The intense heat that radiated from the battlefield made landing all the more difficult for the falling mercenary and his Crobat. Grey dropped down and landed on the first roof he found, forcing it to shake violently as it began to give way. Grey ran to leap off the roof but was immediately pulled in by the section of collapsing roof. The last thing he managed to do before being completely overtaken was recalling his crobat.
The roof of the dilapidated house shook with a large thud as the soldiers inside threw themselves to the floor instinctively. After waiting some time they slowly rose to their feets silently thanking arceus for their safety. Finding their bearings, the shortest of the five spoke up.
"Why are we stuck in this ragged old building and not out their fighting with the rest of the militia?"
"We are meant to guard something more important than a few villagers son, be thankful the higher-ups think you worthy for such a task" The oldest spoke up
The young man looked down at his musket then out the window. "I know This is important, I just wish I could take a more active role"
"You might get that chance" a man called out as he arose from an underground cellar
The entire room stood at attention as their focus was now drawn to the high ranking man in the room.
"Nothing to report captain!" The youngest called out with a nervous salute.
The captain smiled and waved everyone in the room to relax as he approached with heavy footsteps.
"I would hope so son, but that's not what I'm here to discuss with you all." The captain explained loudly pulling out a worn map.
As the group gathered around the map they failed to spot the moving shadow that slipped through the room and into the cellar.
As Grey slid down the metal latter he could hear the rumble of battle up above, silently praying to whatever god there was he's entering the right house. As his boot met a tiled floor he began to survey his surroundings. A brightly lit White room with computers covering the walls and many metal doors met his eyes, possibly any workers that were supposed to be around have bugged out do the the attack. As Grey began to plan in his mind a tubby man in a lab coat walked briskly past him, paying no mind the the intruding Mercenary. Curiously and with little other options, Grey followed.
Without realizing he picked up a tail the professor continued straight forward, determined to do his job. It wasn't long before he finally rammed through the door into a room filled with lab tables and a glass enclosure.
"Rina!" The professor yelled slamming his fist down on a large button causing the glass enclosures to begin opening. "Please don't asked any questions for once and just-"
The professor was cut off as he began to struggle against the arm around his neck, the man kicked and struggled as every gasp became more and more difficult. Slowly the professor began to lose strength before finally dropping to the ground with an unceremonious thud.
As the large man lay there Grey looked over him one last time before he glued his eyes to the small green haired Pokemon holding onto what appeared to be a child's notebook. After a few seconds of awkward silence Rina screamed and threw an entire book case at the mercenary who barely managed to duck out of the way. Before Grey could reach for a poke ball he felt an intense weight pressing down on his body paralyzing him as he struggled to stay on his knees. The kirlia teleported in front of the private contractor giving him the most intimidating glare she could muster.
"I'm going to give you one chance to tell me what you're doing down here before I crush your spine under your own weight!" The Pokemon yelled I'm to the mercs head.
"Damn it I'm just looking for a stupid shield!" Grey yelled forcing his own hands up to hold his head.
Upon hearing what the merc said she immediately dropped her force on his mind as she took a cautious step back.
"Why... why are you looking for the shield?"
"I just needed to take it out of this stupid compound and into the hands of more capable people." Grey gasped gripping at his chest.
"So... your here to rescue me." the kirlia said, her eyes lighting up "You're a knight!"
"Wait...what?" Grey said groggily, recovering from his head splitting migraine.
The kirlia quickly flipped through the small sketchbook, thumbing through the book she came to the page she wanted and showed the merc. Grey looked over the drawing, it was a fairly well drawn gallade holding a longsword, wearing some type of metal armor and a cape. Grey looked up confused which caused the Pokemon to look away with a blush spreading across her face.
"I just thought it would be a gallade that would rescue me okay? Stop judging me!" the embarrassed Rina cried.
"Your not going anywhere" a voice called out from the doorway the professor standing defiantly with a pokeball in his hand.
"I thought I knocked you out" Grey said annoyed.
"There is one thing you failed to calculate for Mercenary" the professor chuckled " I was only pretending to be unconscious!"
"You possum playing mother fucker!" Grey called out as both parties launched pokeballs.
With a flash of blinding light the forms a Raticate and blaziken stood.
"I am so fucked" Grey said to himself.
"Blaziken! Beat the shit out of that Mercenary!" The professor yelled.
