Finally! It's been over two years since I updated this story and I finally have something completed. Sorry for the long hiatus, but graduating from college and working have sapped much of my time. Don't worry, I have full intentions to finish this story, despite what life throws at me. For now, I'll leave you with this updated chapter. Please enjoy and let me know what you think. Thank you!
"speech"= talking out loud or conversing
*speech*= thoughts
speech= Pokemon moves
speech= telepathic communication
A large crash leveled a large portion of the chamber as Seras' aura puppet slammed its fists to try to crush Iota and Lambda. Both Projects avoided the hits with Accelerated Movement, with both having differing reactions from one another. Lambda was enjoying Seras' efforts to kill them, while Iota tried to reach out to Seras with his words.
"Seras! Wait! I don't want to battle you." Iota called out, wanting to get her to stop.
Seras threw another punch towards him, which he again vanished to dodge. He reappeared next to Lambda, who was laughing and clapping in amusement.
"This is fun! She's blinded by rage and can't see just how outmatched she is." Lambda laughed.
Iota quickly said to her, "Don't patronize her. She's still powerful, but you're right. Her gift gives her great power the angrier she gets, but I'm sure we can end this without having to kill her."
"Why would you want that? She's the enemy."
"For some reason, I kind of want to show her mercy. I understand why she's angry."
"Well then, you'll have to beat her before I kill her."
Lambda charged forward, dodging each one of the Seras' attacks and throwing her sickle at her. The aura puppet blocked the sickle and knocked it away before slashing a large sword towards her. Lambda smirked and vanished, reappearing back in her Pokemon form, far above the aura puppet, pointing at it with her horn.
Lambda giggled, "Now this is very interesting. Let's see how it handles a Void Cannon."
Purple energy began to build on the tip of her horn, forming into a condensed ball before firing as a large beam. The beam flew downward towards the aura puppet, who looked up to see blast barreling towards it. It lifted a blade to try to block the attack, but a large ball of red energy shot above it, crashing into the beam, dissipating it within a large blast.
Lambda growled and looked towards the origin of the ball, seeing Iota pointing outward and glaring at her.
Iota called out, "Firing Void Cannons is forbidden within Team Rocket facilities. You know that. You could destroy everything here."
Lambda scoffed and began to charge another Void Cannon, pointing it towards Iota, "What do I care!? Everything here is worthless anyways!"
She was about to fire, but had to dodge a large sword slash from Seras, forcing her to jump back to the ground. Sera shot out an arm on the aura puppet and caught Lambda in the massive hand. With a great deal of force, she threw Lambda onto a wall, cratering her through the wall, before turning her gaze towards Iota.
Iota looked at Seras in the center of the puppet and said, "Don't make this mistake. We don't need to fight."
Seras ragefully threw a punch at Iota using the aura puppet, but Iota extended an arm with a sigh and caught the punch with his own aura.
Iota opened his mouth and fired out a Dark Pulse at Seras, knocking her and the aura puppet back, causing her a great deal of pain in the process.
Iota called out, "If that Gallade friend of yours has been unable to defeat me, what in all the earth and heavens makes you think you can instead? It's an impressive power, but it has a lot of glaring weaknesses."
Seras yelled out in a rage and slashed with her puppet's aura sword. Iota blocked the blow with his aura again and blasted the sword to pieces with concentrated fire from his maw. Seras snarled at this and reformed the blade with her aura.
Iota called out, "This is eating away at your energy, isn't it? It drains your power and you can only sustain its power if you stay angry. The angrier you are, the stronger you become, at the cost of your health. Am I wrong? You're not at your strongest because you're not as angry as you can be. Right?"
Seras yelled out, "Oh shut up!"
She charged a beam in the hands of the aura puppet and fired it at Iota, who vanished to avoid the attack. He reappeared on the other side of the room, being followed by Seras' beam. Seeing that his words were falling on deaf ears, he vanished again and reappeared in front of Seras. She lifted her arms and threw them down, causing the aura puppet to slam its arms onto Iota.
Seras began to pant in exhaustion, feeling the strain of the energy she was exerting to try to kill the two Projects. She lifted her arms and watched as her puppet did the same. To her shock, Iota was not splattered on the ground where she had slammed down. He was completely gone.
