COME ON RENEGADE TEAM

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Aurora Ribombee was lying sleeping peacefully under some tree leaf on the forest floor outside Argules, but suddenly her rest was abruptly interrupted by screams of terror that echoed in the closed forest, frightened Ribombee jumps flying. Worried she starts to look around, however due to the darkness of the night and the dense forest a clear vision of everything is almost impossible and so she decides to use the Pollen Puff movement to illuminate.
The screams continued in the forest, Ribombee imagined that it was some Beserker attack and one of the worst and because of that she thinks it would be better to fly to a safe place away from the screams, however she hears something that makes her tense:


- IT'S THAT CROCONAW FROM LAST NIGHT, CALL....GHAAAAAA!!!


Aurora then flew as fast as she could in the direction of the scream having a great bad feeling, upon finding the source her worries become concrete being able to see the back of Luke Croconaw wearing a red hood as he took a strong bite of the head of an Ampharos, the Pokémon gave a desperate and muffled scream for being inside the large mouth of the Water type. The Ribombee was trembling in fright and yet it approached lighting up that horrific scene with its Pollen Puff, the Electric Pokémon was squirming until a popping sound was heard in the air followed by the Pokémon completely stopping moving, Luke opened its mouth finally releasing the Ampharos which fell out of it with its face completely bruised and bleeding and the sphere of its head cracked open.
Croconaw's breathing was quite heavy and his breath had a strong smell of blood, noticing the light illuminating him Luke turned around being able to see the frightened crying Ribombee:


- Aw Aurora, I finally found you.... Why are you crying?


Luke asked in a gentle way with a legitimately confused face, but the little Bug-like girl could only see that as a demonstration of psychopathy, mainly because his mouth was full of blood and his teeth were bigger than normal due to the Crunch movement being active.
The shivering Aurora gives a weak blow to her Pollen Puff movement to fly from her paw and illuminate better what was in front of her, as the light approached Luke the blood trail became more and more evident, there were along with Ampharos a total of five fainted Pokémon bleeding and all of them were from the Lacustrine base leaving the Ribombee with her mouth open, Luke speaks smiling apparently proud of what he had just done:


- Hehehe, I'm doing a great job aren't I?


Aurora didn't share his opinion one bit putting her little Ribombee paws on her own head shaking her, she hoped to gain the strength to say what she wanted something fortunately effective as she gave a shout:


- LUKE FOR THE LOVE OF ARCEUS, YOU ARE ATTACKING OTHER NETWORK, WHAT'S GOTTEN INTO YOUR HEAD!!! YOU SAID YOU WOULD USE THIS POWER TO PROTECT, YOU ARE LITERALLY DOING THE OPPOSITE OF THAT, HAVEN'T YOU NOTICED?


The Croconaw then starts to laugh making Aurora recoil a little for being intimidated by that attitude, however when Luke stops Luke states to her that they are only illusions created by Akeldama Zoroark ghost and the Croconaw wanted to prove himself by defeating these illusions without using lethal force since he was not an executioner, and he thought he was doing very well in training. Already relieved, Ribombee could breathe easier, however, even though she was aware of the illusory power of any kind of Zoroark everything was very realistic, usually there were peculiarities in which an illusion could not reproduce, such as the sound of the scream she had heard earlier:


- Luke... I have it in my mind that they are not illusions..., but I will take the proof, ~~huff …calm down...


The little Fairy-type calmly states her suspicion, to confirm Aurora uses her Dazzling Gleam move making her little body shine like a star, being a Fairy-type move it can reveal the illusions of any Zoroark with its blinding and harmful glow to those who are hit. As the said illusions were hit by the gleam Luke's look of pride gave way to one of pure terror, for they now had the devastating confirmation in which indeed Croconaw attacked Pokémon in which they had even formed like it:


- I.... I DIDN'T MEAN TO, I SWEAR, I DIDN'T, AW ARCEUS.... ARCEUS WHAT DID I JUST DO?!


