Overall Fic Warnings:
- This is part of a larger dark AU of the Pokemon Gameverse known as IR-verse, and will contain moralities that seems strange to modern day eyes and includes explicit and institutionalised animal abuse as a part of life. If the above ideas squick you, then please don't read any further.
- It includes realistic elements that include how pokemon are visualised, and may draw on some anime elements to better flesh the world out.
- Dialogue will use the Japanese names of people/places/attacks etc, and narration will use the English names. Some translation notes will be provided at the end of each chapter if the Japanese and English name match-up was not made clear.
- Pokemon heights, weights, behaviour, etc. are all personal headcanons.
- There will be concepts introduced that will not be explained until later chapters. Please understand this.
Chapter Warnings:
- The death of OCs and pokemon. Semi-graphic.
Prologue: Capture and Death.
The air was a putrid stench; a horrid mix of blood, viscera, and excrement, thick enough to choke each breath and hung heavily like an unwanted lover. Bodies littered the ground, the vast majority female. Sisters, aunts, cousins. Mothers and daughters. Only two remained alive, and only one of them had a pokemon.
"Noku-" The redhead of the pair coughed, blood dripping from between her lips. She was lucky enough to be still alive, unlike her younger sister. Ruki had died screaming at the same time as her kadabra, the psychic backlash trapping her in a way that only a true telepath could be, while Kiza, their favoured cousin, had been cut in half, her arcanine drowned. In turn, the cloyster responsible had been shelled and roasted before the monferno doing it had become prey to an arbok. That, in turn, had been shot.
It had been an ambush and in less than five minutes they'd been felled. Perhaps it was a mercy they'd managed to kill as many as they had, but it hadn't been enough. In the end, the Rockets had overwhelmed them via sheer numbers; the deployed Anti Psychic Field had only hindered them. If they'd been faster, more aware of the surroundings, then they could have warned Mew. She could have gotten to safety.
To borrow a crude Orren phrase: Meloetta perish the Rockets with song.
Her only remaining pokemon, a cacturne, was half dead.
But, she had to try. Duty compelled her onwards. They had to free the Goddess from the Rockets at any cost; failure meant death. "Iaigiri-"
The cacturne struggled to comply with the order; it missed the target, spinning with a low growl as it tried again.
"Roundhouse Kick," one of their attackers drawled. The grunt's hitmonlee complied, its foot connecting solidly with the poor creature as it came in for another attempt at Cut. The force of the roundhouse was enough to paralyse, and the following kicks only sealed the grass/dark's gruesome death.
As if that wasn't enough, a semi-feral looking electrode scuttled into view. Another grunt followed, a smirk firmly in place. "Electric Shock."
"Wha- Ayu-cha-" The second survivor, a brunette, screamed. Just far enough away to be useless, she could only watch as electricity arced through the air and connected with the redhead. Ayu screamed, forced to her hands and knees, and she barely caught her breath when the hitmonlee's foot connected solidly with her gut. The woman was thrown back half-a-metre, coughing up great globs of blood.
The Rocket grunt turned to the brunette while the rest fanned out, some of them shooting the dead in the head. "We have Myū."
"Through trickery!"
The grunt rolled his eyes. "One last time. Where are the rest of you?"
"I won't tell you," the brunette shook her head, eyes looking past the battlefield carnage, to the APF-cage Mew had been trapped in, and the blazing eyes of pain-filled hatred.
"Really?"
She smiled sharply. "I'm a Priestess."
"Naturally," the grunt gestured to the electrode with a put-upon sigh. The giant electric pillbug coiled to resemble an inverted pokeball, and Ayu screamed again as another jolt of electricity hit her. "Humans can withstand about ten amps. The marumain's shocking at... Hmm," he made a so-so gesture. "Two amps."
"I won't tell you," the brunette spat as she darted towards Ayu-
Only to be caught in the coils of some sort of snake-like creature. It was impossible to tell what it was- maybe from Unova or Alola or Orre. She struggled, attempting to get free yet all that did was tighten the grip until she could barely breathe. "I'd rather die than betray my Goddess."
