Chapter 2 – Freedom

"Azer, Shadow Ball!" Torian commanded to her Mightyena. The Pokemon responded eagerly, sending a crushing wave of dark energy to its opponent, a rather scraggly looking Vigoroth. However, her mind was not on battling; nor were her thoughts focused on the scene before her. This was just another battle to her, just like every new Shadow Pokemon was just another fighting machine to her father.

The Vigoroth responded with a flurry of swipes that stirred up a harsh gust and blew her long red hair about. She swept hair from her eyes and made herself focus on the battle unfolding before her, but even as she did, her Mightyena swept up to its opponent and finished it off with a rough bite from its sharp fangs.

"Azer!" she groaned. She loved her Mightyena, but sometimes the dog Pokemon was a little too eager to battle.

"Great job!" her opponent, a young man named Kio, called out to her as he walked across the field. He extended his hand to her. "You're better than you look. How old are you, anyway?"

"Thirteen," she answered as she motioned for Azer to come stand by her.

Kio's eyebrows went up. "Thirteen? Good grief, I was still a newbie when I was thirteen! That was five years ago! You got a bright future ahead of you, gal, no mistake. Good luck, and I do mean that." He smiled warmly and left the practice arena of Pyrite Town's Coliseum.

"Azer, how many times have I told you not to jump ahead of my orders!" Torian cried out exasperatedly as soon as Kio was out of earshot.

"I can't help it," Azer replied dully. "You take so long sometimes…"

"And keep your voice down!" she warned. "You're a Pokemon; you're not supposed to be able to talk!"

"Good grief, Torian, you're always yelling at me lately," Azer complained when they reached the locker room. "You used to not be like this, you know, before you entered that custom training program that Haxer prepares for his advanced trainees?"

She sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, Azer. It's just that…" she looked around. "I feel so trapped sometimes. Think about it; I'm the CIPHER Commodore's daughter. I'm under top security most of the time, I'm not allowed to go anywhere outside of Father's temporary base, and my days are now consumed with nothing but battle after endless battle. They all melt into one another after a while. Why can't I get any action every once in a while?"

"Why don't you just run away?" Azer suggested.

"Remember what happened two years ago?" she asked impatiently. "CIPHER was all but wiped out by a teenager and his girlfriend. After we were exposed, everyone was our enemy. People hate CIPHER and everything it stands for, Azer. And if they all know who I am, then that makes running away close to impossible."

Azer gave her a canine-ish shrug and said thoughtfully, "Personally, this Shadow Pokemon business is a little shady, if you get my drift. I know the reason I can talk is because the shadow process went wrong, but I can't even imagine a life without feelings. Torian, do you understand what it does to you? It completely closes off your heart so that you don't trust anyone, you don't know anyone, and you can't feel anything."

She glanced toward the direction of Haxer Mercede's temporary "office" carelessly. "Even if I tried, and even if I were as strong as Father, I still wouldn't be able to stop anyone," she said firmly. "I would have to be able to beat the Grandmaster, and even then, I would have to figure out a way to keep him from regrouping and starting over."

Azer shrugged again. "Go for the throat," he said simply.

"Azer!" Torian exclaimed. "Hush! If anyone else from CIPHER hears you…and besides…"

"Torian Kiyalrin Mercede!" one of her bodyguards yelled, "who the hell are you talking to in there?"

"Shut up, Azer," she whispered quickly. "Talking? What the hell are you talking about?" she countered saucily. "You might need a mental checkup to see if you're not schizophrenic."

"Well you've been in there a long time!" he called back.

"I have to condition my Pokemon for the knockout challenge, imbecile!" she cried with an exasperated tone that was completely contrary to what she was feeling. "Damn, you're stupid!"

"Watch your mouth," Azer warned in an undertone. "You know Haxer hates it when you swear."

"And how is he supposed to hear me?" she asked quietly. "He's supposed to be my father. He's supposed to be there for me, not abandon me at the mercy of my bodyguards so he can go and hatch up another plan to take over the world. Those cretins wouldn't recognize a threat if it walked right over their fat asses, anyway. What do you want to bet that they're hired to keep me in, not the other way around?"

