Pokѐmon Journey III: Jezebel's Voyage
Chapter 9: Trouble with Team Aqua
Jezebel's Point of View:
A short while later, after leaving the Aqua grunts back on the S.S. Cactus and pressing on with the scanner, parts, and Bryant in hand, we arrived at the port of Slateport City within the next half hour. It was just like how I had seen it the last time my mother had dragged me here from when I was seven, large and ever quickly growing larger. There were four major districts to the city. On the west side was entirely a port which dealt with ships and underwater sea exploration and research. The south side was resorts and beaches along with secluded islands that led out into the deeper sea. The east side was shopping malls, farmers' markets and residential homes. The north was all put aside for the Slateport Amusement Park which kinda went hand in hand with the south side, and with all the history and shopping in between. It was actually a pretty smart business choice to set up the city that way. It appeals to most of the public, and to those that don't care for it or are just passing through, route one-ten is just on the other side of the town.
"Oh, Jez, what should we do first?" Aria squealed as she looked around at the different sections of town while Mr. Jones tied his boat up to one of the many docks we landed on and paid a fee for parking there. Bryant had already hurried off to the warehouse where he worked and told us to meet up with the captain at the oceanic museum in town. "I want to go shopping! And then I want to go to the amusement park!"
"Go ahead then, Aria." I picked up the suitcase with the part, the scanner, and the papers inside. "I'm going to go and get a quick lunch before I go and deliver these items with my pokemon, and we'll meet up with you later."
"Oh, that's right! I'm sorry, Jez!" Aria whipped right back around to me and bowed her head. "I forgot we had to deliver those! And it's not fair that you have to go by yourself! I'll go with you!" She raised her head and grinned. "And then we can have fun and go shopping afterward! I need your opinion on clothes for me!"
I shrugged. "If that's what you want, Aria, I have no problems with that." My four pokemon quickly leapt off the boat before Silky landed back on my head and Spinner climbed up to my arms and settled there. Blaze and Blade walked on either side of me, as my protectors and my friends. I smiled down at all of them. "But now let's get some lunch; I'm sure everyone's as hungry as I am."
I got multiple cries coming out of all my pokemon, Aria, and her own pokemon as well. With all of us in agreement, we gave thanks to our captain and headed off to town. Aria got carried away with the sights again and quickly ran off to all the food places where she was still just barely in my line of sight. She would taste test the food with her pokemon before she'd either call me over or move onto another one. I shook my head at her, but she seemed to be having a grand old time.
"Oh, Jez! They have crepes here with chocolate or jam and berries!" Aria quickly ran over to me. "Do you want one or two? They look so good!"
I looked over to the stand and saw the two salespeople making crepes at a lightning pace. I saw the chocolate they had there and it looked damn good. It'd been a while since I'd had a treat like this…
"You know what? I will have one. Why don't you get me three of those, one just chocolate, and the two others with either mago berries or iapapa berries. Do you want me to get you anything? I'm planning on getting a couple milkshakes, smoothies and sandwiches for me and my team."
"Um…" she paused for a moment as she thought it over. "I can get my own drinks for me and my team, so don't worry about that, but I would like a couple sandwiches if you don't mind. Two roast beefs on tomato berry and basil bread and… a couple slices of cheese pizza and a large thing of fries with lots of vinegar and salt! Please!"
"All right. I'll meet you over at that table in a bit, then. I'll send someone over there to make sure someone else doesn't take it." I looked over at Silky and Spinner. "You guys don't mind waiting at the table, do you?"
"Beau!" Silky answered for the two of them and she led Spinner off with her to the table where they promptly sat down and waited. I just hoped that no one would harass her while I was gone…
Blaze, Blade and I hurried over to the many stands that held the food that we all wanted and that Aria and her team desired. It took a little bit of time, and a few extra sets of hands, and Blade's psychic abilities, but we soon got all the food we wanted and hurried back to where I'd left Silky and Spinner.
I had to say I was a bit shocked when I came back and some kid was trying to grab at Silky, but she stayed just out of his reach, flying over to different parts of the table. He finally had had enough of that and jumped up onto the table to grab her while Spinner cried out in fear and hid behind Silky. She was just about ready to attack him when I got back.
"Hey! Brat!" He whipped his head around at me and my free hand (well, now free thanks to Blade and his abilities) latched onto his shirt and lifted him up from where he was and set him back down on the ground. I had the others set down our food and take a seat. "You were in the way and bothering my pokemon. Beat it."
"I want that beautifly!" He charged at us again and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. I pushed him back lightly when he collided with my outstretched hand to keep him away from Silky, and prevent her from having a reason to seriously hurt him.