"And yet," the snake's owner said, hand on her hip while the other one gestured towards Mew. She was a woman with dyed purple hair, dressed in the mini-dress-and-tights with practical white boots. A high ranking Rocket. "Your 'Goddess' was captured, and our 'field holds it. It's just another pokemon in the end."
Within the cage, Mew's eyes flashed bright blue as a snarl-hiss ripped its way out of the pink cat-creature's throat. The woman laughed, blue eyes glinting coldly. Ayu shook her head, having managed to push herself to her knees at least. "K-Kiyam-mi is- ri-right. N-not just- Myū-sama is- m-more th-"
Whatever Ayu was going to say was cut off by a scream, her body convulsing as another Thunder Shock hit her. She hit the ground with a thump. The only thing marking her as alive was the whimper as the hitmonlee paced around her. Waiting for a signal, Kiyami realised with horror. A signal to kill that was granted with a simple, emotionless command from the grunt. "Infight."
The hitmonlee's eyes glowed a metallic red as it moved in to attack the defenceless woman, ignoring Kiyami's desperate shrieks of denial. It only took two kicks until Ayu's chest was a mess of bone and gore.
Kiyami emptied her stomach to the point of dry-heaving, mind almost shutting down as she witnessed yet another death of a cousin- of a close friend. Tears trickled down as she fought to breathe, to do anything that would get her free to at least go down fighting. "You bastards- I won't talk-"
"You will," the female Officer snapped her fingers. A young woman, maybe twenty-five at best, walked forth, a haggard-looking hypno trailing after her. "Miriam-san, if you'd please."
"Yes, Ma'am. Surīpā, Hypnosis," Miriam ordered softly, pointing at the struggling form of Kiyami. The pokemon lumbered forth, pendulum swinging as it started the attack. Try as she might, Kiyami was no match against the hypnotic need to sleep and soon slumped against the coils, breathing shallow but far from restful.
Miriam was calm as she walked up to the young woman. A hand against Kiyami's head gave the telepath added stability as she tore through the mind and its defences, looking for anything of use. Her eyes flickered once to Mew's cage when the pokemon rattled against it, eyes glowing almost neon-blue as it spat, hissed, yowled and otherwise expressed its displeasure. Miriam ignored it. The creature wouldn't escape. Nothing ever escaped Anti Psychic Fields. Not when they were based off what gave dark-types their immunity.
Kiyami whimpered in her sleep, but that was nothing. Likely a result of the mind-rape. Miriam felt nothing towards her victim, not even a sense of pity as she tore apart the mental shields that housed what she sort. A mental nudge to wake Kiyami -nevermind the body seemed to be slowly shutting down- and Miriam stepped back. This part of her task was an unfortunate side effect of dealing with the Priestesses. Poor things always expired after giving up the information they fought so hard to protect. "I have what we need."
"Well?"
"We should strike in three days. Kiyami's mind claims that's when they'll all be gathered." Why didn't matter. It couldn't when it came to targets.
"Perfect." The commander's face split into a horrifying smile as she ignored Kiyami's rapid hyperventilations as the woman started to seizure. The snake wasn't even squeezing that hard. "We did get footage?"
"Yes," a grunt confirmed, holding up the handheld vidcam. "What of the bodies?"
"The local airmd will deal with them," the woman said with a flick of her hand, pointing at Mew briefly before it dropped to her side. "We have what we need. Put the footage out on the 'net. Youtube or the Vines. I want the capture spread."
"Ma'am." The grunts nodded as they recalled their pokemon with flashes of multicoloured beams until only the snake coiled around Kiyami remained, seemingly supporting the gasping, seizing woman through what looked to be death-throws of some kind.
Then, the snake was recalled, the woman dropping to the ground like a sack of tubers as the Rocket Officer motioned for several grunts to collect the APF-cage Mew was in and load it into the waiting helicopter. Miyamoto watched on, eyes cold, hard, ignoring Mew's shrieks. An Immortal was just another pokemon and the Rockets now had it in their grasp. They'd study it, find out what made it tick. Perhaps they could even try creating their own Immortal. Wouldn't that be grand, and the Boss would be pleased, she thought as the Adachi woman at her feet continued to seizure.
