Strike of Team Aero

After the attack on Aria, and the ensuing counter-attack, dinner had a strong awkwardness to it. Aria sat to watch the ice in her drink melt to the tune of some song that filled the restaurant. As the tension rose, Aria finally spoke up. “So I hear there’s a festival tonight.”

“I’m so sorry, Aria…” The wind trainer sighed.

“Listen.” The Mew stated, “You didn’t have any control. Don’t act like it’s your fault.”
Winona looked her friend in the eyes. “She said she was just going to talk with you…”

“Winona…” She sighed, “Let’s keep it between her and myself and save us all a lot of trouble.”

“I’ll trust you…” Winona sighed in unison. “But I feel bad that I couldn’t do anything.”

Aria smiled brightly. “Welcome to having a second soul. It doesn’t get easier.” Signaling for the check, she returned to the conversation. “So, about the festival.”

“I don’t know… I really didn’t pack anything for it…”

Aria smirked. “I think I can fix you up with something.”

Back in the hotel room, Winona was looking directly at a copy of herself as the double was forming a kimono around herself. As the fibers wound themselves into the cloth, the double smiled. “So, like the color?”

“That’s amazing, Aria!” She applauded. “It looks wonderful!”

Aria then quickly removed the garb as she returned her normal stature. “I’m doing pretty well on it. That should be able to keep pretty well, it should be silk.”

Winona turned after changing to see her compatriot at her normal height wearing her normal color. “You look wonderful, Aria!” Looking over the outfit, she posed something. “Are you wearing anything under…”

“Winny, this is mostly Mew fur.” She answered. “It’s not coming off until I’m done with it.”

The wind trainer took a curious tug on the cloth. As the fabric caught on what was supposedly Aria, she nodded with approval. “Just checking. You never know what might happen in a crowded place, you know.” With the outfits checked, she grabbed her familiar’s hand and departed for the festival.

Elsewhere in the city, one of the most acclaimed trainers was making a visit to his missing cheerleader. He took a seat by the girl’s bed with some roses in hand. “I talked with the nurse, Dawn.” Ash announced. “So I managed to sneak in a kimono for you.” With a smile on his face, he produced the silk outfit. “Now we just have the fun part of getting it on.”

The throbbing in James’s head was audible across the room. “I understand that you twerps would be excited, but think about the rest of the room.”

“Oh, I thought your kind didn’t…”

James growled. “I am not gay, stop mentioning that.”

“Really?” He blinked. “I kinda forgot that somewhere around the bikini incident.”

“Tell me Ash, you’ve had a large number of female teammates.” He turned. “Have you had anyone who equaled Jessibelle’s sadism or Jesse’s Jesse-ness?”

The color fell from Ash’s face into a puddle on the floor. “You have made your point.”

“How do you deal with all of those girls?”

“Luckiest bastard in the universe.”

The rocket sighed. “Listen, just draw that curtain before you do anything funny.”

The lights of the stands shone brightly as the two girls took in the sights. As they walked they had to stop to laugh at a merchant selling masks of rare Pokemon, especially a small pink one. “Should we get one, Aria?”

The mew smirked until a voice came from behind. “A Mew wanting to pretend being a Mew? Isn’t that redundant?”

Aria and Winona turned in shock to see the Hoenn champion standing there with a smirk on his face. “Steven?”

“Who knew that Ariaver Hasaki was actually a Mew?” He sang. “I might have to check my subordinates’ gyms closer. Maybe Wallace’s secretary is Celebi in disguise.”

With a deep breath, Aria shot. “Who told you, and how many know?”

“Haven’t you seen the flyers? There are groups asking for bounties.” He stated. “Team Aero has been working hard to making sure that these handouts disappear.”

A drop of sweat trailed down the wind mistress’s neck. “You aren’t after the bounty, are you?”

Aria smiled. “Capture me and I kill you in your sleep.”

Steven smiled back, producing a small blue trinket. “Rain Badge. The pheromones produced by this badge forces you to recognize me as a superior.”

The mew was not excited, to say the least. “I know what a Rain Badge is.” She sneered. “And for your information, it isn’t working.”