Iota reappeared in front of her once more and shook his head, "Too slow with that puppet."
Seras glared at him once more and then sighed, "Fine! I guess I'll have to do something different."
"Or you could stop. I'm in no mood to fight."
The two turned their heads as they heard Lambda get up with a groan and climb though the hole in the wall that she was launched from.
Seras asked, "What about her?"
"I guess that's between you and her, but I won't fight you."
Seras smirked and turned. She lifted her arms and began to reabsorb the aura puppet within her, retaking her Demon Seras form. Seras launched forward and tackled Lambda into the hallway, though the hole once more.
Lambda groaned at the new pain she was feeling and looked up to see Seras sitting on top of her, pointing claws at her head. "Seriously?"
Seras stabbed her claws forward, but missed as Lambda leaned her head to the side. Lambda retaliated by slamming a paw on the side of Seras' head, knocking her off of her. Lambda jumped to her feet quickly and shifted into her humanoid form to match Seras. Lambda grabbed her sickle and began to circle Seras, who did the same.
Lambda gave her a smirk and commented, "That form is very interesting. If I fail to kill you, I will have a lot of research on my hands, with you as the little test subject."
Seras replied, "I have no intention of dying here or being your little plaything, bitch."
"Strong words for someone so pink." She looked around, "Where's Iota?"
"He's not getting involved, apparently."
"Better for me. No one is getting in my way."
She quickly lunged towards Lambda, who dodged the punch. Lambda ducked under another punch and kicked Seras back.
"You're out of your league, little girl." Lambda readied her sickle and said, "Come on."
Seras released more of her aura and shot towards Lambda, trying hard to hit her. Lambda giggled as she vanished, avoiding the attack, which destroyed the wall that it hit. Seras then yelled in pain as Lambda slashed her arm with her sickle and punched her back.
"And like that, you lost."
"I didn't lose anything."
"You can't even hit me. But I sure as hell can hit you." She said, showing her the blood on the tip of her sickle. She giggled and licked the blood off, "Interesting taste."
Seras glared at her and began to charge energy into her hands and formed claws with them, "I've had enough! I'm killing you! Right here! Right…!" She stopped and stumbled as a sudden flash of light hit flashed past her eyes and caused her a slight headache.
She blinked her eyes and found herself in the middle of a burning village, which caused her to gasp and step back. She recognized the village. It's where she was born. Now it was burning...like it did that night...
Walking through the streets, she turned the corner and saw the horrific sight of an entire street covered in fresh corpses of various Eeveelutions. Seras staggered back, horrified at the sight before her. What was worse, is that she remembered this scene…it was THAT night.
A cry echoed through the air. The cry of a small Eevee. Seras turned her head and looked down the street, seeing a small Eevee with a wound on her left front leg. Seras reversed back to her normal Espeon form at the sight of the small Eevee and she looked at her left front leg. She used her snout to move the fur to reveal a large scar.
With a deep breath, she said to herself, "This isn't real. There's no way it's real. This happened decades ago." She looked at her younger self, "You're not real."
She looked forward and saw a man in a black uniform turn the corner and begin to walk towards the whimpering Eevee.
Seras yelled out, "NO!" She then fired off a Psybeam at the assailant, but the attack went through them harmlessly. "WHAT!?"
She then saw as the man grabbed her younger self by the scruff of the neck and lifted her, "Can't keep running, little one!"
A growl was heard and the man turned to see glowing red eyes in an alley. Suddenly, an Umbreon jumped out and latched itself to the man's neck, causing him to let go of little Seras. The man yelled out in pain as the Umbreon pulled and thrashed, until it ripped off a chunk out of the man's neck. The man fell to the ground, holding his hemorrhaging neck, but soon fell limp.
The Umbreon panted in exhaustion, trying to catch his breath. He looked over to the alley, where another Eevee and a Sylveon walked out of.
The Sylveon rushed over to little Seras and began to tend to her wound, "You're going to be okay, Seras. Don't worry."
Seras looked at the Sylveon and felt tears beginning to well up in her eyes, "Momma?" She looked at the Umbreon and said, "Pappa?"
