Star in the Storm, Chapter 17

Lody- "Leader Darkshine"

News of the incident in Mahogany proceeded our arrival back to the Team Rocket Headquarters. As soon as we stepped through the doors, the frantic Silver Star was swept away by a team of Rockets. Full of worry and apprehension, the other TRC members trailed after them anxiously.

Feet still aching from the long trek, I was a bit slower than the others. Slow enough to see Shane accosted by a surly-looking Rocket before he had a chance to join the others.

"Shane Rising," the man said, towering over the boy. "Leader Darkshine wants a word with you."

Shane gave the man a slight nod of the head to indicate he had heard. "When?"

"Now. And bring the Chimera girl with you."

Both Shane and I were silent as the man escorted us down a twisting series of passageways. As we neared an elevator, the other Rocket ducked away, muttering excuses of having "other business to attend to."

"Is Leader Darkshine the boss of Team Rocket?" I asked as the elevator descended with a nauseating lurch.

Shane nodded wearily. "Giovanni II Darkshine was the heir to the former leader, Giovanni I," he explained dully. "Though Giovanni I himself has failed to return to Team Rocket, Darkshine has become just as, if even more, ambitious. He has great plans for Team Rocket, Lody."

Gauntal snorted derisively at this.

"If Darkshine has it his way," Shane continued, ignoring the Umbreon, "Neo Team Rocket will never have to revert back to the bumbling Pokémon thievery ring it once was. Darkshine doesn't want Pokémon; some say that his real goal is the overthrow of the Pokémon League."

"Which all relies on the success of the Mergers," I couldn't help but add.

The elevator door opened with a chime, revealing a dark room lit by a single chandelier dangling from the ceiling. Growling deep in the back of its throat, Gauntal put one, and only one, paw forward. The golden rings on its flank and forehead began to pulsate, emitting a steady glow into the darkness.

"Whenever the Glorious Leader wants a word," the Umbreon stated, red eyes narrowing. "I want a piece of his leg in between my teeth."

"Come on, Gaunt," Shane whispered to his Pokémon, resting a comforting hand on its neck. "No use in stalling, it'll just give your temper more time to boil." Shane gave his Umbreon a little nudge when it still refused to move. "Gauntal, I'm serious. Don't do anything you'll regret this time."

Grunting, Gauntal obliged at last.

I stumbled out of the elevator after them, just as the doors closed and disappeared into the shadows. My feet found thick red carpet. In the dim light, however, it looked more black than red. Stomach twisting, I couldn't help thinking of a bloody trail, left by a wounded Pokémon dragging itself from the battlefield.

There was a chair at the end of the carpet, a tall, high-backed throne nearly hidden in the shadow of the wall. Squinting across the room, I could just make out a figure seated in that chair, a tall person dressed entirely in black.

Black, that is, except for the glaring red emblem upon their shirt.

Still staring, I didn't notice a swift movement at the dark end of the room. Moments later, a brilliant pair of lights flickered on, blinding me temporarily.

When I finally regained my vision, Shane and Gauntal were standing in front of me, blocking my view of the other end of the room. Straining at its leash, the Umbreon gave a low growl. The black fur on the back of its body was bristling, I noticed uneasily, in a mixture of disdain and apprehension.

Kneeling in front of Gauntal, Shane bowed his head and recited smoothly, "Shane Rising has reported in, Glorious Leader Darkshine." Putting a firm hand on Gauntal's back, the boy forced his Pokémon to prostrate itself as well.

As they lowered themselves to the floor, I was able to study the figure in the chair for the first time.

The person seated there, the Glorious Leader of Team Rocket, was a young, fair-haired man of no more than twenty-five years. Glossy, silvery-blond hair swept over his pale forehead as he lowered his gaze towards us. His eyes were of a startlingly pure sky blue, and as he looked directly into my face, I felt myself freeze in place.

"You must be Lody Chimera," Darkshine said in a smooth, composed voice. "I have heard so much about you."

Legendaries above, I winced. He sounds just like Shane.

Getting deliberately up from his chair, Darkshine stepped forward ever so slowly. "You may rise, Shane Rising," he said, chuckling a little to himself.