The bipedal Pokemon flew forward knocking the Raticate out if the way as it prepared to deliver a flaming kick to the merc. Grey quickly pulled out a silver revolver out from under his waist cape and placed a well aimed shot at the Pokemons leg. Blaziken lost its balance as the bullet collided and smashed against its Pokemon hide. Grey Grabbed Rina as he launched himself out if the way of the falling fighting type. Unable to move from her hugged position, Rina launched and awkward wave a psychic energy crashing into the fallen blaziken.
"Rina! You would betray me? Me and those who took care of you all these years." The professor said hurt.
"I never wanted to be here in the first place! Doing all these stupid experiments!" Rina cried out annoyed.
You should of felt lucky! Do you know what the other laboratories wanted to do? Living here was a luxury suite compared to those other laboratories." explained the professor.
"Is that supposed to mean I should just forget about everything else you've put me through? No! You took my free will before I was even born and now I'm taking it back!" Rina explained dramatically as she nonchalantly launched the previous bookcase at the struggling blaziken.
"If you only knew the consequences of your decision" Birch said solemnly.
The professor returned blaziken before summoning the forms of a swampert and sceptile.
"Alright sir knight! I'm counting on your battle skills" Rina said
"I'm starting to wish I had listened to Danna" Grey replied.
With a simple gesture the grass and water type launch forward with the intent to kill. Suddenly the sceptile was intercepted by the sting of rock hard teeth around its neck. The sceptile rocked furioisly as it struggled to shake off the vice grip of the Raticate. Grey lept to higher ground as he attempted to find cover from the oncoming swampert
As the swamp pokemon closed in, Rina panicked and instinctively through her hands up to protect herself, sending the water type flying into Grey. Both Pokemon and mercenary rammed into the white walls and created a sizable crater.
"Who's side are you on!?" Grey yelled in pain quickly pushing the swampert with his legs.
"You didn't tell me what to do! Your supposed to be the one leading" Rina replied still panicked.
"It's a battle! Meaning I'm also a target!" Grey yelled moving to once again get out of the swamperts weight.
Suddenly the body of the Raticate slammed in head first into the unsuspecting Kirlia sending both flying back.
"Sceptile! Careful where you send the enemies!! She must not be harmed" yelled the professor.
The sceptile gave an annoyed grunt as it ran to capture the Kirlia.
All sense of panic left in Rina was replaced by pure annoyance. As the sceptile began to pick up Rina her eyes began to light up with a bright golden glow.
"Rina no! Stop!" The professor screamed to no avail
The sceptile dropped to its knees, it began to claw at its skull as its own eyes began to glow in the same ominous gold. The sceptile lunged at the confused swampert before quickly ripping into the water types flesh. The swampert quickly released a large torrent of water sending the sceptile crashing into the sealing with a sickening crack. The swampert struggled to keep conscious as it desperately attempted to keep it's own organs from spilling over.
As the glow faded from Rinas eyes she looked over the carnage she created. The small kirlia immediately fell to her knees emptying the contents of her stomach onto the floor.
"Oh arceus what have I done?" Rina yelled to no one, tears starting to form in her eyes.
"Don't you see Rina! This is what we were protecting you from. Come back to the comfort of your home and-" The professor was cut off as the hilt of Grey's sword crashed into his head.
Birch fell to the floor with a heavy thud as the mercenary stepped over his unconscious body. Rina through her hands up once again unintentionally sending a wave of energy sending Grey flying into the wall before falling onto the floor.
"You stay away from me! It's your fault I murdered-" Rina once again cut herself off with a bout of dry heaving. "I'm a dirty murderer
"Listen, I'm not about to go on a whole dramatic speech about how that's not right, or how it wasn't your fault" Grey said recalling his raticate and attempting to find his balance "but if you really want to escape like you said you wanted we need to leave now"
Rina looked up at the soldier in front of her, wisps of snow white hair fell from underneath his hood as his piercing silver eyes focused on hers. I'm definitely going to regret this Rina thought to herself as she stood up to approach the Mercenary.
"Alright good just do as I say and we'll leave in no time" Grey smiled "or at the very least leave in one piece"
As the small village continued to burn the once proud laboratory gave way to the constant rumbles and fell to its foundation. No one notice the building collapse just as no one had noticed the two figures fleeing from the battlefield. After making it some distance away the kirlia looked back on the burning town and the battle that continued to rage on. Rina shuddered as the feelings of hatred and fear radiated from the now distant warzone. Grey turned around to see the now frozen kirlia staring into nothingness.
"Hey, quit stalling, the more distance we put between us and that hell hole the better." Grey said commandingly
"How can humans be so cruel?" Rina spoke before continuing in a louder tone "how can such darkness emanate from such a small area? How long has this been happening? And why couldn't i sense any of it!"
