Disclaimer: I do not own or have any association with Pokemon. This is fan work and I do not profit from this.
Other warning: This has been crappily self-beta'd. It may or may not be edited soon.
I ran out of the room before she could say anything else.
I had to get the fuck out of there. Away from what I had said.
Cara darted after me, shouting something about Devan and to slow done and why didn't my cast hurt and what had even happened and Mew knows what else.
"Devan's gone!" I responded, trying to will my legs to go faster. Pain was mutely registered somewhere in the far corners of my brain, something unimportant.
Cara fell silent after that, a stark contrast to the thunder of our feet as I reached the staircase. I desperately recalled the map the psychics gave me, trying to gather my bearings.
I had to get out of there if it killed me. One more minute with Archer, one more minute with Ariana, one more minute in that damned room with those damned assholes asking about those damned psychics…
Psychics touched my brain when I crashed onto ground level, but quickly retracted. Cara was still behind me.
I dodged the chaos as best I could, but I don't think anyone would've noticed if I had waltzed through the middle of it.
Humans are not meant to exploit Pokémon. It was said as a whisper, but was heard above everything else.
I stopped dead, and Cara slammed into me.
"What the fuck did you stop for?" she demanded, rolling off of me. "I mean, a 'thank you, Cara,' would've been nice earlier, but if you can run, damn, we need to get out of here!"
"Humans…" I muttered as Cara grabbed my arm, and I stumbled after her. "Alise…"
"We have to go! Now!"
We somehow reached a door out, and when it was locked, Cara released a gigantic flaming bird and we smashed our way through.
Outside was dark.
It was dark in the room, but not this dark.
Cara didn't slow down at all. She lead me down the streets of the town, winding around buildings and dumpsters and houses. Eventually we reached the outskirts, and finally a large sign bearing the words "Route 12."
We reached a dock, and eventually a small island covered with sand and sparse patches of grass, with a tidy little house right in the middle of it.
Cara sharply knocked on the door, and a vaguely familiar man answered. He looked frail, with unkept brown hair and hazel eyes.
"You made it!" he cheered, stepping out of the threshold. "Come in, come in, come in! Erika, Cara made it!"
"Not so loud!" a gruff voice shouted back.
"Yes," another one responded. "I don't want Rockets figuring out where we are."
Cara grinned and helped me in, and the man carefully closed the door behind me.
"Did you find Devan?" he suddenly asked.
"Apparently he already left," Cara said and shrugged. "Here, we need a bed for him, or a table, or something. I need to check on his casts. He probably didn't heal quite right."
"Linda took the bed for now," the man explained, "and Henry's on the couch. Kitchen counter's open, though."
And with that, the pain kicked in.
I fell to the floor and Cara had to drag me to the table, requiring the other man's help to lift me up.
"Holy shit," she said once I was laying face-up. I felt tears leak out of my eyes as my leg screamed in pain.
"Did they… What happened?"
I wished they hadn't laid me on a table. It made me feel vulnerable, more vulnerable than I already was, with no way to hide.
I couldn't speak, either, my attempt resulting in some weird rasping noise.
"Burt, go get some water," the brown-haired man demanded.
Burt. Where-
My thought process was interrupted by water being sloppily poured all over my face, before the glass was snatched away and replaced by a straw. I drank quickly.
They eventually removed my shirt, and Cara left shortly afterwards, claiming she needed a breath of fresh air. The brown-haired man and Burt doped me up on the largest amount of pain medication that I could handle and wrapped bandages around my entire midsection. I remained silent as they did so.
Eventually I figured out that they were the ones who were in the cell I woke up in when I was first in the Rocket base, which made the brown-haired man Alfred.
I fell asleep at some point, blissfully numb, but the nightmares were almost unbearable. Archer came out here and discovered my hiding place. Ariana gave me food, but it was full of maggots. Archer pushed me off a cliff. Archer hung me off a cliff by my ankles. Archer threw me to a pit of Arbok.
Archer and Ariana died, and I was alone in the room forever.
I snapped awake after that. I felt worse than I had in weeks; both my legs were practically on fire, my side screamed in agony, my arms were numb and my head felt as if someone had smashed me over the head with a brick. Blood and filth coated scarred skin that hadn't been bandaged yet.
"Is he still bleeding?" The voice was barely more than a whisper.
"No. Should we change the bandages?"
"I think that would reopen it. Let it sit for another couple hours, I think."
