Hello, and welcome to my second story, The Sinnoh Crisis. I call myself Subject 666, and I write here for fun. Hopefully you like what I'm writing, and choose to continue reading it. The first chapter will probably be a bit short, but it's just scene-setting and character introduction/establishment. The next chapters will be longer and you won't have to wait long for the action. That being said, I post updates and pertinent story information on my profile, so if you're ever wondering when the next chapter's going to come out, that's a good place to start. Other than that, the best way to contact me is via PM. I'll pretty much respond within a few hours unless I'm asleep.
Anyways, let's get this shitshow started. Curtain up.
The Sinnoh Crisis
Chapter 1
—Beginning of the End—
Jubilife City, the City of Joy, as it was called, had just become one the most dangerous places in the entire Sinnoh Region, just twenty four hours ago. You see, twenty four hours ago, six men broke out of the highest security prison complex in the entire world, one of which was about to make his move within Jubilife. Like the lighting of a fuse, his initial play would set into movement the plans of a mastermind the likes of which the world had never seen prior.
Despite the unfathomable danger all of Sinnoh was now in, the common people of Jubilife knew none the better. Today was another day amidst the bustling streets of the city, home to prestigious facilities like the Pokétch Company and Sinnoh Tech. The organized chaos of this urban metropolis was nothing out of the ordinary, so when one particular man walked into Jubilife TV that evening, no one batted an eye.
The International Police, however, was the complete opposite. Since the breakout, or rather, the extraction, not a single soul working for the agency had had any sort of breaks or breathers, as everyone was scrambling to find the six missing men. Every known communication channel was being monitored, and had been since the breakout. Undercover search teams had flown all throughout Sinnoh, scouring populated cities and remote villages, and grassy fields and rocky mountain landscapes alike for the men. International's agents even turned to underworld mobsters and gang leaders to see if they'd heard any whispers. All efforts had since yielded no results. The six men were effectively, and quite plainly, gone.
That was when they decided to turn to an off-the-books asset. An elite trainer known throughout the world for his consistent participation in the various regional tournaments. As a child and an adolescent, this trainer had been...perhaps a little better than other trainers his age. However, four years of isolated training in some of the most inhospitable terrains across Kanto; the likes of Mount Silver, Cerulean Cave, and the uncharted forests outside the regional boundaries, had toughened up his Pokémon and body to the very limit.
Ash Ketchum, aged nineteen, stepped off the final step of his private jet on onto the tarmac of Jubilife International Airport. His unruly dark hair whipped in the dying roar of the jet and he smoothed out the blazer he'd thrown on before leaving his house. As per usual, Pikachu sat on his shoulder, already scouting out its surroundings.
The plane had come to a stop in an enormous garage, a warehouse really, on the border of the tarmac. The cold evening air tried relentlessly to creep inside, but fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling kept it at bay.
One more man stepped off the plane behind Ash, a middle-aged man with a permanent frown and a brown trench coat.
"Right this way, Mr. Ketchum," Looker said, striding past Ash and ushering him to follow. "We have transport to your safehouse just ahead."
Ash sighed and followed the older man, slinging the rest of his backpack on his shoulder, muttering to himself. The eight hour flight from Kanto had left him drained, and all he wanted right now was a comfortable bed and some well-deserved sleep. Even before Looker had turned up out of nowhere that morning, he'd been training at Professor Oak's ranch alongside his other Pokémon. The only things he'd had time for before being whisked off to Sinnoh was a three minute shower and a crude packing job. Needless to say, he was a little grouchy. Though he'd been told he'd being seeing an old friend. Maybe that was something he could look forward to.
"Are you listening, Mr. Ketchum?" Looker asked, furrowing his brows and startling Ash out of his exhaustion.
"Sorry, what was that?" Ash mumbled. He hadn't even noticed Looker stopped walking.
"I was just saying that we'd be parting ways here," Looker repeated. "I'll be running my own operations alongside Professor Rowan at his lab in Sandgem. As I understand, he has a network of colleagues across Sinnoh that I hope I'll be able to utilize in order to assist in our search for the fugitives."
Ash nodded. "Hm."
Frankly, he was only half-listening to what Looker was saying. It was incredibly difficult to give any significant amount of attention to the problem at hand, because despite the fact that he was the International Police's last hope of finding the escaped men, he still hadn't been told anything about who they were or why they were so dangerous.
"I wish you luck Ash," Looker declared, extending his hand. "Hopefully by our next meeting, we'll have at least one of them in our custody."
"Amen to that," Ash replied, gripping Looker's hand and giving it a firm shake. "Good luck to you too."