The kirlia dropped to her knees as she felt the dark emotions begin to affect her mood, dragging her into a deep depression. Grey looked over the kirlia now rolled up into a ball and sighed, the merc pulled out his dark type mightyena as he proceeded to lift the green haired pokemon and placed her on the dog pokemons back. Lucifer gave a whine of annoyance of the new passenger atop his back but said nothing more, the boss disliked complaints. As the two continued their march Grey couldn't help but think something was off. He had found what he needed and made his escape with it, all he had to do now was turn in the bounty and he would be swimming in wealth for a long time. Still something hung over greys head as he continued to ponder what exactly was wrong. Grey looked down to his mightyena who stared back with a friendly expression and then to the blank mess on his back.
"Say, does something feel off to you?" Grey asked aloud.
The dark type stared confused at the trainer who had a look of concern plastered on his face. Just then Greys eyes went wide upon his realization.
"Holy shit that kirlia can talk!"
The mightyena gave Grey a blank stare before recoiling in surprise by the movement on his back.
The kirlia fell to the floor as she began to look around anxiously. Without another word she disappeared, leaving a faint trace of a flash in her place.
"God damn psychic types" Grey said annoyed.
Lucifer gave a quick bark before pointing his nose up to a nearby tree, bearing his fangs in a threatening manner.
Grey dragged his eyes up to were his companion was motioning to find the kirlia clinging to a branch, eyes shut tight. The Mightyena began to paw at the tree but stopped as Grey motioned him to stop.
Grey look up to the scared Pokemon and began to speak "You feeling alright? I don't mean to be a bother but we need to get moving if you want to keep ahead of your captors"
The the sound of that Rinas eyes when wide as the idea of being put in a box again frightened her to her core.
"Alright I got your attention, look I understand you're still in a bit of shock after making your first kill but we still need to make progress" Grey said plainly.
Rina quickly teleported to the mercenaries chest and stared into his eyes. "Oh easy for you to say! You've probably killed hundreds of people without a second thought how would you know how I feel?"
"I might not understand but you've got more to lose from not moving than I do" Grey said through clenched teeth.
Rina glared at the mercenary before floating down to the ground. The psychic type turned her nose up and began walking down the route on her own.
"This is going to be a lot more work than she's worth" Grey said to himself.
The mightyena gave a yawn as he followed down the path. Defeated Grey followed close behind.
Large chunks of metal crashed into the burning ground as large amounts of debris blew in every direction, clearing the land of objects and living beings alike. As the dust settled large doors fell to hit the ground with a metallic thud as white hooded figures began to pour out and slaughtered anything wearing a red R with deadly efficiency. Out of the pods stepped forward a hooded knight in a white and indigo uniform. With a a few hand signs the robed musket men spread across the crash landing zone, setting up a perimeter with rehearsed speed.
Quickly the knight began to advance on the nearby building, leaving behind the musket men to guard the entrance. Upon entering the ruins of the laboratory the knight made her way through the halls with speed. Finally arriving to the room that had once housed the shield. Looking around her eyes fell to the unconscious mass at her feet.
"Purple is that you?" The mass said looking up from the floor.
"Professor, where is the shield?" The knight replied.
"I was attacked, by mercenaries, they forced their way in here and kidnapped her"
Purple began to seethe with rage as her grip on her sword tightened.
"Where are they now?" She said simply.
"I'm sorry i don't know, I've been down here for the remainder of the battle unconscious."
Purple quickly turned around and made her way to leave.
"Gather anything of interest." Purple said simply to her comrades nearby, "afterwards meet me outside for further orders."
"What about me?" Birch asked nervously.
"Your done, this issue is now in the hands of the knights." Purple replied simply.
"But the shield is still unstable, she needs to be brought back and-"
"We will retrieve the shield and will do with it as we will."purple said quickly cutting off the professor.
With the clack of her boot, purple disappeared leaving her men to work over the wreckage.
Giving a deep sigh, the professor looked down, wondering just how fucked the world was about to be.
Rina marched forward, not knowing where she's going but with a confident stride. The kirlia fidgeted with a small stone as she walked, juggling it between her hands and psychic powers. Grey followed close behind staring at the colorful pebble that flew around the Green haired Pokemon. Things appeared to be moving along smoothly, however if the price tag on the Pokemons head was anything to go by, Grey expected something more difficult. How was it his transportation was attacked near his target location, more than that, Rocket mercenaries just so happened to be assaulting the target location just as he was making his way to the village. By all accounts he should've been killed many times before but for some reason the best possible outcome has occurred, Nothing about this was adding up.
