As a heads up, expect the violence in this chapter to be of a more descriptive level than what occurred in Chapter 9, 'In the Midst of Hell'. While I recognize that some/most people might be inured to what occurs in said scenes, especially as a result of how prevalent violence can be in the more common video games, this is still a pokémon based fic, and the more general audience might not be prepared for that.
In addition, expect a depiction of what might occur in a black market breeding den, and all that might entail.
I take my ratings seriously.
It was mid-morning when the echoes of an unrefined teleport warbled into existence. Celèste and Caitlyn were deep into their scrying meditation, and so the task of protecting them fell to Morgan and Umbral. The moment the teleportation completed, Morgan's water propelled charge turned into a wide, goopy mass that had him wrapping around June, and Umbral's unfurling glob of stunning electricity was absorbed by a mass of spectral energy that exploded into harmless fragments and sparkled into dancing crinkles.
"Couldn't have called ahead of time?" He drawled, raising a brow at how calmly she took the sensations of Morgan's aqueous form traveling around her. "The place is a mess, absolutely not presentable at all."
"Oh don't worry, I'm used to your eccentricities. Mess or not, it's just part of your charm." June moved to sit back on something, solidified air perfectly sized for her shape appearing with barely a twitch from the kadabra beside her. "The lack of refreshments however, is completely unforgivable."
"I've got water, water, and water with some electrolyte packets on the side."
"Mm… I think I'll take water. Chilled, if you please."
Alex let out a sigh of long suffering, rummaging around his personalized messenger bag before pulling out a bottle of sparkling water.
"Most people would specify something carbonated."
"Most people would take being tackled rather poorly."
She hummed once again, a hint of a coy smile on her lips. "But then, we never were most people." Bringing the bottle to her mouth, with her free hand she motioned for Morgan to launch himself back towards him. The vaporeon arched through the air and settled around his neck, barely a trace of wetness on June's suit.
"I assume you're not here for pleasantries."
"So very astute of you," she said with a wink. "Your pokémon must be rubbing off." She pressed the back of her hand to her forehead, manicured nails reflecting sunlight onto her face. "All those Psychics around you, I was starting to worry that you'd never improve."
Alex crossed his ankles, waiting for her to get to the point.
When it became clear that he wasn't willing to play along, June clicked her tongue. "You read everything, yes?"
Without hesitation, "How do you want me to dispose of the bodies?"
"Standard combustion and particalization. Scatter the ashes to the winds across the area, but keep it to a minimum if you can." June glanced at his two meditating pokémon, her face turning somber for a moment. "On top of the general theft and promises of personalized, one on one training, it seems our hosts have been experimenting in unethical techniques." She raised an open hand to stop him, pointing towards Celéste and Caitlyn the moment his shoulders started to rise.
"If it wasn't for a lucky break, you never would have been assigned this. As it is, expect to be dealing with an unknown number of targets, ranging from gross incompetence to entry level Ace. Information on the site is limited. Several years back the land was purchased by a private investor and observation was blocked off. Construction equipment movement over the years tells us something is going on, but Johto was never able to mount an official investigation."
She took another sip of water, smiling and talking to Umbral quietly as the misdreavus muzzled against her face. "As much as I wish I could provide extra support, this is still an internal Johtoan affair. They have yet to green light further Interpol actions, but thankfully you're in the area."
Alex sighed once again. "'And as an Ace level trainer who's already established a habit of wandering, if my sensory companions were to conveniently pick up the distress of stolen pokémon, Johto would be a fool to come down on me.'"
"If preliminary investigations mean anything, this may be an Indigo matter." June pressed a finger to her lips, smiling. "But you didn't hear that from me."
"Is Rocket stepping back into the picture?"
"Not as a whole. We'd be hearing things the world over if they were, but so far all unusual activity is firmly located within Johto. We suspect it's only a local branch, but we both know they have members integrated into just about everything. But that's neither here nor there. For the time being, I need you to focus on this. I know you don't need it, but for the sake of habits," she shrugged. "Avoid heavily altering the landscape. Keep moves to things that local mons might use, and if you must resort to heavy firepower, do not alert the locals. And Alex?" She rose, moving to hug him from behind.
