Typhoon gently blew the coffee he was drinking… in the interrogation room of the Lumiose police department. He took a sip and his eyes trailed to the two-way mirror he knew the detective or detectives watching him. He grinned at the mirror and took another sip.
From the other side of the mirror, detective Mia clenched her teeth; the case was giving her mixed emotions, mostly raising her hair standing on an end…
"Hey, I think I am starting to believe in arceus… and think that he graced humanity with the perfect man." A rather tall woman with black wavy hair and brown eyes said lowly to her best friend, a shorter woman with light brown hair and green eyes. They were jogging and the effort was making their chests and B-cup breasts rise and fall.
Former was Mia Redwood, a detective working in Lumiose Police Department, and the latter was her co-worker and chief medical examiner of the LPD; Dr. Alice Silverlane.
"Really? Who could be so good to make you…? oh…" Her eyes landed on the blond sitting on the bench they were nearing. His sun-kissed face was tilted a bit to sky with closed eyes, a gentle smile resting casually on the young man's perfectly angular face; neither too masculine nor feminine. Her eyes continued down to the broad chest covered with a black button shirt and haphazard strands of blond hair, unbuttoned generously but also buttoned just enough to cruelly hide the merchandise; making her bite her tongue in a curious mix of excitement and dissatisfaction. Her eyes continued to the arm resting casually on the metal armrest, making his biceps bulge a bit and make the shirt a tiny bit too tight. Looking down a bit showed his forearms with his unbuttoned sleeves rolled back halfway. His other arm was resting on his crossed legs, which were clad in dark blue jeans and a pair of black sneakers with white soles covered his feet. Her eyes jumped to his abdomen after that, the shirt unfortunately covering them but from what she could see; she could use it if she needed to wash her laundry…
Or if she wanted to eat sweets and ran out of plates…
Sliced fruits with dripping chocolate sauce and whipped cream…
She shivered a bit and licked behind her teeth…
All in all, he was a healthy specimen with a great fashion sense.
Perhaps Mia was right about arceus afterall…
She shook off the spike of desire and finally reminded herself that he does have a face…
His piercing sapphire eyes – slit sapphire eyes – locked on them and his grin widened. Alice swallowed as they passed him, another shiver going up and down on her spine.
"Did you see his eyes?" Mia sighed in faint sadness, mistaking Alice's question as a compliment on his eyes.
"Sadly, no… but I intent to in the next pass… of course if he still be there." Alice was silent for a bit.
"They were sapphire blue…" Mia groaned at missing them. "… with slits for pupils." Mia paused – jog and all. She looked back at him but he was once again grinning gently to the sky with closed eyes. She jogged faster to reach her friend.
"Really? Inhumane?" she asked skeptically. Alice hummed seriously. Mia shrugged after a few seconds of silence.
"Can't say I have seen stranger things but I suppose it would add a mysterious charm… also a small detail considering… the rest." Alice sent another glance at the blond then accepted the answer.
"You are right, I guess. He looks like a really… healthy specimen…" Mia grinned knowingly as Alice's tone made that breathy quaver when she was really interested in someone.
Enough to get to know them, have a date…
Among other things…
"You would really want him to fall into your operation table, right?" Alice stumbled over her own feet.
"What?! No! how can you think I want him to be dead!" Mia chuckled.
"I meant as him naked and under your mercy… I am sure you would like to make an 'autopsy' on him for hours…" Alice elbowed Mia with an embarrassed giggle, her tanned face flushed even more.
"And you are one to talk… I would bet on my lucky high heels that you want to 'look for evidence' in his pants…" Mia raised her hands in defeat.
"guilty as charged…" Alice snickered victoriously. They continued to jog in silence for some time.
"You think he would be down for a threesome?" Alice asked with a grin and it was Mia's turn to stumble this time.
"Al!" Alice laughed between pants.
Mia clicked her teeth in dissatisfaction and got into the interrogation room after a deep, bolstering sigh. Typhoon's eyes followed her as she sat in front of him silently, trying to figure out how to get to the point while also eyeing the blond's upmost button unconsciously. Typhoon snickered.
"I doubt you will find any evidence in my shirt but I can unbutton it, if you like." His lovely voice caressed her ears as she swallowed and raised her eyes consciously to his amused slit pools, thinking once again that he must be Arceus' gift to the human kind. She cleared her throat and reminded herself that she is a detective, she has a job to do and the blond with perfect features and voice is a possible suspect.
Well, easier said than done…
"Considering that I am not in handcuffs and drinking coffee means I am not under arrest but a suspect – possible suspect – because of an incident." He said just as she opened her mouth to talk. She breathed out a sigh instead of talking and nodded her head.
Body, voice, humor and wit…
She swallowed once again and pressed down the urge to ask him out for a date as the first question…
"You are correct in your assumptions, Mr.…"
"Typhoon." She spent a split second on oddness of his name but got over it quickly.
"…Mr. Typhoon. I just have to ask a few questions." The blond nodded and leaned back. It seems they don't think he is the culprit.
"Go on."
… but was he actually innocent?
No.
He reached the bank in no time and saw a security guard lying on ground lifelessly behind glass of the automated door. He saw two masked man with guns inside; one keeping an eye out on the hostages to make sure no one would do anything stupid and the other was forcing the bank worker behind the counter to fill the bag between them with money, pointing his gun to the worker and…
Augustine.
His eyes coldened to a pair of glaciers as he took a step towards the door and got in after it slid open.
John the thief's eyes jumped between his friend and the group of terrified people, impatiently wondering what part of stuffing all the money to a bag taking so long…
Then he heard someone getting in, his head snapped to the sliding doors.
"What the hell, man! Do you have a de-?"
Then he was seeing something odd; like he was somersaulting… and he was much lighter. He felt falling down and hit the ground after a few more rolls.
Then he was seeing himself… no, he was seeing his body… which didn't have a head.
Because he was beheaded… and that strange sight was his head rolling on air.
The last thing he saw before his sight darkened was a blond man holding a bloody sword staring at him with icy eyes.
The blond watched coldly as the robber blinked open his eyes and fell to his knees. he clutched his throat, feeling the phantom pain from his killer-intent-induced illusion. He brushed past the man, the light touch of his leg on the man's arm made the robber shiver. A seemingly innocent touch… but it was not…
For he marked the man with an explosive seal with it. He continued to the other robber, who was gripping Sycamore with his arm and pointing his gun to the professor's head.
