Chapter 28: Black sheep and Blood ties

The call came early in the morning. Norman was busy reading the newspaper when his PokeNav rang. Thinking it was the gym leaders association wanting to tell him off again, he reluctantly picked up the device and answered it. The little screen was filled with the image of an incompetent guard. Amongst many dramatic gestures, the officer related how two intruders were creeping about. The description of a boy with a white furred hat and a blonde baby didn't mean much to him. He had seen worse during his years of duty. Bidding goodbye to his wife, he let out his bird pokemon and left for the island.

Fire burned in his eyes, he was going to make up for the time they made a fool out of him during the Rayquaza case.

Mid-morning

Hoenn

Southern Island

Finding Latias and Latios was proving to be more difficult than they had thought. The waterfall encircling the isle was home to many grottos and caves which Ruby was sure the eon duo could be hiding in. All the foliage, water and sun were raising the temperature on the island and it was getting uncomfortably hot and humid. The thick air was making it difficult to breath. Emerald, having no qualms about scurrying up rock faces, did so, soaking himself with stray droplets of water. Balancing precariously, he squeezed his little body in hard to reach areas and called out. No such luck. At times a strong gust of wind would assault them in their faces or a tree beyond their reach would be cloaked in mist, the moment the two trainers ran to inspect the phenomenon, it would vanish. In desperation, Ruby pulled out his Pokedex in an effort to track down the pokemon. His efforts proved to be fruitless. Reaching for a pokeball, he released his mightyena and ordered the dark hound to sniff for the two legendries. The bite pokemon, fur sparkling from all the grooming his master did for him, merely turned its head the other way haughtily and sat on the ground. The fashionista huffed.

"Any sign of them?" Ruby cringed on seeing Emerald with his hair and clothes all muddy from crawling around in the caves. The blonde was trying to smooth out a dirt stain but only succeeded in spreading the muck further on his clothes.

"Nope, I think they are toying with us," he replied and sat down, "I heard they like to play especially Latias. And why did you bring out your Nana? Don't tell me you're trying to track the eon pokemon by scent" Rald chuckled, "and besides, I think your mightyena is too cool to be putting its nose to the ground and sniffing around. Like master, like pokemon." The boy clutched his stomach and laughed hysterically whilst both Ruby and Nana eyed him. The hysterics cut abruptly when the dense bushes behind them rustled. Nana sat up and perked its ears and before Ruby or anyone could stop him, it gave a joyful bark and barreled straight into Norman.


Father and son stared at each other. Norman blinked; his eyes must be playing tricks on him because certainly this was ridiculous.

No, the thought that was creeping on the edge of his mind was nonsense. There was no way his son...his beloved Ruby was capable of doing this. Mightyena was gleefully curling around his legs, the boy in front of him sported, like the fat guard had mentioned, a white furred hat and red rimmed glasses. And he was sweating profusely. Sharp eyes picked out another individual who was cowering in his son's shadow. Whoever the child was, Ruby was doing a remarkably good job of keeping him out of view. Time stilled and the stuffy air grew heavy on the lungs. A nightmare, this was all a bad dream because Ruby won't do this, his child was more interested in contests and being disgustingly fashionable, he was not standing on his island, with his black hair plastered to his forehead and glaring. With a jolt, the gym leader realized that those red tinted irises harbored intense emotions like his own.

Like father, like son.

It was no coincidence, no matter how much he tried to push the thought out of his conscious. He has been found out by the last person he wanted to see. His father. The situation was delicate enough without Emerald having to wrap stubby arms around his waist. They were only doing this to prevent the police from finding out their identities and he had paid the price. No matter, a sense of odd relief bloomed in his chest. He knew his dad would retaliate furiously. Dad always did. Norman was the type who didn't listen to anyone and did whatever he wanted. Funny, Ruby thought and swallowed nervously, his mouth and fauces were sandpaper dry, when he was young, he remembered his father being a kind individual who always doted on his son. Of course that time all Ruby wanted to be was a pokemon champion, but did his ideas of his future disgust his dad so much? What was wrong with being a contest participant? What was wrong with trying to find a new world where your dad didn't despise you for your chosen career?

