#delasol

Once she was far enough away from the house, Dela reached inside her maw, pulling out a piece of newspaper with the headline “Local ‘mon Slays Monster. When Dela saw it at an early day she had a panic attack. That gave Mercy a scare.

What was she going to do now? She had no leads on where Keenan was, or even if they were alive. She could not just abandon her old friend and colleague to suffer on their own, but she would need to act fast in order to kill the two involved in Okyasu’s death. Whatever would come first would depend on what is in front of her, but her rage at this clefable and blastoise was unparalleled and both needed to pay.

---

In the storage room of OPP, Laramie was carrying several crates of cargo. Her natural strength made the three containers a cake walk to carry. Several of the interns, including Marajane, were monitoring the taur and making sure the packages were in the right spots. It was the intern's job to maintain the stock of different supplies and to make sure they were in their respective spots in the room.

“Alright Laramie, it looks like you only have these two crates of golett parts to carry, then we can call it quits,” said Marajane. Laramie was in a good mood due to how everything was going today. Stock was easy, she did not see sight or sound of either Leigh or Kieron, and Marajane was working with her. All in all, it was a good day considering her status as a criminal.

A sound that was metal being dragged on metal could be heard, some gasps from the interns drew their attention to one of the very people the fire type did not want to see. Kieron.

To everyone’s shock and fear, Kieron did not look very well, he was limping, while holding his arm to attempt to cover the deep slash mark in his armor. Many of the interns feared Kieron due to his status as a member of the Caged Angels, but also because of his background and his laundry list of crimes he committed in his time before, and even after, capture.

Laramie could be rough on the interns, but between the two members, the interns tended to side with the fire type. Mostly due to her not taking any of Kieron’s abuse or wrath, if he were to show it. She wanted to stop any of the interns from soiling themselves, but she had to wonder what happened to him to cause these injuries.

“What happened to you?” Laramie sounded cold but curious.

“Not gonna talk about it. All of you piss off and leave me be.” Kieron sounded bitter.

“So you are gonna sulk in a stock room and not even try to get your armor fixed?”

“Yes that is exactly it. Now all of you leave before I get pissed.” The mewtwo was sounding angrier by the moment. As he darted around he noticed Marajane pulling out her phone. On the screen, he noticed Leigh’s name. She was going to try and call this in.

Lashing out at her hand, he gripped the young girl’s wrist, which caused her to recoil. “Did I say to call this in?!” The psychic snarled.

Seeing Marajane’s scared reaction, Laramie quickly reached and ‘firmly grasped’ his hand. The grip was so ‘firm’ that a small crack could be heard as he was forced to let go of the human’s hand.

“Go ahead and call it in.”

After Marajane composed herself, she sent Leigh the message and quickly made her way back to the other interns to distance herself. Once she was far enough away Laramie weakened her grip. “Go sulk all you want, but don’t lash out at the interns.”

Kieron stopped struggling. “Fine. Just let go and leave me be.” The camerupt released the cyborg’s arm and he continued limping towards a corner of the storage room to be alone. Laramie had to try to get the interns away from Kieron as he had his own pity party, so she signaled them to leave.

---

Several miles away from most of the major cities in Unova, stands a single manor. This massive abode belongs to David Essex, OPP’s residential genetic research specialist.

Inside the manor, it was spotless, despite how infrequently David would visit the place. David would always mention to guests that this was his vacation house, the place he goes to escape or take a vacation when he needed to get away from OPP.

This was a lie.

While it looked like the mansion of a standard millionaire, it was more his private lab. A place where he kept many secret projects, both in progress and failed. Not to mention several artifacts from his many aliases and occupations over the decades.

In fact, the reason he was here today was that another artifact from his past had come back, and not in a good way. Baozihi was someone he always hated, it filled him with schadenfreude to know her kingdom was gone...until he found out her plan to rebuild it. Not to mention Hui was possibly alive as well, one of the few people in this world to make him feel fear. This problem needed to be solved and solved soon.

Descending to the deepest section of the manor, David noticed the walls covering the floors of the cave. The limestone would have cause any attempt to grow crops would have failed. Yet the flowers grew healthy and in great bundles, some of which were now considered a rarity as well. Deep in the cave was a light that was bright enough to give lighting a standard lamp would from far away.

David smiled. It seemed his greatest asset, and what he came here to see, was working as intended.

“It seems you have been growing a garden since I was away.”

No one replied. If anyone else was with him, they would call David mad, or at least that he was making some kind of joke. “I thank you for keeping this place looking nice, but I will need your assistance. But not just your life-giving powers. No no. That will come another time.”

Still no response.

“I can only trust this task to someone I consider an ally, a friend, someone strong enough to eradicate something that requires the force of a god. Baozihi has returned.”

A loud ‘clank sound’ could be heard. Following this noise, the light began to move towards him. This caused David to grin. “She is attempting to rebuild the kingdom. The one whose ideals of strength and might trump over compassion is what lead to the nation to ruin. It alienated you, drove you to me and made me stronger.”

The audible banging became faster, the intensity of the light increasing as David spoke. “I know we are as old as they are, but the difference between Baohzi and her ilk is that we adapted to the times. Their attempts to revive their kingdom will only lead to self-ruination due to how firmly stuck in the past she is. And when she fails, she will make sure everything goes with her.” Seeing the light coming increasingly closer, the humanoid formed a thin layer of skin to cover his eyes as to not bind himself.

As quick as the clanging began, it stopped. The humanoid gave a gleeful smile upon the massive behemoth that stormed his way towards him. The source of the light within the cave was finally facing him, causing a blinding light to surround the towering individual.

“It is time to revive the god of old, the name you chose yourself.”

The eyes of the illuminating giant pierced through the light.

“Show them why you have the title of Mithras.”