud, it’s cool,” Guzma assured the Bug-type, walking up in front of it. “Listen, I can’t exactly use these manually...” he produced a pokeball from his pocket. “Wanna try Baton Pass?”
Scolipede stared at its trainer, before giving a slow, silent nod. The Team Skull Boss’s hopes were answered, Scolipede returning into its pokeball in a flash of light, only for a new one in Guzma’s pocket to open up, sending out something new.
And oh, was he glorious. Guzma’s one and only Golisopod, standing at the ready.

The smoke in the room slowly but surely began to clear, revealing a behemoth of a Pokemon standing at the opposite end of the room, flaming coals making up its fiery back, mouth opening slowly as it breathed, showing off its fiery insides for a split second. The Coalossal towered over Golisopod, growling deeply as it stared down its target, one of its short arms raising an almost stake-like rock, which Guzma immediately recognized as Stone Edge, which would be a brutal hit on Golisopod if it landed.

The Coalossal took a step back from the attack, clearly hurt by it, almost stunned, before taking a step forward, and roaring once again. The Pokemon raised a foot, before stomping down. A shockwave emitted from it, flinging stealth rocks all over the place, and knocking Guzma onto his rear, dust cascading from the ceiling, the building's foundation threatening to collapse. Earthquake. It barely seemed to affect Golisopod, much to Guzma's amusement. But the building was struggling to remain standing, a wooden beam above the Coalossal dislodging and coming down over its mountainous body, breaking in half, each end clattering on either side of the Pokemon. At this moment, the Team Skull Leader realized the attack wasn't against Golisopod, but rather, against the house itself.
Before Guzma could do much else, his Pokemon grew restless. Too restless, racing forward with another Liquidation attack. However, while it was distracted, Guzma felt two arms much bigger than his wrap around his torso, and felt gravity shift.
The Batman had just suplexed him into the next room. And hard.
Meanwhile, as the Golisopod landed its attack, the Coalossal still wielded its Stone Edge rock, and stabbed forward. Fortunately for the bug Pokemon, it was quick enough to just barely avoid the attack, merely getting grazed on the back of its shell. The moment it turned to find Batman standing over a dazed Guzma, it rushed forward with a screech, but was immediately stopped by a sudden burst of slashes tearing through the air, striking against the Golisopod and knocking it back, a Decidueye landing on the ground in front of the Pokemon, eyes piercing into it as the Coalossal lumbered forward. The attack had dealt far more damage than it should have, and was immediately explained when the Decidueye performed a Swords Dance in front of the Golisopod, presumably for the second time since this fight had began.

Guzma was about to stand up and knock a few of this bastard’s teeth right out of his face, fists clenched so tight that he was nearly impaling himself with his own fingernails. Before he could, however, the sound of the front door creaking open stopped him.
In the doorway stood a woman with sunset-orange hair- the one and only Demeter. Her gaze was cold and unamused. She didn’t look angry, or even concerned at the state of the house. Just... tired, really tired.

“Alright... let me handle this,” she sighed, looking at Golisopod, who gave a nod of understanding, leaping and bounding its way up to stairs to help out Guzma. Demeter, meanwhile, stood before the Decidueye and Coalossal, both of which were fearsome Pokémon, but she didn’t even look bothered.
“Go for it,” she said, prompting something to flicker into existence behind the avian Pokémon, a towering golem, the same height as Coalossal, in fact. Its massive hand snatched Decidueye up, squeezing unforgivingly, before slamming the poor Grass-type directly into Coalossal’s body with Dynamic Punch.

Batman narrowed his eyes. This wasn't according to plan. Tiffany hadn't stalled for long enough, it seemed. Now he had to face the stranger's mutant Golurk.
With the new, much larger threat, the Batman grabbed Guzma by his shirt collar, raised him up, and just as the man was about to retaliate, he got a set of armored knuckles to the face, immediately knocking him out- and breaking his nose in the process.
Not even a second later, the Golisopod had slammed into Batman, sending him hurtling through another wall, and outside of the building, landing with a grunt on his back.