"Would you stop worrying so much? It's starting to get on my nerves." Rina said breaking the silence.
Grey looked up from the floor confused.
"You can read my mind?" Grey asked
"No, I can read your heart and your giving off large amounts of worry, it's putting me on edge so calm down"
Grey was taken aback by the sudden outburst and scoffed at the idea he was that easy to read.
"This is new to me too you know, back in the lab I hardly had anyone else around so I couldn't make full use if this ability"
"What did you do all day in that underground laboratory if you couldn't socialize?" Grey thought out loud.
"Learning" Rina stated simply "reading books, basic philosophy, some strategy, basically anything you'd find in a human learning institute."
Grey thought about education mostly as a secondary Skill compared to learning basic self defense. Of course he understood having enough smarts to be able to read wanted posters was important but what was the point of learning how to properly write a paper?
"Hey look! A sign!" Rina said pointing up to a nearby billboard breaking Grey out of his trance. "I can't read it."
"What do you mean you can't read it? Didn't you just say you used to read?" Grey asked bewildered
"I can't understand these specific symbols okay? I've never seen them before In my studies" Rina replied defensively.
Grey looked towards the sign that read "oldale town"
"Is that what it says?" Rina said looking up and cocking her head.
"Yes" grey stated "it's written in native hoenn, a different language from the one you speak...or think… I guess"
Rina looked confused as ever as she continued to inquire.
"Wait, what have I been talking in then?" Rina asked as she continued to walk.
"Basic, it's a language of a long dead empire, since it is native to no region in specific it makes for a favorable intermediate language for international politics and traveler's alike."
Rina was overcome with fascination, the thought of more languages brought with it the idea of new books and poems she's never seen before, hundreds possibly thousands of new stories just waiting to be read. As the kirlias mind ran wild with the thought, she was violently torn out of her trance as she tripped over a low wooden fence and landed face first into a patch of flowers.
"Arceus, I sure hope no one saw that." Rina whimpered.
Grey gave a small smile, the ridiculousness of this small creature being worth so much was almost to comical to fathom.
"Excuse me children" an elderly voice called out "please try not to play in the flower patch"
Slowly approaching, an old man with an impressive beard came checking on the commotion.
"Sorry sir" Rina said, quickly climbing out of the patch "I wasn't paying attention and I fell in"
"is that so? Well I hope you take more caution during your stay" The old man laughed.
Rinas face reddened with embarrassment as she found her feet all the more interesting.
"You however," the elderly man said sternly pointing to Grey. "You can keep walking"
Rina looked up with confusion as the two men stared each other down.
"Wait, what's wrong with him?" Rina asked concerned
The old man looked to the large sword at Grey's back
"Mercenaries are nothing but trouble, we're all better off without their blood contracts"
"He can't be all that bad, he did rescue me from my captors after all. He's like… he's just like a hero for hire!" Rina snapped her two fingers in realization. "We can prove it too, we'll do anything you need taken care of."
"Wait-" Grey tried interjecting before he was cut off
"If you really want to prove that, there is actually something you can do" the old man started. "There are some hoenn rebels that have set up camp just outside our little town here. Usually I don't care about those extremists but as of late they have been going around demanding a 'tax' for their so called bravery."
"That's terrible!" Rina gasped " they have to be stopped at once!"
"If you do manage to kick them out I'll give you a gift if you bring back any jewellery from the camp"
Rina looked up with confusion but nodded in agreement as the old man walked away. Rina had only just left her confinement and already taken her first quest. As the old man walked away Rina turned to Grey expecting excitement only to be met with a disapproving stare.
"What? I thought we were supposed to accept quests" Rina started nervously. "Your a hero… right?"
"Let's get one thing straight" Grey said with audible annoyance in his voice. I am a mercenary, I don't fight for honor or fame, I fight for coin.. If I don't get paid, I starve.
"But don't mercenaries fight in companies? you're more of a bounty hunter by definition" rina responded
"lm in between work right now okay?" Grey responded defensively "if i find a company worth joining i will but for now I have other priorities that need taking care of"
"Well it's not like we can go back on our word, besides, having some pocket change wouldn't be all that bad" Rina shot back
Grey flinched, unable to shoot back an adequate quip. he began to walk in the direction that the old man referred to.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Rina called out.
"To finish this job and get back on track" Grey said with a dullness in his voice.
"Oh excuse me princess!" Rina mocked as she levitated to catch up with the Merc. "You can be annoyed all you want but my logic is flawless"
"Flawless?" Grey scoffed "was it that flawless when you fumbled your way through that fight in the lab? besides I'm not annoyed, emotions are unprofessional and get in the way"
Rina floated in front of Grey to stare him in the eye as they walked.
