I haven't celebrated my birthday in years. When I was in Johto, I missed each one, forgetting that it was even the right month until a couple days, a week, or even two weeks had passed.
The last one I remember was in Sinnoh, in Veilstone. It had been a long day and I returned to the Pokemon Center to get a room. The nurse on duty asked to see my trainer ID, so I handed it to her, and when I did, she squealed, "Happy birthday, Miss Caldwell!" to which an excited voice behind me asked, "It's your birthday?!"
I looked back, unamused, to see the stupid blonde boy with his stupid scarf. Because, of course, it couldn't have been Professor Rowan's cute assistant, Lucas, or an old friend from school, or really just anybody that I liked in general. No, it had to be this kid that I couldn't stand who strode up to me purposefully and said, "After my pokemon are healed, you and I are celebrating," and wouldn't take no for an answer.
He chattered the whole way to this expensive French restaurant where we sat down and only had dessert and wine. "How old are you again?" I asked nervously when the waiter brought it, though it was a stupid question because I knew he was about my age. I switched tactics as he poured a glass for himself. "Dax, I'm pretty sure this is illegal. In fact, I'm more than pretty sure."
"Delaney, stop worrying," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'm the great Palmer's son, and you are my lovely friend celebrating her birthday and nobody's going to do a damn thing about it." He gave me a mischievous glance as he took a sip and then winced. "You know, this stuff may be a little overrated."
I laughed and laughed and laughed. That was when I realized that Dax Briley was the best friend I would ever have and without him and his wine and his fancy dessert, birthdays never meant as much. But mainly it was the absence of him.
Chapter 13: All These Things That I've Done
The storms had reduced the city of Fortree to nothing more than mud, branches and broken glass. The pokemon that used to play hide-and-seek in the tree town left soon after the storms- if they hadn't perished along with the residents of the town. Only recently were new buildings starting to come up (one of them a Pokemon Center!) and people had warily been popping in to see the progress. Nobody had given up hope that Fortree could be fully functional again- that it could be the same beautiful city that it once had been.
Nobody until Flannery, as she watched desperately as the new Pokemon Center she had worked so hard on getting up and running went up in flames.
Franklin, her torkoal, looked up at her apologetically. He hadn't meant to start the building on fire- he had been aiming for the smug shelgon across the way who had thrown up a forcefield to protect himself, sending the embers in all different directions. The shelgon and the shuckle gave each other proud looks, the ones you would expect from longtime teammates, except between these two specific pokemon, the comradery was kind of unnerving. "It's okay, Franklin, I know," Flannery said reassuringly.
And then out of left field came the dragonbreath, which just barely missed hitting her instead. Franklin collapsed. Next to him, Luna, her houndoom, winced from the pain of the poison coursing through her body. "Come on, Elite Four member Flannery, we're in the middle of a battle!"
But now Franklin had been knocked out and Luna was in far too much pain to concentrate on sending out attacks at the shelgon or shuckle and Flannery sighed as she returned the two to their pokèballs. In their place, she sent out her magmortar and camerupt.
Arceus, where was Steven?
"Steven, what's going on?" Delaney tried to yell over the roar of the wind as they soared through the air. "What happened?"
"Don't hold on too tightly," he called back instead. "The steel feathers might cut you."
"Steven, what happened?" she asked anxiously. It was then that the idea of death had snuck back into the picture. "Fortree... Flannery's in charge still, right? Flannery isn't hurt, is she?" Goosebumps covered her arms, but they weren't from the chill in the air. She isn't… dead, is she?
"She's fine," Steven said dismissively. "But she might not be if we don't hurry up."
"Is this… Is this the threat we were worried about?" Delaney asked, officially beginning to panic. Were they about to come face-to-face with whatever had been terrorizing Hoenn from the shadows?
Steven's skarmory began a downward descent, and Delaney already didn't like what she was seeing- there were flames below. As Skarmory landed, Flannery ran over to them, a sob escaping from her throat as the buildings around her that had once composed the town she had worked so hard to rebuild were going up in flames.