Luke undid the loaded Crunch and Ice Punch moves beginning to cough in disgust at the blood in his mouth, the Croconaw felt like the worst of the Beserker an abominable creature. Aurora for being calmer would comfort Luke, however is when she begins to hear the other teams approaching, the Ribombee then pulls the top of the hood for the Pokémon to get out as soon as possible from there, but unlike her Croconaw still seemed in shock by all the blood spread there without even moving just looking at the fallen Pokémon:


- THE GLOW CAME FROM THERE, I'M GOING IN THE FRONT!!!


Aurora found herself with no way out totally worried and unable to do anything, she then hides inside Rubro's hood continuing to beg him to move, it doesn't take long for a Graveler wearing four golden knuckles on its upper and lower arms to appear there with a Luminous orb.
With the help of the dark green orb, the Rock Pokémon can see all the bodies on the ground. Taking a few steps forward, the orb lights up Croconaw kneeling in front of one of them, Graveler instinctively drops his orb on the ground, throwing himself on it, spinning towards Rubro Luke, with one of his upper arms, he quickly grabs Croconaw's tail, which doesn't react:


- So, the news was true indeed, there was indeed a killer Beserker out there, it is very audacious to attack innocent Pokémon....


Croconaw recognized Graveler as it was one of the graduates of the Lacustre base, however the Pokémon didn't even have time to remember everything as the Rock type uses the Hammer Arm move with its lower arms on Luke's face. Aurora tries to scream in fright, however because she was inside the red hood, she was shaken inside it needing to hold the garment tight, inside she witnessed Croconaw being hit by Graveler's fists repeatedly, however if Ribombee tried to stop him it would be even worse for Luke due to him having already gone too far in the lie.
That Rock Pokémon continued to pound furiously at Rubro's face, in order to cause him more pain Graveler decided to use the Thunder Punch move on the upper arm which held the tail of the Pokémon, electrocuting Croconaw's entire body through the limb. Rubro screamed while being electrocuted, in response to the screams the Pokémon Rock with cruelty also used Thunder Punch on its other upper arm sticking it in Croconaw's mouth to shut him up and giving him internal damage, so in a sadistic way Graveler continues to beat him with the Hammer Arm move active on the lower arms, Aurora felt so helpless in that situation wanting to help without having how praying for Luke to react anyway that brutal mix of moves.
It is then that a black aura appears in the bottom of the Pokémon Rock and when it perceived this aura it was already very late for this one to deviate, quickly the aura went up the whole body of Graveler making this one let go Croconaw and as soon as he does it that black aura explodes freezing the type Rock in a block of ice. Luke raises his head with difficulty seeing the frozen Pokémon, Croconaw lays his face down in the bush feeling a lot of pain only from what little he witnessed he already knew it was a side effect of the Bitter Malice move, Luke felt a small wind on his face being able to see Ribombee coming out from inside her red hood the little one looked annoyed and before long she shouts to the ice rock:


- You.... ~~URRRRFF.... YOUR CRETINE.... YOU WERE WATCHING EVERYTHING, WEREN'T YOU!


Aurora then looks at Croconaw, making him a little happy that he is okay thinking that could have been the end of him, the two Pokémon then begin to hear laughter from within the dense woods causing them to be alert for anything. A black orb with shimmering white details falls from one of the trees and begins to glow. Luke can't help but faint, and it was an Escape Orb that transported both Croconaw and Ribombee away from there.
While the forest was having the action of the battle, the city of Argules on the other hand appeared to be silent and deserted with very few fully functioning localities in the streets, Mei Servine was walking around the place wearing her disguise of a flowered hat with no intention of making victims as she was on her way to meet her partner Theo Ursaring. Servine notices the total lack of life around her, deciding to grab the gadget in her bag with the intention of checking the news about more recent events that would justify the commotion, Mei gives a small grunt understanding the nature of the situation at that moment.
Before long she finds Ursaring wearing the same shirt as her team, the pokémon was leaning against the wall of the already closed stadium where she played earlier in a barehanded manner. Exchanging friendly greetings from afar with facade smiles the Servine can finally approach Theo without creating suspicion, as she was getting closer to her partner Mei showed her true face having a closed face of frustration, stopping next to Ursaring the female says in a low voice:


- Did you see the news? That damned Soldier Lucario ruined my plans by spreading the word about us Hellstalkers to the four winds.


