Chapter 1, or Discord Abound.
She barely looked up when he stalked into the room, instead flicking a blond curl irritably out of her eye as she scanned the newspaper in front of her. She did, however, acknowledge his presence with a nod as he settled his tall, lanky form into the seat across from her.
"Anything new?" he asked in a rare moment of interaction, slumping into the chair and looking very much the lazy teenager. Then, realizing his undignified position, he abruptly sat up and squared his shoulders, pulling at the black coat draped around his lithe body and giving him the sharp look of a gentleman.
She rolled her eyes; Nero, despite all appearances of being a composed and reclusive individual, was always a trifle bit uncomfortable with females. Even she made him slightly anxious and nervous, even though she was also the only person he called his friend. It was amusing and a little sad at the same time. "I'm surprised you haven't heard," she said sarcastically, flipping the page without enthusiasm. Her light green eyes flicked up to meet his dark blue one for a moment as she added, with the tone of someone who has said the same thing many times before, "You always being a perfectionist and all."
He shifted, his arm rising to rest on the table and his finger tapping out a rhythm that she couldn't recognize on the worn wood. When he spoke, the condescending tone was wasted on her, for she was far more surprised he had actually bothered to reply at all: "I meant besides the assassination of the Speaker of Kyurem, Vee."
She shook her head, blond curls bouncing around her cherubic face, and dropped the paper on the table with a grunt. It seemed her peaceful alone time in the Temple of Rayquaza's backroom was over. "As far as I can tell from this, the Order of Kyurem is freaking out and the Order of Arceus has no idea what's going on." She studied her companion; per usual, the right side of his face was hidden by dark hair, and not for the first time she wondered vaguely if he hid something, a mark perhaps, underneath it. "I'm sure you can guess from there."
Nero's tapping slowed until his fingers were simply resting on the wood; Vee could practically see the gears grinding in his head. "So what's their next move, Signum?" she asked with a smirk, using his last name mostly to goad him. He acknowledged the barb by flicking his finger, causing the newspaper on the table to attack her face, encircling her head with paper. She pulled it off with and said in a sing-song voice, "Childish."
He didn't reply, so she leaned back into her chair and made herself comfortable, fingers tapping along her thigh clad in form-fitting brown jeans. She could already guess what would happen without the master strategist's help: the Order of Kyurem would blame the Order of Arceus and, after arguing their innocence, the next Speaker of Kyurem would order their troops to fight, leading to the Order of Arceus fighting back, and in turn leading to more general destruction and havoc.
Her fingers stilled on her leg and she instead crossed her arms over her loose, cream-colored shirt, a scowl on her face. "Damn Orders, always fighting each other," she muttered, knowing Nero would understand her point. "You'd think decades – centuries, even – of the Flame Riders intervening would teach them something."
Nero's eyes narrowed, despite his normally reserved composure. "No one here at the Order of Rayquaza knows we're in its ranks, and I'd like to keep it that way."
Vee raised an eyebrow at that, seeing as the eighteen year-old was always quiet and kept to himself. Perhaps his ego – excuse me, his pride – had gotten the better of him. "I'm so sorry, Nero," she told him with a smirk. "Please excuse me while I remind you that it's late and there's no one here besides us at the moment."
Nero gave her that one-eyed glare of his that said you don't know that, idiot and did not speak again, though a slight quirk of his lips indicated he did enjoy her dialogue. Vee didn't bother to talk to him again, instead taking a section of the newspaper and sliding it over to her fellow Rider. He picked it up with the barest of nods. A headline, hidden under the previous section, caught her eye:
Priests and Priestesses of Dialga Called In: Suspected Tampering of Time
The Speaker of Arceus had asked his priests and priestesses to slow time again? Vee frowned, leaning forward on the table and resting her chin on her folded arms as she skimmed the article. It confirmed her thoughts: many around the region were worried the many times the Speaker had ordered time to slow would affect Sinnoh in ways no one knew. Her frown deepened as she read further; one priestess had fainted from the sheer exhaustion of the incantations required for slowing time and another priestess was near death.
She made a frustrated noise at the last line: one priest had already died. Nero looked up, eyebrow raised, and she flapped a dismissive hand. He shrugged at her and returned his attention to his section of the paper.
