(and again.. This portion of the fic covers chapters 11-15..)
11) - The Lodge
The sun started to rise about 20 minutes later, filling the air and
surrounding forestland with a red glow in amongst the greens. Kichi turned
a corner around the side of a small hill, Mattchu following as ever, and
Kichi stopped.
"Well, there's the lodge..." Kichi pointed, and Mattchu gazed
into the distance at a faraway building, the path that they were on snaking
it's way up to its entrance. Mattchu was obviously getting bored of this
long walk, but he remembered he had twice as far to go later on today,
so he wasn't complaining too much…But then he'd have to walk back.
There was still no sign of Hayai or Kijutsu from behind them, as Kichigai and Mattchu reached the lodge. It was a large place, outside made of wood but almost certainly having been remade from the inside, shadows on every one of the curved planks that made up its front. It looked rather a daunting place, especially in the twilight of the early morning, but it was going to be home from now until whenever they had to move from here.
Kichi pushed the door open, and walked in, followed by Mattchu. The place was dark, and there was a lingering musky smell, suggested that the place hadn't been touched for a while. The place had an electric supply somewhere, Mattchu noticed by a wall switch conveniently placed to his right.
"Okay, a run down of the place, quickly…" She hesitated. "On second thoughts, I think we'd be better waiting for the others before I did that. They'll be about a half hour or something. So…I suggest you unpack your stuff upstairs, in the guest bedroom, it has it on the door…I expect the other two to have got here by then, so take as much time as you need." She headed silently into the kitchen, each step clicked on the wood floor. Mattchu silently groaned, and hoped it didn't carry in the air well, otherwise anyone moving would wake the whole place up…Mind, at least they'd know if anyone was doing so down here…He edged over to the stairway, almost wincing at the loud clicks, and headed up the stairs two at a time.
Pausing briefly to reiterate where he was, he found the door marked Guest…stepping back out of the toilet he found another one marked Guest and headed in. Undecorated though it was, it had two beds, one on each side of the room, tables, a window, and a desk. This room was probably intended to be a study when it wasn't serving as a room for the guests, Mattchu thought. There wasn't much to unpack, most of what he had was food, but he pulled the few things he brought with him, being his notes from earlier on, which he placed at the desk; his pendant, which shone again as it hit the dim light as he put it back on; various writing and drawing utensils, he put them with the notes on the desk, of which there was more paper then used; he brought spare. It was something to do, even if writing and drawing wasn't his strongest point, but it passed the time; He also had an amount of money left, which he placed in the cabinet.
And finally, he pulled out a spherical object, black, the surface reflective even in the dim light…
"Master ball…" he muttered, "Used to be Mashu's…" He had a thought…He
clicked the button for return and nothing happened. He sighed, that much
was useless now…He tossed it up and down a few times, the second time he
overthrew and it landed square on his head. Mattchu rubbed the bump and
thought back to the gym, and Choukou, and Senkouhi…
"…This thing only works on morphs that are dead or very near
to it…" Mattchu sighed. That was proven in that street fight…What wasn't
known was why `morphs would want to do this in the first place…
He then had a thought again, back to training days. There was Matt…and he was him…and there was Mashu…and when that thing happened, Matt became him…Well duh…But then Matt hadn't been able to shoot and charge lightning unaided…though he had slight ability with it, so did everyone with some form of element…Then he hit it. It was just for power. That's all this was, and that's all it would continue to be…The more pokémon/morphs one got into the ball, the more power he had…
[ Well, don't think you yourself got to that conclusion…You could have,
but it's easier for me to say… ] Sadame. At the back of his mind…
{ Anything else I need to know, O Wise One…? }
[ Just that it's always possible for the thing you're catching to either
become partly or fully spliced with you, if you aren't powerful enough
to handle their capabilities…The largest area of power wins…Except for
the pendants, they mean limitless power, but only in that one situation…Otherwise
they just look nice…]
{ So that won't ever happen…? }
[ It still could, but only if whomsoever you get has a pendant also…Which
means Senkouhi, unfortunately…And you knew that all along, but you'll only
beat him if you have more power…and then it won't be a problem…maybe. ]
{ I'll bear that in mind… }
The voice faded out. Another few voices came through, and clicks…But this wasn't his head, this was downstairs…Hayai and Kijutsu had arrived…He headed downstairs again, where Kichigai came to meet him
"I was just going to get you…Anyway, sit down somewhere and we can go through what we have left to do…"
Mattchu walked into the main room, where Hayai and Kijutsu were sat talking on a couch. He sat down on the one opposite them.
"You two finally made it then, heh.." Mattchu said, a slight smile
crossing his face. Hayai turned from conversation.
"Yeah - I still think it would have been easier if you'd have
carted us there - We could have been here hours ago…"
"I told you, you couldn't stand being moved at that speed for
that long…Apart from the fact we can't travel over that much distance for
that long anyway…"
"I could have flown…Except the wings won't take me for that long
a distance, either…" Kijutsu, listening in, and she was sitting right near,
so it wasn't that hard to do.
Kichigai walked in at this point, and sat in the only available place in the duo couch setup; the one next to Mattchu.
"Okay then…So this is the lodge. Everything is easily found, there's a generator that can be switched on out back. Hayai, you're in the guest bedroom with Matt, and Kijy is in the main room with me…"
Kijy. Kijutsu winced at the name, sounded akin to "Pidgey". Hayai grinned, Mattchu just kept listening.
"So, Mattchu, refresh us on what will happen next…" said Kichi, pleasant-toned
in voice, as ever.
"This is a kind of midway point, as from here we move further on, to
Miami…We won't cut through any other towns on the way, it's too much bother…so
it'll be all crossing flatland…"
"Miami? You said on the walk that you wanted to walk it in 4 hours…"
Kichi quizzed.
"Yeah, that's right…" Mattchu added.
"You can't walk 100 miles in that time!"
"Uh…100 miles?"
Kichi sighed, "From here to Miami is about 112 miles…You have any other
transport planned?"
"Hm…No?"
Kichi grinned, "Well, you can try and walk it if you like, I think
we're going to need something like a car here…"
"Well then, Kichi. Where do you suggest we get one of those?"
"Why not try the garage out back?"
"Uh…?" Mattchu thought quickly, "Well, yeah…but why didn't you
say?"
"Because I knew this conversation would come up where you expected
us to walk half of Florida in the latter half of the night…"
"Fine…I'm assuming you have a…"
"License?" Kichigai finished the sentence. "Now for what purpose
would I have a car without a license…"
"Point taken…So, we have about 10 or 11 hours, we be setting
out at 6pm…"
"And from there?"
"We enter the building, of which I don't know how yet, and can't
plan from here. We search until we find. We then disappear. We're looking
for Articuno because he has the pendant as of now…Except it's pretty evident
Silph are going to attempt to cross them, that's what they wanted to do
all along…" Mattchu stopped. He didn't know this, so why was he saying
it.
[ You don't know it. I do…Just keep going… ]
Sadame again. Mattchu continued, reassured, "We have to have this done
by tomorrow at 8pm."
"8pm?" Kichigai looked up, "If we're going to do it this fast,
we need a plan."
"That's 8pm tomorrow, we're going to be getting there at 10pm…You
have all night…"
"Well, if we need the night, then hadn't we better sleep now?
That would work better…"
"Yes, true…That okies with you two?" Mattchu directed towards
Hayai and Kijutsu. They both agreed.
"But before that…" Kichi said, standing, "I fixed up something
to eat…" She walked into the kitchen and came back with 2 trays, with several
rice balls on each. She placed one to each side of the table
"Enjoy.." Kichi added, before picking one up real fast and eating
it, without anyone but Mattchu noticing much of it. He sniggered and picked
one up normally.
"Y'know, I never had one of these before…" He ate a bit, "…And
I'm wondering how I coulda missed these…"
Kijutsu picked up one and started eating it, and Mattchu expect Meg had fed them to her pokémon back a while ago. Hayai also hadn't had any, but he just picked one up and ate it, spluttering with a mouthful, "This is good!"
"Yes, Hayai, it's good, but it's not good if you send a load of
it flying towards me…"
"Sorry Kichi…" Mattchu sent Hayai off to get something to clean
it up with, while the rest ate. Kichi saved Hayai a good half of the bowl,
because she was finished quickly. Mattchu took a couple and wrapped them
in some tissue paper for later, while Kichi ate, rather like Kijutsu did.
Mattchu yawned loudly.
"I suppose you'll want a rest too after that walk anyway…We have
until about 4-5pm to sleep…Then we can prepare and head out."
"Okay." Hayai rushed off, unknowing Mattchu already got the best
bet. Mattchu grinned and headed after him.
"Well, so starts the day, unseen by us, I guess…" Kijutsu headed
upstairs slowly.
"I guess, Kijy…" Kichi followed her up.
