The Aether Paradise Biodome [Yuletide 2019]
Dec 28, 2019 2:35:21 GMT
Post by bay on Dec 28, 2019 2:35:21 GMT
Hiya! So this is a Yuletide piece I wrote for Ambyssin, who wanted something with Gladion's Pokemon watching over the Aether Paradise biodome. I admit it's heavily inspired from that one Sun/Moon anime episode with a Ditto causing havoc in the headquarters, but the Pokemon characters were still fun to write. Hope you guys enjoy!
The Aether Paradise biodome, home to the Pokémon rescued by the Aether Foundation. Most of them roamed around the grass and trees, bathing in the sunlight that poured through the glass ceiling. The water Pokémon would swim inside the lakes while flying ones thrived in the open space. Gladion took his Pokémon to his mother in the middle of the biodome: Silvally, Lucario, Crobat, and Zoroark stood in front of them.
“Oh my Gladion, your Pokémon are in top form as always!” Lusamine said with a proud grin and her hands on her hips. Gladion offered her a small nod.
“Of course they are. My Pokémon hasn't stopped training hard, especially with the next Pokémon League tournament coming up.”
“Right, I almost forgot that’s just right around the corner.” Lusamine cleared her throat and turned to the Pokémon. “Anyways, darlings, there’s a favor we want to ask of you. The Aether Foundation is having its holiday party today.”
Everyone including Silvally perked their heads up with great interest. This was the first time they heard of it, having traveled with Gladion through Alola and the Tohjo continent several years beforehand.
“Oh, a party?” Zoroark asked, wagging his tail. “Are we invited?”
“My mother and I will be there along with all of the employees,” Gladion continued. “Because of that, we’ll need you guys to watch over the biodome for a little while.”
“What?” Crobat screeched and flapped his wings rapidly. Feeling the same way, Zoroark threw his head up and groaned. “No party for us?”
After giving them a glare, Silvally glanced at Lucario. The Aura Pokémon had an indifferent expression and nodded.
“We’re more than happy to help out,” he said with his fist on his chest.
“Thank you, Lucario.” Silvally smiled at him ad faced back toward Gladion. “You can count on us, Gladion.”
Both Gladion and Lusamine offered them blank stares for a moment, and then the latter beamed. “Looks like your Pokémon are fine with watching over the biodome!” Lusamine clapped her hands.”All right, then, Gladion and I will be going now to do some final preparations. Have fun!” She waved to them goodbye and headed out with Gladion.
Zororark pouted and slumped down on the ground, crossing his arms against his chest. “Great, now we’re stuck here babysitting this place.”
Lucario narrowed his eyes at Zoroark and Crobat. “You two would make things worse, creating illusions and sucking people’s blood.”
“But making illusions is fun!” Zoroark said as he picked himself back up.
“Hey, I can’t help it that I’m addicted to blood,” Crobat said, twirling around. “Thick, delicious blood.”
Silvally sighed, shaking their head. They cleared their throat.
“All right, that’s enough you guys. Gladion and his mother entrusted us in overseeing the Pokémon here. Let’s start by checking out the forested area.”
Silvally moved forward, the others following behind. They hoped both their friends and the Pokémon in the biodome behave for their sake.
xxx
The first few moments the watch went fine. All the Pokémon in the forested area of the biodome behaved well, either playing or sleeping. Some Pokémon also did friendly spars against each other, like a Buneary and Houndour that Silvally and his friends had passed by.
“Looks like everything’s fine so far,” Lucario said, and Silvally nodded.
“Yes, and I’m pleased with that.”
“Now what, boss?” Crobat asked.
Looking up at the glass ceiling, Silvally considered Zoroark’s question for a second. “Let’s go check up on the Ditto.”
Zororark flinched and his eyes narrowed. “The Ditto? They always complained about how much I turned into other Pokémon when they do that themselves!”
Lucario gave a low hum. “I remember one time they turned into Mareanie and scared all of the Corsola. They were timid towards everyone for the rest of the week.”
“Yes, they can be troublesome at times.” Silvally turned and lowered their head for a second. “That’s why we’re going to see them now.”
The Ditto’s habitat was near the end of the biodome forest. There was a playground with a slide, sitting blocks, and a small treehouse. Two of the Ditto were playing on the slide while the third one just lay on one of the sitting blocks. When Silvally and his group made it there and approached them, the Ditto stared at them.
“Oh lookie here, it isn’t the golden boy’s Pokémon,” the first Ditto, Gummy, said.
“How much you wanna bet which Pokémon Zoroark will turn this time?” the second Ditto, Slick, asked.
“Maybe he’ll turn into a giant Turtanator and burn the place down!” The last Ditto, Stretch, joined with the other Ditto, and all three burst out laughing.
Zoroark glared, grinding his teeth. His claws popped out.
“That’s it, I’ll give you guys a good slicing!”
Zoroark took a few steps forward, only for Lucario to grab his wrist and restrained him. Lucario gave him a stern look.
“Don’t, Zoroark. We’re watching over the Pokémon, including the Ditto.”
Zoroark regarded Lucario for a moment and relaxed his posture. With a low growl, he shifted his face away.
Silvally let out a disappointed sigh and shook his head. While gazing at the Ditto, they noticed something was off.