What was wrong with that?

"If your mother saw you...She would cry" Norman's voice cracked and Ruby shifted, smoothly delving into a stance which was primed for running away. The normal type gym leader let out a pokemon and worded a command. Vigoroth, claws gleaming, slashed mightyena who swiftly jumped back and growled. The dark type opened its jaws wide and crunched down on vigoroth's arm, it only let up when the limb broke and blood dripped. Seeing this, the man inhaled deeply...It has come to this.

"Slaking, swagger!"

"Ruru safeguard!" the criminal duo was saved from being confused, slaking's swagger had thrown up dust and the guard was not spared of his father's wrath. He fumbled helplessly around and spouted nonsense and whilst Norman, teeth gritted and veins on his forehead visible, dealt with him. Ruby took the opportunity to let Emerald escape. The short boy had ran a few meters ahead when two gym leaders teleported into the scene. Emitting a silent shriek, he dove behind a boulder and watched Tate and Liza scan the area, a few minutes later, Brawly, grinning mouth inching downwards, came to a halt and took everything in. It was a sight to see Norman and his son dueling with each other, the attacks were aimed to maim and hurt, no holds barred.

"Use bulk up and frustration." The lazy pokemon got up once more and stamped its feet on the ground, its muscles bulged visibly underneath tan colored fur. With a roar, it went for mightyena, the pokemon leapt to the side, dodging the flailing fists, when none of the moves struck, slaking lay back on the ground, ignoring everything around it. Nana circled the beast cautiously, emitting growls and when he saw the ape's arm shoot out and grab a tuft of grass, the hound struck.

"Hyper beam."

Ruby watched morbidly as slaking opened up its palm and let loose a stream of light which hit Nana squarely in the face. The dog reeled backwards and whimpered, the fur on its face and neck was burnt off revealing black skin. Staggering, it whirled around a few times and fainted, eyes open and glassy. Retrieving it, the teenager sent out his trump card. With a scream, Zuzu announced his presence, hitting the ground heavily and cracking it into pieces. Opening its mouth, swampert let loose a blast of mud, the normal type was caked head to toe with it. Pushing itself off the dirt, slaking screeched and lumbered to swampert, the two locked arms and were now pushing each other back and forth in a wrestling type contest. Zuzu overpowered the ape and sent it sprawling on its back, raising a finned fist, the ground type gathered a sphere of energy and promptly smacked itself in the face. The lazy pokemon reared up and bodily slammed its opponent away from him. Swampert floundered about, directing its attention to the new occupants; it called for a deluge of water.

"Disable." the twins droned and the water dissipated instantly. Zuzu crumpled to the floor like a creature drained of energy. It groaned. Its master shifted his eyes, taking mental note of the people surrounding him, at this rate, just coming out of here alive would be a feat, he briefly wondered if Emerald managed to get away. Face screwed and resembling his father, Ruby weighed the options in his head. Taking all of them on would prove to be a damning decision, not to mention fighting tooth and nail with his father is taxing him emotionally. His mother, what would she say? Shaking his head to clear it of thoughts, he grunted in pain when Spinda bowled into him. Safeguard would prevent any status ailments, he was sure of that, a physical battering however...Was a different thing.

"Norman..." the twins began speaking, "it would be in our best interest to..." Tate broke off.

"Capture the eon duo first. The accomplice is searching whilst you..." Liza added.

"Are distracted with this family feud." The two psychics finished their sentences together.

They were ignored by the man. He was more interested in finding out why his son was doing this. The whole scenario still felt surreal. Like he was phasing through a dream and seeing the events through someone else's eyes. Colors were vivid, Ruby's yells and grunts of pain were loud in his ears. And the blood in his veins pumped vigorously. He was on edge, they both were. Slaking had meandered over to the teenager and tried to drag it's claws over the boy, it was thwarted by gardevoir, the guarding monster did something inexplicable and in seconds the hulking beast was foaming at the mouth, gurgling and banging it's head on the ground till blood gushed from its nose, it was promptly recalled. Telepathically hurling spinda off him, Ruru sent the tottering beast flying into the air and splashing into a nearby pool of water. Then it trained its eyes on Norman who was assaulted by extrasensory. A flood of pain and information attacked his nerves. Clutching his head he screamed till he scared the nearby bird pokemon off.

