AN: Alright here's chapter 12 a little early than i had thought so here ya go. Thanks for reading the story, hoping you are enjoying it so far. More to come.
Chapter 12 – The Five
Twist Mountain
It was the first time in six years I had gotten this close to Twist Mountain since I would usually go around it finding no reason to enter, and yet here I was, a place that had remained untouched and still the same as it did the last time I was here. Route seven was blocked ahead by a lot of traffic before reaching Icirrus City so we had to divert by passing through this mountain.
Since the road incident with Team Annihilation Reborn using their toxins on anyone who so happened to travel down this road to capture more members to join their ranks, a toxin to trap the victim in a hallucination, we didn't encounter anyone else or a wild Pokemon at the entrance, but heard wild Pokemon in the forest around us unlike with the road before.
Brent walked up to a sign outside the mountain entrance and read " 'Twist Mountain, watch out for wild Pokemon' so we have to pass through a big ol' mountain to get to Icirrus… kind of wished we had a car, make the journey a little easier."
"Then we would've been stuck in that traffic back there. Paying for gas every so often, risks of a tire bursting, lack of walking around and feeling healthy especially for a Pokemon, nope, no way." Espeon shrugged as she read the smaller print of sign. " 'Trainers with Eevee's, an Ice Rock is located within this cave. You can evolve your Eevee into a Glaceon.' A Glaceon? Ah man, if only I knew…."
"What's up, didn't you have options back then?" Brent asked. "Back when you were still an Eevee"
"Nope. I lived in Eliza's mansion all day and night knowing only friendship and that one day I would evolve at some point never knowing an Eevee's branching paths. So one day after getting a big hug from Eliza, I evolved into an Espeon. I don't know what other form I would've chose if I knew my options, but I would think I would choose to be a Glaceon, because blue is my favorite color and with ice as the element I would endure this harsh cold of winter… brrr!"
I looked back down the road we came from to see if anyone was there, but all I got was an empty road, similar to the one we were on before Team Annihilation Reborn attacked. Knowing they were taken away after we defeated them, I couldn't help but wonder if we got them all. Shiny Latias was after me, and I didn't want to be ambushed and have my friends hurt or killed. Being outside this long and away from the towns, away from the cities and going into places like this made me more anxious.
"You okay Zack?" Lisa said as she stood next to me. "You seem worried, or are the effects from Team Annihilation Reborn's toxins still in your system?"
"No, just having flashbacks to when I was last here." I lied about the first thing as I shook my head, trying not to worry them, last thing I wanted really. "Sakura and Isaac first passed through here together when we were on a mission. We entered, wild Pokemon attacked and we were separated. I know it's not a big memory I have of this place, but it is one I remember well when all of us were just becoming good friends. We teamed up together to get out of this mountain and reunite with our Pokemon. Seems like a lifetime ago to being a young teen starting out with a dream on wanting to become a hero as a member of The Savior's to being the only active member within the region with a bounty on my head as high as two years worth of salary wanted by a Latias who wants to kill me after taking over the world first."
"You were fourteen then when you first joined, isn't that right?" I nodded in silence. "Wow, that was almost ten years ago. I think it is big, the memory you have here. It was the start of a great friendship. I didn't know them that much, but your friendship with them was strong." Lisa smiled warmly at me. "You going to be alright? Going in this place that holds some value? We could head back."
I chuckled, smiling back at her. "I'll be just fine. We'll get to Icirrus City faster if we go through here. We'll just waste time by going around. And hey, since this is the first time you, Espeon and Brent have been here I could show you guys around by showing you some… uh, unique rock or two, a rock wall that has remains of a move used by a Pokemon that tried to blast us, some claw marks here and there. I could be the tour guide while we're here." I mused. It was nice to do this again, being with my friends after so long alone out on the road felt good.
"Let's hope we don't encounter any trouble in here from the Pokemon native to the area. Umbreon and Pidgey were beat up after the fight with those soldiers back there. I was hoping to heal them by the time we reached the city at the Pokemon Center."
"Do you have any Potions?"
"Not a bottle left. I only have status healing and a few Ether's, but not anything that'll fully restore my Pokemon's health back up." I opened up and checked my own bag, searching each four sections of the bag from foods, odds and ends like journals/notes and maps, electronics to see if a bottle was hidden behind the many wires and Savior Device I hardly used besides checking up on missions posted, but found nothing. The only things I had in the medical section of my bag were many used bandages and pills to help soothe the pain I would endure when I was out there battling every day almost.