The Normal type Pokémon gives a long yawn, for being there waiting for some time he had already noticed the care in which the common pokémon were having almost as if there was a curfew in the kingdom, Theo stretches a little and in a nonchalant way answers his companion:


- Holy shit Mei, that Drapion you affected managed to destroy the police force as you expected... ~~Uaaaah*, but Akaldema was supposed to show up and deal with him, who knew a Croconaw that would show up. We should go into the forest to hunt Beserker, from the looks of it we won't be able to petrify even one Network less manage to defile one of them to be our first level minion.


The Servine gives a typical madam grunt raising her nose, she explained that Theo's plan was too risky first due to the failure of the Drapion affected by her, Arbustos would charge them for their mistake as soon as they set foot in the forest for having practically destroyed one of the hellstalkers' food sources. Mei to demonstrate the second reason takes her gadget in her bag, with the object she shows Ursaring about a task force in which occurred in the forest at that moment, it was an SSS level rescue that would mobilize 75% of the Lacustre base in the search for an important Pokémon, Theo scratched under his mouth curious asking his partner:


- Keh heh heh, SSS level, who's missing? It must be a Pokémon from the noble house of Flamey or just as important.


Unfortunately for him Servine didn't have the answer to such a question, after all since graduation she is not connected to any team in Lacustre and this kind of information was only delivered if the mission was accepted. Mei again looked around in the hope of finding any movement, however the city went into a state of panic on its own due to fear of Hellstalkers, or much more likely due to fear of a sudden attack from the one called Rubro:

- Damn, damn Lucario... If it weren't for those statements made by him in the media by now, we would have hundreds of Pokémon on the street without any police force, it would be great for us to be able to gain more power... Urrrrf what hate... I just wanted at least one Pokémon to petrify...


Complained the frustrated Servine with her voice very low, afraid that her voice would echo through the deserted streets, but at this moment she realized something that had gone unnoticed in the first contact with her partner. Theo had as much or more thirst for hunting than her and seemed totally calm, Mei looks at him first incredulous, but gradually getting a cynical smile on her face from Servine inquiring Ursaring:


- You are very calm, what do you have in mind, partner?


Theo gave a Machiavellian smile, Ursaring wanted to hear this question from the beginning to satiate his ego, it is then that finally the Normal type pokémon disassociates himself from the wall bending down to exchange glances with Mei:


- I have a plan... One that will not only ensure we put an end to a threat, but will clear our bar with old Shrubs, what do you say?


Smiling Servine turns her back to her partner, the Pokémon then removes its tessen from inside its pouch beginning to wiggle in a snobbish manner answering it seductively:


- Let's dance darling....


Still in the city of Argules, however much farther away from where the nefarious duo of Hellstalkers was, Luke finally begins to awaken hearing the sound of Akeldama's clapping that seemed happy, the Normal-type Pokémon then speaks in a manner by which it seemed to mock the Croconaw:


- You passed the test my dear, it was much more difficult than I thought, BUT HEY MY CONGRATULATIONS HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!