"S-stay back or…!" was all he could let out before the blond focused his killing intent on him, freezing him still. He walked closer and pried the professor away from him, marking him along the way, and helped Augustine to one of the seats nearby. The robber fell to his knees like his friend when the blond withdrew his killing intent.
"I believe you were running." He commented coldly without looking at them, his focus was on the professor and rest of the hostages. The robber duo jumped at his words cutting the deathly silence and took off as fast as they could, not bothering with money and the guns they dropped in fright.
"Are any of you hurt?" He said much more softly. He helped the group of people get to their feet. They stood on shaky legs.
"N-no, I… I don't think so." A woman replied with a trembling voice after calming down a little. "E-e-except…" her eyes followed the shaky finger belonging to a man and landed on the dead security staff. She turned away with a sob. The blond looked around for something to cover the body with and saw a room with black curtains hiding inside view from the windows. He fetched the curtain and covered the body. He walked to the money bag and took a few hundreds. He distributed the money to the ten or so people. They looked at him in confusion.
"Take a cab. Go home. Rest." He said slowly and clearly. "Repeat that in your mind until you go home, take a cab. Go home. Rest." He repeated as they nodded shakily and some muttered his words.
"T-thank you… oh Arceus thank you so much…" they thanked him on their way as they quickly left the building under the blond's gaze. He fetched some water for the quivering professor after they left and took a seat next to him. He put down the water next to his seat and let the professor's shaky hands clench to his shirt.
"Shh…" he hushed softly and turned the awkward hold into a proper embrace. "Calm down Augustine, it is over now… everything is fine…" he rubbed the professor's back until the man was no longer shivering. "Feeling better?" the blond asked with his chin resting on Sycamore's head. The latter nodded.
"Y-yeah… t-thanks." Typhoon broke the embrace and reached down for the water.
"Here…" he handed the cup to the professor, stilling Augustine's shaky hand with his own when he almost dropped it. Sycamore used both of his hands to hold the cup and took a sip, the cool liquid working its charm almost immediately. "…Let's go home after you drink your water…" He glared to the windows behind them.
…
"W-uh… w-what the fuck was that, man! Who the fuck was that blond son of a bitch?!" Carl the thief half thought out loud, half asked to his friend – John. They were quite a few miles away from the bank they attempted to rob and still going at max speed on their worn down, old car.
"H-how the fuck should I- eyes on the fucking road, dude!" Carl made a sharp turn before they rammed into a shop, neither cared nor was in right mind to notice what kind of shop it was. They continued for a mile or two more before Carl suddenly twisted the steering wheel to a vacancy. They continued a few dozen feet more on rough terrain then stopped the car. John busted out of the car, almost ripped off his mask and started hurling his guts out… Carl following him a moment later. It took a few minutes for them to calm down.
"Y- *pant* y-you think we lost him?" John asked after he wiped his mouth on a hamburger-wrap he found in the car. Carl panted a few more times before responding.
"I… *pant* I-I doubt he chased us in the fi-…"
*BOOM*
The explosive sigil on both of them blew them to charred pieces.
…
"…The police should be on their way here." Sycamore stared down at his water.
"I don't want to go home…" he didn't see it but he knew the blond was looking at him curiously. He slowly raised his gaze to the blond's eyes. "…I want to go to the festival like we planned." The blond blinked at him.
"You… sure? I thought you would be drained after… everything." Sycamore sighed and looked back down to his water.
"I… can't lie and say I am alright; I am exhausted…" he drained rest of his water. He put the cup ground and rested his hands on his knees. "…but I wish to end this day on a high note… if I can." The blond put a hand on Sycamore's after digesting the sentence.
"Very well, if that is what you prefer…" he squeezed the professor's hand a bit. "…my new outfit will not go waste afterall…" only then Sycamore checked him out since the blond came in.
…
He gulped with wide eyes.
"You look… uhh… y-you look…" the blond raised an eyebrow in amusement and slowly raked back the locks over his eye.
"How do I look, professor?" he slowly let the hair go, one strand a time. The locks moved close to their initial place but he could still see both of the piercing sapphire eyes. "hmm?" Sycamore gulped again and felt his pulse on his ears.
"Y-y-you look g-great." He managed to squeeze out. ''Great' doesn't do it justice… oh arceus, smite me down…' The blond grinned in satisfaction.
"I am glad you think so." He grinned at the professor for a moment, then his eyes landed on something outside. Augustine followed his gaze and saw a few police cars.
"Have you seen John Lutherson and Carl Skinner before?" she placed two photos on the table between them. Typhoon picked one of them.
"No, I don't think so." He put the photo back after he gave it a good look…
XXXXX
"You are free to go… and sorry for the inconvenience… I suppose." The blond patted Mia's back.
"You were just doing your job. No one can blame you for that." The blond looked around and frowned.
"Strange…" the detective sent him a curious look.
"Something wrong?" the blond shook his head dismissively.
"Just thought my friend would be here… I suppose he went back home to…" his poketch buzzed and he brought his hand up to see an unread message from Sycamore.
"Ah…" he said shortly after reading the message. "It seems he found a happy medium…" he muttered to himself.
'Sycamore decided to listen to me and sleep a bit, I should give my pokemon more time… rockruff will be alright in the professor's lab soo… what to do?' his eyes caught the detective's curious gaze jumping between his face and the poketch on his wrist… then it got sidetracked on his biceps. He shook his head with an exasperated grin.
"Have any plans for the next few hours?" Mia flinched and her eyes jumped to his face.
"Excuse me?"
"My friend texted me that he is going to rest for a few hours and… which means I have some time to kill. I thought maybe we would… have a lunch or something." He shrugged casually and sent her a lightly expectant look. She opened her mouth to speak but thought again and closed it again.
"I… would love to but… I have a case to attend to." The blond hummed in thought.
"I suppose you won't let me watch, seeing that it is still an open case…" if there was one thing that the people of this dimension impressed him; it was internet, a gigantic network used at a lot of things…
Storing knowledge was one of them.
