(Alright! GAH! So Kyo kinda managed to persuade me into writing this. I REGRET NOTHING BECAUSE THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME. *cough* Anywho… Hope you guys enjoyed waiting~. (Such as Kyo and Kaitlyn~)…So hope you guys'll like this. On a random note… I want to say… KAITLYN I LOVE YOU~ *shot*)
Preparations
Black drummed his fingers repeatedly against the glossy white surface of the table he was currently sitting at all by himself. Despite the largeness of the room, he was the only person occupying it at the moment. Team Plasma's castle had many rooms identical to this one, but he always favored this one the most seeing how, when he was still working for Team Plasma without his sister and friends knowing, N and him would always meet up here.
His namesake eyes, a gleaming onyx color, were focused intently on the intricate design that spread across the table. His eyes may've been focused on that, but his mind was focused on something else. It had been a little over three hour since he had seen the bodies of the Team Plasma grunts that had been slain by people who openly declared themselves as Team Rocket. Wasn't Team Rocket disbanded by some group of teenagers a while back anyway?
"Is something wrong, Black? You have quite the scary look on your face." Said a male voice, snapping him out of his thoughts.
The brunette lifted his gaze up to look at the person in front of him. The person in question had vibrant, waist long green hair tied into a neat ponytail, black turtleneck under a white button up shirt, tan pants, shoes the same shade as his hair, a black and off-white hat, and a smile on his face that was practically pouring with sincerity.
N.
Black heaved a relieved sigh. "Oh. N…"
"Is something wrong?" N repeated, sitting in the chair opposite of Black.
He shook his head, giving a lopsided smile. "No, nothing's wrong. Not even in the slightest. Anyway, how come you're back so early?"
"I already finished all the things I needed to tend to." N answered, lacing his fingers together comfortably and staring down at them. "By the way, I bumped into your two friends from Nuvema: Cheren and Bell."
"Oh really?"
"Yes, we talked for quite a while, actually. They seemed quite happy to see me. They asked how you were doing since they haven't seen you recently, and I informed them you were currently immersing yourself in Unovan religion. I do hope that was alright."
Black stifled a laugh at the young king. "It's Unovan mythology, N. It has nothing to do with religion. I'm only reading up about things that happened in the past and things like that." He corrected, holding a finger up knowingly.
N chuckled. "I suppose you're correct." He agreed. "Though, they're intertwined with the two main religions here, or so said the book I read in the library yesterday…" he added under his breath.
"Hm? What?"
"Oh, no, nothing. I was just thinking out loud."
"Hm~…If you say so, N."
"Oh my, it might just be me, but doesn't it sound oddly quiet in the castle today?" a soft female voice questioned.
At the sound of the voice, they both looked — Black looking past N, and N turning around — to see a girl standing there. She had long golden hair that reached a little past her waist, and was currently wearing a white top that stopped at her midriff, a pale blue jacket with the Team Plasma insignia on her left sleeve, a white skirt, off-white knee high boots, and a pale baby blue fedora on her head. She had bright amber eyes the color of the sun, and seemed almost too innocent to be a part of Team Plasma.
"Oh, hello, Yellow." N greeted with a happy smile. "Now that you mention it, the volume of the other inhabitants is rather low."
Black glowered at the young blonde from where he sat. Yes, she seemed innocent, but she was anything but that in reality. Yellow was a girl who, like N, could understand the voices of pokemon. She lived in a place in the Kanto Region called Viridian Forest all her life before coming here, apparently, and she had quite the reputation. She was constantly called the 'Maiden of Viridian Forest' due to her beauty, but that was just the lie to hide her true nature and the person she really was: the Demon of Viridian Forest.
Yellow acquired such a name because whenever a trainer would venture into her domain, she'd erase their existence entirely without a shred of mercy. Growing up in a forest where many pokemon would live, she witnessed many of her friends being captured, and possibly even more that were being abused almost instantly after capture. As everyone might've guessed, it wasn't long before Yellow just couldn't witness anymore and started taking matters into her own hands. Talking to pokemon wasn't her only power, after all. She could also heal their wounds and raise their power levels depending on what emotion she was feeling. During that time, all the pokemon were at their strongest due to her want to protect her friends.