"Ruru stop!" Ruby howled on seeing his father reduced to such a state, "STOP! You're going to kill him!"

Gardevoir's eyes stopped glowing and Norman, sweat dripping down his face dropped to one knee. He angrily watched the embrace pokemon tenderly helping it's trainer up and holding him securely. A gust of wind went through the clearing and when it stopped, the occupants all stared at the pokemon causing it. Latios had appeared. The draconic pokemon judged them with a solemn gaze. Startled into reality. Ruby shouted a command. His pokemon gathered an orb of shadows and flung it at the legendary whilst Norman observed mutely. There was no denying it any longer.

His son was a criminal

A criminal

Cri...mi...nal

"Brawly, Tate, Liza...Make sure Latias is not captured by the other thief. Leave this brat to me. Its time someone instilled some discipline into him." The gym leaders protested but Norman cut them off by raising his hand, "I'd appreciate it if...This does not leak to the international police. Please, let us be." Casting another worried look over their shoulders, the group took off, preparing themselves to chase after Latias and the other boy. In the clearing, Latios dodged a shadow ball and folded it wings. In a split second, it blitzed across the island and vanished. Cursing, Ruby ignored his father and gave chase. If he got hold of the legendary, he'll be able to escape from his father's clutches. Norman too, ran after his son, the spinda who fell into the water earlier, climbed up and watched them leave. Tottering, it ambled drunkenly after its trainer.

Things weren't going well for Emerald, whilst the psychic duo and the surfer dude was busy ogling at Ruby and Norman, he took the opportunity to climb out of hiding place and creep around them. It was a miracle Tate and Liza didn't sense him, he wondered what to do next, contacting his seniors was out of the question, he was sure his best friend would be hurled back to Littleroot town. And there was his mission; the three commanders had prioritized safety before anything else. Right now he didn't feel very safe. How could he when he was climbing up the sheer cliffs of a waterfall? Solrock and lunatone were encircling the area akin to a pair of predators. If he was caught in their trap, it was all over for both of them. Biting his lip, he heaved himself higher and pressed his body against a ledge, it was just the right size to support him. Sighing, he turned his head to look and came face to face with a red haired levitating girl. If Emerald wasn't too busy fearing for his life, he might've noticed that she was rather cute.

The blonde bit down a scream and frantically motioned her to keep quiet. Tilting her head to one side, she smiled and held out a hand. Debating whether to reach for it or not (was she friend or foe?) he hesitantly reached out a small palm and then pulled his hand back in alarm. He didn't feel human skin, when he touched her; he felt claws, cold and metallic. Being a pokemon trainer, he knew exactly what those deadly appendages could do. The girl shook her head and tried to hold him again. Finally giving up, she let her ability down and Rald gasped.

It was Latias, the legendary came to him! Panic welled in his chest, what if those gym leaders traced her energy? And battling her when he was in such a precarious position would be stupid. He tried to get a pokeball out, but the capsule slipped from his sweaty hands and began to fall in the pond of water below. He watched aghast as Latias dove down and retrieved the ball for him.

"Okay, this is awkward," Rald muttered, the stress was driving him crazy, "my mission is to capture you at all costs and I will feel really bad if I ended up hurting you and forcing you to come with me...You probably don't understand me do you? Sorry, please dismiss this as the ramblings of a mad...WHOA!" the rocky ledge crumbled under his weight and hearing his anguished shout, the gym leaders whipped around. Again, Latias caught him and soared away with Emerald on her back. Both parties sported surprised expressions. The team on the ground merely gaped and Rald, shocked beyond belief, stared back as their figures grew smaller. Latias flew higher in the sky, till she broke the cloud cover. Giving a squeak of pleasure, it dropped into a steep dive and the human atop her back screaked. He complained of how his breakfast was going up the wrong way. Twirling around in circles, it came to a stop near her brother who was gazing at her sternly; the dizzy trainer leaned to the side and fell off, crashing into a tree branch. The eon pokemon was about to approach him when the blonde bent over and threw up. She recoiled and zoomed away.

