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Lykas was quickly restrained, rounded up by the S.W.I.P.E. members, shepherded into one of the clearly armor helicarrriers they had brought along for this task of theirs. Lykas kept his mouth shut, for the most part. However, upon noticing at last that Cera and Crystal had been collared, he spoke up. “You might want to take these things off those two.” He noted, trying to point to the two with his tentacles and finding they weren’t properly responding to his commands with the collar on. The lack of his extra limbs was even more unusual than just how corporeal he felt now. So he pointed, weakly, with his dominant left hand, the only part of him that seemed to be vaguely behaving itself. “Cera can’t talk to any of us, you idiots included, if you cut off her Psychic abilities and Crystal… I think she just Blue Screened from these things.” He commented, noting her eyes as she was being loaded onto one of the transports, being unresponsive as she was. “How do you reboot a cat-puter, anyway?” He wondered aloud.

Once everyone had been loaded up and the trip to HQ was begun, he went quiet. What was he doing? Trying his best to figure out if there was any way out of this. If he could get out of this collar, taking control of his helicarrier would be easy with so few of the S.W.I.P.E. members on it compared to the cave earlier. But no matter how hard he tried, the suppression collar was preventing him from tapping into his abilities. As they drew ever closer to HQ, he worried more and more what they would see when they got there. Had these jackoffs already been there? Had the others heard about all this from GRAY and anyone there had escaped ahead of time? Over the course of several hours, the only things that he succeeded at was driving himself mad with worry.

Upon arrival at HQ, he would find the answers to his questions and he wasn’t a fan of any of them. It looked like the HQ’s front door had been practically ripped off its hinges and every square inch he could see as he was ushered inside had been completely and thoroughly ravaged from top to bottom as the interpol agents had completely savaged the building. There were signs of resistance everywhere, making the hybrid worry even more. “Oh gods…” He remarked to himself. Something he did notice, however, was several bodies that weren’t clear if they were alive or not, completely unmoving with what looked to be arrows scattered all around them.

“Odd fought them…” He realized upon seeing that. Those arrows came from Fermata, for sure. “Spirit Shackle.” He noted to himself. It looked like there were other signs of combat from Pokemon he didn’t didn’t recognize so it must have been from GRAY attempting to defend the complex. It looked like there might even be some bits of ice here and there so perhaps Porygon 3 had gotten involved? “Where are they?” He asked himself quietly. He’d get his answer shortly thereafter, as the members captured at the volcano were led into the Super Training Room, clearly decommissioned by the agents that had come to HQ.

“Dada!”

Libelle spotted the hybrid as soon as he entered the room. Libelle had clearly been crying, the baby’s cheeks streaked with dirt and soot. “Odd! Libelle! Are you two ok?!” Lykas cried out, rushing over and embracing the pair.

“We’re fine for now. I can’t say for how long I will be, though.” Odd remarked, looking around for where Lykas’ voice had come from. He stumbled toward as he began to move, having difficulty walking. “I tried to explain that I can’t have my energy cut off by this thing for long but they wouldn’t listen…” He told the hybrid as he pointed to the collar around his neck. “I’m so cold…” He remarked as he handed Libelle to Lykas and shivered, finally. Lykas felt the Channeller’s skin as he took Libelle into his arms. He was ice cold. Taking a closer look, he didn’t see the crescent-shaped sickle that was normally on his hip. “They took your Artifact, too?!”

“Hey! Take the collar off him! He’s dying!” He screamed, demanding attention from someone. “He won’t fight you anymore but he’ll die if you don’t! Why’d you even put it on him in the first place?!”

“Don’t cause a scene, Lykas. These guys made it clear this isn’t a fight. It’s a beatdown and we’re on the receiving end of it. I tried to fight them before I realized who they were.” Odd remarked, quickly moving to calm Lykas a bit. The hybrid noticed then that Odd’s movements were jerkier than normal, as if his body were stiff. “Just… take care of Libelle if I can’t hold on. I have no intention of just giving up, though.”

“Can you even see?!” Lykas asked, placing a hand under Odd’s chin and gently pointing his face at him. Odd’s eyes weren’t the gently glowing red color Lykas had become familiar with over the last year or so but a plain, milking pink color.

“No.” Odd replied, shaking his head. “I can’t see a thing.” He admitted as Lykas guided him toward the wall and sat him down.

“Sit. Let’s warm you up, at least.” He told the Channeller as he set down beside him, holding Libelle. “Did she get a nap before these bastards showed up?”