He… may or may not have built a huge HQ under the professor's lab to harvest that knowledge and running it with thousands of shadow clones abusing the photographic memory of sharingan…
For the first few days, the headache was insufferable… but the pros overweighed the cons; he could build his own computers in a week, which followed by the HQ and his new intelligence agency.
"Unfortunately.…" Mia nodded with tight lips. She checked the clock to see it was close to noon. "…but I will have a lunch break in an hour. I… can't really ask you to wait…" he turned to her and shot her a grin, not to the 'jogger girl in the park' but to Mia… well, to 'detective Redwood' actually but it was better than the former; it was more personal this time. She mirrored with a smaller one without knowing it.
"… but we have a café in the station… or if you won't get to weirded out, you can wait down in the autopsy." She bit her lip at his questioning raised eyebrow. "… my friend is working there and she will not object as long as you listen to her." His grin widened.
"Sure, I am good at doing what I am told to do." The innuendo didn't get lost on her as she bit her tongue and busied herself on her notes while continuing to the elevator. She heard his footsteps behind her and focused on the ca-
"I have seen the way you looking at me… is she the one you were with in the park?" she almost bumped to the elevator door.
"I-uhh…" he shot her a grin with raised eyebrows, in an 'I hope your lie will amuse me…' sort of way… she sighed in defeat. "I thought – well, hoped – you didn't see it… or my work outfit would disguise me…" he snickered at her.
"There is no harm in looking…" she sighed silently and her stance got more casual. "… and I will even let you touch if you ask nicely." She clenched her teeth to not just do that, not in the first day they met.
Even so the temptation was getting really serious.
Soft sound of the elevator saved her before she gave in. She got in… and shot him an odd look when he didn't follow.
"not coming?" he shook his head with a grin.
"I will take the stairs." He shot her an eye smile and turned to the staircase. Mia bit her tongue as her eyes traced his back and…
"Say…" she reopened elevator's doors reflexively and winced almost immediately. He turned around to her but she managed to wipe it out before he saw it. "…say hello to Alice for me." He grinned.
"Of course." He continued to his way and she continued to eye his firm cheeks until the doors closed.
'Well, he said no harm in looking.' She bit her lip with a grin… but wiped it off a moment later and refocused on her case.
XXXXX
The blond climbed down the last few steps, eyes looking around to find someone and ask for Alice. He left the stairs and took a few steps then he saw a young man talking with someone, his back facing him. His eyes lit up as he got closer, the first one to notice him was the young woman he was talking to. She glanced at him in her peripheral then did a double take, mouth slightly ajar.
"Jess, what is wro-?" he followed her gaze and saw the blond coming towards them. He shut up with an audible gulp. He arrived and shot them a small grin, his gaze jumping between them.
"Excuse me, I am looking for someone named Alice. Do you know her?" they managed to smarten up a bit and shared a glance.
"T-the chief medical examiner? H-her office is the last room in left side of the hall on left." His eyes landed on the hall and he nodded at the scientist with a grin.
"S-she is helping on a case though… S-she is more likely in the autopsy lab; last room of the hall." He nodded at her.
"Thanks… and sorry for interrupting your work."
"O-oh, hehe…" he laughed sheepishly. "It eh… it was a pleasant distraction…" she elbowed him.
"W-what my friend means 'It was nothing but we should resume our work now'." The blond nodded in understanding, just to not make them even more embarrassed.
"Right, don't let me keep you then." She dragged her co-worker when he lingered for a few seconds, all the while smiling at the blond weakly. He watched them flee from him and chuckled to himself.
'Well, that was kind of cute…' he shook his head a bit and continued to his way. He passed several doors and found the office, a quick check by the window made him find out there was no one inside. He raked the place one more time with his eyes then moved to the lab.
Alice was inside… along with two pairs of charred legs. He blinked and watched her while she worked. He knocked the door gently after a few seconds.
"Come in." Alice replied loud enough to be heard, her attention still on the body parts on her tables. Everything pointed to an explosion; searing and the shape of severed part, burns and rips on the skin… but they couldn't find any chemicals to cause such an explosion; no fuel, black powder or any other inflammables… she sighed and leaned on the table.
"How did you come to such a shape I wonder…" she muttered to herself. She remembered the knock. "Yes, how can I help…" she stopped as soon as she turned to the newcomer and swallowed with wide eyes; it was the blond man they saw early today. She gaped silently for a moment then followed his gaze to her examination tables.
"O-oh, uhh… a-allow me to…"
"Did they… blown to pieces?" she hesitated for a bit. He shook his head a bit. "Right, I wasn't supposed to see that… shall I wait outside?" she had a moment of illogical panic.
"tha-ah… that is not necessary." He watched her with a grin as she quickly and a bit clumsily covered the cadavers with sheets and turned back to him, holding her clipboard in front of her with both hands.
"So… umm… how can I help you?" she asked after a few seconds of awkward pause. He shook his head to clear his thoughts.
"Well, uhh… Detective Redwood said hello and… allowed me to watch you work as long as I don't 'do anything you told me not to'…" he used finger quotes. Alice snickered.
"And you are fine with it?" he shrugged.
"I don't see why not… it is only for an hour anyway; we are going to have lunch with her afterwards…" her eyebrows shot up. She paused for a few seconds in thinking and wetted her lips.
"I owe you one Mia…" she muttered to herself. "Why don't you tell me how this all happened over a coffee in my office?" he hesitated a bit.
"You sure? I don't want to distract you from your work…" she frowned at the bodies on her tables.
"I can't get anything else from the cadavers right now, I need more chemical reports for further progress." He hummed.
"So… coffee time?" she asked with a grin.
"Coffee time." He grinned back and let her guide him to her office.
XXXXX
Mia heard Alice's giggling before she entered her office. A grin ghosted over her expression as she entered.
"… he charged at Luke when he noticed the lucario was holding his chocolate and must have chased him for several routes…" Alice giggled again and took a sip from her coffee. Their backs were at her but she was sure the blond was grinning as he too took a sip. "He was more effective than any repellant in chasing away the wild pokemon… until he noticed Luke ate his chocolate on his way… then the temper tantrum he threw was fiery…" he nursed his mug once again. Mia thought Alice was grinning to her mug. "…literally; I had to tell my water type pokemon douse the trees he lit, otherwise there would be a forest fire in our hands…" he chuckled and rubbed the mug in his hands. Mia decided that moment to notify her presence.
