In Honolulu, a woman watched several screens within a small room. The room was large and open, with padding within the center, and a boxing ring in the corner. The woman was wearing tight black workout pants and a thin green t-shirt made to be easy to move around in, her long black locks gathered behind her head by a green strip of cloth. Her left eye was chocolate brown. Her right eye was a deep emerald color. She made for a striking figure.
She was looking at six holographic screens, each as large as a flatscreen tv, eyes flickering between them at immense speed, so fast it was hard to believe she was paying attention to any of them at all.
On one of them was footage of a man sitting in an office, reading files and making changes to various documents. Those who had watched the news recently would have recognized him as Samuel Mokoa, an FBI agent. She stared at him with a blank expression on her face before her eyes flickered to the next screen.
There sat a series of graphs displaying various numbers, some climbing, others lowering. Another screen below showed a calendar and schedule. She barely glanced at those. Instead her vision moved to the last three screens.
On one sat footage of a small blue creature. Mudkip, though she did not know his name. She watched it display super-strength, speed, and control over water and ice. On another, Mimikyu controlled the shadows to destroy a van. And on the last, the half-naked form of Kahu Kiaʻi, as the media called him, was throwing a man into the harbor.
She slowly smiled as she watched the screens before her, teeth flashing. She almost seemed to dance in place, eyes filled a sort of innocent joy.
"My lady?"
The woman looked over her shoulder. A man was standing there, wearing a pink polo shirt. He stood at attention with the discipline of a soldier.
"Tye," she said. "Have you seen such wonders in your life?"
The man quirked an eyebrow. "We live in an age of… similar, wonders."
"Not in Hawaii," she looked back at the screens. "Not in direct opposition to us. A being of such strength and power… And we face three."
"They are a problem we must deal with, I agree."
"A problem?" she blinked, as though the thought hadn't occurred to her. "Ah, Tye. Such a pragmatist."
"It is why I was hired," he moved until he was about a foot behind her and to the right. "What do you see then, my lady?"
"A chance for the Silicon Dragons to come out of our rut," she shook her head. "We have, ever, been only as strong as the enemies we face. But in my lifetime, we've never been forced to rise to our full potential. Always holding back, always made to limit ourselves. Like a katana used to cut vegetables."
"I would rather we weren't forced to bring more attention than we need upon ourselves," Tye said slowly.
"We will see if that becomes necessary," she reached a hand out, pressing it upon the image of Kahu roaring. "...Tell our people to begin accessing our superhuman assets. Find a way to allow our people to combat this threat directly. Our resources at the aquarium should have a line on that."
"It will be done, my lady," Tye said respectfully. "One of our hired assassins intercepted a report that someone is attempting to capture Kahu. Either he will succeed, or Kahu will defeat him."
A win either way then. "Who is the assassin?"
"Sidearm."
"...Wait, who?" she turned to look at Tye, befuddled.
"I think he's an old friend of Bobby? Very confident at least."
She thought about that, then dismissed the thought. Either it would work or it wouldn't. In the meantime…
"Grab a staff, Tye," she strolled over to the center of the room. "I wish to train."
Tye sighed overdramatically, taking off his polo shirt and walking over to grab a bo staff off the wall. She stood and waited. He ran for her, spinning the staff like a baton and aiming for her face. She ducked it, then sidestepped another blow, front flipped over another to land on his head, and backflipped away when he tried to shake her away.
Tye swung the staff at her as she landed. She chopped her hand forward at a point just in front of his hands on the staff.
Crack!
She grabbed the half of the staff that flew upwards as Tye stumbled, kicked his feet out from under him, and brought the staff around to hit him in the temple with brutal force. He lay there, insensate, as she sighed.
"No challenge," she looked at the screens again. "...Will you change that, Kahu?"
Then she looked over at Sam. Someone had opened the door to his office. Well, what was happening there?
Sam Mokoa
Sam, unknowing of the camera currently watching him, blinked at the man who had entered his office. "What?"
"Kahu, he took down another gang," the man said. "I just heard from my vice guy. I texted you the address."
"God damn it!" Sam spat out, standing quickly and ripping his suit jacket off his chair, grabbing his badge and phone as he ran. "Thanks, Matt!"
Sam went to his car, thinking furiously. One day. Less really. Last night, he'd taken down a group. Today, another group? What the hell was the kid doing, trying to destroy all of Hawaii's gangs in a week?