“No… And given everything that’s happened, I don’t know that she’ll get one…” Odd replied as Lykas sat with him, pulling the Channeller into him and wrapping his arm around him. ‘Maybe not… But both of you deserve a chance to rest. Try and get some for me. I’ll be your eyes and keep you both safe while you do.” Lykas assured gently. “And hopefully I can get someone to take that collar off of you, at least.

Libelle was already proving Odd wrong, snuggling into Lykas’ chest as he held her and starting to nod off almost immediately. By the time the trio was sat against the training room wall, she was sleeping peacefully on his chest with his right arm supporting her while his left was wrapped around Odd in an effort to help restore some semblance of heat to the undead channeler’s body.

~~~

Clare simply sat quiet as the team was rounded up and moved to HQ. Fighting against this felt both pointless and like a waste of energy that would be better spent on cooperation and potentially finding a solution that would be beneficial to everyone. Unfortunately they couldn’t think of anything despite the time it took to be rounded up and transported to HQ. Upon arriving, they would find the Snagem complex to be completely ruined. Clearly these people had been here for a while now. Clare’s lack of attachment to many of the Snagems who might have still been at HQ meant they felt very little beyond confusion and concern for the team as a whole as they were ushered into the training room for further detainment.

They watched those with families, friends or loved ones who had remained behind reunite with them, finding a spot near the door to simply sit down, watch and wait. As they did, they rubbed the Pokeball containing Mirage, who they had recalled when S.W.I.P.E. had first showed up, before surrendering.

“Recall it!” Someone ordered, throwing something into their lap.

“Grunty?! How did you not get back in your ball?!” Clare asked, realizing the thing was their Spoink. She’d somehow managed to stay out of her ball. “Thank you.” The hybrid said as they recalled Gruntilda, stowing both of the Pokeballs at this point. What was going on? Was there anything at all that could be done to get them out of this scenario? Probably not. It reminded them of **that** incident back home. The day they’d been thrown into the Ultra Deep Sea. A day they had neither remembered or thought of in quite some time. There had been very little explanation that day, either.

It was a quieter afternoon at the Snagem headquarters. The team went off to go take care of a mission and that left Doc Owl an opportunity to do some inventory and continue training a Incineroar in nursing and orderly duties just as Orderly before him. His instincts then suddenly alerted him, something that felt odd. A grim feeling that came over him. Before he and the other residents of the headquarters could actually comprehend the potential danger on them, SWIPE invaded. They moved in, practically a swarm of locusts that started to spread out and taking over every corner of the headquarters. It was not long before Doc found himself against several SWIPE operatives in expansion suits. Orderly and Incineroar was ready to stand their ground, an oath of ‘do no harm’ was only going to carry so much weight when lives were being endangered, let alone the doctors. However, Doc seeing the odds against him and the pressures nearby, he did not want to take any sort of chances. He would recall Orderly and Incineroar to their Pokeballs as he was commanded to, then was fitted with a collar. A hybrid he was and no chances were going to be taken, even though the doctor didn’t have anywhere near the strength of most of the hybrids there, let alone the worst he could do was a Hypnosis attack. He’d be escorted to the training room to be kept in confinement with some of the other Snagems that too were swept up in the chaos.

The other rooms were ransacked and looted all in the name of evidence. The most they’d find in Tristen’s room was various pictures of the family sort. Some old school books, perhaps. And an overwhelming smell of dust from where it was unoccupied for the year the Manectric teen had been off schooling in Paldea. Nothing of use or evidentiary value, but try convincing anyone of it. The Articuno hybrids’ tiny haven was probably a little more busy. Apart from their usual effects, they’d find a corner desk the two shared in order to fill out reports and such, most recent being their recent Shadow Pokémon dealings and purification of them. Most standout, on a tiny stand on top of a drawer made in memorial was Hinterbane overlooking the entire room, the artifact-esque sword that had been through its paces over the years, and more than likely if SWIPE has their way, was yet to find rest. Otherwise, the room in general was just found to be another place to lay one’s head.