The ghost Zoroark laughed right in front of the transported Pokémon congratulating Luke, even though the hurt and weak Croconaw gets up staggering going towards Zoroark. Frustrated for having attacked its old companions for real, Luke tries to punch Akeldama in the face crossing the Pokémon that due to its Ghost typage offensives like that didn't affect it at all, and with that Croconaw falls in front of the dead tree while Aurora slowly relaxed its wings until it was sitting on the soft grass, growling Luke gets up once again screaming while trying in vain to land one of his punches on Zoroark:


- DAMN, DAMN, DAMN, DAMN, DAMN, DAMNAA, WHYYYYY? WHY DID YOU MAKE ME DO THAT?! DAMNED...ARRGG, WHY? *snif snif*


It doesn't take long for Croconaw to burst into tears crawling underneath the ghost Zoroark's body until he holds onto the latter's blue jeans, the Pokémon then touches Luke's red hoodie justifying himself still with a cheerful tone:


- Because unfortunately it was necessary, I wanted to know if it wasn't a matter of luck what you had done with Drapion last night and the members of Lacustre was the surest way to try that. Besides being convenient for your cover as well, after all the Rubro has to remain a dangerous Beserker and can in no way look like a Network.


The Pokémon then feels the Pollen Puff move hit its only visible eye making Akeldama howl in pain and touch it with its claw, Aurora flew quickly towards the Pokémon's face getting closer while cursing and yelling at it as it did so the ghost Zoroark walked backwards until it was leaning against the dead tree:


- WHAT KIND OF A NUTCASE ARE YOU, YOU SAW WHAT HE WENT THROUGH, YOU SAW WHAT YOU MADE HIM DO, IT WAS CRUEL, IT WAS VERY CRUEL, WHAT IF HE HAD KILLED SOMEONE AND IF HE HAD BEEN SHOT DOWN LIKE A BESERKER. HE HAS A FAMILY, HE IS NOT A VAGABOND POKÉMON THAT WANDERS AROUND MAKING FUN OF OTHERS, I SHOULD BURY YOU IN MY POLLEN PUFF FOR YOU TO LEARN WHAT EMPATHY IS YOU PHANTOM CRETIN!!!


One of the red ribbons from Rubro's hood then slips underneath the little Ribombee leaving her standing underneath, the fairy guy then turns around seeing Croconaw already standing up and wiping his tears, something that calms her down a lot. Using his red ribbon Luke gently brings Aurora over to if thanking him for defending it, Akeldama is surprised to see that Pokémon standing again after the damage it took. However, what really catches his attention the most is seeing it moving a piece of clothing without any apparent power and without using its arms, Luke turned to the Normal-type Pokémon questioning of why the ghost Zoroark didn't fight it and then created illusions to look like it facing the other team members:


- ~~Huuuufff, I already said that was the safest way, and there are Pokémon that can differentiate an illusion from reality just by looking...


Akeldama answers showing his annoyance with Croconaw's question, for he was sure he acted in the right way and expected thanks and not the fight that was taking place there, so the ghost Zoroark still reiterates:


- Luke, Rubro, whatever you want me to call you from now on.... Realize something quickly before it's too late, to hide all this dirt you have to be a Beserker... Body and soul, and the others should find that too and when they do.... Hehehe, I hope you enjoyed the treatment of that Graveler because it will be from there for the worse.


Luke closes his hands into a fist, feeling like punching Akeldama in the face again, but he was right, it was indeed necessary to make this crazy beast theater to stay away from the suspicions of the ordinary Network:


- I accept your terms..., BUT as you said yourself, I passed your test for the "Renegades", so I want to know everything, I want more details of what are these Hellstalkers, who is Dark Matter, why do I have to hunt them and mainly who are you?


Akeldama scratches his big purple hair turning his face to the Pokémon in front of him, the ghost Zoroark closes his eyes muttering a little because he really didn't want to answer the questions at that moment. Opening his eyes, he sees the really angry Ribombee while Croconaw just wanted a chance to hurt him, the Pokémon quickly realizes that he should treat them "better" from now on including treating them as real partners:


- ~~GHAAAA OKAAAAY, YOU GUYS WON, HAPPY?!.... I'll tell you everything I know, but I recommend you sit down since it's a lot and you still need to recover your strength more.


