Ch. 44 Symphony
{Symphony's point of view}
I remember back when I was a child... my mother wasn't around much because she was in the military. My father was murdered 4 years after I was born. Having no memory of him, and with my mom away, I was a very lonely child. Where I lived, I was the only kid. Everyone else was hell bent on farming to help feed our dying population. That's what we were good for... Our camp only had a handful of guards and I knew if we were attacked it'd be game over. My mother would visit and tell me stories of the past. This one was my favorite.
I was 5 at the time, "So what happened Mommy?" I asked.
"My friend's brother allowed himself to get blown up." My mother told me.
"Whoa... Did he die?" I asked.
She shook her head no, "He lived but the Darkrai was dead. It's hard to believe that was two years ago..." my mother muttered.
"Stacy of the Blood Moon. The Commander has a mission for you." A random soldier reported.
My mother looked down with a sigh, "Ugh... always something. I have to go my little bundle of joy." She whispered sadly.
"Don't worry mommy. I know you'll win because your a hero." I smiled.
My mother smiled at that, "Yeah but you'll be a hero too. I can tell." she told me.
"Stacy... we have to go." The soldier urged.
With that, my mother got up and left with the soldier. I loved the story about how my mom and her friends beat Darkrai. It was so cool... After she left, I spent my days helping out the farmers. I wanted to be useful and it was for that reason I was able to live. My camp was attacked but I was able to escape because of my want to help my camp. I hid in bushes as I did my best to sneak away. At one point I noticed several pokemon and female humans walk by. One woman was dragging a struggling 14 year old boy by his left leg. His arms were tied and his mouth was taped shut. He was flailing his body desperately in a vain attempt to escape.
"We got a lot of food today." One girl said aloud.
"Yeah... and entertainment." The girl dragging the boy added.
"Girls, shut up. It'll be a while before we get to the prison. You can have your fun there. Until then, quiet." A Gardevoir ordered.
When they were far enough away, I got out of my hiding spot. I didn't have any food or water. I didn't even have a way to carry anything. I just started walking in a random direction for a couple of days. Being 5, I didn't know how to survive out here. Luckily, I was found by a group of soldiers on a reconnaissance mission. They took me back to their base and I was able to meet my mother. Her friend, Mary was her name, stood right next to her.
"This is your daughter?" Mary asked.
"Yep. My bundle of joy." My mother replied happily.
Mary laughed, "She doesn't look too happy. Not that I blame her. She just went through..." Mary's eyes scared me as she whispered, "a traumatic experience."
I huddled close to my mom, "Mary, you don't need to scare the small children." My mom frowned.
Mary shrugged, "Sorry, you know I'm a sadist through and through." Mary replied.
"Be a sadist to our enemies. Not your own people." My mother told her.
Mary walked away with a giggle, "Heh, whatever you say girl." Mary replied simply.
"Man is she a handful..." my mother whispered.
I looked up at my mom, "Uh... So what now mom?" I asked.
"Your going to be sent to another camp. This one is well guarded so you'll be fine okay?" My mother asked.
"Okay..." I replied.
I spent 6 years in that camp... It was attacked and I was forced to go on my own again. This time I was prepared though. I had supplies and I even carried a gun with me. Not that I knew how to use it though... I eventually met the group of people that became my first friends. The group I was with when I first met Rui. We were searching for the mysterious Underground City. Casey wasn't exactly... intelligent. I had to point out that we was following the compass wrong and it resulted in us being lost for a couple years. We ended up making deals with slave traders in order to get supplies, only to end up betraying them for everything they had. It was when I turned 13 that I finally met Rui. Honestly, he was a little prick and I fucking hated him. Dipshit said I was ugly, I'm not going to take that from a fucking douchey nine year old. When I had the chance to abandon him, I did. I didn't want the other two to die but it was my survival over theirs. After a year, I was found by a joint camp that was controlled by both humans and pokemon. Honestly, it was disgusting to say the least. Males weren't treated fairly at all, even male pokemon were beaten. Being a girl, they allowed me to be one of their guards. It was... demoralizing at times. I actually stood guard as a few other girls decided to... 'go with the flow'. What that meant was simple. Do what the pokemon do and that's exactly what they did. They started off with abusing some guy. He looked about 13 years old. They made fun of his hair, which was blonde, by calling him stupid. Saying that he stupid and ugly despite having blonde hair and blue eyes. To be honest, he wasn't that ugly but they started getting harsher. One girl decided to 'get payback' for her ancestors. Her skin being a dark brown made it obvious to the other girls what she meant but not to me. I didn't know anything about the history of our kind. All of the women beating this poor kid was about 30 plus years old. Wouldn't beating this kid be like beating your own son? Shouldn't they feel bad? This obviously wasn't the case when I heard a loud bang. I turned to see that the dark skinned girl smashed a wooden bat into the guy's knee. The bat snapped in half from the impact and I think it shattered the kid's knee. He held his leg up and it bent the other way. Oh god... that is never going to heal... The boy was holding his leg either crying or screaming his leg off. I turned my head back to look out for trouble as I tried my best to ignore him. However, another scream forced me to look as they started to step on his injured leg. I couldn't help but watch in shock as they kept torturing this boy. Then they took some rope and tied it around the kid's leg.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Having fun. Why?" One of them asked.
