The Rupture

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A stranger stepped into the Stow-on-Side stadium. Their dark hair flowed wild and free, and their eyes were blazing. “I come on behalf of Mr Gloss, and I challenge Allister to a gym match.”

They drew out a Dusk Ball and pointed it at Allister’s face.

Piers winced. He used Dusk Balls for all of his pokemon, so it irked him that this rude stranger did, too. He barked out, “Oi, can’t you see that he’s busy? And who challenges a gym on behalf of someone else?”

The stranger smirked. Their long eyebrows curved. “I wasn’t asking you, Piers.” They eyed the ghost type gym leader like a Sharpedo.

Allister stared blankly at them through his mask, his arms tense at his sides. He murmured, “If you win, who should get the Ghost badge? You, or Gloss?”

The dark haired stranger cackled. “You do have a lack of confidence, don’t ya? I’m only a grunt. If I can beat you, then Gloss definitely can!”

So arrogant. “What’s your name?” Piers demanded, barely reining in his temper.

That saucy stranger stared at him with uncanny, eerie eyes. “Why would you care? I’m a nobody. But you can call me Bertha.” She smiled. “Why all this stalling? Do you accept my challenge or not?”

Allister faced her woodenly. “I do. But only when I come back from Glimwood Tangle.”

Bertha grinned, and revealed her teeth. Some of them were silver. “Didn’t I tell you earlier? You’re not good enough to challenge Mr Gloss.”

“Like hell we aren’t,” Raihan cut in. “Plus, since you use Ghost types, we have a Dark type specialist here to wipe you out.” The dragon gym leader gestured to Piers.

The Spikemuth punk covered his face. His friend meant well, but how awkward. Piers said, “Allister is a Ghost type expert and he’d know how to deal with you. Even if ya think he gave your boss permission to control those wild pokemon in the woods!”

Bertha smirked and tilted her head. A right creepy-looking woman, she was. “Are you sure Allister didn’t give Mr Gloss his permission? He might have just forgotten.” Before Piers, Allister, or anyone else could respond to that, she fluffed her dark mane of hair and said, “I’d advise you not to go back into Glimwood Tangle. You, Raihan, and Daniel were lucky that you got out. You won’t be so lucky next time.”

“Oh yeah?” Raihan marched up to her and glared down at her face.

The Dragon gym leader’s height would have intimidated most people, but Bertha was just amused. With a twitch up the corners of her mouth, she answered, “If you don’t believe me, go see for yourself. Don’t blame me for not warning ya first.”

At this point, Daniel cleared his throat. Piers glared at him. Daniel spoke in a tired monotone, “Gloss can’t mean to be this aggressive. You must be bluffing.”

A tick appeared in Bertha’s jaw. Her eyes shone with something hidden. “How would you know that, Daniel? It’s not like you and the boss are close. You have no idea of his plans!”

Did she sound panicked?

Daniel replied coolly, “Hmph, you’re still new to Team Hex, aren’t you, Bertha?” The stubborn young woman glowered at him without speaking. Daniel continued, “You don’t need to care about how ‘close’ he and I are. But I definitely have known him for longer than you have.”

Piers folded his arms, hands pressed against the comforting chill of his white leather jacket. “Daniel, since you stopped pretending to be just strangers with Gloss, why don’t you come clean about your history with him so you can actually help us?”

The man sent him a withering look. “Fuck you, Piers.”

The punk singer lifted a brow. “No thank you.” Raihan laughed in the background.

Bertha ignored this exchange and barged back in, “Guys, shut up.” She sneered at Daniel. “Regardless of your relationship with my boss, you’re estranged now and simply don’t know what’s happening inside of Team Hex. If you mess with him, you’ll all regret it.” She cackled again.

Raihan was about to snap something back at her, but Piers said, directed at Daniel this time, “Daniel, let’s put aside our personal fight for now. What can you tell us about Gloss that can help us handle the Glimwood Tangle affair and beat him?” He eyed Bertha. “We could talk outside if we don’t want input from this one.”

Bertha gave him the finger, which Piers ignored.

Daniel glanced at all of them, and his mouth looked as tight as a Banette’s. He gritted his teeth. “Let’s go outside to talk, then.”

Bertha glared at them but didn’t follow as Daniel, Raihan, Allister, and Piers marched out of the gym.

Raihan couldn’t believe that Bertha, who looked like a Hex Maniac, hadn’t tailed them when they exited the building. He was suspicious but he also wanted Daniel to hurry up and speak. Piers sent Raihan what was likely meant to be a calming look, but the Dragon gym leader was still agitated.

As if trying to buy time, the bastard Daniel stared around at the arid, desert-like area outside the gym. It was such a huge difference to the urban, built-up landscape outside of Hammerlocke, Raihan thought.

“So, are you going to tell us anything?” Raihan pressed.