“That’s impossible!” He feuded. “The power of the badge is absolute!”

Aria forcibly attached herself to her mistress’s arm. “I wonder if the badge can fight strong connections like lo-” She was forcibly cut off by receiving a Pokeball against her head. “What the hell was that?”

Nearby, a girl with shining blue hair bounced a second ball on her knee. “Troubling. I thought it was a challenge when I was dealing with Suicune. I guess the Mew was already captured. See ya’.” Pocketing the ball, she made a quick retreat.

Aria sighed. “So, as I was saying…” She let go to stand dramatically. “Your badge won’t do anything.”

“Allow me to explain.” Ash announced as he appeared from the booths with Pikachu and girls in tow. “You can’t control a Pokemon that has a strong connection to a trainer. Isn’t that right, Pikachu?”

“Bigga!”

“We just need to announce that you can’t be captured.” He stated. “And I insist that you two stay with my group for the evening. I’m sure Blue’s already here.”

The Saffron City leader’s hair raised on end. “That girl again?”

“That girl’s been after Mew since I started out.” He sighed. “Even though what we saw was the phantom of Aria’s.”

Winona blinked. “So, how are we going to get the word out?”

Ash paused. “Well, considering which groups have nasty habits of fucking people over… We’ll have to get help from Team Aero.”

Winona bit her lip on the team’s mention. “Well, we know their leader…”

In the basement of the Game Corner, Giovanni was busy with what he does best. “Jessie, Cassidy…” He called. “I think that we need to make this event more exciting…”

The red-head edged to the desk, rubbing her hands together. “So, what do you want us to do boss?”

“I think we should do an assassination.” He smiled. “Don’t you agree?”

Cassidy blinked. “Isn’t that a little hardcore?”

“Not at all.” He announced. “This is to repay the Mew that killed Jesse’s mother, and her master who put your partners into the hospital.”

Jesse’s face turned red. “Where are the bombs, and can I get a few to spare?”

“So anyways, almost everyone won’t mess with me.” Ash explained over a taiyaki. There would have been an immediate answer, but Aria had disappeared into hers and was eating it in a similar fashion of a Weedle larva. The Magikarp quickly disappeared to show a happy, yet very sticky, Mew emerging with a smile. “You didn’t hear a word.”

Once again, she was too busy licking the bean paste from her fur. While this happened, a stranger came from the horizon to strike. “Red! Buddy! Pal!” The girl looked down to see the kitten continue to lick herself. “… Man, if I could do that, I wouldn’t need Silver.”

“So, what pleasure do we have your presence for, Blue?” Ash glanced.

“Don’t be like that, Red…” She laughed, patting him on the back. “I just heard that Mew was walking around, and I wanted to see it.”

“Not for sale.” The Mew answered. “Go find your own.”

“Holy shit!” The thief trainer gasped. “She can talk?”

In a flash, Aria returned to her normal form. “Of course, I can turn into anything, use any attack I please, and it’s the mastery of the human tongue that gets attention.”

“It looks like you’re better at some other things with your…”

“Hold onto that thought.” She hushed. “Are any booths selling laser pointers or flashing disks?”

“No?” The group blinked.

“Then we’re examining it.” She announced. “NOW.”

Aria and Ash rushed the area to find the source of the light as they barreled over an entire stand. Under the stand, there sat what looked like a pipe bomb, smelled like a pipe bomb, and most likely tasted like one as well. “We have to detonate this.” Ash stated. “Can you use Psychic?”

“I’ll try.” She answered as she closed her eyes. A pink aura erupted to lift the explosive into the air as much as she could. “How are we going to detonate it?”

“Leave that to me.” Ash smirked as a yellow light surrounded him. “Release Aura! Aura Sphere!” The energy concentrated into a single point that was shot into the bomb. The crowd was treated to a premature fireworks display as they successfully detonated the weapon. “Good job, Aria.”

Aria shuddered as the ground glowed with the flash of dozens of red lights. “Ash. We’re fucked.” As the lights flashed harder, the two leapt across the street and expanded their energies to try and protect their party. As the winds from the explosions died down, Aria finally looked down to the very safe Winona’s face… Only to find a strange brunette. “You’re not Winona.”

