Pokémon Sagas: Shadow Destiny
The events of Shadow Destiny follow after the events of Chapter 60: Storm the Lake of Pokemon Sagas: Tia's Tales.
Chapter 1: Prelude to Darkness
The burning sun over the Orre Region beats down on the land and the scorching sands. A vast desert wasteland devoid of life in most areas. The few oases in between are greedily exploited by the locals. Life in Orre is hard and cutthroat. Only the strong survive. The weak are either oppressed or left to the mercy of the unforgiving desert. For many years Orre has had a united front to oversee the region and provide means of survival: for a price.
Team Cipher, the cruel and ruthless dictators of the equally oppressive lands have ruled over Orre for decades. They are a vast network spanning every corner of the region with their dark claws of oppression. Casting a shadow of fear over every citizen in this lawless region. Run by the notorious Greevil, a rich mastermind with a wild ambitious and lust for power. As well as his right hand, Evice. Whose political influence under the guise of Es Cade has crawled his way into all of Orre's political affairs and manipulated the odds in Cipher's favor.
Amongst their ranks resides the best trainers in the region as well as some of the brightest minds around. Orre being the isolated region it is made it very easy for Cipher to creep into power and supremacy. Offering safety, insurance, and prosperity to those desperate or power hungry enough. It's the epitome of a dog eat dog world under Cipher's dominances.
Orre has been all but abandoned by the world. Tourists know to stay away, trainers fear Cipher and their Shadow Pokémon. Even the Pokémon League refuses to recognize the region. Pokémon themselves are scares aside from Steel, Rock, Ground, and Fire types whom roam the landscape predominantly. Still Cipher maintained a strong arsenal of Pokémon to fight anyone who dares to oppose them. Two of the finest agents in Cipher are Ryoko, one of their best Snaggers, and Haruka one of the brightest minds in the organization.
These eighteen year old prodigies were raised by Cipher since they were infants in order to raise them into the perfect Cipher agents. Both exceeding in their own skills to become the future leaders of Cipher. They still have much to learn however. Their latest failures to capture the legendary Pokémon Moltres and Zapdos, as well as the failure to snag Team Rocket's failed Gyarados project has earn them both very uncomfortable conferences with their superiors.
Ryoko himself currently sits in a small meeting room with a very frustrated and flamboyant Miror B. "Young man this is unacceptable. You and Haruka have been bad kiddies." He scolds him with his strangely excitable and cheery tone. "I mean to lose two legends and our pay check is just so bad I could faint." Much like his mannerisms, looks, and personality Miror B.'s speech is also very much exaggerated.
Ryoko kicks up his legs on the table and scoffs. "Look B., Team Rocket didn't get the legendary and neither did we. We cut our losses. Plus, that Gyarados really wasn't that big a loss to begin with." Ryoko doesn't like the idea of aiding someone who could in turn stab them in the back, but he'll take what he can get.
Miror B. spins and slams a file on the desk. "Oh really you naïve, little boy? Would two gym leaders catching the legendary Pokémon you were supposed to capture count as a small loss?" Miror B. is livid and Ryoko can tell. He didn't think about the fact that the Pokémon League getting their hands on a legendary Pokémon could prove to be detrimental to Cipher.
He glares at the report not trying to look fazed. "I didn't want to withdraw, but there was no avoiding it. We were outnumbered and facing heavy resistance. I made a judgment call." Now is the point where Ryoko must justify his actions. Not something he enjoyed, but he has a way of worming himself out of these types of situations.
"Oh really, are you sure it wasn't just to protect your girlfriend?" Miror B. immediately hits the chink in Ryoko's armor. His love for Haruka. That irrational impulse to protect her and be with her.
"Sorry I protected one of our top researchers." He responds sarcastically and scowls at Miror B. That was below the belt for even Ryoko's standards.
"You let your emotions get the better of your judgment and it cost us our prizes foolish boy!" B. is furious he grits his teeth and slams the table while meeting Ryoko's angered gaze.
"The chick in Mahogany Town had Rayquaza! What was I supposed to do?" Ryoko practically spits fire trying to justify the past two failures.