“Hey, have you guys seen Duce?” Silvally asked, and that caused the three Ditto to stop laughing.
“Duce?” Stretch asked, blinking. “Oh! I think they said they’re going for a walk.” They turned to Slick. “You remember which Pokémon Duce turned into?”
Slick wobbled as they said, “Errrrr, I think they turned into a Vulpix. Duce can be any Pokémon, though.”
Silvally felt a knot tied inside their stomach. “Wait, Duce is out there somewhere and you guys didn’t do anything?”
Gummy shrugged. “I mean, we turned into other Pokémon all the time. Besides some mischief here and there, it’s nothing serious.”
“It is when the humans are away like right now.” Silvally’s nostrils flared, and they turned to the group. “We need to find Duce before they do anything reckless.”
Both Crobat and Zoroark groaned. Zoroark then complained, “Is it necessary? Maybe Gummy is right that it won’t be anything serious.”
“Oh, so you agree with me then, Zoro boy?” Gummy said with a chuckle, which earned them a glare from Zoroark.
“Shut up, Gum Goo.”
“We’ll know which Pokémon is Duce by their beady eyes, right?” Crobat asked.
“That, and if they scared off some Pokémon,” Lucario said. “I think it’s best that we all split up to cover more ground,”
“Good idea, Lucario,” Silvally said and nodded. “Let’s move, everyone.”
Upon that command, everyone took off in separate directions. Silvally hoped that neither Duce nor his friends did anything reckless.
xxx
Crobat flew all over the biodome for what felt like almost half an hour. So far nothing has happened to indicate Duce was causing trouble, and upon closer look at the Pokémon, none of them had beady eyes. This was boring, and he grew hungry: not for regular food, but blood.
All the Pokémon in the biodome looked healthy and must have rich blood! Just a little shouldn’t hurt. Thinking that caused Crobat to flap his wings harder and his mind to go overdrive.
“Blood, blood, blood…” he muttered to himself and stopped himself mid-air. No, Silvally and Gladion would be furious, so he needed to contain himself! He shook his head to get rid of that thought.
“Hey, Batty Boy, is that you?” someone below yelled. Crobat twirled around to see a Whimiscott hanging on a tree branch with one arm.
“Oh, hey Scotty,” Crobat said in an exhausted tone. Scotty was a Whimiscott rescued by the Aether employees four months ago. The two didn’t get along all that well.
“You’ve been flying around all day. What’s up?”
“One of the Ditto, Duce, has gone missing. You don’t happen to bump into them earlier, did you?”
“Can’t say I haven’t,” Scotty said with a shrug. “Sorry there, buddy.”
“Drats.” Crobat’s eyes narrowed, and he looked away from Scotty for a second. “Well, if you do see them let me know, m’kay?”
“Sure, sure,” Scotty said, though to Crobat he didn’t sound serious. The Whimiscott took a few steps and turned back with a wide grin. “Before you go, you looked kinda hungry.”
Crobat flinched, a lump forming inside his throat. Sweat started dripping on his forehead.
“Um, what gives that away?”
Scotty glared at him and had his hands on his side. “Oh come on, I heard you repeating “blood” from a mile away. You can have my blood if you’re so desperate.”
“Really?” Crobat’s face lit up for a second, but then he shook his head. “No, I can’t! The boss won’t like it at all.”
“Aw, is that so?” Scotty walked to a boulder and sat on it. “Don’t worry, I’ll just say some other Pokémon bit me.”
A chill ran through Crobat’s back, the temptation of blood coming back. He wasn’t convinced of Scott’s generosity, so he raised his forehead.
“Are you trying to get me in trouble?”
Scotty blinked at him and chuckled. “What? No, not at all. I just thought my blood could be of good use to you, that’s all.” He pulled a tuft of cotton around his neck, showing off the bare skin. “Whenever you’re ready.”
Crobat fixed his gaze at Scotty’s neck. His stomach growled, and the word “blood” was repeated in his head like a carousel ride. As he approached Scotty, Crobat closed his eyes and opened his mouth wide--
--only to then back away and shook his head.
“Urgh, I can’t! I need to find that Ditto, gotta go!”
Crobat immediately took off. When he was midway up, he could hear Scotty laughing from below.
“I’m gonna smack Scotty’s head once this is over,” he grumbled. As he continued flying, several screams came and Crobat’s face tensed. “Huh, what’s that?”
Sensing that must be the Ditto, Crobat flew to the source of the noise as fast as he could.
xxx
Lucario had been using his aura abilities to try to find Duce. While walking, he closed his eyes and sensed every Pokémon's aura from a far distance. The shape and color of an aura depended on how a Pokémon felt. Right now most of the Pokémon were calm. Only the Talonflame and Trumbeak he had passed earlier were having some relationship problems he found out more than he should have.
So far no Duce. His ears picked up when he sensed Zoroark's aura. He opened his eyes to see him disguised as a Nosepass standing still. He gave him a blank stare and crossed his arms.
"I know it's you, Zoroark," he said, and Zoroark turned slowly.
"Huh? Who's this Zoroark you referred to?"
Lucario’s forehead furrowed. "Oh come on! You should know already that I can detect you with my aura."