“I can be.”

“Aria…” Ash’s voice rumbled, “You should look up.”

“Is it going to make me cry and scream?”

“… Don’t look up.”

“A lot of people were injured.”

“All except the four of us.”

“You’re not holding Winny, are you?”

“Sorry.”

“I’m going to cry now.”

“Why cry?” A hard voice called. “Humans don’t deserve the privilege of living. This is the work of the gods!”

“Convincing argument.” Ash sounded. “Allow me to provide a rebuttal.” The sound of energy swirling was answered with the sound of the source of the voice being slammed against a building. “We don’t have time for your shit, Lance. This is an act of terrorism, not God. And every trainer is here. We have to save anyone we can.”

“You’re an idiot.” The champion laughed. “You can’t save so many people in time.”

“Fortunately, time is not an issue.” A new voice announced as everyone felt a shift in gravity. “I pulled a favor with Diagla, the god of time. A human’s brain becomes unusable in ten minutes, but we can stretch that time through the equivalent of a day. Time’s ticking.”

“A day?” The girl under Ash gasped. “Are the gods stingy?”

“It’s a lot to ask to warp time, miss.” The voice called. “Now, Aria, you need to stand up. You’re the only one to save everyone.”

Aria shook. “Uncle? Is that you?”

The Aero leader grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her so all she could see was his face. “Aria. You need to face this if you care about your friends. As terrible as it may be, you need to be the one to make the plan. You know the mastermind you are. Find the best answer.” With that, he turned her around and forced her to see the violence.
Forced to see the world, her eyes sparked blue. As she took in the sight, tears drained down her face. “Winny… Flannery… Erika… Mikiko?” She raised. “She’s only eight! I’d give anything to…” Her eyes faded with a new spark replacing them. “Give anything, huh. That sounds crazy enough…”

“What are you plotting?” Blue prodded.

“Tell me, I can transform right?” She stated as she started into a habitual pace. “I’m still starting, so I don’t know my limits yet. That means I don’t know how much I can’t do. I’m betting I can replace everyone here if I worked hard enough.”

“You’re fucking mad.” Lance turned. “Why would you sacrifice yourself in attempt to save a few humans? You’re a rare Pokemon, your life is worth more than this.”

“Ash? Could you give Lance our…”

“One sec.” The champion glanced as he placed a hand on her head. “You care that much for her?”

Aria’s eyes tightened. “That one person I love more than anything else in the world. I love that person, and I would rather die if it gave her another minute of existence.” She spat at his feet. “I may be a floating pink kitty naturally, but you’re the monster.”

“So, what’s the entire plan?” The girl under Ash prodded.

“Uncle and Blue, I need you two to get as much food as possible. I need to gain as much mass as I can. Lance, Ash, I need you to start moving bodies. When I’m done healing people, you need to move them to the park for safety. Dawn?”

“Yes?” She answered.

“I’m going to need some motivation. Uncle, get her a nurse uniform.”

As the foodstuff was being prepared, Ash and Dawn remained to cover Aria’s plan. The trainers shared the copy of Grey’s Anatomy as she explained. “So, we’re doing organ donation?” Dawn blinked.

“In essence.” The Mew nodded. “This is just an extreme version.” She had to turn.

“You’re acting pretty calm, Ash.”

Ash shrugged, “You really only have to save the world so many times before you get used to it.”

“I will be using transform to copy people’s genetic coding, at which point we will be ripping the needed parts off and praying to whoever will listen that I can still control it enough to graft the missing part seamlessly.”

“This is never going to work.” Dawn moaned. “And I think Zoey’s here…”

“Listen, Dawn.” Aria glared. “This will work, or we’re going to be very, very lonely for the next eternity.” Softening again, she returned to the book. “Dawn, you have the most important job. I am ripping parts of my body off for use, and you need to help me get to the next person.”

“Aria.” The Aero leader appeared with a load of food behind of him. “This should be enough for the moment.”