"Did you buy him a new bar?" she asked with a grin. Alice smiled up at her while the blond hummed an affirmative to his mug before he grinned up at her.
"Of course, it would be unfair otherwise… and blaziken might be still pouting…" Mia snickered. There was a comfortable silence for a few seconds then Mia plopped on the last couch, facing both of them.
"Do you have anything for me?" Alice nodded and handed a file to Mia. She skipped over it a bit then closed it with a sigh.
"I asked for a more detailed report but the analysis isn't over yet." Alice said with an apological tone but it didn't change Mia's expression. Typhoon frowned but kept his silence. Mia shook her head to clear the negativity.
"Anyway, there is nothing we can do with what we have right now… let's take a lunch." It softened the blond's expression.
"Perhaps it was a pokemon attack?" Mia blinked at him then shared a glance with Alice. She checked the file once again, Alice too read it over her shoulder.
"Well, that would explain…" Mia elbowed Alice discreetly. The latter winced at what she almost done, talking about an open case with a civilian. The blond sighed in exasperation.
"Yes, I'm not supposed to hear… shall I close my ears? I can look up and sing loudly…" he said with a dry tone and that earned a few snickers from the girls. He grinned in response before long.
"It makes sense…" Mia said diplomatically. "… but let's not talk business now." She threw the file to Alice's desk and got up. Typhoon grinned in response and copied her. He offered a hand to Alice.
"okay, that was a totally unnecessary chivalrous attitude…" both the blond and the doctor chucked at Mia's dry tone.
"You are saying that because you are jealous…" Mia snorted at her doctor friend.
"As heck… and hungry… and getting impatient…" the blond patted her back with a grin.
"Don't worry, I will let you ride my rapidash in front of me… when I catch one anyway…" she swatted the blond's hand with a grin and shook her head when he showed the door with a 'ladies first' kind of way.
She snorted with a grin and Alice followed her quickly with a giggle.
XXXXX
"So, what do you want to eat?" they were outside now, Alice ditched her lab coat for a cream-colored thin jacket over her red blouse and black cotton pants. Alice had a thin black jacket over her simple white button shirt and dark blue jeans. Soft sounds came from Mia's black boots and Alice's red high heels as they walked and talked. Mia hummed a bit.
"Simple chicken and fries sound good right now." She answered the blond's question and they casually looked at the doctor for her input.
"Chicken Marengo" she said simply. Mia shook her head.
"You have to do that fancy Kalos speech whenever you can, don't you?"
"We are in Kalos, what is wrong with it?"
"What is wrong with 'sauced chicken'?" the blond snickered at their antics.
"What about you?" Alice asked just to change the topic. The blond shrugged.
"Can't really say anything without checking the menu, can I?" They accepted the answer and they got into a restaurant with a bar.
The old bartender-slash-waiter looked up and smiled at them, putting away the rag as he watched them seat themselves, in a line with the blond between the girls.
"Hey Mia, Alice and…" he blinked a few times then grinned knowingly.
"… and who is this?" the detective and the doctor shared a glance.
"he is uhh… he is uhh…" Mia trailed off as she racked her brain for a diplomatic response… all the while the blond and the bartender grinned at her expectantly.
"Well, he is with us." She finished lamely. Alice sent her a dry look while the men kept their expressions.
"It is a bit… complicated but you can say he is our friend… just friend." She added before the bartender could make a smart comeback. He blinked instead.
"'complicated'?" cue some chuckles from the blond.
"Yes… uhh… his name is Typhoon and we are here to have lunch." the bartender snickered at Mia's hasty response.
"Sure, sure…" he looked at the blond up and down. "… good taste by the way…" that drew more chuckles from the blond as Alice and Mia laughed weakly and sent the older man glares.
"What can I get for you?" the blond sobered a bit and looked up at the menu.
"chicken and fries." The bartender nodded at Mia.
"I will have Chicken Marengo." Mia sent Alice a dry glance, which the latter pointedly ignored.
"I will have… uhh… well, I am sure the chef has a good taste… as long as it doesn't have pokemon meat." The man thought a bit.
"I have something good in my mind." He nodded to himself and noted their orders. "drinks?" he looked up.
"Beer." Mia, again, was first to speak up.
"Wine, please."
"Whatever would go best with the meal." The old man noted again.
"anything before the food is ready?" the man looked up at them.
"Champagne sounds good." Alice said politely. The old bartender pointed a finger at Mia before she could say anything.
"Beer…" she nodded with a faux-shocked smile. The man chuckled at her then turned to the blond.
"I don't suppose you have aged wine, do you?" Alice raised her eyebrows at the blond. The bartender pointed a bottle above them with a thumb.
"That bottle has been there for a few months, does that count?" the blond snorted a laugh and shook his head with a tight-lipped grin.
"I suggest pecha wine or champagne." The blond nodded at the bartender after thinking for a moment.
"Champagne then." the bartender nodded and retrieved a bottle of beer for Mia from a cooler behind him.
"Which wine do you like most?" the blond didn't even think on Alice's question.
"Grepa. I like the soft tilt of sweet and sour the most. You?"
"Oran if it is aged, pecha if it isn't. I rarely get to drink the former though…" the blond nodded in understanding.
"How about you, Mia?"
"Hmm?" they glanced at her to see she was looking at her phone. "Sorry, my co-worker texted me…" she sighed after pocketing her phone and took a big gulp from her beer. "…what was the question?" she asked before they could inquire about the text.
"Which wine do you like the most?" the blond let it slide and repeated the question without sweat.
XXXXX
"Do you think master is alright? And where is Typhoon anyway…" blaziken frowned at the dragonic pokemon lying with him, rockruff from before was on his other side. Those questions were going through his mind too, questions without answers…
He sighed in annoyance, which was enough of an answer for garchomp. She grunted softly and watched clouds for a moment.
However, there was one question he could answer… his eyes landed on the puppy to see he was apparently asleep.
"I don't know where he is exactly but… I may know why he is there…" she turned at him for his sober tone.
Ten minutes later she was… disturbed.
"Do you…" she chewed her lip. "…do you suppose others know?" he glanced at her then up at clouds.
"Yeah, I think that was why he told us to 'get to know them'… he figured the talk will lead to that part eventually." She took in a breath to say something but let it out with a huff.