"Shit," Delaney muttered as she climbed off of the skarmory. She glanced around at the damage already done. Well… We could at least try to contain it. She hurriedly reached into her bag and found Perry's pokeball. If anyone could quell the flames, it was Perry. She released the samurott, who looked around in confusion. "Perry, we need your help," Delaney told him.
"Ott," Perry said, giving her confirmation that he knew exactly what she meant. He let out a spray of water at the nearest building to show that he meant business.
"Great," Delaney said. One problem down and surely many more to go.
Flannery had finally finished telling her tale to Steven, who had a very nervous look on his face as Delaney rejoined him. "Flannery, I want you to take Neron to Mauville. Go heal your team and get in contact with Riley," Steven said urgently. Neron, Steven's skarmory, looked at Flannery and gave a quick nod, as if to confirm that he wanted to help her.
The red-haired young woman hastily returned the magmortar and camerupt that were out and nodded at him. "Thank you, Steven," she said, her tears coming freely again, before climbing on Neron's back to fly away.
Steven tossed out onto the battlefield a large and already very angry aggron, who narrowed his eyes at the shuckle and shelgon in front of him.
Delaney was paying far more attention to Perry's torrents of water than to her impending battle. She had noted the figures of two people with pokemon in front of them when they had landed, but she had been far more worried about trying to save what she could of the burning town than whoever those two people were. Maybe she had wanted some time before seeing the face of this new threat (Delaney was certain this was it, because Steven hadn't answered her when she had asked), maybe she had just wanted to make the look of desperation on Flannery's face as she looked at the flames go away, but regardless, she just cared that some of the red-haired girl's hard work was not in vain. She wanted to save what she could.
"Del, I could use your help," Steven said, his voice as calm as ever. Never once had he called her Del. It had always been Delaney, or even Miss Caldwell.
That was how she first knew they were in trouble.
And then she heard the drawling voice state, "Champion Steven Stone and his faithful Elite Four lackey Delaney Caldwell! What an honor!" and she knew that she was right. They were definitely in trouble.
Delaney whirled around; her eyes beginning to focus on the people whose pokemon were currently hurling attacks at the aggron standing protectively in front of Steven. "Nick? Malonie? What are you doing?" she asked incredulously.
"I always knew you liked her for her brain," Malonie said sarcastically. "She really catches on quick."
"I guess she didn't know anything," Nick said pointedly. "I told you she didn't."
"Do you… know these people?" Steven asked.
"She sure thought so," Malonie said with a smirk.
"I…" Delaney began. How exactly did she begin to explain The Nascence to Steven- or even worse, how did she even begin to explain Nick to Steven? Oh yeah, this guy attacking us invited me to be a part of his anti-Galactic group and also, we hooked up. This would certainly go over well.
"Delaney, call out a pokemon," Steven commanded, ignoring Malonie's toothy grin. Hesitantly, Delaney reached into her bag and released a pokemon, not really focused on who it was. It turned out to be the tenderhearted Synapse who was currently examining her surroundings in horror.
"He already knows, sweetheart. Don't you?" Malonie asked, her eyes trained on Steven.
"About The Nascence? Yes," Steven answered evenly. A sick feeling came to Delaney's stomach. How much else did he know? "I also know about the Team Aqua base break-in, setting up Team Magma in Dewford, the break-in in Petalburg and the food bank." Delaney stared at him in astonishment.
Apparently he knew a lot more than she did.
"That's great detective work, Mr. Champion sir!" Malonie said mockingly. "I bet next you're going to get a custom-painted van and start solving mysteries!" With that, she rolled her eyes at the so-called great champion that she was currently unimpressed with and turned to her shuckle. "Let's take care of them just as easily as we took care of that other so-called Elite Four member. Use bug bite on that psychic blob."
"Your wit just floors me, Anna Blake," Steven deadpanned. Delaney looked over at him in surprise. What had he just called Malonie? When had he found all this out? And why hadn't he told her beforehand? "Helmer, the shuckle's defense is too high, so let's go after the shelgon instead. Use take down."