Everyone was asleep quickly, for the long walk of earlier that morning
had left them all exhausted…At least now they could go by car instead,
that would be much easier. Mattchu wasn't quite asleep though, as he hardly
was now, and he thought he heard clicks downstairs. He didn't go to check,
and put them down to his imagination instead, before lulling deeper asleep,
and ceasing his thinking of conscious thoughts…
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 6: 28/09/06
12) - The Road Trip
They slept right through to the afternoon…well Mattchu did. Kijutsu woke up first, at around 4:30pm. She shook Kichigai up and they went downstairs to fix themselves food. Clicks echoed around like bullet sound in the quietness of the lodge and the surrounding area, and it woke Hayai up. Hayai tried to shake Mattchu awake, but it didn't work. After 15 minutes of futile shoving, he gave up and went downstairs also. The three morphs' loud clicking downstairs did not wake Mattchu.
About a half hour later, after the three had eaten, Kichigai slipped
upstairs as the other two were gathering foodstuff to take with them in
the car, and into the guest bedroom where Mattchu was.
"Hey Mattchu…"
He did not stir. Kichi moved up and tried again, in a louder voice.
"Mattchu?"
He moved slightly, real vulnerable, Kichi thought if this had have
been Senkouhi then Mattchu have been in trouble. She crouched behind him,
and gripped the tip of the hypersensitive ear between two claws. She squeezed
between, just to see if it would wake him. The ear flicked slightly, and
he only moved a small bit.
"He is not going to like me for this…" She bent to the ear and
shouted, in a very Rai-like voice,
"MATTCHU! WAKE UP!"
Mattchu nearly hit the ceiling. He snapped awake and spun around, cheeks
sparking and lighting up the dark room like candlelight flickering.
"…" Mattchu looked at Kichi, "What the f-"
"Well, you do have to get up today, and I already tried several
other methods…" She giggled and disappeared. Mattchu saw her zip out of
the open door, and calmed slightly. He discharged the excess electric onto
the metal bed frame before heading downstairs also.
Downstairs, everything was set up to leave. The back of the car was
packed with some food supplies, Hayai placed a few more in, and then closed
it. He turned to Mattchu.
"Well, we've put in as much as we can get inside there…So we
are all set to leave, whenever we need to."
"Good…" Mattchu said. Kichi had obviously been getting things
organized while he had been asleep. As though induced, Kichi walked in.
"Packed up, Hayai?"
"As much in as we can get in."
"Good…And we're early too, so we can set off any time." She turned
to Mattchu, "Anything you're thinking of taking? If so, get it and get
in, we should be getting to Miami at around 4 hours after we set off, assuming
traffic is clear out there.."
Mattchu hesitated, "…Okay, I just have to get what I'm taking from
upstairs…"
"Something wrong?" Kichi looked over at Matt.
"No, it's fine - Just thinking of what I was going to take."
Mattchu slipped back upstairs.
He wondered why he lied. It wasn't anything nearby, there was just something…wrong; whether today or in the next few days, he was getting the feeling something bad was going to happen…
[ He's looking for you ]
Mattchu spun around again. Sadame was there, glancing around the room with her cat-like eyes.
"…Who..?"
[ You know who.. ]
He did, yes. Senkouhi. He could picture him, fur ablaze, eyes set black
as black would ever be, clothing to match, walking up a track…The track.
He turned to Sadame, and she nodded, [ How he knew? The same way you
know of he…Tetsu is with him, and myself and my sisters are bonded, of
course…Tetsu is relaying through the pendant, just as I'm doing… ]
"So…"
[ He will be here in half an hour. You aren't meeting him now,
you must go. There is no way you could beat him as you are, and he knows
it, so you don't want to chance a meeting now. Take whatever is of value
to you and get that car rolling… ]
Mattchu picked up his notes off the table, removed the bag from under the table, and flung the notes and a few other belongings in, such as the money, the master ball, and all his writing and drawing utensils.
[ Jitsu also knows, so Kichi does too. You'll find she's doing
the same as you with her belongings, so I estimate if Hayai and Kichi are
in the car, you can get away from here in 5 minutes… ]
"Wait…If he's here in half an hour, why are we in such a rush?"
[ Because now I told you, he knows you're going to be on the
way out… ]
Mattchu caught a mind-glimpse of Senkouhi running.
"Wonderful…Okay, I see the point, we haven't got a lot of time…"
[ Okay - Good luck on the Silph infiltration…and thank you. ]
Mattchu looked down and fastened the now full bag. He looked up, Sadame had gone again. He headed down the wooden clicking stairs two at a time, and headed for the door inside the kitchen that led to the back.
When he headed out, he saw Kichi's car. It was quite large, blue, and
all the doors were open.
Hayai and Kijutsu had already got in, and they were sitting in the
back. Kichi came out a few seconds later.
"You're aware…?" she began.
"Yes…Quick, we have about 5 min as it is…"
Mattchu headed into the front passenger seat, Kichi dived in at the wheel and spun the key a few times. All of them shut the doors as Kichi did so. It clicked a few times.
"Argh…Damn it, start…" Kichi kept turning it.
"Why are we in such a hurry?" Kijutsu asked Kichi.
"You fancy staying here when Senkouhi gets here in a few minutes?"
Kijutsu stared at Kichi. Kichi went on, "Didn't think so…"
On the track up, footsteps quickly made their way around. Senkouhi turned the corner which was the last one before the lodge, and quickly ran on. The track under his paws was black when he passed over it.
"Damn then for starting off early…" His thoughts were clouded with what he would do to the four when he did catch them. If he didn't this time, he would the next time. Or the one after. Tetsu was a good information source, for as long as Mattchu and Kichigai had pendants, Tetsu, and thus he, knew roughly where they would be. Then he thought away from that, and thought of what he could do to them. Whether or not he should rip off the tails of the raichu'morphs, or just the little end piece. Wasn't sharp enough to drive into their head properly, but he could try…Through the ears would work, they were as soft and sensitive as it got. As for the hybrid Eevee…Well, he could be convinced…He could kill him, but Burakki was a pokémon he much liked. Black was better then this red, and the evilness was expected. He thought Hayai should have gone through them already. Then he remembered; Hayai was also part Jolt and Eevee, and so would be akin to good…for now. Wouldn't take the flare long to break the young Eevee, there was more here then ever those four could have…But torturing Kijutsu would be fun. Winged hybrids were fun. Always. He had tortured a few before…All you needed to do was play at the wings, maybe the odd sharply-dragged feather or forty…But aside from that was the wing's attachment to the back area. It was the most fragile point on them, experience told him that. For you could tear the wing off with little force, as with the hybrid winged, the wings were not in place of the arms, so the wings existed by little more then a muscle and bone cluster…And, he thought, if that wasn't enough, he could twist it right around until it snapped. He would keep that, yes…Along with a part of one of Mattchu's ears and maybe the black part of Kichi's tail. No bolt, of course, that would be sticking partly out of one of her ears, with a trickle of blood running down the side of the raichu head. And Hayai…By the time he was finished, he'd probably want Kijutsu's other wing, and Kichi's ears, and probably the black part of Mattchu's tail as well…
This thought process lasted him until he reached the door of the lodge. From the back he heard a car head off.
"Missed them…Damn…Just wait, I'll have you yet…" He placed a hand
on the door, wood of course, it started to burn. "Well, at least now you
won't have any easy place to stay…"
Inside Senkouhi's mind sat Tetsu. Everything around was dark, apart from where she was. She couldn't move, she was being restrained. She saw the lodge start to burn, and was able to know what Senkouhi's thoughts were before that, and she sighed.
"Now now…Don't be like that, dear…" A voice from somewhere else.
[ Must you persist in thinking I like you? Give me a break… ]
The anthro Mewtwo goddess was grabbed by her hair and her head rotated
sharply to the left.
"Attitude is not something I recommend…" the harsh voice said.
"Just a bit longer, and soon you shall think that. There's nothing anyone
can do, either…For inside here, there is just you, and me…"
The restraints were nothing more then tassels of psi energy wrapped
around the arms and legs. Had she not been here, she could have gotten
free by will. But the mere facts of this place, the fact it didn't really
exist at all, and the fact she was trapped here by the pendant, it made
her abilities useless. That is how he would keep it until the effects of
being contained inside the mind of one as evil as Senkouhi, tended to by
another…She sighed, while her reasoning and judgment were slowly eaten
at by this place…
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 6, continued;
13) - The Way it Must Be
And so she lay, suspended a few feet in the air, a beam of light surrounding her, that was surrounded by darkness…The edges of the beam of light moved inwards slightly, as the beam started to get smaller…Tetsu knew that she didn't have long…
The voice came back, footsteps echoing around the unreal place inside
Senkouhi's mind.
"Any nearer, dear?" it cooed to her.
"Nope, sorry hun, it's going to take a lot more then this I think…"
she mockingly cooed back. Her head was grabbed by the hair again.
"Be serious please…I'm surprised one such as yourself could find
time to joke when you are becoming, how shall I put it…tainted…"
"So you think by keeping me here, you can hope to break me…I
think not…You could try for ever but I would never give to you…"
She spat at the figure, which removed the hand from her hair, it disappeared
back into black, before whipping from it again and slapping her hard. She
gave a short cry; her head jolted to face the other way.
