Becoming the Dawn [Worm/Pokemon] Celestial Menagerie inspired

[BravelyFlying]

Waiting for a superhero to show up was as cold as it was stressful. Here I was on the roof of some fifth story building freezing my ass off in the cold Brockton Bay winter looking up at overcast skies wondering when he was going to come flying in.

This must be what it was like to be Mary Jane.

Or was Lois Lane more appropriate?

No, the hero I was waiting for was more of a Green Lantern so I guess that would make me…Alex? Alice? Arya? Whoever got fridged. No one actually cared about her name, it's not like anyone actually read Green Lantern comics and DC didn't bother with a Kyle Rayner run since forever.

Fucking DC you fucking hacks. You shit out ten Batman runs but you can't make a decent comic outside of Gotham in the last five years. Where's my Geoff Johns Aquaman continuation Javins?

"Hatenna?" a quivering voice called out from below me. From between my shoes a blob of pink and blue stared up at me shivering. Her pointy hat drooped and she looked a second away from bawling into tears.

Right, strong emotions are a no go.

I reached down to the small pokemon holding it to my chest as I bobbed up and down like a baby trying to focus on calm thoughts.

Beaches, long train rides, movie theatres after covid before they got popular again.

"Better?" I asked her getting a tentative nod back. Good. I placed her back down before I started to get maternal. I didn't want cute, fluffy pokemon; I wanted dragons that would crush my enemies under their heel.

Well claws.

But the combination of Healer, Anticipation and Magic Bounce was just too good to box her forever. Which meant I was going to have to build a trick room team and that was going to be a nightmare because, like, four pokemon learnt trick room by level up and Game Freak never got around to making a pokemon that set Trick Room on entry.

Fucking Game Freak. You can milk me by hiding Ursaluna, Urshifu and Spectrier behind DLC but you couldn't at least break the game in the ways I wanted you to? Pathetic.

"Enna!" The pink blob started crying once again.

Right. I had enough of that.

With a mental flick of the hand Hattena dissolved into a burst of light and popped like a shadow clone. Somewhere in the back of my mind I could feel Hattena resting, not quite asleep but not fully awake either.

I sighed, glancing at Rowlet, "This is why you're my favourite."

Rowlet said nothing, just perched on the railing of the roof with his eyes closed. His bowtie glimmered slightly trying desperately to absorb the few traces of sunlight there was on the overcast day.

Good man. Going to be a nightmare when he evolves but by then I hopefully should have something better to replace him with.

Hmm, Harvest Tropius would kickass.

A whirring, crackling sound from above had me looking to the sky where a man was slowly floating over on electrified boots that just repelled off the air like two magnets rejecting each other. In his hand he had a long lance and on his other arm clasped like a wristband was a metal disk.

It was the coolest fucking thing I've ever seen. A man flying through the sky like a demigod. Seeing it was almost worth the nightmares about getting kidnapped by a woman with a fedora.

Not really but it was still pretty cool.

Dauntless gave the building a few circles making sure I was alone before he slowly descended from the skies.

"Hello," he greeted with a voice that was not firm but not soft either. A neutrality that felt like he was reading from a script, "Are you the one that wanted to meet me?"

"I am," I said, "Wanted to talk to you about joining the Protectorate."

It was a choice made because there was literally no other option. I wanted to be a hero and going independent in a city with Coil in it was stupid. But that didn't mean I hated the thought of joining.

There was a pause as Dauntless considered that. No doubt whatever handlers he had in his ears were coaching him what to say.

"You could've just come to the headquarters," he said.

"Your headquarters is all the other way in town and I don't have money for the bus. Barely had enough for the phone booth."

His eyes scanned me looking at my ratty shoes, threadbare jumper and I had no doubt that he could smell the fact that I haven't showered in like four days. It was obvious to pretty much anyone that looked at me that I was homeless.

"Why did you ask for me specifically?" he asked, talking the one condition I had negotiated from the phone operator when discussing this meeting.

The reason I'd chosen him was because despite reading his interlude I couldn't remember his name and wasn't going to blurt out something I shouldn't.

Years of reading Worm had ingrained most of the characters' names into my brain and if Armsmaster or Miss Militia popped by I was more likely to call them Colin or Hannah then I was to use their hero names. The Wards would've been worse, the last thing I needed reflexively to say Missy or Dennis.

I shrugged, "Our powers are similar."

"Really?" He asked in a voice full of confusion as he glanced towards Rowlet.

"Really," I said pointing to my bird, "That might look like a flesh and blood owl, even feels like it too. But it's more like a hard light projection. Every day I get a charge that when I use it I can spawn a creature."

"I can see the similarity," Dauntless admitted, "Are they all like that one?"

"No different types."

"Types?"

"That's too long to get into right now. As in, I'm probably going to have to get a whiteboard to explain that part of my power fully."

"So you're familiar with your power?"

'Familiar' he says. Like I haven't been playing pokemon for twenty-two years ever since I got pokemon Sapphire when I was five. Like I didn't have two hundred plushes at home, or had a Pikachu birthday cake three years in a row.

I was more than familiar with pokemon.

"It's…Intuitive," I decided was one way to call it, "But I've only had it for four days now."

"Oh," he said softly, staring at me with empathetic eyes I didn't need.

I might've been dropped into Earth Bet but it hadn't broken me, not enough to trigger. It wasn't fun but I wasn't going to bitch about it every second and cry melodramatically about how much I wanted to go home.

I rather focus my attention on practical things.

Like how I was gonna kill Scion.

---

The beard was just as glorious in real life as I imagined it.

Like black silk it hung on Armsmasters face, trimmed to be angular as it ran up his chin. No hints of grey on it unfortunately. I'd always imagined him to have a couple silver fox grey in his beard like Iron Man but Colin, like most parahumans, was younger than I thought. Thirty-six at most.

Though admittedly it was a bit hard to guess someone's age from their chin.

I shouldn't have been surprised Capes had only really been a thing for like twenty years at this point. Even the oldest Capes that weren't already old to start with weren't even fifty yet.

Colin glanced at the whiteboard and the very detailed type chart I drew up on it along with a short explanation of what each of them did.

"This 'Type chart'," he said, "Did your power tell you this?"

"Not laid out like this. Whenever I spend my charge I get to pick from five randomly selected monsters. It doesn't tell me what they are by name but I can feel what they're weak too. I can also tell what they'll be weak to when they evolve-"

"Evolve?" He interrupted me to ask.

"When they get strong enough or if conditions are met they - I guess the best word is metamorphosize into a stronger form. Some of those change types. So I got a pretty good feel for all of them and can piece together the puzzle from all the clues."

It was the truth enough for his lie detector that I wasn't even sure he had at the moment. Even without knowing Pokemon at all I probably could've figured the type chart within like a week just from that.

"If you're just guessing what makes you sure you haven't made a mistake?" He grilled me for what felt like the tenth time already. Ability this, can they breed that. It was endless. If I wasn't already set on joining, he would've scared me off.

Unsurprisingly, although he hid it he hadn't taken the news that there was a new girl with a constantly growing power like Dauntless well. Shame, he was hot but I guess our ship was never to sail.

"Because I'm not an idiot. Besides, if you can't trust that then feel free to thoroughly test it when I join."

"If you join," he corrected, "Seeing that you refuse to tell me anything about yourself: No last name, no previous address, not even if you're an American citizen. Given that you refuse to play ball, I'm not sure how we can accept you."

As much as I wanted to be honest I couldn't. I hadn't been dropped into this world with a valid Id and the last thing I wanted was them wondering why I was using the identity of a thirteen year old brat right now. That's if I was still alive here, I was born in Sydney and on Bet the Leviathan had fun there in the 2000's.

"Who I was before I got my power doesn't matter - I'm leaving that person behind for a fresh start. I know how that looks but I don't care, if that means you have to slap me with restrictions or pump me full of truth serum till I can be trusted then that's fine, I can accept those terms," I said.

Besides as much as he wanted to play hardball he couldn't just say no. Even if I had a weakass power the Protectorate wasn't in the habit turning away joiners, especially ones that could heal.

He frowned, "If you're in trouble the Protectorate has resources that can protect you. There's no point in completely abandoning your life."

"I'm not in trouble, legal or illegal. I just don't have any attachment to that person anymore."

Colin leaned back in his chair, armour silent as it shifted with him. His fingers pressed a button on a large landline he had on the desk.

"Has the creature disappeared yet?" he asked.

"No sir," came from the phone, "We've hit city limits and it's still here. Do you want me to drive to Boston? See if it disappears then?"

They had wanted to see if I had a range limit and gotten an intern or something to drive Rowlet as far as they could. From him I got the vaguest impression that he was in a van with someone but even if I focused I couldn't tell if that person was a man, woman or what colour their hair was.

No Skitter omniscence for me unfortunately.

Armsmaster thought about it for a moment, "No. Just stay there and tell me if it disappears later," he then pushed a different number, "How are the lab results?"

"The blood samples disappeared after ten seconds. X-rays confirm that this thing has organs but nothing that looks like ovaries or sexual characteristics. It doesn't appear that this thing can breed."

That I wasn't sure was true. Yes my pokemon might've not been real but Pokemon due to the fact it was a kids game never had actual breeding involved. The eggs just sorta popped up when no one was looking. It was a big enough plot point that there was a professor dedicated to discovering how that worked.

His helmet rose to meet my eyes.

"You said that when you killed one, it dissolved into light and you were able to resummon it eight hours later," He said.

I nodded.

"Killed a strong word. But when I had them fight each other Hatenna won and Rowlet got sent to-" I almost said the box but that would've made no sense to him, "-I mean he sorta dissolved till he could heal up."

His fingers tapped on his desk.

City wide range, no breeding capacity, can't be permanently killed. I could see the gears turning in Armsmasters head and they came to a conclusion he didn't like. I was just simply too useful not to recruit.

I didn't want to toot my own horn but I had a good power. Not Triumvirate tier but good enough.

Well it wasn't Triumvirate tier, yet.

"Alright, you have a charge built already? Use it."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Shouldn't I be in a lab for this?"

"My helmet has the best scanners in the entire base," he said, and although it sounded like bragging I had no doubt it was the truth. An efficiency tinker like him could do both.

I closed my eyes leaning back in my chair as I reached for that ball of light that I felt forming in the back of my head. It was heavy but weightless, bright but dark and cold but warm all at the same time.

I poked at it with an imaginary finger and it burst, splitting up into five different balls.

The first one I got the impression of heat and darkness. That ball was covered in a shell of what it could be and that was covered in an even bigger shell, a Russian nesting doll. But the biggest shell was flickering, impermanent. A mega evolution.

Houndoom, it had to be. I was tempted to choose it immediately - Flash fire was on the list of things I needed to have but I held off. Lung wasn't an immediate threat, Burnscar less so and Behemoth had more options then just fire.

Compared to something like storm drain or damp it wasn't on the immediate need list.

The list went faster.

Water and ice. Shell armour and Skill link - Cloyster. Shell Smash would've been fun but I had no way to get a water stone yet.

The same went for the Seadra that was next. A dragon scale might've been theoretically easier to get but not right now.

Ghost and Dragon. When I felt that my heart skipped a beat but it wasn't the one I wanted. The one I'd already put a charge into on my third day only to be told that it wasn't enough to summon him.

Compared to the lord of the Reverse World I wasn't jumping out of my seats over the chance to get stuck with a Dreepy.

I moved on to the last.

Dragon. Will get the fighting type later. Three stages, Overcoat, Soundproof and Bulletproof.

There was no hesitation in me as I chose that one.

Light poured out of my body and pooled into a shape right beside me. A sound like a Pokeball echoed and when it was over a small four legged lizard was standing there.

It was two different shades of grey but with thick gold scales that hang off it like a cloak with the largest of them all on its head like a crown.

"Jang-mo," the pokemon greeted me, tucking in its legs like a soldier saluting.

But I didn't return the greeting. Instead I only stared at Armsmaster and said, "Dragon type, immune to most projectiles, sound based powers and powders."

In other words it was a bitching pull. I had to hold myself back from hollering, settling for only a slight smile. Thank you Gacha gods, I'd almost forgive you for not giving me Diluc.

Actually no I didn't.

Armsmaster stared at the tiny dragon with a firm expression. His beard perfect at hiding his clenched jaw.

"I'll make some calls," he said.

---

Bread was nice until it started to lick your mouth.

With a hand and a groan I pushed Fidough off me as I got out of bed that smelt like a wet bakery. A glance at the clock told me it was about five to nine. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes I shuffled over to the shower, taking my toothbrush and mouthwash with me.

If that walking pound of dough gave me a yeast infection I was going to turn him into a muffin.

Showered and in a fresh set of clothes I left for my meeting that was soonish.

The morning sun looked different inside the Rigs force fields. Warm oranges turned pink casting everything in a porno like glow. But it was cool. I hadn't seen it like this before, I'd spent the last two weeks in Boston getting my power tested and my health assessed.

It was neat and it taught me some things about my power but most importantly Hattenna passed her evaluation which meant she and I by extension had ticked that important checkmark.

Healer.

The golden ticket.

And after investing two charges into her she'd leveled up to level fifteen and gained a move I'd honestly forgotten about. Aromatherapy - The move that can cure status conditions.

In the games it could only cure the big ones but not ones that disappeared when you switched out like confusion or infatuation but this wasn't the games and there were some very curious people that wanted to know if it could cure people affected by masters.

Hattenna was still in Boston waiting for clearance to be allowed to be tested at the Parahuman Asylum. I hoped it worked, those Lab Rat victims had been through enough.

Armsmaster was waiting in the meeting room with a woman I expected next to him. Blonde and fat, it wasn't hard to guess who she was. The white Amanda Waller.

"Good morning," I greeted, taking a seat in front of them.

"Good morning," Piggot returned the greeting, reaching a hand across the table to shake my hand, "My name is Emily Piggot, I'm the director in charge of managing the Parahuman situation in Brockton Bay. Though I'm assuming you knew that."

"I did. But it's good to learn that the T's silent."

Piggot's lips curled, "Yes, no one ever gets that right unless I tell them."

Armsmaster cut in by pulling out a pair of stapled documents along with a few pictures of the Pokemon I pulled in Boston.

Fidough. Impadimp. Duraladon. Falinks.

Piggots eyes lingered on Impadimps photo a moment too long.

"Your tests in Boston were promising," Piggot said, "It's a shame about the six at a time limit, but it's enough for us to work with. The pink one most of all."

"This is a typical contract for a newly recruited full time Protectorate member," Armsmaster said handing me a piece of paper, "Typically the base salary starts at $78,800 with reduced taxes but during your first year you are what's called a Junior member. It means your access to confidential files will be restricted, you won't be eligible to lead a team and depending on your role going forward you will have an experienced hero with you while you patrol. You'll be expected to follow their orders unless you believe them to be illegal."

"After a year you'll graduate into a full member of the Protectorate. Typically your base salary would increase to $112,800 a year."

"You keep saying that - Typically. Does that mean I'm not getting the typical contract?"

"No," he said, "Members that can bring more utility to the table can expect a higher salary. For a typical healer the base salary is $180,000."

My mouth fell.

I could buy so much with that.

Bitchin.

I mean sure it had the increased risk of getting Ziz'd or stabbed to death by a sad man in a robot body but six figures was six figures.

"However, that's with the expectation that you would be on call 24/7. Liable to be transferred to another city at the drop of a dime," Piggot interjected, "Which isn't the case with you. At least not completely."

My brow furrowed as took in her words. Not the case? There was only one thing it could be.

"You're talking about the fact that I can let others order my monsters?"

It was something we tested in Boston. As long as I personally ordered my Pokemon to listen to someone's orders then they'd follow them. It was per mon and it reset every time I boxed them, so I didn't have to worry about them being stolen or something.

"Yes, with your range there's been talks about assigning 'Hattenna' to a member of staff that will travel in your stead. This way you wouldn't be reassigned at a moment's notice and allow you to continue your role in Brockton Bay," Armsmaster said.

I frowned, "If that were to happen then wouldn't mean not being on call would come with a decreased salary?"

"Yes," Piggot confirmed, "But at the same time you'd still be an active hero. In essence you'd be working in two places at once. Which is a conundrum because we're not sure how you should be compensated for that."

"Maybe I should get paid $292800," I suggested doing some quick math, not really serious about it. Money past a certain point just became another digit.

"We thought about that," she admitted, "But higher ups decided that was too much for a junior member, some even thought that handing that much money to a woman that has a precedent for abandoning her identity was unwise," And although she sounded polite I was left with no doubt that she was one of those people, "So we've reached a middle point; You'll be paid the standard healer salary ignoring your Junior status and after six months a committee will be appointed to look over your results and evaluate how much we should be paying you. If it's decided that what you bring to the table is significantly more we'd up your compensation- With full back pay included."

I leaned back in my chair as I processed that.

That was a lot of money. Enough that I could probably retire before I was Thirty-Five. It was a dream come true. Except that money didn't matter when society would be destroyed in four years.

I sighed, "That's a generous offer Director and I respect the intentions in which it's offered but I'm not sure I can accept that."

Piggot blinked before her face schooled and pulled back in her chair, arms folded.

"Why not?" Armsmaster asked, voice audibly unimpressed, "If you're waiting for a better offer there isn't one."

"It's not about the money. I'm worried about the precedent it would set."

"Precedent?"

"Using Hattenna like that means that a sixth of my power is permanently unavailable to me. Now that's something I'm fine with, I understand just how needed healers are. But what happens if I get a second healer? A third? Fourth? Fifth? Am I just supposed to give up my power and be forced into the backline because I'm more useful there?" I said picking off fingers with each number.

Pigotts response was instant, "Yes, if you're asking that question then you don't understand the value of healers. If it's between one cape walking the streets and six healers spread throughout the Protectorate then the decision is obvious."

"And if I can do the greatest amount of good there then I'd have no complaints but what if I'm better used somewhere else?" I asked before I turned to Colin, "Let me ask you this; What is the tinkertech invention that has had the most positive effect on the world?"

"Containment foam," he said.

"Dragon's the one that made that right?"

He nodded.

"Then why isn't Dragon dedicating her entire focus on containment foam if it's so useful? Why bother with those mechs at all? Don't answer that. Now I'm not saying I'm ever going to be on her level - I'm not that arrogant. But just like she's not churning out containment foam 24/7 because she's more than that, how am I supposed to know if I'm more than the woman that creates the healing monsters unless I'm given the freedom to?"

If they had me waste my charges on levelling Hatenna or a Chansey or whatever rabbit I pulled out of a hat instead of trying to get a Legendary I'd just straight up leave Protectorate, which would not be bitchin. Weaver was right that they were the best option and I needed them to work with me to prevent the end of the world. So I had to kill this in the crib before it ever became an issue.

Piggot stared at me with a hard look in her eyes, but whatever it was I couldn't tell.

"Six months," she said, "You've got six months till the evaluation. If you don't want to be relegated to just a healer then prove it. Follow the rules, accomplish objectives and work with others."

I smiled, "I can work with that."

---

I couldn't work with this.

"No," I said, rejecting another concept art that had me forced into a princess dress.

"Come on," Sarah said as she looked over the art, "What's wrong with the matching Hatenna?"

Sarah was the head of branding and she clearly had her soul ripped out of her. How else could she stand to be in an office that looked like it was fingerpainted by toddlers with pink fluffy rugs going across the floor.

"The Fairy type looks cute but it's also the type I have the least amount of. If we went on the 'Fairy Princess,' idea then that'd be too restricting. I have sixteen types to work with, come up with a concept that could include literally anything else."

"But think of the merchandise that concept could fuel," she said, voice a touch below whining, "I'm thinking of a whole toy line of castle sets, costumes, dolls and if you get popular enough we could have you cameo in that cartoon all the little girls love."

She pulled up her sleeve showing me the tiny tattoo she had of the show on her shoulder, "Come on you'll be perfect on Little Witch Wendy. I've even gotten Vista an episode, it won't be hard to get you in too."

And I'm sure she loved that.

"You're talking about merch but you're completely ignoring who buys that merch. Little girls begging their parents; by focusing on them you're ignoring the boy demographic," Behind me I released Duraludon, Jangmo-o and Falinks.

I picked up the Brass and placed it in Duraludons outstretched hands. Well, what counted for hands anyway. With a jump Jangmo-o springed up landing on the steel types shoulder.

"You just tell me little boys aren't gonna aren't gonna beg their parents for action figures of these Pokemon?"

Sarah shook her head, "They won't because kids are in that girls are icky stage. Across the board for female heros with enhanced strength the figure is one boy buying their merch for every eight girls. When you take away Alexandria who skews the numbers it goes to something like twelve to one."

"As a woman that can't punch through concrete you're at a significant disadvantage when it comes to marketing. Rime is the fourth highest rated female hero in the entire protectorate. She also has the lowest merch numbers of the entire top heroes - Well excluding Cineral. That's why you should focus all your attention on the demographic that will actually buy your merch instead of trying to cater to people that won't, no matter what you do."

Fuck nuggets she actually had a point. I felt personally slighted that she was actually good at her job

I sighed, "Okay fair point but I actually need a concept that allows me to use my powers. You already took poison and bug types off me; Which I get but getting pigeon holed into just fairy types is a disaster waiting to happen."

"We could go with a fairy themed persona," Sarah suggested, "Fairies, dragons, knights. Instead of being the princess kept captive by a dragon waiting to be saved by a knight, you could represent all of them at once?"

My neck cracked as I mulled it over.

While not as good as the Fire-Water-Grass in terms of super effective coverage in practical non video game terms the Steel-Fairy-Dragon was better in almost every way. Dragon had the highest BST of all types, Steel had the most resistances and while Fairy wasn't the best when they weren't going up against dragon they were at least a good neutral option with good support moves.

"Falinks could work as a kind of royal guard," I mused. Being the only one of my pokemon that knew protect it was a perfect fit.

She smiled, "We can include others as long as they fit the theme. Now let's get into the most important part; What will your cape name be? I'm here to consult but this is your decision, take your time I know it's a hard one."

I laughed, "It's not really. When I got my power I thought about the type of person I wanted to be, what I wanted to represent and more importantly what person I aspired to be."

"And what person is that?" she asked softly.

"I want someone to look at me and know it's okay. That things will be better, I want to be a light, someone that burns so bright it banishes all the bad things. So there's really only one thing I can be called."

I looked at Sarah, staring directly in her eyes.

"Call me Dawn."

---

This was going to be a Celestial Menagerie fic but I just love Pokemon too much to do any other kind of creature. So we got this fic cause of it.

Summary of the pulls.

Day 1: Hatenna

Day 2 : Rowlet

Day 3: Giratina

Day 4: Jangmo-o

Day 5- 8: Wasted testing her abilities.

Day 9 - 19: Duraludon, Falinks, Impadimp, Fidough. Leveled everyone except Impadimp to level 10 and Hatenna to level 15.


Legendary Chart.

Giratina 1/20

 

[BravelyFlying]

The Protectorate as expected had a pretty good gym. Those perfectly trimmed V-cuts didn't come from nowhere after all. It was probably the second largest room on the base that wasn't the cafeteria, covered wall to wall in equipment tailored for a variety of exercises with a special set of barbells and weights in a cordoned off section meant only for Triumph and Aegis.

There was also a small selection of child sized equipment. It wasn't hard to guess who that was for.

In the middle of the gym was a sparring ring, with padded flooring and a rack with gloves and other striking pads.

And standing in that ring was a brown haired woman in camo fatigues, an american flag bandana covering her face and a minigun by her feet. But it wasn't those things that stuck out at me. No, what really stuck out to me was the sheer boss-like aura she exuded.

Like Virgil in his chair she just seemed to radiate a final boss energy like atmosphere to the point that walking up to her I half expected piano music or an electric bass to start playing.

Hmm.

"Memories broken, the truth goes unspoken. I've even forgotten my name~" I hummed under my breath as I stepped onto the matts, "Hey your Miss Militia right? I'm Dawn."

The time I spent in the bathroom mindlessly practising her hero name was well spent.