"Synapse, use reflect to repel some of the damage before that slow turtle thing can get over here!" Delaney called, finally snapping back into the battle after the shock, though a million questions were still swimming through her head. Synapse nodded, as if she understood Delaney's utter confusion, and put up a thin barrier that extended to the aggron as well. "Then use psychic against the shelgon!"
Anna Blake scowled, looking entirely unamused with Steven. "Good work, Steven, but I actually prefer Galactic Commander Rhea."
"That man doesn't know a fucking thing." The sun was setting in Canalave City and the boats returned to the harbor. Standing on the bridge was a girl of seventeen, her long burgundy hair rippling in the cool evening breeze. An absol stood by her side, looking up at his trainer questioningly. More than a few pedestrians either gave her a weird look or chose to walk another way. It was unclear if this was because of Anna's absolute rage or the disaster pokemon at her side. "How dare he, Calamity. I've battled that asshole four times and all he can tell me is try harder and train more. I deserve that fucking badge!"
"Sol," Calamity nodded vigorously. He knew how fiercely determined his trainer was. He knew how hard she tried to be the best. She had told him many times about how she wanted to battle the Elite Four and become the Champion. It was a dream that all trainers held, right?
"I mean, if I can't beat Byron, what the hell am I supposed to do?" Desperation tinged her catlike green eyes. "I mean, sure, I could go battle Candice or even Volkner if I want to, but I can't enter Victory Road without his stupid fucking badge. Why does he want to stand in the way of my dream?"
"Abbbb," Calamity said sadly, brushing up against her leg gently.
"I have trained. I've gone and trained harder and harder each time I've lost. What does he want from me?" she asked, throwing her hands up in the air.
"He wants you to give up," a voice answered simply. A woman with a crayon-red bob and an odd outfit that looked like spaceman pajamas stood in front of her. Two people stood behind her quietly, though Anna couldn't tell their genders because they both had short teal hair. "Nobody likes to lose, especially people like these gym leaders with grand delusions of power."
"Who the hell are you?" Anna asked.
"Just a friend," the woman said innocently.
"You're not my friend. Who the hell are you?" Anna repeated.
"You may call me Mars, dear. Galactic Commander Mars."
Anna had heard about Team Galactic, but just briefly. The word evil or bad was not really used in conjunction with them yet, but they were still known as rebels, people that you shouldn't associate with. "You know, my dear, the gym circuit is no place for the truly strong and talented. You battle against these people who act as a litmus test for your ability, then you do the same old with people just a little bit higher-up on the food chain and for what?"
"You battle the best to become the best," Anna told her.
"How is that a measure of your true strength?" she asked. "How does playing type match-ups with some god-complex figurehead really show if you're strong or weak? Yes, you can take down a fire-type with a water-type. Knowing that and earning a badge from that doesn't prove your aptitude as a trainer. A ten year-old who's barely passing trainer's school could tell you that." She lowered her voice. "My apologies, dear, I seem to have gotten a bit heated. The injustice of this current system gets me going. I don't see why a clearly talented young woman like you is being held up from achieving her dreams because Byron is a sore loser."
"I'll beat him," Anna told her. "I'm going to be the best one day."
"What if I told you I know someone who can make that possible?"
"Rhea?" Steven repeated, with a hint of sarcasm to his voice. "Cyrus is getting away from his spaceman theme?" The shelgon had been effective in stopping Helmer from wreaking havoc on it; using zen headbutt to prevent him from charging at the shelgon. Fortunately, the psychic attack did little to damage Helmer and he brushed it off like it was nothing. Unfortunately, the psychic from Synapse had also done very little damage.
"Let's try another zen headbutt at the aggron. He's the real threat!" Nick called out to the shelgon.
"Helmer, use protect," Steven said simply. A thick forcefield went up around the aggron, just as it had around the shelgon earlier in the day when battling Flannery, though this time, the move was not in the shelgon's favor. As he charged headfirst towards the aggron, he bumped into the forcefield at full speed and was thrown back with the rebounding force.