"You know it's only a matter of time…"
She cut in again, turning back to him, "Time nothing, you could spend
eternity and not get any nearer. Why don't you give up trying, just keep
me here for eternity, while my sisters kill you before we ever get there.
You need to go back to playing head games with the flareon, Myuutsu…As
only a fool would continue with me her…But I guess that proves my point,
does it not…"
He slapped her again. Her head jolted, harder. A trickle of blood seeped
from her nose. The balled paw-hand grasped her hair again and wrenched
it back towards him. The anthro Mewtwo stood directly over her now, blocking
some of the light.
"It is not for you to try judging your superiors, Tetsu…Especially
not me…If I wanted to I would kill you now, but you know as well as me
I have no intention of that…For as soon as you sit on the side of Senkouhi
and I, you will be of great aid…And until then, you'll be a bitch." He
let go, and ran the back of a paw down her front.
"Yes…That may be so, but there is no doubt you have great beauty…"She
struggled a bit, but the tassels would not give way. He stopped at her
waist.
"Whereas you may break me Myuutsu, I will ask you don't do that
until I can't think clearly any more. That's probably the only way you'd
get it anyway…" He turned to her again, paw out. A sound came from behind
Myuutsu and Myuutsu didn't turn. Suddenly he felt a pain in the arm that
was up. He looked up, and hanging from it was a flareon, having bit into
the arm, probably ran up from behind and jumped at him.
"Senkouhi…Heh…Look what I left you after I had finished…No matter,
what is left of Senkouhi's good side he had while non-anthro can not do
anything…" He brought the arm down hard and Senkouhi was dragged with it.
He slipped off and crashed onto the barren floor hard. He yelped and dashed
behind the other side of Tetsu.
"Leave the flareon alone Myuutsu - If what you say is true, you
have no need to cause him harm…"
Myuutsu thought for a while, before he turned back to Tetsu, "If I
intended to, I wouldn't have thrown him down, I'd have slit his neck in
a full circle. Now rest, my work here will be complete when you are. Don't
make me stay here any longer then I have to, I'd rather have fully merged
with the evil Senkouhi then just have to sit in here and tend to you two…"
Myuutsu walked off back into the darkness. Senkouhi nudged at Tetsu and then lay beside, out of the darkness. Tetsu suddenly had an arm free. She looked at Senkouhi, who looked up at her. She petted the fire Eevee lightly, and gazed upwards at the endless darkness and the light which grew smaller every few seconds. She sighed again. Senkouhi dozed off.
-
The Senkouhi that existed in the real world, however, stood nearby to the lodge and watched it burn. The fire he had set off a while ago had spread all around the outside. Soon it would be blazing, and if it hit the generator, the fuel would help in the burning too. He'd raze this to the ground, and then he'd set off for Miami, where they had gone; He could walk there in a matter of days, and he knew they couldn't keep running for ever…
-
Tetsu surveyed this, and knew what she had to do. She nodded to Senkouhi, who sat upright, waiting for some signal. Senkouhi lay down again, and the light above Tetsu fully disappeared. Senkouhi walked away.
Myuutsu returned about a half hour later. He saw Tetsu lying in the dark, the only light coming from the tassels. She was as black as the darkness itself, lying there in a state of near-sleep. Myuutsu came up, and ran his paw down the side of her face as she slept. She awoke, eyes set in slits, red slits, as Myuutsu's were similar to.
"I see time has finally ran its course, Tetsu…" Myuutsu commented.
"Indeed it has…" Tetsu smiled at Myuutsu. He turned away slightly,
before looking back.
"One such as me…in a situation like this with one as lovely as
yourself…It says something to me…"
"What, with me being restrained and all…?" Tetsu winked at him.
Myuutsu ran the paw-hand down her again, got to the waist. Tetsu smiled
again and looked at him. He continued on, she said nothing. As he reached
the leg, he said again, "Now I am convinced it went well." He motioned
at the bonds around Tetsu's arms and they disappeared. The ones around
her legs did too, and Myuutsu pulled Tetsu to her feet. A dim light appeared
from above, lighting up both of the Mewtwo anthros.
"Now that I know you are not trying to trick me, I would continue;
but here it means nothing, for this is Senkouhi's mind…And while I may
spend time with you in here, Senkouhi could be nearer to dying, and that
wouldn't be so good for us…And besides, wouldn't you rather have me physically?"
Tetsu laughed; the sort of laugh you expect from a black female Mewtwo,
"Of course…So you shall complete your half with Senkouhi, while I remain
here and direct you as to the thoughts of my sisters, so you can execute
those that may seek to kill you…"
"And then, after that, what we do, is up to you…" Myuutsu smiled
an evil smile and walked off in the direction that Senkouhi left in earlier.
He found Senkouhi nearby, lying in the middle of nowhere, bathed in
his own fiery glow.
"Senkouhi…It is now time for something you knew was coming…"
Senkouhi jumped to his feet and backed away.
I can't see this continue - You corrupted her and you
are not getting to what is left of me… >>
Myuutsu produced a master ball, black as the surroundings in which
they were.
"You know you have no choice…" Senkouhi tried to run, but a blue
glow enveloped him and he couldn't move. Myuutsu tossed the master ball
at him, it spun in the air and hit Senkouhi. He let out a cry as he was
sucked into it, Myuutsu looking on with a smirk on his face. The glow around
where Senkouhi was dissipated, and the master ball clunked on the floor.
-
As he did this, the anthro flareon Senkouhi suddenly felt pain, and dropped to the floor, saying not a word. He gulped breaths down and tried to ignore the inevitability he was faced with, but he was finding it hard to do so. So he concentrated on his thoughts of what he could do to the four who opposed he. And he smiled as he did so…
-
Tetsu thought, and smiled. She smiled because she had done such a good
job at fooling Myuutsu.
It was the Flareon's idea, he had thought if Tetsu tricked Myuutsu
into going with the combination then they would have been locked in deadlock
together…And she could have provided the difference, and Senkouhi would
have been liberated.
Myuutsu grabbed the master ball, which started to glow slightly.
A red glow surrounded him, covering him from view.
Myuutsu heard Senkouhi, { Fool…Do you not remember that I still have the pendant? } Myuutsu looked down at himself, which was rapidly furring over. Uh…Damn… >>
Tetsu smiled as Myuutsu became Senkouhi, and Myuutsu was lost forever.
He also knew now Myuutsu wasn't fully gone, but that he and Senkouhi would
be at halves, and she was the one who would turn that halves to the good
side.
And this would all be over…The light reappeared above her, and her
dark guise faded out. The glow from nearby faded. An anthro Senkouhi walked
up from where Myuutsu had once walked.
"I thank you, Tetsu…Had it not been for your part, I'd have had
to sit there and wait for you to go dark before I could have control again…Except,
really, not that much has changed…"
"Whatever could you mean?"
"Well…When I was talking to you, I didn't quite relay everything…You
see, Myuutsu thought I'd oppose him…That was nonsense, I'm still happy
that I'm eventually going to kill the others…But Myuutsu's ways were crude…He
needed more thought…So I decided to stop sitting back and start getting
things sorted. And this is how I intend to start."
Tetsu stepped back, "You…you tricked me also…" Senkouhi stepped up,
"I know. You see why I couldn't let him continue as he was. He got himself
out of the group by killing Choukou. Dumb, stupid, imbecilic. He wanted
to play along with them and then kill them off secretly by saying that
they had left in the night with him and got captured. Of course, those
left would have seen through it eventually, which is why I put it to his
level of thinking. But it would have done the job. Instead, they now flee
on sight knowing they can't win, and I'm going to have to go the long way
round before I can kill them! Damn…Subordinates are so annoying…Especially
stupid ones…"
Tetsu turned to escape but Senkouhi flung up his paw and the same blue
glow that had once trapped a flareon now encircled the anthro Mewtwo femme.
"And also, with the addition of Myuutsu, come the addition of
psi to my abilities…If they couldn't beat me before, they don't stand hell's
chance now…" He walked to the front of Tetsu.
"I do thank you, even if you don't thank me. Normally I'd let you leave
on those grounds but I need you here, otherwise I may never locate them
again…Except I would have to keep coming here to continue with the process
Myuutsu so badly started…"
Senkouhi grasped Tetsu's arm. "Come with me. I can promise power more then that of your sisters, and more then that which is ever needed here…A goddess in her own right, that's what you always attained to be, right? The 5 of you were so similar…but there was one which people felt was more akin to slip into tricks such as this…and they called that one Tetsu. A mistake…You were not shunned, but with the giving of such a name, who needed shunning? You were branded a mistake from the start, why do anything else?"
Senkouhi could feel Tetsu's will being stretched.