Whatever Niko is doing, he better finish it up quickly, she thought with disgust, turning the page. Nothing else was of vital importance, so she slid the rest of the paper over to Nero and stood up, stretching her arms above her head. Her legs slid to a shoulder length apart mechanically, supporting the whole of her stocky body.
Nero briefly glanced up, met her eyes, and just as quickly looked back down again. If she hadn't known better she would call his obvious discomfort around females cute; but the last time she had done that he hadn't spoken to anyone for weeks, and even Nero not talking at all got old after a while. Instead, she tied her long, blond curls into a ponytail, stroking the two white stripes on both sides of her hair with what was almost reverence, and asked, "You wanna spar?"
He looked up again and, seeing he could wield superior knowledge over her, said pointedly, "You are a Shedinja. Must I remind you of your ability?"
She grinned at him, cracking her knuckles and floating a few inches above the ground. "Wonder Guard is fantastic, isn't it?"
This time it was his turn to roll his eyes, and he pointedly looked at the words in front of him again. She could understand what he left unspoken: but in return, you have little to no fighting endurance.
"C'mon, grumpy," she said with a coaxing tone, a winning smile on her face. "You know how to use Night Slash. All you need to do is land a hit on me once – "
" – so we can all jump for joy while carrying your unconscious body to a bed," a light voice said from the doorway. Both Nero and Vee turned their heads as another person stepped in, a small smile on his face and his wings tucked protectively behind him.
"Hey, Xander," Vee greeted, a slight undertone of relief in her voice. She wouldn't hear the end of it if it had been a stranger and Nero had been right, again, about them not being the only ones here. She scrutinized the Swellow, eyes flicking from his heavy-duty blue jeans to his well-worn black jacket. "How's the molting going?"
He snorted and graced her jab with a "very funny" before sliding into where she had been previously sitting. He wasn't as quite as tall as Nero at 5'10'', but even so the chair seemed pitifully small as he lounged in it, throwing his arm over the back.
"No, seriously," Vee said after a moment, clasping her hands in front of her and bouncing from heel to toe. "It's getting warmer, right? So shouldn't you be losing some feathers?" He turned around to look at her and she shrugged at the yellow glare. "I've found Taillow feathers around the Temple of Rayquaza as of late."
"Asking me if I'm molting is like asking a Gallade if he's shedding the blades on his arms," Xander shot back, turning his muscular body so he was facing forward again. Still, she had seen the traces of a smile on his face; it was obvious he'd been joking.
Nero, without looking up from the paper, said quietly, poison lacing his words, "Leave me out of this."
Vee sighed as Xander self-consciously reached back and smoothed his long blue hair, keeping his palm on the center red streak. The Swellow had always been a joker around friends, but Nero… Nero had always kept himself at a distance, despite Xander's best efforts. It had taken Vee years to get to the point where she could actually talk to him and get him to respond. In any case, the three lapsed into an awkward silence.
"We supposed to be doing anything besides lazing about?" she asked the room at last, a small frown on her face.
"Not sure," Xander replied, pulling off his gloves and, instead of just throwing the gloves on the table like most would, laid them out neatly in front of him. It was a quirk of his, and Vee watched, bored, as he proceeded to pick at his talon-like nails, adding, "I think our Speaker is out back, training."
"Training, training, training," Vee sang, flipping herself in the air until she was floating on her back, blond curls fighting the ponytail they'd been forced into as gravity pulled them down. She smiled at the brown ceiling, shadows dancing across it in the candlelight, as she folded her arms behind her head and said, "I love fighting, don't you?"
"No," both Xander and Nero said at the same time, each with the same tone of disgust and slight condescension. They gave each other unreadable looks before Nero looked down again and Xander was picking at his nails once more.
She shook her head. "I just don't understand you guys. Actually, I don't really understand anyone nowadays. Fighting is fun!" She spread her arms wide, which made a strange image as she was floating horizontally at the moment. "It's actually exhilarating."
"For you," Xander muttered, proceeding to scrape at the nails on his opposite hand while turning to face her in the chair. "Fighting's only fun if there's a good reason why you're doing it."