Hannah's eyes gave the impression of a smile behind her mask, "Nice to meet you Dawn. Always a pleasure to see a new hero."

The word hero had me rubbing the back of my neck as a smile spread across my face. Yeah I was a hero now wasn't I? It felt weirdly right to be called that. It had always been something I'd dreamed of when I was a kid and now it was coming true. Well, the dreams that didn't involve Zatanna were coming true.

"Thank you," I said.

"Just giving credit where it is due," She said as she warmed up her hands, stretching out each finger and massaging her wrists, "Now as much as I would like to get right into the heart of things I have a speech I have to recite. But please stretch as I go through it."

I just nodded as I balanced on the balls of my feet and twisted, with the loud pops of years of shrimp posture making themselves known.

But I couldn't help but feel excited. I was training to be a superhero. She was no Coach Boomer or Aizawa but it felt like I'd begun my first steps to change the world for the better.

Plus Miss Militia looked super sexy in her Camo Fatigues. I was never one that got the whole military kink but looking at her it clicked. I could see why Kojima was obsessed now.

"Before you are allowed to patrol or make arrests as a member of the Protectorate you are required to undergo at least twelve hours training on arrest techniques. After this course you will be expected to be able to demonstrate competency in disarming, throws and restraining techniques. Do you have any questions or points that need clarification?" She recited it with the ease of someone that said it a thousand times before.

"Is 12 hours all I really have to do? Seems kind of low," I said as I pulled an elbow over my shoulder.

Miss Militia shook her head, "It's the bare minimum but you'll be expected to undergo more training over your time as a junior member. That can range from 50 to 120 additional hours. Then after remedial training every three months or as needed."

"That makes more sense," I admitted.

"Glad you agree. This isn't a hand to hand course. Don't expect to use what you learn here against villains. This is so you can restrain regular criminals and rowdy civilians without causing them harm," Hannah said, "Now before we begin some ground rules for both here and on the streets: No striking, none at all. It looks bad and if you feel the need to strike someone then the situation has escalated to the point that you should've already used your power to subdue and not your fists. That said, don't use your power here until I give you permission."

It made sense. I didn't have to think hard to imagine how bad it would look if a hero punched someone in the face. Plus anything I could do was nothing compared to what Falinks or Duraludon could do safely.

"And what if I'm not in a situation where I can use my power?"

"That'll be rare," she said, "But in that scenario? Assuming they don't have weapons or you're not outnumbered then you'll have armour and they won't. Use that to weather the blows till you can take them down. If you can't or the situation won't let you then just retreat till backup can arrive to help you. We don't want another Vikare to happen."

I nodded and she walked me through how to fall safely before she moved onto the various throws and holds. Miss Militia fatigues were tailored to show off her curves so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that beneath them she had the body of a demon.

She moved like one too. Each demonstration had to be done twice. The first where she effortlessly performed a takedown in seconds without thinking about it, and the second where she forced herself to slow down so I could actually see what she was doing.

And then we moved on to the practice phase of it where I had to demonstrate them on her and I knew they only worked because she let them. She weighed like a rock and she was sturdy in her footing. Any time I tried to push or lift her I had to put my entire body weight into it or she'd just absorb it without moving.

But then we moved onto the part that I'd been dreading and eagerly anticipating at the same time.

The part where she did them on me.

"Feel free to tap out," she said as she had me in a choke, an arm going across my neck that was firm but didn't have pressure and her legs snaked underneath my own, keeping them open.

I'd have a better chance of smashing through an iron cage than getting through her.

"They… Won't… Respect it out there," I grunted out into her thick bicep that felt like a bundle of coiled cables. Harder I wanted to scream. If I died here it would've been worth it.

"No they won't," she agreed, "But you'll have your powers out there. If you can't get out by yourself then summon something that can get you out."

She didn't need to tell me twice as a light came out of me and right beside me Rowlet popped into existence.

The owl with his big beady black eyes stared at the two of us. His head twisted as he looked around the room before they honed in on Miss Militia.

And then he threw a handful of leaves in her face.

---

Pain. All I could feel was pain through my body. In my back, in my shoulders, in my calves. There wasn't a muscle that didn't feel like it hated me.

After Rowlet Miss Militia had come down on me like the hand of god. Not out of anger but concern.

I got the vibe that she didn't trust that Rowlet could keep me safe so she doubled, tripled and quadrupled down on training me so that I could protect myself.

Apparently no one told her that Rowlet was my weakest Pokémon. I also had forgotten to tell her that for, er, reasons.

I groaned into my cafeteria food. It wasn't I'd never exercised before but there was a special kind of pain in knowing you could fix it with a snap of your hands but couldn't. Hatenna was still in Boston and I didn't want to ruin whatever tests they were doing just to heal some cramps.

"That's a familiar sound," a voice said and glancing up I saw that it was a man in a red skin tight costume. Next to him was a well built boy on the cusp of being a man with a lion themed helmet. Each of them had a food tray absolutely covered in potato salad.

"Miss Militia's got a reputation I take it?"

"Yep," He said nodding sagely as the two of them slid in the seat in front of me, "She, like all former Wards that joined young, is a freak of nature put here to make the rest of us feel bad about not exercising more."

"I feel like I should take offense to that," Triumph said.

"You don't count," the red man said, scooping some potato salad into his mouth, "You were already grown when you joined."

"I can still take offense."

The red costumed man just shovelled some more food into his mouth, eating like someone was going to steal it from him. He had a red visor that covered his eyes but left his black hair visible. Racing stripes ran down his shoulder both his chest joining at a point to form a large V.

"Triumph and Velocity right?" I asked getting nod from both, "I'm Dawn."

"The monster girl right? Dauntless told us about you," Triumph said.

I nodded a joking smirk on my face, "I'm sure he said how pretty I was too."

"Something like that," he said, picking at his food.

Velocity's fork skewered into the last of his salad finishing it off with the crunch of an uncooked potato. All in all it took him less than maybe 20 seconds to eat his lunch. Impressive, if a little disgusting considering he hadn't even used his power. If I tried to eat like that acid reflux would kill me.

"Heard it's not just monsters you do, apparently you're a healer as well?" Velocity asked.

"I am yeah."

"That's great. Our team could really use someone like you."

"Get into a lot of fights?"

"Not really but with Christmas coming up patrols are going to be a nightmare on my feet."

"Can you-" Triumph tried to speak with food still in his mouth, he coughed slamming a fist into his chest and taking a sip of his drink before he continued, "- Can you fix things that aren't injuries?"

There was only one reason he'd ask - Clockblocker dad.

"We did some testing on some rats that had cancer," I explained, "Others that had been infected with things like syphilis. It looks good, power managed to cure them, but they're still waiting before moving on to human tests."

"But signs point to?"

I wasn't sure. There weren't any person in Pokemon that I could remember that had illnesses, especially not one's as bad as cancer. Wally existed but that was probably congenital and wasn't that bad relatively speaking. He'd been well enough to travel Hoenn by himself.

But I couldn't say whether that was because of healing moves, advanced technology, berries or the fact that Arceus just didn't invent cancer.

There was Pokerus but that was something different.

Not willing to give him false hope I shrugged, "Honestly can't tell you. I'm not a doctor. But if I'm cleared I'm fine with doing personal calls. What kind of illness is it if you don't mind me asking?"

"Atherosclerosis. A relative of mine has it and it's getting pretty bad."

I blinked. That wasn't what I expected him to say.

"I don't know what that is."

"It's a heart disease," he explained and it clicked.

He wasn't asking about Clockblocker, he was asking about Dinah.

Or at least someone she knew. I remembered she said something about heart disease to Skitter and while I didn't know how she triggered exactly but an illness in the family, doctors throwing out numbers, family throwing out numbers and a twelve year old girl struggling to figure out what that all meant but not having enough information.

It fit.

But had she triggered already? I couldn't remember reading an actual date. Just some months before Taylor went out in a costume which was April if I remembered correctly. Which could mean anything.

It's December now. So If I healed them would I prevent Dinah's trigger?

Dinah was one of the strongest thinkers to ever exist. She was the one nudging things in the background so that humanity survived Gold Morning. If I messed with it would I be making things worse?

"Dawn?" Triumph asked, dragging me out of my head.

"Right. The hearts complicated. I can't fix something that they were born with but I can email the Doctors and see how it looks."

Triumph nodded, a thankful look on his face that burned to look at.

"That's all I can ask."

---

The question of what to do with Dinah bothered me for the rest of the day and then the next and the days after that. If it wasn't for the lessons on patrol protocol, on chain of command, on PRT threat assessment, on local villains, on lessons with Miss Militia on this and that and so on, it would've been all I thought about.

In a way I was glad that all the preparations for becoming a hero kept me busy, kept me distracted.

It's not like I was trying to do it on purpose; Becoming a hero was a lot of work. Enough that I got why Junior members were a thing. With everything I had to learn I felt like I needed more than just a year to learn it all.

But it wasn't enough. Not to completely bury the question.

From: PRTPT0923-94@Secure.us

Dawn,

Apologies for the delay in answering your question but we did run some cardiovascular tests and it appears that Atherosclerosis is possible to be cured by Subject:Hattenna. The combination of the inhaling the particulates produced by the Subject and approximately ten to fifteen minutes within its presence is enough to clear the Patients 25, 34 and 35 from the plaque build up in the arteries.

This combined with other positive tests and thinker analysis we conclude that it's safe to grant Subject:Hattenna's tentative permission to heal non trauma related injuries in addition to the permission already granted to you.

A report of our findings will be emailed to your PRT Director and Protectorate Leader so you may discuss how to utilize Subject:Hattena long term within your city.

Merry Christmas,

PRT PT Michael Talburt.

Would it be better for everyone if Dinah triggered it? Probably. She could do so much with her power that would put her on the level of movers and shakers like Dragon. With her help Protectorate could plan better, prevent events like Ellisburg or Echidna from happening.

Yet.

She was just a twelve year old girl. It wasn't right to put that weight on her shoulders. Force her to suffer with the side effects of her powers and the attention it would give her for the rest of her life.

It wasn't a question of logic. That debate was too weighted to ever be a contest and it wasn't a debate about morals either, that was also too weighted to be a contest.

This couldn't be a debate. It was a choice, one I had to make.

"Dawn?" A voice called out and glancing up I saw it was one of Sarah's interns. Becky or Beth or something like that. No one wore name badges at all in the Protectorate - Safety concern.

In her hands she clutched a heavy metal case and strained to hold it up. With a flash of light Falinks was there lifting it up, carrying it with their horns and shield like arms.

"Fa! Links!" They shouted.

Becky blinked at the sight of them. A curious smile spread across her face and a small squeal under her breath.

"They're so cute," she said, "I wish I could take a picture with them."

In a way I was lucky; Pokemon was a children's series so all the mon were designed to be some brand of cute, cool or funny which gave them a natural friendliness that other power generated creatures didn't have. I doubted she'd be so happy to see Bitches dogs.

I was grateful for that. I'm not sure I could handle being a hero that had a power that scared people.

Plus it also meant my toy line was going to kick ass. Armsmaster was going to hate me.

"You'll get your chance tomorrow," I said as she led me to a private changing room, Falinks following behind us with a small marching chant.

As they did, heads in the room turned to stare at them. The men and women that manned the lights, cameras and boom-mics were local rather than PRT specialists and weren't used to powers like everyone else.

Sarah had wanted the specialists but with Christmas less than fortnight away it was either this or we'd be forced to wait till January before I could be on the streets.

Piggot's decision was the sooner the better.

The changing room Becky led me to had a PRT soldier guarding it. The man just glanced down at the five soccer ball sized monsters and sighed.

"Has the room been cleared?" Becky asked the soldier and the man nodded.

Turning to me she said, "Okay the rooms clear for you to change in. If you need help with the buckles let me know otherwise just knock when you're done and I'll send makeup in."

Swiping a key card over the door I entered the changing room. It was a small, private thing. With tall lockers that had the names of other heroes stamped on them and a sign in sheet that had to be filled in.

Dawn 10:32 14/12/2010

Popping the locks on the metal case I opened it.

The helmet was the first thing my eyes were drawn to. It was silver with a pink and purplish damascus pattern, but not actually metal. Instead rubbing my fingers over it felt like the same kind of plastic that motorcycle helmets were made out of, just dyed to look like metal. Out the back of it there was a Lancelot style plume but instead of the typical red this one was a mixture of Dragon type purple and Fairy type pink.

I felt like there should've been a seafoam blue in there to balance it out but that would've been off theme.

Picking it up I just held it in my hands. Feeling the weight of it as I rocked it back and forth, the holes in the eyes slit staring back at me. It was heavy, layers and layers of crush foam and padding added to the weight.

It was half a helmet that left my mouth exposed back still covered my neck, Sarah had said something about it being based on a sallet.

Mythical was the only word I could use to describe it. Like someone had plucked a knight from a picture book and plopped their helmet right in my hands. Fantasy, majesty, it had elements from both.

Bitchin maybe for sure but I wasn't sure it was me. It didn't scream 'Power' like I wanted it to.

The rest of the costume was a combo between a knight's armour and a princess gown that stopped below the knees, the dress was flowing and pleated. Below that I had purple jeans that had lines on them that invoked scales and the boots had small ridges like clawed feet.

Slowly I undressed and began the process of putting it on. The pants were just normal jeans, albeit one that had four separate buttons and a belt keeping the pants up - The Protectorate really, really didn't want their heroes getting pants in public - and the dress was easy but the chainmail sown in between the fabric made it stiff and instead of stepping into it and pulling up like I usually preferred I had to pull it over my head. Once it and the armour was on I could help but notice that both had been tailored to make me look two cups sizes larger.

Sarah's work no doubt. She'd once asked me if I was willing to get some implants paid for by the Protectorate and I firmly put my foot down and told her that I'd think about it. Maybe after Shatterbird was gone.

Testing the flexibility of the shoulders and at the waist I rubbed the inside of my arms where the words 'I have the power of God and Anime on my side,' were tattoo'd and found that I had no issues at all, the Protectorate made good costumes.

The tattoo was mirrored on the other arm where one of Sans's Gaster Blaster was locked into a beam struggle against Megaman. The skeleton himself wasn't on there; I'd been too embarrassed and worried about how others would think I was a gigantic nerd to include him.

Countless other tattoos littered my body in places no one would be able to see unless I was wearing a bikini. Video games, comic issues, funny memes. I wasn't someone that put a lot of thought into what I inked onto my body.

To me it was more about demonstrating that I was different than I was a year ago, a way of marking a moment of evolution. Whether I still liked what I'd tatted in the future didn't matter, if I cringed every time I saw it then at least I could tell I changed.

Though I had one rule now: No bands. A friend only had to show me the wikipedia page for Lostprophets once after I just freshly tatted the band's name on my thigh for me to realise what a terrible mistake that was. Too many singers turned out to be monsters for me to take that risk anymore.

The only exception was The Megas that I had scrawled across my hips. No way they got laid.

Now that the case was emptier I saw the gauntlets that matched the armour sitting at the bottom. Next to it was a little pouch and in it was a couple coloured contact lenses. Between the pink, purple and silver options I chose purple.

The gauntlets were next and then the helmet.

When the final buckle clipped into place it felt like I was naked; in that moment it stopped being a costume and felt more like a second pair of skin. No, I couldn't tell where my skin ended and the armour began. It just felt right in a way I couldn't explain. Like this was meant to be.

The woman in the mirror agreed, a slight smirk on her face. She was beautiful in the right places, sexy in the other parts. With a thin waist and the plume coming out the back of her head I could just see her flying on the back of dragons, the ghost sword of kings in her hand while juggernauts of steel destroyed her enemies.

And I guess some fairies would be there too.

Yeah.

This was perfect.

---

If any eyes were on me I couldn't see them. All I could see was a blinding wall of light so powerful, so tangible that they put any forcefield cape to shame. Boom mics extended through the light like spears in a phalanx while camera's acted like the shields.

"Roll sound!"

"Sound speed!"

Around me the crew worked all hands on deck to get everything organised leaving me to stand in the middle of the room like a statue. There was nothing I could do to help, after my makeup had been done all I could do was stare forward going over my five lines again and again until they were ready for the scene. I'd even offered to help with hosting the piano but I was politely refused, something about insurance.

Batman didn't have to deal with this shit.

"Roll Camera!"

"Cameras rolling!"

I should've just become a vigilante. Who needs things like a salary, a professionally made costume or a place to sleep at night? At least that way I wouldn't have to deal with my hero intro ad.

"Alright everyone. Action!"

The sound of those wooden clacker things went off and the lights finally dimmed.

I stared into the eye of the camera for a second letting them see me in all my armoured glory.

"I'm never alone," I said, putting on my fiercest action hero voice. I thought I'd have a stutter or a hitch in my voice as I said my lines but they came out smooth. A confidence grew in me as light pooled out of me and split into four separate beams. When the light faded standing there was Jangmo-o, Falinks, Fidough and towering above them all was Duralodon.

No Rowlet.

I was allowed to use other types on the condition that it didn't interfere with my branding. A battle once and a while would've been fine but my introduction? No way.

From stage left a pack of stunt men in black ski masks ran at me. With a mental order my mon ran at them aiming to meet them in the middle. Duraludon the slowest with his relaxed nature running behind the two four legged Pokemon his feet causing thuds with each stomp while his wide body acted like a good enough shield covering me from the men long for Falinks to form a defensive wall around me, their little feet stamping as they focused their energy.

Strange, I hadn't asked them to do that. My power was a lot like Chicken-Littles in that I just had to plant flags and they'd go do it. Fight this, wait here, go over there. It was something that meant I didn't have to micromanage my pokemon. All I told Falinks was to wait around me and it did that but it also set up.

Was there something in Falinks pokedex entries that let it do that? Or was it a safe guard built into my power? Something that says 'If no orders are given while in combat then set up?' Both were likely.

The relaxed steel type had a leer in his eyes as Jangmo-o the fastest and the highest leveled Pokemon reached the men first. His tail was coated in a purple energy that almost tripled its length.

With a wild swing Jangmo-o hit two of them with the long tail. But when the tail touched them the energy transferred to them coating them in the same purple and launched them away, the two men flying faster and further than what a normal hit should've allowed.

Out of the view of the camera's the stunt men landed on crashpads. Not that they needed them. The move protected them safely till they came to a complete stop; Jangmo-o was no Gavel.

The men that Jangmo-o hadn't launched pulled out guns, stepped to get an angle around Duraludon and fired.

Paintballs splattered against the hexagonal barrier that Falinks threw up. Paint streaked down it for a few seconds before like the shattering of a glass the barrier disappeared.

"I always have the advantage," I said a second off. The editors would have to cut the scene so that I said it before they fired. Cooler that way.

Fidough pounced, her stubby little legs still strong enough to jump on a man's chest slamming her nose into his very padded shoulder. The man staggered finding out for himself that even the weakest pokemon could hit like a featherweight boxer when using a move.

Springboarding off the man she leaped through the air, her tail wagging so cutely it'd be illegal to show a diabetic. The stuntman with a gun paused, the power of covet overtaking him for a moment despite him expecting it. His grip on the gun slackened and Fidough took advantage of it to bite down on it, ripping it from his hands.

The underbaked dog then proceeded to land on her face, sending the gun sliding across the room.

Fucking Klutz.

Fucking Gamefreak. What's the point of having abilities that actively make a pokemon worse? Because my Pokemon had all their abilities that just made some really good Pokemon complete dogshit.

More paintballs fired at my terrifying babies- dragons, I meant dragons. Both completely ignored them even if they were real bulets as Duraludon advanced on the men, throwing them off camera again.

The camera operator followed Jangmo-o as he hopped back into the middle of the stage where a giant piano hung in the air hosted on some cables. A crew member hit the switch and the cable unfurled, dropping the piano.

I was sad to learn that falling pianos didn't whistle as they fell. Cartoons lied to me.

"I'm always getting stronger," I said, snapping my fingers. Well I tried to, gauntlets really didn't snap like that.

But that didn't matter as when I invested a charge into my pokemon, just as I had every day for the last four days, a bright, pale light of every colour of the rainbow burst out of Jangmo-o completely enveloping him.

It was almost blinding but I didn't look away, couldn't. This was my childhood right here.

In the light I saw a shadowy blob start to morph. The two back feet stretched and twisted, gaining another joint while the two front feet split into four long talons. Armour segmented, molting to cover more of the body.

And when the light faded standing there wasn't Jangmo-o but Hakamo-o. Sparkles reflected on his golden scales and the muscles beneath them. Veins in the dragon's arm flexed hard enough that it was visible even beneath the scales and Hakamo-o jumped, a raised fist smashing a hole through the piano line he bored through it and rising above it.

The piano split in half under its own weight crashing hard into the ground sending splitterring pieces of wood across the ground.

It was the coolest, most awesome, most fucking badass thing in the world. It was so bitchin that it brought a tear to my eye.

Hakamo-o landed on the ground, gaze going to me. It's snout was more pronounced now and it gave his eyes a more fearsome stare. Then without any prompting he slammed his wrist together, the scales clanging like cymbals.

My dragon danced his feet tapping the ground to the tune his scales made. Purple coated his tail extending it and he used it like a ballerina might a ribbon. It was a Haka like his namesake but it felt more like a soldier reporting for duty.

His gaze never left. Red eyes staring at me and only me.

It was powerful and beautiful all the same. No, it was beautiful because it was powerful.

It was perfect.

When he evolved one more time he was going to be my main Pokemon. I just knew it.

Pseudo-legendaries were just too op.

Our staring contest broke as I turned back to the camera. Back straight, head up and feet planted like Hannah taught me as Duraludon picked up the two halves of the split piano, carrying them like one might a carton of coke.

"My name is Dawn," I said, planting a flag for my steel type.

Duraludon paused as he processed the order before he hesitantly tossed the piano halves at me. I couldn't see them but I could hear as they flew through the air like cannonballs.

"Falinks!" The formation pokemon yelled as they jumped, smashing their horned plate like arms into the piano pieces glowing with white focused energy. Splitters of wood thunded into my back, the impact absorbed by the layers and layers of armour but still hitting hard enough that if I hadn't braced I would've been knocked forward.

Fucking ow.

I brushed some clinging splitters off with a gauntleted hand feeling how the armour was where I was hit. They hadn't penetrated. Good.

It'll bruise but at least it'll look awesome in the ad.

I smiled, pulling my purple lips into the best heroic grin that I could manage.

"And you can meet me and my friends this Friday the 17th! The Protectorate is hosting a petting zoo at the WeyMouth shopping centre where you can pet and take pictures with my friends all day long!" I said, my under baked dog jumping into my arms.

"Fidough!" she said with a short pink tongue hanging out of her mouth.

The others sounded off with a cry of their own.

"Fa-Links!"

"Hakamo-o!"

"Duraludon!" The steel dragon shouted his large frame giving him a deep, bassy voice.

"And there's two more surprise friends that you'll just have to come down and see!" I finished off with a wave as the camera's finished rolling.

---

In a world with actual superpowers tv still managed to be boring.

I used my foot to change the channel, flicking through the stations and finding none of them were that interesting. A House knock off, something that was like a cross between Bones and Criminal minds. Once or twice powers would be mentioned but there wasn't a show that was really dedicated to powers as far as I could tell.

No thinker detectives, no changer romance dramas. Not even a villain of the week with a blaster power.

I suppose that for as much as powers had changed the world they didn't dominate it.

Pressing down on the remote I pulled up a video on power classifications and hit play and then annoyed at the accent of the guy who spoke in the video paused it, turned on captions and muted it before hitting play one more time.

Strumming the E string of the guitar I found in my room the clip on the electric tuner glowed green to show that it was tuned. Then I finished the rest of the strings and after readjusting the ice pack nestled between my shoulder blades began playing.

The sound of Burn My Dreads opening chorus filled my room. The walls echoing back the song with a tinny sound.

"Dreamless dorm, ticking clock," I whispered under my breath, feeling myself getting into the rhythm of playing.