The psychic let out a deep sigh as she took the form of the youngest member of the Fortree gym. Closing her eyes she took a bite out of a hamburger and started to tear into her flesh.

Rend Flesh

Aria took hold of her left arm and ripped it out with a cry. She popped it into the girls’ shoulder as she saw the flesh move to connect. She was panting and crying, but she was happy that her plan was working.

Mend Souls

Aria let out a second sigh as she looked upon the girl’s scorched face. She placed her hand on the burns as a bell sounded. As her hand left, the mark of the explosion left as well. This was making the mission more withstandable.

Breathe Life

She couldn’t resist placing a kiss on the girl’s forehead as she looked at the torn outfit. Aria took into consideration as she formed a pair of mandibles to spin a tread for a replacement. With the girl fully dressed, Aria’s attention could be turned to the next person.

The time went on as the park filled and Aria’s limit was breaking. “I- I can’t do any more!”

With a flick of her skirt, Dawn went to work. “Aria! You can’t stop now! May’s only burned a little, and Misty is only missing a hand. With your friend, that’s three people left.”

Aria looked to her mistress and could hardly keep down the food she was finishing. “This is…”

“Just sit down for a little. It’s only been three hours. You can rest some.”

Ash rushed over. “Aria, you’ve already saved the training world. Listen to what Dawn says.” He paused again. “Listen, you’re the wisest Pokemon. If you can finish this, I’ll teach you my Aura skill.”

Aria dropped to the cold street. As the other two stood in shock, the party’s thief waved the other girl. “Listen, Dawn.” She hushed. “It’s obvious that Aria isn’t playing on our team.”

“How is that?” She blinked. “After saving all of these people?”

“Isn’t that cute…” Blue cooed, “Red likes hanging around with ditzes. I mean she likes girls. Why do you think her order was that you put on a uniform for ‘motivation’?

“That does make sense…”

“We’re going to use your feminine wiles to motivate her.”

Dawn looked over to May’s strained face, and then to the crying mess. “I guess there’s no way to avoid this.” She stepped carefully as she lifted the Mew’s face. With a gulp, she met her mouth and sealed the space between the two. Pulling away, she smiled. “Please, do this. For me?”

Aria stood up again. Copying the redhead, she tore off her hand for the replacement and healed the burns on both of the girls. Replacing the kimono on both of them, she grabbed the last scrap of food. The harsh truth was that she couldn’t get enough material to save Winona and keep at her full strength. Shoving the last meal in her mouth, she turned to the four. “Don’t look.” She commanded, “I’m the only one to see her like this.”
Everyone turned their back as instructed. Aria still wasn’t sure how she should deal with this. Her mistress looked like the body in an excessive slasher flick, with no recognizable body beneath her chest. To make things worse, her chest wasn’t looking too good. One thought crossed her mind. ‘This might kill me.’ She summoned all of the courage she could as she copied her mistress and covered her with a fresh kimono. It was at this time that Aria saw her eyes- filled with all of the pain and agony of the night. She must have tried to sacrifice herself to save everyone… Aria let out a scream as she ripped the entire lower section of her body to watch it bond with the wind trainer. With the last of her strength, she crawled to the girl and placed her head on her mistress’s breast before passing out from the pain and exhaustion.

Everyone else was uncomfortable with how things turned out as a large blue dragon appeared. “It looks like she did it…” The creature announced. “What an amazing display… Of absolute idiocy.”

“And yet you still agree to help…” The Aero leader added.

“What do you expect, God of the Void?” The dragon spat. “When The Goddess wants to do something like this, I can’t complain.”

“A true god of wisdom knows when foolishness is needed.”

“Hey, care to explain this slower?” Ash called.

“Watch your tongue.” Lance turned. “Obviously we have two dragon gods here.”

“I’ll cut this short.” Diagla announced. “I was gracious, so not even a second has passed. All you need to do is take good care of that kitten, or else.” With that, the god vanished and time restarted.

“So…” Dawn looked nervously. “What do we do now?”

Ash looked down at Aria, who was now in the form of a sleeping kitten. “We pray that Aria’s plan worked.”