"Rhea is a moon of Saturn," Anna told Steven. "Quite fitting considering who my commanding officer was before he betrayed us… The commanding officer whose spot I took. You know who I'm talking about, right, Delaney?"
Delaney clenched her jaw and swallowed hard. "Another psychic to the shelgon, Synapse," she growled. Might as well kick him when he was down.
"Delaney?" Steven asked hesitantly. "Are you…"
"Okay?" Anna finished tauntingly. "I imagine the wound is still fresh. After all, it's only been like, three years since Cyrus threw him off Dragonspiral Tower, right, Delly?"
"Okay, fuck you," Delaney snapped. "Synapse, focus blast at the shuckle!" Synapse, surprised at her trainer's sudden anger, let forth an extremely powerful blast of energy. Because she was nervous and surprised, though, the blast sailed smoothly past the shuckle, who merely blinked at the reuniclus.
"You're so remarkably easy to get worked up," Anna said with a bright smile. "No wonder Cyrus is so invested in you. I can't wait to drag you back to Unova so he can finish you off. Tweedle, let's start tossing out sludge bombs. Start with Miss Delaney's little blob right there."
"You should go after it as well," Nick said to the shelgon. Apparently he now didn't care about attacking the real threat, as he had said earlier- he just wanted to kick Delaney while she was down. "Use crunch."
"Don't allow the shelgon near Synapse," Steven ordered Helmer. "Use iron tail and smack it away."
"Dodge them," Delaney said dully. Just the mention of Cyrus had made her feel completely nauseated. She had believed she was coming to Hoenn to getawayfrom all of the Galactic business. She had wanted a fresh start, a chance to atone for her mistakes- and it was all coming back to bite her in the ass now. "That Cyrus sure is creative. He chases me to Unova and now he chases me to Hoenn. I don't know why I didn't see it coming."
"Have some respect when speaking of Cyrus!" Anna snapped. "And no, that wasn't our plan, you little twit. Cyrus didn't even know you were here. It just turned out to be a huge bonus for Ben and I."
"Ben," Delaney repeated. Not Nick, the nice guy who always wore polo shirts and a charming smile, but Ben. "What's your commander name, Ben?"
"He doesn't have one because he's not a part of Team Galactic. Keep on with the sludge bombs, Tweedle!" Anna added hastily. "Ben Darcy is one of the more accomplished con artists of the last decade. Remember the Team Rocket domination of the Silph Company a few years back? Ben was posing as an executive in the company to get them entry."
"Team Galactic is hiring externally now?" Steven asked, stunned. "Arceus. Helmer, iron head." Anyone watching could tell that Steven wasn't battling with his full strength- he was far too focused on the conversation. Ben and Anna could tell this and exchanged glances. Anna offered Ben a sly wink.
"Steven, I know you're not the businessman your father is, but even you must know that when you have a job that needs to be done, you need to hire the right person for it. Ben has a… certain set of skills that Galactic sorely needed and Cyrus was willing to pay for them."
"Take the damage for the shuckle. When he gets close to you, use hyper beam," Ben commanded.
"Synapse, use light screen and deflect the beam away from Helmer!" Delaney called frantically. As the reuniclus hurried to put up a shield to try and help her comrade, Delaney looked over to find Steven chuckling. "Um, I'm sorry, is something funny? Something like a shelgon throwing hyper beams everywhere?"
"Delaney, that's just going to bounce right off Helmer like it's nothing. He'll barely even feel it," Steven said with a smirk. Sure enough, the high-powered beam hit Helmer, who looked at it as if it were a pesky bug-type buzzing around his head. What was normally a game-changing move did nothing to affect Helmer. "Dizzy punch the shuckle."
"Make sure he doesn't hit it," Ben ordered. The shelgon dove in front of the aggron's punch. The high-powered attack didn't do much physical damage to the shelgon, but Steven still burst into a large grin anyways, looking like the glameow that ate the starly.
"So if The Nascence wasn't a plot to ensnare Delaney, what was the point of it?" Steven asked.