To be honest I wasn't that great. Or that good really. The guitar was something I'd picked up relatively recently when I borrowed a guitar from a friend for a Ibuki cosplay when I was twenty-three? Twenty-Four? The pandemic made it impossible to return and so I spent the lockdown with nothing to do but practice.

Stuck in my room on the Rig, I guess I was back to those days. Thank god my room was sound proof.

My room on the PHQ was spacious, just like an apartment. If you ignored how the windows couldn't open and the barrier that blocked the view. A dresser already pre stuffed full of PRT squad shirts and pants and a wardrobe with only my costume hanging on a rack. In a week or two depending on Christmas holidays my back up costume will join it, maybe a month later my back up, back up costume will join them and then I wouldn't have space for anything else.

The room was divided in heights. Steps lead up to the bedroom/office part of the room. A king sized bed and a desk with a computer that was currently hard at work downloading some songs onto an Ipod. It felt funny having to manually download songs again.

"I walk away from a soundless room. Windless night, moonlight melts."

It felt worse to learn that some of my favourite songs didn't exist in this world. Even the ones that should've already been written. Endbringers, villains and economic collapse wasn't good for the arts turns out.

Fucking Eidolon. In the name of My Chemical Romance I swore he'll get Dark Voided for that.

"Reminds me that I still live."

The other half of the room was sunken into the floor in what was meant to be the entertainment area with a long L shaped couch, a Tv that was impressive for 2010 but nothing special to me. An Xbox was plugged in with a bunch of games in one of those rotating towers that dvd stores used to have.

In the corner was one of those one person sized Jacuzzi with a curved sliding glass door. Something that I expected would see a lot of use in the future. In another was Duraludon who watched me with lazy eyes.

"I will burn my dread~ I once ran away from the god of fear and he chained me to despair yeah," I hummed slowly, banging my head.

He was the only one of my pokemon that I let roam free in my room. Mostly because I thought it was cool having a six foot dragon guarding my room and because he was the only one that possessed the slightest bit of chill in his body.

Hakamo-o's scales clanged, Falinks was always shouting, Hatterene was always crying, Rowlet got restless at night, Fidough caused fermentation around her and Impadimp always tried stealing shit which is why he's staying in the box permanently.

I couldn't trust him in this room. Couldn't trust him in general. Asshole would try to steal copper pipes out the wall if I left him alone.

"Burn my dread"

Still I couldn't help but notice that the Protectorate certainly spared no expense when it came to making sure their heroes had all the luxuries they wanted. Whether it was just to take care of them after a hard day of fighting the good fight against alien abominations or because they were desperate to keep their heroes around was something I couldn't decide. Both probably.

"I will break the chain and run."

Though it was hard not to look at this room and wonder if this was the start of all the issues in Ward. Did the Warden just sorta see these sorta of luxuries as a given and that's why they handled the housing situation so poorly?

I suppose that I couldn't entirely blame them for that. A city of millions of people with no government was a nightmare at the best of times. Add in Shard bullshit, multiple worlds to juggle and thinkers masterminding things in the background like Tattletale and Teacher and things got messy.

"Till I see the sunlight again"

Dinah didn't help either with how she fanned the flames of race war.

Of course thinking about her made me remember the choice I'd been putting off.

Fuck.

I flubbed a note hitting my thumb on a string. The wire caught on the underneath of a hangnail and ripped a gash in up my thumb. Wincing I stuck it in my mouth sucking on it till the pain stopped then I wrapped it in my shirt.

"What am I going to do?" I asked directing the question at Duraludon standing guard in the corner as I put pressure on my thumb. The pokemon just twisted his club like hands in a 'what do you expect me to say?' kind of way.

Right dumb question. He didn't know what I really meant.

Clenching tight on it I went to the bathroom and opened up the bathroom mirror for the medicine cabinet. In it was an overwhelming amount of condoms and morning after pills but it also had some actual bandaids in it too. Washing the blood off under the sink I dabbed the thumb dry and put the bandaid on.

It still hurt, but not as much as it did before.

Music time over officially I pulled out my government issued phone and reread the message I typed out but hadn't sent.

Good news Triumph ♡〜٩( ˃▿˂ )۶〜♡ The power specialists and doctors say that my healing monster should be able to heal your relative ( ˶ˆᗜˆ˵ ) So Mission: Heal Triumph family! is good to go once you get the greenlight from AM and Piggot ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

Closest time we can do that is probably this Friday after the petting zoo at the mall. So if you wanna volunteer for that we can just pop by on the way back to base ᕕ( ᐕ )ᕗ.

My bloody thumb hovered over the send button but I couldn't bring myself to push it. I could only stare at it paralysed.

Truth was I was scared. Scared that by changing something I would be dooming trillions of lives. Probably even more. Dinah was one of the key people in Gold Morning. She was the one that let everyone know and gave them time to prepare and if she wasn't there then everyone would get bumfucked, more than they already had.

But that didn't mean she had to be the one to do it. A couple psychic type pokemon as an excuse and I could tell everyone. No, the real problem was Khepri.

Without Khepri humanity would've lost. It was just a plain and simple fact. Without someone able to get everyone fighting in perfect unity, without someone able to observe through multiple battles how he avoided Flechette, without someone willing to sacrifice lives to keep her alive and without someone able to bully a god long enough to stunlock him for a fuck off cannon to kill him humanity would've lost.

Dinah was the key to Khepri. She was someone who set up the domino's that lead to her and without her Khepri wouldn't be a thing.

Objectively Dinah was needed.

Objectively I needed to let Dinah trigger so that we all had a better shot at surviving.

If Cauldron knew about her they'd do everything they could to make her trigger happen.

Hell they'd probably sacrifice a million infants to the devil if it meant that she'd trigger. God just thinking about Cauldron pissed me off. It was one thing when they were just words on a screen but it was another to know that right now they had thousands of people in cages, mutated just to perfect their vials, that Earth Shin was under the control of a genocidal idiot because they put her there.

And that hundreds of people were trapped in unimaginable agony, unable to die until the sun burned out.

If they at least won in the end I could justify it, give them the tiniest bit of doubt that it was necessary in the end. But no. In the end nothing they did mattered and everything and everyone they sacrificed was pointless. Everything they'd done was barely a blip on Scion's radar.

Which is why I with my heart hammering in my chest and feeling like I was about to throw up.

I sent the text.

Setting it on silent I tossed the phone on the other end of the louch, not even willing to look at it lest I got tempted to take it back and delete the message before Triumph saw it.

Fuck my life.

I wanted to be a hero. Ever since I was a little girl I looked into comics books and wanted to be just like the people on the pages. Wanted to become someone that when people saw me they knew they'd be okay.

I couldn't be that if I sacrificed a little girl just for better odds.

Would Superman do that? Would Steve Rogers do that? Peter Parker? The answer was obviously no. They were heroes and I was one too. If I did that I'd become just like Cauldron and there's no way I would ever become like them. Their accountant didn't even wear pants for fuck sake.

I was going to have to save this world the right way and I didn't care what it took. Dinah Alcott was going to have a normal childhood. All the children in Brockton Bay were going to have a normal childhood.

That was a promise.

---

Day 20-25 Level Jangmo-o up till Lv35

Day 25: Jangmo-o evolves into Hakamo-o.

Sorry that there's no rolls in this chapter. I thought about it a lot and realised that there's just no way to justify Dawn not immediately speedrunning to get a Pseudo-legendary as soon as possible. Kommo-o having the lowest level required to evolve of all the Pseudo tied with Metagross at 45 didn't help.

Regarding Cauldron I'm not really interested in a debate as my own feelings are pretty neutral towards them. They did some good things, they did some bad and then they did just the most blatantly evil stuff for seemingly kicks sometimes.

Would Earth Bet be worse without them? Yeah absolutely. Without them creating the Protectorate and funding other hero teams villains would rule the world. Doesn't mean I or especially Dawn has to like them though.

 

[BravelyFlying]

PRT Files: Dawn. (Master 7. Trump 9 Nine x Infinity)

-Subfolder: Subject 4 'Duraludon' (Brute 5. Striker 3. Mover 2. Master 1)

Note: As its name is liable to change in the future due to a phonomeon of Dawn's power called 'Evolution' (A permeate change in biology that increases capabilities and may grant additional abilities) the power generated monster shall be referred to as 'Subject 4' within this document.

Age: N/A

Height: 5 '11"

Gender: N/A (Dawn has been observed referring to it as a 'he' but no discernible sexual characteristics can be identified. Assumed to be personification and not indicative of sex.)

Weight: 40kg.

Appearance: Subject 4 is a bipedal monster composed of an unknown metal that is both lightweight and durable. It has no arms but instead has giant clubs with grooved indents specialized for digging through stone.

Capabilities: As demonstrated by its size and metallic armor Subject:4 is a defensive focused monster largely immune to standard ammunition and is only capable of attacking in close quarters combat with its club arms which have demonstrated to be able to knock over a large SUV.

To aid it in its preferred combat it has the ability to quickly gain momentum while running. Starting out at the same speed of an average adult man (5.7 Mph) before accelerating to 25 mph given enough time and space to build up speed.

It is capable of using a striker ability illustrated by a slight orange/red glow along its clubs <Img 1. Img 2> that gives it enhanced striking power against anything composed of flesh, bone, rock, metal or ice but has an inverse effect against certain types of parahumans (See image 3: Type chart for details.) This ability is shared amongst Subject 3 'Jangmo-o' and Subject 5 'Falinks'.

Additionally it has a low level master ability that fills anyone that looks into its eyes with low levels of fear that reduces the victims ability to defend against its blows, the total immunity to poison and immunity to powers that redirect attacks.

[Note: Physical capabilities liable to change as more charges get invested in it]

Personality: Low level of activity in response to simulation. Very rarely vocalizes by itself unless prodded to by Dawn.

Subject 4 has a notable hydrophobia. Being unwilling to get wet and taking steps to avoid getting wet unless otherwise given an order by Dawn. After said order was completed it then took action to get dry as soon as possible.

Awareness testing:

Response to sound: Responded by turning to the source of the sound. No further reaction.

Response to verbal abuse: Responded by turning to the source of the abuse. No further reaction.

Response to threats of physical abuse: No reaction.

Response to physical abuse (Slaps, punches, etc): Subject 4 made no reaction to the hits. After five minutes of enduring this it then proceeded to walk away. When the aggressor attempted to follow Subject 4 picked the aggressor up, forced them to turn around and pushed them away. No hostility was detected in Subject 4 during the test.

Assessor notes: "It's fucking 6 feet tall and made out of steel, of course it didn't care that it was attacked, fucker probably didn't even feel it."

Response to Dawn being verbally abused: No reaction beyond turning to the aggressor.

Response to Dawn being verbally threatened: Subject 4 reacted by interposing itself between Dawn and the aggressor but made no further action.

Response to Dawn being verbally threatened but the aggressor was told to speak in mandarin (Dawn does not speak mandarin) keep a calm demeanor, make no aggressive body language and Dawn was wearing earplugs that prevented her from hearing. Dawn was also not aware this was a verbal threatening test: Subject 4 reacted by interposing itself between Dawn and the aggressor but made no further action

Assessor note: This indicates that Subject 4 is able to understand speech and is not just going off body language or Dawn's own knowledge of languages.

Conclusion: Subject 4 is conscious and aware of everything around it. It is able to assess situations and respond accordingly and does so by deescalating as needed. It is unlikely to get aggressive unless prompted and is safe to be around civilians without direct oversight from Dawn.

Emotionally it either doesn't have any emotions, has a such low response to its emotions that the distinction is meaningless or as a previous assessor noted - It simply didn't care during the tests. This is something unique to Subject 4 compared to Subject 3 and 5 aggressive responses to the same tests.

Dawn has taken to saying that it has a lax nature.

Future Plans:

Beyond just the increase in capabilities from invested charges Dawn has requested that a variety of metal alloys be delivered to Subject 4 stating that a specific multi layered alloy was a prerequisite for Subject 4 to 'evolve'. Dawn is unable to identify what kind of Alloy is needed and has requested to test until she finds the right one.

Dawn states that this new form will possess the ability to get more durable with every hit, access to a laser that increases in potency with every use and a general increase to it's base capabilities.

[Request granted: $12,000 of Dawn's initial budget allotted.]

Armsmaster Notes: Dawn's city wide power range and Subject 4's inheritant disposability presents a unique opportunity to fill in gaps in our patrol roster.

Its calm disposition, high profile and durable body makes it suitable for acting as a guardian during Ward patrols along high visibility areas such as the Boardwalk. Thereby freeing Protectorate members to be reassigned to other areas.

Additionally while its weight and massive stature prevents it from accompanying Protectorate members on motorcycle patrols it is capable of being transported by PRT van. Assigning it to a PRT Squad during Dawn's off or training hours will allow the squad to quickly handle threats within the Power rating 5 to 6 category without waiting for Parahuman assistance.

[Restricted access: Level Four Clearance and above]

Dawn flight risk factor: Medium.

While Dawn has been clear by Watchdog her unwillingness to divulge her past has necessitated us to consider counter measures should she turn out to be a villain plant or be the target of a master due to her healer status.

Mission statement: Under no circumstances is the death of Dawn an option to be considered. If Dawn becomes an enemy then her non lethal capture will be considered the highest priority.

Presigned kill order: No

Birdcage designation: No. If captured, Dawn will be relocated to a three story mansion in Honolulu under house arrest with loosened restrictions pending cooperation.

Subfolder - Threat assessment: Subject 4 - Low/Constant threat.

Notes: Subject 4 is not strong enough to free itself from containment foam if constrained but Dawn is able to free it by dematerializing it and rematerializing it next to her rendering containment null (A capability that extends from its generator to all her monsters.)

This means that should conflict arise between Dawn or Subject 4 and a PRT Squad any attempts to restrain Subject 4 is temporary but effective. After Subject 4 is dematerialized one or two squad members should lay down a wide cones of containment foam between them and Dawn to delay Subject 4's return to the battlefield while the rest of the squad focuses on more priority targets or Dawn.

If other priority targets are no longer present or Subject 4 has rendered itself a sufficient threat then thermic bombs are authorized to mission kill Subject 4.

 

[BravelyFlying]

Dawn.

Dawn

DAWN.

The name written on the little note pad was short, sweet and if I was allowed to say it, awesome. But that shortness was a double edge sword as I held a marker dripping gold ink trying and failing to make the name look as cool as it was. I tried loops, I tried big blocky letters and I tried writing it in one stroke without lifting off the page.

None of it worked.

"Welp, my autographs not going to be worth much," I said to myself mostly, the words coming off louder than I meant due to the tight spaces in the back of the PRT van. Triumph glanced up from where he was playing with my pokemon, saw what I was doing and snorted.

"No one's autograph is worth anything anymore," he said, "Markets so flooded that even Legends is worth less than a hundred on Ebay."

A layer of exhaustion coated his voice. He hadn't slept last night or at least not as well as he usually did. He struck me as the kind of guy that needed to get a perfect eight hours or more and any less hit him like a truck.

Poor kid. The anxiety of waiting for today must've been the worst. Worse than my own at least. I couldn't say I slept easy the last couple days either. I had the weight of the world on my shoulders and he had the weight of his world on his.

"Doesn't mean I shouldn't put in at least some effort."

"True," he said, reaching down to pick up the purple monkey that was begging for upsies. Aipom cheered as she climbed up Triumph using his armour as hand holds until she claimed a spot right on his lion-shaped pauldron.

"Ai-pom," she giggled when Rory scratched the spot that was just at the base of her big hand. She returned the favour by scratching the side of his helmet, apparently not realising that it wasn't his actual face.

"Friendly little guy. What's he do? I don't remember seeing him in your file."

"You read my file?" I asked, ignoring his mistake. Not like it mattered.

"Yeah, did some late night reading," he shrugged, "With how your power works I think Armsmasters gonna make it mandatory soon. Just how it is with a constantly escalating power like yours."

"Sorry bout the extra work."

"It's fine. I need to get into the habit for when I graduate to being a protectorate member," He waved me off, Aipom coping the motion with her giant hand.

I glanced out the van window. We were parked at the lowest level of a parking garage giving me the perfect view into the mall through the glass doors. A handful of people were setting up six pens in the center of the mall dividing it with loose rope and those interlocking fences that people set up in their homes for when they got a new unhouse trained pet.

It was hard to tell between the people that were just there for some last minute christmas shopping and those that were here for me but I could see a small crowd forming around the pens.

I realised I still hadn't answered Rory so I said, "Aipom can boost her speed and then pass those boosts to another one of my monsters. Well, after a few charges she will be able to."

Not the best in the end. If I wanted a fast or strong normal type I would've preferred a Zangoose or a Ursaring, I really would've preferred a Zorua but I'd take what I could get. I wasn't sure how Baton Pass would work but I hoped that it would help positioning my Pokemon.

"So utility then? That's good to know. My heart couldn't take it if this little gu- Girl was meant to be a frontliner. Though I can't help but ask - What does a monkey have to do with being a princess?"

My gaze broke away from the window and I could only give his question a shrug.

"Apparently a lot of princesses had pet monkeys?" I said and his lips twisted in the same confusion that I felt. Truthfully Aipom was only chosen because all the other choices sucked. Stone evolutions, trade evos and not even getting into how the hell I was supposed to get a Galarian Yamask to evolve. Maybe it was my power punishing me for not getting a pseudo as soon as possible.

Hakamo-o was level 40, one charge off from evolving. Sarah had managed to convince me that letting Hakamo-o spend some time in the public perception would make his eventual evolution all the more impactful.

Not that I cared about that but some extra time to build up the rest of my pokemon before villains realised how screwed they were was nice. The only thing better than having one Hookwolf tier cape was six at the same time.

"Seems kind of a stretch," Triumph said.

"It is. Felt like Sarah just looked for something to justify having a monkey here today," I admitted, "But it doesn't really matter. The Fairy tale theme is for toys. In actual battles I'll get more leeway, assuming I don't use the same monsters over and over to the point that it sticks in the public minds."

"You plan to fight?" Triumph asked.

"Yeah. Why is that a surprise?"

He started to do a sorta shrug but he stopped when he remembered that Aipom was sitting there. Instead he just settled for using his hands instead.

"I guess with your power I don't see the point."

Because it's where I need to be if I'm going to get anything done.

The Cape scene operated off two things: Rep and Merit. The first let everyone know what you stood for and the second let everyone know you could back it up.

Skitter, Defiant and even Alexandria. If you proved yourself then even if you did terrible things people would give you leeway. Because you were reliable.

I couldn't get that sitting in the backline. No one would respect me if I was back at base with an entire force field and bay between me and any danger.

"If it doesn't work out I can always retire from fights. Start flying out to any cities that need me and just let my mons do the heavy lifting," I explained, "But if that's all I ever do then I'd just be a liability when the fight comes to me."

"You really taking being a hero seriously aren't you?"

"It's all I ever wanted," I admitted.

"Because of fame?"

"No, well kinda. I think everyone's at least a little motivated by fame, or maybe respect is the better word. Just comes with the territory of wearing flashy costumes and calling yourself a hero. But no, I just want to help people. Have been ever since I was sixteen."

"That's an oddly specific number," he noted.

"Got a very specific memory attached to it too. I was working a night shift at a petrol station, rain just hammering the outside. It was the worst thunderstorm in five years or something like that when a woman with a broken nose came in begging for help."

Triumph hissed air whistling behind his teeth, "The husband?"

I nodded, "The husband."

I could remember the woman like it was yesterday. The blood stained her white shirt and she could barely keep her eye open because of how it swelled. She had a barbed wire tattoo that wrapped around her wrists and followed the vein to the bicep. A tough tattoo, but that didn't stop the tears from falling down her face.

It was the first time I'd ever seen something like that. Something that wasn't sanitised news reports of a war in the middle east that I didn't care about but a real person in front of me hurt in ways I couldn't imagine.

It was one of those moments when the bubble you lived in popped and you realised how small your world was. Like when you're a kid and your pet dies and your parents have to explain to you that they're not coming back.

"I spent the entire night trying to help that woman. She couldn't go to the police because she was on probation but I tried to call every shelter I could. The place had two phones and I used my own phone. Do you know how long we were on hold for?"

"Thirty? Forty?"

"We tried for about an hour and a half before she gave up and left. Police showed up four days later. They found her drowned under a nearby bridge and were looking to see if anyone knew her."

The silence that followed was deafening.

I wanted to slam my head into the wall. What the hell was I thinking bringing that up? Urgh. Kid just wanted me to heal his cousin and I dropped that? Not cool, not bitchin.

After a moment Triumph sighed, "It was three weeks after I joined the wards. I was on a patrol with Challenger, it was just meant to be a walk along the Boardwalk towards the Boat Graveyard. But I got bored, Challenger got bored too so we took a detour. We ended up near the Markets. I don't know if you know this but there's this statue called 'The Statue of Coloured Sailors,'. You can guess what it looks like but it's pretty famous for being a great spot for buskers. Well a couple of those buskers happened to be black."

His voice ached with tiredness and sourness.

"Just because I told my story doesn't mean you have to share yours," I told him.

"It's cool. I hate the story, hate myself for there even being a story in the first place but I'm not afraid to share it," he said rubbing the top of Aipoms head, "Anyway you can probably guess what happened. Empire decided they didn't like that and wanted to teach the buskers a lesson. They brought their newest Cape Victor with them. We pop on the scene and Challengers off tells me to stay put while she goes off to bust some skin heads. During the fight I notice Victor hiding behind the statue still draining the musicians. I had a clear shot at him, my shouts are good at getting around partial cover like that. But I didn't take it, I didn't want to even chance breaking the statue."

"Why didn't you?"

"That statue cost the city one-hundred and fifty-seven thousand dollars. It took months of meetings just to agree to sculpt the thing, there were protests and vandalism attempts but the mayor managed to get that thing installed. I didn't want to risk all that work being for nothing."

"And so you didn't take the shot."

"I didn't," he said, "And two people lost their ability to play, another lost her ability to speak Swahili permanently and can't talk to her mother now. All for a statue."

You were only sixteen.

I wanted to say that but couldn't, because I'd been sixteen too and that excuse had never worked.

He rubbed the back of Aipom's head, "Sorry for being a downer on your first day of being a hero. It's just, we've all been there. Had a moment where we wished we did something different. We can't fix that but if you want to stop there from being a second moment? Well you're in the right place."

Maybe from someone else it might have sounded patronising. But Rory somehow managed to sound encouraging even when he was almost a decade younger than me. There was a maturity in him that I knew I hadn't possessed when I was his age. The weight of two years of hero experience bolstering him into a man. I couldn't help but wonder if he'd been to an Endbringer battle before and knew the answer was too many.

"I know I am," I said.

Aipom distracted Triumph before he could respond by wrapping her tail around his neck trying to crawl down his bodysuit. Rory let out a very manly, squeak at that and tried his best to pull Aipom out without hurting her.

I hid my smile behind the notebook as I ordered Aipom to go for his shoes next.

---

There weren't as many people in the crowd as I expected. Maybe it was because it was a Friday or because the ad only had two days to circulate before the event but all in all maybe forty or fifty people were here. In that crowd I'd say there were only a handful of adults, the rest being older teenagers and younger siblings that they were chaperoning.

I could tell they were forced to be here by their moms because they had the same bored, vaguely annoyed look on their faces that radiated teenage angst a mile away.

But that didn't stop them from getting dragged from mon to mon and whether it was because of the doughy squishiness of Fidough's body, the energetic chants of Falinks or just the sheer badassness that a steel covered dragon like Duraludon was I saw how each time they put away their phone to deal with their pestering brothers or sisters it was slower and slower to come out.

The petting zoo was split into six fenced off exhibits. The 'manly' pokemon of Falinks, Duraludon and Hakamo-o on one side and the 'girly' pokemon on the other. Not that a monkey or a dog was girly but we worked with what we had. In front of every fence was a placard that detailed their names, any unique features about them and the safety rules for each pokemon; Things like use the provided gloves when petting Fidough or be calm around Hattena.

But since this was the public we were talking about we knew they wouldn't be read so my booth was put between Hattena and Fidough pens to keep an eye on both while Triumph was on the men's side between Falinks and Hakamo-o.