The Decidueye recovered immediately, sweeping itself gracefully back to its feet. In typing, it outclassed the Golurk. Especially with its moveset, which it proceeded to display, slashing its wings at the Golurk in Leaf Blade, while the Coalossal let out another guttural bellow, and stomped, sending out another shockwave. The house began to crumble, unable to take such a powerful Earthquake again.

Golisopod looked down at its unconcious trainer, scooping Guzma up in its arms and throwing the man over its shoulder. Pokémon... tended not to like it when someone beat up on their trainer, especially when that trainer was Guzma. After all, he was supposed to be the one beating down opponents.

“Be a little faster,” Demeter told her companion, before disappearing from the doorway to go and see how their *new friend* was doing. She nearly let out a chuckle when she saw the man laying on his back, having taken a direct hit from the obviously powered-up Golisopod.
Golurk crossed its arms in an X formation, managing to take the Leaf Blade without too much struggling. Decidueye was a formidable opponent, and Golurk seemed to realize this. On the contrary, Coalossal threatened to topple the house right over, so that was the priority.
Or... Golurk could simply kill two birds with one stone. Or, more accurately, one Shadow Punch. Golurk’s fist collided with Decidueye midair, once again pressing the surprisingly durable grass-type right into Coalossal’s heated back, hard enough to send all three of the Pokémon crashing through the wall in a storm of crunching boards and shattering glass. Miraculously, the house didn’t cave in then and there, but it obviously couldn’t endure much more.

Batman turned his head to look at the approaching Demeter, and got to his feet, glancing down at his chest. The armor had a gnarly, spider-webbing crack in it. If he hadn't been wearing this, the Golisopod would no doubt had killed him on contact.
Regardless, the wind had been knocked out of him, and he was aching. But that didn't make him useless. "You're the Thief from the Aether Foundation." Batman stated, his voice deepener still fully functional.

The Decidueye still didn't seem to be getting tuckered out, as it performed another Swords Dance, raising its attack to the maximum, before using a held item as the Coalossal charged at the Golurk, Stone Edge shard aimed to strike the opposing Pokemon.
The held item happened to be an X-Speed, as the Decidueye took off into the air, busting through the ceiling as it went.

“Your point?” Demeter asked as Golisopod leapt down from above, still holding onto the KOed Guzma, who let out a light groan. “This is your only chance to retreat,” the redhead stated firmly, arms hanging loosely at her sides. “And I mean it, too. You wanna keep going?” she asked, looking like she already knew what the answer was, and she knew she wasn’t going to like it.

Golurk let out a loud, distorted battle cry, placing one hand on each side of Coalossal as it was struck with Stone Edge. The clash certainly would have gone on much longer if Coalossal hadn’t been struck by Liquidation earlier. It was now appearing to finally grow tuckered out, and toppled over in a massive heap as Golurk planted another Dynamic Punch in the Rock and Fire-type’s center.

"You already know the answer, *Demeter*." Batman replied, fists sparking up with electric energy, before he slammed them together.
Another burst of energy was unleashed, this one not a magnetic pulse, as it was more of a shock wave. Electrifying force boomed out of this attack, knocking back Demeter and the Golisopod carrying Guzma. When they recovered from the light attack, they found that the Batman had disappeared.

The Coalossal let out one more groan, before collapsing fully, knocked out. The Golurk was about to follow the Decidueye, before it came crashing through the ceiling, slamming into the Golurk with a violet force of energy that forced the Pokemon to its knees.
It reached out to grab the Decidueye, but the avian Pokemon was faster, flapping just out reach as a small bat-shapped blade suddenly lodged in the Golurk's shoulder, going unnoticed until it suddenly erupted with a far more powerful explosion than something of that size should pack.
This forced the Golurk to lurch forward, catching itself with its arms, before another Phantom Force attack from above slammed it into the ground as the Coalossal disappeared in a flash of light.