"Do you think it is… okay? What he did… is a good thing?" both pokemon looked at the 'sleeping' pokemon in surprise. Blaziken sighed at the rockruff's desperate expression after some time, seems like the puppy already got hooked to the blond…
"For me, what he did was right… but ultimately, you should be the one to decide. That being said, perhaps you should talk to pokemon he rescued; you will understand the situation better that way." Rockruff nodded meekly.
"I-if you say so…" blaziken reached over and petted the puppy.
"You coming?" he asked to the draconic pokemon. Garchomp bit her lip and sent a glance at the lab. "I don't know what happened to the professor but it seems he just needs to sleep it off." she nodded after spying on the lab a little more.
"Y-yeah, you are right."
They left after she talked with some of the other pokemon in the backyard, telling them about the professor's condition and asking them to take good care of him.
"For heads up, be prepared to some dark stuff… and try not to ask too many questions; they had been through a lot already…" blaziken cautioned after they get into the forest.
"I-is it… is it really that bad?" blaziken just sighed deeply to the puppy's question, which was an answer itself.
After some time, blaziken parted some bushes and they could see several pokemon sitting under a tree and watching a few dozen others.
"Here we are…" blaziken said lowly. He walked to his teammates, the other two followed close behind. "Hey." He greeted lowly, causing some of them to look up at him.
"Hey…" delphox replied when no one else did after a few seconds. Blaziken sat down on a part of the shade and gestured others to do the same.
"Can you believe… that this is the first time they are having fun in their lives…" chestnaught said with various emotions, sadness and anger being the most dominant, as they watched several pokemon playing some kind of tag.
"…have good food… and freedom to choose what they want to eat…" he eyed a pack of pokemon with a pile of berries, munching on a few and chatting among themselves.
"… and just plain being free?" he sighed and watched a sky race between some flying pokemon. There were other, smaller pokemon on various parts of the former; hollering, laughing… and enjoying just being free.
"I never thought I would say this but… I am relieved that master killed those… those… need a new word to call them." He sighed once again and rested his head on the tree trunk.
"I just… never thought humans could do such… horrible things to pokemon." Blaziken's eyes softened and he sat next to the spiky pokemon. He curled an arm around chesnaught's shoulders.
"Humans are… a bit like berries; some of them are unripe like my trainer… he was an ass, didn't think much of us other than our fighting value and cared for us just because of that… you can live with him but you will be sour about it. There is professor, he is a sweet guy who truly cares about you…" he said while looking to garchomp. "… he let you have your own time, took good care of you and unless it is required, he doesn't put you in your pokeball… am I right?" she nodded silently. "Then there are… were… their masters…" he frowned at the pokemon in front of them, frolicking in a word.
"They have beaten them, starved them, done things to them that makes even me shiver, the one just listened… and that is to their own pokemon." Luke said without any emotion. Blaziken nodded.
"In short; they were rotten to the core." Chesnaught sighed to his claws. Then he grinned to the avian.
"…And then there is master…" blaziken reflected chesnaught's grin. "…He who defended us when we couldn't, healed us when we were hurt…"
"…Listened to us when we were troubled…" weavile added lowly.
"…Made us strong when we were weak…" Luke continued.
"…Sung to us when we were down or when we asked…" Zoroark continued to count.
"I knew he was special since he released us from our pokeballs because he thought they were imprisoning us… no, since he broke the rules instead of separating us… almost as soon as I first saw him." Delphox got up and squeezed greninja's and chesnaught's shoulders. "I don't know about you, guys, but whatever he has done, is doing or will do; they must drag me – kicking and screaming – for me to leave him." He finished firmly and gave each of them an intense and determined look, leaning sideways on the tree.
"Nothing changed for me…" zoroark started, resting his head on the trunk and his paws on his lap. "… I will die first… and would haunt him after that if I did."
"Neither for me. He is my home, my joy, I can even say he is the reason of my life… call me obsessed, master's pet, whatever you like… it means nothing to me." Others concurred with Luke and zoroark with their own way.
"Thank you all… it means a lot to me." Delphox blinked in surprise, then narrowed his eyes and savored the feeling of gentle fingers making lazy circles around the fur on his back. He let out a murring sigh and rested his head on the blond's chest. The blond pulled the fiery fox closer and kissed top of his head, then continued to gently caress his silky fur.
"I… thought you would not want to be my side after you learned about what I played a part of. I would perfectly understand if you would not want to…" He felt a flare of chakra from one of his crows. He raised his eyes to the heavens for a bit and saw the crow in no time.
"It is nothing." He said when he saw Luke looking up at him curiously. He raised his hand and let the bird land on his index finger.
He saw a note on the bird's leg. He sent a curious glance at the bird and took the note. Delphox looked at Typhoon when the blond's hand left his back as he let the bird fly once again and unfurled it. He joined the others to give the blond some space.
He recognized it as a storage seal. He blinked and glanced at the bird flying away. The pokemon around the blond looked at him, then the piece of paper, then back at him again. He shrugged and pressed a finger to unseal whatever was inside.
A letter was in his hand with a puff of smoke after a second.
"Your majesty,
I hope your venture in the new world is treating you well. Our minions and I have been dutifully scouting the land and sea as you willed. Seen mountains and oceans, desserts and jungles; and as you requested, we have been sending reports biweekly. I had not sent any reports recently, however it was not because I have been shirking my duties; but because I have found a most uncommon place and have been… in an undercover mission of sorts to gather information about the land and the… local folk. I have gathered an extensive amount of info which I couldn't send with our standard methods because I fear the minions with me does not have the necessary mental capacity to carry it. Instead I have crafted a memory seal at the bottom of this letter and recorded my memories to there. It is my deepest wishes that my report will please you and compensate for my lateness.
Your humble servant since before, now and to the eternity…
'Steel Crow' of the Divine Order"
He took a moment to think then shook his head.
'Later…' he thought to himself.
"It means a lot to me, more than you can imagine." He continued to caress delphox' fur a bit more. "We are going to leave Kalos tomorrow." He looked at their faces to gauge their reaction a moment. There was – normally – surprise, then acceptance; no worry, no objection, no hesitation… nothing.
"Any questions… thoughts?" he asked, surprised at how smooth it went.
