In a world of amazing monsters and even more fantastical technology, one hopes humanity can lift themselves up from petty squabbling and live in a world of peace. Unfortunately humanity isn't so refined as to lead towards a world without want. No matter how civilized we wish to paint ourselves as our inner darkness will always manifest itself in the most horrid of ways.
A large underground stadium of fans cheered as two houndooms clawed and bit at each other in a small bloodied pit. The two houndooms fought desperately, knowing full well whoever lost would not be returning to their masters. The houndooms continued this dance as a fat man sat happily in a luxury box.
"I have a drink in hand, im sitting in my favorite chair, and i'm about to make another ten thousand poke-yen!" the fat man blurted out laughing. "This is the life!"
One of his bodyguards that had been standing behind him looked over to his partner and then to the man in the chair.
"Excuse me sir." One of the bodyguards cautiously asked. "How are you so certain you will win this match?"
The fat man smiled "because boy, i never bet on anything that isn't a sure thing."
The bulky man pulled out a small rectangular device with only one button. He pressed down on the button with his pudgy finger. Immediately one of the houndooms roared and launched into a berserk rage, ignoring all pain the houndoom launched itself at its enemies neck. In one swift motion the pokemons neck snapped, ending its struggle. Half the crowd roared in anger as the other half cheered to their victory.
"Ya see that boy? Always bet on a sure thing!" The beefy man began to laugh hysterically.
As the houndoom gave another roar before launching flames in every direction. The crowd began to roar again as a mightyena was introduced to the ring. Quickly turning to the new challenger the houndoom barked madly.
"What? Who the hell imported a mightyena into johto just for a cage fight?" The overweight man asked aloud. "Well it won't matter, no pokemon can withstand the flames of one of my expertly trained, and highly doped houndoom."
The two dog pokemon stared each other down, the fire type barking with a hoarse throat, the pure dark staring with a calm focus. Finally the Pokemon launched themselves at each other. As the two pokemon began their fatal dance, another dark hooded figure snuck its way through the dark dirty stadium shifting through the crowd of scum and poverty as he made his way towards the luxury box that held the heavy set man.
The mightyena proved to be far more experienced than anyone originally expected. Clawing and biting before retreating to safety. Slowly the houndoom began to get tired and enraged. Finally the houndoom had enough and unleashed a torrent of flames at the mightyena. Narrowly dodging the flames the mightyena launched itself and rammed right into the houndoom sending it flying into the stone walls. The houndoom struggled to stand on its feet, looking like it was barely keeping conscious.
"Alright this match has gone on long enough" the bulky man said pulling out his remote and pressing the button. "This'll teach those hot shots for thinking they can beat me!."
Another rush of drugs began pumping its way into the houndoom via the collar on its neck enraging the pokemon further. The hellhound launched itself into the walls and spat fire in random directions furiously fighting to hold its mind together. The mightyena took hold of the opportunity as it expertly closed in before closing its jaws around the poor pokemons neck. With a swift twist, the houndoom went limp, a thankful expression dawning on its face.
"What in the hell was that!" The fat man roared repeatedly throwing objects at the window, cracking it repeatedly.
"When i get my hands on the engineer who sold me that collar im going to crush the life out of his throat! I want you two to-" the man was cut off at the sight of his bodyguards lying motionless on the ground, standing behind them was a hooded man dressed in black.
"I know what you are" the pudgy man said calmly "look, just tell me how much they're paying you you and i'll double it"
The hooded figure continued to approach, waist cape swishing from side to side under the point of the large claymore at his back
"Okay fine you drive a hard bargain, ill triple it!" The heavy set man said now back to the glass wall now worried.
The hooded man drew a revolver, lifting the barrel to the man's chin before saying a single word.
"Surrender" the armed man said sternly.
Suddenly the big man smiled "you're making a big mistake, put the gun down and you can still walk away"
However the armed man said nothing, stoic in thesface of the threat
"Fine!" The pudgy man spat " but i gave you a chance!"