The glint of a watch caught her eye, and Miyamoto ripped it off the dying woman's wrist. "Musa-chan'll like this."
She turned and headed for the helicopter.
Emika blinked as the child as thrust into her arms. "What-"
She'd been called to check on the seven-month pregnant Merei, not whatever this was.
"Take Hinata! Please!" Konako was wide-eyed and frantic, face imploring and urgent. "Keep her safe. Please. Whatever the cost."
"Y-yes?" the nurse said as the worried woman pushed her up the stairs and into the cobwebbed and musty attic.
"Hide!" She hissed, rolling a pokeball after them. It came to a stop, then popped open. Emika didn't see what came out of it, other than a vague ghost shape and her confusion didn't last long as screams and shouts reached her ears along with the chilling shrieks of 'APF'. A look back at Konako only showed the ice cold determination of a mother to protect her child.
Then, the attic door shut and locked.
The nurse paused long enough to grab the key before retreating into an old closet at the back, praying to Arceus that they would survive whatever was happening.
Praying that whatever ghost had been released was enough.
Seconds seemed as minutes that seemed as hours. Her heart pounded in her ears, each beat as loud as thunder and twice as worse, seemingly to accentuate the chill in the air brought on by the ghost-type released to defend them.
Her own pokemon was worthless; there was no way any psychic could teleport through an APF. She swallowed. Thank Arceus Hinata was quiet, hardly a whimper from the child. That was a good thing- more so when the sound of the attic door hitting the floor reverberated throughout the room.
Emika closed her eyes as three sets of footsteps slowly entered.
"Y'really think anyone would be up here?" The voice was male, rough. Sevii or Cinnabar, she thought. Or from the Orange Islands.
"We gotta at least say we looked," another said, this one with a distinct Silver town accent. Light, airy, yet as hard as the mountains around the town.
"We did. Can we get back down now?" The first male said, apparently bored. "There's a pretty girl I wanna have fun with 'fore I strangle her good."
"Mind if we have fun too?" A third voice asked. This one was laced with Johto accent. The trio of Rockets sniggered. "Quick sweep then we go back for the fun."
Emika swallowed down the bile in her mouth. She knew what they meant, and it was hard to keep her breathing shallow and as silent as possible. They sounded like low-level grunts; the dumb kind, but she wouldn't give herself away. Not when she protected an innocent child.
She'd seen the aftermath of what they could do to babies.
Again, seconds turned to minutes and minutes to hours as the grunts made a half-hearted attempt of searching the room.
"Arctiblasted, why's it so cold up here?" One of the grunts hissed, teeth chattering.
"I don't fucking kno- Blast- what was that?"
The steps paused. Emika held her breath, willing them to go away. She didn't want to be found. Please no, please no-
"Shit - Yūrei!" One of them shouted, using the incorrect term for a ghost-type. Yūrei was more non-pokemon ghost, and Emika did not want to think about why they'd used that. It was safer on her sanity.
"Let's get out of here!" The first Rocket shouted. The three of them made a hasty retreat, panicked voices mingling together until they faded away from the attic. Even so, Emika refused to rest easy until she knew they were gone, wrapping her shawl around the four-day-old child in an effort to keep her warm. If she knew what type of ghost Konako had sent out, perhaps it'd be easier...
But did it matter? She- Hinata- was safe.
She must have fallen into an uneasy sleep as the knock on the closet door had her jumping, heart in throat.
"I'll show you my badge. Please do not be alarmed," a female voice said. The door cracked open and Emika bit her tongue to keep her fright under control. A badge shone in the dim light, angled to show it was real.
After several seconds, she pushed the door open. She saw several female police officers along with two pokemon, nary a male in sight.
It wasn't odd.
"We'll take you to the station," one said, offering her a thermal blanket. The nurse accepted, not even noticing it hid the sleeping baby in her arms, nor that the officer was Saffron accented and no younger than twenty-seven. All Emika cared for was warming herself and the child in her arms.
