IX : The Secret
This is Brian's part of the story
Two hours later, all of the captured grunts had been tied together, while Natasha went through their minds, looking for something. But, much to her frustration, their was
"Nothing!" She cried. Natasha turned to face the others.
"Nothing?" Axle asked, "How can their be nothing?"
"I don't know, every thing they know about where are friends are, is gone. Its like it's a blank slate" Natasha sighed, and dropped to the ground. "I give up, I've got nothing" They all sat down, exhausted. Cameron looked up suddenly.
"Did they have small burns on their temples?"
"Cameron, give it a rest" Dimitrius said, "If Natasha can't find them"
"No, no, I'm curious. Did they have small burns on their temples" Now every one turned to Natasha.
"Actually, yes"
"Hey, we can hear you, we know your talking about us" One of the grunts said.
"Shut up" Dimitrius growled.
"Okay" They turned back to Cameron.
"Its simple to erase short term memory actually. It has been discovered that" Cameron switched to Raichu form, "If you apply a short, electrical current to the brain, it can cause short term memory loss, any where from a few hours, to six months"
"So that's why they weren't able to fight us" Jonah exclaimed, "These guys have only worked for LifeForce for a few weeks"
"Exactly. They needed new grunts, whose memory of their home base could easily be erased"
"Can you prove this?" Axle asked. Cameron grinned, his yellow cheeks sparking.
"I was planning on it" Cameron turned to one of the grunts. He was scowling, and looking at Cameron with a look that could melt a Steelix.
"Don't you fucking touch me you fucking freak" he said. Cameron placed both his forepaws on the sides of the grunts head.
"Bye-bye" A popping noise could be heard, as Cameron shot a small current of electricity into the grunts brain. All the other grunts looked horrified, while the sliders looked interested.
Cameron backed away, and returned to human form. The grunt was smoking on the side of the head, the smell of burned flesh filling the room. He looked around slowly.
"Where the fuck am I?" He looked at the sliders, "And who the fuck are you guys?"
"Great" Dimitrius said, "You proved how they erased their memory, how do you bring it back?" Cameron sighed.
"I can't. Once you fry someone's mind, what ever you fried vanishes" Dimitrius scowled.
"That was fucking useless"
"Well, at least he's trying" Natasha cried.
"Unlike some people" Jonah said solemnly. All the sliders turned to the figure, sitting against the back wall.
Brian had been sitting there since they got him back inside. At first glance, one might have assumed he was drunk, since he swaying slightly and he was red eyed.
"I failed" He murmured. "The two people, more important to me then any one, gone"
Memories flashed through Brian's eyes, finding Ninetails in Hoenn, and finding Rose passed out on the Magnet Train in Goldenrod. Oh God, he remembered the night he and Rose, consummated their relationship, while they were in Sinou canyon.
"I'll get you back" Brian muttered, "I promise"
"We can't worry about him now" Axle said, as they sat down in a circle, "We need to find Stephanie and Horatio"
"Well" Cameron said, "The obvious answer is we go get Max's help"
"Max?" Natasha laughed. "He's not the most reliable member of our team. I mean, you can gage how drunk he is by what time it is!" Axle stopped her.
"Natasha, Max was the only one who said their wasn't a slider out here who needed help. He may not be the most reliable thing in the world, but he should be able to find Steph and Horatio"
"Max is a drunk!"
"Whose Max?" They all turned, to see Brian standing there, swaying slightly. Fuck
"He's uh" Natasha's brain moved a mile a second, finally deciding, "He's no one! We didn't say Max!"
"I heard you guys say his name four times" Brian sat down with them, "Who is he" They turned to Axle. Axle shrugged.
"We can tell him, it doesn't break any rules"
"Rules?"
"Yeah," Natasha said, "When me and Axle were the only members of the team, we created seven rules for each member, that must be obeyed"
"A slider must respect their teammates" Axle said.
"A slider can never use their gift for evil" Jonah said.
"A slider must be for the betterment of the world" Dimitrius said.
"A slider must never reveal the location of the Sacred Valley, except under special circumstance" Cameron said.
"A slider may only reveal them self to those who already know" Natasha said.
"A slider must offer help to every one" Jonah said.
"And the most important rule, a slider must never kill" Axle said. Brian nodded slowly.
"What's the Sacred Valley?" All of the sliders got a sick look on their face.
"Natasha, would you mind?"
"On it" She shifted into Alakazam, and faced the grunts.
"What the fuck?" Something like waves came out of Natasha's eyes, and the grunts all passed out. She returned to human form, and rejoined the group.
"Okay, can we tell him?"
"That information only applies to some one whose going with us" Jonah sneered, "This clown is staying here"
"No. My friends got taken also, any where you go" Brian said, "I go" Jonah laughed.
"You think you know anything kid? You don't kn-"
"I'll tell you" Axle said.
"Wha, Axle?"
"Jonah, shut up" Axle turned to directly face Brian. "You do know that by going with us, you will probably be killed, right?
"I don't care. My friends matter more then my life" Axle nodded, excepting the answer.
"Unfortunately, I'm going to need more proof the that" Axle said.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I want you to show me you value your friends life more then your own"
"We don't have time for this" Dimitrius growled. All of them stood outside of the house, with the sliders standing in a wide circle, and Axle and Brian in the center. "Suppose those LifeForce bastards decide to kill Stephanie and Horatio?"
"They captured them for a reason" Axle replied, "If they wanted to kill them, they would have just gone and done it"
"But" Brian said, "What about my friends? Rose and Ninetails aren't sliders, suppose they kill them"
"They were over 1000 feet off the ground, if they wanted to kill your friends, they would have pitched them out of the helicopter. But, enough worrying" Axle faced Brian, eye's meeting. "This is the time for you to prove that, you know your going to die, and you would rather die fighting for those you care about, then live with out them"
"And, how do I do that?" Axle shifted into Dragonite form. "Oh fuck, right"
"The game is simple, a one on one match. The match is over when you defeat me, or when I defeat you" Brian nodded, and took a battle stance. Natasha stood in the center of the outer circle, playing official.