{ My sisters…They treated me as they treated themselves…We all
did to each other… }
"Wrong again…They had names with double meanings, but their double
meanings never struck such territory as calling them a mistake…"
{ Sadame was also called Decision…The branded her bossy… }
"No, they branded her with common sense. She makes decisions,
you makes mistakes…"
{ Similar to the one I'd be making if I joined you. Subtle. }
Senkouhi looked at Tetsu, "Myuutsu was right with the beauty part…And
so smart, too…But one thing was obvious; you aren't as able as the other
sisters…So…" On his saying this, the glow around Tetsu brightened. "…you
won't be able to prevent being de-anthroized…" Senkouhi let go of Tetsu
as the glow brightened. Senkouhi watched on as Tetsu's shape became smaller;
more defined in certain areas like the head…A few minutes later, the glow
faded, and Tetsu the Mewtwo lay sprawled on the floor.
"And so, by reducing you to semi-sentient…You lose much of the
ability to withstand this place…" She sat up, not knowing of much. Her
head darted in various places as she looked about. Senkouhi laughed, "And
become more pathetic also…"
-
Senkouhi convulsed on the floor, His nose started to trickle blood. He closed his eyes and lay there, in the middle of nowhere, slowly becoming more as the dual Myuutsu-Senkouhi should look…
-
The small semi-sentient Mewtwo femme glared at Senkouhi, eyes blue.
Senkouhi shook his head.
"No…You know you can't do anything to me here…But me to you,
that's a different matter…"
The whole area began to go red. It was like blood had seeped over the
darkness and was now masking the two from view of each other.
"And now I have no need of this area…so by removing it, I gain
control of you, Tetsu, as well…" And then, the area of split mentality
ceased to exist for Senkouhi, as there was none split now, just him…
-
Senkouhi felt this, too. He coughed up an amount of blood. This wasn't
happening in an evolution way, this was just making itself happen…And damn
it, it hurt…
Senkouhi's fur shortened and went that gray color known so well to
Mewtwo kind…Senkouhi had eradicated any ability for any of the mental fighting
experienced with Matt back at the start…As the changes in his mental state
continued to take effect on his physical self, he managed to sit up. He
wasn't sure where he was now, but he heard nothing…
And then, it stopped, suddenly. He got up like nothing had happened,
walked over the ashes of the lodge he had razed to the ground not long
ago, and headed off down the road heading south, towards where the others
had headed all that time ago. There was a hood on his black coat, he pulled
it way over his head and continued walking, as the sunset approached…
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 6 - 10:20pm
14) - The Preparation
It was night before they arrived at the outskirts of the city. Kichi checked the fuel gauge. It didn't seem to have that much left inside it. Hopefully it would do a little longer…
The trip there was surprisingly easy. The traffic was almost nonexistent, there was just them on that road at that time…They had driven on for the past 4 plus hours, and as the sky had started to darken, there had been signs posting various distance hinters to the city. Some of the other structures in the town were mentioned, but the Silph one definitely was. It said 40 miles. They could cover that in pretty much a half hour at this speed…not that they needed to keep to the limit, but Kichi didn't really want to crash out by going faster then they needed go. { Relax. }, she told herself. { You're moving plenty fast enough, we have a whole lot of time before we touch the building to plan how we are going to get in, anyway.}
Riding shotgun was Mattchu, and he was just dazing out of the window,
thinking up questions that needed no answer, and answers that didn't befall
the question. { Here we are. }, he thought. { Four half-pokémon,
sitting in a car as it edges towards Miami, when there we have to enter
into a large.. }
he knew it was large, you could see some of it from here, and they
were still a few miles away yet
{ ..a large, corporation owned, semi-secret facility, looking for the
Legendary Three, who if they couldn't get out on their own steam, would
most surely be under toxin influence or securely locked, both of which
would be problematic…}
[ Relax. ] Sadame, again… [ For your information, the place is up to
enough guard strength to cause a problem, but I found something about someone
that works there. Scientist female, 24. Jinkei says she's been the most
frequent there at Articuno's cell, I'm inclined to think she's close-knit
with the whole project of keeping them there. ]
{ And this is important because…? }
[ She was morphed into an anthro raichu. 5'8 and blue hair that drapes
to the shoulders. Now, who do you know that is similar to her? ]
Mattchu turned his head and glanced at Kichigai, before sitting back down and looking out front.
{ So she's going to take the other's place? Subtle… }
[ It'll be harder then that. The Silph one, name Maureen Wilkinson,
is…well…completely the opposite of Kichi in her personality. ]
{ So, instead of being the kawaii happy raichu, like Kichi there…
}
[ …Maureen is a complete bitch. Yes. It's surprising how two
morphs that look the same can be so different. But, as long as she isn't
there too long, no-one will notice… ]
{ And Jinkei knows this from just looking at her come in? }
[ No…She knows it by looking at her come in and "waking" Articuno
with a nightstick… ]
{ Ah. One of those… }
Mattchu had seen people like Maureen often. They came quite a lot in his previous line of occupation. Every few weeks you get someone out trying to put holes in your pokémon or whap them a few times with some blunt object. He bet Maureen wanted to keep going with that nightstick until she didn't have to any more. But, Silph wouldn't want them dead now, would they…So she just used where she could, as a rather harsh wakeup device…
Still, to see her face, and that of the others, to come out of induced consciousness wearing the body of half you and half a pokémon…Mattchu bet she was carting a raichu around in it's ball, bouncing it against the floor as she went. He could see it, a glowing sphere being bounced by this young bitch of a woman, until she grabbed it to examine it, and the influx electricity flung her into a wall, where she hit her head and slipped into unconsciousness…And it worked itself around before she woke, and the scream when she did, and looked at what was now her…Mattchu couldn't help but stifle a grin. Ah, whereas the situation may be hopelessly messed up, screwed like so much shit hitting a fan, and being shred to pieces; people that cared for their pokémon, like he had once had to do, look from their positions of being strong in their fighting because of the way they trained their own pokémon, nothing more; and down upon those that disliked pokémon and were probably accident-morphed…Irony, pure and simple…And he laughed slightly.
Kichi tapped him, "Sleeping with our eyes open, eh?"
Mattchu snapped out of his thoughts and looked up. The car was stopped
at the side of the road; looming over them about two hundred and fifty
feet away was the Silph complex. From down here it must have been several
hundred feet high. The complex was surrounded by a large metal fence; probably
10 feet up, barbed wire atop it, most likely electrified. At the front
was a gate, like a portcullis; on this side of the wall, a guard post.
Two guards, one Growlithe, the other Arcanine, were looking around there,
they hadn't noticed us the distance away, and it probably wouldn't matter
if they did. Along the side was the Silph logo; an S circled with something
that looked like Saturn's rings, and "Silph Co" written in 4 languages
on either top or bottom of it. The track was bare; very little buildings
in this part. Silph wanted a large desolate area for their holding facility.
Quite why they picked the outskirts of Miami, Florida, was beyond any of
the 4 morphs at that time. Kichi was looking at it, thinking of some way
to get in; Mattchu was just looking at it for the first time; Hayai and
Kijutsu had fallen asleep and were leaning on each other in the back. It
was kawaii, Mattchu thought. Cute though it may have been, they were here
for a reason, but he didn't really want to wake them…
"So, Matt…You any idea how on Earth we're going to get in?" Kichi
asked, looking at him. He turned from the two sleeping morphs and back
to the complex, which looked surreal in the darkness.
"Yes…At some point along tonight, a car is going to part from
the complex and head back to the city. The driver shall be female, 24,
and look rather similar to you. Her name is Maureen, she is one of the
lead scientists of the department and place we need to get to. We shall
follow her back until we are well along this route, and then kill her.
You take her place, and we head back the next morning, like we are supposed
to."
Kichi looked dubious, "And you know all this because…"
Mattchu tapped the pendant, "There's one of these where we need to
be. Jinkei is still there, that's the reason we came here, remember? And
she's been relaying info to Sadame, and if you ask Jitsu, you can have
as much info as they have…"
Kichi retreated to thought for a while.
[ He is right, Kichi… ] a voice called up.
{ Hm…You know anything else about Maureen? }
[ Only that she's been beating Articuno up with a nightstick
for no reason at all… ]
{ …I shall delight in killing this one… }
Kichi smirked, "It seems I have another incentive too, as you probably
do also…" Mattchu nodded. They stayed there watching the gates.
It seemed like forever, but the dashboard clock said just a half hour.
The gates opened, and a few cars rushed out. All headed in towards the
city. Mattchu and Kichi scanned the drivers. In the first was a Persian.
The next two carried a Rattata and a Pikachu. A bit later, and a red car
stumbled out of the gateway. Inside was Maureen, trying ever so hard to
keep the car moving. It needed a repair, and she knew it. But she was more
preoccupied with her forced translation, and how her change in reflex was
affecting her driving slightly. See, before, she turned at the right rate
and everything for her reaction time. Now, as son as she said turn, she
was 180 degrees around before she could do anything about it.
( Damn Raichu…too quick for my liking…) she thought silently,
then lined up with the road, and set off again.
Kichi pulled her car into first, and followed the red car as they traveled
along the route. Kichi pulled the car to the side as the red one moved
along the road. Kichi hopped out the door.
