"Brad I really don't like the look of this place." Jay muttered nervously as his friend led him through the back alleys of Mauville. "Where the hell are we going?"
"Chill man" Brad replied laughing, "I'm not gonna spoil the surprise but just trust me, you're gonna love it"
"Brad I'm really not sure about this."
"Just shut up!" Brad snarled before sighing, "I mean, can you just trust me man? You're gonna love it and it won't be as good if I spoil the surprise."
Jay nodded, "alright man… lead the way." Despite agreeing Jay couldn't help but to begin doubting his friend, the streets they were wandering through were getting progressively worse and worse. Beggars and junkies lined the streets like the fallen autumn leaves and the whole place stunk of human waste, whats worse was that Brad seemed to fit into this place more and more with each passing day.
"Brad dude. Are you feeling okay?" Jay asked his skittish friend as they dodged around an unconscious junkie sprawled across the empty road in front of them.
"I'm fine. Why? Who have you been talking to?" Brad snapped, "Was it that bitch Jenifer? She's always had it in for me, I don't know what she's been telling you but-"
"Whoa whoa whoa man calm down." Jay told the agitated Brad, backing away from his friend nervously. "Nobody has told me anything, I just haven't seen you like this before. You don't seem to be doing too great."
Brad stopped and shook his head. "Sorry man, I am feeling out of sorts right now, I'll feel better once we get there. Come on, we're almost there."
Jay nodded and followed Brad as he led him towards a large collection of buildings all surrounded by chain link fences and barbed wire, at the entrance stood two huge bikers, both covered with tattoo's and metal and stood beside viscous looking Mightyena. Jay's heart rose in his throat as they approached the two huge men, Brad couldn't possibly be leading him in there, those two men would eat them both alive.
Jay's heartbeat sped as Brad approached the two men with no signs of stopping, nodding at the duo he passed straight through without a word. Jay following behind unable to believe that this was really happening, what the hell had happened to his friend in the last few months? The old Brad wouldn't have dared be in the same area code as people like that.
As they entered the building the smell of booze and fags washed over him like a tsunami, sending him staggering backwards several steps before he caught himself and continued after Brad; who seemed undaunted by the overpowering stench. Jay's heartbeat had rocketed upwards after they passed the two huge men guarding the door, he was enclosed in on all sides by the kind of people he would usually avoid. All around him junkies were pumping dangerous substances into their bodies under the diminished light coming from the ceiling, largely obscured by the thick smoke that filled the room, at best people were only swigging whiskey like water while at worst they were washing down ecstasy tablets with absinth and barely breaking stride.
Jay glanced around in desperate search for Brad only to see him crowded around a huge pit in the centre of the building, pushing his way towards him Jay quickly ducked under the drunken swing of a huge bald man and threw himself towards Brad.
"Brad why on earth did you bring me here? How do you even know about this place?" Jay asked panicked.
"It's awesome right?" asked Brad paying no attention to what Jay had actually said, "Here check out the best part." He told Jay motioning into the pit.
Jay's eyes widened as his mind processed what he was looking at and he could feel vomit rising in the back of his throat, suddenly bending over in front of Brad and ejecting the contents of his stomach onto the floor in front of him. Inside the pit was the most horrific thing Jay had ever seen, two pokémon were battling. Except what was going on down there wasn't a battle, it was a bloodbath.
The two pokémon were tearing into each other with everything they had amidst the remains of dozens of other pokémon, the two surviving pokémon looked like nothing Jay had ever seen before. Pupils completely obscured by a bloody red colour that had filled their eyes, lips pulled back into a hideous snarl as they struggled to remain standing; huge swathes of blood erupting from their brutally torn bodies with every motion. Neither pokémon saw the condition they were in, they only seemed to care about ripping into their opponent with what remained of their strength, like rabid wolves he watched as the two Mightyena collided once again and began to rip and tear at each other, their blood splattering across the gladiatorial pit and neither paying any attention to their own condition. Finally one Mightyena's jagged fangs found traction on the other's blood slicked neck and in an explosion of gore the Mightyena tore out the throat of it's unfortunate opponent and swallowed it whole, turning its attention towards the seething mass of junkies gathered around the pit before its last victim even fell to the ground.
Screeching and snarling it hurtled itself at the halls of the pit, jumping up and snapping at the hands of the junkies all around it who just jeered and taunted the enraged creature. Just as Jay managed to recover from the horror of what he was witnessing the poor creature succeeded in latching onto some unfortunate piece of filths arm, tearing it clean in half with on twist of its enflamed muscles. As the tendons parted there was a horrific snapping sound that resounded around the room and the junkie recoiled in horror, his blood spraying out of the jagged remains of his arm and splattering onto the other spectators, who were all to out of it to realise what was happening and just laughed as the man screamed desperately for help whilst clawing at his injury with his remaining hand.