The Sylveon turned to the Umbreon and asked, "What do we do now?" Her distress not hidden in her tone.
The Umbreon took a moment to compose himself and said, "We have to get out of the town."
The other Eevee said to him, "How?"
"We'll take the waterways. They're too small for humans to crawl through."
Groans and screams rang out as flood splashed from around the corner and Seras' father paled at the sight, "She's coming."
Seras' mother picked up Seras with one of her ribbons and said, "Then we have to run."
Her dad picked up the little Dartz by the scruff of his neck and took off running, trying to stay out of sight.
Seras looked on and asked, "Why are you showing me this?"
Lambda's voice sounded behind him, "Look behind you."
Seras turned around and saw Lambda stepping around the corner, covered in blood. She gasped and then glared, "IT WAS YOU!?"
Lambda giggled, "Yeah. Surprise! Your village was burned to the ground, your people either killed or captured, and your parents killed because of me. What are you going to do about it?"
Seras shifted to her human form and took out her bladed fans, "I'm going to kill you!"
"You already tried that, dearie. It didn't work. You're too weak compared to me."
Seras lunged forward and slashed at her repeatedly. Lambda avoided each attack and spun around her, kicking her back.
Seras growled in a rage and attempted to go into demon form, but noticed that she was not changing.
Lambda laughed, "It won't work here. This is my world now…and I'm done playing around with you."
Seras spun around and was immediately met with a punch to the face, which knocked her to her knees. She quickly got back up and slashed at her again. Lambda caught her attack and pulled her into another strike to her head. Seras staggered and tried to weakly attack again, receiving the same result.
Seras again fell to her knees, staggered with the world beginning to spin from the trauma. Lambda grabbed her by her hair and pulled her up.
Lambda shook her head and said, "That's enough out of you."
She let Seras go, which caused her to fall again, only to be met by the knee strike as she fell, knocking her unconscious.
The illusion around them faded and Lambda grabbed her by her hair, beginning to drag her back to the chamber.
[Rick]
*Everything is so cold. Why is it so cold?* Rick wondered, as his senses began to return to him. All he could remember was everything going black and then feeling an almost painful amount of cold engulf him. He forced his eyes open, seeing everything blurry. Was his eyesight this poor or was it being obstructed.
Rick tried to move his limbs, but found them stuck in place, refusing to move. As his mind began to start up, his situation became more and more clear. He was stuck in a thick block of ice. Why was he frozen? He summoned power within himself and let out a psychic pulse, causing cracks to form on the ice. He did it again, creating more and more cracks. With one final pulse, the ice shattered and Rick fell to the ground, his muscles too frozen to more effectively.
He looked around, taking in the visuals of the area he was in. This was definitely not the Mercury, as it appeared he was in a dormitory or something like that. What was more striking to him was the blood all over the walls. Goodness there was so much blood.
"Good! You seem to be back to normal." A voice called out.
Rick struggled for a moment and managed to turn his head to see Richter sitting on a bed, keeping watch over him. The Nidoking gave him a quick smirk and walked over, putting a blanket over him to help warm him up.
Rick shivered from the cold, making him more grateful for the blanket, "Ric...Richter...wh...what...what happ...happened?"
"Oh you gave a demon the green light to pilot you like a mech for a couple minutes. Using your body, he went on a killing spree and slaughtered at least fifty grunts in this facility before we managed to freeze you to snap you out of it. Welcome back. Stay here for a moment until your body warms up. You have to be super stiff."
Rick sighed and placed his head down on the ground, "Man, I just keep making poor decisions, don't I?"
"Rick, you're angry. We all are. That being said, you have to remember what consequences accompany your rage. While normal angry you is scary enough, you kind of have a dangerous being within you that has a bloodlust you could only dream of having. So you have to work really hard just to contain it. I'll be honest with you, this whole mission is probably not worth it. I get that we want revenge for what happened to Ashlyn, but killing these guys isn't going to bring her back. The only thing we're doing is putting ourselves in danger doing this and it could end with more of us dying. From what I can tell, there are Projects here that were assigned to protect Omicron. They're not weak. If it was my choice, I would just go home. This is pointless. Unfortunately, we're in too deep now. If the blood art on the walls is any indication."
