Selkeytyksenä: Nedran ajatukset ovat merkitty kursiivilla.

Chapter One.

Nedra could smell the roasted coffee beans and manly, sweaty odor from outside the bar. It was as welcoming as it had always been. Nedra pulled the heavy door twice before it gave in and let her inside. She closed it and looked around her. One table on the left corner was full of drunk undergrounders. They were loud and drunk and dirty. Luckily for everyone else in the bar, they didn't care about them. Nedra walks past them and takes a seat on a bar stool.

"Large eggnog, please," she says with a bold, rough but feminine voice. You get nothing at this bar without including politeness in your words, which Nedra had to learn the hard way. She's not the innocent neighborly girl and had had her mouth washed countless times. The bartender grabs a glass bottle and pours a big glassful of that sweet, creamy liquid. He shoves a coin jar towards her. Nedra drops a few coins inside and takes the glass. She carries it to a table next to a pillar. Every table is unique and so are the chairs: some are tree stumps, some cushioned and some plain old wooden stools. Her table is an old, repainted cable drum. As she takes a seat on the cushioned chair, someone approaches her. He has a quite slim body for a creature that is supposed to look like an orc. His posture is bad and he walks like he's tipsy. His skin is pale teal colour and his face looks goofy with his jaw growing outward, staring eyes and a mouth missing a few big teeth. The skin looks damaged, like a preteens would. He is wearing worn jean capris, a loose t-shirt and a beanie. No one wears beanies underground.

"Howdy!" the creature greets Nedra. Nedra doesn't bother looking at him.

"Leave me alone," she hisses at him. He sits on the free chair opposite from her.

"I actually should, I'm not supposed to be here! But I hate my job and had to take the day off… What brings you here?" He has a special way to talk. He laughs or giggles after every sentence. His voice is high pitched but it's a bit hoarse, it sounds like he's either sick or talks a lot. The last mentioned might be closer to the truth.

"I don't care about your life. And why I'm here is not something you need to know, Edd," Nedra talks with an irritated tone. Edd never quits talking to Nedra, even though she always turns him down. It feels like a one sided love story, where the guy doesn't take no as a no. They creep their love interest wherever they can and with whatever way they can, because maybe their love interest will change their mind? That would never happen with Nedra.
Nedra takes a slow, long drink from the glass. She tries to avoid talking with the other undergrounder.

"You always say you don't care. I think you're lying to me," Edd says, sounding a bit depressed. Nedra looks at Edd's face and immediately regrets.

"Where would you get that idea from?" she isn't trying to hide her sarcastic tone, but her mocking smile hides behind an innocent look. Edd shrugs and his boney shoulders crack.

"I'm not sure, to be honest… Maybe I'm just imagining things, hehehe!"
Suddenly the smoking lobbies door bangs open and it scares Edd. As he sees who walks towards their table, he quickly hides behind the pillar next to the table. A creature with dark brown skin and taurus-like features looks at Nedra. He has thick but short horns growing from his head and he is wearing a long, dark blue cloak with golden accents to cover his hairy, muscular body. He is so tall he has to bend his neck to not hit his head on the bar's roof. Nedra knows who he is, but doesn't pay attention when he sits at the table.

"Good evening, Nedra," he speaks with a husky, calm voice.

"It's awful to see you, Byron," she greets him and tries to show a little respect by nodding. It's common for undergrounders to show respect by nodding at those who are the leaders. The casuality of Nedra's speech clashes with her action, though, so she ends up showing disrespect. Byron ignores that fact, trying to remain calm.

"A new gang has formed above ground," Byron informs Nedra. She scoffs exaggeratedly.

"Oh my, a new gang? Are they called Team Skull or something?" Nedra isn't the person to show respect to their leader, which Byron has hard times to tolerate. He gives a very displeased look at the female undergrounder.

"So what about them?" Nedra asks with a bit more seriousness in her tone.

"They have been growing quickly and have caused a lot of trouble to civilians with their Pokémon," the horned beast responds, "and I got a report from a Lurker that they might have one of our kind in their team." Nedra shrugs.

"What do you want me to do? Kick their asses?" Nedra asks and finishes her drink. Byron is starting to lose his temper at Nedra's attitude.

"I need you to be completely serious with this, Nedra. You've been told to have the best skills above ground, please don't lead me astray," Byron glances at Nedra and his golden, orange tinted eyes burn with anger. He still manages to keep himself calm on the outside.

