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EP 07.5: The Taste of Defeat...


Ray wasn't normally of a mindset to complain. At least, not too much. It wasn't entirely uncommon for him to run into people who didn't always agree with his way of thinking, they were a dime a dozen, and there was always at least one person who frowned when they noticed his determination on the matter and just how he wouldn't budge.

But something about what the woman, Seer, had said bothered him.

"I didn't come here to play hero…"

He wasn't playing hero, these people were dangerous. They were crazy, radicals with a penchant for explosives and they were evil. He couldn't just let that slide.

"In nowhere in that plan is there room for idiotic heroics and vigilante wannabes…"

Yeah, so they'd kidnapped some random child for no apparent reason. He knew it'd be stupid to stick around with the kid when the bad guys would be looking for them. They were evidence, a witness, something that couldn't just be allowed to go free. But that didn't mean they couldn't deal with the problem after making sure the kid was safe.

"Ray?"

"Eva, do me a favor and use Dragon Breathe. Keep 'em at a distance, but don't let any of 'em escape." Brown hair bobbed out of the corner of his eye, and there was a brilliant flash of light before familiar red and white feathers he hadn't seen in months flew past him, the whole of the area going up in strange blue and yellow flames.

There were a few shouts of surprise, someone making a comment along the lines of dragons and legendary pokémon and where exactly one had come from, before something a little more important snatched their combined attentions up. He shoved his own hands into the large pockets running along the length of his pants, glancing at shaded figures and dancing shadows before leaping from the top of the crate he'd been perched on for the better part of thirty minutes.

"What the f-?!" There was a rather satisfying crack as his arm lashed out, the familiar sensation of bone giving under the force of a well-placed punch. He watched idly as the figure crumpled to the ground like a puppet without strings before turning to the remaining grunts.

"Who's the leader of this little operation?" he questioned, watching as several squirmed in obvious discomfort before someone had the brains or balls to actually send a pokémon out at him.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" said criminal called out snidely, and he watched the angry pokémon snarl and practically foam at the mouth. 'I'm not playing hero, but someone needs to stop these people…' He didn't want to even think of what exactly it'd been put through to get it to be that violent. "Flamethrower!"

"Blue?" He questioned aloud, and his vision was obscured completely by the girth of his starter pokémon. She roared as the fire died down, the enemy pokémon growling back though it clearly knew what little chance it stood against the stronger fire-type. "Good girl. Now, my question?"

"N-No leader…" Someone whimpered, clearly frightened. He pinned them with a glare instantly; some mousy looking woman with blonde hair and blue eyes who couldn't meet his own to save her own life. 'Shy' his mind supplied helpfully, but he couldn't find it in himself to care for the faults of a crook.

"For such a huge mission, I highly doubt that. Too many things can go wrong after all…" He took note of the solid thunk noise that echoed over the hiss of burning fire, the pokémon from earlier having gotten either a little too antsy or something, because it was now being pinned by his starter. "Fiery Blue, care to take a guess?"

She snorted smoke in response, black clouds puffing out from her nose and barked at the one who'd had the audacity to attack her trainer.

"You think it's that one? Well?" he turned back to the woman and she went skittish at the prospect.

"I… I…" she didn't get to finish though, mouth snapping shut with an audible click as the ballsy trainer snapped.

"Sammy, shut up!"

"B-But…"

"You heard him, Sam." That voice was unfamiliar, new, and something in it made every instinct he had in him snatch at it. 'That's the leader…'

"And here I was told you didn't exist." His eyes picked out the figure easily enough, standing amidst the worst of Eva's attack and looking almost at home in the thick of it. Even with fire light and shadows playing across tan features, the man still looked oddly friendly. Not at all like some of the other grunts surrounding him on all sides.

"Ah, Leader…"

"All of you get out of here, I'll deal with this guy."

"But!"

"Now." And there was the leader. All confidence, with kind of voice few could find within themselves to question. They scattered quickly enough, Eva oddly passive, and he worried for a split second until he saw her form dart after the fleeing group.

She was cut short though as something big barreled into her, sending her back into the little clearing she'd made to gather the agents still lurking in the area. He immediately bent to check on her.

"You okay?"

"Sorry, Ray. I tried…"

"I know, it's okay. We got bigger fish to fry anyways. We'll hunt them down later." He didn't like just letting a bunch of crooks go like that, but if he could just subdue the leader and his pokémon, than the rest of them would be relatively easy pickings. Eva was fast after all. None of them could outrun her.

"You're pretty good, I'll give you that. It's impressive really. I don't think I've seen a legendary pokémon so trusting of someone before. You must be skilled." The man hopped down with an easy grace, like he'd done something similar a thousand times before, tilting his head and rolling his shoulders as he walked. "Or maybe just really lucky…"

"You certainly talk a lot." He stood, watching the man warily as he circled… No, not man. 'Too young…' He wasn't adult yet, but probably really close. Maybe in his late teens?

"What? Not up for chatting? Shame, seeing as I was feeling particularly generous and all…"

"And what would you know about that?"

"Considering you saved my sister without me having to lift a finger myself? A lot." 'Sister?'

He found himself latching onto that surprisingly fast. How in the world had he saved the guy's sister? He'd shown up to help Seer save her traveling companion and to put a stop to these psychos' plans. It couldn't have been the kid.

"Ray… Row!" the fact that Eva had bothered to remember the kid's name at all spoke volumes, but between the muddled shock and the sudden rush of blood through his ears he couldn't find it in himself to acknowledge that little fact.

He was too busy trying to wrap his head around the distinctly green hair the crook had suddenly revealed beneath the dark hat all of the new Plasma agents wore, and the distinctly similar features the kid and this one grunt shared.

"What the-?!" Suddenly the ground erupted underneath him, Blue's angry roaring distant as he hit the ground in such a way that pain shot like a knife through his arm. 'What in the world-?' Suddenly there were feet in his line of sight, black boots and hands and then he was looking into brown eyes.

"You may remember this, you may not. But I like you, so I'll say it anyways…" There was a hand pulling gently at his hair, forcing him to look the guy in the eyes. "I went easy on you, others won't, and there's a lot of people more mean and less understanding than me in this whole big plan that's going to go straight over that little head of yours. So check the hero complex and don't be stupid."

He found himself coughing, and an audible click echoed through the sudden fog overcoming his own senses.

"Oh, and another little warning. Leave my little sister out of this, otherwise I won't be so nice next time. See ya, Mr. Hero."

He blacked out to the sounds of something big and loud roaring, the pained screech as whatever it was took down Fiery Blue, and then there was nothing at all.

Shit.


A/N. Yes, I'm occasionally a bitch, thanks for noticing. ;P

But yeah, you win some, you lose some, and sometimes you get your ass handed to you instead. But, ah, anyways. So some of you are probably like 'What the?! Who the-?! What hell just happened?!'

My answer! Plot point that you may or may not want to make note of. Anyone have any theories they want to share? Yes, no? Stick it in the comments section. If you got questions, PM me unless you don't have an account, then leave it in the comments section.

Hope you enjoyed the admittedly short chapter, see ya!