"You hide your emotions well I'll give you that, but I'm the emotion Pokemon for a reason bub, I can practically smell the annoyance radiating from you, among other things" Rina said shooting Grey a disapproving glare.
Before grey could reply Rina grabbed Grey with her psychic abilities and quickly dragged him into the nearest bush. Grey made a move to stand but Rina just pushed the Merc back down forcefully while putting a finger to her mouth shushing him. With in a few seconds Grey realized the situation as the sound of crushing grass became louder and louder. Two musket men marched, both wearing basic civilian clothing and toting a large smooth barrel. The men were under equipped and surely under trained by the look of them. One of the men who had a sizeable goatee suddenly stopped and dropped to the floor.
"Arceus why do i always get stuck with leg work" he moaned.
"Oh shut up" his partner shot back "this days long enough without your constant bitching"
The bearded man spat at the feet of his annoyed partner and pulled out a shiny golden necklace.
"At least the pay is good" he chuckled swinging the necklace back and forth.
Rinas eyes went wide at the site of the shiny jewelry. Grey unsheathed a knife in preparation of an ambush but was suddenly taken aback as a number of trees collapsed around the musket men. The men fell to the ground as a number of rocks began to fall upon them. Then just as suddenly as the onslaught began, silence fell upon the area. The men looked around nervously from the safety of the ground, right before they stand their eyes fall on the figure of a kirlia standing atop a fallen tree.
"Listen up brigands! You got something real important to a friend of mine, and I want it back!" Rina demanded
Again silence fell across the field, the awkward seconds ticked on before one of the men finally called out.
"Holy shit! Did that Pokemon just talk?"
Grey face palmed from the bushes at the circus that was performing before him. Rina again hailed the men with rocks before demanding again.
"I said hand over your valuables"
"Fuck you" one of the men yelled raising his musket.
Suddenly the sound of gunfire rang loud as the musket flew to the floor.
"What in the?" The rebel yelled shaking his hand in pain.
Grey began to make his way out of the brush, smoking revolver still in his hand, he looked to rina and back to the cornered men.
"Look let's not make this any harder than it has to be okay? I'm sure we can work something out, that or my little friend here can crush you with a boulder.
The men looked to each other and then towards their aggressors.
"How about you screw yourself! Manectric quick attack!" One of the men screamed launching a pokeball straight at Rina.
Before Rina could react the electric type slammed into her knocking the wind out of her before sending her flying into Grey. Seeing the chance the two men began to climb out of their makeshift prison and Sprint back in the direction they came.
Rina screamed in anger forcing herself up off the mercenary who broke her fall. With a golden glow in her eyes Rina began to unleash a torrent of psychic energy at the manectric who barely managed to dodge.
Quickly teleporting Rina slammed a flaming fist into the back of the electric dogs head slamming it into the ground.
Before the manectric could recover Rina climbed on top of it's pathetic form before repeatedly slamming fist after flaming fist into its rib cage. Each punch rang out in a sharp snap of bone, forcing the dog to cry out in pain.
Grey quickly tackled the raging Psychic type to the ground in an attempt to restrain her but found himself at the end of a blast that sent him flying through a tree trunk.
Rina again roared as Grey stood to his feet, pokeball in hand.
"Alright you little bitch we're doing this the hard way, Lucifer deploy!"
With a flash of light the mightyena appeared with a roar. With a swift hand motion the dark type charged fangs bared. Rina then again shot a powerful wave of energy in an attempt to destroy the Pokemon. Lucifer sailed through the attack unaffected to the kirlias surprise. Lucifer sank his fangs into the kirlia as he charged a shadow ball in his mouth.
"Knock her out now!" Grey commanded.
In one swift motion the dark type launched Rina skyward as he bit down and released the shadow ball. The dark energy crashed into the kirlia sending her flying further upward before falling back down to the ground. Grey ran and caught the fainted Pokemon moments before she met the ground, with a sigh of relief Grey fell to the ground.
Rina slowly opened one eye to meet Grey's, ashamed she looked down before she spoke.
"Did I...did I do it again? Kill?" Rina said flinching at the last word. Grey hesitantly turned to the body of the injured manectric before responding.
"No, not this time" Grey said in a plain voice.
"I can tell I did do something bad" Rina smiled "but I also sense your telling the truth"
With that Rina returned to her slumber leaving the Merc alone with the confused Lucifer at his side. With a final shake of his head the Merc picked up the kirlia and began to walk back.