Zoroark growled in response and changed back to himself in a flash of purple light. "This is boring. We could've gone to that party instead."
"We're supposed to find that Ditto, so there's no time to mess around."
Zoroark leaned back against a tree and snorted. "You and Silvally are always too uptight. Back when we were in Kanto and Johto, you two only cared about getting stronger."
This time, Lucario regarded him a moment. He and his friends were only in those two regions for a few months: Lucario and Silvally focused on training while Crobat and Zoroark often went sightseeing. Realizing that Zoroark was right, Lucario let out a deep sigh.
"Okay, maybe you're right that Silvally and I were a little too serious. Gladion wanted to be stronger, and I didn't want to disappoint him."
"Hey, I get that, but we're not chasing Ultra Beasts or going in a tournament right now. Live a little!"
Lucario stared at him once more. After some consideration, he said, "All right, I'll be less serious if you help me find the Ditto."
"Deal," Zororak said immediately, and they shook hands. At that moment, several Pokémon screams came and that caused the two to flinch. Zoroark kept looking back and forth. "What was that?"
"Sounds like it was coming from the lake. Let's go!"
Both Pokémon hurried off. The lake was a short distance from them, and by the time they reached there, several Corsola was running away. A Mareanie was chasing after them, but they had small beady eyes instead of the usual larger purple and yellow ones. Lucario gasped and narrowed his eyes.
"That's Duce!" he yelled out, pointing at them. Duce jumped onto one of the Corsola and started sucking on their coral reef spike, who was squealing in pain.
"I'm on it!" Zororark fired off a Shadow Ball from his mouth, which smacked Duce on the face and knocked them off from the Corsola. The Corsola made an attempt to flee.
Duce fell on the ground but picked themselves up quickly. They giggled and transformed into Zoroark, much to the other Pokémon's annoyance.
"You won't get away with that!" Zoroark's claws popped out, and he rushed toward them. Duce did the same, and their claws clashed. They kept swiping and blocking each other's assaults, as if on equal footing.
"Back away, Zoroark!" Lucario shouted, and Zoroark moved away as told. A blue orb formed between Lucario's hands, and he tossed it straight at Duce. The Aura Sphere hit their chest, making Duce back away from Zoroark. Duce shook off the attack, transformed into Lucario, and rushed off.
Lucario growled, annoyed that Duce had transformed into him and slipped past them. He glanced at Zoroark, who was taking deep breaths. His eyes grew wide.
"Are you all right?" Lucario asked Zoroark with genuine concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Zoroark said in between pants. "I just need a moment to catch my breath."
"Of course." Lucario gave an understanding nod. While he waited, two Corsola came up to him and smiled.
"We want to thank you for chasing off that Mareanie earlier," the first Corsola said, and Lucario smiled back.
"That's actually a Ditto pretending to be a Mareanie, but you're welcome."
Both Corsola gasped, and then the other Corsola said, "I thought that Mareanie looked funny, so that explains it." She glanced over their shoulder. "We have to check back on the other Corsola, but again thanks so much!"
The two Corsola waved goodbye to Lucario and Zoroark and headed off. Lucario's smile widened and he raised his chin, happy his help was appreciated. A bat's shriek came, and both Lucario and Zoroark gazed up to see Crobat flying above.
"I just heard a commotion earlier. Was that the Ditto?"
"Yup," Zoroark said. "They were scaring off some Corsola and transformed into Lucario before taking off."
"Have they gone far?" Crobat asked.
"I can sense their aura, they haven't gone too far yet," Lucario said. Even from a fair distance, he could feel Duce's aura flaring. "We need to catch up to them before they cause more trouble."
His friends hummed in agreement, and they rushed off.
xxx
Silvally had looked over several spots and talked to the Pokémon, but with no luck. The longer this search went, the more nervous they got. They stopped at an open field and sighed.
"Gladion and his mother won't be happy about this," Silvally muttered to themselves. They blinked and craned their head when they saw Lucario running. "Lucario?"
That caused Lucario to stop. He turned around and threw a blue orb at them. Silvally was caught off guard by that reaction but nonetheless dodged, letting the attack hit a tree. The bird Pokémon perching there flew away when the tree shook and smoke popped up. Silvally gasped when they got a closer look at Lucario, who had the same beady eyes as the Ditto.
Duce chuckled and made a large transparent bone appeared. They charged at Silvally, who moved aside again and had their claws glowed green. Silvally and Duce exchanged several blows, like a Marowak against a Weavile, until a crimson ball hit Duce's head and caused them to fall on the ground. Silvally turned around to see Crobat, Zoroark, and Lucario approaching them.
"Hey, Boss!" Crobat screeched. "You okay there?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Duce pretended to be Lucario and attacked me."
"Yeah we were chasing them earlier," Lucario said and furrowed his brow. "And we're not done yet."
Everyone else shifted their gaze to see Duce rising up with a smirk on their face. They were engulfed in bright light, making everyone to turn their heads away for a second, and transformed into Crobat. Duce immediately headed straight for Crobat with their mouth wide open, fangs filling with purple liquid.
