The dim lighting in her room did nothing but make the eerie feeling that Audrey felt within her fester further.
The young Marine Biologist sat up in her bed drenched in cold sweat. The frustration and shame within her began its descent into unbearableness. When would it ever stop?
The horrifying and humiliating ordeal she had gone through many months before weighed heavily on her, and she was certain that if her hair wasn't already white, that it would have surely turned it with all the built-up stress and frustration. Moving her hair away from her forehead, she got up to get a glass of water. Her breathing was heavy, and she was cold with sweat.
How could I ever face my Grandpa Archie again with this shame? She had thought in the first two weeks following the incident. The granddaughter of the infamous leader of Team Aqua-violently raped by a disgusting masked hoodlum in the shadows of Kepler City. She had tried to have the man convicted for it, but the Augur was too busy with more important matters, mostly concerning the cults in the region, to deal with such a thing. The Police themselves did not seem to care so much, and told her that if she wanted to have something done about it, she would have to at least have a physical description of her attacker.
It should only be so easy. The man was wearing a mask. All she knew was that he was big and smelled disgusting. That was not enough of a lead to go by, considering that those two words described about half of the Police Force. She was left to deal with things on her own, as usual.
The white-haired woman felt an intense hatred within her heart, and a pounding in her stomach. The incident had manifested a proof of its own; a child was growing in her womb. When she went to the Human Hospital in Kepler City, the Nurse had an Audino hooked up to a machine, and performed an Ultrasound with it. The child seemed to be healthy, and it was a boy, definitely. Over the many weeks that passed, she had begun looking into means of vengeance. Vengeance against the Augur, vengeance against the Police, and most of all, vengeance against the man who ruined her life.
Eventually, the baby came. It was a long and painful process, and she wasn't sure how she felt about the whole thing. On one hand, the child was a beautiful baby boy with white hair, like his mother. On the other hand, he was a scar of ill tidings, and repulsed a part of her.
Still, she held him, wrapped in a blue blanket, crying in her arms. She was gently hushing him and patting his back gently.
She felt a wave of relief and happiness for a brief moment. For the first time in ages, Audrey felt the comfort of another human being. She was generally a loner by nature, stemmed from the fact that her parents had both died when she was young due to a shipwreck in the Hoenn Seas.
She had spent her life with her Grandfather Archie, and had learned of his many adventures in the Hoenn Region and beyond; how he had awakened the living Legend, Kyogre, and what chaos had sprung forth from it.
Archie came into the room to join his granddaughter and great-grandson. He had been infuriated to the point where his face was as red as Maxie's hair when he had heard of the awful incident at the beginning. Now, he only cooed when he saw the little boy. The anger had long since gone from the old man's eyes. Why couldn't Audrey move on?
"So, what are you gonna name him?" Archie asked out of curiosity.
"Damian." Audrey replied, holding the infant against her chest.
The old man stroked his beard. "I never thought I'd live to be a Great-Grandfather. Heh, heh."
"How could you make jokes about this?!" Audrey snapped at the old man. "Have you forgotten what I've gone through? The Tauroshit I've had to deal with? Where were you? Huh?"
"I apologize, " Archie said dryly. "it must be the dementia."
"You don't have dementia."
"Oh... well, it's something." Archie said, finding his excuses. "I'm 85, Audrey."
"Yeah, well, I'm 17. What do I do from here?"
"You've spent your life in Kepler City with all the labs and stuff, and studying water Pokemon." Archie began. "Maybe it's time to settle down, raise a child."
"But... I haven't even had a single adventure yet." Audrey said with a broken heart. "I... I haven't gotten to do anything in my life yet, and now I'm stuck with this... this..."
"It's going to be alright, my little Milotic!" Archie said. "Raising a kid isn't that bad. I did it! Twice!"
"After you disbanded Team Aqua!" Audrey called him out. "Don't Tauroshit me!"
Archie nodded. She spoke the truth. The old man wished that there was more he could do for his Granddaughter, but alas, there was only so much he could do. He would help her raise the child, but he could not help her mental scarring. He knew deep down that she was not going to recover easily from this ordeal. It would take much time.
