Emerald Knights: A Pokémon Sword Story Chapter 14

Chapter 14: The Hammerlocke Power Plant Raid

Team Royal was about to walk right into a trap that they could never have anticipated.

Of course, nobody knew this. How could they when there was nothing to suggest that anybody could have prepared for them? Nobody knew the plan except Oleana and the brothers and now the whole team had been informed of the plan at the last minute as it was time to carry it out. Nobody could've given it away, not even the members who got arrested. That was what they thought…

Earlier today, Sordward and Shielbert had called all of Team Royal to a meeting so they could inform them of tonight's operation. The organization was still relatively small due to only being founded recently so there weren't a lot of people attending. Anybody watching this meeting would've believed Team Royal barely had the resources to pull off anything more than a simple heist. They certainly wouldn't be able to take over the region if they'd been foolish enough to try. They were no Team Rocket or Team Galactic or even Team Plasma by comparison. Even Team Skull from the Alola region looked like they had more potential to be a serious threat despite that team being mostly petty street criminals and poor folk that detested the Island Challenge.

The men and women that made up Team Royal listened intently as Sordward and Shielbert mapped out their plan.

"As generously provided by our little helper, Oleana, we know where to find the Galar Particles stored in the Hammerlocke City Power Plant and how to reach them." Sordward explained, "Her previous life as the Chairman's secretary has given us valuable information that'll serve us well in this heist."

"As well as a map of the Power Plant, she knows all the codes to open every door." Shielbert added, "She will have sent them all to your phones so you won't need to memorize them. In case of any doors requiring a key card, she's helpfully managed to forge some replicas for you all to use."

"Your job is to simply steal as much Galar Particles as possible." Sordward continued, "With all that power, we can make enough Wishing Stars to drive those false heroes insane. Their true nature will be unveiled and Galar will have no choice but to acquiesce to our demands!" he declared, clenching his fist as if wishing he had Zacian and Zamazenta in his hands so he could crush them right now.

"Rah, rah! A pox on the false heroes!" cried Team Royal, all of them chanting in unison.

"Exactly my fellow kings and queens!" Shielbert purred, "We'll have four squadrons attending this heist. Queen Elizabeth will be leading the operation. You will all follow her orders to the letter. Do NOT deviate from the plan in anyway, unless we need to fall on the back-up plan."

The entire team nodded understandingly.

"Elizabeth will inform you of the back-up plan when the heist begins." Sordward continued, "We shall depart at dusk to carry out the raid. The night shift, Oleana tells us, is not so busy compared to the day shift so we have fewer men to deal with. That will be all. I have every faith in you my loyal subjects."

The brothers bowed and Team Royal cheered for them. They were very excited about this heist and couldn't wait to carry it out.

Now dusk had come and the team was here in Hammerlocke ready to carry out their sick scheme. They had gathered outside the castle-like Power Plant and were ready to mobilize. The sun had set and the night had brought with it a starless sky with a misty moon trying to peak through the clouds. It was as if the world thought Team Royal wasn't worth showing any of its beauty to tonight. The darkness didn't bother Team Royal as they had night-vision goggles to see with. The drawbridge was still down and the gate was still open so the team could enter Hammerlocke Stadium and reach the power plant. They knew where it was and how to get to it. It amazed them to think that as well as the Dragon Gym, this huge castle-like building had the Macro Cosmos energy plant located underneath it. It was a building of dual purposes and both of them beneficial to the city too!

Elizabeth took a moment to admire the dark blue and gold castle walls and the huge towering spire that protruded from the top of the stadium. She had to admit that Hammerlocke Stadium had its own beauty, even if the dragon theme was a bit on the nose for her tastes. She was an extremely attractive woman, by far the most beautiful member of Team Royal by a country mile. She was a busty woman with a pretty sizable chest, wide hips and long shapely legs. Her beautiful body was accentuated by a skin-tight black leather cat suit that seemed to hug every inch of her. It was like she wanted anybody looking at her to get a good look at her shape and figure. She also had short silver-hair, dark green eyes and dark green lips. Some of the boys had been betting on who would get to go on a date with her first. Nobody had won yet for Elizabeth wasn't interested in any of the men in Team Royal. She wasn't even interested in romance at all. All she cared about in life was money and working with Team Royal promised her plenty of it. She was the kind of woman who used her attractiveness to her advantage, and she was going to show it now.

As Oleana had warned, the stadium would be guarded. There were a couple of guards at the gate, one either side, and they had holsters containing Pokéballs on them. If they needed to, they'd use the Pokémon they had to assist in restraining any criminals coming in. Elizabeth walked in a sultry manner towards the guards, her hips swaying side-to-side as she moved. The guards saw her and frowned. One of them looked taken aback by her sexy appearance but the other didn't flinch. Elizabeth just gave the guards a coy smile as if she owned the place and had every right to be here.

"Evening officers. Do forgive the intrusion. I was wondering if you could give a lady a hand." she purred softly. She had the voice of a femme fatale character in a spy movie, soft and hypnotic but also dangerous all at once.

"Oh I'll certainly give you a hand." the first guard said coyly. He was clearly enamoured by this woman.

"Dave! Time and a place!" growled the second guard.

Dave looked away, blushing as the other guard confronted Elizabeth.

"If you need a hand, then you can ask someone else." he said, "This is a restricted area. I highly suggest that you leave right now."

"Oh but you misunderstand." Elizabeth said, simpering as if she was a poor pathetic idiot lost at night, "You're the only ones that can help me out."

"How so?" the guard muttered.

"You can help by being unconscious right now." Elizabeth replied darkly.

In seconds, the guards had been incapacitated. Nobody had seen what had happened. It was like one minute Elizabeth moved and the next the guards had fallen unconscious. To her team, she looked like she'd pulled off some kind of devious magic trick. Elizabeth flipped her fringe aside and sighed with excitement. At that moment, she looked like a model in a commercial for shampoo or perfume.