Looker nodded and took a step back. A white limousine stood parked just behind him, the door already ajar and beckoning Ash to enter. Ash exhaled loudly one more time before adjusting his backpack and ducking into the vehicle. The interior was dark; intimate and roomy. Pikachu immediately leapt off his shoulder onto the leather seat next to Ash's own, curling up right there and closing his eyes. Ash smiled to himself. There was no way he wasn't falling asleep on the ride into the city.
Outside the tinted windows, Ash saw Looker address the driver, most likely telling him where to go, and the next thing he knew, they were off, driving out of the garage and out onto the open tarmac. The driver took a side gate back onto the main road, and the stifling lights of the city did nothing to stop him from drifting into unconsciousness.
"Wake up. Hey, c'mon man, wake up," was the voice of the driver shaking him awake a half hour later.
Ash sat up, having slumped over sometime during the ride. Pikachu lay on the leather seat next to him just waking up as well, using his tiny paws to rub his eyes open. Wiping the dribble of drool that had seeped from the corner of his mouth, Ash snatched up his backpack from the floor of the limo and got out. Immediately, the chill of the outside air and the humidity of cigarette smoke and city grime awakened his senses.
"Let's go Pikachu, we're here," he said, reaching out with his arm so Pikachu could scamper up. The electric mouse did just that, and Ash took one last look into the limo to ensure he wasn't forgetting anything. It was just now that he noticed the extensive stock of liquor the limo harbored, and he half wished that he'd tried a bit of it. But that was moot now. Now, he'd be meeting "an old friend," whatever that meant.
The limousine was parked in front of a large garage door, presumably for the entire building. The condo itself was fairly modest for a building in Jubilife; it looked to only be about twenty stories, and neon advertisements, commonplace on almost every building in the city, were all but absent. Thankfully, International had chosen a location that was quite a ways away from the cacophonous hustle and bustle of the downtown area, to which Ash was very grateful.
"Well, uh...if you don't need anything else, I'll be on my way," the driver said, bouncing on his heels awkwardly. Probably because he wasn't used to shuttling teenagers.
Ash nodded in his general direction and the driver, almost too quickly, jumped back into the front seat and drove away back into evermoving streets. He inhaled deeply, and exhaled, gazing on the sight in front of him. The condo was situated on a hill, and as such, from his vantage point, he could see the entire city sprawled out ahead. A psychedelic light show of pinks, yellows, and blues, splashed across a canvas of skyscrapers that reached the balmy heavens. Ash never considered himself a city guy, always preferring quiet and quaint towns like Pallet, but Jubilife did have a certain nightlife vibe to it that made him a little more appreciative of the larger things in life.
Turning away from the hypnotic vista, Ash walked over to the condo's entrance and scanned the array of numbered buttons on the intercom. He'd been told on the plane that he'd be in room eleven, so he wasted no time in pressing the appropriate button. Presumably, whoever he was meeting would be waiting in his room, ready to buzz him into the building.
This was exactly the case.
"Hello?" a deep, obviously electronically modified voice droned through the intercom.
"Yeah, hi," Ash said, leaning closer to the speaker. Noticing a bright red button beneath the speaker, he cursed and jammed it down. "Hello?" He repeated. "This is Ash Ketchum."
The other line remained quiet for a few moments, the only audible sound being a soft static in the voice's absence. Then it spoke up again.
"Welcome back to Jubilife City, Ash. I'll be waiting in your room."
On cue, the intercom went dead and suddenly, the door into the complex started buzzing. Ash walked over to it and pushed on it. It opened easily, the locking mechanism having been disabled. As Ash stepped in, the door behind him closed on its own, and the buzzing stopped once the door clicked back into place.
The lobby was nothing to write home about. A vase of dying flowers atop a cheap decorative table and several artsy paintings on the wall were the main attractions of the condo's base floor, so Ash wasted no time marveling, instead walking straight to the elevator on the opposite side of the room. A click of the elevator's single, silver button and a minute later, He was standing outside room eleven.
Ash turned to Pikachu, who seemed to be interested in the smell of something on the other side of the dark wooden door. Its nose twitched frantically and it seemed to be desperate to get off Ash's shoulder into at whatever or whoever was in the room.
"What's up Pikachu?" Ash muttered, knocking on the door. "Think you know who it is?"
His question only made Pikachu even more agitated, most likely because the electric mouse couldn't communicate back.
Though, Ash didn't have to wait long. The door to his room opened and a tall, slender woman stepped into the doorframe. Sun-bleached blonde hair tumbled down past her shoulders endlessly and all the natural beauty of her body remained tucked within a tight business coat and long black slacks. She looked at the younger man and grinned.
