Chapter 54: Priceless treasure
Night
Unova
Pokemon League
"How does it feel to be a champion Iris?" Red gently asked with firelight dancing in his eyes.
I'm here to burn down the Unova league.
The words played over and over again in the chocolate skinned teenager's head and she currently had nothing to say. She didn't even hear Red's query as her mind was too preoccupied with trying to link everything together. Iris knew what she saw but her mind refused to believe it. The once Kanto champion is part of the Dex-criminals? How and why? Taking two steps backwards, she beheld the plasma frigate lowering to the ground. The ship hovered dangerously close to the earth and then it became still. In the distance, she heard the sirens of police cars and vans, overhead search lights danced across the ravaged field, white bursts of light fighting against the roaring inferno. The sound of rotating blades and cackling flames filled her ears. A sudden flash next to Red revealed the muscular form of a poliwrath. Smoke rising from the fire formed a natural screen and shielded them from prying eyes and searchlights.
"I don't understand why you are doing this..." Iris trailed off and haxorus saw its master's eyes snap to the left, a signal, if the male standing before as much as breaths the wrong way, he'd have his limbs separated from his body. The olive dragon crouched with its red tipped claws poised.
"Ideally, the Kanto league would've been a much more sensible target." Execution's commander admitted, "Unfortunately, I don't want Professor Oak to think badly of me. As for why...I guess liberation?" He shrugged and zeroed in on the younger Iris.
Liberation
"That's utter nonsense and just an excuse! What liberation?" The Unova champion swept her hand around the smoking league, "you are nothing more than a detested criminal who is looking for a justification of the actions you are carrying out. Freedom from what exactly Red?"
"From being moulded into child soldiers Iris." The ebony haired man spat, "tell me, are battle simulators that fun to you? People like us...Child champions are forced to comply by the league's demands unconditionally. Drunk off the prospect of being a pokemon champion, we don't think about the consequences and desperately cling to our position whilst the association and EVERYONE in it drive circles around us! The older champions don't have such problems; they can go about their daily lives and other professions whilst we...Are chained to the league and prepped to destroy the next opponent to dare tries to take our status away from us. Could you go home Iris?" Red swept his bangs back and fiercely questioned, "Could you spend time with your friends whenever you wanted to? What about family? Did they allow you to visit them?" The man flicked his finger and haxorus, whose growls increased in urgency and malice stopped dead in its tracks with one razor sharp claw barely grazing the fabric of Red's jacket. The dragon froze as a layer of ice rendered it immobile.
The purple haired teenager remained silent and everything he said echoed hollowly around her head. True, her mind agreed, after she became the champion, she spent her days battling imaginary opponents in a battle simulator and even though she hated the machines and the routines with a passion, the girl could not argue against the seniors and the chairman, doing so will result in her being stripped of the title she clung on to. In a way Iris understood why he did this; to see your haunting memories go up in a blaze provided a selfishly tempting and wonderful sight.
"Well, I came to check up on you and I guess I got my answers...If the shadows ringing your eyes are any indication. I suppose simply telling you to keep quiet will only end up in the police looking for me more zealously. And Green's gonna chew me out for it." The ex-champion continued speaking in a casual manner as Iris took measured steps backwards, her hand inching to her waist for a new pokeball. "You will have to forget that you ever met me today." He gave a fleeting, sardonic grin. "Poli...Amnesia"
"NO!" She screamed but it was too late. Her memories folded from her, knees buckling, she dropped to the roof of the dome. Red watched with a doleful expression on his face as the dark skinned female shed tears involuntarily and gasped for air. The effects of amnesia on a human's mind proved to be devastating, if the move did not execute properly, the target's memory is wiped clean and their mental functions degrade to that of an infant. Iris cried silently, her mouth opening and closing, her eyelids, fringed with thick mauve lashes, obscured glassy maroon irises. Execution's commander snapped his fingers and in moments he and Poli reappeared on the deck of the ship. The minute he materialized, Black grabbed him by the front of his t-shirt, pushed him against the steel railings and exploded in his face:
"Explain YOURSELF!" The teen hollered in his superior's face and Red shut his eyes against the acrimonious outburst. White and N tried to pull him from behind but the Unovian hissed and tightened his grip on the shirt.