"Alright, alright. What's the deal?" Nedra asks him with a smirk on her face. Getting Byron angry is the most fun she can think of. It does have its downside, but it doesn't matter to her.

"You need to go above ground and disguise yourself as one of them. Get on their good side, or bad side, it's up to you. Find out who is the intruder from underground. You know the rules," Byron responds and leaves the table.

"Hey, wait! What's for me in it?" she yells at Byrons back. That goofy creature who hid behind the pillar sneaks out and replies: "You get to be the very best, like no one- Ouch!". Nedras glass hits his big, round head right in the middle and breaks when it bounces to the ground. She must hate that song. Nedra takes a look at the way Byron left, not wanting to obey him. She calms down herself and focuses on her transmission. Soon the orc-like form turns into a gooey mist and she floats through the roof, stone and cement.

She's located at an empty basement. It's hidden inside a motel, which is run by underground creatures - in disguises, of course. She can hear their chattering through the thin walls and floor. She cannot go outside without getting a body, which is her first task. She floats through the open door into a white hallway. It takes her to the security door. There's a wide but short hole in the door.

"I have arrived," she whispers, trying to sound serious and scary. The door opens and she can float through.

"There's a girl in room 12," an undergrounder disguised as a mustached, short, tanned man says.

"Alone?"

"She came with a pokémon, a low-level Deino. Should be an easy target", the man mentions. Nedra smiles like a maniac. She hates those pokémon trainers more than anything in the world, and this time she can get rid of one for a good reason, too. She floats up the stairs into another hallway. It has the rooms 1 to 15, which is the full capacity of the motel. Nedra continues to float across the hallway. Part of her irregular body begins to form a shape. At first it looks like a boneless limb, but it starts to take a more sharp look. Soon it turns to a scythe. Nedra could have chosen a "brainworm" (it looks similar to an octopus), but she prefers her scythe. It's very simplistic and quite short, but effective. She arrives in front of one of the doors. It has the number 12 carved into a silver plate. Sadly for her, she cannot burst through the door. Nedra cannot touch anything in this form and she has to ask the girl to come outside, trying to sound like a concerned motel owner: "Excuse me, I need you to come outside". Nedra can hear faint footsteps inside the room, and a curious growl. That must be the pokémon, Nedra thinks to herself. The door lock clicks and it opens rather fast. The girl looks in front of her and sees Nedra - from the girl's point of view that's just a strange, translucent blob holding a scythe.

"Are you like, a Phantomon?" the girl asks curiously and gets answered by a big grin. Nedra swings her scythe above the girl and slowly pushes it through her head, chest and hips, until it clanks against the floor. The body doesn't get cut in half, no. Undergrounders kill the victim without physical pain or wounds. The girl's body falls on its back into the room. A blank look is glued onto her childish face.

"She has green eyes. I like that. But I don't like her..." Nedra speaks to herself with a snarky tone. She notices the Deino is ramming towards her, but runs through her at a wall. Nedra can't help her giggling.

"You're so pathetic!" she shouts and floats on top of the pokémon. The blind Deino tries to sense where Nedra is, tackling and biting the air around him. After missing every try, Deino tries to ram again, but hits the wall again. He collapses to the floor and growls aggressively. As Nedra turns around to look at the lying pokémon, she starts to think about her plan.

"That little girl won't get nowhere near any gangs without raising any suspicions. But you would attract their interest, wouldn't you? Especially if a gal like me could control you", she conversates with the pokémon. Deino doesn't seem to understand or want to understand what she is saying. He stands up and ruffles his fur. This time he tries to do Dragon Rage, but the shock wave only breaks the window behind Nedra. Nedra swings her scythe through the body of the helpless Deino. Life escapes the pokémons body and it falls on the ground like a ragdoll. Nedra has a maniacal smile on her face, but it soon turns to a disappointed, smug expression.