Vee pouted and flipped herself again so she was upside-down in the air. "See, that's what I don't get," she said, tightening her ponytail before it fell out. "Fighting is always fun, even more so when it's just a friendly spar… you know?" When she received no response despite her expectant silence she shook her head. "Like I said, I don't understand anyone nowadays." She thought about it an added as an afterthought, "Especially that Pachirisu over at the Order of Arceus – "
She flinched in midair when Xander slammed a beefy fist on the table. Even with his back to her she knew he was scowling and his yellow eyes were flashing. Instead of backtracking, though, she snarled, "Oh, stop being so sensitive. You're Alexander Caleb Vegas, part of the Flame Riders, and the one who dealt the final blow to that bitchy Speaker of Kyurem yesterday. Do the words 'Order of Arceus' really bother you that much?"
Xander stood up and picked up his gloves, turning to face her as he slid them over his fingers. His eyes were as hard as steel, and he advanced on her as he growled, "How could you possibly know what it feels like?"
Vee spun herself so she was standing on the ground and crossed her arms in an cross across her chest, daring him to come closer lest she unleash an X-Scissor attack. "How could I know what it feels like?" she snapped back, pulling her lips back in a snarl – a habit she had picked up from a fellow Rider. "That's because I know what it feels like, asshole. My family's dead too, in case you've forgotten."
He glared at her and spat, "Yours didn't burn to death before your very eyes – "
"Does it matter?" she interrupted, eyes narrowed. "Mine were killed in a skirmish with the Order of Arceus too. But do I let it bother me?" She plowed over his next words and snapped, "I can't go moping around when there are kids like me who've lost everything. We have to help them, stupid; can't you see?"
The words had the desired effect: the bird Pokemon across from her relaxed some and the tension in the air eased. But he still shot back, "But you weren't there when you saw them die – "
"Could you quiet down? I'm trying to read."
Nero's cold voice washed over them, stilling them and reminding them they weren't alone; exactly at the right moment, too, as the Swellow probably would've attacked her had the argument continued to escalate. With an effort, Xander's wings, which had been outstretched with tension, slowly relaxed until he could wrap them around himself like a cloak. He then stalked out of the room, and Vee watched him go, green eyes flashing.
"Thanks, Nero," Vee said after a moment, clasping her hands in front of her and twitching her fingers. He grunted in response, but she could see the concern in his single visible eye, and he had a reassuring look on his face - as reassuring as Nero could be, which mostly meant a knitted eyebrow. But hey, he was trying.
A few minutes passed in silence, in which Vee flipped herself lazily in the air. Then the two heard footsteps, accompanied with Xander's voice complaining loudly, "Rein, I literally just had a dramatic exit. If you bring me back you're going to ruin it – "
"Shut up, you can manage," a playful female voice said in return, and the Speaker of Rayquaza herself burst into the room.
Immediately Vee straightened and gave her a bright grin, bowing. "Speaker."
"Oh, don't be so formal, Vee," Rein said with a sunny smile, red eyes bright. She released the hold she had had on Xander's arm and flicked off a stray blue feather on her bare shoulder.
Vee then glared at Xander and said accusingly, "See, I knew you were molting. You could have just told me, you know."
The Swellow grinned, showing teeth, and responded snidely, "But that wouldn't have been any fun."
Rein waved a hand for silence, which she got immediately. "Listen," she said, propping one small, gloved hand on her hip. The other rested on the thigh of her black shorts, thumb hooked in the pocket. "You know those fuckers from the Order of Kyurem?"
Vee and Nero nodded while Xander said, "Yeah, so?"
"Well, ever since we killed their Speaker, the shits have been making a huge deal of the whole thing. They've gone and declared fucking war on the Order of Arceus." Her red eyes flashed, temporarily matching the shade of her short-cut tank top, as she added tersely, "And I'm sure you all know what the hell that means." In response Vee let out an exasperated sigh while both males looked grave. "I thought so," Rein said with a sharp nod, her long, silky black hair flopping with the motion.
"Can't they just sign a treaty or something?" Vee asked, even though she already knew the answer. She didn't even wait for someone to reply and instead mused, "Niko just went along with it without a fight?" Then, as an afterthought: "I at least expected him to protest."
"He had no choice," Nero replied absently, eyes down, fingers clasped loosely in front of him on the table. The paper lay abandoned next to his hands, and it was evident he was thinking about how to turn the situation to their advantage, even as he added, "It's either fight or die."