"I got an idea. Just follow and watch…"
With that, she disappeared before Mattchu could say a word. He looked
on at the rapidly disappearing car, before shifting over seats, and hesitating.
He knew how to drive, but he had never done it while half raichu.
{ Ah well, first time for everything..}, he thought, following at a
slower speed behind the red car.
Maureen continued on, unawares. Some faint relaxing music was playing
through the stereo.
( Something by someone who was either a freak or dead. ), she
thought. It didn't matter. She continued on, silently. And then looked
ahead as a female Raichu appeared in front of the car.
The similarity was impressive. Maureen slipped into a preconception
she was about to hit herself out there, and slammed the brake almost by
instinct. Kichi acted like her life had been spared, and placed both hands
on the bonnet, gasping realistically for breath.
{ Maureen, you really want…that…sitting in front of your car?
} another voice piped up. Maureen shoved it away.
( That "thing" happens to look almost the same as me right now. You
fancy running yourself down? )
The voice shut up, and Maureen got out of the car.
"Damn…You okay?" Here Maureen was, having conversation with what
could double as her. She thought it was an illusion, but the best way to
prove that was to interact with it. Kichi propped herself up.
"Yeah…I'm fine, just heading home, got a bit startled on the
run and stopped on the road…"
Mattchu pulled up about three hundred yards away and surveyed.
Maureen didn't want to be interacting with whatever the human race had
become, but she realized this gal could be the same as her, I mean they
looked identical, who could go far wrong there?
"Need a lift anywhere, missy?"
"No…I'll be fine…" She stepped forward, and spilled over again,
placing paw-hand on the front of the car trying to steady herself. Mattchu
wanted to jump out, but when Maureen moved forward to help Kichi up, Mattchu
saw what she had been trying to do.
( It's not this gal's day.. ) Maureen thought, as she moved forward to help the raichu that looked like herself. Kichi moved quickly, and in a split second lunged forward in a horizontal slash. Maureen was unseeing to this and two claws connected with her neck. Two deep gashes opened in the raichu fur, blood poured from them both, and Maureen fell forward onto her own paw hands. ( It's not my day either… ) she thought. Kichi reached to under the head of the morph and sliced three long vertical claws from the tip of the small nose to the base of the neck at the back. The morph, now dead, fell under her own arms, and hit the ground, blood still being poured out.
"I believe that is a just end for such a person…" she muttered. Kichi fished her clothing for items as she laid there, a pool of blood growing around the other femme's head as she lay on the floor. She retrieved an ID tag, the evil nightstick, and she took the white coat Maureen wore, too. Then she pulled out her master ball from her pocket, and dropped it squarely into the large wound she caused. A flash of light, and the Kichi look-alike was inside the ball. She placed it back in her pocket, along with the other items, placed the bloodstained white coat on, and got into the car left. She turned it around, and drove back, so her front bumper faced the car Mattchu was sat in.
Mattchu looked on, and almost clapped Kichi back to the car.
"Very nice, I must say…" Mattchu looked at her. She grinned and
did a nice dainty curtsey, before pointing out the stain on the coat.
"This could be a problem - We have any water in the back there?"
Mattchu opened the door, and got out. He then slipped around to the trunk
and popped it open. He removed a medium-sized mixing bowl and a small amount
of drinking water.
"This will have to do, I think…"
Kichi took the items and sat in the other car, before putting the water in the bowl and inserting the bloodstained part of the coat into the water. The water went red almost immediately, but Kichi rubbed at it with her paw-hand. The fur did good as a cleaning aid, and soon the water was a deep crimson, and the red that remained on the coat was just from the color of the water, and would disappear as the water dried out, she hoped. Since her paws were bound to be blood-coated, she washed them in the same, and shook them off coarsely. She hung the white scientist's coat on the front passenger seat of the alter morph's car and walked back to where Mattchu was.
"Okay...Today is done, as I see...We need some rest, we have to
go in at around 7-8am."
Mattchu nodded, "But here, who will watch here?"
Hayai's head popped forward, "I can do it."
Mattchu jolted in surprise, "Ah, you're awake...Okay, you watch us
here while we get our rest..."
"Okay." He exited the car and sat on the roof, looking out in
the barrenness of the night.
Kichi headed back over to the other car and hopped in the back seat,
laying sprawled in there. Mattchu stayed upright, and slept in that position.
Kijutsu, not leaning against anything, ended up sprawled across the back
seat too.
Hayai sat on the car, and watched over them all, as the night drew on...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 7) - 6:45am
15) - The Infiltration
The morning sun beat down on Hayai as he laid on the car roof, half-asleep. Inside the car he was sitting on, Mattchu stirred lightly, before jolting awake. The deserted area behind them was completely visible to the horizon…it reached on all sides except one, which led to the city, and the solitary complex back where they were due to return to in a few short minutes.
He got out of the car, and sweltered under the heat of the morn sun,
as Hayai was doing.
"I knew he would not stay awake… Doesn't matter, today is the
day we move…" He clasped his left paw-hand into a fist. He knew that the
doors to where they were heading would not open like the gates of heaven,
they would have to be forced…
Hayai woke on this, "Eh…I'm awake! Just resting my eyes…" He hopped
off the car and went to wake Kijutsu up. Mattchu looked at Hayai doubtfully
and then headed over to the other car. Kichi was awake, and looked like
she had been for some time; the coat had dried and she was in the front
passenger seat looking through the glove compartment. She looked up.
"Awake at last…Well, I've been here, thinking how this will be
done. We have any blankets packed with us?"
"Hm… We have one, somewhere…" Mattchu commented, a light uncertainty
tinged his voice.
"We'll need it to get us all in. I'm fine, but 'Maureen' probably
never brings in company. One shall be in the trunk, one in the foot gap
in the back. And one will need to be on the seat covered with the blanket."
"I'll do that… You're fine, everything else is…I assume Kijutsu
needs the trunk because those wings don't let her into that gap…"
A flock of birds flew overhead. Their constant squawking drowned out the attempts at continuation of the conversation between the two. There was a quick exchange of glances between the two, then back to the birds. Mattchu smiled.
Kijutsu was in the back. She was slumbering sprawled in the back in
the fetal position. The light shone through her feathered wings and gave
them a rather luminous aura. Suddenly, a loud bang coming from the roof
jolted her up.
"What the hell…?" She looked outside. A dead Pidgey hit the roof,
bounced off it, and landed in front of her. She turned to the two raichu'morphs,
who stood watching the mini-shower of fried Pidgey pelt the car at stretched
intervals, grinning like the raichus that they partly were.
Hayai looked up, and dived out of the way of one. It lay on the floor,
bleeding from the fall, lack of feathers that were probably fried also,
glazed look-of-death over the eyes. He looked to Kijutsu, who had just
stepped out of the car she had slept in. He gazed at the wings that shone
in the sun like a halo, and imagined the scene he didn't need to see. He
looked down at the Pidgey, and walked away back to where the two raichus
stood, image gone from immediate thought and hopefully never to exist again…
"That was one…interesting…wake up call…" Kijutsu commented as
she steered around the dead birds and came up to the group.
"I think we're ready for a few overgrown pokémon now,
eh Kichi?" Mattchu was still grinning.
"I'm sure they are too…Now get in, Kijutsu in the trunk, Hayai
in the back on the floor, Mattchu in the back on the seat." She turned
to get in, then looked back at Mattchu, unemotionally, "With the blanket,
too."
The blanket appeared in Mattchu's paw. He grinned again, and then got in the back, after Hayai. She had seen him speed over to the car, drag it out, and bring it back. He thought she wasn't noticing. She smiled an evil sort of smile, the one that says "You can't try to fool me", and shut the trunk where Kijutsu crouched, back in the fetal position about two minutes after she had woken up out of it. She fought the urge to sleep, again; she wouldn't be here for too long, she hoped…
Mattchu wrapped himself up with the blanket and lay down on the seat, facing towards the front, on his side. He deliberately sat atop his tail; it hurt slightly to cramp it like that but it needed to be done so it didn't move and give him away involuntarily.
Kichigai re-entered the car and started it up. The motor coughed loudly,
but it ran reasonably fine. She headed off down the road, the Silph building
not very far away in the first instance.
As she approached the gate, he saw just one guard, a Growlithe. No
doubt that there were shifts on this guard post, she had no idea when these
were but she didn't need to. { This is the hard part, Kichi… The rest is
easy… }
She turned in to enter the building. The Growlithe; a quite tall morph
with one of those army-like guard uniforms, and various markings on what
wasn't masked by the uniform, he walked to the car.
"Early start, eh Miss Wilkinson?" the guard noted, in a rather
moderate voice. Kichi forgot where she was and who she was supposed to
be for a split second, "Oh, yes… I have a lot to do today."
"You normally do… That's why you appear half an hour early instead
of two hours plus…"
"I mean a lot more then usual. Otherwise I wouldn't be here at
7am. And I wouldn't have made a point of saying I had lots to do…"
The guard faltered. This simple bit of obvious logic overcame him;
they didn't teach logic in the Silph guard barracks… (So), he thought,
(when you don't know what has just been said, just agree, nod, and say
nothing more.)