It was one third safety, another third gendered marketing and the last third because they didn't want Triumph to be associated with me too heavily. The sad fact was people knew he was on his last year as a Ward. They didn't want people to think we were a future duo like Assault and Battery or worse, a couple.

Yuck.

If I got shipped with a teenager then I was joining Zion on Gold The Really Bad Week.

A nervous monkey laugh had me turning my head towards Aipoms pen.

"Remember one at a time kiddo's," I called out to a group of kids that were crowding around Aipom the purple monkey looking left to right not sure who she was supposed to play with.

I had to stop myself from cringing 'Kiddo's?' God I sounded old.

Whines were already coming out the kids mouths so I pivoted and pulled a bouncy ball out from under my table tossing it into the pen.

"You kids know how to play handball?"

They just looked at me confused before one of the kids just nodded, a girl with a pink cardigan on and her hair in braids.

"Good then you can teach Aipom how to play. Please try to keep the ball in the pen or I might have to take it off you," I said.

Aipom was the first to get to the ball, picking it up with her large third hand. She blinked at it curious and tried to bite into it. The rubber ball slid out of her mouth and onto the floor bouncing once, twice before landing at the feet of the girl with the pink cardigan.

She hesitantly picked it up before she tossed it to the kid, a boy with a massive green baseball cap. The ball bounced and he didn't even wait to catch it before he swung a hand at it, the ball flying towards the girl who hit it back just as hard. Slowly they settled into a groove of just hitting it back and forth.

Except that wasn't how handball was played. They were supposed to bounce the ball, not hit it like they were playing tennis. Did American kids not know what handball was?

The cycle continued Aipom's head swinging like it was a tennis match so when the boy hit it towards her Aipom was ready and with a twirl to build up momentum her third hand knocked the ball towards the girl.

Eventually two more kids joined in and the game continued. Aipom by this point had a grasp of it that I felt it was safe enough to keep only half an eye on. Instead as I signed some things for the rest of all of the five people in my line I turned scanning the rest of my pokemon.

Hakamo-o was dancing with a couple teenagers. The PRT had set up a Wii with a knock off Just Dance that was playing the macarena. Fidough was doing dog things, Falinks was exploring through those pop up play tunnels with a couple preschoolers, Duraludon was being awesome and that was about it. A thick rope laid at his feet in preparation for the tug-o-war we were planning at the end but until then all he could do was stand and look cool.

But damn could he do that well.

When I looked over at Hatenna there was no crowd of children, no crowd at all. Instead there was just a short brown haired woman standing on the fence trying to reach in only for Hatenna to shrink away. She had a brace on one leg and a glove on only one of her hands, beside her were a pair of crutches.

And I didn't know why but seeing her made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and my heart beat faster. It was like I'd gone to sleep camping only to wake up and see a snake right in front of my face.

Goosebumps formed on the back of my arms as a shiver went down my spine. My eyes glanced around the room trying to see if anything gave me the same reaction. No, just her.

Why?

I reached a thumb behind my breast plate, pressing down on the talk button on my radio.

"Triumph, do you get a bad feeling from the woman to my left? Brown hair, brace, in front of Hattena?" I whispered, staring straight ahead. I was far enough from Hattena's pen that she wouldn't be able to hear me unless I started shouting.

The response was instant.

"No. Why?"

"Switch to the console channel" I told him, reaching into the folds of my dress and turning the knob on the radio that was strapped on the inside of my waist, "Console, I'm getting a really bad feeling from a woman in the mall. My heart is beating faster, I'm cold, I've got goosebumps and it feels like I'm in a room with a ticking bomb. No prior interactions with this woman."

"Acknowledged," a man's voice buzzed in my ear, "Dawn do you suspect you're under a master class power influence?"

I was tempted to say yes, what else could it be? But the more I thought about it the less it made sense. Wrong emotion for starters but this didn't track with any powers in the Bay that I knew about - In world or out of world knowledge included. It was possible that it was meant to be a love me master power and I just had an adverse reaction to it like Rachel had to emotional powers.

No that didn't fit either - I wasn't that crazy.

So if it had to be someone that either the story didn't cover or was from out of town. Not appearing in Worm was possible but if there was something like this I felt like Coil definitely would've recruited them if they were a villain and if they were a hero the Protectorate would've told me about them so that meant an out of towner.

Two days wasn't enough notice for a lot of people to travel here but if it was someone from Boston or New York they could've made it.

That still felt wrong though and it looped back to Coil. That snake fuck had millions and was willing to recruit out of towner villains like the Travelers and Barker, if they were from the nearby cities they would've shown up in the story.

And having a Master show up like this wasn't like him. As tempting as I was, the world's second most powerful precog I was not. Compared to Dinah kidnapping a hero wasn't worth the heat for just a healer, not when he could borrow Lizardtail from Accord.

E88 was equally out since while they were just as likely to recruit out of town villains they already had a healer. Sometimes, only when Othala was in town. It didn't fit anyone else in town either.

So then who was she?

"No, not a master. Has to be something else," I said.

"That sounds like something someone mind controlled would say," Triumph buzzed in my ear. He was looking straight at me from his booth keeping the woman in the corner of his vision.

I frowned, "I don't feel compelled to do anything, just tense. I never met her but this feels like what I'm told Glory Girls aura feels like."

"Acknowledged. Dawn do you feel like you will be able to safely remove yourself from the area without alerting her?"

The woman was still at the fence of Hattena's pen trying to get the psychic type pokemon attention. Hattena was keeping as far out of reach as she could, literally shuddering in front of the woman.

But not crying. I've had Hattena for about a month at this point so I knew the bar for Hattena to start crying was a low, low one. It was basically impossible for her to go ten minutes without crying and I was somehow supposed to believe Hattena was reduced to the point of shivering and she somehow hadn't started crying?

Bullshit.

Something else had to be going on.

And then something clicked in my mind. My pokemon had all their abilities, even the ones that sucked. Hattena had Healer which passively cured an allies status conditions, Magic Bounce that reflected status moves and Anticipation.

Anticipation was a niche and almost obsolete ability. When you switched a pokemon in it let you know when someone had a super effective move against you. When they did a box would appear saying your pokemon 'Shuddered in Anticipation'.

But how did that translate to the real world? How would that work? Going off how it sensed super effective moves then would Anticipation warn Hattena where the most danger was coming from? Or was the ability just a shorthand representation of her empathic abilities?

It felt like it fit. Back when we were testing my power in Boston we tried to activate it but I guess it only worked when there was real danger.

The reason I felt I was a second away from a heart attack must've been because she was a physic type. I had a very weak link to my Pokemon that must've been enough to transmit the feeling of anticipation through.

But if that was all true then that meant somehow that woman was the most dangerous thing in the entire mall.

And there was only one reason that could be.

"Console I can leave the area but I've identified the source of the feeling. It's not her, it's Hattena. Her ability is what's warning me that the woman is dangerous. I think she's an out of costume cape."

"Acknowledged."

"Shit," Triumph said like I just killed his dog, "You monster just outed her?"

"Dawn, Triumph, remain calm. I'm going to push this up the chain of command," The console operator said. There was no other response for minutes, leaving me nothing to do but drum my fingers on the table to calm me down.

Comic books never prepared me for this. In comics it was usually the heroes that had to worry about protecting their secret identity: Spider-man trying to keep his secret at the expense of his relationships or Superman trying to pretend he's just a normal person in situations he couldn't just slip out of.

I'd never read a comic where the other guy's secret identity was an issue.

My radio buzzed.

"Dawn. I've been filled in on the situation," Piggott's voice said in my ear. She sounded winded, like she'd just finished running from one side of the HQ to the other. But seeing as this was her it was more like one room to the other.

"Director."

"Dawn, how confident are you that you're dealing with a cape in civilian clothes?"

"Pretty confident."

"I need you to be more specific than that."

"There is no doubt in my mind."

"Okay," she said, pausing to think, "While we can't operate under an unverified thinker power, we can't ignore this. Dawn you will approach the woman and see if you can verify the woman's cape status without exposing yourself or others to danger. Your pet monster should be able to protect you if she is a master. Triumph remain on standby and be prepared to intervene if needed."

"Director!" Triumph protested and in his booth he got up out of his chair, one finger in his ear. I held out a palm towards him and did the slow down gesture of patting towards the ground. When one of the kids was about to turn around to see Triumph obviously having a conversation with someone on radio I had Hakamo-o do a triple back flip to distract them. The chiming of his scales enough to pull their head back.

"Yes Triumph?" Piggot asked.

"You can't ask her to do that when she's only been a Cape for a month and doesn't understand the significance of what you're asking."

"Just because I'm new doesn't mean I don't know that identities are a big deal Triumph," I cut in.

"Then you know you shouldn't touch this," he said.

I wasn't surprised that he respected the unwritten rules so much. He had the most to lose after all, nor was I surprised that Piggot didn't - This was the woman who tried to bomb the Undersiders after all.

The rules were something I agreed with myself. Mostly. They were just of the few things that kept the world turning and stopped America from falling into supervillain hell. It's one of the reasons I let the Protectorate take poison types off me - Because they were the equivalent of walking around with a loaded gun. Anyone I used them on would think I was trying to kill them and respond the same.

I wasn't interested in that. Golden Age Superman is what I wanted to be, not some 90's edgelord. Otherwise I'd just hyper beam Medhall and make things worse for everyone.

But in this case. I couldn't lie to myself and say I wasn't curious. But more than that I was eager. This was my chance to get started as a cape, as a superhero.

There's no way I could let it slip me by.

"I'll do it," I said.

---

I couldn't tell if I was actually nervous as I walked up to the woman or if that was just Hatenna. My heart could only beat so fast because of Anticipation before it capped out and my own feelings were just a drop in the bucket.

When the woman saw me in her periphery she flinched, pulling her hand back from the pen and brandished them at me as if warding me away. Hattenna saw the chance and took it, squeezing through the bars and running through the legs of the woman and towards me.

The woman tried to reach out to catch Hattena but stopped herself letting the Hat with legs free to jump into my arms where she immediately tried to bury herself in my dress. Wet patches formed where she bit down with a toothless mouth to muffle her cries.

"Hey, hey," I said soothingly as I ran a hand through her blue fairy floss-like hair and knowing that my words were being heard through my deafened radio I clarified "It's okay Hattena. No need to cry, I'm here."

Because of the master threat everyone else had moved to a different channel, one that I wasn't allowed to know about. But my mic was on and still being transmitted to someone I guess drew the short straw who would relay it to the others.

"Ha-ha- hateenna!" she sobbed and all I could do was pull her deeper into my chest, bobbing her up and down like a child as she let it all out.

I really, really wanted to send her to the box but the crying pokemon really was just the perfect excuse to come over and stay.

That and if she actually was a Master Magic Bounce should be enough to protect me as long as I kept her between me and the woman.

"Sorry about that," I said to the woman, still bobbing Hattenna, "I'm Dawn and this one is still getting used to people."

The woman took a deep breath, nostrils flaring before she replied.

"It's okay," she said, brown eyes flickering between me and the mon as she slowly stood up, "I'm Heith."

Uh-huh, I'm sure it was.

If there was only one word to describe how she dressed it was rich. She wore a grey overcoat that went halfway down her legs, with a silk beige blouse and fitted dress pants that were one or two sizes too small for her, tightening around her stomach and thighs. Over one shoulder she had a Celine purse and across her wrist she had a silver bracelet engraved with stars, a diamond necklace that went around her neck with matching studded earrings.

She also had the worst most obnoxious perfume known to womankind on. Who the hell thought Rosewood smelt good? The answer was obvious, the people that wore diamond necklaces to the mall.

With what she was wearing I felt like it was a pretty safe assumption to cross Squealer off the list of names of who this woman could be. Unless that theory that the Merchants only pretended to be wastes of oxygen was true.

Rune and Othala I also struck off. She was too old, older than I was at the very least and I was closer to thirty than I liked. No scars that I could see either so Cricket was a probable no.

Faultline? Maybe. Purity? Possibly. Circus? She wore a full body suit that made it hard to tell her age. No, I tossed the idea as it came to me. Circus was the protagonist in one of Worm's early drafts, no way was she older than twenty.

There were a couple independents nearby that were possible. Rain Queen, shaker that generated a rain cloud that made everyone in it lethargic. Bang Bang. A woman that could shoot herself like a human bullet. They weren't useful enough that I could see why they didn't appear in the story.

No, she was still too old to be them. Thirty was four hundred in cape years. The cutoff for triggering was often exactly thirty and every year a person got closer the less and less likely they'd trigger. If she was a parahuman then she had to have been one for a while.

That narrowed it down to a few people that I knew about and probably more that I didn't. But I decided to keep an open mind lest I assume and get it wrong. She could've just not used her power since she triggered till her shard got pissed.

"I'm the one that should be apologising," she said, "I didn't mean to scare… her? I just wanted to pet her is all. But she got one good look at me and just started shivering."

"It's fine. She's just shy," I lied.

"Oh."

"It's nothing to worry about. But you can pet her now if you want. Not like she can run anywhere."

She extended a tentative hand towards the witch pokemon rubbing the hat part of her body like a lamp. Pulling back she glanced down at her leg, disappointment clear on her face.

"It's not working."

"What's not working?"

She scratched her gloved arm, "I heard that she was a healer."

And where the hell did you hear that?

The Protectorate as a general rule didn't advertise their healers. It was something that Sarah told me when we were discussing my possible hero personas. She told me that while everyone knew the Protectorate had a few, Eidolon being a very famous one, they made sure to dress the healers as something else. Scapegoat was rebranded as someone with a Cain like power, no mention of healing. Cask was just an alchemist tinker and Sanguine was just weird.

It wasn't just because of Mannequin or Ziz but because the heroes didn't want to give the villains an excuse to stop pulling their punches and when you lived in a City with Oni Lee and Hookwolf that could get deadly real quick.

Once I was stronger I'd be able to come out but not now. Maybe when I had more than one or two strong Pokemon.

Plus it's really awkward for everyone except the news when kids bring their dead pets to meet and greets begging the heroes begging them to bring them back to life. Which was a true story that I really wish Sarah hadn't shown me.

I flicked my eyes down resisting the urge to narrow them at the woman.

Possible thinker? I reached down to the radio to communicate that to the team listening in on the conversation but as my fingers touched the button I stopped myself. The response to thinkers was denial of information. Smoke grenades, noise makers and more importantly no contact. Every word was something they could use to manipulate or learn something new.

If I called it in, this mission was over. Dead before it could really begin.

I let go of the radio.

"Who'd you hear that from?"

The woman paused sensing the change in the conversation. Brown eyes glanced at Triumph who was pretending to be looking at something else before turning back to me.

"I know someone is in the same country club as the Mayor. They let me know since my injuries from my snowboarding aren't healing that well that I should come down and see the new hero," she said, gesturing at all the damaged parts of her body.

Vague, intentionally so but I couldn't call her on it. It also had just enough fact in it that it could be true but if she was a thinker then she could've got that off Triumph.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said, taking the chance to give the others time to verify if that was true. At least I was hoping that's what everyone listening was doing, they hadn't called me off yet so I could only assume they wanted me to keep going.

"I have to admit spending my holidays in a boot is not what I would call pleasant."

"I feel that. Once spent Christmas with a broken collar bone cause Santa couldn't fix that apparently."

"That's why I was hoping you could fix this," she said pointing at the foot when I didn't bite the first time.

"Well I'll need you to answer some questions then. You said you got hurt in a snowboarding accident? What kind of injuries do you have and how much of your body is covered in them? Trust me it's important."

She paused furrowing her brow, "I crashed into a bonfire."

I couldn't hide my wince.

"Third degree burns up my entire left side stopping just below my shoulder and my ankles fractured. Can you fix that?"

Burns on the left side. The way she said it, that didn't sound right to me. Maybe it was a week of watching a house knock off but if you crashed into a Bonfire skiing you were more likely to get burns on your back, stomach or face than you were on your arms. Winter jackets were thick too so it had to have been a pretty huge bonfire as well.

Or a pretty huge fire. Like the kind a parahuman shoots.

Being able to shoot fire was a pretty common power all things considered. Lung, Circus, Spitfire and occasionally Victor could just in the bay alone. But of them all only Lung was the type to actively use it.

Being able to walk away from a fight with Lung with only second degree burns meant she had to be pretty powerful to fight him, and agile enough to flee Oni Lee.

All the clues were pointing to a single cape but I held myself back from drawing the conclusion. I wouldn't know what I'd do if I did.

"I can," I carefully admitted. Hattenna made a sound in protest, "She can."

She extended a hand once more towards my pokemon but I shook my head, "Sorry but she's not Panacea. It doesn't work like that."

"Then how does it work?"

"She generates this kind of magical water that heals you," I explained, "Thing is it disappears real quick. Quick enough that if you're wearing any clothes it'll evaporate before it soaks through," I waved a hand at her multiple layers, "If you want me to heal everything you're gonna have to strip so it can get absorbed into the skin."

Heith recoiled hard enough it was like I slapped her.

"You're not a dyke are you?" she asked, gesturing at me and putting enough venom on the slur that I knew it wasn't just because it was the 2010's.

I took a step back, startled at the sudden hostility.

It had been a long time since anyone had called me that. Not since high school. It didn't feel any better now than it did then. At least it wasn't a friend calling me that now.

Just an obviously Nazi bitch.

Air filled my lungs as I took and exhaled a deep breath thankful that the helmet covered my face.

"No," I said honestly. Bi did not make a Dyke after all, "And trust me I don't like that weakness anymore than you do."

During my time in Boston we tried really, really hard to get around that weakness of Life Dew. There wasn't a single person that didn't want easily producible health potions. We tried flash freezing the water, boiling it into steam, turning it into jello, diluting it with other chemicals, and throwing it into pocket dimensions. None of it worked.

Aqua dew was just hardcoded to only work on anything that was considered part of a person. Clothes and armour didn't count.

Purity took a moment to digest that.

"And I can't just get healed alone?"

"Hattenna would just run. I'm sorry, I truly am, but if you want to be healed then I have to be there with you to reassure her," I said.

"And you won't look?" she asked.

"Heath," I said, calling her by her fake name, "I promise you that I will be as respectful as I need to be. I'm as attracted to you as you are to me."

As she thought about it her hands opened and closed so subtly that if I wouldn't have noticed it if I wasn't looking for it. It dawned on me just how active her hands were, always moving, always aiming at something. It was something that should've instantly clued me in as to who she was but hadn't realised.

"Okay, fine. If that's what it takes then I will bear it," she said before she turned and walked off, expecting me to follow.

I was shocked that she was actually willing to go through with it. I thought she'd just call me a Fag and tell me to fuck off.

Then again she didn't know I knew she was a cape. If Hattenna hadn't flagged her she would've gotten away with it.

"I'll meet you in the disabled toilet," I said, "Just gotta let Triumph know where I'm going."

She didn't respond, instead just her crutches clacked against the ground as she followed the signs that lead to the bathroom.

Triumph was waiting for me at his booth. Two phones were on his table, one was the same as mine and the other was his personal one. Texts came through on his phone from his dad but that was all I could read before Triumph flipped the phone so they were facing down.

"What was the monster that you had out when you met Dauntless?" he asked me.

"Rowlet."

"What was I eating when we first met?"

Do you even remember? Is what I was tempted to ask but the crumbs of professionalism I had crushed that down.

"Potato salad."

Not like I could ever forget how fast Velocity eats for the rest of my life.

"Todays code?"

"Alpha-Nine-Omega Lancelot."

Triumph breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good to know. Awesome job Dawn, Piggot says less sarcasm next time but still good job. Her story about the Mayor checks out, so there's a low chance of her being a Thinker."

In other words the mission was still on.

"She also wants me to ask how are you feeling?" He asked.

I exhaled through my nose, "Honestly? I don't want to go into that bathroom, I don't want to heal her after what she said but I'll deal."

"She meant powers related feelings," he clarified.

"No new epiphanies on that front. But through my thinker zero power called deductive reasoning I'm pretty sure I know who she is. Purity, it can't be anyone else."

Triumph's hands clenched showing the feelings that were surging through me.

Power scaling was more different on Earth Bet. Here no one just went 'Speed blitz gg' or 'Low diff' but had actual debates. Was Armsmaster stronger than Lung? Was Dauntless ever going to get strong enough to nuke Kaiser? But after reading countless threads on PHO there was one thing that wasn't debated because everyone already knew the truth.

Purity was the strongest Cape in the Bay. She'd proven it with a ten year career during the bad days of the bay. She'd faced Lung and won more times than she lost, she faced Armsmaster and although she'd never faced Hookwolf everyone knew how'd that go.

Being able to fly and shoot lasers was just too op. Being the fastest flier in the city and being able to shoot building destroying lasers was really, really op.

Of all the heroes in the Bay only Lady Photon was able to really fight her and have a good chance of catching her but even then beyond her barriers she was outclassed in both power, flight speed and the fact you couldn't even look at her without squinting. Dauntless in a couple months might've been able to manage but not now.

Armsmaster might've cooked something up but I doubted it. He wasn't a ranged guy.

"You're sure?" Triumph asked.

I nodded, "I'm sure. She's too old to be any of the newer capes and if someone looks into it I'm sure there will be a sharp decline in Purity's activity following an incident with Lung. That'll explain how she got the burns at least."

There was a pause as we both waited for our next instructions. But that didn't mean Triumph was still, his foot kept tapping, head swerving to look around at all the kids. There was a moment where we both had to put on our best plastic smiles when someone came up to take a photo with the both of us.

I was the same. My nerves had me looking over the rest of my pokemon wondering which ones I could use. Hakamo-o was my strongest but he was also the worst to fight her. I wasn't sure what 'Type' Purity's blasts would count as but Psychic or Flying was an easy guess - Both of which he was weak to.

Falinks could block the first shot, maybe the second but anything more than that and I was dead. Aipom and Fidough couldn't do shit, Duraludon might've basically had the stats of a single stage evolution but he didn't have the levels to match it. I had a charge building inside me but it wouldn't be ready till much later in the day.

I would lose. It hurt to admit but there's no way I could beat Purity if it went down to it. Maybe if her blasts counted as psychic Impidimp would be immune but I couldn't take that risk. Even if he was, she'd just collapse the building on top of me.

"Piggot wants to talk with you," Triumph said.

I flicked the switch on the radio, "Director?"

"Dawn. You were correct there has been a downturn in Purity related incidents. A month ago she was seen nightly in ABB territory conducting raids on their business' but that stopped after a week."

"The night she got the injuries," I said.

"Possibly. If she's a parahuman - Which I will remind everyone that we have not confirmed yet - Then there's a high chance that she's Purity."

"So what's next?"

"There is no next," Piggot admitted bluntly, "If she is her then she's too high risk to take any action against, especially in a public area. The mayor would never sign off on it. So just heal the woman so she'll leave."

"Isn't there anything we can do? Velocity with tranquilizers maybe?"

"Are you prepared to risk what would happen if you're wrong, or worse, right Dawn?"

I glanced at the crowd of children. At the kids that were playing with Falinks, dancing with Hakamo-o and playing tennis with Aipom.

No, no I wasn't.

I sighed, "I understand Director. In and out, I promise."

---

Purity's eyes were on me the second the glass door of the disabled toilets swung open. She scanned me and Hattena that was held tight in my arms before they fell to the pokemon clutched tight around my ankle.

"What's that?" she asked with a piercing stare that was one degree off from outright glaring at him.

A pain in my ass.

I couldn't blame her. At one foot tall, with pink skin except for a dark almost black like mask around the eyes, a nose long enough to poke someone's eye out and bat like horns, Impadimp looked like he was sent from hell to haunt the dreams of children.

"He helps Hattena stay calm," I explained to the Nazi, "They're best friends."

"Because they're both pink?"

I hummed, "Something like that."

Taking a step into the bathroom dragging the fairy type along the ground I plopped both Pokemon down on the basin and Impadimp the instant he was out of my reach took his chance to start messing with the sink.