"Well, I know that, but Niko hates fighting," Vee said uneasily. Then she added, trailing off at the end, "It's not like he's weak, either, plus he probably did all sorts of planning ahead…"
There was a few seconds of silence; then Vee realized with a curse, "Dammit! He was slowing time, trying to think of a plan, but he couldn't think of one. That's the problem, that's why he – " She folded her legs underneath her, floating in the air once more, as she fell silent. No one spoke for a while, processing this new knowledge for a few moments.
"But it's strange," Xander pointed out after, crossing lightly tanned arms over his gray undershirt. "The Speaker of Victini, I mean. At the Order of Kyurem. Why would she declare war? She seems like a sensible person."
Rein's mouth tightened into a thin line. "I don't believe she even had a choice. As deputy, she had to take command when the Speaker of Kyurem died of unexpected causes or some related shit." Her hands rose to her head and her fingers rubbed gently against her temples. "And I imagine she had to listen to the fuckers of all the other branches in her Order and then go along with the main consensus."
Vee frowned at the thought – the Speaker of Victini's name was not known, though most called her Oriole, and she was known as a smart Furret with a cool head on her shoulders. She would never have gone along willingly with war; no doubt Rein was right. She must have been forced into it and had no choice but to proceed until Kyurem chose Its new Speaker.
"What do we do?" she asked Rein, seeing as Nero was still deep in thought and not providing guidance as he usually would.
The Mightyena bared her teeth in a snarl, the sharp fangs giving her an intimidating look. Her scarlet eyes gleamed with something unreadable as she said, "We meet up with the others."
Xander groaned. "You mean we have to go all the way to Hearthome City? But it's so far!"
"You can fly," Rein said flatly.
"And Rhy is there," Vee pointed out, and the Mightyena nodded at the mention of their leader. "We have to see what he says before we do anything, even if – " here the blonde shot Nero a pointed look, though he remained impassive and unresponsive – "our master tactician as an idea of how to go forward."
"And once we meet up with the others," Rein said with a grin this time, "We do what the Flame Riders do best."
All three nodded and said as one, even Nero:
"We intervene."
Zila would have fallen asleep long ago were it not for her footsteps crunching on the forest floor - this she was fairly sure of. So she kept pacing, watching her black combat boots with the navy laces she had insisted upon appear and disappear from her vision.
She still couldn't believe what had gone on in the past few days. The Speaker of Kyurem had been murdered almost a week earlier – though whispers in the streets say she was assassinated rather than murdered, by the Flame Riders of all people. Yue knew better, of course; the Flame Riders didn't exist – and shortly after the Speaker of Victini, a talented Furret with smarts to match, had temporarily taken control. But then she had been forced to declare war, which in itself was ridiculous as the Order of Kyurem had no proof the Order of Arceus had any association with the whole thing.
But politics were politics, and Yue was not about to involve herself. Her job was hard enough as it was. Her assignment of guarding the test subject, which she had been assured would only last a few hours at most, had spanned exactly two months and three days (not that she was counting). Yue didn't quite dare complain, though; she would rather not tarnish her perfect record as the top Assassin of Meloetta for her Order.
In all honesty, the whole mission hadn't actually been terrible. Zila was different from his fellow Warriors, as all projects from Genesect's branch in the order had been deemed failures – except for him. Out of all those experiments, only Zila was capable of analytic thought and reason, and his mental capabilities were well beyond the bounds of an ordinary Pokemon. The other Warriors were ruthless killing machines and kept under lock and key; Zila's friendly, human-like behavior allowed him to wander, and it was her duty to watch and kill him if he ever went on a murder spree or something.
But so far, Zila had ended up being quite the interesting companion. He was one of the only people who could get her to talk more than a few words at a time. In fact, he had her talking in full sentences, even holding a conversation with her with relative ease. She still had yet to figure out what made her relax so much around him, or at least understanding why she had no problem talking to him but couldn't find the effort to make chitchat with her fellow Assassins.
In any case, when he talked to her, he was cheerful and always tried to get her into an argument by provoking her. While she missed the action on the field and tolerated the teasing of other Assassins for 'babysitting', she found she didn't mind too much. Where Zila went, she followed; and more often than not, the places he went were interesting and full of mysteries.
