This is a story created for fun and for my friend, Celest. Lunaqua is her character, Kio and Rune are mine, and Tom is... well... Tom's. Reviews are welcome, but don't slam the piece. I don't need that.
Prolog
Kio slowly glanced around the corner, the lounge room dark an seemingly unoccupied. Good… It was bad enough she had to sneak in, but if anyone caught her in the condition she was in, she wouldn't hear the end of it. She inwardly cursed herself for being so foolish; sneaking out late as everyone was getting ready to call it a night, just to try and take on the gym leader who'd taken control of the Earth Gym… She thought would be able, thought that it would please the boss if she'd succeeded. Not she was left coming back with her tail between her legs. She gave a quiet sigh and strode into the lounge room, her footsteps silent against the tile floor. She was so close, almost home free! Then the lights came on above her, plunging her world of shadows into florescent light. She stopped dead in her tracks, bringing up an arm to shield her eyes from the light.
"Well well... Finally decide to come back, hmm?" A low, rumbling voice came from the entrance to the dorm hall, diagonal from where she stood. Kio looked in that direction as her eyes adjusted. There stood Rune, crossing his arms after having turned on the lights, a smirk on his face.
"And I would have gotten away with it, too. If it weren't for you meddling insomniacs." She countered, slowly lowering her arms. Rune's smirk vanished as a look of question and concern replaced it.
"Christ, what happened?" He asked. Kio gave a mental groan, having hoped to avoid explaining. Her jeans and black hoody were dirty and scuffed up a bit, but a few scratches and bruises on her visible skin caught the real attention. She had a few more scars on her arms and back, but thankfully the sweatshirt hid them. A tank top wasn't very good coverage…
"Just a little… confrontation." She answered, giving one of her reassuring smiles. Rune didn't buy it, giving her a stern look.
"Kio..."
"Rune..." The two looked to each other, waiting for the other to give in. Unfortunately, Kio always lost.
"I thought I could do it on my own, all right? Obviously, I was wrong about that." She sighed, sliding her scarred hands into her pockets. Rune frowned, giving a bit of a sigh himself. He knew that the ability to do something on her own was important to her.
"You'll get it soon enough." He assured. "Just keep doing your training." Kio gave a nod, knowing he was right. But still... she didn't feel like she'd ever get it at the rate she was going. Rune uncrossed his arms, holding out a hand to her. She looked up, seeing the silent command, then gave a slight smile. In a sudden burst of smoke, she transformed to her normal form, only at her first stage of evolution.
She landed on the ground, her 4 black paws hitting the ground all at once. Her form looked similar to a small canine's; a thin, lean form with powerful limbs. Her snout was the perfect length and slender, rowed with several sharp teeth and two longer fangs. Her ears were large and finely pointed, giving her sense of hearing a good boost. Her eyes were a dark violet, same as the mane that went along her back. Other than that, her silk-soft fur was black, from her nose to her long tail, which was decorated with two violet rings near the end.
She gave her tail a gentle wave, and then darted over towards Rune. With a powerful jump, she grabbed onto his outstretched arm with her forearms, climbing up from there. Rune just smiled, seeing the pint-sized pokémon climb up to his shoulder, lying there as her long tail curled gently around his neck, just above his spiked collar. At about 1'2" tall sitting, she was the perfect size for such a spot, Rune standing at 7'6" himself.
Rune turned off the lights in the lounge, walking down the dorm hall. He reached up and gently stroked Kio's silk fur, soon coming to own room. He opened the door and went in, the lamp at his bedside still on from when he'd gotten up just a bit earlier. Rune yawned and stretched a bit, Kio jumping from his shoulders and onto a small coffee table that stood close by. She gave a bit of a stretch herself, before jumping off the table to the floor, padding towards Rune's bed as he took off his black and flame-designed vest, tossing it onto one of the near by chairs.
Dressed now in only his black jeans, Rune walked to the bed and laid down on his back, pulling the sheets up to his waits. Kio padded over and curled up right by him, covered mostly by the thin blanket. With her tail wrapped up around her, she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep, Rune reaching over and turning off the light before he closed his eyes as well...