The phone rings and the large television on the adjacent wall comes on to the sight of a very serious looking man with wild, untamable hair. "That is quite enough Miror B." His voice commands a quiet intensity that sends chills down Ryoko's spine.
"But Nascour this brat refuses to accept responsibility for this failure." Miror B.'s anger is really at a boil by this point. Ryoko has a nasty habit of testing his patience. Not to say Ryoko isn't constantly annoyed by B. himself.
"I refuse to believe that you would have done any different. Metagross was getting attacked from all sides and the machine was destroyed in the fray. Also, like I said before: I was facing down Rayquaza!" Ryoko has a solid justification, but he personally believes that Miror B. is too much of an idiot to understand anything. From his ridiculous attire to his horrible taste in music he tortures the other agents with. Ryoko himself doesn't hold much power at the moment, but he knows he's better than almost all the other agents he works with.
"That's enough out of both of you." Nascour's menacing gaze and cold demeanor is very good at silencing people. Even Ryoko admits that Nascour is intimidating to say the least. What with his blood red eyes and serpentine hair. He is one to be respected and feared. "Ryoko, your choice cost us two legendary Pokémon, but you did the right thing in protecting Haruka. You will be reprimanded accordingly. Now leave." Nascour's presence is enough for Ryoko to obey silently. He begrudgingly takes his lumps and walks off refusing to leave with his tail between his legs. He can at least do his best to seem unfazed.
As the door shuts Miror B. gives a huff and a pout. "That boy needs to be disciplined harshly if you ask me." B. crosses his arms and turns up his nose before looking once more to Nascour's menacing presence on screen.
"He will be, Ein has made a proposal I intent to follow through on. Haruka will also be punished for her weakness. In the presence of especially difficult adversity Ryoko excels while Haruka's faults show. This creates a chain reaction where Ryoko becomes emotionally tied to protecting her and she becomes dead weight." Nascour assess the situation for himself and more or less what Ein thought as well. "I feel that it may be best if the two are separated for a while. No visits, no communication, and no missions together for at least a month. That way we can focus on hone their skills without distractions." The plan, much like Nascour, is very cold and calculated.
Miror B is absolutely giddy and this prospect. "Yes, the nasty boy will finally get what's coming to him. He walks around like he's the talk of the base, but this will really put him in his place. I want to tell him myself." B. jumps up excited and rubs his hands together in a dastardly manner.
Nascour clears his throat to catch Miror B's attention. "You mustn't allow personal grudges to impede on your ability to lead your subordinates. Remember, he is still Dakim's responsibility as a Snagger."
Ryoko steps out into the halls of Cipher's base. One of the many run by Cipher. Over the years their hold on Orre had grown enough to take full control of Phenac City where this particular base is located. Converting the Pre-Gym and its underground facility into a key base for Cipher activity. It's business as usual in the base. Agents and scientists running up and down the halls with paper work or getting ready for training.
For the time being Ryoko has no orders so he makes his way to the break room for a quick lunch. Ever since he'd returned it'd be nonstop explanations and talks with B. and it annoyed him greatly. Sometimes he wishes he could tell Miror B. off, but he knows well enough that mouthing off to his superiors too much will land him in even greater trouble. Hasn't stop him from spreading nasty rumors about the fool though, indirect insubordination is the best kind.
As Ryoko thinks to himself a fellow agents runs up to him and taps him on the shoulder. Ryoko looks down to a much shorter agent who wears a soft smile and looks up at him with her vivid and lively, green eyes. "Hey Ryoko, I heard you were back from your mission. So how did it go?" She'd obviously not been made privy to his recent failure.
"We ran into some complications. Haruka and I had to bail without the Gyarados." He tactfully plays it off in an attempt to save face. "How about you, Mei?" He quickly redirects the conversation back at her.
"Nothing much, sorry to hear about that though. Dakim's just got me training for a mission set to proceed tomorrow or something like that." She just sort of rubs the back of her head amidst her bright, blonde locks and laughs it off.
Mei's complexion matched Ryoko's tanned skin, her hair was bright as the sun with an equally bright smile. It's almost hard to believe she's an even more vicious trainer than Ryoko. Much like Ryoko and Haruka, Mei too has been raised since she was a baby to be an elite Cipher agent. Despite her short stature she still has the physique of a young woman and is three years Ryoko's senior. Though no one would ever take her for twenty-one.