Eventually, she gave all that up and came to Unova once she convinced her friends could take care of themselves.
Even now, it was clear to see the Demon of Viridian Forest in her hiding behind her innocence.
"Ah, by the way, N… Did you hear?"
He gave a curious look. "Hear what?"
"Seven Team Plasma members were—"
"Doing nothing." Black cut in, glaring as darkly as he possibly could at Yellow. "They were doing absolutely nothing."
Yellow stared silently, and Black did the same as if they were having some kind of mental conversation with each other. N looked from one to the other quietly, confusion evident on his face.
"What? Black? Yellow? Is something wrong?" the green haired king pestered.
"My Lord N!" called a Team Plasma grunt from the doorway. "There are some things we wish to talk to you about!"
N frowned as he stood up from his chair, bowing his head slightly to his two friends. "I'm sorry I have to leave so early despite having just arrived." He apologized. "I suppose I'll see you later."
"Oh, it's alright, N." Yellow reassured him as she watched him leave the room, leaving her all alone with Black.
Giving a sigh, she started walking toward the exit as well. "Well, I think—"
"Yellow." Black said, causing her to freeze.
Slowly, she turned, her amber eyes meeting his onyx ones that she swore were darker than usual.
"Bring everyone here. We have something I want to discuss." He ordered, starting to drum his fingers against the table yet again.
Yellow gave an innocent smile that was practically invisible. "By 'everyone', do you mean them?"
Black nodded. "Yes." He confirmed.
…
The people Black had asked Yellow to bring either arrived by themselves or with one other person. The first to arrive was a boy with bloody red eyes and an odd looking white hat covering his head. His clothes currently consisted of a black button up dress shirt that has sleeves stopping just past his elbows, a tie the very same color as his eyes, sleek black dress pants, and white sneakers. That person's name was Ruby Yuuki.
Ruby was a fashion designer in Unova who was currently number one on any designer chart you could find. He was originally born in Hoenn, but when he heard of how Unova accepted anyone of any cultural differences — in Ruby's case: fashion because he said it was a way of life, not just a hobby —, he immediately moved over to start anew and to get away from his disapproving father. A few months in Castelia City was more than enough to get him noticed, and he's risen all the way up to owning his own fashion label in that time. How was he even associated with Team Plasma? Ruby hated battling with every fiber of his very being, mostly because he was previously a coordinator and the thought of dirtying a pokemon in battle disgusted him. When he heard of Team Plasma and what they were about, he was more than happy to help support their cause. Beyond the prissiness he usually showed, though, he was actually stronger than you'd think.
The second person to come was Emerald. He was also originally from Hoenn, like Ruby. There wasn't much to say for Emerald aside from the fact he had quite a friendship with the legendary pokemon Latias and Latios, and he had some sort of contraption that could calm any rampaging pokemon no matter how big or strong it was. Black didn't completely know the logistics of that thing, though. Due to the fact the two legendaries Emerald was familiar with were dragons, he's been allowed to live with Iris and Drayden in Opelucid City. He was apparently very short as a kid because he often whined about it whenever anyone would bring it up. Seeing how he was almost as tall as Ruby now, it seemed the Unova air or something of the like did something to him.
"Hey! Emerald's here!" the blonde greeted, smiling broadly.
"Emerald, good to see you again." Ruby answered.
"What's going on?"
"I don't really know. We'll find out soon, I'm sure."
The last to arrive were Platina Berlitz and her close friend, Diamond Kouki. Yellow wasn't too far behind them as they entered the room. Platina was a billionaire heiress from Sinnoh, and had no problem earning even more money as a model beside the likes of Elesa Kamitsure. She had the high and mighty attitude most heiresses had, but seemed to grow gentler around Diamond. He was usually a very kind, honest, and the 'let's work this out together' type of person, but if you planned on laying even one finger on Platina, you were finished.
"Oh, hello everyone." Diamond said with a happy smile. "It's great to see you all again. Does anyone know why we're here?"
"I do. And I can tell you now since we're all here." Black told him, standing up from his chair. "Take a seat. You're gonna be a while."