"Oh, crap!" Crobat escaped from Duce's Poison Fang and flapped his wings to produce a sharp wind that pushed Duce back. Duce opened their mouth once more, this time firing off several golden orbs at Crobat. After being hit by those, Crobat gazed at the ceiling with a dazed look on his face. "It's a nice day to go out..."
Silvally and Zoroark groaned and shook their heads while Lucario slapped his forehead. Duce cackled and opened his mouth wide with fangs coated in poison. They dived at Silvally, who dodged and attempted to crunch at Duce but missed. Duce flew back towards Crobat, now twirling around in the air.
"Watch out, Crobat!" Lucario shouted, and that caused Crobat to shake off from his confusion. Crobat screamed and barely avoided Duce's wings. Lucario formed a bone and threw it in the air, which smacked Duce’s face and formed a bruise there.
"Let me finish this!" Zoroark howled, and waves of dark energy burst out. Duce squealed and flew as fast as they could, but they were engulfed by Zoroark's Night Daze. As soon as the dark vapors faded, Duce crashed on the ground and transformed back into their original form.
"Okay that hurts," Duce moaned in pain. As soon as they got up, everyone gathered around them and Duce made a sheepish laugh. "Oh, hi guys."
"Why were you causing trouble in the biodome?" Silvally asked, glaring at them.
Duce wiggled and groaned as if startled by that question. "I overheard the Aether folks are gonna be away for a few hours and thought making some mischief would be fun."
"Did you ask the other Ditto if they wanted to join in?" Crobat asked.
"I did and they thought it would be boring but were fine with me doing it on my own."
Lucario gave them a blank stare. "That's all, then?"
"Yes." Duce glanced away from the group for a second. "To be honest it was eh until I scared the Mareanie and battled you guys." A chuckle escaped from them. "Crobat being confused was hilarious."
"Gonna have to agree with you there," Zoroark said with a grin. Crobat narrowed his eyes at him and Duce.
"Unlike you two, I didn't like that."
Silvally regarded Duce for a moment. "Either way, you caused some mess here. Will you go back with the other Ditto and behave?"
A stern look crossed Duce's face. They then said, "Fine, I won't pull that stunt again."
Silvally nodded and made a pleased hum. "Good. I'll carry you back there, then."
They approached Duce, grabbing them with their mouth. The Ditto yelped and tried to wiggle out of their grip.
"Hey, hey hey! Let me go! If I weren't so exhausted I would've turned into a Tyranitar and bite your head off!"
Silvally ignored their pleas and headed towards the playground, everyone else following behind. They were content that the missing Ditto was finally caught.
xxx
It didn't take long for the group to go back to the playground. Once they reached there, the three Ditto approached them.
"Hah, they got you huh, Duce?" Stretch said with an amused smile.
"They did, yeah," Duce said in a less than pleased tone. Silvally put them down, and Duce was stuck on the ground like goo for a brief moment before rising back up.
"Did you managed to cause some mischief as you wanted?" Gummy asked.
"I did scare off some Corsola and entertained those guys for a while.” Duce stretched their arm and pointed over to Silvally and the others. They pouted. "It would've been more fun if you guys joined in."
"Sorry to leave you hanging there, dude," Slick said. "We just weren't feeling it today."
"We can always plan out our heist the next time the Aether employees are away!" Gummy said, and already Silvally and his friends glared at them.
"Absolutely not!" Silvally yelled out. They cleared their throat and about to say something but left their mouth open when Lusamine, Gladion, and Wicke were approaching them.
"Oh, there you guys are!" Lusamine cheered. "Playing with the Ditto now?"
"More like them giving us a headache," Zoroark said, and Lucario hushed him.
"All of you guys are in good form today," Wicke said and beamed at the Ditto. She bent her knees to pick up Gummy and nuzzled her cheeks against them.
"All right, that's enough woman," Gummy complained, struggling to let go of Wicke's grip. All the other Ditto, Crobat, and Zoroark laughed while Lucario and Silvally grunted in amusement.
"The party just ended, so we came to check up on you guys," Gladion said. He scratched Silvally's muzzle and grinned. Enjoying that, Silvally rubbed against his hand. "We can take over things here. Thanks a lot for looking out the biodome while we were away."
"Oh, we're free? Wahooo!" Crobat flipped mid-air and took off.
"Nice! I'm gonna doze off for a while, catch you guys later!" Zoroark waved to everyone goodbye and headed out also.
Once Gladion stopped petting Silvally, he walked back to Wicke and Lusamine with both women holding the Ditto. Silvally grinned and headed out with Lucario.
The biodome went back to it was before, the Pokémon either sleeping or playing in the grass and trees. Through the glass ceiling, the sky turned a light orange just as the sun was setting. Silvally stole a glance at Lucario, a small smile on his face.
"You know Silvally, I had an interesting conversation with Zoroark earlier."
Silvally quirked a brow. "Oh?"
"Mhmm. He was saying how both of us are too serious and should lighten up more."
They stopped near the lake. Silvally frowned, looking down on the ground.
"It's true that we're more serious than him and Crobat. For me, that's due to how I was created."
"Yeah, Zoroark did point that out." Lucario paused and then said, "I actually did have fun going against Duce, and looks like you did, too."