Rick looked around him at the destruction that he caused, "I need help, man. I thought I had my rage in check. I was just holding it back."
"To be a bit fair, you were being possessed at the time."
"Which I willingly allowed."
"Don't do it again. We need to get that beast out of you once and for all. You won't feel free until that happens."
"I've tried everything to free myself from him, but I'm unfortunately bound to him at a spiritual level. The stronger I get, the stronger he also becomes. He's a parasite."
Richter picked him up and put him on his feet, "Don't give him an inch. I won't pretend that I know what you're going through with him, but know that we're here to help. Besides, I can't let you start losing yourself. You still have a favor to do for me."
Rick smirked, "Yeah, once this is all over, I'll get right on it." He took a moment of rest and asked, "So, where is everyone?"
"I'm not entirely sure. All I know is that they're fighting. Who? I have no idea. I just hope that they're okay. Enough blood has been spilled here and I don't want to keep losing friends."
Rick cracked his knuckles, chuckling, "Let's get them out of whatever scuffles they're in."
[Seras]
*Everything hurts!* Thought Seras, as the world began to come into view. Her ears were ringing, her head was spinning, and her sight was blurry. She could remember that she was in a fight, but soon everything went blank. As her sight began to focus, she could see the world around her moving and a pain in her head. She looked up and saw her hair being pulled, as the form of Lambda dragged her through the hall by her hair. She felt a sharp pain in her arm and looked down to see the blade of Lambda's sickle sticking completely through her right forearm and the chain wrapped around her, keeping her bound.
Lambda dragged her back to where Iota was and threw her in front of Iota, "That was it? That was easy. That fight lasted maybe a minute or two. A few illusions and she could not handle it. So, I'm going to give you a chance to..."
Iota knelt down by Seras and asked her, "Are you alright?"
Seras couldn't answer, as her senses were still not all back. Iota noticed this and began to unbind her, but was cut off by a quick bolt of energy being fired past his head.
Lambda said to him, "I said, I was going to give you a chance and you're picking incorrectly."
"What are you talking about?"
"You're not yourself. You're getting too chummy with the enemy right now. So I'm giving you a chance to show where your loyalties lie. So I'm giving you the choice to kill her yourself."
Iota looked at her and said, "You can't be serious."
"It's a simple matter. Kill her and you reaffirm your loyalties to us."
Iota stood and drew his blade, "Let me remind you of something. Team Rocket and the Projects exist because I allow them to exist. You are no exception. You don't make the decisions here. Know your place."
"My job is to research and weed out traitors. Your sister is one such traitor and I am not going to allow another Project to defect like she, Gamma, Alpha, Omega, and Theta."
"Considering that there's a list that comprises more than one individual, means you haven't been doing a good job."
Lambda growled angrily and ripped her sickle out of Sera's arm, who screamed in pain. Lambda then yelled, "Final warning! Kill her or I'll kill you!"
"You lack the power to kill me!"
"I do, but what about her?"
Iota was confused, wondering who she was referring to. His eyes then shot open in understanding. He tried to turn, but his body was immediately locked in place. Iota looked to his side and saw a masked Psi stepping into the chamber.
Lambda laughed, mocking the immobilized Houndoom, "Did you forget that I have a little pet with me now? One that can command the blood of anyone she looks at and her power can still affect us Dark types? She's what you can call my insurance policy."
Iota fought against the hold and said, "Psi! I order you to release me!"
Lambda quickly called out to Psi, "Don't you dare! You listen to me, not him."
Psi looked at her and nodded, keeping Iota in place. Iota snarled and continued to fight the hold, letting out his aura to put pressure on Psi, but she was not releasing her grasp on him.
Lambda giggled and walked over Iota, dragging her sickle blade over his flesh, but not enough to leave a cut. Iota growled again and bared his fangs at her.
"I've never seen you like this. All snarling, livid, and vulnerable. I have to admit, letting Psi loose has been quite valuable for me. She can make anyone killable, regardless of difference in skill or power. It makes it easier to deal with traitors like you." She said as she sank her sickle into Iota's shoulder, getting a pained groan from the Houndoom.