"Knock it off you brat. You're not getting my beautifly. End of discussion. So buzz off and annoy someone else." He snorted and I turned my head back to my pokemon, mainly Spinner who was still cowering. "Easy there Spinner. It's okay. Come here and we'll get you something to eat. Look here." I pulled out one of the smoothies I'd gotten. "I got you a nice mago berry smoothie; tell me what you think of it." I placed one before him and pulled the straw down so he could taste it. "I got you one too, Silky."
"I want that beautifly! Give it to me!" The kid suddenly raced forward and got ahold of Silky's wing. She cried out from being grabbed in such a sensitive and easily torn spot.
"Fucking brat!" I jumped to my feet and grabbed his hair and pulled. He screeched and let go of Silky's wing and I shoved him back. He landed on the ground with a thud and held the back of his head in pain. "How do you like having your hair pulled? Touch my beautifly again and I swear that'll be the last thing that you'll have to worry about in a long time!"
"Jez! What's going on?" Aria suddenly walked up with the rest of our food and all of her pokemon out. The boy suddenly looked at her beldum and was back to his feet in no time.
"Give me your beautifly and beldum!" He reached for Aria's beldum this time, but that pokemon wouldn't put up with the kid like Silky had. He hit him in the stomach and knocked him back. The child landed on the ground again and some people stopped to watch the ordeal. Some of them looked upon the boy with worried glances, but I could see they were all upset by how rude he was and trying to hurt our pokemon and take them away from us.
"I'm gonna cry then!" The boy declared from the ground. "I'm gonna cry and the police are gonna come here and they'll make you give me that beautifly and beldum!"
"Then scream all you want, you little shit." I spat out next to him. "There's nothing I hate more than little brats like you, and trust me, you're not getting my pokemon, my family!"
"Jez! Calm down!" Aria tried to hold me back. "He's just a little boy! Haven't you and the others done enough? If you hit him again, you could be charged!"
"He tried to rip off Silky's wings, Aria!" I snapped back at the young woman, shaking in rage, and if it wasn't for the fact she was a dear friend to me, I probably would have shoved her aside. "If Silky lost her wings, she wouldn't be able to do anything for the rest of her life! It's her means of survival now that she's fully evolved. He might as well have killed her if that happened!"
"Jez! Calm down!" I suddenly felt two sets of arms grab me from behind and restrain me. I cried out in surprise before I struggled against the hold.
"Let me go!"
"Malcolm!" I snorted in anger as the boy's mother finally showed up along with some police officers. "What did you do?"
"Mom!" The little boy rushed over to his apparent mother and she picked him up into his arms. "That girl won't let me have her pokemon!"
"And rightfully so." The crowd went silent as a new figure approached the crowd. She approached by herself, but she gave off such an authoritative and powerful vibe that there was no need for words. She walked closer to us and anyone in her way automatically moved. It might have been a short while since I'd seen her, but I'd recognize those brown eyes and hair with purple tips anywhere. Rather than her black bikini, she wore a set of indigo shorts and black boots that came up to her knees with light heels while a strapped maroon v cut shirt with lavender dots and a jacket over her shoulders of the color black covered her chest.
"Violet Vilmos…" the child gasped as she approached. I saw her glance at our situation for a moment before she looked over at me and nodded. A silent understanding of what's taken place.
"You can relax now, Jezebel." It was all she had to say. I let out an angry sigh and relaxed my body as best I could. I still felt my friends holding me back, which I soon found out to be Casey and Professor Birch. Violet approached the boy with an unhappy look upon her face.
"Wow! Violet Vilmos! You're so cool." His eyes glowed as he looked at her.
"While that's nice and all, what exactly provoked you to demanding and trying to steal other people's pokemon from them?" Violet gave the boy a look that threw his smile away and he looked worried for the first time. "You know that's not right, and not to mention you could have taken a pokemon's life away if you ripped off that beautifly's wings. Those are its major source of movement, the way it can move and do the things it needs to do." She pursed her lips. "Would you like it if I pulled off your legs?"
He shook his head.
"Are you willing to do that to that pokemon then? Or take them away from their trainers that they love very much?" She had him look over at us and for the first time, I saw a real expression out of the kid where he began to cry. Violet let out a sigh before a smile started to play at her lips as she got through to the child.
"I-I-I'm so-sorry!" he sobbed. "I-I just wa-wanted to be l-like you!"
"And while that's very sweet, you don't need a shiny pokemon for that, nor should you steal or demand that other people give up their pokemon. If you demanded that I give you my Amethyst, do you think I would?"