"This isn't good. This is foolish on my end." I thought as I stared into the bag, the contents I was lacking. "I should at least have five bottles left, more than twenty before leaving each settlement. That was the first rule I set upon myself; never leave a settlement without having something to heal wounds with, stock up on plenty of water and food to regain lost strength. This was a first. Other times I would've noticed, but I didn't this time. How could this happen?" I thought back to when we were in Mistralton City not too long that day. "I met with the others, had food an hour before heading out… wanted to do something first, I guess it was shop for supplies. Oh that's right, I only bought food and nothing else. Such an amateur mistake. Maybe it was because I saw Brent walk towards a medicine store I thought he was going to buy some. Unlike Lisa and I Brent doesn't have a bag of his own. And yet I thought he went to buy some."
"So we have no Potions with us?" I asked, Lisa shook her head making me feel a lot more anxious than I was when Espeon, Lisa and Brent were all together again with me the first in years when I had been by myself scared someone an enemy might attack at any second. "None of us have anything to heal ourselves with should we have to fight. No repels to scare off any wild Pokemon. If we do encounter any, I hope they can be talked into letting us pass safely by without trouble."
"I can sense a few Pokemon within the mountain." Espeon called out to us after checking the front entrance of the mountain cave. "I don't sense they have been disturbed recently by enemy soldiers or they feel threatened, so it looks like we'll have peaceful walk through the cave as long as we don't disturb the majority of the Pokemon residing within. But if we are approached by wild Pokemon, best bet is to fight them off and continue quickly before making a scene. Strong Pokemon do like to come up against a new challenge whenever they get the opportunity. So let us be careful while we are in here. The last thing we want is to attract the attention of the alpha Pokemon of this area knowing we don't have enough medical to go up against them."
"Alpha Pokemon?" Brent asked as he scratched his head. "All areas have these Pokemon?"
"Some places such as caves, multiple sections of forests and certain parts of settlements have the toughest Pokemon here and there, mostly in clans or some bullying others just trying to live their lives."
"How will we know when an alpha Pokemon shows up? I'd hate to mess with one of those. I don't think Seviper, and the others can handle that given how beat up they were after our last battle."
"I think we'll know when one of them does approach. But only if we don't make too much attention to ourselves we should be just fine. Alpha Pokemon usually tend to ignore trainers if they don't spend too long within the area."
The mountain area was uneventful, hardly any Pokemon encounter worth mentioning, but we did battle once or twice fighting off a Pokemon. Thankfully Espeon was there to defeat them otherwise my ability would've saw to it that they wouldn't be lying unconscious on the ground. On my travels alone during those five years I had encountered wild Pokemon all trying to either fight me or get me out of their territory. Most I had managed to flee from, but others not so much resulting in the deaths of a small few. Throughout the mountain cave we couldn't sense any danger ahead or nearby, like the alpha Pokemon Espeon told us that many areas had at least one. We never did encounter an alpha Pokemon within the cave; it was a good thing given how the cave was narrow and almost dark. And so after a while inside the cave following the trail of lit light bulbs we saw the exit of the cave.
At last, we were finally outside of Twist Mountain and Icirrus City just a ten minute walk away from here. We could stock up on supplies, rest up and talk about the next step we would take to save the others from Shiny Latias. Outside we were greeted with the sun still high in the sky. It was a good thing not wanting to enter Icirrus City at a late hour given how quickly room in a Pokemon Center or hotel fills up within that city in the later hours.
"Phew… man, despite the cold nothing beats fresh air. I felt like we were in there for hours. Kind of felt claustrophobic while I was in there, and I'm not… weird."
"You said it Bent. Caves are horrible. I hate being in caves. Tight spaces, it's dark… yuck!" Espeon shook herself as she stood beside Brent stretching in the middle of the clearing surrounded by tall trees.
But peace and a relaxing walk to the city was cut when at the corner of my eyes, standing on the edge of a cliff beside the mountain I noticed four figures in red. Trainers I thought when slowly looking up at them.