"Dammit, why couldn't Erika have stayed? I think she knows some stuff about healing."
"She knows about herbs that can cure Pokémon and cure illnesses, not about people being smashed and broken."
"That's a bit exaggerated. He's not broken-"
"Is he awake? His eye just twitched."
I opened my eyes just to see Cara hovering over me, frowning.
"How do you feel?" she asked.
When one human falls and abuses Pokémon, the rest must step up to stop it.
"Bad," I muttered. The Treaty repeated itself, again and again, like a broken record inside my head. I grimaced. "Stop."
"Stop what?"
"Nothing." I didn't quite trust Cara with this information. Not like it would help her at all, anyways.
She helped me swallow some pills to help ease the pain and readjusted the pillow under my head as Alfred checked the bandages.
"What did they want with you?" he asked after a while. I didn't answer, and he didn't press. "Your ribs are all bruised," he said instead, "one cracked. Your leg-it would be broken again if it weren't for the cast. It healed wrong, though, from the first break. I don't know what's wrong with your left arm exactly, but it won't go straight and something looks off with the elbow."
Cara winced. "Burt went off this morning to seek help from a nearby Pokémon Center, but we don't know what we'll get, considering the news."
The kitchen we were in was small, and had more medical supplies than food strewn about its counters. The walls were a faded sort of yellow, with sky blue cabinets and green countertops. It looked like a dollhouse, with a pink sink and light hardwood flooring.
None of this had any bearing on the Treaty, which was still muttering the same line over and over again.
"What news?"
"Giovanni's bailed," Cara said, shrugging. "The case isn't happening any time in the near future. Lance is dead, all the Pokémon Gyms are undergoing a temporary shutdown. Pokémon Centers lost a lot of their funding. Police have launched an investigation on the incident in Celadon City, but nothing's come up from that."
The Treaty switched to its first line, about how humans weren't supposed to exploit Pokémon, blaring its message out like a siren.
How many Pokémon would Team Rocket exploit?
Alise.
They would-
The Carrier is here as the Treaty. The Carrier is here to spread the message. The Carrier is here to rally behind. The Carrier must keep balance between Pokémon and people.
"Shut up!" I shouted, glaring at the ceiling.
"Um…" Cara stepped back. "Are you… Are you feeling alright?"
I paused for a moment before scowling. "Just go away," I muttered, and closed my eyes. Alise. How could I get Alise back? I'd have to destroy the base. Destroy that room. Then, when everyone was worried about that, sneak into the room they had the Flying-types stashed in and-
No Pokémon is exempt from the Treaty's protection, brought through the Carrier, unless they themselves have violated the Treaty. Those who violate the Treaty are in exile.
The next few days passed like that. Cara would usually hang around to make sure I was okay while I would lay there miserable, with the Treaty rattling in the back of my head and pain overwhelming everything else. Nurse Joy wouldn't be able to come check up on me here, but as soon as I was able to move I would be taken to the nearest Pokémon Center. Human hospitals were out of the question, according to Alfred, as they kept closer records on everything and were far more expensive. Team Rocket was monitoring everyone and one step in a hospital would point them right to me.
I asked why it was so important that I wasn't found again, and Alfred shook his head. "I don't know," he said slowly, "but they took you and Devan away from the rest of us, and apparently tortured you. It would help if you told us what happened-"-as if he'd understand-"-but you haven't, so for now we have to just keep you safe and under the radar. The rest of us, too. One misstep and we're all going to be back in that cell. Have you eaten today yet?"
Eventually I was allowed to stand own my own, which soon turned to walking on my own, and then running on my own. I got a change of clothes and baths and food and everything else I needed.
"We're going to the Center today," Cara informed me the day I had finally taken my leg cast off. My forearm with the weird elbow looked slightly purple now, but most of the pain from everything else had subsided. "You, me, Burt for extra protection. We're going to get you fixed up and then check to see what Pokémon we have."
That was surprising. "You don't know what you have?"
Cara shook her head. "Too dangerous to let them out. If we have a Gyarados or something big like that, it could attract attention."
I nodded.
Linda and Henry were waiting outside for us, reviewing the plan. I hadn't seen much of them before; Henry was usually out scrounging around for news in the city and Linda was in charge of picking up supplies. Neither were particularly pleasant to be around, and it wasn't uncommon for Cara to mutter about "that stuck-up sorry excuse legend-obsessed girly asshat."