"No hospitals, eliminate the evidence." Snapped a figure who swept into the room through a huge pair of metal door at the opposite end of the building, a tall tanned Caucasian man with muscular but not huge proportions clad in leather from head to toe, from his shoes to the ribbon that held his long chestnut hair back.
Nodding, one of the few people not trapped in a drug fuel haze, a huge behemoth of a man clad in a pristine black business suit with a shining bald head, slipped a Colt M1911 from beneath his jacket and pointed it at the injured junkie. His hand caressed the trigger for less than a second and Jay barely had time to recoil in horror before he pulled the trigger, sending a single round ploughing straight through the injured junkie head. The junkie suddenly went rigged as blood began to dribble from the hole in his head before falling limply to the ground, the suited man seemed undaunted and slid the pistol back under his jacket with a smirk of satisfaction on his lips. Pulling on a pair of black leather gloves he strode over to the dead junkie and grabbing the junkie's remaining arm tossed him into the pit, the Mightyena more than happy to sink it's blood stained fangs into the junkie's corpse. Blood and gore splattering all around it, Mightyena are messy eaters.
Jay scrambled backwards horrified, "I have to get out of here." He mumbled to himself as he continued scrambling backwards away from the horrors he had just witnessed. Suddenly he felt himself bump into something, looking up he received a golden grin from the figure that had just entered through the metal doors.
"Sorry buddy but you're not going to be leaving just yet." The figure declared as he looked over at Brad, who was still transfixed by the sight of the Mightyena ripping into the junkie's corpse. "Brad, this the one?" he asked.
Brad spun, torn from his daze, "Yeah" he cried looking at Jay. "He's the one I was talking about."
"Excellent" declared motion towards the black suited man, "Adder. Grab him. We need to have a little talk with our pokémon trainer friend here." Jay recoiled in horror as the huge man called Adder wrapped her huge arms around him and lifted him up off the ground, "After me." Said the golden toothed figure as he set off towards the metal doors, Adder dragging Jay behind him and Brad following suit.
Jay kick and struggled in Adder's iron grip but barely managed to move an inch, and was forced to sit back and allow himself to be dragged through the metal doors and into the room beyond. Beyond the metal doors was a huge pristine marble hall lined with pillars on either side that enclosed a single huge throne, which the golden toothed figure sauntered towards as they entered the room. Throwing himself into the rich seating the golden toothed man let out another bejewelled smile as two more huge men dressed in black business suits positioned themselves behind the throne.
"Welcome." Exclaimed the golden toothed man as Adder dragged Jay into the room, "to my throne room." Adder dragged Jay several feet forward until he was a single step away from the golden toothed man and then stopped, Brad meanwhile skulking behind Adder just outside of Jay's field of vision.
"But we haven't been introduced yet, although my good friend Brad here tells me your name is Jay. And he has done a good job bringing you here, I always make sure to reward a job we done." The golden toothed man said, his voice laced with a kind of venom that sent shivers down Jay's spine.
Upon hearing the golden toothed man's words Brad took several hopeful steps forward, for a moment a disgusted sneer appeared on the golden toothed man's face but it was soon replaced with a venomous smile. "You know what he wants Python, let him have it." He said his false smile still pasted on his face.
Nodding the huge man to his left stepped forward and pulled a needle fill with a strange jet black liquid, Brad leaping at it like a starving wolf and snatching it from Python's hand. Cackling giddily as he rolled his sleeve up and injected the substance into his veins, his eyes rolling back into his head a moment later. Suddenly Brad fell to the ground cackling wildly the needle still imbedded in his arm, Jay looked away disgusted.
"I see you have not been acquainted with the other use of my beloved drug," The golden toothed man said chuckling. "I don't use it myself of course but I've heard that it is one of the most exhilarating highs available on the market."
"Other use?" Jay muttered bemused.
"Oh did Brad not tell you? My beloved drug is what made these pits possible, it's a beautiful thing you know. It's affects have lasted up to half a year on my beloved pets and I have no doubts it could last longer if pokémon managed to survive the pits longer than that." He paused and chuckled for a moment. "I call it Distilled Shadow Virus, DSV for short and you really don't want to see what pure Shadow Virus looks like, although to be frank I have no idea what it really is. Virus, toxin, bacteria, call it what you will, all I know is how to produce it and that's all I need."