On top of a cliff at the side of the mountain stood four soldiers wearing red armor from head to toe, two men and two women of equal sizes but armed with different weapons. A pair of batons for the man on the far left, beside him a woman with a pair of pistols, a man with a large sledgehammer, and a woman on the far right with a Pokeball in hand. But the thing I noticed all four of them had on the right side of their chest plate was the 'A' symbol all Team Annihilation Reborn soldiers had on them. These soldiers weren't wearing the same white battle armor as the other soldiers had, so perhaps they were other variants of soldiers Shiny Latias has in her army.
"No, not now!" I began to worry, stepping in front of my friends while preparing to fight the soldiers on the cliff. We lacked any sort of Potion of anything to heal ourselves up with. Espeon and I were the only healthy Pokemon left in the team beside Brent's few Pokemon left to battle. With Team Annihilation Reborn soldiers, they were usually tricky to deal with. The soldiers never stay hurdled together before attacking, let alone begin an ambush. They would scatter here and there, around their target while setting up drones to handle the top area. Seeing them all up their without any sort of cover was odd, but to alert us of their presence was something Team Annihilation Reborn rarely did.
"Oh great, just what we need; more dummies trying to capture us." Espeon cautiously watched the surrounding area watching out for any sign of an ambush while putting up an active Protect around us all.
"Got any plans?" Brent began to ask, slowly reaching for his Pokeball attatched to his belt, but stopped as one of the four stepped forward and to our surprise unlike the other soldiers we had fought against spoke.
"So you are the white Dewott named Zack Raines, and your travelling companions; Espeon, Lisa Rivers, and Brent Jackson, all members of the almost extinct The Savior's."
"Well, that's unusual. Didn't think Shiny Latias would ever allow them to talk freely."
"Yes, Shiny Latias has allowed us to talk freely amongst ourselves." The man responded.
"What do you want?" I shouted, trying to sound strong, but finding myself feel weaker at how little strength I had left.
"We are here to see what kind of Dewott you exactly are. How you would react at such little things, the big things such as injury first and death second to those closest to you." The man crossed his arms and looked back at his allies before turning his head back towards us as they stepped forward also. "We know of your little anger issue you have. A secondary ability you have that causes you to lose control of yourself the minute anger fills your mind resulting in you killing anyone and anything in your way. But with Shiny Latias controlling you, you will be a perfect weapon to be used to silence all enemies of Team Annihilation Reborn. You just got to be strong first before she can use you."
"Like I would ever allow myself to be used by the likes of her!" I snapped, feeling the voices in my mind rise in volume. And so I immediately calmed myself down. If I lost control, I would attack anyone close by, but allowing the voices to take control doesn't make me powerful. I wanted to get out of this without the voices taking over and for us all to be in one piece. "Where is she?"
"As if we would ever tell you." The woman with the duel pistols laughed. "Shiny Latias desires you to grow strong first before she wants to claim you as her own as her weapon."
"We are members of The Five, Team Annihilation Reborn's elite faction trained to handle targets Shiny Latias wants taken care of. Shiny Latias desires you to grow strong before you two reunite. And to do that, we need to make sure you keep on going growing stronger and stronger down the path. To drive you forward instead of backwards we need to remind you who it is you are involved with."
"The Five? Why are you called that if there are only four of you?" Espeon asked.
"The Five is called that because we are a team of five past members of the original Team Annihilation. Our leader, the fifth member is back at our base. He has no time to deal with the likes of you when he is more interested on hunting down your other allies."
"200 years is your lifespan all you remaining Team Doom Eight Pokemon have, so don't even think you can outlive the goddess that is Shiny Latias." The man with the sledgehammer exclaimed proudly amongst his allies.
"You think Shiny Latias is a goddess?" Espeon laughed. "More like an egotistical shiny evil bitch with the ability to control all whoever looks into her eyes, a Psychic Dragon type who can talk both Pokemon and human language angry all day and every day how her evil dad and family all died leaving her a broken ugly mess. She is no goddess, only a psychotic Latias who will one day get what's coming to her. Legendary Pokemon doesn't mean all powerful, you fool!"
"Hah, you dare mock our leader? Shiny Latias is all but powerful, powerful enough to rule the region if not the world all on her own. But we soldiers both loyal and brave have sworn to fight by her side and make the world hers. She truly knows how this world can evolve and survive with her in control. Weak pests such as yourselves cannot truly grasp the true power of Shiny Latias."