"Yes… True…" The guard went inside the hut, and pressed a button
on the panel in there, marked in big letters: IN. The doors slid into their
recessions inside the wall. "Have a good day, miss…"
Kichi slid the car in at a fairly quick rate, and muttered to herself,
("Oh, don't worry about that, today will be good…")
The car proceeded into the large outside area of the compound. Around
were several parking gaps; most unfilled, as they should be at 7am. Kichi
parked the car in a random spot next to some other cars, and shut off the
engine as she climbed out.
"You three wait here… I'm going to have to find some sort of
guise for you before you can move in the compound…" Kichi said, as she
opened the trunk and Kijutsu got out. Mattchu clambered between seats,
Hayai got up and sat correctly on the back, Kijutsu joined him there.
"You're fine to sit like that, we're in now - No guards coming
right up to the car…But do get out of sight if anyone does appear; I think
coming early was a good idea…"
The three nodded their acknowledgements and the rai'femme lightly proceeded
to a nearby entrance to the compound. She then entered silently, shutting
the door behind her. Hayai and Kijutsu re-assembled into conversation,
while Mattchu kept a watch, thinking to himself about various things…
It wasn't much longer then 15 minutes before the door re-opened again
to Kichi, who was carrying a wrapped bundle. She lightly slid back over
to the car and tossed the load through the open passenger window onto Mattchu's
lap.
"Some cleaner's clothes… Mattchu is fine, Hayai can just pull
his over the spikes; there's one with two cuttings on the back, that one
is Kijutsu's… Goes over the connection between the wings and the back,
the stripes don't fasten, I didn't want to take too long altering them…"
They slipped the blue Silph-standard uniforms on. Kijutsu got one of
the wings caught somewhere but Hayai sorted that out quickly. Kichi turned
to walk back in, "And obviously, me with a group of 'cleaners' isn't much
done… so follow me, but not too close - Don't want to look conspicuous,
do we?"
The three exited the car and waited until Kichi had got back to the
exit, before they split and went in through the entrance right at the back
in intervals. Hayai and Kijutsu stayed together, Mattchu went after.
And so they entered the large place. It towered above like one of those skyscrapers of the city, like an island of gray, something symbolic of all that the city stood for, sitting in the middle of a deserted road on the route leading up to the nearby city. But the inside, Kichi noted, was white. Blue floor, with the shine of plastic. White walls with no shine but all straight and unmarked, no stray paint specks or anything… Doors on various sides of the fairly narrow corridor, with plain blue door labels on them. Names of people, scientists, the room, and a number, which probably was used as a computer-aid mapping system. The whole place was clean, probably because it wasn't busy at early hours. Doors filed past in rows as Kichi continued on, looking at each one, each one with Doctor someone or other on it. Kichi, or rather the person she was acting as, would have one… She located it, room number 26, on the first floor. Normally main offices were on higher floors. But the scientists would pop to their offices first thing in the morning and on the way out at night, it made a lot more sense to put them at the bottom. Kichi fished around inside the coat pockets and pulled out the ID that Miss Wilkinson was carrying when Kichi placed three blood stripes across her head. She viewed the door. It had a circular slit window with clear plastic on it. Behind was blackness; Kichi expected it was a blind. Under that were a handle and a thin slit. Kichi turned her ID over, and on there was a small arrangement of lines, dots, and impressions. She slotted it into the slit, there was an arrow on top that showed how, and a matching color one above the slit. It slid home, and Kichi heard a click. Opening the door, she removed the card and pressed in, silently closing it behind her, unwatched.
The room was dark. Kichi fumbled on the wall to the left for a wall switch, paw hand scraping the wall as she found the switch, and flicked it. The room now lit, contained a desk, a filing cabinet, another room to the right, and two chairs. The femme sat at the chair at the back, and opened various drawers, looking through for some notes on her objective, which was Articuno. She found a forgotten layout of the center in the middle drawer, but nothing about where she was supposed to be heading. So, she got up, and edged over to the filing cabinet. There were 4 drawers, with labels on the front. The bottom three were blank and the top one read, "Data: 1999-2000". She flicked inside. It was bare, just a couple of folders at the back, and they contained useless garbage stuff, printouts of garbled computer data and suchlike. They were marked in red, "Cancelled" and following this, a stamped date. Kichi shut the folder, thought, and then searched the drawers again. Kichi sighed at finding nothing, and looked at the stapled copy of the layout of the Silph complex. No markings, other then what was typed on, and it was numbers. The odd initial, but mainly numbers. And the back page had what the numbers meant. But one was highlighted in pale yellow. The only other marking was a small ring, but that was this room. She read the highlight, which was carelessly done, but readable: "Room 58 - Gen. Lab 13." - Thirteen. Heh.…Kichi thought, today was when 13 became unlucky for some…She checked the map part, finding room 58 on the twelfth floor. That was marked, that was her destination. She stepped back to the door again, clicked off the light, and exited the room, closing the door behind her again. It clicked, locking automatically. She walked off to the left, heading towards the end of the long narrow corridor, there hopefully an elevator was.
When Kichigai got there, it was still deserted. But she thought, with the number of people that are actually here, it isn't going to be busy on a lower level…She dragged her coat back up to her shoulder, it had lapsed there slightly, and she walked up to the elevator. She was getting out the card, fumbling in her coat's pocket again. She felt a paw clasp her shoulder. It was cold, and heavy - It felt like it was meant to restrain. She thought to herself, (No… I can't have been found out, can I?) On impulse she turned, sharply, and stared at the figure in front of her.
Mattchu's familiar gaze went back at her, "Hm - Did I startle you?"
Kichi resisted the urge to hit him again, and hissed back at him, "Don't
ever do that again, okay? It's tense enough here…"
Mattchu nodded, "Yeah, sorry… Well, going to the elevator means you
know where we're headed…"
Kichi shook her head, explaining, "There was nothing in her office.
The only thing I found was a room highlighted on the map. Room 58. It's
on the 12th floor, and it's Genetics Lab 13. That's where I'm headed, not
sure if you can get that far…"
"Should I just follow you? Not close like this, but just track
you on the way there? I'm sure with the reduced number of morphs around,
no-one will notice a humble cleaner enter a small room in the middle of
floor 12…"
"That's a good point…Sure, track me there - Do Kijy and Hayai
know?"
"Augh…I didn't find them. And I can't ask Sadame to tell them
either…they dun have a pendant between them, so it's no good from here…"
"Ah, well…I don't think we actually need 4 people to do it, I
think if that lab is where they are, then this ID will do sufficiently
to get there. But the way back will be hard. I bet there are lots of guards
swarming around outside, that we didn't see. As soon as we try and get
a full size Articuno out, we'll be noticed…"
"So…how will we get him out?"
"Try and pass him off as an anthro?"
"How about we get the pendant and decide then…" Mattchu couldn't
think of any way. But if they could get there fast enough, it would be
sufficiently quiet. And when Articuno was outside, he'd just fly off. Bypassing
the fence completely. It was almost guaranteed to work. And they'd be ahead
of Senkouhi by a long throw now…
"Okay then…Head different ways when we leave the elevator, and
meet up inside the room. These genetic labs normally have warning lights,
for things that people shouldn't really enter in. I don't expect it to
be being used, so if there is a light on, come in. If not, wait for me,
I haven't got there yet. And the door will most probably be locked anyway."
Mattchu nodded, Kichi slipped the card into the slit next to the doors,
and they both stepped into the elevator. The metal doors sealed on them,
and the elevator started up.
Kijutsu watched the elevator close, and walked up to it. She'd overheard
the conversation, she thought she could be of some assistance, so she pulled
the tag off her uniform and slotted it into the door slit. She waited for
the elevator to reappear; it obviously wouldn't do so immediately, it was
still carrying the rai'morphs up. Hayai appeared as she was waiting there,
the elevator reappeared, and both stepped in. The doors resealed themselves
again.
Mattchu headed right, Kichi headed forward. Kichi just had to get where she was going; Mattchu needed to give the impressions he was here to do something other then break into a lab, get to one of the rarest birds on the face of the earth, and get out again… Quite how things would go while inside was purely up to impulse, but he almost instinctively knew something had to go wrong. Because enough experience when he trained Mashu had told him Murphy's Law didn't falter when you really wanted it to. For this reason, he watched his step cautiously as he tracked around the rooms, checking off numbers in his head working them in reverse order. 71, 70, 69…they progressed back. The corridor continued down, a similar corridor to the downstairs, they were all similar…It was monotony, you could get easily lost in a place like this…Every corridor looked the same as every other…Mattchu was beginning to suffer from the disorientation of the same door passing by each time, until he reached the end, turned it. There was a large area, and a pair of doors, with GenLab13 marked on them. A 58 was in the right corner, and the light was off. He knew this was the place…not like there were enough visual guides, but Kichi hadn't got here yet, so he waited around…
Kichi got there about a minute later. There was no one around; indeed,
Mattchu doubted anyone was within three floors of them at that moment…so
he was quite okay to follow Kichi into the room. The doors sealed behind
them.
