Pohe Vahoc
Phoenix Battalion
Bleu Plaza, Lumiose City, Kalos ---> Kiloude City, Kalos
Affected RPers: None

The world around them shimmered in pastel colors, the bustling metro of Lumiose City gradually blurring out to be replaced by unidentifiable shapes. During this time, movement was halted save for the slow beat of the heart or the rumble of an engine, and it was cool – a side effect of the portal magic. During this travelling, Pohe had plenty of time to think, and think she did. She had to find a way to make it so the timers halted the bomb, or otherwise didn’t work the way they intended it to do. Sabotaging her own work was out of the question – she simply had too much pride at stake. So what could she do?

Well, one idea was to put in a fault. When the bomb was activated and hit a certain time – in this case, she’d likely make it ten seconds left – the timer would reset to an indefinite time. Eventually, the battery of the timer would give out, effectively rendering the bomb without an ignition switch. After all, cutting communication was not the same as reaching zero, so different triggers would be involved. The only issue with this plan was that undoubtedly, someone would notice that the bomb hadn’t gone off, and judging from how crazy they were, they’d likely go in and set it off themselves. There was also a strong possibility no one would discover the bomb either.

So she crossed that idea off, for the most part, and thought about possibly creating some sort of beacon. This beacon would be magical in nature, and would specifically be designed to catch the attention of police – as well as making it urgently clear that it was a bomb – in the hopes that someone would come and disarm it. Again, however, she ran into the problem that the police likely wouldn’t get there in time, or perhaps even take it seriously. Yet another idea was thrown out the window.

So delaying wasn’t really effective, and calling the police had the same dilemma, with some viability left. She would still alert the police, yes, but she had to deal with the fact that, like it or not, that bomb had to go off by her own hands, rather than the Repressors. At least with her, there was a chance at saving people… and if the bomb went off, then there would be nothing left to reignite. So she had the bomb go off, but she needed to get rid of the explosion.

…Had she been able to move, she would have smacked herself. The answer came to her in the swirling bubble around them – portals! If she built in a portal inside the device, she could theoretically siphon the energy of the explosion elsewhere. She’d have to do it a few seconds before the explosion itself, to offer time for the portal to establish itself, as they were somewhat fragile. This was high energy, and an unstable portal would result in disastrous consequences. As to where to send the energy, ideally, if she knew where the Repressors were, she could send it there – but because she didn’t, she’d have to settle for one located in a safe area. Issue was, she had to set up the portal there too, and since she’d really like to have it open into the ocean, which would contain the explosion in the best and least harmful way possible, she’d have to go and set one up there. A portal that size, however, would draw attention by authorities, but if they couldn’t trace it back… Ugh, what a mess.

She was drawn out of her thoughts as a dull, piercing wail broke the silence. Harley’s horn drew her attention to the shimmering veil, the colors dulling rather than growing sharper and more defined. Thin, hairline cracks had formed around them, a sharp contrast to the magic as they were stationary amid the moving figures. Pohe’s breath caught in her throat as she recognized the beginnings of a portal failure, and she began to pray it would hold until they reached Kiloude City. The colors around them, however, continued to darken as the cracks grew wider. Moments passed as what seemed like years, and for a second she felt they were going to make it.

Then the cracks opened wide.

The sound that erupted around them was akin to glass shattering as well as an explosion, their hearing impaired as they struggled to regain their senses. She felt wind whistling by her face, and as she opened her eyes, she couldn’t help but give a started screech. They were tumbling high above a forest, Harley’s vents having been affected by the sudden change and were sputtering in an effort to reactivate. The enchantment was weakened by the backlash. It’s not just the vents!

“HARLEY!” she shouted over the wind, “GET YOUR TAILGATE BACK INTO THE AIR!” A few seconds passed as she grabbed the wheel and throttled the engine, the vents flaring as enough energetic fuel finally reached them. It was enough to make it so they didn’t outright die when they hit the ground, but they connected with the earth with enough force to set off alarms within the vehicle. One of the vents blew out, while another suddenly went into overdrive, propelling them down the mossy hill they had landed on and toward the trees.

Again, she screamed the truck’s name, and it seemed it finally realized the predicament they were in. Horn shrieking as it tried to maneuver its remaining vents, they were helpless as they careened through the brush. Turning her head to tell Java to use Psychic, she blinked in shock when she realized he was no longer beside her. From all the chaos that had happened, the Porygon 2 had either been ejected or fled in its confused state, and there was no time to call out anyone else. Pohe yanked the wheel in an effort to divert them from a head on crash with a rather impressive pine, and while that succeeded, Harley’s side smacked into it instead with an audible crunch.