"Players ready? Then go"
Brian ran at Axle, fist raised high, as fast as his human legs would carry him. He swung at Axle, to discover he was a foot away, and not even moving.
Axle had simply held out his arm, and let Brian's head run into it, stopping him dead. He picked Brian off the ground by his head, careful not to cause serious injury, then slammed him into the ground, hard.
"Give up yet?" Brian pushed himself back up, coughing dirt.
"Never" Brian jumped back at Axle, punching and kicking wildly. "Yahhhauuuuuhhh" Brian stopped dead, hunched over. Axle had jabbed him in the stomach with one claw, and the force had knocked the wind out of Brian. He fell back, into the dirt. Axle walked over to him.
"Here, let me help you up"
"YAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH" Brian screamed, as he slammed his fist into Axle's muzzle, as hard as he could. The shock caused Axle to stumble, allowing Brian to jump up, and start punching and kicking him as hard as he could.
"Okay, I'll end this" Axle drove the palm of his hand into Brian's chest, lifting him off the ground, before throwing him back down. He then leapt on Brian, pinning him to the ground.
"Do you surrender?" Brian shook his head, struggling against the dragons weight. Axle sighed, opened his mouth, and allowed for a ball of energy to form. Oh shit, hyper beam.
"You know what" Brian said, "Go ahead, fire away! I've lost, the only two people (in a technical sense) who have ever cared about me are probably dead, so go ahead, fire" Axle turned his head straight up, and fired the hyperbeam. He climbed off Brian, and helped him up.
"Congratulations" He said, returning to human form, "You've just experience near death. I think we can use you"
A few minutes later, they were back in the house, sitting in front of the still sleeping grunts. Axle began to talk.
"What do you know about wild pokemon?"
"Uh, aside from their extinct, nothing"
"Well, I agree with you on the second part, you know nothing. Brian, do you know how hard it would be to over 400 species of pokemon go extinct? The only way would be to destroy the earth completely, and even that might not work.
"No, the human race, despite its best efforts, could never make all species go extinct. They had to go somewhere, so where?
"Well, before the legendaries left earth, they created a place called the Sacred Valley. It is a place that has a habitat for all species of pokemon, where they can live with out fear of destruction.
"And no, no body can discover the place by accident. The only way to find the entrance to the Sacred Valley, is if you already know where it is, or if your taken there by some one who does.
"Now, the valley is protected by the guardian. He ignores us, because we're pokemon and humans, but a pure human he might not ignore. He was hurt by humans one time, so we might have to convince him to let you in.
"When we're not out in the world, the Sacred Valley is where we stay. We have a deal with the guardian, we get to live there in peace, and we agree to never reveal the location to a human, unless under special circumstances. The Sacred Valley is where Max lives, and he may be the only one who can help us"
"You still haven't told me who Max is!" Brian cried.
"Trust us" Cameron said, "Dude, you'll need to meet Max to discover who he is. And, after meeting him, if you discover who he is, could you tell us?"
A few minutes later, they were standing outside, with Axle in Dragonite form, and Jonah in Pidgeot form.
"Okay" Axle said, "Brian you'll be riding on Jonah's back with Natasha"
"Will we have enough room?"
"Just make sure you hang on" Brian nodded, turned, and nearly fell over with a splitting head ache.
"What the fuck happened?" They were no longer in front of the house in Petalburg, rather, they were in what appeared to be a dessert. Their were black, gnarled trees sparsely through out the terrain. Sitting in the middle of all of it, was a pair of wooden double doors, not attached to anything.
Brian then noticed that he was sitting on the ground. Every one but Cameron was in human form.
"Sorry dude" He said, "We can't let you know where the Sacred Valley is" Brian scowled as he stood up, helped up by Dimitrius and Natasha. Cameron shifted back to human form, grinning.
"Couldn't you guys have done something less painful, like, I dunno, A BLINDFOLD?!"
"This way is more effective" Axle said.
"This way was more fun" Jonah said. Glares from the entire group. Axle shook his head.
"Now come on. We gotta see Max" They walked towards the doors, Brian not sure what was going on.
Axle opened one door, and it was far from dessert on the other side. It looked like a grass field, with lots of plants and trees, and pokemon! Brian had never seen wild pokemon, but he saw a row of Seedot walk bye. A Skarmory flew over head, and its cry hit Brian's soul.
"Don't stand there gawking" Jonah said, "Come on" They pushed him to the entrance. Brian got one foot in, and found him self facing the opposite direction, about ten feet away.
"What the?" He turned, just in time to see the door slam shut, with the others inside.
"Brian?" Natasha cried, noticing he wasn't inside.
"How'd he disappear?"
"I dunno, he was right in front of me" Axle turned to them grimly.
"You don't think, the guardian could have?"
"Well, it would be right up his alley"
Brian was pounding on the door, after finding the handle didn't work.
"Guy's" He cried, "You've got to let me in"
Oh really? Why? Brian fell back on his ass.
"Who said that?" The wooden doors opened, and a figure came out of them slowly.
I said, why do you deserve entrance? Why do you even deserve the life you have? Do you know what your species has done to the pokemon in this valley? Do you know what they did to me?
Brian could get a good look at the creature now. It was almost feline, standing over six feet tall. It had three balled hands and feet, and a giant tail that swung back and forth slowly. Its color scheme appeared to be white and purple, and it had a look of pure rage on its face.
I am Mewtwo, the guardian of this valley
"Oh shit"