"I'd like that," Emika muttered, allowing the officers to guide her out what she assumed was the back entrance. It was an easy mistake to make when one wasn't familiar with the hidden passageways build into the ancient clan-housing of the Old Families.
She didn't question it, nor did she think the presence of the chimecho and ninetails odd. Police used all kinds of pokemon. She followed docilely, failing to notice how the chimecho's eyes glowed faintly, or that almost everything she was seeing now was an illusion cast by the ninetails that followed behind them.
Hours later they walked into a building, she easily assumed it to be an actual police station. After all, the ones on TV could hardly be trusted. She didn't notice when her charge was taken from her arms, nor when she walked into the long spike of a replica cloyster.
Junko Hideaki refused to look away and the chimecho at her side thrilled softly, sadly.
"I know." This part of Duty wasn't pleasant. She nodded mutely, allowing the gengar that had followed them to feast on the dying soul. They'd deal with it later; likely return it to the house to keep it safe from nosy outsiders.
"Aunty?"
Junko shook her head, offering something of a reassuring smile to the girl. At six years old, Sabrina was deemed old enough to start to see what Duty truly entailed. Yet, she was only six, and she clung to the baby abra in her arms, half watching the feasting gengar, half hiding.
"Kyuu'll burn the body after the gengar's finished," Junko said, eyes flicking to Erin, then to the baby her older sister cradled.
"Good. What of Hinata-chan?"
"If we don't hide her..." Junko started. "Then it's likely we'll lose her too."
"Our own Bloodline split from them..." Erin started, then cocked her head to the side. "No. You're right. It's better she grow up in hiding. You already have a plan."
"I do. Ne, Natsu-chan. Please don't do that," Junko said tiredly as Sabrina bounced up and down, now apparently trying to peer at the baby in her mother's arms.
"I can't help it, aunty. I can't See..." Sabrina sniffed, burying her face against the abra. "It's weird. Is Myū-sama blocking it?"
"I don't know," Junko answered honestly. "Perhaps you should go to your father, Natsu-chan."
Sabrina's shoulders hunched, but she nodded. "Y-Yea. Papa- Papa knows what's best. Mama? M-May I go?"
"Yes. Please be careful when leaving, Natsume."
"I will. Thank you. Bye." Sabrina and her abra gave a short bow before scampering out the room.
"You've found a family then?" Erin asked, eyeing the pokegear in Junko's hand. The same one she'd been talking into recently in the last few hours.
"I have. They were on the foster list. They've a ten-month-old son, but they've agreed to adopt on short notice," Junko said with a small smile. To anyone else, this would have been an odd, if not impossible question. To the Priestesses, it was an expected question. "They live here in Kuchiba. The husband's a dockworker, the mother a housewife."
"Their name?"
"Kasahara," Junko said. "They are good people."
Erin nodded, closing her eyes with an exhale. "You know what needs to be done. Do it. I- We- will not see a baby slaughtered for a thing she doesn't understand. Not now, not a few years down the road. Not ever. In the meantime, we'll look for Myū, try and free her."
"But the ritual?"
Erin shook her head. "We cannot risk it."
Junko bowed, deep and low. "I understand, aneue."
Clarifications. The main criteria for this are if I do not make it clear within the narrative at some point.
Iaigiri - Cut; [HM01]
Roundhouse Kick - Rolling Kick
Electric Shock - Thunder Shock
Infight - Close Combat
Surīpā - Kantan pronunciation of hypno's Japanese name.
Arctiblasted - A rather strong away of taking Articuno's name in vain; suspected to be Unovan in origin.
Marumain - Kantan pronunciation of electrode's Japanese name
Airmd - Johtan pronunciation of skarmory's Japanese name.
Kuchiba - Vermilion (city); the Kasahara's lived here for another year or so before moving to Fuchsia when the husband was transferred.
aneue - a formal and respectful way of referring to one's older sister. English doesn't exactly have an equivalent, hence choosing to keep it in.