"Try to keep all of this clean for me, okay? It's my promotion on the line." She kissed his cheek, the kadabra teleporting them both away before he could respond.
/ - /
By the time they started moving, they were too late to stop the convoy of trucks. Whispers of negativity and vitriol lingered in their wake, but with anti-scrying protections from a trained Dark type preventing them from getting a read on the drivers, all his team could do was promise to rescue whoever was remaining as quick as possible.
First blood came after a shrill but quiet Thunderbolt was loosed at Morgan. Until that point, every target was careful incapacitated by Thunder Waves, precise Force Palms, and deep Hypnosis'.
It was the crack of Thunder that heralded the start of the true battle.
Three trainers to a building with four outposts and one main facility, and two to four mon a trainer. Taking down two buildings without alerting the rest was decent enough, but it was a shame that the third building held a Psychic specialist.
Not that it really mattered. A constant flow of Dark energy from Celéste meant that building was incapacitated, and the pseudo Dark Terrain she generated was enough for Umbral to steal away the life energies of everything inside due to the sheer terror they were experiencing.
The dull roar of a Flamethrower tore through a second floor window from the second building, bathing the area in light. A second later, a massive sphere of water exploded against it, splashing against walls and dirt alike. Though the rain had yet to break, Morgan was completely in his element. With every spurt of water, the ground became more and more soaked. Given ten more minutes, his wide scale moves would be the water equivalent of Earthquakes.
Alex let out an ambivalent hum, watching an electabuzz get flung into an allied scyther. The higher end pokémon weren't entirely unexpected, but it was still troubling. "How's that rain coming?" None of his three Psychics answered, far too focused on their efforts. Up above, the darkening clouds slowly twirled, the signature swirl of Rain Dance likely to give any trainer worth their salt a jolt once they realized exactly how big the mass was.
It wasn't uncommon for pokémon to band together in order to protect their lands. The mines here had opened up several onyx tunnels to the open air, and with it undoubtedly came the occasional irate rock type. Being a long standing quarry, there were also a few flowing ponds slash lakes that had developed, the bodies of water conveniently becoming the homes or at least rest stops for local quagsires and woopers. At least, once somebody had gone and made them safe to use. So if a massive Rain Dance were to happen out of the blue, nobody would bat an eye when they realized it happened over private property. Offending one's pokemon inhabitants was an insurance premium for a reason, after all.
Another crack of thunder stole him away from his musings. The remaining trainers were out for blood now, a state of mind Morgan met in kind. Water Pulses ringed frost coating Icy Winds and viscous, suffocating Bubble Beams; attempts at punching or kicking him were met with vicious Ice Fangs that rapidly shed their red veneer to return to the more sanitary pale blue.
A droplet on his face, arriving just as the door from the third building slammed open, made Alex smile. Celèste tore across the field on all fours, tackling the electabuzz to the floor and encasing both its head and chest in separate, jagged chunks of ice. The battle only became more chaotic from there. In the main building, Caitlyn and Deus had teleported down and were finally able to let loose and take down those that were inside, while out in the field, Morgan began unleashing Surfs and Muddy Waters with abandon, blinding and disorienting those that dared approach him.
For those that unwisely chose not to, they faced the nightmare team of Celéste and Umbral. Let alone how badly the lucario outclassed everyone, his misdreavus took great pleasure in tormenting her victims into unconsciousness. Poor Emerl would have quite a bit of work ahead of him in order to keep their presence unknown.
It was only when everything had gone silent, the rain still pattering down, that Alex rose from his observation point and let Emerl teleport them down. In the rain, the blood would get washed away and mixed with the mud and dirt. What would need a special touch was the severed limb of a hitmonchan, as well as the oozing remains of the scyther. With only a single, directing nod, Emerl floated off to gather everything; those that needed to have their memories modified, and those that needed to be disposed of. It wasn't pleasant business, but it needed to be done.
