Ch. 11 THEMEX

The Flygon mech flew on, heading closer to The Second Capitol and climbing over mountains even as the space elevator became more prominent and the buildings became visible. On the ground ahead, a hundred miles from the massive city, mere specks of light flickered on and off next to a gigantic Corviknight. It turned its head and spread out its wings, soon flying towards the Second Capitol. At that moment, a piercing light that glowed red and blue shot up to the air and glowed for a few seconds before disappearing.

A few minutes later, the Flygon mech lowered, with a pair of cannons extending from its mouth. A whirling sound emitted from them before several red energy balls fired out, blasting onto the Corviknight. It screeched before it fell, shrinking in away from The Second Capitol. The cannons pulled back into the mouth, continuing their flight to the city.

“Jeez, that’s intense,” Faith said, leaning towards the bridge with wide eyes, though her enthusiasm was tempered.

“No kidding,” Adrian said, rubbing the back of his head. “Do you think that Corviknight will be alright?”

“Eh, yes,” David said with a shrug before rubbing between his eyes. “Still, I was expecting more massive Pokémon than just the one. What happened to the others?”

The other two shrugged before they turned to the buildings, with the Flygon ship hovering over them. Faith blushed. The facilities at times appeared far more massive than even the Great Protector’s bones back home. Though there were small buildings on the western side of the city, only going up one story, they were a minority compared to the skyscrapers from the south and the east. And massive factories lay at the north, where giant machine versions of the anthros walked, sometimes hovering from one to another.

The Second Capitol, a nation to itself, contained fifty million anthros at the least. To both east and west of the city lay farmlands, about 80,000 square miles altogether, with rows of crops and creatures she had never seen before. To the north lay tall mountains with snow capping at the top, and the south contained endless grass. And yet, many massive prints covered the area, squashing trees and stocks, knocking down some boulders, and even dominating the fields. But at the very center of the city lay the space elevator, so massive it paled even the buildings that surrounded it at this distance.

She turned downwards and blinked, spotting far smaller ships much like the one she was in, enough to fit in only a handful. They hovered from building to building, though none of them went close to the space elevator itself. She tilted her head at them before turning back up to the elevator itself, where an image lay on its side. Displayed was a massive Arbok curled up in a circle, biting its own tail.

She blinked at it, wondering why the anthros created such an image when the mech shook. She stumbled a bit, feeling David caught her along with Adrian. The machine moaned, and the anthros on the bridge stopped, instead getting up outside a few. She blinked even as she steadied her footing.

“I think we reached our destination,” David said.

Faith, Adrian, and David walked out from the Flygon ship along with A-Ninetales, Saria, and Glorfindel. There were other anthros as well, but they remained focused on their own devices, sometimes pointing at the mech itself. The building they stood on, the tallest of the anthro’s towers outside of the space elevator up north at 3,500 feet tall, was vast though not enough for the mech to lay on, instead half hovering off the building.

She turned ahead and spotted a few anthros wearing black-on-white clothing in such a spotless condition that even Glorfindel’s clothes looked out of place. The one that stood at the center brushed his feathers on his head, giving out a dark golden shine. His ‘hands,’ if she could call them that, appeared as bigger and thicker feathers, though they flexed as though they were hands. His feet-claws and beak shined sharp, enough that Faith thought they could pierce through anything by just looking at them.

The anthro rubbed some kind of device against his neck, gave out a nod, and said, “Hello. I am Mayor Jonan, the leader of the Second Capital.” Faith blinked, his voice having a slight electrical tone to it. “I was alerted that Saria solved her giant problem and that she, along with Daren, brought in some guests from the outside world, though I was not adequately told why that is.”

“I do apologize,” Glorfindel said with a bow even as the mayor turned to him. “Daren told me why during the flight, and I didn’t have the time to explain since we rushed as fast as we could when we heard the bad news.”

“Bad news?” David said while turning to him. “Are you talking about the giant Pokémon attack? That was handled by you guys, wasn’t it?”