"To establish public favor within Hoenn before taking the region into our own hands. Steven, I really thought you were smarter than that. You seem to have figured out everything else," Anna said mockingly.
"If you're trying to get public favor, why were you just a small group in a hidden base then?" Delaney asked.
"Humble beginnings, sweetheart," Ben said, speaking up. "We start off modestly with a few dedicated members. We establish ourselves with local businesses, shelters, food banks… By that point, we're established as a charitable foundation, which the public will find appealing. They'll want to know how they can help, if they can join. You get the gist, don't you, Del?"
The explanation was a punch in the gut for Delaney, who was beginning to feel like a lightbulb was going off over her head. Sawyer had called The Nascence a cult, but really, it was so much worse than that. "So helping Unova and Sinnoh was just a ruse. All of the supplies gathered, all of the people helped… Just bullshit."
"No, absolutely not!" Ben said, wide-eyed. "What kind of people do you think we are, Delaney? The Galactic forces in Sinnoh that were running low on supplies were very grateful for our help."
The pit that had been slowly forming in Delaney's stomach as the conversation went on seemed to drop out at Nick's words. She thought about all of the boxes of food they had talked about getting at meetings, all the supplies they had asked Delaney herself to get- they had asked her to help supply Team Galactic. "You despicable fuck!" Delaney screeched as the realization hit her, lunging forward. Steven grabbed her to hold her back. "Let go of me, Steven!"
"You're going to jump right in the line of fire," he muttered to her.
"I thought that everything they did was helping," Delaney spat. "Helping people like my parents and my friends and they were giving it to the scum…"
"Ouch, Delaney, think about your words," Ben interrupted. "They hurt, you know."
"Shut your damn mouth," Delaney snarled. Tears stung her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. To say that she was enraged was an understatement. "Now that The Nascence is history, what do you plan to do when Galactic Commander over here moves on? Surely they'll have no more use for you."
"Whoever said The Nascence is history?" Anna asked, raising her eyebrows. "The Nascence is anything but done, honey. Didn't you hear about the big freeze over in Unova? They'll need help now more than ever."
"Yeah, because Steven would definitely let you get away with all of this right under his nose," Delaney said, rolling her eyes.
"Oh didn't you hear?" Anna said. "It's really sad, actually. Steven and one of his faithful Elite Four members perished in the fire that destroyed Fortree again. Or at least, that's what the headline will read tomorrow."
"My samurott is putting out that fire, so you might want to rethink that," Delaney said pointedly. Sure enough, Perry's torrents of water were subduing the flames that had threatened the very existence of Fortree for a second time.
"Well after we finish you off and your pokemon become Galactic property, the fire will just magically restart. It's a shame that all of your hard work had to go up in flames. Pun intended."
"If you really think you can manage to do away with Steven Stone, you're delusional," Delaney sneered.
"I've been called many things, Delly, but never delusional," Anna said thoughtfully.
"Stop calling me that," Delaney said between gritted teeth.
Anna smirked, knowing that she was getting under Delaney's skin. "Oh Delly, I wonder if Alex would be proud of you right now. Look at you, Elite Four member, fighting the bad guys…"Stop saying his name. "You know, he told me about you once."
"Delaney, don't listen to her," Steven said quietly. "She's trying to get a rise out of you."
"He didn't mention you by name, of course," Anna continued. "But he was acting weird and... happy, so I asked what was wrong with him. He said he felt alive, which is kind of ironic considering the girl who he said that about is the reason why he's dead. He talked about your pretty smile and your violet eyes-"
"Stop it. Just stop it." She hated the mental image of Alex in his ridiculous spaceman uniform telling the girl in front of him about her. She hated to think of him as a commander with subordinates, giving orders to fulfill Cyrus's plans. It made her sick to think of that part of him. Delaney swallowed hard, but she was still refusing to let any tears fall. She would never dare give Anna that satisfaction.