Caitlyn appeared beside him midstep, moving along with him as she began conveying everything inside. A large basement held all the cages for the stolen pokémon, and the pokémon outside the building wrapped up in metal were the captured mons too far gone to handle on his own. Their pokéballs were laying right beside them for the latter, a deep hypnosis alongside paralysis ensuring they wouldn't move until long after they were taken care of.
Alex took a deep, measured breath as he stepped down into the basement. The room reeked of filth, and its occupants showed it. Mostly small, pre-evolution pokémon, everymon in here either had uses in the black market for unethical reasons or would grow up to become powerful mon. He wouldn't have been surprised if the majority of the remaining caged mon were female, a fact that Caitlyn infuriatingly confirmed.
Quietly taking off his X-gear for Celèste to match the crate of pokéballs to their owners, Alex walked up and down the rows, clicking his tongue when he realized how many were abnormally aggressive. The majority of the mon here were subdued and fearful of his presence, and the stark contrast only highlighted the effects of the experiments.
Their anger whispered to his empathic senses. Rage at the human who dared show their face again. Fury at being stuck in cages, with minimal food and water- forced to wallow in their own filth. Quiet, whimpering voices, layered underneath it all, begging- crying- for their trainers to come save them.
Alex closed his eyes. For a moment, Mind and Souls were united as one, calming waves sent through their network resulting in a feedback loop. Celèste and Caitlyn both made to pull away once the emotions started growing too strong, but a soft tug kept them from fully breaking the connection. Another breath. The room was bathed in their connection, quieting the partially Shadowed 'mon and placating the rest. It was as good a Hypnosis as any, even if it was entirely a selfish act.
As Caitlyn and Celèste moved about the room, gentle murmurings further lulling the stolen 'mon into security, Alex materialized a glass jar from his X-gear. Over the years, his friends and associates had sent him small packets of sweets from their respective areas. Gummies from Johto, hard candies from Kalos, sun dried fruits from Alola, and from some of June's various work parties: spicy candies from the continents on the other side of the world.
Once he got enough packets, they would be opened up and mixed around before being sorted into these small, spherical jars. A grab bag of sweets he'd never tried. Shaking the jar around, Alex closed his eyes and opened up the container, plucking out a single piece and tossing it into his mouth before putting the jar away.
It was a hard candy. In line with peppermints, but with a caramel base. Around the size of one of the digits of his fingers and oval in shape, Alex imagined himself sitting under an umbrella at the beach. A cold, iced drink on the side, salt in the air, and a warm breeze slipping into the shade. A useful distraction, one that kept him busy long enough for his team to put the stolen pokémon into their proper housings.
Caitlyn barked softly as she approached him, burying her head into his stomach.
"I'll be fine," he whispered, rubbing the top of her head. "Here, let me." The sack of miniaturized spheres felt heavy in his hand. The smaller of the two sacks, the handfuls of pokémon in this one held the pokémon that had suffered from the recreations of Cipher's experiments. It was barely a completed Step 1; just enough to lower their inhibitions and make them more prone to aggression, but it was a step forward when a few years ago a landslide of regression had been made. Step 2, when the tainted energies of negativity could be accessed, had to have been done at another location.
Umbral immediately hovered by his head as he led the way back out, cooing softly as she pressed her head against his. A numbing chill spread throughout his body, one that asked him to simply lay down and nothing else. The pitter patter of the lingering rain slowly faded out as he focused on the sensation, his breathing slowly lowering to match the rhythm Umbral was transmitting.
Alex.
He opened his eyes. Faint ribbons of his life essence, little more than visible emissions of his breaths and body heat, were undulating into Umbral's still form. He closed his eyes once more, reaching to return back to the trance Umbral needed him to be in.
Alex.