The Houndoom lifted a hand and revealed a red glowing 'I' on it, "I think you don't understand who I am!."
Lambda laughed, "You're going to transform into your Project Form and fight me? I know you're a traitor, but, if you care about the rules anymore, the top Projects are not allowed to transform without express permission from Giovanni. That means that you, Beta, and I can't transform without getting the 'go ahead'."
"To hell with the rules!"
Iota tried to concentrate, but a sharp pain as blood in his shoulder formed into a spike, causing him to lose concentration and yell out in pain.
Psi said to him, "Forgive me, Master Iota, but I can't let you transform. Not here at least."
Lambda laughed, "Too bad. Oh well! No use in wasting breath. Goodbye!"
She lifted her blade to finish the downed Project, but then saw him open his mouth. She looked at him and saw an orange glow coming from his throat, which caused her to gasp and jumped back to avoid a large torrent of flame from hitting her. Psi was surprised and looked away for a moment. Iota felt her grasp weaken and turned his body and blasted her with flame. Psi looked back in time and used her psychic powers to split the flames and avoid the damage. She parted the fire and put it out, only to look back up and be gored by Iota's horns, launching her through a wall and out of the room.
Iota looked back towards Lambda with a snarl, his eyes glowing a violent red. He retook his humanoid form and lifted his palm, pointing it towards her. A ball of red energy began to form, which Lambda responded by charging one of her own, a purple one. The two then fired Void Cannons towards one another, causing an explosion as the energy smashed into one another, filling the room with smoke.
Lambda lunged through the smoke, going to where she remembered Iota being, but could not find him. The room, enveloped in the thick smoke, made it hard for her to spot her opponent. She heard a footstep near her, which she quickly snapped at by swinging her chain and sickle in the direction, but did not connect with anything.
"Where the hell are you!?"
A low growl emanated from behind her and she turned in time to avoid a sword slash. She jumped back and swung her weapon at him, but again missed. Hearing more footsteps, she leaned back to avoid another attack. Lambda attempted to counterattack, but was blocked and knocked back, letting Iota to vanish within the smoke again.
Lambda yelled out in frustration and collected energy into her blade and sickle. In a rapid flurry of swings, she fired off many purple blades towards the wall of smoke, hearing many impacts and crumbling structures. She panted in exhaustion and stopped her attack, believing that surely something must have connected.
The smoke within the room slowly began to vanish and Lambda glared at the sight before her. Iota standing dead center of the line of sight, unharmed, but with the wall behind him completely collapsed from her onslaught.
Iota shook his head, "So much power, but nothing to show for it. Let me show you what a true attack looks like." He tapped his sword onto the ground, releasing a loud clang as metal struck metal. An aura that appeared akin to black fire quickly enveloped his blade as he lifted it over his head and swung it around him once, leaving a trail of blast wisps in the air as it passed, before coming to rest on a stance. "This is my fury! Kage Nami!"
He swung his blade down and sent out a large wave of black energy towards Lambda. Lambda quickly collected energy and fired off a large Void Cannon, hoping to stop the advancing wave, but failed to change its course or even stop it. Growling in panic, she erected a barrier around herself as the wave struck it. It held for a moment, until she saw cracks forming and it soon shattered, leaving her to be swept away in the powerful attack. She screamed as the wave damaged her and exploded, destroying the far wall as it shot into the sky.
Iota groaned as he fell to a knee, clutching his shoulder. He breathed in and concentrated, causing energy to go into his shoulder and close the wound. He shifted back into his original form and lay down, panting and trying to relax. Looking around, he saw Seras still on the ground, having not moved at all since Lambda had beaten her. Forcing himself back onto his feet, he walked over to her and checked on her. She was groggy, but still awake, though very hurt.
"She must have used an illusion technique. Her mind must still be recovering." He said to Seras, "Don't worry; you'll be fine. I just need to find a way to get you out of here."
His ears twitched as he heard a sound and turned, seeing a figure in the smoke from his attack. Lambda appeared through the smoke, appearing unharmed at all from the attack.
Iota glared at her and shifted back into his bipedal form, summoning his blade into his hands again, "How did you…?" He asked, surprised.
Lambda giggled and fixed her hair, "Did you honestly believe that I was going to take that attack."