Jay's eyes widened in fear, that stuff had turned those pokémon into monsters and people were willingly injecting it into their own bodies? The mere though made him want to vomit. "Now then" continued the golden toothed man, "I believe it is time to get back to the matter at hand. And as with all business transactions I will start by introducing myself, I go by the name 'Viper' and as you might of guessed I consider myself a snake in both name and nature. No need to introduce yourself, Brad has told me quite a bit."
Pulling himself from his throne Viper, sauntered over to the catatonic Brad and smirked. "You see Brad and I were good friends when he first came here looking for work, having just discovered my beloved DSV and was looking to test it on more pokémon after seeing the affects for myself, Brad was godsend, bringing me wave after wave of weak pokémon to test the DSV on and providing the pokémon I needed to start the pits. Why if I remember correctly his Mightyena was the victor in that last fight, an impressive beast to be sure."
Jay's eyes snapped at Brad and rage appeared on his features, "THAT WAS MIDNIGHT OUT THERE? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" He screamed at Brad's catatonic form enraged, struggling against his captor more than ever as he desperately wanted to ram his fist into his 'friend'.
"Such anger isn't good for you," Viper said chuckling "You should relax, how about some DSV?" he asked a cruel smirk on his face producing another needle and holding it out in front of Jay.
Jay recoiled and lashed out with his leg, sending the needle flying across the room. "Get that stuff away from me!" he yelled the force fading from his voice as his fear began to return.
"Excellent." Said Viper chuckling once again. "Ever since Brad here began to enjoy the pleasures of DSV he's been useless, I thought I had lost my vital source of competitors for the pits. Until he began talking about you, he held you in such high regard! He called you one of the best trainers in the region, and that's exactly what I need right now. Unfortunately most of the men on my payroll are useless when it comes to pokémon, preferring to focus their attention on other pursuits, but you would be the perfect person to provide me with new competitors for the pit."
Pausing for a moment Viper approached Jay, "So how about it?" he asked his eyes just inches from Jay's own. "Want to become a very rich man Jay?"
Jay didn't even need a second to consider, "No way in hell." He told Viper, his voice sounding a lot braver than he felt right then.
Viper sighed and knelt in front of Jay, unclipping Jay's pokeball belt and removing it from around his waist. Striding away from Jay he began to speak, "I'm disappointed Jay, but I'm not the kind of person who gives up after one try. Let's see if I can't change your mind."
With a flick of his wrist he produced a pokeball of his own and released the pokémon inside, aptly a large sleek Seviper appeared from inside the pokeball. It's fangs dripping with venom as it coiled affectionately around its master, Viper ran his hand along the pokeball belt and picked a ball at random, releasing the pokémon inside.
"Seviper Glare and Constrict." He said lightly as a pokémon began to form from the white light of the pokeball.
"NO!" Jay shouted as his Skarmory was frozen by the Seviper's icy gaze before she was even fully aware of what was going on around her. "Silver!" he shouted at his pokémon as Seviper slid around the bird's metal body and ensnared the steel bird within.
Silver completely immobilised Viper strode over to the pokémon and produced a revolver from beneath his leather coat, lowering the barrel of the revolver level with Silver's metal skull. "Do you know what this is Jay?" Viper asked smiling, "This is a Model 500 S&W Magnum Revolver, the most powerful production handgun in the world. It's my favourite toy and I think your Skarmory wants to play with me."
Jay's mouth opened to scream for Viper to stop but it was already too late, Viper's finger slid backwards and the revolver jolted in his hand. Jagged metal erupted from the right side of Silver's head as the bullet sliced through her skull and out the other side, blood and shards of steel hit the ground as Jay screamed in horror at what he had just witnessed. Seviper uncoiled from Silver and let her corpse hit the ground, more blood pooling around the jagged remains of the right side of her skull.
Jay's eyes narrowed and rage boiled inside of him, every fibre of his being wanted to kill Viper, to do to him what he had done to Silver and get some justice, but all he could do was watch and struggle uselessly against Adder's vice like grip. Without flinching Viper selected another pokeball from Jay's belt and expanded it.
"No!" Jay screamed as he saw Viper about to release another pokémon, his rage turning to terror as he realised that Viper wasn't going to stop just yet.
Viper smiled and approached Jay, "Alright then Jay." He said Venomously, "You know what you have to do to make me stop, just say you'll help me and I'll let the remainder of your pokémon live. Otherwise, pow!" he said pretending to shoot something with the revolver in his hand.
Jay's voice faltered as he tried to speak, but before he could say anything a loud crash echoed throughout the building followed by shouts and gunfire coming from the room behind him. "What the hell is going on?" Viper hissed.
Suddenly another guard similar to the other three in the room stumbled through the doors blood spewing from his shoulder, "It's the cops!" he screamed terrified. "They've found us!"
