The elderly man at the front suddenly halted. An electronic tone began emanating from his headpiece.

"Huh...?"

Flustered, he took a step back, turning towards the others following behind.

"We can't go further from here?"

"No way..."

"You're saying we can't proceed?"

"Yeah...even though it was fine just before."

Silence reigned briefly as the implication sank in. Nobody knew who realized it first, but Reika voiced it aloud:

"Could the area be...gradually shrinking on us?"

"Eh...?"

Sakurai seemed utterly dumbfounded - an expression warranting some playful ribbing under normal circumstances. His companion Sakata wiped sweat from his brow.

"So I guess...we gotta turn back, huh?"

Inaba scratched his head, affecting a too-cool persona yet clearly dismayed by this unforeseen development.

"Hang on...what's with this thing following us around?"

"Oooohhhnn..." Mikaruge drifted closer, drawn to Reika by the conversational flow.

Though bewildered, Reika didn't retreat from the Forbidden Pokemon's nearness. Not that Mikaruge intended any deliberate interference - merely assessing whether her trainer or this human female occupied the greater presence.

Sensing that evaluating gaze, Reika clutched her chest defensively.

"Wh-What's...?"

“It’s ok.” Takeshi made to extend a hand. Mikaruge would have responded neutrally, but the burly man hoisting him quickly restrained the boy's arm, remaining wary of her approach.

Shirona's instructions carried ample room for interpretation. Mikaruge considered assisting these same-suited individuals reasonable. She also fancied herself quite sociable - always excited to encounter new humans, not potential bullying targets.

This time, Sakurai and Sakata particularly piqued her interest for reasons differing from her intrigue towards Kyo. Their brain structures registered as uniquely distinctive, resonating with something in her own consciousness despite her lacking a brain.

Contemplating how to gain intervention approval, Mikaruge struck a pose she thought endearing. She did enjoy garnering attention, not because she wanted more witnesses to her own mischief.

But most had shifted focus elsewhere behind her. Mikaruge redirected herself accordingly.

"Ah, there you are. That's good..." Said Sakurai.

Shirona approached looking somewhat fatigued. "Sorry about that. I was searching for my Pokemon. Things have gotten...a bit strange. I wanted to confirm the situation."

"Everything alright on your end?" Sakurai asked.

"Managing so far, at least. No casualties yet."

Reika mustered an awkward smile. "That's a relief, then..." Her expression soon morphed to shock as the entire Tokyo Team gaped upwards.  The blonde woman they knew as Shirona was inexplicably levitating before them.

"Wh-What the...?" Sakata seemed first to notice, glaring at Mikaruge. "Are you doing this, freak?"

"Ohhhnnn..."

Having already prepared another psychic technique, Mikaruge intended slamming the foe into a wall with Psychokinesis, then following up with Dark Pulse for an overwhelming assault. Going overboard was just right  because this opponent pretending to be Shirona was actually...

"...Fufufu."

The woman chuckled lightly before alighting on the ground, unruffled. Mikaruge reeled momentarily, having lost her restraining hold. But swift realization struck – aside from shapeshifting, the enemy could also wield similar techniques.

Shirona's form distorted, her black suit replaced by a vibrant red kimono with intricate embroidery. While her blonde hair remained, the others clearly recognized this new guise.

"My, what an impressive pet you have there. I'm quite envious."

Mikaruge knew of a Pokemon resembling this entity, despite the fewer tails. Yet something felt profoundly different - an unmistakably malign aura neither human nor Pokemon, an intrinsically aberrant presence her instincts immediately identified.

Now realizing the situation, the Tokyo Team raised their weapons, though the fox-woman remained nonchalant. Extending one delicate finger towards them.

"Onnnne..."

Just a gentle swaying motion, which Mikaruge defensively raised her appendage to deflect any unseen attack. But none came.

"Twooooo..."

Now pointing directly at Mikaruge, the woman's demeanor grew almost wistfully tipsy. A slight upturn of bloody-tinged lips emphasized her widening grin.

Letting her hooded eyelids drift over the entire group one by one. Finally, an exaggerated pout accompanied by a rueful headshake.

"I thought there'd be more of you. What a pity, what a pity indeed."

The mocking gesture stirred a twinge of envy in Mikaruge - that calculated cuteness aligned perfectly with her own aims. Distracted enough for Inaba to momentarily lower his X-Gun.

"What's wrong?"

"Huh...?" Jerking back to full alertness, his hand trembled slightly.

The woman beamed beatifically. "Go ahead? You can shoot if you want. Your choice where to aim."

"A...a monster. We were right..."

The realization clearly dawned on the others too. Not just Mikaruge - they all instinctively sensed this entity's fundamental aberrance, an existence assuredly incompatible with their own kind.

"You sure about that?"

"Definitely..."

"You gonna fire?"

"Not human, that's for sure."

"Sooner's better."

"I'll do it."

Steadying his breathing, Inaba realigned his X-Gun squarely on the woman's face and pulled the trigger. Simultaneous with the muzzle flare, her finger traced an elongated oval pattern.

"You really shouldn't do that, you know?"

"...Huh?"

The fox-woman's jovial tone contrasted sharply with her words. "Defacing a maiden's face like that."