"Well why don't we find a way to get out?" Azer suggested. "You did say they were just brainless cretins, right?"

"How, though?" she asked desperately. "There's no way out of this godforsaken town, not without being spotted.

"So use the Under. You know CIPHER is still active down there; you'd fit right in."

"And how are we supposed to get down there?"

Azer looked at her with his yellow eyes. "Well, I have a Pokeball…and I hope you know how to climb."

oOo

Two hours later, Torian found herself climbing slowly down the rock face of the mile-deep crevasse that led to the Under. After thirty minutes of seemingly endless descent, her arms were aching from exertion. It had seemed like a good idea at first, but though years of CIPHER training had left Torian in excellent physical condition, the sheer rock face was slowly wearing her down.

Though she grew dizzier and weaker, she managed to hold on to consciousness until she reached the top of the stairwell that led to the innermost depth of the Under. There, she collapsed, everything blacking out before her eyes.

When she came to, the first thing she realized was that everything was dark. The dim street lamps and old, worn-down neon signs barely cast their flickering lights on the dank, narrow streets, and their light had yet to pierce the darkness of corners and alleyways. "Hey, kid, you okay?" whispered a male voice.

"Who's there?" she whispered back, suddenly on the alert. She kept her hand on Azer's Pokeball and looked around, trying futilely to see what was around her.

With a slight hiss, someone struck a match, and she saw that she was in one of the Under's infamous alleys, surrounded by boxes, crates, and splintered barrels. Sitting in front of her was a young man wearing a long, blue coat. His pale, sandy hair was spiked up in an unruly manner, held out of his eyes by an oddly-shaped silver headband, and he had a white stripe painted across his face. She assumed he was from on of the numerous Pyrite and Under gangs, though if that was the case, his pristine clothing certainly did not fit him.

"I'm not going to mug you or anything, if that's what you think," he said quickly. "I just decided that this would be a safer place for you, you being unconscious and all."

Torian was confused. Certainly, this guy wanted something from her! "But you don't even know me. Why do you care?"

He raised his black-gloved hands in defeat. "That's it; I give up. Why don't I ever have any luck with rescuing girls? Heck, the last girl I rescued slapped me full in the face even after I told her I was there to help her."

"So, who are you, anyway?"

He held out a hand. "You can call me Kalas. And you would be…?"

She shrugged. "Well, people call me different things. My favorite by far is Cursed Wench; I get called that a lot. My given name is Torian, though."

Kalas laughed. "Well, at least you have a sense of humor. Did you actually climb down here from the Pyrite crevasse?"

Torian nodded. "Yeah, that pretty much explains why I was out on the dirt when you found me. I don't know what I was thinking, either…how could I have thought I would be able to climb down that myself?" She shook her head. "Amazing what dares can do to people."

"I'm just surprised you haven't broken anything," Kalas pointed out. "Not many people can attempt something like that. At least you're not one of those CIPHER peons. CIPHER is starting to get under my skin these days, the way Grandmaster Evice is trying to bring everything back from his prison cell. I just wish they would give up."

Torian's blood ran cold. Had CIPHER fallen so far as to where they were no longer welcome in the Under as well?

Kalas got to his feet and helped her up. "Come on, I have a feeling you don't need to be out on the streets, now that I know you're not one of them. Let me take you to Lia's place."

It was all she could do to nod. Now she had mixed feelings about CIPHER, as well as her rescuer. Sure, he said his name was Kalas, but who was he, really? She looked around, half-expecting her father to leap out of the shadows and take her back to his headquarters, but all she saw were people, some bearing the CIPHER emblem and some not. She pulled her jacket tighter around her, making sure no one could see the tattoo on her own shoulder, shivering all the while.

She didn't know why she was letting Kalas help her, especially when his own words had proved him to be an enemy of CIPHER. Yet, even though the side of her conditioned by CIPHER was telling her to turn on him, she didn't. Maybe she was a member of CIPHER, but her pride was not about to let her go back to Pyrite Coliseum to the servitude of her father. She would blaze her own path and show him how good she really was, and no one would stand in her way.