Such as the forest, for example. She shivered and pulled her slightly-too-large navy-blue sweater more tightly around her. She had never gone out to explore the forest near the Temple of Kyurem before, thinking it boring and generic. But through Zila's cheerful observations and remarks, she had discovered the place had a life of its own. Her charge enjoyed watching the life in the forest with almost obsessive fascination, likely due to the fact most of his seventeen years were spent contained to a lab.
"Stop pacing for a moment."
At the sound of his light voice her steps slowed for a fraction of a second; then, moments later, she was walking again, long, black hair flowing behind her, the red and orange tips flickering like flames as she did so. "I think not," she said without moving her scarlet eyes to him. "You'll fall asleep if I do."
"No, seriously. Just for a second. Personal favor?"
She could detect the undertone of urgency in his voice and slowed her steps until she was standing still next to his sitting figure. Probably one of the things about him that perplexed her the most was his insistence to wear a sleeveless black cloak at all times with the hood drawn; even more so, the cloak was obviously an illusion, leaving Yue to wonder what exactly he looked like underneath (and also why he kept his arms free rather than having an actual cloak). "Can you hear it?"
Hear what? She pricked her ears for a few moments, silent and still: nothing but the wind. She shook her head and said, "No."
Yue could hear the amusement in his voice. "For an Arcanine, you're surprisingly deaf." He stood up with a smooth, fluid motion, rising only a small bit over her 5'8''. "Listen harder."
His arms had tensed up, the muscles bunching powerfully under the skin covered in a fine layer of white hairs; she noticed this in an absent sort of way as she closed her eyes, held her breath and listened to the breezes. Almost immediately she heard what he was talking about: footsteps. Strange that she'd missed it before. "So?" she asked, opening her eyes and looking at him.
He shook his head. "You wouldn't know, I guess. I keep thinking you do." He began walking briskly, far more quickly than his normal pace, and she jogged a bit to keep up. "Do you know my test subject number?"
"Forty-two," she answered promptly. Then: "Why?"
"Well, let's just say there were forty-one before and many after yours truly." He looked over to her and she could just see his eyes, the irises yellow and the pupils scarlet. "You get what I'm saying?"
She did, almost immediately. "Those footsteps belong to a fellow test subject." Then she frowned and asked him, confused, "Shouldn't they be locked up?"
"This one escapes all the time, but usually doesn't do anything." His pace quickened and Yue quickly understood why; the footsteps, though they hadn't increased in tempo, had somehow gotten closer. "It's a shame he came here while I was out."
He was hiding something from her; she could practically feel the fear radiating off of him. "How can you tell who it is?" she asked, interested. "From what I understand, you're not an ordinary Pokemon, but I mean, not everyone has sharper hearing than an Arcanine."
He barked out a laugh; the term was fairly accurate, as the laugh did indeed sound more like a bark than a laugh. "'From what I understand,' she says. Of course I'm not ordinary; I'm from the branch of Genesect. I'm an experiment." He spat out the last word, disgust apparent.
But she merely narrowed her eyes; he was evading the question. "Just what kind of Pokémon are you?" she persisted, and kept pace with him as he sped up, so much so they were now going at a fast jog. Still the footsteps echoed behind them.
"If I tell you, will you shut up and run faster?" Her eyebrows went up. It was rare of Zila to ever insult her or order her around, for far more frequently he was simply talking to himself or asking her something along the lines of 'isn't this thing pretty?'
Still, she did not hesitate and agreed, "Yes."
"I'm a Zoroark. Now run!" Without a pause he burst into a sprint and, startled, she could barely keep up with his long strides.
"But I thought Zoroarks were only found in Unova!" she managed to get out, quickly taking the lead and making a beeline for the Temple. "If you're an experiment, does this mean you came from over there?"
He was silent for such a long time she was sure he had forgotten the question, in which the footsteps were still clearly audible and, oddly enough, getting closer. "It's a long story," he said at last. "And you can stop running. He's already caught up."
It took her a moment to process this and another few seconds to skid to a halt. When she finally turned around to jog back, Zila was facing off against what looked to be a young boy with ghostly blue eyes.
She came up behind him and peered over his shoulder. The boy was silent, with scraggly, blond hair and delicate, elfin facial features. "He's the one you're so afraid of?" she asked incredulously, keeping her voice at a whisper.
"I'm not afraid for me" was the response. She barely caught the last part: "I'm afraid for you."