He squinted, and Mayor Jonan rubbed his beak. “It seemed that even your guests didn’t know everything, but I don’t blame you. It happened so fast. I’ll let my Deputy Mayor explain.”

He turned to the side, and another anthro stepped forward, the fur on her face white with thick black stripes covering from her nose, over her eyes, and up her ears, black and tipped with white. Her hair extended long, though tied up behind her head, having the mix of black and white as well. She rubbed against the device near her neck and coughed a bit.

“Hey there! I am Deputy Mayor Rosemary!” she said with a wave, her left arm carrying packets of paperwork. “As you can see, I am an anthro badger, which looked like an Obstagoon to you Pokémon. My boss here is a golden eagle, which is kind of like a Braviary but with more gold—”

“Rosemary, please,” Mayor Jonan said with a sigh. “Sorry. She gets so excited when meeting with new Pokémon guests.”

“Oh! Um.” Deputy Mayor Rosemary pulled out one of the folders and flipped through several pages. “OK, after five of the twenty giant Pokémon were neutralized, all of our anti-macro cannons were disabled if not destroyed for unknown reasons.” David blinked along with the others, with Glorfindel shaking his head. “But observers spotted two anthro foxes, they’re like Glorfindel except with one tail and having different fur colors, confronted the fifteen giant Pokémon that remained. And, despite them being normal size and against all odds during the last half-hour, they somehow defeated fourteen of them before they stopped.”

“What?!” David said, taking a step back even as Glorfindel blinked as well.

“I heard that they were winning when I heard the report,” Glorfindel said, turning to a glaring David. “But I didn’t think they would take out fourteen out of fifteen. Though we must have taken down the last one, correct?”

“Yes,” Rosemary said, pulling out another file. “Strangely enough, they spotted a third anthro there, who must’ve been the ringleader, but none of the cameras and witnesses got a good look on them. The other two fought him off, which was that bright light, and this ship took out the last giant Pokémon. We’ve taken them all in for questioning, but so far, no answers.”

Glorfindel shook his head even as David said, “It looks like this city was saved by the will of Arceus or whatever those anthros are. Still,” he rubbed his beak-like mouth, “I wonder who those anthros are. Do you know?”

“No,” Rosemary said while shaking her head. “They disappeared as though they never existed.”

Silence came over the group, with Mayor Jonan tugging against his tie even as Deputy Mayor Rosemary put the folders back under her arm. David shook his head while sighing even as Glorfindel rubbed the symbol on his staff. Faith and Adrian stood still, imagining how a pair of anthros could defeat massive Pokémon, even as A-Ninetales’s eyes shifted.

Saria broke the silence. “In any case, I think it’s time to explain why we brought in these three here.” She gestured to the three. “Their names are Faith the Vulpix, Adrian the Flareon, and David the Zoroark.”

“A Zoroark?” Rosemary said while pulling out a thin device and pressing it, a 3D image of a Zoroark displayed and spinning above it. “He doesn’t look like a Zoroark unless he’s using Illusion.”

David’s face turned red as Glorfindel said, “That I’m responsible for.”

“Ah.” Rosemary pulled out a piece of paper and handed it over to him. “May you sign this? It’s a document that allows us to catalog any changes that occurred to a body. So we can’t have any such changes happen out of our watch, lest we lose track of folks and they go into places they aren’t supposed to.”

“Very well,” Glorfindel said while rubbing a claw against the paper. He handed it back. “The change should be undone by tomorrow morning anyway.”

“We’ll need to document that as we—” Rosemary said before Mayor Jonan coughed.

“Sorry. We seem to have diverted from the point,” he said while folding his arms behind his back. “We wish to know why you brought them here, especially since you know that the chances of them leaving this continent is unlikely.”

Faith’s face paled a bit as A-Ninetales said, “That I can explain in brief since the story is long. Faith here has, through an accident with Jirachi, got a copy of my ability Flash Fire in her body. I’m sure you don’t need to go through your paperwork to know how my modified ability works.”