After he finished speaking in a bare manner, Akeldama sat down leaning against the tree with his legs stretched out and began his account, at first telling what he knew about the being known as Dark Matter. Zoroark wasn't sure if it was a Pokémon or not, considering it a "thing" or "entity" that seemed to feed on the vital energy of others and spread the negative energy of beings, and there were legends about its appearance, but they were just silly children's stories without much foundation; suddenly the bare manner of the ghostly Zoroark faded away, giving way to a firm gaze for the Pokémon that listened to him attentively:


- Rumor or not this "thing" has been among us for a short time, in fact the first reports of its appearance were after the "Umbra Clashes" perhaps because of the chaos and negativity caused by the intense fighting the entity returned to finish what it had started.... Steal all the vital energy it can and thus destroy the planet like a parasite that only lives to consume.


The very tense atmosphere suddenly becomes with an uneasy silence in the air, Luke shivers a little already wondering why his mother ran away without looking back, he being the one to feel that urge now. Meanwhile Croconaw simply sits down on the fluffy grass on the ground to be more comfortable, Aurora not at all surprised as she already knew all of what Akeldama said through Nái Tyranitar herself who explained some of that to her when she was a regular Pokémon again:


- Fortunately, the Dark Matter parasite can't destroy an entire planet on its own, no, no, this sadistic entity acts in the shadows using pawns to do so, and you already met one of them last night...


Ghost Zoroark claims that the enraged Drapion was one of the Pokémon that help Dark Matter, those who are known as Hellstalkers all previously being ordinary Pokémon that have gone through something in which affected them emotionally. Dark Matter offers them much greater powers than ordinary Pokémon to accomplish their goals, but at a very high price, stealing the life energy of the Pokémon around them and causing them to petrify:


- A Hellstalker has levels of control, in the first they are like the Drapion you saw being even easy to fight against if you have the right training, in the second they are more intelligent so they don't attack like a hungry beserker getting much nastier, when I say that I mean they usually create traps to petrify others and even make Pokémon become Hellstalkers through contracts...


Ribombee shakes her head to the right and looks curiously at Akeldama, deciding to question him:


- What do you mean contracts? Is being a Hellstalker a business?


Upon hearing the question Zoroark gives a small laugh understanding the little Ribombee's confusion, he answers that the second level Hellstalkers have a very good tongue and can share the burden of being Hellstalkers with others in whom they feel potential to become first level. Akeldama finishes by saying it is common to find first and second levels working together to both evolve and continue to get stronger; given this little explanation the Ghost-type Pokémon returns to talking about the levels of a Hellstalker:

- The third level has power and intelligence increase even more than the second level, usually making plans capable of generating genocides, but it loses its disguise as a common Pokémon since their body parts appear with another color out of their standard which most often belong to a Bright form, and the last which I know is the fourth level, the powers and intellect reach the apex and instead of having part of the body of another color their bodies develop in a peculiar way that can vary according to the species.


Akeldama notices a certain hesitation in Croconaw's gaze that seemed to move away from him little by little, the Pokémon Water's attitude made the ghost Zoroark lose all his seriousness leaving him with a fit of laughter:


- GHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHahaha, ~HUFF PUF you took your time fatty, ow yeah, I am a level 3 Hellstalker.... Nice, isn't it?


Aurora just jumps into Luke's red hood, screaming excitedly and struggling inside:


- THAT'S WHAT I WANTED TO TELL YOU FROM THE BEGINNING, NOW RUN AWAY DAMN IT, RUN AWAY!!! GHHAAAAWW FLEE!


Croconaw turns its back on Akeldama quickly, the Pokémon puts its paws against the ground and stretches its legs to get up and run away as soon as possible, however using the Shadow Sneak move the ghost Zoroark appears right in front of the startled duo pointing its black claw right near Luke's snout:


- YOU'RE NOT GETTING OUT OF HERE!!! GHUHUHUHAHAHAHA


Croconaw's fangs suddenly started to get much bigger than usual, Luke was already ready to advance with his Crunch on Akeldama's jugular in the intention to escape:


- NOW THAT YOU KNOW MY SECRET, I WILL HAVE TO.... Be your dear friend hehehe...