"Well, we were expecting it when you started to stock supplies… anything we can do to help?" Zoroark asked for them all. The blond thought for a bit.
"I pretty much handled everything… I just came here to check on you. I will get more supplies in case the pokemon from rockets decide to come with us and afterwards… I will come back here to take blaziken with me, there is an event that I believe will have a special meaning for him." Rest of the pokemon looked at blaziken while he blinked curiously at the blond. Chesnaught frowned at the blond a moment later.
"Why is it just him?" the avian grinned at him smugly.
"Jealous, ass type?" chesnaught directed his frown at the avian with a death glare for just a moment but ignored him afterwards, softening his expression back to a frustrated frown and directed it to the blond grinning at their antics.
"I am only allowed to take one pokemon with me, sorry." He took a step to the spiky pokemon when he sighed in defeat and crouched a bit to his eye level.
"Still, I will…" he lightly scratched the sensitive places on his chest and neck, between plates of the pokemon's tough carapace. "… think something to make it up to you." Chesnaught grabbed the blond's hands.
"No." the blond blinked as chesnaught lowly, gently slid his paws upwards; the blond's wrists, forearms, biceps and finally his chest. "I already have something in my mind…" he sighed as he rested one paw on the blond's shoulder and glided a single lock of hair over the other, rubbing it between two fingers gently.
"Is that so?" he crouched fully and rested his elbows on his knees. He crossed his arms and looked up at the grass type. "What shall I do?" chesnaught grinned down to the blond and raked his hair behind his ear.
"Come back first, we will talk after that…" the blond snorted with a grin.
"A surprise, eh?" He kissed chesnaught's nose. The spiky pokemon rubbed it bashfully and looked away in embarrassment. "I look forward to it." The blond looked at blaziken.
"Tell that to Luke for me in the meanwhile, yeah?" the avian blinked.
"what do you meant tell him? He is right… here?" he looked around for the aura pokemon but Luke was nowhere in sight. The blond grinned.
"sure." He said with a casual shrug. The blond's grin widened and he patted the pokemon's shoulder.
"I should go too, professor was not very last time I saw him… do you know what happened?" the blond sighed.
"There was… an incident. Everything is under control now and he is fine, just has to sleep off the shock." Garchomp nodded after taking a moment to think about it.
"me too, mom must be worried about me…" the puppy walked to them. The blond crouched to pet him but decided against it when the pokemon flinched. He sighed and straightened up.
"See you later guys." He turned around with a step and frowned as soon as he wasn't facing them.
'I hope it will be just an unnecessary precaution…'
Unknown to others, the blond placed a seal on blaziken when he patted the avian, hidden under his red feathers.
XXXXX
Typhoon was at The Taste of Allure, nursing the last glass of grepa wine from the bottle he ordered.
"Would you like to have another one, Mr. Typhoon?" he sent a lazy glance at the cooper behind the counter, Jacob, and shook his head with a grin.
"not this time, Jake. I will go to the festival today." He said absently, his mind on something else.
(Song Sug: Naruto Shippuden OST – Ritual)
The scent of blood washed over him as soon as he teleported to wherever his lieutenant was. He watched the masked man pocket his ring again and gave him a short bow. He saw all five of the silent servants sated and looking at something sadly. He followed their gaze and saw Dr. Grace, on her knees and tails of her lab coat was dipped into the blood on ground, slowly climbing upwards but not as much as the blood on her sleeves. There was also drops of blood staining her cracked but youthful face.
However, all these were small details.
Her soulless brown eyes were only seeing the body on her arms; a young man, around 15 years old and had black hair, a hair color he was sharing with Grace. There was blood on only one part of him; on his chest, staining his simple white t-shirt.
He immediately understood the body was her brother's.
It was scenario he knew all too well.
"I am sorry for your loss, Grace. You have my condolences." he said softly. She didn't turn to him or show any signs that she heard him for some time. He heard her whisper something but it was too low for him to understand. He walked close to her and crouched with a slight bend towards her.
"I'm sorry?"
"Bring him back…" She repeated, devoid of any life. Her head slowly turned to him mechanically. "Bring him back… I will pay any price." He straightened back after a pause.
"Very well." He sent a glance at inquisitor. The masked man bowed a bit and disappeared into shadows. A few moments later, he came back with a grunt in his grasp. He put the sobbing man to a clean part of the room as the blond cut a lock of hair from Grace's brother.
"Edo Tensei no Jutsu." The man's sobbing turned to cries of anguish as dust and debris climbed up to his body. A few seconds later, there was a confused young man on his place.
"E-Ethan…" she choked and dropped the body in her arms. Ethan could only blink as he was swept into a hug.
"S…sister?" he breathed, trying to understand what was happening. "B-but… wasn't I..." his eyes found the body… his body on ground.
"I-I-is that… me?" Grace tightened her hold on him and sobbed.
"I-I am sorry, Ethan. I am so sorry…" she sniffed and continued to whisper apologies a few more times. Ethan could only look in confusion.
"A-am I… am I dead?" Grace bit her lip and nodded.
"T-then you are too… and we are in the afterlife…" Grace clenched her fists on his t-shirt.
"No, you are not in the afterlife." Ethan only now noticed the rest of them. Grace sighed from her nose while gritting her teeth behind her lips and pulled away from Ethan.
"would you like some time, Grace?" the 'We can talk about our deal later' was left unsaid but heard by her nonetheless and she felt grateful for it.
"Who are you?" Ethan took the initiative before Grace could say anything. The blond's eyes landed on his.
"I am the one who brought you back." Ethan blinked at him a few times, then once at his body slumped on ground like a sack of potatoes, then his hands. He twisted them a few times and inspected the cracks on them and his arms.
"S-so… so I am dead… but not dead… the blond sighed and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Your sister tried her best to keep you alive but… it was not enough unfortunately." Ethan thought a bit on the blond's words and stared down at his hands a bit more.
"I… I see." The blond could clearly see he needed some time to think as he took a step but his sister grabbed his elbow.
"E-Ethan… Ethan please…"
"Grace…" the blond said; his tone had a certain, demanding edge on it. "…let him be." He continued much more softly. Grace's hand twitched then fell down to her side. Ethan continued a bit as they talked in hushed whispers.
He once again stared his hands with tiny cracks on them.