Silvally's eyes grew wide upon hearing that. While catching Duce was annoying, Lucario was right that they did enjoy themselves during that battle. The Pokémon laughed and gazed up at the ceiling.
"Maybe I won't mind watching the biodome again."
Grinning in response, Lucario said, "Me neither."
The Aether Paradise Biodome
[Yuletide 2019]
[Yuletide 2019]
The Aether Paradise biodome, home to the Pokémon rescued by the Aether Foundation. Most of them roamed around the grass and trees, bathing in the sunlight that poured through the glass ceiling. The water Pokémon would swim inside the lakes while flying ones thrived in the open space. Gladion took his Pokémon to his mother in the middle of the biodome: Silvally, Lucario, Crobat, and Zoroark stood in front of them.
“Oh my Gladion, your Pokémon are in top form as always!” Lusamine said with a proud grin and her hands on her hips. Gladion offered her a small nod.
“Of course they are. My Pokémon hasn't stopped training hard, especially with the next Pokémon League tournament coming up.”
“Right, I almost forgot that’s just right around the corner.” Lusamine cleared her throat and turned to the Pokémon. “Anyways, darlings, there’s a favor we want to ask of you. The Aether Foundation is having its holiday party today.”
Everyone including Silvally perked their heads up with great interest. This was the first time they heard of it, having traveled with Gladion through Alola and the Tohjo continent several years beforehand.
“Oh, a party?” Zoroark asked, wagging his tail. “Are we invited?”
“My mother and I will be there along with all of the employees,” Gladion continued. “Because of that, we’ll need you guys to watch over the biodome for a little while.”
“What?” Crobat screeched and flapped his wings rapidly. Feeling the same way, Zoroark threw his head up and groaned. “No party for us?”
After giving them a glare, Silvally glanced at Lucario. The Aura Pokémon had an indifferent expression and nodded.
“We’re more than happy to help out,” he said with his fist on his chest.
“Thank you, Lucario.” Silvally smiled at him ad faced back toward Gladion. “You can count on us, Gladion.”
Both Gladion and Lusamine offered them blank stares for a moment, and then the latter beamed. “Looks like your Pokémon are fine with watching over the biodome!” Lusamine clapped her hands.”All right, then, Gladion and I will be going now to do some final preparations. Have fun!” She waved to them goodbye and headed out with Gladion.
Zororark pouted and slumped down on the ground, crossing his arms against his chest. “Great, now we’re stuck here babysitting this place.”
Lucario narrowed his eyes at Zoroark and Crobat. “You two would make things worse, creating illusions and sucking people’s blood.”
“But making illusions is fun!” Zoroark said as he picked himself back up.
“Hey, I can’t help it that I’m addicted to blood,” Crobat said, twirling around. “Thick, delicious blood.”
Silvally sighed, shaking their head. They cleared their throat.
“All right, that’s enough you guys. Gladion and his mother entrusted us in overseeing the Pokémon here. Let’s start by checking out the forested area.”
Silvally moved forward, the others following behind. They hoped both their friends and the Pokémon in the biodome behave for their sake.
xxx
The first few moments the watch went fine. All the Pokémon in the forested area of the biodome behaved well, either playing or sleeping. Some Pokémon also did friendly spars against each other, like a Buneary and Houndour that Silvally and his friends had passed by.
“Looks like everything’s fine so far,” Lucario said, and Silvally nodded.
“Yes, and I’m pleased with that.”
“Now what, boss?” Crobat asked.
Looking up at the glass ceiling, Silvally considered Zoroark’s question for a second. “Let’s go check up on the Ditto.”
Zororark flinched and his eyes narrowed. “The Ditto? They always complained about how much I turned into other Pokémon when they do that themselves!”
Lucario gave a low hum. “I remember one time they turned into Mareanie and scared all of the Corsola. They were timid towards everyone for the rest of the week.”
“Yes, they can be troublesome at times.” Silvally turned and lowered their head for a second. “That’s why we’re going to see them now.”
The Ditto’s habitat was near the end of the biodome forest. There was a playground with a slide, sitting blocks, and a small treehouse. Two of the Ditto were playing on the slide while the third one just lay on one of the sitting blocks. When Silvally and his group made it there and approached them, the Ditto stared at them.
“Oh lookie here, it isn’t the golden boy’s Pokémon,” the first Ditto, Gummy, said.
“How much you wanna bet which Pokémon Zoroark will turn this time?” the second Ditto, Slick, asked.
“Maybe he’ll turn into a giant Turtanator and burn the place down!” The last Ditto, Stretch, joined with the other Ditto, and all three burst out laughing.
Zoroark glared, grinding his teeth. His claws popped out.
“That’s it, I’ll give you guys a good slicing!”
Zoroark took a few steps forward, only for Lucario to grab his wrist and restrained him. Lucario gave him a stern look.
“Don’t, Zoroark. We’re watching over the Pokémon, including the Ditto.”
Zoroark regarded Lucario for a moment and relaxed his posture. With a low growl, he shifted his face away.
Silvally let out a disappointed sigh and shook his head. While gazing at the Ditto, they noticed something was off.
“Hey, have you guys seen Duce?” Silvally asked, and that caused the three Ditto to stop laughing.