The boy stumbled hastily to his feet, yanking a surly Gauntal up as well. Though it was trying its best to obey Shane, the Umbreon's limbs looked unnaturally stiff. The glowing rings on its body had not faded, either. If anything, they were throbbing even more intensely.

Darkshine noticed none of this, or if he did, he chose to ignore it. "You disappoint me, Shane," the Rocket Leader said coolly, walking in leisurely circles around the boy. Gauntal yipped, and lunged forward for Darkshine's leg, but Shane reined the Umbreon in just in time.

Gauntal's blood red glare followed Darkshine menacingly as the Rocket Leader circled about Shane. Even Darkshine, I thought worriedly, had to acknowledge that Gauntal seethed to make true its threats.

"You can't even control that mutt properly," Darkshine scoffed, moving easily out of the Umbreon's reach. "What a fool I was to give you command over the TRC."

Gauntal snarled indignantly on its trainer's behalf. "He always treats you like dirt!" it snapped in rapid Eonic. "You shouldn't have to stand this, Shane! If you won't do something, I will!"

Lips tight, Shane pulled the bellicose Umbreon closer to his body.

"You're not even going to beg?" Darkshine sounded mildly disappointed. "I should have thought being relieved of your command would stir up a bit more than this. But then, you were always such a difficult boy. Or thick, I never really decided which."

"What will happen to the TRC?" Shane asked in a wavering voice that lacked all his usual equanimity. As far as I could remember, Shane had never sounded so shaken before.

Though Darkshine had his back turned towards me, I imagined a smirk was developing on the Rocket Leader's face. "The TRC will be given a much more significant assignment," Darkshine said coolly. "The most important assignment in their lives, and possibly in all of Team Rocket history. After all this time, Shane Rising, your castaways may finally earn their worth."

"Shane and the others have earned themselves a place in Team Rocket, countless times over!" Gauntal burst out angrily. "Hear that, Glorious Leader? If anyone's got anything to prove, it's not them!"

"Can't you shut that mutt up?" Darkshine demanded irritably, not understanding a word of Gauntal's enraged Eonic. All that fell upon his ears, apparently, were a series of loud, grating yelps.

Gauntal started forward again, barking menacingly. This time, the Umbreon broke loose from Shane's grasp, and lunged towards Darkshine with its teeth bared. A moment not too soon, a powerful Machamp leapt from its guard position in the shadows, grabbing Gauntal's neck in its thick hands and pinning the Umbreon to the ground.

Struggling against the heavier Pokémon, Gauntal let out a choking gasp as the Machamp's thick fingers crushed into its throat.

"Gauntal!" Shane cried. "Don't! Gauntal!" He ran forward, head twitching to and fro, listening for the cry of his Pokémon.

"Stop that!" Darkshine snapped, slapping Shane directly across the face. The boy stumbled backwards, sinking to his knees. The frame of his sunglasses had been snapped, part of which now hung dangling from behind his left ear.

Staring at the hand he had used to hit Shane, Darkshine looked almost as surprised as Shane himself. The Rocket Leader's smooth face contorted strangely, almost apologetically, before distorting itself into a mixture of contempt and disgust. "I would kill your mutinous mutt if it didn't mean so much to the future of the Team," he said contemptuously. "Did you ever wonder why Team Rocket wanted so many Eevee, Shane?"

From where he knelt on the floor, the boy's face turned ashen.

"Recently, we have discovered that Eevee and their evolved forms are key players in the Merging process," Darkshine said. "That discovery, Shane, was the breakthrough that we had been waiting for so long. Eevee evolutions have a very malleable genetic structure. One that can easily be combined with that of a human's, especially if the human and Pokémon in question share a very close bond. That is why Silver Star succeeded where no other Mergers did. Or so we believe."

"You haven't tested it yet?" Shane's voice was strained.

Darkshine laughed. "Testing will proceed soon enough," he said in an ominous tone. "Very soon."

Gauntal whimpered, choking again as the Machamp pressed down with its massive fist.

Something Darkshine had said finally clicked into place. "The TRC!" I whispered, voice blurting out my realizations as soon as they came. "You're going to try to Merge the members of the TRC with Eevee! None of them have any family or relation to the outside world. No one will miss them...if they're gone."