"Aaah, that was fun!" she sneered, "OK team, let's move."

Team Royal filed into the stadium. As Oleana had mapped out, the door that led to the underground plant was on their right-hand side. In the day-time, it was closed to the public and was the one place in the stadium that Pokémon trainers weren't allowed in. Only staff and personnel could enter. Elizabeth didn't care about that. She drew out the fake key card that Oleana had given her. Her card said she was an employee named Lisa Ortiz. While a Lisa Ortiz DID work at the plant, she wasn't on the night shift so they wouldn't meet her here tonight. Elizabeth swiped the card and as expected, the scanner registered it and the door unlocked. She smiled to herself. How lucky were Team Royal to have the Chairman's former secretary to help them pull off this scheme?! She briefly wondered what Derek Rose would think if he could see this all happening right now. He certainly wouldn't be keen to give Oleana her job back!

Elizabeth led the team into the plant. From here on out, they would split up into groups of four with four people in each group. One of the groups was carrying a metal box between them. It was so heavy that two people needed to carry it at once. Elizabeth turned to look at it once and then turned away. Hopefully, if all went well, they wouldn't need to use it. It still helped to have a little contingency in mind, especially if it would help any of them avoid capture like what had happened to Henry, Richard and Edward.

"You all know the plan." Elizabeth said bluntly, "All teams go to your designated areas and get those particles. You." she added, pointing to the group carrying the box, "Once you place that in the main power chamber, get out as quick as you can. We'll meet up with you once we've finished our job."

"Yes Queen Elizabeth." the group said.

Team Royal split off into its four groups and spread out throughout the plant. Elizabeth's group and two other groups went to search for the storage rooms while the fourth group headed for the main power chamber to drop off the box.

Group 1 went down a straight corridor that led to a single room at the end. It felt as if this place had been designed to be easy to navigate with not a lot of rooms to go into down this particular corridor. As they travelled, one of the Royal members activated a small capsule device he had in his hand. This was a simple jamming device to prevent security cameras from watching them. Nobody would see what they were doing tonight! To their surprise, there wasn't a single guard outside the room as they reached the door. That was strange. Oleana had said the place was heavily guarded at night. The two guards outside the stadium couldn't possibly be it, surely? The foursome ignored this whisper of doubt that could've helped them be extra cautious and continued as planned. This group had two boys and two girls in it and they were keen to please their masters. They came across a key pad that had a four digit code to enter. One of the girls looked at her phone. As ordered, they'd listed all the codes on their phones so they wouldn't have to memorize them. Each door had a different code, a security measure chosen by Rose himself so that it wouldn't be easy to just break into the whole plant. Oleana's map included details on which code opened which door. This door's code was number 8643 so one of the boys keyed it in as the girl read it to him.

The code was accepted and the team went in. The room was completely dark with not a single sign of a Galar particle anywhere. That was strange. Oleana's map said this was one of the storage areas! How was it completely dark? The room should be glowing with energy from the particles! The squad decided to investigate as they walked in. They walked about two steps before suddenly, a white and blue energy beam shot out of nowhere and hit them, freezing them solid. They'd been hit with an Ice Beam and it had been enough to freeze them from head to toe. The squad hadn't even been able to cry out. Emerging from the shadows, Sapphire Silverlock smirked as she admired the handiwork of her faithful Froslass. Four members of Team Royal turned into an iceberg with a single Ice Beam! Brilliant! She and Elsa high-fived each other in celebration.

"Just as planned." Sapphire crowed, "Let's get them tied up and leave them locked up while we round up the others."

"I hope the cold won't bother them." Elsa sneered.

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For the second squad, they'd gone down another corridor. This one was bigger and had more rooms but they knew where they were going. The storage room was on their left-hand side after a few left turns down other corridors. The code to this door was 5295. This squad had all boys in it and the four of them began to feel uneasy. This door had no guards. Why would a storage room full of Wishing Stars and Galar particles have no guards? It seemed insane to leave the place unguarded! Had Oleana been lying when she'd said the plant had heavy security? They too had a jamming device to mess with the security cameras but Oleana had detailed more security features than just cameras and two guards outside. Something wasn't right here. One of the boys put a finger to his ear. He had a comlink in there and could talk to Elizabeth whenever he activated it.

"Knight Squadron 2 to Queen, there's something wrong." the boy muttered, "We're at the storage room but there's no guard like Oleana warned us about."

"Understood. Either her Intel is outdated or incorrect or we're being played." Elizabeth replied, "Keep a look out for trouble."

The boy nodded and switched off his comlink. His squad would enter the storage room anyway, but they would make sure that nobody could get the drop on them if this was some kind of trap. They keyed in the code and the door opened.

Gym Leader Bea was standing on the other side. The boys screamed in horror as the shock of seeing the Galarian Karate Master gripped them by the throat. She was the last person they wanted to be confronted by, as well as the last person they expected to see in this place! What the hell was the Stow-on-Side Gym Leader doing here?! They had no time to ponder the question as Bea took one step forward, a dark smile on her normally stoic face.

"Evening gentlemen." she said coldly.

The last thing they heard and saw was Bea letting out a savage cry as she scythed a hand towards them…

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The third squadron had reached the main power chamber. Unknown to them, this was where Eternatus had been kept during Chairman Rose's plan to use its power for Galar's benefit. In a way, he'd been granted his wish for after the Darkest Day had ended, the energy Eternatus had created to start another Darkest Day had created more power spots over the past year and given the Galar region more energy than ever before. It still didn't make up for the fact he'd nearly doomed everybody to carry out Project: Eternatus, intentional or not.