"Long time no see, Ash," Cynthia beamed, opening the door even further to allow him entry. "You've grown a lot since the last time I saw you!"
Ash smiled back and stepped inside. "Hey Cynthia. I'm guessing you're the one I'm supposed to be meeting?"
The Sinnoh Champion nodded and walked further into the room, ushering for Ash to follow. He did just that and pushed the door shut behind him. The interior of his room was not at all what he'd been expecting. A fully furnished kitchen sit off to the left, with a modest dining area to the right. In front of him was the same bright landscape he'd seen outside; nothing between him and the outside besides one enormous floor to ceiling window. And just in front of the gorgeous view was a decked out array of leather furniture surrounding an expensive looking coffee table.
"This is quite the place," Ash said, nodding, clearly impressed and pleased.
Cynthia strode over to the coffee table and organized a the multitude of documents sprawled across it. "Yup, consider yourself lucky. Most of International's assets are usually set up with a one bedroom." She stood up and placed her hands on her hips, exhaling loudly. "Sorry about the mess. International's been slingshotting me around Sinnoh all day and I haven't been able to get any work done, so I decided to set up shop here."
Ash waved his hand. "It's no problem. Though I would like to know what the hell is going on and why the hell I need to be here."
Cynthia frowned. "You still don't know?"
"Looker wasn't feeling very generous with the details. He said I'd be getting the rest from you."
"I was told I'd be briefing you, but I had know idea you didn't even know why you were here," Cynthia replied, shaking her head in empathy. "Must be kind of frustrating, huh?"
Ash inhaled sharply. "I did have plans. But, it doesn't really matter now, right? I'm here, so let's get talking. I'm exhausted."
Cynthia grinned and motioned to the seat across from the one she's just sat down in. "Be thankful you've only had to make that flight once. The League headquarters are over at the Indigo Plateau in Kanto, and I'm flying out there at least once a month for meetings. Believe me when I say I feel your pain."
Ash smirked and took his seat. Pikachu scampered off his partner's shoulder to go investigate the rest of the room, and Cynthia watched it go.
"He's still a Pikachu, huh?"
"His choice, not mine," Ash responded. "But trust me, he can still dish out a serious ass-whooping in battle."
Cynthia laughed. "I don't doubt it! Maybe if we have time sometime later, we'll have to put him up against Garchomp."
Ash snorted. "Yeah, sure. How about Pikachu versus Milotic? That sounds pretty fair to me!"
The Sinnoh Champion giggled again, and picked up a folder from the table. "If we have time, if we have time." She blew her last laugh out and looked him square in the face. "You were wondering why you were here?" Without waiting for a response, she handed him the folder. "These men were broken out of International's...well, international prison last night, and were seen headed here, to Sinnoh. We have no idea who masterminded their escape, but this prison is the highest security lockup in the world. Whoever executed this operation must be extremely powerful to have done it successfully ."
Ash took the folder and opened it, zeroing in on the first document, which contained, among other information, the six mug shots of each man. Upon seeing them, Ash's face contorted into a frown of disbelief. "And...and you have no idea who got them out?"
"What we're more concerned with is why," Cynthia responded. "We want to know the reason, the motive behind setting these men free."
Ash continued sifting through the folder, though there was nothing else of substance really, just reports of the breakout from the various people who'd seen it. "Giovanni Sakaki, Maxie Matsubusa, Archie Aogiri, Cyrus Akagi, Ghetsis Harmonia, Elisio Lysandre...how?"
"I've been asking myself the same question all day. One perpetrator was able to infiltrate the prison in Canalave City and flee with the men by helicopter towards the main island. Word hasn't gotten around to the entire region yet, but Canalave's now under martial law while the search is underway, last I heard." She sighed and placed her fingers on her temple. "Six of the most dangerous criminals to appear in the last decade, all gone in one night. It shouldn't be possible, and yet…"
Ash rubbed his face as if trying to force himself to believe what had happened. "So...the International Police called me here, and they expect me to do what, exactly?"
Cynthia raised an eyebrow. "I would've thought you'd have figured that out already. Still as thick headed as ever, I see."
"I'm tired," Ash snapped, but he shook his head in apology immediately. "Sorry. I mean, yeah, I guess I know why your people asked me..."
"You've met all of these men face to face. If anyone can get in their heads and find them, it's you. But the entirety of International is devoting its resources to this crisis, and if it makes you feel better, I'll be running my own investigation as well." She leveled her eyes with his. "You're not alone Ash." Suddenly, her mouth stretched into a wide grin that made Ash frown in concern.
"What?"