When he looked into her eyes, she began to look less like a Milotic and more like a Gyarados. Hurt, angry, betrayed and confused. If he knew anything about Gyarados, it's that they have been known to destroy villages in their outrages. "Maybe soon we should do something nice, like a fishing trip?" Archie said, trying to change the atmosphere in the room.
Audrey gave him a dirty look and slowly shook her head. She then turned to Damian, who was resting in her arms, and knew deep down, without a doubt, that her life was ruined.
A few years had passed, and Audrey had Damian with her on a boat. She was taking him to Telnor Town.
Her Grandpa Archie had just died a month ago, and she was stuck. The feelings of despair ran deep; through her chest, her blood, her being. Her hatred for the world only seemed to grow and fester with the passing days. She cried herself to sleep every night, and gazed longingly at the ocean every day, wishing for a tidal wave to come and destroy their world.
Damian stuck his head out between the deck railings and tried to reach out for a couple of Goldeen that jumped out of the water. When he finally caught the distracted Audrey's attention, she quickly pulled him away. "Damian! How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?" She gave him a light smack. "That's very dangerous! Why can't you understand that I just want to do what's best for you?"
The little boy began to cry and Audrey placed a hand on the side of her head in frustration. She could not bear this much longer. She had plans in Telnor Town; a few ex-Aqua members' children around her age to speak with. Her son would only get in her way. She had to continue her Grandfather's work. Damian would only be an obstacle.
When the boat finally docked, she took Damian by the hand forcefully and walked to the heart of Telnor Town. It was much smaller than she remembered from the last time she had visited many years ago with her deceased father's colleague Anastasia. A bit further away, she noticed a small group of people wearing blue uniforms, and one of them waved to her.
She saw a bench and put Damian down on it. "You're going to stay here. Mommy's only going to be gone for a while."
A while being twelve years. When Audrey had left him there that day, she had never returned to claim him. A couple that had walked by that night saw Damian cold and afraid, sitting on the bench. They asked him where his parents were, and he was afraid that his mother was hurt. The couple had then taken pity on the boy and sheltered him, planning for it to be until his parents would come to reclaim him, which never happened.
The memory of being abandoned always remained in the back of Damian's mind, but his mind had a way of suppressing the feelings of sadness and fear that had come with it.
When the Pokerus virus entered his system, the painful memories came flooding back to poor Damian like a tsunami.
Malde, psychically linked to him via Deoxys, turned to the weeping boy.
"Was that woman your mother?" He asked.
"Yes..." Damian replied. "...she... I think those people in blue must have killed her..."
"No, your mother is very much alive, Damian." Malde spoke with a tinge of sadness in his voice. "Your mother, Audrey, is the leader of the Abyssal cult."
Damian felt his heart sink at the sound of this shocking revelation. He felt everything hit him once again; the sadness, the feeling of being unwanted, and most of all, the feeling of having been abandoned. As well, he wanted to see his mother again. He wanted to be with her. He wanted her to love him.
"She wants to conquer the world using Lugia and Kyogre." Malde stated. "She and the other cult leaders are destined to be destroyed."
Damian shook his head in protest. "No! We have to help her! Please! Please, save her from that fate!" The boy pleaded with his heart to the old man, and Malde could not understand why.
Malde raised his human eyebrow in shock. He saw the desperation in Damian's eye and could even feel what the boy had felt within his heart. Damian longed for a second chance to live with Audrey.
The Deoxyfied old man sighed. "All right. We will part for the Abyssal base right now."
The two of them flew through the air and dove under the waves of Maelstrom 9. Damian was able to locate his mother at the far North-West end of the base. There were barriers in place, but once her Alakazam was knocked unconscious, the barriers dissipated.
Eventually, Malde waltzed into her battle room where Kyogre was being used to summon powerful, top-secret Pokemon from the ocean depths. Pokemon that Audrey was planning to use to take over the world and destroy her enemies with.