Having been thrown off balance, the truck tried to rectify its orientation which only led to the rear vents misfiring, as they had been damaged in the hit. With only one or two vents working properly, they were thrown into a vicious spin as they tried to slow down. This wasn’t a bad thing, at the very least, as they were now stationary aside from the circling motion. If Harley simply cycled down, which judging from the decreasing engine roars it was, they could land where they now spun.

As they slowed down enough for her to get her stomach out of her throat, she glanced at the sun that was peeking through the trees. We must be somewhere halfway to Kiloude City. The portal failed… so we must have gotten lost en route. She realized, however, something odd about the sun. It appeared to be burning brightly, and moving quickly. Six ember wings beat the air as white and blue fur were lit orange by the fire that swirled around the Volcarona, and Pohe’s choice words were cut off by an impossibly loud bang as the Pokémon collided with Harley. Heat scorched the vehicle’s metal, melting at the initial impact and sending it backwards. Pohe’s face was eagerly greeted by the airbag, which had somehow not gone off through the entire ordeal.

While Harley muttered somewhat incoherently, it spun around with its vents, smashing the end its bed into the moth’s head and toppling it over where its face got blasted by the vent. Screeching in anger, electricity gathered around it, and Pohe held on tightly to the steering wheel as it suddenly blasted upward. Harley was thrown cabin-first into a nearby tree, the popping of a lightbulb heard as it became best friends with bark and the engine’s roar becoming a knocking, inconsistent mess. Upside down as they were, Pohe struggled to unclip the seatbelt, landing on her back with a loud ouch. She felt a warmth running down her face, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out she was beaten up pretty badly. Harley, she imagined, was in worse shape, and Java’s condition was unknown. There was no telling how well her experiments had surv…

My experiments! Fear and urgency washed through her anew, and ignoring the Volcarona and her own body’s complaints, she scrambled out of the broken window to glance. She could see the cloth was still intact, and it appeared that, for the most part, they hadn’t been touched – Harley’s efforts to conserve them had done well, and they were still securely strapped to the damaged bed.

Trying to pull herself out, the truck gave out a feeble honk. “PoHe…t…t…He…VoLCaRoNA…” She halted, glancing at the moth whose body appeared to have taken considerable damage. Most of it, she noted, had not been from Harley’s brief retribution, but as after effects of the Flare Blitz and Wild Charge. This Volcarona had hit them hard, but the attacks it had used preyed upon its weaker physical stature. It was as if it wanted to do as much damage as possible, yet didn’t want to kill them.

A figure emerged from the tree line, wearing a mask that seemed to resemble a Honchkrow, and an equally dark garb to match. “Hello, my dear.” Her heart sank as she recognized his voice as the one who had contacted her about the timers. “Did you honestly expect us to let our greatest asset simply go off on adventures without a chaperone? My, you are so smart, but oh so ignorant…” He walked over, leaning down and tapping the injury on her head, causing her to wince. “Now, we have a deal to finish, but the terms have been changed.” Without even seeing it, she knew his eyes had wandered to her secret project. “…And it appears you have brought us a gift. That will not save you, but we appreciate it all the same. We are not wholly ungrateful.” He grabbed her head and brought out a cloth, wrapping it tightly around her mouth. It had a sweet scent to it, and she felt her mind growing hazy.

The last thing she saw was the Volcarona levitating her machines out of the truck, and then a maelstrom of fire erupting from its jaws onto the disabled vehicle.

The last thing she heard was Harley’s mechanical, distorted scream rend the air and then promptly dissipate into crackling silence.

The last thing she thought?

Oh my Arceus, Harley really was alive. I’m so sorry, Harley. I’m so sorry! I thought... I really thought... What a mistake I made... What a mistake... I'm so sorry!

(It's a travel post...and not a travel post. More or less, the travel was interrupted - they didn't get to their destination. Now, the destination itself wasn't that far to begin with - same region, even - and so I figured that if I had wanted to, I could have done a post and a half for the travel and a bit of arrival/doing things. But since they only got about halfway to their destination, it cut the amount of "travel time" down much more significantly, so I figured it was all right. Didn't mean to break any rules, I just felt that there wasn't enough justification to dedicate an entire post to a travel post that only made it halfway :P I also wanted explosions. ...And thus I wrote a novel. This is a pretty meaty post in itself, so I didn't really cheese the travel anyway XD)