"Calm yourself Bulldozer; everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no need to get into an argument over silly things like this." Spoke the calmer one of the two men and two women who stood atop the large rock. The man wearing red armor held up his batons for brief moment before setting them aside. "Fighting is also deemed useless given this situation."
"Yeah? How so?" I stepped forward.
"Shiny Latias doesn't wish for us or any of her soldiers to kill you, Zack Raines." He pointed at me. "She wants you alive so her goal can be obtained."
The woman with the pistols stepped forward and looked down at us from the cliff. "Your allies however, Shiny Latias has allowed us to kill. That should spark a reaction from the red eyed Dewott who cannot control his anger. Surely he will kill all opponents before absorbing their strength first in the process. Luckily for us we have more than enough Pokemon to help you 'level up'" she chuckled, gesturing to the man with the sledgehammer throwing a Pokeball down in front of us before it opened up and out came his Pokemon.
It was a Boldore glaring back at the four soldiers before reluctantly stepping towards us ready to fight. Espeon sniffed and quickly caught the Boldore's scent.
"Wait a minute; this Boldore was caught from Twist Mountain."
"Quite the nose on you, little Espeon. This Boldore was caught hours before you and your team showed up." The man with the sledgehammer held up his Pokeball up high and announced. "This Pokemon was the leader of this mountain who sure did put up a battle. With its other followers it fought against us, growling and using all kinds of moves at us to get us out of there. But with my Pokemon we easily defeated it. Look around you Boldore, this is what your home looks like from the outside. Take one last look at the mountain, it's the last you shall ever see it. Embrace your new life as a member of Team Annihilation Reborn. Refuse that is, and I'll see if my sledgehammer can crack you open in half." He chuckled, tapping the Boldore's Pokeball with his sledgehammer.
"After we are through with you and Shiny Latias' control over all of you is gone that Boldore will be going back home."
"Controlled? Neither of us are being controlled by Shiny Latias." the man with the batons laughed. "We are here by our own free will. With the belief Shiny Latias will one day bring about the new world to us Juro promised us before his death at the hands of you, Zack Raines."
"Boldore." The man with the sledgehammer yawned. "Fight them all, but do not kill any of them. Refusal to fight will result on the rest of the Pokemon inside Twist Mountain to all die a painful death. We did tell you they would be spared if you came with us peacefully. You do care for them do you not? Then fight!"
Boldore glared at the four soldiers standing at the edge of the cliff before turning around to face us and let out a long sigh and readied itself to fight us. It began so suddenly with a Rock Blast, hurling large boulders three times at us, the first blast almost breaking the Protect Espeon still had around us, but the second fire shattered it completely leaving us wide open, then the third blast hit all of us throwing us separating us around the clearing. Then the four soldiers jumped off one by one and threw out their own Pokemon; Fire types, Dragon types, Flying types and Ground types, Pokemon I failed to see because the third strike from the Rock Blast small pieces of dust got in my eye blinding me temporarily.
I used Razor Shell after hearing something run past me. Try and focus all I could to use my training to fight only with sound I failed at finding myself on the ground within seconds and got slashed across my chest by a Pokemon. I heard the sounds of Lisa, Brent and Espeon cry out in pain as Pokemon used their moves to attack them with, slamming them with their tails, slashing at them with their claws, firing projectile moves at them from long or close range. But as I finally cleaned out the dust from my eye I was able to see, but it was too late.
The four soldiers looked down at me while, one placing their foot on my back pinning me down. "You are unfit to be used as the tool to help Shiny Latias rebuild this world. A joke is what you are. How does Shiny Latias deem you useful when your strength cannot match against us? You cannot handle our power, let alone face the might of Team Annihilation Reborn."
I was able to get a look at them to notice the man with the batons stepped back a little. "Let us first introduce the Dewott first before we begin. I feel as though this will urge him on the path to exact his revenge so he'll know who his targets are." He cleared his throat and began, pointing at himself first. "I am named Mr. Sad, a rejected member of the Doom project, cast aside temporarily before Shiny Latias took me on for my abilities deemed useful to help reshape this corrupt world."