When she saw his appearance, she was both disturbed and afraid, but the infected old man extended to her the offer of joining them if he could have the crystal shard she was using to power her Blue Orb. This, of course, would break the control she had over Kyogre, which would be disasterous.
Damian heard Malde and Audrey bantering, and heard his cue coming.
"Having Pokerus is a most... illuminating experience." Malde began. "Things are revealed. You remember things that were... suppressed."
Audrey did not like where this was going, especially not with her new sworn enemy standing before the two of them. "What are you getting at?" She hissed, angrily.
"For example, the memory of a mother who abandoned her child." Malde continued to speak, drilling holes into Audrey's chest."Of being raised by somebody else because his mother chose a Pokemon over him."
Audrey felt a heavy guilt begin to wash over her. She herself had been trying to suppress that memory. She had regarded it as a sacrifice she had to make to realize her dream of vengeance against the world. Still, Malde kept drilling. "Even after remembering all that, Damian still wanted you healed."
"Damian...? You mean...?"
"That's right. Your son." Malde said as Damian entered the room. When Damian saw Audrey, he was angry, but he was also feeling determined to speak with her; to perhaps convince her to stay with him.
Audrey nearly had a heart attack then and there. It was definitely him, but everything was way off; he was infected with the same virus that the old man was carrying. "You're all grown up now..." Audrey choked down with a small sob. The guilt was overwhelming. "You're like him. You're one of them. What happened to you?"
Damian wanted to answer, but Pokerus was not allowing him to speak.
"I left you. This is all my fault." Audrey felt her heart slowly breaking at the mere sight of what her choices in life had done to her baby boy.
Malde still attempted to pursuade her into retreating the crystal, to which she refused, even if it would "make it up to Damian", due to the fear of losing control over Kyogre.
"She's not handing it over. Take it, Damian." Malde commanded.
Damian did not want to, because he feared the worst. His body was moving on its own, and grabbed the shard from his mother, releasing Kyogre.
The giant king of the sea chased Audrey into the ocean entrance in the floor and seemed to leap on top of her.
The feelings of sadness and loneliness returned. "Mom..." Damian said, tears running down his cheeks.
Malde proceeded to talk him up about how he did the right thing and how the world would thank him for helping to heal it and how everybody would look up to him, not down. The words did not make him feel better about the situation, and he slowly began to lose his human mind over time.
Eventually, the new Augur had defeated him and broke the spell over his mind. When Damian came to, his mind was in a fog. He could only remember a few things from his experience being infected with Pokerus; his friends on a few occasions, a couple of places he'd visited, and... Audrey being chased into the water by Kyogre.
He sat up in his bed and choked a sob. He knew he could not even return to his step-parents after all of this. Nora would not even want to look at him, and the new Augur was always travelling, still disbanding cults.
He wound up where he had begun: alone, afraid, sad. Angry.
After crying to himself for a few minutes, he received a News Weather notification on his phone about a storm happening near Maelstrom 9. A storm much akin to the one Audrey had Lugia stir up back in Kepler Town before the Kyogre incident.
Damian was not sure if she was behind it, but if she was, it meant that she was alive. He was willing to take that chance. He had nothing to lose, after all. He picked up his cellphone and called the new Augur, and asked if he would meet him there. When he hung up, he wasted no time and hurried to Maelstrom 9 himself.
As he traversed through the Abyssal Base, the familiar surroundings made him feel uneasy. He remembered a few things from his Pokerus infection. Still, he wandered through the halls until he made it to the room where the battle between the new Augur and the Abyssal Cult Leader took place. Where Audrey was dragged down into the depths.
Damian put on his scuba gear. He had a feeling he should go down there. At the very least, he had Pokemon that could protect him against whatever lurked below.
After a ways of swimming, he approached an underwater cavern. It was dark, and he used his light to navigate through the rushing currents. Eventually, after being lost a few times, he approached a rock mass, where he heard Kyogre and Lugia screaming and attacking each other. At the very far side, pinned between a couple of filthy, gray rocks, was his mother, Audrey.