“Duce?” Stretch asked, blinking. “Oh! I think they said they’re going for a walk.” They turned to Slick. “You remember which Pokémon Duce turned into?”
Slick wobbled as they said, “Errrrr, I think they turned into a Vulpix. Duce can be any Pokémon, though.”
Silvally felt a knot tied inside their stomach. “Wait, Duce is out there somewhere and you guys didn’t do anything?”
Gummy shrugged. “I mean, we turned into other Pokémon all the time. Besides some mischief here and there, it’s nothing serious.”
“It is when the humans are away like right now.” Silvally’s nostrils flared, and they turned to the group. “We need to find Duce before they do anything reckless.”
Both Crobat and Zoroark groaned. Zoroark then complained, “Is it necessary? Maybe Gummy is right that it won’t be anything serious.”
“Oh, so you agree with me then, Zoro boy?” Gummy said with a chuckle, which earned them a glare from Zoroark.
“Shut up, Gum Goo.”
“We’ll know which Pokémon is Duce by their beady eyes, right?” Crobat asked.
“That, and if they scared off some Pokémon,” Lucario said. “I think it’s best that we all split up to cover more ground,”
“Good idea, Lucario,” Silvally said and nodded. “Let’s move, everyone.”
Upon that command, everyone took off in separate directions. Silvally hoped that neither Duce nor his friends did anything reckless.
xxx
Crobat flew all over the biodome for what felt like almost half an hour. So far nothing has happened to indicate Duce was causing trouble, and upon closer look at the Pokémon, none of them had beady eyes. This was boring, and he grew hungry: not for regular food, but blood.
All the Pokémon in the biodome looked healthy and must have rich blood! Just a little shouldn’t hurt. Thinking that caused Crobat to flap his wings harder and his mind to go overdrive.
“Blood, blood, blood…” he muttered to himself and stopped himself mid-air. No, Silvally and Gladion would be furious, so he needed to contain himself! He shook his head to get rid of that thought.
“Hey, Batty Boy, is that you?” someone below yelled. Crobat twirled around to see a Whimiscott hanging on a tree branch with one arm.
“Oh, hey Scotty,” Crobat said in an exhausted tone. Scotty was a Whimiscott rescued by the Aether employees four months ago. The two didn’t get along all that well.
“You’ve been flying around all day. What’s up?”
“One of the Ditto, Duce, has gone missing. You don’t happen to bump into them earlier, did you?”
“Can’t say I haven’t,” Scotty said with a shrug. “Sorry there, buddy.”
“Drats.” Crobat’s eyes narrowed, and he looked away from Scotty for a second. “Well, if you do see them let me know, m’kay?”
“Sure, sure,” Scotty said, though to Crobat he didn’t sound serious. The Whimiscott took a few steps and turned back with a wide grin. “Before you go, you looked kinda hungry.”
Crobat flinched, a lump forming inside his throat. Sweat started dripping on his forehead.
“Um, what gives that away?”
Scotty glared at him and had his hands on his side. “Oh come on, I heard you repeating “blood” from a mile away. You can have my blood if you’re so desperate.”
“Really?” Crobat’s face lit up for a second, but then he shook his head. “No, I can’t! The boss won’t like it at all.”
“Aw, is that so?” Scotty walked to a boulder and sat on it. “Don’t worry, I’ll just say some other Pokémon bit me.”
A chill ran through Crobat’s back, the temptation of blood coming back. He wasn’t convinced of Scott’s generosity, so he raised his forehead.
“Are you trying to get me in trouble?”
Scotty blinked at him and chuckled. “What? No, not at all. I just thought my blood could be of good use to you, that’s all.” He pulled a tuft of cotton around his neck, showing off the bare skin. “Whenever you’re ready.”
Crobat fixed his gaze at Scotty’s neck. His stomach growled, and the word “blood” was repeated in his head like a carousel ride. As he approached Scotty, Crobat closed his eyes and opened his mouth wide--
--only to then back away and shook his head.
“Urgh, I can’t! I need to find that Ditto, gotta go!”
Crobat immediately took off. When he was midway up, he could hear Scotty laughing from below.
“I’m gonna smack Scotty’s head once this is over,” he grumbled. As he continued flying, several screams came and Crobat’s face tensed. “Huh, what’s that?”
Sensing that must be the Ditto, Crobat flew to the source of the noise as fast as he could.
xxx
Lucario had been using his aura abilities to try to find Duce. While walking, he closed his eyes and sensed every Pokémon's aura from a far distance. The shape and color of an aura depended on how a Pokémon felt. Right now most of the Pokémon were calm. Only the Talonflame and Trumbeak he had passed earlier were having some relationship problems he found out more than he should have.
So far no Duce. His ears picked up when he sensed Zoroark's aura. He opened his eyes to see him disguised as a Nosepass standing still. He gave him a blank stare and crossed his arms.
"I know it's you, Zoroark," he said, and Zoroark turned slowly.
"Huh? Who's this Zoroark you referred to?"
Lucario’s forehead furrowed. "Oh come on! You should know already that I can detect you with my aura."
Zoroark growled in response and changed back to himself in a flash of purple light. "This is boring. We could've gone to that party instead."
"We're supposed to find that Ditto, so there's no time to mess around."