"What do you – "
The little boy's eyes glowed violet and a light streaked out toward them. Zila stepped in front of her and it appeared that the light simply faded when it hit him. "He's a Kadabra," Zila explained in a rush. "His psychic powers are far beyond the norm due to experimentation. Since I'm a Dark-type I'm immune to them, but if one of his attack hits you then I can't guarantee you'll be sane by the time you recover."
That made more sense. Yue looked over the Zoroark's shoulder with a newfound respect for the young boy. "He's so young," she said in a whisper, half-disgusted, half-awed.
"He was grown in a test tube" was Zila's reply. Yue's eyes widened but the Zoroark spoke again before she could get a word out. "Look, I think we're gonna have to kill him to get out of this alive. You okay with that?"
"You're forgetting you're talking to the top Assassin, Zila," Yue said, bristling. Then she sighed. "But since I can't step out from behind you without apparently losing all mental capabilities, I have no idea what to do." Yue found her mind was able to coolly process her situation despite the fact she would be murdering a young boy in cold blood.
"You have long-range attacks?" She watched, fascinated, as a blob of darkness built up between his claw-like fingers and he threw it at the boy. The Kadabra, though, neatly dodged with a smooth shift to the left, and the darkness dissolved into shadows.
"Yes, of course."
"Try and distract him with them. I need to land a solid Shadow Ball on him." That was the move he used earlier.
Yue wondered if she could even manage to launch a Flamethrower attack without hitting her human shield in front of her. Then again, she wasn't trying to aim at the boy, just trying to distract him. She breathed in deeply and exhaled, imagining herself as a bellows fanning the flames inside her, and whispered, "Can't we just run?"
His voice was almost gentle, as if he was trying to reassure her as well as himself. "'Fraid not. Start distracting him."
She breathed out, a long exhale that did not go unnoticed. Finally, she nodded and murmured. "You're the boss."
Just this once, anyway...
She breathed in and out softly, waiting for the warm feeling to come into her mouth. Once it had, she breathed out again and a small stream of flames came out.
Then, with reckless abandon, she breathed in and blew out toward the Kadabra. The Flamethrower that followed would have been a direct hit had the Kadabra not dodged to the side. She launched another attack right after the first so he would have to teleport to dodge; once he had Zila wasted no time in nailing him with a Shadow Ball attack.
"That was fairly easy," she whispered, making sure not to exhale so much so flames came out. Instead, she breathed out acrid smoke.
"He's not dead, master Assassin," Zila replied, and she could practically hear the grin on his face. He was laughing at her, per usual. "Keep that firebreath of yours ready."
She bit back a retort and therefore prevented herself from severely burning the Zoroark in front of her. Indeed, just as he'd said, the young boy slowly got to his feet, pale eyes empty and soulless before glowing violet once more.
A Psychic attack, Yue realized with a jolt. It would be practically impossible to dodge even with Zila in front of her acting as a buffer. With renewed vigor she inhaled once more, held her hair back with on hand, and practically spat out the flames straight at the attack. It had half the desired result, as some of the energy dissipated, but most continued straight at her.
"Behind me," Zila ordered and she shrunk behind him and therefore missed what he did next. The next thing she knew she had popped her head back up and – nothing.
"What did you do?" she asked in a whisper, curious.
The response was terse, and it was obvious he was focusing entirely on the Kadabra in front of them. "Extrasensory. Managed to divert the energy upwards. Focus."
Well, that's settled, she thought, taking another breath, coughing out a few pathetic flames, and then breathing fire back at the Kadabra in yet another Flamethrower attack. She wasn't sure how many of them she could manage, but she hoped it would last long enough for them to knock this boy out.
Wait, no; they had to kill him. She licked her lips nervously. He was so young, she had never killed a child before, but then no hesitation, she remembered her teacher telling her, and she steeled her nerves. They had to kill him. Fine. She could manage, at least until it was over; then she could maybe give the body a proper burial, since no boy that age deserved to live a life like this one was –
"Focus, Yue," Zila repeated in a hiss, and she snapped her attention to him when he added, "I have an idea."
"Do tell," she replied, and flames came dangerously close to his shoulder. She covered her mouth as Zila gave her a look that said watch it and said more quietly, "Actually, let me guess. Illusions?"
