Hello, everyone! :D This fic is the result of a new idea I came up with while browsing through a couple other fanfics. My plotline is still a little shaky right now, but I really wanted to get this story started. ^^
Um… there isn't really too much to say at this point, I guess. xD I just hope that you'll enjoy the first chapter! :D
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Even when the darkness comes and takes us in its hold,
Even if the world will start to fall apart in cold...
We'll keep on fighting so we'll see that dawning of new light.
(...Even if we never quite break through this endless night.)
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Ch 1 : Preparations for Project X -Last Stage
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The crisp night air was freezing, freezing to the point that even a layer of frost covered the grass in the dark forest. Shadows flitted amongst the trees like ghosts, taunting those dry swirling leaves caught in the mercy of the wild winds. The wane light of the frail moon only served to mark a pale, desolate form, hovering alone in the cold heavens above.
[Prepare to enact phase one. Repeat: Prepare to enact phase one. Over.]
I brushed off one of the flying brown leaves from where it had caught in the furred hood of my black leather jacket, the sleek black glove on my hand not reflecting one bit of light in the eerie darkness. A few strands of scarlet hair blew out from under my hood, and I quickly tucked it back in.
We didn't need anything to would give away our position right now. We couldn't afford to blow our cover, not at this point.
My back pressed tightly to the rough bark of a tree, I twisted my neck and peered out at the research building below us again. Its location at the edge of a forest instead of being in one of the big cities would eventually become its undoing.
Never once taking my eyes off from the silvery building, I unhooked the walkie-talkie clipped to my waist and raised it to my lips.
"Orders have been received. Waiting for signal to begin. Over."
There was a brief spell of silence before it was broken by a static noise again.
[Epsilon Squad has initiated phase one. Over.]
"That means we're next," I muttered under my breath, turning back to face the others hiding amongst the forest foliage with me. Each of them was wearing black from head to toe, a terse look of concentration on their faces. There was a certain tension and nervousness in the air, mixed in with grim determination... the way it always was before an operation began.
"Delta Squad, masks on!" I ordered, and there was a sudden flurry of movement as each person took out a bony white mask and fixed it over their faces. It was almost like staring at a wave of ghosts, as only the white masks they wore stood out in the darkness...
I gave a small nod in satisfaction. I'd already put on my own mask a long time ago, which was outfitted with a little voice-distorting device -call me paranoid, but it never hurts to be too careful. Idly, I wondered what I must look like right now... a black-dressed figure with a white mask that had four fire-like obsidian swirls twirling across the milky surface.
It would've been quite a silly sight in broad daylight, I suppose. But under the cover of the night, and considering our current situation, it was perfect. Intimidation shrouded within mystery.
Casting a critical eye over my squad, I turned back towards the research building again. There were eight people total, and including me that would make nine -not too large of a number, but big enough that we shouldn't be held up by anything for too long.
I saw the light in the second window to the left of the building flicker dangerously.
"Delta Squad, get into position." I immediately started barking out orders, "Teleport, Shadow Sneak, I don't care; just get in there. What really matters now is that we cover the western section of Oldale Lab completely. Stick according to the posts I assigned you in the briefing. Don't let anyone pass you and get to the center of the Lab, y'hear?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Good." I resisted the small impulse to smirk when I heard that. What would they do if they knew that their squad leader was a girl who was younger than all of them? It most certainly wouldn't do for the squad morale...
The light wavered dangerously once more before going out completely and becoming dark.
"Everyone, move out!"
There were a few blurs as people either Teleported with their psychic pokemon or used Shadow Sneak with ghost-types, heading off to complete their part of the mission. The last thing that really stood out to me was a crackled brown leaf, before I found myself standing in a darkened hall with well-polished walkways.
"Soooo, what's the plan today, Trainer dear? Or should I say... tonight?"
"Enthusiastic as ever, Altair," I used a moment to take in my surroundings before turning heel and jogging down the hallway, knowing my Misdreavus would follow me, "We're here to... liberate a few sensitive files."
"Ohhhh, I like that word. Liberate," The green-blue form of the ghost pokemon bobbed next to my head as he cackled, "I think that 'steal' would fit here better, though."
"Eh, same difference," I rolled my eyes, pausing when I reached the end of the corridor, "Now... left, or right?"