The woman with the pistols kneeled down on one knee and aimed one of the guns at my head. "The one pointing this gun at your forehead, one single pull of the trigger will end your life; Iris can do that at any moment, but I cannot because you being alive is the main thing we need for Shiny Latias, our leader to make this world a better place for all life." She said with a light giggle at the end. "I am an assassin. Top assassin of Team Annihilation skilled with all kinds of weapons these hands can get a hand on. So be a dear and grow strong so I can have a challenge for our next battle." She pulled the gun away and allowed the man with the sledgehammer to speak and stood up, starting by slamming the Sledgehammer on my back after removing his foot from my back.
"Glad to make your acquaintance Mr Raines. You're trek through the mountain must've been an easy feat for you, simple without any problem whatsoever. But walking through a cave isn't a walk in the park, around the corner without realizing it you're face-to-face with me; Bulldozer, once a soldier working alongside Team Annihilation original now a destructor ready to destroy anything and anyone in our way, in Shiny Latias' way, I will squash 'em like a bug!" He used his sledgehammer and pressed it down on my back. He stepped back and the other woman with only the Pokeball lifted up my eye patch and opened up my left eye.
"You have endured so many scars during your journey. An eye gone leaving you with one eye left out of the two you were born with. What other limbs are you willing to give up to see your journey at an end? Both eyes? A tongue? All five senses gone? Shiny Latias after she has done with you will do much worse than that. You'll be begging for a quick death. I am the second worst thing you'll face before Shiny Latias comes for you, I am Cara, and my Pokemon will make you suffer." The woman Cara stood up and all four readied their weapons except Cara. Then without a word all four struck me with their weapons; Mr Sad hitting my shoulders with one of the batons, Cara kicking me in my stomach, Bulldozer slamming the sledgehammer down on my back, but not at full strength from what I could gather, and finally Iris shooting nonlethal rounds at me, shots that sent strong shocks into my body. I tried to fight back, I tried to use Psychic to push them away anything to help defend myself, but I had trouble on focusing some of my energy to use it.
The assault continued for as long as I could remember, a never-ending beating without end was how it seemed. But one strike was all it took to the head for me to fall unconscious.
I first exited the cave during the afternoon, and after regaining consciousness I saw that the sun was almost setting. I turned my head to the side to find Brent sitting on top of a fallen log using the Savior's device to call someone, Devon most likely. I then turned my head to find Lisa leaning against a tree with me lying on top of her lap with Espeon beside us trying to use whatever she could to stop the bleeding from all the injures we had received using a torn cloth.
"Zackary, you're all right." She limped closer towards me, resting a paw on my shoulder, sniffing in between each word. "I was so scared I thought… I thought… I'm just glad you're still here." I tried to move my arm, but the pain was too much, so all I could do was nod to reassure her that I was all right. Meaning I wasn't dead yet and still hanging in there.
"The Five ran off after they beat us all up, that was two hours ago almost. We all came to one after the other, bleeding and bruised up, but all in one piece I guess." Lisa sighed.
As I rested my head back in Lisa's lap as Brent was calling Devon for help, I thought back before at the entrance when we had no potions or anything. "If I had Potions, something to prepare for an attack like this one, I wouldn't be in this mess. To be beaten like this after all I had been through… ugh… such a fine mess I have gotten myself into. If I had been alone would I have remembered to stock up on Potions? Lisa, Brent, Espeon and their Pokemon would've been fine if we were. All of us were lucky to be alive and still standing… besides me that is."
"Don't worry little guy, I called Devon and he says help is on the way, so sit tight until then." Brent said all of that before he groaned and sat beside us, all injured and beaten. Lisa with a cut on her cheek and some bruises on her legs, Brent with a chipped tooth and slashed shoulder, and Espeon cut up in most places that made sitting or lying down painful.
In silence I watched them, the state all of us were in. "They could've killed them, it would've been just like that day when Sakura and Isaac were gunned down and killed like that, then I would've been alone again… Again?" I turned my head away from them. "Perhaps it will be better if I go alone from now on? Yes, perhaps it is best for me if I go alone; face Team Annihilation Reborn by myself. They'll understand. They'll live…"
To be continued…
Trivia:
The Five originally weren't members of Team Annihilation Reborn and were simply gang members within the region impressed by the group and wanted to gain their attention and perhaps allow them to join amongst their ranks. In the end, Shiny Latias would eventually notice them and dispose of them for wasting her time.