"I saw it hit you."
"Or did you?"
Iota took a moment to think and then sighed in exasperation, "Your illusion techniques."
"What you hit was an image of mine. Allowing you to hit me with that attack would have been suicide. It's really powerful, I shall grant you that."
"You need to taste someone's blood to be able to influence them with illusions. When did you…?"
Lambda interrupted, "Remember the shoulder?"
Iota growled, "Smart bitch."
Lambda smirked and began to step towards him, "Whenever I taste someone's blood, for ten minutes, their mind, their senses, and then perceptions are all mine to mess with."
"Doesn't matter! I'll just blast you again!"
"I don't think so!"
She quickly launched her blade and sickle into the air and sent them flying towards Iota. He looked at them and saw as they suddenly multiplied into a rain of blades. He charged a Kage Nami and fired it into the air, destroying part of the roof, but destroying all the blades. That was until he felt stabs in his side and his hip. He looked down as saw both blades sunk into his flesh. Lambda pulled back on the chains and recalled them, letting Iota fall to his knees as blood trickled down from his wounds.
"See? You can't beat my illusions. You can't trust your own eyes anymore."
"I have humored you enough!" Iota growled. He stood back up and again lifted his hand, showing the glowing 'I'. Before he could transform, he was locked up once more as his body tensed. He looked to his side and saw Psi stepping out of the hole that Iota had put her in, once more paralyzing him. "You've got to be kidding me!"
Lambda laughed, "Oh. You are not having a good day." She lifted her sickle and blade and launched them at Iota, sinking them into his shoulders. Walking over to the paralyzed Iota, she giggled before punching him in the face. She grabbed his face and made him look at her before punching him again. "I cannot begin to explain to you how cathartic this is. It's like taking all the weight on my shoulders and beating you to death with each pound." Balling her fist, she punched him in the abdomen, getting a groan of pain from the Houndoom.
Iota glared at her and said, "You're not going to kill me. You can't kill me. Believe me on that."
"What's going to stop me?"
"Well, we knocked down the walls to the outside and, currently, there's a deity that's plaguing you guys."
Lambda was confused and looked at the hole, "What?"
She looked outside and saw balls of fire raining down and a large black cloud of something she could not identify heading her way, "What is that?"
"No idea, but it's going to sting."
"What?"
Turning her head back to the hole, she saw the cloud rush inside, as the fireballs began to strike the facility. Lambda fired off a Dark Pulse at the cloud of flying organisms, but they appeared unaffected as they engulfed her. Pain...pain was all that she felt as the small insect-like creatures began to bite her. Psi was also set upon and yelped in pain as she tried to swat the creatures away.
Now free, Iota ripped the blades from his shoulders and allowed himself to heal, but felt that he was losing the energy to keep healing. He looked at his two opponents, both fighting the creatures in futility. He sucked in a large amount of air and then released a large wave of fire into the room, hitting Lambda and Psi. The creatures vanished thanks to the flames, leaving Lambda and Psi on the ground, hurt from the fire.
Looking down at them, Iota made his way to Psi, "You're my biggest problem right now." He created a portal and reached in, taking out what appeared to be a blue cube. He looked at Lambda and said, "I hope you don't mind if I borrow this." He pressed a button that was on the side and threw the cube, which erupted into what looked like a blue portal. Without another word, he quickly picked up Psi and threw her into the portal, which closed soon after. "That should hold her for maybe ten minutes. She's stronger than she looks. I'm just happy that she's passive right now." He turned to Lambda, "That being said...you just lost your lifeline."
Lambda growled as she stood back up, burned and angry, "I hate you!"
She lunged for him, swinging her sickle, but her attack was cut off as a black blade of energy shot out of nowhere and sliced her hand off of her arm. The severed extremity fell to the ground and Lambda fell as well, clutching her stump and yelling in agony.
Iota looked at the origins of the attack and saw Serenity rushing over, swinging her head and firing off another black blade from her horn towards Iota. Iota quickly knocked it away with his blade and blocked Serenity as she pounced at him.
He pushed her away and said, "Child, stop! I'm not here to fight you!"
Serenity looked around and saw Seras, "Seras! What have you done!?"