Hearing the word 'cops' everyone in the room froze, for a moment Adder's grip slackened and Jay saw his opportunity. Slipping out of Adder's grip Jay lunged at Viper and managed to close his hands around Viper's revolver, wrenching it out of his grip and stumbling away. The three bodyguards went to draw their own guns but Jay spun on his heel and pointed the gun at Viper.
"Don't move!" Jay screamed his hands shaking as he held the gun, both hands wrapped haphazardly around the grip. "I'll shoot him if you do!"
Viper and his bodyguard froze, and Viper watched Jay with careful scrutiny before suddenly relaxing and striding forward. "S-stop!" Jay shouted as Viper got closer and closer, "I'll shoot you!"
"No you wont" Viper chuckled, "You've not got the balls."
"Maybe he doesn't but I sure as hell do!" Exclaimed a voice from the doorway, Viper and his three cronies spun on their heels and were greeted by the sight of a female cop who had just entered the room brandishing a gun in their direction.
Before the bodyguards could react the cop hit Adder in the shoulder with a round, hell broke loose as Adder pulled his Colt from his jacket even as he was sent crashing to the ground by the first shot and the other two followed suit. Before Python could finish drawing his weapon the cop dropped him with a clean shot to the stomach, before firing off several more shots at Adder while she dived behind cover. None of her shots hit Adder but she did delay him drawing his weapon as he shielded his eyes from shrapnel, running out from cover she opened fire on the third unnamed bodyguard and managed to send him crashing to the ground with a shot to the hip.
Suddenly Adder managed to fire off several rounds at the cop from his position on the ground, one round grazing her cheek and another leaving a shallow wound in her torso. Undaunted the cop returned fire and managed to finish Adder off with a round to his torso, before ducking behind the throne. The third bodyguard staggered back as Viper moved from the cover of one of the pillars and ran for the door, the third bodyguard covering his escape. The cop landed another hit in the bodyguard's same leg and the poor guy passed out from pain when another shot crashed into his shoulder, meanwhile Viper made one last mad dash for the door, his Seviper following closely behind and spitting angrily at the cop as they fled. As Viper dashed through the door at the back of the hall more bullets hit the wall around him, one clipping his heel and another catching his Seviper and sending it tumbling to a halt, Viper not so much as breaking stride as he left his snake pokémon behind.
The cop ran towards Jay, who was still stood pointing the revolver in front of him as he stared blankly at the scene in front of him. "Are you okay?" she asked concerned, her eyes not even registering Brad who looked more dead than alive right now.
Suddenly Jay blinked and realised what he was doing, letting the revolver clatter to the floor. "He's got my pokémon" Jay said pitifully.
"Don't worry" the cop told him smiling warmly, "Stay here and I'll be back with your pokémon soon. He's got nowhere to run, we've covered the whole neighbourhood with every man we have."
"Wait" Jay said as she turned to leave in pursuit of Viper. "Let me come with you, he killed Silver and I won't be able to live with myself if I don't make him pay for what he's done."
The cop paused for a moment debating whether or not to let him come with her, "Alright" she finally said. "But stay behind me and don't do anything rash, we're bringing this guy in understand? No vigilantism."
Jay nodded and the cop seemed satisfied, turning back to the door and setting off at a jog across the room. Jay paused for a moment before bending down and scooping up the revolver, examining it for a moment a scowl crossed his face and he went to throw it away only to stop, he glanced at Silver's corpse one last time and after a moment tucked it away in his back pocket before setting off after the cop.
A/n: Cue rambling. Sorry about not updating my other stuff, been having some trouble with plot etc, please enjoy this in its stead.
This chapter was split into half after i decided to try and shorten my chapters in order to increase my update speed, no content will be lost I'll just have more chapter divides and hopefully in the end more chapters.
Anyone who remembers my last Shadow Virus will remember Sarah as the female police cadet who joined Sam on his misadventures, although this new female cops name will not be revealed yet she will likely share some traits with Sarah.
This was last pointed out but Cornova but i seem to have some kind of subconscious grudge against Mightyena and Swellow as i always seem to make them the bad guys in the prologues of my Shadow Virus fics, i decided to remedy this by making a first chapter that had good (well neutral) Mightyena in it and I guarantee at some point someone will receive help from a Swellow or Swellows.
The character Viper is a bit of a homage to Metal Harbinger whose resident evil fic is incredible and Viper is a reference to the hitman of the same name who double crosses Jake in his fic. Although Viper doesn't share much in the way of physical traits with his namesake they both love money and murder.
Next Chapter: Chapter 2: Wrong Time.