"Imp-pa, Imp-pa," he cackled as he reached over to grab a handful of paper towels from a dispenser and stuffed them in his mouth, chewing them till they were a wad of mulch. He then spat that in the sink coating the drain and flicked the tap on.

"What the-," Purity started but I just shook my head.

"He's a lil shit. Give him a moment to get it out of his system, trying to stop him just encourages it."

It didn't take long for the sink to overflow, dripping water across the bathroom tiles. Impadimp laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world. But when neither of us reacted he slumped.

My gauntleted hand reached into the sink pulling the spit wad out and I tossed it in the bin. Impadimp immediately looked around room for the next thing he could fuck with and when he started goinging for pipes I grabbed his foot pinning him to the bench. Blocking him from her view I pushed him into the sink.

The twisted smile that stretched across his face told me he knew how annoying he was being. If only he wasn't my only pokemon with Frisk.

"You should get better control over your monster."

"Working on it," I grunted as I kneeled down so that I was eye level with the Pokemon, "This is important. You see that lady behind me," I said pointing to Purity, "She's hurt and Hattenna is the only one that can fix her. Please just behave while your friend does her job and you'll get a treat afterwards okay?"

"Dimp," he growled but his eyes had a wicked mischief. The kind before a big prank was about to go off. I just knew he was looking at Purity's face through me and holding in a laugh.

Plan frisk was a go.

"Okay," I nodded like I could understand him, "You can play with my phone as long as you behave," I said pulling out my Protectorate issued phone which he immediately snatched out my hand the second he could. His fingers clacked on the phone typing in the thing I needed him to.

"You ready Heith?" I asked, glancing at the woman in the mirror.

She'd already taken off her jacket and gloves and was working her way to unwind the bandages that wrapped around her hands exposing her burnt skin. Black and red scabs ran along her arm all the way to her shoulders, yellow blisters coating the gaps between the affected and unaffected skin. Chunks were cleaved off the hands creating divots in her skin. Pale flesh was patchworked over the top of some of it but it wasn't enough for all of it.

"Damn that looks like hell," the words came out of my mouth before I could stop them. I was too focused on holding down my urge to gag.

Purity grunted, "Wouldn't be here if it wasn't."

A bit rude but I let it slide. She finished untying the bandages and went to unbuckle her shirt before she paused seeing me in the same mirror I was watching her in.

"You said you were going to be respectful. Can't you at least look away?"

I shook my head, "Safety precaution. Have to make sure you don't have a Swan tattoo hidden somewhere on your body."

At the briefest of mentions of the Endbringer her lips curled. But she nodded conceding the point. A healer getting stabbed while she was alone and helpless was the kind of bomb it would set up. Her probably being Purity was a benefit here, she's never been to an endbringer battle before. Add in how precogs couldn't see triggers and it was a low chance it was a plot.

Well that and I wasn't even from this world in the first place.

"The tattoo's were a stupid idea," she said, unbuttoning her shirt and stuffing it between the metal handlebars along the wall. The burns along her torso weren't as bad as the ones of her arm but across her stomach stretch marks and stitches dug across the skin. The stitches were too small to be a c-section. Oni lee? He loved knives.

"You won't hear me disagreeing. It was dumb and needlessly cruel," I said, "But when you're facing something as terrible as it? Even a stupid idea sounds logical."

"It was still a poor response," She huffed, popping the clasp of her bra. A hand protected her modesty while she tossed the underwear to join her shirt, "Then again a lot of how Endbringers gets handled is poorly done."

Says the woman that's never been to a single battle.

"What makes you say that?"

I should've let the comment slide and got on with healing her. But I didn't. I was actually kind of curious to hear what a person who had lived with them for decades felt about them as to me they were just words on a page. I wanted a perspective on the issues this world faced.

Purity huffed, "The fact that the Protectorate wastes countless lives for countries that never pay us back. China, Russia, Colombia, Japan. People died to protect them and what do we get in response? Nothing. Just our cities flooded with their refuges."

She had a strange tone, as if she was talking about disaster relief and not monsters that killed millions, sundered nations and threatened humanity as a whole. A numbness for something that's been happening for most of her life? Or was she just a bitch?

Well, nothing said it couldn't be both.

"I wouldn't say America gets nothing. America maintains its economy and superpower status because in large part it acts as a global defence force - At least it tries too anyway. But in order to reap the benefits it actually has to do some policing and protecting. Otherwise those favourable trade deals don't happen."

"What good are those trade deals if our own cities fall? New York and Seattle bounced back but what about Maddison? Would that have been such a bad day if the heroes hadn't wasted lives defending a bunch of shithole countries? Teleporters, Healers, Tinkers. Every time one of them dies that just makes the next one worse."

"With every battle we learn something new. Even if it's just a tactic to avoid. Our strategies get better and our capes get more experienced. We are making progress even if it doesn't look like it," I retorted.

"All those strategies accomplish making sure foreign Capes that would've died survive. Then they're free to migrate and pollute our cities and harass our people. Lee and Lung both should've died at Kyushu but they didn't."

"Lee's not from Kyushu," I said, "As far as we can tell he was born in America. Hell, we aren't even sure he speaks Japanese."

"Not disputing the Lung point I see," Purity said with a proud smile growing across her face.

I frowned, "No that one I'll give you. Lung should've drowned a decade ago. But the point that the villains that should've died but didn't doesn't really change because of the Protectorate response. As those villains without the Protectorate and our resources would just not fight. They'd cut and run, surviving to plague another day while the city falls."

"They wouldn't do that," She shook her head, "They've got their reputations to uphold."

"And you know what's good for your rep long term? Not dying," I shot back, "But fine. Villains should suck it but what about the local heroes or independants? The Endbringers have consistently gone after long term strategic assets. Dragon, Masamune, it feels cheating to bring him up but Sphere. The last two could've helped the world but they were specifically targeted because of it. Are we just supposed to let people like them die because they were born in the wrong country?"

"Okay maybe a select number of capes should've been saved," she admitted, "But is each worth trying to save the city? I very much doubt that."

I sighed. There was a barrier between us that couldn't be crossed. Not just because this wasn't my Earth with a different culture but because we had different priorities. I wanted to save the world and she wanted to save her part of the world.

She continued, "I find it funny that you say that the sacrifices are worth it but Challenger died in the last attack, are you saying her death was a good thing? That it was worth it as long as it had the chance to save the right people."

My eyes went wide behind my helmet. At the sheer audacity of this woman but mostly at myself. I'd forgotten about Challenger. She was a char- No, she was a person that was mentioned a few times in Worm but hadn't shown up so she slipped my mind. To hear she died?

It made me intimately aware that it wasn't just the two of us in this debate. That my words were being heard by everyone in the console room and by Triumph. People that knew her and worked with her for a long time and had only lost her recently.

How must I sound to them? Arguing about how her death was worth it? Callous or naive? Damnit I didn't want to be either.

"If you feel the need to bring up a woman that died recently then that's a sign this discussion is getting too heated," I said pointedly, "Now drop your pants so Hattenna can heal you."

"Avoiding the question I see," she stated but still she complied with an aura of satisfaction to her, sitting down on the toilet unzipping her pants and taking off the boot.

I pushed off the sink and turned around to give her a heated stare. My heart hammered in my chest and my hands clenched into fists. Anger rushed through in ways I barely felt before and all I could think of was how tempting it was to knock her head off right about now.

It disgusted me. How she could be so smug as if she wasn't one of the people working to make this world a worse place. As if her best friends didn't cripple people or rob them of their very skills.

"Yep. Shamelessly too. I never met the woman so I can't comment on how she'd feel about it. Maybe she felt it was worth it or maybe she didn't. All I know is she chose to face the worst monsters humanity has ever seen with low chances of surviving and for that she has my respect so it's pretty fucking gross of you to bring her up just to win an argument."

Purity's eyes widened at the hostility and she leaned back till her back hit tiled walls raising an arm at me not quite pointing but close enough. I stepped out of Impadimps way, my phone left in the sink as he eyes rose to Purity. The order for fake out was loaded and ready to fire at the push of a metal trigger.

Only for that order to not go off as a loud aching howl had both of our heads snapping towards the source.

Hattena stood on the far side of the room having sneaked off the bench when I wasn't looking, head wedged into a corner as she screamed. A loud, droning cry without tears, without words only heartache and terror, a plea for protection and safety but finding none.

A sound that was just like a baby's cry begging for their mommy.

Purity face softened, her arm lowering to push her off the toilet using the metal bars built into the walls to get on her feet. But when she took a hop forward Hattena flinched her cries growing louder.

I flinched at the sound. It sounded so lifelike, so human but worse in all wrong ways because a Pokemon could scream longer and louder than any infant could.

What was I doing arguing morality with a Nazi? There was no point she made up her mind years ago. All I was doing was risking pissing her off.

Whatever anger in me died and was replaced with shame, I leaned forward, extending my arms in an offer for Hattena to run and jump into them but Hattena didn't take it. Instead she just kept staring into the corner refusing to even look at me. Treating me just the same as Purity.

Despite knowing it was just because of my emotions being as strong as ever it hurt a little.

Instead it was Impadimp that leaped out of the sink and trudged silently across the tiles. Hattenna, either too distracted or just flat out unable to sense the dark type, didn't notice as it stopped a step behind her and took a long hard sniff.

Cries became sobbing and sobbing became sniffles as Impadimp feasted on her negative emotions. Not all of them but enough for her to be able to process the ones that remained slowly helped by how Impadimp laid a hand on the base of her drooping hat and rubbed slow circles into her fur.

Purity let out a pained sigh, unable to look away from the mons, "Your right, that comment was going too far."

I waited for her to follow up with an apology but none came. I tried to run a hand through my hair to calm myself down and realised I couldn't. The helmet getting in the way. All I could do was tap my knee.

This was the strongest blaster on the east coast, if I managed to get anything it would be one of the greatest steps for uprooting the Empire since ever. Grin and bear it. Don't strangle her.

"Those burns must hurt. Things tend to go to 0-to-60 when you're in pain. The only thing worse is being pregnant, I can tell you that from experience" I said, offering her an excuse.

She glanced at me, gauging if I was serious and whatever she saw in me had her give a small nod.

"Tell me about it," she agreed with a huff. She rubbed the visible stretch marks over her stomach as she let herself fall back, sitting down on the toilet and covering herself with her clothes, "I swear I was just a ball of anger when I was pregnant. The slightest thing would set me off and then just start to cry because I yelled at my coworker who was trying to be nice."

"I was the opposite. Just so damn tired all the time that it felt like I could barely feel anything. Well anything other than nausea. I was practically married to the sink when I was pregnant."

She laughed. Impadimp glancing at her and making a shushing gesture with his finger. Strange that a Pokemon had the same body language that we did but then again he was part of the human-like egg group so maybe I shouldn't be surprised.

My eyes fell to the phone that Impadimp had left in the sink. Reaching out I picked it up and flipped the screen up, wiping off some droplets of water I put in my password. Giritina's dex number and the screen lit up with what the Fairy pokemon had been typing in.

Kayden Russel

Despite expecting it, a jolt ran down the back of my spine. Half thrilling and the other half terrifying. Suspecting was one thing but knowing was another.

Frisk was one of Impadimps abilities, something perfectly designed to synergize with Pickpocket and Prankster to be an annoying fucking asshole. It allowed him to see objects through a small cover. Things like clothes, bags and in this case see through her wallet she'd left in her purse and read her license with Purity being none the wiser.

Below the name that Impadimp had typed in was her address and based on the numbers, what I could only assume was her credit card info, all of which I sent to Piggot and Armsmaster.

It was something that technically speaking I hadn't told Piggot that I was planning but if it just so happens that the only Pokemon that knew fake out could see through objects then that was just a happy coincidence.

A text came back a sec later.

Piggot: This doesn't look like in and out to me Dawn. However you acquired that it can't be used unless we confirm her as a parahuman.

Yeah I was definitely getting reprimanded after this. But it would be worth it as long as I could get Purity off the streets.

That and it wasn't like they could hate me any worse than they already do. What were they gonna do? fire me? Hah.

"So you're a mother? How's that work out with you becoming a hero?" Purity asked.

I glanced up at her, seeing her staring at me. Flicking the phone shut I slid it in my pocket.

"No. They both ended up stillborn."

Her eyes went wide and pity crossed her face, "My god, I'm so sorry."

"I'm-" I opened my mouth to say I was fine but no words came out. Instead my lips pulled into a bitter smile. I hated being pitied about it, as if there was nothing I couldn't have done to have saved them. But there had been and I knew it, had to live with that, "-Twins were hard."

I hated how weak my voice sounded.

She looked like she was going to say something but I cut her off by ordering Hatterene to turn around and slowly walked towards the woman. The last thing I needed was to be pitied by a Nazi.

"Hat-Enna. Na," the witch pokemon chanted as water appeared out of thin air, floating above the tiles. The water was a brilliant blue colour that might've been reminiscent of sapphires if it wasn't how it glowed.

Like a miniature aurora whites, pinks and colours that couldn't be described splotched in the blue water, mixing and pushing on each other in equal measures forming shapes, scenes and wavelengths. Just being in the same room as it made me feel like I had just discovered a mystical wellspring, the kind a fish that controlled the moon might've lived in.

I coughed trying to get the firmness back in my words.

"This should be enough to heal your burns quick. The leg might take longer though since it's the deepest part of your body. You ready to start?"

"Yes. Do I need to sign anything?"

"Your words enough."

"Then I'd like to begin," she said, moving the clothes that were covering her so they wouldn't get wet.

An unneeded jerk of my head was the signal to begin. Hattena floated the pool of water over to Purity where it slowly sprinkled on the top of her skin like light rain. She hissed but made no motion for us to stop.

Those water that touched her never made it to the floor, each drop disappearing between blinks. It wasn't so fast that I could see each drop as they faded but when swathes of them disappeared it was noticeable.

Smaller than it was at the start the pool lowered, covering her body. The water under the mons psychic power had a consistency like jelly and Hattenna smeared it, applying it with an imaginary brush to rub it into the pours. Purity's eyes scrunched up and her good leg began bouncing.

"Hat, hat," the mon said, flapping her hair.

"What does that mean?" she said between clenched teeth. If they weren't I imagined they'd be chattering about now. Aqua dew was cold.

I glanced at the two mon and Impadimp translated by making a motion of pulling his hands away from his body. I just shook my head. It would've helped Hattenna heal her but that was the last thing I wanted. The longer this took the better.

I felt a pang of regret thinking about the event I wasn't a part of right now. This thing had completely taken over what was supposed to be my day, my chance to show the world the up and coming hero that was going to help the world and bring smiles to kids faces. Instead I was stuck in a bathroom helping a Nazi.

"Just telling me how she's doing, don't worry about it. How are you feeling? Any aches? I'm guessing you were on painkillers - does that feel like it's changed at all?"

"No it's just tingly."

"That's normal," I said, "Your brain doesn't know how to process the signals it's getting so it's sending the 'Shits weird here,' feeling."

"Descriptive," she snorted.

The water was too glowy to see how it was healing but I knew from the tests that her burns would be almost completely gone. Her ankle would take longer but that was fine, I needed all the time I could get.

My fingers tapped on the meaty part of my thigh. How was I supposed to get proof she was a parahuman? I tried remembering everything I read about her in the story. Purity was honestly a simple person all things considered.

She was obsessed with her kid, hated her ex and was really, really racist. Maybe somewhere down that list of priorities was Theo but I doubted it anyway close to those three. He probably doubted it too.

But what made her tick though. I tried to think about how'd it feel to be seventeen, with the power to destroy buildings. With power like that wouldn't it feel like it was your responsibility to fix things? That every bad thing that happened in your city was your fault because you didn't stop it?

Uncle Ben strikes again.

It didn't help that Lung was the worst. An actual sex trafficking rapist illegal immigrant, the literal personification of everything a racist fears.

Huh, I could actually work with that.

Time to Matches Malone this bitch

---

You didn't realise how much pain you were in till it was gone.

Kayden bit down a groan, feeling not just the burns and ankle healed but countless dozen other things slowly fade. Scars she'd forgotten, injuries she'd grown numb to just gone in a splash of water. Jenny's healing was good but it took focus, a firm hand directing the power on what to heal. An idle thought and it took longer and wasn't as fixed as it could have been.

But compared to this? The Protectorates newest healer was good, she could admit that. If it wasn't so cold and tingly it would've been better. If it wasn't coming from a hero then it would've been perfect, but despite the risk at least her babies first christmas wouldn't be with her mother in a cast.

Kayden felt her thoughts slowly come back to her. Her mind surfacing after weeks of trudging below water. The pills she'd had been given for her burns had done their job too well and it felt like since the battle that almost left her cripple she'd been in a fog of pain and numbness.

They left her weak, slow and maybe even a bit dumb. But not dumb enough like Max wanted to agree to whatever he said like he wanted when his doctors provided them to her when he couldn't convince the clans to loan him Jenny again. It took all of her frayed willpower and hatred when it came to that man to refuse him then.

Only she wasn't sure she actually had. Maybe she only delayed it.

She grunted as her ankle went tingly only for the feeling to return a second later. She flexed it, finding that it moved as easily before she had Aster. Her perfect baby while an angel had destroyed her body in a way that no man could understand. Max couldn't, he'd only seen the stretchmarks and quietly cancelled their summer plans.

Her hand rubbed against the skin of her stomach feeling it utterly smooth.

He'd won. It annoyed her to admit it but he did it again. A simple text informing her that the Protectorate had a new healer and when Kayden could find her. He'd not only put her in his debt but he'd gotten his old hot wife back.

She wondered what form of payment he'd demand for it. Using her to consolidate his power base no doubt. Pimp her out to one of the clans so they'd owe a couple favours in return, maybe send one or two capes back. It was just like him.

The liquid coating her slowly started to dissipate disappearing into the nothing that all power generated materials all eventually went to. A scrape sound echoed and Kayden's eyes opened, glancing at the new hero Dawn finding her head was turned away granting her some semblance of privacy to get dressed. Good, she might've tolerated it because it was necessary for getting healed but that didn't mean she liked getting ogled at.

Her monsters though stared at her the entire time. The hat thing wasn't an issue, it was cute and it reminded her a lot of Aster, but the other one had the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

It was a small Imp-like thing. With elongated ears, pointed nose and hands that it rubbed together greedily it reminded her too much of a kike for comfort. No wonder it wasn't let out in the same pens with the others. If she brought her Aster and saw some Goblin leering at her baby with an outstretched tongue she'd sue.

"All good?" Dawn asked with a tilt of the head and even though it wasn't all metal the movement caused her armour to rattle. The hero obviously wasn't used to her armour and the noise it made, hadn't grown accustomed to move in ways that minimised the sound like Max could.

Rain had been like that before, so unsure in her armour. Instead of learning how to stop it she leaned into it and started making large sweeping gestures, her armour accenting every speech and rally cry she made like a chorus.

"I'm all good," she said, repeating the hero's words with proper grammar.

"You sure? Not every day you get healed, if there's anything else I don't mind healing that too."

As well. You don't mind healing that as well.

God it was like no one could speak English anymore.

Keeping her thoughts to herself she said, "I'm fine thank you. I don't want to trouble you anymore."

"You sure?" she asked and when Kayden didn't reply the hero took a deep breath and it was kind the doctor took just before he gave the news that Heith wasn't ever coming back, "Shame. Then I guess we can't avoid this conversation now," she paused as if trying to find the right words to say, "Listen Heith… I know you didn't get those burns from a bonfire."

Kayden tensed a millions thoughts running through her mind. Wondered if this was a set up, if Armsmaster was on the other side of the door waiting for a signal to kick it down and arrest her. Max would save her, or someone from the clans. She was too important to be left behind. Was that his plan? To get her so desperate for healing that he walked her right into a trap?

But even if she escaped, she'd lose in every way that it mattered.

"I'm not sure what you mean."

The walls of the bathroom felt like a prison. Like they pushed down on her and held her in place, starving her of her very breath. She reached back feeling the ridges of the tiles and the gaps of concrete between them.

Above her she felt the warmth of the bathroom lights burning down on her, fueling her for if things went wrong.

"You do," The hero stupidly retorted, "Burns like that plus the stab wounds? There's only one place in the city where you can get those. Well, more like two people."

For a moment Kayden briefly considered entering her breaker form and splattering the hero against the wall. There were only two things that held her back. One she hadn't outright accused her of being a villain and the second.

Dawn wasn't afraid. Tense, but not afraid. Kayden had over a decade experience reading people in armour so she knew the signs. The hero had none of them despite being in a room with a potential parahuman.

The Imp

It had to be that. There had to be a reason it wasn't in the pens with the others. A power that was too dangerous to be around civilians? Maybe something else. But all she knew was that the hero felt safe enough to go into an enclosed room with it as her only source of backup. The healer monster of hers was powerful and she saw how big the steel thing had been so whatever the Imp could do she had to assume it was equally as potent.

Unknown variables. The worst thing in the cape scene.

Even if the hero was being suicidally confident and the Imp wasn't strong Kayden still had the most to lose between them. The blow back of killing a hero would force her to go back to Max for protection. The same deal that Brad had taken years ago except even worse. The concessions she'd have to make would be astronomical and she knew that one of them would be that she'd have to give up her daughter.

She refused to even entertain that thought.

"Maybe I met the people you're talking about," She said neither confirming nor denying,

Obliqueness was the only weapon she had here. The only defence she could use was the words that weren't said and words that couldn't be said. Max had taught her that, how each utterance had to be deliberated so that it framed the conversation in just the right way. His way.

But in this case the experience was helping. Because the hero couldn't outright say what she was asking, not without giving her an excuse to leave. They had no cause to arrest her. Even if they tried it, they had no case other than wounds that didn't exist anymore. She'd be out in a week at worst and she'd take great pleasure in suing the hell out of the Protectorate.

Just the thought of it emboldened Kayden as she realised that once again for what was the one thousandth time in her life how weak the hero's actually were and she couldn't help but throw out a taunting.

"Can you prove that though?"

"No," the hero said as she leaned back against the bathroom bench playing with the plume of purple and pink hair on the back of her helmet, "And I'm not interested in proving it. This isn't an interrogation, I just wanted to extend my thanks, from one hero to another."

Although Kayden knew it was bait Kayden couldn't deny that she got a certain level of satisfaction from being called that. Her allies knew the hard work she'd done to clean up the city, how she devoted her life to sorting out the chaos and scrubbing it of filth. But the public never acknowledged it, never admitted that when kids walked the streets at night safe it was because of her and her efforts alone.

The hero's were too focused in the wrong parts of the world to get even a fraction of the results she had.

To hear it finally acknowledged. Albeit tangentially. Her opinion of the new cape rose a little higher.

"I'm not quite sure what you mean but I appreciate the sentiment."

Dawn laughed, deep and throaty. Like a girl that enjoyed beer over wine, sports over movies. A laugh just like Rain's.

When the hero was done she mimed wiping away a tear, "No I'm certain you do. But I don't really care. You can deny it all you like. I'm still extending it to you."

"Why?"

"Because I believe we're on the same side here," Dawn said.

"I don't see how you came to that conclusion."

"It's really simple, because I hate the ABB," The hero said and she had a level of genuine vitriol in her voice that Kayden rarely heard. The kind that made her sit up straighter in bars, to nod her head along with speeches, something so utterly real that she knew it couldn't be a lie.

"I hate their stupid names, their ugly colours, their lazy dumbass leader who got lucky with a power that many would kill for, the kind that makes him top tier and who only uses it to be some petty crime lord, instead of actually trying to improve things. I hate Lee, I hate the drugs that are on the street because of them, I hate that dozens of women are suffering because of them. I hate the ABB with every fiber of my being," Dawn said and the words stunned Kayden in a way she only felt once before.

Because in a different time, a different place, a different gang another woman had said those words to her about the Teeth. Rain had been the best of them and the rage she felt when Heith had died was burned into Kayden's soul.

This was just like that. Pure hate. Something that couldn't be faked.