"You explain it to me Black" The Kanto native softly whispered and Black immediately let go, taken aback by his behaviour. "The league will be rebuilt in a few months' time and by that time you won't be a naive little teen anymore, if you challenge it, then I'm sure the Unovians will have a new Champion to cheer about." Crimson irises took note of N lingering at the far edge of the ship. The leaf haired adolescent gazed left, right and then...
Promptly jumped off the ship.
Shoving his subordinate away, the infuriated commander gave chase whilst the others sported bewildered looks. Black immediately noticed N's disappearance and before anyone could stop him, he summoned his braviary and soared after the tiny green and white speck rushing into the partially destroyed Plasma Castle. Red halted at the railings and gritted his teeth as Black flashed him a grin and pointed at the former King whose form zigzagged through debris, flames and broken construction remains.
"N, BLACK! Get back here. NOW!" Red screeched to no avail. The adult inhaled deeply and tried to calm himself, his head throbbed with rage and his knuckles turned white from clenching them too hard on the metallic railing. Uttering a curse, he threw a pokeball in the air and aerodactyl popped out. Inarticulate due to sheer anger, he pointed towards Black and snapped his fingers and the grey dragon understood. Bring those two back under all costs. With an almighty roar and a heave of its leathery wings, the ancient rock wrym vanished into the darkness and its trainer stood there and rubbed his temples.
A sinister sensation happened to be the only warning before Black looked up and spied rock hard talons kicking his cap off his head, he ducked and held on to Brav with all his might whilst the predatory bird tumbled to avoid the dragon. The chocolate teenager gasped on seeing Aero, the fossil pokemon displayed a fury rarely seen in its onyx eyes. He gulped and urged his bird to go faster. Brav did a sharp turn downwards and flew mere meters above the heated earth. The entrance of the ruined castle loomed up and Black could see N's silhouette amongst smoke and orange flames. Just a little more ground to cover, his aim was to snatch the adolescent up and take him back to the frigate alas, things rarely go as planned. The former plasma lynchpin stepped over the threshold and the valiant pokemon chased after him with rock monster hot on its tail. They passed under an elegant archway and flew into a long corridor. Seconds later, both Black and Brav crashed to the floor and came to a skidding halt at N's feet. Astonished, the leaf haired man knelt down to inspect braviary's wings when an unearthly roar sent chunks of rock flying towards him, a boulder soared over his head, hit the end of the hallway and decimated an entire wall. Aero flapped its wings and slammed down on the tiled floor with an incensed grunt. Next to N, Black stirred, moaned and shot up, one hand clamped down on N's forearm and his terrified eyes locked on to aerodactyl. The wyvern coolly glared back and cocked its oversized head backwards.
"N..." Black's words died in his throat as another chilling scream rendered the air apart. Tendrils of frigid air blew around and frost crept ominously around the walls. N handed the frozen Brav back to its trainer and got up. Determination and resolve burned in his slate irises.
"I have old accounts to settle" He smiled and the brown haired teen's mouth hung open. "I have to free Kyurem from my fa-...From Ghetsis' suffering and I intend to do it-" The hyperactive male sprang up and seized him, together they dashed madly down the corridors. Aero screeched in indignation, kicked up earthen projectiles and send them careering after the hastily escaping duo.
"Yeah...Whatever you want to do, count me in. OUCH!" Black stumbled as a chunk of granite hit him squarely in the leg. "And keep out of Aero's way...Mew knows that beast will probably kill in order to haul us back to the ship. Senior Red's orders. And why did you just run out on us huh? We are a team don't you OW! Forget that!" Vigorously rubbing the bump on his head, the Unovian considered sending carracosta out...However one glance at the rampaging dragon told him otherwise. Poor old Costa would have its exoskeleton bashed into bite sized pieces before it had the chance to fire a water gun.