Emerald gagged, the trip was definitely the best and worst experience he had ever received. His head was swimming, and he tasted bile. Yuck, sliding down the tree trunk, he located a body of water and promptly washed his face and rinsed his mouth with it. Latias had come back and deposited some herbs and berries next to him. Inclining his head as a show of thanks, he gratefully gobbled them up. All the while, Latios' red tinted irises watched him.

Studied him.

"Your brother knows I'm a criminal, you should listen to him when he tells you to stay away from me." Latias had changed back into a girl and was sitting next to him with a wide smile stretched on her face. The Dex-holder really wished she'd at least be hostile, or run away or even attack him. Yeah, attacking would be the best, he'd have a legitimate excuse to fight her and capture her. All the other mythical pokemon were hostile to some degree. He had watched through a camera how Rayquayza almost killed the capture team. Red had broken one side of the glass cage and it forced itself out, opening its mouth and firing a hyper beam in the process. Fortunately, Gold's quick reactions prevented the leader from become a skeleton. Now, he didn't know how to react when the target was actively making friends with him. What would senior Crystal do? He thought. Forcing the last berry in his mouth, he tried talking to the eon pokemon.

"You see," he began, feeling very foolish, to emphasize how serious he was, he stood up and Latias followed suit, "I'm a pokemon trainer...A thief to be precise, my seniors, juniors and I collect legendary pokemon. We don't harm them, at least not like the other people out there..." his mind advertently turned to Green and how the organization was forced to kill the corrupted mewtwo. "There are exceptions...well, the thing is, I must go back home with both you and your brother in a pokeball and I'd like to avoid a fight if possible. You two are the kindest legendries I've ever come across, trust me, we'll try to take very good care of you."

He tried not to think about the way N collapsed in the holding cell, citing that the mythical pokemon were going mad despite their best efforts to keep them happy. Or were his seniors even trying to keep them happy?

The idea was scrapped from his mind.

Immediately after his convoluted little speech, Latias pressed herself against him crooning cheerfully, her brother on the other hand let loose several orbs from the top of his head and before Rald could process what was going on, the spheres all slammed into his tiny body. He was lifted off the ground and brutally flung back into the earth. As the light faded, his body gained a searing pain, the sensation was as if someone was peeling the top layer of his skin off. It was boiling agony. With a screech, Latias stopped her brother from harming him further. She nudged him away, each successive push getting slightly more violent. At last, she fired mist ball and forced her sibling away. The blue pokemon flinched on taking the full brunt of the attack. Rald pushed himself upright and winced; he observed the eon duo in a tense standoff. If the two pokemon fought, things would take a drastic turn for the worst. Suddenly, Latias broke away from her brother and grabbed him by his clothes, hoisting him up, she took him out of sight as Norman and Ruby, panting from exertion, tumbled into the area. Both of them sported various wounds and cuts on their body. Compared to them, Emerald's wounds were superficial.

"Ruru, shadow ball aga- Gah!" Slaking, still muddy and confused, rammed into Ruby whilst the gym leader focused his attention on Latios, he was to prevent the legendary from falling into wrong hands. He sent out staraptor and the vulturine bird rounded on the psychic legendary. Latios used luster purge once more, however, the large avian dodged the deadly orbs of light and slashed the blue pokemon with steel stiffened wings. The two flying types engaged in an acrobatic combat. Swooping, diving on each other and raking their claws over feathers and fur. Unlike his sister, Latios had no qualms about being ferocious and staraptor gave out a pained shriek when one of its eyes was nearly gouged out. With a sharp cry, the bird aced across the air, trying to land a hit. The eon pokemon swerved to one side and was promptly hit by gardevoir's shadow ball. Disorientated, it was unable to dodge the next attack. Tucking its wings, the predator collided with Latios from a low altitude, the recoil damage was too much to bear and with a scream, it fainted, plummeting to the ground.

