Chapter 36

Raquaza/Corinne Martin met with all the captains in the infirmary. All except Diego/'Garchomp' and the traitor Atri were present. Corinne sighed with anxiety. Even though she was prepared for tough times, she didn't want to do it without Hianna. But her Raquaza counterpart was no longer… It made her aggrieved to think about it.

"So, you heard what happened, so what does the un-helmeted Raquaza say?" Kaito said evenly. He still was sore about letting Raquaza have a face for everyone to see. The helmet seemed like a safety precaution and now Ms. Martin was throwing it away.

Kasmir, who was still in Mewtwo form and bandaged up a bit, sitting on a bed, waved his thick tail in the air. He had recovered enough to be in human guise, but the medic said that the guise didn't help him bandage and check on the bullet wounds. The Mewtwo didn't like it, but he stayed in his Pokémon form, surrounded by solemn captains.

"We can't try to capture Atri, that's for sure." She said, looking at Kasmir. "I don't want anyone getting hurt like that."

Kasmir put on a brave face. "Come on, I lived through many battles before, this is no big deal…"

"It's a big deal when someone nearly dies…" Corinne replied, and then tried to act more like a leader. "But now that Hianna is gone… I won't lie to you; I don't know what to do. I lost my brother a long time ago, and I don't want to lose any of you."

The captains nodded, and then Uchiha stepped forward. "I don't believe that I told you my story. I might be able to help in a decision."

"Yes, what happened to you and who hurt you?" DJ jumped to her side.

The blue haired woman sat down in the infirmary on a bed close to Kasmir's. She took a deep breath and said, "I was sent to find out more on this hidden foe that we were fighting against, and I fought out more than I imagined, but it cost me…

"I flew over on my Pidgeot and landed in Rota, then walked down the mountain range to Pewter city so I wouldn't be seen as an obvious trainer."

"You went to Rota? That's my birthplace." Kasmir said happily. His spirit was not crushed even after his wounds and near death experience.

"Yes." 'Latias' replied.

"Stop interrupting, Kasmir." Kaito sighed. "Please continue with your tale, Uchiha."

She gulped and continued. "Well, Pewter wasn't a very good town to be in. It was going through a near war with Pokémon. Pewter is a valley town surrounded by mountains and mountain Pokémon. The destruction was great, but that's everywhere in Kanto. Pewter didn't have much information on this evil I was looking for, so I wandered to Saffron, Kanto's capital. I figured that I'd find something there.

"Well, my hunch was right. I saw the broadcasts and heard the speeches that the president was giving about the current war against our Pokémon neighbors. Before I could find any solid proof that the Kanto democracy was failing and a dictator was rising up (aka, the President), I was found and captured. The men who were snatching trainers took me into a basement of some building and locked me up. I was stuck with my Pokémon for a day. That was when I wrote the letters and gave them to my Gengar and Pidgeot. I called them out of their Pokéball outside the door and they left to deliver the notes.

The rest of the captains were stunned. Hearing that Uchiha suspected the Kanto president to be the instigator… it somehow fit, and yet it was disgusting to accept.

"After that…" she continued hesitantly.

Kasmir felt inclined to chime in again, "We got the notes and Pokémon you sent. After you're done telling your story, you can see them again."

"Shut up, Mewtwo." Kaito held his fist above Kasmir's head threateningly.

Kasmir glared back, but kept his mouth closed.

"After that… I was kept there for a long time. I couldn't tell exactly how long. I had no idea what was going on outside my cell… Then the trainer-snatchers came for me. They took me to a room and tortured me to get information on the goings-on here…" the blue haired woman left off mournfully. "You saw that I finally caved in and told them about our secret operations. They were good at what they did. They killed my Pokémon in front of me…"

"They are Barbarians! This is an outrage!" Kasmir stood up despite his wounds. The injustice got his blood boiling.

"Why would they do that?" Corinne tried to act like Hianna did when she was resolute.

"They hate Pokémon trainers… They think that Pokémon as companions is wrong, that humans should be above Pokémon. To them, we are demi-humans and they won't hesitate to kill us all." Uchiha was near tears. DJ leapt to her side, trying to comfort her.

"If they wouldn't hesitate to kill us all, then why'd they give you back?" Kaito said levelly.

"Because I was their enemy. My knowledge of what this organization kept me alive. And when they had heard enough, they gave a note to you captains saying where I was moved to. They wanted to do that so they could wire and bug the warehouse to see the others in my team… now if Flygon/Nicole, Kaito/'Salamence', or DJ tries to escape the regions, they will find you… an me…" She blubbered.

Corinne Martin sighed and rubbed her temples. "Then the chance of escape is low…"

"Not really, I can make myself look like anyone, I can confuse these guys." Kasmir clenched his three-fingered fist.

"You've had enough trouble with these guys; don't throw yourself into danger again, Kasmir." Corinne shook her head. "And I'm sure that Atri will tell them everything he picked up on." She sighed and said, "The only thing that he is wrong on is that he thinks he killed the one and only Raquaza. Can we use that to our advantage?"

Sigh… I am dragging my feet through this ending. Thanks to everyone who really likes it, or at least pretends that they like it…

Fanfiction is a place to put up first drafts of a story and have other authors say what they like and don't like, and I'm grateful for feedback.

I will maybe make this longer, or just make the next chapter longer. If you haven't noticed, I'm writing PMD Explorers of Stupidity at the same time as this, and it's more fun to write for me.