"No…"
"That's right." She nodded her head. "Now don't you have something to say to those girls and their pokemon?"
"Yes ma'am…" His mother set him down and the kid walked up to us. With tears in his eyes he looked at us before looking at the ground. "I'm sorry; I shouldn't have tried to make you give me your pokemon… (sniffle) and I shouldn't have tried to take off your beautifly's wings… (sniffle) It'll never happen again…"
"Its fine, but really, don't do that again. You had us worried for our pokemon." Aria was one to speak up while she worriedly looked over at me, silently telling me to say something. I snorted and turned away from him.
"Don't do it again." I sat back down next to my pokemon without looking back at the kid. My method was a bit harsh, but so was that child, and there was no reason for him to act that way. I don't forgive that easily, especially not those that hurt my friends and family (and by family I mean my father and my pokemon).
The crowd and all others soon dispersed after that, slowly moving on. I saw the mother gently reach for her son and take him away. My friends, the professor, and Violet were all that remained of the previous crowd, along with our pokemon. Poor Spinner was still shaking from his spot on the table as I tried to calm him down and reassure him that it was all okay now.
"Are you and your pokemon all right, Jezebel?" Violet was quick to sit down across from me and my pokemon at the table. I huffed and continued to eat.
"Sure, as long as I don't see that brat again." I shoved a fry into my mouth. "He tried to rip of Silky's wings and scared the crap out of Spinner!"
"I know, I know, breathe." I let it all out in another huff.
"Jez… I know you're mad, but please try to calm down. That boy said he was sorry, knows he made a mistake and is gone now." Casey came and sat next to me and patted my shoulder. "It's all right now; you don't need to be defensive or protective anymore."
"Oh Tauros shit." I growled and the boy visibly shrunk away from me.
Another hand lay on my shoulder. "That's enough; the ordeal is over." I glared up at Violet.
I brushed her hand off. "Don't talk to me as if you're my mother." The woman finally got the point and flinched a bit at my tone. I shoved the last of my food down my throat and picked up Spinner in my arms while Silky jumped up to the top of my head and Blade and Blaze were at my side in a second. "I'm going to go and deliver the parts now to Captain Stern. Later." I pushed past all of them and faded into the crowd before I could hear any of them call for me. My pokemon all worriedly looked at me, but the look on my face said we needed to move far away from here before I would be ready to talk.
Aria's Point of View:
Jez had just stormed off; we were all left in the dust as she took off. Anger was vibrating off her entire being. I never thought she'd bring up the subject of her mother, but I never thought I'd see her so angry, at least not like how she was with the Aqua grunts or any bad guy she ran into that wasn't a part of an evil organization. But I guess I was wrong…
"Dude… she was pissed!" Casey was still somewhat cautious, and worried that she'd come right back and bark at him so more. "I don't think I've ever seen her that angry, not even with Team Aqua…"
"I can kinda get where she's coming from, especially with how horrible her mother was in the past to her and her pokemon." All eyes turned to me as I tried to explain. "Her mother basically took her away from everyone that could be her friend- human or Pokemon, really, and kept Jez all to herself. It made Jez a very… hurt person, so she feels like she has to defend and fight almost every second when it comes to her family sticking together, since all…" my voice got quieter as her secrets were slipping out of my mouth, "her family… doesn't get along… or stick together…"
"Family issues eh? And especially separation and mother problems… I can see why she's so tempted to rage." Violet shook her head as she looked off in the direction of where Jez went. "That girl's a mountain ready to blow."
"But what can we do to help her?" Professor Birch questioned from the side of his son.
"Be there for her when she needs you. It's better than her being alone, although she's never alone now that she has a pokemon team and family that she holds so dear." Violet looked to the device in her hands before she hissed. "Damn, my break's over and I didn't even get something to eat." She put her phone in her pocket. "A few more minutes isn't going to kill me, even if it does dock my pay…"
"Violet?" The woman looked over at me in question. "I know Jez didn't say it, but thank you for stopping that fight before it got out of hand. While she was pissed at him, she didn't really want to hurt him. He was just a little boy who didn't know better…"
"Don't worry about it, Hon." She ruffled the top of my hair. "Now go to her, and make sure she always has someone to lean on if she needs you. And promise me you'll be careful. Especially you and Jezebel."
"Me?" I blinked at her. "Why?"
"Shiny pokemon." Violet stated it without wasting a heartbeat. "An old enemy of mine, Rose Agustino, loves and will kill for the chance to have one. She was after my charizard, Gwyn's gyarados, and now your beldum and her beautifly."
"Well she can go fuck herself!" I crossed my arms and turned from the woman.