This squadron was all female. The four girls keyed in the code that Oleana had provided them, this one being 1996, and they entered the power chamber. It confused them as to why it didn't seem to be guarded but they shrugged it off. Maybe security had become more lazy and relaxed since Oleana had last worked here. It had been a year since she was fired after all so her intel was likely to be a little inaccurate or outdated. The girls carried the box into the chamber and placed it near the main power core reactor. The energy contained in the reactor was separated from them by a thick glass tube. The girls could see the energy swirling around inside the tube, a mixture of reds, pinks and purples. It reminded them of the Darkest Day, only condensed and more fascinating and hypnotic to watch than deadly. They set the box down and pressed a button to activate it. A bar lit up in red to show the device was primed and ready. The first girl sighed.

"Glad we could put it down!" she huffed, "Now let's skedaddle!"

"I hope the other teams have got those particles by now." the second girl said.

They got up and were about to leave the chamber until suddenly, a string of electrified silk shot out grabbed hold of them. It had come from the shadows up above, sudden and unexpected. The squad cried out as they were webbed up and then dragged off the floor by whoever had webbed them up. They were now hanging upside down by the web, unable to break free as any attempt to struggle rewarded them with a painful electric jolt. They were stuck until the one who had snagged them decided to let them go.

Crawling out of the shadows, Sydney the Galvantula chuckled with satisfaction as he admired his handiwork. He hadn't expected that being part of Ruby's plan would be such fun!

"Don't worry girls, I'm sure it won't be long until the police come to get you down." he sneered, "You stay as you are and don't cause too much trouble!"

He lowered himself to the ground, leaving his captured prisoners to hang around for the time being. As Sydney reached the floor, he noticed the metal box they'd set up near the core reactor. Sydney wasn't sure what it was but he didn't fancy his chances. If Team Royal went to the trouble of setting it up, it had to be bad news. He'd tell Ruby about it and let her deal with it. If he had hands and could pick it up himself, he'd do so and get rid of it now. He scuttled out of the room to meet up with Ruby. The girls could only whimper feebly to themselves, wishing they could get free. Hopefully it wouldn't be too long before they got down again…

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Elizabeth's team was all that was left. It was her and three guys all in one group to nab as much Galar particles as they could carry. Upon hearing from squad two that their destination had a disturbing lack of a guard, she was nervous. Oleana insisted her information was accurate! Why hadn't there been a guard when she said there would be one? Did the other squadrons come across a lack of guards too? She decided to check. Elizabeth put a finger to her ear to switch on her comlink.

"Knight Squad 1, what's your status?" she demanded.

She received no answer. Elizabeth's stomach tightened.

"Knight Squad 1, do you copy?" she demanded again, louder.

She still received no answer. That made her even more nervous. Why wasn't Squad 1 responding? She tried calling Squad 2 but received the same response. She then tried Squad 3 to ask about the box. Again, silence was her only answer. Nobody was answering her. Why was that? Elizabeth felt her mouth go dry. Had the plan gone horribly wrong? Had her squadrons been detained somehow? No, that was impossible! Nobody could've guessed they were coming here! There's no way that they'd walked right into a trap! Maybe there was some kind of interference messing with her comlink. No, that couldn't be. Squad 2 had just called her minutes ago! She doubted that all three squadron's coms had suddenly stopped working. That just didn't happen with technology. Something definitely wasn't adding up. Elizabeth turned to her men.

"Catch up with the others!" she hissed, "Find out what's wrong!"

"What about you, babe?" asked one of the men.

Elizabeth promptly slapped him across the face.

"DON'T call me babe!" she snapped, "I'll be fine by myself! I have my Pokémon with me to help! Just find out why the others aren't responding!"

"OK, sheesh! No need to get antsy with me because things seem to be going wrong! It's not like it was MY plan or nothing…" the man sighed irritably, rubbing his sore cheek.

The three men ran off to find the other squads. Elizabeth was left alone to enter this storage room and get the particles for herself. If what she feared as about to happen, she'd likely have to deal with somebody lying in wait for her. She would bring her Pokémon out to deal with that! Nobody was arresting her tonight! The door Elizabeth had come across had the number 2019 as its code. She keyed it in and walked in…only to be met with Raihan the Dragon Gym Leader. He was standing far enough away from the door so Elizabeth could walk in and greet him. He had his arms folded and a sly smile on his face. The room was dark, so dark in fact that there was a conspicuous lack of Galar particles anywhere. The only light in the room now was from the open door. Elizabeth scowled. So that was it! Raihan had to behind all of this! As the owner of the stadium above the plant, he'd probably suspected Team Royal would come for it and had been lying in wait for them the whole time. But how had he known that tonight was the night in particular they were coming? Perhaps he'd been doing this every night and had just gotten lucky that he finally chose the right night.

Elizabeth was tempted to try fleeing. No way was she going to have a chance against the only Gym Leader that gave Leon a run for his money! He'd cream her in seconds! But she didn't want to come back to her bosses empty-handed. Maybe she could flirt her way past him and out of danger. She approached Raihan, rotating her shoulders seductively and fluttering her eyelids at him.

"Why hello handsome." she purred, "Do forgive the intrusion. How's about I make it up to you by giving you the night of your life?"

Her hand slid onto the man's shoulder, her large bust just centimetres away from his chest. Raihan didn't falter. He simply shoved her back and gave her a cold smile that told her nothing would get him to stand down, not even a beautiful lady.

"Sorry…you're not my type." he scoffed, "And you ain't leaving here until we've had a word with you."