On the deck of the ship, Red watched the rest of his team members make a loose half ring around him. He sensed their distress and apprehension as they waited for further orders. His head pounded an erratic rhythm against his skull and he wondered for the umpteenth time if the mission would finish the way he wanted to. N...The wild card in his department finally took off with a bang and dragged Black along with him. Black...The commander exhaled and internally bemoaned the way his plans went awry. This is why he hated planning, if his two best friends drew up an objective, chances are their subordinates will carry it out without a margin of error. Execution on the other hand..."White, Lack-2" he intoned and the two Unovians stood to attention, "go after Black and N, that castle is crawling with Plasma personnel and they might need back up." The duo respectfully dipped their heads and shifted to the side and he saw the remaining member fidget uncomfortably. Blue said that Whi-2 could easily adapt to situations and he wondered if she would be willing to infiltrate the league with him. "Whi-2 come with me, we are going to break the league from the inside out." A brief flare of fear alighted in her eyes before she schooled her emotions and nodded her consent. "Good." Red smiled and praised, "Head out and keep safe." He waited till White and Lack-2 departed before boarding an irritated charizard. The young girl tentatively sat behind him and the fire type rose high in the sky. On seeing the destruction playing out on the ground below him, his headache dissipated and a sweet rapturous rush overtook him.
Vengeance never painted such a beautiful picture.
In the periphery of the ex-champion's vision, he observed Iris standing guard with archeops hovering lazily next to her. Digging out a pair of binoculars, he zoomed in on her visage and let out a silent sigh of relief when her eyes remained clear and focused. Putting the equipment down, he tore off a badge from the inside of his jacket and inspected it, the cascade badge gleamed dully in his gloved palm. Pocketing it, he unpinned another one and looked, the soul badge. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed it and the badge fell with a muted clutter on the green tiles of the dome and near her feet. The young champion bent down to pick it up and missed the large shadowy blur of a fire dragon sweeping over her head.
Ruby was busy piling the comatose bodies in one corner of the room when the doors opened of their own accord. The male took a fighting stance and gripped a pokeball in his hand. He relaxed when Platina strode in and after stowing Zuzu away, he resumed dragging the heavy bodies across the carpet with renewed zest and petulance. Platina stepped over fainted beasts and seated herself in a plush wheel chair, from here, her inky irises wandered over the bank of monitors and she saw the entire building lying defenceless before her eyes. A glance at the screen told her that Emerald did his job, furiously hacking and tearing the laboratory's cyber-security apart. The two spies worked in silence and only the glow of the monitor and the occasional humming broke the otherwise pregnant silence. An analogue clock ticked somewhere in the shadows and the noble observed the bar on the screen steadily filling up. The laptop downloaded data from the secured archives of this laboratory and a small smile bloomed on her face. Even if Constellate had no use of the other information they managed to illegally attain, it will fetch a handsome profit for her parents. Her co-worker finished with his work and pulled off his gloves, thereafter he prowled around the room and wiped traces of their existence, sweeping the disgustingly dusty carpet (weren't cleaners allowed in this dump?) and rubbing all the surfaces with a disinfectant doused cloth.
Ding
A message on the portable computer alerted the two spies that all the information had been downloaded and secured. Urgency seeped in their actions as they meticulously packed underneath the accusatory stares of cameras. Their activities played back on the screens and Platina swallowed nervously. Just because she was adept at hiding her emotions, did not mean that she didn't feel them. Every mission they embarked upon, no matter how mundane, sent her heart fluttering from a mixture of fright and the ambition to finish the assignment without flaws. Slinging the bag over her shoulder, Ruby allowed her to leave first, at the last minute her senior turned around and let swampert loose. A torrent of muddy water doused the chamber and threw up an electrical storm. He grinned at her inquisitive expression.
"Rald likes showing off" the fashionista explained and patted his reptilian monster on a job well done, "he has a habit of leaving digital signatures and I'm sure there is a huge electronic chess piece waving somewhere in their databases. In order to cover our tracks, I short circuited the whole lot. No more classified archives for these people." He pulled out a stiff white card and let it drop at the entrance.
Late-night
Sinnoh
Resort Area
"That's IT!" Ruby hollered, "You are overworking me again!" he moaned and slumped pathetically on the divan. The others graced him with baleful looks and ignored him.