Demeter wasn’t really surprised at the sudden disappearance of the stranger, turning to Golisopod.
“Hand him over. Decidueye’s all yours,” she informed the Bug-type, who reluctantly allowed Demeter to take Guzma. She laid the Team Skull Boss in the grass below, kneeling as she checked out the damages.

Golisopod, having had its speed and defense wildly boosted from earlier, tore its way toward Decidueye with an X-Scissor at the ready. Said avian Pokémon only noticed the rapidly approaching insect when it was too late, taking the unforgiving strike head-on. The bird Pokémon hit the ground with a thud, Golisopod landing right beside it, towering above with a cold glare.
Quick to bounce back, Decidueye used Leaf Blade to catch its opponent off guard, but was met with a counter, another X-Scissor. Under normal circumstances, the battle would be over in Golisopod’s favor, but luckily for Batman’s ally, Swords Dance had given Leaf Blade enough strength to not be torn through by X-Scissor.

Golurk got to its feet, dirt crumbling down from its massive body, head rotating, searching for the *true* threat. White fire spewed from the golem’s feet, rocketing it up into the air for a bird’s eye view, a massive Shadow Ball appearing in it’s hands.

Coalossal’s form vanished in a flash of red light, before the Dark Knight revealed himself, pulling his arm back, cape cloaking his movements, before throwing three small beads at Golurk. Said beads erupted in explosions similar to that of the earlier batarang, knocking the engineered Pokemon back a pace, letting out an almost mechanical bellow, before shooting into the air, jets of flames blasting from its feet, pulling an arm back to strike at the Batman. Its fist became engulfed in fire, but the vigilante was quicker, using his grappling hook to easily zipline himself out of harm’s way, before pulling out a third Pokeball from his utility belt. He only cast it a single glance, knowing full-well that this was his last available Pokemon. However, he’d chosen is for the sole purpose of battling this Golurk. He always came prepared- or at least he tried.
Wordlessly, the Batman threw a small capsule to the ground at his feet, which erupted in smoke, rather than explosive force and flames. As he was engulfed by the flames, the Golurk made to charge him once again, fist rearing back, this time empowered with Dynamic Fist.
Through the smoke, a large green-clad fist, leading to a white fur-covered arm, sung in from the side, the fist encased in ice, and it smashed into the side of Golurk’s head, knocking it to the ground. The force from each shared attack blew the lingering smoke away, revealing an Abomasnow standing over the Golurk.

Batman stood beside it, pulling a small stone from his utility belt, before activating it. Immediately, Abomasnow was enveloped in a flash of white light, his form increasing. Just as quickly as it had begun, the light vanished, and the Mega Abomasnow bellowed a gutteral cry at the Golurk, who’d returned to its feet by now.
Without a second of breath between the two, Abomasnow leaped forward, another Ice Punch slamming into the Golurk, who seemingly absorbed the attack, grabbing Abomasnow’s arm with one arm, before slamming its other fist into the ice Pokemon’s face, sending it flying back, twisting through the air, before crashing onto its back. Golurk leaped into the air, projected forward by its thrusters, fists bursting into flames once again. While the Golurk had a slight edge in speed, the distance allowed Abomasnow to conjure a wooden hammer into one of its arms, deftly swinging upward, and cutting off Golurk’s attack with a swift uppercut, launching it back, flipping, before regaining itself midair, and blasting off toward Abomasnow this time, slamming the slightly smaller Pokemon into the earth with a thundering crash. With his stubby, yet powerful, hind legs, Abomasnow kicked the Golurk off of himself as a set of clouds rolled in overhead, blocking out the sliver of a moon, and a rush of cold wind swept its way through Po Town. A stillness hung in the air for a moment, before sheets of ice and snow began tearing through the air at high speeds, blowing debris away, and quickly covering the ground in a white powder. The Golurk raised an arm in an attempt to shield itself from the ice, its opponent obscured from vision. Before it could do much else, an Ice Fist slammed into its side. Golurk swung a heavy punch in the direction where the attack had come from, but hit nothing. Another Ice Fist collided with its leg, knocking it down to a knee. Another swing proved fruitless, and a third Ice Punch slammed squarely in the Golurk’s face, knocking it down to the ground.