As soon as he finished his sentence the entire room was flooded by thugs armed with muskets all pointed at the hooded man.
"Bounty hunter! Drop your weapon and put your hands in the air!" One of the lead thugs yelled sternly.
"You better do what they say boy" the big man smiled mockingly.
The bounty hunter weighed his options, looking around seeing no clear exit.
"There is no place to run bounty hunter! Surrender or die!" The thugs threatened.
Finally the bounty hunter decided what to do. He grabbed the overweight man by the collar and put the barrel to his head. The thugs flinched not knowing what to do looked around at each other. Without ceremony the bounty hunter launched both himself and the fat man through the glass of the luxury box. They flew a short distance before rolling over the bloodthirsty crowd and into the fighting ring. The fat man hurriedly got up grabbing his damaged arm and turning to face the houndoom and mightyena.
"Kill that mercenary!" The heavy man weazed, pointing at the bounty hunter who just got to his feet "kill him! He's a snitch!"
The mightyena walked to the hunter, taking a battle stance to protect him.
"That thing was yours?" The pudgy man said annoyed. I'll teach you to try and come after me! No one comes after me in my own turf!"
Suddenly 5 hatches opened up underneath the arena, releasing snarling houndooms, ready to kill.
"The grand prize plus ten percent to whoever's dog fetches me that hunters head!" The fat man blurted out while limping away,
Both the mercenary and mightyena now found themselves surrounded by houndoom and the roaring cheers of the crowd.
"This isn't how the plan was supposed to go." The mercenary said aloud, positioning himself ready for a fight. "Hardly anything ever goes to plan anyways"
The mightyena snarled, licking the blood of off of its muzzle. Suddenly every houndoom launched themselves towards the duo at once hardly giving them any time to react. The hooded mercenary jumped back dodging the houndooms charge and lept towards his fallen revolver. The mightyena had charged forwards dodging the houndooms trying to make its way to apprehend the limping Fatman.
The entire crowd exploded with excitement as new bets were placed on the life of the bounty hunter as he frantically tried to dodge out of the way of the furious group of pokemon. Quickly the bounty hunter threw down a small can that exploded in bright flash of light. The houndoom yelped as they were blinded by the sudden flash. Taking the opportunity bounty hunter threw down two pokeballs summoning a crobat and a raticate.
"Cover Lucifer's advance!" With those few words the two pokemon followed their trainer's instructions.
Lucifer zigzagged back and forth dodging the houndoom that launched themselves at him. The crobat quickly flew in and released a terrible screeching noise, confusing nearby houndoom. The raticate took the opportunity tackle as many as he could to take as much attention as possible away from the mightyena. As the fat man reached for the the walls stone ladder all hopes of escape where drained as he felt one of the houndooms sink its teeth into his legs. Before he could cry put in pain two more houndoom's teared into his throat, ripping apart his ability to scream. Within a few seconds all the houndooms tore into the man in Mass as the crowd cheered.
Lucifer recoiled as he witnessed the houndoom rip apart their own master in a confused rage, doing the mightyenas job for him.
"Not exactly what I had planned" The mercenary said to himself. "But a kill is a kill I suppose"
As the houndooms chomped on their calorie rich meal the mercenary recalled his Pokemon and made a swift dash out of the dug in pit and out to an exit.
"Right, so the starved houndooms tore apart Jones because of your Pokemons confusion attack?" An old lady behind a bar said while setting down a mug.
"Yup" the Mercenary said simply as he began to down the beverage.
The old barmaid rolled her eyes before speaking again. "Grey, how do I know they didn't just tear him apart because he fell into the pit?"
"Ah! But who put him there?"
The barmaid rolled her eyes as she set down a small purse on the table "If you weren't so good at making people disappear I'd have you disappear Grey."
Grey set his drink down and picked up his payment. He weighed the bag in his hands and recoiled a bit.
"Feels a little light, your not short changing me are you Danna?"