A sharp cracking sound rang out.

Everyone's heads whipped around towards the noise. Inaba looked down a split second later at his own severed arm lying on the ground. The stump was shattered, blood already gushing profusely from the ragged wound.

Screams erupted. Reika tried to hoist up the faltering Inaba, but could only numbly back away with him.

Matching their retreat, the fox-woman began sauntering forward lazily, her five tails swaying in sync. Her eyes had taken on a faintly reddish tinge.

"Ya know, I rather enjoy human stories myself," she mused. Her pupils glowed more intensely.

"Ensemble pieces especially. So delightful, really. The charm lies in the sprawling cast of characters, each pursuing their own agendas before inevitably converging. Don't you find that deliciously tantalizing? I'm putting together one of my own tales at the moment. Handpicking the most intriguing players to savor later, all woven together." A sly grin appeared on her face as she continued, "Which is why..."

"Wh-What? I don't understa-"

The elderly man known as Gramps was staring down at his own body. His suit had become unnaturally taut, straining as if lifting an immense weight despite his empty hands. As though resisting some unseen force.

"Any extraneous bit players get written off," the fox-woman declared with a nod.

Gramps' arms twisted with grotesque snaps. His suit had somehow lost all durability in an instant despite being largely undamaged until now. His arms were torn off in savage jerks, the limbs pulverizing wetly.

The Tokyo Team members froze for a few horrified seconds before fleeing backwards. None understood what had just occurred - they hadn't even been touched, yet were mutilated all the same. In such a hopeless situation, none would dare linger further.

Except for Mikaruge. The Forbidden Pokémon let out a shrill "Ooooohhhhnnn!"

The woman had already prepared her next unseen assault. Mikaruge deflected it by unleashing Psychic combined with Dark Pulse simultaneously. The former neutralized the woman's attack, while the latter slammed directly into her deceptively frail frame, forcing her back a step.

"My, you're rather different from before."

Her momentary distraction from focusing her techniques had allowed that brief counterattack. But Mikaruge reacted too slowly as the woman closed the distance with surprising agility, a dainty foot lashing out to bat the Pokémon aside along with her trailing purple mist.

Sakurai cried out desperately, "No, no! Reika, stop! We can't go on like this...what do we do?"

A ringing sound emanated from their heads, growing louder by the second. If it reached a certain threshold, they would be incapacitated - the penalty for straying out of bounds.

The instant Mikaruge was kicked aside, one figure moved with blinding speed. Kaze, cradling Takeshi, had already blown past the fox-woman untouched by her powers, successfully escaping.

She had clearly noticed, yet made no move to attack. Raising her hands, she swept them sideways mockingly. "Hang in there now."

Boom!

A massive form descended from above.

Kaze skidded to a halt, gently setting down Takeshi as he glared upwards defiantly.

An ogre with four arms landed before them, a single horn protruding from its brow. Grasping an immense sake cup, it raised it to its lips as if toasting their impending demise.

The fox-woman merely glanced back, observing with a slight smile before clapping her hands eagerly.

"Ah, now this I like!"

Even as she spoke, her own body began transforming. Her five tails multiplied into six as her irises took on a golden hue, pupils narrowing to slits.

Flexing claws that had lengthened considerably, she turned her gaze upon the one person left unaffected.

"Ugh!" Sakurai gasped, clutching his dissolving suit.

Gel leaked from the chest cavity despite no visible damage. The suit's durability had simply failed without any apparent strain. More accurately, their suit's meters measuring that durability had been obliterated, shattered outright.

"You'd call that...a Gantz suit failure, wouldn't you?" the fox-woman giggled. "Bit pathetic really, letting such glaring weaknesses show when you're supposedly trying to destroy us..."

"This...can't be..." Reika could only gape numbly at the viscous fluid oozing between her fingers, the others reacting similarly aside from Kaze - his suit alone still functional, seemingly spared for now.

"Survive and you pass," the ogre rumbled, inhaling deeply as its cheeks ballooned outward.

Only Kaze registered the threat, the others too stunned by their instantaneous disarmament to perceive the greater danger looming before them.

"Get down!" he barked.

A torrent of solid projectiles exploded from the ogre's gaping maw. Bone shards and fragmented human remains, accelerated to blistering speeds by its immense lung capacity before slamming into the Tokyo team's ranks.

"Aaaarrgghh!"

Scooping up Takeshi, Kaze sprinted for the nearest building, shielding them as they crashed through.

The others could only stand their ground and weather the lethal barrage head-on. Without their protective suits, the bone shrapnel would tear through their bodies like tissue paper. Yet not one life was lost.

Every shard hung suspended in mid-air, the already-recovering Mikaruge spreading her Psychic influence as widely as possible. Even with her vast power, she could only deflect so much in a single instant.

But she was not alone. Sakata and Sakurai moved to fill the gaps, blood dripping from their nostrils at the exertion of instinctively catching the remaining projectiles barehanded.

"Nice reaction...!" Sakata's gruff approval was tinged with relief as he eyed Sakurai's identical state.

The fox-woman's smile vanished in an instant, eyes blazing. "Well now, isn't this interesting..."

 

 

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