'Dead… but not dead.' He thought once again, scratching at a crack until a piece of… what looked like skin fell off but he didn't feel any pain. A few seconds later some dust fixed the 'wound' and his hand was looking like before. He saw the blood on ground meanwhile, it wasn't hard to guess it ran from and to every part of the faculty they were in… and of course what he saw and heard in his natural life.
He shuddered and sent another glance at… his body.
'Alive… but not alive.' He thought as he walked closer to the body. He turned it upside and stared at the face identical to his own. Memories flashed over his eyes; a small room, cruel wardens, scraps for food… Suffocating darkness…
Loneliness…
Was it really a life? The one he had before…
He glanced at the open door, there were six other people and they were with his sister; on their side.
He was free… even if… he wasn't exactly alive to live it.
He clenched his hands.
But that was better than what was before, better than nothing.
"What shall I do?" he asked suddenly and it put a stop to Grace and Typhoon's conversation. They looked at him. "… I mean, I have been here for a long time I … I don't even know the exact time. I… don't know I should do, what I can do… I am… at a loss." He stared at them. Grace blinked in understanding.
"Let's… get out of here first, I don't want to stay here more than we should." She frowned at the rocket member that shot her brother and kicked his face in lingering vengeance. The blond watched her doing than and shrugged casually.
"Sure. Inquisitor…" the masked man touched a wall and a pitch-black spot appeared at where he touched. "Let's go." They made their way out as the spot spread out. When they got out, they saw it completely covered the faculty. The Inquisitor clicked his fingers and it vanished completely. Ethan could only blink.
"Destroyed." The blond answered before he could ask. "No one can prove people had died here or even the faculty had existed." Ethan swallowed dryly. He got over it quickly, however.
(End Song)
"So… now what?" Grace thought a bit and turned to him.
"We are in Johto region right now. You can go to Professor Elm and start a new life as a pokemon trainer." Ethan grinned at her… but his grin fell off after he took another glance at where the faculty was. The blond sighed.
"I am running a campaign to vanquish the teams abusing pokemon…" They both turned to him; Grace with panic, Ethan with interest.
"No…"
"Sister, please…" she sent him a pained look but remained silent while clenching her fists in her lab coat's pockets. The blond sent her a lingering, apologizing glance but focused on Ethan after that.
"Sadly, you aren't the only one suffered at the hands of the teams… at the hands of rocket team. They had been killing, experimenting and even harvesting pokemon to further their goals or profit from them. My goal is to permanently stop this cruelty…" he glanced at where the faculty was. "… by any means necessary." He sighed and turned back to Ethan.
"Some may find this unsavory… disgraceful… and even evil; but for the salvation and safety of the innocents, someone must do it. Not just for innocent pokemon, but also innocent people like you and Grace… so that what happened to you wouldn't happen to anyone else…" He turned to Grace. "… and if we don't deal with them decisively and they decide to resume their act once again, the blood of innocents would be in our hands." Grace held his gaze for a few moments then averted her eyes.
"I… understand." He closed his eyes of a bit. The other two watched as he came to a decision.
"I will be a pokemon trainer… and will help you after I trained a strong enough team."
"E-Ethan, you don't have to do this…" he raised a hand to stop his sister.
"I know but he is right, someone must stop them… and I can't just live on knowing this, knowing that I could save innocents. I… I just can't, I am sorry." The blond put a hand on Ethan's shoulder. "Even if… even if I don't think I can deal with them in the manner you are talking about." The blond sighed.
"Your sister only wishes to protect you, like she always had…" he patted Ethan's shoulder with a grin. "…but no matter whoever says what, I believe the choice you made was a noble one… no matter the extend you are comfortable with." He took a moment before raising his eyes to blond's gaze with his own grin.
"Thank you…" he blinked after a moment. "I should go, there is a long way ahead of me." The blond gave him a gold nugget before he moved away.
"Here, this should provide you some starting gear and supplies." He took the nugget after pausing for a moment and stared at it for a long moment. he looked up at the blond again after that.
"Again, thank you; for your help… for giving me this chance… everything. I will pay you back one day, I swear." The blond shook his head.
"We made a deal with your sister; you owe me nothing." Ethan's eyes skipped between them.
"A deal?" the blond handed a flip phone to Grace.
"An atonement of sorts…"
Typhoon palmed another flip phone sitting on the counter innocently. He drained rest of his glass after a moment.
"Work phone?" Jake asked as he cleaned the counter with a piece of cloth. The blond hummed.
"You can say that…" he casually picked up his bottle and glass to help the cooper. Jacob nodded a thanks and finished wiping.
"Must be a good work, considering how often you come…" the cooper said casually. The blond grinned wryly and sent a loaded glance at him after resting his elbow on counter and his cheek on his knuckles. Jacob froze and swallowed when he saw the glance.
"ah… I-I'm sorry for prying." He averted his eyes as the blond tch'ed and shrugged.
"It is… a cleaning job." The cooper sent a questioning glance at the blond but decided not to push his luck and leave the blond be. The blond snorted in amusement as he watched the cooper left his eye sight to do who-knows-what. He poured more wine to his glass and blinked.
When he opened his eyes, he was in an entirely different place.
He was in a vintage room; sitting on a comfy, hand-carved single-seat. His elbow was on an arm rest instead of a counter and there was a book in his hands with no words on it. He closed the book to glance at its hard cover.
Moon reader.
'busy day, isn't it?' he thought with a sweat drop has he got up to place the book back to a wooden bookcase, guided by soft light of a hearth on the far wall; gentle pops of burning wood was the only thing disturbing the silence.
He didn't react to opening of wide, double gates behind him as he slid the book into the single vacant place on the bookcase.
"I see that you found your target…" he turned around to face the newcomers after that.
Reshiram and Zekrom both… and a tea green, long haired young man with simple white shirt and beige, cotton pants.
N.
"… and you must be N." he walked to a chair under their watch and sat down in front of a small table with something like a chess board on it. He gestured N to sit to the other chair. N took a moment to rake the place with his eyes then took the offer. The blond watched calmly as he took seat, Zekrom and Reshiram following him along the way. He turned to the two legendaries.
"I hope you didn't contact with N in plain sight, it is dangerous for you to be seen while Ghetsis is alarmed."
"Is it because of you? My father's current mood?" his sapphire gaze turned back to N as the young man spoke before the legendaries could.