"Well…" Kichi looked around. It was a conjoining room, a desk
with a computer at it, and a set of riveted metal double doors at the back,
with a small window cut into them. A typical holding area for live subjects,
Mattchu thought. Especially those as able as the Legendary Trio…
Kichi sat at the desk and pushed paper around, looking for something.
"Nothing here I can find which gives more info… I assume we can
find more in the next room…"
Mattchu thought, "Doors that size are needed to keep people out, I
assume… Could be to keep something in…"
Kichi laughed, "If anything, it's what we're looking for… Come on,
we want to be out of here in real fast time… "
The femme strode up to the door, and out flew the ID again. The slit
was ever-present, and Kichi shoved the card in. A bleep noise went, and
then the door clicked open. Kichi gripped the handle lightly.
"Remember, we go in and we come out with an Articuno…" Kichi
said. Mattchu nodded, and Kichi opened the door. A blast of cold air came
from the door, but that was just a depressurization of the room. But for
what purpose was it depressurized…
"Prevent decontamination… For this is a genetics lab, after all…"
Kichi said, without thinking. They continued in, and closed the large door
behind them. It gripped the moorings of the frame tight, and sealed the
room again. The passage moved across, they followed it along…
Eventually, they reached a larger area. The air smelt strange and musky,
almost sickly. Mattchu coughed once from it. Kichi examined the area. There
were three doors, marked: 1, 2, 3 - On the wall next to each were three
monitor screens, which showed lines running across a screen.
"Vital signs…I think we've found them, Mattchu…" Kichi examined
the screens. They were moving rather weakly; Kichi guessed this had gone
on for a while. She pushed the ID into the first one. The door swooshed
open to the same smoke.
Inside, there was a bed. A large blue bird pokémon lay on it,
unawares someone had some in. He looked up, noticed Kichi, and sat bolt
up immediately.
Oh god…No, it's okay, I'm awake, and still alive and
such…>>
Kichi entered the room, more like a cell. The large bird, probably
about Kichi's height and not even morphed, edged away.
"I'm not who I look like… The woman with the bad stick, she's
gone…"
The articuno looked up to her, "But…so who are you?"
Mattchu entered the room, "We're here to get you out…"
Articuno's eyes sparkled. "Out…Finally…We've been in here for years…myself,
and the other two of our trio…You needn't try getting to them now, both
of them have severely lost it in the head…It's the dope we were drugged
with, it limits our abilities and renders us unable to escape…but it also
causes the mind process to break down…They just attack on sight now, and
Dr Wilkinson is so proficient with that nightstick…as I know well…" He
stood, and screeched silently, before standing up.
"You probably came just in time… I knew they were going to do
something today, and it wouldn't have been good…"
Kichi walked to the front of him, "You wouldn't happen to still have
the pendant, would you…?"
Articuno's eyes glazed, "…How did you know about that?"
"Simple…" Kichi held her own pendant from under the collar of
her coat. "Same with Mattchu there…"
"Sorry to hurry…but could we get out of here? I hate the smell
of this place…"
Kichi headed back down the passage, "Sure…" Mattchu and Articuno followed
them down. She got to the door, opened it, they all treaded through, Kichi
sealed it again.
"Right… We need to find the other two, and then leave…"
The two nodded, Kichi headed for the door. Before she got there, she
saw from the window someone outside. A flash of Arcanine fur brushed past
the window. Kichi gasped. The guards had come on duty…Kichi looked around
the room quickly for a clock. It was 9:10am. They had misplaced a lot of
time, and that was going to cost them… Now they would have to forcefully
break out… Mattchu saw the look on Kichi's face as she looked for the clock,
and read it instantly,
"Shit…Arti, the guards are out again…Means things are going to
get slightly rough from here, but don't worry, we'll make it out…" Mattchu
said to him.
He nodded, "Until that stuff's last dosage wears off, I can't
do anything to help, I'd just get in the way…And that's set for tonight,
when finally they'd do what they were planning…But now they won't get to…"
Kichi sat down at the desk, Mattchu and Articuno sat on chairs in front
of the desk, and prayed the guard didn't look in the window, or they'd
have to move then, before they found Hayai and Kijutsu…
After a while, Kichi thought to herself; she got up, walked around
Mattchu, and peeked through the slit in the door.
"Hayai and Kijutsu aren't going to find us, evidently… So I guess
we have to go out and find them. Or… rather I have to, since I'm the only
one of us that can move around without looking inconspicuous…"
She beckoned to the others to stay there, before pulling the blind
down, and turning back to the other two, "I'll lock this from outside…
Just sit in here and I'll be back…"
Mattchu nodded, Articuno just looked up and then sank back into thoughts again. Kichi shut the doors and slid the card back into the lock mechanism. A metallic click gave the sign of the door locking, she turned and set off looking for the other two. Both Articuno and Mattchu thought of things as they waited…
Elsewhere on the floor, Hayai and Kijutsu moved about, getting a couple
odd looks from guards, but most of them thought that they couldn't have
got this far up the building without permission anyway, and the right ID.
So they were left, under unseeing watch from the guards.
Kichi turned around the corner where they were walking, and she walked
up to them.
"Been looking for you two… We found the Articuno, now all we need
to do is get out. I'll take you to where Mattchu and Arti are, and then
we have to force through…"
The two nodded, silently, and followed Kichi as she turned and led
back through the narrow corridors, heading back for the room where she
had left not long previously.
They didn't speak a lot while they sat in the room. Mattchu was busy
contemplating ways of egress from the building, Articuno was busy thinking
of how lucky he was to not be in that small little cell thing any more,
and his thoughts were circled around that…
He had said the other two had lost it, indeed they had; but so had
he, a small amount. He knew he was almost dependant on the closed space
to maintain normality… and so he wondered what he would do when he got
back out…
Before he could add to this, the door clicked and Kichi poked her head
inside.
"Found them… Now, we need to get out, and we haven't got the
easiest task ahead, but we can always try…" Mattchu stood up, the Articuno
uneasily doing so also, clumsily moving along on his talon-tipped bird-feet.
When the five looked as though it was possible for them to get out of here
when they would have to try, they headed out and went towards the elevator,
in their group. They all knew they would get noticed, it seemed like fate,
they had to get out of here with a fight and they would damn well do so.
Sure enough, as the group reached the elevator, a rather hasty sounding
voice called from behind them.
"Now, exactly what is this little façade…?" said the voice.
The group turned, standing behind them were three guards; an Arcanine
and two Growlithes, carrying nightsticks, the sight of which made Articuno
recoil slightly. Kichi turned and looked at them.
"Ms. Wilkinson… Exactly what is this?" he said, looking right
at her. "And exactly where are you going with the articuno? You're supposed
to be keeping them there until tonight…"
Kichi looked at him, piercingly.
Mattchu stepped to him, "Can I have a word with you for a second?"
The guard looked bemused, as Mattchu walked up to him, "You see, we're
here to do something very important, and you wouldn't want to stop that,
now would you…"
The next scene only Kichi saw as Mattchu raced to him and got behind
him, before jabbing into each side of his neck with the index claw on each
paw, and proceeding to feed the Arcanine with electricity as he drilled
in with the claws. The Arcanine started to convulse, the wounds started
to let blood out and it splayed into the air and became as drops on either
side of the corridor as he shook. The other guards stood and watched as
he did this, unable to move, and as the Arcanine continued to shake, Mattchu
continued pushing in with his impaled claw. Not long after, he stopped,
and let go of the morph, he slumped to the ground, and continued to convulse
with the electricity. The holes pushed into the side of his neck began
to gush out, either side of the walls and the ceiling was coated in a red
spray, and Mattchu walked back to his place among the morphs, Hayai thinking
to himself…
The Growlithes looked at each other, then at the group, and then turned
and ran. Mattchu smiled, the sweetness of success filling his every thought,
and they stepped into the elevator, and the doors closed as Kijutsu pushed
the button on the side.
As they descended, alarms rang from outside the elevator.
"I think we're going to have to prepare for a long welcome
back to the first floor..." Hayai pointed out. As the elevator
stopped, the doors started to move open, before doing so, with a bell
ding sounding then. Standing in front of them were quite
a lot of guards.
Hayai and Kijutsu, who were at the front because of how they had got
into the elevator, looked to each other, and dived out at
the nearest two, while Mattchu and Kichi disappeared and two unsuspecting
morphs developed rather fatal claw marks on their
heads. Another dual Raichu double kill... And that was the signal for
the rest of them to attack, Articuno idling out of the
elevator and walking straight into a guard.
"Erm..." The guard pulled up a nightstick, before Hayai
dived up behind it and knocked him forward against Arti, who gave a
loud cry and the morph, a Sandshrew, suddenly became frozen. Articuno
stood himself up, regained composure, before
kicking the now frozen ground morph over, where he shattered like so
much broken glass. The ice god took to the air, and
headed forward, feeling better for himself already.
