~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Prologue~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
The streetlamps spilled pools of yellow light onto the deserted sidewalks of Ekcruteak City. The shops that lined the street were dark and empty, closed hours ago. The pavement was still damp from the rain earlier that day, and there were puddles along the curbs. But there were no people awake this time of night, the citizens had long since retired. A single Noctowl was perched on a flagpole, eyes slitted as it dozed fitfully.
The sound of booted feet on the pavement caused the Noctowl to open its eyes. A young man sprinted around the corner with an Ampharos running at his side.
"Hurry, Ampharos." The young man panted, and the electric Pokémon lengthened its gait in an attempt to run faster. The youth wore a grey and light blue uniform, with the letters NR inscribed in white on the front. The material was ripped in several places, and he wore only one elbow length white glove.
To their left was a Pokémon Center, normally a safe haven for trainers -- but for him, and his Pokémon, it was a place they dared not go, even now. Behind him he could hear the pounding footsteps of his pursuers, their panting breath as they tried to run him down. He was faster and more agile, but the city was unfamiliar to him, and that put him at a disadvantage.
Man and Pokémon rounded a corner and into an alleyway at full speed -- only to be faced by a brick wall. It was a dead end. Frantically, he turned, but his pursuers were already there. The uniforms they wore had not changed too much over the last 7 years. It was the same red-on-black that he himself had only to recently worn… 3 months ago ? Had it really been that short a span of time ? He took a step back, and then another, until his heel touched the brick. He was outnumbered, six to one, and their belts were lined with PokéBalls, where as Ampharos was the only defense he had now.
"Well, Akari…" The leader of the group purred malevolently. He was tall, and built like a Machoke, all muscle. He was, Akari knew, always in charge of the groups that hunted down the Neo-Roketto. His people. His family. "Looks like you have no where else to run."
Ampharos stepped in front of it's trainer and the red sphere on it's head crackled with electricity. One of the others, a young woman with dark hair, stepped forward and aimed a rifle at the Pokémon. The light from the streetlamps illuminated the block-letter 'R' on her shirt. Without a twinge of remorse, she pulled the trigger…
Akari closed his eyes, not wishing to see...
… and embedded a tranquilizer dart in it's neck. The toxin in the dart worked in seconds and Ampharos sank to the pavement in a daze. Akari stepped forward in defense of his Pokémon but more rifles were pointed at him -- and he was not sure these ones were carrying tranquilizer darts.
"Are you going to come with us peacefully, Akari, or must we sedate you, too ?"
"I-I...." The trapped Neo-Roketto choked over his words like a child choking on a hard candy, as his dark eyes fled quickly over each form. It took the sight of his unconscious Pokémon on the pavement before him and the ever-present knowledge of his Roketto-family to give him voice. His eyes stern, he raised his glance from Ampharos to the eyes of the burly man in the lead. "I'm not going anywhere ! Let me pass or… or…"
"Or you'll what ?" The muscled leader mocked. "Stand there and stutter at us ?" A wave of laughter rippled through the small group. "Get his Pokémon."
One of the uniformed grunts pulled a PokéBall from his belt. It was the blue and black of an Ultra Ball, but this wasn't a regular Ball. It's sole purpose was to override the capture mechanism of a Pokémon's usual Ball. "Capture Ball, go !" the grunt shouted, and Ampharos disappeared in a beam of red light.
"Ampharos !" Akari called as he watched with wide eyes as his Pokémon disappeared into their hands. His hand outstretched toward the long-gone Pokémon, he stood as still as a statue for quite a long time before turning his anger-hardened eyes to the one that had thrown the Ball. An inarticulate scream rushing past his lips, Akari threw himself at the unnamed grunt in a whirl of fists. Even if he couldn't fight his way out, at the very least he'd give the thief something to think about.
His sudden attach caught the grunt by surprise, and he landed several dead-on blows before the others managed to pull him off. Akari felt the icy tip of a tranquilizer dart prick his neck, and everything started swimming almost immediately. The leader hauled him off the grunt, who remained sprawled on the pavement, dazed and bloody, missing at least one visible tooth now.
"Hey, what's going on down there ? Do you know what time it is ?" An irritable voice, the speaker unseen, called from one of the numerous balconies across the street.
The leader cursed under his breath. "You two, get the traitor. You and you, get Kiron." He barked, and then to the female with the rifle, "Nami, go ahead and alert Domino we're on our way. This place will be crawling with police soon."
* * * * *
Sound was slowly returning to Akari, but as far as he could tell, that was the only sense that was working. As consciousness trickled back, he realized he was blindfolded, gagged, and bound so tightly that he couldn't feel his fingers. "Mmmph..." he mumbled, trying to breath through the gag.
"Good, you're awake." A dismayingly familiar voice purred.
"Domino !" He gasped through the rough material of the stuff currently filling his mouth or he would have, should he have had the ability to speak properly. Really, it came out more as a muffled croak that could rather easily be misread. Still, finding himself well-confined with a woman that he had fled only a short while before, Akari found a deep unease sitting like a hot piece of lead in his stomach. Only too well, he knew what could be coming, but he was determined to face it as best as he could.
"Of course it's me." Domino said lightly, apparently understanding Akari's garbled exclamation. She pulled the gag out of his mouth but left the blindfold. Then the tone of her voice went from jovial to deadly. "Did you really think you could run from me ?" she hissed.
"I didn't think that it would be so hard..." Akari replied stoically in a brave voice that even he hardly recognized. Still, he was determined that he wouldn't quaver, even in the face of such potential damage. "After all, it seems that you wouldn't bother with a lowly one like myself. Sent your grunts out to get me, eh ? Guess that your attention has to be focused on manipulating Sakaki, right ?"
"Sakaki," Domino said, her voice hard as diamonds, "Is a blind fool all too willing to be led. Instead of pushing Roketto Dan forward, he squandered it's potential away for 7 years. Maybe the idiot was finally starting to grow a conscience. But I am the one bringing Roketto Dan into the future. And the future is not," she said, spitting out the words, "Your precious Neo-Roketto."
"Then what is the future, Domino ?" He spat angrily. Though he had been quite new to the faction group, Neo Roketto had still become quite important to him; so important, in fact, that he'd even die to protect it. "Do you see the future as torturing anyone who stands against you ? Or maybe just killing anyone whom you dislike ? Already, your own beloved Roketto is crumbling away beneath you, if you'd take the time to notice..."
"Sakaki's Roketto is crumbling. Mine is as strong as ever. And, with your most useful contribution of Neo-Roketto secrets, we will be stronger yet." Domino said smugly.
"Tch. Your ambition blinds you. Your own Roket--" Upon realizing the implications of Domino's latter words, Akari found the words that he had been meaning to speak dead on his lips. Behind the blindfold, his eyes widened but he allowed no trace of this to touch his voice. "My contribution of secrets ? I'd rather die than tell you anything !"
"My dear Akari," Domino said comfortingly, "I won't kill you for your misguided beliefs. In fact, I'm willing to adopt you back into the fold, as it were." She smiled, though he could not see it. "You'll just need to undergo a little bit of modification first, that's all..."
"M-modifications...." Akari echoed her words solemnly and, at once, their implications became clear to him. No, he wouldn't die; he'd face something worse. He would become a mindless slave to Domino's vision of the future and, worse still, he'd become a traitor to those who had taken him in. Anger once again showed in his voice once he had found the will to respond. "I'd rather death than to be taken back into your murderous fold ! I'll never be one of your mindless drones ! Never !"
"Akari." Domino said, leaning over to whisper in his ear, "You never had a choice."