"I think he's had enough. You already..." I started.
"Look, just do what we told you to do. Stand watch and shut the fuck up." Another girl told me.
"Know what? Fuck this and fuck you!" I told her and left.
As I walked off, all I heard was loud screams as they continued to torture the boy. I waited for them to come back to the camp. I wanted to see how badly damaged the boy was going to be. I picked my head up quickly when I heard footsteps. When I looked to see who it was, it was those girls but... the boy wasn't there with them.
"Where's the boy you took?" I asked.
"What boy?" The dark skinned one asked.
"Don't fucking bullshit me. Where is he?" I demanded.
"Look honey, you can go eat a dick and die. Goodbye." The dark skinned one told me and shoulder bumped me.
I allowed them to go by since there really wasn't anything I could do. When they were out of eyesight, I ran off to where they tortured the boy. When I got there I was met with a horrid sight. The boy's eyes were cut out, his clothes ripped off, His leg with the broken knee was completely gone and they even cut off his private parts. They didn't even have to do any of this. They could have just beaten him and raped him but not this. I saw something drip blood and looked up to see his leg hanging there by a rope. Seeing this, I knew I had to leave and that's what I did that night. I stole a month's worth of supplies and snuck out of the camp. I decided to head into human territory in hopes of finding a sane group of people. I needed some stability in my life at that moment. Instead, I was on a two year journey that ended with me finding my mother. Turns out, soldiers were being genetically modified now with pokemon genes. To be honest... I didn't recognize my mother when she appeared.
I pointed a gun at her, "Who are you?" I demanded.
She just smiled at me, "It's me. Your mother." Stacy told me.
I raised an eyebrow and looked my mom over. Her figure definitely fit my mother but half of her face and entire right hand resembled a Zoroark.
"Bullshit." I replied.
She laughed, "Symphony, I thought you were brought up to be a good girl." Stacy told me.
"My mother never taught me how to be a good girl." I told her.
My mom tilted her head with a frown, "Yes... I was too busy fighting in order to keep you safe. Do you remember the stories I'd tell you? Like the one where my and my friends beat a Darkrai?" Stacy asked.
I lowered my gun, "Yeah..." I replied.
My mother hugged me as tightly as she could, "I'm so glad your not dead!" Stacy yelled.
I hugged her back, "Me too mom. I'm glad I'm not dead either." I replied.
She laughed, "Seems like you learned how to be a comedian." Stacy smiled.
"Are you now called Stacy the Zoroark experiment?" I asked.
She smiled, "No. I'm still Stacy of the Blood Moon. To make it better, I can use my blood as a weapon now." Stacy told me.
"That's so cool mom!" I yelled.
"Yeah but enough about me. Let's get you to our last city. The Underground." Stacy told me.
"It's a real place!?" I asked.
"Yeah? You heard about it?" Stacy asked.
"Yeah! A group I was with were looking for it." I told her.
"What happened to them?" Stacy asked.
"They... died." I told her.
"All of them?" Stacy asked.
"Yeah mom. I should know. I was there." I responded.
Well... that was entirely true but half is good enough. My mom smiled as she led me to one of the elevators to the Underground. As we went down the elevator I couldn't help but gasp at the sight of the city. I noticed a building with purple and red lights.
"What's that?" I asked my mom.
"That's a club honey." Stacy answered.
"What's a club?" I asked.
"It's a place people go to in order to have fun. They can dance, talk to people or their friends or they can drink alcohol. Although, Alcohol is quite rare nowadays." Stacy answered.
"Wow. Sounds like fun." I replied.
"Yeah..." Stacy replied.
As we walked through the city, I noticed a lot of people look at my mom in bewilderment. I can understand though. Seeing my mom the way she is now deserves some alarm. She looks like a cross over of a Zoroark and human after all. We eventually got to a lab and my mother talked to a bunch of scientists.
Stacy came back over to me, "They're going to give you some Zoroark genes like they did to me." Stacy told me.
"Why?" I asked.
"They believe that since I survived my modification with Zoroark genes then it should work for you. After that you'll go into training to join our military." Stacy told me.
"Military? Why am I joining?" I asked.
"Symphony, we need more people. Since I was modified then that means you should be too. Every day, more of our soldiers and camps fall. We need more genetically modified soldiers to protect us or else we'll die." Stacy explained.
I looked at my mother for a moment before looking down at the floor. I sighed before giving her a curt nod to show my agreement. She smiled endearingly at me before walking down a white hallway. Within minutes, I was guided into a separate room to be given the Zoroark upgrades.