Latios was out of breath. His sister had taken a liking to a dangerous human and her attack on him had dire consequences. He was not new to this experience, all his life both him and his sister were hunted. So far he had managed to ruin anyone who tried to capture them; unfortunately these adversaries were proving to be quite a big problem. He moved to the side as another sphere of dark energy sailed past. As long as he had the soul dew, things would tip in his favor.

"Ruru, use thief! Get that soul-dew."

He didn't see that coming.

The embrace pokemon teleported to him and literally sucked the holding item away from his claws. The effects were instantaneous, when he tried to attack, it had little effect. His enemies' assails were deadly. Before long, he opted to run away, alas an ultra-ball closed over his form and suddenly he was seeing things from a different perspective. Everything was too big, the sensation of falling was making him dizzy and there was a clear dome over his head. Trying to break out didn't work and all his rebellious thoughts were being muted. Tamed.

"I did it!" Ruby scrambled up and ran as the ball fell, to his astonishment, Latias, with Rald on her back swooped out of nowhere and scooped the ball up. The two trainers exchanged worried glances. They were aware of the dangerous situation engulfing them. Making a hasty decision, Ruby threw the glowing soul-dew to Emerald and implored him to go. "And don't come after me! Tell that to Saph!" If Norman got hold of them both, it was over. After much hesitation and shouting on Ruby's part, the blonde left, clutching the item and pokeball in both fists. They had completed their mission, but at a heavy cost. Sinking to the dirt, the fashionista didn't care if his father gave him a beating. He didn't even whimper when the man grabbed him by his neck.

"We are going home!" Norman thundered and proceeded to drag Ruby through the dirt, his son offered no resistance. "You won't be setting a foot outside the house ever again!"


Evening

Johto

Dex criminal's hideout

"Feels good to be back home!" Gold exclaimed as they jumped down from togekiss, the disgruntled bird pecked Lack-2 a few times before being recalled.

"You don't say~" a torpid voice floated to their ears and Gold whipped around. Diamond was standing behind them; he was flanked by Pearl and Platina. On seeing his junior, the older male rushed over to him and gave him a once over.

"Are you well enough to be coming back here Dia? Does your head hurt?"

"Nope senior!" he gave a slight pause, "I'm all okay, although the doctors said I should be under constant su-per-vision at all times. They are worried I might have a...a...What was it called again?"

"Relapse" Pearl and Platina finished.

"Yeah that." the blue eyed teen smiled, "anyway, I have to tell Red that I haven't been practicing. He's gonna get mad at me." Fretting, he pulled out a cup cake and began eating. Gold laughed and ushered him inside. On entering Execution's common room, Dia was surprised to see a green haired individual talking to a black stone. A void opened up in his chest. He had missed a lot of things during his absence. Nevertheless, he walked to the back of the room with a bounce in his step. Sapphire came over and clapped him good naturedly on his back. Black as usual, screamed a greeting and the new person merely stared at him. Ignoring the weirdo, he searched around the room for his teacher, usually he could be found lazing around on one of the couches watching television or sparring with one member or the other...Or doing paper work, when he felt like it. Right now, the ebony haired adolescent was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's senior Red?" at his question, the atmosphere in the room grew anxious, he was aware of the tension emitted by the other members. Just as he was about to repeat his query and ask why everyone froze, the person he was searching for made an entrance.

"Welcome back Diamond" Red smiled and Pika emitted a squeak, "both you and your cooking were sorely missed!" The choked feeling in the room melted away as he bounded over to his idol. The man ruffled his hair and the Sinnoh native began to talk, wanting to catch up with all that he missed. In the meantime, Gold retrieved the Gracidea flowers from his backpack and started distributing them. The reactions he got ranged from dramatic to apathetic. Sapphire first eyed him warily and at his insistence, took the flower and crushed it into her palm. Black bowed his thanks and in turn gave the blossom to his pokemon. N outright refused. Red grinned and pocketed it, same with Diamond. Moving out of the chamber, he decided to go Strategy's room and do the same. Instead he bumped into Crystal and Silver in the corridors.