"Training? I've been slacking a bit on that lately with all the Rocket activity. How many points are you sitting at?" His aloof nature makes it seem like he's feinting interest, but Ryoko's always been close to Mei so he kept tabs on her progress.
"A bit over twenty-six hundred." She smiles widely while Ryoko shutters thinking about his mere fourteen hundred. Ranking in Cipher wasn't simply a matter of who was number one. It was a combination of factors. Mission successes versus failures, training battles won against other agents, simulations completed according to the criteria, and most importantly win-to-loss ratio. Each factor is automated to add and subtract points when necessary. The top ten point totals are posted and updated dynamically to show agents' progress. Needless to say Admins are not in these listings.
"I've got a bit of catching up to do." He opens the door to the break room and holds the door for Mei. "You at number one?"
Mei shakes her head, "Two, that spots taken by Holden. He's over three thousand right now. It's incredible." Her specific standing exclusively counted for the Phenac City location. Her overall stance, much like Ryoko's, was still in the hundreds.
"Because he takes all the easy missions and racks win on chumps." Ryoko says under his breath as he examines what they had available to eat. He opts for a burger and some fries, not feeling up to much else at the moment.
The two find a seat in front of a large, wall mounted television and listen in on the news. The articles running are all about political movements controlled by Cipher, recent rebel activity, as well as general business going on in Orre. News, naturally was heavily controlled by Cipher, but not censored. If anything the news was very highly open to exposing any news they see fit. Orre wasn't allowed to have secrets. Cipher had plenty, but the general norm had little too no privacy.
"So what's this mission you're going on?" Ryoko attempts some communication to break the silence at awkwardly loomed over head.
Mei perks up, "Oh that? Something about Rebel's hiding out in the caves outside of Pyrite City. Nothing too special I'm sure. We'll be assembling a team of about a dozen agents. They haven't assigned a leader yet. I doubt any of the Admins will step up."
"Miror B.'s too busy acting like a fool, Dakim is on Mt. Battle, Venus is running most of The Under's activity anymore, and Ein is at the Research Lab. Eldes and Ardos would never dirty their hands with 'grunt work' either." Ryoko stops to think a moment. "Lovrina recently got promoted to Admin, maybe she'll take point?" Ryoko is definitely one to keep his ear to ground as far as any shifts in power in Cipher.
Mei groans, "God I hope not. She's always giving me a hard time. I'd rather have Gorigan taking the lead."
Ryoko cringes, "That knuckle dragger? I'd rather have Snattle and you know it's bad when I'd rather have Snattle leading a mission." Every Admin has their strong suit, Snattle is a charismatic and smooth talking man who's managed to worm his way into many of the region's and world's affairs. A true politician with a silver tongue and heart black as night. It was almost a little frightening how much influence Snattle had.
Ryoko may not like Gorigan, but he earned his position as Dakim's right hand for sure. A scary strong battler with a reputation of going berserk in battle. Fighting without restraint just like the Shadow Pokémon he battle alongside.
Mei thinks of another topic that needed to be discussed. "I wonder how Haruka is holding up? She was just as much a part of those missions as you were. You think Ein is punishing her harshly?" Ein is very cold and calculated, and not above punishing grunts for failing a mission. While Haruka held a little more authority over her other agents as well as having Ein's favor Mei is sure that he's not going to go easy on her.
Ryoko rubs his forehead and sighs, "I was going to call her later and see what happened, but now you've got me worried."
Mei covers her mouth, "Oops, sorry Ryoko." The thought hadn't crossed her mind at the time. Though she should have realized given how much of his brain space is devoted to thinking about Haruka.
Ryoko quickly gets up without a word to Mei. She lets him go knowing that this will drive him crazy otherwise. He hastily makes his ways back to his quarters where he slept. The room is small in size, but large enough to accommodate him and only him. A bed, nightstand, closet, and a desk with a computer on it. Most grunts got a bunk in the sleeping hall, but Ryoko had enough clout to earn his own room.