At the moment he said this, the lights came on. Elizabeth gasped in horror as she saw just how deep this plot went. Raihan wasn't here alone. Standing behind him were Ruby, Emerald and Bea! Raihan joined the line, his arms still folded and his smile now replaced by a scowl of disgust. Ruby had her arms folded too, her eyes fixated on Elizabeth. Emerald was beside her, copying her pose but unlike Ruby, she wasn't able to look as cool and intimidating as her. Razer the Axew was on her shoulder, her teeth bared in a snarl of rage. Bea simply stood completely straight, her fists clenched and ready to punch. If that wasn't enough, Elizabeth heard someone approach her from behind. She turned to see Sapphire walk into the room with Elsa beside her. The two of them joined the line with Sapphire glancing over at Ruby.

"Elsa caught three more of them. We haven't seen any more so I think this woman's all that's left." Sapphire reported.

"Good work, Sapph." Ruby congratulated, "Once Sydney comes back, we'll have her all webbed up and join her with the others."

"You…" Elizabeth growled, glaring directly at Ruby, "I bet this was all YOUR idea wasn't it?! YOU laid this trap for me and my crew, didn't you?!"

"Oh wow, Team Royal actually has a member with a brain. The shock on my face is so clear for all to see." Ruby retorted, "I'm amazed you dumbasses didn't see there was an obvious trap you'd walked into. Why do you think there were no guards anywhere?" she said smugly.

"But…but…but how could you have planned this?!" Elizabeth protested, completely at a loss for words, "Nobody knew about this heist except for my bosses! They only told me and the others the plan this morning!"

"I guessed." Ruby said truthfully, "You see, Henry gave away more information than he realized. When he told Em and Sapph why he was trying to steal their Dynamax Bands, he said you wanted to gather Wishing Stars to unveil the true nature of Zacian and Zamazenta. So logically, this power plant was going to be one of your targets, if not THE next target! I mean think about it, what better place to steal from them the very place that harnesses Galar particles into energy for a plan like Sordward and Shielbert's? As for how I knew what day you were going to carry the plan out, once again Henry was very generous. I had my Noctowl hypnotise him into telling me Team Royal had something planned for today. That was all he told me. I'll admit, it was a bit of a gamble that the power plant heist was going to be today's scheme as you could've had anything planned and could've been anywhere else, but you guys were as predictable as I expected so I set this trap for you and your stupid team." she concluded, her tone evident that she was very proud of her hard work setting up this trap.

"Ruby even invited me and her sisters to help." Bea put in, "And Raihan organized everything else as he knew the best places to set everyone up."

"While we waited for you, we emptied the entire plant of its Galar particle supplies." Raihan crooned, "I bet you were confused why there didn't seem to be any. We've moved them all someplace else so even if our trap didn't work, you wouldn't be walking away with ANYTHING!"

"We've caught you like Magikarp in a net!" Emerald taunted, "You may as well give yourself up now!"

Elizabeth couldn't believe what she'd heard. How had they been so careful in not letting their secrets out and yet a mere child had managed to figure out their plan?! That was the worst part of the whole thing, the fact that Team Royal had been bested by a KID! How humiliating could it be to be outsmarted by a bloody teenager?! She whipped out three Pokéball from her belt.

"You're not taking me in!" she snarled, "I'll make my escape and free my team! Go my beauties!"

She threw the Pokéballs and summoned forth a strange collection of Pokémon. Her trio consisted of a Vespiquen, a Kadabra and a Lickilicky.

Kadabra was a yellow and brown fox-like Pokémon first discovered in Kanto. It had pointy ears, a large moustache, a big bushy tail and a pink star on its forehead. It carried a single spoon in one hand. It was also a Psychic-type, which would help very well in Elizabeth's escape.

Lickilicky was the evolved form of Lickitung, a Pokémon first discovered in Kanto. It looked like a chubby pink lizard creature that always stuck its tongue out.

Weird enough, both these Pokémon originated from the Isle of Armour so it was strange to see them here being used by Elizabeth right now. Her Pokémon stood together in a line and threatened to attack. Elizabeth knew she couldn't win, not when she had two Gym Leaders, the Champion and her sisters to deal with. Her Pokémon would be mere distractions to slow them down so she could get away. It didn't seem it would work for Ruby had the perfect Pokémon to handle her with.

"Just a gentle reminder, dumbass…I'm the girl that stopped the Darkest Day!" Ruby boasted.

She threw her Pokéball and summoned forth Doomsday the Eternatus. Elizabeth's eyes widened as the huge dragon skeleton creature loomed over her with venom in its eyes and a furious roar coming from its jaws. She remembered the Darkest Day. She'd been there when it had happened and had been unable to believe that a mere child like Ruby had been the one to stop it. How had she managed to catch the Pokémon responsible for the Darkest Day? More still get it to OBEY her?! Doomsday fixed its eyes on Elizabeth. It only needed the slightest excuse to attack. Elizabeth's Pokémon stood defensively in front of her, clearly willing to foolishly challenge the Legendary Pokémon if it meant protecting their trainer. Ruby was about to order Eternatus to attack until suddenly, Sydney scuttled into the room. Elizabeth watched him enter and noticed with interest that he seemed worried. What had the Galvantula so spooked? Ruby turned to her Pokémon and knelt down as Sydney approached her.

"Hey Sydney! Good of you to come!" she said joyously, "You…"

"Sorry to interrupt, but it's important." Sydney said quickly, "Four girls went into the power chamber and placed a metal box near the power core. I don't know for sure…but I think it might be a bomb! I came back so you could use a Pokémon to get rid of it!"

"A BOMB?!" everyone shrieked in horror.

Elizabeth's face curled into a dark smile of satisfaction. Yes! At last, something was going right for a change! All hope wasn't lost after all!

"That's just what I wanted to hear…" she crowed.

She then reached out behind her and grabbed hold of something. Her hand came back up again…and it was holding a detonator! Her thumb was already pressed down on the button as she showed it to them. Nobody needed her to tell them what it was. Elizabeth smiled confidently, feeling as if she was finally in control.