"Pick right, pick right!" Altair's red eyes flashed playfully, "Right is always right, Trainer dear."
"... Okay, let's go left."
My Misdreavus pouted in my face, floating in front of me and trying to distract me so I'd trip as I ran down the left-hand path, "What happened to the trust between us?"He mock-wailed, widening his eyes to appear more pitiful.
"It's still there," I pointed out, snickering, "I will trust your sense of misdirection under any circumstances."
"Tch," Altair rolled his eyes, doing a backwards somersault in the air, "I feel honored."
There was a rumble and a scream somewhere to our right, and I quickened my footsteps. If the fighting was already getting this intensive, then that meant that the late-shift workers had somehow managed to call for reinforcements. I was going to have a word or two with the people that were supposed to cut off signals in this area when this was all over...
Almost as if sensing my change in mood, Altair shifted to a more serious mode as well, the playfulness in his demeanor disappearing.
"Let's hurry this up, Trainer dear."
"Yeah," I lengthened my strides, running up a flight of stairs skipping two steps at a time, "Okay... it's another left on the second floor, I think..."
Files. We needed those files.
"Yes!" I hissed, skidding to a stop in front of a normal-looking door. If it hadn't been for all the research and planning we did beforehand, no one would've ever guessed that this unsuspecting door led to the main computer system that stored all the data in Oldale Lab. "Altair, if you see anyone, get them with a good ol' Toxic. Stand guard for me, alright?"
"Aye, aye, cap'n,"My Misdreavus shot me a grin before vanishing into thin air. It was a nice trick, no one would see him coming until it was too late...
I grabbed another pokeball from my belt, aiming it in front of the computer, "Essie, let's go!"
A beam of red light shot into the screen, causing the monitor to fizzle for a moment before it returned to normal.
Essie gazed back at me from behind the screen, the Porygon-Z attentive and awaiting instructions.
"Listen, Essie, we need to finish this fast," I said in a rush, feeling small tremors run through the building again, "We're here to nab some files. It's titled 'Project X.' Most likely, it's been abandoned for quite awhile, but... we're not going to take any chances. Run through everything here and download those files, okay?"
Essie nodded, her head bobbing. It was a strange sight, since her head wasn't even connected to her body anymore, but who was I to complain about how pokemon looked?
She disappeared, and all the screens in the room flickered to life with red and blue swirls running across them hypnotically.
I tapped my fingers anxiously, biting my lip.
"Umbre!"
"Oh, shit!" I wasn't one prone to swearing, but that was the first thing that popped into my mind when I heard that yowl outside. Someone else was here. Someone else was at the door.
And that someone else had an Umbreonof all pokemon with them. Great. Just great. Dark-types had a type advantage over ghost-types...
"Nyx, get that Misdreavus with Dark Pulse, now!"
"Essie, get those files, and please try to hurry! I'm going outside to help Altair!" I slipped through the door just in time to see my Misdreavus slammed against the wall by a fierce stream of violet-tinged rings.
"Ch... T-Trainer dear, there's a darkie with... with that one..."Altair floated into the air unsteadily, the red beads around his neck glowing wildly.
"So you're that Misdreavus' trainer?" My attention turned to the raven-haired male with his Umbreon growling protectively at his side, "Thought it was trained from the way it attacked. What are you and your crazy masked lot doing here?!"
"I believe that is none of your concern," I said with a calmness I didn't feel. The voice-distorting device in my mask made it sound as if I was easily dismissing him, the warbled sound adding the faintest trace of a sinister tone.
In other words, it sounded like I was provoking him. Which, really, wasn't my intention. It wasn't like I wanted to stick around here and fight or anything...
His ice-blue eyes narrowed, "Oh, I believe it ismy concern. This is my dad's lab you're messing around with!"
I shrugged, putting on an air on nonchalance despite the small surprise I felt at this little revelation. I filed away that tidbit of information for later, "Should I care about that?"
Apparently, it was the wrong thing to say. What was I supposed to do, anyways, come straight out and tell him that we were here to steal a top secret file?
"Nyx! Dark Pulse, one more time! C'mon, let's bring this bastard's Misdreavus down!"
… Bastard, am I?