He quickly boots up his computer and makes a video call to Haruka. Unfortunately Haruka is not waiting eagerly for him on the other end. Instead is the face of a man looking quite cross. "Hello Ryoko," the man in question is Ein and he's none too pleased to see Ryoko.
"Ein? Where's Haruka?" He grits his teeth knowing Ein is constantly trying to interfere with their relationship. Haruka is his star protégé and a very good one at that so he did all he could to make sure she was distracted by 'trivial matters' like her relationship with Ryoko. What's more, Ein was never very keen of Ryoko to begin with.
"Haruka is busy with research. You're calling either because you haven't heard or you're just that insubordinate. Either way I'll say this just once." He clears his throat and reads a form in his hands. "As punishment for failure to acquire Moltres and Zapdos as well as the test subject Gyarados. Cipher Admins Nascour, Dakim, and Ein," he pauses to give Ryoko an evil smile, "have ordered that agent Ryoko and agent Haruka be separated for the period of one month. In this time neither agent may communicate with the other, take on missions together, or otherwise be in the same presents as the other. Failure to abide by these terms will result in severe punishment."
Ryoko is floored, he can't believe Cipher is stooping to this level to literal cut off his ties to Haruka. "You're a piece of work Ein. I'm sure this was all your idea."
He smirks, "What gave it away? Well I must be going now. Have a nice month."
"Wait, before you go. At least tell her I called and that I said I love her." This is a simple request and certainly not one he wanted to have Ein fulfilling in his place.
"I will not, goodbye." He hangs up without a word leaving Ryoko frustrated and more than a little upset. So he does what logically comes to mind when he's angry. He gets up and heads straight for the training arena. Beating up a bunch of agents' Pokémon will surely ease some of the pain.
On Haruka's end she is busy sitting in a small conference room alone reading over research articles and taking in depth notes. Her mind is completely fixated on the topic at hand. She knows there's nothing she can do about her current situation with Ryoko. So she opts to make the most of her free time and devote it to more pertinent research.
Ein steps in and smiles seeing her hard at work. "What have you discovered so far?" His tone is much softer and kinder to Haruka than it was with Ryoko.
"I've been research our current shadowification process and I've noticed some inconsistences in the results. Some Pokémon respond better to the process than others." Her mannerisms are like a well-oiled machine. Haruka has always had a sharp mind and ability to devote herself fully to a task.
Ein seems a little surprised, "Really? Go on." He sits beside her and examines her notes.
"It looks like Dark Types and Pokémon with naturally more aggressive personalities are more attuned to the shadowification process and adapt faster. While more docile Pokémon show more resistance and produce weaker results." She points to several charts and documents with studies of Shadow Pokémon in the latest batch.
"Well that seemed fairly obvious, but these results are definitely more substantial than I'd originally anticipated." He examines her findings closely and scratches his chin. "I'll grab us both a cup of coffee and we can figure out what to do about this."
He exits the room and really ponders Haruka's discovery. What could be causing this phenomena? Previous shadowifying technics result in the same results amongst all test subject, but were a weaker breed than today's Shadow Pokémon. Somehow the refined process was proving less compatible.
He has little more time to think about this as a grunt runs up to him. "Sir Ein, we have news." The agents hands him a document with a huge classified stamp on it. "Delivered from Sir Eldes. Your eyes only he said." The grunt salutes and takes his leave.
Curious? Ein opens the folder and is immediately astonished by its contents. "So that's what he's been hiding from us?" Ein quietly speaks to himself and quickly closes the document. He casually makes his way to his office where he locks the document amongst others is a secured safe under his desk. This information was very sensitive so simply filing with the rest of his documents will not do.
He quickly makes his way to the café in the lab and pours himself and Haruka coffee. He slowly makes his ways down the hall back to the conference hall when another grunt walks up to him.
"Sir we have a transmission from Gorigan in the Cipher Key Lair. Something about issues manufacturing Shadow Pokémon." The grunts stands patiently saluting as he awaits Ein's response.
He looks to the conference room and grits his teeth. "Very well, I'll speak with him in my office." Ein sighs and heads back to his office with the two mugs and sets them down on his desk. He pinches the bridge of his nose and answers the call.
Gorigan appears on screen looking livid. "There you are, look I don't know what's going on but some of these latest Shadow Pokémon are terrible. It's like they've become weaker and lost the will to fight at all."