"If only it were that easy…" Violet pulled me back to look at her. "Let me tell you a story…"
Jezebel's Point of View:
After storming off from the others with my pokemon, I found myself at the base of the oceanic museum that Bryant had told me was where I'd find Captain Stern. I took in a deep breath before I looked back at my Pokemon, who were all worriedly huddled around me.
"Sorry about exploding back there, you guys… I really don't know what came over me…"
"Combusken?" Blaze placed his hand on my elbow and wrapped his claws around it comfortingly. "Combusk combusken?"
"Yeah, I'm okay now… I think…"
"Kirl…" Blade levitated himself up into the air and used his small hands to wipe away the few stray tears I had coming out of my eyes. "Kirl kirlia kirl…"
"Beautifly! Beau!"
"Sur sur! Surskit sur!"
Another tear fell that Blade raced to catch. "Thanks you guys… and you're right. Now let's get this over with so we can try and enjoy the rest of the day." I held up the case. "And we can finally get rid of this case. It's honestly starting to get fucking annoying carrying it everywhere!"
"Cumbusk!"
"Kirl!"
"Beau!"
"Sur!"
They all cheered, happy to see me in a good mood again. I then pushed open the door to the museum and my pokemon and I gaped at the sight of all the information about past divers and explorers of the sea of our region and all the information they found on it. It was a decent sized room with many people filling it in order to look at all the marine objects and some fossils from the ocean floor. The color theme for the most part was different shades of blue along with shades of white and black and grey with murals painted on the walls of different ports and islands while items were encased in glass.
I looked around for a quick moment before I saw a set of stairs that led up to the next floor. The doorway was blocked by a sign that said "employees and personnel only". I pushed past it- I mean, I had a package to deliver to them here- and hurried up the stairs. At the top was another level of marine objects, paintings and other things on display, but it seemed only half done and there was still equipment around and clothes hanging on the walls.
I saw a single man up here that seemed to be well at work on a computer on the side of the room while looking at a model of a ship. Shaggy brown hair covered his head, and he wore a white dress shirt along with tan pants.
"Excuse me?" I called out to the man and he held up a hand for me to wait. He continued to type at the keyboard for another moment before he stopped and sighed before he turned around. I saw sky blue eyes that were covered by small framed glasses that covered his face as the man stood up from his desk. Pale while skin glowed in the light and a frown was set upon his narrow face.
"Who are you?" He crossed his arms. "You're not an employee or one of my workers. Nor have I seen you in town before."
I held out the case. "I'm assuming you're Captain Stern, and if you are, or know where he is, I have the part he needed from Devon Corp., and I have the scanner from the S.S. Cactus. I'm Jezebel Emery-Twain. I believe Mr. Stone told you I was coming."
His eyes lit up as soon as I was finished explaining and he hurried over to me and checked the part in the case and the scanner and the few papers that were inside as well. He then closed the case and handed it back to me before he reached into his pocket and pulled out an ID card.
"I am Captain William Stern, and thank you for bringing this all this way. I'm sorry for any sourness I showed you." He took the case from me and looked around with a glare. "Team Aqua has been messing around with our plans to further our understanding of the bottom of the sea, stealing items and knowledge from our labs and even here."
I raised an eyebrow and showed him a light grin. "That's why they thought a new approach would be good for sending you the part you needed."
"And I'm glad they did." He patted the case before he pointed back to the stairs. "Would you mind at all accompanying me back to the docks so that the part and the scanner are not stolen? I hired the IPHP League to protect the project, but I didn't think you'd bring the parts to me here and I'd prefer to protect them until they get on site."
"Not at all Mr. Stern. Some more walking won't kill us."
"Hold it right there Captain Stern!" I suddenly dove before the captain and my Pokemon dove before me as two Team Aqua grunts suddenly appeared in the room. They both stepped out before us and held out pokeballs in their hands. "There's nowhere to run!"
"Who said anything about running?" I snorted while the grunts looked at me and one of them quickly recognized me before stepping back.
"Oh man! It's that girl that's been beating up everyone in our organization!" The grunt turned to his companion. "Should we call for help?"
"No, we can handle this girl on our own. She can't stand up to our pokemon or our muscles!" Both of them then threw out their pokeballs and out came a couple poochyenas and a zubat. "Get her!"
I huffed. What did they think I was? A five year old that couldn't defend herself? "Silky! Spinner! Stay with the captain!" Both of them hurried back to him and jumped on him to protect him. "Blade, take out the zubat with confusion, and Blaze, take out the poochyena with double kick!"