Zoroark leaned back against a tree and snorted. "You and Silvally are always too uptight. Back when we were in Kanto and Johto, you two only cared about getting stronger."
This time, Lucario regarded him a moment. He and his friends were only in those two regions for a few months: Lucario and Silvally focused on training while Crobat and Zoroark often went sightseeing. Realizing that Zoroark was right, Lucario let out a deep sigh.
"Okay, maybe you're right that Silvally and I were a little too serious. Gladion wanted to be stronger, and I didn't want to disappoint him."
"Hey, I get that, but we're not chasing Ultra Beasts or going in a tournament right now. Live a little!"
Lucario stared at him once more. After some consideration, he said, "All right, I'll be less serious if you help me find the Ditto."
"Deal," Zororak said immediately, and they shook hands. At that moment, several Pokémon screams came and that caused the two to flinch. Zoroark kept looking back and forth. "What was that?"
"Sounds like it was coming from the lake. Let's go!"
Both Pokémon hurried off. The lake was a short distance from them, and by the time they reached there, several Corsola was running away. A Mareanie was chasing after them, but they had small beady eyes instead of the usual larger purple and yellow ones. Lucario gasped and narrowed his eyes.
"That's Duce!" he yelled out, pointing at them. Duce jumped onto one of the Corsola and started sucking on their coral reef spike, who was squealing in pain.
"I'm on it!" Zororark fired off a Shadow Ball from his mouth, which smacked Duce on the face and knocked them off from the Corsola. The Corsola made an attempt to flee.
Duce fell on the ground but picked themselves up quickly. They giggled and transformed into Zoroark, much to the other Pokémon's annoyance.
"You won't get away with that!" Zoroark's claws popped out, and he rushed toward them. Duce did the same, and their claws clashed. They kept swiping and blocking each other's assaults, as if on equal footing.
"Back away, Zoroark!" Lucario shouted, and Zoroark moved away as told. A blue orb formed between Lucario's hands, and he tossed it straight at Duce. The Aura Sphere hit their chest, making Duce back away from Zoroark. Duce shook off the attack, transformed into Lucario, and rushed off.
Lucario growled, annoyed that Duce had transformed into him and slipped past them. He glanced at Zoroark, who was taking deep breaths. His eyes grew wide.
"Are you all right?" Lucario asked Zoroark with genuine concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Zoroark said in between pants. "I just need a moment to catch my breath."
"Of course." Lucario gave an understanding nod. While he waited, two Corsola came up to him and smiled.
"We want to thank you for chasing off that Mareanie earlier," the first Corsola said, and Lucario smiled back.
"That's actually a Ditto pretending to be a Mareanie, but you're welcome."
Both Corsola gasped, and then the other Corsola said, "I thought that Mareanie looked funny, so that explains it." She glanced over their shoulder. "We have to check back on the other Corsola, but again thanks so much!"
The two Corsola waved goodbye to Lucario and Zoroark and headed off. Lucario's smile widened and he raised his chin, happy his help was appreciated. A bat's shriek came, and both Lucario and Zoroark gazed up to see Crobat flying above.
"I just heard a commotion earlier. Was that the Ditto?"
"Yup," Zoroark said. "They were scaring off some Corsola and transformed into Lucario before taking off."
"Have they gone far?" Crobat asked.
"I can sense their aura, they haven't gone too far yet," Lucario said. Even from a fair distance, he could feel Duce's aura flaring. "We need to catch up to them before they cause more trouble."
His friends hummed in agreement, and they rushed off.
xxx
Silvally had looked over several spots and talked to the Pokémon, but with no luck. The longer this search went, the more nervous they got. They stopped at an open field and sighed.
"Gladion and his mother won't be happy about this," Silvally muttered to themselves. They blinked and craned their head when they saw Lucario running. "Lucario?"
That caused Lucario to stop. He turned around and threw a blue orb at them. Silvally was caught off guard by that reaction but nonetheless dodged, letting the attack hit a tree. The bird Pokémon perching there flew away when the tree shook and smoke popped up. Silvally gasped when they got a closer look at Lucario, who had the same beady eyes as the Ditto.
Duce chuckled and made a large transparent bone appeared. They charged at Silvally, who moved aside again and had their claws glowed green. Silvally and Duce exchanged several blows, like a Marowak against a Weavile, until a crimson ball hit Duce's head and caused them to fall on the ground. Silvally turned around to see Crobat, Zoroark, and Lucario approaching them.
"Hey, Boss!" Crobat screeched. "You okay there?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Duce pretended to be Lucario and attacked me."
"Yeah we were chasing them earlier," Lucario said and furrowed his brow. "And we're not done yet."
Everyone else shifted their gaze to see Duce rising up with a smirk on their face. They were engulfed in bright light, making everyone to turn their heads away for a second, and transformed into Crobat. Duce immediately headed straight for Crobat with their mouth wide open, fangs filling with purple liquid.
"Oh, crap!" Crobat escaped from Duce's Poison Fang and flapped his wings to produce a sharp wind that pushed Duce back. Duce opened their mouth once more, this time firing off several golden orbs at Crobat. After being hit by those, Crobat gazed at the ceiling with a dazed look on his face. "It's a nice day to go out..."