The ABB was scum that poisoned the city. They were never the largest, nor the cruelest in the city's history but they were a stain on the city that simply refused to get scrubbed away. Worst, it seemed like she was the only one that actually cared. Max didn't see them as a threat too focused on Coil, the Protectorate liked the fact that having a powerful Cape like him in the city boosted their funding and New Wave were more content to waste their time chipping away at the Empire instead of focusing on the real villains.

"So anyone that messes with them is a friend in my book," Dawn said.

It was funny how often that was true. How the deepest of friendships were forged through mutual hatred. Brad had called it the tribe mentality - How even warring tribes would ban together against enemies that had no concept of the honor system that they all agreed to: Indians versus cowboys, Greeks versus Persians, Romans against everyone.

Kayden called it common sense.

She chewed on thumb as she digested the feelings that stirred within her and the ghosts they summoned.

Kayden believed the hero. Believed that she believed that they were on the same side, dedicated to the same cause.

If it was just that then maybe Kayden could've believed it was still deceit. But they shared more than that - They were both mothers. Dawn might've lost her children but that didn't change that she felt life grow within her, had her body change and swell to make space.

Months of that had anyone look to the future and wonder what kind of world they were bringing their children into. Monsters ravaging cities and even in those few months between attacks that they didn't have to hold their breaths their city was being assaulted - Gangs infecting every sidewalk, school and their way of life with their touch.

This world was no place to bring a child into. There was just too much chaos and suffering. But she didn't regret Aster, that just meant it was up to her to change the world into something safe for her baby.

A part of her knew that Dawn must've felt the same way.

That, at the very least, she trusted.

"Ok," she eventually said, crossing her arms, "I'm glad my taxes are paying for a dedicated hero like you but I'm not sure where you're going with this."

Dawn reached into her pocket pulling out a notebook. Flipping it open she wrote something down before she tore a page straight out of it and extended it towards Kayden, "This is my number. When you get a burner phone feel free to call me on this. As long as you keep fighting the ABB or scum like them I'll heal you, no questions asked."

The hero paused, "Though I feel like it doesn't need to be said I'm saying it anyway. If you attack a member of the PRT or Protectorate this deal goes away."

It was the closest Dawn had come to outright calling her a villain.

"Are you accusing me of something Dawn?"

"Just talking outloud."

And yet the paper hovered in the air between them invitingly. A hero that wasn't afraid to work with people deemed villains by society to take out the true scum. Her estimation of the hero went even higher than it had before.

It was a good deal Kayden could admit. Having a healer on call was invaluable - The fact that Jenny was basically always called out from city to city by the clans showed how important they were - and it meant that she could press harder on the ABB than ever before. A mistake had cost her all the ground she'd gain in their war and stuck her in a cast for weeks. Forced her to go to the empire's doctors for help.

The only problem was the one offering it.

Kayden had blood on her hands. She wasn't proud of it but you were as powerful as she was, mistakes happen, deadly mistakes. But even without those incidents she was Birdcaged bound, there was just no where else they could put her. No prison except the worst that could hold her if she tried her best to leave.

She couldn't take the deal, she just had too much to lose. So she just had to make sure Dawn had just as much to lose as well. Another lesson from Max.

"That's a great deal but you're still mistaken. You keep talking like I'm a parahuman but I'm not."

Dawn's eyes guarded by her helmet were indescribable but Kayden could feel them peer into her, "So you're playing that card then."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about. But from what I've learnt from my work is that trust is needed for any deal to work out. I believe you when you say you hate the ABB but that's not enough. Not for what you're asking."

Kayden risked a glance at the two monsters and saw that they were ignoring her. The hatlike thing laid down on the ground drooping as Imp poked at it with a long finger.

"Okay," the hero said, letting out a deep breath. Kayden turned back towards the hero in time to see as her gauntletted arm reached into the inside of her helmet, "If this is what's needed for us to get rid of the ABB then I can agree with it."

A click and the helmet was pulled up and off her head. Brown shoulder length hair sprawled out of the helmet in clumps, thickened by sweat that draped down over her face. A hand wiped them away revealing her face.

She was white.

In a way Kayden was glad, not because she would've hated it if Dawn wasn't but because it was just one more way that they were similar. That they were working for the same goals because they both lived similar lives. Race was just one of those things that tied people together just as much as a nation or religion did. Shaped their views on things.

Dawn didn't have the features of someone German or French but was instead a pure blooded American. If it wasn't for her pink contacts it would've been like looking in the mirror. The two of them were similar enough in features that they could've been sisters.

Her face was thin enough that she had a sharpness in her jawline, a small nose and around her eyes was a thick eyeblack, the kind football players wore, that was exactly as wide as her visor was - To prevent distinctive tanlines Kayden guessed.

Dawn didn't stop there pulling a gauntlet off and exposed the pretty unique tattoo she had on the inside of her arm. The kind that if it got out she'd have no chance of a civilian life. Kayden could dye her hair if she had too, Dawn wouldn't have that option. She'd either have to either cover it up all the time or get it removed.

Kayden took a moment to appreciate the gesture for what it was. Knowing it was a sign on just how serious she was about this deal and how much Dawn was willing to trust her.

"That…Works," Kayden admitted. She reached out for the piece of paper only Dawn to pull it back two fingers waggling it in the air.

Dawn's raised eye said a million words.

"Sorry but I can't give my number out to civilians."

Kayden took a deep breath at what was unsaid but she nodded.

"I… also have something to confess," Kayden said, pausing as she tried to find the right words to frame them, to admit to something without admitting to it all, "I have powers."

She supposed it was only fair to drop the obliqueness. The hero had volunteered more for less. Still she wasn't going to admit anything more than that. She wanted herself and the Hero to have plausible deniability if anything came from this.

Dawn smiled looking pleased.

"I'm shocked," the hero snarked, handing over the piece of paper. Kayden took it and folded it into her purse.

"I'll be in touch," Kayden said, giving a nod and getting one back.

She collected the crutches and boots, finding it was awkward to carry them when you were using them but she managed by tucking them under her arm. The bandages she collected and stuffed into her purse. The hero watched but didn't offer to help, instead she was focused on getting her own complicated armour back on. Working straps with a furrowed brow.

Kayden knew she'd have to come back to this bathroom and bleach every surface, scrub till she was sure that there was no trace of her remaining. Trust didn't mean she shouldn't be cautious.

But just as the final piece of the hero's costume snapped into place the hat child screamed once again, a baby-like howl that had both of the mothers head turning towards it.

The hat thing flinched away from a wall as if seeing something that they didn't. Before Kayden could ask what was going on the fire alarm went off. A loud droning sound that alerted everyone to evacuate the building.

"Is this what you're doing?" Kayden asked, wondering if they'd set the world record on the fastest betrayal in history.

"No, it can't be," Dawn frowned as she clicked a button on her costume, "Triumph what's going on out there?"

The hero went quiet leaving Kayden in the dark. With no way to hear the conversation all Kayden could do was stare at the Imp and hope she could shoot quicker than it could.

"I have to go," Dawn said after a few seconds with pure giddyness in her voice. Something completely different from what Kayden expected.

"Why? Tell me what's going on damnit."

A small childish grin slowly spread across the hero's face. An eagerness for combat in it that she'd only seen on former pit fighters.

"Megaman is attacking the mall."

---

Me after finding out Impadimp needs a TM for Thunderwave: You're dead to me. So long as I live you will never show up in a scene. You will be the sleeper of this story.

Me after writing a scene where Impadimp is the perfect solution for: I hate you with every fiber of my being. If Bonesaw was about to capture us and I had two bullets I'd shoot you twice.

Me after realising that Impadimp is honestly perfect for calming down Hattenna: Goddamn it you win.

---

Day 25: Level Hakamo-o to Lv 40

Day 26: Aipom

Day 27: Dawn doesn't have the charge yet but it's been rolled [Hint it's a gen 1 that shares a type with one of the starters]

 

[BravelyFlying]

"I'm going," I said with a forced smile on my face that would make All Might proud, "Don't get involved."

Purity gave a tentative nod clutching her purse with one hand and the now redundant crutches in the other. We both knew she wouldn't be here when I got back.

That was all I needed to turn on my heel and jog out disabled bathroom and into the corridors that all malls shoved their bathrooms in. I breathed a sigh of relief, the air somehow better now that I didn't have to share it with a Nazi.

The hand that shook Purity's felt slimy and did my best to ignore it as I kept a steady pace to stop myself from bowling kids over if they came around any corners. Following in my steps my mon trailed behind, physically they might've been as strong as a person but they were still less than one feet tall and couldn't keep pace with my much longer legs.

I dismissed both of them. Hatenna was too important to risk right now, I still needed her for Dinah and Impadimp was…well, Impadimp. He'd been remarkably well behaved for Purity but I didn't trust him to stay that way without the easy source of negative emotions that was Hatenna. Instead bursting from a light in front of me Rowlett jumped landing on my shoulder talons gripping tight to remain on. Razor sharp feathers ready to be shot out at a moment's notice.

I wished I didn't have to consider that as an option. But Uber and Leet were Coils men, the people he sent undercover to Bakuda and who he used to try to kill Skitter with.

And I just revealed I could unmask capes.

I wasn't sure if he knew, wasn't sure if he was even Brockton Bay right now. A phone book told me that Thomas Calvert lived in Boston and I knew that he travelled between the upper-east coast cities frequently. For all I knew he was in New York or something.

Whatever this was, it wasn't an assassination. Coil didn't roll like that, would never be so risky even in a disposable timeline. This had to be something that just coincidentally happened on the same day I met Purity.

The curse of being famous I guess.

But that didn't mean whatever he had planned was any better. After all, he still owed Cauldron a favour or two.

Fidough appeared from the same flash and yipped as she ran beside me her croissant like tail wagging.

"You good out there Triumph?" I asked into my radio.

His response took a few moments too long and when it came his voice was panting, "Leets got some kind of freeze ray, non lethal and his minions need to spray some water on you first but if you can't break it you're pinned. Got me, got Charlie squad. Managed to blast myself free but the others are stuck."

Charlie's squad was the PRT team that was the unofficial Wards babysitters and the team that represented the first two letters in PRT. They were nice people, with shiny suits and the latest gadgets meant to attract the people that couldn't trigger or wanted to be Batman.

I couldn't judge, I mean who didn't want to be Batman.

But it made sense they were targeted first, they might've been PR guys but they still had containment foam.

"Fuck. What about the kids?"

"Evacated. Kind of."

Kind of?

Making it out of the corridor that led to the bathrooms I could see what Triumph meant. Crowds of people were moving away from the playcenter in waves, a tide of families and friends keeping together so they wouldn't lose each other. But they weren't running for their lives.

No, as Security guards were trying to direct people away and towards the exits. Instead, despite the villains attacking everyone went up the escalators in order to get a good view from the second floor.

I glanced at the crowd. There wasn't a single person here in the mall that looked scared. Nervous maybe but they weren't terrified. Instead all I could see was people pulling out their phones and recording it like this was some kind of live performance.

It hit me that this was what Tattletale meant before everything went to hell. The Game, what she called Cops and Robbers. This wasn't an attack by monsters, this was just some clout chasing by two losers that were going to get their asses kicked.

They'd go home with a story, maybe brag to their friends how they saw a cape fight in person, maybe they'd donate to Uber and Leets website. But the important thing was that they got to go home in the end.

"I see what you mean. The important thing is they're safe and out of the way. Your orders, Director?"

"Triumph, try to free Charlie team if you can but your safety is the priority, flee if you need to. You're not a member of the Protectorate yet and until then the same rules for Wards apply. Dawn you're not cleared to fight Villains by yourself but an exception will be made here. Use your monsters to scout what other tinker tech they have and prevent them from escaping. Backup is fifteen minutes away, you just have to delay till then."

Piggot's voice was calm and professional, not even holding a trace of her usual dislike of me in it. It was like that the barely hidden bigot Piggot was gone and in her place was Lady, the woman who'd survived Ellisburg.

There were a lot of reasons to hate Piggot but I couldn't lie to myself and say she wasn't good at her job. Knowing that she was the one holding the reins on this brought me a measure of relief that wouldn't be there if I had to make the calls myself.

"Got it boss," I said as I sent a command to one of my pokemom, "Triumph take Falinks and work with them to get Charlie squad-"

"No," he cut me off, "Give me Duraludon,"

I hesitated wondering what he meant. Falinks would've been faster and he should've known that. He read my files. Was he making a mistake?

No, he was the one with eyes on the fight, it must've been for a reason.

"Okay," I said, sending the order. From my tenuous link with my Pokemon I got the sense that a white and gold blob had started talking to one of them but I couldn't make out anything else, even with four of my pokemon in the same place I couldn't see any clearer.

"Be careful. They've got about four minions spread out looking for you."

Road clear of any people I tried to sprint as fast as I could to the petting zoo but only after a long moment that I realised that wasn't going to happen, as with burning lungs that felt like someone shoved hot pokers through them I ran out of breath before I even got halfway there and it was all because of my costume.

The knight part of my costume might not have been real plate armour but it was still professional body armour woven with chainmail to stop bullets and blades with all the weight that it implied. I'd exercised regularly but that was more counting calories and slimming down then putting on muscle, I just wasn't built for this.

Worse, these were new boots and I hadn't broken them in. The heel kept shaving at the back of my ankle so badly that I wouldn't be surprised if it was bleeding.

The realisation that I wasn't strong enough for the job I've always dreamed of pressed deep on some old and barely faded scars that my conversation with Purity had pulled open. It was humiliating to the point that it burned.

As if I needed another reason to hate my body.

So instead of getting there as fast as possible but dead tired I slowed down to a medium jog. Breathing through my nose all I could smell was yeast as Fidough ran ahead of me, barking her head off like she was a guard dog and not a pile of dough with legs.

She made it around the final corner that led to the pens before those barks changed into a cry of pain as a meaty boot kicked her in her face sending rolling along the floor. It took her a moment to stand up on her shaky legs.

"What the hell!?" I heard a man's voice yell around the corner that sounded just as startled as I was. From the same man I heard as he pulled a cord and a motor started, the smell of petrol in the air.

A spray of water like that from a pressure washer shot out from around the corner. But when it hit Fidough it might as well have been napalm as the spots it hit turned goopy, streaks of dough fell off her body in chunks as large as a child's hand.

With one shot he almost killed Fidough.

Without slowing down Rowlet jumped into my waiting hand and I tossed him forward like a shot ball. He flew through the air less like a bird and more like a lawn dart. Twirling through the air he threw his feathers at the person around the corner.

The man yelled something else that I couldn't understand as by the time I got around the corner Rowlet had already jumped him, pelting him with kicks that kept him to the floor.

"Get this fucking thing off me!" He yelled at me covering his neck with the back on his hands and he curled up in a fetal position.

Further up in the middle of the pens Hakamo-o was fighting a giant muscled man in a red and gold body suit who was to my surprise managing to not get his ass kicked. Whenever he was hit the man bent around it like a tree in the wind. Aipom was fighting three guys in spandex and despite being only summoned yesterday she was holding her own, using Quick Attack to keep her distance, a combination of Tail Whip and Sand Attack to create openings before she took advantage of them with Stab boosted hits.

Triumph was using Duraludon who was digging into the thick ice that coated Charlie team as a shield as he shouts waves of concussive blasts at a guy in a Megaman costume who shot balls of snow at him. When both blasts met in the air it was a draw with neither blast overpowering the other.

Instead they stallmated, the snow falling out of the sky while absorbing enough of the energy that it barely tickled Megaman who could put more down range than Triumph and wasn't giving him the time to charge up a stronger blast.

Falinks Protect would've bought him that time but I couldn't see them anywhere. They were completely missing from the battle and it worried me. I couldn't sense that they were dead so where were they?

I wanted to run there immediately and help but I had to secure this guy first. Didn't want to get sucker punched by him later.

The man on the floor was in a green skintight suit, like a very basic power ranger costume, on his head was a motorcycle helmet with a red dot drawn in the middle of the visor and next to him on wheels was an actual pressure washer.

Not Uber or Leet, just a minion.

It took a second for me to realise who he was cosplaying as due to how shit his costume was but after a moment I realised he was a Sniper Joe, a basic goon from Megaman that was the equivalent to a Kooper Trooper or Goomba.

Glancing at the pressure washer it looked just like the kinds you see at a hardware store as I couldn't see anything that looked like a tinker had messed with it. But then again I wasn't a tinker so I couldn't say, on the back of it was a bright jerry can with a garden hose that siphoned it into the intake valve.

Sniffing the liquid that came out of it all it just smelt like regular tap water.

And yet it almost killed Fidough in one shot. It must've been because she was made out of dough. If Fluffy was enough to give the pokemon that had it a supereffective weakness to fire type attacks then being a walking sack of bread was enough for the same to be true for water.

And she wasn't the only one of my pokemon that was weak to water. I was starting to piece together Coils' plan. Water for Fidough and Duraludon, ice for Rowlet and Hakamo-o. He wanted to embarrass me, even if I won the fact that if two of the least respected villains gave my pokemon so much trouble it would almost nullify any win I'd get.

"Hands behind your back," I said, reaching into a pouch and pulling a round, metal slip. The man didn't comply but that was fine because I was going for his legs anyway.

Stepping on the back of his thigh, just above the knee I looped the slip around his kicking ankle and pulled a line of metal cable from it, spotting a nearby fire extinguisher I wrapped the cable around it and pressed a button on the slip.

The cable retracted, dragging the man across the floor and tying him to the wall. Even if he managed to pull himself free he'd be dragging the fire extinguisher with him. The tie was just one of those inventions that happened when superheroes had been around for two decades. It was meant to tie someone two to four stories up in the air like Spider-Man so that the PRT could get them but since I didn't have time for that so an impromptu ball and chain would have to do.

"Fi, do, do," my doglike pokemon whined half her face glooping onto the floor. The smell sickeningly sweet.

I clenched my teeth at the sight. Even if I wanted to, Hatenna couldn't fix this and would probably make it worse. Fidough dissolved into a burst of red light as I returned her to the mental box all my extra pokemon were kept.

Something bubbled in the pit of my stomach, a cauldron of anger brewing at the duo for getting one over on me.

Already I was one mon down with another missing. In the back of my mind I reached and poked at the growing charge trying to get a sense for how long it'd take to fill. It was only an hour away from being full.

There was nothing to do but bear it. She wasn't my strongest anyway. As long as Hakamo-o was on the field it didn't matter how many of the others they defeated.

I just couldn't imagine Hakamo-o losing.

One minion down I reported it to the console and jogged forward into the play pen and it felt like I was stepping into the colosseum. The shadow of the mall faded leaving me standing in the light that streamed down from the windows on the roof, above the second story wrapped around like an octagon where various kids were watching down on me. I couldn't hear what they said when they saw me, the noise blurring together and drowned out by the blood pumping through my ears.

Instead all I could focus on was Megaman.

He wore something thicker than a bodysuit, a blue coverall that was a size too small showing off what he must have thought was an impressive muscle suit he was wearing beneath it and the very stuffed crotch section.

On his head was a blue helmet like mine that extended to cover his eyes with a thin black visor. Over his right arm was a large cannon barrel that was obviously tinkertech. Slung over his back was a canvas bag.

Everything about him was wrong and pissed me off. Megaman was supposed to wear spandex not coveralls, his face was supposed to be completely bare so the visor just made him look like a shitty Judge Dread knock off. It was a half assed effort and wouldn't get a passing grade on reddit.

It wasn't the worst cosplay I'd ever seen. I'd seen grown ass men dressing like V-tubers before. But it was lacking something, it felt like the soul was missing.

The golden snitch that hovered over his shoulder marked which member of the dynamic loser duo he was, if the cannon hadn't already.

Leets head turned towards me hearing as I charged at him despite how much it ached, just to break the deadlock. But despite looking away his aim didn't suffer as he kept sniping at Triumph with unnerving accuracy.

"Took you long enough to show up," Leet complained with a nasally voice, "What kind of hero no shows at her own event? You ruined our plan."

I don't care shut the fuck up.

He reached into his canvas bag and pulled out a water balloon. With a single hand he tossed it at me, the balloon more accurate than I expected from someone like him. My boots squeaked on the floor as I tried to juke it.

Rowlet launched a quill at it. The balloon burst in the air, spilling water all over the floor and creating a large puddle between him and me.

I twisted, Rowlet holding a wing out to bleed the momentum from my charge, us managing to stop just before the puddle.

It might've looked like water but it just as easily been something he'd tinkered up. Withdrawal had liquids that didn't obey Newton so there was a chance Leet managed to do something similar that he hadn't shared with his goons.

Rowlet tossed another quill at him but the blaster turned ninety degrees bending at the barrel and shot another snow ball at it. The grass quill didn't have the same power as one of Triumph's shouts and the snow barreled through it like it wasn't even there flying through the air straight at Rowlet.

I blocked it with my gauntlet, the ball splattering into pieces. Strangely even if it was through layers of protection it felt lukewarm. Was it not real ice?

His cannon automatically turned and fired at Triumph but it didn't matter.

"Crud," Leet said in realisation before he was knocked off his feet by a wave of sound. The second he spent firing at me was enough time for Triumph to charge up a stronger blast.

For about a metre or whatever the American equivalent was the nerd tumbled across the ground. The water balloons he still had in his back burst, soaking him in the same liquid he'd thrown at me. But since the canvas bag was waist height so when it burst, it, well.

It looked like he pissed himself.

The golden snitch fluttered above him, capturing in all the gory details.

"Leet!" Uber yelled. He wore a comically large body suit coloured red and gold, he was big but not in a muscular way. Instead, like Popeye, parts of the suit were just swollen and bulging while beneath the suit was a normal, if lanky, person.

But the most eye catching thing about him was the large, extended metal chin that was as long as his head was tall.

A chin I recognised.

Shit.

Uber jumped but it was more like he fell upwards. Ten, twenty, thirty feet went by but he just kept rising till his head was almost hitting the glass windows on the ceiling above. He hovered there for a moment but I didn't stay to watch.

I already knew what was coming.

Instead I ran desperately towards Triumph and the trapped team. Seconds felt like minutes and the distance felt like miles. Even with burning lungs as I jumped over one fence I knew I wouldn't make it but I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I didn't try.

The clanging of scales behind me was the only warning I got as two arms that were as strong as oak picked me up into a bridal carry and leapt forward. My stomach lurched as with six short leaps Hakamo-o covered more ground than I could manage in a minute of sprinting.

Over his shoulder I saw Uber slam into the ground with enough force to create an impression on the ground. There was no noise that followed, no bright light. The only hint of something coming was the puddle Leet created rolling across the ground like it was being pushed by the wind.

Hakamo-o's arms opened, dropping me onto the floor in front of Triumph. Pain burst through my tailbone from a hard landing. My ass apparently being the least armoured part of me.

Glowing white hexagons formed in front of Hakamo-o's outstretched arms like planes of glass. It was Protect one of the moves he got when he evolved. Those glass planes joined together creating a wall without gaps not that it mattered as it just went around the barrier. A wave of pressure washed over me pushing indiscriminately. Fences smashed into the barrier as I rolled backwards like I was under the tide of a wave, only half remembering to tuck my chin into my neck and slam my hands on the floor to break my fall like Miss Militia taught me.

I heard glass shattering and the shrieks of the kids on the second floor. With a growing dread I waited for those shrieks to turn into screams of pain but instead they transformed into cheers and heckles.

In the dozen or some people I thought I could hear a kid mocking Leet for pissing his pants while another was yelling at me 'Hit the fucking gym you fatass,' which I wasn't going to lie to myself.

That hurt.

"Dawn," Triumph said, shaking my shoulder.

"I'm fine," I grimaced as I pushed myself off the floor. My back and everything lower hurt just as badly as my pride did and my pride was feeling pretty bruised right now, "Today fucking blows."

We were getting our asses kicked by the worst Capes in the city. If it was the Undersiders or Faultlines Crew I'd understand but them? It made me angrier than I thought possible. A pride I didn't know I had struck, I was dumped in the deep end with the strongest and walked away with what I considered a victory only to wade my way into the shallow end, my feet touching the bottom and still flounder.