The walk to Vermillion City was unbelievably unremarkable. It might've been the lost look on our faces, or how close we were walking together, or just how menacing Burt appeared to most people, but the wandering trainers ignored us.
Vermillion City itself wasn't that great either. Smoke and steam hazed the air, and sailors stomped up and down the streets. There was some giant construction project going on nearby, and the stamping of feet combined with the screeching of sawing drowned out the loud chatter erupting from brick buildings. Nobody seemed to pay any special attention to us.
In fact, the only people who even bothered to glance in our direction were two people dressed entirely in black standing outside the Pokémon Center, each armed to the teeth.
I stared at the ground as we passed them, and I felt Cara's fingers lightly tap on my arm. I would be safe.
Hopefully.
Nurse Joy had been informed ahead of time that we would be here today, so she was already waiting. There weren't a whole lot of people in the Pokémon Center at the moment, but she led us to a back room anyways. Burt stood guard outside the door.
"…I'm not even sure I want to ask exactly what happened," she said after examining me. "Your elbow's dislocated. How long ago did all of this happen?"
"It's been a couple weeks," Cara said.
"Here. This will be the easiest fix. Bite down on this." Nurse Joy handed me a clump of cotton before grabbing my arm. "Try not to move."
Cara gently squeezed my hand as Nurse Joy clicked my elbow back in place. It didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it should've, but the feeling of cold numbness was awful.
"You've probably pinched some nerves in your hand if it's been dislocated so long. As for the rest of you, I'm going to need to take a few X-Rays."
After what felt like an eternity later the examination ended. A couple of my bones had healed incorrectly, but at the moment it'd be more trouble than it was worth to re-break them and fix them, especially since they weren't that bad. I was to be careful with my left arm and try and keep it warm. Circulation through it wouldn't return for a while.
Burt, meanwhile, had the Pokémon checked with the Chansey. There was some sort of bird called a Talonflame, a Dodrio, a Pidgeot (not Alise), a Pelipper, an Emolga, and a Jumpluff.
"Fliers much?" I mumbled as we walked out the door. Cara erupted into laughter. "Um, that wasn't really…"
"That's the first time you've attempted a joke since we got out," she said, resting a hand on my shoulder. "That's good."
Burt nodded, glancing behind us. "Yeahhhh. You've been acting rather weird since we got off the boat."
"Bo-" Burt glared at me, tilting his head back a bit. I felt chills run down my spine as Cara peered over her shoulder.
"Faster," she muttered. "Faster."
"Don't act suspicious," Burt hissed. "Same pace, pick up the conversation again. Don't let them-"
Too late, I thought as something slammed into me. I knew who it was. The Rockets outside the Center.
The barrel of a gun dug into the small of my back and I gulped. My thoughts hazed over in a panic, and suddenly the only thing I was aware of was the beating of my heart.
The Carrier must survive at all costs, save the one it is loyal to.
The Treaty.
They couldn't kill me because I was the only one who knew about the Treaty.
I was safe.
So I screamed.
I screamed so loudly that I barely registered the sound of a gun going off right next to my ear.
I couldn't bear to leave the bedroom and leave her alone. It was my fault, anyways.
Burt had gotten off easy; he just had to patch up his leg and he was fine. From what I understood, he had kicked the grunt mostly off of him, but the trigger was pulled in reflex and he ended up with a hole in his leg.
"I swear everyone in this house is going to be severely crippled by the end of the year," Alfred muttered, gently replacing Cara's bandages. "Medical bills are going to drive us up the wall. Do you have any idea how much a decent wheelchair costs?"
His voice was light and carefree, and Cara managed to smile. I tried to laugh, but it came across as yet another sigh.
"Aw, cheer up," Cara said. "I'm alive, aren't I?"
Barely, I thought. Barely.
She was asleep now, her chest slowly rising and falling despite the tightly wound gauze wrapped around her midsection. If it weren't for the police and bystanders, she would be dead now.
Because I was stupid enough to scream.
"Hey."
I raised an eyebrow, burying my chin into my knees.
"Quit beating yourself up. They would've shot no matter what you did, okay?"
"No they wouldn't have. You and Burt paid for my stupidity."
"You didn't do anything wrong," she muttered. "I can see why those guys scare you so much. You went through much worse than we ever did. I can handle a gunshot if you can handle broken bones, dislocated joints and a concussion."