Silvally and Zoroark groaned and shook their heads while Lucario slapped his forehead. Duce cackled and opened his mouth wide with fangs coated in poison. They dived at Silvally, who dodged and attempted to crunch at Duce but missed. Duce flew back towards Crobat, now twirling around in the air.
"Watch out, Crobat!" Lucario shouted, and that caused Crobat to shake off from his confusion. Crobat screamed and barely avoided Duce's wings. Lucario formed a bone and threw it in the air, which smacked Duce’s face and formed a bruise there.
"Let me finish this!" Zoroark howled, and waves of dark energy burst out. Duce squealed and flew as fast as they could, but they were engulfed by Zoroark's Night Daze. As soon as the dark vapors faded, Duce crashed on the ground and transformed back into their original form.
"Okay that hurts," Duce moaned in pain. As soon as they got up, everyone gathered around them and Duce made a sheepish laugh. "Oh, hi guys."
"Why were you causing trouble in the biodome?" Silvally asked, glaring at them.
Duce wiggled and groaned as if startled by that question. "I overheard the Aether folks are gonna be away for a few hours and thought making some mischief would be fun."
"Did you ask the other Ditto if they wanted to join in?" Crobat asked.
"I did and they thought it would be boring but were fine with me doing it on my own."
Lucario gave them a blank stare. "That's all, then?"
"Yes." Duce glanced away from the group for a second. "To be honest it was eh until I scared the Mareanie and battled you guys." A chuckle escaped from them. "Crobat being confused was hilarious."
"Gonna have to agree with you there," Zoroark said with a grin. Crobat narrowed his eyes at him and Duce.
"Unlike you two, I didn't like that."
Silvally regarded Duce for a moment. "Either way, you caused some mess here. Will you go back with the other Ditto and behave?"
A stern look crossed Duce's face. They then said, "Fine, I won't pull that stunt again."
Silvally nodded and made a pleased hum. "Good. I'll carry you back there, then."
They approached Duce, grabbing them with their mouth. The Ditto yelped and tried to wiggle out of their grip.
"Hey, hey hey! Let me go! If I weren't so exhausted I would've turned into a Tyranitar and bite your head off!"
Silvally ignored their pleas and headed towards the playground, everyone else following behind. They were content that the missing Ditto was finally caught.
xxx
It didn't take long for the group to go back to the playground. Once they reached there, the three Ditto approached them.
"Hah, they got you huh, Duce?" Stretch said with an amused smile.
"They did, yeah," Duce said in a less than pleased tone. Silvally put them down, and Duce was stuck on the ground like goo for a brief moment before rising back up.
"Did you managed to cause some mischief as you wanted?" Gummy asked.
"I did scare off some Corsola and entertained those guys for a while.” Duce stretched their arm and pointed over to Silvally and the others. They pouted. "It would've been more fun if you guys joined in."
"Sorry to leave you hanging there, dude," Slick said. "We just weren't feeling it today."
"We can always plan out our heist the next time the Aether employees are away!" Gummy said, and already Silvally and his friends glared at them.
"Absolutely not!" Silvally yelled out. They cleared their throat and about to say something but left their mouth open when Lusamine, Gladion, and Wicke were approaching them.
"Oh, there you guys are!" Lusamine cheered. "Playing with the Ditto now?"
"More like them giving us a headache," Zoroark said, and Lucario hushed him.
"All of you guys are in good form today," Wicke said and beamed at the Ditto. She bent her knees to pick up Gummy and nuzzled her cheeks against them.
"All right, that's enough woman," Gummy complained, struggling to let go of Wicke's grip. All the other Ditto, Crobat, and Zoroark laughed while Lucario and Silvally grunted in amusement.
"The party just ended, so we came to check up on you guys," Gladion said. He scratched Silvally's muzzle and grinned. Enjoying that, Silvally rubbed against his hand. "We can take over things here. Thanks a lot for looking out the biodome while we were away."
"Oh, we're free? Wahooo!" Crobat flipped mid-air and took off.
"Nice! I'm gonna doze off for a while, catch you guys later!" Zoroark waved to everyone goodbye and headed out also.
Once Gladion stopped petting Silvally, he walked back to Wicke and Lusamine with both women holding the Ditto. Silvally grinned and headed out with Lucario.
The biodome went back to it was before, the Pokémon either sleeping or playing in the grass and trees. Through the glass ceiling, the sky turned a light orange just as the sun was setting. Silvally stole a glance at Lucario, a small smile on his face.
"You know Silvally, I had an interesting conversation with Zoroark earlier."
Silvally quirked a brow. "Oh?"
"Mhmm. He was saying how both of us are too serious and should lighten up more."
They stopped near the lake. Silvally frowned, looking down on the ground.
"It's true that we're more serious than him and Crobat. For me, that's due to how I was created."
"Yeah, Zoroark did point that out." Lucario paused and then said, "I actually did have fun going against Duce, and looks like you did, too."
Silvally's eyes grew wide upon hearing that. While catching Duce was annoying, Lucario was right that they did enjoy themselves during that battle. The Pokémon laughed and gazed up at the ceiling.
"Maybe I won't mind watching the biodome again."
Grinning in response, Lucario said, "Me neither."