"Indirectly, yes. I told Kyurem to depart before Ghetsis could get his hands on him… you must know about it or at least suspicious of his behavior." He frowned, remembering the incident and questions still lingering in his head.
"Let's say I believe you… Where is he right now?" the blond shook his head.
"In a safe place. I need to be sure that you are with us to tell more than that. I don't want to jeopardize his safety." N frowned a bit more then sighed at the logic he can't really blame. He looked around.
"Where are we?" the blond shrugged.
"Nowhere. This place doesn't exist actually." He sighed when the green haired young man just looked at him oddly.
(Song Sug: Hunters – End Credits Music)
"We are here because I think our views are not so different; yours and mine, and I want you to join my cause." N raised an eyebrow at him with a wry grin.
"Your cause? Don't you think I need to know more about your cause if you want me to give an answer to that?" the blond smiled back.
"Of course. But before that, you need to know about several organizations calling themselves 'teams'…" the blond leaned on the small table before them and N only now noticed there were figures on his side. For some time, the blond explained teams to N; their goals, starting places, misdeeds, leaders and everything in between.
All but Team Plasma.
"This is concerning… but I don't see why you came to me exactly, why chose me…" the blond sighed.
"This brings us to the last team; Team Plasma, 'your' team…" N straightened with wide eyes as the blond placed a small figure of Ghetsis to the opposing side. He then blinked as the blond placed a figure of himself into middle of the board.
"…and you." For a moment, N just stared at his figure on the table.
"This is… this can't be! Plasma is founded to liberate pokemon from human slavery!" he frowned at the blond across him.
"… is it?" the blond asked as he rested his elbow on the armrest and cheek on his knuckle.
"Yes! We-we convinced trainers to release their pokemon!"
"Convinced… or forced." He glared at the calm blond.
"We did whatever was necessary and we never hurt anyone!"
"You didn't… you just stole them when they didn't cooperate." His expression darkened to a scowl.
"We did whatever was necessary to free the pokemon!"
"Is that so…? Have you ever seen the releasing of them?" N's expression turned to shock as he was left wide eyed and speechless. The blond leaned forward once again.
"I know you can speak with pokemon… have you ever encountered any of the pokemon freed from their old trainers?" N started to breathe deeply. He reached over and brushed a strand of hair away from the young man's face.
"I know you met with a zorua when you were a child and he is still with you as a zoroark… does he not has a pokeball? is he your captive? Are you not friends?" he wiped some sweat from N's face with a napkin as the green haired man started to hyperventilate. "How can you know the pokemon you have 'liberated' from their trainers did not have a relationship like yours?"
"No… no…no…" N chanted under his breath.
"How about your 'father' Ghetsis… what other proof do you have that he is your father other than his claim?" he got up to get some water from a pitcher and glass on a wooden coffee table. "Why did he not let you get out of 'your' castle after he get you?" He placed the glass on the board when N didn't react to take the glass from him.
"…and the pokemon he brought to you in the meanwhile… he claimed to free them from abusive trainers… who were they again? Do they even… exist?" he gently held N's shaking hand and placed the glass into it. He squeezed it to make N grab it.
"Maybe Ghetsis did that to them… and forced them to… help brainwashing you…"
N couldn't take it anymore.
"AAAH!" he threw the glass in his hand to a wall. "RAAAHH!" he flipped the table between them to sideways.
The blond calmly watched him rage more in the room with the two legendaries in the background, throwing objects left and right. He ran out of energy before long.
"Have I been… for all this time…" the blond took the glass of water from the small table in front of him, just standing there like it never got thrown.
The room was like N never raged in it. He walked over and placed a hand on N's back.
"You didn't do anything with bad intentions, N, you were just naïve. You just wanted to believe and trust… only that you chose wrong people." The young man looked up at him then blinked at the glass at his hand. A quick glance around showed him that the room was immaculate like before.
"All is not lost, N…" he clenched his fists.
"B-but… but…"
"All is not lost…" N's eyes widened because the blond was right, even if he helped hi fa- Ghetsis to collect the pokemon from others… they were still alive.
Waiting to be rescued.
"Y-you are… you are right." He once again glanced at the water the blond was offering and took it.
"The goal of my campaign is…"
Half an hour later, they were parting ways.
"Thank you for helping me see the light… I will be forever in your debt." N bowed a bit to show his gratitude. The blond shook his head and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Just do what you meant to do in the first place, that would be more than enough payment." He grinned at the blond for a moment… then frowned.
"It is going to be hard to explain where did I go for all this time…" the blond grinned.
"As I said, this place does not exist… you didn't go anywhere… for any time…" he said cryptically. N just looked at him in confusion.
"I believe our meeting is concluded. Good luck in your work, I will contact you again later." N blinked.
But when he opened his eyes, he was once again at the forest he met with the legendary duo. He blinked a few more times and pinched himself.
"Did that really happen…?" he muttered to himself as he moved his hands to rub his eyes but his right hand hit something in his pocket. He retrieved it to see it was a flip phone.
"Yes N, it really happened… you met an invaluable member in our cause… and our leader." Reshiram said with a soothing tone. Zekrom nodded by his side. N clenched his fist around the phone.
"I am glad that you are with us in this… war against villainous teams." Zekrom added after a moment. N nodded.
"Don't worry, I will not let you down… not like I did before unknowingly." He glanced at the legendaries with conviction.
In another part of the world, the blond watched last of his wine pour into his glass with a grin.
'Things are moving well…' he sipped the wine in satisfaction. He paused a moment later however.
'… and fast, it seems…' he drained rest of his glass with a few gulps.
"Have a good day, Jake." The cooper looked at him with a smile.
"You too, Mr. Typhoon." He saw Lysandre on his way out. He just grinned at him silently and the man choked a bit on his wine when their eyes met. He snickered and walked out of the automatic doors. He palmed the burner phone in his pocket and slipped into a silent, back alley. A raven appeared on his sight before long and perched on his raised index. He got the information from the bird in a few moments and watched the raven leave. He pulled out the burner and pressed several numbers.
"Your target is Ariana. She is in mahogany town." He hung up as soon as he is done.
(End Song)
End of Chapter
There. Not much to say other than "Have a good day", you know my general mood. I can only apologize for my lateness.
Peace