If I had a charge I would've said to hell with it and evolved Hakamo-o. See how they'd deal with a pseudo.

"You're telling me," one of the PRT squad said. They looked like Mr. Freeze gazed in their general direction. Ice clung to their feet, pinning them to the floor where their heavy gear had down the rest leaving them splayed out on the ground where the ice had fused their jackets to the floor, others had been quick to pull their jackets off and were able to prop themselves up before the ice had got their gloves.

"Eh, it could be worse," another said.

The ones with the containment foam sprayer had unsurprisingly gotten the worst of it with thick layers covering every limb with special attention paid to the sprayers. Thick groves were carved into it by Duraludon thinning it out some but a precision machine he was not and he was only able to shave parts around their chest to free up their breathing.

Though if this was them after Duraludon had chipped away at them I didn't want to imagine how frozen they'd be at the start.

"Really, how could this be worse?"

"It could be your hand that's on my ass."

"Well my hand is on Rodrick's dick so maybe I do wanna feel your ass instead."

Chuckles broke from the frozen soldiers, a warm laugh in all of them as they acted like this was just a casual day at the office. I suppose for them this was. No one had died yet, no one was going too and the only man eating monsters was on our side.

This was Cops and Robbers. So why was I taking this so seriously? Why was I so mad that a couple of C-listers were kicking my ass. It meant nothing, in six weeks I'd have an entire team of Armsmaster level Mons and I could wipe the floor with them, in a couple months I'd have literal Gods.

So why did I care so much then? I could only think of one reason.

Because I wanted to be a Hero.

And Heroes always won.

I reached back and straightened the plume coming out of the back of my helmet. Glancing at Uber I saw he had taken the chance to go for Aipom that had been keeping his minions out of the fight.

Aipom was able to keep out of his grasp by climbing up a pillar but that gave the Minions the chance to catch their breaths and wash the sand out of their eyes.

"Leet's got an aiming system on that freeze gun, even if he doesn't see it coming it'll try to snipe any attack going his way. Uber got an invisible shaker blast wave when he stomps, Fast but it's telegraphed with intervals in between, he gets a four but we'll play it safe and assume a five. Triumph your thoughts?" I recited everything I saw speaking to the team and Piggot just as much as I was talking to him.

Triumph's face fell in a well practiced focus. Behind his visor his eyes flicked to mine before they left me so fast I wasn't sure if he picked what I was saying. Five was the maximum I'd still be allowed to fight them. Once you got into the Plus Six levels on the threat rating that's when even the Junior Protectorate members were held back in favour of the people with more fights under their belt.

If he disagreed with my assessment I'd have no choice but to begrudgingly take the loss.

And I really, really didn't want to take this loss.

"Uber's got a brute rating," He informed me of something I hadn't really seen, "he's not strong or tough but he's weightless and he rolls with the punches so hits that land don't have bite to them. Nothing the foam can't handle so that's Brute 3, Mover 2 since I don't think he can go anywhere but up. However I disagree with his shaker rating."

I bit my lip, "What about it?"

Don't do this to me man.

"It's Leet tech," he explained, "The more he uses it the larger the chance it explodes on him and if that happens while he's in the air," he trailed off but I got the picture. He wouldn't risk that happening so another blast as large before was unlikely.

"Shaker three then?"

He nodded.

"Understood Dawn. Backups nine minutes away, keep the villains occupied until then."

"Same plan as before. Work on getting them free while I distract them till back up arrives. I'm taking Duraludon with me."

Even as I said those words I knew they were a lie. I didn't plan on only being a distraction - I wanted to win. I was going to win.

"Got it," he said, "I'll support where I can."

"Good. Do you know where Falinks is?"

"There," he pointed at their pen and the tube tunnels they'd be playing with the kids in. Their horns poked out the tops like a shark fin in separate parts of the tunnels. The fins were running around frantically as they tried to regroup but since they were all running trying to find each other that just met they roamed the tunnels just barely missing each other as they ran in circles.

No-one ever said they were smart but that was just embarrassing.

I didn't return them. It was better to keep them as a trump card against Leet and they weren't any more precise than Duraludon.

"Wish me luck," I said standing up and straightening my dress.

Charlie team and Triumph said their affirmations as I walked forward with both Dragon types beside me. In the shadow of the towering Steel type and with the clanging scales of my strongest I felt as confident as I could be. We stepped over broken fences and scattered kid safe padding. Most of it was damaged but not broken, the only exception being the Wii and the TV that had smashed into two pieces by the blast.

Hakamo-o growled as we passed it. A hiss trapped in his throat that reverbated through his thick, golden neck armour.

There was no way to hide my approach from the two villains so I didn't bother. Instead I leaned into it by making Hakamo-o stamp his feet and shake his arms as we walked like the beginning of his namesake as he worked up, boosting his strength for the coming fight.

As we got close Uber with his gaggle of minions around him walked to stand beside Leet who stood there mean mugging us.

"So I finally get to talk with our city's newest Princess. I was starting to think you were in another castle," Uber said, crossing his arms. God he sounded so lame. He used his power to give himself a perfect narrator's voice. The kind Duke Nukem would've been proud of but the effect was underpinned by the fact that by going out of his way and using his power to do that in the first place just made it just reek of insecurity instead.

"Really calling her a Princess?" Leet snarked as he waved his cannon around at all three of us, "With how she hides behind all her animals I think she's more of a Dixie."

His voice had a certain nasalness to it. A nastiness that compared to when Purity called me a Dyke. It forced me to remember that for as much as we both loved video games this was a man that beat hookers with a baseball bat.

There were three ways I could've responded to being compared to a monkey.

The first was the Dark Knight approach, all growls and menace. Dismantle them as a warning to the other villains not to mess with me or my city.

The second was the Man of Hope's approach. I'd give them my biggest disappointed stare and tell them how much they let me and everyone in their lives down by acting the way they have. How they squandered their potential for good.

I wanted to pick that option. I had so many dreams of what Leet could do with Dragons' help. He'd been given more options than really anyone not wearing a green cloak but I knew he'd never take it. I didn't need to have read the story to know he'd never take it. He'd lash out thinking I was looking down on him and maybe he'd be right.

But that option was doomed to fail because I was not Superman. I didn't have the weight of power and a rep of a paragon behind me. I will get there but not today.

So that only left the last option.

I adjusted my posture to be more casual, a smirk that would have Tattletale jealous pulling across my face.

"Someone that doesn't understand a thing about Megaman does not get to make video game insults," I shot back with my nastiest tone, "You think for a duo whose whole thing is video games you couldn't mess that up but I suppose that was too high a bar for you."

The last option was the Web-slinger route. Be as annoying as humanly possible while backing out all the shit you talked.

Leet bristled, his shoulders hunched as he shot me a filthy look visible even through the visor, "And what do you know about our mission."

"I know you're doing a pretty shit job of it considering you're dressed as Megaman and yet you're working with a Robotmaster. Seriously Gutsman? Couldn't you have picked someone cool like Flashman?"

"Who else gives me the chance to have this glorious chin," Uber said, completely unbothered by the jab, rubbing the aforementioned body part.

"You're not the problem here," I said changing targets, "It's your loser partner that's ruining this, why the hell are you Megaman Leet? What happened to 'A sense of Justice beyond any compare?' He would never work with Robot Masters. Protoman is right there dude and he's worked with Doctor Wily before - What're you seriously gonna tell me you've never heard of Breakman before?"

"Of course I have!" he snapped back.

I snorted, "Sure, I totally believe you. Not."

Leet gritted his teeth taking a step forward but Uber just grabbed him by the shoulder,

"Don't let her get to you," Uber said.

"I bet you only know those names because your boyfriend played the games."

I just laughed in his face.

"I could say the same about you, Leet."

"Shut up," he roared, raising his cannon to aim at me. Rowlet snapped two feathers at him and the blaster automatic shot at the knives overpowering them like it had before them like it had before.

Uber raised a leg but couldn't react in time as Duraludon smashed a fist into his chest. There was a sound like a tire being hit with a hammer as his muscle suit jiggled like wobbling jelly as he was pushed off the ground gaining about half a Duraludon in height before he fell slowly at the rate of seconds when it should've been in a heartbeat.

Hakamo-o's tail lengthed in a sheath of purple energy and with a twist of his hips he slammed the tip against Duraludon's back. Whatever Uber was expecting I could guarantee it wasn't a forty kilo, leering steel type being launched at him with his arms wide like he was going for a bear hug.

Duraludon caught Uber dragging him along for the ride as they two floated to the other side of the mall.

"I think he's left behind you Leet," I mused.

"I said shut up," he snapped before he shot a look at one of the minions. The one he glared at aimed a hose at us as the other two split. One dragged a pressure washer over to where Duraludon had pulled Uber while the other rushed me. A spray of water rushed over the top of them as me and my pokemon spread out into a sort of upside down triangle with me at the furthest point.

That triangle widened as both Pokemon jumped in opposite directions to avoid the water, giving enough of a gap that the Sniper Joe could run between them without getting hit by either mon. I suppose given the choice between fighting the four foot tall martial artist dragon that could smash through a piano and the knife throwing owl it was only natural he went for me.

I made a mental note to never use this formation again.

He turned out to be a she as I discovered when she threw herself at me in a rugby tackle. I tried to dodge but she was faster, slamming her helmet into my stomach while she grabbed at the back of my thighs.

My second fall of the day was remarkably gentler as my armour cushioned it. Sniper Jane got into the mount a second later and smacked a fist I barely felt into my chest while her mother pushed my head to the side forcing me to look away.

Drawing back on what Hannah had taught me, Falinks appeared on either side of us as I released them. They cheered their little feet stamping in the ground.

But before they could help, their leader the Brass issued an order and they ran to my feet ignoring the woman trying to beat me to a pulp and formed a line. I couldn't see why but the sound of Protect going up was familiar at this point and I could hear a spray of water hitting against a wall.

"This is for that stupid monkey!" she screamed completely ignoring the new Pokemon as she kept hitting me in the same spot. She wasn't a weak woman and I felt each hit but it was dulled by the layers of protection. In this moment as I weathered the blows I felt distinctly relieved that for how much it annoyed me I was wearing armour worth more than some peoples cars.

And this was the part of hero work I had trained for.

With my padded elbow I wedged into the tender part of her knee and used to like a crowbar to push it away enough to get my leg free. She tried to adjust by pressing down even harder on my face but I grabbed that and managed to slide it off me. She fell and just barely managed to catch the floor with her elbow. Using my newly freed shin I pressed it against her ribcage and pushed with my hips tossing her forward into a half roll.

I managed to do it not because I was suddenly a Jiu-jitsu master and more that she spent the last ten minutes being beat up by a teddy bear sized monkey.

"Stay down, the money can't be worth this," I said out of breath. I ordered Falinks to stand guard around the woman as she laid on the ground as I staggered to my feet just in time to Leet aim at Hakamo-o the glass panes of a recent protect shattering to the floor.

The gun hissed the tip freezing over with an icicle. A heartbeat later exploded into a cone of dense ice. The spread was wide enough that Hakamo-o couldn't dodge even if he tried to. So he didn't, arms extended he risked the double protect and got it, the hexagon barrier appearing in front of him thinner and smaller than it usually was.

Would it have done anything if it had hit? I wasn't sure. Hakamo-o was totally bulletproof but it was still ice, or at least something similar. I suppose it was better to be cautious and not risk it.

"I'm getting really sick of that," Leet hissed.

"Pretty sure Uber's feeling the same about you," I called out tauntingly.

"Stuff it!" He aimed at me. Three shots were fired and while I managed to block the first two there was no way to dodge the third or fourth.

Snow blasted at me aimed straight at my mouth. I managed to close it just in time as the top layer of my lipstick, wetted by the moisture from my breath, froze together.

I lurched back hands going to my mouth as I tried to pull my lips apart. My gauntlets were too wide and not having enough of a grip I opened my mouth as hard I could. The top layer of make up and skin peeling away as I spat it to the floor. Blood dripped down my lips and all I could taste was copper.

"Mo-o!" Hakamo-o roared lept towards Leet, tail swiveling like a whip he struck leet across the fattest part of his thighs. Leet grunted in real pain as he was knocked to the floor.

Hakamo-o leered at Leet, his reptile jaws barely an inch away from the villain's head. But despite that even through the pain Leets lips twisted into a smirk and I saw why. There was water dripping off the dragon type's tail forming a small puddle beneath it.

Leet's legs were soaking wet, so when Hakaomo-o struck him some of that transferred onto his tail.

Before I could order Hakamo-o away, Leet fired at the puddle. It froze instantly, ice travelling up the tail in fractals that swelled around the limb in a way that broke physics to form a cage that bonded him to the floor.

Hakamo-o bellowed, a dragonic cry that echoed through walls of the mall boosting the sound like an amphitheatre. My strongest reared back his head giving me time to shoot an order not to kill him as Hakamo-o lashed out with a violet headbutt aimed straight at the blaster.

The gun tried to kill Hakamo-o shooting him right in the eyes but my dragon wasn't level 40 for nothing and even as his eye froze over he smashed his crown scale down denting the gun and with his teeth ripped the barrel off it like one cracked a carrot in half.

A spark flashed in the barrel, a bright light not unlike the one created by my power and when Leet heard it he let out a panicked yell. He scrambled backwards out of the reach of my pinned pokemon trying to get the blaster off his arm but the dent had broken it shut and he wasn't strong enough to tear it off.

It was as I was staring at his face full of genuine fear as he clawed at his own invention that I remembered one crucial fact about Leet.

His shard was trying to kill him.

Damnit.

I might've hated him for everything he'd done and everything he stood for but I wasn't willing to let him die.

I ran forward as fast as my feet would allow.

"How do I get it off you?" I asked the second I got close. I crouched down so that I was eye level and grabbed his arm with the blaster pointing it down at the ground between us.

"What?" he asked voice frantic as he tried to shake me off him. He grabbed onto my arm with his good hand trying to push it off.

I just gripped on tighter.

"How do I get this off you safely?" I asked once again with a firmer tone. The snitch hovered nearby as if waiting for the chance to watch Leet die, with who was really behind the camera it wouldn't surprise me if it was.

He paused as he glanced up at me, the visor held no trace of humanity in it but the clench tightness at which he held my arm told me everything.

Leet took a deep breath, drawing a wince when the same light flashed in the barrel brighter than it was before.

"Your owl thing, have it cut here and here," he said, tracing a line where the blaster connected with his costume. I did what he said Rowlet hopped over from where he was beating on the Sniper Joe jumped on my shoulder to get a good look at it.

Rowlet pulled at his bowtie and a green grass like feather slipped free. He held it in his wing, the feather thrumming with power that was like Hakamo-o's Dragon Tail and using that he sawed down on the coverall.

The sleeve got loose and I pulled hard, the canon sliding off his arm like a bracelet two sizes too small. Leet winced but held his breath.

"Toss it!" He shouted the second he was free. Turning I threw it as hard as I could over to where Fidough's pen used to be. It smashed into the ground with a thud, the cannon whined as it and flashed some more before it died down.

I spoke into my radio, "Director please be advised that there's unstable tinker tech in the middle of the play-"

Rowlet's wing snapped wide and Leet cried in pain behind me. Looking behind I saw three quills embedded in Leet's hand and another through his boot. Seeing as there was no way Rowlet would just attack someone out of no-where that left only one reason he did that.

"Did you seriously just attack me after I saved your life?" I asked incredulously.

Hakamo-o growled.

Leet cringed, "...No?"

I was very tempted to kick him in his stupid, dumb, idiot face but through the power of good, justice and the Superman way I was able to hold off that thought long enough to pull out another cable tie and slipped it around his arms and ankles.

If they were a little tighter than they needed to be then that was due to my inexperience and not any personal vendetta.

I kept an eye on the other side of the battlefield as I worked to secure Leet, the combination of Rowlet and Falinks enough to secure the rest of the minions and Hakamo-o was within head but range to make sure Leet didn't try anything else.

Duraludon flinched as the goon sprayed him with a bucket load of water giving Uber the chance to land a violent drop kick that hit like a truck knocking him back five paces. My pokemon tried to fight back by raising a club and bringing it down on Uber's head but it was so sluggish he might as well not even bothered.

Uber evaded it easily with an admittedly pretty sick spin flip yelp as Aipom lept from one of the pillars and smashed right into his stomach glowing white with energy. It didn't hurt him but it knocked him spinning through the air where a Triumphs blast slammed him against a pillar.

Duraludon ran to take advantage of the opening but the goon just hosed him down again and the dragon recoiled trying to get away from it. The goon just turned following Duraludon so the nozzle never left him and Duraludon reluctantly, and dare I say demoralised, walked through the water to get to Uber flinching the entire way.

I bit my lips, tasting blood from the torn off skin.

Duraludon was aquaphobic, very aquaphobic. It was something we tested in Boston but I hadn't realised it affected him so badly. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there and it was only my orders that kept him from fleeing.

Damnit, I was gonna have to replace him if his evolution didn't get rid of that weakness.

That realisation hit me hard, bumming me out. I liked Duraludon, he was my favourite but I couldn't risk using him if a water gun could take him out of the fight. Nevermind using him against Levithan.

Leet grunted as I finished tightening the clasps on but I really couldn't be fucked to care.

A light shone behind me so bright it felt warm. Alongside it came a sound like I was standing in front of an air turbine echoed through the mall. A sound I recognised.

It couldn't be.

I turned my head and saw that Hakamo-o was bursting with lights from every colour. A glow that engulfed him completely. A light I'd already seen once.

In the lights there was a blob that morphed. Scales shifted till they were hanging off the body, the arms and tail extended almost doubling in size and changed its posture so that it was leaning forward like a gorilla on its knuckles. Even through the light and ice I could see as the tail grew four sets of three scales each larger than the one before it till the final ones were as large as cymbals.

The light faded leaving spots in my eyes and when I blinked them away standing before me trapped in the ice wasn't Hakamo-o anymore.

"Kommo-o," he greeted me, rubbing the ice off his face with his claws so that he could stare at me with red slitted pupils on white eyes. He glanced down to the ice on his tail and snorted. With an almost effortless heave he pulled his tail free and smacked it down on the ground, ice shattering across the floor.

It wasn't just him. A shadow stretched across the floor and Rowlet emerged out of it like one stepped out of an elevator. Shadow Sneak, a move he shouldn't have until I invested another charge in him. Across the mall metal scraping screeched and turning my gaze to the source I saw it was Duraludon sharpening his arms against each other, metal shaving flying away and leaving the arms longer and sharper.

Hone claws. Another move one of my pokemon shouldn't have till I invested another charge in him.

It finally clicked and I wanted to laugh. I felt so stupid for not realising it in the first place.

Pokemon could gain levels through battles. That was the whole point of Pokemon battles in the first place, growing stronger through trials and overcoming them.

It only happened after I defeated Leet so that meant, what? That each villain was worth a charge for my Pokemon?

Hehehe, Bitchin.

It was being rewarded for something I was already going to do but I wasn't going to complain. In fact I was gonna make a shrine in the corner of my room because it made me that giddy.

"Rowlet, Haka- Kommo-o," I corrected myself. The snitch floated around all three of us in dizzying moves trying to capture all the details, "Deal with Uber."

The two nodded and Rowlet disappeared into his shadow zipping across the ground at speeds I couldn't track. Kommo-o however just jumped and in a single bound smashed the pressure washer that the Sniper Joe was using to keep Duraludon at bay with his tail.

Rowlet emerged and fired a machine gun burst of glowing sharpened leaves at Uber, cutting holes in his jiggling suit. Maybe Uber could've fought back but that option was tossed out the window when Aipom threw sand in his eyes and both dragons grabbed Uber and pinned him to the floor. No matter how strong Leets tech was when a combined weight one hundred and twenty kilos of dragon was pressing down you weren't moving till they let you.

"Shit," Leet groaned, laying his head on the floor, defeated, recognizing the same thing I had.

I'd won.

As if to demonstrate that fact Rowlet burst into the same rainbow light that Kommo-o just emerged out. I was too far to see how he morphed through the light but when the lights stopped standing there was a bird double the size of what it was before, the only thing it had in common with its previous form was the green bowtie it had around its collar.

Dartrix.

A pokemon so narcissistic that it would flee from a battle if it ever got dirty.

I smothered a groan.

Goddamn it.

---

The freezing cold water hit me in the face like a truck. Wincing I made sure to press deeper into the floating ball as my lips went numb. A second later the feeling returned and I ran my tongue over where the skid had torn and found it smooth like I'd applied a fresh coat of lip gloss.

Hatenna directed the lump of water over the rest of my body but it was of little use. I wore too many layers of armour for it to soak through properly. Though fortunately when I took off my boots and socks the freezing cold water was just what I needed to fix my aching feet.

My boots had, in fact, rubbed the back of my heel till it bled. My fault for not wearing thicker socks I guess.

"So is that water safe to drink?" Triumph asked. He leaned against the wall of the back of the PRT van with his helmet off, his dirty blond hair matted down with sweat. On his face was a small domino mask and clutched tight around his shoulders was Aipom.

It seems she had a favourite human now.

It was a good question that I didn't have an answer for so I just shrugged, "It probably is. Why?"

"Throat feels itchy after shouting so much."

The tip of Hatenna's witch-like hat glowed a deep pink as a small water bottle's worth of water split off the large floating bubble and flew over to Triumph.

"Thanks."

"Don't drink it, just rub it into your neck," I advised, "It'll soak through your skin just fine that way."

Triumph although I supposed he was just Rory right now did as I said rubbing the water on his throat like he was massaging in a cream shivering at the cold and numbness as he did so.

Once he was done the water floated out the back of the truck where Hatenna dropped it on the grass. Normally it would've evaporated in seconds, disappearing in the blink of an eye and it was still doing that but because of the Sea Incense wrapped around her neck courtesy of Aipom the Life Dew it was noticeably slower.

The incense was something Triumph had found clutched in Aipom's hand after we wrapped up everything at the mall. We arrested the two villains, handed over the dangerous Tinker Tech to Armsmaster and left for our appointment at the Alcotts.

I wasn't shocked to learn that Pickup still worked the way it did in the games though I'd admit I hadn't really expected it too. Did this mean that Pickup was how I was supposed to get Mega Stones or Z-crystals? They counted as held items but I wasn't sure, it didn't feel right and there was a lot about my power I still didn't know and having one question answered just gave me a dozen more.

I wasn't even sure if I was going to remember this soon enough. For all I knew I was in a throw away timeline and everything that happened at the mall would disappear by the end of the day.

"How's it looking?"

I looked at the Alcott home. It was a two story house built out of white mason stone, with slanted gothic roofs and surrounded by a lush green garden with a single apple tree and an old iron fence around the property. A rich house but not gaudy, old money.

Charlie's squad now freed from the ice walked in and out the house like ants through a hive. Through the open doorway I saw the team captain as she talked with Dinah's mother in the hall with the young girl watching on the stairways.

Officially Charlie squad was here to investigate a potential break-in, at least that's what they'll be telling the neighbours. Really they were there to hide anything I could use to identify Triumph's family to protect his identity while also showing the rich taxpayers of Brockton Bay the PRT took their safety seriously.

Two birds, one stone.

"They're almost done."

"You know, somehow hearing those words isn't the relief I was expecting."

I glanced at Rory and my look must have said something because he sat up to explain.

"It's like…When you're a kid you have all those family events there's always that one Uncle that is always there but you never really talk to? He's at every Christmas but when it's your birthday he's the last to arrive and first to leave so you spend so little time with him that he feels like a stranger, just one you're related to."

"My mom had six brothers, I sorta get that."

"Yeah," he nodded, "But you get older and you find out that it's because he could have a stroke or heart attack at any moment and your parents didn't want you getting too attached."

I hummed, "Then he just becomes the uncle you expect to die."

"Sounds kinda messed up when you put it like that but yeah. Now I have to shuffle some things around in my head now that he won't," he paused, "Well now that he probably won't."

Pessimistic but he was sadly right. Until I stopped Gold Morning and the Endbringers everything was a big fat maybe.

