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Literature Text
PMD: Explorers of the Final Frontier
Chapter 192: Coffee Flavoured Russian Roulette
“You’re bluffing!” Dopple exclaimed in aghast upon hearing Ace’s threat.
“Really? You would risk the lives of all your little friends here just to stop the two of us?” Jealousy inquired in disbelief. “Honestly, Ace. I don’t think even you could go that far.”
“Um… Ace…? I really hope you have some sort of plan…” Sunburst squeaked in a tiny, quiet voice, sweating and trembling nervously.
“Maybe I’m bluffing… maybe I’m not… would you like to take that chance…?” Ace responded weakly with a twisted grin and a chuckle bordering in insanity. “So how about it, punks…? Shall we play a little game of coffee flavoured Russian roulette…?”
A painfully long moment of tense silence ensued, until finally, the silence was broken by Dopple shrieking in panic “Screw this! I’m getting outta’ here!!” before transforming into an Accelgor and hastily flying off around the corner out of sight.
Turning back towards Ace after watching her brother flee, Jealousy said coldly “Until next time, sweethearts. I sincerely hope you all can make it out in time.” before shifting into the form of a Pidgeotto and quickly following after the cowardly Dopple.
As soon as they were sure the coast was clear, the eight Pokemon besides Ace in the corridor breathed a sigh of relief. After a moment, Sunburst turned to Ace, and asked in a deadpan tone “Ace, you were bluffing, right…?”
“Maybe…” Ace wheezed with a chuckle and lopsided smirk. “But in all seriousness… I did set up a timed flare in the storage room where I found those barrels of coffee creamer… We have roughly fifteen minutes before this place really does go up in smoke…”
“I think I know the quickest way out of here.” Cutey Punny proclaimed as she gestured for the group to follow her down one of the corridors. “Come on! Let’s hurry!”
As the other eight Pokemon wasted no time in following Cutey Punny’s lead towards to nearest exit of the abandoned JavaCorp factory, they yet again failed to notice a familiar pair of glowing red eyes watching them from around the corner.
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A few minutes later, upon noticing what seemed to be a half open door with light shining through at the end of the corridor the group was now running down, Sandra exclaimed “I think I see the exit up ahead! Everyone keep going, we’re almost there!”
As soon as the nine Pokemon reached the old, rusty metal door that lead out of the building, and trudged a good one hundred meters away from the complex to ensure that they were at a safe distance from the inevitable explosion, Sunburst collapsed down onto her forepaws and knees, panting for breath from exhaustion, and wheezed “We did it… we made it… we’re okay…”
“But with how much time to spare?” Carlos then wondered out loud curiously, turning towards Ace with an expectant look.
At that moment, a loud ‘CRA-PLOOSH’ sound suddenly echoed across the snowy terrain as all the windows, doors, and other weak points in the old, dilapidated factory were blown out by large plumes of searing hot flames, smoke and debris.
“None.” Ace then replied flatly with a deadpan lopsided smirk.
“Huh. For some reason I thought the explosion would be bigger than that.” Pepper commented blankly as she glanced at the smoldering, yet still mostly standing remains of the factory.
After a moment, upon suddenly noticing in the corner of her eye what appeared to be a small jet black helicopter with the crimson Coalition insignia painted on the side in the sky shrinking into the distance, Ginger exclaimed “Hey! That looks like a Coalition helicopter! It must belong to those two mean and nasty Ditto! They’re getting away!”
“Shouldn’t we try and go after them somehow?” Sandra then asked, turning to face Cutey Punny for an answer.
“No, let them go.” The Lopunny heroine disagreed, watching the helicopter disappear into the horizon. “I don’t think they’ll be bothering anyone else for quite a while. They may have escaped for now, but they won’t be able to evade justice forever.”
“And besides, we still need to find a place where we can make repairs to the Renegade so we can get back to the Northern Desert Kingdom.” Lucar then added, before looking down towards Ace. “Ace, you think you’re okay to start making it back to the Renegade now? …Ace, are you okay…? Ace!!”
However, the Pikachu was unable to respond due to being in the middle of yet another violent, bloody coughing fit.
“Oh no!! ACE!!” Ginger cried out in dismay upon suddenly noticing her best friend’s rapidly faltering condition. “Not again!! NOT NOW!!”
Ace could only feebly gurgle and drool blood out the corners of his mouth as his lungs began filling with the metallic tasting red fluid, while his friends frantically argued with each other in a panic over what to do about the situation. As his vision quickly began to blur and his body went numb, the last thing Ace saw before he passed out was a blurry, shadowy figure with glowing red eyes suddenly approaching and standing over him from seemingly out of nowhere.