"Silver goes days without sleeping...Man up Ruby" Blue yawned and peered at the mounds of documents spread out before her. "You complain that Emerald likes to show off, he can do so if he pleases because he is part of team Strategy and they, like Execution, do not participate in covert activities." The woman pulled a sheet of paper and skimmed over it. "Covert, Ruby" she repeated, "exactly what part of the word don't you understand? You left a huge mess behind and now the police will up security on every other building in Sinnoh; we are working with a time constraint here. Stop complaining and work, you earned your punishment." Sprawled on the luxurious carpet, the commander tucked her legs beneath her and fervently drew up new plans. Silver handed a detailed map of the Veilstone building and she studied it intently. "By the way...how is your father?" Ruby twitched on hearing her question and tried to avoid her gaze, but Blue kept on scrutinizing him till he answered.
"Dad's been fired from the police...I heard Steven Stone is also not part of them anymore." He twiddled with his hat, "fortunately the association didn't boot him from his real job so he is still the leader of the Petalburg gym. His paralysis..." he paused slightly and wondered if he should share his problems when everyone had worries of their own, Blue inclined her head and smiled gently and he continued, "his paralysis is getting worse though. Dad is on strict medications and knowing him, he won't take them unless Mom reminds him three times a day. Anyway, he is doing okay so far, he hates being bound in a wheel-chair though. Says it hurts his pride." The Hoenn native snorted and filed away a page.
"You should visit him and give him a gift or two."
"Are you kidding me? That man does not want to see my rotten, thieving face ever again." Ruby lapsed into a brooding silence and retreated into a corner of the room. His posture radiated bitterness and the others agreed to leave him alone for a while.
The brown haired female stared at Ruby for a few minutes longer and turned her attention at the file she wrote up. Turns out the Azure Flute was as useful as it claimed. In ancient times, legendary pokemon used it to open a door to the Hall of Origins and seek an audience with Arceus. A delighted shiver ran down Blue's spine, there were no records of humans ever using it and unlike what its appearance belied, the flute was not constructed out of clay. The heavenly ornament was built from the same material as Arceus' plates; it was fashioned by the creation pokemon himself and for the use of his children only, namely the mythical pokemon who governed the Poke-verse. Humans have been too afraid to use it and when archaeologists discovered the artefact buried underneath the snow-capped peaks of Mount Coronet, they handed it over to the authorities and the Pokemon association locked the relic up in one of the most secure buildings in the region. The Pokemon league. Since the fall of Team Galactic and with them not operating on a public level, the divine flute had been secretly ferried to Veilstone and kept under high surveillance in the formerly Galactic building. According to the notes in her hand, similar to the griseous orb, the object had a safe dedicated to its protection with the addition of psychic and dark barriers. Blue cackled malevolently and Silver threw her an apathetic glance, what use were those barricades when she had their weakness written down right in front of her? Maybe she should send Rald a really expensive gift the next time they see each other, the diminutive blonde served to be an enormous amount of help.
Blue flipped a folio, "We know the Azure Flute is kept in the bowels of the Veilstone Building and it is protected by some nasty boundaries...I see that the police and associations are taking a page out of our book. It's a shame they even revealed how to dismantle the blockades...Oh well, more power to us right?!" No one cheered and her brother apathetically gurgled his quantity of coffee down. "This time, Silver and I will go." He choked on his drink, "aren't you excited to work with me again little brother?"
"Very" he coughed and put his mug down.
"You don't sound very excited." She pouted.
"Sis, I feel absolutely over the moon to be going on a mission with you" he deadpanned and gathered his hair into a messy bun, "more importantly what are the mission protocols? I need to memorize them." The red headed male gathered all of his highlighted notes together and bound them. "When are we leaving?"