Darkshine glanced casually in my direction, almost as if he'd forgotten I was there. "Clever child, aren't you?" he remarked with a grin. "More so than Rising, at any rate. It would have taken Shane at least five minutes to catch on, and that can get very boring for the rest of us." His voice snapped back into sobriety as he said, "You have an Espeon, Miss Chimera? An Espeon you care very much about?"

When I squeezed my mouth tightly shut, Darkshine let loose a hearty laugh. "Oh, Shane, I was prepared to be incredibly angry with you for letting Miss Chimera join your little group," he said, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. "Luckily for you, she and her Espeon companion may be worth more than her father alone. I'm sending the entire TRC to the Cleopatra Island Laboratory as soon as arrangements are made. And as of now, the TRC has been disbanded, and you are no longer leader of anything."

"Leader Darkshine," Shane pleaded, getting to his feet. "Lody has no part in any of this. It's not right, you can't…"

"Don't argue with me, Shane!" Darkshine barked, holding up a hand and snapping his fingers. With a wild toss, Darkshine's Machamp flung a choking Gauntal into the wall. Panting in exhaustion and blinking blood from its eyes, Gauntal limped over to stand by its trainer.

Darkshine's face softened at the sight. "So loyal," he murmured to himself. "Even if it means its own death, that Pokémon will stand beside you. I admire you for that, little brother. I could spare you for that."

Shane was the brother of Team Rocket's leader? No wonder Ruki had obeyed Shane so submissively, even against her better judgment. No wonder Gauntal had been so resentful towards Darkshine on Shane's behalf.

But from the steel in Darkshine's voice, it was clear that he had considered sacrificing his own brother for the Team. Nepotism, it seemed, could only go so far in Neo Team Rocket.

Shane shook his head. "Not me," he whispered to Darkshine, gloved hands clenching into tight fists. "Please, brother. You must spare Lody. If her father finds out what happened to her…"

"Then the whole world will know the might of Neo Team Rocket!" Darkshine proclaimed, raising his arms heavenward. "When Team Rocket regains power at last, no one will stand in our way. We mustn't let anything come between us and that ultimate goal, little brother. Surely even you must see that. Just like our father did before us."

Darkshine's voice lowered to a whisper, one so soft that I had to move closer to hear it. "You know as well as I, brother, that Father's dream must not go to waste!" he said adamantly. "For everything that Father fought for, and everything that Father died for! For the glory of Neo Team Rocket!" he cried, thrusting a hand into the air in a brisk salute.

"For the glory of Neo Team Rocket," Shane echoed weakly, returning the gesture.

A chime behind us signaled the opening of the elevator doors, and a uniformed man rushed forward. "Sir!" he cried urgently to the Rocket Leader. "Sir, we've caught an intruder in the building!"

Darkshine's face contorted, then smoothened out, all in one brief moment. "Who is it?" he said in a nonchalant voice, as if he were inquiring into the identity of a phone caller.

Angry shouts rose up from the elevator in response. As the doors opened once again, two uniformed Rockets dragged a kicking, screaming, biting girl into the room. In the jar beside her was a small Pichu, sparking fervently and banging against its electric-proof confines.

My mouth dropped down in sheer amazement. The girl was none other than Roary Ketchum and the Pichu her beloved Picassy.

"Let go of me! Hey!" Roary yowled, writhing about like an Ekans in a knot. She was about to launch into another heated tirade, just before she caught sight of me. "And…Lody! I thought they'd have you locked up someplace! What're you doing here?"

"Roary Ketchum?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"

Roary rolled her eyes at my unconscious mimicry. "Looking for you, obviously!" she retorted. "How was I supposed to know that Team Sprocket had fingerprint scanning equipment?"

Emerging from the elevator now was another Team Rocket member, yanking a much meeker captive along on a chain.

"Amulet!" I cried, running forward and throwing my arms around my Espeon. "Oh, you should've been more careful!"

Nuzzling my face, Amulet shook her long ears. "I appreciate your concern, Lody," she said with a weak smile. "But at least we're all alright."

"What an unexpected surprise," Darkshine broke in, stepping forward. "Roary Ketchum, is it? And Lody's little Amulet. I don't suppose either of you would mind telling us how you managed to find your way to this place."