"I didn't do that. Lambda did. I was just fighting her."
"You?" Serenity asked, not believing, "Why would you battle her?"
"Believe it or not, but the Projects may be on the same team, but we are not friends nor are we allies with one another."
Lambda let out a yell of sheer wrath and hatred. She grabbed her severed hand and weapons and jumped back. She placed her hand on its stump and used energy to reattach it, "This is ridiculous!" She looked at Serenity, "You!?"
Serenity replied, "I see that you remember me, bitch. I still haven't forgiven you for breaking my horn. However, now I have a new one, courtesy of the late Epsilon. I'm going to use it to kill you."
Lambda scowled hard and a purple 'L' appeared on her forehead before vanishing, "Oh screw this! None of you are worth the effort!" She extended a hand behind her and opened a portal.
Serenity saw this and began to run after her, but was stopped by Iota, who grabbed her, "Don't! Let her go. You can have your revenge some other day."
Serenity snarled at Lambda and said, "This isn't over between us."
Lambda stepped into the portal and huffed, "You're certainly welcome to try, but you won't survive the fight. I'll be looking forward to it. Nothing lasts! Everything dies! I hate all of you!" The portal closed, leaving the Project and the Remnant alone.
Iota took a deep breath and went back to his normal form, allowing himself to collapse again to recover. He groaned as the pain still coursed through his body. He was more exhausted than he remembered being in a long time. Lambda was indeed powerful, but teaming with Psi, it made the situation far worse.
Serenity stepped over him, glaring down at him. Iota groaned and said, "Give me a break! I'm not going to fight you. Still, take Seras to safety and get out of here."
Serenity asked, "Why do you care? We're your enemies."
"No, you're Team Rocket's enemies. I don't give a damn about anything they want. I just slaughtered bases full of them this night to release countless captured Pokemon. In hopes of stopping this smiting from Arceus."
"Smiting?"
"It doesn't affect you, your friends, or I. I think Arceus has decided that Team Rocket has done enough damage." He growled and said, "I'm so done with this crap!"
"Virgil?" A weak voice called out to him.
Iota looked and saw Seras sitting up, "Don't stand yet. You're still weak from the mental assault…and the head trauma."
"I'm okay. Still, I don't think you are."
"I can heal myself."
"That's not what I meant." She crawled over to him and sat next to him, "You're hurting. I can feel that."
"You don't know anything about me."
"No." Seras admitted, "But I know about internal pain. You're conflicted. You didn't choose this life, did you?"
Iota sat up, "Of course I didn't! I haven't chosen a single thing for years! I was born wild, orphaned by ten, had to care for myself and my sick sister for years...my life was worthless...then I met them…"
Serenity asked, "Team Rocket?"
"Xeron and Aldira."
Seras and Serenity were shocked by this and Seras asked, "Xeron and Aldira? Rick's parents?"
"I was fifteen. I found them when they were on a journey. Allison was sick and hungry...I was desperate. So I stole Aldira's bag and they chased me down. They caught me and I told them why I was stealing from them. They pitied us and Aldira could tell that Allison was in bad shape. So they decided to take us with them to the Sanctuary. I had never been to a city, let alone a Pokemon city. It took a while, but Allison began to recover from her illness."
"What did she have?"
"She was born sick. Her lungs were weak, but medicine, surgery, and therapy helped her greatly. I was so grateful for Xeron and Aldira that I begged them to stay in the Sanctuary and to be trained by them. They agreed. So for a while, I was raised by them. Back then, I was happy."
"Then what happened? How did you turn into...what you are now?"
"That's a story for another time." A loud bang was heard as a crack appeared in the middle of the air, as if the fabric of space was being fractured, "I knew that wasn't going to hold her forever. Psi will be free soon, so you need to leave."
Serenity scowled, "I'll take her on."
"No! You can't beat her." He stood up and picked up Seras, who shifted back to her normal form. "We have to go."
He ran out of the room with the girls, hoping to get away from the soon to be released vampiric Project.
I hope you guys enjoyed! I don't know when the next chapter will come out, but I hope to have it ready as soon as I can. For now, thank you for reading and I will see you all soon. Goodbye!