"In fact, I may have heard a little something about that," Cynthia smirked, relishing Ash's reaction. "Something about a partner that'd be arriving at Jubilife tomorrow to assist you. She's also a powerful trainer from Kanto, but she's a rookie when it comes to travel. As I understand it, she's never even been outside her hometown."
Ash's frown deepened. "Who? What partner? I don't want a partner, especially not a rookie. I don't need anyone else to look after."
Cynthia held up her hands defensively. "Hey, I'm just telling you what I heard."
"But you know who it is."
"I don't."
"You do."
Cynthia narrowed her eyes at the younger man. "No, I do not. Though I hear she's around your age, so you two should get along nicely."
Ash shook his head, muttering under his breath.
"Oh c'mon Ash, you're just being a little grouchy since you're tired. I'm sure by tomorrow you'll be glad you aren't going on this endeavor alone."
"I didn't ask for any help."
Cynthia scowled, genuinely concerned at Ash's sudden hostility. "Something the matter, Ash? The you from seven years ago would never have gotten so...uppity at meeting new people."
"It's nothing."
"Surely it's something," Cynthia countered. "You never act this way."
"I said it's nothing," Ash replied sharply, clearly signifying he didn't want to talk. Cynthia took the cue and decided not to push the envelope further, instead, beginning to gather her papers off the coffee table.
"Well, I suppose I'm off then," she said quietly. "Everything you need is in that folder, including my personal number in case you need anything. Other than that—"
Cynthia reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, having just gotten a text message. She frowned upon reading the message, which prompted Ash to inquire what it entailed.
"What is it?"
Cynthia shook her head, her eyes still on her phone and tapping out a response. "It's a message from Flint. Says 'check the TV now' in all caps."
Ash wasted no time in seizing the remote buried beneath a few of Cynthia papers and flicking on the power. The flatscreen bolted to the wall just beside the window turned on. Fizzling static popped into the screen, but a moment later, the signal came through.
"—message to all you fine folk here in Sinnoh! My name is Archie Aogiri, and I just broke out of prison!"
Cynthia looked up from her phone and scowled. "What the hell…?"
"Some of y'all might recognize me as the former leader of Team Aqua. But either way, if you do or not, it don't matter. What does matter, however, is what I'm about to do. You see I'm here at Jubilife TV, broadcasting live to you all, all over the Sinnoh region! I've got about a hundred hostages begging me not to cut their fingers off up here, so don't anyone be thinking they're gonna be a hero."
"Now, my friends. We are entering an age of change! The world is changing, and it's all starting here in Sinnoh! Breakthroughs have been made! Discoveries of unparalleled wonder lie at our fingertips! It's time to seize what is rightfully ours. The world! The planet! The universe! We've just barely scratched the surface of a worldly cinderblock Pokémon have been burrowing down through for centuries! But I think it's time we blow this cinderblock apart! Remember what I said about fuses?"
He laughed and laughed and laughed, and Ash and Cynthia could only glance at each other in utter disbelief for a moment before Archie started talking again.
"Now, with that being said, we declare war on you all! Yes, all of you! If you have ears and you can hear what I'm saying, you are now at war! My colleagues and I are about to ascend far past the likes of humanity, and we're disgusted with what we see. The common man has not evolved fast enough, and the swift blade of a little thing called natural selection is swooping in to reap the dead it deserves. So I say to you, ascend! Transcend! Throw off your shackles and snatch up what is rightfully yours! Because if you don't, I sure as hell will."
He grinned and held up a hand. "And from all of us here at Jubilife TV, we wish everyone a happy, happy evening! Good night!"
Not a second later, the broadcast shut off and all the remained on the TV screen was static.
Cynthia looked to Ash, but the young man was already moving towards the door. "Ash, where're you going?"
"Pikachu, let's go!" Ash yelled, scooping up the rodent once it had appeared from the other room.
"Ash!"
The air around Ash's hand warbled, and blue flames began to lick up his clenched fist. He turned to the Sinnoh Champion, who gasped. Ash's formerly auburn eyes were now a blazing electric-blue. He brought his Aura-infused fist to his chest and bowed. "I'm going to war against Archie Aogiri."
Next — Chapter 2 : Jubilife TV Takeover
Ehhh, I could've done better. I'll probably come back to this and fix it later.
So there it is. That's the first chapter. I understand that Archie's (and his colleagues') goals are a little confusing and vague, but all will be explained in due time. For anyone who was under the impression this was a RayShipping (Ash x Cynthia) fic, it's NOT. The girl I'm putting Ash with isn't really a mainstream ship. However, the character I'm using will be heavily modified by me so it's still nice and bubbly and cute. That being said, I hope you stick around to learn Ash's partner, and I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Don't forget to drop a review, it doesn't take long and it makes me happy ;)
Subject 666