Blade went first with confusion; he laid his eyes on the poison/flying type and caught it in his gaze. The pokemon started to screech and was thrown back into the trainer who had summoned it from the pokeball. The two of them landed with a thud back toward the stairs.
Blaze was after him with his high powered kicks that helped him leap into the air and land right before the small canines. He flipped to the side and swung his first foot at the poochyena on his left, and then the right. Both were thrown back into the other grunt and the three of them were shoved into the other two against the wall, left in a heap of bodies, knocked out cold.
"What seems to be the holdup here?" I froze as I heard a voice from down the stairs. "How long does it take to get a package from a child?"
I recognized that voice…
The man stepped up and over the steps to look at his men, sighing and shaking his head at them before he looked over at my pokemon and me.
I was immobile from the sight of him…
The man was dressed in black from head to toe. Black shoes, black pants, black shirt… though you could see it purposely opened in the front to show off part of the top half of his chest, covered in thick muscles that could easily be seen through the black clothes. A chain necklace was hung around his neck along with a dark sea blue bandanna with the Aqua symbol on it; the same sort of symbol was on a metal piece that hung from the end of the opening in his shirt. His skin was pale, but lightly colored like mine. His black facial hair connected to his actual hair on his head and also framed out the edges of his face and chin. All the underside of his neck was clean shaven, as was the rest of his face other than two small lines of hairs that were marked just below where someone's dimples would be. His eyes were a dark black in color and they looked coldly at me.
"Apparently that child is a bit more powerful then what I would have guessed, especially if she was being a pain in the ass." He continued to make his over to where I was and I couldn't move under his gaze, no matter how much I tried or wanted to move. "So you're the famous girl that's been getting in the way of all the affairs of Team Aqua." He slowly reached for my face and Blaze lashed out at him with a claw when he got too close. The man pulled back his hand and glared at my pokemon before he looked back over at me. "How about a name to go with that face?"
"Go to hell, you bastard."
The words may have slipped out of my mouth so easily, but on the inside, it tore my heart in two to say them. I wasn't about to also reveal my name to him. I didn't want to get Dad in any sort of trouble or put any more shame on my family then there already was.
"Such a fiery child. I like that, but…" He bent himself down on his knees to look up at me. "You've been getting in the way."
"So? What you're doing is wrong and you're hurting people and pokemon because of it!" I felt my heart sinking with every moment this conversation continued. "Doesn't that bother you at all?"
"Bother me? Why would it?" He laughed and got back to his feet and turned around. "Team Aqua has a goal, a goal to expand the sea. Regardless of the few people we may have to trample on or the pokemon we require to accomplish our dream, we will continue forth until it is achieved." He shook his head and walked back toward the door. "But a child like you would never understand my ambitions, for I am an adult and you're only a mere child." He waved to me before he returned the two pokemon of his grunts and hauled them over his shoulders. "I will allow the part and the scanner to stay in the hands of Captain Stern for the time being, but be warned… I will be back for them, and your submarine." He flashed a bright white set of teeth in a malicious grin. "Have a horrible day…"
He vanished without a trace after that. The lights went out and when they re-lit a second later, he was gone. I sucked in a breath, finally feeling like I could breathe again, and sank to the floor.
"Jezebel?" The captain was quick to hurry to my side. "What's wrong?"
I shook my head. "Blaze, Blade." I looked to my protectors. "Take the captain to the docks and make sure he's with Violet or Gwyn before you come and meet up with me, Silky, and Spinner at the northern side of town, just past the amusement park." With their help, I began to get to my feet. "I can't stay here…"
Without any more to be said, my pokemon quickly helped me up entirely and Spinner took a place on my shoulder while Silky reached for my hand and gently pulled me along. Blaze and Blade led me out and then led the captain on his way. I'd seen the man worriedly look back at me, but he pressed on with my pokemon and the prized items in hand.
Silky and Spinner led me through the amusement park and, in comparison to the storm inside my head, people were laughing and having fun, children were jumping in fun houses and playing with their pokemon while I was led through, as if there was a storm over my head. I felt nothing but shame and dread inside as I was led through the colorful lights that normally brought cheer to all that came.
How could you do this Uncle Archie?
Witch's Note:
Holy fuck! What? Jezebel's uncle is head of the very organization that she's been facing against and has been causing harm? How did he not know it was her? Apparently he's not around her enough to know what she actually looks like, even with a new haircut…
Oh well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter with Jezebel spazzing out and finding out her uncle was head of Team Aqua! Wait 'til you see what happens in future chapters, people! We're gonna get into more drama!
Love you all and see you next week! Please remember to Review and send in Questions!
Halloween Witch