"It was right next to your-"
"It was right where it didn't kill me. They don't know where we are. That's good. They don't have you and whatever magical thing they want out of you. That's good. They don't have control over the world. That's good."
Humans are not meant to exploit Pokémon.
"They have Alise. They have hundreds of Pokémon. They're abusing them all."
"And we're going to save them!" Cara grinned, sliding into a sitting-up position. "Give me another few days, or weeks, or whatever, and I'll be up and about! Then we'll find Devan and Ambrosii and ride on Rapidash into the Rocket lair and bust some heads! Alise is going to return to your side and fight loyally and kill, geez, I dunno, fifty of those bastards? Then the police'll come busting in and we'll all be paid millions for destroying them and we'll retire in Sinnoh to give your parents a hard time. Actually, no, Kalos. Sinnoh's fair, but, I mean, have you seen Lumiose City? It is beautiful. Then we'll grow old and someone in this group'll become a third wheel and kids will be made and it'll be a cliché fairy tale ending. It always is."
I smiled a bit.
"So go out there and go be useful!" Cara ended. "I need more rest! Make brownies! Kick Linda's ass at something! We all know that piece of shit deserves it! Go!"
I slowly stood up and slinked out of the room to go check on Burt.
That night, when I walked past her room, I tried to ignore the sound of her sobs.
The next day I met the Dodrio.
Its name was Janus.
Oh, oh oh oh oh OHHHHHH! It's a Carrier! Do you see that? It's a Carrier!
I see it, you nimrod! Just like the psychics to leave the thing to us!
Janus had three different personalities for each of its heads.
Oh shush your face! Look at how cute he is!
He looks so lost and broken…
It used telepathy.
And we get to find it!
I don't think anyone can find it… Like me…
All of its voices sounded the same.
Oh, come on, cheer up! Life's awesome! And besides, we found you!
Life's a bunch of Tauros shit. Let him pity in peace.
Please do…
I hated it.
"So, umm, the psychics…"
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're your stupid babysitters. Just like with the last one.
Last one? No, that was two Carriers ago! We didn't get to meet the last one!
I heard the last one was much kinder…. I can't believe it died before we got to meet it…
"But, can you, I dunno, explain what all of this means?"
Yessssss! Yes we can! Basically, the Treaty was written a bajazillion years ago in someone's soul! Then, they kept passing the Treaty down to the next person and died the next day!
"Well, yeah, but what-"
So then the Carriers were sought after by all the poor saps of Pokémon who thought humans were stupid, right? Right! So they came up with this "Guardian" thing which was another lame human to protect the Carrier!
Except the psychics were put in charge of the Guardian. Those stupid, rotten, no-good pieces of-
The Guardians fell helplessly in love half the time…
But the Guardians were awesome! Guardians weren't ever completely part of the Treaty.
"…They fall in love?"
Awww, the couples are always SO adorable!
The couples are always hopeless. Carriers die young.
Not always!
"I have a question," I interrupted. "Why don't humans know about the Treaty?"
Laughter erupted in my head.
Aw, the psychics left that out, didn't they? So like them.
Arrogant fools, cruel bastards. Too prideful to admit it.
It's rather sad…
"Hey!" I turned around just to see Linda standing in the doorway. "It's your day to clean since you're back on your feet. Get in here!"
Janus laughed and followed me inside, never actually answering the question.
Hours of scrubbing the house left me with a sore shoulder and a migraine. Janus and his endless, mindless chattering didn't help. He didn't seem to open up to anybody else, though, so all his babble about the Treaty never spread beyond my head.
The news revealed continually dropping stock values, companies going bankrupt, funding for Pokémon Centers and Police Departments dropping, and Team Rocket slowly taking over. They didn't even try to hide their motives anymore. Pokémon were blatantly stolen in poor towns and cities. Trainers were shot travelling through forests and mountains. All the gyms across the region were closed, and no word had been heard from the Plateau in months.
There were rebel groups on the news, yes, but none of them successful. Team Rocket was too powerful. They were a void, sucking up all the region's money, all the region's Pokémon, all the region's people.
"I don't see how this is possible," Alfred said once. He was staring at a notebook in his lap. "They must've been underground for decades before doing anything. No, longer than that. Longer than that. There's no way they could just come out of the blue with billions of dollars and take over. None."