"Why are you so stupid?" she asks the dead body in front of her, sounding blasphemous and almost sad. She floats on top of the pokémon and focuses her mind to transmiss into the body. It's not a hard task to switch bodies for an experienced undergrounder like her, and she must admit she has done it a lot. That's where she has gotten her reputation as being the best disguised above grounder - and therefore the reason why Byron had to choose her for the mission. She could have asked for a better body, but those are not always available. This happens to be her first time inside a pokémon. Nedra can feel how her essence fills the pokémons brains and limbs. The body is still trying to force its old mind back where it belongs. Nedra feels its essence pushing against hers, but she easily crushes it and starts to learn the mechanics behind a Deino. The first thing she notices is that the pokémon cannot see, because the fur covers its face. Nedra parts the fur so that she has a peeking hole for herself. She starts to think about the move Deino did, Dragon Rage. Surely she can tackle and bite things, but she isn't quite sure how to produce such a shock wave. If she wants to get into the gang, she must be worthy and strong enough. She opens her mouth and focuses her energy into emitting a small, harmless cloud of smoke. That wouldn't shock anyone. She sighs and decides to look around the room. Usually every pokémon has their own pokéball, but Nedra isn't keen on being trapped. She must make sure no one finds hers.
A backpack is laying in front of the television. A show is going on in the tv and the end credits roll in. The text is Japanese and weird creatures, that could be mistaken for pokémon, start appearing. Nedra isn't a fan of tv shows and she quickly moves her attention to the backpack. She notices a round bump on the left side pocket. With her teeth she opens the zipper and a familiar object pops out. It's a tiny, red and white pokéball. There's also a purple and white ball of the same size in the same pocket, but she leaves it be. She grabs the pokéball and carries it in her mouth to the reception.

The door guard is surprised to see her coming back as a pokémon instead of the girl, but doesn't make a comment about it. Nedra walks up to the front desk and knocks it. She is so short that no one would notice her standing there.
A man with glasses and bald head looks over the desk, trying to see who knocked.

"You gotta hide this pokéball for me. Do not destroy it or give it to anyone," Deino speaks in an understandable language to the receptionist. Undergrounders can speak in two ways; the first is any language, such as undergrounders language. It can be heard but possibly not understood by humans, and it helps when you're trying to find other in-disguise undergrounders. The second way is to talk through their other form - the form which they use to transmiss into another body and come above ground. They can speak whatever language they wish, but it can only be heard by other undergrounders. It slips into regular conversations easily for those who are not used to talking both above and undergrounders way, and in Nedra's mission that cannot happen. She needs to hide her true identity from the intruder. Nedra was using the second way to talk with the receptionist, and he is responding with the same: "Alright, I'll take care of it." Nedra drops the pokéball on his palm and then walks away. There's another door guard at the front door, and he opens the door for Deino.

"Good luck," he says and Nedra nods at him and steps outside. The weather is warm, but cloudy. It's late in the day and the sun is setting down. The motel is located at quiet, peaceful areas of Alumbra Town. The motel is two-story and the rooms have small balconies. The nearest bus station isn't far away, which makes coming there easier - convenient for the motel owners. Nedra has been to these parts of the city before, so she knows how to get around. She walks up to the bus station. The street is in bad shape, after all it is located in the isolated areas, so no one takes care of them. There's no plants or trees around either, only a stone wall separating the street from the residential areas. Nedra looks at the bus schedule on a rusty pole. It has a blue bus sign barely attached to it, if you were unlucky it could fall on your head one day. Below it there's a plastic board that has all the arrival times written on it. Four shifts: 8 am, 12 pm, 6 pm and 9 pm. Nedra wasn't aware of the time, other than it was afternoon since the sun was setting. She had to play the waiting game.

Nedra had fallen asleep on the ground and woke up to the sound of screeching brakes. The bus stopped at the station and dropped off two girls and their Lillipup and Rockruff. The pokémons barked at Nedra, who quickly got away from them inside the bus.

"Was that a Deino? Aren't they aggressive?" one of the girls wondered.

"It's too cute to hurt anyone!" the other girl exclaimed. The bus driver didn't care about stray pokémon entering the bus, it's a small favor for them and they behave themselves most of the time. Nedra noticed that there was a Pawniard sitting on a windowed seat. She decided to join him and jumped on the seat next to him. They sit silent next to each other.

"You haven't heard of any gangs around here?" Nedra breaks the silence. Pawniard keeps looking outside the window, ignoring her question. Nedra isn't the most patient creature and repeats her question with an irritated tone. Pawniard remains silent.

"Do you not understand me? Is there some secret pokémon language I need to learn?" Nedra asks frustratedly. Pawniard sighs and stands up to press the stop-button. Soon the bus slows down and stops. Pawniard jumps down from the seat and signs Nedra to follow him. The bus stop is in front of a market building. There's not much green in these areas either, but the roads are in better shape. Pawniard leads Nedra past the market, behind some rusty, old dumpsters. They sit down to wait.