"Tomorrow during the evening," His older sibling uncrossed her legs and stretched, "I don't want this assignment to drag so we will simply infiltrate and steal the flute from under their stringent security. No month long reconnaissance anymore since we have the layout of the building. Copy it on to your phone or palmtop computer just in case." Silver nodded, leaned forward and questioned on the method of infiltration. "We might need to use a window and then crawl up a ventilation shaft...Ugh, I hate doing that! Remember to bring along laser cutters and night vision goggles. What can we do about the cameras Silver? And my conscious is telling me that the safe door has a password with it, we have no hints as what it could be and Rald told me that idiot head Green is using his porygon z for some dubious project. My only concern is the password; I don't want to type in the wrong thing and miss such a golden opportunity. Think Silver!" she grabbed her poor brother and subjected him to a bone crushing hug, "if Red's plan goes without a hitch, we can sell the artefact and become rich! And I can buy you all the things you ever wanted" she added softly and ruffled his hair.
Instead of sharing his sister's exuberant ruminations, he rationalized, "Sis...I've been thinking, don't you think this is too easy?"
"Hmm, not actually, you have to remember Rald is an excellent technician and hacker...Team Strategy survives off his money you know, Green does not get a stable salary all the time, his payment depends on his research. As for our midget friend, he patents gadgets and sells them both to the underground market and to well-known companies. Hoenn's PokeNav has a bit of his technology in it. Don't underestimate him."
"Yeah...I understand." The Johto native mumbled. Platina politely excused herself and left for her bedroom, leaving the two siblings conversing with each other, "you are right, I'm overthinking this." He pulled out of her embrace and packed up. "See you tomorrow Sis and I'm really looking forward to taking the field with you again." He smiled genuinely and she waved him away. In the corner, with the silky curtain draped over his form, Ruby drooled over his perfectly taken notes and muttered something in his sleep. Blue approached him and paused on hearing his sleep talk.
"I don't hate you..." he garbled, "and I wish...Just once in your life...that you would look at me as a son...And not just someone bound to walk...In your shadow."
Shadows...the lazuli eyed woman remembered them crawling all over her when Team Rocket holed her up in a grimy cell and tortured her. They needed fresh recruits and human experiment subjects and Blue, an affluent, coddled young woman proved to be a wonderful target. If she outlived her usefulness, her wealthy parents would be more than glad to pay a hefty sum of money to secure their broken daughter back. Unfortunately for them, the snivelling child who once cowered in the shadows, lashed out one day and managed to break free. Even worse, the brat took another boy with her. She closed her eyes and forced the unpleasant memories away. Crouching next to the crimson eyed teen, she shook him awake.
"Ruby darling" Blue called and he muttered a few more words and slowly straightened up. "Go to bed, we are done with outlining our mission." The boy had his gaze fixed to the opposite end of the room and she wondered what he saw, "you did great, get some rest now." Ruby huffed and pushed himself off the carpeted floor, both members pretended not to notice the way he discretely wiped moisture from his eyes.
Around midnight
Unova
Pokemon League
They assigned him to an important area, Hugh mused as dozens of Team Plasma grunts tried to overwhelm him with sheer numbers. Luckily, he stood at the end of a conduit and behind him; the passageway branched off to the Elite Four quarters. More league finalists have been posted in various key positions throughout the league and he hissed. The others had help from either the Elite four, or they oversaw a small squadron of the league trainers and what did he get? Nothing. Grimsley led him to the very centre of the gigantic stadium and through to the entrance leading to the residences. The area they left him in resembled a partially covered courtyard, he had a roof over his head and yet, Hugh could view the stars. Alone, the spiky haired male let all of his partners loose and the beasts roamed around. His wait was rewarded when his ears picked up the distant clamouring of stampeding people. An entire army clothed in navy blue and black burst on the scene and for a brief, panicked moment, he felt lost, his emboar retaliated with a plume of fire and drew a ragged line of flames between its master and the intruders. Hugh pressed his palms against his head and murmured something indiscernible, thereafter he added:
"Prepare yourself, I'm about to release my rage!" Several of the older grunts laughed at the absurdity of his words till Boar charred both them and their pokemon into oblivion, he witnessed the fear in their eyes and after a few consultations, the giant mass split into two and tried to surge around him, their shoes and boots echoing loudly on the terracotta tiles. Hugh shouted a few rapid fire commands and his beasts sprang into action. Flygon, boufallant and elektross grouped together and barred one side whilst emboar, simipour and unfezant posted themselves on the other. The grunts stopped; again, they were at a loss for what to do. A few brave souls sent their stolen, mid levelled pokemon out and suffered a bone crushing defeat. Digging into his waist pack, the teenager retrieved another potion and peered into his bag, if they assaulted him at this rate, he'd be out of potions and elixirs pretty soon and his berry inventory didn't look so good either. The writhing mass of people pressed against a light-screen he erected in order to keep them out. Parts of the translucent pane fragmented into sparks of multi-coloured light and disappeared. Relentlessly, he kept out barking orders and took a second to growl into the mike hanging inches away from his mouth. "I need back up...And I need it quickly, there are a large number of Plasma grunts trying to shove their way into the apartments." He listened, cupping one hand over the earphone as he tried to drown out background noise, "What?" he demanded and swore, "what do you mean I'm on my own...Listen to me you moron I'm outta potions and I nee-" Hugh convulsed violently when a stray bolt of electricity dissipated from some creature and hit him. Livid, he tore the smoking earphones out and ground them under his foot. The light-screen barrier had crumbled into nothingness and from his position; he could see the obvious exertion taxing his monsters.