Daniel shot him a glare. “Yes, yes.” The man cleared his throat. “Gloss and I…have known each other for a while. We rarely talk nowadays, yes, but as foul as he can be, trapping us in a forest is not his style. He might mess around with us and disturb people. But imprisoning them is too much.” Daniel shook his head vigorously, as if trying to convince himself of this.

Piers exchanged a glance with Raihan. Piers said, “So would you say you two are estranged friends, or — ”

“Why does it matter what we are to one another?” Daniel snapped. He huffed. “It doesn’t matter to our operation anyway.”

“It does, actually,” Piers replied with a slight smile. “If you’re still sort of friends, then how can you expect us to trust you? You could turn on us to help Gloss at any moment.”

Daniel scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Argh. We don’t see eye to eye, Piers, but I can promise you that I have zero desire to help Gloss in his stupid, reckless scheme. I want him to leave the wild pokemon alone, too. So we’re on the same side for now, even if we dislike each other.”

“Daniel.” That was Allister, speaking in a soft voice. He angled his head in a strange way. “Do you believe Bertha when she said I must have forgotten that I gave Gloss permission to raid the forest?”

The other two gym leaders and Daniel gave Allister a bewildered look. Piers said, “Allister, don’t let Team Hex fool around with you. Your memory is yours alone!”

Allister bobbed his head up and down. “Thank you for your kindness, Piers. B-but…what if it’s true? It’s not like I’ve never forgotten things before. I didn’t even remember meeting Gloss and exchanging numbers with him until later.”

Raihan sighed heavily. “Forgetting things is a normal human thing. Yes, even for you, Allister. But I’m sure you wouldn’t do something as drastic as giving Gloss permission to terrorize and mind control wild pokemon.”

Piers met Raihan’s eye and nodded.

Daniel gave his reply. “Look, coz, I’m not attuned to the ghosts or the dead like you are. I can’t read auras, either, so I can’t say for sure if you did anything during a trance. Maybe you did unknowingly give Gloss permission. Or maybe you didn’t. But it doesn’t matter right now because at the end of the day, we still have pokemon to save.”

The Hammerlocke gym leader frowned. It was bizarre how Daniel was acting more reasonably now, ever since their holographic call with Gloss. Raihan didn’t know what to make of this change.

While Raihan was lost in his thoughts, Piers said, “Are you suggestin’ that we head into Glimwood Tangle rather than go back into the gym?” He tapped the ground with his spiked boots.

Daniel smirked and turned his nose up at him. “What? Are you too scared to go into the woods and be potentially trapped forever?”

Raihan really wanted to punch the guy’s face. His crush was much calmer and more collected, however. Piers smiled slightly again, though his eyes glinted. “Don’t waste your bullshit on me, Daniel. If you would rather stay behind and have us go into the forest instead, feel free, we won’t stop ya. I wondered whether you would have more intel into how Gloss works, since you and he were…once close. But if you haven’t got anythin’ more to share, then we’ll be goin’.”

Piers spun around to march towards the forest, and Daniel just gaped. Raihan threw Daniel a sneer too before running to catch up with his friend. Allister gave his cousin an uncertain look before following their troupe as well.

When the trio reached the entrance to Glimwood Tangle, Raihan was astonished that Daniel still hadn’t followed them. He snorted. “Figured that Daniel was a coward, after all.”

Piers chuckled as he played with the strands of his hair. “It sounds like he had some real beef with Gloss. It’s like he wants to oppose his old friend, but not completely. We don’t need his help if he has to be so indecisive.”

The Dragon gym leader nodded with vehement agreement.

Allister was silent, but he usually was, so Raihan paid him no mind.

When the three of them entered Glimwood Tangle, Raihan felt something colder and more haunted than it was earlier. Or was that just his imagination? “Can you sense anything peculiar, Allister?” Raihan asked. Since Daniel reminded him that Allister could sense auras…

The Ghost type gym leader was quiet for a moment, before hanging his head with a sigh. “I sense…a lot of things. But that’s no surprise, is it? It would worry me more if I didn’t sense anything.”

Raihan grunted. He had a point.

Piers took out a Dusk Ball and pressed the button. “Go, Goonie!”

Obstagoon came out in a burst of white light. He crossed his arms and stuck out his tongue like he usually did. Then he gave his trainer an inquisitive look. Piers patted his Pokemon’s head. “Let’s keep a lookout for whatever we may encounter, all right? Things might be different this time around.” Obstagoon growled softly with a nod.

Raihan and Allister sent out a pokemon each as guards, too. Raihan sent out Flygon again. Allister’s Gengar reappeared and gazed around them with a wary, ominous look. If anyone would be comfortable in these eerie straits, it would be a ghost pokemon.

A moment later, Raihan heard a cracking sound in the earth. They all halted. “What in the name of Arceus — ” he began.

But he got cut off as the ground ruptured beneath their feet.

Stay tuned for the next chapter!