Months passed by. I was one of the top three recruits. One of the other two was this douchebag called Kevin. I hated his attitude of trying to make everything into a joke. I once shot him in the leg with live ammunition to show my interpretation of a joke. For our graduation, our Commander, Nightmare, was there. He didn't speak or anything but he did stare at each of us. The ceremony was short. They literally just called out our squads and congratulated us. Kevin was especially congratulated on his brute strength as I was congratulated on my stealth. After the ceremony, every rookie was sent out into different squads. I was assigned to the front lines as reconnaissance. While working with a unit, they told me that there was a traitor on the run. I was surprised to find out that the traitor was Rui. Honestly, I didn't really think that he deserved to be called a traitor. He ran in the middle of a fight when he wasn't even a soldier. However, I kept my opinion to myself. A year and a half went by before I ended up finding Rui. He was in Hybrid's hands and I knew Hybrid was one of us but the pokemon wanted him for some reason. Using Agility, I was able to report back to my superiors. In my report, I noted that I used to be in a group with him.
"So... you knew him?" Suicide asked.
"Yeah." I responded.
"Does he trust you?" Suicide asked.
"Not at all." I replied honestly.
"Good. That should make it easier." Suicide told me.
"Easier?" I questioned.
"Yes. It'll be easier to get him to trust you. I have a plan." Suicide told me.
With that, Suicide started to explain what I had to do. I was thrown into a jail cell until Rui was put in one. I had to fake the whole 'give him a good time' thing. Honestly, I was surprised by how much he changed in the time we were apart. He wasn't the douchey 9 year old I used to know anymore. He was actually... a decent man... Despite being a Pokephile. When he wanted to save the pokemon in our cell, I knew he was doomed. There was no chance at all for him to join humanity. He was one of them now and when we were escaping, I honestly didn't care. After we got out though... I started to notice the change. Whoever was his mate really changed him into a good man... A man I... I kind of wanted... Meeting Silvia for the first time was... interesting. I didn't really mean for us to get into that fight but I guess I was a bit jealous of her. I still hated pokemon but staying there... in that camp... made me realize something. It's not really a bad thing to be with pokemon. They can actually be quite pleasant.
"So... do you like Rui?" Silvia asked.
I blushed, "Uh... can I not answer?" I replied.
Silvia smiled and sat back into her chair, "Don't worry. It's just us two right now. No one is listening." Silvia comforted.
"Well... I used to hate him..." I told her.
"Yeah... Rui told me all about that." Silvia replied.
"However... I think I can see who he really is now." I told her.
"Oh? Well, tell me. What exactly is my mate?" Silvia asked with an innocent smile.
"He's a really smart kind person overall. Even if he likes to have that mean streak and poke fun at everyone." I replied.
Silvia laughed, "He's also extremely modest. I think it's because he's young but I'm not sure. He still hate being nude with me. Even in the showers." Silvia laughed.
"Oh, Rui's self conscious." I told her.
Silvia raised what would have been an eyebrow, "He is?" Silvia asked.
"Yeah... I remember back when he was nine. Sometimes he'd wander off on his own so I was told to follow him. Just in case he was attacked. At one point he sat in front of a puddle and just stared into it. At one point he started to mutter something but I couldn't hear it. He started to touch his face but then smacked the puddle in frustration. I think he found himself unattractive and lived with that thought festering in his mind." I explained.
Silvia frowned, "I remember when he first came her. His depression came off in waves but I helped him." Silvia told me.
"Right now, I kind of wish I helped him that way he might have been mine." I told her honestly.
Silvia grinned, "You can't ever have him but..." she giggled, "If you want, I could screw him in front of you." Silvia laughed.
I started to laugh, "You know he'd kill you." I told her.
"Probably but it'd be worth it to see his face and reaction." Silvia replied.
I'll admit... Silvia seemed so... casual. I honestly started to like her as a friend. I've talked to a lot of other female soldiers but they all acted like they had a stick up their ass. Then came the moment of truth. My mother told me to meet her for a report. I was trying to sneak out but a Sawk kept patrolling the area I used to sneak out. I took out my knife and used Agility twice. In the blink of an eye, I ran straight by him and slit his throat. I looked around and saw no one was in view. I turned around and ran towards a fence that I made a hole in. As I stepped in, I heard a twig snap behind md. I quickly stepped back and spun around. With a gasp, whoever it was ran off. I couldn't allow anyone to know that I killed that Sawk. I still had the Agility boost and pursued whoever it was. I caught up to them in about 30 seconds because of my speed and tackled them into the dirt. When I looked at the person I tackled, I knew it was Rui and quickly covered his mouth. With a full fledged punch, I knocked Rui out cold. I got up and examined my surroundings. No one was around so I grabbed Rui's legs and started to drag him towards the escape route I had. Halfway, I decided to pick him up and carried him all the way to my checkpoint.
I was met by my mother, "Who's that?" Stacy asked.
"This is Rui." I told her.
"The war criminal?" Stacy asked.
"Yes." I confirmed.
"Wow, we could get a lot of intel from him." Stacy smiled.
"Mom... just please don't hurt him." I begged.
"We'll do our best not to honey." Stacy promised.
I handed Rui's body over to my mom and watched them leave. I sighed as I turned and headed back to the camp. The others will kill me if they ever found out that I did this... 8 days later... they found out about Rui being taken and the Sawk. After reporting to Silvia, I knew it wasn't safe to be there. Rui has a knack for surviving the impossible it seems. So I ran... I ran all the way back to my mom...