He took his phone out in his car and took a look at the details. Police officers had cordoned off the warehouse and arrested several suspects, one of which had been wearing a super advanced armor of some sort. Which had exploded into smithereens one minute after it had been taken off of him, thankfully only destroying the vehicle it had been placed in.
Sam's car took off from headquarters at high speed.
On arriving at the warehouse, he almost sighed in relief at the lack of reporters. Why he couldn't just solve cases and put away criminals without dealing with the media, Sam didn't know. Every PR person Sam knew, knew he was bad with the media. So why did the same PR people keep having him talk to reporters? Or worse, getting ambushed by reporters.
At least today, he could focus on his work. He parked his car and stepped out, looking around. Just a simple warehouse. Nothing too crazy, besides the dozens of police vehicles parked outside. He walked up to the yellow tape at the door to the warehouse, taking out his badge and holding it out. "Sam Mokoa, FBI."
The officer guarding the door glared at his badge for a moment, then relaxed, nodding and lifting the yellow tape. Sam leaned under it, walking in. The second he was inside, he could see what had happened.
The place looked like a truck had been driven through it. Metal shelves and equipment were strewn about in pieces, enough that it crunched under his shoes as he walked. What the hell had happened here?"
"Hey," a man in a black suit walked up quickly to him. "You're Sam, right?"
"Yeah."
"Thank god," the man held out his hand, shaking Sam's. "I'm Detective Bris. I gotta tell ya, I'd usually be mad about a Fed taking my case, but I'm glad someone else is taking this bullshit off my hands."
"...Wonderful for you. What have you got?"
"Like I said. Bullshit," Bris turned and walked, Sam following him. "This place was bought by a shell corp of a shell corp, standard practice for guys like Adam."
"Adam?"
"Mid-tier criminal. Not exactly Al Capone, but he was the guy other guys go to for new identities, fake documents, connections to other bad guys. Nothing we could really nail him for, but we all kind of knew what he was doing. This though? This is nothing we would have expected from him."
They reached what must have been the center of the warehouse. There was a filing cabinet with a big melted hole near the top, a desk that had been shattered to pieces, a kitchen sink just randomly sitting there.
"We found a bunch of guys with illegal weapons there, there, there," Bris pointed at yellow markers across the room, going over how many people had been there. "All alive. Oh, and one guy there," Bris grinned. "Who squeaked that he was willing to tell us everything if we took him to the hospital to treat his coconuts first."
"Genital trauma, got it," Sam said, Bris' smile falling at the lack of humour in Sam's voice. "And the man with the armor?"
"The stubborn maniac? Yeah, that guy just keeps on saying his name is Sidearm. He also talks like a damn comic book villain. All, 'we'll rue the day!' and crap like that. We can't find his real name anywhere, and it looks like he's a relative unknown. We've sent his image out to try and get him identified. As for his tech…" Bris sighed. "We aren't trained for this kind of thing. I know Gotham, Metropolis, other cities, they've got procedures for how to deal with unknown tech. But we almost hurt our guys today from an explosion. We just aren't equipped for sci-fi shit."
Sam looked over at him. And saw some of the frustration that had filled him once before, a long time ago. The frustration of knowing that something was going on that you didn't know how to deal with. That your safe little world had been intruded on.
"What did they say? The prisoners? Description of the superhuman? Of the animals that help him?"
"Kahu Kiaak?" Bris said, mangling the last word a bit. "Yeah, a bit. Sidearm ain't talking, but Adam and his boys said a few things. A kid, spoke some Arabic, medium build and height, maybe sixteen? They described new animals though. An ugly and short gray man with a big nose carrying an I-beam. And a baby T-rex made out of rock. Uh, we checked them for drug use. They were clean."
...There were more of them.
"But they also knew the guy that Kahu came in with."
"What guy?" Sam asked. He felt a bit of hope rise in him.
"A guy named Kalini ʻŌpūnui," Bris smirked. "He has an apartment. And you won't believe where his boat is docked.
Bris explained. Sam listened. And after a long moment, he began to smile.
Finally. A lead.
Mahmoud Schahed/Kahu Kiaʻi
"...You seriously look like the alien version of a Chinese kung fu master," Kalini said, staring at Alakazam with wide eyes.
"I'm sure you mean that as a compliment," Alakazam said pointedly, his spoons floating around him.
"I just-" Kalini shook his head. "I'm gonna go back to eating."
"That may be for the best," Alakazam said.