Doc Owl, as he tried to at the very least adjust the collar that was on him, which practically felt tight and felt as if it wanted to chafe, looked over to see some of the Snagems get carried into the room, in one fashion or another. Freth managed to walk in on her own two feet, not having taken a beating like a good few of the other Snagems have. Me, on the other hand, was effectively thrown in. The SWIPE operatives having to make a concerted effort to carry me in between the damage I took from Kess and the weight of my fire-resistant clothes. Doc would quickly rush over to my side, but then something else caught his attention. He saw just what one of the pressures was coming from. Kess. The doctor would stay silent, completely apprehensive. He already knew on a normal day he wasn’t going to be able to take on Snagems usual threats; to take on someone such as Kess was effectively suicide. Doc wouldn’t respond to Looker's ‘reassurance’ that this was going to be quick and painless. Part of him doubted it, especially if they managed to get the jump on some of Snagem’s toughest in the mission they were in.

“Freth, what is going on?” Doc asked Freth as he tried to look me over.

“Bastards attacked us when we were trying to take care of those Dim Sun guys…no idea why. They talk like they’re some judicial hand of the regions, but we never heard of these guys. And I doubt they’re on the up-and-up, especially if they managed to rope in Kess.” Freth said, rolling her eyes. “And they strapped on these stupid collars on the hybrids to make sure we don’t do anything. I can’t do anything with this thing on. Some of us fought, pretty much just out of defense because they came in on us just right out of the blue, but they managed to blindside us all in the chaos. Its why Blizzard is in the shape he's in now.”

“God, I am ready to beat the hell out of someone for this.” I said, finally working up the strength to sit up.

“Easy, Blizzard. You’re in no shape to try anything.”

“Did they do anything to you? Did they touch you?” I then asked the doctor, angry, but concerned.

“Other than put the collar on me and escort me in here. No, I’m fine, Blizzard. I very well know my limits.” Doc Owl replied. I couldn’t help but to rub my eyes in frustration and fatigue.

Sol and Amaranth had been entirely silent throughout their respective rides back to HQ. Cera too, not that she had a choice in that matter.

Inside, whatever was left of their rooms would be in shambles. Amaranth's would be the closest to a basic room anyone might've had, with little more than base amenities. Some decoration was present, especially with recent pictures of her contest escapades. Otherwise, there was little in the way of evidence, especially as someone who tended to keep her artifacts on her.

Sol's would be comparatively far more damning, being the home for at least one of the affectionally-called conspiracy boards. Specifically, one that had been dedicated towards his and a few others' efforts to figure out where the hell Aden had ended up after his disappearance in Kitakami a year ago. Apart from that were papers and books strewn about for one topic or another, either from Shadow Pokemon when he was off dealing with them, or on ancient topics almost surely driven by what he saw with Aile and Reno back in the Asado Desert. An empty stand would be found on a wall, a resting place for Arcoiris when he didn't need to have it on him. But, they already had that blade, they wouldn't need to collect it twice.

Finally, Cera's room, pink as it was, would see a lovely new coat of scuffs and marks and cuts and whatever else S.W.I.P.E. deemed necessary to get what they wanted. No plushie was safe either, as every last one of them was torn apart and destroyed just in case anything was hidden in them other than fluff. There wasn't, but that meant little in the name of evidence. What was left of a bed was also in tatters and left destroyed just as well for the same reasons, and there's no telling what fate would befall a certain book Sub had made for her, especially as it very well could be used against her and the team if it was the kind of evidence they were looking for.

The only quick and painless end today were memories and any semblance of anywhere to go.

As each of them were ushered into the remains of the Training Room, now the team's collective jail cell, Sol gave a hard sigh. "The only thing any of us is beating right now is sand, and we don't even get sand to pound," he remarked, sitting on the floor seeing as there was nothing better to do. The others might notice his feathers had grown quite dull in the trip back, his abilities well and truly diminished. "Even so, Reno. Tsuki. All of you. I'm sorry for my display back there."

Amaranth would be busy trying to get some sort of purchase on the cage Cera was still in, having all but been tossed in too, only for Sol to raise an arm.

"Don't. You won't be getting through that if it's anything like the ones Ein loved keeping his experiments in, including her."

"But-"

Sol would glance over at the cage, Cera battered inside from how she was handled and giving little more than a listless, tearful stare. "I'd like to get her out too, but we're not doing that without the key. We're best off if we just hurry up and wait."

Amaranth looked away and sighed, deciding to keep herself near the cage. "What did we do to mess up this bad...?"

I sat there trying to recover from the beating from Kess, left to stew in trying to plot something. Anything. Every last Snagem knew the headquarters backwards and forwards; hell at one time, even had to go into air ducts just to clean out Joltik and a Galvantula that would eventually become Tristen’s. They were on our turf, pushing us around. We should be the ones with the advantage here. But with the lot of us pretty much wrecked from the mission, the operatives watching every last move and taking no chances, never mind who they have in their arsenal, it just wasn’t coming to me at all. Never mind that with the non-combatants in the headquarters such as Doc, no one could risk putting them in any danger. It was frustrating.