She looked like she hadn't eaten in weeks, and her hair was a mess, along with her uniform. There was dried blood on her, as well. Her own. There were visible wounds inflicted from Kyogre's fangs in her flesh, and they were dirty and infected. She had been down in this cavern for a very long time.
Damian was anxious, and then the new Augur arrived behind him.
Audrey slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was horribly blurred. She had made a mess of her life, and now she was about to die. She was sure of it. Lugia could protect her against Kyogre, but not against the disease and infections and starvation. She could not even move her right leg due to the pierced nerve, caused by Kyogre's fangs a few weeks ago. She was done for.
When her vision began to clear slightly, she saw a familiar figure standing on the other side of the small pool.
"Damian? Is that you?"
"Audr-mom. Yeah, it's me! I thought you-you..."
"No, I'm fine. Lugia's been protecting me from Kyogre." She said, weakly. "I'm in over my head, here. I just want to get out."
The truth of those words granted her a feeling of relief. No more cults, no more destruction, no more pain. She, like her Grandpa Archie, failed to control the Legendary Kyogre, and lost her life in the process. It was not how she anticipated her great adventures to go. But as far as adventures went, she had enough. She reached the end of the line. The only choice now apart from death was to go back to a normal life. What was a normal life like?
She felt the cold reach of death behind her. In a way, it was comforting. She had never understood life.
"We are going to have a VERY serious talk. About everything!" she heard Damian say.
A small smirk came across her bloodstained lips. She lay her head against a rock pillar and closed her eyes. That was when she felt Damian put his arms around her, and the two of them were whisked away by his Escape Rope.
When Damian got to the surface world with Audrey, she had fallen unconscious. This had worried him greatly. "No, no!" He panicked. "I don't want to lose you again!" He rushed to the nearest Pokemon Center, as it was the closest place with Medical Treatment. He always found it odd, how there seemed to be enough hospitals for Pokemon, but not for people.
He rushed inside, and a Nurse Joy with her Chansey immediately approached.
"Oh..." she began. "An Abyssal Cultist... no... it's... Audrey!" The fear in the Nurse's voice was very visible when she saw the murderous cultist laid on the couch. The Abyssal Cult was notorious, and the pain they had spread throughout the region was great.
Damian was trying to catch his breath. Adrenaline had allowed him to bring his mother all the way here, but now he was out of it. "Can... can you help her, Nurse Joy?" He asked, trying to catch his breath.
"Yes. Chansey, Hard-Boiled, if you please." Nurse Joy signaled to her trusted ally.
"Chan-siii!" the Pink Egg-shaped Pokemon chimed as it gave an egglike aura to Audrey, healing most of her wounds.
Damian breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
Nurse Joy nodded. "May I ask you a question?"
"Sure." Damian responded.
"Why would you help a cult leader? You do realize there's a law against that, right? Augur Jaern had put it-"
"And yet he broke it himself." Damian spat. "She's my mother! I can't just let her die!"
Nurse Joy's eyes shot open very wide. "Your... your..."
"Estranged mother." Damian corrected himself. He looked at Audrey, who was still unconscious, and he felt a twinge of sadness. He knew they had a lot to talk about and much to rebuild. He knew it was going to be difficult, but he was willing to try, at the very least.
"Well, she will need lots of rest." Nurse Joy informed him. "Chansey may be able to heal her physical injuries, but she's exhausted. Do you have a place to rest?"
Damian paused. He had not thought that far ahead. He did not want to go back into the Abyssal Base. "No." He replied, his voice shaky.
"Well, I suppose I could allow the two of you to stay in the back for a little while. At least until she can walk again." the kind Nurse gestured to a door in the back as she spoke.
"Thank you very much." Damian said with a kind nod.
Nurse Joy reciprocated with a nod of her own. She watched as Damian lifted Audrey off the floor with a loud grunt and placed her arm around his shoulders. The Nurse felt pity for the poor boy; considering who he was related to.
The Nurse sighed and shook her head. A part of her regretted helping the cult leader, and worried about what awful things would occur due to her decision.