"Sorry Grey that's all that fat pig was worth, all the big targets are gone. Ever since those damned alliance soldiers rolled on in, The militaries been cracking down harder on crime. Devaluing the work of private contractors" Danna explained
"I'm going to have to start smuggling again if this keeps up" Grey said staring at the bottom of his mug.
"Oh sugar, maybe this is a sign, you have enough pokeyen to live in relative comfort. Why not buy some land, find yourself a dame and settle down?"
"You know I'm no farmer Danna"
"Oh stop that, you know I'm only thinking of what's best for you"
Grey sighed as he looked around the room. The entire bar was full of men toasting and yelling tall tales of war. Grey looked to the bulletin board behind the counter where he usually got his contacts. One contract stood out to him, a shimmering golden stamp had been plastered to the bottom of one of the flyers.
"Hey Danna, what's with the official looking flyer for?" Grey said pointing to the board.
"Oh this?" Danna said grabbing the paper "this is just some suicide contact some Dapper looking people left here earlier this morning, here, take a look"
Grey took the paper and began to examine it.
The alliance government has formally put out a bounty for the retrieval of The Shield. The Shield is currently being kept in the town of Little route in Hoenn, any private contractors who can retrieve and deliver the shield will be paid in the total amount of 50 million Pokeyen. Please see your nearest alliance politician for details.
Grey nearly fell off his stool upon finishing reading the poster.
"Fifty million yen? This could set me rich for life!" Grey said full of excitement.
"Oh no, don't tell me you're going to try that stupid contract you'll come back in a body bag" Danna warned. "Besides that contracts in Hoenn, that entire region is one giant warzone."
"When's the first ship bound for Hoenn leaving?"
"Why am I not surprised?" Danna sad disappointed "if you're serious about this then I won't stop you, just make sure you know what you're doing."
"Don't worry about me Danna, I can take care of myself."
The old barmaid gave a worried sigh before disappearing into the bars kitchen. A few moments later she came back out with a plastic bag and a letter.
"There's a missionary ship headed to Hoenn tomorrow on some self righteous mission to deliver relief supplies to the people. One of those religious nuts came in here the other day and ended up piss drunk. Suffice to say that he ended up leaving here completely robbed of everything, including these robes. He may be gone but you could probably make your way aboard."
Grey took the robes and lopked them over, the robes were completely white save for a golden cross and circle on the forehead of the hood, the symbol of Arceus. Grey dropped the bag of coins he was previously given into the barmaids hand before taking his newly acquired equipment.
"Make sure you don't die, no one else is stupid enough to take my jobs." Danna called out. Grey simply gave a half hearted wave of his hand without looking back before he headed out the door.
"dumbass" Danna scoffed as she went back to cleaning the counter.
A few moments later, Grey had slipped into the white robes as he shoved his items into a large satchel. Grey looked over his disguise one last time, it was a little large on him but it would suffice for the short time he needed it. Slightly adjusting the sword underneath the robe he pulled up the hood and clasped his hands in prayer before walking to the air docks. Following the directions on the letter he made his way to the airship that would take him to his destination.
A few days later….
A loud bang jolted Grey awake as he instinctively reached for his revolver only to be met with cloth. More bangs and screams could be heard outside, the sounds of battle Grey knew all too well. Annoyed, the Mercenary tore off the robes and grabbed his black hooded armour he had been hiding in the ships crew quarters. Rolling his shoulders his leather pauldrons adjusted once more as he tightened his metal bracers and quickly marched out the door, metal boots pounding at the floor.
Upon stepping outside the Mercenary was met by the sight of Hoenn insurgents brawling with deckhands raiding the ship for it's supplies. Before Grey could react he was swiftly struck buy a musket butt. Grey was knocked to the floor but quickly started to back away as his attacker continued to charge. The Rebel attempted to skewer the Mercenary but was met with wood as Grey quickly rolled to his side. Before the Rebel could pull his musket back he was met with a swift boot to the face. Not wasting any time, the Mercenary grabbed the musket and rammed it straight into the boys neck. Grey pulled the trigger and watched as the rebels brain matter exit through the back of his skull. Dropping the musket grey released his partner mightyena as they prepared to defend themselves. More rebels made themselves known as they charged the Mercenary.