"You were the beginning of the end. Even if you hadn't been the one to battle Cyrus at the Spear Pillar, you ruined Alex. He was supposed to be a fierce fighter for Galactic and when it was time for him to take over; he ran it into the ground instead... Over a naive, insecure girl who's more fucked up than anyone can imagine. You are average at best. You're nothing special, and you're definitely no hero."
When she was shoved into the back of the cargo load with the frantic Mistralton gym leader shouting "where am I taking you?" she said Kanto.
Why, she didn't know. Delaney had never been to Kanto. She had never really been anywhere outside of Sinnoh until she left for Nuvema. She later recalled reading in a book that since Team Rocket had been expelled from Kanto by a young boy the media dubbed "Red", the region had experienced record-low crime rates. Maybe that had influenced her. She didn't know.
What she did know was that when Skyla landed just outside of Saffron, she opened the cargo hatch where Delaney was hidden and bleeding, the usually jovial redhead burst into tears.
Delaney didn't.
Skyla promised her that she knew of a nice hotel that Delaney could get a room at in the city. She gave her the name and told her to tell them that she was a friend of Skyla's. And as Delaney walked through the streets, following Skyla's simple instructions, she wondered what name she would use to check in.
When she got to the hotel and walked into the lobby, everybody was watching a flatscreen television that was turned to a breaking news report. It showed Dragonspiral with a column of fire reaching up to the sky, an image that was replaced by pictures. Cyrus Akagi, Ghetsis Harmonia.
Christa White.
"It has been discovered that Christa White, an up-and-coming trainer from Nuvema Town, is actually Delaney Caldwell, the elite trainer from Sinnoh that defeated Team Galactic originally. She has been known to be facing off against Team Plasma as well. Miss Caldwell was seen heading into Dragonspiral Tower earlier with a group of friends, though she has not been seen since. It is unknown whether she has been taken captive by Akagi and Harmonia."
Her first thought was: Lydia is going to freak when she sees that. I need to call her and let her know I made it out. Her second thought was: She'll be the first person they go after to see where I'm at. Her third thought was: I'm a piece of shit for getting her involved. Please don't let them kill her.
So she left the Crosstransceiver in her bag.
The news report ended and the inhabitants of the hotel began migrating away from the television. Eyes drifted in her direction and after a few seconds, they began lighting up with recognition. And then the humming noise of mass chatter began. What the hell is she doing here? Isn't she supposed to be in Unova? Maybe we should leave before they find her here and attack.
How dare she leave when they need her?
She walked out of the lobby without bothering to get a room and began to wander the streets. Most people purposefully avoided her. A few gave her dirty looks. One man spit on her. She couldn't say she blamed him.
Eventually she came across the Magnet Train station, which ran straight to Johto. She decided maybe that was where she wanted to go. Nobody would know she was there. Nobody could find her. Cyrus definitely wouldn't be able to find her. The train ran to Goldenrod, which she heard was a big city. She would be able to hide in a big city.
The thing about Goldenrod, though, was that with it's nice fancy game corner and it's giant mall and petite gym leader with pink hair, it reminded her way too much of Veilstone. Maybe that was where the similarities ended, but the last thing Delaney wanted was to think of Veilstone every time she walked out the door. Veilstone, where she and Dax had become best friends, where she stayed while she trained for the Spear Pillar…
Veilstone, where she spent that last night with Alex.
So she left Goldenrod too. She headed up north to a quiet little town called Ecruteak, where she got a room in the Pokemon Center and didn't leave the room for about four months except to get food. It reminded her of when she was little and in trouble and Blake would punish her by sticking her in her room and told her to think about what she had done.
That was all she did, except this punishment didn't end.
"Tweedle, let out a final sludge bomb. Aim for Mr. Stone," Anna said with a smirk.
Delaney jumped up, snapping out of her thoughts. "Are you kidding? What is the matter with you?" What kind of trainer would possibly force their pokemon to do such a thing? Sure, she was crazy if she thought that Synapse or Helmer wouldn't deflect the attack, but a command like that pushed the trainer-pokemon bond way too far.
The shuckle looked up at her worriedly. Even he knew that she was wrong. Delaney's heart hurt for the poor pokemon. "Shuck?" he asked.