The shoving mass of Plasma grunts stopped abruptly in their tracks and he wondered what new headache decided to make an appearance. Sluggishly, the people parted to allow an elderly man through. Hugh noted his moustache, a fluffy white cloud, covering his upper lip before the garb gave the sage's identity away. The plasma crest emblazoned on his cloak flashed when Bronius swept it aside and brought out a pokeball.
"I see the league likes to enslave children as well as pokemon" he tutted and released an amoongus. "My subordinates called in with a plea for emergency backup and I find it is a young child who bars their way. I am most disappointed."
"Huh?" Hugh inhaled sharply "well the methods you are using to 'free' the pokemon aren't so moral either. Stealing and forcing lifelong partners to split apart. Obviously you people haven't considered the emotional damage both humans and pokemon can suffer. You guys make me sick and if I defeat you, I hope the rest of your snivelling servants will follow suit and leave this area alone. No one..." he paused, "absolutely NO ONE is going past here." The crimson eyed teenager tried to sweep his mane of spikes backwards. "I'm about to unleash my rage."
He blinked and blinked again and repeated the action for a third time to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, even his other pokemon halted in their actions in order to come to terms with the spectacle presented before them. Till date, his emboar managed to burn any opponent to a crisp and even the ones who were at much higher levels than him, suffered a few third degree burns. Water types were not spared of his wrath so why? And to top it off, amoongus is a grass type, instead of being vaporized into a black smudge; the mushroom pokemon merely danced teasingly and blew several clouds of spores in the air. The veins on Hugh's forehead distended and one by one they became visible, he gritted his teeth and screamed a few commands. Boar lurched forward and then crashed to the floor. A quick glance at him told that the fire pig was poisoned and several tendrils buried itself under its thick skin. Amoongus leached off his emboar. The master had other worries, where did the poison come from? And why did the Team Plasma members cover their mouth and nose?
"Our databases told us that you might be a Pokedex holder but after the kidnapping of two potential holders and the subsequent stealing of two of those devices, the authorities decided to hold it off. It is a shame really" Bronius' eyes gleamed savagely, "if you had the Pokedex, you would've noted the move clear smog. As fine as a haze and as deadly as toxic. You and all your monsters are inhaling minute amounts of potent poison which my amoongus flushed into the air." Suddenly, Hugh swayed and choked; frantically he dug his rapidly stiffening fingers into his waist pack and pulled out everything he could use to combat poison. His vision dimmed and he heard the distinct crash of his boufallant falling to its side. The boy stared in his palms.
He only had a pecha berry.
Indecision added to the thoughts swirling in his head, his knees weighed akin to lead and he wanted to drop down on the floor and sleep. And he smelt something foul too. What to do with a single pecha berry? Does he give it to one of his suffering partners or have it for himself? Clenching his teeth together, be began to divide the berry when Bronius' snarling laughter prompted him to look up.
"You need to have the entire berry to antidote the effects of poison lad, if a fraction of it was enough, people won't be using entire berries in their competitions." Drops of acrid tears fell from his eyes and dropped into his hands, leaving smoking indents behind. What to do? His flygon growled miserably, what to do? The cries of his pokemon reverberated around the room and pain welled up in him. Elektross dragged itself across the tiles and painfully inched towards Bronius. More tears streamed down and left parallel scores on his cheeks.