"Lucifer! Shadow ball!" Grey commanded.
The mightyena blasted a ball of dark energy from it's maw knocking some of the raiders overboard. Quickly the insurgents summoned zigzagoons as together they attempted to swarm the Mercenary. Lucifer lit his maw aflame as he bit down on one of the small Pokemons. Grey gave a swift kick knocking away one of the pests as he brought his revolver slamming down across the head of one of the human assailants. Grey quickly grabbed the stunned man and kicked him into the rest of the group giving him enough time to equip his knife in his left hand. Grey shot the closet man in the heart and brought his knife down on the cheek of another. The man grabbed his face in pain as Grey used him as a human shield and unloading four more shots into the crowd. The rebels unleashed their own volly striking their comrade several times across the chest.
Lucifer had crushed the bones of many zigzagoons but they continued to attack in suicidal rage. He was being repeatedly tackled only to blast another group with a shadow ball and crack the spines of others. Thinking quickly, Lucifer began to Sprint to the nearby deck cannons. Lighting his fangs once more he picked up a barrel marked "gunpowder" and flung it towards the small horde. The barrel rolled for a bit before being completely consumed in flames and rupturing. Nearby zigzagoons where turned to paste and others were skewered by flying splinters of wood.
As the explosion rocked the ship Grey's last shot missed its mark and hit an oil lamp on a nearby mast. Quickly the flames began to spread as the whole ship began to be set alight. The raiders took the searing flames as their signal to leave. Quickly the assailants ran back to their flying types and made way with what loot they could.
"please let me go!" The rebel in Grey's grip coughed out spitting out blood.
"Sure" Grey simply stated as he forced the rebel to the edge.
Grey ignored his plea for mercy as he kicked him overboard, quickly Grey recalled Lucifer and released his crobat. The crobat bit down on Grey's collar and held on as they both jumped into the sky.
Had this been any other circumstance, Grey would have almost described the sight as beautiful. He watched in awe as the airship tore across the sky like a falling star coming down to embrace the earth.
Grey slowly descended as he watched the airship slam into the Forest below, spreading the flames even farther.
"Not my best work" Grey said nonchalantly. The crobat chuckled as they continued to descended. With the new fire lighting up the surrounding area, a group of structures could be made out near the crash sight.
"Alucard, let's make way for the crash site, i think we've reached our destination sooner than expected" Grey commanded as he pointed towards the fire. The crobat gave an echoed shriek in approval as they descended into the fire.
Earlier...
Explosion after explosion could be heard overhead as a small kirlia stared upwards to the ceiling with annoyance. She looked back down to the journal she had been drawing in but found it difficult to continue. Suddenly, a stressed looking man wearing a long lab coat over a green shirt and brown cargo pants
"Professor! It's Hot!" A kirlia complained aloud
"I know Rina I know! But I can't do anything about it right now! The whole town is in danger!" A tubby man responded hastily moving from radio to radio "as if the damned rocket mercenaries weren't enough, they decided to start a fire to flush us out. Nay I say!"
The kirlia looked on frustrated from behind her glass enclosure.
"Could i at least be released from the prison for the meantime?" Rina begged
"Not now Rina" The professor responded annoyed let me get everything in order and ill see about returning to your tests.
Rina looked towards her small room and began to examine it for what seemed like the hundredth time. A bookshelf sat in a corner containing books she's read ten times over, a desk she's sat in where she would draw or even write her own short stories from time to time, and a small bed where she rested after the day was done. A sudden jolt of realization ripped her from her depressed trance as she turned to face the tubby professor.
"Wait, fire? There's a fire going on outside?" Rina asked
Unsurprisingly the professor ignored her question and went back to sending S.O.S signals. Annoyed, Rina used her psychic powers to remove a chair right before the professor was about to sit causing him to crash to the floor on his rear. Rina smirked and went back to her desk and began to write.