"There is something wrong with you." the red head intoned when he was presented with a flower, "never did I think you, out of all people, would give flowers to a man."

"It's for gratitude!" the gold eyed trainer stated, "can't a dude be thankful for his friends?"

"I agree with Silver," Crys stated and took the flower, "you don't normally do this Gold."

"...Yeah I don't..." he sighed and slumped to the floor, his cheerful facade all broken into pieces, "it's just that...after the whole fight or whatever with Senior Red and Green...I kinda...Got scared the same thing might...Happen to us. When I went to bother Red the day after the fight...You know how the top three never tell us anything...I didn't know he had a physical brawl with Green. Man when he opened the door, I almost dropped to the floor. He looked dead, his face was bruised in several places and he absolutely refused to tell me what's going on."

"Don't worry about it." Crystal soothed and squatted down next to him. "They'll sort their differences out, you focus on training Lack-2 and your missions...And don't lean on me, I'll kick you."

Even though she threatened to do as such, she didn't push him away when he supported his entire body weight on her. Something was fluttering in his chest, it wasn't apprehension, rather it was something pleasant. A warm sensation. He wondered what it was.

Silver eyed the duo, "I'm leaving, I got some work to do." he announced and was about to walk away when his best friend grabbed him. "Gold," he sighed, "like I mentioned, I have work to d-"

"Sit with me." It was a forceful request and as much as he wanted to get away, he resigned himself and sat down next to his friend. The male had his eyes closed and head leaning on Crystal's shoulder. In his hands were a bunch of pink petaled flowers. It was an odd sight, seeing three adolescents seating themselves against the wall in a passageway.

"Oh yeah..." Gold's voice was growing heavy, "Silver, if I fall asleep, carry me to bed."

"Hell NO!" the red head denied, alas, his words fell on deaf ears.


Extra:

Team Execution: Is at the forefront, deals mostly with pokemon capturing and battling. They are the fighters and deal well with violence. Being the group with the most exposure, the represent the public image of the Organizations. Their calling card picture consists of two maroon swords crossed over each other.

Members:

Red: Team Leader and former champion of Kanto. He is the actual founder of the organization and the true leader. Not Green. (Despite him doing most of the commanding and work)

Gold: Former apprentice of Red. A battler whose skills are on par with his mentor's

Sapphire: Adept in precision attacking and marital arts. Understands pokemon habitats better than anyone.

Diamond: Worships Red and is the current student of the leader. A very good cook. Dia is extremely slow

Black: Hyperactive fighter who is mostly found screaming his goals to anyone and everyone.

Lack-2: Dispirited student of Gold. He stays away from everyone except Whi-2 who was his classmate and Gold.

N (?): Only there because of Black.


A/N: Norman is quite harsh, poor Ruby though, what's going to happen to him? At Sylveon: Lol, I actually enjoy reading your reviews why would I ban you? As for the reviewing thing, I'm grateful that you three are reviewing, in my previous fanfic, one reader PM'd me to say that my plots are hard to follow…maybe that's the reason? Idk, more reviews would be nice. As for wanting to see Green roasted, I'm already done typing the second arc, so you will have to wait till the third one. Hopefully I'll live up to your expectations. And yes, we are a little family At Jack54311: Did I present the conflict between father and son right? The first chapter of the third arc will clear everything up….I hope. At Silver: You like chocolate? Let's be best buds. I already figured out how the new world will be created. Hehehe, let's see if your theory stands *evil grin* As for Lack-2 having no mother, it reminded me of your clone theory thing. At AceTrainerLeaf: Thanks so much for the amazing review! It's always encouraging to find that the readers like my story...well, I don't ship Blue with anyone, her interactions with Green and Red range from flirty to platonic (in canon) and I don't see any romantic advances towards anyone. And I'm missing Eevee, hope the vacation is going well. (If you are reading this!)

Much thanks to WAHHHH and selard for following the story. What did you guys thing of this chapter? Read and review so I can see your thoughts.