"I'm sorry about Challenger by the way."

"What?"

"About what I said about the Endbringers. I didn't mean to imply her death was a good thing."

Rory shook his head.

"You didn't Purity was just being a…" he paused trying to find the right words.

I smiled, "You can say bitch in front of me. I've said worse."

"Being the word you just said. Besides, Challenger would probably agree with you. She was that kind of Hero."

"Sounds like you need to tell me about her sometimes."

"I'd like that," he said, rubbing the ears of Aipom who giggled with a smile wider than a banana, "And if you ever want to talk about some of the other stuff you said I'm always here to lend an ear."

My eyes flicked away from Rory.

The Captain who'd been talking with Mrs Alcott gave me a thumbs up.

"They're ready. Sure you don't want to come?"

"Can't. The best way to keep a secret identity is not to let everyone who has a reason to brag know you're a hero."

That's sad.

It was always the part I hated about Superheroes, the drama regarding secret identities. It was annoying when Spider-man had to deal with it and it was sad here. J.J.J and New Wave was right, going maskless was more fun. Though, I couldn't say shit. It wasn't like I had anyone I needed to worry about anymore.

I said goodbye and picked up Hatenna in my arms who took it without complaint. The tip of her hat tickled my nose as it drooped low, barely having the strength to hold itself up.

Today had been tough on her. Well, it had been tough on me but it had been torturous for her. Between the mall with all its crowds and the bathroom with Purity it was the equivalent of chucking a kid with sensory issues in a Metallica moss pit.

I'd thought she'd handled it well all things considered but I was beginning to think that she really hadn't and like Duraludon pushing to keep fighting despite the water he was afraid of so much it had been my orders that kept Hattenna from fleeing and that bothered me.

My Pokemon weren't real. They had no flesh nor blood and they were the embodiment of their Pokedex entries and natures more than they were sentient beings but that didn't mean I liked them being in pain.

I walked through the door into the hallway. The Squad captain whose name I really should learn one of these days gave me a nod and directed me into a small sunroom where Dinah's parents were waiting for me though their daughter was nowhere to be seen. In the corner of the room there was a christmas tree with tons of presents underneath.

It shocked me that it was a real chopped down tree. I thought they were fake everywhere and the real tree was just something that only happened in movies but that might've just been the Australian in me.

"Good evening," I greeted the two of them sitting down, "Mrs and Mr Smith was it?"

They both frowned at the names but a glance at the Captain who nodded had them doing the same.

"Yes I suppose we are. Not too sure about all the secrecy however," Mr Alcott said, adjusting his glasses. He wore chestnut framed ones to match his brown hair, with thick dork like lenses and a sweater that reminded me of a Ned Flanders kind of man.

He didn't look like the kind of man that could drop dead of a heart attack at any moment but he was on that transiting point between one chin to two with a stomach that wasn't paper thin either.

His wife dressed simply too, for her tax bracket anyway, wearing a white chiffon gown with a gold necklace and a matching gold bangle around her wrist. She had blonde hair that was in a bob style that went a little below her chin.

"Don't complain," Mrs Alcott admonished her husband.

"It's alright," I said to the woman before I addressed Mr Alcott, "I understand how you feel, I can tell you it's not fun on my end either. Just know it's for your protection and mine, people can get desperate when it comes to their health. In the very, very unlikely event the PRT has a data breach we don't have someone coming after you trying to steal whatever cured you."

Notably they didn't really have a huge reaction to that. I guess when you had their net worth the threat of being robbed or kidnapped was nothing new.

"So how does this work? Details were sparse," she asked.

"Technically it's already started. Hatenna here passively heals ailments and conditions around her. As we speak and over the next thirty minutes or so your husband's arteries are being cleaned from all the plaque that's been building up in them as well as any other conditions he's got. After that's done Hatenna will splash him with a water that has regenerating properties - While it won't fix his heart that'll help with the strain that it's been put under."

Hatenna probably could've used her newly acquired Heal Pulse to do it instead but I wasn't going to even try to justify using untested powers on a civilian to Piggot.

"I see," Mr Alcott said scratching the corner of his chin with the face of a man that very much didn't, "Powers are as complex as they are miraculous."

"Other conditions?" Came from the wife.

I shrugged, "STD's, blood conditions, Alzheimer's, crippling migraines or just general headaches. Anything bad that you're not born with or isn't an injury with really."

Healer was a really fucking powerful ability. Perfectly created by a God to go 'Nu-uh' to pretty much everything. Though most of it was just cartoons being cartoons or aura bullshit in the case of Ash I wasn't surprised that people in the Pokemon world were Superhumanlite with almost unlimited access to nurses with this power and more.

It made me grateful to Hatenna that for all the thousand and Pokemon there were, I got to have one of the few that can truly help people as my first.

"Enna," my pokemon whined, pushing herself into the couch to escape my feelings. It spoke at just how exhausting today had been that she hadn't instantly started crying.

"I know it's easier said than done but try to keep calm. Strong emotions are stressful to Hatenna here."

"But it'll cure me?" Mr Alcott asked, looking at the Christmas tree with the eyes of a man that had lost all hope and was finally seeing a glimmer for the first time in a long while. His wife reached over and grasped his hand in her own.

How long had he been suffering? Forced to be a stranger even to his own family. How many Christmas' had he wondered would be his last.

Too many.

I nodded feeling the weight of those years, "Yes. It'll cure you."

He took a deep breath as I pulled my phone out, set a timer for 30 minutes and placed it down on the table.

"I suppose I should put on the kettle if we're going to be here for a while. Coffee?" Mrs Alcott said, pushing herself off the couch.

The Captain and I declined.

She left leaving us four to say nothing to each other until she came back five minutes later with two mugs for her and her husband joining in the same awkward silence that she left behind.

It felt rude making small talk when he was grappling with his feelings so all I could do was run my fingers over Hatenna's witch hat.

They hadn't reacted when I mentioned headaches so I supposed that meant she hadn't triggered. I wasn't sure how to bring it up.

My eyes wandered over to the presents under the tree. There was no name tag on any of them but there was a lot for a family with one kid. Was Dinah a spoiled kid? So much of her had been tainted by Coil that she was barely the same person then she was at the start. Some part of me hoped she was. Kids were meant to be spoiled.

The charge that had been building all day filled and a shiver ran down the back of my spine. It was like an alarm you never set went off and it surprised me every time.

Grateful for the distraction I retreated into my power and after a moment of consideration to just put the charge into one of the Pokemon I already had I opened the literal gacha that was my chance for new Pokemon.

Please be good. Please be good.

That nebulous power in the back of my mind split into five distinct blobs.

The first felt like something beaten into shape with a hammer. Molded or molted till the impurities were gone leaving the multi-limbed, multiple eyes creatures to skitter on through the ground. Steel and Bug.

It was a good combination and I looked into it further only to find that there were no shapes that it could become or would come from. A single stage evolution. There were only two Pokemon that could be and I felt disappointed when it was the worst option.

Like hell I was getting stuck with a Durant.

The second was even. It had the same multieyed, multi limbed shape to it but it had a noxious feeling to it, like the bile in the bottom of my stomach as I leaned over my toilet fingers down my throat. Another Bug with the Poison type. It took me a moment to place it since there were just so many pokemon it could be but eventually I managed to clue together that it was Dustox.

There were some Pokemon that I was willing to break the rules the PRT put on me. This was not one of them.

The next gave me a jittery feeling but nothing more. A Monoelectric, I felt the shapes it could become and something tugged me in opposite directions. Three-stages with one ability that never changed - Something that gave me the feeling of swimming through the air and never being able to touch the ground.

Electross.

For a moment I considered it but thought better of it. It needed a stone to evolve and unlike an anime, zapping someone was very likely to kill them. It wasn't something I could use and still be a hero.

The fourth was Mabosstiff, which I actually would've considered if it wasn't for the last one.

Water. Would gain the flying type later and had a Mega that gave it the dark type. Gyarados.

I was hesitant to pick that one. As cool as they were, they were one of the few Pokemon with a confirmed bodycount and were so devastating that they were basically a pseudo legend in reputation.

But I had to pick them. Today had been a lesson in how weak my Pokemon were to water and a month an Endbringer was going to attack. I didn't know which one, in Worm it had been Ziz but if it was Levithan then half my team would be useless.

I needed something that could be useful against both and a water flying type was just that.

Hesitantly I picked Gyarados feeling the presence of Magikarp appear in the back of my mind watching through me like glass.

At least I liked Aquaman.

Mr Alcott glanced over my shoulder and said in a quiet tone, "Go to your room sweetie."

I followed his gaze and saw a girl slowly making her way down the stairs. She wore a little elf shirt with a Santa hat on and clutched under her armpit was a large textbook.

I tried to put on my blankest face as I saw the girl that killed Taylor in more ways than one. She was so small.

"But I need help with my homework," she said.

Her father raised an eyebrow at her, "Homework during the winter break? I think I need to have a discussion with your teachers if they're overworking you this much."

"Not real homework," she said, "Just some revision for next year."

"And I'm sure this sudden studious nature of yours has no relation at all to the Hero joining us today?"

Who talks to an eleven year old like that?

Was it just a rich people being rich thing? Probably. Then again there were thousands of Capes out there that had to dig deep into the dictionary to find a unique name so maybe that just had a knock on effect on the words people used.

"...No?" Dinah lied lamely.

"You were told to stay in your room while they're here. You don't want to interrupt their work," Dinah's mother said.

"All they're doing is sitting around doing nothing."

"That," Mrs Alcott said with the emphasis only a mother could, "Is not important here. You were told to wait upstairs Sweetie, please just go to your room and we can talk about this later."

She frowned, "You're hiding something, again."

The accusation hit her parents like a slap across the face.

I was reminded that them hiding things from her was the source of her original trigger. I wasn't sure if I could blame them but Dinah clearly felt different.

"That's not important right now."

"Yes it is."

"Go to your room now Dinah," Her mother said, not noticing the slip.

"No, I want to know what's going on," Dinah said with a voice full of emotion.

Hatenna tried to bury herself deeper into the couch, a soundless scream muffled into the pillow. I frowned, noticed what I was doing and forced myself to calm down. Hattenna had been through this twice today and I refused to let it happen a third time.

Her mother opened her mouth to speak.

"Okay everyone I think this is getting a little heated," I said, talking over whatever she was going to say.

Maybe it was the authority that my costume gave me or the reminder that they had guests in the house but just by speaking they fell silent and listened to me.

Dinah clutched her book while her mother took a long hard sip of her coffee.

As stupid as it was I felt like they both were blaming me for the argument, as if I was the cause of it and not the underlying problems being the root of it all.

I glanced at the phone using the time to organise my thoughts. If it was my kids I would've told her the truth, hell I was thinking of telling her the truth now. That her father was dying but I was going to fix him, to give her that at the very least.

But I couldn't. I was constrained by the boundaries of being a stranger in their home, by the boundaries of being a hero and the boundaries of being a technical medical professional.

"Do you know what my power is Dinah?"

"You make those monsters right? I saw them on tv."

"I can summon my friends, yes. Would you like to meet them?" I offered, "We can go to the backyard and take some photos with them."

Dinah frowned.

"That sounds like an excellent idea," her father said, a hand laid over his heart.

Mrs Alcott gave a small nod.

"Sounds great," I said standing up and walking to the backyard. Dinah and the Captain trailed behind me without a word.

The backyard was smaller than I thought, a pool and the white tiles that surrounded it taking up a third and a large oak tree with a lot of limbs taking up the other third. A layer of snow covered the ground but not deeper than the soles of my boots.

I rubbed a thumb over my lips unconsciously.

"We're here," Dinah said, "Let's just get this over with."

---

"Higher! Higher!" Dinah shouted in glee as Kommo-o tossed her up into the air. A small child might as well have weighed as much as a bag of grapes to him as when he let go she flew.

She rose through the air till she was high enough that she could've stood on the roof of her house with her tippy toes. A moment of weightlessness before gravity pulled her back down where Kommo-o leaped to meet her with arms wide open. The power of Sky Uppercut enveloped the two of them so that when they landed the only thing that was hurt was the grass beneath them.

"Again!" she begged the dragon type but he shook his head before he jerked his head at me and let her down gently.

"My turn," I said, taking my chance to leap into my dragon's arms where he caught me in a princess carry.

Sarah was right being a princess felt so fucking cool.

I stuck my tongue out at the kid as Kommo-o snorted, the crown scales tittering and jumped. The wind whistled and all I could feel was a dizzying lurch as Kommo-o - To style on a preteen - did a triple back flip through the air.

I regretted it immediately. It felt like I was in the middle of the dryer and the entire time I had no idea which way was up or down until Kommo-o let me down, a claw on my shoulder to keep me upright.

A familiar nausea came and went as I pushed down the urge to throw up.

"The crowd waits with baited breath for the judges score," I said looking down at the three girls.

"Four out of ten. You look like you're about to puke" she snarked in the way only little kids could.

"Then it's a good thing you're here. I can use your T-shirt as a rag and nothing would change."

She scrunched her nose, "That's gross."

Kommo-o led me over to the base of the tree where I sat down, head resting against the wood as I took a deep breath.

Dinah followed me with twigs and snow crushing under her feet until she grabbed onto the lowest, thickest branch and with practice motions pulled herself up to sit on it with her feet dangling like a kid on a pew. Her face flush from the exercise.

"So why are you here?" She tried to ask casually.

My lips quirked, "Interrogating me when I'm off balance. You're quite the little detective."

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Talk down to me like I'm a little kid," she huffed, "I'm sick of it."

"Sorry, old habit," I said, "How do you want me to treat you then?"

She crossed her arms, "I want you to tell me the truth."

"I'm sorry but I can't," I shook my head, "You'd have to talk with your parents for that."

"They never tell me anything."

"I know."

"My dads dying."

Her eyes lingered on me waiting for a reaction that never came.

"You know," she accused.

I nodded, "I do."

"So is that 's why you're here. A visit from a hero to cheer up the girl whose dad is going to die. I hear they do that a lot when a kid has cancer."

"Those are called crisis points and no I'm not here for that. You were told to wait in your room, remember."

"Then what are you doing here?"

I sighed, "I can't tell you."

"Typical."

I pushed myself off the ground and climbed a different branch so that we were eye level. I laid across the tree limb like a lounge and Kommo-o shifted, arms out ready to catch me if it broke.

It was pretty uncomfortable. It wasn't a thick branch and I had to cross my ankles together to get a good balance on it, but it was necessary. I wanted this to turn from an interrogation into a conversation.

"What do you know about your fathers condition?"

"It's his heart. Something is wrong with his heart. Dad takes this medication called… Something. I found a bottle and I looked it up."

I hummed. Smart kid.

"It said he's only got a seventeen percent chance of living. Last year it was twenty-four. I…didn't find anything for the year after but I'm smart enough to know it's not getting better."

She ducked her head down, hair falling like curtains to cover her face. She sniffled and in the cold it came out snotty. She rubbed it off on her green shirt.

It was one thing to know that she would trigger because of those damning numbers, it was another to have the girl in front of me crying because she thought she was going to lose her father.

Damn the shards. I could see why she got the powers she did and it disgusted me.

But there was something wrong with what she was saying. I read up on her fathers disease and talked to doctors about whether or not Hatenna could cure it.

And never once did I hear those odds.

I licked my lips trying to find the right words to say.

"Dinah… What exactly do you think is wrong with your father?"

She sniffed, "He's got cancer. I dunno the stage."

My eyes rose behind my helmet. As bad as Coronary Heart Disease was, it was not cancer.

I reminded myself that for however smart Dinah was, she was still an eleven year old girl trying to diagnose someone from the internet. After this I'd have to talk with her parents about spilling the beans.

"Dinah," I said in a gentle voice, "I need you to look at me please."

Her hands wiped her eyes but when she looked at me they were still glossy.

"Listen I can't tell you what's wrong with your father, legally I just can't. However, I can tell you with zero percent doubt and one hundred percent honesty that he doesn't have cancer."

I paused letting her absorb that.

A glimmer of hope dawned on her face.

"He's not going to die," I said softly.

She sniffed, "You promise."

Slowly I took off my gauntlet undoing the straps with deliberateness. Dinah stared wide eyed at the tattoo on my arm. Before I reached out a single pinkie finger extended.

"I promise," I said, "Cross my heart and hope to die."

"You forgot the thousand needle part."

"Well I don't like needles."

"Then don't break your promise."

Slowly she reached out and wrapped her own around mine. Her hands were so terribly small but she held on with a tightness that would make a man cry.

I wasn't strong enough to protect the world from Zion, wasn't strong enough to defeat the Endbringers nor the numerous villains. All I could do was save this one kid's childhood.

"I promise Dinah. He'll be okay."

And for today, that was enough.

---

• Day 27: Magikarp
• Hakamo-o evolves into Kommo-o (Pseudo legendary whoo!)
• Rowlet evolved into Dartrix. Lv 20
• Falinks lv 10 to lv 20
• Fidough lv 10 to lv 20
• Duraludon lv 10 to lv 20
• Aipom lv 5 to lv 15
• Uber and Leet, more like Unter and Pwned.
• Dinah gets to have a happy christmas
• Coil has an unhappy christmas

MVP: Aipom

 

[BravelyFlying]

Author's Note: This includes some stuff Kommo-o will get but doesn't have access to right now. * will be used to show that.

---

PRT Files: Dawn. (Master 7. Trump 9 Nine x Infinity)

-Subfolder: Subject 3 'Kommo-o ' (Brute 5-7-8. Striker 4. Blaster 4. Mover 4-6. Master 3.)

Note: Previous names: Jangomo-o. Hakamo-o.

Age: N/A

Height: 5'03"

Gender: N/A (Dawn has been observed referring to it as a 'he' but no discernible sexual characteristics can be identified. Assumed to be personification and not indicative of sex.)

Weight: 78kg or less.

Appearance: Kommo-o is a bipedal monster that possesses features similar to the extinct dinosaur Theropoda. Covering its body are thick overlapping golden scales that are both durable and flexible.

Capabilities: The upper limits of physical abilities and durability are impossible to define in field situations as Kommo-o possesses numerous abilities that either boosts it or weakens its capabilities when used.

These abilities include:

• The ability to shed scales lowering its weight to increase its agility without any reduction in durability.
• The ability to injure itself severely by slapping its stomach, pumping its muscles and boosting its strength by a great amount.
• The ability to shed scales to produce a powerful sonic blast at the cost of reducing its durability.
• The ability to harden its skin to an iron-like durability.
• *The ability to perform a fifteen to twenty second dance that increases its speed and physical offense.
• *The ability to perform a Haka, injuring itself and boosting all its capabilities.

However a baseline assessment can be made. Kommo-o is strong enough to knock over a dumptrunk, fast enough to run at 50 kilometers an hour, leap three stories, five with a running start and is largely immune to projectiles to an arbitrary degree.

Testing revealed that Kommo-o (Then called Jangmo-o) possesses the ability to completely nullify or deflect any projectile going above an indeterminate speed or possessing above an indeterminate weight no matter where the projectile hit it. In theory this means a low weight, low velocity projectile could affect Kommo-o but because of the subjects innate durability the degree between 'Sufficient to hurt Subject 3' and 'Slow and light enough to go under its projectile negating power' is impossible to determine with conventional ammunition- If they don't overlap in the first place.

Additionally Kommo-o is immune to sound based powers and any particulates such as thermite, poisonous powders and simple dust obscuring its vision. It also has the ability to conjure a protective forcefield roughly twice the size of itself that lasts for a few seconds. Every attempt to summon this field after the first is less and less successful however requiring a recharge period.

Offensively Kommo-o's bag of tricks is smaller though no less effective. It has the ability to stand still for a period of time and then retaliate with twice the amount of damage it took within that amount of time. Hit opponents with its tail that knocks them back until colliding with an obstacle while coating them in a protective layer to prevent them from being injured. *The ability to produce various sound blasts. *Let out a war-cry that fills those that hear it with fear weakening their ability to fight or stare at them with a gaze that induces mild Runners dystonia like symptoms.

[Note: Physical capabilities liable to change as in the future]

Disposition: Kommo-o is a serious and effective fighter that takes the protection of its generator and assigned personnel seriously. It is unlikely to misbehave, roam or make a nuisance of itself.

Those that are temporarily assigned Kommo-o should note however its ritual of performing a prefight dance meant to intimidate its opponent will prevent it from participating in any stealth operation and that once a fight has begun Kommo-o will be extremely reluctant to retreat from the fight.

Public suitability: Yes.

Future Plans:

With its transformation to its final evolution, the discovery that each of Dawn's monsters that participated in the defeat of a parahuman receive a boost in power equivalent to a days charge and Kommo-o's sheer effectiveness as one of Dawn's more powerful monsters indicates that it is likely to participate in future battles it has been decided that more charges invested into Kommo-o will be redundant.

As such there are no more plans to invest any more daily charges into Kommo-o at this moment.

Armsmaster Notes: Everything said about Subject 4 applies to Subject 3 except with the negatives and positives accentuated. Its disposition makes it a poor squadmate when the situation requires descalation but is a valuable ally when the situation has progressed past that point.

However with its inherent immunities I feel it would be wasted remaining solely in Brockton Bay whose villains it does not have a distinct advantage over. Instead I believe that just like Subject 1 has been assigned as a transferable medic it should be assigned as a strike force against villains possessing sound or projectile based powers such as the Red Choir in Kennet, Rhapsody in New York and Clamshell in Seattle.

If it succeeds in subduing the villain then it grows stronger and if it doesn't the Protectorate gains intel and loses nothing due to Subjects 3 inherent immortality.

On a more personal note Subject 3's immunity to sound based attacks is valuable if able to be replicated by Tinkers and implemented into Dragons drones. If possible this would allow Dragon to no longer be hampered by Slaughter House 9 member Shatterbird freeing allowing Dragon to assist in any future engagements with the Nine.

[Restricted access: Level Four Clearance and above]

Subfolder - Threat assessment: Subject 3 - High threat.

Note: As each monster's threat becomes more exponential and complex the more monsters there are, the full threat assessment of Dawn and her full squad of six manifested monsters are located under her own threat assessment. This document is to address Subject 3 only and will operate under the assumption that Subject 3 is the sole combatant.

Kommo-o's complete immunity to ammunition, containment foam and intercity missiles make it a threat uncontainable by the PRT and must be handled by the local Protectorate.

With a Threat rating of 7 all conflicts with Kommo-o must be done in teams of three at minimum. It is mandatory that the local Protectorate Leader - Armsmaster - must be present when dealing with such a threat.

Unfortunately Kommo-o is completely immune to two members of the local Protectorate powers (Miss Militia, Triumphs), resistant to another's (Dauntless) and outside the scope of one's ability to engage (Velocity) limiting the team of possible heroes to Armsmaster, Assault and Battery.

Local assets are approved to be asked for assistance. The hero team New Wave has three members that are a better match up against Kommo-o (Manpower, Lady Photon and Laserdream) and a reward of up to $25,000 can be awarded in order to gain their cooperation.

If unwilling to assist, heroes from other cities can be assigned to address the threat. If he can be spared, Legend is the ideal Hero to deal with Kommo-o though his assistance should never be assumed as a guarantee.

Without the ability to predict the future Protectorate rosters or other cities' crises a perfect team can not be determined however flying artillery, Aerokentics, Ice generators and Alexandria packages are preferable.

Heroes that possess the power to shunt Kommo-o into another dimension, teleport it away or otherwise temporarily remove it from the battlefield are forbidden from using their powers on Kommo-o - Giving it time to increase its capabilities is not an option.

One member of the squad must always be on the offense against Kommo-o at any given time to ensure that its protective barrier is recharging and prevent it from increasing its capabilities. Confirmation of the protective barrier use must be acquired before any significant attack is launched.

One member of the squad must maintain distance from Kommo-o to prevent all members from being launched away by its tails effect.

If Kommo-o manages to boost its capabilities significantly all Heros are instructed to evacuate, wait for the boost to die down and then continue the fight.