"Just do it!" Anna barked. The nervousness in the shuckle's eyes was replaced with fear and though anyone could tell that he didn't feel right about it, his loyalty was still to his trainer. He released a large glob of toxic goo and aimed right at Steven.
"Synapse, stop that somehow!" Delaney called desperately. The psychic pokemon nodded and shot out a psychic attack aimed at the poison-attack, though it didn't stop its trajectory. However, what Anna had ignored was the part-steel type that was able to step in front of the attack and let it hit his armor like it was nothing. Instead of a dead champion, like she had anticipated, she stood staring at a very angry aggron named Helmer.
"Did she just…?" Delaney drifted off, looking wondrously at Steven. "Are you-"Okay? Not dead? You're not dead, right? She knew he wouldn't be; she knew that either Helmer or Synapse would stop the powerful poisonous attack before it ever hit Steven but still... She had been in vicious battles before. She had seen people that she cared about die in front of her eyes. She didn't want to see Steven among those people.
"I'm fine, but I'd say that was pretty ill-advised," Steven said with a nod. "You've truly got a powerful shuckle, Anna. It takes a talented trainer to know how to use one well, and you've clearly raised this one up well." Delaney turned her head and looked at Steven, very confused. What in the hell was he doing?" It's obviously done most of the damage here tonight."
The tips of Ben's ears turned red and a scowl came across his face, a look massively different than the charming smile Delaney was used to seeing. "Shelgon, flamethrower," he growled. The aggron tried to dodge out of the way, but he was still hit with most of the attack. The steel plates on Helmer's body turned red and the aggron looked agitated, but the attack still did very little to him.
"I genuinely don't know why Cyrus didn't send you to just do the job yourself, Anna," Steven said, unfazed. "He seems to be generally useless."
He wasn't, seeing as how it was his shelgon that was the main offensive striker. It was Ben who had gotten Delaney ensnared in The Nascence to begin with, which had given them access to Steven. And it was most definitely Ben who had charmed storeowners and food banks into helping them, not the much less pleasant Anna. But when Delaney saw Ben's face turn red and he began to yell, she realized precisely what Steven had stumbled upon- an incredibly messed-up power dynamic, bloated conceit on Anna's part and a lack of control on Ben's.
"Useless?" Ben asked incredulously. "Useless? I would've led The Nascence to taking over Hoenn. She," he said, pointing to Anna, "is a bitch that nobody would've supported. And we might have been successful thanks to your little lackey over there," he said, turning to Delaney. "Who would've thought? One of the most powerful trainers in the world is nothing more than a pretty face with self-esteem issues. You would've led us right to Steven and we could've taken care of him in no time but somebody was convinced that we had been found out, so we had to do things the hard way."
"She's been ignoring your calls all day," Anna said with a roll of her eyes. "That either meant that you suck in bed or she found us out."
Delaney turned crimson as Steven looked over at her incredulously. And to think the conversation had lasted this long without that being brought up. "It actually meant that I lost my Crosstransceiver," Delaney said, avoiding looking over at her superior.
"Well somebody has it because it kept going to voicemail on the first or second ring, which means your call has been ignored," Anna stated. "And why are we discussing this? It doesn't matter. Your plan was a failure, Ben, and you're under my command anyways, so get over it and stop acting like some pitiful jealous teenage girl. The fact of the matter is, Steven Stone is right here in front of us, Cyrus believes it's important that we get rid of him and so he needs to be out of the picture now, along with his brainless little twit of a lackey."
Anna lunged towards them with a look of hatred blazing in her cat-like eyes, but a spark hit her before she ever reached Steven. She hit the ground, unconscious. Delaney spun around only to see a luxray with pale eyes. A trio of figures stepped out from behind a partially charred tree. Cam stood in front, his smirk causing his scar to appear even more prominent than usual. Ren stood beside him, the look on her face appearing to be a mixture of anger and disappointment. Standing behind the two was Jackson, looking entirely indifferent. "Arceus they were getting annoying. She's lucky that I didn't order Mufasa to kill her," Cam said with a roll of his eyes.