With a confused look, they did as they were told. Yellow took the seat closest to where Black was standing, giving an expectant smile.
After giving a sigh and folding his arms, Black spoke, "Alright, Yellow. NOW you can talk about it all you want."
"Okay~. Well, you see everyone, a few hours ago, seven Team Plasma members were murdered. All of them suffered the same wound: their throats being slit open." Yellow stated simply, staring blankly at the other people sitting at the table that looked absolutely appalled by her announcement.
"What? That's horrible! Who did it?" shouted Emerald.
"We have an idea of who did this, however…" Yellow began, but stopped as she glanced warily over at Black.
"Does that mean they left some hint to show who they are?" inquired Platina.
"Yes, a message written on the wall using their blood."
"What…Did it say…?" came Diamond's question.
"…'We're Team Rocket. And we're going to crush you all.'…" Black said, his eyes glazed over in thought as he stared down at the table.
Now it was Ruby's turn to talk.
"What?" he yelled as he stood up and slammed his hands on the table. "Team Rocket? And they said that? What are you going to do then, Black? This is a declaration of war against a party who did nothing wrong to offend them and cause them to do such a thing! I DO hope you don't plan on sitting back because we all know how Team Rocket was and they're obviously still the same, judging from this incident. Who knows, eventually they'll go after —"
"I know this." Black interrupted calmly. "That's why I called you all. After all, you people are the most experienced and, of course, the new sages."
"I prefer the term 'executive' or 'administrator'." Interjected Platina. "Sage is generally used as a term to describe a wise old man, and it is quite obvious none of us are anything of the sort."
"…Yes, administrator then. I called you all specifically because you're skilled. Ruby, you're able to find a person's weak spot wit just a simple glance; Emerald, you can do Arceus knows what with your little contraption; Yellow, your nickname 'Demon of Viridian Forest' speaks for it's freaking self; Diamond, who knows what you can do if someone talking about Platina the wrong way; and Platina, I wouldn't be surprised if you hired your own team of personal assassins — if you haven't already."
They all stared and Ruby grew silent before quietly sitting back down.
"What about you, then? What's YOUR skill?" Emerald questioned.
Yellow giggled and shook her head in almost amusement.
"My skills of deduction are top notch." Black informed the green eyed boy.
Ruby folded his arms as he leaned back in his chair. "Oh really now?"
"You don't believe me?"
Ruby's stoic stare was his only answer.
Black scoffed. "Alrighty then. I'll just show you I'm not lying, then." He proposed as he stared at each individual person sitting at the table for no more than three seconds. "Emerald, when I mentioned your little mechanism, you felt proud to have it mentioned because I saw you shove a hand into our right pocket where it most probably is seeing how you're right handed; Platina, you obviously have already had your own team of trained killers for quite some time seeing how the faintest smirk reached your face after I said that; and, of course, Diamond, your jaw tightened when I was talking about Platina. It made you angry."
Diamond frowned, his bright blue eyes darkening.
"It irritates you doesn't it?" Black pestered, taking one step forward. "The very sound of my name escaping her lips pisses you off even though you yourself don't even call her that. You still call her —"
"Enough. You've made your point." Diamond told the brunette.
Black nodded, looking back at Ruby to see if he had anything to say.
He did not.
"Se we're all in agreement? We'll accept their declaration of war, then." He announced.
"Shall I inform the other members?" Yellow asked.
"No. This shall be out elites versus their elites. We'll make them regret ever messing with Team Plasma. Do not tell the grunts, and most definitely do not tell N. We'll leave him out of this for the time being. Are we clear?"
Yellow smiled angelically. "As crystal." She confirmed.
"Good. I'll leave you all to figure out what we will and will not need. There's one more person I need to help us with this." Black told them as he started walking toward the exit.
"And that would be…?" Platina called out from behind him.
He paused and gave a sigh before glancing back and saying, "Unfortunately? My sister: White."
(FINALLY~ This took forever because I was procrastinating. Ahaha! Sorry! Hope you guys liked, anyway. I'm actually to chapter four on paper you know... Until the next chapter, my friends. Hope you enjoyed it. And I swear on Arceus if there are errors, I'm going to kick my computer…)