As Kalini tried to eat his shock over Alakazam's sudden appearance, Gurdurr had the floor. He spoke confidently, explaining step by step what he needed to Giovanni. "Gurdurr. Gurdurr. GURDURR. Durr," he sighed. "Gurdurr."
"I'm not sure I can guarantee all of what you're looking for," Giovanni said while leaning back in his seat. "But at the least, the power tools and various materials are feasible. More so than his, at least," he said with a thumb towards Alakazam, who smirked at that.
"Wait, you understand all that?" Kalini asked, picking up some barbequed pork and dipping it in gravy.
"Pokemon language is actually really easy to understand after a while," I told him. "It's mostly body language and inflection. Keep in mind, Pokemon don't automatically understand English, but they can understand what we're saying because of our natural body language and inflection as well."
Huh. Wonder if Cassandra Cain was born yet?
"Interesting, the things you three are requesting," Giovanni said, looking between us innocently. "As though you're not simply trying to survive, but rather building a base. One of some size. With interesting power requirements."
"I'm Doomsday prepping," I said, holding back my hysterical laughter at the thought.
"And I don't suppose you'll tell me where you're building this base."
Alakazam, Gurdurr, and I all stared at him. Giovanni chuckled. "Such a hostile young man. Has anyone ever told you that you're quite paranoid for a young man?"
"Has anyone ever told you there is a four-eyed demon out there trying to impregnate a woman to create an apocalypse kid?"
I think, for the first time, I'd actually said something that surprised Giovanni. He blinked at me. Then he looked at Deadshot and Kalini. Deadshot didn't reply, while Kalini just looked at me.
"No. I can't say anyone has ever said something like that to me," he said slowly.
"Well that's somewhere in the mid-tier of things I'm worried about in the world. So forgive me if I keep a couple of secret bases. Also, you should do the same," I said, thinking I might as well throw him a bone.
"I will keep that in mind," then Giovanni looked off to our right. He smiled. "Ah. Back from your exercise, are we?"
We all looked over in the same direction. A panther walked over to us. Well, it looked like a panther at least, or a lion, somewhere in the middle in terms of size and build. He was a few inches shorter than Gurdurr actually. His fur was luxuriously soft looking, a pale desert sand color. Each side of the feline's face had three long thick whiskers. And in the center of his forehead, just above two red slit eyes, was a large red gem that seemed to glow with it's own inner light.
"...Persian," I said, watching the cat stroll around. "I didn't know you had one. You didn't use it against-"
"Elio and Selene?" Giovanni held out a hand, Persian pressing his head against the man's palm. "Well, Persian was home, relaxing. I felt no need to force him into battle. Perhaps, if I had brought him, I wouldn't be here."
Not likely. Even if he had beaten the Alolan kids, Red would have chomped at the bit to take him on. But still… this wasn't good.
"Alakazam," my psychic-type whispered softly.
Persian lazily looked around. Calm and relaxed. Like he wasn't the strongest fucking thing in Honolulu. This Pokemon was powerful. Strong in a way only a few Pokemon I'd ever seen matched. Strong enough to withstand and return blows with Legendaries.
"Persian?" he said slowly. Then he gave me a slow, smug, smile. He looked over at Gurdurr.
Gurdurr met eyes with the normal Pokemon, a Pokemon of a type he had a natural advantage over. Then he looked away.
"Ty," Tyrunt growled.
Deadshot was bad enough. Persian was a trained and experienced fighter, way above the level of my team.
We needed to train. To get stronger. Because I had a feeling that if this was how powerful Persian was, strong enough for me to feel it like a glance, any other Pokemon he had would be the same or worse.
"Gurdurr, was that everything you wanted?" I asked.
"...Gur," he mumbled. His knuckles were tight on his I-beam.
"Per?" the feline mocked. He let out a small sound like a laugh, raising a paw to lick it as he eyed Gurdurr.
Gurdurr grit his teeth at the blatant insult. I placed a hand on his shoulder and focused my gaze on Giovanni. "We need training."
"Oh?" he chuckled. "Is that so?"
"You want us to be your 'Heroes for Hire', taking down the gangsters you point at? We need to be strong enough to fit the role," I said. "That means my Pokemon and I need to get stronger. I want a teacher in martial arts, weapon usage, that kind of crap. And they need resources to keep at the top of their game."
Giovanni rubbed his chin with his left hand, his right rubbing Persian's neck. It was like watching a Bond villain pet his mountain lion. I knew what he was going to say before he said it.