Cara had stood up for the first time the day someone knocked on the door. Burt answered, naturally. He was our self-appointed bodyguard and muscle man.
It was a small group of refugees from Vermillion, including Nurse Joy, Lt. Surge and some sailors who worked down at the harbor. The head of the Pokémon Fan Club was there, too.
"They… They bombed the city," Nurse Joy sobbed when we took them inside. "Ch-Chansey d-died protecting me!"
You're doomed, Carrier, Janus whimpered pathetically. Haven't had something this big in a long time.
"Shush," I whispered.
Three days later Lt. Surge and Burt went to search through the remains of the city, returning with a few empty Pokeballs, some blankets and a box of supplies from the Pokemart. That evening a wounded Raichu made its way to our door.
Lt. Surge didn't seem like the type of man who'd cry, but reuniting with his partner brought out a few tears. It was a good day.
Sadly, once that episode was over, it was decided that everyone, crippled or not, needed to get in shape.
"If we're going to raid those pathetic pansies we're going to do it right," Lt. Surge constantly shouted. "How many Pokémon do we have among us? Seven?"
"Rai raiii!" Raichu agreed.
"And they have hundreds! But that's not going to matter, because you're all going to shoot a gun straight and punch like a Machamp! Understood?"
Of course, we had to reply with "yes sir" and salute and stand in military lines. Not even Nurse Joy was spared from the rigorous regime.
Another house also went under construction, but Nurse Joy banned me and Cara from taking part in it.
"It's bad enough that you have to exert yourselves in his ridiculous training," she snapped when we attempted to go help. "Neither of you are in any condition to go build a base! And don't even get me started on your sunburns! Both of you need to put on more sunscreen, especially you, with your condition!"
The new house was more like a military barrack than anything else. Hidden in the forest near the ocean, the exterior was built out of bricks fired by the Talonflame, and the interior was strictly divided and mostly bare. The one comfort was cotton blankets and pillows provided by the Jumpluff, but even those were limited.
Of course, the day it was complete enough for us to move out of our open home was the day things went wrong.
Cara and I were heading back down to the old house to retrieve the last of the Pokémon food. Janus was behind us, quiet and alert for once.
Someone's coming.
As if on cue, boots noisily clattered down the dock. I froze as they stopped, and an all-too familiar voice rang out loud and clear.
"Lt. Surge of Vermillion is still missing, and our Vermillion groups have too much going on to search for him. You should already know this. Remember, he is approximately six feet tall, blonde hair, tan skin. May be seen with an electric Pokémon. Also, keep in mind that we are also looking for a young boy, about eleven years old. Light brown hair, red eyes. May have blue or brown contacts. Short. Scrawny. Round face."
Janus bit down on the collar of my shirt and slowly backed up, dragging me back into the forest. Cara followed.
And stepped on a twig.
There were about fifteen grunts there plus Archer, all of which looked up at us at once.
"THAT'S HIM!" Archer roared. Cara grabbed me and pushed me onto Janus's back before hopping on herself.
I remember being told that Dodrio can run up to 40 MPH. Janus ran much, much faster than that.
It wasn't long before the Talonflame joined us, Alfred on its back, with the Pidgeot and Nurse Joy on its tail. The other fliers showed up, too, sending attacks behind us.
Idiotic humans, Janus snapped. Did you really think you'd be safe?
A/N: SOOOOOOOO, when did I last update? October?
I'd make the lame excuse of being busy, which would be totally true, but seriously. I should be better than this. But I'm not. Oh well. And then I give you a short, un-beta'd chapter! I'm such a nice person *eye roll*
Well, here you are. We meet Janus, who is hella difficult to write but is my favorite character. My weak half-plan for this story gives him a big role in the next two chapters, but knowing how bad I am at following plans, who knows?
Also, I love the Kalos region. I don't know if I'm really going to incorporate a whole lot of Gen 6 Pokemon, especially the fairy ones, but Talonflame... Talonflame I just couldn't resist.
Don't forget to also check out the little side stories going along with all of this! No spoilers in any of them thus far, just extra background and practices in different writing styles and crap like that. I'll be putting up a Christmas or New Years one pretty soon.
This update's big question: Are the characters acting way too different? I mean, they're obviously going to change some over the course of the story, but are they acting way weird? I hope not.
As usual, let me know what you like and what you don't like. Reviews are always read and considered, and I try to take your advice to heart to improve my writing.
Happy Holidays as well!