Ein scratches his chin, "I've seen the results. We're working on a solution don't worry. For the time being dispose the weaker samples and work on training the superior Pokémon. I'm sure some grunt can't wait to get their hands on the latest generation of Shadows." Ein's methodical and isn't afraid to admit when an experiment fails to meet his expectations, sweep the results under the rug, and move on.
"Fine, but we have a huge order coming in so I want results ASAP." Gorigan ends the call with no warning, not that Ein is complaining, but the pressure is certainly on now. They require results, positive results.
He quickly grabs the mugs of now cold coffee and shakes his head. Begrudgingly he briskly walks back to the café and dumps the old mugs. Thankfully there is just enough left for two more fresh cups. As he exits the café he peers out into the hall to make sure no other grunts stood between him and conference room. He exhales and steps out feeling relieved that he can finally get back to helping Haruka.
He quickly steps inside and locks the door to prevent any other disruptions and spots Haruka with her head lying on the table amidst the files and reports. She had quite a few more notes written out as well, but Ein knew she was fast asleep. He smiles and lies down the mugs. He reaches into a cabinet and pulls out a blanket that he lays over Haruka. Ein sits down beside her and takes a drink as he looks over her findings.
Night has come quickly over Phenac and Ryoko feels he's sufficiently let out all of his frustration. "How many does that make?" Ryoko looks to the sidelines where Mei sits tiredly.
"Twenty five battles." She yawns and looks down at a little device she carried on her. "You're sitting in the upper sixteen hundreds now."
Ryoko grits his teeth, "That's it? I need a mission." He knows that mission definitely are the fastest ways to more net gains.
He walks off and waves goodbye to Mei without word. "Wait what are you going to do?" She's not quite sure what that last comment was implying, but she has a feeling that he's got something up his sleeve.
As Ryoko walks through the halls he notice Miror B. walking in the opposite direction. "Oh Ryoko, just the boy I was looking for." He is giddy as usual and more than a bit flamboyant.
"What do you want B.? Here to rub my punishment in my face?" Ryoko's short with him and isn't pleased with having to converse with him.
"On the contrary, you see Dakim and I were talking and he felt it'd be best if you had a mission to take your mind off of things. So I have two proposals for you my young agent." He raises his pointer finger high in the air, "One, you can join Dakim on Mt. Battle." He does a quick spin and makes the peace sign in Ryoko's face. "Option two! You've no doubt heard from Mei by now about her mission. Well I'm still up in the air about who will be spearheading this little field trip. I think you'd be perfect for the part."
Ryoko looks more than a little surprised. "Me? Really? You never give me good missions." A bit of a backhanded comment, but Ryoko quickly changes his tune. "I'll do it, I just can't believe you're the one offering."
"Believe it or not, I actually believe there's a good leader in you. When he's not distracted by nasty feminine wiles. Think of this as a chance to prove yourself." He struts off excitedly as Mei walks up. "Good evening dearie." He smiles and continues walking off.
"Good evening sir," she quickly salutes as he walks by. She walks up to Ryoko who still looks a bit shocked. "What's the matter Ryoko?"
"Miror B. just offered me the leading position in tomorrow's mission." Even now it seems too surreal to believe.
"That's great! I can't wait. We haven't had a mission together is quite a while." Mei cheerfully walks down the hall to her sleeping quarters as Ryoko does the same. "Well, better get plenty of rest. Tomorrow will be a big day."
"No kidding, and don't worry we'll crush those rebels before they even know what hits them." Ryoko holds up his fist with a stoic expression. Mei matches his intensity as she nods and steps into her room.
Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Please don't forget to leave a review with your thoughts on the chapter, the series, and the Pokemon Sagas universe as a whole. I'm glad to have finally gotten out the first chapter of Shadow Destiny, which had endured a complete rewrite of the original story. As stated in the Lede, this story will now shift to a bi-weekly release with Tia's Tales on Wednesdays. Even though this first chapter is being uploaded on a Tuesday due to scheduling conflicts. Regardless, this means next Wednesday will be Tia's Tales and Shadow Destiny chapter 2 will follow the Wednesday afterwards.