The market doors slide open and three men and a women walk outside. The men are wearing black outfits with patches on the shoulders and the women is wearing a colourful, revealing outfit. Her shoes click as she tries to keep up with the men. Pawniard pokes Deino to her back and she takes it as a signal to go. The gang is walking towards the dumpsters and they get surprised by a sudden appearance of the Deino.

"Well look at that, you get your first pokémon without even trying," one of the men says to another. He's the tallest of them and looks the oldest. He's wearing a small skull necklace. I guess I'm not too far fetched with "Team Skull", huh.

The guy he was talking to is shorter and his face looks too kind to be a part a gang. His light blue eyes stare at Nedra.

"It's a Deino, those are rare here. And they're strong," he says and pulls his hands from his pockets. He's holding a different looking, dark pokéball in his hand, weighing his options.

"Oh my god, will you let me fight him!? Please, Arthur!" the third guy, who looks the youngest, yells. He's wearing glasses and he has a wild acne going on - the average nerd, more or less.

"Sure, give it a go. Let's see what he's made of," the man called Arthur responds. Nedra stands still, feeling nervous about the battle they are talking about. She's not sure if she can do Dragon Rage properly, but maybe tackling will do. The nerd guy swiftly takes his pokéball out of his pocket and while resting on his hand, a Buizel comes out. He seems scared outside his pokéball and looks at Nedra timidly.

"Alright then, Buizel, use Sonic Boom!" the nerd commands and Buizel's tail starts to glow and he sends a shockwave towards Nedra. Nedra, who is unable to concentrate, gets hit by the Sonic Boom. It doesn't hurt her much, but she feels sparks going through her body. Not wanting to get beated, she quickly focuses on the battle and rams towards Buizel, tackling him down. But she doesn't stop there. Buizel slowly gets up, trying to show signs of giving up but neither Nedra or his owner cares. Nedra gives it her all to emit a more powerful shock wave, but still not in its fullest power, and strikes it at Buizel.

"Goddamnit, Buizel, dodge it!" the nerd commands, feeling a little nervous about his tactics. Nedra is able to hit Buizel before he gets to move. The shockwave brings Buizel down again, and before the nerd is able to command his pokémon again, Arthur's words stop him: "You and your Buizel suck." He throws his dark pokéball through the air and it hits Nedra to the forehead, but doesn't suck her inside.

"What the fuck did you do that for!?" Nedra, angered by the sudden hit, shouts. Arthur and the nerd are shocked.

"He can speak? Or, I mean she…" Arthur says with suspicion. The nerd pats him to the back.

"You scored big time! But it seems you can't capture it… Usually these pokéballs work for those that have already been caught. What do we do? Hey, Tyler, do you have any leads with you?" the nerd talks and walks up to the oldest, who's making out with the girl further away. While the nerd and Tyler look through their equipment, Arthur approaches Nedra.

"I've been looking for your gang," Nedra reveals. Arthur feels a little confused about the situation.

"Why? It's not the best life we offer you here," Arthur asks the Deino.

"Let's just say I know someone, and have a job to finish," Nedra replies and makes Arthur even more confused.

"I see," he replies and goes to pick up the pokéball he threw.

"So why couldn't I capture you with this? It works flawlessly every time," Arthur inquires and Nedra shrugs.

"How should I know. I do have a pokéball of my own, but like that loser said, it should work anyway. Maybe I'm just special?" Nedra chuckles with a gleam in her eye. Arthur scoffs and looks behind him to see what Tyler and the nerd are doing.

"We found you a lead, it has a pinch collar," Tyler says and shakes the collar in his hand at Nedra. Arthur grabs the lead and Nedra submits to have the collar put on. It's tight around her neck but doesn't hurt, if she doesn't pull.

"You better not keep me in this for long," Nedra grumbles to Arthur.

"I don't have a capsule for you, so this will have to do," Arthur talks back to Nedra. They catch up with the nerd, Tyler and the girl. Arthur pulls the nerd next to him.

"Let's keep this Deino's talking ability hidden for now, okay?" he whispers to the nerd.

"Of course, my lips are sealed like Vaults doors," the nerd responds. Arthur nods and pushes the nerd away from him. Nedra follows them, but turns to look behind her curiously. She sees the Pawniard lurking behind the dumpsters, taking his leave after making an eye contact with her. Nedra turns to look at the people around her. She feels nervous about what's going to happen next.

FanFictionin editori on vielä aika omituinen minulle, ja tekstin asettelu on vaikeaa. Ensimmäinen tarina saakoon nyt leposijansa tänne. Sanoja hiukan päälle 3700.