"I'm not sure how much I want to help you get stronger. After all, you've made it clear you only want to work for me in the short-term. To help deal with a problem we both have, and obtain the resources to deal with that problem," he raised an eyebrow. "But you are requesting help with something much more… shall we say, long-term, than I may want to help with. I will need extra incentive for all my generosity."
"...Well? You gonna say it, or keep being all mysterious?"
"I'm tempted to keep my mystery," he said with a smirk. "But very well. I want your permission to use your image."
"What?" I asked, honestly befuddled now.
"Your image," Giovanni said. "Kahu Kiaʻi and his monsters are becoming quite popular. As time goes by, any person who owns the rights to your image can sell merchandise. Do you know how much money people make off superhero merchandise and licensing rights?" Giovanni chuckled. "Honestly, some seem to waste it. That Wayne fellow seems to use the money from the Justice League's merchandise for some charity or another. But giving me the rights to your image will help mitigate the costs of aiding you quite a bit. Maybe I'll even make a profit. In fact, I can give you some money in royalties!"
He laughed boisterously after that, Persian chuckling along with him. Quite a pair, those two.
"I'm tempted to say no," Alakazam said in my mind. "But we don't have the resources to take advantage of any image like that. And we do want his knowledge and money. It's a more than fair trade."
"Fuck it," I said as though I was making a rash decision. "Sure man. I'll sign whatever you need to make that happen. Just need my fake ID first."
"Kid, are you sure-" Kalini said.
"Actually, he's my manager," I said, Alakazam pushing the suggestion towards me. I pointed at Kalini. "So I want you to make sure any money I get goes through him. I want Kalini to be a rich bastard, got it?"
"My favorite kind of bastard," Giovanni looked at Kalini, positively tickled at the look of shock and awe on Kalini's face. "Ah, young man, you're more fun than I expected."
"You should invite me to parties," I said as dryly as I could.
"I'll take you up on that," Giovanni smirked. "Then I suppose this is the beginning of a partnership. Let's not kill each other in the meantime gentlemen," before we could respond to that, he took out a business card from his suit pocket. "In the meantime, this is my address in Hilo."
Hilo!? He'd been living that close this whole time? ...Arceus had incredible aim.
"If you end up not being able to find me," he said, passing Kalini and I a card each. "Then just look for the tallest building in the city."
"The Restaurant Royale!?" Kalini yipped. "I love that place!"
"I appreciate it. My staff and I work hard to make it the cream of Hilo's crop," Giovanni said with all the modesty of the Persian currently in his lap. That is to say, none. "Dinner will be on me. Shall we say, tomorrow?"
"I uh," Kalini rubbed his chin. "I think I can make it there. Might take a bit."
"If need be, you can take my helicopter."
Kalini looked like he'd been hit with one too many shocks in one day.
"Yeah, fine. See you at your place with whatever lawyers you need to make this official. Have ID for me if you can," I said with a sigh that came from deep in my soul.
"Of course. I am a man of my word."
"In your Pokeballs, now guys," I said across the mental link.
Gurdurr disappeared in a flash, though Tyrunt took a second. The little dino glared at Persian. Then he raised his claw to point them at Persian, then roughly at his eyes. "Tyrunt."
Persian and Giovanni blinked. I hid a proud grin. And Tyrunt disappeared into his Pokeball.
"Defiant little one, isn't he?" Giovanni said, an amused smirk on his face, while Persian was more annoyed.
"He's a spunky kid, yeah. Come on Kalini," I looked at Deadshot. "See you Lawton. Hopefully not on the bad end of a rifle."
"We'll see."
Scary fucking-
Kalini and I rushed out of there.
Kalini and I entered his car later.
"Kid… he-"
"Kalini, get us a mile away, please, and I'll talk while we move."
"On it," he started driving, glancing from me to the road. "So that guy. He's an alien like you?"
"Yeah. From the same world. But I'm a chump. He's one of the most famous criminals in the history of my world. The kind of guy who gets taken down by my world's equivalent of the Justice League."
"What does that make you, Junior League?" Kalini mumbled.
"No, it makes me the average tough guy on the street," I sighed. "Well, maybe a bit tougher. But the kinds of guys who Giovanni would take on were way above my level. Even if he doesn't have his strongest asset," images of Mewtwo ripping me in half filled my mind for a moment. "He's a powerhouse."