"Double Team, and follow it up with Shadow Ball," I watched as the Umbreon shot off another black-violet wave of Dark Pulse. Altair dodged it easily with Double Team, five copies of himself weaving in and out of the spinning dark rings, before he suddenly vanished and appeared right in front of the Umbreon with an evil grin.
His Shadow Ball struck the Umbreon straight on.
"... A normal-type move for a ghost pokemon?" The Umbreon's trainer frowned briefly, brows creasing, but overall didn't seem too concerned. Ghost-types generally weren't very effective against dark-types no matter their move set, after all... "... Whatever. Nyx, use Bite!"
"Dodge it." My eyes tracked Altair as he ducked under the Umbreon when it jumped, trying to sink its canine teeth into him. He let out a small cackle when it tried following his motion and ended up doing a somersault before landing on the ground again, growling. "Will-O-Wisp, now!"
Small bursts of ghostly blue flames flared to life around the Misdreavus, who sent them all flying at the Umbreon from different angles. It was a little thing we had worked out between us, since we figured that it would be easier to dodge all of them if the attack only came from one direction.
"Steady, girl, you can dodge this! Use Quick Attack to dodge!"
I nodded slightly at his decision. Using Quick Attack to increase his Umbreon's speed so that it could dodge all the searing fireballs... that was a nice way to avoid Will-O-Wisp.
Not that it would help him here.
"We've got her now," I called up to Altair, "Hurry, while the Umbreon is still on Quick Attack! Shadow Sneak and show them how a real Dark Pulse is done!"
Altair vanished just as the Umbreon dodged the last fireball from Will-O-Wisp, popping up from its shadow with a leer on his face. The Umbreon still had too much momentum to stop at that point, despite her trainer's frantic orders for her to dodge, and Altair's Dark Pulse hit her point blank.
It was nothing like those twirling black discs the Umbreon had used earlier. Altair's Dark Pulse was a literal torrent of tightly compressed energy that burst out from his mouth, the violent beam of energy instantly overwhelming the dark pokemon and slamming it into the wall.
The battered Umbreon didn't get up again.
"Nyx!"
The kid ran over to his pokemon, completely ignoring the fact that his opponent was still standing here and had a free shot at his back. I guess he was still a relatively new trainer, then... well. He was lucky that he hadn't ran into Epsilon, in that case.
I turned back into the room, seeing Essie cock her head at me from the main computer screen. The red-blue swirls were gone from all the other computers.
"Yes, we won." I answered her unasked question, "Did you find it?"
She nodded, and I felt a sense of pride fill me. Finding that file amongst so many others in this short period of time... my Porygon-Z was a talented little one, indeed.
"Good job." I took out her pokeball and returned her, "... Let's go now, Altair. Is the kid gone yet?"
"Mmhm. He returned his Umbreon and ran off. Probably to the Pokemon Center..."
"Well." I minimized Essie's pokeball after tossing it with my palm, "We should be doing some running of our own now, too."
I grabbed the walkie-talkie on my hip and raised it to my mouth.
"Objective complete."
*["Breaking news! Breaking news! Somehow, Oldale Lab has been broken into last night. Luckily, the late-shift workers on duty were able to send a distress call for help, and trainers from the local Pokemon Center were able to come to their aid. There were no casualties, thankfully, though there was quite a lot of damage done to the research lab itself. Damage checks are being done right now, and police officers are currently investigating the scene. What can you tell us about it so far, Officer Jenny?"
"Well, first things first, it's obviously-]*
The radio fell silent, and I removed my hand from it, yawning. Morning. Mornings were never my favorite time of the day. I guess you could say that I'm simply not a morning person, but really, it goes farther than just that.
Mornings were the time of nasty surprises.
"... So," I turned around, looking at my eleven year-old little brother sitting across from me, who stared back at me defiantly, "You're telling me that you want to go on a pokemon journey?"
The redhead scowled at me, golden eyes burning, "I'm not just telling you I want to go, I'm telling you I will go! Mom and dad both agreed already, I'm just letting you know that I'll leave tomorrow!"
I spewed my coffee all over the table.
"Riga, try to be a little more refined," The tall blond woman coming out of the kitchen chided me gently, setting down a plate of toast on a part of the table that wasn't covered with coffee, "Clean up that mess, will you?"