Chapter 1
Team Rocket HQ, early morning around 6:00. Everyone was starting to get up and ready for whatever the day's work was, and that included Rune. As the radio alarm at the side of his bed turned on, the song So Cold by Breaking Benjamin played, stirring him from his sleep.
Show me how it ends it's alright
Show me how defenseless you really are
Satisfied and empty inside
That's alright, let's give this another-
Rune's hand hit the snooze button on top of the clock, ending the song abruptly in mid-chorus. He groaned, rubbing his eyes with one hand before opening them to look up at his dimly lit ceiling.
"Morning…" He grumbled, stretching a bit. "Ready for work?" He reached out, feeling for the fuzzy little ball that was Kio, who'd still be curled up under the sheets. But nothing was there and no answer came.
"Kio?" Rune called, sitting up and looking around. Again there was nothing. Kio wasn't there.
Out fighting without a trainer... Seriously. Luna sighed disapprovingly.
Oh, come on. I've had enough lecture. Kio groaned. Luna just gave her head a shake, looking to the smaller pokémon with a light scowl.
You never think of consequences. You could have gotten seriously hurt. She growled. Kio sighed and just went back to her breakfast; two portions of raw meat. As she tore another chunk off with her razor like fangs, Luna gave in to her curiosity.
How far did you get, anyway? Sha asked, sinking her own fangs into her breakfast, consisting or fresh fish.
Only past the Arcanine, Kangaskan and Tangela. The Nidoking stopped me... Kio answered, sounding disappointed.
You made it pretty far! I'm impressed!
No you're not.
Eh?
You're not impressed. You could have taken them all down yourself.
Kio, don't belittle yourself. And I couldn't take then down myself.
If you say so. Kio shrugged, taking one of the last few bites of meat. Luna rolled her eyes and went back to eating as well, knowing that they wouldn't get anywhere arguing. Normally, Luna would stay in her human form for breakfast, and most of the day for that matter, but since she'd found out Kio had snuck out to fight the leader of the of the Earth Gym alone, she felt some one-on-one conversation was called for.
As the two continued eating, Luna's trainer watched from his table. He'd glance up every now and then from his paper, the front article announcing the finals for the Pokémon Padgent. It was worth a look incase the boss had an idea to send something that way. He was looking through all the other articles just incase something else interesting caught his eye.
"Should've known she'd be out here eating." Rune's voice came from the entryway. Tom looked up from the paper, seeing Rune stride to his table.
"She leave you to wake up alone?" Tom asked, his sarcastic sympathy obvious.
"Har har." Rune shot back. Tom just grinned.
"And what's got your interest this time?" He asked, nodding to the paper as he walked over to the kitchen to grab something to eat.
"The padgent finals are happening this afternoon and evening. Figured it was worth a look." Tom answered.
"Padgent?" Rune laughed. "The boss would hardly find frilly pokémon worth while."
"Except this padgent isn't just for beauty." Tom corrected with a smug grin. Rune came back to the table with a plate of hot waffles and bacon. He sat down, arching an eyebrow at Tom.
"Oh?"
"There's several categories. Strength, toughness, intelligence, agility... It's a show-off ring for high status pokémon." Tom nodded. Rune grinned again.
"How convenient." He chuckled, taking a bite of his breakfast.
"But I have bigger things in mind." A voice over the intercom snapped everyone to attention. It was the boss, Giovanni. Tom and Rune both looked to the camera at the corner of the room.
"Bigger, hm?" They both grinned.
"Get ready for the training sessions. I'll be down there to watch runthroughs this morning." Giovani's voice warned. "I expect the best out of it." Rune looked to Tom, both still holding the grins from before.
"This ought to be interesting." Rune said, stuffing a bigger bite of waffle into his mouth before standing. Tom stood as well, folding up his paper. In an instant, Kio and Luna trotted over to their trainers, following them out towards the training grounds. Luna's rotation was schedualed for fire training, and Kio had poison. And with the boss watching, it only made them all the more eager.