The Croconaw without understanding anything else just watches the ghost Zoroark look at him as if acting similar to a Dark type Zorua, however his artful attitude left Luke more relieved to the point of canceling his Crunch move, unlike the scared Ribombee in which lies inside the hood trembling in fetal position:


- There's no need to worry sir, sharp jaws, if I was going to attack you, I would have done it a long time ago, I... Huff is complicated, you know?


Putting his claws inside his long hair behind his head Akeldama throws himself on the ground, looking at the starry sky the ghost Zoroark speaks as his smile fades away:


- I don't know who I really am... It's as if I just appeared in Argules, the only thing I felt was a lot of anger, very much so, and the next thing I knew POOF I became a Hellstalker. Unfortunately, I have attacked many other Pokémon in the forest, so many.... I've lost count...


Akeldama now indeed looked like a ghostly Zoroark with the sad, depressing appearance that this species usually had, the Pokémon disappearing on the ground in a shadow appearing again facing the old tree. Akeldama touches the tree lovingly in contemplation, and then goes down to his knees:


- I bitterly regret what I did, petrifying Pokémon was a terrible addiction that controlled me, a voracious hunger that is not satiated by even one food. And when you see you have lost everything... The only thing I didn't lose was my hatred and my will to fight, that's why I had been stopping Hellstalkers for a long time in the city without being noticed, and it was a solitary fight...


Akeldama takes a deep breath getting up from the ground, he then looks at Luke who corresponded this look with a little suspicion, the ghost Zoroark with his right claw on his own chest approaches the hooded Croconaw:

- At least until last night when I saw you, a non-Soldier Pokémon fight a Hellstalker and win, it was amazing... To see someone free from the bondage of Dark Matter and the hypocritical bonds of Xerneas do something for the benefit of others, I couldn't pass it up.


Akeldama bends down to Luke's height exchanging glances with him, then the Pokémon pleads with his head close to the ground:


- My claws have done several atrocities, now I am cleaning my sins by helping our fellow Pokémon, today it has been exactly five years since I petrified anyone and I feel myself weakening day by day. The number of Hellstalkers has grown frighteningly and I can no longer inhibit them from attacking the kingdom, at least not alone anymore... I beg you, I need help, to stop them and maybe one day I can rest in peace.


Luke closes his eyes raising his head to the dark sky, the Pokémon then takes a deep breath walking towards Akeldama, in that position if he used an Aqua Tail or Crunch he would kill the Phantom Zoroark and no one would know about him being Rubro, besides being able to put an end to that miserable life. This was the first thing that had crossed Luke's mind, however even though he was being manipulated by an abomination he felt deep in his being the desire to support Akeldama's noble fight, so he stretched out his hand to the Hellstalker caressing his purple hair and answering his plea:


- I agree to share this burden with you. If we unite, maybe we will have a chance to protect everyone in Argules against Dark Matter and his band of maniacs.... ~~Urrrf it's a bit embarrassing to say this..., but... Shall we form the so-called Renegades team?


With a shy smile Croconaw raises his injured arm in the air demonstrating a common greeting among Pokémon teams, Akeldama raises his head with a tremulous smile on his face as if he was about to cry and after standing up, he does the same with his claw. Aurora heard the whole conversation from inside the hood, she looks at Luke's smile and giving a small spin sees the ghost Zoroark watering, making a face of disgust she turns her gaze to Croconaw in which gives a wink to her, taking a deep breath with a smile the Ribombee flies close to the arm and the claw giving a cheerful cry:


- COME ON RENEGADE TEAM!!! TOWARDS SUCCESS!!!