"...This is good then."
I looked up at Kalini, surprised. "How so?"
"Look, I know he's a bad guy. Maybe really bad. He ever kill anyone? Rape anyone, anything really horrible?"
"No. He's got power, but he's more a thief and corrupt businessman, bit of a Mafia Don too. Any physical fighting was always, well… I mean, he would push around innocent people, but he never tortured anyone. He's bad. But he's not Gotham bad, if you get me."
"Oh, I do," Kalini shuddered, before returning to his point. "But kid, maybe you're looking at this the wrong way. He's bad. But I know the Silicon Dragons. And they have some real evil fucks working under them," he said sadly. "And I know you don't trust this guy. We don't need to trust him though! We need a common enemy! We've got that!"
I thought about that, which Kalini seemed to take as reason to continue. "I don't know about you kid, but I don't want to run from the Silicon Dragons my whole life. If you do the hero thing, with this guy backing you up, maybe we won't have to run. Maybe we can win."
"Win, huh?" I whispered to myself. Work with Giovanni. Not trust him. But work together, against guys who had been causing us both trouble. And use his resources to begin the portal project. That had… appeal.
"Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense."
Still. Might be good to begin preparing. Just in case Giovanni decided to turn on us.
Kalini ʻŌpūnui
Kalini sighed as he walked down the dock towards his boat, the sun long since gone. It had been a hell of a day.
God. How was it possible to get in trouble for being too generous and too greedy? When he'd first seen Mackmon, he'd thought he was another tourist kid, way in over his head. So he decided to help. And maybe get some money out of it. Sure he'd fleeced the kid a bit, but only a bit! He'd still gone out of his way, even taking the kid fishing!
And now he was managing a superhero about to engage in a war with the Silicon Dragons.
All he wanted to do was sleep now, but he had to rush to Hilo. He'd offered the kid a ride, but Mackmon said he had other plans.
Hilo. Weird, how the place where all this started was where he'd go back to. The god's messing with a poor native boy, that's how his mom always put it.
As he approached his boat, ready for a long night trip, something a smuggler like him had done a few times, a light suddenly hit his face. Kalini staggered back.
"Hey! What the hell!?" Kalini said, raising his arm to block the brightness.
"Kalini? Kalini ʻŌpūnui?" a voice that sounded like it came from a throat used to gargling gravel said.
"Yeah?" Kalini said hesitantly. Oh god. Was this the dragons?
The light lowered. And Kalini suddenly wished it was the dragons instead, as a very familiar badge flashed.
"Sam Mokoa, FBI," a gruff man said. He looked very unfriendly. As did the six SWAT guys and girls carrying big guns behind him. Kalini felt, rather than heard, a few more cops come up from behind him. "I'm afraid I need to take you in for questions."
"...And if I said, warrant?" Kalini said weakly.
Sam smirked, the expression unsettling on his gruff face, and lifted a slip of paper.
"Well officer, I guess I'm happy to cooperate," Kalini said as happily as he could, holding his hands up to the back of his head.
As someone came up to him and took out handcuffs, telling him his rights, Kalini mentally sighed. The kid, thus far, was not worth the trouble he brought. But then, this was his fault. Too greedy and too generous.
On a rooftop half a mile away, a man watched through a red scope as Kalini was taken in by an excessively armed number of cops. While he was pushed into a van, he touched a finger to his ear, a ring coming through before it was answered.
"Mr. Lawton," Giovanni said.
"No Dragons Boss. But the cops hauled off the fat man." Deadshot said. "Want me to get him out?"
Giovanni was silent for a moment. Then he chuckled. "No. No, I believe I'll go a different route. But watch over them. I'd rather the dragons didn't take advantage of his incarceration for an easy kill."
Deadshot nodded. Just as he did, he noticed something. Someone was looking in his direction.
Not quite. But the FBI agent, Sam Mokoa. He was staring in the general area of Deadshot, spanning his eyes across the tops of the buildings with a deep frown. With another scowl, Sam turned away.
"Huh. He's good," Deadshot mused.
"I'm sorry?" Giovanni asked.
"Just assessing possible threats sir. Same as always."
Author's Note: Hope having a glance at other perspectives was fun for you guys. Next chapter, a look at how Kalini and Sam's first meeting goes, as well as a deeper look at Sam's past, then Kahu gets more annoyed at Giovanni. Soon enough, a solo adventure for one of the members of this narrative.
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