The observation platform was full of Team Rocket agents, from lower rank to highest, either to watch or take part. The boss had a mission in mind, and everyone in the Missions Squad was to take their training on with their best efforts, and the knowledge that the boss was watching would be an extra asset to see how well each pokémon could perform under pressure.
First up was Raz and her Pidgeot in a ground-type battle. Rune and Tom stood at the window along with the others and watched the fairly large sized cube room as Raz sent out her prized bird pokémon, a Gravler set and ready down below. Kio and Luna were right there with then to observe and take note of the moves and techniques used in the practice; Luna standing in her human form in front of Tom, his arms around her, while Kio was perched on Rune's shoulders, her head resting on top of his.
"Ready for the simulation?" Fredrik called, the talking in the room dying to silence. "Begin!"
At Fredrik's word, the Gravler dug its hands into the dirt, grabbing two huge fistfuls and then throwing them at the airborne bird pokémon. But Pidgeot was ready. With a mighty flap of its powerful wings, Pidgeot kicked up a whirlwind to send the assault right back.
The Gravler put up its arms to shield himself from the blast of dust, but the gust sent him off balance, giving the Pidgeot the perfect opportunity to strike. With a straight dive downward, Pidgeot pulled a steel-wing attack, hitting the Gravler square across the face. The Gravler fell back, rolling a couple times until it hit the sidewall, stopping on his back. A great hit, but the Pidgeot wasn't about to take any chances in letting its foe get to his feet. After all, Team Rocket wasn't about mercy. The Pidgeot positioned itself in the air once more, giving another powerful flap of its wings. A strong tornado started to form, whirling straight for the dazed Gravler, soon striking him and sending him into an out of control spin.
Fredrik hit the buzzer, sounding the end of the match. Pidgeot stops it's finale attack and landed as the tornado ceased, leaving the Gravler KO-ed. Raz beamed with pride at her prized bird pokémon's fantastic show of offensive attacks, recalling it to its pokéball with a victorious smile. Giovanni kept his constant smirk, giving no other form of congratulation as the other team members did. But anyone who'd been in Team Rocket knew that consistence was better than having anything else. If the boss didn't approve of a performance, there was hell to pay.
"All right... Lunaqua's next up." Fredrik announced, turning and looking to Tom and Luna. He smiled, nodding to Luna. "Ya ready?"
"Born ready." She smirked, showing her fangs. With a cloud of blue smoke, she reverted to her pokémon form, stretching her legs a bit before walking to the small hatch by the control panel. Hitting one of the switches, the door slid open, allowing Luna access to the training room.
"Luna." Tom called, kneeling to face the grayish-blue feline, which stood about 5'2". She turned her brilliant blue eyes to her trainer.
"Keep your focus. You know the drill." He smiled.
You got it. Luna winked, smiling as best a feline could. Tom chuckled and scritched her lovingly behind the ears, then let her walk out into the field.
She walked to the narrow platform, then jumped down to the ground as the door slid shut behind her. Her opponent was a Magmar, meant to sharpen her skills against intense fire. As she padded to her starting position on the field, the Magmar was released from its pokéball, appearing in a blaze of red light.
Then it was the field's turn to change. Small pumps came up from the ground all around the perimeter of the field, as well as from the sides.
"Ready?" Fredrik called over the intercom. Both pokémon got into battle stances, prepared to take the other on.
"Go!"
As the cue to begin sounded around the room, the pumps roared to life, throwing fire all around. The arena had become similar to the inside of a volcano. In an instant, Luna charged at the Magmar, a multitude of attacks running through her mind. The Magmar was ready for the charge and arched back, throwing a fire blast at his opponent. The fire blast struck Luna Head on, exploding into the traditional 5-point blast formation. But Luna had also expected Magmar's attack.
The water cat burst through the fiery explosion like it was no more than a thin curtain of mist, trails of smoke trailing from her fur as she landed only feet from the Magmar. The fire pokémon hardly had time to react as Luna struck with a strong head-but, sending him back. The Magmar rolled, but landed on its feet, throwing its arms forward. Embers shot out at Luna, hitting her head on.