He chuckled and murmured, "Spot-on as always. I'll make an illusion of us fighting over there; then I'll go up and use Faint Attack at short range."
She raised an eyebrow as another Psybeam attack dissipated against him. "And you'll do that while maintaining the illusions?"
There was a brief pause, in which they moved as one, him ahead of her, to avoid what appeared to be an Energy Ball. "Good point," he said with rueful grin. "You go in and Bite him or something while he's busy."
"Even better, Crunch him. Got it."
"You sure? I mean, there's a good chance that you'll die."
"There's also a good chance that we'll both die if he's as powerful as you're making him out to be. Do it."
In their discussion they had failed to notice that the Kadabra had adjusted its aim to hit Yue, whose head was just peeking up over Zila's shoulder. The Psybeam was a glancing blow, as Zila deflected it at the last moment; but it took a few moments for Yue to gather her wits afterwards.
"I told you he was strong," Zila told her, amused, as Yue rubbed her forehead with pale fingers.
She nodded breathlessly, her fire extinguished by the attack. "Point taken. Hurry up and do whatever."
He did exactly that, slowly backing away with her behind him and leaving an illusion of them behind. Then they darted behind a tree and, with a nod from Zila, Yue circled around the Kadabra.
The illusions were fantastic; the Zoroark had gotten everything down to the last strand of hair on her head, with each moving as they would had she been actually fighting. Yue gave both cheeks a slap to concentrate - this was no time to look at pretty pictures like some sort of three year old - and exhaled quickly, then stole forward with Extreme Speed.
The Kadabra didn't stand a chance. By the time he had turned she had opened her jaws and bitten down in a vicious Crunch attack. Instincts took over as she grabbed the smaller body with her hands and pulled; blood filled her mouth as skin tore. The boy let out a bloodcurdling shriek, and suddenly Zila was there with a fist cloaked in darkness, punching down against the head and, much to Yue's muted horror, splattering blood everywhere.
It was far from the first time she had killed, but this –was different. Zila had punched the boy's head so powerfully the skull had caved in and bits of the bone, she would guess, had gotten into his bloodstream while the brain itself had been damaged. She was used to silent, clean deaths, quick and efficient. The boy's eyes were wide open, with blood staining the white pink.
She let her eyes flutter closed when Zila then leaned down and casually tore his claws through the boy's throat, effectively ending any life the boy had left. Blood coated Zila's fingers as he straightened.
"I never did like him anyway," Zila murmured, mostly to himself. He sounded far more perturbed than he looked. "Fifty-one was always so mysterious."
She gazed at him for a very long moment; then, with a shake, she pulled herself together and wiped her hands against her black shorts, laboriously dragging her fingers against the cloth until they reached the hem at her knees. "We're going to get into trouble for this," she said and felt a twinge; her perfect record was now tarnished.
"Death is much better than the hell he was living just now."
"I suppose you would know," she said. "We should go. We can't go back with this – crime we've committed, I don't think."
"It's not a crime," Zila said steadily, but something in his voice told her that he had said it to reassure himself, not her. "But you're right, we should go. We'd definitely get in trouble. Or at least, I'd get killed, you'd be demoted, whatever."
He looked down at the body and bent down. Then, gently, almost as if he were handling a baby, he eased the body into his arms and stood. His hood fell back as he did so, apparently on purpose given it was a mere illusion, and for the first time since she had seen him two months and three days ago, Yue finally saw his face.
His eyes, as she had known, were yellow with red pupils. But his hair was short and white, the tips blue, nearly the opposite coloring of what a Zoroark should look like. His nose was more muzzle-like in shape than normal, and most of his face was covered in that sheen of white fur like his arm.
Yue didn't spend too much looking. There were far more important things at hand.
"There's a river nearby," she said quietly. Zila nodded; he had known that, of course, because he'd shown her where it was. "We should go there."
He nodded again and looked down at the pitiful creature in his arms, his expression gentle. "After you," he said softly, and Yue knew somewhere, deep down, that killing the little boy had bothered him more than she could ever know.
Credits go where credits are due. In order of appearance:
Vee belongs to Snowsheba.
Nero belongs to Apostle of Regeneration.
Xander belongs to AtmosBreak.
Rein belongs to Silverdragon98.
Yue belongs to xiLovePandas.
Zila belongs TheGlaceonFanatic.