"I'll give you credit Ruby, you're a smart kid." Elizabeth said sourly as if it offended her to admit it, "Your trap was excellently placed and expertly executed. But what you couldn't have possibly planned for…was that Team Royal had a contingency in place. You see, we made sure we had a backup plan in case this one failed. I had one of the squads set a bomb in the power chamber. If my thumb comes off this button, you can prepare yourselves for the most spectacular cremation of your miserable lives!" she cackled, looking crazed as if her sanity was slipping away piece by piece.

"You witch!" Ruby spat, "You can't blow up the plant! Do you have any idea what you'll do to Hammerlocke City?! You won't just destroy the stadium, you'll destroy the whole city, maybe even more than just Hammerlocke!"

"Do I look like I give a fig?" Elizabeth snorted, "Face it you silver-haired brat, I hold all the cards here. You have to do what I say or else my thumb releases the button and you all die! I only have three requests: 1: You hand over Eternatus. As that thing is the Pokémon that creates Wishing Stars, it'll be perfect for Sordward and Shielbert's plan. 2: You let me walk out of here and 3: you let my team and everyone you've already arrested go. If you don't meet all three of my demands, I let go of the trigger. And don't make me wait, I'm only giving you 10 seconds to decide."

"Wait!" Emerald cried feebly, "You'll kill yourself as well! You're not surely willing to go that far are you?!"

Elizabeth ignored her and started counting.

"10…9…8…"

"F-f-forget it!" Ruby stammered, "We won't g-give you w-what you want!"

"…7…6…5…"

"Please miss, don't do it!" Emerald begged.

"4…3…"

Ruby could feel herself beginning to sweat furiously. Her beautiful plan was spiralling out of control! She'd been so confident that she'd caught Team Royal red-handed that she'd allowed herself to lower her guard and this was the result! How could she have been so stupid?! She should've anticipated that Team Royal would have a back-up plan! She didn't know what to do. She couldn't just give Team Royal Doomsday and let them walk away! They'd do hell knows what kind of chaos with the Poison/Dragon Pokémon! They might even start another Darkest Day if they weren't careful! But what choice did she have? If she refused then everybody in the room would die! Not only that, everyone in the city would die too! The amount of power contained in the plant would destroy the entire city if the bomb went off. It could even destroy a good chunk of the Wild Area on the other side of the gates, killing goodness knows how many Pokémon! If the bomb went off, it would leave a huge mark in the Galar region that would take years, if not a whole century to recover from! Ruby suspected Elizabeth was bluffing. Surely she wouldn't kill herself and all her team mates as well? They'd get caught in the blast too. But it wasn't worth a risk. They couldn't stop her. If any of them so much as sneezed at her, she'd release the detonator. Even if Bea tried to disarm her, it would do her no good. The moment her thumb came off the button, the bomb would go off. There was no way to successfully detain her without setting it off…or wasn't there?

While Elizabeth had been counting, she'd made the foolish mistake of focusing on Ruby. Therefore, she didn't see Sapphire as she leaned close to Elsa and whispered to her.

"Use Ice Beam on her hand." she hissed.

Elsa obeyed immediately. She fired a blisteringly cold beam of ice towards Elizabeth's outstretched hand. Elizabeth screamed in horror as her hand and the detonator were encased in ice. The cold shot up her arm, numbing it instantly. She couldn't even feel her hand anymore. A glove of ice had formed around Elizabeth's hand and the detonator. She was now completely unable to set off the bomb. Her thumb couldn't even move a millimetre. Elizabeth pounded on the ice with her other hand to try and break it but it was useless. The ice was too thick. Even if she bashed it against the floor, it would take too long to break and then everyone could just pounce on her and stop her. Desperate, she screeched furiously like a demented banshee.

"KILL THEM ALL MY BEAUTIES!"

She tried to run as her Pokémon leapt towards the others. Doomsday merely swatted her Pokémon aside as Ruby pointed at the fleeing Elizabeth.

"Sydney, don't let her get away!" she yelled.

Sydney leapt into action, firing a strand of electric web at the silver-haired woman as she darted out the door. He caught her by the leg and tripped her up. Then Sydney pulled her back towards him. Elizabeth scrabbled frantically with her unfrozen hand but it was useless. What could she grab onto to stop this electric tarantula from dragging her back? As soon as she was back in the room, Sydney quickly webbed her up. He even gagged her so she couldn't speak anymore. With her hand frozen and webbed to her side, she had even less chance of releasing the detonator. But that didn't mean everyone was safe yet. Ruby knew that the bomb could still go off if it wasn't dealt with now. She imagined the detonator had a range in which if it was too far away from the bomb, it would go off anyway. Elizabeth couldn't be moved as a result.

"Sydney, show Doomsday where the bomb is so he can get rid of it!" Ruby shouted frantically.

"Me and Bea will evacuate everyone as a just in-case!" Raihan declared.

"And me and Sapph will take care of the woman's Pokémon!" Emerald cried.

The twins watched as Elizabeth's Pokémon picked themselves up to try and take their revenge for their trainer. Kadabra, Lickilicky and Vespiquen weren't willing to go down that easily. Even with Elizabeth bound and gagged, they were still going to attack like she'd ordered them to. Emerald whipped out two Pokéballs at once and threw them. She'd brought out Blue and Misty while Razer leapt off her shoulder to join in the fight herself. Sapphire kept Elsa out. The four of them together would handle Elizabeth's team easily.