Hugh still didn't know what to do. His pokemon, apart from Boar, could not battle effectively without a trainer commanding them. A crushing weight sat on his chest and he peered downwards to the single berry in his hands. The pink skinned fruit seemed to disappear and he held on to it lest it really does vanish.
"I don't see what the fuss is child." The sage spared a sorry glance for the elektross, the elefish spread a thick slime on the ground as it crawled towards him, "eat the berry, pokemon can endure pain and affliction due to their bizarre biological make up whilst we humans can't. Eat it and spare yourself the agony you are feeling."
Hugh took a bite of the berry, a tiny nibble and hurled the rest of at Bronius' sneering face. The fruity projectile soared and hit him square on the nose. "Scum like you" The teenager rasped and clutched his throat, "will never understand the bond between a master and a pokemon. How could you when you all use stolen pokemon? They only obey your orders because they believe that one day their original trainers will come looking for them and set them free." He heaved and failed to see the thunderous look on the Plasma sage's face as he picked off the remains of pulped fruit and tossed it to the ground, "If my pokemon are going down...Then I'm going down with them." Hugh retched and threw up at his feet, his body spasmed painfully. The Plasma personnel observed him with visible disgust as the purple haired boy emptied the contents of his stomach on the floor. After gagging for a good several minutes, he straightened up, wiped his mouth with a gloved hand and discarded the glove. Hugh felt much better, the horrible burning in his chest and throat were gone and his eyes stopped lacrimating diluted acid. He drew in shaky breaths and winced on tasting bile, moving backwards, his took in his pokemon, the monsters twitched on the floor like comatose flies. All his anger and pent up rage evaporated only to be replaced by regret and remorse. He saved himself instead of his pokemon and now he stood alone without any friends to fight for him. Friends, he considered them as such and made a remarkable effort to foster good relationships with them. They kept him company in dark times and saved him in dire situations and now...He betrayed them.
I betrayed them.
He lamented his actions. Calling the Team Plasma scum, Hugh inwardly snorted, was he any better? In front of him, Bronius burbled something unpleasant and his head snapped up. The pecha berry the executive commander threw rolled to a stop near elektross and the electric type happily gorged on the remnants of the fruit. The elderly man uttered a terse command and Hugh, his brain kick starting all over again, ran. Amoongus blitzed at high speed towards the fish and he, without any other weapon or pokemon, viciously kicked the mushroom and it soared over its master's head and vanished somewhere behind the mass of Plasma grunts. A series of pulses ran down the length of the elektross' body and unexpectedly the pokemon recovered and resumed its natural levitation off the ground. Hugh grinned devilishly as Bronius stepped backwards. What a coward. Four sharp fangs clamped over the man's chest and his underlings scattered on perceiving a black, ominous thundercloud hovering in the air. A brilliant flash of light pierced the glass roof and struck the tail of elektross, the electric creature conducted the bolt, amplified it and discharged it into Bronius' chest. It heard the deafening roar of the man's heartbeat before it dimmed. The white haired man dropped to the floor and Hugh held his hand out.
"Antidotes," the boy seethed, "and I want you and your cronies to scram from this place."
Before dawn
Unova
Pokemon league interior
Sirens resounded and large speakers blared with commands given by the authorities. The inside of the league happened to be a flurry of disorganized activity as Plasma grunts and officials clashed, spat threats to each other whilst their pokemon fired beams of multi-coloured energy, the foyer didn't look like one anymore with fragments of plaster, tiles and broken windows littering the floor; and proved to be a hazardous arena to battle in. Two figures slunk inside, past brawling groups and headed down a series of twisted, brightly lit passages. They avoided the warp panels at all costs because they could never be sure which chamber they ended up in. Keeping to the walls, the duo traversed with great caution and crept further into the league. Their target, according to the ebony haired male, is the Pokemon Association's headquarters situated opposite the Elite four and Champion's living stations. First to destroy the command centre and the rest shall fall.