Guzma’s house was in ruins as Golisopod crashed through the remaining supporting walls, flung by a powerful attack by the Decidueye. As the Golisopod made to get up, what was left of the house crashed down on top of it. As snow buffeted the Pokemon, it stood still and firm, glaring at the pile of rubble. With a burst of energy, the Golisopod erupted from it, and dashed toward Decidueye, jabbing forward its clawed hands, slamming them into Arrow Quill Pokemon, before a last backhand launched Decidueye flying into the air, before it spread its wings, catching the wind of the blizzard, and disappearing from sight, reappearing once again, soaring through the air at ground-level, and slammed into Golisopod, barreling it through the air, before twirling, slashing Golisopod’s chest with Air Slash, and slamming it into the ground. Decidueye took to the air once again, flipping backward, before diving down to land the finishing blow on Golisopod, who acted quickly enough to avoid that fate- for now.
While Golisopod was at a disadvantage in every way possible, what with it being out of league in typing, level, power, and speed, it still hung on, launching a jet of water that slammed into the Decidueye, stopping it short, allowing Golisopod to leap up, dealing several more jabs with its powerful claws, and a finishing slash that tossed the opponent away, flailing through the air. Golisopod crashed to its feet, and began to stalk toward the grounded bird Pokemon, before Decidueye whirled about, slashing its wing in an effortless attack that struck Golisopod dead-center, and knocked it off its feet, everything going dark…

Golurk was beneath Abomasnow, fury growing with each Ice Punch the Abomasnow slammed into its face. Punch after punch after punch- it was severely weakening the Automaton Pokemon, who finally collected enough speed and strength to slam a flaming fist into the Abomasnow’s gut, launching it back with a cry of pain, a smoldering fist-print burned into its chest. The Frost Tree Pokemon looked down at its body, before bellowing in fury, and barreling toward Golurk, who’d returned to its feet as the blizzard finally died down, leaving a frozen town behind. Curling its fist into a ball, the Golurk held its ground as Abomasnow charged, roaring as it went, fists encasing in ice, before-
CRACK!
The Abomasnow hung in the air, suspended for a moment, eyes wide in surprise as it felt its rib cage physically snap under the power of the engineered Golurk, who’s fist was embedded into the same mark it had left on its opponent moments before. As this second passed, the Abomasnow was suddenly blasted back, weightlessly flying through the air, before crashing into an adjacent home, which came crashing down around it. The ice Pokemon was knocked out.
But Golurk’s troubles weren’t over, as a smaller Pokemon suddenly slammed into its arm, bringing it down to the ground, before a Leaf Blade slashed upward, cracking Golurk’s head up. Before it even had time to recover and fight back, the Decidueye launched the much larger Golurk back with a Phantom Force, before taking to the sky, glowing a pale green for a moment, using Synthesis to recover health and stamina.