Sydney scuttled out of the room with Doomsday following closely behind. Raihan and Bea ran off to get the stadium evacuated while Ruby brought Bugs the Cinderace out of his Pokéball to help her carry the webbed up Elizabeth out of the room. Elizabeth could only squirm helplessly and rant angrily behind her gag as the teenager and her Pokémon carried her away. Emerald and Sapphire were left alone to take care of the silver-haired woman's Pokémon. Kadabra was the first to attack, aiming its spoon at Emerald's Pokémon and trying to hit them with a Psychic attack. Just as it started to concentrate and build up its attack, Elsa intervened by throwing a powerful Shadow Ball attack at the Psychic Pokémon. Psychic-types were weak to Ghost-types so the attack was a super-effective hit. Kadabra grunted as it was hit and it staggered backwards. It wasn't quite down yet but the damage had been enough to momentarily stun it. Lickilicky was next to attack, curling up into a ball and charging towards Elsa. It was using Rollout, a Rock-type attack that did more damage the more times it was used. It would be super-effective against Elsa as Ice-types were weak to Rock-type attacks. But Lickilicky got nowhere near as Blue and Misty both double-teamed it together by using Bubble Beam and Drill Peck respectively. The big pink Pokémon cried out as it was hit and it ended up tumbling over itself in a comical fashion, crashing straight into the wall as it missed. Lickilicky tried to get up and fight some more but Blue came in again with another Bubble Beam. The bubbles popped in front of Lickilicky's eyes, stinging them madly and momentarily blinding it. While it couldn't see for now, Razer rushed towards the Normal-type Pokémon and slashed it viciously with a powerful Dragon Claw. That finished the fight as Lickilicky passed out and collapsed onto the floor.

Vespiquen took umbrage at her teammate's defeat and retaliated by using Attack Order. This was its signature attack in which it summoned a swarm of wasps to attack the opponent. The swarm built-up around the wasp-like Pokémon and she ordered them to go in for the kill. The wasps buzzed furiously towards their opponents. Attack Order was one of those moves with a high critical hit ratio so it had the potential to do a lot of damage if it landed. Elsa was quick to act, using another Ice Beam to freeze the wasps solid as they flew towards her. The wasps crashed down uselessly to the floor, little more than icicles. Vespiquen buzzed in worry and tried to attack again but Misty stopped her. The Corvisquire soared in and used Drill Peck on the Bug-type Pokémon. Vespiquen screeched in pain as she was viciously pecked by Misty. The single blow had been enough to take her down instantly. Vespiquen collapsed onto the floor and didn't move again. That just left Kadabra to go. Kadabra had recovered from Elsa's earlier attack and was now using Psychic to immobilize Misty and Blue. The two couldn't move for the moment and were now completely at Kadabra's mercy. Luckily for them, Kadabra didn't get the chance to do anything as Razer crept up behind it and struck it down with a single Crunch. Kadabra cried out in pain as Razer bit it and it collapsed onto the floor. It didn't get up again. Elizabeth's team had all been taken out. Delighted, Emerald and Sapphire gave a high-five.

"Great work!" they both cried in unison.

"Now that's done, let's get out of here." Sapphire insisted, "We'll take her Pokémon with us so they can be put away with all the Team Royal members we've captured."

"I can't imagine Lickilicky will be easy to carry." Emerald said sheepishly.

But carrying wouldn't be much of an issue for to Emerald's surprise, Blue, Razer and Misty all started to glow a bright white. Emerald put her hands to her mouth in excitement. Her Pokémon were evolving again! It seemed that Team Royal had done her a favour by coming here tonight for three of her Pokémon were evolving because of them! In a matter of seconds, Blue, Razer and Misty had changed into their new forms. Blue and Misty had reached their final stages, a Seismitoad and a Corviknight respectively while Razer had reached her second stage evolution, Fraxure.

Blue was now a huge toad-like Pokémon with red eyes, bulky arms, small legs and huge bumps on her head and arms.

As a Corviknight, Misty looked like a crow in knight armour with tough steel coating around her body and wings, sharp talons and red eyes.

Razer had grown bigger upon becoming a Fraxure and looked less cutesy in appearance, sporting much larger tusks than before, a longer tail, thicker more powerful legs and green armour-like segments around her chest, shoulders and head. She still sported her scars from her abuser. They would carry over to her final form when she evolved into a Haxorus eventually.

All three of them admired themselves over, thrilled with their new bodies. But they had to cut it short as there was still a bomb to get rid of and they had to leave now. With her new size and bulk, Blue was able to pick up the unconscious Lickilicky with ease while Misty picked up Vespiquen and effortlessly carried her away. Razer and Elsa carried Kadabra between them. Emerald and Sapphire led the way out and their Pokémon followed closely behind.

Meanwhile, Sydney had led Doomsday to the main power chamber and showed it where the bomb was. Being in this room brought back some unpleasant memories for Doomsday. Only a year ago had it been in here being experimented on by Chairman Rose and his scientists in some attempt to solve an energy crisis that wasn't even a problem yet. Doomsday still remembered vividly when it had woken up and broken free to start the Darkest Day again. At least life with Ruby had shown it that humans had their worth and weren't all bad, as well as showing it that life on Earth could be precious. Last year it had tried to destroy the world. This time, it was going to save lives instead. Doomsday grabbed the bomb in its jaws and picked it up. To a Pokémon as enormous as itself, the bomb weighed nothing to it. Now it had the bomb, Doomsday flew out of the power chamber and back into the corridor. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be able to carry the bomb out of the plant. Doomsday was too big to get out. In order to get the bomb away, Doomsday put it on the floor and Ruby returned the Poison/Dragon Pokémon to its Pokéball. Then she had Sydney carry it out by using a web to pull it along. He moved carefully as if afraid of setting it off. Once everyone was outside the plant, they carried the bomb across the drawbridge and out of Hammerlocke Stadium.