Unfortunately for Whi-2, Execution's commander took a deliberate wrong turn when he spied a tall hat and a Plasma sage strolling pompously down the corridor. Stuffing the map in her hands, the older male brushed his bangs over his forehead, directed her to the very heart of the league and after telling her to meet him there, fled. The azure eyed girl peered at the map and sighed, the lack of discipline in Team Execution was a force to be reckoned with. Keeping faithfully to the walls, she slinked around akin to a shadow and passed unnoticed. Several cameras followed her every move before her servine rendered them incapable by firing a set of razor leaves. The higher ups of the league were saddled with a crisis, a pincer attack, they thought and the immediate threat happened to be the more visible Team Plasma. She rounded a corner and held her breath on seeing a member of the elite four dish out terrible assaults. It reminded her of Hugh and she admonished herself. Of course her friend won't be here, when the Unovian criminal organization re-reared their heads, the Pokemon Association halted the competition and escorted all the participating trainers out. Any chance of glimpsing her childhood friend washed away. Consulting the map in her hands, she traced a path to the accommodations of the Elite four. A closed courtyard separated the apartments from the main stadium and to the right of the residential area, lay the association. Fixing the visor firmly atop her chocolate brown locks, she flattened herself against a wall and let a large procession of Plasma grunts pass, they carried an unconscious sage between them. Whi-2 waited for another five minutes before gingerly setting off again. The carpeted hallway ended and gave way to a door. Grasping her ornate handle, she psyched herself and twisted a knob.
Her sneakers made no noise as they padded over terracotta tiles. The conduit opened up near the end and she sported blood stains, pokemon fluids and signs of a fierce war. A sniff alerted her to the presence of neurochemicals lingering in air, putting up her guard, she treaded closer.
"Yeah, blast it with more water and scrub that barf off the tiles Simipour, thank Zekrom we managed to salvage a few healing items from the old moron. Are you feeling better?"
She stopped. Hugh? Her heart leapt in her mouth and she wanted to find a place to hide, alas, the passageway held no ornaments and it didn't have any bends she could squeeze into. Glued to her spot, she studied him. Hugh grew taller and more muscular, from the back, his shoulders looked too broad. Her eyes trailed up his head and she saw his hair still remained the same. A headful of angry lilac spikes which refused to lie down even if they were smothered in gel. He seemed to be asking his monkey to clean the floor and his voice sounded the same. A guttural tone offset by an impatient lilt. How long ago did see each other? Three years was a short time for Hugh to change so much. Surely he would tower over her now.
The back of his neck prickled and he sensed someone staring holes in his head. An enemy? No, the presence didn't feel hostile and his pokemon did not shriek up a warning. Slowly, he turned around and saw a teenage girl intently studying him from the other end of the conduit. Familiar...She looked very familiar and as his mind pieced together all the facts and confirmed them, he felt the world stop turning.
"...Whi-2" He breathed.
And the world stopped revolving for both of them.
A/N: Whi-2 and Hugh finally met, anyone wanna guess what's going to happen next? Does he join them or tear Whi-2 away from the Dex criminals? At Silver: An apocalypse? The way the world is going, I'll welcome one any day…okay forget I ever said that. Will Ransei nobles interfere with Dex? Your question will be answered in the next chapter. Green, irritation leads to stupidity no? And he ended up doing a favour to Steven and thanks for the warm compliments :) At Guest: Blue behaving flirtatiously might be a facade she picked up after releasing herself from Team Rocket's clutches. I think she keeps that persona in order to hide her true self and I'm not sure if she has any feelings for Green in the manga, but in this story she has zilch feelings for him. I'll keep your tip in mind, thanks for that and your praises are inflating my head :D Thanks for the motivation and I'll try my best to better my standard of work. Facial hair? I never actually thought about it…I guess not, I can't picture them with facial hair unless there is a picture of them having a beard. At Jack: Heh, I'm not answering spoilers, but yeah, she does something stupid. Steven getting closer to Green's identity huh…
Thank you for all the warm reviews and please keep on reading and reviewing. Constructive criticism is most welcome and virtual chocolate covered nuts for everyone (…now I'm craving those.)