Luna roared in anger as she shook her head of the burning embers, batting them away with her pawns. The perfect time to strike. Magmar clenched his fists, fire igniting around them, then he threw a punch forward, making hard contact to Luna's jaw. She flinched, but kept her ground.
But now... Magmar had a pissed cat on his claws.
Luna's eyes turned neon blue, glowing intensely. She turned her ferocious gaze at the fire pokémon, a blue aura accumulating before her. She bared her fangs, taking in a deep breath as she kept her focus on her enemy. Then she let her attack fly. With another roar, she sent a powerful blast of ice and wind forward, plowing into Magmar.
It was a well-known fact to everyone, especially Tom, that ice attacks were weak against fire, but the sheer strength of Luna's Ice Blast was enough to change minds. The blast sent Magmar flying back, pinning him against a wall as the crystals of ice stuck him there. As the frigid wind hit the wall, it branched out, covering the walls, ground and ceiling in a thick frost, which turned to sheets of ice. The fire pumps died down, then snuffing out completely. The blizzard only stopped when that half of the room was covered in ice, leaving the frosted enemy stuck to the wall and Luna standing victorious.
The buzzer sounded, signaling the session over. Cheers came from the deck as the first of the Gemini Pokémon finished the training sessions. Luna held her head high, proud of her work at overpowering fire with ice. It had been the latest project for her. She turned and looked up at the window of the observation desk, seeing the boss grinning at her performance, though she felt even more proud of herself as she caught sight of the smile on Tom's face. He beamed with pride at her work, and that was its own reward for her. To see him happy.
Then she caught sight of Kio, who was perched on Rune's shoulder.
Showing off to score some action? Kio laughed telepathically.
Kio! Luna barked mentally, surprised at the pointed question. Kio just gave another laugh, a grin appearing on her face.
S-Shut up! She stammered, heading back to the hatch to stand by Tom, the door already slid open for her.
Oooh la-la! Kio teased, giving her tail a wave.
"All right, Franky. Move it over." Shuko spoke up, putting a hand on Fredrik's shoulder. Kio's teasing died down at the sound of his voice, her stomach turning a bit.
Shuko was the board runner for Kio and the other trainers in her division, whereas Luna's division had Fredrik. Fredrik was a nice guy to everyone in Team Rocket, at least when he wasn't being teased or mocked. But Shuko ran with a different group. He looked down on everyone he didn't like, especially Luna and Kio. He didn't like the idea of lab-made pokémon at all, favoring the real deal.
And on several occasions, he'd made that point clear to Kio. Shuko turned his brown eyes to Kio and Rune, giving his trademark grin.
"Ready, ladies?" He asked, chuckling.
"God, Shuko. Forget your makeup this morning?" Rune asked, wrinkling his nose, getting a laugh from just about everyone else in the room. Even Giovanni gave a light chuckle. The only ones who didn't laugh were the four other rockets that were part of Shuko's ring.
"Shove it and get ready." Shuko snarled, turning to the control board. Kio jumped down from rune's shoulders, feeling tense and ready for the session. As she trotted towards the door leading into the arena, she hesitated, catching the sight of Giovanni. He was watching her pass by him, giving a confident look to her as they both caught each other's gaze. Kio continued on, the look from the boss and the expectations of Rune giving her an extra boost of determination.
Giovanni treasured both his lab-created pokémon. Not because they were a success in both ability to fight and overall strength, but because Luna and Kio had manifested their own traits and abilities that he hadn't tried to make. Such as their ability to turn into human form. He looked to them as more than just pokémon... Which was probably explanation as to why he trusted them only to his highest ranked Team Rocket members; Rune and Tom.
Kio got through the door and jumped to the ground to get ready for the battle, the wall iced over from Luna's attack starting to thaw as the heating bars inside the wall got it melting quickly.
Poison atmosphere. Not a problem. Last time it was 67. Easy. She thought to herself silently, taking a deep breath as she waited for her opponent to appear. She didn't have to wait long. A red light flared before her, releasing her enemy in position. A Rhydon. Kio got in stance, ready to take on the giant set up for the session. This battle wouldn't only help improve her immunity to poison and tough matched in fights, but it would also determine if Rune was going to go on the mission the boss had in mind.