"Synapse, make sure he doesn't even blink," Delaney ordered. The psychic pokemon didn't even think twice about letting out a burst of energy rendering Ben immobile, but even then, she narrowed her eyes and watched him like a fearow. She knew that he had been trying to hurt her trainer and she wouldn't hesitate to put him out of commission for good if he dared to make another move. Ever since Delaney had caught her as a solosis in Unova, she had been fiercely protective of her and the rest of Delaney's team.
Steven looked at the dark-haired young man in shock. "Who- Are these more friends of yours? Jackson? What are you doing here?"
A chill ran down Delaney's spine. The gravity of the situation was finally beginning to hit her, seeing the rest of the Nascence. Nick was not falling for her like he said. He was a conman. Malonie was not his sister. She was a commander for Galactic. They were coming to invade Hoenn. They had fooled a half dozen people into collecting supplies that they sent off to Galactic. And just then they had attempted to kill Steven- and then probably Delaney. It sounded like a really horrible movie.
"What are you doing here?" Delaney asked. "All of you… How did you-"
"These were the people you were going to meet, right?" Jackson interrupted. "If not, this is really awkward."
Delaney blinked several times. "Um, yes. What are you-"
"These two showed up at the Mauville Pokemon Center looking for you," Jackson said. "Before I could explain everything, Flannery burst in. She handed her pokemon off to that crazy nurse and then came back to me and she hugged me, which was weird and awkward, and she was crying and saying that she had been attacked in Fortree by two trainers with a shelgon and a shuckle and the town had been burning down until you came along with your samurott-"
"And I've known Malonie- sorry, Anna," Ren corrected icily, "For long enough to know her shuckle, as well as the fact that he has a shelgon so I figured it was them."
"They didn't realize we were standing there and Flannery wasn't exactly quiet," Cam explained.
"So we figured something had to be up and we ran out and this guy said he wanted to come with, so we flew just outside the city and then walked up," Ren finished.
"It all sounded a lot more interesting than just sitting around the Pokemon Center," Jackson said with a shrug.
"How much did you hear?" Delaney asked.
"And how did we not even notice you?" Steven asked.
"Well, I think you were focused more on the crazy bitch trying to kill you with a sludge bomb and psychologically tormented Delaney," Jackson said with a shrug.
"We walked up right about the time Anna brought up Cyrus pushing someone off Dragonspiral Tower," Ren said. "I heard about that. Your boyfriend, right?"
Delaney's eyes shifted to the ground. "If you could call him that."
Everything was silent for a moment. "I really believed what Ghetsis said, you know," Ren said softly, shifting uncomfortably It was really the first time Delaney had ever heard her speak without snark present in her voice. "About freeing pokemon, about not hindering their growth and potential. I didn't realize it was a crock of shit until Cyrus came on board and then everything kind of came out. Cyrus is one twisted bastard. That's why I wanted to be a part of The Nascence. I wanted to be a part of tearing him down."
Delaney nodded. "He's only going to get worse with all this power."
"So Steven," Jackson began, swiftly changing the subject. It was obvious he wasn't doing well with all of the emotion present. "These two would be the security threat we were looking for, correct?"
Steven shook his head. "No."
Delaney looked up in shock. "No? Who else is there? You said yourself that they were behind all of those crimes." Arceus, was there someone else they had to worry about?
"Ben is merely a conman and Anna is one of Cyrus's puppets. They were… a temporary threat. I think the real threat to our security now is Cyrus himself." Steven looked Delaney straight in the eyes and gave her a small smile. Her eyes widened as she realized where he was going.
Jackson broke out into a wide grin. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
Steven nodded. "Yes. We need to go straight to the source."
Author's Note (1/07/13): So... Remember what I said about that T rating coming more into play now? I totally wasn't kidding.
Thanks so much to my wonderful beta, Noteleks, who was a HUGE help with this chapter.
Thank you for reading and reviewing, if you so choose to. :)
See ya next week!
~DAT