There was one thing Demeter noticed as she watched the Abomasnow’s body go flying. The Batman had disappeared. As soon as that thought crossed her mind, she felt a boot kick her leg, knocking her to her knees, and a large arm pulling her into a choke hold. Unable to speak, she opted to fight back instead, thrusting her elbow back and hitting the Batman in the gut- which seemed to do nothing, except maybe tickle him. His armor could withstand powerful Pokemon attacks, there really wasn’t much she could do to it except shatter her own bones against it, so instead, she opted to use his superior weight against him. She had no doubts she was faster and wittier. Grabbing his cowled head, she dropped while pulling with practiced ease, and pulled herself from the choke hold by flinging the Batman over her shoulder, who immediately landed on his hands, before pushing off and swinging his leg across her face mid-air, knocking her back several steps. “I’ll admit, this would be easier if you took off the armor.” She told him. “Not happening.” was his only gruff reply before he launched forward, kicking off the ground as though his leg were a spring, and bringing a fist down at her, which she avoided by taking a step back, grabbing his outstretched arm and using his momentum to throw him to the ground. Just as soon as he hit the snow, her fist connected with the only exposed bit of flesh he had- his jaw.
He took the hit, appearing unphased as his forearm slammed into her gut, and she moved to get out of the way before his boot connected with her head, knocking her down. One thing was certain, he was definitely spry for someone in full-body armor. She recovered as quickly as she could, ears ringing from the hit, but didn’t let any weakness show. “Done? It’s my turn.” She stated, and moved forward, launching a punch which he made to block. It would have been an easy block if she hadn’t feigned, and slammed her fist under his arm. More armor that didn’t even phase him. She stepped back from a jab and kicked at his waist, meeting the same results. She was searching for a weak spot aside from his exposed face, but it was obvious he’d been in fist-fights before, or was at least knowledgeable enough to know what soft spots to cover up. Though leaving the face exposed seemed pretty stupid. With a sudden burst of speed, she leaped up, planting both feet on his chest, and kicked off, launching herself through the air and knocking the Batman back.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that she was a little out of her league here. If he was without the armor, maybe she’d stand more of a chance, but the way this guy moved was unlike anything she’d seen before. If he was any more lethal, he probably would have killed her by now, and she was powerless to stop it.

Unless, of course…

He was back on his feet faster than you could say ‘you suck’, but met with a long, thick blade that slashed against his chest, cutting deep into his armor with ease. His eyes narrowed at the Dragon Fang she utilized. Unconventional use of the item, but it was clearly effective, as she made to stab it into him, but met his forearm in resistance, blocking her attack, as he jabbed his other fist into her face, knocking her back, blood now running down her nose, far more crimson than her now frizzy red hair. Following this, a back and forth ensued between the two, with Demeter making to cut through his armor and land more blows. She was fast, quick enough to put the Dark Knight on the defensive for now, as he dodged and blocked and counterattacked, matching her step for step.
Still, she managed to land several hits, cutting into his armor here or there, nothing too serious. That is, until she made to slash, and feinted, tossing the fang into her other hand and bringing it down on his shoulder. The fang pierced through his armor, cutting deep into his shoulder, and lodged itself, before she yanked it out. For the first time in the fight, the Batman looked pained as he grabbed at the gaping hole in his shoulder, blood now spurting from it.
She went to cut again, but by this point, her adversary had had enough, grabbing her arm, and twisting it roughly, forcing her to drop the blade before her arm was pulled into his arm pit, and he brought his other fist down. A sickly crack filled the air as her arm snapped backward. Without even given time to react, his hand found her throat, squeezing tightly and lifting her into the air. She struggled, of course, tearing at his arm with her good one, kicking her legs, but it was a fruitless effort as he held her in his vice grip. She made to grab an item from her pocket, desperate to get out of being choked to death, as the fierce eyes he wore told her he might do, but his gauntlet activated its shock, sending a jolt of electricity pulsing through her body. Through her constricted throat, she still managed to let out a scream, one that attracted her only saving grace.

Decidueye was met with a fist-full of rock that knocked him down, nearly knocking him out. Golurk raised its leg to stomp on the bird Pokemon, before hearing the guttural cry for help, turning swiftly to see Demeter struggling against the Dark Knight, who showed no signs of letting go. With the Decidueye seemingly apprehended, the Golurk launched forward, bringing its arm about, before landing behind the Batman and back-handing the man. The hit was powerful enough to send Batman flying, tearing through at least three buildings as he went, before coming to a crashing halt into a tree, leaving him to slump to the ground, blood still leaking out of his shoulder.
Golurk immediately grabbed Demeter, hoisting her into his arms, before grabbing Guzma, then stomping over to collect Golisopod. With that, its thrusters activated, and it took to the air, soaring away, and into the night.