On the forefront, Mattchu was laying hell to a couple guards. As forces
collided, the imbalance was obvious; one attempt at
hitting him with the nightstick resultedin the nightstick appearing
in Mattchu's paw.
"Now then..." laying a couple of blows to the head
of one on the left, lacerating straight away; pausing only to claw into
the
second one, brushing his nightstick as he did so, three very unwanted
clawmarks in it because of that, three more in the guard
a second later, and he crumpled and went down, the damage done. Another
two came up, and the first one had the nightstick
shoved partly down his throat. Receiving a scratch for his effort from
the guard, an Arcanine, he cut the fancy stuff and just
slit his throat at the front. Tossing the morph onto the other,
who was having trouble moving him then, Mattchu dealt him an
equally severe clawing, and continued forward, the stream of morphs
to kill seeming to never end...
Kichi was having about as much luck as Mattchu was. Facing three guards,
one grabbed her arm. She scrabbled to get it free
as the other two drew onto her, raising her feet-paws at them to impede
their coming. As she did this, the guard behind her let
go, she had gotten free, but was now going to end up on the floor,
which wasn't good. So, thinking fast, she pushed off on the
ground and moved forward into a guard. Then she pushed down, and somersaulted,
ber back claws leaving deep gashes that
ran the full length of the guard. The Sandslash fell back, Kichi landed
on her feet, and clawed at the midsection of the
Pikachu that faced her then.
Mattchu, I recommend we forget fighting
and head out.. >> Kichi shouted over the ruckus that was the battlefield.
Guards
lay torn to either side, some were beaten and bruised but still fighting,
and even Mattchu, Hayai, and Kijutsu were getting
scuffed up in this battle. She turned, and went into a clawing spar
with a Meowth that faced her then.
Kijutsu nearby was also hacking guards off at the seams, she was being
forced backwards but quickly formed a ball of ice
and launched it forward, it hit another Growlithe who was only slightly
dazed; a quick clawing to the head saw to that, she
continued on, trying to move outside through all the carnage.
Hayai, in his innocent state, was busy thundershocking guards that came,
from every whch way, before he started to make a
rather dark energy-filled ball, leaning against a wall, hopefully out
of harms way. Some guards not immediately involved
noticed him, and headed over, he pushed the ball forward and it flew
through the air like a bullet, parting it, before running
through the first three guards, and getting absorbed by a fourth. That
fourth was gripped by it, and managed to stumble
around aimlessly, the dark waves sapping his very life, until his passive
screams had distracted all attention of the nearby
fighers, who turned and watched the pulsing of he and the energy, as
it tore into him and his very personage as effectively as
one could expect. Blood was trickling from the young Growlithe's head,
emitting from the ears, nose, and to a degree from the
eyes.. His screams stopped, and instead he looked straight forward,
eyes gone red, a welling of blood rage behind those, but
never to be used.. for it was at that moment the dark energy chose
it's time to vacate, and the morph simply.. exploded, for
want of a better word... The group or morphs nearby were coated in
blood, about 6 guards took that moment to throw up,
violently. The group took that opportunity to file outside, Articuno
taken to the air. They filed outside amongst chaos, and ran
for the car.
"We're in better stead if we get in the car.." Mattchu
noted. There weren't as many guards out here; in fact there were
none. But they knew that would soon change.
They piled into the car, normal seating; Kichi and Mattchu up front,
Hayai and Kijutsu down back, Articuno took to sitting on
top of the car, as Kichi started it up.
"We have that door to get back through yet.." Mattchu
said.
"We'll come to that as we do.." Kichi said, quickly.
Already the remaining guards from inside were beginning to exit, and
were sprinting towards the car as fast as they could go.
Kichi started it up, and the car jumped into life perfectly, and they
headed off towards the entrance. A couple of guards that
were there suddenly became the target for Kichi, as one was bumped
hard and scraped across the floor with the force, the
other tried to run but stumbled and landed on the floor, just in time
to watch the oncoming car...
The car jolted, twice. Neither Hayai or Kijutsu wanted to look back
at he who had just been killed; of course it wouldn't be
nice...
"Remember... They wouldn't blink about doing the
same to us..." Kichi consoled from the front, knowing Kijutsu was feeling
a
little tired of the situation, as indeed she herself was..
The car reached the gate, it was shut, so Kichi went to go out. Kijutsu
opened her door, and got out.
"No, I'll do this.. " Kichi nodded, as Kijutsu headed
over to the guard box on the other side of the large gate. She peeked
inside. There was a few buttons, switches, and things, and a noticeable
small handle marked "Open". Being the gifted mind she
was, it didn't take a second before she saw that what needed to be
activated, and she pulled it down. The doors started to
slide open almost instantly.
Kijy didn't see it; but most of those in the car did. From seemingly
nowhere sprung up an Eevee guard.
"Right, you..." Kijy spun around instantly, the
Eevee went for a blow to her with his weapon.
Articuno was first on the mark. He took to the air, and rushed at the
Eevee, who turned into the agile articuno as it swung
past, and was taken backwards by it. But, he kept his composure, and
dealt the blow to Articuno again. He reeled, and Kijy
jumped at the Eevee, claws bared, and he didn't move fast enough. As
a Persian would, she dealt the standard claws to the
face a few times, and jumped back, he hadn't gone back, so she had
to watch she didn't land on the fallen Articuno. The
Eevee did fall back over, and Kijy pulled out her master ball. It slipped
from her grip slightly, and thus didn't travel as she
threw it.
Instead, it landed on the recovering Articuno.
In a way, for Articuno, it was release. Release from his own experiences
at the hands of Ms. Wilkinson, and his time in the
small room that had been his place of accommodation for so long...
Except, no, it wasn't release just yet, because he was still
wearing the pendant. His last conscious thought for that time, { For
Mew's sake, don't let her pick the ball up... }
The energy intake ceased, and the ball clunked against the hard ground.
Kijy stepped over the ball, wearily, and tapped it with
a foot-paw claw. It moved slightly left, and then stopped. The Eevee
lay bleeding, KOed, on the floor in front of it. Kijy
ignored him and picked up the ball, before walking back to the group.
"Well.. We got what we came for, the door is open,
and now, I think we leave..."
"Hm... What about the pendant...?" Mattchu asked,
knowledgeably.
"Er..." Kijy began. The ball glowed a faint icy
blue. And then, so did Kijutsu. She stepped back.
"That's what, Matt..." Kichi said, solemly, and
watched.
Watched because that's all they could do. Kijutsu dropped to her knees,
arms forward, wings jolted forward over the arms.
Inside her head she was becoming detached, she could hear herself breathing,
it was hard, heavy, echoing. To watch her,
though you couldn't make out a shape for the glow, you could be watching,
and you knew what was coming...
[ They're trying hard to negate the pendants effects...
Articuno, Jinkei, Kijutsu... But I don't know if they can stop it.. ]
{ This is similar to Choukou in an equal position..
}
[ Not really, but I see what you mean... ]
Mattchu looked at Kichigai. She was just watching, waiting, knowing..
Except this time no-one was at blame, and that made it
so much worse, in a way...
To blame, to make someone responsible for something bad happening,
so seems to make someone feel better, as they know
fully what has happened... But in this case, one accident led to a
mishap led to Kijutsu picking the ball up..
And for Kijutsu... Stuck between two places, everyone that could was
straining against that which the pendant would bring
about... but the largest force was driving her in... Away from everything,
and into the forgotten memories of a weakened ice
deity...
As her arms; rather, the glow around where she had last had her arms,
started to disperse, she fell forward, letting out a
small cry, unheard to all but herself... As she lay sprawled on the
ground, barely feeling anything, the feeling of being ejected
from her own existence swamped her thoughts, and she just lay there,
trying with what was left of her thoughts to avoid, in
ways she didn't know..
Her wings grew out, slowly, but obviously larger, both height and span..
That which once was a Persian coil tail, suddenly
wasn't, and became as the Articuno tail, the three feathers poking
their different directions, still grasped in the light of her
that was glowing..
And inside her head.. thoughts, feelings.. an attempt to lock those
away was being made, she had submitted herself to it, and
now that which they were trying to save was now going to imprison her
forever... She resisted, but it was only a matter of
time...
Also there.. Jinkei, and Articuno.. trying for the same cause but even
the strongest of attempts would be futile in such
circumstance... They continued to try, relentless...
And subjected to watch as her body and mind was put through torment,
was her alter, Kichigai.. And even had she wanted to,
nothing was able to be done..
Kijutsu was close to losing herself forever... but she continued trying
to resist.. before it just... ceased, as quickly as it begun.
The glow dispersed, the struggle inside her head over not forgotten..
And the last word she thought in that consciousness vigil, it was "Yes."
---
(eh.. fun point to leave you off, ne..? Compliments, praise, death threats, weird bits of writing that may make no apparant sense at all... Doesn't matter, drop it in, I'm glad people read this as it is, be nice and just give me a sign it was done...)