Pokemon Max

Ch. 37 Merry Christmas and Happy...Holidays? Part 2

Ch. 37 Merry Christmas and Happy...Holidays? Part 2

-Exactly 9.5 minutes earlier-

"You mean to tell me that none of them were successful?"

"As far as I know sir. The men in Peru have still not responded." Lucario responded, annoyed with the lack of respect he always received.

"I do not care! You had the most powerful one, and you let it fall into the hands of those CHILDREN!"

Lucario was tempted to just show how powerful he could really be. But he controlled himself. "I apologize. But for now, we must focus-"

A man burst into the office panting. "Sir!"

"Yes?"

"I am from the Peru unit, sir. We were successful in capturing the creature's power. When we were attacked, I was the only one able to escape." He took a deep breath and reached into his bag. "But I return with this." He held a pale orb in his hand, swirling with energy.

It was quickly snatched out of his hand. "Perfect. With this, we can perfect our formula. This can create perfection."

Lucario said nothing, but he was curious.

Soon, the men were installing the orb into a machine, swirling with a gaseous form of their signature virus. A pulse began, and energy struck through the gas, and a swirling ball of energy began to form. "Excellent. Monitor the energy levels."

Meanwhile, behind him, a small box with a thrashing being inside stopped its banging. It focused on all that was said. An idea came to it. It began thrusting towards the ground, until it fell. Its box shattered.

Lucario reacted first, shooting an aura sphere directly towards its chest. It easily flew around it, and before anyone could stop it, it entered the energy vortex.

The machine began to beep frantically as the energy was absorbed. After a while, the creature opened his eyes. He grinned wide, and thrust outwards.

In that moment, a wave of energy from the machine blasted out of the room, striking all the men, Lucario, and his boss. Lucario stood up rather unharmed. However, the men began to twitch violently, and began to contort and change.

"No. No, this cannot be-GRAAAH!!" Lucario fell from the blow to his back. The figure, now fully formed, admired his new form. He walked over to a window. He stared out over the city.

"I'm back. And this time, I'll show them who's got the better claws." Dark Todd announced quietly.

-Where we left off-

We carried Doc to a stretcher, and then panic began.

"What are we gonna do!?"

"What was that? Who could have done that?"

Adrian rushed in, now well on his feet, and asked, "What was that? What's going on?"

"Will everyone just SHUT UP!?!?" Taylor yelled.

We shut up.

"All right, her body temperature has dropped quickly. We need to get her warm, and now. Get everything you can."

After collecting all the blankets and such we could find, Doc was in better shape, and began to wake.

"What...what happened?"

"Doc, you're alright. I guess."

She groaned, and sat up, before noticing what had us puzzled. "What happened to me?"

"We...don't really know." I shrugged.

She managed to walk over to her computer. "I think I know." She pulled up a diagram of something. I honestly had no idea what it was, so I patiently waited for explanation.

"This is a formula I devised in college. It was...essentially the same mutagen we're probably dealing with. But there was one fortunate problem. It required a massive amount of energy to stabilize, and took a highly complicated computer to maintain."

"When I was in college, I had a fellow student. He was always...interested in what I was working on. When I decided to switch colleges to study teaching, I found that my formula had been copied. I assumed the professor wanted it to finalize my results for the course. Now I believe I know who copied it. Marcus."

"Wait, you mean-"

"The reason you've had to deal with all this? Why you are the way you are? It's because of me."

There was silence.

"But this is important. They must have gotten a power source. Why they would just activate it is beyond me."

"What are we gonna do?"

"Since you have already been exposed to its basic stage, you all weren't affected."

"But what about me?" Taylor asked.

"That is what puzzles me. You might have built up an immunity from the presence of the mutagen within Joey. Antibodies of sorts. But you may be the key. If I could sample some of those antibodies, I can use the general structure to develop a cure. To create super antibodies." Doc suddenly grabbed her head and winced.

"Are you alright?" Harper asked.

"Umph...yes. I'm alright. I...I need to act fast, before the mutagen gets too far."

"Well we can't just leave you like this!" Taylor exclaimed, "Someone needs to take care of you!"

"I think I know someone." I jumped in.

"Who?"

"My mom."

"What?"

"Long story. I'll call her, she'll come and keep an eye on you."

"Yes, that's a good idea. In the meantime, you should go out and make sure everyone's alright. Find who's hurt, try to control those who were hit hard."

"You got it." Adrian nodded.

"And Taylor, you should go with them. Seeing a normal person might help calm down those who are losing control."

"Let's go." Joey stated. He had been pretty quiet, and he sounded strong when he said it.

"Yeah." I replied, "Let's go."

-Later-

-3rd POV-

Todd's mom arrived soon after the six left. She found Doc working on the computer furiously.

"I'm here."

"Oh, thanks. It's a good thing you weren't affected. Who knows what-Uh!" Doc grabbed her head as she bent over."

"Are you okay?"

"I-I...the stretcher."

"What about it?"

"You need to put me...on the stretcher. Now..."

"Why, is something-"

"Just...just do it...or else..." She collapsed onto the cold floor.