The rest was very straight-forward from here. Ruby brought Doomsday out again and ordered the Legendary Pokémon to carry the bomb up into the sky. Once the bomb was out of range of the detonator, it would explode harmlessly in the sky with no damage done to the city below. Doomsday picked the bomb up in its jaws again and flew up straight like a missile. To Ruby, it looked like it was about to Eternamax again as it had done the same thing before reaching that form last year. She, Bea, Raihan and the twins watched anxiously as Doomsday carried the bomb away. Emerald's hands clasped tight together and she held them close to her heart. Ruby watched, her stomach tingling as she prayed Doomsday would make the right move. It had to threw the bomb up and turn away so it wouldn't get caught up in the blast too. The bomb would likely do no damage to Doomsday, but Ruby still didn't want her Pokémon to get hurt. Elizabeth could only watch in dismay as her beautiful back-up plan was literally being carried away into nothing. Sordward and Shielbert were going to be SOOOOO disappointed with her!

Doomsday flew up for several miles before the bomb began to beep. That had to mean it was about to explode. Doomsday flicked its head and let go of the bomb. It hurtled straight upwards, launching as if blasted out of a cannon. Then the Eternatus turned around and flew back down towards the ground as the bomb continued to shoot upwards. It was finally out of range of the detonator so it exploded. Everyone down below just saw a huge fist of fire and smoke punch its way out of the small box. Even miles up in the sky the explosion still looked huge to them. Thank Arceus it hadn't been down on the ground back in the plant! A chorus of relieved sighs came from everyone as the explosion died down and disappeared into nothing. No damage had been done and nobody would die tonight. All this and many Team Royal members, including a high ranking commander, winding up captured had made this a great night for everyone involved! The plan had worked and Team Royal would suffer the consequences most drastically indeed. Ruby doubted that Sordward and Shielbert would be in a hurry to try anything else for the time being.

"Whew…thank Arceus that's over!" Ruby sighed happily, "I really thought that bomb was going to throw a wrench into my plan but we got rid of it!"

"It was all thanks to Sapphire!" Emerald praised, "If she hadn't got Elsa to stop that woman, we'd have had no choice but to give her Doomsday and release all the captured Team Royal members!"

"I agree." Bea concurred, "Sapphire truly saved us all from a terrible exchange and a potential loss of Hammerlocke City."

Sapphire blushed with pleasure, unsure how to take all this praise. It was more than she'd ever been used to in her life.

"Thank you everyone." she said modestly, "I'm just glad I acted when I could…"

"And that one act has saved more lives than you imagine!" Ruby exclaimed, "I bet if we'd given Team Royal what they wanted, the bomb would've gone off anyway. You saw that the bomb had a limited range from the detonator so once they got far enough away, Hammerlocke could've still been destroyed."

"We' never have evacuated the whole city in time." Raihan added, "I gotta say Ruby, saving lives seems to run in the family. There's you last year and there's Sapphire tonight! So when can we expect Emerald to have her hero moment?" he joked.

"Hopefully not anytime soon." Ruby said with a nervous laugh, "Still, I can't thank all of you enough for helping me carry out my trap to catch Team Royal tonight. I doubt we've got all of them but I feel we may have captured enough of them to significantly slow Sordward and Shielbert's plans down for now. Maybe we can even get one of them to tell us where they are so we can arrest them and put an end to the whole thing."

"I hope me and Sapph will be there to watch it happen!" Emerald said eagerly.

"I'll be sure to let you two know." Ruby said with a wink, "For now, come tomorrow you can make your way over to Ballonlea to take on the Fairy Gym. Opal's looking forward to seeing you two in action." she said, addressing both sisters at once.

"I look forward to it too." Emerald said brightly, "While we do that, I assume you'll keep up the hunt for Team Royal's leaders?"

"Oh yes." the Champion insisted, "I'm not relaxing just yet. As long as they're still at large, this battle isn't over. You two won't have to worry about them anymore at least."

The twins nodded. With less Team Royal members walking free now, they wouldn't have to be on their guard as much. They hoped Ruby could coax Sordward and Shielbert's location out of the Royal Grunts they'd captured tonight. Once they were in jail, Team Royal would never be a threat again. For now, they could just feel glad that Ruby's brilliant plan had worked and that they'd stopped Elizabeth from potentially destroying the city. Sapphire in particular would feel proud of herself for as long as she lived. She had to admit, being a hero felt wonderful! But it would be nice to be able to focus on just winning the remaining Gym Badges for now. That was definitely much less scary than having to deal with a bomb! The Silverlocks, Bea and Raihan saw to taking the captured Royal Grunts and Elizabeth away. The police would have a field day with all of them once they arrived at their doorstep…

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"UTTERLY INCONCEIVABLE!"

"MOST UNORTHODOX!"

"THIS IS A COMPLETE SHAMBLES! HOW WERE WE, THE GREAT SORDWARD AND SHIELBERT, OUTSMARTED BY A MERE CHILD?!"

"OUR PLAN WAS FOOL PROOF! ELIZABETH AND HER TEAM COULDN'T POSSIBLY HAVE FAILED!"

To say that the brothers were disappointed was an understatement. When Oleana had informed them that she'd lost contact with Elizabeth and her team, they'd immediately come to the conclusion that the plan had gone wrong. Neither of them could understand how. They'd been so careful! They hadn't whispered a word about the plan to anyone! How could anyone have been prepared for it? They'd realized that Ruby had been responsible for Oleana had seen Doomsday fly up into the sky. The ex-secretary had been hiding somewhere in Hammerlocke with a delivery van ready to take away the Wishing Stars that the team were supposed to grab and had driven away once it was clear everything had gone wrong. If Doomsday was there, that had to mean Ruby had been at the stadium and it was most likely that she had set up the trap that the team had fallen into. They just couldn't understand how Ruby had known they would be here tonight and stop them dead in their tracks!

"What an unforeseen circumstance that was!" Sordward grumbled, his sword-like hair flapping madly as he ranted, "We were so sure that our plan was going to work that we never could've anticipated that someone would guess what it was!"