"Never!" Roary yelled, ponytail thrashing out dramatically. It slapped one Rocket directly in the face, knocking off his dark glasses. "And if you come any closer," Roary added feelingly, "I'll…scream so loudly it'll burst your ears into smithereens!"

"Charming friend you have there, Miss Chimera," Darkshine chuckled. "Take them away," he commanded the Rocket captors.

"Wait!" I cried as Amulet was yanked away. "Where are you taking them?"

Darkshine's laugher echoed in my mind long after it had come and gone. "As a member of Neo Team Rocket, Miss Chimera, I should think you'd know better than to ask that."

Running to the elevator, I punched the buttons and dashed through the doors before Darkshine had a chance to stop me. To my surprise, Shane and Gauntal wobbled in beside me before the elevator doors were able to close.

"You never said a word about being related to the Leader of Neo Team Rocket," I accused Shane sullenly, mind too numb to get past this alone.

"A great conversation starter that would've made," Gauntal mumbled in Eonic, leaning weakly against its trainer. "Hey, my brother's in charge of the most infamous Pokémon thievery ring in history; yeah, I hang around sometimes and…"

"Stow it, Gaunt," Shane said. Turning his attention back to me, he demanded, "Would it have made any difference if you knew? Darkshine always gets his way, Lody. I'm no one to stop him."

I glared at him for the rest of our trip in the elevator.

But the image of Shane, fists clenched and face bruised, refused to fade from my mind. Shane had defended me in front of Darkshine, Neo Team Rocket's powerful leader and his own brother.

"Darkshine always gets his way, Lody," Shane had insisted moments before. But then why had he tried to convince Darkshine to let me go?

"Where would they have taken them?" I wondered out loud as the elevator doors opened once more. "There must be a prisoners' ward or something of the sort nearby. Shane?"

But the boy and his Umbreon were already heading down another hallway. Having no hope of being able to navigate the building on my own, I started after them.

"In here," Shane whispered, pressing his hand against a pad at the side of one metal door. Swinging open with a clank, the door revealed a long line of jail cells. And there was no need to guess whose loud, furious voice was swelling up from the very last one.

"Once we get outta here, I am so gonna make all of you pay for this!" Roary was seething in the far corner. "Watch out, Team Smocket! Roary Ketchum is on her way!"

"Pichu, pi," Picassy moaned plaintively from atop its trainer's shoulder.

"Roary, keep it down!" I hissed as Shane and I made our way to the end of the room. "How are we going to open it?" I whispered to Shane, gesturing to the heavy, complex locks that adorned the front of Roary, Picassy, and Amulet's cell door.

"Break 'em open!" Roary suggested, shaking at the metal bars of her cell. "Or melt them open for all I care! Just hurry up and get us out of here!"

Rummaging in my pocket, I emerged with a tufted PokéCap stripped with bits of orange and black. Placing it on the cement floor, I waited as my Arcanine, Vulcanis, slowly transformed into full-form.

"Vulcanis!" I called, pointing to the locks. "Can you melt these with an Ember attack?"

Obliging quickly, the Arcanine bent forward and shot a single blast of fire towards the metal. Picassy yelped as tongues of flame curved around the bars and singed the wall above its head.

"We need it even hotter than that, Vulcanis," I urged. "Hurry!"

Trotting closer, the enormous Arcanine placed its mouth directly above the metal locks. Eyes narrowed in concentration, it began to blow a steady stream of fire onto the metal's shiny surface.

Bounding forward to the front of the cell, Amulet reached a paw through the bars and touched my hand. Together, we watched the melting metal drip to the ground in a silver stream.

The slam of a door behind us made me jump. Running to the door that Shane and I had originally come through, I rattled the knob and shoved it back and forth in desperation. "Somebody locked us in!" I yelled to the others.

Mortified, Shane shook his head. "The security system's programmed on a timer," he explained. "It's been so long since I've been here that I forgot…"

Taking a running jump, Roary slammed into the cell bars, forcing the already weakened lock to break entirely. "No one keeps Roary Ketchum locked up for long!" she proclaimed, eyes blazing as she staggered to her feet. "Chimera, get out your strongest Pokémon! Tyranitar and Arcanine and whoever else you happen to have lying around! We're gonna break down that door!"