If she failed now, it only lessened his chances…
She wouldn't let that happen.
"Ready?" Shuko called, both pokémon glaring each other down in an eager energy.
"Get it goin'!" With the signal to fight given, the session was underway. The air vents above the arena emptied out a dark gas, as well as vents at the bottom edged of the room. Soon, the entire training ground was filled with the gas; pure poison... And that didn't stop either opponent.
The Rhydon's main horn started to spin, a sign of its signature horn drill attack. Kio was ready for it. As the Rhydon dove down at her with its horn, Kio formed an aura of Psychic energy around herself, jumping forward and hitting the much larger pokémon in the gut before its horn could reach her. The Rhydon gave a pained roar as it staggered back and fell. But it wasn't out for the count yet. Kio darted to the side, turning to face her opponent, her eyes glowing a bright purple as she summoned up ancient power.
The ground started to shake, the Rhydon still unable to get up very fast. Kio's tail swayed as she concentrated, soon her attack commencing. In a domino-like effect, the ground thrust upward in boulders, going in a line from Kio to her enemy, striking him hard and sending him into the air. That's when Kio's real chance arose. She took a deep breath, the poison stinging her throat only a little, then she let loose a ultra-sonic screech, the sound waves striking Rhydon in a deafening attack. The Rhydon gave a loud growl, hitting the ground with its spiked back up. It didn't move after that.
"It's over!" Shuko announced, Kio grinning at her victory. Pretty soon, vents turned on above her, sucking up all the poison gasses in the room. She trotted over and jumped up to the door leading into the observation deck, the metal door sliding open and allowing her in. As she entered the room, she turned to her human form, stretching her shoulders a bit.
"Not bad." Shuko complimented, giving a snide smirk. Kio took that as a compliment, however insincere it was… She curled her long tail as she walked over to Rune, his arms wrapping around her as she got close enough. She leaned back against him, feeling the weight of anticipation lifted off her finally. Now all they had to do was wait for the other pokémon to go through their sessions and then hear the boss's decision.
"Listen up." Giovanni started, the last of the training sessions having been completed at last. Everyone stopped talking and looked to him, giving their undivided attention.
"The next mission won't be told to you yet, but I've decided on who's going to do the job." He paused, looking to the group a moment before going on. "Shuko, Raz, Razor, Ject, Gaza, Leon, Rune and Tom. You're all going."
The room became a murmur of congratulations and comments, Rune and Tom grinning at each other, as did Kio and Luna; both girls getting tight hugs from the two men.
"All right. I want all pokémon and trainers to be at their physical best. Continue with simulation while all chosen trainers for this mission head for the gym." Giovanni ordered, then turned and walked out the door, leaving no questions asked. Kio nuzzled against Rune, hi hand coming up to gently scratch her behind the ears. They'd made it through! Kio looked over to Luna and Tom, Luna caught in a loving embrace from her 'trainer'. Kio gave a bit of a smirk and jumped down from Rune's shoulders, ready to continue on in her sessions against poison atmospheres.
"Let's get this goin'." Shuko growled, looking to the three trainers who practiced under his panel and made it to the missions. Kio sighed, not looking forward to having to deal with Shuko for the day. Before Kio could pad off after him, Rune knelt down and gently pinned her tail to the ground. Kio turned and looked to him.
"Don't let him get under your skin, all right?" He said softly, grinning. "You can master this in no time."
You know it. Kio grinned, winking at him. Rune nodded and let her go, watching as she caught up to the other pokémon following Shuko. Usually, he wouldn't have a problem with going to the gym after seeing her off; but as Kio turned the corner, Rune felt something sink inside him… like the thought of something going to happen while he wasn't there…
"You all right, big guy?" Tom asked, coming up along side him after seeing Luna off. Rune broke his gaze and looked to him, giving a nod.
"Yeah. Fine. Ready to hit it?"
"Yep." He grinned, flexing. "I'm so ready the chicks already love me!"
"Really?" Rune said, turning and starting for the gym. "I'll tell Luna you said that."
"Ha... yeah- WHAT! NO! I WAS JOKING!"