"Right…" He opened his eyes once more. At his sides, Cailtyn and Celèste were giving him worried looks. The other half of his team would likely have been doing the same, were they not busy altering the terrain so that the implanted memories of their victims would seem more plausible. "That's enough for now, Umbral."
The Ghost type let out a questioning sound, her hungry eyes focusing only on him. A warning sound from the other two empaths drew her attention, the duo receiving quiet notes of annoyance and irritation in return.
"You can have this, for now." Alex tugged open the collar of his jacket, exposing his collarbones. Despite the pleading sounds of Caitlyn and Celèste, Alex didn't resist as Umbral became incorporeal, the only part of her that had any true tangibility- the beads of her necklace- settling around his neck in a barely too tight grip. The chilling sensation settled upon him once more, but even as the rain dripped down his clothes and stole away his body heat, it never became uncomfortable.
Not anymore.
/ - /
The war against paperwork was never ending. Files to read, information to sort through, reports to parse down, her own reports to create. If it wasn't one thing, it was another; a true break, one where she was able to do nothing more than relax under a beach umbrella with an ice cold drink on the side and a warm breeze filtering through the shade with absolutely nothing else to do for the week hadn't been had for years. Her 'rest days' were just limited hours of paperwork or reading, with the rest of her time spent preparing the week's meals or pampering her pokémon.
It was enough to tide her over, but not- never- June sighed. 'A foolish attempt at coping with what happened', her psychologist had said. Not in those exact words of course, but she'd read more than enough self-help books and forums to know her never-stopping lifestyle was a poor one.
It had resulted in her passing out more than once, as well as the reason why Sköll had picked up a human oriented nursing license. If she couldn't adequately care for herself, then somebody needed to help pick up the slack.
Even now, the delphox was busy knitting some beanies for her coworkers back in Kalos. The clacking of the needles was something she had grown used to, during those summer nights as a child. Mother would be on her chair, the radio for a local radio station retelling some drama about famous lovers several generations back. Father would be in the room over, a puzzle of some landmark from another region slowly being completed while April helped by gathering similarly colored pieces together; she herself would be laying down on the carpet, textbooks about various pokémon and her notebooks scattered about as she studied for her upcoming Provisional License.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
A practised pattern, with clear, defined breaks after a set amount of twists and twirls. It was soothing. Comforting. Beyond the residual warmth Sköll willingly exuded. It made the moment perfect. All that was missing was-
A mental prod. One that had both her and Sköll glancing at each other. Approval for the teleportation was barely sent before Alex and his ever present sensors appeared in her room. June pushed the table away and moved to support Alex, the man barely registering her presence.
Regression. Endless Sand. Unending Rage.
June bit her lip. Five years down the line it was rare that either of them had a breakdown, but rare didn't mean never. Soft words of sweet nothings poured past her lips as she carefully guided Alex back to the couch. The weighty jacket stayed on, damnable attack resistant thing that it was, but his X-gear and tinted glasses came off.
The comforting welcome backs and compliments of how Celèste and Caitlyn were looking- even past the residue and dirt covering their bodies- faded away as she slowly began whispering the events of the past few days to her dear friend. How Penelope had recently picked up baking after Gabriel shared some sweets for the third birthday in a row. How April had won the last Kalos National Tournament and was preparing for the next International Event in the coming years.
Eventually she moved from leaning her head on his shoulder to resting it in his lap, one hand holding hers while the other was directed to comb through her hair. If his idle ministrations ceased and his grip became tight, she mentioned nothing of it. If at certain words his eyes narrowed and he stared down at the vulnerable- so very vulnerable thing in his lap, she said nothing.
She spoke nothing about how all three empaths had closed their eyes and were focusing on projecting the calm ambience of her home back in Kalos. Not a thing was said about the tension in his face slowly melting away. Not a word was spoken about the way her hand was painfully gripped, a drowning man's grasp on a rope trailing from somewhere.
Nothing but meaningless things that he would not remember.
Nothing but distractions to keep what he did remember at bay.