"There's no way they could've guessed!" Shielbert whined, sounding like a child who thought life was being very unfair to him, "Henry, Edward and Richard didn't know the plan so they couldn't have told anyone! How did they figure it out?!"

"I suppose the fault is mine for picking the power plant as a place to steal from." Oleana muttered, "I guess I'd chosen somewhere too obvious. I should've been more subtle."

"There's some truth to that but still, neither of us even remotely implied where we were going to target next!" Sordward whinged, "It still makes no sense how Ruby and her friends anticipated what we were doing!"

"I hope we haven't got a double-agent hiding among us that's leaking information to them!" Shielbert panicked, "If we have, I'll make sure they never live to squeal on us again!"

"I doubt we have a mole." Oleana muttered, "But that's not important. I couldn't help but notice that when Eternatus flew up into the sky, a huge explosion occurred. Care to tell me what that was about?"

Sordward and Shielbert gulped. They hadn't told Oleana about their contingency for they knew she would've been livid. They had no choice but to come clean now she'd become suspicious. Trying to pretend they didn't know anything would make things worse. Reluctantly, they informed her about the bomb and how Elizabeth was meant to use it to blackmail Ruby into giving her Eternatus if things went south. After they'd finished, Oleana had the reaction they'd expected from her. Her stoic face had become a mask of rage and her voice had risen to a screech of pure anger.

"YOU DID WHAT?!" she shouted, "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT YOU TWO IDIOTS COULD'VE DONE WITH THAT?! THINK OF ALL THE DAMAGE YOU COULD'VE DONE AND THE PEOPLE YOU COULD'VE KILLED IF THE BOMB HAD GONE OFF!"

"N-n-now Oleana, y-you're being hysterical…" Shielbert said feebly.

"Shut it!" Oleana retorted, "When I signed up to join your little scheme, I only wanted to get back at Ruby for all the humiliation she's caused me! I DID NOT sign up for reckless acts like this! I don't want a body count on my hands! I made it clear from the start I wouldn't tolerate murder and yet you two arrange this behind my back?!"

"You're over-reacting Oleana, seriously!" Sordward protested, "Once Ruby gave Elizabeth Eternatus, she and the others would've given them a moment to get rid of the bomb as they made their getaway! There was no danger of it ever going off. Nobody was going to get hurt!"

"I thought you'd say something like that." the tall woman scoffed, "Well you can forget it you two. Threatening to destroy the great Chairman Rose's hard work is one thing, but potentially putting lives in danger? I can't stand by you for that. I didn't sign up for any of this and now I no longer wish to have any part in it. Not even revenge against Ruby is worth this. I'm gone and if you ever try contacting me again, I'm sure plenty of people will be fascinated to hear what I know about you and your organization…"

She turned on her heels and strutted off. Sordward and Shielbert were worried. The moment Oleana walked out of here, they knew their days were numbered. She would tell them and sell them out to the police! They couldn't let her leave. Sordward threw a Pokéball and a Pokémon materialized in front of Oleana. He had a Golisopod of his own, only his was far from friendly. Oleana recoiled and the Golisopod held out its claws, threatening to slice her to ribbons. All Sordward had to do was give the command and she'd be cut down.

"I'm afraid you're not going anywhere, my dear." the brother in blue purred, "Do forgive me and my brother, we really should've told you this sooner…once you join Team Royal, you cannot leave."

"If you dare try to walk out of here, then you die. Simple as that." the brother in red sneered, "And I wouldn't try telling anybody about this either. I'm sure Ruby would LOVE to hear how the whole raid tonight was YOUR idea…"

Oleana glared at the brothers. If they thought they could keep her prisoner then they were crazier than she thought! But what choice did she have? She couldn't fight off a Golisopod by herself, she was no fighter! She also had no Pokémon on her. They'd been confiscated from her after she was fired, an extra punishment on the Chairman's behalf for plotting to kidnap Ruby. If she had them on her now, it'd be a different story. Also, the brothers had a point. What good would leaving do her when they could just easily throw her under the bus and leave her for the police as well? She doubted Ruby would be in a forgiving mood if she heard that she was part of Team Royal as well. Sighing, she hung her head in defeat.

"I suppose my mind has been made up for me." she grumbled.

"Much better." Sordward crowed, "Now then, after tonight's disastrous turnout, we're better off going into hiding. We may even have to relocate."

"I agree brother." Shielbert said with a nod, "I'm sure our loyal subjects won't rat us out but you never know. Just in case somebody squeals on us, it's best we're not here when the police come knocking on our door. Our plans are far from over, but it'll be best if we give it some time before we carry on."

"Absolutely." Sordward concurred, "Little does anyone know, we still have our little secret hiding among them waiting for the right moment. They may have guessed tonight's plan, but they won't have guessed anything else."

Oleana felt nervous. What little secret did the brothers have this time? What did they mean by "Hiding among them waiting for the right moment"? Did they have a sleeper agent somewhere in Galar? If so, where was this agent? She was now wishing more than ever that she'd never joined Team Royal. If only she'd stayed on community service instead of wanting to pay the Champion back! Maybe she could escape from the brothers somehow and take them down. Just like them, she would keep a low profile herself. Once an opportunity presented itself, she'd break free and rat them out to the authorities. It was true she would likely go to jail too, but it would be worth it to see this organization crumble down and the brothers going to some lunatic asylum where they belonged!

Despite everything, Oleana managed to smile to herself. The brothers thought they were being so clever in keeping her around, but they were only going to make things worse for themselves in the long run…

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Pokémon evolved: Misty the Corvisquire, now Misty the Corviknight.

Blue the Palpitoad, now Blue the Seismitoad.

Razer the Axew, now Razer the Fraxure.