Batman stared at the fading light that was Golurk, his vision blurry, everything darkening. The last thing he saw was the concerned face of a Decidueye before everything faded to black.

------

“Bruuuuce…”
…
“Yoo hoo…”
…
“Bruuuuuuuuce…”

Slowly, Batman opened his eyes, his head feeling light, his gut clenched, his body sore. “Finally!” A feminine voice beside him sighed in relief, one that he recognized. “Tiffany.” He greeted with a slight groan. “Are we at the Batcave?”
“Yup. You were really messed up, but Decidueye got you here fine.” Tiffany answered. “I patched you up as best as I could. I’m no Alfred, but…”
He raised an arm to feel the wound on his shoulder, and winced. He’d be feeling that for a week. “She got away.” He stated. “No shit. Did you get what we were after?”
“Better.” Batman replied. With that, he tried to stand, he arms and legs shaking as he forced himself to his feet. “Whoa, hey there dude, don’t push yourself.” Tiffany warned, standing up with him, offering an arm of support. He made no reply as he started to make his way to the computer mainframe. “I put a tracker on Demeter before that engineered Golurk took me down.” He explained. “Microscopic. Inserted into her blood stream.”
“Please never use that on me.” Tiffany shuddered. “Don’t give me a reason to.” Bruce shrugged in reply as he took a seat at the computer. He moved to type away at the keyboard, but groaned, grasping his chest. He had a few cracked ribs along with everything else, it seemed. He was too beaten to be on the field for a little while and he knew it.
Doing his best to ignore the pain, he began typing away at the computer, while also sparking up an important conversation with his sidekick. “I need you to go on an important mission for me.” He told her.
“Just as long as I don’t end up like you, I’m down.”
“Depends on how you operate.” He growled back. “That Golurk handled me and my team and still had steam left to take on more. It’s a huge threat, and there’s one thing that we can obtain that might be able to take it down.”
“That being…?” Tiffany asked, her interest peaking. “A legendary Pokemon located in the Kanto region.” Bruce replied. “Mewtwo. Nobody knows its whereabouts since it last appeared about five years ago, so Kanto is where you’ll start. I need you to bring Mewtwo back here. Convince him to aid us against Demeter and her stolen test subject.”
“Do you like… give me a masterball now or…?” Tiffany asked, raising a brow, to which Bruce shook his head. “You’re not capturing him. I’ve got it on good intel that he’s not a fan of it. You need to talk to him. He can psychically converse with humans, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Can’t be too hard.” Tiffany folded her arms, smirking. “I’ll be there and back in no time.”
“Watch out for a woman named Plumeria.” Batman added. “She’s the lieutenant of Team Skull. They consider her their ‘big sister’, and from what I’ve gathered, she’s on level with Guzma when it comes to battling skill.”
“Got it. Anything else?” The prodigy asked, seeming eager to get moving.
Batman paused, thinking for a moment. “...go ahead and get that Pokemon you were talking about. I got a feeling it’ll come in handy.”
“YES!” Tiffany pumped her fist in the air, doing a dance in-place, before straightening herself. “So how do I get to Kanto? Plane? Boat?”
“You’re swimming.” Bruce answered. The excitement disappeared from Tiffany’s face, replaced with shock, and an appalled expression. “...WHAT!?”
“Kidding. There’s a private yacht waiting for you at Konikoni City. It’ll be leaving once you board.” Relief washed over her as she let out a sigh. “Your sense of humor sucks.” At this, Bruce smiled.
“I’ll be in touch.”