Mayor Jonan nodded, his orange eyes staring at Faith’s baby blue eyes. “So, she can grow from the contact of fire, correct?”

“Indeed,” A-Ninetales said while pushing her forward, with her blinking and blushing.

“That is enough to know for now,” Mayor Jonan said, turning to Rosemary. “Got them here as well?”

“Yup! Good thing I thought to bring in those papers!” Deputy Mayor Rosemary said, kneeling down and pulling out a piece of paper. “We need to register your name in the system so we know any current travelers who can size shift. It also works as a contract with us granting you free passage to wherever you want in The Second Capitol (within reason) as long as you don’t activate your abilities.”

Faith tilted her head at the paper, the letters and symbols being nothing she had ever seen before. But, at the bottom, there lays a straight line underneath the text. Rosemary lowered the paper to the ground while pulling out a case, snapping it open. Faith blinked before she pressed her paw against the interior, black and firm yet silky, before lifting it up and pressing her paw above the line. An inked paw print remained where she squeezed it, and Rosemary wiped away the remaining ink on her paw.

“Good. Welcome to The Second Capitol,” Mayor Jonan said with a bow. “This building we stand upon held my office at the very top along with members of the council, ambassadors, accountants, and any other government workers. This also contains living quarters for all of them and any possible citizens who could afford to live here. Since Glorfindel has done so much to support us these last few weeks, helping us relearn much of our research, he can live here for free. Since you’re all acquaintances with him, I believe it is only right to extend that right to you all.”

“Thank you,” A-Ninetales said with a nod. “Though I believe I’m needed elsewhere. I saw that the damages left by the attack destroyed a fair amount of your crops, and the other destruction could prove a hazard.” He pressed against his badge. “I think it’s time to put Glorfindel’s gift to the test.”

“Very well,” Mayor Jonan said, bowing again before turning to Rosemary. “Can you show them their rooms and arrange for someone who can give them a tour through our glorious city when they get the chance?”

“Sure thing! I know just the guy!” Rosemary said, standing up while replacing the sheet Faith signed with another, showing it to Mayor Jonan. “Would he do?”

“Hmm. He’s cynical,” Mayor Jonan said while rubbing his beak. “He’ll likely paint us in a far darker light than I like, but he’ll do. Call him and see if he’s willing.”

“Sure!” Deputy Mayor Rosemary put it back into one of her many folders and turned to the others. “Follow me if you’re ready! If not, please get your stuff as soon as possible.”

David turned back to the Flygon mech. “I need to get my Wonder Orbs and letter. I’ll be right back.”

Then, with surprising speed, David half sprinted, half hopped into the mech. Faith tilted her head a bit before turning around, with Adrian and Saria standing next to Rosemary. Mayor Jonan turned around, heading to the door as many anthros followed him, leaving only a few. A-Ninetales followed Mayor Jonan out to the door, giving out such a foxy grin even as Saria giggled at him. Faith stepped forward before she felt a poke on her head, Glorfindel kneeling beside her.

“I do apologize for intruding this late in the afternoon,” Glorfindel said, giving out a small smile. “Our friend, Daren, wished for me to check on you.”

“Huh?” Faith’s ears folded back. “Why? Is there anything wrong with me?”

His right ear flattened to the side, his free hand rubbed against her back. “He is simply concerned if the ability you got from him might not have transplanted corrected. So he wants me to check you out, see if it’s good, and try to fix it if it isn’t. Plus,” Glorfindel tugged against her bow, “I can use the time to enchant your bow so that it can store your growth.”

“Oh!” Faith’s said, her ears pointing up straight. “A-Tales suggested the same thing! Sure, let’s go over.”

Glorfindel nodded and patted her head before standing up straight, walking towards the door into the building. Faith’s cheek blushed red before she followed. From the corner of her eye, Adrian stood there, perhaps doing the same thing. Deep down, she thought of what could happen tomorrow and met with a Vaporeon instead of a Flareon. She shook her head, though her fur shivered a bit.