I sputtered incoherently, my mind set awhirl at the possible implications my brother setting off on a goddamn pokemon journey now of all times! With everything that was going on, with everything that was scheduled to happen soon...
"Personally, I think you're overreacting a little," The homely woman patted me on the head while I sat there like a statue. My brother rolled his eyes at me and started buttering a slice of toast, "There's nothing wrong with kids his age setting out on a pokemon journey now, is there?"
"It builds character and teaches valuable life lessons," A blue-haired man added as he sat down next to my brother at the table, "... What is this thing on the table, honey?"
"Riga was just a little surprised that Ryll is going to set off on his journey tomorrow," The woman smiled, not so discreetly passing me a towel. I started wiping off the coffee automatically, my mind still abuzz, "It's a wonderful thing that they care for each other, isn't it?"
"M-Marie, it's dangerous!" I finally found my voice again, protesting weakly against my enthusiastic foster parents, "H-How... how can you and Harold let Ryll-"
"Sis, I'm not a kid anymore!" Ryll grumbled, finally shooting me a dirty look from under the bangs of his red hair, "I can take care of myself. Besides, don't you train pokemon yourself?"
"It... it's different," I shot him a look that said 'shut up' and he returned one that said 'make me', "When I started, things weren't this... messy."
"Oh, you mean that weird group that just got on the bad side of the police... Resident or something, right?" My adoptive father nodded understandingly, "They aren't really causing much trouble yet. It's just like those Team Aqua and Team Magma punks all over again, except it's much more mild this time. It'll die down, and everything will be fine again, trust me."
They didn't know. They didn't know that Team Aqua and Team Magma had tried to capture legendary pokemon. They didn't know that what we were doing was shaping up to be a hundred times more dangerous than that...
"It's Resonance, Harold," I put my face into my hands, "And thing is, they-"
Ding dong.
"I'll go get that," Ryll got up from the table, no doubt wanting to get away from this conversation.
I sighed, wanting to bang my head against the table. I really, really, couldn't, in good conscience, throw my little brother out into Hoenn as it was right now. At least while he was at home I could still watch over him, and keep him safe to some extent... if he left on a journey...
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"Oi, sis! It's your boyfriend!"
"What?" I leaped up from the table, eyes widening, "My... my what?"
"Oh," Marie blinked, her pretty gray eyes looking pleasantly surprised, "You have a boyfriend, Riga? I know your job takes you away from home a lot, but you should keep us up to date on things like this..."
"I don't have a boyfriend!" I insisted, marching over to the door, "Ryll, what in the world are you trying to pull on-"
I froze mid-sentence when I reached the doorway and saw just who was standing there.
"… See?" Ryll looked back at me smugly, "He isyour boyfriend, isn't he?"
"Shut up," I hissed at him, and he stuck his tongue out at me. Coughing into my hand, I valiantly tried to regain my composure in front of the unexpected visitor, "... Ace. It's… a real pleasureto see you."
He nodded at me, emerald eyes closing for a moment as he acknowledged the not-so-subtle dig at him for arriving here unannounced. I thought I'd made it perfectly clear years ago that I didn't want him anywhere near my 'other life.'
… Namely, my little brother.
"Hello, Riga." A small breeze ruffled his wild brown hair, and I brushed a few strands of scarlet hair out of my face as the wind decided to turn its attention on me as well.
… Ace. On the surface, he was a fairly talented trainer who had competed in the Hoenn League a few times, although he never made it to the finals. Looking at his record, nobody would've ever guessed that he was a key figure in Resonance. Ace Valquira, codename Gamma, the leader of Gamma Squad.
If he came here... it didn't bode well.
He must've seen the look on my face, because he sighed and jammed his hands into the pockets of his semi-formal black shirt, "I'm afraid that I am here for business today. May I come inside?"
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Ch 1 : End
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… So, how was it? Any thoughts? ^^ Yes, I know I pretty much suck at poetry, but I couldn't resist trying to add that little tidbit in the beginning. :D Think of it as a little foreshadowing of what will happen later on in the story. ;) Please let me know if something doesn't make sense here. .
Constructive criticism is welcomed with open arms and reviews are appreciated!