I watched as they would take Sub out of the training room, staring in confusion for a moment. Apparently, they were going after the leader first. Hopefully he could get out of them in some way what the hell was going on. Maybe it could give us some idea as to how to move. All I could do was bide my time, sit there near by Freth and Doc. What else could we do? Any move and it was probably bound to level this headquarters where we stood. Frankly? At this point it didn’t feel like too bad of an idea with how ticked off I was. As I sat there, I took notice to Freth trying to meditate, which I was left to wonder if that did anything for her now since she had that collar on. At best, maybe she could try to convince Eris in giving her two cents as to how to get out of this or if she knew anything on these people that decided to ruin our day.

We all would look up towards the door as Sub made his way in. It did feel like some sort of eternity with him being gone, but he looks more pissed off than how he came in. I was hoping that he would have some sort of answer once he got in, but unfortunately that was not going to come to me right away. Looker started asking for me. I couldn’t help but to sigh out in disgust. Personally, I knew Looker from my times traveling on the hunt for Freth well back in the day. Well, more like acquainted. Had a couple of run ins with the guy. While he gives off the air of seriousness and dedication to his career, he came off to me severely tin-foil hatty with his investigation tactics and whatnot. Frankly, all I could imagine right now was having this kind of authority was giving him a hell of a power high. I stood up, pushing myself up, having recovered at least that much to do that on my own now. A temptation ran over me just then. I was fairly confident, even collared, I could take out these two. Unfortunately, there was still Kess, who would probably take me out without a second thought, which I had no chance against. I glanced back at Freth and Doc for a moment, followed by Sub, convincing myself that was a bad idea. I’d just go with the flow for now. I just needed to wait and assess. A time to retaliate would show itself eventually…I just had to wait.

“Sorry, pal, don’t have any spare change for the gratuity; thanks for holding the door though…” I said to WHITE, the oversized bell hop, as I followed Looker out of the training room. He wasn’t intimidating me in the slightest. I honestly fought worse.

I followed Looker off, being tailed by Agent WHITE. I took glances, taking note to the other SWIPE operatives practically ransacking the place, on the hunt for anything, taking nothing for chance. I couldn't possibly imagine what they'd be looking for, but whatever it was, they were sure that we had it or had done it. Whatever it was, that is. Everything that I see was going to be relevant, as far as I knew. Perhaps later when we were all together, we could figure out what they were after. As I continued on, I took notice to where we were going. We were going off to our rooms...which I found odd, until it started to make sense. We were going into Sub's office. Oh, God, well, at least that's part of the reason why Sub was pissed off when he got back.

When I made my way in, I took notice to this room effectively being stripped bare. It was as if Sub never laid claim to this room. They took practically everything short of his desk and a couple of chairs. Also here, I noticed, was Kess, once again assured they were not wanting to take any chances with me in particular. Collar or no. Just wait, I could only tell myself. The moment will come. Don't do anything stupid. Just find out what the hell they're trying to do.

I would take a seat across from Looker, glancing at Kess more so than Essentia. Frankly, if not for the collar, she wouldn't have been a threat either. Looker would only needed to have asked Toren why. It was Kess that was the bigger issue to me. That I knew of, she single-handedly outclassed every last person in this building right now. Though I'd be lying if I didn't wonder how and when she decided to throw in her lot with this SWIPE bunch. Then again, this spiky, yellow feathered harpy's standards were as loftier than a Pidgey feather when a paycheck was involved. It probably wasn't important; she's here and she's going to be a massive thorn in everyone's side.

I looked over towards Looker as he started to address me, crossing my arms. What kind of question was that? How long have I been with Snagem? "Really? This is what you're starting with? Oh my God, you know how long I've been around." I told Looker, irritation present. It wasn't any secret. The moment the rangers caused havoc those years ago and got me introduced to Miles and the other Snagems at the time was the day I was with Snagem and even though there was that two week-ish gap when I left them, I was right back in when Ciphers came to Mahogany that fateful night which got me introduced to Sub. That was well within Pokemon League records that wasn't private record, something Looker easily could have looked up, as it were. This was effectively insulting. "Mind stopping with the foreplay and get to the relevant stuff? Like why you decided to come in, stop us from trying to stop those Dim Sun guys from setting off that volcano in their search of that Red Gem thing something-or-other, and blindside us all."

"Agent WHITE?" Looker said as he looked to the giant of a man and then towards Essentia. The next thing anyone knew Agent WHITE was holding Essentia's fist and firmly lowered it, whether or not she wanted to. Type: Null was also now standing in the corner of the room, staring. "No need to resort to violence, Essentia. I'm sure our fine blue feathered friend here will be very cooperative." Looker said as he looked back towards Blizzard. "Agent WHITE? You may return to your post." He continued, the helmeted man would then let go of Essentia.

"Now then, Mr. Blizzard, I assure you all my questions are relevant and I assure you I have plenty of questions concerning Snagem's relationship with Dim Sun but first thing is first; confirm for me when you first joined Team Snagem, please. And since I'm on a schedule here and have many others to speak with, Mr. Blizzard, I'll bring up my next topic; the Black City incident. Tell me a little bit about what happened that day, what did you do, specifically?" Looker asked the hybrid, hands folded on the desk as he tried to be as polite as possible.

I have to admit. I couldn’t tell anyone the last time I have ever been slapped like that. Considering that she pretty much put the expansion suit behind it, perhaps never. Worse, I’m imagine it was that the collar made it hurt a little worse than I imagined it being. That was a bit heftier than I would have given it credit for, indicated as I ended up moving my beak around, giving a feel around my jaw as well as Agent WHITE and Looker made her back down. “Strike one…” I said silently to myself. I wasn’t going to forget it, at least.

Once Essentia’s temper was quelled for the time being, Looker was insistent on staying the course. Additionally, he started to question about Black City, which still didn’t make any sense to me. They felt random, getting into the history of Snagem and for that matter, it was still things they should already know, which is bothersome. Whatever, I’ll just humor this for now. “I joined Snagem roughly eight…nine years ago at this point. Joined up with Miles around that summer, fought that iteration of the rangers at that time, left Snagem for about a couple of weeks, came back when Cipher operatives came in and nearly ruined Mahogany town with a chi machine, haven’t left again since, in spite of a lot a lot of self-debate otherwise over the past year.” I said, sitting back in the chair. Man, this was ridiculous. And right at the moment, they were holding cards close to the chest. Except Essentia. War crimes? Bully nations? On who? Everything that we have done was no secret, even during our war with Ein and Lysandre. If nothing else, we’ve bent over backwards just to humor whatever bureaucrat. It was why we ended up staying around in Paldea as long as we did. And even then, the worst that was done was Freth going on her own into Area Zero and blew open a closet that Paldea had which was loaded with a lot of proverbial skeletons and even then, and even then to keep the peace, we didn’t blow the whistle on them even though we were well within our right to. It didn’t make any sense.

Now to humor these guys about Black City. Not really sure what I could tell them other than what I did. Though this was ridiculous, we already been through this after our final fight with Ein. That crap lasted weeks, even, and we’re having to go through this again? “As for Black City, ended up fighting a bunch of Team Flare grunts, dropped a Sheer Cold attack on a bunch of them to stop their advance deeper into the city, broke off to go track down Lysandre, ended up getting stopped by his second in command, Malva, the very same so-called Kalosian ‘celebrity’ and Elite Four. Took her out of commission, where she would eventually end up in whatever prison she’s at in Kalos. Finally managed to track down Lysandre and left him to die to his hubris by means of the Zygarde he had under his control.” I said. “Can’t really say I miss the b*****d, though. He tried to play everyone for fools, even Ein, oddly enough.”

"I hope you have a taste for prison food, convict." Essentia hisses, cutting in again as she slams her hands down on the desk, rattling Looker's notes and pencil as she puts herself face to face with Blizzard. "Because for attempting to murder an Elite Four member like you did in Black City alongside all of the other terrible crimes you're hiding and falsehoods you're spitting, I hope they shackle you and your friends in the dark for a long, long time." Her visor is nearly nose to beak with him, unbroken eye contact even straight through the helmet.

"I hate to say it, Blizzard." Kess chimes in from where she had been leaning, perfectly silent until now with her arms crossed. "But I tend to agree with her. After all we've been through, after the literal war we fought together, I cannot believe you all would hide all of those... things from me." Her voice quavers coming out of the needle-shaped beak, scrunching up in disgust. "SWIPE's paying me, sure, but for the things you all have done... I'd have done it for free."